001Oh, do you want to call it call the meeting to >> Yep. I'll call the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. And we have uh our agenda here that um we will go through and I will turn this over to um I guess um we could go either with you Dr. Celig or or directly to you Dr. Me. I >> I'll just go through the agenda quickly, give a little overview, and then Ann, you can jump in. Okay, >> that works. So there's really just two items on the agenda. It's our first meeting of the year. Uh we always like to start with just a quick overview of upcoming events and opportunities to engage with the school community. So Dr. Me will talk a little bit about that. And then uh coming up we have
002um uh the CAB convention which is going to be coming up in November. And uh while I believe they've officially uh released the consent calendar um that they're going to be reviewing at the delegation meeting, um I'm not sure everyone's gotten it yet. So I was able to get a sort of advanced copy from them. Um they'll be sending them out uh in the mail in that little blue booklet that everybody gets. So um Kate and I have uh looked through some of those. We've we've made put attachments in the invitation so everybody can see it as well. And we're going to talk through just a few of the items on there. I mean, there's there's there's a lot of things on here to talk about, but we're going to talk about just a couple
003of the things that we think are important. Um, and uh, everyone will be able to to to look at the document and we start just aligning our uh, our collective compasses here so that when we go into the delegation meeting, uh, we we all have our our, uh, uh, our our sense of what we want to uh, push for and then, uh, carry that over into the legislative session. So, Ann, go ahead. Let's uh, what do we got coming up? >> Sure. So, I'll be glad to start you off. So, we have a really busy fall starting um around our farm to school initiatives and um items like that. This Saturday starts off the Connecticut grown for Connecticut kids week. So, we will be out at the farmers market here in Danbury um with our
004Danbury High School team. Uh Brian Turner, the head of culinary there, is going to bring out some chefs that are going to work with our Yukon uh partners and uh build some really cool stuff. There'll be a scavenger hunt for for students to, you know, look for the purple vegetable and things like that. Um and then the entire month of October is um farm to school month. And so we will be hosting on Saturday, October 18th, the family university and it is all aimed at farm to school. There'll be a couple workshops on our gardens that we have um at Morris will be one and the the students will be planting uh winter ve winter vegetables to take home and grow in their homes. We'll also be highlighting the Rogers Park garden and the genesis
005of that garden um from when it started with Bernard Bernard Castro. We'll also have um internet safety. We have a personal care workshop, messy messy play for children. Um, I'm going to be doing a pollinator uh workshop uh for gardens in our local homes that will support um the ecosystems that we need to be able to then raise vegetables and a couple other workshops. So, we're really excited about that. It starts fairly early in the morning at 8:30. Chartwells, our brand new uh food service. We'll be doing a spread for breakfast and then a um make your own salad, make your own burrito bowl uh type things like that. Really highlighting the fresh fruits and vegetables that um we'll have available in October. >> And excuse me, >> that's at Rogers Park. Is that right?
006>> Rogers Park. Yes. Yes. At Rogers Park. Yeah. >> Pardon me. They can on this Saturday the farm to school event. Where's that going to be held? the it's the farmers market which is downtown in Danbury at the green. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yep. So, we'll be right up along the um side with uh the Yukon uh booth because we're we're doing food demonstrations there. Fresh uh fruit and vegetable. I think they're doing a salsa and then they're making some of your own um siss spices as well. So, we try to get away from that salt a little bit by doing a lot of fresh um spices and herbs for uh cooking. The next event that we have is coming up on uh November 6. It's an evening event. I don't know where it's being
007held yet, but it is the next um whole convening for the Danbury Collective. So, I will share more information when I have that um that we can share with you. And then lastly at Danbury High School, the main campus, the team forum is coming up on December 1st at 5:30 at night. And this is put on by Stand Together Make a Difference. And it really looks at drug prevention. Danbury Police will be there um with all the different types of vaping materials. Certainly uh the board event if you'd like to have a table there or at family university feel free to um come out and have a table there to really be able to interface with the with the general public. It's a great um opportunity to um do that. Uh November of course is
