001call the meeting to order pleas we stand for the pleas of Allegiance please I pled to of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy andice for all roll call pleas L present Teresa Michelle here ke here Dr here laurenita here here Julie here here okay we move on down the agenda public participation board welcomes public participation and asks that speakers please limit their comments to three 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 connect with the Dan public school system first speaker is [Music] rileigh hello hi my name is R Ironman I am speaking on
002behalf of the marching band I am the brass section leader and I'm here to thank you guys for supporting the band and helping us get our equipment that we need for this year and thank you for prioritizing us again a new band record for our season um I would like to personally invite you guys to our home show this year it is next Saturday October 5th um competition starts at 6:00 and it will run until 900 p.m. [Music] thank you so much do our members have any question very much appreciate how fast you got us new band director I know you guys got barraged by the band parents with emails about that and so we are very very thankful that we got a new band director in place in time for our season thank you
003is Teresa is that 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. yes um awards are at 9:30 so yeah the competitions start at 6 so and um I am the President of the B booster so we will be we will walk off um parking spots for the board of bed members fund so that you guys don't have to search for parking I just want to I just want to uh wish you luck and make sure we keep the trophy Endeavor thank you very much thank you thank you um rally uh could you guys just stay up for just a few minutes please we're not going to beat you up just a few I just wanted to ask how many members are in the band um as of as of uh this year it is we have 38 38
004yes we have 38 members of the band years ago was part of the pit through I think we had close to 90 or 100 members at that time yes we had yes we had a very large band um right now it it has dropped um we are trying to build up rebuild the bands get interest um and uh you know get word out to the community and have students come and and join the bands these kids are honestly they're the best group of kids I have ever met there is literally no hazing there is no everybody is accepted for who they are and they they're like their own little Community they help each other if something goes wrong they're always jumping up trying to help each other they're a great group of kids um I
005would like to get um more obviously more more kids um and and I believe part of the uh part of the problem is the language barrier we don't have anybody who speaks Portuguese or Spanish or any of the other language spoken in Dam we only have English speakers so if that's something that you know you know just point me in the right direction where I can look for you know you know have you know parents get it out to those parents so that we can include everybody and grow our band again when I I graduated from dway high in 1990 and our band was right about 90 100 and they were in the Macy's day parade and we were very big then so we would like to grow grow the program again and being on
006the state we like to represent that I'm sure you be sucessful any more questions thank you thank is there anyone that would like to come for the board s Al would you um do the consent calet please I make a motion that the Board of Education approve the consent calendar exhibits 24-18 through 24-16 to as recommended I I made a motion can I hear second motion second by K then a question concerning consent K yes yes um I just uh looking at exhibit 24 158 and 24159 they do not look as if they are complete um overview of what went on on those sessions um I would suggest that um if we have those as part of the package that at least the topic does not have to be the discussion but the topic um
007so that the public is aware that we do do board training and the areas that we do governance training might be of interest uh to the public thank you we'll make sure sure that that would be something that we add on to our agenda we always looking to increase and let the public know what we're doing so when we have workshops let them know that we're going to workshops or whatever type of training that we take thank you any other question concerning consent can sandon all in favor could I hear I I oppose motion so car educational staff do we have any here our students here Ace just come on up to the table D will you state your name and what position that you hold and on behalf of the board we are happy
008to see you here tonight and we are here to support you as far as education wise so thank you for coming thank you my name is Del and I'm the president of I'm Ayden Rogers I'm the vice president of the Board of Governors I'm and I'm the secretary of ofse I can barely hear and I'm treasur Board of Governors uh we can't hear down here um K could you I might have to speak a little louder hello yes my name is the president of the Board of Governors I'm Hayden Rogers I'm the vice president of the Board of Governors I'm PA I'm the secretary of of govern I'm and I'm the treasur of board of governers thank you s first thing we wanted to talk about was the football game last Friday it was a
009success it was the W out theme was very well attended and it was so the youth nights or cheers and football players were there um our senior photos are continuing into November we also wanted to talk about senior Fest it's happening this Friday of September 27th from 2 to 5:00 p.m. and then our spirit week is going to be the week of October 20th to October 26th so our things are going to be anything but a backpack day throwback Tuesday which is going to be roled around the time 1980s and 1990s character day on Wednesday and then class colors and school colors and then we're also for our pep rally we're also having student committees involved with planning it and it's always just a really fun way for students to show their spirit and come
010together to represent their classes so continuing on the student events we are still in the midst of planning homecoming we have a game confirmed but we just have to double check with Mr Don that it is all good and all set to start ordering decorations um today was the closing of the r reports team of the week in our girls soccer team W with over that was a big success for us and then Senior Sunrise was a few weeks ago and it was a great success and all of the senior class was there I want to say and everyone was just sitting together and it was a really great time for all of us I we continue with the renovations that have been happening so see Renovations have been completed many of the students and
