001Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Narington Board of Education to order for Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. The time is Oh, I didn't do that. The time is 7:03 now. Please rise for the pledge to the flag for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. De would you please call the role? Here >> we're here. >> I'm here. You're fading in and out. >> Can you hear us online? >> I can hear you. >> Oh. Oh, you're really quiet. Can you turn it up? >> Sorry. Just turn it up to us in the room. So, we're just gonna bring it up. Okay. >> Here. >> I have um everybody here. >> Thank you. Uh at this time, I'd like to open it up for public participation
002on any matter related to board responsibilities. If you're in the room, you can come to the end of the table or online, use your hand to be recognized. There was. Yes. >> I'm trying to get in the meeting. >> Miss Rodriguez. >> Good evening everyone. I'm going to just make this really quick. I have a senior who is graduating this year who historically um ends up at nationals in Oregon uh for the outdoor track season. And um I understand that we are looking at a potential date of June 18th. Uh that final weekend is the weekend that um Nike Nationals happens typically every year and it's a Thursday Friday event. Um I'm asking if there is any possibility with all the snow days and potential snow days in the future that we move the graduation
003date uh for the ceremony to the 22nd um as it would be the last day of school currently. Uh but pending any additional snow events, we may have more that pushes us along even further. I also ask that when considering um the graduation date in the future to consider those national events um we would want our seniors to participate not only in uh the opportunities that they've worked so hard for for multiple years in a sport to be able to participate at nationals if they qualify um as well as participating in their graduation ceremony which they have academically worked really hard towards. Um I appreciate your consideration in that thought. I forgot to add uh 71 Northwood Road, Jennifer Rodriguez uh at the beginning there. Thank you again and have a good evening. >> Thank
004you, Mr. Phelps. >> Hi, good evening. Uh my name is Mike Phelps. I live at uh 108 Tremont Street. Um I just wanted to say I also participated on Monday. I would like to say thank you for um posting the budget book online. I saw that was posted the other day with with everything going on. I appreciate getting that um made available so quickly. I would also like to follow up um and look for a potential future discussion by the board if this hasn't been um brought up before around participation rates in student sports particularly among female athletes. I know there's been some studies showing that nearly one in two girls quit by the age of 14. Um I think predominantly due to body criticism issues. I was hoping that could be discussed um as
005well as a review of equity between some of the sports programs. Um this may be a good opportunity for the student board representatives to provide some insight. And that was it. And uh thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> I'm not seeing any other hands. So we can move on to our consent agenda. >> Mr. Hollerin, >> I would like to move that the board of education approve the consent agenda as presented for the minutes of January 28th regular meeting, February 4th budget session, February 9th executive session, February 9th budget session, February 10th budget session, February 18th budget session of 2026. >> Second. Thank you. We a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Standing committee and we have
006our a student rep here. Take it away, Abby. >> Hi, everyone. So Danny wasn't able to be here today because the musical season is coming up and he had a rehearsal that he had to go to, but he did want to say he wanted me to pass the message, thank you for the snow days on Monday and Tuesday. So um just to get started, so what's happening inside the high school over the last month or so? So, jazz band went to Yukon stores for their jazz festival and students performed for Yukon jazz faculty and staff and they were able to receive a clinic from Professor Earl McDonald and they listened to high school jazz bands from Connecticut and from Rhode Island which was a really great experience for all the students and everyone seemed to
007have a really good time. Um, spring registration for ECE classes also opened up. So for all the classes in this new semester, if they are eligible for college credit, students were signing up for those and just kind of getting settled in their new classes. And then 2026 2027 course selection opened up. So counselors um about a month ago started going into freshman, sophomore, and junior um home rooms and classes just to kind of talk to them about getting prepared for what classes they might want to take, the different types of classes, and all of the questions that they may have. And then seniors, we've been working on the lo completing our local scholarship booklet and we're getting those ready to submit by March 13th. And National School Counseling Week was a few weeks ago and
008we celebrated with a spirit week. All the um themes were are right there. And we had spirit days just to celebrate our counselors and all that they do for our school and just to recognize them. And then the senior and junior class have been holding fundraisers. So yesterday the senior class had a fundraiser at Wooden Tap and then today the junior class had a fundraiser at Chipotle. So as for what our clubs have been doing, so for DECA, me, Audrey D. Francesco, Katie Dugis, um, and Mrs. Miller um, worked on organizing a C gold certification for our school store. And basically what that entailed was about a 50page write up about what our school store does and all of the different technicalities with it. And we were able to receive gold certification. So that means
009we get extra spots for ICDC. And it's a really big achievement. It's not something that people typically get on the first try. And we just wanted to share that there are 42 standards that we had to achieve and we had to get at least meeting on them. and on 41 we received exceeding. So that was just something really big that Miss Miller wanted us wanted me to share and it was a lot of hard work and we had a lot of students working on it. So it was really exciting to get the certification. And then we have our state competition tomorrow and any students placing top four in their categories are going to move on to ICDC which is in Atlanta, Georgia this year. And then FBLA had their winter dance last week. So, they
010did a lot of work selling tickets um and worked with local businesses to be able to hand out gift cards at the event. And it was really fun. We had a lot of students show up their pictures right here. And it was a lot of work from the FBA students. They had to prepare food, a DJ, and it was a great turnout. And then Stuco for Valentine's Day, we just got um little lollipops and write wrote kind messages for our teachers and handed those out just as a small act of kindness. And then the class of 28 2028 sold candygrams to celebrate Valentine's Day as well. So for our middle school update for this month, we were able to reach out to our middle schoolers and both schools have been really busy. So from John
011Wallace, we have the snowball dance which is going to be happening which is supposed to be happening Friday. Um and then they've had a lot of clubs, a lot of sports. It's been it seems really exciting. So, I just linked the um catalog that has all that information there. And then Martin Kellogg starting tomorrow going through Saturday has their production of Legally Blonde, which I know they've been promoting a lot and they're really excited for. >> So, for our sports, we've had a lot going on cuz winter sports is kind of starting to wrap up. We're starting to move into the spring season. So, for basketball, boys basketball a few weeks ago had a really big game against Platt. They ended up losing, but it was really exciting. And we had our biggest student section
012participation that we've probably seen at the basketball games all year. So, that was really fun and really exciting. And boys hockey had their senior night and had a game against Rocky Hill. Um, wrestling and swimming have tournaments coming up, so that's really exciting. There are a lot of tournaments going on as the season starts to close with basketball, wrestling, swimming, all those. And then indoor track and field had a banquet with about 89 students and they wanted to note that their membership in their participation increased by 35% this year. So that was really exciting for them. Then just for our special shouts for this month, Tun Shia um who's a sophomore got superintendent outstanding student of the month. Um Josiah Sims who's a senior signed to play D2 football at Franklin Pierce University. So that
013was really exciting for him. And then we have a bunch of students listed here who were recognized at Northern Regionals for either choir or for um their instrumental talents. So we just wanted to shout them out and just share their picture. And then um for just some stuff happening outside the high school that our teachers have been doing. So our a bunch of our staff members who are pictured here, they attended a taste of Ramadan in South Windsor after being invited by our student Aman Habib and what and his brother who's also an NHS alum. Um staff got to learn the meaning of Ramadan and heard from Muslim speakers who shared their perspective on various topics of like sports, high school, academia, life in general. and they got to participate in breaking fast in just
014a Q&A session. So staff seemed to really enjoyed it. They all had a really good time and got to kind of share that experience with one of our students. So that's all I have for you guys today, but if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to answer anything. >> Miss Weaver. Well, first I want to give a huge congratulations to you. Uh I remember Mrs. mother talking to us about this. I think we were at Miss Tno's event. >> Um she was like, "Listen, I'm telling these girls this is a lot of work. Uh it's not playing around. This is like an insane book. This is a lot to do." Um so kudos one for just having the ambition to do it. Um and then of course excelling in all the ways.
015Um so not shocked, but I think the community should know just how big a deal it is. Um would recommend a Newington Life feature. I think probably coming soon. Um so one just really kudos to you Abby on all of that. Um thank you as always for keeping up um with sports culture. I feel like there's always a good taste of everything that we need to know about. Very excited for the upcoming shows. Um and very excited to hear um more about those and also um seeing all of the different culture events that are happening. um we always do I think a great job of highlighting those and um just want to thank you for continuing to embody that. Um so as always we missed you. Thank you for giving us the good stuff. Um
016I know we won't see you fully on stage but we'll see you in stage crew. Um at your last production at NHS um but just thank you and congratulations truly. I think it's a great honor and congratulations all the students. Good luck to those in DECA. Um, very excited to hear next time you update us how those go. >> Y, >> Mr. Hollerin, >> I was just saying at the last meeting how I miss my student reps. Um, we've had a lot of meetings. Um, and they're all budget meetings. Um, and you're connected with the school in a very different way, a very financial way. Um, when we have our student reps here, we're connected in a very real way. And I it reminds us all about who we're working so hard for that gets
017us out of the head of going through line item by line item and figuring out how much we're going to pay for gas this year. Um so I think that um I always appreciate it when you're here. Wonderful job with DECA. By the way, I agree with Josh. I don't I was in DECA myself and I know um that is quite an accomplishment. 41 out of 42 requirements is huge. Um >> Exceeding, right? Exceeding. That's not just meeting, that's exceeding. Um, so wonderful job there. Always. Thank you for the updates. Um, snowball dances this Friday at John Wallace. My daughter bought her a dress. She's ready to go. I had to convince her it wasn't lame. Um, but she'll enjoy it. And, um, good to hear all the updates on all the sports. We've got
018a lot of achievements and we're coming in in the back half of the year. So, your mind's already on next steps and I'm sure most of the other seniors are, too. And um best of luck and don't stress yourself out. Always appreciate it, Abby. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chararma. >> Oh, so you know, it's refreshing to hear like an update. Um there's so much exciting stuffs going on in the high school. So yeah, so thank you so much. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome, >> Miss Petus. >> As everybody else has said, it's always a pleasure when you're here when Danny's here, too. Um, but what you're showing us is a really, really important reminder of why we do what we're doing. And the conversations that we have are much more dry.
019You guys have a lot more fun than we do, but the decisions that get made and the conversations that we have directly impact the ability, um, for you guys to have the enriching experiences at the school. Um, and um, I can speak for myself, but probably for everybody here, we're really, really proud of you, and we're really proud to do what we can to continue to support you and and the other students and staff in in the schools, um, to make the experience in our schools um, bigger and better and, you know, um, giving you much more than just the academic piece of it. So, thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. when I um went to guest judge at the the the that competition, um Miss Miller showed me your project and it was
020very very impressive and I like flipped through the pages, very detailed. It was very it was just like it was intense. Like it was pages upon pages like I don't even know how many pages it was like >> 50. >> It was a lot. It was a lot and it was very detailed and there was pictures and there was graphs and just a lot of time and effort went into it. So, Miss Miller, I see you're on and just good job with with DECA and everything that that you do for them, too. Um, and then just not to give you more homework, but um, what our public um, comment said about women's sports or girl sports is I don't know if you've heard anything or if there's, you know, you can go back and ask
021some of your um, other co people or anyone just, you know, give us maybe next time give us anything you find out about girls and sports and if people >> Yeah. keep participating or don't or or like you said are dropping out. Um, but yeah, it was very interesting to or would be very interesting to see a student perspective on on girl sports in the high school. >> We'll definitely get some feedback on that. We'll bring it back. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Thank you so much for coming. We did miss you. >> Okay. Our next um update is policy. Yeah, >> great. Um, I can kind of I'll just quickly, but this will come back up under our new business. Um, uh, we had a wonderful efficient meeting. Uh, thank you, Mr.
