001detail oh CL AR flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands naice right Face Forward March everyone that was affected by 91 so I would ask you to Bow your heads and say whatever you want to say in a few minutes thank you now we turn the meeting over to our superintendent for a special presentation good evening everyone so tonight is a very extra special night um probably one of the um greatest reasons to celebrate tonight is for someone who who is not just a wonderful professional but also a longtime colleague and friend um Christy Zita Dr chrisy Zita I'd like to call you up to uh to the table so we can embarrass you for a few minutes so folks we have a celebrity in the house
002um last spring uh Dr zolita was named the Connecticut Middle School principal of the year and the 2024 State principal of the year the principal of the year are sponsored annually by the Connecticut Association of schools and the National Association of Secondary School principles the purpose of this is to bring recognition to the exemplary School principles and to increase the public awareness of just how important principle uh is to the life of the school and to the functioning of the district um all of the research beares true that when you have a phenomenal principle you have great outcomes christe you embody all those things and we are so proud of you the award recognizes outstanding Middle School and High School principles that have succeeded in creating quality learning opportunities for students the qualities are excellent
003leadership skills a selfless commitment to staff and students no one does that better than univers ongoing service to their community and contributes to the educational profession I have watched how you have um created food drives volunteer opportunities food coring food trucks to help feed your families and the students um organizing events after event after event to make sure that your families are taken care of so that your students could come to school well fed well clothed um and to be happy so that they can work so just unbelievable amounts of dedication and commitment to not just the school but to the community and the fs that you serve one of the your greatest attributes Christie is that for as long as I've known you you never stop trying to improve the work that you're doing
004um you are 100% dedicated to datadriven evidence-based conversations every time I walk into your building there's another meeting going on in your office where you're looking at a problem of practice and trying to figure out how to make um something better for kids how to dig in deeper how to raise the expectations and how to bring your staff along with that um you have a shared leadership style so you never make decisions alone you are the first person pick up a phone you pull your staff members in you have meetings with just about everybody to make sure everybody's on board before you roll something out and that means you always have the collective wisdom of the group but also Collective efficacy in your ability to sustain your improvement efforts which you've been doing a great
005job over the last couple of years you have amazing relationships with not just your staff but with the families you get along with everybody from central office even when we can't always give you everything that you need and that you deserve and you're always very humbl about it and you always find another way around um to make sure that your school gets everything that it needs you have extremely high standards for excellence um I'm proud to know you on multiple levels um for those of you who don't know in the room christe has been in the district for 22 years um seven of that as a principal and former associate principal where she'd helped to kind of Corral all three middle schools at a time when we were um changing uh and making improvements across
006the board she was spent 10 years as a phenomenal scientist teacher so much so that she was named the 2013 uh science teacher of the year sorry teacher of the year and also won a Connecticut Excellence award for excellence in middle school science so it is my pleasure to present to you tonight the award that you already won but as our Connecticut Middle School principal of the year and really really special the fact that of all of those principles that were selected and nominated that they chose you to be the 2024 State principal of the year so [Applause] congratulations y okay you don't get off that [Music] easy now i' like to call up may Roberto ales Charlie Santos and councilman Britain to come on up and do all have another special citation tonight right
007microphone that's fine here too this is from theity and Rachel I'm sorry and Rachel cheski hi thank you for coming so we also wanted to recognize you for the great work you do um I can't say you're my favorite principal because I have a bunch of other principles who might KCK me on the way out but I can say you're my brother-in-law's favorite principal Ador you so he also sends us congratulations I was on the phone with him on the way in here so what we have here is a mayor's Proclamation be are hereby known to all that the mayor and the citizens of the city of Danbury honored chrisy Zeta doctor as a 2024 Middle School principal of the Year Dr zela principal of Rogers Park Middle School has been named the Connecticut Association
008of schools 2024 middle school principle of the year a testament to her exemplary leadership and commitment to fostering inclusive and high achievement School environment for all students and Dr Z's Innovative and data- driven approach to education has transformed Rogers Park Middle School implementing restorative practices culturally responsive teaching and numerous initiatives to address students diverse needs making her a role model for educational leadership within Dan and across Connecticut and dr's lat's dedication to academic Excellence student empowerment and school community building is evident through her initiatives like the road to Blue Ribbon and the empower of student ambassadors which have significantly contributed to both Student Success and the overall well-being of Rogers Park School Community earning her recognition as the 2024 State principal of the Year and be proclaimed that I Roberto LS as mayor of the
009city of Amber and the citizens of danre do hereby recognize Dr christe Zita for her outstanding contributions to the field of education and her unwavering dedication to the students staff and the families of n Public Schools signed this 11th day of September 24 the [Applause] cityall if I knew you going to wear sneakers I would have wear sneakers I'm get rer [Music] I go [Music] was not prepared but I a very proud bberry resident moved up here think it's 25 years now I'm about 45 but I'm just really humbled um first to the Board of Education thank you all for your continued support and encouragement your belief in schools and our administrators and our teachers our students is the backbone of everything that we do I am so proud to represent ding Public Schools as
