001Pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the reps nationisible and justice for all. [Music] Louisa, would you do a roll call, please? Yes. Terry present. Kate here. Here. Richard here. Julie here. Check. Check. [Music] I shouldn't have to move that much. The board welcomes public participation and ask that speakers please limit their comments to 3 minutes. Speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them. The board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about board of education personnel and students nor against any person connected with Danbury public school system. Thank [Music] you. Now, at this portion of the board, we give the public the opportunity to come before the board with any concerns. Is there anyone that would like to come
002and share their concerns with the board and did not sign our signup sheet? Okay. So, we move on down the agenda. The consent calendar. Uh Kate, would you do the consent calendar? I'll make a motion that the board of education approve the consent calendar including exhibits 25-42 through 25-44 and purpose of those listed. Motion made by Kate on the consent calendar. Could I hear a second? Second motion second by Julie. Julie. Any questions? All those in favor of the consent. I I motion so [Music] car since the uh donation was a part of the consent calendar um when we accept the consent calendar we accept the donation okay and then we don't have to we would like uh daddy to go out to um the uh of the person the group that submitted their donation
003uh you know really thanking them for their donation and uh how we appreciate. Do we have any educational representatives? Now I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent [Music] I'm sorry. Come on. Why didn't you say something? [Music] Yes. Thank you. Hello. Hi. [Music] Um, hello. We are representatives from Dbury High School. Uh, I'm Leticia Conn. I am the board of governor's treasurer. I'm Deali Vicota of the board of governor's president. So, currently at De High School, uh, we are in the middle of the SATs for juniors and they're currently testing. Um, juniors also have completed the NGSS exam, which is a science test they take their junior year. Um, ML students completed their last week testing a few a week and a half ago. And then along with Q3 ending this Friday and
004teachers putting in grades. And then we have a spring musical coming up on April 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Um, it's called Hairspray. the theater department have been working really hard seeing after school to perfect their performance and I've seen peaks in there and they're doing really amazing. And then everyone's every student's favorite spring break is also coming up um April 14th if I'm correct. All right, we also have spring sports. They've begun and people are very excited. Uh we have the 30th Ograde Granny Rally on April 26th and 30th. So, a bunch of schools come from the area and it's a really big deal and really enjoyed event. Q3 is also coming to an end on the 28th. Um, and some more exciting news, our robotics team has made it to worlds. We have multiple
005teams, but all the teams with seniors are going to Dallas, Texas to compete. We also have the 2025 SNAP race. Um, donations help lower cost of prom and just allow seniors to have more events at a smaller price. So donations are welcome and would be greatly appreciated. Our senior scholarships are also open and they're going to close in April, so students are ready to apply to many different scholarships. Our junior prom is going to be May 2nd and our senior prom is going to be May 23rd. So lots of students are very excited for those upcoming events. Thank you. board members have anything they would like to ask our students. I would say on behalf of the board, we appreciate you being here and speaking out and letting us know what's going on at your
006school. Thank you. You too. Thank you. [Music] Okay. Thank you. Um, good evening. Um, just a short time ago, we had a presentation uh about our our budget and our ask and some of the drivers in there and we talked a lot about all the staffing that we'll be hiring um very shortly to ready ourselves to open the new satellite campus at DHS West. And so, um, you know, in addition to that staffing, uh, we have our normal, we've got openings that we're looking to fill with, uh, for par professionals and tutors. We're looking forward to opening that contract. We mentioned that in the budget, uh, meeting as well. That will help us with those recruiting efforts, um, quite quite a bit. Um, and in addition to that, um, our normal, uh, turnover that happens
007every spring, and that's just naturally happens. Um, in addition to filling uh we're looking forward to filling some persistent vacancies that we've had on the books. Um, so we have we'll have quite an aggressive hiring uh spree, if you will, come spring. Probably one of the biggest urges that we've had. Uh, we're going to be bringing in a few u agency support to help with some of the the paperwork and the onboarding process to make sure that we're u moving things along in a timely way, but also to handle just the volume of onboarding that's going to need to to take place um come spring. So, um, as soon as we, um, you know, finalize allocations from the city, we'll have a clearer picture as to, um, where we can go with that. Um, but
