001March. Detail, halt. Arms. Right. Face. March. Halt. Color guard, fall out. Al, can you please do roll call? Kate. No, she's on. Gladys. Here. Here. All right. Dr. Cronin. Lauren. Here. Juanita. Here. Cindy. Here. Sherry. Here. Sean. Minnie. Here. Louisa. Here. And I'm here. Okay, I want to just welcome everybody back again. We missed our last meeting cuz of the snow, but we're back with some nice comfortable weather today. So, I want to welcome back my board members and the everybody from the district again to come back together and with some positive energy and re-energized spring energy to work for our district and our students. So, thank you for all being present today. Um so, tonight before we begin with spotlight your school for South Street Elementary School, I just want to take a moment
002to recognize our board members during board member appreciation month. Um from Danbury Public School System to you, we presented you with a little bit of a gift. Um of course, everyone needs another mug at their house. Um but I'll just read the inscription um cuz we do appreciate your service. When you know, when you sign up to for board member service, I don't think anybody really tells you how many meetings you have to attend and how complicated it is and how grocery shopping will never be the same again. Um but we do appreciate your effort and service to to the district and it is completely volunteer. So, um once a year, the least we can do is get you a little little trinket for your kitchen. Um so, the the note says, "Thank you for
003your leadership, your dedication, the service to the students, families, and staff of Danbury Public Schools. Your commitment to our community makes a meaningful difference every day, and we appreciate all that you do. And so, thank you again. Okay. All right. So, with that, um spotlight your school, South Street Elementary School, come on up. All right. Principal Guevara, and it looks like you have some students with you today and maybe in a few parents. So, um that's wonderful. So, we'll turn it over to you, and I believe your PowerPoint is up. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, board members, and good evening, cabinet members. My name is Carmen Vargas Guevara. I'm the school principal of South Street Elementary School. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. It is a little bit past my bedtime, but uh
004Dr. Casmir does want me back early, right, Dr. Casmir? So, I will not take much of your time, but there's so much I can share with you about South Street. Um I'll just give you a quick glimpse of our wonderful school, and of course, our goal and our motto is to be the number one urban district in Connecticut. And so, we are part of that. So, next slide, please. And here you see part of my I like to call them my dream team. And this is my instructional leadership team, and it is composed of at least I tend to have one member from each grade level. You have there uh special education representation. You have PPS representation. You have uh ESL representation, uh and you have uh uh >> [clears throat] >> teacher from fifth
005grade, and those are people that are committed to the work that we're doing, and that's just a quick picture of the ones that are part of the hard work that we do in South Street. We'll go right into our wildly important goals for 25-26. Um obviously, I have more goals than this, but this is what we are focusing on the most. Uh one of the things that we've noticed since [clears throat] after the pandemic is our attendance, right? We we tend to have now we never used to have such high chronic absenteeism. And last year we had 13.3% and this year our goal is to bring it down to 9%. So when I tell you to do activities, we do so many activities for all our wonderful K through 5 kids. Uh we try to
006do monthly. It is exhausting, but they love it. We have all kinds of uh different activities for them and I My kids are all older, but I'm getting to know what is out there, what is popular and famous because I have to to make them more engaging and tell them how important it is to be in school. And they do love to be in school. So our goal is to do um reduce that to 9% and we're working our way towards that. Um our next goal is academic driven. Um by June 2026, we want to increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding grade level math benchmarks. Last year as a school on SBAC, we were 43% was uh proficient or above. We have a good goal with 63%. We have different uh instruments that
007were helping us to do that and I'll go a little bit into detail with that in the next slide. And then our next uh wild wildly important goal is for increasing the percentage of students that are meeting or exceeding grade level reading benchmarks. And again, as a whole for third, fourth, and fifth, last year we ended with 38%. We have a goal of 58% for this year. Obviously, we want all of them uh to be proficient, but we also want to make attainable goals. Next slide, please. And that's just some of the numbers that uh I'm sharing with you that we want to increase that and just, you know, we have different measures throughout the school year. I'm sure you've heard from other schools that one of the our benchmarks that we administer three times
008a year is I-Ready math and I-Ready reading. So, just recently in December, our third, fourth, and fifth graders took the I-Ready uh and we saw significant growth and we also saw it just recently when the second graders, K1 and 2, also took the math I-Ready and we are seeing our kids move beautifully. Um I'll give you some highlights. So, in the fall we started with fall math I-Ready benchmark. We had as a school, we had 7% proficient and by the winter we already had 26%. Uh and again, we want to reach our 63% and then in the fall for reading for second and fifth grade only we test in I-Ready, we were we started in the fall at 14% and already in mid-year we are at 30%. So, we are hoping to meet our or
009exceed our goals by June. Um last year we also um every year as you know we administer the AS BAC, the Smarter Balanced Assessment, and last year we were able to see from our 2 years ago our third graders were proficient in math 30% and in fourth grade last year they were able to go to 60%. So, I'm looking forward to this year in fifth grade when that class oversees, you know, super oversees that 60% to much higher. Um so, we're we're doing a lot of great things in South Street. Um South Street is not where I want it to be, but we're getting there and that's the important thing. Next slide, please. Thank you. Um this is where I'm going to call Melissa. Um one of the exciting things that we are doing in
010South Street to meet our goals, um and again, this is just one of them is that I I've been in South Street since 2017. And back in 2017, I set a very lofty goal. I actually told the whole staff, we are going to be a national Blue Ribbon School before I'm done with this school. And we were able to achieve that in 2 years. But we're not done, right? That's just one of the great many accomplishments. We've also been School of Distinction at least for 5 years since I've been in South Street principal. Uh, and we had it again last year. And it's not about numbers like we keep saying here, but it's really representing everything that we do. It's not just about academics. And one of the things that I really wanted to bring
011was more science into our curriculum and into our classes. You know, we're so heavily focused on ELA and math, and rightfully so. But science is one of my favorite subjects. And science is how we can grab the students' attention, how we can engage, how they can apply reading, writing, and math skills. So, when last year, um, when I first told my teachers, they said, "Absolutely not." So, it took them a while to get there. And we do do science. But my goal, um, again, uh, South Street was one of the first schools to departmentalize. And that means that we have We're departmentalized third, fourth, and fifth grade. And I have three teachers per grade. And our old model used to be one teacher taught reading, another one taught writing, and another one taught math. When