022D. Welcome to the policy crew. Um, on uh, February 11th, feels like 10 years ago already. Um, but we just discussed the two upcoming policies that um, need to be passed before March 1st. So, a lot of things before March 1st tonight um that deal with the um child nutrition program and the um or the um policies that need to be passed based on the assessment changes um on our student wellness policy. Um and so those will both be 6142 101 and 3195. We'll get to the 6,000s, I promise. Um and those were just kind of this. And then we also um will note that our next policy meeting will be um March 2nd. Well, we we'll start looking at the um 4,000s, I think. Nope, 5,000s, I think. I'll let you know. Um but
023great um great overview of stuff. A lot of it we had talked about as a full board, but we just wanted to make sure it went through policy, made sure there was any changes. We noted um some of the reasons why we used some of the specific numbers for all of those things um for the physical education time and those kinds of things just to be in compliance with the assessments. Um so uh Kristen Freeman joined us as well. So um anything that was discussed at the curriculum not to um she's not here but um um we uh discussed with policy too. So it's been through kind of both the curriculum and policy committees um and would recommend uh full adoption. So yep. >> Thank you. Any questions for our policy committee? Um, and then
024for a curriculum committee update, I actually wasn't at the last meeting because I couldn't get out of class this that early, but um, the committee reviewed policy 9132 um, just with to hand over to the policy committee for their further review. Anything to add, Mr. Hollerin? >> No, that's pretty much it. We we went over it, did some homework. Kristen Freeman did some great drafts for us which we all agreed with and I think um shaped it in the way that is functional um and sent it over to the policy committee. It was a pretty I won't say boring curriculum committee but it was not as fun as delving into new material. So um yeah it was just about the policy >> not as fun as it usually is. >> That's right. >> I love
025I've been trying to get on a committee for two years. Any questions for curriculum committee? Okay. Superintendent of schools report Dr. Bremit. >> Thank you very much. Um I'd like to introduce though I don't think they need any introduction. >> We have here appearing for the first time at a board meeting um acting middle school John Wallace middle school principal Mr. Marco Trillo joined by outgoing principal still with has his toes in both waters. Um, as you know, everyone has um opportunity to present. Every school presents to the board once a year and they're presenting on things that are part of their school improvement plan as well as in the case of John Wallace, a little update about the building project, which continues to go along very well in large part due to the leadership
026of both Dana Marco organizing all the different variations there. So without further ado, I will kick this over to them. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Brumit. So, um, we took a little bit of a different approach. Um, we're going to start off with, um, the a little update on the renovation project. And then in terms of culture and climate, we kind of want to talk about how we do business at John Wallace as part of our culture and how we operate uh, and collaborate with our staff. And then from a climate perspective, Mr. drill is going to help talk about our behavior expectations that we developed um schoolwide and you'll see how student voice and students are a part of that in our school as well. Um so if you go to the next slide,
027so I just want to give a renovation update um to the board. First off, I want to thank the board. I want to thank Dr. Brumit and our families. Um prior to us leaving for the winter break in January, we had a series of early release days. Uh and you know, our families pitched in by helping us out, the board approving those as well. It made a huge difference in us transitioning. So, we were able on January 5th, uh it was like the first day of school all over again at John Wallace. Um, prior to leaving on December 23rd, Mr. Holling will probably attest to this, that every student packed their locker, cleaned their locker out, and left home for the winter break, um, knowing they'd come back to a completely new classroom. Um, so
028that included our sixth graders who weren't moving into a new space, but were moving into another location in the building. So, it was a true team effort in the Wallace community. Uh, we had a successful opening on January 5th. It really was like the first day of school. Each student uh arrived to school except for our fifth graders. They they got to stay in their same area. So, they just went back to home. Everyone else though, the teachers met them all uh in our auditorium, gym, and our cafeteria, walked them through, you know, their new uh spaces, escorted them to class, handed out new lockers, new combinations. So, it was really a a fresh way to kick off the new year. Uh we had over 30 staff and 450 students move into new spaces on
029January 5th and that all happened the week prior to the holiday break uh winter break where we know families are busy, staff are busy so we all pulled together. So thank you all for your support with that. Uh the wings are fully functional. They look amazing. Uh did an excellent job. Our partners, Fire Architecture, New Field Construction um did did great work. Um the next few photos, my plan was to go in uh Monday and take a few other photos, but um Snow had other other uh other plans for us. They weren't able to get him. These are just some shots. If you haven't been to John Wallace yet, I invite you when you have some spare time, we'd love to have you come through and see the new wing. But you can see our
030school colors are kind of tied into the design. We did a great job with with the uh interior designer. So the lockers that we have are actually designed to accommodate middle school at our building. Students don't have backpacks throughout the day and the lockers we had before were very difficult to fit anything in there. So, we have nice wide lockers now. The students have a lot to say about that. They love the new lockers. You can see even the classroom configurations. The desks intentionally what we picked with furniture are for collaboration. Uh we deliberately have five seats there so there can't be a tiebreaker um if there is a debate or some sort of discussion going on. Uh, and the chairs aren't there in this photo yet, but we have chairs that um have some
031things embedded in them like their wiggle seats are embedded, things like that for middle school students. So, if they're active, they can do that as well. Um, what we did uh after staff moved in, we had a little fun. We literally rolled out the red carpet for our staff. Uh, Mr. Tillo had had some videos. He's going to share access here to give you a little 40 second clip or so, but it really just wanted to share how morale has really lifted at the school with this renovation project. Um, with wing six where we are now, wing seven and wing eight are complete. We do have some punch list items that they're working on as well. And um, wing six right now is about halfway done uh, with the MCU, the block, uh, the cinder
032block that they're putting up in the wing. So, they're making good progress on wing six. And we're expecting by June, towards the end of June, to have that wing fully completed. Um, so we're hoping in fall of 2026 that entire project will be completed. Um, so thanks so much to the board, uh, to the to the residents of the town for supporting it. It really has just changed the learning environment. Um, walking down the hallways, seeing staff, you know, with doors and even some of the new security features we have, it it's really changed changed the school. So, thank you so much. It was it was a huge project and our staff, families, and students have really come through. >> You should have access now. So, what we did is I >> like when things
033like this happen right before the presentation goes, you're like, "Oh, worked 17 times beforehand. This time it doesn't feel like working." >> So, Mr. Terillo uh and our staff had a little fun and and literally rolling out the red carpet. Uh it says so you'll see some of our staff enjoying their new space as they walk in. >> Welcome home. Let's go. And Dr. Brema, the video ends there. Can actually thank a Newington High School junior for that. My daughter Evelyn was able to help me with the editing process of that video when it came to cap cut videos. >> Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, that I thought that wasn't just you. over over 40 doesn't really work out so well when it comes to trying to do editing videos like that. >>
034But uh so yeah, so that that that's just been great. And there's some other features too. For example, we maximize whiteboard space in all the rooms for um our BTC work and and math classrooms and others. So it just really transformed the space there. So thank you again to the board. Um so as far as culture and climate, we thought we would just highlight some of the the ways of how we do business at John Walls, what it's like to be a staff member there, but also from a student perspective. So Mr. is going to help us and just kind of share how we do our professional learning and committee work. How that's been a collaborative effort which really over the last I'd say probably 3 to four years has really shifted from being led
035primarily by the administration and coaches to being a collaborative effort with our teacher leaders in the building um who are now assisting us in leading learning and professional development with our staff in collaboration with us. uh and the behavior expectations which we developed um collaboratively as a school community um with our students with our staff with members of our parent equity team and also community members just talk about that process and how we have those behavior expectations which we're rolling out now on a side note Mr. Trillo was at at a meeting um for the Connecticut Association of Schools two days ago, I think it was, sharing our process uh to other administrators building principles and um they were so impressed with the work uh at John Wallace uh that Mr. Trilla had done that
036they asked him to present at an upcoming leadership conference to uh uh just explain that process and how you can have a collaborative effort in developing these behavior expectations. So kudos to him for that. and a little on student voice on just how are students helping us roll out these behavior expectations and having a voice in that process. >> Hopefully those videos will be working or we might be doing a couple of new refreshes now that we're checking on those. >> Well, to first start off with professional learning comm and committee work, this is an area we've actually been developing over the last few years and now has gone into complete fruition. So what we've been doing within it was we started off first and as most schools do kind of having that top down
037version of professional learning where it's the administrators are presenting out to the staff going through a PowerPoint presentation. About two years ago Mr. Das and I both said that we needed to come from within. It needs to be teachers being able to talk to teachers about what we're learning, what we're doing, what they're doing great in the classrooms. And last year we did a collaborative format of that where we worked together with it through our equity work. This year we even took one more step back where Mr. Das and I and both our two coaches are not even involved in the actual professional learning anymore. We are there we're helping to guide but at the same time it is fully facilitated fully developed by teachers for teachers. So one section of it is through academics
038through what's called the learning pit. It's an area of thinking of that productive struggle when we talk about with students to make sure that they can be able to handle when they start to hit that block where they're just like I can't figure this piece out and not quit. It's helping them get through that component of it to be able to keep persevering, keep finding a way to get through. And then on our school climate side, which is through restorative practices and through these new behavior expectations. So the process is actually developed. We have six staff members who are focusing on the school climate section and six staff members who are focusing on the academic section. We break down into into three groups, two teachers and two teachers. The class time is split. So both
039get the the learning too. So, it's not a situation of if you're one of the individuals presenting, you're not actually getting the professional learning. Everyone receives all aspects of the professional learning through it. And we've been doing that since the start of this school year. We have received great feedback. Staff are fully invested in it. Number one, and secondly, they're able to have really authentic conversations cuz myself, Mr. Diaz, our coaches are not the individuals giving the presentation. and we're able to walk around to each group, letting them have that vulnerability within their conversations that they're having to talk about what they're seeing within their own classrooms. The second part to that was through our committee work. As we've talked about a little bit before in the past with some of the work we've done
040for our school climate, we have a format for our committees that is a through line that each committee builds off of the one before it. So, where we start with where we have our equity teams, we have a student, parent, and um staff equity teams. They at the top of the top of the list are the ones who look at all data with inside of our school whether it's academic or social emotional or discipline data and they start to look for trends and start to see what are areas we need to focus on as a group. From there that information whether it is academic moves into what's called our instructional leadership team whether it is uh dealing with school climate meaning the social emotional side or discipline side we'll focus on that area. From there
041we break that down into really getting down to the nuance areas of it. If it is dealing with our social emotional learning, we want to work with our advisory crew as the ones that are creating lessons to help support students within that. And if it is from our discipline side, we're looking at those trends, determining on strategies and supports we can put in place for students. And that's where our behavior expectations were coming into play. So our work that you see here as we do that is allowing everyone having a voice inside of the school. Students and parents get a chance to go and provide feedback based off of as they're being told about these information. And when we strayed these behavior expectations, which I'll be able to go into a little more when we
042get to that section, parents were actually involved in the actual revisions and discussion pieces of how it should be written and what they want to see. Same thing with students, same things with staff. But through this, that's how our our committee work works together to help facilitate and actually develop. So again, it doesn't feel like someone's telling you this is something you need to do. It's built organically within its own self, which we which helps to build that shared responsibility across the board for it. We were big believers in this icons of collective efficacy. So um our role as as administrators and our coaches are are more taking that coaching role that that facilitation role and assisting and you know building the time in for our staff to be able to do the research kind
043of helping set the conditions making those connections back to our school improvement plan and kind of guiding the work. But it is being facilitated by our staff. We've received very positive feedback um from our teachers as well. our behavior expectations. This has been about three years now in the making. This started with our equity work and through restorative practices. And what we looked at was what is it we really want out of students. So we think of different actions that happen inside of a building. We know that's many of the times that's just responses or ways of being able to communicate when students have any behavioral issues. We needed to find out what were the main things that we wanted to see out of students. We had to have a lot of really hard conversations.
