001and they brought in around 5,700 lb of food. All of that was donated to the Cheshire food pantry and with all the effort of the students and then the kindness of a lot of the families in Cheshure, we were able to have a really successful food drive. Um before 2025 finished up our football team, finished up their really really good season with a um loss to New Kanan. Was a loss, but they did finish runner up in the class L state final finishing up a really good 2025 for the Cheshire Rams. And not even a month into the new year, Treasure High School is buzzing with activity. Um, one of our first events of the new year involved members of the National National Honor Society and Link Crew working with freshmen at Teser High School.
002It's annual Coco and Creme event. Coco and Creme is an excellent way to evoke collaboration across the student body and help freshmen better understand content and develop better uh, studying strategies. Many of the individuals who sought help through this program claimed that they felt more confident when preparing and taking their midterm exams. >> Now, with second semester underway at Chester High School, we have our students preparing for next year by starting to look at the um uh course of studies that are offered and they'll begin to start thinking about what they want to take next year. Uh students will officially select their courses at the beginning of February. And in that regards, we have eighth graders that are planning to select their high school courses for the first time. So on January 28th, we will
003be inviting all the eighth grade families in Cheshure to curriculum night at Cheshure High School where they will have the opportunity to not only learn more about the courses offered at Cheshire High School, but also get the really great opportunity to meet a lot of our really great faculty and also talk to coaches and students in clubs to kind of see what athletic and extracurricular opportunities are ahead for them. >> Um, the cast and crew of Pippen have lots of magic to do. So rehearsals for the spring musical immediately started after winter break on January 5th. The cast and crew of Pippen have been working diligently to create a wonderful production in a variety of ways. Um this evening the cast and crew will be having a bonding night as well as a fsy workshop
004to educate themselves on that re revolutionary dance style. It has been nearly 30 years since the last time Pippen was performed at CHS. With this in mind, the cast and crew of Pippen intend to reinvision the show and potentially make their own costumes. However, to see if this will be the case, I highly suggest you see the show for yourselves. >> Yeah. Um, one more thing, we have a blood drive coming up at Cheshire High School. It will be the third one that's run this year and it will be on February 6th. But that's all for us and thank you for having us. >> Awesome. Any questions, comments from board members? Mr. Eki, >> the blood drive, is that just for students or is that for the public as well? >> Uh, just students and
005faculty. >> Dr. Harrian, did you have a comment? >> I was going to ask about that, too. Um because I'm due to give blood and they like my O positive blood. Uh the dates for Pippen again. >> Um >> I should know this. I've asked a million times. >> That's okay. Um it's March 26, 27th, and 28th. >> Thank you, Miss Cullinin. >> So, I hope Mr. Hanland doesn't u mind this question, but at our last um or at our u one of our curriculum meetings, we talked to he explained the new um high school schedule to us. Um so I just wanted to hear from two of our students. What do you think of the new high school schedule? Um, well, it was it was a change for sure, but um I think having
006five classes a day, you get to see your teachers more frequently rather than seeing them every other day, which has definitely been something that's nice. And I think the shorter classes are somewhat nicer because the hour and a half, that's a long time to be in class. So, it's been a change, but it's been a pretty good one. >> So, they changed to 64 minutes from the original 84. Okay. Maddie. >> Um, I really love it actually. In the beginning, it was a little difficult to understand like the different number changes, but I really do feel like my focus has improved in class and the amount of homework I get each night has decreased a little bit. Um, yeah, it just I love it. >> Okay, thank you. Nice to hear. Miss Fger Gerald, [snorts]
007thank you so much for the update. Um, on the is curriculum night you said when the eighth grade goes to the high school. Can you just a little bit more about what that looks like or? >> Yeah. So, all the eighth graders and their families are invited to come in. It'll kind of start with the guidance department taking them through um what's going to be expected of them for the next four years. I think they go over graduation requirements, other stuff like that. And then after our CHS link crew, so the same people that ran freshman orientation will take parents and eighth grade students around Chesher High School just to kind of get a first look. And then while all of that is happening in our east gym and then calf and commons, we have
008in the east gym all of the sports teams and clubs there for students who might be interested. They can go talk to coaches and club members and kind of figure out what what might be offered. And then um in the calf and commons, we have faculty there for same thing, questions and offering students more insights into what's head what's um up for them at Chester High School. Sounds great. I'll make sure my son and I go. Thank you so much. >> Any other board members comments? >> So, just to follow up on any tips that you give the eighth graders when they come in to to look at their courses? >> Um, yeah. I really love that I had the opportunity to talk to teachers, specifically the language department. It was just really nice to
009get a feel for high school life beyond just like looking at your schedule. I think meeting the teachers in person really helps and it also eases like your nerves before you go to the school for the first time. >> That was just amazing. >> Yeah. And I would say for students attending, talk to the link group people that are there and we also I think NHS is there as well. So we'll be taking students around. I would suggest that ask questions because we're we're students who love Cheshire High School. We have a lot to talk about and I feel like as an eighth grader it might be a little intimidating talking to a senior junior in high school but for eighth graders I think they can tend to be nervous talking to us. We have
010plenty of good things to say. So >> thank you >> Dr. Han. >> And still more followup on that curriculum day and this may be for principal Hanland. Um do students from other schools besides Dodd like St. encourage those eighth graders participate in that as well. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> No. >> Awesome. I do want to just publicly shout out the $3,350 that you guys raised uh to Mr. Swanson and Miss Dorbo. That's really a quite a feat. So, congratulations on that. >> You're welcome to stay for the remainder, but thank you so much for your report. >> Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda I would ask is Mrs. Gillow could um come forward. >> Good evening everyone. It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to two of Dodd's finest.
011Speaking of eighth graders, we have two here tonight for our very first uh Dodd Middle School report to the board. So, let me introduce our two eighth graders. We have Whitney Raybal who is an eighth grader on the red team and Silus Newell who is an eighth grader on the green team. They've worked very hard on this report and they're excited to share some of the great things happening at Todd. Thanks for inviting us. >> Welcome. >> You want to move the mic up, Silus, so we can hear you? Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Um, hi. Where is that? Hi, my name is Silus Newell and I am an eighth grader on the green team. >> Hi, it's nice to meet you all. I'm Whitney Rael and I'm an eighth grader on the red team.
012Uh we want to thank you for the opportunity to share some of the great things happening at DOD. While there are a ton of important and exciting things happening already, tonight we have to share a few things that have already happened at DOD and some of the things we're looking forward to coming up. We kicked off the school year learning about our spark pillars which are show integrity, persevere, accept responsibility, show respect for yourself, others, and property. And lastly, kindness. Um teams did their o they did like their each things for activities to explore like what the pillars mean to them in our school. We also held a town meeting on the field to bring the whole school together. Once again, just to emphasize the importance these pillars play in making our school a great
013community. Since then, we have done our best to live these pillars in all parts of our school day. There have been lots of great things that have happened since then. Here are a few. To start, the Dodd Student Council, consisting of many seventh and eighth grade students, filled an entire school bus with various different food products, toiletries, and many other necessities to gift to the Connecticut Food Share. The Connecticut Food Share is a local organization based in Wingford that provides help to those in need. To have the opportunity to support a cause that changes lives was an honor to the Dod Middle School community. Um, this December, our student advocates organized a pajama day to raise money for the Connecticut Children's Medical Center. And with their hard work, our DOD community was able to raise
014over $700 for donations. And coming up soon in March, um, the sixth grade orientation will be coming up. So, incoming seventh graders will get a tour from our student advocates to kind of learn their way around Dodd. Um, students at DOD also get the awesome opportunity to after school read books with their peers and their parents after school. So, last Tuesday, January 13th, the students discussed the book The Fallout. And at the upcoming meeting on February 24th, they will be discussing the book Diamond Boy by Michael Williams. This is a very cool book about a teenage boy and his adventures in the minds of Zimbabwe. The Dodd Middle School band, orchestra, and chorus had an amazing winter performance. As a member of the eighth grade band myself, I can confirm that every student put in
015tons of practice. Parents, grandparents, and siblings joined us at DOD for an amazing event filled with beautiful music and fun. Our next concert will be late in March, and I'm sure will be just as successful. Uh, coming up soon is Dod's presentation of Susicle Jr., which is this whimsical musical about Dr. Seuss's beloved characters. And everyone that is a part of putting on this production has done a really great job and worked very hard to put on an amazing show. Um, this show is directed and choreographed by Mrs. Shanley, Mr. Franzine, and Miss Golden. And there are over 60 students involved in putting on this show. and with their hard work. I think it's amazing to be amazing and I'm definitely looking forward to see it. Uh these performances will be March 19th through the
01622nd. Additionally, the eighth grade this year is very excited for the month of May when there will be a field trip to Gettysburg/W Washington DC. Students will have the opportunity to tour many historical areas and learn about the United States history. Students will get to tour the Gettysburg National Military Park, visit the United States Capital Building, as well as visit numerous different monumental places such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, and even the White House. As you can imagine, students will really need their walking shoes. But I do know that when May comes around, the DOD community will be on their best behavior. Um, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today. Um, we hope you enjoyed hearing about all the amazing things
017happening around DOD. We hope to come here again to share more of the important things that are happening at DOD. >> I'm just so proud of how you delivered the news to us. Um, and we are really excited that you're here. Um, and can we please make this official, Dr. Soul and get them some name tags because >> you know Meline and Connor have their official maybe junior reps. >> We're about a quarter of the way there with Whitney's name tag. >> Right. [laughter] Any comments from board members questions for our junior reps? Miss Ferrell, did you have a >> I'm thinking >> okay she's processing. Dr. Harris, >> I just want to say thank you for coming. We've been talking about getting some representation from Dodd to report to us for a long time
018and it's it's very rewarding to um to have that come to fruition here tonight. So, look forward to hearing more from you in the coming months. Thank you, >> M. >> Yeah. No, I would love to know. So, excellent job and welcome and it's great. Um, how did you, you know, raise your hand for this or get selected? I mean just yeah what was the process for that? >> Um so we sort of nominated ourselves and from there um the staff team picked um us too as like the students who they wanted to come and do this and represent Don Middle School. >> Awesome. Are you on the senate? The student senate too? >> No. Just wondering. I didn't know if that was part of it. Well, anyway, great job. loved having you here, >>
019Miss Cullen. >> So, also I just want to thank you for coming. Um, the staff did a great job picking you two. Thank you very much. It was very informative and um we hope to see you again with named. >> Yes. Um, if you don't mind, I would love a picture of you two and Meline and Connor together. So, Dr. Soom, if you want to go over there so we can grab a picture of Kevin, you guys, >> please. in your inaugural speeches here. >> Yeah, Dr. Solen. >> Where's Vin? >> He's usually the picture person. >> Emily, are you going to step into that role now or? >> Yes. [laughter] Yeah, you have to. It's part of the job description, actually. >> You didn't know that? [laughter] >> It's in the job description. Didn't
020you read that? >> If you can shift to the right so we could have you in the middle. >> I'm sorry. My right. >> Okay. Wonderful. [applause] Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Ekie, I think we're you're up next, sir. As the uh board ad representative of Chester High School, it's my honor to present our school partnership award for Chester High School. Christine Pitsley is a graduate of Chester High School and her family has deep roots in the Cheshire community, having lived here for generations. A historian and librarian with the Connecticut State Library, Miss Pittsley first presented the history of slavery in Cheshire to students in black and Latino studies class five years ago. What began as a personal inquiry has grown into a thoroughly researched and thoughtfully developed presentation drawing on her extensive research
