001meeting to order. Um before we get started, I just want to welcome everybody here to the start of our 2026 uh board meetings. Um we've got a lot of new faces around the table. So, I want to just take a minute to welcome all of our new members. Um and thank all of my board members for showing up tonight and for being present and being willing to work with us to work for our students and make the district a better place. So, thank you for being here tonight. Um, also I just want to announce that we had one resignation over the break. Richard Janelli, who was a longtime board member, has uh stepped down. Um, and we really are going to miss him. He's given a lot of time to the board over the years.
002Um, but we wish him well and we can stand for the pledge. Please argue of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy for for your arms. Right. Forward. March. >> Al, can you please do roll call? >> Kate. here. >> Uh, Glattus >> here. >> Uh, Dr. Cohen here. Uh, Lauren >> here. >> Yita >> here. >> Cindy >> here. >> Sherry >> here. >> Sean >> here. >> Minnie >> here. >> Louisa >> here. >> And I'm here. Okay. So, now we're going to move on to the next item on our agenda. Spotlight Our School. Tonight we have Reach Endeavor. Welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for Yeah. So reach and we have our first time which I think some days. So I think it just fits
003And then that's our team. Uh, Mr. Fisk, sorry, Mr. Fresh, Miss Fisk, Michael, all very experienced and dedicated staff. They do a wonderful job. Our two wigs for the year. Um, lower, you know, get our students to come to school. Um, we cannot affect change if they don't come to school and then improve the percentage of the students when they are there to earn the positive behavior intervention support program that we have. And then here's some data. Holy Christmas should have never said Okay. So, I love data because it helps to drive what we do for sure, but I always say it pales in comparison to the relationships that we need with our students. So, that is certainly first and right foremost. I tell people we're a restorative practice school that we are very much
004into teaching. Um, when something doesn't go the way it's supposed to, there's a better way about it. So, we spend a ton of time speaking to our students about um this is the better way. So, at the start of uh our school year last year, we had 60 65%. This year, as of uh January 26, we're down to 50 and 68. And you may say that kind of looks still um the 55% is for all of our students that have been there since the start of school. So, we are affecting change with them. So a lot of times if you look at the data from our school, it's a bit tricky because when new students come to us, you know, quite frequently they come to us because they've had challenges in school. They're not attending
005school. Um so does that need to improve? For sure. And uh we certainly spend a lot of time um trying to improve that. And then down below, um, you know, there's a definite distinction between our, uh, our sixth through the eighth graders in the 9th through 12th. Um, our younger students traditionally seem to buy in a bit more into the our system where they can earn something in return. Um, and so, um, the other thing that I should, you know, state about that is, uh, with We put in the advisory again this year and that that anytime a student doesn't come to school for two days, the advisory teacher calls up the parent or you know the guardian. We've done multiple Mr. Fish, myself and our pair uh who speaks Spanish. We've done multiple trips
006to homes and um yeah, so uh we'll keep battling that. A picture on the left is a gentleman who comes to work with us. Uh CJR does a ton of work with our school. Um and um so that was actually a a drive that they did in the fall and and then we took some some pictures. Uh big believers in uh to give back. So um I actually spoke to Mr. last week to see if we could do some things in our uh yeah community as well. So for our students really important for them to start understanding um how to uh to uh if they're upset to be able to control themselves, right? Manage themselves, start to make uh some responsible decisions. and really the idea that that that we are part of a larger
007group, right? Our school, our town, and so forth. So, spend again lots of time on this as well. Um, these are a couple of the field trips we've taken so far. Um, you know, I would be, you know, I'd like to take a second to thank Doc and Miss T, who's my direct supervisor. We've had great support. Um, multiple conversations. if you need this bill, let me know and then I'll go to our staff. Um, and of course that starts here. So, you know, thank you. So, yeah, there's a couple pictures of took a field trip to the Pratt Wright Nature Center and then we went to the Aldrich Museum and they're doing some some work there. It was quite fun. And then, uh, last one. Um, you know, there's thousands of quotes that we
008could use. I think this great um that education is the most powerful tool you can use to change things, right? And so um last week uh we had a call when native was on the call and I think her words were were quite safe. She said to the student on the call, whatever this is going on right now right within your life, it's just a tiny picture of your life. It should not define you. And that I think's you know our philosophy as well. >> So any questions? >> Well, thank you. Um >> you're not getting away that quickly. >> [laughter] >> Bill, I I just want to say that um and I'm sure Kelly would agree, there's been a marked difference in the climate and just the culture that you're developing over there at
009that program. Um, Kelly and I have both been over there several times this year, and each time I go, I see incremental improvements in the way that the students are presenting themselves, carrying themselves, um, introducing themselves, making eye contact, shaking hands appropriately. Um, and and it's because I know you take the time to, we just had a conversation earlier before this meeting about sweating the small stuff, and you're a sweat the small stuff guy. um and you take the time to work with kids to get them to reflect on their behaviors and how it impacts others and um we couldn't be happier with where you're going with the kids and I just want to say thank you. >> Yeah. Well, thank you and and certainly due to our team being receptive to some >> absolutely
010the staff has been terrific. >> Yes, sir. Can you take a second, Bill, to talk to members that may not know what Reaching Endeavor is and explain the program and how it where it's located? >> Yeah, for sure. So, right now it is located uh Crosby Street, we are um when I go to PPTs or I go to meet moms or dads, right? You know, the guardians, I always explain it's a it's an opportunity to preset your your her great daughter. It's a fresh start and it's really designed to to be for students who need a smaller environment and um again the the math piece is super important social studies but before we can get to that it's all of that stuff right it's being able to start to understand yourself if you're upset why
