001e so we're not having any space issues with the enrollment being so high I know um she's testing you now not for students thanks oh noice still so we were talking last night space issues and K had said that e get a call hello everyone and thank you for coming to our October regular meeting of the Bethany Board of Education where we Inspire and Empower children to thrive in the world of Jes we'll begin as we always do with a pledge of allegiance if you please stand 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 liberty and justice for all I want to begin this evening just by briefly acknowledging uh the suffering that is happening in the Middle
002East um over the last week with many innocent people uh have have been injured and killed in a truly tragic set of circumstances and um it's been very much on my mind and I want to briefly acknowledge that with a moment of silence thank you which brings us to the PTO report hi everybody um my name is Melissa zalo I am the President of the PTO and I'm mom to now fourth grader um in Miss Spear's class so um I apologize for not being here last month PTO mom kind of conflicted with football mom so I to go to the football game instead but um so we are in the midst of a very very busy month here with PTO um to start off we started we had a table over at open house in
003the gym where we sold merchandise and we gave out um samples of lme and pies to support our fundraiser and then we also had a table at the Harvest Festival um selling merchandise and offering games and crafts to the kids as well both were very well attended um um and like mention we're doing our P sale we're in the midst of that right now the students all went home with an order form and there's a way for them to sign up online to sell pies and we're asking um even if you don't want a pie you don't need a pie um there is a way to donate Pi um we're working with um the school social workers and with uh Bethany Senior Services to donate pies to Bethany residents in need and we're also working
004with the nagat talk ecumenical Outreach Network um because they do a free Thanksgiving dinner um and they're always looking for pies too last year they fed over 500 people so um they need the pies and that's going on right now um Lego Club also started I think this week is going to be our third session of our fall session of Lego Club upwards of 60 students attended it's open for grades K through six um from what I'm told um the kids are being very well behaved they're very excited they're working hard last week they worked on a Lego Amusement Park so they built um amusement rides out of Legos and kids are loving it from what I'm hearing and we're also looking to um start a ski club um Jaclyn rol is working on that
005to happen sometime in January um we just opened up last night a Facebook poll to gauge interest on that so we're going to get that up and running um picture day was last week last Friday uh unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so they had to have it indoors um so we're looking forward to seeing everybody's picture this Friday is our boo bash um we're going to have a DJ costume contest crafts um all here in the gym um kids can come dressed um we're looking for volunteers to help decorate help run the games um and help take down also we're running our bootyful homes tour again this year um if you have a home that you would like decorate it that you decorate for Halloween and want to be on our tour and to shoot
006me an email and we'll get you on our list um and the the winners of that will be announced at the Bethany uh Volunteer Fire Department's trun or treat next up is uh the book fair the book fair is coming uh starting October 23rd and we'll run the week of conferences we're doing things a little bit differently this year um Monday we're going to invite our teachers and staff to come without class whenever they get a moment to kind of shop the fair make their wish lists um make some book recommendations that they think their students might like um and just maybe Pur shop on their own and then the rest of the week will be devoted to um student shopping though the teachers will sign up I think most of them have um to
007bring their class down so the students can shop the fair and then parents will have the opportunity to shop the fair um during parent teacher conference it's always a busy week um but we're looking forward to that uh also on November 2nd we are going to be hosting a free online Internet safety webinar for our parents um so that's going to be coming out soon information about coming we be coming out about that and um snowflake shop is going to be coming back in December so we're we're very busy right now we always thank our um our staff our Administration our parents for supporting um all of our events and activ in the school thank you thank you and thank you for everything you do for the school we move on to our first opportunity
008for visitors public comment um I'll ask if anyone uh wants to address the board at this time okay um to anyone who's watching the live stream uh we did have technical difficulties with the live stream uh last week last month and I apologize for that but these have all all good now so we we here to be back online uh and we're we're happy that we've were're able to make this meeting accessible to those who can't for whom it's not convenient to come here in person um people who um are viewing uh by live stream can put in public comments uh where is that link the okay on the school website under board event um the but I will say the the um same uh guidelines of apply to to to uh comments put in
009on the web which is that if this is not the the forum for General discussion of policy and events and other matters before the board but not for uh comments about individual students parents staff members or other community members anything that's put in um that is uh not optimal you know not appropriate to read in front certainly will be read but not uh but not out in the public comment space same guidelines is for anyone who wants to speak in person uh last chance for anyone who's here do we have anything that we're going to read out uh okay there will be a second opportunity for visitors public comment both for those here and uh online at the end of the meeting we move on to review and approval of minutes of our September 13th
010meeting um board members you'll find those in your packet um trust people have had an opportunity to review them and I'll entertain a motion to approve thank you I me a second thank you for that any uh edits questions concerns or amend Ms before we move on to a vote okay hearing none I'll ask for a vote all those in favor of approving the minutes as presented in your packet please indicate by saying I I any opposed any extensions one exstension motion passes the minutes are approved and will be posted on our website we move on to our committee reports we begin with Aces uh let's see the aces board had a regular meeting September 14 and uh we heard quite a few reports and just giving you some highlights I'm happy to say there
011was a decision to set aside their commercial real estate investment aspirations and uh that Asus will remain a tenant paying rent at the large office building they're moving to on James Street in New Haven and uh in some new further news on uh the ECA uh ases hired a consultant to assess the turmoil and declining enrollment problems they are experiencing uh the consultant basically concluded that uh their staff and curriculum lean too far towards Western civilization and classical art and that they needed to broaden both to better appeal to New Haven's more local enrollment potential and they also uh suggested increasing fundraising in marketing efforts in general uh the board also elected an executive board and had an engineering presentation on construction project at 88 B in North hav that pretty much covers it great
012thank you any questions on this report com okay we move on to curriculum Justus time sorry about good timing well done um hi everybody um I'm going to give you the curriculum Comm update we had a meeting on October 4th we had an amazing our most of our meeting was a presentation that U Miss Keel Mr reell gave us on um the math math what's going on in math here at BCS um it was a long presentation I we got off the phone and I was like wow that was like at least an hour and 15 minutes so it's very detailed I would really encourage everybody look at at the um weekly updates that kense um there was the whole present present ation was in there if you'd like to look at certain slides and