011the faculty are very pleased with how it's how it came out WIS have been installed on September 24th which is then this week and teachers have been using them and they were nice and kids do their work and take care so the next set of events that we wanted to talked about was um parent staff events so our open house was September 16th um parents came in and they were able to follow their students schedule kind of get to know the teachers and see what it's like inside the school um on September 26th the principal's breakfast is being posted preparing so Mr Donan will have a um like a zoom meeting with the parents they can kind of ask any questions that they have for him it's just kind of a nice way to um
012get to know the parents the students that are school yourbook is on sale right now for $60 and the students have been taking advantage of it getting at a low cost price compared to it when it is no longer available at that price and faulty has also been buying them so so I recommend buying [Music] them yeah our yearbook prices go up as the time goes on so right now in yearbook we're trying to advertise as much as possible for students to take advantage of this deal and get especially if you're a senior to um see Good Times any board members have any question they want to ask our young students thank you again and we are so pleased to see you thank [Music] you we going start the standard committees we going to start
013first with the S and committee we haven't had a s facilities yet September tooby just a quick little update on set so so we are going to be changing the date it was originally scheduled for 102 3 we're going to be moving it forward to 10:17 that's a Thursday night and that one will be planned to take place at danur high school starting at 6:00 um and I just want to address one other thing that's come up uh even though we haven't had a s speeding yet to talk about some of these things so um I did want to acknowledge the new Pavilion and I understand it came as a bit of a surprise to to some of the board members so this was a project um that had happened very quickly over the summer
014when we were out of session the board was out of session it was after the last committee meetings so as a result the typical channels of communication that we have just weren't operating as they normally do and so it didn't make it into our board updates so just apologies for the communication breakdown U we'll reviewing we'll be reviewing all these projects and then a few of the other repairs and upgrades that have been made at the high school during that October 17th meeting so um and again we'll be invited the board city council our Danbury delegation uh to join us all that evening the um the money that we had allocated for the 10 um did we use it towards the Gazebo or are we saving it for the heating part so it it it
015was not allocated towards the Caso um and I'm I'm hoping Antonio will be present in that site to need to address questions about the way the money is used um I understand it was coupled together from other construction specific funds um but that money for the tents uh was not was not used in this project thank you you have a question yes I'm sorry um so the um the 17th 6:00 p.m. High correct and we'll be sending an email out to everyone um as a reminder M we in the high school in the cafeteria theoria uh right now we haven't quite figured it out yet I think we'll meet in the um in the uh the main lobby forer area and then we'll probably start a little walking tour cuz we want to do the
016science labs to the Pavilion and then we'll make our way around to a few other little upgrades as well I think we'll figure out the details that I would like that details before we decide permanently what we going to do but we do have 17th set for the date okay that's correct yes any other question um policy uh we have not had another meeting since our our last board meeting our next meeting will be October 2nd but we'll see there are a number of policies on the agenda this evening for second thank you Comm do community relations while you sure so we had a successful event on the 21st Saturday with the E superintendent um I'm not sure Dr wants to do any kind of update we can skip down as part of the superintendent
017report but I'm happy to report um that we had a a fairly nice turnout um for me the superintendent which we also coupled up with a stem experience for students so we used the the draw and excitement of stem to kind of captive hold captive the parents that that showed up to make sure that we could have a great uh moment to communicate sort of the message around um District goals District expectations and also um some things that parents need to kind of pay attention to um with regards to the code of conduct and some things that have been tripping kids up over the last couple of years with regards to um things that they may have been getting in trouble in school so um it was uh not too too long but a nice
018moment to engage with some of the parents they had some some very good questions very pointed but very good questions that I think we addressed but it also provided some insight uh for me as to kind of where our work is um we had some great follow-up one-on-one conversations with some parents afterwards um who are also looking for more information about theem the was a big um topic on the question survey that we sent out people wanting to just know more about it and understand it and kind of um taking some time to unpack some misperceptions about it but also understand the opportunities uh so that was lovely and um I want to give a huge shout out to the curriculum resource team and many of the volunteers that showed up we had uh multiple
019uh tables that were running we had had um engineering students we had National Honor Society students uh we had the robotics team that showed up and we had our uh one of our Academy groups um also I'm seeing some faces were you there also Saturday that I just know a lot of people in robotic oh in the robotic team okay they were phenomenal um we had a transference of energy table mixing it up chemical session tallest tower um we had paper airplane and aerodynamics we had a session on bacteria we did a hovercraft magnetism 100 challenge uh they floated foil boats they did worked on catapults they did 2D and 3D shapes and then of course the um the big draw was the robotics the Vex robotics where the kids are able to see um
