Danbury Board of Education Meeting 1-13-21

001i would like to call our january  the 13th meeting to order as we gladys we lost your uh your sound there looks like we're standing for the pledge everybody to the flag of the united states of america indivisible with liberty and  justice for all thank you   we should be a mute unless we're speaking  i guess right yes thank you dr sam okay kate would you do the roll call uh  joseph britton present rachel chaleski   here kate canetta here gladys cooper here lauren  daley here joseph de silva here catherine hodgson i can see you there on on the screen  can you hear me now now i can hear you   thank you um richard gennelly jamelle is out  okay cath kathleen molinaro here uh albert russo   here and amy spellino here ten  present one absent thank you

002all   we're gonna move on down the agenda uh dr  sarah you want to take care of the recognitions dr sally you're still on mute got it thank you um on the agenda we were talking  about the first thing on i don't have it in front   of me and i don't have two screens is that the  um the donation for the thousand dollars okay   right cara no sir it's a recognition recognition  and and dan donovan is here mr donovan is here all   right dan go ahead good evening everybody uh you  know after here we are again uh i'm talking about   another accomplishment from danbury high school  staff and students but uh i took uh starting to   get a little bit smarter as i go through this  so i took a page of dr sal's book where

003he   asked me to come in and speak so what i did is  i turned around and asked the teachers and the   students to come in and speak and give you the  first hand knowledge of what happened getting a   little better at this but seriously uh we're here  again to highlight another accomplishment by the   dhs staff and students i couldn't be more proud  as everyone knows this was a an election year   and a a pretty tumultuous one but our students  decided to step up with the guidance of miss   spirit and ms cal to run a campaign to get as many  registered voters as they can with do something   dot org sponsoring them and they won ten  thousand dollars for danbury high school   and they're going to tell you all about what  they did and how they

004did it but along with   miss cal and ms spearden uh i see becca walking  around her house right there and jake should be   on here as well you're going to recognize them  because they're your board of governors reps   that come to meetings and they've been doing  it for two years so you're familiar with them   but i'm going to let miss cal and miss  spiridon take over and tell you what they did so i mean i guess i'll i'll start first uh it  was a collaboration of really three programs uh   the board of governors the peer leaders and the  deca program uh it started out as an a search to   adapt uh to online learning as you know we  couldn't exactly go out and do community service   but the fantastic thing about it was when the 

005kids were put into groups and they networked   i was amazed that they were able to apply so many  of the skills they learned across the curriculum   and they were able to go out and get almost a  hundred and over a hundred new registrations   and they never left their living room um it it was  a testament to their abilities to um communicate   work with others in a team and work a car across  the curriculum through our flex program network   with family in the community outreach to other  communities and then not only just to ask them to   um vote but really to pitch what voting means in a  democratic society and how important it is that we   have such a valuable um a valuable uh uh gift in  our community and they got such a great response  

006and i i want to also recognize the media center  who participated in a mock a mock election in   the building and we're able to spread that all of  the flex teachers who participated in encouraging   students um to get involved uh i can't  if when you are participating in such a   big project it's not one person but i probably had  over 150 students participating in in the project   and i think if rebecca could give you some insight  on just some of the things that she did and jake so i actually have what we submitted to the  um to the the people at do something so if i'm   able to share my screen i can show everybody  what we did submit let me just go over that am i allowed to share my screen let's  see yes

007yes i don't know let me hold on   you should be all set i just enabled it just  to so you can share okay perfect sorry i'm   letting my dog out of the house so if i'm  like getting up that's what we're gonna do   okay let's see can we just  let me know if you can see it all right can we see that yep okay yeah  you're good back okay so this is what um jake   myself miss spirit on his cow fury worked together  collaboratively to come up with this presentation   because we we had to submit this alongside um some  questions that were answered um and we thought   we didn't just want to be like everybody else and  submit just the questions so we decided to submit   kind of like a culmination of everything that  we

008did um in the community just in like one   presentation so they could go through it and  look um just easier to you know grade our   um achievements and whatever so oops can i what am  i doing okay so we came up with objectives that we   wanted to focus on so here you can see it says  mobilize eligible voters in our community inform   students on the importance of the voting process  because we didn't just want to register people   and then them have no idea what they're actually  doing in the community so we we wanted to show how   important voting is we also wanted to show we just  wanted to get students involved on current issues   and why they should be voting and how important  it is in our community to vote um we did have   messages

009that were spoken like either by carol she  was an alum from dhs and she has over like 200 000   followers on social media so we had her um give  out information then we had mayor mark give out   information um so we had a couple people that were  so we had 60 plus people actually were contacted   um to give information and then we have instagram  engagement so we had students posting on their   social medias um you know swipe up and register  and then that goes to their um so say like a   student got somebody registered it would come up  on their thing how many people they got registered   through their link so it all kept track of which  students were registering who and then um through   this people were very quickly to you know swipe  up

010register it took about 5-10 minutes to do that   so then we did it on twitter as well so at the  bottom you can see there was over 2000 engagements   um 2000 impressions on tweets we had  people retweeting us in the community   um different political you know  people in our community mr donovan   um mayor mark people like that that were just  getting out the information to our community and then we had kids make tick  tocks that was also part of the um   program to like make tick tocks whoever had the  most creative tick tock won a um scholarship   so we had over 65 tick tocks made  i'm not going to show them but   they were these are just a couple of what kids  were doing either informing students on where they   could vote in our community

011or how to vote or just  creative things you know to get people involved   so hopefully this doesn't play but this is a  video of me that i put out during flex so a flex   obviously is when um every student can be shown  a message so miss cal and i and jake decided that   i would am spirit on decided that i would make  like an informational video on how to register   so i kind of sat down and made a tutorial on  how to register how quick it is and what you   need to be able to register you know license of  that sort and i kind of went over that because i   figured students might not be educated on how easy  it is to vote so i just wanted to put it out there   how quickly and

012easily you can vote so over 3 500  students watch this video and then anyone who was   18 um by election day was able to register hello  everyone if you don't know me my name is okay   and then this was the mock election  that we did in the school so if you   guys are interested at all to see the results  um this was the presidential results um house   of rep results state house results state senate  results um yeah and then the issues chart what   students found to be the most important things  in our community i found this very interesting   very informative on what students may think  are the most important issues going on and then i think that is all   so this is what we submitted again to the  how do i stop sharing i never

013use zoom stop yeah okay there we go there you go  so that's what we um submitted to the do something and obviously we won  from that so i just wanted to show   what we did submit jake do  you have anything to add you covered most of it but  i just think that it was   just really great to see like how far we could  get this um i remember the number of people   that we registered being at like 50 and then it  went it's then it was over 100 so it was just   cool to see how many people we could get  involved like so many people got involved   with like all the impressions on twitter and we  definitely deserved the ten thousand dollars so do we have an idea of what's going  on with the ten

014thousand dollars   oh dr cell you want to spend the money already  let it just earn some money it's all yours   you always use the well any anything you  want to share with any want to let us in on   anything or what once we knew that we knew  what we were saying um we are gonna buy um   some sweatshirts for the key people the peer  leaders did a lot a lot of work in the classroom   and some of the bog people were gonna get to there  spend a little bit of that money but i really   i i can only say this is my 39th year  of teaching and i have to tell you that   from my heart i i'm always amazed how what what  spirit the danbury kids have and how much they   have grown over

015the years from the first time i  came there to now then and they always step up i   i can't even say how proud i am and how proud you  should be of that of of their participation and   their interest in their own community they did a  really good job steph do you want to add anything um i mean i was just really proud like i can't  even tell you how many tick tocks there were   going around like ones that like even i just saw  like that were retweeted by denver athletics or   mr donovan or anyone and i was just surprised  that how even though they they weren't there   and they weren't in person they still managed  to get it out and get so many people registered   i don't i think the next closest person  was

016like 30 or so registrations behind us   so we kind of blew everyone out of the water the doctor sal to answer your question about  what we're going to do with it once we received   which you already have received the check  now i uh i you know messaged rebecca and   i said come on rebecca how do we spend ten  thousand dollars and she really didn't have   an answer right rebecca she said i have  never spent ten thousand dollars before   so we have um her working with the groups that ms  cal mentioned and uh going back and seeing what   they want to spend it on you know and then as a  committee this is a real bright group of kids who   who will make an informed decision on what they  want to spend it on and we'll

017spend it on that   you know with little as little as much input  from me they ask me if there's anything   teachers need they ask me if anything that's  needed around the school um you know and they   they also realize that you can't redo a whole  bathroom for ten thousand dollars so that kind   of went out the window real quick uh but they're  working on it and we'll come back and let you know   so so for the board um we've spent a lot of time  with the portrait of a graduate and i mean a lot   of time thinking through those attributes and  attitudes we think would kind of define what a   danbury graduate should walk away from their  experience at danbury education and i got to   tell you involvement in the community has been  at the

018highest making connections and it's what   these youngsters are doing um walking their  shoes we're just hoping that we can make that   embedded in the work that we do so as uh carmella  just indicated they just rise to the occasion   and it's such a critical part of danbury kids  that i always hear the legacies that are left that   we want to build it in so it's systemic so i just  can just thank all of them and we're very proud of   them and the money aside the money is the money  but the actions the commitment the connection   the care the civil consciousness wonderful  wonderful job thank you thank you all thank you   thank you dan thank you thank you for having  us on thank you camilla thanks everybody   um kate do you want to read the  public

019participation sure thing   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 with the danbury public school   system due to the unique nature of the covet  19 crisis and the limitations of technology   members of the public who are danbury residents  are 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 kate sanders you  want to go over the comments   or uh first parent uh first public participation  is carol corcoran parent of a high school junior   she said i am very upset

020that my child hasn't been  going to school since march of last year when 95   of all other communities have been going every  single community around us has been in school   and made an effort to have their kids in school  i pay taxes for my child to have the right to   be educated in an actual school i don't think the  board is listening to the community i don't feel   like my needs are being met please don't listen to  the few parents that want their kids to stay home   allow them to stay home and allow all the rest  of the families to send their kids to school   i have seen my daughter's melted mental health  decline her love for education disappear and   her sleepless nights fro from too much screen  time instead of learning from a live

