001Okay. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the Monday, December 15, 2025 board of education meeting to order at 700 pm. We'll begin by reciting the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> The challenge. Okay, let's see here. Uh, Amanda, would you please read the mission statement? >> Sure. The Orange Elementary School District recognizes that the education of each child is the shared responsibility of every member of our community. Our goal is to inspire and empower each student to achieve academic excellence, embrace social and individual responsibility, and lead with integrity. We believe all individuals should be valued and treated with respect. Together, we will make a difference. >>
002Thank you for that. Uh we'll go ahead and uh we'll begin uh the meeting with board introductions. Uh we'll start off with Lauren. >> Good evening. Thanks for joining us here and at home and happy holidays. >> Hi Anthony Scarenzi. >> Hello Ret James Amanda Zapatka. >> Hello Ken Zimman >> Susan Rio Tatiana Msina Mullen >> Jeff Cap. >> Good evening Betty Hadlock. Good evening everyone. Erin Wilson. >> Okay. Okay. Okay, let's move on to public participation. Do we have any public participation this evening? If so, uh you'll just walk up to the podium, state your name um and your address, and you have two minutes. And I will let Betty go ahead and >> Okay. Um speakers may offer objective comments to the board concerning school operations and programs. Comments will be limited to
003two minutes per speaker. The board encourages speakers not to express personal complaints or defamatory comments about the Orange Board of Education personnel or any person associated with the Orange Public School System. Comments about security issues, matters related to due process, negotiations, or grievances will not be permitted. Consistent with the principles of the federal education right to privacy act known as furpa discussions about students are prohibited absent a written parent waiver. Public participation does not allow for a two-way conversation between the board and the participants. We thank you for expressing your thoughts and opinions and all comments will be taken into consideration. Thank you for coming tonight. How about now? >> Okay. Still Josh Linsky, 355 Miles Road. Um, I had planned to speak this evening uh regardless a few weeks ago and after um this
004past weekend it felt even more poignant to uh keep my remarks. So, I wanted to uh discuss for a few moments the lockdown situation that happened. Um, first off, I want to thank Mrs. uh Miss Lassau uh and Miss Watson. I thought that they did a fantastic job handling everything. I want to thank the custodians, the Orange Police Department, the teachers, the staff, and the bus drivers as well, because I think without all of them, it wouldn't have gone as smoothly as it did. Um, I want to also reiterate that I have absolutely no problem at all with Miss Lasso's warning on any of the messages she sent out. Um, I thought it was appropriate. I thought that the words that she used were, you know, again, appropriate and and thoughtful. Um, I did want
005to, and I know this is not a Q&A, but I did want to ask or at least bring up a couple things for uh, the board to think about. The first is, um, I realize that there are many moving parts in our district with so many schools and the shuttle bus. Um but the fact that the lockdown was called at Pek and then the buses from the shuttles continued to go to Pek afterwards. Um I think it's something that should be discussed for uh security measure matters because if that was god forbid um you know the worst case scenario I would not imagine a a worse thing than for the kindergarteners to be then entering that scene. Uh, so I'd like to bring that up for the board to discuss when they feel it's appropriate.
006Um, on top of that, I don't know if that was a breakdown in communication, but I am aware that there are multiple bus companies and you are dealing with a large network of schools and administrators and teachers and staff. Um, and so I think it's important that, you know, as an example, in my school district where I teach, when we have that situation, we unfortunately have more of those than thankfully Orange does. Um, there's one communication and one set of communications. It goes out to everyone and it's almost instantaneous. Uh, the other thing that I wanted to bring up was I got the message from Miss Lassto at 2:39 p.m. because I have a student, I have a child at Peek Place. Uh that was minutes after I guess the lockdown was called. I also
007have a child at MLT and I did not get a message from an MLT until 3:14 which is almost more than a half hour later. So if I didn't have a kid at PE, I would not have been messaged until after my child would have been regularly scheduled to be picked up. My kid normally gets off the bus at 3:00 outside of my house. I didn't get a message from MLT until 3:15. So I can and again just imagining my fear when I'm out there at three o'clock and it's 3:05 and it's 3:10 and I don't see my son and I don't see a bus and I've gotten no communication whatsoever. So, the fact that there was a full 35 minute gap between the messaging that went out from PEC and MLT, I think again
008that could be something that the board could look into um as far as making sure that uh the communication is a little bit more universal. Um again, more than anything, I'm super thankful that we have the systems in place already that we do, the people that we have in place already. I'm super thankful that it was not an emergency situation and that we have someone as dedicated in Miss Lassto who in her words made a very strong statement about her commitment to our kids and our families and our community. Extraordinarily thankful for that. I just wanted to bring up those points. Um again because these are things in my district I'm involved on the team that does the planning for these measures. Um and we have things in place to address those issues. So the
009issue of the kids on the shuttle bus going to a school that's in lockdown and making a more universal instantaneous communication if uh if it's not already being discussed I would I would love for that to to happen. So thank you for the time. I appreciate it and good evening. >> All right. Thank you for that and sharing all that information with us. Uh any other public participation? >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everybody. Lauren Gay, 205 Wilson Road. I realize I'm on the board of education um but this wasn't on the agenda tonight. So before we proceed with tonight's agenda, um I do want to ask everyone present um for a moment of silence. I really want to pause to honor the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Um the anniversary was yesterday. Um
010and all the students and educators whose lives were taken and whose loss continues to resonate so deeply within our community here and across Connecticut. Um even more relevant and recent right now. I also want to acknowledge the lives we just lost um including the ones at the mass shootings at the Hanukkah event um in Bondai Beach in Australia and at a classroom at Brown University really close by in Rhode Island. These tragedies are occurred in really different places, but they reflect a shared reality of grief and loss that extends beyond any single community. And it's one we know here really well, unfortunately, in Connecticut. And as parents, public servants, community members, moments like this really call us to reflect not only on those we have lost, but on the values all of us really strive
011to uphold, and that's safety, compassion, and care for one another. So, I'd like to now ask that we observe a moment of silence in remembrance of all those we've lost. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. Thank you, Lauren. Any other public participation? Okay. We'll move on to our consent agenda. Uh, I need a motion to accept the first item under the consent agenda. The first item is the minutes from the November 17, 2025 board of education meeting. Do I have a motion to accept the minutes from the November 17th, 2025 board of education meeting? Tatiana second. Susan, any discussion? All in favor? Okay, that was unanimous. Thank you. And now I need um to move on to the minutes from the November 20th, 2025 board of education special meeting. Do I have a motion