044We had to really drill down what is it we're looking at. So when you think of a student say comes into class wearing a hood and a student doesn't listen to you and you ask them to take it down. What are you really upset about? What's the part to it? We had to kind of go keep digging deeper and deeper till we got to the point realize it's respect. I feel like I'm not being respected if I'm not being heard at that moment. We were like perfect. That lets us know respect is one thing we want to work on as as a building. As we did this work, we got to a point where our entire staff needed to meet in small groups and really focus on those specific words. It got to a nuance
045section of that, but it allowed us to really break it down and figure out that the things we really focused on were at that time were respect, responsibility, and then we really came down to safety was our last word. From there, we brought that to our students. The students agreed with respect and responsible. They felt safety wasn't the right word. They felt it was being mindful. Once we saw that, we said we thought that was great. We needed to hear from the students at that part. We brought it to parents. Parents gave their feedback too. And the same exact thing and they actually liked our three choices of words of what were going to be our expectations. That was the end of that year one. Year two then became the development of well what does
046this mean? What is going to be our shared definition of those words? It couldn't just be something that we found inside of a book. We had to say what do we believe it is and how are we going to say this is what we're going to stand behind inside of our building and we did the same work throughout that year developing that and then seeing what does that look like in a classroom in a hallway in the calf on the bus we had to figure each of those parts out and then we had to speak to students and get their feedback on it and also families on it. Our parent equity team last year really did help with a lot of the process of how are we going to write these pieces? What were they
047hearing from their kids when they got home? what were they worried about when they're inside of schools and wanted to make sure for behaviors they wanted to see from their own children. Those whole areas is what developed our behavior matrixes which we then piloted throughout that year. And now we're in the point of actual full implementation and we're the development now of creating lessons to be able to teach it where again this shared leadership came into play that was created again by uh staff, students and parents both provided feedback. But now we're at a point where you'll see two examples of it. The students are taking responsibility and creating videos of what it should look like and what it shouldn't look like inside of the school. So again, it's not a situation of administration kind
048of coming in and saying this is what it is. They wanted to be able to show it themselves and be able to show what it could be when you when you put it into action. So this is one of those first videos. >> So hungry last year. Why you going so fast? So, as you can tell, that was for the cafeteria for for behavior expectation of what it would be like to be responsible in a cafeteria. So, they were able to show that for there our second video. >> There's some workarounds here, but I think >> listen, I'm just happy the videos are working. So, I don't care about being mindful. >> Hey, that is not being mindful. You're not thinking about maintaining a safe environment. And you also have a very loud volume, which
049is not maintaining an appropriate volume. >> Sound is very yummy. Hey, what are you doing, bro? You're not being mindful in the hallway. >> Sorry, I was running from the deer in 998 TP. >> Thanks, TJ. That's why I was just about to say in the hallway, we being mindful by being aware of people and things around me. We should also have an appropriate volume level, which you definitely didn't have. Now, let's look at what being mindful in the hallway looks like. >> Hey, did you see those new fidgets in the school store? Yeah, they're so cool, man. >> If we keep on being mindful in the hallway, we can get those fidgets with Wally Bucks. >> Yeah, that's epic. >> When we see you following these expectations, you get Wally bucks like I have
050here. And you spend them here at the school store where you can buy things like pens, fidgets, and earbuds. That's all for now, Wildcats. Peace out. >> So, our plan is to actually use many of these videos. the every grade level. I should say every grade seventh grade has been focusing the main part of it, but they're making it for all of our areas. And the plan is going to be next year when we go into our advisory lessons, we're going to make three specific ones. One on mindful, one on respect, and one on responsible where we're going to use those videos to be able to start class discussions around it. So students will be able to be like around the room. will have five different stations, one for being say the cafeteria, one for
051the classroom going through and the students will be in small group settings to be able to have a restorative circle and talk with each other about those areas and what are they seeing to try and really help them to get a deeper dive into why it's why we need to be that, why do we need to follow through with these behavior expectations. But our main thing we thought in the very end was we can show these pieces of it, but we wanted to have student voice on what they think of our culture and climate. So, what you have here is some of that. You may want to put on the closed caption just because some of them speak a little quietly. So, it's a better education. That's really it. Like, the kids here is a
052little different than the last. I like Yes, I do feel safe because there are many teachers around to help us and there are many safety things to make sure that everyone is safe here at John Wallace. I think staff does respit. I feel like whenever I'm struggling or if I need a minute to just calm down, I can go to several places in school and I can just relax and have a talk to somebody. Yes, John. Everybody is very welcome. So everybody that's our culture over at John Wallace. >> Thank you. Are there any questions, comments? Miss Beatric, >> this is wonderful. And I remember when you presented last year, too, or the year before, I'm getting it mixed up a little bit. And I was struck at that time um that the amount of
053attention and the thoughtfulness that was put into rethinking the whole process and that the measurable gains that were made in all sorts of of different areas and being really really struck by that. I can't believe how mature these students are. I mean, it's for seventh graders, it's unbelievable. Um, and the fact that everybody has ownership, the the students have ownership, the parents have ownership, and together as a team, the empowerment of all of those voices, the the success and the gains are are measurable and continue to to grow. And I think we all know sometimes middle school can be challenging. You know, there's a lot of changes that happen, a lot of behaviors that can be challenging or things happen sometimes for reasons that the the kids don't really understand. and to have their voice
054and they understand that their voice is just as meaningful as the adults that are involved in the process is so uplifting and empowering for them. Those are the belief in those students is going to carry them through, you know, the high school experience and and on afterwards as well. So, thank you so so much you and your team, your all of your team, your student team and your parent team as well for everything that you do. Um and it points again to why import how important the equity work is and that a lot of the success and the forward motion comes from that deep dive and how we um think about equity and how we think about um allowing um our students to play to their strengths and how that grows everybody forward. So again,
055thank you so much. I can't wait for next time, you know, to see the updates. >> Mr. Chararma >> like so thank you so much for your presentation. I love I mean all aspects of it especially with the behavior the experiential part of it learning from the past. So it's amazing groundbreaking. So thank you so much >> Hollerith. >> I mean this presentation like literally hits home for me. Um I have uh for a lot of different reasons I was fortunate enough to serve on the last board and was able to see the beginning of this and it was very theoretical and aspirational and to come away 3 years and see it really starting to have this communal growth around it. It's really something you hold on to and it's making real results and I
056think you can't prescribe culture. it has to kind of organically be shaped and I think that's exactly what you've done here. Um, also I remember going to orientation with my daughter and looking around the school I'm like that's a shower curtain for a door. Um, and I just think the I'm on the committee but just to see it come through it's a completely different school. Uh, and for all the right reasons. Uh, the students love it, the teachers love it. um great work there and you know I have a middle schooler John Wallace who's been there for three years so I've been able to see her come home and talk about this and I've seen some of those videos none of the ones that were shown tonight uh we have some very creative students there's
057been special effects there they had a lot of fun with them but I think it's a way to make them feel like they are part of the process and in a way that is a positive and fun way to do it I can't commend you enough I mean I think that this is how you shape the culture um by including the people who are affected by it the most. Thank you both so much. >> Miss Faver echo everything that was said. Um and now I have someone to text I think of I saw a familiar face or two there. I was like wow could have some future board members or uh at least some uh dramatic arts in their future definitely. Um but as was said, I think one of the great things is always
058the um stakeholder engagement and truly being um good stakeholders and bringing everyone in. Um I think one of the things that has really been a great um asset to the larger district is your leadership on this of bringing in parents, bringing in students and making sure um that all voices are at the table. um because especially when you are a student I think there is always um a concern that you don't have the agency and giving agency to students at this young of an age I think is one of the greatest things you can do for them um and I think it builds right into our portrait of a graduate um where we're seeing them be critical thinkers be self- advocates um and be active citizens in a participatory process so thank you for building
059this kind of process not surprised that we'll be an example. Uh so thank you. Um and just congratulations of course again on the success. Um always look forward to hearing from you guys on this. Oh and I just want to say thank you to all of the um building folks, all of our folks um pim and Sean who serve um Steve Woods um to the whole Wallace committee. Thank you guys for continuing to keep that on time under budget in the most beautiful way possible. Um it is great to see all of that green um and to see it really come to fruition. Um so thank you guys for the time and effort. >> Well, thank you for your presentation. I um like Mr. Dr. Hollerin said when you first came it was you know
060very abstract and very you know the the work was just beginning but I think that um just as everyone else has said too the involving the students and I think that you know this the even the word from safety to mindfulness it really is like the students own word and I think that just will I mean the videos are great but like just it just allows them to feel like they're you know they know what they need to do and it means something to them or safety like adults, we always think of your safety, but for a kid to like come up with the or kids to come up with that word mindfulness, I think it really says a lot. So, and it's really great that also, you know, we talked about the students being
061involved, but the teachers, too. Like you said, the the teachers are developing and and facilitating and and you're there to support, but I think it also is really important for for the staff. The teachers not to have to just be told what to do, that they're part of the process. And I think that's fantastic. I just have a question. How many of the students are on the team committee? >> The student equity team? >> Yeah, >> there are about eight of them. >> Eight of them. And are they all different grades or >> all different grades, all different ethnicities? It's a great group of students. We use both them for feedback. We also use our student council for feedback, too. >> Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for for coming. Congrats on your promotion. And we
062already congratulated Dan. So >> yeah, thank you so much. >> All right. Dan, move back to your back to your post. Um, all right. New business. We have an administrative review of the child nutrition program. >> Thank you very much. I'm pleased to invite Dana to Marabix to join us tonight again. Uh I do want to give her and Chrissy Roy a huge shout out. They prepared quite a while for a audit that comes along of their program thankfully once every five years but this was the year and um they went through it like champs. But what I wanted to share with the board and one of the reasons why I wanted Dana to present this evening is that the team that visited was so impressed that they requested uh a meeting with me to
063share their uh unbelievable accolades of our program under Dana's leadership. They said they you know sometimes these meetings are kind of sorry guys, you got a lot of changes to make, but this really wasn't that way. They were very impressed with the staff they met. Um they know they went to E Green and there was a second school. Was it Wallace? >> Wallace. >> So those and the folks at those respective schools did a great job as well, but I really wanted to thank Dana and uh Chrissy because it's it's a lot of work and you it's a lot of stress, but they came through it with flying colors. So now I will turn it over to Dana to give us an overview a highle overview of what some of the takeaways were. >> Right.
