Board of Education 9-4-25

001of the board of education on September 4th at 7:32. Mr. Dinski. Hi. Roll call. Ma'am >> here >> thank you. Please join us with pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Awesome. Next item is audience. If anybody would like to speak please go to the mic. No comments on the pre meeting? No. Okay. Way to host a party. All right. And we go right to it. Dr. Solen, school report opening. >> Thank you. I'm going to actually facilitate the uh presentation from down there. Um you guys are with the new TV setup and welcome to hang out. So good evening everybody. Um, I just want to take a

002minute to acknowledge Miss Jazinski and our administrative team. Um, we were able to have a a quick coffee and get together with our board members this evening as we kick off the 25 26 school year. Hard to believe that we're already 10 days in on September 4th. uh the year, you know, feels like we're cruising along already and we're we're flying through it. And so I'm looking forward to this evening kind of giving you some updates on where we stand with enrollment. Uh and Emily and and Marlene will provide updates around our operations work and our um curriculum and instruction stuff that we've had going on over the course of the summer and and still ongoing. Uh Mr. from Masiana. Vinnie's down downstairs attending a a remote NextGen school building committee meeting actually, but I'm

003sure he'll be joining us soon as well. So, without further ado, uh the future is bright for the Cheshire public schools early at the on the first day of school. Uh I we had board members joining us. Uh it was the Anns were uh part of the crew here wearing their shades at Dodd. Um Kelly and and Ryan uh had shades to kick off the year. So we had a lot of fun on our tour that day. I appreciate you guys coming along and and seeing what was going on within our schools uh as we kicked off the year. So as I mentioned, we have updates on our operations side of things. So, I want to invite Emily Taylor up to uh give you a rundown. Emily, [Applause] >> uh good evening everyone. So, just

004giving a brief update on school district operations. We've certainly been busy this summer uh with lots of projects in a more condensed window than our teams are used to operating with, but we got a lot of work done. Uh so, just kind of highlighting some of the departments. We talked about this at convocation. So if you've already heard this, sorry, but for our board um that was not there on convocation in the operations department had a lot going on. So in HR we've onboarded 45 about 45 new staff that includes certified staff that includes kitchen workers that includes paras all sorts of uh different job classifications. We moved our open enrollment system for medical benefits to an online platform and we uh had we got a new PAR contract approved which we had talked about

005in uh over the summer in our facilities which we will talk about more uh that's basically what most of my updates are is we have nearly completed our summer projects so I'll go into more depth about those and we have three board of ed items going to referendum for the capital projects. We have the turf. We have the loading dock at the high school. And then we have the fire alarm system at Cher High School. So that represents a some pretty big referendum items to go in November. Uh for our last update on the top for our technology team, we've upgraded Wi-Fi in every building. We're going to continue doing some Wi-Fi upgrades in terms of access points. That helps ensure that our students that are onetoone are getting really great access to our wireless

006networks. And we've updated our classroom PCs. We do that about every five years, but just kind of refreshing some of those items. In terms of transportation, prepping for athletic charters, uh, which we have many of, and we've granted over 60 plus available seat petitions, uh, which is those like walkers or dual custody situations where people are asking if there are spots available on the bus. Obviously, we have some new developments and buses are fuller this year. Um, and we have, you know, we have some buses at Chapman that are 60 plus students. So, we are filling our buses. Um, but we were able to grant quite a few available seat petitions. For finance, you all know we have our $93.1 million budget and we are already planning for next year. So, the last piece is

007for food service. Last year approved meal meal price increases 25 cents for breakfast, 50 cents for lunch. That was communicated to our families and that's in effect. And then we have composting which we are continuing at Doolittle and Chapman and there's more to come on that but we did get approved from the sustainability committee the funding in order to continue composting and we have a grant out right now to see if we can kind of cover that and expand for future years. So um I'll probably be talking about that more depending on how much we get from the grants. So, summer facilities projects going to highlight six projects here that were big and completed over the summer. You can see we had three major projects at Dodd, two at CHS, and one at Doolittle for

008about $700,000 was the amount of projects uh that we were able to complete over the summer. And you can see here is a picture of the Dodd roof. There was a roof replacement for part of the roof, and I'll show that in a second. You have Dodd. The three projects that we completed at Dodd was a partial roof replacement. It consisted of three components of the roof. I've shown one of them here that was started in the beginning of July, completed in the beginning of August for about $233,000. We replaced the cafeterium ceiling. You can see that first picture is all of the tiles taken out and then the replacement on the bottom. It's hard to see because the picture's small, but there used to be actually like um I'm losing the word now, but

009like windows that went to the roof. They weren't very functional. We actually removed those. So, we have a bright new ceiling covering the entire cafeterium. That was about $150,000. Took about a month and a half to complete. And then lastly, um the boiler replacement. So, not something you see, but very vital to the functioning of the school. That's our second boiler replacement. We did one in the prior um over the past prior year and that was about 121,000. Moving on to CHS, slightly smaller project here with the sink replacement in room 103. Just getting some nice new sinks. That took about a couple weeks, $21,000. And then some flooring replacement, asbestos abatement in our schools. That was 150,000. I included the floor map just so you can kind of see the scope. Um it's the

010rooms that were covered are highlighted in yellow and then there's a picture of one of the new um one of the new floors and that took about a month. And lastly, Dittle uh fire sprinkler replacement. You can see all like the components over on the left hand side and then the middle is the old unit and to the right is the new unit. That was about $17,000. So, one of the smaller smaller projects currently underway for our completing our summer projects districtwide. We have some door replacements. Doors are on back order, so that is why those projects are not completed yet. We also have district-wide roof access ladders. If you've been in the building over the summer, you might have heard some of the roof um the access ladders being installed. Um just making things

011more compliant. We're about 60% complete there. Then we have Dodd gym replacement mats that's going to be done winter or February break. It's currently on order but not complete yet. Highland we have some roof work. It's currently under design with Silver and Pat Petroelli. Uh and then lastly we have the RTU replacement for auditorium main office at the high school and that is under design with Salomon and Associates. So, those are some of the summer updates, what's been going on uh with the operations team. And with that, I'm going to hand it off to Marlene. Well, good evening everyone. This presentation is really to give you a little bit of a glimpse into the workings that happened this summer with the entire team that's been with us tonight. So, it's a it's a little slice,

012a little look behind the curtain of our summer happenings. So, to begin with, we kicked off the first day after the last day of school and the teacher work day with our curriculum writing institute. This is a picture of all of the teachers who participated this year. And those are teachers from kindergs who teach our seniors. We had a really robust team this year and if you look at this list, this is a list of all of the courses where units were written and developed. So we had a focus in on some of our CTE courses which included that principles of engineering and tech, residential construction, petissery. A lot of this was covered through some of the Perkins grant funding which was really nice. some other of the um financial aspect of this was covered

013through the title four grant. So we got a lot of work done and I know that there are folks in the audience today who were part of giving feedback to the teachers over at at that institute but also over the summer who met with people to to give them some feedback on even strengthening the units further. We continued to work with Linda Vanwagenan. Um, and Azra Redzik was although she hadn't started yet, she carved out a couple of days in her schedule and she hunkered down with a number of teams to begin working with them on curriculum and spent a lot of her summer giving feedback as well and meeting with teachers. The other part of things that happened over the summer was really that the team that's in this room was involved in both

014professional learning and facilitating professional work learning through a lot of committee work with teachers. So, one of the things we started off with was our strategic planning as an administrative group. And we talked a lot about what's being referred to as the standard work of administrators, the standard work in schools, the standard work that teachers need to do. This is really about efficiency and aligning all of our practice. Another group um at the elementary level really dug into some data analysis. This was facilitated again by Azra and our Pat Castle who you know sort of is uh transitioning into doing a little bit of um support for us through MLS. But we really looked at our grade three data particularly around reading and began to make some really robust plans for the school year. We

015had a training from a company called Renaissance to further dig into some of the past data and hopefully uh hone our skills a little bit about pulling those reports from that survey. Then we had a uh a visit from Joanne Fryberg and Pat Chicone who talked to us about safe school climate law, that bullying law that's changed so many times over the years. I know many of you have been following that closely and have been working on the policy committee. So we were working on our end to talk about what this looks like in schools and how we can make robust safe school climates and how that dovetales with a lot of the reboot to responsive classroom that folks are doing across all of the elementary schools. A lot of the work that's happening with

