001this meeting is being recorded okay it is 6 p.m on June 6 2023 and we will call to order the regular meeting of the Norfolk Board of Education um first on our agenda is sixth grade award presentation now I understand that we have we have a speaker here to present an award so yeah I'd like to call you up uh is she our only speaker will you be presenting yes yes and good evening I'm here to present the Dorothy Casey Deloitte award she was but before I hand out the award I'd like to give you a little background about her and Norfolk it's a little different than Dorothy was raised in Norfolk her parents owned a local restaurant first thing they started was a hot dog stand on Shepherd Road and it was a great
002hot dog stew fabulous hot dogs and Dorothy works there then her husband her husband then her family the father and her mother had a large restaurant right in the center of town on Greenwood's Road and that was opened for breakfast lunch and dinner at one time nor fork had four restaurants that were wonderful and four grocery stores if you can believe that I know people don't believe me when I say that anyway she first started her career at the old Norfolk Center School as a school crossing guard then she transferred when this building was purchased to become people were concerned when this school was purchased purchased that the road was dangerous with cars flying by so she became she moved up here to the school crossing guard she was always dedicated to children first thing
003she did she was the first librarian the school then had lots of room and space and so forth and she started the first library that was really opened and she was the librarian about 1975 Apple Computers started donating computers to elementary schools to introduce children to computers by the early 80s there was elementary software available for schools in different subjects all kinds of secretaries a local company Optimum resource located right down here in the railroad State what was the railroad station building made some of the best educational some of the best they were the top award-winning software uh company or education in America they introduced a series called the sticky bear Story series which had subjects in math reading etc etc Dr Deloitte made the library into the computer Sanctuary everyone went there for all
004day during somehow during off the day Optimum resource God bless them donated all the software and which was floppy disk s then and the computers initially which was great so the school library became the overall computer center and it was all under her guidance the top where the software received the top award in the United States from the software Publishers Association in Silicon Valley uh what happened was because of that every television station one come and film boatel school and these children using this software so it was a plug for hotel and really helped Hotel and they were they thought it was great they were on TV and so that was in a lot of all the Stations from Connecticut came and some messages because we were first up front in doing that Dorothy was
005dedicated to boatel in so many ways and I know if she were here tonight she would love to see the student here that's getting this wonderful award a young man named Harrison Bennett congratulations [Applause] so Harry if you and um Mrs car kids could stand in front of the podium and take a pic Janet will take your picture oh okay maybe come in front of it there or wherever you think in the front I think so well I think I'm fine thank you I wish I had hair like you it's gorgeous thank you very much oh congratulations Harry congratulations [Applause] well thank you Sally for that very nice uh very nice uh walk down memory lane yeah yeah and um as you can tell votel has a rich history of honoring its students and identifying
006their talents and so Harry winning um that our that award for most promise in the computer uh education field that is really exciting our staff and um sometimes teachers independently will identify our sixth graders who are most deserving um sometimes it'll be a panel of two or three teachers or staff members sometimes a vote will go out to the whole staff of the student who is the most deserving so I have Awards this evening for creative writing a service award and the gene Keeler Memorial award I'm going to read a little bit about them and announce the students who are chosen to receive these Awards so first the Frank C Reilly creative writing award is an award that was started in memory of Frank C Reilly a member of the Munch family we give this
007word every year to the student who has done outstanding work in creative writing and this year the award goes to Lorelei deserva [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you congratulations next is the Adele win service cup award the Adele win service award is named for a former teacher at bowtown school and is given to the student who goes the extra mile the student that rises above the desire to strike back get even or settle the score slow to anger and quick to forgive this year the staff decided that Nicola Grimaldi was the most [Applause] got this one [Applause] and finally the gene Keeler Memorial award is also named for a former teacher at botel and is presented to the student who shows sensitivity and compassion towards his or her fellow students along with a respect for each
008person's differences this also is a staff voting award and this year the award goes to Reese group [Applause] thank you [Laughter] [Applause] excellent well thank you and congratulations to each of you it was really nice to see you today um you are absolutely welcome to stay for the remainder of the meeting we will next go into public comments but um it's also okay if you've decided that you would you would like to to go at this point um we are very proud of you though and thank you for being such wonderful representatives of our school just going to turn the camera must have been something she said yeah I don't have to stay okay well that was that was very very nice um next on our agenda is public comments um we don't have the
009members of the public have left left um online uh no I was expecting someone but they're not there so okay okay um then we will move on to the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of May 2nd emotional improved into the regular meeting is there a second oh second is good all those in favor okay motion carries there's an absolute extension from Donna okay um the motion still carries uh next we have correspondence I actually did get some correspondence I wanted to share with the board um first we got a very very nice uh invitation to an appreciation breakfast that will be held here at the school on June 15th from 8 15 to 8 45. um it was addressed to the entire board and I'll pass it along for everyone to take
010a look at we also got this very nice card and it seems as though uh I'm imagining that this was these are sent out to lots of people so it was very nice and so I saw that the Hub posted that they got it they were excited about it yeah the fire department got one and we helps her community come to the celebration of learning yes our celebration of learning is coming up on Monday right uh the 12th yes five to seven from five to seven yeah we'll we'll mention that date again um and that appreciation dinner is on the 15th right and that is from 8 15 to 8 45. I'm like so good at these dates that I don't know what's going on I don't know if we're coming yes because we order