012we switched to ARC 2 years ago, it took that amount of time for the teacher One of my teachers said, "You know what? I think I can do ELA's always meant to be reading and writing together, right?" And so, but it again, to empower teachers, it takes time to get them. I wanted to do it, but I want them to believe in it. And so, last year one said, "I want to do the ELA curriculum." And I said, "Okay, this is it." And I called this lady right here, "Melissa, we're doing science." So, South Street right now is the only school in our elementary schools in Danbury that has this model. We dedicate in grades 3, 4, and 5 a whole 65 to 75 minutes strictly dedicated to science. So, our model now is an
013ELA teacher, a math teacher, and a science teacher. And Melissa has been right there with my teachers. They said, "Yes, we're doing it." And I can tell you so many stories how our students are applying what they're learning in science to the reading, the writing, and the math. So, um I'll just quickly share a little bit about what our programming will look like at South Street this year. Besides the dedicated time to science, um I I have to say the strategic decision to do this does not come easily. Carmen has had to create a climate there where teachers feel embold- and emboldened to just take chances and to take some risks. And that is the only reason we're able to do this right now because of her leadership. So, this year, not only are we
014doing science, but we're also implementing some units of study with Project Lead the Way that is also going to embed coding and robotics in her third, fourth, and fifth grade classes. And I want to talk about those units of study very quickly because they're exciting, and um hopefully it will be a model for what we can do district-wide in um these grades. So, in third grade, their students are going to be exploring coding through storytelling. So, um coding naturally you think of the computer, you're going to tell the computer to do some things, it spits out some something else on the end. A lot of what we're going to be doing is off the computer, um and really getting to bridge some um topics with literacy, um into students coding a program to tell the
015ending of a story, right? So, normally you hear of um uh uh um literacy is is not really in science or mathematics. But with this entire unit, students are going to develop interactive stories on their devices with multiple different plots. And so this allows students to tell stories in a myriad of ways and um get to creativity, but also computational thinking. So that's third grade. In fourth grade, they're going to be studying computer systems through the human brain. So um our our entire body is a computer system. You know, our brain's telling us what to do. It's telling me to do this with my hands. I'm not sure why, but it is. Um right? So they're going to be exploring the human body, but also connecting that to how programming and computers tell the computer
016what to do when you do certain thing with it. Um and they're going to be doing that through um studying what happens when a child gets a concussion and how the brain starts kind of messing up its signals a little bit. One of the great things about this unit is it also has not only meets our portrait of a graduate, but it also has segues into many of the academy programs that we're running, right? So to try to get kids a little bit earlier and earlier thinking about what opportunities are going to be ahead for them. The fifth grade unit is very exciting. I'm excited about this. It is all about robotics. You should know by now that last year we had our robotics team from Danbury High School finish second in the world championships
017for Vex robotics. We have slowly been creeping down. We are in sixth through eighth now. Now we're going to head into um to fifth grade. So in this unit of study in fifth grade, there's the students are going to be exploring what happened at the Fukushima um nuclear power plant in Japan. And when that happened, how are we going to navigate the nuclear power plant that has waste on the ground because we can't send humans in there. So they're going to have to code their little robotic um devices to go through um various obstacles and avoid um red sludge on the ground because they will also have sensors on the bottom of their robots that if it goes over that sludge, the robot stops. And that means you lost. So, they're going to have to
018apply their their critical thinking skills to navigate this like literal minefield um to save um to save people and to deliver supplies. Um so, my goal and my hope when this is all ending in years from now is that um her school will be the model for what this looks like and all of you will be invited to our first fifth grade robotics challenge inter-district uh challenge between all of the schools because of the foundation that her teachers um are are doing right now. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'll tell you a little story. Uh one of my teachers came running to me, my read my ELA teacher in fifth grade and she's like, "Carmen, you're not going to believe this. We were reading an IAB, which is one of the test preps to get
019the kids ready for the smarter balance." And the little girl uh one of the little fifth graders said, "Oh my goodness, mass. I know exactly what that is. That means the weight of an object." And my teacher was so shocked um and she ran over to me to tell me. She's like, "Because she she just learned that in our last unit in the science class." So, talk about application, making connections. That's what we want kids to do. So, very exciting. Um next slide, please. So, one of the things that we've doing in South Street again because of time I can't mention everything. We are we want our parents to be in our school. We want our parents and engage and every year we make a goal of me making sure that we have 100% not
020teacher participation. I'm sorry. That's my mistake. Parent teacher participation. Yes, that's correct. Um so, this year we did it again. For the past several years, all of our parents come for our parent teacher conferences. Some do it by phone, some do it do through a Google. The majority of them come in person. And that is a big accomplishment that we work really hard to make happen. We want the parents to know and it's not just sitting down and telling them our discourse. I want parents to leave there fully understanding how their child is performing academically. And that's important to me and that's important to our staff. Another thing, you know, our whole assemblies, the slide before showed you how we had an astronaut come over. I still have parents emailing, "Can I please have the
021email of that astronaut cuz my kid kids talking about it and I want to email to this ex they love the experience. And the last one is this year I partnered with a company I got I forgot their name. I'm sorry about that. But we were able to give a coat to every one of our students back in December. And every student had a coat, brand new coat. Next slide, please. And like I mentioned before, back in 2025 we were one of the schools of distinction here in Danbury and that's a great big honor. And last but not least I have a little story to share with you as a closing. This is Mrs. Battaglia back in 20 20 2010. She was a second grade teacher in South Street School. And there you see Mariana
022Gualberto a second grade student. That was back in 2020. Next slide, please. This is Mrs. Battaglia back in now in 2025 and that is Mariana Gualberto. She is currently her intern for the whole year. She's studying to be a teacher and she is back with her second grade teacher who's now a fifth grade teacher and who is instructing her now to be a teacher. And it's pretty exciting. It happened by coincidence but it is a beautiful story. That's why we do what we do. To make a difference. She still had the picture of when that little girl was was second grader and there they are today. Next slide, please. And a famous quote, I say if you ever come to South Street, South Street is the best. Best quote I can give you. Thank you
023everyone. Have a great night. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Carmen, don't go just yet. Carmen, you can't go anywhere. >> [laughter] >> I would just want to say thank you. You know, Carmen I think is a testament opened up her presentation today with data and with a projection on the outcomes. And so you've been grounded in your outcomes for so long and then you've designed you've built a culture around what it is you're trying to accomplish and you know, just that that our ability to get STEM moving in in elementary school was is a huge goal for us as a district and you know, congratulations for being one of the first principals to to lead the way in that particularly with PTCLW which is very high level science for students. But thank you for all
