Board of Education Meeting

001Join me in standing for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Bless you. Welcome everybody. >> Bless you. >> We're always excited to see our young visitors. So, uh we're eager to get uh to that portion. Um, for roll call, uh, we are all here, all seven members of the board, plus our student representative Emily Jüken. We're joined by assistant superintendent, interim assistant superintendent Deb Various, and interim superintendent Fondenza. Um, Casey Dyat will be joining us soon. So, we're going to go right to our very favorite part of the student spotlight. Um, students from Candlewood Lake Elementary are going to come and share what's going

002on over at your school. Hi, Dr. Hello. >> What do you have for us this evening? >> This is my favorite part as well. >> So, I have Are we on? >> No, we're off. >> Now we're on. Yes. Hello. Okay. We have Brooklyn, we have Jackson, we have Rico, and we have Mrs. Pink and Mrs. Miller. And they're going to talk a little bit about our pause assembly and our Cubs club and some of the wonderful things we're doing. So, it is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you all up to this podium. [Applause] >> Students, can you come up? Would you please tell us your names again? >> Sure. Thank you. >> The screen up. >> Thank you. >> Oh, yeah. Put it in. Okay. All right. We're here to talk about

003uh our pause our climate initiative. We're in year two of it. Pause and cub clubs. Cubs club. Um to recap what we did last year, um our goal last year was to roll out monthly Cubs club meetings for the school which it was like vertical advisory clubs. Each teacher has students from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade and it creates new friendships. It gives kids another trusted adult in the building. Uh it was a 40minute block of time and we used that time to review pause which you can see is like our little um behavior saying at CLA. It says at CLA we pause and think which is practice kindness, act responsibly, work hard and stay safe. Um we also did a lot of social emotional lessons during that time. Um we talked about

004friendship, empathy, our feelings. Uh so it we did that once a month last year. Our second goal last year was to have more consistency throughout the building using the pause expectations. Um, we had common language for the entire building. All home room teachers taught little lessons to go along with paws outside of the home room. So like pause in the hallways and the bathrooms in the cafeteria and on the bus. Um, and we have posters hanging around the room around the building. And then we also have a whole school positive reward system which is a coin jar, right? And we get coins for good behavior. And when the coin jar is full, we get to pick a prize, right? A whole school prize, right? Right now, we're working on either a pajama day or wear

005your costumes on Halloween. All right. So, in addition to the things that we introduced last year, we also have some new and exciting things for this year. Um, we're continuing Cubs Club and I wanted to reiterate the Cubs Club. So, students who um are part of their Cubs club, you are there with that teacher for the entire um time that they're in uh CL. So, I have this is my third year with my club. So, I have seen those kids go from kindergarteners to all the way to second graders. Um, so we're gonna we are continuing that, but now we actually have made it a pause day. So in addition to Cubs Club meeting on that day, we also have pause assemblies and we made it work so that we can all meet at the

006same time. So 35 meets in one of our shared spaces while K2 meets in another. um and we get to really celebrate all of the positive or good things that are happening within the school and especially the students and the ones that are doing um going above and beyond. Um so students listened, they reviewed their applause expectations, they worked really hard. Um and then we got to roll out awards which was our favorite part. And we had a very special KSY come and visit for both assemblies as well. What do you mean? >> You want to talk about this? >> Sure. Um, so some of the awards that we came up with is every home, every month, each home room teacher will choose a cub of the month and that is a student from their

007class who has really shown pause on a daily basis throughout the month. They're consistently a good role model for others. So, they can nominate one student from their home room each month. Um, has some representatives here that we'll speak to in a moment. Um, and then there's a couple other awards if you wanted to. >> I do because they're my favorite. So, um, we have two other awards. We wanted to make sure that we were celebrating students and home rooms in the areas of specials. So, we have all involvement from across the um, school. So, the specialists get to vote for their home room that they feel like is most exhibiting pause for that month. and we got little trophies for them. So, they're a little bit like bragging rights. They get to keep them

008in their classroom for that month. And then when we have our next pause assembly, they'll be the ones to kind of pass the torch to say like, "You're also exhibiting these awesome behaviors." Uh, and then my personal favorite is the golden dustpan. So, every hallway has a spray painted dustpan um that says cleanest classroom. And so just trying to reinforce um being respectful of our areas and our brand new school. Um and our uh head custodian Julio appreciates that and he contributes to let us know which classroom of that month will get to have that golden dustpan. So we have a few cub of the month winners with us. We have Brooklyn who's in Mrs. Z's first grade class. And Brooklyn, can I can I read your >> So, Brooklyn shows paws all day, every

009day. I always see her being kind, responsible, hardworking, and safe at school. She makes good choices in our classroom and loves learning. Brooklyn is the ZA cub of the month. You want to share how you felt when you got your award? >> I felt happy and excited and proud. Very cool. We also have our friend Rico. Rico is a fourth grader this year and he was nominated by Miss Keller. So she said that Rico has been a great role model for our students, always showing pause both in and out of the classroom. He is kind and helpful to his classmates and he listens and follows directions nicely. Works hard in everything he does. She said, "Keep up the great work." Do you want to share how maybe when you got this award, how you felt?

010>> I just felt excited and surprised to get the >> Very cool. Thank you. And last, but certainly not least, you want to turn to our friends here. This is Jackson, and he is in Miss Bashelle's home room this year. He truly exemplifies what it means to be our cub of the month by consistently following Paw's expectations. Jackson Jackson is a conscientious student who demonstrates kindness by helping others and shows dedication by actively participating in class every day. >> All right, Mr. Jackson, how did you feel about receiving your award? >> Um, when I when I won the award, I felt like pretty happy, excited, and kind of surprised >> that you're very cool. Well, thank you guys for coming. Um, >> we're looking forward to continuing the rest of the year, but the first

011month was off to a good start. >> Yeah. >> Do you want to go stand over there? So, take a picture. >> They want me to be in there, too? >> Oh, sure. >> Oh, you guys come this way. >> Or you want us in there? Right here. >> You want to be the There you go. Yeah. Thank you so much. I'll send it to Dr. >> Great. [Applause] >> Thanks very much parents for coming out to help celebrate with us. That's great. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Thanks, Miss Muller. Thanks, Miss Pink. So, next we're going to move to an update from the Brookfield Education Foundation and we're joined by Logan Cinder for that. >> Hi everyone. Let me just see how we get to the slides. I might need technical support just to get

012me to our slides. This is this is how I am learning here as we encourage everyone to learn more. >> Here we go. >> You good? >> Thank you. Thank you very much. So, my name is Logan Cinder. I'm the president of the Brookfield Education Foundation. Thank you so much for having us here each year to tell you a little bit more about what we do. And yeah, you each have a pen. Stephanie Kora is on our board. She's an official as a representative of the board of ed. She helped get us these pens last year to use for the gala. And uh they're actually really good pens. So hopefully they they come in handy during your meeting here and are a little reminder about the BEF and what we do. Um so we are

013an independent nonprofit. We were founded in 2004 and we look to empower innovative education and foster lifelong learning here in Brookfield. We're made up of an all volunteer board, Brookfield residents. Um, in addition, we have exeicios that represent some different communities here too. And the way that we work is we fund ideas that come from the community. So, a lot of those will come from teachers, from the schools. They also come from community organizations with an idea of something new that somebody wants to try or pilot out and they would come to us for funding. And then we would go through our process and then approve that grant if it fits within our criteria. generally and help launch that new pilot program. Um, and I wanted to give a shout out in particular to those

014teachers and to those grant champions, those people who have those ideas because that's really the lifeblood there. We help provide the funding, but these are ideas that are coming from our community of stuff that people say this is what we'd want to try and this is what we'd want to see for our students or for our learners. again from youth on to adults because we fund programs uh across the community. And we're really proud to say that we have funded over $82,000 of grants for Brookfield Public Schools this year. This is our largest number to date in a single year. Um and I'll tell you a little bit about some of these grants that helped to get us there. Um, so the first one is what I'm not sure if you guys can see it

015very well there, but um at Kandwood Lake Elementary School. This is the screeners program. So D Pearson had brought this to us last fall and I think as wanting to tackle some of the challenges of excess excessive screen time and what that meant for students and how that would roll out the classroom. So she brought the screeners program and she started it last year. It's actually going to be running for about three years. She's done it with the elementary school age kids so that everybody there um should be able to go through it. I think it's for third, fourth, and fifth graders. And then also launched a program so that Whiskaner and um high school students could also see it in addition to the community. Did that in partnership with the library so it could

