001here gladys cooper here lauren daley absent joe da silva rosa hello catherine hodgson here rich genelli here kathy molinaro here al russo absent amy spelino here at the point on our agenda we'll turn it over to the superintendent to do the recognition thank you miss cooper so this evening i am excited to introduce mr savorsky from the high school he's our robotics team coach we have team robotics here this evening they have been engaged in some serious competitions around the region in connecticut we've had some opportunities to release a press release on some of their advancements in the region maybe we wanted to personally invite them in this evening to welcome team robotics mrs savoiski and just kind of celebrate the team and the amazing things they've been doing so if they can come up
002to the microphone and mrs vossi can kind of walk us through some of the exciting things that are going on at the high school thank you it's loud thank you superintendent austin uh for inviting the team in to be recognized i love that kind of thing this is team 5150 we are from danbury high school and this is the 11th year that we have been around last year was a nine year as we know we tried to do a couple things and it did not work out and i was a little wary of reconstituting hoping we can get back to where we were and boom all of a sudden there's all these children here ready to go and really chomping at the bit to get back into it and so um i said we're going
003to be recognized can you show up on uh i know it's a place close to thanksgiving and they're like yeah quickly i said okay so here is what we have we have a little demonstration uh the name of the game is tipping point we have these weighted goals and we're supposed to pull up on these movable platforms this is like a teeter-totter and you can drive them up or you can place them over so we have four teams we have 5150 5150e 5150 j and h and these are our four drivers this is josh cam jerry and sharma they are the uh they drive the horse so they have a very important job and they're going to demonstrate for you a couple things over here but what we're going to do is we're going to
004bring in our team members because of the whole okay have everyone in here at one time we're going to bring in the teams one at a time can i have the j team please okay this is our j team they've been around for about five years and uh we have one two three four five i think we have nine total and they are working with this robot called jay what is it henry john bott okay i don't know cameron please take it away okay and these robots are this is part of the vex robotics system um and this is completely of course wireless and the regular matches are a hundred and oh one minute 45 seconds plus a 15-minute autonomous part and this cam will do the driving for us as soon as it never
005works of course it never works guys you turn all the other robots on they're in competition but they they're it's been since saturday okay and boom and move them around [Music] okay so we're working on this it's you know [Applause] please okay so we have one two three veterans from the night of 2019 2020 team everyone else is new to this whole situation jerry is a veteran he's going to drive for you right now go ahead jared and again uh one of the objects is uh when they are up on the platform they're called elevated and balanced because if you don't have them balanced they could they are weighted and they can fall off and then you of course don't get any points from that good and hvac is only already qualified for the southern
006region southern new england regionals in march in massachusetts [Applause] they are brand new they never even knew how to robot before they got here in september and so they are brand new to this whole thing they have done amazing over the past couple of weeks where's john josh josh the senior he is a first time robot person he is our driver bring it over and do a little sunshine and it might be a little out of adjustment we did just come off of the competition on saturday and uh i had coverage until we couldn't have our regular practices [Music] come on in all right this is our d team d team is our first our first robotics team that we ever had in 2010 and they have a legacy of being to worlds and seven
007times uh and this is our our heaviest veteran oriented team um every team has to do what's called an engineering notebook can we hold that level and that engineering notebook won best engineering notebook the first three times out so we we carried that around in a briefcase where they uh attached to handcuffs because that is one heck of a notebook uh sharma who was a legacy whose older brother was on this team many years not many years ago yeah five years ago so sharp is a legacy he's our driver go ahead you've got to turn the air out this does have a pneumatic a pneumatic um a pneumatic system that they have to pump up uh with a pump every time they start a match you can you can hear the it makes when it
008releases the air uh we always want that to go up so we'll see what happens next year but we do thank you for inviting us today and oh this is cooper may ask a question oh sure uh i first want to congratulate the group on the amazing work um i've been stepping down in mr zavoysky's room on and off for a period of years now to try to your room is like no other in the building and in terms of the engineering and the thinking the creativity and the trial and error that goes on eric's program here is so key um for it's one of the reasons why when we see kids learning with hands-on project-based inquiry building trial and error the levels of engagement just soar and it's it's really a great example of
009what we want to do with the academies and build that out um robotics engineering is going to be a huge component stem as you know is is a growing field and this is a classic example of just um the teamwork the dedication and the interest that is generated by work like this so i just want to say thank you very much um can you just talk very briefly like one minute about the skills that the students learn in order to be able to get to this point skills that they have to develop um shyness goes right out right out the window they have to learn how to network and talk to students they have to go up to complete strangers they've never met before and understand exactly what the robot can do and can't do
010strengths and weaknesses and to be able to talk frankly to a bunch of students they've never met before and because they may be on their lives they may be against someone else so they have to be able to talk the judges that we have here interview all of the teams and they have to be able to talk coherently not like students they have to talk like adults they have to really know their stuff and they have to talk with the robotic jargon they have to talk about autonomous and all the different things that it can do and the judges are looking for this they grade them and they rate them on their ability to talk and to distinguish what's going on the fabrication skills they are all using tools they're using the saw they're using