021skills and professional expertise. Every each year since, Christine has generously returned to share this presentation with our students, continually expanding and enriching the the content as her research deepens and new perspectives emerge. She offers her time and knowledge entirely on her own driven by a genuine commitment to educating and engaging our students. The CHS administration and teachers Dawn Deo and Aaron Griffiths are deeply appreciative that Miss Pitsley has is being recognized for her dedication and the meaningful impact she has had on the Cheshire High School community. [applause] Yeah. >> [applause] >> Uh, Mr. Hannah, >> don't sit down. [laughter] >> All right, >> here we go. >> Get some additional uh student recognitions tonight before I start that. Um, Silus and Whitney, I know you've got some work and exciting things to do at Dodd
022Middle School, but let me tell you, CHS is ready for you and you're ready for CHS. We're uh can't wait to welcome you in the fall. So, nicely done tonight. We can't wait to welcome you up uh to Cheshure High School. Um, good evening everyone. Tonight we have the privilege of recognizing three Cheshire High School students who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout. An accomplishment that reflects years of perseverance, leadership, and service. Each of these students has made a meaningful contribution, meaningful contributions within our school community and beyond it. And we are proud to celebrate their achievements this evening. So we've got three of them tonight. We're going to begin with uh Toyba Barz. Toyba is a sophomore at Cheshire High School class of 2028 and a thoughtful and engaged member of our school
023community. She pursues rigorous academic program including AP US history and is active on both the cross country and golf teams. Since uh joining Cheshure as a freshman, she has quickly built strong relationships and is known for her insight, compassion, and maturity. And that was certainly seen in her Eagle Scout project. Toybe re uh restored a section of the pollinator pathway garden and stepping stone walkway along the Farmington Canal linear trail in Cheshure. Her work created native pollinator friendly gardens that promote biodiversity, enhance the beauty of the trail and support environmental resilience. She's als she is also committed to maintaining the space for years to come. We are pleased to recognize Toyba and her parents Allison and Jonah for this remarkable accomplishment. Congratulations, Toyba. [applause] And we'll have you all come up at the end, but
024we'll go on to Matthew Raldi is also a sophomore in the Cheshire High School class of 2028 and a highly involved and well-rounded member of our school community. He takes a demanding uh schedule of honors and AP courses and contributes to many areas of school life including cross country, indoor and outdoor track, managing the college and career section of the rampage and supporting our theater program by operating the lightboard. He also volunteers at Gaylord Hospital and that is his connection to uh his Eagle Scout project where he res at Gaylord he restored a wooden gazebo. Uh he re- roofed the structure with cedar shingles, repaired the koopala, reconstructed spindles, and stained the entire gazebo, transforming it into a safe and welcoming space now used in the hospital's rehabilitation program. [snorts] We proudly congratulate Matthew and
025his parents, Michelle and Gabriel, on this outstanding achievement. [applause] And last but not least, Wal W Jawwick is a senior in the Cheshire High School class of 2026 and a dedicated leader within our school community. He's a member of the National Honor Society and link crew and has served as a president of the Cheshire Young Republicans Club. Wyatt is also a committed student athlete competing in indoor track and baseball throughout his high school career. and it's on the Cheshire High School baseball field where Wyatt decided to focus his efforts for his Eagle Scout project. He provided a muchneeded refurbishment of the bleachers at the baseball field for spectators. His work included scraping, painting, and sometimes replacing stairs, treads, and handrails. The fresh, sharplooking, and safe bleachers are sure to be a hit when Wyatt and
026the team take the field in the spring, as well as for years to come. We are pleased to recognize Wyatt and his parents Colleen and Matthew on this impressive achievement. Congratulations Wyatt. [applause] So on behalf of Chesher High School, we congratulate congratulate Toyba, Matthew, and Wyatt along with their families and scout leaders on earning the rank of Eagle Scout and are pres proud to present them to the board this evening. Congratulations all of you. [applause] Look at all those patches. >> I know. They start letting girls be. >> That's amazing. >> I think it was like three years ago. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Impressed with your badges. So awesome. >> I know. Congratulations. >> 2018. >> Oh, I thought it was only >> Okay. Awesome job. Well, congrats. >> Thank you. [applause] Congratulations everybody. The
027next item on our agenda is audience. Um if there are any members of the audience that wish to address the board, please go to the podium and state your name and address. Good evening. Jane Presnik Lion, 479 Sandstone Circle. Um, I'm just coming with um some general, I guess, requests or suggestions or things that perhaps you can take to heart um what I'm going to ask of you. Um, many many years ago, I went on a field trip with one of my sons to the state capital and we were told on that field trip that Cheshire was the only municipality that was the home to two Medal of Honor recipients. And as we all know, Barnum Schools named after one of them. The other is Eli Woodbury who was a teacher at Cheshire Academy and
028born uh buried across the street here. So I thought it would be um kind of fitting and only right if perhaps we honored him also by maybe naming the library inside the school inside Barnum u because it was an academic that we name it the Eli Woodberry Library. I thought that would be a nice gesture and let the kids know that there are two Medal of Honor recipients. I don't know if that's still the case in the in the state of Cheshire, but if not, we were the first at least to do to have two. So, I think that's quite an accomplishment. Um, many years ago around 2002, um I um was at Chapman a Chapman parent and we had an article published in PTO today. Um I I I brought copies of the article
029pass may have to share only and the reason for bringing this up kind of ancient history is that uh it was for the audience it was um we collected it was around 2002 so shortly after you know 911 and we had a collection for um each of the classrooms adopted a service member who was active on active duty and uh wrote to their parents and their family and got lists of what they individually would like, not just random things. You know, some people wanted very specific, you know, types of granola bars or, you know, candies or whatever. So, tailored it to each. So, each each classroom basically adop adopted a serviceman and we mailed out a whole bunch of packages. And anyway, it was a really nice event. We actually, some of you who vote
030at Chapman School may still recognize a leftover of that is that to raise money for postage, we started a bake sale on election day because we get so many more people from the community and we're not hitting the same families up every week with a different fundraiser. We said we have all these people in the community who no longer have students at Chapman, but they do come here to vote. And to this day, till at least as of last November, that bake sale was still going on. it's repurposed to fund the sixth grade um nature's classroom or or if it's still called that. Um anyway, so that's a well anyway it was a big deal back in its day and I personally paid for and I only mentioned that because I want to point out
031it was not PTA funds. I paid to have the cover of one of the magazines and that article the, you know, the original, not a photocopy, um, laminated, if that's the right word. I don't know, put on wood and then lacquered, you know, like college degrees get hung in people's offices. And it was in the lobby for many, many years. And it's not anymore. And so, you know, it may be somewhere else in the building. I don't know. But if Chapman does end up, you know, uh, being repurposed or demolished or whatever, it would be nice if that plaque could find a new home and not just be thrown out. Um, sorry. Also in 2000, we had a 50th anniversary birthday party from Chapman and we invited all the alumni from 50 year for the
032previous 50 years. And one of the gentlemen, actually a couple of the gentlemen asked, they had a picture, another it's along the same topic of not throwing away our history. There was a black and white photo of a young boy who was killed on route 10 exiting his bus or or entering the bus, I'm not sure. And they asked where that picture went. So another thing, if you're going through and moving all the furniture and come across black and white photo, it would be nice to save that also and maybe we can get it to his family. And then the final thing which is not emotional [laughter] um is there's a rock climbing technically a rock transversing wall in the gym at Chapman school. And uh I say traversing because it doesn't go high. It's
033only about six or eight feet at most. And and the kids climb across the wall rather than up and into and heights. And the kids collected 10,000 box tops for educations. That's 10 cents a box tops. I'm sure you've seen them on cereal boxes and things like that. Um, and anyway, that paid for half of the of the wall and we got a grant for the other half. But again, that's another thing that if the building is is closed or not used, it would be nice to repurpose that, get it into another um building or somehow make it, you know, I don't know, somewhere where the kids could still use it. So, those are my requests and I hope you take them to heart. Thank you. >> Thank you. There any other audience members that
034would like to speak? >> We had correspondence. >> Okay. >> That's number six. >> Next item will be um committee reports. Um, first up is curriculum committee, Miss Cullinin. >> Thank you. The uh curriculum committee met twice um once on December 8th and the second time on January 12th. All members uh were present myself, Dr. Harrian, Mr. White, Miss Fitzgerald. And this evening we will be um sharing uh some of the highlights from the two um committees from the two meetings of the curriculum committee. Um and I invite any members of the committee to add anything um that they would like. But right now I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent, Mrs. Solano, to give us some of the highlights. >> Good evening. Good evening. At the December 8th, Just make sure
035I have my Okay. Nope, I'm good. I'm good. Yep. Uh, at the December 8th meeting, which is a little while ago now, we began with a discussion about the program of studies changes to the program of studies at Cheshire High School. And the synopsis of that is that we are going to be removing two classes, one in science, one in math. We had a bit of a discussion about the level of class that this is. And this was these were each classes that were put together to fulfill a need that existed a number of years ago and before the schedule changed. before the schedule um changed in both science and math and the the time was reduced on those courses. So, we're in the midst of um working with both science and math teachers to
036provide them the supports they need to make sure that our students are grouped together in the math class. This is removing one of the lower levels of math and science to make sure that those students are with peers and that they're accessing um more appropriately grade level material in in the same amount of time. As Miss Cullinin mentioned earlier, uh Mr. Hanlin was present at the meeting and he went over the schedule at Cheshire High School. You each have a copy if you care to check it out. It may look a little bit confusing but the important thing to know there is that teachers partic but specifically um I want to highlight math and world language classes they have more frequent they see their students with more frequency allowing for better retention of material over
037the weeks over the months and it is a six one two three four five it's a um sorry an 8 period day but the classes are now about 68 minutes versus the 80 plus that they were before. So you heard a little bit from our students I believe at the meeting um Mr. Hanland began by sharing an article that was written in the newspaper the high school newspaper that also shared some of the students perspectives on that. So we had an overview on that. Um, we did have a field trip that was cancelled simply due to a lack of interest. There were a number of trips that were running this year and I think that this one just um didn't have the enrollment that they were looking for. The next item on the agenda was
038we've talked at curriculum about attending the science of reading master class that we are involved in. I'll just reiterate that it's myself and Dr. Soulen and our curriculum coordinator Azrazik. It is our special ed director, Robin Kerry. It's our supervisor of special education, Christina Sherwood. It is all of our coaches at the elementary and our reading specialist. And this is a a wonderful opportunity where we're hearing from um national experts in reading across the across the country. And we're also as part of this we put together our district literacy plan. And the plan is is being completely implemented this year. And I want to give a shout out to Miss Rzzik and also Miss Wintenberg who over the busiest two weeks of the year uh the two weeks leading up to Christmas break provided nine
039professional development sessions on components of the science of reading for our kindergarten, first, second, and third grade teachers. This was truly a team effort. the um the content was delivered flawlessly. The teachers in their exit tickets commented on how much they learned from those sessions. It was a team effort and then it's difficult to get substitute teachers to cover for for teach in that time of year. It's it's busy. It's the two weeks before the winter break and so our principles, everyone gathered together to make sure that teachers were able to get this valuable professional development. So that is also in your packet. Um lastly, I will also share a a letter that was sent out to all families in the elementary grades, particularly in those grades one through three, where Ann Marie Wintenberg, again,
040our district literacy specialist, sent out both a video and a reading list on how to cozy up with a book over the winter break. So there were suggestions in there for numbers of um grade levels along with some um digital opportunities as well. And then lastly, we talked about um a couple of other things that were going on. I mentioned um I mentioned the reading. We also had is I messing up the two um we talked about the past parent letters that had gone out because whenever we administer a survey we always give parents the opportunity to opt out. We t gave uh Azarzi shared a multilingual oh sorry n wrong one ready for the next month. >> Sure. >> Okay. Can I just go back to sorry Miss Lana um the change does it