016have an even broader reach. And this was really to hope to um sort of have a dialogue about how could we help tackle this issue. And so the screen aers program essentially what you see on the screen would show some of the sort of the intro or the overview of what's there then the objectives of what they're going to learn and then has some key discussion points and that's shared with families so that this is something that can be done um al together. So then next we move to Whiskanir. Uh we had a grant that was brought to us by uh Karina Chelso and Christy Troda. So within the counseling department and social work to help launch these unwind the mind meditation classes and also start a wellness room at Wiscaneer Middle School. And this

017would be a peaceful space that really offers these kind of meditation and mindfulness classes to help students manage stress and regulate emotions. Um really helping to address students social emotional needs in a proactive manner. And then the biggest grant, the single biggest grant we've ever given at about $63,000 is an investment in the music program. And this is to bring a digital music MIDI lab which actually just opened this fall at uh Wiskiner Middle School. That stands for musical instrument digital interface. Um and this is really pretty incredible. I think if if you guys have the chance to meet with Leah Grace and Emma Henning, I would highly suggest that you have a chance to hear from them a little bit more about this program. But they had been thinking about this. There was probably

018about two years in the works or so before we actually went funded the grant and now it's rolling out. Um, but this really connects instruments with technology just to help fuel that creative process and it has everything in the future that could go to doing podcasts. It could be something that students um even say within science or within language programs could come in and use it. It has a lot of applications even beyond. But every student when they go through the digital music part of their curriculum will get to use this lab. And the possibilities when you hear them talk about it just seem endless for the way that students would be able to connect with technology and even the awareness that it helps bring. It opens them to possible careers in the future. You

019know, this is something this is a really huge growing area of the music industry, too. So, it's something that kids in middle school can get a chance to dive into and see if this is something that might interest them. So, this is one we were really excited and proud to be able to do. I think this one will have a big impact. And then Kim Marshall, who is a teacher at Whiskiner Middle School, came to us with an idea that she had seen at other schools to start a daily morning announcements program. So, these are the announcements that are already done, but this is putting it in the students hands and letting them do a broadcast program. So, you can see it in some of the pictures here. These kids meet on a Monday afternoon

020and it's primarily eighth graders right now, but it'll open up to younger ages um as some time goes on. They produce this. They work together as a team. They come up with the interview questions. Um they figure out all the programming for it. And then when they get into school, they come in, they do the mic check, they do the video check, they do all of that kind of stuff, and they roll out that live broadcast. And this is all run by them with Kim Marshall. And then Jackie Whiting is helping as well with that program. And so we're really excited to see where this could go too. And I think as you can see in the pictures, I mean, these kids are they're taking this on and they're doing this all really on their

021own with the guidance of their adviserss. And then here, you may have seen as you walked in in the courtyard that's kind of across from this room, there is the base going in for a greenhouse. So, this was u brought to us by Katherine Val and Megan Henderson and they wanted to provide a hands-on sustainable learning in life science aligned with the applied science curriculum to help foster responsibility and real world skills through a lot of this research data collection things that they could do all hands-on students can do within this greenhouse. So, um, this is a picture of the base and then the other is a picture of one of the green houses that they're looking at as to what it could look like and that's rolling out now this year, um, for students

022to be able to have. And again, it's another one that could grow and maybe it's something that other students could use, too. I should say when we do these grants, one of the things that we're proud of is that it's giving people the opportunity to try out a new idea, whether you fail or whether it grows into something great. I mean, if it's grows into something as a program, as some grants have, that's tremendous. But if it just gives you the chance to try out a new idea that you might not otherwise get to do, let's let's help you do that because we'd love to see people working on these new ideas, just seeing what they could bring to the district and what might resonate with our learners. So, in total, we have funded 98

023programs. It's $331,000 here within Brookfield public schools specifically. About twothirds of our grants tend to go here to the public schools and about a third go to the community and that totals about 153,000 for about 54 programs within our community. So that might be with the library, the YMCA, parks and wreck. Um the senior center, we had funded one this past spring called the fabulous 50s music program. um which really provided a joyful journey through the music and stories of the 50s that kind of blended history live instruction interactive experiences. So we really just hope to continue to create that excitement, that thrill, that wanting to continue to be a learner all of your life. And now we are looking for new grants to fund. So we are continuing with our efforts to go into

024each school. We started this last year where we're holding kind of what we call office hours. Um, and we come into each school and have a chance for teachers to come and just run your ideas by us. Like, let us know what you're thinking of doing. We'll tell you a little bit more about ourselves. We found it really successful to do it last year. We've been in BHS so far this year and we'll be in the middle school and in CLES a little bit later this fall. Um, these are usually items that are not traditionally covered by the school budget or by the town budget for what people are coming to us for. Um, we are also new this year slowly rolling out a student volunteer program. So, this was an idea we had because

025we thought, well, we're an educational program here. We have things that we could maybe help teach students about nonprofits and being engaged in the community. There's certainly stuff the students can help teach us and we can both work to forward and advance the mission of the BEF. And so we have one student that's going to be starting with us soon who's going to work hopefully in doing some more grant outreach and seeing if we can't actually get more students to apply for grants because students can be grant champions too. We've had a couple typically they've been scouts that are working on an Eagle Scout or one of their Girl Scout projects. Um but if a student had an idea for something they wanted to do, whether it's with their club, maybe they do it with

026an idea they pitch to a teacher, please come to us. like we we would love to help students reach some of that and if they have ideas for what they could do with other students again please come talk to us. Um so in addition to the funding we run the honor and educator program which I know you guys have all seen that we usually run in the spring. We love that. It's a chance for us to say thank you and give the community a chance to recognize those educators that have made a difference in their life. Um, it's also a fundraiser for us and then that money goes back into funding those next ideas that teachers might come to us with and we hold a reception in the spring. We often do it in this

027room. Um, it's it's really moving and amazing to see teachers come and it really makes a difference and an impact. You've probably seen in some of the teachers classrooms too those certificates that get hung up because people will usually write a message to that educator for that impact that they've had. So, we really love that program and the chance that it gives us to be able to say thank you. And then the last part is one of our big fundraisers is our annual gala. I know some of you have been. It's on November 21st this year. It's a casino night theme. We're trying something new this year. Um it's a chance to get dressed up, have dinner out. We have a DJ dancing silent auction. So, um, please to those of you in this room,

028those of you at home, please join us for that night. Again, it's on November 21st at the Candlewood Inn. And I think the last thing I just wanted to say is a big thank you. Thank you to Stephanie who sits on our board as an exeicio. Deb Fious also has been a longtime supporter. She's on our board as an exeicio now. Um, and to all of the community members that help support us and keep us going because it's really it's through those donations from the community, through the support, through those partnerships that were able to make these really cool grants happen. And again, I think if you want to find out more, reach out to some of these grant champions. They're they're the ones that are coming up with these ideas. We help them bring

029it to life, but we really have some phenomenal people in this community that are making some pretty cool things happen. So, thank you for your time. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. Thank you for your support of our foundation and hopefully we'll have lots of more programs that we can do here in Brookfield. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for Logan? >> All right. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, um, I consulted with the rest of the board and we are going to, um, move, uh, second public comment up because we have one person here for it this evening. Um, so, Mr. Moes, we welcome you to the podium. Please state your name and that you're a Brookfield resident. It's three minutes as you know. >> And

030thank you for letting me go now as opposed to later so I can get back to the rehearsal, which I'll actually mention in here. Uh, Mark Moash, 25 Mistill Drive, Brookfield, Connecticut. Um, policy written in a vacuum always fails the people it's supposed to help. Policy written in a boardroom by lawyers who have never stepped foot in our school district is as sealed of a vacuum as there can be. In my job for a software company, engineers write code that they believe to be perfect until it gets in the hands of customers. All the ways it can fail or will be insufficient as all theory. Coders believe their code is perfect while writing from an ivory tower. I spend my days as the go-between of customers and coders, showing where the theory fails in real

031world practice. That metaphor leads me to a very specific example of a proposed policy handbook change. I'm speaking to the fee schedule and the form and rules for who may use a school facility. I'm a parent volunteer for a parks and recreation sponsored theater group that puts on a play at Whiskanir in the fall and a musical at the high school in the spring. My children along with dozens of others are involved this November. They'll be performing Alice in Wonderland. I left rehearsal early tonight to be here. I want to make abundantly clear I speak and represent myself alone. Nobody else in the group. Being removed from the handbook are statements about organizations using the lighting gear in the high school auditorium. There was no mention of the sound equipment. This is important in a

