Board of Education Meeting

001of this Wednesday January 15th um if you would please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance let's rise I pledge aliance 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 so in terms of the Roll Call we are all here um minus one um Melissa Bain is not with us tonight because she's down the hall performing with the dance team um but we have a standin for her who we'll see you soon um so we're going to start tonight with the student Spotlight from Brookfield High School so um Mr Blanda you're going to be leading this great welcome everybody thanks for coming guess that helps a little bit all right we're on all right welcome

002good evening everyone uh it is my pleasure to introduce uh our student government uh at Brookfield High School uh I'm joined here tonight by Mr Chris Buckley uh who is the student government adviser uh as well as three of our members of our executive board uh Maria Coello AA tomato and Katie Lennon uh so they have a little presentation they put together for you but I'll turn it over to Mr Buckley to say a few words that introduce the students all right so so thank you for giving our kids a chance to chat today I am their adviser so uh I meet with them on a sometimes daily basis other times I don't see them for a week uh these are extraordinary kids there's only three of my six are here today uh because they

003do all the things they're about to share with you while balancing Varsity Sports jobs all of these things so like they are the most organized individuals I have ever met um so everything you're going to hear from them today is the work that they do and I'm exceedingly proud of them and uh yeah show them what you guys do thank you um so I'm a the student body president I'm Katie Lennon I'm the vice president and I'm okay and I'm Maria qu and I'm the club Council coordinator um so before we start we just want to talk a little bit about like what we do and how we function before we get into the projects we've done um so the structure of our Student Government um we have an executive board which is composed of

004six members and it's all composed of upper classmen and then we have four class officers per grade for each grade um and then we hold meetings once a month with all of those members and and then for the executive board and the class officers they have like their own meetings during iots which are like weekly or bi-weekly depending on how much work they have um we also follow Robert's Rules of Order which I'm sure you all know and follow too um and we have our own Constitution um we do our best to balance between school activism service spirit and appreciation and we just want the best for everyone in the school community and I think something important to note is that we do everything and it's like student L and accomplished um so we do

005have the support from Mr Buckley and Mr Banda but we like lead all the projects and plan all them all right so our one of our like most important events homecoming dance and also pep rally happened in the fall um so homecoming dance was in the gym this year which was actually different from previous years and it was actually very successful um we had also um homecoming Carnival which was after the pep rally and right before the homecoming football game which was also very um sorry it was very good for uh the a clubs that participated cuz we're able to fundraise around like $100 per Club um and we also had a very successful pep rally we heard a lot of good feedback um to also get participation for homecoming cuz we've had a lack

006of uh freshman participation uh we created like competitions for each LT to see who can get the most participation in each grade um yeah we tried to get more freshmen but we also tried you know to get participation from every grade oh these are some pictures uh the first one is from our faculty uh dodgeball during pep rally that was really fun I'm pretty sure the faculty did win um um second picture is actually the dino costumes we dressed up in after one of our field trips the executive members and we went to some classes and like tried to like advertise getting people to buy homecoming tickets um and then the third one is from homecoming and that those were the tables that we set [Music] up so a little bit about the volunteer events

007at BHS we had a successful two-day Veterans Day which is cool because this is the first time that we had a Veterans Day celebrated for 2 days and and as we honored veterans during our history classes we got to have the opportunity to see um a panel in videos and we give a great thanks to that from the historical society and some upcoming events include diversity day as we can recognize and acknowledge the the diversity at BHS the community in the world and another event that's happening tomorrow is mastering at midterms as we partner with National Honor Society to provide tutoring for freshmen um so else that we've done this year is we had the Asheville fundraiser so we partnered with Beth bethl high school and we did a little competition at one of our

008football games to see who could raise more money we won but uh we raised over $1,200 and we sent that money to school um Asheville Public Schools cuz their town and school got wrecked um during the Hurricanes a couple months ago in the Carolinas and a little bit about Club Council um we meet once a month during ilt in the library and we're a major figure in EMB bidding auditing or reviewing clubs in order to foster a positive School environment and during these meetings these clubs share what they're currently working on and other clubs can like help and like promote interclub connectivity by like saying like oh like I can help you um with this project and they can just work together and we also organized the club fair and the homecoming Carnival and those

009are both at the beginning of in September um so another thing we've done I'm sure you've seen the car outside um it's by like the student lot the patch of grass there um so we did a distracted driving campaign um we partnered with the Brookfield police department and our main goal was to raise awareness about distracted driving and just to educate our students about it and honestly anyone else who drives by because it's such a big issue yeah it is all right so we've taken two field trips uh one they're both by Cass which is just a Connecticut Association of student council uh one was um in the beginning of September and was to the Old State House in Hartford and then the second one we just took in December and it was a mock

010legislative trial to the capito building in Harford Harford so that was really cool oh these are also some pictures okay so some in school fun that we had we had a gingerb competition during ilts right before the holiday winter break and that was like sort of our like schoolwide holiday spirit day and then obviously these are I think these are the winners right yes yeah really fun so what we have upcoming is we're going to do a winter blanket Drive blanket Drive which was actually brought up to another by another student who's not in student government uh we're thinking of partnering with the Salvation Army to get this done and pass out the blankets um we also want to do a fundraiser for the LA um California wildfires and also partnering partnering with red cross

011club and also we want to plan a spring spirit uh spirit week and pep rally which we've not done before but we've heard a lot of sports and clubs want this and like people that are around in the spring and we also had a really good pep R so people want to continue that yeah thank you any questions one go ahead um is there anything that you want you wanted to accomplish that you didn't get to or some words of wisdom or ideas you can pass on to Maria as she becomes a senior next year well um I think we didn't we were told that but we didn't really realize like how much planning like homecoming pep rally does take cuz we had we did start in July but even that we felt like crunched

012on time so I think and Maria saw that cuz she was also meeting with us but definitely to Maria and also like the younger class officers just like start as early as possible like that time is definitely your friend and during the summer it's not as busy cuz you don't have any work I would say definitely plan early um do you guys have anything that we didn't do um um I I feel like maybe we could do some more um like spirit days we're thinking of doing and having more like Spirit weeks just to get like the whole school involved but I think besides that we've done like we've done a lot and we're like proud of it so great so I have a I have a question and you can answer it just as

013a group not each one of you but um so what would you consider to be like in your entire time with SGA um you know like the biggest challenge that you've found in you know working in the student government um I could talk for me I think it's definitely like trying to especially I've been it since in it since my freshman year so I think for me just trying to like balance like this and like organizing it and then also like doing sports and stuff um and all the school work in APS and stuff but Mr Buckley has been really helpful with it like he understands that like we're students first um which has been really helpful but I think just like balancing and trying to organize everything um something that I kind of found

014that I found challenging was trying to get student participation especially during like September and like for homecoming and pep rally because I feel like there's like a stigma around like oh like if you participate like it's like seen as like there's like judgment and stuff so it's like kind of hard to like combat that but I feel like this year we did a better job especially during Homecoming by getting more freshmen to come and enjoy their time there um I say the biggest challenge for me or like trying to struggle is trying to like make everyone feel included cuz when you do something like there's when you try to make someone feel included someone else might not feel included and so I feel like just throughout the three years I've been in since sophomore year

015is just like how do I let everyone feel included and feel like everyone that they can come to me and like tell me about stuff I feel like that was the biggest challenge but I've really like I think all of us have like really like adapted to that and just tried to stay like very open to everything that's great thank you ladies I I have a question um and I don't know that you can answer it now it might be something that you talk about among yourselves uh and then tell Mr Buckley or Mr Blanda um when you when you think about ways that your organization could reach its Effectiveness from a student perspective right like achieving your Miss mission of improving life at Brookfield High School for everybody what do you need from the

016adults and the administrative support around you like please please think on that because there doesn't if you perceive a gap um your the adults who support you might not know it and so there's it would be a a way to address that by like identifying what it is because I think that there's um I mean you've just demonstrated the amazing work that you've accomplished this year and I know that's building on a tradition of really good work you know the student government has been really powerful for for a number of years so um we'd like to help you take maybe some roadblocks out of your way so um think about it and let us know thank you you all right thanks thank you so much guys I think one of the most valuable things that

017I've seen before they go is that uh these students are are are open to having difficult conversations right they they have them with me sometimes I tell them things they want to hear sometimes I tell them things they don't um but we have a great working relationship they always come to me with ideas they're always and it's so student driven um and that's a thing probably I'm proudest of it's not I'm not telling them you should do this they're coming what do you think about this and that's really the the true power behind student government is they are actually running and doing all that work so we're very proud of them uh particularly the state capital you saw some of those pictures from the state capital um while she's not here I know we have

018a ninth grader that participated that was like very impressive and like pontificating on things and correcting people at a level at a nth grader was pretty impressive um that just speaks the comfortability that our kids have and the support that they feel that they can get and participate in those things so I'm very and Katie didn't mention that she does a lot of the Ann she's kind of the voice of Brookfield High School in the morning in the announcements so every days it's Katie's voice the announcements saying good morning and welcome and here's the pledge and here's what's for lunch and now pass to Mr bandad she does a really good job because I do try to make her break when she's talking on the she's fantastic so yeah we are very proud of them

019and the work that Mr Bucky is doing so make sure that I said that again so thank you everybody thank you so much wonderful with that uh we'll segue a public comment we have um uh one person signed up um I'm just going to uh read a public comment statement uh we look forward to hearing your input it's worth noting that the second public comment session has been removed and for new participants and in keeping with our desire to conduct the board's business efficiently I'm going to uh lay out some guidelines persons who we wish to speak sign themselves up in the book prior to the meeting um comments must pertain to agenda items other input can be communicated through email to the board uh when you come to the podium please give your name

020and street address and each speaker will have uh 3 minutes so um Mrs odonnell yeah just make sure you turn the mic on Len o Donald 5 Cottontail Lane in Brookfield this is going to be so quick I'm so appreciative Board of Education Dr Bell all of you for a budget process which was probably brutal putting that budget together and I understand how much work it takes and it appears to be an incredibly responsible budget not just for our community at large but for the students in these buildings and that's all I wanted to say thank you for that incredibly hard work putting that budget together thank you thank you very much all right so we will will um move to a report from our student representative who's not able to be here so my

021understanding is that Mr belanda will reappear and give us the student representative update from um Melissa Baines all right good evening hello again big shoes to fill because I think we all saw Melissa dance I will not be doing that for you this evening but she did provide me as a great student rep does with um some notes that you wanted me to make sure I shared um so I'll read it verbatim opening I hope everyone had an amazing break and a happy New Year Sports last week 12 members of the athletic adviser presented at an elementary leadership conference hosted by Westcon uh this week five other members will present at a middle school leadership conference hosted by Southern Connecticut State University uh The Varsity dance team and varsity and JV cheerleading are currently hosting

022their competition routine showcase which most a lot of you saw uh this past weekend The Varsity dance team participated in their first competition at Woodland Regional High School placing second and third in their respective categories and cheer is getting geared up to compete on Saturday uh other things um midterm start next week at the high school in student Gomer and National a society are co-hosting a midterm review session they call it master your midterms tomorrow from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M they have snacks peer tutors and quiet study environment so the focus is really nth graders who need tutor who looker for tutoring support we have specialists in different areas they'll be set up here in the library they can uh teachers have provided study guides so the tutors actually have those to help support the

023kids as they study uh for the ninth graders and just opening the library for anybody wants a quiet place to study um so anybody else that's in 10th 11th or 12th grade could certainly come and be in a corner and and study which is great um and then at the previous meeting Melissa spoke about a presentation done by the honic re resources recovery Authority uh and we did officially start that um at the high school in terms of recycling uh in the cafeteria there is now multiple garbage bins uh also a recycling bin um a liquid container for students to dump uh liquids out and then also a place to stack their trays little things like stacking trays as opposed to throwing them in willy-nilly actually reduces the amount of garbage that we create even

024though they're not being recycled just physically reducing the number of garbage bags that we have uh is very helpful so and we also have a food fridge so that students that have unopened items um that they don't want to use or eat rather than throw them away they can put them in a donation fridge and I'm currently working on and I'm the the signup sheet should be ended up by this week is students will be willing to collect some of that food and deliver them whether it's student drivers um be able to go to the different schools and pick them up as well so we like we're off in community service that's a great community service for them uh as well as helping at the high school because as you can imagine sometime teenagers they

025forget on occasion they want to go back to their old ways so just having somebody that'll remind them I'll make sure that goes there and this goes there so uh and that's it for the updates so thank you thanks Mr Blen all right so we're going to move now to written correspondence Stephanie what do you have the following people have emailed the Board of Education since the December 18th meeting Michelle Fitzgerald Christina Zimmerman Andy Korea with four emails Matt Grimes Denise rice Irene Korea and Brian McGovern okay um let's talk then uh next about um approval of board minutes [Music] I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended public budget round table from 12824 regular meeting from 12824 um do we have any discussion all in favor is signified by saying

026I I I any opposed this is board no board approval of board right totally okay we're a little far up so it pass unanimously great let's move then to the superintendent update all right happy New Year good evening everyone so as uh tradition in framing the superintendent report uh this year I've got teaching and learning business and operations and clim school climate operations start with teaching and learning just an update for everyone it's a little bit of a followup from December 18th um During the two-e period between January 2 7 and February 14th we're going to initiate our portrait of the learner learning walks um and that has to do with our um pillars of communication and uh collaboration critical and creative thinking caring citizens and change makers and um with beginning those learning walks

027we're going to start to calibrate on all of that work and that uh the uh pit of the learner work that's going on in addition to that it's important for the board and the public to know that on March 5th um Dr man uh Mr Mr Bland and the team will be giving us a presentation giving the board a presentation on March 5th uh this Friday we have our professional learning day uh the students are in for an early release and then the teachers have the afternoon for professional development work uh and our par educators are part of that as well and then finally under teaching and learning for this uh board meeting report we've also got on March 19th we can look forward to the special education department strategic plan that uh Mr Roland