013numbers and things like that but I'm going to try to just um summarize it a bit um we discussed common cord standards and basically talked about how to read the grade level standards um we discussed different topics like operations and algebra thinking we talked about the different math resources that we have for tier one and tier two and three tier one we have I ready tank math extra math just to kind of give you guys some names just so you can familiarize yourself with the programs and in tier two we have Bridges ISL we have interventionist and instructural AIDS um we talked about the progression of math thinking and how it's so important to go from concrete uh to pictorial to ABS um we actually did a bunch of math problems on our own uh
014we took examples from kindergarten second and fourth grade and we really wanted um how you do how'd you do I won't [Laughter] tell I think what you were trying to impress on us that we really need to be like flexible thinkers um not just concrete but learn to be more flexible um and really kind of apply that to problem solving in everyday life so we talked about Mr reell gave us an example of being in the supermarket and you know talking about which red crackers are more expensive than the others so things like that so very interesting to do that then we kind of went over the the metrics so again please refer to the um email that K sent out but really we looked at National math data uh Trends both pre uh post
015pandemic and essentially what we saw what we kind of all expected during the pandemic is that we saw drops in all the grades from Kade through six from um 2019 to 2022 but then um things started to stabilize and now we're either stable at from 2022 to 2023 or we're starting to start to see a quick a little bit of a increase there um we looked at all the I ready benchmarks from 2020 to 2023 and just to give you one slide that I thought was really important is the percent met growth in the last three years um in 2021 we had about a 61% then 21 to 22 we had about 60% and now 2022 to 23 we have a 68% of met growth so um I guess next steps is kind of what
016we've already been doing we're doing a lot of professional development full day professional development um there's a lot of planning in process for that um we're working with teachers in their classrooms and providing coaching and support in map um and then the Summit team grades five and six um teams are have been separated into Data team based on um content area to analyze the data and collaborate on different stat strategies on how to work on the weaknesses and I think the other really important thing is that we increase the instructional mat time um to 80 minutes daily um it was 60 correct it's 45 45 that's a huge increase though um so that's just kind of a upled it was a very long presentation with a lot of details so again look at the slides
017but um any questions and if there are any questions I think we have our two experts here to to answer or did I miss anything important that you would have added to that okay great no I thank you C thank you I just kind of wanted to add you know the impetus behind that report was you know somewhat I mean we're always kept a breast of what's going on but you know I'd ask specifically like can we talk about math and how the systems we put in place when we went to the Common Core almost a generation ago now right like how are the results bearing out for those kids that are now entering into the high school and Beyond are we seeing good growth are we seeing good numeracy and and the answer was
018yes and there was not just like a oh yeah anecdotally like they had data you know what I mean and so I think it was really important for us as board members to know that the the the work they're doing is bearing fruit um we're it's moving Us in the right direction and as namita said we're not just caught up to where we were before the pandemic we're back on the track we were before the pandemic so had that dip in the middle not been there we would be linearly improving from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic which is exactly what we want to hear about our students right and so um we're not catching up like a lot of other districts are we're back to ex you know doing doing the work to improve you know and
019that goes for the below grade level students any above grade level students we want them all to be improving obviously the grade level standards at a minimum but each child has their own personal growth Target uh regardless of where they are on that that line and so you know just hearing them explain that I think was really valuable and we talked about maybe including some of that data in like a parent Academy so people can really Munch and it's data heavy um which can make it complex but also the data makes it real it makes it verifiable you know and I think that was really important to see that and understand that even though I might be confused personally as a parent when I see the methodology it's it's working for our kids and there's
020you know there's a method to the madness and um they they they really went through and and sort of you know dial down to the minutia of how that worked so I appreciated the time and effort that went into that presentation I did want to ask if there's a when you began addressing this if there's a way to get at least the big picture stuff out to the broader Community I recognize that a really detailed data presentation may not it may not be helpful to just post the slides that may not translate without the presentation and the presentation may be too long to but but I wonder if there's a way to make a pry available to to the broader Community because I'm sure they'll be broad interest to that we can give some thought
021to how to how to how to digest that into something that's appropriate post that on the website um and I also wanted to ask we we've paid a lot of attention to fifth grade math in particular that's been an area of weakness Statewide but but also for us and and a dip that we've been focused on for the last few years how's that doing um you you've talked about the the broad you know the broad pattern I think there was still a noticeable dip I'm not sure if that was due to sort of a a curriculum you know like the the yeah it's not a particular way added for some kids when you throw in Geometry there's like some lag as they they get spooled up on new type of math right you know there's
022always sort of you know we'd even discuss this you know sometimes you just have the class you know there might be some super super bright kids that bring you know rise the tide for everybody else and then and other years and maybe kids that are struggling more than other years and they'll bring the numbers down so you kind of take that with a grain of salt but overall I think there was still a dip at one grade level over time I I I think what I gleaned from it was that it was that there's a big jump in in in the knowledge in the knowledge I I couldn't remember whether it was fourth or fifth um was and didn't we we saw that nationally too right so those are the National Trends as well yeah
023which every every year when we've looked at this we've seen it we've seen it in our kids and that causes us concern and then we've seen it Statewide and nationally which we still want our kids to you know to to not have that I would think that next year would be a big year then because some changes that were implemented increasing the amount of time not that it's all just about time but that's one of the changes that were made hopefully we'll see an impact on that with the scores for next year's fifth grade and it has always been reassuring that then the kid it's every year there's a dip in fifth and then there's you know typically strong in sixth that means it's it's a delay but then but then they catch up okay
024any other questions for a me or comments on the curriculum report okay we move on to facilities as facilities met since last month okay and we move on to finance we need a completely serious Finance report no TR okay Finance met last night um in your packet you'll see the operating budget for 2023 2024 as of September 2023 under general education uh general education projections remain status quo from last month general education continues to show as a surplus of $ 4,567 which is due to salary adjustments for new hires and the reallocation of the tier one Tech made last month it was moved to a different line within the budget under the section of special education you will see that special education remains status quo from last month special education continues to show a deficit
