001this um that statement here so the intentional right to read I think is is really important that this legislature the state of Connecticut was making a commitment that uh our students are strong readers by third grade and that um in particular they were focused on addressing achievement gaps for children of color and students receiving special education services and those to be Crystal clear are areas that chesher public schools and the chesher community uh support and strongly endorse that uh there's nothing in the intention that doesn't closely align with our core beliefs uh the Public Act um really the at the heart of this um was to address six core competencies of reading and that uh that came from a a um project that I'm going to address a little bit later but the uh the
002C comprehensive program this is what they said scientifically based reading research and instruction this is from the legislation that a comprehensive program or collection of instructional practices that's based on reliable valid evidence showing that when the programs or practices are used students can be expected to achieve satisfactory reading progress um and that IT addresses the six core areas so the way that they um the SD seems to have interpreted this is that they're going to identify six programs or handful of programs let's say that um they feel meet that definition and as of last Friday we received our ra uh waiver results and it indicated in pretty much every element that the curriculum and resources that we've designed were not on the approved program list basically that you're not using one of the approved can
003programs therefore you know your waiver has been rejected so I mentioned you know where where did our stuff come from the national reading panel was convened in 1997 to focus on reading to design to really evaluate what uh skills um do kids need what do we need to be focused on teaching to provide the greatest outcomes for students when they're uh publication when their findings were published in 2000 that was reviewed by our community products were reviewed by our community and we made substantial adj adjustments and since that time it's been an ongoing uh reassessment and redrafting of what we do to support our developing readers in grades K through three so we've spent a lot of time money and energy focused on the science of reading going back 20 plus years and designing our
004own curriculum to address those needs and I think the evidence that we have the data uh speaks volumes about how the efficacy of what we've designed uh third grade readers were number seven overall in Connecticut our high need students performed six those are students that are identified as multilanguage Learners as um uh students with free and reduced lunch and special education services that population was sixth in Connecticut uh those that were identified exclusively for special ed services were second in Connecticut and we had the highest Hispanic or Latino population in the entire state of Connecticut uh we didn't have enough students that identify as black or African-American to have that data publicly uh published uh for comparison and you know that to be fair um the state and they should only publishes um data for
005subgroups where there are enough students where it couldn't be couldn't be uh individually identifiable so when I say we're the highest performing group in Connecticut that means that there are some districts who might have performed higher but they don't have enough students that the data would actually be published so I think what it illustrates is that you know with a large enough subgroup we're number one in that regard um and overall seventh and it's um I think a pretty strong statement about the reading program in the community looking at last year I think we had 338 third graders 13 of them were considered substantially deficient reading now that is of all students in third grade 13 students the national average is 20% of students we were at 4.7% there were no statistically sign significant differences
006based on subgroups in our data we've grounded our program in the science of reading if anything we're here to testify that that is effective not that our program is not the implications of changing what we do are substantial financially initially I I wanted to just share that you know the costs ass associated with greater adoption of these programs if we were to just adopt the reading the reading programs outlined here for our students in grades three k through three that's a $536,000 investment if we expand that K through six because it's really difficult to initiate students into a reading program K through three and then flip the switch over in grade four through six um and go back to what we were doing um so if we adopt it K through six that's roughly a
007$700,000 investment the things that you know the cost that we've incurred thus far in terms of you know work that we've done um because we don't rest on our Laurels we do not um say that oh well it's there's no room for evolution is a as a school system and certainly within the you know elements of reading we continue to evaluate what we we continue to evaluate our resources every five years we do curriculum reviews and we update what we do uh to M sure make sure that we're providing the most contemporary services for our kids and Community we spent $125,000 this year to do that in Reading aside from that $700,000 investment the costs that we haven't factored into that that $700,000 is the hours that would be necessary to implement this sort of
