001701 we're going to call a medium to order uh let's start by Rising for the Pledge of Allegiance congratulations thank you foreign [Music] all right forward participation support welcomes public participation and asset comments is limited to three minutes the public know for objective comments or School operations and programs that concern that the board will not commit any expression of personal complaints or the family comments about Board of Education personnel and students nor any other against any other person connected with the Danbury school system all right so first person so important participation is a three-minute time limit when you get down to about 30 seconds I'll just shout out 30 seconds and sorry if that throws you off but we want to get everybody uh in here so first one is uh Richard Bolden anymore [Music]
002all right well dear members of Danbury Board of Education ever since primary my name is Richard Bolden I am the family community engagement manager for elementary schools here in Denver the safe approved operator so the proposed Danbury charter school I moved to Danbury in 2015 and worked at Danbury Hospital while attending graduate school for social work fast forward I now have a wonderful daughter who currently attends Danbury public school I'm here today to thank the superintendent on the board of education for dedication and commitment to provide a quality education as opposed to 12 000 students enrolled in the district I also want to clear out a couple of misconceptions that have been certain things around Danbury charter school as well as share the added value of the Danbury Charter School will bring to it and
003very families it has been publicly stated that once opened Danbury schools um Danbury Charter School will add a financial burden to Danbury public schools this is not true the opening of the charter school will have that obstacle effect by State Statute DPS is protected from any loss of state or local funding as an alliance District under the revised ECS formula that was passed through 2022. the revised PCS formula hold harmless component states that Alliance districts are Health harmless and will receive the greater of their Grant amount current year event or entire year event this in addition to the minimum budget requirement act prohibition of Alliance to the trip to towns from reducing the district funding translates to delivery Public Schools retaining all of its state and local funding in spite of the reduction of students
004due to the Charter School opening the only charge the Denver public schools are statutes only responsible for as relates to the Charter School um is providing transportation and special edition services to students attending school services that currently also are being provided to Danbury students and attending private schools within the district boundaries these Services currently represent approximately 27 where people expenditure for eligible students in Denver this means that 73 of the total revenue generated for each unit will remain in the district in spite of the students being served at a charter school in real numbers this averages to about 750 000 current cohort net savings for the district 30 seconds or 5.5 million dollars common in essence once the school reaches full mature uh just a million the anniversary Charter School will serve 110 students per
005grade level so maximum of 770 students in the conclusion um this will help alleviate overcrowding if you have any questions in what I presented today please feel free to reach out to myself or other members of the Elevate charter school team thank you for allowing me this opportunity to separate a trip but thank you all all right okay Mr Richard ginelli I got a lot I've got to watch the clock on this one that's right you should go faster yeah thank you good evening Mr Wilson chairman ladies and gentlemen good morning captain um I'm here tonight to say thank you and congratulations to Mr Walston his team and his staff for his successful accomplishments to establish a report of the relationship and confidence with the city's Administration this is no small task that has it's
006been almost two decades if not more to gain this relationship and support this means there's a confidence in the educational plan provided by Mr wolsky to have the administration fully funded the budget request some may say the support was necessary as the city undertook the cost of building the academy however I remind you several years ago previous mayor sat here and told his body he would build an addition onto the high school but it was not the only financial Staffing of the facility there's the difference between moving ahead versus one step forward and two steps back don't take this accomplishment to break years ahead is going to be your most difficult to retain those incredible High forecast funding dollars never before heard therefore so this year will not be an anomaly and hopefully the norm
007I would suggest starting right now by changing the communication process to educate the public and the administration on your plans strategy and needs continue to be transparent and build trust and confidence in the districts of Education thank you very much thank you that was a record that's nice yeah Jacqueline hello um good evening Board of Education and superintendent Wilson my name is Jackson Aaron I'm currently live at 34 Terre Haute Road and the doctors in first grade at Park Avenue Elementary I grew up in Danbury and went to school here all my life and then I was a teacher in the Danbury public schools for 10 years I'm currently a teacher in another Connecticut school district I want to thank you all for the hard work I do for our students because I see you