025of $942 due to the need for an additional esy staff hours as reported last month under operations and overhead we continue to show a deficit in salaries of $35,100 this is due to the reallocation of the tier one Tech that we reported last month Services has a slight deficit due to shredding cost coming in higher than was anticipated dues and fees is showing a slight deficit due to the cost of additional agency memberships for the central office support staff uh Donna joined the Food Service organization operations and overhead ends the month with a deficit of $ 35,5 31 which is slightly higher than last month the overall budget is now showing a surplus of $494 which is slightly lower than last month this is a conservative estimation as the year is just starting to get
026underway and most accounts are still showing a 100% spend down of their allocated budgets uh the latest round of new hires has not been considered for this month's report but will be reflected in next month for salary and benefit adjustments we continue to review grant opportunities which may affect the bottom line but is too soon to make any projections for those funds at this time we do anticipate using excess cost open choice and E rate funds to offset some expenses but these funding totals are not definitive as of yet uh they reported that the audit is still underway with nothing new to report from last month and they're on target to be completed in November and the budget season for 2024 2025 is now uh in the works it's in the process of scheduling their
027department meetings and the goal is to still have the preliminary budget draft in place before Thanksgiving thank you you're welcome any uh questions for Amy or uh comments on the report that she's reviewed okay so we need a motion to approve the uh report of expenditures and whatever it's called um present thank you PJ and a second IM meita thank you uh last chance any further questions or clarification on the report before we move on for a vote he none I'll call for the vote uh all those in favor please indicate by saying I I any oppos any exensions okay motion passes the report is approved um policy I don't believe this m transportation anything okay and as a reminder we bumped our policy schedule so that uh when new board members are seed in
028December they'll have a chance to review policies rather than being asked to vote on policies on their first meeting that they haven't been part of the the review so yeah um I just I don't know when the appropriate time is but to going back to the approval of minutes I after we voted I noticed an error it says that I voted and I wasn't here you're good I did not send another representative on the uh maternity leag from an order from a Rules of Order point of view do we need to do anything or is that we good any objections to accepting that amend to the net okay no wants to argue if I was here or not we could go through a friendly Amendment to the net C already cut out okay uh we
029move on to unfinished business uh with a single item which is our review of our board operational goals to remind everyone we review these goals at this time every year and then we come back and revisit them in the spring uh the school and the district operate under several sets of goals um the superintendent goals kind of frame since the superintendent manages all aspects of the district that those frame are uh the the goals for the district as a whole and then those flow into uh school's goals and the administrator's goals these however are our board operational goals which is for how we function as a board and how we want to allocate our attention um we went through um in some detail the the last year's goals which have been um only minorly changed
030over the years and we disc discussed those um last month my recollection is there really wasn't any uh feeling from any board members that any of those uh either had become redundant or unnecessary or needed to be changed or that anything needed to be added um having had a chance you know the intervening months to reflect on the goals now would be an opportunity to uh revisit that I'm not going to go through all of the goals again as I did last month but I'll ask if any board members see anything there that they would want to uh you know remove reduce or add or did we get it right last year pass chance okay hearing none um I will entertain a motion to approve the board operational goals for 2023 to 2024 as presented
031in your packet which is unchanged from the goals that we approved last year so moved thank you EJ in a second thank you Andel uh any final disc discussion before we move to a vote okay hearing none I'll call for a vote all those in favor please indicate by saying I I any opposed any extensions okay motion passes the unchanged operational goals are approved and will be I guess continue to be posted as is on our website U with the with the amended dat all right we move on to new business this is a biggie which is the approval of our teacher contract okay you want to walk us through this so just this evening I'll highlight the changes to the teachers contract um thank you to all of the members of the Board of
032Education our Board of finance representative and certainly to all of our BCS teachers that collaborated more than they negotiated uh in order for us to get us to where we are today um it is worth noting that the Bethany uh education educator Association has approved and kind of ratified this tentative agreement uh with their membership so things worth highlighting um this will continue to be a three-year contract uh the increase is 12.85% spread across three years uh we were able to address many of the concerns that staff uh had expressed and that people had expressed with regards to the step schedule and all of that uh stuff there with the movement of the steps and spaces between steps Etc um we were able to keep the insurance cost flat over the term of the contract
033for the staff and we also cleaned up and clarified some of the language that was uh contract based but was impacted by legislation so for example one of the things being 30 minute lunch it's now you know required and legislated so we wanted to just clean up some of those things where we didn't have those things specifically defined in contract so those are the the big highlights of the teacher contract that I can share okay and from a process point of view this has been approved by the teachers there was a little wording issue that needed to be worked out that all taken care of great and so when we vote on this today if this is approved by the board it becomes final when we sign is that accurate that's okay so that's the
034process um I want to Second K's gratitude to the um you DJ as leader of the negotiations committee and to the board of members who uh you know put a number of evenings into the negotiating and to you know as as K said it's really much more of a collaboration than a negotiation we had shared goals with the teachers going in um for context uh we we went into this with a commitment to supporting our teachers and trying to address some of the issues that have been brought forward and um because of recent inflation contracts across the board are bit higher this year and so that uh the the increase we're very pleased that we're able to give the teachers that increase across 3 years of 12.85% um that is you know much higher than
035the past years it's a little bit higher than what is the norm across the state so uh we so it's it's that just that I think both sides of that are important for the public to understand um both that it is uh you know we we we did want to support our teachers more successful in doing so and that contracts across the state are higher because of inflation in recent years any other comments questions uh anything PE anyone wants to address about uh this contract before we move on to a vote question can you talk a little bit to the I said you know you said that there was changes with steps or some of that was changed can you talk a little bit about that I know that's been a concern as part of
036the salaries and everything right so in the in the past we removed steps from the bottom and when you remove the Steps From The Bottom when people come in they come in at higher rates than perhaps some of the staff that we've had here before so we were able to adjust that the jumps between steps adjusting some of those rates in between um and trying to make sure that for our teachers who've been here a longer time that we are recognizing that in that step can we be more specific than that or are we not supposed to be more specific okay yeah I I think in in response to that Angelo I I think we were really really cognizant as a board that we've been losing some teachers um and we wanted to make um
