001It is now 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 12th, and I would like to convene this regularly scheduled meeting of the board of education. But first, before we do our pledge of allegiance, we'd like to take a moment of silence for remembrance of Elizabeth Porter and Joe Rari. Beth Porter. With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of Elizabeth Connor Porter of Watertown, Connecticut, who left us peacefully on May 1st, 2025 at the age of 78. Known to many as Beth, she was a woman of grace and wit, someone whose presence left a lasting imprint on all who knew her. Born August 31st, 1946 in Waterberry, Connecticut, Beth was the cherished daughter of the late Joseph and Alice DS Connor. She spent her life rooted to family, community, and tradition. Always proud of her heritage and deeply
002invested in preserving the past for future generators generations. Sorry. Beth shared 58 years of marriage with her beloved husband, Robert M. Porter, who was also the chairman of the school's capital fund committee, a partnership built on love, laughter, and unwavering devotion. Together, they raised their daughters, Kristen E. Edwards and her husband Eric and Amy P. Baland husband Rich whom Beth Beth guided with love, resilience, and wisdom. She found great joy in being a grandmother. Known lovingly as Grammy or Graham Cracker to Bethany, Brandon, Eric, Junior, Sheay, and Jackson, each of whom she adored beyond measure. For 38 years, Beth worked with quiet diligence in accounts payable for the Watertown Board of Education, where she was respected for her integrity, reliability, and kindness. Beyond her career, she devoted herself to community life as a member of
003the Watertown Historical Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution, organizations that reflected her deep sense of civic pride and historical awareness. Dr. Joseph Aardi Jr. Dr. Joseph Aardi Jr. 69 years old, son of Joseph and Rosha Aardi, passed away peacefully with his family at his side after fighting a courageous battle with cancer. Joe was born in Hartford, Connecticut and was the youngest of four children. Joe was predesceased by his oldest brother Rocco who was married to Mary Lou Aardi as they resided in Canton, Connecticut. Joe's oldest sister Francis Bolu and husband Ken and youngest sister Katherine Caruso and husband Leonard all live in Manchester, Connecticut. Joe was married for 45 years to his wife and best friend Sue. Joe and Sue have two children who have both gone on to highly successful to be
004highly successful prof professional adults. Joseph III lives in Riverview, Florida, and Chelsea Olette lives in Hinesburg, Vermont with her husband, Jason, and their two beautiful children, Elijah and Amelia. Joe was raised in Manchester, Connecticut, and attended Manchester schools. Upon graduating from Manchester High School in 1973, Joe attended Central Connecticut State College and graduated with distinction in 1977 with a health and physical education degree. Joe played four years of collegiate varsity soccer and was captain of the team in his senior year. Joe was a lifelong learner which culminated at the University of Hartford when he ascertained his doctoral degree in educational leadership. Joe dedicated his life to public service as a teacher, coach, administrator, superintendent, and college professor for 45 years. In 1977, Joe's career started in his hometown as he was recognized for more than
005a decade as a highly successful teacher and coach. In 1990, Joe was selected as America's coach of the year by the Disney Company. In addition, in 1990, Joe was recognized by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association as the girls so soccer coach of the year. In 1994, Joe transitioned into administration and served as the principal of both Killingly High School and Rockville High School. In 2000, Dr. Aari began what would be the first of four school superintendent positions. Dr. Aardi was elect selected as the Bolton superintendent of schools in 2000 and held that position until moving forward to Watertown schools in 2004. After a short but highly successful tenure in Watertown, Dr. Aari moved on to one of the state's largest districts, Southernington, and served the school community as their instructional leader for seven years.
006Dr. Ardi ended his career as the new town superintendent, arriving to the district post tragedy and managing what some would see as the most complex district in the country. Dr. Aardi received numerous awards for multiple committees. Dr. care. Dr. Herard's career highlight came when he was selected to represent New England and New York on the executive board of the American Association of School Administrators, the premier association which represents 12,000 school leaders across the country. Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Seated Mr. Bellica here. Miss Failen here. Mr. Gavales. Miss Feressa here. Miss Hosking here. Miss Palumbo here. Mr. Mr. Meligudi here.
007Miss L here. Mr. Gadella here. Miss Meglo here. Miss Ky here. Board members should have received their packets containing the board of education meeting minutes from April 28, 2025. Does anyone have any questions regarding the meeting minutes? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the minute meetings of the regular board of education meeting on April 28, 2025? Yes, Madam Chair. I move to approve the minutes from the regular board of ed meeting from April 28th. Do I have a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I hope opposed. Abstensions. Motion passes. Moving on to recognition of students from Watertown High School and Swift Middle School. Thank you, Madam Chair. The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendent award, CAPS. uh pleased to see some happy faces and very familiar faces in the
008crowd tonight. And I'm honored to uh take this on uh and read off the winners of the award for the year. Uh so what we'll do is for Swift, we'll call up the two. We're going to have Miss Lurs come up and read their bios for us, get pictures, and obviously a well-deserved congratulations. So congratulations to the following students for receiving the Superintendence Award sponsored by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendent CAPS. This student recognition award is given annually to a limited and select number of students and districts across the state of Connecticut. The CAP student award recognizes students whose accomplishments and contributions to their school and community go beyond academic achievement, service, and leadership, making them role models for other students. On May 6, 2025, all CAPS award recipients from Lichfield County District
009School Districts were invited to attend a reception hosted by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendent at the Grand Oak Villa in Oakville. So, the winners of the Swift Middle School 8th grade students, Sophia Toland. Sophia, come on around front. You have your award. Go ahead, Mary. Well, you can start. Okay, there you are. Thank you. Sophia Trolland is an outstanding eighth grade student at Swift Middle School who is a member of the National Junior Honors Society. Sophia is a quiet, caring, responsible, and respectful leader involved in Leo Club, drama club, string ensemble, bucket band, jazz band. Wo and the principal's advisory committee. She organized and planned and still this this year as well relay for life for American Cancer Society and excels in archery and ice skating through her hard work, commitment and dedication.
