001the special education supporter if we can all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance please religions justice are he'll be much both of our board members here tonight dreamers are able to make it in those joining us right so first we have our very own spotlights mother agenda that is the before high school deca students and grading business yes beautiful students mr. Bhatia so it's and things that we're seeing now but really miss Nicholson along with mr. say poor was sneaking in the back over there doesn't want the recognition but he's he's his group down the technology Education Department do the high work with the laser engraving we all said a business component of this as well so our students have really taken some before and after school work and combined it together to clear their
002own business so I'm going to turn it over to is Italy anything to start to talk today all right looks like we'll totally tacky the presentation thank you madam chairwoman members of the board my name is Liam Ania well I'm her fondant umeri and we represent the Future Business Leaders of America Club at the high school under that we have our business which is called everything etch DZ where an etching business which was founded after the Brookfield Education Foundation give us a grant for a laser engraving attribution as a business as mr. Boynton has said we etch different products such as his name plates wooden plaques and initially require the module which allows for us to move on around objects such as glass differently the best we'll be expanding our operations in that way some
003of our major customers up till this point include our very own superintendent members of the Board of Education as you can see I hang plates for a phone that we actually perform the world of finance sales marketing for the business some other students in this department of the business include by Villanueva Jack's all of them in Bernard production department of the business it's mainly taken up by Noah Lucas and not Kevin on mr. suppose our chief operating officer officer he mainly deals with students and related machine miss necklace and cruising who's in the audience tonight is our chief financial officer and Misaka D who couldn't make it tonight is our chief executive officer so in terms of the production department we have three primary roles that are assigned to our members those rules include purchasing
004the wood and then shedding or on sandpapering it to the proper plaques and then also operating the laser machine so some of our members including that Cavanaugh they have laser certifications now which I'll give them the license to operate the machines in addition as the ax mentioned before we are constantly improving the technology in the finest apartment we manage the finances for the business which allow us to create sales invoices for customers updated Victoria and fire checks with the books with the school's bookkeeper we also hope to be learning since well accounting students who hope to be using automated accounting system for future business finances we make decisions on a professional manner and try to spend conservatively so that we're most a fit that we use our money most efficiently as a business thank you
005for this thank you very much do you have any questions for us just a comment these are beautiful I say thank you very much and I've seen a couple of the other examples of what you've done and it's phenomenal and I love the fact that you're also getting certification with it as well thank you thank you good job guys thank you very much mrs. or just as a side note the storyline was I got to be the first customer so I wouldn't even play from my desk and I told them I said I've never received a bill for this is the only time if I actually want to receive invoices they had developed and yet so they they here is everybody they really they have soup-to-nuts they do a great job right from from start
006to finish so guys thank you very much great thanks mrs. Nichols encourage all the students to explore the various options not only are they in finance but if they'd like to charlie laser machine they can you know mr. Szabo and I always there miss Daugherty for supervision so he encouraged them to learn all different aspects of the business Ahmad really excited as the accounting teacher that we have requested the automated software which is something we don't have in the classroom so to really expand it outside of the classroom we're getting QuickBooks so the first small business so that they can learn that piece of it as well and really see you know what they've learned on paper and how they've actually manually done it how it automatically does it sounds right so it's exciting so
007they get to see all aspects and really learn how it does this gets done from start to finish so I've actually had a question so it was how many customers have you have and they mention do they end money from October as a girlfriend does it end up in the Student Activity County reinvested in their business what do you do with it I just wonder some you hear about that do you want answers answer well as for now we haven't had a huge loss of customers that you following the customers so we do need to get a report from our schools bookkeeper to see how much is in our account at the at the point when our account balances which is exactly why we want to have an automated accounting system which will help us
008organize the business to operate in a more efficient manner and I've asked for our earnings for the business we plan on reinvesting into our inventory by purchasing more woods that we get that laser great and then Sully and we hope to maintain a sufficient cash balance so that we can purchase new technology our startup here so when I'd rather start up here it was kind of learning the machine and how it works you know the different speeds it needs to go out what works and what doesn't work we've been getting the kinks out of inventory and and how do you embrace the customers and keep track of it and put them in alders and we set up separate emails so it's been our learning curve with all of this next year at the behavior we
009hope to get a website set up maybe blue shorts and flyers products so we can expand the customer base brewery we couldn't used all of you today so all the money goes back we have an account so the money goes back into the business and we purchase new things with it like the side County software and things like that hey Jackie next we have the vision program at NASA joint venture school Alliance Club presentation to say which has graciously to the failure of doing their vision assessment and scrutiny with our students and Jay rocky and kathy nelson fellow lions are here to help with the presentation okay I'm just going to give a brief introduction and then I'll let our Lions have the floor for a second this is our third Jay we've done it
010but this year was a very special year because well this is the first year that Joe came to me and with his sidekick and they said we would like to scream the whole school so from my point of view I was really nervous because the idea of trying to screen all 365 of our children you know they've no nervous because the year before when they screen their children it took it was not a quick thing to do for each one of our children they up until this time they were only screening our pre scores this year they they they're magic wands and we had some new technology and we're shooting this year we were able to work with our with our secretaries and with our PowerSchool software and we were able to download the names