037a proposal from the beginning that spoke to that you know that um gave raises uh centered on folks that had been here longer right so like new people weren't taking advantage of all the increases uh I I hope I'm being accurate I I I can be accurate to our intent for sure right so there was some smoothing of the steps so that the the trajectory was even we were able to put um a general wage increase in there as you know that's the percentage but also like keep going with the steps sometimes when people um mess with salaries they might freeze the steps for a couple years in order to introduce um you know the raises we were able to keep everything moving and we were able to take some steps out of the middle
038um and then smooth the rates out so that our our real goal was fairness to every single teacher here with a focus focus on retention and and making our teachers feel valued you know when their paycheck arrives right so I I think that we we heard a lot of that from both our staff and from our community members that we want Bethany to be a place where people come and want to spend their career and and I think some of that was um looking at our competitiveness both at the bottom of our scale and at the top of our scale and how long it took to get from the bottom to the top right which are all of concern to anybody that comes into a job right right how long it's going to take me
039to get to the top step um and and I think we were really looking for a solution that made sense both to the town financially but to our teachers and our families uh and I think we did a pretty good job of getting there and it wasn't just like a oh just throw a couple percent in there there was there was a lot of um rejiggering of of the steps and the percentages and and the the rate of increase over time and the number of steps and so we really really focused on oh gosh hundreds of iterations with spreadsheets and everything to try to see I've got I mean they were really uh you know tremendous undertakings of Actuarial you know data to just see like if we want to give everything what does that
040cost a town and is that reasonable you know and we took all that into account and we came over the package and I I really do hope the teachers um and and the parents know that we put a lot of effort in um so can I concretely um we used to contracts ago we had 23 steps we' managed over a couple contracts to get down to 18 and this contract brings that to 16 okay which is pretty close we were told that 15 is the most common number so it's pretty close so that's a a concretely yeah no I I thank you for that and I'm I'm you know I'm going to um trust that this our negotiating team did a great job it sounds like if the you know the teachers have tentatively accepted
041this deal that they're you know hopefully as a group happy with it I just want to ask for clarifying Purp purposes so we're going to have a vote tonight on whether or not we're going to accept this we don't actually see it so we vote on it without seeing it what is the process it sound like you couldn't say certain things which I which things to share because it's my first time so I'm just curious so do we vote without seeing it just based on the recommendation from the negotia team is that common practice because I'm knew at voting on a contract as well yeah I believe it's same process that we did for the par contract last last year that wasn't last year I think it's important to know though because when we do
042vote like that and you know time goes by and the teachers come or whoever there they're upset and they think the board's not listening we really don't see it and I think that's important because none of us do not want to see our teachers happy appreciated and valued I mean I think it's just um like EJ said our intent should be clear on that however it ends up I don't know trusting in that but there there were four board members on the negotiations and so there is some I mean there's some delegation and yes and and a a representative from the town's Board of finance and and to bounce off of that because I don't I'm on negotiations as well so you may not know but you know the chair of the board of Finance
043was there and you know she's there to make sure that you know we want to do what's right for the teachers we're hearing what the community says but we have to be fiscally responsible as a town on top of it so the only reason why I'm mentioning this is because you know it get I don't want to use the word Badger but you know you hear from a lot of parents about teacher retention and money money and I feel we really did the best we could for them um but it comes down to the community as a whole you know next year in 2024 when the budget that Kay and the new board present to the board of Finance you know it it it would really be great if when the town meeting happens whether
044that's March or April we see bodies in those seats of parents to to show support to the board of bed cuz we can only do so much you know the town wants to see that and you know we hope the board of Finance is going to accept whatever the new budget proposal is but it's all about you know the community wants and that's fantastic but please come to those additional meetings and show the support to your school it's more than just what we as a board can do it needs to be everybody together so I just want to make that clear and also just quickly just to speak to transparency because that's a big word that we hear all the time and it's how do you use that in the same sentence when we don't
045see things that are going on so um but yeah we're voting okay is it is it public record the contract it will be once it's ratified it will be once it's once it's approved so what I highlighted for you were the things that have changed so nothing else has changed from the current teacher contract so if you've looked at their contract outside of some of the language cleanups those bullets that I gave you those are the substantive changes to the contct what they currently have so other things haven't changed within their contract and this is in fact exactly how the negotiations happen we start with the old contract and then we say okay what are we changeing it's not a new contract for from scratch it's just changed in certain discreet ways which which is
046all fair I just want to make sure that we're having this discussion so that other people are aware of what's going on I'm also learning for myself as well I've legitimately had the question um but I think it's good that it's out there for transparency purposes so people see how the process works yep and once approved the the entire contract was public records it's an interesting process now I don't I don't remember this from the last few times and it seems relevant to want to see a copy of I mean if it if there's no defined process for whether it has to stay confidential until after it's approved by the board or not I is that why because if if we decided we didn't want the contract it would have to go back into confidential
047negotiations you know I think that there's got to be some sort of reason why why it doesn't come out until after I while I I really agree with what you're saying i' I'd want to see it I mean I can give you my opinion it's it's it's really something we put a lot of effort into follow but as we know there's a town election coming up right and it' be comical if we said we're going to vote just by looking at the two candidates without them ever being allowed to speak to us but that is the process that we have here so when the teachers are voting they're voting on a tentative agreement that comes out of that negotiation discussion so again the things I highlighted for you that's what the teachers see because again
048it's not a sub these are the substitute changes from the current contract that they have so all of the other contract language of the things that I didn't highlight is remaining the same these are the the key points of the things that have changed and the teachers like when she just got up but uh Miss wlit who happens to be the president she pres she and her team go forth and they talk about what was in the changed in the contract in terms of the tentative agreement so the teachers haven't even seen the full document itself just know the highlights from the tenative agreement that was created so so wouldn't it be reasonable to put it into the executive session you know so that it it remains confidential and we can actually see it before