020and that's something we'll be promoting kind of K12 districtwide is really bringing kids into um into the stem most of our cies and Pathways have a heavy stem experience building up those stem experiences for kids um there's a lot of opportunities there but it was lovely and I want to thank the board members who came out to support me um in that taking the Saturday out I really appreciate it Julie Manita Kate glis and Teresa so thank you so much how did the shirts turn out I'm sorry did everybody wear the shirts yes the yeah they spotted abely thank you very much ums that successful experience for looking to schedule another community relations meeting so that we can uh pursue some other dates and opportunities to do some other presentations I just say one more
021thing about that I'd love to debrief too with the team that was there um just to see how the experience on the parent side went but also how uh you know we had running interpretation in the back and um so I think it's worthy to everybody who's involved in the in the day this success of the day to kind of debrief so that we can make the next session better and we forgot the community relation committee for working together but every want to put it together just one thinking of the academy speech I was at the high school the other night and I saw the beautiful sign at the principal's office um highlighting the academy structure but I noticed the seventh one wasn't there just it's not there so in case you forgot no that
022was ordered quite a while ago and Mr Donovan is is in the process of getting the new columns updated so it's going to take time he was kind of bummed that it at it we kind of made those decisions right afterwards so but it's it's coming it's a beautiful sign it is beautiful y we got that idea from CIS when we visited the building they they displayed their uh different groups in that way Finance Mr J okay I apologize that the minutes are not available I just haven't had the time to approve the minutes but I'll summarize the the meeting for us the finance committee met on September 18th 2024 all committee members were present Mike we were presented and explained the year in statement of June 30th 24 having a positive favorable balance of
023$720,000 half and 1% of our budget uh this was due to savings free on spending and not filling certain positions Ed eron pointed out that our order report to the state was filed 2 days early I think I didn't CT the name of that but that's the that's not part of the city a on the educational what's the name of that EFS PFS PFS a there that was done 2 days uh two days it also clarified the operating procedures for unused purchase ERS they further told us that this year effective June 30th 24 this is something that's interesing the state allowed the B bed to keep up to 2% of its budget if unused historically this was returned to the uh municipalities as suggested the Border bed approve uh to open an account so that
024monies could be moved into this account this account would have no time restrictions uh or would not be restricted to how to spend money for example there was $1.4 Million uh there was $1.4 Million that have been a marked for moving costs uh for the new high school um which went unused and part of uh as well as the 760,000 excess balance could be moved into this account for future use for us the Self Insurance ibnr incurred but not recorded was also funded to the city in the amount of about $2.5 million uh this is a reserve for Self Insurance uh that should have about six or seven weeks of expenses on hand to cover any uh unexpected claims during the year they also shared two menus created by Finance team to give guidance about
025appropriate use and management of Student Activity funds one was for the advisers and the others for the bookkeepers Mike Weaver had indicated there are about 40 45 of these accounts uh that are currently available like we were also indicated there are still some pending enterings to be made to the uh to the year thank you any question Teresa I thought the one .4 million uh was upcoming in this budget for the move it wasn't in last year's budget it's upcoming for this year not supposed to be in the last year's budget or the 24 budget yes I I don't think it was in last year's budget but it was accounted for as a purchase order was put in as a placeholder um because we thought the move was going to happen in the 24th fiscal
026year but it's not so so we're going to cancel that requisite I thought the fiscal year was for 25 the 1.4 that that's when the expens will occur right so it he was saying it was under your budget the is the PO under the P under the under the old budget yes okay so it's not now in this year's budget the PO is not as of right now there there's no placeholder yet thank you Michelle did that include the 180,000 for the um Michelle is your mic on it is on does that include the 180,000 that was allocated for the tents at danber public schools that we're going to find out later more information on how that was funded but my understanding was that we didn't use the fund so is that part of this
0271.4 no the 1.4 was completely separate so are those funds part of the report that um Mr janelli just you know kind of gave us a brief idea of the minutes that aren't ready yet is that money in the numbers that we were just discussing uh no that do not believe that money was spent yet so it would not be in okay thank you any other question we move on there's no other question unless um you know Mike didn't have you didn't have anything else to add to it I no did not okay thank you action item a I need action item a June 2024 financial report the motion that the Board of Education approved the June 2024 financial report as recommended by the finance committee and in accordance with exhibit 24-1 63 motion made
028by Juanita could I hear a second second second by Al in a discussion we heard the financial report from the before Teresa considerate that we don't have a uh formal minutes done the minutes are so the financial report was part of the packet inclusive here with the board information so okay any other question motion has been moved and second all in favor can I hear I I oppose motion so car action item B St Conneticut Incorporated student transportation agreement motion that the Board of Education approve the agreement with SDA of Connecticut inated to provide student transportation from the first day of school and the school year 2025 to 2026 we were including the last day of school of the school year 2021 to 2030 in accordance with 24-16 um the motion has moved by Dr
029croner uh second we're going to Second it but we also need U maybe I'm out of order or forgotten the rules we need to table this motion the superintendent would like to table this motion I need a motion to takeable so we first need to make a uh Dr car has to withdraw the motion okay Dr Conor would you withraw the motion okay just I I this is how we learned I'm so sorry okay we need a motion to table this make a motion to table action item b a second it motion made by by K Pap by L all in favor thank you long as I here I'm Le okay action item c c m policy 4137 solicitation by employees motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and adoption policy 41