032moment. In the spring, when we used the high school auditorium from Matilda Jr., we were not allowed to use the sound equipment. We asked to use the sound booth. We were told no. Each day before rehearsal, we ran hundreds of feet of cable, hauled in our own soundboards, wired, and then broke things down. Who rents an auditorium to put on a musical and doesn't expect to have access to the sound booth? The new form mentions requesting the use of sound and light system, but there are no specifics. As currently written and proposed, we are given complete authority by a mission for indiscriminate refusal to allow access to any of the gear. Is this what's best for the theater kids? Clearly, there were egos in play parks and wreck and drama, and the administration seemed to

033not get along. I'm not permitted in this form to speak of the specific behaviors, but regardless of all of their fingerpointing that went on like a meme about three Spider-Man. Can people, and believe me, the pun here is very intended as the worst dad joke ever, can people keep their drama to themselves for the sake of our kids? What message do we give our kids when they asked me, "Why can't we use the sound booth?" The only answer I could give was because adults are stupid. The mission of the Brookfield Public Schools Board of Education is to inspire, challenge, and prepare all students to live meaningful and productive lives by comprehensive educational experiences, expansive opportunities. Expansive opportunities. Folks scoff at the arts, but there are dozens of children in our schools who are invigorated by

034these programs. There might even be hundreds of kids involved if we actually supported the arts. So, now that we see a clear and precise problem, can we address them? Can we include specific language in the policy manual so instead of adults fighting, our kids can use the stage in the auditorium with all of the taxpayer funded gear that they should have access to. If this is one example of real world problems in these 190 pages of changes, certainly there are more. The language about food allergens comes to mind. I've already spoken twice about the expulsion policy. I'm begging you to slow down. I'm asking you to create an ad hoc committee to have actual discussions and conversations with the public and really dig into what is being proposed rather than rushing it through. >> Thank

035you, Mr. Moes. >> Okay. Uh so, written correspondence. Stephanie, the following people have emailed the board of ed since September 17th. Christine Kennethic, Rebecca Newman, Jennifer Kramer, two emails. Michael Einig, Ellen O'Donnell, Dorian Kandari, Ryan Balar, Matt Grimes, two emails, Andy Korea, three emails. >> All right. Uh, let's move then to um board minutes. >> I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended. Regular meeting 91725. Is there a discussion on this? Okay. Um, all in favor of approving the board minutes, please um say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. So, that's passing unanimously then. >> Great. Um, so superintendent's update. This is Tenzel. What do you have for us? >> Thank you. Just a just a few notes for you uh this evening. It's impossible to top the

036kids that were here. That's really why we're all here. So, thank you for being here to support them as well. Um, I always start with enrollment. Just a a quick fact today. Our enrollment is 2549. Um, you know, I've continued my school visits. They continue to be really fun. And I'll jump ahead to my celebration um shortly about how proud the administrators are. One of my school visits, I came across a middle schooler and he asked who I was, looked at my badge, investigated me, and by the time I was done explaining to him who I was, he informed me, "I know who you are. You're a sub." Very smart young man. Um yes, humbled by a middle schooler again. So Debbie touched on the focus for administrative professional learning for this year and it

037is a combination of working through um effective evaluation strategies as well as exploring more as an administrative team uh the power of AI and how we might use it and how we might help shape future policy in that with with some more knowledge. Previously to my arrival, uh the previous superintendent and the board chair had signed off on a application for consideration for NEASK K12 accreditation. And we spoke the other day, Mark Bland, Debbie, and I with Fran Kennedy from NEASK. He's the the head of NIAK, also familiar to me. He was my child's my children's principal in Berlin. Um, so it was like kind of coming home. But we discussed the timeline for K12 accreditation. It really is a wonderful opportunity for the district. It's something new that they're offering. A few districts have

038jumped on board. And so we did discuss just deferring the timeline to the fall instead of starting it in the spring. I think it's a wonderful opportunity for your new superintendent to really go through that process with your staff. There's a lot of self-reflection in the NIASK process. There's a lot of professional learning. And the value for us of looking at it K12 is it gives us leverage to really look at our curriculum K12 to look at our instructional practices K12. We can use it as a leverage, not that I'll be here, but you can use it as a leverage for specific professional learning in vertical teaming. Right? So, if you're all looking at the same strands, K12, you can bring people together and it can create a much more cohesive um view of curriculum

039and assessment and instruction. And so, I wouldn't want to rob your superintendent of that opportunity because it also affords him or her a very powerful strategic plan leverage. And when you look at your strategic plan, it does age out in a few years. So, the timing really could be perfect. So, we agreed to um kind of not push that off but defer it until the fall and it will start and we will keep you apprised of that. So, shortly we're going to see some brief presentations on multil- language learner numbers and case loads of special education. And the one thing that I just want to highlight is that you will see that our population continues to grow in very diverse manners. That is exciting and it is an opportunity because we are creating a Brookfield

040community that is more representative of our world and it helps our learners communicate and collaborate with each other with different perspectives and they can practice grace and dignity which we all need to practice. So the more we grow, the more we learn together. So, I highlight that because as our needs change and as our learners needs change and as the profile of Brookfield changes, that does potentially have impact on various parts of our budget. So, we just want to consider that when we're thinking about the lens of our budget. I do not expect any huge changes in our budget. We're not expecting to add anything crazy, but I just want you to know that as your your district, our district changes, we have to consider how we should change as well. A few little notes

041for your reference. title grant information. It's all in. They finally awarded our title one and two funds as well. So Debbie has, you know, already begun working on those and, you know, despite, you know, some of the current political status of of government shutdowns and things like that, the grants remain consistent. Titles one and two are averaging at about 164,000 for the total. Title three is about 14,500 and title four remains consistent at 10,000. So those are good numbers. They're solid. We've been planning for that and we received it. So that's great for the board to know because that does help defer um our our budget requests for the town. Our breakfast numbers that first week were really solid. The high school was kind of averaging around 20. Elementary was around like 12 that first

042day. The middle school was a whopping 45 that second day. It was crazy. Um, and I continue to meet and greet. I I met with Casey and we met with our first select person and I've also continued to meet and greet many of our board members. It's important that we develop those relationships as a community and uh, you know, so I'm just going to end with a celebration. I always like to end with a little bit of a celebration. So, you know, being new as a superintendent, you don't always um come into a situation that is always welcoming and warm. And I just want to give a shout out to the administrators because I have had many questions. I've had many asks. Can I have this? Can you show me that? And to a to

043a minute I have been met with, when would you like it? How can I help you? Can I get that for you? And and these are things like I kind of want to see your school improvement plans before they go to the board. When would you like to see it? That that's not common. Again, I keep saying that's not common. That's wonderful. Um so just the the the willingness to support my requests and offer help. Um I get, you know, information emailed to me. You really should see this about our students or come see this. It's it's exciting. Um, and so, you know, just a a shout out to recognize that our administrators are doing hard work and everybody always can do things differently, but their ability to want to help the interim superintendent serve

044you better is noteworthy. >> That's great. That's great. And you guys are are doing nice culture building at TSO as well. How did how did breakfast go the other day? >> That was uh my administrative assistant, Lisa. She organized a breakfast. I thought it was just breakfast. I brought fresh fruit. She came with an agenda. It had items on it. I said, she like she means business. >> She means business. >> She had an agenda. I said, "Well, I thought we were just eating." We did both. We worked and ate. But again, I I pointed that out. That's also not common. You >> You may not You don't have to like everybody, but you have to be able to get together and break bread with them, and that develops your relationships. And it was really

045fun. And we got some work done. >> Yeah. Awesome. has a quick question on that for the NEAS accreditation. I don't know if you know we got accredited for the high school. >> Does that play like a part in that or no? >> So it simply so you know we checked into that timeline because we are up at a certain point for reacredititation and you know Fran said it's fine once we get into this loop it aligns everybody on the same cycle. we had the ability to stay off cycle and we talked as a group and felt that it was much more meaningful to have everybody discussing the same strands and inquiry at the same time rather than have K8 do it one year and then 912 do it the following year. So it'll just

046all be grandfathered in and it adjusts the high school accreditation date just pushes it out one year. >> I would encourage Yeah. whoever's on the board to do it. It was a great experience. >> I think did you do it? >> Yeah. Yeah, >> awesome. Thank you very much. Okay. Uh, superintendent search update. >> Uh, thank you to everyone that participated in the school leadership forums. In addition to those that attended in person and via Zoom, we had 177 people take the written survey and that survey went out not just to parents but to the community as well. The next step is for our school leadership team to compile all of the feedback for the board to review. The search committee will then meet again next week and approve the specifications for the superintendent search

