NPS Special BOE Meeting - (7/23/2025)

001Um, Sam said that. Oh, can you hear us, Sam? >> Yep. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. I'd like to call this special meeting of the Newington Board of Education to order for Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025. The time is 7 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. >> Thank you, Doug. Could you please call the role? >> Here. >> Britney Carr >> here. >> Tom Holler >> here. >> Anthony. >> Timothy >> here. >> Amy Far >> here. Sam Sharma >> here. >> Jessica Weaver >> here. >> Anastasia Yap. >> I have everybody here except Miss. >> Thank you. Um so to start off

002the meeting, we have um a presentation for grade seven math overview. I will turn it over to Dr. Brett to begin. >> Thank you very much, Chairwoman Paratt. Just a quick introduction as assistant superintendent Freeman makes her way to wherever she's going to go. [laughter] Um, I just wanted to share our goals uh for the presentation this evening. We hope to show that though for those in attendance tonight who we know want what is very the absolute best for their children that the changes we're making are meant to advance all students. During the presentation, you'll hear about the recent history of accelerated math in middle school in Newington public schools and the intended versus the actual outcomes. We will also share our vision for rigorous math instruction for all. And you will also see the

003promising results of this year's sixth graders math outcomes of the on the smarter balance assessment. I do appreciate everyone's kind attention and I will now turn the microphone over to Miss Freeman for is it for her presentation along with others. >> Thank you Dr. Breitt and could you just open up the presentation? >> I certainly will. Just want to make sure I'm presentation. This silence makes the presentation so much more suspenseful. There we are. [laughter] Well, welcome everybody. Um, Dr. Burma introduced me. I'm Kristen Freeman. I'm the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. And joining me this evening is Michelle Kellogg. She is the K12 coordinator of mathematics. Um, and I'm so happy to see the number of parents that we have here at this board meeting. I know that you're all here for the

004best interests of your child and to speak on behalf of your child. Um, I was at the last board meeting when I heard a lot of the concerns expressed by um, the parents and the community. So, in thinking of a way to um address some of those concerns, but also talk about the history of what we've done in math and why what we're doing in math. Um I kind of put it together in a story and I'm hoping that this helps links some of those concerns um addresses those but also gives a good story of why we are moving forward. Sadly, >> this is disappointing. >> Yeah, go ahead. You just have to turn. Um, so in this story, there's main characters and they really are our stakeholders specifically in decision making. So, I'm going

005to ask some of our board members to actually talk about the roles and responsibility of these kind of characters. Um the first one is the board of education. So I'm just going to turn it over to chairperson Parade to talk about her role as a board member. Thank you. So the board of education is um an elected body of nine officials. Um we serve two two-year terms and we have no individual um authority power as individuals but as a board of nine um we do. So our main responsibilities are three-fold. The first is to set the policy. Um so those are the the board policies as well as all the policies that are implemented in our schools. Um we seek resources to support the board's adopted mission. So that's mission, vision, and goals and objectives.

006So that's basically the budget. We are responsible for making sure that um we have a balanced budget and we spend months doing so um over the course of um the winter and and spring and then ensure that the budget is spent accordingly um and we review the superintendent. What we don't do is um get in all the weeds and details of everything because we're more of a board of directors if you think about it as a corporation, more of a board of directors and Dr. Dr. Brummit as the CEO and then Dr. Brumit manages um central office and and and below. So that is um our our role as the board of education and and we also serve as a conduit towards you know we have our meetings public and we serve as a conduit

007for parents like you to um to share anything um along the board's responsibilities. So connected with the board of education are subcommittees and the subcommittee that I work with most closely is a curriculum committee and Miss Weaver um is going to talk a little bit about the role of that committee in decision-m. Yeah. So um just to to level set where this process is so people can understand how the process works is um we have a couple different subcommittees. Policy one of them uh I chair and then I sit on the curriculum um with Mr. Holland and Mr. Newton. Um and what we do is um throughout the year we're meeting with um different uh administrators and teachers uh on what are updates in curriculum. There's constantly updates in curriculum. There's constantly new best practices.

008There's constantly professional development. And so um what happened here too is that we um get updated on um major areas that are under review. If anyone noticed, we had a huge huge change in our uh K through three reading program um benchmark advance. So we were getting updated on that and seeing how that was going. Um and then we just review major areas of uh curriculum development. We do not approve anything. We simply ask questions, opine on these things, evaluate um and dig deep into the data uh as well as ask our administrators um what the long-term program um goals are, how that aligns to our board adopted mission um that we vote on every new board, so every two years um and how that aligns, bless you, to the strategic mission. Um the committee

009also reviews research on the curriculum, any program changes and um anything and it says like report recommendations. It's really us saying this is what we talked about during the meeting. You can go back to any one of our meeting minutes with Mr. Hollerin kind of gives um a debrief of what's happening. Um and that's where then the full board can opine on any of the changes that are happening. So that curriculum meeting as always they're public um much smaller because it is a subcommittee but that's where we talk and review and ask these questions um about everything from our new um we also talk about textbooks and those kinds of things. Um again we don't approve them. we just evaluate and see um how folks feel and then ask our administration how that aligns with

010our mission vision and goals. >> So one of the most important things that I heard from both Miss Weaver and Miss Parade is the board adopted mission and vision. So in the handout that was at the back of the table, there is a copy of that there if you're interested in reading that. So now I think about what is my role here as a decision maker with some other stakeholders specifically in working with the board of education and the curriculum committee. My job is to oversee the system that aligns with the mission and vision that they have adopted through a vote. And that's not just me. It's all of the administrators in this district. For me, I oversee teaching and learning and I have a cadre of administrators that I work with who are incredibly

011talented. So, our job again is to make sure that the whole system for academics is working for kids, that kids are learning. And of course, our goal here is to support students. Students are at the center of everything that we do. They are the most important character if you will in any story that we would tell at Newington public schools. [snorts] So then when we think about the role that parents play, parents play a huge role in their child's education. You make sure that your children are fed, that they get to school on time, that they do their homework, that they're getting a good night's sleep, you're providing them with an environment to do their homework, and that list goes on and on and on. When we think about the role that parents and guardians

012play in the decision-making process for academics, that occurs during our strategic planning process. So that happens every two to three years. It's a very large group of people that actually includes students, uh parents, families, um business partners as well. And this is this event is what sets the three to five year vision or direction for the entire district. So in making all of these decisions, we have to have a direction for where we're going. So not only do we look at the mission and the vision, but we look at what we're trying to achieve, and that's our intended outcome. Our current attended um intended outcomes. You can find these are our improvement plans. making sure that students who are performing at high levels keep performing at high levels. We want to increase the achievement of

013students who are not performing at standard and we want to close the gap between that that's predictable between um groups of students. So this is what we're aiming for with student achievement. So I'm going to start to talk about what we have. You need to go back. That's out of order. Yeah, this is Michelle. Is there one missing? Okay, you're going to have to refresh. Yeah, that's the one that should be next. So, I'm going to start this story back in 2012 2013. This was at the time um the current administration wanted to bring geometry into middle school and that was something that I also heard from uh the parents that spoke at the last board meeting. They remember a time when the [snorts] goal there was to expand the middle level offerings in mathematics.

014Every decision that we make has really really good intentions but then sometimes we look at the impact and the impact is not what we intended. You can see on this pathway beginning in grade six, there literally was a decision made for 11y olds if they were accelerated or not. And this divided further on to tracks. And so students in 8th grade had the opportunity to take grade level 8th math um to take algebra 1 or to take geometry. And that meant when students went to high school, they were able to access these three courses depending on what they had completed in the middle level. Well, what was happening when this new program, this new um way of arranging ma math classes was put in place is that was when we were adopting the common core

015way back when before the common core. So at least when I was taking math, the math standards were written in a way that they were very repetitious. So it was common that a student who mastered sixth grade standards was born in seventh grade because the standard was repeated. Common core is not written that way at all. It is much more rigorous. Miss Kellogg is going to talk about that. So we saw that when we had this arrangement of classes, two things were happening. Many of these students that were taking geometry in grade 8, by the time they got to algebra 2, they struggled to be successful because what they lacked was some of the the deep deep foundational standards that you need to be successful in algebra 2. And if you think about this model,

016we're taking five years of math and putting it in three years. It's a lot of math to cram all of that together. And while we could cover those standards, to be able to go deeply into those standards, and that's what rigor is about, that is incredibly challenging, if not impossible. We also saw in this model that many of these students in geometry never took the advanced coursework when they went got up to the high school. So then we have to sort of look at this and say we're not getting the outcome that we want. So we're going to have to make some changes. But before I go on to that next story, I want to talk about this um concept of rigor and the common uh with the common core. I'm just going to turn

017this over to Mrs. Kellogg for a minute. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, so I want to reiterate some of what Miss Freeman already said. Where should we stand? Are we too person? This is good. Okay. I don't want to be I don't want to have my back to everybody. Um, so I want to reiterate that rigor does not equal speed. It does not equal more content. Um, when Common Core came onto the scene, it really redefined what the word rigor meant, especially as it pertains to math. The reason that this is important uh for for this particular purpose and for the changes that we're making um is because it sheds light on why it is so crucial to cover the content in the manner that the standards are intended for. Um so in this

018case we're talking about rigor really meaning covering the full depth of the standard and every aspect of rigor that the standard is calling for and I'll discuss that more in a second. Um, it also really it gets us to check ourselves on ensuring that as we're having students experience the standards that they're doing so in a way that fosters a much deeper level of understanding. Um, and really ensuring before they move on to subsequent coursework, whether that is in an accelerated pathway or not, that they have the strong K to8 foundation needed um to be successful in any future mathematics course. So when we think about rigor, when we're talking about the common core standards, what we're really thinking about is do students conceptually understand the math? Can they operate with fluency and and operate

019and show their skills? And can they also apply the math deeply in a multitude of contexts beyond just the simple computation? in order to do all of those well, that takes a lot of time and strategic instruction um aligned to the standard in order to support student uh growth. So when we think about I know Miss Freeman talked about what prior standards looked like and when we were operating under a model where we were placing five courses into three years. That is because the standards as they were designed before the common core really were meant to elicit this culture of getting an answer quickly. Um learning tricks to apply in order to operate. Um memorizing without truly understanding why we're doing it uh versus what it actually means. And also, you know, word problems just

020were at one point just something we kind of threw in there because we know we need to do them at some point and they weren't really contextualized. Now, what we're looking at with the standards when we think about true rigor and instruction, we're fostering and supporting students in a accessing concepts from a number of different perspectives. We're supporting their understanding of why something is a procedure and and also enacting it as well. and really setting them up to be problem solvers for any context versus this word problem that just happens to come up in this particular unit. So we say this because um we know that it has been um part of the conversation that is my student going to continue to be able to access and be challenged in mathematics and the design of

021the standards I believe and we believe um set students up to do just that and beyond especially in the application aspect of rigor where students are called on to engage in tasks where they're applying math across not just one standard two standards but clusters of standards and also domains of standards as So, keep in mind when I left off, we were at the model um and it wasn't working for all kids. So, we had to make changes. The next change that we made uh took a couple of years between 18 and 20. And this is the model that was in place prior to the most recent change. So you can see what we did here is uh we moved your geometry from the middle school and we instead of having algebra completed in this one

022year the idea was let's take algebra and stretch it over two years seventh and eighth grade and in order to try to address the issue of some students not having that really deep understanding of some of the standards that are necessary later on in high school. If we integrate those in and make sure that we're really hitting the standards to be most successful in algebra, we thought maybe this would be a model where we would see greater success for our students. Unfortunately, what we saw is that we just created more barriers. So, think about a student who enters into Newington public schools as an eighth grader and the student wants to enroll in algebra. They can't because the only course that you are offered in 8th grade is either grade 8 or the second half

023of algebra. If you take just the second half of algebra, you do not earn the required credit for graduation. So, it wasn't available to students that transferred in. Here's another student that it would be inaccessible for. Remember, if we think about ages, kids are about 10, 11, 12, and turning 13. It is not uncommon for a student in seventh grade to have a developmental sort of burst, if you will, and that is the time that their capacity to do really rigorous mathematics, that's when it develops for that child. But if that happens for the child here in the middle of their seventh grade math, they still can't access algebra. So there were kids that were sort of locked out of this pathway. The [snorts] other problem that we saw with it is still persisted that

024when students were going into high school, number one, many of them were not taking the advanced coursework. But more importantly, we still saw the same issue that we had with the geometry model. We saw students who were accelerated in this pathway because they were missing the deep learning. They were not as successful, especially in algebra 2 as we would want them to in parts of geometry. One thing that I want to point out is that in the very first model that I showed you, when kids got to 9th grade, there were three choices. algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 with can you go back Dr. B in this model that we currently had that we're modifying the three courses available are algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2. So with this model in place, um some of the

025questions I heard about was um accountability and what it is that we're doing. During this phase, we took a look at the entire um mathematics program in middle school. Now the next slide and so just take this in for a second. These are grade levels along the bottom. Um and on the on the other uh axis is a percentage of students that are meeting goal on the SBA. Three years worth of data. Unequivocally, we can see that when our students entered fifth grade, there was a significant drop in performance. And throughout middle school, the students never collectively regained that. The first issue of equity that I see when I look at this is this whole middle school program here certainly is not equitable to the programming we're doing here. And so we take that seriously

026and we had to think about what is it that we were doing in middle school that we were not able to serve our students in the way that we want to and that the community expects. You can see this pattern too in the reading scores. So one of the changes that we're making is we are changing this schedule for grade five. We are expanding the number of instructional minutes for math and [snorts] nearly doubling them for English language arts. We believe that students are still building those foundational skills in fifth grade and we believe that making that change with more time and instruction and learning on those that is going to help student performance. The other thing that we looked at was how is it that we're teaching each of these subjects. So when Mrs.

027Kellogg was talking about rigor. She said it's not just about speed. Um, it's not just about the standard, but it's about how we learn. I learned mathematics in a way of sitting at a desk, writing down my notes, practicing the problem, and then doing it on my own. Mathematics is taught in a very different way now so that kids are actually involved in some kind of cognitive rigor so that they can reach the depth of the standards that Mrs. Kellogg had mentioned. But what we also did look at was is there a structure in this programming that might be contributing to this data as well. So this now brings us to the proposed model. The proposed model now that we have that will be in place for next year. I'm actually going to start at

028the end in 9th grade. You should notice that nothing has changed through all three of them. Algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. What we've done is instead of spreading algebra out over these two years, algebra will sit alone in the eighth grade. Now, what this doesn't solve is it solves the problem of access. So, remember that student that all of a sudden really develops mathematically in seventh grade now has that chance to get to algebra 1. So, we're reducing barriers. But the other thing you might be asking is, well, wait a minute. You talked about these standards that kids weren't learning deeply and that was affecting them later on in high school. And this program, Bridge to Algebra, that is exactly what that is supposed to address. It's helpful to think of it of it

029as an enrichment program for students. And we think that actually a lot of students who go into algebra 1 and 8th grade might not even need the bridge program. But we know based on 10 years worth of data that there are students who are accelerated and they miss that deep learning and they suffer the consequences when they get to high school. I cannot in good conscience continue to carry on a practice that is not good for all students. even students that we are accelerating. So this program is intended to give students the opportunity to go much deeper with their learning on those standards that they weren't otherwise de developing a really deep understanding of. That's the intention of the bridge program. So again, we're looking for still rigorous um opportunities. Kids still have the opportunity

030to accelerate. We're just pushing it off by a year and we're putting it in the eighth grade. Um, one, no, not yet. Um, I'm actually going to turn it over to Miss Kellogg because we have some preliminary data where we can look and ask ourselves, well, we made a change in sixth grade. Do we have anything right now that can tell us whether or not that's working or not? >> Thank you. Okay. So, we can go to the next slide now, Dr. Bummit. So, um what we started to look at were some of our initial results that we have for ESPA that were taken uh this past spring, particularly for our grade six students. There are many ways we can look at ESPA data to determine how students are progressing throughout grade levels from grade

031three all to grade all the way to grade eight. One of the ways we can look at data and performance is through growth, which is critical because that is a data point that addresses all students. um when we only look at the percent of students that are performing at a level three or four, we are only looking at a small group of students versus how are all students performing. So growth allows us to do that. If you're not familiar with the ESPA assessment, every student gets a growth target and that is their goal for each year in terms of performance when we think about points they're scoring for their vertical scale score. So something we look at very frequently is what's called the average percent of target achieved. Essentially what we're looking at is in

032a group of students, what portion on average of the growth target are students reaching. So when we looked at, for example, our um grade five students from last year, so they were our grade five kiddos in 2324, we saw that the average percent of their target achieved was 40.5%. Which essentially means on average students are making 40% of whatever their growth target was that ESPA gives them. And that's different for every student. For a rough coh rough cohort view to see how that same group of students then performed in grade six. So we took a look preliminarily at this year's data. Again, this is this is um data that we're looking at internally. Um but we're seeing that roughly 50.65% is the average percent of the target achieved. So again, on average, they're meeting about

033half of their growth target. So this does show um an initial indication of some positive results when we look at the group of students um that went from grade five to grade six and in this year participated as grade six students in our heterogeneous groupings. Um on the next slide um we also wanted to look at specifically performance in the same uh type of data but now targeting specific performance levels on the ESPA assessment. So on ASPA you can score from a level one up to a level four with level four being the highest. One of the things that we've consistently heard um in multiple parent meetings and forums is how are students that may be more mathematically inclined going to be impacted when they are participating in heterogeneous math groupings. So when we started

034to look at some of that data and compared to how grade six did last year. So go ahead Dr. Bremitt. So last year in um our students at a level three their average percent of target achieved was roughly 58.7% in grade six. This year our grade six students um that scored at a level three exhibited 72.3.1 uh.31% um of growth. So again that is comparing grade six last year. Um grade six students last year were not in heterogeneous groups. grade six this year um in 2025 they were and then if we do the same for level four which is the highest rate of performance on the ESPA assessment last year's grade six kiddos were u meeting their target at roughly 66.2% as compared to this year's level four students at 97.96%. So again, it is

035very initial data to to show us that we are um you know, having students experience mathematics instruction that is still challenging them and students that are performing at higher rates are still demonstrating very strong growth. And this is the kind of growth we want to continue to foster for not just our level threes and four kiddos, but all of our students. Um this is what we want to continue to see as a trend. And so we know that children's uh students stories don't end in middle school, they end in high school. And in high school is a place where we are so proud of the number of dual credit options that we have. Newington High School is able to boast as being a high school that has one of um the highest number of offerings.

