001I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. So, in terms of roll call tonight's a little bit different. Um I already said that uh Rob Pettto is not able to be with us. He had a a family obligation. Um but we want to well the rest of the board members are here and we want to formally welcome um two members of the executive team. So first Rich Napoli um who those in the audience and hopefully at home know from his work as dean of students at Wiskiner has stepped in to be our interim superintendent for the summer. Rich has worked in a variety of teaching and administrative roles in several
002districts around the state and we're really happy to have you here. Thanks. >> Thanks for having me. Appreciate. >> Um, also I'd like to welcome uh Debbie Ferious as our new assistant superintendent, but I kind of feel like no introduction is needed. You've been a 25-y year veteran of Brooklyn Public Schools. Um, and you've worn almost every hat. Uh, certainly from the K to eight levels, preK to eight levels. You were most recently the director of instruction um and you will be in this role for the full school year. I hope the public knows that and will be instrumental in onboarding Bondenza when she assumes the interim superintendent position after Labor Day. So welcome of course. >> Okay. So um we can move now into public comment. Um the board welcomes input from the public
003on issues before it. Speakers are asked to identify themselves at the podium. You'll have three minutes and are asked to refrain from commenting on specific individuals. Rather, your input on programs is helpful. As ever, we rely on everyone's good intentions to make this meeting productive and efficient. Um, Mr. Korea, you are here to talk about legal services review and the consent agenda. >> Hi, Andy Korea. Um, so I'm here to address the agenda item of review of legal services for the most part. Um, I just want to give the feedback that I'm not sure how you can evaluate board counsel if you're not getting the full truth. The board needs to understand what specific advice was board counsel gave to board members regarding their attendance at December September 26, 2024 meeting with the teachers union
004representative where a board member acted as representative without delegated authority. The board should hear from board counsel directly on this matter and ask questions. The start question is, did board counsel not understand the basic education law and board of education policy regarding individual board members authority interacting with staff or or did the board officer misrepresent the advice given or even lie under oath about it? You cannot evaluate the quality of legal advice without knowing the truth of what was actually said and whether it aligned with proper governance. Furthermore, if you how do you oversee legal spending or performance when the full board is not even informed about legal matters that face the district, including multiple Freedom of Information Act complaints? >> Who is approving the defense strategy? >> Point of order. >> What, Mr. Korea?
005Point of order. You are talking about our legal services review. Please stay on that item. >> This is a If you do a review of legal services, you have to be able to determine what advice you're getting. The board does not know. But the full board does not know who is approving the strategy to spend money, you know, to to appear to in to try to clear the FOI violations without the board's full consent. The full board is entitled to know who withheld notification. If the attorney withheld notification, that is a professional um >> point of order, Mr. Korea, this is not about legal services review. Please refer. >> It is about a legal services review. >> It's a performance. I am on topic. This is about the performance of the attorney. If the attorney
006knew that the full board did not know about a defense strategy, then that's a problem with the uh that attorney's um professional ethics. This board needs to review whether that's an attorney that they should continue to use. The reality is there was um test sworn testimony in two matters that the lawyer was involved in and by a board member and they are the same matter with different facts. Somebody lied or somebody gave bad advice that is about attorney and actually board member performance. the bo the full board should be able to know how the you know what the matters are how it's coming before the full board or not who's deciding what to spend and what strategy there are violations of board policy and there's problematic uh board um attorney performance here unless the unless
007>> All right moving to the >> I'd like to hold on I just wanted to clarify for the public that the full board did hear from council regarding the September meeting. That was privileged information that you tried to unsuccessfully obtain. So, just for the public's awareness, the board is well aware of the council's opinion on that matter. Thank you. >> Moving next. Moving next to uh written correspondence. We've had a lot. So, Stephanie, what do you have for us? The following people have emailed the board of ed since June 3rd. Tom Morlock, Christine Kennethik, Caroline Zalletki, Jacqueline Dolto, Allison Kenton, Holly Broadhurst, Dora Agoras, Jennifer Kramer, Ellen Demar, Jennifer Aerly. three emails. Audrey Rodriguez, Brian McGovern, Jeffrey Carpon, Carponetto, Kristen Selmani, Whale Sia, Denise Rice, Irene Korea, three emails, Andy Korea, 11 emails. >> Thank
008you. All right, we'll move next to approval of board minutes. >> I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended. Regular meeting June 4th, 2025. Special meeting June 16, 2025. Special meeting June 21st, 2025. Special meeting June 24th, 2025. Special meeting June 27th, 2025. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion of these? >> Okay. Okay. Should we just clarify for anyone that wonders why we had so many meetings that they were for the um review of the interim superintendent information? >> Yes. Yes. We felt like we were meeting quite frequently. We were >> all right. Um all in favor of approving the board minutes, uh please say I. >> I. I. >> Um any opposed? Okay. It's unanimous. Thanks. All right. Let's move um to the superintendent search update. Um, this is
009important for the public to know. So, what do you have, Stephanie? >> All right. So, after several meetings, as you've heard, uh, contacting everyone on the CAPS list, which is the retired superintendent list, and two interviews for candidates in late May, we made an offer to a candidate for interim superintendent who at the last minute, for personal reasons, decided not to take the job. That left us sort of scrambling with about two weeks until the deadline to find someone that was available and interested and had an 093 which is the certification required for a superintendent in Connecticut. So that led us uh to Vonda Tenza who was interested in the position but unfortunately was not available until September. So, thank goodness Wendy was able to pivot and developed a brilliant plan to split the position
010because we were all a little panicky about how this was going to work. So, her leadership along with this strategic move and the insightful solution um were instrumental in navigating this tricky situation and the board immediately agreed that this was going to be the best solution for the district. So with that in mind, it came to our attention that the interim dean of students at Wiskiner Middle School, Rich Napoli, um has his 093 and fortunately was willing to take on the role for the summer. And that leads us to today, which where we are currently working on setting up community and staff forums with the consulting firm, School Leadership. Um those will be September 18th and 19th. Some will be virtual, some will be in person. So, our um consultants um Reena and Roy will
