NPS BOE Meeting - (9/10/2025)

001Heat. Heat. I'd like to call >> this meeting of the Newington special meeting of the Newington Board of Education to order uh for Wednesday, September 10th, 2025. The time is 7:04 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. >> Deb, would you please call the role? >> Mary, >> here. >> Whitney Carr >> here. >> How >> Anthony >> here. >> Timothy Newton >> here. Amy Karate >> here. >> Sam >> here. >> Jessica Weaver. >> She's on a plane. >> Here. >> Everybody. >> Thank you. Okay. The first order of business is a presentation which is a resolution honoring our Newington information and

002educational technology professionals. resolution honoring Newington information technology staff and educational technology staff September 10th 2025. Whereas Wednesday, September 10th, 2025 has been proclaimed as information and educational technology appreciation day. And whereas the Newington public school system is committed to honoring its information educational technology professionals and recognizing their contributions to the educ educational system. And whereas the information and educational technology professionals are wellqualified and dedicated to their craft by refreshing their skills to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology. And whereas the information and educational technology professionals help students to use technology safely and prepare them for the demands of the changing global society and workplaces. And whereas the information and educational technology professionals commitment to providing excellence in contemporary technology services and solutions that ensure and en enhance the learning process is exemplary. And

003whereas it is the desire of the board of education that theformational and educational technology professionals should be made aware of their appreciation. We do hereby proclaim Wednesday, September 10th, 2025 as Newington Information and Educational Technology Appreciation Day. Therefore, be it resolved that we urge all the citizens of our community to join with us in actively expressing gratitude to our information and educational technology professionals who represent an investment in excellence in our community. Be it further resolved that the secretary of the Newington Board of Education is directed to spread this resolution upon the minutes of the meeting and to provide a suitable copy to the directors of information and educational technology board. You like to say a few words? >> Absolutely. Uh on behalf my name is Brett Dunway for the Newington information technology team. Uh

004on behalf of the uh IT team over here at Newington, we want to say thank you for acknowledging the hard work that we put in uh day in and day out, the incredible team and the effort that goes into this. So none of this is possible without the teachers, the administration staff, and everyone who supports us as well. Uh we love what we do and we will continue to do what we do. Amy, can I say anything? It's Jay. >> I'll open up to board comments. Miss Beatric, >> thank you so much for all of your hard work and everything that you do. I think you guys are very very well aware that there's nothing more stressful than seeing opening up your computer and seeing something spinning or a dark screen and that the the

005terror that strikes through us if we can't do what we need to do when we need to do it. And so I really appreciate all the effort that you put in the long hours, the continuing education, keeping on top of everything. technology moves very very very quickly and you guys are on top of it for all of our staff, all of our students and and those even technical things that happen in in our buildings. So very very much appreciated. Thank you for everything you do. Well done. >> Mr. Chararma, >> hi. I just want to quickly reach out to you guys and thank you for everything you know you guys do because you know you guys keep it keep us running right keep us up you know everything working in our district so thank you

006so much for everything you guys do >> Mr. Hollerin. >> Um, just echoing what everybody else said. Uh, information technology guys, uh, that is such a broad term. Uh, it is usually it's broke, please fix it. And that's about as much as you have to go on most of the time. Uh, it's not just about making sure that things are connected, but there's security, right? It's the world we live in. It's not just I'm talking about IT security, but it's LinkedIn with fire, EMS. There's a lot of things that encompass information technology and I don't think everybody appreciates or knows what that does. So, thank you very much. Uh my brother works um in the same department in Rocky Hill. Um so I was expecting just about the right amount of speaking that happens at

007that point. Your doers not really says uh but what you do means a lot. So thank you very much >> Miss Carr. And just again echoing what everyone said, you guys are the backbone of our schools and you don't necessarily get the recognition that people think of. Um I know personally I went to my IT department twice today and I can only imagine you know in the schools the teachers administration the students and technologies becoming more advanced and more in part of our everyday. So thank you so much Thank you. And uh Mr. Serno was on, but I think he has dropped. Um but anyways, I um yeah, just what everybody said, I I a lot of times you you don't see, as Mr. Holland was kind of alluding to, you don't see all of

008the things that happen until they go wrong. So, the fact that we don't really hear a lot about things that go wrong is is really a testament to the the hard work behind the scenes that our um technology and ed technology folks go through. Um and it is a very important um department to have. So, we are very appreciative of you and thank you for all your hard work. Okay, anyone else? Thank you. Okay, I will now open up to public participation on any matter related to board responsibilities. Um, if you are in the room, you come to the head of the table. If you're online, you can raise your hand. Um, I will I think we talked last time we are looking to revise our policy. So, I'll um we have a 4m minute

009timer today um for public participation. Miss AS. >> I'm sorry. Did you call my name? >> I did. >> Yes. >> Dana Havens, 113 Stoddard Avenue. All right. I'm calling today um in response to a letter that was sent out by the chairman regarding the accelerated math program. Um I was unable to access the letter directly as the link denied me entry and it denied uh the parents who sent it to me originally enter entry when they try to get into it today. So I am going off memory. Um so uh please let me know if this is wrong or right. Um I understand that the letter said that accelerated math will only in seventh grade it will be only offered for this year. So if you can confirm if that is correct. Um I

010also was told and can remember that while the chairman's wording suggests this was a joint decision of the board. In reality not all the board members were aware of this nor did they receive a copy of the letter that was sent to the parents. And if that is indeed the case, it is to me just as concerning as the chairman's decision at the last meeting to shut down speakers who were simply quoting statements made by members of administration. So please note that I did not use names today and thank you for your time. Thank you. See no other public participation. >> Oh, you can come to the table. I couldn't see it. Okay. Um Martha Karsten, 32 stage coach lane. It's very frustrating when you ask a question or questions and they are dodged. This

011administration is extremely adept at doing this and it goes back to the continued lack of transparency transparency and honesty in decision-m. When a parent asks about class sizes or how class sizes are determined or how to how certain cuts are made or the rationale behind them, they really should be quick and easy answers because they really should be backed in data andor part of the contract. What I have figured out is that here in Newington, these things that this administration have chosen to attempt to hide and be dis and be dishonest about by omission. I wrote a letter to the superintendent as well as every member of the board of education in August with zero responses to my questions or any attempt made to have a productive discussion. Imagine how frustrating that would be. So,

012when questions go unanswered and are dodged and the optics are such that my instincts are correct, cuts were intentionally made to keep certain kids out of accelerated math this year. Whether or not that's a fact, that's what every person I've spoken to about this has felt as well. My son, who has an exL score within the high school level, just missed the cut on SBA and is so bored and unchallenged in the G general seventh grade math class you placed him in. He had a great he had a grade in the range you set and missed the SBA's cut by five points points or according to the sixth grade math teachers in my building, that's one question. Interestingly, I spoke to a math consultant at the state level and that person was shocked that a

013grade in an SBA score were what you used to determine who went where. I am a diagnostician who who is trusted to diagnose dyslexia and learning disabilities as well as other exceptionalities special education teach education teachers test for. I would never make a determination based on a grade and a high stakes test. You should not have either. Imagine hiring me for an IE and I looked at your child's SBA score and a grade and said, "No, they do not have dyslexia." Do you hear how that sounds? The reality is, and I know we are in our third week of school, but my son is not getting the upward differentiation. And he said just in the car yesterday afternoon, I guess my job is to help teach the other kids again this year. What is the

014plan for for providing enrichment to these kids that you chose not to accelerate? Those of us that had children that just met the missed the cut deserve a written plan and of how and what you are going to do to provide them upward differentiation and enrichment opportunities. Every day we have to coexist with people we do not like. However, the route taken here instead of looking at students holistically is to discriminate against the ones that have parents who do not just blindly follow, who ask questions and push for excellence in their children's education. Trying to force everyone into one box and make them the same is not providing excellent education. My job for the last 25 plus years has been to instruct the most struggling learners and ensure that equity and opportunities exist for them.

015I am a champion for inclusion and for pushing students to be their personal best. I would not have lasted in special education for this many years if that was not the case. I would not be pursuing my fellow level of Orton Gillingham training if that was not the case. I see the phrase every student every day, no matter what, in buildings around town. It is heartbreaking to think that this really is not the case. If it was the case, children would be looked at as a whole and not just a standardized test score in one grade. I want to be very clear about something. I'm not just here because of my both of my sons. I am not just here because I feel a certain way about some of you. As someone that has made

016a life's work about treating all students with dignity, the dignity that they deserve, it breaks my heart that this group of children that includes my son was not treated with dignity or respect and their social emotional needs were not considered and they were trampled on instead. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Laura Kellaher, 31 Cheney Lane. I do not have a prepared speech tonight, but I just have a few notes to mention um in response to some of what Martha said. Um curriculum in New England public schools needs to be looked at very closely. I understand up till this point the board of education has not voted on curriculum changes but having two sons that have gone through the Newington public schools as I've said in previous meetings I have trusted the administration to make

017decisions that are in the best interest of our kids and I don't believe that is being done when my oldest son started kindergarten he was using foundations it's a very strong reading and writing curriculum it's used by many of our districts in our area, many districts that score higher than us on standardized testing, if that's what we're worried about now in Newington, apparently. Um, in kindergarten, he could tell me what a diagraph was, what a dip thong was. He was retaching me reading and writing, and I'm a special education teacher and a school administrator. Shortly after that, Newington switched to Lucy Caukins reading and writing curriculum, which if you've done any research, you now know has been proven not to be a scientificbased reading curriculum, and there are many lawsuits against that curriculum. So, my

018older son had a little bit of that, but that's what my younger son started school with. Then, after Lucy Cawkins, Newington public schools decided to switch to Benchmark. There are approximately two towns in the entire state of Connecticut that use Benchmark as their reading and writing curriculum. Teachers in Newington report to me that students are so upset and the focus is so heavily on testing, repeated testing. There's not a strong focus on phonics. Why are we using a curriculum that two out of all the towns in Newington approximately? Let's say five just for the sake of give or take a little. Why are we using a curriculum that five towns are using in Newington? Why do I have teachers in Rocky Hill, West Harford, Glastonberry saying, "Why would you ever be using Benchmark in Newington?"