011the dremels they are using all sorts of machines to build these things under grueling time frames we have just come off four in a row four saturdays in a row and they had to get these things ready and i would say if they're ready to go on saturday don't worry about this voicemail we got it okay so confidence they they have tremendous confidence sometimes too much confidence in themselves and just the ability to work as a team to work as part of a group i mean the small group instruction that we keep pushing uh down here in cte they absolutely live it because they're part of you know small groups and they have they each have their roles again i don't really define it they define it themselves uh because i'm usually the mc i'm
012actually i'm always the impact in the mc since 2012. and so i'm not with them they either do it or it doesn't get done and they take care of everything on their own i'm so proud to be able to be part of this [Applause] thank you mr voices thank you uh okay you want to read the public participation and the spirit following that and then after that um see do we have any comments no comments then we'll move right on to the channel the board welcomes public participation and asks that comments be limited to three minutes the public may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them the board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about board of education personnel and students nor against any person connected
013with the danbury public school system danbury residents are also invited to send brief comments and questions via email in advance to dps underscore public comment underscore boe at danbury.k12.ct.us thank you [Applause] i need a motion to accept the consent calendar so moved promotion moved by joe a second segment back okay in a question concerning the uh consent council cnn uh do the roller coaster kate canetta i gladys cooper yes joe da silva catherine hodgson hi richard genelli aye cathy molinaro aye amy spolino aye okay don't care thank you uh educational staff representative no no okay uh student rep yes okay um good evening what about members cabinet and community members thank you for allowing me to represent and speak on behalf of the alternative center for excellence ace would like to publicly thank the community
014members civil workers cabinet and the board of ed for your continued support of our program we have been supported by our danbury community since joe hepburn opened our doors in 1977. today to give back and say thanks the ace staff and students hosted a thanksgiving dinner for the community it was a wonderful day that saw 33 students stay after school and volunteer at the event we would like to publicly thank you fallen for making today possible thanks to danbury public schools for by 70 10. thanks to durant's tent company thanks to the abitech culinary program chef longboat and principal kevin durkin for another great ace abbott tech collaboration thanks just few lineups for the 2020s donation our guests thanks to pepper pumping for port and john thanks for pimples in edison kitchen for the hot
015boxes for the food and lastly thanks to lewis for the outdoor heaters and propane students participated in the annual coat and backpack draft and provide those in need to those in a special thanks to the dhs key club for donating 160 pairs of winter socks to the cause tomorrow students will load up to the ace event for deliveries to the danbury homeless shelter and the women's center we have a plan in place to bring the food back next year and return to the corner of main street in elm street for our event thank you for the following thank you for allowing me to share what's going on with our aclu on 26th of this avenue stay safe everyone have a wonderful thanksgiving roommate strong thank you thank you okay happy thanksgiving thank you that's an
016item okay okay i'll make a motion at the board of education approve the october 2021 financial report in accordance with exhibit 21-129 second promotion made by kate second about joe in a question concerning the financial report astronaut mma john you okay yeah okay seeing that emotion was made by kate second got joe uh can't do the roll call please kate canetta i gladys cooper yes joe da silva uh catherine hodgston aye rich genelli no kathy molinero hi amy spolino hi okay motion self-care i need a motion to table action item b so move motion made by kathy seconded by joe all in favor can't do the roll call kate canetta i gladys cooper yes joe da silva all right catherine hodgson rich gianelli hi kathy molinaro hi amy spolino hi all right motion self-care superintendent's
017report thank you miss cooper so a few updates for the board and for the community one just a reminder for the community my my offices begin to get questions about open choice and what that might mean for us in a 22-23 school year we are beginning to get a little bit more information here in danbury and i wanted to update the board and also update the community there are still questions questions out there regarding who who our potential partners might be ces has been deemed one of our partners and kind of liaisons in this work ces is a risk that helps to serve the danbury area typically it's at advanced that's almost the closest risk but ces has been partnered with danbury public schools in the supper they even formed up informed us i mean
018requested that families if they have an interest any inquiries any questions they might have about open choice that they reach out directly to them they stated stated to me two weeks ago that it's actually helpful in their effort to try to drive interest drive up interest for other school districts and so we will have we actually have a space on our website now for families that have questions about open choice mr lyquist i believe his name nyquist is his name from ces he's a point person for open choice um again so it opens up in a 22-23 school year uh we're not sure we're unclear right now how many seats will be available we're also unclear what district partner we will have these are some things the state is still working on they have tried
019to incentivize this program for other school districts to participate in but right now we don't have the partners that we need to make this work they will continue working on this effort so again the information is can be found on our landing page on the district website regarding open choice the gentleman's name is eric nyquist i'm from ces his email information is also on the website for families that might be interested as i continue to get more information i will provide an update for the board and community as well so i just wanted to start there with an update regarding open choice i'm sure there'll be more more and more questions as this school year comes to a close i'll be happy to provide updates as i have more information secondly west side lottery update