010Sophia consistently sets and achieves high standards and gives generously of her time. Sophia is deserving of this prestigious award and we are incredibly proud of her. And the next recipient, my dear, very our very dear friend, Mr. Austin Stango. Just like to say a side note, Austin, you've gone from getting on the bus at my house from kindergarten to this. I am so proud of the young man you've become. Congratulations, sir. And Austin and I share the same birthday, right? Austin. Austin Stango is an outstanding eighth grade student at Swift Middle School who is a member of the National Junior Honors Society. Austin is president of student council, treasurer of Leo Club, and active in soccer, jazz band, drama club, and Spanish club. Outside of school, he plays basketball, travel soccer, and volunteers by sending
011care packages to veterans, making gifts for hospitalized children, and collecting clothes for the homeless. Through his hard work, dedication, and generosity, Austin consistently sets high standards and gives generously of his time. Austin is deserving of this prestigious award and we are incredibly proud of it. Thank you. Thank you. And next we have the recipients uh from Watertown High School 12th grade students. I have the honor of reading these uh so I'll call the names. Uh, starting with Dominic Soillo. Congratulations, Dominic. Congratulations. Dominic is a 12th grader at Watertown High School. He plans to pursue a finance degree in college with a possible Spanish minor. A dedicated student, he excels in honors and AP classes while balancing academics, activities, and a job. Dom is known for his positive attitude, strong work ethic, and willingness to help
012others. He volunteered for the summer bridge program, earning praise for his leadership. Teachers describe him as a motivated, engaged, and and responsible. Dom has made a lasting impact on his school and has a bright future ahead. Congratulations. and Stella Lamson. Congratulations, Stella. Stella is a 12th grader at Watertown High School. Is a is a creative, kind, and dedicated student. A strong supporter of her peers and school community. She contributes to the school newspaper and yearbook, showcasing her leadership and creativity. Her teachers praise her remarkable tenacity and her commitment to overcoming challenges. With a determined growth mindset, she consistently strives for success, always willing to lend a helping hand. Stella's dedication and perseverance will undoubtedly lead her to great achievements as she continues her education. [Music] Congratulations. Board members, please come around for pictures. Excellent. Very
013good. All right. You're going to start looking here and then we'll have you look at your parents. Okay. One, two, three. There you go. Now you're going to look off to your right. Moving on to agenda item G. Thank you, Madam Chair. uh Connecticut Association of Boards of Education CAB Student Leadership Award. The Watertown Board of Education wishes to congratulate the following students chosen by their principles from the middle and high schools to receive the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Cabe Student Leadership Award. Students were chosen based off based on their exceptional leadership skills. We are pleased to announce our 2025 award winners for Swift Middle School 8th grade students. Julie Pavlo. And please forgive me if I pronounce your last name wrong. Mason uh Mason Kuzinski. So I'll start with Julie. Julie is
014a passionate and accomplished eighth grade student at Swift Middle School involved in a wide range of activities. She serves as a member of peer leaders wo student council in the national junior honor honors society demonstrating leadership and a strong commitment to her school community. Julie is also an active member of the school chorus where she has performed solo pieces. Her love for theater shines through her participation in Curtain Called Kids Theater, where she has been part of productions such as Annie Jr. and Susle Jr. Julie plays both the ukulele and keyboard and volunteers as a coaching assistance for Ball Till You Fall. Outside of her extracurricular activities, Julie enjoys dog walking, gardening, babysitting, and photography. Through her hard work and dedication and generosity, Julie sets high standards and gives her time to others, making her
015a deserving recipient of this award. Congratulations. And Mason Mason is a dedicated and well-rounded eighth grade student at Swift Middle School who actively participates in a variety of extracurricular activities. He is a proud member of the National Junior Honors Society where he contributes to his community by creating holiday cards for veterans and engaging in other serviceoriented projects. Outside of academics, Mason is an avid athlete playing for both Swift Boy Soccer and the Watertown Association for youth soccer ways. He is also passionate about skiing and racing quarter race cars. Mason's commitment, hard work, and willingness to give back to others make him a standout student and a deserving recipient of this award. Congratulations. And then the Watertown High School 12th grade student uh students recipients are Harrison Goell. Congratulations Harrison and Ava Kyle. Congratulations. All right.