011they used to have to enter the names Randall away into the to the machine well this year we waved a magic wand and we were able to get all the names out of power school gala list and I have to give a huge thank you to non-aligned to their volunteers but Lisa Ruggles is my secretary she got those schoolís together Beth O'Connor kind of spearheads this on our end and she goes through and finds all the children what we had was an opt-out permission so parents are made terminus slips she just went through called out all the children who had not given permission we had 249 children that didn't have permission to get screened so they were able to screen 492 forwarded to Berlin 49 I'm sorry children were screened and and like half the
012time that we had allotted for they were okay in our class I'm an underclass so I love that we have 13 referrals to me what we referred that they caught some kind of questionable and and out of that the very person coming gaze deviation they got water from the screaming the schoolers did follow up and send our own school letter so we made sure that we followed up from Center five children did did go to the doctor that we know about and to did get glasses three were told by the doctor that they were okay so that's you know from our end all right it would you Joe's gonna so here let's let me get around this way so I can face the board all right okay everything how's that all right well thanks you
013thank you for having us we appreciate the opportunity to tell you a little bit more about our what we call the kids site program I'll get into that in a minute but first I want to let you know that the Lions Club International is the largest service organization of its type in the world we have 1.4 million members in 46,000 clubs in 200 countries in Brookfield our club is about 70 people and it's about 35 percent women and since we started getting a lot of women list in the last 10 years or so it's really had a positive impact on the on the club yeah I can certainly say that many times so I'm not the not making that up anyway about five years ago or so we started working on what we then call
014the pediatric vision screening program and this is a vision screening it's not an eye test but it's a screening and over time the Lions Club rebranded that as lions kid's site USA or as we just call it kid's site the reason I say it's a screening is that the device we use looks at the eye and determines if the I is possibly deficient in one of six different categories it can identify a child with the possible problems with astigmatism nearsightedness farsightedness and other eye problems that are caused vision problems these are all things that can if identified before the age of seven and treated before the age of seven they can be treated successfully so they don't carry the child doesn't carry them into adulthood so that's why as dr. Salem mentioned you know we
015started in three schools and those kids and then expanded it up in the first grade of center school one other element of it is that in this six-month the six year category those are the children most likely to have difficulty with the traditional Snellen test the e and all that cuz they don't a lot of them the younger ones in particular don't have the the skills to take the test so we can really screen kids at an early age and catch them at an early age we started the first year at about forty kids the Goddard school Allison Dell was very helpful with us and eventually we got into center school the first year we did about 40 kids as I said at Goddard last this year we will do about 4,000 children throughout southwestern
016Connecticut we've built quite a good team in Brookfield to do this and so we've been invited to places like Monroe and Shelton we found ourselves I pulled up the nurse at Barnum's school in Bridgewater figuring well they're nearby let's do them and then when I found out about region 12 we ended up going to washing which is a little further than we expected but so we've expanded to that level throughout southwestern Connecticut other clubs have been engaged danbury's involved in the Fairfield New Milford and this year they'll probably do about 20,000 kids in southwestern Connecticut and a hundred thousand throughout the entire state of Connecticut of the 4,000 or so that we have screened we have referred about 450 to see a doctor and that's that's our criteria we keep we keep track of the
017number that we measure screen and then also the number that we refer and what we refer them for so with that I'll turn it over to Kathy who will explain the devices we use and all the particulars of what we what we do Kathy has to be near to my this is the device we use which looks sort of like an old-fashioned for Polaroid camera and what I do is I put in the information what school were screening at the end of the child sometimes most regulations of that particular space happen there's a number information we're about three feet the trial just start here Oh because we're not forgetting to oh sorry behind story home insurance wonders and the child is seasoned three seconds get the results camera says I'm gonna get the results could
018I pass up some of the results nation I can't that's nothing what do and some of them are months old and some of them are school-age it is very interesting to work with the children it's a very simple process and we've had very very good results there have been instances for in kind of child that had a parasite and that was a very fortunate thing I picked it up to happen to her parents took her immediately joy after and after further examination they discovered it was a cancerous time so perhaps we said if somebody's like any questions are gone we want to thank you and then at the bar with us for everything only for our students but for the entire community it's our pleasure to enjoy don't hurt us and got glasses okay next
019we have four recognitions already poured our condition first we're going to look at me so I like to a second as a special meeting tradition we have a cake or some other going to celebrate board Appreciation Month which is March because of snow appreciation but Unitas the most difficult forward to serve on we have great work and and continuous about that this board is providing to the students families in iteration teaching staff excetera with everything that if you help initiate it's it's been incredible so I thank you and we've invested goodies over there I'm not sure if we're gonna break just yet so thank you everybody thank you thank you you want to add on to that that just for myself it's been an honor and a privilege to work with each and every one
020of you so thank you ditto okay I want to on question that we move to items up on the agenda just to have them before we break number one be my business so this would be 1280 move up as well as the consent agenda 11 a welcoming summer by consent agenda I would say all about to celebrate our cake and just build around how to see the my trip just to have it before we break as well solution cheese consent agenda item 11 and I see the road trip item 12 aim up to right now prior to public comment sir instead of April start with the personal trip actually so they can come over so if we stop if you come up to here we need abortion post - I'm sorry mr. pastor Don recommend
021immersion at the board of privilege for the odyssey 19 to travel to means Ohio - those new team - Sunday May 27 2009 team participate in the world find this competition as requested by our seomyeon advisor Sarah Elena hi thank you board and yes that is why I'm here to ask permission yes to a second the police today you tell your dad we just needed a second bailout that's right so yes I am here to ask permission to allow the four teams that have placed first and second place at the state competition should be allowed to represent Brookfield and the state of Connecticut at the Odyssey of the micro finals in Ames Iowa we all received the exhibit that breaks it down does anybody have any questions and is our meter so it's two to