049we vote on it if that would seem a reasonable doesn't fall into those rules for executive session contract negotiation negotiations fall under I think it's the concession the contract negotiations happened already Chris negotiations already happened not until we voted and approve the contract are did you say negotiations or the document maybe I misunderstood what you said well a contract in general okay that is supposed to be kept confidential is usually discussed in executive session in my experience so I don't know the rules about teacher contracts specifically just broadly speaking Yeah we can certainly look into all of these concerns as we move forward to be prepared for the next negotiations so that there could be more information as appropriate provided to the board so if I can summarize what I'm hearing we have a good
050contract that was negotiated in good faith by the by the um by the negotiations committee together with the teachers and we've heard a summary of it and I'm not hearing any substantive concerns about what T has presented but I am hearing concerns about the process because those board members who were not on the negotiations committee um are noting that they have not had a chance to review um the details of the contract and we have some this is how we've done it in the past with the with the superintendent presenting the changes but there's some question of whether that's uh of whether that's um a sufficient process uh I'm reluctant to delay the vote on the contract because I want to move forward and you know have this finalized and have our teachers know that
051this is in place and we're done and this is how we're supported and at the same time I'm sympathetic to the Views that have been voiced about process um so we should definitely look into process and I I think the ideal would be if there were an opportunity for any interested board members to view the contract in whatever detail they wish prior to the vote how that can be worked out in terms of mechanics I I I also I mean this is the way we've done it in the past and I don't know what latitude there may be within the law and the confidentiality but that would be the ideal um and I do I actually want to well are are there any board members who were uncomfortable moving on to a vote based on
052the presentation that you've heard only because in the past apparently when we pass these things there people were not happy and being sitting here on the board and hearing that and thinking you know I'm so sorry I didn't want it this way I didn't you know didn't but we're not happy about what well I can't go into specifics because I've been on the board for like six years you I mean this this is how we've done it so but yeah like I would be inclined maybe not to want to jump to a vote I I so what would you want to see happen prior to a vot well I'd like to see what we're voting on but so you you'd want to see more than just the changes you want to see the that being
053said I don't want to personally hold anything up because and I certainly there the changes look good that we obviously have to put some trust into but I want it widely known that that's how this go that we are trusting who is there and that yeah no I hear you and I think I I wanted to look into the process I think that we have all the information because K has presented the substantive changes so I don't think that reviewing contract language in executive session or in some other kind would actually give us more information it might give us more time to reflect but it wouldn't give us more information because K has presented the changes so so when I when you say people I mean I mean so so I I completely agree about
054the process I think that we should figure out you know what our latitude is and if we can do something you know have another step in the process so that we're not having this conversation again in three years right so they're not voting blindly just one more time well no I'm I'm I'm reacting to the word blindly know because we've been given all of the D all of the information so it's not blind and I don't think we'd have any more information if we reviewed the language yeah for and and for just like for clarification when we go into the negotiation right you get a piece paper with like six items that have been presented by either us or or the teachers union right and it's not a whole contract with a lot of it's
055like hey I want uh pizza every Friday right and that's like a line and we say like yes or no and then K says we decide we're going to give pizza every Friday we did like you know what I mean so it I don't I I get what you're saying and and I agree I think maybe having some sort of document whether it's just pass around us as a board for posterity uh in the future if that's appropriate uh I think that would be willing you know something worthwhile uh but I do agree with Chris how he's articulating it basically what K said that's it that's all we did you know we talked about insurance rates and we decided to keep them the same we talked about salaries we decided 12.85 over three you know
056and there's really not an awful lot we eliminated some steps in there which I think you know might prove you know interesting to look at um overall um I I can say EJ I know how you felt about this going and I knew you were just as upset as I could think I was when we heard the teacher so I I do trust that you really were diligent about making sure all those things were addressed so I I do trust you in that regard so I just want I I raised the initial concern and I'm I'm comfortable with the group I just felt that it was important to have that discussion publicly so we all understood how this process worked and again me asking questions and learning from myself how the process worked so that
057if we're I'm trusting that we're getting all the accurate information everyone seems happy with the contract I'm trusting the the board which has the best interest of the town and the kids in mind is doing the right thing again I just wanted to make it clear it would be nice if we can see more but I want to make it clear where we all are in the process so that everyone people ask me what I've seen in the contract and if I go I didn't actually read it I don't want to look like a fool I want it to be out there why I didn't read it and where we are in the process we can always to be better so it's a valid item to bring up so as I believe you said it's
058something we can look into moving forward for a different protocol and how it's handled so okay would anyone like any like a reread of the substantive changes or any other discussion before we go onto a vote okay as I said if there were a way to solve this problem now without delaying the vote we would do it but I think it's I think it my view is it's important to move on uh and and and uh get this get this ratified so all right so I move that the Bethany Board of Education approve the contract between the Bethany Education Association and the Board of Education effective July 1 2024 through June 30th 2027 second thank you final opportunity for any questions or comments before we move on to a vote hearing none I'll call for
059the vote all those in favor please indicate by saying I I I any opposed any extensions motion passes contract is approved uh congratulations big process every three years and I think that this is a big step in the right direction for the school the St this is the last time you'll do this does it have to be in blue it does have to be in blue not no 11 thank you thank you try to find you thank you all right understand we move on to our administrative reports beginning with the superintendent sure uh in your packets you'll find uh your usual involvement summaries you have the summary from 2122 22 23 and 2023 2024 uh we started the school year with 445 students and as of October 1st we are stud with 445 students um
060Personnel update uh Tina palmier our BCS office Clerk and lunch Aid uh that we had just hired has resigned for her position so we currently have an office Aid lunch uh office clerk lunch Aid uh position open it's for the part-time afternoon office clerk um I'm pleased to share with you that we did fill um shortly after our last board meeting uh the vacant fifth six science teacher position uh and our vacancies our fifth sixth science teacher is Alysa gulio uh she joined our team on October 2nd um we hired instructional Aid Nicole stole uh she joined the team last month after the board of AD meeting as well par professional Vanessa rck joined our team on October 2nd and just this afternoon we hired Brooke F to fill our other uh open par professional