016belongingness at the high school and at the middle school. So, a lot of our work during the summer is planning, is being strategic about how we use our time. And each of the administrators in the room facilitates committee work around school improvement planning, safe school climate planning, works with their instructional leadership teams to develop professional development as well as look at where where the soft spots are that we want to beef up for this year. And then lastly, we spent a lot of time um jumping all over the data as it came out and as we got drips and drabs of it from the state. I would be lying if I said that um text messages weren't flying around at 9 and 11 o'clock at night as teachers and administrators were looking at the growth

017of our students. So, this is a significant amount of really being thought partners with each other and planning out for the school year. The other thing that everyone in this room was significantly involved with was the hiring of new staff. So, you've met tonight Jillian Roman and Azra Redzik you knew about from the end of the school year, but we also had to hire for a district literacy coach. We had some significant changes with special education staff. Chapman was able to hire for the teachers that they needed. And really this team worked really hard both to find chemistry and math teachers. None of these areas are easy to fill. And people people really spent a lot of time and held numerous uh gates to make sure that we got the best people by the time

018school rolled around. So that is our our listing of our new certified staff. Of course, they were also um involved in the the hiring of some non-certified staff as well, but I I chose to highlight this one this afternoon. The the last big initiative or the last big event that we had to kick off the new school year was our new teacher orientation. And we take this very seriously. It's um three days of training where we welcome our new folks. they get to know a little bit about us and how we run things here at Cheshire Public Schools. And one of the things that we like to do to kick this off is to make sure that they know this community and they understand the community in which their students live. So we take them

019on a bus tour and um between Jeff and I and Emily, Emily, who incidentally used to be a tour guide in Washington DC, fun fact that we learned about Emily on this little tour. We really tried to um have them embrace all that is Cheshure and learn about where where the kids are living and what they're doing and where the dog park is and um pointed out ball and socket and all the the important places including perhaps some of Jeff's favorite Italian-American restaurants. So we started there and then we brought them back to central office where we talked to them about our strategic initiatives. Robin Kerry spoke to them about all of the pathways in special education. Asra spoke to them about curriculum. Representatives from our teachers union came and shared about the relationship that

020we had with them and how we work on problem solving and ways in which they can connect and get more involved. Scott Conway and Artha uh Cassgnan worked with each group on how to access all of our technology so that they were ready to go on the first day. They went back to their schools and worked with each of the principles in this room to get a tour of their buildings and to hear more about what the principal's expectations were. Following that, they had some time, a little bit of time in their classrooms to get things set up and then they had an opportunity to either work with their mentor or work with a curriculum person so that they could map out the curriculum and see where we were headed. So overall, it was a

021very strong showing. And I was telling Adam earlier that I had a different moment this year during new teacher orientation when some of the new hires sitting in front of me was revealed that they're the same age as my daughter. So it really changed things for me in my head that wow, I'm old or they're very young. Thank you, Emily, Marlene. Um, stay tuned for my Chicken Palms of Connecticut travel guide coming out soon to a Barnes & Noble near you. So, convocation is our annual kickoff for the school year. And we really believe in trying to make the event very engaging for our staff and really a celebration of everything we do uh educationally in our community. So, I want to thank the RAM marching band who kicks it off with some pep and

022then the CHS VIP, some representatives who sang the national anthem for us. Did a tremendous job. It's always a lot of fun. Then when our students kick things off, of course, um we spoke as Emily said, you know, sharing some of the same slides you you saw here this evening. I want to thank uh Miss Rosenberg for taking time out of her schedule to be there and uh speak to our staff as well. Um Ann Marie and Ann also attended. Thank you guys. I know it's not always easy. I know um our board members will often watch convocation if they can't be there, but um thanks again Sam for being able to speak. Um, as you know, we do kind of a theme each year. Um, and the more ridiculous it seems, the better received

023it is. Uh, so this year our theme was superheroes. And that our our staff uh really does heroic work with our um our team and with our community. And I don't want to say we're trends setters or anything, but this is the back of uh American Association of School Administrators uh magazine this month. It's superintendent. If you can see that was one of our superheroes. I I think we're just setting trends. But anyway, um a lot of fun with our staff. The video is available on our Treasure Public Schools YouTube channel. Uh check it out. It's fun. But one of the things that we talked about at convocation was really Cheshire public schools and our intersection of developing students their social emotional skills and their complex thinking skills. And when um we first as a

024board and a community really took a hard look at this back in in 2016, you know, a lot of the conversations I was having with people were, you know, what do our kids need when they graduate in 2030, which at the time seemed like really far away and these the class of 2040 is queuing up in our system now is as prek students. So, you know, we're always trying to make sure that our kids are prepared for the world that meets them when they leave Cheshire and the Cheshire public schools. Anyway, and this is a a list from the World Economic Forum on the future of jobs, a report that they put out this year, and these are the top 10 skills on the rise by 2030. AI and big data to nobody's surprise, network

025cyber security, tech literacy, creative thinking, and and as you look down this list, there's clearly a throughine between the skills that we emphasize as a as a school system and as a community and what what skills they will need to be successful when they leave here. So, as I said, we celebrated our superheroes. There's two in particular I want to um single out tonight. One is Geraldine Pero. Jerry's a pareducator at Norton School and was really instrumental in helping our intensive ed program get off the ground there. So, we want to celebrate her uh again this evening. Um what a trooper. She had um uh dental work the day before and that day of convocation she had to uh drive her daughter to move into Yukon. But she made it and and she was great.

026um lot of fun to recognize her. Denise Shalaba, if you haven't seen her speech, I would encourage you to check it out on our YouTube channel. Incredibly moving speech. Uh Denise is a kindergarten teacher at Highland School. Uh and really again, a moving speech. Uh it was it was awesome to celebrate her and everything she does for our kids and community at our convocation as our teacher of the year. So, our school opening this year, uh, just going school by school, taking a look at enrollment. Um, you know, our our our youngest students in the district are, um, already off and running and doing a great job exploring our schools. Uh, for uh, three of our building, it is buildings. It is the last first day of school for that facility. Um, and so we

027got to celebrate kind of differently. We have a transition program there. It's actually 12 students now. Um, this was from 94, but uh we have students from other programs in there at Darcy uh at Chapman School. I'm not going to take a lot of time here because this is the the longest presentation that I've ever had to deliver at opening of schools because of some unique circumstances with our new schools. But um I want to at least give you a flavor of what it was like at those buildings. Chapman again celebrating their last first day. Um our enrollment um at Chapman School is slightly above where was projected but um it's important to note that the new developments um because of the significant overcrowding at Highland um even if you live in the if the

028development is in the Highland catchment area we've directed all those new people that are new to our community moving in They attend school at Chapman now. So there's been an influence there at Dittle School. Everybody excited to get the year underway. And um about nine students more than projected. You'll see that the kindergarten we had a run on kindergarten enrollment there. So, um, we did bring in another pareducator to provide support for those classrooms. The teachers have worked very hard, uh, right out of the gate to build those individual personal relationships. Um, each kindergarten classroom not only has a parah dedicated to it in addition to the teacher, but also has a another pareducator now dedicated to the grade level to provide that additional support. So, uh, we did, um, build in that support there,

029but pretty much every place else is, um, you know, on the projection at Highland School. You may have seen that um, the on my uh, Super Cheshure Instagram account that uh, or our Cheshire Public Schools Facebook page that the PTO Highland spent a lot of time over the last couple years raising funds and they installed a new playcape there over the summer. Um encourage you to check that out. They did a great job and it it looks great. Our enrollment um dare I say in Scott's presence is below projected at 9:32. But again, some of that is uh redirecting people. um not that 932 is is larger than a lot of high schools in Connecticut. So, um their team uh does a tremendous job navigating uh that that size and making it feel intimate in

030spite of the more than 900 students that attend Highland Norton School. Really cool. They have a an A+ social media game at Norton. Uh the parents and do a great job with that. So very cool last first day stuff that they were doing there. I'm pretty sure that's what each student read in their summer books over the summer cranking it out. Um our Norton school enrollment again pretty much right on projected uh at 86. And this PowerPoint for you guys and for anybody, excuse me, 406 for anybody watching at home is available uh will be available on our website tomorrow as well. Dodd exciting first days of middle school are always a big deal. A lot of fun to see our kids make that adjustment. So here um again pretty close to the projection um

031nearly 700. We haven't hit 700 right yet in the last two days. I'm sure there's a a watch going on for that 700. Uh Treasure High School seniors their first day. Very exciting. So the projection there again just slightly above um sorry slightly above let me see click that don't make me phone a Yeah, it just had to restart. So, um, as I was saying, we're slightly above projected at 1226. Sorry, I just had to reboot it. It's preparing now, apparently. allegedly. Um the the biggest delta from the projection is our senior class is less 14 students there. Um and all other places were fairly above the projection. There we go. Okay. So overall as a district our enrollment summary um we have an increase of five students K12 or K6 over projected and in

