NPS BOE Meeting - (10/15/2025)

001Oh yeah, Marty's. We didn't ask Marty to come. Sorry about that. I'd like to call this meeting >> like to call this meeting of the Newington Board of Education to order for Wednesday, October 15th, 2025. The time is 700 p.m. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Dad, would you please call the role? >> Mary Bus, >> here. >> Brittany Carr >> here. Sean Holler here. >> Anthony Mill here. >> Timothy Newton. >> Amy Farad >> here. Sam Sharma >> here. >> Jessica Weaver >> here. >> Anastasia Y. >> I have Mr. Y. >> Thank you. Our first agenda item is a

002presentation for our everyday hero. I will turn it over to Dr. Bett. >> All righty. Well, thank you very much to the right tab here. Our first everyday hero of this school year is Jonathan Bruno from Martin Kellogg Middle School. Oh, look who just showed up. Mr. Lambert. >> So, I fig I know you've already figured this out, John, but you were nom nominated by John Famagli. Uh, and cool story, Jonathan, um, I'm sorry, John was Jonathan's student teacher and now they are colleagues and and he's his mentor now, but they work together for several years now. So, John Bruno has gone above and beyond in ensuring he teaches effective, culturally relevant, and engaging lessons to his students. His methods are researchbased such as building thinking classrooms and culturally responsive teaching in the brain. and

003he has he has been aiding many MPS teachers in incorporating these aspects into their lessons. The relationships John builds with his students speak volumes. From firsthand experience, I can say that John not only inspires but supports students to form their own math identity and mindset. The routines John builds in his room leads to greater student ownership over their learning and stronger engagement with the content. Specifically, Jonathan Bruno has helped me prepare as a student teacher and has been my mentor as I begin my tutor and high school math position. He consistently reaches out with constructive criticism and motivation to build me up as an educator, and I know his impact has reached the entire MKMS staff and beyond. That's true. John has allowed people to visit his room from all over the district. In addition,

004I have witnessed John step up to serve as an administrator on days when we've been short. John is always vigilant in this role with the goal to support teachers at MKMS with the added responsibility and ensuring his discipline is equitable and consistent. He is my everyday superhero. >> Mr. Lambert, you're here. You're dressed up. Get a picture. >> The uh MKMS contingency here. >> How you doing? >> Hi. How are you? >> Great. >> It's great seeing you. >> Smile. >> Which one? >> Very nice. Would anyone like to say anything? Would you like to? No, >> thank you all very much. >> You got a little bit. >> Uh, no. Very very welld deserved when uh this came down uh the pike. I I think it was I wasn't surprised. I'm going to be

005honest with you. Um but it was just so affirming coming from a student teacher. John is not just somebody who's uh is a classroom serves as a a lighthouse for building thinking classrooms and progressive math instruction, but in the larger school community. He is the staff member that provides hope, you know, in uh we navigate through uh sometimes difficult waters where there's new content, new information that needs to be delivered. And uh John does it with optimism um with a growth mindset. He's not afraid to, as in the math that he teaches, he's not afraid to fail in the first time and stick to it. And um and I lean deeply on him for promoting that in others. And he is an honor to work with and I just think it's so incredibly flattering that

006a former student of mine uh nominated a student um uh adviser, student teacher, you know, in John Bernau. So congratulations, John. Very welld deserved. >> Thank you very much. Would any member of the board like to anything? >> Oh my gosh. >> Um, fine, I'll go. Um, Mr. Bruno, amazing. Uh, I think one of the the points that stood out to me the most is optimism. And I think going through a lot of change, adapting to new methods, um, it can be discouraging, it can be frustrating, but if you lead with optimism, I think the kids are going to pick up on that the whole way. And I think that that's what makes for a unified classroom and a really good working school family. So, thank you very much for staying positive. Appreciate it. Well,

007I'm so excited for this. Um, I know I always come with like a biased story, but I'm so biased about this because this was like Okay. 2013 2014. >> 2014. Yep. Okay. Um, and he came in to uh fill in for AP stat for Miss Finelli uh when she was on Matt leave. And I was like, hi, who are you? I have no idea who you are. Um, but just an incredible educator. And then not only did you have the rascal that I was, but you had my sister um who was for two years, which God bless you because that girl and math was a lot. And um I think we hear it a lot of like the growth that happens um with a lot of our our middle school math kids is from you

008hear so many times we hear that and they're like it's just because of like you have those educators that no matter what it is, they're going to get you to the place you need to get to. And I was just telling him my sister got 100 in math for liberal arts, whatever that is, at Eastern. Um, but I I very much credit you on getting her through through those tough years. Um, because yeah, for the kid that maybe not um seeing themselves as a math kid, she really did did um flourish under you. So, thank you personally, but um obviously reflective of of MKMS and I love a Newington royalty story. Uh it seems like those come very often. Um and I think that's because of the education um we get and hopefully will foster

009the next generation. So I can't wait to have more of your students giving you praise in the coming years and making you feel just as old as I feel right now. But congratulations. >> Miss Petus, >> I was that math challenge student and the great irony is I do a math focused job. So, um I see myself as a middle schooler in the um gift that you give to those students by showing them even if it's hard, it still can be done. So, thank you very much. What really strikes me though is the leadership and you spoke very very highly and very eloquently about um what being part of a team is and how you influence young teachers coming up and how you make a difference in the leadership of the school and that's such

010an important piece of the conversation that sometimes we don't see every day. So, thank you so much Mr. Sharma. >> Hey Jonathan. So thank you so much for going above and beyond. So we really appreciate what you do. Thanks. >> I remember when you were here with Miss Bidwell, miss her. Um and did the building thinking classrooms um demonstration. It was very interactive and and kind of the I think you if I'm not mistaken brought that to the district, right? So not just adapting to but actually coming up with and bringing new ideas to the district which have proven to be successful and and as more and more teachers are learning and and continuing. So thank you for for that and for just um always looking for ways to be better and ways to improve

011and then mentoring obviously is super important. We love our teachers teaching teachers as well as students. Um just thank you for for being you and for being in the building and and having everyone love math. Hopefully. >> Congratulations. Thank you. >> And next we have our resolution honoring our Newington school bus drivers. Whereas Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 has been proclaimed as Newington school bus drivers day. And whereas the Newington school bus drivers have shown dedication and conscientious, that's a hard word, performance when driving students to and from school and to special activities. And whereas the Newington school bus drivers have outstanding driving safety records. And whereas the Newington school bus drivers maintain a close working relationship with school staff and parents. And whereas the Newington school bus drivers actively participate in community affairs and show

012a willingness to go above and beyond the workday. Therefore, we do hereby proclaim Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 as Newington school bus drivers day. Be it resolved that we urge all the citizens of our community to join with us in actively expressing our gratitude to Newington school bus drivers on this very special day. Be it further resolved that the Secretary of the Newington Board of Education is directed to spread this resolution upon the minutes of this meeting and to provide a suitable copy for presentation. >> Yeah, let's go. All our bus drivers >> Mr. Chris, come on. taking the time to come out tonight. Yes. Thank you so much. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Anybody want to say anything? >> We're tired. >> You told us. >> Yes. Most of our day starts 5:00 in the

013morning, 5:30. Drivers are arriving usually be before 6:00. uh some of the runs that have to get started to transport our out of town students uh that attend BTC Votech schools or some are even in town. But it is always an appreciation um you know as the director of transportation and working with this uh great bunch of folks. This is just a small portion of the of the staff that we have here in Newington that are dedicated. Some of them have lived in town over 30 years. This is a second career for them. They're still uh coming out every day and enjoying what they do. Some of our new folks that come on as drivers have retired. Um you know, some of our folks have retired but still come back. We have one that retired

014last year, still coming back, doing some sports trips, missed it, and uh happy to get in a bus every so often. So, it's it's something here in Newington that you have as a town that is special. um is drivers that are not only most residents of the town, have uh grown up in town, gone to school here in town, continue to work and serve the community. And it is for us as a group and and I speak for everyone that's part of this team that your support as a board and as a community um for what you have is unique and uh we pray and hope that it continues and they are dedicated and seeing them every single day. uh and their safety, their concern. As I've shared several times to the board, when I

015started here, I've never worked in as my 30 years in this industry, worked with a more dedicated and committed group of people uh that take their job to the the person um even starting out, finding out who the kindergarteners are, visiting their homes before school even starts so they can introduce themselves to the preschoolers and the kindergarteners and taking it upon themselves to ask for a root sheet to go and like, "What do you want it or I want to go visit my families to get to know them so that when they step on that school bus the first day as a preschooler or a kindergartener, they already know who the driver is. So, they take it upon themselves often to do that. So, it just shows their dedication uh to the community here in

016Newington and we do appreciate your support as well. >> Any board members? Miss Carr, >> a huge thank you to all of you. People nowadays can't drive. Every year it's getting worse and worse. So, the patience you all have, you know, to transport our students, to deal with the awful drivers on the road. People really don't understand the rules of the road, especially when it comes to buses and when to stop. We see it all the time in Newington, unfortunately, and the heart you guys give to your job. We really appreciate it. >> Miss Peters, >> um, even though my kids have uh, long since graduated, I can't tell you how excited they were when they were preschoolers to get on the bus, meet their driver. It was the best part of the day. Um,

017and as for parents, the attention and the caring and the love that you show our kids is just amazing. But the safety and getting our kids our precious cargo right to to and from school and from their activities every day is just the the most meaningful thing um of all. And so we know when we put our kids on the bus that they're in great great hands. And for that I can't thank you enough >> Mr. Chararma. >> I just want to quickly thank Dean and I mean the whole crew. So you know thank you for picking up our kids and bringing them back safely. We appreciate it. Thanks >> Mr. Hollerin. Thank you. One of the things that I love most about Newington public schools is the sense of community. And I think one

018of the biggest advantages we have is that our transportation fleet is part of that community. We don't contract it out. You are part of that system and an integral part for many kids. You are the first face they see in the morning and the last face they see from the system when they leave. So you get their day started off right and then you make sure they get home safe. Uh as a parent of two kids who take buses. Um I know some of the bus drivers personally and I think what I can see from the corner through the little window on the bus is that the kindness at some god darn early hour in the morning is shining through uh even on the rainiest of days. And I think that that really sets the

019tone for the rest of the kids' day. So I honestly as a parent, not even as a board member, cannot thank you enough for what you do. And we are lucky to have you. Thank you, >> Miss Beaver. I love our love fest where we give you as much love and then some of our bus drivers don't like it as much. They don't want to be the center of attention, I've noticed. Um, and they're my favorite kind of retirees because they keep coming back. So keep doing that. You can retire as many times as you want. and coming back. Uh we appreciate it. But just to echo everyone, thank you so much for what you do day in and day out. Um it does not go unnoticed. We hear so many uh good stories um

020about our bus drivers who literally save lives um and literally are are the the point people um thank you so much for for taking my cousins every day uh those little rascals um for dealing with a lot of it. you know, that's where all of the um craziness of the day ends up on the bus and the anticipation of the day and the beginning of the day um in those literally uh dark and rainy and cold ones that we're heading into. So, thank you in advance for all of that of maneuvering and and Miss Carr said, I think we're in just a very impatient time in the world, right? And driving is not good. So, as a PSA to think and all of our amazing bus drivers, remember to stop when they have their stop

021sign out. Please do that. It is the law. Um, but thank you guys so much um for all that you do. Uh, this is just obviously a small token of our appreciation. You deserve all the days. Um, and I really hope and and thank you for being patient and appreciative of this process as we get our new Garfield Street paved and all of those things so you can stop going out of the landfill in and out. Um, but thank you for always adapting and for for being um being there for our kids. Appreciate it. just to echo what everyone basically already said, but um we're very lucky in Newington to have this group of of bus drivers who are our employees and and who we um just we're lucky to have them and not contracted

