001I you don't have to stand but could we just also take a moment of silence to remember Rashad Brooks and his feeling on yesterday at some point we hope that these tragedies will stop happening and that a people would learn to respect people for what they are and that people will start abiding by the law and doing the right things and treat each other like we would like to be treated so could we just have a moment of silence for mr. Brooks and his family and everyone else that we have lost in these trash thank you all so very much roll-call cake joseph britain retouch the Levski cake caneta here Gladys Cooper yeah Lauren Daly I'm not sure she's on here all right Joe de Silva present Catherine Hodgson here Richie Ginelli here Cathy Molinaro
002here al Russo here Amy's Polina I did not get an OK from Lauren is she on here and I missed her ok next on the agenda dr. Sarah you don't do the recognition part yes the awkward the same thing I don't know if any of them are attending by zoom but normally we have folks here now doctor South ok Chris thank you Anna Bosworth first doctor cell oh ok Chris Rose yep I will then give me a second here let me let me just do that Chris just a minute Dunham so anyway the retirees much appreciative you could see Mary Cronin we did mention that last time who start with us in 1967 that's a great one future at Morris Street sheer on the teacher duo Ridge in the media and then she became principal
00393 so she was leaving us the rest of the folks you could say with us 45 44 years but that will be we'll be sending them an appreciation from the board and we'll also be era we'll be getting a gift to send to them so I we thank you for all of your dedication and your time with the Danbury school and for being passionate good guidance folks for our our students we wish you a happy retirement and a healthy I don't think so if they are would someone would you zero in for me anyone I'm here Marie Dylan is here Joe is here ok thank you very much for being here appreciate it and so we have to as you normally could see we could have we usually have about 25 really I think this
004year Courtney's I think it's 7 without counting Marian 7 faculty so not too many gets to by this year but a lot of you years and missing a lot of people 7 is enough to lose some be healthy and nothing but half of the boy we said who like to thank you for your service we thank you for taking time to the zoom in on our meeting so we get to see those beautiful faces and they say thank you thank you for service that you have did so thank you so very much thank you do I look relaxed Kelly you know do you don't look old enough to retire let me say that Chris yes okay this is Christopher Roach principal at ass to do the dedication to Donna Bosworth the Connecticut Art Education Association
005elementary art educator of the year Donna is driven she's dedicated knows how to build positive relationships with all students she's got a tireless work ethic she's been at the forefront of our higher-order thinking skills trainings and you know an importance with multiple intelligences she runs an art Lynx she does student leadership she's anywhere and everywhere she's also the vice chair of celebration of Danbury Arts she's a blessing to have on staff and she's always gone above and beyond so I'm thrilled to congratulate Donna Bosworth on this wonderful honor thank you Chris I just wanted to recognize not just myself but all the teachers that I've had the honor to work alongside with over my 20 years being able to work with them and collaborate with them and I want to sincerely thank the administrators that
006trust and treat the teachers as professionals who encourage and support the divergent and innovative thinking that and ideas that have really helped me do the best job that I can for my kids it's the trust that we've gotten from them um especially at Chris and when I had bill send a CRO and our new principal over at Morris Street Kristin Bradley they've been really supportive of me over the years and it's that's what's been inspiring to me to be a lifelong learner and continue that and led me to student centered pedagogy such as teaching for artistic behavior and the higher-order thinking training that we're trying to bring into the magnet school and then into the district well for many of the students the arts are a hook that bring them into the school it's really
007important that we recognize the role of the Arts is not just that extra or a special during the day but of an essential learning that they had it's one of the most basic and important foundations of communication within between societies we turn to the arts in times of joy but we've seen it recently all over the news it's also in times of crisis people with music and murals and beef are trying to find a way to express all of these big feelings and the trauma that our society is going through going forward I know that the arts are going to be even more critical to our students as we help them make connections both with the academic content and what they're feeling but also to support their social emotional health and growth so I just
008want to thank the board and your support honor thank this dr. self thank you I will say our board the Arts has really influenced all the boards ever since I've been there there is an integral part of what we do we don't consider an extra it's integrated and I think the board is they're really mindful to respect the work and the role of plays in educating the whole child for us it just been great to work at the port that really appreciates and allows all of you to do the work that you do I know you serve as a planning person for all of our dates at the elementary and you guys really take on so much extra work people don't even know it but it's greatly appreciated Chris has just been just a static
009what you work and it's great to have you represent the Arts for Dan berry so with a heartfelt congratulations thank you dr. Tsao thank you thank you again we just would like to say thank you thank you for loving all the children that you have been in contact and thank you again for your service well we want to move on down the agenda take the participation certainly due to the unique nature of the Cova 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 b OE at Danbury k12 dot CTU s we have three comments first one is from Cheryl Redditch house key she said while I accept the decision made by