011um you know and I think a lot of our kids who come to us have difficulties in school certainly and so to get them to understand come in. Uh, it's safe, it's sound. Um, and um, and we always say we'd love to get the best version of yourself each day. And we never want that best version to be, you know, going to be the same from day to day. So, um, yeah, just just just a huge, you know, believer in that um, whatever you do, we can make it right better. and you all bring something special, something unique that you do well. So, we'll we'll certainly talk about those things, right? Celebrate and then work on the things that you need to improve. So, very very small, right? You know, class size. I know um
012I I I know through speaking to our team that they are diligently trying to find a place for us. Um but yes so so >> um in my four years being on the board it's the first time that we've had reach an endeavor here and and I'm yeah absolutely well for me and I'm sure uh others around this table your program and what you do is some of the most important work that we have in the district um and I know you know having had to deal through different expulsion hearings, etc. I mean, it's just really important what you do. So, thank you very much for committing to to helping the kids. It's really important. >> Uh, we just met with um with Angelo and Karina. So, we have five students that we're set right
013now to send back at the break and then we met with Rogers Park yesterday and we have another five that we're going to send back. So, the other piece is it's not a place where you go and get stuck. The idea is to go there, give me the tools that you don't have in your kit. um to help you be successful. Sure. >> Anybody else have any comments or questions? >> Uh could you just distinguish the age from you know being in the reach program versus being in the endeavor for people that really don't know it's middle and high school. So >> yes ma'am. So so if you come through on one side it's distinctly sixth grade up to on the other side is our philosophy is the same with them. But again um you
014certainly see as um as expected you certainly see a big difference between those two sides and and the high school side a lot of the ones who who come to us you know have made some mistakes or had some missteps. So yeah, a big big difference between those two. >> Anybody else? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Um Lauren, can you read the public participation, please? >> The board welcomes public participation and ask that comments be limited to three minutes. The public 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. >> I don't think
015we have anybody for public participation. >> Nope. Okay, >> perfect. Okay. Consent calendar. Sean, can you make the motion? >> I make a motion that we uh wave the reading of the consent calendar and accept the minutes as they appear. Motion that the board of education can consent calendar exhibits 26-01 through 26-04 in accordance with minutes sites and facilities committee regular board meetings 26-2325 annual board Meeting 26-03 1726 policy committee 26 through 04. >> Okay. Uh thank you Sean. Do I hear a second? >> Second by Al. All in favor? >> I you okay. Educational staff representatives. Hello everybody. No chair anymore. [laughter] I gotta get used to this. All right, it's nice to see everyone. Happy New Year. I probably should put these on so I can see what I'm talking about. So, good
016evening everyone. Good evening to our new chairperson. Nice to welcome you here. And for our new board members that I haven't met, my name is Erin Dailyaly and I'm honored to be here tonight as president of NA Danberry. I've been a here for 22 years teaching awesome third graders at Penrook School. I often get asked what keeps me in the classroom all these years. And for me, it's those full circle moments that kind of happen in a city as unique as Danbury. Just the other day, I ran into one of my students, my former students, who is now 29 years old, and I taught them more than 20 years ago. Seeing them now as a successful adult and now parent with children in Danbury public schools just blew me away. And it's kind of our
017ultimate why as teachers. Seeing not just our students grow up, but seeing them reinvesting in our community and having kids go to Danbury public schools. It's kind of one of those moments, you know, you just take with you in your heart. When my former students and I, we recall learning experiences together, it reminds me that what we do in our classroom every day isn't about just lesson plans. It's about the future of our community. And it reminds me that every decision made in these meetings here affects the actual lives and futures of all of our neighbors. And that's the heart that I bring to this role. I'm also very happy to have with me the most awesome vice president, Julian Schaefer. And Julian's a history teacher at Danbury West and Danbury Maine. And he's been
018here for over a decade teaching students. We're both committed to being your partners in making this district the best it can be. So for those who don't know that may be new to the board, what is the teachers union and what is NA Danbury? Thought you'd give you just a little bit of information because we have new faces here and you're probably going to be seeing a lot of us. I wanted to share a little bit about what our role is for a teachers union. As the union president, I see myself as the bridge. My job is the primary voice for our educators, ensuring that their expertise, their voices, their ideas, their challenges comes to you, that you hear about it. NEA Danberry is not just about negotiating contracts. That's what you'll hear a lot
019about. But it's more than wages. It's more than working conditions. It's all of those things wrapped up together. It's about keeping our great teachers here in Danberry. At our core, we're an advocacy program. We're an advocacy organization working to make sure we make things better for all of our employees and all of our students here. We work to ensure our schools are safe, our students have the resources that they need, and that the professional integrity of teaching is respected. And we believe, we strongly believe, you're going to hear us say this over and over again, that our teaching working conditions are our students learning conditions. When we support one, we support both. First off, I want to give congratulations to all of our newly most newly elected members of the board of ed. Congratulations especially.