022out or not for profit and we're just transporting our students safely to and from school. And Mr. Chris, I just have to say that Charlotte loves the bus and it was I think I like first day carried her on, right? And then day two, she's just up there sitting right behind well, we're in that first seat. She waves to me through the window and I just feel so safe that she's there tiny little four-year-old. I emailed Dean and I was like, "Are we sure my four-year-old can be on the bus and safest mode of transportation?" So, I think we're just like super lucky and I just really appreciate all of you. So thank you. >> Yes. And you judge Zoe too. So she couple more years for her. But yes, thank you everyone. >> Thank

023you. >> All right. I will now open up to public participation on any matter related to board responsibilities. Um we are eventually going to change our policy, but we will allow um four minutes. Um, if you're in the room, you can come to the head of the table. And if you're online, you can raise your hand to be recognized. >> Hi, my name is Scott Wino, 327 Walsh Avenue. I'm here tonight because I sent an FOI request to the town clerk on October 5th, 2025. I was informed that my request was forwarded to this on October 7th to the superintendent's office as it was related to board of education information. I have not yet received any indication from the board of ed that my request was received or is being processed under the Connecticut Freedom

024of Information Act. A response is required within four business days. I have not received a response from Dr. Brun's office to date. I would like to know if my request was received and if it is being processed and when I can expect it in a timely manner to receive the information requested. >> Thank you. >> We will follow up. >> Any other participation? Seeing none, uh, moving on to our standing committees, we have our student representatives from the high school, Abigail Pratt and Daniel B. >> Hi everyone. So, I'm Daniel Bastj, but please, you're welcome to call me Danny. Um, and so we're just going to go over some stuff that's been happening in the high school and public schools in the past month. So, first of all, um if we go to the next

025slide, there we go. Um seniors have been super busy with college applications. It's that time of the year and u so Newton High School has been giving a lot of assistance to those seniors. Um, first of all, they're giving two anonymous surveys, one for grade 12 families and one for the students in order to gather feedback on our school climate uh climate at Newington High School. Also, for the next two Fridays, our school counselors will be stationed in the library during all periods of the day to help seniors with any questions or concerns they have with their college applications. And any seniors that are applying to CT public universities on uh will be able to have their application fees waved for free if they apply on November 1st. And FASA has already opened and students

026have begun filling out the form to receive their federal financial aid. >> Okay. And for our next slide, also what's happening at inside the high school, we have our National Honor Society bottle collection. So, this will be this month through December and there are bottle collection bins all throughout the school and then the proceeds from that will be going to help support the humane society and Ian Jew and Suri Sanchez are running this for their national honor society project. So, we're encouraging a lot of people in the school to participate and then we also have our national honor society blood drive this Friday. So, the Red Cross will be coming in and a lot of students and staff members will be coming during their free periods during the day to give blood. And we also

027have a lot of student volunteers from National Honor Society coming to help run the blood drive. And we also have had a lot of college rep visits this month and this past week. So, so far this week we've had University of Bridgeport, Elon University, Drexel University, Southern Connecticut State, Western New England University, and Alfi University. And those are all opportunities for students to make connections and just to demonstrated interest with their college and ask some more informal questions. So, students have been taking advantage of those opportunities. And then also, student council has been planning our homecoming dance and pep rally. So this year our homecoming theme is city of stars. So that will be Saturday, November 8th from 700 p.m. to 10 p.m. in our gym and calf. And we're currently planning our pep rally.

028So we've been working on figuring out what our games are going to be and what different activities we're going to have. And this year we are incorporating our unified sports teams into it. So we always have all the sports teams, all the seniors on the sports teams do a little run out to a song of their choice and they can do a little choreographed routine. And this year we're including our unified sports in that just to make sure they're being represented >> or club for clubs in our school currently. Um, Link Crew just had their first uh, school year meeting today after school and they were discussing their way to keep the program active throughout the school year by having um, seniors as home room helpers and pairing up with freshman home rooms in order

029to encourage involvement in school spirit. So, they'll be doing different activities and um, competitions with freshman advisories in order to create a bigger connection within our school during advisory. Um, DECA is holding their annual pump pumpkin decorating contest and students are going to have the option to paint or carve pumpkins and have a fun time. There's some pictures of some cool examples from last year. We're hoping to see some good ones again this year. And um, our chamber choir will be visiting the local senior center on Veterans Day to sing to the veterans and celebrate uh, the day with them. And they also will be holding their annual dinner theater on October 30th in order to raise funds for their annual New York City trip in December. >> And then student council. So we've been

030planning our pep rally like I said, but we've also been decorating our student section because this year student council has been putting a big focus on school spirit and on getting our school more united. So, one of that way the ways we've been doing that is we have our spirit squad and we've been decorating for the football games like the picture there. We just do balloons, streamers, we get everyone together to make posters, anything we can do to encourage people to come to the games and participate in our spirit days. And then we also had our visit to Ruth Chaffy. So, student council officers and then other um active members in our school community came. We went to Ruth Chaffy and we talked to the different grade levels um second, third, and fourth about how

031they can be a leader in their school and then the different ways that they can be a leader. And then FBLA also recently had field trips to Camp Slloer and then their annual alignment orchards trip and that was just to promote team bonding and to learn some business skills and marketing skills. And then they are also participating in a nationwide stock game. So they have the opportunity to join a stock market competition and they'll be competing with other FBLA students through around the nation. So this is a really great opportunity and we're wishing all the people luck who are participating. >> Oh, and we also had our involvement fair today. So all of our ninth graders and new students, they came all of our um different clubs had representatives. So we had Italian club link

032crew was there, DECA, FLA, all of our clubs were present and we had different flyers and signs to give to the ninth graders into all of our new students so that they knew what they had the opportunity to get involved in and so they saw their options and could even join some of the Google classrooms and stuff like that. Going back to our football games, um, sports in general have been going super strong for our school and we've been seeing an increase increase increase in spirit at the events. So far, the football team's doing really good. They're 4 in one for the season. And last Friday was their pinkout game for breast cancer awareness. And the cheer team and the marching band both invited the uh middle schoolers and younger kids to join them so

033they can see what it's like to be active in the high school sports community. There's been a lot of senior nights as fall sports come to a close. So far, there's been volleyball, golf, cross country, and soccer. And there'll be a lot more this week. And also, winter sports are starting up soon, and preseason preseason meetings are beginning. And any student looking to find more information can find it out on Newington.com. >> And then just to close things out, we have our special shoutouts. So Josiah Sims who is a senior was nominated for game CT athlete of the week because he's had a really great season so far. So in just one game he got two touchdowns and 159 yards. So he was celebrated. Um also football coach Aquavita celebrated his 150th win a couple

034of weeks ago and that allowed Newington football to be noticed as the WFSB's team of the week. So that was super exciting. And then a junior Emily Lagana qualified for states and this is only her first year on the team. So that was super impressive. And then Mortaza Ather who is also a senior um was named commended student in the National Merit Scholarship with only 34,000 other students in the whole nation. And this was really impressive and it marks him as the top 3% of test takers for the National Merit PSAT. And that's all we have for you guys today. So, if you have any questions or comments, we'd be happy to hear it. Miss Weaver, just want to say welcome back, Abby, and welcome Danny to the table. Um, many of you may recognize

035him from his performances in the NHS. And I was just teasing him because I was like, you were the jester, right? He was like, yeah, what an introduction. Good gosh. Um, no, but you were fabulous in that. So, um, just want to say welcome. Thank you guys as always for a great report, carrying on this incredible tradition we've now started, um, of these PowerPoints and all these things. Thank you for going above and beyond as always. Um, Danny was just telling me he had play in marching band practice and this. So, keeping the tradition of being way way involved alive. Appreciate that. Um, but just wanted to say thank you so much. which I think one that's really helpful is um that public service announcement about um pre-application days um that's really really great um

036and I noticed now a new policy is that you can uh if you have a certain grade point average you can you have almost automatic admission into um several of the state schools which I think is great eases a lot of burden from cost and also stress of knowing um that you can be uh on your post-secary plans so um just want to say thank you for that and also how incredible it is our our sports are doing so well. Um, great to see the uh local news coverage that's getting out there. Um, and also like I'm behind on this, but noting that our our fan section is called Eye of the Storm. Just want to say how freaking awesome that is. I love that. So creative. Um, it's just great to see the um

037community involvement. 45 clubs is really awesome to see. I don't think we had that when I was there. So um really excited to hear more and more clubs are are coming up um and that you guys are finding more ways to be way more involved. Um, and if there is a napping club or a sleep club, I would also highly encourage you to join it. Um, but thank you again as always to see you guys. Great to see you. Welcome Danny to the fun that Border Bed is. >> Mr. Hollerin, >> uh, no questions, just a couple comments. Danny, nice to see you for the first time. Abby, nice to see you back. Thank you so much for the updates. It sound like there's a lot going on. Um, I'm sure, um, Danny, you're probably

038in the midst of applications for schools and all of that. And good luck. Uh, keep it up. You both seem incredibly busy. I love to hear that the spirit initiative for this year is going strong. Um, I'm interested to see what else we can do because I think that that really unifies the school um and teaches one another and helps us as adults and parents understand what it means to be in the school system as a community. So, keep it up and I appreciate all of your efforts and thank you. >> Thank you, >> Miss Petus. >> Um, just very very quickly, welcome. Welcome back. Um, thank you for as always very thorough presentation and I just again just a quick comment. I'm so incredibly excited that our unified sports athletes are part of the

039fun and um, you know, we talk a lot about making sure that we are a uh, good learning community for all of our students and by that we mean all of our students. So, thank you for bringing that information. That's really really um, important for us to hear and I'm really really happy and grateful. So, thank you again. >> Welcome, Danny. So happy. Oh, Miss Carr, go ahead. >> I was late raising my hand. >> It's okay. Welcome back and welcome. I saw your performance. I was in the same row as Jess. We both were laughing. She was laughing louder. >> Um uh we love the presentations. They're so informative. I'm very sad I missed the pink night last week, but it's great to see things like the involvement fair, so everyone knows the clubs.

040I know when I was in high school, I had no clue what club was what. So, I think it's a great way. Thank you guys. >> Yeah, just to piggy back on that, I um since my life is cheerleading right now, um I was there at the pinkout game obviously cuz I have cheerleaders and the student section is so big right now that it just kind of like expands. like we might have to make it a little bit bigger if you keep up doing the great work that you're doing cuz it's really fun and it's great to see all the kids like just have a blast and and of course my cheerleaders, the middle school ones were like so excited to like walk around and be all cool with with all the big kids. So,

041um but it was a really really fun night and our our football players also were able to run out to the field and and the middle school bands were there which was so fun to see. So, it was a great night last week. Um, and I was going to say something else, but I forgot. Yeah, I think that it's crazy to think that winter sports are already like starting up and, um, we're, you know, only in October, but things are moving right along. So, um, but yeah, thank you for being here and and Danny, Abby knows this, but if there's ever a time that you see something on our agenda that sparks your interest or you have a comment or anything on, we gladly welcome your feedback. And you are welcome to stay through the

042meeting, but you're not required to because I know you probably want to get home and eat dinner and and all of that, do homework, all that fun stuff. But, but if there is anything ever that pops up on the agenda that you are, you know, want to make a comment about, we we definitely would welcome that at any time. So, welcome. Glad to see you here and look forward to the rest of the school year. >> Everyone, >> thank you. Thank you for having us. All right, policy. I'm not going to make Mr. Woods wait any longer. We'll defer to new business item coming up later. Sounds good. All right, Mr. Woods, you can come up to the end of the table, but for some reason, I get out every so often. >> Oh, >>

043thank you. Thank you for >> Yeah. >> Thank you for inviting me. If you don't know who I am, I'm Steve Woods. I'm the chair of the John Wallace Middle School Project Building Committee. I serve with with Sean, Tim also, but Tim is on here tonight. Those are two representatives from the board. Um, this is a very very fastpaced project. Um, with that there's a few difficulties because it is small. There's no margin for error. And if you've come up to a stumbling block, we have to figure it out right away so we can stay on schedule. The good news that I'm here to tell you is that we are on schedule. We are on budget. Um, we expect to turn wings three and four back over to the district at the end of the

044Christmas holiday break. Um, and then we'll take over wing six. Um, I have some pictures. Actually, I took a whole lot more pictures, but what you're gonna see, every room is the same, guys. So, I'm going through these. It just doesn't make sense. So, what you're looking at, the picture on the left, is standing in one of the spokes looking down the new corridor down through the center of the classroom wing. To the right and left of that is the classrooms. And then this first part, this is wing four. Wing four. The only difference between wing four and wing three. Wing four has bathrooms. Wing three doesn't. Uh other than that, there's no difference. The picture on the right is a classroom. Um that is the same in every single classroom. Um other than the

045breakout rooms, they're just a little bit smaller. You know, we've spent four years at Anna Reynolds. I'm used to ceilings that like I can basically touch the ceiling. You're not touching the ceiling in here. This is spacious. Um it's really nice to have that ability to work with. Um the picture that is here on the left is the old doorway which is going to get blocked in. And to the right um is the outside facade obviously and it's all plywooded up but our window frames and glazing the glass that goes in there is due to be delivered to the site the last week of October. I believe the date is October 27th. Um so while it doesn't look you it looks like a construction site. It's going to look that way for a little while.