008shift it's the uh time not just that we pay people but we take away from doing other things that are necessary when we're we're already Beyond successful we want to improve what other things that we do for example and I know this is jumping ahead a bit in the slides but you know purposeful play in early grades that's another area that's required Something That We're evolving in and we've been focused on but when do I do that with teachers that I'm training in a new reading program so forget about all these the money money is relevant but that's not why I got into education forget about the impact on the climate and culture of our staff but our student performance I'm not looking to torpedo other districts who have other needs and challenges but if
009the people who adopted these programs had the highest performance in Connecticut I would take a step back and we would have already said whatat are we doing we need we need to do what they're doing they they don't have the highest performance as a matter of fact when you look at the districts who didn't um have their waiver granted uh that they have the highest performance and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that sces has nothing to do with reading performance socioeconomic conditions in communities have a tremendous amount to do with reading performance as well but our program program is a proven entity for chesher that works I'm not saying that every school system in Connecticut has to do what chesher does but it works for us um and to spend $700,000
010in countless hours to compromise our performance has me sick to my stomach and so you know legislatively that's something that you know I I hope is considered the change in kindergarten age is just another variable that kicks into this at the same time that I'm trying to work on purposeful play not I we I want to say I mean collectively um Marlene probably could pull more hair out than than I could over this issue so when I say I I mean Marlene our teachers our principles um the the Confluence of all these variables coming together is you know a real challenge particularly at this point in time you know I'm not somebody who has a a real history of screaming from The Mountaintop on things or things like that I think I'm very um tempered
011and and generally reasonable person um but the state and Department of bed never should have said this or nothing never it's unprecedented it it's it's potentially damaging um and I'm really concerned about it and I I'll be honest when it first came out that that was the plan and and they had said that you know the districts must purchase prepackaged programs and superintendent flipped out and Fran wrote a letter that reflected our feelings and was very strong and they said okay well we'll have a waiver process I thought okay that the we'll let the process play out the way that it should and that a reasonable person would look at our program in whole and in Earnest look at our results in whole and in Earnest and find it nearly impossible to come to a
012conclusion that we need to change but yet that's that's what's taking place here and so you know I just ask for that consideration and Tim we're going to go back you know I I appreciate you sitting through this in my rant if you will we'll go back to our seats and I'll ask you know different members of the delegation and certainly our board if they want to chime in and have any closing thoughts as we wrap up but if there are any questions specific to this and where we are was it a comment Tim or a question a question direct please I don't think you mentioned this or spoke to this you had a meeting only in the past week or two we had a meeting probably a month ago three three weeks ago okay
013so that was with some Consultants who were hired by the SD and a member of the the SD staff okay did those people so you had a video stream meeting correct 25 minute Zoom meeting you made your pitch you were given the the opportunity for a waiver did those people have the professional courtesy to stay in the meeting so that you knew they were there um two of them did you know one of them immediately turned off the camera when the meeting started um and you know yeah that that is unacceptable and I you know this is a big deal and they just it it they have it it gives the impression to me that they're t out I regret not calling that out in the moment I think sometimes you you uh you uh
014consider you know these people are holding all the cards am I in a position right now to call you out retrospectively I probably should have uh and I could have done it politely I could have done it politely um and I regret not doing that number one will you send this to us yeah of course you have a paper copy but I will send you the digital copy as well okay if it's here I'm sorry that's okay and um number two when they said that you were denied what was the reason the rationale generally all throughout was that the chesher public schools uh curriculum wasn't on the approved list that's it that your students are way over all of your data that you've given them they just said what you're using is not on my
015list that that statement was repeated at least five six times through the response to us um so I it it's hard to walk away from that response and not think that that was the the deciding factor uh because it was certainly repeated time and time again um again you know when you look at the legislation I think it's like a lot of legislation it's subject to interpretation um where I vehemently agree disagree is with the way that it was interpreted and the way that it was implemented well who are the who are the five groups where are they coming from what what is the Tie why they only pick these five people I'm making a statement not a question the the five people being oh the programs yeah where are they who chose them why