024that you've done. There's a reason why you're becoming a school of distinction on an annual basis and we appreciate you very much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay, next public participation. Lauren, can you read for us? Thank you. The board welcomes public participation and asks that speakers limit their comments to 3 minutes. Speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them. The board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about Board of Education personnel and students nor against any person connected with the Danbury Public School system. Thank you, Lauren. I don't have anybody that has signed up, but is there anybody here that would like to speak or address the board? No? Okay, we'll move on. Al, can you do the consent calendar for me. The motion
025that the Board of Education approve consent calendar exhibits 26-19 through 26-27 in accordance with with the minutes of Finance Committee Community Relations Committee regular meet board meeting and Policy Committee. Oh, wait a minute. I'm on the board. But board budget workshop, Finance Committee regular board meeting, Finance Committee and Policy Committee. Thank you, Al. Motion made by Al. Do we hear a second? Second. Second by Lauren. Is there any discussion, comments? Just a question concerning the Human Relations Committee. If this is not the proper time to answer to ask it, I answered ask the question later. My question being as we move to going to the different locations for board meetings, are the school equipped to handle board meetings with the microphones? Everything that's going into doing a board meeting at the local schools. So, I'll
026I can talk about that at another meeting, but that's my main questions. Have we looked into the things that's going to take in during the meetings at our local schools? And I'm I'm really sort of concerned about that. So, if if you we have planned out everything that's going to work out for us at that at those various school, it's okay. But I think I want to go a little bit farther at some other time. Uh right now, I'm not going to uh accept uh exhibit 26-20. So, it's a part of the consent calendar, but I'm just not voting on that. What I What I hear you saying is typically you will vote on the consent calendar as a whole. And I hear one of your members saying that she's not comfortable voting in all
027in favor with the consent calendar as a whole because of I think you may mean 26 >> Exhibit 26-20. >> 6-20. 20 or is that That's a community relations? Mhm. Community relations. Mhm. Minutes. Right. Where the meetings are? The meetings >> the back of the page. So, right. So, I I do think Let's see how this is written. Um Right. So, the consent calendar is asking you to vote on the minutes. So, I think what might make the most sense is if you are if you don't have an objection to how the minutes are written, you can vote in favor of the consent calendar. You're It sounds to me like your objection is actually just more of a discussion about the locations of the meetings. So, I think you can vote to approve the consent
028calendar because the only thing on the motion is to approve the minutes. And if the minutes are accurate to your reading of them, then I think otherwise, if you don't want to vote on that particular one, the other alternative is to go through each set of minutes and call a vote. But it doesn't sound like you need to do that. That's why you're here. Okay. I'll vote on the consent calendar. Okay. Is Is that okay, Gladys? Okay. Are there any further questions or discussion? No? Okay. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Do we have any educational staff representatives here today? Nobody today? Okay. Student representatives? Come on up. Hi, my name is Alexandra. I'm a senior at ACE. Good evening, Board of Ed members, cabinet, and community members. Thank you for allowing me
029to represent and speak on behalf of the Alternative Center of Excellence. On February 18th, Katia took a group of students to the new Connecticut Humane Society shelter and pet resource center in Wilton to make snuffle mats for the resident dogs waiting to be adopted. Students gained community service hours from this event. ACE had trips to the center in the past in both the new Wilton site and at the Newington headquarters. On March 3rd, Daniella and Diana took 10 students from Daniella's children literacy class to Pembroke for Read Across America Day to read to Don Sismel students. On March 5th, Rob Melissa took 22 students from the US history class to tour and and participate in the presentation at the Old State House in Hartford. On March 5th, Ashley and 15 students from ACE Teen outreach
030program went to Action Daycare to read to the students. On Tuesday, March 17th, ACE will run parent-teacher conference to address student growth concerns and goal settings. Parents will have an option of virtual conferences and in-person conferences. On March 18th, will be ACE SAT testing day. Kyle, Ashley have been running flexes designed to prepare 11th graders for the test. This preparation includes not just digital readiness flex, but also test-taking tips and test prep tutoring. On the day of the SAT, the ninth, 10th, and 12th graders will visit White Memorial Conservation Center. Thank you all for allowing us to share what's going on with our ACE family and have a nice evening. Stay healthy and remain ACE strong. Thank you. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. Okay. So, we scheduled about three times this winter due to weather
031and all sorts of weather-related havoc. Um, I'd like to introduce Maria Brice, who's here to talk to us about the Safe Play Park in Danbury. And thank you so much for your patience as we rescheduled you multiple times. No, thank you for allowing us to be here. So, my name is Maria Brice. I'm going to be a quick intro and then my three daughters are really going to be speaking. I'm a little shorter, so let me move this down. Um, so I am a chapter leader of Miss US President right here in Danbury. It is a non-profit organization to encourage young girls, middle school all the way to high school, to be involved civically. As an educator myself, I think there's nothing more important to get young girls to be involved in politics. And to
032really get them to see that they can do something. They can start a project and actually see it be implemented and then become a reality. And that's what my girls right behind you did. They started a fundraiser, they started a project, and they thought, you know, "Hey, it's not really going to actually happen." And then our community in Danbury made it possible. And they're going to tell you about that because the Rotary Club, Modzelewski, and the Danbury Police, and a group of organizations actually wrote a grant and made it possible. So, they're here, they're going to talk, and then I'll kind of just summarize a little bit at the end. All right, they're really nervous, but they're going to do a great job. Good evening, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak
033today. Our names are Brooke, Iza, and Anaya. And we are here from Miss President US, who are passionate about making our community safer for kids. We are here to share an excite an exciting project called the Safe Play Park. A one-of-a-kind park designed to look like real roads and streets. This park helps children in grades 1 through 5 learn important safe driving school skills while riding their bikes in a fun hands-on way. The Safe Play Park includes stop signs, street signs, and road markings, just like in real life. It allows kids to practice safe biking and driving habits in a safe gated environment. Through pretend play, children can learn how to follow traffic rules, stay alert, and understand the importance of paying attention. This is especially important because distracted drive driving is the number one