046And some of the other pictures we're going to show you actually you can see a little bit on the left side of that right picture. Um, that's the Mason tender. So, that's going to be there right through wing six because we still have to do the block walls there. Um, but it I was in there about three weeks ago when they first started the block. It was really maybe 3 ft high in a couple of the rooms. It is complete now, both wing three and four. Um and we're starting to get ready to do wiring and then soon to be doing finishes um in those rooms. Can we back up one to the that one? So the classroom on the right there'll be a one in some of the classroom wings will some of the

047classrooms will have two walls that are sheetrocked. The rest of them are going to be that CMU which is a concrete block wall that gets sealed and painted. um that was very important uh to the board for security. Um we tried to work with Mr. Jackamoz when he was here um to turn that off to steel studs because it would have went even faster but he insisted and again we sold that to the state. You we you the board of ed sold it to the state. So um these these classrooms are going to be pretty bulletproof. Um >> the noise too, right? and and and obviously yeah well my both of my all three of my kids went to this school there's going to be a huge difference and when even when I was in

048there just before we did the demo um you guys have done a great job of trying to build partitions and quite when my kids were there it's like take that wall out you know this is one classroom there might have been a bookshelf that's the other classroom the it was just chaos you if you were having a student teacher parent conference. It should have been a round table because everybody's everybody's joining in. Um but anyways, the the floors are done. We uh the radon has pits have been put in. So that piece is done. Um we're waiting for a few things. Not many. The out exterior doors. We have the frames. We don't have the doors yet. Um they'll be going in. And uh again, it's I think it looks beautiful. Um it's bigger than

049I anticipated and it will shrink a little bit as we start doing some finishes. Um but I think I think the kids I think the staff is going to be ecstatic with what we turn over. Um it's been a long time coming. They've talked about this I think 25 years. I mean school's been open for about 50 years now. 25 30 years ago they started talking about it. Um and again the board did an incredible job working with uh our state representatives and securing some fantastic funding. We're at 75% funding on this project. Um so um which enabled us to to to do it and we have basically the same team that did Anna Reynolds. So everybody knows everyone which helps a lot. Um, and by no means I'm not telling you we don't have

050issues, you know, and there's not some screaming and yelling at each other and like how could you have missed that and how could you do that, but we all come together and uh we we keep it moving forward and I think the team that's there now is doing an excellent job. Um, and again, I can't wait for you to have a ribbon cutting. Um, and we get the kids back in those wings um because they deserve it. Um, and we keep them a little bit safer. I think it's going to be an excellent project. I think I have one more picture showing the exterior. Yeah. So, that's the that's will be the new um classroom doorway. One more back. That one. So, that's now the opposite end of what the first picture I showed you

051looking down. That's looking right out. That's the mason tender to the right. That'll be there uh for a while. what I couldn't get a picture of because unfortunately there's a tiny crawl space between the students hallway and the construction zone. It's only about 3 ft wide. Um and if anybody's had to walk in it, you're usually walking sideways. Um but that's getting a brick facade so it will match the interior brick um that's there. That's underway also. So they're again they're they're making excellent excellent pro uh progress. Um the design team has has done a great job of responding to the RFIs any questions that contractor has. We've been keeping moving forward. Um we plan to and we're going to have there'll be some snags. If we go to the next picture, I just want

052to show you the so the right picture. The reason that's dug up on the ground there, those are where the windows were removed and there was some PCBs in that soil. Unfortunately, they dug it out. They didn't go far enough. We didn't capture it all. So, this is the second digging. The results for that test were due back today. Hopefully, they have them. Once they have them, they can back fill it. There's a patuminous concrete drip strip uh that goes in. We fill the rest in with soil and seed. And then the the windows will be able to go right in afterwards. Um, a little bit of a boring picture in the center, but that's that's your that's your new bathrooms. That's one of the largest problems we had so far when they demoed those

053walls. Um, all the carriers for the urinals and the toilets, they were all rotted. The studs were all rotted. We didn't anticipate that. Again, it wasn't a huge expense, but um, if you walk in there now, you'd never know. It's all all been replaced and and it looks good. And then the one on the left is just a picture of the the outside wing and it will look like that for a while. Um probably till spring, but I would think with a little bit of luck, you know, when the kids go back to school in the fall, we're out of there. You know, the only thing that might be left is growing a little bit of grass. Um and hopefully with that's even done. So, with that, if you have any questions for me, I'd

054love to answer them for you. If I could, >> I just am very impressed with every single presentation you've given over the years, like and several years you're like on time, on budget, this Anna Reynolds at least. Um, so I just want to thank you for for your work as always and and >> being such a huge part of Yeah, I think you like every building, right? you. >> I'm basically retired school building. >> This keeps me busy. Sometimes busier than I want to be. Um but it keeps me busy. Um and actually I just signed on for the the fire department. >> I'm running that building committee now and I believe they're putting me on the permanent building committee. So um I'll be busy for a little while. Yeah. >> Well, we appreciate you,

055Miss Weaver. >> Yeah. Can we just like replicate you and put you on all the things? I think we if the whole state had you, we'd be in much better shape. Um, but I just want to say thank you too because I feel like it's been infamous for decades of Wallace has no doors, Wallace has no doors. And I go around the community, I tell people that kids who have graduated, too, and they're like, it's getting doors finally. Wow. Oh my gosh. I mean, it's just been kind of known. And so, um, this is just really exciting. And I just I think the bathroom is that's exciting to me. I'm I'm excited to see see progress being made there. Um, but just thank you for emphasizing to the safety aspect of it. um because that's

056been obviously a huge part of all of the updates that have been going on. Um so thank you for continuing to put that that forth. Um but literally we could not do this without you. So thank you and thank you to the whole team and the committee. Please think on our behalf um the continued work. It's just really appreciated. >> Yeah. Anytime anybody has any questions, I'm easy to get in touch with. So just give me a call on my cell phone 86055496. The whole world has my cell phone. um that I as long as it doesn't say potential spam, I answer. It says potential spam, I've learned a new lesson. Can I call you later? I still get the calls, but it gives me a little bit of satisfaction of pushing that button. Um

057while I'm here, Anna Reynolds, um we're just about done. There is actually we we are done. There's one or two minor things that need to be uh completed construction-wise. There's a uh concrete pad where the dumpsters are by the cafeteria area and loading dock area. Um, one of the uh concrete slabs failed. Um, come to find out it wasn't poured at the right thickness, but also but it's poured at the specified thickness. So, we're going to take that out, put an 8 in slab in there, so it won't happen again. Where they put the dumpster, that's 8 in. Problem is, the truck weighs more than the dumpster ever thought about weighing. and then when a truck goes up, it it's cracking it. So, we we have we're getting pricing on that right now. I should

058have pricing on that for tomorrow. Um and then we'll we'll move forward on that. And then the rest of it is really just a close out. So, the committee will not be meeting very much at all anymore. We're we're we're done. Um that's a long time coming. >> That's a long time coming. That's that was with masks on, right? We started >> Yep. >> through co >> That's right. So, um, again, it's it's been my pleasure. Um, and again, anytime you want me here, as long as if I'm not here, I can zoom in. Um, I'll be happy to give you any kind of report you need. Um, you know, if there's anything going on, obviously, Tim Sean there at the the building committee meetings, you know, to date both Anna Reynolds and now John

059Wallace, we have never not had a quorum. Um, so, um, that's that's what keeps this project moving forward. Um, and we meet and we meet tomorrow. So, >> yes, Anna is tomorrow. >> Oh, no. Actually, we just can announce. >> Oh, shucks. >> A little time. Found time. >> Extra time. >> There's nothing unfortunately. You know, and I don't mind having the meeting, but it's you're gonna I'm going to make you stop what you're doing for 10 minutes and the meeting will be over. >> All right. It's good to see you for 10 minutes. >> And the construction manager, they don't have anything to say anymore. >> Other, you know, um Jennifer's going to say we're working on closeouts. Eileen's going to say we're working on closeouts. Rich is going to say we're working on

060closeouts. That's that would be the meeting though. Um there will be money that u it's a little deceiving. We didn't spend all the money that we allowed to spend. It doesn't money doesn't really come back to the town. It's just money that we didn't spend. Um, I'm predicting right now somewhere between5 and $600,000 of a surplus um that was allotted to the budget um that we will return back. >> So that's just money we don't have to borrow. >> Correct. Have to pay. Yeah. >> So good. >> And that's always a good thing. >> That's probably not going to happen at John Wallace. I don't expect to have much money left over John Walls because again when it's a smaller project there's not as much money and it tends to go a little faster but

061we're going to get the job done and it's going to be done right >> and I just wanted to thank Mr. woods um learned a lot from you over the two building uh projects and tease you that you're in every placard uh in every school having been involved. So that's quite a legacy though as I said to you in the past. One thing I want to commend as well he runs a darn good meeting is awesome with getting it done efficiently giving everyone a chance to speak you know you know managing challenges or what have you. So, uh, because of you, these projects have gone off as smooth smoothly as they have, and I do appreciate that serving in my role and all that you've done. >> Again, all the committee members make an effort,

062you know, to attend the meetings. That's huge. Um, and for me, I think the key to that is Zoom. Um, you know, because you could be in your car, you could be in your office, you could be home on the couch, you know, and yet you can attend. So, we've always had a quorum, which is good. So, we can always move forward. I hope everything works as smoothly as this tonight for the rest of your meeting. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> All right. Next, we have budget guidelines 2627 budget guidelines. which is I get booted off the screen in between every presentation. >> So, it's that time of year again, believe it or not. Feels like we just finished last year's budget, but and we did. But, uh the purpose of

063there's twofolds uh that I wanted to talk to the board about this evening. One is our very standard budget overview overview process that shares with you um you know what we're going to keep in mind as we develop our budget which is the vision and mission of the district um together with the board's you know support and looking at all of the things that come before them in in the coming presentations. So the the big presentation for me will be February 4th. I realize some of you around the table won't be here at that time, but um we wish you well, but we we will miss you. Um we will be talking about how anything requested links directly to and I'm going to go over this in my presentation as well about my goals and

064the strategic plan uh momentarily, but everything that you'll hear from our administrative team will directly tie to our mission, vision, and goals for the district. Um, so we will get down to more granular dates once the new board is seated. So there's no uh practical um reason for this to get, you know, totally granular at this time. But safe to say that the board will have the first um presentation for me on February 4th. What will happen ahead of that though is the capital budget that will be seen by the board in November and December. and we're uh doing a lot of work on that right now. So really all this is is approving the startup of the budget process um and looking at you know how it will link to our vision and mission.