016did they choose yeah there was a a group what yeah the group that evaluated and and um put those programs out and there is value in those programs um exclusively I I I don't I would never go with the programs are a resource they are not your curriculum they are not designed to be the end all Beall you know I see an Marie shaking her head you know somebody who's been in um the field for many years they they are designed to be a resource and and that's exactly what France says here reading curriculum establishes what students will be taught and whereas instructional methodologies and instructional materials support how educators teach the students and you know I think um Tim may have said initially one size fits all or something you know that's not we
017we have a a pretty wide breath of resources that we employ uh to get the results that we we attain and um yeah I mean some of the programs we we do um access some of the approved programs is part of that breath of of resources we use so je I I am literally the only legislator who has a child in chesher schools who's in I have one in elementary one in middle and one in high school um and so I see the quality of what cheser schools is offering I was just telling Tony my 10-year-old just got a letter in the mail that his reading scores they give you a list of the things that that you can read and understand and his is the Connecticut um State jurors manual and he's 10 okay
018so it's like I to me this is crazy but I do want to say and I don't know if this GNA make you feel any better because it might make it feel worse sde has consistently misinterpreted and overstepped legislation written over the past few years this is not not the first problem that has come across my desk even in the last three to four weeks about completely different legislation where U the legislative intent has been ignored and they've done what they've wanted so that is a problem and it does go back to I I forget was it Adam that mentioned them being underst staffed I mean that is a that is a thing and so um I you know I excited to join with my colleagues but I will tell you honestly you have been
019greater cheerleader than me because my kids are the ones are benefiting from what you do yeah thank you Rob just the whole thing is very frustrating to to hear about I voted against this I warned people not to empower the State Department of Education just like I admonished you guys a few minutes ago um it's very frustrating to watch this play out exactly as you predict and then have to come back to the district and hear the problem um certainly you can count on me I'm sure you can count on all of us to bring this back to them but I just I I wanted to to just make it clear that that you know there is a distinct difference in the way some of us view what our role is and how much the
020State Department of Education should be involved in the town of cheshire's uh public education system and I just don't think they should be involved to the degree they are at all and I that's why I didn't vote for this and again I I don't want to keep hammering my point it's just um there is a record about you know how all this happened [Music] so again I appreciate you sitting through the the full you know rant uh you know it's like I said it's an emotional topic for me because as much as things may have been interpreted in a way that uh I wouldn't agree with in the past this one really has the potential to directly impact our kids in a community in an unprecedented way and it it has to be addressed so
021thank you um like I said we'll pull the screen up and give opportunities for some closing thoughts the union SP it too I was session obviously yeah oh yeah how are you by the way it's really nice to see you good thank you I I want to I know some people were just about seat belted in wanting to jump up and talk and some could constrain themselves and others couldn't I just want to go around and try and um like maybe round robin here is the the best way to do it I I know people want to just chime back in and um in the interest of time and in respect for your time this evening um you know we would not go B bounce back and forth but give people the opportunity to either
022ask questions or closing thoughts Tim do you want to begin yeah thank you thank you for your comments on the right to read I'm still in my family my son is in second grade so he's directly affected by this next year I appreciate where the where the superintendent's coming from the cost is one thing the Staffing uh professional development is another but this is just so upsetting when we have good performance my son it's anecdotal it's not the big picture but he's doing really well with his reading and to see this coming it just it's it borders on infuriating because it just doesn't it doesn't make any sense because it seems to me the likely outcome of this change will it's more likely to worsen our outcomes than to better them on a uh if