064Thank you. Good evening everybody. Uh I am pleased to share a brief recap of the recent administrative review. Um it was conducted by the Connecticut State Department of Education um child nutrition programs and they looked at both our school breakfast and national school lunch programs. Um these reviews occur approximately every five years and our last review um was back in January 2018. The purpose of the review is to ensure compliance um with both federal and state regulations and also to support continuous improvement of school nutrition programs. Um this year's review process was comprehensive and included um an extensive off-site review um during which we responded to um more than 200 detailed questions and we submitted over 60 supporting documents. Um, there also was an on-site review. Um, and that was conducted January 27th and 28
065of this year. And as Dr. Brummit u mentioned, it was at John Wallace Middle School and Elizabeth um Green Elementary School. And during the visit, um the state reviewers did validate um the documentation that we submitted. Um they observed u meal service operations um both breakfast and lunch and they did assess um compliance across all required areas. Um kind of just to review um what they covered. Um there were several key components of our program and this included um meal access, accountability and reimbursement. Um and they were looking at this just to ensure that all students have appropriate access to meals. Um they looked at eligibility terminations um were accurate and meals are properly counted and claimed for reimbursement. Um meal quality and compliance. Um they wanted to confirm that our meals um do meet
066federal nutrition standards and that we do offer all the required meal components and correct portion sizes are served. Um, we also, um, had to submit information on our financial and resource management. Um, they needed to verify that because our program is a nonprofit school food service account, um, they wanted to make sure that it's properly managed and that all revenues and expenditures are allowable and well documented. Um, there was quite a bit of general program requirements. Um they looked at civil rights compliance um on-site monitoring um which we conduct annually and that's where we really go onsite um to the different schools and we really want to just make sure that they are claiming meals correctly because that is attached with federal dollars and so that is really important that you know we're offering what
067we need to be offering um and that we are charging accordingly. They also looked at our food safety plan. Um we do have hassup books in all of our kitchens. Um they wanted to make sure that we were in compliance with healthy food certification um by American requirements. Um we are allowed um to spend about 10% of our overall um food costs with items that are not American. But we do have to track that and we need to document um which items um don't meet the biamerican requirements and I would say bananas are really um one of the big items um because we do offer those um we do offer bananas um on our menus. Um, we also had to document all of our professional standard training that we do with staff. And I really
068am kind of, you know, proud of what we do. Um, with the staff, uh, we do food safety sanitation training. Um, we remind them, you know, what does a reimburseable meal look like? What do students have to have on their tray? Um, we do offer versus serve, but we also do, um, customer service training, which is really important. And something new this review was procurement procedures. So this was something new and Newington was actually the first um non-management company to have to go through the process. So it was also new for the state um and that was something that we did well in as as well as the actual general um administrative review. I am very happy to report that overall the review was very positive. Um there were minor corrective actions that were identified
069um but no findings resulted in fiscal action against the district. um as overwhelming as an administrative review can feel um it highlights the tremendous amount of hard work involved and it makes it even more rewarding um to see the program um emerge stronger after the review than it was before the review. So, that's kind of like my focus. And I, you know, we when I talk with staff and we kind of um kind of prep them for the training, you know, we kind of do go over what the state's going to be looking for, um what questions they may ask, um how they, you know, might be able to answer the questions. And I'd have to say, you know, they really were um proud of what they do and they kind of wanted the state
070to see um all the great things that they do. And um specifically at Wallace, Denise, my manager, and she was really great um helping put the review together as well. And the staff a couple days before the on-site portion, they would be coming in like, "Okay, Denise, you need to quiz us. We got this. We know it." And then she would be like, "Why do we have a HASSA book?" Because they kept like asking and they did very well. She finally was like, "You guys got this. You know that you got this. Stop asking me these questions because you're doing very, very well." But again, it's just the fact that they wanted to do very well. Um, I think just speaks volumes about them. So, I would also say the best part of the review
071was how complimentary the reviewers were about our district. And, you know, Dr. Brumit did, you know, mention that. Um earlier uh Mr. Greg King, he noted the professionalism and the cooperation of our food service staff and specifically highlighted the welcoming environment in our cafeterias. Um they also did mention uh Mr. Doran. Um he actually met the um reviewer and he walked her down and they kind of talked about stuff. Um they're very impressed with Brian, the calf aid, and all that he does for the students. um the fun little games that he or prizes he hands out with, you know, good behavior and that sort of stuff. So, she was like over she was really impressed with the overall e- green school. Um I will say it was especially meaningful to hear that reviewers observed
072the strong rapport um between staff and students as well as a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that we offer daily. Um, they also commented on our creative trend driven menu options, um, which include noodle and rice bowls and vegan chicken sandwiches that we do offer. Um, Mrs. Jen Boveve, she did comment that she has never seen salmon on a school lunch menu and that the staff, she was like really impressed that the staff at Egreen knew all the students by name when they were going through the line. Um she was also impressed that we offer vegetables cooked with different ingredients um to encourage students to eat more vegetables. Um for example, instead of just serving steamed broccoli, you know, we offer roasted broccoli with garlic, trying to make it a little more um
073appetizing for them. And it truly was rewarding to hear such positive remarks um particularly from reviewers who regularly visited other school district and previously were food service directors. Um so they've been on both sides of the administrative review. Um their feedback reflects definitely the dedication, the care, the professionalism of our food service staff. um what they bring to their workday every day and the important role they play in supporting stool students overall school experience. Um, we talk about the connection the staff has with students. You know, every year when the employees are recognized at the board of ed meeting for cafeteria workers day, you know, I enjoy sharing, you know, staff stories of these connections. Um, but hearing the state talk about the staff, you know, certainly kind of supports um supports this. I would
074also like to thank the board for your support in revising the local wellness policy and the meal charge policy in response to the review. Um as a result of the procurement section of the review um we need to revise um our micro purchases language. Um it's kind of specific to the child nutrition programs. Um, I know that we're working on a draft um policy to kind of be presented to the policy committee before it moves forward to the full board for um discussion and action. And Dan um Diaz and I are meeting tomorrow to discuss it further. Um I also want to thank um the board and you know senior administration as well um for the support of the school breakfast and national school lunch programs and I would like to you know shout out
075to my staff for all their hard work um not only for the review um but what they do every day for our students. Um so that's kind of the brief overview. Are there any questions that you may have regarding the review or any of the, you know, corrective actions? >> No questions? I don't think so. But com Oh, yeah. It's comments. Go for it. Dana, I just want to say Okay, sorry, technical difficulties. But Dana, thank you so so much. Um, kudos to you. There's not enough kudos. Um, we have the I think nearly 15 pages um just of the uh all the things you had to submit, the review, the absolutely deserved praise of all of their programming. Um, it is always always a pleasure to have you and your staff present. Um, particularly
076when you come and present all of the amazing meal options and all of the incredible creative things that you're doing. Um, and then just to see the immense lift that this is. Um, cuz I was going to say I was like, I don't remember this when I've been on the board. Okay, makes sense. 2018. Okay. Um, this is a lot. And, um, I just cannot thank you enough. cannot thank your staff enough um for all of the work that you do day in and day out to um not only make this look so easy um because this is like frying my brain right now looking at all of the different >> boxes and all of this um but just I mean I'm not shocked because we know how incredible it is but I'm so glad
077that um you're able to get those in in the biz um to get that positive feedback um because clearly it is so deserved. So, thank you for for doing all this. I know we have our policies on the docket tonight to pass in in light of this. Um so, we'll get on that on our end. Um but just thank you again for what you do. Please extend our gratitude to um your staff as well. You are a rock star in your own right and so is your staff and um cannot thank you enough for the work that is done on this and and day in day out. Um I am very glad this is only 5 years. uh every Friday, but um >> me too. >> But still um the work is incredibly appreciated. >>
078Thank you very much, >> Miss Beatress. Um, just to build upon um, what Miss Weaver was talking about, I think it is so incredibly important for our community, but especially our school families to understand the um, intricacy and the seriousness and the um, considerations that not just you and your staff undertake every single day, but that you've been recognized by um, the state, you know, to that you do such a wonderful job. Our families need to understand and now do understand the immense amount of work and responsibility that this is. And we always want to remember that for many of our students um especially those who are a little bit on the the the tougher end of of um life that this may be one of the only um real nutritious um meals that they
079get every day. And so we want to do what we can for our students, but especially our most vulnerable students and our our families have confidence now knowing that this um nutrition program is so incredibly important. It reaches into so many different directions. It is managed in a way that is appropriate, responsible, and creative. And it's always the students that benefit the most. And I think we all know that when students have access to good healthy nutrition that impacts their um abilities to learn. So thank you so much for everything that you and your staff are doing. You should be super super proud. >> Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Hollerin and Mr. Sharma. >> Uh thank you so much. uh hungry kids can't learn and I think that the service that we provide is absolutely
080vital to everything we're trying to do as a board to uh complete our mission uh to complete the portion of a graduate and then I'm going to use a a well-intended pun here. You have a lot of spinning plates in the air at the same time. Um you've got to say are we in compliance? Um is this affordable at scale? Is this nutritious? And then I think the hardest one is will they eat it? Um, and I think that trying to find that balance is a daily struggle and the results of u this o overview are are fantastic. There's always going to be things that we can do better on. Um, but I think that, you know, kind of just going through the report, um, I can see why they were impressed. Like it is
081taking it to the next level and I think that's something your whole team does every single school day. So, thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Mr. Sharma. >> Hey, so I just want to thank you for the presentation. It was excellent. Um, I love the idea of u the menu selections that you have and also like focusing on students. I mean, encouraging them to eat more vegetables. That's amazing. Uh, you know, instead of steamed broccoli, you know, sauteed with garlic, that's amazing. And having salmon on the menu. So, you know, incredible job. We're really proud of you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Um, Dana, I just have two questions. The the policy that you need revised, is there a due date for that? >> There is. It's March 6, but I can get
082an extension. >> Okay. >> I was going to say because we um don't have another meeting. Well, yeah. I don't Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I'll touch base with Dan um to see I know he's meeting I think March 2nd um with the policy committee and then we can kind of look at realistically when we can maybe get it in front of the board for a vote. Um so I just need to reach out to the state and ask for an extension >> and they even said during the exit um conference that that wouldn't be a problem. >> Okay, great. And then um for the findings um the wellness committee is that something the district has had previously or >> um I think we last met like in 2005. >> Okay. Okay. >>
083So we're going to reinstitute it. Yes. >> And Mr. D as in uh Miss Maravitz are already on it. there's this uh he Dan is already as has Dana reached out to numerous stakeholders and the committee is already I think jelling together with good membership >> and our goal is that they will meet at least once before the end of the school year. I believe the guidelines are two to three times a year. >> Okay. >> So we will be back in the saddle with the wellness committee very soon. >> Great. It would be fantastic to get an update from the newly formed wellness committee. Um, but that will also be something I would get an extension for >> because we will be all completed by March 6th, >> right? Yeah. Okay. And everything else
084like is there anything else on the findings that you are concerned about or like it's all I think you said and threw it. It looks like you know put up a sign or >> I know those little things got me so mad. I'm like really? So I I was like so bothered even by the little things. But it is what it is. We didn't have any financial sanctions, so that's good. >> Yeah. No, that's good. >> I'm not concerned with anything else with the corrective actions. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Most of them >> already. >> Great. Thank you. And I think just the fact that you were concerned about the little things like a sign. It really just speaks volumes to how much you and your staff and everybody care about the work that
085you're doing. And as Mr. Hollerin said, it's, you know, very important. you can't teach hungry kids. Um so I just want to thank you um your staff and I loved hearing the commentary um from the visits and and just the interactions with the um you know visitors into our school and and how the cafeteria workers are interacting with our students and just everything. It's really great. I love when you come because you just always have that extra little special touch and it just makes I don't know. It just really feels good to to know that the students are all taken care of when they come in for breakfast and lunch and and just shows how much that you and your team and and everybody cares about the work that they're doing. So, I just huge
086extra super thank you. I know this was a lot of work, especially since it's supposed to be done every 5 years and it was 2018 the last time. So, you know, extra couple years of not having to do it is, you know, it's it's a lot. So, thank you so much and thank you for coming to our meeting. It was fantastic presentation. >> You're welcome. Thank you. I just wanted to add um that I did think of you when they mentioned the fresh fruits and vegetables because I know you like to say, "Well, you know, Dana likes her variety of fresh fruits and vegetables." I've heard you say that many times. So, when they said that, I thought of you immediately. >> Love it. >> Okay. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you so much.