012to accept the minutes from the 20 November 20th, 2025 board of education special meeting? Motion. Um who was first? Amanda. Okay. Anthony, I'll take you second. Uh any discussion? All in favor? opposed. Abstain. You got that? Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh before we move over to the superintendent's report, I'd like to let the board members know that the subcommittee member applications are on your desk. Uh, please select three committees you are interested in for review and submit your forms to Darlene by January 5th, if not very soon. Uh, committee assignments will be handed out at the January meeting and you should have that packet right in front of you and it should look like so with the square box. Item number one for the exhibit. Okay, now we'll move over to our superintendence report. I'm
013going to go over to Dr. Scarpetti. Good evening, Mr. Cap and the rest of the board members. [clears throat] Um, I hope everyone watching at home had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. And before the district goes on the winter break Tuesday of next week, we are in the thick of winter concerts. As a friendly reminder to all the board members, if you are planning on attending, this is not any pressure. We just want to make sure that there's a seat for you, a parking spot for you. Please let Darlene know so we could plan for that. At your seats, there's two flyers. Um, for those of you that are unaware, the Boa superintendents, Bethany Orange, Woodbridge, and AMD, we meet monthly. Um, so there's two things that were shared in the board update and I believe you
014also had a email from AMD about the BOA elected officials day. Just so for people that have an experience, usually members that have attended it, they attend the January 30th. That's when they go to Amity Middle School orange campus and then they from there they go to the Amity Regional High School. So again, if you are willing to and able to attend, I think it's a great day for you to get to know where our students go and all the work that they do in Amity. If you could email an RSVP, Cecilia, that's Dr. Buyer's administrative assistant by January 23rd, that would be great. I plan to attend. And I know some of you already share that you're attending. So that's a piece that if you're able to, I highly recommend that. The other is
015you'll see about start time. There was an ad hoc committee created by AMD um and they asked to join the BOA meeting. So the chair of the ad hoc committee and two other members were um informing us they are looking into changing start times at AMD wanted us to be aware of it number one and number two if we would be interested in this. I know Bethany already um I believe uh talked to their board. They are not interested at this time. Um I spoke to the union reps of the um principles and administrators and the teachers with us. Our contract is very specific of start times and it will also impact many other things. But this would be a board decision. Uh I know recently we talked about roles and responsibility what falls under
016uh the superintendent what falls under the board and so if anyone thinks of any interest with this please um email Mr. Cap because I think Mr. Cap you may be reached out in the near future um or myself um at this time I would agree with Bethany I would not recommend us doing this. We are in a contract with teachers for the next two years. Um, in addition, we'll see where they evolve with AMD, but they do ask for us to get back to them by January 8th. Um, so that's two pieces from BOA. Um, coincidentally, um, I was going to talk about the Peek Place uh, lockdown drill, too. Uh, number one, I want to thank people and their feedback, positive feedback. I think um you've heard me say the statement you either contributing
017or contaminating and there's no in between contributions that you've just heard represented by public participation or emails receive those are helpful. We want those. Um part of my uh update to all of you uh when that occurred this was at dismissal time. Um I wish it was during the day. It would have been a little bit more cleaner to deal with, but I think it was a good practice. And when this drill happens, well, I should take that back. We didn't know it was a drill. When that alarm goes off, we have to react as if something is occurring. And we do that in collaboration uh with the police department, uh fire marshal. Again, I can extend my gratitude towards uh the staff, the students, the police department, the fire marshal, uh central office staff
018that uh were on board uh immediately. But with any of these situations, we could get better. And what I mean by that, the following day, the police spoke with the staff and we received feedback. So, some of the things are what you heard at public participation. And just uh one quick piece, um everything is situational. The buses did go there because they knew that by that time it wasn't a true threat and that's why they were okay attending that. But there were some pieces about communication about what police has the authority to do versus us because as mentioned earlier there was a time gap between what Peek Place heard besides the MLT parents. So that was a topic of conversation. The other piece that we received feedback is about communication that just went by email
019where typically it goes to phone message and text. So that was another good feedback that we were provided that everything should been contact. Again, I think one of the situations why we were immersed in it is that we want to make sure to give as much information as we can. There's less characters that we could put in a text message and a phone. But again, part of that conversation was we could just simply say please look at your email or please look at um you know if a text message please check out your email. So we've we've engaged in those conversations. Um the point of uh conversations that we had even though there were more officers involved were our school resource officers and again uh shout out to Detective Bailey and Arterbane who uh immediately
020responded along with the other um law enforcement officers for of the Orange PD. But I did ask them I said you know what I'm going to be talking to this at a board meeting. Is there any time that you may be available to present to the board? Um some things are private some things we can't share out. Um but they said absolutely you know I said well let me see what kind of questions that I may receive at the board meeting to help you present and knowing that it is situational and things may change. I know uh Mrs. Watson received an email from a parent from another school and she heard uh what occurred in school. So what would happen at Turkey Hill and Mrs. Watson responded. Uh the principal at MLT said again it's
021situational. If it was something that occurred exactly like PE um kids would be brought there because they knew quickly that it was not uh a true attack on the school. But other situations we have contingency plans um and it's other areas in the the town. Sometimes we don't go to specificities of that because we don't know what the intent of people that may want to harm our students, our staff, but they are more than willing to come to present. But uh even though there were learnings that we've had, we appreciate those learnings. But I do want to say the system worked. people could uh give feedback and again I appreciate the the the the contributions that people gave in a in a respectful professional way to to our staff um because it helped us it
022helped the police it helped conversations of we may thought of one thing about communication where the police thought of other of so those are the collaborative pieces we're going through but it worked the teachers responded as they did students responded as they did the police responded immediately Again, no one knew that this unfortunately was inadvertently um um the system was activated inadvertently by uh by someone inside, but it worked. So, um those are the pieces. So, again, uh I know I have other things to report, but um don't know if there's any questions before I go on with regarding this. I'll be more than happy to address what I can, but as all of you know, and especially the ones that have been on committees um leading up to this, we don't share much information
023and that's intentional. Um I know when uh the previous district I was on the committee when this was all forming unfortunately because of uh Sandy Hook um you know one of the things that I was proud about when I came here to Orange was so ahead of the game but one of the things that we had as a mantra is that safety is inconvenient. You know no matter of when we went through a process of you know getting teachers feedback and again this was my previous district about well it locks this way and I can't this way. Yeah, it's going to be inconvenient or we were outside. It's going to be inconvenient. And I do apologize to the parents of any inconvenience that we caused. We know that was unnerving and alarming. I'm sure it