061position and she'll be joining us very soon as far as the 2024 2025 budget development upate you heard a little bit of that in Miss linsky's process uh report our process will officially begin on Monday October 16th uh at that time we'll review the process and the budget timeline with each of our departments and then we'll have our individual meetings you have sit down with each of the Departments and go through line by line what they're requesting in their upcoming uh budget requests and then we will work really hard to have a draft of the budget in place by Thanksgiving that cones my report hey K I've got one question for you just kind I was trying to do some numbers the percentage increase of students we've had over the years and this does this
062report doesn't really give us the full picture because it's been going up for quite a few more years and an on this sheet um is there like a a ratio of like percent increase in students that the school can tolerate before costs necessarily increase does that I mean obviously a class of 16 and a class 18 run at about the same cost right overall the challenge is is that it doesn't always fall within one particular class or one particular grade it's all the way across the board it it depends is the answer so in the past when we had kindergarten because kindergarten is always that Ming Target in some years or three years ago just before the pandemic right before or after uh we had kindergarten numbers increase to the point where we added instructional
063aids to support the kindergarten classrooms this year our numbers increased where we're like okay we're good we can add the AIDS like we did before and then they just kept coming right and we're grateful that they're here uh but that meant we had to open another section um same thing happened with our fourth grade when that started to balloon so we're tracking it um because we know that at some point in time we're busting at the scenes then what do we have a theoretical number that is like pushing our capacity I don't no I don't but I can look into trying to quantify that a little bit better for you just so we have an idea as a board like when do we start panicking not really panicking you know but one do we start
064making some big right some big when when do we have to enter into that planning process with a long time to one could figure out what's the maximum number of you know kids in classrooms and grades assuming that all the kids were perfectly distributed but in fact we would start to get strained before that because the kids wouldn't be perfectly distributed there'd be more in one in some in one grade than others it would be interesting to see enrollment over time I mean it was 360 not so long ago and now it's four now 445 yeah I'm sure that's somewhere that that'd be interesting to see well what was the highest enrollment number ever seen 20 years ago we were well into the 500s 550 five that sounds about right I mean John Paul stated
065last night in finance that when his son was here was like a little over 600 we may have hit 600 but at the time we had both annexes available and we had Portables so I mean we don't have the annexes available anymore but you know Portables are always something we have to look into yeah when my eldest here was 550 and perhaps sounds like years earlier may have been higher than that and then we went way down to 360 and that we're who knows where you know if we're if we're now stable or well we're stable for two months we like stable stable makes it easier to plan stable's good2 was the highest in 234 602 okay oh so you have all oh you have it way back well keep going wow wasn't this building
066I have no idea what the physical plant looked like at that [Laughter] time must been big class size but in in recent memory 600 like the and I remember 600 okay questions we just to to highlight this was already said but that was with both annexes which is eight classrooms so uh our our physical plan is is substantially smaller now than it was when 600 okay thank you further questions for K before we move on okay here none we'll move on to the I'm going to get it this time the director of special services curriculum and instruction wel how you thank you you great um professional development update is um we discussed in September that we're going to continue to work with literacy how and we're going to have an ongoing partnership with them throughout
067the school year and also um for in curriculum the update we have is that Bethany received the honor of being um in the curriculum associate Spotlight of success so they wrote an article highlighting our success with the use of magnetic reading foundations program in I ready there it is and we will put it up on the website and Mrs bird will share that out with the board of as well um and in special education I will be a member of the Lea advisory team which meets monthly with the state department of bed leaders to share concerns and to provide feedback and this will be helpful to allow our special services team to have a voice in um decisions with the state that's all I questions for Mrs Keel comments on anything she's reviewed first did
068you send a copy of that to those Consulting Group that's thinking about the waiver um that's a great idea we did not okay did not yeah just it just literally came out yesterday okay well please do sounds good no no news on the well no news on the waiver last we heard was going to be November after the multi which year supposedly this year I'm not making any promises so supposedly November good thank you now we move on to the principal's report Mr re thank you um all right so for our work with steering our uh our subcommittee groups met uh with the greater staff at our staff meeting on October 4th so we've split into those three groups focusing on Equity uh focusing on high quality instruction and focusing on student Behavior at a
069tier one level and Beyond uh and so part of our goal is to think about how that steering committee is not only living and putting forward the Strategic plan but then how that work can also get the feedback and the buyin and the the work of the greater staff uh and so what we found is that there's a lot of great work that's happening in steering but then it's also something where we want to have that feedback and we want to have that input we want to be able to make sure that it's connected to the work of all the Stu the staff in the schools so we started um we've got several other sessions uh that are planned um that are outside of our typical steering work um that are going to connect to
070that work with our staff so that we can have that as something that's involving um not just our folks from steering but also uh the greater certified staff uh for BCS happenings uh hold on there's a lot um I'll try not to race through it but I think it's really important to kind of celebrate all the things we've been up to uh and the things that we have looking forward uh if I miss something I apologize I I combed through my calendar twice um open house was on the 19th uh very well attended uh and we were really appreciative to have uh several of our Community Partners here uh I think it was a really great chance for us to be able to have not only a chance to hear from the teachers um but
071also our greater certified staff and then members of our community having folks from Chartwells having folks from uh Clark Memorial having folks um from B&B transportation to answer any questions that that um folks might have and to put a name with a face um and be able to kind of connect with the people who are working with our students on a daily basis and around the clock it's teachers it's staff it's everybody that's making it all work uh we had our first community meeting uh on the 28th we celebrated our theme of community and Hispanic Heritage Month uh with fourth grade we also celebrated SE several students uh who completed the governor's math and reading challenges uh we had our custodians celebrated for custodian's day uh we handed out the Buster award um as well
072as our PBIS Award winners our staff Allstar to Mrs hemperly uh and two golden t golden ticket Raffle winners um thank you to the PTO for um supporting um that as well and we were having some conversations around um how we can continue some of that work and make sure that we're having some really great ways to be able to celebrate students um uh Miss nathman and I uh we're also temporary Baristas on National Coffee Day uh while she is a coffee fan and I am not we put aside our differences um and had a coffee cart to to help uh teachers will little pick me up on uh on the second uh we had an informational night for our um before and after school music program that we're getting restarted uh Mrs pots uh