021person   the detachment creates detachment to the love  of learning and to the emotional aspects of all   things in school learning brain i feel my child  has gone backwards and yet kids in our neighboring   neighboring towns are going to school and moving  forward we can sit on the sidelines and watch   others go to school our religious and private  schools in danbury are in school abitech   immaculate ridgefield bethel brookfield are all  in school many are in school five days a week why   can't danberry it will never be perfect please  push forward and manage this problem manage the   issues and manage the virus our kids deserve  first priority not the virus let the parents   decide and give us all options please don't  change your mind and give in to the fear when   our kids need to be in

022school the message is clear  we want our kids in school do it now and work the   issues out while doing it our kids education  and futures cannot be put on hold any longer   our next public participation is melinda scott  tonight i wanted to express my hope that someone   will be addressing the big question on so  many minds why now because it seems to me   that returning to school in person now goes  against everything that the medical experts   and health department have shared here in  previous meetings the the disruption of classes   the inevitable disruption due to closures the end  of consistent instruction the abbreviated time to   deliver instruction and the potential risks all  seem like good reasons to continue the way we are   and i am just refreshing to make  sure we don't have any other  

023comments and that is it for tonight ms cooper  thank you so very much santa and just want   to thank you on behalf of the board you do an  excellent job in bringing those comments forth   each time we have a meeting thank you thank  you okay let's do the consent calendar please i will make a motion that the  board of education approves   the items on the consent calendar  exhibits 21-02-21-06 as recommended segmented by joe any question concerning consent  calendar send in none would you call the roll call   certainly joe britton yes rachel chaleski aye  kate canetta i gladys cooper hi lauren daly   aye joe da silva aye catherine hodgdon hi  kathy molinaro hi al russo aye amy spellino   aye pass is unanimous thank you the emotion is so  past do we have an employee representative we

024do   have gladys i'm sorry to interrupt uh we do have a  a note on there uh for the accepting of a donation   and i don't know who if we  need to make a motion for that   yeah we need to make a motion to i always thought  it was included in the exhibit or the consent   council it is not covered by that previous motion  so i will introduce another motion to accept a 1   000 donation from the uncle bobby foundation to  western connecticut academy for international   studies in accordance with exhibit dash 21-07  second promotion made by kate seconded by also by the way that that was um this is  can i just madam chair let me read something   angela here is a former ais student  from brookfield now attending wescon   as a freshman recently chose  to

025donate a thousand dollars   to the school through uncle bobby's foundation  named after her late uncle who died in november   of 219 from cancer she said the school was chosen  because its mission aligns with that of the   foundation which wants to support organizations  that promote education environmental awareness   and humanity here's the hopes that school can  use the money to support the arts environmental   education or science for students we want to  thank angela one of our uh as graduates thank you   thank you dr sarah and and thank you for  just jumping in uh when i overlook it uh   and i know that we will be sending out a thank  you letter uh thanking them for uh the donation   uh there's still a motion on the floor yeah uh  kate you were doing the roll call for the

026motions   sorry uh joe britton aye rachel  chaleski hi kate canetta i gladys cooper   i lauren daly i joe da silva aye catherine hodgdon  hi kathy molinaro hi al russo hi amy spelino hi   motion carries unanimously okay thank you so  very much is there an employee representative do we have an employee representative hello how  are you everyone good evening hi aaron how are you   happy new year to you happy new year to you and  really that's all i want to say to everyone today   is happy new year and to let everyone know um  which i i'm sure you do know how hard everyone   is working to get prepared for next week when we  greet our wonderful babies next week we're excited   about that and we're also just wanting to let  um the community know how nea

027danbury number one   focus will continue to be health and safety of our  students and our school community at large and we   thank the board for all the work that they've been  doing to ensure uh as safe of a return as possible   thank you aaron and thank  you ward your continued work   it's nice to see everyone  tonight okay our student reps jake chris hello again so looking back on  december the dhs baseball and football communities   held a holiday toy and coat drive to provide for  the less fortunate the contactless donations went   well and hopefully someone's a little warmer  this winter we won the ten thousand uh dollar   scholarship for best community involvement as was  gone through already on the fifth key club had a   successful non-perishable food drive for hillside  food outreach collecting 255 items in

028total   we had our first snow day on the 17th a much  deserved day to relax and catch up and before   break after teacher recommendations were  sorted through administration handed out   hatter's heroes awards to the standout students  who are valiantly deserving our taste of the day   off continued as break began and holidays were  celebrated and in the new year we wish upon   everyone happiness and prosperity after a year  like 2020. thank you everyone no thank you jake do we have anyone from ace good evening border  vet members cabinet and community members   thank you for allowing me to represent and speak  on behalf of the alternative center for excellence   a staff is participating in virtual student  entrance interviews over the next two weeks   to welcome the new students to ace these meetings  are the first step in

029building relationships with   the students and their families in an effort to  create a supportive learning plan specific to each   incoming student on february 1st ace will run a  structured orientation day to deliver expectations   for attendance and course schedules behavioral  norms and social emotional learning activities   students will follow the orientation day schedule  with their guidance groups to continue the process   of building community as we re-enter the building  in semester two following the hybrid model   this friday ace will hold a school-wide google  meet where students and staff will read works   and celebrate the contributions  of dr martin luther king jr   in an effort to continue the efforts  to promote social justice and equity a special thanks to ace english department for  organizing the 2021 ace inaudible poetry contest   the contest was organized by joanne tolles daniela  esposito

030and melissa lasky students created and   submitted their original pieces of work which  were also shared with each other in their english   classes after their works were scored anonymously  by ace staff we had five finalists first place   went to serena assam second place went to chris  johnston third place went to michaela oyola   honor roll mentions went to olivia selena  and nazariah battle congratulations to all   the students who share their creative creativity  with us ace would also like to publicly represent   two students of the week for their hard work and  demonstration of the five behavioral expectations   of ace nine students were nominated and two  students who recognized extreme assam and   derek jeremiah congratulations to both of you  lastly ace would also like to congratulate our   december students of the month award winners  jalen batista and annie andy

031vasquez thank   you all for allowing me to share what is going  on with our ace family and stay safe everyone um we moving along on the agenda hello we're on mute gladys gladys can you hear me you're unused yes this  computer have a amount of it on sorry is there any presentation dr sam uh we have  discussions below so not at this time okay   so we'll go and we there's an action item joe  uh the civil would you do the action item please certainly madam sure make a motion that the  board of education approved the 2021-2022   school calendar in accordance with  exhibit 21-08 page 33 in the packet did you just step into the motion  second okay second by kathy getting a question seeing none uh i entertain  from kate to do the roll call  

032joe britton aye rachel chaleski hi kate canada  aye gladys cooper aye lauren daly aye joe da silva   aye catherine hodgson aye cathy molinaro hi al  russo hi amy spelino hi passes unanimously okay   thank you emotion's been killed uh now we're to  the superintendent's report thank you very much   everyone uh again happy new year to everyone  um so um one of the things i was asked was   when we had initiated um bringing back our  special needs students uh just to give you   a follow-up on how that went so kelly can  you kind of let the board know how that   sure um so we on november 30th we bought back our  high needs special education students they came   back in a cohort a hybrid model um students  came either monday or tuesday or thursday or   friday we

033have had great success with that  i have to commend all the special education   related services staff our nursing personnel our  administrators it really has been a team effort   and i think it has been um you know a nice  trial of getting kids back into school   um you know in the beginning i think you know  the newness of having kids back in the school   some of our students with more significant  disabilities um needed a little bit more   coaching and training um on mass compliance and  wearing but i'm happy to report that they've done   really really well with it um we have seen um them  just kind of fall back into place where we were   before we were out in march um it's wonderful to  have them back in the building and like i said i   truly

034think i can't say enough um on behalf of  all the staff that have truly just um you know   put their own fears aside and done what we need  to do for students um our nursing team has been   phenomenal making sure our parents understand  our expectations um so that every we're able   to maintain the health and safety of everyone  um but overall it's went well um we did have um   an incident where we did have to um close down  a classroom um and fortunately everything worked   out fine it was an abundance of caution to uh  take precautionary measures um and again um   i'm sure you know anxious and overwhelming for  some of the staff and families um but really   um i can't say enough good things about how  hard everyone has worked um it truly has

035been   nice seeing the kids back in the building and i'm  looking forward to bringing more of them back in   thank you kelly um cic update just um as we  move towards the tomorrow apparently the uh   cisc is going to make a decision regarding  winter sports they were to make it last week   but they didn't do that they were working with  the department of health but if i'm reading the   tea leaves it looks as though they're going  to categorize these sports into different um   segments um that which would be um at least um um  evasive regarding the uh the virus and then those   that are moderate sports um so tomorrow we'll  know more and my thinking is that depending on   what they say um we probably will participate but  with some kind of phasing much like

036the the summer   where youngsters need to spend some time we don't  even have coaches hired yet because we did not   know what's going to happen with this so that  has to happen uh and then some conditioning and   that nature the competition would not begin until  somebody sometime in february if in fact um it all   comes to fruition but so we're gonna have to  monitor that so um i would say that if it does   happen uh we'll we'll face something in with um  and then um be in a position uh to follow um the   cic rules but whatever we do will have to be uh  reviewed by carapanti and kathy o'dowd in terms of   protocol and what they had done during the summer  was mainly um you know um dividing in how many   students attend um

037and different categories coming  in and i think that's what the department of uh   health for the state of connecticut is advising  but we'll know more tomorrow right now we are   very uncertain as to what they're going to do but  i just wanted to alert you that it's coming up um   psat uh it's gonna be on 126 which is that tuesday  before youngsters are to be back as you know the   high school is scheduled to come back february  first not because of the virus but simply for the   will of the administrators that the courses are at  the end and um being that they're going to switch   teachers it seemed to be much more confusing to  have the youngsters come in and then switch the   next day so they'll be starting in their regular  semester course on

038february 1st but the tuesday   prior tuesday students that have signed up for the  psats will be invited in will open the entire high   school we're going to bring teachers in early dan  made that recommendations we've talked with the   union and we've arranged for that tuesday for them  to come in and the youngsters will be spread out   so they could be socially distanced so we don't  know how many students are will be there but   we'll have the entire campus for us to run it i  keep losing the agenda because my my account my   thing goes out um the um hybrid model update i  think i'm just going to leave that go and we'll   talk about it under the reopening um we have a the  budget update and uh courtney courtney has been   working with her staff

039on a new our new um system  for payroll and it's been taking everybody's 24 7.   and i want to just thank her and the staff and  kim's staff all of them working together it has   been difficult and that's an understatement but  courtney do you want to update the board regarding   the budget sure dr sal thanks um yeah it's good  to see everyone i've been we've been sort of   sequestered for the last few weeks and i also want  to echo dr saleh's sentiments publicly and thank   um specifically the finance and hr teams for just  really going above and beyond taking us to the   21st century so we can have some more transparent  budget reporting as well as you know um a payroll   system that really you know honors is able to  have us have you know