010the Connecticut Middle School principal leader and the fact that I was chosen to be a representative for Connecticut at NDC next year is blowing my mind it's an absolute privilege I do not take lightly and it is incredibly humbling um it is still really surreal I do want to note that this is a 3ep Del I am the third person here to be honored at state level behind me I have two dear dear friends Dr Smith Davis was just last year's Elementary principal the year and the year prior was Dr Rez was the Middle School assistant I am very good company I would not be standing here or sitting here today without the support of so many people who have truly believed in me encouraged me and pushed me to be better I want to
011start by thanking Mr CHR roach he nominated me for this wouldn't be possible if he didn't do that um I want us to really thank him for his unwavering support not only as a supervisor but also and much more importantly as a thought partner and he's really thank you because you've pushed my thinking and you've helped me grow in ways I didn't imagine that I could um thank you for always challenging me to see things from New Perspectives and for your insight into the absolute Insanity of being a principal have so many different experiences at different levels and I do appreciate that because it's a j out there to our superintendent and cabinet members your guidance and commitment to our district um have been a constant source of strength and Dr casiro I look forward
012to supporting your vision to make our school excuse me not just my school our district the number one Urban District in Connecticut um ESP I want to thank Carol from I know she could not be here today but she always goes above and beyond and I want to thank her for organizing anybody else who had anything to do with this beautiful reception before here and I appreciate the thoughtfulness and energy to my RPMs administrative team KJ square and my middle school administrators and my other friends that are administrators among and between levels in different and different um LS and special in CRC and all my other friends their collaboration and support have been truly key to our success as a school and I think as we're moving through as a district we are truly a
013team and I'm very grateful for every day to work alongside and learn from and with such dedicated and talented educational leaders to the teachers and staff that I have the privilege of leading thank you for believing in our student ability to achieve great things your willingness to take risks and embrace new and I know sometimes they're a little crazy ideas um is what makes our school where a place where love Innovation and learning flourish I am in all of your dedication your resilience and your belief in our students thank you for your trust and belief in me as your Chef lastly but certainly not least right here my family your love and understanding are my Foundation your support has helped me every step of the way way even when the days are really long maybe
014they roll into the weekends or maybe they roll into vacation and I know the work feels like it is endless because it is but I would definitely not be here without each and every one of in closing there's a quote by Nelsa Mandel I do love a quote um this really resonates with me it's always seems impossible until it's done the work we do every day can feel overwhelming but when we look at growth success and most importantly the impact that we make on our students lives it is clear that anything is possible thank you all for being a part of this journey with me together we are making a difference it's just another day of the part [Applause] before you go I just want to invite any other cabinet members or board members if
015they wanted to have a a moment to say anything before Christy leaves I would like to say myself as lce Cooper I've been on this board I've met you at different intervals in different Affairs you always had a smile on your face and you knew how to approach people and I saw that many many years ago and I am glad that I had opportunity to know you I just want to say um I feel very fortunate that my oldest son was able to have you as principal um sorry you were instrumental in his middle school years and you helped him with a lot of challenges and I don't think that anybody else could have helped him in the ways that you did so thank you [Applause] just say this Dr Zita is a Visionary leader
016she cares deeply about every student in that building and far past systems and structures and doing what you're supposed to do she meets the needs of those students in her building every single day through safety through high high leverage and rigorous practices in the classroom to games outside pickle ball football soccer she's everything you could ever ask for in a leader and we're I I'm I'm humbled to be a part of this and and she's just an amazing person thank [Applause] you hi chy um when I first met you you came into Roger Park as a science teacher and it was um quickly realized um that your skills were going to take you very long I am just so excited for the award that you've received you certainly deserve it you've worked hard and we
017appreciate you having you here in our school [Applause] district knowing on Christy again thank you and congratulations thank you thank you [Applause] if You' like to say for the board meeting you you're more than welcome to but I'm seeing that okay might have good night the door too [Music] okay roll call J here K here L Cooper here Dr Mary yes Lauren Dy here Bita Bush Harris bush haris say here Rich jul here Lis thank you so we go downen would you do the public participation sure the board welcomes public participation and asks that comments be limited to 3 minutes the public may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them the board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about Board of Education personnal and students nor
018against any person connected with the danur public school system thank you move on down to the consent calend I need a motion uh for the board to accept the consent C I'll make motion that the Board of Education the consent calendar 24147 through 24150 as recommended and in accordance with any question concerning consent Cal say none all in favor can I hear I I I oppose motion so we have anybody from the education staff student [Music] represent students said they'll be start at okay we're going to go to our standing committees uh first the community relation committee Kate uh we a community relations by zoom on Monday and uh want to thank the uh members that were able to attend and contribute to that meeting um we are our next meeting is not until November
019but I do want to make sure that all board members are aware that on the 21st of September we are having a superintendent at BR Middle School it starts at 9:30 in the morning um feel free you can't make it right at 9:30 to come at any time and after that uh it will also be an opportunity for board members to uh meet the folks that show up so inform coming out parents for that for any parents that might be watching And We R [Music] questions we have our first curriculum meeting coming up on October 9th and we will have more information to share after that Finance commit is we will find um additional information U about the finance at our September 18th meeting policy okay uh we had our first policy meeting last week