041align with how we're coming from Dodd. How many minutes for instruction for Dodd? >> Yeah we they are currently at I think it's 45 minutes or 42 minutes. So just about a 20 minute increase then. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We're also Yeah. Thanks. More to come on that as well. >> At our January meeting, we had a number of topics that we had to discuss. one related to the right to read act and that was around new the right to read act had in it legislation that requires school districts to ensure that every family that registers completes a reading survey. It's mandatory that we ask families to complete the reading survey. It is voluntary whether or not parents would like to complete the survey. The purpose of the survey is to get
042an idea of whether or not a student may struggle with reading if his or her parent struggled with reading as a child. There are some links to um dyslexia in that way. And the the the um the purpose of the survey is really to get additional information on students. So that is something that the state is requiring that we administer during the winter benchmarks andor in March during parent conferences. So this will be something that we share with families at the elementary level at that time. Once the this goes into law officially for next year, we will have to make sure that any student who registers regardless of grade level that parents are given the opportunity to complete that survey. So we talked um a little bit about this survey, how we would go about
043it, the importance of training the principles, training the principal secretaries, anyone who interacts with them over registration for registration purposes to make sure that they understand how to explain this to families. We're also contemplating whether or not we would put it right into P school so that families can complete it during the registration process within P school. Any questions on that before I move on? >> Yeah. >> Are we responsible for uh accumulating the data and then transferring it to the state? >> Yep. We we will score it and then we're responsible for any followup, but the state at least at this point in time has has not indicated or signaled to us that they will be collecting that data. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Do we have a copy of it? The copy
044is in the agenda that was uh sent out to to the board. Yes. >> I'm just thinking I'm curious about our you know multilingual learners when it comes to trying to assess a correlation between their parents reading ability and proficiency to them. I just >> Yeah. Um that was something that was brought up on the state call as well. They've translated it into a few languages. it's our responsibility to translate it into other languages. But if um students who are in a non-alphabetic language as their primary language do not need to complete the survey because the the uh the screener does not translate because it's not alphabetic. >> Got it. >> Matt, >> I wasn't going to ask this question until you mentioned having to translate it. So is there added cost that we are
045need to incur by having people translate this or is this something we largely handle in-house? >> So we largely would handle this inhouse. I think for all of these things it's the time it's the energy it's the scoring it's developing it it's creating the you know it's all the backend stuff the training making sure that people know the best way to communicate this. >> Okay. Could I just add on that topic that you know I was on a call uh as a member of the Connecticut Association Public School Superintendent Board of Directors with the Commissioner of Education. The legislation actually says >> the state is responsible for for doing this. And so the organization asked the commissioner like it looks like we're now responsible for doing this. Um, and she indicated she would get back
046to us on that. So, we'll uh >> Did we mention that earlier >> on the list of reducing mandates? >> Yeah, that was uh that didn't come up. There's a long list. We didn't have that kind of time. >> Gotcha. Any other comments from board members? >> Miss Lano, is that it? >> No, there's there's just a few more items. So we since the um administration of the past survey in October, I was able to share with the committee results of that past survey. Uh for our new board members, PASS is a K12 student wellness and engagement tool that we administer twice a year to students in grades 3 through 12. We um used to administer it K through 12. We made the decision this year to reduce that to grades three through 12. This
047is our third year administering this survey. It measures nine non-academic factors related to students connection to school, their confidence, their motivation, and how they approach learning. Uh different versions of the test are are the survey are used in grades three through five and then six through 12. And the data are reviewed at the district level, at the school level, at the grade level team, by the classroom teacher, and also individual student levels are reviewed if necessary by our like school counseling staff, etc. So, we look at this along with our safe school climate survey information, along with our attendance data, along with our um disciplinary data to get a a a picture of what the school climate is like across our buildings, across our district. And the PASS stands for pupils at pupil attitudes towards
048self in school. So we see this as a nice measure of asking students how things how things are going in in their world. So overall our results indicated healthy students with strong connections to learning in school across multiple grade bands. I won't I won't go through all of this unless you'd like me to, but it is in your packet and it gives you some indications overall for the district. Um again we meet with principles and review these and review them in comparison to the other schools and district. So they students overall feel strong confidence in learning, positive regard as self-learners, strong preparedness for learning, positive attitudes towards teachers, strong perceived learning capability and positive feelings about school overall. Then there were some um areas for sort of further investigation which we have been looking at
049as well. I wanted to talk to you about our safe school climate survey results and you all have sort of key findings, key takeaways, but I'd like to let you know that overall students report a positive school climate. They have strong feelings of belonging, inclusion, fairness, and adult support. Most of our students feel safe at school and they feel safe in their commute to school. At the same time, the survey highlights some areas for growth, particularly related to students concerns about physical safety, incidents of physical conflict, and the use of hurtful language among peers. These findings point to the need for continued focused focus on student behavior, conflict resolution, and social emotional supports. Overall, our families report positive experiences with school and with school communication, behavioral expectations, and student safety. Parents reported that they feel
050it is easy to reach out to school staff when concerns arise. They believe expectations for behavior are clearly communicated and they feel that their kids are safe going to and from school. At the same time, the survey highlights opportunities to strengthen family engagement in school climate work. So the new law that came out around school climate and within the school climate surveys, it really talks about parents having an input in school climate work. And so these standards that we're looking at are are new for everyone. So that is an area that we need to we have some work to do. And I know that from meeting with our safe school climate committee that the individual principles have also identified this as an area of focus in their school. So um I think that along with
051that piece about parents, we need to create a shared understanding around restorative practices particularly how they differ from punitive approaches to discipline. And these findings were seen in both the staff and family survey. Last one was the staff. Overall, staff said that they felt that they had a strong and positive school climate. Nearly all employees reported feeling safe at school and treated fairly across all protected categories, pointing to culture and resp of respect, a culture of respect and inclusion. Schools were described as welcoming for new students as well. Facilities were viewed as clean and well-maintained. In addition, a strong majority of teachers reported that their workload is manageable with slightly higher results at the middle and high school levels. At the same time, the survey identifies areas for continued focus. More than half of teachers
052reported that challenging student behavior is a frequent issue, even though staff overwhelmingly report emphasizing prevention and intervening consistently when behavior concerns arise. These results suggest that we have an opportunity to strengthen a shared understanding around challenging behavior because what one person may think of as challenging behavior may be different than someone else. So, you know, maybe this is this kiddo is a challenge because he's always chewing gum in your class versus someone who's challenging you or is disruptive. So, I think we have some work to do there. I also think we have some work to do around restorative practices um and particularly with regard to fairness and consistency. And finally, inappropriate use of technology emerged as a significant concern at the secondary level, indicating a need for targeted strategies in middle and high school. We
053don't believe at upon our reflection that it's technology use in the school, but it's technology use in general. So the way the survey is written, it's it's general, which requires us to do a little bit more work within our school climate committees. The last I won't spend any any if at all any any time if at all on this, but this I was asked to speak on the secondary curriculum supervisor. So we did have a nice discussion around that as well. And I'm happy to take any questions. >> Mr. Miss Colola. >> Uh thank thank you for that. That's uh very interesting [clears throat] takeaways on this. I'm curious like when you're looking at the data, I mean are these like numerical results where you know something less than x% answer is identified as a
054weakness or a strength or or is sort of the results come in with comments and open-ended answers that you know it falls on you and the staff to sort of group them into buckets and come up with a report like this. >> Are you looking for like response rate? Is that >> No, just like I mean it >> so it's a four-point scale. >> Okay. >> And um and and it's uh strongly agree uh not a I can pull it up, but it it's four points. So there's two that trend toward the positive, two that are tend toward the negative. And so that's how we reported it out. It's important to know that this safe school climate survey is the one that was recommended. Um we also had some folks in who are consultants for
055this who worked for the state for many years. they had their hand in crafting this and that this survey came to us. We brought it to the curriculum committee and it was adopted both at that committee level and by the board of education. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other >> I I actually would be curious of the response rate. I mean typically for surveys if you get over 40% or 40 you know that's a pretty good number. So out of our population, especially with the families, how many families responded to the survey? >> So I believe we had 532 families respond. If you recall, we administered this survey at the end in in the spring last year and we felt that we didn't get enough of a response rate. So we
056readministered it this fall. >> Um it's only required to be administered once every two years. So, we did administer it last year and then wanted to see if we could improve those results. We improved the results of our staff and our parents >> and it was just to make sure that we clarify this. This survey was sent out from the district. It was sent out through um school newsletters. The QR code for this was posted at every school during parent conferences. So it was readily it was made made readily available in as many ways as we possibly could. >> Right. >> Any other board members comments? >> I mean it's not a question as much as a comment. I know we had discussion on this. I I just worry about I mean it concerns me
057as a parent and also you know citizen of Cheshure the challenging behavior language use things like that. And I don't know what to I know what I do as a parent. I just don't know what to do as a school community. Um, but I also want to flag, you know, yes, it's stress on teachers, but it's stress on the support staff that we rely on such as lunch aids, bus drivers, substitutes, and so it's just like something I'm deeply concerned about that I'm just flagging for everyone as you all are concerned, I'm sure. >> Yeah. And I think he Heather, we also, you know, we look at this survey, which I said, we we have to, you know, now that we've had some experience doing this and our colleagues and other districts have that word
058challenging behavior, we really need to make sure people understand like that. It doesn't matter what it you think it is, we just need to all have a common understanding around that. And then the other thing is we look at this. So if you if we compare this to our disc what's what's happening in schools, right? So we're talking to the safe school climate committees. We're talking to the principles and we're pulling data from powers school that logs disciplinary incidents. So you know if these two things aren't jing what what's happening and then that makes us go out and ask more more questions. So I think it's important that you know we're getting that data from multiple sources and triangulating them to make sure we're making the best next steps. >> Any other comments? questions. Miss
059Gullin. >> Yeah, I think um one thing that Marlene did mention that I think is important is that they are um kind of triangulating the data from the district level to the school to the actual classroom. Um, so it's very transparent as far as what's going on districtwide and you know if particular school or even if a particular classroom might need some more support and it's also interpretation of what is appropriate behavior in a classroom. So make sure that we're that language that we're using, you know, is the same. I mean, we know middle school and high school kids, right? if they're really turned off by a science class, they may not be as um >> engaged um in that classroom, but they're they really like literacy, you know, and so they're writers or whatever.