028will be presenting business and operations um it's important to just remind everybody that we had budget blast number 10 I can't believe we had that many over the course of the fall and it's been that many weeks in terms of uh budget development with the board and uh the team and I appreciate everybody's work on that um that particular budget blast summarized all nine kind of the whole process and linked not only the website where all the budget information is located the uh prior nine budget blasts were put there and then we just posted all of that as one big document on Facebook today for everybody as well and uh reposted it uh on parents Square I'm going to stop there and ask Casey to take over on a quick update on the small gym

029roof at whis skiner and also follow up on Mr bal's discussion about recycling because that's a big initiative post holidays to really get going at all of our schools sure um so so as you as you know the small Jim roof at whis skiner um had an issue with the I think it was over prolonged maybe three days of those High um High gust wind wind gusts um where the the roof tar or that that material actually came detached from the roof structure of on the the building itself the video of it actually looked like just a tarp sort of blowing on on the roof it I didn't know what I was looking at however um uh we had a roof uh contractor come out immediately he was there that afternoon first of all the

030the first people on site were the building inspector and the Fire Marshall to and Facilities team to ensure that there was no structural concern to you know the the whole building itself students were removed from the from the um from the gym while that was all inspected um they you know they didn't have any overall concerns um about the the building itself so uh as soon as the um roofing contractor was on site the next day to do the actual repairs um the gym has been used ever since um so the roof contractor was out that day to assess and evaluate came on site the next day did the initial repairs it's a temporary repair it's not a permanent repair to the to the to the roof um by any means but there are um

031these um the brackets in place holding down all along different seams of the of the roof to hold that in place um uh there's a long-term fix to this of course which is a a roof replacement um and um so we're looking at that um I did get actually right before I got here I got an email from Mr C Caldwell about a proposal on what something like that more permanent fix looks like I haven't even put my eyes on it yet but um that is all in the works we have notified kerma our insurance um our insurance uh agent about this incident as well as the BHS as you know um incident over Christmas so that is all I have on that um and then the Casey if I could just jump in on

032that for a second it's really important the responsiveness of the contractor I was actually sharing with Aaron earlier tonight um this is you know happened in 1 1:00 in the afternoon or something like that and the contractors within an hour or two were there they were on another job Dan gave them a call uh and it's Barrett Roofing so they've done work for us in the past we have great relationship and they were that responsive I thought they deserved a shout out and immediately the next day another crew to make sure the fix was there didn't interrupt learning really you know more than an hour probably of of of the day so it's just important to know that we have those uh those kind of people in our community that really come come through for

033us when we need it absolutely um and then I'll just touch very briefly Mr Mr Blanda um did a good job of explaining the recycling uh efforts going on um across the three schools um and I'm very encouraged and hopeful that we might get some student volunteers to help with the Food donation pickup um Casey's the designated driver designated driver every day right now so that would be great um to have some uh some volunteers for that so that would be great um but yeah it's it's a good effort um underway and you know there'll be bumps in the road um but we're going to hopefully have a sustained system of you know just that constant reminder of the importance of recycling where we can so and we're going to hopefully enlist our uh volunteers

034a little bit more tomorrow when we get to talk to them at speaks speak so yes and it related to that um there is a food service advisory meeting um that we I just met with Chartwells uh this week we have it on the calendar for Janu uh January 29th the last Wednesday of this month um it's open to the community just to get input uh chart wells will do a very brief presentation on the national school lunch program um give out some information and then you know we are there to receive input and feedback from the community so that'll be at uh January 29th at 1:00 in the afternoon there will be another meeting um that will be held later on in the spring likely and that will be an evening meeting so that

035we have opportunities for to try to get everybody I believe it'll be 1:00 it will be 1:00 the location is TBD but communication will go out about that can I ask you a question about their recycling if um so being at CS if parents are confused or have concerns who should they contact with questions about what exactly there's there I I've heard some feedback that like what is going on who what did we need volunteers for who like there's not a lot of information that they tangible information other than were Recycling and they were curious like so who do they contact how do we get more information uh well they can reach out to me obviously I've been telling them I know I know the PTO was working on trying to get some Volunteers in

036the calf and and that was the confusion I think they don't know what they're for so it was like it was more of like is there so I've been referring them to the presentation that the um recycling um Representatives did in O perfect September August yeah yeah I've just been pulling the link from the three main points and sending it to people that I know but it got me thinking like is there could we put something on parents square with that just as a reminder when the PTO yeah the link did the PTO put that in their communication they didn't so they just asked for volunteers for recycling and I think that was something where it was like what are we like people that didn't pay attention in the summer like their kids were coming

037home and they were like they're apples sitting on a table right like it was one of those things that like I know people and I can communicate but I thought maybe it would be a good idea to we'll put together what we can do is bring that up tomorrow again it's probably a third of the agenda is talking about the recycling program because really the Genesis of it was our folks from speaks we're really you gung-ho on it last year when we talked about it so we we got it in place it's a great program and I know the kids are gung-ho about it I was there volunteering so they'll give us a lot of and they they're doing from what I can see and then my daily pickups they're doing a very good job

038yeah it it it's more communication on the not in school sure y Stephanie I think they just needed uh communication on knowing that they had to get the volunteer forms filled out from the schools for the buildings to be a volunteer in the building correct so I think that's what threw some people off because I saw some of those comments going back and forth on the Facebook thread that it was they're like wait we have to be cleared like some people that don't normally maybe volun I see I see and we have links for that too we can put everything in a package that's great I will say the pictures of what was recycled in food items unopened was you know shocking as opening yeah and again this is only it's only we can only

039collect items that are um that are from the cafeteria itself it can't be you know little Johnny sandwich from home that he didn't want we're not taking any of those I just saw I heard Little Johnny's mom makes great I mean string I mean there was a ton of string CH like I just couldn't believe how much yeah and so and so have to do this so much waste and all of that is um being donated to the food food pantry right here in Brookfield and and they're very happy to take um a lot of that lot of that stuff um it might also be helpful just because you're going to be meeting about this um to kind of standardize like what each school is doing okay um because I volunteered at whis sker myself

040and the first day we were um like clearing trays and they were stacking them um and then we were told by the set by later that week you know those were just getting thrown out they couldn't get recycled and so then by the end of the week like really the only thing kids were recycling were like cans like water bottles which is fine um but after hearing what Mr Banda said about like even if you so that is the initial so that I have to I have to um I have to talk with the folks in the cafeteria too because that the communication is that just stacking the trays reduces reduces waste because it's less garbage bags that we're eliminating um I'm hopeful because because the the lunch trays are recyclable but if they're dirty

041they're not so I'm hopeful that like after maybe a full year of doing this when kids can recognize oh wait this tray is clean I can recycle it this one is full of ketchup goes in the trash maybe we can get there you know but I think we have to just start by just being thoughtful about how we're this feedback is great I mean here's the thing we have to be forgiving to ourselves it's only been a week I mean it's really we just I mean and this is with 2500 kids you know so everybody's really putting in a good effort so this is great feedback though and we have speaks tomorrow so it's kids are super into it it's it'ss they're like really excited and yeah that's great line up and yeah great I

042didn't know recycling was going to be such a hit all right moving on Casey where is whis skiner on the capital like the roof on the plan uh so this this particular roof I believe it's not on there is not is not on this current I think it's maybe three years out um it wasn't the it's not on the one that we're proposing for next budget year and it's not on the year after that it might be the one but the good news is if Insurance picks it up it just goes right goes right on and they may be able to do a long-term repair not a full replacement so that could give us 10 years yeah that might be the way to go and obviously cost effective all right so I'm going to keep

043on uh moving on still under business and operation just an FYI I know there's a a budget investment for two coaches uh an assistant head coach for the ski team for next year so we you know we'll we'll mention that uh when we have our budget discussion later in the meeting um but this year um with our volunteer coach which is Eric our technology director um the excitement was that we had about 26 kids high interest and it's turned out we're all the way down to three so one yeah so that's that's where we're at right now so one of the things with that is Mr Baldwin and Mr Conlin and Mr B have been meeting as to we we we need to look at something maybe a little different we probably don't have interest

044to have our own team for next year so the thought process is a co-op team with bethl and Danberry because their numbers are dwindling and uh um but one of the schools might be trying to have a startup as well uh kind of like us so anyway there there's an early thought there working with those schools um that would um certainly have interested kids be able to participate and we would go to one coach so that's something in the budget we'll talk about rather than two um given that and then if interest creeps back up then you know we can consider it for for 26 27 last thing under business and operations uh midyear health update um those of you who've been on the board a long time you know that once in a while

045I I check in and let you know how things are going I had heard that there was some high numbers in pneumonia last week and some other things so I had asked Mrs lefor our nurse coordinator to put this together with the nurses so if you take a look um total of all 2500 kids in the district um flu we uh as of yesterday and today's cases that are reported to us they don't know unless it's reported when parents call in or notes come in um flu 16 cases covid three cases strep two cases pneumonia 3 there were in I think 23 or 26 cases last week of pneumonia which is a real Spike we've never seen that before but three so far this week and no neuro virus so I just wanted to give

046everybody a heads up on the those numbers moving into the second page which is school climate and engagement we talked about speaks being tomorrow uh 10: a.m. here at the high school we'll be in the auditorium and then I wanted to go through the various surveys I I think Mr belanda coined the phrase survey Extravaganza over the next couple of months so I wanted to make sure everybody uh you know we keep reminding people of the dates Healthy Start times which we will talk about tonight that was disseminated to the BHS Community only that's closed now um we have that data and that'll be discussed tonight that was for students parents and faculty and staff School climate survey which is a thought exchange uh type survey that was disseminated on Friday to parents and staff

047only um that's open for a full week if we want to keep it open another week we certainly can uh we'll get feedback Eric and I will look at uh you know how many have filled it out and if we need to send a reminder we certainly will do that principes sent that information out last Friday principles also sent out last Friday to parents the a PDF link of the student survey for elementary middle or high school and kids in third grade through 12th grade are going to be able to Avail themselves of taking uh the survey during school if parents are not there I I wouldn't think people would feel there are uncomfortable topics in there but parents are welcome to opt their children out if they're not comfortable with that um the next

048thing uh Dr man myself and our HR coordinator uh Lindsay Marino uh led the list listening uh tours or listening sessions uh over uh the Friday when we got back January 3rd at Brookfield High School we had 19 staff members show up during their lunch or their prep period or their break time uh some just to say hello others had a lot of feedback and wanted to engage in some really great conversation um really appreciated the the cander and the energy um similarly for CES uh obviously a larger school we had 56 of our teachers uh and staff participate it was really great to interact um and uh we have our meeting with whiskin AER folks we had it scheduled before the winter break um we had a a delay that day so we moved

049it to January 31st that uh is another Friday a couple weeks from now and then finally uh the asset inventory survey that we do every couple of years sponsored by Brookfield cares um we plan on giving that um and the principles um which would be Mr Renda for just the eighth graders at the middle school and then Mr Bandon for the high school students um and they're two different there's a middle middle school version and a high school version of that particular asset inventory survey um notification will be going out to parents the week of January 24th there is um an opt out option for that and we will give uh parents plenty of notice I think it's about a three-week notice before we would give the um survey in school excuse me the other

050part about that is principes will communicate some of the evenings that we will have the surveys at we have both surveys actually the high school and middle school survey at the middle school after hours so parents could come until 5 or 6:00 if you know on the way home from work if they don't have time and we'll have someone from Brookfield cares volunteering to be there to talk about it similarly we'll do the same thing at the high school as well so that'll all be communicated out to parents and that is all I have thank you for listening I have a good question about the the climate thought exchange survey yes so that company and it's Advance okayed Advance um is that their standard like the student one um it's it's very standard we we

051did minor tweaks to the language but it's it's it's standard um I'm thinking they've uh provided this maybe they they've done just under 20 schools I think you know in terms of providing surve mostly the questions were just heavy on um you know how how about their learning how their teachers make them feel not really around any of the other staff in the school yeah or admin or anything like that like so that that was a little concerning like concerning how so just like other staff like or it's not just like there's so many people that make up the climate of the school so yeah um there were no question addressed and and I'm speaking for the base survey and the team looked at it and everything and did that wasn't a topic that was

052was discussed um we're very comfortable with it I would say developmentally I think when kids are taking a survey like this this is going to be very teacher heavy like walking the students through this you know maybe having it up on the on the Smartboard um uh maybe not so much fifth grade but definitely the younger kids their first experience with it so I think I think the thought process behind it if I was to have someone from Ed Advance here who who worked on that would say probably the the uh uh teacher is the standard word people use when they're talking about the adults in the school they kind of think of everybody as a teacher but I I hear your point on that yeah well I mean obviously I was looking at it

053from a high school standpoint right I wasn't thinking the same survey was going to be for grades three you know Elementary but um that's just one thing that stuck out to me that it was kind of it was very pointed at their questions that it really was just focus on their teacher but that's just one well here many teachers but many people that we're going to be talking about it Joy on Tuesday at our uh District leadership meeting so um it it's not written in stone we can make adjustments to it so we'll take that under consideration so thank you for that feedback other questions about the superintendent report okay let's move then to the subcommittee reports thank you um Dr Burl thank you so let's start with Finance okay um I have two reports

054uh one from our meeting on December 19th um we met virtually and this was a special meeting and the purpose of this was to Simply go over the questions that were submitted to the um Q&A doc the budget Q&A doc up until that point um so we've spent a little over an hour kind of going through those and asking follow-up questions and getting a lot of context on those budgets questions and then on Thursday the 9th um we had a regular um our regular meeting but also continued that discussion on the Q&A doc um in terms of our uh Financial reports uh after we went over the check registers um we reviewed the financial report and there's little change uh month-to month so this is the most up-to-date information I have right now um there's

055little change month to- month um but there where we saw the biggest change was in um Revenue uh for the excess cost Grant um so in previous months we had reported that um we were going to be getting um a reimbursement rate um that was historically what we were getting before somewhere around 65 to 75% um and that's part of a a more complex State formula that I don't even understand but um but essentially uh because our costs were going up we were booking in some estimated higher revenues um and it turns out we got some pretty bad news and that our uh reimbursement rate is actually going to be much lower it's going to be about 59% so where our uh expenses got higher our Revenue got lower and so we're actually at about