087All right. Have a good night. >> You too. >> Thanks. >> All right. Board policies 6142 101 and 3195. Well, I think Miss Marovitz kind of put in why we need these policies. Uh so the justification is there. Um so 6142101 we've already kind of put multiple times to the board and kind of discussed as a full board. We did not really make any adjustments um that were any kind of of substance. Um I just noted in the free and reduced lunch part. So all of the red is new language um to kind of match the findings from that um audit. But uh just adding in that we have a free and reduced lunch policy already. So, um, just noting where there are places where there could be duplication or areas where it makes more
088sense to have more in greater detail information on for lunch. That's why you put it there. Um, and that's one of our correctly uh numbered policies. So, that will stay corrected in that number. Um, but yeah, I think everyone has seen all of this. All of the minutes for all of these things are all within the guidance of that. And then I think as Miss Freeman had pointed out, if we keep kind of going down, um the last time we met as a board, we talked about celebrations. You can hear my conrnation a lot about this. Um that's really mostly applicable to the elementary schools. Um so, uh Miss Freeman and I think it was then Mr. university added in this new um new language um that was there and I think curriculum was good
089with it, policy was good with it as well um so that it's it's more clear of what that looks like um and what who it's applicable to. >> So Miss Freeman said we revised the language to make it more broad. >> Correct. So um that gives and it's clear at the elementary level and they have their own protocols and that kind of stuff. So that'll be at the elementary level that this is really applicable to. Um so yeah, and then if we keep scrolling down to just of note, um we did just change and make sure it's clear. Um this is reflective of what our current um minutes of physical education instruction and physical activity are. um we will get docked for not having the ideal amount, but um I don't know any school that
090does have the ideal amount uh and then still has time to teach their students. So um we'll get like a one versus a two. If we did not have the specificity, we would not get any. So this is kind of the best way we can get on this assessment um for that. So, um, we all agreed, uh, on policy and I think on curriculum too that that would be the best course of action. And then we just made sure it was clear throughout the policy the, uh, delineation between, I think it just said physical education or it said PE. So, I just made sure all of them said physical education. And that was kind of the main ones. Everyone else has seen all of the other fun of this. Any questions or comments on this?
091I'll say Dr. from it. >> I I wanted to add that as part of the U exit conference with the state representatives, I let them know that we wanted to make sure this language was realistic for Newington. I know that was something we were challenged by or concerned about. So, they gave me the name of someone in their department that oversees the policies and they gave this the eyeball and gave it the two thumbs up as well. So, I think we're in very goodstead with all the work done on this policy. >> Yes. And thank you to all of the different hands that had to be on this uh and extensive research that had to be done more than I think any of our other policies on that one. Um so gratitude abounds for that
092one. Um and then the other one is just 3195 which is one that we had already looked at which is our meal charging policy. Um we literally only changed one word in it and that's just to apply to alakart. I think you'll see it. Um sorry we changed the phrase too. Okay. we were only going to change or alleart and then this is what happens in policy. You start looking at it a little longer and people go oh maybe we should change this and stuff. So um between Miss Beatatric and Dr. Stanley. Um we agreed to um just the verbiage of um it said for adults and we just wanted just the phrasing was a little off. Um so we changed that to understand what adults is referred to within the scope of this policy.
093Teacher, staff and visitors and that >> I was doing with DT. >> Yes. And that is why. >> Yep. >> And that was the thought. So those are the only changes there. Okay. Oh, and I'm sorry. This was the other addition we didn't add, but this was to be in compliance again with the um with that policy or the audit, >> which is something we do, but it wasn't Yep. This is anything that anything usually I will say for the most part is just codifying current practice. >> Okay. Any questions on this one? Okay. We >> All right. Voting on that. >> Yeah. I will entertain a motion or I can do it. >> Let me just find it. It's not. Sorry, I just have to go through all of the audit. I got it.
094Actually, there's no recommended motion. You can Okay, you can make it up. Okay. Uh, I move that the board of education approve the adoption of policy 6142.101, student nutrition and physical activity, student wellness policy, and policy 3195, meal charging policy, as amended. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hey, we are voting on the two policies to approve. Would you please do a roll call vote? >> Mary, >> yes. Thank you policy team. Thank thank you everyone. That was a big policy and definitely a lot of discussion that had to go into that with many different parties. So thank you for that. All right. Next is setting Newington High School graduation date. I'll turn over to Dr. >> Thank you very much. Um I know we've discussed this at
095the board table in the past that um public act 19195 allowed school boards to set the graduation date and then after that if there are any more snow days that does not impact the graduation date. Um but prior to it being setting set it set um snow days do affect the graduation date. So, uh, right now we've had three snow days, which now puts our last day of school at June 22nd. Um, we did explore the possibility of, um, allowing seniors to have 180 days, which would have made graduation for them June 19th. Unfortunately, the venue that we utilize, the Oakdale, is closed that day for Junth. So, it really left the uh next available date is June 22nd, which is currently the last day of school for everybody. If the board does pass this
096tonight and we have another round of snow days, it does not need to change. We are in good shape going forward. Um, so that is where we're at. Uh, this is in I this administrative team at the high school is in support of setting this date. Some folks have wondered why we didn't do it sooner, but if we said it sooner and there are the snow days like we just had, then seniors are getting out numerous days ahead of underassmen and that does create a lot of uh challenges with the schedule for exams and other issues. So, uh, Principal Tigno had asked that we hold off um until this point in time. So to be clear though, once it's set tonight, if that's what the board chooses to do, that further snow days will not
097impact it. And I will turn it back over to board chair for further discussion. >> Are there any questions? More discussion? Yes. >> Yeah. I mean, I think none of this is ideal. This is like the winter from, let's just say me and Punk Tony, Phil have some beef right now. Um, and I think everyone's grappling with this, too, obviously. Um, and I think I know it was probably looked at just confirming with like every other date too that like, you know, I know people have April break and people have stuff planned already and I know people have stuff planned after. Um, and this is never the ideal. Um, this is probably as much notice as we can give. Um, I would want to give more notice than not notice. Um, and just honestly pray
098that we just don't have any more snow. Um, but this has probably been one of the worst winters we've had, I think, in like some time, >> according to the meteorology reports since 2018. Um, so yeah, I mean, I I think um my my uh position would be um reluctantly have to support because I think we're in no place to to go um other than the state. So, thank you for looking too at what the possible dates would be as well. Um and appreciate the administration looking at what the flexibility would be. >> Yeah, I agree. Um I think don't think it's an ideal situation, but I think we need to set it now because this is as much notice as we can. Um and I think that just coincides with everything. I'd also like
099to move that the superintendent knock on wood for uttering the phrase another round of snow days. >> Um we let's just pray and hope we don't have any more. Um but I think that uh yeah I would be in favor of setting it to the 22nd as well. >> Mr. Chararma >> I think based on like everyone's advice I believe I mean if the high school admins are okay with this date right? So >> yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think we don't have a lot of choices. So I think I think it works out good if we do that this date. >> Okay. Um then I guess we need a motion. I move that the Newington Board of Education approve January 22nd, 2026. >> I'm sorry, June 20. >> Then we were waving
100June 22nd, 2026 as a farm graduation date for students in grade 12 at Newington High School. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? >> June 22nd. I think uh yeah I think since admin admins at the high school um think this is the best date and that's what we should do. Um Deb when you call the role they're not able to hear online so do you want to just use the mic? >> No. Or maybe Dr. Bar's mic. >> Okay. >> Um Mary Beatress. >> Yes. >> How? >> Yes. >> Arisa Lensing. >> Yes. >> Timothy Newton. >> Yes. Amy Paratt, >> yes. >> Brian Skebo, >> yes. >> Sam Sharma, >> yes. >> Dr. Gail Stanley, >> yes. >> Jessica Weaver, >> yes. >> Motion passed 90. >> Thank you. All right. See
101a lot of you on June 22nd, 2026. Be a very exciting night. >> No more snow. >> All right. Wait for the song. Take note. >> Next up is um cancelling a meeting. >> Yes. I'll just briefly explain. Um >> why are we doing that? >> I will be uh out of state at a conference and uh looking uh collaboratively with the board chair about any pressing agenda items. We felt that it could be canceled without a negative impact into any board business. We did have one presentation scheduled that night, Martin Kellogg, but they've graciously agreed to move that. Other than that, we didn't have anything that was pressing for that meeting. >> Also, it's Charlotte's birthday, her fifth birthday. So, um >> definitely she will thank you, >> Miss Vaver. >> I can remember
102when it was like her second birthday. This is now she's >> Okay. Um, I will move the board of education cancel the regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 25th, 2026. >> Second. >> Thank you. And um, as Dr. Brema said, there's nothing right now that's pressing, but if something does come up and we need to, we can always schedule >> a meeting. >> Mr. Newton, did you have a moment? No. Um, so yeah, if needed, we will schedule another meeting at Yeah. >> Can you please call the fellas? I don't know. I'm tired. >> Mary, >> yes. >> Sean Hollerin, >> yes. >> Marissa Lindsay, >> yes. >> Timothy Newton, >> yes. >> Amy Paratt, >> yes. >> Brian Skeo, >> yes. >> Sam Sharma, >> yes. >> Dr. Gail Stanley, >> yes. >> Jessica
103Weaver, >> yes. >> Motion passed unanimously. 90. >> Thank you. All right. Budget time. Alrighty. Uh once again, uh budget team amazing has been back at the drawing board looking for more ways to save money. Um and hats off to uh Lynn Bo who's here this evening and Karen. uh they've and all of my team actually Kristen found some more uh uh savings for this budget. So, everyone as the board can see has had a keen eye toward what can we do to make sure our ask is as low as possible. So, um what we did since our last meeting is dive into many areas. So, I'm just going to kind of go into some of these questions that the board had and then I will certainly show um some of the potential for more
104reductions. There was questions among the board about the school-based health center. Um my understanding today is uh some funding that could impact this has moved through the Senate successfully. Um and uh we're awaiting word soon from uh I believe tomorrow's legislative action, but the board did ask what exactly uh is the legislative uh body looking at. So we did share at the request of representative Turo a one pager about everything that the school-based health center does. And um this is kind of the overview that was presented to this legislature and they have it. I saw it in an attachment to their documents. And we are requesting funding to allow us to sustain our current scope of services which is a full-time behavioral health clinician and that is her salary up on the board of 75,000
105annually or during the school year. a part-time advanced practical nurse um and her uh 2 days a week at 64 373 supplies and equipment and then uh indirect cost which is the oversight from integrated health services. So um we are currently supported by a grant but it is going to expire at the end of this year. Some of that original grant money was used to procure equipment that we no longer have to procure because we have it. We had to make some adjustments to some of the rooms, but that's all set. So, um, I did want to provide the board with that information that they requested. So, that is now linked into this presentation if folks want to dive a little deeper into it. Um, I don't know if there's any questions in that regard.
106>> I do not see any. Okay. The next uh area that the board had questions about is the non-lapsing fund. It does not bear any interest. I believe we might have answered that last night, but I wanted to make sure. Um there was also a request for a 5-year look back of the tuition charges that we have here in the district for our out of district placed special education students. Um, I mean, as I said earlier, you're not going to see a lot of districts in the state that have declining costs there. And again, I give full credit to the special education department for growing our in district programs. That allows us to serve our most challenging students, some of our most challenging students right here in Newington through a variety of programs. Um, so
107you can see from last year to this year, we have dropped our tuition request. Um, so I believe we've already done our due diligence in reducing that cost. Um, but we've been hovering around 4.3 to 4 to almost 5 million um, in previous years and next year we're requesting 4.1 million. So it does we do reflect in that uh ask the experiences and real projections of what students we have currently as well as a five uh holding spots placeholders because it's would be uh un unrealistic to go through an entire school year without having at least five students requiring it many of whom come to us from other places already outplaced. So, this is kind of our five-year look back of what we have spent on uh out of district placements. We do factor in
108that the um excess cost grant is applied. So, that's already factored into the ask. Um, and this change has um, we also have done submission of tuition uh, dollars for Medicaid as we talked about the other evening, but this that's a pretty small component of this. What we wanted the board to see is we're we're heading in the right direction with our lower ask this year and we're pretty proud of that. So, I think we've done our due diligence in our request. >> Thank you. Any questions on that? Um, just back to the non Well, first for this since it's on the screen, um I do think that's a very like it is kind of good to see or like nice to see that it is down from that 2122 line the 5 years back.