024was uh extremely scary of having to see all the uh response is that we have and waiting in line. But again, um please know that the system did work the way it was supposed to. So, I'll just take a little pause. Again, I have other things to report, but didn't want to go go on and come back, but any questions that anyone that may have. >> Uh, thank you so much for that update. Um, [clears throat] the rough equivalent I experience as a nurse is the the code button. Like if there's a code and there's an emergency, we push the code button. [clears throat] Sometimes we're not sure if it's the right caller, not the right call, there's a gray area. Sometimes we push it inadvertently and we know immediately that was the wrong button
025to push. We should have pushed the yellow button instead or whatever. Um, and sometimes it is truly truly an emergency, a true true emergency. Um, and we need the whole team to come immediately. Is there any information that you can share understanding that it's um sensitive about how what the timeline was between the activation and the awareness that it was for lack of a better phrase not real? >> I I don't know off the top of my it was fairly quickly when after the police police arrived. >> Okay. Thank you. And by the way, which I forgot to add, and this is part of the conversation, is even when we realize that there wasn't a threat at the school, the process still has to follow through. And that's where it gets unnerving where um conversations
026occurred at that meeting. Is there any way that we could expedite that? Yes, knowing that these things need to be done, but knowing that it's not a threat, is there any other way that we could do that? We're comfortable knowing especially when parents are there. Again, it was the the timing was not all all that great, but again, I'm glad that it did occur when it did because it shows that the system did work. I know we've already talked about this issue, but just for the um people at home who might not know about, you know, MLT and the contingencies there. Um so just to clarify what you said and what we talked about is in a real situation, the MLT bus full of kindergarteners would not go to an active lockdown situation if it
027was, you know, that the worst case scenario. Thank goodness it wasn't. Everybody did so great. Um I heard about it from my son Amias who was on the kindergarten bus um at Peek. Um and he was like, "Oh, we were fine." Um but just to reassure parents, you know, during a real situation, the kindergarten bus or another bus would not go to an active lockdown. And I know that's what you were trying to say, but just to clarify that. >> Yeah. Hopefully I wasn't trying. Hopefully it came across that I did say it that way. But um but that being said, yes, because you know these are the pieces and again um I hate if I'm coming across ambiguous to anyone at home. It's for a reason or any of my board members. I apologize
028for that, but conversations did happen. They continue to happen. Again, we always learn from every event that occurs. Um I think not too long ago, Mr. Gray, you could help me out. I know that happened and I think it was last year. Turkey Hill, but it was right after dismissal, so everything was gone. But then we were dealing with 21st century. So, uh, there are pieces, but is there a learning that we could have had? Yes. I think the biggest piece is the communication with the text or a phone call just to direct people to or parents to the um an email. And the other pieces is what was even brought up um in public participation as again what we may have directed of when we could share another email versus what the conversation was
029afterwards. There was a learning with that too. So, >> and thank you for the follow-up email the next day too um from Mrs. Lassto. That was really great as well. So, I appreciate the email that went out from Miss Lassto the next day too. And and again, this is where I I know I know uh it's said that we are in a society that needs instant gratification immediate and we understand that and I think even going back of what we shared and even calls that I've had to he deal with. You may not get a response right away. The adults are focusing on your children. That's the first step. And um and again, I I'm grateful for what occurred and how the students and staff responded, but were there learnings? there were and we're talking
030about it and addressing that. >> Dr. Scraped, this is probably an obvious answer, but when you do have a plan lockdown drill, are all procedures followed up until from beginning to end? Is that just standard? >> They are. >> Thank you. So, thank you for that time time for that because I did want to update um and thank you uh for additional feedback. Um as we continue uh speaking about buses and where they go, uh I'm happy to say that I completed my bus tour today. It was great driving with the students and reconnecting with the bus drivers. Thank you allowing for me to uh ride on your buses. Um it's a great piece to really connect with the kids outside. So I want to thank everyone that uh allowed me to visit the buses
031and hang out with the kids for a while. Um as Mr. Gray shared at the previous uh finance subcommittee meeting, uh we are continuing to progress through the budget process and preparations for the next budget year. All 26 27 department budget requests have been submitted to the central office. This week, all department heads will continue to meet and review their budget request. I will then reach out to Mrs. Richio as I have in the past and to uh Mr. Cap to review the budget workshop expectations. This email will go out, but if you want to make a note, the budget workshop will be held on Thursday, January 29th. Again, that's Thursday, January 29th. You may write it down now if you like, but if not, we're going to be sending out and that starts at
0325:00 pm. Um, we will have a board meeting on January 20th. That's already on or should be on your calendar or you should already be aware of that. And typically, and again, I defer to Mr. Cap, but um I know we have some new board members. Typically, the February board meeting um is canceled and we have a budget meeting that night, but um again, I defer to Mr. cap, but just so people could start planning ahead um and if need be bit needed um more meetings could be requested and we could provide that. Also in addition to talk about the 26 uh 25 I'm sorry 2627 we're regarding preschool that tuition increase from $3,250 to $3,500. Again this is in coordination with uh Bo Bethany Orange Woodbridge. we all follow that same uh salary. Doesn't
033mean I'm sorry, tuition doesn't mean that we can't go outside that, but that's typically what we've done. And so that again has increased $250 for the tuition for the preschool program. In addition to that, the preschool lottery has opened. Eligible Orange families can call the special services department to put their three or fouryear-old in the drawing. Postings about the lottery can be found on the district website. So, if anyone at home is watching, you go on the district website. You don't have to search it. There's a pop-up window that pops up right away. You click on and there's information. In addition, it's on uh local publications, school newsletters, and the PTO and PTAs were also uh asked to put it on the social media page, past board meetings, and on our board um update that
034I've sent to you. And again, uh the capital planning committee. Uh, thank you to the building and grounds for getting together and then we eventually shared it with all the entire board. We submitted that request to Mr. Ciferelli and Mr. Gary and I presented last Wednesday, December 10th and actually had a follow-up meeting today at 11:00 a.m. As a reminder, this is not just all us, meaning the board of ed. This is all the departments presenting and um they may be asking us as a follow-up to ask additional questions with our request and then we hear later on in the year of what we may receive. We encountered our first inclement weather event today um and actually yesterday. Uh so I want to extend um gratitude to Mr. Gray, the maintenance and custodians. uh they