008every day as one of the co-presidents of the PTO over at Park episode where you guys are doing wonderful work and thank you for that behalf of our students and our community on March 24th I emailed all of you the entire Board of Education as well as superintendent Austin about the district calendar approval process it's now over a month later and I did not receive a single response to an email that was sent to 11 people as a member of this community with a child in our school system I'm sure you can understand my surprise and frustration by not being responded to as a parent I believe is problematic that the next year's school calendar is not approved until very late in their current school year the 2023-2024 school calendar was just approved last month
009mixed planning for the end of summer Messi especially for families like mine where one parent Works in a neighboring School District with a different calendar additionally any families that need to plan for summer camp do not have the information they need when they need it a lot of areas open registration as early as January and February and some of them fill up rather quickly I've interproof school calendar is necessary for parents to be able to plan for their child care needs during the summer months other area districts prove calendars early in the school year for the next one for example Ridgefield approved is 2023-2024 calendar in October of 2022. brookfields approved its calendar in December of 2022 a new Fairfield approved discount during January 2023. I would appreciate it if you consider improving calendars much
010earlier in the future years seems like it would be a small easy change but I recognize that I'm unfamiliar with the intricacies of how a board of education functions is this something that we need to come from the community as a request from parents or is this a change that your board could be found I would be happy to have any efforts towards making a small change if needed I think it would benefit a lot of families in our district to have that information earlier so grateful for any information you could provide me with regarding the approval process for the district calendar thank you very much [Music] Jessica Heron Peter started okay just if you could stay at your last name when you come up my name is Jessica Grace um I'm a teacher at
011Rogers Park I also have two children in a at aisle Texas um I've been at Rogers Park for 15 years and I recognize that what I'm going to request may sound a little absurd but I need my water turned back on I'm a science teacher and in about around November they turn our water off and every year it's a battle to have it turned back on and I recognize unions and the it's not my job it's not my job it has to work through five people I've spoken to my principal about it several times she escorted that information to people it's supposed to go to I have a list of six people I think it's supposed to go to to get a water turned back on um it's very difficult to Be an Effective science
012teacher without water we had chickens we're trying to hatch they need water we have hydroponic Road Towers these a ton of water I've been hauling five gallon buckets of water all winter from one side of my school to my classroom because nobody will turn on our water so I'm just requesting that perhaps if there's a way to like streamline process I'm not asking for like a huge maintenance request here just it's like someone to turn the knob on in our classrooms which I know is not I don't know appears but I don't know where else to go I've asked everybody and oh yeah thank you thank you okay so no one else has signed up on the list if there's anyone else that I wish to speak they could come forward now and just take
013their name at the microphone once twice oh thank you so much hello thank you good evening good evening thank you for allowing us to see what we have the Alternative Center for excellence creativity day was organized by Diana dinardo DJ snozz and Lee's staff students chose guest speakers through the morning session season 4. the sessions include do it sober from hour on yoga and mom told us before are boys and women self-esteem empathy matters and wears the line presentations by the center for environment and digital generation preserved by state trooper James Blake after these sessions there was a whole presentation outside of Tony Morrissey and Elvis notice from produce brothers and sisters Foundation after launch students participate in the creativity Care by engaging in two different stem workshops to interactive theater workshops street art workshop
014and musical wedding Zoo the day ended with students having their participation escorts from the creativity their job outside dosage passports were full having Place prices it was the star in National poetry month and on Monday April 3rd 25 artists internal experience in the trip to Washington Connecticut to hike in Indian Valley Preserve prescribed by the beautiful Woods the Chicago River and the transcend number of books that stand around on the thorough Bridge severe Scout the day hiking and creating it is hard to taken an annual poetry hike since 2017 and this was the first year that our students Australia discuss major in the beautiful neurons it is not a question that I can dance with my students in the match for their outstanding efforts both in the classroom and their eyes created this month's winner
015is rise up he has Lauren if you'd like to recognize that February Ace of cards from Nicola fiorentino with very nature and willingness to help others February 8th exchange American hard work is Ezekiel Joiner if you'd like to invite you to our second annual job happening on Saturday May 20th from 1 to 4. the day allows us to recognize Joe's fun family the career of the students and staff and reconnect the former Staffing students the day-long theater barbecue cornhole volleyball and Ace merchandise for sale including jail without a t-shirts thank you all for our line Mr chair we'll see where I'm on with our eighth grade and have a nice evening stay healthy and remain a strong spring also if you guys are confused about the musical petting zoo the music teacher put out all