022two teams from risking energy from the high scores cheerful face 14 on one that's a hybrid of their high school atmosphere and then she throws mutually first into Illinois my team came in first which is the hybrid and the other three came in second just some comments maybe then thank you very much for stepping up to see mine this year and taking the Arnage is a we are greatly appreciate it and I do understand that these four teams ties us for first and all of Connecticut is the largest amount of teams sent us to them that were reckless and we tied with Stanford so if you look at just the spatula of the amount of volume population of an amount of teens that they send in yeah it's a huge accomplishment he's amazing and it's
023it's a it's a huge kudos to everyone involved in this a hundred is hard work it's a lot of work does anyone else have any questions okay all in favor the FCA my trip I of course okay good luck encantado next we have the consent agenda recommend emotion at the border of the items on the consent agenda as recommended new hires Judas and Minnesota Oceania and resignations Alex are you okay dr. Bethany where we just wanted to welcome you home on the consent agenda and thank you for consent agenda there was a press release a couple of weeks ago and since then this is lepresean on has big tackleberry and visit week after school last Wednesday and she was here with her family this evening so Missa welcome brother that comes in there by a
024few words and then when this is coming up the PTO the bear PPO is graciously put together a reception from this Lamar Channel right before their big turnout father if their big event of bingo on Friday night so get our parents remember to see everybody so listen just what if they think you as so so very much for this really exciting opportunity next principle and pucks Berryhill last week I shared with the staff that my leadership philosophy is truly grounded and trust respect and teamwork and I just can't wait to begin collaborating with all of you all of the people that make this community so great so I can't wait for July first to begin my first my official start date and to start my work here so thank you I'm so excited truly thank
025you we're thrilled to have you here so welcome thank you again everyone has been so sweet and welcoming and kind through this whole process which is maybe one and even more and just really happy thank you give us okay any other comments on consent agenda in favor all right a post right we are going to break here shall we say 15 minutes for four maybe that's applied and I welcome to Moosa as well thanks Gordon [Music] thank to see a doctor back thank you very much for us where we took a break the other agenda we have public comment there's nothing to decide of the proper comment is there anyone here that would like to speak ok maybe not we have a student representative we put Dan is unable to be with us today he
026did forward some upcoming events which join with each other and heard on the coordinates for appeal then we have reinforcements Jeffie move some particles we need Bank is concerned about the organization and in John register we're in shortly regarding the incident Catherine Purnima regarding the incident in centre school fence chris d'elia order incident digital Cabello regarding the student manner and Allison Brown regarding security okay thank you next we have the approval of Board minutes recommend a motion at the board of names listed below is recommended special meeting on March 12 2008 team and special Nina Board of Finance on March 15th 2018 any comments questions and regards to the minutes okay all in favor we gotta post right next we have neon superintendent's update the stroke so just wanted today's the last event of the
027season and along with that our last day of the maze at this point in June 26th they're more interested in that I'm actually going to be talking the defensive ends about tomorrow is a whole districts in our area actually have a regular two-hour delay but they also have a modified three-hour delay and while I know that's a lot of time away considering situations actually like today and the fact that we've had you know nine snow days at this point the nine emergency days we want to look at some alternatives and other ways we might be able to get the kids in the school considering you know just the kind of winter we had so we're working on that also just a quick update on our reorganization efforts stem department chair position was posted last week
028so we'll be starting to look at applicants that come in and over the next few weeks begin the resume review process and of course the work we're going to do on the NW comedian mr. Blayne will be heading that up also special education supervisor interviews are complete on this afternoon dr. Ruby and I met with finalists for the position we're going to be doing some reference checking and then hopefully letting the board know where we are in the process of selection so that's an update on reorganization Sarah you already talked about how to see the mind just a reminder for everybody for teams from Brookfield going to the world championships in Iowa this year I mean just amazing and in Connecticut and Bev sent us the rest four teams the other English school district with
029also having four teams well Stanford and Stanford obviously is considerably better than Brookfield so it's just incredible the work our students our parents and Sarah has our new obviously the line coach and coordinator for the district has just been amazing this year so I can't thank them enough the announcement in athletics our boys Class S swim team state championship they got another state championship for the boys coach Reef has nowadays has eight state championships and with the girls they got their first state championship last year with co-chief so ninth or state championships were broke failed in swimming just incredible work going on and that the police escort coming back to town chick-fil-a celebrations all kinds of great things going on so it's just amazing what they're doing so congratulations to the other two the boys
030great job Washington DC trip have to thank mr. Wender dr. peplau ski and all the parents that put the trip and also we have to thank mr. Baldwin for long time to shop around the trip we had a great time three beautiful days beautiful cold days in Washington DC and we really got to do a lot and the kids I think got a great deal on them and in fear just wanted to make sure we announce that we have a Board of Finance as a talent meaning tomorrow night I'm sure joy you might be announcing that we'll be there tomorrow night to answer questions and things like that regarding the budget that's all I just want to check on a little bit in regards to the food finance public hearing tomorrow because I don't think
031we have met as a as a board since the budget has moved through so just kind of discuss here and to say to the public where we are as far as the budget is is forthcoming we did have a reduction from the Board of Selectmen of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars and that reduction was moved forward by Florida the Board of Finance as well but with some collaborative work the Board of Finance is really working with us to help mitigate this reduction we did this year with the the 2016-17 audit that was just completed in addition to having a clean audit and that'sa kudos to Ken and all of the administration there was an to run from the Board of Education of $79,000 the Board of Finance is agreed to establish what is called
032a non laps in front with that money so per state law we can take this money put into a non laps in front and then identify where we want to use that for and this would be identified for the offset to offset the 2018-19 budget so we will be able to address that with the hundred eight thousand dollar cut in addition to that there was a sixteen thousand dollar savings that we found with the Student Activity Fund in a miscellaneous account that through Council has recommended we are able to take that in apply it to each specific school for books and purchases that we can have a budget reduction so the actual amount that we will have to identify in our budget is eighty four thousand four hundred and thirty two dollars we will do