034cause of death for teens. Teaching kids safe habits early can help them grow into more responsible and safer drivers in the future. We are proud to say that Danbury is one of the first cities in Connecticut to have a park like this. This was made possible thanks to the generous support of our community. Last year, Modzelewski Towing donated $39,000, the Danbury Rotary Club donated $5,000 and the Fairfield community donated $2,500. We also wanted to thank the Danbury Police Department, Mayor Alves, and the PAL building for their support and for providing the land to make this park possible. Now now that the park is built, our next goal is to raise awareness of families and schools now it exists and can use it. Today, we are asking the board to help us share free educational curriculum
035with K-5 teachers. These lessons can be used as emergency substitute plans and are aligned with national standards. They include reading materials and books that support learning. All of these resources were created by educators from a non-profit organization called Impacting Drivers, which focuses on preventing distracted driving and promoting safety education. We also created a flyer to help spread the word about the park. We brought copies with us today and kindly ask if you would help distribute them to elementary schools. As the weather gets nicer, we hope more families will visit the park so children can learn and have fun at the same time. In addition, we will be fundraising and hosting free community events at the park to raise awareness and encourage families to attend. Thank you so much for your time, your support, and for
036helping us make Danbury a safer place for kids. We truly appreciate this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, ladies. >> [applause] >> Um there are free resources and Impacting Drivers, which is a non-profit organization, is willing to send free books to any of the schools that is interested. The girls have done fundraising. Last year they donated over 50 bikes when the pie the bike the ceremony that was cut the ribbon cutting was done and they have free helmets that they're willing to give to all the schools as well. So you know with your help when we pass out the flyers when the weather gets nice they're willing to do another event at the park. Now the park is located right next to the PAL building. So when there's like you know events going on in the
037PAL building parents don't have to sit in the car with their young ones. They can actually go use the park and it's a great safe area. So we're really hoping that you know we can pass out flyers and pass out those educational resources to local schools especially Hayes Sound which is right there and say go use the park. It's free and when you have an emergency need a substitute plan here's a little kit you can take these and they're really you know all are aligned to standards and as an educator we don't want to waste any lesson plan. So if there's like hey I don't have sub plans here's something you can use. It's a kit it's put in there's no materials needed because we've all done the fundraising so all the materials purchased already
038for you. So all we're asking is hey we'll spread the word it's here and it's for kids and it's for a good use. So thank you so much and there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank Yes I do send a digital copy as well. Yes. So I just want to say thank you personally and girls you did a wonderful job. And that is sounds like the beginning of a long career. Um and and advocacy and maybe a little legislative policy perhaps down the road. So thank you mom and thank you girls and we'll definitely get the word out. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay and continuing on. So under the superintendent's report So just a couple things. Um, so speaking of legislative advocacy, it's
039a good segue. Um, I think um, most of the board knows we took a pretty sizable group of students up to um, to the capital building to advocate on behalf of a formula increase for ECS. So SB10 is a bill um, that is in legislation right now being considered um, to up to update the ECS formula uh, formula uh, which hasn't been updated since uh, 2013, I believe. So we are um, you know, working really hard to try to get an increase. What that does is it increases the per pupil base that we get for our students for ECS. So it's a really important shift for us here in Danbury uh, along with every other school system in Connecticut. So there's a lot of um, discussion around that and we did bring several students up
040to the capital. They had a wonderful experience. They were able to testify. They wore their blazers. They looked really sharp um, and got to experience the capital. Um, and when we once we arrived there uh, the mayor was also there with Farley and um, um, Representative Gucker and Senator Kushner and they gave them a nice tour of the of the capital building. So the kids really enjoyed that. Uh, we enjoyed it as well, but they did a wonderful job. So we'll keep you posted on the outcome of that, but it can have some uh, pretty significant impact on our district down the road. In addition to that, there are lots of bills on the table, but some of the ones that kind of piqued our curiosity um, and um, subsequent advocacy. Uh, the second one
041was around a bill on dual credit. So basically the state has about $6 million or so sitting in an account without really a designated purpose around dual credit. So um, we submitted testament testimony that um, for the state to create some organized uh, systematic structure around connecting higher ed to K-12 because there is a gap in the linkage between what we need and what they're looking for. We want to work together, but there really are no systems or structures in place. So, our advocacy was around instead of using the money until it's gone on credits um like a credit card and afterwards a debit card that just expires, um we're we're proposing that they build an infrastructure with the money to create capacity for for school systems to work together with with higher ed. Um
042seemed to have gained some traction. We had a meeting with with higher ed prior to that bill being introduced or um and they seemed to take to the to the idea. And so, we quickly jumped on it um since um we were behind it to begin with. Um Mike, I don't know if you want to add anything else along those lines. Mike works with our um our lobbyists um that are shared with the city. And I don't know if you have anything that you wanted to add from some of the bills that we submitted. Yeah, I think you captured >> Thank you. Um I think you captured pretty much all of it. The the one note I would make is that well when the when the kids came up last week the education committee was
043really looking at two bills side by side. There was Senate Bill 7, which is certainly the one that that we like because it it would raise the base aid by $1,000. Uh but there's another bill HB 5002 that would also increase it but just by not as much. It would do use some different formulas to figure out the annual increase. Um but I think that's generally good news because there's a house bill and a Senate bill both focused on increasing the base uh the base number for ECS just by different amounts. So, we'll see how that plays out. And in the testimony most people were simply there advocating for yes, we need to increase ECS. Whichever bill this is, you know, certainly we'd like the one with more, but you know, here here's our our
044you know, reasoning for why we need more money. And the kids made an absolutely fantastic presentation there. Uh it was really compelling. So, um that would be my only note on that is there's there's bills and and we're going to keep an eye on the dual credit one as well because there's some really great potential there to help fund our career pathways specifically with the courses the kids will be taking here and and the potential for them to carry directly on to WestConn with their articulated pathways. Okay, thank you. And there are a few other bills, one in particular that probably has gotten a lot of attention on TV is around home school check-ins with the school system. I'm sure you've seen a lot on TV about that. And so basically many of the area