016And the board members like to come around and you can take a photo now. Starting with your left. together. [Music] Before we move on to the next agenda item following um Mr. Malagudi, I just want to say that I've had the pleasure of knowing Harrison since he was maybe a four-year-old and a neighborh. And although he didn't necessarily get on the kindergarten bus that I saw, I do have a prized Christmas ornament that is a goldfish that he lovingly made for my husband. So, I have to say as I've watched him grow, it's these moments where we get the opportunity to truly see how our our students can and do achieve. So, that was just my little thing to to Harrison, especially because we didn't have a write up from the high school, so I
017thought I could jump in. Well said. All right. Next, the board of education would like to thank the school nurses for all of their outstanding efforts and dedicated services to the students and staff in the Watertown Public Schools, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Mary Magdalene. The board wishes to recognize the following school nurses. Bianca Dutilly from John Trumbull Primary School. Carrie Patrusi John Trumbull. Georganna Carlac from Poke Elementary School. Melissa Whisaw from Judson Elementary School. Ian Tzignney from Swift Middle School. Lisa Diller from Swift Middle School. Michelle Spagneli from Watertown High School. Casey Golivan Watertown High School. Deborah Mer Holy Disciples Elementary School. Daniel Wright Watertown Transition Academy. Jennifer Hepburn, school nurse float for Watertown Public Schools and Aisha Saratuk, health service manager for Watertown Public Schools. So, thank you to all nurses coming
018off of nursing. I don't think I see any in the audience tonight. No, but if I missed you, please come on up. All right. Tonight, we would also like to recognize the PTO of all the schools. The Watertown Board of Ed would like to honor the PTO organizations for their outstanding service to the school community. In order to support our students, they have created strong working relationships between our parents and our teachers. Their volunteer efforts in planning activities, events, fundraisers, and much more are greatly appreciated. We sincerely thank you for your hard work and for your dedication to our schools. Uh the first one that I would like to call upon is Amy Quinn from Swift PTSO. Amy has dedicated Amy has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and effort to swift PTSO and has
019worked tirelessly to inform the community about the importance of supporting the board of education budget. Her commitment and advocacy have made significant impact on behalf of our students this year. She is truly deserving of our appreciation. And Amy, I'm sure you're tired, but she uh chaired an outstanding booster fundraiser event today, too, at Swift. Uh, next is John Trumbull Primary School. Nicole Pereira, president Allison Pro Prosks, vice president, and Amanda Suma, vice president at Pulk Elementary School. Alec Alex Webster, president. Dagmara Lavalo, vice president at Judson School. Jenna Kier Walsh, president. Valerie Lawyer, vice president at Swift Middle School. Michelle Young, president. Kelly Urbansky, vice president at Watertown High School. Amy Marshall, president, and Cheryl Jones Johnstone, vice president. And I see many of them sitting in the audience. So, if you wouldn't mind coming
020on up. And if your partners aren't here, I might give you all of them and you can hand them to them when you see them next. Okay. I have Pulk and I have Judson as well. I don't This is John Trumbol. Thank you. There's Swift. Here's Swift Middle School in Water. And here's for Poke as well. Okay. I think somebody took photo. Perfect. And then I'll give somebody and if we could take a photo with you that would be great. Okay. Board will come around. Please thank you. Congratulations everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. And moving on to the appreciation of school principles. We see you over there. [Laughter] The Watertown Board of Education would like to express sincere appreciation for all that you do to improve our schools. Without your impressive organization and
021incredible passion for the students, teachers, staff, and our community, it would not be as it would not be what it is today. You have all made a tremendous difference, and we are forever grateful. Teacher Appreciation Week was May 5th through 9th. May is a big month. The Watertown Board of Education wishes to share their heartfelt gratitude for all the teachers of Watertown Public Schools. We are consistently reminded of your dedication and commitment to the success of every student. You provide hope and stability to students and their families and sincerely impact their lives daily. Please join me in honoring our teachers this week and for the coming weeks. Actually, it should be all year, but appreciation of cafeteria staff. School lunch Hero Day, Friday, May 2nd. Appreciation of cafeteria staff on school lunch hero day, Friday,
022May 2nd, 2025. The Watertown Board of Education extends its heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated school cafeteria staff for their commitment to nourishing our students and staff each day with breakfast and lunch. So far this year, the Watertown's uh food service department has served an impressive 99,592 student breakfast and 204 uh sorry, 24,639 student lunches. Your tireless efforts bring not only meals, but also joy to our students as they pass through the lunch line. Your contributions are deeply valued and we sincerely thank you for everything you do for our schools and community. Moving on to agenda item M, Wall of Honor 2024 2025. The Watertown Board of Education is currently seeking nominations for the Watertown High School Wall of Honor. The purpose of the Wall of Honor is to recognize those individuals that have brought distinction
023to Watertown High School and the community through their commitment to excellence. To be nominated to the Wall of Honor, a candidate must have graduated from Watertown High School at least 10 years prior to the year of induction and have consistently demonstrated the highest standards of excellence and honor in his or her chosen vocation. Award recipients will be chosen from the field of athletics, business, finance, fine performing arts, education, health, medical services, government, public service, and science technology. Nomination forms can be found on the district's website at www.wwatertownps.org. The completed nomination forms must be received in the district office no later than May 26, 2025. Applications can be found on our district website at www.watertownps.org. Moving on to report from student council representatives. For John Treble, teachers have begun their end of year assessments already in
024the classrooms. On Friday, the whole school ended their week with a pep rally to get students excited about the I Ready testing that's starting this week. For Mother's Day, the gym was filled with beautiful flowers for Mother's Day plant sale on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The smiles coming out of the gym were priceless as students held the flowers that they proudly picked out. The book fair is this week has and has been adding excitement as well. Family night at the book fair is Thursday at 5:30. Um, several of the first round of field trips is happening this week. Kindergarten is off to Beardsley Zoo at the end of the month and first grade is heading to Hungerford Hungerford Nature Center in June and second graders are going to Flanders Nature Center during the
