Board of Education 9-18-25

001Call the role. >> Here >> thank you. Let's all stand for the pledge, please. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Oops. Sorry. Chair tends to get away from me sometimes. >> Um, first on our agenda, I would like to ask Principal Hanlin to introduce the student representatives for the 2025 2026 school year. >> Hi, Kevin. >> Hello. Good evening, everyone. It is a pleasure to be with here with you here tonight to introduce our student board of education reps for the 2526 school year. As I share about this year's representatives, uh it won't be hard to see how they are complex thinkers, creative thinkers, self-directed learners, collaborative learners, effective

002communicators, and community contributors. Uh they embody all the skills and disposition dispositions expressed through our Cheshure performance standards. At Cheshire High School, Connor Raybal serves as the president of the National Honors Society, student head of Winterfest, a commissioner in Link Crew, and a member of the boys basketball team, all while excelling in challenging courses, honors, and AP courses. Uh, in the school's transition to a new schedule, Connor helped create a frequently asked question flyer and video to assist both students and faculty. No small feat. He also coordinated a district-wide PJ day fundraiser for Hurricane Helen and Milton victims, raising over $5,000 for the American Red Cross. Maline May Taber has performed in the musical each year, is a four-year member and leader in unified theater, and sings with honors choir. She's also a three-year member

003of Link Crew, a leader of the college campus club, a member of the National English Honor Society, and an athlete on both the girls tennis and cross country teams, serving as co- captain in her junior year. Beyond CHS, Manny volunteers with the Highland Summer Enrichment Program, Live Well Memory Center, and her church community. Uh in addition to these robust resumes, uh Maddie and Connor share a genuiness and sincerity that make them well poised to be excellent representatives of the Chesure Public School student body. Active listening, thoughtful commentary, and beaming smiles uh are part of nearly every interaction you'll have with these two, and we look forward to hearing all they have to share with you. the board of education throughout the year. Welcome and congratulations Connor Maddie. >> Welcome Connor and Meline. Um, do you

004have a report for us tonight? >> We do. >> Yes. Um, hello everyone. I am Maline Taber or Maddie May. >> You can pull that closer. >> Um, hi, I'm Connor. Um, thank you Mr. Hanland for the the wonderful welcome and um on behalf of me and Matty May, we are both so excited to represent um Cheshure High School and to work with you all this year. So Cheshire High School is off to a great start to the academic year. Um our students have done a really really good job adjusting to our new schedule and I think this is largely because of all the support that students have in place. Um, at the beginning of the year, Link crew leaders were taught how to effectively explain the schedule, which I think has really helped freshmen.

005And, uh, in addition to that, teachers have done a really, really good job making sure that all of our students know what letter day it is and what class they're going to next. >> Our students are also getting involved outside of the classroom. Our fantastic link crew leaders had a very successful freshman orientation and also partnered with the National Honor Society to assist with open house. These two groups efforts helped make sure that both students and their parents had as smooth of a transition into the school year as possible. Um, speaking of National Honor Society, we would also like to congratulate the 40 juniors inducted to our CHS chapter just two days ago. We would also like to acknowledge all other clubs and groups at CHS who participated in the club fair. This event was

006a huge success in helping everyone find their place in the herd. >> Yeah, upcoming at Chesher High School, we have a lot of exciting stuff. Um, notable we have a senior parking space painting which will be happening for the first time this Friday. Um, also Chester High School will be hosting a blood drive which is run by our very own blood drive club. Uh, in addition, athletics are off to a really strong start. Uh, just yesterday the girls volleyball team um, faced off against rival AMD in channel 3's game of the week. Um, also really important to mention Cheshure High School got a really big win off the field. um their athletic program is going to be honored with the CIA Michael's Cup. So, this award is given to schools with exemplary athletic programs, but

007in addition to that have really shown a strong drive to live up to the uh CIC class act sportsmanship standards. >> Finally, two of Tesher High School's brightest stars will be ramping up both the with the both the marching band and the football team taking center stage. This will start with the Friday Night Lights return to CHS at next week's first home football game. In upcoming weeks, the Cheshire High School band will be a shining star as they perform in the Music in Motion event on October 10th. As we wrap up, we would like to thank you all for your time tonight and look forward to presenting you again next month. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, do you mind if I ask if any board members have questions or comments for you?

008>> Of course. >> Yes, of course. >> Any questions for Maddie May? Do I get to call you that, too? >> Of course. Yeah. and Connor, >> Mr. Grippo. >> Uh, no questions, just uh, welcome to the wonderful board of ed and I hope you have a wonderful year. >> Thank you. I have one question, Connor. You mentioned a blood drive. Is that um, is that something open to the public or just for Cheshire High students? >> Uh, I think it's just for the students, but we get a really good turnout. >> Good. and staff too. >> And staff. >> I would ask for the dates, but if we're not if we're not invited, >> then it doesn't matter. It doesn't it doesn't matter. >> Thank you very much. Um, you're welcome to hang around,

009especially for the next presentation, which might be exciting for you, but you don't have to stay for the whole meeting. So, thank you. >> Dr. Solen, you have an exciting presentation for us tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Herrian. Uh, you're right. This is not only an exciting presentation, but a tremendous honor to recognize the 2025 Cheshire Public Schools teacher of the year. So, a little bit about our teacher of the year. Uh, human connection is the foundation of great teaching. Nobody does that better than Cheshire's teacher of the year, Denise Shalaba. She is the This is going to be like a State of the Union address because Denise Denise deserves like intermittent applause. Usually like we can't go like four or five minutes without bursting into applause for her. Uh and she deserves it because

010she is the embodiment embodiment of exemplary practice and character. The commitment she shows and the grace and humanity with which she performs serve as models for educators in our community. Denise has a unique perspective on the classroom. She began teaching in Cheshire in 1993 and stepped back to raise her children in 2002. We were blessed in 2016 when she returned to teach full-time in the district. Since 2018, Denise has been a beloved and steady presence in the kindergarten team at Highland Elementary School, where her warmth, professional professionalism, and quiet leadership have left an indelible mark. The parent nominations we received for her teacher of the year award speak volumes about Denise's profound impact. One family who had a unique priv unique the unique privilege of having three of their children in her class called it

011the best gift ever. They describe her not just as a trusted teacher but as a role model and lifelong mentor. Someone who remembers birthdays, checks in during tough times, shows up for games and celebrations, and creates a classroom culture where children feel safe, seen, and valued. When their sixth grade daughter received the superintendence award, she chose Mrs. Shalava to stand by her side, an honor that reflects the depth of their continued connection. Another nominator who has known Denise as both a parent and a colleague highlighted her incredible ability to connect with families on a personal level. Denise's communication goes far beyond classroom updates. She sees the whole child and her dedication to each students academic and emotional well-being is both effortless and genuine. Denise doesn't just teach, she inspires. She doesn't just build classrooms, she

012builds relationships that endure. And she doesn't just do the job, she elevates the profession through every thoughtful interaction and act of care. She is quite simply extraordinary. For all of these reasons and more, we are proud to recognize Denise Shalaba as our Cheshure Public Schools teacher of the year. I just want to take a quick minute to once again thank Dr. Solen, Miss Stano, and members of the board for this incredible opportunity, this incredible honor. Um, having the opportunity to represent the amazing educators of the Cheshire Public Schools is something that I'm so grateful for. Recognizing what all of the educators in Cheshire do every day for all of our students. Um my my daughter, my last daughter is a senior at Cheshire High School this year and looking at colleges. I was having a

013conversation with her the other day and she's not sure what she wants to do. But I told her that's perfectly fine. You're 17, but don't ever just settle for a job and this has never just been a job for me. This is my passion. Um having the opportunity to teach in the town that I grew up in and went to school in is just the icing on the cake. So, um, it's this, as we talked about, is a full circle moment for me and something that is not lost on me. So, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. Thank you. Congratulations and thank you for representing us so well. >> My pleasure. >> Like your wedding photo. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. [Applause] photogenic. So,