020Um, and to our new chairperson, thank you so much for taking on this role. And also to acknowledge Miss Cooper for all her years as chairperson. Thank you for that, too. I know these are not roles that you take on lightly, and I know they're are very underappreciated roles, so thank you for that. We know how much work goes into your roles, and we're really excited about the possibilities that we have with this fresh new start with all these new faces on our board. And a special thank you to everybody for taking that on. It's not an easy challenge, but we want to move forward working with you with a no surprises approach. We're looking to build a relationship built on transparency with real honest communication. My door is always open, and I know that's
021a phrase everybody says, but I I want you to know that's true. And our superintendent knows that that's true. And we have that great working relationship, she and I, which I'm very proud that we have that together. Um, we no surprises and we're go we're not going to come here and tell you things that we're not have already talked about in in the past or in person. We're going to let you know when we have issues arise and we're going to let you know exactly where we're coming from, but you're probably going to know it in advance and it's not going to be a surprise moment here. But please just don't take our word for our open door policy. Please come and visit us. come and walk the halls with us and see the magic
022of what goes on in our schools for yourself. Julian and I would be happy to host you for site visits where we walk the halls. And it doesn't have to be one of those announce, you know, for show dog and pony kind of visits. It's just come in, watch us teach, watch what's going on, see the learning, see the experiences, walk with us, talk with us, see the incredible work that's actually happening in our classrooms. We want you to feel not connected to this room, but connected to our school buildings and the teachers and students in them. That brings me to the most sacred part of our mission, our protection of our students. When parents drop their children at the bus stop, they're entrusting us with their most precious gift. We know that. And to
023that end, protection of our students is our broad mission. It's about their physical safety, of course, but it's al also about their mental health and their emotional well-being. It's about making sure every child has access to a counselor, keeping our students safe from their struggles or at least helping them when they have struggles and in a classroom environment that is a sanctuary for them. It's about keeping our students safe from the harm of what's going on around us in the world. We want to work with you to enure our schools are places where every student, regardless of their background, feels safe, seen, and shielded from the dangers and pressures of the outside world so they can focus on their learning. One of our biggest priorities working with you will be to improve our school facilities.
024We want every student and staff member to walk into their building to feel safe, proud, and empowered to do their best. And not just DHS West. I know that's our big shiny building now, but all buildings, students should feel the same way when they walk into their schools. Our buildings should be a reflection of how much we value the people inside them as well as our community. So, I want to work together with you to make sure all Danbury schools are modernized, healthy spaces where everyone can thrive. We want to make sure our Danbury schools are places of pride for everyone that enters. Finally, we know that many of our challenges come down to the bottom line and we're eagle eager to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you with this board going with you if necessary to
025Hartford for extra funding from the state when our school has projects or missions where we need to get that extra funding. When we go to the state capital as a united front, teachers and board members together, our voice is going to be pretty hard to ignore. We're all on the same team and I really want tonight's mission to be about uniting us together for that same mission. We have a massive opportunity for a fresh start here and we're ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work with you. Congratulations again to all the new members and to all the former faces that I see. I'm so happy to see you back and Julian and I look forward to working with you and seeing you for the rest of this year and your term. Thank
026you so much. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Welcome all. Uh I'm Julian Schaefer again, vice president of NA Danberry. I'm really excited to be here today. A lot of great new faces. I know uh we've had the opportunity to meet a lot of you and have conversations with all of you or many of you already. For those who we haven't, I'm really excited to be able to build these relationships that Erin's talking about. Uh I really think that our union plays a really important role in healthy democratic governance of our public schools, right? And so I think uh as Erin mentioned, right, when we work together, I think we have a lot of the same goals, right? When we help our teachers, when we we help our students, right, when we help our
027students, we help our teachers, right? Uh and so I think you know we come into this profession with a love for children, for youth, for community, uh for really wanting the best for all our neighbors living around us, right? And I think to be able to work together with our board, with our superintendent, right? Our collaborative relationships really will build the best schools that we have here and that's good for everyone. Uh so just, you know, to echo a lot of what Erin said, I didn't do my homework. right today. Uh but uh I'm very excited to be working with us. I think uh with the conversations that we've had already with many of you, I think we have a really great path forward and I'm just looking forward to that collaborative relationship that we
028can build together. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have any student representatives here tonight? Hi, my name is Alexandra. Good evening, board of ed members, cabinet community members. Thank you for allowing me to represent on behalf of the alternate center of excellence. 17 students have to ac. We're excited to welcome our new students. On January 23rd, a group of A students will be visiting Penrook School to make Valentine's Day cards with Miss Shimanel's class. And afterwards, we hoping to drop these cards off at Glen Hill. This is our second year doing this and is a hope that we'll be able to physically hand cards to the Glenn Hill residents like we did last year. On February 18th, a group of students will be headed to the new Connecticut Humane Society shelter and pet resource