036The ones that are listed here for dual credit are just those that are related to math. And so we're able to offer these because we are fostering and um building and growing these great mathematicians. And we do believe that students have an opportunity should have this opportunity to accelerate. We just believe that that should just be delayed by one year which would also give us the opportunity to address those um address those components where they don't have the deepest learning. That's all we have for you tonight. >> Thank you so much. Um before we move on to um the public participation part, do do any board members have any initial questions and we will have a further board discussion after public participation? Miss Weaver. All right. [clears throat] So I think I kind of want

037to just thank you Kristen Michelle for giving this. Um I don't want to take my time because I want everyone to have their time to speak too. Um, but I think I just want to preempt a couple things that are going to come up. Um, and really just want to level set here as, um, this is clearly, you know, one of the things that, um, has been top of mind for a lot of parents. So, we want to be very clear about the intentionality and what this is actually doing. Um, so I just want to address some questions about um, and I think you've kind of answered some of it, but um, how do you guarantee that you will keep um, accelerating students? Um, what does that look like? Um, I noticed uh, there was

038a concern that um, some parents would not be convinced that teachers would be able to differentiate enough in a heterogeneous setting to get students to this level. um was a concern. So, what does that look like for accelerated students that are in that? And I guess um going off of the example of a sixth grade that you've done that in. >> Um my initial response with that to be would to that would be is that most students experience only heterogeneous grouping until they hit advanced versus not advanced. So we can give numerous examples of that happening not only in mathematics but we can give that across subjects areas. That is our practice. We generally heterogeneously group until students are in 8th grade and then it's only a few students. We see the most leveling happening

039at Newington High School where we see students being successful at honors and AP levels um and at the college prep level. Okay. So in a heterogeneous setting, um my child is excel is advanced more than some of their peers in the classroom. Um what does that look like in terms of like is this extra work? Is there more advanced work within a setting and what does that look like particularly I think now that there's implementation of building thinking classrooms? Can you just explain what that looks like? [clears throat] >> Absolutely. Okay. So, uh, part of our department's work this year is a major focus on tasks and really ensuring that we are offering students tasks that have an access point and also have opportunity for acceleration. So, the first commitment for all students is to

040ensure that they are able to access and master the grade level standard. Students that are demonstrating um a need to go beyond that will have opportunities to engage in task work that has them exploring the mathematics above that in terms of um additional extensions, additional considerations to problem solve around. So we'll be working with our teachers in order to ensure that those differentiated opportunities are built in to the work of the task that will be occurring in the grade level. >> Okay. And just a couple more. Um there was concern I think the last meeting about um kids being uh that are accelerated being bored in their classes as well as um teachers being able to um actually meet the the needs of the advanced students um when there's such disperate needs. So what does

041that look like in terms of like how do we guarantee kids are not bored in their classroom minus the >> I'll say it for any educator in the room um and also for parents if you have had a kid come home every single day and say oh my god school was so excited I wasn't bored for one minute um I don't know how that happened so I just want to call it out students sometimes get bored in school that that's what happens but I understand um the purpose of of of that question is how do we ensure um that students are engaged in rigorous learning so when I think of what is the opposite of boredom it would be that I'm feeling challenged and I think that that's what Mrs. Kellogg just responded to when

042she talked about the focus of the math department um looking at rich tax texts that are going to elevate that rigor and making sure that there's opportunities to be enriched beyond those. >> Okay. Can I also add to that? So I I also want to clarify too what a thinking classroom um or what thinking classroom instruction looks like. So the task is a big part of it but there's also the meaning making opportunity which has to follow right. So students engage in collaborative task work but also need an opportunity as a whole group to make meaning. So that means they're going to consolidate their understandings. They're going to answer more questions and they also need the opportunity to independently make their own meaning and check their own understanding. Those things might happen at different times

043based on where students are. So depending on the nature of the lesson, students that might be moving through something faster may finish a task earlier may have an opportunity to consolidate in a small group with the teacher and then move on to their more independent opportunity. So part of that is going to be monitoring when those moments are appropriate and knowing when students are ready. And it may be that students are accessing different parts of the lesson at different times depending on their readiness. >> Um, thank you. And then I think and I will wrap up soon, I promise. I just want to make sure I think many of the parents here tonight I can presume um are skeptical that this will uh help their child in terms of challenging them um and actually making

044it so that they can I presume be on the track to um you know take our AP courses. Um could you just I I don't know if it's in this one. I know it was in a slide deck before about like the percentage of kids that were taking accelerated that have not taken the AP classes and there's drop off. Uh because I was just curious about that statistic. Do you have it on here? If not, >> we do. I know I know that Dr. Brummit has it and Miss Kellogg has it. My computer went to sleep so takes a while to wake up. Um just in the meantime I'll also ask about process um because I think that was a concern as well. Um in terms of how we get alerted um how was this

045rolled out in sixth grade? Um because I think there wasn't necessarily and I I'm not I'm not uh a breast of any other kind of parent communication that's gone out besides this particular curriculum change. Um, but just how often are is the norm for curriculum changes to be sent to parents and did that go out for grade six? >> Yeah, that went out for good six when that went into play. Um, okay. And is there any teacher feedback since implementing it this year on how that went this year outside of the score changes for grade six non accelerated >> for the heterogeneous groupings? >> Correct. Um yeah, I would say that this work is challenging. This work is not easy. Um it's something we will have to continue to work at and this is a

046change to what we're used to. So um I I would be foolish to sit here and say that teachers thought this was a breeze. This is going to be hard work. Um but I think with the right supports in place that it will continue to strengthen their pedigogy and their instruction. >> Okay. >> Um do Oh, and there's the data. Sorry. No. >> Do you want me to speak to that? >> Yeah, if you could. >> So I'm just going to look on my computer so I can see it. So this was initially when we looked at um the graduating class of 2025. So our seniors that just departed um we tracked them all the way back through their accelerated experience to see which math courses they had landed in in high school. Um and

047so the last three data points there are the ones that are most pertinent to this. So the 25% that represents the number of students that graduated this year that participated in accelerated math in middle school took at least one AP math class. So either AP ECE stats, AP calc, AP pre-calc. Um that's one in four students that took the accelerated track. And again um we have shared historically the rationale for accelerated math to exist was so students could reach um and have the opportunity to engage in um higher level courses. That is one of the prime reasons it has existed. Um the 15% is the the number of kiddos graduating seniors that took AP calculus. That's kind of the mothership of uh mathematics. And so seeing that number was was was startling to see that

048that's the output that was being um um elicited. And then the 26% um that's the percent of students that took four credits of math in high school. We realize three credits is the graduation requirement. However, when students um are taking math early on, and we know if if they are looking to be competitive in mathematics that taking math all four years of high school um or four credits at the least, most go on to take even a fifth is really crucial in being competitive. >> Okay, thank you. Um I know I will have a couple more questions, but I want to make sure we leave time for parent discussion. I would just say I know um I think I've received five emails and there's obviously way more folks here um on the social media as

049well. Um there is a call to put pause on this for a year. Um why would you say no? Um the reason that I would say no is because we have been in this model and there is data that shows that it is um not in the best interest of students when they accelerate in the way that they are. We know that there are students that accelerate and they are missing a deep understanding of those standards that they need to be successful. In my opinion, if we keep doing something that we know is harmful to a group of students, that's malpractice. And followup question on that data, could you just go back to that SBA slide or the last slide? >> Which one is that? the the last data uh level three level four which

050is supposed to be our accelerated students or >> so the change from homogeneous uh tracking to de-leveling would you say that is a normal jump or reflective of history of seeing this kind of jump it I I think that this is very preliminary data remember and we're not looking at the same cohort of kids 2020 to 24 are kids that will be will be in eighth grade. But this is this is suggesting that students that were in homogeneously grouped classes. The students that scored at uh level three and four and ESPA showed a lower average on average growth rate. And so what we're trying to show with this is we don't see um students that are at higher levels being harmed with respect to their growth. And in fact, we see kids um on average

051growing more. Thank you. >> Um the other thing, Miss Weaver, that I that I did want to address about um the the waiting to adopt. Um one of the things that I forgot to mention, um when this new pathway was developed, we um also found out that this is what aligns with suggestions from the Connecticut State um Department of Education and also the state board of education. they have a position uh position statement um on mathematics in particular um the pathways for mathematics and how mathematics should be taught and changed and you'll find that if you read through that it's about eight pages but you'll have a copy if you want it um that you'll see that tenants that are in there align with the changes that we are proposing >> okay and I guess

052um last question would be on like the accountability factor no one wants their kid to being a necessary guinea pig except every kid is a guinea pig in public schools because you are constantly changing curriculum. Um what does success look like ultimately and how far away is that to determine and what are the accountability factors excuse me if you know this doesn't pan out? We obviously had intentions with geometry. So, um kind of what does that look like in terms of planning? Um because this isn't necessarily a plan that we can say, oh, in the next year we'll see immediate results, although obviously those ones are are different. They're different cohorts. Um what does that look like? Uh um I'm going to back up a little bit. One thing to understand about accountability in looking

053at data is that that is not something we just do at the end of the year when our ESPO results come out. If you look at the number of teams that we have that analyze student performance data, it starts at a district level at our district data team. They do it at the school level and then they do it at their PLC's which is either a grade level or a subject. The work of a professional learning community which teachers are in is to use real-time data with students to make decisions about what do I need to do next to best meet the needs of the students that are front of me. So when I think about accountability and looking at data to see if something's working, that happens um with our teachers in the classrooms

054who are working with students. That accountability measure happens um at our school data teams looking at the performance of the whole school seeing if there are patterns in different groups of students at grade levels and then of course that happens at the district level. So on the with the curriculum committee I come one of the first things I share with you is the performance index which takes us a long time to kind of get through. So that's one but again that's a really big measure. So some of the information that we share is the benchmark data about how students are progressing um before we get to the ASPA so we can make predictions as to whether or not we need to be making changes and what we call our tier one instruction. Miss Kellogg has

055shown you how we measure growth when we look at um students not just meeting a target but students showing the a target in terms of benchmark but also making sure that they are growing for some students starting at the low end of a level one on the ESPA and at the end of that year getting to the high end of level one they will have met their growth target and I would say we've been successful with that child that's going to look very different for all students. So to say that there is this um you know like this specific smart goal that we can make for that I I don't think that we can I don't I just don't think the answer is that easy because success also looks um success for me also is

056about students who can access get in and once you have access you need opportunity. So those are two very different things. You cannot have opportunity without access, but just because we give access doesn't necessarily mean that you have the opportunity. So we want to be looking too at um those two factors, the access and the opportunity of students um who are accelerating in the middle school and of course seeing their success later in high school. Okay, final final question then. I'm sorry. Um, we have discussion after, but I just want to I think address the the the clear concern is that we in order to close a gap, we want to lift up a lot of the students that are not there like ones like my sister that are maybe not the best at math,

057right? Um, does that mean when bringing those up, are we lowering the standard and lowering the rigor and lowering the ability to accelerate for those kids that do not struggle with math and are currently on the quote accelerated track or identified that way. The the very definition of acceleration for students who are not yet at benchmark is here is the standard and regardless of the level you're working at, this is the standard. That's it. But what I'm going to do as your teacher is I'm going to do everything I can so you are meeting the standard. Supporting students who are not yet at standard has nothing to do with lowering the standards. In fact, when we do that, we do the exact opposite for students and we keep them where they are. Kids need to

058be in environments where they are held to high expectations, where their teachers believe that they are capable, um where the teachers um are holding those expectations. But we also have to think about um what kids think about themselves. When we say to an 11year-old, these 25 kids went to accelerated but you didn't. What does how does a child internalize that? And that is that is important for me. that is important for me as somebody who is here to work for all of the students in Newington public schools. >> I will stop question. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um does any other board members have any comments or um and then quickly move to public? Mr. Hollerin, >> we're going to keep this really quick. Um just literally asked every single question I got from parents.