014one last thing, if you um haven't had the opportunity yet, uh Miss Shalaba's teacher of the year speech is available on our YouTube page. Uh it is definitely worth the watch. Very inspiring. Uh, and I'm sure you know if you haven't already figured out, if you you watch that video, you'll quickly understand why she was our teacher of the year. So, congratulations again, Denise. Madam Chair, if I if I may, I had the pleasure of running into Micher family downstairs. To say that they're very proud is an understatement, but if I'm not if I'm not mistaken, the your entire family here tonight are educators. >> What's that? >> Are you all educators? >> No. So this is my husband and my children, but these are my two co-workers from high school. >> We travel in

015the pack. That's great. >> It was a pleasure meeting you earlier. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Thank you. >> Okay. At this point, I would like to ask if there are any members of the public who would like to address the board of ed and they should come to the podium and state your name and address and please speak into the microphone. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Hi, my name is Maline Novik. I live at 125 East Mitchell Avenue, apartment 6, Cheshire, Connecticut 06410. Okay. Um, respectfully, I would like to inquire whether our religious freedoms are being protected in our public schools. Under the establishment clause, schools must be places where both religious and non-religious convictions are treated with fairness. Uh are treated with uh with both religious and non-religious convictions are treated with

016fairness and respect. Can anyone address that question? Uh, I'm going to give that to Miss Novik. I mean, we typically don't engage in dialogue during public comment, but I think I'd be very happy to talk to you after uh or if you want to chat tomorrow or something. Thank you so much. I can, you know, certainly engage in all sorts of dialogue with you. >> And where may I reach you tomorrow? >> At my office, uh, which is 29 Main Street. Uh, I I'll give you a business card as soon as you're done. Thank you very much for your time. >> Sure. Anytime. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Miss Novc. >> Uh, next we have some committee reports. We'll start out with curriculum. Uh, Miss Cullinan, you would you like to report on the meeting

017held September 15th? Uh well, I would like to say all of members of the committee were there and we had an very interesting um meeting and I'm going to ask um our assistant superintendent to once again go through some of the state testing results. All of you have received a packet um with an overview and I understand and I know that Dr. Solen did um go through some of the test results at the last meeting, but this delves a little bit further in. >> Can you hand those down, please? >> No, that's fine. >> There they are. This is um a lengthy packet, but I know Miss Solano will go through it as quickly and um obviously we'll take some questions on it. And I also want you to note the last page where there's

018some conclusions that we will go over in a little bit more detail because it kind of ties the whole report together um for board members. >> Thank you, Miss Colin. This is meant to be an overview of the required Connecticut state assessments. And just to refresh your memories, the Smarter Balance assessment is given to students in grades 3 through 8. The Next Generation Science Assessment is given in grades 5, 8, and 11. And then there is what they call the SAT school day test, which is the SAT. However, in Connecticut, it's considered the 11th grade measure. All students take in 11th grade take this test. Students are certainly um have the opportunity to take the SAT multiple times, but uh unlike supercoring or taking their highest score, this test is a measure only of the

019score they got on that day in school. So, if you turn to page three, I'd be happy to walk you through the Smarterbalanced achievement results for grades three through eight. What I have here for you is a five-year look back. So, that we're looking at 2018209, which is the year prior to COVID. That also indicates our Cheshur's some of Cheshire's highest scores on that test. It was also the year that most of the state of Connecticut also saw their highest scores, you know, since the pandemic. So, if you look across, you can see the five years and you can look at where we were in 2018 2019 with our ELA and math. That percentage is percentage level three or four. There are four bands on the Smarter Balanced assessment and bands three and four indicate

020whether students have met or exceeded the standard for that grade level. So this year we achieved a 77.2% in ELA and 76.5% in math. There you can see that we cleared our highest achievement ranking which was in 2018209. So, one of our takeaways is that math in grades three through eight, we had our strongest score ever. We also um increased over the previous year in math, but have yet to achieve our 2018 2019 level in math for 3 through 8. I mean in ELA for 3 through 8. If you look at the next page, page four, I'll take a moment to walk you through this as we had a little bit of discussion on it in committee. There are two other aside from looking at achievement. This test also measures students growth. So on the

021left hand side of the um chart, you'll see the growth rate. The growth rate is a is reported as a binary. Growth rate is the term used to determine whether or not um students met their growth target. So for example, a student may have been every student gets a growth target. So that's let's say for example that that's 100 points and the student achieves 99 out of 100 points. Well, they would not have been indicated to have met their individual growth target. Even though they got 99 out of out of 100 and they grew, as far as the growth rate is concerned, they did not meet target. only if they got the 100 out of 100 would they have met that. So that tells you what the growth rate is. If you look at the

022other side of the chart, there's a term called average percentage of target achieved. That is a percent of the growth target that the student met. So obviously if they had gotten 50 points out of 100, they would have met 50% of their target or they would have if they had 100, they would have been 100% of their target achieved. So this is a a nice it gives us an um a way of looking at not just our achievement because our students can come in strong and we want to make sure that they're still meeting their growth target. So this is a way that we look at individual students at classrooms of students um at grade levels etc to see where we might need to deploy resources if students are not making growth. So 71% is

023a far cry um well sorry 71% and 75.4% ELA and math which I like to see those scores um well I like to see 100% but they are trending in the right direction. We've gone from being in the 60s to moving to the 70s and higher as far as the average percent of target achieved. If you look on the other side at the growth rate, you can see that we have really hit where we were in 2018 2019 in math and are closing in on where we were in ELA. The next um two pages are really just another way of illustrating what I just shared. So on that page five, you'll see the growth for ELA one. The on the left is the growth rate. on the right is the average percent of target achieved.

024The following page is math. This is just a couple different ways to look at it. Adam, >> um, before we continue on, uh, just so I have the definitions correct or I'll, as I say, as as Tim might say, for those in the audience who may not understand, >> um, the um, so when you're looking at the the standardized uh, test scores when they come home and you see like uh, the meets or exceeds, >> is that mean that the student has hit that one 100 points or whatever it was that that they they're they're part of that 58% for math or whatever it is for this year. That means that they met or exceeded um these growth rates or is that something different? >> That's this is something different. Um when you're talking about

025the report that comes home that says met or exceeded, it's talking about the standards for that grade level. So let's say grade five. If your student comes home and it says they met or exceeded, it means they met or exceeded the standards for those for that school year. The um the report also shows where the student was last year. So you can see based on the bar charts the way the individual student report goes, you can see the the percentage of growth that they met. >> Yeah. So how is that different from this or is that is this just a different way? >> Just a different way. Just a different >> So it's the same thing. Um, that report, I have to really think about this. That report gives the individual student scores. It also

026says where they were last year. I'd have to double check to see whether or not it says whether they met their growth target in that report. If you give me a minute, I'll pull that up. >> Okay. Because so growth is not the same as meets or exceeds. >> Correct. Growth is different than treatment. So growth is so it's not even so let's say let they were in the the bottom percentile of achievement >> but they made it to the goal was to get to the 30th percentile that's considered the growth is that which is >> so the way the smarter balance is set up the growth targets are set so that students are are are closing the gap of where they need to be. So it would it would be unlikely for a student

027not to be in um to be in band one or two which is not meeting or exceeding and have met their growth target. >> Right. >> But it's individualized reach. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. And and you could theoretically you I mean you could meet your growth target but you would really have you'd probably outgrow >> I I guess what I'm getting at is can you meet your growth target but not meet or exceed anything. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That that's what I'm asking. Yes. >> Yes. You could also be exceeds >> and not have met your growth target. Yeah. >> So, this means that let's say using math again, 58% or 59% of students may have met their growth target, but they may not still necessarily be proficient at grade level, >> I guess, is

028what I'm trying to get at. >> Yeah, that's that is why we're looking at both. Yeah. We look at the achievement levels and we look at the growth. Because like I said, you could you could have a a a really great achievement record, but students might not be growing. >> They could have stayed at that exceeds level but not made growth. So we we want students to grow, not just achieve. >> I understand better now and I hope everyone else I think does as well. Thanks. >> You've provided a public service here tonight, Adam. But um you know just to to add on a little bit here I I think we the achievement part is really important obviously I mean we we are sensitive to that but the growth piece is just as important if