019And the reason I'm bringing this up tonight is because again, I've trusted this administration to make these decisions. And I'm really questioning whether or not I should have done that because now I have a fifth grader that is not strong in reading and writing, has not received intervention, and has scored a two nearly a one on his sback for two years in a row. And I've been in contact with his principles. I've been in contact with Dr. Brahmitt. I've been in contact with Miss Freeman. I've been in contact with basically everyone related to this issue and nothing has changed. His ESPback score went up 50 points, which is a typical increase over the course of a year from last year to this year. And I think his teacher worked really hard. I don't think it's

020his teacher's fault. So, what are we doing to improve reading and writing? Because that directly links to math in any subject and every subject, I should say. The other thing I want to mention, and I could go into the accelerated math thing, but you guys have heard from me about that. So, um, the math curriculum that we're using in the elementary school, Howard County resources, how many of you have heard of Howard County resources? Because I have teachers reaching out to me saying they're spending their summer buying things with their fellow teachers on teachers pay teachers so they have resources just to provide to their students to start the first day of school. I looked it up before I came here. It's from Elliot City, Maryland. And each level has about three pages of a

021scope and sequence with no attached materials to it. and that's our most evidence-based math curriculum that our taxpayers are paying for in Newington. So, if the board of ed isn't voting on these decisions, then we need different people in the seats that are making these decisions because I honestly can't believe this. >> Thank you. >> Any other participation? Okay. Thank you. >> Um we will look into the um questions raised and um Dr. Brema or a member of her team will get back to you on them. Okay. Um we have our standing committee reports. We have our student representatives from the high school. One of them here tonight, Abby. Welcome back. Thanks for being here. Hi. So, my name's Abby Pratt and I'm this year's senior board of ed. Our junior board of edup this

022year is Daniel Bescard, but he was unable to be here today because he's drum major for our marching band and they have their first big performance tomorrow, so he wasn't able to come. And then I have some of our SUKO officers behind me. So Adrienne Bielski who is our president, Michaela Woods who is our vice president, Aaron Piaakawitz who's our secretary, and then some other people who couldn't be here, Jason White who's our social chair, and then Jaylen Henderson who is our treasurer. So the presentation we have this year is very similar to the format we had last year with a lot of the sim similar details. So whenever you guys are ready. So we have an inside NHS air section just so you guys can see what's going on inside the high school. So

023with senior year coming up, we have a lot of supports for our seniors at the high school. So, every year the main school counseling office hosts various college rep visits and it's a great way for students to make a connection with the college that they're thinking about going to and it provides a good way to ask informal questions that you may not feel comfortable asking in a typical setting where you may go on a tour. We also have senior class meetings. So during advisory this week, counselors are meeting with senior students by house to provide information on the post-secary process and how to navigate that and the steps that we should be taking. There's also the 12th grade parent night program and that's going to be held September 16th at 5:30 in the auditorium at

024the high school and it's going to provide information about different types of colleges, how to select a college and what goes into the typical application. And then we also are having, I believe it's that same night, a college fundraising workshop from Barnum Financial Group and that's going to be virtually at 7 p.m. So they're going to talk about need-based financial aid, FASA versus the CSS profile, tuition discounting, and minimizing student loans just so that parents can get a better idea of how to help their students. And then we also have senior sunrise. So on the first day of school, all of our seniors go to the football field and we all at 6:00 a.m. and we all watched the sunrise together. So that was a really fun way. We all made posters and took pictures

025together. So that was really fun. And then we also these past couple weeks had pliables and Duncan visit the high school. So they gave out samples and Miss Tno actually helped to serve um the pliables. So it was really cool. Everyone really enjoyed it. And then we also have AP exam registration. So that has started in AP classes and it's going to be open till the end of the month. So the 30th of September. And then it's for students who are eligible to take the AP test and who are interested in getting college credit. And then ECE enrollment is going to begin the 16th and that's going to be open for a month. So till until October 16th. And a lot of our students take advantage of those opportunities just because it's presented in class

026as a way to save money going into college. So, it's a really good opportunity that a lot of our students take advantage of. We also have our freshman, sophomore, and junior class assemblies. So, it's in similar format to the senior class assemblies, but they'll be discussing more expectations for the school year, what to expect for the beginning of the year, um introducing staff members, stuff like that. And we also have our class of 2029 elections. So, our class officers have started filling out their applications if they want to run for class office. And we're trying to get as much involvement as possible cuz sometimes it can be difficult with the new freshman cuz they're intimidated. So, we're just trying to make it as welcoming and as opening and as open as possible. And then Miss

027Tigno starting yesterday actually, she's picking three students. So she picks random by ID number and she's doing Tuesday talk and treats with TGNO and it she's just doing it to create a more welcome aspect where students feel more comfortable bringing up issues because we have student leadership meetings monthly where she gets the chance to talk to all the class officers and student council officers, but that's only a limited number of us and there are a lot of other students who maybe don't feel like their voices are being heard. So, this was just a way for Miss Tino to remedy that and hopefully make a more welcoming environment. And then we also had a lot of new staff members these first few weeks. So, they've all been getting acclimated and one of them is pictured here,

028Jason Stalman, and he's the new chamber choir teacher and the music teacher. So, he's been really great and all the staff members have been super welcoming. So, >> and then we have our club. So, Link Crew, which I am president of and Adrienne is vice president of this year, we did our training over the summer for our new members because it's a seniors only club. And our goal is to help freshman and new students get acclimated to the school environment and feel comfortable and safe in schools. And we did our training over the summer just so that they understood what link crew was and what the responsibilities were that they were going to have. We also did tours a couple days later because we have new student orientation during the summer, but that's overwhelming for

029a lot of students. So, our tours are more personalized and they're a little more private. So, our link crew members go on tours with either families or specific students who feel they need a little extra help or they want help opening lockers, asking questions, that kind of thing that they might not feel comfortable asking a staff member. So, those were really successful. We had about 30 to 40 families come. So that was awesome. And then I along with a current sophomore were interviewed by NBC Connecticut about the club. They interviewed Andabella Longo last year who founded the club and then they just followed up with us this year to see how it was doing. So that was a really great opportunity. And then DECA has been really busy. So we have a lot of upcoming

030conferences and trips that we're going on this year. We're going to Georgia, New York City, and I believe the other one is Virginia. So, they're going to be spending a lot of time in DC and doing activities there. We also have our red, white, and blue merch that we've been trying to promote because we have our red, white, and blue football game tomorrow. So, we do merch for each of the football games at the school store, and we've been selling our red, white, and blue merch. We also have a pop-up shop that we're doing for a limited time this month so that students can get merch or personalized items that they might not typically be able to get at the school store like year round. So that's really exciting. And then we also had our

031first meeting where we just discussed expectations. We went over senior soul expectations for the class of 2026 and we just discussed what we'll be doing this year. And then student council, we had our summer planning. So, we did a lot of work this summer to plan for the new school year because this year we're trying, we've been putting a big focus, the class of 2026 and student council on school spirit because we've noticed a decline in that over the past few years. Even the seniors from when I was a freshman were always really excited going to all the football games, dressing up for all the spirit days, but that's declined a lot and that's something that we want to see brought back. So, we've been working hard to create a spirit squad to help lead

032the student section at games and to help get people more excited for spirit days and get them involved. FBLA also took a group of students to Anaheim, California for their summer leadership conference and they were able to develop their business skills and visit a lot of tour destination tourist destinations. So, that was really I've heard great things about that. And then Key Club um held their first officer meeting today to lay out plans for service projects in the community and a student from NHS was selected to serve as Lieutenant Governor for the Connecticut Division within New England. So that was a really big deal and Danny was actually selected for that position. So that was a really big deal for him and it was really exciting. So just to get that regional involvement is a

033really big deal for the club. And then Spanish Club is also planning on expanding their club because they've been a pretty small and new club the past few years, but they really want to have a bigger impact in the school and be able to do fundraisers and activities like that. So, the officers have been doing a lot of hard work to plan that. >> That's okay. Um, I'll just start talking about it now. Um, so our next area is sports and we have our first football game tomorrow. It's red, white, and blue and first responders day to honor our first responders here in Newington. And it's going to be at 6:30. And um, first responders who have ID or who are in uniform are allowed free entry. And it's a Thursday game because the CIA

034is required to do one like each school to have one Thursday game a year. So we that the football team chose this one as their first one. And then a lot of teams haven't gotten into games yet, but they've been doing a lot of scrimmages and they've had their media day. So that's been super exciting. All the teams got great pictures and some of them are right there. And then just for some special shoutouts, we have SRO Bougie. And he was highlighted on Fox 61 News this week in a story called A Day in the Life of a School Resource Officer. and he's served as our school resource officer for three years and I can confidently say he's he's a great presence in our school. A lot of students have like a really good personal

035connection with him. They feel comfortable talking to him. Even just seeing him in the hallway, he's so approachable and kind in his room. He has a board of a bunch of students like signatures and just a lot of like bright colors and just things to make people feel welcome. So that's really awesome. And then NHS alumni Candim built a life-size US Bank stadium with Legos. So Miss Tno really wanted me to highlight this. He's from the class of 2014 and he was highlighted on several news stations for this and he started a digital design and that took roughly 200 hours to do and then he became began purchasing and assembling 15,000 Legos and it took him 2 and 1/2 years to complete. So, it's a really like cool thing that Miss Single wanted me to

036mention. >> And then just I wanted to follow up because at our last meeting last year, our senior board of edory Jr. brought up potential online payments at the school and I noticed on your agenda that was one of the items tonight. And I don't know if you guys have come to a conclusion on that. So correct me if for any of that, but I just wanted to emphasize how important we feel it is at the high school. A lot of our officers and I've talked with teachers about it. We feel that it's really important and I feel that it would make school and payments a lot more accessible for families because checks and cash that becomes a problem in person at school a lot and especially with like field trips and the school store

037and different issues, it can be a roadblock for us. But with online payments, cards, people, that's something people always have on them. So, I think this would be a really great addition. And I just looked through the presentation that was in the agenda. And I think that program seems really awesome and I hope it's something you guys consider. And that's all I have for you guys today, but if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to answer. >> Thank you. And yes, we will take your comments under consideration later on in the meeting. You're welcome to stick around, but I understand it's kind of late. So, um, are there any comments or questions for Abby? Mr. Hollerin, >> Abby, it's nice to see you back. Uh, student council, I love to see all

038returning faces. Um, I was going to ask if you get to June, what is the word you would want to define Newington High School this year? But I think you've already answered it and I think it's spirit. So it sounds like you have an agenda. Uh I'd be interested to learn more about how that's happening because I feel like that's a good way to get people motivated and excited and not look at his school as something like a task but actually a purpose. Um thank you for the updates on DECA. Big DECA supporter. Uh sounds like you got a bunch of fun things happening there. Um is there anywhere I could buy red, red, white, and blue merch? Um and um yes, I was excited to see the online payment method on the agenda as

039well. It hear that another thing just another thing to add to the list. Um but I agree. I think having cash and checks floating around in schools is not only dated but probably the least secure way we can handle funds. Um but thank you very much for the update. Nice having you back and I appreciate hearing more. Thank you, >> Mr. Afternoon. >> Very good presentation. I have to say after 20 years of driving down Willard Avenue yesterday, I saw a scoreboard that worked on the soccer field, which was much appreciated as a parent who had children who played soccer. Um, spirit is huge in your school. I'm still a counter chieftain no matter how you look at it, you know, but my boys are Newington, so but the spirit's important, >> Mr. Chararma. So,