03037- solicitation by employees as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 24-65 motion made by Michelle could I hear second second second by Teresa any question concern that motion seeing none all in favor could I hear I I motion so Carri motion d k I'll make a motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and op option policy 414722 communicable dis communicable diseases as recommended by the policy committee and an accordance with exhibit 24-1 166 motion made by Kate could I hear second second second that by uh Julie any question concerning that motion see none all in favor could I hear I I thank you e e policy 41184 421 18.4 hyen electronic mail motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and adoption policy 41184 4218 point4 D
031electronic mail as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 24-16 s motion made by Teresa could I hear second second second it by air any question see n all in favor can I hear all right all right so I hear it all eyes there's no reason to ask for okay motion so car action item F Mr Janelle action IEM F policy 4118 .51 42851 social networking motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and adoption policy 4118 d51 42851 social networking as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 24-1 168 motion made by Mr janelli could I hear second second second it by Al any question concerning that Poli seeing none all in favor can I hear I motion so thank you all may I turn it over to
032superintendent for chair um so we already went over the meet the superintendent um details so we'll go right down to the National social media threats um I think many of you have known if whether you're in the school system or your board member or your parent at home you've received a letter of some sort with regard to a different points um some type of social media threat that we received in the school district um it's something that area superintendents have been getting together on uh more frequently uh because of what they're experiencing the level of disrup ition that it's causing school districts is is concerning um we haven't had to cancel school or close school or evacuate schools per se um so we've been on a little bit on the lighter side of what some
033other schools across Connecticut and the country of experiencing but um you know we are remaining Vigilant um in anticipation of potential more threats um and we are also seeking guidance from the state so the area superintendant and the state superintendents have requested from the state of Connecticut to issue um specific guidance on a common approach a lot of the school systems are have been scrambling to address in in individual ways um and and to come up with the United theme around how we approach um the the various types of threats that are coming is something that the superintendents um at least the ones that I'm in the circle in Western Connecticut are very much interested in receiving from the state of Connecticut um we have been as a team working very closely on analyzing those
034threats um when they do come in when we are made aware of those um we are never assessing those on our own it's always in concert with local authorities um sometimes um not just local dpd but State authorities and at times we've included the FBI and conversations when needed um because they have had some information so um we're all in the um process now of kind of sharing information as it comes in so we can identify Trends and patterns not just in Danbury but neighboring school districts um and also across the state again so um we also will be bringing some folks into to help our administrative staff um to better respond when they received that initial threat and how we report and things that we uh look for and question and information that we
035try to gather Mike if you want to talk a little bit about some of the things that we maybe have coming up and where we're at this sure appreciate it so I I've been in regular contact with a number of our partners the center uh the Connecticut Center for school safety is now based at Westcon so they're right in our back backyard and you know they're one of my first calls whenever we need guidance on one of these issues I've also been in contact with u the FBI Comm terorism unit based in New Haven and they're going to be coming to talk with some of our principals and secretaries about what to do when you see one of these calls come in or if you see something on social media how do we respond U
036and then naturally we talk with you police uh Emergency Management almost on a daily basis and they're always one of our first calls whenever these things happen and they provide us guidance and then through them they have um connections to to the Connecticut Center for intelligence uh which is a a um a law enforcement specific Intelligence Center so they'll pass information especially if they hear about these things often times they know about these things flying around on social media before we even learn about it and so often times T rep PD will have a heads up um you know by the time we call them some of these things have happen so uh everybody's you know working together on this and um I have a great deal of confidence that we're getting really strong guidance
037on this yes Mr J here you mentioned that superintendent I'm talking about this at these meetings he also invite the the authorities the local authorities FBI etc etc so that the input from The Authority goes out globally to all of the superintendent in addition to specifically uh what Mike is addressing in in terms of addressing our own personal District here yes so we we did re recently I think it was last week it was a meeting of all the superintendents in Connecticut um sponsored to the state department and there was a state level authorities um law enforcement authorities there to sort of brief us on sort of the state of what's Happening um and our and our responses and we our request in that meeting was to provide commonality in our response so that we're
038uniform so um while no threat that comes in will always be identical to another school's threat everything is situational and you have to assess everything um in its own Merit in the context that it comes in but in but in terms of a little bit more of the United approach on generalized response for different types of threats that come in that we were looking for for a little more guidance from the state so that we that so that we're all working together and approaching it kind of United um and you know hopefully these will will die down but in the interim uh we take everything you know extremely seriously and um but at the same time we are we want to make sure that our educational process is not interrupted and that we are making