056what we budgeted for the excess cost Grant but it's just that it is not going to help us in ways that we initially thought it would um being that we are um pretty over budget in terms of special education so that was the biggest change um on the December financial report um related to that um because we are not the only District in the state that is having um these issues with our our new surprise reimbursement rate but also just how special education is funded in the state in general um and so we had kind of discussed um the possibility of maybe a joint letter um to our legislators to try to you know Lobby some um support for special education funding and I don't know Dr BR if if there's any um update or

057any like a brief yeah brief conversation when we say joint letter we talk about the board of Finance Board of selectman Board of Ed and we've done that in the past with particular issues um I can't think of the last two years we I know we sent one but I'm forgetting the issue it was on um oh I think it was the timing of getting the Connecticut partnership plan health insurance number getting that earlier and they actually have responded so that that's actually positive um so we're considering a joint letter um that is is something uh Casey's been in touch with her um fellow business directors in the region I'm in touch with my superintendents in fact the superintendents are coming for a uh a monthly meeting with me from the Western Connecticut group Next

058Friday we're actually going to Showcase CS they all wanted to take a tour so we're going to host there but uh come up with uh some language that'll be consistent and common and Powerful that we can send to the legislators I did have a call with Steve Harding our Senator over the weekend um he had not heard about this yet so it was important it was a great call that we had good conversation and uh like Steve always does ready to take action and jump in you know with with both feet and uh and really shake things up um and he is already uh sent me a note today that he's he's active on things this week and believes there's a lot of motivation because this is happened in all the locals and we're all

059feeling it so we need to get that Revenue straightened up um and then uh just for some miscellaneous discussion um when I had reported to the board of Finance last week um our overages and the Lesser Revenue that we would be um getting and and our overall overage is somewhere around a little over 600 uh, um that is more than what the town has in their contingency um and a you know a couple months ago that wasn't as much of a problem um as it is now so I think a few red flags were raised um and um you know so we had discussed uh the potential um the potentiality of a budget freeze and at that point that's it was just sort of feedback that I was providing to Casey but I don't know

060if there's anything else you wanted to add to that or you just kind of ironing it yeah nothing nothing nothing as of as of right now but we're still absolutely looking at it I think there are some like I like I spoke about last week there are some areas and some accounts that I think we will have some um some available funding um just teasing that out to see exactly what that looks like um I'm still working on that but I I'll know for certain um at our next finance committee meeting and I'll have a nice report to share for you on that okay but parallel to that we will be talking with principes and District team at the leadership meeting on Tuesday morning about um you know we we've uh tried to keep it

061a little lighthearted although it's serious top subject matter and call it it kind of a budget Frost like really get on it and then if we need to go to a freeze we certainly will um we did this last year was what March April when the alarm Bells really went off and and so just I know a lot of us work in school and it's just hard to imagine implementing a measure like this I mean we may have no choice but this early in the year um that's that's alarming MH thank you that was it thank you very much okay um so policy please M so there are four policy bylaws on the agenda for a final read tonight there were no changes from the first read no significant feedback from um other board members

062and so the committee is comfortable putting them forward tonight for adoption there was some information we were confirming about the bylaw that is on for a first read tonight and with that information confirmed we welcome your thoughts um I'm thinking by January 25th our next meeting will be January 28th so if you have anything on that policy for a first read tonight um January 25th would be a good Target date um we are starting the legally required and recommended 3,000 policy series and that is slightly more complicated than we anticipated because some of the changes in the shipment and Goodwin polic policies will fundamentally change the way we work with and operate towards the town in regards to the town so Casey is going to walk us through those and kind of help us understand

063the nuances at our next meeting so we can be um informed to make uh decisions going forward with that um the committee members are going to look at the cab climate policy before our next meeting and with feedback from the principles we will look at presenting that to the board for a first read um in February or March and although this policy will like be adopted before July 1st um which is the mandated date there will be no changes made to the current BPS policy until the 2025 2026 school year um I add one thing on that one it's important too for people to remember we are taking it very seriously and want to have the policy adopted for July 1 technically uh districts have to follow the law as of July 1 to 2025

064but they don't have to have the policy adopted right at the start of of that school year um but we're obviously proactive and well we talked about the fact that there's like a new climate person that we have to put into training and things there's a lot of like changes that have to be made in the way we operate by the way since we're talking about policy I just want to say this I know I mentioned it to it at the beginning shipment and Goodwin has a kind of standard monthly update they send out to their their school districts and uh it appears that title 9 is going back to the old Title 9 from all the changes we just made over the summer and all the training we did so we have to be

065prepared for that too which will impact all of this the climate policy we've been talking about the K1 may get some adjustments based on that so I think we talked about that back in November when we were bringing all this up initially we have to be flexible and just ready for the changes that come our way yep John can you copy the policy committee on those updates when you thank you you're welcome okay um we were informed by Dr Burell that per our legal council the vote that was held at the special meeting on October 2nd 2024 was in fact an invalid vote therefore the student survey policy 61 62.5 one is not currently adopted as a Brookfield Public Schools policy as a result of the failed vote up the June 20124 Board of Ed

066meeting any policy regarding student surveys must be treated as a new policy and go back through the policy committee and be presented for a first read to the full board so at the next policy meeting the committee will look at both the proposed polic policy 61 6251 and the sng policy that includes a student survey section then and they call that policy PPR um which stands for privacy pupil privacy and what was it something uh I don't remember the ra but um this PPR policy is a comprehensive policy that will likely affect other BPS policies if adopted and so the committee is going to go through um and discuss all the options at the next meeting um we might be presenting that in pieces um so that's upcoming and then lastly communication from do Burell

067to the board through parents Square versus email so Joy had indicated that she was not getting the Board of Ed emails through parent square and we're wondering if anyone else was having that issue and we want to know is it worth having Dr brw go back to updating the whole board just through email um or should we is anyone else not getting the you know the updates that he sends and you get like a parent Square um email notification a notification thank you is anyone else besides Joy not getting those I mean I can't click on it but because I have a parent account see yeah so that was one of the things we talked about when I talked to Eric he the way he had me do it was he said create your board

068of ed account on your computer and your student account on your phone but that is part of the complication and I for some reason Joy never like clicked like when she clicks on it she was saying that she doesn't actually get anything and you were having a problem with two kids so yeah so is different I can't I get the Board of Ed stuff but I have to actually I can't have an app on my phone because if I do it disables all of it so I have to go into parent Square just log into the website to get the information which is like an added complication so I mean I log in but yeah no but like the the question that came up in the communications part of our meeting was is it worth

069him just going back to email communication and doing like a traditional email when something comes up and then if it's like I mean if it's a super emergency have cell phones but we obviously want to stay away from that and have everything on the record so yeah okay all right so are we in agreement stay away from parents Square for right now okay I'm fine with that whatever okay whatever you guys are comfortable with yeah that's I'm feel like it's kind of a okay great thank you thanks very much um and now uh facilities all right please uh we met on Tuesday January 7th um everybody was there including uh Dr bril Casey di um Dan cwell and we had a guest from the town uh Brookfield director of Health uh Erin silent um we

070started off I made a motion to uh listen to um Erin sil's um presentation and just giving us discussion on the water line that we are going to get for whiskers uh Middle School um that's part of the 2025 2026 capital budget request um M Dan had uh stated that the the districts had received the will serve from Aquarion so we will he'll update us as that um progress as that project progresses excuse me uh we we had a discussion to request the all sports booster club which we are all in favor of uh we started the discussions on that to see where it's going to uh who's going to Champion it and who's going to start um how we're going to get that ball rolling so that was awesome to get that going I'm

071looking forward to that I'm sure everybody else is too uh I made a motion as well to accept the recommendations for the security task force to install install the security gate um at CES um we discussed a heating incident at BHS from uh last week uh Casey provided us an update about the uh um unit ventilator the pipe cracked leaked in 16 classrooms but Dan was on it took care of it um he added glycol to the system or was adding gly cold to the system next week and everything hopefully will be covered by insurance right did we get an update on that yeah we do believe um we do believe it will be fully covered by insurance and the the glycol which is in a freeze has been added to that uh that that

072heating loop at BHS as of yesterday we're good for the Arctic freeze coming ex tomorrow sweet and uh and an insurance uh an insurance check the Dr man and I we we were witness for each other there was teachers from those classrooms coming back from the winter break reported it was the best climate their classroom ever had so after it was fixed so whatever happened it was for a good reason so there were very many happy people and we know how challenging it is here at the high school for everybody too hot too cold Etc so that was actually really good news uh out of something difficult uh as far as old business we discussed the uh an update on capital projects the whiskin boiler went out to bid Edon was awarded the contract um

073the boiler they will do pre-construction walk through that was on January 8th uh the project uh came in under budget about 100K so that was awesome that was a very good job um on everyone's part uh demolition of the Portables eversource disconnected the service and the contractors just waiting to get in and start the demolition over at um um excuse me thank you wh I'm looking at one thing and saying another uh the roof project at whiskin mbhs the bid for the design phase has been awarded and we um we need to sit and have a coordination meeting and the building department uh just needs to get a stamped architectural plan for the building of the walls at the middle school for the athletic closet which is a bit of a just I guess some

074red tape that they have to get through and then yep the the um the building department is requiring architecturally stamped for the that closet the athletic storage closet at whiner and the sally port um at in the athletic department at the at the high school good news is we did get um we did get a bid on that a quote on that $650 from a a local architect we are for both plans we will move forward get those design said those could be expensive right they could be but yeah good but I think that also shows how the Simplicity of of these projects that we're you know um wanting to move forward with so so um and the generosity or you know of a local um local person here so um so we are moving

075forward with those yeah yeah excellent all right and uh we didn't have any miscellanous discussion and we journ the 718 I have a quick question yes um it might be more for Casey but I was being corrected to her anyway works so um when we have a project come in like significantly under really anytime it's coming in under budget um those are capital funds that have already been so we can use them or I should say the town can use them for other projects but school projects right so if it's if it's a bonded project and Mar Marsha um is really the expert on this this is her I don't we don't really have any we we don't have any control over this but um the the as I understand it from Marsha if it's

076a bonded project um it could going through the proper channels of approval of the board of finance and and all that whole process um utilized for another Capital project um in for the school um in that year okay so if it's a bonded project for 2023 it can't be used for a project that was bonded in 24 it would have to be used in a bonded project in that same Bond year um but again there's a whole approval process that is not you know um our purview um it's the the purview of the board of finance and Casey the project has to be similar kind of in scope right it can't just be any other project I'm not sure put it towards a huge like it can't be a brand new project you can't make

077up a new project right right no I mean I'm thinking like this is a pretty significant number to come in under budget so I'm wondering what be something perhaps on that particular school that is you know another another toward another roof project that might be over budget or whatever the case may we can towards the DHS boiler um I think it has to be at the school there is a process but that gets more complicated when it's totally not unrelated or dissimilar and we would go through them all the way absolutely right so Robert you said sorry a question there were no school du reports or just my apologies there were no school du reports for that month oh no one so not that they're they we we didn't discuss them they were essentially tabled

078with everything that happened over Christmas um and we have a we have a mechanic that is out as well um that was my note I apologize that's okay it was really two full weeks of all hands on deck with the um the heat at BHS um and it was next month we will go through the the prior two months gotcha yeah and and the other thing was and Rob forgive me for this but I want to just make sure we we don't um go past it um the first thing is uh we just got word this morning which we were very happy to get the um AC unit for the the roof for this spot um I know it's Arctic we're talking about AC but may will be here before you know it um we

079that should be delivered in the next two weeks so that's very exciting for us and then they'll start to work on installing the other one is um the concession stand you mentioned that earlier were we thinking as a facility committee that we were going to actually take a formal motion here of support for the concession stand project which is a Parks and Rec project essentially which may end up with Municipal Building committee I think that's what the issue was is we're not really sure who's only because of that case you we mentioned it during the meeting is IT Park W and had spoken on as well she thinks it might be for parks and W yeah we believe it's parks and W we weren't 100% sure on that but I think the facility committee is

080was unanimous in supporting the concept that we've talked about this project for a long time absolutely um one of the points we had to make is there's a lot of very generous people that want to donate to the project and so forth but to even get close to a project we have to have a design then from there it has to go to the building department there's a lot of approvals that have to happen before we could even really think about not only the fundraising but getting voters to vote at a ref random or whatever the apparatus would be to finance a project like this and it's going to be very expensive I mean these aren't things that you could do for you know $100,000 the design might be that much $50 or $100,000 so

081um they're a lot more complicated we got some extra money so we'll good apparently we do this could be part of it you never know so Dr BR was it come on come on Casey wait wa wait we we have a lot of conversations going on here um you yes so in terms of the um conc session stand I was was it my understanding that Mrs Korea as the um booster club yeah president was going to like she came to us and then she was going to go back she went to Mr actually Mrs Korea went to Mr Mr D right who who forwarded the information to Casey start at the facilities committee talk we you know see see where the appetite is from the board of education so the committee is very comfortable with

082the project think it's a great IDE and of course Laura from Parks and Rec is a part of this as well um and um I think everybody realizes because parks and Rex takes care of all our grounds uh a a concession stand would be a parks and W project and then Mr Dunn would appoint the the MBC if that's where he wanted to direct a project um but we've got a great booster club who's motivated and we have people that want to donate but you have to donate and know what you're donating to so there's a lot of leg work that still has to happen right and Irene is also on the NBC she's on the NBC she's got both positions exactly and I think the the thinking with putting it um bringing it to

083the Board of Ed and starting at the facilities committee um and then talking about it here also was um even though it it likely it it seems like it would be a parks and wreck um project because it's not in the school it's you know on the exterior of the school down by the fields um it was important that the Board of Ed supports it right because it it we the they would the booster club and the town would not want to support anything that is contradictory to the the interest um of the of the board of education so I think that was the thinking and starting here to make sure that the Board of Ed was fully supportive and on board um with that project and then you know it can be managed and