047based on the community input and the board priorities, give authorization for advertising, and we'll establish salary range, benefit, and provisions for ads. The advert for the vacancy will go out and school leadership will continue the solicitation of nominations and continue recruitment. Our consultants will screen the candidates, conduct the interviews, and complete informal reference checks before presenting the candidates that they uh want to put forward to the board. The board does have the opportunity to review all candidates, even ones that they um don't think are a good fit if we choose to. The application deadline is November 20th for uh interested candidates. The search committee will then again meet with the consultants at the end of November so that they can present the information on all applicants and at that point suggest the semi-finalists. Together they

048will select the individuals to interview and those will go to the board of ed uh for approval. It should be noted that the search committee is also the board of ed but they are two separate meetings because what we do as a search committee is different than what we need to approve as the board of ed. And then there is a timetable on the um superintendent search uh page on the school website that will be updated as soon as we get more information. It's updated through October right now and there's check marks all the way through the forums now. Um but as soon as we get the actual dates and sort of the the timeline for um what the next steps are after we get the specifications then that will be updated um with sort

049of the next steps. So, what's up? >> Okay, clarifying question because Erin and I were sitting here looking >> I'll say with uncertainty of each other. Okay. So, we're meeting next week. We just want to get our calendars right. >> So, this is Thursday our Zoom. >> We're sending comments to them. >> Yeah. So, they're going to get us the specifications. They're compiling all the information by Friday. Yeah. >> Then they're going to send us We don't know because we've never seen it. Some document that says >> right >> what the feedback was. And then my understanding is the Zoom is to sort of say yes, no, yes, no, we want to use this, we don't want to use this. >> Okay, >> this is a good question asked. This is what the because they're

050trying to put together essentially like the ad, >> right? Right. Right. >> That they're going to send out to attract the superintendent candidate. >> Okay. >> Superintendent >> candidates that want to apply for super Yeah. Thank you. >> Oh, yes. It is >> 16th 6 p.m. Zoom. >> Yes. >> No, no, the comments are due. >> That's like so our comments. So like they're going to send us the information this weekend. We should look through it and we should make our own individual comments and then >> so we will still meet on Zoom on. >> That's my understanding. Unless that changes before then, but that's what we have as the timeline. >> So we want >> Yeah. And we want to do quick turnaround on the comments. >> That's the idea. Yeah. Is the reason

051why they're giving it to us ahead of time and not at the meeting is so that we can get the advert out by the following Monday, I think is their plan. >> Awesome. Thank you very much. Yeah. >> Appreciate that. >> Yeah. >> Um okay, so let's move to subcommittee reports. Um security task force. Um is that you Stephanie or you Rosa? >> That is me. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Um so we last met on September 24th. Um and we had a pretty productive meeting. Um, so the first thing we did was kind of go over, we had talked at our um, meeting at some point in the summer, I believe. I think it was in May, um, about the application for the what's called the COPS grant. Um, we did apply for

052that back in May. We haven't heard back um, as of yet. So, okay. So, we have not heard back from that yet. Definitely not as of this meeting. Um the grant could award up to $500,000 um if there's a 25% matching um commitment from the local community. Um and most of the application was focused on technology systems, but we had all of those a lot of technology upgrades relating to security in our sort of capital forecast for um for the schools. And so if we could get grant money for that, that would be tremendous. Um so hopefully we will hear an update about that soon. Um we also talked about Alice training. So there was a very like high level introductory training that went on. Um officer Ouch had brought that to the security task

053force. Um and Alice training really is best practice now. So, um, and essentially what that is is, um, essentially teaches classroom teachers and other school staff, um, how to protect themselves in a dangerous situation that might be happening in the school, um, as opposed to just sort of hiding and locking doors, but actually um, being proactive about um, protecting themselves and students. Um so we had um a discussion highlighting the importance of this training and how we wanted to take it to the next level but we really kind of needed um really we needed a board directive. We needed sort of a commitment from this board that yes we would like the superintendent and the building administrators to go out and organize this training and setside set aside time for PD and whatnot. So, um

054before the end of November, um we will have to get that on an agenda. Um but and we can have officer Ouch and whoever else we need come in and sort of explain what that training would look like. Um but that'll be upcoming within the next month. Um then we had our um Wiskanir SRO um officer Flynn present on switching the district from its current this the current emergency plan framework to a standard response protocol. Um and essentially that standardizes all of the language and the practices that goes around what student what um the schools do in the various different emergency situations. Um and there is guidance and resources from um a foundation called the I Love You guys Foundation. Um so that's where we're taking a lot of the guidance from. Um and so

055we made that motion um and the committee voted unanimously to approve the implementation of those standards. Um and we should have um um well I yes I actually have it here that I will be discussing this during my subcommittee reports. So yes so that that that's what we'll that's what we'll be doing. We um had commit we had um approved that unanimously and if there's anything that we need from the board in terms of um you know a motion from this level then you know that should be forthcoming but I don't think we need to do that. Um >> one of the things to note is that all those materials are offered to us for free >> and they're um they're already packaged for us. So that's what they're that's why they went with that

056particular program. >> Yep. And then lastly, we discussed the direction of the committee. So like any committee, there has to be sort of a more long range plan of what the committee is planning on doing. Um you know, we can't just meet and talk about well how is security at the building because a lot of that is um honestly the responsibility of the administrators. Um so you know we had returned very briefly to just rethinking about the pillars of school safety which is um you know we f we tend to focus a lot on physical and staff elements of of school security um and they do include those things but also technology um policy and practices and mental health. And so um you know we kind of asked the committee as a whole to really

057think about the direction of the committee. What are those pillars that we want to focus on next? Where do we want the district to go in each of those areas? And so we will at our next meeting dedicate the meeting to talking about this sort of planning what is this committee doing um in terms of you know all all of those pillars of school safety. So, I mean that's that's and we will meet on the 30th of this month to do that. So, that's pretty much it. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Let's hear from Emily. >> Facilities. >> Sorry. >> That's okay. >> It's quite all right. >> Absolutely. >> Sorry. Wire's a little jammed up over here. >> My apologies. Uh we met on uh good evening every we met on

058October 1st. Um we uh everybody was there at the meeting. Uh uh Stephanie, myself, Sarah, Casey, and Dan were there. Uh we discussed the school dude reports. We went over the um lighting related issue that Dan uh had already um that is addressing or currently addressing. Um we went over some staffing updates. Uh new custodians starting at CLES and uh WMS that are performing well and we still have an open night custodian position at the high school. uh capital maintenance projects. Uh we uh the high school Edgitson is coming out to assess the music room AC unit on I think that that past Thursday or might be today. I'm sorry, tomorrow. I'm not sure which day it was. Uh the BHS well pump 6 failed in early September. The test on the 15th have confirmed

059on September 15th, excuse me, have confirmed no bacteria. So, we are good to go on that. And there are weekly checks as well at WMS. Quotes are being obtained for the back parking lot repaving to be included in the 2627 capital budget. um at WMS TMCO is to conduct their infrared scan for a a leaky roof that's been unfortunately leaking for a very long time that they cannot seem to figure out. So, they're doing some type of high tech infrared scan to see if they can figure out where the leak is coming from. Uh the roofing engineering at the high school and the middle school design um will cover the WMS roof sections, excuse me, including the potential solar panel areas. Um at the high school as well, the RP for HVAC upgrade design services

060are ready for release. Uh the gym floor at CLEES is ready for sanding and painting is scheduled for the next one and a half to two weeks and for miscellaneous we uh Casey spoke about preparing the capital budget in October for the octo uh October presentation at the next meeting. >> Um thanks for that. Absolutely. >> I have a question about the um is there new information about the roof at WMS? Any um likement? Um, >> they would talk about the the sections. There's no updated info. I know the uh Dan has to uh >> I guess update us on that one. >> Okay. I just have a question um for at Whiskanir the paving is that to um you know repair there's some aggressive holes some very dangerous. >> Oh, they did patch them

061because I I'm not there often so they patch the holes. Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Okay. That's good. >> All right. Thanks very much, guys. Absolutely. Super thorough. All right. Now, Miss Jükasen, what is up um at BHS? >> All right. So, I actually have um a lot to tell you guys about today. So, um, we had a very successful club fair on September 24th. It was the most clubs that we've had ever participating, and it was for grades 9 through 11. So, like mostly 12th graders are running at these clubs. And so, yesterday, 18 students from BHS, a mix of juniors and seniors, including myself, attended the CIA sportsmanship conference at the Aqua Turf, where Jamie Colbrath sung the national anthem and also presented about the state athletic advisory committee that she's