008our conferences throughout the district. If you just take a look at the calendar you'll be able to see that um all those dates. And um our office has been super super busy with um orientations for new families. Uh right before school started, we ran a couple of new promise programs and reached over 350 new families to the district and we've been supporting open houses. Uh today we were um presenters at the 2025 family engagement conference statewide conference put on by our state um uh federally funded uh family engagement resource center conference titled was joy and action high partnersh high impact partnerships for meaningful learning and I was joined by Dr. uh Rick Rayusi, my colleague Grace Molina and Susan Kaboka from the state department of ed and we spoke about strengthening schools through adult education
009family literacy programs and we spoke about the Danbury family literacy ESL model. So we were really excited to do that. Got a lot of good questions about that program that has been just so highly um successful in Danbury. So, um it is running again now at um other schools and always an opportunity um as the classes are unfolding to invite board members into those classes as well um to speak with with our students that are taking the courses. So, I think that's about it. Mike, did I miss any? >> No, that's it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Oh, you're very I know everything you do, but when you put it all together and condense it down into a into a a briefing like that, it always just feels like it's it's just >> it's just
010incredible how much you guys have going on. And um especially with all this farm-to-table work now with with Chartwells, it's just an exciting time to be to be in that space with our new food fun. So, >> thank you so much. >> Thank you. We're getting really good feedback from the students about the food. I mean, elementary, it's taken a little bit of time, but those middle and high schoolers um absolutely love the food. And I've heard from several custodians that they feel like they're throwing out a lot less or less food in bags. The bags that are going out to the garbage cans don't weigh as much. So, that's good that the food is in the tummies and not in the garbage. So, >> absolutely. >> Thank you, Dr. Me. Appreciate that. >> Appreciate
011you representing the the the district um in the many ways that you do. um and bringing forward information to the board so that we can also participate. >> Yeah. Exciting times for us. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, the second item on the agenda is a discussion of the 2026 legislative priorities and the CAB resolutions. So, attached to this invitation, uh Cara P sent out an update yesterday that had these two documents on them. So, the first one is the CAB consent calendar for 2025. So this is uh all their current resolutions with any recommended changes that came up last year. And then the second document is the 2026 proposed changes. So these were changes that came in this year that they would be looking to put on the consent calendar for
012next year. And before we dive in, I just want to talk a little bit more broadly and and please jump in here because I know you have a really great understanding of this. What these are, this is not legislation per se. It's not even language that would go into legislation. These are really the positions that Cave is going to take as we go into our legislative session. And you know, when a bill comes up and then you see, you know, a check mark, he says, you know, Cab supports or doesn't support. This is the document ultimately that will dictate whether CAB has a check next to support or doesn't support because this is the guiding vision of what of what CAB is really going to be promoting. And you know this will guide you know
013where they you know uh you know how they provide testimony um you know uh what what bills that um they um you know try to promote and and you know just overall what what they what they really push for in the legislative session. So when we all gather in November in Mystic um these are the two documents we'll be talking about. Number one is going to be the consent calendar here for 2025 that will become official that evening. And then the next one here will be changes and discussion about things they want to see go into next year's consent calendar. So, um Kate, there were two and and I'll just say this consent calendar, it's it's a pretty sizable document. There's 46 resolutions currently in this consent calendar. There's obviously no way we could talk
014about all 46 of them. Um, so we we chose a few and there's there's actually one on the second document too that that we thought we would talk about. Our idea was that we would talk about just a couple of these that that uh we feel like are are very relevant to what's happening right now in Danbury. um talk about them more generally, but then as everyone has time to get into this document, spend some time with it, read it. Um if if there's interest in having a conversation about additional items or resolutions in here, then we can certainly call another community relations meeting in advance of that uh convention. Um so we can talk about any of the language or or something that we all might decide we want to we want to push
015for um when we get into the voting session. So, um, Kate, if you want to take a lead, I know we talked about 1.8 in the consent calendar and, uh, 2.11 in the changes. So, is there one you prefer to start with? >> Um, I think we can start with 1.8. That's since that's pertinent to this year. And, and Dr. Silly, thank you for sort of the overview so we understand this. So, the Cape Convention happens on Friday and Saturday and the delegate assembly happens Thursday afternoon. And last year was the first year that uh the Danbury Board of Ed has attended in quite some time. Um but or perhaps it was the year before. I apologize. Um last year was kind of blurry. Um but I think that um you know it's it's a