025month of May. Lastly, other exciting events include the second grade concert on May 29th and the second grade visits and celebration on June 1st and field day on June 12th. For Judson, the Smarter Balance testing is complete. Students have worked hard and showed remarkable perseverance throughout the Smarter Balanced Assessments. The I Ready assessment will begin this week for all students. And Mrs. Raldi has been working with students in grades 3 through 5 on learning important lessons about digital citizenship. Third graders are learning what it means to be responsible online. Fourth graders are exploring the idea of media balance. And fifth graders are learning to recognize and avoid clickbait. Across all grades, students are also learning and practicing how to create strong passwords to help protect their personal information online. For Pulk, the Pulk Student Council
026recently hosted a fun and spirited penny wars competition to support the March of Dimes. Fourth grade came out on top by collecting an impressive 3,39 pennies and earned an extra recess as their reward. Altogether, Pulk raised a total of $51 to help support the March of Dimes. for Swift. The Swift sixth, seventh, and eighth grade bands took the stage on May 8th for their spring concert. The students were able to showcase their hard work and musical growth throughout the year. Congrats to all the band students. The eighth grade students had an exciting educational trip to the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. During the visit, they had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of engaging exhibits. And on May 1st, the Swift Booster Bash officially kicked off in partnership with the Swift PTSO to
027raise funds for the middle school students. So far, Swift has raised raised $4,500, surpassing their goal of $4,000. This accomplish accomplishment will be celebrated on May 12th through the Booster Bash. for Watertown High School. It is with great excitement that we announced that Watertown High School is part of our top 10 high schools for the highest percent enrollment increase in the Yukon Early College Experience Program from the 2023 to 2024 to the 2024 to 2025 academic year. This year, Watertown is the high school with the fourth highest percent increase in total number of students enrolled in Yukon ECE courses. Um, for Won High School Music Department, on March 25th, one of Yale's University's ac capella groups, Cadence of Yale, visited WHS to conduct a workshop with the chamber choir and perform a concert for all
028choir students. During the winter months, the AC capella group provided sheet music for the chamber choir to prepare. For March 27th to 29th, Mark Albino and Caleb McGathi Shipple represented WHS at the All State Festival at Weathersfield High School. On April 2nd, the Tri Music Honor Society hosted the district-wide coffee house event. Music ensembles ensembles from each school in Watertown performed and more than 500 people attended the event. The tri raised over $1,700 which was donated to the Watertown Public Schools music programs. Um for the Tri's next event, talent under the stars will take place on Friday, May 30th at WHS. Along with this music talent talent, we're thrilled to announce that Lola Bana won first place for the fifth congressional district of Connecticut in the 2025 congressional art competition. As part of her incredible
029honor, Lola will receive plane tickets to fly to Washington DC where her artwork will be proudly displayed at the US Capitol building. For Won High School, they also have celebrated inclusion week from April 25th to May 2nd with a series of events aimed at promoting unity, empathy, and belonging among all students. Along with many events, students and staff signed an inclusion banner and wore choose to include t-shirts and bracelets as a visible side of their commitment. For the academic updates, Varton High School SAT Day 2025 participation and performance goals were both met in math and English. Meeting these goals demonstrates continued progress towards academic excellence and reinforces the commitment to providing all students with the skills and support needed for for post-secary success. The unified civics course partnered with graphics 3 to create a map
030for new students, transition students, MLL students link crew and paranite to make the understanding of the building easier. For athletic news, congratulations to Andrew Brown and Sarah Kryki who on Sunday May 4th were recognized at the Aquatures for the 2024 2025 school year. And for upcoming events, girls tennis senior night is Monday, May 12th, 34 at 3:45 against Seymour. Boys lacrosse senior night is Monday, May 12th at 7 pm versus Lake View. Boys and girls track and field senior night is Tuesday, May 13th at 3 p.m. versus Holy Cross St. Paul and Crosby. Golf senior night is Wednesday, May 14th at 2:30 p.m. versus Holy Cross. Boys tennis senior night is Wednesday, May 14th at 3:45 against Wulkit. Girls lacrosse senior night is Thursday, May 15th at 600 p.m. versus Wilat. Softball senior night is
031Wednesday, May 21st at 3:45 p.m. versus Thomston. Baseball senior night is Wednesday, May 21st at 3:45 p.m. versus New Milford. And the college athlete athlete sighting college athlete signing night is Wednesday, May 21st at 7 p.m. That's a lot. It's an exciting time of year. Okay, moving on to superintendent's recommendations and report. And I'll keep my report nice and short um because you heard it all from our students. We are in a busy time of year and it's so exciting to just see all the culminating events come together. Um our students have been working all year towards some of these kind of monumental end of year summit of experiences and it's um it's wonderful to see them in their glory. Um, as you may or may not know, but the executive assistant to the superintendent,
032Miss Elise Taylor, is retiring on May 30th. And so, we have been uh getting ready for this departure. She's been with the district for quite some time. Um, and so her retirement party is on May 28th, and I just wanted to plug that one more time for our board of education members. Um, I anticipate that we'll have a number of guests from the past to come back to celebrate Miss Taylor. Um, and also I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day this past weekend. Whether you were celebrating yourself or with your family or remembering someone special, um, it's a wonderful weekend to be able to spend with friends and family and we are on the precipice of voting and so um, I look forward to seeing our community come on out for our referendum
033which is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th and you'll get the details a little later on tonight. Thank you. Okay, moving on to public participation. In accordance with policy number 9050, public participants must state their name and address for the record and limit statements to three minutes. The board encourages speakers not to express defamatory comments about Watertown Board of Education personnel or any other persons associated with the Watertown Public School System. Would anyone like to come to the podium and speak? Good evening. Uh for the record, Elio Longo reside at 83 Bella Vista Drive. Uh firstly, uh great things are happening with our young ladies and young men in the district. Uh this is the second meeting in a row that I've attended and great accolades to our students. Fantastic job to them and their their
034and their parents. Uh that being said, a couple of observations regarding uh the exchange of ideas, thoughts between self, the superintendent, and the board. Uh first observation is that under communication I noticed that there's a disclaimer at the very bottom and that disclaimer is basically that the information shared is confidential and should not be uh distributed because it could be considered to be unlawful. I would ask the superintendent and the board of education to rethink that disclaimer at the bottom as long as it's not furba or HIPPA related. There should be no restrictions whatsoever. It's covered under foyer anyway and the information that's shared. Um, that being said, in terms of the official record, I believe in your board package, you'll have a copy of the minutes that were approved earlier this evening. I've noticed