011be here for our Wednesday, September 17th meeting, and that will be a board forum um for them to get our feedback for what our goals are. Um the questions will be the same at every forum and they will be broken into groups that we felt made sense. So, stay tuned for information on that. Um some will be during the day, some will be in the evening. uh but everyone in our community will have the opportunity to participate if desired based on the different categories that we are working on coming up with. Um we also now have an updated timeline on the website to refer to and we will continue to update that and any other information that we receive as it comes in. >> What was Did we have a date set for the um
012board forum? Yeah. So the 17th is going to be September 17th before the board meeting at 6 PM will be the board forum. Got it. >> And that's where we will give our feedback on what our goals and what we want to see are. Um which we're hoping Wendy to meet before then to kind of >> so that will be a little bit easier. That was what you were emailing us about this week of trying to get together. Um and then the same questions will be asked and so these um sessions will be private and not recorded. So there'll be a group of for the like par profofessionals and secretaries. There'll be um different members of uh the community. So like we're going to ask leaders from CARES and BEF, the PTO um you know
013boards, things like that. They'll have uh their own forum and then of course teachers, administrators, staff, TSO. Um and then we'll have parents where we're going to ask the students. Um so the reason these are all taking place in September is because it's summertime and it's really difficult to get everybody together. We don't want anyone to feel left out, but um if you look at the timeline on the website, it's a very um tight and succinct and very well thought through timeline. So, it's not that waiting till September for these is going to now mean we aren't able to get a superintendent um you know, with any kind of uh haste. It just means that they're we want to make sure um we have enough information to go on to be able to put the
014job advert out. And so yeah. >> Yeah. Showing what the community >> really prioritizes, >> what we Right. Right. What we value. >> Any questions or comments on that? >> Okay. Great. Uh let's move then to um the superintendent's update. So I understand you have um some important items to share. >> Yes. Oh. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you guys. Um appreciate the warm welcome tonight. Nice to meet everybody. Um it's been a it's been four weeks already. Believe it or not, summer is flying by. >> Um, you know, very typically usually very quiet at central office. A lot of hiring though with some recent resignations. Um, so not a lot to report. But I have two two things. One that's I've talked to you guys about via email recently with um very sensitive
015matter with a student from the middle school um that I worked with this year as well as his mother. um still in critical care um but had a small glimpse of change this week or last week. Mr. Ren spoke to his mother and um we're hoping and praying that you know he can um get out of this. Um we the school is doing something to support the family but they don't really want too much in terms of support or anything um big. They're more a private group. But I just wanted to share as a community that we're we're thinking of them and uh I know it's impacted a number of students and we hope for better days in the upcoming days. So thank you for your concern um with reaching out to for this family.
016Um another one another piece of communication um we received a number of emails this week as you know um I wanted to address this tonight. There is a communication that went out on Monday uh the 21st from Mr. Renda, Mr. Banda in regards to this um transition to middle school and high school students having district provided Chromebooks um starting in September. Um and it had good intentions and good purpose. Really the change was to ensure that there was equity among all amongst all students. Um fostering that collaboration um with students and staff uh having a one having one device for all standardized assessments whether it's SAT or ESPback or ESPA I should say as well as for everyday use throughout the throughout the school year from September to June and to provide that innovation with
017that technology with the Google platform. Um there's a lot of good collaboration that happens amongst the kids um in the academic environment. Also too, another piece of it, you know, there's a number of areas, but reducing the online internet off task behaviors, distractions, and I've seen this firsthand in at Wishanir and also in my last life at a high school uh at Wil High where there's some serious distractions that take from the the good teaching and learning very similar to the cell phone piece that we as a state and many communities have taken that piece out and it's helped tremendously. Um, so this was that effort to to really address that. Um, with the timing of the summer with, believe it or not, five weeks to school starting on September 2nd. Um, the central office
018team here as well as, um, Dean and Mark decided to put a pause or delay on the implementation. Uh, we appreciate the feedback, some of those emails from families with some concerns and suggestions. Um and today an email was sent out by our two principles addressing the the pause which I think um is a good plan. Um we they still want to move forward with the plan the change with a more formal kind of structured share out with families advanced communication um where students will have this opportunity. It'll be properly vetted with a with a timeline in the upcoming months. So, um, that was this week's we had communication Monday and then today. Um, so that's where we are in terms of the technology for this the start of the school year. So, >> thank
019you. >> Did any of you guys have have further questions or was that the information you needed? >> Yeah, you know, thank you for the clarification on that. Um, I think we could learn a lot from this. I think that communication is really so important um to understand not only you know the important positive impact of the initiative um the intent behind it right >> but the roll out is is equally important um and I think that you didn't really touch upon this but >> one of the main concerns too was that if we're requiring requiring something for a child's education that um how can we then require a fee >> right a charge so I guess that where a lot of the frustration was not so much questioning the intent of it or the
020>> right >> positive impact that it could bring. >> Um I guess that's what kind of was the shock >> and those are the pieces that need to be vetted more. I think that $40 is kind of more of like an insurance policy um and a rental or loaner fee where if there is a certain damage if there's intentional damage where I've had kids put one in a urinal >> um that doesn't is not included believe it or not. Um, but for regular usage, if it breaks, that's what that is. Um, in terms of that fee, I I don't know if if it could be waved. If so, it might be where the the families are responsible for the entire purchase could be $200 to $300. So, things that we're going to vet out um
021Morvanda and and the team depending on where they are. And obviously, I'll be back at Wishiner. I could help Dean and Ed and Mark at the high school um kind of work on that in the upcoming months. >> Sure. And I think any um parent feedback or involvement would be great in that even student involvement, you know, helping them to understand too. >> Yeah. >> Um the roll out of the initiative. >> Yeah. Program like that. >> You walk into a classroom and you see a kid in a game, they immediately drop their computer. They've I've talked to kids about the phones and they they know that losing that phone for most of the day has helped their their uh their focus and they've they've admitted it, most of them. So, it's it's a change.