045superintendents are not submitting individual testimony. CAPS has submitted a pretty substantial response to that and it's mainly around the concerns about the unfunded mandate and the what it would cause in the school system to hold check-ins, annual check-ins with with homeschoolers. And among other things that are in the bill. So, you'll probably see some more of that in the news. Basically the the bill was proposed if you remember a while back there were some concerns with a couple of students who were killed or who had sort of disappeared or lost in the system after some concerns. They were home-schooled students but there were some DCF involvement there and so there was a lot of concerns around tracking students once they leave the school system. There was a high profile case in Waterbury and another one
046I can't remember which town it was in which really sparked the fervor around this and I think what school systems were looking for initially was for the state to create some sort of portal system to help keep track of students a little bit better. And in response the legislation really seemed to have pushed it back onto the school system to be the ones to keep track and that and so the debate is around whose responsibility is it to keep track. So, you'll see some more coming out in the news but um, you know, it's one of those bills that are that will get a lot of attention and most likely you'll also hear that as well at some point. Um, so outside of legislation, legislative updates, um, just a quick note that we will finally,
047without snow forecast uh in the future for tomorrow, we'll have our uh curriculum committee that has also been rescheduled probably as many times as um the playground presentation um for March 12th and then it'll be Zoom. And then um I'm very excited to announce to everybody that Danbury has been selected to present at the Connecticut Workforce Summit on April 2nd. And uh we submitted a proposal uh on disrupting the high school tradition uh and and basically explaining our new model and how we approach it and then offered to do round table discussions by role-alike sessions. So if you um to learn about the model and then if you're a principal, you'll meet with Dan Donovan's table. If you're superintendent or central office, you might meet with me. Um, if you are uh director of partnerships
048who will be introducing um in just a second, um, but if you want to meet uh to talk about what it takes on the business side of things, you would meet with Mike. Um, and so on and we'll be we'll be traveling with um Dan Donovan, Meg Martins, Melissa Neidlinger who's also here to talk about curriculum as she so does in such an exciting way. Um, and also uh myself and we'll um the Northwest Regional Workforce Board was so excited by our proposal that they sponsored a table so we'll be able to bring a few more folks as well. Um, and uh so if you want to register or attend, there's some information in the packet, but it's a very exciting. It's going to be held at the Connecticut Convention Center. So there's going to
049be a lot of uh industry there, a lot of school systems there and a lot of people coming to understand more about how to how to create pathways and they selected us out of a very competitive range of proposals. Um, so it's kind of a a for us so we're we're happy to attend, and if you get a chance to stop in, we'd love to see you. Um budget timeline, so just a little kind of public notice as to where we are in our timeline. So, the next um action, if you will, um April 7th, the mayor will present his budget to the council. April 16th, the city uh budget ad ad hoc committee will uh will take effect, and that is where I will re-present the same budget that we presented here to the
050board, and give the um budget the ad hoc committee a chance to ask questions. And then on April 22nd, there is a city council public hearing, so that the public can weigh in on all of the the city's budget, including ours. And then on May 5th, the city council has to adopt a budget. And so, we're hoping everything goes smoothly, um but um we certainly hope and and help uh hope that some of our parents can out, and certainly our staff to support to support our budget this year. Okay? Uh end of year snow day discussion, I'm going to turn it over to Kelly to talk about what we're thinking our last day of school will be, barring any other snow. I know, fingers crossed. Um so, to date this year, we have had seven
051snow days, so we have had a lot. Uh that pushes out our last day of school officially to uh June 22nd. Um and there is one exception for that. We did have a closure back in November for Broadview, um meaning that they we only closed Broadview, and so they will have to do an additional day of school. So, the Broadview students, their last day of school will be the 23rd. For all staff, um our teaching staff work traditionally, and most of our power educators uh work one additional day beyond the student day, so the 23rd will be for everyone. Uh we are looking to have Broadview staff do a half day for students, half day for staff, so that the staff will end um similarly. They might work a little later in the day, but
052they'll be done the same day. Um, so right now, uh, we are, uh, looking at setting our potential graduation date no later than the first, um, the first meeting in April, which is dictated by your board policy. And we're crossing our fingers that we don't have any additional weather-related incidents, um, between now and that meeting. I don't know if there's any questions, but Are there any questions on those days? Does that include Okay. Does that >> [cough] >> include taking the 19th off? Right now, we are in school on the 9th on You're talking about June 19th? We are in school on June 19th right now. Anybody else have any questions on that? Okay. Okay. Um, I did have one more thing before we get to the new hire update, and that'll be So, I'm
053going to ask Kim and Mike to to help us with some introductions in just a minute. Um, but I did want to thank everybody for um, the Read Across America Week and all the volunteerism in the schools and reading and showing up, you know, collectively across the week, you know, it's wonderful to see all the photos coming in of everybody and where they've been and the smile on the kids' faces. And if you, you know, it's a it's a week that the kids look forward to all year. I think the teachers look forward to it a little bit more. Um, cuz it's wonderful to be able to turn the class over for just a few minutes and and engage and, um, certainly it's a it's a great reflection in our school system. So, thank you
054for all the volunteerism uh, and for reading. So, uh, we just want to say we we appreciate that very much. Okay, next up we have two wonderful hires. We have two directors sitting in our back audience. Um, I'm going to ask Kim Thompson to call up, uh, Terry Cavanagh. And if you want to come on up and you can show off Terry. Terry's been a wonderful addition to to our staff and she's just getting started. We did not plan our outfits, just so you know. That was completely inadvertent. Um so, I am really excited to tell you about uh Terry. Terry is our new director of human capital operations, recruitment and retention. So, all the big buckets that we have been um hoping to get some really good help with. And um in came Terry
055to me. So, Terry has a long history in human resources, starting in the private sector, but she has held the role of director of human resources in multiple of our neighbors uh public school systems. So, uh including Brookfield, Weston, and New Milford. So, she has done the role in multiple places. She knows a lot of people. Um she also comes with a background, which I think is really interesting, of a master's in counseling. So, she knows people. She was a sociology major in in college. So, um I'm really excited to have Terry on board. She's been with us now almost 6 weeks. Um and she has uh taken on the operations team. So, she's working really hard on onboarding and training and getting our newest generalists on board. Um and you'll hear a lot about
056them in the weeks to come. Um but I want to turn it over to Terry. Hopefully, she'll say good things about her first few weeks. The It's been wonderful. I appreciate you all uh having me here. Um we have taken a look at just the the We have new generalists coming on board. We have one retirement. We have one generalist who left us back in November. So, we just hired uh two new generalists to uh tackle the team and the onboarding. It's really nice that we get to hire them now so that we can do it while we're looking at a little bit of a slower time. Kelly's keeping us busy, but um just doing that in a really thoughtful way. How do we do that? What does it look like? Freeing up some of