020um and we were closing out the 4,000 series we'll see that there are some extra items on tonight's agenda um and our next meeting o we have sites and Facilities uh Lisa did you have anything like to sites sure so our first sites of facilities meeting is scheduled M just make sure your mic's on hello hello sorry my computer our first sites meeting will be October 23rd um it is currently scheduled to be in person prior to this board meeting uh but that may change uh we were hoping to do a onsite meeting where we would take a little walking tour of the new um sea building that was renovated over the summer so uh if that changes we will provide more additional details on that as that schedu needs be done thank you move
021down to the action items we have a long agenda tonight I'm going to ask you you have a question you raise your hand and I will put you on my list and you will follow the procedure as to how to go about answering questions to a particular person that you want action item a I'll make a motion that the board ofed approve the revised calendar for 25 2025 20 2026 school year in accordance with exhibit 24-1 151 motion made by k i second seconded by a any question concerning the C what's the change thank you um so there was just a it was a a clal error on the on on the numbering um so was a typo and so there was a change in March and then we back it down the calendar there
022was a change in June so the result is that we get out of school on June 17th instead of the 19th so nothing nothing too substantive any other question motion has uh been moved in second all in favor of the motion did I hear I I oppose motion so Carri ition action item B I'll make a motion that the Board of Education except for the first reading policy 4137 solicitation by employees as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 24-1 motion second J second okay any question concerning the motion seeing none all in favor say I I oppos motion so car action item C the re oh I'm sorry um see poliy 4147 uh period 22424 71 period1 communicable diseases motion that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 4147
023period 22/42 471 period1 communicable diseases as recommended by the policy committee and accordance with 24-13 any question uh motion made by second there any a question concerning um the motion none all in favor I vot motion so D policy 4118 period 44218 period 4- electronic mail motion that the Board of Education accept for first reading policy 4118 period 44218 period 4- electronic mail as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 24-1 154 motion been made by Teresa second I second by a any question concerning that motion all in favor could I hear I I oppose the motion is so car a would you do policy E I think she's just SL sorry I make a motion that the Board of Education accept the first reading policy 4118 51 and 4218 51 social social
024networking as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 24-1 155 thank you motion made by Al did I hear second second second by Teresa any question concerning the policy say none all in favor motion so car I know that I didn't get all the board members um on the agenda to do action item and we was trying to arrange it before everyone got here okay so I'll start with you people that came they at next Mee now I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent okay thank you board chair coer um I want to start off by just making sure we introduce everybody at the table tonight who uh some of you may know or not now and I also want to make sure that um that they are properly introduced at
025the end of the table this is uh Chris Ro he is our K12 chief of schools and performance um that was uh how when we reorganized some of the uh leadership positions um in cabinet Chris's helping to um really help me jump the kind of change initiatives that we're putting into place which really starts with um digging into our student outcomes and increasing sort of accountability not in in a harsh way but in a u in a way that supports schools um and gets everybody focused in on academics and the things that drive School Improvement and achievement and so um you heard Dr zelen mentioned sort of the edict um that our goal is to be the best um Urban School District in the state of can and that's kind of our first stop and
026that's something that we've been talking to every school about every school leader every group um that the expectation is that we will be the best in Connecticut in our Urban group and that um you know one of the things that we're going to be working on is returning back to prepandemic achievement levels as you know kind of the bottom of the run and then working our way up from there um I had some great conversations with some superintendents in the network of Le schools and um we shared a lot of conversation about the challenges that we've all faced um particularly in in districts where budgets have been um cut back and um sometimes the morale can can lag a little bit as a result of that um but we have amazing staff we have amazing
027leaders um we have a a small But Mighty team both at the school level at the central office level and at the student support level and over the next couple of years you know I'll be asking this group this team to work with me to help advocate so that we can get the resources that we need we can bring the right people to the table that we can increase the things that we're doing here so that we can put the back on track um this has a been a district that I have loved since the minute I came started working here a long time ago um and I truly believe that with the right focus and positive relationships and attitude uh and a winning attitude that we could we could we can make a move
028here and so um Chris I welcome you to our table Chris will be coming joining us once a month um I'm I'm key depending what the topics will be and so thank you for coming tonight um and I'd also like to introduce Mr Ed arum Ed came uh to us uh at the end of last year while we were in a fiscal transition and we down several staff members and uh Ed has been with us a couple of times over the years to help us out and he's been a trusted partner with us um so he'll stay on we finally just got our last person on boarded into the finance department so I think we're we be back up and running again hopefully it full steam very soon and but Ed has been instrumental and
029helping us to stay flat this summer um and he's been uh personally you know very he's been a great um person to to talk to in terms of how we move forward you know from where we are now so we appreciate your guidance and your wisdom so thank you for being with us tonight when we talk about Transportation I'd like to say a few words you were instrumental and helping to kind of finalize some of that thank you sorry if that was a little long way this is the first one from coming off a long summer so there's lots to report up um all right uh Mike why don't you I'm going to ask you to give a staffing update in in a moment but Mike if you can start with uh facilities and building
030projects start there thank you so we had another busy summer uh working on the buildings uh there was new flooring put into uh one of the Pods at Mid Ridge we've now completed two of the three pods so next summer we'll have all new flooring in all three pods um KSI kinger and media also got new flooring um Denbury High School saw a lot of work get done uh the auditorium was repainted looks really fresh um and as I mentioned uh we'll see in our um site subcommittee meeting uh the sewing science lab renovation uh has begun and was completed the C4 level was completed this year C5 is slated for completion next summer uh it looks incredible there's uh the the floors the tables all the facilities are are state-ofthe-art um and we've also