022just a shift. But I think as a as a community, as a team, I think we need to um work together, whether it's presenting with to the board or having some open forms at the school level, we could uh address it and make the right choices. >> Great. Thank you. >> Sure. And Casey, if there's a budgetary impact that could maybe be helpful in the next since we're delaying the roll out anyway, if there's a way that the budget could, you know, help that or, you know, whether that's reducing the fee or potentially eliminating it, if there's additional insurance that we need to take out, >> you know, that might be something like worth considering. Sounds like we have got tons of board and community support for. >> Absolutely. Yeah. All of that will be
023um analyzed and looked at and and it likely will have budget impacts as well. So, we'll certainly talk about that through the process. Yep. >> Yeah. And I think as a board, we all knew that it was coming, right? We've talked about it for months. Um, >> so I think it's hard. This is where we see the gap with we're sitting here, we're seeing it, we're breathing it, we're hearing it constantly. We knew it was coming, but we don't have a ton of community members tuned in to our board of ed meetings. So, I think it's really important that, you know, we get information out. Agreed. Awesome. Uh let's move then to the next item. Um the subcommittee reports. Uh starting with facilities. Who's presenting that? >> Sarah, do you want to >> do you
024want to meet it to Kate and then come back to it? >> Sure. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. So Kate met on July 16th. um myself, Sarah, Wendy, and Deb. And we had a member of the public as well. We didn't have any public comment. Deb shared a presentation, which is uh linked in to your minutes. It outlined a vision statement for curriculum development, goals for curriculum development and implementation, the vertical alignment curriculum teams and their collaborative structures, the imple important work of the PLC's and the continued work of PDC. Some important points were mentioned. Um, we need to map out the student learning journey and teams can't do this in isolation. We need to have vertical alignment that's data driven and data focused. Meetings have to be time well spent and we
025need to use our time effectively by talking about student learning. We got an update. Deb gave us an update on the summer curriculum work, a summary of all the curriculum work that's been done over the summer and that's also linked into your minutes. We talked about the goal setting form which is also on the agenda today. Um there were some minor changes to the administrators and educator goal setting forms which is also linked in. And then we asked for some items to be included in our August agenda. So final exam data and updates just similar to what we did for the midterms. the stamp data, end of the year stamp data, update on new courses, some comebacks regarding summer curriculum work we had mostly with questions for the high school and to go over the
026climate survey results. Does anyone have any questions about our meeting or the minutes? >> Can you just tell me um can you tell me what does STAMP mean? What is that acronym? >> So that's for foreign language testing. Oh yeah. >> Foreign language students >> for um French and Spanish. >> Okay, great. Anything else? >> Are we good for facilities? Thank you very much. >> Yes. So at our facilities meeting, we went over the um school dude reports which are always delayed during summer because things are not, you know, things that may have been an issue at the end of June are now sort of being addressed all summer long. Um, so there wasn't anything uh glaring that you know had any sort of impact immediately with that. For the capital projects, um, if you
027guys walk by the cafeteria, you can see the new deli selection station coming along. Um, there'll be a new area that's kind of like what do you call it? Like a Chipotle. >> It's like they call they call it a Sono station, but it's think like Chipotle, you know, you can walk through and like make your own burrito bowl, make your own wrap, things like that. So, that'll be in the old deli section. >> Um, you can kind of see that coming together. Looks very nice. There's lots of lighting and they've made a window. And >> I did I did get an update um this week that the equipment that we need for that area is not going to be in for the very first day of school. >> Um there was a delay in
028we ordered it as soon as we got the approval. Um but um but but hopefully towards the middle to end of September that'll be fully functioning. >> Walk by every day and look at what's coming. Yes, exactly. >> Um, obviously the library was finally connected. It's very cool in here. Feels very nice. The fan that was causing the issue has been uh connected, so that's all good. The staff bathrooms are finally being renovated. The work is currently underway. Um, are they done? You had said in July 8th that they would be wrapped up in a few weeks. How close to a few weeks are we? >> We're I haven't I don't know. >> Okay. >> So, I know the bathrooms I can check on. Okay. So, but they'll be wrapped up before they start. Those
029are the ones that were supposed to be last year that we pushed out. So, this that was not a new um >> we got a new sink for the art room which was in last year's budget. >> Uh and that's very exciting because it makes that room much more functional. Um and that's all here at the high school. So, at WMS um the site work from the portable removals are nearly complete. They have almost completely removed everything from back there. Uh the storage closet is almost finished. So if you remember the back door by the gym um had an emergency exit and that was becoming they were expanding that and that was becoming a closet. Um there's just a few things left for that but that will be completed by the um start of the
030school year. They finished the cafeteria floor which looks amazing. Um the final application was supposed to be applied this week. So is that did that >> Yeah, it looks beautiful. Looks great. the roof that blew off last year that if you remember was covered by insurance thankfully um but that work has been complete right it was like almost complete when we were in their meeting >> the music lab that the Brookfield Education Foundation funded um with their grant has 25 workstations that need to be delivered but other than that the electronics have started to go in and that also should be complete by the beginning of the school year for CL the MBC was insist insistent that the gym floor be replaced. It is a brand new school. There is no reason why it should
031be warping and having the issues it was having. So, after months and months and months of all the approvals that we were trying to get, um the testing to uh determine the integrity level of the concrete slab, which is what they thought was the issue, um was underway. So, do we have an update on that since the July 8th meeting? >> I do not have an update on that. >> So, we'll get back to that at the next. Um, also the fire sprinklers that were in the way of the garage doors that had from the beginning of the school year when it first opened, those finally got moved. So, the garage doors are finally functional. There was some casing around the actual door that needs to be replaced, but it doesn't affect the function of
032it. It's just a look of it. So, >> like the finished work basically. And there was a contractor in I believe this week to to complete that. >> Okay. Um, and then the scoreboard with uh the BHS scoreboard that we've all had multiple discussions on. Casey had connected with Irene Korea, the booster club, um, the head of the booster club who had written a grant or was looking into a grant. >> I think she applied for a grant. >> She applied for Okay, so she the booster club Irene appli applied for a grant. um and we will know if it is going to be awarded in August and we can't really do anything else until we know if it's awarded because if it is then we'll go one direction and if it's not we'll go
033a different direction. So, both Steve Baldwin and Laura Murphy are on it and are in communication and in the loop. And so, as soon as we know more, uh, we'll be able to move that forward. And the CLES um, breakfast program, well, the breakfast program across the board, um, will be implemented in the fall, but will probably, no, not probably, will not be on day one, right? we are going to wait and get school started and get everybody sort of settled and then we will figure out um how it will be implemented. Um one of the things specifically at CLS was the email that went out. So there's a very short period of time where the kids can actually be in the building because the teachers um can are only required to be available 10
034minutes before. So that's when the kids are going in. So there was some questions about how are CLS kids going to eat and then like are they going to eat in their classrooms? Is it a graband go? We don't have the answers to any of those questions yet. They will be flushed out. Um, you know, August is typically when the administration, the principles start to meet and kind of figure all that out. So, any um confusion or questions around breakfast should just kind of go on the back burner and everyone should just be patient while we figure out exactly what the breakfast roll out's going to be. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Thank you, Stephanie. It will be in September. >> Um, and we will have all the logistics figured out before school starts. Um I
035I assure you, I promise. Um but we we we figured it would probably with the start opening of school is always hectic anyway and bus routes and all that stuff getting settled out. So we will probably look to like the sec second or third week of school to really start implementing this. Um but yes, that is the plan. Thanks. >> And then gym floor from what I understand at the NBC meeting was it was porous. They had to put another layer down >> and the floor will be replaced. So, it is moving forward. Um, but >> they had to put a level >> because it was >> that's what they figured. >> That's good. >> It was what they thought it was and it came back that way. So, >> thanks for being >> Okay.