029not more important um because as Marlene said where's the >> like where are they relative to their to their own capacity did they grow right and so the interesting thing is when you look at the state rankings things as well. Grades three through eight combined. Um, in ELA, we had we finished 20th in Connecticut in terms of the average percent of growth target achieved. And of the the 20 school of the 19 that were ahead of us, seven of those districts had less than a 100 kids take the test in grades three through eight. So, you know, you I don't want to totally discount them. And by the but it's a different animal of the remaining schools after you drop those seven out um four more of them five more of them had less than

030200 kids. So when you're looking at the larger districts in Connecticut and Bethany is on that list they don't have grades seven and eight. So like when you're looking at at the districts you're talking about New Kanan, Greenwich, um Weston, Rocky Hill, Farmington, and Cheshure. That's the list of of the bigger size school districts that have done well. So yeah, that's the ELA side of things. On the math side of things, we finished 20th there as well. Um, and six districts had less than 100 kids with another handful less than 200 kids. same similar districts. New Kanan, Wilton, um Heedin, I don't know if they're K8 or three through eight, Madison, Westport, those are like so we're very competitive in terms of how our students do in not just their achievement, but their growth. Sorry

031for the interjection, Marlene, but I share that. I just wanted to add something to just to go along the same. >> That's >> it's time to wake up. >> Okay, >> that's a nice ringtone. >> Um, so those first few pages as both, you know, Dr. and Marlene have said is that it looks at all of our students in grades three to eight. To me as an educator, as a teacher, I want to see individually that Adam is making growth from grade three to four to five to six all the way up. And that's what that individual growth target. >> Yes. Tells us. >> And if you're not, then I need to look further in what's going on. Right. This is just overview. Yeah. We want to see those numbers still move, but I want

032to see what my individual students are doing in a classroom, in a school, you know, to really move or to intervene if a kids need some kind of intervention. >> Thank you. You want to continue? >> I would love to. If you take a look at page seven, okay, we had some discussion about the NGSS science test during committee and one of the things that was requested was to take a look at our chronic absenteeism rates for those years. So, I've added that on page seven. So in addition to seeing our fifth, 8th, and 11th grade scores over the last five years, you can see what our chronic absenteeism rate was. So back precoid, it was 5.98%. It jumped up as it did in many districts in Connecticut, if not the nation. Um, we in

033Cheshire were at 10.44%, 10.54, 7.4, for 7.39. So if you look year overyear, it certainly would seem that if students are in school, they're going to learn more. They're going to do better on assessments. If you look at 23 to 24 those those two years you can see that in grade five we were at 78.3% of students who re reached levels three and four and we jumped up to 83 at DOD in grade 8 we were at 71% we increased to 76.3 I would attribute that because the chronically absent number is relatively the same I would attribute that to the myriad of instructional strategies that were in play. And then we did have a dip in the NGSS in um at the high school and that's something we need to further investigate. Once again, um

034looking at the next couple of pages, it's just different ways to look at this. If you look at page nine, you can see that Cheshire ranked number one in the DUIRG for their achievement on that science test. While we've remained stagnant, not stagnant, but we remained steady in our achievement levels. Um, we've been in the top one, two, three, or four in science at the elementary level for the past couple of years. In grade 8, if you go to page 12, you can see that we did jump up, we were now fifth in the durg as compared to our peers. If you go to the next page, you can see that grade 8 ranking. Page 14 shows our grade 11. So, we've been hovering at 65, 56, 67, 68, 64. And in the DUR ranking

035for last year, we were at 13. So again, a couple of different ways to look at the same information. If you turn to page 17, you'll see our ranking for the SAT school day assessment. ELA, we are 80% last year, 79.9% in 2425. And in math, we went from 49.5% up to 54.9%. So, we've continued, you know, some continued work to do there. Though, if you look at the next page, our ranking in ELA is 11th in the DUI, while our ranking in math is eighth. Page 19, you can find our our percentage at level three or four met or exceeded for the past two years. And you see our ranking in the state. And while those numbers are a little bit different, that just is reflective of what data was available. Not all districts

036can report. >> Yes, Adam. um for uh math at the high school. >> Yes. >> Or for 11th grade. Um so we've been discussing what's it the last year or two about the transition to having well I guess this year will be the first year all eighth graders have algebra. Correct. >> Correct. >> Um and so we won't really see that change reflected for another two years. Now I have to do math in my head. So you have this eighth grade year and these guys take it as juniors. >> Yeah. >> So you have their freshman, sophomore, and then it's the junior year assessment that we would see. >> Yeah. Because last year was more of a transition time. >> You mean you see a little bit in the middle school already. Middle school scores

037were great. >> Yeah. >> If you're talking about getting to the SAT, that's several years away. >> However, I think Mr. Hanland and I would agree that we're not sitting around waiting for those kids to move up. Mr. Hanland and I spent last was it last Monday? Um we took a group of educators who actually all teach algebra 2 at the high school. We have a new um department chair and we also invited one of our special ed teachers who works with those math teachers and we spent the day really diving into um what we know about best practices in in instruction but also in math. and we were there with a number of other districts um including Manchester and was it Guilford who was there with us? >> Yeah. So colleagues so this is

038not just these are other other teachers from other um it's aworked improvement council and so this group has dug in and we will be meeting throughout the year. We've also been uh working and talking with the folks at Dodd to share the practices that they put in place with we did this over the summer with um a cadre of folks from the high school really sharing experiences and practices. We are looking at some systems and structures at the high school in in how we um place students etc. So, I don't want you to think for a minute that we need to wait years before that change can occur. I certainly anticipate that that change will occur because of the changes that we made at Dodd, but there's also a lot of things that Kevin and

039I are working on between now and then that we hope to see improvements. I won't say hope. Hope is just a wish. We are going to see improvements. >> Yeah, I didn't mean to infer that the those who are sophomores and juniors are being left behind in any way, but I didn't think you did, >> but yeah, I mean, you know, it was sort of a a foundational shift that was occurring, so it was just, you know. >> Yeah. Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. Let me see. Talk about SAT school day. Oh, so on the last page here are some of our overall conclusions. Um, overall th this shows a great deal of health across our achievement and growth. Our growth rates and the average percent of targets achieved in ELA and math showed a

040healthy upward trend compared to the prior year. Our math performance was strongest outperforming our 2018 2019 school year. We did upon further investigation decide that we would have a focus on grade three because we saw some um a a slide there. SAT we are working on continued improvement and I think for our district we're focusing on closing the gap for our high need students. We're focusing in on our multilingual learners and particularly our special education students. And then as the this one is really um attributed to the committee work that we discussion that we had on Monday that as chronic absenteeism decreases achievement increases. So, any any other questions? >> Just a quick question. Uh, we had 284 students take the school day SAT. What percentage of the junior class did we have a good

041turnout? Did we have kids show up? >> I don't have it at the top of my I think it was like 98% of our students take that test, which is not the tr not the case for every district. We have very high percentages of students taking all of these exams. >> That's I I find that pretty impressive. We had 98%. >> That's pretty good. >> I'll get I can get you the exact number, but >> Tim, >> thank you. Uh, yeah. So, with regard to the So, a couple of questions, but with regard to the SAT school day, just say it's 98%. What's our what's our high school rate post high school rate of enrollment in college? And I am drawing an drawing a a conclusion here that the SAT is directly and exclusively related

042to college. I don't know if that's the case, but that's what I'm wondering about because I thought I thought our number was >> high. What do we have a a four-year college rate of 96% >> gonna say lower 90s but in that >> because so I I might be off >> to that too. I might be off on this, but I thought the the superintendent had said a couple years ago that it it had gone down to 86%. Which frankly speaking from my perspective, I actually think that's probably a good thing directionally because I think this is the whole college debt across the country and whether it really is appropriate for kids. And I think kids just my own experience when I was a kid and talking to kids today, there's just a general thrust

043of that's what you do even if it's not necessarily appropriate for every kid. So I think you understand where I'm going with this. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Couple of things to that point. First of all, 96% of our kids took the SAT who's 95.9%. of the class of 2025, um 82% enrolled in a four-year university. Um another 9% enrolled in a two-year university. >> Got it. >> Um another 3% to tech schools, 2% to military, 2% gap year, 1% employment, 1% undecided. So you kind of get a sense of where it goes with as it relates to uh the tech piece though. Um, stay tuned for the superintendent's report, another update. >> Yeah. No, and I I I just want to say for people who have not been listening to me belavor