032the secondary A level and in total uh 15 students. So the projections have been really solid. Uh we're tracking right on that projection. Um and as you know our enrollment has been increasing over the last several years uh with further projections to to increase. So included in our enrollment is 45 open choice students. Um regrettably it's been difficult to bring elementary students into the system because of the um just the the crowding conditions we have at the elementary grades. So there's been a much greater emphasis on um trying to start them early in high school. And so you see nine ninth grade there are 11 new um open choice students and they obviously uh enrich our school community. We're we're happy to have them. Um so our strategic plan is part of what we do

033annually. The board has to affirm our strategic goals uh each year. Um, and as I've already mentioned, and I think you're well aware, we've had a a focus and reaffirmed that focus on complex complex thinking and social emotional learning uh a few years back. The uh mission statement of our school system is that in partnership with the families and the with families in the community. Chester public schools prepare all students to meet the challenges of an everchanging global society by providing highquality educational opportunities and inspire lifelong learning and service to others. And I think you know you kind of heard me speak to that when we were talking about just ensuring that we continue to evolve to meet the demands of the world as it it continually change changes. Um but I think we've been

034um focused on that. So again I just reiterating that point here our performance standards and our our goals revised uh the performance standards were actually revised in 2019 are are we took a look at social emotional learning and complex thinking I want to say 2023 4 school year. Um but these are the the things that we're really focused on developing in our our students. As such we have a theory of action around social emotional learning. Uh it's worth reading again if the Cheshire public schools continue consciously focuses on the social emotional development of our students then school practices will demonstrate a clear focus on social emotional growth and students will demonstrate self-awareness and self-regulation cultural awareness and empathy. So what are some of the strategies we use toward that? We attempt to embed them in

035our instruction. uh we try and monitor these skills and how do we become better at helping our students develop these skills and these are some of the um marquee entry points that we have for social emotional learning. Obviously, our other um goal is around complex thinking and our theory of action states that if the Cheshire public schools engages in a strategic systemic alignment of curriculum, assessment, instruction, professional development and resources around complex thinking, then classroom instructional practices will demonstrate a clear focus on complex thinking and student work will demonstrate complex reasoning, inquiry, problem solving skills, and the exploration of ideas and creat creativity and innovation. And you know, I think our focus has really been um on over the last decade on how do we improve classroom instruction. We're not chasing scores. Um you know,

036I think it can be a popular practice to say, "All right, well, we need to improve our math. Let's just focus on math." you know, what are we doing? Um, when the high tide lifts all boats, if we're using strong instructional practices that require our kids to do this sort of thinking and the social emotional piece being a central part of that, then their success will be visible not just across standardized testing, but in all all forms. And so, you know, these are the complex thinking strategies that we really try work to apply in our classrooms on a regular basis. These are the things that we're asking our kids to do to really get to the heart of developing those complex thinking skills. So, what are some of the de dividends of our work? So

037um based on percentages of students at goal or above uh we had you know recently released the state released the smarter balance assessment. Uh that's an apples to apples every you know student in grade three through eight across Connecticut is taking them in math and ELA. Um so we had the 10th best performance in Connecticut. We had the 14th best performance for students identified for special education services uh in the state. We had the second best performance in Durb B which there about uh 20 districts in Durb B. Um, you know the names, you know, Farmington, Avon, um, uh, Reading, uh, Canton, uh, the the list goes on. And, um, we obviously fare very well against those communities. Uh, with respect to our performance, we had the 17th best SA SAT performance in Connecticut and

038the eighth best in in DRB. Obviously, you know, something that we're continuing to work on that represents an improvement over last year. Uh, niche.com ranks Cheshire Public Schools is the 347th best district in America um and the 12th best in Connecticut. And um you know uh you will see a pretty strong correlation between affluence and the top 10 um you know with the new Kanan um always being number one Darian Greenwich communities that that have high degrees of affluence. But I think we um demonstrate through our data that we punch above our belt. And this is new data actually that the our administrative team hasn't even seen this yet. So what I did was pull all the the data factors that contribute to what's called the district performance index. As you can see, there's more

039than 20 different data points. Um the only data points that are really out yet are the um academic achievement ones that includes SAT includes the science scores and it asks you know communities and and they're measured across the state again all applesto apples data um you know how did how did you do um against the target and so uh last Last year we were um ninth I think in Connecticut. Um and to make it easier for you to see I highlighted the ones where in 2425 we demonstrated improvement over 23 24. So that is literally every single indicator we improved on with one dare I say minor exception. math average percentage of growth target achieved for our high need students. It was 66.5%. It's 66.4 this year. So, I just want to take a second.

040You know, these guys killed themselves here. Um, everybody in this this crew, um, our teaching staff dedicate a lot of work into designing curriculum, ensuring that our students with special needs have access to that curriculum, um, working on our instructional practices, supporting the social emotional needs of our kids and helping them develop those skills. Um, you know, I I've been doing this a long time. I don't know that I've ever seen where a school system improves. And obviously, the closer we get to the top, the harder it gets to improve. And nevertheless, here we are almost perfect in terms of our improvement. So again, I just want to give you guys a shout out for that work because it's it's these guys here that do this work every day. And I also want to acknowledge

041the board. Um because I don't know that people realize the commitment that you put in at curriculum meetings, at policy meetings, at you know the month of January uh in the dead of winter being out every night trying to find ways to ensure that we have the resources for them to do what they do and our kids get what they need. So, I'm incredibly proud today to stand here and show you that data, the growth that we've had. Um, and I just again want to thank these guys for their work. Um, moving on. Um, hard to top that, but I think this is close. Uh, our construction at both Barnum and Norton is flying. It's coming right along. uh if you've driven I get more comments about you know I drive past that you know

042at Marion Road uh and it's it's got the perfect vantage point to be like the ultimate showcase for school construction because with that lowered topography there you just see the whole building and it is very impressive. People think it's like four times the size of Cheshure High School but you're looking up at Cheshire High School. You're looking down at this building and it is incredible. um the work that they're doing there, the work that they're doing at Barnum, which is actually two weeks ahead of Norton. So if you think that Norton is coming together quick or excuse me that that Barnum is coming together quickly, Norton is coming along two weeks ahead of Barnum. So um really great stuff. Uh we look forward to uh the really the envelope being fully enclosed uh probably before

043Thanksgiving and them really focused on interior work, which is perfect timing obviously weatherwise. So, um, we hope that, you know, we can continue to keep moving. Um, and it's great stuff. So, um, you know, words that we love to hear, uh, on budget and on schedule. Um, both buildings, like I said, are are really cruising along. We'll be prepared for the first student day is September 6th, 2026. So, summer of all summers next year hopefully with can uh cooperative weather this this winter. Um some things that we're working on that I'll probably that I will be um putting in more detail here momentarily, but uh are redistricting start times. We are spending a lot of time, the administrators in particular, on working groups for uh furniture, fixtures, and equipment. That's what FF&E stands for. um

044where we're looking at desks and chairs. Emily's office has like six chairs for little buckaroos that people can come in and test out and, you know, weigh in on and had that all summer. Um the energy performance contract. Uh we're working on adding solar at both buildings. I know we had a long conversation about that at the last last meeting. Um and that's moving along quite well. We're getting ready to go out to bid on those contracts. so that we can maximize the uh incentives that are available, financial incentives that are available currently. Um, and already we're talking about how we move in in and out. Um, you know, a year in advance. We took a tour of Neck River, right? Neck River. Uh, I always want to go dyslexic with River Neck, but I

045don't think that's it. Neck River uh in Madison, which is an elementary school that's being constructed uh with Tecton Architects Group and um we're that just got us even more excited. But they gave us some great insight on some of the uh challenges and and issues they've faced and how we can best navigate those things. So, thank you to our friends in Madison for that. So, um again, we'll be incorporating all this stuff into our budget uh as we move forward. redistricting and start times, you know, uh again with the the bright future, but you know, this is like I was thinking this morning walking it, you know, it's like we at Aia, you know, all roads lead to Rome. You know, no matter where you're going to elementary school, all roads lead to Dodd.

