001We moving over now to spotlight. Um, Miss Bakey, you're up. >> Thank you, Chairwoman Carpio. Good evening, everybody. Uh, this evening we have two spotlights. Our first is ADHD awareness month, October 2025. The Norwalk Board of Education is proud to recognize the month of October as ADHD awareness month. This year's national theme is the many faces of ADHD. And the month of October is dedicated to raising awareness around attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which affects millions around the world. This month provides the opportunity to educate, advocate, and support the adults and children who live with ADHD. ADHD is a neurodedevelopmental disorder affecting 11% of school-aged children. Symptoms continue into adulthood in more than threequarters of cases. ADHD is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD is nobody's fault. It is not caused
002by moral failure or parenting, family problems, poor teachers or schools, too much TV, food allergies, or excess sugar. ADHD is a problem with the brain's self-management system or its executive functions, which can affect not only children, but many teenagers and adults, too. Executive functions involve getting organized and starting with necessary tasks, sustaining focus and effort for work, managing alertness and emotional interference, utilizing short-term working memory, and managing one's actions without excessive impulsivity. Individuals with ADHD can be successful in life. However, without identification and proper treatment, ADHD may have serious consequences, including school failure, family stress and disruption, depression, problems with relationships, substance abuse, delinquency, accidental injuries, and job failure. Early identification and treatment are extremely important. By declaring this ADHD awareness month, the board of education is committed to bringing greater awareness to our students
003that are living with ADHD, reducing the stigma around ADHD, encouraging early intervention for ADHD, and supporting families who need guidance or resources. Our second spotlight, Italian-American Heritage Month, PolishAmerican Heritage Month, GermanAmerican Heritage Month, FilipinoAmerican Heritage Month. The NORC Board of Education is proud to recognize and celebrate the month of October as Italian-American, PolishAmerican, GermanAmerican, and Filipino American Heritage Months. Nora public schools is fortunate to have students who reflect all these backgrounds and who proudly share their traditions and cultures with their families, friends, and our school community. Many of our students can also trace their ancestry to these countries. Families who came to the United States generations ago, seeking opportunity and a better life. Today, their descendants continue to thrive and contribute to our community. Italian-American Heritage Month was first celebrated in 1989, proclaimed by President
004George H. W. Bush and the 101st US Congress to coincide with Columbus Day and to honor the achievements and contributions of Italian immigrants and their descendants. German American Heritage Month aligns with German American Day on October 6, marking the 1683 founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania. President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed German American Day in 1983 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of that event and to celebrate the lasting impact of German culture in the United States. Polish American Heritage Month was also first proclaimed by President Reagan in 1984, later moved from August to October in 1986 to make it easier for schools to participate in celebrating Polish culture and the many contributions of Polish Americans. Filipino American Heritage Month honors the history, accomplishments, and legacy of Filipino Americans who first arrived in California in October 1587. The US
005Congress officially recognized the celebration in 2009 and President Barack Obama hosted the first Filipino American Heritage Month celebration at the White House in 2015. In recognizing and celebrating these diverse cultures, the Norwok Board of Education reaffirms its commitment to supporting and protecting all students, no matter where they or their families came from or when. Our shared stories remind us that nearly all of us have roots in immigration and that is something to take pride in. Throughout October, the Norwok Board of Education invites everyone in the Norwok community to take a moment to reflect on their own heritage, learn about others, and celebrate the rich diversity that makes America and our schools so special. >> Thank you very much. And now we're at question of public comments. Do we have a anybody online? Okay. Thank you.
006And with that, I will introduce Dr. Alexandra Straa who's here with us this evening and her cabinet is also here in the gallery for superintendence report. Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's board meeting. I have a few items that I want to update the board and the community around. Um I'm really happy to say that we started our um family conversation visits across the district. We're doing them a little differently this year uh relative to prior years. In the past we were meeting with families at the family center. This year we're actually going to the schools to make it more convenient for families and meeting with them. Um today we had the opportunity to uh engage families from the Sono community and uh listen to their feedback around things that are working well around
007the schools, things that need improvement and things that they want us to keep into consideration as uh we plan the work forward. Uh some of the things that we heard from uh the community was their excitement about the new facility. Uh we talked a little bit about some uh challenges around walkability in um to and from the school as well as the desire for additional reading programs to help students that were struggling around reading. So it was um a great opportunity just to engage with families and we're looking forward to engaging with uh all of our schools throughout the scope of the year. Uh we'll have our next visit in November and uh we're looking forward to that. principles have been notified and we'll be communicating with families of when we are scheduled to come
008uh for the visit and to learn from the the parents and committee members about their needs and wants for their schools. Uh the second item that I would like to talk about is uh our communication boards across our play areas. Mr. Pennington, do you want to come forward and speak to this um point? Uh we're really excited about having this displayed across all of our uh playgrounds and I'll have Mr. Pennitine speak in greater detail as well as uh provide an update for the board on our last professional learning experience for our staff. Uh as you know we uh had our uh at this point second professional learning experience for uh teachers during the October 14th um day that um students were uh not in school. We had the opportunity for educators across the district
009to uh provide professional learning to their peers as well as um in some cases we brought experts of the field to support our staff. But we had a a pretty successful experience that we want to share with the board. >> So Rob, Mr. Bennington, if you can start with the communication boards and then transition into the PO. >> Sure. I'm just waiting for it. So, one of our key areas of focus last year as we are moving we moved our preschools into our classrooms was to be able to put communication boards on all of our playgrounds. It was a key focus area for us and um that has started this week where they have been in they're starting to be installed. I want to just start why communication boards. I think it's an important >>
010piece. Oh, go ahead. Yep. So when we talk about communication boards, we're really talking about ensuring communication access for all students. So our communication boards really give students with speech or language challenges a reliable way to express themselves. It also supports academic and social participation. Reduces frustration and behavior challenges. Advances our goals as a district around equity and universal design. it it removes barriers so that all students can participate meaningfully and then it empowers independence and self- advocacy. And so I'm going to just show you one of them that was installed today and that is at Cranberry. And so they are all being installed and you can see it's in English and in Spanish and it's on our playground and there's actually we had a student today that was already utilizing the communication board at
011the school and so we are putting them in 10 of our elementary schools and it's it's an exciting time and I think that it's really beneficial for all of our students. >> Any questions from the board about communication needs? Rob, could you um explain how a child would use that? >> Sure. Um a student can go and they can point and they can share it. It's a like an opportunity for communication to happen for students who may have some some challenges with verbal communication. And so there's a lot of pictures, there's a lot of opportunities where they can go and they can share. and and I've seen it like a perfect example that you can see and um I wasn't sure if we had sharing but a student was actually using it today and and
012pointing to what he wanted to do on the playground and I thought I think it's a really amazing tool and opportunity and I do want to give a shout out to Angela Raldi who is our one of our assisted tech um teachers in the district who really helped to design this. It has a QR code so if families wanted to have it um when they're not on one of our playgrounds it can go with them and she helped to design it and really was instrumental in making this project come to fruition. >> This sounds pretty exciting. Are there um emotions on it too that you can point to? >> I I think that it would be uh important to visit our playgrounds. I think the only one that is being delayed, just so I can,
