Policy Committee 11-8-23

001Mr grippo here Mr White here M Rosenberg here Mr chairman you have a quorum thank you I'll rise for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all a Special Touch for at home viewers de Devon did the Pledge just so you know excellent my internet is terrible can anyone hear me yeah yeah we can hear you okay pull up the agenda Adam and yeah please okay uh so I'll present on screen the agenda so everybody can see where we are uh for today can you guys see that okay yes can you increase it just slightly Jeff yeah oh you know what um before we We Begin uh firstly Jeff is

002there anyone from the audience who wanted to uh add any comment for this evening no I'm sorry I skipped over that part P up the agenda okay no problem um secondly um that second that policy that uh Tony sent um so um Sam and Tim uh uh Tony sent over a policy that he thought that we should look at and I was wondering ing if you'd you'd consider add adding it to the agenda for this evening as part of our uh discussion um and I can't like my computer's not working um except for my voice I guess um for was it Jeff was it uh an Ethics yes bylaw board code of conduct um I can stop I'll add it on Jeff I'll add it on Jeff while you guys get started uh okay um

003but you know just as a protocol the the or the committee has to amend the agenda if you're okay with that yeah it's I'm fine with it I mean I haven't seen it but fine with discussing it or looking at it yeah it's just conversation we couldn't uh I guess you we wouldn't really be taking action on it but it's just a review of the policy um it's uh VI number 9271 called code of ethics I can share that on the screen if you want to take a very quick look here so this is right if you guys or obviously anybody else who might be watching wanted to ever look up our policies bylaws Etc if you go to the treer public schools website under Board of Ed they'll say online policy manual and you

004know when you log on you'll see the different categories or you can do the search up here um but this is the policy itself that um was just proposed to take a look at um so well I'll I'll make the motion then I'll just ask the question um so um move that uh we add policy n or bylaw [Music] 9271 yes to item number four of the agenda for discussion is there a second Sam is that a is that a is that a second okay all right so um all right so we're in discussion um so uh so Jeff do we do we have an Ethics policy I would think that we would but it's not a policy it's only bylaws for code of conducts for the code of conduct for the board because that's

005what Tony reference email okay when did he send the email he just sent it to Adam and I about an hour ago maybe like an hour ago yeah okay that's why yeah so I was like it wasn't on the agenda so I was like well we can I can put it up to you guys to add it to the agenda if you don't want it to then we don't have to you know can I just can I just request we put it at the end of the agenda and we see how long we've been here first that that's fair enough yeah okay we'll move it to um so I'll uh amend my motion to move it is number four you're good Adam okay um I present back to the agenda again you'll see where Carol

006added it here under discussion at the very end of the oh perfect okay all right so then um is there any other comment on the motion seeing none um all in favor two three all right unanimous fantastic all right Jeff move on okay all right so um this first one is really pretty straightforward following up on the discussion you know what I'm going to sharing a tab I'm going to share the screen so when my popups come up you'll be able to see what they are so can you see the agenda okay yes okay so the first uh I was 21 32 uh if you recall we changed Marlene's title to assistant superintendent so this uh change only strikes for instructional services from the from the language in here um the only thing that I

007would me amend on top of that is down here oh I do have editorial rights where it says because I think everything up here uh is straightforward and it's only that one um redaction but down here says the Board of Education will act upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools with regard to hiring of an assistant superintendent in carrying out his or her duties the assistant superintendent shall be guided by the following regulations so back in April 2020 it was supposed to be assistant superintendent but I think for the point of clarity because it says assistant superintendent here and Chief Operating Officer here I would say you know s recommendation of the superintend of schools with the regard to hiring of uh executive level central office leadership that way it covers Chief Operating Officer and

008assistant superintendent does that does that make more sense does to me does that have a question is that um that's a question okay so I guess at this point the only two um positions that you would basically Define as executive would be the COO and now the assistant super so this does this then incorporate any future positions that you might develop that our executive well if you develop another position in central office leadership that's outside of the um bargaining unit I would have to go through Personnel committee and we'd have to create that and then we could add that position into this policy so we'd have to amend this policy yeah we're creating a new position yes but the board policy already requires you know if we're creating a new position that needs board approval

009anyway all right so the only two positions really in executive currently are those two the other I mean didn't you just create a position for everything else is in the bargaining unit in the okay cap bargaining unit thank you sure do we want to go on and try and um you know do everything at the end I think that's what we've typically done or we can do one by one if you prefer yeah um let's let's just keep going for now okay so if there are any more questions on that one I want to um welcome our two handsome distinguished guests with us this evening uh our director of Transportation Luther Miller and Vin massana Chief Operating officers no stranger to the program um as we're going to try and walk through some questions uh

010that we had about the transportation policy if you recall back in September I believe it was uh maybe even less spring I don't know time's kind of blooding but we had a a really good conversation about the transportation policy and we said at that time we want to you know kind of come back and revisit these things and so uh I you know with Adam's blessing invited these guys back to try and walk through uh the policy on Transportation so that policy is 3541 School District Operations Transportation policy um and I'm just going to scroll through here to the places yeah why you doing that I think L needs to screw over a little bit that May of the picture so um I'll just add a little bit of commentary this this policy that um

011you know we have transportation it's a very very long policy and you know Luther and I have spent some time actually the last couple of years looking at the policy this policy guides a lot of our decision decision making around parent requests for either adding a stop or you know making accommodation to change a route and so this policy does come into play it's actually used quite a bit it is posted on the transportation page of our website um so there are a few things that we think are important that um we wanted to discuss and we do have several recommendations first one that Jeff is highlighting has to do with eligibility for school transportation and and this is longstanding you know the age of five to 21 uh 21 you know being really on

012the outside applies basically to special education students right um the age of five still holds true even though there's been a change to the kindergarten age but five through 22 actually is the years in which we need to provide transportation so we would suggest changing 21 to well I discussed to Luther earlier you unfortunately we kind of mixed up our schedules we had a couple of conflicts but the um we're just going to change this the school AED child uh or duly enrolled in U kindergarten board EDS early intervention um we I I think we need to change this to just be more uh broad because not only do we have kindergarten um the you know the transition probably Smart Start Smart Start are we providing transportation to Smart Start we are to the prek

013special right [Music] speci right we're not requiring we're not providing transportation to the transition program so what I would say here is that the student uh shall be a schoolage child uh duly enrolled in kindergarten board's early intervention Center um but not being a graduate of treasure High School whatever all the way through legally excluded from school so we're just changing to not be so prescriptive on the years but just School AG child this is a big adjustment Luther V you guys want to talk about this yeah so what essentially happened is um when we had half day kindergarten and it was all at at at for many years we would provide transportation to those kindergarten students when we went to full dayk several years ago now we have this disparity in our policy where

014a kindergarten student has a half mile first through six grade has one mile um we would like to change this to K through six shall be one mile um that would make this very consistent for families too some will have a kindergartener and a second grader you know we would theoretically have to have two different you know buses for those children and it creates a lot of conflict you know with families who have a kindergartener what we do we rarely go to one mile in elementary I mean our our typical walking distance is well below the one mile so we'd like to change the policy to read that kindergarten through grade six shall not be required to work further than a mile um you know the mile actually from some surveys we did is very