062on. Brook Carpenter spoke about the educationalbased athletic curriculum and there Brookfield Athletics was highlighted for their work on their work on the WTNH channel 8 last night for being leaders in the state and having our student athletes present at the conference which is pretty awesome. I saw some clips. It was really cool. Um Jamie and Brooke were interviewed as well as Cole Tobacco who was asked about being a fan captain for our bomb squad. BHS won the Michaels Cup for an outstanding athletic program for the ninth time in 10 years, more than any other team in the state. That's great. >> And BHS has the most students and staff on the CIA committees. So Jamie Colbrath is on the CIA athletic advisory board. Brook Carpenter is on the CIA educationalbased athletic curriculum board. Cameron Johnson

063and Caroline Walters are on the CIA unified sports board. And I am on the CIC empowerment board. Mr. Mr. Bland serves um as the chair of the hockey committee and the board of control. Bianca Nelo, our cheer coach, serves as the educationalbased athletic curriculum board and the cheer committee. And Mr. Baldwin is on the CIC educationalbased athletic curriculum board and the CIA baseball committee and the CIA dance committee. There's a lot that's a lot of stuff, but um just wanted to let you guys know. And Mr. Baldwin wanted to thank Mr. Diotti, the board of education, and everyone else involved in helping us get a new scoreboard, which will hopefully be in by the end of the month. >> Miss Oh, I he miss >> probably. I think so. Probably. I don't know why it

064says Mr. Maybe. I'm sorry about that. Um um at our first football game against Daniel Hand, 100 Whiskey students sang the national anthem and it was so cute. It was awesome. >> Um so, spirit week is coming up. It's October 14th through 17th. we have off that Monday. So that Tuesday is soccer mom verse barbecue dad. It's I think that's going to be cool. So show your spirit by dressing up as one of these two iconic looks. Should be cool. Wednesday is the monochrome day. So everyone just head to toe one color. That would be really neat. And then glam versus game is Thursday. So this is like a high school musical type thing. You could either dress up as like Sharpi or like Troy Bolton. So like athletic and then like preppy and stuff.

065And then Friday, blue and gold, show our colors. And then that Friday is the pep rally and the homecoming carnival. Um yeah, the homecoming carnival is before the um homecoming football game on October 17th. The carnival helps benefit the BHS club. So there's going to be stands, some games for the community, and we'd love to see kids from CLS and Whiskey come to it. I I feel like we really want it to be a big thing this year. It hasn't usually been in the past. It's kind of iffy, but we'd love a lot of people to come. Um yeah, so there's gonna be fun. >> What time does that start? >> Um that >> I don't I'm not sure, but it's it's before the football game. I think it goes right up to >> And

066the football games at 7. >> Um >> it says 3:30. >> That makes I mean that makes sense. >> For the carnival. >> Yeah. Maybe 3:30 to 6:30, I'm assuming. >> Yeah, the game the game is probably around 600 6:30. That's usually when it is. >> That could be a good idea. >> Yeah. I And if you have any questions, I think um Mr. Buckley is in charge with a lot of that stuff. >> Yeah, I would talk to Mr. Buckley and Mr. and see if they'll send a parent. >> We We got a parent square at CL. I was just going to say I just remember getting this on Friday so >> because I mean that's >> that's okay. So I put that down >> 4 to 6 we got appearance where on at

067the Friday >> 4 to 6 then the game's probably 6 or 6:30. Yeah around there. >> Oh yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So is that >> Oh no I have I have some more. So, um, our homecoming dance is October 18th, the next day from 6:00 to 8:00. It's open to all students, all grades, and they're encouraged to attend. They're encouraged to wear whatever semi- formal clothes they want. There's no color restriction. We're going to have um a food truck food truck that serves pizza and a Ben & Jerry's ice cream truck, which is fun. We're going to have a DJ and we'd asked for members of the community to help donate drinks, chips or snacks just so it like could cause cost for the students and promote community involvement. But the school is buying

068some sodas and water just just in case and stuff like that. Um, so the 2025 BHS homecoming dance will feature homecoming court representative of students from all grades. The students can nominate themselves or other members of their grade and the nominations are due by Wednesday, October 9th. Nominated students will be contacted for approval before final balance ballots are created. And voting will occur in person in the cafe during spirit week. And only students that have purchased the homecoming tickets can vote for hum homecoming court. And the top eight seniors and four students from grades 9 through 11 will be revealed at the dance. So that's really exciting. I have heard about that like on like I see that on like movies and stuff and but I think that's going to be it's going to be

069really fun. Um so we have Veterans Day on November 11th. We're going to invite um local veterans to come and share their experiences. It's going to be the same as what we've done in previous years. And in December, Student Gov is going on a field trip with Club Council to the Mach Legislative Congress, which is really cool. I don't really have too much information about that because it's a little bit later, but I know that they're very excited about that. and I'm all set. >> So, we also just just as a reminder, um we asked you for November to get us for the November meeting to get us feedback about student graduation preferences. >> Yes. >> Okay. I just want to make sure that that's like on your radar. >> 100%. >> Okay. Great. >>

070Okay. So, youth commission Sarah. >> So, we have the meet the candidates forum on the on the 21st at 7 in the auditorium. Um, it's been going to be entirely run by the youth commission and as of today I believe Mr. Bland spoke to the students to explain what the roles and responsibilities of the three boards are. So then students are are supposed to fill out Google form questions and submit the questions for the um forum which is great. Uh there are two new members this school year for the youth commission who are in the process of being approved by the board of selectman. Um they have not gotten any new members from Wisconsin. Christina Zimmerman was appointed by the DTC and approved by the board of selectmen to take over for Schwan Turner as

071the youth as an adviser. In the spring in March, they'll have the career fair. So, if you have any desire to be a presenter, reach out to Martin Mcniff. And they just wanted to let everyone know that anyone is invited, all students are invited to reach out with any ideas for projects or anything that they have proposed and ideas that they have. And you don't have to be a member to have to share ideas and come up with with things that you'd like them to address. That's it. >> Thank you. Okay, let's move to the consent agenda then. >> I move that the board approve the items on the consent agenda as recommended. New hires, transfers, resignations. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion of this? Okay. All in favor, please say I. >> I.

072>> Any opposed? Okay. Unanimous. >> Thanks, everyone. All right. So, old business. Um, approval of the 2627 school calendar. I move that the board approve the 2026 2027 school calendar as recommended by the calendar committee. >> Second. Bob, is there discussion on this? >> Yeah, I'd like to uh at least discuss the notion of starting before Labor Day. One of the really important things that that I just learned um at open house is that any students that are taking AP classes um the test they get now less time to prepare if they're starting later um because the test is earlier because it's based off the southern schools calendar. So >> um >> I think I think this year um the tests are um there two weeks of it and I think it's like May 4th

073through the 15th. But you're right, it does shift year by year. Um, Brookfield does start late. I don't know about like a dirt comparison, but we we do we do start pretty late. >> So, this >> I was going to say this starts off before Labor Day just because of the date. >> Yeah, I'm almost there. >> This is my >> So, here we are. So this starts again, >> but your point is we usually used to start >> we used to start the last week in August Tuesday or Wednesday in August. >> Yeah. >> And it got pushed because of CL, >> you know, because of construction and it's just kind of stayed there. So I don't know. I just >> it has kind of stayed there because I mean at least the feedback

074in the beginning was people liked it. Um I don't really feel like we didn't have anything as far as >> and I feel like most of the surrounding towns start before Labor Day also. >> For sure. >> They definitely do. >> Um Vonda, can you um can you please connect with the calendar committee? Um is this something that you guys want to table until we hear from I think we should table it for now. I don't think there's a rush to to approve the calendar, but I also would encourage people to write us and tell us like what their opinions are. >> Yeah, we got a really compelling email today um that that raised some of the points that that Joyy's talking about and it seemed common sense, but I I feel like we only

075see a little bit of um the context. >> I just do want to be clear that this proposal for next year does start us >> before Labor Day. I just want to be clear that people understand that the calendar does start >> before Labor Day. Yes. >> Well, but that's but that's only for employees. That's not for students. Is that correct? >> No, that's students. Labor Day is the seventh and we start the first. >> The teachers come back the last week of August. >> The students start. >> Those are Yeah. The teachers come back last week in August. >> Come back last week in August. >> But that red >> Labor Day is until the seventh. >> Red is >> the first day of school. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I guess I

076was thinking like like starting in in August would would be it seems like we would be talking about >> that. I think that's what we would need to >> for clarity. I think we need to say starting the last week in August because we are currently on this calendar as we're both starting as well. >> Sorry for that moment of >> I will also I will also bring up as I do every year when we're talking about the calendar um I do understand that some religious holidays are mandated by the state. We have to have those off. Um, also like I understand like the the general observation practices of our community. I I would never like suggest we go to school on Christmas day. Um, not for religious purposes, but just because there would be

077nobody in school. But, um, I I do think that we should consider, you know, religious holidays that we do have control over. Um, you know, and some of the I think Rashana might is one of them. >> We only have one next year because one is on a Saturday. >> Okay. Yonapor is the only one. >> Okay. Is >> Yeah. So the only one is the 21st >> Yap >> and it's Yonapor because the other one is I think the 19th or the 12th >> is um Good Friday. >> You know what this year it is, but on this calendar it's not. >> It was mandate. Well, okay. So, it was mandated by the governor can also choose days to be like mandated state holidays >> um where schools are closed. And I believe Good

078Friday is one of them this year, >> but it could change. So, so I I actually looked into that because I wanted to know why this current so our current calendar year in 2026 we have Good Friday off, but it's not on the calendar for 2027. And that's the exact reason why he designated 2026 Good Friday as one of the holidays off and he did not for 2027. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, I mean that's what I would just like us to consider because we're always trying to get days, instructional days, and I know we all hate it when there's like kind of a day off in the middle of the week or even if it's on the end of the week, but it's just it's a it's a fragmented week again for students.

