001e e e yes [Music] okay and last but not certainly least Betty beaz 23 years of dedicated Serv w [Music] okay and we're going to take one group photo for the those are in attendance tonight you want to come back over here take a quicko and we'll get that out I got you I got you okay thank you so much congratul [Applause] I'd like to take a second to make sure that we recognize uh the re the r remaining of the retirees from the list so have Beth Barry Beth brand Mason King Street primary Tel teacher 37 years Donna Edwards Pembrook library media specialist 25 years Susan a stly R Tel teacher 32 years Richard Scalzo Broadview math teacher 22 years Joanne Ms DHS biology teacher 33 years Rosemary dun King Street Intermediate media specialist
00224 years Shields pbrook social worker 23 years Lisa Glasser Haz Town's fed teacher 15 years Donna Shore sadly Ruff grade two teacher 22 years ma nette DHS night custodian 21 years rosem Marie sentano Rogers Park Kitchen Aid 18 years Wade Wayne Hyde Rogers Park Middle School night head custodian 11 years Michelle casses ECC Granville fed tutor 26 years Rebecca I can never say her name iaki South Street School grade 2 teacher 22 years Moren simic Danbury High School fed job coach 22 years and again we just want to say congratulations we wish you the best of luck in your health in your retirement um we wish you all the wonderful years ahead and time well spent with your families so thank you very much [Applause] next uh we move down to the agenda for public
003participation the board welcomes public participation and ask that speakers please limit their comments to 3 minutes speakers May off comments of school operations and programs that concern them the board will not permit any expression of personal complaints oratory comments about Board of Education personnel and students nor against any person connected with the D public school system is there anyone that did not sign up to speak would like to come before the board and speak at this time War once for twice thank you we're going to move on down the agenda I need a motion from Kate to accept the consent calendar I'll make a motion the Board of Education apprent calendar 24138 hased and inance with those motion made by Kate I hear a second to the motion second by Julie any question concerning motion
004none all in favor could I hear all oppose motion education staff represent hello everybody good evening um please bear with me I'm having a little bit of a vertigo attack this evening so I'm like on a on a boat with you all right now so there with me so we're finally winding down this very very long year with some positives to celebrate first and foremost we celebrate the news that we are not facing a major layoff of our dedicated teachers thanks to the last minute funding secured by our mayor and our legislative team we're glad to report that we're nearly complete with all the teacher placements in their newly reorganized positions and open positions almost all of our teachers have jobs next year which was our priority goal when the budget season began labor and
005management have worked together on this with the exception of a handful of placements we're still working through but I'm sure that'll that's going to work out and we're pleased to see that most of our teachers have landed well in places that they're happy to be so I'm going to talk about some other positive things I bet you all missed me the last for of that meeting on the 22nd well we were really busy that night busy giving scholarships to a group of amazing students my fellow Nea Danbury officers presented four graduating seniors with NAA Danbury scholarships at a celebration at Anthony's Lake Club each student received $11,000 and the scholarship winners impressive essays and contributions to their school and Community highlighted the group they were such worthy recipients so I want to say congratulations to
006Kylie daughter of DHS teacher Emily Paralis Molly kley daughter of Broadview Middle School teacher Jennifer kopley Aaliyah Frank daughter of Roger Park Middle School teacher marleene Frank and Katherine celiz daughter of BR teacher or social worker excuse me Lori sise best of luck to all these kids they were really amazing it was a fun night for us it's kind of a good part of our un and we give back to our community and on that note any d along with many members on this board marched in the Memorial Day Parade well you guys didn't March you had a flow the better but our Nea danber executive board along with the Board of Education participated in theori Memorial Day Parade on May 27 the rainy weather couldn't stop our dedicated danburry teachers from honoring all who
007have served our country we paid tribute to our veterans and honor the brave servicemen and women we have lost as we march to celebrate the hard fall protected rights and freedoms of our country and for this last good part I'd like to call Miss Lori Woodruff teacher at AIS to take a seat beside me so I'm pleased pleaseed please to share the wonderful news that the Connecticut Education Association has honored our own Miss Lori Woodruff from AIS with the John cormick award for teaching Excellence this award the highest honor bestowed by our association is a testament to miss woodruff's extraordinary commitment to public education and her unwavering dedication to her school students families and the broader Community Lori was recently presented the award at our 176th annual Connecticut education representative assembly in met let me