023we're just GNA sort of go down the line I do have uh I do have one question um which is not the right to read but so I have a a somewhat offbeat but I believe probably potentially the most important question that any of you uh could ever address in your seats but I mean this very seriously and I think this is a a timely question that relates to the intersection of our school board the state government and the federal government so I believe in smaller generally speaking I believe in smaller not larger government I believe in local control per recent media reports the GOP front runner for president Donald Trump is looking to expand government including taking at least partial control of local school systems and school boards this is what I saw I
024think it was in the Wall Street Journal have you seen this Jeff have you seen him mention yeah no this has only been come out in the last couple days uh I am totally in completely opposed to this expansion of government can any of you so my question is can any of you foresee a point at which you would decide and I mean this seriously the state of Connecticut should secede from the Union you can laugh I'm being totally serious about this there are other states that have already been talking about this I'm talking about a massive expansion of government is literally what they were talking about and I don't like it and I just am curious if any of you have ever thought about it or would go there I'll take the question okay
025so first off Tim um the first thing I would say is it doesn't just border on infuriating for me the whole episode that we were just doing is infuriating uh there's no question about it I am not aware of what you're saying about Trump um so I mean I happy to look at and I will take your word for it I will not support it it doesn't matter which party uh I would never support an expansion of government okay in the lives of individuals and certainly in municipal government I don't care what party I don't care what person um I go by issues that's it to me that's what our job is um I I mentioned early on that this whole conversation is a little frustrating too because it's not the way we normally structure
026our debate um but I'm very uh pleased that the way um you know we are communicating it's not not the easiest thing and uh I think that in some respects we we want to challenge our colleagues where they stand on certain issues um but what is important to note is that we're able to do that respectively respectfully rather and um I think people often you know want to see more bipartisanship um that may be true I think what they really want to see though is respect and civility um so I just throwing that out there so um I guess that's all I wanted to just say about that thing is that again you know I don't know about the Trump thing but certainly from a policy standpoint I would oppose it and I would I
027would do so publicly and I and I am right here it's and it's not so much about Donald Trump it's the concept in general is it just something that could ever happen so I'm going to respectfully answer your question because you did ask a very pointed question would I ever consider seceding from the union no but not because I agree with that policy or any policy like it but because every single one of you know exactly who I am and I fight and if I were to leave and if I were to ask other people to leave that wouldn't mean I'm standing up for my principles and fighting for what I think is right that's the reason why the answer is no but it also tells you everything you need to know that I will
028do everything possible to ensure that the federal government doesn't come in and put their hands all over this or any Board of Education thank you thanks Tim Emory anything you want to add say on the science on the science of reading um my concerns are that as a um special educator for many years prior to going into Administration those skills that have been identified under this legislation are definitely the skills that kids students need to um learn how to read in those K through three and then use reading to learn third grade and up however the way that this legislation went about it I can't really understand it um those are programs they're not the curriculum you know the curriculum is important as Dr Solen um talk to us about how it was built on
029a lot of research besides that it's all about the teaching and the methodology that's used the strategies that are used the legislation doesn't talk about any of those things it talks about six or seven programs and I'm not a program person it's it's just not about the program it's about the curriculum the way we teach our students the families that are involved in our education and obviously you can see that chesher is doing it the right way with the kinds of scores none of that was taken into account with the legislation I mean we have some of the highest schools that are ranking using um the esac which the legislature has told us to use to assess our students so we have our students scoring the highest and the waiver being rejected I just don't
030understand the logic with that so I'll leave that up to you and hopefully in this legislative session it can be reversed restudied Etc and quite honestly I'm in some districts because I consult now that have gotten their waivers and they're sitting around the table much as we are saying how did we get the waiver you know like I don't get it so what a bill proposal that simply said uh that the any school district that is surpassing the minimum requirement is no longer subject to the uh the Mandate itself I I think if if it's looked at over all 169 School District there has to be more than just that I think but it makes sense and that was tried in the education committee and it went nowhere so because I agree how vote go