065So I'm going to scroll down to the motion that's at the bottom of the page. >> Okay. uh move the board of education approve the budget guidelines for the 2026 2027 school year as outlined above. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any questions or thoughts on this document or discussion? Okay. Okay. Call the roll or vote. >> Mary, >> yes. >> Car. >> Yes. Sean Holland, >> yes. >> Anthony Meley, >> yes. >> Amy Paratt, >> yes. >> Sam Sharma, >> yes. >> Jessica Weaver, >> yes. >> Motion passes unanimously. 70. >> Thank you. All right. Um, along the line of the budget guidelines, I also wanted to share something with the board. First of all, how would you feel if the budget book went from what it currently has been

066to this? Are you shocked? Are you totally shocked? >> We're working on it, thanks to Lynn and our our team that's uh working on budget practices trying to simplify the process the year and streamline it. So, more to come on that, but what I provided for you at the table, uh, thanks to Lynn, Karen, some last minute changes is what it would look like during the process this year. We would have, in addition to a few additional departments at the very end of the budget book, most of the information will be provided to you by school. Previously, the board has said, "Boy, going back and forth and trying to figure out this department, that department, fraction of a person here, a fraction of a person there," was awfully confusing. Um, when Lynn came in and

067saw our process, she made some very helpful suggestions together with Karen kind of looking at the whole process. And that is this is a sample of this year's budget. So I'm not even giving you a projection of anything for the upcoming year yet. But using a real budget for Anna Reynolds, this packet shows how we would share with you the budget process. So you would see under each item, for example, let's look at educational technology. You see the salary of the individual that serves in that role at Anna Reynolds. Similarly, under elementary education, you see that Anna Reynolds has 20.5 teachers who are classroom teachers as I believe that also covers coaches or Okay, >> the 0.5 coach. Um, going down the line, you see under ELA, I believe that is a tutor or what

068is that, Lynn? >> Learning tutors under.3 or three. Um, and that's their salaries. Under math, that would be a math coach, I believe. Um, and then under music, that's the salary of the music teacher, and embedded in there as well on in subsequent pages are the wellness program, the reading program. All of that are the salaries of those collective individuals in that school, as well as supplies under each of those departments. So, you're going to see every department as it lives in a school. Um, I know year to year we've said, "Oh, what does code um this mean?" And, you know, oh, let's flip back to the key. It it it got a little confusing and a little frustrating for board members, frankly, for the town council when we were trying to answer their questions

069as well. So, we're really optimistic uh that this process will be much more simplified. So besides having every school have a a section at the very end of the budget book, you will also have um in addition to the schools, you will have um to my little sectioning here. Again, this is our little demo. I call this our demo model here. After all the schools, we will have and we'll still have those explanation pages so you'll know what's grant funded, what is uh cut, what's not cut. Um, you will also have um goodness some it's so skinny now I can't even get over it. Um, it's called administrative and central direction will still have its own section and that refers to central office uh members and leaders and transportation will have their own section. Anything

070that's not completely school-based will have its own section but even at that um we're really first of all saving a boatload of trees. Um, but I think more importantly making it that much more clear and transparent to all of our stakeholders, be it the board, be it the town council, um, our our members of the public who are entitled to see where their tax dollars go. So, we're still in the process. It's it's an iterative process right now with myself, um, Lynn and Karen Seir looking at how to make it clear. We'll probably run it by our cabinet again to see, you know, if anyone has any other suggestions. But the the goal here, the end goal is to make it easier for board members and the like to understand this without having to flip

071through pages left and right. So, I just wanted to roll that out and I'd turn it over to board chair to see if there are any questions or comments. We do want feedback um if this doesn't seem right to you. Yeah, I um I think we we discussed earlier if we have questions or want to see something a different way, it's always possible to get it the other way um for a specific program or whatever it is. But I think this makes sense. Um so you can see as a whole and every school is going to have a different number obviously because schools, you know, elementary schools are different sizes and there's different needs and everything. Um obviously middle and high schools are completely different than the middle schools too. So, I think it'll be

072um I think it was it's a good change and hopefully more transparent and we'll be able to see it in a different way and could just give us a different perspective too, but we will also always be able to to ask questions. So, I think that this is a really awesome thing. Thank you. Any other comments, Miss Carr? Well, thank you. I'm so happy to see this. I think everyone is going to love it. so much more. It's so much more straightforward. We're saving trees. I think we're moving in the right direction. Um what I would love to see years down the road because I think this is definitely going in the right direction. I pulled up New Town um and looked at their budget. So they do a full development calendar that shows administration,

073board of ed, they do board of finance, legislative counsel with dates and what each thing is. And then they also love to do graphs. So for example, they do graphs that show board of education's requested operational plan total budget by function. So line graphs and just like breakdowns of that. They also break down the union contracts going from 2016 to present so people can see the change in that uh the changes to staffing from 2017 to present for each of their schools. So it just is a lot of breakdowns and a lot of visual graphs for people who just see numbers and say, "Oh no, this is overwhelming me." Um but I'm very happy with this and I think a lot of people are going to be happy about this. We can always learn from

074other districts as well. U Mr. Hollerin, >> I just want to say that I think this is wonderful. I love it. This is simplified. It's streamlined. I think it's easy to understand. Um I um I'm not really concerned, but wondering, do we lose any detail by streamlining this or is it just a more simplified format? I'll start the answer and then I'll turn it to Lynn if it's there's more to be uh stated. But besides what you see here with the school, you'll also have those other pages two-sided that will show you kind of a summary of everything, but also then detail um you know which pos which positions went up, what you know what accounted for some of those big increases, was was any position reduced, was anything cut from the budget and how

075much. Um so that's where the detail will be. And then to the chairwoman's point earlier, if there are other details that the board feels that they need in addition to that, we can provide that. And um Lyn, anything you want to add in that regard? >> We can provide budget drivers in graph form, pie chart, however you prefer to see them. Um, I personally like easier, >> but anyway you want to see it, we can do that for you. >> Great. We have the data. >> Thank you so much, >> Lyn Sw. Yeah, I just want to say I think it's great. Um, I know we've gotten feedback on it before and I think we all struggled with like how do we do it when it is this massive thing and we're trying to get

076balance both the granularity and also how massive the need is are in our school system and trying to be like okay um so yeah I think my other point was was to Mr. tolerance point like I love that sheet that's usually like oh this program or subscription or it's or it's whatever it is um just so you really know what programming especially when it's our bigger ones like benchmark or something like that um to be able to know kind of what's that that cost driver um as well as you know when we have certain um you know uh changes in in rotations of books or or those kinds of things where I you know this middle school has way more than this middle school in terms of timing and that kind of stuff. Um, and

077I think uh helpful would be maybe if possible too um is for the the full-time staff just as you were saying like what um those positions were just in the school just so we know like how that that staff breakdown is. Um I think we've done and those can be more aggregate. I think we've done like total staff in each school and then cost of salaries and that kind of stuff. I think that's just helpful. But I do like Miss Carr's point too of saying which ones are union um and what those contracts have changed. That might be be it's helpful context too. I think a lot of the majority of our increases are usually contractual obligations, right? So always highlighting that and having it formatted in ways I think is helpful um not only

078for us to understand but for the public to understand too. Um particularly as we have in the past couple years negotiated a couple different contracts and had new unions come on. Um, so I think that that would be helpful and also clarifying which ones are on the town side and which ones are on because that gets entangled as well. Um, just I think that helps all of us. But thank you so much for already taking those efforts. It's it's incredibly helpful. Appreciate the work. You got to give a big out to Lyn Karen. I we made some last minute shifts at the 11th hour tonight and I was doing some shifting in time for the board meeting tonight, but I wanted to make it as real as possible and I I would suspect it'll change

079a little more before the before go time. Uh but thank you >> Mr. Sherman. >> All right. So I think I mean I love I love this idea. It's really concise and you know pretty pretty neat. Just one suggestion is like when you have um each program listed and let's say like FTE 1.3 can you have like another line that tells us exactly how much is being spent on classroom teacher salary and then how much on interventionist or consultants I believe. So it'll give us a pretty clean breakout of like what's being spent on you know I think that'll be useful. Okay. Any other comments or suggestions? Miss Carr, I hope you still participate in the budget process as a member of the budget of public. Um, okay. Next agenda item is policies. I'll just

080turn it over to you. >> Okay. >> Speaking of something Miss Carr is intimately involved with. Um, all right. All right. So, I just want to from the outset say thank you so so much to my policy committee. You were literally my favorite thing uh to spend three hours um on Wednesday nights doing. Um so, just want to say thank you to Miss Carr, Miss Beatatric, and Mr. Percy. Um really the priority in our last two meetings um has been getting the uh policies that are impacted by legislative updates because they have been in effect for 14 days. So, um we want to make sure we are up to date. Um there was a lot of legislative legislation that went through and went effective um October 1st. So um that took kind of precedence over

081everything um just because we want to make sure we are we're always in compliance, but we want to make sure we're as up to date and our policies are reflective of the laws. That being said, on the other side of things, we had already gone through a lot of the thousand policies and um because this will we have no idea what the the committee will look like after after the next meeting. Um we want to make sure that um we kind of wrap up where we can um the good work that was started by this committee which was reviewing every single policy we have. Um I think Miss Carr has the numbers of how many policies we've we've changed. >> 109. So um I think there's like 348. I'm not sure. But um yeah, we're

082fixing all of it, trying to clean it up, making it more transparent and legible and digestible for folks. So we don't have these random numbers that are like, as you see now, like 415 2.6. Um we're trying to make it so that it's much easier so you can just have every five. Well, we're just going by fives. Um so that every policy you can just have uh a sense of what it is. And then also making sure everyone sees the regulations that go along with it. Um, so this has been a real undertaking, but um, our goal is to to get through the 3,00. So this is the last opportunity for us to um, present to you guys following our our protocol of presenting to you at one board meeting and then voting the next.

083Um, so we really hope that you you like these policies um, and vote the next. So these will be the last policies through on this board. Um, because we literally have no meetings left. We're running out of time. Um, and I want more I want more time with my my policy folks. But um just to give you guys the context around all of that. Um so that's why these ones took precedent and that's why we're we're kind of focusing on these ones tonight. Um and I think I have 26 in the 3000 series and a couple other ones, but um I will go through them fast and I can hand it off to you at one point if you want or not. But Mr. Fari of course is good as ever and gave me descriptions

084for when I forget all of the changes um that we did. But we'll just start with the first one and I will try and be um quick about all of my remarks here. But if you have any questions on all these, all the policies are linked. All of them are up to date. All of them uh you can access right now um on our policy manual and all of them will will show these these changes. Um so what we changed in this first one 4152.6 family medical leave act. These are legislative updates to include both CT paid leave and then other requirements from federal MFLA which are different in terms of their requirements. Um, so we added that yellow highlighted part to the policy and that's the only change to the actual physical policy. What

085we did was change the regulation itself to reflect the statute of the Connecticut paid leave and the federal FMLA. Any questions? All right. Next, student discipline. Um, this was to reflect legislative updates to include homelessness and student discipline as well as due process hearings. Um, so this was to uh and if you scroll down, it'll be a ways down. Um, but particularly was focused on legislation um for our um for our homeless students. This also has updates on Does this have the updates on the military families as well or is that the admission one? That's the admission one. Yeah, it does though. It's in the hearing process. Yeah. Um, so there's dual legislation that um has provisions about military service members, I think, uh, children of thumb. But, um, we added this section, um, to

086reflect the statute change. We also know the statute. Um, but this was how to, um, hold a hearing process. This is literally from the statute. Um, particularly when a student is homeless and, um, how to avoid discrimination based on that status. So that was the add addition there and then we obviously reumber everything as we get through all of that. I think that was it was there it is. >> Yep. And we added it as well to a whole other section. Um again because we think that um student discipline and due and process hearings are a little different. So we wanted to make sure those were reflected in both parts of that policy. And this is one we've updated multiple times. Um and then again reflected here in the hearing procedures themselves and then this

