001This is NHTV 2, North Haven Government Television, a service of North Haven Community Television. The following program is brought to you through the support of the town of North Haven. Welcome to the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, May 14th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. May I have a motion to approve the April 6th, 2026 Board of Education regular meeting minutes? I'll make a motion. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. It'll move. No student reps today? They're studying for Yeah, they must be. Um I know they're not here, but I I would just like to publicly thank uh Ryan Robin and Ava for Ava for coming here every week, preparing. They do all that stuff on their own. I'm sure they have help from guidance counselor, but let's let's give it to them that
002they're doing it all on their own. Uh you know, they have to come here, speak in front of large crowds. Um I'm sure it's it's uncomfortable for them, but they they plow through and they do a good job. I'm I'm hoping that Ava will be back next year as a senior rep and we'll get a new junior rep and I just I want to wish them a lot of luck as they move forward through their educational career. At this >> Rob, can I Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Um I know she's not here tonight, but I did want to extend congratulations to Ava who a few weeks ago was inducted into the World Language Honor Society for Spanish, and then yesterday she was inducted into the National Honor Society. So, congratulations, Ava. >> Ava. That is excellent.
003Maybe she's studying. >> [laughter] >> Maybe she can do her report in Spanish for us. >> [laughter] >> Now, that would be something. Um Now, moving on to the section for public comment for non-agenda item. If there's anybody here today who would like to speak on a non-agenda item, please come on in, sign in, and say your piece. I know you've already signed in, Sue, so you're all set. I, Sue Bivenuti, North Have- I mean, uh Bassett Road, sorry. Uh first I'd like to start with my comment on Facebook had nothing to do with you, Mr. Sir. First of all, I think your salary compared to the high school principal's salary, really, there should be a little bit more uh >> [laughter] >> disparity there. I mean, you're not you're underpaid as far as I'm
004concerned if this is where we're going to be paying a high school principal. I'm serious. I know I I don't know what your job entails, but I know as you climb a ladder, there should [clears throat] be a little bit better, you know, not like $10,000 difference, but but everything else I have to say is not as wonderful. I don't understand why we have um two assistant principals for 957 high school uh uh students. I don't understand why we have two assistant principals for 750 middle school students. And I looked at the population in North Haven and the schools as far as how many students were here, and I went right back to the year I bought, 1987, 1986. And the numbers don't talk the way everybody talks here and at the Board of Selectmen
005meetings, and I'm talking mostly from the public. But people did not buy into North Haven for your school system because your population has not grown um since I'll go from since 2000. The population went from 23,035, and right now currently it's 24,336. But in the meantime, it dipped. So, I mean it and it came back up. And your students had gone from 3,800 down to 3,069. And that was in 2021 where we hit the lowest level. So, and right now it's at I think they said 3,152 or something. Um so you're not buying into this town for a school system. You're not picking up any students. And now I have to get to where the students are what I don't understand. With 3,152 students, there's between 1,471 to 1,532 in the elementary schools. And then
006the number drops. Middle school goes to 750. I have no idea where those 750 kids disappeared to in the middle school. Where are they? And then when it gets to the high school, it only is at 957, so you're still over 600 kids less than started here. So, people may be using North Haven school system for the elementary schools, but they certainly are not using it for your high school and your middle schools. I did and I had to Google everything I did, but then I went through for the high school this many, for the middle school this many, and for the elementary school this many. And I did bring up [clears throat] last time the reading proficiency and the math proficiency. Um and yes, I know Green Acres, even when my son was in
007elementary school, he didn't go here. He was in a Catholic school, but his friends that were in Green Acres, they rose and that's what the numbers show here. They have the highest ratings here. And Ridge Road happens to have second. So, that then it drops. And Clintonville drops way down. Um Ridge Road, we'll say 60 62% math proficiency, 72% reading. Clintonville, 57% reading and 67% math. So, and then the middle school 66% reading and 50% math. And so sorry with this high school. These kids are not going to know how to do a budget. They're not going to know how to buy a house. They're not going to have about compound interest and everything else. Their math level is anywhere from 36% to 40 proficiency, 36% to 42%. And the reading is right across the
008board with the 67%. So, obviously North Haven is very good in the reading. They stay what do you call level. Math drops. You need math a whole lot, especially if you expect to ever you know be out on your own. So, that's my concerns, okay? Um as far as the budget is the way it is I'm not going to discuss that thing here. Um but I did definitely want to say my [snorts] comment about over I don't remember how he put it. It was like over the people were being hired at too high of a rate and outrageous raises and whatever. That was definitely not true even though the person who responded to me thought it was. That was the last thing on my list because I saw high school principal getting $190,000. I was
009I was like, "Hello, what is somebody missing here?" I don't know what you get as far as what we used to call the benefits at the work. You know, as far as who puts into a uh IRAs or whatever what do as far as your extra benefits. I don't know how that goes. But I did go and look. I don't know what your GERG includes. So, I went from one of the sites and I picked all the towns that were there and I went Branford and Guilford and Madison and I have no idea where Guilford's getting their money cuz they're fighting left and right, but he makes 341. So, I do not the numbers. Your numbers are low. Your numbers are low to me just for North Haven. Just from here's a high school principal
010and if you're getting what? Okay, so I have nothing against that. So, that's what I have to say. Sorry. I see. >> [laughter] >> Sorry. So, I would just like to make a couple of comments on a couple of things you said and I'll I'll let Yes, sir. the admin respond to a couple other ones. Um You know, we've talked before. We known each other got a long, long time. And we've talked many times about your opinion on things, my opinion on things. They differ and that's fine. We still be able to remain friendly and we still will. And that that's the whole point of these conversations is that people can come up here and say their peace without fear of uh you know, losing a friend or getting uh in a heated argument. You
011know, these are places that we're just trying to have discussions. And one of the things I like to talk about is where you say, you know, people don't come here for the school systems. I I would say you're incredibly wrong. Um when you look at the school system, it's not just English and math. It is the programs for special education among other things. Those things attract quite a few people in the town because we're full service. We can give everything that they need at a higher level than surrounding towns. Populations, they they ebb and flow. There's no question about it. We just had our company come in to do the eval for the schools as we try to move forward with new buildings in the future. And one of the things you have to kind
012of figure is what the enrollment is going to be Mhm. because that tells you how big a school you can build. That's really the whole thing. They're estimating um over the next 10 years an increase of 40 students per year for 10 years. Now, is that locked in, you know, of all and that's absolutely going to perfectly happen that way? I have no idea. I can only tell you what the experts are telling us is that it looks like things are going to be moving forward. So, if they're like that plan for Elm Street comes along and they're putting in 400 apartments, all right, for sure that's going to happen. Um and this town is getting younger as far as older people moving out, moving down south, moving a family, whatever it is they're doing.