031would we it never even came up for a vote but then why are we using the ESC right I mean I am behind you 100% I just this has been talked about and so we have an opportunity soon to be in front of the leadership of that committee and they will hear us loud and clear right Jeff yeah now what they do with it it the it's on them but we will fight and be on it but and honestly there's lots of ways to look at that assessment and the numbers I mean not just who's the highest but the growth index who's making you know improvements why are they making Improvement can we trace it back particularly I'm talking about in the ELA area um so there's lots of ways to look at it rather
032than however it was looked at and my second thing is um obviously the ask tonight was to fully fund the excess cost grant that would be wonderful if you could do that however um if you can't there are ways to help mitigate the impact on districts that four and a half times could go down to three and a half and then a two and a half and then be a one to one um the pot of money at the end could move from there's three tiers I think from 85% um to maybe 70% 50% we really need help in this area um we were at a meeting today and many of the um superintendents and Board of Ed members were talking about how in addition dist we don't know who's going to walk into our
033door and when they walk in and they it's a family who has special needs obviously we welcome them and it's a family who has two students that are already outplaced so we go to a PPT and we accept that that could be a $400,000 Bill overnight and not that we as Educators would never turn our backs that's what we do we educate um but we need some help we really do the short answer is it could happen very easily I mean you know the state of Connecticut uh is sitting on a a surplus or at least it was during budget time and uh those things could have been funded I mean our state budget is a selection of priorities I mean the state budget uh included an expansion of health care for illegal aliens uh
034it created a new uh welfare program baby bonds for people that aren't even born yet but it failed to uh live up to the promises made in the past and obviously promises were made for political support so I mean you know the idea that these programs were created they were supposed to be funded and now they are not is a is a distinct problem and we need to hold people accountable again I mean I I'm in the minority I'm the only senator who voted against the budget okay but I got a lot of good reasons and you know I think if the people of the state of Connecticut knew what those reasons were I think they'd be more inclined to hold their elected officials in both parties account and Ida is 48 years old old
035and it has never been fully funded by the federal government so it's lot Miss Rosenberg um I mean did and Mar um I just you know for those of you that don't know me I am a curriculum supervisor for another District on the other end of the spectrum so to speak so the the impacts of these mandates I feel on both ends so it's double um I do ask that if at all possible that you can kind of take a little deeper dive into the scoring rubric um so that we can understand truly whether or why we got denied the waiver I mean if you're saying to us that you you're being measured our report card is based off these particular metrics but yet you can't justify fully what those metrics are when it comes
036to scoring rubric for the reading waiver there's a problem here folks so um so if you could take a moment to do that and you know education is complex clearly and we do have a lot of competing interests so I would hope that you know you take this information and kind of prioritize those competing interests we face it on a daily basis in our day jobs so to speak um but just go with the facts go with the data and hopefully I enjoy this this forum um I appreciate that you come here especially today um for the past two years it's just been one-sided I appreciate the balance of both sides here um and I'd love to see something a bit more frequent more of a after session give us an update because we we're
037asking you now what's happening later when your session is over so thank you Dr harrian I just have uh a couple questions my first question is how long do we have to implement this if our waiver was denied in that I'm thinking we're coming up on budget season is it something that we need to work into this budget my second question is what happens if we don't comply okay so um I would have to read the legislation again uh and I almost want and not say this on the mic but I'll say it go ahead I mean sometimes if you don't comply sometimes there's nothing written in it that would do anything to you so let us read it pour through it talk to the lawyers you know are we gonna get fine $800,000 probably
038that's what they say but they don't have staff to implement that's part of the problem with some of these issues is that they Implement these things and then there's no followup or what if somebody doesn't do it what are you going to do but in the case that it happens then unfortunately it may be the time that you're caught and you do get $800,000 F yeah I I I appreciate you know anger uh and God knows I've felt a lot of it over the last 72 hours or whatever it's been um can lead you to to make decisions that uh you typically may not make and I think that well that thought over the last several days has crossed my mind like go scratch what are you g to do about it um I think