087one is as well from the statute. Mr. FY, do you have anything else on that one? Um but again taken straight from statute. >> I think that was the last part of it. dates. Yeah, >> those would just be important to consider now when you know we're holding here. >> Like we said, we've touched this one a couple times, >> so everyone should sleep and know know exactly what it looks like. Um, okay, no questions. I'll move on to the other one. Um this is a host of policies that um were edited and quite literally changing just words or phrases. Um we changed um to add the uh requirement for um victims of sexual assault and human trafficking to the non-discrimination harassment policies. So literally all of them will look like this where um we

088have all of the other required ones and then in highlighted it will say um you cannot discriminate based on an individual's status of being a victim of sexual assault. um or human trafficking and that is again straight from state statute. So all of them will look like that and the statute defines those things as well. So you don't have to click through all of them but it's literally the same exact phrase. If anyone wants again you can click on all of them but that will be the only change in all of those. >> Those are all policies that >> that it impacted. Yep. >> Real dinger there. Um okay and then as we say too we also notify you. So just on that last note reference not for board note but one of the regulations

089on harassment prevention. So as a board just a reminder we vote on our policy but we have a multitude of regulations. We like to bring both the policy and regulation forward but we only vote on the policy itself but do note where those changes are reflected as well. All right. Next is crisis management plan. Um, so this has to do um with um well we changed a lot of it because it was for emergencies and disaster preparedness, but a lot of the other things that came from state statue had to do with immigration enforcement. And so we felt that it was easier to combine the policies, well adopt a new policy basically and then take what was in the old policy and then adopt it to a new one. >> Yeah. So this is the

090old policy on just our crisis management plan. We're not crossing that out. We think it's really good language and we liked it. So then it will create a new policy and we're also moving where the policy is. Um because it was in students in the 5000 series. Um but we felt like this would be more appropriate to be in the non-instructional series. Right. Is that what I put in? Do you have something else if you want? >> So basically state statute came out um shipman had looked at it. They gave us an overview. It's new regulations regarding school safety plans pertaining to immigration activities. So instead of having two separate policies, all this has to do with school safety plans and crisis management. And we already had a policy in place. So, we took the

091proposed language from Shipman um based on state regulation and statute and combined it into one policy if that makes sense. >> Um I just noticed in the new one 1270 >> it has a date for the school year commencing July 1st, 2014. Have you been taking those dates out or is that does that mean >> for some for some um we could go back and look at that one again but um for some we keep in in the sense that they're like statute references and what that's required of. So sometimes it would make sense to keep them in in that like it is after a certain date this is what the state required but we can always take that >> later on it's July 1st 2024. Yep. which is probably the most recent, but the

0922014 one maybe is >> that's from the old one. >> Yeah, >> I was going to say, yeah, we definitely can double check that. I know like for example, sometimes it's new forms or new regulations that put into place and it just means that's the last time the state updated that regulation. So that one before was had to do with like emergencies and the 2024 one has to do specifically with the immigration authorities. So that could be one of the reasons, but we'll double check that. >> Thank you. >> I would imagine because you combine two policies too, >> there's two different effective dates for those policies. So there's just a little liability between when this crisis event occurred. >> Yep. >> And for which category it fits under. So I can understand why the

093dates are in there. >> Yep. Oh, we'll look. >> Thank you. On >> to next we have policy 511 admission. This is a requirement to add a pro provision for children of military service members for educational stability. Um it has to do with their admissions. So it's once again statutoily required. Um, so if you keep scrolling down, we added just the statute language on um what is required for um children whose parents serve in the armed forces and it has to usually do with IEP or 504 um and what that looks like in terms of requirements for the school district they are coming and being admitted into AKRS. So that was that and then um the last uh legislative update or mandate and then we'll come back to one more after that but um legislation

094requires that the student the superintendent now provide specific updates to the board annually. This was already something that we were getting provided, but we wanted to um make sure that people know that we incorporated it into there was already a regulation for superintendent of schools and it had a report section in it and we felt like that was the best place for it to go. Um because the actual reports policy is a little bit vague for a reason so that you can add and subtract more. Um so if you keep going down um it should have a report section that we we added that part. Yeah. Um so these are some of the things as always we can always ask and I think can attest that the superintendent and staff will will provide us information

095but these are now um statutoily required. Um, so we're adding that to our our regulations so that superintendent schools follows up. All right. And then the last one, um, this wasn't um, necessarily a legislative update, but it was definitely a required policy um, to meet the state required quote checklist for reviewing the local education's agency's unpaid meal charge policy. So, this is our meal charge policy. Um it also happens to be part of our new 3000 ones um because it fit right in is what we thought um to our 3000 policies. Um but this is about um making sure that students are not discriminated against or feel any burden um for not being able to pay for their school meal. Um so we did a lot of clarification. This was made in conjunction um well

096Dana Marovitz, our food director, um was able to um to give us this this policy and we added this note too because we wanted to make sure Miss Carr was very good about making sure it's it's clear um because the the biggest part is that the board prohibits publicly identifying or shaming a student for any unpaid me unpaid meal charges. What we didn't want was a confusion where a meal does not include the allocart items. So it's very clear if a student was asked even if they could not pay for a full of the meal and they grabbed like an alikart item that's not something that would be considered part of that quote public shaming or identifying. Miss Car if you want to add anything. >> I just was going to add even students who

097can pay for a cart items we were informed that there is a limit. No one can just take 20 bags of chips. You know they will have some chips removed. So, we clarify that, >> but we wanted to be very clear um the purpose of this policy and making sure that no student um feels the burden of not being able to pay for school lunch um and what that looks like. And um yeah, that was that was it. Okay, other questions? We'll move on to our 30,000s. And I promise I will try and breeze through these ones. Um because I know you've all read them cover to cover >> on all the links. Uh our our tabs are like we we did get lost in uh we thought the meeting closed out at one point

098um at last meeting because Mr. FY couldn't find the meeting tab with the Google Meet. So we were all good. Uh I I was with the woman that was on like we were at cheer and she was just calling in and um she's like there's something concerning that happened and I was like oh no they were so happy you were there. No we were very happy. Yeah we were very happy when the public comes and confirmed we didn't we were fine. All of it's recorded. It's just we couldn't find the Google Meet tab. There are that many policy tabs. Um okay so first up um is our petty cache accounts. Again as they noted we're going to re number. So 35451 will become 3105. Um and we just added language to provide specificity and clarity

099for to the uh to the policy for accountability purposes. So um anyone that is handling that um of the petty cache um what that looks like. Um so I think the biggest provision we added was part B 3B was managed directly at the time of the required cash exchange and um noting that petty cashache will also be housed in the school offices schooler offices uh all times and it's weird we keep all that was all in these policies was like references to handbook two financial accounting so I don't know Lynn if you read that um but that was that seemed to be a trend so there's still it's still I think true today of of the financial accounting records, but you'll notice that that trend. Um, next one, school activities funds. We uh added language

100to provide specificity and clarify specific to the purpose of the student activity account and auditing compliance. Um, as someone who was very intimately involved with the student activity accounts as student council treasurer, I was like, this is how it works. We literally have a log uh in the high school. I remember. Um, but we added this language. Um, so that we know the money that goes through there, what that looks like, who has control of the funds. Um, and it is still part while it's not something that is in the operating budget of the board, we still have technical oversight of that. So, just wanted to make it clear >> and to clarify that the wording that says the accounts will be town accounts and audited, that's happening. It's just is that >> that's correct.

101And that's um also language that when you go and look in what shipment offers as advice on what should be in this. Uh that's exactly >> Yep. >> This is just putting it in the policy because it wasn't there before, not that it wasn't being done before. >> Correct. Correct. Correct. Anything that we talk about auditing or whatever, it's just codifying it into Thank you for for noting that. We clarify like anything we're doing is codifying it into policy of current practices that we already do. And that's for all of them. >> Mhm. >> Just want to confirm that for the record and are aware that it is audited. >> Yes. Yep. >> Um thank you for that. And uh we'll move on to support services goals. Um okay. >> So the committee we're recommending

102eliminating this policy and adding the language to policy um 3510 or the new policy aka 3115 plant maintenance. So this is kind of intertwined with the next so the next two are kind of intertwined um because we felt they were quite literally one and the same. Um, so the next one, operation and maintenance of plants. Um, we kind of changed the title a little bit, but um, we updated the language for clarity compliance. Um, the SCAR had a great one about adding things about air quality. Um, but we just so we literally moved the previous policy into this policy um, because we felt they were both um, of the same subject matter. Don't want to be redundant and think they they fall into place in the same way. Um and then we also added um

103inclusion of building maintenance operations and custodial supervisor into this. So there was a couple changes. This is kind of a rejiggered one. Um so there used to be um oh I think we have to renumber that Mr. Fery. Um >> just put six and seven. >> There's a lot of a lot of changes Mr. FY has to make >> as he notes that. But you'll see there's two, you know, we we kind of collapsed and adapted from a couple of different policies. And you'll see that reference there. But the numbering we can fix. Yep. >> Yeah. Cuz the policy after this was just on painting of the building. So we said, might as well put everything in one policy to make it clearcut. And we added the foster shared responsibility um encouraging staff and students

104to take ownership and maintaining a clean, safe, and respectful environment. And I also said change the name of the title because it felt like it was it felt passive in writing and I don't like passive writing. >> It's quite passive writing. We don't want to encourage that. So um so if we go to the next policy too, you'll find that in this policy in the gender inclusion. Yes. >> buildings and crowds. So literally it was just painting >> and we don't we agree schedules shall be planned. We we agreed with that policy just didn't think it needed to be his own. We we felt that was under under the the plate plant operation and maintenance um function. Um so that's kind of that section. And then the last one is um we have one on

105equipment. Um and this one no changes. we reviewed and we liked it. Just not the number. >> Just not the number. Exactly. Um but we'll also note too, just once again a reminder, we're noting when we last reviewed reviewed it. So 20 years down the line if they haven't reviewed it again, we'd encourage board members to do that once more just to have regular refreshment of these. Um as we're noticing many are from 2001. Okay. Um, next is the media protection policy. This covers our um, criminal justice information system via employee fingerprinting. Um, and there were some updates to that policy, the CGI CJI policy. Um, so we just added those those updates. Um, because it went from 5.1 to 6.0. So that's where we have a change of date where it's effective. Um, most

106of this again is is of statute and of that that policy. Um so >> so the CJIS updates their policies and and we have to adopt what they put into place. Um and so the last adaptation or changes they made were in 2012. Uh I think we inherited the system in around 2015. So they were pretty relevant at the time. >> Um but a long time has passed and in 2014 or 2024 they updated that policy. So, it behooved us to go back and and really reflect the changes that they've made. Um, they're minor at best. Um, nothing significant, nothing that would change the operations and how we do business. And we have to get reertified in our office every year annually anyway through the CGIS program. So, um, we are accustomed to all the

107updates and familiar with them. >> Any questions? Okay. All right. We'll keep moving. Uh, safety So this policy um was not only reviewed by us but also our director of residency and security for updates and compliance with current practices. We added some minor revisions to this but Mike Morgan looked at this. Um so um you know we changed some of the verbiage too cuz we know that um we were like schools in central office. we know a little bit different when each school has a different safety and as we alluded to tonight uh every school is a little different when it comes to the layout uh and um equipment there. So we didn't really have much changes. Yep. Just uh down at the bottom um we just added that note about authorized adults coming in.