015competitive there we don't find anybody that does a half a mile and some districts are at a mile and a half starting in like grade five so we wouldn't want to change grades seven through 12 we'll leave those at a mile and a half you know many districts are at 2 miles at those grades we don't want to change that we think just making kindergarten a mile solves the The Dilemma that we have occasionally um with students that have multiple children in those grades I don't know if there's anything you wanted to add no that that sums it up the the issue is is where where we have a student who's whatever grade three who's considered a walker and then they have a sibling who's now a kindergartener Norton it's happened a number of times

016in the Avon Boulevard area um and they their kindergarten sibling is eligible for transportation but their third grade uh s is not so it creates a bit of a conflict are there any questions on that component before we keep going go ahead Sam and you I hope you don't mind me jumping in I know you're a little spotty on the connection go for it okay Sam so I just want to Luther in those situations what is what is the next step then so so we have what's called an available seat petition so a the let's excuse first grader who is in the considered a walker can apply for a seat on the bus and the bus will be at the mile Mark away from the school so now the kindergartener will be able to walk

017within that half mile to that bus stop but walking away from the school and the first grader will do the same if we have room on the bus there's not room on the bus we can't even offer that first grader a seat so again the kindergarten would have a bus but the first greater one but if [Music] we yeah but that's if they live within that area right within the walking area to begin with it's all within the walking area that's where the big conflict becomes I this doesn't H this doesn't happen often when we have this conflict but way we do the policy works against us and and we have a habit of working with families but the policy just doesn't make sense anymore because we don't have just kindergarten students not all yeah

018the the I guess the flip logical question is well what if we just reduce the walking distance to a half mile for all K1 or K2 you run into the same problem then though where siblings in the house have different rules for walking and it gets really confusing and frustrating for parents um the other thing that happens obviously if you extend the or you shorten the walking distance for all kids not just for one building you're doing it districtwide and you're substantially increasing the number of kids who were taking buses which substantially increases our costs and if we can even get drivers yeah I I don't think we need to do that sir well I'm just saying this is the flip side of the AR I'm not suggesting we do that I think the suggestion

019to go to a mile for all kids makes sense and the kids who go to Darcy we're not having you know the other reality is we're not going to have a kindergarten walk up that road to Darcy that's just not going to happen even if you live within a half mile so there are other parts that you'll see in the policy that kind of address that no NOS to Darcy we have a student that next to Darcy and they're still being picked up no one walks on water yeah that's why the safety portion of the policy would protect a student from walking you know a mile we have that touch on that in this conversation can you add a question also yeah um when do you uh first question when do you propos starting this

020I I assume it would not be like December 1st or whenever this would be next September yeah next yeah I mean the routes is set for this year Y and if anybody moves in where this situation comes up we we'll keep it under this policy so it's really the next school year in a in a typical year I mean have you looked at the total numbers of families that are affected by this say over the last three years even if you haven't looked at the actual numbers could you just I could give numbers but from my experience with with running into this it has happened more than you think where you know there's a kindergarten student with an older sibling and one is it's happened a number of times at Norton at the Long Hill

021Avon Boulevard area that's walking area yeah no I get it I understand then it it doesn't you halfway up that neighborhood all of a sudden kindergarteners are eligible but their siblings are not it's it's been a problem up in that area a couple of times it's been a little bit of a problem in Gulu I can think of twice I can't remember it all happening in Chapman and maybe once the Highland with d in dorton it has happened so so what we're talking about here is the first reading of three readings I mean we've mentioned this before I'm not sure where we stand in the I didn't see that on the agenda where do we stand in the process on this this is the first me the first okay so we discussed it a year

022ago but this is the first time we've got okay so I'll just say I mean I I'm generally open to it I also you know taking away Services is not something that people generally like um but it also only affects one year and so um I mean if it's not provided to people when they when they start kindergarten you know if it's their first child it may not have any impact on them if it's a second or third child going through then they're going to be they might think they're going to have the bus um but there's the other thing Tim that they don't like now that's when my kindergarten gets on the bus but I can't automatically put my second grader on the bus that's stupid well it's like book full they get very

023frustrated by that and you know you're filling out an available seat petition so um to just point out that it's not all you know a warm and fuzzy situation right now either so you know the less are the evils I appreciate what you're saying about you know if this is just the way it is from the beginning like it is in a lot of surrounding without further distance then it's it's not the hardship anymore especially if we maintain it through the rest of this year for people yeah there's there's no ex I mean it's expected but when the expectation has gone away and it's only a one-year thing it's for the kindergarten um I mean I'm I'm generally open to the idea I think I I'm always going to be happy to find things where

024administratively work can be simplified um yeah that's I think that's all I have for right now all right we we have more on this policy unless you guys want is there anything else on that component right then I'll pop up the other policy the rest of the policy we go through um this obviously would change if you know we change that the the bell time I I put some things in here that are kind of on my own the wish list that because of uh this when was this policy last updated did they say it was 2008 it was a while ago so I I see so you're gonna see some things that are kind of a wish list thing for me things that I talk about uh as it relat 200 2002 so it's

025been a while but I I I just I I see that our bell times are in conflict with our present day requirement specifically because of traffic patterns but that I wouldn't really consider that necessarily a policy change yeah I mean I just to just to generalize so the policy committee members know so you would add a few minutes more between correct the runs so that we don't are we don't to what the schedule times and I I think that's something that you know when we consolidate schools and we we have to look at that you know I think that's going to be a real consideration it'll be nice to take one run out of the equation um some flexibility there I think with the the upcoming opening of two new schools would be really the

026time to look at this in our then think the next section A yeah this is hazardous walking area and our walking room this was kind of what that the last meeting that we were talking about with the family from D um this kind of like that section that was impacted um so I would make just really one General recommendation here because this portion of the policy is very very detailed and and really not that helpful in some cases so one of that hazards Jeff if you could just scroll back up so item two there the geometry and character of The Walking area or walking R so what this is saying is you know what we're trying to identify what are the factors to determine if a walking area or walking route is hazardous so the

027geometry and character of The Walking area or walking route I would end it right there because those following factors are generally what creates is creates consternation so the existing of sidewalks generally parallel to the road or roads along the walking area the fact that we don't have a sidewalk doesn't make it hazardous and when you read that you might think that well not a sidewalk then it's hazardous and that is absolutely not the case in fact most of Chester does not have sidewalks and the routes are and the walking distances are safe they are not as it is so what I would do in this section is I would leave number two and eliminate ABC I would leave the first sentence in number three and eliminate the rest of that I would leave number four

028and eliminate ABCD beneath that and if you keep scrolling I want to point out that as you get to one more item okay so BCD so not that be c those are sub bullets B is the is the critical thing if the superintendent or designated determines that a walking area or walking route is hazardous Transportation accommodations we provideed so what we do when we when we set our routs at the beginning of the year which is you know done internally you know Luther takes the lead on doing that and we do base our routes generally on where they were previous year even though we we move stops so that essentially loate so we determine whether or not it's hazardous but if there's a question or an accommodation petition is filed we take that petition and