011food based on the amount of people who are able to attend fiscal responsibility yes okay great um uh so that was one piece of Correspondence I want to share another was I received a note from Crystal preszler who is the uh new I don't know manager what's that she's grants and development at the Hub yes so she works at the she works at the Hub um she's uh and and she sent along information about Aces International Education which um is a company that uh basically facilitates International Exchange programs um and so she wanted to send this along to see if it was something that might be of interest to botel um so I I said that I would would share the information um she said that the you know these folks would be very happy
012to come out and talk with us um but you know I wanted to kind of bring it to everyone's attention uh it seems like a very interesting idea I know I'm not sure if exchange students would come for elementary school that seems pretty young to to to leave from your country to come to to another country but um but you know it's always interesting to have these new ideas and I did want to share it with the board and see if there was any interest in um pursuing it at this time I mean there's we I I have the impression that we could we can mullant we can think about it and see if it might work for us do some research but I did want to kind of just bring it to everyone's attention
013they would obviously be housed with other families in town right they'd have to be happy yeah so well you know the Gilbert Gilbert very uh or in our neighbor in town undertook this sort of project a long time ago and I think that they really they went all in they built dormitories they spend a lot of money I think though that that's a bit of a cautionary tale if we look at that they they did that and I think at first they had quite a few students as I understand that there's 50 or more students that came that way but I think it's dwindled down to a much smaller number now like in the single digits and so it was more peaceful to have them dorm with other families yeah yeah you've got room at
014your house interesting sure yeah um and I suppose the special projects and grants manager for hub no thank you do you know if any of the other um region seven schools are I don't think so I I think that this was something uh Crystal I I included the the note here that she sent but she said you know she understood that you know like so many towns around here Norfolk has has a dwindling population and this might be a way to I don't know spice things up you know just an idea and uh knowing that we have our uh the Connecticut Asian Center that has opened on uh West Side Road there that just thought that that might be you know another connection there to be made so I just want to put it out
015there we don't have to uh take any action on it but I did want to share the information um and you know maybe you can it's an interesting idea yeah I mean I think like I said I think the idea of young children coming half a globe away is is is probably pretty far-fetched but you know anything's possible and it's you know it's never a bad idea to look at you know other resources and and other ideas or ways that we you know could be building new communities also sometimes like coming further away offers a better education than what's provided for them no that's that's you know that is definitely the goal yeah the high school or middle school was doing something if there were siblings no I would feel more comfortable if my children
016were together right right in another country then no you know no fourth grader where yeah yeah I'm really sure there's like a process of getting to know people proper to just shipping them off would you if you're interested in having a presentation done or in considering this further I could look to schedule this uh in the in the future oh that's something information online person take a look at the information online we've got something like legally the school be able to do like because we would the school they would fall under School liability when they're here well I think that we'd have to see what that Aces program uh offers and what exactly their role is in the in the piece so I mean we could why don't we ask them to come and talk
017with us now at this point it probably won't be um you know we don't meet in July we have a short meeting in August it might be a September issue the September kind of thing that we want to do um but we'll have some time then to do a little research on our own and but I'll let Crystal know that it's something we'd like to to talk about in the fall does that sound good yeah if we say no in the beginning then we don't know any of the details absolutely right absolutely it doesn't hurt to find out information yep I couldn't agree more um all right so let's move on to our superintendent's report met with the custodians excuse me could you please put the microphone closer to America we met with the custodians
018about a month ago in the budget we had put in for a three percent um race for them over the next three years and they have agreed to increase their insurance um cost share by one percent a year and so I'm just bringing this to the board if that's agreeable to the board to make it official a three percent increase for our two custodians and um with the understanding that they have also accepted a one percent increase in Premium cost here for their insurance how does that how does that work out does that like what is the amount of the one percent cost share generally do you think we did get that out Kathy was it something like fifty dollars a year sixty dollars a year um yeah I think so yeah what percent are
019they paying now cluster 15. so we'll go up to 16 16 and 17 and then 18. so they would increase it a percentage every year one one percent a year and they would get three percent increase each year um of the contract as well in their salary the the public works just um completed their contract negotiations and they settled it two and a half percent and typically our custodians would follow them but our custodians don't make a whole lot of money and we really want to be able to attract good custodians and keep them and so we had put three percent in the budget so we can afford it and I think that it's fair to offer them that especially if they're going to increase their Premium cost year and their insurance well one thing
020about increasing the cost share of the insurance is that insurance costs often increase quickly so that gives us a little bit of protection there as they pay more and more of that okay well would anyone like to discuss that that contract further or make a motion to move on uh accepting that that contract are they still getting five shirts and a pair of shoes no we've eliminated a lot of that language and grandfathered a lot of that in the last the West the contract a few years ago so there really was no language they had asked for a couple things that we had said no to for instance they came in they wanted an eight percent increase um they wanted um to increase the hours of the work shift so that they could have more
021time to do the work and the other thing that they wanted was that um if they came to work when they weren't feeling well and so they didn't use a sick day that every three months we would give them an additional fifty dollars for coming to work even you know and I said if you're sick we want you to stay home um and we're not going to you know pay you to come into work when you're not sick as a bonus but um I believe that was something that Ben had had in his previous district and was put on the table um the only other change would be the legal changes relative to the contract uh the Union laws which now make it it not legal to make joining a union mandatory so that language