035that all all agenda items, it's almost verbatim, 50, 100, 150 words. But when it comes to public participation, 3 minutes, 19 words of coverage. Uh there's some good ideas I think I could share and others share as well too and they should be uh given the diligence and reported as you report on all other items especially when other agenda items are receiving 150 words or more coverage. In terms of uh the item this evening for the proposed fiscal year 26 reductions, I would have thought that the board would have considered perhaps having holding participation after the review because when we had the original when you had the original cut of the $2.5 million, you had a plan of action, if you will, although not adopted by the board, uh developed within 48 hours. Yes, there
036was a public hearing, but I believe tonight on your agenda, you're going to discuss a uh revised reduction list. It would be helpful for members of the public to have access to that information because we're only eight days away from the ref referendum vote because you're calling for a special meeting between now and next Tuesday on it. Gives very little time for the public to weigh in on the reductions. I hope this evening when you present this evening um we'll find that some of the uh estimates are not just rounded numbers that they're all in costs for the employee cost. Did you consider uh health insurance as a reduction to the cost as well for the non-certified positions? You're going to save six and a half% on the employer uh FICA contributions. And it may
037not sound like a lot, but it can total tens of thousands of dollars, which would replace having to have an item on the on your screen at your original presentation $4,000 for paper towels. All right. Um, that being said, I do appreciate the response I've received today from Dr. V. However, there are still some um, questions out there, and I'm not sure if you find them to be concerning or not. As you develop the budget for the new year, and you're looking to finish out this current year, there still is the question out there about transportation. By my calculation, we're still 700 to million dollars apart on transportation next year. And it still begs the question, why was the RFP released so late this year? Right? We were a price taker, right? Even if first
038student quoted you 20 25% with only weeks away from the renewal of the contract, what other action would you have had? You couldn't on it. So, I ask that you give some serious thought and consideration um to um my further comments this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to come up and speak? Seeing none, moving on to board policies. First read of series 4,000 personnel, employment and student check, teacher checks number 4040. All right. Um, so board of ed members, you have in your packet policy number 4040, which is employment and student teacher checks. There's not a lot of substantive change to this particular policy. However, you'll see in the gray highlight that there's some optional language for us to consider. Um, my recommendation as we talk through it this evening is
039for us to adopt the optional uh language. It covers um outofstate employees who are looking to work in our school district. So, right now we complete very extensive background checks not only on the sex offender list or the DCF registry list. Um, also fingerprints and backgrounds of that nature. Um but when it comes to uh employees that are from out of state, um we can now also go into further uh examination of their employment history. Uh you can see that everything that's been left alone is still part of our current policy right now. But as you move through, you'll see on page one, and then it shows up again beginning on page six, seven, and onwards, you'll see that the um optional language around considering uh information from out of state is included there uh
040for pretty much everything. Um again, I would recommend that we do include that in our policy. We have had a number of employees who have been coming in from out of state um for whatever reason coming up to New England from Florida or from down south or just even uh not too far away from Pennsylvania. They just have different systems for criminal history and um such. So I think that would be helpful. In addition to that, on page eight, you'll see that there is an open uh space for where we can send our employees for fingerprints. Some school districts um complete their own fingerprints in house. We do not do that here in Watertown public schools, but we often uh send them over just to our local WPD, which is just down the road uh
041from our high school, and they can have their fingerprints done there. So, um what would be put into that area would be Watertown Police Department. Um of course, if they can't make it during uh the limited hours that are open there, um even though they have the machine now, they can always find another spot, but they would have to have that cleared by our HR specialist before doing that moving forward. Um, in addition to that as well, the only last part that I would draw your eye to is that the optional language comes up again on um, page 11. And just that note there is just around compliance on general statutes. So those are really just the changes to 4040. And again, I do strongly recommend that we adopt the optional language into um, our
042current policy 4040. That would be the adjustment. Does anyone have any comments? I personally don't see a downside to that at all for having the optional language through the chair. I was saying I read I read this policy originally when we got it months back. Uh Dr. B and I went through uh you know the new statute there as well and talked it through on multiple occasions there and I also see absolutely no downside to doing that. It further protects our district there. Um there were I had no other concerns with the document as uh based on the changes doc recommended. Thank you. Um I have to say one of the uh although it's not necessarily connected to employment and student teacher checks um as you know we implemented the new uh system at each
043one of our schools uh the Raptor system and it's been great. It just takes the um driver's license feeds it through and it pops up right away on the screen whether or not uh somebody has a record. So before they get their visitors badge to come into the building, um that check is done. So it's been it's been very helpful. Great. Any questions, comments? Okay, seeing none, moving on. All right, items of discussion. Fiscal year 26 budget revised reductions based on the 4.15% budget increase. There we go. Thank you. All right. Um, and this is just to give us an update on where we are on the revised recommendations for reductions. Um, I want to say that I'm very thankful that we have now a reduction in the original $2.5 million uh reduction or cut
044as as we would call it. Um, and now it's only really finding a million to be able to find that uh reduction moving forward. So, here we go. Uh, Michael Oh, there we go. All right. So, again, the original proposed and recommended by the board of education was a 6.86% increase. It was then reduced by a significant amount of 2.5. That brought it down to a 2.33% increase. Now, we are at a 4.15% increase. And here is where the restoration would come from. Okay. So, uh the paper towels are still on. Um, we are still looking at keeping paper towels in uh the other buildings. However, we do think at the Watertown High School that the uh small amount there can essentially be taken out. Um, summer cleaning is still going to be put on
045a pause. We are looking at unplugging everything in the classrooms for the summer and I think that just makes sense uh because we are going through deep cleaning. One thing that you do see off of that district community is it used to be that it would close at 3:00 and parks and recreation would no longer have access. that is now off the reduction list and we will uh be able to um have the building open if parks and wreck has booked the time there. Uh for the most part, however, our buildings closed at 3:00 in the summer. That's when our custodial staff clocks out. Um but if there are reservations made, then parks and recck will still have access to it. Um I made a little bit of revision on the building substitutes. So the