029center in Wilton to make snuffle mats for the resident dogs waiting to be adopted. Students will gain community service hours from this event. ACE had trips to the center in the past in both in Newton site and in Newington headquarters. ACE recently held an annual breakfast with Santa event which was a huge success this year. We served over 260 pancakes, breakfast, took pictures with Santa, and offered free face painting and holiday crafts for our guests. Thank you to all to the students, volunteers, and staff for all the hard work and time that went into making the event a success. On Thursday, January 29th, ACE will hold a special large guidance to celebrate our January graduates. At this large guidance, the graduates um guidance teacher will have an opportunity to celebrate the graduates. On January, graduates
030will participate in a formal graduation ceremony in June. 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 a strong. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay, since we don't have any presentations, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Camero for the superintendent report. >> Thank you and good evening everyone. Um before we get started under the superintendent report, um I just wanted to take a moment to also acknowledge uh Richard uh our former board member who had to retire. Uh Richard Janelli, longstanding, long-erving board member um who has been an ult you know ultimate supporter of our school system. Um so we are um you know very thankful for his service over the years and his friendship and we wish
031him well in his in his next chapter. Um, I also want to like to acknowledge Glattus as as well. Um, as we start the year, I also want to thank you for your service to the board as as board chair. Okay. Um, with regards to the 2026 27 budget, so just a little update on where we are in that process. We're cutting out. Okay. Um, so we've spent a considerable amount of time meeting with schools, departments, um, and really combing through um, all of the various budgets and and going through um, the asks that we have for next year. Um we have you know drivers as you know we're opening u the last phase of Danbury High School West which will include 12th graders um and and also require some operational staff to set the
032building up for success for its kind of final installation. Um so there'll be some operational expenses that will be incurring as a result of that um for that growth. Um also as you know transportation uh will be a driver this year as it has been in the last couple of years. Hopefully, this will be the last phase in of um of a of a transportation jump. We'll be adding a few more buses into the route. Um and also some of the cost of that transportation has gone up incrementally. Um so, some other drivers are really around um some other areas in the budget, incremental staffing that's needed to operate next year. Um and some requests that we have from the buildings and departments. Um a few special education requests as well, uh with some driving
033costs. um you know, we will take all of those drivers um measure those up against um what we have in our grants, the availability that we have and where we've had some excess room over the last couple of years with regards to open positions and u we're in the process of formulating that final number now. So, um you'll be hearing more about the budget with some more harder numbers next week when we have our finance committee and then u presentations uh public will go from that point forward until we turn our budget over to the city in February. So, we're well under our way. Um lots of work happening, a lot of diligent work. Finance office has been working hard, all the departments and the buildings um coming together to um have some very deep
034discussions about the budget uh and the needs for next year. So, more to come um as early as very early next week. Okay. Um moving down the line, I'd like for Kelly Truchess to give a little update on school climate. As you know, we've had recent legislation passed. Um but beyond the legislation, improving school climate is a good thing to do and Kelly's going to let us know where we're at. >> Thank you, Dr. Casemiro. Um so as uh most of our former board members are aware last June we met in the policy committee where we approved uh the cave recommended policy for school climate sorry about that uh for school climate and this year has been our first roll out of that legislation. Um so there's a number of things that are required and
035uh this year we are kind of dipping our toe into it and continuing continuing to expand over next year. Um what we did this year so far is that we've identified school climate teams in every single building. So there are representatives from um leadership from teachers, par educators, students, parents um to give uh multiple inputs into the culture and climate of schools. We're also looking at individualized uh data in each school to identify areas of need where where does an individual school need to improve to make school climate better in that respective school. Um and along with that the school climate teams were each required to submit a plan a school climate plan where they identify anywhere between two and four goals related to improvement. Um for some of the schools those were things like
036improving attendance outcomes. For others, it was making um greater bridges with families, helping them to understand or expand offerings in the school environment. And that was all based on uh initial survey feedback we had received at the beginning of the year. Um we reviewed those plans as a cabinet leadership team. Um and uh Dr. Casemiro had to signify to the state that those were all in place, which we were able to do by the end of December. Um we've also done restorative practices training. Uh we partnered with Ed Advance which is one of the lo local ress I'm very sorry for that one of the local ress um to roll out a training districtwide. It was an initial restorative practices training which talks about how to have students restore anything that was broken. So as
037Mr. Kirsten had shared about reach endeavor when a student makes some mistakes makes a poor choice we want to make sure that we use that as an educational opportunity for them to figure out what went wrong. what's a better choice I can make next time and then how do I go about fixing it? And so our um that training was rolled out district-wide to all staff uh from preschool to high school. Um and there'll be more training ongoing in that. Um, our district leaders will also continue to engage in additional training um, again with a partnership with Ed Advance to start looking at uh, the transition from our former bullying policy to this new restorative practices policy and how to go about conducting investigations and things like that when needed. Um, so we're proud of
038the work to come. Uh, there's definitely a lot more that's still coming. Our next step is um in the coming weeks we'll be meeting as a district climate committee to bring all the school information together and really start to plan what we're going to do headed into the next school year. So I look forward to kind of continued updates and I don't know if there's any questions. >> Any questions for Kelly? >> Okay, thank you Kelly. Um, next I'd like to turn it over to Allison Breedy Johnson who is our new associate superintendent for teaching and learning and has hit the ground running with her team and Dr. Zelita and I'd like for her to give a few updates on what the team is working on and the focus of the work. >> Hi, good