022was taken out of the contract but that had to come out anyway so we didn't agree to any of their other proposals and so the only two changes in their contract would be the change in Premium cost share and then the salary each year okay and this is the this is the number that we had in our budget yeah already so this is money that is planned for within our lock I think our custodians take very good care of our school I think they're probably not in a bad way but probably at least or the most overseen people because you see them there in the background usually you don't people don't see what they do yeah they're overlooked they're overlooked that thank you that I was looking for I would make a motion to prove
023it I have a motion to approve as a second second uh all those in favor okay all right great the motion carries okay um and then just on that you know our personal negotiation committee will need to start thinking about setting up meeting time because we are about to embark on our next teacher contract uh August 15th is the start date on that it feels like we just just did it but it was three years ago um so the clock starts ticking on August 15th we haven't yet gotten any formal requests for a start date from the from the cea but I will keep our Personnel negotiation committee appraised of that correspondence but as I said starting mid-august will begin to have those preliminary conversations and we should probably plan amongst ourselves to meet before
024then to go through the teacher contract to look at any language that the board might be interested in um changing so that we can have proposals ready for that first or second meeting I will get copies of the current teacher contract too it's you Jay and Donna hi Ann yes so I'll get the current contract to you and we can think about a mutually convenient time where we can sit after you've had a chance to read through it and talk about any changes that the board might be interested in making and I'll share with you any changes that Lauren and I think might be worthwhile to consider great thank you um then so you know that the Pre-K rollout um for extending to five days has been in our conversation it was approved in the
025budget and um we've Lauren and I have both had some extensive conversations with Holly about what that would look like what her concerns might be and how we might provide whatever resources and supports that are necessary and we have I think come up with a really great transition plan and a plan for next year typically our Pre-K kids start a couple weeks after our our school year starts and we will continue we will continue with that tradition so mid-september they would start and they would start with a three-day program for the first month or so and then somewhere around mid-october then we would expand the three mornings to five mornings meanwhile the Pre-K para will be coming in every morning and working with Holly and getting used to the routine and getting things ready for
026the the Pre-K kids and we've arranged for summertime quite a bit of summer time for Holly and the pera as well to plan for what this programming would look like so as to make sure that we have an appropriate program for four-year-olds an appropriate program for five-year-olds and that neither of those are compromised we will have two additional adults besides the teacher in the Pre-K classroom every day that the pre-kers are here so we'll have a nice ratio of adults to students and we can ensure that the program for pre-kers can be overseen and we agreed that for probably the first half of the year the focus of the pre-k program would be really heavily play based weaving in where possible some of the underlying academic foundations and that it would be getting them oriented
027to school and used to school teens and school behaviors and what we do in school so that by January 1 Holly will know the kids will understand who they are as Learners to a great extent and be able to plan for them to begin to increase that academic rigor of the pre-k program and meanwhile a lot of the programming will be overseen by the two pairs or the pre-kers um you know especially on the Mondays and Fridays which were typically the heavy early morning academics for Kindergartens so that the kindergarten program is not in any way compromised um so that's our plan for pre-k um any questions about that um have we uh figured out a way or or made overtures to talk to the Early Learning Centers in the in the area you know
028in Norfolk yeah I believe um Holly and I don't know if she has already you know but she there is a plan that she knows and um we've let Early Learning Center know that we will definitely make plans for Holly to get together with them and discuss the our new pre-kers who are coming in who they are and how who they are as Learners so that there's a transition from Early Learning Center to pre-k as well so that's definitely going to happen right so in addition to the Norfolk Early Learning Center there's also the South Norfolk daycare Donna yeah down hands and does she have children who will be coming to pre-k I I don't know but I just I think she should also be missed out too I feel like you know they want
029to be able to give some insight I think it's just younger kids but it doesn't hurt to reach out just in case just to keep those keep the conversations happening right and then the most exciting thing I have for you is um a few weeks ago Sally Carr had called me to say that she and Larry had been in a in an antique shop and they found these vintage posters um and she said they were in really great shape and she wanted to buy them and donate them to Hotel schools with the understanding that they would be hung in a prominent place and that would be able to provide them with um something that they could Credit Union Yes okay so sorry was that a little bit of the not necessarily but as they were
030in the office some kids came in and they were snickering so there's better concern post that maybe it's not appropriate to hang these and that it would be more of a disruption than than Decor um my personal feeling is that it's part of educational history and that in trying to not to Shield anything like this from kids would kind of be like censoring and how can we really do that because there are so many different things and you know it reminded me of I don't know if you're familiar with the Tim McGraw song uh remember when yeah and there's a verse in there that says you know don't you remember back when a hoe was a hoe Coke was a Coke and crack what's what you were doing when you were cracking jokes back when
031a screw was a screw the wind was all that blue and when you said I'm down with that well it meant you had the flu I missed back then so I think that our kids are going to go through life seeing things and hearing things and so and I'm just opinion this is just my opinion but because there is a differing opinion one that you know it would be disruptive and not appropriate for kids I thought this is a wonderful topic for the board to Grapple with and I am happy as is Lauren to defer to what you think is the the right thing to do by our kids do we give these back to Sally and say thank you but you know dick is offensive or disruptive to kids or do we keep them
032and figure out where we hang them keep them and figure out where we hang them they see this all over the internet these exact things are all over the Internet so I don't know if it's so much shielding them of what they've already seen and learning not to Snicker at something right not the maturity level I think it's it's I think well we have recently um met a subcommittee has met to talk about how to make this room uh a room that celebrates history and education and so what if these were brought to this room and you know so rather than being in a regular in a in a you know in a more where the community is going to see that we I mean we get a I'm sorry we get enough heat for
