001who's meeting to order tonight uh March 15th at 6 PM for uh community relations and I know we've got some interesting stuff coming up and do you want to take it away sure thanks Michelle um so first we have our um Danbury Career Academy Forum coming up at the end of the month it's on the 27th I believe I don't have an agenda in front of me it's sitting in the car still I apologize for that um is the 27th starting at 6 30. uh via zoom and uh we will have Brent Dean on that as well as I'm sure Cara casmiro our superintendent Mike and myself will be there it's really an information session for families about what the Career Academy is and uh Partnerships and some of the the work to date that
002has is being done our second item is our second of this year there we go thank you Family University will be oh I'm sorry let me let me go into order there at UConn we've partnered with them as we have for years and they uh wrote a grant to encourage more families to be come involved in gardening and things like that in their own community so we have UConn let's grow Danbury on Saturday April 1st um the brochure I'll make sure it gets out to everyone um I think they're about half filled already which is great um but it's a day-long or half a day-long workshop of gardening composting seeds understanding how to increase your crops maybe in your small backyard for families composting how families can compost so any food waste can be turned
003back into soil and things like that so UConn extension service is here in Bethel it is one of our 4-H runs a 4-H group as well as many other programs that UConn does for us in the before and after school program in our summer programs around healthy eating maintaining weight wellness and Recreation so they're a great group that we partner with and they run wonderful programs and then coming up on Saturday April 22nd at 8 30 in the morning is our second of the year Family University this particular Family University will be open opened for families pre-k through grade 12 whereas our last one was just that pre-k through second grade so the workshop offerings this time were a little bit different they will be focused on student learning and ways to enhance your learning
004at home with your child because we found from the last one parents increase the amount of time that they spend working with their children once taught easy ways to um teach their children at home basic concepts with things they have in their homes that parents spent more time teaching their kids and so we want to keep a track going on that we'll also have tracks around Internet safety and how to keep your children safe in the internet different programs that are out there and things like that we also have several social emotional workshops that we'll be doing with our families as well as an assortment of other workshops as well there will be Child Care at both of these Yukon and the family University and activities for children so that the families can come and
005not worry about you know who's watching their children but their children will be in a in a learning environment as well so and then our last news is we're waiting um the city has all of the budget information and so we're waiting for um city council will actually look at the budget and I think talk about it more in the April meeting and then they will set a date for a public hearing um a couple weeks after that so we are just waiting for that information yeah the date's not official yet but we we have a good indication it's going to be that week of April 10th probably 11th 12th or 13th so we've got holds on those evenings right now so we're we're ready to go when called right and that's it that I
006have for right now okay um I I have a quick question on just a couple of the things she brought up yeah um the Yukon the the let's grow Danbury gardening how much is that grant that we are looking at possibly and where is this event so the event is at um Ellsworth Elementary School um it's an easy place to have it it's got good parking um good outdoor space and that is a grant that went directly to you on but we signed on as a partner and so we do that with a lot of our grants that they may have the leverage to be able to for the ACT leverage and or access to be able to pull grants because of their charters and so when you think about a Connecticut Yukon extension Grant
007they're they are part of the original land grants that came through Connecticut back probably in about the 1800s and so in their Charter they have access to other funding that then can support our families in Danbury and so we work with many groups like this on grants they come to us we meet we sign off on it the support or co-sponsor of a grant and so we don't see the actual money of it but we host it at a school because it is it is for our families great yeah and then the other question was just um uh I guess when you were talking about the Career Academy and that on March 25th that evening 6 30 to 8 30 right uh the 27th I don't have that on my calendar here it says to
008Career Academy Community Forum March 25th is it the 25th or the 27th it's Monday March 27th okay okay the 27th and do you have an idea of the time just so I can put it down on the calendar that's a zoom meeting okay great okay I'm sorry yeah just to confirm the damn the DCA Community forum is zoom on the 25th yes okay yeah okay um does anybody have any questions any other board members or participants that's a quick question please anyways because I had heard that um the the program up on Stony Hill was possibly getting kicked out of that that space is that still happening are they looking for new location or we continue to look for new location yes so I am a Master Gardener um and so that's part of our
009fight is to keep the garden and the space there that UConn um uses um under the um mou with the original family are there not family uh fearful County Agricultural Extension Council advisory Council that that land is always to be used for extension purposes um there is a different group now that oversees that land and and has the repository of the land and so UConn did receive a cease and desist that we're not going to renew your lease in 2023 and so there have been Master Gardeners as well as many other folks that have taken it to task to um work with UConn to continue to be able to use that space as chartered um for all the services that UConn offers there is a garden there that the Master Gardeners use to plant vegetables