013Younger families moving in with young kids who may not have fit the school yet. Mhm. They got in here when their kids were three and two or expecting. So, we think that there is going to be a rise coming up and it's going to be a consistent rise and that the um the reason they come here for the school system is not just English math. It's It's a lot more than that. Now, I don't know if you guys want to talk at all about the math proficiency or anything else. We're We're not going to talk about science. No, no. No, no. On that note, no. >> about proficiency if you like. >> On that note, but I'm saying every single year that I looked at, the elementary schools had at least 700 more than your
014high school. I mean, at least 600 more than your high school. But, I have no idea what goes on in the middle school. That doesn't make any sense to me that that's always the lowest number. I mean, if you pull your kid out for middle school, maybe you try to private school didn't work and you had to jump back into North Haven. I have no idea, but it seems to be on a regular basis that that's what happened here. But, obviously, North Haven's elementary schools are doing their job, getting what they want, and the kids are getting that far. But, people coming in and taking that and goodbye. You know, I mean, you're here for 5 years and goodbye. You get the money on your house and everything else. You take your kids to go
015to another town. That could be. That's I don't know, because the numbers for your students That's, you know, that's Oh, all I wanted to say was I don't know if you were accounting for this, but when we go to the middle school, there's just three grades there. When you go to the high school, there's four grades. So, there is less students because we're missing a grade there. They go No. No, you can't. No, if Green Acres has 400 children and Ridge Road has 400 children and Clintonville has 300 children and Montowese has 300 children does not equal 1,600. I mean, doesn't the numbers change? >> So, let's say let's take fifth grade for example, right? So, if you take all of the fifth graders this year, they're fifth graders, and I did a really quick
016adding estimate. If you add all of the fifth graders, we have approximately 225 kids across all elementary schools. So, next year, they'll be approximately sixth graders. Okay. Assuming that that number is the same for 3 years, right? You'd have 225 fifth graders that would become sixth graders, that would become seventh graders, that would become eighth graders. So, it's still 675 kids, but it's they're different groups of kids. You're not adding all of the kids kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and expecting them to be in the middle [clears throat] school. I think those are the numbers that you're looking at. No, I'm looking at your total. >> class has that 225, like we're graduating 220 No, no, no. I told you the high school had Okay. I am I can
017I have a diagram that I can show you the How many Right, but if your high school has 957 [clears throat] students, okay? And your middle school had 700 and >> [clears throat and cough] >> It's approximately 200 students. 750. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> elementary schools have 1,532. Doesn't anybody else think that those numbers should add up the same? But the But the elementary is from K to 5. >> Elementary schools. six grades in the elementary school. Three grade levels >> Okay. All right. All right. Okay. I I understand what you're saying there. That's okay. All right. I stand No, I stand corrected. I know exactly what you're saying. I did hear Okay. I'm not counting that though. I appreciate Got you. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Cuz I was like not thrilled with that the
018numbers of the What? Well, I'm glad you brought it up because >> Well, no, because I I was looking at grade wise. >> You were, I'm sure, not the only one. So, now that you brought it up, it's been explained and hopefully other people hear that too and now they're all >> North Haven's not losing middle school students. I'm not losing high school students. But, the number of students that come each year in 2000 you had Right. Okay. Your actual number of students has dropped. >> Right. enrollment. And we're we're expecting we're anticipating an increase over the next 10. Okay. But, it's never going to get back up to the 3,800 it was back in 2000. I hope Well, I hope not. Okay. And Go ahead. Uh Ms. Melendez, I'd love to invite you up
019to meet with Melinda and I at some point. You gave a lot of uh stats regarding uh performance, and I'd love to share some of ours with you so we can compare and just talk you through if you're ever open to that. >> Okay. And um as far as the high school enrollment, you're right. It was 1,300 at some point. And that we had three assistant principals and a principal during that time. We recognize that our enrollment has dropped pretty significantly over over years. And at this time we we dropped down to two assistant principals at the high school with a principal. So, we're acknowledging that there's a change in in enrollment there, too. I I did see that there. And the other thing that I had seen, which I didn't bring up, was the
020number of teachers that were there here back back then and the number of teachers that are here now has increased drastically and the number of administrators. But, if you're all addressing these things, I think it's great, but anybody can do what I did just Google and it comes up that we're a good school system. That's it comes up that way. And then if you keep looking at the numbers and the stuff, it's like wait a minute. You know, you you heard me last time about the scores and stuff like that. But And we provide a data presentation each year. It's usually in October. Just to talk it through. We can actually send you last year's just so you could lay eyes on it if you'd like. Yeah, I didn't know what the state of Connecticut
021or even US News considered good. What they considered good. I considered it just No, I considered it just passing because they said North Haven's all good, you know, and I was like, that's kind of just passes to me, that's a C. But, it's okay. All good. All good. Thank you. Thank you for getting those numbers right because I was mistaken on those. Thank you. No problem. Thank you for asking. Does anybody else have like to speak? Can I say something? I didn't get to squeeze in it earlier. I wanted to say thank you to um principal of Ridge Road, Chris McLaughlin, his wonderful staff and students for inviting me in on Tuesday. Um not very often as a teacher myself that I get to go into a school I do here as well. Um but