079Um, and if we can, you know, and and not that's it's also, you know, as an aside, difficult for working parents that don't usually have those days off. Um, but that's just something I would like us to consider as we think about days in the calendar. >> Stephanie, Good Friday is is it's in March. >> Well, see, I looked at it and it's >> and it it is no school. It's next year >> March 22. >> Yeah. Certainly. Certainly. >> Thank you. I I did do some thinking about this because I was curious to see if you would want a little bit of discussion. Um you know, just so just for clarification, um I know you know that calendars are decided at the local level in Connecticut. There are um per Connecticut state statute holidays

080that occur in if they occur on a school day in December or January, >> we cannot have school in session. >> Yeah. So that means Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Martin Luther King Day. We cannot have school in session. All of the other school days technically could be in session during what you might perceive as a holiday. >> If we do hold school on any of those other days, we have to honor the day by educating our learners about the holiday and the value of the holiday. >> Correct. So after that, I just want to be clear that you knew that that the only ones that were off limits per law are Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So after that, really, it's up to the

081district. You often reflect the culture and religious beliefs of your community. You often also look at surrounding town calendars because our staff, we are a large employer and our staff often live in nearby towns. So, you know, we do try to make a good faith effort when possible to look at that. And when I when I listen to you, it it appears to me that what you value is the importance of students being able to engage in and recognize the holidays that are important to their families. And you have worked hard to do that by saying that, you know, these valuable holidays to families, we will make sure that we are not holding assessments and major things and we're not going to penalize you if you're if you're absent. So those are great strides for

082respect and dignity. Um, and you know, again, if just my own observation, if all districts observed every holiday reflected in the student population, it would likely be impossible to get 180 days of instruction in. And they certainly um would not have continuity of instruction, which as an educational leader, I have to share with you that continuity of instruction is one of our priorities to protect that learning time. So those were just some some thoughts that I wanted to share with you. >> Thank you. And so it sounds like we have a lot to talk about and I love the idea that we this is us calling out to the community. Please send us your thoughts. So um let's I move that we table. >> I just had I had one more thing if that's okay.

083Yeah. I um I know we talked about what to do at the end of the year about the possibility of snow days and all that other stuff. Um in my district they have they mark >> Sorry. That's okay. They mark um snow emergency days at the in June. It's as very clear and obvious. I just think it's really helpful to be as clearcut for all um families. And then they put a thing for the last possible day because I think for planning purposes, as obvious as it might seem to other people, it's not as obvious to mo to every family about how it's going to work. If you have kids, you know, you have your own stuff going on. Um, I think if we were to to mark the last extra days about snow days,

084I think it's just makes it a lot easier for communication purposes, for planning purposes, and it's not as gray an area as we ran into last year when trying to discuss what to do if there are more snow days if there aren't. It just I can pass it around if you want to see how they do it or I can send it to you guys. >> Can you give a copy of that to Vonda and because the way that calendar is laid out >> is fantastic. It's It's not as bulky. >> There's symbols for stuff and it's not as colorcoded depending on where you print it. If you can differentiate between the colors. >> Yeah, absolutely. It's just it's >> it's easy to use. >> A great >> Yeah. >> calendar that might be >>

085Thank you. Thank you for that. >> One more one more comment since we're just tidying up and talking about tidying up >> the calendar for May. Like you see how like that last week it's got like that 31 like because we don't need that top row. Like let's just >> like get rid of the one. It's a Saturday. Like just have that top row be two through eight. You know what I mean? >> So that we can get >> So we're we're asking >> putting through. >> So we're asking the community if you have an opinion about uh the calendar and start times please let us know. So, I was going to say in anticipation of the three main points, can we ask pointed questions? So, the things that I wrote down that we wanted

086specific feedback on are um uh continuing snow days. We currently have 182 days of instruction, 180 days required. Like, these are the key points I want to hit, right? Um we're currently starting the week before Labor Day, but it is the first week in September. We have Good Friday off. Um, we have only one Jewish holiday off this current that current calendar 206 school year. Um, Christmas, New Year's, MLK day are required. Uh, we want to make sure the calendar is a reflection of our culture and our religious makeup in our community and we want to uh match the surrounding towns. So, I wanted to give those key points so when people are giving feedback, they know that these are all considerations. Is there anything else that I should include in the three main points

087when I'm specifically saying like we want feedback? I think that that we've asked that the calendar committee to reconvene and so um we'll be sharing community feedback with the calendar committee. >> Okay. >> Do we know the makeup of the calendar committee? So is that >> just teacher is just >> I think it's made up of teachers, right? I think that there >> we can get back. >> Okay, >> great. >> Okay, so >> we need to uh vote to table. So, we have a a motion to table. >> I think you need to vote. I >> No, I can just resend the motion. >> Okay, >> I resend the motion. >> All right, wonderful. Okay, then um let's move to new business. Uh we've got um a report on multilingual learners and we'll be

088hearing from interim assistant superintendent Debbie Fious. >> Thank you. All righty. So I am um talking about the report here um in place of Nikki Galves who is our K12 world language ESOL curriculum specialist. So she put this um together um for us. Just to note, it does say um as of 9:29 uh25, it really is 10125. So, I just wanted to um let you know that because it's based on our October 1st um you know, state report in terms of our numbers. So, this report basically gives us um a good snapshot as to where our multilingual learners are. Uh we have a total right now of 128 multilingual learners. We're up six from uh last year. We are uh proud to say that we have nine total languages um in the district. Um at

089Kendallwood Lake Elementary School, we have 74 students um that are multilingual learners. We have at Kandlewood Lake Elementary School, just to note, we have um three uh teachers there that support our multilingual learners. One bilingual Spanish, um our newer bilingual Portuguese um and the Tissole teacher. So there are three um teachers that are supporting those 74 students. Um at Whiskanir Middle School, we have a total of 31 students. Um and at Brookville High School, we have a total of 23 students. So between Wiskanir and the high school, we have 54 multilingual learners um that are supported by one T-OLE teacher. Yes. So I just wanted to I'm glad that you said that Sarah. Just wanted to kind of um take the opportunity to, you know, share that with you as we're moving into the budget

090um season. That might be something that uh certainly we want to uh think about, right? Um so yes, the port our number of um students at Kendall Lake Elementary School that are bilingual um Portuguese um the number is 23 and with Spanish um we have uh Spanish speakers at 45. And as you uh may know, under state law, whenever there are 20 or more students um in any public school who are classified as dominant in any one language other than English and not sufficiently proficient in English, that school district must provide them with bilingual education. And we are certainly um doing so. So, we're in compliance um with that legislation. And that is the multilingual uh report. >> Thank you. Um I have a question about so um it seems like some of the it

091would appear as if there's very few teachers for a lot of students right like three teachers for 74 students was in one of the was one of the items in your report >> 94 um so could you just educate me on on what it is like what does bilingual education look like what does that mean for those students >> so I wouldn't be able to give you the specifics I can certainly get you that information. I certainly don't want to pass on any information that's that specific at this point. Um but certainly um those three teachers um there's the bilingual programs with for the um Portuguese and the Spanish. I can certainly get you some more information in terms of what it push in, pull out, what it looks like. I certainly wouldn't want to

092speak in specifics um right now because I I just don't have that information. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I would be it does depend on their level of proficiency. So there's depending on how many minutes they require of how they test. So >> yeah, >> and that's a really good point too. Thank you for jogging my memory on that because um not only are these servicing 74 students between the three teachers and the 54 students between the one teacher, um the students are at different levels in language proficiency. So what it looks like is very different depending on their language level proficiency. >> Okay. So some could they just have like a consult like they're in the classroom >> and they just kind of have a consult. >> Thank you very much. >> You're very welcome.