033that at a later meeting that won't be today on it is a special meeting and we can't really insert anything new in here and in addition to that I just want to ensure that the non-obscene firm goes forward so no exam what we're looking for sorry I jumped into eventually show you an update with that mutated perfectly thank you for so collect is an on lapsing funding that we we have to spend it next year we can't carry it on to an on lapsing into a dozen reps as long as the Board of Finance keeps it and as long as we keep money in it it does carry on but in the spirit in which it is will be formed or the money is put in there to apply to the 2018-19 budget the Board
034of Finance was fairly vocal in the fact that they would like to see this ongoing that if we do have under ones year to year that they would put it in and we might be able to identify what we wanted year to year it is something that the Board of Finance has to approve every year to take the money put in that's not an automatic transfer of year while we're in our budget deliberations because usually god it's completed by June anywhere this year the audits very late because of the availability of the audit from so if we had an under one and we're sitting there we could be talking to the Board of Finance relatively or only in the cycle which makes it a lot easier I think I did want to also mention I'm
035sorry I forgot that the Board of Finance in recognizing them we did have a valine budget and there was really no place to go if it did put fifty thousand dollars in contingency for the Board of Education if there are any unanticipated costs you know this year was prime example with all the special education increases but if there is any unanticipated cost that we weren't able to absorb within our budget as well I had a question about the calendar update yes a couple parents approached me and asked if there's any flexibility with the last day of school they were asking you know could we take away a day like at Memorial Day weekend or could we shorten our 182 days to 180 is that something that is an option mid-year or is that something that
036would have had to pay a greater poverty the state law is that students have to go to school 180 days right the field has a contract with the teachers for you know hundred eighty seven days 182 of which our student contact days and that's something we've worked on to get over the get get back over the last couple years and realize maybe and we now we're at 182 it was the my first year here we were back to 182 the bird has the option to have that discussion and if they'd like to take a one or two of those days off and just have the 180 in any given year can do that that we just put that out there to everybody that wouldn't mean in automatic savings that you wouldn't have the teachers working
037extra days that contracted and they would have to work we would have plenty to do and but there'd be a savings on transportation small savings on transportation if that was the case but that isn't something we can really have a full conversation about but it can be done is your question the questions really didn't save those over the questions routed and is going to later I think people had plans or camp or you know things planned for the week of the 25th sure that was you know we're planning on being done by the Friday before maybe issues I understand that Bethel they made a decision as a board that would their superintendent they work together they're at a point about a month ago if there was going to be one more snow day which I
038think actually had happened for them the way it worked out they were going to hold school on Good Friday and the very powers scheduled for 181 days and I think they're only doing the 180 now because of that extra day so there's a local district that made a decision they had a conversation about and decided so however we want you to have conversation or not we can well suddenly disappoint the best thing if parents are concerned about it would be to email the board and ask insist on you know that kind of decision is rests with the board Authority and I could do whatever research you need me to do or find out I've come up with a recommendation okay if that is all be removed to a subcommittee reports first we have finance okay
039so the Finance Committee on that on March 12 we've talked about some of the items so I'll go both ways passed those quickly we went through the financial reports you know now that we've adjusted our budget to reflect this huge real spending and the special education costs even looked at the financial reports or the very few items that stood out as outliers and they were small and we talked about them and talked about whether with all this snow we were gonna have problems with of heating right and and doesn't look at this point like there's a major issue but women are doing it there are a carefully as we're going through the next month or two as all those it bills land we went through the check registers and there were no issues and the
040check registers that were identified they were no questions remember Committee on those we did go through a tremendous update and the staff is going through training on the bank reconciliation module in Venus now that they have some free time after getting that massive pay well implementation Don Bernardo develop skills and some of the other areas that's going on both from the town side of a school aside and in fact the town side have some recommendations reckons bank reconciliations in the audit the school side did not which was kind of an interesting change up we talked about the operating budget but mrs. Stern you just had you just addressed most of that discussion we didn't discuss what when should we go through the budget and look at the cups and we really do need at least
041get through those public hearing and know what's going to referendum before we even consider it I think the board's in the past to sometimes try to make a decision before the referee they're often the lot they wait until after all the referendums have landed means once the decision will need to take as a what do we want to go so I'm addressing that we ask the dr. Bell and mr. post estar thinking about what are the areas we would have to deal with so we could find something which is hard very happy to hear that since then we had this non Hobson fund option come up we do talk about student activities that's where some of this money and some of them you know the types of monies that we were talking about that we
042may be able to put back in for like school supplies and things like that were things like library fines right that didn't out and up over so they were not student money but the realistic connectivity funds they were more process in all the types of money so identified someone I we had through their discussions will the border finance about that as we went through we're talking about payroll and accounts payable and the prior meeting they talked about the business controls over the signature keys and and the check stock and mister post on the staff took some actions to make sure that they were locked up very carefully and separated so that there was never a situation where someone had blind checks and the signature of key at the same time so that's that's a good