060So, I think um the important role of the school climate committees and the district climate committee is to make that language common so that we're talking about the same thing. So when we're looking at data um from actual uh disruptions, it it coincides with what we're hearing from our teachers, what we're seeing. And if it doesn't, then there's some intervention that needs to go in there. Any other comments? Final report? >> That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Uh we're going to move on to finance. Dr. Herrian, >> thank you. So in your packets, you have materials [clears throat] uh the financial report for the 202526 board of education budget reflecting expenditures and incumbrances through uh December 31st, >> 2025. Um, I'm going to have, if it's okay with you, Miss Emily Taylor, um, uh, give
061you a few moments to talk about the financial report and also to move down and talk about the medical benefits report and then we'll circle back to me to talk about the finance meetings and where we stand with the budget. >> Great. I will be brief with this this report. Um so we as of you know December 31st expended 83.9% of our budget. The thing that I I want to highlight for the board is you know while we don't have we have some I would say these we have some variances that we're analyzing. Um they are not surprise accounts. It's our tuition outplaced our pupil transportation and our textbooks and software accounts. So what you can see in the report is our budget and then our current expenditures. So what happens is we can offset
062it with other part points in the budget, but these are the items that we've talked about in other um budget conversations in the past few weeks, but just wanted to flag those. You can see those in detail in that multiple page report before the narrative that you have in front of you. Um the other things that I want to highlight is we [clears throat] have our capital expenditures plan. I talked about that a little bit in the budget process. Um, but that is the other piece of the budgeting process that is separate from the operating budget. And I'll start preparations with our director of facilities and the rest of our team in February. And our hope is that we can have the planning committee present the board of education a plan in April, which will
063then subsequently be approved by the town council. Uh, the other piece is that the facilities team is releasing the RFP for district-wide cleaning services as we're adding square footage, new campuses. We are going out for a proposal with that. Um our current contract is valued at $859,000. It's going to go up um very likely with a proposal. So th that's the financial report. Like I said, trying to be brief here. Um for the medical benefits report, what you have in front of you is November's report, which is um obviously a month in the past, but I was able to get December's report done. I just wasn't able to print it for you all. So, I'll quickly talk through November. Um, November had a had a good favorable claims month, about $1.1 million in claims. Um,
064which was um a decrease from the previous year, 6% decrease. And we have 2.02 months in claim reserves, which has been consistent for this school year, but is also where we want to be. Um, but what I want to share with you is, you know, I was able to get the December information together today. Um, we had a a less favorable month for December. Um, and we actually had $1.7 million worth of claims and last year it was 1.3 in the month of December. So, uh, essentially what that's done is our claim months in reserves has went to 1.7. That's not exactly where we want to be, but we have not gotten any stop-loss reimbursements yet. We are anticipating them. We usually get them in December or January. So next month I'm very hopeful that
065this will help with our um our reserve fund. But that is my brief medical benefits and finance report for questions. >> So if there are any questions for Emily, I would just ask one [clears throat] really broad overview kind of question. Uh you talk about going out to bid for some contracts and that they are going up. Can you explain since you don't know what those amounts are going up um how that affects the budgeted amounts in in our in the budget that we're working up for next year? >> Yeah. So, what we did was we we budgeted amount that we believe we'll get a request for proposal for. Um we analyzed I believe that the last time we went out for bid for cleaning contracts, we had around 10 um submissions. Some of those
066were way higher than we had budgeted for. Um but what the director of facilities did was he analyzed those and in submitting the budget for this year um put in a number that he believed was going to come back with a um an RFP. I would say some differences in last time we went out for a proposal and this time is we're seeing unionization happening and that means that we're paying prevailing wages to you know if when we have contracted cleaning services although they are not our unionized employees if they're unionized employees they're obviously getting a different set of wages. Um, and the other thing additional to the square footage increase is our new buildings have lots of windows and surfaces. So, there's a lot of cleaning that needs to be accounted for that's different
067than what we have in our current building repertoire. So, >> so you did your best. >> That's right. Um, when do we actually know when do those contracts >> Yeah. So, it'll be out in January. Because of the comprehensive nature of this proposal, they're going to do walkthroughs in the beginning of March and then hopefully have some information in April. >> Yeah. So, it's a it's down the road. >> Yes. >> Out of our control at that point. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh any other questions, Mr. Khal? >> You mentioned stop-loss reimbursements December and January and that you're expecting some. I mean is there a a particular number that you are expecting or is it a more general like hey they usually send a check around now? >> Yeah so you know it's just
068usually when the value of the claims is over 175 happens at this point in the year. Last year we got um we had 252,000 um back in stop-loss claims in dece or was it um in December. So we're obviously a month behind. I can look and see what specifically we're anticipating. Um, usually the town runs their analysis first and gives it gets it to us. >> Okay. >> Uh, sorry. And a followup for that, what are those like bianual, semiannual? I always confuse the two. Like another check is June or >> Oh, no. No. We get them. They come in. So, you'll see this number go up. It's when we hit the claim, it's a monthly reconciliation process. >> Okay. Okay. So, in in a month, anytime there are claims that surpass that. >> Yes.