084and overseen and governed by the appropriate body we certainly get have input M Mr Baldwins will be heavily involved with planning and ideas and that kind of a thing along with Mr Blandon myself Casey Etc so it's it's going to be a great project we'll get rolling on it Sarah did you have something to say earlier okay um is this the sort of thing that the facilities committee would want to disc discuss and like bring a motion at the next meeting sure but again we just I thought we just was going to wait for the even if it's symbolic emotion of support that's fine oh yeah then yes absolutely okay that'd be awesome I'll set Rob yeah that was it that's all it thank um so class size Sarah all right so we met last

085Wednesday uh Wendy and I and Dr man we really just were continuing our conversations knowing that we were going to look at the guidelines from 2009 and revamp that for reasons of the new school everything like that but to and to really see what else we wanted to change we talked about um Dr man gave us a lot of information from other schools and um those districts some of them are contractual guidelines and some of them are directed from the board of EDS so that was important to distinguish um and then our most of our conversation was to really look at the guidelines and start revamping them we wanted to get rid of the target column because it's redundant we have the range there so we don't really need the Target um and then we

086had a really good conversation about breaking down not only the um Kenwood Lake Elementary but within Kenwood Lake Elementary breaking down the different um grade levels for different needs based on the class sizes um and we will meet again next week and probably get this all tied up ready to go for the next board meeting for the next to get approved in the next board meeting um I'd like to ask a question about cuz like the word Target and range has been like a sticking point for me for like years um and I'm wondering like why we still even keep a range if like really how we've been functioning is like that that top number is like the Max and that's really the number that we focus on we don't really kind of say like

087oh we don't have enough kids in this class so it's really kind of like why aren't we focusing on like a Max number like a single number as opposed to a range yeah well I think standard operating procedure kind of across the various districts that we looked at and um with the research that has been done is usually refers to range in fact I don't believe that any of the districts that we looked at had had just a single number all of them were were ranges and that is as much to not just for the actual operationalizing of those guidelines but it's also for the planning piece and to kind of get a sense of okay so if we have 155 kindergarteners enter enter next year we we wouldn't want to go below this but

088we also you know this number of because that would be the the minimum maximum but we also wouldn't go above for you know so um it just helps with the planning purposes and gives you kind of that wiggle room not to mention that you're never going to get one single number for every single class so um it kind of gives guidance to the schedulers but also to parents of what they can expect um you know that if I am if if it's 18 for kindergarten but my kids in a class they are 19 then why is my kid in the class with they are 19 um you know so I think that it's it's more just like this is kind of what we as an acceptable range um for you know these various levels okay

089anything else no awesome okay so cap please okay so we met on January [Music] 8th um we had public comment by Ain she sh shared some questions and concerns about the mtss srbi process um Mr Blanda gave us the um program of studies the high school and just to I'll summarize some of the um changes or um you the additions and what not so the Mastery based diploma assessment is being deleted because it's no longer a state requirement for graduation and now students will be able to take more electives because it opens up credits for students so the Yukon ECE from AP Lit is going to English for honors literacy support is being revised to literary literacy Workshop video production is being revised to video production one and video production two AP music theory will

090be offered every other year and that will help with kids planning their schedules um moving forward for their next years uh AP music theory will be oh just said that sorry Spanish 4 will now be Spanish Spanish five will now be Spanish 5 honors forensics will now become forensics one and we'll be adding a forensics 2 course two more courses that will be offered will be mathematics workshop and materials and design it's like an engineering class which could possibly be a pathway for students um and we they found that we needed more physics options at the high school I think it was physical science physical science oh physical science um and and also we reviewed the mtss and srbi handbook we discussed it asked questions regarding the handbook and we talked about the importance of

091doing RTI with Fidelity we asked for the document to be updated and posted to the website So the plan is for it to be updated the summer um we also asked some additional information regarding how many students are needing tier 2 intervention services at the elementary middle and high school level so um that information will be forthcoming at our next meeting we also were provided with the interventionist positions at each level and each building's mtss coordinators there are five reading interventionists and one math interventionist at CES two reading and one math at WMS two reading and one math at BHS and there's currently three mtss srbi coordinator stien positions for CES one stien for WMS and one cpon for BHS I have one correction to that sorry um there's actually three reading at WMS oh

092three reading that's my mistake my apologies okay and then two reading at the high school okay and that's about it unless anyone has any questions anybody no all right so um healthy school start times yep so we met on Monday um um and I'm not going to go into much of it we have a report tonight but but um we discussed um the survey results um in depth um and you'll be hearing more about it later and eron Lisa and I weren't sure that uh written written minutes would be provided so thank you for getting those done so fast we that's why we wrote verbal we have those no problem okay well great let's move to the consent [Music] agenda I move that the board approve the items listed below on the consent agenda as

093recommended new hires resignations December financials bylaws for a first reading 9310 bylaws for a final approval 9020 second any discussion on these hey all in favor please say I I I any opposed any extensions so two abstentions so we have five eyes and two extensions okay uh the just for the notes the abstentions were um uh Mrs Scalera and Mrs Divine okay so then we move to um new business uh we're going to talk about voting in the schools um with a possible motion and um this is about um voting in town using the schools and actually I'm going to turn it over to Rosa because you've been the point person for this sure um so at our I think it was in December that we had our uh last security task force meeting and

094at that meeting um uh Chief pesi had and he has been you know sort of working with um the town and the registar voters to um and sort of advocating for different locations for voting um and you know for various reasons you know he kind of needed like some somebody to kind of champion in um what he felt was really important which is um you know we we've put in a lot of different physical and Personnel type security protocols as well um in the schools and when you have people coming from the public in and not really going through our those protocols it kind of loosen at the very least it loosens sort of that barrier that we have worked so hard to kind of put into place so um we had moved at the

095time this is just kind of a summary we had moved at the time to um uh as a as a task force to um prohibit or I should say support to prohibit um the use of schools for voting locations since then um we have softened that approach just a little bit um because we do understand that you know we have to kind of work with the other bodies in town um and so our our current approach is to support um the prohibition of voting locations at the very least while students are in school so while we would like for them to be prohibited entirely I think that's a little bit impractical so um but at the very least if while students are in the building we can keep everybody else out that is you know

096at least doing the very best we can so um I think at this point um you know we can we probably should discuss it as a board if we're collectively okay with doing that and then um I think you know the bodies that will uh the town um and the registar of Voters will have to figure out Solutions and if I might add just for clarity for example the students are not in school all around the state on Election Day so that is an automatic you know it's natural to use the school because the kids aren't in school but in the spring when we have referendum that's that's the real concern those type of days where kids are in school um not only is there you know just the inconvenience with parking and all other

097kinds of issues there is Chief py has really been behind this for a couple of years it's been a big concern of his since he's been Chief um I think he was you know perhaps with different uh leadership and when he was the major and so forth he kind of you know went along but as the chief this has been a real uh he's championing this as you said Rosa so anyway we wanted to work with him we take his advice on all other things why would we not on this um but to Rosa's point wanted to be I think a little clearer not looking to shun the community from using the schools you know the parks and recks use our schools I mean they're they're there for the community so how can we you

098know work together and keep everybody safe so this is a really good time to air your thoughts um but what do you guys think I'm in total agreement as long as schools are in session I don't think we should absolutely not I didn't even know we had I forgot about the the referendum brought up election day but I didn't even realize we were voting with kids in the school so no I absolutely not I feel the same way I think we should do anything to keep our kids the safest as we can so I just I I'm in agreement I never really thought it through I know other districts do referendum votes on weekends and I never realize how people like that makes a lot more sense now that I think through yeah it's actually

099Val yeah I support I don't uh wouldn't want voting to happen while our kids are in school I think that um fractures our security system Sy or protocols that we have in place currently well that sounds good to me I mean I think that um being able to like I didn't like the initial position and I think there are a lot of reasons you know our taxpayers pay for the schools they have Wi-Fi they have parking but but uh for all the reasons you guys stated I I love this newer position and I can stand behind it no I I was just going to say part of the feedback that we had gotten initially was um that there's no there's not enough like a lot of other districts do it at the library or at

100Town Hall and there's not enough parking the concerns feedback to us was there wasn't enough parking there wasn't enough you know room space to coordinate that that the school really is the biggest body that they had looked at other locations and um I know that there's a committee that's looking at Center School and so long term there could be a different solution but in the meantime I think we really need to um as Dr BR was saying follow the guidance of our security we put all these security systems in place and we want to make sure that you know there are other members of the security task force um who also had expressed deep concern um we have a member who was saying that a lot of school districts in Connecticut have gone away from

101using schools whether it be on the weekend or whatever um so yeah it's definitely something that Stephanie thanks for bringing just so everybody knows Sarah Palmer who is our Emergency Management coordinator for the town she's the one who shared that with us that from the state registar they're really starting to look at getting away from using the schools at least during school time um you know this this is a bigger conversation than just Brookfield really the whole state everybody's under the uh the the voting laws so uh we want to do it right and and make it a win for everybody and part of the Catalyst for this conversation was we want it to be an open conversation with the town with Mr with the reg office so this is sort of just the you

102know how we want to make sure we as a board for certain agreement as Rosa said so then uh it sounds like we're unanimous um are you well let's get a motion on the floor then um I will move that the Board of Education prohibit the use of school locations for public voting purposes at minimum when school is in session for students I'll second um I'll in favor of prohibiting the use of school locations for public sorry for voting purposes no no no you're good uh for public voting purposes uh AD minimo school is in session please say I I any opposed any extensions okay so it's unanimous thanks everyone let's move then to um oh and you know what thanks for our members of the healthy sorry of the um which one is this

103security security task force the healthy security task force and actually okay Ros would be okay if I make an announcement on some new memberships so we had three happy to be three dads that served and did a great job for us for a couple of years um they um I think their families are growing and moving on and they're getting busy with work so they're off they they've elected to step down um our uh uh parent um coach meller who's also a parent is going to be on the task force and Mr Mitchell is already on Mr Mitchell happens to be a uh in the Secret Service so we've got some you know uh uh coach Muller um he is a teacher in New York um coach here obviously so having that school perspective is

104really good um and certainly having somebody in law enforcement is is great as a volunteer and can I just piggyback off that so when we say like this is what we talked about we're not saying it lightly like we're taking recommendations from experts and people who know far more than us and we're sort of just the relaying the information that those um people that have more knowledge of you know of the process and the chief and the major are at most of the meetings which is great yeah okay let's move to uh the next item which is um the healthy school starts times um we're going to get an update um so eron does that go to you then yeah we're gonna do the um bring up the presentation you want go to the podium

105go so we can we get set to help you if we need [Music] to yeah maybe one more light to make it nice okay there you go so yeah you can follow along I'll just kind of talk about each slide go through each one so our first slide we found this um really good information some medical background um where we are in position that we're at now so School star times alone won't solve the problem of too many young people getting too little sleep we need to pay attention to both ends of the Sleep Cycle what's happening in the morning but after school as well and that can mean limiting activities in the evening avoiding point phone use at night and making sure kids aren't sacrificing sleep for homework something to think about moving forward

106um the next slide is where we where we fa as far as start times you'll see we start at 8 um just like two other schools 8:00 and 8:15 everybody else starts prior to that um and then the end time I thought was interesting were you know compared to some of our neighboring towns um ending at the latest time 2:45 some data so 2022 2023 we had 3,483 total tardies uh last year we had 3,916 total tardies so our tardies increased by 433 and as of December 16th we're at 1,210 so far so unfortunately our tardies increased instead of you would hope that that would decrease with more sleep so these next two slides you'll see this is just a snapshot of starting at 2:00 any dismissals that happened from 2:00 to 2:30 um you'll

107see the sports team the date the time that they got out and then the number at the end is how many students were dismissed so if I'm just looking at the first one on 924 field hockey had to be dismissed at 215 um and that was 36 athletes from the team um so if you're if you're just adding that snapshot of 2:00 to 2:30 so the total early dismissals last year from that time frame is 1,553 students having to leave early um we I didn't we didn't include before 2:00 because the thinking was um that would be so the students that were are affected by the start time that we currently have the end time that we have now would be the 2 to 230 here is some feedback from the staff um do they

108do do they feel that kids are more rested at the beginning of the day so 27 said yes 30 said no and 26 said no change so it's kind of even across the board if there a club advisor or coach is running that Duty impacted as a result later start time so 29 staff members said it in a negative way two staff members said in a positive way seven said no impact 45 doesn't apply to because maybe they don't run a did you say 45 it doesn't apply to them yeah so they either probably don't coach or don't run a club5 thank you 45 people 45 staff members um does a later start time impact your ability to fulfill your responsibilities outside of school so for example child care medical appointments um 55 staff members

109said it had negative impact 10 said positive impact 15 said no impact and it didn't apply to three staff members does it impact your commute 34 teachers had negative impact eight positive impact 37 no impact it didn't apply to four and for the last question for the staff do they prefer to have schools start between 7:15 and 7:30 um so 55 staff members would prefer to start 7:15 and 7:30 21 would not prefer and seven staff members don't have a preference does anybody have any questions on the staff survey how many staff members are there total 83 okay that's okay I miss who responded Yes who responded out of and out of how many total do we know like we'd have to do we know how many didn't I'm just curious rough estimate over over

110100 10ish probably so not quite half of the staff took the Sur no so oh there's 110 total not 110 other that's a very good all these surveys tremendous response rate so I mean if you were looking at that very good response resp yeah next was students uh do you get more sleep as a result later our time and in the yellow box you'll see that's who responded so we had great response rate 164 freshmen 160 sophomores 157 Juniors and 150 seniors so 328 of them said yes they get more sleep 14 said no and 189 said the same amount um and you more awake alert or awake during your first period class 259 said yes 188 said no and 184 said no change um keep in mind that the freshman and sophomores really don't

111have anything to compare it to they've never experienced the 7:15 start um so the really the the Cru of really looking at the data would be to look at the Juniors and seniors cuz they have started school at that time and then transition to the new later star time quick question before you move on to the parent ones um are these the actual questions that were asked and so their choices were yes no or same amount correct so then wouldn't effectively no and same amount couldn't someone have confused those as perhaps meaning the same thing in other words like somebody who answered no I don't get more sleep as a result of later sleep time I get the same amount so do you see what I mean are you suggesting that we that it makes