039evening everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, so just prior to the break, the team and I, myself, Dr. Zelita, uh, Kelly Chuchis, Anna Roco. Uh, we went out to all of our schools and programs, including Reach Endeavor, the adult education program, uh, our preschool programs. We met with school leaders. We talked to children. We learned about their experiences in the schools. I had an opportunity to meet with uh several parents and the about 50 parents um in the adult education program in the ESL program to just hear about their experiences in our district. Um and so from all of the visits, we have decided that our next step is really to assemble a committee of of various people, central office, school leaders, teachers to really think about uh what is our vision for teaching
040and learning so that our K to8 schools are really preparing our students to thrive in the academy model and that vision will really help us um to be able to do that in addition to that um because of the feedback that we received uh throughout the visits and how valuable it was to us in addition to the fact that as part of the uh school climate work with the state that we're required to do we're required to have a survey. Um, and what we've decided to do is to adopt a comprehensive survey that will not only collect information about school climate and culture, but will also uh collect information around student learning experiences. SEAL has been um a concern that has been raised uh by parents as well. So, we'll be able to collect information
041around that. um we'll be able to collect information from parents and teachers um around various things that are happening in our district including the academy model. Uh we want to make sure that there's a strong awareness um throughout our district K8 about the academy themy's program and that even in the high schools that our students are uh giving us feedback on their academy experiences so that we can quickly respond to the feedback that we're receiving. The other thing that we've been focusing on, so we have some midyear data. Um, it's that point of the year we sort of check in to see how our students are doing. Um, and so as part of our school improvement work, we're meeting with schools around their data and working with them to develop action plans on how to
042respond to the data to make sure that we're meeting the needs of all of our students. Um and finally what I would say is in our next curriculum committee meeting uh we do have some data that we would like to share with you in terms of the progress that we made from last school year. Uh we definitely our state data accountability data show that we made a lot of growth uh from the previous school year. So we do want to share that with you um and continue uh with the great work that has been happening in the district and building upon that uh so that we can get even better. >> Thank you Alison. We appreciate the work that the team is doing. Um so moving on just a little bit about the Danbury clubhouse.
043Um many of you in the room know that we just opened a Danbury clubhouse with the Boys and Girls Club in downtown Danberry. um we're become partners with them uh and we'll have some of our buses running to um uh to be able to support the um programming there. So after school activities, programming, sports, swimming uh will be available at the Danbury clubhouse uh and some of our buses depending on the school will be running and uh and doing drop offs after school to connect kids to high quality afterchool care. Um there's a brochure in the in the packet for submission. This also went out through Parent Square over the weekend um and will also be included in my letter coming up um to promote uh the program and that starts um I think the
044grand kickoff is January 26th and they are now registering enrolling students for that afterchool care. So, >> oh and they will be here February >> 23rd to do a presentation uh for all. Thank you for that date. Okay, the next person on the list here, um, I'd like to bring up Heather Loren for a moment. Heather is one of our phenomenal social studies teachers at Danbury High School. She teaches in the West, uh, building, so this building here, and she's going to give us an update on the DHS mock trial, uh, team, which is just killing it. So, go ahead, take it away. >> All right. Um, hello everyone to the new chair. Um, and For all of you who don't know me, politics, um the political pre-aw. Is it on? It was pretty. >>
045Anyway, um I wanted to thank the uh board members who were able to come today to um for our capstone exhibition. It's the first capstone exhibition at DHS West. It went so phenomenally well. Um they're considering um modeling it o doing it over at the other campus, too. They've been doing a different variation and they're thinking about doing it, but it will definitely be repeated. So, ready for your invitations in May. Um, but mock trial, um, so it's I think it's defined as a club, but it's really a team. Um, the students prepare to, um, compete both as a prosecution team and as a defense team um, at a competition that uh, happens in December. Um, we've been lucky. Uh, so this is only my second year running the team. Um, Prior to me taking
046it over two years ago, um there it was ran more like a club and they weren't competing at all. Um and when I took it over, when the kids approached me and asked take it over because the other teacher wanted to let it go, I said, "Sure, but we're going to compete." And they were like, "Yes." So um so we competed last year for the first time and this year um we competed in December and we won. [laughter] [applause] Um two teams one other along with us um one of the uh teams from St. Luke's in New Kanan um are going on to the playoffs. So the first round of playoffs is February 6th. Um and it we are competing at Bridgeport um courthouse and um I we have a team of 14. There's a
047minimum of six, but if you have a team of six that means they're doubling up on everything. Um so luckily I have a team of 14. Um about 60% of them are freshman. [laughter] I have seniors and freshman and one sophomore. So next year is going to be interesting. Actually that's not true. I have one junior, one sophomore. Um so next year will be interesting. Um but each year I've I mean last year none of them had ever done that and this year I only had four repeating students and the rest of the team is all brand new. Um so I'm hoping as the JLA curriculum builds out that we're going to get more kids interested. As a matter of fact, I just got an email today saying, "Hey, I'm really interested in the mock
048trial team. Can I join?" And I'm like, "Yeah." Um, and so, yeah. So, we'll see how we do at the playoffs. Um, I also wanted to thank Dr. Casemiro because as soon as I texted her and told her we won, she's like, "What can I do?" And I can't tell you how much um teachers appreciate that um because so for so often it's been so difficult for us to have resources and thank you. So thank you for the bus. [laughter] >> Of course. >> Come back. Come back with the W. >> Yes. So um anyway, my door is always open. Happy to have you all there. Um I'm also you'll see me a lot because I'm also the teacher action chair. um for the union. I'm uh the pathway lead for the Justice and Law