033stuff and I'm totally about historical context and our kids learning things but we have if we have community members coming in and honestly if it said look Henry it would be a completely different thing right if if the word if the name was not dick kids will will Snicker at that and the community will and I understand the historical context it's very important these were important you know sight word reading before we had phonics wait this was the this is the culinary this is the move that we're making away from Libby right we're moving away from the whole word like exactly and um and it's not the it's just not how we teach early literacy anymore the other thing that comes to mind is that it's um it's not a very inclusive representation of a
034student body um particular I don't think we need to hide them or um ban them or um I don't know forbid students from seeing them but I don't know that it represents the educational direction that we're headed in or the um inclusive nature of our small school with a big heart that's a very nice way of saying that Amy thank you okay how about you Donna yeah and I wonder what the people who are if anybody watches this video whatever they think we're looking at I'm curious but if it said Richard that would be completely in my opinion it would be completely different but it doesn't and I I have sons and I and the you know every time they walk by him they're gonna say something yeah true everything and if we have them
035in here every time imagine having like Town meetings and people coming in and you know oh motel's got the word dick on their walls like we don't really need that in or I said it on the video but yeah I'm we are we as a board so it's hard to say right because you know on the one hand you don't want to like cancel culture right that's an idea that's one kind of extreme way to look at the things on the other hand we don't need to invite disruption we don't need to celebrate a moment and there's lots of times we choose there's lots of moments in history we choose not to display on our walls you know that sort of thing that's a tough one I think that I think that I think that
036would be disruptive given the mentality and uh self-control of like fourth and fifth and sixth grade children I don't think they should and community members according to Ginger yeah beautifully done yeah and you know I mean I grew up on this stuff but it's not the way things are done anymore and it's just opening up a can of worms for the kids to be disruptive and I I don't think so if it if the Historical Society had a a exhibit on you know mid 20th century education that is an in my opinion that's an appropriate place for something like that so this was also given to us as a gift right so then we also need to think about the uh how to respond to to a gift that maybe if we decide that it's
037not the right choice for us how to respond to that um can we put in the teachers uh Lounge because I think they'd like to get a I'm sorry or it's like that's not a bad idea I just think like and I get everyone's fine I agree it could they're totally gonna make jokes or whatever but when I look at them I'm like they see this on Tick Tock every day they see this on social media really like tick tock's looking at like not caught up this particular book shows up on a page at least and that particular one that says look that particular one is a very big one I don't know your algorithm that might be more of a reason not you know right I know that there's memes and there's t-shirts and
038there's all of that too which the donors probably don't know of that culture out there that there are you know the mean culture that kind of goes off of this and that gets quite x-rated at times as well so all right well so we've heard a lot of different opinions um it seems to me that maybe we should um I don't I don't it's okay to disagree it's okay for us to not uh not all have the same thoughts but we need to make a decision so uh do you need to make a decision now about what we're doing with them or can we reflect on it for a little bit yeah it seems fine to reflect on them it seems like you could put them in a closet for a little while we could
039talk about it with the aces guys let's see how they feel about it it's more opinions International World um oh let's reflect on it and we'll put it back on the agenda for our next meeting that'll be fun August meeting or if if we had some other pieces that could put it in context um and and show the the sort of Arc of progress in education and right semantics over um over time it's true yeah I mean I can find a Diane ravage book at home that can quote helping reviews and stuff but um let's take some time to reflect that think about you know how it can be used what its value could be or what it's disruptive nature could be and how and how we want to weigh those things keep going forward
040I do have to go oh yes but I'm going to sign on zoom on my way out okay but in case I lose you the shared committee meeting has not met yet we're meeting next week okay so there's nothing to report thank you but I will zoom in shortly okay um was there anything else in your report isn't that enough that is all I have I look at the dramatic display that was really very well done yeah and I don't think we get flustered easily I'm sorry I felt very closer okay um the principal's report um I I'm going to pass this around so you each have a copy I'm sorry it wasn't in your pocket just some updates um the the flurry of spring assessments is complete and we've had 100 participation in the
041smarter balance testing so we'll be looking at those data soon and talking about how it matches our continuous growth plan we've had many field trips to the Warner people's forest and Roaring Brook those were all enjoyed by students and um and staphy like and I just wanted to thank the PTO for their lovely staff appreciation luncheon as well as all the work that goes into hosting and putting on the talent show that's always an enjoyable night and our staff really appreciated um being treated some upcoming events tomorrow we have field day on Friday we're going to Camp Jewell from one to three uh for our sword of summer beach party so um we have had this soar to Summer campaign throughout the past six weeks of school and um you know kind of Milestones along
042the way when you know we notice our students following our school rules so we were trying to you know originally the beach party was just going to be some fun theme that we did at school and then you know our staff members got talking and I I spoke with Ian could we go to Toby Pond and you know that didn't end up working out and thank you Ann for suggesting Camp Jewell so I called we're going for free and little did I know that Colebrook goes every year for a whole year and this year Barkhamsted school is also going on June 9th in the morning so I think um what I know in previous years um the school has you know I think gone to Lake Compounce or done some other you know whole school
043end of the year activities and I think that this is a great find so I look forward to that for next year too like we talked about on Monday is the celebration of learning um that evening is a celebration of all you know the learning that our students have done in a variety of contexts throughout the building the art show will be um for viewing here uh the maker space will be open the PIP projects that are able to be displayed will be in the back of the gym and of course like always the classrooms are open and they're you know the students bring their parents around and show them the things that they've learned um and then at six o'clock is the concert so it's a it's a full fun evening um and I