057Kim's time for uh other things. So, that's been really nice. But, I'm really excited to be here. Thank you. All right. >> [clears throat] >> And next up we have Miss Mary Gregory. I know she does not look familiar at all if you are from the Danbury area. So, go ahead, Mike. Thank you. So, Mary Gregory, our new director of Academy Partnerships. I'll be brief because I want Mary to to talk a little bit about her accomplishments, but she comes to us with tremendous experience for the 25 years in the greater Danbury area with DSABC here in our district, also with Girl Scouts of America, number of 501c3s and nonprofit experience that we're just very excited to have her on our team. So, I'll let her take over. >> Thanks, Mike. Hi, everybody. Most of
058you are all familiar to me. >> [laughter] >> I'm so thrilled to be back with Danbury Public Schools. For those who don't know me, I had about a 13-year tenure supporting Danbury Public Schools as executive director of DSABC. I've gone on to hold executive leadership positions, major gift fundraising, philanthropic, and nonprofit board leadership in the past 10 years. But, so thrilled to be back in this capacity and um grateful for the warm welcome I've received thus far as I wrap up day three. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> I don't have all the accomplishments that Terry has just yet. But, the two biggest tasks ahead in the next couple weeks, um one of the two biggest that I have in front of me is really going on a bit of a listening and learning tour. So, I
059already have meetings scheduled or about to be scheduled with the director of all the academies, with our current community partners and corporate partners, kind of starting all that outreach. So, with that said, I welcome connecting with any of you. I would love to hear your perspectives and ideas and how we can grow partnerships for the academy. So, thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you, Mary, and thank you, Terry. And thank you both for the introductions. All right. Wraps up for superintendent's report. Okay. Um next we have uh board standing committee reports. So, do any of our committee chairs have anything to report today? No? Um the community relations committee is having a meeting on March 19th. Thank you, Al. Uh finance committee will be meeting next week. Um I think it's
060the 18th. Don't quote me on that one. Um Curriculum committee is tomorrow. >> It's tomorrow. Okay, good. So, we have everybody is scheduled. Um anybody else want to? No? Is it possible that I can ask my question now concerning the community relations or do I wait till the discussion? It's up to you. Do you want to uh is this about the uh I can ask them now. Yeah. Okay. My um just uh a little rundown. Okay? So, you might have to put on your hat and just wait just a minute. First, I have think that the Danbury school system has did and has done an excellent job in highlighting our school. I'm not afraid of something new. I have sit on this board for 34 years. We have tried many times to have board meetings
061at designated school. I'm not saying it will fail. I'm just saying, have we covered all the avenues? Number one, spotlight your school. Can the school accommodate what we have in here as far as microphones? It's not just going to going to intake 11 board members. We have other people that have to come and do presentation at those schools. Number two, parking. And I And And it has nothing to do with a certain school. I have been and seen certain schools. There is no parking. Teachers leave at 3:30. Students leave at 3:30 unless something going on at the school. The custodian staff leaves at 3:30 or 4:30. So, my question would be, who's going to do all this setting up, designing for us as board members to have a board meeting? Okay. Number three, safety. We
062are so comfortable coming in a well-lighted place. For many of you didn't climb up Beaver Brook's steps up and down up and down and around every kind of way. Then when we had something special, there was no parking. And I can remember when teachers came and supported the budget. You know, you had to get there almost two hours early to find a park. I'm not saying it's not going to work. I just want to make sure that all the avenues are covered. Do we have to pay the custodian extra for staying over if we have a board meeting that lasts a little bit longer than we think? And I'm just going to throw out an example. Many and many years ago, we had our board meeting set up at Broadview. And the custodian left. And
063we went into executive session and wind up staying till 11:30 at night. We had to call the custodian to come back and let us out. So, I'm just make sure that we're comfortable in doing this to these schools, okay? Because it's not just about us. Is your goal to get more parents to come and see the board and participate? Are we going to have translators at the schools that need translators? And what is it going to cost the board? Okay. Uh, you know, uh, those just And this is just didn't come up. This came up in my mind a couple of weeks ago when we was, you know, and I was sitting I was saying, you know, I'm not going to knock this, but I want to make sure when I go and I was
064over at, um, Hayestown last week. And you just could barely get a car up in there and it was muddy and, you know, and I know it because of the weather, but we have to be careful. We're real, you know, safety for everyone, not just for us getting there. And we all come from different area of the city. We work, we have other things that we have to do and to just, you know, to have a set position to know where you're coming for a meeting. Is this is all that I'm saying. I would also appreciate or think that the teachers or the principal that's doing the presentation for the school would be excited to come into this school and do a presentation versus their school and hassling trying to find out we don't have
065no microphone, we don't have enough chairs, we don't have no water, we don't have none. And it would also impress me to see the children that they bring that they can come into the board room and say, "Okay. Elementary kids, another five or six years, this is where I'm going to be going. I'm excited." Okay? That's all that I want to say. So, I just hope that we have really developed a plan that's going to work. And the parents are coming. Are you going to have an interpreter again? Because those parents are coming to hear what you have to say. And if they can't speak no English and you're not going to have an interpreter for then why do you want to invite them to the board meeting? Because they're coming. Okay? That's all that
066I have to say. So, um I know some of those questions have come up already cuz we've had some of our principals reach out and with some with some questions as well. Mike, do you want to talk a little bit about some of the logistical things? Sure. So, we've been working closely with the principal and the custodians at at Hayes Town already to make sure that the the building is prepared, the tables and the chairs will be there. We're going to have a custodian that the typical night custodian will ends his shift at about 11:30. So, we're ensuring that they're going to be there and and doesn't leave early to, you know, go home sick or anything. Uh we also have um a safety advocate that will be there on the premises. Um and you
067raised a good point about parking. Uh we're we'll send out we'll make sure that there's reserved parking space and we'll send out maps to board members in advance so that you know exactly where to park, because I know um Hayestown can be a a little tricky with the the the different lots they have there. So, I will send that out to everybody in advance. Um and Ken and I have also talked about some of the technology. We're going to have the cameras set up. Yeah, okay. Go ahead, Ken. Yeah. So, >> [laughter] >> um So, I know that there are concerns about it. If as many of you know with the old Beaver Brook space, we did have a mobile camera set up. Basically, I would show up every day and I would set up