049Administration pathway. So, you're going to see me in this room quite a bit. Um so, say hi for those newcomers. Come and say hi to me. Okay. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Any questions? >> No. >> Great. Good luck on the seventh. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Okay. Before we move on to um understanding weather related decisions, [laughter] I do want to take just a moment to acknowledge also our robotics team um and kind of where they're at. We all know that they mopped up last year with with the VEX Robotics uh the world competition. Um but they're well on their way to to maybe earning that credential again. So just very recently um the DHS robotics team 5150 traveled to Middletown High School on the 10th. It's the fifth, it was
050the fifth competition of the 2526 year. Five of the teams made it to the elimination to the elimination round. Um, and two made it to as tournament finalists. Um, as a result, one of the teams is now qualified for the Connecticut State Championship. Um, and one of the teams was also awarded a robot skills finalist and design award for having the best engineering notebook, which is a point of pride in our school. Um, that those things are kept very meticulously and they're and they're done very well. So, um, the next competition, Team 5150 is heading out to Killingly on the 17th and on, um, that that that Killingly will host the 11th annual Connecticut VEX robotics tournament on Saturday, January 31st. So, I think they're well on their way to the World Finals again um,
051on this path. But, I think it's important to highlight some of these the clubs and some of the small activities that happen in the school system. They're different than what other kids participate in. Sports are all over the newspaper. or they get plastered everywhere and they tend to get a lot of attention which they deserve but we also like to highlight that there are other interests and and great things happening with our kids across the system and um diverse ways. So um congratulations to them and you'll be hearing more I'm sure about that group. Okay, the next item on the list is pretty much the last one is about understanding weather related decisions. And I figured I would do this um when I was not under the pressure of a 4:00 5:00 a.m. decision. Um
052because sometimes decisions get made in the morning and not everyone quite understands how those decisions are made and um all that goes into making decisions. Um and I think we've I think we've nailed it. I think we've gotten most of the decisions right so far. Um but just in general, you know, the decision for weather, um calls starts with uh collaboration with our city partners with what's happening out in the community in terms of the roadways. So, how the roads are treated, um what type of um you know, the timing of a of a weather event, uh information that we receive coming in over multiple uh hours from our partners with um emergency weather planning. So we we're part of a service that we are on a distribution list with really upto-date timely weather information
053that comes to us about the timing of events, the precipitation levels, the uh the jetream and um how that might jive with um what's happening in our schools uh when our schools start some days that we have a delay and what that would mean for us. So um we work closely with the city, we work closely with the organization that supplies us our weather related data and then we look at what's happening in our schools and we try to make the best decision possible in real time um and to do that with enough advanced notice so that parents uh have time to react in terms of child care. Um many times I get texts the night before a storm of people want to know are we having school tomorrow? um what what you know can
054can you just call it now? It looks like it's going to be a blockbuster. Um all to find out that you know the storm has changed directions or has dwindled down and uh has has pivoted. So uh we do tend to uh wait until the day to make the call. Um I know from time to time uh things can happen where temperature on one degree difference can change everything from rain to sleet to ice and uh we make the best uh decision possible with the information that we have. But it is a collaboration between the city um what we know about our staff and multiple weather services uh that stream in to give us the best data possible. Um, and we also check in during larger storms or significant events with our area superintendent partners
055so that we're really tried to be on the same page a little bit because it tends to cause consternation when one school system does something and the other doesn't. Um, there are variances. Milford, they're always a little bit higher elevation. So, sometimes they make different calls. Um, but you'll tend to see that we we we do collaborate on those as well. Um, just for the just for the ease of communication around around the area. So, um, just thought I would get that out before the next storm. Um, because there are always questions when those decisions have to be made and, uh, it is a multitude of factors that go into that. Okay. All right. Uh, and that's it. That's all I have for tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I'm going to since we're in
056the process still of putting our chairs for our committees in place during the month of January, I'm going to skip over committee uh reports for this month and we'll once we have everybody in place and we've actually had some meetings, then we'll come back to that. Okay. So, let's move on to the action items. Um, action item A, Lauren, can you do that for me, please? Sure. >> [clears throat] >> I make a motion that the board of education accept for first reading policy 5144.1 physical restraint slash seclusion/exclusionary timeout as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 26-05. Motion made by Lauren. Do I hear a second? >> Second by Al. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion passes. Um, action item B. Wanita, could you do that for me,
057please? >> onampus recruitment motion that the board of education accept for the first reading policy 5145.14 onampus recruitment as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 26-06 >> motion made by Wanita. Do I have a second? >> Second by Al. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Action item C. Um Kate, would you mind doing that? I'll make a motion that the board of education accept for first reading policy 5145.511 sexual abuse prevention and education programs as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 26-07. >> Motion made by Kate. Do I have a second? >> Second by Lauren. All in favor? >> I I. Any opposed? >> Okay. Oh, so thank you for mentioning that. Um, so just in uh added today uh in the minutes is the for information