039good decisions so that we keep kids learning without those disruption and quite frankly building that fear response every time something happens so we're concerned about that we you know we did we for the most part things have been going very smoothly we've handled things we've squashed them we communicated um we did have one instance where one of the threats that came into one of our elementary schools really shut some folks up and so we made sure um that we dispatch some staff there and that we we provided some additional support in those situations so it's all very situational but we are working very closely um and taking those things very seriously thank you June Jun um I you send out a a letter um to communicate on the community to let them know what's going
040on but have you have have any respon from the parents I mean have you been able to get any calls or um concern from parents that have received this information um thank you for that we haven't received really any calls here I think the schools may have gotten a couple of inquiries to the principals directly like hey what's going on um but not so much here in central office um I think you know with the social media the Tik Tok and how things are swirling around if you even you know if you have social media you're seeing that this is happening um you know it's a fine line between desensitization of this and overreaction so we're trying to balance that but the parents have been um good partners and they've been ones reporting it in
041some cases right to us that my son or daughter saw this and you know they don't think anything of it but I just want to make sure that you know that you're aware of it and so we we take all of those and stride Kelly do you want to add a little in addition we did have a couple of parents reach out to the building um particularly with one of our elementary instances um and really they were looking for age appropriate resources to talk to their children about um and so we're talking kindergarten first second grade um and so we did share some um guidance from the National Association of school psychologists which is how to talk to your children which is very uh developmentally appropriate uh information on difficult topics so crises in the
042community crises in a school environment and so forth um in addition I've helped to support in the buildings um and set a handful of children up with um touching base with one of our people Services support staff members um some kids don't understand it other kids might have a fear related to it um hear older siblings community talking about things and it's just helping them to process it in a way that we can give them voice um but also reassure them that um we are here to protect them and keep them safe in school thank you Teresa I had um I was at the PTO meeting at the high school Monday and um a parent came up to me afterwards and said she had a son at bdge primary and now he's afraid to go
043to school and so she wants to get she wants to help at the school to you know that was her way of coping and I told her to talk to the teacher but there are concerns at that level and it got me thinking and I mentioned it to Mike today uh did we ever think of doing a therapy dog uh after these incidents and you know bringing especially to the lower classes uh even a therapy horse you know I saw that in something and I thought that was a great idea if we could do something like that if I could just add um we did not do that in response to the latest incident but when we have had other crises um in the school building we have brought in therapy dogs there's two local
044organizations that we work with um that have been phenomenal Partners um we also have therapy animals that are coming into um some pockets of programming across the school year for our students um the vast majority of our students find them to be very comforting and reassuring so it is something that we do have available to us um certainly we always have to be careful of parent permission we do have some other stud that have allergies to animals that have hair uh and so we have to be mindful of that um so while it's very helpful to the majority of kids for some it is stjo as well especially the superintendent well one and then the other thing we had this recent uh Scare at uh Westside um it was a from a student within the
045uh the situation that was uh that came up uh will we be seeing that in explosion right that's probably best for another conversation okay um could I just ask a question you know and I was looking at the news with the various surrounding towns going through this and I the the first thing that comes out of parents mouth is I want to to go into school and get my kid and how do you and I know we are all parents grandparents or whatever get that understanding to the parents that when you go and knock down they can't go in get their kid yes yes right thank you for bringing that up it's probably one of the most challenging situations that we have I think it's every parent's natural instinct to go towards your child when
046you think that there is an issue um you know one of the things we tried reiterate uh to parents and and through the schools and really the principal is the best person to deliver that message um around you know when you come to the school or if you're coming to the door um you're actually compromising the safety of of the students that are inside we can't open the door um you know the parking lot um area needs to be clear free for emergency Personnel if they need to get in there it's something that we need to maintain and so um it's a constant re reiteration that your child is safe um 99.99% of the time a lockdown is really taken out of an abundance uh is issued out of abundance of caution and we're just
047we just need a little extra time to go through our processes to ensure safety um so uh we do you know try to get messages out as quickly as possible to the parents and and that helps to kind of assure them that their child is safe um I just want to say I know that Mike and I spent a lot of time with other members here talking about that specific issue those 30 seconds of trying to figure out where that student is and you know we're always talking about budget I'm really excited we pushed for that technology I don't know exactly where we are in implementing it I know cameras were big and you know we are always concerned about security and I just I want to say thank you because that um you know