031made uh more accommodations for handicap accessible uh doorways and hallways and such so it looks great and and we'll take a little tour of that when we get to the sites meeting in October um we added a new learning space in Pembrook um after we uh learned about the enrollment numbers in uh late spring we sprung into action to make sure p is going to have enough space so we were able to take a larger classroom Sear two rooms um that work got finished uh all the way up to the cabinets that are still left to be installed the cabinets of the back order so we were able to move faster than the supply chain um build will all be done about October but it is currently ready to go um they're using the space
032there's just NOAB at the moment and then uh one uh new addition to our list here is um we've started to work with our architect frier who's done a lot of work for us um to start looking at this building um as we prepare to head to the new uh Board of Ed offices at dber High School West in the education complex um we are hoping that this will be able to be used as a learning space for the region Endeavor program uh so we've started to talk with an architect about how to reconfigure this space What walls we have to move things like changing doors and bathrooms and things like that just to make sure it's appropriate for a learning space so that work has begun we've started scoping it with um with the
033architect we have an engineer coming next week to start looking some of the more structural details of it and uh we are hoping that everything will be on schedule and depending on when we're able to uh move into the new building uh it's still T what we're working with the city on finalizing that date uh we're hoping that this work can get done over the summer which would allow reach and Endeavor to begin here in August that's the point ter um I drove by the other day the uh I drove by the uh uh DHS West uh kosan Avenue I saw that the sign was down they didn't see the new sign up but there you it's still the D Academy that show the one on the street at the street level where you turn
034up the road yeah yeah okay I'll I'll ask I'll ask the the Eng I thought I saw one earlier you know like a week or two ago but now there it's like gone and it's like back to the sign I I'll I'm sorry I don't I don't I don't know I'll find out oh and oh that's all thanks any else and I just want to add you know that we had a great start to the school year and the buildings look really good and so um we just you know big shout out to our cial staff and our M staff really worked hard to get that ready so um we were super pleased especially with so many different construction projects happening they were pulled in many directions so make sure they know that we thank
035them okay um kid zapping okay so um we have begun to be able to catch our breath in uh in hiring um this year we did um at newest count is 110 certified staff members um that's considerably down from where we've been in years past so you know we've had recent years of 1 75 200 so 110 um we're still looking at some persistent vacancies um particularly in areas of science um it's been very challenging for us to find certified science teachers so we are running a bunch of overloads at the high schools we try to fill those vacancies um we did a pretty good job um filling some of the hard harder to fill areas like math um we had some social studies um that is a shortage area this year special ed um
036so we did some some pretty healthy hiring board but still have that persistent um issue with science so um we're continuing to work with the high school on how to publicize those openings how to make sure that we continue to look for people even though we are running the overloads so um that's ongoing um we did to dat about 70 non-certified staff we are down significantly in the areas of par Educators we talk tutors um those who work particularly for their special needs students um the numbers of vacancies are High um we continue to look at the manner in which we marketing the openings so we have um continued to bolster our first media Campaign which hits social media um we track who hits our website haven't seen those campaigns it's pretty sophisticated model um
037we can see by Geographics where people are hitting our site but we're having trouble um a lot of it has to do with salary um that's been a consistent challenge we are um below several of our neighboring um towns and that's made it a challenge um we are running incentive which is a healthy one it's an $800 signing bonus um to folks who are interested in joining us right away um we talk with them a lot about access to the city Pension Plan and the other benefits that we're able to provide we've also been looking um particularly at aties group we've looking at Folks at degree status those who might be interested in pursuing um further education to get to teaching status and so we've been working with those folks and and continuing to Market
038this as a pathway to some um this is a not just a job it's a career and that's been very much how we've tried to Market these positions um we are not alone in that this is a Statewide problem um we're seeing it certainly in that area we're also seeing a lag in safety Advocates the pools are very thin um we've been through all of them in terms of interviewing um and you will see later tonight um in executive session I have a tenative agreement talk with you about about safety Advocates and also several others whose contracts were expiring um so we're hopeful that we're going to continue to shake the trees um Mike and I have been working on some stop Gap Alternatives with some companies that are out there some vendors um so
039it requires a lot of collaboration with our union leaders and also to to try to craft some um agreements with them and how we can transition some temporary staffing in to fill the gaps as we look for our permanent Staffing so those are really our challenges um we I uh did a meeting this morning with our calad service our sub service um we meet every other week for a status update um we looked very carefully over the summer with the number of building based Subs that we had you might all remember we had two in every building at least um quite a few up at the high school in an effort to um reduce costs so that we don't have a lot of unexpected cost particularly at the secondary level with lost period coverage and
040ways in which to cover absences um I think we've done a very good job of fine-tuning our assignments now we seem to be running it's early we don't have a lot of absences yet but we seem to be running fairly well with this system um we have put this year in their third year now attention on high school and I'm pleased to report that we see have seen significant decreases from last year over that L area coverage significant savings um we traded off putting all day building Subs up there in in exchange for that fa coverage and that has is starting to show some real benefits so we're really happy with that um the size of the subol is 40 that is right where we've always wanted to be it took us a couple years