035were here uh all day yesterday. Donnie Foyer and the highway department. We were able to be in school today on time because of their hard work. Um and uh some board members were complimenting on the work that's been done, but that's throughout the town. And so again, just wanted to thank everyone for their support and getting our schools ready today. And then lastly, I just want to wish everyone an enjoyable winter break. Happy holidays to everyone here and at home. And we look forward to seeing all of you in 2026. Thank you for your report. Does anyone have any questions? Ken mentioned that they wanted a result or they wanted our whether we wanted to go along with the change in schedule or not by January 8th. So this would probably be the time to
036>> we could discuss whatever to uh and I defer to Mr. Cap. Uh that's something that was on the flyer. Um uh again I don't know how quickly they're going to move. My understanding is this was brought to the AMD board. Um I don't know if it was by one board member or two or more than that and an ad hoc committee was then created and so they asked to attend the BOA meeting. Um again the flyer that you have there w which is um in front of me also that was given to us and just explained. Uh I'm not too sure where AMD is. It's not like they're definitely doing it. I think they're just investigating it and uh this is something they may do without the elementary schools Bethany and Woodbridge or may
037not but um but I defer to you Mr. Cap with that question. >> Yeah. Um the um you know just just some a little feedback is you know we would have to redo all the contracts like Dr. Scarpetti said. I'm ready to make a motion >> and um well I mean if you just want to say what you would make a motion for because I don't have this on the agenda for us to really vote on. So >> I know it's not on the agenda. >> What we what we could do Mr. Cap to Mr. Zman is what we could do >> is I could respond to AMD if there's they're not asking for a motion per se. Okay. >> But since it's not on the agenda, two things could happen. we could vote to
038put on the agenda number one. >> Or two, we could wait for the January meeting and I could say there will be a response by them and they would have to wait after that. >> Okay. Because I was just trying to pull up our uh January meeting date. Um >> it's like the 20th >> 20th until the 20th. So >> yeah, >> if if we do not wish to adjust our start times, um does does that mean that they can't? They can, but the biggest imp impact will be buses. >> Okay. >> So now, um I'm not too sure, but they stated here about a half an hour difference. So again, that would fall around the same start time as our our students. >> So that means that there would be a cost to um
039our budget line item for buses and conversely their budget line item for buses. >> Um yeah. So, I mean, you want we can discuss really quick how you're feeling. >> Make a motion now, >> but would you want to make >> We'll wait till January. >> Okay. >> I have my opinion. >> We can. I mean, all we have to do is vote >> put the voting on the agenda to amend the agenda if we can. >> Correct. >> Well, we have to make a decision that they're going to request. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Okay. >> Um, I'd like to make a motion to add this to the agenda today. Okay. Uh, do I have a second then, Lauren? Okay. Discussion. Okay. Uh, all in favor >> to add the >> the discussion. >>
040Add the discussion. >> Okay. So, we're going to that was unanimous. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. So we will add that to the um our agenda and I will make that the first item after um our super um after our reports and we'll discuss that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Uh any other questions for Dr. Scarpetti? No. Did you have anything else to report on? >> Nothing at this time, Mr. Cap. >> Okay. Thank you. Then uh we'll move over to uh Mr. Gray. Right. Good evening everyone. Uh I'll start with a review of grant funding for the district. The first grant I'll review is the summer mental health support grant. Again, this grant uh supports the delivery of mental health services to students during the summer months. This is a three-year grant. The first
041two years, this grant was funded at 100%. We are in third year, so we're being funded at 70%. Um it's $35,000. we have not yet spent it because it is for this upcoming summer. Um so that will be uh spent down during the summer months uh in 2026. Uh the next grant is school mental health specialist. Again, another three-year grant. This is supporting a second social worker in district. The first two years the salary was supported at 100%. This year is supported at 70%. 30% of it is in our operating budget. Next year that full salary will go into our operating budget. You'll see that during our budget workshop. It is already in there. Uh and that does pay for the full salary for a social worker. The consolidated title three grant, which is for
042language instruction program assistance for students receiving EEL, is an $18,000 $225 grant. We've spent about twothirds of that grant. We have approximately $5,900 left uh for the remainder of this school year. And finally, the primary mental health grant, which services uh early detention early detention um programs for emotional behavioral learning problems at K to3 grade levels. Um $16,000 600 grant uh $16,600 grant. Uh we've spent about $4,000 of that and have about 12,000 remaining again till the remainder of this school year. Under food services, we're on track uh with our USDA funding for National School Lunch Program. The Connecticut State Department of Education received the funding necessary to support our reimbursements uh for our November meal claims, which will be paid in December. As always, I do want to say that families can find updated
043information uh regarding free and reduced lunch applications uh and other relevant information at our website, oess.org, or uh under food services tab. I'm going to reiterate a little bit of what Dr. Scar Scarpetti has already said. Uh the budget, the 2627 budget is well underway. As Dr. Scarpedy mentioned, we're meeting with the directors and principles to review their initial budget requests. We've also set up some of our follow-up budget uh meetings as necessary, and the first budget workshop is set for Thursday, January 29th. I do want to take a moment to thank the finance department um who've done a great job. This is the time of year where we're living in three years because we're auditing 2425, we're operating in 2526 and we're looking at 2627. So there's a lot going on. Uh it gets
044a little confusing. Um especially when the auditors are coming in and they're looking for information and you're trying to remember what budget you're in. Um, I do want to say, uh, you know, Christine Cotch, Tina Fox, um, Angela Booth, and Connie Demo do a great job in our finance office. So, kudos to them. >> Barbara were too >> just Barbara also. >> Oh, and I'm sorry. Yes, also Barbara Bole, who's part of the special ed department, but also does some of the budgeting uh, for the special ed department. Thank you, Dr. SC. >> Um, the audit is, as I just mentioned, is on track. Uh this is the um agreed upon procedures audit package for 2425. Statutoily this is due by February 2nd, 2026. We plan to have it done December 31st. We are on
045track. They were working remotely with our payroll and um accounts payable this past week um getting some information. So they're they're putting a lot of work into that. And that concludes the finance portion of my report. >> Thank you for that part. Does anyone have any questions? No. Okay, go ahead. >> All right. Facilities. Uh we have the upcoming uh holiday recess coming up and our custodians take this time to take advantage of conducting some of the cleaning they don't always get to at a deeper level. So they'll be doing things such as powerashing our bathrooms, um sanitizing the high use touch points throughout the building, um scrubbing floor surfaces, rewaxing some of the floors. Uh so kind of bringing the buildings back up to where they were at the start of the school year
046and they'll probably do that again during the April break as well. So a couple times during the year really refreshing the buildings and I also wanted to just go and and speak a little bit about what Dr. Scarpetti mentioned about the inclement weather. I used to love snow. I'm not so much a fan anymore. Um but we did encounter our first inclement weather event of the school year over the weekend. Um, I [snorts] just really want to thank our custodians and our maintenance supervisor for their work yesterday. Uh, it was a long day and it's a Sunday and you know it's tough to drag them out of bed in the morning on a snowy day and come in clean snow all day long, but they did a great job. Uh, the parking lots look fantastic.
