001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the board of education board annual organization meeting. Today is Tuesday, January 6, 2026. Time is now 700 p.m. If we could all please stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And for the start of the evening, we will start with the oath of office. And I'd like to introduce Rick McQuade. I think I'm doing good evening everyone. Welcome. Happy New Year. Uh tonight we're going to be swearing in the four new members. Uh couple little things just quickly before that. I'd like to mention congratulations again to our mayor. That's no longer mayor elect. is now mayor Barb Smith. So, congratulations
002again. Also, that uh the outgoing members of the board, uh I think it was Janine, Colin, and Cara. Great job. I had two of them as parents when I was in Arabic, and it was great. Uh I go full circle around here tonight with Nelly and Sherry. uh both their fathers I served with as a councilman when Nelly's's father was a board bed member and Sherry's father got me started in politics. So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but tonight it's a good thing. Uh also one other quick note I also have a son that's a teacher in Nathan Hale and a daughter that is a sixth grader in Nathan Hale. So, if you want to do the math on that, ask the math teacher at Nathan Hale. So,
003at this time, I'd like to ask Marcus, Garrett, Sherry, and Dana, and Nelly to please rise. Okay. Yes. This is a normal thing with me. I can never get like the easy things like the mayor gets where you just get up and read something. Mine always have technical difficulties. I don't know why. We're good. Okay. When I say you, please state your names. You having been elected to the board of education of the city of Norwok do solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of said office according to your best skills judgment so help you God upon the pains and penalties of perjury. Congratulations. Okay, if we can all please um if get together. I don't know where DJ wants JD wants us for the picture. You're going to
004do first then two four We'll do three, two, four. So for the official introductions with me this evening I have Marcus Haime, Garrett Oliver, Ashley Gulas, Jasmine Pressy, Sher McCriedi Pritchette, Mary Ellen Flity Lewig, Howard White, Nelly Cole, Mayor Smith, and Dr. Alexander Estraa. We will now start with nominations and elections of officers. First position up is chair of the board of ed. I need a nomination, please. Thank you, Diana. I would like to nominate Cherry McCriedi Pritchette for chair of the board of education for the upcoming year. In my two years on the board, Sherry has been a steadfast leader as the vice chair and she served as secretary prior to the start of my term. Sherry has built strong relationships within the board across Norwok public schools and throughout the city of Norwok.
005She has chaired the finance committee and is very knowledgeable about our complex budget process. Norwok public schools has made significant gains during Sherry's tenure on the board, including increased test scores and decreased chronic absenteeism. Sherry's commitment and dedication are unwavering, and I appreciate her attendance at additional meetings, forums, and district-wide events. Sherry and I have spoken about the need for overcommunication both within the board and to the public, and I feel confident that she will offer the continuity that we need as someone with executive committee experience while bringing a fresh perspective to the role of board chair. Thank you. >> Thank you. Second nomination. Hello. I would like to second the nomination for Sherry as board chair. Um, as as high I've entered my second year on the board, um, Sherry was very instrumental in
006me being becoming alchemated to the board. She was never too busy to answer any question and always remained open and honest. In her service as vice chair and chair of our finance committee, she is visible to the community and very knowledgeable about our budget. I respect her willingness to run for reelection after a very challenging year. She was voted in by the public and is now stepping up to lead the board. It definitely shows her dedication and commitment to public service and the success of MPS students. She has an understanding of the responsibility of the role, has a clear vision of goals, and has acknowledged areas of growth for our board, and is receptive to feedback. She is willing to collaborate and communicate with all board members and the parents in our community. Thank you.