010the district to implement a policy where the students are held harmless for their remote learning such a student's electing the opt-in to receive the numerical grades earned for their coursework or simply accept pass/fail I do not agree with the decision to eliminate the ranking and the honor roll for quarter four for those students such as my own children who worked hard and made the decision to go with grades instead of pass/fail they did so with the expectation that those numeric grades would have meaning and for that there could be an honor roll where they receive recognition for their efforts I am requesting that this decision be revisited and the honor roll for quarter four be reinstated next participant was Julie Sanseverino thank you for taking the time to read comments submitted by the public while
011we followed in-person meetings I am writing to express my opinion about the lack of honor roll standing at the HS yes we were informed that there would be no honor roll for Corte for but these students who would qualify for honor all based on numeric grades chose to continue to do their best work and keep up the high standards they set for themselves they should be acknowledged for that work they decided to not settle for the pass/fail and to accept the challenges that distance learning presented and still they persevered please consider awarding honor roll and high honor roll status to the kids who have earned anything next one is Tracy Rita I would like to know why the class rank for high school was not updated at the end of the year having a rising
012senior sending truck transcripts in the fall to colleges he will need to have an your class ranking seeing that his GPA changed from s1 to s2 you would also expect his class rank to change which it did it because he is the same number as he was for s1 incoming seniors need this to be accurate in my opinion if you are calculating GPA you need to calculate class rank why was this not done and I'm just refreshing that is our last public comment Thank You sandy you're welcome now we're moving on tell me Amy would you like to do the consent calendar please that the Board of Education approves the vitamins I'm sorry items on the consent calendar exhibits 2268 through exhibit 2272 as recommended one thing for the minutes for the June 9th meeting
013the regular meeting I'm action item B there were some question marks I think they were placeholders for whoever was supposed to make a motion um could it just read instead of the question marks that it was listed on the original agenda that the board etc etc and that dr. sell requested this action item be removed could we just have that just to correction in a minutes and there be brought to us for final adoption at the next meeting yes I will edit that and anything else and again second in motion I did now okay all in favor the motion could I impose no Sam none we move on we will have those correction in the next minute okay the donation from a is yes Chris you on yes there's Bob I'm sorry that's okay that's
014okay quite a board policy is that over a thousand we accept the gift and we're really honored with Chris has something special sighs great Chris yes so a Gaga bid is something that has really become a staple at a is it's like this generations version of dodgeball and over the course of the last year we had a the would started to rot on the the Gaga pit so I would like and I got the official quote today it'll be three thousand one hundred um and it it will make its a really top notch high quality Gaga pit that I will do a dedication on to the class of the a is class of 2019 2020 20 and they missed that on nature's classroom they missed out on much of the fifth grade experience and it's
015something that I would like to do because of the amazing community that I serve the amazing parents and students and educators that I serve sort of my way of giving back to people have done so much for me and I appreciate everybody thank you know and you know I know I came up in a different time than you but I'm one they didn't have it in this time and when I was going to so I wanted to know but thank you so very much my pleasure thank you okay do we give our students here boy one I think we need a motion to accept be a gift that's all it was included in the action item oh then we're good Chris you're all set in action item exhibit 72 okay what okay let me just
016take a second and thank Chris for that that's a very thoughtful gift you given firstly giving to the district so thank you very much my pleasure thank you I miss Cooper you have an employee representative tonight for you nice to see you nice to see everyone good evening everyone being our final meeting of a very very long long year I did want to start off by congratulating my friend Donna Bosworth I know it's already been hi Donna it's already been stated how amazing she is but from our perspective Donna is a tireless worker for NEA Danbury she works served teachers in addition to all the work that she does for students she works to help teachers an incredible amount and she recently became one of our executive board members so we're thrilled to see her
017get these wonderful accolades and I just want to echo also her sentiments about how important the arts are especially in this time to make sure that we are really focusing in on the social-emotional learning piece for our students the arts really makes sure that we're hitting all those points so I want to thank Donna for all of her wonderful achievements and thank you for all of your hard work and also send thank you to our retirees I know that NEA Danbury usually puts on a huge party for them at the Amber Room to celebrate their years of service and that was taken away from the retirees and a lot of the fanfare and the closure that the retirees usually have to say goodbye to their students and and you know say goodbye to a very