010and fruits and a lot of that is turned over to our food pantries um every year about 2 000 pounds of goods go out of there so it's really important that we keep Yukon there they also through the Master Gardener program if you you know you're out in your yard and you see your favorite tree has this weird bug on it or bugs on it you can take a sample of that and bring it over to a Master Gardener we put it underneath a microscope and take a look at it and give you some diagnosis of what it is soil testing as well as a lot of our snap Ed programs also come out of that building so it really is important that that building stay each County in Connecticut is chartered to have one
011and so there is a group fighting to maintain that property and in the meantime you know UConn has attorneys and things like that to try to preserve that that land for the intent that it was made to be certainly certainly appreciate you doing that is there anything that we can do to help I I don't think at this point um I can I can ask certainly and get back to you but thank you I appreciate your your support of that it is really important for not just for our adults that use it but you know out of that program out of that site comes our 4-H programs and so we have several of those in our school after school programs so it's important that we're able to maintain those as well thank you Michelle yes
012could I sort of uh there's a couple of things that sort of rumbling around in my head and I'm gonna sort of Express them uh number one um you know it's great to have this lineup it's great to get parents involved with their students at all time and their children uh we have a lot of things going on I'm really happy to hear about the form and we're gonna you know and I think everybody uh Knows by now uh who Brett Dean is and there's some more information we can get on the uh Career Academy uh when I sort of proposed this uh earlier in the year or maybe before Christmas you know uh we didn't think it was sort of appropriate at the uh we were only looking at uh elementary kids but that's
013a whole different side and I guess what I really want to say and I don't want to sound ugly as we move forward with the community relation committee this committee has taken a whole different flock as to what we used to do when it first started I don't see the participation in other parts of our community we see most of it coming out of Osborne Street and I don't know if that was the way it was set up but that's the way I see it so when we started this committee committed quite a few years ago it was sort of bring the community in to sort of understand who our board members who the administration was and how to get parents involved and what I can say sitting here is I only see it as
014a one-sided the way we're working this okay and don't get me wrong I don't see I have everybody know that I've been on this board to make sure that parents understand their children children understand their position within this in the school district but I'm just maybe I need to refocus on what's the role of this committee oh my does anybody who has a little bit more experience or time here on the board have the original intention of what this committee was intended for because my understanding when I joined on last year was that it was to be able to communicate effectively the budget to the community when we go to bring it so I think we could intention that was I haven't heard any other you know um well if well I think we can
015find out what the role is from uh Cara should have rolled in but I'm just saying no matter what the role is and you've taken on that role to move forward we need I see it as a one-sided part of the community I don't see engaging other people in this process yes to let them know it might you might get one person but you know I would just like to look at the original uh copy of how we saw the setup this committee not saying that we're going to go back that way Michelle I'm just saying yeah what I'm saying is I only see a certain part of the community and what I see and Anne has did great things over the years what I only see that we are only focusing on everything sort
016of coming out of Osborne Street oh okay well if we could get the original um purpose of what the committee was intended for I think that's great just to review period I know that I've been going to a lot of of these Community you know a lot of the events that we're having at school and they're at different ones at Rogers Park we were at Pembroke safety and the African-American celebration and so I've I've been going to several of the of the schools I'm not really sure how did you in the past when you're saying that you're only saying it's one-sided how was it addressed in the past that it was done where you saw more engagement from other areas other than just Osborne well I think maybe at that particular time we will uh
017you know engaging in trying to get the parents to really uh understand or get to know or see who the board members were okay at one time we had even thought about having uh uh eating an affair maybe a sit down dinner so people could come and and have something with the board members and get to know them and ask questions concerning the budget or whatever and bro and you know and have their kids you know uh and and I I guess what I'm just trying to say is I I just seen not a complete shift but how do we tie in those things with what we're doing now and just don't let it look like we're always doing it over here and not over there and I know you've been around to things I
018go to as many as I can and you know all the things are going on but um it just need to be a little bit of a shift yeah no that's a great Point even if we can come up with some ideas on how to do that um but I know that you know with the development of all the groups that we all the programs that Anne has with uh Grace Molina and getting out to the community and our new parent Square I mean I really do think that at least in the last year that I've I've you know been sitting here um I think that we've definitely extended our reach but needless to say we obviously need to do a much better job of course always improving um and your suggestion is great if