040our staff can do work   more efficiently provide you know more efficient  information to people about about benefits and   their pay and we just love it and we're really  excited about i want to thank everybody um so   we're excited to kick off the budget season that's  that now we that's our full focus and attention   um i wanted to give an update on the timeline  and the schedule um i'm really i'm happy to be   working with the proposed draft finance committee  um kate kat kathy rich um and catherine and al um   i'm looking forward to working with all of you  um we need to uh it's a little bit of a truncated   schedule um i want to just not lie to everybody  we're a little bit behind so we're going to have   to catch up um we're

041going to be presenting to the  board on 127 um and we're going to need to have   a vote on 210 to be able to make our deadline of  it's always this valentine's day deadline with the   uh with the city so there'll be a lot of work next  week i'm going to work with kate to arrange a time   um for us to get together a committee i'm with  rich who isn't here but i spoke with him today   and he's also you know looking forward to rolling  up the sleeves and we'll work with you to get as   many as we need um to have understanding of the  budget um we did have a preliminary meeting and   it looks like you know even just to roll forward  our existing budget and after life a little bit   challenging um

042it's about 5.3 percent um and you  might wonder why is that normal cost of inflation   is about three percent um that's because if  you'll remember we all lived through it we   didn't get much of an increase this year during  the pandemic year and the cities and you know   challenging straights as well so there's some  things that we were fortunately able to do as a   result of the cares act funding that are cares act  related and eligible but that have an ongoing cost   so i'll just give you like two little examples  and we presented this to the finance committee   but um you know we've spent thus far approximately  7.7 million dollars on you know covet and pandemic   related items last year and this year combined  a little more than five million dollars this   year and some

043of that is for social emotional  supports we've um purchased some software um that   will like to continue ongoing um that has been  tremendously helpful that kelly's rolled out with   with um staff and also um there's some maintenance  costs to some of the online learning that we're   going to be talking about as part of the budget  to see if we want to maintain some of those   components as well as some staffing um with our  cares money we were able to pre you know hire   some counselors and then also some student support  staff that have helped flesh out some of the   things that we've been doing that cares because  dr kazmira's team has been doing this year um   yeoman's work to get everything aligned with  kids learning at home so some of those things   will be what

044we'll be talking about as part of  the budget i believe it's in your packet agenda   because it was presented at the uh a finance  um meeting uh to the board on december 21st   um and that outlines sort of the details of  what we have and are purchasing for cares um   to keep our families our children safe in the  schools um and we also presented an update   which is in your packet on the current budget  because if you ran the current budget right now   it would look odd in that it would show you that  there was a deficit of 1.3 million dollars for   this year so we just explained that to the board  in this committee that um that's just real that's   related to that braided funding that we had used  this year basically um it's

045just aligning all the   grants with the board operating budget to show  that it brings us into balance for this year   so as far as the budget process goes like i said  we'll be kicking that off um working with kate to   schedule a series of meetings next week um in in  the goal presenting to the board at the next board   the 127 meeting um and again it's it's a big  number it's a 5.3 just to do the carry forward   so we're gonna have to make some decisions about  um about the budget and and the priorities of the   budget um within that that context um so thank you  and again looking forward to working with everyone thank you much more to come about the budget  um no doubt so um i have two things but i   i

046see on here i think uh before you move  forward is it possible you know it's at this   time any board members having a question for  courtney that they can answer this sure okay   is this one i don't want anyone saying that  have been left out are there any question for   courtney's from board members quick inquiry why  don't we get something in writing that we can   look over or sure for a proposed budget  for the upcoming year or for this year   for the upcoming year yes sure um prior to the  committee so um al would you like something this   let's see what's today would you like something on  by friday i could get you something by friday that   would be great um i need to peruse and study i'm  not a flash genius like rich generally

047oh yeah i'd   be happy to so thank you you're welcome thank you  and courtney you'll be sending that information   out to all board members right and yeah you can't  yeah if you'd like lettuce i can send it through   i could send it through your office or just  directly to the board members whatever you'd like   right okay okay so everybody looking at the same  information sure okay okay i don't know do you   want me to move on or yes dr sal i just want it  that's okay kim do you have something on protocol   yeah um so part of what we're doing um as we turn  the new year and we're looking at the way that   the meetings are running um we're looking at um  who's who's speaking who's making presentations   and trying to kind of sketch

048out where we think  the year will go and one of the things that has   come up is for us to take a look obviously we've  been making some changes with public comment   and comments from different representatives  because we've been in this virtual world   so one of the things i did speak with gladys  a little bit about was um i think that you are   hearing from the um the faculty and teachers union  but you're not hearing from the administrators   union and that's something that has come from  us to put forward for you to consider and i   think the reason why is because many years ago  actually prior to my arrival you'll all remember   that building principals and administrators and  teachers were all in the same union and when they   separated we retained the speaking role or

049the  presentation role for you all for the teachers   um but we never put in anything to parallel with  the administrators so one of the things as we're   looking at um at organization of your meetings  is to put that out and i know gladys wanted me   to raise it in the context of the meeting so you  could think a little bit about going forward if   you want to make any tweaks or changes if you want  to put any time constraints anything like that   going forward i i i assume we'll get some feedback  and a discussion about that okay thank you ken   there's two things one um you're going to  start reading about um a proposal made from   the connecticut association of public schools  superintendents and also um by katie roy who   is no longer executive director

050for the for the  um budgeting uh project the finance project in   connecticut um you're going to and i'll at the  next meeting um they just published something   and i will get it out to you but ostensibly uh  the caps is looking at redoing uh ecs for the   entire state to revamp the in the entire thing and  over a 15-year period and have a system that is um   dependable and uh recognizable with a two  and a half percent increase per year 15 years   they're also looking for the state to step  up to their 50 commitment with the local   taxpayers um looking at also in two  years catching up to the excess cost   funding mechanism um the finance project on the  other hand is looking at it much more aggressively   i think the number presented to me

051was like in  order to achieve equity and all this is based on   equity and disparity between um i'm going to use  the word haves and has not for whatever reasons   and uh that it's about 649 million dollars to put  into the formula uh with waiting for ell much more   than we have uh for special ed uh students and  for uh reducing reduced and free lunch numbers   to bring in equity up to um programming they  would like to see that done in a year so um   we'll probably hear on both accounts i could  have we'll talk about the caps one but i don't   want you reading about something and not at  least knowing there's something in i noticed   today with something from ryan bingham our um our  lobbyist uh setting a time for us to meet

052with   our constituents our you know legislative group  and i think he did ask us to come up with a   time they suggested a time and a zoom meeting and  we'll probably talk about these things so at the   next meeting i'll bring this up and we can for  discussion um and i'll share it with you because   it is in it's about i think 30 points that they're  making and then i can share with you but um the   last thing i want to mention to all of you um just  and i said it the other night i'm i'm a little   dismayed at some of the things that i'm reading  um and you know i know everybody is frustrated   about coming to school and kids bringing home and  the social emotional issues the learning issues   but i gotta

053say um the board has been um very  mindful of the needs of parents communicating with   me trying to put us in a position to do what's  right regarding safety and and bringing kids back   the teachers as well i think as aaron pointed out  today and some of the things i've been reading   and not only are not accurate but um it's talk  talking in ways that they i in my view is somewhat   disparaging of some of our own neighbors some  of our teachers um parents that we have in the   district um i i just would like us to be calm  um and as we come back and just to know that   the decision that we've made i know that  folks don't agree with all of them but the   lens always was safety the new lens is

054looking at  safety and practice and we'll talk about that in   a little while but i did want to mention that  and um hope that the um you know i don't have   control of social media but uh it is somewhat um  asparagine to me to see that that out there in the   public so um i just want to make that statement um  madam chairman i don't i don't have anything else   uh other than that we can move into the next  phase if you would like yes yes dr sale you   can move into the next thank you i just let me  know get my my uh that my program up here again   um uh okay here we go um all right so okay um  let's talk about the um first thing i just want to   mention the

055summit real quick um you know the the  formal follow the function at the meeting before   the meeting tonight you heard about all of the  work that has been going into crafting what the   division for secondary education that will be  melded into um the space that we have at the   summit um i'm sure um i'm gonna we're gonna have  to i'm gonna have to talk to joe we'll have to put   together a uh a meeting for the um facilities uh  regarding uh looking at some med specs that we're   gonna need to move over to the board for approval  that will have to then go to the city regarding uh   the application even though the project's been  approved uh we still have ed specs to deal with   i i received something this week from mr cavo  that

056said that there's a committee that will   be operating in the town i see courtney and  myself will be part of that uh as i say i'm not   exactly sure if that's quote the building  committee because the separate from the   board of ed is a building committee that nurtures  the project as they move through so as soon as i   find out more information joe i will get to you  i'm sure we're gonna need a facilities committee   the osborne project uh courtney i know i would  like to if there's anything you could tell the   board about that you may have more information  than than i have on that would you like to do that   uh just we're on on track they've been in it  the architects have been um in the building   um they're in the design

057phase and we're still on  track for our scheduled um opening um for osborne   or scheduled start for osborne of this upcoming  summer so it's moving forward along they might   even start a little bit earlier um we're looking  to secure a lease we've secured a lease for um the   um building uh riches facilities group and we're  looking to secure a lease for um the registration   and ambits group um for them in for a one year  time frame short term so that they have you know   a place to to be until the project's completed  so and just for the board regarding building the   granville project has a temporary occupancy thanks  to kelly and her staff who shepherded through it's   been really really difficult with covert things  have not been delivered and um people became sick   and couldn't

058work i mean it's just been one thing  after another um but monday i'm sorry no tuesday   uh it'll be open and uh kelly you want to update  the board quick sure we'll be moving um six of our   preschool classes over to our new preschool site  at granville um we will only be occupying the top   floor of the building um as that is the floor  that is finished and we received um you know uh   the official word from the building department  as well as the as well as the fire marshal   um to move into the top floor of the building  uh that will be enough to um house all of our   classes for the beginning of our return  to school we will then move into the lower   floor of a couple more classes um starting  a