036Um, thank you, Stephanie. Uh, finance subcommittee. >> All right. So, I have two meetings to report on. Um, the first was back in June on the 12th. Um, and we spent the majority of the meeting talking about the May financial report, um, which at the time was showing a budget shortfall of just over $200,000. Um, that didn't include the, um, town appropriation of of about $330,000. Um, so you'll see in my next report, we kind of ended up breaking breaking even and most of that appropriation will go back to the town. Um, so Um the only other thing we touched on at that meeting was um Casey reported that the auditors um have been on site and the yearly audit was going well. So hopefully >> that got all >> it continues. It's not finished
037yet, but it's um their site work is complete. >> It's complete. >> Um and then the only other thing that was mentioned was um regarding the scoreboard and um so since we already talked about that, that was that was it for that meeting. Now, we also met this past Monday, the 21st. Um, and after reviewing the check registers, and there were some questions and comebacks uh there, um we talked a little bit about budget transfers. So Casey reminded us that um it would be a good idea to kind of um uh do a set of budget transfers before the school year starts so that when we start to build the budget for next year, which will start in October, that's sort of starting from a much more accurate base. Um so we talked about that.
038Um we reviewed the teacher turnover to date with all the hiring and stuff going on. Um we are about $65,000 short of our $200,000 target. Um a very small part of that um is due to a good thing actually. We were able to find a Portuguese bilingual teacher. Um but that was at a slightly higher rate than we had budgeted. So if you just remember that is a very difficult uh position to fill. So we're very happy that we have somebody in that spot. Um and then we discussed the special education out of district budget update. Um there were some there were some changes from the end of the school year. Um there are about seven students that either um had we had anticipated going into transitional services or are currently with transitional services and
039they have since declined that. So that's a that's a pretty big shift um when there's seven of them. Um we did have one new outplacement where the expenses are estimated and three students um that have had some significant changes to their services. Um but the net of all of that is that we are looking actually about $359,000 under budget. Um and I want to say I want to state this clearly because it was a really important point in our meeting that we're going to keep an eye on that as sort of a month-to-month snapshot. So you can see this is the snapshot for this month. Next month it'll be a different story. Um just that we can show the public that you know when it comes to special education it is it is sort of
040an eb and a flow all year long. Um and you know we don't really know where the year is going to take us at this point and it's very very early. Um so we would not anticipate this over uh underage I should say um continuing throughout the year but you never know. So um we will definitely be super transparent about that as always. And then uh we talked a little bit about school lunch prices. So Stephanie mentioned in her report that there were a lot of uh new investments in the cafeterias especially at BHS and that comes from our cafeteria account and we want to continue um to reinvest in that account. Um and so considering just uh price increases in general and our our want to continue to invest in that and so we
041can have bring you know really great stuff to all of our schools. Um Casey suggested a very small 25 to 50 cent increase in lunch prices um so that we can continue to reinvest in that account and that was unanimously um supported by the committee. >> I want to be clear it is it's only 25 cent for all student >> yeah 25 cents for um all student meals. Uh adult meals are all $5 now. At CLS they were $4, but adult meal prices are actually sort of um outlined by state guidelines. So we had to increase that celius adult meal to five. >> And when was the last time lunches were updated because I think >> nobody really knows. So it was before anybody Yeah. I mean Joan has been here you know almost 10
042almost 10 years I think. Right. And it hasn't been increased since then. >> Yeah. >> That also drives increase to my school box. Correct. >> Because the more you pay the more service fee you get. >> Yeah. >> I think there I think it's probably a percentage fee of what my school box charges. You can always parents can always send in checks as well. Um >> people know that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Please. You can always send in Yeah. checks or cash. Checks are pre profitable. Um but check these days though. >> Yeah. For your students um for your students lunch. And I and I also say we did share um sort of a price comparison um with other districts that use Chartwells. And Brookfield was by far, you know, the lowest um in the area
043of lunch prices, which is which is great. we, you know, we want it accessible. Um, and it this does not change the price for reduced um student meals. That will still remain um 40 cents and breakfast will be 30 cents at the reduced price. So, no changes there. >> And then one last thing, um we talked about the year-end update um and where where we are. Um there is still a good amount of um of funds that are encumbered. So we haven't exactly closed the books just yet on that. Um but uh the fiscal year 25 ended at almost a break even. So when you consider all of the things that happened last year, we talked a lot about the big swings and we froze a lot of our budget. Um and there was a
044lot of talk about, you know, you know, what are we going to do with this uh appropriation if we if we end up not needing it? And most of that except for $10,000 about is going to go right back to the town. So I think we did Casey, you did an amazing job uh managing our budget considering all of the volatility. We did some horse trading within our own budget which I think was great. We kept all of our goals on track. So >> this is very good for the town and for us. >> Yeah. And it really it really was, you know, the whole organization. I mean, when we announced that um we had to put the freeze on the budget, you know, mid year um and and I tried to do it as
045carefully as I could and not really restrict people 100%. Um but people really, you know, built the building at the buildings um they really took that to heart and understood um what we were facing with some of these unexpected costs um and and really really helped out. So I kudos to everybody across the whole district for um helping with that. And I'm very hopeful. I don't um now that we we do know that, you know, a lot of those unknown costs with um special education are fully funded um going into the year that um we can get through a whole year really just operating without all of those unexpected um things. Things things are always going to happen and we will we will you know work with with that when it happens. Um, but uh
046I'm very hopeful going into this year that we maybe don't have to do even a frost. That would be that would be wonderful to see just how a year naturally progresses. Um, so thank you. >> And that was it. >> Thanks, Rosa. Okay. Um, Sarah, the youth commission update. >> Sure. >> Um, well, since their meetings are the first Friday of the month, which was the 4th of July, they did not have a meeting July, but their next meeting will be Friday, August 1st at 5 o'clock in the town hall. It's um meant to be the type of open house for anyone who might be interested in joining high school and middle school students. Um so that's a great opportunity to go and check it all out. The meet the candidates forum will be held
047mid October. Stay tuned for more details on that. Um as always, youth commission is eager to advocate for the youth and address concerns as they arise. Participation from the new and experienced members will certainly help to this end. There will also be a career fair as they've done every year. um probably around March of next year and I'll have more details as that gets closer. >> Yeah, that was really popular. >> Great. Thanks very much. Okay. Um so we're going to move now to the consent agenda, but um Debbie contacted me with four changes. So I'd like you guys to make them on your or I just want to point them out on our um on our sheets before we make the motion. >> Yeah, that sounds good. >> Yeah. So >> to add them
048before I make the motion. >> Yeah. Yeah. Don't make the motion. We're still on the >> So the um >> Yeah. Because it's it's um still agenda. >> Yeah. Um so Radica Jane um I hope that I pronounced that correctly. Um under new hires is not a 1.0. That position is a 0.55 for um special education clerk at TSO. Uh Katherine uh is it Robinson? Robinson >> um is was already on the June 4th consent agenda. So she's not part of this one. On the next page, um under transfers, uh Katherine Abrago is not she was also on the June 4th um consent agenda. And then finally under resignations, Courtney Kellen um the ABA Per was also on the June 4th consent agenda. So those are the modifications that um Mrs. Ferious's sharp eyes noted