019we can bring because a lot of times we'll go to an event and there's only a couple people there and all the board members are kind of just sitting there you know so maybe how we can capitalize on some sort of a big event that we know there's going to be a lot of people there um you know and we could definitely I don't know maybe Ann can come up with something in the past that you've done on this committee to engage I don't know I just want to jump in for a minute because Miss Cooper when you say um coming from um Anne's office the resource center and so I and and I also want to get some clarification on community relations I've this is year five for me um last year was the
020first year of the community relations committee since I've been here and so and so last year was I I didn't have that kind of Direction when I was on the committee and so our primary focus really was on how we're going to help communicate the budget and kind of get uh support from the community around supporting the budget and maybe I was just around timing um you know maybe that was around timing because it was like December and January maybe when the meetings were heating up but I feel like the majority of our Focus that's kind of where we were um and then this year uh maybe the end of last year and this year um and I think mostly I think I heard from this from Kate and I know Michelle and Kate um
021came to the meeting at Rogers Park where we have meeting with families um and then there was a table set up for board members to kind of Meet the families but I I guess the part that I'm not understanding about coming out of Anne's office that number one that that is by Design you know we have family Liaisons which has been a new resource for the district to help serve as a bridge for our families to the schools whether that's teachers principals Etc and then it's through those Liaisons and Anne's office we're inviting families in for a very structured um what I've been calling you know parent university-like programming and so we have like three or four different programs under this umbrella trying to get families connected to schools how we operate how they can
022leverage the system to get what they need for their kids and I mean there's probably over a thousand different parents who have been in these programs and if if I'm hearing from you um that you know we have some families that are not accessing the program and you'd like to see those faces there as well I think that's one thing um but I I guess what I'm saying is coming from Anne's office is by Design coming from me like I'm telling her I need all my Liaisons out are calling families kids and not coming to school they need to call kids are having a hard time understanding how the system works in school they need to connect with them um and so they've been dealing programs trying to help bridge that Gap but but it
023but it's it's intentional to get out to all of our families and then people who comes in they take advantage of it um but but if you feel like strategically we could be more strategic about getting parts of the community that we're not getting to I think that would be helpful for Ann and I so that we can make sure um those families are also at the table and and I totally agree with you uh and and if it comes to how do we connect those family to be apart and I didn't mean it to sound harsh that everything is coming out of the office but you know uh we or you have a designer set up for it to come out of the Family Resource Center but people that don't participate in the Family
024Resource Center and be a part of that they don't know anything about it Resource Center there's a there's an extension from Ann now that didn't exist before and so there's a reason there's a family liaison at every school who is trying to connect to parents right and so and you don't necessarily have to reach to all of the K-5 parents but like your your daughter is at your granddaughter is at um is that is that great plane and if this is not happening what I'm about to say maybe that's part of the issue but that liaison or the principle should be reaching out to the family saying inviting you in for a different programming you and other you know other families inviting you in for different programming so that you can better understand kind of
025how we operate as a district how we can better partner with you so your kid can so your kid or your kids can do better here in the school system um that that's what we're trying to do but again if I'm here from you Kevin I need you to you know like you guys are trying but you're not reaching this part of the community if that's what I'm hearing then I sit down with Anne and say hi to we be a little bit more intentional about you know getting families from this side of town as part of our engagement strategy but but I just want to make sure I understand what I'm hearing because well that's what you heard exactly what I that's the way I'm feeling okay that's the way I want it you
026know okay okay that's exactly where I'm coming from okay I got you I got you that that's helpful that's helpful so we we will be more strategic and intentional about that and figuring out ways to make that happen and then the board piece um and I I know I have heard um an appetite to use these meetings as an opportunity to get to know the community and I I can only think of another a couple of meetings anyway where that's happened but um Anne certainly has enough meetings where we can leverage those opportunities to get the board there or have our own intentionally just you know to get to know your board members so yeah you know maybe that could be an agenda item or we can talk about that tonight okay okay thank you
027can I have just thank you a little bit more through the chair if I could of course and please okay so Mrs Cooper one of the new things that you may not be aware of is the new promise program and that's a program uh with modules a through q that new families take when they come to Danbury it's about the importance of attendance how to manage your power school account how to set up and manage your parent Square account what does it mean to have good attendance schoolology bus rules how to navigate the website everything you need to Be an Effective parent in Danbury schools is included in this six hour curriculum what we now do is when families come and register their child for school so we're hitting about 2 000 families a year