016the instruments so anyone who just play them that's it thank you for clarifying yeah [Music] all right so we can send calendar it's almost we have a lot of emotions here so we'll start at one end and go around so Julie can you start with the first motion explanation that is more of education and put your items on the consent cabinet extended 2362-62 to 23-66 as recommended also made by July a discussion all in favor any opposed 100 seconds in motion carries Board of Education set Wednesday June 14 2023 as the graduation date for the Danbury High School for Me by Michelle thank you by Julie for discussion I just I have a question you got that email about concerns the tax graduation was there any I mean I know the things our graduations and
017everything but I'm just bringing that up to that apparent s or any quality I can speak to it okay say thank you everyone is not aware there was we did receive a message from one of our families who had expressed concern that graduation for Habitat was actually the same night of our Danbury High School my graduation that puts us in a really difficult spot this is not the first time actually I understand is we've had some overlap but the changing our idea would actually extend the end of the school year of date for us so we decided to move forward with the same time the same thing that we have it is an hour later hour and a half and there will be some cases in this case I was family might actually have a
018student I'm at old schools it's very impossible um but every now and then my understanding his death was explaining to me principal Donovan that it has happened a couple of times in this time here this year happens to be one of those times but I I don't know if we want to burn in the entire District extending the school year one additional day because that's what will happen if we wouldn't go to graduation it would it could also mean that something else could be a concept in terms of schedules if we did so but we did receive a concern about the fact that there was a contribution any further discussion okay one extension Warren okay motion carries Teresa DHS facility repaired quotient that the Board of Education regressed a drawdown of City reserves for DHS
019facility repair in course with 23-67 HQ foreign discussion all those in favor any opposed um one up opposition from Cape Canaveral and one abstention from Michelle Obama yeah no I'm not opposed relay there oh sorry okay so no post one abstention Photoshop okay motion caps Mr Russo action item C th February 2023 financial report motion the Board of Education except February 2023 financial report in accordance with exhibit 23-68 motion made by Mr Russo second second by Michelle any discussion just a momentary plus sure some clarification was asked for and was received and that clarification wasn't delay in acceptance Alice in order we have a full support of District staff thank them for the time and effort for the clarifications sure are you excited to be guys situations now I'm going to ask you about that
020I don't think this doesn't have to change it okay thank you Council not badly you never know so imagine 23-6 excuse me accepted 22-68 what should I mean by now wait a second I was thinking about Jesse discussion and all those in favor [Music] I have specialist okay motion cameras thank you tonight motion that the Board of Education except March 2023 financial report in accordance with 23-69 motion read by Louisa second by Warren any discussion all the fair all right are you opposed I have sections okay take care of Lauren this is a nice one for you I feel like this was a step I make a motion that pursuant to CGS section 10-215f the board of educational certifies that all food items offered for sale just for sale to students in schools under its
021jurisdiction and not exempt from the Connecticut nutrition standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards During the period of July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2024. this certification shall include all food offered for sale two students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources including but not limited to school stores vending machines School cafeterias culinary programs and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups second definition is there a list it might be in the existence it's not excited over there I mean like if like can they sell candy bars you know like fundraisers yeah oh who's this are they gonna make money I think that might be interesting yes yeah but I wish they had a
022list not listed I think that would just be too numerous well we can certainly ask breakfast yeah just for clarification yeah all those in favor um two obsessions I Mr Russo as well healthy food certification food and beverage exemption promotion that the Board of Education will allow the sales students the food items that do not meet the genetic energy beverages the Connecticut General statutes provided that the following conditions are met one the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend two the sale is at the location of the event and three the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store an event is An Occurrence that involves more than just regularly scheduled practice meeting or extracurricular activity