029we circulate it to the traffic division of the police department the public works department I get a copy who else do we include from we Public Works um PD public Public Works principles of each School Minnie gets gets it the manager gets one um so it's it's a pretty broad broad base of so we do have a process that encompasses you know a review that takes all those factors into consideration but it's just a level of detail that I don't think it's necessary it's really not that helpful for the most part um before or okay so before we go on to the next section Sam you have a question I guess my question becomes then what makes it hazardous because it doesn't sound like you have a clear definition of that which makes it subjective

030given this process that you just outlined yeah I mean there is there is subjectivity to it for sure and you know I I believe that we are very good judges of safety we we would never you know put a route or a child on a route or in a walking area where they it's not safe but the additional language creates umus you know conflict and confusion you know with parents that really want you know to have a stop you know at their home when you know the rout is is perfectly safe or the stop is perfectly safe and I think this speak a liit to question because it's it's a good question yeah like how do you know and I think in a lot of the cases is we were saying about um soliciting feedback

031from other people it's like the police help us with that decision as those public works like they're familiar with the road conditions in that area so I think we don't rely on ourselves or any one person to say that this is an appropriate walking location or not it's a collaborative effort with experts in the area between our transportation people and law enforcement and um and public work and we'll also we get an an accommodation petition uh we'll go out we'll actually look at the site I typically will take pictures it will get discussed um um and those pictures actually what we sent to the police public works so because of that sub it can be subjective um we know we do get get outside opinions on the uh on the request you know I I

032know they're not going to be this has to go to multiple readings so there's not a decision that's going to be made tonight anyway but I'm just thinking that it might be helpful to actually bring some examples to the next policy meeting so you know this is the process we follow um you know I wish there was a way that I could just adjust all that sublanguage so that it's uh it's black and white and the problem is it's never black and white you know there is subjectivity and it can be interpreted multiple ways so you know my my proposed solution is well take all those sub bullets out and I guess that creates a different problem doesn't necessarily solve the problem but you know maybe it's now it's too neous I understand I agree

033Vin I mean I liked something to be as explicit as possible and if you're saying that there's um a process of you know approval after somebody requests um like Luther said then I don't know if maybe it's best to just put that there yeah I don't know that's I was thinking that too that you know what it lacks even when you pull it out you pull out the the part that's that's uh Vue but you don't replace it with the steps taken to ensure a which you know we could draft some language stand put in there um to to get to that point that that's a good point because whenever an accommodation comes in I will typically contact the parent and tell them what we're doing and and to let them know that it's actually

034out of my hands that we're going to be looking for outside uh feedback to determine whether the question will be approved or not so yeah I like that line Luther you know that way puts a little for a little piece of mine as a parent that there is a process that we will will at least honor the request and go through the process um yeah I think that line that talks about the superintendent or his designate is that that I think is supposed to cover the police public works but that in itself is vague it's probably not enough so to give parents the opportunity to know that there will be a committee of people looking at yeah I I mean I read that line superintendent dese is a Singleton not a committee or that there's

035even a process yes so we could look we could we could next examples too so you guys can see if we could clean up the language Andor you know valuate the process um so if I could just if I could comment real quick um it it's to me it doesn't seem like this one is ready first reading because normally we'll have strikeouts and and edits already in there for us to sort of uh focus on and that doesn't seem like that's the case this one especially since there's been so much scrutiny uh by parents already on this I think that um you know you guys should have you know one that's kind of ready go and then you know we pick apart the words and and either add or subtract from from your suggested edits

036I so if we could just final like keep going through for any other feedback and then we can bring it back for first reading and then Adam when you give the blessing here at the end of the first readings then we'll just take this one out of the on that you move forward right okay okay and I'm gonna I'm gonna uh I cut out for a minute I'm gonna see if I can fix this connection I'll be right back okay all right thanks yeah um this is this is just to this number two talks about publishing the routes in the newspaper we don't do that anymore you know we're doing it electronically using par parent Square we we do put an ad in the paper to say right you could find the routes yep um

037yeah there is an there is an ad it goes into the paper about uh 10 days before the start of school that suggests going to either power going to Power School to find your student's assignment and we asked that they go they they check the parents check multiple times because changes keep occurring as close check as close to the start of school as possible uh but we do send uh a parent Square email out with the information for every student and then power school can be checked at any given time and so we said that at uh to three papers Waterbury Mar and the gure AR by so word SM that for the first reading next time um for these guys information I know you know we're pursuing in the State uh the statute is

038permitting drivers to use GPS and we're moving in a direction where soon parents should have access to where kids are on the bus VI yes right it's called parent tracking they should be able to track the bus as it's approaching their stop they can even set it up on their phone so it'll notify them when I you know whatever two minutes away one minute away um we've purchased a new routing system and map mapping system that will allow that to happen once the buses are outfitted then parents we should be able to offer that service and it's specific to the bus not let your child sell right specific to the bus um yeah um this is a modification we have 30 school days to respond to a petition um for for uh I'm just suggesting

039it's 30 school days rather than 30 days because you know we only work during this since we are getting feedback from others um I suggest we use the 30 school days which is when we're in session now weekend yeah we'll we'll review that internally too for consideration of the next meeting um yeah that's a little that's not yeah we already have that approved line five where it says intended it's it where I really want to put in there where it starts buses cannot leave the district and any so what occurs with our busing when picking students up that are on the edges of the district we end up having often to go into other towns and a good example w road if we pick up we have a couple of students that you can take

040a giant step and you're in wenford we pick them up we have to then travel into Wallingford and the only location to turn a a big bus around there actually a gaylord in their um their B field right and we've actually had an accident twice out there and what happens when an accident occurs the uh police must be called before that bus can move they have to sign off on it when we're out of District we have to call the out of District uh police the district that occurred in the police department so we would need to call Wallingford or in Prospect we have to call Prospect or in W Waterberry in waterburry and we are subject to their their police showing up and it has happened probably a half a dozen times over the

041last five years and the delays are significant one delay was 200 hours and all it was was the uh the crossover mirrors which are the mirrors hang out the sides hit a mailbox that was it and it took two hours for the police to show up so this this allows us to keep control inside the district so that's one of my suggestions is that that any any student living in an area that would require the bus to leave the district would be required to go to the miror stock so let's um identify what that looks like they would still not be outside of a mile from the nearest oh almost never right so let's if we could identify some examples to wind wind Court uh is the farthest location out off of w Waterberry Road

042that we can get a bus to turn around in in order to stay in the district the past winter road is maybe I maybe a quarter mile before you're outside of the the Chester District but there's nowhere for that for a big bus to turn around um yeah but what I'm saying we can show them like visually yeah Mis no so again we would just change this the school age the you know transporting kids um uh section eight responsibilities for uh parents there can be some contradictions in here between this and Section 8 the one that we talked about cleaning up the language for so when we clean that up we can um illustrate where the impact is on this U this bullet as well this was that's it yeah so you know we we