022I had the day off, had some time, uh got a chance to go and visit and it was just a great experience. Um got personalized tour. It was the school I went to. I remember sitting in some of the classrooms. Um the the the welcoming I got was so warm. The kids were smiling. The staff was welcoming and smiling. Um a little girl gave me a presentation on Cleopatra. It was 5 minutes long from memory. Uh I I I couldn't get past it. It was amazing. Then it was followed up by one on Dolly Parton. Um, so I just want to say thank you and give a big shout out to Ridgeroad School. What a wonderful staff. Patrick, you got a great group over there. Um, so yeah. Thank you everyone. It was great great
023time. Um, and real quick, I I want to piggyback off of something you said. Um, I'm new to this. Um, and I want to acknowledge how uncomfortable it is to have productive discourse when you have a camera. Um, when that camera is going to YouTube for everybody to see and it's there forever. Um, I believe that in order to be productive with discourse, you need to throw everything out on the table. Um, especially when you're problem-solving and you're trying to accomplish big goals, uh, you throw the good, the bad, and the ugly out there with the understanding that you're not going to be made fun of. No one's going to call you a name. Um, and so I just want to acknowledge that um, it is uncomfortable to be truthful and honest. Um, and I
024do think that, you know, productive discourse requires a level of being comfortable and I don't know how comfortable I am or you guys are. Um, I know I've heard people say there's private conversations going on. If they are, I'm not a part of them. Um, so it's just unfortunate that you can't have a group that's together to really problem-solve when everyone's watching. Um, and even last time, you know, we had a a meeting and there was um, no cameras, but we had two people in the front row, you know, passing the camera back and forth. I I I don't understand that. Um, is that for a gotcha moment or is that for like home viewing pleasure with popcorn? Um, so I want to acknowledge that. Um, I want to thank you for voicing your opinion,
025um, even, you know, when you're given facts. Um, so I just want to acknowledge that. Thanks. On to the consent agenda. Uh, Marie Camarado, 23 integrated day teacher from Green Acres Elementary. Uh, Vojetta Galen Blair, music teacher, Green Acres Elementary. Donald Johnson, social studies teacher, North Haven Middle School. Douglas Jones, instrumental music teacher, Green Acres Elementary and Clintonville Elementary. Sally Marr, physical education teacher, North Haven High School. Jolene Matt, social studies coordinator district. Robin Norup, payroll specialist, central office. Nancy Schriber, world language teacher, North Haven High School. Susan Wilson, social studies teacher, North Haven Middle School. And the resignation of Beth Crosby, paraeducator at Green Acres Elementary. Maria To- Toi, uh, 4-5 integrated day teacher, Ridge Road Elementary. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? Yes,
026please. Yep. Yeah, that's right. You're going to call Grant. Go ahead. Uh, I mean Yeah, I just thank everybody for their service to to the district. Obviously, there are a lot of names on this list that are very good teachers. Um, three of them in particular that have my family's had a fair amount of experience with. Don Johnson, um, who's a fantastic teacher. Uh, Mrs. Blair Green Acres Middle School, if you've ever been to one of the concerts, the things that, uh, her choir does are remarkable. And then, um, Marie Camarado is I think when you think of a teacher, she embodies everything that you would think of. She is stern when needed, caring when needed. She provides structure and discipline. Um, my family was in Green Acres for about 12 years through the four
027kids. All of my kids had Mrs. Camarado. She was fantastic, and she All my kids are very different. She knew what each one of my kids needed and brought out the best in all of them, but none more so than my youngest daughter who was coming through COVID and then went into Mrs. Camarado's 2-3 class and admittedly she was struggling with reading and and basic skills that um just a function of what COVID did and how it was approached. And I do not know what happened in that classroom, but um she has thrived ever since. She's in all honors or advanced programs in the middle school and Mrs. Camarado really changed the way she viewed school and her love for learning. And when someone like that has been in our district for as long as
028she has, and when she leaves, that is a loss that is felt [snorts] throughout the the schools. I just wanted to thank her so much for everything she's done. I hope she enjoys her retirement. I hope she enjoys watching the Yankees and >> [laughter] >> and I just thank her for everything she's done for for our district. It's kind of hard to follow. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, you have to follow it though. >> I I mean I was really just going to say that I know that this list is that we have a lot of teachers retiring. I know that many teachers decided to um take advantage of the early retirement and me and myself as a teacher I wanted to say thank you so much for all of the years of service that you
029put into our district. Um there's names on here as well that have impacted my students. Sue Wilson over at the middle school also helped my daughter during COVID time um which was difficult for a lot of students. So um I'm I'm happy that everyone's able to get their retirement and I I wish you all the best. Hope you enjoy it. Anyone else? Maybe? Anyone? I I just I can't say it better than uh Joe and Michelle did. Thank you everybody for everything and I do appreciate that we were able to find a little bit of a win-win situation and some early retirements with folks that uh it benefits everybody, I think, but you definitely will be missed. I agree. I'm glad we were able to offer that and they were able to take advantage of
030it. I may have a motion to approve the consent agenda. I make motion. Second. Second. All in favor. Aye. So moved. May I have a motion to approve the Board of Education's 2026-2027 regular meeting dates? I'll make a motion. Second. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor. Aye. So moved. Reports from standing committee ACES. All right. Uh we had a meeting today. We We had a long discussion about the governor's uh distribution of funds and why some areas got more than others and I'll leave it at that. Uh Uh as far as their budget is concerned, they're finishing the year uh on target with their budget and all of their funding uh capital has been met to date. Uh we discussed a program called Brightwell, uh which is uh for [snorts] approximately 10 students and