059week or two about two to three weeks later   is our anticipated timeline um the i have to just  thank um you know rich dalbert and his team um   the cabinet team courtney uh kim kevin and  sal and kara have been wonderful um honestly   this was a team effort everyone from the city  on down we would not be opening if it was not   for everyone's combined effort so the building  looks beautiful we're really thrilled to have   our preschool kids there and we'll be even  more excited when we can occupy both floors   of the building but for right now it meets our  needs our young learners will be coming back and   it does um you know it feels like a school for  preschool when you walk in which is really nice   so at some point we should

060have a walkthrough  what the board would like to say it right yeah i   think probably a couple weeks out once the entire  building is is finished it would be appropriate to   do so that would be great okay good so let's go to  uh reopening update and we'll we'll fold in that   hybrid model in there as well uh kevin so you  want to put up the um presentation that we have while uh he's doing that i'll have um kara um  would you just upgrade the board about the model   itself for the hybrid and then we'll go into the  uh the reopening or so just briefly um you know   nothing much has changed uh with the 612 hybrid  model um we're still incorporating the distance   learners into the the hybrid classrooms um but  we've had a lot

061of meetings leading up to this   opening to just double check um to see if there's  anything any other ways that we can enhance um   some of the ways that we're moving forward so  um we have uh talked about providing just a   little bit more structure to the at-home students  learning day to make sure that you know they stay   on track with their schedule they're going to be  coming in two days a week and they'll be off two   days a week at home doing asynchronous learning  but how we can provide a little bit more of a   touch point so we're going to be doing three touch  points during the day picking up probably after   the second week so it'll be a morning session sel  students will be invited to join their classmates   in the morning to

062be a part of that sel warm-up  activity and to kind of overview the day they'll   have an opportunity at the end of the day which  was part of the original plan for questions and   check-in with the teacher sort of the undivided  attention of the teacher at that point in the day   but the part that we've added in um is a a lesson  touch point mid-day so on so on either for example   if a student was in the thursday friday cohort in  person monday and tuesday they would have either   a literacy lesson or a numeracy lesson and be  invited into a portion of that lesson whether   it be the practice and review or part of the mini  lesson and that'll change each week depending on   on what's happening in the classroom and  the coaches and specials

063will be making   special attention to create the lessons that would  best serve um that that purpose of of in home and   um in home and in pert at home and in person  learners um so we think that that'll provide some   light touch points to across the day to provide  structure for at home but still attending to our   philosophy that when students come into school  the teacher's really giving the preponderance   of their attention to the in-person learners  so that we're not keeping kids on the computer   who are in school all day uh which tends to  happen when students do we're doing full day live   streaming so we still do not want to do that um so  these individual schools will be providing updates   for parents to talk through that and then  teachers will be sending those

064schedules out   the first week back in um will be just the end  of the day uh check-in we want to make sure that   the focus of the first week of school is really  about getting students in orienting them to their   buildings their classrooms to safety protocols  and just getting used to the idea of what six feet   mean in the classroom and how we have to  operate so um buses will you know as we   work through this model the buses will be  rolling in over the next couple of weeks   you know will that morning touch point um could  happen at different times and so we have to be   a little bit flexible in the beginning until  we establish the buses and the timing of all   of those between the schools on on this busing  schedule so

065parents can expect three touch points   after the second week of returning um some of that  may happen a little bit more quickly depending on   how quickly those classrooms and the schools  get into a routine so we're excited about that   we think that this will help to enhance the  at-home students day for the hybrid students   okay madam chair can i ask a  question on the k-5 program that's appropriate it's okay with me if it's okay thank you um thank you re real quick i know  whether this is first dr sal or kara how are   we handling lunch for the elementary if i remember  correctly we were eating in the classrooms is that   still the protocol it depends and that that's  part i believe part of this yeah part of joe   we're going to talk about that

066okay did you the  six through 12 you know is grab and go right   that's a mixture of some in school uh summing  classes some in cap we'll talk about that in here   okay i'll hold my question for later thank you  all right kevin um i can't see it so kevin is the   liaison regarding uh the reopening um so um i'll  just have some preparatory remarks and i would   like him to take us through that you all knew that  in october we had that turnaround which was um difficult to do but we did because we felt it was  important the information that we had at that time   and the information regarding  practice is much different now   and it was based upon um the practices in the  state of connecticut and information that the   state board of

067that had been collecting  and disseminating to the 169 towns   um currently every town is in the red there  are towns that exceed danbury's numbers   in terms of infection rates and um per hundred  thousand so um many of us are there they're very   one or two that's in the moderate um so you know  then then going back with some real questions and   that's those questions we talked about at the um  the medical advisory meeting we had uh when when   we turned after the holidays as you know we had  indicated to the community that our intent was to   take this new information and with a wait time of  days after the holiday because of the impact of   the virus we would move towards an implementation  of opening our schools beginning with the   elementary going to middle and

068then high school  um so uh we convened the meeting with the um   with the uh advisors and we had a lot of  questions as you know there's a new virus   strand there's many things and what we were  advised in terms of what to think about is that   that the schools themselves in terms of transfer  rate what's bearing out is that it's very low   among students the adults are the issues that  we're having in terms of community spread and not   so much teacher spread at the school itself but  community spread and the doctors had a unique kind   of perspective on that particularly those that um  dr begs who was practicing and is connected with   um danbury household and dr fong who who's been in  the community for a very long time in pediatrician   the the evidence

069is that the community of  adults who are now are very knowledgeable   about the virus the spread of virus and  those activities that puts people at risk   when they leave the institution in our  institutions of schools and to to be knowledgeable   that our our staff should be aware of and things  that they should be doing or not doing in order   to keep themselves uh in a position to uh to be  able to come and come to work regarding the school   it was very clear that those schools that have put  in the mitigation strategies i mean we've talked   about ours somewhere in the vicinity of i don't  know five million dollars between events desk   i call them dividers these these little plastic  things so kids can be behind them we have special   garb for more intense programming

070for  students that those mitigation strategy   of social distancing um we've gone so far to  ask folks not to come together for meetings or   meetings should be done virtually in order to  not to prevent any any spread we spent a lot   of time in cohorting um so they were able to do  tracing if it becomes necessary um we have set up   these cohorts that could be by bus so that we can  do notifications uh when when in fact it happens   um the the uh evidence that we're getting back  now it doesn't there are some spreads in schools   uh as the lady and as a parent indicated today i  mean just before in the opening and the remarks   from the public the schools in danbury have been  open but they've also been closed primarily for   um some

071of them because of staff the inability  to get staff and to operate so um you know that   is more of a concern than i have in terms of that  happening than i am of um what would happen at the   buildings because i'm very confident that  we uh will have the mitigation strategies   um to um to do what we need to do to  keep our youngsters and everyone safe   serendipitously it seems as though you know we  may have hit a sweet spot inadvertently that   the vaccine now um is is moving very aggressively  i mean this whole timing may fall in the position   where as we as we um start implementing the  re um reintroducing our kids to in-building   learning and personal learning may coincide very  nicely with the vaccination process um and um   that is evolving

072every day um one of the  things this is the board we're understanding   that um you know they may um use the vaccine  for everyone and then schedule the second one   um as more vaccines coming so um  kim and kathy o'dowd have been uh   and carol prundley brittany have been very active  in in looking at that um i'm just hoping that it   does coincide with what we're doing so you know  when i see all of those things coming about   the the teachers being knowledgeable about what  to do what not to do waiting these two weeks   um and then bringing our kids back slowly i'm  sure we're gonna have some hiccups there's no   doubt about that we're gonna have some closures  no doubt about that but i think it is the way   that um what's happening um

073not just in  connecticut but throughout the country   uh and i believe we'll be in a position to be safe  with that said there is a presentation that i'd   like to go through and open up the questions  i know joe had one about food and maybe some   other ones but do you want to move on from here  kevin for me please sure give me one second while you're doing that for the board we're  going to be sending home a notice on a robocall   on sunday night and wednesday just reminding  teachers and students about um if in fact   you know some of the healthy protocols  if you're not feeling well to stay home   where you could be tested if you need to who to  contact just as a reminder as we phase into this   so sunday night

074and wednesday nights we'll be  sending you at home to the two hybrids uh groups   that are coming in and just for your information  we have about 4 000 students that are on dl   that are the 12 000 students that we have so you  know you have eight thousand coming in uh four   thousand at a time on the high coverage that'll be  spread among our all our campuses so that's how so   go ahead kevin dr salphus i cannot share for  some reason cara i might need your help here   can i carap can i share my document  with you to share with everyone yes   yes send it to me and i will try  to get that kevin as we do that and karen there are only three pages okay do you want to start kevin or you 

075want to wait for it to come up uh kim while he's doing that you want  to update them on the vaccine please sure um one of the things that's ongoing um  as we're kind of getting ready for re-entry um   we're working simultaneously on a number of fronts  um but the the vaccine okay the way that this runs   is that there is um a system that's set up by the  cdc with support from the local health department   where once folks are deemed eligible within  phase 1b which is about to open they then   ask us for basic information which includes  name email address and telephone number   once all of that information is uploaded into  the vaccine registry then the system takes over   we sort of step out and notifies those people  who've been input that they are

076eligible that   they can set up a file and register and they  can select a vaccination time and location   so right now kathy o'dowd and i  are working very closely together   getting all of those lists together you might  recall i believe we've said in a prior meeting   we've already gone through this process  with our nurses and occupational therapists   and physical therapists and soon to be if not  already started slps speech and language folks   those are all people who hold certificates that  are connected to the department of health and   that was how they were designated in the 1a group  so we're preparing for the move to the 1b group   and right now we are marshaling our lists together  and getting sufficient resources because we can't   just upload the information all has to be entered  individually so we're

077going through the process of   doing that now um and it's our hope that we'll be  able to complete that we'll round the bend at some   point next week i would think or the next couple  of weeks to get everyone in we're about 2 000   employees it's going to take a little bit of time  but i want to thank kathy for her leadership on   this along with carapanti um they've been amazing  and they've responded to our concerns about groups   and and who's being included and it's going to  be a very heavy lift but i think we'll get there   eventually um and we're hopeful that that's going  to actually help us give us a little bit more   comfort as we continue to roll open the buildings  and we have more staff and students attending i'm sorry kevin

078go ahead i see you're up  there okay so so one i just want to take   this opportunity before we get started and these  are three very quick slides but i just wanted to   share with the community um our principals um our  teachers um our school custodians safety advocates   secretaries nurses everyone has done an amazing  job in helping to get our buildings ready for the   reopening next week and momentarily we'll have the  phases and what we should share in the phases that   dr sal spoke to um a couple of minutes ago um one  i just want to also thank courtney and her office   on the director of facilities director of  safety safety advocates um has has joined   me visiting all of the schools and speaking to  the principals and assessing their readiness and   getting feedback from