049and um so it's discussed. >> Yeah. >> So um Stephanie then are you good? Yes. >> I move that the board approve the items on the consent agenda with edits as discussed and recommended. New hires, transfers, resignations, retired, May financials, and budget transfers. >> Second. >> Any discussion on this? >> No. Congratulations to Deborah Helman after 25 years. >> Did you want to say something to that or >> Yeah. >> I just had a quick question about Yeah. >> The sped clerk, the special educ was that a full-time position or was that >> It was always position. >> Correct. Yep. >> Yes. Yeah. So, I had the pleasure of working with Deb this year at the middle school where she was transferred as a uh like registration for the district, but I did reach out
050to some staff that worked with her long term and actually hired her. June Gordon hired her 25 years ago at Uncle Berry. >> So, I have some words from a few folks and myself here. Um very long career which is amazing. Great lady. Um Deb began her career with Proville public schools as a pair educator for two years where she quickly became known for her unwavering belief that students should always be at the center of everything we do. Uh her collaborative spirit, keen attention to detail, and natural problem solving skills made her a trusted and valuable presence when she transitioned to the main office. Um so she's been in a number of roles beyond her professional strengths to have also brought um beauty and warmth to the school. um quite literally I guess she's a
051pretty master gardener. So she frequently brought in flowers, bouquets um that lifted the spirits and reminded us of the joy and small thoughtful touches. Um her final year was at Wiskiner but for the district where she took on the role of district registar where she continued to serve families with grace, care and professionalism. Even last week I was working with her on a a family that is a student that's coming back to the high school. um her impact has been lasting and her presence will be deeply missed. We thank Deb for her 25 years of service and wish her all the best in a well- earned retirement. >> Thanks very much. So um any other discussion on the consent agenda? >> I just wanted to mention Deb Heling. Um I've kept in touch with her.
052I haven't had a kid in Huckleberry in nine years. Um she and I are birthday twins. So we always wish each other happy birthdays. Um some of the same the problem solving, the professionalism, the genuine the kids loved her. She loved the kids. Like it was just one of those things. She's one of my favorite people I've ever met in this district. >> Yeah, she's great. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. >> Um well, she'll be missed. >> Okay. Um all in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. So, it passes unanimously. Thanks, everyone. All right. Let's move now to new business. Um this is about the authorization for a signature change. Um, so >> I move that the board approve interim superintendent Rich Napoli as
053the designated representative authorized to sign the agreement for child nutrition programs and to sign claims for reimbursement for the Connecticut State Department of Education, school health, nutrition, and family services. >> Second. >> Any discussion on that? >> Okay. All in favor, please say I. >> All right. It is unanimous. Um, great. Thank you. Moving on. Uh, so adjustments to the goal setting form. Um, is this something? Yeah, we probably should. >> I'll make the motion first. >> Um, yeah. Okay. Okay. >> I move that the board approve the adjustments to the goal setting form of the board approved 2024 2025 evaluation and support plan. >> Second. Um, is there any um discussion on this or um are there questions for Debbie about it? >> Yes, I have I just was curious what the only um
054supporting documents we got was just the memo stating that's what it was and I do I did read some of the notes in Kate, but I just was wondering if you could go give us a brief synopsis so that we could get clarity for what exactly the changes were. What >> Sure. And excuse me, I can do better than that. I can distribute to you a copy of the changes to the form so that you can see them. Um, this information was shared at the CAPA meeting. >> Um, just to kind of briefly uh discuss it, the substance of the 2024 board approved evaluation and support plan remains unchanged. The PDC committee made only minor formatting uh and wording adjustments to the forms for both administrators and educators. These revisions were based um really on
055user feedback and are intended really to make the forms um and the conversations that follow clearer and more concise. So when you look at the forms, you'll see you'll see that in the revised uh version, it really shows three distinct boxes for goal, alignment, and professional learning plan. And there's really just less wording. Other than that, it's not a substantive change, >> but because we have to provide the state with an amendment, >> we just needed to share that information with the board. >> Thank you. Questions or discussion? >> So, the movement the motion has been seconded. All right. All in favor of approving um these adjustments, please say I. I. >> Okay. Any opposed? >> It's unanimous. Great. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so the next item on the agenda is really
056just to kickstart this uh conversation. Um, and I'll I've done a little bit of research and I'll I'll share with you what I have heard from other districts. Uh, so this is about review. We're we're meant to review our legal services annually. Um, and I think that it's been a while since we've done that. Certainly we haven't done that for the shipment services. Um so uh it's time for us to think about what kind of criteria we would like to use for that. Um and when I asked around these are the things that I heard from other um board chairs around the state uh that they have focused on communication with their legal services um the billing and then satisfaction of services. So, the communications really leans on the superintendent's um experience with uh with
057council. Is it timely? Is it accurate? Um does the superintendent feel like it the legal services have acted with the best interest of the district? Um do they communicate with the chair when needed? Um in terms of billing, is it accurate? Um u are they are I didn't really understand this next note. bills per services needed, whatever. We can do our own research on that. But then they um people said that the most important was satisfaction of services. So are are board members feeling satisfied with legal services? So I don't know if those are really useful criteria. I'm going to keep doing some digging, but um there's a national um board of National School Board Association and they don't have anything official. Um, but I'm still looking around at what they what they have. One
058thing that I did not expect to come up was that several districts said, "Hey, you guys um might want to have different legal firms for the board and for the superintendent for the rare instances where you might have well, they cited expulsion hearings, although we do we use a hearing officer. uh residency hearings or on the off chance that there's a problematic situation with the superintendent's performance. So, I think that's something for us to think about and discuss. Um but just for you guys to start thinking about what what you would want as criteria for legal services and I'll probably send out a um like a draft document. So in the past when when those like instances came up and it was rare, we did have different counsel than at the time Dan Murphy like
059so I would imagine that if those situations came up again that those would be treated sort of ad hoc or >> so you just like >> I don't I don't I don't honestly I well I guess if it was with the superintendent it would be a different >> I mean because we were really formal with our RFP process in selecting >> shipment. Yeah. >> Well, because it was it was Christine Chinny that we had used for those like the expulsion. We were there was like one expulsion hearing and there was >> um there was something else that we had used her for, but it was they were like oneoff things. They weren't >> I also think >> and we never like picked her out that was like you know >> I also think it's you
060know it's tough to look at too. I mean, we have the same firm doing special education and board, right? So, I mean, it's kind of hard to differentiate between. I think it's really important to talk to um the sped director. I mean, we would have no idea how those legal services are going. Yeah. You know, we have we have I mean, it's protected information. We're not privy to it. I mean, that whole entity can't really even be evaluated by the board. >> Yeah. >> That whole section. So, >> but we could get like but like you said, we could get his feedback if he's satisfied. I think that's what's probably >> I mean um we we need to think about what our criteria are and um so anyway, please start thinking about that. If you've
061got some leisure time by the pool, do some googling. Um your your thoughts on this? >> No, I think criteria is important for sure. Um but I'll just reiterate what Erin said. It'd be important to hear what the special ed um feedback gives. >> Yeah. And we're in it's >> or his insight on criteria. >> Yes. Yes. I mean we can ask you >> and you and um I mean all of you guys um Okay. >> Is there a timeline? >> No. I mean it's supposed to be annually. Well, we've never done it before. So, >> yeah. So, it's Yeah. >> Well, I haven't in the past eight years. >> We never last year. >> We got a new before the new firm. >> I think that's that's what the sort of I don't know.