040thank you so much for the update and I love the idea of senior sunrise and I believe my son, I think he told me he had to visit his kindergarten when he graduated. So, you know, amazing stuff. Thank you so much. >> Um, can you just tell me what those mannequins are that we're picturing because >> I've heard from some people that they're scary as they're like walking around the corner. >> So, that was um Miss I I believe it was Miss Techno's idea. So, So, we wanted to get mannequins to be able to dress up for different spirit days cuz just for spirit, we're starting our spirit squad. We've been promoting a lot more on the Eye of the Storm account. We've been posting a lot more and each of the mannequins is dressed

041up as a different spirit day. So, we have ugly sweater day, sports day, I believe tropical day, and then mismatch day. Some of them are in Miss Batista's room, who's our student council adviser, and then some of them are around the school. So, we've just been dressing them up for different events. >> Super cute. Thank you. >> Yeah, creepy, too. Um, any other comments or questions? Thank you for being here. Excited for the school year. Thank you to the rest of our suo officers. Like, what are you guys? Thank you. All right. I think that's the um the last of our committee. I know the curriculum committee is meeting on Mr. the 16th and has the policy committee >> I'm still working on. >> Okay. Policy committee will be meeting soon. Um 16th at 6

042>> 16th at 6 in this room. >> Perfect. Thank you. And um just a quick plug the um there will be fun topics there too. Yes. the yes the um >> yes please >> I'm losing my words >> please come um if you have a desire to uh it's nice to see how the process works um it's much smaller setting than this um but it is open to the public it is recorded um and we just want to be fully transparent because um that was one of the issues that I had to take away from our special session over the summer um but it's been that way so 16th at 6 in this room. >> Thank you, Mr. Hollerin. Okay. And Elena, would you like to do the presentation for our ESS? >> And while

043they make their way to the podium, we're joined by Kate Spring and Marilina Julio, our special services director. and this is their annual report to the board on the progress of our ESS effective school solutions program that is operating at the high school and both middle schools. Um, in my opinion, it's a highly successful program, but I'll let their presentation speak for itself. >> I remembered the button this time. >> Hi everyone, welcome back. Um, and thank you for having me tonight. I really do appreciate it. I think last time I was here was last spring. >> So, it's been a a full calendar year. So, um so tonight we're going to talk about our um kind of a broad overview of our data from last year. Um what we look at is um how

044we can make an impact educationally as well as um on the students social, emotional and mental health. So, we look at GPA, discipline um and attendance as kind of those kind of key metrics for us. Um but tonight I'm going to show you um uh we're going to talk a little bit about the PD that we just did in the buildings. We're going to talk about our ESY program. Um so we're going to highlight a couple other um areas of impact that we've made um outside of just those data points. >> Um so on average um our students students who are in our program receive at least five contacts or five services a week from our clinicians. um our baseline um and expectation as a company is that our students are being seen or receiving

045at least three services a week. So we are exceeding that benchmark here on a consistent basis um in all three domains that I shared GPA, attendance and discipline. Um we've seen improvement um from students baseline across each of these domains. Um I just did mention we conducted PD um just was it last a week and a half ago on the 26th um for I I've gotten some great feedback on Ariel. Yeah. Um so um our presenter presented um two different topics for professional development for your um faculty here in district. >> That's perfect. Thank you. Um just a quick overview of our programming. So um right now in the three buildings we're providing tier three mental health services for um for your students. Um these students um have um kind of that persistent uh difficulty

046throughout the day. Um we would say some students have high acuity. Um they are in need of more uh touch bases. They need an alternate setting um to reset. Um students in this category uh typically carry um like major depressive disorder or um um DMD diagnosis. So more of those um more impactful diagnosis. We do provide other services in various districts um at a tier 2 level um which is not something that we are doing here right now. Um but I could also just kind of speak to that quickly. when students are ready to discharge from us, we do look at how we can step back services. Um, and like on my end, a tier 2 level would be, you know, that less intensive. Um, we'd like to make sure, um, when we're seeing growth

047and development, we're pulling in various resources to kind of, you know, start that transition out. So, we're always looking at how we can um step them down because ideally, you know, they're with us, they grow, they learn, and um they're successful, and then it's time to be able to implement those skills on their own um within the community and in the building. Um and then I also included just the um the base of the pyramid here um with providing professional development. You know, that's something that um the district has access to and and Marilina jumped on this year. So, that was very great. Yeah, I'm very excited to see that. Um, so we so our so, okay, so let me take a step back. So census wise for our programs, um, we can carry per

048clinician up to 10 students is really kind of that sweet spot for us and five at least five services a week like we just talked about. Um, you know, that could be group therapy, that could be individual therapy, that could be crisis management. um that could be them coming in for a structured lunch and having a chat with our clinician. So um it's a lot of um you know access and this figure for um we've determined that based off of the acuity and the needs of the students and level of services that were being implemented. Um we decided as a team, you know, this was a sit down roundt discussion um that we've prevented um 13 students from being outplaced last year um based off of our case load. So that would be up to

049um we would carry up to 50 students across all of my uh three programs. So >> and I just want to add to this um to the slide and to your comments. We we do look at the students comprehensively. Again, we're looking at the middle school, two middle schools and the high school. Um, so that 13 numbers is based on those three locations. And when we look at the level of services, I think it's really important to remember that ESF ESS services are above and beyond what the students are receiving in our schools. So, they may be on an IEP, they may be on a 504, they're already receiving counseling, they're already receiving social work, they're already receiving um school psychologist services. It's in addition to So, we are throwing all of our resources out

050at our students to make sure that we are meeting their needs so that we can educate them here in New England public schools. >> Thank you. Um, this past summer I wanted to highlight that we had 13 students come work with us. Um, we had a large graduating class at both of the middle schools. Um, so we were able to get our returners to come and work with us over the summer. Um, and the high school holds their ESY in August to help with the students who um, may need a little more support getting back into the building. um exploring the building maybe one-on-one um linking up with teachers if it's if the teachers are in the building um starting sessions getting our brief clinicals done so a lot of of work happens in August

051as well here um for our students at the high school >> um just quickly um we're going to talk a little bit more about um what success looks like when it comes to um the academic data that we track Um we have a little highlight of kind of the um the clinical picture looks like here based off of diagnoses of our students um and their self-report and where they're landing with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Um we'll go over the data for the academic piece. Um and my favorite part is talking and looking at some of the quotes we get from parents and the um um survey results we get from our our families. Uh just for me personally that's probably of most value. Um, and I think kind of speaks to the impact that

052we do have. Oh, is this small? Um, so we're looking at a snapshot of services. Oh, Marilina, thank you. Okay. Um, so our our broadest net here, collateral contact. What falls into that category are are provider phone calls that we make. Um, we're in constant contact with therapists, um, prescribers, um, inhome therapist. Um, it could be a primary care doctor. Um, phone calls home also fall into this category. Um, to can be considered as a family therapy session for us to document as such. Um, the session needs to last for 25 minutes. So you could have a a therapeutic skillbased conversation with a family and if it's below our threshold um you'll find that service goes into our collateral contact bucket um for here. So the therapeutic check-in is a kid is swinging through um

053they need a little bit of a break. Um they're in the space with our staff, they're resetting and then they're able to go back to their class. Um that's what we consider a therapeutic check-in. individual session is that scheduled session um at least 25 minutes or more. Um the academic support, a lot of that happens at the high school level with our learning strategies course. Um a lot of that does happen in the clinical space as well with students needing some extra support. Um and for the collateral contact too, a lot of that also is the work that we do with teachers. Um trying to help um uh implement and create plans with them. Um trying to make sure our students academic needs are being met um as well as social emotional needs are being

054met in the classroom. Um we run group heavily at the high school level. Um we do pull out groups here and there at the middle school. Um, and the PRN session is um what we would consider crisis. Um, so a student's coming in for an unplanned period of time. Um, maybe they're disregulated, something happened, something triggered them. Uh, we're working with them kind of handoverhand with skill development, looking at coping strategies um with our hope to help them um, uh, reeregulate and then get back into class. Um so most common diagnosis so across um across the board we're seeing a lot of students diagnosed with um generalized anxiety disorder. Um students um coming to us diagnosed with ADHD, we tend to take the provider's um diagnosis for that. Um and then um we have some

055mood disorders that are a little bit more prevalent as well. Um on the right hand side the you'll see two um two sections, two bar graphs, the PHQ9 and the GAD 7 progress. So um the GAT 7 is our generalized anxiety disorder scale uh screening scale. Uh the PHQ9 is a patient health questionnaire and that looks more at the depressive symptoms of a student. Um what we have been doing is um we establish a student's baseline. So at the beginning of the year this year, all of the clinicians had the kids redo these assessments to reestablish their baseline. Um and then at every 90 days during our treatment plan reviews, we have the student recomplete the assessment. before we were doing it more frequently and it was just getting to be we caught on to

056the kids just kind of giving us no answers and it wasn't really that that authentic. So um so here I just what I wanted to highlight was for um the progress from baseline to most recent in the gad domain. um we saw a increase or excuse me a decrease in severity of symptoms um as well as the severity of symptoms decreasing um within the PHQ9 uh domain as well. Um that could be attributed to whole host of things how things are going at home. I think the intensity of treatment speaks to that as well. Um I think if we're able to get outside providers involved and link them up with that, we'll see even more progress in these domains um with symptom reduction. And that's a big focus too. I think I believe if a

057student needs to be needs our level of care within the building, um then we definitely need help the family receive supports instead of supports in the community. Um because it takes a village um at the end of the day. um impact on grades. So, we're going to uh I'll quickly go through these these three um areas. So, right here we're looking at GPA. The left intervention category um shows that 96% of students either improved or maintained their GPA. For intervention, the student needs to be at below a 20 to be in this category. Um and for change to occur, we need to see at least a half a point for GPA to um have increased for um them to be successful in this category. So students who landed here, you know, 96% of them either

058maintained or improved their GPA. Um in the prevention category, um students with a C or higher or uh over a 20, um 66% of students maintained or improved their GPA here. >> What the heck happened to that graph? >> Lester, I don't know. I'm so glad you have that. I'm so glad that I have this as well. See, paper, where's those IT people? See, paper still works. >> That's so fun. >> Um, for attendance here, so to be in our intervention category, um, students have had at least five or more unexcused absences um, at baseline. And we do, I should say, we do determine baseline at intake. So if we have a student coming in at the beginning of let's say marking period two, we would look at marking period one and establish their baseline