044this point for the last six years since I've been on the board, I really think college can be great for for many students, for many kids. But I just think that there's a difference between whether it's the right choice at a particular moment in time when you're graduating high school, um, if it's the best choice for somebody. And I I'm not convinced like I personally believe a 98 like if it was 98% going on to college I I just don't think that's realistic. Um and I'm saying 100% of the kids are great who graduate from Chesure High, but I just am not a believer that 98% would necessarily their best choice would be going on to college using the SAT as an indicator for that the the turnout rate. And that's >> it's just an

045observation. Yeah, >> that's all. >> Can I just add that SAT is is just it's a requirement of all of us. So, students have to take the SAT in school regardless of if they're planning to go to college or not. >> Is that a state requirement? >> It is. >> Okay. >> But there's an option for legis. >> It takes the place of other testing. >> Didn't we? No, it it it gives every child in the state of Connecticut the ability to take the SATs without paying for it. Got it. >> Without worrying about transportation on a Saturday morning, without a lot of things. So, this is why it's during the school day and it's free. >> Okay, that that makes sense. I can understand that. Thank you. Um >> Tim, I I would just

046like to add too that one of the key words that I heard you say was choice. And I've heard really good reports um even coming from technical high schools as well as more schools like Cheshire High and other good schools across the state that have been continuously improving their their tech um offerings in schools. Now that the there what it does for our students is it gives them more choices. >> Yeah. >> If they and many of them are choosing to go to college but in different kinds of programs which you know choice is what it's all about. >> Yeah. No >> give uh these young people the choices. I guess what I guess the only thought going through my mind is if you are going to a technical school, let's say you go for

047I think it's I think it's a full-time 18-month program to become an electrician. Sort of go on to the apprenticeship and become an E2. Um >> you mean after high school or >> post high school? You could do it during high school. I don't think we have the I don't think we have the curriculum for it, but Will Cox does some. Anyway, um what I'm wondering is or what's going through my mind is the SAT used in any way as uh used for enrollment in say an electrical technical school. And I'm not looking for an answer on this or anything like that. It's an observation that I'm making because it just if we have a 98% turnout that to me probably doesn't match uh necessarily the best choices for kids because I just don't think

048you have 98% of kids who are going on to a four-year university or college is what I was thinking about. And thank you for pointing out that it's like 80% 10% 10% going to a two-year degree which I think is a great thing. Um that that's all. Um I'm wondering about I feel like I like I'm missing something here. I'm looking at page 18 of the slides and we've got Cheshure ranked 11th for ELA meeting or exceeding 80%. And then Cheshure is ranked eighth and we meet 55%. >> Are the expectations for math in some way like significantly higher than ELA? Is it a is it a a design function that is not worth explaining because it just seems to me that >> those numbers don't they're not intuitive to me. >> Yeah. Yeah. It

049certainly if if you look at page 18 and you look at the top ranked school district and you see that it's 86% for ELA and 63% for math. >> Yeah. It's just that students across the board are scoring lower on the math portion of the SAT than they are on the ELA portion. And so the rankings are the rankings. You're just ranking the percent of the p the level of student the percent level at three or four. So this this just tells us that students are doing better on the ELA portion than on the math portion across the board. It's baked into the design of the SAT >> perhaps. >> Just it seems odd to me. But anyway, >> but when you look at the ranking, I I know it says we're number eight, but

050that's an 8.9 difference from the number one to number eight. It's not even a real significant >> Oh, it's not >> amount of change between number one, number three, number six. You know, when you look at it, >> just to be clear, the I think I understand where you're going. That that wasn't my point, but I think Marlene picked up on my point, which is really just looking at Greenwich, which we've got 20. So, people watching in TV land, we've got 20 towns listed here or something like that. And it's all sort of a mishmash with the exception of Greenwich and Avon both being Greenwich being number one and both Avon being number two. But really, it's highlighted right there with Greenwich having an 85 meeting expectations in ELA and Greenwich also being number one

051with math and only meeting 63% of expect. It just seems >> No, that makes sense to me. I mean, just the the total number too. Grenidge had 649. Aan has 213 kids to worry about. I mean, when you look at data like this, it's so skewed at times. Okay. Anyway, that that's that's it for me. Thank you. >> I do have a few other things to share from the curriculum committee meeting. If you are are ready to move on from the state testing, >> please proceed. >> Okay. Um in addition, we talked a little bit about the work that was conducted at the curriculum writing institute. Azra Redzic shared some highlights in samp and talked about the samples of the feedback loop after the curriculum is written and how we follow up on that with

052feedback and changes. And she talked a little bit about the feedback loop during the school year and how we're incorporating those building thinking strategies into baking that into the curriculum documents. Um, I'll just take a moment to share that I had reported on um both the math sessions that Mr. Hanlin and I attended with folks from the math department and special ed department. In addition, I spent um two days earlier this week with Dr. Reid, who's the CHS assistant principal, Julie Trofone, an English teacher, and Sarah McGrimley, an art teacher. And we attended um a partners for educational leadership student voice institute which really focused on how we could use and elevate student voices when making decisions related to systems and structures within the schools within curriculum service that are offered and um other other

053areas for overall improvement. So it was really a fascinating conference. We spent some time actually today at our um administrative council meeting talking about the important ways that we could increase student voice across a myriad of um a myriad of what like we just discussed systems structures curriculum etc. So we're looking forward to continuing to work on that. Um, in addition, we talked at our meeting about the safe school climate surveys. When I had reported those results at the end of the school year last year, we really hadn't gotten the amount of responses that we wanted from parents. And so we talked about repeating that same survey that you had approved this October and using QR codes and Chromebook kiosks and um a myriad of communications to get our parents to complete those safe school

054climate results. And we would also be repeating the survey with our staff and our students. We're talking about doing it during October parent conferences. So, just wanted to remind folks that we didn't get a robust turnout last year at the end of the year when we did them in April. So, rather than waiting until next April to repeat that, that we were planning to do so in October. And that's all I have to report. Thank you very much. >> Um, quick question. And we won't repeat that again in April, will >> No. No. The the requirement is that we do it every two years. That's right. >> Um this is just I think we all are wanting that information. >> So will we still do it next year? >> Next year. Um >> in the

055spring probably. >> Yeah. In the spring. Not this spring but 2028 256 >> 27 27. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Marley? Okay. >> Um, does that conclude the curriculum report? >> It does. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Colin. >> Uh, next we have the finance report. And I will quickly just say included in your packet is the financial report for the 202526 board of education budget reflecting expenditures and incumbrances through August 30th of 2025. Um so the approved budget for fiscal year 202526 is 93 million24,314 and as of today um 23,27985 or 25% has been encumbered and expended which doesn't seem like much but we all know that the September and October financial reports are expected to pro provide a clearer view of our year-to-ate financial picture because once

056the incumbrances for our largest accounts including payroll, transportation, uh those sorts of things will start to to um make their way into the figures. So uh with that I will conclude the report but we'll hand it over to Emily. Good evening everyone. Uh just to add on to what Dr. Herrian shared um we do have a 40% spending cap right now on our budget and that is an adjustment from last year where there was a 50% expenditure cap through January. So we reduced the expenditures and that's reflected our we've spent 25% of our budget. August 31st of the prior year was like 27% at the same point in time. So a little bit of constriction but obviously there are subscriptions and things in the beginning of the year that we can't not spend um early

057on. I would say you know there are obviously no variances at this point in time. The only thing you might see here is on that operations and maintenance line you see we have 65% expended already. Some of that is because, you know, we have uh larger accounts like cleaning or we have um this year, for example, a fire sprinkler five-year examination that took place in July. We have some bigger uh expenses that took place in the beginning of the fiscal year. But there was also that was one of the uh budget categories that was constricted from the prior year. Uh in the past fiscal year, our budget was $4.6 million. In this fiscal year, it's 4.2. So, we've spent a little more at the the front end of this year. compared to the previous year's