046Um and you're going to get a great experience. That's my preface before people throw tomatoes. Um, so anyway, the start time process initially, you know, just to to go back on that, I've had questions like, how am I supposed to tell you what I want my start time to be if I don't know what district I'm going to be in yet? Well, we knew that the district process, the redistricting process could not start, like they will not be able to really move forward with proposals until they get that data on September 12th, next week. So, if we waited until that was complete, you can see through this timeline that it took us six months to work through start times. If we were doing that, like you you're not going to be able to prepare for

047child care and everything that our elementary families have to navigate um by the time we're done. You needed to have a longer runway and and most people understand that. Um so, as you know, we we've taken a lot of time to go through this the current schedule. I'm not obviously going to read to you. Uh Chapman's highlighted in orange because there will be no Chapman in the the new setup. But the new schedule, um, I've sent this out to our families, our staff a few weeks ago and, um, I did work with the principles and the unions on tweaking the start times for administrators a little bit, but um, you know, again, you saw the data from the surveys, our current schedule, the best we could and navigate bus um, bus uh, transportation and across,

048you know, new area of the town and stuff like that. Tim, >> question. >> Sure. >> Yes. I'm sorry. It should there should be an asterisk next to the as is the case now. Yeah. So, uh those buildings because they start relatively late, there's a contractual 30 minutes that's embedded uh for all of our buildings on Wednesdays. They do theirs before school. while everybody else does it after. And that practice will continue um in the new buildings, the new schedule. Sorry, thanks for pointing that out. I'll have to rectify that. So, this is how they look next to each other. You can kind of, you know, get a a different visual comparison. And again, if you can't see this or if you're at home, the the PowerPoint will be available on our website tomorrow. Um

049so, a redistricting timeline And I know this is a a hot topic for um our our families and uh and our staff to be honest. I mean we have a lot of elementary staff that will be relocated to new buildings um to rightsize our schools. Um the the target completion for that is Thanksgiving 2025. Grab water. >> Thanks. Um so uh we've already initiated the process. I mean even last year uh Marlene and I were meeting with Thanks so much. we're meeting with um you know building representatives at the elementary grades to to so that our teachers could start to wrap their head around how are we going to make decisions about who to move. Um but for our families, as I mentioned, you know, at this point, we're um going to provide uh our

050updated data to our demographer, um guy name Mike Zuba, uh who him and his partner are working through this process with us. um they will finalize all that information and they will turn and and provide you three options basically for redistricting and we'll have to work through that process. Um but um Mike gave a presentation to the NextGen school building committee not because they have anything to do with the redistricting decision per se, but they're paying for it. um which is is greatly appreciated. Um so couple of years ago, Mike did projections back in spring of 2022. He gave us a high projection, a medium projection, and a low projection. We are pretty much spot on the middle of the road projection. Um at one point we were at the high projection, but that was

051around 2022. There was a massive housing spike, housing turnover. uh you know you guys all live here, you know what it was like. And so um that's you know what the issue is there. You'll see in the kindergarten jumps off the page that we are way below the projection there at 17.8%. But that's because at the time this projection was done, we didn't have the new kindergarten start age. So we had a a dip of 80 students in the one year. That's why it's so off. So, here's um updated districtwide projections. If we were to continue to trace out the high, medium, and low projection. So, again, if we were to stay on that medium track, we'd be at um you know, about 5,000 students for 25, 35, 10 years from now. Uh you already

052saw we're at 4,300 roughly um now. So, um, give you a second to digest a little of that. So, um, this is, you know, the information just broken down into grade level changes over the course of the next decade. As you can see, obviously the uh the um K6 continues to grow. Um the middle school would peak out in 23 uh excuse me 20 334 at 880 students. So um almost as big as Highland Scott almost. But um yeah, it's a lot of kids. Two grades that building. Um, I'm sure that's something our community will ultimately take up again. But, uh, you can kind of get a sense of where our enrollment goes. And it's exciting to me. Um, when I was at the Cheshire High School principal, we had 1,600 kids. It's it's a

053lot is great to have that many kids in the building. Um, and that's the projection for 25 uh or 35. I can't even wrap my head around 35 36. These projections, by the way, uh take into account development. They take into land for development. Um Mike the the demographer has spent a lot of time meeting with our town planners, our officials, reviewing um plans and proposals. Uh and so they do take these things into account. Um, and he's still reviewing those things. Um, but you know, the numbers you see before you should generally uh reflect the future projections. He's very well aware of the north end. So, um, this next slide uh speaks to the capacity in each building. So obviously it's really important that when we redistrict in 25 26 this year for next

054year's school year, we don't want to get ourselves in a position where we have to then redistrict three years later. So we're looking to fill buildings in a place where there is room for growth. You know, the north end there's there is more space there for development that may occur. you know, you don't want to fill that at 98% capacity in year one and then have to redistrict three years later. So, really cognizant about the loads in each building. You can't underfill it either because this has to go to the state and you know they're fitting a pretty significant amount of money on this. So, you know, they they're going to need to approve this. They're going to need to look at those numbers. So, um this slide just really speaks to the fact that

055we're looking at capacities. There's a scenario A that was created many years ago. This is not the scenario that we are going with. I tell you with 99% probability. This was a scenario to basically um take a look at locations and things like that. And obviously since this was created in 2022, that was before the north end development and you know things have changed significantly. But this gives you a sense of the sort of maps that we would be looking at and where people in different communities would be moving. So, please don't quote us on this. People will freak out like this. Oh, this is this and this is a lot of um angst over nothing here to be honest with you. But it gives us a model of like what would projections look like,

056what would enrollments look like? And um you know the using the medium model which we I think we all feel most comfortable with at this point um is as a you have to kind of have a gauge and this is it for us. Uh this is what the util utilization of each building would look like. Obviously if you look on the K6 projection utilization we can't have Barnum at 110% utilization in 2030 you know and have Highland at 81% utilization. So obviously scenario A wouldn't work for that reason alone, right? We don't want to be adding trying to build on Barnum or adding trailers at Barnum um and having um Highland and such. So there's a lot of work that goes into this. This is why we hire professional group to to do it. So

057some of the considerations, you know, like I was saying, utilization is an important uh consideration. um making sure that they have uh a deep analysis on the on the enrollment. Um we want to make sure we're we're right sizing enrollment at each of the buildings based especially knowing that North End um development will will likely continue um and that it's not you know that it's not at capacity now the the the um stuff that's been built there and is opening So the next scenarios could, you know, likely focus on some of these things that that Mike outlined here. Um, but there's a lot of work to be done is the point. And so don't hang your hat on scenario A and say this is what's going to happen because you can tell by the data

058already that this is not a great plan. So we will get three plans. um the the kind of the next steps the demographer like I said next Friday we want the data on our current enrollment because there's still a little bit of drips and drabs in the first few weeks of school where you know kids are enrolling not uh disenrolling or moved and didn't tell us kind of stuff. Um, and then we will get three options of of like the map that you just saw and we'll have to as a a community talk through the pros and cons of those um different options. Uh, I think, you know, we've done a pretty good job as a community trying to hear people out on these things and and make the decision that's best for our community.

059Um, Luther, our transportation coordinator, and and Vin are very much involved in this process. um as they evaluate the different um transportation alignments with the maps because, you know, uh we don't want a situation where you're putting a fourth grader on the bus for an hour when they could go to the school five minutes down the road, you know. So, we're trying to look at transportation and how that factors in. again, you guys will select a uh version that will go before the state and hopefully ultimately be adopted by the end of the year. Um, so th those are kind of the next steps. Uh, it, you know, as I said, this is the longest presentation I've ever had to do for you guys for the opening of schools, but as I mentioned, I mean,

060we got a lot going on. Um, and it's all great stuff, but it's a lot. Um, so with that, you know, I know Tim, you said you had your your list of questions. I want to give you guys the opportunity to answer any questions that might have. >> Thank you. Um, so I think some of these might actually be very quick. One thing that wasn't clear to me, uh, Dodd, going back to facilities. >> Yep. Was that a is that a drop ceiling that you did you drop the ceiling further or replace the walls the window walls? It sounded like you did >> both. I mean there's a a um >> I guess is it a shorter height within >> dated and used to provide a lovely rain feature when I worked there but um

061it's basically a installation of the drop ceiling in in the building. It's not like significantly lower right. >> Okay. >> You know not not sign it is It has to be a little lower to put >> No. Okay. >> But it's not like a 10 foot ceiling now. >> Okay. Yeah. I wasn't sure. I'm just thinking I couldn't imagine that Dodd capturing based on the picture or what I recall, but I know some of our buildings have those old almost like cinder block windows or something like that. Black windows. >> Yeah. So, >> you know what I'm saying? Anyway. >> Yeah. Yeah. It it that's on the stage side. Um has some of that. Okay. >> But uh >> you know, you'll get a chance. We're breaking news. We're going to do our uh our