013is at Tracy and that is because we have a new playground that is going in um for our youngest learners. And so once that playground is installed, the communication board will be put at that playground as well. >> So that at all the elementaryaries, >> it's going to be at 10 right now. All all of the schools that have a preschool And Rob, it looks like it's in Spanish and English, >> correct? On opposite sides. Yes. >> And what are the different colors? >> Um, so we have the different colors and different pieces. I wish I could pull up the actual piece for us to like actually look at it and go through it. So I I'll get back to you on like the actual specifics of those different components, but they are some are
014for emotions, some are for activities, and some are for like things that they need and want. >> Rob, how do we get to this point? What led us to get to this point? Uh I I think that what got us to this point is how do we have all students to be able to access the playground to ensure communications happening to ensure independence is happening. And so it really comes down to access for all students and it was we put our first communication board at NC at NCC building. And so as we were putting uh um moving our preschools, this was an important piece of our learning for students. And so to be able to have these and in all of our schools, this is not just for preschool students. This is for all of
015our elementary school students. And I think that that's an important piece. And I think that the the shift from one preschool to all of our elementary schools is the catalyst. And it really truthfully is something that in the broader picture we need to have in all of our all of our schools. And so as we continue to go, we are going to add them into the schools that do not have them >> into the classrooms as well. >> We do. We have um copies. Students use them. And like that's part of the if you can see on the right hand side you can see the QR code and so that QR code actually takes you to the PDF version. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> So we can uh forward uh copies of of the
016board away the description what they stand for for for your guidance and we can post it on >> uh the board's website as well so that uh people can reference >> 100%. >> Okay. The other one. So while they're setting up uh every time we provide professional learning in the district, we always like to obtain information from the field as to it its effect effectiveness. So that one it informs us of what we need to continue doing that we're doing well and also then modify what we could improve upon based on the feedback that we receive. And every year we use this information to improve on our practice but also take um the guidance from the fields of what we need to do better to more effectively support them. So the data you're going to
017see today is based on our full day PD on October 14th and um some of the feedback that we received from the field based on the survey that we provided after the the sessions were included. >> So our our district team provides half we have a full day of professional development. We focus half of our day on elementary school and half of our day on secondary schools. The other half principles have professional learning in their building. So it allows for professional learning to happen at the school level because every school has a school improvement plan and they have professional learning tied to making sure that those school improvement plan goals come to fruition. And we as at the district level we have our professional learning vision which is really grounded in two key priority areas
018which is the portrait of a graduate and our K prek12 literacy vision. And so as we are thinking about professional learning, it really comes down to how are we making um all of our professional learning tied back to either our portrait of a graduate or our literacy vision. And we have many different areas across the organization. We have art, music, PE, library, media specialists. How do we provide each group with professional learning that is impactful to their role in the organization? And that's something that our team is constantly thinking about. Well, we know that we can't get to every single teacher. And so do you bring in an outside organization? Do you leverage the expertise we have in the district? And one of the areas that I think we have been very intentional about is
019how do we use our teachers to help professional learning? How do we in um involve our coaches? And when we do, we get their feedback. We get all of the teachers feedback. And a perfect example is this. We had 400 teachers respond, which is is a good number of responses for a survey. And of those 400, we had 82% positive rating on their professional learning. 82% of four or five, which I think is phenomenal to get fours or fives out of 400 people. We had 56 or 13% that came back and gave it a three, which I I think those are important ones to look at to say how what does that mean? Because they're not really taking a stance it was good or bad. They are in the middle. And so that's something that
020we are are constantly analyzing so that we can provide highquality professional learning to all of our staff. And then we have our ones and twos and overall we're talking 4% up which is 16 teachers. And there were some some trends that came through in the threes and um from the ones and twos. And I want to highlight those because that's something that our team really takes to heart and because we have another professional learning coming up on November 4th and how do we make sure that we are intentional and strategic to improve that experience. And so oh if they gave a lower ranking here were a couple of the comments and these are actual comments that haven't been edited. Just came right through. Um, one of the pieces that we have been trying been intentional
021about is having our multilingual learner teachers, our special educators being part of our core curriculum, professional learning because they need everyone needs to know what's happening in ELA, what's happening in math. And so in our youngest learners, some of our special educators are pulling out students and using um a resource outside of Wonders. They're using Spire, which is an Orton Gillingham tool that helps um students who may have some reading challenges. And so a teacher, their feedback was, I went to this wonders PD or this session on tier one literacy and it wasn't relevant to the work that I'm doing on a daily basis. And so how do how do we as a team provide them with training that is going to be beneficial? Now, I do think that all of our special educators, all
022of our multilingual learners need need to understand what's happening in tier one and need to understand the resource and the skills that come from it. But there's an area that this is an area for improvement for us. And so I can see as a new teacher more solidified ideas and tools will help me throughout the year. So like how are we differentiating from someone who's been teaching here for 20 years and someone who's brand new to the field? And so these are some of the questions that we're constantly asking. When we look at the high the higher rankings, what are some of the things that came across? Um our counselors participated in grief counseling, um LGBTQ training. So that was a session that came out as a a five. You can see one of the
023best PDs I've had. Our our teachers went to One River School in in Westport for a training and they came back with authentic ideas around critical thinking which you can see it tied right back to the portrait of a graduate. And so just an exciting piece. Um the presenter was incredible. gave new and engaging strategies to get students communicating. I felt like it was engaging and informative. Went in depth. You see math, you see literacy. Our social workers, this was very helpful. I enjoyed spending time with other social workers in being involved in something that was relevant to us. >> And so really, you see this um positive response coming back. And this is we we did this in August. and our our responses were were similar October and we will do it again in
024November. And so it's something where we're constantly how do we provide highquality professional learning to every educator in the organization is the question that we're constantly asking ourselves. Now we also have professional learning for our par educators and you can see from our responses we we are roughly at 80% as well. Uh I would love to have more responses for this piece but we're every professional learning day we have training for our para educators and they have different options. They've they've gotten deescalation strategies training, CPR, which is always something that we're we're looking to have. Um training specific to your role. If you're an RBT, RBT, a registered behavior technician, how do we provide you with continued improvement and growth so that you can continue to grow as an RBT? BCBAS are speech and language
025pathology assistants which fall into this category. Um we they they have specific training. Uh one of our special ed administrators is a speech and language pathologist and she provided training for them. And so it is something that it's not just about providing high quality professional professional learning for teachers but also our para educators. >> So this is something that just to interject that was not typical practice in the district. It's something that we worked in collaboration with NFP to ensure that um power educators were being trained and it was something embedded into the work that we did. Um, and it's it's fairly new, but it's quite successful uh given the feedback that we've received from our NFP members and how they deal with the support that they're getting in terms of their professional growth. >>