079them for any  last-minute resources they might need   needless to say you know we had done this  previously in october and certainly we felt   like we were ready to open then we feel even more  ready now um given the latest uh development with   uh resources that courtney was able to ensure  that all of our buildings had and so we will be a   one-to-one um desk shield in every  in every classroom in the district   and so you know we're really excited about that  and in addition to of course the expectation is   all of our students are still expected to wear the  mask as as as our bass policy as indicated earlier   next week we will start with the sound  that you want me to speak to the schedule yes just go right through it okay okay so

080next  week uh my elementary schools we are expecting   elementary students next week for in-person  learning and so for the families who have   selected to send their children to school  for in-person we will start the day after   martin luther king's holiday and we will start on  tuesday morning january 19th and that will be our   k-5 students the following monday we will have our  middle school students starting and that will be   our six to eight students and that will be monday  january 25th and then a few weeks later initially   we had planned we had considered a couple of  different models uh one we had considered a 612   starting on january 25th and then we had  considered um monday uh the following monday   and that would be the following monday i think we  were considering before february first

081and after   consultation with the high school we thought  it was best so that we don't have an additional   transition at the high school we thought it was  best to start clean with the new semester um and   so that's why we're starting on monday february  1st with the high school we also just wanted to   give some updates to the community to the board um  you know some updates regarding contact tracing um   and then also some updates regarding quarantining  uh we received recently some updates from the cdc   and department of health yeah i know kathy is also  on this call for anything that might might not get   get correct but we've received some updates from  the department of health and the 14-day quarantine   and expectation has been relaxed a little bit  um you can go as we

082can have a quarantine period   as as as minimal as seven days up to 14 days  and we have decided to choose a 10-day option   um and this was after consultation with our  local health experts including dr fong dr begg   cathy o'dowd and and um and cara punty um and so  that's that's why the the ethan the letter that   our families received last friday from dr sal uh  it reiterated that expectation and so in the event   we do have a positive case in the community um or  if you're a primary contact uh the expectation is   you will need to quarantine for at the minimum of  ten days um the the contact tracing protocol um   well certainly you know unfortunately and  as a doctor sal mentioned um we've had other   districts who have who have been back

083in school um  unfortunately you know there have been times when   classrooms have had to close down schools they've  had to close down for short periods of time   and certainly we anticipate those things as well  and we are and we are ready quite frankly we have   gotten some practice over these last couple  of months with the programming that we've had   and and between kathy o'dowd the nurses at all  of our buildings and the protocols that our   principals have put in place which includes um  sign-in sheets at every single classroom in the   building including into anyone who enters into  building that staff i mean enters the building   will be able to quickly respond to any  uh positive cases in the school community   um so our readiness we feel like we're in a  really good place to open

084our schools next week   um and quite frankly look forward to looking look  forward to opening our doors for our staff and and   also looking forward to opening our doors for  our kids again could you speak to the lunches   yes sure and and joe i did hear your question  earlier and so the k5 lunch protocol is   is it's not and so in the majority of  our schools lunch will be served in the   cafeterias uh and that in that and for the  majority of our k5 schools that is the case   in some instances uh lunch will be served in the  classroom um and that is almost in one school   we have lunch being served in every classroom at  that elementary school um in another in a couple   of other schools we have some of our lower grades 

085kindergarten in first grade lunch is being served   in a classroom in those schools and it's really  about how the principal was able to provide um   provide supervision during lunch and whether they  were able to provide supervision in the cafeteria   or not help to determine whether or not we can  have lunch in the cafeteria um for all of our   students who are having lunch in the cafeteria  um we have um we have limited the movement um in   those spaces so that kids are not congregating  at any point and so we have worked with the   cafeteria staff and i just want to also applaud  that group as well because they've been tremendous   and very cooperative in this process and so they  will make sure that they have lunches ready on the   tables for students as they enter

086the cafeteria um  we will also have shields on the table helping to   separate the students during the cafeteria time  as well and the cafeteria staff and additional   custodial staff that will be brought on will  be available um to wipe down those spaces in   between lunch waves um and so it's in some schools  where we have you know maybe more students than we   would like in one cafeteria uh wave we've also  opened up the the gym the the adjacent gym space   and so in some of our schools we even have um  tables uh tables set up in those spaces as well   to to ensure the social distance kevin if i  could follow up on that um might i think i   have a question on this in terms of just the sheer  number of kids eating in

087a room we have cafeteria   staff and teachers on lunch duty and a whole bunch  of kids unmasked it it seems to me that if we were   a restaurant we wouldn't be allowed to do this the  the covid 2.1 sector rules for restaurants it's   fifty percent six feet no more eight  per table are we complying with i mean   i don't i'm not envisioning a scenario  by which we can comply with those rules how do we justify this i'm just a little  concerned with the exposure so so joe our   capacity in most of our elementary schools is  100 to 200 250 kids in our elementary schools   and and and i would say up other than park no one  really has more than 40 students in the cafeteria   uh and so in in our you know our traditional 

088rectangle long cafeteria tables we have no more   than three students at that table and so all of  them are six feet apart um over the years we have   you know really for efficiency's sake we've gotten  these round octagon-like tables to fit eight kids   at a table um and even at those tables we only  have three students sitting at those tables   and and in that case we will  also have barriers in the middle   um and so and so we were mindful of those social  distancing you know protocols and as you might   imagine our our our our principals and and other  staff members raised similar concerns as you   and and in spaces where we felt like there  were too many students um in one room we've   asked those principals to open up an additional  space similar and

089so in this case um as an example   morris street um they have like a little stage in  their cafeteria so we've asked them to also open   up that space and have a couple of tables and have  a couple of tables um opened up on the stage to   continue to social distance um the same thing with  south street we've asked them to open up their gym   because their cafeteria is so small but even in  those cases you know the principal there has about   35 36 kids um and uh 36 kids three year table and  like 12 tables in that space where typically we   might have you know eight kids at one table at  a time um you know times 12. so we've reduced   significantly and our in-person numbers um and  so if a classroom is walking

090to the cafeteria   for lunch you know where where if we had three  sections and i'll use south street as an example   she has three sections per grade level and on  the average to 25 let's just say 25 per classroom   so 75 welcome to lunch you know now we may only  have 12 to 12 13 kids per class walking to lunch   um and so those numbers are reduced significantly  now and those 36 kids will be spread out   and and what we feel like is is is really  as safe as we can possibly get um and now   with these additions and now with these with these  death shields we can provide an additional barrier   you know in addition to the social distance  and that we felt like we had accomplished   it was this was this just decided

091as  safer than eating in the classroom   because i thought it was that when we discussed  this over the summer it seemed that that was the   that was the model we were using yes joe it  really came down to supervision um and and   being able to provide the supervision across  the board um for you know you know what i mean   in order to do that um and so again you know  in some schools we were able to accomplish   that and in some schools we were not okay  thank you so one of the things i've talked to   we've had the time to talk to folks one of the  things that we're going to have to do is um you   know we may have to retrench and relook at so we  we told the elementary principles today you

092know   we're going to have to just look two weeks and  and we may have to just pivot and do some other   things and just be aware we need to be nimble but  uh kathy is online kathy has been very intimately   involved with kara prenty and with the state  department of health kathy maybe you can come   comment on the return in some of the practices  that we're doing might be helpful for the board um sure thank you dr sal um so i i believe we  have a very safe plan in place for our return   um we as dr sal mentioned we will be sending  those robo calls out on sundays and wednesdays   reminding everyone of the need to screen at home   not send their children for parents not  to send their children to school sick   uh

093we'll also be discussing the travel advisory um  there is a requirement in the state of connecticut   for international and domestic travel that  people must either quarantine for 10 days or   have a negative kova test that they provide  that documentation to us before they can return   in addition we'll be reinforcing all of our  mitigation strategies so that will include the   mask wearing the social distancing the frequent  hand washing hand sanitizing um courtney and   her team and rich dalbert have been wonderful  all of the classes have been supplied with um   with wipes with disinfectant cleaner everything  that's needed um we have um more than enough   ppe we're well prepared for that we've established  our isolation rooms um and just you know in regard   to the cafeterias versus the classroom space  everything has been distanced as best it

094can be   and i feel we have a very safe plan in place to  return can you just mention that contact tracing   the board knows the parameters i think that's  interesting sure so um for contact tracing   um um i will be conducting that in collaboration  with my school nurses uh certainly principals and   teachers will be um called upon to help us  with that as well so if we have identified   a positive case in school we will look to  see who has been what we call a close contact   which means anyone who has been within six feet  of distance less than six feet of distance for   15 minutes or more would be identified as a close  or a direct contact those people will be notified   directly for families that will include a robocall  with a letter uh

095it will include the instructions   for quarantine where to go for testing and  certainly the school nurse's number and my number   so that we can be contacted with any questions  um every principal will be provided with a   general notification letter that will go to their  school community informing them that we have had   an individual we do not identify if it's a  student or a staff member but we just identify   an individual it's a positive case and they're  just getting that letter as a notification just   for their information the um positive case  of course then will be followed by the health   department for them to continue their contact  tracing the school nurses will keep track of   the students who are in quarantine and staff  who are in quarantine in terms of their   negative or positive results and

096then in terms of  the general public we have a dashboard thanks to   gina jasmine for her help in creating that for  me that's updated on a daily basis so anyone in   the public can go and look they can see uh the  individual school if we have a case if there   have been direct contacts and how many people are  in quarantine and that's updated on a daily basis   and the 10 days so in terms of the new quarantine  um you know the cdc um their recommendations still   14 days is the best however they feel there  has been a lot of non-compliance with that   throughout many and i would say most communities  um throughout the country so what they determined   was that we could have two options the first  is to reduce that quarantine to 10 days  

097so anyone who is either positive for covid  or has been exposed and put into quarantine   that will be 10 days with a cove test if um after  the 10 days if they've been positive symptoms   have either improved or for the asymptomatic  it would just be the 10 days of quarantine   they can return to school however people must  continue to monitor not only for excuse me for   the 14 days but we expect families and staff  to be monitoring before school every day anyway   they also gave an option for a seven-day test  out which meant that uh someone after five days   of exposure could get a covet test and if it was  negative they could come out of quarantine um and   then continue to monitor for symptoms however  when looking at that and the increase so when  