108I think that was important that we use that just any um we just changed sensitive disturbing to sensitive because we think that was more broad and encompassing of some of the things that were there. That's it. Okay. Not just it but um security buildings and grounds also reviewed by Mike Morgan and this team. Again, minor revisions to this one, shorter policy. >> You want me to take them? Do you want me? >> Sure. I just You don't need to hear my voice more, so it's fine. Vandalism. >> Um, but we just noted in this one, too, that that would be the the building principle is someone vandalism. >> We're moving. Okay. Yeah, we're going. I'm not where you are. Give me one second guys. >> This is also reflective of current practice. >> Correct. And

109every policy that had major changes we got guidance from. Um, basically we added the language reserving the right to seek legal compensation from any person engaging in vandalism. Um, any questions? >> Oh, yeah. change will to me. >> I this was a reflective of um like our restorative practices because we were saying what restitution actually looks like and what is the definition of restitution. Um so restitution for damages may be sought. It's not necessarily that every time that would be the case. Yeah. >> And then once again I'll just say reflexive of all the policies we're including parent/guardian in a lot of them just to be inclusive. All right. Next, bomb threats. So, this had several changes. The policy was very outdated. It last was updated May 23rd, 2001. So, we wanted to add the

110different types of threats such as package, written threat, email threats, social media posts, verbal threats, suspicious objects, and basically what we do in accordance with our current policy. Just like to note that the assumption was if a caller identifies himself in number five we just changed that. >> Can you add a section about package >> all highlighted is >> everything highlighted so that four paragraphs. So, in in this work, um obviously, you know, we continue to consult with our our director of of school security, uh Mike Morgan, and um we align the policy to what the current practices are at the school level. So, that way there's a nice alignment. So, if anyone were to pick up the policy, they understand what we would do. uh or if there's anyone new to the district or

111we switch office staff and personnel, we have quick easy access to provide them what the information is they need to know to be able to conduct themselves during a bomb threat. >> Um we hope to never have the situation, but if we did, at least we have a process in place to manage it. >> I love that. >> Um and I like that. I was just wondering because it's direction would we have a regulation associated with this or because we have it directly in the policy it's not needed. >> We um do because we have school safety plans and office safety plans. So um so example the third floor has a safety plan um so doesn't each school. So with that being said, a lot of this is embedded in there as well as other

112information for other types of scenarios that a school needs to be aware of that are beyond or different than bomb threats. Uh so the safety plan itself is more comprehensive. It entails a lot more. Um I mean it would include even things like fire drills and other drills, you know, and such. But um >> so yes. Yes. And um I think Mr. Morgan thought the specificity in our policy would make sure that it's codified to then be in in that plan as well. Um so we could we could move it either way. You know, the policy could be very vague that we have a um bomb threat um procedure >> and the regulation could outline the whole procedure. >> It could be it could be similar to that. >> The only reason I'm asking is

113because we we vote on policy. So if we put the actual instructions of what to do with the parcel and what to do with a threat, >> we're voting on the actual steps of what to take, which is usually what we don't do when it comes to policy. That's my only reason I'm asking. >> We could put that in the regulation. Yeah. >> And I think we're probably going to cut the form. I think >> Yeah, >> that definitely formulation. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I also feel like with the form that's consistently changing so >> I don't think we need that. >> Okay. >> Thank you for your suggestion. >> Yes. >> Like to know what I'm voting on. >> Good. >> Very nice to have. >> So the next policy 3520-1 information security breach

114notification and cloud computing. So this policy was reviewed. There are no changes recommended at this time as the policy contains the most current process for practice. Um, recently actually enacted last school year power school data breach. It also is recommended to separate out the enclosed regulation with the policy to become regulation 3150R. Any questions? >> A lot of definitions. Yeah. >> So, keeping with the same database information policies, we have 3520-11 database information and management systems electronic information security. This is a regulation, not a policy. Therefore, it does not require board vote. It's been reviewed internally for accuracy and does not require any revisions. It is recommended this become regulation 3150R1. Any questions? Nope. Going to 3520-12 database information and management systems student data protection and privacy cloud-based issues. Again, a regulation, not a policy.

115Does not require board vote. Reviewed internally. So, this will become 3150R2. Now, going on to the subject of drones 3523-11. >> This was a fun one. We did one like we did this a couple years ago. But >> it's always fun in policy. It is. So this will become 3155. The policy was reviewed. There were no changes. As you can see, this was last updated in 2017 and we haven't heard anything that requires it or any concerns where people want us to change this policy. Anything to add? No. >> Hazardous materials in school 3524-1. So this will become 3160. This is another policy where no changes are recommended at this time as the policy continues to reflect the most current process for practice used in our schools. It's recommended we separate the enclosed regulation to

1163160R. So transportation this would be 3165 as the new policy. So we updated it to include the language for the vacant seat program. Also we would separ separate the regulation to 3165R and as you know this vacant seat program I think we started 2024 that fall. >> Yeah. Second year. second year. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, as this hadn't been updated since 2013, we included it. You asked Dean if he's okay with making it official. >> I mean, hopefully he is. So, >> regulation just make sure that the streets and everything are all set and the regulation will separate it out, but we just want to make sure that everything is aligned. So Dean is looking over that right now just to make sure it's still still the same. It's a little lower. Yeah. All

117this high school is still streets and still those streets. >> Can you go back up to the addition >> for the language for the AFC program? Okay. >> We also don't anticipate numbers changing >> the exact language that's also sent. >> Yep. >> Um so we wanted to make consistent you know language. >> Yep. >> So the next policy 3541-35 bus driver safety would become the new policy 3170 which is perfect to discuss tonight considering our recognition earlier. So the main difference is we added language guardians because it just said parents before. We also added about cameras being used inside and outside of buses to increase accountability for the both the driver and students. Monitor behavior and provide video evidence for safety and security. Uh and instead of using the term punishment, disciplinary action. Any

118questions? We're almost there, guys. I promise. >> I don't read as fast as Jess. >> No, you didn't. You have them all up. >> So, the next one, 3541-44, transportation equipment. We're actually recommending removing this policy from the manual. There's no statute that requires such policy and it's not a practice of the Newington public schools to transport students in privately owned vehicles. >> That's interesting. >> Not recommended. Definitely not. >> Let's not do that. Yeah, we're good. Thank you. >> So, the next policy still on transportation 3541-5 transportation complaints. It would be the new policy number of 3175. So, it was updated to reflect practices around transportation complaints to maintain compliance. Big changes. instead of supervisor the director of transportation services. Next one 3542-1 purposes and facilities food service. The new policy number would be

1193180 updated by the committee in coordination with the director of food and nutritional services to line with current practices and requirements. We just didn't love the language and attractive wholesome. So well balanced lunch essential component for success and adding in it's coordinated with the office of the food and nutritional services department. Any questions? Um since we serve breakfast, should breakfast be included? >> Yeah. Great point. >> We could say meal instead of lunch. >> And the first sentence, literally the school well balanced lunch. >> School meal program. >> Thank you. Great. Great point. >> Yal. >> Great. >> It's an attractive breakfast. >> Yeah, we were like judge. >> I'm not really that. >> We felt we like to cut out the subjective terms. Okay. Well, thank you for that. >> Next policy, where am

120I? >> 3542-22 food service. The new policy number would be 3185. So again, this was updated with the director of food and nutritional services to line with current practices. Basically, school food service funds. It's district funds. Um, >> we can update that one too. I don't know. It's really for usually lunches, the National School Lunch Program, but we can check too how it applies to >> breakfast. Yeah. So, we can we can update that as well. Yeah. >> National program, right? Yeah. I was like I knew it was that, but we could add an S. Yeah. I was like, I know that's it's capitalized for a reason, but does the funding Yeah, I think what would need to change is not necessarily the name of the program but >> but the >> where it says

121like one free reduced price lunches >> could be changed in meals to make >> yeah that's what I was thinking >> and the two other big changes there's a section on conflict of interest so we reference policy 4118.13 conflict of interest and we also had a long discussion on recipe books being removed and we really don't think there are recipe books that are in our schools. >> I am Yeah, food service. Did I just skip? >> We She's not on food service. That's why. >> Sorry, we're we're looking on food service, right? >> Yeah, >> we're just skipping. >> So, this one is >> Yeah, that was We did free introduce lunch. We just She just I'm sorry. I had the wrong screen up. >> You're You're fine. That was accurate. Okay, like we said,

122there's a million. Sorry. So, but we're getting through the 3,00 windows for those tabs. >> Not that one either. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. >> Food service would be um 3542-22. There we go. Perfect. Okay. Okay, you're on that one. Yeah, >> you actually have to have school food service funds. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we'll change that back then. >> It has to be by law a legal separate account. >> Oh, okay. See, we haven't talked about that because we said now that it's under district line item, >> it has to have its own legal >> bank account. Okay. >> Okay. All right. Then we can go back to that one. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Would it make sense to actually spell it out by school service funds account? Yeah, we can do

123that. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> We were just noting that now with um the school service or the food services is under like it will be a line item in our budget could be zero but it's under that oversight. Yeah. The conflict of interest would still be applicable that. >> Okay. recipe books. >> Yes. >> Also is part of they have to have their recipes for their audits by state. >> Oh, my daughter is here. Wow. >> They It's literally a recipe. >> It's literally a book that is printed. It's it's their how they make their recipes for the >> for auditing purposes. See Lyn, we got to go through. Okay, this is why we were really ambitious with track. We were like, is this to be fair, I will say I thought it was when

124they crackers. >> To be fair, I was it was invoking the rollerblade uh parts of the statutes, the school dance. Yes. And all these things. Yeah. So, that was that that was invoking to me. Um we had a feeling that a lot were stage statue. Okay. This is helpful. >> Okay. We we'll come back to you, Lyn. We'll bring that back. >> Yeah. Production records sounds like it would cover. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think the language needs to match them all. >> Yeah. We were looking at some of the statues don't necessarily have, but it could be. Oh, see that does. >> Yeah. Yep. >> It'll be the ones that the state ones that I looked at, but not necessarily the federal. >> Yep. >> I don't know, Lyn. We love looking

125up our our statutes at 9:00 p.m. tonight. >> Free reduced. >> Yeah, we did. Yeah. So, just back to free and reduced. Yeah, that's next one. Okay. >> Okay. So, next policy 3542-31 free or reduced price lunches. The new policy number would be 3190. This policy was updated again with the director of food and nutritional services and the only change was there. So Lynn, could we change that title to the free and reduced price meals or >> Yeah. Okay. I think that we should do that >> while keeping the National School Lunch Program as the federal statute. Yep, that makes sense. Sounds good. >> Okay. Meal charging. >> So, we did that one. >> We're not installing this. >> No, we are. I just We We hit the meal charging. >> It's fine because it

126was a new policy. >> Okay. >> All right. >> But that'll go after. Y. >> So, it's the same food section. We're trying to make sections. >> It'd be 31.95 policy after that. 3542-33 food sales other than national school lunch program. The new policy number would be 3,200. Again, we made a few changes and based on conversations we had with the director of food nutritional services to align with our current practices. >> I probably just change the second sentence to the district's meals program. >> Yeah. >> And just give it >> Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Any questions? >> Why is it blue, not yellow? >> Yeah, Mr. Feri. Why is that? >> We like this color better. >> I don't blame her. I like it, too. >> That's fine. It's fine. on the >>

127Y right noted for next meeting. >> All right. And the last policy 3543-11 copyrighted materials. The new policy number would be 3205. All we added was the distribution of sand material as well because we had the term copying um and printing. So the distribution >> Britney car original Adam >> any questions comments concerns? >> So many concerns. >> Um actually I have a a quick comment. Um I just want to take a couple of minutes to thank Mr. Feri, Miss Carr and Miss Weaver. It is a pleasure to work with you. As you guys probably have guessed over the last two years, this is dry. It is bone bone dry. And it >> it's really uh You got to think about the meaning of the word. >> But you know the the the thing that

128is is of most interest to me is the fact that we as a group can sit and look at three sentences and and talk about each word and how it's impacted from all different angles and sometimes the shortest policies are the longest ones if that makes any sense. Um, but one of the the the things that's really um, in my opinion, one of the most important things is it gives our uh, families and staff an opportunity to have updated information. So many of these policies haven't been updated since um, 25 years ago essentially. And although we're compliant with statute, which is something we've always been doing, we need to make things relevant and easily accessible for our families and our staff. And it's been a pleasure to to work with these three lovelies um, in