041now since the pandemic to get there um but Kelly Ed has a very Rous marketing program um and so they've been able to bolster the pool um and we've been working with them on um climatizing some of their folks making sure that they see safety videos ahead of time that they're welcomed into the buildings um Kelly just did a uh Kelly Ed just did a climate survey of their um of their substitutes so that we can get some real data about how they're doing of fitting into the system so that's been working real well um and we're happy about that um our only our not our only but another significant challenge um which we've made some more progress on this year is in certification um I have found the State Department of Education to be
042extremely responsive um I think Julian Frost calls every day to talk to a member of my team um we're at the point in the year where those people that we hire were a certified staff generally are not certified uh so we need to work with them on alternative permits some of them are triy so you know Alternatives like a daap or an alternative kind of certificate a generalist certificate and the state department has been very responsive they have their hand um but they've really been working with us to try to get people in um as soon as WEA in a way that has them certified and eligible um to remain in those positions so um finally you know we've had some um as you know we had some movement of folks in the spring I'm
043pretty pleased to report everyone seems settled in um what has happened since I saw all of you in the spring and then into the summer is those folks who were not super happy about being bumped into sixth grade positions particularly Kate 5 folks we had sufficient openings that we were able to relocate them into the Kate 5 Arena so I think we've got everybody in spots where they seem to be pretty happy um and you know I continue to have conversations with those folks about what their career goals are where they' like to be um and so uh I think that that ended up on a on a pretty positive so we've been very busy um but a good way and uh I think we're starting to slow with it thank you Ken um okay
044enrollment and registration so I stopped in the registration Center a couple times uh this summer right before school and it was a very hopping place um so right now our current enrollment as of uh this morning was 11,944 for prek through 12 we have uh 682 kindergarteners that registered and 487 new to Danberry students in rates 1 through 12 so aside from normal kindergarten registrations we have 480 almost 500 new students uh that we didn't have last year so we'll be making adjustments we had a couple places where we had to one place in particular we had to add classroom we add a classroom at Great PL elementary school so she'll have three first grades over there um and to get the Staffing we collapsed um a Kindergarten class that was enrollment um so we
045made a a swap um so we have a few places a couple hot spots for keeping our eye on in terms of enrollment uh and class size and uh you know that's just uh um something that we'll be we'll be watching over the next couple of months um as you know we get our typical surge again around uh January and February uh so we'll give you updates uh around that time as well and our official numbers will be kind of timestamped at the October 1 collection so we'll be updating you periodically of that um now I'm going to turn it over to to Ed arum to talk a little bit about the transportation contract oh two questions so sorry um do you have an idea what gr is like my biggest grade or do you
046not know that information um I have to go back in and look but but first grade was was a bit of a bubble second and third all of them you're all kind of bubbly okay all right desp question for the transportation um information the when you do the contract I it was like early August now you've got newer students does that you need an extra bus or two does that affect the cost so yes so over time so when we make the contract it's for you know the terms and the length and and the general this is how much a bus is going to cost over over the life of the the contract but if we it's an expectation that if we add buses in that there's an additional cost to that but it's but
047it's at the rate that's a to in the contract you're welcome k u thank for the enoll just a quick question about the legislation the state legislation around kindergarten and what age you know kids going so um it was my understanding from um the update we got in community relations uh that there's 250 kindergarteners that are are I don't want to say hold back but um students that students that did not roll in kindergarten this year will be ring next year um do we have a sense of what that means in terms of the like for next year well we can anticipate that you know it depends some some students may be uh May enroll in a private institution as a result of that uh and continue forward or come back into the public schools
048um but generally we can expect to see a little bit of a probably in next year and I think it's going to even out after that yeah [Music] thank Services New enrollments yes we have received um a significant number of new students that are coming into district with uh special needs um and so uh my team has been very uh active in planning um right now I'm happy to report that our current structure as far as uh classroom selfcontain rooms and so forth is meeting the needs of the students that we have in District um but it's certainly something we continue to monitor over time as we know there's more pending referrals um I want to say today I would love to think there's about 60 students just over 60 across the district sets from
049ages 3 to 21 that are in the process of evaluation and identification um so that does not mean all qualified but some of them will um the other part that we saw um a spike in is at the preschool level um many of our friends that were not kindergarten eligible due to age um about 30 remained at the preschool level so uh we did add another section another class we did plan for that and it was in alignment with what we anticipated last year um but our preschool has seen significant um upticks uh almost one class per year over the last seven or eight years um lots of friends in the in the early childhood area um which I think is a credit to the work that's done there uh but certainly has been a
050challenge to program and uh you know we've exceeded the capacity of our new school questions how many um special students do we typically have you just said 60 about what is typical like in the past we have about 1,00 students identified needs so it's around we hold we're just around the 15% of our student uh body or population um that number is a little bit percentage wise higher at the earlier grade levels um and then take us off a little bit at the at the older older age levels um but we have seen in years past we're getting probably somewhere between 40 and 60 incoming students that receive services that did not the previous year so meaning that they're moving into the district with an IEP um and they require a media program planing uh