020and so our lottery ended on november 15th we had applicants for stem on this year and 444 applicants in global studies we will begin to send out letters to families making them aware of the the families who want to see at the lottery those letters will go out on december 10 and then families will have a certain time to whether they accept or deny um and then if families choose not to accept the seat we will then go to the waiting list those questions can be also sent to my previous office assistant superintendent's office um at the district what is that relatively normal in terms of the number of applicants for each of the programs in total yeah i'm sorry joe yes it is it is and and we will have um new sixth graders
021um in each and each in each academy so it'll be 125 in stem and 125 and global of the 600 plus applicants in stem you know this means then all of them are not necessarily sixth graders and so they can apply from sixth seventh and eighth and but the majority of them are at the sixth grade level so we will start there um after you fill those seats um and then the remaining students will be on a on a waiting list the same is true for global studies as well oh mr um washington yes if there's a waiting list how do you know uh up from that waiting list have energy students been contacted and i guess if you start off with 50 students on a waiting list and once the classes are all filled
022how do you know that that number has gone down or it's just going to increase for the next time i'm sort of confused about that so um miss cooper what happens once the initial list is solidified um so we sent out the letters on december 10th right and then after those letters are sent out a waiting list notifications also go out to family so you actually receive a number you know what number you are on the waiting list and then as seats become available we at my office my old office actually reaches out to the families to make them aware that a seat is available and you know the the lower your number the the greater opportunity you have to fill a seat the higher your number you know the risk increases but typically we
023go into the double digits every year in both academies because some of our families and the students choose to stay at their home school uh being broad view or whiteness park but some of them do elected elect to take the seat um students will also apply to stem and global and once you accept the seat to one or the other you have to come off of the other waiting list just by our own bylaws and so that that also increases the chances of other students on the waiting list so being on a list does not mean you don't necessarily get into the school right um and with that number you know if you're in the single digits or double digits you begin as you get closer in school family starts to call and oftentimes they'll
024call deb stanton and they'll say i'm understanding whatever and so if they're in the 20s we may only be in a single digits and my office will encourage families you know i will get back to you soon you know please feel free to reach back out to us but we will not skip over anyone if they don't reach out to us we will reach out to them first we will call them we will email them multiple touch points to try to and and make sure that the community the families have been informed much and so the next item on the uh superintendent's update is and i want to thank rachel celeski and richard genelli for participating in the assistive principal interviews we conducted interviews i guess it's been about a month now we went through
025a three stage process with two panels and then also meeting with the cabinet we had three finalists i believe that met with the cabinet and i and we're very proud to announce that mr angelo marrero landed as the finalist and recommended candidate for the assistant principal position right here danbury high school he was also favored on both both panels as well and i'm very proud of continue to be proud of the work that we're doing here in danbury with preparing aspiring administrators here in district uh we continue it's i think it serves us well i think it speaks well about danbury community that our candidates continue to shine um amongst all of the candidates when we had to hold these panels so i'm really proud and happy for angela and he's also a graduate of
026danbury high school so we're happy to keep him involved here as our new assistant principal at danbury high school yes kathy also attended the the interview process i was with her thank you thank you mr jones and uh thank you catherine thank you you're welcome thank you you know stipends [Laughter] and and and last but not least our annual meeting um is wednesday december 1st that meeting uh will be at 63 beaver brook um at 5 30. we are looking forward to reopening our doors for the board for that meeting for our annual meeting the place is cleaned up for a year now it's been a warehouse for laptops and computers um and this office we are very happy that this space is cleaned up because quite frankly we're limited for space similar to our
027schools right now um and so we're happy that our doors will be reopened uh for the board as well so we're looking forward to seeing everyone on december 1st back at that riverbook and miss cooper i don't have this on the report but i just want to serve it as a reminder we do have a half day of school tomorrow so our families who are watching i know we sent out a robocall reminding families but we just wanted to send that reminder out one more time if anyone who's watching we do have a half a day in preparation for the holiday break so happy thanksgiving okay so moving on down the agenda i don't have a report uh tonight i just want to ask any of the board members do they have uh any type
028of committee's report or any uh message that they would like to bring forth at this time yes i just wanted to uh compliment the the uh the kids from ace um and the administration age we saw a lot of folks down there today and it was a really great event i'm so glad they could do it again i know that's something that they really do to keep the community spirit up and i'm sure they missed out on it last year so i'm glad they're they're rekindling that okay thank you kate send all other information i hope and chairperson of this board that everyone will have a safe and happy thanksgiving thank you and we look forward to seeing most of you some of you on december the 1st saying that i would like to entertain
029emotions i'm sorry yeah i just want to thank um kathy molinaro uh rishinelli and amy spalino i know that this is their last meeting as board members which for some i'm sure is a a nice moment um but i really appreciate the opportunity i've had to learn from each of you um in different ways around different things um and the support that you've sewn the community with your service is really amazing so thank you okay i'm entertaining a motion to a jury thank you so much emotion move by joe seconded by second second about cat emotion so thank you all and have a safe holiday thank you thank you thank [Music] you okay