031uh it's for students who are basically unable to fit into any kind of classroom situation. Uh so they're uh uh for lack of a better word, these are difficult special special needs, not special ed, but special need kids almost on a one-to-one basis in order to function. Uh and that's something that started this year. Um ACES uh received uh an honorable mention from uh CABE uh for a program that they offered called ACES social media sharing our story. This is, uh, called the Carne Award and it's presented, >> [clears throat] >> uh, to a various school systems for uh, media programs that they develop for information for the governor. Um, Bassett Street is complete. Uh, the dedication and our next meeting is going to be June 4th at 11:30. Uh, I don't know if it's
032going to be open for visitation. Uh, as soon as I get information, I'll let everybody know on that. Um, they presented 10 grants. Uh, they had a gala several weeks ago, uh, and the teachers were able to apply for grants through the ACES Foundation. Um, and they were presented at that time. Uh, the James Street building, which is, uh, in New Haven has the purchase of that and that's going to become their, uh, uh, main building for, uh, uh, office staff and so on. Uh, the rest of the program's going to go to Bassett Street. Um, we had an interesting discussion. Uh, they they bus mainly with, uh, vans and, uh, they we had an interesting discussion if they use the yellow vans for, uh, carrying students, the drivers have to have a CDL. Um,
033but there's some kind of clause that I didn't understand what it is, uh, that [snorts] if they use a white van, uh, it's classified as an activity van and they don't need a CDL in order to, uh, drive it. So, that helped me. Um, Tom Dehany, the current executive director, is retiring effective next month and [snorts] will be replaced by Dr. William Rice. Um and then I was asked to serve on the nominating committee for officers for the ASCE board for next year. Congratulations. And that's it. Thanks, Marty. Any questions for Marty? Curriculum, instruction, and planning? We did not meet this We did nothing. Does anybody have any questions for Joe? Finance and operations? Finance and operations. Uh we met earlier tonight and we talked through uh where we are currently for our current fiscal
034year. We remain on a budget freeze and uh we continue to track closely a lot of the risks that we are looking at. I did want to take just a couple minutes to talk through some of the conversations that are happening right now about our budget though more holistically, right? Um I want to start by saying that I understand that people have a lot of questions. This is complicated and it matters. Uh it affects all of our taxes, our kids, and our community, and people deserve clear and accurate information. Um so as an analyst by trade, I tend to think of a lot of these things in in terms of hypotheses. So you make a statement and then you try to prove or disprove it, right? So I want to go through just a couple
035of quick hypotheses and talk about how I battle test some of the information that gets put out there. Um I like to think that everybody in our community is acting in good faith. So when folks make a claim, I treat it like it's good faith. Uh so first um we built something too big during COVID and now taxpayers are paying for it. I want to just acknowledge there's a kernel of truth here. We did add some positions during uh the COVID times, but nowhere near the number that people are using out on social media. Like nowhere near that number. Um what matters most to me is what these positions were for. The majority of them are tied to special education services. So let's talk about how bringing those services in house does two really important
036things. One, it keeps kids in our home district, which is better for our kiddos. And two, it saves everybody money. Outplacing kiddos can cost well over $100,000 a year, plus transportation costs. So, programs like our RISE program, which takes place just at Clintonville Elementary, saves North Haven taxpayers $5 million a year. So, this was not expansion for expansion's sake. This was a strategic decision that this board made to improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs. Um so, if And if this hypothesis were true, like if we did add, say, 70 positions, which we did not, um there would be significant evidentiary support showed in our budget numbers. We would be outpacing the inflationary trend over the last 10 years. We are not outpacing inflation over 10 years. In fact, we are coming in 1% below. Like
037if you just snapped a line 10 years ago and applied the consumer price index inflation, our budget for this year would be 1% above what it is today, which is not nothing. It's close, you know, but it's not nothing. So, I I I'm going to say that that hypothesis is not entirely accurate. Uh second up, we are top-heavy or overstaffed at the administrative level. Totally appreciate when when people see things online how that can um how that can look. I look at districts within our district reference group or our DRG. Uh those are districts that are similar size to North Haven. They have similar socioeconomic uh demographics. Most districts have multiple assistant superintendents. In my personal opinion, we have the best assistant superintendent, but we only have one of her. Uh most districts have multiple
038people doing Mr. Strickland's job as well, and Mr. Strickland is is an army of one. Um and you know, we actually reduced administrative roles uh last year through attrition. And we haven't filled our director of grounds administrative position yet, because we're looking at creative solutions. We are all taxpayers, you are too. We get it, you know? Um And I want to just share something really quick for a second. I'm going to try to do it without crying, cuz I get really emotional on this. But last week during a lockdown, like our leadership team ran toward the schools. Like they didn't hesitate, they just went. And to me that is very, very valuable. Um It could have been disastrous and they didn't care. They were like, we have to be there. And when there was a
039student that was very unfortunately struck by a bus, they did the same thing again. They ran toward it not knowing what they would find and that is very valuable to me. We have mission driven folks who legitimately care about our babies and uh who are have been doing more with less. Next up, the Board of Education doesn't make cuts. This This one kind of gets me sometimes, cuz I spend a lot of time looking at the budget and figuring out how do we make creative solutions. Um we've been under spending freeze for almost 2 years now. We've reduced staffing through retirements and we're trying to figure out the best way to absorb that impact with as little impact to our classrooms as possible. Uh we've cut our capital budget every year except for one over