016valuable space for us to be in because that delegate assembly does not have a ton of attendance. And so when you talk about a larger district like ours showing up with five or six people to sit there at the table with everybody, we have a strong presence. And so it's a real opportunity for us to get our voice heard. Certainly with CABE and to sort of also let the other boards of ed members that are present at that delegate uh hearing um know sort of you know also reflect on the ideas that we can bring forward or for us to reflect on the ideas that they're bringing forward. Um so it's a great opportunity I think for our district to sort of um build our profile up a little bit and and get some stronger
017recognition at the state level. Um 1.8 is about the technical education and career high school system and the way that this particular um uh resolution is written. It's talking about primarily the existing technical high school system. So, Abbott Techch is one of those schools um locally that we have that fall under that umbrella, but there are 17 technical high schools across the state. And that's primarily I think what this resolution is referring to. And we as as we move the initiative of the careermies forward in Danbury, this kind of resolution offers an opportunity for us to sort of encourage the state to make investments in our school district because we're going wallto-wall with this program. And you can see that CAB is in support of our high school system that prepares students, if you look
018at bullet point number three, for postsecary education, apprenticeships, and immediate productive employment. Well, those are some of the exact goals that we have um for our academy graduates. Um, so I think that when we talk about this particular resolution, um, it might this is an opportunity for us to to sort of raise our hands at the Cape Convention and say, you know, we're we're doing this work, um, as well. And unlike the technical high school system which is addressing certain um uh workforce development will always need such as uh plumbers and electricians and HVAC you know providers. Um this is another we're we're looking more at the emerging workforce needs right so cyber security and advanced health care um and and those kinds of pathways which the state will benefit from by investing in our
019program. So whatever we can do to sort of shore up this resolution where it's not just specific to the state technical high school system but also inclusive of uh general population high schools. Um I think that's to our advantage to sort of bring that forward. Um, so this is a this is a resolution where, you know, when they go through the agenda, excuse me, at the delegate convention, they're going to ask if anybody has feedback. And this is an opportunity for us to raise our hands and say, you know, we would like to have maybe a more expansive resolution here um so that we can uh also benefit from any legislation that might come forward to support this kind of education across the state. Thanks, K. I think that was incredibly well said and you
020you really nailed it with that that um that phrase emerging careers, right? And and to your point, um the the tactical high schools are great at existing careers, current careers, and the career academy is a little bit more forward-looking, emerging careers, where we're looking at jobs reports and and labor department data to determine what's coming down the pipe. And our whole pitch is that we're more nimble to adjust and and figure out how to position ourselves to prepare students to be able to step into those jobs in two or three years and that uh you know Cape needs to be supportive of of of those schools as well because they're serving the same ultimate goal. Um but the current technical high schools are only only really serving a portion of that of that need for
021for the workforce. We're the other half of that and and schools doing what we do are the other half of that. So we should should be in that conversation as well and um considered when when the funding for for those programs uh is doled out because it is different than than you're just um you know it's not just math and in science there's different materials there's different you know resources that are needed and and and that such >> um just wondering at this point I want to pause and just take a moment to see if there's any feedback from committee members um about what we're discussing any questions about uh anything we've disced so far. >> Hey, this is L. Uh I just you know as I mentioned in our uh superintendent meeting uh you
022know the whole country is going into into this direction into this CTE you know uh uh certification technical you know stuff. So, this is probably where, you know, Cave is getting this feedback. And like I said, you know, I I attended my workshop back in August and they're pushing for our um program to go more into the CTE process. And you know, uh as I mentioned before, one of this the quickest one of my easiest uh certifications that we can offer our students is, you know, believe it or not, the Microsoft certification process. uh one can say that oh I'm good at word no you're not because we really haven't gone through the whole training and get a certification so that's something maybe we're looking at to do ourselves but this supports exactly what I