059from that data. If we have a student coming in midway through, I tend to tell the staff to wait. We'll use their baseline um with whatever that marking period is and then just go forward um because we haven't had enough time to really be impactful in those domains. But um so for the intervention category 94% of students either improved or maintained their attendance which I think is just wonderful. We are able to go to the home and conduct home visits. Um we do a lot of work with the families in the community. We do a lot of um tiered plans just to get the students in the building. Um you know slow exposure sometimes is what it takes. Um, we really have the support, I think, of of Marilina and her team too to be

060able to come up with creative ways to um, reexpose and and help integrate them back in. >> Building administration has been in >> building administration. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. >> And in prevention, so four or fewer unexcused absences, um, 84% of students either improved or maintained their attendance. >> And lastly, discipline. Um so to be in the intervention category for discipline you have to have at least one instance of um uh discipline. So you need to have an in school or out of school on your record. Um here 94% of students who fell in that category either improved or maintained. Um and in the prevention category 94% of students either improve well they um maintained their um uh uh discipline record if you will. So, this is my favorite part. Um, we had a great turnout

061for parent responses. Um, over the last school year, we had 21 um families respond to our survey. Um, 95% of these respondents um report seeing um an area uh seeing a a a point of improvement within their child. Um and across the board, um parents were satisfied with our services as well as with our clinicians, um you know, when they when they um uh uh completed our our survey. Um next few slides are some quotes. I know everyone has them in their their packets. Um so if you want to when you have a moment, just take a peek. Um, my favorite part is getting, so I get this from our data people, our data guys, and I'm able to then send the course to my staff because they're not they don't ever see that. It

062it goes it gets funneled other places. So, I know that's um a nice highlight for them. Um you'll also after the quotes see um three clinical vignettes. Um they just um my staff created little snapshots of um why a student came to us, what was going on, and how have they moved towards success in their own life um through the time that they've been working with us. Um, so that kind of gives them a little bit more of a a qualitative approach to to what we're looking at. >> I think student three is just incredible just to highlight that this is a student who graduated. >> Yeah. Hot off the press. >> And um they um we and they keep in touch with their clinicians. So it is a bond. It is a um rapport

063that has been built and a trust that has been built um and that they feel that they are now better prepared for after they leave us which I think is amazing. So just to uh quickly recap here um you know I I shared at the beginning that we're providing um above and beyond um the let me take a step back. this the staff here are going really I think above and beyond to provide services to the students in Newington and I think their dedication and their caring really lends to how much is going on and what is going on. Um I think that there's a deep connection with a lot of our our staff and with the students. Um and so when when I'm presenting to Marilena and Dr. from it and we're looking at

064service delivery, it's always going beyond what, you know, I would expect of my staff. Um, so they're very motivated for that. Um, I think last time I was here, we spoke a little bit about the billing initiative. >> Um, so happy to say that is up and going. Um, and we have a 60% um 60% opt-in rate for students who are are coming to the program um to participate in this um part of our program. now. >> Um so we we expect the trend to continue. Um and the 60% we actually went back to the families that we were working with as well. So this is not just um new students entering our program. It was returners um too. Um and we also just to kind of um close on what's working um you know

065the high school and Martin Kellogg hosted you know various state uh representatives over the the winter um months here. Um we had Senator Lezer come out uh Jeff Curry state representative the transforming children's behavioral health council members um and the tow youth justice institute um staff member came. They toured the space. Um they met with building administration. Dr. Brummit came out, Marilena was here. We had board members and um we really just talked about the state of student mental health. What's working? What could districts use more of um and and where do we where would we like to see things go from here? So, um I I believe those meetings were very impactful and um really do appreciate, you know, um the doors being opened up for that. So, thank you >> and thank you

066for the board's participation in that. That was very that was very gracious of you and we know that you guys are working as well. So, you were um able to support and I think it made a difference. We're hearing some good news might be around the corner. Well, more to share. More to share. Yeah, stay tuned. Stay tuned. Um, and I, yeah, I just quickly shared we're building census at the middle schools because we had a high graduation rate up to the high school. Um, and staff are going to continue to work with, um, uh, district staff members on being able to continue to create plans. Um, maybe use some of the language that was utilized in PD, help, you know, kind of continue with the education piece. Um so that's that is one of

067our focuses this year um to make sure that uh continues in the buildings. >> Thank you so much for your presentation. Um are there any comments or questions? >> Miss Beatric, >> I can't thank you enough for the the work that you're doing. I think we're all aware that we can't separate out um student mental health needs from student success in the classroom and um from family input as well. And it's a it's a very um in intense and inclusive, you know, we we can't do one without the other pieces. I'm especially struck though by the 600 PRN visits >> and my goodness, if that service was not provided, what would the uh outcome be? and and the fact that students feel they know about the services that are available, they feel comfortable accessing them.

068Um, but the the partnership is amazing. The data is amazing, the success data, but the 600 PRN visits is is really unbelievable and outstanding work on on the part of your staff and your staff as well, but also the families and the students who who feel um empowered to take advantage of of those services. And that will, as the data showed, translate into better attendance, better discipline outcomes, and better um uh grades and student outcomes. So again, thank you so much for the hard work that you're doing and and we're looking forward to what that next step is going to be. Thank you very much. >> Of course, >> Mr. Hollerin. >> Um yes, thank you very much. Um I went through the packet prior to the meeting. Um I appreciate the data. Every time

069I kind of wrote a note to ask a question, it was answered on the next slide. Um I appreciate the uh especially the cost of over a million dollars. Um, I think part of our duty as a board is to be responsible with the taxpayers's funds, um, and the families in this town and being able to see that we have a solution in place that does that. On top of the fact that mental health is kind of an invisible threat to a lot of aspects of our school. It affects academics, affects attendance, it affects discipline, and we had the data to break that out. um and to be able to see some real tangible results makes me very happy to support the program. Um and I think that um just the fact that mental health

070doesn't exist just in school and it doesn't exist just at home and it really takes a holistic effort to do that. Um I think by taking that approach we're getting the results that we want. So thank you very much. It's nice to see you back. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, so, um, go ahead, Miss Car. No. Yeah, go ahead. >> Thank you so much for your presentation. You know, we constantly hear great things about the program and we're so thankful to have you here. I did have one question regarding slide nine, which is the impact on grades GPA under intervention. It's showing lower performing students and it's great seeing you know a 73% significant improvement. Um for the 27% of students still struggling academically despite intervention. Do you have any new strategies you plan

071to put in place going forward? I so when we know a stu uh so when we see a student when we when we hear that they're struggling I think the first thing that my staff does is actually approach the teacher and um uh make sure that we are articulating how their social emotional place is is impacting them in the classroom. hearing out the teacher, what's going on in the classroom for them to try and come up with a plan to better support. Um we are a part of um supporting the student if they have an IEP. So making sure those um uh structures are in place. Um helping them follow through with that, teaching the student about that because at the end of the day it's their plan um and they need to be utilizing

072the accommodations. Um we do have uh bi-weekly admin meetings too where we have um building leadership on um where we're talking about the cases, we're talking about students with academic difficulties, um problem solving, coming up with plans there as well. So it's very um when someone's struggling, it's um I think everyone's aware trying to problem solve. We have Marilina coming up with crazy creative solutions. >> We try. We make it work, >> right? We do. And I think that's a great point. And we do have these meetings and and especially for students at the high school, we all have powers school up. So right away, the first thing that we do is when we're going through and we are looking at, you know, real life like what's happening. And then what we'll probably see is

073like from um slide to slide to slide that student who's having that sign because it's it's 4% so it's probably one student might be two students. They might also be non-attending. They also may not be. So there are more intensive plans that will be happening for those students. We are on them. It is a one of the strengths of the program. I make sure that I'm at almost every meeting. If I am not there, our assistant directors are there and we are following the students in real time. >> That's great. Thank you. Um, so you said that you are um building census at Kellogg and and Wallace because you had a bunch of um kids go to the high school. So how many do you have currently at each of the middle schools? >> We

074just processed what five referrals >> I think at um Mari Kellogg. >> Yep. Uh we had a lot of presentations at our admin. So we had two uh one in each school returning. Um and then we were just at our admin meeting for um Don Wallace as well and we went over we're going to be approaching two families um and we have another student that they're um have have been identified and talking about and then at Kellogg yeah we had quite an influx. >> Yes. And um scaring me a little bit is we've started the high school this year almost at capacity and we have never done that before. Um, so that made us a little nervous, but we're all good. We're good. >> Fine. It's going to be fine. Everything's fine. >> So, if

075you do reach capacity and it's still early in the school year, what would like adding another clinician look like? And what's the >> that's a we might be sitting here talking about that, but right now I think we're good. >> Okay. Yeah, >> definitely something that we would have to think about. and and that um the tour that you mentioned last school year I was at the Kellaguan. Um it was fantastic to see because I obviously have heard your presentation and and seen you several times here. Um but actually meeting the clinician at Kellogg and and seeing the space and see you know hearing um you know how the students are just able to come in and they can do their homework or they can take that space that they need and and it was

076just a really it was a great tour and and the purpose as you said was to essentially get state funding and state buyin that mental health is extremely important and kids can't um some kids can't learn or can't even attend school sometimes with without these the support service in place. So hopefully that results in something positive as well. Um and I had another um I had another question cuz uh one of the comments um was would love to see it grow and expand like at the elementary level. What types of like do you have the same types of services at the elementary level in other districts and what does that look like? So, I I um I have a district where we're in um both of their elementarymentaries. Um how we do it there is

077we have one clinician for both buildings and she's scheduled there which >> not ideal crisis. Yeah. >> Yeah. We make it work. Um but her home base is where there is more um more need. So, she's in that building a lot more. We try to be sensitive around that. So, >> okay. Thank you. Um, and just personally, like I I think I mentioned it to you last year, but when you were here a year ago, I had like I think I don't know if I was like just applying or um looking into getting my masters in social work. So, I'm a year in. I have a year to go. And um but yeah, this is like something that really I feel is super important. And I love that that you're in Newington. And I love

078that the um the teachers and the staff in all the schools are attending PDs and learning, you know, the right language to use and and all of that. And so, thank you for doing that education too to the to the staff to just overall support the students. So, but definitely um just personally, I think this is such a great program and we agree. >> I graduate in May. Thanks. So, um um but anyways, um yeah, are there any other questions? I saw Miss Weaver just joined. Jesse missed um a fantastic presentation, but we'll catch you up on it. Um any other and and Marilina, thank you so much for um the support of of um you and your department because definitely there's so many different students with so many different needs and and >> our