043thing we talked about the balance sheet accounts they're set up in unis this is something the Board of Finance wanted we needed to wait for the audit to be completed so we could get the opening balances and I do you have any updates on now that the audits complete cameras Lee the opening balances and John put them in the system okay so we'll be able ever seen on a regular basis that's great now we ought to tell you know take the boat of finance through it at one of their upcoming meetings they'll be glad to hear that so we didn't talk and the audit was I then actually arrived in the next I think the next day or the next couple of days after the Finance Committee meeting actually had the audit report meeting and
044very happy to see the quality of the audit and the compliments that came about the schools or bookkeeping so it was very different than we had seen in prior years so kudos Thank You kudos and that's our that's a so any questions on the Finance Committee now next we have strategic facilities sure sure Eve was not able to be here tonight so I'm just gonna read a couple notes from her about those strategic facilities steering committee we had a meeting last Tuesday March 27th the public forum regarding our school facilities study that's happening right now being orchestrated by Tecton architects we had 52 people attend the meeting 51 people were live-streaming it and as of last night there were 396 online responses to the survey we also have heard guppies of the survey is located
045in the front of town hall those will be collected and tallied and headed into the online responses the steering committee is meeting again this Wednesday at 6:30 that offices in town hall and Tecton will be at that meeting so that we can keep moving forward on the project big announcement from the building and facilities committee the huckleberry hill portables are coming down and will be completely removed during spring break thank you any questions for Debbie how many say 96 online servers Facebook post updates and we can do a school message you're going to continue to get it out in front of people and hard copies are coming into the the box that we have it down as well I don't I think if people want to work around that they probably to it to be
046honest with you I think I remember Eric saying it was gonna be by email their IP address we have it that way but I'm sure people figure does the community have like a collective email address it was in the presentation I don't remember I don't have it with me I did notice it wasn't on like on on the Facebook page it wasn't it says email but then it says like I'm not available or something like so I don't know if punctures our elevator you know why people were asking like how to get in touch they thought like we were all on the committee and it was a little bit confusing I think for some people so okay yeah could we please your line to anyone that may be watching of how they can access the
047survey tips up on blind or there's a Facebook page for the committee do you remember what it was I actually thought you would be PSS embassy that's the Facebook one yeah okay VPS I'm glad you actually go to go for fuel oil Israel if you want to tag it that's what you thought that you would put so I think it's another way to if you go to go vote for your finals website and you go to the board section as a town for strategic facilities committee and there's a big online actually on it that's why I open up my computer it's right there please fill out the survey and it's in Big Shot a big plant so it's really easy to find and on Facebook it's bps you can type in bps for Brookfield Public
048Schools strategic facilities committee and it'll bring it to the Facebook page where the survey is and I know Eric's working with the tech folks on the town side and seeing if there's a way to thank you and to link it to the town website as well that there's a way to do that so it really can get out there for everybody so one another plea if you haven't filled out the survey please do we very much look forward to your input as we have moved forward through the additional surveys this is just the first of many some might be more specific topics about building my facilities of reorganization but there will be many and I think one of the things we're going to talk about at the meeting this Wednesday is what kind of focus
049groups can we design and hold prior to the next June public forum we'll get some face-to-face input time and tech think it helped us organize that knows what right thank you any other questions all right we will move on to new business be setting to the graduation date for the BHS class of 2018 recommendation that the board set the graduation date for the route for high school class of 2018 for Saturday June 23rd 2018 at 5:30 the arena Center Western Connecticut State University second second all right thank you I believe and lightly came Vermont commissioner Wetzel that dollar yes 15 passes up with the abnormal liberal closures this year went and he gives them guidance to districts as to how to set graduation 182 so right now the 180th day of school is Friday June
05022nd if I stayed long the earliest that our students can graduate would be after the 180th day so June 23rd 2018 we are good we need that so we're all set there so the board agrees do that it'll be a the abuse center as it has been for the last several years we have a 5:30 start time reserved July 1st of 2017 at about 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. I'm up to reserve possible slots I sent emails to get my possible slots in just so happen we got lucky enough to get June 23rd to have five thirty days and available opportunities so once I get confirmation from the board if they agree then that's what we'll go forward put that official reservation in and we'll be all set with less cotton there is a couple of
051things so in reading this letter on the second page and I wouldn't expect you to read through it right now that I'll just refer it open and that second paragraph on that page so seniors wouldn't have to return to school everyone else would so the way our current schedule is is that Friday it would be an exam day like we have traditional final exams that five of the 22nd would be exams and then again but Monday would be exam days as well but the seniors are not been required to come back to school because they met the 180 day requirement I have three other classes of students that would likely not be all that pleased with me but you don't have to be here to finish up exams and go from there I know this
052is kind of blurring couple of lines which a but the motion is and before but I can reference doctor for wills stay there Bob out the public schools I live in Bethel and that's exactly what they did then if not go to school on Good Friday but they did cut their short to 180 days so instead of having to go back on that Monday and possibly not Tuesday after the 22nd they actually cut it short and students are done on the 22nd so that is something they did but I just want to make that away we have a very unusual arrangement here with grad party as well which is another thing that I had to figure out I'm not sure how they do that yet but that's something else would you figure out because grad
053party will need to somehow get into the high school set up in one day afternoon and then break down on Sunday so that I can have students again on Monday to take exam so it's going to be a challenging thing then we work together to figure that out so the official request is that the board approve June 23rd 2018 at 5:30 of us going for our graduation senator thanks man thank you any questions for Fitz Loretta it's been a journey this year that's a good journey one quick question how would the final exam schedules be affected if the school year was cut short like so what I basically as it is now for seniors I have to shift their exams earlier generally seniors take exams the same time as every other student so for example