062>> Well, I'm just wondering like when >> I just want Yeah. I just want I just hope that the board can remain like cautious about like what our role is. Like we have to we're we're a board. We're like like a board of directors. We're concerned with like, you know, yes, like is the superintendent happy? Is the the um the special ed director happy with the with the legal services that he's given? Do we see problems boiling to the surface continuously? Those I think would be red flags for people at a board level to say, "Okay, we need to make some board level decisions." But getting down like into like, you know, the management of it, I think I just I mean I just think that's that's getting too far >> astray of what our
063our role as a board is. >> Meaning like choosing two different firms for the board. >> No, no, no. I mean like I mean like when we create like an evaluation system, you know, like if we're if we're talking about I want to see all the documents for this and I want to double check and cross-check the accuracy with that like that gets >> there are people in the district that are paid to do this. >> That should not be part of the reviewing the criteria like I think in general the feedback that you got from other chairs was pretty accurate. You know, I mean take a look at the communication like do we have any issues with our current firm with communication? Did did our superintendent did anybody working with you know um you
064know any of the higher level administrators have an issue with you know the accuracy or the information or the timeliness of the communication like those would be sort of like red flags for us to make like those board level decisions of like okay maybe we need to make a switch but outside of that like it gets too like you know it just gets too into it >> but it is worth um to point asking Bill about being satisfied with the service. >> I mean, we can't weigh in on that, but he's the expert there. >> Exactly. Which is why his opinion matters, but like >> we don't have to evaluate anything beyond that. >> If I could sorry, if I could make one suggestion, too. Um board members do engage with um our legal counsel
065pretty intimately during negotiations. So that's that might you might want to have a whole separate section for you know their how they represent the board during negotiations because that's really >> um >> firsthand knowledge you know >> y >> thanks that's really useful okay um so that's that uh moving on to item D. This is the breakfast and school lunch pricing um motion. >> Are you good to motion? I'm working on. >> Thank you. >> Uh hold on. Wrong page. Moving on. Okay. I move that the board of education approve school lunch and breakfast pricing as recommended by the finance subcommittee effective September 2025. >> Second. Um Casey, thank you for explaining that um to us. >> Sure. >> So that's a 25 cent hike. >> Yes. For student lunches, I can $5 flat for
066>> adult lunches. If you want just for public consumption, I can just read what they will be. So the CLS student lunch is going to go from $2.50 to $2.75. Whiskanir student lunch, this just just sort of the regular lunch is going to go from $3 to $3.25. The Wiscaneer student premium lunch is going from 350 to 375. BHS student lunch is going from 325 to 350. The BHS student premium lunch is going from 375 to $4. And then the breakfast pricing will be um CL breakfast will be $2.20. Uh, whiskanir and BHS breakfast will be $2.50. >> Thank you. All right. Any discussion on this or questions? All right. All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. Please. >> I was going to say I didn't know what premium lunch meals. >> I was going to
067ask her in the parking lot. >> We'll talk about that off record. >> Okay. Um, all in favor of approving the uh new pricing um schedule, please say I. >> I. >> Okay. Any opposed? Okay. So, it's unanimous. >> I said delegate. >> It's the nonh hot food. >> Okay. So, this Did you decide with relief? >> No, I said Oh, >> I was trying to figure out what that food was or what the >> Well, because there's no old business. Um, so, uh, time for Right. So, it's time for the, um, second public comment. Mr. Korea. Hello, Andy Kria. Um, on the attorney evaluation, there's a policy uh 9115 um that guides what you're supposed to evaluate for. I think most of the things that were mentioned are on there. There's one thing that
068wasn't, which is, um, efficiency of advice. So, a situation that would be topically relevant here is, you know, should uh the board expect the lawyer to recommend perhaps settling the FOIC complaints rather than, you know, spending time, effort, and money fighting them when there's plain on their face violations. Um, but as you go uh into the next agenda item, um there's going to be an executive uh session vote to talk about those Freedom of Information Commission complaints. Um, I just want to make sure you're render clear what the board's FYA obligation is. Um, you need to address that agenda item whether the executive session vote passes or not. Um the the statute says that the public proceedings um the must be uh open to the public that there are potential exemption but the vote to
069go into executive session is part of the criteria. Um there is you have a legal obligation to address everything on the agenda. Um, I can tell you there is uh I think two more FOYC complaints coming forward to you. One of them is based on the May 7th agenda where this board um didn't discuss the uh ethics agenda items. Um, and so, you know, if you were to not have the um if if the executive vote session vote fails and you were to not discuss this in open session, it would be on video like a willful violation of the FOIC. So, just want to make sure that's crystal clear. Um, and then as it relates to the request for the attorney client privilege information regarding the September 26th meeting, the reason why I requested it