048everything takes time but that did seem to um to take the right course and I think we're we're addressing it so I just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you okay and the next item is the industry partnership so as you know Mike has been taking over um s of the partnership duties and there's a lot to kind of um to address there we have a lot of Partners who have been reaching out and one of them has been boow ringer and um we're starting to see some of the fruits of those initial relationship building opportunities so I'd like to have Mike talk about some great opportunities for students that we have coming up super exciting thanks car so there's two uh upcoming uh Partnerships with bow ringer um the second one here
049listed October 28 the date on that is actually going to be postponed they had some scheduling changes so we're pushing it back uh probably a little bit later into the winter but the stem November 7th this is one we're very excited about um we're going to have 50 students from uh STEM related currently um they're going to be put on a bus they're going to go over to B ringer and they're going to spend the day in a carousel meeting with professionals getting demonstrations having you know just conversation with you know professionals and director level uh folks of Binger about what their job entails what it looks like and job shadowing were were appropriate um and then they'll get to go have lunch in the cafeteria and meet with a variety of other employees and
050just talk about their jobs and learn what life is like in a pharmaceutical company so we'll get them all the we'll get a t-shirt we'll get a a lunch and uh come back to high school and go about their day in the afternoon so that we're really excited about and we're hoping that's going to become a more regular occurrence so this is sort of our first one out of the gate um yeah about it talk a little about the law day law business the lawn business day right this is the one that's uh going to be on hold for a little while uh but I understand this one is going to be their legal and compliance Department uh so the you know essentially ERS and paral leals um talking about just what that life is
051like in a corporate environment um the sorts of things obviously specific to pharmaceutical companies things like copyright patents and and the such and uh yeah that'll be um another half day for students um going into uh law pathways on their um that one's probably going to be uh November or December when it comes back more on that as it approaches thank you Mr car does it make any sense to have a board member participate or be engaged in this kind of a relationship with the uh with the potential Partners so that the people get a full understanding of who they're dealing with they they they know the administration they know the students and maybe just have uh one board member you know who can make it to so they they they have a relationship with
052the board as well to close close the L of district is that a possibility yeah I think there's going to be a variety of of opportunities for that that level of interaction um for instance we're in the process of selecting nailing the date down for the career Affair that's another thing that'll be coming up um that'll probably happen in December a little bit later uh we're trying to M are tryina um work that together with the high school um and the the idea that you know we have some of our board members they attend they interact with you know if we're bringing in 50 60 70 different industry Partners to come in interact with our kids it's wonderful to engage with them and to thank them for the partnership and to you know show the
053level of commitment so there's definitely opportunities I think the one of in B ringer is a little bit more of a um limited engagement for this for the students I know we've had staff that have asked to to go already so but there's going to be a variety of opportunities I think and and in addition once the advisories get going the opportunities to meet with those advisories to hear what their they have to say about um Cutting Edge experiences in their industry and how we say thank you one so for count um are and Mike are we um also inclusive of our sped population as appropriate for these um visits acmy involement do we speak to our partners about um inclusive employment and reaching out to them for our whole school population I can start
054and the M can certainly follow yes um we are inclusive every single one of our special education students is part of an academy um and there are a variety of different um needs that those individuals have um and so part of our work is making sure that they're exposed and also making sure um through our teacher mentors and leaders that those that are in places of employment understand the needs of our students um we have had um uh an 18 to 22y Old vocational program several vocational programs in this district for years um and and have um started those Partnerships with a variety of different Community Partners um to help them to understand uh the the abilities as well as some of the challenges that our students have and what that means in the workplace
055and the supports that they will need sometimes naturally eded and other times with individual ual extra supports or personnel with them um as we move to this Academy model we recognize that there are a variety of different supports across many more places um that will be needed and so those will be ongoing conversations not just for our students with special needs but also for some of our multilingual Learners um and so those will be things that we'll need to do ongoing um conversations um coaching and training with with our partners I would just add to that that as we as we go through and start to uh you know reach out to new partners and you know for relationships with existing Partners we're going to be putting out a survey to everybody that asks just
056sort of you know what do you do how you know how does this work where where exactly are we going to connect and questions and we're going to be having questions in there about working with special populations and Eng Lang as well Mel um just one thing uh with the partners that we're developing so we have influence with certain parts of the community what I'm not sure like how much of a commitment it would be do we are we going to get that breakdown like if it's somebody who's like listen I can give uh you know a day a month or a day a week like what are these programs how much do you need for us to say hey you know what you might consider this right so thank you so generally we talk