058budget. Um, but other than that, uh, no no variance concerns. Some items of note about this fiscal year is the minimum wage is increasing again January 1st, 2026. It's going from 1635 to$,694 an hour. Um, there isn't any concerns with any of our contracts. We negotiated the PAR contract from 2025 to 2028, but we accounted for the fact that minimum wage was going to increase. And so 1725 is the um I would say the lowest tier on our PAR educator contract. Um and that is for recess and uh playground aids. And then we have PAR educators at $18 and then the ABA DTI certified at 2518. So there's not concerns that we're going to have to manipulate a contract, but just highlighting that that is increasing again um which is a 3.6% 6% increase. And

059you know, Connecticut has the second highest minimum wage in the country right now. So, uh, and that's also reflected obviously in our our, um, increases to classified salaries, which was a 58% increase from the prior fiscal year this year. The other thing that's important is there's a lot of changes happening on October 1st of this year in terms of Connecticut paid leave. Now, our non-certified staff are eligible to participate in Connecticut paid leave. It started in the state in 2019. So there's a trust fund that's already established, meaning our staff can start tapping into that on October 1st of this year. And they will see payroll deductions of 0.5% of their FICA eligible wages in their uh the first paycheck in October. So there is no direct tie to like there's nothing that we're paying

060out of pocket for Connecticut paid leave, but the impact is that you know people can start accessing that and taking time and being paid for that time off where they were not uh previously eligible. The other thing is that we have Connecticut FMLA that's going into effect on October 1st. That is another uh program that our staff was not eligible for but now will be eligible for. The eligibility is a lot lower than federal. Uh so federal you need to have a certain number of hours and 12 months with your employer but with Connecticut FMLA you need three months and there's no number of hours required. So expanding the number of our staff that are eligible. Um so again these things are not directly causing any um impact to our budget but indirectly this could

061impact our substitutes and intern line. We have $840,000 budgeted this year which was 5% more than we budgeted the prior year. But it's possible that people are going to tap into employee leave more this year because there are more programs available to them. So, just wanted to share that. Uh before I go on to the medical benefits report, any questions about the finance report? Yes, >> uh thank you, Emily. I I think this was answered a while ago. I forget. Are we required or participating in the Connecticut sick leave policy? >> We are required to and we were required to as of January 1st of this year. And it was a little bit tricky because that's that was the middle of our fiscal year, but it actually reset July 1st of this year. So that's

062the acrual period for our staff. >> So uh I'm not sure if folks know. So that that provides up to 40 hours of Yes. >> However, >> there are conditions that come with that. So after your fifth or sixth instance of taking a sick day, then there's a process for uh verbal warning uh correction planning. you know, if if people go above the number of occurrences. >> Yeah. So, I would say before um there were certain CBAs, collective bargaining agreements that had certain provisions about how people were to take their leave and the Connecticut um paid sick leave because all of these are very similarly named. Paid sick leave uh basically says, you know, if they acrew their 40 hours, they are to take it for there's like, I believe, six reasons that they can

063take paid sick leave. um and up to that those 40 hours if they had acred them we really can't tap into like any uh disciplinary or asking for doctor's notes and then once you go beyond that required acral then we can go back to any kind of >> I was I just uh because uh my company um we're we're part of that and it's interesting because um you know an instance could be I was out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday >> that's one instance then Thursday that's two I was out another day uh that's three and then two motor days that's four. So you can have it's kind of interesting but when you get past I know and and where we are the the union uh related um correction steps are a little different >> but uh

064just that I'm not saying it's a bad thing >> but I just want folks to understand while it may seem like it's free there there's a I think there's a clever uh enforcement behind it for employers to you know sure folks don't take too much advantage of it. Yeah, there and there's been a lot of changes recently and all similarly titled. So, we are working to make sure our employees are educated on all of those changes. >> That's right. >> Yes, Tim. >> I don't know if this question is for you or for somebody else, but normally we get a report at this time before we move on to medical benefits. Oh, I just figured I would ask if we could get a quick update on energy andor the performance contract. Do you want to

065do that now, Mr. >> If you were going to do it later, that's fine. It's just that it usually happens now. >> Good evening. Um, it's different being in that seat over there. >> Excuse me. Could you >> state your name and address? >> I'm Vin Vin Masiana, currently your chief project officer. Um, not for that much longer, but uh the energy performance contract, just a few things to update. one is that um as part of you know the the three- tier incentives the the NRES applications the non residential energy savings program those were submitted but by the deadline date of September 15th so those are in it we won't hear probably for about 60 days on that so um the other update is that today we received the financing proposals we issued an RFP

066last week for the financing, which was about $25 million of financing. Um, and just before I got to the meeting, we did get five responses with actual proposals, and they ranged from about 4% to 4.63% and those proposals all beat the assumption that we had of 4.75% for financing. So that means that creates additional cash flow that we can use for other projects that we want to do. >> Did the Fed just drop the rate in the last couple days? >> Today. >> Yesterday. And then the proposals came in today. >> Yes. >> So that was part of their calculation. Okay. Thank you. Um and we will be up, you know, I I guess the other um the other update since the last meeting that we had, the town council did pass all the resolutions

067that they needed to one to execute the contract. Sean Kimble executed the contract. They also passed resolutions at their last meeting that we can enter into financing arrangements and they gave Sean Kimble, the town manager, the authority to do that. So now that we have the financing proposals in hand, it'll take us about a week to review those proposals. We are using um Phoenix MUN advisors which the town uses. The bond council for the town is involved. So we'll make a decision on which is the best financing option. So everything is lining up. Again, we have, you know, deadlines and timelines that we're working against. We will be applying for the school construction grants. The October filing window opens October 1st approximately and we have 10 days to file those. So everything is ready to

068go. I received all the required certified resolutions to complete that process and then the only other incentive um to apply for are the tax credits through the inflation reduction act which we'll be doing. So it's progressing. You know, we're on a tight timeline, but so far we're meeting our our timeline dates. I still have my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get everything done, submitted, and approved, but it's looking good at this point. >> That's fantastic. What you It's $25 million about >> for the Yes. And that includes the solar at six schools and the fuel cells at Cheshire High School >> and the fuel cell got in under the deadlines because there was a law changing related to that as well as far as >> for NRES. Yes. Oh, the the NRES applies

069to the solar. It applies to the fuel cell as well or because it's actually a different class renewable energy. >> Correct. What's happening is October 1st fuel cells are no longer >> eligible under a certain class. >> Yeah. The the short understanding I have of it is 20 years ago, fuel cells were a significant part of the Connecticut economy and therefore the jobs got them classified as renewable. even though I don't know anybody who understood why it was other than the jobs component, but it's going away now. Um, right. >> And we got it in. So, >> yes, >> thank you for that. I appreciate it. >> Okay, >> that's the update. >> Thank you. >> If I may just just one quick comment on this because I've had some people say this to me

070about this project u about solar and lumping in with renewables in general and how it doesn't work, it's stupid, blah blah blah. And and I just want to take the opportunity to remind people that our energy system this often I think every time I hear this it comes from people who are also arguing to me about free market capitalism. And the point I need to make is that our energy system, our electric system is not a free market. It's a monopoly. And the way it's structured, whether you like it or not, it's based on federal law. It's based on state law. And this project that we're doing here right now is from my perspective. It's simply recognizing that the structure exists and we're taking advantage of it. It's designed that way. We take advantage of

071it. The design is going to be changing significantly. It's already started changing in relation to the fuel cell. Um, but I I I just think it's valuable to keep in mind that our electric system is not a free market by any means whatsoever. It's a monopoly and it is highly regulated and this is just this is how it's designed. That's it. Thank you, >> Miss Taylor. Can we move on to medical benefits update? We sure can. So, you actually have two medical benefits reports in your packet. Uh because we're just playing a game of catch-up with the July and August reports, but I'm going to focus on the August 31st report. So, just let me know if you have any questions about July. Um so our medical benefits reserve fund at the beginning of this

072fiscal year was 2.822465 um which was about a half million dollar increase from the reserve fund at the beginning of fiscal year 2024. So um we are had a have a healthy medical benefits reserve fund starting balance. Uh, a couple things to note about our benefits for this year since we're in a new fiscal year is our contributions, our monthly contributions have went up this year to $1.2 million. That's a change from the 1.1 we were contributing every month last year um to account for the expected monthly claims. Um, and if you look here, obviously some things that are happening in the beginning of the fiscal year. We don't have stop loss reimbursements yet and we haven't gotten our prescription rebates. So that's not reflected in in the report, but in our October report, you