007Thank you. Any other nominations for chair of board of education, Mary? Um, I will be nominating Howard White. As most people do, we on the board have reflected on this past year. To be honest, we have had some real highs and some real lows. Twilight graduation as a result of adapting our curriculum to meet the kids where they were at was a huge celebration of roughly 100 students who might otherwise not have graduated with their peers. also three years in a row a trend of increasing K through 12 reading, math and science scores um and dramatically leading the other cities um in the highest test scores, the other Connecticut cities, seven other school systems. These dots of accomplishment directly connect with our teachers who are using best practices because they have had opportunities to keep
008learning and keep getting better at their craft of teaching our children. There have also been lows. We as a board have failed despite our efforts to communicate clearly how the budget works. We must do better at it. Part of getting better is individually and as a cohesive group and that calls for leadership in the executive board who can meet this moment. Lucky for us, two highly talented members with deep experience have put their names forward or chair and to take this heavier responsibility. Both in my view are excellent leaders. I put forward Howard White because of these reasons. His leadership of 23 years of service as deputy superintendent at Bridgeport Juvenile Detention Center. For decades coaching boys basketball in Bridgeport and Stamford as president a board president of Chester Addison Committee Center and as chair
009of the Bridgeport YMCA. As a board member during these last two years, Howard has consistently represented community concerns. He has pushed for equity and fairness. He's kept his focus on strategies to improve student improvement. For all these reasons, I support Howard for the BOE chair. >> Thank you. I need a second nomination for Howard. I would like to second the nomination for Howard White. I believe I recognize that Howard has both years of experience and a breath of knowledge that would benefit the board as its chair. And I also recognize the current issue of public perception that has uh plagued the board over the last year and the need for a shift in that public perception. I believe that Howard would be the voice that would better lead us as a board and a community
010forward. Thank you. Any other nominations? Any other nominations? Thank you. I need a show of hands and a vote of yes for Sherry McCrit Pritchard. For the record, Ashley, Jasmine, Sherry, Diana. Thank you. I need a show of hands and a yes for Howard White. I have Nelly, Howard, Mary, Ellen, Garrett, and Marcus. Thank you. So, our new chair is Howard White. Next position is vice chair. Need nomination, please. Nomination, please. nomination. >> I nominate um I nominate Sherry for vice chair. Um there are so many good things to say about Sherry, but one I want to focus on is when we were knocking on doors, meeting the people uh before the the uh the election, um she really listened to what the folks were saying and then she has mentioned that a few times
011about how many did not understand what was going on and our role in communication. ating better and as uh uh has been said, you know, overcommunicating to really do a good job as a cohesive board. So, I nominate Sherry for this position. >> I have to decline. Thank you for the kind words, but I do have to decline. Any other nomination? Okay, that was my third call. Thank you. Next position is secretary. Any nomination? I would like to nominate I would like to nominate Ashley Gales for secretary. Ashley joined the board two years ago and I immediately liked her. Being a music teacher, she seemed to intuitively understand the struggles that teachers have with change. She always suggested ways to mitigate that while striving for excellence. Ashley is always prepared. She has a way of
012thinking ahead and of how actions may impact our future goals. She is passionate about getting better at what we do, which is communicating with the superintendent, with parents, with teachers, with elected officials. For these reasons, I nominate Ashley. >> Thank you. Second nomination. >> I'll second the nomination for Ashley Gleas for the position of secretary of the board. >> Is she on? >> Am I on? Okay, >> Ashley consistently demonstrates professionalism, attention to detail, and a strong commitment to the orderly and transparent conduct of board business. Her thoughtful approach, reliability, and respect for process contribute meaningfully to the effectiveness of this board, and these qual qualities make Ashley well qualified to serve in the role of secretary. For these reasons, I second the nomination with confidence and full support. Thank you. With a show of
013hands and a if we Oh, yeah. Any other nominations? Any other nominations? Okay, with a show of hands, everyone in favor for Ashley Gulaz as secretary. That is unanimous. Thank you everyone. At this time, is there any um board member that will have any words to say? >> Yes. Thank you. First and foremost, let me take this opportunity uh to my peers to say thank you for this opportunity. I just want to sit here and say to each and every one of us here. We have a purpose and our purpose is an betterment for the community and these children and the administrators and the teachers. Our work ethics, our responsibilities, and our job from our constituents is to make sure we continue to do what we have to do in spite of not having a
014vice chair right now. It doesn't change anything other than what task on hand that we have to take care of. I will do my responsibility as far as my due diligence to make sure I continue to do the job that was left from the past two Sherry and Diana. It is my responsibility from this day forward to make sure that we build that relationship over. It's no secret that we have to build the trust of the community. It's no secret that we have to build a trust of the parents. It's no secret we have to build a trust of the teachers and administrators in the unions. It's very important that we have to stick to our tasks and the responsibilities of each other to make sure that we do our due diligence. And I'm hoping
015as we move forward, we can continue to understand and just do what needs to be done and that's in the betterment for these children in spite of each and everything that goes on. And it's very important that we understand and make sure that we we keep that working dialogue open. And again, I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you. >> Um I would just like to also thank everyone for your confidence in me. Um I am grateful for this opportunity to be on the board for the last two years. I'm grateful for the opportunity to step up into a leadership role um and to have that additional step of involvement. Howard, I'm looking forward to working with you. Um, and you know, we are here for the kids. We're here for the teachers.