023for example soccer games school plays and interest Scholastic debates are events that soccer practices they rehearsals and debate two meetings are not available personal attack location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and members stands folks are made by Bridget thank you second by Ms Cooper any discussion all those in favor one abstention two extensions three obsessions Mr Russo Theresa and Michelle any other questions all right motion carries them tenants before um excuse me sorry I think that you're missing one motion for this donation that was part of the first one yeah two two that's uh 20-66. um so two I have two updates on the agenda that I would like to include three give Endive festivities of last night last night so the first report
024in update I'd like to provide you more that is industry partner day on April 20th 2023. we had a work session with our industry partners in which I believe we had over 60 people in the room mostly Partners in the room at every table that we had every Academy represented in this meeting in the meeting we have facilitators work through the curriculum department and working with respective industry professionals sitting side by side with our teachers with our assistant principals in an all-day work session working through in very broad Strokes beginning to think through what experience could look like for our kids in these respective Academies and so it was an amazing day for us it really just kind of kind of a launch for what the industry Partners the type of service and support they
025could be providing for us here in District at lunchtime we went by and had a couple of words of encouragement for the group it was again an amazing show of support from the community and look forward to subsequent meetings with them the group that came in is from the bar associate the bar group who has funded us through this grant to date and so the bar funders came to the to the meeting really just to kind of have put oversight making sure that their monies are well invested and we hired facilitators so they're all of our people creating Cara castanero and car directors Etc could also participate in this day-long activity so Dr Castro is not here this evening not feeling well number one but but also not feeling well at a study visit in
026Charlotte as part of the kind of the next phase of the book of last but not least and part two of um superintendo report tonight we actually just received the official word meaning in writing around the Connecticut Association of schools but we did learn last week that Dr Keisha Smith Davis the principal for greater Plain Elementary School has been identified as our Connecticut Association of schools and Elementary principal of the year so I'm looking forward to that celebration dinner I don't have a date yet I am hoping to have the opportunity to bring Dr Smith Davis in to meet you and we can read the formal letter to the public and to report that night and I think collectively we're all really excited for principal Smith David she's just been an amazing asset to the
027school community and so happy that it's everyone has begun to recognize the amazing things she does for kids in a decision last but not least and again did not make the superintendent's report but I would like the opportunity to also bring this staff member to our next meeting and that is um teacher I'm extraordinaire at Broadview Middle School we had our teacher of the year ceremony last night at Broadview Middle School very well attended we had a lot of folks in the audience around families through teachers moving on of their identified teachers of the years and happy to announce that we have Miss Christine Miller from Broadview middle school as our teacher of the year it's going to well the way that Connecticut does it it's actually for the 24 school year so but of
028course we announced it during the 23 24 school 22-23 school year but she will be the teacher of the year all next year right so she will be our spokesperson this also makes her eligible for state competition and she will being one of 169 I guess teachers across the state of Connecticut competing for the teacher of the year for the entire state employees really excited that he was I think granted this award and recognized by her peers I mean administrators here across the district and looking forward to bringing her and introducing her to the board really excited Kelly has been the excitement ever since she learned the announcement so those are the three updates from the superintendent report I'm looking forward to Bringing principal Smith Davis to you and Miss Christine Miller and Dr casimiro
029is back I'm giving for more updates about not only Charlotte visit a month study visit but all right so for more chair of persons report I just want to say a couple things I have Miss Cooper and I were part of the um interview a group that was interviewed by um you know the group making the decision on the principle of the year and um I still won't tell Miss Smith what I said um she's been asking uh in that meeting and I think that um crowd being a great playing parent for those years and go ahead and you know let's see what he said I've actually her whole time there um you know I've known her and she she's welcome to her and um it's it's a pretty intense question session they focus on
030a couple of different things when they're asking that and and I was kind of in between in between both there because I as the chairperson of the board and then as a parent past parent and still have a very close relationship with uh system but I totally deserved I'm so I'm proud of her I'm so happy that um you know she got this and she just really really dedicated I can't wait to do you know you're saying dinner but I think it should be more of a party um you know for for her but um yeah it's a great time because it's a problem you know those wanted proud days to be on the board um second part that is the teacher um of the year um celebration conceremony was was fantastic so I want