043definitely appreciate your feedback on this and for the next meeting as you were saying Adam will come with it being up based on that feedback uh just kind of start fres and take a take a hard look at where to go from there and if you have any questions you can email me and I'll try to answer them and get them back to you so at least the copy we have now has the highlighted sections you're thinking about changing and then we can uh or whoever's on this board uh this subcommittee next time uh can look at the highlighted uh bits and formulate their questions okay I'm assuming Carol will do the cleanup on yeah we'll we'll do the clean up yeah probably then I kind of word Smith it a little bit to make

044sure that it accurately reflects what you guys are looking for okay uh thank you J thank you appreciate it uh thank you so much any well before I let you guys go Sam's got the thumbs up and nobody's got any other questions for Luther before R up okay thank you sir than you SE thanks than you very much uh the next couple have to deal with Elementary kindergarten start Aid um this is pretty straightforward where we're looking at you know a policy that shifts from entrance um in January to September and I know that you three are no stranger to things like uh the state adopting and then changing and then changing again and um you may have seen in the news there's a lot of consternation about not so much the developmental shift you

045know but how this was facilitated and everything I I wouldn't be shocked if the legislature takes this up again and makes another adjustment but uh for the time being we're looking at and I know again like we've all talked about on numerous occasions regardless of what our policy says we have to F follow state law first and foremost and uh so yes I think you know we change this and update it to try and be as as contemporary as possible but um we're gonna always have to defa to whatever the state laws at the time and you know don't be shocked if we're visiting this one again in the not too distant future but um as I was saying you know this is uh kindergarten you District shall be open to Children five years of

046age and over who reach age five out before the first day of January that has been changed to September um and for the time being they can petition to uh be included in the kindergarten class uh so that you know will be that language here well that's for from the the law too so the this is the update here and then I don't think there were any other changes we were looking to make Jeff can you go back the way I read it doesn't make sense those born between September and January four years prior yeah so if you were born between September and January if you're four years um prior to the start of the upcoming school year four years old yeah four years old yeah it's four years prior to what I think it

047should say four years old probably yeah prior to the start of the so it's only those students that are born September to January yep are eligible to be considered for kindergarten with written requests I was initially thinking of writing the years but the years change under year so I'm sorry not that language I'm just G I'll say it one more time and if I'm not making sense we'll skip it but um I think the wording would probably be those born between September and January comma four years old prior to the start of the upcoming school year okay you could say those born between September and January who are four years old thank you Vinnie that that makes sense yeah leave it to the business guy to come up with some English December and January who

048are four years old are eligible to get rid of everything you know except for the words are elig four years old at start of the upcoming school year are elig to consider the words I I yeah I like the word old in there sure that reads that makes more sense yeah okay Jeff was there something in the the language I read that also requires a screener not just to go through you only am I reading that wrong yeah so that screener hasn't been determined yet that's there hasn't been State guidance for that and there isn't going to be um that they can initiate that process they still have to um considered for admission with written request I think that considered for admission is the part that indicates it's not a uh not a given but

049you will be considered and in that process we will have a screener for the student um I I know some districts uh have said yeah if you just asked you're in but that's not what their policy says necessarily but others have no idea what they're going to do other and really aren't even looking yet others like us are in the process of reviewing a variety of different uh in instruments or tools U or processes to determine if the child uh is appropriate for kindergarten it's just really the implementation of this hasn't been really clear in terms of how they want to do it and that's why I think it's it's pretty likely to change based on a lot of negative feedback from school systems and uh Early Childhood Early Child Care centers and stuff you

050know that's what kind of prompted our transition program that we adopted at the last meeting and there's been some good uh interest in that um very much appreciated by a number of parents we put the letter out and we've had over 25 people already uh express interest so um we're off to a good start there but we don't I think we're just saying that You' be considered but I couldn't even at this time tell you what that will look like I don't know if maybe we should put something in there that outlines that it should the consideration maybe it's getting too much into the weeds the consideration has to take into consider the developmentally appropriateness of I don't know I I worry because obviously you know you know this it is difficult to assess a

051child that age difficult to assess a child that age but it's not fair to assess a child that age if I were to do it tomorrow you know we're going to assess you on November 9th for kindergarten eligability next year you're four there's so much development that occurs in that window we're trying to figure out an equitable way to make those determinations I don't want to reject you on November 9th and come to find out that you know you were very appropriate on June 9th so you know that's what we're trying to work through um the data says you're more than likely not appropriate which is why the the start date got moved to September in the first place but we want to make sure we have a well reasoned method in place to do

052that evaluation which we certainly don't at this time yeah it just seems so contradicting because in at the end of the day you can't exclude either well we could say that you're not eligible um if you're born between if you're not five we could technically through the screening process say you're not ready for kindergarten yet and um that I believe that we're required to have an appeal process even for that um but ultimately we could say no you're not kindergarten ready you're going to have to either go to preschool or to our transition program this year um it like I said it wasn't really thought out how that would when the legislation passed so they yeah so that leads to a whole bunch of questions like so what's the criteria for uh saying no and

053then are we responsible for making sure that that child is what what so you say that someone isn't uh a child who's less than five right not isn't ready for kindergarten but then the criteria only becomes that you're five when you hit kindergarten is that essentially what we're talking like there is some sort of Baseline that you're looking for that's not exactly spelled out but then when you hit five then it doesn't matter essentially is what it is um it is a little weird you know that we're defining admission criteria for kids less than five but if you're five you could take the same sort of assessment not being ready but you're five so you're in right I think that's what I hear you saying right I mean that's you know many many years ago

054when I was Cher High School principal and we had a very rigorous exam to get into an accelerated course and nobody could pass it and I asked the department chair well give it to the kids in the class can they pass it and the answer was no there too so what good is that assessment so we started to be a lot more flexible about who we led into the class and you know I don't know if the same thing will happen here or what but um this is a conundrum that was was put on school systems that we're doing our best to try and resolve and like they said I don't I'm not going to be surprised if it if it changes again through the next session so I guess the question then is is

055there a criteria that's standard for that under five to assess is that when you say developmentally appropriate has there been training and some sort of universal agreement of to as to what that looks like or is there no such thing no there there definitely not Universal agreement um you know in terms of Developmental expect ations for Early Childhood we've got plenty of experts that are well grounded in those and those are the people were turning to to say all right so what sort of screener would be appropriate in this case so that's what we're working through now we don't anticipate having that resolved until m a winter and we're also listening to our PE and what are other school systems reviewing so this is really a Statewide challenge that we're all working through so it

056seems like then right now we should just more consider the letter of the law and not all of the spaces between the letters well that's what I'm proposing in the policy okay fair enough and we can always come back and modify it if the law doesn't change or if it does change and we need to change it again I'm fine with that okay so the next yeah any other com is there more to that one or is there are there any other comments no that was it and the next one falls into the same boat actually ages of tenant um didn't have yeah it's it's just the same third sentence yeah we're changing it to you know um this one we changed to 5 H before the first day of September um and then under

057this one changes to 22 definely this pretty much came from caves suggested language then yeah this is uh this is the policy that we had initially designed from I don't know whenever we adopted this 96 it hasn't really changed except for the fact that it's now five and 22 five September in 22 right the 22 thing is an interpretation through the courts it said the law says age 21 but the courts have declared that to be completion of 21 and we in Connecticut have gone further to say you know if you turn 22 in this Academic Year you can get through the end of the year Academic Year so and I you know frankly I feel like a lot of that is the state services for students for people with uh life skill needs isn't