008we're getting ourselves ready this spring. Um, probably, um, towards the mid April, end of April, you'll see a lot of advertisement, more so than than even that we have now. We're looking to do a hiring fair. Um, probably we have a lot of positions to fill. Um, and we're very excited about that opportunity. um and also kind of getting the word out um around town um so that we can attract um some more staff for our great needs. So, we're looking forward to that. Um Kim could not be here tonight. Um so, but the ne the next time that um that she's here, we'll talk a little bit more directly about some specific efforts. Just along the lines of other staffing things that we're trying, we have um partnered with teacher residency programs in the
009state. We're exploring many of those to help with the teacher pipeline um issue. And so uh many districts have signed on to take on um residents that would work in the school district that would eventually become um certified teachers and work for us, particularly in shortage areas. I think we have three special education teachers in the pipeline now. Um which which will prove to be promising. and we have some articulations happening now with Westcon and we're talking to Yukon for to recruit some of the the teachers in their program, the um soon-to-be teachers. So, we're building those relationship pipelines up um not just in preparation for opening the academy, but just in general to keep those those doors open so that we have a relationship with these universities um to so we get better flow
010through uh and we grab folks while they're in their their pre-teing stage um so that they want to come back and work for us. So, just a little update there on some of the some of the staffing. Um, the next item on the list is the updated 2526 school calendar, and I'll ask assistant superintendent Kelly Trus to talk a little bit about some of the tweaks that we made um to that school calendar year. Thank you, Dr. Casemiro. Um, so just to bring your attention to, there was a few uh calculation errors on the previously approved calendar. Um, if you look at November, the original calendar had a day count or a total school day count of 16 days. It was actually 15, which adjusted or pushed out our end of school in June. So,
011we have uh went back through made the uh correction to the November school days. We were just counting an extra day. I think it was probably that day before Thanksgiving that we went back and forth on whether or not to have school or not that day. Um and we've added that to the end of the school year in June, which moved out the date from the um 17th through the 18th. Um we've also uh continued the 185day uh school calendar. Um so there's five embedded or built-in snow days. So our earliest uh closing day if there was no weather related cancellations would be uh June 11th. on the uh calendar you'll see in front of you. The last day is noted as June 18th again for that five snow day uh embedded um portion of
012the calendar. Um we also needed to make an update in September to Rashashana. The correct uh holiday for that is September 23rd and that's reflected. Um and then uh lastly, we made a decision with our pre-opening day. We've always called it the day before school started. Um that it was pre-opening. Um it is the day that all staff, both certified and non-certified staff are here. Um and uh last school year we were lucky and fortunate enough to do a staff convocation and we want to continue that. So we will be doing that this coming school year and hopefully in years to come. Um and so we've renamed that to be the uh staff convocation and pre-opening. And it's important to us that that's typically the first day that a lot of your non-certified staff return
013to work. and we want them to be part of uh you know our district vision mission and really launch the school year in a very positive uh productive manner. Um we've also noted on here for clarity uh the th I'm sorry the Wednesday before Thanksgiving um that the offices will be open that day but school will be closed so it's not an official school day. Um but for those staff that work a full year um or 52- week uh secretaries uh administrators that is considered a workday and certainly uh people because school are closed um you know if they would like to take that as a holiday or vacation day can do so. Um but otherwise our offices will be opened. Um and then the last and final adjustment uh was uh to conferences. We
014tried to make the conference dates in November. So those are our fall conferences across all levels. We tried to make them contiguous dates so that they were um not kind of spread on a Tuesday and then Thursday, Friday and really make it um you know through the end of the week so that people could plan accordingly. Um so there's one week in um in November for each level dedicated to conferences, one week for elementary, one for middle and then concluding with the high school right before the Thanksgiving break. I don't know if there's any questions, but that was a lot of information regarding we had to make a few changes and then while we had the opportunity, we threw a few additional things in there. So, thank you. Any question for me? [Music] Do do
015we need to [Music] Yes. Are other districts in our area starting that early like that August 21st? I know we usually I mean I know it's how the dates fall, but that just sounds really early. It is a little early because of the way that it falls. I will say that when we're building the calendar, we do we do research other surrounding towns. Um and I think we are in alignment with some and starting a little bit earlier than others. So um it runs the gamut. I know a few years back at Advance had tried to do a regional calendar and that did not materialize meaning all the local districts would follow a similar pattern. Um, but I think that this is in line with many of our counterpart or surrounding districts, but not all.