070was because um, attorney client privilege was weighed by claiming that uh, a board of ed member could violate it's like five board policies to do something they shouldn't do. Um, it wasn't provided. Um and essentially there was uh confusion among whether the advice claim that was given was actually before that meeting or in February. So there's a lot of um untruthfulness around that fact. And I would suggest the board hears from directly from uh the attorney's mouth what exactly was stated to the board member um on the phone on September 25th. Thank you. Okay. So, move >> moving to the three main points. Um, what do you think? >> So, I I think the Chromebooks >> Yeah. So, the first one is the chrome the WMS and VHS Chromebook email. The second one is May
071financial report which also included the breakfast roll out. So, I felt like that could be No, you don't like >> I Well, because the if I'm a parent, I want to know about the changes to the breakfast. Well, I originally had them separate, but then I put the legal review as a separate one. I don't know why I thought that was >> I don't think people care about that. >> I don't actually know. >> What do you guys think? >> Breakfast roll out. So, the financial report and then the breakfast roll out. >> Yeah, the change in the prices. I think parents are letting us know. They want to know these things. >> Okay. Then I'll go back to my original. >> Yep. We're done. Cool. Breakfast roll out >> and then three. And the
072lunch the lunch price changes, right? >> Yeah. The Okay. The breakfast lunch. Uh the breakfast. >> Should I put lunch not as part of the finance committee as I mean? >> Yeah. >> Breakfast and lunch. Okay. >> And lunch price. >> Tell them about the new window. >> Yeah, I will. >> Okay. >> So like work work in their like >> breakfast and lunch. >> Changes to food. So changes to food programs. Yes, city one. >> There you go. >> Changes to food programs >> and then then you'll work in like the about talking about the facility upgrades. Yeah. >> And then facility upgrades >> and so changes to food >> programs and include the facility the changes to the facilities. >> That would be like >> DHS. >> Oh, you want three to be
073separate. So no financial report. >> No. Yeah. >> Wait, I'm confused. >> Yeah. Financial facility. I mean, >> oh, see, I was thinking like the facilities was the was the cafeteria upgrade that you were mentioning. So, that could go in with the whole lunch >> breakfast food program >> changes to the food program would be breakfast roll out, the lunch price changes, and the upgrade to the BHS cafeteria. That's what I was thinking. Then number three would be the main financial report since we like broke even and we have like there were some significant things that I had Yeah. made note of. >> We upgraded anything at the cafeteria. >> The floor is complete. >> The cafeteria floor is complete. >> It's no longer buckling. Yeah, the caf cafeteria floor is complete. Um and then
074there's some minor minor things. I did a walkthrough last week that will be updating. >> Um yes, not the cafeteria but the storage in for the gym. >> Yep. Yeah, the the facility update was fairly significant. >> So, should it be should should the facility update be number three or >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Because I think that you're not so financial. >> Money is going into that. >> So, no financial report. >> Is there a way to like blend them like here here are the things we've been spending money on? >> How about three and a half points? I've tried that. The goal of three main points is to just pick the top three. >> I know. I've tried. >> So, we've got to pick the top three. >> I think the facilities is
075important. >> Okay. >> I agree. >> And if you do the lunch or the breakfast and lunch and you do the facilities, it kind of encapsulates all of the financials. >> Yep. As long as people know that we're not wasting our money. >> Yeah. Which is often a very big criticism. That's why I wanted to put the financials in there because it was such like a positive. >> I know. >> I'll put facilities updates and financial. Well, I'll figure out how to >> I can help you. We're meeting tomorrow to talk about solar panels anyway. >> Yeah. >> Did you get the link for that? >> I did. Yeah, >> I did not yet. I don't think, but >> Okay. >> Um I'll double check. >> Um Okay. So, um upcoming events. Uh, there aren't
076none currently that I have because no one's in school to report them to me. The first day of school is the Tuesday after Labor Day and I don't know what that date is actually. September 2nd. There you go. >> That's true. We all know >> that's true. You You had a lot of practice. Okay, then. >> Oh, we go back a week earlier. >> Well, I personally have to go back. >> Yeah. Okay. >> There's no motion. Um so uh we have a recommended action. Oh so this this concludes the the um the public portion of the meeting. Um so thank you for tuning in for people who are watching at home. >> Recorded because if we >> recorded session thank you. Thank you. My bad. >> Public session. Um so uh the um there's
077an executive uh session to discuss and the first um piece of it is to take a vote. >> Uh I move that the board enter into executive session in the Brookfield High School's principal conference room for the purpose of discussing FOIC complaints. >> Second. >> Is there discussion about this? Can you shed some light on to why it's going to be an executive session and not part of this meeting? >> Yes. Yes. Um because there are two pending legal actions and those are for executive session and not for public discussion >> according to the law. I mean they're they're ongoing. So they're they're they're not for public discussion. Um also it appears that some of the concerns um uh around the FOIC complaints have to do with board communication and that is um notably part
078of our um board self-evaluation. So they dovetail pretty nicely. So I can I just note too that um in the questions and research that I've done under Connecticut law for Freedom of Freedom of Information Act complaints um it is not required for those conversations to take place in a public forum. The law does not explicitly mandate that all FOI related discussions or complaints be addressed in a public setting. >> Okay. Thanks. Other um discussion on this issue. I mean, obviously, I wrote to you asking for it to be an agenda item. I'm not thrilled that it's on executive session. Um, I have my own feelings about it. Um, I really feel that um taking any discussion about um transparency or lack of disclosure um out of the public eye is heading in the wrong direction.