058as robust as what local districts are providing so it's good for those people it's you know it's fixing the problem extending the services at the local level and we so superintendent have said great all the money that you're not spending at the state level to provide services for individuals with these needs why don't you share that back with local school systems so that we can afford to cover the additional year and a half that you put on and uh we haven't heard back so V is downstairs holding is most of the day waiting for that call to in it's not any day any day any day but this mostly impacts and it or extends the idea eligibility then yeah I mean it's it's up through 22 now and it's um it's that tweak on the

059front end now too this is frankly this is something that we didn't catch for the 22 the age of attendance till we looked at it this one this time around any other comments okay so the next one organization of instruction this is just a daa policy that we had um where we say this is from 1997 you know then was talk about the fact that uh you know back at that time Darcy housed all of our kindergarten students now we're saying elementary schools should consist eight excuse me grades K through six Middle School 7 8 9 12 there house and here we're saying preschool Comm of kindergarten and the uh stepen early August early intervention Center and then H will um serve to provide Alternative High School Services because it's not exclusively special at this

060is an interesting one Jeff because I feel as though it restricts us from changing up the delivery model if we need to later on uh and I specifically I'm speaking to for example most standards are bundled K5 so if we wish to create our elementary schools just K5 this then restricts it you know yeah it it's a fair question um the way the policy is written I think you know when we were back in the day pitching 6 through eight Middle School I think we would anticipate just changing the board policy um the it it is I mean Carol and I could look into it to see if we're even legally required to have it this policy I'm not even sure what it solves you're what it who does this serve that's exactly my question

061so I don't know if it's required or not um I do know mean you know I'm I'm thinking about Wallingford they I don't think they have this on their you know policy list because they've changed their delivery model several times right yeah they went from k6 to K2 three yeah three or K5 to k234 that was that was probably it feels like 10 years ago but probably they made some changes but anyway so you know maybe what we could do is um agree to these changes but simultaneously look at whether or not this is required and we can pick that up at the next meeting yeah I I just don't want it to limit us for you know for any other ideas that may come down the road if we take a look I don't

062know hypothetically at phase two of you know modernization and again I you know I'm not really sure who this benefits like most people know what's out there uh I I don't think I heard uh one time the mention of this policy and discussion of any kind of six R middle school so and it's just a matter of if there's no state law uh stopping us then this is a policy that uh we must have constructed at some point and can change whatever we wish sounds like to coincide with whatever we're doing yeah yeah I'm I don't think we're required to have it I just want to double check that like I don't think anyone ever came up to a Podium and went the board policy says you can't have a you know a six to8

063middle school because it's not in the policy you know I don't think that's that happened once and you definitely were there for plenty of those convers that's one argument I never heard I never heard the 6130 drop that's right yeah no one pulled that one out and started you know shaking it yeah handing it out to us yeah yeah I would be very happy if they could could do that but this this allows them to do that we put restrictions on ourselves right don't want tie our own hands if we don't have to so we'll look into that whether or not it's required and there all right the last item I think no two items under this section this is uh an interesting one this is the status level of sports programs so uh I'm

064sure you recall the folks expressing interest in having a fencing program um it was different I guess when we had the co-op expression of for hockey because we kind of already had hockey but we didn't um and we we had kids in Co-op and we do fully fund that uh as a a program now but I think it's it puts us in a difficult bind as a board as an organization where we're making decisions about adding athletic programs based on the number of people or how many letters we get uh you things like that and so the suggestion Adam I think you mentioned at the last board meeting you know is there some sort of policy we can look at well Carol and I try to do some homework and we could only really find

065one um policy around this and it was uh designed by region five Amity and this is you know what their um Carol is this in your trash I did hear Carol grown yeah next door so I think we're okay now this is board member orientation so she's GNA pop in the right link that one wasn't the right for the next one yeah let me see if this I this is yeah so do you guys mind indulging us we'll jump to the next one while we fix that link yeah that's fine all right all right so new board member orientation um this one my only recommendation would be here um that we don't provide a uh copy we could simply say um electronic access um but you know given the fact that we are going to

066have some transition uh thought you know we can just update this one it's pretty straightforward like here it does talk about candidates placed on a mailing list to receive other I will be honest that we had not done that I think this is it does put a lot of hus on the district to proactively seek candidates and it says here that orientation of new get at the outside set of their candidacy and follow through each step of the election process um I think this language here is a little challenging I wanted to discuss with you Carol I looked at it Sam you have your hand up that was Tim but I I will follow up with whatever Tim yeah so I'm just going back to the first time that I ran for Town Council and

067I thought the process that at that time Michael milone used made sense he basically after people were I mean generally candidates come in from the two major parties right there can be others and you could you could play with it to some extent but what he did was after the two major parties had um produced their slates probably ear so that happens in Late July probably in early August he invited everyone in at least all the new candid all candidates including incumbents and said' look these are basically this is this is an idea of what's happening this is an idea of what does happen and the one ground rule he set and I thought it was perfectly reasonable he said I have nine bosses already so you have seven bosses Jeff he said I cannot

068report to 18 bosses it doesn't from his perspective it didn't work um and so he simply requested that all non-incumbents work through um work through incumbents presumably in their own party for various issues that come up just funnel it through funnel it through them and then he had a process in place where it made more sense to be following up and informing everybody about different meetings or whatever it might be I think you could probably pull together a packet at the beginning of the campaign and say uh this is the this is the lay of the land um and generally if it's a question about yourself and how you relate to the school system come to me otherwise we need to figure out a different way to make this work because I can't have 14

069or and you I guess you'd have 10 different boss instead of or 11 instead of seven um he didn't he didn't spend time following up with non-incumbents um between August and November but the reality like you said is it could be for beyond for it could be 19 18 whatever based on how many people are actually running you know um no not I mean what I'm suggesting is not any sort of clear-cut situation I mean yesterday we had a right-in campaign and most years we end up having somebody as a right in it seems like um but I think to a certain extent I feel like it would be more manageable if you did something like that and you I'm open to whatever but I think something along those lines could work and also be

070helpful and productive for having a good campaign where people have an understanding of some of the stuff that's happening yeah I think that makes sense s question yeah that whole paragraph makes me a little uneasy because it looks as if you're stepping into prior to the candidate winning the role that you're stepping into some sort of political you know I I just there's got to be a separation here I like the on boarding process after they've been elected I think that's a nice touch are you doing stuff prior to election you know what I mean I think that's why I tried to modify this here that um orientation will begin at the outside of the follow through each step the election process prior elections beginning as soon as the individual candy is practically practically known

071the candidates will be offered from the board a brief overview of the ches public school system so what I could do is email the um you know the party leads and say hey can you distribute this to your well you know Vin Marlene and I can meet with these people or just me or whatever for an hour uh offer a couple of different dates that the people that are running for the board can actually and I I don't think that's a bad idea in the sense that you know like Tim has said before we want to try and make these meetings more accessible for people and I don't think it's a bad idea for them to meet with me to hear like here's what our board members actually do you know this right like you