051based on those needs so we we don't know them we're getting to know them we receive all the records it it takes a thorough review um to make sure that we appropriate those and then we extended it that one year too right to 22 yes a couple years ago we also so our high school population we have um the exact number but approximately 550 students at the high school level that are receiv receiving services and that's anywhere between typically ages around 14 to 22 thank you J I have a quick question um I know there are populations with the homeless has been increasing do we travel do we do we know how many family homeless family do we serve or if we provide any other services besides help yes so we have um we have
052a mean the aison so any vental program is our homeless identifying our homeless uh youth or unom youth um we have grown significantly post pandemic um we still are not sub we still haven't submitted in our numbers for this year um but I was just meeting today we're applying for a competitive Grant to help support with some of those wound Services um and we anticipate we'll have just over 80 um students and families identified in the district um as homeless we do believe that that's an underidentification so we've um formulated a lot of strategies around how to further identify those students and families one of our social workers uh spends 2 days a week um going across the district everywhere from Central registration to all of our different schools to help to train and Coach
053our staff and have those conversations with families um there are many families that don't want to share that information and I'm sure we can understand and we try to be very sensitive to those needs but at the same time it's important that we identify them because particularly when we're talking about attendance rates and barriers to access education um and a whole variety of issues we want to be able to support um so things that we do uh for example uh we are required to keep students in their school of origin meaning if you become homeless you still get to stay in the in the home and I'm sorry in the school that you attending prior so sometimes that encompasses transportation from surrounding communities um other times that's in District transportation from one school to another
054that might be across town um if the family would like to move or transition that is an option but we we typically remain students with where they're at um we've done other things like a partnership with c um where we've been able to support with getting students new clothes um undergarment sneakers all of those different types of things as we don't want that to be a barrier um we've also uh helped out with transportation services for a variety of different uh means to help families to get different places um that they may need in the community uh our food resources we are blessed with a community that has a wide array of different access to different food resources for families but it's really helping them and linking them up so our weon spend a lot
055of work doing that um our biggest expense right now really Falls within the transportation as we have many students that become homeless and move out of town um and then we um typically work with that receiving town to transport the student back to us or vice versa on the same same the question goes because I noticed um the community quite a few families that they have't been identified but I noticed that they walking around um with kids um and at the same time I don't know taking steps to address those families that has not yet addressed the school and they are working around with kids that should be at school understood so I think you know we can certainly um that that's hard because I don't know if those children are attending other non Public
056Schools um I don't know if they're homeschooled students um we don't know so but what I think we can do is certainly um give the name and contact um we actually were're working today about how to um update a link on our website for easy access to families of who do I call if I have concerns Lisa Basher is our mckin B leison and I work along with her on that so you can certainly direct the family to our attention we' be happy to have a conversation with and anything comes up 48 off right to C registration thank okay thank you thank you kin um okay Transportation contract so as you want to talk a little bit about sort of the scope of the contract right uh you should have received in your packets everything
057on transportation we had just to clarify it was in just it was in the board the last update to the board um and it'll it'll be in the next um board packet so no problem uh you on the first page was the the proposals one two and what the final proposal looks like it's a the we in the C contract of 2425 and then it goes up 2 4 5 5 and five we also made a couple of changes on the trip and billing there was three pages of billing uh which goes into many different uh aspects so we're TR they're going to charge we negotiate a $75 flat fee per hour in no mileage uh for that also there flat fee for Town transportation of $240 so that's flat fee so that then I
058also giving you what it would look like in the next 5 Years also remember next year I put in there you may have 10 additional buses because of the new high school so that's in the you know you look at it that's in the proposal that's in the next 5 years what it would look like uh in budget wise also I've given you probably 25 pwns around us and all that their rates off for the Last 5 Years going forward 3 years back whatever so that's in the contract it's in the uh document that you received contract uh again uh if a bus is over 10 years old they will change it they're changing some buses now they have not received the new ones yet uh because of uh the uh all everything is slowed
059down uh busing contract this remember you're still using propane not electric electric is a problem uh no grants yet to give buses for electric and the uh as you know the rates of electricity have Skyrock so uh it's all in the packet you have questions let me know again your question uh there was because of the influx we did have to include a couple of buses this year number of children the don't we have a current contract already that expires at the end of this year this will next year it does expire at theend of next year the 2025 correct so we changing so we're jump starting it correct correct thank you any other question for a was it four buses yes four buses I think I remember six thank you and the cost of
060those buses if you look at the contract there are two rates so we divided it up into two buses going this one rate and two of the other uh I don't know if you know but uh Kelly is a transportation person and she's excellent one you know uh problem so and we're working on uh out of town transportation we have a we're working together on the list to make sure what the rates are and so forth same with uh special ed we're working with the tuition Special Ed I meet with Kelly and her staff which is great too Kelly is a a diamond in a rough let me go find just to clarify you know it's hard to without the document in front of you it's hard to look but it is in the board