026And I want to give a huge shout out to the schools team because this is something a lot of our professional learning happens in the front end of the school year. And so we just have our professional learning on October 14th and our next big day is right around the corner, November 4. And so now we're we're preparing for that big day of professional learning. And they've started to think about it as in a cycle like how can we really we started this learning how can we go deeper and and so it's it's been a um a good experience as we start this year. questions around our professional learning. >> Um Rob, I just wanted to chime in that I really appreciate that you are getting so much feedback and that even the feedback that
027is not as positive, you're really thoughtful and reflective about um how to improve that experience for our educators. Um, having sat through a lot of PDS that didn't apply to me in my years teaching, um, I just really appreciate, uh, how much it means to you to really make sure that you're making meaningful opportunities for everyone and how reflective you are with the surveys. So, thank you. >> Any other questions on this topic? Um I just have one other comment about um the professional development for the paras. There are state requirements now that the the paras have to have so many hours. Um are you preparing to give them those opportunities so they don't have to go outside of um our school district? >> So I'm I'm happy to say that um under Dr. Australia
028that was something that we put in place in the district before it became a policy. So this as she she mentioned earlier this idea around professional learning was not in place five years ago. >> It is a newer initiative that has evolved and morphed and so our professional learning so on in August we had a full day of professional learning for all of our NFP members. In October, it was a half day of professional learning. Um, elementary came in the more uh secondary came in the morning, elementary came in the afternoon, and then on November 4th, it's another full day. So, out of all of those professional learning opportunities, they are meeting the requirements of professional learning and actually exceeding what those requirements are. And so this is something that we are constantly looking to
029how how do we make sure that things like our portrait of a graduate are also something that all of our par educators know. So >> right and my my feeling about this is that um the the demands from the state uh just come in at a time that does help us all elevate our view of what paras do. They are so critical in in a smooth running classroom that their knowledge has to be there too. And so I've um just really happy to see this >> and because we understand the importance of their work to us it was critical for us to develop them >> because we wanted them to be effective in their practice in the classroom. So building their capacities was critical and and I think you know contrary to what I've heard
030um in some of the conversations in the past our professional development in many cases is led by educators in our district. Uh we make sure to use the talent in the district and where there are topics that are new to the field that we need to develop we bring experts to do to support us in doing that work. So we >> can I give some examples Dr. Shan? >> Absolutely. >> Sure. So our elementary literacy work was led by our literacy coaches in elementary school. So we had five different sites happening on professional learning day really tied to making our literacy vision come to life. And in each of those sites, two literacy coaches led professional development for a specific grade. Same same in secondary. Our literacy coaches are the ones who led the professional
031learning in collaboration with study sync was um our resource that we selected and so part of selecting the resource they provide professional learning. So we we actually had different rooms and teachers were rotating into different sessions. So it wasn't just a three-hour session with one person. They actually had a rotation. So sixth grade would go into session one, then they go to session two and session three. and our coaches were integral in leading that part. For our elementary strings, one of our elementary strings teachers actually received a grant from CMEA, which is the music um company in Connecticut, the a U organization. And so we were able to bring in a com and it was free, but it was because a teacher actually applied for this grant for our elementary band. two elementary band teachers
032led teachers through a professional learning. One did a a lesson share so that and they talked through the lesson and everyone was able to talk about like what went really well and what are some of the tips and tricks that they can adjust. And then they also started to look at how can elementary band provide a what I will say is a a standardized progress report. And so one of the teachers had a progress report from another town that they had and they came and they really went through it and started to talk about how can we provide this to our um families because when we have progress report time which is coming up in November um how can we highlight how a student is progressing on saxophone >> on the flute so that that.
033So those are and they were led by teachers and I think that that is really important for us to be able to leverage even our art PD that got rave reviews. I was talking with um art teachers and was able to talk about different experiences. We've had professional learning here at the art space which has been phenomenal. but how do we continue to have new experiences so that they can continue to grow as well. So those are just some examples of our teachers leading professional learning here um on professional development day. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board around the professional learning? Are teachers aware of the topic prior to the day or is it when they walk in they >> No, we um we actually put out a all the sessions
034and where they're located ahead of time because if I'm a teacher at Roen Middle School, I may need to go to West Rocks for my professional learning because we can't have everyone go to the same site. And so we have like third grade was in the Marvin Library, third grade lit for literacy. >> Um our first grade teachers were at Sona. So we have a whole professional development document that actually highlights what the professional learning is, what the session topic is, who's leading it, and where is it located. And that goes ac that goes out to principles first and then it goes out to all of the educators in the district. Thank you. Other questions >> is um I one quick question. Is there any element of of choice for the teachers or pretty much
035you know based on what grade level or subject matter that's where you are headed for that day. >> So we're always looking to bring in choice. I think you remember that we have led a Norwok ed camp model which is there's x number of sessions and people get to go and choose the sessions that they want. I do think that um this year because we have we're being extremely strategic around things like the literacy vision and the portrait of a graduate. Those are those have been really the focus areas of our professional learning. um for this year. But I will say on November 4th, our elementary music teachers, they have they're going to have a roundroin choice where different music teachers in different blocks are going to present on different topics like one is going
036to present on ukuleles and and then another one is going to present on X and the rest of the music teachers will get to choose which one they go to. Um and but that is all being led by our music teachers in district that we're not there's no one else coming in for that professional learning. They are going to be providing that professional learning. >> But there is choice in that session. >> Thank you Rob. And I and I thought it was important to highlight this piece and we'll continue to provide the board with updates as we continue to provide our professional learning because I think that there is a misconception in the field that um we contract out professional development all the time which is not the case where we have the expertise we
037obviously leverage that expertise in the field where we don't have that expertise we actually bring experts to support the field in those areas and I think that that's important to to highlight. Um so thank you for that. >> What would be the sorry what would be the percentage of staff development we are outsourcing? >> I think the biggest thing right now that we are outsourcing is our work around the literacy vision. Um and we have a partnership with TNTP because we're building capacity around um standardbased learning as well as um helping staff uh in in in the implementation of practice based on how we have designed our literacy vision. I don't know if you want to say more. >> Well, and I I think that depending on the professional development day, so like in August
038um as Dr. Australa mentioned TNTP led our professional learning for all of our elementary staff, but in October it was our literacy coaches. So like there was that shift, right? Um and so that's an example, but if I were I'm just trying to run through all of our sessions. I would say that we're 60% our own staff and 40% also external. So like an example of that though is uh we have a grant with the Arthur Miller Foundation we talked about last year. And so all of our theater teachers are they're participating in a year-long professional learning. And it's an external partner but it's not costing the district any money for them to participate. and it's very specific to their role and it's allowed them to continue to grow. So, >> thank you. >> Absolutely.