072know I I don't know if that point they're going to want to pull themselves out but you know you know there are committees you know that you know this is kind of what the board and the school system is about um and provide some you know things like our um our goals our you know complex thinking social emotional learning the performance standards the vision of The Graduate that you know some overviews of some things maybe some data if they have questions or policy questions but after that like I think you're pretty much done like We'll add you to the distribution list because we have a distribution L that goes out to people when we have upcoming board meetings stuff like that um you know we we'll offer to meet with you kind of give you

073a l of the land and then do that and then cut you loose um because I honestly I have even to Town Council candidates offered the opportunity to meet with them already so this isn't something that's like wildly different than what I've done in in many years yeah no I get that Jeff I just my uneasiness comes from who initiates it I think I feel more comfortable if the candidate initiates the request of the meeting as opposed to you doing the offering first does that make sense I just yeah I mean I'm fine with that too um I mean we could leave it silent or we could indicate you know P request yeah I I feel more comfortable put some sense of a p Quest I just don't think the burden is on should be

074on you initially to do this I think if the candidate comes forward and says Jee I like to have gain more information I've done my research but I like some more of a deeper dive great but I there's a level of comfort that I'm just not at yet with the language I don't know what it is maybe Adam or Tim the ownership of us chasing you down to say hey you want to come in um I would argue that the entire paragraph should be stricken and then it's not the uh problem of the public school system or whether or not a candidate is is is ignorant of their office that they're running for thank you not our problem I I agree with I agree with all that my only my only concern is we end

075up with a few candidates very active candidates Board of Ed Town counsil who are like actively emailing Jeff on a daily basis and I'm not saying that happens I'm saying if it could and maybe it's a problem we deal with when it happens um but that's the concern because Jeff's gonna probably try to be responsive to people but you could literally end up with people hitting with hitting them with a million questions and yeah but II yeah no that's fine that's fine I understand if it be if it became an issue we could deal with it any Board of Ed could deal with it at that time but I do think it's I I do want to as a board member I want to support Jeff and being able to manage his time um and

076if he's right that's that's all that's the only thing that's going through my mind yeah the way I would handle it as a superintendent is if somebody started spamming me with questions yeah because they're a candidate I would start with a conversation with them okay if that wasn't effective I'd have a conversation with their party Le to say you know can you can you help me here with a situation yeah that's that's fine I mean I'm I'm comfortable if we don't have anything in there about it I'm with Adam on this one and Jeff no offense this this language should read for any you know succession line you know superintendent because I don't feel comfortable with a superintendent doing the initiation right so we're g to kill that whole paragraph right yeah yeah I mean

077it's a nice touch that after somebody gets into the position that you you know offer the the initial training so to speak and onboarding I think that's great to educate new members I it just change this from orientation packet to orientation program it's not oh just necessarily a packet we hand you y I think that would be irresponsible of us as a school system to just say here's the packet um the the uh wasn't the intention of the law to be a bit more formal yeah so the law is now requiring new board members to have a formal orientation program the law required C to put that together I haven't seen it yet um I'm sure that's a front burner item for them um but yes that's it's required now I still think it's beneficial

078for us as a school system to orient people to eat everything that we do even if um you know you've been a parent here heck you could have been an employee here and been on the board you may be taught here for 15 years you retired now you're running you may know pretty well but this is a different kid um so I I still think we would do something but we would modify it based on whatever cave is doing so there's that and then I think we're just going back to this uh sports program one which is the status level of sports programs now this is obviously not a very big um policy but they talk about the establishment um of this program how to establish a program you know I I think the one

079piece that is is relevant um you as a student athlete you have to you know if you're joining the sport you do have to follow all the CIA and our regulations for example the C rule is they call it you know we need to make sure that um you know if you're going to be a sport program you're committing to like our athletic fee ours rule our season um that you know all of our Sports have a season which from a budget perspective you know what you're getting into when you're playing a 15 roughly 15 week season um so that's just part of the consideration I mean if if anything you know the thoughts that that run through my head is is that if we're to promote a sport to Varsity status that there that

080needs to be almost sort of that that proven longevity and it's not just a pet project of of several people who who are promoting something for that's an advantageous to perhaps their own child or group of friends or whatever it is um it seemed to me like the uh a particular sport uh that was just recently presented seem to have those kind of legs um but you know I think if it's you know do we do we uh make sure that there's a does like does do all Varsity programs have some sort of feeder program to ensure its longevity um like you know what kind of level like we know that like a lacrosse or a basketball or soccer or football or volleyball or any of those really the you know sport Varsity Sports we

081have any of that I've missed sorry um but um that you know that a lot of them have some form of feeder program even down to the to the Youth Level through parks and wreck and so does that mean that if we have a Varsity Sport should it be a concerted effort uh through the entire town now or like because like we almost have to now Define what a Varsity Sport is what and how it should sort of age through all age groups of children yeah I I don't know that this policy is tremendously helpful it's the only one and you know it does say like you need to have all it's saying is that you have to have an orderly consistent fair and Equitable process to become a sport like it's not really defining

082what that Equity fair you know Equitable you know consistent process is um and I know John's been working with their athletic director to get more information about well what are you doing and they have an adopted programs in a long time so it's not like oh yeah here it is we do this all the time um so you know I I think your suggestion Adam is a fair one that the the program be something with roots like it's not like if somebody came to me tomorrow and said I demand a varsity pickle ball team you know well pickle ball has been hot for the last 10 minutes in terms of a longer scale of of 30 years um you know is that that's a consideration um so maybe John and I can try and work

083with other folks to see you know what are some of those considerations and we can float that back to you in a draft format things like you know like you just mentioned what sort of History does that have um you know what sort of membership what sort of uh you know I think the other considerations are you know what what are the costs for this support you know we're not going to pick up skydiving because the cost of flying is really expensive you know the cost is a consideration that um our Title 9 considerations in play here you know things like that in terms of providing equal opportunities for genders um which obviously we've tracked for many years and we're well within range there so why don't we work on putting some of these together

084because honestly I don't feel like this provides a screen right and I also feel like there should be almost like a year like you know a three to five year process just so like it's not like a a f you know a freshman came in and wanted varsity and they're hoping that oh maybe we can lock this in by the time I'm a junior and then here we go Application you know I got that Varsity thing done you know so it's like you know like in the instance of that sport it's you could demonstrate that they've been in you know in existence and they've had that pipeline for over three or five years to say okay there's kids up and coming there's kids that are down and that that are 10 or 12 and they

085have you know you know uh training groups and that kind of thing you know to to demonstrate that once like let's say there was a I think there was a several upper classmen who are who are in in in the club already but you know that there's let's say five or 10 kids who are in training now who kind of be up coming up through the ranks you know kind of thing they can demonstrate that where you're folding teams after three years right and what conditions can we outline to protect our school from that that you know today we have a pickle ball tomorrow we done you know we don't want to be putting ourselves in that spot our kids in that spot right so let's try and work on some of those criteria feedback