028um they're signed up for this course just like they sign up their child for school they sign up for the um uh new promise program which we're now running uh via Zoom twice a month um today in some of my visits that we are having with the principals about the family Liaisons and how to how to strengthen that program even more is we realize that there are some parents in schools that have been in Danbury schools for a long time that haven't had that piece of Education that's um given by the new promise program and so what Grace will be doing is she'll be running a new promise program but then we'll Target schools where parents and their Liaisons have lots of questions about how the school system operates and inviting though those parents into
029the new promise training um second off the other things the other trainings that we run um we certainly support the um Western Connecticut healthy kids Healthy Families of Western Connecticut um plti project and send people to that we've created this honeycomb of parent courses that they can take here in Danbury um out of our office runs the parents supporting educational excellence and the people empowering people and so by the time we're done this year we will have run about 120 parents through the pan the pep and the parent C program and I think that the plti has about 20 families and so what we're recognizing as the outcome of all the training that the parents are taking they are more engaged in their schools those were some of the parents that came out and spoke
030to us and spoke to board members that were at the December family Universe um because they feel very equipped and very comfortable to address um issues or concerns that they have in their schools so what we're seeing is we're seeing more of this uh bi-directional communication with our families as well as parents that come out of the pep program and the plti all have to do a community project and so many of their Community projects are linked directly in with learning or social emotional supports for families and so um you know that that's kind of a bigger picture of maybe what you're thinking about is really reaching out into the corners within our community to make sure everyone has an opportunity to engage in their school or with their Community does that help a little
031bit yes thank you it can't don't misunderstand it oh I do programs the the programs and everything that has been going on for all these years is excellent and the main thing is to get our families their parents involved so they can understand what their child needs in order to go through and what they need and how we need to be able to help them support us when it comes to budget time so the only thing again that I'm saying I just feel like there's a couple of Little O's that's not being filled okay within a certain part of the community okay yeah definitely can work on that yeah or maybe we could try to come up with a few ideas you know of how we can engage or have the Board of Ed members
032I don't know meet the community some again before the end of the year right before graduation yes um I just wanted to say I was able to go out um and be a part of that um meeting that they had at Pembroke and we've had a couple of the parents commenting at our public meetings so I know that Kevin you were gonna um get back to the board and kind of give us updates on you know any of those parents that might have commented and then we're just kind of wondering what happened I don't think the last meeting those comments were included right in our agenda or an update I'm not sure how we get that update I know that that's something Ralph had brought up no um the the Pembroke response I included the
033um individual parents but the Pembroke response um and I I didn't put this in writing but I said to Ralph uh really that that that evening was the Pembroke response um we went out and had the meeting um literally soon after they came to the board meeting um and um yeah all of those parents that were specifically for Pembroke Amanda Chrissy um you know they were there that evening in the front row yeah and they seemed better the next meeting we had it seems good I'm just talking about like I know we spoke that evening but at our one of our last public meetings I think Ralph is trying to implement right that if somebody came and made a public comment in during one of our board meetings our Board of Ed meetings we're saying
034the same thing Michelle so there were um two folks who were non-pembroke and the non-pembroke families I included in my feedback update um in in that correspondence I did not include Pembroke because the response was the meeting itself going there in person like I I didn't have anything in writing to say outside of what I did that evening in terms of how I handled the parents feedback Amanda came that evening and shared her concerns Chrissy shared her concerns I spoke to both of those issues that night in that meeting yes you did and I guess I'm I should be a little bit a little bit more clear not just the Pembroke um in other words the parent that came from Great Plain that sat there and showed a lot of concern I think that was
035when Ralph made that that statement at that public meeting that we were going to try to kind of follow up and find out what happened with people that did make comments I oh I'm sorry you're saying you didn't get that feedback I don't know did we Implement that already into our agenda no I'm not putting I wasn't going to put an agenda I was going to give feedback so that we're not speaking specifically to what's going on with their cases in the community um but I if that email didn't go out to follow up to send that to the board I'll make sure that gets out I didn't get it I don't know if anybody else did maybe but that would be great I know that's something that there's been some concern of making sure