079social workers and psychologists again thank you for your support because again I don't know what their day would look like. How would they be able to do that? So it's an amazing partnership. So thank you. Oh, sorry. One more question. Um, and maybe this is just for um for ours. The the highlight of the 1.3 million in saving, so the the 13 students that are not outplaced. Is there are there students that you're looking at bringing back with the services or is there um an opportunity there because um clearly it's saves money and then we can educate them in house and you know some of those um other schools can be pricey and transportation and all that. So just curious is that um I'm sure it's always on your mind. Luckily, for the first time

080ever, I think the legislation is working in our favor um in allowing us to um expand programming. So, I think that it is definitely something that we could think about and now having that leverage um being able to say we could be the least restrictive environment, especially if we can um uh grow the program. I think that that would be amazing. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we our next item is um the child nutrition nutrition program. [Music] So, um earlier this evening, the secretary of the board of education signed the authorized signature change form. And this is just an annual requirement that we um have this in order to show our participation in the uh federal child lunch programs throughout our schools. Um and we just need to

081make sure we're adhering to all their guidelines. And in your packet, there is uh a copy of the form, but I have the signed copy here. And uh it also is signed by myself and our new CFO Lynn. And um it's again just an annual requirement in order to keep us in goodstead with all of the federal lunch requirements. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you for that lovely signature. I very much appreciate it. So there is a motion on the memo. Go >> ahead. of the board of education authorized Dr. Marine Brumat, superintendent of schools to sign the ED099 agreement for child nutrition programs and to sign claims for reimbursement in the absence or in capacity of Dr. Marine Brummit. The second person designated and authorized to sign claims for reimbursement shall be Miss Lean

082Boycever. Please make sure I said that right. Bo Oh my gosh, it's French. Bo, a chief financial officer. Second. >> Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Okay. Um, we will be voting on the agreements to sign this. >> Yeah. Go ahead. Call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Sean, >> yes. >> Sam Sharma. >> Yes. waiver. >> Yes. >> 8 Z. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Report school opening 2025 2026. >> Thank you very much. Um before I kick it over to Steve to give us an update, I want to report that we had a very positive opening. The um student board of representative um Abby did have a picture from convocation where all of our mascots took to the stage and um we had a very

083upbeat convocation discussed our um many positive uh growth and shrinking of our achievement gap, but also growth overall. some of our highest scores in many areas. Uh we also talked about um some of our students presented um at convocation based on our new reading program benchmark about how much voice and choice it provided them and uh about four of our students brought the house down with their amazing um what they discussed about an essay they wrote to a particular individual who they wanted to have kind of a discourse with. But it was a really unbelievable how they presented well beyond their years. They were third graders at the time of those uh when they wrote those documents. So it was a super positive. We had some music. We had um a lot of good things

084happening and there was a lot of positive feedback. I would now like to turn it over to Mr. Faresi for some further updates. to >> in regards to the enrollment. >> Yes. I I we forgot to mention in my component um we also celebrated Antoanet Serrano teacher of the year who's a teacher over at Egreen Green and she has made it to the uh semi-final round uh which we're excited about. She's presented her paperwork. We're waiting to hear how that plays out. And we also honored uh Miss Geraldine Andre Major as our parah of the year. She is uh a Ruth Chaffy pair professional also a published author. Um so that was also positive. We also did celebrate as we do every year a number of our staff members who celebrated their five 15 or

08525 years of service to the district. And I did want uh Mr. F just to comment briefly on our current enrollment. So, the enrollment, uh, you'll see, and I know, um, I've already gotten a question or two about it. Um, just want to be clear that, you know, when we put out the projection, uh, and then the, um, what we actually have, you'll see a minus number underneath. That's just a minus from the projection. So, it's, you know, the the actual is we do have 10 plus more, right? Actual students in the seats. It's just minus what we had originally projected. Sometimes uh those projections uh change based on uh students moving in and out of our district. Um for the most part um the projections allow us to kind of anticipate how many staff

086we're going to need at each grade level uh and how many courses we need to run at the high school. Equally, we look at um what students um uh select the seats that we declare through the open choice program. Uh right now uh we've declared a certain amount of seats. Um students are continuing to enroll in that program. So we're monitoring monitoring that carefully. Um we do have unique circumstances that happen throughout the summertime. Uh where students both in Newington um leave and go to other towns, right, to move um as well as students within the open choice program withdraw to potentially go to other schools. While some students within that program move to Newington, uh we had a a healthy number of students actually in the program move to Newington and become Newington residents.

087So, uh they are no longer in that program and they're part of our uh projected or regular enrollment. Um so I would open it up for any questions that you might have about the enrollments that you see here. >> Mr. Hollerin, >> Mr. Tracy, uh, the 44 in the high school. >> Yes. >> Um, can you give me an estimate of how many of that is open enrollment? >> The open choice enrollment. >> Open choice enrollment. Yes. >> Right. So, of those, uh, we wouldn't have any students right now that would be through that program. Um, none. >> Thank you. >> It's an easy answer. It felt too easy. >> Yeah. All right. >> Any other questions question? >> Oh, sorry, Mr. Newton. >> How many choice do we have to roughly? >> We are

088up to approximately uh I believe around 140 and and there are opportunities for that to grow. Is that number um the highest reimbursement rate or are we still >> that will be determined from the October 1st data. Um and so we we are hovering right around that. Uh we did have um a significant number of students um that would um impact that uh either withdraw or move into Newington over the summer that we could have never anticipated. >> Um so that was close to to 14 or 15 students. >> Mr. Hollerin, >> sorry I have a follow-up question for the high school with the projection plus 44 in the high school. Mhm. Uh is that affecting average class size or are we staffed appropriately? >> We we are staffed appropriately. There's such a great dispersement

089in offerings that um that number sounds high but it's rather insignificant uh compared to the number of courses and offerings that we have. Even with the core classes that students have to take, we're in good shape. >> Great. Thank you. And can you just remind us how many um full day preschool programs we have? Is it five full day classes? >> Five full day classes. Yes. >> Okay, cool. >> Four half days. Each one has one half day amm. And I I'm sorry. We also have >> Mike's not on. At Patterson, we also have two self-contained prek programs um for students who have more intensive needs. So, five full day, 4 a.m. PM and then two intensives at um John Patterson. >> Thank you. Any further questions on any of the report? Okay. occasion was

090fantastic, by the way. And I did realize that um or one of my friends pointed out that Nory doesn't have any clothes, but all the other mascots do. So, I wonder if maybe Nory needs a shirt. >> All right, I will look into that. Now, on occasion, Nory has worn some merch, as they call it, but I will look into that. Uh so, we don't have any controversies with Nory. >> And I think Chiefy, but Chief is kind of a bird, so >> it's hard for birds to work. It didn't look as it did not look as off, but yeah. No, no convocations. In all serious, this was fantastic. And um and the teacher of the year and par educator of the year wonderful speeches and and um and of course the students that presented,

091they had they had come to our board meeting as well. Um, and I think we were blown away by them at the board meeting, but then also standing in front of an auditorium full of um their teachers and and staff is um they did they all did fantastic and it was it was amazing. So, thank you for the invitation. >> Thank you so much. Um and our next um item, if you don't mind me just kick >> Yeah, go for it. >> is the annual report uh to the board of gifts received by the school system. Again, it's uh part of our requirement to present an annual report to the board of any gifts um under $500 that were donated uh to either the system or the schools. So you can see uh that full

092range and a lot of it is much to the credit of our PTO's and our packs who really are providing us with a lot of supplemental materials that we wouldn't have access to were it not for their uh contributions. So this really is a hats off and a and a thank you to our parent groups. Um, okay. Stop and shop provided popsicles for the kids in rentals, but everything else was a PTO um initiative and uh for that we're very grateful. But this is a complete list of uh everything that we received uh from our stakeholders who have contributed. >> All right. >> And the reason for those popsicles, do we even mention that was the um the lottery winner? Yes, we did uh publicize that back in the spring, but uh someone won the

093lottery at uh Stop and Shop on Fen Road and uh as part of their protocol, their feed the community uh program that they offer at Stop and Shop, they get to choose to donate $10,000 to a school district that's in their area, and they uh chose Newington. So, they did a presentation at Anna Reynolds. As part of that, they not only gave us a big check, but they bought their popsicle van to the school and every child got an appropriate popsicle, whether it was sugar-free or regular. Very big hit on a hot summer day. So, and we are using those resources to help any families in need that cannot um afford lunch. So, that's that money is in our uh food budget for for that purpose. >> Ice cream truck. It's like a freezer van.

094Yeah, >> it's a it's a refri It's a van that has refrigerators in it because they only hand out popsicles. They didn't have any ice cream in it. It was just like popsicles that they sell. Um but it was a huge hit. And actually staff got popsicles too if they wanted. >> I was going to say $500 a lot of popsicles. So that makes more sense. >> Yeah, it was a lot of popsicles. Anyway, it was a very it was like a very fun experience at at Annarels that day. >> Yes. But also, yes, that is uh very generous for of our packs and PTO's for um and PTAs for donating a all these gifts. >> Absolutely. Appreciate it. We'll give them a proper appreciation in the spring when we honor our PTAs and packs

095at at the board meeting. >> Okay. Any questions, comments on this? Okay. Next item. >> All right. I'm going to invite Mr. Plum to the table. Um, it's been a request for the board annually to get an update about what our facilities work has been over the summer where where it's a very busy time of year for us to do these upgrades because we don't have as many students around other than our summer programs and I think the board and our community want to see where their resources are going. So, I'd ask Mr. Plum to prepare uh a slideshow. Some of these I did use at convocation, but and he's also going to provide us um a brief update about the John Wallace project. So, >> sure, >> I will advance the slides at your

096request, Mr. Plum. >> Okay. Yeah, I have a slideshow prepared. Not a lot of text, mostly pictures. You could bring that up. >> I'm trying. >> Sure. So, the first few slides we're going to look at have the school titles on them. Um, for those of you that don't know, each summer, you know, we have a limited amount of time. We have summer school in some schools, so it's a little more difficult to get in and do the full treatment to those. But our custodial staff um works hard through the summer to take every movable piece of furniture out of the classroom, full dust, full clean, get full access to the floors and the carpets and the tile and completely redo all that to a clean and shiny state. Clean the furniture while it's out

097in the hall to polish all of the the stainless, clean all the gum off, the full treatment, and then bring that clean furniture in back to the clean rooms. So, these pictures are some examples of where uh it just caught my eye when I was walking around this summer. Some finished products um in John Wallace. That's our new academy area. And it was a nice day out. And you can see how just brilliant and like uh a mountain lake that is where it's it's shining. And that's what we're looking for in my predecessor's wet military look. And that that looks wet and it looks very nice. At the high school, uh one of our newer hallways, we have some new tile in the building and we have some some older tile. That's our new tile