112sense to basically add red and orange then I mean yeah basically so it's do you get more sleep I guess I don't look at it that way I would say if I get 20 extra minutes if I did get 10 minutes extra and now I get 20 minutes then I'm gaining but if I still get I'm still only getting 10 extra minutes of sleep on both ends and I would say that we we added the same for the reasons that if we just had yes and no we wouldn't know what no meant whether no meant it's the same amount so then you just should maybe just phrase the question differently but okay okay it's just it just convolutes the data a little bit but it's fine so does a later dismissal time effect or impact

113your ability to fulfill your sports responsibilities 57 students had a positive impact 21 had a negative impact no impact 226 students and doesn't apply 137 students because maybe they don't have they don't participate in a sport later dismiss time AFF your after school clubs or activities 24 students positive impact 230 negative impact no impact 282 and doesn't apply to 95 students affect your job or employment nine students positive impact 204 students negative impact 184 students no impact and 234 students I guess don't work but obviously most likely your freshman software don't have jobs yet right would oh you probably weren't able to like disaggregate the data right well so they had um an opportunity to explain for every single question um and I went through every 634 responses of the explanation for each so some

114would explain some wouldn't um they would just kind of regurgitate their answer um but we gave them an opportunity to kind of elaborate on that can I just interrupt for a second I just have to commend the students for their comments and all of the details that they added to this um Not only was the response rate really really high but their their answers and their comments were so thoughtful um and really helpful so I just wanted to yeah we mentioned that in the meeting to Mr Banda like I was really impressed that because most kids we made it optional right um they really most of the 634 I'd say probably 600 of them would explain or give um an further explain why um and they were very thoughtful and they were very um thought-provoking

115so I was impressed by that is there a a reason you kept the Freshman data in the data set well we we discussed that um you know maybe leaving them out but part of yeah but a lot of the questions are more are you are you getting more asleep are you more awake which is a comparison question and they don't have anything to compare right I broke it out as far as students of parents that was my section so I know what freshman parents answered sophomore Junior and senior so it can be broken out in the collected data like it's in the aggregated data right I understand that it can be broken out and like I mean we had quite a few meetings and I mean I just input then would have been helpful prior

116to surveys going out and then does lateral time affect your time for academics positive impact 137 students negative impact 83 students no impact 382 students and it doesn't apply to 29 students so 29 students aren't doing work um this effector academics after school 66 students have positive impact 236 negative impact 284 no impact 45 students it doesn't apply and would you prefer school to start between 7:15 and 7:30 295 said yes 255 said no 81 said no preference um they were very you know they did not hold back at all I read through all of them um they gave reasons you know some were very honest you know seniors were like well I'm leaving so I don't care but this is why I would want it to stay or or shift um and we have

117all that information so and so any questions additional questions with the Student Response survey can you just share like one highlight of the neg the why they wanted it to stay and one why they want like what were one of the one really insightful things I thought was I never even really thought many students um said that it didn't it didn't mirror the real world they felt that starting back at the 7:15 7:30 was consistent with what happens in the real world later on in the future like in with your job employment things like that um and then the flip side was um I'm trying to remember some of the ones that were saying um that a lot of them were like we like our sleep you know it was very like we like to

118sleep and if I could wake up later that's great they were very honest right but something that came out and the teacher and the student was at the end of the day now that the end of the day starts leader they feel like they don't know how to balance and find the time that they used to have at the end of the day to get everything done that they need to get done that's that was a good point uh a lot of kids wrote in their responses that um that is that they felt like it would improve their mental health their social life and being able to have more act be able to do more activities after school they felt like um they had less time to do that parent responses does your child get

119more sleep as her result later start time 239 said yes 54 said no and 45 same amount is your child more often on time for school as a result the later start time 162 said yes 16 say no and 160 no change and I put C tardiness data which we reviewed before um which kind of refutes that response rate because our tardies have increased but you can't connect that to later start times that be due to other factors oh I think that could be up for discussion but for sure is number three does later dismissal impact your child's sport uh 14 positive impact 67 negative impact 191 no impact and 66 doesn't apply does your is it impact your after school clubs your child's after school clubs 15 positive impact 27 negative impact 214 no

120impact and doesn't apply to 82 affect your your child's job responsibilities or family obligations 19 positive impact 43 negative 233 no impact 43 doesn't apply does your child Miss instruction due to sport scheduling 84 parents say yes 183 say no 71 doesn't apply and would you prefer school to start between 7:15 and 7:30 so 75 parents say yes 20 28 say no and 35 no preference and that's to parents or 338 parents responded here's some um because the bus information is very is very important to look at that we have to look at possible impacts when we make a change such as this so we're comparing them by year so 2022 2023 is when we had the 7:15 start time and then this year is the um 8 o'clock so you'll see that the bus

121runs these are the pickup times just kind of scattered within that bus run um so you can see the differences so for example um this bus number one had 12 pickups starting at 6:31 same bus but now additional 25 pickups um is it 651 for the first stop so although you're gaining 20 minutes if you see the the drop off meaning at the high school whereas before they dropped off at 7:00 now they're dropping them off at 7:40 so they're actually spending more time on the bus and more time waiting at school here's another one uh this happens to be Mason's bus so back in 2022 he was picked up let's say the 641 now he's it says on the bus run that he's picked up a 7 to8 but those bus run times are

122at the very beginning of the year and they have to be relooked at because they're not totally accurate um he gets picked up at 708 which Deb is confirmed to all those pickup stops um and he gets dropped off a 723 so he's on the bus for 34 minutes as opposed to 28 minutes and then he's waiting an additional 34 minutes in school um so he's spending more time on the bus more time just waiting in school and here's another bus run n bus 19 which is now bus three adding three additional stops again if it's a 641 pickup now it's a 723 pickup which is is a big gain of time but they're being dropped off at 7:37 you know so they're 42 minutes on the bus additional 20 minutes in school waiting for

123a lot of kids uh this was the initial recommendation back in 2019 our recommendation was to revise the school times for the 2022 2023 school year from to 8 a 800 amm to 2:45 and CES and Huckleberry from 850 to 335 and the goal was for students to gain 45 minutes of sleep and other schools have Minor Adjustments minimal disruptions to after school activities in athletics what we're finding based on the information is that they're not ging 4 extra minutes of sleep which is significantly less and there have been substantial disruptions to instructional time and academics and after school activities and Athletics where are you seeing that students are getting significantly less sleep so I think your data suggests the opposite well I think one way we can use is the bus data to say

124that they're not getting an additional 45 minutes of sleep are these case stud your kids or is this a more something more systematic like is this is this is one bus or two buses no well I gave three examples we could there were we've got all the bus runs and did side by side but I just gave a couple okay and we went from um at the high school it's we went from 25 buses to students now in 17 buses and at the middle and then at the middle school 25 buses to 16 buses so these runs are significantly longer um I know that I can speak you know I only know when my kids get on the bus I mean my one in Middle School gets on the bus four minutes later than he

125did to begin with and he sits outside of the school for a significant amount of time before he is able to go in the school so I can say I know we haven't seen the impact at whis skiner but I mean my high schoolers bus comes 8 minutes after my middle schoolers but again you know waiting at school so thinking about that because if I remember from you know the first committee doing this one of the things that was talked about was the buses and a lot of communities would CH would flop the high school and the elementary school times and we decided to keep everything exactly the same except for the high school so if we had all like in other words we have clearly a practical problem I can recognize that but is

126there a practical solution to it that's not throwing it all out and starting all over I mean that's sort of like a question I don't think the committee bothered to ask well maybe not yet well I I don't know I mean again we had multiple meetings I mean they were open they were posted I mean you had two meetings correct I believe we've had four three or four I've only seen minutes we've had a few they're on Zoom Wendy logged in the other night three meetings they're available three meetings and in none of those meetings did you guys start from square one of Let's relook at this problem right I mean was any of the literature in adolesent sleep look at looked at I mean you did bring that up last time and said you

127wanted to bring your specialist so I mean well I didn't realize a motion was coming to the table after three me three meetings from the committee the original committee met dozens of times had brought in Specialists and also members of um neighboring Boards of Ed that have made the change and so that we could talk about what are these practical problems I don't see that thoroughness from this committee and I think that's it kind of speaks to an end point you were getting to and got to inevitably I'm sorry you feel that way but I think we did some really great work we gathered a lot of of data um we felt that we crossed our tees dotted our eyes and I'm not willing to sacrifice um the disruption to academics and instruction because that's

128their students first and a bus schedule is not going to drive an important decision the instruction and academics is going to drive it so So speaking to that and I think that what the staff has to say is is really important um just like we gave a voice to the students give a voice to the parents and we looked at all of that and I think that we did great work and and I'm proud of our committee so can I sorry go ahead speaking to that are you just going to ignore the fact that almost 80% of parents responded that they would not like the start times to change are we going to ignore that actually your parent responses were kind of overwhelmingly in favor of this well I don't we're not ignoring anything that

129we wouldn't be doing our DU due diligence if we were ignoring factors but looking at the whole picture um we also have to consider that freshman and sophomore parents didn't experience a lot of this so the like you said that data would look different but you didn't disaggregate the data but we can infer that it would probably look different given that those years of parents so you're going to infer it for the parent responses but ignore it for the staff responses or the student responses Stephanie did you have a question it was going to be similar I was wondering if there was a way to because the teacher feedback and the parent student feedback is so so different like there's a huge percentage difference in it is there a way that we can see the

130Freshman taken out so we can got them more cuz your concern is that the Freshman she has that she had all that she put all that in a in a spreadsheet if we could get that then and get the percentage without the Freshman to see if there's a significant difference in the students that feel like they're getting more sleep cu the the feedback from the students seems to be other than the sports related um piece of it which I'm not discounting but there's like not everybody is in a sport and so that doesn't apply is pretty significant um and with the parents overwhelmingly seeming to feel like their kids are getting more sleep if that is significantly freshman data then that could change the way we look at it Sarah did you want to say

131something I was just saying but you I mean to me the staff their their feedback speaks volumes that 75% spoke up and majority of them who do have stuff to compare it to a lot to compare it to and they see the of the situation from the beginning of the day to the end to me their feedback is pretty telling yeah and I'm not discounting their feedback all I'm wondering is why it's so like the did the committee look at like why it's so significantly different because parents have a handle on their kids day as well and their home life and if they're you know they need to sleep in the morning well but we we have to assume based on statistical data that they do like we're not going to like make a judgment

132on a parent ability to if we're looking at data right we're saying that they're commenting on so you're saying that a parent doesn't have a handle on their kids like day or or how they no I think that some do think they do I don't know that they all do I one example was the tardi so they're they were implying that yeah their students make it to school on time or but that the DAT is showing the opposite so that was interesting to me that has to be a correction the data is not showing that you didn't ask why students were tardy you simply took a data point of tardiness and you're somehow connecting it to the data of questions you asked about about school and honestly you just can't do that okay that's my

133question Trends and data that actually tell you a l okay roll your eyes I guess hold on hold on hold on hold on so yeah you can hold on we just we can't um talk over each other because we are airing really important um pieces here um but but but talking over each other is not going to advance this conversation in ways that serve our common purpose so um Sarah did you want to finish your thought no thank you Stephanie uh I was just going to along those lines I was going to ask so we had had a report a couple weeks ago that the overwhelming attendant attendance is overwhelmingly improved this year so I was curious to see the Tess has increased but they're showing up so is is there any data related to

134like maybe we can have Mr Blanda and Mr Renda speak to like what I'm curious to know if the start time is related to the tarus because it's not related to them like there's more kids showing up and could that be because the start time is later right so it feels like there's three pieces of information that don't fit together in a way that makes sense to me just quite yet um why did the attendance increase overwhelmingly but the tardies also increase like how are those related to start time and we saw that statistically I mean there was just an article with you know Connecticut did a great job that the kids are coming to school with chronic absenteeism so I mean it's not improving just in Brookfield it's improving across the state so um

135I will say that I did um have a conversation with the bethl high school principal um it's the only very local um District that I know that um had a later start and went back to an earlier start um and I asked you know what the transition was um obviously um they had some traffic flow issues just everything's in one area it was a lot of congestion they actually their start originally was 7:35 they ended up going later and now they're back at 7:30 um and I asked what that looked like you know and he said they've adjusted great and you know it was just trying trying to get a point that I was trying to understand how they went from an early start to a late start back to but it seems like it

136was out of the board's hands and it more was a town um decision so there really isn't many more there are towns that have gone back but they did not return phone calls and there's not really much data out there what other towns have gone back um I have I can send it to you I have the emails at home if you would send that out to everyone that would be really awesome robt um what did you want to say um I think the parents have a very significant voice and I'm not again like Stephanie said I'm not discounting what the teachers and students said but I just uh I'd like I like to Ser that you guys did a great job with all the information you collected I really did but I think the

137parents voice speaks volumes I truly do I think the important thing like one important thing was um prioritizing you know instruction um you know our test scores are down and we can't have students missing instructional time um and we're not prioritizing Sports we're prioritizing academics and instructions so if our students are missing a lot of instructional time that's precious time and I'm not willing to sacrifice that um so I'd like to make a motion to move the start times can can I can I say a few things before you move like to move my make my motion oh I see to make a motion to move the start times between 7:15 and 7:30 second um so we have a motion on the floor um to move the start times back to 7:15 to 7:30 7:15

138uh to 7:30 at the high school the high school yeah um so um I'm I'm going to go ahead and start discussion on this because I had something to say earlier uh I think that this um is a great entry into this conversation um you guys CED a lot of interesting data points um I think that given the um over a year um I don't know I think that the planning to make this move was deeply researched um from all sides of the Rubik's Cube whatever um and that we aren't um quite there yet uh as a as a research um body to inform our deliberation fully I I I don't think um I haven't seen updated research on the science I mean you guys started with a a slide in a a quote from