098you decrease the quarantine you are increasing  the risk a little bit of spread reducing to the   ten days it was minimal it was about a one percent  risk um but the seven days went up to five percent   and we felt that that just was not uh something  that we wanted to take on and i will tell you i   don't know of any other district in fairfield  county that has opted for the seven days so   as a team we met we've decided to adopt the  10-day quarantine and that's what we're going with for the other the other important mitigation  strategy and rick jalvert is with us tonight   uh in terms of um the buildings rich do you want  to go over some of the things that you'll be doing   and i know for the board we

099have  been we've had a difficult time   not only getting subs and we just can't  people don't want to come in at this point   um also hiring um our extra custodians we're  in the process of doing that but we have some   backup plans but the cleanliness and some  of the things we're doing maybe rich you   could talk to the board a little bit about  that because that that was way on my mind rich mr jalver rich oh i see him there but  he's not speaking up um courtney   you want to pick up for him oh sure yeah so um  we had set aside funds in the budget to hire um   a sub-custodian for every uh building and um rich  and his team put out a call and um we didn't get a   huge response we we

100did hire a few and that we've  gotten phenomenal feedback the people that we   brought on board we're hoping as we have you know  vacancies we'll be able to bring them on board as   full uh staff because everyone's really really  pleased with the work that they've been doing   so we can provide you an update at the next  um board meeting but um i don't know because   i've been a little bit snowed under with  the with the launch of our payroll system   where we stood this week but i know last  week they were working to do the interviews   um maybe kim knows from processing any of them if  um how many we had going if rich can you answer   um again we had a plan to bring on one  for every building but we're just a   little

101bit behind because of the recruitment  efforts being a little challenged um okay um   oh i just had to we are uh retraining all of  our custodial staff in the cleaning protocols   we did a training for all the custodial  staff in the in the cleaning protocols   before you know one of our many iterations  of going back to school the protocols   have not changed there's a certain type of  material you use during the day for cleaning   and then after school for cleaning just for the  safety of the students that are cdc approved and   that kathy's reviewed and and um we're comfortable  that they're appropriate materials you know we'll   go back over the training protocols with all the  custodians and i just want to commend them for um   as we did the walkthroughs of the buildings which  i

102wasn't able to join kevin with on this next   uh round this week that happened but i mean the  buildings looked really wonderful they've done   such a tremendous job just getting things  cleaned and up and ready to go so i i have   great faith that they'll be very diligent and i  think they're happy to see the kids return as well   so um my understanding too is that the backup plan  is to bring in people for overtime in while we   screen and bring people in for the part-time work  um so that we have coverage during the day the   other area i think the board's going to be hearing  about constantly and we're going to hear about   subs and that will back out and kim maybe you  want to speak to some of that what may happen with  

103some of the last minute closures sure um so we  have um two things that are going on in that area   one that's going to be particularly complicated is  going to be folks that call out so people that are   currently scheduled to come to in-person work who  have to call out sick for one reason or another   and we've had to make some modifications to the  way that we assign sick time and and that kind   of thing because of changes in the federal law  the family first coronavirus act was changed   fairly significantly in its second iteration so  it did not pick up 14 days of paid sick time if   you're on quarantine it did not pick up and renew  intermittent child care so we have had to put   a series of policies and procedures together and  there

104is if you're interested you can see a letter   that went to all hands from me that is also  posted on our website under the human resources   tab under the covid procedures and basically we're  trying to make this as as seamless for folks as   we can particularly those people who are going to  be involved in quarantining situations so they're   not sick themselves but they are able to work  from home if possible um which would require   us i would say in a perfect world simply but not  so simply to be sure that we have supervision for   students that are coming into the classroom while  that teacher is home on quarantine um so we're   trying to work through now all of the scenarios  on um what the options will be for our staff if   they have to call

105out sick or if they have to stay  home for quarantining reasons and as i said those   are laid out in the letter it's also required some  fairly significant um changes to the aesop system   which we're currently implementing now some new um  items in the pull-down menu for folks to select so   that's been ongoing um right now it as we also uh  make one final run through all of those folks who   i've got accommodations for one reason or another  um we are i will just say anecdotally continuing   to get requests for accommodation to work from  home i've probably gotten a dozen in the last week   and as you'll recall i've been doing those  since june so we're trying to do what we   can to support our staff as we get ready to  open that said assuming

106that we will have   outed people who are calling out and remember  that in a perfect year in a given non-coveted   year we have days particularly in the winter  where we'll do as many as 125 absences in a day   so we have been brainstorming on ways to cover  absences which certainly and surely will be higher   this year in large part because of the quarantine  rules so we've had a multi-pronged attack you're   going to see some flyers out and around again  and some contacts coming through home schools   again putting the call out for substitutes anyone  who is interested in being the sub pool the sub   pool i think i reported to you at the last meeting  ordinarily stands around 250 we re-surveyed   we surveyed in just before the holidays and we  surveyed again now and we've generated

107about 50   folks who are very much interested in coming back  the remainder we either haven't heard from or are   not interested in subbing so what we've done  is we in addition to the regular building subs   that we place in every building in any given  year we've bolstered that group with a second   backup building sub um so we've taken those folks  that have expressed an interest to work and we are   assigning them to buildings we're not going to  allow them to move across multiple buildings   to the greatest extent possible so that we  reduce any risk of spread or breaking the cohort   but we're assigning them building by building  today i had a meeting our team had a meeting   with all of the elementary principals to talk  about how we would do the assigning and to talk  

108about um what that pressure valve is going to look  like what that target number is going to look like   where it may not be possible for us to use  existing staff and building subs to cover absences   and we talked through kind of the order  of priority um of we may have to pull   building principles may have to pull some of  their building staff from other areas to put   them into classrooms when we exhaust all of those  options the only option may be to close a building   and that's what right now we're trying to work  on what that emergency plan is going to look like   so each building principle at the  elementary level has been tasked with   trying to circle around what that number of  uncovered classes would look like for them   and melissa bang who's

109our asap coordinator and  has been since our inception so who knows it   inside and out is going to work to watch the daily  absence reports each afternoon and early evening   in order to put up an alert to the building  principal if those numbers seem to be rising   in a way that they may not be able to  sustain opening on the following day   um it's we're not going to be able to do it on  the morning of because we simply aren't going   to be able to stop children coming on buses but we  may the night before see a critical shortage where   we may have to close a building what she'll  do when she alerts the building principal is   she'll put in play a series of steps that will  include the building principle working with dr   sal

110and with kevin to talk about whether they  believe they may have to close the building   and if that decision is made there will then be  a phone tree that's going to involve robocalls   notifications to bus companies so we are trying  right now to make sure that we've solidified those   plans in the event that the existing sub coverage  just is not sufficient to keep the building open   we hope it will be a very rare occurrence  but it may be that this is what happens   so if that is to happen obviously all of  our staff will flip to remote on that day   and so those people who can work from  home will so there shouldn't be any   impact on sick time or anything  like that but it will definitely be   a last-minute change and i know for

111those of  you who are parents out there particularly   those of you who are working parents um you know  we have watched our neighboring districts do this   and it has been gut-wrenching to watch sometimes  these calls are coming at nine o'clock at night   and we're going to do everything we can to give  as much time to families to plan for a last-minute   closure but it's definitely going to be it's going  to be an option for us if we get to that point   so kelly i had before any any special areas  with the reopening for your group of folks kelly yes sorry um so for the um special ed  for the reopening um we are going to start by   returning all students two days a week um under  the monday tuesday or thursday friday cohort and   then

112we will look to expand about two weeks in we  would look to expand to bring the students that   were identified as the four day a week cohort to  bring them in for additional time uh the reason   behind this is to make sure that we are ensuring  um you know strict uh guidance or we're following   strict guidelines regarding the cohorting model  the other difference is at the preschool level   we will bring in our students into four cohorts  so there will be a morning and afternoon cohort   each day and then a monday tuesday cohort and  a thursday friday cohort and that is to keep   the class sizes extremely small at that level  to ensure safety so i think other than rich i   mean i think we have a comprehensive plan and yet  i'm sure there's some hiccups

113that we're going to   have to remedy but i think we're we're as ready as  we're going to be we've looked at the classrooms   i am told that the most important mitigation  strategy make sure everybody's work masks that   is that is number one number uno in terms of uh  prevention and then the social distancing part   as well and minimize or eliminate the gathering of  together so we're doing all that um but we'll see   how it works i think some parents will get some  late calls but as kim just said if we open up   on a morning and we're going to be eight or nine  teachers short we're going to open up and figure   out how to get how to do it because we can't just  turn the kids around and send them back so that's   why

114we're going to try to make that decision the  night before i have nothing else and i'll just   ask my team um if if um if you have anything um if  not i got to give a shout out to kim and her staff   i received something today which i found um very  moving for me i'm hearing some of these anecdotal   stories about why folks can come in and and they  are um very heavy very deep and very sad and i   keep getting this notice that um you know there is  a heart and human in the human resource department   listening and helping and working through and  advising and going over uh way beyond just one   mundane about what our procedures are that's from  all of the staff so kim i gotta thank you and mr   publicly for

115doing that i'm treating our faculty  and staff with respect uh particularly at this   time when everybody is so tense and filled with  anxiety and rightfully so so thank you very much   but thank you thank you madam chair and that's  all i have thank you dr uh before we move on um   our board members uh are there any questions  that they would like to ask dr sale or kim   about the reopening amy well you're all doing an  amazing job and uh yet i was wondering this week   we we're wondering about when will  we be able to come into beaverbrook   as the board and meet in that huge room i i think uh right now um as i said before we're  asking for folk not not to convene right give us   some time so i think gladys

116was going to deal with  that i'm we intend on being in you know in terms   of working for us but at the board um i'm not sure  if you want to you know wait till the first part   let us open up and then see what happens the first  meeting in february may be a good target uh for   for you to think about but that's something what  should decide what we have been following amy   has been um you know what the city council's been  doing so i mean that's sort of been our ammo but   right now there is a chance for as you  know a hybrid possibility and i think   that's a conversation you guys should have but uh  certainly um by that time it may be appropriate   for you okay good i saw the driving

117uh uh dr  sam uh kim could you go through the uh protocol   for us really going back into the building and  what needs to be done before we just can't say   okay monday we're going to go back into beaver  brook there are some things that have to come   into play before we even go back into the building  right so so i'll start and maybe courtney can also   chime in in terms of that um the the first thing  is um you should all know that beaver brook is   going to operate on a kind of a modified schedule  and that stems from the fact that we are all kind   of squished into our spaces and share an awful lot  of spaces and cannot meet a six foot distancing   requirement so um you know for those of you