062uh showcase in November there. So, you'll get a good chance to see it. >> Thank you. Um the do little fire system got ripped out. >> Did I get that right? >> Not the whole thing. Uh >> it just looked like great adventure playground equipment. >> Yeah, that's a good point. >> Um >> keep our eyes open for that. Tell Rich, >> did did we hire a chemistry teacher? >> We did. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yep. Um >> so are we are we going to be will we be adding labs this year? Because I thought that might have been part of the discussion. >> We have labs as part of all of the AP courses. >> Okay. >> We do not have labs for the rest of the class. The rest of the classes. That

063was a change in the schedule that had been a couple of years in the works. >> Yeah. And it didn't have anything to do with our budget. >> Yeah. Oh, I wasn't even thinking about the budget. I was not a >> I just thought it was impossible. >> You just want to be clear about that. Yeah. >> Yeah. No, I just thought it was extremely difficult to find a chemistry teacher that could even fill the role. Was >> it is >> a staffing issue, not a budget budget issue. >> Yeah, it is. It is difficult, but you know, a lot of bush beating. >> Incidentally, she was certified in chemistry and earth science and biology. >> Nice. >> Just to kind of do off of that, Do we have any vacancies at the moment? >>

064Um, we have we had a teacher resign because they wanted to go to to work at the high school level. Um, so we have an ELA opening at DOD that we're working on filling. Um, we had a a teacher uh basically get promoted to a job in a different district at um at uh Norton that we're filling. Um we had we filled and then have actually kind of promoted another teacher in that building to a a reading and math coach position in our district. So we got to backfill that. Um, so there's a little domino stuff, but we don't really have much. I saw an article the other day highlighting openings across Connecticut or whatever. And that was a survey that I personally completed um maybe beginning of August and most of those were PAR

065openings at that time. We really don't have much in the way of certified openings right now other than the ones that were just really recent that I I've mentioned. >> Intensive. Yeah, the intensive special ed um uh >> educators, right? Certified. So, those are ones that we've you talk about beating bushes. We've emailed every certified special ed teacher in Connecticut. And if you looked at that article the other day, that's where the openings are. There's a dramatic shortage of special educators. >> Thank you. Um, I'm not sure if I heard you correctly. There was a slide and then I think you may have discussed it later, but I'm wondering about actuals today versus today's equivalent, the projected that we used for the initial new school design. I'm Are we on target for is that what

066you had said, but I think it was separate from a different slide you were talking to. >> Yeah. What we're I thanks for the question, Tim. I >> and just generally is what I'm wondering. >> Yeah. Um we're on target to the medium projection. So okay, >> it is a little confusing because I am using two different data sets when I look at projections versus actual. So when I was going through the school building enrollment, >> the projections we were using there were NASDAQ. The New England school development council gives us projections on an annual basis based predominantly on our current enrollment and birth rates in the community. and they don't factor in development and things like that. So, yeah, we're trending ahead of that. The other when I was talking about the school redistricting

067that was put together by a a different company for the school construction side and that's where they had the high, medium, and low. We're pretty much on target with the medium um projection there. >> Okay. There's two different data points when we're talking about >> actual versus um the projected um when we were looking at the school enrollment. That's what we use um Marlene Emily and I will use when we do the budget to do the class enrollment. We use NASDAQ which is like very contemporary data. But I'm sure this year we'll have the we will have the benefit of the other enrollment study too. So we'll we'll kind of compare the two. >> I I want to just I just want to make sure I said it and you're understanding it correctly because it's

068without having >> stuff written on a screen. I just want to be clear on it. My point is that uh to compare actuals to projected to me that would probably be projected last year. But I'm talking about there was a moment in time when we when we set the sent the referendum >> Yeah. >> out and we calculated numbers. So that's probably three years ago. >> Yeah. >> So that's what I that's just a general question. are actuals tracking to the projected I'll say three years ago what was projected three years ago for >> they are on this on this if when you go back and look at this this yellow one in the middle that's the medium >> okay >> they are tracking to that they're very close >> um to the those projections

069>> okay and we're >> you know about 5% above the low about you know five not quite 5% % below the high. Uh we're right at the medium. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> To the one they did a few years ago, but it's being updated. >> Yeah. No, no, and I understand that. Um Okay. Uh you were talking about school goals, the strategic goals. >> Yep. Um, it's I'm just wondering is there anything so I see I I understand and appreciate everything you had said about uh SEAL and complex thinking. >> I'm wondering if there's anything here that addresses school climate >> the seal would. Now that being said, we we always articulate more detailed goals. >> Okay. >> Um but we use We like to use the data once it gets released

070and typically by the start of school like we would have that data >> but we don't have it this year. I think in part because we started so early and the state hasn't released it all yet. Um we like to use that data. The other data point that we like to use is our safe school climate survey. But as the board, as we've talked about, the participation rate, you know, particularly from our parents and and frankly even some of our staff in places was a lot lower than we want it to be, you know. So, we're re um administering that survey in the fall and trying to better engage people to make sure that they take that survey so that the the areas that we're focused on are actually meaningful. So we will have more

071like details in terms of goals coming out um you know I I hope you know by early October >> I guess. So I guess my question is are you asking us to vote on this tonight? What's in front of us? So this this >> that's where I guess >> this is what we've done. um these goals uh over the last 10 years actually um those have been the goals that we've adopted is our overarching goals then as a a board uh we go into greater depth when we have that data but we don't like I said have I want to make sure that the goals we're selecting like we've done in the past are grounded in a strong rationale I want to know how we're doing relative to our peers. We want good data in

072terms of our internal data to make sure that the things that we are targeting are actually the things that are most meaningful. So we are waiting on some of that data. >> Does it so I mean I'm a >> and we have never had that >> when we adopt when we haven't had that necessarily in the past even when we've adopted these goals like we are tonight. >> Okay. Uh, yeah. And I may not have thought about it in the past, but I'm just I'm just wondering if it makes sense to delay this and do the other part first. It's not a big deal to me. I'm not I'm just pointing that out, that's all. >> Yeah. I I mean, I don't know. >> And if we update stuff next year, that's fine, too. >>

073Yeah. I don't know that the stuff that, you know, we're looking to approve tonight, the social emotional, like none of that is likely to change. >> Okay. Um because I think those goals are not goals that I came up with uh exclusively, not goals that you came up with exclusively. They're goals that our community came up with um and reaffirmed uh as I said a couple of years ago. So, you know, I feel very confident that that's between the research that we have and between the time invested by our our teachers, our our administrators, our parents, students in that goal setting process. I feel real strongly about those goals. um you know, how how are we fine-tuning our performance with district goals that um touch on those elements um that that it's going to take

074us a little bit of time to design. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um the the slide you had district performance index, could you go to that for a second? >> Oh, I'm so happy that you asked for that. >> I'm asking about something not green. >> Okay. postsecary preparation, post-secondary readiness. Do you have a do you have an elevator pitch on that? What is it? >> So, those are those are uh courses that uh are at the high school level that um prepare kids for college and career readiness. things like ECE, AP, um there's certain CEK uh the the excuse me serving um teched classes that okay uh provide dual enrollment through uh Nagatuck Valley. those classes meet that criteria and there's an index uh for each school, each community uh and you're given a

075score on that. Um as well as you know your your achievement um factors into the readiness piece too. So we just don't have that data yet from the state. >> It's not white because we didn't meet it. It's white because the data is missing. >> Yeah. Got it. the state slow rolls out each of these data points. >> Okay, >> they don't drop them all on the same day >> and which would be great, you know, but um everything below the green hasn't been rolled out uh from the state yet. So, um when it does, you know, I'll certainly update it. Um the I looked again today that the the last data point is supposed to be October 25, not October 25th, October of this year it'll come out. So they're usually pretty good about

076that. Gallop Christian, the guy who oversees all the data, you know, we're all over it with him and uh he's great. >> I think they'll be timely. >> How how have we what what does that number look like for last year if you happen to know and if you don't that's fine. I'm just curious. our overall index on that specific item >> basically I think okay so you can you can read my mind as to what I'm getting at here everything the stuff above it generally looks like it's collegebound >> to me I mean I'm not an educator but >> everything like this is for everybody you know um those those two items are really high school specific um >> I want to know that we're I know I want to know that uh we're

077doing what we can maybe doing better than other districts in terms of uh non-olbound students. That's what I'm curious about. >> Oh, I see. Yeah. Um I don't know that that metric really hits it. I don't know that there's a great metric. >> That's what I was wondering about. Is there a metric yet? >> Yeah. Not that the state is using that we could compare apples to apples. So I think my my in my opinion >> request of you is when you're having conversations with Cap with Caps with Cabe with who is it? Charlene Marshall Tucker whoever it might be >> to just mention that. I I think it's I think it would be uh useful if we're going to be if we're going to be looking at >> Yeah. >> collegebound students in this