039>> And the last um piece that I want to provide a quick update. Uh Ralph Alen Cece alongside uh Miss Carpel and team have been working on um cell phone policy. As part of that there there are certain regulations that we've had to put into place and uh Ralph will provide an update on that as well as um field trips and clarifying some elements around the field trip policy. >> Thank you Dr. Stray and good evening board. Yeah, so uh this will be really kind of brief but I just wanted to kind of recap a little bit of the work since there's been a little bit more conversation around the whole cell phone regulation recently. Um, so we've actually completed the cell phone regulation and I want to kind of walk us through just a
040couple of steps that we've followed through the last year to make sure that we've had all stakeholders involved. Um, if you remember back in the spring, we actually worked with our students to be able to help and they presented at the policy meeting um, what they felt would really make sense as a regulation for us. We then shared that with our teachers and the teachers were able to help edit that process through a survey over the summer where they gave input. We made a second round of edits and then finally um just because of timing, we waited because we felt like we wouldn't get a lot of parents over the summer to complete a survey, but we actually then had that that version as well as a survey go out to parents to ask for
041their ads and their and their feedback. Um and we had over 1,400 parents respond uh to the survey which was wonderful. Quite a few families. Um with that um we landed on our regulation and what's in place. And I you know from a from a broad standpoint um the easiest way to explain it and there's been like I said some some back and forth with this. Um K through 8 um from the beginning of the day to the end of the day there are no phones in the district. So they are put away. they're out out of out of out of sight, out of mind. Um, for the high schools, um, we went back and forth whether or not it would be from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. And
042then the final piece that kind we we went forward with was to decide that in the regulation during passing times and lunch are the only two times that students can have not allowed to have them during during the um during class time at all. So they're they're completely put away. Um there are pockets that are actually put out to the schools so that then students can actually put the phones physically in another space. This was through the recommendations though of also our building leaders who have put this in place and uh we had uh you know I got to thank them for the great conversation a few weeks ago um their feedback and saying that you know this has really already made a change in the way that they're actually seeing behaviors in the schools.
043So, um, what we want to do is since this is a regulation, this will be put in the place about sometime in the early second semester, I'll be meeting with those with those leaders again to see if there's anything that really needs to be adjusted. We also want to keep this this conversation ongoing. And so, I know earlier tonight, uh, you'd heard from the Center for Youth Leadership, um, some of those same people will be joining us. they came up with some great recommendations on procedures that can go along with helping to be able to put this forward. Um they had actually one of their recommendations was the the hall passing piece and lunchtime as well. Um so they will be joining a policy meeting in the next couple of months to just kind of
044present their pieces as well. Um and uh we'll we'll just keep moving forward. This is going to be a constant iteration and the nice thing about that is that we actually are getting constant feedback. So we're really excited. But schools have already put this into play. So, I mean, this is actually working in our schools and we're we're actually seeing, you know, from the feedback that we're getting so far, uh, you know, positive feedback in general. >> Any questions on the cell phone regulation at all? >> No questions. But it's very important that the public understands that we do have students, parents, teachers, staff, and leadership that are constantly um emailing us, calling us, having these conversations. And you know, we do take into consideration everything that's given to us. And it's also not written
045in stone. I know that we had a couple parents that were, you know, um worried that we weren't going to be able to make a change. Um but that's not the way a regulation works. So it's constant um motion and yes we are listening and actually the cell phone policy was one of the policies that we had so many people call in right and talk to us about it. So >> it was definitely a group effort. >> Yeah. And I and I think over the last year I've I've been actually really happy, you know, with the fact that we are getting a lot more feedback on our policies in general. We've had some that have actually been ones that people have been very interested in. So whether it's PTAs, whether it's students, whether it's parents,
046um we are definitely feeling like that there's actually more interaction. Sometimes takes a little bit longer to get the policy in place because you do need to go back and forth and make those those changes and stuff. So, uh, overall it's been a really, really positive experience and I think it's actually it's working out well right now in our schools and like I said, I I got to thank our our high school leaders too for for helping with that process too. Um, the second thing I just want to give an update on is our field trip regulation which is now in place. Um, so we took into consideration the uh the recommendations for our field trips. The one thing that you'll see in the regulation when it does get posted now is there's a little
047addendum at the end because the field trip regulations were specifically for multi-day outofstate field trips for things like the changes that we made to chaperones and uh the way that we look at companies that are working with us for for field trips that are the in-house one day couple of hour field trips that just occur. those are actually approved at the building level by the principal. They don't they don't even necessarily come down. So if there's if if silvermind is going to the maritime center, you know, to for that's not coming down here. So there were some cl there were some clarifying pieces we needed to add and we actually added that as an addendum at the end of the regulation so people understand that one example the most important one was volunteers and that
048parents for those as long as they've gone through the raptor system or or been registered as a volunteer can act as volunteers to be able to support a trip to the maritime center. the real ones that we where we have the chaperones that we need to make sure that are certified staff are ones when we talk about international trips, multi-day trips, those types of trips. So, I just want to make sure that that clarity was there and you'll see it at the end of the regulation will be posted tomorrow morning. >> Any any questions? >> I have a couple questions. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Um about the phone policy. So, at the high school level, you mentioned pockets. So, are there pockets in the classrooms for students to put their devices in or are
049we allowing them to just like self censor or have >> Yeah. So, um what the schools have actually implemented and I think there's still a couple that are just finishing it up right now, but they actually do have like they're almost like shooting. Yeah. >> That they use in the classroom. So, if you go go anywhere in Norai and stuff, you'll see those and >> yeah, they have them. And they and they like I said I think um I think Brian they norai actually even coordinated all of them to be identical and stuff. I don't know if Bri I don't remember if Brian McMahon actually did the same thing. So >> right and included in this and sorry if I'm not following this. You said it's a policy but it's a it's a it's kind
050of a work in progress too. So it's like a regulation. What where are we in this? >> We've always we've always had a personal device policy. So that did that was always in place. it was the regulation and how you implement it is what we were actually working our way through. So the idea of it being a regulation allows us to be able to iterate as we move forward. So once again, if we see that there's a there's a tweak that needs to be made to this, we can actually bring that back and quickly move that forward so that we can actually make those adjustments. >> And it's on the teachers to be policing this. >> Well, it's it's part of their code of conduct. So, you know, the the idea is that students know
051that they're not just like anything else. Um, if there's if there's an issue and there needs to be a disciplinary issue with it, it it gets it gets handled just like any other discipline issue >> and and that disciplinary, you know, one strike, two strike, like that's all documented as part of it. >> Yes. So, it's it's part of their code of conduct. So, we didn't want to make it anything separate than the way that they offer any other types of discipline. That's one of the main pieces of feedback we got from the teacher survey was we just want consistency. >> We want to make sure that it's the same in every classroom. That was their biggest piece. So that's we made sure that was >> and it was working really well with the department.