047The the sidewalks were spotless. Um, and I also want to thank Donnie Foyer and the um Department of Public Works for their work. They come through the lots and they lay down a layer of salt which does the finishing touch on our lots. So, um, we were able to be here today, um, and get the school day in. So, kudos to all of those people. That concludes my report. >> All right. Thank you for that. Does anyone have any questions? Go ahead. >> Um, just a gratitude for um, the incredible work um, at I was at phys I was physically at Turkey Hill in MLT today um, driving around, walking um, in and out of the school, parking, etc. And there is not a drop of snow or ice. It is exquisite. Um I cannot
048say the same for my own driveway at home. Um but I I know how hard these um they work and truly truly excellent job. You can tell the care and dedication they put into this and as a nurse I'm always thinking of slips and falls and injuries and hip fractures and there is essentially no risk for that with this incredible um work that they did in the in the I know Turkey MLT but I'm sure all the schools will look equally as excellent. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? No. Okay. Uh, we'll move over to Dr. Russo. >> Thank you, Mr. Cap. Good evening, everyone. I'll start the curriculum report with some information about professional learning, the leadership professional learning. First, as you know, we are engaged in professional learning
049with CAPS, the Connecticut Association of Public School um superintendent, and we are cohort five for the master class for science of reading. We've completed uh two modules, an introductory one and the funological awareness. We are getting ready for the comprehension one. We have also completed a nice draft of our district literacy plan which we will be submitting soon for our teachers. We continue with our math professional learning sessions and all those details are linked to the professional learning calendar. You can see how we finished up in November um up until December 11th sessions and then you can look forward to see what we have scheduled for January sessions for math and making sure teachers are comfortable with that new resource that we did introduce. Um and then we have started preparing our professional learning sessions
050for March. One of the little pieces we'd like to share with tonight, which we also shared in the board update, is a small session for our grade three through six teachers on cursive writing. We do plan to um engage in a pilot with certain classes starting on National Handwriting Day, which is John Hancock's birthday on January 23rd. We're excited about that. And then the learning with that uh from that resource with our pilots will be shared with our staff at the March uh professional learning session. And we do currently teach cursive. Um this is just to enhance and make sure that we include the latest research on cursive writing. We've done a great job with the handwriting for kindergarten and first grade. And um this in addition to our computer keyboarding skills will round out
051um our writing or the mechanics of and then lastly I would just like to share that um thanks to the feedback from our curriculum subcommittee members and our own internal feedback we did um prepare a an updated communication for report cards in which we included for parents all of the standards which I thought actually was pretty impressive when we were looking at it. all of the standards for all of the subjects and then which standards were prioritized for reporting on a legal document such as a report card and providing parents with sample report cards for all three trimesters um for all the grade levels with a video for MLT parents since it's the first time that they have an opportunity to really understand standard standardsbased grading and you know what is a proficiency scale and
052how we try to identify conditions for success like what does success look like either with instruction independent um with parts of a standard or all parts of a standard and so we um continue to try to get better with that communication because we understand that standard based grading is actually more complex than you think. So >> and Dr. So, if I may interrupt you one quick second. So, again, this is where we appreciate our subcommittee meetings [clears throat] as a feedback that we received from our subcommittee members. We already had videos that needed to be updated. For all of you, I know there was a lot of information in the most recent board update, but if you haven't had the chance, I do recommend you because not only will you hear Dr. Russo's melodious voice
053as she guides. It's really uh prescriptive of how and to guide a parent through this report card. And what's great is they could stop and listen to it again until it sinks in and process it. And for those parents who are listening at home, if that is still not meeting your needs, please, please, please reach out to the schools if we need to set up a meeting with you with the teacher or the principal to have a sit down, but you have it as a visual and a video. But if you need some additional support or guidance, please reach out to our schools. >> And lastly, we always say that the report card is just one way to communicate uh progress. We prefer, you know, if anybody has any questions, as Dr. Scarpetti said, to
054please reach out to us. And that concludes my report. Mr. Cat, >> thank you so much for that. Any Go ahead. Tatiana, [laughter] >> Dr. So, I have two quick questions. The first one, um, the videos you're referring to, is that in reference to the new report cards that were referenced, um, at a at a different meeting, I want to say, or am I mistaken about that? >> It's really more about standardsbased grading and how uh, standards on the report card were selected. like we have criteria for the selection and what those actually were because well actually I'm sorry I take that back because now I forget what I put in that video but it was really more about explaining the report card and what you would see because there are headings and categories that
055don't tell you which standard we're reporting on. And so that is the tricky part because um there are so many standards and they fall under different categories for different subjects. So it was a video to try to explain that. >> Okay. So as it stands now the report cards that we get as parents are going to remain as is. There's no changes being made to those types of report cards. Is that >> now moving forward? There won't be. But for this this was the first time that all subjects relied on a proficiency scale. So before it was just English language arts and math and now it's all subjects. So that was a big shift for us shifting all subjects to standardsbased grading. >> Gotcha. And second of all, the cursive writing program, the one that