059So great job. I have no other questions. And um I think we got some pretty good answers. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Um at at this time, I'll open to public participation. Um but before we begin, I just want to remind everyone of a few important guidelines. Um we ask that all comments remain respectful and civil. Personal attacks, including naming or targeting individuals, will not be tolerated. If it does occur, your speaking time will end will be ended immediately. Um, in accordance with Robert's rules of order, you may not yield your time to another speaker, um, tonight we will allow four minutes to address the board instead of our usual time of 3 minutes. Um, just to account for that. Um, and the purpose of public participation is to provide constructive input and share

060your perspectives. Um during this portion the board will not engage in discussion but we will have another discussion after public public participation concludes. If questions are raised that can be answered during the meeting we will absolutely do so. Um otherwise you will receive a follow-up response via um email or phone call after the meeting in subsequent business days. So I thank you for your cooperation and participating in this process respectfully. And Miss Havs, you can go ahead and spit your state your name and address for the record. >> Dana Havens, 113 Stoddard Avenue. I'm surprised and saddened, as I'm sure some of you are, that I'm again at a board of ed meeting um fighting for our students. But some parents reached out to me and having been given a copy of the response letter,

061I did a bit of digging. Parents were told in number nine of that letter that the state board of education and state department of education support these changes based on current research in the state board of ed mission statement. So I contacted the board of ed who couldn't support that claim in number nine. So they sent me to the state board of special education who also couldn't support that claim and quite frankly they were shocked someone to even think of that. Nowhere could I nor the people from the state find anything that implied we should discontinue accelerated math for any reason, not even the name of equity. Now, I'd like to quote to you from the state board of education position statement on mathematic education from the portion under administrators responsibilities for prek through grade

06212. Number six reads, "Implement a system of support for all students that includes supplemental intensive mathematic intervention and enrichment." Now, a quote from the position uh on the middle level education under the section students and learning high expectations for students academic performance and responsible behavior are clearly articulated and implemented with a rigorous and challenging education program. Admin's reasoning for this cut is the equivalent to my telling one of my children to stop applying themselves and to take a few tests so their struggling sibling won't feel bad. That's poor parenting and this is proposal is poor educational practice. I'd also like to point out and remind all of you that according to the state statute, especially you, Jessica, sorry, uh, state statutes 10 to20e that curriculum changes need approval from the curriculum committee. I could find

063no record of a vote, just a presentation on the plan change. To verify they need a vote, I contact the state board of ed curriculum coordinator and they said I was correct in my interpretation. So, I expect to see a vote if not tonight, then in a special meeting in the very near f in the very near future. I mean, think about it. Why would you even bother to have a committee if you didn't vote? I understand that board members want to be respectful of admin and that you have a high level of trust, but I beg of you from this time forward when you receive these types of presentations in your packets that you do your own research and fact check their facts. It's a shame you have to do this, but it's obviously

064necessary. I found this out about 10 years ago when they tried to take recess from our fifth graders. Admins claimed that since they were in the middle school building, they were middle schoolers and they didn't need to give them recess. Turns out that's not true. So, I'd also like to request that the board of ed members ensure that all elementary students, not just the fifth graders, are receiving the state mandated 20 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for recess. So, that's a total of 40 minutes. So, please make sure that is still happening. that can be found in section 221- I learned my lesson 10 years ago and I hope you've learned your lesson tonight. Now, since there's an extra minute, I'll address some of the stuff I heard here. [sighs and gasps] Um, that

065SBA chart that you showed shows me that you're not preparing the students in K through four for the rigors of fifth grade math. And that's where you're falling. And that's where your problems are. and you say it's affecting the students in high school, but I see really no data presented to qualify that statement. And my kids, having gone through it, I can tell you it didn't. I will also tell you that my daughter, although she is majoring in a math-based major in college now, did not take that extra semester of math because she wanted to have fun and she took a lot of art courses. And I encouraged her to do so because this was basically her last year to have fun. Um, [sighs] and that's about it. Thank you. >> Thank you, [laughter] >>

066Danielle Dro, Glen View Drive. I had to take my glasses off because I'm old and I can't read with them on. So, I know Miss Weaver stated that the parents are all around here to advocate for their children, but I would like to state that my children have long since graduated from NPS, and my one and only concern is to advocate for students who are similar in learning style to my own children because they deserve the same enrichment opportunities that my children had. NPS did away with the gifted program many years ago and the only time my own children were provided with enrichment opportunity above grade level which is important above their grade level was when they were in middle school math [clears throat] excuse me my children were able to take AP calc BC

067which they did and that allowed them my daughter as a freshman at Worcester Polytech was able to take calc 4 and my son as a freshman at Yukon did not need to take calculus, saved me money, and challenged my my daughter. They were both able to take geometry in the eighth grade. This was well after the implementation of Common Core Math. You can have advanced math classrooms. Sorry, I had to rechange my little speech as you spoke. Um, that is student- centered, engaged in problem solving, and allows for mastery of the common core, not just skill and drill and going faster. And it's insulting to say that that's what advanced math classes are. They do it all the time in all of our neighboring towns. I also want to preface the past statement that Miss

068Freeman said when I was on this board of education who remarked and stated again tonight that she was not for class rankings of students and that we should avoid making students feel bad about their lack of ability. We continue to not rise our children up to the best education they can be at. Dr. Breummet once said to me when I was on this board of education, we're not worried about children like yours. That's a problem. We have upper level children, very smart, that are that's their strength. We have kids who are strength in baseball, acting, whatever it is. I >> you can cut me off because it's not true >> for you not to mention names and speak to your own personal experiences. >> That was my personal experience. We can't interrupt public participation. That's

069not okay. >> I see that. >> It's on public record. >> Hold on one second because I'm on the board of as well. Amy and Daniel Hold on. No, no, no, no, no. You cannot interrupt public participation by Robert's rules of order. >> Um, can you mute I can't mute her. You can't mute somebody. I can just show up. It's like >> um this isn't a time for the board to speak. If you um I will allow Miss Yach to speak at um >> in the next portion of this meeting. >> So is you can't you're breaking Robert's rules. >> This is public participation. So I'm going to um just have the next person who would like to come up and go ahead and speak. Stud Glen View, married to the 27year 7th grade math

070teacher who was just told to stop. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here this evening. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this issue that deeply impacts the future of our students, the direction of our school district, and quite frankly, our property values. Let me begin by recognizing the strengths of our current academic practices. The current structure at Newton public schools does a commendable job of preparing students to attend state colleges such as CCSU or Yukon. These strong institutions, it's no small achievement that we are helping many of these students reach that milestone. However, if we're honest, we must also acknowledge that we're not adequately preparing students to access more competitive schools. say a school that's has an acceptance rate below 25%. Where admission standards are more rigorous because honestly in Nevada someone wouldn't

071know what Yukon was if not for basketball. They would know Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale. If our goal is to create inequitable opportunities for all students, not just to graduate, not just to attend college, but to thrive at the highest levels, then we need to re-evaluate how we're preparing our students, especially those with high academic potential. Unfortunately, some of our recent decisions are moving us in the wrong direction. The feeling I get from this is that everyone's kind of forgotten how a bell curve works. It really feels like we're trying to knock off the top of the bell curve and knock off the bottom of the bell curve. Like yay mediocrity. Seriously. Like homogeneous. That's the middle of your bell curve. Now [sighs] you were saying close the gap. You don't close the gap by moving

072the top down. You close the gap by taking the kids who are struggling and moving them up. How would why would you knock the top down? Now it so on one end eliminating honors math courses in the younger grades is one such decision. By removing accelerated pathways early on we effectively delay students exposure to the advanced mathematical concepts required for success in AP level coursework and competitive college admissions including calc BC. If students are only provided the opportunity to take eligible one in the eighth grade, the highest level of math they're able to master in high school is calc. These early honors tracks are not about labeling students. They're about creating the foundation, taking students which can potentially succeed later and to take those calculus, advanced science, and rigorous problem solving by the end of

073the the time they reach their junior year. I've got a daughter who's taking chemistry, education, and because she was bored, she took a minor in physics at WPI. I can tell you how to kids can succeed with math. On the other end, furthermore, the new policy requiring students to pass an online course in order to take algebra 1 in the eighth grade brings on another barrier, especially for students who might be underserved. While the intention might be to ensure readiness, the likeness is the the result is likely to filter out students who struggle not because of ability, but because they lack adequate support at home. Online courses, especially for middle schoolers, are rarely effective without strong scaffolding. And for the families without the time, content knowledge or access to um resources to step in where

074the child struggles, this requirement becomes an obstacle, not an opportunity. I made it in my time. Yay me. But anyways, mediocrity, guys. Come on. You you you make students succeed by helping those who are struggling. Thank you again for your time. >> Sorry, Tamara Hong, 279 West Hill Road. Um, I was not able to attend the meeting in June. So, I want to thank the board of ed and Dr. Gomet for giving parents another opportunity to speak about this topic. Um, I do have my son's permission to tell his story tonight, but he did not want to speak. My children will start 10th and seventh grade in the fall. I am in favor of the getting rid of accelerated math. I'm fortunate that both my children are very strong math students and are right now,

075I mean, they're still young, considering careers in the math field. My oldest son participated in accelerated math in middle school. And if this meeting was a year ago, I may be here telling a different story. But unfortunately, the accelerated pace did not prepare him [clears throat] for high school. He passed his geometry class and was recommended for honors. So, it wasn't all doom and gloom, but um his transition was a bit difficult, especially in math or specifically in math, I should say. And when I reached out to the teacher, he explained that there were gaps in my son's learning. But not to worry because this was something that he had seen before and we could get through it together. Fortunately, uh I'm an educator, a special education teacher, um by trade. So, we were able

076to work our through our weekends and work through after school between sports to fill in the gaps that he needed to fill in. And the teacher was really great, too, meeting with him after school and helping with those gaps. And thankfully, we had that opportunity, but we shouldn't have had to. I'm excited that my younger son, who has very high scores in math, that he'll get to experience math in a different way, a way that allows the teacher to different differentiate for him and his classmates, learning at a pace that makes sense for all of them. He will also get to choose how to take the bridge to algebra curriculum in a way in a time that makes sense for him. I'm excited that this will open more opportunities for his peers to do the

077same. As a teacher, I know that sometimes the choice to add a student to an accelerated class or not is based solely on student numbers. For example, if you have 32 students that qualify for accelerated math, that's too many for one class but not enough for two. Therefore, you either have to cut off some of those kids that do qualify or add students that kind of qualify, which feels very objective. It makes sense for everyone to have access to algebra in eighth grade, which is what stopping accelerated math will do. >> Thank you. Thank you. Hello, I'm Alyssa Johnson Quigley at 251 Lowry Place. I have a uh soon to be sixth grader and soon to be eighth grader. And so I get to experience this from both the kid who went through accelerated math

078track and the kid who was supposed to go through accelerated math track. Um, I just have a few points. First, I want to say that my kids overall have had wonderful math teachers. My kids love math. They both want to go into math-based careers. I will say that it's been very disappointing as the parent of a kid who was in fifth grade last year to find out in June that he was not going to have accelerated math as an option. So, in terms of the communication from the school district and the board of ed, I'm glad that you were keeping sixth grade parents in the loop, but if my child was part of this new model this whole past year, I did not know that. And it's very hard for me to be supportive of

079this kind of change if I have no idea what's going on. I commend everyone for their focus on equity. I do think that there needs to be more attention to serving students of all levels and bringing everyone up to meet the standards. But in my experience, my children at the end of the class would be directed towards. You've done the work. Here's a worksheet. You've done this. Here's Exl. You test it out of this level. Here's Khan Academy. So, that's great. But I want my kid to work with the teacher. I want them to have instructor-led learning. I don't want them to be put on the side on a screen and given a gamification experience to develop their math skills because I don't think that's supportive of rigor. >> I also just want to speak

080to the bridge plan in seventh grade. I understand that this is being pitched as an enrichment opportunity, but as a parent, it feels like a burden. It does not feel like a benefit. I do not want to have to tell my child that he has to skip a club, give up reach when he's already committed to band and other kinds of reach activities so that he can do basically an independent study. And I know that there's a lot of details being worked out about what the bridge means and what concepts need to be integrated. But if this is truly about bringing all students up to a level and giving more students the opportunity to connect to algebra 1, then I would be interested in knowing how can those bridge concepts be integrated into seventh grade

081math so that everyone is exposed to all of those concepts because if this is a thinking classroom, I don't know the term you use, but if this really is a heterogenous level kind of approach, it seems like that could be accommodated in the classroom and that's it. Thank you. >> J Miller, 203 Street. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm going into 10th grade at Newington High School and I was able to participate in the accelerated math program in grades 6th, 7th, and 8th. and I appreciated the opportunity to be in a class where I felt challenged and it greatly improved my middle school experience and set me up to succeed in math to this day. I hate to think that this opportunity will not be afforded to upcoming students as it helped

082me get ahead in my academic endeavors and has taught me a good work ethic. Where in most classes I did not feel challenged and was bored, I was able to look forward to being excited for math and being challenged in that class. The class also helped me discover my passion for mathematics and problem solving. I respectfully request that the board reconsiders its decision to eliminate the accelerated math option for middle schoolers. Thank you for your time and consideration. I'm Rachel Ruo. I live at 24 Miles Avenue. [clears throat] Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I would like to share why I oppose the elimination of 7th grade accelerated math. Accommodation for accelerated and gifted students is sorely lacking in Newington public schools. And when I use the term accelerated, I just

083mean kids who are operating above the typical grade level. So kids who are way ahead of the game. And that starts pretty early on for a lot of kids. In K through 8, math is the only subject where we have a district-wide program to accommodate accelerated students. That program has been reduced from 3 years to one year. Come this fall, the only programming we will have in place for K through8 accelerated students or students operating above grade level is one subject for one year. What a dismal offering for our brightest and most academically talented students. When [snorts] we look at student performance data, the instinct is often to focus on those who are struggling. And of course, they deserve support. We might say that the students with the lowest test scores are our highest priority

084students. I would ask you to take a moment to reconsider and shift that perspective. Lowcoring students are not our priority students because priority students should not exist in Newington. All of our students academic needs matter equally. An accelerated students need for accommodation matters just as much as an underperforming students needs. Every student deserves to be challenged and supported, no matter where they fall on the academic spectrum. My daughter is no math prodigy, but she thrived this past year in seventh grade accelerated math. Due to Mr. Bruno's excellent teaching, she and others who took his course finished their seventh grade year with LL scores of over 10,000, the equivalent of 10th grade. I don't believe that same kind of progress is realistic in a heterogeneous classroom, no matter how skilled the teacher is. Differentiation has its

085limits. Some might ask, why is it necessary for a seventh grader to reach 10th grade math level and beyond? Why can't they just wait and achieve that level later on with the rest of their peers? Our accelerated students have been waiting for their peers to catch up since kindergarten. It isn't fair to ask them to wait yet another year. Newington public schools should take pride in supporting all learners. That means preserving programs that help kids stretch, grow, and thrive at the level that's right for them. [clears throat] We should be adding to our programming for accelerated students, not removing it. Thank you. Hello, my name is Declan Keller and I reside at 31 Genie Lane. >> I'm sorry the time. Yes, please. >> Okay. So, I was going to give my whole speech, but we

086didn't know about the change that other people weren't going to be able to yield their time. >> So, my son is going to read half of my speech and then I will read the other half. and I have copies to hand out to you guys of major points. Okay, go ahead, Declan. >> Good evening and thank you to the board of education for calling this special meeting and giving us a chance to revisit the this very important issue. My mom has provided you each a copy of the main points that I and her will be discussing tonight. As I stated in my in my mo as she stated in her last speech before the board of ed, she is the mother of two boys that have been in the Newington public school system since they

087were in kindergarten and is a and she went through the system herself. My mom professionally is a special education teacher and a board certified behavior analyst. She is deeply passionate. She and me are deeply passionate about education and I and and we are not here tonight to advoc advocate for an incoming seventh grader. We are here because we deeply care about what is best for Newington public schools and most importantly all of our students. >> I still we still have serious concerns about the elimination of seventh grade accelerated math even after Dr. Dr. Brumit's response to the presentate response in the presentation tonight. While we can't speak for every parent, in many conversations that my mother has engaged in, most most families seemed relatively accepting of the removal of sixth gradings of accelerated math. Although

088the change the change lacked specific transparency significant. >> Okay. >> I [clears throat] just asked >> the real concern the real concern is the proposed elimination of the seventh grade accelerated math. Yet the district's justification is largely focused on sixth grade data missing the core of our of the issue. Also I also must question the reliance on the smarter balance scores to justify these decisions. For years, parents have been told not to worry about those scores that they're only just one data point influenced by sleep, anxiety, or an off day. The district has always emphasized important on ongoing in-class assignments. So, why are these same smarter balance scores now being used to justify the removal of opportunities for acceleration? Even more troubling, these scores are are not used to initiate intervention. My younger son >>

089[laughter] >> My my brother scored a two nearly one on his third grade ELA assignment and no intervention was provided. He also had not met end of year reading benchmarks for two consecutive years yet. No specific researchbased intervention process was initiated as SRBI >> but I don't also known as SRBI. No conversation ever occurred. So I have to ask if SRBI is functioning as claimed why do so many struggling students fall through the cracks. Now we are introducing bridge to aure pro program that replaces the burden on that places an additional burden on students either outside of the school day or during their reach time. This creates a serious equality concerns equity. >> Let's [snorts] keep going. Lord >> students involved in band, orchestra, chorus, and other extracurriculars, or those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may

090not have the flexibility or res resources to participate. Even highly capable students may opt out simply because of the extra workload. This does not this doesn't expand access. It reduces it. >> In a response, Dr. Bromett wrote, "Historically, the opportunity gap is the widest in mathematics, particularly for black and Hispanic students. I agree that this gap is real and must be addressed, but the Smarter Balance data shows that the gap already exists by fifth grade, which means that any meaningful intervention must begin at the elementary level. Postponing access to accelerated math in middle school doesn't promote equity, it hinders it. Newington also receives open choice funding for enrolled students from Har for enrolling students from Harford. Yet there is no requirement that this funding be used to support those students academically. >> So I you're