109Um and that's even accounting for the you know potential for new students to come to the district. And I think you know I've heard like anecdotally that Newington is a very um great town for special education. And um I just want to thank again the the staff and the special department, all the teachers and everyone who supports those students for um doing as much as we can. The ESS program definitely helps as well. I think it's used over a million dollars um right on out placements. So I think just just all of that combined, it really is um a good number to see and good to see that look back where the like you said the cost is going down for those students. Miss Weaver. >> Yeah. Just curious, is there any particular driver of
110we got the public nearly cut in half but then the private kind of doubles. Is there any particular reason? Do we know that or is it just >> when they split it, they split it inaccurately. >> Okay. >> So it was switched. >> Okay. >> So we corrected it going forward. So like from I'm just talking about from 25 the um the public is is crack. >> Okay. >> And crack has less than the out the the larger outplaced >> places. So there's the the reason it says four and 4,464,000. If you look at the actual budget, >> these are the this is the budget. This is not the expenses. The expenses were flip-flopped. >> Okay. >> But you asked for budget figures, so I gave you budget figures. >> And just to clarify, the
111public expenditures refers to CRE students who are in crack or other magnets that are special education and they require us to pay for services and that's build to us. We have to spend that or pay that out annually. The private would refer to kids who need to go to an out of district private placement uh for highly specialized services. >> And you're saying the it's it's not accurate the 571 and 464 that it was just allocated incorrectly or did the cost of the private school outplacements increase significantly? >> I'm not sure. when they split them, they just split them to the wrong budget number. >> Yeah, there's no question in my mind that the private placements would far exceed. Yeah. >> Um, you know, average cost of outplacing a child is >> 80 $80,000. So,
112>> it would definitely add up pretty quick. >> Although, again, we are able to apply excess cost to this line. >> Some outplacements can be as much as $500,000 if it's impatient. >> Okay. Go. Um, thank you. Any other on the special ed tuition? Um, just back to the non-lapsing. Um, can it be interesting? Like what's the rule about that or is it is it and the town gets it or what's going on? >> The reason it's I was given that it's not in an interestbearing account is because they do not know when we will need to use it. So, they don't put it into the state um fund, the stiff fund. they they keep it in an account that also helps create compensating balances so that we don't have to pay for all the
113checks that we process. >> Okay. >> Because we we process quite a lot of checks. >> Okay. So, it's okay that it's not just from your experience, your professional experience. >> In in most places, you have to have the compensating balances or they'll charge you5 or $10,000 a month for your banking services. So, it's not a bad thing. Okay, Miss Weaver, we could put it in the stiff account. Just wondering given that he works down the hall for me. Um, he's only wondering and I know they do the daily like cash flow. So, I'm just curious if that I mean it's not much of an interest rate. I mean, they don't offer too much, but would just be curious if they're like if there are accounts that we could use with stiff just because >>
114I I don't know the answer to that. Um, we could certainly explore it further. >> Talk to the guy. I'll add his call. >> But I, you know, that is true. We may need to access it. So, I don't know if there's penalties for accessing it too quickly like some other banking type accounts. I just >> usually have usually because the stiff account has a daily liquidity fund. So, they have a certain amount that they have to have on daily liquidity. So, usually it would be that, but that's just >> me nerding out right now. So, I will I'll come back to that. >> No worries. But we can explore it further. But we we basically reached out to Janet just to see her understanding and that was her understanding. >> Okay. Okay. And then
115um the last Q&A that we have recorded here is what was really the driver of last year's realized savings. So, just to quickly do the math, uh, we ended up with a balance at the end of last year of 1.497 million. We had to return 600,000 to the town because we only had a 1% cap at that point on our non-lapsing fund. We weren't able to um put any more in. So, that um went back to the town and it spent a little time in the non-lapsing fund, but it went back to the town. Um, so that left us with a balance of or a transfer of to the non-lapsing fund. The board was notified of this and memos um sent by my office and Mr. Jackamo's office last year at the end of last
116fiscal year. When we did a look back, uh, the most significant component of that was employee benefits last year and really diving deep into that. we were um we had overbudgeted for employee benefits um ironically and a a little bit in other salaries but interesting this year employee benefits skyrocketed by 18%. And ironically having it slightly overfunded last year made this year's increase less painful. Um if that had been more closely um budgeted for we would have had a huge leap. I think we were talking about it earlier today of well over a million dollars if not $1.7 million in our benefits cuz we did and continue to get a quote of an 18% increase in our health benefits and then in a year when we're trying to add more people to the health benefit.
117So that is the real driver of the realized savings when we did a deeper dive at the end of the year and the board's familiar with this. We have to reconcile everything. So there's pluses and there's minuses. Some accounts were deeply in the red. They get back filled and other accounts were and when the dust settled, the driver of the majority of that uh realized savings which ended up going to non-lapsing was the employee benefits. Um other salaries is uh things like the retirement increment and other um ancillary funds that we have to set aside for certain benefits for folks. Uh that was slightly overfunded and other lines were to be clear these weren't the only lines that were over or underfunded. the the goal the the process is they get balanced at the end
118of this uh fiscal year and the net was in a look back this particular area. >> So okay any questions or comments on any of this? >> Uh go ahead. >> So just to be clear too the employee benefits now we're much tighter on that. >> Oh yes. Yeah. Okay. >> Yes. And and to full credit to Lynn and her new set of eyeballs on our budget, she's done a lot of deep diving into it, looking at actuals, looking at trends, and did a lot of heavy lifting in that this year. So, we're budgeting it pretty tight. Um so hopefully it's we feel comfortable, but if there's any type of catastrophic issues, um that could be a challenge. But right now, we really wanted to um continue to look at our trends and paint as
119close a picture for the board as possible. And in fact, when I get to the reconciliation page, you're going to see some additional work. >> Okay, >> let's go there. >> Um just quick snapshot. Um, as we head into tonight's meeting and the work done by the board on the uh meeting online the other evening, the board adjusted the budget last I guess that was Monday by a million dollars using non-eling resources and brought it >> I don't think we voted on that yet. >> Um, we talked about >> I believe we reduced it to 5.53 by adding >> We voted on that. >> Let me get to my budget reconciliation page. I didn't think we did that. >> I thought we just did a corrective. Yeah, I thought we >> Here's what it looked
120like at the end of the meeting on the 23rd >> because I think we were talking about whether or not we wanted to um add in the um schoolbased health center and Norar Academy and use it from non-lapsing or increase our ask. >> Correct. So, I don't know if we voted that $1 million non-lapsing, but maybe we should review the notes. >> Yeah, that is what I have in my um review. Um >> that's what I have in my notes. I mean, we have we have further uh reductions here, but what I believe that we the board did do is agree to use another million dollars in the unlapsing fund because I >> Yeah, we we do. >> I don't know that we voted on it. So, I would feel more comfortable if we kind
121of just made a I don't know like reconciled that cuz I think I know we voted on the correction. I just don't recall. Does anyone else have access? >> We didn't vote on it. Yeah. Okay. >> And it was in the sheet already, but I don't think we actually voted. >> Thought we just voted to correct the look at the minutes. >> Yeah, I was going to pull them up on the back table as well. I believe >> Yeah. Didn't we? >> We approved that. >> There would be additional cuts, which I believe there are. There are there were there was one that came up at the end of the evening from Miss Freeman that weren't part of this tally, but um well, we can folks can do a little research on the minutes. Um
122so we make sure our >> motion tonight is accurate. While we're figuring that out, um the additional things that the board wanted to be discussed this evening are the reinstitution of or put back into the budget, the Nor Easter Academy, which is $100,000, as well as the student student health center, which is $160,000. So with those in along with assuming the non-lapsing is in what we may need to add a motion tonight to straighten that out. But fiscally if the non-lapsing money is in for another million and we add back in the Nory Academy and the student health center the board would be adding $260,000 in for an increase of 5.82%. 82%. >> I have the minutes here. >> Okay. What do you got? >> The motion was Jessica Weaver moved to correct the adopted
123budget for 2026 2027 from 97,69843 an increase of 6.64% 64% to 97,682,153 or a 6.62 increase. So it wasn't >> didn't go. Okay. My apologies. We we had not noted it differently on our reconciliation sheet. So I will correct that slide. Although I'll just correct it with >> it's okay because we're going to add it in there. So, um, >> so that being said, then let's roll that back up. So, the board voted on a 5.63 or a corrected 5.63 the other evening. If the million dollars is offset into the budget, then the budget goes to 5.53% and that does include PAR benefits. Adding back in the Nor Easter Academy and the health center again puts another 260,000 back into the budget which would bring it to 5.82%. But then with some uh good work
124done by both uh Kristen Freeman's office which she did bring up briefly the night Monday evening but we didn't have a chance to uh put it into this reconciliation sheet for board purposes but we've reduced supplies throughout certain funds. We did. One of the reasons we were able to do this is um >> I don't we're not seeing what you're seeing, but it's weird because you are sharing. Oh, there you go. >> Okay. Sorry. It's all right. Sorry to confuse everybody. >> Getting up at 440 is just not good for me. Um and we looked at supplies. We looked at um we found that there was a grant overseen by uh Seth Korn for AP courses that we could use some of to offset some AP expenses that were in next year's budget that has
125to be spent before the end of the year. So you can see these are small reductions but yet they do um add up to I believe it was over $40,000. Additionally, we wanted to um look at special ed contracted services, reducing that by $100,000. >> Transportation. >> Yep. Special ed contracted transportation services. Correct. We looked at that a little deeper because um with the outplacements getting a little less involved, we checked with Dean today about whether we could cut that a bit more with fewer kids requiring that transportation. he felt comfortable with the $100,000 reduction. We also looked at repairs for transportation. We looked at a 5-year look back and felt that could be comfortably reduced by 50,500 and other supplies and transportation. Uh we looked at a reduction of 8,50. We did talk to