069>> That's right. Other questions for Miss Taylor? Thank you very much for that report. Um, now we're circling back to a report on the 2026 27 budget meetings. Um, and I will sort of give a as brief as I can overview. Um the superintendent presented the budget to us early in the month and um his recommendation was for an 8.83% increase over um the current year's budget. Um the recommendation is for 101,350,757. Um we had three budget two budget workshop meetings Tuesdays and Thursdays and um and then this Tuesday of this week had um both uh responses from um from the from our audience from outside the board and also uh questions and responses from within the board. Um that meeting on Tuesday, we have passed along to the full board tonight. Um a um
070a request we we put in a request on Tuesday and got a nice quick turnaround, I'm happy to say, um for the superintendent to um take that 8.83% increase down to um at least a percentage point down from that um in an attempt to try to be more fiscally responsible before passing along to the town. Um and also we wanted to include in that budget a couple of things differently from what was in the original superintendent's budget recommendation. Um, we felt that it was really important to start adding those uh half team at 8th grade at Dodd and um we knew that that or what we asked Dr. Solen to present to us was what that would do at the expense knowing that it might be at the expense of um a couple of administration
071administrative positions that were in the budget. And so the budget potential budget reductions that um Dr. Solen has presented to us and that we'll be discussing tonight uh take us down to a 7.54% increase rather than an 8.83% increase. And I'm going to read your own words, Dr. Solen, so that I don't misrepresent if that's okay. These reductions go beyond cutting the lowhanging fruit and venture into trimming the limbs. They are very aggressive yet retain classroom level growth and services to the greatest extent possible. Further reductions would need to come from existing staff and or increased revenue if only. Right. This reduction retains four of the six proposed elementary classroom teachers. Remember we have uh we have a growth in our enrollments in elementary schools right now. The reason for building new schools was to
072have more room. one of the reasons. Um, and so, you know, that that portion bothers me a little bit that we're not uh putting in as many of the proposed uh classroom teachers as we as was in the original budget proposal by the superintendent. Um it also 1.5 of the 2.5 proposed specialists um is being is in the reduction and it adds the two middle school teachers as I spoke of earlier. It cuts the two administrative positions and the 0.5 teacher of multilingual learners in addition to a special educator at the elementary grades. So, you know, taking the budget request down by roughly one percentage point does some damage. And um that's what we will be discussing tonight. And we may or may not put forth a budget for um for a vote to the
073full board tonight. Or we may we'll see how it goes. >> Make a comment before we move on. >> Yes. I just want after um Tuesday, you know, I kind of put some thoughts together before we move on to to look at, you know, what the superintendent has in front of us right here. Um you know, under general statutes, this board is responsible for ensuring an appropriate learning environment, adequate staffing, instruction materials, technology, safe facilities, and an equitable allocation of resources. So supporting staff alone is not sufficient. Students must also have the resources they need to learn and staff must have the materials and tools necessary to teach effectively. So the superintendent's proposed budget was developed as he stated to meet those obligations through a clear restore, advance, and maintain framework. So, as we review
074potential reductions, it's clear that some represent reasonable efficiencies while others directly affect instructional student supports, leadership, classroom staffing, special education services. I could go on. So, reductions that preserve staffing but erode instructional materials, technology, or classroom resources still place the district at risk. And these reductions carry significant higher educational and legal implications and must be approached with particular caution by this board. I also want to be explicit about the broader context. This board's action tonight may not be the final action. Additional reductions may be considered by the town council and that reality makes our role at this stage especially important. So, it's critical that we what we advance reflects our strongest professional judgment about what is necessary to meet our legal obligations and educational responsibilities to students. And so, with that in mind, you know,
075as we consider motions this evening, I encourage us to clearly and confidently support the elements of this budget that are most essential to sustaining both effective staffing and the resources required to support student learning and instruction. And with that, I'm going to just kind of pass it to Dr. Soulman if he wants to highlight any other line items that he's put forth in front of us. >> Thank you both um for that overview and um message. Uh first of all, I want to just shout out Emily and Marlene. Um this is a first. You know, they had to wait for me to be out of being anesthetized to uh actually work on this. So, it ended up being a pretty late uh day on on Tuesday for them, and I appreciate their time and energy
076and all the constrnation and and consideration that went into these reductions. Um, I also want to take the opportunity to apologize for any typos or anything like that because we were pulling together. Um, and one I do want to cite is at the in the notes where it says four out of six proposed elementary classrooms. That is four out of five. Um, there. So, I apologize. It should read four out of five rather than four out of six. Uh, other than that, I think it it covers it. But, you know, we talked about reducing and you mentioned um reducing the budget, you know, out an effort to be fiscally responsible. And I don't think that was an effort to be fiscally responsible to be honest with you. I think that um the initial budget that
077I put forth I would argue was fiscally responsible. But I think Tim actually in the meeting the other night said it very well that you know we have goals that we want to achieve as a school system, as a community and there are competing demands. Um and that financially we are doing everything we can to um you know stay within our bounds the or the demands in the community. And so we have to make some difficult decisions um to balance those at times. I think this represents um a a really concerted effort to make those uh reductions and meet those competing uh interests and demands. Uh I also would reiterate what Ann said about the the fact that this is you know in our estimation um really aggressive cuts. There's not a lot of room
078for um things that come up over the year. Uh there is fluctuation in a lot of budget lines. Some are more volatile than others. Uh things like outplacement subs um you know anything weather related. So, you know, heating and cooling and and uh snow removal and all that. Um, and what we do in terms of budget management is we don't spend a lot of the discretionary money uh until we know we're out of the woods with uh those things that are volatile. Um, and that's just good budget management because, uh, the state law means that you guys are on the hook for the dollars that are over at the end of the year. So, we work very hard to avoid that. And that means we don't spend money on the discretionary lines, like I said,
079until we know that we're more so in the clear on, you know, the other the other items. Now we start by like sometimes a 40% on the discretionary items account because we know we have to do that and there are things that we know we need to buy in July for fall or whatever but um we manage it very tightly. Um so at the end of the day when we went through this this is uh representative I think of where we are. I think further reductions would uh range from risky to reckless um depending on how much and where we're talking about. So it's just my my professional opinion on this. >> Thank you Dr. >> Questions comments. No temp. Uh, thank you, Mr. Superintendent, for putting this together. I appreciate it. Um, I'm so
080[clears throat] I haven't really heard much outreach from anyone in the public yet. I'm not sure how many people in the public. Did you happen to post this online or anything this afternoon? The recommendation that you're mentioning? >> No. >> Okay. So, generally speaking, I would like the public to have some time to absorb it and to get back to us. I'm not sure that there will be um I'm not convinced that there will be a big reaction. And I say that for this reason. Um just a couple questions. Are we including any layoffs here? Just to be totally clear about it. So, one of the directives from the other day was, you know, to not reduce existing staff. Okay. >> Um, this reduced some of the uh proposed staff >> and increased those that
081were part of the directive from Tuesday night, the middle school. >> Um, yeah. No, thank you. I appreciate that. I I definitely see a I personally see a big difference between a layoff and a budget reduction that doesn't exist yet. um the average elementary class size with these numbers right here. I know we've talked about it sort of in the 18 to 19 range where it's been for a few years. >> Yeah. So the the addition of um five was going to bring it from 19 to 18.7. The addition of four um makes it marginally, you know, off of 18.7. Uh it's like 18.8. >> Okay. And because we're at the expectation is from last year to next year the projected enrollment increase is 225 students. The enrollment projection from [clears throat] this year to
082next year is 110. The enrollment projection in actual from the end of June last year after we had already made the budget to the beginning of next year is 225. And I think that's relevant because we didn't add teachers in last year's budget. And so that's why we've jumped to 19 plus per class now. And um why the additional elementary classroom teachers are necessary. >> Yeah. No, it makes sense to me. And I um as much as I [laughter] have no desire to vote for a 7% increase um I do think that from a community perspective the trying to maintain the classroom size is important. I I mean if it increased by if it ends up increasing from 18 to 19 or 18 1.5 to 19 12 uh considering the other side of this which
083is taxes um I mean I I suspect the community could live with it and I'm we don't know what the grand list is. Uh, and when I'm speaking to the people watching, the grand list translates directly to the tax rate and the taxes that you pay, but we don't know what that total property value is yet. So, there's just a lot of moving pieces here. Um, hopefully some of that will be coming online sooner rather than later. There's definitely a lot of growth in the north end including the commercial development. Um, but there's lots of houses coming online all around coming online getting getting their CEOs certificates of occupancy all around town and presumably starting to get on the grand list. There's a lot of uncertainty. Uh, so a 7% budget increase does not in
084my mind translate to a 7% tax increase. We just don't know. So, generally speaking, I'm comfortable voting for this if the board chooses to make a motion tonight. I'd also be comfortable if anybody makes any amendments. I'm open to entertaining listening to any of them and hear what they are. Um, because I know that there's some where I suspect nobody would care in the least. But, like my favorite, saving on energy. I don't know anybody who wants to spend more money on energy. They just want to be warm or cool. Um that I think is it for me right now. Yeah. Thank you. >> Any other comments from board members? >> Miss Colin. >> Okay. >> Mr. Colour, did you have it after? I mean, I I don't think any of us um is [clears
085throat] happy with the budget, but I think as we heard earlier this evening, many of the towns and cities in the state and possibly throughout the country are grappling with these same kinds of um building this budget, building a budget. Um I appreciate the work that Dr. Solen and his team uh have done on this. I am glad that they have protected um at least four out of the five positions. Is that did I read that right? >> Yes. The new one. Yeah. >> And um also the additional uh team or teachers at Dodd. I think class size at the middle school is doable at 18.719 students in middle school classrooms. I'm glad to see that. Um I mean it's it's not perfect by any way. Um but I I do think I am in
086favor of moving this this evening because I think there's going to be more work in the future that will need to be done on it. Um I do appreciate the work Marlene did on the curriculum supplies. I see there is a a reduction in them. Um, and as a former principal, I I know how important those supplies are for our kids to learn with hands-on kinds of activities. So, I am in favor of it and I would be in favor of moving this um budget on this evening. >> Am I next or something? >> Um, uh, just for clarification, Dr. And the 1819 19 P um average class size is elementary level. Correct. >> Yes. >> And it's a little bit higher than that at Dawn. >> Yes. You know, if we're adding the positions
087and you add the two grade levels, it would be a little bit higher. Uh yeah, it's in the TW. It's in the low 20s. >> But if we're adding another half team with those two >> Yeah. It brings it down significantly. Yeah. >> Oh. significantly. >> Yeah, certainly in that grade. >> Great. >> It's great. >> Great. Um, I just wanted to clarify that. I have a question about the very last line. That's 77. It's capital equipment computers. Is taking that back down the 30,000 means that we will not be able to replace 210 iPads for kindergarten classrooms? >> No. Um, it's not not all of them. Um, we wouldn't we wouldn't be able to replace all of them. Um, we would replace some of them. >> And what are those iPads used for >>