073and Mr Caldwell uh came to the gym and presented both on their backgrounds the plan that they have moving forward Mr C Caldwell um graciously demonstrated several songs uh several sorry several instruments playing one song Baby Shark uh much to the joy of several of the students who were there uh picture day as you heard was on Friday um thank you to the PTO for your help with that um and Sarah Culbertson who I'm sure will be emailing me very soon to set up picture day for next year uh we are also excited to have several clubs that have started recently um gems has been starting uh Unified sports started just this afternoon uh as you heard the Lego Club was unbelievably well attended um and Mr defasio and I are working on a proposal
074for an additional club and we hope to have some more information and details on that soon so we're really excited there as we move forward uh as you heard we have bubash on Friday uh the Lions Club is generously coming and doing their uh dictionary presentation to our third graders on Friday as well uh Fire Prevention Day we're excited to have the um Bethany volunteer fire department coming uh and presenting and supporting our students throughout the day on the 19th we have pink walk to school day on the 20th uh the book fair is the week of the 23rd conferences um are on the evening of the 25th and the afternoon of the 26th again thank you to the PTO for um hosting some food uh an army lives on its stomach so um thank
075you nothing says fun like getting here at 7 and leaving at 8 and change um so I I know that that's really valued by the teachers it's it's a great chance to feel appreciated and to pick me up in that evening um as I stated we've got before an after school music lessons uh choir and band starting the week of the 23rd uh this is my plug that you need to get that um form filled out by the 13th please uh it really helps with the numbers uh and we have uh some pretty strong numbers already I've been keeping track with Mr cwell and Mrs pots and we've got some pretty good numbers started already for band uh beginning choir and Advance choir uh we have our Halloween parade uh on uh the 31st uh
076we will be traveling through the town hall very exciting um I hear there are plans um second grade uh is working on their field trip their annual field trip to Clover Nook uh and and uh connecting that with their pumpkin Pop Shop which is absolutely wonderful uh and then we have our family literacy night which will be taking place on November 1st and uh Mrs bruny is taking the lead and getting our vision and hearing screenings uh set on November 1st as well so uh been up to a lot got a lot on the schedule um and so we're really excited it's a lot of chances for um a lot of folks to be able to support our school uh for us to be able to get a lot of folks in um and so
077we're we're just really excited to to do as many possible things as we can for students and families so um I think the last thing that I would share is that each one of those things takes a collaborative effort of a lot of humans um when we say PR Fire Prevention Day there's a lot of people that need to plan for that when we say the book fair or conferences or you know the Lions Club even that has our custodial crew working to get the rooms ready and everything set um so it's one of those things where um I'm always just grateful for the hard work of so many f folks um who I think do so much work behind the scenes um that end up for so many really great events for kids so
078um thank you to all of them thank you Mr Reed any questions for Tom or comments on any of what he's reviewed I have a question yeah um I know that when we were unable to have a music program when Mrs pots came on board and totally understand most why I know created some tension in the community yeah and I'm I'm really happy to hear that there is going to be a program moving forward m have you had any feedback from anybody that they are still unhappy with what's being offered or everything has been pleasantly accepted and people are happy to see that we're moving forward with that yeah I think for the most part we're getting a lot of positive feedback I think I think sometimes when you present um when you present the
079types of instruments right so I know that Mr Caldwell right now is working on the the typical Five concert bands so um flute clarinet let's see if I can do it I'll for band kid uh so flute clarinet trumpet trombone and saxophone and so I know there were some folks who were hoping that we might um have something around um keyboards and ukulele um and so we've been looking at um whether or not that's something that we could incorporate in the future um and or whether or not that's something that we can look at incorporating into some of the work that Mrs Potts is doing in her General Ed um her instruction there she you know she has been looking at um specifically like the um the recorder as a way to be able to
080begin that instrumentation and so those are conversations that we have um and so I think overall positive I think there's um some want to maybe look at additional instruments and my hope is that we can get this started on a positive front get some kids really excited energized we're starting them really young in choir we're starting all the way down um to first grade so we've got we're getting pretty young in terms of that building that want to be in you know an ensemble feeling that that experience of performance um and starting to build some of that musicianship both in the General Ed music classroom and um through concert band and then think about is there an opportunity to expand that in the future okay thank you for sure I have a question I'm just
081curious uh the last family event dance type thing we had there was a snapu that happened a short time before it actually occurred was all of that squared away we have any you mean that you mean regarding the number of people the gym can yes docy issues I have been yes we've been in regular conversation and making sure that we are correct by the Numbers great couple couple quick things for you I heard mentioned around town and I I forgive me I don't remember which activity it was related to people had some questions about fees they were like I don't remember ever having to pay $20 for I don't know if it was Gems or leadership count I don't remember what it was it was BNN okay you know and I and I think it
082came up to like no we have been doing this and mhm I know it seems kind of redundant but like maybe adding in when we have fees associated with programs just like a brief explanation and history of the fees for people even if it's not on the form maybe on you know the the website or or the Facebook page or something just to kind of fill people in like hey we've always had to do this we had to go up five bucks because whatever you know materials or just just so people are kept in the loop because you know you hate for people to think they're getting a worse deal than other kids you know and the other thing I wanted to bounce off of you mentioned the recorder and I and I remember some
083people being upset that like their kids bought a recorder last year and never used it or something like that I this wasn't my kids you know but somebody I don't know if we're introducing the recorder into the music program but maybe if it's not usually in fourth grade it's usually in third maybe add it to the fourth grade curriculum too so those kids can use their recorder I I mean that's a kind of a broad suggestion and then like the other thing you mentioned like the ukulele um or the keyboards I don't know if you as opposed to like using the music program that is probably going to be pretty well taxed you know with the number of kids you needing an individual instruction but like uke especially as like one of those group kind
084of classes I'm sure there's a provider around here that would come in one day a week for like a six week sesh or an eight-week session and do that for a fee or even maybe tie in with parks and wreck and see if it's something they might offer I know they did like that baking class last year which had you know a decent size fee but the kids loved it they had a waiting list both times so just a wait to sort of bounce off if we can't do it here um Janice is awesome you know I'm sure she'd love to add programming down there and Anthony too you know so just thr those out there no appreciate definitely um things to look into I think you know the the challenge is always in the
085details of making it work but definitely in terms of things we can take a look at thank you okay anything else yes could I just ask the uh open forum is that published in family newsletter that gets sent out the open form well the date of the board B open form yeah it's the 24th I can't remember I I know I put it in mind to the staff I'll check I believe we do um I'm pretty sure that you do when the parents get it on Sunday I'm pretty sure it's yeah and I know central office so it's in the family newsletter it come from district office but it's announced so we'll get EMA it's already on the website and'll be so then he just the email he will it yep then I can add