091over. >> Thank you Declan. He just came from football so hence his outset. >> Laura Keller 31 Cheni Lane. Um yet there's no requirement that this funding be used to support those students academically. So, I ask how much of that funding is going towards math and ELA interventions for underperforming or choice students. If we're going to talk about equity, we need to have transparency as well. There are also concerns about the decision-making process itself. While middle school and high school algebra teachers were invited to serve on the math committee, the identified time excluded many due to scheduling conflicts. According to an anonymous staff survey that I conducted, all eligible respondents said they were unable to participate because of the time of the meeting. So, I must ask, how representative was this committee? The same survey

092showed the majority of respondents did not believe that eliminating accelerated math was a well-ressearched or datadriven decision, did not believe that heterogeneous groups served most middle school students well, and did not believe this was the right decision for Newington public schools. Unfortunately, you haven't heard from those educators because they are afraid to speak out, afraid to attend board of ed meetings or share their opinions. Instead, the voices you've heard and you may hear again tonight are a few Newington educators who support the changes and have spoken out as parents without disclosing their dual roles at the middle school. One parent educator even made some troubling and unfounding accusations against other parents on social media today. It's deeply concerning that some educators feel strongly against eliminating accelerated math, yet they feel they have no safe way

093to express their views. In summary, Smarter Balance scores are inconsistently applied and should not drive a major policy shift. The Bridge to Algebra program is likely to limit access, not broaden it. The anonymous staff survey indicates a clear lack of support among the very educators who teach these students. There is a lack of transparency regarding how open choice funding is used to support those it was designed to benefit. How is it not going to cost the district more money when teachers will be providing afterchool support and teaching during the summer? In addition to the need to provide transportation to some students and most importantly there is no identified plan to improve diversity and accelerated math which was one of the main goals I was told by Miss Freeman and Miss Kellogg was the goal of

094this initiative. We want to be part of the solution. Here are some ideas we respectfully ask the district and the board of ed to consider. One, continue with the current seventh and eighth grade accelerated math model for the upcoming year to avoid abrupt disruption. Two, begin a systematic review of academic performance in elementary school to identify gaps in early intervention needs. Three, explore models from nearby districts like Rocky Hill, which uses a broader set of data points and criteria. Students must meet seven out of 10 criteria to be identified for acceleration. Four, offer Apex or other online courses as a flexible way for students to join eighth grade algebra if they move into the district in 8th grade and they haven't participated in seventh grade. This allows a few students to join accelerated pathways even

095if they did not participate in the first part of it. Five, pilot the bridge to the algebra program with a small voluntary group after it's been fully developed and reviewed. Six, consider implementing a pre-alggebra course in seventh grade, followed by an algebra 1 course in eighth grade, providing a more natural acceleration path. We want a plan that truly supports all learners, not by delaying opportunity, but by building strong, equitable pathways to access it. Thank you again for your time and commitment to this issue. Jamie Pick in 148 Winslow Drive. I'm a math educator at John Wallace Middle School. I did not receive the anonymous survey that was sent so I couldn't fill it out. Um, I truly appreciate the opinions. I'm I'm I'm a teacher. I'm a math teacher. Um, I truly appreciate hearing everyone's

096comments tonight and I I'm actually intrigued by some of the solutions that you had just me mentioned. I'm also very willing to meet with anyone and have conversations. I guess the part that really bothers me is comments like dumbing down the curriculum. We don't do that. Comments like um are ex So we're calling students accelerated yet we're saying they can't complete algebra 1 in 8th grade. If they are accelerated meaning performing above grade level then why do they need algebra dragged out over two years? Why is taking it as an eighth grader considered negative? That's where I'm confused because I'm trying to listen to everyone's voices because I do want to find a solution. I'm a teacher in this district. I'm a math educator of 20 plus years. I love our students. All of our

097students, the ones who struggle and can't sit in their seats to save their lives, the ones who come in with their hands folded, ready and eager to learn, and every student in between. And I know that the parents whose children I have worked with, I know that they would communicate that about me as an educator, I know that they would say, "She is allin for doing whatever needs to be done for every child, whether they are a struggling level one or they're at the top level four. I guess what's really bothering me is I don't understand why removing 1A from seventh grade and just having algebra 1 be an eighth grade course. I don't understand why that's considered such a negative. That's the part that's really bothering me. We're not taking anything away from our

098students who are considered accelerated learners. We're actually saying, hey, you don't need this course to be dragged out over two years because you have the capability in the understanding to take the course as intended. Algebra 1, 8th grade like that. That that's it. That's the part that I just don't understand. I don't understand why removing one A in seventh grade is considered a negative. And I am more than happy because I'm on Facebook, you're on Facebook. Message me, please privately message me though because I'm not doing this social media let's badmouth each other and tear each other down. That's not how I work. But I would love to have these challenging conversations with every single parent in this room because I do want you to explain and and help me understand where the negativity is

099of having our students take algebra 1 as the course is intended to be taught. That's that's my mind block and that's why I showed up tonight because I need help with understanding that part. Miss Kellogg also has not shut down any type of acceleration for future consideration. This is step one. You have to start somewhere. This is where we're starting. And with each passing year, it's going to be okay. Let's review. Let's examine. Let's see what we need to change. Let's take parent input. But we have to start somewhere. And no group of parents is ever going to want their child's year to be the year we start. So when do we begin then? Thank you. >> Nicole Fine uh 125 stage coach Lane. I'm actually not going to read what I wrote and I

100want an opportunity to respond to that. I don't care if accelerated math and algebra goes into just eighth grade. I want an opportunity for accelerated students in seventh grade. Give them pre-alggebra. give them a similar course to other students and just accelerate them. Give them an opportunity to work harder and be with a cohort that is also working harder. So my child isn't made fun of because she flew through math and the kids in her group are laughing at her and make she comes home from school upset because they were making fun of her because she's so good at math. Are you autistic cuz you're good at math? No, I don't care. My issue with this program is that you did not include parents. You did not I don't think you thought outside the box.

101who said, "Let's just eliminate seventh grade and push algebra into eighth grade. Let's think about other options on the table. Let's think about a different accelerated math program in seventh grade that still gives these students an opportunity." I again, similar to Laura, fully support getting rid of sixth grade. I think it is too early to identify and accelerate students. They are still learning. You're identifying at a fifth grade level, which is not appropriate. Those are not necessarily teachers that are teaching um middle school level math, right? Because it is truly an elementary. So, I'm okay with that. I think we need to do more research here. I want I don't want my child to be a guinea pig uh for a program that is not fully thought through and fully supported by the district, which

102this is clearly not. Um some additional points that I did have in my notes. one of the a couple of the districts in DUI A that were highlighted in the FAQ um that both revised their accelerated math. Um Dur A Ridge Rididgefield and Wilton based on review of their online curriculums, they got rid of sixth grade accelerated, kept seventh and eighth grade accelerated with pathways and options for students to move both into and out of accelerated math into eighth grade. Let's talk to them. Let's find out what they're doing. How are they accelerating seventh grade students and still getting eighth grade? These are options. They're in a DR that's higher than us. let's strive to achieve something similar to them instead of just saying let's take it away. There's very few schools in Durgd D

103or above that only offer accelerated math. Why are we moving away from that? Um and finally, while I appreciate the additional clarity that was given on bridge to algebra provided since last meeting, I still truly believe this program has misguided and not aligned to the stated goal of increasing equity to access accelerated math. This will deter students who are gifted but perhaps not motivated, students who are heavily involved in extracurriculars both at school and outside of school, and students who lack a strong support system in the home to complete. Build those subjects into a seventh grade accelerated math for students during the school day. Let's step back and think harder and come up with something that you can get full district support on and full parent support on. I think there is a middle ground

104here and I think you missed that and I think part of the challenge with that was the lack of clear communication and upfront communication with parents. You dropped this on us pretty late in the year. Didn't give us an opportunity to really appine or give our opinions until a BOE meeting in June. Um and now you're dropping it on our seventh graders. So I think we all need to work collectively um to come up with something that is better than the current pathway. >> Thank you. Hello, my name is Brody Ross. I live at 222 Reservoir Road. I have a question for the board. How will removing the accelerated math program benefit me when I want to be challenged? Also, how will this not encourage others in group projects to rely on me to do

105most of the work? I look forward to your responses. Thank you. >> My name is Bennett Caren. I'm a rising seventh grader who attended Wallace and will be attending the biomed academy at Kellogg in the fall. I live at 32 stage coach Lane. Good evening members of the board of education and parents. Math has always been my favorite subject of the four core classes. Going into middle school, I was excited to have the opportunity in sixth grade to begin taking accelerated math. I had heard all about it from older kids on both my baseball and hockey teams. I was very disappointed when that was not an option for my sixth grade year, but was very hopeful and excited to take it in seventh. During sixth grade, I felt unchallenged by the work that was given

106in class. When I would finish my papers, I would have to help others around me or work on. This was frustrating. I was bored doing this day after day. At my March conference, my mom asked my teacher about accelerated math placements. and that is when she learned that it was not going to happen for my seventh grade year. This left me defeated and upset. I ask that you keep Accelerated Math available for students and not decide to put everyone together in one class. Thank you. >> I'm so proud of our kids. I have to say I'm so proud of our boys. Um, Alyssa Ross at 222 Reservoir Road. Um, so frustrating to feel like I have to be here to defend my kid. I feel I'll put it this way and explaining to him what

107this meeting was about and letting him hear from you guys directly. He has told me countless times that he's come home from class and he's felt in group settings, as he mentioned, that he's relied on and that he's bored and that it's frustrating for him. So, that is to me more than any other reason why I'm frustrated, why he cannot be challenged next year. This one hits so close to him to home. And to feel like it's a diversity issue is even more frustrating because this is again, how many times have we all heard it? Equity is not about the color of our skin. It's about what each child needs and what they specifically need. Someone else said it perfectly. Um the ones that are struggling, let's bring them up. Let's get more teachers. Let's

108get more reinforcements for those people that are struggling rather than removing an accelerated math program for those that are thriving. That's more than anything why I'm here today and I hope that the board can reconsider. I know that there was someone that had mentioned and looked into um you know state guidance whatever statutes I appreciate that that have directly called out what you all have said that said that you know we don't you know this the state is in support of this. I mean guys what are we doing here? What are we doing here? How are we not listening to the voices of our town, of our people here that matter? This is so incredibly important and our children matter. So, I I mean, I don't I had something prepared, but I mean, seeing our

109kids do this, I just I'm so grateful and proud of our of our town, and I just hope that we can continue on where we're going. So, thank you. >> Chloe Hadstrom, 31. Dear Path, I'm an upcoming freshman at Newington High School and I just finished my middle school education at John Wallace Middle School. Through middle school, I pushed myself through academics and if it wasn't for the accelerated math program that I started in sixth grade, I don't think I would be at the level I am now. I graduated middle school with the highest GPA in my whole grade and ended the year with five awards that I received at graduation. Like I said, I was awarded valadictorian of eighth grade and John Wallace, but also awarded by Miss Freeman the highest GPA in algebra.

110Now, I'm very proud of myself for achieving those awards, but I don't think I could have done it without the accelerated math program. This program taught me to have a strong work ethic, time management, and goal making because I was challenged by my teachers. I can now say I feel prepared for high school because of what the high level education has taught me throughout my middle school years. And I feel hurt that younger students, including my brother, won't be able to feel the same way I do. This opportunity was extremely beneficial for me and for my other classmates. Like I said, I have a younger brother who is entering sixth grade at John Wallace Middle School, and I know for a fact that he would thrive in the accelerated math program next year. I remember

111him clearly telling me after getting off the bus multiple times, that his day was easy, especially in math, and that he had to do all the work for some of the kids in his class who don't give effort because they rely on him. If he is in the accelerated program, he will be able to be challenged next year. And the other kids who don't give effort because they rely on him will be able to understand their math level better because they don't have someone to do all their work. And I know other kids in his class are experiencing this to. He is similar to me and pushes himself to his best ability in anything he does, especially academics. But without the program, he and his other classmates entering sixth grade will be robbed of this

112opportunity that has helped all of my friends and I succeed in algebra. Not only will this make it unfair for upcoming sixth graders who are at the accelerate level, but it will also keep them from becoming their best selves. And I don't know about you, but I would love to see younger kids achieve goals in math that they didn't know they could. I know many people have told me I have a bright future, but I couldn't have done it without that program. I'm now taking honors geometry in my freshman year of high school and I was positive that my brother would be able to do the same. But now that he is potentially missing this opportunity, he and many others will struggle more not only in high school or college but even after their education.

113My best friend started in grade level math in sixth grade but was brought up to accelerated program in middle school and she did great. She is now entering freshman year of high school with me and is taking honors geometry. And she has told me how she wouldn't have made it as far in her education if she wasn't brought up in sixth grade to the accelerated program. What you're doing is taking away that opportunity of growth for students who perform at a higher level and keeping them back to a level that doesn't challenge them. I want the best for my brother and as someone who went through this program throughout middle school, I know it is the best for their upcoming freshman. I know I know it is the best for upcoming sixth grade sixth graders

114and their bright futures in Newington public schools. I'm very grateful for my education. I know that younger children deserve ability to be challenged in their education so they could be set up for success not fail failure. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on this topic. My name is Skyler Miller. I live at 203 Tmont Street. One thing that I was doing in my class at the beginning of my sixth grade year, I am now going into seventh grade. What I would do is after I would finish my work, I would literally go turn around my seat and teach a small group of kids almost every single day math that we were learning because they didn't understand it. And so I would go and help them. Mind you, this was almost every day. And then

115when we went to group work, I would have to be doing all the work, the the other kids in the group would be fooling around doing absolutely nothing. Then I would be the one having to do all the work. And I know that when I went into seventh grade accelerated math, I really benefited from it cuz I was actually being challenged in that class. cuz in my sixth grade class, I would get the highest score possible on the test on every single test. So, I know that when I went into seventh grade math, I was actually being challenged and I wasn't getting a four on my test. I was getting threes and 3.5s because I was actually being challenged by the math that was given to me and not the easy math in sixth grade.

116I just want to thank you for this opportunity to speak and please reconsider your decision. Lauren Miller, 203 Tmont Street. I guess both my kids were brave and got up here, so I definitely need to say something. Um, so my youngest guy who just spoke, she was going into sixth grade last year and seventh this year, and she was tracked for the accelerated math program, and I didn't find out she wasn't in accelerated math until I went to open house because I guess a letter was distributed. I checked back through all my parents squares. I never saw anything. I went up to the math teacher in open house and asked, "Is this grade level or accelerated?" Because both my other two kids have been in accelerated math and she said, "It's been eliminated." So, that

117was my first kind of introduction to this program not being an opportunity for my child anymore. Um, Sky, I mean, put herself out there. I wasn't going to put her name out there, but was able to rise up to seventh grade math this year and she did amazing and she'll be going to the next to eighth grade math in seventh grade this coming year. Um, but I feel like her experience, which is many kids experiences that are really doing well in the class, is the group work thing is supposed to help everybody out, but it it ends up just having some kids not do much and then other kids doing all of the work. And every day her coming home and telling me, "I finished my stuff and I did all the work." and they

118give the marker to the the group and they all pass it to me and I do all the work for all of them. As she just stated, that's discouraging to our kids. Like they're not teachers. They're there to try to get themselves better, not to teach all these other kids. And I feel like eliminating this option, while my kid is I love where she is and I'm very grateful for that opportunity. There's many other kids that didn't get that option that absolutely should have. And that's why I'm here to speak. Not because my kid is not where they want to be, but because she tells me about all these amazing kids that should be in the program and that are doing amazing, but they're not even giving that that platform to be able to get

119to the next level because again, in my opinion, they're not being challenged like they could. And again, I'm really proud of them, both my kids, for coming up here and speaking. And thank you for your time. Christine Hedstrom, 31, Dear Path. Um, I am here to talk after my daughter, and I'm very proud of what she said. She stole all of the words that I had in my speech. Um, but I'm here obviously not to support the restructuring. I'm hearing that it's called restructuring of the math program in the middle schools. Um, she was referencing my son who is going to be going into sixth grade. And I just wanted to I just wanted to address some of the topics that were brought up in the presentation. Um I understand where you were saying, Miss

120Freeman, about pulling you're pulling on heartstrings to see and say if somebody is told that they're not part of an accelerated math program, how do they feel? My daughter has many friends and they are still friends that aren't in the accelerated math program and they're doing fine. I had talked at the last meeting about how what about the kids who are not in accelerated programs but are put together with accelerated and advanced math kids. Um they're in the same grade. So this is like a fifth grade example. I brought this up the last time where they may be embarrassed because they don't know and we've been hearing this theme right now that the accelerated students may be turning around teaching the other kids. My son has admitted the same thing like my daughter said. So,