086to you for review your feedback um as we kind of trying to come up with something I I'm pretty sure we're going to be too late for in terms of defining it but I think in term getting three readings or whatever but I think we can be long Ro along the road about trying to determine what's appropriate and what's not I mean yeah I don't know if yeah certainly not by budget season but you know maybe by next year that's possible I suppose right said all hands on deck kind of thing because it could be controversial like technically right you know yeah it impedes on something else right in terms of getting it as a formal process I guess I was saying that you know I don't know we're not going to adopt that by

087January no yeah budget but I think we could have a good thought process for when we consider fencing or any other sport that might come forward for consideration and then ultimately formally adop right Timmy um oh Tim I missed your hand you didn't put up your hand I didn't I just see you Sor know yeah just adding just adding on what uh Adam was saying I mean I'm not convinced that we need to have a policy if it really happens fairly rarely but if we did I'm thinking something along the lines of just to throw this out there five consecutive years so it takes it out of you know one kid going through the high school five consecutive years a budget needs to Res be presented to the athletic director I'm assuming the way I'm

088assuming the way your budget comes together is the coaches give some sort of budget to the athletic director and it it funnels its way up he says yay or nay on various things so he could just get that built into a process like that and start to get a sense of what numbers they're actually thinking about if this if if if it does proceed because most of the stuff we do it has a budget impact and I think doing it over a course of a number over the course of a number of years would have a benefit improving um improving the interest level yeah anyway that's it for me Sam I saw your hand raised electronically I think I just want to go back Jeff I mean my visceral reaction to the last meeting of

089said requests from those families was that it is clear that we don't have any process or one that's clear without subjectivity or arbitrary you know years of however the Adam just identified I I'm just concerned that if we don't have whether it's a policy or guidance criterias something has has to something has to inform a group that this is what you go through to to get here to Varsity level and that's why I think I appreciate the idea of having some Define criteria that and I agree with him that you know eight years is superintendent this is the second time I've heard something the first time was very unique though because really we did have them participating already uh the girls hockey so it really wasn't I guess at that time considered a new sport

090but it was a new sport um and so I I don't think it's a bad idea to have some criteria that if this does come up again several years from now that we are meeting that threshold that I am had identified that it's it's clear it's Equitable it's um makes sense and and to your point Sam you know for some maybe five years from now pickle ball is still a huge thing and um we want a high schools for it other some other schools have adopted it and think well it's clear about what the standard is that and it it takes a lot of the ambiguity and frustration out of it for board members and and students and athletes and and parents alike so I don't I i' like the idea of having some guidance

091but nobody really has any good guidance out there so we're going to have to work on our own so this might be an inside what is the resolution to our previous requests so yeah that that'll come before you as part of the budget package um kind of the same way that the uh girls hockey did that you know present the budget and I it's premature for me to say yeah I recommend this I don't recommend this because I don't have a full picture of what their budget is certainly not relative to what our full budget is because we're not quite there yet um probably a solid month and a half away so you know it'll come before us at that point but maybe over the next month and a half in the next meeting of

092of this group we start take a look at what might be some of the criteria we would consider for future sports and potentially for this sport but how could the question even be answered you know okay we you uh the uh board uh approves money for what what are they gonna do with it because we have no policy to to to know how you promote a club to Varsity status and so what what would they do with the money so it's almost like they're kind of out of luck this year uh not to you know pre predetermine the issue but it seemed like it would be sort of like a a chicken in the egg I guess would be a good example right um do you have the money first or do you have the

093policy first thought Yeah Tim had his thought too yeah I mean I don't know I I I I think I can appreciate what you're saying but if we're going to move forward with it if a policy is not in place is that breaking a law Jeff or I mean would you be able to work with the coach and make it work and I mean if we're sort of a nebulous area I'm not gonna worry about it just as long as people understand what the what the rules of rules are basically but then we're just deeming it that's with girls hockey though you know that and I know it was we didn't promote that c Sport and we were in a co-op this is that more about helping with like busting costs that wasn't like a

094decision on promoting them the varsity because they they're not just asking for money they're asking for status yeah that's two different things yeah the girls hockey was a not a formal Sport and therefore we didn't fund it and so we funded it to make it a formal sport I guess I I appreciate what you're saying and it's a real it's a challenge I mean especially before we know what the numbers are you know the numbers were pretty clearly because you know we were intimately involved in the financial process because as a co-op when you're in a co-op you get the players from all over the towns you take the budget divide which has been established by by the Home school for the co-op you take the budget divide it by number of players how many

095kids are from your school that's their individual share and in the cocky case some schools in that Co-op were picking up the share other schools like us were not but do the members of the girls hockey team get Varsity letters and go to the sports banquet they they have their own sports banquet and I do I I will have to confirm on the varsity letter thing I don't know if chesher issues them a varsity letter or if they're issued a varsity letter through another school I I don't know how that works definitively right I can confirm that we have you know couple of two three up to five girls a season to participate but I I mon into that right because it kind of sounds like so even using that it's like is that was

096235 is that a sustainable Varsity Sport like what is that that would be another question then what what is a sustainable Varsity Sport in ch or high school which is why we're in a co-op right you know we don't have enough kids to feel the girls hockey team right um which you know again that's the co-op really for you said you said girl oh Oh I thought you said field hockey I'm wait what yeah we H trouble jeez you know my my internet connection Jeff that's what cut out there for a sec okay all right so um where are we here we go we going for a while now um all right so um all right so these are we're going to uh make a a motion to move to a first reading right so

097I will move that we uh the uh uh policy subcommittee uh move let's see 20 am I already messing this up 2132 uh F 51 or 5111 yes yes um 5112 uh let's see organization of instruction I think that one was right 6130 G to move that one but maybe not oh wait oh yeah so um so should we pull 6130 back yeah we weren't yeah yeah okay all right so let me start over 2132 um 5112 uh and I get and 9230 and then it's bylaw 9230 oh and bylaw that's not a policy but it does require three readings right okay I think I got it one more time Adam all right one more time uh 2132 oh jeez I lost it that's my no I got it and bylaw 9230 is there a

098second yes okay Sam seconds discussion on the motion all right no discussion all in favor I unanimous I okay great that passes um all right on to the next the next one um Mr par gen had suggested that we review um that actually the next two you know I don't know that there's tremendous urgency for but um oh jeez that's why is this link up here there we go monitoring protocols and practices uh the topic of self evaluation came up at the last meeting uh anything you see in bold here that this is not my at it that was in the in the policy as it was um so basically as needed the board will schedule dates to conduct self- evaluation again as needed um I don't know that it's really given the significant turnover

099that we're going to experience you know with individuals I mean obviously it's entirely up to you but I don't know that the self valuation when we have several new board members maybe it's good to to educate people about what the expectations are as a new board member that's I think there are other things too Sam so Jeff I mean if you do a self- evaluation I would hope that there's a criteria a rubric of criteria Cade has a self- evaluation form that we used several years ago and then you that I think that makes sense is a is a like you said a rubric I mean I would think right at least for the past couple years in my experience now that having been awarded the you know cave award is an evaluation in and