046last time that I showed the reduction, you saw a much larger number, a $225,000 number. Um I wanted to correct that in a way and give it a more realistic picture. So this is still a um reduction of all building substitutes and going towards perdm substitutes. Um and with that we would have an actual differential and uh reduction of $65,000. And that is because um some of our building substitutes do take health benefits and perdm substitutes do not take health benefits. And so with that there are savings not only in the benefits but also just in the perdium costs. There's a differential in the pay in which we give building substitutes and PDM substitutes. And so with that the actual savings is $65,000. We still anticipate we will spend money on using substitutes because there
047is un undoubtly uh times when school teachers and staff are absent because they're sick or for whatever reason and we need to find a substitute at that time. And so I'm reflecting that number more as 65,000 as opposed to the whole bulk cost of what it cost to have full building substitute which is 225,000. Quick question. Yes. Um will we also be utilizing interns? Yes. And so um we've partnered with the University of Bridgeport in the past, actually just even this past year and we've had interns that are with us all year long. Um we have uh Miss Gaelic as well as Miss Becketty who are looking to all of our partner universities. um, Sacred Heart University. I think there's a couple of other ones that we're looking into to get more interns to come
048in. This is still an area where we are taking on some risk. Um, but there are other sometimes operational items that or operational protocols we can take when we are down a substitute in our school buildings. Uh, we also look to times when our colleges are on break. Oftentimes our college students come back and they are substitutes in those kind of peak times. Um but at the same time we are looking to take that risk in this area um because there is a pretty substantial amount of savings that we can do with the benefits in the PDM adjustment. In athletics, I'm happy to say that middle school sports are back in. Um you will see on the next slide here, I'll just skip from there and go back. We have a good number of middle
049school sports that we offer. Uh what is still out is the Watertown High School freshman athletics. Right now we have a freshman team for boys and girls soccer. We have a freshman team for boys and girls basketball and we have a freshman team for baseball. Now, the reason why Watertown High School freshman athletics is still out is because we are uh looking to encourage our freshman uh athletes to go into our junior varsity teams. And so many um school districts have had uh sometimes they call them Fromore or sometimes they call them junior varsity teams. Um and we do believe that we will have a strong um opportunity to be able to encourage them to go into JB. So I don't think our students will not play store sports if they are freshman students. Um
050they will just uh have an opportunity to go into JB. Middle school however is back in. Uh we are looking to pause on that uniform rotation for one year and we are rather than uh eliminating the strength and conditioning stipend altogether we are going to um eliminate three seasons out of four. So, we will keep one season which will be the postseason of football so that the strength and conditioning coach can still be available to work with our students on the off seasonason um because typically when they're in season and just leading up to the season, uh the coaches are pretty heavy-handedly working through that. Now, at the same time, I do want to acknowledge that acknowledge that um we very much appreciate the coach who does the strength and conditioning because he's always there.
051He's always present. the kids know that he's a constant. Um, but it is an area where one of the stipens um can take reduction for this year. I am so happy that we do not have to reduce 14 teachers. Um, however, we are at five. So, um, any teachers who have been impacted where there is a full elimination and it's a 100% layoff and or it's a adjustment in location because it's been cut at one school and they have to now move to a different location. I've had a private conversation with me and their union representative already. Um, and I want to just thank our faculty for being open-minded in understanding why we reorganize things um, and how we can use schedules to um, adjust where people are located. At the same time, for those
052members who have a a true layoff and they are essentially now looking for another position, um if there's anything that we can do to support them through this time, uh we are working with our faculty in that uh respect. We are still cutting one um full-time administrative position um and that will be the special education supervisor position. We are also looking to still uh remove one instead of three custodial technical positions. Um and that will be at the cost of about $75,000. In terms of secretaries, we had originally had 3.5 secretaries um for reduction. Oops, Michael. We've just gone a little too far. Thank you. So the original reduction was 3.5 secretaries and we have been able to take that down to one secretary as a reduction. We are still looking to eliminate the food
053service assistance um that we had in place this year of $40,000 next year. Um and in terms of PAR educators, we are looking to still reduce, pardon me, 2.0 classroom paras and 3.5 special education paras at this time. Um that may also adjust just a little bit. Um as you know that we are still receiving resignations and retirements and just adjustments in positions as uh people are looking or just making different life changes. Our par educator group is often one of them that is a little bit more um transient than our faculty and staff and so uh if you see a little bit more uh fluctuation in the par educator group uh throughout the summer uh that may that may still happen. So, that brings us to a grand total of a reduction of just
054a little over a million dollars by about 2,000. Um, and that should bring us into where we need to be to be at a 4.15% increase. Um, it's still pretty tight. It's still pretty close. Um, however, uh, with these reductions now as finals, uh, we can attempt to find other ways that we can become efficient. Um, I do want to acknowledge that we have been getting some very good recommendations uh from the gentleman who gave public comment this evening. Um, I think we are not shy to feedback in any possible way and so uh we will not leave any stone unturned and if there's anything that we can move forward with um we will certainly do that as a school district uh with our business office in in conjunction with our board of education at
055this point. trying to become the most efficient, trying to become um the most proactive and attempting to build fiscal confidence year-over-year so that we can become sustainable is absolutely necessary. It's critical for our board of education in order for us to move forward. Um so that's where we are. I'm happy to take any questions about the revisions. Comments. I have a couple questions. And the list of the Swift middle school athletic positions. Yes. Can you clarify the middle school athletic coordinator, is that different than the role that the athletic director is already providing? Is that an additional stipended? It does. And what are they doing differently? Yes, it is um a different position. So, there is um somebody at the middle school who who helps the athletic director for the district with just middle school.