016And I know we're different from them. I'm just Okay. Yes, it does. The data is a little question. Thank you. Thank you so much for explaining all that, Kelly. Appreciate it. Okay. Um, DHS West update. So, um, it looks as if, so we're trying to get some target date information as to when we can expect to for staff to move in and this is a fluid date. So, you know, we're not going to I'm looking at you, Mike, get me. This is fluid. This is not permanent. So, August 4th is right now our target date, but that's subject to change. So, I want to make sure that um you know, we we know that this is something that's going to be um you know, be influenced by all the construction being ready at a certain
017time and when we can do all the testing. So, um we're aiming for August 4th. Um though during that week, during that time still, they'll be cleaning. They'll still be continuing to finish up some building projects, working on air balancing, um testing our tech systems. Um we're looking to tour the building. I know that that's a a desire of the board to get into the building. Um, and it looks like the last Wednesday in May will be a good clear day where most of the equipment, the things that we would uh would want out of the way so that we can do a tour that's safe and uh, you know, appropriate would be in May. Um, but again, those dates are fluid and based on um, as the the projects within the building are are
018completed and are ready um, for us to to take a look at, but then also to begin moving our supplies over. We've begun a lot of relocation meetings internally. Um, so it's not just the Danbury High School staff that are moving over. As I mentioned in some previous meetings, we have a fifth floor renovation going on and the science labs. We'll be moving many teachers from here over to the DHS West site along with a lot of equipment. Not all equipment, but a lot of equipment. Um and uh we'll also be moving 43 Beaverbrook, 63 Beaverbrook, what else is it? XCRC, the building across the street. So, uh there's going to be a lot of house cleaning, a lot of housekeeping, a lot of um purging, if you will, of old equipment, supplies that have
019been sitting there for 20 years plus. Um, as we look to move into the new building and occupy that space, um, we are working through one of the challenges that we have with with relocation is moving all these materials that we need to order to open up the school. Um, because it's not just what comes with the building and the FFN package. It's all the instructional supplies um, and just, you know, library books, media books, and uh, equipment. um to find a place to storage that we have to order things start starting now and have those shipped in in time for to open up at the building and so where we put that we're working on that so Dan Donovan and I talked about working on a scenario where we have some storage containers on
020site at DHS and so things that need to go there uh to the DHS West building um we'll go to DHS they'll check those in and we'll try to keep track of the supplies that way and then we'll have those containers moved over to the new site when we're able to move in. Um it's just a way of trying to keep track of the inventory um and the slips and the invoices as they come in. So, we're going to be working through that, but it's going to be a very very very busy summer of movement and uh keeping tracks of all the equipment that's supposed to be where it's supposed to be. So, glad Terry has a question. Yes. Um I heard that the sign over DHS West is going to be 50t tall. 50
021ft tall. Isn't there was a a recent um zoning thing that was passed or they were requesting a large sign for DHS West? I don't know. I'll have to look into that. That sounds very large. I think it was this comparable size of the name Curtis had they said. Oh, at the top of the building or maybe it's up 50. Okay. I just I say we're going to have to look into that. People were worried about folks being able to find the building. That would not be a problem if that was we can look into that. But if you want more information, send it send it my way, too. So, I can I can certainly ask. I haven't seen the final sign what it's going to look like. It was in the paper. It was
022in the paper because they had to go through zoning and they told us that we better build a good school or have a good school in the paper. [Music] Okay. All right. So, that's that's the update. So, we're looking forward to that. Um, farm to school grant award. So, this is really exciting. Some of this conversation happened in the in the prior meeting. Um, but we won another me has been um kind of working really hard on the farm-toschool angle. um bringing in fresh food, organic food, um vegetables in general into our schools is really important. It's something that a lot of us are passionate about. Making sure that the kids are eating better and are exposed to different things and and get them to taste and try things that are not normally outside of
023their pallet. Um I've personally been to the school sites when they're doing uh doing these tastings. And so what they do is they uh they take these little cups and they fill it with I think the one time it was sweet potatoes but it had you know apple cider vinegar and some cinnamon and some butternut squash and you know the kids are looking at it and oh boy what is this you know but when they taste it it tastes pretty good. Um and so it's really just about exposure and getting them to try some new things and we did the same thing um in a few other schools with different different items that were equally as delicious. Some kids loved it um and were and were happy they tried it and some kids, you know,