023had me been seeing and been hearing and cave is got it on and as I said we are you know we have an advantage to do that we we're a little bit ahead of schedule and and I don't like that I think this is the right way to do it and you're right it does supplement other career fields that the technical schools cannot offer. >> Yeah, I I I totally agree with that. I feel like we're we're almost a yin and a yang, right? Together we we we create the full picture of a future workforce. >> Thank you, Al. Appreciate the comments. Any other committee members have feedback here? Any feedback from non-committee members? Okay, we will continue. >> All right, so we're going to move over to the 2026 proposed resolution changes. So these
024will not be in this coming consent calendar. These would be in next year's consent calendar uh when we go to caven in 26. So this one is 2.1 I'm sorry 2.11 and this was a recommendation for a new resolution. >> So um and I'm sorry Mike if you wanted to continue certainly no go ahead jump back in. Um this is something that we've been discussing increasingly and I think on the heels of passing a cell phone policy um you know there are other components of the the digital world that we have to address and deal with and one of those is you know how do we ensure that students who are using digital resources and specifically using the internet for sources um that we're building good digital citizenship with them and making sure that they
025stay safe. um obviously that that's a concern for parents and for the community as well. Um so this resolution that they're bringing forward I think is uh an important one. the resolution kind of lacks any teeth and I would love and I don't know if this is you know what the response will be at the delegate convention but if we uh were to bring forward sort of maybe some recommendations for how to take the proactive steps that they refer to um to implement digital citizenship education and um online safety um the the digital citizenship speaks to sort of the idea that when you're online um you know there's certain conduct and behavior that is appropriate. Um and the online safety refers to the idea that when you're online and you're you're accessing materials um that
026you are um that we are creating a a guard rails for students and some guidelines for parents to create those guardrails at home so that students aren't getting exposed to things that they shouldn't be exposed to. Um, so there's there's two components there that I think, you know, this resolution speaks to that I think it would be great for us to be able to bring some more specific steps because the way that it's worded right now is very loose. And my concern about bringing that that resolution up to the state level is without recommendations that are coming from us or from the commissioner of education. Um, you know, the state is going to sort of be left to its own devices to sort of uh set the set the standards and set the guard rails.
027Um, and that could come with uh some potential unmandated uh changes that are going to cost the districts. So, um that's that was sort of my thinking at least in looking at this. But I do think we should support this. Um, I do think it's an important resolution and one that we need to think about too in terms of policy for our own district. >> Thank you, Kate. I I I agree. And um that this one and you can see at the bottom that the government relations committee recommends adoption. So that's always a good sign when you see that that little stamp of approval on there. Um they don't always recommend it. Um >> so can I interject a minute? make a hearing for those board members that anticipate going to the case convention. Perhaps
028you should get together and and and go through some of the items you talked about now so that we go to the convention united and and have a united, you know, presence and voice and speaking on on these items appear to be more organized as opposed to just doing it here. The thoughts are good, but I I think at the convention is where the the ideas should be presented and perhaps it would be worth it to meet those people beforehand. Just go through and get a feel for what they think and then be able to forge ahead and express opinion on particular changes. That's a good point, Mr. Janelli. We we actually that's that's what we did last time. >> Um but I think the intent in introducing it here was sort of to raise
029some awareness about the ways that we can participate um at the state level. That's an area that we've sort of uh not always been active as a as board members with. Um, you know, CAB is offering spaces for us to kind of get more involved at that state level, whether it's through their organization or through visits that they do annually to the capital. Um, and I think that it it's to our benefit for us to continue to look for ways to engage at the state level because that also offers opportunities for us to gain funding. So maybe the the next step here is uh you know everyone just has a little homework take the document go through it and then uh K maybe you you could be or Kate or you or me or whoever