016Um, and we're here to continue to improve Norwok public schools even beyond what we've already done so far, which is pretty amazing. So, thank you all. I really appreciate it. >> I just wanted to say thank you to the outgoing um officers. Thank you for your commitment and your time served here and all of your collaboration with us board members. Um your service did not go unnoticed and just thank you for all that you've done for the board. I look forward to serving with you in a different way. Now I would like to add to that we've had uh some really intense experiences this year together. Uh we've had some light and fun experiences. I value the um participation and the extra mile, the extra hours that um you Diana and Sher have put in
017as uh being on the executive board. A heavy heavy commitment um and I respect that. I am grateful for what you've done and I am proud to be serving with you on this board. As a new member of the board, I just want to say thank you to everyone uh for entrusting me with this. I'm looking forward to working with this amazing team and to see what we can do next. Look forward working with the superintendent and with our new mayor. Thank you. Um, hi. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Marcus Hime. Um, I to say that I'm excited would be an understatement. Um, I'm really thrilled to be part of this team. I look forward to lending my expertise to this team and I look forward to working together as one
018unit and becoming one voice um so that we could regain the trust of the public. I'm really excited about that. >> Mayor Smith, thank you. Um first I would like to congratulate Howard White on your um your chairship. Um Diana, thank you so much for your service over the past four years as uh chair of the board of education and Sherry for yours as well. Sherry, you have served the city of Norwok in many capacities for quite a long time. You've worked for the uh Norwok public schools, served on the board of estimate taxation, and now you know you your service on the um it it's I value it very much. um and and all of the board, Ashley, Jasmine, and Mary Ellen returning. Um and and acknowledging those who um are no longer serving.
019Um every one of you has worked very hard, and I know every one of you cares so much about our kids. Um did I say your name, Ashley? I want to make sure I did. Yeah. So, um you know, and public service is a very hard thing. We put ourselves out there and it was a tough year. It really, really was. And something that I've learned, um, you know, just campaigning myself is on the city side, we have broken trusts, too. And it's incumbent upon us to work together to rebuild the trust of of our families, of our residents, of our our constituents. Um, I want to welcome Garrett and Marcus and um and Nelly. Sorry. [laughter] Sorry. And we are all going to work together in unity, in collaboration to make our, you know,
020celebrate our successes. There's a lot of successes to celebrate, right? Um, and we're going to work together to rebuild that trust, to improve communication, and make our, you know, just continue to make our schools even greater than they are. So, congratulations and thank you to the superintendent as well. And I just want to say thank you to the board members who had kind words to say for me and I appreciate that and I do look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we move forward. Thank you. I want to say welcome to the new board members. This is your official first day on the board. Um, I look forward to working with everybody and you know it's um it's a great place to be when you're here serving the children. And with
021that, I'd like a motion to adjourn. Ashley, Oliver, Marcus, and Jasmine. Thank you very much. Good night, everyone.