139a Yale researcher but I think that that's the tip of the iceberg um there was robust research presented um in the initial move to to go here to this change and so I think um looking at updated uh pediatric or you know child specialist um sleep studies would be important um I think we should talk to the people at Ridgefield why have they not gone back um I think that there are ways to deal with the sports situation such as coordinating with other districts that have moved um their schedules back so so we may as a body decide to to move back but I I just think that this is like um Hasty so that that that's my thought so I just want to say um since we're in discussion it that one slide that

140we compare to the other districts those are the districts that we compete against so ones that have a different start start time or ones sports that we don't compete with sports teams that we don't compete with so we wouldn't be able to work with them so I mean what I would just like to lastly say on all this is that when you look at the research and which is the reason why we started this initiative to begin with the research is overwhelming in terms of the Adolescent um sleep research and I found it interesting that you you took that quote you know in the beginning um about you know that start times are not um sort of the only solution to the problem and that is absolutely true um you know I think we said

141at the outset that it was important for parents to monitor screen time and make sure their kids eat a healthy breakfast and and you know um all the things that are that promote healthy sleep that parents do at home but we don't have any control over that what we do have control over um as it relates to adolescent sleep health is when schools start and so at the time we said if we can do better for student health then that's what we're going to do and we backed it up with you know a ton of the research and I mean we had dozens of meetings over hours and hours um and we presented a lot of really in-depth data so that we could make those conclusions um when we said you know how much sleep

142are you getting it wasn't an opinion it was it was a fact and it had and also more importantly we knew from that data that staff would be impacted we knew that staff were probably not in favor of this change and we weighed what students were saying what parents were saying what staff were saying and at the time we said you know this is one thing that we can do to improve adolescent sleep health and hopefully just make them want to come to school and want to come to school refreshed and yes it's going to have some downsides but this is what we feel is most important and that's where I still stand I don't I I think the data as I'm I I do believe you're making some incredibly strong connections that you you

143you cannot make from uh from these you're making connections that that don't exist to to tardiness in academics but that aside your data is still suggesting that there's a lot of evidence to not make this change that it's actually benefiting students in the ways that we had hoped so that's my that's the last thing I can say about it I'm I'm disappointed that we're that we're here looking at this in in such a hasty way uh I just want to say too uh the last last slide again so the initial recommendation was that that students would gain 45 minutes of sleep um and according to that kids are spending more time on the bus and more time waiting at school um so they're not get if they're gaining 45 minutes extras of sleep I would

144that be that's great that would be that was the goal that's what the medical research said does it not did it say you have to make this work you have they have to gain at least they have to have at least 45 minutes extra sleep to make this work isn't that what the science the science said that you need to get it to 8:00 because it wasn't just the amount of sleep it was when they got the sleep that is a very key thing and if you had reviewed the literature you would have se you would have seen that that was the main point it was that adolesent sleep cycles shift later so while students might not go to bed any earlier they might actually go to bed later because that is naturally the time

145that their circadian rhythms are more appropriate to sleep but it also extends into the morning hours and so it was not necessarily about the amount of sleep but when the sleep was occurring can I say something um if the last slide and the bus schedules is like a key point of your um it's not a key point I said it wasn't I said the key point we just said if you look at the last slide they're not 45 minutes of sleep I was referencing the goal that the initial committee set right but you had referenced it's because they're on the bus longer and they have to wait longer right example yeah to show that right so why so maybe the solution first is to look there like maybe we can look at bus routes bus

146schedules Transportation how we can adjust I know it's really difficult and that's another you know task that has to be taken on but rather than just simply discounting the start time because the bus schedules are complicated maybe we can start with can we fix the bus schedules and if the answer at the end of that is no because of all the complications that that involves that's okay and I'm not saying I'm not prepared to put them back at an earlier start time I just feel like there's too many unanswered questions there's some more things I'd like to see um some more conversations I'd like to have questions I'd like answered so I just am not prepared to vote Yes on that tonight go go to what you just said so the other things that were

147considered based on the initial recommendations were minimal disruptions to after school activities and Athletics there's certainly not been minimal it's been significant disruptions to after school activities and Athletics so I feel like both the goals that they set the initial committee have not been met um and we're doing our due diligence not just looking at bus schedule but looking at those disruptions and those disruptions are really heavy I mean the amount of students that are need needing to leave school is in some it's huge so so again my focus isn't on the busing yes it's an issue but it's not the only issue and the only issue that we're considering when you say the significant disruption are you taking the student feedback or the teacher like are you refering the actual dismissals the side the

148two sides where kids are being dismissed okay but the student feedback there's it there the overwhelming response is there is no impact later dismissal time does it affect your academics after school and 280 students which is overwhelming of all the other responses say no impact so I understand the like dismissal data says that but clearly they're getting their work done or able to fit it in or doing their work on the bus does dismissal time affect your academics during the school day no impact so those no impact numbers are higher in terms of like what we're seeing that's what's what I'm saying like the SL know if the kids are making that correlation between okay I'm missing you know my last two cores but so maybe so maybe there needs to be different questions ask

149that's all I'm all I'm saying is like if we're if if we're seeing let's look at the students responses but then we're saying but maybe they didn't respond correctly maybe there needs to be like a different question asked like maybe we need to break down a student survey a little bit more or ask more detailed questions I it's just it's hard for me to look at the dismissal times and and yes this is a significant amount of kids they're leaving early but then when you look at is their academics affected they say there is no impact yeah the students are reporting you know um that there isn't the teachers are reporting that there are so I mean I think it depends on what kid has what for seventh period I mean are you going to

150be upset about them missing study hall no are you going to be upset about them missing gym they might have to make it up are they missing English or social studies or math I mean so maybe that's what the next that's the next thing we need to look at is all of all these dismissals how many students are actually missing an academic study that affects their ability but are they also making up to work though they might have some work out with the teacher where they are making up to work so I'm assuming that they have worked out with the teacher they're ath which is why there's impact they've obviously figured out when they can make it up take the test do the work all right are we are we um ready to vote then

151there wasn't a second Sarah [Music] Sarah okay um forgive me joy I didn't write it down would you um so that you the language of motions that the board approve the oh no sorry that theard move to move move to change the start times at the high school between 7:15 and 7:30 thank you okay so um uh all in favor of the board moving the um I mean of the board changing start times at the high school um to between 7:15 and 7:30 say I I I all opposed say Nay Nay n um so that is uh three eyes and four Nays um okay so then with that let's go to the next oh so the the yeah the vote does not pass um or the motion does not pass um next we go to

152the uh propos revisions to the program of [Music] studies so um are you oh are you going to kickart this process I'm trying to find all my papers we all just sitting here I'm like who's next sorry about that all right I move that the board approve the proposed revisions to the program of studies including any course updates as recommended by the cape subcommittee assistant superintendent Dr Anna man and the BHS principal Mark Banda second okay um is there a discussion on this motion about the proposed revisions okay we ready then what do do we do we want him no we're just here in Cas I wasn't sure Mr blend take no I don't I don't want to sell a short um I never mik I didn't like but um I think Joy explained pretty

153well in the cape subcommittee like all the different things so that's typically what I would get up here and do so I think we're good we'll let you know if we have an issue um so yes very good um all right so all in favor of approving the proposed revisions to the program of studies including course updates as recommended by the cape subcommittee um Dr anaman and um principal Mark Banda please say I I I any opposed any exensions okay so the motion passes unanimously all right so we move to Old business thank you um okay so now we're going to continue our discussion of the budet um and so just before we really get into this um you know this is one of the most significant uh things that we do all year so

154um it's really important we there's the possibility that we could move to um accept the budget tonight and we should ask our questions tonight I would urge members of the um board that if if there's something in here you don't like or some well we'll start with that but even somewhere where you feel uneasy um ask the question make a motion it it's I think it might be confusing to the public if we have board members who don't ask questions and then vote no so it's really important that you make the I mean your constituents need to hear you voice your opinion uh our community deserves that and it may impact the thinking of the other people sitting up here so um please please share your thoughts um and does anybody let's start does anybody

155have any questions about the budget I just want to say in going through not being on the finance committee and in going through the document the questions were so thorough and well thought through and anything I was kind of thinking was asked by the members um and the answers were so clear that it was really easy to sort of anything I had a concern or a question or you know if anyone had asked me anything that I was kind of uh you know in the public that I wasn't sure how to answer it was pretty much in the document so I do have to give kudos to the finance committee and those that answered the questions mostly casy um yeah but from a lot of different resources right um but it was really clear and

156I think that anyone that um once that document is made public after you know um the process anyone that has the same questions that you know I would have had or that the committee Finance uh the finance committee members would have had are going to get their answers in a very clear succinct way so I'm really appreciative of that I think that's a great document that you know whoever established that and however that process works in the finance committee um having only watched one meeting being in 27 other committees but uh thank you for that because it is it does make it it makes this really easy because I have had all my questions answered yeah and and I want to thank the the uh Casey the team um like you said it was a

157team effort there a lot of people you know there's an Athletics question you know we send that one over to Steve and then he gets that to us or to one of the principales or whatever to to Anna or or whatever the case may be um but board members not on finance committee put a lot of questions in too so that's it's just helpful because what that does too is it gets us to Think Through like hey wait a minute we know we have this here it's here and you know the the the question is what does other supplies mean you know what does the other mean in that you know going through and detailing that out making sure you know we did our due diligence too we want we want to have it a

158top tier thorough budget for everybody as well so um really thank you again going you know uh 10 budget blasts I mean we started October 1st with with the admin team you know really starting to gather all of this up and and then kind of a Bottoms Up approach as we've talked about and uh it's a lot of work just to get to hear um and uh I know a couple of the the regional superintendents are are a little jealous of our number this year they're they're hitting that high fives and six um like we've been at before so uh while I empathize with them I'm glad I'm not in their shoes this year that's for sure we've been there before and I if I could also just comment as well um and thank the

159building principles uh for the budgets that they submitted because um as we walked through with with them doing the internal walkth through um any any line item that they actually could control came in flat or under um and so they really and that could have there could be a million internal conversations that they already had at their building levels before it got to us at TSO um and so they really they really did do their due diligence as well um and so I just thank the three of you very much for that um actually I was thinking about that in the car on the way over here um that it's important for people who are watching this at home and interested in how budgets are put together that it's important that people know that it

160starts at the building level it starts with you know in departments with conversations then goes up to the principles and there's refinement refinement along the way so this is this is an extraordinarily lean budget and we we really um applaud you guys for your care and diligence and all of that um I'll add that um speaking of the questions document um if we end up um adopting a budget tonight um I was I was in there cleaning up the document today making it look kind of all nice and stuff and I saw um Joy you you did you did have some sort of questions even in there today mostly I think mostly like operational but um but all of the other questions I think were were pretty much answered so if we end up adopting

161a budget tonight I will do some you know final like cleaning up and formatting and then we will we'll publish that so so um I'm going to start um with Rob and um ask for just your final thoughts on the budget um unless there are other uh comments but all my questions I like Stephanie so answer within the document so we did a really good job on the Comm that's so I don't really have any other kind of thoughts on it Ain um well you know the number isn't great right I mean it's a good number I'm having a very hard time with the lack of interventionalists um to drive direct remediation and instruction to students so that's where I'm at um I think that there's a heavy need for it I think our test

162score are showing it um I think our identified students are becoming we're getting more and more um and I'm just curious if we had more interventionists um if we could um get deep dive early you know early identification early support um to eliminate um a a bigger problem down the road so I am having a very hard time with that [Music] Sarah I just I'm I'm thinking about the scores and the data and the the few math interventions we have and I just don't see this as addressing our need um for those students to get those to get them up where they need to be not scores whatever but they we need to help those students I don't see that this is going to contribute to that so there's a math interventionist being added at

163CES and a math instructor being added at the high school right half one at the high school my bad yeah in the area of stem right yeah one full were you done okay um so I I can't stand behind the budget um I really feel that um we need additional interventionists an additional math interventionalist at CES to bring it to three and at the bare minimum one more at the high school to bring it to two on that additional position is half math half science which is stem that's for a teaching position that's not for intervention um based on our scores we need more direct contact with students um and we could even use more at uh whisk andir also I would support that also but I would say that CES and high school would

164be the priority um I don't feel that we need a climate specialist um all that change was some def and the need to conduct investigations within 3 days and based on the data of only a few bullying cases in the past couple years there's no reason our current staff can absorb this work as part of what they already do I mean we have assistant principles um doing investigations um we have an organ Board of organizational chart uh the World Language chair could absorb this responsibility also since they only supervise seven staff members and the other department chairs have 18 and 25 that they supervise we have a a curriculum climate coordinator at the middle school who gets a stien of6 $1,684 um we have a dean of students um so I think that position can

165be made into an interventionist position I don't think uh the climate specialist position is necessary um those were can I ask a clarifying question sure on the um climate specialist is isn't that's a current teacher not someone we're hiring on new correct there are um seven positions in the current Staffing that would be eliminated right six are the instructional coaches and then there's just through enrollment adjustment at the elementary school that's seven and then we would bring back we we would use that those seven positions to create seven new positions right for instructional coaches right for right curriculum support teachers the math at the high school the math interventionist at the elementary school and the climate compliance teacher so Joy just to clarify you're saying take that climate position correct and turn it into a

166a a position that directly um works with students and an intervention role and the work that that climate specialist would be absorbed through admin because that's part of their job that's part of their role they conduct investigations currently and we only have I think it was four in the past three years bullying cases that are reported so so just hold on I know other things happen sure that need in those are verified cases two in a year four in a year but there's multiple investigations that are ongoing that don't result in a formal verified bullying case let's remember bullying is a very focused definition right now it opens up 180 degrees to this term challenging Behavior which none of us even know what the wild west that could bring in terms of our compliance and

167then the speed in which the the three-day turnaround that that has to happen um so so I I appreci I appreciate the comments I really do but I'm just it's very too you know there's accusations that were not in compliance now with the Staffing that we have not adding Staffing to handle something that's going to [Music] be it's just G to be such a shift in how much has to be investigated I'll just be very candid we have really worked to uh support uh developing our system principles the dean of students to be with students and especially our assistant principles to become instructional leaders and move forward they all they will do is that student management piece there will be nothing else and I I I'm not confident certainly the principles aren't confident that they