078way. >> Yeah. >> And sort of a sort of successful outcomes. >> Yeah. >> I think that'll be a good thing to see too. >> Yeah. I appreciate that it's been a point of emphasis of yours. I think as a school system we've tried to improve there, you know, with our partnerships with our uh trades partners that you guys have acknowledged and it just there's no good metric for it. And I think it's a fair question to say what can we do to, you know, we know that those skills are in high demand. What can we do as a school system, as a community, as a as a state to put a a metric on that? >> Yeah. And I mean, >> good question. >> Yeah. And I do appreciate everything that you've done. >>

079Oh, I know. years. I just wasn't taking it any other way. But, you know, we have arts access on there. We have physical fitness. You know, I don't think it's outlandish to think what are we doing as a state and each individual school system to how are we preparing kids to be potentially successful in the trades. >> Thank you. And my last question, I didn't see it up here, but I was I was looking at it elsewhere. Um, the DOD the length of the day at Dodd. Did that change? >> So, the length of the day is really a bizarre. >> Okay. If it's complicated, I'm not going to worry about it. But it looked to me like it changed by about 15 minutes >> changed and we've had to play with it and yeah,

080it's it's different than every other building and Okay. The rate heart of it is transition times between periods. So, >> Got it. Good. Thank you. as far as we could tell going back. Was calling Don Malone even on that trying to remember. >> Good. Mr. White. >> Awesome. Dr. Han. >> Yeah. I hate to interrupt the uh Tim White hour, but um I just have uh one concern with with the data, which was on um kindergarten class sizes. Um, I think it was Dittle School that has a couple of 24s in kindergarten. At what point would we be adding another class? >> Well, I'd say we're close. >> Yeah. Um, and it's something that we monitor really closely. It's also, >> and I know you do, and I'm asking just it's it's a strike. It

081was striking to me to see. >> Sure. >> Yeah. It's definitely larger. we had a late run on enrollment and then you think about you know you're not going to hire somebody for the first day of school based on the late run that we had and you know is it beneficial to split all those kids up now into new classrooms and um you know frankly the talent pool in August is different than the talent pool in May uh not sure we want to compromise there either um but it is something that we are continuing to closely monitor their progress and not afraid to pull the trigger on that if we have to. Um if we, you know, really believe it's in the best interest of the kids, we we will. But um we're not there

082yet. >> Thank you. I just wanted to bring it to your attention, which I knew it was already there. So, thanks. >> Yeah, some others would have beat you to the punch, but um yeah, we got it. Okay, >> Jeff, I just wanted to mention that I know we already gave a round of applause for this district performance index, but um I do want to point out again the chronic absenteeism. I mean, that's a a huge huge improvement. >> And I mean, that speaks to our administrative staff, our teachers, all of our staff in the buildings and the climate, right? I mean kids come because they feel happy, alive, supported um you know and and and that is done by our staff at our school. So once again I think um we need to really

083appreciate it. I mean a lot of times we look at the growth right the academic growth of our high need students our all students again looks great but I mean that speaks to something else that's happening in our schools so I just wanted to point that out >> thank you so much Amy and I think you know to your point we've talked a lot we've had a lot of convers there's always a point of conversation with our team around chronic absenteeism is kind of a lynch pin it's not about changing the metric that changing the chronic absenteeism metric, you know, that's it. It's it's kids that are in school are better connected and better performing and everything. So, you know, you change that, you're going to improve everything and and that could be a real

084lynch pin to our success here is just getting kids in the building more regularly. Postcoid, it's been a a national problem. Um, and I again, I appreciate you pointing out the work that our team has done to improve that. Any other board members? Mr. Gripple. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, just to piggyback on uh Mrs. Herrian's uh question about the dittle kindergarten. Um, you explained that the the sudden influx uh what just like days ago, right? Or I wouldn't say >> well not days uh days before the school started. >> But your original projections had four smaller classes and you went to three larger classes. So, did you did you lose a position there or did you did you uh take a a teacher and and switch them into a a different grade or was

085that that projection just not >> I don't know that our projection called for four. I would want to go back and look at that. Yeah. Had >> four smaller. Yeah. Then I'm sure that was something that we looked at the enrollment time. Yeah. and said, "Yeah, no, I mean, particularly last spring when we were really in a a spot and trying to make sure that we had a good balance everywhere and probably made the reduction at that time, although I don't totally recall that off the top of my head, but um yeah, at the time we were okay. Um and then we got a late run and you know this does occur occasionally and we again we're going to continue to monitor it. Um and so far it's it's not without challenge but there are

086a lot of things that are challenging but it's you know had really good feedback so far from the efforts that have been made to try and support the students in that room in those rooms. >> Um let's see up next um the turf. Um so for me sitting and sitting next to Mr. Perageni. Uh for four years we've been advocating the replacement of the turf. Um and happy to see that it finally happened. Um that at least it's up for referendum. And uh for those watching for the people who will be voting on it, uh please support the referendum question to replace the turf. Um uh because it uh definitely needs it even though we were assured that it could go another two years, I guess. But, you know, um I spoke to Mr. >>

087Perino. >> Paracino >> um about it and saying how >> if we if if the referendum passes this November that we have that extra long summer to replace the turf so that uh athletics in general wouldn't really be disrupted. Um >> the timing is certainly optimal. >> It's really great timing. So even though it isn't an expensive item, it's something that the town uses I mean a whole lot, right? Not just athletics, but yeah, other other events and stuff like that. It's almost a a community >> it is >> turf. Uh and so um yeah, I' said definitely please support that. Um and so uh going on after that I guess um sort of a totally different topic uh is um for the school for the new schools the FF and E right I was

088asked by a parent >> well what about all like the uh the smartboards and we have that at Chapman or at Norton uh old Norton are I'm guessing we're keeping those and we're bringing those over are we getting everything new and everything else gets sold off or recycled or So, how does that work? >> So, obviously, you know, as a community, we've been aware of this change coming for years. So, we haven't been buying a lot of new smartboards in the last several years. The equipment that will go into the new buildings will be brand new. Um, we haven't been buying a lot of replacement equipment and we will use anything that is of value to support the rest of the district. Um, certainly with something like a Smartboard, the Smartboard that's in a fourth

089grade class is the same as the one that's in your calculus class. So, there's a lot of room for utilization of those those pieces. Again, we've also been, you know, cognizant of chairs and stuff like really trying to get by as much as we can knowing that this project includes those pieces. So, um we are trying to utilize to the the greatest extent possible all of the furniture that I mean we're still going to have Highland and Dittle in operation. So, we'll be taking the best of what's available and the things that really are on their last legs or shouldn't really be used anymore will be filtered out. I know Vin's been having conversations with the different um you know groups that we work with, the builder, the um architects, the owners rep, the town

090about you know if there are things that we need to salvage, what does that look like? Another question I get asked a lot is what are we doing with those facilities? Those would revert back to the town. But I think as a community we have to talk about you can't just board it up, right? Like pipes will burst, things like that. Like how how do you either winterize it or who's going to cut the grass? Like these are some things that we are working through right now. >> Thank you. Um, you know, and I neglected to mention Mr. Hecky, also a uh big uh big turf fan uh for the for the turf as well. So, forgot to mention you. Uh lastly, uh redistricting. Yeah. >> Um so, uh I attended the meeting. What was

091that? Last last Thursday. I read the 26 page report. Uh there's a lot of extra detail in there and um >> I forget the fellow's name who gave the uh pres Mike who gave the presentation. Um, I went and spoke about um redistricting and of course uh to the uh to the board's um peace of mind. I did uh give the uh dis the uh disclaimer that I was speaking for myself and not for the board because everyone was recognized me as a board member and I was just like no I'm just speaking but for myself. Um but um that the the what was it plan A? >> Yeah, >> you're definitely no good as you had said. Yeah, >> there's a lot of stuff in there. Um but a lot of the um recommendations

092that are at the at the end of your presentation um in my opinion make a lot of sense as far as adjusting the plan. Um and it sounded like a lot of that is going to be taken into account uh for the ones that we're going to see I guess in a month or so. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> That's fair. >> So um >> fingers crossed I suppose. >> Yeah. It's it's you know probably early November. >> Okay. >> Yeah. A little more than that. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Aki. >> Just to uh follow up on the turf. Um I think it's, you know, great thing. Uh I'm very excited that that we're moving forward with that. What about the track? >> Right. So, that's that's another question. Um I because

093having lived through it the first time, you know, the concern of moving the equipment over the track to do the work on the field. Um >> and what is the status of where are we at with the track and and refreshment and I >> I believe and I was talking to uh John before about when we did the field. I think we did the base for the track at that time as well. It just wasn't resurfacing. Correct. I'm gonna need to phone a friend. Ben, do you remember that? >> We sub out of ripped up the old track was in good condition. They did have to do some repairs. I believe they can do the same thing again. >> Replace the track. John and I were going to go out and take a look at