018long career of service was robbed from them and that's that's a sad and an emotional piece and I just wanted to make sure that we echo it again congratulations the retirees and their dedication for their service to our community and to our school district and of course our students so thank you and a special shout out to my dear dear friend who is retiring Nancy Michael who was one of our teachers of the year in Danbury a few years back and when Nancy Michael leaves us we are losing an amazing science teacher who has led this district in science innovation and has led invention conventions for our district for many many years and taken many students to of the state level in competitions and even last year took one of her students that made it
019to the national level took that student to Michigan for the national competition because she felt so strongly this student needed to attend and there were some financial issues and Nancy Michael made it happen so thank you that's the kind of people that serve Danbury so shout out to all of the retirees and thank you so much for your service I want to also thank dr. Sal I know he probably his ears prickle whenever I say thank you dr. Sal but thank you dr. Sal and thank you dr. Richard know thank you dr. casimiro for the listening sessions I think those have been a very positive another one coming up on Friday but that's been a positive thing and I've been hearing great feedback about that the teachers who participated felt that they were heard and
020I know a lot of parents that joined in you know just to get their voices heard there's a lot of frustration and anxiety obviously that we're all experiencing during this time and that was a very positive and constructive move so thank you for that I did want to speak I know it's on the agenda tonight to approve that the changes in the calendar and I noticed that a Miss Polly know of last meeting asked the question you know how the teachers feel about five days front-loading before the kids actually arrive and I do want to say that you know we have talked and we firmly believe at any a jamboree that those two extra days are going to be desperately needed to get us all up to speed we just want to go on record
021in front of the board saying those two days that were front-loading November elected day choose you uh August 20th are you there yeah it's something either disconnected or someone too many I need the mute go ahead okay can you hear me okay yes so the the two front loading of the PD days the May and then the November we definitely support that but we just want to go on record as saying that we really the emphasis needs to be on re-entry work and kovat work to get teachers up to speed and and not working on any new programming or things like that it really needs to focus on the co-ed work that we need to do to get students back in whatever that will look like you know that there's going to be an announcement
022from the governor tomorrow which hopefully will give us some more guidelines of how we will plan and we also know that our team was kind of put on hold waiting for that additional government notification of what the re-entry may look like in the guidelines so I want to emphasize once more I know I said this a few weeks back that it's very important actually essential that we have a strong teacher and a strong employee representation on that reentry committee to make sure that we're troubleshooting that we're thinking through all of the aspects that may not be you know not for any fault of the board but you know the people that are in the trenches actually working and thinking about how the operation will go down for serving our students we really be a part
023of that team I have probably upwards of at least 50 teachers that have expressed desire to be a part of that conversation and you know I hope that the board takes a lot of those those employees up on that offer to use their ideas and their innovation for creative out-of-the-box thinking because I really believe that that's what we're going to be meaning to do is troubleshoot and problem-solve to make sure everybody gets back to work safely and our students can enter building safely so that reentry team has it entry team is very important to make sure that we have the employee voice on that team other than that you have an item and up for tonight to provide some flexibility with teacher evaluation dates I just wanted to also mention that that is something that
024we are working through with dr. Tsao we do have some issues carryover from last year's team al wrapping up evaluations and we're gonna be working through some of those things in the weeks to come so you may be hearing more from us on that if we can't come to a resolution but I think we should be okay but just to give you a heads up that we are working on a resolution eval issue ending this 1920 school year other than that hoping that everyone gets to have some rest before the chaos ensues and we work on the reentry problems and process and to also thank the board for their their hard work this year and thank you for all you do thanks so much thank you oh I'm sorry I'm sorry I was W no
025I don't believe so I'll ask the question any students show up yet represent is no they typically don't okay okay okay next on the agenda is their presentation no we do not okay presentation okay now we're gonna move on to actually the action item action item a okay I make a motion that the Board of Education to prove the may 20 2008 results an analysis for the general funds grants and projects in accordance with exhibits 2073 motion made by Kate do I know SEC second by captain in question any discussion okay Rachel there's one quick thing there was something that was we received today I believe that was inadvertently left out of the cannot when we redo the minutes for next time cannot be included that's what that was it for me okay and I
026also want to ask Courtney does she have anything that she won't add to this action item oh no class I would just point out it yeah it's very similar the only change that you'll see reflected is that five hundred fifty thousand dollars of matrix funding that we talked about in earlier meetings being removed from the budget for this year okay Thank You Gladys okay all in favor the motion can I hear a any abstentions motion so character action item B yes make a motion that the Board of Education approved the revised calendar for 2020 21 in accordance with 20 - 74 motion made by Joe could I need a second I'll second it second page job written any questions or discussion we were to come that's already those are on the counter okay seeing all