121we're relying on them to teach. How does that child feel the one who needed to be taught because they're not keeping up with everybody in the classroom? Um, Miss Pitkin, I know the last time that we were here together at the meeting, I had said something about, well, we do understand how the level is of our children that are testing in the ESPAS in fifth grade. and you had made a side comment saying that it doesn't matter, but then all of the information that's presented today talks about the SBA scores. So, I I want to understand a little bit more about that. Um, and then finally, as far as not understanding why we don't understand why we can't consolidate and put it into the eighth grade uh for algebra, it's because it's a little too

122late. You talk about the bursts that take place in seventh grade, but what about the children who had the bursts earlier, so we're not giving that opportunity. What happens to them? They just have to wait until they get the advanced learning later on. It just doesn't seem fair. So, I just want to say I hope that it's reconsidered and that we are thinking about um the those who are coming into the the grade levels and then having the same experience that my daughter did and will in high school. Thank you. All right. Um, Martha Carsten. I live at 32 Stage Coach Lane. Um, I'm so proud of the kids that have spoken tonight. It's so brave. Good evening, members of the board of education and parents. Thank you for holding this meeting so we can

123revisit this very important issue. Um, I have more concerns after reading Dr. Brumit's response to our concerns regarding dissolving the accelerated math for seventh graders beginning this fall um in regards to the tier one instruction that was dis discussed um when the tier one instruction is not being effective at closing gaps. Why would this be different to close gaps? Um this is going to cause greater gaps in the kids who are on the lower end of the learning spectrum as there currently is not co-eing available to them. Um I've been a special ed teacher for 25 plus years and um I learned from a friend of mine who has a special education student at at Wallace that that they were considering starting co-eing and I was like what I have done that all 25 years

124I've been teaching. So that is something to consider here and then further create apathy in the kids on the opposite end as extension is not provided beyond for that group. After watching my son in reading intervention this past year and the lack of meaningful assessments for literacy that he was given as a sixth grader then never given a followup to determine effectiveness. I can't imagine that the math tiers are any more effective. Trying to fix this in middle school seems like a little bit too late situation. Um the focus fixing this problem really needs to happen long before 7th grade. The bridge to algebra offered during reach competes with other obligations that students may have during that time. For instance, kids that participate in music, band, chorus, or both like my son does. Um he's

125also an uh a student in the academy and he participates in um travel baseball. He participates in travel hockey. We are very busy and to have to then do a 24-hour commitment is going to be very difficult to achieve. Um that is a ton of time taken away from the reach period that was developed for other reasons. Also, this on your own methodology flies in the face of students with executive function disorders. This will not be achievable without a very significant amount of support from families and/or teachers. To this point, Newington Public Schools has not done much to support the executive functions and teach kids how to break down tasks, etc. They have been spoonfed homework and due dates and have there really has been zero expectation on how to figure these out. These are

126important life skills that they will need for life and to complete this bridge to algebra. I appreciate that the district finally took a look at DUI data. Um, however, it was not quite apples and apples. It was apples and oranges. It was not looking at the same thing. Um, sorry, I have to cut some of this. Um, I tried to find the school improvement plan on the website. The last one posted is from 2223. Once again, there is a lack of transparency and communication because I was looking for SBA scores. I don't feel in any way that this is positive for students. Bullying teachers into submission is not okay. That is how you lose wonderful humans and educators. Teachers should be allowed to speak freely even if it is different from your opinion as the

127administration. and silencing them only hurts the overall school and district climate and their effectiveness as teachers. The post that went up on um Facebook today that quote said that the parents that were against this said that 10 spoke out about 10 to 13year-old students in a degrading manner. This is a quote and bash and targeted teachers is false and untrue. >> So please consider >> one of the options or If there's anyone online that would like to speak, you're welcome to raise your hand as well. Sorry, I didn't mention that earlier. Not sure how I do that. >> Oh. Um, I'll just have you next. There's someone at the head of the table. You can go next. >> Okay. My name is Jason Hip, 54 Woodmir Road, obviously in Newington. Um, it's I guess uh

128it sounds like uh No Kid Left Behind, but only uh retold in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Um, I ended up uh looking over the notes and the committee ended up uh quoting um Joe Bowler and Staples and I guess their recommendations for going forward with this. Um just a quick Google search online I you know I kind of feel like this is kind of an experiment on the Newington school system where I you know even a quick Google search you can't really find the empirical data supporting what Joe Bolar and Staples ended up saying. I'm not finding a lot of data uh corroborating the presentation of uh their thought process of implementing this. Um whenever it comes to the graphs, it it looked like um Miss Freeman ended up saying uh it

129was a bar graphs with blue and orange uh showing the year-over-year change for I guess fifth and sixth graders. Um she ended up stating that it was a carveout of the uh of the entire population. It's not it's like a subset, but I if it's if this is going to homogenize the group, it that should actually be looked at as a whole group in its entirety and universe rather than just a subset. So, that graph kind of didn't make any uh sense to me. Um, and [clears throat] if you guys are going to go and get rid of the um uh the the math class, advanced math class, I'd kind of question where are you going to redistribute the resources uh for that uh in the school system? Where are you going to shift the

130funding? And I think that you know there's probably a lot of other options with which with Miss uh Fenton ended up bringing up that should also be taken a look at. you know, stepping back and taking a look at the numbers on the board on a strategic basis. You know, the the Democrats have a majority here. So, I'm kind of curious to see how the vote ends up going tonight, but, you know, if if [snorts] uh if people don't like how things are going, you know, there is an election coming up in November and uh you know, maybe the population here can really think about how that's going to go in November. Thanks, Mr. Paul, you can go ahead. >> Sure. Jeff Paul, 224 Sterling Drive. Um, so the in the prior meeting, um, I

131had asked about everybody's term on the board and when it was up. And I I I I'll ask again and hopefully I'll get a response. Um, I would like to know everyone's name on the board and when their terms are up [snorts] cuz based on what that I'm feeling exactly what that gentleman prior to me speaking just said. We need to if you're if this is how it's going to be, you just all need to be voted out at this point. So maybe we need to pull together a coalition to do so. Secondly, um the woman who spoke at the end um regarding she made a comment and she said, "How do you know kids are even going to like math in junior year? So why is this so important to everybody?" I would respond

132by saying, "Why do we have special science schools? Why are there magnet schools? Why are there other schools for other subjects? What if they don't like science in junior year?" So we could take that attitude with every single subject that is in class today. If we don't know if they're going to like it, it's irrelevant if they like it. They should be able to be afforded the opportunity to try. That that is the whole point of this. Taking [clears throat] something away from kids that have earned the right to do so on based on equity and people feeling bad. Then let's get rid of all of it. Get rid of honors classes. What if my kids aren't validictorian and they feel bad about it or saludiatoran and they feel bad that they're not? Are we

133going to get rid of that too? So the kids that have worked their entire high school life to be validictorian now. Can we take that away from them? Can we take honors classes away? What else can we take away from kids so everybody feels good? I I would imagine that most of you would know that sometimes life doesn't feel good and somehow we all get through it and using an excuse because the kids aren't going to feel good is insufficient at best. It's insufficient. I said what I had to say last week. which I would hope and and frankly that high school graduate that came the last time, the last board of ed meeting and looked at everybody and said, "Do yourself a favor and go to private school because they got a really bad

134education at Newington." I spoke to that that young man after the meeting and he said, "I think you'd be surprised at how many students feel exactly the way I do. Are you going to look into, forget math, are you going to look into the fizzed teachers that are saying just take a nap during your during your fizzed class, don't worry about it. Is anyone going to look into the claims that that young man made about most of his subjects being terrible, especially math. So, I will end there. Thank you for your time. And I I don't know if there's a whole lot to reconsider here, but I think enough people have spoken where you get a general idea of what probably the majority of this town feels like. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is

135there anybody else online or in the room? No, seeing none. Okay, we will move on to further board discussion. Um, I'll just I'll just start by saying that um it's it's really um offending that people think that we don't care about students and and we're trying to take something away from them. Um, again, I I'll reiterate too that the board does not vote on um curriculum changes. We are here because we the board does have concerns which I will I will bring up and I'll ask in a minute, but um after other people get a chance to speak, but it's just really upsetting. Um just for the record, there's an election in November. All of us are up for reelection. Um well, most of us are up for re re-election. Two members are three me

136two members are not. Um, so our terms are all up in November and and we will do everything. Everyone running again, sitting around the table will do everything for your vote. Um, or we'll talk to you for your vote. Um, but I really take this job seriously, this unpaid volunteer job very seriously. So, it's a little it's a little hard to just be sitting here and having people say that we don't care. So, I'll leave it at that for now. But, um, Miss Yap, you have your hand raised. You're on mute. >> Can we unmute her? >> Hello. >> Hi. Go ahead, Miss Okay. This is Anastasia App and I'm just speaking. And I want to thank everybody who came from public participation and I really do appreciate um you know everything that you're saying

137and as a board member who's been on the board for almost four years now. Um I just want to say thank you. I mean there's so many people that came out and I definitely understand you know it's late. You took your time so I appreciate all your concerns. Um, one thing I do want to address, which I tried to address earlier, um, with a point of order, [gasps] um, was I I really think that when the public comes, and this is me as a board member, I do not think they should be interrupted. I understand there are rules and we shouldn't have personal names, but I just feel that we should allow all members of the public who voted us in, including myself, two terms, to speak. So, as a board member, I'm going to

138say I apologize because I did not agree with that. Uh, Miss Dro was a member on the board before with me and I don't think we should have interrupted her because we didn't agree with what she said. We're not going to agree with everything everyone says and that's okay, but we shouldn't interrupt the public be as board members cuz they are why we are here. So, I do see where a lot of the members of the public are coming from saying it's reelection. Okay? Some of us are running, some of us are not. We'll all see in November who runs, but let's just at least allow the members of the public who put us in the place in our volunteer job, but they still put us in this job and be respectful enough to them

139to allow them to speak. That's one thing I want to say. Another thing, after listening to this and thinking about, you know, some of the comments and accelerated math, I was a student who was in accelerated math as a child. Okay, so I do agree that this is something that should stay. Um, do I think that we could maybe, you know, think a little bit harder, figure this out? Yes. And I also do think that the board should vote on it. Um, it is in the state statute. I did look it up myself. Um, [snorts] there is a curriculum committee. I am not a member of it now, but I was before and we've always voted. I don't know if this is something different, but I do think we should just revisit this a little

140bit. you know, take some time and maybe take everyone's uh public participation into consideration and then present something back and make sure it's in parent square or whatever you're going to use and email and make sure everyone has opportunity. That is something I listen to and I heard I heard multiple people say they didn't get it whether it's in spam or it didn't go in your parents square. I do want to make sure that everyone gets it and maybe we can get some more feedback and we should revisit the topic. I don't think we should just cut it. Thank you. >> Thank you. And just uh >> just uh just a clarification um the curriculum committee has never voted on a curriculum change um such as this and it is in our bylaws that we

141advise curriculum changes and review and ask questions. Um but it is not in our bylaws that we vote on it. Um and then I do just want to make a a comment since the last board meeting it was mentioned that transparency was an issue and that not everybody had received the memo. So um we have since um distributed more broadly than it than it had been previously it was only distributed to seventh and eighth graders and now everyone in the middle schools um received the communication. So everyone affected and future will be affected has been has received the communication. Um Miss Carr, >> thank you to everyone for coming out. Um first to the parents who shared their concerns tonight, we do hear you. Your voices underscore how deeply our community values strong math instruction

142and equitable access to advanced course walk work. I also agree that our district needs to improve math outcomes. Back in 2023, the Newington Life asked candidates to name our biggest academic challenges and I had pointed out to mathematics our proficiency data made it clear we had to do better. Where I differ from the current proposal is how we achieve that goal. So page seven of the National School Boards Association guide becoming a better board member reminds us that the superintendent recommends the scope and nature of district programs but the board may accept modify or reject those recommendations. So tonight I'm offering two modifications which both keep accelerated math. The first rigorous transparent placement. So under our current board policy 6172.1, any student seeking accelerated math should undergo a PPT review. So a datadriven PPT process

143rather than a single teacher recommendation or parental request will ensure that acceleration truly matches each learner's readiness and prevents students from being misplaced. second option. So, two concerns that fueled the shift away from the traditional accelerated track which was in the paper a few weeks ago. One was students who accelerate early sometimes stop taking math all four years and that accelerated students may miss critical foundational skills. So, my proposal increase the math graduation requirement to 3.5 or four credits. So this keeps every student accelerated or not engaged in math for all four years of high school and aligns with STEM focused college expectations. The second so similar to how with this new proposal we're talking about a bridge to algebra 1 create a fundamentals bridge program. So this course will reinforce any key concepts that

144accelerated students might skip safeguarding mastery before they advance. So these adjustments preserve high expectations, expand opportunity, and protect academic rigor without dismantling options for our most capable math learners. So I respectfully ask the board to consider these modifications. >> Thanks, Courtney. >> Um I just I just I just asked to in order to move the meeting along, um I I would just ask not to have a pause and like let the board have a discussion just so we can keep it moving. the public will have an opportunity to speak again um where you can tell us the the pieces of um the meeting that you agree with. It's just a little distracting. Miss Petus, >> um very quickly, I'd like to take an opportunity to thank all the parents and especially the students that have

145carved out um some time your evening, but also your summer. Um I certainly appreciate and recognize how important this is issue is to everybody involved and I want to thank you for your time. I have uh just a couple of quick questions. Um I do want to uh ask a quick question to clarify some of the finer points of the bridge program. Um my question is where do we stand with the curriculum and the implementation timeline? That was a question that was brought up previously. >> Yep. It's currently being worked on and nearly finished at this point. Okay. Um, can you just since we're on that, can you just elaborate what because last time we talked about potentially having um there was concerns about it being over the summer, concerns about it being an independent

146study. Um can you just elaborate? Is there an a chance or an opportunity for students to um what it is like just high level and then um what opportunity students might have who can't participate in this in the in after school because they have other activities or over the summer because they don't have support at home, whatever the case may be. Um what are the options for the bridge program? And then does everyone have to take that bridge program? Um I'm going to ask that Miss Freeman speaks to the component around whether students have to just to reference policy. Um in short, the the bridge program addresses core grade 8 standards that again are not necessary for algebra 1, but we want to ensure that students have um engaged in those standards before entering high

147school and seeing those standards again. They are only standards that they would see again. So nothing is would be lost if a student um didn't participate. Um right now as as the plan is laid out, it does include an assessment that students can opt to take even prior to participating. Um, and based on that initial assessment, depending on how a student scores may not need to participate in the bridge because they may have some skills coming in or they may have some exposure to content um that that already deems them ready or showing enough proficiency in those standards to say you're you're not needing to participate in the full uh bridge program. The first opportunity really runs from March through June. Um and that is an opportunity uh to undertake it either independently with the

148support of a teacher or both in combination. It really will depend on the student and their needs. Um I would venture to say that students there will be many students that probably will breeze through independently and some that may want to check in with a teacher or may want additional support and that can be accessed either during the school day as we talked about during reach. Um a component of reach is enrichment. So that is an appropriate time as well. Um or after school where the program will be built in. Um I I believe we have it as twice weekly throughout that time to access a teacher both at school and also virtually. Um so that is the prime first push that we're looking for students to participate in and then beyond that um there's

149the opportunity during the twoe second push in the summer and then towards the end of the summer. But we're really hoping not to have to lean into those two options. We're really looking to support students in doing this before the school year ends so that we have um full participation for those that have qualified. >> Um it is a policy of the Newington Board of Education that when students are placed in different levels that we have an open enrollment policy. So that means that a teacher can make a recommendation that a student should be uh placed in the college prep level but if the parent and student believe that the honors is more appropriate the child is placed in honors. So the same thing would happen with algebra. Um if a parent um and the

150student believe that they don't need the bridge program and they just want to go to algebra by policy we cannot say no they can go to it. Um, and keep in mind that the the bridge program is not about being successful in algebra. What we're trying to do is to make sure that we don't repeat one of the ongoing issues is that there are gaps later on when kids are in high school. That is sort of that um, you know, that gap that we're really trying to address. Again, as I said in the presentation, we just want to be really sure that we're doing right by all kids. And so now we have this additional offering for students. Yeah. >> Um, and just one more follow-up question. Um, if I heard correctly, um, that the

151the data, again, we can revisit the data of kids that participate in the accelerated math program, how many of them continue on to take the four full years of higher level high school math. And what I just want to make sure I heard that correctly, what that relationship um, looks like. >> Uh, it was, and again, this is based on our current seniors that just graduated. Um the 25% represents students that took at least one AP math class, 15% that took um AP calculus, 26% that took four credits of math in high school. >> So if I'm understanding correctly, then participation in accelerated math may or may not directly impact, you know, the uh participating in accelerated math doesn't guarantee a four-year advanced math outcome in high school. Correct. That they pull back a little

152bit. they could and we're seeing that they have. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chararma. [clears throat] >> Um, hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Hi. So, I want to thank um all the parents who came out. Um, your voices have been heard. I got a question for Marin for Miss Freeman. Um, can you just elaborate and share with everyone um in terms of this change? Was this something [snorts] that was um how were the parents informed? Like when and how were they informed? Because I heard some parents say that they did not know or you know was it maybe it was it was an email that went into spam. Uh can you just share with everyone like when and how uh were the parents informed? Is it okay if I speak to that?