052>> Yeah. There was there was a lot of feedback because I know that they had implemented really early around this and they felt like this was uh this was something that was positive. I I would just like to emphasize um that consistency when we got feedback from the teachers. It made such sense to me this really u the the structure of it now is not that an individual teacher will say in my classroom we're not. It's not that. This is this is a whole district uh regulation and it's every classroom um from well from bell to bell for K through 8 and close to that for >> 6 to 12. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> K through eight. >> 9 to >> 9 through 12. >> 9 to 12. >> And and 9 to 12
053it's the the lunch time they >> Yes. Exactly. And it's it's interesting too beyond just the teachers saying that the students in their feedback was that they want some consistency between each one of their classrooms too. They felt like it was easier for them to be able to kind of self self-regulate and manage with that process. And and just one more point that was um when we began this discussion, there was a lot of talk of parents uh wanting to be in touch with their children for so many reasons and you know disastrous reasons even and one of the things that really struck me is that we all have gotten so much better about um a catastrophe. the the level of communication that this the parents can have with the schools at the moment um
054of any any uh experience that would be frightening. It it it's not needed so much as it was uh 10 years ago or 5 years ago that every kid has their own uh device on them. Um, so I thought that was interesting that the parents sort of moved away from that fear to like for reasons of um our children being more sociable, it's better not to have the cell phones there and and parents were quite supportive on that. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And how was this new policy or regulation, whatever we're referring to it as, um, ruled out and communicated to, um, parents and students? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So that's that's the process now over the next couple of months is actually to make sure that everybody really understands. In many cases, the
055schools are actually sending out communications themselves >> on this and they've been actually pretty vocal about that. And like I said, one of the reasons you heard about Brian McMahon a lot more is because they actually sent out communication from day one >> like via email or >> email parents square their their typical social media the way that they actually communicate with their with their um multipunities. Yeah. >> Ways. Okay. And I think it's important to mention that um through this process, the student council has been actively engaged and um working with uh Ralph and the team around this policy and they've been um very proactive in engaging in the process. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? because I think yeah >> one of the the conversations that we've had is
056um student voice and I think it's important to elevate how the student council played an active role in this process. Yeah, we really we wanted to start this process with the students and that's actually so the students actually through their student council were able to go back to um their schools get feedback from other students and they the students I think it was the March or April um policy meeting >> it was yeah to towards the end of the year they came in and actually presented what they felt like would make sense as the regulation and so that that was our starting point that was our draft to work from there. Um, and then we're bringing it full cycle around because many of those students that work with CIL and student council would like to
057actually now come and just talk about, you know, maybe some of the more nitpicky little things of procedures that can help within the schools to be able to implement this. Um, but so there so we're really excited to have them join policy again in the next few months. But I thought it was important to highlight because they spearheaded a lot of this conversation and um I'm a firm believer of listen of elevating student voice and the student council has been a great way to bring up different topics that students uh deem necessary to further discuss or that have direct impact to their own learning or experience. and it's been very productive to have them present to different committees across the board and even different agencies across the city about topics that are important to them.
058And um in the next few days, we will be meeting with this year's cohort of student council members that will continue to leverage and elevate that work. Some of which are returning students and some of which will be participants into the group. Um when when we're done, can I ask a question about the field trip regulation if we're ready for that? >> Yeah. The the only thing I would say is like one thing that I noticed too if we if you if you go back to that policy meeting, the poise and the way that the students can present themselves, the communication skills that they learn through being a part of that process was really really impressive. >> No, I love to hear that that the students were involved as part of this. Um, I had
059a question about the field trip regulation because we had an had an email from a parent asking about this. So, you said that parents can still volunteer for like chaperoning this the smaller trips. Um, but you mentioned that they need to go through the raptor system. Is that information that's been sent out like is that something that parents can go preemptively go through that system like tomorrow so that they're ready whenever they might want to uh volunteer for a trip later in the year? Um is that something that's been sent out? >> They can they can do it just on that day. It literally takes two minutes. It's it's so the same way that you kind of check into a building with your license if you've already gone through the Raptor system. That's actually the
060screening. >> Okay. Okay. So mo most like in most cases it is, but if it hasn't been um they the screening literally takes seconds for them to just kind of go through and just have their it's it's they they use some kind of ID to be able to kind of identify themselves. If they're already volunteers though, that's that's not needed because they already go through the process. >> Okay. Thanks for clarifying. >> Any additional questions on the office? Now back to my superintendent report. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So next we're going to do action consent items. This is the section where we on multiple items on approval personnel. There is a revision. Mr. Max Thomas was listed as step one on personnel action. However, that is incorrect. He's actually coming in as
061step two. With that correction, we'll be updated and the notes and on um uh the website and everything. So, we are doing approval of personnel, approval of trips, approval of minutes. There any questions on any of these before we move forward? I just wanted to clarify. I noticed that the text on the approval of trips didn't match what the forms were. So, I think it should actually be Westerro's to nature's classroom. Uh, ponis to nature's classroom wrote to New York and New Jersey. And that's just not quite what it says, but that's what all the forms are. So, >> I was going to see my forms already. Okay. >> Oh, >> well, the ones that I haven't even >> Okay. The forms are correct. >> We'll make sure to make those uh corrections also. >>
062I need a motion to approve. >> Motion >> um approved by Sheridi Pritchette, seconded by Mary Ellen. All in favor, please say I raise your hand. >> I unanimous. Thank you, Ashley. Next section, we have several items also. Item A, acceptance of underground storage tank removal at Brookside Elementary School as completed. State project 103-02 66 CV B. Acceptance of underground storage tank removal and boiler igniter conversion at Tracy Magnet School as completed. State project 103-0267 CV C acceptance of asbestous floor tile abatement and replacement at Foxro Elementary School as completed state project 103-0268 CV approval of budget transfers and approval of Connecticut Association of Board of Education Board of Extinction Award application. Any questions? Motion to approve. Jasmine. Seconded by Carabanki. Thank you. Next item. The agenda. Oh, yes. All in favor, please say I
063hand. I >> That's unanimous. Thank you, Ashley. Uh, next item, monthly financial report. Mr. Osmani. to Good evening board. I'll just take a couple of moments just to walk you through the monthly the monthly financial report as of um as of September 30th. You should have also received um the budget book. >> Yes. >> Um as well in your cubicle. So we published that this week. So you have that for your reference. it does have a lot more detail um than what I have uh in front of you. So the F26 budget looks as is. This is a presentation similar to what I presented in September at the joint public hearing. Uh so as you know the initial approved budget was 242.7 million. Following subsequent conversations, we had an additional appropriation of $4.5 million into