040the last 7 years. Like the capital budget has not existed. Um we've reduced uh coordinator positions uh and we've let go of folks who were part-timers that were hired during COVID. Um So, like I do think that we do make cuts and we are making really difficult trade-offs that we take very seriously. And the last one came from my kiddo when he got in trouble in December. He had to review 25 uh municipal budgets and come up with uh battle-tested numbers on if we are spending more um if North Haven schools are overfunded. And he came up with several things. One, our spending compared to our dirt, we spend about $2,000 less per student than the average of our district reference group. Um to me, this means that we are like certainly making better choices
041than some of our peers. Um we spend a larger share of our budget on education, but we don't. Uh we spend 49.7% of North Haven's total budget dollars on schools, and the typical town in our district reference group spends somewhere between 57 and 65%. So, we're coming in way under that, too. Um I hear a lot that we get plenty of help from the state. Um North Haven gets 8% of our funding from the state of Connecticut. The district reference group D median amount is 16.6%. That gap accounts for about 5.6 million dollars. And don't worry, uh as much as I talk to our state rep and our state senator about that, I'm also talking to our governor about that regularly, too. Everybody gets to hear from Amanda on that. Um so, it's up to
042local taxpayers to cover about 89% of the cost for schools, and that is significantly more than a lot of other districts that look like us. So, here's where I land, right? It's totally okay for people to have whatever opinion they want on this budget. That is your right. I respect that, but I do hope that people make decisions based on accurate information. Um I'm only one of nine members of this board speaking on behalf of myself, but I certainly don't benefit personally from raising my own taxes. None of us do. Um we do not get paid for this work. We do it because we believe in this district. And um I have seen every member on this board take that responsibility very seriously. Uh at the end of the day, I'm not asking anybody to
043agree with me on anything. I'm just asking that we ground conversations in calm facts. And if anybody wants to get really nerdy and data specific, I am here for it. Have I got spreadsheets for you. That's it. Does anybody have any comment? I have one. Um I I agree with everything that that Amanda said. It's difficult sometimes to to go through that Facebook uh those pages and go down those rabbit holes because, you know, somebody will say something out of context and the next person will say, "Fact." And it is And it is obviously not a fact. Um I I get it. They're worded in such a way that you know, it's easy to to think that. Um but we dig into everything that we do. I would say the easiest The easiest thing to
044do is the one stat that Amanda mentioned that anybody can do and it's easiest to kind of solidify what we're doing here is if you look at what it costs per student to educate. That takes everything in the budget >> Mhm. and just divide it by the number of students that we have enrolled and you get a number. And when you see that number, thousands of dollars lower per student than in almost every other school in the dirt and then you see the success rate that we have here in providing a quality education and schools of distinction, the Blue Ribbon schools, and so on and so on. You have to acknowledge the fact that we're doing it right. That we're coming in as low as we can. It's obvious. Just do that simple math. Total
045budget divided by enrollment. And then you look and see how steady and sturdy these schools are and the opportunities and the oppor- our future Board of Education president right. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> So, if we could just kind of focus on that in the short term for a a quick answer. I mean, everything has spikes and valleys you can look at, uh, and debate. But, overall, if you just take that one number and look at it, you'll see that this board and this administration were working incredibly hard to try to get things done for this town uh and work well with the town administration of Mr. Frieda, Mr. Monaco, um Mr. Piper. It It's really been an awesome experience for me, especially over the last couple of years. When I started this, I had no
046idea how really involved this was, and I didn't realize it was a part-time job, either. But it But it But it is, and I'm not complaining, by far. And I work with excellent people who make my job easy. So, uh we can just look at that, and obviously, if you have any questions, you're more than welcome to come to any meeting and bring them to the mic, and we'll be more than happy to try to answer those the best we can. Other than that, we'll move on to the North Haven Education Foundation. Thank you. The Ed Foundation met yesterday morning. Uh during the meeting, they approved a grant submitted by Amy Ralph, our uh CTE coordinator, and the grant will enhance eighth-grade technical education by integrating hands-on drone technology into the curriculum. So, we're very
047thankful for the Ed Foundation and Amy for submitting it. Uh will support uh Mr. Fuji's class in the next over the next 3 years. Thanks, Ron. That's it. That's it. Anybody have any questions for Mr. Sperk? Okay. Policy reads. This will be the first read of a couple of different policies. Um I'll go over We really won't talk about these again until August or September, but first read of policy 3310, expenditures, expanding authority, business, policy 5128, meal charging policy for students, policy 5141.8, wellness policy. We're going to move ahead to the superintendent's report. Okay, Ron. Oh, sorry, go ahead. Can I just ask a couple questions? >> Sure, you can. Okay, great. Thank you. So, for 3310, that's the policy that governs how the district spends money and ensures that we are sort of operating
048similarly to how the town does. Right. Um do we know how often exceptions to the competitive bidding process are used and how they're tracked? So, I appreciate you asking this because all three of these policy reads are a direct result of the I believe or not the food audit that we just went through last month, which we did find out, but they will go through everything. And each of these three policies has been on our books for a considerable amount of time. So, the changes you actually see in this particular policy, we have been doing. They are the town's procurement and bid process thresholds. So, we've been doing them. They've just not never been codified in policy. Amanda, to answer your question, we we usually only in emergency situations have to reach out to Mr.