088on the curriculum side? It's it's um letter recognition, sounds, things like that. >> There are some things during their centers that they're used for some instruction. It's some matching. It's some reading. Not whole, not the whole class, but it's an area. It's an area where we can we it's not great. I I'm okay with with this reduction. >> Thank you. >> No, I was just wondering when did um when did we start using iPads for >> kindergarten level? Yeah. I think the reason that Marlene's okay with it is that they're not, you know, a permanent fixture by any stretch of the imagination. They're um >> periodically engaged, >> right? >> But they are older. >> Okay. Thank you. [clears throat] Any other additional comments, Mr. Aki? Um, every year we go [clears throat] through the
089budget, it gets frustrating because I see the value in our schools and uh it pains me to see that we have to make the the reductions that we do. Um, we have to walk a fine line between being fiscally responsible and and doing what's best for our kids. you know, I just I I'm gonna I'll support the the 7.54 uh percent increase and hopefully the the council can can be close to that just just because we need the teachers in the classroom. And as I'm going through this and I'm looking at the periodicals being cut in the library and uh and office supplies being cut, that's you know what we're doing, what you guys have been able to do on a uh not a shoestring budget, but on a a very tight budget year year-over-year
090has been amazing. You know, the concern, we were talking about this before uh before the meeting started, is how long can we sustain this and and how how long is it before it starts to have a negative impact on our performance in the classroom? Um, you know, I, you know, I just, it just, it gets frustrating, but at the same time with the the fixed costs, with the salaries, the benefits, you know, it's it's really hard to find the place to, to to make the cuts. Um, I will, as I was going through this, I'm seeing cheerleading uniforms and, uh, equipment, athletic equipment reconditioning. I also did see in here rem removing Huddle from the coaches that that that little $10,000 that hurts because that is, you know, for those outside the sports world, Huddle
091is the online film that all our kids use, all our coaches use, and helps them get recruited to college. So, it's a it's a big deal. Anyway, uh I will be supporting the the 7.54. Just wish we could do more. Thank you. Miss Fitzgerald, >> thank you. Um, no, there's not much more that I could say that hasn't already been said. I don't know how you do what you do with what you are given. Um, I I do worry about impact in the future as we kick cans further down a road. Um, I also want to just for the record state, I am super disappointed that we can't even have a 0.5 or in this budget a.5 STEM coordinator for the high school. that is something that I feel deeply about that would really elevate
092um the math and science uh in that in that school. So that does disappoint me. It pains me and I do wish there was more public attendance um or [laughter] at these meetings so they can kind of hear what you all go through and then kind of roll it up to to um leadership, town council leadership so that they can hear um so I I I I'm in favor also. I would love to do more. I I appreciate the work that you've done and um I'm hoping for better days. >> Thoughts? Mr. Kau, >> thank you. Um [clears throat] I moved to Cheshure for the school systems and and the night life. Um [laughter] one may have been more fruitful than the other, but >> both have gotten better. >> Both [laughter] have >> over
093over the last 15 years that I've been here. Um, you know, I I I think I'm in the minority on this board that, you know, I certainly understand the view that going through a budget is monotonous. There's a lot of details around it. There's a lot of numbers. Um, this is what I like to do. [laughter] I mean, this this was fun for me. And sometimes my boss on my day job had to remind me that, you know, I owed him things. um because I, you know, sliced and diced and and looked at this every way that I could. What still concerns me about this budget is is two things. Um you know, first of all, Emily, Marlene, Jeff, everybody, you know, thank you. I mean, the book, the budget book has so much information
094in there. I mean, I've been posting on social media and trying to update people and then I direct them right to a section. I say, "Here, this is what you're looking for." So, the amount of time and effort to enable us to look at this and and do what we need to do is is much appreciated. Um, I I don't love the cuts that we had to go through to achieve the 7.5. I know the line items themselves are not final and and we're looking at a holistic number and and so that's okay. We can have that conversation a different day. um to my three issues I think and and why I think there is more here that doesn't compromise our mission and doesn't put the students at risk is when I look at a
095budget you know there there are 127 line items in this budget that are increasing more than 20%. And some of them make sense. And you know, I think a lot of when we talk about reducing the budget, reducing the budget, there's not really much we're reducing in terms of line items. Oh, here's what the expense was last year and and we have to cut it for for some reason. There's a few of them and there are ones that make sense because of the way that the schools are shifting. But there's a lot of line items in here to me. Uh, you know, and I know that seems like death by a thousand cuts to a lot of people, but things that are going up a 100% 50% 60% and sometimes that's because of a low
096denominator and it's a $1,000 expense, a $5,000 expense, a $10,000 expense. Maybe it's a drop in the bucket, but there's 127 of them. and those items that are increasing more than 20%. Again, a lot of them make sense, right? And so I'm not saying, you know, wipe them all out, but that those items alone are worth $4.4 million of the increase that we're seeing. And so when I go through that, I look at, okay, well, this is going up 80%. What if we just went up 40%. You know, this item is going up 60%. What if it just went up 30%. Um, so that's one of my issues. I think there is more here that we could do. The second item, and I brought this up on the fi at the finance committee meeting earlier
097this week, um that stop-loss policy is really really bothering me. It's really bothering me. Um we've lost almost $4 million over the last four years as a town on that. And you know, this might be a new idea. And I don't know if it's feasible or not, but I the worst reimbursement year that we've had is $1.2 million, meaning we've brought one $1.25 million of excess medical claims over the 175. And so, one of the ideas that I had was that stop-loss policy is $2 million, it's going up another 20%. We self-insure our benefits. Could we self-insure that? And that's potentially somewhat risky at the beginning, but if you put $1.5 million in there three years in a row, then you have a nest egg to be able to handle those excess claims while reducing
098the budget potentially another $500,000. Um, I know there's town work that needs to go into that. Um, but that that's one of the places that I see this. And I also think, you know, as I mentioned the transportation, uh, who knows what will come out of that. Um, but I also think it would be a shame to wait a full year to execute on it and and be more efficient on it going into the next school year. Um, efficiency defined as all of the things I mentioned last week in terms of opting out and and who's taking the bus and and not. So, you know, I I think there's more there um that we could do. I do support the additions. I support the instructional supplies. Like, you know, Jeff, the the cuts that you've
099put in front of us and some of these I was like, look, I maybe there's a way we can still get to the number the finance committee passed, but restore some of these things, right? Put that fifth elementary teacher back in. Put some of these supplies back in. Um and and so that's where I'm coming from on this one. >> Thank you, Mr. Ker. Dr. S, just a quick question. Um do you have any idea of the composition of the task force that the town was going to put together with >> the um insurance medical benefits task force? The town was interviewing several people from the community who had volunteered over the last several weeks. Um, and I don't think that they have a group yet. Um, but they were working on it. I don't
100know if you Emily, if you have an update on that or not. >> Yeah, they had interviews two Fridays ago and then they were wrapping up their last interview, I believe this past Tuesday, and then we're going to update us on the progress of the election. I think there were four candidates total. >> Is there opportunity to propose a candidate? [clears throat] I I mean I'm serious because >> well we could ask um >> you know I feel like there needs to be board representation on that task force. >> Yeah. >> Um and having seen how Mr. Kolau has scrutinized some of these lines which has brought up some questions I feel like I would like to appoint him as that representative if at all possible. >> Yeah. Well, I don't know if it would
101put a gun to Matt's head, but um >> yeah, I mean, >> I I did talk to a member of the town council today to get an update on that, and they said one of the things, and this is another stop-loss option to, you know, save six figures, is to increase um the deductible, >> right? So like instead of a $175,000 deductible essentially increasing it to a $ 250 or 300 or something like that, we'd have to look at the the town maybe who whomever would look at that. But instead of a $2 million premium, can we pay 1.5 and have to absorb some of the things between 175 and some other number? So I >> that that's why I look at this budget and say there's there's things that we can do. Maybe the
102cycle doesn't always support those things being executed in time for tonight. Well, >> but as it's been mentioned, you [clears throat] know, and I I some of those um suggestions and first of all, every suggestion that anybody makes here, we look into and try and evaluate. Um but it has been mentioned here, you know, tonight is the first stop on the train, if you will. Uh you know, we have to get into April and um through that process as well. So things do evolve uh for us every year uh between board adoption and town adoption. Uh oftent time I mean we were talking earlier about the contract uh for cleaning services. We have uh usually our medical benefits stuff is coming in around the time the board adop council adoption. So you know these things
103that you're you know putting on the table are not debt. you know, they are things that um there are a few months and that's not a lot of time, but a few months to evaluate um and look at different strategies to do that. Unrelated, I would just go back to the point about what does the addition of two teachers at DOD do to class size on that eighth grade team brings it from 25.9 to 22.6. Um much much better. Thank you. Any other thoughts before we Mr. Zency just point of clarification we we did move 7.3 from the finance >> to the board >> to the full >> so that motion? >> Yes. So I [clears throat] do need a motion for the original motion that was moved from finance committee and then someone could
104amend it after. Does it have to be that >> or the the motion? We brought it forward. The motion could be voted down and a new motion could be made. That might easier. >> Yeah, >> you got >> I'll make that motion. You want me to make that motion? >> So, um out of finance committee on Tuesday. Um, and what I will move today is move that the finance committee, I'm sorry, move that the Cheshire Board of Education submit to the town manager a budget for the 2026 2027 fiscal year totaling 99 million I almost said thousand 99,922,38 which represents an increase of 6,798 which is a 7.3% increase over the 2025 2026 budget. >> Is there a second? >> Merald just to move things along. Yeah. Right. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah. I I
105have a question. I'm just confused here a little bit. at the end of this proposal was 7.54% and in this motion Dr. Harrian just said it was 7.3. >> We're going to vote it down. >> We're just That's why I needed process clarification before we move forward. >> So there's the motion on the floor which pertains to the 7.3. It was second by Miss Fitzgerald. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor? >> None. Right. >> Amended motion first. Well, this we're just doing this motion and then all those against raise your hand and the motion fails >> and then somebody does this >> can make a new motion >> and then I'll give the better >> all in favor of it >> in favor of the 7.3. >> Yeah, the
106motion right here. >> Yeah. All those opposed. One in favor, six opposed. The motion dies. I will entertain a new motion. >> Dr. Harrian. I move that the Cheshire Board of Education submit to the town manager a budget for the 2026 2027 fiscal year totaling 100,149080 which represents an increase of 7.54% or 7,24,766 over the 2025 2026 budget. Is there a second? Mr. Eki discussion on the motion Mr. Colar >> more of a clarification on process here is as a new board member. So again before deciding to vote for or against this motion this does not marry us to the line items. >> It it does in the sense that um we need to forward a budget. So I mean op optimally I mean what we would be doing when you adopt this motion is