064the general fund from the city and a $2 million appropriation fund to the um our health insurance account for a combined total of 6.5 million. Of the 4.5 million, we have already received 1.5 million from the city. the balance, the three million is dependent on the $10 million grant that the city got from from the state. So, the city hasn't yet received the $10 million, but when they do, the plan is 3 million of that to be appropriated uh to the board of ed. But that $4.5 million for us was used to reinstate positions. We have just over 50 positions that were reinstated. Those positions already in the budget. We're currently uh paying for those positions. So, as you look at the year-to-date um expenditures up until this point, it does include payment of those
065positions. And so, we're using the funding that we have to pay for those positions. And then once the $3 million amount is received, we will apply that into the general fund and should carry us uh through the end of the year. But for cash flow purposes, as we are just in the beginning of the year, we do have funding to continue to fund those positions uh for the next couple of months. Thank you. So, as far as the general fund, again, you'll see here we we want to be very distinct in separating uh showing that $4.5 million is part of what we consider our appropriation. So, you'll see that 248.6 includes that appropriation. Year to date, uh we've spent 46.7 million 43.4 million compared to 46.7 million last year. So, at this point, we're 25
066uh quarter into the year, 25% of the budget. Our year-to- date spend is actually just under 18%. It is consistent with how we trend our spending. There's some there are some expenses that we do towards the end of the year, and so it doesn't quite tie, but being at 17% spend, 25% of the year through is consistent with where we would be uh this time of year. So most of that is primarily due to uh to timing. Salaries is again our biggest uh budget expense. Uh this again does include the 52 positions that were reinstated in that year-to- date number. So they are being paid. Um when we do the year-to-ear sometimes there is a discrepancy in terms of payroll depending on when payroll hits. Sometimes it hits at the end of September, sometimes it's
067the 1 of October. But other than that um it is consistent with where we would expect to be uh this time of year as far as salaries salaries are concerned. As far as benefits, again the biggest chunk of our benefits expense is transferring funds from the general fund for our health insurance account into the health insurance account. We make those transfers quarterly and that's about 90% of these benefits expenses. But included in benefits are the board's contribution towards retirement benefits. Uh the board's contribution towards contractual longevity payments for those employees that are eligible. We also pay social security taxes on behalf of our employees as an employer and our unemployment compensation. Uh but the biggest chunk of these benefits are the health insurance and we've already made that first quarter payment and that's why you
068see that just under $9 million and so we'll be making those throughout the year and you'll see that number grow um as we go through the year. Uh we are monitoring our health insurance account. You will recall that last year um the city actually contributed $2 million towards health insurance and we also contributed the balance of our carryover from prior years. we had $2.5 million, but we also had to contribute that towards the health insurance just based on how the budget was trending uh that particular year. But so far, we're trending well and I don't see at this point I don't see any concerns with transferring funds to our health insurance account. Uh professional and technical services, uh primarily these are services that we purchase that we don't provide um ourselves. The biggest expenses here
069are our contracts for our um behavioral services, our sped related services. Those that we contract out, those are paid out of our, you'll see in your line item that you have the detail, our 330 accounts. That's where we pay u entities like constellation and all of those providers that provide those services. So the biggest chunk of this is um is behavioral services. But from these accounts, we also pay our custodial service contracts. And this is where we also pay our substitute contract for our substitute uh services. Uh we have a third party that goes out and recruit substitute services for us. Uh we will actually be going for an RFP um this year. Uh we currently have ESS but we're in the fifth year and so we'll be doing an RFP to go out and
070see um if any other entity can provide us equal or better services. Uh but that's something that we're also working on with relation to substitute services. Property services again it's it's consistent. The biggest item in property services is our finical contract for for custodial services. Um that's part of this expense and then also repairs and maintenance. As you know this year we took on we started Sono. So that's a new building that we now have that's being serviced both from a custodial standpoint and a security standpoint. But again, that is also trending consistently with where we would be this time of year. Other student services, this is kind of our big one. This is where we pay for sped expenses for local education agencies and also our outofd tuition. uh this these are the biggest
071two expenses in that area. Our transportation contract is also considered uh one of these other student services and so those are the three biggest drivers. Uh you just approved a series of transfers related to to sped. What we were able to do this year is our sped line item as you recall for the two prior years we have we had underfunded the amount necessary for sped and so we were kind of scraping funds across other line items to make sped whole. Uh this year uh we were able to budget close to what we anticipated to be. Now, there may be some overages just based on, you know, students getting identified and the types of services that they're that they need, but for the most part, I think we've gotten back to where we were usually
072where we try to budget as close to what we anticipate spending. So, we didn't um underfund spent uh this year, but again, that is also consistent with where we would expect to be this year. And then supplies and materials. Primarily, this is where we pay our electricity bills, our natural gas under instructional supplies. And again, you have the individual line items um in your budgets. But again, this is consistent. You'll see where we are this year is pretty much where we were this time last year when you compare those two. Um equipment is really instructional software and instructional equipment. And again, this is consistent. It's not a big line item. We do have quite a majority of our equipment expenses are in the capital budget side. So we don't have a whole lot on the
073operating side and so that's why this is uh lower than uh than others. Um and then other objects is I believe the close to the last final one. Uh this is really primarily just memberships that the district belongs to. Uh you just approved an application for CAVE. So that's an associate belong to and we pay dues. We do have a number of professionals in the districts that are members of professional associations in order for them to maintain their certifications and lensure. As an employer, we pay for those membership fees. And so the majority of this is that other other objects. It's about 180,000 a year is what we spend on those professional associations. Um and then finally from the general fund is the transfers to the food services fund. Uh this year we had approved
074a budget of 0 just under 700,000 to go into the food services fund. Um, as you know, this is something that we've had conversations. Um, I do have some additional comments when I talk about the food services fund itself in terms of where we are this year and what we're anticipating in terms of some of the additional revenues. Um, so that's the end of the general fund. I'll go to the grant fund and then I'll come back to the food services fund uh briefly. Uh the grant fund again this is kind of where we expect it to to be. Uh we did receive exciting news on the grant side. There was some uncertainty with our um the MSP grant that $15 million grant that we got for five years. We did get uh confirmation that
075for this upcoming year that that grant is funded and therefore we're excited with uh we're excited to receive that news. So we're okay for another year of that magnet school assistance program grant. Um, as we had shared during the budget, you'll recall that last legislative session, there was 800,000 additional funding for special education by way of the excess cost grant. We got 800,000 for the year that ended June 30th, but it was a two-year deal. So, there is another 800,000 coming this year related to the excess cost funding. So, that's um that's also exciting for us. And then there was also some recalculation in the alliance funding, the portion that comes to the board of ed. Uh we are receiving I believe last year we received an additional billion dollars over the year before and
076this year we're also receiving an additional $1.1 million um in alliance funding. Um, as you know, special education funding is still not at the level that it should be, but the state has been making um incremental increases to try and make districts uh districts whole. And then finally, just a brief conversation around the food services fund. Uh we did initially approve a budget of just over 7.5 million. Um year to date, we've spent just under half a million dollars. Uh but as you know with some of the recent developments we when we had approved the budget back in June uh it was without uh being part of the C. Uh we have since uh gone back uh to C and we are receiving some additional funding. Um and so we met today and we're going