049Monaco or Mr. Frieda for emergency purchases. Um but outside of that, you know, we really do look to either stay on the state Connecticut kit bid and and utilize those vendors that have been recognized or quite frankly adhere to the the purchasing thresholds um that are identified here and in direct alignment with the town purchasing policy. Perfect. Thank you. And then for 5128, which is the meal charging policy, that like sort of governs how the district handles students who cannot pay for meals and how we collect unpaid debts. Um are we offering families that are in this position the um paperwork for free and reduced price lunch? Yep, and we currently we we get the information out at the beginning of the year each year. We also work with our principals to really delicately just
050encourage folks to make sure that just apply. And if you have questions to contact our office. Um cuz we want people if you you can take advantage of this program, please do because we want to make sure that if you're eligible, it it's something that can benefit your family. So we do outreach to them. In this particular policy, the only addition that we had to make sure that was really clear, and this was a directive from the state, is the fact that unpaid debt we are responsible for at the end of the year. We cannot use the food service account to pay for that. Great. And then last question on 5141.8, the student wellness policy. That kind of talks about nutritional standards, physical activity requirements, wellness education, and staff and community involvement. Um it says
051that there's a recommended 30 minutes of play per day in the elementary schools. Are our teachers able to meet that physical activity expectation given like the like mandatory scheduling constraints? Yeah, they have to in the sense outside of a recess. They do recess. Yeah, that it's effectively recess. Um way back when that this policy, we had to blow the dust off it a little bit because it hadn't been updated since 2006. And in between that time and our and our principals have been adhering to this as you can't you have to provide that. You can't take away as punitive because it's important for our kids and it has to be supervised but not structured. So PE class does not you can't say, "Hey, you have PE class so you can't go out for recess." That
052that's been clarified with across districts. Yes, we do provide that at that level. So Excellent. Thank you. Anybody else? We're going to move on to the superintendent's report. Thank you. I just want to say a few words regarding the events that occurred last week. Uh it was emotional. It was very scary. Uh as a district from everyone sitting at these tables here, as well as all of our teachers, support staff, we really put nothing above the safety of our students. Uh but last week, the safety of our students was called into question multiple times due to circumstances beyond our control. I'm very happy to report that the student that was struck by the car was back in school this past Monday. And although the middle school and high school were locked down for a better
053part of an hour, all of our students made it home safely. And really in these times of crisis, our people shine. They come together. We saw that throughout the week at our schools. Uh I emailed you personally thanked so many of our teachers and staff, but I just wanted to reiterate it again tonight. Uh because North Haven's very fortunate to have the folks we do. I'd also like to thank DAHSCO. They played a major role in supporting us through these incidents. Uh they were extremely responsive, communicated with us without delay. And I also just need to recognize, I think again, uh the North Haven Police Department and the North Haven Fire Department. Their response to each situation last week was was exceptional. So, uh we truly appreciate them. Uh on a completely different note, I
054did want to just uh throw back out to the board uh a conversation from last month's meeting. Uh Ms. Krista Kaplan spoke about the board potentially uh considering permitting faculty to forego the professional development uh that on Friday, May 22nd. And I just wanted to bring that to the board's attention for any possible discussion. That's my report for this evening. Thank you. Okay. All right. Does anybody have uh Before we get into that, I just want to reiterate what uh the superintendent said about our relationship with the fire department and the police department in town. It's It's absolutely stupendous. Um really they're like our left and right arm. We call, they're there. We ask a question, they have an answer. It's really been tremendous to work with the chief, both chiefs. And I just wanted
055to thank them again for that. Does anybody have any questions uh Mr. Stark in particular about the professional training day? Do we have to add a motion to the agenda to approve that or to discuss it? It can be a decision I'm sorry. I think because he brought it up in his report. Okay. It will be okay. I support it. Yeah, I think it's something we've done in the past and I I I like it. I think it supports our teachers and I think it's a good way to show our appreciation for everything that they do above and beyond. Right, that day is already half day for the students, correct? >> half day for students, yes. I don't have any problem Are we all in favor of that? Yeah, that day for them. Treat those
056teachers well. That's right. Amen. Uh assistant uh >> [laughter] >> What time is it? Assistant Superintendent's report. This evening I would like to highlight some end-of-year student achievements that are happening across the district. First, um the results of our recent world language seal of biliteracy testing that are um our students performed exceptionally well. We are still awaiting a few um final scores. They come in different areas. 34 students at the high school chose to take this assessment. They select that themselves. And so far this cohort this cohort has achieved the highest scores since we have started participating in this program. In order to obtain the seal of biliteracy, students must show proficiency in all language modalities, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Earning this seal of biliteracy is a significant milestone that validates our students' high
057level of proficiency in multiple language and prepares them for success in a global workforce. Congrats to our students and our world language teachers. Our culinary students recently returned from Disney achieving many awards and honors. These include second place for their appetizer, a regional overall winner for African cuisine, and judges spotlights judges spotlight pins for character and effort. So, congratulations to them. Today, we just learned that 100% of our CNA students have passed the written examination and 13 of the 14 passed the clinical assessment. The one student that missed it has an opportunity to retake it as part of the process, and we are confident um that that student will pass as well. So, amazing work there. Additionally, our preliminary data on the state English learner assessment called WIDA ACCESS for ELLs shows that we have
058an exit rate of 12.4%, which is approximately 22 students. Part of that data will be looped into our fall data presentation, but that's really a great accomplishment. Our multilingual numbers are always moving because students move in and move out, but we were at approximately 200 this year, so that's great. Lastly, I want to highlight a new resource for families. It's called the Literacy Lounge. It was created by our K-8 Language Arts Coordinator, and it's an online hub designed to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and home support in literacy. It's located on the district website under content areas and the literacy lounge offers a clear breakdown of the science of reading, an overview of our district assessments and what these scores mean for your child, and practical fun activities for every component of literacy, which