024gave the scowl face and was like, "No thanks." You know, where's my where's my uh my pizza? Um but we're trying to expose the kids more. Um but the but the the work and the effort and the planning comes through um a grant. So DPS uh through the office of family and school community partnerships applied to become a farm-to-school institute. So you'll hear that term being used u quite often. Um so we have a coach and the DPS team uh focuses on the three C's. classroom, cafeteria, and community. And this is where we work with elementary teachers to um to really expose kids to the life cycle of plants and and growing and eating healthier. Um it's all tied to national science standards. Um so there's a lot of nutrition and a lot of science
025involved in in the education. Um but late in February, um DPS uh was invited to apply uh for another high school grant and another high school team. And so um you know as part of the application we put forward um our idea around the green academy and the sustainable living and we have a greenhouse and we're going to be engaging in um more green activities and so that curricular programming allowed us uh they chose us to partner with as a result of that. So we're very excited about that. Um there's a two-day institute retreat coming up in June where the team's going to go and write and do some more planning and um and this ties into the last item on the agenda list uh which is the future chef competition. So on just last
026week we had students um we did a future chef. It was kind of like a episode of Chopped at Stanley Ruff and we had fifth grade and a couple of of fifth graders um had to submit all the fifth grade team got a chance to submit a recipe that they designed that they would cook if their recipe was selected. So we had three students who had stations set up in front of the front of the gymnasium with tall hats, chef outfits on, all the ingredients, their recipe, and they had a limited amount of time to cook. um while while their entire classmates were cheering on um with the cooking, they had to take their samples. When they were done, they had to plate it in five or six different plates and bring them over to
027the judges. The judges sampled them, they rated them, and then they chose a winner. And if you saw the newspaper recently, you saw these just beautiful faces beaming um with how proud they were to have cooked for these judges and just to even be in the competition. But it was so empowering to see these kids um take this challenge on under a lot of pressure, you know, timed uh pressure um to do this. So we talked about um how successful it was, how good it was for the kids to participate in these types of events and it was so successful um and so well run with um the support of our our food service um company Sedexo and support from Jan High School culinary students came down to support cheer on and help with the
028prep with the students. Um, so it was just an amazing event and uh we're looking to scale that out next year so that we have sort of a chopped competition across using the nutrition using it as an education tool about nutrition and food tying in the farmtotable um initiative and then at the same time I had an opportunity to talk to the kids about the academy that's coming down the line and opportunities when they get to the high school and the programs that'll be there for them if they're interested and passionate um about it even if it's just a hobby. hobby and not a career. So, um, all good things to come. There's a lot of nice things happening programmatically, um, that we're looking to scale. So, I just wanted to share that that that
029was a special event. And with that, um, I think that's it on my list. Anyone have any question for the superintendent? Seeing no moving on the standing committee uh Kate community relations. Before we start community relation, I want to thank um the chair for that committee Kate, the superintendent, Michael, and all those that work to make sure that we had the presentation set up to do tonight. Even though we didn't have the auditorium filled, we had people that came out and want to ask questions. So, uh you know, we learned over the time that when we put things together, people have reason they don't come. But we have to make do or at least inform the ones that are here. And I want to thank the superintendent uh and Kate for making sure that we
030did some type of presentation to the table. Thank you, Mr. Cooper. I just wanted to uh basically say thank you superintendent as well um for putting that presentation together. That was the community relations committee meeting that this evening. We don't currently have another one scheduled yet, but we will have that conversation here and figure out when the next [Music] time. Um, so we have our next curriculum meeting on April 9th. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Yes. I'd like to call your attention to the packet with the extensive notes on the the minutes of the finance meeting. And I want to thank Kate for great job in doing that. During the finance committee meeting, we discussed the February statement. Basically paying a lot of attention to the large favorable variances and
031according to Mike Wea, he's continuing to look at the reasons that these variances exist and make adjustments to get the statements a little bit more in line so that we know pretty much why the variances will occur. The other thing we did was pay a compliment to Angela on her excellent job to present to us a new format for the grant statements. Uh so we want to thank her for that. I also want to call to the attention that come September we were looking to have a seminar workshop on board accounting. Um but who's going to do with the cave or in advance that yet to be decided? Mrs. who thought September would be good because our agenda this year is kind of hooked up and I just want to make a PS to that