031to thank everybody Mike have everybody who had a part in that at a board members Michelle um at Lisa the jewelry all came out to um you know help support and it was just the the whole tournament was transformed it was decorated really well um I was happy with the refreshments and that's some fun you know and and that's a first um but yeah it was just great it was a great thing and um like I said that that those are the parts where you're proud to be on the board and really what it's all about and see all the teachers come together and support um you know their colleagues it just was a was an amazing night so I just want to say thank you for anybody who had a part in uh playing
032that was a was a great job and um that's it for me and the other four numbers I'm making this year I I just want to share a comment and hair pulls up the back and I and I'm going to tell us as broadbands as elected officials I was very disappointed as we attend functions to recognize teacher of the year principal of the year to me as an elected official it's just an important and I know we all have other obligations and we're doing other things but last Thursday night down at City Hall when there were no war numbers except two board members there to support our budget really made this war look bad and to me if no one is down there but the leadership of this boy may speak and you leave and
033it looked at really really bad to me that there was no support but it wouldn't add budget so this is about the third time this has happened since I've been on the board and Community people have said why where are the boys we have a public hearing when the superintendent and his Finance director has put together a question and no one show up except me foreign so I hope that if we move forward and we look at leadership and how we're going to go about doing things that we would make that a priority next year and my thing is I've been running up those steps for the last 30 some other years and I'm getting tired but no matter what goes down I will be there as long as I'm in blessing official to support
034the support of bad question yes I mean in the same sentence um I would like to say his name must be school but I mean I haven't been to so many to City Hall I mean I was expected to see more um board members not only at the city hall but also at the University event that the Tamil public schools have Saturday I mean nothing nothing I have parents asking like um where are the other members like it's on you and Michelle who was there I mean they don't see much interaction and it's been notorious I mean most people keep asking well I mean other than that I just want to acknowledge the hard work that everybody has been doing um Mr Kevin Mr casimiro Kelly at the same time with all his hearings um
035and all the hard work trying to present to the public and in general but I have general questions regarding um this is something that we have been talking about about the amount of experience that we are being having and we really want to know I mean what's going on after we send them um the kids out to different programs what happened and I mean what what how do we get to know I mean where are they standing because at this point we keep sending sending people out keep sending kids out who they don't know I mean what's going on with them and what if this the interaction how they react to their new environment and in general attempts to come that's it thank you anyone else I agree we need more participation um I've been
036trying to make every family University so I've got to spend a couple of hours there on Saturday it was great got to meet more parents um bringing on a lot of questions uh regarding the Career Academy not that you know questions that I myself was asking or I am not able to answer something we really need to open up that communication and there was an event Monday night I'm happy to catch on with it so I'm going to say that the communication accounts are public outside the Board needs Improvement and I agree I did though go um I did not I could not make Thursdays public meeting I was I was not in this new town but I did go to um the event Monday the ad hoc Education meeting and there were many board
037members there that's when city council was you know updating us we had a back and forth um and there was a lot of communication there that was um shared with us especially the 36 million dollar looming fiscal financial crisis that we face I believe you talked about it maybe 25-26 and I'm looking for more answers on how we are going to raise that money as a city because I know as it was said that night Danbury supports education more than 50 percent of our education our budget our use of value budget goes to education and it was skated there that night that as opposed to Hartford which spends 37 a resident will spend 37 percent to subsidize an education in Harvard area we in Danbury are spending 83 percent we have a huge I believe
038it's 85 million dollars coming up in the next two or three years how do we address that we have to be Innovative and we need more um options than expecting just to raise taxes obviously they will need to be raised but I'm concerned and so I need to speak on that issue I don't think that we're doing enough to plan out four five six years out to absorb you know the 460 students that came here after October 1st last year we as a community absorb that that's like six or seven million dollars so we need to come up with some answers on how we're going to pay it because if we provide a wonderful education and a new Career Academy Staffing it we need to be able to make sure that the people that paid
039for it or to be able to stay in the city and go so um you know I'm hoping that we have a lot more communication thank you very much so I'll entertaining a motion to adjourn from public session second okay any posts interceptions so I need to make a motion