098and they put a nice finish on that. Next slide. Um Anna Reynolds. So we have LVT over in that building. It's a luxury vinyl tile. Um which which uh this room actually I believe has VCT in it, but both tiles turn out real nice, nice and shiny. Um clearly it's in a little better condition because it just had the remodel done. Martin Kellogg. This is uh two years ago we redid this tile and there's a nice decal that's kind of in the in the reflection there but um they're taking good care of that. Uh it shines up very nice in the summer. Uh next slide. John Patterson the same. Very nice central office. This is an example of that LVT tile. It's a little bit different you can see but uh do a great job

099of keeping that in great shape for us. Just upstairs. Elizabeth Green. Very nice. Um Ruth Chaffy. This is a rubberized floor that has a special finish that goes on, so it's grippy. Um and it and it preserves the the uh rubber flooring, but it obviously shines up very nice before the kids come in and and put shoe uh scuffs all over it. Uh but it looks good in the summer when they start opening day. Um we we have a maintenance staff and we have a support group of contractors behind us that come in uh and do some some work that we can't really do during the school season. Um this is uh partially complete. So if we go out to John Wallace today, you're going to see that we've crack filled and we've top coated

100um that court. Um we've also just uh a couple of days ago installed some new nets. the nets were looking a little bit rough and we have a contract waiting uh um the person's waiting to come out and actually do the work to paint the lines back on top of this black coat which will spruce it back up and make it look real nice. But this is John Walls's quartz. Um this is this summer we drain the high school swimming pool. Um the finish inside of it, it's a painted concrete and it only has a limited lifespan with the the chlorine and the rough environment it's in. Um funny story, the one of the custodians was standing there and they see this every day. They see the bottom right uh look every day and we

101started draining that pool down and he and someone said, "Well, that the pool's white. The the color of the pool is white." And he is so used to seeing that. He he said, "No, it's blue." and we're looking at it and we're like, "No, that's blue up top." Another interesting thing about it, we brought it down. It looks great. Before filling it up is the picture on the left where it's where it's clearly white, but you see that blue band around the top. The way that the the light refracts through the water, it tends to draw uh the color from the wall into the pool. And I'm told that if we painted that dark a dark blue, you'd get a different look of the pool. It actually brings it right into the pool. So, it

102turns that white paint nice and aqua blue like you see. But it was a nice improvement to the to the pool, waterproof and everything. Um, again, Martin Kellogg got some crack sealing out there. We have some cracks that uh we're starting to get a little bit big so the kids don't trip through those. Um, nice nice image before we use the gymnasium. Each year the gymnasium gets a it's a full um polyurethane coat and some touch-up for the paint. So obviously it comes out very nice. Uh that's a big decal on the middle of the the high school there that's holding it very nice. It gets finished over top to protect it. Looking good there. Uh a couple improvements in this picture. So this is Ruth Chaffy. Um there are it's hard to tell from

103the image, but there are two larger ballards in the middle. Uh kind of where that yellow tape stops and starts. Prior to um the Ballard additions, we uh as of this summer, we added all the other Ballards that are there. On the right, we have traffic that circles through each day. And on the left, we have kind of a playground space. So, this is to to help with in case there's a car that, you know, um becomes out of control or something else happens over there. Those ballers will protect the kids from the playground. In the left of the image, we've crack filled uh that that as well. And there's a fresh paint job on the on the courts complements of the parents uh PTA rather. Um Newington Highway actually volunteered. They had the time

104this summer um to do a full depth replacement of the Egg Green playground. Um it was starting to crack up very bad. In fact, dirt was coming up through the the asphalt. Um it was in rough shape. So this is the way that it looks today. So, we have a full all that the darker colored asphalt is fresh uh nice and clean. We do have a paint job that is going to go on this with some four square and some other details for for playground type organization and and and fun things to do. It isn't quite there yet, but that should happen within a week or two. Um we did um uh we have a fleet of HVAC equipment throughout the school district. Some of that is R22. It's the older refrigerant. Um, just by

105the age of the R2 R22 equipment is it's vintage. It's it's getting up there in years and it tends to be where we see most of our, you know, many of our problems. So, we picked out about five or six of the more problematic R22 units and upgraded them to the modern refrigerant. Uh, this particular unit on the left is going up over the media or it supports the media center at the high school. Um we flew that in. Um and some other smaller units were done around the district. On the right we had um well we uh back to the the sorry >> the the freezer at the high school is a very large freezer where we keep the food for for student uh lunches. And we in the history we since I'd been

106here we've had a lot of problems um where it's it rejects used to reject heat into a storeroom. So the way that store room would become warm in the summer and it would actually heat up the electric uh motors in there and we'd have issues with it. So this what you see on the right is the piece that goes inside the freezer the air handler. And now we go up to the roof and we inject that heat outdoors. So we we're solving two problems at once. It's also been much more dependable. We got that in toward the end of the summer. It's it's holding up nicely. Uh e green, we did a switch of a couple of rooms. So the room on the left um is a room that was a teachers lounge that became

107a um new kindergarten room. And the room on the right was a book room that was uh had some carpet that was past its useful life, well past. And we recarpeted, retiled that. And now that's the teachers lounge. So, uh, repurposed a couple of spaces and they both improved. John Wallace, this is this photo is a little bit dated. Uh, this is probably about 3 weeks ago. Uh, John Wallace, as you can see, when they took those walls out, is wide open inside for those of you that didn't have a chance to come and walk walk through when we did that uh the the deal over there, the uh the groundbreaking. Um, wings three and four are the first three two wings that that are in full demolition and full rebuild like this right now.

108Uh, currently there are a lot of concrete block walls that have gone up. So, there's not as much of a view. It's more you're beginning to see the the aisle way inside which is a single aisle down the middle and you've seen the classrooms and all these other rooms develop along the edge on the window line. But, a lot of lot of work going on up there of course. Um, Martin Kellogg, we had some some carpet that was uh in rough shape. So, we did both the in the two-level area, the lower level and the upper level. So, we pulled out uh the old tile that was under the bad carpet and got down to fresh concrete and then prepared it and installed new VCT tile. And this is after they had finished it in

109the summer with the protector on it. Um also at Martin Kellogg um we have some of our um most in need bathrooms over there. So the again on the first and second floor the two-level areas um very aged uh in need of repair. So we picked off uh um what we could afford this year one of those four bathrooms. So this is the girls bathroom on the second floor. Um picture really doesn't do it just justice. It turned out very nice, very nice and clean. So, in the in the image here, we've got new suspended ceiling. We've got new mirrors, new tile on the walls, all four walls, new tile on the floor, new sinks, the square sinks. We reused the the far sink and repainted the dividers, but it came out very nice, very

110clean. Uh, new toilets, and uh very important, some plumbing underneath the toilets that was causing some uh flooding down below. So, that's all cleaned up. So, uh, the downstairs bathroom is much better in much better shape now, too. Looks very nice. Um, an interesting one, we the the concrete slab here we placed this summer. Um, this is a new program over at NHS where it's a pre EMT training. So, this is actually a donated for real ambulance. Still has a diesel engine in it. Um, it is up on jack stands and chained into place and it has power, you can see coming off the side of the building, a little short segment of power that goes down over and keeps the batteries charged. And um, you know, the students can actually for real at the

111real height of an of an ambulance load a you know, a gurnie into this ambulance and really experience what it's like inside of the the vehicle itself. It's it's legitimately an ambulance. Think >> that's it. >> I think that's it. Yeah. Thank you. That that ambulance is so cool. Yeah, >> Miss Reese is very excited about it. >> Yes. >> Um, are there any comments or questions, Mr. Hollerin? >> Well, no questions, just a few comments. Jason, thank you for all the work you've done over the summer. It's amazing how much you get done in a few short weeks throwing that on top of that having to move all of the furniture at John Wallace. Um, and um, I love how well that project is going. I've seen the boards on the windows. Everything looks

112great there. Um, my daughter, who's in seventh grade, doesn't like having to go to the academy sometimes for some schools. I'm like, it's temporary. It'll be nice when it's done. Um, but thank you very much for all your work. Um, shout out to the PTA at Ruth Chaffy for the the the lines on the basketball. And I'm really happy that the ballots are there because prior to that it was like just a glorified speed bump that you could drive right over. So we're encouraging people to use the basketball courts. It's nice to offer a little bit of safety. But really well done. Thank you for everything you do and your staff. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you for the update. Everything looks fantastic. Hope that stays that way. Amy, can I >> go ahead?

113>> Sorry. Um, yeah, I just want to echo what uh Mr. Hollerin said. Sorry everyone. I'm literally on my 45minute layover. Uh, and try to get on as soon as the plane landed. But, um, just wanted to say house spotless. Like, the reflections of those floors are just incredible. Never ceases to amaze. And as someone who had a sister swim in the pool for many years, uh it just looks gorgeous. Um she judges all of the other schools she visits now based on like how well that looks. So just want to say once again, fabulous job to you and please thank your students for us. Uh just incredible work. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Okay. So, the next agenda item is a discussion on um potential future agenda items for 2526. So,

114um I will just say that um one of the agenda items that we talked about at our last meeting is to get an update mid year on um on math. So, I want to make sure that that's accounted for. Um we want to make sure that we have data available and um in the memo that was sent out by the superintendent. Um we mentioned or Dr. Brummit mentioned that the plan is to move forward with the delelling um but we want to ensure that it is being made with the proper data and analysis and um and everything. So, at the board's request, that was an update or agenda item that we want to see um after >> probably winter benchmarks, right? So, that would probably be >> winter benchmarks. What would be the time for

115those? >> Um either late January or early February. I don't have a calendar in front of me, but we we do the um winter benchmarks in January, but teachers have about two weeks to get the data in. Okay. >> Then we want some time to analyze that data. >> Um it would be helpful too if that curriculum committee if the board could give me specifically what kind of information they would want at that update that would be >> absolutely. Yeah. So Mr. Holler and ensure that there's a curriculum committee meeting scheduled prior to say February like the 11th >> meeting. >> Yeah. >> So we will it'll Yeah. And it'll be in our budget time, but I think that's that's fine. >> Yeah. Um, so are there additional So obviously there's a list of um

116of our topics that we have so far, mostly our presentations, but are there um any other agenda items that the board is wanting to see? And obviously we can um we will be adding agenda items as the as the year progresses, as things come up. But Mr. Newton, >> I still feel that and I'm a member of the curriculum committee. I still feel that we owe it to the public to vote in public one way or the other, whether it's up, down, whatever, when it comes to a curriculum change. I think that it's transparent and it's out there for everybody to see, and I'd like to see that looked at. We can do it in executive session. I'm not worried about that, but uh I just think the end vote needs to be in public