153Um, so we were very cautious about when we shared all the specifics. So for the grade six students um this year that participated in grade six math, they were informed um the year before in in I believe June through Parent Square. Um the current students that are going now into seventh grade um were communicated with this past March. Um again through parents square when we finally made the decision around what the model was going to look like. Um the middle school leadership team was still sorting out what we wanted to go with once we decided on grade six. And so we wanted to be sure that until we had that decision made that we waited on communication to um what will be the current grade seven students and that communication started in March of this

154year. >> All right. And um thanks. Um next question is um can you just can you just clarify for the residents and for everyone um when you you know when you came up with this um change the new pathway um and then of course like you shared this with um I'm not on the I'm not on the curriculum committee but you did share this with the curriculum community uh with the curriculum um committee but also can you just clarify like um >> when you that you do not um that the committee does not actually vote on it and it is something that you share with that committee and you know so everyone knows like what's going on in terms of like how the subcommittee works. >> Let me start that. I will say that u

155the curriculum committee is a subcommittee of the board. They meet they discuss issues. This issue was first raised in the curriculum subcommittee and then what occurs in the curriculum subcommittee is reported to the full board. So the full board hears what the curriculum subcommittee discusses and that is true for our policy subcommittee and um our other subcommittees, facilities, finance. So that is a conduit. They do the more detailed conversation in the curriculum subcommittee and they do not vote. They send it along to the bigger board and the board certainly has every opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns, but there our board policy does not uh require a vote for curricular decisions. That's never happened. So, um you know, there's been some comments to the contrary. I will also add relative and related to that is

156um I did speak personally with Jen Mashallik at the state department of education math consultant and she is the one that shared with me the state and the state board of ed's position statement on that. So I relied because she's head of the math unit I relied on her expertise and she provided me with all that information. So unclear why there was contrary information there, but again that's what um is the progression. Kristen, would you like to add anything to that? >> Um the only thing that I would add about the curriculum committee is um I um I just don't want there to be a message that um curriculum leaders show up to the curriculum committee and just tell them what we're going to do. Um the curriculum committee asks extremely challenging questions. They sometimes

157give us a perspective that we haven't thought of and we're like, "Oh my goodness, thank you. We have to go back and think that." They're very thoughtful. They're very engaged. Um, so I I just don't I just don't want folks to leave with this picture that curriculum kid is about me or any other curriculum coordinator showing up and saying here this is what is next. It is a thoughtful discussion. It is a deep discussion. um we're challenged with perspectives that they bring. So, it helps our thinking and it informs our decision-m as well. >> Um and I just want to add on um >> um about the curriculum committee that um none of the board members on the curriculum committee are educators. None of the members of the board are educators. And um that might

158be might be negative, might be a positive. We don't like you know everyone has their own perspective and different perspectives but we do rely on the experts to um to lead and guide the the changes that are made in the district. So, we can challenge and and we um we take a lot of pride in in the fact that we challenge and and like Miss Freeman said, it's not just a here we're going to we're going to do this change that's going to impact a whole bunch of people and and it's just a rubber stamp because there is a lot of work that goes in. And I know that the the board meetings aren't very well attended. The subcommittee meetings are even less so. I don't think we really ever have public. maybe a couple

159times at the policy committee, but we don't normally get public participation or um or input into curriculum or into subcommittees, but they are all posted online and they are all available to the public and anyone is welcome to um join and and share at those meetings as well. Um but I just do want to just point out that what Miss Raymond said is is true. I did I'm not on the curriculum committee this year this term, but I served on it last term and the meetings lasted a few hours and we talked about the scores and we asked questions and we say, "Well, this score went down. Why did it go down? What are you thinking?" And and there's a lot of data that's being showed that we don't get that detail at the full

160board meetings um because there's no time because the curriculum committee really does do deep dive and the admin shares um shares everything that they're looking at at those meetings. So, I just wanted to put that out there. >> Mr. Newton. >> Oh, Sam, are you done? I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I just had just just had one just wanted to share something that, you know, something you touched on is that I'm the chair of the finance committee. Um, I just want to make sure, you know, residents know, taxpayers know that just because I'm the chair does not mean I can call a meeting and I can pass a budget. So you know the the reason why we have a subcommittee is in case Moren or some an admin needs some help on in terms of something

161that's connected to the finances that's when we call a meeting. Um and I think so that is something that should you know really be something I wanted to share so that it's so folks know what's going on. All right. So thank you so much. >> Thank you Mr. Newton. I am a member of the curriculum committee and I want to parrot what Amy said. I've only been to three of the meetings. We don't rubber stamp anything, but I'm not a professional people. I've got my degree. I've worked 30 years for the state, but I'm not the educator. It's different now. My kids, I hate to say it, I'm waiting for grandchildren. But I do believe the proposals of my colleague uh Miss Carr that I just believe the amount of people asking, the amount of

162people involved, the amount of questions that seemed unanswered. It seems like the way we the board of education takes the blame for that as well. The way it was rolled out, a lot of things fell through the gaps. And I I just think that the whole thing needs to be reconsidered. >> Mr. for Hollerin. >> First and foremost, I just want to thank everybody who came out and stayed today. I am on the curriculum committee as well. Um, and I don't want to kind of overly explain the purpose, but I think I'll just simplify it by saying we start with the data first. We look at results. We start with results. I'm a resultsoriented person. Effort's wonderful, but at the end of the day, the results would matter. And when we looked at the math

163results, we saw a big dip. When we got to fifth grade math and then had a large discussion about what's contributing to that fifth grade math, what's happening in elementary school? Is it because we have fifth grade in the middle school and the schedules are different? So, we have limited time that you heard part of that discussion too. Um, and I was very mindful that this incoming group of seventh graders, I have one, um, was part of the cohort that was pretty darn affected by COVID and they lost some very critical foundational math skills. So, I think part of my concern was if you're telling me that historically we see that a lack of advanced math foundational skills is contributing to some of the fallout when we get to high school. Is that going to

164be affected even worse with this group who are affected with the basic math skills? So when we looked at the data, we said, "Okay, what's the plan? What can you tell us about this? What are your implementing?" And then great, we will re-evaluate the results as we go. Because this board of education, we just to simplify it. We do the budget, we do policy on a broad level, and we manage the superintendent. So if it doesn't work out, that falls into managing the superintendent. We have had votes in the board when it pertains to curriculum, but that's usually when it involves buying textbooks. That falls into budget. So we have to vote on to are we going to spend the money? So that's the background. But I think I'm not just saying thank you for

165coming out because you have spent the time to come out. I'm also saying I've heard a lot of different perspectives. I have some maybe more heightened concerns, not so much about um the trap per se, but I have a little bit of concern about the social issue about children being ostracized for being on a certain path to math and feeling like they have to teach the rest of the class. Um I don't have answers to that, but I hear that and that concerns me. Um and I think I would like a little bit more information about how that's being addressed. We don't get into admin stuff. We don't go into how do teachers do their job, but I would like to make sure that we have some discussion around what happens to those kids who

166are accelerating. Um, and that to very simplify it like you're in a group project and they're the ones doing all the work. Um, I don't want that to have anybody's experience. I also think it robs a kid who aren't doing the work of being able to grow. So, I would just like some more information about how that's being addressed. Um I don't need it now, but I think in the near future I would like to maybe understand how we're going to manage that. >> I think we can we should address that now because that's a concern I think that all of us um I was going to say if I could address it. So I can't address it by saying here's a 10-point plan. Um I can share with you that following the first um

167board meeting when we had a such great public participation, Mrs. Kellogg and I had um a conversation about those concerns. It is um it's alarming to me about the number of students based on the public participation that are sharing with their parents that when I finish my job is to and you've heard this here that is not um the philosophy that we share with teachers. It is um not a culture that we want to have. We want students to be challenged. Um, as a parent, my littles are now much older. Um, but I had one in high school. Um, she used to always joke that she was always named the captain and that was her role in group and and it was disheartening sometimes when I heard that. And then there were other places where

168teachers were able to manage that. So, I know as a parent what that feels like to feel like, "Oh my god, my kid went to school today and was bored." Um, but but it that's not solved by keeping an accelerated class in seven for math because what I heard was that is there is an issue of rigor and it is what I heard is that there is an issue of rigor at the middle level. So when I hear parents saying math is the only place that my child is challenged, this is a math problem, it is a science problem, a social studies problem, an ELA problem. If you were to talk to both of the middle school principles, part of their improvement efforts are on rigor and engagement. Dr. Bremitt will attest that is all

169we talked about last year. Um, in planning for administrative council coming up in a week and a half, they are going to hear loud and clear. If you are not attending to rigor engagement in your improvement plan, guess what you are? Because that is what we are seeing in classrooms and hearing it from parents. It truly does break my heart that kids um are not experiencing the level of rigor that we expect them to and that is across the board. >> Thank you. And that's I'd probably still want to dig a little deeper into that, but I I think that at a high level addresses some of that, too. But I think that that's overwhelmingly where not just my heart's at or not just where my head's at, but where my heart's at, too, because

170I don't want any child feeling like they are not included. That's against our mission that we state for public for NBS. So, thank you. And just curious to know going forward what what else we can do, what feedback we can solicit because I've heard a lot of stories come from different people that are saying the same thing. So, thank you. >> And I just the um can you speak to building thinking classrooms because we had a presentation at the board uh meeting. It was probably last school. Was it last school year? >> End of last year. >> End of Yeah. End of last school year. And we thought it was a really great presentation. Miss Bidwell and Mr. Bruno were were here and and we as a board participated in a building thinking classroom with

171you know the the marker. Um and the what we got from that was that students are learning to um look at other perspectives to solve a problem or work in a small group, communicate with their partners um which are all skills that we require as portrait of a graduate. though we want students to be able to communicate with anybody, not just people at their level. And we kind well at least I'll speak for myself. I walked away from that presentation. I thought it was like one of the best board meetings we've had aside from the kindergarteners that came here um this school year. But um but what so I think and from last meeting, I think this meeting like you know we we've heard the marker is given to the the kid that is getting

172the best grades. Um, so what is the intention of that program? Because I know it's math and how might we address that situation that is occurring. >> Um, Mr. Prody, I want to um address sort of part of that question, but then Mrs. Kellogg is the expert in math, so I want her to talk more about that. Um, Mr. Bruno and Miss Bidwell are um among the Newington staff of math and middle school. They were the first ones to pilot it. They were the first ones to implement it. They were the first ones that kind of did all of that research. So they are really ahead of the curve. Um adults are learners too. So just because we open a book and we do a book study about um building thinking classrooms and we go

173about implementing that step by step to improve teachers capacity. It's not an overnight switch. So, we do have some teachers who have a very high capacity. If you went into Mr. Bruno's room, there was um a mother that was here that was sp speaking about Mr. Bruno. He in fact was standing in the hallway. Um he he just happened to learn this at a much greater rate and he's finding a lot of success. And in fact, teachers go to his classroom so that they can have a better understanding of some challenges that they're having. Um, and teachers are humans and they're learners and they are learning along the way and they're stumbling. They too are seeing some of these issues and so they come to their department meetings and they talk about how they're going

174to um mediate those. Um, so I just wanted to just um make sure that we are having reasonable exp um expectations for teachers. I hold teachers to high expectations and yet I have to be reasonable in the pace that they are going to grow given the incredible demands that they have uh um of their job. Um and I will just end that part of saying is that um Newington teachers I don't think anybody can hold a candle to them and I would um defend that to the end at this table. I think very very highly of them and I think we are incredibly um lucky and fortunate to have the gift of teachers that we have here in our school system. And I'll ask um Michelle to just talk about the more math part. >>

175Miss Fatty, can you just clarify what in addition restate your question after Miss Freeman's response? >> That's okay. Um yeah, I think it it was so I think it was more like so we've heard that the marker is being given to the the person that might have the highest grades or is so how do we address that um situation? >> So that's that's not the intention. The intention is that the marker is supposed to be shared amongst the group members. Um, and teachers are working to build norms and a culture of accountability so that students are are learning to self-regulate and self u monitor in addition to the adults being learners. This is a huge shift for students as well. So some of those things are still very much uh growing. Um, but the concept

176is that really the person holding the marker is recording the thinking of others in the group. So when we're seeing that somebody with the marker is doing the thinking and the recording, then that that process is needs to be revisited, right? And that's part of the learning that we're engaging in and trying to figure out what is the best way that that happens. Um and so I also want to clarify too that again the thinking tasks is a component of it. The the whole concept of a thinking classroom is not just about the task and the whiteboards and the markers. Um it's also about the types of procedures in place around how we empower students to um select the problems they need to engage in. So another uh piece that I haven't mentioned but feeds

177into meeting students at their level or or their needs of um either access or challenge is following a task or following direct instruction because that's sometimes a component of the lesson still too which is often a misperception. um is students are meant to engage in content and practice where they're able to choose where they go based on how they performed in the task. Um and so you might see samples of in a classroom um we call them mild, medium, and spicy problems. So students know the mild is kind of the core of the standard, but going beyond that um might offer something different and more challenging. There might even be something um below mild if a student gets stuck or teacher is there to uh provide support and and hints and extensions. So I I

178want to clear up this um idea that you know a thinking classroom is just about group work and we're just kind of sending students off to the wolves to fend for themselves. There's a lot more that goes into it and a lot more that follows that and and the truth is we're still really building that culture. Um, and as I mentioned earlier, our focus for professional learning this year will really be about the task and the meaning making. And both of those components are essential to uh both providing access as well as looking for ways to provide challenges for students during the lesson. >> Thank you, Mr. Mey. >> I first of all, I apologize. I wasn't at the last meeting. I had a family uh commitment and I thank everybody as well for being

179here. decided to catch up with the uh two other Republicans just to find out what this special meeting was about. Um I just wrote a couple things to refresh my memory as we were talking. So one one of the things that I thought um was very telling was we started out talking about stakeholders and the first ones we talked about were administrators. They they're not the they should be on the bottom of the totem pole. Parents and students are the stakeholders in my opinion. And too many times administrators uh put themselves at the top. They have degrees and things like that and they come up with programs and then um I don't even think they filter down sometimes to us, but I'm fairly on the board. Um so that's one of my things. Um, the

180other thing is, um, I feel like when they come in, they have this choreographed thing that they we kind of get washed over with. And I mean, I'm here all the time, the meeting. So, that's how I feel when I come in. I feel like there's a choreographed thing and they're going to they keep us I feel like they some of us they we I feel like a mushroom where you, you know, they keep you in the dark and they just feed you crap. um that I'm just telling you my my opinion, okay? Um I'm usually the uh the flash pang in the room anyways and it is what it is. Um I feel [clears throat] like we got a filibuster from the uh the vice chair at the beginning to try to smooth all

181the all the questions that were going to come out and it says right here on the participation uh they were supposed to give the overview and then the public was supposed to participate. Um, I felt like we didn't need the filibuster and listen to a lot of things that they thought were going to come up did come up and probably last meeting I got imagined. I can't even imagine. Um, another thing, uh, I don't know why I don't know why we're getting rid of any math programs, particularly accelerated math programs. Um, I I fought against we brought on a new program called Jewelry 2. And I asked really do we really need this added expense for the taxpayers? Well, some of the people, you know, was a small minority, but they wanted to have the