073should see about $180,000 in prescription rebates. So we'll be adding to that line item, and that will be really helpful when we're looking at uh our total benefits reserve fund. So in July, our claims were $1.6 million. That was an increase from about 1.5 the prior fiscal year. And then in August, our claims were about $1.2 million. And that was actually pretty consistent with our August claims the prior year. Uh, another interesting thing is when you're looking between July and August of this year, our net fund, um, the difference was about $1,800, which I think is one of the lower net fund differences I've seen when I was I was looking last last year. Uh, and then in August, our medical benefits reserve as of August 31st was $2.4 4 million which is 1.93 uh

074claim months in reserve. So seeing if I've hit all these points. Um yeah, more questions. The medical benefits I just want to say it's looks really nice that we're we're slowly creeping up to that two months of reserve. >> Yes. Let's hope it stays that way. >> Slowly but surely. >> Yes. >> Uh any questions for Miss Taylor? Great. Great. Anything else for us? >> Nope. >> Thank you very much. That concludes the financial report. Um, are there any other standing committee reports? I think that we really haven't got gotten started on all of our committees um quite yet, but if anyone knows of something that I do not, great. Um next, I would like to call for a motion to approve the minutes of August 14th and September 4th. So, you should have those

075minutes in front of you and you should have had them also in your linked agenda. Do I have a motion, Mr. White? Thank you. And a second. >> Uh, I'll make >> I'll make the motion first, I think. >> Oh, yes, please. move that the Cheshire Board of Education approve the minutes from meetings held on August 14th, 2025 and September 4th, 2025. >> Thank you. And a second, Mr. Grio. >> Um, is there any discussion, any changes? Then I will call for the motion. Um, all those in favor of the motion, it's unanimous of those who are here. Thank you. Next on the agenda is correspondence. Mr. Grio, is there any correspondence to be read? >> I have no correspondence. >> Thank you. Moving right along. So we next up is uh the superintendent's report

076and I there are several things on your report. So why don't you get us started Dr. >> Solen? This is kind of a meaty one tonight and I'll try and be as expeditious as possible and we're going to start with um uh the cave recognition awards. U this shouldn't be uh foreign to the board as we've submitted and received recognition over the last several years. Um, you know, it's hard not to single out uh Tony for all the work that he's done with CABE on behalf of our board of education and um the work that he's put into representing us and and contributing to the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. Uh basically there is a lengthy checklist of um criteria that we have to check off and provide evidence that we've met uh over

077the course of the last year. Um again, you know, our our board uh does great work and uh are worthy of recognition again this year. Um so we will be submitting an application uh on your behalf for that recognition that usually comes in November November at the joint meeting of the Connecticut Association of Public Schools Superintendent, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. Um and I think we we need a motion to uh to submit that application on your behalf. So, I don't know if anybody has any questions about this or >> Let's call for the motion and then have the discussion. How's that sound? >> Sure. Do I have a motion, Mr. Perigini? Thank you. >> Move that the Cheshire Board of Education approved the 2025K board recognition award application >> and a second,

078Miss Cullinin. Uh, so what are your questions for Dr. Solen or for comments? >> Mr. Grippo, >> what level are we going for this year? >> Um, I think we're still going to be at the uh the current level of recognition, not the the elevated one. Um, it's really the the and I I think I want to discuss this with Cave and Caps as Carol and I were going through this like you know you either had to present at the annual conference that members of the board the board had to sponsor a legislative breakfast which we only have one in our area and it's kind of been monopolized. The board works closely with local well we do that works closely with local legislative delegation >> and then they we sponsor an annual area meeting of

079cave membership. So >> um very hard to get you have to have two of them. >> Oh okay >> I'll chime in. >> Yeah please. So again I'm not it sounds like I'm promoting K but I'm not. It's kind of funny. The reason why there's only one area of meeting is because we can't get boards to sponsor them. Right. So all it takes is for treasure hopefully the next board will it's an easy thing to do. You just >> and I'm sure our representatives here would love to to be in attendance but um Meg Scattera at K would foster getting attendance if we had a place for it. >> Um but there's other things too like you know professional development which >> I don't know how many of us have actually taken a from Cape.

080So there's little things you can do to get to level two >> but you know it's not it's not a question. I mean, presenting at a Cape conference, it's even that I'll tell you that uh and I did present at a workshop. I guess that doesn't count. But point being is if there's an idea, a topic, you could they'll love to have anybody, you know, that's willing to go out there. So, they're not unachievable, but it's a bit of a time commitment. >> There's no money with these, so you know. Sorry, >> Mr. White. we have to go for the gold or we can't do this. No, in all seriousness, I I would um be totally open to uh if we are fortunate enough to have a legislative a meeting with our legislative delegation this

081year. I'm thinking maybe November, December. They don't start. This is the short year, so it'll be February when they start, so maybe January. But if we've got five legislators, each of whom go into other towns, as far as I'm concerned, feel free to invite board members from the surrounding towns, and maybe it qualifies under the Cab rules. It wouldn't be a breakfast necessarily, but um I I'd be happy to have that. We got super lucky last year, although I don't think it really went anywhere two years ago with who was it? Jeff Curry. >> Yes. >> The Okay, so he came. That was great. But um if a bunch of legislators hear it from even beyond us similar recurring themes, I think that could be good. Uh anyway, I'd be happy to have uh invite

082other board members here and we just happen to be in I think an unusual situation because I believe most towns are not as gerrymandered as Cheshure in terms of legislative districts. They don't have 30,000 people don't have five different representatives. Um but we could use that to our advantage and maybe encourage board members from surrounding towns to come join us. >> Yeah, it it's so we're in Cape area what seven? >> I don't know the number. >> I forget there's there's a number of of towns. It's several. Some are immediate, but um I can tell you all those boards will be happy to join with us and get their folks to come out too. >> I agree. We could do a breakfast We have a great uh food service. Okay. Um >> just need a

083vote. >> Oh, that's right. We have a motion on the table. Um any other questions for Dr. Solen? All those in favor of the motion? >> It's unanimous. Thank you. Uh, I teased Tim earlier with uh, tech news. We're in the midst of planning a school visit during the day, a field trip with uh, Tom Leewok, our CTE director, to local trades uh, businesses. Um, kind of marshalling some um, middle school students to to take trips to some of our different manufacturers and um, tradesmen in the community. So, uh, we're looking forward to that. Not scheduled yet, but we'll keep you posted. Um, if I could ask, um, Emily for a quick update on the town, uh, capital budget process. I know there's a meeting coming up next week to finalize that for two weeks

084maybe. >> Yeah. On September 30th is um the town council's final approval for our capital budget hopefully. Um, so I think in a bit of an unusual year, we have three items going to referendum and we have not settled the capital budget yet, but as a reminder, our three items for the referendum are the turf for $800,000, the loading dock for $800,000, and the fire alarm system at Cheshure High School for $1.1 million. Uh, we had requested from the town $2.5 million worth of um capital improvements, and that was actually down from 5.04 million that you all had approved. So, some of the other projects that we are hopefully going to talk about and get approved on the 30th include uh some elementary school playground equipment replacement, namely we're talking about Dittle and Highland. Um

085we have a some fire sprinkler system repairs district-wide just getting up to code compliance. Some electrical service replacement at Highland um with some antiquated equipment and to service a new generator. Uh, and let's see if that's all of them. And that's all of them. So, it's a short list um other than the items going to referendum, but hopefully we'll get some closure on the 30th. >> Can I ask a quick question about uh Highland Playground Equipment? I thought we had already done that. actually their their PTO did a lot of fundraising and were able to provide an update to they added a piece in their in their um I guess their array of of playground playscape stuff but the the what's there could use updating. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I think the um one of

086the playgrounds on I can't remember directly which side of the building, but uh I think it's going on like 15 the south south side is going on like 15 years old. So it it looks nice, but it's it's older equipment. Um and what was replaced in conjunction with the PTO was actually some equipment that was removed when we installed the trailers. So it was just replacing existing playground equipment. So >> thank you. Anyone else? Mr. White. So, we're about to knock down two two schools, and I think they'd be fantastic for adventure playgrounds at Harump >> at our other schools. It's junkyard. It works best. I have conversations with my son almost daily about it. Yeah, junkyard. That's what I want. That's the best build. >> It would be cool to knock that have the