100of itself yep so I guess what is the need for this and is there a frequency language in this too that every so often you always says as needed in our bylaw as written so what would precipitate it I don't know I don't understand it's really at the discretion of the board um I think you know uh it several years ago when I don't know that anybody could uh objectively say that the board was as functional as it is today I think there was tremendous value in that process uh to your point Sam the uh the cave kind of self- evaluation tool that we've been using and have been identified as a board of distination for the last two years I think is a if anything a validation of the practices used and the work

101that's been done by the board the um you know the transition I think that that's probably a good place to start with people with respect to that maybe in the orientation program I can provide them and I can share with the entire board the rubric and then ultimately we can decide you know you guys can collectively decide do we do we want to go through the evaluation or not um we're open to a lot of different things and this Tony I think is just following through um the question that came up at the board meeting as well I think it also had something to do with um the award like the ne like what do we got like a level one award was last year I think it had something to do with like if

102to go to the level two award like you had to engage in this self evaluation that's well let's do it Adam yeah right yeah I thought had something to do with that why don't I share both the G self assessment document and the award document just so people have that information and we can share that as you get you know when you report out next Thursday about what we talked about here they'll have that as a point of reference that's a good idea and then I'll include them both in the new board member or yeah I think for May oh Timmy did you have your hand sorry oh yeah uh thanks Sam uh I'm not I'm not totally opposed to this I am curious if it has something to do some Award with some award

103that sounds nice that's fine hold on Devon um but uh thanks de um the evaluation as far as I'm concerned it happens every two to four years we had an evaluation yesterday that's how I see it um but it like I said I'm still open for I agree with it for the record you don't agree with the evaluation but it is an evaluation that does happen every two to four years for us so anyway that that's just my perspective on it that's it I don't think it had anything to do with the board just saying yeah yeah I S for the record just you guys have been Boards of Distinction for two consecutive years and I'm really proud of the work that's been accomplished you know and thank faith and Andrew for their service is

104there moving on I know I'll do this I'm sure you guys will do it more publicly down the road too but you know I welcome the new folks and sure you guys will be right there too but anyway so s will send the cave instrument to the full board and the distinction criteria as well and then we'll share that with new members uh as they join up I mean I don't have a problem with putting something of a checks and balance in place with this but again you know who initiates it anybody on the board can just initiate the self evaluation yeah there's no criteria in there Sam I is our policy is written um and I you know I think that's why Tony said hey you know we can talk about it but um

105at at a subsequent policy meeting if we wanted to put this on for our first reading the committee could then say every given timeline or you know upon uh recommendation of at least three members or you know you could you could create criteria but that's up to you guys wanted to do that ate and I think you know when we share all this information uh is as you guys mentioned with the board turning over the at that point you know I think people can determine do we want to even bring this up for policy or not if that's the priority yeah I mean in the level of priority it's kind of low for me right now because I think we you do a pretty good job you know ensuring that we level up yeah we're

106shooting we like we like to meet that high standard so but okay so there that information and then finally we have the code of ethics which um I think the recommendation was that c recommends and that you know Tony out there that the board kind of sign on at the start of each you know organizational meeting so every two years uh when boards change that um you know uh members of the board attest to this code ethics and that's why he put it on there now we couldn't change this uh policy the as it stands right now I think it's actually I think it's not a policy but by yeah so we couldn't change it wasn't on the agenda tonight but you know we can review for discussion and you know I don't it's um

107it's not something that I guess you would vote on but you know in conversation you could say as we report out on this meeting there was discussion amongst the membership and we felt like it's probably a good idea to attest to this um when people join the board or something that's think it's interesting Sam go ahead I thought this was already part of that again that onboarding of new board members identifying you know what their roles and responsibilities are as a board member or am I wrong I thought in that big binder Jeff that you gave me or cave gave me yes it's kind of already clear so there's there are a couple of things when we hold orientation yes we review the the code of of ethics and expectations uh for new board members

108when new board members are sworn in on I think it's at what the first Saturday maybe or something in December for actually but um you know there's an oath that you take there um this is different uh from that o I mean this is uh certainly specific to the ched Public School System but you know it could be done we could add it to the agenda if you know we wanted to do that for the organizational meeting or maybe not the organizational meeting but the first meeting uh which is immediately after the organizational meeting Tim yeah I'm not I'm not 100% against this but I did just notice one bullet point in there that I generally disagreed with which is I thought something in there um board members and superintendents are staunched Advocates of high

109quality free public education board superintendent opportunity I thought there was something in there about uh supporting a superintendent or something like that anyway my point is if if there's a landslide election let's just say we it's not you Jeff but let's just say we have a superintendent the Chester public schools have a superintendent who's not doing a great job there's a landslide election basically run on getting rid of the superintendent and all these things just don't necessarily apply and I don't think that it necessarily has anything to do with um board members being unethical there was one I think it was there was there was one situation this is probably 10 15 years ago in The Amity School District where I think every month for a year and a half they went out to referendum

110on their budget and it kept getting rejected and and it was just an absolutely awful situation but I could see a situation like that where you know PE people run there's nothing unethical about them and that kind of is the suggestion that if they don't support this then they're unethical but I agree with like I agree with the concept here what's what should exist but if it doesn't I I don't believe that it this would ex that situation would exist in all school districts at all times there's times when it wouldn't and that to me doesn't suggest that someone's unethical and that could be what someone thinks because they're not supporting the ethics uh commitment Sam go ahead um I think we had a recent situation in Connecticut I.E goord okay that you know this

111could have come in handy so I don't want that same situation to happen here um I think I for me I just need a little more time to digest each bullet point Jeff I know you'd like to kind of make it available after the swearing in but you know what like this is not um this this was only brought up uh I think Adam mentioned that Tony emailed us before the meeting and said hey this is something that c recommend so I I appreciate that this is an 11th hour conversation um and I I'm not meaning to know push it on anybody or anything it's just um being brought up further request no I I I definitely agree that we should read through this a little more I I do want a little more time

112to kind of word Smith it in my own head first yeah feels like it could use some massaging there yeah it's very cabby too cabby for you yeah well no it's like it's always like it's like the wording isn't very creative it's sort of blah blah blah you could definitely improve on it usually that's very comprehensive put that in as an adate Jeff very our issues yeah the K before bet there is a new policy writer for C so hopefully I think you're only insulting who ever wrote this in 1984 or whatever4 probably gone all right is that uh is that it that was all right well uh for me uh all I'll say is that uh it has been an honor and a pleasure to have been chairman of this policy committee for oh

113has it been only two years maybe it's only been two years but I've been on the policy committee has it been four years okay years yeah because before Sam Katherine was on policy with me and you for two years Katherine fabiani oh then you were not the chair but on policy with Nita and no um marinaa Mar for a few years you a policy years going away chair yeah we'll see what the future holds but it's been an honor to serve uh these past six years uh four as the chair and um you know it's been an honor to serve so that's all I'll say thank you thank you where are you you going Adam I don't know I don't know what the new chair is gonna think I I don't know what the chair

114is gonna be I I I suspect I suspect neither Adam or I will be chair of many committees a month from now well or be or be on any you know who knows we be on the I know house plant committee or something that' be great if that's necessary I guess you can play the Christmas party these two anyhow uh motion to adjourn all right we're adjourned Jeff V I keep you for one second