008tell you this is a super competitive award to earn finalists it's finalists from the entire state of Connecticut they're judged by a Statewide panel of Educators in the following categories professional practice advocacy for the profession Community engagement leadership and professional development and attention to diversity Lorie's receipt of this honor speaks volumes about her exceptional capabilities and contributions for those of you who don't know Lori you should get to know her she's known for going above and beyond on organizing extracurricular activities and constantly seeking new ways to engage and Inspire her students especially in science Lor's students will tell you how much they love learning about science in her classroom she ignites a quest for knowledge and a thirst for problem solving in all of her students her colleagues also speak highly of her collaborative spirit
009and her willingness to share her knowledge and expertise Miss woodr has been a mentor to many teachers offering guidance support and encouragement she is famous for her hugs and her compassion her leadership at AIS has also been instrumental in fostering a culture of kindness and mutual respect continuous academic Improvement and professional growth her colleagues look to her for leadership in addition to her work with the classroom in the classroom Sorry Miss Woodruff has been a fierce advocate for educational equity and access her advocacy efforts have extended far beyond the school walls as she's been actively involved in community initiatives and programs aimed at supporting students and families Miss Wood's dedication to her profession extends to her advocacy for teachers and labor issues as well especially here in our underfunded District she's been a vocal and
010effective advocate for Teacher safety improved working conditions and essential funding for our schools Lori shares the challenge that Educators face in under a district and has worked tirelessly to bring our issues to Forefront engaging with local and state policy makers and the community to secure better support for teachers and our schools mayor ales recently celebrated Miss Woodruff in accommodation letter he wrote in part I'll just give you a little snippet I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you your dedication is a shining example for educators everywhere and I'm immensely proud to see you represent our city with such distinction teaching is undoubtedly one of the most challenging yet profoundly rewarding professions especially when faced with inadequate resources your unwavering devotion in such circumstances is both admirable and inspiring and finally to my friend Lori on a
011personal note I have had the privilege of witnessing her dedication and passion firsthand her enthusiasm is contagious and her commitment to her colleagues and her students success is truly inspiring she's not just a teacher and a role model she's a leader but a really huge asset for Danberry Public Schools so on behalf of nea danburry I would like to extend our deepest congratulations to Lori your recognition with the John mccormic award is well deserved and we celebrate this remarkable achievement with you we wish you success at the next round of competition on the national level as you serve the kinectic education you serve as kinetic education's nominee for the National Education Association award for teaching excellence and you also get a really cool party in Washington DC right in the fall up I just wanted
012to give Lori a moment to say a few words about her award thank you thank you uh as a generally quiet person I've always been a little underestimated I always knew I had a voice inside of me I just didn't know how to use it until I was 12 and experienced Injustice firsthand I tried out for the school basketball team only to be told I couldn't play because it was just for boys so I started a petition at 12 had all the girls in the school who wanted to play basketball sign it I brought it to the principal and then to the board and two years later we had a girls basketball team throughout my career I've tried to provide opportunities for the quiet kids to take the stage and find their voice for special
013Olympic athletes to shine like the stars they are and for all of my kids to know that they are just right and accepted the way they are in closing I wouldn't be the teacher I am without the loving support of my friends and family especially my mom and dad who worked hard and made it possible for me to become a teacher and finally I want to thank everyone that's in this room for what you do for our kids in danber especially my amazing colleagues and you the board of education for working together with us for supporting us and for trusting us to teach our hearts out to our public school kids [Applause] well that was wonderful and certainly not surprising though um Lori I couldn't help but notice that when you were sitting by the
014table next to Aaron you had that kind of shy humble approach that that is what really defines and makes you your character so amazing is that you do all that you do with such humbleness and um with with no expectation for anything in return so we appreciate you um your reputation at AIS proceeds you um and so congratulations on your award for see you thank we want to move on down our agenda do we have any of our students here to speak tonight board uh subc commit report we're going to start with the community relation committee uh so quick uh recap we had a community relations committee meeting on May 29th we talked about uh three different things uh elevator for the academies of hury um we also talked about putting together a Citywide uh
