001Good evening, everyone. I would like to call the Monday, March 17th, 2025 Board of Education meeting to order at 7:02. Uh, could we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please? I 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. Uh, Ms. Rodriguez, would you please read our mission statement? Of course. The Orange Elementary School District recognizes that the education of each child is a 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. Thank you. Um, board
002introductions, I'd like to start with uh, everyone introducing themselves. Uh, Ms. Zapatka, would you start us off, please? Amanda Zapatka. Carmen Rodriguez. Ronette James. Ken Simon. Susan Riccio. Tatiana Messina-Mullen, vice chair. Betty Hadlock. Anthony Scarinzi. Uh, any public participation? Not seeing anyone. Um, I'd like to move on to consent agenda. Uh, I need a motion to accept the first item under the consent agenda. The first item is the minutes from the February 10th, 2025 Board of Education special meeting minutes. Do we have a motion to accept the minutes from that date? Uh, Betty? And uh, a second? Do we have a second? Oh, Amanda? Whoever. Um any further disc- discussion on this? All in favor? Opposed? Abstain? Thank you. Uh Superintendent's report, Dr. Scarpetta. Hi everyone. Good evening. Uh I hope everyone at home and
003here have been enjoying their St. Patrick's Day This past weekend our students had a nice long weekend while our staff had a day of professional learning, which was shared in the the board update. In a moment, I'm going to ask Dr. Russo to share some details what occurred this past Friday. In addition, I think um you may recall that Rotary gave us a gift of $15,000 for mental health support. I've asked Mrs. Edo to provide some information on how we've continued to use those funds. And as all of you know, we are uh immersed in the budget process. On Monday, March 3rd, the Board of Education budget was presented to the Board of Finance. We extended our thanks to the Board of Finance for their time. Following meetings include the Board of Finance budget hearing,
004that's on April 22nd. The annual town meeting will be May 14th. And the Orange budget referendum is on May 21st. And again, that's from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Uh again, those dates have been shared with all of you, but I will continually share that in any board update that will be provided. Um all our presentations are on the website. So, if anyone's interested in looking at the presentations, please do so. I know when we had our budget workshop, uh it was discussed that I should make it clear to the Board of Finance about what we're asking. I know at the budget workshop, uh many of you said, "Vince, what are the res- concerns that you may have or needs?" And I shared about possibly needing more teachers. I think uh for anyone watched it online
005or anyone attended, I think I made it clear to the Board of Finance that as in years past, if that need occurs, I will have to come back to you in in July or so to do so. So, um you know, I want to make sure that to let all of you know that were unable to attend or didn't have an opportunity to watch the video that I made that clear with the Board of Finance. And just for for my own benefit, at the very end I had a slide that said thank you. And again, I extended gratitude to all of you and your hard work and your guidance that you provided. I went through staff, I went through the first selectman who's been very supportive, selectman, Board of Finance, uh Mr. Ciferelli, faculty and
006staff here for all their hard work supporting our kids. And I didn't neglect to reference the Police Department. Mr. Granato was walking out and I said I forgot the Police Department. So, I really felt badly about that. Um we work hand-in-hand with a variety of things, as you know, things pop up throughout the year. Uh Chief Gagne is accessible to me at all hours of the night. And our our school resource officers do a fantastic job. So, uh I had a little guilty conscience that I want to make sure that I extended my gratitude to all of them, too. As we enter uh mid-March, the school year's picking up quite a bit in the sense of activities and such. Uh after April break, which is April 14th through the 17th, it even picks up even
007faster. Uh I will be asking if there's no one for or unforeseen circumstances of a another delay or cancellation say cancellation of school. Right now, our last day of school is Monday, June 9th. If we for example, the meteorologist uh shared an email with us this morning and said that there may be a pending snowstorm. It's not uh a volatile one. It looks like it's going to die down, but you never know. We've had snow at later on in the in the month, but I'll be requesting the board to have the last day of school on that Friday, which is June 6th. So, I want to give you some notice on that. I also want to thank Orange Youth Services and Prevention. Many of you know, there's a new coordinator, Chantel Banel. She actually created
008um an event at Peck Place called Screenagers. We had about 30 people attend. Some board members attended, also. I thought it was a great night. The challenges that parents have with regarding their children on screens, and it could be in front of video games and phones. You could tell it's a real interest. And I believe Chantel's going to be doing a follow-up with that with regards to possibly if those people weren't able to attend, they could actually see the documentary that was provided. And I'm collaborating with that. So, hopefully we would we could get that to all our um parents. Want to reach out and say thanks to the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. They invited me to the blue and gold banquet dinners, which was always a a great event to attend. Uh congratulations
009to all the scouts who received badges and to the fifth graders who crossed over to a troop. And lastly, uh as many of you may know, it's uh March is Women's History Month, but it's also Board Appreciation Month. On behalf of our students and staff and parents, I'd like to extend our gratitude and appreciation for your time and dedication. There's a little gift at your uh place to show a small token of our appreciation for your graciousness and to volunteer, which takes away, I know, from your family and your profession, too, in order to give back to the community. So, thank you all very much for your service. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Scarpati? Not a question, but I'd just like to follow up the uh the Screenagers version that we