077to be meeting with Chartwell tomorrow just to kind of do reprojections on the revenues because with C the reimbursement rates are slightly different uh than when you're not on C. So, we're going to be looking at what the revenue trends uh would be like there. Uh but we did um I did receive an email today from the city regarding their $200,000 commitment. There will be a special meeting of the board of estimates and taxation um to approve that. They just wanted us to give them the account number where that funding will go. So, we're hopeful that that should happen fairly quickly. Uh we're still waiting. We're coordinating with the philanthropic uh funer for the 200,000. I believe there was a communication with the superintendent's office and uh they were just asking for banking information. What
078routing number should they use? So I think over the next couple of weeks we should also be in receipt of that of that funding. Um and then the balance again to make up the difference after we meet with Chartwells and do the get a better understanding of what the federal funding would be then we will work internally to make up the difference so that uh for this fiscal year uh that account is um is fully funded and with that be happy to answer any questions regarding the >> year-to- date financials. Yes, please. >> Yes. So, in reference to the 3 million that the city still owed, would that be would they be giving us that total amount or would that be a lump sum? >> The 3 million should be a lump sum. Uh because
079I think if they treat it the same way as they did the one and a half million, 2 million. Yes. >> So, they'll give to other lump sum, but they have yet they haven't yet received it. >> Right. So >> I have um a question about the alliance funding. Yes. >> Um previously it been it was around 5 million and then last year you said it increased another million. Did it get up to six million last year? >> Yes. Let me >> And now it might be close to 7 million if the 1.1 added to it. >> The alliance funding for this year is 6.3. >> So it did go up >> and last year it was 5.3. >> Last year was five >> and the year before it was 4.1. >> So incrementally that
080part. >> Yes. So it's been increasing about 1.1 1.2. just to say that that funding comes from the state directly to us where the um ECS 10 million goes to the city and then eventually comes to us. >> Correct. So I believe >> that's a so our total allocation for the district is about 16 million 10 of which flows through the city and then six comes directly to us. >> Good. And um I just want to celebrate about the lunch uh monies that came in that the philanthropic came together and the city uh matched funds and this is a point of celebration for our students and for everyone. >> Well, the superintendent had been working on that for for quite some time. I believe since May of trying to figure out how how this could
081work and it was great to see that it finally came together in October. Yes, it did. It took a lot of work. >> The superintendent I can mention for that it's just for this year though, right? So just for this year so for next fall or when we're still going to be right looking to continue that program, right? We're going to have that again. So for the fall as we begin working on the FY27 budget, you know, we'll sit down with the superintendent and if you know, if we want to participate with the CP, obviously we'll have to present a budget that accounts for that. >> Um, but yes, this funding is for one year for this year, >> right? But I think we heard from the community the importance of having C. Um, you
082know, we advocated really hard to embed this in what we offer our students. I'm a firm believer that students shouldn't have to pay for meals when we're offering a free education. Um, I can go back to when I my interview that was one of the questions um particularly when there were conversations about this the cheese lunches >> and the challenges around that and the importance of making sure that all children were fed. Um, and I I know that um members of this board and members of the board that are not here um right now of priorities really uh advocated for this and I'm hoping that we can continue doing this and many of our families spoke to the importance of this and the challenge in uh the federal formula around free lunches, right? Because it's
083using an average a national average that doesn't equate to cost of living in our area. So what might be considered some afford like something affordable to families might not be affordable in this community uh because of the cost of living being very different than the national average and um it's something that we spoke at length at one point and I think it's important to resurface why this is so important particularly now that cost of living has elevated to an unprecedented peak and um our families are struggling to leave >> and I think we also heard some good feedback today on that as well at our earlier meeting with the Sono parents as well >> on the importance of school >> of the school >> but it also shows the importance of public voice because we're
084only one part of that whole puzzle right and we can ask and ask and ask but because of the public speaking up and you know letting it be known not only to us, to the city, to the mayor, town council, the importance of it all. It, you know, helped because we have helped by the city. And I think one misconception um that I heard that I think is important to clarify, we never wanted to get rid of free lunches. Um when we were faced with the task of making an elimination that was not um people >> student facing >> oh student well student facing but also personnel that was the only program that we had in the district that wouldn't eliminate people. So when we had to make the hard decision of of making a
085$2 million reduction, that was one of the areas only areas that we had left to make reductions in that didn't encompass eliminating Yeah. $2 million reduction condition. >> Correct. So I think it's important to note that because um this is a program that we formally advocated for as as a district and we want to continue to have. I mean, the CP application process is intensive and um we want to continue to do that because I think it benefits kids. And I was at a school where a child was directed by the parents not to eat because they couldn't afford to pay the bill and that's problematic and we don't want to see that happen. >> Yeah. And um you know I just want to reiterate what everybody here was saying because I was in my
086first year of my four-year term when C was brought to the table in the shadow of CO because we'd already been feeding kids right like free lunches. >> Um and just to note that every year since then this board has voted unanimously to continue with the C program. So none of us wanted that. just for the public record. That was absolutely the last thing that we wanted. >> But we also, as you said, Dr. Ora, were looking to avoid making cuts in the classrooms. And so that is something that landed on the table. Um, you know, it's unfortunate that this happens and people were so stressed out and concerned with what was about to happen. On the other hand, it did shed a light on it and as you said, Diana, we got a lot
087of people to pay attention to it and to advocate for it. Um, thank you to you Dr. Australa for your advocacy um with the McCords and thank you to the McCords um for their generous donation to allow for this program to continue >> and the fact that they didn't think twice to put forward the funding was um to me a very impre impressive act of kindness um that I would like to highlight. And you know like for for years um Sandra Lunda and myself um go before the bet when we're advocating for the budget to defend CU because it's an area that people always question like why why are we why are we giving free lunches and every year we stand there e either virtually or in person really advocating for the importance of making
088sure that every child regardless of their financial circumstance have the access to free food and um every year we get push back on the topic. So, and and I think sometimes the we we forget what um the the cabinet and the board does on an ongoing yearly basis. And I want to like elevate that because it's been years of constant advocating after like we like the the Hogan funds ran out and then we applied for C and we started getting um the free meals. every year we have to go forward >> to the city and and um the council and the BET to defend the points of why free lunches are important. So I'm glad that people now see particularly at those two governing bodies that this is important and that the families value this
089at all levels of of the system. >> Thank you. Okay. Next item on the agenda is committee representative reports plus policy fair. We've already discussed the cell phone policy. We've been working on that for a couple of months now. Um anyone else? >> I would like to uh report on the curriculum. Uh we had a meeting last week and it fits um just like a piggyback on what we've talked about uh with the professional development that some of the it happened to be on the 14th and some of the very people that gave some professional development were were reporting to us that evening. Um, one report was on um was last year that the science in middle school was updated and this year we're having K through five. Um, this is next generation science standards.