015uh education and youth related events calendar um and we also discussed uh event planning for the start of next school year uh so those plans will continue to be in motion um our next meeting on June 17th at 6:30 p.m. is going to be an inperson meeting and uh there's a document that was circulated by Dr C uh where we can do some brainstorming in advance that meeting so I do encourage committee members please look at that document and add to it so that we can make that brainstorming session on 17th productive um I also uh Dr sh if you could could we just make sure that that's for to all board members so that they have access to it you can see what's going on I will do that thank you so much why
016don't you do uh Mr jelle is not here to finance and then we add John if he has any comments to add to that Finance sure um so the finance committee meeting uh took place on May 23rd um we did discuss the rework of next year's school budget uh we went from our $181 million request and we uh we heard how uh the cabinet and the administration team put together a budget based on $167 million which includes an anticipated million in additional State funding that we um been told we going to be receive from the city um and there was a a video link that was circulated by the superintendent for anyone who may have missed that meeting the conversation was a little bit complex so I won't get into too many of the details
017here but suffice it to say that all but uh two positions um were we were able to find a space for them in the upcoming budget um which is wonderful and um we currently have to certify teacher openings at least as of that meeting so uh that number may have fluctuated since that uh the the next Finance meeting is June 18th at 6 p.m. thank you s and facility thank you um we have not had a sites and Facilities meeting since our last board meeting however we do have one schedule for June 17th at 5:30 will be before relation meeting in person and agenda any questions concerning any of the Committees at this time okay yes I just want to mention we have set up our policy committee date for the next meeting it's going
018to be Monday June 10th at 6:30 p.m. why we saw the following U committees right near at this time I would like for to go out to um the chairperson of the community relation is Kate and I'm adding uh jul to community relations okay so we move on down the agenda action item a one make a motion that the Board of Education excuse me we make a motion that the Board of Education appr the amendment to the Sodexo food service agreement to extend the agreement for one year July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 in in accordance with 24-1 second and motion motion made by second by Al any question concerning that motion seeing none could I hear all those in fav motion I he I I motion still before we move forward um we
019talked about the finance did you get John opportunity did you have anything to add John to I'm sorry no I think Kate covered it and I actually said our next meeting is June 18 okay okay thank you superintendent report some of a a short report tonight um I'll start with the strategic planning piece and then we'll talk about the graduation events and code events which a little bit shorter um so I am looking very much looking forward to revisiting the Str teic plan for the district I think it's really important to revitalize some of the goals that we've had in the past our strategic plan usually covers uh several years um but in light of kind of where we where we've traveled this year and we to go um we'll be revisiting that um during
020the summer months and um with the idea of rep prioritizing and refocusing and Gathering some feedback on on those goals as well I look forward to working with the board um as well as our staff and our school leaders um one of the things that I want to be you know sure of is that we don't let the budget the story of the budget the problems with the budget dominate the the school year I I felt that uh we spent so much time on it because we had to right in in crisis and more than likely we're going to be faced with that again next year but I don't want to lose sight of really the vision and the goals of what it takes to move a district forward uh and best utilize the resources
021that we do have to stay focused on that um you know creating engaging learning experiences and environments for kids is going to be top of the list right we need to reconnect with our students um get them back our students are um have not been the same coming out of Co experiencing that in the buildings and behaviors and uh we do everything possible to sort of reengage and support the teachers and in engaging those students um you we're coming from the work that I typically have been involved in in the teaching learning and curriculum field um creating that rigorous Continuum of learning also is going to be a a priority so making sure that we're looking at our K12 offerings uh and making sure that we're providing very best that we can for the students