039when we start to engage in that sort of stuff that you know Anarchy is sure to follow and um I don't know I I know that that's not the the model or the tone that I want to set I think that the um the appropriate way to do things is the way that chesher is doing them today by sitting here collectively uh and deeply evaluating the issue with legislators who have influence on that in that domain um and that we that doesn't mean we stop there I mean we certainly are engaged with organizations that have tremendous vested interest in making the changes that we in the room want to see happen as well so um I appreciate the anger response and you know I was very close to needing jury Direction when I first read
040it the other day but you know that's just my hot take I said that in a very measured voice not out of anger respectfully uh Dr Solen I will say though that Dr herrian and Senator Samson were much more fun well but my first question was was very serious do we need to build that into our budget this season yeah the the um there there is uh some latitude there in terms of implementation date I've read some stuff for like you have to be on the path by july24 you know with implementation for july25 um knowing the state of finances in the world today and that um you know our budget is given the fact that we're a growing Community probably going to have to increase by more than what we've typically increased um it
041would be really a hard pill to swallow to look at a massive you know influx in Reading uh 700,000 would be a real big pill to swallow I don't know that we could do that and I don't want to take a whole lot more time but there's also um and I'm thinking that you have already uh Broach this a little bit but there are other communities in the same boat that we are and we should be um collaborating with them as well they have they have a different set of Representatives yeah we met with them last night the other right superintendants um and representative you not Representatives not in a legislative sense but um folks from those other communities we met you have a list of those communities yeah did you get a letter or
042was it just the call so um we were told on December 1st that that we were told prior to December 1st the couple of weeks in advance when we had that meeting that Marlene was talking about the the zoom meeting we were told that December 1st we would find out what was going on and you know the jokes were made about SD loves to send something out at 5:30 on Friday afternoon um we got our email at 645 that said we did not um get the waiver on Tuesday I believe it was the SD issued a press release uh touting the success and included a list of districts that um did not were not granted the waiver among those districts um you know were I I there are quite a few I won't read them
043all but you know a lot of them we consider peers in our District reference group so you know beyond chesher you have glenberry grand B Madison Madison has some of the highest performance in Connecticut period um new Kanan which has had the highest smarter Balan performance for seven consecutive years in both content areas like I said SCS definitely has something to do with it they were transitional so they were rejected in part uh not in whole um but locally you know North Haven Southington um also West Westport Woodbridge all rejected and when I read you the list of the highest performing school systems in grade three reading you know this is exactly what we're looking to measure um oh excuse me that's the high needs list uh overall that's the special education list I I've
044come with it all but um you know you're talking about new Kanan Stonington Woodbridge Daran Madison chesher that's the and those people have um those are the few districts in Connecticut that outperform us um I would think that their reading program is pretty damn good we'll reach out to those other legislators and form a little coalition to I'll send you the information I've shared digitally and orally this evening I can follow up with you uh via email tomorrow Mr grippo um I just had a very surreal experience up here it's it's seldom that uh Dr harrian and I uh publicly ever agree on anything never mind have a low five um at the deis um and and that's to and I extended the allance yes and uh to to refuse to comply uh be the
045the statistics that you presented are so overwhelming that uh I don't know if we have another Choice um but that being said um maybe we'll be able to analyze that at some point but uh I did want to thank all of you uh for you know having full attendance this evening at our our legislative meeting uh it's been quite a few years since we've had all of you here which is great we're missing Jack won oh Jack B oh I've never met Jack so I forgot that's the new District the 83rd right yes I'm sorry Jack um uh but I at least the than that we have a four out of five and that's great um and and to to a lot of the work that we do at least as a non- educator right
04699% of the things that uh that we do on the board are related to state law uh not necessarily directive from the state department of Ed um a lot of it is the the department of Ed interprets the law that you pass so in my mind it is your duty to fix it that because a lot of the law that we get especially you know we we're going through policy we're like wow this law really is poorly written and there's a lot of perhaps purposefully I don't know uh done in a way that it's left to a uh a lot of interpretation right and so then that's when the department of Ed steps in and certainly interprets um and so it's really up to you to tighten this law up or repeal it entirely or