117so people know where we stand. So, I think one of the um one of the things that the policy committee is going to thoroughly look at is the requirement for voting. Um it's a slippery slope when when you say, you know, I I I know you said it in in private, but that doesn't go public. So, if we voted on it in private, it wouldn't be a public vote. details private executive session if you like but I still feel we need to be completely >> yeah so I think that um there's no precedent for that at this time that um I don't know if you are going to talk about the policy committee was going to look at what needs what could happen there >> yeah I was just sorry I was just going to

118mention at the last meeting policy 9132 which gives the board oversight through the curriculum committee and then policy 6172.1 um which requires acceleration decisions be based on multiple criteria. So, I think those are definitely two policies we can look at this month when we meet. My next Okay. Um, and I just want to publicly say that we're we're not not voting. We're we're it's not something that is done. So, we don't want to just do it to do it because there could be implications there as well. So, we need to make sure that um we handle it legally and appropriately. Um, so I think that we we just while we're on the topic, we had we had the special meeting over the summer and and um the school year has has started with the direction

119that or had it we did make changes to the curriculum. So that's why having not we the administration made changes to the curriculum which is why we're the board had asked for the update. Um, so I think that's that's where we are now. And then we'll we'll in the future discuss especially after the policy reviews the the policies and then we'll discuss those at our meeting and then if they do change we will accommodate I guess is the right word. So are there any other agenda items that we at this point and again there's always opportunity to add as we go. Yes, Mr. Hollerin. >> Um, looking after November 11th, um, there's an election. So, would we have to put something in terms of assigning >> committee? That it's Oh, committee. Yeah, the um that's

120something that the chair does. Um, yes, >> because the makeup of the committees will change. Okay. >> Yeah, Mr. Mey. >> Um, so I just have a question. Britney, you looked at those policies, right? >> Yes. >> What Mr. Newton is talking about. Sounds to me like common sense, but um, so having read the policies, could you guys fill me in on what I know you said you have to review the policies, but does that seem like something that's going to be able to go forward? So, so this isn't a discussion on policy because we do have to let the policy committee review the policies. This is a discussion on potential agenda items for our board meetings. Okay. You're welcome to caucus with Britney after the fact. >> Miss Carr. Um, looking at the agenda

121for February, when we start talking budget, we're going to add potentially more budget discussion meetings. Correct. Because I know right now there's two with the third being the possible budget submission. I think more workshopping the budget for the next year would be helpful. Yes, we will have um definitely special meetings and we will talk about that. I think in December um when we talk about Yeah, there's um December 10th is where we're going to establish our dates to review the budget >> at that meeting. We will set future. Mr. Newton. >> While we're on the lines with the budget, um what I was hoping we could also look at on the agendas is with a new CFO and everything else that we have a more simplified I I get confused sometimes people and I've read

122this several times. I just think we need a more simplified straightforward board of education's expenditures are this, Anna Reynolds is this. You know, sometimes I think we have so many details that we get lost and we need to go back to basics. because people that I answer to, including my wife, they don't know how to read it. I mean, this is gibberish. So, >> we have already had um we had a discussion with um the town finance director and and Lynn and um I think Lynn has some ideas for how to present the budget um more clear. And I think another thing that was brought up was also um actuals. So instead of like what we budgeted, what our actuals are. So um I think Lyn is already starting. There we go. Already starting on

123that to to just increase the transparency and ease of of reading for sure. Okay. All right. Um just making sure no one had their hands raised online. Um, okay. So, PTA, PTO pack representation for this school year. So, this is just um a grid of um board members assigned. It's only through November because there's an election. There'll be a new board. Um and I I believe Mr. Newton and Miss Carr attended pack meetings this week, right? >> Yes. John Wallace. I I was Anna Reynolds, but I'm now crossing at John Wallace, so I felt I should meet the people there. So, I went to John Wallace because I'd been to Anna Reynolds. It was interesting. They do a lot of fundraising there. Pretty good, I guess. >> Awesome. So, yeah, we do like to attend

124the meetings. And just a Did you pull it off? >> Um, just a reminder, if um we should be getting um Dr. Burma, can you confirm? We should be getting an invite from the principal for the meetings. Um, I know not all principles are sending them, but the meeting dates and times are at the bottom of the of the memo, but we should be getting an invite, especially if they're also off offered virtually. Um, and then if you can't attend, um, reach out to a fellow board member just to see if they can attend in your place. Um, because it is good to have the representation there. um just you know just in case. So >> reached out to me like three weeks ago already. >> Oh, perfect. They're on it. >> We definitely have

125been asking them to do that. And at the very bottom it shows where they're located, but yes, if they offer virtual option, which most if not all do, um that would be communicated to the representative. And you can see the rest of the calendar will be populated after the election. >> Yes. >> Any questions or comments on that? Okay. And um much anticipated discussion on adding an online payment method. >> Want to kick it off to our new CFO Lynn. Um as you heard earlier from our student representative, it was brought up at our I believe our last board meeting of the school year. um and just a desire to have access to payments other than having to rely on checks or cash. So, Lynn has been doing some homework over the summer and I

126believe has some ideas she'd like to share with the board. >> Yes. Thank you, Dr. Um there was in the packet you'll see there were um three different companies that I I presented for you. One was 99 pledges, which is a fundraising site. It enables schools, clubs, and sports teams to create their own pages to collect donations. It's a type of crowdfunding source that could be used um with the student activities. It has no annual fee. The cost to the donor is $349, I'm sorry, 3.49% plus 49 cents per transaction. They accept credit cards and PayPal only. The um the second one was Ludus ticketing, marketing and fundraising. It also has no annual fee. It enables patrons to purchase tickets online. Clubs and groups can market their fundraising via a custom email tailored to their

127groups and you can collect dues and fees and attach forms for payers to complete. It's more tailored to ticket sales, but is flexible and can be used for um purchasing. The cost to the donors or patrons is 5% plus 75 cents per transaction. The final one in the packet was Vanco EV education which is the Revrak web store. It has multiple capabilities to collect required and optional fees. It's the only product I found that integrates seamlessly with our um student information system P school so that the payments could be paid right through the powers school online portal and although it integrates with power pay it can be used without the connection by anyone with a power without a p school login. So you can go right to the website, click on the little squares, and

128make a payment for what whichever group you were trying to pay for. This product would enable the Newington public schools to accept any time of pay, any type of payment online, not just credit cards or debit cards, but also checks and aes. There is a cost for this one. It's $29.95 a month for the district which equates to $3594940 annual fee for continuous support training and implementations. Um the fees are 4.3% for credit cards and 3.49% for an a. Um for Vanco events there is an additional 75 cent per ticket cost. um in speaking with our P school database manager, this was um the the one that he was researching a couple years ago and he he's very confident that it will work well. I also like the um online presence it has. So I

129I give you these solutions for your questions. >> Thank you, Miss Vitus. Um, couple of questions about the credit card payments. Um, does it accept all credit cards? Um, or does it exclude AMX with its higher fees or >> None of them said that anything about excluding any of the specific types? Okay, thanks. >> So, for the Vanco application, I know there's a $29.95 monthly fee. Um, would that need to be incorporated in the district's budget? And if so, how would it be accounted for? It was it would be a due and fe dues and fees. >> Would um would parents pay the 4.3% credit card fee or any credit card fees for that matter with >> those format we do for food service? The parents pay the fees. So, um, it was something that

130would be up to the board whether they wanted to have the parents or the donors pay the fees or have the board pay the fees and >> adjust the prices. >> Do you know offhand how like what percentage the um like our school lunch and Chromebook insurance fees are for easy school pay? >> I do not know off the top of my head, but I can get that for you. Yeah. I'm just curious if it's comparable or >> it's a flat page. >> The flat page. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I mean, I like the idea obviously like the idea of online payments just because of um like I had to go pay the athletic fee in in person and my best friend's in the office so like it wasn't that big a

131deal. but having to go into the office and pay the fee and then they have to keep track of it and then it's a lot of just paperwork um entering it into power school or whatever wherever she has to enter into 17 different spreadsheets. Um so I like the idea of the online just for tracking purposes and obviously it's more secure. Um that I'm just a little concerned that 4.3% is like I think it's higher than a lot of other fees. So, if you're paying um something larger, you know, I know that if it's a dance ticket, it's probably, you know, $10. So, like it's not that much, but if you're paying a sports registration or something like that, it would be it would be a higher fee. So, I I guess that's just my

132only real concern with with that one. Um, go ahead, >> I don't understand. >> Do Hold on. Just put your mic on. So, they're going to get a 4.3 fee and we're paying $29.95 a month to maintain the system. >> It has um a lot of special integration >> software. I get all that. >> Yeah. With with P school. So, because it integrates with our student information system, there's a fee involved with it because it gives you all the reporting and all of the um cohesiveness with P school. I mean, I don't think the 29.95 is excessive, but I think 4.3 I think you're right. Retailers, I think, pay three, three and a quarter. >> Depends on the card. >> On the card. Yeah, >> I think seven and change for MX in my office.

133>> Yeah, depends. >> Maybe they have to do that to average it out. >> Yeah, it it looks like >> and that could be an explanation of why they do it, but I agree with Amy that just seems high. >> Mr. Hollerin. >> Yeah, I'm excited about the options, especially when it came from a student representative from last year. Um, it's always a good thing to see us taking motion on what the students ask us to do. The students who were in attendance tonight clearly were excited about it. I do think we need to have some further discussion. Um, I think the percentages are a little high, the fee is high, and I think we need to also think about the um disproportionate effect that could have on some of our lower income families, especially

134when it's multiple students going to the same thing. You know, I think I I like the convenience, but at the same time, that's money out of the school system that is taking away from what we could potentially keep in. So, those are just my concerns. I I like it. I just I have some questions. >> And um cash would always be an option, too. Cash or check. I don't think it would be 100% online, at least not immediately. So, we don't want to >> That's true. um force people to use a online platform. Uh Mr. Chararma and then Miss Weaver has her hand up as well. >> I mean, we should have an online option because I know I was trying to pay fees for my son and it was it was it was a

135hassle, but maybe just work on I think 4.3% 3.49 but then you know I mean it's up to the parents if they want to use it but I mean we do need an online option. So, >> Miss Weaver, >> thanks. Yeah. Um, just a point of clarification first off, Lynn, thanks so much for looking into this and giving us at least some options to know what the universe is like out for this. Um, awesome on Michael for bringing this to our um to us, but just a question. Was it $29.99 a month for the district, not per user? Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um yeah, I mean I think we can as a district absorb that amount for a year. I think that would be fine. But yeah, the the fees are a little concerning.