093>> Um are there further questions? All right, we're let's move then to um hearing from Mr. Roland. It's time for our special services case load report. And for us that's exhibit F. >> Good evening members of the board. Uh I come to you tonight with um a snapshot as I did previous two years of where we were where we are October 1st of 2025. Just for some context, these numbers uh will help to inform our budget process and the requests that would be made within the planning that you're going to hear about the numbers this evening. So for the case load data uh this year we have 30 as of October 1st um 364 special education students in the district and that is up from 348 in 2024. Um I'll give you comparison of each

094school in BHS. We had 112 last year. We have 104 this year. At WMS 84 last year, 80 this year. And CL 152 last year, 179 this year. And the total out of district placements remain at 26. However, as you know from my previous conversations with you, um the 26 also include transition students that are out um in transition programs out of district as well. Um so I'd like to just go through uh the numbers and the average case load and I'd be happy to take some questions, but if there's anything in more detail that I can get you information, I'm also happy to do that through emails or other methods that we can communicate that way. Um so let's start with Candlewood Lake. uh preschool there are three teachers. Uh the average case load

095is 8.67 8 and two/3s. Obviously it's there's not twothirds of a child there. It's it's >> um an average but of the three classrooms 10, seven and nine um we have itinerant speech students that are that come in just for speech and they will be listed under the SLP category. Uh in K5 we have six teachers, 98 students with an average of about 16. And again just for comparison, these numbers are relatively flat from last year. And again, as a snapshot, October 1st to October 1st, um around eight in preschool last year, around 8 to nine this year, um 16 last year, 16 this year. Again, fractionally uh up or down. uh the ELC our exceptional learning center with our two teachers um nine average case load is nine in both classrooms having nine students

096last year it was eight um and those are students that we uh feel need more intensive services and intensive supports uh in the social emotional uh one student is shared with resource so we we've kind of rethought as you'll see some of the social emotional pieces where we're going for more of an inclusive setting rather than trying to keep um kind of a self-contained it also speaks to the numbers and how we're approaching that through school psyches uh social work and our case manager teachers working with the social emotional uh components in our buildings at Whiskanir. Uh last year we had six six teachers and 72 students this year 77 students average case load 12 last year 12.83 83 around 13 this year. Uh exceptional learning center uh the shift from some students who were

097in ELC at the Whiskey last year to whis to the high school this year. You'll see that shift. Um ELC this year is four. Um and last year was seven. Um that is just as kids move from 8th grade to 9th grade. That's where you're going to see the shift of there. and social emotional for Whiskey. Again, speaking to the kind of rethinking and and recontextualizing of the model of having uh students be more inclusive and having the push-in services versus uh primarily pull out. We feel that that has resulted in better uh experiences for students so that they don't feel that they're separated but that they're being worked with in class with their peers. and then to Brookfield High School. Sorry, I have two different pages and two different So from 9 to 12

098we have seven teachers, 95 students, an average case load of 13. I obviously round that up to about 14. Last year it was uh seven teachers, 104 students, uh an average case load of 15. And again, we have to take into account um students moving into transition, students moving from the middle school to the high school. Uh life skills um one teacher, last year it was six, this is nine. You can see that that's the the continuum from the middle school to the high school of students moving up. Uh also in our planning process looking at related services, speech language pathologists uh at CL uh we have four in the K5 area and one in the preK. You can see the number of students with IEPs and that preK is uh pretty um looking for

099the right word. Uh comprehensive with the amount of speech that the students receive in there. Um and again I'm comparing year-toear my apologies around 22 and a half last year average case load 26 and a quarter this year um I wouldn't say flat but I wouldn't say you know extreme rise prek uh 24 kids last year 28 this year when we look at whiskey um this year we have once SLP is working with 15 and a half And again, there's a district at built into two of our SLPs which help us with assist of technology screenings and uh moving towards evaluation. So that's incredibly helpful for us that we have two SLPs that are able to support us with that. Um and the case loads again 12 and a half um and at BHS one

100and a half full-time and SLPs 27 and 24. Again, the when you're in a PPT and assist of technology comes up, I am proud to say that we have speech paths who are able to speak to that and do screenings. Uh, and if we have to go deeper or more intensive, we do partner with NEAT and CRE and, uh, CES for those as well. So, on to school psychologists. Uh, at CLS, we have two. Um, the evaluations, as you can imagine, change from year to year. So, some years there are more um, and less in in a trienal. So if we talk about number of students with uh IEPs, case load for our preK to two is 10 and 28 evaluations. Uh and our second psychologist has nine on the case load and 27 evaluations.

101Uh as opposed to last year where there were want to say 35 evaluations. Um but I need to I'll check those numbers for you and get those. >> Bill, it's just the evaluations are just a yearly evaluations. They're not. >> These are the trienals. So, yeah. So, >> and it also includes um initials that are coming through. So, I think what you're going to see from my experience is >> probably more initial of vowels at the elementary level because uh concerns are emerging. Um if you look at the middle and high school, it's more of a trienal evaluation, but again, we still have um students that will be referred um for testing or evaluations at that level, too. So, it's really just a trial number because you can't predict unless you have some right now

102already, >> right? If these are the ones that they're that they are currently in process of >> um and if we talk about Whiskanir, um seven students on counseling and 25 evaluations. Again, the average case load since it's one psychologist is seven. Um BHS, one school psych, uh 29 evaluations, three on counseling. And one of our more valuable pieces that I'm very proud to say that we have a a one school psychologist uh Molly Garcia who is also is not just Whiskaner based from our social emotional program but also works with our out of districts, our non-publiclix and our magnets and is also uh this year working in the MTSS behavioral realm as one of the members of that team. So very happy with our with our related services folks um being part of the

103team in other areas other than special education. Uh school social workers, we are currently uh on the verge of hiring our third at CLS. So when it says one position is vacant, that is um about to change. um 13 IEPs, six 504s, and again to to be clear, there is no corresponding counselor at CL as there are at uh Whiskanir and and the high school to handle 504. So that's something that I help oversee with the with the school sites and social workers uh at CLES. As you can see, the average case load of IEPs 15 and if you count in 504s that have counseling in them, the average is is 21. In many cases, some of these are check-in and checkouts, but again, it's an accommodation for a 504, but it's also um a

104service that can be provided for students who are getting other services for academic and uh learning disabilities and and areas such as that. Um, if we look at Whiskanir, uh, 30 IEPs for our social worker there and 11 504s at the high school, uh, social work, um, 24 IEPs with two 504s, uh, and 20 IEPs and two 504s. And I think I can get more information for you uh, in depth on the changes in how those services are determined at the different levels. And I think it's based on need, but it's also based on age and and service delivery. But again, I can certainly answer that in more detail um for you at your convenience. Um board certified behavior analysts, our BCBAS who are invaluable to our helping to set up functional behavior assessments. Uh

105if we look at our three, we have two at CLS and one who uh collaborates with both Whiskey and the high school. Um and the numbers there are 13, 18, and 14. And again, these are specific targeted behavior analysts who are helping our paras and our teachers to collect data to anticipate what anticedants and what functions behavior serves in a classroom to help support our students who have um behavioral challenges that we want to try to help support and and figure out with them and for them. Finally, our OT and PT. Um, we have two occupational therapists at CLA. There are 21 and 23 IEPs with three 504s. Again, it could be more of a consult. Uh, at Whiskanir, we have a.5 full-time occupational therapist, uh, and who does BHS evaluations. Whiskanir has 15 on

106IEPs. And at the high school, we have a KOD. And again, as you guys know, Alphabet Soup, there's acronyms for everything in special education certified occupational therapy assistant working under the occupational therapist to provide those services uh in collaboration. And you can see the numbers there are 15 IEPs and two 504s um and seven IEPs at Whiskanir and eight at DHS. And finally, our physical therapist, Sharon Porch. Give a shout out to Sharon. Sharon and I have have had great conversations about the work that she does and the uh abilities that she brings out in the students that she works with. um she has 21 total IEPs and she is um just an incredibly valuable resource who has a great institutional history and just to put some detail on that I'm I'm very proud of

107our of our team but I'm especially happy to call Sharon one of our team members in district that has helped us tremendously. So those are the numbers. I'm happy to take questions, but I'm also happy to expand on this uh through email or any other conversations you'd like to have. >> Bill, I just have a question as far as our 26 out. How many of those are transition? >> So, let me get that number for you because it is not a small number, but it's not a large number. I know that that in some cases >> I know we had some >> so and that and we were talking last spring about, you know, looking looking forward to a transition program. Um there is an eb and flow to transition students. It as you see

108with just who's where even within district um >> I don't want to give you a number offhand. I want to say five or more. >> That's fine. >> But I I can get you that number. >> Thanks very much. >> I just have a quick question. Are you comfortable with the um social workers the case load for whiskey >> at this point? Yes. Yes. and and I think um with the 504s and with some of the training that we're providing this year um again I also think to to to give you both answers. I think this is also a blueprint for being able to really dig deep with our team and look at the budget and just see what the what the needs might be. Um so my opinion might change as I delve more

109into getting feedback from them as I do when I visit the >> because all levels are important but That's definitely a needy population. >> Um, >> yeah, me too, actually. Um, you go first, please. >> I just on the ELC, um, at CLES, there's I think the case load was nine or nine kids. >> Yes. >> How many additional adults are there to support that one teacher with the nine kids? >> I can get you that number. >> The ELC I think for CLES was nine. >> Oh, >> nine students for the one teacher. I was just wondering how many additional adults are in there. >> Oh, >> yeah. Peros. Yeah. >> And I can get you that as as to what the one-on- ones are versus the classroom pad. I can absolutely get you.