030we could be point on just kind of collecting any thoughts and then we have another community relations in about four or five weeks. Um and that'll give us another little lead time before we head into Cab. uh we can have a conversation, get get aligned on on maybe you know five or 10 of the big ones that we want to focus on and uh and then go from there. If I can make a comment on this. >> So um this digital citizenship program is not new. Um it's been around for a while and it's really in my district, you know, really depending on the teachers. I for one uh it is one of my uh teaching points is not on my curriculum. It's not anything written down that I have to do this, but I
031show a quick video explanation what digital citizenship can damage you when you become an adult. Okay? Uh postings in social media and all that. The issue I have and a matter of fact our district recently starting this year students cannot cannot access YouTube in our uh through our uh Wi-Fi connection. Okay. Only teachers can do that. All right. Um and of course you know we've we already know what the problem with the Tik Tok and all that other stuff. But in reality my concern is this. It's not about the school. It's about when they're in a private in their private homes and all that. Um, you know, you can preach to the choir, but if the choir is not singing the same song, you're not going to accomplish anything. Okay? I I'm I'm I'm in
032favor of this. It's more of a knowledge uh learning process. Um, but if the parent doesn't have a buy in, this is not going to work anywhere. I don't care what policies you have, whatever they adopt, it's not going to work. Okay? Uh, I'm going through this right now. Uh, and in one of my classes where I have a couple students that are getting a little carried away on social media and and I'm taking them one-on-one and kind of educating them what digital uh citizenship is about. So, uh, that's my two cents. Uh, I think it can work. Uh, I think the only way it going to work is that they're not going to learn it from the parents. So, they're gonna have to learn it from school. That means we're going to have to
033pour somewhere in somewhere down the road possibly into the curriculum of spending a class hour uh to kind of familiarize them with uh digital citizenship. And just my two cents at this time and I agree with Mike. I think we need to do a little research and come back with uh some some recommendations. >> Thank you, Al. >> Did anyone else have any feedback on this or questions? >> I I also agree with Al. I also agree with Mrs. Janelli. I I think when we decide and I also agree with Mike because we received this document these two documents today and everybody else have other things to do and we didn't you you don't have the time to give it 100%. And maybe those that are not going to the convention it's not interesting to
034to them. Okay. and those that have gone and and want and then planning to go really need to understand what we are trying to do. And it's not that we have not been a part of this process. This is the first well the up last year when we uh participated was the first time that cave ever invited us into the process along with some other things that happened. So I think we need to come up with what we are going to support as a group and then we support that at the convention and everybody will be on the same page than saying well this one support that. come back. We can have a brief uh me uh meeting uh with comments and what you have scaled down that we want to support and let the
035uh entire committee agree that when we go to the convention, this is what we're going to support. >> Absolutely, Mrs. Cooper. Um I think you know the intent this evening was to sort of introduce the idea of this. Um, and we just wanted to pick a couple of resolutions that we thought would sort of peique everybody's interests um, and hopefully get them engaged. And I I think that regardless of whether people go to the Cape Convention or not, this stuff is important for everybody as a board member because this is what the organization that manages that that gives a collective voice to the boards of education across the state. this document brings this information forward to the legislature. So I think you know our whether we're at that delegate assembly or not it benefits us
036to participate as much as we can in shaping what this document looks like and giving feedback to Cab about the document. >> So but um >> but thank you. I appreciate I appreciate your feedback. Um, and I hope that we can get uh committee members and the and the full board to participate with this. Dr. Kasmir, I saw you had your hand up. >> No, I was just I was just making mention of this is that you know we have um in the past we have introduced digital citizenship citizenship lessons um in schools and we you know we do value this very much. we've particularly through our has been delivered through our our library media specialists um where we've introduced lessons but it's really it's been more on the um I guess on the offense
037really about how to be a good um you know what what does good digital citizenship look like um that that what Al referenced um I think is very important and almost as an upand cominging um way to approach and how to how to play defense events um online and I don't know that we do as much of that as maybe we should. Um similarly with with parents. I think parents are at a loss for what their kids actually have access to. Um and you know the majority of this stuff especially now that we've limited cell phones uh and devices dramatically during the school day in and almost alto together in in many places. um a lot of what students will be will be accessing and where they'll be accessing will be will be at home.