057about time and talent uh we don't ever come out of the gate asking for money right but time and talent are usually the two biggest so are you willing to so that's part of the conversation when we're first working with a potential partner who's who demonstrates an interest and it's like they they want to know well what does that look like what does a partnership look like and it could be as simple as your talent from the business is allowed to come in and talk and work with their kids and be Role Models um maybe they come into a science class two or three times maybe they show how to to to build or break down an you know an engine of some kind right and they're not the teacher but they're the guest teacher
058for a week or two and they come it could be their lunch hour um it could be that um the commitment is that you're willing to host five students every summer in your in your in your corporation um to Shadow maybe it's 10 maybe it's two depending on the size of your so it's really a putting out a variety of possibilities and seeing what folks are comfortable with committing to um so you know sometimes we'll get we'll get folks to say listen we don't have u a need for these these computers anymore this equipment it's obsolete for us but great to train the students on um so we're starting to get those types of uh D want this appointment um so we and we're trying to figure out the process for receiving and saying U
059no we don't really want all of that or yes this is going to be helpful for us so it's uh we're working through some of those pieces you could put something together cuz then if I knew then I might say hey you know what I've got extra time I just wouldn't know exactly how much time so we've kept pretty sure we have something developed get to you yeah thanks sure even like a one pager yeah just ideas looking forward okay and move right along um we have uh well why don't I have Kelly finish up with um DCF collaboration we have a a great uh new program and an opportunity that that kind of came as a result of relationship that was built which I think is great so Kelly talked about as many of
060you are aware we partner with the Department of Children and Families DCF quite regularly um they are a resource and support to many of our students and families um and sometimes we are partnering with them on uh child abuse or neglect cases um and so uh through a connection that we made with them um a new uh local area director what they have decided to do is um assign a liaison to each one of our schools and what that means is it will be a person that currently works for the state department or for the state I should say through the um department of children's and families and they will be um a contact that we can utilize when we have questions um and so this might be a question about a resource for a
061family it might be a question about is this does this rise to an abuse or neglect are there more questions we need to investigate um there was a change in legislation um it used to be when you had a suspicion of abuse or neglect you immediately stopped your investigation and made a report um they have now loosened that legislation a little bit and what that means is they are looking for school Personnel to investigate a little bit further and the reason for that is that the Department of Children and Families is being um or one of the reasons I should say inundated with reports and some of which probably don't belong there and are better to be addressed um you know sometimes it's just a support that is needed or an education um you know
062with a parent or family member um in other times there are definitely cases that need to go forward so this liaison will help kind of to full it'll help us to tease out if we feel that we need to ask more questions in the school setting um to make a determination of whether or not this Rises to um you know an investigatory case with the Department of Children and Families but also it'll be a contact and a resource that we can utilize to say hey we're having a situation with a family a child needs XYZ resource or support can you lead us in the appropriate Direction um so I really am excited about this partnership I think it'll be a good resource um we are just finalizing some of those connections we'll then roll it
063out to our administrative Council um and then we will give some feedback on how that's going um there is also a potential opport to Outpost a DCF worker within the district somewhere at some point in time um and really that person would serve as another leison um in another leis on fashion and so that's something we're also exploring um we still will maintain and I want to make it very clear children's rights we will not have students sitting down working with with the Department of Children and Families unless that has already been arranged outside of our control um these Partnerships are really meant adult to adult to help benefit a child um so the consult with them will remain anonymous it won't include a name it'll just be I have a student who is a
064seventh grader who's displaying XYZ behavior in his need of this type of resource could you help me with that I I do have some questions regarding that um like the parental like if I was a parent and you wanted to observe my my child would you have to notify me Michelle could you cut your it is on it's on I'm turning my head it's on um would you have the right as a parent to say I do or I don't want that child because I know that there was the ability to put a letter in your file and say I don't want DCF having any communication like I know that there are certain legal so I'm not sure what these changes are will you be bringing that to the board's attention just can answer the
065question right now great um no DCF worker is allowed to speak to a child without parent consent with a with an except the exception would be an immediate risk or danger that that child is experiencing and the parent is the is you know the suspected individual um in those rare circumstances um you know the um need to protect that child comes first other than that these DCF workers are meant to be adult support so they're meant to support our teachers and our administrators in making decisions that are in the best interest of families they will not be allowed to go into classrooms and observe children they will not be allowed to work directly with children that is not their purpose of being in the schools it is really for adults the only difference there would
066be is if DCF was involved with a student and family already and we had consent then we wouldn't prohibit them from doing so but it would only be with Express consent from a parent the worker will also not be investigating cases directly within the school they will just be a resource to us perfect thank you you're welcome thank you for clarifying that okay and the last item um is just about another opportunity that we've been uh granted through a Statewide Family Center engagement Grant and I've asked an to come to speak to it um Amber once again get picked to participate the best for us good evening everyone I'm so excited about this um so in 2018 C which is one of our Regional Education Service Centers like we've had advance in this area C