182program jewelry, too. So, why are we getting why are we getting rid of accelerated math? I I have no idea. Um, one of the other things is, and I've I've always said this, and I have a problem with the word equity. I've from the first meeting I came to when they used it, I said, "Look, [clears throat] that's a that's a that's a flash point." Okay? Equality means everybody has the same opportunities to excel and go up and you help them and they're going to people that are going to take those opportunities and there are people are going to say no thanks to me equity is everybody lands on the same spot and that's unfair to the I don't know if the guy's still here but we were talking about you know the people on

183the bell curve well the other end of the bell curve the the very accelerated people all right it I don't like the word equity give everybody an equal opportunity opportunity. Equity means it to me it's a socialist word. You land on the same spot. We all land we all we all land on the same spot. We're all We're all the same. We're not the same. And I have a huge problem with that. Um [clears throat] let me can you read my writing here? Uh you know the other thing is with with that uh equity word, I don't know if people know we still have a They they changed the name, but we still have a DEI director, diversity, equity, and inclusion director that makes a fairly significant salary that I've asked many times. What exactly

184does he do? And I get a lot of different things, but I never really understand what he does. I don't know if anybody does to be honest with you, but that money I asked, could it, it's grant money. Could it be used in other areas? they could reallocate it away from DEI to say the math teachers, the accelerated math teachers. Um, let's see. All right. And then the other thing is um and I respect the Sean a lot, Mr. Hollerin. Uh, the whole CO thing. Well, you know, the state created most of those problems and yet we're we're now saying, "Oh, let's listen to the state. They'll tell us what to do." I No. Anyways, that that's uh that's all I have to say. I've just we should not be getting rid of accelerated math

185programs. End a sentence. Hard stop. My opinion. Thank you. [clears throat] >> All right, I'll address and I promise I won't um filibuster. I guess my intention really was to show that we are listening. I got all your emails. I'm checking all these things. Um because we are accountable to parents in this district. Um so not the intent was to take anyone's time with more preempting get at let's just cut to the chase. That's why everyone's here, right? Um and we want to make sure that we're addressing the questions that you have. Um I just reiterated anything I saw in emails or even I know there was social media posts and things like that. So just want to get that so it's on the record and it's not necessarily if someone didn't feel comfortable saying

186something you can attribute it then we can have it on the record that those questions were asked. So um not intention to to filibuster as much as just make sure everyone knows that those questions are getting addressed and heard. Um whether you like the answer or not I think just having those on the record is important to me so that anyone goes back to this meeting you can hear it. Um also want to just quickly address um I'm sorry but really true was not a budget impact. It's just replacing a different art course. Always been a thing. Never a budget thing. It It's literally just replacing a section based on student demand. That was always the case. Um I'm struggling a lot with this. I have read pages on pages. Um to give you all

187just so you all know as Miss Pratty said, we're all individuals and then we as a board have this. I am well aware of all of the statutes. I'm well aware of all of our policies because I chair policy. I'm on the curriculum committee. Um, and I've been on the board for six years now. This is my home. This is my school district. I predate any of those changes. Um, if you want to know how old I am, um, when I was in seventh grade, we had pre-alggebra, but it was not necessarily denoted as leveling or not leveling. Um, it wasn't clear what that was. I was also in our gifted and talented program. Um, we did not do anything in our gifted talented program. I'll just be real. Um, when it comes to to

188what happened in our gifted and talented program, we got taken out for like one social studies thing and then we like went on a field trip. We did donate um we did a fundraiser in a charity for um like the Lakota tribe at one point. Um, but I can tell you as someone in our gifted talent program, it was it's very hard to to say that like that was an enriching program. And again, different superintendent, different administration, completely. No one's here that was there. So, it's hard to say what it is. Um, when I go and look at this, I come from the perspective as someone who was a student here. I went and took all of the math courses since we had algebra 1A in 8th grade. And then, um, that was considered like

189what we [snorts] would maybe denote as um, honors. Um and then I took geometry pre or algebra 2 pre-calc and AP calc and I took AP stat as well. Um I am not I was a political science major but I did teach statistics in college as well. So um and for those questioning my class um our validictorian got into Harvard um our and went to Yukon. So I know some people don't say Yukon's not as good but she did go to Yukon um for free. And then uh our not even our saludiatoran, someone in fifth went to Yale. Um so I've always been really focused on how can we make this elite and I think Miss Dro was in here earlier and we've served together on the curriculum committee. Um and we've had I think

190several conversations with Miss Freeman. Uh Miss Dro and I see very eye to eye on the class ranking thing. We've talked incessantly about how do we make Newington more and I you can use the word elite but I think competitive is is a more apt answer of how do we make Newington competitive and like the biggest focus at least from my perspective has always been how do we um add more [clears throat] advanced courses and that has always been the opportunity at the high school level. So this year adding AP pre-calc um adding more I think we're and I won't misquote um we're like maybe top three in the state um for AP course offerings that has always been the number one kind of thing was to get folks to have the opportunity to not

191pay more for college classes those that are um on an accelerated path to be able to have access to AP courses particularly AP ECE courses where you wouldn't have to pay at Yukon like I went in with calc BC and that was all of um it was eight of my 12 quant requirements. Um so I'm very attuned to this. Um I've talked to other boards of education members in all of all over the state um about this even across the country. It's very hard to compare to across the country because Connecticut does not have a county system. So um every single we're unique with Massachusetts uh and a couple others that that don't have um a county system. I say all this because um my best friend is a seventh grade math teacher in East

192Harford. Um and I really was trying to get a different perspective than our administrators because I was like, "What does this look like?" Um and I know some people will will not want to compare East Harford and Newington, but they have a similar um you know, diverse population. I said, "What does that look like?" And she says, "Well, is it truly heterogeneous?" Uh because there are sayings that there's homogeneous and it's still kind of like leveled within the class. Um and I think that's mostly what um a lot of folks maybe Gen X had um as well. And then I did my own research of looking at when did this like concept come into seems around like 1985 there was some stuff um multiple schools have de-levelled. They've gone back to it. Most uh of

193other schools have deleled and deleled slowly. Some have de-LEveled and it's been a huge success. Some have deleled and it's been an absolute nightmare. Um, and a lot of it what it came down to, I read uh this 45 minute, well, it was an article, but it was a podcast. It was 45 minutes on Massachusetts schools. So, I thought, okay, Massachusetts just got number one in education. We got number two. So, how do we be better? Right? Um, and the question was, does this work or does this not? And there was a woman who said, this worked really well in my school district. And they came up with the counterpoints of where it didn't work. Um, and it was really down to the implementation of this. if you want it to actually work, you need

194um teachers and staff to be able to actually implement it. And so um one I just want to acknowledge and thank everyone for coming out. I don't think in my six years here we've ever had this much participation on anything, which is great to see. Um to the contrary, if you think um this is not something where we don't want buyin, we do. Um we'd love more people at all of our meetings. I mean, our spouses probably not, but um I think one of the things that's really important is that um we take that into consideration. Um we hear your voices and we want to make sure that we are a conduit for your voices to the administration. And that just gets back to kind of where um I just wanted to touch upon um

195that process one more time of just how this happened too because um I think this kind of up opened up the floodgates. we haven't necessarily heard parents say, "Oh, my kid's bored in all these classes and all these things." That's going to obviously raise our flags and be like, "We need to do more meetings and we need to do more things here." Um, and we can't do that without you. So, I think that's super important. Um, and then I'll just say, and I won't be filibustering anymore. Thank you, Mr. Mey. Um, is is that um when it comes to actually quote voting on things, no one's voted on anything, and we haven't done that. Now PC statute we could vote on something but this board has never voted on anything and I went back through

196all of the meeting minutes back through on curriculum related. Um yes we vote on a lot of other things the policy committee a lot. Um I talked to other districts too. Um you know like one in um it just so happens my co-orker is on the board in Stanford and um you know she said budget related ones certainly um but not others. um we've never done that. That doesn't mean we can't. But I do like to follow word policy where it becomes something where if we are going to vote on every single curriculum thing and every single um you know change like I know bio is getting rewritten somewhat or there's going to be changes to tweaks to other things um what that looks like. So I don't want people to think that we're not

197doing our duty and our job as board members because I think I hope you can at least attest that we all take this very seriously to be able to listen. and that's why we're having the special meeting because of your voices. It's a response directly because of your voices. Um, so I just wanted to like level set that because I also don't want to have false expectations that oh, we voted on this or we didn't vote on this, we're going to vote on this or not. I think it's important that we kind of level set that. That being said, I also want to know what is our path forward. Um, so people can actually have tools to have actionable change or not change what is wanting to see. Um, because I think at the end

198of the day, that's the biggest concern. Um, so clearly I think from this um, Miss Carr, thank you for bringing solutions and I know other parents have brought other solutions to that. Um, so I just want to say thank you. Um, because I think um, and for the most part I really just appreciate everyone kind of having um, a respectful way of saying we want all of our students to be able to achieve their best potential. Um and I don't think and I just want to one last thing is diffuse like this is not I in my opinion um not a political move or a politically motivated one. Um this is simply like there was a we saw the numbers go down and that's a direct reaction to that. Um and that's obviously a problem.

199Now, I think there's going to be a lot of disagreement about how we get there between teachers, um, between administrators, between parents, board, all of that. There's no, uh, silver bullet to, uh, be able to get to where we need to be. Um, particularly given the impacts that we're just seeing across the board when it comes to CO impacts on mass scores. That's just a national trend. It's a state trend. Um, and we want to reverse that trend. And I fully believe in making sure that we we challenge our students to their fullest potential. And I mean I I think some of the things that I've heard too is like if we all and I and I also want to just note like the perhaps it's just the denotation like accelerated versus not accelerated um

200that that folks are really concerned about like everybody was in pre-alggebra but perhaps we were leveled out because I was all all my friends in seventh grade were the same ones in algebra 1 the next year. Um some of them were smart I don't know. some of them. Um, and I think that um, we just need to really think about um, what that looks like um, when it comes to how this is. And I just want to also acknowledge, you know, how it's presented, what that looks like, communication, and really making sure we're moving forward, everyone is a breast of the the issue and and what kind of moves forward. Um, but I also know that we're short on time, so or not short on time, but it's late. So, >> um, yeah. And so,

201kind of jumping off of what you said, I the biggest thing that I heard today and and at the last meeting was that kids aren't being challenged or feel like they're not being challenged. And I think Miss Freeman said it. Um, it's not just a math problem. Like, kids shouldn't be looking to math class because that's the only class where they're feeling challenged. And as a board, I think we all agree that we want all students to feel challenged in all classes. So speaking about rigor and speaking about the changes or the the focus that the middle schools are going to put or have put in our will in the future um on rigor is super important. So for me, it's not a accelerated math versus not accelerated math in seventh grade. It's a why

202aren't we challenging our students in every single classroom that they're in? Um, so I think that's something that um I would ask that we continue to get updates on and continue to hear from administration on what they're doing to ensure that all students are challenged. Um, going back to that first slide, we talked about the stakeholders and decision-m, but the arrows were all pointing to the students. So that's why we're here. I mean, I have three kids in the district. Well, next year I'll have three. um to currently some of others of us have kids who went through the district. Kids graduated successfully. Mr. Hollerin has kids in the district. Jessica went through the district herself. So, we're all very committed to Newington public schools and making sure that not just a small group of

203people is getting challenged or not just a small group of people is getting the attention. And it goes, you know, I I heard equity brought up. It wasn't in the presentation. Like it was said previously, there is a gap. We all know there's a gap. The black and brown students are not excelling as well as the white students. That's a problem in general, but it's not the reason why this change is being made. And it's not the the reason for um Newington to exist. We don't we're not servicing kids from Hartford. The kids from Open Choice are 3% of our student population. Um, and the money that we get from Open Choice is we're paying for students to be educated in Newington and Hartford reimbures it for us. So, that's that's all that is. It's

204not an equity thing. It's not the Brown versus Board of Education ruling was way way back. Um, and this is a program that we gladly participate in and and all it does is bring extra money to the district. This the 3% of students are are not changing our diversity. They're not um impacting this decision. Um, I also want to say I have so many notes because I was listening um and and other people have said I really definitely um appreciate everybody coming out. Um, we are listening. We hear concerns the bridge to algebra program. Um, again, I I mentioned it earlier. I don't feel like it's a great solution, but I understand it. I understand the reason for it. Um, and just in my own words, I because I've done research, I've talked to people

205who took accelerated, who didn't take accelerated, I've talked to high school teachers. Um, there is a gap in learning. So when you and we it was in the presentation when you when you stuff a whole bunch of math years or math concepts into a short period of time something's going to get missed or you're not going to get the full depth or the full understanding that that strong foundation of the concept. So while students can breeze through their assignments and they can get all the answers correctly the common core curriculum in my understanding is it's supposed to teach students how to think not just get the right answer. So I think that's what the real goal is here is to ensure that the students in sixth and seventh grade fifth well fifth grade cuz clearly

206there's a drop in fifth grade which is why another change to the whole um math program is to increase instructional time in fifth grade to hopefully account for um that drop and and fix what whatever standards they're not picking up on. Um, but the whole point of the sixth and seventh grade years are to build that really strong foundation so that students can be successful in the future. And the bridge to algebra is the core foundational concepts that they would have learned in eighth grade had they taken eighth grade math. And so they're skipping eighth grade math going to algebra 1. Um, I also just reiterate the point that any new student to our district can't take algebra and get that high school credit that everybody wants in 8th grade if they're new to our

207district in that year because it's a two-year program, the algebra 1 A and algebra 1B. So, there's there's so many reasons that I've heard and I understand and and the foundational concept of it I think is the most telling and important for me is that we want students to succeed in high school. That's no college application is looking at seventh grade math. Why weren't you accelerated? It's really, you know, their high school years. Are they taking those accelerated courses? Are they taking getting college credits in high school? Because that's really receiving the, you know, graduating class of 2025 had over a million dollars of high school credits saved because they earned them all in high school. So, um, that's really, you know, that's really where I am is is just making sure that everyone and

208and I mean everyone has a very strong foundation. And like I said earlier, we definitely want to address the the boredom or the handing the marker to the person who knows the answer because that's not the point and that's not how we want students to learn. If that's the experience of students, then that's a concern and that's something that the board will keep an eye on and and ask for a resolution to and and hopefully get some positive results from whatever um changes are being made at the middle school level. Um are there any other comments before we move on from the board? Miss Weaver, sorry, I'm just getting so lightheaded. Um, I should have eaten today. Um, I just want to be really clear, too. I don't think I think we should probably meet

209again and have some followup here. Um, because I don't think like everyone's issues have been addressed here. So, either meet again or whatever so that there is like a final definitive outcome. Um because I think it's important that um everyone's concerns one get addressed and two like what that path forward looks like. Um because ultimately it's us holding Dr. Ber sorry holding [laughter] >> hi thank you um because clearly there is an outcry of really important views that I think we need to address um and I think we need to be able to kind of take all of that in because even though we had lots of participation last time there's even more participation this time and new things coming up people offering solutions people wanting to be a part of this process process. Um,

210and so I think there's just a lot to I'm just digesting a lot. Um, because even more so like we're hearing some repeats, but we're also hearing some new things that are are coming to light. Um, so I think it's important that we're responsive to the to the new things coming to light. Um, so I just wanted to put that out there because I don't want you to think that we're just like, ah, yeah, thanks, bye. Um, I think it's important that like we actually take and that's what has happened since the last meeting. we were like we need we saw how many people you know came and spoke and then also the subsequent emails. So um feel free to continue to email us. Um our inbox is always open. Our names and our emails

211are on the website. Um it's always public information. It's not we're not hiding anywhere. They're they're right there. Um but I think it's important that we kind of close the loop on this. Um I'm sorry. I'm not trying to stare at you. you're you're like [laughter] I'm like looking at the board and um also the camera is like right there. I hate looking straight at there so I'm not I'm not singling out. Um but I think it's important that like we come to an actual resolution that is inclusive of uh and responsive to um what was heard tonight. >> Yeah, I think um so I said in the beginning that we will follow up with any um concerns that were raised that we did not address um during the meeting. So that's that's probably the

212next next step I think. Um [clears throat] did you want to say anything else before? Did you want to say anything? >> No, I would echo what I've already heard that this is working that there's been a lot brought forth tonight and all of our parents and students and I'll echo that. I thought the students did a great job articulating what they wanted to articulate. Very very impressed. So I think my recommendation would be that um we have a time to process all the input from tonight and make uh further recommendations to the board. Um that would be my you know short answer to a very long uh series of events. I'm just thankful uh to my team that put forth a lot of uh effort this evening to explain the rationale behind the decision.