036that it just doesn't go out there and die out there okay that'd be great is there any other member who would like to make any comments or questions or Madam chair just a thought I think my opinion community relations again this year we've taken it to a level we never have community relations and and Mead is again is brought it to this other level our relations with the community their issues uh that they bring to us and our responses to those issues uh our community relations so in my opinion it is not just the budget it was because the judge the budget was was is very important to all however I think we are are engaging with the community in several different more than we ever have again I was also at Pembroke and and
037it's just one way we to have community relations they see that we're out there we respond to their concerns and and we bring anyone who's interested up to date uh I'm not sure what who was not being served by this and I'm asking glass to clarify a conversation I would share with you I still say if you're sitting on the committee if we can include the entire community so you know you you decide who we're not uh sharing the information with okay if you want to have a side meeting about that and avoid me not be too happy to do it I made my statement as a committed member and that's just the way I feel and I never said that a community relations committee was not doing anything you're out there you're meeting I
038said it's a different direction that I'm seeing and it needs to be inclusion of our community so uh Gladys I hear what you're saying and I totally agree um and I know Kevin mentioned that he's been on for five years and this is the first last year was the first year that you know we were so I'm just wondering can you recall in the past how it was that you that that this committee accomplished that goal by including the entire Community other than what we're currently doing do you have any kind of example that we could follow or give us an idea of what direction to head in let me uh let me go back and I have some information with you either you know I can call you up and give you that information
039Michelle that would be great thank you okay yes great and maybe it's beneficial to just for for the next meeting to put on the agenda just maybe we can we can all bring just some thoughts and ideas examples you know the you know other things that are happening in other districts maybe that that we could just sort of you know take a look to if if we wanted to expand you know some of the the reach of the of the group here too so um you know Michelle we can talk about that if you know you want to do that in the next the next yeah great idea Michael yeah Gladys are you looking for the community to get to know us better just is like just who we are or just meet us like
040I'm just trying to get an idea of the Direction no not so much I think when it started on many many years ago it was to have something formula like in the afternoon where people will come up to Beaver Brook and you know and just get to meet the people or get to meet the superintendent or whoever because half of the parents don't know who works up at Beaver Brook and if they would like to you know meet people we would have a few minutes to just just say hi and move on and you know it wasn't and it wasn't so much just to get to know who was on the uh Community relation committee our board members but we saw the board board members into that which is a good idea wasn't anything wrong
041with it right so uh you know I I like Michael idea um we could you know we can think of something else to do maybe somebody else got something else I would have to go back and sort of remember or come up with some uh things that we did uh earlier on uh 15 or 20 years ago and I know things changed but uh I just feel like we're sort of at a at a point that uh my word is again inclusion inclusion so that's where I'm coming from great okay I look forward to speaking to you guys yeah okay and I will give you when I come up with some information whatever time I'll give you a call Michelle one certainly okay and thank you Mike for the suggestion I'm sure of course anyone
042else um comments I know we had spoken briefly about that Collective impact uh and speak maybe a little bit did I think you had a meeting on that today and maybe we did we had um the group that um has taken charge in moving the agenda forward for the uh next planning meeting and so we have for the next meeting and so we have a meeting coming up in April that will be inviting more people in the community uh to to further discuss uh our our cornerstones of attendance Community Resources and child care and so um the original groups that signed on to the memorandum of agreement with the Nellie May Foundation um have done their part in the community mapping um that we put forth uh back in February for them all to fill
043out and so now we're taking that data and triangulating some of that data with the equity study that has recently come out of data Haven and to see where we have some barriers and what we can do better to serve all of our residents in Danbury so there will be more invites going out in a larger group invited to the meeting coming up in April Collective impact how many members do you currently have and who are the is there a list or anything of like current members or how right so right now they they're we we don't hold a membership list we've opened it up to the groups that signed on to the original mou and then we keep identifying and going back to identify other people and groups that need to be on it
044and they'll be invited to this next meeting April because we'll be doing some fishbone activities to look at root cause to some of the community issues that were identified in the um Community mapping a process that we're going through you and I can get together possibly because you're I'm really not following along with where we are and what the intention is or the offense of it um so if you could please um give me a call and we can try to get together I can meet with you or we could do it over the phone but yeah just a little bit more understanding of what the commitment's about and who's on it sure so I encourage people to go to the strive organization out of Cincinnati they're an organization that we will become part of