056um that position is not cut at this time. It's put back in. And so that coordinator will still receive the additional middle school coordinator athletic stipen and continue on their duties for middle school. And is that are those duties that cannot be fulfilled by the athletic director? Um it how does it differ? They they don't differ all that much. So, in terms of um arranging transportation or arranging games, that still happens at the high school level as well. Um it can be done by the district athletic director. However, um sometimes middle school game times are different as well. And so, it is helpful to have that coordinator there. And can you just speak to so with the proposed elimination of the special education supervisor? Yes. So, how will those duties be delineated and shared with
057other staff without that person? Well, um that is the question. And so, as you know, um the time that we've been growing our special education programs over the last four years. We have expanded the number of programs that we have, but we have not expanded the administrative oversight or the accountability of overseeing all of those pieces. We have um had we had the attempt or we attempted to put teachers on special assignment to oversee those programs, but as you know um two of them are no longer with us and two of them are the only ones left standing. So the simplest answer is that the duties of that continue to be spread across the limited and existing people. Um, and we make sure that we communicate very carefully with our director of special education and
058our superintendent if there's any possibility of being out of compliance or any legal liability that we're open to. Um, and it's all hands- on deck. Of course, the model that we would like is to have a supervisor in each one of our buildings, uh, which we do not have at this time. I do think I heard a a little hand go up online. Yeah. Hi everyone. Um it's Chris. Um I have two questions. Um my first question is in relation to um pair of professionals especially in special education when you have IEPs that require yes one to educators or pair educators rather what is going to happen if we're letting them go letting some go? How is that going to work? So if we have IEPs that outline a one-to-one pair educator, we are bound
059by law to provide that service for a student. Um right now we have a very close look at how many of our students are aging out or graduating for another set of terms. Um and so if they are leaving and they are a particular student who may have had a one-toone um tied to them in their IEP, that's a pair professional that for pair educator we may no longer need at this time. Um there are also opportunities where um we may have had 2:1 or 3:1 para educator situations for students. Um and if that's the case, if it was not necessarily written into an IEP, but a student is now um essentially programmatically adjusting, we can also start to um take our foot off the accelerator on how much support is is given. Okay. All
060right. Thank you. My second question is um obviously a lot of thought has gone into these cuts. Dr. Dr. Villinoe, who exactly um with you leaving the district soon, is this basically your decision on the cuts? Is this a collaborative approach to the cuts? Can you just give a little clarity as to how you came to decide on these specific cuts? Sure. For the district. So, in the end, it's down to me, who's the current superintendent, to make any final decisions on what goes forward to the board of education. Um, however, this is not done unilaterally in any sort of vacuum. Um this is a discussion where um I consider where we need to come into and I have to talk to our building principles. I have to talk to our cabinet level administrators to
061figure out whether or not we can operationally continue to move forward with fidelity or at least successfully. Um nobody wants to make a cut and no administrator in a building ever wants to have to talk to any of their faculty that they want to make a cut or have to make a cut. However, they also know that if a cut must be made because me, the superintendent or the board of education or the um you know, just overall budget we need to come into needs to be reduced, we put our minds together and we figure out how this can happen. Um we use the schedule to try our best to absorb things that we can peanut butter across. That's just the analogy I have peanut buttering it across multiple people. Um, and if we can
062use natural attrition like retirement resignations and just people moving on to be able to absorb that, we will also do that as well. Um, but this year there are some that we just um could not necessarily move the puzzle pieces around enough and we just gave notice or I won't say we I gave notice to uh full eliminations. Okay. Thank you. Have any any other questions? What are they using in the gang bathrooms to Are there are there electric dryers in there? Yes, we actually have hand dryers in the bathrooms. So, our our children a good shake. Yes, our children will be able to dry their hands. So, we have actual dryers in the in the bathrooms. Now, the reason why we're going to remain with the paper towels at the little schools is because
063sometimes the dryers are very loud and it scares the living daylights out of the little kids, but the high school children, they use the electric dryers as well. Yes. I just wanted to it's more of a clarification than a question but with reduction in staff and riffing I know that what's here on paper and it's hard for the public to understand that even all of the people that you spoke to um today there could be changes based on certifications on right um just even levels that correct they can move to. And I know um there was a question before about rounding numbers up and rounding numbers down. It's interesting. I've been following some of the votes that have already taken place in some of the neighboring districts and kind of looking at their pieces and
064I know for a fact that there's an issue in a neighboring district where they were so precise in the number that even with people within the district that could move into that position they can't. So although it may be asked about in terms of not having you know a down to the penny number to my way of thinking. It gives some flexibility in that riffing pro process so that current staff who want to stay and can move have the Am I understanding that correctly? You are. You are. And I I think that's a very positive way to to think of it. Um and I if I could just add one more layer. So I have spoken to people who have either um officially been eliminated and or their certification has now bumped them through the
065rift process which riff stands for reduction enforce process uh which is outlined very clearly in our contract of location change or anything of that nature. Now, what I have not done, which I will do after the referendum, is talk to any and all teachers where scheduling adjustments may adjust um what they're teaching or how they're teaching. Now, those teachers are not losing a job, nor are they being bumped out of a category, nor are they being moved in a building or anything of that of that nature. Um, however, they may have scheduling adjustments. Um, and that is often based on enrollment and things of that nature and that will come after referendum. So just the added layer to that is yes it keeps it open so that if somebody bumps right after referendum all these
066little bump pieces all of the postings go out and suddenly if people decide they want to actually move into a position that's open we have a very amicable relationship with our union uh to be able to say if there are volunteers who would prefer to come forward and this person would rather stay we are open to those discussions. It doesn't always work out in everybody's favor, but if we can try our best to make the impact as less as possible, uh we will certainly try to do that for people. We know how committed and dedicated and loyal our faculty are to their buildings. Um and if we can try to honor certain of these certain things, we will try our best to do that. We can't always, but we will certainly try to do that.
067Thank you. Oh, through the phone call. Um just one I did get this question just to clarify is there so when this is shared so in case it comes up again is there a reason they're separated by 221 and the teacher lines and the paral lines the way you present it. Uh yes somebody was wondering if that reflected like which built which building it it did. Okay. Yes. Thank you doc. And continuing on the agenda uh town referendum details. Thank you. And then um right into your meeting minutes. This is actually a carbon copy right out of our town public hearing notice. Um this is just an update to our community that the referendum will take place on Tuesday, May 20th. Um they start right at 6:00 a.m. and they go right to 8:00 p.m.