068that camera set up. That still exists, and we have a microphone for that camera. Um I'm sure many of you have listened to the old footage from the old board room, and know that it is not the greatest. It is just a single mic that captures all sound. So, you're competing with whatever other noises may be happening in the room. I mean, with our old with our old board room, it was the constant humming of the air system. So, it it is feasible. The one thing that we do not currently have at all is our own dedicated microphone system, something that is mobile for us to bring to other sites. We would kind of be relying on whatever the building can provide for us. So, whether that's in a gymnasium setting, if we're in an
069auditorium, if we're in a cafeteria, it would kind of be on the building principal and their facilities, what they have available for microphones and PA systems and stuff like that. Um me and Mike are currently working on purchasing something for us for those mobile occasions when we need to be out and everything, something that we can keep for the board for when we move about. Yeah, it sounds like that this could be a more regular occurrence, so we feel like it's going to be worth getting a portable system that we can take with take with us. It doesn't cut out. And that'll, you know, there's a number of very low-priced systems out there that'll will perfect for for, you know the needs and the size of the space that we're going to be in so
070we don't need a big you know party system or anything. Uh can I just say one thing? I just want to say that um we invite parents to all of our board meetings not just to the meetings that we're going to be doing on site. Um I think that celebrating the school is to be there is to celebrate that school and and that's um the intention of it and to um allow a more comfortable space for people to come and participate in that. Um and if it means that we have to go to them cuz they don't tend to come to us as we look around um and we had a spotlight our school tonight and we didn't have that that that big of a turnout. Um and I would love to see more people
071celebrating their schools and and and being more a part of that. So that that's my intention. It's not to inconvenience anybody. It's not to um to to make anybody you know go out of their way. It's for us to engage and to allow an opportunity for those communities to to also be a part of that uh celebration and engagement and other districts do it and they do it successfully. So if if other districts can do it I I know that we can we can try to make it work. It's not going to be perfect the first time. It's going to take some times to tweak and you know it's going to be maybe we have to change that and maybe this one and maybe the locations have to be selected where they're more convenient. But
072um we're not going to know unless we try. So you know that's my thoughts. I know the microphone is is key to any recording and audio so public will not be able to hear so I don't it would be important to know when those come in and um test them out and uh in the different environments that we're in. So I do I am a little concerned about the audio. I share your concern with that. But, as long as we have a new system that comes in, I think that would be cuz they right now this the schools only have your kind of stand and deliver mics, the old-fashioned one and that that wouldn't serve the the needs of this group. But, if if a new set comes in, I think that that would be
073that would be much more helpful. Thanks. So, again, my question is we have to pay a custodian staff, right? Because if the custodian staff leaves at at 5:00 or 5:30 and we go home to to you know, I'm not just dealing with finance, but we also have to pay for interpreter. Because if you going into the area, you need someone to interpret, you know, for the group. You're going to have to pay an interpreter and where does that fall fall up on our budget? That was just some questions that I had to ask. That's all. Okay, let's go on to our action items. Gladys, action item A, could you read that for us? Action item A, policy 5123, promotion/acceleration/retention. I move that Board of Education accept for the first reading policy 5123, promotion/acceleration/retention as recommended
074by the policy committee in accordance with exhibit 26-28. Thank you. Motion made by Gladys. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Seconded by Lauren. Um do we have any questions or discussions? Okay, seeing none. All those in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Okay, motion carries. Gladys, could you do action item B? Action item B, policy 5123-3, graduation ceremony participation. I move that the Board of Education accept for the first reading policy 5123 dash not dash dot three graduation ceremonies participation as recommended by the policy committee in accordance with 26-29. Motion made by Gladys. Do I hear a second? Second by Al. Any comments, concerns, questions? Seeing none. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? I. Okay, motion carries. Um Minnie, action item C. Policy 5124, reporting to parents. I move that the Board of
075Education accept for first reading 5124, reporting to parents as recommended by the policy committee in accordance with 26-30. Motion made by Minnie. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Gladys. Any questions or comments? Seeing none. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? I. Okay, motion carries. Minnie, action item D. Policy one sorry policy 5144.2, use of exclusionary timeout. I move that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 5144.2, use of exclusionary timeout as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 26-31. Thank you. The motion made by Minnie. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Al. Any questions or comments? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? I. Okay. Motion carries. Um Al? Oops, sorry. Policy 514 uh 5145-12 search and seizure. Uh motion that the Board of Education accept
076the first reading of policy 5145-12 search and seizure as recommended by the policy committee in accordance with exhibit 26-32. Thank you, Al. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Lauren. >> Any comments or concerns? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? I. Okay. Motion carries. Al? Policy 5142 student safety. Motion that the Board of Education accept the first reading policy 5142 student safety as recommended by the policy committee in accordance with with exhibit 26-3 uh 33. Thank you. Motion made by Al. Do I hear a second? Second. It's Al. Okay. We'll give it to Sherry. Okay. Um do we have any questions or comments? Okay. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Sherry, action item G. Okay. Policy 5141.34 TB testing of students and personnel. I motion that the Board of Education revoke policy
0775141 .34 TB testing of students and personnel as it is covered in updated policy 5141.21 health services as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 26-34. Thank you. Motion made by Sherry. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Juanita. Do we have any questions or concerns or comments? Seeing none, all in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Sherry? Policy 5141.5 suicide prevention. I motion that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 5145.5 suicide prevention as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 26-35. Thank you, Sherry. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Gladys. Do we have any comments or questions? No. Seeing none, all in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Juanita? Policy 5143.1 school time accident insurance. Motion that the Board of Education accept for the
078first reading policy 5143.1 school time accident insurance as recommended by the policy committee in accordance with exhibit 26-36. Thank you. Motion made by Juanita. Do I hear a second? >> Second. Seconded by Al. Any questions or comments? Okay. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Juanita? Policy 5145.124 breathalyzer testing. Motion that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 5145.124 breathalyzer testing as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 26-37. Motion made by Juanita. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Al. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor? I. Any opposed? >> I. Okay. Lauren? Okay. You okay? Um policy 5145.21 I make a motion that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 5145.21 student government as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance
079with 26-37. Thank you. Motion made by Lauren. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Al. Any questions or comments? All in favor? I. Any opposed? I. Okay. Motion passes. Lauren? Last one. January 2026 financial report. I make a motion that the Board of Education accept for the 20 January 2026 financial report as recommended by the Finance Committee and in accordance with 26-37. Thank you. Motion made by Lauren. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Al. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes. Policy has been very busy. Very busy. Okay, I'm going to do a brief uh chairperson's report. Um couple of things. Um our PTO liaison list is complete and fully done. So, if you haven't already done so, please reach out to your contacts
080at your schools. Um I was at um Millbridge PTO last night. Um so, they are um they reached out to me through the liaison list and so, they um so, if you have time to reach out and get to a meeting or get the information to them, that would just great. If you're not getting response from the emails, please let me know You didn't You didn't get a response? Okay. Email Text me and let me know which school that was so I can go back. Okay. Um and that way we can start the communication with the schools and and getting that contact, okay? Um NEA had an open house last week for board members. Um thank you to the NEA for for inviting us over and uh thank you to the board members that showed
081up. We had a great showing. Almost We got a lot of people there and it was very nice to to meet a lot of the um people um union members and reps that were there. So, thank you to them for that. Um with that, we're going to be going into spring season, which is a lot of events that are going to be coming our way and a lot of emails with invites that are coming through. Um and we can't all be at every event. Just it's impossible. But, it'd be nice if some of us were at at at some of these events. So, um as they come up and the emails come through, maybe we can figure out a way to coordinate just to make sure that we've got it covered and that there's somebody
082there. Um I think we tried a calendar one year, but that it was too hard to do. Um so, if you if you get information about events for your schools, bring it to the board and then we can kind of coordinate together and as emails come in, we'll see, you know, how we can uh make sure that we have some attendance there. At least one or two people there would be nice. Um okay, our next meeting is going to be at Haestown, so remember to drive there and not here. Okay. Um there's That's all I have for tonight. So. Okay. Oh, now I'd like to open it up actually for the board to our discussions portion. Um so, does anybody have anything they would like to talk about? Uh spot I know that um a
083lot of us went reading. I went to three schools. I was at Moore Street, Shelter Rock, and Park Avenue, um which was really great. Um one of my favorite uh things to do is go read to the students. So, um that happened over the last couple weeks and Shelter Rock had a science fair yesterday, which I went to as well, which was wonderful. Um so, um that's me. So, if anybody else has anything that happened over the last month because we haven't seen each other in a month, so then you'd like to share. I went to lots of schools. Um I'm sure you did, which is why you can't speak now. >> [laughter] >> Part of it, right? Um I think I went to probably five and did lots of reading. Ran into Cara at
084Moore Street. She had a nice little picture on the board. It was cute. Um but yeah, it was great. It was a great week. It's good. Uh I just want to personally thank uh Gambier High School band and the jazz band for attending the February 16th uh Dr. Martin Luther King program at our church. The band was fabulous. The jazz band just showed showed showed out. And the people are still asking me are we going to have them back next year? And I said, I can't answer that because, you know, the pastor makes the decision as who puts that program together. But I just want to personally thank uh the band director and the jazz director and they brought like I think it was 18 or 20 young people and they were really nice and
085respectable and they enjoyed themselves. We feed them before the program, and they act just like they were at home. So, I really want to thank the band director and the bus company, Kelly, for making a connection with me and making sure cuz we had that canceled in January because of the weather, and just making sure that the kids uh arrived at our church and and arrived back home at the particular time that they need to be back home. And I want to thank our superintendent for helping making the arrangements for the band to come. They have been coming, I think, for the last 10 or 12 years, and they donate that bus to us, and we really appreciate it. And I want to thank our associate superintendent, that's not here tonight, for also attending. And
086we had wall-to-wall people at that affair. And again, thank you. Lastly, I want to thank the uh NEA and the um racial ethnic committee of the NAA for presenting me with a beautiful plaque and a dinner on uh February February the 26th, and it was beautiful. And I want to thank them for taking time out, recognizing me, and giving me the honor. And I just loved it. Thank you. Thank you, Gladys. Minnie? Yes, so I did get a chance to go to a few schools, and some of them just were canceled because of the snow. I did make it to to today. We had I did go to Pembroke, and um King Street I could not make it. It was postponed. And it was just a joy to be there with the kids and to
087go back to schools. And I must say I did have um A student 10 students from A stop by to work with my kids at our center and they came in with books and projects and they left they just donated the books they brought in and that was so kind. We thought, yeah, this is good. Another thing I did have did want to talk about is we have the early childhood fair that's coming up on March 28th. It's a Saturday. That's an event that I organize for the town every year and we've had amazing turnout every year. It's at Rogers Park Middle School at the cafeteria and we have people who have attended the board always have a table. I'm not sure if we decide we're deciding to do a table this year. They always
088have a table. So and we do have very good attendance the last few years. So that's something we're looking forward to and it's an event that I do and thanks to the public schools so that we can rent that space to do it and it's just getting bigger. I hope you all attend. Thank you. Thank you. It is 12 sorry it's 10 to 1. At the Rogers Park Middle School cafeteria. Okay. Thank you. What was the date again? March 28th, a Saturday. We have 60 partners agencies from the community attending and host you know they have stuff out there for families. Thank you. Okay. And also we had our first professional development for the board. We had our financial PD. So thank you. Not to worry it's been recorded so hopefully we'll get the the
089recording and be able to pass it out to people who were not that day. Yeah, go ahead. Just real quick I should probably should have put under the superintendent report, um, but our ROTC students just participated, they have been flying drones as part of competition. And it's a relatively new thing for us in our in what we're doing, and it's trying to promote all groups, and they just won, I have to go back and look at the name of the competition that they won, but they're they're off to a very big final competition in Virginia, um, and it's coming up quickly, so we're going to find a way to get them there, um, but we've got our our Air Force Junior our ROTC flying drones and winning competitions, so I'm just really proud of our
090kids because between the band and the cheerleaders and all of the um, you know, all of our clubs and sports and robotics, they're really, um, really rising to the top, and so it's just nice to see so many kids participating in that. So, I'll get you more information on the drone competition, but we're excited for them. That group's coming along. Okay. Does anybody have anything else? No? Yeah, we have a lot to celebrate in this district, so it's I love to share a lot of this. It's good good stuff. Okay, if I hear anything else, motion to adjourn. >> [laughter] >> I'll entertain a second. Second. Second by Lauren. All in favor?