045we actually they've been at one two of our meetings now and helped give us some feedback on their framework they're the largest agency or group in the United States that supports Collective impact are other groups in Connecticut that our Collective impacts uses their framework model and so we're following that so I can send you that Resource as well um so you for you to take a look at it and you'll actually see how all these these processes um that'd be great about it yeah yeah if you could just take some time just sit down with me and go over what our goal is what the intention is and you know the whole thing that's great thank you Michelle if I can just offer um see a question about um the collected impact idea uh because
046it's a it it is a complex idea that um really does require an explanation because it's it's different in how school systems um work um I was fortunate enough to be part of the collective impact for a short time when I was in Waterbury and collected and Waterbury has a collective impact so does Norwalk I walk in North worked in Norwalk years ago but I was not part of that that team there um but if if and so given our community as a whole and I'll just give a couple of examples um and I've been having ongoing conversations with Ann about um kindergarten Readiness right and so this idea of three-year-olds four-year-olds and five-year-olds um being ready for kindergarten be in school ready and what can we do as a district um do to help
047help prepare our families to make sure that their kids are School ready uh when they become five years old um or six years old and um we can't provide as a school system we don't necessarily have the capacity to address um those gaps at the three-year-old level four-year-old level and five-year-old level however there are many people in the community that do and so what do we do we invite Al Russo because he's the head of Early Childhood Readiness in the in the school Community we invite folks from DCF because they may work with a different corner of our population we invite folks from our Health Care Community because there are several obstacles that families have to overcome in order to access the education system and so and this is just one problem right and when
048I say problem like as a system if we we put some goals together we want our kids to be reading uh by the end of second grade so they're ready to learn but then as we dig a little bit deeper well if our kids come in more already coming into kindergarten they're going to be ready to learn by the end of second grade okay as a school Community how can we get better at this and so then we would have several folks now this is later on down the line after the team has already been formed so there could be 15 20 people in a room room discussing that goal plus several other ones like chronic absenteeism as an example right and so as a as a board we've talked about the challenges however there
049are other um there are there are other types of wraparound services that can give ideas give support and provide their resources to Danbury School Community the Danbury Community not the school Community Danbury Community to help address these concerns for the district so it's a way for us to engage the entire community of Danbury to help us specifically with Danbury public schools goals um and then you know again it's separate and apart from Danbury public schools but those folks come to the table trying to help us out in a wrap around service kind of way chronic absenteeism I think is a good example um and then Early Childhood Readiness again because we don't necessarily have the reach for all of these other kind of um challenges and obstacles that our kids and our families might be
050encountering where these other services could help us provide those help address and Bridge those gaps for us um so that that's just an example and so Norwalk does this very well Stanford does this very well they have like a cradle to Career program uh where they are working with families they identify families that need this kind of support and so if in Norwalk for example they have a dashboard where they follow the students that they work with specifically and then what is that meaning for a difference in in gains at Norwalk Public Schools what does that mean for a difference in gains in Stanford public schools and so it's a really grandiose idea um but once tightened up and you've got your systems down it could be really beneficial for for our school community yes
051okay yeah I remember you you mentioning you know it was basically kind of picking up where we necessarily can't go it was I think you gave an example of a coach and are you going to school tomorrow and asking specific questions absenteeism was this like a fifty thousand dollar Grant or something and then you're going to try to kind of build up on it yes yes and and thank you for reminding me of that because you're correct it's it's those things that are kind of like beyond the reach of the school system and that's why partner will we need a grant yes and has been working with the funder who has it sounds like they have committed to um foundationally anyway help us to get going with this but it will require ongoing funding we
052feel like we can secure grants to do this but first we have to get our kind of ducks lined up so we can go to funders and say this stock Collective impact it's in place and with your ongoing support week this is something we can keep going it sounds great I just think it's important that a board of bed member is on it considering that it's kind of places from where we don't it's almost bridging an area where we should stop and we're picking up and I think it's important to uh have a real understanding of what right this is it sounds very positive but it wasn't at the last meeting I know Julie was at the meeting that I was at um but I I don't know if who was there from the last
053meeting um and maybe you can speak to that kind of what the plan is moving forward so in terms of membership yeah so this is a true process orientated thing um if I look at uh norwalks uh acts they have 240 members and we will get to that we'll get close maybe not 240 just because the size of our community but very close to that but it takes time to build that out and that's why we hired a consultant to lead us through this work to make sure that we were doing it correctly with the with the proper steps in line um the gentleman that's helping us with this um has had it multiple years of experience in leading Collective impact so it's it's a process so hang on um there's more to come there's