107making the reductions identified in the sheet that was handed out that would then go to the that would be forwarded uh on your behalf to the town manager um to be included in the town council deliberations. The town council doesn't have line item authority. They can't say, "Well, you know, we don't like this number here. Cut that line. Cut that line." But and now here's your new overall. They will give us an overall number. Of course, we talk about all the lines, how we got to these places um through that process in the spring. Then they ultimately adopt a number. It then comes back to you and at that point you finalize where where the lines are. So if some if the board found it in that town council number to put elementary, you know,
108the fifth elementary teacher back in or the STEM coordinator back in, we would still have the ability to do that. >> Correct. >> Within the budget that the town council comes >> the number is the number that gets passed back to you and you have the authority at that point to make adjustments. So what we do is after the meeting in April where the town council uh ultimately determines a budget for the community including the board of education, we meet again to finalize the lines. Um and we like to try and do that sooner rather than later because takes a lot of time and energy for Heather to put it all into the system and then you know we gota we start thinking about spending money at that point. Can I add two two points
109um for clarification? One is the town council could look at this list of reductions and say, "Oh my gosh, they really need this, this, and this. We're going to actually increase what we give to them." They could do that. Um >> they never have, but they could. >> They did with the turf. Um, the other point that I want to make is now we're talking April, we have a lot more information about how things are going. Things like who's retiring and who, you know, maybe even who we can bring in to replace student enrollment. >> Yeah, we'll just we'll have so much more information. So, um, >> so yeah, we do have the opportunity to >> move things around where we want to. work doesn't stop here yet. >> There is a motion on the
110floor. It has been second by Mr. Eki. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor, unless there's other discussion, all those in favor of the motion that is on the floor. We have six. Uh those who oppose one. The motion passes. Thank you. Next order of business. Um, back to you, Dr. Herrian. I believe the calendar committee announcements or the formation of the calendar committee. >> Where is I was not ready for all my duties tonight. So am I just making the motion? [clears throat] >> Yeah, >> pretty much. >> So you have in your packets the recommendations for um how the calendar the formation of the calendar committee is formed in accordance with policy 611. Uh the school calendar shall be drawn up by a committee composed of the superintendent
111of schools or his designate. Uh, the chairman of the chair I'm taking the man out of it. The chair of the board of education. A member of the board of education chosen by the chair. A teacher who may be chosen by the president of the education association of cheshure an administrator who may be chosen by the president of the cheshure administration personnel and a parent who represents the PTA. I believe Mr. Colehower, you were the parent rep last year, maybe even the year before. Um, Miss Rosenberg has appointed me as the board of education member to serve on the calendar committee. The superintendent has the various groups referenced above. um PTA and the bargaining units of the Cheshire Administrative Personnel and the Cheshire Education Association who are represented on the calendar committee asking for representatives
112to be selected to serve on this year's committee. That's a mouthful. >> A lot of commas. That's all one sentence. Okay. A first meeting of the committee will be held Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 6 PM in the Humston boardroom. And at this meeting the 2026 27 proposed calendar will be discussed and formally recommended for adoption when it comes to the full to the board. So the motion is that the 2026 calendar committee be formed in accordance with board policy 6111. Second. Miss Fitzgerald. discussion. >> Mr. Colog, do you have a point? >> Yeah, just clarifying. Is a motion required? >> There's no motion for this now. >> Yeah, this is just um reallyformational. >> You're right. I apologize. >> There's no action to be taken here. >> Motion right now, but I do >>
113Why do we have a motion then? >> There's uh not a motion in the um >> in the uh recommendation. >> Yeah, >> it's just a recommendation. Sorry. Any confusion there? Sorry about that. >> I take it back, Miss Fitzgerald with your second and everything. Um, I do have a question though, Dr. Solen, if you will. Um, there have been some uh requests from parents, and I'm hoping it doesn't impact our current language in the policy, but there's only one parent representation. There have been requests for a larger number of parent representation. Is there a possibility? >> Yes. Yeah, we can do that >> if we can add on. Especially covering each level, you know, elementary, secondary. >> Great. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions? >> Okay, we're going to move on. If
114um board members have any reports on standing committees, um legislative didn't meet earlier. If you can please just comment on what transpired briefly, >> excuse me, >> or legislative earlier today, this evening. >> Yeah. the um it was actually a legislative committee of the whole and we met with um our representative um state senator and the representative from uh it's it was a member of representative Lahan's office >> office right um and we discussed some of the needs that we're seeing in Cheshure around um excess cost around um special ed uh placements and um we had a lively discussion with um all members of the legislative um representatives that were there with us around what um they're able to do. they understood um that many of the towns and cities in Connecticut are you know
115suffering under a lot of um requirements that don't go along with um any financing but I think we made it clear that um you know we are looking at some creative ways to um trans transport our students to um work on regional kinds of schooling for some of our students with disabilities, uh whether it's on um in our area or in a a neighboring town so that we could also um get some support from the legislature. And we did ask them to look into that on how they could um support some regional uh programming. And um we talked about the cost of school lunches, school breakfasts and um so we brought a lot of our concerns. Thank you again to Dr. Solen for putting together. I think there were four items um there that we're
116concerned about here in Cheshure. and hopefully they will bring those up to some of their committees that they sit on and um discuss because a lot of times there's a a big voice up there of the t of the cities and I think towns like Cheshire and other towns in the state need to have that kind of a voice that we too are concerned about the fiscal climate and um to make sure that our kids are getting the appropriate education that um they need around staffing, around having lunch, around transportation and lots of things. So, um, as I said, it was a lively discussion and, um, I know that those legislators come every year and we appreciate their, um, their visiting us and hopefully some of our message got through. >> Thank you. Any other
117comments? No. Um, any additional committee? I know Miss Fitzgerald, you said you had some planning and zoning um information. >> Do you mean park and wreck? >> Park. I apologize. >> Oh, yeah. >> Definitely not planning. [laughter] >> Um no, just that I am going to be I don't know that there is an official liaison, but I'd like to be the official liaison for the uh park and recre commission. I was a commissioner for just under a year. Um and I do think it's important to stay connected. I think there's some stuff to think about, you know, with the fields at the schools and the fields of the town and how do we all work together to make sure there's enough capacity um uh you know for all the youth athletics that are happening at
118the town and so I think that it would be uh beneficial if I remain as liaison and so I intend to do so. I don't know if anything needs to be done officially for that. I am going to go to the meetings. Um just wanted to put that out there. >> Carol, can we add that as part of the liaison? committee. >> Yeah, that that's a great idea though. We'll come back to it for sure. Thank you, Miss Fitzgerald. >> Yes. Um [clears throat] I I think we do have to change bylaws. >> We could change the bylaw. >> Yeah, >> let us know. Go. >> Um, Miss Colin, is there any ACES uh update? The um right now ACES is um looking for a new um leader um Mr. Doctor Deain >> Denny um
119is retiring at the end. So, um we have we are working with uh CAPS no >> CAB >> to um get a an idea of who we want um to fill that role and uh we'll be starting to interview I believe at the end of February. We have a meeting of the whole next week to discuss that. Um we have updates on um ASUS at Chase which is their school in Waterberry. They are doing um an immense amount of uh work there. Um refurbishing buildings and um they have clo and they in New Haven, North Haven, they have closed a couple buildings um and again are consolidating some of the services there but you know looking to enlarge their um footprint uh in the state. So, thank you. I think that's it. I I know
120Dr. Sen mentioned about CF and their anniversary as well. I don't know if you have any info, Miss Fitzgerald, on the anniversary for CF celebrations and so forth. have the same info that John has. So, I'll end up [laughter] >> Yeah, I mean that'll definitely be part of my uh my update, but the uh the concert, the 30th anniversary concert will be held the 27th at 6:30 in the Thorp Auditorium. We are uh really excited to bring a a great show. We have uh musicians and performers from across the district who will be there that evening. Uh you know to to entertain our community is the uh as I said the 30th anniversary if people were so moved to uh make a donation. Um the suggestion was 30 for 30. Uh that's not a ticket
121price that it's $30 a ticket. there is no fee to attend the concert. Um, but we'll also have, you know, just some information about the uh CEF and the great work that they've done in our community over the last 30 years. Uh, during the show, MCED by me and um Jane Lukeart, who's been a member of the board for a very long time, past president as well. So, should be a fun night. >> Is this in addition to their their game, their quiz? Oh yeah, the quiz. Uh that's a >> that's non-negotiable. Trivia night coming up. That's >> compete. >> We are going to be at Cheshure Academy this year in March. I can't remember the date. Um people ask me why Cheshure Academy. They allow alcohol on campus. Um and some people have better
122memories for trivia when they >> have alcohol. I would stop short of inebriated. >> Can I just add it was a very nice location to have. >> Yeah. Can I have it? >> Yeah. >> Um, if I could just say one more thing about the Cheshire Education Foundation. I I'm also going to be less on for that. I was a board member for I don't remember now, a year, two years, I don't know, time flies when you're having fun. But um it's it's such a tremendous work that they do, the scholarships that they offer um to students, but also want to make sure that teachers here watching wherever are um aware of the the many grant opportunities that that exist. You know, you have a gap in in funding, what you want to achieve, what
123you have the money to do. um the Chester Education Foundation exists to be able to fill those gaps and to create, you know, tactile or whatever um opportunities for students to learn. Um so enrichment opportunities. So I want to make sure that teachers and and in light of all that's going on with the budget, I think it's really imperative that they're as aware as possible, take advantage of it, reach out. Um the money is there to do those types of things. So and these are fundraisers. So, yes, let's let's all go and let's all donate so we can help uh fill some gaps for for teachers and schools. >> That's the night life Mr. Coower came here for pretty much. Yeah. >> Awesome. No planning and zoning, right, Mr. White? Natada? >> Okay, great. With
124that, we're going to move to the minutes in front of us. I will entertain a motion. There are three meeting minutes packets in front of you and we're just going to take them all at once if they're if anybody would like to. >> I read them all. I move to approve all three minutes. December 4th, December 18th, and January 8th, 2026. >> Do you want to read the recommended language? Tell me you're new without telling me you're new. [laughter] >> Moved that the Cheshire Board of Education approved the minutes from meetings held on December 4th, 2025, December 18th, 2025, and January 8th, 2026. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Miss Fitzgerald, are there any additions or corrections that need to be made in all three packets? >> Nope. No, but I have
125a question on the minutes. I see. Um, is there typically not a ton of like the discussion that's captured in the minutes and that's meant to be like reviewed online? You know what I mean? Because there's just like usually a lot of discussion, but it's not necessarily reflected in all the minutes. I'm just flagging or asking that. >> Yeah, that's that's general practice. >> Okay. that um minutes more so reflect the actions taken than the discussion but uh obviously it's supplemental to the videos which have everything and they're all available online. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other? No. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor unanimous. Thank you. Uh we do I believe Mr. Secretary, please don't go anywhere because I believe you have some correspondence. >> I think