044hope that many of you are able to join us the following evening Mary Beth and I will host the hour with administrators we talked about the volunteer appreciation breakfast followed by the good news Gathering and awards assembly right afterwards promotions the following day and on the 19th it's the last day of school it's hard to believe for the um celebration of learning did we send invitations to any of town officials yep yes yeah we sent them to um Town Hall the board of selectman and Matt um Mike and the board of Finance we sent the fire department the club yeah [Laughter] I know we invited the Sewer District um I leaned on Mary Pat for her input and who would be the most appropriate so just like Sam with Justice and peace and I did
045not receive an invitation okay well you know we didn't do double gravitations [Laughter] I thank you for that because I know we had talked about it and I think a lot of I think that was a great idea and I was I was talking to someone today and um just about how we hear a lot of it from community members that they don't know what's going on in the school yeah and you know for us to reach out and the kids to have you know invitations to them saying come see what we're doing it can definitely help with those relations and yeah I think it's a good thing to put yeah I think it's a really a great tradition to start we do so many wonderful things and inviting them to the Veterans Day assembly
046you know the Winter concert all any number of the play you know any number of things that happen I think it's a great thing to continue yeah the celebration of learning is so good because the kids are so proud of the academic achievements they've made I feel like that's so yeah it is it is I was in the early primary class probably a couple of weeks ago and Miss Holly had taken the kids on a little journey from what their writing looked like at the beginning of the year to where it has come I don't think that they it probably took about five minutes for them to actually believe that that was what their Works looked like in September and they were so amazed at what they had learned and you know that's an obvious
047difference in growth but all of our kids are always so excited to show off what they've accomplished to their parents academically and it'll be a fun night I know that the head of the Town Cemetery committee will be coming great yes I I had a feeling you might and then on the back side of your page I um Marybeth mentioned that you wanted a little overview of the joy Club so I'll give you just a minute to read that and um note that this club was formed at the request of students who approached Miss Crush about it and you can read on and find out a little bit more is this like a subset of like the student government student council in a way it's it's kind of different it's open to any third through
048sixth graders who wanted to attend um and it's similar in some ways but you know really focused kind of on that identity work and acceptance and inclusion well so I I asked to talk about this club because uh you know the club I I under I read it and I and I understand the uh I has a really nice inclusive message that I think is beautiful and fits my personal politics but I also see where this can push the boundaries of being very close to a pride club or to a sexual identity club that I think has a more political implication and so I and just the where that fits in an elementary school I just think is a good thing to to talk about as a board and you know um and it just
049has something to think about in terms of like what's the board's role in discussing or I don't know understanding what's what what is what's offered and and what's discussed so when does this club meet they meet during lunch and recess so the kids you know every Friday they have lunch uh and give up their recess to come and talk about whatever the most current issue is Mary Crush our music and instrumental music teacher we'll say that um the kids I know who are in this club do enjoy this time that they spend they like this time honestly away from other kids that they find disruptive and they find this to be a a calm space that is um that doesn't appeal to the kids or disrupt him I think and so I think that's sort
050of how they use it um I just thought it was something that the board should be aware of and that we should you know decide if there was something that we we felt we needed can you hear me because I know both my children attend the joy club and they love it I think some parts might be a little confusing but I do question where does it fit in in elementary like are they too young that like I guess where I kind of Teeter like like you said and they enjoy it they love going but is it appropriate if that makes sense yeah and I think it has a lot to do with what exactly the message is right and um and how much of uh like no is is there political motivation or political
051uh uh movements made in the club like what do they do do they congratulations this is so that Prime this is what Mary wrote up for me and then prior to that in the email it says you know it's a here's a description we are currently working on an acceptance campaign where the Jewish students want to educate their peers on how to show acceptance of others acceptance to others despite differences students will highlight different identities learning and in parentheses learning disabilities physical disabilities race and culture Etc and all the wonderful things about how we are all different which makes us stronger as an example one of our students in grade four who has a learning disability of Dyslexia went and talked to the kindergarten students about her disability so she could educate them on you
052know what that means and what they can do if they see a classmate struggling and that I think for her felt very empowering and uh you know gave her a platform to kind of meet that goal of celebrating everybody's and understanding the strengths that we have even though sometimes it's easy to view them as differences or even weaknesses so that's one example question he might be able to answer this foreign I know when Parker goes there seems to be a very big emphasis on like gay pride change trans transgender and stuff like that which is like completely fine I think they made Flags last week or whatever is that like the main focus because I know when I asked Parker to describe it to me like what they do he says like the all-inclusive um
053you know like you said accepting everyone for their things but it seems to be like a hyper focus on that like is it just because it's gay pride month or is that like the main focus of Joy Club it is not the main focus of Joy Club but I think you're right in that um because this is pride month that could be one of the focus points for this month it is not you know my understanding and what Mary and I spoke about or what she wrote about here that that is the primary focus at all like now Parker that's like a problem but I'm like huh he goes well we talk about it in Joy Club so that was just like my my one question I guess where I kind of cheat or like
054is it too confusing for them at this point yeah yeah I think you know these questions of uh identity are difficult ones that definitely our society is struggling with and we see kind of moving further and further down the age age scale yep um would it be helpful if I spoke with the other principals um in the feeder schools to find out if there are any similar clubs I know at Mary's other Elementary School they do have a pride Club where it is again focused solely on understanding who you are celebrating differences including others as a focus point but they do call it a pride Club at her elementary school but it really is meant to be like pride in yourself pride in your background pride in your strengths that type of thing but I'd