126Dean as well about tires. He said no, he needs the tires. He only he can only go so far. Um and then um talk to me Lynn about the ad special education contracted services back when the budget was first done. Um Marilina had accidentally not carried the ABC over. She spoke about it earlier. That was the ad back of that $28,000. >> Yes. >> Oh, we didn't account for that up ahead. So, with all of the ins and outs, um, this would put a net increase of 5.63%. Which includes adding in Nyster Academy Schoolbased Health Center, but also the reductions um, listed before you on this reconciliation page. My apologies I for thinking that we had already uh the board had already approved the additional $1 million in non-lapsing. So we'll correct this reconciliation page
127to put it under tonight's business as well as the slide that already put it in for tonight as well. Um so I will turn over to board chair for any questions. >> Okay, Miss Weaver. No, thank you for that. I think we were all in consensus about the use of that. So, um, but obviously you wanted to wait and I knew there' just be some special finds. Um, and this one does include, uh, Miss Freeman's mention of those cuts as well. Is that correct? >> It does. It's in the >> purplish purplish. It is all of those things are included. Okay. >> Yes. >> Um, over multiple lines. Okay. Um, so I guess um my question would be about um the funding. So just for transparency in public we note that the let the Senate
128met today and in that there is 1.5 million for fiscal year 26 27 and 1 million >> 25 26 um and 1 million but it's across the Senate 9 district. We don't know and I know there's someone in the room that may know more. Um >> he claimed he claims. Okay. Um we don't know how much of that will go to it's for um this is Senate Bill 298. It would be for school districts in Newington, Weatherfield, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, and Middletown aka the Senate 9 district um for support or establishing school-based mental health programming. But it is not clear how much we will get from that. >> Correct. >> And we will not know until after it's passed. and it has not passed the house yet. So, um I feel comfortable with the amount
129of cuts that are happening. So, appreciate and noting that we have to get this budget before March 1 to the town. Um I I think one it's in a a great place and I think our conversations on Monday I think highlighted the the real importance of the schoolbased health center. Um and I I feel that I think we are in agreement. I won't speak for all of us, but there is a consensus here and I feel strongly that it's a great program. Um, and hearing the the benefits that that students have. Um, and I feel like it's important to keep that in the budget as is right now. Um, with probably an asterisk that we could reduce if we do get some of these monies. I anticipate some monies, but I we literally have no
130idea how much monies that is. Um, and I don't think it's responsible budgeting to simply give over a budget and then say we will get some monies. We don't know how much. Um, that's just not smart. But I feel like perhaps um, we could let the town know. We anticipate these funds. Um, this is our our budget request as of the state as is always the case. Um, I feel like there's been a lot of cuts and a lot of um, attention at a incredibly granular level. Um, so I feel good about that. Um and I feel like with the u big asterisk that there is room for um small reduction, well indeterminate reduction, I guess, knowing um that these funds would be coming to us, which uh one to thank you to our our
131legislators for for advocating for that funding. Um it's incredibly important to have the state give any of us funding in this kind of day and age. Um is a continual fight. So, thank you for fighting for every dollar here. um long rant over, but just wanted to say I think it's um I'm comfortable with where the budget is now as a budget request um and noting that we can have discussions further with the town on where there may be um room for further reductions in light of this upcoming legislation. >> Dr. Stanley, >> thank you and thank you Lynn for all of the hard work and everybody uh on this budget. I just wanted to um sort of remind people that even though we're using 2 million of the non-lapsing fund, we're still expected to
132have money come back to our non-lapsing fund at the end. Um but that is an uh not that is an assumption, but it's not a guarantee. Um and I think we're kind of in this nebulous position with providing PAR benefits that we absolutely need to do. um but we won't know the actual true cost of that until the end of the year. So I would be hesitant to reduce the budget any further. I think this is a great um starting point and then would be um working on budgets getting it closer and closer um to realization but not being too risky with our budgets um year after year. But thank you everybody. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions about anything budget related? >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I I um Oh, Mr. Newton
133had his hand up. Go ahead. >> My question is, do we need to do two motions? One to put in the 1 million we didn't do last time. >> No, we can do it all at once. >> Procedurally, we can do it all all at once. Okay, that's I was just concerned about that. >> Okay, thank you. >> Um, so yeah, I think that if we're um good with the proposed cuts and few additions, we can do that right now. Um, I agree it's super important to put in the um the placeholders for both the Nor Easter Academy and the student health center, schoolbased health center because they are important programs as we've discussed previously. Um, and then we all just we talked about the the additional 1 million for the non-lapsing. So, and then
134yeah, again, thank you to the staff um for continuing to look at the budget and continuing to find cuts. And just a reminder, if if anything else pops up, we can always um we'll wait and I'll say that later. All right. So, we would be able to entertain a motion or do we have the total or >> 9? This is the grand total and that's the percentage increase. >> Do we have to um >> the total deductions like the total reductions? I think is >> and the final budget is 96 771. >> I use Excel magic and uh >> I love Excel. That's me nerding out. Oh, I just wanted to know >> while while we're covering the numbers, I just wanted to know in that legislation too, I know there is a um civics
135seal. So like we have the seal of biiteracy. I know there will now be another seal that our students can attain. So would look forward to having some of our students involved in civics >> or bias. I know. >> Yeah. We're just crunching some numbers. Think we need some music. Yeah. >> What was that? We need some music >> to all those online. Sorry, we're just crunching the numbers for the exact >> reduction it will be. >> Oh, >> while Lynn is doing that, I do have one more factoid to show. >> Oh, >> another fun fact. >> Fun fact. Um just to this 16 >> 9 7 62 >> Yeah. Minus. >> Yeah. Yep, that's what I got. >> Then I have a reduction of 910. >> Sorry. >> Nope, you're fine. Yep. We're
136all matched. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Back a motion. Everyone move that the 2026 2727 board of education budget be adjusted by the subtraction of $910,942 as reflected in the budget reconciliation document submitted by the CFO. >> Second. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second which will make our budget ask 96,771-211. Any further discussion? >> Roll call vote, please. >> Don't do that. Okay. >> Mary Beatress. >> Yes. >> Sean Hollerin. >> Yes. Marissa Lensing, >> yes. >> Timothy Newton, >> yes. >> Amy Paratt, >> yes. >> Brian Skebo, >> yes. >> Sam Sharma, >> yes. >> Dr. Gail Stanley, >> yes. >> Jessica Weaver, >> yes. >> The motion passed unanimously. 90. >> Thank you. All right, last call for anything. budget related before we look to transmit it over to
137the town. >> Yes. Oh yeah, your fun fact. >> My fun fact. There was a question too about the services provided by our health center. So this is a depiction. I believe this was shared with the board at the end of last year, but new board members would not have seen it. I will link it into my presentation but it outlines the the services provided kind of an summary of um the type of services the frequency so um by gender it's kind of a big graphic so this is I know there were questions about who how who's impacted by the health center what's our VA added value what are our kids benefiting from it so all of this is en encompassed on this chart chart that I believe um new board members would not have
138seen. So I will link it in next to that other chart that gave that one pager that we shared with the legislature. >> So thank you. This yeah I recall seeing this but just looking at it now it's really telling >> how important the schoolbased health center is. So I'm glad we're adding it. >> Thank you for sharing that. >> Okay. Okay. So, um, as Miss Weaver alluded to, there there is potentially some legislation coming. Um, we don't know. Oh, well, hold on, Gail. I see your hand up. I'll give you one second. Or did you have something based on the schoolbased health center? >> No. Um, not on the schoolbased health center. I just um can you remind me, are we voting on or ask for the buses or what was the arrangement with
139the town? Um the buses we already submitted our proposal and we um the update that Dr. Brema had received was that the town manager is going to reduce to 800,000. So that's kind of already done and we just got a sneak peek of um cap capital. Yeah, it's capital budget. Um so we just got a sneak peek of what's going to happen. So if we um need to advocate for more, we will do so at the town council and that process is already the capital budget has already been submitted and and um yeah, >> so this is just for the um the operating budget that we've we're going through. >> Okay, thanks. >> Yep, no problem. Um, so as alluded to earlier, there is potentially hopefully some money coming, some for this fiscal year, um,
140which won't affect this current budget, but some for next year. Um, hopefully we get, um, some some good funds coming our way, but we won't know until maybe tomorrow, maybe not. We don't even know if the house what they're going to do. But um anyways, TBD, but what I was saying is that if that comes through and that's something that we can reduce the ask or if there's any other things found between now and even up until the last minute of town council approving the budget, um we can always suggest changes to the town council for consideration. So we the board wouldn't vote on them necessarily, but the town council could. town council. I just also want to remind they don't do individual line items. They're giving us a whole um number percentage increase. Um
141so we have the board has the ability to um allocate to different line items. The town council could do um gives us the full number. So but anyways, we're we're going to work collaborative with the town council, collaboratively with the town council. Dr. Brema and I will present on the 10th, but then again, there's still time to make changes as if necessary or provide suggestions to the town council if necessary. Miss Weaver, sorry. Yeah, I just like to give this caveat every year like this is because of time constraints. I don't ever really like this as the ideal, but uh and Lyn and I were talking about I'm like, how did some towns do this in February and budget for these things that it's just wild to me. Um this is our budget request. This
142is not the final budget as much as I would like it to be and that we could know all these things. Uh this is the art and science of a snapshot in time. Um, so I feel as though the due diligence has been done to get us to this point and I feel really good about this. It's actually one of the best budgets I feel about, you know, being able to balance the needs of our students, but also looking um really closely at all of the line items and really digging into um what are the cost drivers and um in our budget. So, um, want to thank the staff once more for all of the hard work that has been done, um, thus far and know that there is still going to be work after
143this. So, um, I hope that, um, we all feel that we can can support this budget request, um, but also note that there will be work on the other side of it and good work and that we should be expecting hopefully monies from the state. Um, which is something I hold uh, with such hope. Um, but just want to say thank you for that. Um, I will I will be supporting um this budget request tonight and uh with that asterisk of knowing that there will still be likely um more things to come, but the gratitude is there for all the the cuts that have been found and made um and the efficiencies while also the programs that are being provided um that are incredibly important to our students. >> Dr. Stanley, >> thank you Amy.