047do whatever you feel is needs to be done to um to correct these types of issues so I just uh again thank you for being here and listening to us and uh please fix it thanks thanks Adam yeah I I'll keep this short I do want to thank all you're showing up this evening because you besides education issues you have a lot of responsibilities other topics in Harford so we're we're we're not you know blind to that so uh um but we're here to help and I remember uh several years ago it might have been represent lyan or Samson or zus is uh I think we asked you know how can we help you and I heard tonight um getting some details from Dr s and what those unfunded mandates are that we believe should
048be going away so you have in time uh getting some more details what was presented um I think if is you're talking to other districts I know I know you all are uh and other boards if you can encourage them to write in testimony on these laws um upcoming discussions um it helps and I've been spending a lot of time last few years through cab encouraging board members how to do this and I think you're going to see this session many many more school districts board members chiming in one way shape or form not because um um they're against the intent here we all want to help kids succeed we we're not questioning that but it's the cart before the horse over and over again as you heard tonight so I think you'll see more
049of that and I think that will help you so it's not just a four ofie and chure bard of Ed you're gonna see more folks I would certainly be there um Amar up a great point you know on on the right to read um you know I wouldn't recommend abolishing alog together because even though school districts may be forming like treasure and listen world was trying to improve there should be some skin in the game for us to make sure that we're hitting the mark of the legislation so I couldn't tell you what that reward would be but some flexibility for school district with the measures that Dr Solen and Marina's team have given them that they actually asked for as part of legislation I I I don't know what was missed there um so
050I don't think we should pick and choose the laws to follow it's a it's a slippery slope I I am angry um but you know I I think about what are we example are we sending for our students right now we just pick and choose things that we don't like versus doing the hard work and the pay to fix them I think that's the path we're going down um so beyond that I'll cut it short because it is almost 8:30 and you've all had a long day as as a team here has had but um I I'd ask you know if Beyond tonight what else can we do to help what else can we do get the word out um and as as other do mentioned we'll definitely check in um but if I saw
051Mr Samson send an email tonight to the board before the meeting about the things you've worked on and try to that's very helpful um and I know some of you do follow up after a session and talk about what what uh what was done uh cable definitely write up summaries and things like that uh but uh we we'll definitely keep in touch um and we appreciate the fact that you're four of many but we respect what you do out there and thank you for being our voice so and and thank you for this tonight as well again thank you Mr II so for my first experience at a Board of Education meeting you bring statistics celebrating the accomplishments of young people and the state tells us it's no good it just I hope this isn't
052a vision of what the future is here and future meetings because it's infuriating to me that we can have such success and we have the statistics to back it up and then they tell you it's no good so I assume we have to if we follow along with the state law we have to write a new curriculum and follow a whole new path please help well thank you hey thank you for be for coming out and listening to our complaints but seriously I mean that this is infuriating to listen to and to be a part of um our people are doing a great job and would be a shame to have to spend a lot of time and effort to change you know fix something that's not broken thank you thank you I often have
053the opportunity to be the voice uh for to really intelligent and talented people then they always make me look better than I am um and I want to give you guys the opportunity Vin and Marlene to if there's anything you guys want to add I'm good very much appreciate your time and all of you as well on the board thank you Senator Samson I said enough although um I'll do something very unorthodox and I will share my cell phone even though I know this is out on uh public television too it's 860 5081 1969 I would encourage any of you guys to call me any people in town who want to call me i' be happy to talk about any of these issues or anything else thank you I didn't adequately say thank you to
054all of you for coming I do appreciate you and all that you do Senator hokel I just want to be very quick also and just say thank you for the invitation here um this is my first term I've only been through one legislative session so far um I'm not on any of the education committees unfortunately or the early childhood but I think people know in my my day job as somebody eloquently put it I do have um a lot of experience in this area um and I can tell you there are other districts that are just as outraged and I'm hearing them from our Educators our par Educators right up to the top um so it is something near and dear and as U my colleague said I think it's important to hear this so