032for those board members who feel that a lot of wages member cave a number of months ago did a thorough job on many aspects of financial reporting board members you could probably contact them and get their downloads of the pres the webinars that they had uh presented. Thank you. I would like to certainly thank Mr. Janelli. We don't get a opportunity to thank one another, thank one another personally because we always running here, running to a meeting and um it's very important that we thank each other and I want to thank Mr. Janelli uh for his long service and devotion to the finance committee and those members that have joined the finance committee even though you know sometime we bump heads we don't see things eye to eye but we talk it out and I'm
033going to thank you for the dedication thank you policy committee thank you we've not had a another policy committee meeting since the the last board meeting. Our next meeting will be April 2nd. You'll see that there are several of the uh policies that were approved for the first read on the last board meeting are now on the uh meeting agenda for a second reading. Thank you. Thank you. Um we did not have a sites meeting in March. Our next meeting is scheduled for April 23rd. And um as Dr. As mayor talked, we are looking to have a tour of the academy um in May, May 28th is the tentative date. So, we're looking forward to that. Thank you, and thank you for your dedication and supporting the position as vice chair. Um, at this time
034I'm going to ask Teresa. Teresa attended a fair last week. Would you like to break down? Sure. Report on that up there and we were glad that you went to represent the Thank you. Thank you for um uh history day. Uh the district uh competition or regional competition was up in uh Lewis Mills High School up in Burlington. Uh it was characterized as the Torington area which we are a part of and I sent everybody a um copy of the uh summary of the Danbury winners. Uh it was quite extensive. I was so proud to see that and I thought I would like to share that with you. uh they do need uh judges for the statewide competition on May 3rd and they do give you a good packet what questions to ask and what
035to look for. They do help you out if you have any questions and they are more than happy to help. Uh so I recommend it highly if you can uh be a judge on that day. You meet a lot of interesting people. The students were so cute. The only problem was you can't grade on cuteness. That's the only problem. Glenn, I'm not a teacher. So, uh, any questions? I'd be glad to answer them. U, I can put you in touch with the, um, the head coordinator if you'd like. Um, but it was it was a hike to torren uh, to Burlington. Um, carpet I don't think would be as bad because it's all highway. Um, so any questions? Sure. Sure. Thank you. Oh, and they give you these cute buttons. [Music] We move on to
036our action item. I'm going to ask Kate to do action item A. I'll make a motion that the board of education accept for second reading and adoption policy 5117 students school attendance areas as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 24-44 45 motion made by K second seconded by any question policy seeing none all those in favor could I hear I oppose I still have Julie. Could you do action item D? [Music] I make a motion that the board of education accept for second reading and adoption policy 5118 students non-residents attendance as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25- 46. Thank you. Motion made by Julie. Do I hear a second? I'll second Louisa second. Any questions concerning policy? Seeing none, all in favor I. I. Motion so carried.
037Lauren, would you do action item C? I make a motion that the board of education accept for second reading and adoption policy 5118.1 students, homeless students as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25-47. Motion made by a second by Kate in accordance with concern. Seeing none all those in favor say I. I motion so car Mr. Miller, would you do action item? I can't motion that the board of education accept the 2025 February financial report uh as recommended by the finance committee and in accordance with the exhibit 254. Motion made by Mr. Second by Julie. Julie. Okay. Are there uh are there any questions concerning the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Could I hear I? I. Any oppose? Motion. So, carry. Serious. You do the last motion. I'd be happy
038to. E. Revise 2025-26 school calendar. Motion that the board of education approve the revised 2025-26 school calendar in accordance with 25-49. Motion made by Teresa. Second. Seconded by Lauren. Okay. Any question concerning uh the car? We had a discussion about that tonight. So really should not be any question. Okay. All those in favor I. Okay. Motion so carried on. We have discussion on the um agenda and we don't you know if there's any discussion that board members want to bring at this time they have the opportunity to do that. Can I Yes, Teresa. Um I don't know if this is the proper time but I was reading we got to do air quality controls and HVAC um inspections coming up. Another unfunded mandate from the state. It is um we're responsible for doing 20% of
039the schools each year over the course of five years. We built that budget this year. It started this year. Yes. Thank you. Any other board chair person report is um very light. I didn't prepare anything for tonight. I just hope that we continue to work together as a group uh to make this district the best district that it is and a safe and I know that we all at the table to honor and make sure that we do what we can individually. So, um we have a meeting coming up. I think it's April the 28th, 29th. Put on your calendar. Um Cara will send out information about that. Okay. Trying to schedule it ahead of time so you can look at your cabinet to make sure that we have a good uh board of tenders
040at that meeting. Okay. What day? April the 28th or the 29th. I'll give you two suggestions. Okay. So car should send out an in date tomorrow. Any other questions? I entertain a motion to adjourn. Moved by K. Second. Second by