087kids knock down those buildings, but that's a whole another issue. But, um, >> we'd have to sign a lot of waiverss. >> Yeah. Uh with regard to Dittle and Highland in particular, I just want to uh put a little bit of spotlight on those on those two schools because they did not they have not undergone they're not getting new schools >> and there is I believe a risk of sort of creating two different parts of town um without those schools getting some degree of modernization as well. I personally believe that we are moving that direction. Uh the $25 million performance contract for renewables that we're looking at where we should get $3.5 million out of that. Basically, from my perspective, I'd like to earmark it for Don Highland for projects that uh can or need

088to be done, improvements that need to be made. Uh I'd like to do more than that. I'd also like you, Emily, just to sort of keep a running tally of sort of the projects that are going on right now because there is stuff that's happening. I don't want people to think that nothing is happening. We're not gonna let any of the schools fall into disrepair or be unsafe or anything like that, but we need to do better than that. Um, I believe we need to do better than that for those two uh districts in town, particularly, frankly, for the homeowners, >> not just >> I agree. I totally agree with you, Mr. White. And, um, I think we we all need to maybe pay attention to making it really visible to the to the community

089what what it is that we are doing for at those other schools as well. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And we haven't I mean I don't think we've had it we haven't had any meetings about it specifically yet, but that's how I see it. It needs to happen and I think that with the renewable contract, we're already moving that direction in identifying available funding to make some of those improvements. >> Yeah. So, um if Vin asks me or if I ask Vin one more time about air conditioning at Dittle, I think he's going to flip out because >> he might quit. I ask him every three days. I ask him constantly about it because it is such a priority for me that you know for the care of our students of course and also the

090balance of our communities um in terms of providing the same experience um in HVAC and uh comfort at Dittle that all the other buildings will have at the elementary grades because Highland does have air conditioning throughout it. Um, so you know that windows there there's a lot baked into as you said the savings generated from the energy performance contract into updating Dittle. Um, and that is really mission critical from where I sit um, for the reasons you mentioned and more. But also, you know, the other bite at the apple is if it weren't in um, to come through the energy performance contract piece, it could come through a capital budget. Um, but you know, I think we agree that it's it's important and I think anybody in the community would agree that it was important.

091So, >> yeah, I'll just say for people who are not in the dittle district who may not have this in at the top of their top of their mind, it was only a couple years. I just this I was at the fall festival talking to Dittle parent who reminded me it was only a couple years ago that Dittle was two days late in opening because of mold unfortunately. But I there's there's a variety of different reasons why people could be concerned, people who live in the Dittle District. >> Sure. >> Or or the Highland District. But um anyway, thank you for that. >> Sure. >> Um moving on the uh uh Oh, I'm sorry, Adam. >> Just had a a quick question on the the referendum question on the capital budget. um uh like when

092we voted uh for the schools, we voted on the full amount knowing that there's, you know, reimbursement. Uh for the three uh capital questions, uh that are up for us. Uh is there any uh grant money or other outside money that'll be contributed to any of those projects if they're passed? The only thing that's coming to mind right now is the ticket sales money for the turf. Um would be like the the outside contributor. Um but I can't think of any grants right now for the loading dock project or the fire alarm system. >> Okay. >> There is a new uh grant available. It's called the drip drip um grant and I'm looking into that to see what we can we can access there. and I don't know how that contributes to those specific referendum,

093but that's supposed to provide some relief with facilities related projects. >> Thank you. >> So, um we are having an open choice reception for our students in open choice uh down in New Haven on October 7th. We're looking forward to that. 40 uh two students we have um this is in no particular order now. I'm just going through a pile that I put aside for you guys. Um, I may have mentioned that last year the superintendent in Meridan and I wrote a book uh leveraging today's social media role in school district improvement and success coming out and Bloomsberry uh press soon. Um, I think that was a catalyst for us being invited to speak at the American Association of School Administrators, the Superintendent's National Conference in February. Um, so we're excited about that. Uh, I've

094never been to that conference. Um, and uh, look forward to attending uh, to share our district's experiences, but also hear what other districts are doing um, across the country and best practices. I look forward to sharing information from that with you. Um, the Sharp Family Singers will be performing at Nelson Hall. I share this um not just as an advertisement of plug for uh Nelson's Nelson Hall. The they uh you may know them from America's Got Talent semi-finalists on October 9th and 10th. They'll be performing, but half price tickets are available for our families like to try and support the arts in our community. Uh you can visit our Treasure Public Schools website under parent information if you're interested in attending that event. Um, real quick update on school construction. There is hot off the

095press's uh drone footage of the construction progress at each location available on the Cheshire Public Schools website. It's super cool. Mike Salamini does a great job uh filming the site so you can really see the updates. A lot of people tell me how cool the Barnum School looks like because it's really easy to see from the street. Norton is not as easy. So, you can check out those uh drone videos are are really awesome. Coupled with that is the redistricting work that is being done. Uh I know we've talked in the last meeting and I've shared with the community. I put out a pretty lengthy post on September 5th about the uh redistricting process and the zoning maps that will be created. our contractor, our demographer will be putting together three maps for you all

096to review and for our community to take a look at and provide feedback on uh before ultimately we adopt one of them and I'm sure there'll be a lot of dialogue in that process. But stay tuned for that. Um hopefully, you know, coming soon. Um there I I've had some questions about um the federal budget and the implications for us. And if you're not aware, there's a you know potential government shutdown looming at the end of September. Um and I have some handouts for the board members after about you know a presentation that Cab had done um providing information on the president's budget request, the Senates and the House. Long story short, there are some really significant deltas between the three uh proposals. Um mean leading a lot of pundits to think that perhaps um

097this one's going to be a close call for the end of December and the probability of it being resolved is is kind of diminished. Um so there's a lot of concern around that. Uh this weekend is uh they got a few events coming up this weekend. Um the class of 1975 will be in town for their 50th reunion. I appreciate our students at Cheshire High School um leading them around a tour this Saturday the 20th at 11:00 a.m. If uh folks are interested uh they should connect. I'm not sure who's leading that tour from the alumni side, but again, September 20th at 11:00 a.m. will be very cool. Um, I won't be there. I will be at the, uh, Cheshire Human Services, uh, YMCA Wellness and Action Fair. Um, I'll have a booth for the

098Cheshire Public Schools talking about anxious generation, play, things like that. Social media, all um, available. It's this Saturday uh from 1 to 300 PM there. Uh we hope to see you there. That's going to be held at 4:35 North Brooks Road. That is the new uh YMCA location. So if for no other reason, check out the new location. It's uh pretty exciting stuff. Um and it's always nice when our our buildings get recognized. Uh there is a prek through three leadership program that exists for the state of Connecticut. Uh and they will be hosting or they will be holding their next leadership meeting at Darcy school on Friday, November 7th. They'll be spending some time in our classrooms looking at we do. uh the early childhood commissioner Beth Bai will be there to meet with

099uh the early prek to three uh leaders from around the state of Connecticut. And so uh it's nice that our school is is being showcased in that way. So um one thing from last Saturday, uh Marlene and I, many of our administrators, Emily were out at the Cheshire Fall Festival. had a great turnout. Uh doing a lot of temporary tattoos that day. My hands are soggy still, but um had a lot of fun with kids in the community and our high school kids helped out uh applying the temporary tattoos. They say temporary. I still have remnants of mine. Um hopefully soon to be gone. But anyway, um that's it for for me, >> Mr. Grippo. Questions for Dr. Sen. >> Thank you. Um, at our last meeting, uh, we discussed a little bit about, uh,

100school security. I was wondering if you had a chance to speak to the acting. >> Apologize. I should have included that. Yes, I spoke to acting chief, uh, Jordaner. Um, as I think as I mentioned, uh, last month, they are going through a restructuring of the police department right now. Uh, as well as a a contract negotiation. Um, as I understand it right now, there are six uh officers on every shift. Uh, patrol officers. They're moving that to seven um at every shift. And uh I might be seven moving to eight. I I may have gotten that, but it's six to seven or seven to eight. Uh they are still in the process of hiring and training individuals. The prospect of adding a second SRO this year is slim. If anything, it might occur in