094the track. >> Okay. Together. I did walk in the weekend. It's pretty good. Couple of low spots. >> Yeah. >> I think it's just a resurfacing. >> But >> yeah, but we'll keep that separate from the turf for the referendum. >> It is. >> Okay. Lovely. council approved 800,000. >> Did is that enough for the contingency as well? >> So, >> okay. >> Yeah. >> Includes the Y >> we didn't do that last time, right? >> We did not. >> Okay. >> I don't know that that even existed. >> I think they were putting it under the harder surface that the old old style. They were still they were putting it under that but not the the crumb rubber. >> Okay. I think that's all I had. And I know the projections it's for enrollment

095is very you know you you feel good about that. >> It's kind of overwhelming to see the number of apartments that are being built in town. Are we do those projections that they're taking all of that into account? >> Absolutely. And I I've talked to Mike, you know, and I I remember it making headlines when the representative for the apartments was saying, "Oh, like you're gonna we're going to build, you know, 500 apartments and you'll get two students out of it or something." Obviously, a lot of hyperbole there, but um you know, to nobody's real shock, the projections that they had are well below what we're seeing, >> but they're not overwhelming us either at this point. So, >> you know, um >> it's not quite as bad as I think a lot of people

096thought it might be, but it's certainly not as low as they're not all >> was projected. Yeah, they're not all open yet, but even on the pace, I think we're in pretty good shape. >> Okay. per the demographer. Anyway, >> thanks. >> M Dwight, you have a followup. >> Thank you. Yeah, and talking about the turf, this reminded me we didn't vote on the turf, the board of ed, right? This was a choice made by the council. >> Correct. So um you know through that process the the we had to identify projects on a timeline under a budget and um did so but as you know it goes through the town council review process open to public uh input. There was a group from the public who expressed a a real compelling interest and um

097you know the council took it upon themselves to rearrange that within the the uh capital process which is you know certainly their prerogative. >> Yeah. I know and I I appreciate that, you know, um voters come out to speak, they share their thoughts and ideas, and the council made a decision, but then it just reminds me like what Mark was talking about with the track. I mean, did they incorporate that as part of the decision >> and I'm wondering, I don't know if the parents, they may have been thinking about it, but they're whoever it was, they were probably more focused on the field itself rather than the track. And it just doesn't seem like from a council perspective that this is really great planning that this question would even sort of be highlighted here

098right now. >> Yeah. I mean, >> um, was it was there do you know if there was any thought or did this just like >> discussion of the track? >> Okay. >> Yeah. There was discussion about the track and this this whole process, you know. >> Who was it who was involved in the discussion from a from the public schools perspective? Who was involved in the discussion? uh John Paracino and and Vin and Emily. Okay. >> Um were at those meetings and sharing the facts of the track, the turf, the >> okay >> timing. You know, there is a compelling argument to be made is is I I think Adam and Mark said about the timing of it with the extended summer next year. And I know Adam was talking about, you know, limited disruption

099to our student athletes. That is absolutely accurate. >> Yeah. No, no, no. And I I I mean, >> but the track piece, it's a whole another ball of wax that will have to be as Vinn was I think just saying will have to be addressed at some point. Um and >> yeah, no, I mean, I'm a full support of you. We got to we have stuff. We need to maintain it. >> Yeah. >> And I get it. It's not a question. It's it uh it's not a question of if, but when and if it's a year or two earlier than it would have been. That that's it's the it's the process to me. I doesn't make sense to me why this would have happened without uh more input from the board of ed. It's frustrating

100to me. And that that's >> yeah, >> that's it about that. Um I do have one other question which is uh so I guess in the calendar year or more specifically uh this academic year have you had any contact from like federal authorities ICE or anything like that? Just curious. I mean I'm not Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. I I just want to touch real quick on the the turf and the turf life. The turf life has lived beyond its its warranty. Um It's not our guesstimate that the turf is still playable and usable. It's it's a professional opinion. And part of the reason it has outlived its, you know, warranty is because our community, the board, our maintainers, like we've taken really good care of it. Um, and so that's why it could live

101longer. Um, but it's certainly ready for replacement, no doubt. So, I I definitely see that. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Jackie. >> Just to follow up on that, when we did that in 2011, we picked a very good product because the uh the academy, Chester Academy, and and the high school we put it field in at the same time with >> the same manufacturer, we put a different product down. the academy replaced their turf three years ago, >> right? >> So, it's, you know, it's also the what we're putting down. And I was pleased to hear you say, what's that? >> Got what you paid for. >> Yeah. And and uh, you know, I was happy to hear talking to John earlier that they're talking about a premium product. >> Yeah. >> Which will last

102us >> hopefully another years. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Any other Emory? I mean, it's only Eagles Dallas game tonight, so I'm happy to stay longer if you have more questions being a Giants fan. Yeah, >> you want to go back to the data. >> Oh, yeah. I I do have a couple. Um, do we have the amount of the referendum offh hand >> for all of the projects >> or just the turf is 800,000? >> I don't. Vin or Emily, can you loading dock is >> 800 as well. fire alarm system is 1.1 million. >> They're all separate. >> Three separate. >> That's what I wanted to make clear for those watching at home. That's not going to be chunked into >> You guys could say it, I'm sure, even better than me

103that, you know, >> a lot of thought and energy was put into prioritizing those three projects or those certainly those two. >> Um I know it's fire systems aren't sexy, but they're critical. So nothing that we put forward is not something that isn't mission critical. >> Right. >> Including the loading dock at at Cheshire High School. >> Yeah. It is crumbling and it's in terrible shape and needs to be replaced. >> Oh yeah. Um I I think just going back to kind of um Mr. White's question, you know, I I live in this world as everybody knows and indicator five and six um to Dr. Solen's point is not a really good metric of what we have to offer. Um but I do think that it would be nice to see that what we do

104have to offer kids are taking advantage of, you know, because we do allow um kids to go into those various career tech courses. Um and does that mean that we need to expand them in some way, shape, or form in our later conversations with the budget? Um there's only so much capacity at the high school and the middle school. Um but I think given the numbers um we do way better than the state in my view but we always could do better obviously. >> Yeah. >> Um and then as far as in you know we have a lot to celebrate and one of those celebrations came from Newsweek also shout out to Chesure High School. Um I believe we're 32 out of 50. Dr. Can you kind of speak to that a little bit? >>

105Do do you know what >> I know we're ahead of Madison, which is great. >> Yeah. >> Uh yeah, I did notice that really good friends with the superintendent in Madison. I made him aware of that, too. But um yeah, it it's uh yeah, we're our high school, like I I mentioned in the SAT performance has improved. Um, I think we're certainly trending not only as a high school but as a community in the right direction and you know we're really proud. I don't know how other districts did on these on all these targets. Um, and I don't know, you know, looking at the comprehensive across the board, but I know we're doing a lot of things that are right and we're trending in the right direction and um, certainly worth celebration. And then I

106think just the other, you know, you did the projections for the elementary school. I I all roads do lead to dots. So I worry about what's that going to look like and and when are we going to begin this conversation of >> the planning piece for what, you know, for the next 10 years that it will take for us to build a middle school. >> Yeah. Yeah. reading the room um this last spring, it may not have been the the right entry point, but I you know I know that this um data will again serve as a catalyst for like us to take a look at that as a community and um there was a point where the council was saying, you know, hey, we need to to look at this and then that that

107kind of cooled. Um, and so, you know, I'm I'm hopeful that, um, you know, by next spring and we're moving into new buildings and we're starting to look at like what does the next phase look like. >> Yeah. And I think we just have a lot of work to do, especially with the school climate. I know we left off on June 13th with our last reading of the school climate policy. So, >> uh, we just have a lot to figure out at this point given all the legislative changes at the last minute and then our, you know, the planning committee has to pretty much go back to the table, um, and discuss more about the track basically. Um, are there any other last minute questions? Thank you, Dr. Sen. This was really robust. We have

108to take it in a little bit more. >> Oh, Mr. Gripple does have a question. I'm sorry. >> Uh, no, it's not a question. It's just a comment. uh just a total anecdotal uh survey. Um, I've been, you know, uh, posting a little bit more recently on social media. And one of the, uh, my most engaged, uh, post to date is when I advocate when I was, uh, advocating for bringing, uh, shop class back to all public schools and how I commented how, uh, we've been kind of ahead of the curve and started bringing that back. But I got a lot of engagement on just everyone saying they're in agreement because you know not everyone even in Cheshire you know that not everyone is a college educated but you know a lot of trades people