022within the means that we have we need to invigorate our teaching ranks and our leadership ranks and make sure that we're providing meaningful professional experiences that will support them through carrying through with the priorities that we set forth um with our schools so those are going to be really important things heading into the school year we developed a wonderful for of The Graduate and we need to get back to making sure that we make good on the promise of that forun of the GR graduate to our students we need to revisit um how we engage with some of our families uh again the engagement um this year has been a lot focused on the budget and so wanted to make you know making sure that we understand the needs of our community that has been
023changing at a rapid pace and making sure that we incorporate that to some of our planning so um I look forward to working uh with all of our stakeholders as we revisit those and as we roll out the next school year um of course budget will be part of that um but it can't be it can't be our only story so forward to that um graduation we got some happy dates coming up here from the end of the school year so just to go over the end of the year graduation dates we have Endeavor Friday June 7th at 11:00 a.m. we have the ace graduation on Tuesday June 11th at 5:00 p.m. at the Broad View Middle School auditorium we have also on June 11th the three large middle schools we have a Westside Rogers
024par in Broadview so west side is at 12:00 p.m. on the 11th Rogers Park is at 2:30 on the 11th and Broad Middle School is at 5:00 p.m. on the 11 and then our grand finale is the Danbury High School graduation on Thursday June 13 at 5:00 so look forward to to that and then the last uh the last piece is on Kota um if anybody had a chance to visit Cota over the weekend on Saturday it was absolutely amazing as it always is our staff goes to the ends of the Earth to make sure that the art is is positioned just right the collections and the collages are stunning um the visual display was you know Second To None U the musical performance were on point and families and kids really seem to enjoy
025it we had some Vex robotics uh demonstration uh set up which were phenomenal to see and the kids got a chance to play with some of that which was great um we were trying to see the the pathway interest very early there so some of our students that came back to support were talking to kids about that which was great to see them passing on that passion and enthusiasm so uh it was a wonderful wonderful day we want to thank our art music special area TT teachers for putting that together it's a lot of work and it really is something that the community look for to moving on the agenda board chair want say this we have a few folks asked so as you know Dr Chris Alita was awarded our Middle School principal of
026the year for the state of Connecticut she's also going to represent the state of Connecticut as she moves forward and so we'll be honoring her um at the very first board meeting uh of the next school year we'll have a reception for her and then an official award she'll have her own board meeting dedicated to just her so it's been a busy end of the year um but we can't wait to celebrate her and her accomplishments board chairperson course I'm not going to repeat what the superintendent has spoken about I just want to thank everyone for That Rainy Day Memorial Day how we came together and and participated in the parade it was fun even though we some of us were wet early but it was still fun I want to thank you for that
027um uh Al am and I had sort of spoke earlier about the survey and him and I sort of discussed it again last night and we feel like the best time to get that survey out is to come back in September work together work along with the superintendent and then we get that survey out so and I hope everybody can join in to us putting your responses to that service when we get it out um we know that a lot of things are going on a lot of graduation we all can't be at the same place the way they happening um so do the best you can and support our district that's all ask my last thing was that I think Kim you need a representative do you two for would it be easier for
028them to just let Karen know if they available I actually have a date which just came through um we're trying to schedule a first session it's for both um school one for school lunch and one for um safety exits so the neg and the date is Thursday next Thursday uh 1 at 12:00 and 1 at 12:30 they're just the kind of organization so one person should be great um to handle both of them if you want to let me know anyone is interesting you can do either one and you know we can't have anyone to do 12 and it's going to be Zoom right yes so we let Kim know or let Carol know if you know n that you can do it let what's the day next Thursday the 13th uh it's in the
029morning so it's at 12 and 12:30 they'll be quick um they're they're just the organizational so The Bu run the organizational meeting so they'll each be by so I can tell everybody who's ever done it before it's running in the other direction and if you can't get any you know I can I feel it's two positions safy Advocate and scho any other discussion any questions we all have been going to a lot of activity this week and we have a busy week again next week and let's just uh close our meting there's nothing else I need a motion toour the meeting motion made back second