168can get all of that done um now I may I I may be very honest with you when we talk about emergency planning uh people what if this what if that I may be doing the dance of the imaginary horribles I'll be very open to that I'm always welcome uh to hear feedback but this is a Monumental shift and I've tried to be proactive in the presentation of this and not add staff to the budget but reallocate so that's the position I'm go ahead quick question about the with the climate thing though isn't the Deans are overwhelmed with the dean we have Deans right the Deans are overwhelmed with the compliance at the middle school we have one assistant we had Mr Renda the principal then we have an assistant principal and then dean of

169students right yeah they are it's all day running with student management issues and my question too is with and communicating with parents and all of that that goes oh no I get I get that you kind of do that you know a lot right which is why I'm just a little curious I didn't I'm just a little surprised that they're inundated like that with yeah no it's not as far as compliance reports like you said as far as the the climate specialist is going to be doing the going supporting doing the them with the reporting the investigation communication coordination around the district uh paperwork that has to go to the state I mean there's there's is a lot to this if you just think back to what I presented on um November 20th I know

170it's a long time ago but it's very that was a succinct as I can make that presentation with how significant this law is impacting us so the law goes into to effect that's where we talked about the policy sorry go ahead it's okay so I mean and and I know the law is changing and it's a lot prod and we're talking about one person this one person's going to split themselves amongst three schools no they're going they're they're going to help with compliance and coordination because an assistant principal doesn't just speak that language all day long they're doing evaluations of teachers there there just a lot of they're running an assembly there's just a lot of other management that's going on and respon job responsibility I remember that presentation and you know there's also a

171portion I'm sorry to interrupt but there's also a portion of the law that in in that mandates restorative practice training the and um which is going to take a lot of ongoing kind of professional learning professional development and embedded in that which this person would be kind of the go-to person that trainer of trainers aspect ones in the high school have well everybody everybody has been incorporating as part of um since the safe School climate original law came out um about 10 years ago um that has been an incorpor because that's that proactive piece right so it's not just the reactive it's the proactive um but there's specific uh kind of protocols that people have to go through and ongoing updated training and so that that's that was kind of the vision for this position

172is that kind of you know trainer of trainers being the facilitator and the liaison yeah between the work that is happening within a school among the three schools and a district and the state yeah I can see why we would need it my concern is you know can we look at you know some of these curriculum positions to you know have curriculum positions have this position and bring in some interventionalists you know um that's just and like I said it was a really thoughtful budget it you know it's a healthy it's a great number for the community but I really I'm really having a hard time not seeing a very strong impact for the kids that need it most I mean if we do not reach their needs and you know they're struggling in schools

173we're talking about referrals we're talking about behaviors we're talking about you know so many things um that is outside of them not feeling great about school you know um I think even going back to the board of ed meeting that I sat with you guys with cave I mean school disengagement it's real you know and that's your struggling students are going to hit that first so I really just I really would like to see a stronger impact on CL question um are you thinking that the seven current positions that are being reallocated that there's not enough of those positions you want to see those positions be redefined or are you asking to add money to the budget in order to create new positions no I'm asking to just redefine what we have you know um

174do we need all seven can we you know can we get away with five so if it be seven I I just I could break it down if you want so we have four instructional coaches moving to four curriculum support teachers y yep which they have a stien also Joie I don't want to before I have the sheet from if everybody wants to look it'll just help people visually if you want to have it in front of you that's all so that's so we're talking about those four and the one coach that would move to the climate coordinator yep because I think I think they everyone agree that we need another position for math science cuz we we saw the numbers the math numbers were high and more of our students are require are wanting

175to take physics right so we need to open up some more science sections um and then we saw the need for um one of those curriculum coaches to move to math intervention at clas so um what I'm referring to or what we're referring to is the four instructional coaches who are moving to four curriculum support teachers some of those positions being absorbed as direct support to to students I understand the work that they do with curriculum but that's also being done in different Arenas so they get a stipended right they get stien to do work over the summer um and they're leading you know they get typ to lead PLC days uh the Wednesday I would think after school after school work outside of hours outside of that so yeah um essentially you know yes

176we The Proposal was to get rid of the instructional coach model those seven positions and we allocate some of those but six positions I just want to make sure we're on the same page that's all yep one was through regular enrollment adjustment but given are very low test scores in math and Ela but more so for math you know we need to really hit them when they're young especially with a new math program um needing more extra time and I know and I did write on that document that I'd like to it would be helpful to know what the change is to the schedule for math to gaining more time in math it's kind of hard to like think that through when I don't have like a concrete and I get they're probably still working

177on that yeah I totally get that right um but you know that's a big span K through six I see that developmental need every day I get hit with it in my face that we need more intervention in that area for math especially at the younger levels um and our one interventionalist at the high school is stretched too thin I mean the intervention position at the high school she's teaching classes so kids kids need more contact time in small group and to be serviced directly not in not in addition to also having to teach a class I mean that's that's really important information to know um for the rest of the board that that one intervention teacher is is spending half the time actually teaching classes and do the Deans teach coing Deans don't have

178okay the dean has direct contact with kids all day long but not instruction in a class so we're not proposing or I'm not proposing that an increase although if that's what it took right to service more students and get more for them you know those and we're not and I'm not just talking like we're not talking tier three we're talking tier two and a lot of those honors and these are honors students also that need that math support so can I can I speak a little bit to the tier one tier two um piece and where the um you know I don't I don't really want to conflate the two the curriculum support Specialists versus intervention because they really are very very separate roles um uh but just in terms of you know to all

179of your points that you bring up you know that we are we we've talked about we are really struggling with our math scores but also there are variety of aspects you know feeding into that that math concern and that have a trickle up effect with our students as they get to the higher grades um the core way to address that is to shore up our tier one instruction um tier two is an intervention right kid kids make it to tier two and then they only go into tier two hopefully for a certain the you know the standard is four to eight weeks right about a specific skill that is identified through the sery process um the most important thing to do is to provide a strong written curriculum which is the DNA of any District

180so that and then help Provide support for making that written curriculum the the assured experience of our students and support that that curriculum is is implemented with Fidelity for all of our kids and then have that support come into the into the classroom and we talked about this at Cape about mtss you know serby and mtss there's really an elementary model that when scaled up to the high school just has to look differently it is not the same way to that you do intervention at the high school as you do in an elementary school it's just you don't have the flexibility um kids need credit they are assigned to classes through a credit process um and so that's why it doesn't quite quite match hence the idea of a co- teaching with the um with

181the math interventionist at the high school um and then also that small group instruction where that that assignment is to really kind of find the time um that's why one of the changes to the program of studies has been made made in order for this teacher um who is a certified teacher to uh be able to um create a schedule around the needs of students and then have kids assign to that class um so that that the students can earn Credit in a quarterly basis as needed um again High School doesn't fit with an elementary model you can't just pull a kid for four to six weeks and give them credit for 4 to6 weeks so it has to be a quarter H you know a semester or a full year um but in terms

182of the way to really meaningfully and intentionally address the concerns across the District of um student preparedness on these uh you know high stakes tests but also on the day-to-day is to shore up our tier one intervention in general looking at our schedule for all of our fourth and fifth graders looking at the written curriculum which in the elementary school is uster of math or CA but making sure that that we are meaningfully and intentionally going through that in a real time you know as teachers are rolling it out and having somebody there to really be an expert in that so that they can there has been so much work done with the K through three teachers looking you know in terms of anticipating what's coming up adjusting uh lessons and units as they have

183been going taking out units that are that we're not ready to to really do um that work is ongoing so there is a ton of work that happens in the summer hopefully teachers are willing to do that work because that is on a volunteer basis we can't assign teachers Any teacher work to do outside of um the school day um but that's that's why the I totally agree with everything you're saying and the answer to the the most expedient way and the most effective way for the whole school Community is to really she shore up that tier one while also not ignoring the mtss process and investing in that we have heard we heard from Dr P last year really needed at least another interventionist at for math at the elementary school um and that's

184why we made this adjustment for going into next year um but there are also a lot of other ways to address tier 2 or tier three or um students who receive specialized instruction there are other ways of doing of doing that work while also Shoring up our curriculum and our instruction and maintaining that Continuum yeah and I I mean I under I understand like I think you know there's been significant work and you know CES in particular with the two new programs that are rolling out and it's going to involve fifth grade my concern is we're going to give these kids back more math time when we find it and that's great it'll make an impact what do we do with these kids in middle school in high school that aren't where they need to

185be you know tier one is good teaching all our kids are getting tier one instruction they should be getting tier one instruction you know so tier 2 how many of our tier 2 kids are now going to tier three and looking at a special education referral how many of our tier three kids have a special education you know where we're the they're talking to the special education department they're having thoughtful conversations bringing them in seeing if someone in special education has something else in their toolbox to try and drive remediation instruction before these kids end up identified you know our numbers are climbing and I just think that we have a very strong po a large population at whiskin and at the high school I mean it's really disheartening as a parent to look at

186you know SAT scores at the high school and we have kids I mean some of our kids aren't even proficient in English there's a ton that are not proficient in math there you know the scores are there right and the interal at the high school is amazing I could clone or we could use 20 of her um you know my concern is that these Elementary you know the elementary students with another interventionalist and more math time in time will make a difference for those kids what do we do for our middle school kids and our high school kids that need help now I am so glad you asked that question because I think Dr yeah so we have um I uh Lisa passed out a memo to you earlier today figuring we'd have this conversation

187so put a memo together it's a two-pager and it really breaks down um based on this exact disc discussions there's a lot of not only questions through cape and questions of the finance committee meetings but also um in the uh Q&A doc budget Round Table I mean it's it's it's it's a it's it's a it's a important subject to discuss there really are three buckets we we've talked about interventionist tonight um so we could start there that's actually on the second page if we could just go there um interventionists uh typically we just make sure our nomenclature we're all on the same page are are certified teachers that's the first thing and they're going to be veteran teachers you're not you're not going to hire NE necessarily a first year teacher as interventions you you're

188going to want a real expert someone who's got that experience to be there um in in our experience here in District that's a that's a very costly investment um at most um give or take a little bit of time when I say this you're going to get about 28 hours of contact time from one of our certified teachers just the way their prep time works and everything else in a given week it's just an important kind of Benchmark for you um but but we're talking with salary benefits a package in the $100,000 range um interventionists are hired to provide exactly what we're talking about that targeted support in usually in reading and math um primarily utilized in tier two as Dr man work through um of course they could be used as a support in

189tier one or tier three obviously dependent on the needs we can be flexible with that or special education certainly certainly uh to that end just so everybody knows we do have five reading teachers that serve in that role at clas and one math interventionist and we're asking for another we we've established that that at whiner we have three reading teachers one math interventionist at the high school two reading teachers one math interventionist so that's an interventionist they're a certified teacher I just have a question so are our math well at WMS are our reading teachers teaching any classes are they targeting spec yeah yeah they they they they have a they're scheduled in a class and it's it could be a targeted class they may have Paris support in that class or a tutor however

190that might work and sometimes caught yeah and be in cot situations too so on average our three reading teachers how many classes are there like if we have three reading teachers right what are their hours available to service intervention I don't know if Mr Renda can come kind of talk to that yeah you have to go to the mic Dean if you're GNA do that that' be [Music] helpful so like let watel yes how many classes like on average how many classes would she teach well it it actually depends like right now I want to say she might have six classes okay um my other reading teacher so it's it's a little bit different um I can only speak is smaller group they all it's all small group that they're teaching the they don't have

191a traditional yeah yeah no not even close but are they pushing into caught are they they do not we have done that a little bit in the past but they don't it's more about when you have um I'll give you an example say like Miss Mitchell has six classes one day and five classes the ne happens to have five classes the next day um same thing with d Al so we have when things come up at the beginning of the year we don't schedule them for full full six five six classes because we know that those other things are going to come up and we're going to have to move them into they actually like today we were actually moving uh students into different days CU we have A's and B days that for the

192UN and H but they also do teach core class so say if it's core three they may teach a core 3 class outside of the UNH time I guess if you could say it that way I mean and I mean so it's not just un like math is just UNH math uh interventions come out the kids come out of their un andh classes in Reading it's a little bit different yeah reading I mean I so I'm looking at three reading teachers right and clearly we're utilizing them when we need them we have one math and we're doing it during un ah is that enough to support it's every student that needs aention getting it well we we also have the math and reading tuts that we have through we're gonna go into next so if

193you could hold de oh okay sorry Erin can I go into the next section here so still on page two then we have we have tutors typically Grant funded tutors work thank you Dean we might have to have you work work your 10,000 steps and come back up get your steps um between 15 and 25 hours a week part-time very flexible there's no Union um there's no uh collective bargaining um and we could be flexible times of day Etc and as needed of course as as needed so uh tutors primarily Provide support to the general education student uh through onetoone or small group instruction but they also could give assistance in a classroom tutors typically provide targeted instruction in uh math and literacy just like uh interventionists tutors can be assigned anywhere like we talked

194about uh in District we have four part-time tutors right now currently on staff again fund through uh the title one Grant there's one math tutor that works 25 hours a week at the elementary school two tutors at the middle school um and and splitting um with a 15 hour work week and then one reading tutor um that has a 15 hour work week and are these teachers NOP tutors are I should have I should have said that not the only certified that we're talking about here are interventionists that are trained teachers then we have the tutors okay and we you know we give them professional learning and things like that they're obviously people who are interested often times they maybe working their way to get a in the door as apparel or as a teacher

195someday um or in grad school or whatever the case may be or gettingg I mean I guess I'm just I mean tutors I mean look we're using them it's working but you know for intervention no no no I'm just trying to explain the three different kinds of intervention we have that's all just to make sure we have a we have a a baseline for everybody and then on the first page um we have you know the our our largest group is our par Educators typically work uh in special education you could see the the cost there with the benefits is $35 to $40,000 cost per year um and um but our high highest paid ABA specially trained Paris um certainly compensated more um par educators are part of the special education budget although they could