056we currently have in in effect, are all third grade teachers required to teach that? Yes, all third grade teachers teach cursive, especially making sure that students know how to sign their names because that was important. Um, but now we're going to enhance what we currently do so that uh especially for grade five looking at primary sources for the American Revolution. So many of those are written in cursive and we're doing a little bit more of a deeper dive there. >> Thank you. >> Of course. Betty. >> Uh, thank you, Dr. Russo. It's good to hear that that was all updated. I know we did have long conversations about that. And is there any way for you to know how many parents took advantage of looking at this information or have you gotten any feedback from
057teachers after they had their conferences that parents seem to be more understanding, you know, of what was being discussed? I don't know if you have any information about that. We did we did ask did anybody reach out because they maybe had you know some questions and we didn't. So uh but we should be able to check to see about who watched the video >> and especially you know through the PTO's and A's. That's something that we'll typically do and we'll bring that up to the principles. >> Thank you. >> Anyone [snorts] else? >> Anthony >> real quick. the uh the new cursive uh curriculum. That sounds great. I'm actually excited about that. Um is that staying? It's going to be a permanent going forward or is it a like a not temporary but I guess
058going so that resource in the beginning you know it's really grades three through six. So it'll like anything it will take a little bit of time to get everybody with that resource to be familiar with the resource and using that resource but then it really is introduced in grade three and then we just continue using it for five and six. >> Again one of one of the pieces that came up with uh this Mr. Corenzian. Again, this is where we appreciate the um contribut contributors of uh positivity talking to parent feedback. It's great that we do it in third grade, right? So, a student hopefully knows how to sign their name. And again, we're living in a different world in society of how many times we're even actually writing now, no matter [clears throat] if
059it's in print or cursive. But then it's like, do they sustain even just the bare minimal of their signature after third grade? So these were the kind of conversations that we want to kind of follow through not only in third but now fourth, fifth, and sixth. >> Lauren, I just wanted to say I'm not surprised there was no feedback because that video was so good and like really explained the process. I think it was Kin that said at a meeting like '90s parents, this isn't your like '9s um report card and you that was entirely correct. Um that it's not the report card I grew up with. So your video really helped explain it. Um, so thank you for that because I felt like I really understood it and it was very easy to follow
060and read. So, thank you. >> I'm so glad. Thank you. [laughter] >> Anyone else? >> No. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you all for that. Okay. We'll move over to uh board business. We're going to start with item zero, which is Ammon school start time discussion. Um, as Dr. Dr. Scarpetti mentioned uh in your on your desk you should have the everyone received the handout, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, everyone should have the handout that goes over all this and everything. >> Um [clears throat] uh Dr. Scarfetti, did you want to add stuff? >> If I could. >> Sure. Go ahead. >> So, again, just some a few of the things part of this conversation. The um the contract is a huge piece affecting Orange teachers who are parents who have already secured
061what their system is like with their families uh regarding babysitting after school. Um affecting 21st century. Um um also affecting they're talking about um people who are going to any religious schools afterwards uh holy infant or or shalom sports how that's going to be impacted at night. Um we already talked about buses. Um so those were the uh the big pieces. They talked about daylight saving times, but that's the feedback that I received from both unions. Okay. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> So, is this um I understand it's a conversation >> um and they want some feedback. >> Um >> Oh, sorry. Uh yes, I was saying that I I I understand that it's a conversation that's been started that there's some people that are interested in having it and I know I know quite
062a bit about the studies that have been done on it that it's a huge benefit to students if they can start a little bit later. I get that. However, have they thought about timing of this? Because obviously we know we have contracts that have been here that we haven't for three and four years. There's contracts with the bus drivers. I mean, are they saying this they want to do this immediately like for next next year? Is there any timing on it? >> I did not get that sense, Miss Richio. I think that it's, you know, they're pursuing this. An ad hoc committee was created. >> Um, they wanted to get the sense of the elementary schools of this is something they would be interested in doing >> and I think they're just going through their
063their process right now. So, who knows what >> when they'll get to that point of a yes or no for the AMD middle schools and the high school, but um [laughter] they did not say we're doing this next year or this is the goal, but >> just doing the search and kind of following through that process. >> Thank you. I guess I would say since it says they're requesting feedback, um to me it sounds like as you said it's an exploration committee at this point and um I also understand why they would be wanting to do this but you know thinking of the impact I think um just getting this information now was not very um thoughtful on their part to to just be finding out that this is going on. Maybe if we'd known
064sooner, we might have been able to have a conversation and actually deliver some specific feedback. So, >> and in fairness, they did present this in November. Not that would have extended it even more, but um again, I think it's just the piece of not a yes or no, but is there any interest to changing our times versus, you know, we'll we'll do it, you know, next year kind of a thing. >> There was uh the only thing I'll mention was uh and I didn't know we were going to discuss this tonight, but which is fine. Um, I think it was just last week and it might have been on MSN. There was an article that talked about this and it was and I don't remember which school districts it referenced, but it did reference some.