086that because then I'll have all that information and were there some concerns about the book fair like the I guess Scholastic books made a change of some kind there was some kind of new guidance and there were some concerns of the parents at uh could I just inquire what that was all about and if it got resolved is no sorry I was going to answer no no worries so yeah so the Scholastic Book Fair there was talk about the books that were coming in do you mix books up do you shell them you know separate sections and all of that so that's been resolved uh with the PTM okay so the what changed what Scholastic has decided that they want to categorize books differently than they have in the past okay and so they provided
087that information to PTO Ross the the state and all of the folks who run the Scholastic Book Fairs so we'll get all the same books that we normally get and we'll Shel them and put them out the same way that we all okay so there's no controversy about the book fair nothing else has come my way um with regards to the book fair all right anything else or on any other topics that he's reviewed for us okay thank you thank you uh chairman report I'll be brief we do have our uh open Forum which is Tuesday the 24th at 6:30 that will be held by zoom and as you've just heard it will be there'll be multiple announcements coming out from the school um it's as has been commented in the past while this isn't
088a board me a board meeting and doesn't require a quorum it is nice if we had board me board members attend and that's historically been rather sparse if you had another meeting and people are busy and I understand that but but please note on your calendar and please attend if you can um the format will be the same same as in the past but we we'll get to the um the you know floor will be open for for people to ask questions I will initially feel the questions but then uh you know to uh refer to the the the administrative staff will be there to who and have all of the the details and I thank the administrators for making time for that meeting um and the cab conference is coming up on November 19th
089I think um and um so just is is that any Sue anyone know if that date is correct 17th 17th it's the Friday it's a Friday Saturday before thanksgiv it's Friday Saturday before Thanksgiving um so that's a great opportunity to to you know get get resources meet with other board members from other uh from other districts and so forth so note that on your calendar it' be great if people could attend uh and that's all I got so we move on to two correspondents we call this correspondence we call this public okay um and so if there's no correspondence we move on to uh visitors public comment and I'll ask if anyone who's here in the room wants to I share a comment here at the end of our public agenda today so please uh
090state your name and address for the record and please limit your comments to three minutes yes and as you know we're going you know this policy and stuff and not people yet you know um my name is Shannon L I live at 168 Miller Road and I have a um I keep getting bigger a third grader and a fifth grader here I have two completely unrelated um thoughts or or hopes one is um I appreciate that EJ just brought up the fees for some activities um as a kid who couldn't do activities because we couldn't afford it I am pretty sure that our school has some something available for families that can't afford to do activities I would just encourage you to advertise that as much as possible because I think often I didn't tell
091my mom that there were opportunities to do things because I didn't want her to feel bad and so any chance to advertise that to parents I think would just be really helpful to families that want to participate in some of these great things um so thank you EJ for for bringing P up I think that's really important um and my other unrelated thing is um I really appreciate Chris that you brought up um you know some of the really scary things that are happening in the world today I want to be mindful of the words I use because I don't know um how many you know if anybody's kids are watching previously when there have been um scary things happening in the world we've gotten some guidance from the school about how to talk to
092kids about those things it would be great to see that again I also know there's been a lot of so I'm in my day job of a Prof I'm a professor and a social worker there's been a lot of conversations about what's out there on social media right now and what's likely to come out on social media over the next couple of weeks and so I know that what we are recommending to folks is that they might want to limit their kids social media or take away some social media for the next little while um and I'm sure there are other professionals who have thoughts about that it would be great to have some of that guidance as well from the school because I know we're all doing our best to figure out how to
093parent through this and whatever resources can be provided would be really helpful than thank you um so just as a as a factful response to what was just raised the state as of today has shared some resources uh on precisely the topics that were raised and the school will be reviewing those and distributing as appropriate Mr good evening I'm Jamie Sterling from 20 Miller Road I served in this uh more than a decade ago for a couple of years and it was a wonderful experience and I don't think that uh enough people told me how much we how much they appreciated my service so I want to tell you all how much how thankful we are in the community for your service for the time it takes uh to serve on a board like this
094I think it's much more difficult than it was 15 years ago and if you haven't heard it enough the community really app appreciates the time and energy that you put into helping educate our kids thank you thank you I love I love public comment um Melissa zalo 191 Beacon Road I just want to Pigg you back on um something EJ and Shannon brought up um I just want to make it known the PTO is committed to every child who is able to attend our events or purchase something from our events we work very closely with the administration to like we don't need to know names we just need to know number we will make sure that students have the opportunity to to participate um we don't want any tears we don't want any upset children
095so I just want that perfectly out I want that out there that it is a commitment of the PTO to make sure everyone participate in our events and not feel bad if they can't thank you we do have one comment that's come in um online which Char re this is from James bruny at 62 humiston Drive I'd like more information regarding the data referred to with the curriculum committee share out specifically as it pertains to grade five I'm hoping this information is shared with the public and I'm interested in a boa SL uh District reference group comparison 2022 to 2023 Ed site data shows BCS grade 5 students scored 58.1% at or above on smarter balanced assessment math Woodbridge in comparison scored at 82.8% at her exceeding level three during this time either Woodbridge is
096immune to the National to the quote National Trend and quote mentioned by Board of Ed members or there is more to this data I'm also curious to hear more of the coaching being offered to grade levels who is responsible for this coaching and how is this incorporated into PL what's PL professional learning professional learning considering the district's heavy focus on English language arts and the science of reading I will say if I'm not mistaken we're going to have a discussion of smarter balanced results uh at the November meeting is that correct and so this would be an opportunity for us to get more information on this top okay any other uh comments at this time Mr Sterling do you want to come no um all right thank you very much uh we do have an
097executive session scheduled um and so anyone got the motion in front of us thank you I move that the Bethany Board of Education enter into executive session to discuss the superintendent's goals and that K bird is invited to attend a second please thank you any any questions or discussion you're none all those in favor please indicate by saying I any opposed any extensions motion passes so wait did you oppose I didn't those toughies um so we will break we thank you all for coming uh we will reconvene in executive session in five or maybe six and a half minutes