054just a lot of work to be done to get to that point where we have everybody on board and I I hate to leave but I have to be at City Hall by seven o'clock um tonight so I I'm gonna sign off and I will be in touch with you thank you Anne I appreciate it you're welcome have a great meeting um okay well Kevin thank you so much for you know giving me the time to just ask about this one area I I guess I'm just looking to try to get in before everything has been determined before everybody's come on board I'd like I would think you know if it's part of the process we can Implement us yeah yeah so I'll I'll have Ann um because the last meeting actually happened kind of
055fast I I wasn't able to attend because I had a different commitment but I'll ask her to just get the dates in advance um and and we'll just ask for a representative from the board and see if someone would be able to attend I think that would be really helpful so Michelle yeah I think she said it's on one person on the panel and that um that would be me and Bridget is going to be also which is great on the panel and kind of representing more of the museum okay okay you know so at least we'll have two board members on there and um yeah I just thinking Michelle I'm starting to interrupt um Julie here I would say I was there but I was in actually I said borrow bad member I was
056more and as um um Community Action Agency board member so that's the reason why I'm not pretty much giving any information to the board because um as um Dr mentioned it's more about creating the relations with the organizations first and then passing the information on what they have um with their boards individually once they have a structure um everything now thank you Julie for that clarification so Julie you were invited as an another outside Source yes you were at a meeting there was a meeting today and I believe there was a meeting in in January and I still have not made or been told of any of these meetings so that will be that way you'll have to follow with um Dr me like I said my participation on that it wasn't through the Board
057of Ed it was more through the Community Action Agency right right I'll speak with Anna about it perfect thanks Julie appreciate it any other um issues regarding community relations anybody want to make any comments or experiences they might have had this month can I just also add um perhaps we can add to the agenda for our next meeting and um maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to firm up the kind of focus of the community relations committee maybe that was already mentioned um yeah as as part of some collect some Gathering Collective collection Gathering but yeah maybe it would be good because I heard some of the questions how do we want to move forward if you want the board involved we want that to be the focus and maybe we can go through
058exercise but we kind of firm about goals as a committee and then our action steps you know as part of that will kind of spell out whatever those goals are and maybe that would be a worthwhile exercise yes because again last year was my first year as Community Relations Committee here in the district yeah me too so Kate you you've been on it a couple of years okay yeah four years yeah yeah so do you do you know anything I know that when I first got here they said it was budget budget budget it looked like we were trying to evolved yeah I mean we definitely we definitely have yeah one of the things I tried to do is increase like broaden the focus because um you know I agree this is not this is
059not specifically here for uh budget you know um and budget support although I think that that is an important function um given that it drives so much of what happens in the district but I think really you know to Mrs Cooper's Point earlier um it's this it's sort of like a it's like a two-way street right we're trying to invite folks in to kind of get to know us as board members by making ourselves available at events and um you know doing Outreach to the public so that they can let us know what's going on you know in their experience um but it's also about uh as she said helping them understand you know how to connect with the schools how to be part of the school Community um and and the function I always
060saw the function of this particular committee is um you know sort of building that building those relationships out um you know Finding different ways to build those relationships so that we can build the school Community as a whole and bring the families in to these conversations and open up the conversations between board and Community as well yeah I don't know if that's clarifying or not but no it is I think yeah no absolutely I just think it's and I haven't been here before last year but it just seems to have you know with with uh Anne's program and the promise and all these different programs it looks like we're really kind of stepped it up and and really took I would say 50 of the of the time that we spend on budget and actually
061talking about how to engage the the Spanish Community the Portuguese so I really do feel and then you throw in the parent Square I think we've really done I think well on on reaching we've got a lot more to do you know I think we've done I think we've done pretty well this last year and hopefully we keep moving forward and and what Gladys is saying and I was listening to her thinking it's covet it's so hard to get people out we we sit here and we justify a lot of times that is zoom is easier for people to attend a meeting or whatever because they don't have to find the daycare and everything and then of course it's harder to get them to know us that way right so um you know I think
062it's it's what we've been doing we'll find it I think better options more options but um again going out there and and going to the events and meeting to you know going on the site visits and stuff I think that's helpful you know I think we've we've done a good job I think we'll do a better one but you know we're going to continue to move forward but I think we've done I think Kate you did a great job last year on it really yeah thank you um anybody else have anything else they want to add or look forward to for next meeting what question Kevin how's it going with um coffee would you on online so that hi Julie thank you for that question so um coffee with Kevin Cafe with Kevin has been