038So, you know, a strong parental uh component to to having them understand what the dangers are themselves so they can be on the lookout and and and reinforce at home, I think is going to be an important piece as well. >> Great. And it's not unusual for us as a district to bring forward initiatives that we then share with families and encourage them to engage with and provide education for. Um so I think this is just one more aspect where we could do that. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Um is there any other feedback from uh committee members here? No, I don't have anything, Kate. >> Okay. Thank you, Lauren. I appreciate you being on. I know it's a busy evening for you. Um, >> thank you. >> I think that's that's pretty much
039it. I think we just wanted to sort of talk through a little bit of this, but um I certainly would welcome any feedback from uh the committee about other directions that they might want to take uh our activity in. In the past, we've tried to organize uh different events where folks could come and meet board members. Um events where we we've uh gone and um to different uh events that that the uh family and resource center has arranged um that we participated in. Um but I'm I'm certainly open to suggestions from from the group as to where what direction they might want to take this committee. >> Sure. Um, hey, can I make a suggestion? >> The I would like to at some point and I think would be worthwhile is to have a conversation
040with students and parents, an open conversation, dialogue as to what they how they think we're doing, what they what we're offering, what they feel we need. Um, I I think it's a good a good check and balance. We we go through and we sit at these meetings and and we follow the superintendent goals and objectives, which are great, but we we don't necessarily hear from from the people that that we're serving. And I find that kind of strange in that here we are sitting around making policies and and trying to improve the district without having their perception. I could be I could be wrong. I mean I don't want to go through another year at a budget meeting and and hear the kids talk about the bathroom again. But the I I think we've done
041tremendous I think we've done a lot we we've added a lot of value to the educational system in Danbury the concept of the the academy is tremendous and you know I would like to hear you know feedback on that as Ann mentioned she's hearing feedback on the food that that's good to hear but you You know, it'd be nice if, you know, at the this dialogue somebody said, you know, again to the board that, you know, we think the the the nutritional value of the district has improved tremendously, etc., etc. Uh, I I I I tend to think it would keep us on a right path or or open our eyes to perhaps something that that we're missing. Um, now I'm not looking for a pat on the back, but we we don't necessarily have
042these these conversations at our board meeting. We don't have the ability to have a dialogue with the public. Um, so it's just something that I think as part of a community relations type of committee, we could, you know, think about how to put together in such a form if it's uh if it's possible. practically. >> I think the only caution there is that we do not have all board members at that kind of event because that would qualify it as a school as a board meeting. Um, so we do have certain restrictions we have to work around. Um, but there might be other ways for us to get some feedback um and and hear from parents and from students. Um, I think that's a really um it's an important voice that we need to hear
043from. So >> yeah. or even if they have a board meeting and have that particular board meeting devoted to community conversations so that we don't violate you know we don't violate a concept of having a meeting it's not posted but have a specific meeting for this you know call it what you want a workshop or I don't care what you call it but just uh you know it it to me it just seems a way to engage the public closer to that we're not too distant. Again, my feeling is, you know, the we're too distant and we should bridge that that we should bridge that gap, particularly, you know, when we feel we're doing a lot for the students. It'd be nice if you heard their input as to yes, this is working great or
044no, we think we need this. This could be an eye opener. >> Thank you, Rich. Katie. >> Uh Lauren. >> Yeah, I think that's a great idea, Rich. Um the only thing that I would be concerned about is that it would kind of maybe get carried away and we would end up down that rabbit hole of the water wasn't the right temperature. and you know all of those little things where we're looking for like you know maybe a grander like a grander thought or a grander conversation when we're going to if we have that community conversation we'd have to f you know structure it a certain way because I feel it would be like I don't like the red on the wall at King Street or you know it would it would be too >>
045too focused. Um but I do think that's a great idea. to have that conversation. >> I appreciate the comment, you know, and I go back to depending on the moderator or the leader, you know, of that would be able to teach things like that and check and control, you know, but uh you know, it it it's a point and when discussing it, you know, it should come up as to how do we handle something like that? But it's I'm just and particularly what I'm getting at as well is we're quickly approaching the budget season. You know, pretty soon we'll be out there advocating for, you know, for the budget and advocating for, you know, uh support, community support, uh staff support. Um and it just feels that we only, you know, we do this periodically.