068Um and essentially there are four voting areas. Uh the polls, there's one at Watertown High School, one at Judson, one at Swift, and one at Pulk. Um, and also anybody who um is qualified to vote can also do an absentee ballot or register to vote for the first time by coming to the town offices uh prior to the referendum to be able to go ahead and do that. So, um, again, we recognized our PTOs and many of our students earlier today, but one more shout out to our PTOs. Um, I see Miss Miss Quinn is still sitting in the audience tonight. Sorry to put you on the spot. Um, but I don't know what we do without their fundraising for our little schools. Um, I mean, I say our little schools because usually our youngest
069uh students, they raise the most in fundraising. Um, they're there all the time. Um, and so their work just for everything is is fantastic. So, thank you for that. So, I'm sure that our our PTO's will be busy on on referendum day as well. Thank you, Doc. Moving on to agenda item uh S communications for secretary. Uh Miss Feressa, do you have any I am sorry about Yes, I'm so sorry about that. Um the only communication that came in was from Mr. Longo with suggestions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Russa. Now on to agenda item T, committee reports, curriculum and instruction committee. Miss Karen Haskin. No report at this time. Thank you, Miss Hoskin. Uh policy and labor committee, myself, Mr. Malagudi. Um we had our first read tonight of the uh personnel
0704040 employment and student teacher checks. Uh Doc had made some uh recommendations to this policy which I've reviewed it multiple times and in full agreeance with the gray language being added. They're taking on the optional language. So hopefully doc we can expect a clean copy of this for a future uh second read and uh agenda item for a vote a vote rather and uh we're also working our way trudging through the additional policies there chipping away one at a time there now that budget is slowing a little bit there I mean we have the vote there but some of the work has been consuming of late there so we'll get working on the rest of the policies that need to be done uh budget and finance committee Mr. John Gavales is not present. Uh, facilities
071operations committee, Mr. Gavales is not present. Governance and community engagement committee, Miss Palumba has stepped out for a moment. Um, report from the chair. Moving on to item U. Uh, Miss Palumba has stepped out for the moment. I have her. Oh, thank you. I have Oh, no. You have hers. Okay. So, if I can just read on Christa's behalf. This is the report from the board chair. The month of May is designated as the recognition month for several staff and support staff groups. These include principals, teachers, school nurses, school nutrition workers, PTO, and other school support staff. I want to take this opportunity to offer my gratitude and appreciation to all our Watertown Public School employees for everything you do each day to keep our schools safe, to support learning, and to help the various
072needs of our school community. You show up every day and continue to provide our students with the education, guidance, and support they need to thrive. Your commitment to providing a highquality education to every student is truly inspiring. Each one of you in these support groups is charged with a vital role that helps further our mission of preparing all students for colleges and careers. All your contributions are key in our efforts to promote the mission of a graduate that will help us ensure that our students, excuse me, have the skills and characteristics they need to be successful individuals after they leave our district. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and unwavering commitment to our students. You are appreciated more than you know and I hope you feel the love and admiration of the students, colleagues
073and community. Thank you, Miss Aki. Um I apologize I needed to leave. Um action items, adoption of items to be approved by consent. Consideration to approve donations. Family and friends of Mark and Jennifer Zto South Glenbury donated a Yamaha keyboard to Ryan High School with an estimated value of $2,800. Do I have a motion? Yes, Madam Chair. I move to approve the following two generous donations with letters of appreciation sent Oh, I'll do the first one. Sorry. That's okay. Um the first generous donation with letters of appreciation sent to um the donor, the family and friends of Mark and Jennifer Zto South Glastonberry donated a Yamaha YDP1 184 keyboard to WHS with an estimated value of $2,800. Uh do I have a second? I second the motion. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I
074opposed abstension. Motion passes. Uh also another consideration to approve a donation for horns for kids uh Hampton Connecticut donated an Armstrong flute to Watertown High School valued at $800. Do I have a motion? Yes, Madam Chair. I move to approve the following donation and let letter of appreciation be sent to the donor. Horns for Kids, Hampton, Connecticut, donated an Armstrong flute to WHS valued at $800. And do I have a second? Yes, I second the motion. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed abstensions. Motion passes. Moving on to future agenda items and board member comments. Do any board members have any comments? Yes, Madam Chair. I just wanted to reiterate the thanks for the PTO's this time of year. They're really the ones that are putting the effort to the getting people out to
075vote and sharing um information to families across town. I know they're working with local businesses who are also showing the generosity of our community and and putting together some incentives and just really spreading the word. And I think for point of clarification too because this came up last year as people are may see signs out next week. Those are not put forth through the board of education budget or through the board of education. Those are through the efforts um and fundraising through the PTO's. Um and we definitely again just appreciate the support of the role that they play of sharing information and disseminating it through the community and working really hard to get this last push through budget season. Thank you. Any other board member comments? Chair, just to resonate what Miss Lawren said, um
076it's so inspiring. I love being involved with the PTO there. You really want to get inspired in the school's visit and just see how passionate they are about dedicating their time and it's so genuine motivated for the kids and the uh teachers and the administrators there and also teacher appreciation week and Judson just how hard they work but how appreciated it was dropping off donations everybody thanking you endlessly. So can't thank the girls enough and everybody involved with the PTO enough. Thank you for all you do. Okay. Um, it is now 8:13 p.m. and you would need to move into executive session. Do I have a motion to move into executive session? Madam Chair, I move to go into executive session to interview the candidates for the position of interimm director of special education and
077pupil personnel services. in attendance. Cindy Failen, Christine Feressa, Karen Hosking, Christa Palumba, Dr. Alson Villain Noeva, Jason Malaguti, Liz Len, and myself. Um, we're gonna have Kareem as well. And I'm sorry. Was it and Kareem? Bell. Okay. Do I have a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Extension. Motion passes. It is now 8:14 and we will be moving into executive session. Dr. B, who else was it in executive session? Lisa and Murray. Thank