213But I'm hearing as well a lot of concerns being raised. So, I think we just need a little bit more time to chew on that and process that. But I can definitively tell any everyone in the room and those still online uh that our goal here is to elevate all students and uh that's our intended that's part of our mission and that is absolutely what we desire and want to do. And obviously we have work to be done as evidenced by comments tonight and the concerns with rigor being available all the time. Uh but nevertheless, I I do appreciate everyone's participation tonight. I appreciate my team's efforts to bring forward uh a well articulated description of what went into all of this. And by no means was there any um lack of intended transparency. And

214if folks are not getting their parent square, we can certainly look into that. Um but I'll turn it back over to board chair. I know we have another opportunity for public comment. Yep. Um, so yeah, at this time I'll open up to public participation. Um, same as I said before applies. Um, just remain respectful. Civil personal attacks, including naming or targeting individuals, will not be tolerated. If that occurs, your speaking time will be ended immediately. Um, and you have four minutes. >> Thank you. Stanley 28 Cornish Drive. I just want to address briefly or remind us that association does not make or is not causation. So we've seen several times that table about the uh students taking the advanced math courses when they were in the accelerated math track. I think we cannot say that

215that is a causation that they didn't want to or that they didn't um think of taking it. There's a lot of confounders that could play into that. So, what competing interests were they having? Have we asked them why they [clears throat] didn't take it? Is it because the math teachers are not preferred? Is it because they have other competing interests in their science opportunities? Is it because they're interviewing and they don't feel like they could succeed in doing that math course while they have to interview and compete with other things in their senior year? So, we need to ask them, okay, just because I wear black scrubs today does not mean that I am a doctor. I did a very intense you know training to do that. Okay. Association is not causation. We need to

216ask. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Yep. You have a new opportunity. Great. Dana Havens, 113 Stoddard Avenue. Would you please tell me, no, you're not supposed to respond to me, but somebody has got to tell me um what policy you're referring to that you think allows you to override the state statutes because I reviewed the policies before coming tonight and speaking. And I and I went in 9,000s and the 6000s, which were the only two places they could be, and it's not there. So, and just because you haven't voted before doesn't mean you've been doing it right. Apparently, you've been doing it wrong all along because it is in the state statutes. [sighs] Uh Amy, you brought up that the board members are not educators. No, you're not. You're elected representatives and part of your

217job is being sure what the community wants happens. And when a major change like this comes up, perhaps instead of trying to shame us for not going to every committee and board meeting, you should do a better job of informing the public of and the parents of what topics are being discussed and what might be cut and being brave enough to file the state statutes and vote. U Miss Freeman said children shouldn't be teaching other students. However, I remember during the last presentation that was kind of like [clears throat] one of your sales pitches for doing this. You said it would be I'm not sure if it was exactly you, but somebody for administration said that it would be helpful to the kids that are better in math if they were in the classes with

218children that are struggling because they could help the children who are struggling which would then in turn help them. So there was a different story last time. Um, the Justice Cass said, "We held this meeting to listen to our voices, but between your little, it almost looked like a play in the beginning when you were taking turns talking with when she brought up the presentation, it kind of looked like this meeting was called just so you can sell this program or cut of this program again." Um, and Amy, you said equity wasn't brought up tonight, and it wasn't, but it was brought up many times in the last presentation. Just because you decided to leave it out because it didn't go over well last time doesn't mean that we don't remember that. >> That's a

219personal attack. So, you >> It's not a personal attack. I'm just repeating what somebody said. I didn't That's not a personal attack. So, and I guess that answers my next question because I was wondering why did you cut off Danielle? She wasn't attacking anybody. She was just saying so and so said. I don't see where that's a personal attack. So I guess I don't have to ask that question. Thank you. >> Laura Keller, 31 Cheney Lane. I don't want to keep you guys here all night. It's already after 10 and everyone has to work tomorrow. Um, I appreciate that many of you have acknowledged that there are still a lot of questions to be answered. I am very concerned that people are saying this is the first time that they've heard that children aren't challenged

220or bored in class or having to teach other students because I've had those conversations with administrators in this district and I know many many parents in this room have as well with teachers and administrators. Having said that, teaching is hard. I'm in teaching. Teaching a class of like 22 kids that are at all different levels. It's nearly impossible to be able to meet the needs of all those kids. And accelerated math in middle school is the one place that our kids really are able to be challenged. And while I appreciate that we'd like rigor, which was used a lot tonight, which I thought was interesting because when we met Miss Freeman, you talked a lot about how that was such a relative term. Um, but rigor is important. But um while we'd want rigor in

221every class, in every situation, right now in math in seventh and eighth grade, that's the only place that our kids that need that level of rigor or challenge are able to get it. And I don't know that it's fair to ask any teacher to try to do that within a regular classroom and think it's going to prepare the students for high school. So, our kids that are going into honors classes, if they've never had the opportunity, an extended opportunity, not just opportunity in eighth grade, to really develop those skills where they are really challenged, um, I think is a huge disservice to them. And we really still haven't answered the question, why is Newington basically the only or maybe one of two towns in DUI D and many other DUIs that's looking to eliminate accelerated

222math in seventh grade. In terms of taking advanced classes in the high school, I had this conversation with both of you and you both said you agreed with me at the time, although if I misquote you, you can correct me. There are so many options at Newington High School, which I hugely appreciate and I think we have a great program there, that a lot of kids that are very smart and maybe in accelerated math decide to pursue other things in high school after they've taken a few credits. It doesn't mean accelerated math is not working because they don't take four years or they don't take advanced math. Maybe they're taking classes through Yukon or Central or Goodwin or all those other awesome options that you guys have. I think using that data is really unfair

223to say that accelerated math in seventh and eighth grade, I know you're moving it to eighth, but um isn't working the way it should be because I know that's the place that my older son and I won't go into a story again because you've already heard about him and you've met him twice now. Um but that's where he learned what he needs to do in high school, I think. Um and when I met with his other teachers, they said he does enough to get by. So there's not really much else we can do beyond that. And I think his teachers are great. And I think he does do enough to get by. So there's not much else they can do, right? It's not like he's not turning in his work. It's not like he's not

224taking his tests, but he's not challenged. Um and there was a huge focus in our initial conversations in your initial forum about increasing diversity and accelerated math. You presented data on it. Um, and you said that that was one of the objectives and there's no plan in order to support those learners to increase diversity and accelerated math, which is one of my big issues. The the building thinking classrooms, as you said, and you said, there's a lot to still be learned about that. Um, and I know some teachers in other districts that have had a really hard time with that with mixed level learners and kids acting out because you're basically a asking a student that might not have a skill the skills to ELA. >> Your time. >> Okay. All right. I know it's

225late. Thank you guys for your time. >> Thank you. Any other is there someone I don't see anyone. >> If there's anyone online that wishes to speak, they can raise their hand. >> Hi Nicole Fenton 125 stage coach Lane. I guess I would just like clarity coming out of this. What is the plan for the rising seventh graders? It sounds like this is probably locked in that they will not have an accelerated option for seventh grade and will be taking algebra 1 in 8th grade should they be selected. Um I would just like confirmation of that that there is clearly no change coming out of any of these meetings for their conversations. Um Jessica as you suggested will not influence that decision and what sort of opportunity there may be to continue to change course

226for future learners. How long will that take? How long are you going to keep this plan given the clear dissatisfaction in the community with this plan? Is there an opportunity to um change something perhaps the you know fifth graders that are rising sixth graders this year for their seventh grade? Um just would like very clear bulleted explanations on what is the plan for the rising seventh graders as well as the rising sixth graders for going forward given the clear dissatisfaction with this plan. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, see no other participation. Um, so I think we just to Miss Fenton's last question. Um, I'll just address it right now. Um, we will continue to consider the input tonight. Dr. Roma alluded to there's there was a lot that was brought to us including by

227um some board members too that we hadn't um discussed before. So, I think just um we'll let you know um before school starts. I I don't have an answer currently, but what we're just going to review um what was brought up tonight and everything that was said and then um come up with a a plan moving forward currently. Yes. Go ahead, Miss Weaver. >> Yeah, I think we'll not like right before week of school start like we'll be expeditious about making sure that we get a timely response. We know it's summer. We know there's vacations. We know there's like a million things going on. So, we want to just make sure that everyone's here and that everyone can do it. Um, and making sure that you get like an actual like to your point bulleted

228answer of what's going on. >> Other remarks by board members. >> Once again, just want to reiterate everybody who stuck it out for the long haul. Um, this is the first board meeting where I have almost completely wore down the it's not lead the graphite in my number two pencil with all of the things that I need to digest and think about. Um, so um I usually feel the need to to respond right away, but I think I need some time to think and I ask that if you have questions and concerns, you continue to email us those things. Um, we are your representatives. We are the voice. Um, and we need to have that perspective to be able to make informed decisions. Um, and I do think that we still need to resolve this

229one way or the other. Um, but I need to make sure that we are being holistic in our approach with what we're considering. Um, because it is all about the students. Um, but what happens with the students affects the parents and what happens with the parents affects schools and it's all interconnected. So just honestly thank you for making me wear down my pencil tonight. >> Mr. Chararma. Hey, I just want to thank all the parents u for coming out tonight and you know we've heard everything and um I I feel like uh we just need to digest um what was said today and you know we we will get back to all the answers soon. So thanks thanks a lot again. >> Yeah, Miss Weaver, >> I just want to say um if like if

230you email us too and we we can respond individually and things like that, that does not mean like the whole we're not speaking for the full board. That's why we often don't respond immediately and say, "Hey, we're doing this." Um, that can get us into some legal liability. Um, board members in the past have done that. Uh, not even saying on this board, but um, those can often be like someone speaking for a full board, they're not um, just because someone promised you something or says something um, that they cannot promise you, you could sue the district and then all of us taxpayers would be paying more for that. So, just want to be very clear like if we don't immediately respond or we're putting it, we often will put it through the chair, put

231it through um the superintendent just as a protocol to make sure like we are also protecting the district and not making sure we're not responding to you. So, if you don't immediately hear back, we also all acknowledge receipt and those kinds of things. Um but just if you do email us, um and I know like there's a million other things that could go on social media, but like feel free to email us first so that we can make sure we address that direct communication. Um, and also making sure that um, if you do [clears throat] have things that weren't um, you know, that are still lingering and things like that, we have copies of of things you sent, but um, we're open. Our inboxes are open all the time. Um, so please, we welcome that.

232I hope everyone does feel like despite if you you feel like there is um I know it feels contentious and there's a lot of eye and passion around this because we all care and I think um there will be differing views even from public participation but you know a good majority feeling a certain way. I hope you feel that we are trying to make sure that your voices are heard and then it's implemented um through this curriculum because I think um we don't want you to get the wrong impression that um we're not hearing you and that this is simply just to to plate. I think it's really important that that is what is taken from this meeting. Um, and that we kind of follow up and and move forward. Um, and that we really

233do, I think, all have a vision for Newington public schools to, uh, be competitive, to be a place, and I always say the economic vitality of a town is directly tied to the quality of its public education system. I firmly believe that. So, um, and as someone whose parents went to a school district that is now not a good school district, um, in Connecticut, um, we know how fast that can change. So, I just want to continue to reiterate and just reaffirm, um, that that is my belief. I think many on the boards, but I won't speak for them, um, that we want to continue to make Newington a place that attracts more students and doesn't um, you know, leave those behind. Miss Carr. >> So, looking at what has happened here, I think as

234a board, we can make some changes so we're not repeating history. Um, something the board should consider. I'm not sure if it's in the 2000 or 9000 series, but putting in a policy where if we are inserting or deleting a course, we give parents a 30-day notice, put it on the board agenda that gives them time to write into us or, you know, attend a public session similar to this before we just say, "Okay, this program no longer exists." Um, I think if we keep repeating things like this, we're not going to get any further. Thank you. Sorry, I do just want to address I know the worst. In my first job interview at the state, I said they were like, what's the worst answer in government? Well, because we always did that. I truly

235do believe that is is a bad answer. So, I'm not saying because we've haven't done that, we can't do that now. It's more just acknowledging um what the process has been to get us to this point. Um, so just to clarify that as well because I think there is always room for evolution and things like that. I've worked under uh and to dispel to any politics involved in that too. I've worked under two and the minority and then I've worked to the majority too. So I just want to make sure that that's clear too that um it's always been usually a politicalish board um to the >> to the work of all of our past chairs. Paul Vella being a teacher, Bruce Fletcher, um, both working under them. I think >> the way we did

236it was just more collaborative. Um, and maybe perhaps it just didn't warrant a vote or those kinds of things because of just the collaborative nature of our board across >> parties that we tend to just try and ignore for that reason. Also, >> Mr. Newton, >> I also forgot to thank everybody for coming out. Um, piggybacking on a couple things that were said, I do believe that going forward, all curriculum changes get sent to all parents in the system, regardless of middle school, high school, whatever. Because when I was a parent, my youngest was in elementary school. If I got a notice on him, I looked at if it was something on the kid in the high school. I think that we're trying to be selective and smart and send it to who we think

237should see it. But I believe after the committee reviews it, not necessarily votes, after the board of ed reviews it, not necessarily votes, then the superintendent would let everybody know that it was resolved and we're going to change this curriculum. It's out there. It's in the public. It it it gives everybody the knowledge of what we're doing. The other problem I have with tonight and the last meeting is I think that we're thanking people for participation and we're saying we're grateful they're here and we're we're we're hearing you but are we listening to what they're saying because we have a lot of people saying no this has to stop. Can we change it? Can we reverse it? And I feel like we're not listening to that side or it appears that way to some people.

238And I see the frustration on the faces around here that it's the same jibberjabber. And if we have to be more attuned to what they want, what the people want, doesn't mean we have to change course, but I think we have to be more receptive. >> Mr. Milly, Mr. Thank you for your >> I think when there's a change like that the uh the superintendent should send out a survey for all the parents and then there should be a public meeting after that. So thank you and I agree with Miss Carr. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so yeah I um I don't want I don't want people to think that we are just holding meetings for fun. Um obviously we we held the meeting for a reason and we value and and want

239the opinions of people and we've we've heard a lot um against this change but we've al we've also heard some people for this change. So, um I just there's a lot to digest and I think we'll we will take it back and there are potentially future policy changes. Community right there is already jotten notes down um probably about the policies. Um, so but there's definitely room for improvement and um I do I just want to just be clear that communication was sent out and and Miss Kellogg held um public forums that doesn't does not usually happen because I think we curriculum department anticipated that this would be a concern and and so they did take the extra step. So I just don't want that to get lost and and make it seem like this was

240a change that was being snuck through. Maybe the distribution list could have been larger and should have been larger and we've addressed that, but the opportunity to have a public forum where they can where people can answer questions has has been there and a lot of you have taken them up on that um even personal discussions with it. So, I just want to just state that thank um Miss Kellogg and and Miss Freeman for taking time to address parental concerns and and listen and and I know that changes have been made since the beginning since this has been an ongoing process and I know that changes have been made and they've thought about things that have been said maybe not the the removal of the the seventh grade accelerated but things along part of it

241have been addressed and have been changed. So maybe we can we can also kind of highlight that in in the response because there were suggestions and comments made that caused them to change course in smaller ways than maybe has been highlighted. So, I just want to just thank the thank Miss Freeman and and Miss Kellogg for the time that you spent um developing this and and reaching out to parents. And um and so, like I said, we we held this meeting because we knew that there was still concerns and and we were hearing those concerns and we just need time to digest and think about it and determine our next steps. Could be a number of things. Could be policy changes, could be whatever. I'm not even going to say because I I don't because

242I'm not I'm not the board. Um so anyways, um I think with that time >> motion to adjourn. >> All right, we have a motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Meet Journ 10:21 p.m. brutal. >> My heart rate was like 140 like the entire time.