129making that happen. And so even though it looks like it's not so much fun and a little drive, we've had some good laughs and lots of uh discussion about language and and syntax and I say use your college words, but also a real thought on if I were to read this for the first time as a new family. If I were to read this for the first time as a new staff member, how can we make that easy and accessible? Also to to thank the people who are doing our it our policy manual updates every five minutes. So it is very easily accessible to our families. Um, all they have to do is go to the website. So, thank you. Thank you. And thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah, it's a good accomplishment for getting

130as far as you did in the last two years as a community and the um getting it onto our own hosting site, right? So, we stopped using CA. >> Yep. So, uh we're not done that. We're going to try and bring back some more next week or to the next meeting. Um, we're tentatively putting, we know it's DeWali, but, uh, October 20th doing another one just to take back anything that you guys have and also pre-look because Miss Carr already looked at the 4,000 policies, too. So, um, just want to keep her as long as I can. Um, so just wanted to put that out there. Um, and our goal is to though pass all these policies that we just presented to you tonight at the next board meeting on October 29th. Yeah. Um, but

131as always, if you have any questions, please email any of us. Let us know if there's any specific revisions you have or those kinds of things for next Monday. That would be great. Um, yeah, I just want to say thank you. Likewise, this is the dream team and I call them my policy queens and king. Thank you, Mr. Rey. Um, I'm just really, really grateful we get to do this work. Uh, and just so grateful for everyone who br brings the inputs in that they do. Um, genuinely an absolute joy to do this work and we will get through all of those. Oh, I'm sorry. We're actually going to look at the 7,000 >> because there's only four policies there. So, we know that that we can get through this. Um, yeah, >> I was

132going to say they also deal deal with like the building and construction and you know, we're completing Anna Reynolds. John Wallace is happening. So, it makes sense to look at those policies, make sure they're up to date, they're, you know, we have in writing what we're actually doing. Um, and to echo both of you guys, you're all going to be extremely missed. Policy can be dry. I do love it. That's why I do it all day. Um, but I think this subcommittee was a great balance. You know, we both all have different skill sets. We all have different ways of viewing language and language is so important. And the input and the dedication going home and reading these policies so that we come to the meetings with what changes we, you know, want to see,

133what changes we need, more questions clarified. And it's just been really great. Thank you. Any overdone policies for now? Okay. >> For now. >> All right. The next item is a calendar discussion. So, this was a um a later addition to the agenda. Um and it was I think because of the way that the calendar fell this year, there have been week after week after week of um holidays and early release days, specifically Mondays and Tuesdays. Um, and I know it's a a burden on many families and my own as well, especially since I'm not home. Um, to take care of our preschooler. Um, three different schools actually. Yeah. So, um, we had, uh, an email from a member of the public. We had I talked to someone at the bus stop and PTO. Yeah,

134two different PTO meetings. So, we just decided to put this on the agenda to have a board discussion on some of the things that we've been hearing from the community about our school calendar. Um, and then Dr. Brome and team are prepared to um take any of the questions or that we have and um and help us inform future calendar decisions. Um, and just a reminder to the public, we do set the calendar as a um, it's a board function to set the calendar and we set we have two, we have the current school year and the next school year out there and we do it in like springtime mostly. Um, so so yeah, let's just open up for discussion. Um, maybe I know others have um, attended PTO meetings and had some feedback that

135we can just start with. Mr. Hollerin who doesn't have the luxury of a lot of child care. I know public school isn't daycare, but practically people depend on it. And I think that that has a real impact in people's ability to support their family. I don't think it's just a headache. I do think that it has a real impact in how some families have to navigate managing what they need to do. And I know if I was maybe I started a new job and I was an hourly worker and then all of a sudden I'm asking for one or two days off every single week, I don't know how long I would have that job. I think that's a real concern that we have to balance. Um, and I think that's a voice that just

136needs to be brought to the table because I think it's more than an inconvenience. I think it has true impact. >> Yeah. So, um, I was at Patterson PTO last week. Um, definitely heard the same concern at my own aunt's house and was like, we only have this many full weeks. And I was like, really? Is that true? And I think one of the things that we did um just for transparency sake so you don't have to go through like a million different board wings but when we first um I think it's now like four or five years that we added a lot of the the holidays and a lot of them were um >> three years. Okay. Um you know we had students advocate for them. We had petitions coming in to to add

137all of these ones. And then some years it looked like it was not really impactful and others and I know every year we kind of go to the calendar and ask the teachers um and we survey them. many of whom have either live in other districts and work here or work in the district and have kids in the district and um you know obviously we want to make sure like our teachers are here um but perhaps you know as we kind of look at the next calendar too it's looking at um you know community surveys and I know we try and do as many surveys and I know people get survey fatigue and all these things um but obviously want that stakeholder voice as well and I know part of this too is how we

138build these into the contracts and how many working days um teachers have versus not and their PL days. Um and I was just talking with Beatatric too about like the PL days um because I know like West Harvard has like every half every Wednesday is a half day. Um and we have every other Tuesday, but just curious too on um if you could explain Dr. kind of the um requirements on teachers. Is it a requirement for PL time or what that looks like or um because I think it is a balance of I know many times we in our union negotiations too there was a desire for more prep time, more time for the teachers to have like inclass things. Um so just kind of what's the thesis around that? And then second question would

139be could we bring back up the one we haven't necessarily voted offici have we voted officially on the next year calendar and how impacted it is comparatively I think there might be more I'm not sure >> we do have the next year calendar um I just didn't have I think there's one more PL like teacher Tuesday uh I think there's 16 in next year's and 15 in this year's um but >> yeah there's it it varies but it's around the 15 to um >> to answer that particular question and what they're used for. It typically is curricular training. Um you know, right now we've still in year two for our uh benchmark program, a year one really at grade five. And um also some of our initiatives to in increase the rigor in classrooms. Um

140and on occasion we use it for mandatory training. A lot of that does happen in the summer, but we do uh we do use it for a lot of curricular enhancements and uh ability for teachers to, you know, get some advanced training in a variety of areas. And Mr. Frey, every year produces a very lengthy professional development camp, you know, detailed about what we've done throughout the course of the year. Um, and yes, the board still needs to vote on the 2728 calendar. They did already vote on the 2627. Doesn't mean they can't look at identify it as what's the um what are the hour like hours of PL requirements I don't that what did not come out right how many hours are are we required to provide for professional development >> sounds a lot

141better Mr. for question. >> Sure. >> The state statute is 18 hours annually >> and does that that includes the days in the beginning of the school year. >> It includes the entire time teachers are here. >> Um and um how many hours per Tuesday are they getting? >> It's a 90 minute session. >> Okay. >> So an hour and a half. >> Okay. Thanks. Um I I we have an opportunity at the end of the meeting for a public comment which I will um >> hours now like my god I wrote this email. It's been non-stop just waiting to be able to speak my piece on this and I just like having me at the very end of it is just saying that my regard to this email was not really respected like I

142initially thought it was. Well, we we had an opportunity at the beginning of the meeting for public participation and then >> so I've been here for two hours. >> I we we added the disc the >> calendar I was supposed to speak. I have three kids like >> I mean yeah I and I really I just >> I I understand I just we have to follow protocol and the protocol is the public has opportunity to speak in the beginning in the agenda. No, I Okay, I'm really sorry that that I I have to follow protocol. So, we we have a reason for that. Why can't we just let her speak in >> with all due respect I I am the chair and I cannot allow because it sets a precedent and we can't have the

143precedent is that the public is the agenda and I see calendar discussion not only am I supposed to differentiate the >> I make a motion the agenda >> public participation up >> we can also move the um I mean I just if we do that then we can't have our discussion >> the calendar or like public participation >> basically we can get rid of my agenda item and then we'll finish >> finish calendar then go to immediately public comment that'll that'll make it pretty quick for you to have a comment if that's what you'd like to do >> we can do I'm fine with that. Okay. >> Need a motion. >> So, basically, the kids get um two hours. >> I'm I'm so sorry. We're We have to We have to amend our agenda to

144We're going to remove that um the last agenda item. We'll move that to the next meeting, finish our discussion, and then open up for public participation. I'd like to make a motion to strike presentation for the strategic plan for the 2024 2027 superintendent's goal setting agenda item possibly rescheduled for another meeting. Um and that was it. >> Second motion second. Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Um we'll finish our discussion quickly and then allow for public comment. Um I was scanning at the number of hours required um contractually is one and a half for Tuesdays. So if we have 15 like I don't need to do the math now. I just feel like it's it is more than the 18. So, is that um I

145guess that's just a follow-up question. Is 1.5 times if we have 15. >> I I would just clarify the the 18 isn't contractually. Uh it's a state state statute is um a minimum of 18 hours a year of professional learning. >> Okay. Um there has been a significant amount of legislatively required mandates for training that have eaten up a a significant portion of that. >> And then there's district training that we are obviously required because we have new programs and new curriculum that needs to be okay. Thank you for that Mr. Chararma. >> I I think it'll be useful like I did um forward like questions to Yes. I think it'll be great for you to like answer those questions and then we can go from there. Is there a specific question that you want

146to ask now? >> Are you talking about the email, Mr. Chararma? >> Yes, I did email all the questions to her to the superintendent and it had I don't know the questions. >> Are you prepared to answer all? >> Yeah, send all the questions. Okay. So, um, Mr. Shmer posed, "Why are there so many early release days?" I think we've talked about having to, you know, meet a lot of state mandates as well as our own internal curriculum work. Um, why does Newington have more than surrounding towns? I'm still analyzing that. So, that I cannot answer. Um, certainly we don't have as many as West Hartford. They're off. They have a half early release day every Wednesday. But I am looking at calendars and having my secretaries call different districts to see what their half

147days are for. Sometimes their school calendars aren't very illustrative of what actually is happening. How does the school decide which religious holidays get a day off? That is a board decision. The board votes on any additional school holidays as they did two years ago um for Diwali and Eat Alfitter and Three Kings Day. Um there's not a minimum percentage that must be celebrated. It's really a board decision and I am analyzing that as well. I'm looking at what other districts celebrate. Um some have Veterans Day off, some don't. Some celebrate or have Diwali off, some don't. So there's a lot of variation among districts, a tremendous amount of variation on that. Um though Diwali has just been made a state holiday as well. Um, and would allowing a small percentage of excused days off be

148better than losing class time for everyone? That's something that the board did uh consider several years ago. Um, but we heard from students that if they're not in if they're missing school to do a holiday that they celebrate, they're feeling that they're missing out and and that they're not getting the instruction. Um, obviously they're excused. Kids who take a religious holiday um certainly can have an excused absence. That's not the question. The question is um how they're missing out on that. So uh missing out on what's happening in the class when they're not there. Um so again, those were things the board took up 3 years ago uh when they added some holidays. Some of them are kind of becoming mandatory anyway. Um others are not. So those are things that the board can revisit

149if they so choose. >> Yeah. And we did um recently actually it must have been at the end of last school year there was a request to add another holiday and um we given the timing of it which was at the towards the end of the school year where things are really busy in general we um we did make a decision as a board to um to not add the c the the holiday and add it to the list of um of obviously excused um absences. I just want just want to clarify like these questions were emailed to me and then by a parent and I just emailed them to Moren. So >> yes, thank you. >> I think we we >> Oh, you didn't get an email. >> Um did that any Miss Carr

150just so I understand. So the Tuesdays that are early release for professional learning that's based on the contracts we have correct? No, >> no, it was a board decision to implement early release Tuesdays to improve teaching and learning in Newington about a decade ago. >> Just a thought, I don't know how everyone feels about this, but maybe combining the early releases, so it's just an additional day off per month and then putting that near the holidays. Like for example, I'm looking at the 2026 to 2027 school calendar. So you have um October Monday, October 12th off and you have an early release on the 6th and the 27th combining those. So then it's just the 13th off or something like that. So it's just an extended weekend and it's one day instead of an additional