010saw was the elementary version. And there's, I guess, a high school version, as well. And I would suggest anybody It was very interesting. And anybody who's interested, get in touch with Chantel. Anyone else? Dr. Scarpati, I actually have one question. Um regarding the calendar, um do you know when you're going to be asking us to vote on that or Next month. Okay. So, it was odd Mrs. Messina Amola, that we were looking last month and we did not have a board meeting in April. I can't remember why. I don't know if it was something fell or if it was something we didn't have one. And some of you may recall when I first arrived here, I created a PTOA Council, which we meet um monthly. And some of the feedback I received of saying, "Hey
011Vince, just a reminder, you know, if you do it a little too late, it impacts things that we're doing in events." So, it'll be next month I'll bring it up to you because I don't want to say have it now Right. then have a snow day or an event that occurred where then we add it. Um so, next month will be I'll be asking the board to forgive that if there's no unforeseen circumstances that arise. Thank you. Oh, Mr. Gregg, uh your report, please. Sure. Good evening, everyone. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Just uh an update on three of our grants this month. Uh the ARPA Summer Mental Health Supports Grant. Again, this is a grant for the delivery of mental health services during summer programming. It's a $50,000 grant. Of course, we haven't started spending
012that down yet. We will once the summer hits. Um we also have a primary mental health grant, $20,000 grant. This is the grant that I've been speaking about, which is the K-3 early detection intervention program. And that is a $20,000 grant. We've spent about 8,000 or 8,500 dollars out of that. We have about 11,500 dollars remaining. And finally, the ARPA School Mental Health Specialist Grant. This is the grant that is paying for a school social worker. We are in year two and it is paying for 100% of the salary. If you'll remember during our workshops and then again when Dr. Scarpetti presented to the Board of Finance next year we will be funding 30% of that in our operating budget and the grant will still fund 70% the following year uh fiscal year 27 it
013will be 100% in our operating budget. For any families that are watching at home as always we encourage families to check the free and reduced lunch applications on our website um they've been updated so if anyone has a need or feels that they may qualify uh please at any time that's a rolling enrollment throughout the year. As Dr. Scarpetti mentioned on Monday March 3rd he presented the proposed Orange Board of Education budget to the Board of Finance the proposed budget is in the amount of $24,214,154 which is an increase of 3.9% At the conclusion of the meeting we also presented the capital um the items for capital plan. Those items included a building generator here at MLT uh paving the playground blacktop up Turkey Hill School library media center refurbishment which is the flooring and
014the furniture at Peck Place School refinish and relining the gymnasium floors at all of our buildings stop arm cameras for buses and H back upgrades in all of our schools. And that concludes the business portion of my report. Any questions for Dr. uh Mr. Y? Um yeah I just wondered is there any concern about grants or any federal money being interrupted um So at this point with the grants that we have I I believe that those are state funded I don't believe it's coming from the federal so I think we are fine with the three grants that I highlighted this evening. But title money or anything like that? Will that be impacting our will it have an impact on our budget? I It could if if funds are withheld then of course it it could
015have an impact on the budget. I think that's something we'll have to deal with when we get to that point if and when we get to that point, right? I think that's that's pretty much around the state with districts and and towns. Yeah. All right, but the other grants are state money. Right. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Gray's first report? Do you want to move on to your second report? Sure. Quickly with facilities, we had some we have inspections going on this time of year. Fire protection has been testing our sprinklers systems. They recently conducted the quarterly fire sprinkler system inspections at all of our schools. There were several fixtures that were recommended for replacement due to age. Otherwise, our systems are operating normally. And then we also along the lines of fire
016safety have our fire detection system being tested. Uh actually Turkey Hill is being tested this evening. Johnson Controls is currently conducting these inspections and it's the fire detection systems in the buildings which entails testing the fire panels in each building, the system batteries, the alarms, the flashing strobes, and each smoke detector in the building. Once the inspections are completed, a report is generated and it outlines any recommendations for repair or replacement that might be needed as well. Usually with that it's our batteries. The batteries last about year and a half or so. And they're a $20 battery that we replace. And that concludes my report for facilities. Any questions for Mr. Gray? Okay, moving on. Dr. Russo, would you like to give your report? Good evening, everyone. As Dr. Scarpetti mentioned, we had Friday professional
017learning with our staff. We did um link the schedule to the board update, but for a quick recap, our kindergarten through grade three teachers engaged in a digital DIBELS training. And DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. We have been up till now using the old-fashioned paper and pencil, but we shifted to the digital version. And of course, our teachers were worried that they needed more practice and that they might forget things for the fall, but we purposefully and intentionally provided the training now, and we will have another follow-up in the fall, so they're not so overwhelmed when they make that switch in the fall. And we will have additional practice during our faculty meetings just to improve that interrater reliability with the collection of that data. So, that was for K-3.