136Um I do understand though like we want to make sure there's at least an ease of access when we're doing it so parents have the ability. So yeah. Um if there's any more details and just wanted to clarify too, I'm guessing this is pretty much it like in terms of options that we have. Um, just wanted to make sure that I assumed you found as much as you could out there. >> There there are other options I could look into. I could look into just specifically ones that don't have um the web presence that can just be linked right on the website on our website. >> I just appreciate any of that >> that were very user friendly. >> Got you. Well, I appreciate all the work and yeah, all of that would be helpful.

137Thanks. Miss Peters, >> um any feel on impacts to the IT department? Is it something that is going to be very timeconuming for them? Are they is it a seamless transition? Um anything that we need to know about from they're having to maintain the system and the security surrounding it. >> They don't maintain this maintain these systems. >> Even better, >> they're um independent websites. >> Okay. where with the um secure socket, >> okay, >> technologies and um the clubs and the groups would learn how to do everything and maintain their own pages. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> One last followup, >> Mr. Nan. >> How much access would they have to our students information? And I mean that that actually just sits in the back of my head more than anything because if

138we bring them into our system, do they now have access to everything in our system or just I I don't know. I'm not an IT person. >> It's an interface. Um >> solely for the payment. >> Okay. >> This is P school's preferred vendor. >> That's how I found them. And then I found out that our P school database manager liked it. Um, okay. And I um I had never heard of this 99 pledges um site previously, but I've used like um something called Zephy where it's very similar. It's like zero zero fees. Um and it's a little cumbersome, but like you said, every like organization like would have to create their own essentially like payment link and what it's for. Um, so it really is just a it would be it wouldn't be integrated

139into anything for NPS. It's just ODCA needs to charge for uh t-shirt and they would just have this platform. So, it's it's um I don't love that, especially if it's like a school sponsored um I mean PTO's use different platforms, too, but I like I like the idea of the the one you said, the last one you said that integrates with P school. Um but like I don't know, is there a salesperson that can just maybe get a lower fee or any like a lower percentage or something like that worth a worth the ask? Maybe. I I can look into everything and I'll try and find some more. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I Yeah, definitely. Um, thank you for your your work on this and I think we're all definitely in agreement that we would

140like uh an online I mean just yeah and and lower fees the better, but again people can can choose to use it or not. Um, sometimes a convenience fee is worth it to people, but um, 4.3 just seems high to me. But, oh yeah, I guess we could, excuse me, we can talk about this um, in the future. >> Would you like us to put out a parent poll through parent square to find out if these fees are too high? Um maybe after next the next discussion if see what you can find or Yeah. Yeah. Definitely a little more info and then we can >> but yeah that's it's definitely a a good idea. >> Yeah. >> A little more. >> Yes. Okay. Um that was our last agenda item for the evening. So, we're

141back to public participation on any matter related to board responsibilities. And again, we'll increase the time to four minutes. If you're online, you can raise your hand or in the room, come to the end of the table. Seeing none, and remarks by board members. Miss Beus Um I want to thank again the parents for coming to our meetings. We talk a lot about um parent involvement and so your presence is noted and appreciated. I do want to circle back um to a question that actually one of the parents brought up regarding um due diligence when choosing curriculum um programs and kind of what does that look like? um just a brief overview, not a you know deep in the weeds data poll, but kind of what does that do diligence process look like? >> I'm

142sorry. What's that? Are you you're a question for >> what's Oh, we did. >> No, I understand the question. just for the >> there was a question about the the the the process and and the scientific piece of it and I'm just curious for like a little thumbnail sketch as to to what that looks like. How do we examine those programs? >> I think that might be a great topic for a curriculum committee meeting. Um and if we want to bring it to the full board, I think that's that would be acceptable. So Mr. Holler, if you don't mind, I think >> um so we're having remarks by board members. It's not discussion or um just following our agenda for public meetings. We can't really have a discussion at this time. Um and we can't

143amend our agenda. >> Okay. I'm gonna I'm I apologize. And this is how we run the meeting. So we will address it in a future forum. I'm not just not not answering the question. It's just not the appropriate time at this point to have a question. Miss uh Weaver has her hand raised. >> Uh thank you chair. Um just wanted to say sorry to all of those you know I don't miss a board meeting if I like am not literally in the air. So sorry, out of work conference. Just got back from the West Coast and then I'm literally getting on a plane now. So again, apologies. I think I was here for majority after public participation. So I'll go watch it back after. Um, but just wanted to note that we do have uh

144a curriculum committee meeting on Tuesday. That policy is on the agenda. Um, and as well as like a discussion on it. And I think it's really important. I just want to emphasize like those are where the discussions should happen. one. Two, uh we I don't I look through all the history of our board meetings and I can't find any point where we voted on curriculum and I don't think uh I'm not saying we shouldn't. I just want to make sure we have parameters in place because uh this could come up. There could be a million other ones. There's biocurriculum that was rewritten. There's new curriculum rewritten for every different thing that we add for every new course we have. Um, so I'll be also doing some other I had mentioned some research last meeting on

145um other school districts that I looked at. Um, I've never found anyone that voted to um simply I've seen just a vote on um courses being added with budget impact for most of the courses that I've seen particularly like Weathersfield or Rocky Hill. Um so I just wanted to note that I think we can have a more robust discussion. I recognize everyone's time is precious. So, just wanted to say um that's on the agenda that's posted on the website and then we will also um be setting up a policy meeting when I can um go and harass Steve for for dates. So, sorry to see. Um and then just lastly, I just want to say um happy 2025 2026 school year. Um looking forward to our students doing great thing. Competition was great and congratulations

146to our new teacher of the year, my second grade teacher, Miss Antoine Serrano. Thank you, Miss Wer. Mr. Hollerin. >> Um, yes. So, I think how curriculum is decided on is kind of a very broad question. I will say if you come to the curriculum meeting, we are given a background on how curriculum is decided. It depends on the topic. There's data that's driven behind that decision. We're allowed to probe and ask questions. Um, but it really depends on what is changing in the curriculum, what's supporting it, but we do get a background on how that decision was made. Um, so once again, next Tuesday, 16 o'clock in this room. Um, just to kind of understand how the process is is working. We don't typically vote on anything in that meeting. It's infor it's it'sformational

147so we can bring it back to the full board. Um, but I also wanted to comment um, just like Jess did, you stole my thunder on happy new school year. Um, appreciate all the hard work um, from the teacher, staff, administrators, and especially our students uh, and all the support staff and um, really looking forward to kicking off the school spirit just to support the steer code committee in the high school because that's what we need. So, thank you. Looking forward to the next year, >> Miss Carr. I'm going to throw a little wrench in here. My thought process is maybe have a joint policy and curriculum meeting just so that we understand when we're looking at the policies the changes in language how they can affect the curriculum rather than us looking at policy

148you guys discuss discussing curriculum and then we're just getting a brief you know 10-minute overview. I don't think it lets us fully sink our teeth into what needs to happen or what changes or the impact. Um, another thought process, I'm not positive how often curriculum meets, but I know it doesn't meet as often as policy does, but I think having more curriculum meetings will allow everyone to go more in depth of the curriculum. Sorry to add more work on your plate, but that way we can understand better what's in the school district and have a better understanding of what the parents are seeing, the students are seeing, the teachers are seeing, you know, things like that. >> Mr. Mly, >> thank you. Uh, I think we would be remiss if we didn't recognize that today

149at a public university in Utah that Charlie Kirk, a conservative, God-loving, familyloving, country-loving uh, human being that goes there for public discourse with students across the nation, was assassinated on live TV. He has a very young wife and two very young children. And I would just ask that we keep him in our thoughts and if you uh believe in God in our prayers and um that's it. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Um, I will just say that um I'm going to go back and listen again, but I heard a lot of things, a lot of accusations today and I I take a little bit of personal offense, but also offense on behalf of our administration because um I know that they spend they dedicate their entire careers towards doing what's best for the students

150in Newington and um accusing ing them of discrimination or of um not including someone in a classroom or just any of that. And again, I'm going to go back and listen exactly um but I know that none of the decisions made on anything in the third floor are done just willy-nilly. I think that there's a lot of effort and time and you know education that goes into these decisions. So um none of us board members are educators. Um a lot of us are around schools. A lot of us are um you know have kids in schools and our parents ourselves or or went through the Newington school system. But I think it's just a little um I mean personally offensive that um it's like we're here all of us are here because we care about

151the kids in Newington and we care about our schools and and we want to do what's best and what we feel is best. And whether we vote on something or not doesn't mean that we don't care about it. and and there's a lot that that goes on around the table and in committee meetings and in conversations with the superintendent that isn't a public meeting. So for you know I just I just want to say that um we put our faith in Dr. from it and her team, the entire the entire school district. The board's responsibilities are set policy, set the budget, and review the superintendent. And part of reviewing the superintendent is how she approaches and and handles the situations that arise with her staff. So sometimes if we don't respond to an email immediately,

152it's because it's not our place to respond to the email immediately and we will send it over to um the appropriate person. So I just want to say just in general for anyone that that we are all here for the right reasons I hope and um we would never do anything or say anything that is it singling out or making a student not have the education they deserve because I personally feel that every single student that walks in those buildings and and the ones even that go to other schools that we are responsible for are getting the best educ education that they can meeting their needs. Everyone is different. It is a huge responsibility to know all of that. It's not our responsibility. We put our trust in the superintendent and and her admin team.

153We're not the board has we don't know anything about student records or students or any of that. That is not our purview, classes, any of that. We don't make the schedules. So, um, but we're putting our trust in in in this team around the table and, um, in all of our buildings. So, I just want to say is just I just want to say that. Um, also I um, yes, Mr. Mey. >> Yeah, go ahead. You can. >> It's not a discussion though. We're just going to >> I'm just going to comment cuz you made a very long large statement and you spoke for us. >> I mean I I was speaking for myself, but I was um >> so if I may speak for myself, >> please. >> Um we I didn't hear any

154accusations here today. Quite frankly, I heard none. There's public discourse. People may agree or disagree. We as a board, we work for the uh parents and the taxpayers of the town. We don't work for Dr. Brumit. I don't put my faith in Dr. Brumit. Um I I I I like to work with everybody. Everybody here has some great ideas, but we're the board of education and she works for us. We don't work for her. >> I didn't say we worked for her. >> That's all I'm saying. That's fine. And so we're responsible to the parents and to the taxpayers is the bottom line. That's who we're responsible to. >> Thank you. >> So since we're the two parents you're accused of making >> I'm going to just um look for a motion to adjurnn. Please

155motion to adjurnn. >> Unfortunately I cannot modify the agenda because it's a special meeting. So I would entertain a motion to adjourn. It just >> to keep the Robert's rules of order in effect, I will make a motion to adjurnn. That doesn't mean we have to stop working after the meeting, but to officially end the meeting. I motion to adjurnn. Second motion, a second. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I would gladly um welcome your comments. No, I it is not appropriate to have it during a meeting when it's not >> off of making accusations.