055that we can make informed decisions going forward so thank you for the opportunity thank you you know where I stand um especially on this reading issue and please reach out I'm uh excited to work with all of you because I do sit on education and uh you need to speak up you need your voice you need to call me what works what's not working um I'm not going to give you my cell phone over the microphone but I will give it to you after because you can reach me I will likely be prank calling Senator Samson um you get a blocked number buddy you know it's gonna be me um thank you we have a great relationship with everyone on the board we're gonna have conversations all over the place but I do want to
056take one second to ask some questions if you can give me speed round answers that would be great do my best um uh the school climate survey when do you expect results um we already administered last year's we have the results already uh they should be available on our website what about because I know you guys started to how long does it take to do that because I know that um we just or the parent I'm sorry it was the parent survey or something that I did we did that we did that last spring I talking science surve AO help me I don't remember what I answered okay okay I'm just in my brain I'm conflating and we also have uh work that we're doing this year the pupil attitude about self and school survey
057that our students have been uh answering that was this fall uh about a month ago probably in my mind everything was a month ago and yeah so that'll be reviewed in January I get that but um yeah uh if you wouldn't mind um I'll try to search for them for all results on the website but I might be reaching out to you for more um you know it's we come here so that you guys can tell us what you want from the budget I get that um but I am also a Chester parent and I am a treasure taxpayer and so I'm going to take my two seconds to let you know what I want from your budget I think that we really need to work hard to implement more programs regarding Sports hazing bullying
058how our student body relates to one another the simple Act of being nice and I think that there should be more um consequence for children who do not behave nice who engage in bullying and to engage in hazing I don't have to tell the members of the board that there have been some recent concerns in that regard and additionally uh I see them every day and I hear from parents constantly about the bullying here in chesher I understand that federal law kind of hamstrings everybody I get that so let's do more let's do more in talking about it with our kids let's do more in implementing programs my kid went to the leadership program and it was great but it was also fun for him and he got to play games I'm not sure that
059the programs that are meant to end bullying are ending bullying that's why I want to look at that student climate survey and and I could talk more about this privately because I don't want to out certain students but the lgbtq issues that are happening in our school and the way certain children talk to other children because of their sexual orientation if you knew what was said in those schools you would be filled with as much rage as I am now so I'm going to ask Senator Samson said that budget is a list of priorities if we're going to continue to put our money where our mouth is and do what we feel our priorities on the state level I ask as a parent as a taxpayer and as a legislator that the school budgets there
060is plenty of money to ensure that there is the proper training and the proper caring of children in your schools that's all I have to say about that thank you sure all right I guess my closing points would be excess cost um you know we talked about how critical that is but I think you know becomes more critical I appreciate the work that the legislature did during the budget to infuse significantly more funding into the educational cost sharing Grant um Chesters as a result our our ECS funding went up about $100,000 but it's been flat at about $9 million for I want to say like 20 years um and you know as we know costs have gone up over the last 20 years uh I I want to be fair and indicate that the SD
061has offered a a meeting to discuss the waiver um uh as a followup um and so I'm sure we will be taking advantage of that can can we join you in that um I don't know that that's necessary at this point uh but I I know I appreciate where that question is coming from and the um NeverEnding support that you will provide um are you afraid we may say something no I'm not afraid you know I I think that there are certain conversations I'd like to have privately you know with them um and I you know because this isn't necessarily about placing blame or anything like that um we're looking to resolve uh the situation and um we're going to exhaust those those different paths to do so um and again I want to join
062everybody here in expressing my gratitude for you spending the last two hours with us and as I think Sam said you know uh the opportunity to exchange and dialogue um in a respectful way is is really valuable in this day and age in particular but meaningful for us uh personally and professionally so thank you so much for your time um and with that I guess I'll take a motion to adjourn the meeting Miss Rosenberg do a second Mr perini all in favor that's that's unanimous you guys don't have to vote we're not used to that