063going well um we had our first in-person coffee with Kevin a couple of Saturdays ago um and it was the first meeting it was this Saturday right after the meeting at Pembroke and so as you might imagine um um things were still a little sensitive coming from that meeting and I did have a couple parents uh from Pembroke join us that Saturday um and so for the majority of the time we get focused on safety um but you know folks were respectful and um in understanding and really asking you know the right questions about what we could do what we can do to get better as a school Community um and so and so that was the immediate that was the the latest one Julie um but overall um the the coffee with Kevin meetings
064have been remote we have found that we have gotten better participation remotely um and so we were doing Thursdays kind of a morning um and then an evening um and we were finding we were getting pretty good participation um and so we'll we'll continue to do that we we decided after the last Saturday meeting um we're going to try to use coffee with Kevin in person with Community groups um and so miss Cooper you should know like um uh we we're inviting uh some of our faith-based leaders in the community African-American um latinx Community Portuguese Community et cetera to the table um and then um in in different meetings um and really as an opportunity for me to just talk about what's going on in the Danbury School Community but secondly get feedback from them
065and see if there's anything you know they're hearing that we can address under Danbury public school side um and or if there's any opportunities to partner to make it better and easier for our parents and our kids um so so that's something you know I that's something that's on a horizon um I thought um his part of Anne's feedback I thought that was a really good way to Pivot to get into a different part of the community and so that's my long way of saying we're going to continue our monthly uh meetings with families remotely because we feel like we can get some more families that way and we'll do that on Thursdays a.m and PM and we're gonna we're trying to set up a schedule where we can start getting into Community groups um
066different various Community groups in person and also continue that with a coffee with Kevin and you know and just see if we can get a different different level of Engagement with our Danbury community or to the board members how does that how does that meeting look like when you're saying you're inviting is it open right so the ones that are open are the ones with families um and that would be the remote meetings on Thursdays uh but the other meetings if we're inviting in by Community leads so let's just say if we invite again faith-based leaders faith based leaders uh we would invite in invite in those folks whoever's on that invited list uh invite in hopefully a representative from this group I mean typically I have Ann at all of those meetings um and
067and that's what we do you know yeah this is somebody from community relations should be on that oh no for sure or everyone wanted from each party I I really don't care but um that's all part of the relations community relations as we go forward right um I'm looking to try to kind of grab it all together in a sense when we're talking about community relations um and that has to do with maintenance security sites you know and interacting with communities so that would be something important I think this can this committee would be involved in right and and that's all the more reason why I think this committee needs to sit down and and of course I want to be a part of it sit down and kind of talk through the goals of
068the community relations committee and um be respectful of what we've done previously but also understanding where we are now and and just kind of line up some goals for us as a committee like a vision for the committee um and then it's easier to walk through with those action steps are going to be to get there okay so then I guess I'll also be hearing or we'll be hearing from you as far as what that that looks like well I I think as an agenda item for the next meeting I think that's an exercise we should go through to land on what that vision would be I don't I don't think you'd want me to put Division I mean no no right right we'll we'll talk about that yeah I've been sketching up the agenda
069here so I mean we will look at some examples of other ways to engage the community to to miss Cooper's point and then I think it's also just uh you know maybe we can put together some protocols for trying to understand you know or or you know have better understand that the charge of this committee and make sure that that's the direction we're going in moving forward so I think that's that's a meeting if not two in and of itself yes I agree great thank you Kevin Al you got anything no you pretty much cover it I spoke my piece earlier did they say we have this year again have taken his committee to a whole different level higher level and with uh the help of Anne Mead and her efforts um again it used
070to be primarily getting the budget out out to our our district and our shareholders uh but we've taken it with Anne's help and Kevin's help so much farther and if you want to lock us down to a focus of what we can or cannot talk about that I would have an objection to uh anything way we can really improve our relationship with with our shareholders is a good thing for me mm-hmm and I'll leave it at that thank you anyone okay anything oh Michelle did you know on the perception is that meeting register for that me I'm sorry what was that you're broken you're breaking up anybody get that we have the pleasure for that meeting sorry you got a switch meeting 27. we have to pre-register Buddy oh pre-registered for the 27th the meeting
071of the 27th so I'll make sure the board the board gets an invite in the zoom in the zoom link so so don't worry Miss Cooper we'll make sure you get everything okay okay great okay okay so any other questions comments in the committee no one shares okay so move to adjourn motion moved so okay okay then no uh everyone's in agreement I thank you so much for coming tonight and