067is another one in the state roote a grant to the feds to support a Connecticut Family School partnership grant that Grant was fully funded we um the organization reapplied the year before last and last year was granted and then this year they started to roll out to invite school districts to be part of it we've been invited again to be part of the Grant I am giving you their mockup of going to be their cards um but for you to see this so what this project does is it illuminates the full and equal Equitable partnership um document that we have in the State written by G some D parents were involved in that but then it actualizes and actually puts into effect action plans in our schools and so we will be having four schools
068part of this initiative right now El and Park have agreed to it I have two other schools that I'm in final discussions with and what that does is puts an extra person in their school on a very part-time basis working on two academics and one family engagement goal um there is not um money totally received by the district that's not what happens in this um however it offers opportunities for our staff for our Leons and for our families such as um the teacher parent home visiting model is the model I believe that um superintendent casmiro spoke about in her goals for next year would provide training for that it does provide training for teachers social workers and principles we all went through the weling school's walk through was about $330,000 um that was allocated to
069danber to have all those walkthroughs done um it'll you know have more um uh funds available for further signage in our parking lot in our doors all as an outcome of that welcoming School initiative that we had it does have monthly meetings we will be hosting a meeting here in October 18th of all the other districts I was at one last week um we got 20 folks uh superintendents folks that um hold the same roles in um other districts come to it it's a learning opportunity we work very closely with Karen Matt I Henderson and was going to forget her name um jce epon Epstein who wrote the PTO U model there are national uh guides in this um it also helps to pay for um conference fees for our staff our family Leons our
070family resource folks to go to the Statewide um conference so it's a great support for the district we're really happy to be able to uh join this network this support network and to bring home more ideas and things to do our camp take any questions yeah do you have a total figure what we get um I can add up what we've gotten over the last 5 years I can work on I be going forward I mean know I I don't know I know already they've offered a teacher parent home visiting free training for us um they're working on um what we will be working on from our working with our schools we need to work with those four schools figure out exactly what they need to make this project successful and then we'll bring that
071back to the team and that's what they do oh so it's as as needed is as needed and adds value to what we're always doing in the district so that's very help thank you Dr me I didn't get the two schools that you had on um I have Ellsworth and park already and you need four I need four yes I'm working um with a potential middle school and another Elementary School any other questions thank [Music] you okay board chair personal report uh I certainly would like to thank the board members that attended of MD primary uh 50th anniversary celebration on last was it Friday night yes and uh it was a beautiful they had a beautiful display and we met some young people that had attended the school and came back and it was very
072exciting so um Teresa and who else and myself and Dr CR okay so I appreciate you guys taking the time um out there I know I hope you didn't have U traffic problem that I had when I came out traffic was if I can make a comment U I like the way they uh they set up in the gym where uh they had students that have gone through there and they showed where they are today and I thought that was fabulous that was a great a great thing um my last thing is um I believe that we all are here because we care about education be it Democrats be it Republican I am here to work with you all and I hope that you all are here to work with me okay and that's providing
073that we have the best interest of this school district in Our Minds when we do things and I would like for us to get the intent in our mind to say we are going to support Danberry school to make sure it's the best school in this District that's what I want us to work together and do and I hope you all will continue to give me the report and support that I need as chairperson and I would just like to say the last thing the reason that I assign the action items is because whoever gets here first I try to I don't want this to be uh the chairperson report to do everything I want you to participate and be a part of this and if you don't sit down at your table and I
074have somebody else and I'm trying to assign things and you know that's what I'm trying to do so make our um meeting Move Along slowly so again I want Tok thank you and we all here to make Dan bear schools the best school that is in the district thank you along that line um I noticed we're using a lot of stem ideas don't forget there's also steam okay don't forget the Arts thank you being another no other information yes was the thing that you presented the best so our goal in this school district is to be the best Urban School District in the state of Connecticut and um thank you for for bringing that up that's a um something that our principles have been hearing repeatedly in every meeting um they're looking at data across
075the state we're looking very deeply at our own data as well um because you have to have a plan on how to get there and that's what we're working on now so there's no reason we can't be that um but with a little bit of increased expectations and collaboration teamwork going in the same direction we will be the best Urban District in the state before we have the motion to adjourn I would like to also say uh that if you going through any training that cave offer during the day and I know most of us work whatever type of training that you uh experience or go through from the time that we are out of board meetings um mention it to me and I have you report it at our next Mee okay okay okay
076I need a motion to adour they they sent a summary of what you've done T um toward what goal do we get a free trip to H or something I mean no they recognize you at the convention it's an invitation for you to go to get a better parking spot the next I make that motion to a jour