126so. >> Yeah. Just real quick, the uh we got an email, excuse me, uh regarding the waiver process uh earlier today and I wanted to clarify. So, we've been going through that process. Uh the first we sent out was the priority legacy waivers and those um we talked about response rate. There were 165 Chapman to Highland legacy priority waiverss uh surveys administered. Um 119 were completed. That that was our best response rate at 72% 45 incomplete. Highland to Bar Barnum that Moss Farms group was also in that initial phase. We had 27 surveys administered and 16 completed for a 59% response rate. Um we then sent out last week the second phase. In total we've sent out 534 requests for completion and we had 205 completed for a response rate of 39% earlier today which
127has made it a little bit more difficult to navigate to ensure that we're doing right because we want to try and follow up with these people. uh which is a little laborious, but um the the we were hoping to have the priority legacy waiver people um notified by the 20th and unfortunately we had to push that back to the 27th of next Monday. Um and you know maybe we'll be able to get to that beforehand. Uh Emily and I are going to try and tackle that tomorrow. But that the question was, you know, what's what's up with the uh priority legacy waiver people basically. We don't have respon like a definitive answer on that until Monday. >> Tim, >> um yeah. So in following up on the email itself, have you or are you going
128to send just one blast email saying everyone >> already did? >> You already did. >> Yeah. >> Was that after the email came in? >> Yes. >> Got it. Thank you. Yep. >> So, just a clarification then, if they don't answer it, they will go to the original. >> Yeah. I mean, we're we're trying to reach out to those people to to confirm that. Um but, you know, it's well past the deadline, you know, especially the priority legacy waiver people. The um secondary phase people, their deadline is actually tomorrow. And we've sent reminders, including text messages, um, to people in these groups and still don't have uh, the response rate that we want. The text message to the group that was the nonpriority legacy waiver people, the other people that were redistricted, that text only
129went out today and we do have, you know, that we immediately got a better response out of that group, which happens. So, >> I mean, question. >> Yeah. You don't think that um because they they had already made an indication that they wanted to go to a certain school that >> they didn't though. >> Okay. So this is everybody it's automatic >> right they are these are some of these people may have filled out an initial interest form but um many of them did not fill that out either. So, you know, um we don't want to assume and just have everybody really upset when I tell them, "Well, you you missed that boat two months ago." M >> um so we're trying to push it on that like just to get follow-ups but um right
130now we like I said we have only 39% of the people which does make it harder to to verify things but the priority legacy waiver people are priority for a reason and we will move with those people. So you know Emily and I will work on that. My wonder though is that I mean we were looking at neighborhoods. So now transportation may be a little bit more conflicted because then you're going to have to send in >> Yeah. Not necessarily. No, >> the because these people in the waiverss don't have transportation. So that that's off the table. Um, it's really just about making sure that because this is a precursor to staffing >> and so we really need to make sure we have these numbers as as tight as they can be. Um, and we
131weren't feeling really good about the percentage response even between the 72 and 59. Those two uh priority groups that had received multiple reminders were still only at like 65% um out of those two groups. So, you know, we could assume that they don't want it, but you know, you know what happens when you assume. So, let's try and we're trying to push those people to get the responses in. >> You mentioned in passing, you know, [snorts] it would be a difficult spot two months from now to say, hey, well, you know, this boat sailed, this ship sailed. >> Um, do you have any insights into how we are going to handle that? I mean there it will happen, right? Um so >> yeah, I mean like um I'm never somebody who's just seen the world
132in black and white where I'm going to just say, "Sorry, Buster. Tough cookies." What'll happen at that time is when you ask me three months from now, I'll look at the registrations that we have and tell you whether or not it's possible. like it may not be possible, but I'm also sensitive. Like if you're a parent, maybe your circumstances change three months from now, too. And there's a reason why like now I want really want to try and do this when before I didn't think I could. We're going to be reasonable with people. And I think, you know, that's why we came to this decision in the first place by trying to be reasonable with people because there are districts that'll tell you go scratch. You know, these are the red districts you go where
133you go. And I think we try and meet people and provide for families is what we do. And so I'm going to do that again three months from now, but it's going to make it a hell of a lot harder. And I may not be able to do it the same way I can do it for you today. >> Any other questions for Dr. >> You can keep going Dr. Sen because you're up. >> Okay. Sorry. Um yeah, so that was the correspondence and also a waiver update. Um the other items I just want to make sure I I hit all of them. Staffing update. You know, there wasn't much of a a formal uh recognition, but our beloved uh PPS director has notified me of her intention to retire. Uh and that job has
134been posted internally. Uh so this is the first of my I'm sure many thank yous to come to Robin Anne for her service. and um she has a new grandbaby in her life and uh we'll be spending more time there. Um so there's that. If you saw you might see that post thing floating about. Um the uh open choice enrollment projections. We have to make open choice enrollment projections for um next year. You know, obviously there's a lot of consternation. We don't know what our elementary schools look like. There may be more flexibility. Unfortunately, we're talking about class sizes right now. I I don't feel like we're in a good position to add um student enrollment in grades uh K through 8 until our budget is realized. The um high school, however, they they do
135have two students graduating um to two seniors in the open choice program. and I'd like to add uh six students to the ninth grade um incoming class there. Uh there are currently three students in the eighth grade uh which would make a a class of nine open choice freshmen. Um there are currently nine open choice freshmen. So um I think they add a lot of value to our community. our good friend Malachi uh was one of our uh student reps last year and is a open choice graduate. Uh these guys add a lot they help enrich our school community and so we want to try and do that. It pains me that I don't feel confident to be able to add other seats and look forward to 2728 when we have a better sense of
136what this looks like and a better clarity and be able to add more. Um, I wanted to put this on the radar because there's not a lot of time. Um, we all school systems in Connecticut that are on um have to navigate the federal components of the food service expectations. um they've evaluated our policy and told us on Tuesday, January, excuse me, on Saturday, January 17th, that we needed a new wellness policy by March 1st. Um that's inside of the three-month window that we typically have. So, at our next policy meeting, we'll probably doing a more urgent uh approval. And I just wanted to put that on the board's radar because it'll come before you in uh not the standard threemonth process that we have. Finally, for um our uh actually one last thing on
137our CF, the trivia night is March 21st. So you can save the date now and start practicing. Um not that it will help you at all. Uh new schools update. Our administrative team was out checking out. We did a tour. I appreciate Vin and folks from OMG coordinating tours for our administrators to see our two new buildings today. There was a lot of excitement around that. Uh seeing the the two new spaces for the students and uh families and our community. Um and it was just a a great morning to get get out and see it in progress. uh basically at Barnum uh there's they're advanced in terms of their site work uh around the property. Um and then inside they're trailing I would say Norton by a little bit because when you go to
138Norton they're laying down floors already um in classrooms. They're putting up cubbies on the walls already with um you know sinks and things like that. Uh tile on the walls like it is getting there. Um, and I look forward to the spring as the weather starts to improve a little bit and we can get um, our elected officials out there again to take another tour like we did in the fall. So, that's it for me. >> I have a question. >> Yep. >> Um, with the two new schools opening, I mean, what are the plans around any um, use of the gym, the auditorium, those kinds of things? I know, you know, we tend not to want anyone to use. >> Oh, the new buildings. >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's those are public
139spaces. We part of the rationale in building these was that at Chapman school, if I was standing against the wall out of bounds on the basketball court, my toes were in bounds, >> right? >> Like it was tiny. And this is a much better space for community use. and we look forward to being able to better accommodate uh these requests. Now, when we talk about budgeting, >> charge >> when we talk about budgeting, there there are charges usually not for in-house community programs, but um I think that's worth uh revisiting as a policy and a >> potential revenue source uh particularly with our new spaces. But um yeah, they'll be available to the community. I thought you were going to ask about existing spaces, the existing buildings and what's happening with that. Obviously, Norton's being
140demolished. Um, you know, one of the things that, you know, your encouragement, reach out to ACES about the potential for, you know, what what might a um more regional special ed program look like perhaps at at Chapman? See if they have any interest. We we haven't been able to really have a dialogue on that yet, but it's out there. Any other questions for Dustin? >> Um, how many can you just clarify how many slots do we have for open choice? >> So, currently we have 40 students um in our open choice program. >> This would bring it potentially, assuming there's no attrition to 44 districtwide. >> And then for the new schools, we're on time under budget still. Well, that's the other meeting I'm supposed to be in downstairs right now, but um as of
141the last meeting we were Yeah. Okay. I think we're still there. >> Great. >> Um that's it I think for Dr. >> That's it for me. Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you. There's no old business. Um new business. I don't have the date. I know it was sent but the uh polar plunge is coming from the trees YMCA. So if any board members would like to join me um I welcome the teamwork especially the newbies. [clears throat] So just in case um I believe that's in end of February but I will get that date out to you as well too. Um, overall I just want to thank everybody for now all the work that we put in, especially the administration. There was a lot of back and forth. I appreciate Dr. Soulen, you know, having been
142at home to contact us and keeping us informed along the way. Um, but again, it it's just the beginning, I feel, and so I would highly encourage that we just keep stay on top of it. um attend the TC meetings if at all possible in support of Dr. Solen and the overall budget that we just moved to them. Um just a point of clarification, I know last time somebody had asked um I just want to make sure because I believe I misspoke as far as process is concerned. You know, we did approve it tonight, but there was a change, correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. in that um the length of time we had to kind of do our part with the budget did change from end of January to February, right? >> Yeah. Uh
143February 15th and the charter when the charter revision was done. We've retained the same timeline that we've had in the past just generally on a on a rule of thumb, but um there is a little flexibility there. >> Okay. I just didn't mean to kind of accelerate, but I think we put in a lot. And again, I really thankful to Mr. Kau, Miss Fitzgerald submitting questions that allows us to kind of rethink um each of these line items from a another lens, too. So, I appreciate you both for doing that. Um outside of that, that's pretty much for my update. Um I would definitely entertain a motion to adjurnn. Oh, let me just clarify. Um if we could Dr. Sol I know we have a policy meeting like you said coming up. Um I think
144one of the points that came out of the uh Tuesday meeting um was if there's any possibility to pull the transportation um policy back up so that we can take a look at it too. So if you could add that onto the agenda. Speaking of meeting so policy will be on February 2nd, Monday 7 p.m. at Human. Um February 4th we're going to have the calendar committee Dr. Harrian um at Human as well. U curriculum's going to meet on February 9th um at 7. The calendar is going to meet at 6 actually. So that's a little earlier time. Um so curriculum will be at Human February 19th. We'll have our regular board of education business meeting here in town council chambers. Um as far as Cheshure Public Schools in general, we do have the President's
145Day February break which is from the 16th to the 17th. Schools are closed. And that is it. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. Eckie, >> second Miss Fitzgerald. All those in favor of adjourning unanimous. Thank you everybody.