055be happy to inquire to you know the Barkhamsted School Colebrook yeah the New Hartford school and see if they have any similar types of clubs at their elementary school if that would be helpful if not I well I know I think that's a that could be helpful I would like to kind of uh and and to hear what the history is and how long have they been in uh how long have they been together have they noticed any like what's the impact on the have they been able to identify an impact on their school culture or their children or anything along those lines I mean there's it never hurts to do some of that sort of research yeah I think it's important um yeah I love the idea all-inclusiveness um I just wonder if what
056content where at what line just become confusing or like you said like the age line a little bit of confusion comes up you need somewhere you know a resource if you're and certainly if you're not getting it from from your family um if there is confusion I mean it I know a lot of people don't want um that those sorts of discussions to come up um in in the school setting but if if there's no other Outlet um I mean that there is a need for it that some any one or two students feel that it's a necessary and safe place it's it's a necessary thing right and like I would trust Mary to be very professional in terms of if things came up to intervene in a way that you know it became more
057personal for kids and that she was able to help kids navigate some of that confusion and for whatever individuals to be able to provide you know a additional resources or support or to blaas on you know between the child and the family but um I I I I don't see Mary as someone who is going to let this get out of control or inappropriate and she's mentioned to me numerous times of situations where kids you know do bring up things and she you know has to rein them back in you know she um ha you may not know this but she just got her Masters in um diversity inclusion and Equity work so she has a lot of background educationally um that I think supports her and her ability to do this and like what
058Mary Beth said she has um a great professionalism and balances that really well with creating a trusting environment for kids but also maintaining appropriate boundaries and that's not always an easy line to to you know to kind of Traverse but she does so very well the kids respect her immensely and um I think that it's an opportunity Mary and I can certainly if that would be of comfort to you she and I can meet and we can talk about the things that are coming up I can you know give you a heads up if that would help but I think the fact that the kids asked for this is this speaks volumes I think we have a more of an understanding or a push in educational Arenas to to take care of kids social emotional
059health especially coming out of the pandemic and what that did I think this is another tool in the the schools toolkit to make sure that we have a place where people where students where children feel um accepted and able to talk about things that are on their mind and um and promote Acceptance in others and promote um making everybody feel accepted and you know spreading Joy like it says yeah so and I think it takes a lot of Courage for kids to share some of these things you know whether it's about you know a traditional dance that they that their Heritage has taught them and they you know maybe bring it to the group or any you know if somebody is having a learning Challenge and they want to be able to talk about that
060so the fact that kids are also willing to talk in front of their peers I think is really really important it creates a sense of trust and and it's courageous so you know I think that that's a really really important thing to Foster I think that doesn't seem good so as far as the joy club like I said Parker loves it and I agree that that was well doing it in a if it was an option for parents to sign off on whether they want their kids to join or not would that be something that would I guess eliminate maybe some question or something Janet can you start over because you got disconnected like I said Parker loves the joy Club he absolutely adores Miss crush and she does deliver like great stuff um I
061wonder if maybe giving some parents maybe the option of if they want their kids to join the joy Club if they think it's not age appropriate or whatever like um like a sign up basically I think my question would be what is that what is the program I think it's the mission is material or the purpose is to um where they can be themselves um where everyone feels welcome and accepted I don't know what the inappropriateness of that basically well do we have a policy about joining clubs about clubs and stuff like that or activities during the school are there other clubs in the school that are well so the student council although that didn't happen this year um but that would be a club um my um do you have the password beloved Anna
062feaster has come up to me every year wanting to start a club and the fact that she will no longer be with us next year I'm uh you know so sad if she you know advocated for a newspaper club and Miss Chabot did that with her last year so um I don't know that there is a policy I think that if there are people adults that are able to help kids we tend to you know try to do it even though um it might be hard so do we need like parent permission slips to join that's what I was thinking like maybe maybe that would be I mean even if we just think of it as like um you know just keeps the parents informed as to the clubs that their kids are in so
063that they like well I guess that was my point like kind of so they know so they're not caught off guard like for me I mean like I said Parker loves it I can care less but I can see where it can be some parents might want to know um so I think I lost you guys I'm trying to manage the uh um well it's like it's a difficult meeting I want to single out any club in the school for special treatment special restriction so if we had apology about um informing parents when their child joins the newspaper club or the on which student council but I don't like an unintended message but be careful of this one this one needs factual information that would also probably just like like a drama now of course
064for the kids who go to like the theater stuff that's all after school so they do have permission slips for that yeah but I wonder there's something to be said for the fact that if this is a safe space kind of Club when you have to get a whole bunch of permissions from your parents it might negate the safety of that um well I think to John's Point um if kids don't have the freedom to make a decision to talk about something that may they may not be able to talk about at home but they can safely talk about it at school um yeah it's getting permission presents any barrier too yeah that it could present a barrier how long has it been in existence uh it started this year I think it maybe has
065been two or three months so the kids approached a music teacher and requested yeah so that's good enough for me I got it is it recording yeah oh because you're the host because I'm the host okay to see you guys okay well so here's the question do we we don't have to take any action at all um we could take action to say we want to adjust the way that uh clubs are managed or uh we could but this again in that pile of we've got to think about this and you know give us some time to consider its impact how are we feeling of those three options well I have a question did somebody actually particularly bring this up as an issue or was it just brought as a topic of discussion for the