046and and I like to to bring us a little bit closer. That that's all that that's the whole purpose of of of this, you know, build on the And concept. she's built over the years a great relationship with the people from the community and uh I'm sure she gets a lot of you know a tremendous uh value and tremendous amount of feedback by having this relationship with the people so that what she does she can modify and adjust you know accordingly to what they say but it's just you know it's worth the conversation and uh Again, if we look for we're looking for community support, we've got to start engaging them in a conversational process with us so they feel like they're making a contribution just not being told. An opinion of mine. Okay. I,
047you know, I know Dr. meet has got a lot of things going on but you know with a family university this might be a topic that we can be possibly discussed or get an input from the parents of you know what it might be an open dialogue at that level and and and get some feedback from that perspective >> that's a good point I would love um if we could get some board members because I certainly have attended uh these several of these events in the past. Um, and sometimes there are other board members there and it's it's really wonderful for the group to have a good representation there. Um, if I'm there by myself, uh, I I certainly relish the opportunity to talk with parents, but I'm hardly representative of the full board and
048I think it's important that we we show um, you know, our uh, our unity as a group um, when we're in public spaces, too. So, um I hope with that said that October 18th you can make some time that morning to be there. >> Mrs. Cooper, >> um good suggestion from Richard, good comments from Lauren. But I think as we trying to put together a form like this and to have community and parents and students input, we have to be careful. Okay. uh even if you have five board members there uh we one might be saying one thing on this end and the other one saying another thing so to uh ease everybody mind I will contact Mr. and see what's the proper way or he could give me some a suggestion as to how
049we will go about handling this and we won't find ourselves in a u in a smear campaign in the uh news times or either on the radio or Facebook. So I will contact him and ask his suggestion for us. >> Thank you Glattus. I appreciate that. Uh Dr. Casmro. Yeah. So, sorry I'm definitely look like I'm in the dark here. I'm just pulled into a weird funny light with my my driveway here. Um, yeah. What I think what's what we're craving and I know we're due for in in within a maybe a year or so is a is the redoing of our strategic plan, right? Where we re we we revisit our our vision, we revisit our revisit our mission, sorry. Um, you know, we look at our priorities, our strategic priorities and the direction
050that we want to set for set course for maybe the next five years. Um, that the the current plan that we have in place right now is due up 2027. So that means during the course of the 26 school year, we should be actively planning and and gaining feedback um from a variety of stakeholders and engage in a deeper community conversation. I know the last time that we did that we we worked we had portrait of the graduate and strategic priorities kind of blended into one and those conversations we had the community we had industry we had business owners uh we weren't talking about industry partners at the times at the time but we were definitely talking about um business owners in the community and different organizations we partnered with nonprofits um perhaps it's something
051that maybe the Danbury Collective could kind of help us with um to to be a partner in that in that planning as well since that is a unique uh focused mission of theirs as well. Um but those conversations that we all engaged and you know in a very large room we broke up we we split board members up and central office uh strategically at a variety of tables that had a mix of parents and students and uh community members and it was wonderful. And those conversations um you know more so than a survey or even having a kind of a one evening that happened over a series of of of planned events and those conversations really sustained um I know central office in a lot of the work that echoes of what parents had to
052say that echoes of what our business community um had to say or how they thought they could either contribute or just things that they were seeing from their perspective. So I do think and even hearing from the kids at the table was very powerful. So you know as we approach thinking about how to how to plan for our next um strategic planning session and gathering for our next kind of re-upping of our plan. Those are those things are really important and I think that there's a way to include all board members in an event like that um you know very planned out with central office at different tables so that we can gather that information and then come back collectively to have a conversation about how that feeds into our goal planning and what how
053the board has you know will develops their goals based on some of the things that they're hearing um as well as their priorities. So, uh, we're we're coming up on the tail end of of our current strategic plan, which is probably why we're all craving that level of feedback and and contact right now. >> Yeah, I I neglected and forgot, but that's an excellent example of of something that was done, the portrait of a graduate of how we got together as a community and over a period of time. So with that, you know, that kind of a concept, you know, it could work into, you know, what I'm talking about. Thank you for bringing it up. >> Of course. >> And that also kind of dubtales nicely with the whole careermy's concept as well because
054that's sort of like a continuous re-evaluation. Are we um what curriculum looks like, what the jobs of uh that are going to be there waiting for graduates look like? That's all they that's the same level of engagement over and over again to make sure that we continue to meet goals that are going to achieve something. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> Well, thank you very much, Dr. Casmir. I appreciate that. Um, >> is there any other feedback from uh committee members or anything else they'd like to share? non-committee members, you're also welcome at this point. All right. Well, it's 6:50 and I want to thank everybody, my committee members, the the board members who came. Um, Dr. Me, Dr. Celig, Dr. Casemiro. Um, thank you all for for being here this evening. I'm looking for a motion
055to adjourn at 651, please. I'll make >> moved by Lauren and a second. I'll second. >> Second by Mr. Janelli. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I.