054like last year of last exams was a Tuesday grad party got in on Wednesday to start setting up so then Wednesday Thursday Friday and then by Saturday we're ready to hunt so what I would have to do for this the current schedule if we said it's a 23rd I would have to move senior exams earlier to shift some some periods and figure out how I'm gonna get seniors to take their exams well before then the other students would be taking exams that Friday and then again on Monday any other questions okay all in favor a post thank you you have a date here moving on we have the discussion with security task force recommended action that the Board discussed establishing a security task force yes so as we talked about I think we were a
055month ago now I asked the board of you know I can have their support in taking a deep into work and security and possibly possibly in bringing in some folks from the community to be part of a community that be set up as a task force and also chief Purcell or any representatives of the police department that he saw fit and so we continue in the threat incident we had last week it just begs for the conversation that you know it really has been five years since we've done a full look and review of our security procedures on our regular emergency preparedness procedures and while we again like I said last time where they we have anyone updates and we're always talking with the school administration about security I think it's time to take a
056deeper look and take more formal time to do that and why not with law enforcement as well as for membership as well as a couple of community members I think that'd be great and you know if I can ask in terms of the setup of such a committee I think it would be important why we can't have four members on the committee because that would be you know at least two would be really important to have on the committee I think any input discussion just a question might be part of this or some other effort I know there's some funds that we can hire that can do like security audit of our school that could give a sort of professional advice so wonder if that might be something I think a test work is important
057but I think there's professionals in the field and that might be something we consider to just sort of find out where are we in terms of other school districts and what would be recommendations in terms of moving forward and if we have the task force we have the paper level work that tech Don is doing you know we can't forget that in terms of their manes assessment of buildings and they talked a little bit about that at the forum last week so with the 10 year plan they may have some ideas to help us and especially in the design or renovation of one of the you know a school they'll definitely have with the modernization of a school ideas well Jen great idea would I what I would say is number one having my budget
058for such a fun to come in and help us but that could be born from into the attack force work to say boy we really need you know professional firm to come in and help us out so I'm white as an administrator should pretend on wide open to the concept have a task force mate thank you yes so so so for committee this would be my vision and this will be of course a big access Medical Arts an efficiency of our and second as opposed to administrative committee that has board members attending a strategic Facilities Committee you know we have a specific task and you know we relate the Finance Committee where it's you know ongoing forever it would be a certain certain we have concept of help they get committee and exactly what the
059make a mix of the people would be we have that I've got there yet you feel again I'm happy not tonight I can share some ideas but I mean I think even within seven or eight people's getting too big a II might be too big I think sevens probably an ideal number and like I said I deal in too big these two rivers are they already on live committee so you know I don't know who might have a little bit from the board how many from the administrator superintendent probably run just for at least one place representative which would likely be the change for the major and then when I saw that was for that matter and and then community legitimate you know there's a number of retired law enforcement folks that have you know
060over my three three-year tenure I can't believe this is what my three-year tenure now have I was volunteered their services you know if you need us for anything we're here I'm you know who's hired me you're a police officer on retired you know I've you know we've been stayed and I am fine if you can volunteer so there's there's folks out there they're very happy to help us yeah I'd like to see that Kareem and I might be someone was the qualifications to not just know I remember that's interested sometimes it all Jason's a quite understeery background and anything well in fact if we're gonna have it for our community member that's exactly what the skill softly share this Trent that's because we want everyone as many most of us are professional security people we
061should represent the schools and the educators but so we're gonna have a committee of the police represented and that maybe some people in the profession or especially if there's people over in a profession around school security the idea and I think of the selection and once we'd only once we if it board decides to establish the this evening establish the task force as well as then if we know who the port number would be and then the board members and I could sit down and they start talking about the makeup of the committee we might want to reach out to exactly yeah okay well if there is no other discussion I will put forth a motion to establish a Board of Education and hoc subcommittee for the purpose of a security task force shuttin and
062you have a discussion in regards to that okay all in favor as most so I will ask anyone on in the Sun it was at how Kenichi first in touch with me and then I move forward from there Thank You Warren much appreciated middle step of this sequence of study changes for social studies from an immersion that the board school police secret society changes for such studies as recommended by the kaepa subcommittee turned over doctor one minute okay keep jumping so we're pleased to have members of the risking your faculty here tonight at the subcommittee they presented their logic or the scope and sequence and changes to the social studies curriculum as we to revise social studies to be in alignment the Connecticut social studies framework which is based on CP standards so I'm gonna
063turn it over to web social studies dynamic duo so they can explain to you exactly what we've been presented to the board subcommittee and I just want to put a shout-out to Janice on the subcommittee and she has a background in social studies so as her professional physician so we feel that some of the materials that she sent to us and the comments really we're helpful in affirming what the faculty has brought forward so I'm just going to turn it over to them hi my name is Jason Milne I teach seventh grade social studies that was in here I am Jessica birthday and I also teach seventh grade social studies that was in here and we have a PowerPoint which is coming up hopefully sure yeah that's on the TVs which is great you know
064yeah all right first off thank you very much on my possession game okay Thanks okay okay okay thank you very much for your time we worked closely with high school and with the other schools during our k12 social studies department meetings to formulate a plan that we think makes sense that is aligned with all the different standards and all the different initiatives presentation consider Rosalind so we can first is very very big background I wish leave it fifteen sixth grade at social studies on TVs another situation that was actually changed the social studies in Spanish I still share sometimes whether there is a increase in social studies language mr. sessions it's a few groups that manage vocabulary concepts are covered or fully because love it's finished us pushing integers modest I'm also adjust since there's