066for the board I brought it up because I I had people ask me about about like you know I I hear that there's a pride Club at hotel don't you think those kids are too young for that yeah so it was like a parent concern Community member concern yeah community members okay I would say and I was like well there's a joy Club I don't think it's specifically a pride player so I did you know I I gave the answer that I knew to that what I knew about it but I have to say when Laura and I came home and told me about it because she's in the joy club and loves it by the way I was a little bit uh shocked by it at first because I am used to the idea
067of a pride Club I mean it sounds like Pride Book it just us and now I could be making a leap that you know that but I understand why people made that lead um I was a little shocked at first when she talked I I as I said as I've already said it agrees with my personal politics but I'm just it was a it was I was uh it was just a little shocked and I apologize for that because in hindsight and I think this should be moving forward something that we just do as a practice when a new club is going to be formed that we inform the board who have created a new club this is the um purpose this is the context of it this is the Genesis of it so that
068the board is not caught off guard um I didn't see the um the conflict or an issue you know it didn't just occurred to me that there would be you know any problem with a joy Club given the purpose and the right you know uh motivation behind it but I do think that it's important for the board to to know and you shouldn't have had to come and ask me after the fact so I do apologize for that like it would have been so I asked Laura about it because she's my because she's what we were chatting about it um but actually if I had like I think I would have like or even if she had been given this maybe she was I don't but like I I would have liked to read this
069maybe you know because um I just think that that would be useful and I I appreciate that I like I really I that Rings true to me the idea we can't be singling out like oh be careful of this dangerous Club but I think it would be um I don't think would be like truthful if we weren't if we didn't acknowledge the fact that there are certain issues that are more political that are more politicized in our in our community or you know in our society and so I feel like like there's I want to make a rule that is that is important that that should obviously be the same for all the clubs but I think it is it's kind of when it's when it's a pretty when it's like a hot button issue
070or something like that I do feel like that is one that probably needs a little more is it just knowledge about it is the joy Club a pride Club um because that's not how it reads in the the purpose of of this club so is it the adults in the situation putting an intent and purpose on the club that when the kids approached Mary about the club they wanted it to be more like a pride Club so I think that's how it got started for them and Mary couched it as you know if you know we're inviting third graders all the way up to sixth graders we have to make sure that the topics are appropriate for eight-year-olds to 12 year olds so we you know we talked about that and brought in the scope
071to make it more focused on really her area of expertise diversity equity and inclusion I think like right now I guess it seems more like a pride Club because I guess like Lauren answered my question it's because it is pride month which would make sense that they are focused on that currently um but the idea of a club where people are all inclusive and that's what they highlight you know diversity acceptance I think that's a great thing um but again being caught off guard like like Ann said I think I can see where parents are like wait a minute I didn't know about this kind of thing but I think as far as having the club I don't think there's anything wrong with it um so I think that if it was just a pride
072Club that it would be so limited and singular right and kids also attention spans like they're not going to want to talk about the same issues month after month so this is good that they can you know talk about different things and I know that last year the students in Parker and Michael's class like talked about their learning disabilities and and like educated their classmates so that it was sort of became a more inclusive environment and sort of debunked myths about things and I think that this is probably the purpose of this as well is to be you know educate each other on our differences um so if Pride could be one of those things being gay their gender identity whatever but also like you said learning disabilities or maybe even religion um race race
073yeah I mean all of it yep um you know students who have have all different needs and if they have a safe place to talk that's better than no place to talk yeah yeah I agree I agree um I do have to run because I am at work but if there needs to be a vote on the club I vote to keep it if that matters I just wanted to bring it up to the board because I wanted the board to know what was happening and I wanted to have this conversation so that we could all be like on the same page so can I just ask when they do the play the parents have to sign them up is that a club though or it's just a play I don't know or maybe one
074of the things we could do to you know kind of piggyback off of what Mary Beth said is that you know to we're all about communication right so in the student handbook that would be a great place to identify clubs that we have you know student council the drama club The Joy club and then a little blurb that if students are interested in starting a club they you know need to approach the principal and or a staff member who they feel might want to sponsor the club you know yeah I think that's a great idea just to keep just to have everything out in the open yeah there was a buyer that went home in like Abby's folder about The Joy club I'm sure there was because there's a beautiful flyer on Mary's wall uh
075or door rather outside you know so people can see and read about it the player that went home about the newspaper Club when that was started and there was a flyer that went home it was never meant to be a secret thing no no no no no and they're doing how things get lost in people's abstracts and parents don't necessarily see everything but you know the intent was to make sure everybody at least knew that we had a toy book yes thank you all right well thank you for that conversation um why don't we move on um okay I'm gonna head out guys but thank you um all right was that was there anything else no principles report we're going to move on to standing committees uh the personal negotiations uh committee met Thomas George
076yeah personal negotiation committee and Jay and myself and um worked out of the principal's contract which I would like to hand out in this lesson executive session later and then a meeting okay okay um uh technology and curriculum let's see okay thanks I'll see I think the policy J is not not here today um he was not feeling well so you know keep that for next time uh communication experience uh health and wellness yes I'm just gonna thank you for married to Mary Beth for printing this out this is it's an update on um Leandra Dillard our nurse uh and the school you know through Lauren and Mary Beth will be sending out this letter through the call so community members fam and Families um just to let them know that the um the executive