118who've  kind of poked your head into my suite or kelly   suite you you know that um we're really kind of  pushed in and so we did a lot of work in the fall   on trying to really separate our teams that are  in beaver brook out and in some places we're going   to have to go to an alternating work schedule so  some one cohort is in monday tuesday one cohort is   in thursday friday remember too that we have one  restroom in that building um we have the the men's   and women's room um that's right off the boardroom  um for the boardroom itself and again i can defer   to to courtney and kevin who have done a lot of  the logistics on this um but i will say that you   know you're talking about 11 board members

119you're  talking about five cabinet members and anyone   invited to the meeting and then the public and  that room you'd be amazed how quickly six feet   gets gobbled up and so that's a primary concern  the secondary concern is ventilation in that room   which is not great you'll remember um the air  conditioning problems we've had in that room   um and lastly i will say one thing that we have  paid attention to that dr sell just referred to   across the district is in meeting with  our administrators we have already had   situations where more than one administrator has  met together and that pair or triplet or whoever   it is gets quarantined so it's pretty easy to  wipe out an entire team with a quick meeting   in terms of quarantine not necessarily sick  but quarantining and so you'll see as

120a cabinet   our intention is that we all meet from our  offices on our laptops so the days where we   all sat around dr sal's table are are not going  to happen um but rather we'll use this technology   albeit from beaver brook but with attention  to making sure that we've separated ourselves   to the greatest extent possible because as  i said if um cathy o'dowd does the contact   tracing she could put out the entire cabinet  level team um for for for 10 to 14 days um just   after a meeting so um it's one of the things that  we're paying close attention to um i have talked   just anecdotally with some surrounding districts  um and they're all considering the same kinds   of things in in going back to this hybrid  model or going back to a full board

121meeting   um and everybody's kind of watching carefully  to see how this unrolls but those are just   some of the things that we think about now  sadly as part of our daily organizational life   um courtney and kevin i don't know if you want  to add anything more to the facilities piece   um um i wanted to also commend rich albert before  before he went out but earlier in the um fall he   went around i'm calling it the red walkie-talkie  that's not what it is but it's a co2 raider   so one of the there's recommendations for  the amount of co2 in a room that represents   the amount of fresh air that's pushed in to a  room and there's a threshold and he made sure   that every one of those spaces not just in the  schools but also in

122the administrative offices   meet that threshold and work with the city to make  sure there were some upgrades or modifications to   ventilation where it could be made to make  sure that that that protocol was being met   you know we train folks on opening windows where  applicable um we're being very effective from home   even my i mean a lot of my finance staff does go  in because they like to to see each other even   distance so you know we don't have them going  in to a small space crammed in all at once but   um you know and they need to do so to run payroll  and to do you know major finance um we're still   kind of paper based so we're in the offices um  but um we we feel as yeah so so the buildings um  

123themselves uh have safety protocols in place  and as far as the board room kim's right we're   following the city the city's recommendation  they're not they're not meeting in their full city   council chambers yet we want to see you we want  to get back in we're anxious to see everyone i'm   very anxious to see you amy and meet personally  with everyone and um i think it's soon i think   the the connecticut we're one of the best in  terms of the number of vaccinations and arms and   kim working with kathy to get our district up and  going i i think it's around the corner for us you   know and we're really excited i just think we have  to be cautious not to push to the end line and   undo all the great progress that we've  done with

124kathy's health protocols and   and rich's work with building readiness and all  of kim's plans for accommodations and you know   and making sure that people are cohorting and  not crammed into their rooms where like kelly's   staff and kim staff are really really tight  um so all those things we're just we're being   mindful and we're really excited to be back with  everyone and i also want to commend everyone for   shifting to a bit of a work from home model  during this time for us it's just really been   tremendous how um you know people have just i  mean i think they're working harder and but that   said we're just very very excited to see the  board members again and it's around the corner   thank you we'll reevaluate it for this part of  february and you know if if

125we can't meet there   then maybe there's an alternative site you know um  we'll have to think that but that's what i think   amy okay thank you madam madam chair i'm about  to say i could i just because uh the question   was put to me as to you know when we were going  back to uh the meetings up at b report and um   you know it was suggested that you know some board  members could opt out as far as coming in person   and uh a jew from home and that sort of disturbed  me because you know i've been pushing that we work   together support one another okay and if we can't  get all 11 board members in to work to come to   meetings then to me we have senior board members  that you know everyone is

126not 100 in their health   and to say okay if you don't want to come to  a board meeting then you know you can do the   laptop and i truly understand that but it's not  working together and we're all coming all 11 of   us in the boardroom so you know i and i just feel  that you know this is a pandemic okay and certain   things has to be in place that we know that's not  in place that people broke it might be easier for   them to put up a big wide screen so we can see  the meetings and people other people participate   in those meetings but that's not bringing the  entire board into the to the boardroom so my   suggestion was and and it still might be that  is that we look at the last meeting

127in february   or the first week and their next board meeting  in february to discuss this a little bit further   and it's still on the agenda uh about discussion  but you know i'm looking at it and some might say   no we're not dividing each other but yes we are  because we do have senior murmurs that cannot   come at or would say no i'm not going to the full  board meeting so we're going to have four board   members or five or whoever uh at the meetings  and then we're going to have the rest uh on   laptops and i'm not comfortable with that okay so  that was going to be a part of my uh chairperson   report but i think it's appropriate to see it  now uh so kate had a question and then jody silva thank you

128uh thank you mrs cooper um i just want  to follow up dr sal um and i know you know i don't   know if you're the right person or if kathy's the  right person but i just wanted to ask about the 1b   uh distribution of the vaccines again i know that  uh i believe school teachers have been added to   that list and i'm just wondering about the support  staff like our our janitorial teams or bus drivers   or cafeteria workers do we have any information  about whether or not they're going to be part of   that that cohort yeah go ahead kat okay yes kate  i can speak to that so um the state determines the   different phases of the vaccine distribution  and who uh qualifies under each phase so n1b   yes it will include all of our

129school staff  teachers paraprofessionals the administrators   our custodial team food services  secretaries so everyone will be considered   i'm just just yeah the bus yes the bus  drivers um they will be registered separately   because they are an independent contractor and  i'm providing them with the information on how   they can do that um everything is dependent on the  vaccine supply yeah and that's what i was gonna   that actually leads in i don't mean to cut you off  but i wanted to get this other question in because   it sort of pertains to this um i'm just wondering  what the district plan is as far as trying to make   sure people are vaccinated and you know i think  that this is a tough one because i know that not   everyone is feeling very comfortable about it um  and obviously that

130presents some level of obstacle   for us if you know all these folks are going to  be in the same building so um we can't mandate   the vaccine we're not permitted to do that we do  encourage that everyone who is eligible receive it   certainly if people have concerns they should be  discussing that with their healthcare provider   and what we will do everyone will be uploaded into  the system into the vamp system so everyone will   get the invitation and then it will be their  personal decision as to whether or not they   choose to have the vaccine it's highly encouraged  but again it's not something we can mandate and i   assume that they would go to their provider  or to a community provider that we're not   you know it's not being organized and orchestrated  by our organization yeah

131oh no no no so when they   receive the invitation um we're working right now  with the health department and we will also be   collaborating with civic but when they receive  the invitation the locations where the vaccine   is offered the individual physicians don't have  the vaccine right now so currently we're running   a clinic out of rogers park and we've been  doing that since december 28th um the health   department has been doing that so um when they  get the invitation they register for an account   they select the location the times and days  of the clinic and the appointments available   are come up on the screen they select one uh  they're given a confirmation and then they go   and they present that confirmation and they'll  receive the vaccine okay does not have to be   in deemer it could

132be in no libertarian i mean  we are you know we've been working very closely   with cara we are encouraging our staff you  know to get it through rogers park that's you   know uh readily available and civic um but yes  there are other options okay thank you so much   sure i guess kate the interesting part would be um  i'm i'm making a sign of course when we all get uh   and we're ready to come back because you know  other than those that are on dl and the state   made a decision how long they need to be out and  then we'll and then probably would hit the road   though what i've heard so far   is the districts have done some surveying they  have up to 75 80 percent of the folks that are um   wanting to be

133vaccinated so i think it'll be  very very high that's good news i mean especially   because even after you receive the vaccination  they still don't have a at least what i've what   i've been seeing is that they don't have a sense  of whether or not people are capable of spreading   uh covet 19 even after they have the vaccine  so you know the mask piece and the the social   distancing and the you know the hand washing and  all that still is going to have to continue until   we really can get everybody vaccinated yep  that's correct i know you've been involved   no no i'll just say anecdote you know we do have  quite a few people that have accommodations based   on health care conditions and and many of them  that i've talked to have said you know if

134i can   get vaccinated i'm ready to come back so i think  we're going to see some easing of some of our um   staffing issues and you know just i think the one  thing that's hardest to remember about this virus   and this pandemic is that you know these folks are  teachers and educators and paraprofessionals they   want to be with kids and they're home for reasons  that really they don't want to be and that's one   thing that comes through in every single one of  them that i talk to so i think you're gonna see   that many of them assuming that their healthcare  providers have cleared them for it um you're   gonna see a lot of people eager to get back to  work because they're gonna have that level of   protection and that level of comfort so i

135think  we're i think we're bound for more optimistic   times honestly sounds good to hear thank you  ken uh joe did you still have questions i did   um a comment than a question i suspect my question  will be for kathy um i i i'm glad we're going back   in a way i'm also extraordinarily concerned this  is an ignora it seems to be an enormous risk   um i obviously there are there are no things  in life that come without risk but when we're   discussing mitigation strategies the inevitability  of having to close schools for lack of staff   the risks you know the requirement to do  accommodations for people it just seems that this   is extraordinarily fraught to be an understatement  especially in light of the fact that danbury's had   somewhere in the vicinity of well over  a thousand

136cases in the last three weeks   um and a positivity right in the state positivity  was almost eleven percent yesterday it's almost   seven percent today um in in kathy i know we  changed the rules somewhat mind-bogglingly the   feds or the cdc or somebody change the rules  so the red zone at 25 cases per 100 000 went   away we're three times that limit and now all of  a sudden that doesn't seem to matter what is the   thing that matters what causes us what happens to  cause us to pull the plug if 10 11 positivity rate   in a thousand cases in three weeks isn't that is  there something that causes us to pull the plug   um yes so what the state department of health is  telling us right now and again just moving back   to august even october