058is the proposed um next school year calendar and right now it's just on for information. So, we would just ask that you take some time to review it and if you there's any feedback or questions on it, uh that we have some time to discuss it between uh between now and um when we put it up for a final read. Okay. Okay. So, we're going to move on to the chairperson's report. Um I apologize if this is a little lengthy tonight. It's my first one, but I want to get some housekeeping stuff out of the way, especially because we have some new board members around the table. So, it was a good night to take care of some stuff. Uh, first thing I want to talk about is emails. We all should have our district
059emails. Um, and we'll probably go into this more as we go on. Just um be aware of what you're putting out in your emails. Um, but also if you get emails from constituents, which you will probably get as we move forward, um, I do not have an issue with you just acknowledging receipt of the email. You could say, "Thank you. You know, thank you for re reaching out. I will forward this to the appropriate person." Um, I would refrain from engaging any back and forth with constituents, especially on matters that we really don't know about. So, we'll let superintendent and we'll let her team take care of those. Okay. Good, Kim. Okay, good. All right. Um, uh, visiting school protocol. I know we've started scheduling some visits with the schools. Um, and I thank Wanita
060for helping with some of the new people. Um, if you want to schedule a visit with the school, please go through Cara Pomp Pompano. Um, before you schedule, she knows what's happening in the school. She knows best days. She knows what's what when is a good time so we're not too disruptive. I know that we want to be welcomed there, but we just want to make sure that you guys are doing your job and we're not just, you know, taking uh away from the students. Um so again, if you want to have any visits with the schools, go through Cara. Okay. Um also attendance for committee meetings and board meetings. So if you uh when you get the calendar invites, please respond so we can confirm that we have a quorum for our uh committee
061meetings and also for our board meetings. Um, if you have to change and something comes up, which is understandable, reach out to your committee chair and let them know. If you can't make that particular meeting, um, if it's a board meeting, just reach out to me or Cara and let us know so we can just plan accordingly. Okay. All right. Um, I am working with Cara as well on the PTO liaison list. I'm trying to get a master schedule spreadsheet together that'll have all contacts names, who's to what school, and who is the contact person at that school. I'm working with citywide PTO to put that together. We've got some gaps in there, and we're trying to fill the gaps. Um, I'm going to give it another week. If I don't have that full, I'm
062just going to send out what we have and you can start making your contacts with the schools that you're assigned to. Okay. Um okay. Um okay. Couple of things. Um I wanted to announce um in wanted to have one board member that would be um bringing information to and from uh the board um on a state education level and I know that was brought up tonight. Um so our decided to have a legislative liaison uh from the board and um thank you Kate for taking on the role. Um and this will be our one board person that will have the contact with all things state education related. She will get the information from them bring it back to the board and and let us know and really keep us updated on things that we need
063to know state level. Okay. Um, and as we go on, these are all new things, so they might switch and change and we might be tweaking as we go. So, uh, just know that these are all kind of new things that we're we're trying. Now, um, aside from that, um, CAB is another, uh, organization that sends us a lot of information, and as board members, you're going to get a lot of emails from them. Um, I am guilty of skimming through emails and missing a lot of stuff that comes in. So, uh, Wanita has, um, well, I didn't give her much of a choice, but she'll be able to get help us to at least once a month if she could put together like webinars that are available through CABE information for us and just
064send it out to the board as one blast and you guys can just look through and see what's available that month, then if you have time to hop on, you can do that. And I think that's better to put it all in one area than kind of skimming through 50 emails trying to remember which one um, had that date on it. All right. So, um board professional development. This is another um topic that was that I think we need to do better at. Um and so we're going to be um Kate is also taking this on as well. Um we're going to be bringing in PD for the board. Um I think it's important that we even for existing board members that we're constantly, you know, tweaking our skills and learning and and getting new
065um uh information. Um, so be working with K. Kate will be kind of brainstorming on how uh what to bring in first. I think um she'll talk about it in the next segment. Um but just know that I think it's important that we do that. It'll be workshops, you know, and we'll we'll schedule it around everybody, but I really would like everybody to really take those workshops as seriously as we do the board meetings because it's very important. Okay. Um Okay. last um the board is gonna hit the road going on tour. Um I wanted to spotlight our schools at the schools and I think it's very important. Um I really want to make this board uh collaborative. I want us to really work together and all be involved but I also want us to
066reach out and be get down off of the hill and go down to the community and go down to the schools. Um, a lot of people I know when I was a parent and I came to a board meetings, it's very intimidating to come to these meetings and have all these people sitting around big chairs. Um, but when you're in their school, in their community, that's where their neighbors are, their families are, everybody's there. And I really want to try to work to get a better attendance and just people there and people just knowing who we are and putting names with the faces. Um, I'd ide ideally like to have a little tour of the school for the board when we get there and kind of as one unit go in and and do that
067and then conduct our meetings at the school. Um, thank you Cara for um supporting this. Um, so it's it's a little tough because a lot of the schedules are already done for this year, but um, we're able to get three in from now till the end of the year. So the first one will be Haztown on March 25th. We'll do King Street on April 15th and Stadley Ruff on May 13th. And those were scheduled, but we, you know, Cara and I kind of looked at it and we felt those three were good ones for us to to be present at. Okay. And then once we get into the new school year, we'll set up the schedule for next year. But for this year, we've got three. And like I said, it's a work in progress.