077orders from Governor Lamont have been lifted so uh Torrington Area Health pretty much said it's up to the local boards to decide on clothing protocols um so we are going to return to our pre-covered while in sick well and sick policy so it just gives me you know details about that and it's pretty simple just if you're not feeling well stay home and if they're you know they have a fever they have to stay until their fever free for 24 hours uh no vomiting and diarrhea for 24 hours uh no strep throat and in fact about conductivitis for 24 hours same thing so um and the same with the administrative Bill staff Administration um so this letter is going out that's pretty much the main thing that we talked about yeah do we have a
078policy on mask wearing or did we have one pre-covered we had the emergency sort of policy that had been born we approved but that's sort of null and void now because uh that went with the it was a temporary policy that covered the board to adopt and Implement all of the mandates requirements and executive orders and back a few weeks ago all of the emergency measures have been lifted across the state so we're just following suits so we no longer have to require people to stay home for five days or wear masks if they when they come back to school whether they've tested positive or not if there's symptoms free and not sick they're allowed to come back to work come back I was just thinking about students who might want to wear a mask
079it's always been a productive we have some kids who choose to wear a mask and they wear a mask um we've never taken that voice away but we are not requiring a mask for any circumstance okay great that was pretty much oh and Brooklyn Memorial is finishing up their um their cleanings and treatments and we should be finishing those up by the end of the month and we still have four more years of the grant so uh you know I'm just looking for ways to try to get more students to participate most most of our students do have mental care um you know like and they go for regular cleanings families probably think like oh I don't want to give my insurance they don't need to do it but it's covered the students can come
080anyway so um hopefully next year we can get more participation from students on this yeah you know I always had the impression that if you have dental insurance you shouldn't do it but maybe the message should be you have dental insurance do it anyway because it doesn't hurt to extra clean your teeth right exactly yeah but like my thing I told them like Michael has this planning on Friday like well if he got his teeth cleaned three weeks ago or you know next week doesn't I don't know I probably could have done it twice you could have used it and so anything else I'm missing no that was everything I'll try to get short something non-con commercial for once there you go no no taking chain poster all right uh um so shared services has
081not met the PTO met yesterday yeah I can't do it still says Wednesdays it's Mondays it's Monday and I can't do Mondays um uh yesterday and um I just I joined virtually but uh to give a little just to give a quick Monday a couple of things on June 30th will be the um uh Friday the PTO will be sponsoring the Friday nights on the green uh which is a super fun Friday at six o'clock they'll be doing um games and snow cones and watermelon eating contests fun stuff I think it'll be a lot of fun and so that's that that's fine they're going to do that but probably not going to participate in the win weekend this this summer um that has been kind of a difficult one to to get going so um
082they're going to give the focus to that over the summer and then be moving on to the ice cream social um the next year um Chelsea bottom is uh well healed now in the president and treasurer's positions and um Michelle Padua was there uh supporting her in fundraising ideas and things things like that um but I think that um there are definite openings in in the in the PTO for people if they'd like to become involved would that be great um okay School Safety and Security we met earlier today um uh of the things that we went over that I can discuss um I mean all the regular drills and and meetings with people trainings and stuff like that have been proceeding at PACE um we discussed when the uh when the the new oil
083tank goes in there will be uh fresh Ballers put up for vehicular protection um that are part of the contract with that um and potentially we discussed the fact that the slide will be supposedly going in soon um not that that's it is actually tomorrow we go to the Town Security the safety meeting and it is on the agenda now yes they said the beginning of June and it is uh June 6th so they said the ninth is when the uh slide parts are being delivered so Tyler's going to that meeting tomorrow and we'll see what we're gonna have to like put the other armed guards we will see what his update is tomorrow at 2. I really watch but yeah that's happening okay everything's good everything's okay um for finance uh We've not met
084the the board of clients the oh the board yeah right so all right so right go ahead go ahead and pay me myself oh right next Tuesday like that we had the meeting and the last May meeting they've canceled the lesson for the finance meeting the town meeting and the town budget was passed with our budget right yes and they didn't have one in after that right they can't split okay all right thank you and it's the summer here I need to report from that uh the bad committee has not met all right um we have a couple of items here under new business uh budget transfers yeah um Kathy included in the packet the um to date what she's able to do in terms of transferring things to balance out within the different areas
085of the budget there are still a lot of in outstanding invoices with the board meeting so early in the month she doesn't have it extended out as far as she would have but we are in very good shape we'll be able to balance the budget within each of the budget areas and then as always we by the end of June we have to balance all of our books and so there's a annual vote where the board grants me the authority to make that happen and then we will share the results of that with you in August motion to approve granting uh permission the power to act through the summer months make whatever transfers necessary to close out the 2020 to 2023 budget year is there a second Ginger seconds all those in favor aye thank
086you we need to approve these budget transfers yeah so let's see approving the transfer of health and dental insurance for um reduction change in staff that money goes down to oil for heating um explanation being an oil price increase and building repairs for unexpected hot water tank replacement equals out so foreign carrots all right um I think we now could use a motion to move the executive session to discuss Personnel issues I will make a motion to move to Executive session second motion made in second and all those in favor you know motion to restart the regular meeting second all those in favor aye we're back in regular meeting okay so the personal negotiation committee met that would be um Mary Beth J and and myself and we have a a principal's contract um hopefully
087we'll be signed for three years and um you all got to read an executive session so I need a motion to approve that this goes to be presented to Lawrence does anyone want to make that motion so moved with the amendment to 3.2 oh thanks yeah 3.2 Amendment okay motion made what's that gonna get caught that's what she said 3.2 Cape Cod references oh okay so a motion made and seconded all those in favor okay and then that motion passes did you get all that John wait so I can and then a motion to adjourn she did I know yeah um okay sorry so who moved in fast I'm sorry um Ginger moves and Donna seconded the agenda yep and all those a favor hi hi emotions