090It's always a hands-on uh very very action uh courses, but the um apparently the old umi the old books were not being renewed and so we have a new system that folks seem to like quite a bit. Um another what report part of that was we're having this um the literacy of course is one of our two major focuses and we are putting in K middle school and high school so K through 12 um new literary materials and they were giving a report on on how that's going so far. the roll out was we had some assistance from TNTP is that I'm always getting my initials straight but they helped tremendously in making um the roll out of these new materials um so widespread among the teachers. There were over 70 teachers that were involved
091in the pilot program and then in collaborating of okay here here are the results what do we want and can we all buy in and the the methods of pulling groups together and then coming to consensus was was really remarkable. So, I've heard that from other teachers that they enjoyed this and um just watching how it goes. Um we're talking about level of professional uh work here. And so those are the things I wanted to report on. It was very exciting curriculum. And if we're ever wondering why our kids are be doing so well, it is the basis of it is just great teaching. And that's what's um being encouraged. >> Can I I go please the the other the other piece of it is also um professionally developing the leaders and the leaders being
092part of the process and understanding the complexity of what's being asked to happen in the classroom and and making sure that they can monitor, absorb and support the work as well >> because they're all supportive, >> right? So that that all makes it happen and the the the materials themselves are very exciting very um students can relate to it. Uh so that >> all of it coming together exciting curriculum teachers that are all in and knowledgeable about how they can uh work it the best way. So pretty exciting to me just listening to the curriculum uh report. >> Great. any other community books. >> I have some updates on facilities. Um so on the facil facility side um everybody's probably heard that um the next school that is going to be rebuilt is Westerox. Um
093so that was announced a couple of weeks ago. Um and we held a community meeting two weeks ago at Westerro school that was pretty well attended. Um there were a lot of residents from the immediate area that were there. There were um people from obviously our public schools, the board um the city um as well as the facilities team that Sandra manages. Um but you know it it I felt like it was a very educational um session. Um we saw a video um kind of a tour of what the current Westerox um campus is dealing with right now. I think we all know that they've had a lot of problems with water. Um they have a flat roof there and anytime they have rain. Um there's all kinds of remediation that they're having to do.
094They have an elevator um that's very finicky. Just a lot of issues in that building. So for me it was pretty clear like this school does need to be rebuilt. Um one of the you know couple of the community concerns that we heard were um similar to Norakai and Pekk how we're kind of flipping um the campus layout. the school is going to be built on um the relatively new athletic fields. Um so there was some concern about you know that these are you know very nice soccer fields that we've recently invested in within the last 10 years. Um and then also the proximity again similar to Norakai PEC um but the neighbors that are there and some drainage concerns. So these things were heard. Um I think the community is excited about the project.
095I'm excited about the project. Um but there will be more um community meetings to gather like more feedback on that project. It's uh not slated. So right now it's conceptual. Um I think at this point we might have some concepts on the website. I'm not sure. Um but we saw like very high kind of layouts of what this could potentially look like. um it won't go into construction until Norah and PTAC open um in the fall of 27. So this will be our next school part of the 25-y year plan. Um and then my understanding with regard to the fields by the time they break ground on this the field will have usefulness anyway, right? So that would be >> needs. Yeah. >> And we wouldn't break ground until the fields at the north. >>
096Yeah. There was yeah field concern overall in the city. Um we have our monthly facilities committee meeting tomorrow night at 6 pm. Um and then on the 30th there is a meeting between um board of ed and the city and the land use committee on common council about um the new elementary school in South Rock and um the naming of the school um is >> the 30th. >> Yeah, there will be discussion around that and how to move forward with formally naming that. There is a placeholder. There's placeholder signage there right now that says South No School. Um, but that's not necessarily going to be the name. We had a specialized learning subcommittee meeting um and the team presented uh about dyslexia and what's going on in the district. And I think that, you know,
097in the past few years that I don't think dyslexia has been up at the forefront as much as it used to be. >> Um, so I think that's coming back and we're seeing that there's this still very large problem of dyslexia out there. Um, and part of the problem seems to be identifying it and some students not getting identified till they're in high school. Um so you know if we can identify earlier obviously that'll be so much better for the students learning experience. Um and you know we're going through different trainings for the teachers for um dyslexia as well um part of their learning that they're going through. And anything else from you guys from what we learned today? Um, >> oh, I was just going to add one of the other things from our
098specialized learning committee was the announcement that the first parent advisory meeting of this year will be on Wednesday, November 5th at 6:30 at the family center with both an inerson and a virtual option. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I I have one more u library liaison announcement. Um so some information from uh Vicky Otis and Charerelle Harris. Um the costume drive will be at the main branch of the library this coming Sunday, October 26th from 1 to 4:00 p.m. Families can come by to pick up a free costume for Halloween if they need one. There will be a costume parade at the main library for children under age five on Halloween, Friday, October 31st at 10:30 a.m. The Sono Library is running um a scholar program. Um that is on Saturdays and Sundays with
099some homework assistance. And then additionally, there's Brainfuse online homework help database with live tutors for grades 3 through 12 in math, social studies, English, writing, and science available daily from 3 to 10 p.m. So, um, I can send all of that to communications so that maybe we can get that out to all of the families who might find all of that useful. But that's that's the library report. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. All right. Well, thank you everyone. Our last and final section is board member announcements. This is when any board member would like to share anything that they are doing or personally where the community can get to know us a little bit more. Yes. >> I just want to make sure everybody knows that I am running for reelection and as much as
100I can I hope that the people who are here will vote for me. >> Yes. >> I say and early voting has begun. >> Early voting has begun. >> Everybody needs to get out and vote. >> And there's another debate. Sherry, >> I'm sorry. >> There's another debate on the 28th. the 2 on the 27th actually next Tuesday at CMS there's another forum for the board of education >> in person >> it's in person >> we can we can go in person um I just would like to mention that last Friday I um competed at the head of the Charles in Boston 1100 thousand people compete and this is the largest riata for rowing in the in the world um it's very thrilling in it. >> Blue race. I raced in a double. It's a
101three mile race. >> All out. Wow. >> All out. >> How' you feel? >> Good for you. >> Finished. Well, it was great. >> That's awesome. That's awesome. >> Congrats. >> Just just joyful. >> That's it. >> And then this Saturday, it's also Mid Fairfield AIDS Project is having their bingo fundraiser. So, if anybody wants to come, it'll be at the American Legion at 6 PM. And with that, I need I want to say thank you to everybody for being here. Dr. Alexander, the team, parents that are here, my colleagues. I know it's been a long day and I'd like a motion to adjourn. >> Motion announcement. All in favor? >> I thank you. Time to start from 9:02 9.