065Um, and they and what they were getting at was the school started later, but the students were still getting the exact same amount of sleep time because they were going to bed later. They had found out. Um, and it was due. I don't know if it was because they were going to work later or what it was, but it actually talked about this. So, we'll research it. I'll research the article I found. I think it was last week. Um, and it wasn't saying that it was good or bad. It was just saying, you know, here's what happens. It the article was mostly geared towards you need a set amount of hours dedicated every night the same amount. And it didn't matter what I mean, of course, if you wake up at 5 in the morning,
066that's a different story, but that's what they were getting at. So, uh, Lauren, I see your hands up. Go ahead. >> Can we just clarify, um, what time what time would they start? Like, what do they do now versus what would they do and the same for us? Can we talk about what that actually is? >> The only thing I could go by, Mrs. Gray, is that they said about a half an hour. Um, so and again what they're saying about they reference the American Academy of Pediatrics that you know starting uh it wouldn't be well if they started before 8:30. So I'm assuming 8:30. >> Okay. >> Is that's their their goal. >> So that is an hour because right now they start around 7:30. >> Yeah. Okay. So there so they're looking to
067move from 7:35 to 8:05. Is that what we think? I I don't I'm not sure what what I don't know that they're actually proposing anything definitive yet. >> Yeah, I think they're at the beginning stages. >> Okay. But we're looking at like a 30 minute shift for them. If if it if it was 30 minutes, >> if that was the case, yes. If it's an hour, then be an hour shift. >> Okay. Ken, >> we don't even know at this stage how how serious they are about this. Um, and this comes up a lot with AMD as far as the schedule and a problem with the schedule and can we change it. We we happily partner with AMD, but we're independent and if this works better for us contractually and every other way, then I
068would I would be happy to tell them no, we can't possibly do that. We can look into it when when the contracts run out, but we really don't want to change now. And even with some of the discussions that I've had since this and even uh items that board members have brought up, you know, when you have students competing in sports, again, this is not going to be our issue. It's going to be theirs. If if Bethany and Orange and Woodbridge say, "No, we're going to stay the same. That's fine. They can make those changes on their own." You know, how are you going to get students there when a competition is at a certain time or a game's at a certain time for the districts that don't follow that? So, I'm sure there's ways
069around it, but I think they are going to have to be addressing those challenges as they proceed through their own process, too. >> Yeah, there there's bringing up the sports thing that is a problem because I remember with my own sons um as soon as they got out of school having to rush to whatever the game or practice was because they only had limited of hours of daylight. >> Sometimes they have to dismiss early. So, you're talking about even more school. I I think this is not an issue for us to worry about at this time. The the flyer asks if we want to be part of the conversation. Um I guess that right now that's a no from us, >> but I think we should be is not to just jump in, but I
070think we should be in somewhat I do think we should be in the conversation because we should be hearing what they're doing >> so that we can do our reaction to it. So, while I would not give any suggestions, I would just say that to me, I think we need to know what's going on. >> Yeah. As a board, I would feel comfortable with Dr. Scarpiti uh still >> attending and keeping us updated with what they're thinking of possibly doing. >> Yeah, agreed. So, oh, Erin, >> um, given that we have a limited amount of information based on this flyer, um, I think myself and perhaps others would be in favor of continuing to explore the Q&A that we have. Um, and potentially, you know, like we said, be be thoughtful and judicious about our
071timeliness. Um, perhaps continue the conversation in the future. Um, I think for the next academic year, I think that would be far too soon. Um, but I am certainly in favor of continuing to explore this together with AMD. Um, that doesn't mean yes or no. It just means that I'm in favor personally of continuing the conversation with more data elements and financial metrics. >> Just to echo, I do think it's worth being a part of the conversation. And I think we need to hear from parents, too. Like, you know, this is not just our decision. It affects parents. So, I'd really like to learn more about this and hear from parents and go from there. >> Okay. That's good feedback. So, >> just out of curiosity, have our teachers weigh in at all? Do they
072know about this? >> Yeah. So, I reached out to um the union president of the administrative union group and the teachers. And so, what I was reading is I think they had a conversation and that's some of the items that I just shared. >> Okay. And at this time they are they are not for that but doesn't mean as they proceed doesn't mean that I can't and again not to I think this is the direction you were sharing Mr. cap that saying this time we are not interested but as you evolve with getting more information we'll be more than happy to share it with the the board >> if that's the direction you want me to >> and yeah correct uh yeah I I would still like you to attend the meetings and then just
073keep us updated um and we can explore it further once we once we have more information so yeah definitely >> yeah we need to stay in the loop >> right yeah definitely >> and this is not the first time they've done I mean we've seen it Yeah, it's true. It's true. So, does anyone else have anything else to discuss on that before we move on to our next item? Okay. All right. So, we'll move on to uh board business item number one, which is discuss discussion and possible action on the 2026 2027 school calendar. I'll need a motion to accept the school calendar for 2026 2027 uh as presented. Ronette second. Lauren discussion. All in favor? Okay, that's unanimous. Item two, discussion and possible action on the consideration of the appointment of an attorney. Uh,
074do I have a motion to appoint Owen Wilson of Zable Shelonburgg PLLC as special counsel to the board of education and to authorize the board chair and/or superintendent to enter into a retainer agreement with Zable Shallonberg PLLC? Ranette Amanda discussion >> why >> can we talk about why >> okay so >> okay >> yes so here I'm going to the discussion I'm going to let Dr. Scarpetti explain. >> So, um, if anyone attended the last board meeting, uh, there was questions we've had and, uh, what the board has allowed me to do has had a variety of attorneys to consult with. So, uh, you met the the main attorney that we used, um, who did the roles and responsibilities. We also use attorney from, uh, Bertam Moses for special education. And we've also had on
075retainer the town's attorney. That has changed recently and um with uh what occurred last month with uh and unfortunately the the board's attorney Steve Stwer that we consult with on more of a daily basis. He was actually at a board meeting he couldn't pick up. It's nice for me to have that backup. Number one. Number two, we don't use the town's attorney that often. We use the town's attorney when we're dealing with contracts that have to be related to the buildings. That's what we use. That's what we've done in years past. The board has approved that in the past. Um I would like to have that just in case for the future. So typically this is really contractual pieces that we deal with with regarding the the building and um some pieces with programs and
076such. So basically the town attorney has changed and it's Mr. Owen. Is that his last name? >> And so because of that we need to approve him. That's it's just a formality. It sounds like >> pretty much. >> Okay. Well, okay. That's I think that's why we were Yeah, we didn't I don't think I understood that, but thank you. >> Um sorry as a novice. Um, it sounds like we have, I believe you mentioned, three attorneys that we've kind of piemailed in different areas. Special education, something else, something else. And then there's a backup. Can you just help me clarify how many attorneys we currently partner with? >> There are um, if we would count the town's attorney, it' be three. >> And they all serve distinctly different functions. >> They do. >> Okay. And