110>> Thank you. >> So, I think I just wanted to say this format is really helpful for us. I think we will be very interested in the recommendations that you bring forth to budget. Um, and now we have the context to understand why you're prioritizing the things that you ask for. So, that's really really useful for us >> and I appreciate that. I want to say one other thing that I want to look into that um with CT SESS we've tried to run reports on hours because we've talked about case load hours for students CTIS is unable to do that for us whereas IEP direct used to be able to just as a final thought that's something that we're working on with our team to be able to generate our own reports >> and Bill

111if you could just provide um kind of like the framework for the social workers how that looks >> absolutely >> I don't know if it looks different at different at each level or I think you have to answer that now. >> It does but I think it does look different when there there isn't a corresponding counselor at CLS as opposed to the middle and the high school. So I think that just changes the context of how we do. >> Yeah. Yeah. You can just let us know. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> I'm curious if the social worker numbers change because our dean of students was a social worker previously. Was she seeing students? >> Gotcha. Last year. >> I can absolutely get you that information. >> Thanks everybody. >> All right. So now let's go to

112the home school report. Mrs. various again. >> All right, homeschool report. So, um the homeschool report basically is um showing that our current available data reveals that there are 20 students being homeschooled in Brookfield. The 20 students identified as being homeschooled come from 18 separate Brookfield families. Um for the 20 students uh for whom we have information regarding homeschool status, we received uh we was returned to us two notice of intent forms um completed and returned. Parents of 18 students did not respond to the request for information and the information obtained via completed uh intent forms um and letters received from parents and other data available yield the information um that's shared here. So in grade one um we have uh one student in grade f uh five there's four students in grade six there's

113two uh five in grade seven three in grade eight one in grade nine two in grade 10 two in grade 11 and none in grade 12. Um so the uh notice of intent forms are suggested procedure as outlined uh in the guidelines in the statutes. Um and the district is adhering to um all of those um provisions. >> But as you were telling me earlier, uh because so many people didn't respond, we can't like swear to the accuracy of this. This is just the best information that we have. >> It's the data that's available that is correct. Do we ever seek um that um families that seek alternate education besides homeschooling like somewhere else besides? >> So when a a a family um completes a withdrawal form for home for the intent to homeschool, that's

114when we follow up with the um the letters and the notice of intent to homeschool. um if they're withdrawing because they're going to another, you know, school district or moving um then there's a different procedure for that in terms of the receiving school uh making a request for student records. Um other than that, >> right, we just have never like traced that information and we never that. >> There's really no mandatory oversight to mandate that schools actively monitor uh homeschooling programs. Um so it's th this is basically the best data that we can have available. um when a student when a family withdrew a student for the intent to homeschool um let's say if they did that in 2020 and the student was in fourth grade in 2025 if they're in ninth grade we'll follow

115up with a letter assuming that they perhaps are still homeschooling and sometimes we get um you know the letter back return to sender maybe they moved over the years right so um we do the best that we can to just send those uh letters out and hopefully that the parents will send us back a notice of intent. >> This is this is only for students that have um that families who have said that their child is in school because there's no state of Connecticut requirement for families to declare their children being homeschooled. So there could be many more families that just never entered the school district. I think that's something to note as well. >> Yes. Thank you. And thank you very much. Okay. So the last item under new business is um probably uh

116placed here. I think this is my error um because we have already said that it makes more sense to discuss um this year's calendar and setting the date once we get feedback from families and administration. Um so uh we will have substantive followup on this item. >> Yeah. in the in the can >> we add that to your list. >> Oh yeah. Graduation date. >> Awesome. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be really good. That sounds like a substantive discussion. Okay. So there's no second public comment. Um so then this segus nicely to the three main points. Stephanie, what have you captured this evening? >> Um what? Yeah, calendar obviously. Uh so I think the Brookfield Education Foundation um because they have contributed so much and it's a great opportunity for the community to not only

117learn but also um interact with um the grant process. Um and then I was going back and forth between the student spotlight because you know how I love featuring students and that's always like my number one but um the security update but I feel like we have minutes for that and security >> I think I think theu students So I'm not saying one way or another, but >> try to keep in mind that the intent of the three main points is if nobody wants to read minutes or watch a 2hour event meeting, what are the three most important things you would want them to take? >> I'm sorry. Not on microphone >> and security is important as a >> Yeah. No. Well, that's why I kept it on here because I was like, oh, security

118is probably it's not more important than the kids, but for three main points purposes. picture. [Laughter] >> I'm always about featuring the students, but yes, I >> I get it. So, is the consensus that we should do security? [Laughter] >> There you go. >> I'll have um Eric accidentally link like the picture instead of the YouTube. It'll be the kids. >> Okay. All right. All right. So, the three main points will be uh the education foundation, the BF, um security update, and the calendar. >> That sounds great. Um upcoming events we need to know about. >> Yes. Although, uh I could probably skip the high school ones because Emily did a great job. Um CLES, the uh parent teacher conferences are October 22nd through 24th, and those are all half day for students, uh student

119CLS students only. Um the book fair is next week and into the following week. Um what location? >> The uh upper library at CLS. Oh no, sorry, the lower level library at CLES. And there are family visitor days on the half day, I want to say the Wednesday and the Thursday of the parent teacher conferences. So the students can visit. They all have library time where they visit. Um and you should be receiving parents should be receiving uh parent square and teacher communications on that. um at Whisk Caner Middle School, Thursday, October 16th is the annual walk-athon. Thursday, uh or sorry, Wednesday and Thursday, the 5th and the 6th of November, our parent teacher conference is there. Um and their um their uh book fair, sorry, can't read. Their book fair is that week as

120well. And November 13, Thursday, November 13th is their student spotlight. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at um and in the BHS auditorium. And then BHS the pep rally and spirit week are the 14th October 14th through 17th um ending with the homecoming carnival and football game uh which is open to the public. The 18th is homecoming dance. Sunday, October 26th at 3 PM is the Booster Club's Harlem Wizards basketball event and that is open to the public. There was a thing that went out and I'm sorry I don't have it but there was a a fee. There was a ticket price and then there was like that you buy online then there was like I think it was $5 more at the door. There was like a VIP area. So there is a there's a flyer

121about that. Um we got it in Parent Square at CLES which is why I'm I had meant to print it out but it should be on Parent Square and I know that le I think Lisa sent it out as a district communication. So everyone on Parent Square should have that. Um, and then November 5th and 6th at the high school are also parent teacher conferences. Um, so those are half days for both Whiskanir and BHS students. And then districtwide, October, Monday, October 13th and Tuesday, November 4th are days off for students. Um, CARES community conversations will be on October 16th at 6:30 at CLS. High school students will get service hours if they attend. Uh the purpose is they're looking for feedback from the community on what priorities they would like to see throughout the

122next year. And the youth commission election event is October 21st, as uh Sarah stated, 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. And the Brookfield Education Foundation gala is Friday, November 21st at 7 p.m. >> That is a lot. >> Yeah. So, uh thank you very much. This concludes the public portion of our meeting. Thanks everybody for joining us and um we have one more motion >> 8:37. >> I move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing the evaluation of the interim superintendent. >> Any discussion on this? >> Right. All in favor of moving into executive session for the said stated reason say I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay. Um, oh, and just uh for for the audience here, uh, we've moved um, executive session locations will be in the conference room

123right here. >> Um, thanks and good night.