068So, we'll be tweaking as we go and we'll try to kind of fit it and, you know, change it and do what we need to do for that. Okay. All right. The last part is um after the chairperson's report, there is the board communications and comments section. Um, I'd like to I know we haven't particularly used that uh portion of the meeting much, but I'd like to uh use that as a time for us as board members to, you know, share where you've been, if you've gone to visit any schools, if you've been to any events during the course of the two weeks that we haven't been together, sharing invites from different events that we some of us might get from our school liaison and other people might not. um and um and and come
069back to the board and kind of talk about it. So, that's what I'd like to do during that section. So, if as you go through your two weeks and you're going to different schools, take notes and bring it back to us because we really I really want it to share all that information with all of us. Okay. And that wasn't too bad. I'm done. [laughter] Thank you. >> Okay. Well, now we'll go into board communications and comments. So, does anybody on the board have anything they'd like to share or talk about before we move on? Kate. Um, so a number of us attended the Cape Convention in November, which is the the biggest event that Cape puts on all year for professional development for board members. Um, Wanita was there, Sher was there, Al was
070there, uh, Sean was there, Glattis was there, and I was there. Um, and so we got a chance to kind of explore a lot of different um, courses. Um, it was just it was a good experience. Um, I'm not going to get into too much of the the details, but one of the courses I did uh, sit in on was around um, cyber uh, protection and good digital citizenship, which I thought was really pertinent uh, given how much of that is involved in the way that we do learning in our classrooms now. So, um, and then, uh, you know, as far as the PD, I just wanted to speak to that quickly. Um, one of, one of the ideas that I have is, uh, to bring in a finance training. We've talked about that before
071under, uh, Glattis' leadership, and we're going to, uh, try to make that happen, uh, quickly because I think especially with budget season approaching, it would be helpful for especially newer board members to have sort of some information and some definitions and understanding of how we read our statements. Um, but I certainly welcome input from everybody at this table. Please feel free to contact me directly with any ideas you might have for board development or for anything state related as well. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Lauren? So, I have just a couple of things that are happening with DSABC. Um, so tomorrow night they're hosting a wristband night at Alys. Um, so you buy a wristband for $10 at the door and DSABC um, so you buy the wristband for $10, DSABC gets a portion of
072that and then you get discount on your food and drinks. Um, and then they're going to be having a mentor mixer on Wednesday the 21st from 8 to 9:15 right here at um, Danbury High West. And then um Wednesday, January 28th, all day a give back day where you go in, you dine and it's at the holiday diner and then a portion of the proceeds goes back to DSABC as well. >> Thank you. Uh anybody want >> um just just an update on some of the webinars uh that CAB is off and so they have three sessions on um district budgeting and the first one was on the 13th and it was on started out with budget development. Um very informative. Um, I've been through it before, but to hear it over and over, you
073just can't get enough of it. Um, one of the things that they did suggest, and I just couldn't even remember if we did it or not, that there are many, many abbreviations and acronyms for many things, and perhaps at the end of the the proposal or that we have a list of what all those things mean. The the next one is coming up in uh February and it will be on the 25th and it is on uh adopting a budget. >> Thank you Sean. I'd >> like to congratulate Heather and the fellow teachers for the capstone uh projects as well as the presentations today. You uh did a great job of bringing together the community. You had the fire department here, the police department, you had city council members, you had state representatives, you had
074city departments, you had a state senator here. It was neat to see the people collaborate and work with the students in this beautiful brand new building. I'd also like to congratulate Dr. Roco and um her fellow staff, Kelly, for coming to the meeting on evaluations and professional development. It was really neat to watch them work together for what's best for the kids, what's best for the teachers so that they can do their job. So, I congratulate you on a great collaboration. >> Anybody else? >> Sherry. >> Yes. I just wanted to say that uh Cindy and I attended the Westside Middle School um history project judge and it was awesome just to see how hard all these kids worked and how excited they were and I just feel like this is going to be a
075wonderful perk about being on the board of ed getting to be a part of all these cool things. >> Great. Thank you. Anything else? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> I know uh I acknowledged you before the meeting started, but I just wanted to acknowledge uh Minnie uh and and uh winning this seat on the board. Thank you very much for your volunteerism and your service, and we're happy to have you on board. So, just wanted to make sure for the record, we are happy to have you. very quiet. >> Okay. If there is nothing else, >> uh, excuse me. Could I sort of, if I'm out of order, I'll be quiet. I would like for the, um, associate superintendent to sort of answer a question for me. When you provide this data
076for the board, would that data for the elementary schools include the present reading and and um writing scores of our elementary schools. So the data that will be presented is the accountabil the state accountability data that came out in November that showed how we performed as a district uh for the 2425 school year. Uh but we can certainly share some of the midyear data in terms of the progress that we're making in this current school year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, okay. I need somebody to make the motion, >> please. >> I make the motion then we go to executive session. >> Okay. Thank you for coming. >> Oh, is there a second? >> Hold on. >> Give me my guess. >> Repeat. The board of education recess into executive session for the
077purpose of discussing uh the negotiations for uh successor uh agreement between the Damry board of education and Teamsters Local Union 443 custodians maintenance and drivers and the amendment to the agreement between Damry uh schools administrators association and the board of education with a possible action in public act uh public session. >> Thank you Al. Motion made by Al. Do we have a second? >> Second made by Sean. All in favor? >> I. Okay, we are in executive We don't Can we just we just read through between the between the Danbury School Administrators Association and the Board of Education for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028 is presented. >> Okay. >> Seconded by Kate. Any questions, concerns? No. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion pass. >> Okay. >>
078Well, oh yeah, I forgot that. I forgot that. It is possible to create a meeting. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. I missed that one. Okay. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I make the motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Question. We are adjourned. Thank you.