059can come in very handy for families during summer break. This page will continue to be updated with new information and fun activities at home. We encourage everyone to explore it. And that's all I have. Does anybody have any questions for Melinda? No? Director of student services. Great, thank you. I have some positive news to share this evening. So, to piggyback off of what Melinda just shared with everyone. First, I would like to congratulate Green Acres Preschool for earning their NAEYC accreditation. This labor-intensive process took a deep look at our preschool program as a whole, the curriculum, classrooms, and staff to ensure that we were meeting the highest level of instruction and support services for our students. This multi-year accreditation process reviewed every detail from handwashing to learning stations in the classroom to how much mulch
060is on the playground. The unannounced visit that occurred and walk-through reviewed each and every one of these details plus much more, every big and small component to the preschool program. Our preschool passed with flying colors and they were highly impressed with the program that we were offering to our students in the community. A major, huge, big thank you to our building leader, Tracy Considine, all the preschool teachers, support staff, paraeducators, custodians, students, and the families for being part of this process. However, a very large, big shout-out goes to Christie Scanlon, our coordinator of special programs, for her dedication and commitment to this process. It was many years of training and working with a consultant and many hours of collecting data and I'm just so proud of everyone through this process and it really allowed our
061preschool to shine and show the good work that happens each and every day. So, congratulations to them. Second, our special education resource fair was a huge success. That was last month. There was about 75 people in attendance with over 30 vendors. Families gathered and visited each of the tables obtaining helpful information and resources on how to move forward and different different resources that are available in the community. We received quite a bit of feedback from our vendors about how wonderful the evening was and the opportunity to connect directly with our community. They felt that was a the face-to-face impact was highly beneficial and it allowed them to capture some families that may not know what direction they need to go in through certain processes. So, for example, was applying for the autism waiver or resources
062post NHT program. So, it was very very helpful. I have to say thank you to Apex Solutions for the refreshments and a big again shout out to Laura De Santo for our coordinator of special ed for secondary for raising the event, putting all the important details together, making all those great contacts and she built an excellent community of resources that now we can continue to build on and share with other communities. It was also wonderful to see, I believe there were one or two other families that came from other communities to join. So, it was nice to build those relationships. And lastly, as our school year winds down, we're preparing for ESY, the extended school year program service for students who qualify for additional support through their IEP, their individualized education plan during the month
063of July. This, just to clarify, is not an enrichment program, but is a program that is required under the law to support students with special education and their particular learning needs. This summer, our coordinator of elementary >> [clears throat] >> um student services, Rachel Tyrell, will be the coordinator I mean, excuse me, will be the director of the program. If you happen to have any questions or concerns, you're welcome to reach out to my office directly. Thank you for allowing me to share this good news. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Anthony? Okay, moving on. Thank you, Anthony. Uh moving on to Chief Operating Officer's report. Good evening, everyone. Um I'm just going to piggyback off Ms. Gabriel's uh report from our finance committee and just highlight some other important operations information. Um
064as mentioned, we we are still in a budgetary freeze, which will stay in place till the end of the year. Um we are going to be beginning the formal process of closing out the fiscal year starting June 1st. Uh with that being said, you have in your uh report this evening the transfer report for the month of April. Any items highlighted in yellow are always those that cross object code lines and are respectfully submitted for the Board of Education's approval. In regards to our two reserve accounts, this is our medical and dental reserve and our workers comp, they currently stand at the end of April with just over 1.3 million in our medical and dental reserve and our workers compensation at just over 81,000. Uh in regards to this transportation, piggybacking off Mr. Mastriano's report,
065he and I have been working directly with DATCO to finalize our ESY routing for the upcoming summer. When this is finalized, pick up and drop-off times will be directly communicated to families accordingly. Uh this summer, our four our four-week ESY program will take place beginning June 29th through July 23rd, and our five-week program will start on June 29th and continue through July 30th. Um In regards to cafeteria and food services, uh just want to let everybody know that on April 22nd, Chartwell catered events celebrating Administrative Assistants Day, which had a great response. Mr. Rizzo and I have also finalized the walk-in freezer replacement project at Ridgeroad Elementary School. The walk-in freezer and stuff of coolers have been overdue for replacement and this week this work will be done the week of June 22nd and will
066be funded through the district's food service account. I'm sorry for being >> Oh, no, not a problem. I'm sorry. >> Oh, no problem. I'm sorry. Um Finally this evening, you may recall during the March 2026 Board of Education meeting, information was provided to the Board of Education to support a small increase to lunch prices for the 26-27 school year. For reference, I did attach that information in this month's packet again. We have not actually raised lunch prices since prior to COVID and this is in in terms to lunch equity pricing. Um it is respectfully presented to the Board of Education that the elementary lunch price be raised from $2.75 to $3 for the 26-27 school year. And similarly, excuse me, the middle school and high school three-tier lunch pricing of $3, $3.15, and $3.65 be
067changed to a two-tier pricing of $3.50 and $4 for next school year. Is that still under the max standard that they would allow us to go to? The the the the average pricing where you should be at, it's still under that. >> Right. So, do you have an idea how the difference is, what difference that is? To get to the to the max. >> Uh in order to raise the prices to get all the way up there, that I can get to the board. I do not have that. This is still below that. >> But, it's fairly substantial It's more than I think the quarter that we raised. >> Right. And I don't think it's >> it's twice that. >> Yeah. And I don't want to put that on parents to make that financial >>
068No. Absolutely. And and no no there's either uh anyone on the board. It's just I'm just trying to you know, make people sure that they understand this is another avenue that we always look at every year to make sure that we're getting the best opportunity for kids to buy lunch at a reasonable rate. >> Correct. When we could easily just say, "Oh, the state says we can charge this." And that's what we do. Um that's probably too easy to do it that way. Yeah. So, we yeah, we go through and we make sure we talk about it and try to get the best uh situation for everybody out there. And has anybody uh That was it for you? Appreciate Yes, sir. Uh and where else have you questions for Christian? No. Okay. Thanks, Christian. Yeah.