101the spring, but um they certainly would like to get back to having that second SRO, but I think that's probably going to be reviewed by the council at some point because it is, like I said, a restructuring of the police department. >> Okay. >> So, question. So, all right. So, then most of this year at least at the minimum >> probably not this year. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yeah, >> Mr. White. >> Thank you. Uh just a couple points. Jeff, you had mentioned a potential federal shutdown and maybe I missed this, but just in general, so we do get some federal funding, correct? >> Um it's usually passed through the state. So, okay. The state receives federal funding generally speaking and the state divides that money amongst districts in in the state. >> Is it

102do you foresee if the federal government does shut down and it for say a few months even do you foresee any uh any problems on our end cash flow being one but if there's any other problems or do you have a float where you're okay? >> I think we would be okay. Okay. uh initially >> initially >> um >> yeah I mean it it depends on the length of the shutdown it because usually money is dispersed um multiple times throughout the year. >> Yeah. >> Uh from the feds to the state and then to us. >> Um so right now we're in a position where we're okay. Um if subsequent uh you know dis dispersements of of cash were compromised then it might be more of an issue. >> Yeah. I know I get a

103national park shut down on day one maybe but right >> from our perspective from a school perspective a few weeks should not be a problem and it could extend out beyond that and you'll have to look at it. I would say more even more than a few weeks would be okay but >> okay >> um >> you know I >> I guess it's a >> who knows where things will go with it and I think the state is preparing as well so >> hopefully we'll be okay more to follow there >> okay um with regard to the do you know do you know when the calendar committee do have you set a date for the calendar committee >> we have not set a date yet for the calendar committee I know we we've tried to

104move it in years past uh in recent years as we've navigated the school construction process, but um I think we'll probably be doing that soon to try and finalize our calendar for the next school year where we open the new buildings, but they will the draft indicates that we're starting after Labor Day. I wouldn't anticipate that changing because that's that's um an important time for us in school construction. So, when do we usually hold that meeting? >> Well, it used to be in the middle of winter, but we've moved it up until late fall now. >> Oh, >> yeah. I think it's I think it is uh it would be really valuable to get the dates locked down. Um I'm thinking from my own personal perspective as a parent using the summer camp and the

105FSA, depending care FSA, how much do I want out of the $5,000? And it becomes use it or lose it. you make that election months in advance of the summertime, >> right? >> Um, so that's one that's that's one reason, but the other reason I am interested in attending is because I'm still not comfortable with the whole discussion that we had last year about the naming of the renaming of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples and Italian-American Day. Um, last question is, and the HVAC grants, was that all wrapped up with a bow tie and everything's done on that? Do you happen to know Vin? I I don't I mean I didn't mention this to you ahead of time so I don't or Emily you might know but I think this predates you actually. I was

106just curious. There was some as I recall there was some back and forth whether it was we were getting some of it. How much did we get >> without any without anything like >> they never opened up. >> Okay. >> Yeah. appropriated eligible. They were going to open a new round of HBAC. Do you know if there's any way we could wrap that into what we're doing right now with the the rooftop or that it doesn't matter because that'll just be phase two of the performance contract where we're looking at the HVAC grants in terms of school construction. So no no need to muddy the waters there. Thank you. Okay. So the HVAC grants did kind of disappear fall off the radar because of inaction by the state but you know where they are. So

107Got it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Uh, thank you. That's it for me. >> You're okay. >> That was it for me. >> Okay. Any other questions for Dr. Solan? >> Is that >> That's it for me. Yep. Thank you. >> A lot going on. >> That was plenty. Um I have no old business um on the agenda. Is anyone So let's move on to new business. There is Mrs. Taylor. Are you going to explain um the ED99 agreement? >> Sure. It's uh pretty straightforward. It's just adding me as a signatory onto our uh state the the reimbursement site for our nutrition program. Vin is still listed as the author authorized signatory along with Jeff. And so that's just switching my name so I can sign off on reimbursements and including the healthy food certification

108which is due in November. That was something we had discussed in the spring about the healthy food certification and the drinks and the foods that we can sell in schools. So that authorizes me to sign off on everything. >> Great. Um so I would call for somebody to make a motion. Miss Cohen >> that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the revision of authorized signers for the ED99 agreement for child nutrition programs. Is there a second, Mr. White? Thank you. Uh any discussion? Any questions for Ms. Taylor? Seeing none, I will call the vote. All those in favor? Looks like we are unanimous for those of you here. You may now sign whatever you need. Um I'm going to um forego the chair's report and announce some upcoming meetings. Actually, I'm going to take some

109uh liberty and and just bring up one thing that happened to me at the fall festival. I was put in a drawing for the Cheshire Food Pantry and I won a basket, a beautiful basket. It was too heavy for me to to carry of food and beverage items. Um, most of which will be going back to the food pantry as a donation except for the bottles of wine that apparently they can't put on the shelves. So, I I said, "I'll I'll just I'll just hold on to those for you then." Um, but anyways, I went up to um to take a tour of the food pantry. I've never been there before. It's really lovely. They have wonderful people working there. Uh Dave was gracious and hospitable and anyways, I'm very proud of the work that

110they all do as well. So, for Dave and his team, thank you for everything. And I'm just giving you a shout out because I was treated so well. >> And remind people, you know, when you can give uh donations to the Cheshire Food Pantry. >> Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Grippa. >> Thank you. Um unfortunately Mr. Hanland isn't here anymore, but um uh my son is a freshman. I'm sure you've all heard a hundred times by now. Uh oh, thank you. Uh and uh so I got to go to the open house where we got to go through the new schedule and everything like that and the I thought the uh the event was great and uh obviously well attended and but it was well organized. Um I even uh even though I attended the high school

111there and uh it's basically the same layout, I still got lost a little bit and uh the good thing is is I got lost down in the 100s. So, as you're familiar with the high school, um, and so I uh I walked in and spent uh a little time with uh Mr. Leewok. Um, and uh he gave me a little impromptu tour of the manufacturing uh uh area there and and how great it is. And we just got talking about I I was telling about my, you know, how I talked about last time my my big post about bringing shop back and everything. And uh you know, he loved that. and uh we were just talking about, you know, um the the program and how great it is and how, you know, maybe we could

112expand it and and that sort of thing. So, but all in all, it was a great night, you know, wandering around the school and and following the new schedule and uh it was a just a great night. So, uh kudos to everyone who planned it. >> Thank you. Okay. So, upcoming meetings, uh, upcoming board of education meetings. October 6 is the policy committee meeting at 7 p.m. October 9th is the board of education open forum meeting. Um, that's when we like to have members of the public come and meet with us in the areas of our subcommittees. and it is not televised or recorded in any way. So, what we're looking for is just, you know, some open conversation um with people who don't necessarily want to go publicly on the record. So, th those

113uh tend to be uh good meetings as well. So, that's October 9th, 7:30 p.m. right here. It looks like we are changing the October 16th meeting. >> I I would only say, you know, with respect to our our uping upcoming board of education meetings that we'll send out updates and I would encourage people to um check our website too. But unfortunately, some of these are subject to change because um there is a town council uh candidates forum that there was an error and it was scheduled on the date of one of our board meetings on the 16th. Um, and so there's only one Mike Salamini to split around and we are I could hear him laughing for the other, but um, so we're going to have to try and rework some of these dates and

114if the board members could just hang after for one quick second. I want to throw two different options at you to see if we can can book those out. >> Okay. Thank you. And then on October 21st at 7 PM, we have a uh our next curriculum committee meeting. Um that happens in the central office boardroom at Humson School. Uh some school community events and activities. September 23rd is Rashashana and there is no school for students. October 2nd is Yam Kapor and October 13th is Indigenous People's Italian American Day. and uh schools in central office are closed on the 13th. That's all I have. So I would uh if there are no further questions or discussions that we need to have, I would call for a motion to adjurnn. Mr. White, do I have a

115second? Miss Cullinin. All those in favor? Thank you very much.