079So, um, the public has a right to know whether if their elected officials are subject to complaints and I just think that if we do move it behind closed doors, it erodess the board's willingness to be open and accountable. So, I mean, I really um, you know, transparency is a major issue. um to hear constantly that we have complaints before an FOI commission or an ethics commission by members of the public and not by our council or our board at large is a problem. Um and it's a major whether it's we're not hearing it from our previous superintendent or we're not hearing it from our board chair. Um it definitely is failure and leadership and transparency and I am really I just have a hard time with it. So, I have two questions. Um, does
080going into executive session in any way bar the public from having public information about FOIC complaints? >> I don't think so. >> Right. So, the public so we are in no way being not transparent by going into executive session. Is that correct? >> In other words, the public has access to any FOI complaints. >> I think so. >> Okay. Yes, I I I would believe so too. The other question is, have we gotten any legal advice regarding the use of executive session here? >> Um, yes, we have. >> And the advice was that this should be discussed in executive. >> We've been told that before this meeting. Yes. >> This is not the first time that we've been told to enter executive session. It would not if we don't go into executive session, it would
081not be the first time that this board has been actually held in the dark because they've refused to go into executive session. And the last thing I wanted to say was that we are not getting consistent complaints uh FOI complaints from the public. We are getting them from people I can count on one hand, probably two fingers. So that's something to be said about that. >> Say something about that then. I don't know what that point. I just did. No, you didn't. >> So, if we were getting non-stop complaints from a mass amount of people, I would say there's a problem. When we've been getting it for a decade from one person, I would say that's a you problem. >> So, um >> many problems, Rosa, >> this Yeah, let's >> I just I just
082want to reiterate that this is these are pending legal matters. Um and so that's that is the the main reason that they are appropriate for executive session. >> So did our legal say that this needs to be done in executive session? Did the legal state that >> uh it was advised that this could be done in executive or in >> public. Um, >> so that kind of contradicts what Rosa said, right? Or am I wrong? >> It the um I'm I'm feel like it's it's very difficult here to uh I I don't want to um get into exactly what legal told me because I I don't want to wave privilege. Could Could I could I give could you give me some input on this from your experience as a board chair? Um, so what what
083specifically I >> So, um, the I had a discussion with, um, Sarah Gleason >> about, um, about the concerns that specifically Aaron and um, Joy had expressed that they wanted to discuss FOI complaints. Since they are a pending legal matter, it was advised that it would be preferable for the board >> y >> to do this in executive session. Um it was not barred from having it in open session, but it is it was advised it is much better for the board to do it in executive. >> And I I I don't I don't think this opens the door to like waving all advice from council. I don't I don't think so. I So, if you're asking for my for my position as a former board chair, um >> I don't I don't think there
084was ever a time where I would have um sought legal counsel and then not followed it. Um I think it it puts the board in a position that they don't want to be if if you're rejecting the advice of legal counsel, right? Um but that's we never had this specific issue um come up but um that's just in gen generally speaking that that would be my >> we were also told in previous conversations by legal that we should not have these conversations in public before we have them in private. So like if we determine once we come out of the executive session if there's action to be taken or a different conversation to be had. I think I think we're my interpretation of this executive session is like factf finding all getting on the same
085page hearing sort of what you know what's out there. >> So that's why I feel like this session specifically isn't necessarily to take action. It's just to get all the information >> in the the most open way that we can speak freely possible and then within that session maybe there are some things that could come out of it where we could have a public conversation or things could be on the agenda in a different way in a way that makes more sense once we all have the information. I don't know that's right where I kind of view it. >> So who will be providing the information in executive session? It is legal. No, I I would I would be answering all your questions. >> Then that's not legal advice. >> Well, if she spoke to
086legal and has all the information, but if you want to have legal out of conversation, that should be a >> I think the issue here is there's complaints, right? If complaints were if the board was privy to complaints coming in by the administration, then this wouldn't even we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The fact is that now we know there's three complaints out there. We heard tonight there's more coming. There's just if we don't confront the lack of transparency and the lapses of what's going on, nothing's ever going to be fixed. I mean I just >> so in again going my interpretation kind of of the situation kind of comes from a point of like some of those conversations it's not that we're not being transparent it's that we have to wait legally until
087there's like there h like Pete has told us in our executive sessions previously or in going into executive sessions that we don't want to um what's it called like forgo our uh legal our what what did you say privilege >> privilege Yeah, we don't want to. >> We have three that have already been in hearings. That's the problem. It's out there and that's how we're finding out. >> But I think the information that the conversations you guys want to have is like what our council is doing about it, what we are doing about it, how we feel about it. Like >> I don't want to find out about board business or board issues from a member of the community. I want to hear it from the board. a board self-evaluation type thing, >> how the
088board chair communicates with the rest of the board. >> The thing of it is is we're not going to get anywhere right now. >> I'm just trying to clarify what you want what you want to get out of this because it's we're going to we're hoping to go into executive session to discuss the actual legal matter related to these FOI complaints. And it sounds like you want to talk about how you're disgusted with Wendy's leadership. >> Okay. Well, first of all, >> point of order because I didn't say that I was disgusted with her leadership. So, I would really appreciate it if you would keep your >> fine. It sounds like you want to talk about Wendy's performance as opposed to the legal matter related to these FOI. >> No, I I think that it's
089really important to talk about board communication. So, that if that was an executive session, but to actually enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing FOIC complaints. >> So the purpose of discussing FOIC complaints, I think that we should have council discussing FOIC complaints. That's my opinion. And um >> so we don't go into this executive session and we ask Sorry, go ahead. >> Um it does it doesn't it doesn't seem right to not have legal discussing these FOIC complaints with us. That's where it doesn't sit well with me. It just doesn't make sense >> that this is the first I'm hearing of the FOIC was through email. >> Yeah, I don't know why. >> That's why I assume Well, so that's why I assumed when we went in we were going to learn
090>> exactly like what was what the other than what we've read. >> It seems that legal should be doing that. >> And it is also it is also historical practice to not have legal at every single executive session where we are discussing sensitive matters. But if you would like to do that, I'm I'm sure we could set that up. >> Well, not executive session isn't always since it matters. You know, sometimes we do >> actually >> evaluation things like that. We do things >> I mean this type of stuff we we usually, you know, they're not always present in our executive sessions because the chair talks with the attorney. She provides a summary. That is how we've done it a lot of times. And now the attorney does come sometimes but not every time. Can
091I ask would you guys want the like legal to actually be a representative there or would like a memo or something be enough like if a summary of like what the actual topics are? >> I don't want a memo. >> Okay. I I just was asking I wasn't sure how you wanted. >> Also this whole conversation Wendy started by telling me that we have to go into executive session and then changed the message in the midst of the discussion. So I have more confidence that if we have legal there we would actually get facts. Well, some of this, Sarah, some of that comes from the the dance that I feel like I have to do because of the threat consistently of um, oh, you're waving legal privilege. Now, we get to know everything. You can't
092keep anything um, quiet or or confidential. And so, I I have to be like bizarly careful with my word choice. And it's it's really I feel um hamstrung sometimes what should be simple conversations uh become I think quite fraught and this you know this is meant to be if we have this executive session it's meant to be a place for I can let you know what's been happening you can ask questions um so if we have it great if we don't then I can see if we can get uh counsel physically on site which sounds expensive but if that's what it takes and that's what it takes. Um but the and hopefully by that point these matters will have been concluded but they are ongoing right now. And um >> so to Erin's point, can
093you address why you haven't addressed these any sooner than today? >> Um >> if your if your vision is to keep us in the loop, why is it so much after the fact? >> Well, I mean they've been going on since April. >> Exactly. >> We find out in April. >> Exa that's exactly my point. because I was handling board business as the chair is meant to. >> Not this entire board is subject to, you know, potential violations. We have a right to know. >> Um I think uh I I can understand your point. I can understand your point. So is there more discussion on this or shall we vote? >> All right. All in favor of entering executive session, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> All oppose, please say nay. >> Okay.
094Um the motion does not pass and um that concludes the meeting. So at 7:18 >> 8:18. Thank you. Um without objection, I adjourn the meeting. Thanks everyone.