151two per month. Thank you Mr. Hollerin. Yeah, I think this warrants further discussion um probably as we can do a little research and come back to it and I also want to let the member of the public wait so patiently have time to speak. Um some of the things I that's a possibility. Can we have one full day and still two half days? So my question to Mr. Paresi is do the current PL days count as a as a school day with the requirements of enough school days? So if we added one full PL day, that would extend the end of the school year out because those would be not counted as full school days. So that's one part of the consideration. I also know that we do have a program for after school for

152the PL days, but I know that doesn't extend past fourth grade. Um, and so I think you know you've got a fifth grader in the middle school that is still a tricky situation with no necessarily place to go if you don't have your independent child care. But I do believe that we need to all do a little bit of homework, kind of look at options, give the superintendent some time um to explore some options along with the assistant superintendent to just get some answers and we could have a more informed conversation going forward. I just wanted to add those two things in as part of the consideration is cuz I thought of that why don't we just have one full PL day. I'm like well then that doesn't count as a school day um which

153will push out the end of the school year which is a inconvenience and another in another end of it. So just wanted to say those two things. >> The the program that's through parks and recck right? Is that what you're referring to? Yeah. I was actually um I I don't know maybe we can talk to parks and wreck because I know that there are um there is a program there is a cost for it too which also could impact families um and maybe get more information from parks and wreck on what that program is and if they can expand it at all or there's also potential that maybe we can work with some of our high schoolers like there's um I know there obviously have to be supervision But um you know work with high

154schoolers and or parks and wreck and to expand um some sort of programming just other options that may maybe not necessarily will because we do or other I don't know maybe we can think creatively of other ways to to get the professional learning in. I know there's obviously time constraints on the day too um and and teachers have families as well. So, um I think just the discussion here is to just start opening up and recognizing that there is concern throughout our community um so that we can make better decisions or um provide options going forward. Are there any other any other other research items or things that we want superintendent to um to get from the board? No. Okay. Are you good? Okay. Um All right. Then we'll move on to public participation. So,

155you can just turn your mic on and um we have a limit of four minutes. Okay. Uh, Danielle Brier, 38 Southwood Road. Um, I will I reiterated some points that I made from my my prior email. So, I guess I'll just reread it and I did do some research on it and I added some suggestions and things um from what I said before. Um, I'm here to express my frustration with the public school calendar this year. There are hardly any full weeks of school. In fact, that there are only 10 normal 5 days 5day schedules this entire school year. How are they supposed to readjust with every week being different from the last and it's not fair to them. Children are creatures of habit and routine. This routine is so infrequent. I have looked at

156ever several surrounding towns such as Weathersfield, Rocky Hill, Farmington, Glastonbury, New Britain, Emberlin, and they do not have as many holidays and early release days. This year, it seems like a lot of those holidays fall on weekdays, which is unfortunate. I am aware diversity has something to do with it, but I would bet New Britain has more has a more diverse population and their students are in school significantly more. For holidays not shared by the majority, they have a special observation day for those who celebrate them. Faculty will make appropriate accommodations for those students and they would have an excuse day off. I think Newington should do that as well. There are 25 early release days this year. That's insane. 15 of 25 for um are for the learning development. This is equivalent to 30

157hours. At least that's what I thought because I assumed two hours um because that's how soon uh they get off. And teachers are only required by the Connecticut Board of Education 18 hours. This seems excessive. The kids are supposed to attend school to get an education. How are they supposed to do that if they're hardly ever there? I know our town's test scores are not excellent. Perhaps this is the contributing factor to that. Better test scores would lead to higher school ratings, and that would make our town more appealing. I have a few small suggestions to help with the consistency all around for parent teacher conferences. Instead of having six early release days, how about we dedicate one day in the winter and one day in the spring? That would be make the schedule slightly

158less hectic. Also, if we have all these early release days, how about we change it to just one day a month? That sounds more reasonable and that is what most of the other towns typically do. If we did this starting in August, that would be equivalent to 22 hours, which would be more than the 18 recommended hours. This schedule is exasperating for parents as well. It is hard to work a full week week uh with kids being absent from school a good chunk of the time. I spoke with one parent recently who shares she had to quit her full-time job and take on two part-time ones um due to this year's calendar. Again, I just wanted to say I'm grateful to be able to share my concerns from my initial emails and hopefully we can

159tweak tweak things going forward. That's about it. My main issue is more the consistency of it. Just having a random Tuesday or Thursday off. Kids who just go to school on a Friday, you know, they're not going to learn anything. It's hard to get them out of bed. They're already in weekend mode. And yeah, it's just frustrating, but you know, unfortunately, it is what it is at the time. And yeah, I came close to that four minutes. >> Thank you. And I'm I'm sorry for the >> No, I'm sorry for being emotional. I was just like waiting patiently. >> Yeah. >> And I I saw the agenda and I thought that's when I was speaking. So >> yeah, I'm sorry though for the miscommunication. >> Yeah. No, it was miscommunication. I could have also asked

160as well, but yeah, I I thought it was clear, but you know, >> just so we we try to avoid the back and forth so that it moves farther. So, I'm so sorry cuz I would say go up during the first public participation always because it will get addressed at that item. >> Yeah. Know, it was funny cuz Amanda offered that. I'm like, I'm on this I'm on the agenda. >> These aren't this is a short meeting, too, so I'll let you know. These will go late usually. I I was at the accelerated math one. I know that one went pretty long, but yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Um remarks by Oh, is any other public is um able to raise their hands at this point to be recognized? I don't

161see any um remarks by board members. Mr. Hollerin, >> I know it's late, so I'll keep it brief. Uh just want to thank the chairperson for understanding that we are a government body and we do have to follow Robert's rules and we do have to keep a sense of decorum and schedule and it's not always easy. Um but we also have to do that to remain consistent and to make sure that we are setting a correct precedent going forward. So just thank you for making sure that the ship is sailing in the right direction and we're following the rules. Miss Weaver, uh, I just wanted to add on to, um, the PTO one. I had a lovely two-hour conversation after our PTO ended at Patterson. Um, just kind of hearing from parents, some that even

162worked in the district. Um, just to hear I always uh, open up with you can vent to me uh, about things and that opened the floodgates. Uh, everyone was like, we're done at 7:40. That was not the case. Um I got home at at 10 o'clock um the other night, but it was really really great just to hear from parents. I think many are looking for a forum um outside of this board table. I think obviously um keeping with Robert's rules, it's harder to have like that back and forth and that candid conversation and that candid conversation leads to 10 other different things and it becomes a two-hour conversation quite easily. um everything from we had conversations about um the calendar, about school safety, about um about scores, about everything. And I think the biggest

163one was though um the conversation we had and unprompted but brought from them was um just our paras um and wanting to invest in more of them and wanting more of our our school resources to go to our paras and obviously noting that you know um the healthcare issue with our paras is a big issue. So, just wanted to put that out there again that this isn't something, you know, um that has fallen off our radar, but it's always good to hear from those on the ground to hear about how important the work is from our paras and how stretched thin we are when it comes to those resources. Um there was nothing but um you know, praise for for the work that's being done um by our pairs, by our interventionists. Um there was

164a lot of love in the room for that and then a lot of eye for making sure that we we fund those more. Um so just wanted to put that in you know um out there. Lastly, just want to thank my policy committee. I uh will be traveling for work next week. So this is my last in person. I will be online. I absolutely hate that. This is like the worst season between weddings and work. Um no one invite me to any more weddings or anything like that. I'm so sorry for my availability. Um but I will will be online um from from San Jose. So, um just apologies to miss that in person. Um I absolutely want to be here. Um so, as my last in person, I just want to thank our outgoing

165members. Um or whoever this board will look like next, but those not running for re-election. Thank you so much for the work that you've done. Um I'm very biased to Miss Carr um in particular given her absolute above and beyond contribution to our policies. Um, I have noted that we should put BC by a couple of our policies. Um, just because not truly just like the verbiage she comes up with um is incredible. I think it's actually quite beautiful. It's an art form. It's a skill um that I hope many of our our students can can copy. So, I just want to say thank you so much um in person because I really adore the work that you do and what you bring. Uh and thank you Tony as well. I'm just biased to my

166my policy queen here. Um, so sorry to keep that that running, but it must be said for the record that um our policies will forever have the stamp of the Britney Carr approval. Um, >> yeah. >> Okay. Good. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, >> but but I just want to say like this this these past couple months and year has been truly a wonderful experience to um to need through some of these things and things that I would never think of. So, you've made me a better writer and I think you've made our policies just incredible. Mary, you're cool, too. But, um, but just want to say thank you to all of our PTOs and PTAs. I know a lot of us attended in the last couple weeks. Um, lot of attendance. Some were saying record

167attendance the last couple weeks. So, thank you for all that you do. PTO's and PTAs. >> Those are in our policies, too. >> Thanks all. No, no, >> go ahead. >> You're always late raising your hand. I'll have a more formal speech at the next meeting, but because this is the last one you're in person, and I've said it earlier, I've loved my time on the board, um, I think this board has run smoothly the past two years for the most part. I mean, we all have different views. We didn't always agree on the same things, but we were all able to come to the table and really share our thoughts, share our point of views. We all have different experiences which changes our mindsets and it really has been such a pleasure and I

168think there are a lot of quality people here and I'm very interested to see what happens and see how the board looks and I wish you all that are running again the best of luck and Tony you get to retire with me. >> One more meeting guys. Anyone else? >> Um, I just had a couple things to say. I the last night the town council passed officially the memorandum of understanding for our open choice money that goes into our CIP, allowing us to um put it into our non-lapsing and then increasing it in line with state statute um that $2 million cap. um is is in theou. Um hopefully they'll put it official in the um ordinance, but for now we have another year of that. Um, I also wanted to I know we'll probably

169talk about this again with the next board, but we talked about just the budget briefly and I wanted to mention that we do February 4th is the meeting, but we do want us to plan a joint meeting with the council um and then kind of involve them even more in the process, too. So, we'll talk more about what that can look like with the next um board and the next council. Um, but I wanted to mention that um, since it was our bus driver um, >> appreciation proclamation, um, there's been a lot of, and we mentioned it, Miss Weaver mentioned it earlier, but there's been a lot of, um, Facebook posts and and things about people going through stop signs. It is illegal and there is a procedure for um reporting and um those drivers

170do get fined through the DMV process. Um our our Newington police aren't always involved but they um but the transportation does pull the tapes and sends it to DMV and those drivers get fines. Um so please don't do that anyone. Um our kids are very precious. Um also um for the holidays I as getting that email prompted me to also look at other um other districts and one thing that we had talked about especially when we talked about that other um Eid holiday was I know the high school does it but having a district-wide list of the holidays religious holidays that are not necessarily um off from school but observed and we're not penalizing students for missing those days. Weathersfield actually lists them all on the back of their calendar. And so I was um

171just maybe make a suggestion that we could do the same because we have the list and we want to I you know we're very proud of the diversity in Newington and I think it's really important just to recognize that we um we do appreciate and and want people to feel like they can celebrate their respective holidays and not be penalized for them. So maybe something we could do for our next um calendar update. And I think that's it except for I just again want to thank the Newington football and cheer athletic department and band department because that was such a fun night and it was originally going to be the night be the week before and I was away and I was really upset and then I worked some magic and then it happened and

172I was able to make it and all three of my girls were there on the field. It was just awesome and it's so much fun. I love like the community and I wasn't joking the student section was like pouring out into the the the rest of the stand. So, it was just the Friday night football games have been really really great this year. So, just extra shout out to the to the athletic department and everyone involved and Stuco cuz they're awesome. I think that's it. We have one more inerson meeting before the election. Motion to adjourn. Second. >> All in favor? >> I meeting 9:29 p.m.