065been concern strategic further questions okay so I am gonna start with the 15 scope and sequence on currently because looks like is it eastern united states the topics you'll see for addressing our job if your mapping skill explorers and colonial America but after talking to the elementary schools wages so just logically we were thinking we would expand their world that also provide background into it we'd survive years so the proposed course is instead it would start with Greece in the world not in Greece and Rome we would work at you know how those civilizations our relationship with those places and then what we do is sort of like the students would travel back in time for an ancient tie back so that they would be able to actually learn about the foundations of democracy and
066this meant that relate to where their courses such as early les history where they're going to be touching on those concepts so they'll actually have a foundation of democracy and then the course will basically finish with the understanding the motivation of early experience and the challenges that they encountered this is the current spoken sequence that we have for sixth seventh and eighth grade course courses currently that was here sixth graders currently in world history class will focus on the East and Africa after that China Indian Middle East on major units in seven to eight we focused in the first half the world's by u.s. history record audio from the American Revolution of the route Andrew Jackson which is the seventh president eighth grade they pick up just about repeat the about in seventh grade and
067they continue as far as they can with westward expansion up there about one of them Spanish classes they also do teach language their lengths of 85 three entities language to the lands of the cultural historical and geographical expansion see kind of like a general breakdown of of what is currently run lines that are proposed play we've highlighted 13 just here COC and six and eight sitting the same seventh grade we would pick up early colonies and also the entirety of the French and Indian War and then we will have a more focused Spanish classes where at fifth and sixth grade during the UNH period they will focus on Central America and Mexico while seven eighth grade West Indies and looking at the cultural historical and geographical keep it as short as possible six you have
068any questions were happy to so I just wanted that while the changes are major changes there what they've done is with that I mean just about kids 20 30 years management 3 afternoon so it's not about covering everything for students to be aware what happened in the past that got us to where we are today so that they can be making connections through everything that they study when they current events just just being a global citizen it's really the skills and the higher thinking strategies and the reading mr. an and being able to take that knowledge so that they can explore whatever industry or geography or economics they want to but it's not about and I applaud the fact that they worked closely with the elementary teachers that are on the k-12 social studies committee
069as well as the high school and the as I consider that a time that was spent with the high school because the last thing we want to do is something exactly that we found at the quicken kids studying the same thing we have such a finite amount of instructional time that we want to really make the best of all times that we're teaching kids this is that they to access whatever it is they want to study so I think that's what you're trying to do right so we really appreciate your questions of memory now the system can take it to the next base the sort of a deeper dive in Spanish language culture - and and you know specific countries or regions rather than part of a general overview that looks better give us with
070the fact that they're having the Spanish cushions and then we can still make it even though it's during social days time because only it kind of comedy the question 79th way the students have an option of French or Spanish still correct so again you have the Spanish tions five through eight will be times four French classes as well it's a very good question probably discuss that more mr. Zand is the one French teacher teaches his students this particular history infuriated masses and ii won't learn a little we'd have to sit down about the parking so if I you decide based on the capacity that we have for the instruction of French that would at this point of time I think will be a challenge just in the resources however I just wanted to go back
071to a little bit of what I was saying before we all the work that we're doing as we curriculum and focus on having the Connecticut core standards the social state standards the NGSS l as for what we do so at which teaching kids basic skills it's a it's a sure an assured curriculum so that they can use those skills to generalize to study other things and so now you think about what it is that we're trying to achieve with the solution of Spanish and then the the UNH Spanish the skills that we're teaching the students as they're taking that deeper dive into Spanish culture that they take those same skills to study any other culture that they let they chose so just merely pushing in like a duplicate of in Spanish and French isn't necessarily
072going to achieve does that make sense to so you know to answer that what would be lovely if we were able to do really you know credit to Dean and his team were tired to find a schedule that works so that we could give sufficient time to the study of social studies to gain back that we had lost yet not lose what the the community was very strong last year in coming out of teaching a language on K through 12 so I don't know if that anything to the to the answer I have three questions - one at a time when 20 else wants to jump in once you did the work with the high school in order they actually do in ninth grade high school what happens so yeah that actually has a big
073part of how we made the decisions we made so in that high school I may have had some changes that they are working on to know that they did also present as a comedian but they do in their freshman year they are they were looking to cut out a significant portion of world history because it's just so daunting to you know the span of time so they were discussing the the reality that things like Greece in Rome wouldn't be touched on anymore and that's why we felt it was so important at the 5th grade to at least introduce it in the beginning so then students to have that foundations that we continue to build each year as they get you know to more of the government principles and things like that we've reviewed the loin
074and the portion so I believe you starts later on Denisha Chris but they were just trying to make it your mom like a building history and that's it they're working on that's a new course okay okay so can question that Polybius for yield is nice not some trial escape over the last two years you've been introducing us to some of the work being done at the state level a progression of topics from like sixth grade to 12th grade yes is this consistent with that yes it's consistent and the progression that's in the state outline it does not have to be linear but the topics that they have chosen are all in that on that grades bantam there goes our graves part of our plan addresses every topic that the state suggests stateless is a suggestion