109live here too and a lot of people were uh advocating for for to even enhance that here. >> Thanks for sharing that. When I talk to um our friends who work in the trades they're really trying to make sure that people understand it's it's not a dichomous situation. It's not like college or um you could do both and and Marian, you know, makes a point of talking about how they will help you pay for college if you do want to go that route. like there are a lot of doors that are open to kids and that's what the effort we've been trying to make over the summers with getting them to those um employers to see like it's not pardon the term like grease alley sort of work anymore. Um these are really high-tech um

110jobs that you know people make really good living at and so we're going to continue to try and educate people on that front. But as long as you're on the topic of social media, I I know that in the patch there was a article about um that Fred Jordaner, our acting chief, put out about SRO's. Like I think somewhere somebody might have got an impression that we don't have an SRO in our school system. We do. Um Officer Mike Khan is awesome. Great SRO. And um we've I got to give the CPD a lot of credit. They've had great SRO's that have worked with us over the last decade. Um maybe even going back all the way to the uh Mark Ekki era. Um so like long time ago. >> Yeah, it is a few

111years ago. But um yeah, our SRO's been great. There is an SRO working in the district and uh he's done a great job. And you know, I know they're restructuring and we'll look at um as they add staff going back to two SRO's, but um there is an SRO there full-time Actually to your point, can you speak to kind of the process if there's concern? You know, it seems like it's just defers to the police chief as opposed to can they contact you and kind of >> Sure. I mean, we we work really collaboratively and Sean and I work really collaboratively, the town manager. So, you know, if there's a concern, like we have a a resource on our website under the four parents tab about who do you contact? If there's a concern with

112the bus, who do I contact? If there's an academic concern, who do I contact? Food concern, who there's a lot of different things, you know, an SRO, you know, you could talk to your uh principal and if that, you know, you don't feel good about that conversation, you can always come to me or Emily, uh, you know, we could talk about those things. But um you know on the other side of the street to you know at the end of the day the council I know has really invested in our uh police department and tried to bring those numbers back. They're dealing a shortage like the same way you know we are with special ed teachers. It you know they they've done a good job to try and recruit people and they're adding folks as

113we speak. >> Mr. I was going to save this topic till later, but since you mentioned it um so it feels like uh deja vu because it was almost like this time last year we were speaking about um only having one SRO at the high school. >> We didn't have any. >> Oh, right. Okay. Right. We didn't have any. Um and now we have one. Um, and so by your comments, um, I'm going to take it as that we are actively still recruiting for that second SRO SRO to have a full-time SRO at DOD again. >> I know that that has always >> because that did not seem to be the impression that the chief gave in his comments. >> Well, I know that um, and I haven't spoken to Fred who's the acting chief.

114>> Acting chief, sorry. >> Um, that's all right. and um directly about that, but I know that they are also undergoing a restructuring um which will take place in January. But I'll I'll follow up with Fred to see because I they they just frankly didn't have the people. That's why there were no SRO's at this point last year because they didn't have the officers to man regular shifts um for public safety. So, I know that they're working toward that. I don't know. I know that they're not there yet in terms of full staffing. Um, but I'll follow up with Fred to see like what sort of timetable and what's the possibility because don't forget even after you bring somebody on um is a police officer in Connecticut, you they need to be in the road

115for on the road for at least 10 weeks with another person, another officer. So, they can't be independent until that time is up. So it it means a longer runway for that sort of stuff. But I'll follow up with Fred and update you um ASAP. >> So can Yeah. When you do, can you confirm that it's the intention to replace the SRO at some point because I know we had had someone in place, but then they took another job. >> Yes. >> Right. Um, and so is it the intention of the acting chief to not even uh intend to place an SRO at Dodd until they're fully staffed? Because before it was like, well, we're waiting for like these five people to come out of the academy. Now it's now it seems like the the

116goalposts are being moved to fully staffed instead of just trying to get some people back on. >> That may not be a fair statement from my perspective. like from I may have missed >> No, I mean just just to get clarification. >> I don't know. Yeah, I'm going to need to get >> because it seemed like the acting chief seemed to be perfectly fine with only having a rotating SRO after we just had another school shooting only just a few weeks ago when we know that, you know, response time is critical in an active shooter situation. And I know he mentioned all those things in his in his uh >> his notice, but >> you know, minutes matter. um you know cuz I you know what response time is what it is. I won't speak

117to what it is I guess cuz that could get me into trouble. But um whatever it is um the the response time is less if you have actually someone who's trained in the hallways already. >> Um and if you have someone in rotation it's not as effective because I know the SR also you know has that relation with the students and all that >> uh too. Yeah. But, you know, in that critical situation, it's best to to have, you know, one in each spot instead of because that's that's 1,800 students we're talking about right there. >> Yeah. So, I I'll I'll definitely follow up with Fred and and circle back with the board. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> As an alternative, Dr. Solen, would there be a potential maybe, you know, obviously we have

118a supply and demand issue here, some of which is not within our control, >> but would we be able to put, and I'm think going back to the school climate policy now. >> I mean, would we consider maybe putting in climate specialists in place of having or, you know, not having, I guess, at this point, an SRO. Would that be >> Yeah, I mean >> sufficient in my >> um I think that'd be something that we would really have to examine and and that's not something that you know I feel comfortable just saying is superintendent I might have an opinion but you know I rely a lot on the people in the audience and and um Emily and Marlene to kind of walk through that together but something we would certainly consider and we could

119talk about you know as the budget process comes up. >> Thank you Scribble. What's a climate specialist? >> Uh, so the the state has um advocated for roles that basically are people that support climate in the building through um like restorative meetings with kids, things like that. Um, you know, I think that our people um do a pretty good job with that. Now, you know, are additional resources valuable? Of course, they're beneficial and they're valuable. Um, and you I think that's something that we would take a look at as we engage on the budget process if that, you know, again, the data helps us figure that out. Our our some of our history helps us figure that out and then we'll talk about it at the budget. >> Thank you. Any other board members? >>

120Thank you, Dr. Sullen. Um, next item would be old business. I do not have any at the moment. So, we move to new business, which is the affirmation of the strategic plan. Um, I'm just going to read it really quickly so that those watching uh understand exactly what we're going to request a motion on. Um, the strategic goals of the Cheshire Board of Education are integral part of the Cheshire Public School strategic planning initiatives. The goals were been have been developed by a large community base of stakeholders including board members, staff, parents and students and local business persons. The plan was developed with significant data collected from the entire community in 2016. After the initial plan was developed in 2000. The most recent goals were developed in 2011 and then 2019 the personalized learning task

121force adopted new performance standards that the board of education later approved. So, state law requires local boards to set annual goals and objectives each year. Because the Cheshire's teacher planning initiative reflects the vision and beliefs of the Cheshire community, it has traditionally served as the board of education goals each year. The filing motion reaffirms the board's commitment to the strategic initiatives and supports their continued use as the overarching framework used to set district and individual school goals and objectives this year. Um, can somebody please provide the motion? Mr. Gripple. >> Move that the Cherish Board of Education reaffirms the Cheshure Public Schools strategic objectives and goals for 2526. >> I believe we're voting on this, right? >> Yes. Is there a second? >> Dr. Heran, >> discussion. Dr. Herrian. Yeah, I'm happy to um move

122forward with this with a typo error being fixed in the second sentence. >> Please, can you please read it? >> The goals were been developed. >> Thank you. >> I guess we just take out the Ben. The goals were developed by a large community >> minor, but I'm voting on it. So, I'd like it to be fixed. second sentence. >> I saw that. I just want to be clear on what we're voting on because I was under the impression this is just sort of a synopsis of what we're voting on in the subsequent pages. >> Wait, this is >> No, we're we're we're voting on an affirmation of the strategic plan, which is just what Sam read. >> That's my point. The type Yeah, we're voting on the list. Jeff, looking at you now just

123to >> Yeah. the the policy um >> what are we voting on >> outlines it. It's the it's the affirmation of the complex thinking social emotional learning our performance standards >> and then the list is basically the actions that >> speak to that broad plan. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Any other discussion items? So there's a request to edit on the affirmation itself, but the motion still stands on floor. Are there any other discussion? Okay. All those in favor that the mo of the motion that is on the floor. I think we have a unanimous Thank you. Motion passes. And last item is I would definitely call for a motion to adjurnn because that is it. Dr. Herrian. Motion to adjurnn. Is anybody second? Mr. White. All those in favor adjournment. >> Unanimous. Thank

124you everybody. >> Thanks guys for your patience.