077this is within those three. This is not a fourth. >> Cor um >> correct. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if it's helpful for some people. >> No. No. I That's good. Good question. Excellent question. >> Sure. Correct me if I'm wrong. Owen was here. He like was the 911 emergency lawyer that came in at the last meeting. So that's who he's referencing in that the lawyer that came at the last meeting. >> that's the town's attorney >> we just voted on. >> That's the town's attorney. I don't know if that's helpful >> as a sorry can't think as a protocol question do we I was under the impression that we do a first read second read discuss and then other medium vote is that not the case with this >> for
078policies >> I see okay >> policies got it thank you >> no it's okay any other discussion okay all in favor um opposed abstained Okay, got all that. Okay. All right. Thank Thank you all. We'll move on to board business item number three, policy. Second read, orange board of ed policy 4113.12 minimum duty free lunch periods. Do I have a motion to accept the orange policy 4113.12 minimum duty free lunch periods? Motion. Susan >> second Lauren discussion anyone all in favor unanimous on that okay item four policy second read orange board of ed policy 4131-4231 professional learning do I have a motion to accept orange policy 4131-4231 professional learning Ken Tatiana Iana discussion all in favor that's unanimous as well item number five policy second read orange board of ed policy 5118.1 students who are
079homeless do I have a motion to accept orange policy 5118.1 students who are homeless Susan second I saw Ken's hand discussion all in favor Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Um I just want to um appreciate the rewriters of this um to say students who are homeless and not homeless students. Um it's not only semantics and I just really want to appreciate um that change in the linguistics. Um we do this often in healthcare and I think it's very valuable. So I just want to say thank you. >> Thank you for that. Um any other discussion? All in favor? Okay. And that's unanimous as well. So that will pass. Okay. Moving over to policy below second read. Okay. Number six policy first reads. Uh orange board of ed policy 5145.12 search seizure. Uh that's a first
080read. So again, if you have um questions once you read through it, reach out to Betty um and um let her know any um items that do come up. Uh next one is going to be let's see here. Item seven, orange board of ed policy. >> Oh, the policies below are no longer needed and will be voted on to resend at the next board of ed meeting. Okay. Okay. And that's going to be item number seven, Orange Board of Ed Policy 4112.4-4212.4, health examinations. And item number eight, orange board of ed policy 6159.1 released time. Betty, >> and I just want to say for the health examinations, if you have not looked at it, this is about staff. This is not about students. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Any questions on any of that?
081Okay, then we're going to move on to standing committees. Uh Susan, you're up with finance and operations. >> Thank you. The um finance subcommittee finance and operations subcommittee met prior to this meeting as we always do. Um all the financials are in order. We also reviewed the cafeteria um update as well as the audit and the grants. Any questions? Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to personnel policy transportation. Betty, >> uh due to calendar restrictions, um Dr. Scarpetti and I met regarding uh the policies that are first reads. our whole committee was not we were not able to get a time where we could all be together and um as a result the policies the two to res review to rescend were policies that had been brought to our attention and we decided that that
082would be something that would be easy for us to be able to move forward without the whole committee meeting and [snorts] the um search and seizure policy is one that really just had a new first paragraph added to it. very little had to change in that >> and um we will be meeting I'm not sure when only because we have now budget meetings and other meetings coming up so we will have to see when we can have our whole um committee able to be together. Thank you >> Erin. Question. >> Yes, thank you. Um, can we just curious the definition of district property for my own knowledge and perhaps others does that include or exclude buses or transportation of any kind that is within contract or whatever it is not non-parent cars? [laughter] >> I
083guess I'm not sure that I can answer that. um district property. We don't own any of the buses, so I'm thinking that there really would not be I mean there are vehicles that do belong to the board of education. Um [snorts] so I guess those district properties would be >> correct. I think it's the extension of the school. So I think that would allow for it. So but I could confirm that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Nope. Okay, we'll move over to buildings and ground safety and security. Anthony, >> so the uh the only update I had was already mentioned by Dr. Scarpedi and Mr. Gray a couple times. Uh that was earlier this month. They met and uh presented to the capital planning committee uh capital requests. So um that's really the
084only update. Building and grounds will probably meet sometime soon after the new year. >> Okay, any questions? Moving over curriculum and instruction. can >> have a good summer. Oh, no. What? No, sorry. That's wrong. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. No, we're not meeting until uh until 2026. >> Okay, [laughter] I'm assuming there's no questions. Uh ASUS report, Susan. >> Um so, ASUS met um th this past Thursday, December 11th, um at Skiff at Skiff Street in Hammond. as we always do. Um it's one of my favorite meetings because it is our student holiday presentation awards in front of all the board members. They have cards in front of them. Each of those cards are different. They're all created by students and it's just amazing. We get to give them you know this award and a gift
085and you know a whole package of their own cards as well which they love. Um it's just it's it's heartwarming to actually get to see the students on a reg you know at this meeting. Um, in addition, we met with um, Cabe, who is doing our search for our executive director who is retiring. Um, and that took two hours, which was joyful. Uh, but very thorough and, um, helpful. Um, so we did, um, policy work. We also did, um, some of the operations. Um some of our a couple of our items ended up having to be tabled because we were getting to close to 3 pm. We started at noon. So for us that's a really long meeting. Um but all of our uh building um construction projects are going well and that was one
086of my big concerns that were we still on schedule and the answer is yes. >> Questions. Betty >> just thank you very much for these beautiful cards which I now look forward to receiving. Thank you. You're welcome. They also gave us a mug that had one of them. I forgot to bring it in. Um and an ornament that just says ASUS on it. Um which was very nice. So generous of them. Thank you. Glad you guys can enjoy them. >> Ken, >> I just have to congratulate ASUS for uh Susan. What are you? What's the term? What are you? >> Chairman. Chairman. It's an excellent idea. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Yes. Any other questions? No. Okay. Um, again, right before we adjourn, uh, I'm also as well, I'm going to wish everyone a merry
087Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy holidays. It's a very special time of the year for everyone out there. Um, hopefully we don't get much more snow. So, uh, Dr. Gray's uh, Dr. Gray, Mr. Gray's crews aren't, uh, working too crazy over the holidays, but um, who knows, maybe we'll have a special white day coming up. Um, so I'm looking for a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. Uh, Susan, Ken, discussion, none. All in favor? >> Unanimous. We are ending this meeting at 8:14 p.m.