144Um I just had a question. So those further suggestions that um is made from the board of education, how do we get notified on what those suggestions are before they're presented to town council? >> Um if we have a meeting, we will be able to discuss um if notified what money we're getting. Yes, >> there is board meeting before our our town council presentation. >> Okay. There's no board meeting before our town council presentation, but um if but we will be notified. Dr. Bman could send out the um to the full board what we would be getting. So that would be one. Um if anything else comes up, we'll we'll just um communicate not illegally through not an illegal meeting, I guess. Is that what you're asking? Yeah, because not that I'm thinking that she
145would do this or you guys would do this, but it does leave potential that, you know, you could suggest cutting an item without the rest of us knowing about it or voting on it before it's presented to the town council. >> Yeah. Um, we won't do that to Miss Weaver. >> Yeah. I think the only thing um would be I one I don't think you wouldn't be able to take administrative action on anything that we're still in the process of requesting. I think the biggest thing is just knowing how much it would cover the grant would cover for current programming or current programming requests. So that would just work as an offset so to speak. So I don't think it would affect anything and correct me if I'm wrong Dr. it that wouldn't affect cutting
146anything so to speak just how much we're getting from the state to cover the programming that we'd like it to be offered. Is that correct? >> Yes. The whatever the board lands on tonight for a budget adoption and transmitt to the town manager is what it is. Then uh we would wait and see if we get any funds from the state through some of the things that are pending right now. I would share that out with the board and then it would the board chair and I could share that with the town council during our March 10th presentation because if we are getting resources to offset the cost of the schoolbased health center um we would there'd be a potential for the town to have some offsets by that grant money that we're getting that
147we don't know yet if we're getting it. Does that make sense? We can't change what we send now is what they're going to get. And then the next thing that happens is they give us their recommended uh cuts. >> Yeah. And um if the town council does choose to make any cuts like above and beyond what we said here, that's up to them, their purview. That that's their role in this process. We go forward with our recommendation and then they ultimately give us a number. So the board will um say they say this is great but cut a million dollars we're going to give you 95771211 and then we have to come together and say okay we have a million less now what do we do um and that's our decision on on how to
148reconcile our ask to the actual amount that the town is giving us um so I don't think anything would be cut per se or um adjust trusted from our perspective, but the town does have that ability to to do it. It's not something that we would decide until the end. And I know it's a confusing process and there's definitely a learning curve. So, um, if you do have further questions, we'd be happy to discuss or something comes up in front of anyone. Mr. Sibo, >> yes. Is there is there a a hard topic we can get for this presentation for the board for the uh proposal >> of this spreadsheet or >> uh of the proposal itself? Is there >> um yeah the full sorry the full budget book will be um uploaded to the
149website. >> It will um but we are planning on uh revising it based on tonight's final determination. And there's going to be another column added to the budget books that says board of ed approved. And that's where you'll see the the differential between what I proposed and then what the board ultimately has approved this evening. So that'll be um in a column on every page of the budget book with the differentials. Um, and that will be posted. We anticipate it should be posted to the website by Friday or Monday at the latest and provided those copies for the board to have updated pages for their books. We would do the same for the town. And then I don't know if I'm answering all the questions that just came forward. >> Um, presentation. >> Yeah. The
150whole >> Yeah. >> hard copy of the PowerPoint. Yeah. What you're gonna give to the town council and did you want to ask I >> can you put your mic on? I'm sorry. I don't think I hear you >> to to reference to look at you know the whole chart and then see compare if there's any changes. >> Okay. >> So you that possible? >> Yes. So looking for a full print out of the PowerPoint that was that we've been going through. >> Yeah. The whole budget. >> Well, the budget proposal is the book like the the binder. >> Is that the money as far as >> the cut this the spreadsheet that can be printed and sure >> I will send that out to the entire board. Okay. >> I think he wants a
151hard copy of it. Hard copy. >> Him and Marissa requested a hard copy. >> We'd like hard copy. Sorry. And we could get Sorry. Can you just put your mic on? Is it on? Okay. Go ahead. >> Sorry. Um I would like hard copy of what you're going to present to the town council just so I could like I like to put next to each other because I computer screens too slow. Love >> too small to put them on two pages. just want to um the presentation for the town council will be um a slim down version of what she presented, but there I do want to caveat that it will probably be worked on up until the 7:00 on Tuesday the 10th. So, um >> I don't know, but yes, >> we can provide
152a copy. >> Absolutely. Um as soon as it's ready, I can share it out with the board. it it to reiterate, yes, the town had already seen my full presentation a few weeks ago. I will probably skinny it down because they don't need to hear the same information twice, but probably what would be focused upon is some of the updates that they haven't already seen and a brief summary. But to bottom line answer the question, yes, the board absolutely can receive a copy of my our presentation to the town council um on or prior to March 10th. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Sorry, learning curves over over here. >> No, it's fine. It's fine. And yeah, I just want to reiterate that we're not going to go and make any changes as far as
153like what we've discussed here, the numbers or or anything um without telling the board. Um but it is the responsibility of us to to go and present it. So on behalf of the board, I will be speaking to the budget and and what we've talked about here, taking into consideration all of the um perspectives and discussions that we had. So, if there were questions that come from the council, I would I would then share what the board discussed as throughout this process. So, it's not um no one's going to play games with the numbers or anything. We're not going to change and and look for more or less money. So, um what we've talked about here on the record in public is is what will be presented to the town council. >> All right. Thanks,
154Annie. >> Yep. Okay. So, we can look to have a motion to transmit the board of ed approved proposed budget to the town manager. You have that? >> Yeah. >> Do you have Do you have the number? You have the number. Okay. >> The Yeah. >> Yeah. All right. Move the board of education transmit the 2026 2027 budget to the town manager in the amount of 96,771,211 which represents the increase of 5.63%. >> Second. >> Thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Any discussion at all? Okay, please give her >> Mary V. >> Yes. >> Don Hollerin. >> Yes. >> Oh, >> Marissa Lindsay. >> Yes. >> Timothy Newton. >> Yes. >> Amy Paratt. >> Yes. >> Brian Skebo. >> Yes. >> Sam Sharma. >> Yes. >> Dr.
155Gail Stanley. >> Yes. >> Ethical Weaver. >> Yes. >> The motion passed unanimously. 90. Yay! We did it, guys. Um, first time in my history that it's been unanimous. I'm very proud of that um that >> vote and it definitely >> yeah it's not over yet but but we did a lot of work and I think that we had some very great discussion and I was very pleased um that all of us seem to be on the same page as far as a lot of the the items that we discussed. So I just want to thank the board um for the work and also of course Lynn and Dr. from it and Kristen and Dan and all of the Marilina. Yes, Marilina with all that special ed Karen. Um, everybody upstairs, all the administrators in
156the schools, just everybody who um, everybody in the district basically just everyone. Thank you. Um, but no, it was a lot of work and I'm um, just proud that we have done it. We didn't have to add any meetings and we got to cancel one. Um, okay. So, that's done and, um, Dr. Brahmitt will send our, um, board approved budget to the town manager by the first, >> probably Friday. >> Bless you. >> All right. I will now open it back up to public participation on any matter related to board responsibilities. Um, no one in the room. If Oh, sorry. There is Hammond. you're in the room. Um, anyone in the room can come to the head of the table or if you're online, you can raise your hand to be recognized. I'm not seeing
157any. Oh, sorry, Dana. Go ahead. >> Hi, Dana Havens, 113 Stoddard Avenue. Sorry, I meant to uh do it at first public participation, but I hit the wrong link and couldn't get in. >> Oh. Um, all right. I I would like to address the email that I pre previously sent to all of you and the response from um the SOS. Um, her email states the fact that the principal was present with a signup sheet. In my view, that reinforces the perception that the walkout was a school approved in schoolled activity. Perception matters, particularly when it involves controversial issues and student participation. during the school day. I want to reiterate my position that in order to remain in compliance with your policy number 6144, uh the high school should now provide a balanced and informal presentation.
158This presentation should be intended to advocate for uh should not be intended to advocate for or against ICE, but rather to explain why the agency exists as well as outline its procedures, its policies, and its legal framework because it is legal. Providing factual neutral information would help ensure students are informed through an objective lens and would demonstrate adherence to the district's own policy standards regarding controversial issues. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> All right. I will move to remarks by board members. >> Miss Lindsay, >> I just want to thank you for um helping us newbies learn. You guys are doing um very appreciate the not dumbing down but just like explaining every little thing and dealing with us. I really appreciate that because I know I I haven't asked enough a
159lot of questions but you guys are answering them before I have to ask them and I really appreciate that. Um, and I want to thank everybody that did uh find all the things and all the um things that were wrong that they were able to correct them and bring and uh take out and all that. So, I just want to thank everybody and uh as you said, Amy, I think we all work very well together. This is a good uh good uh team here. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Skeo. Yeah, I like to u mirror what Melissa did. Uh especially, you know, a lot of you all have kids in the system and you know a lot of stuff and um it's uh you know good to learn with you guys and really dive deep
160and see what's going on. So I appreciate it as well. Thank you. >> Mr. Hollerin, >> I'm going to respond to my other two fellow board members. Um we were new at one point. I don't think it ever gets easier. You just start to understand a little bit more. Um, but I really appreciated um your uh opinions and perspectives. I think with the most diverse perspectives, we kind of come to the right balance. Um, and I do think that this board is working very well together and I hope it continues to do so. Uh, with the addition of Lynn, um, I think this was the smoothest budget season I think I can remember. Um, and I think that, um, I'm just really happy to to have you guys here as well. So, we get to
161do more fun stuff and hope you guys can go to graduation. It's a good time. >> You'll be on stage, Marissa. >> Uh, yeah. I just want to once again, I don't think there are enough things in this. um particularly the amount of hours, everyone who sits here at this table for multiple hours. Um for everyone who has to block off February from their calendar completely. Um we have the saying in my family that like sometimes some months are like deceptively quiet and others are obnoxiously loud. And um February is an unnoxiously loud month. Um uh and I just want to especially give a shout out um you know we had some offline conversations with with Gail and Tim and Dr. Stanley and Mr. Newton. Um and just like the collaboration here um this is
162my seventh budget and um that was really meaningful um to have new perspectives. So um just cuz you're new does not mean that your perspective doesn't help. And I think that's what's beautiful about this process is because everyone brings such a a different perspective and a different viewpoint of their interaction and touch point with this district. It's really helpful um to get those different perspectives. Um so thank you to to for the collaboration. Um you know I think former chair Fletcher would always say like this is not really the partisan place. This is really where we collaborate a lot and I think um that was uh very evident in this board in this process. Um so I will say um my first budget season was with Dr. Brummit at um during co so that was
163not as enjoyable. Um so we started at a low and we just keep going up. So, um, want to thank everyone who put the time and effort into all of this, um, into all the papers, into all the spreadsheets, into all the numbers, um, and those around this table online. Um, I think we have an Oscars list, uh, worthy of a of a longer speech, but, um, it really doesn't go unnoticed. This is not an easy job and particularly in um the times that we're in particularly I will note again with where state funding is at and those kinds of things. This is really on the towns to do a lot of the leg work. So thank you all for doing that and um appreciate all that is has come and all that is to
164come um as we continue this lovely art and science that is the budget season. Thank you. >> Do we have to do Tik Tok videos like John Wallace show in collaboration? That was that was not Tik Tok. Um Mr. Chararma. >> Right. So I think I just want to thank everyone. I mean this is probably my sixth budget and this is like the smoothest. Um the budget book is much smaller, concise and you know next step is for us to hopefully get all the money that we ask. So thank you. Thank you everyone. >> Yes. Beatress. >> Oh yeah. Oh, you're waiting. Okay, >> I do want to thank everybody, of course, um for all of their hard work and just um this collaborative effort has brought to the town council some really, really, really
165important items. Um and I can't stress enough, these are items that we feel are important. These are items that um people in our community have actually told us are important to them. And so I really want to stress um again and again and again that we as a group believe very strongly that our paras um deserve and and should have the insurance benefits. We believe our students need to have a health center in our school. We need to maintain our noraster academy so that our most at risk students are able to graduate. And these aren't just things that we came to the table thinking individually. this was a collaborative effort and it's reinforced by what we hear from people in our community. So, it's it's a pleasure to do that hard work. It's a pleasure
166to learn from people who are doing even harder work. Um, but we we do bring that to the council with a a very uh strong feeling of collaboration, but of deep responsibility. Um, and that's a responsibility to the community, but especially to our staff and our students. >> Thank you, Mr. Newton. I just like to say that this is my third budget and it is by far the most transparent I've seen and that lends itself to accuracy which is what I think our taxpayers want. I don't think they're necessarily opposed to us spending money. They just want to know where it's going and how we're spending it and what it's for. And I also believe that there was no agendas on on the part of anybody on this board in the in this budget session
167for me that you know we we made our decisions based on our own convictions and we're not going to agree on everything but we did agree that in the best interest of the children and the taxpayers ultimately is why we were elected. So I'd like to thank everybody for that. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Um I just want to I already said my budget piece, but I do want to thank the um the the bus drivers, the paw workers, the maintenance people, everyone who cleared sidewalks, all the you know, everyone in town who homeowners who cleared sidewalks for kids to walk to school. Um every everything that was done um to clean up from that those two days of messiness. And um this morning I put Charlotte on the bus and I was like, "It's
168really snowing." But Mr. Chris assured me he's never had an accident. He's never had a ticket. He's got this and she got to school safe. She got home safe. So um thank you to all the bus drivers who did get all the students safe to school this morning. Um the weather was, as Dr. Bit put out in her email, it was not as predicted. And a lot of our surrounding towns also had a full day of school with no delays. Um, so it was Dr. Bett, you have our job, but thank you for always um attempting to put our students safety first and using the information you have. So, I want to thank you for that. Um, and everyone in the town and and school who got everyone to school safe today. So, um, and
169yeah, hopefully we don't have any more snow days. Graduation is a fun time. Um, Miss Rodriguez, your son can go to his his meet and good luck with that. Um, that would be f that's very exciting. Also, I want to know if um boys basketball won. So, I'm looking forward to adjourning this meeting so we can find out. Okay. Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Thank you. We have a motion, a second. Any discussion? >> No, I'm just kidding. >> What? All in favor? I opposed. >> Meeting adjourned at 9:27 p.m. Have a good night, guys. Bye. >> Thank you.