018Mrs. Eda will talk about the preschool and some of the specials like school psych and and speech and language. But, the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers, they engaged in two math sessions with two resources that we've um we've begun to use FRAX and REFLEX and one writing session to continue that work. And if you've had a chance to look at the March sessions for professional learning, it wasn't just on Friday, March 5th, we started with our small grade level language comprehension follow-ups at each of the schools. We completed seven sessions before Friday's PD date, and then we have two more tomorrow, and then two more, and we've met with every single grade level at every single school for those follow-up language comprehension sessions. And those are important because we just finished our mid-year data
019collection and we were really able to see how students are really improving with their word recognition skills and what we definitely need to improve on for the language comprehension. We got to meet in small groups, analyze text, plan for those sessions, brought students in to model, to see how they perform and respond, and we've also been working with kindergarten on making sure that every you know, no one slips through the cracks and everybody gets the interventions that they need early because early reading success is so critical. And I think that ends our report for curriculum. Good evening everyone. As Dr. Scarpetti and Dr. Russo shared earlier, the district had a lot going on on Friday for our district-wide professional development day. Our pre-K team worked on reviewing the K curriculum and ensuring that they're aligning
020and preparing our pre-K students for lessons and activities that would position them even better for our kindergarten and adding that information to Rubicon, which is our curriculum management system. Our special education teachers, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, and some of our paraprofessionals engaged in professional learning alongside with the general education colleagues regarding the district's writing initiative and math. In our effort to make sure we are aligning what we are doing with our special education students with these research-based interventions. Our school psychologists, board-certified behavior analysts, and social workers engaged in professional learning and collaboration related to family engagement resources and other personalized learning activities. Paraeducators had the option to participate in those district-wide initiatives or de-escalation strategies. Um they also engaged in the physical and psychological management refresher training if they held that certification. Our
021pre-K lottery families have been notified of their child's acceptance into the pre-K program and these families have been invited to a virtual orientation on March 22nd. Um our extended school year or ESY planning for our students and individuals who have individual education plans and are eligible for this service has begun. Job postings are out for staff who are interested in applying to work over the summer and are encouraged to call the special services department. As Dr. Scarpetti shared earlier, Orange Rotary uh generously provided us a gift of $15,000 last year. These funds have been used to run after-school programs for children who are experiencing trauma or anxiety or death in the family. We've also used these funds to help support families and that being said, the remainder of our Rotary funds we will be using
022to partner with our primary project to offer another family fun event on May 22nd just like we did last year. Uh we will be sending out invitations to all K-3 families and their siblings to sign up and an RSVP is required because we will be serving dinner and and will be planning our activities based on our enrollment. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Mrs. Edo. Any questions from anyone? I'm just curious as to how many students will be enrolled in the pre-K program next year. Is it similar to what we have this year? Okay, cuz I'm looking at this year the numbers are 64. Yeah. Right. Right. Mhm. Okay. All right, and you talked about an after-school program using the rotary money. Who is running that or presenting that? Okay. What the need is
023and what not. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Mrs. Masidonski, if I could interrupt the the agenda. Um I know we already had public participation. Um we have someone who like to speak. She was waiting downstairs. I think there possibly could have been a miscommunication downstairs. So, I'd like her voice to be heard. And I know usually when people are late, and I don't think that was the case in this situation. No, you can't speak right now, ma'am. So, um but I did have a conversation that she was waiting downstairs, so out of respect for her time and wanting to hear her voice, if you wouldn't mind allowing that, I would appreciate that. Yes, of course. Uh Mrs. Rigby, would you like to read the uh statement before she proceeds? Yep. All speakers may offer objective
024Sorry. Speakers may offer objective Where am I going? figure Oh, I I have you got it. Either way, it's fine. Speakers may offer objective comments to the board concerning school operations and programs. Comments will be limited to 2 minutes per speaker. The board encourages speakers not to express personal complaints or uh 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 of the Federal Education Right to Privacy Act, FERPA, discussions about students are prohibited absent a written parent waiver. Public participation does not allow for two-way conversation between the board and the participants. We thank you for expressing your thoughts and opinions. All comments will be