137um i've said before there  was no playbook for this we had the ability to go   back and you know this is a pandemic the likes of  which we have not seen for over a hundred years   we don't have we did not have anything to go back  on we could only deal with real-time information   so now we've had information for schools who have  been in session since september yes they've had   interruptions they've had closures and what we're  hearing from the state is that um the the risk for   transmission in school is extremely low even with  high community numbers so what the department of   public health is telling us now is that if you  can reduce the density in your buildings which   we will do with using the hybrid model we're  not coming back uh full time

138with everyone   in person so by reducing the density in your  building employing those mitigation strategies   even with higher community numbers they are saying  that it's feasible for us to try and return so   we'll continue to look at everything certainly if  we started to see that there was spread in school   we would absolutely revisit that immediately i've  had some experience you know i'm also responsible   for the nursing services in our non-public schools  in danbury they have been open in person full-time   yes they've had interruptions we have had  closures um whether it's due to a positive   student sometimes a positive staff member  and i can tell you that through all of those   quarantines we have never seen um another case  spread within the school it's always been from   within the community so that's what's causing  the interruptions

139it's the community spread   it's not because it's spreading within the  schools so at this point you know we're you know   been out since march given all the information we  now know we know more than we did even a month ago   um i do feel it's safe for us to try and come  back thank you um and compliments to everybody   in the the cabinet and the teachers and everybody  who's working so hard to get this off the ground   madam sure one final note about the question about  when we when when and where we're meeting i i will   note that as dr cell said we're following the city  council city hall is closed it's not just that the   council meets by zoom city hall is closed to the  public it's not open the state capitol building is  

140closed to the public it's not open the connecticut  house of representatives voted from their offices   and were sworn in outside on a freezing cold  day last wednesday they had fewer people in   the hall of the house on opening day that we  have on this board of education any one time   so we're a little premature  for that i'd love to go back   we're all politicians we didn't do this because  we don't like people i'd love to go back but   i don't think this is the time thanks  madam chair all right thank you uh could   i just ask the questions to kathy or dr sale  which everyone doesn't that can answer this   the question is if once the students go back to  school may it be k25 middle school or high school   what happens if a student

141refuses to wear a mask  now i don't know if anyone saw what we ain't you   know a little three-year-old girl that refuses  to wear the mask on the plane so what type of   action will be taken even if it's one time  then it comes back a second time the student oh uh glad sorry gladys or the board did adopt  the policy but kathy go ahead i'll let you   sure um yes we do have um we do have a mass policy  that the board did adopt as dr sal said um there   are very rare cases where we would um consider  a mask exemption for a medical condition and   again that's an extremely rare case if it's just  a matter of a student again depending on their age   of i'm not going to do this non-compliant that 

142may become something that the administrator has   to address we do have some of our special needs  children where mass compliance is difficult but   the teachers have been doing a wonderful job with  them in working with them and creating lessons   on how to wear a mask so flat out refusal for a  student who is certainly capable of wearing a mask   is not something that we will be able to tolerate  in the schools um and again those with special   needs will we address that individually thank  you okay any other questions yeah i do rachel thanks um i just also want to share my opinion  about meeting you know of the board um i agree   with amy i think you know if our teachers can work  together in a hybrid model it would be you know   ideal for

143us to um mirror that model and um you  know at least try to meet somewhat i don't i don't   think that it's you know not a matter of we're  not working together it's it's just um you know   um to show support for what's  happening in our schools   and other board meetings other boards of ed have  been meeting in hybrid fashion for a while now um   in addition to that i just want to say for the  reopening um families are concerned that there   will be another last minute change like there was  in october um so many are holding off on making   you know a decision to go dl or hybrid until the  last minute um you know we've gone through we've   gone through all of this you know discussing our  our stellar plans to come back

144in a hybrid model   so how can we assure them that we will reopen  as planned and i'd like to go on record   on you know behalf of my fellow republicans myself  we fully support and urge the follow-through   to open schools as planned um we also  feel that these decisions should be   made in consultation with the board and we  feel they have not been um you know with the   with the october decision we found out you know  simultaneously with the public um so how can we be   more involved and informed in the decision making  process um how can we support you and your staff and with that um you know also i'd like  to know what has been the communication   between you know the governor's office the  commissioner of ed's office and and you dr   sal

145um you know are they keeping tabs on us do  they do they you know are they aware that we've   we've had this prolonged closure since march and  are they concerned um well let me just start here   um the decision that we made in october was a last  minute decision i don't know how the board could   have been involved so i take full responsibility  for that i think the board has been advising me   and i've been keeping folks up to date um  certainly i would take that advice uh from you   but that the currents that evening was that  evening um there was no reason for us not to open   i think joe just put out there the big question  we're going to open unless the governor says don't   open then i can you have a um

146there the um the  executive order gives your uh department of health   the decision-making recommendation for us not to  open but at this point she is on board with us as   kathy just mentioned so we we intend on opening um  regarding the state board of education i put them   on notice that we are opening before before miguel  was even assigned to washington and i just sent   something up to them this past week that we're  opening so they fully know that we're opening   from the pressure from hartford um the mayor  kept transmitting to me you know the governor his   conversation with him why we're not opening during  all of those times i spoke with and uh with miguel   and at that time the practice in october and  november was different and understood that   each the town was

147differently uh impacted by the  numbers and we had to do what we had to do but   certainly my intent has been to return they know  that we want to return safely and that's where   we're at right now rachel um we're going back  i told the administrators that we're going back   i did also inform the state that we're going back  with that going back means disruption going back   means it's going to be the way of life as i said  from the bottom of my heart before i'm hoping that   we're going back in a sweet spot in conjunction  with these vaccinations which i think will give   us all a better feeling of safety but um we're  going back and uh if we're not going to go back   it didn't have to be an edict that you me

148uh  couldn't say we can't do it it'll be from the   governor and i don't see that happening at this  point he has been encouraging us to be in school   and and i spoke into districts now that exceeded  our numbers they are in some are even in k5 with   18 in the class at three feet apart i'm not saying  we're going there and they're experiencing what   kathy told you so that's the new information  informing us with that we still have to be very   mindful and careful of the mitigation strategy so  i don't see us not going in i really don't i see   as getting disruptions as kim just explained but  that's going to be the way of life at this point   and at some point i'd like to know how our  students have failed academically through

149this um   you know the the closure um you know you  typically in non-pandemic year we would um   the board would receive you know presentation  uh data presentations you know and i know that   there have been you know assessments um done  um just so just curious if you know we could   possibly be updated on on how students are  doing yeah i mean that that'll as we start   collecting information uh yeah we can do that  sure thank you any other questions for that   next thing uh you are you finished out the sale  oh yes thank you very much okay no thank cathy   uh o'dow for always being here to help answer uh  questions that come up uh next thing i'm gonna get   janet because we're you know getting past  nine o'clock next thing on the agenda is

150the   board chairperson report and you all receive your  committee's assignments and this is not the final   draft if you want to change or want to um look  at some of the uh other uh ptos the pto's in   the district committees and if your name is  not where you had put it at uh just have a carer put the information in and we'll finally  have this uh list finalized by the next board   meeting if you want to chair a particular  committee please let carol know so we can   finalize uh the information about next board  meeting um i certainly would like to thank uh   kate and cathy martiner for always working uh with  me when something come up to try to help me put it   sort of in a line uh so um we can put it

151forth  to you um and also cara uh dr sales secretary   on tuesday al and myself uh and kate uh attended  the workshop for uh cave al did you want to   speak briefly about the workshop how what do  you feel about the workshop while he's home i'm pierre gladys okay yeah i think we  are above the curve when it comes to uh   either a united border the topic of the webinar  was civility and i think as a group we work very   well together and we should give me two minutes  to prepare something formally but off the top of   my head gladys we work well uh i really realize  that we have differences of opinion but civility   is being able to uh communicate those those  differences in a positive manner than rather   than lay it out personal

152or turn it into a  political snowball and i feel very fortunate   to be able to work with this group and uh yes  we are a cohort thank you okay thank you and   as a matter of fact we have a another workshop  tomorrow morning tomorrow afternoon right we do so and uh finally i'd just like to say uh when we  when we come back to going back to beaver brook   and i stated earlier we're going to look  at february as to if we can go back in   in person and and the necessary um items  that need to be corrected in order for us   to go back to uh be broke or in place  i don't have any uh problem with that   so uh saying that along with i hope by the time we  do go back

153that everyone has been vaccinated okay gladys bringing up the the topics  of vaccination if i could just go   off script a few minutes for one moment  cara prunty how do i sign up i'm over 68. that's a great question so um we have a survey  on our website right now currently right now   it's 75 plus that's the guidance that we've been  given you can still fill out the survey because   i'm sure that that's going to be changing as it  has a million times before um so if you fill out   that survey we'll have that information and then  we can send you an invite into vams to be on the   basic the regular city page web page yeah we have  a vaccination page on the city website and there's   a survey it's a 75 plus it's

154a big orange button  um you just click that and fill out the survey   i don't want to push 70. i don't want to  be quite 75 yet but okay leave it alone   you leave it alone is there any other   oh discussion have just a few quick things yes  from um the ptos um the citywide pto met on monday   um and i just want to um thank dr sal kevin  and anne for being there to provide updates to   families there are minutes of the meeting on the  citywide pto website if you'd care to peruse them   also westside middle school is looking for  judges for the science and engineering expo   on next wednesday january 20th and that's  virtual but they could use some volunteers   if any board members would like to volunteer  you can get in touch

155with sandy or um   or dr labanca and then i just had a question  on the committees is there a need to assign negotiations this year   yes there is so then could could i request that  there be a republican on each of those committees could we have a discussion about  that tomorrow okay okay okay any other questions 109 uh i asked the motion  to adjourn our meeting so moved second second i just got a uh an email from ann talking about a  committee for the matrix and that was put together   and mr cabo appointed it looks like mark as  the chairman of that committee so you may   read that in the paper but that's the committee  i mentioned before i'm on it and so is courtney   someone just sent me that so that's why i  thought

156let me tell you i just received it   okay thank you dr sarah thank you guys good night   good night gladys i'm sorry i did not guys  okay canetta seconded thank you i was just   trying to figure out who seconded that thank you  good night good night everybody happy new year