069May have a motion to approve the monthly financial report including the recommended transfers? I'll make a motion. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. So moved. Uh may have a motion to approve an increase in the school lunch prices beginning in 2026-2027 school year as discussed? So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? I just I I wanted to say just my understanding first no one wants to like I don't want to raise prices on anybody. But, my understanding from when we discussed this last time too was that if we fall too far below the mark, then at some point somebody steps in and says, "You have to increase to this amount." So, increasing by this small amount is softening the blow for when and if that happens, but also potentially keeping us out of that happening
070because we're staying closer to the mark of where we need to be, correct? >> You are accurate. >> just wanted to say that because, you know, I mean, my kids buy lunch, too. Um randomly, not every day, but um I just wanted to say, yes, I mean, I don't want to increase price. Everyone's finding it difficult for everything right now. So, certainly not something I want to do, but I think that it's a smart move to make to try to to be kind of under that radar and keep it affordable for kids and avoid that big like "Oh, you guys are way too low. You have to increase it to this now." >> Of course, John. Yeah, right. >> Yeah, correct. Can I ask one other question? >> Yeah. I totally agree with Michelle and
071can we post this somewhere publicly just to make sure that parents aren't caught off guard? I just want to set everybody up for success and make sure they have time to plan and adjust any any budgets that may be need to be adjusted. Can I ask one final question about the tiered pricing at the middle school and the high school? What's the difference between like a I mean, is it different Is it like a typical Is it what's posted on the daily lunch is like the $3.50 and then if they get something different, it's Correct. $4? Okay. Real? Okay. All in favor? Aye. So moved. Uh just I wanted just couple of comments from me before public comment. Um this is the last meeting for a couple of months. I mean, graduation is only 4
072weeks away. Just give it a day couple of days. Um and I would like to congratulate the uh the students that are moving on, whether they're moving on to further their education, whether they're going into the military, whether they're becoming entrepreneurs, whether they're want to start a uh work in the get get getting into the workforce or if they just want to take a year to kind of regroup and and figure out what they want to do. Um take your time, Think it through. Work hard like you've done last four years. You'll be very successful and you know, congratulations to everyone graduating, everyone who's able to get some recognition [snorts] whether it's through sports or academia or plays or music or whatever it is that was able to get some financing at a higher education
073level. I know we had our first wrestler, right? Finally get a money. I mean, we just got that program is only two years old. And we're already uh making a making a statement in the in the state with that. So, congratulations on that. Um, to the parents that are going to be empty nesters, you'll get over it. It happens. It happens to all of us. Um, just, you know, let your kids do their thing and and they'll they'll be fine. Um, they do come back. They're They actually never leave. But, you know, that little vacation is rough at the beginning, but you'll get used to it. Um, other than that, um, move out to uh the public comment uh for um anything that happened here today. So, if anybody has any comments, hi. Sure. Yes,
074please. I don't know if I'm pronouncing this Kristi Kaplan, 14 Governor's Drive. Um, I just had a couple of questions. Um, as I mentioned, I I did not intend to speak this evening. Um, but related to board policy um about the food services and the changes, um, I just had uh one consideration and then actually two considerations. Um, the free and reduced lunch information no longer goes home on paper copy and a lot of our families that do take advantage of that program don't have access to printers or sometimes internet at home. Um, so they're not always accessing it like it should and then sometimes we'll notice um, as teachers throughout, you know, within the first like six weeks of school which kiddos aren't eating as much as they should be eating um, and we'll
075get them that paperwork and we'll print it for them, but I think I remember when my kids started kindergarten it was part of that like home packet that kind of went home that first week of school. So if we could get those printed again, I think it would go over um, a good buy and then piggybacking off of the the notice we could kind of include a a notice and change of the pricing um, related to that too and I think it's important um, to explain how the food services lunches work for parents because even as a parent and a teacher myself, I didn't know until my kid was in like third grade that if she wasn't getting the full meal which is the beyond tray that was served, a fruit or vegetable and the
076milk, you get charged a different price and a lot of parents don't realize that. So it'll get charged at like six uh, $3 um, for ala carte and then whatever else they're getting will be an additional cost whereas the meal price is much cheaper. So I was always like, you have to get fruit and you have to get a vegetable um, so that they get the meal price. So I think a lot of parents don't realize that piece as well. So it's important, you know, for the kids to grab a fruit or vegetable that you do like and you will eat because it's part of that meal. Um, I also want to just take a moment to thank central office administration, um, our administrators in our buildings, North Haven PD, fire department and just community
077members and even our community PD in the surrounding communities that helped this past week. Um, it did not really go unnoticed by teachers um, and everybody kind of being present uh, and being there it really it it we were more relaxed and more able to respond to the kids because, you know, we were feeling the community and we were feeling information being given to us um accurately and as quickly as possible. So, thank you. Um, I also wanted to say thank you on behalf of staff for that early dismissal day. It's been a long couple of weeks um and I think everybody will appreciate that time at home with their families and I wanted to just take one more final opportunity to speak to the community just to urge everybody, ask questions. Um, I said
078it last or on Monday at Monday night's meeting, you can reach out to me to ask questions, any of your board members to ask questions. Um, but form your own opinions, find out your own information outside of social media forums, which can often just, you know, be lots of opinions with not a lot of great information. Um, and most importantly, please show up to vote on Tuesday. Voting is 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. here in the rec center gym. Um, make a plan to vote before work, after work, whenever it's convenient for you. Um, please just come out to vote. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else like to speak? Just a second that this is the only voting place. So, you you don't go to your school that you would normally go to, you don't
079go anywhere else. This is the only place to cast a vote for the budget. Um, I encourage and the board encourages everyone to vote and you vote your heart. You don't tell anybody how to vote. Um, but it's important that you come and you make your statement on the ballot and it's on the 19th like she said and this is the only place. So, don't get yourself confused by driving all over. This is it. Sorry, I was just playing Sergeant at Arms again. Um, I want to thank you for correcting my numbers and get me straight on No, I I appreciate that. Just like when I had numbers and you said I was wrong and you corrected me that I was actually right. I appreciate that. I that doesn't bother me one bit. You could
080make it a lot easier to find the information if it was right on the Board of Ed's thing so we could see how many teachers, how many administrators. You could see that right there. You how many students. It would all be right there for people to see. That's all I'm saying, you know. I don't like Googling but that was the only place I could find anything. You know, I tried looking for other places but it should be right there for everybody to see. Yeah, Googling is a little difficult cuz sometimes that information is several years old. So like when the we're especially uh in particular when people were comparing salaries, some of those salaries were from 23 24. Yeah, but I kept looking looking for the students. >> I'm I'm saying in general. Yeah. You
081know, and a lot of the other information was several years old and things a lot of things change in >> [snorts] >> a year's time let alone two. Oh yeah, like the numbers that I was coming up with the students was coming up. I was Googling each year to find out because it was from when I came here. But I do appreciate that uh and I didn't say it here. I did say it at the Board of Selectmen whatever the meeting was the other night. Thank you all. Every teacher, every administrator, the fire department and I think Stirk was also involved and the police department. You know, you did the kids good. Thanks. Thank you. Anybody else? I'm going to make a motion going to um executive session. I have a motion to move into
082executive session and invite Superintendent Patrick Stirk to be present. Make a motion. I'll get a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. So we're going into special session. We'll probably be there for a bit. In in all technical terms, the meeting is over. I have to come back and just do um a motion to talk about what we talked about and then in the German mode. Everyone is welcome to stay for that. I just cannot guarantee you how long we'll be in that back office. Thank you very much for attending tonight's meeting. The preceding program is brought to you in part through a grant from the town of North Haven. Watch town meetings or other videos on demand at nhtv.com.