061update um and so I apologize for you know easier to have that conversation with it that was my fa um so we'll uh you know take some time to just go back and take a look that if you have any questions please send those forward um you know the goal of jump starting it was to try to lock in a raid because things were kind of skyrocketing and even though we had an extra year left on the contract we wanted to make sure um and also if the Academy's coming online the bus company needs to know are you going with us or not so cuz we need to buy more buses and so they need to make a significant investment um for buses that they don't have and that takes time to order new fleets
062um with the LA time so we wanted to make sure that we were prepared for when the Academy's opened up and check the rates of the different towns around us yeah it is interesting to look at those there's a table there you can take a look at that and thank you for your work on that okay cell phone policy so uh We've carved out a couple of dates uh we'll have a sort of an ad hoc U meeting we'll have a a parent representative some principal Representatives teacher Representatives um and I'm hoping that we'll have some student voice involved at the building level um to make sure that uh we have our bases covered on the cell phones um there's been some um some policy guidance that has been handed out a lot of policies
063for cave and um you know I think you've heard a lot surrounding towns that are going with a cell phone van and while it seems is that is if it would be just that easy um it comes with a lot of conversation that's warranted so there's um you know I think it's important to do due diligence with that conversation and to make sure that we're hearing all of the voices uh that are at the table um but then also to when we go to implement that there's full communication on those policies um how we're going to how the regulations will guide what we do with the elementary level versus Middle School level versus high school and um I don't think it's going to take us a very long time to get through that but I
064do think it's worth it to make sure that the voices are included so that um whatever we implement we can sustain and that we have um sort of the collective um efficacy of the group behind it um particular the board because folks will come here first um if we don't get it right so I want to make sure that we do do a good job and that more information will be coming out yes and so as far as the past the process of that so um once the ad hoc committee meets they come up with a suggested policy that then goes to the committee right so they'll make a recommend yes they'll make a recommendation and then that'll go to the committee to broker that at the at the committee board and then before the
065board as correct okay yeah thank you okay um Spotlight your school so we're Mak a couple of changes we're going to continue Spotlight your school but um in the spirit of trying to become the best Urban distri District in the state of Connecticut we're going to make a couple soral tweaks U Mr Ro would you like to talk about about that so we know in the past there are a lot of photos and and other opportunities for seeing all the great things happening in schools we are going to continue with that however we do want to have some summary of Where the school Improvement plans are at the academic outcomes so we can monitor that at the board level you all uh just a summary but also kind of where we're headed as school Improvement
066plan brief synopsis so that we can sort of progress monitor along the way and that you were all aware with that strong academic Focus to be the number one school district in the city or number one Urban School District in the state con thank you we're going to keep saying until everyone isir okay thank you Mr Ro um Farm to Table initiative so I did put this in the board update but we happen to have Ann in in the back of the room an do you want to to put you on the spot but you were instrumental in getting us off the ground and it's a pretty big deal so the farm to school initiative is a um Statewide it actually started up in Vermont Connecticut has an Institute that Fosters schools to join The
067Institute come on board with a team so we have Carrie Burke who is our nursing Services uh bar Barry from sedexo we have Heather penio from Yukon extension michero from the um Family Resource Center and a couple other folks were trying to expand that committee with other uh curriculum coordinators because the initiative for The Institute is built on three things first is to four things the first thing is to increase more local fresh fruits and produce into our menus in our schools huge um thing to just have healthier menus for the kids to eat healthy foods and vs um along with that there is a classroom a cafeteria and a community component um Community component is uh very from sedexo was one out and visited two farms and has work with the farmers to secure
068food we will be doing a taste testing in nor Street tomorrow elbur on on Friday of a apple cabbage salad for our second and third graders to test um and so you be seen other menu changes when we do our taste testing in October all get for that will again be doing War Street and um elor school um but the team is really looking at what other um policies need to be changed what other things that we need to do um to encourage local farmers within our area here um when you think about the food and the way the state classifies um local they look at a 3 to 400 mile radius and so this initiative looking at something much closer by as well as including um and growing more school Gardens to help Fe
069our kids to so it's you know that I'm a gardener this is you know something I'm passionate about and so it fits so nicely there are some grants coming out to help Barry um provide more equipment um root Sellers and things like that to be able to store produce um in in our different schools and then more um materials for our ERS to share with our teachers so that it fits very nicely in with like our next Generation science standards and the work that we're doing thank you any mean to put you on the spot thank you much great um okay I think Kate already mentioned that we're going to have a superintendent wants to meet you on September 21st um as a way to kind of make sure that we get the kids in
070the families out we decided to have a stem theme um to Welcome to our Denbury stem CH that we're trying to to create science and so our curriculum folks um have already started to put together some activities and some fun things for the kids to do their hands on our Vex robotics team is going to be come to uh show the kids how to what that could look like when they get a little bit older and then we're going to be bringing some of the academy teachers in who are doing some science with high school kids to to come down and and see if they can do some of that that our some of our younger students so um it's a registration process um so we hopefully we had got the first dat be only
071sign upe instantaneously so we'll be checking in to see that we have uh lots of families coming yes I apologize just one step back to the F to table initiative being that our growing season is limited we have enough to go around during the win well the the idea is to begin the process of doing sourcing locally so um there are there are winter late fall winter vegetables that are out there as well and so the goal is to see where those are how do we Source those and how do we bring those into the district certainly less but there's definitely some okay and the last on my update is uh we had the uh a board and superintendent governance team training um which was great and we had an opportunity to be led by