196help with regular Ed in the case of the kindergarten classroom Paras that's where they help um but um they are of most often assigned in special education um the uh CES has a total of 45 Paras um 15 AB a those are those very specialized par Educators with with a a very comprehensive background and 30 General par Educators whis skiner has six ABA and nine traditional par Educators and BHS 6 ABA and seven traditional par Educators for a total of 15 and 13 respectively at those schools so there are lots of ways to get at supporting um students so I just want to make sure we kind of level set on that um for this conversation right so so as Anna was uh pointing out earlier um the the biggest bank for your buck is

197as you said Shoring up tier one right um so does it does this do these changes in the current budget reflect what the building leaders have asked for and do they reflect what in your professional judgment um what is a healthy next step for next year they do M well it's it's yes to the what the principales ask for and what the special Department asked for um although we know special is volatile and there's always changes we'll bring those forward if those change but the the recommendation from the team because we made sure we talked with the team um we can stand behind this recommendation that I provided in December um but are open to conversation but I think it's important to mention too that I'm sure they're trying to be fiscally responsible right and

198they're not going to I mean would they love more intervenous absolutely we asked I I I I I would say the same thing I agree I if you could give me 30 tutors uh 15 more Paras and and you know six more interventionists I would never say no to it so we're under fiscal constraints in our community given the promises agreed to last year and you know those things in terms of what what investments we were going to continue with um do we responsibly do I responsibly bring forward uh not only from the team but as the superintendent to the board for consideration that's that's where let me let me just reset so we had gone around um and joy was like you brought up the point that got this all started did you were

199were there like more thoughts or closing thoughts that you wanted to say about your about the budget the only other thing I wanted to say was like so historically we've follow we've followed this model whether it's instructional coach model or um you know the the um curriculum support teachers right this model and I don't feel like it's yielding the results that we want to see so I feel like we need need to make a a more drastic positive change um that still can be within the fines of um this fiscally responsible number um so that's what my proposal is is to absorb some of these curriculum Specialists curriculum support teachers back into the classroom directly supporting and strengthening the tier one yes but that could look that can be very powerful by having those teachers

200push in having another math interventionist needing to go into those honors classes I mean we're at high numbers and yes we're adding a point a halftime position for math but that's still not substantially going to bring down our math numbers they're still higher they're still High um but we still need support even for our honors students and the results show that it's they're not just kids in the academic classes it's these are also kids in honors classes so at the bare minimum we need more math intervention at the high school and CLS thank you y Rosa um so I I feel like we're really getting into the weeds of like how the schools operate at a very granular level so I I really don't want to do that but I do have to ask one

201question and I promise I'll stay high level so is do you feel like um at the high school and the middle school I know we're adding uh an interventionist to CES but at the high school and middle school do you feel that what is there is adequate to meet the needs of students and I know that we're we're adding now um or we're you know obviously we're gaining these curriculum Specialists um is there like had you considered other um you know kind of like three curriculum Specialists and to get another interventionist or was it that like nope we're at quit with the interventionist we really need the tier one and like so like kind of just maybe just more your like your process of like how you got up how you got to this allocation

202so I'll I'll let Anna talk to the curriculum support teacher specifically on that because it's there's there's a kind of a a parody between the schools and and working on that it was a big part of the conversation of actual physical time in the building working with teachers um she she can add some some flesh to that comment from me U but in terms of the intervention if you recall from the budget assumptions and priorities I actually asked for an addition interventionist and as I was walk you know going through kind of putting this uh the whole puzzle together you have to you have to be ruthless in the way you prioritize and um we were ruthless in the way we prioritized and it might not be perfect to from everybody's individual lens in perspective

203which I absolutely respect um th this was our best foot forward to keep tier one going forward um really to from from what we got as feedback from the teachers more heavy emphasis on curc culum U making sure we have the people to help us support with the science stand social studies CER c um illustrative math getting away from the instructional coach model whittling that down from six to four really in a lot of ways and having those folks those leaders focus on the curriculum work k38 because we have those um specialists at the high school um in our department chairs um and then also meeting new legislation class size and and and also being very transparent with when we have enrollment adjustment not just saying oh we're going to have smaller class sizes isn't

204this nice let's keep 51 sections at the elementary school no working with Dave and seeing where he could move those sections and moving it down to 50 sections so it is within class size class size ranges but it's uh being very fiscally responsible so I mean you know we we have to make decisions and we bring forward the best decision we can make given the constraints you know we we we all know we don't have a magic wand with with the funding um and you all make a lot of good points so and you want to talk specific to the spe uh support support teachers I would say that um you know my we did we to what John said that we didn't get a you know a huge request about to to add more

205intervention we are getting lots of requests and a lot of the um teachers are focusing their professional learning on you know really Shoring up instruction um but the other thing is that one of the things I heard when I first got here was this sense of we are very siloed it is not you know unique to Brookfield often times in public education what happens in an elementary school or one school you know doesn't always get communicated to what happens in another school it's kind of a systemic issue with um you know just kind of the institution of public education um so what when we did our Pathways last year one of the real reasons for that as our professional development you know kind of uh whole plan um one of the one of the driving

206purposes of that was to create greater connection and articulation prek through 12 and the the one one of the pathway there have been two Pathways that were really really successful in doing that one was the portrait of the learner which we are in the midst of really fleshing out and and you know becoming more robust and creating essentially the standards by which our all of our curricula will be aligned to pqu all the way through 12 and that is work that is forthcoming and we are and it's going to be more work to integrate that into the written curriculum again as part of the Strategic plan to make it an assured experience for all students um the other Port the other pathway that was very that was very successful in terms of that articulation was

207the curriculum pathway and it was the first time that teachers from across the district got a chance to really talk with each other um and one of the reasons for that is because there is not an infrastructure built to have curriculum ongoing curriculum conversations embedded in the regular school year um at all the levels the high school has the two uh curriculum coordinators the administrators that are just High School Humanities and stem the World Language curriculum coordinator is actually K12 so she actually oversees that position oversees the entire District so all of those um those teachers and uh elll including and that includes uh supervision as well so that person not only sees the scope and sequence K12 but uh oversees all 16 teachers um in the evaluation process um and then the athletic director

208who's also serves as PE and health um who as we all know is pulled in a gazillion different directions which our NES uh kind of review showed um so there's not a lot of over and then uh what we've been work you know working on this director of instruction um last year it was K5 and then we felt like there was a little bit of a gap in the middle school and there's so we we changed that this year to K8 but no that one person K8 can it is it is a vast job and could never keep up with with the changing standards that are constantly being updated by the state we just had new social study standards that were released um k12 and the instructional coach has been really focused on doing that

209particularly at the elementary school science standards have changed we've just brought in these two new curricula at the elementary school those have a an adjustment at the at the middle school so really the idea behind this this we were trying to thread this needle so that we can maintain this m momentum that we've created with We Are One School District we are not sep separate schools or separate experiences we want assured experiences across the um the Continuum is was to and and also but also make the adjustments that we knew were needed um and we saw that the instructional coaching model did not take off it did not you know Catch Fire where people were really using it as that um you know kind of Shoring up on that tier one instruction but we still

210have a need in our in maintaining and growing that uh meaningful experience and Rich curriculum which is I know has been mentioned before my time it is the DNA of the district so and do you think that the kids that are already in tier 2 and three and that needed interventionist their needs can be met with the current plan I think that um C in terms of the current budget plan and in terms of the um the FTE absolutely one of the things we talked about at um Cape last this past meeting was the mtss process and we are committed to reviewing that our handbook but also reviewing the protocols and the procedures that are followed at each um at each of the schools um as I've already mentioned you know secondary Mt sery looks

211different than Elementary but um you need to have some general guidelines for the entire for the entire District so that's another project that has to happen thank you you know oh one other thing I just wanted to mention let's not forget that we have a lot of instructional leaders we have our assistant principles like you mentioned M who have been trained given a lot of um you know training on being structural leaders we have a um uh director of instruction an and her expertise um we have Department chairs at the high school that can also work with the other buildings also so we have a lot of people supporting the curriculum in addition to stien positions and all the stien work um Extended Duty work um so there's a lot happening to support the curriculum

212um and there are hundreds of schools in many districts that don't have this model that for example these curriculum um what's specialist special supp support teachers actually that's my mistake support curriculum support teachers and not are teachers in the classroom and get a stipend to do that curriculum work so it this is not the be endle model right and I think that's to Rosa's Point like have we thought about know you know a different approach or a different model um doing away from the instructional model I get all that that that was I think a good move and acknowledging that that may not have been the best approach but there are other ways that districts meet the need but still being able to support more students directly um while still being able to support the

213curriculum to improve that tier one intervention at that level for there there are many ways to skin a cat so to speak if if um if I might just something to consider consider with process that we've kind of done in the past might be a little bit different one of the things we can think about it I'm not hearing from the board that they're interested in adding to my budget recommendation price tag I'm not hearing any appetite for that um which um we don't makes doing anything always hard because again you have to ruthlessly prioritize because you only have a finite um remember there's only $101,000 in this budget of new investment otherwise it's status quo at the end of the day um the new positions we are discussing again as a reminder for the

214public are all reallocations of existing positions we didn't ask for for new there um so um if the number is satisfactory to the board the board could consider a motion to move the budget forward in its current form with a comeback to discuss some other ideas um in terms of allocation of Staffing that is something that can be done I just want to put that out there process something to think about where it gives Anna and myself and Casey time with the leadership team to sit down and say you know that that the board was talking about these particular ideas and you you actually could ask um a specific assignment of me hey John can you come back with a focus on Intervention and maybe something creative or something different you know um we're not

215going to do that to it's it wouldn't be appropriate and effective at 9:30 at night or what whatever time it is now to try to do that here that's for the the the Educators to do and bring back and then work through with the board so that's another that's a way we can get at this given that we have to have a budget you know hand it over in a week and a half I will say that I I would not be in favor of doing that um I think person and this will just be my closing thoughts on the budget in general I'm in favor of of of voting for this budget um I think it's important that we communicate to the community that we stand behind the budget and we stand behind um

216Dr bril and and um Dr man who put it together and all the principles who put it together um you know I don't I don't think it's the role of this board to to operationally tell you how to do your job and yes there are many ways to skin and Cat and um you know I might not agree with one of those ways but you've Pro provided more than enough sufficient explanation for justification as to you know the the numbers you brought forward and and that's good enough for me so thank you thank you and Stephanie my comments were going to be similar I feel like this was really well thought through um I I don't have any reason to believe that if this doesn't work you wouldn't re-evaluate it in the same way that

217we went forward with the instructional coaches model you know we saw it through to the end of its usefulness and then you pivoted and I feel like based on what everyone is asked for and what the expertise of your team uh are that this feels I'm I'm prepared to support this moving forward as is for the same reasons I think that it's all been well thought through I think you've given everyone what they've asked for with a look forward to what might need to change in the future and knowing that those once we share Shore up tier one as you um had given an explanation on you know how then that needs to evolve so I'm comfortable with the budget as is thanks um uh I think that we in this these deliberations over the

218this last hour we got down into the serious weeds um to get some questions answered but um as Rosa pointed out that's really not where we belong as a board of education that role belongs to the educational leaders at this table and at the other table uh and to the the professionals who work with them it's not our job as Rosa said to tell these folks operationally how to manage things um for a host of reasons but but fundamentally that is not the role of the board um so for that reason and for all the reasons already articulated I support um this budget so why don't we um get a motion on the table um I will move that the board adopt a budget for the 2025 2026 school year in the amount of 54

219million 82,2 56 and approve submission of such to the first Selectmen by January 31st 20125 I'll second I'll second okay we've had um robust disc discussion on this so um all in favor of this motion to approve the um the number that Rosa well 54 million [Music] $882,500 um thank you very much everyone so now we'll move to the three main points okay budget so yeah I definitely think the budget discussion needs to be one of the main points and then I have the three others that I feel like could equally be um and I would like love your feedback so the VHS Student Government that's such a fun presentation and I Love featuring the students in our three main points the recycling in the cafeterias is a great initiative and then the Healthy Start

220times discussion I feel like those any of those two of any of the three could be um so I wanted to see what your opinions were um do anyone have any strong opinions about whether to include I mean Rec school start times was a very robust conversation yeah um and would have monumentally shifted the school district so I feel like that was probably a good yes thing to add it was a big takeaway of the meeting yeah um and yeah I would agree on the student SP would you put would you put um wa recycling in I actually like our new sorry what sorry I was just looking and I was like actually all of our new business is like well I know the P the pto's will be communicating about the recycling so maybe

221something on parents Square so we can probably take that off maybe take that one off okay so I think the BHS Student Government Spotlight Healthy Start times discussion and the budget discussion right on the Voting is important yeah the voting was I know the only reason why I left that out is cuz we had a discussion about that and it was a three main point only two me ago so I feel like not that I don't like featuring students but like in terms of like business of the meeting like on like the points that like people are maybe not going to read the minutes or watch the video on you know so voting over the recycling and over VHS Student Government yeah okay so number one would be voting it is freezing in here I

222know that's what I put my jacket on I'm not trying to leave I just might want to check that boiler maybe the air conditioning is finally working so um upcoming so number all right so number one is going to be voting number voting in schools I should say Okay um number two is going to be the Healthy Start times discussion and presentation and number four will be the budget discussion number three yes oh sorry yes number three I have number okay upcoming events two yep okay tomorrow January 16th there is a dyslexia program at the Brookfield Library at 6:30 p.m. all are welcome to to attend Friday this coming Friday the 17th is a half day for all students and Monday the 20th is no school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day February

2234th is septo is hosting a presentation from CT Behavioral Health at 6:30 p.m. at CES in the upper cafeteria and everyone is welcome to attend um whis caner tomorrow January 16th there's a boys and girls basketball home versus bethl game at 400 p.m. January 21st the winter chorus concert is at 7:00 p.m. at BHS the uh January 22nd the boys and girls have another basketball home game versus new town at 4:30 and February 3rd the WMS PTO meeting is on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. um and Brookfield High School January 21st is the first day of midterms that's all I have right on okay well with that um without objection we can adjourn at 99:5