075as I understand it before we felt it was important to cover all of those topics although it's not in the exact same order I will be Barbara John came he was you know very clear when because we haven't come in four times to speak to the to work with the whole committee and then the high school had him once I believe at the high school maybe twice he's been very generous with his time of course he Washington State so he goes where people call them and we call him the one he was very clear that what's in that state document is is a suggested scope and sequence that that districts are free to switch it up however it works consistent with what the high school arm is doing we we don't as I said before
076we don't okay you know I'm kids to take US history won four times which happened at sometimes we want to make sure that what they're getting is that a developmentally appropriate level so that if they have to come back to it later they have the foundations to really be able to think more deeply about especially primary source documents to be able to have the background knowledge to really delve into and when they're ready to read those types of that goodness third question is in the lineup that you all sent us there was a mention of habits of mind to it and I did and I've and what's really getting out of that sound is really first thing is we have that document up here not they don't have in their packets all right so these
077are the habits of mind they're kind of like the ideas that one wants to or the the skills that one wants to have faced with a problem in order to overcome that problem so some of them include persisting were thinking flexibly or striving for accuracy there's 16 of them that we have up here on this chart we hope to our social studies curriculum not just you know heavy it's tax but also given them a problem in happen and asking them to it for example persists or listen and understand with empathy or think flexibly in order to solve the problem within the class and also like the questioning and posing problems offensive a large part of what we do with our question formulation technique so we're trying to teach students how to ask questions not to
078just be given questions to answer which really will help them be problem solvers so is there a material other tools that you need in order to implement this was a concepts that you would incorporate the curriculum I think right now it's conceptual but if they're they're very well might be things that we have to come across in the future and if there are any materials that are related to like habits of mind or anything else when we're able to show you the curriculum as it's being developed in on the Atlas Rubicon platform they were able to take not if you're thinking about purchases aren't no fear thinking about that sources available online that has to do with the habits of mind and we are able with the software that that were using for the curriculum
079development and they're the links and PDFs right into to the site where our curriculum is going to be living so my question was eventually across question it was more it sounded like these were a set of skills right on how you approach it and in all prior discussions that was the most important ones and we were putting more time into social study was Deloitte learning skills and and I just didn't know how how that showed up at the flavor wasn't that you know the website is a I used or incorporated in there in the classroom is it more of a set of concepts that the educators would incorporate the skills into the living rush to the ladder to that you're speaking towards I justjust just mentioned the question formulation technique it goes perfectly along with
080number ten on this chart questioning imposing problem and posing problems rather than us asking them a bunch of questions and having them solve them a based upon a stimulus a picture an object they'll ask themselves questions post those questions to other students and then go off and try to solve those problems on their own just as an example though on practicing persons and back to go back to what I was saying so any of those materials resources that we would be using we can so teachers what be running from here to there trying to gather things up No embedded right into the curriculum that we will all be able to access and so then we won't be in the same cycle that we were in well prior to us coming here we had a chart
081where social studies was the quicken was reviewed every three years and math was so it was on a rotating cycle when teachers say if they're teaching their seventh grade social studies course after they get done with them they'll be able to reflect with each other and talk about how did that that P of T that question formulation technique exercise that we used with this part of the unit work and if it worked really well they can believe in work they can pull that right out and put in a placeholder that they need to find a different resource or they may have tried something and they and they swoosh it up right there so that's going to keep anything that they use to teach these habits of mind fresh it will always become attachment this was
082what hotline we're the topics are interesting Don it's a nice fresh and building type of thing but the building the scales is what's right and I'll tell you what I was looking at the different topics of shape I kept saying to myself that's what keeps me going on I go to high school and if we didn't know this is a huge step so I wanna thank you other questions whenever I just want to make one comment and just to highlight from what I heard when he presented to us at the Cape committee was really this idea great you shared really exciting they said you know those of us who went to school years and years ago when social studies was just learning a bunch of facts and they didn't have any real meaning and we
083are now the field is that inquiry of asking really debatable interesting questions and then giving kids the sources and materials in which to answer those questions so I was really excited when you talked about incorporating that methodology into social studies for the middle school thank you for your questions other questions or comments in regards to this okay all in favor of advanced principal systemic changes and I hide a boost okay concludes our new business so now we have that's what's under school was a PTO meeting on Thursday at 9:30 its PLC day and 30 April 13 dismissal team and huckleberry was Wednesday and Thursday at 6 o'clock mr. drama production of they want ride it with the six is the pin co-sponsor bingo night from six to nine thirteen averaging this is a PTO meeting
084in Tuesday April 10th and 11th o'clock and also a PLC day and Friday April 13th or dismissal top 15 at whisk in here the eighth-grade panoramic tournament field is on April 10th at 4:15 so so PLC Day on Friday April 13th that with an early dismissal at 11:30 the high school graduation party meeting is on Monday April 2nd that would be yesterday so you can mr. junior prom is on Friday April 6 from 6 to 11 at 8 9 a PLC day I'm ready about 1300 dismissals at 11 all the schools on spring recess from April 16 to the trip what a finance public hearing is tomorrow at 7 o'clock and in some reports from the high school for this year's st. Baldrick's field high school raised 2652 okay for the pediatric cancer research NHSN
085befits a nut will be hosting a joint Mother's Day weekend 5k on May 13th at 9 o'clock a.m. the PHS the Key Club at the fundraiser for Relay for Life on May 12th from 7 39 dollar bills bowing out in the Wofford and we really for life itself will be June 9th at Bethel High School Board of Finance when you live on the school in no time you've always been yeah 1 2 2 3 1 2 3 yes ok executive session anticipated recommend a motion at the board enter into into a regular session for the purpose of discussing confidential matters protected by the attorney-client privilege and discussion regarding charges and negotiations with respect to collective bargaining okay this completes the tour based pushing for the portion of our board meeting thank you all for joining
086us candidate evening [Music]