025taken into consideration. Ma'am, if you could just go to the podium to state your name and address, please. And if there is a piece of paper up there, just write it down as well. There's not one. Okay. Well, there will be. Thank you. Can I have everything? Right there. Yeah. So, again, my name is Jenny Rodriguez. I live at 43 Pine Crest Road in Orange, Connecticut. I am a classroom aide and I've been here in this school district for 6 years. And in this school district for about 18, 19 years. Um I was here last month to in regards to the benefits of tenure and the bill. Um I have been in contact with the State Labor Board and they have had contact with the Board of Education determining Okay. Um she had concerns with
026their conversation. Um there is supposedly some plan that is going to be enacted, but the law went into effect January 1st of 2025. And her concern is right now we are not occurring the time nor the paid time off or the hours. Um I am just here regarding this issue. She advised me to form file a formal complaint with the Connecticut's wage and workplace standards division, which I did on Thursday. And I would just like the board to know we're still here. We're still going to fight, and it's the law. And until I hear otherwise of a plan, I will be here every month fighting for what is right. So, thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, moving on to board business. Um these policies here are first reads, they'll be second reads at our next
027board meeting. So, first policy first read, Orange Board of Education Policy 4115, Personnel. Excuse me, certified educator and leader evaluation {slash} support. Number two policy first read, Orange Board of Education Policy 4117.5, Personnel Certified Termination of Employment. Number three policy first read, Orange Board of Education Policy 4118 .233 {slash} 4218.233, Personnel Certified {slash} Non-Certified Weapons and Dangerous Insurance. Again, these will be second reads at our next Board of Education meeting. If you have any questions after reading them, uh reach out to Ms. Hadlock. I'm moving on to standing committees. Uh finance and operations, Ms. Riccio. I'm already on. Uh yes, the uh finance and operations uh subcommittee met prior to this uh meeting and went over the January and February financials, reviewed the cafeteria, and the grants as Mr. Gray has already explained. Um all
028is within budget and on point. So, we're good. Any questions for Ms. Riccio from anyone? Moving on to personnel policy transportation, Ms. Hadlock. Um due to my traveling schedule and limited time available, Dr. Scarpetti and I met together to review the three first reads that are presented tonight. Our entire committee will meet, hopefully, on March 31st to review some more detailed and uh complex policies, and we will, hopefully, get those as um first reads next month. Thank you, Ms. Hadlock. Any questions for Ms. Hadlock? Okay, moving on to building and grounds, safety and security, Mr. Scarinzi. Thanks. Uh we didn't meet this month, but um during a biannual boiler inspection conducted by the state, it was discovered the steam boiler at Maryel was leaking and as a result needs replacing. The district is currently gathering
029quotes for the project, and once all the estimates are received, building and ground meeting will occur. Uh we'll review the quotes, choose a vendor, and bring uh that recommendation to the full board. Thank you, Mr. Scarinzi. Any questions for Mr. Scarinzi? I'm I'm just trying to remember um do we have a copier contract that's supposed to be coming up this year as well? Yes. Is that Yeah, I didn't know if that was something that building and ground you were talking about. Okay. Um typically, what we've done with the copier contract, we've had um vendors come in to present to the board and that's something that's for the following year. So. But that will be happening this year. We'll be They'll be coming in. They won't be in this current budget, right? Correct. Okay. All right.
030I couldn't remember when that contract was up. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah. I just had a question. The the boiler, that's not the original boiler that that's got to be replaced, is it? There's something down there, isn't there, that's that we still that's still original? Okay. Oh. It owes us nothing. It belongs in a museum anyway, so So really that's that's fine. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Scornavacchi? All right, moving on to curriculum instruction technology, Mrs. Wyman. Uh we will dovetail with policy and be meeting on March 31st. Any questions for Mrs. Wyman? Okay. ACES report, Mr. Vitale. Yes. Um ACES met on Thursday, March 13th. Uh we had a binder of 26 budgets that we had to review. We haven't reviewed all of them. Um we reviewed all the magnet
031school funding. Um we did I don't know. There had to be about eight of them that we did and they were lengthy, to put it mildly. Um we also had similar policies that were also um they were new policies, so that we approved as well. Um other thing, they are we are all operating at a significant surplus, which is good, which means we can keep our prices lower. Um we are evaluating many of our programs to see which ones are effective, which ones are not being used as much. Cuz ACES has a tendency to do a lot of really good things. Somebody says, "Hey, we need this." And we give them whatever they need, and then we just let it keep going, whether or not it's being used later, is a whole different conversation. So,
032sunsetting seems to be a challenge sometimes. So, that's one of the things that we've been looking at is are there certain things that we need to sunset, transition into something else. And so, we know there's at least one thing, which is good, that we can kind of merge with a different different area. And I'll give you more information when when it's all finalized. Um the only other thing that's um may be of interest is that the ACES Gala is on March 27th. Same time as the ASL at the board. Um and that's about it. Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Vuchic? Okay. Um I would like to move for an adjournment of the meeting. Do I have a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting from anyone? Susan? Second? Again. Uh Renata? All in favor? Opposed? Abstain?
033Thank you, everyone.