072Mr Robert banova and Tom Mooney we learned a lot about um some of the things we we can do and that we can't do and that we shouldn't do together but also how to work effectively as a board team so I think the the the key word is is the governance team so that consists of superintendent and the board Evette and so I look forward um to working with everybody and and learning um as we kind of try to work together this SCH stre forward so it was a it was great learning I would welcome for them to come back again in the in the future as we get going um and uh we had a wonderful opportunity to work through some different scenarios uh that were enlightening and as to how we would handle
073our approach maybe some of the things that we typically do in meetings that you know may may or may not align with best practice so we had some we had some great learnings there so we were thankful for that other than that I think my update is thank you my report is brief I'm going to ask the board members please re t for the workshop on 18 and if you didn't get it I think Carol um the survey Al and myself and superintendent will be working on the survey and then we will present to the pool board and we decide 22 C and we hope either last of September or sometime in October and uh the board will share in that survey because we're not want to just send it out have to be careful
074what we send uh the cake I hope you guys are reading the cake information and uh I know we we all had a a fantastic summer we put the the material in a bag and push it over in the corner so you stay here for two months and then going to pull it out so you know and when you have the extra time read the cage joury and we know the convention is coming up November the 16th 15 15th to 16th so I you know I think you can still join up you have to come T care um before I finish we going to um we did our committes and we didn't talk about ad advance much and I think too many members don't know what ad advance provide to the grou so Kate has
075been that represented for a EV so I'm going to ask her to speak briefly you know about the meetings and where they at so there are uh five Regional Education um uh Regional um education cooperatives that provide supplementary services to school districts um typically at a cost um so that if for example you need special Health Services for student and your District cannot afford to pay for those Services you can pay uh either in advance or from the other rks uh to provide that service to your District at a uh A reduced cost instead of having to pay for the salary of that person you know whether it's um an occupational therapist or speech therapist speech pathologist whoever it is um you can pay for session for a student to receive those services and there
076are a lot of different ways in which they provide services that could be um professional development um special services transportation services there's a whole lost of things that they do um so Ed Advance is the regional supper for danur and for a bunch of our neighboring districts um and we have meetings we board meetings once a month um and typically you know we're going through similar processes with sort of a different timeline for Ed Advance because it is a um there is a uh they they there's money exchanging hands so the the way that they conduct their business and cont their budget is just a little bit different than what we do here in public education um but they've been a really good provider for different Services um one of the the projects that they
077worked on recently was the purchase of the workpace in beel which was originally designed as a home school facility uh as a shared space for home school books we can run out different areas and different parts in the uh building uh this building is incredible we don't haven't had a chance to go into it yet I highly suggest it but one of the things that they do and sometimes you'll see it our parents updates is they provide um after school activities they have uh all kinds of um opportunities for students in our district and it is at a cost but um it's another outlet for families to embrace if they want to think theater program they were doing welding for a while um they do stem activities all kinds of different things that they can
078offer in that building um so if you haven't had a chance to check it out I do suggest that but they do serve a Lar in advance does serve a large area not just hury so we go all the way up to torington and they just completed a renovation for a project up there and that's going to help Supply more pre so um that's a rough overview of some of the work that they do so the students have to go to bathroom for the workspace to take advantage workpace so they don't come to Dam um I think that they were trying to work out busing for students to go to this facility in Beth I can add to that so it is considered an out of District placement so it is for a child with
079special education needs if the district determines that we cannot meet their needs here in District it is an option um so through a PP process you would make a referral um and these are the students we talk about how to District Place students that need a program outside of Danbury due to some some reason um and the workspace has definitely been a solid program that is able to provide both academic educational Behavioral and Vocational support to to children thank you K thank you I certainly want to thank each and every Bo and this is our first meeting back officially and I thank you because when I'm trying to set up the agenda and who's going to do what it's not about one person that's about us working together to get this agenda through the action
080items through I'm not going to sit here and do all of it I want you to participate in it and when I come and tell you I ask you no one has said no to me I think they all agree we are here to work together and everybody know me I'm here about pushing this District forward that we again be the best District it is for people to talk about and want to come and work so that's what I'm all about so thank you again and at this time we can go into executive session cam we need a motion to and if there's no other question to go exec I'll make a motion that the Board of Education recess into executive session for the purpose of discussing negotiations of successor agreements for Teamsters Local 443
081safety Advocates Teamsters Local 443 school lunch um ask me uh School n school n upsu secretaries and IT staff with possible action in public session e e e I make a motion that the Board of Education ratify the agreement between the Dan Board of Education and the teamsters uh local 443 school lunch for 2024 D 2025 as presented second second okay all in favor say I I action M see I make a motion that the Board of Education ratify the agreement between the Danbury Board of Education and afcn School nurses for 2425 as presented second okay all in favor I action I D upsu secretary slit agreement motion that the Board of Ed ratify the agreement between the de Board of Education and upscu parentheses secretary slit close parentheses for 20 24-20 25 as presented
082second second okay all in favor motion so Carri need a motion to adj I make a motion to a jour