027in favor today all right any opposed in abstentions motion so Carrie that's an odd you see Cathy make a motion that the Board of Education approved the teacher evaluation plan and a with 20 - 75 motion made by Catholic you are here a second I'll second it second by a me any questions in any discussion dr. Sam you didn't have in comments no would think we're working through it the state just like the GPA and honor roll and everything you heard before wavered a lot of things that we weren't expected to finish but we have some agreements to work through and some understandings emotions motor so care action items II job written I make a motion that the Board of Education accept the superintendent's contract and salary for 2020 2021 as recommended Joe Britain yeah
028Rachel sulesky Kate caneta yes Gladys Cooper yes Lauren daily just Joe DaSilva yes Katherine Hodgson no rich Ginelli yes Kathy Molinaro yes al Russo know Amy's Bellino yes okay so that's seven to four there okay so we move on to the next time Moshe was so Karen a Captain America make a motion that the Board of Education except the cabinet members contracts for 2021 2020 through 2021 as recommended all second okay second back a roll call please Joe Britain yes Rachel Solinsky yes Kate caneta yes Gladys Cooper yes Lauren daily Lauren daily thank you Joe DaSilva yes Katherine Hodgins yes Richard Ginelli yes Cathy Molinaro yes al Russo yes Ami's Polina yes that is unanimous okay so Kari action item I will make a motion that the Board of Education accept the exempt employee salaries
029including the cabinet members for 2020 - 2021 as recommended okay Amy any questions please Joe Britain yes we total esky yes Kate caneta yes Gladys Cooper yes Lauren daily Joe DaSilva all abstain Catherine Hunstanton yes rich Ginelli yes Cathy Molinaro yes al Russo yes Amy's Polly no yes that's ten yes one abstention ten years the moe motion so fast make a motion that the Board of Education to prove and set the budget for 2020 - 2021 in the amount of one hundred and thirty five million six hundred eighty six thousand dollars an increase of 0.92% in accordance with the schedule motion second any questions any discussion just a couple quick things I just want to thank Courtney for all of her help and working through the book I asked for a workshop and she did
030a great job presenting it the full board I really appreciate that and there were other separate emails between she and I and phone calls Thank You Courtney the other thing I just want to mention is that you know this is this doesn't include all of the abraded funding that we've been talking about a ten million that gets us really close as close as I've ever seen who are original ask we're just shy of our 146 with that ten million that we're not voting on this evening and also just one final question and then I promise you know I'll leave you alone [Laughter] specialist I understand that they're touching all K through five and they're working with the coaches so that students can through five the board are supported are their support student support specialist for
031each elementary school let me start this our intentionality is that it there would be we were looking at a face and I am somewhat reading some tea leaves then I'm a little worried about what might be happening in we may have to reallocate some funds so that we can do that earlier because the whole intent of the money rachel was to mitigate the loss and if the kids come back you know and they're not this learning you're not gonna mitigate in January so yes that's our intent and and we were going to delay some of it but I think we're gonna have to work with Courtney we're close to reallocating not buying some things so that if we do come back September that those kids have support so the answer that should be yes that's
032our intent thank you thank you for your question Mary and thank you for your comments that say mr. d7 thank you madam sure uh I want to echo what Rachel just said Courtney did an amazing job I can't believe this is her first year here hey the cabinet doctor cell you guys did an amazing job trying to piece this together as Rachel pointed out this doesn't include about 900 million dollars in braided funding that were being allowed to utilize basically one-time funding sources that are you know rolling over of grant money rolling over of surplus that we were able to save this year cares money it gets us to our 146 ask what to be clear this isn't our ask this is not the same 146 some of it is not all of it there
033are things that were part of our 146 ask back in the spring that or back in the winter that we're not doing now that we've had to give up and replace with coated related stuff now obviously that's just the world we live in right now but to be clear 1.2 million dollar increase less than a 1% increase from the city of Danbury is very low it's not it does not keep up with arsed are contracted increases it doesn't keep up with our collectively bargained salary increases I understand it's a pandemic I understand the challenges facing the city and I'm supporting this budget and I'm supporting the work that dots of Sal and the cabinet and Courtney did to make all of this work what to be clear this is not enough support from the city
034of Danbury this is again we are going to wind up being last in funding less than a 1% increase with the challenges we were already facing combined with the challenges we're facing now really leaves us short and we're getting that we're getting a long way to where we need to be but only through a lot of hard work by our administration our staff and I'm very worried about next year so thank you to the staff and city of Danbury please if you can find something else couch cushions under the bed I don't care where you find it please do us a favor and find a little bit more we can absolutely use it thank you very much a thank you for sure Joe Britain yes Rachel to Leske yes Kate Canada yes Gladys Cooper yes
035Lauren Daley yes Joe DaSilva yes Katherine Hodgson yes yes rich Ginelli yes Cathy Molinaro al Russo yes Amos Bellino yes okay Thank You Erin she made she mentioned the forum we had Monday night we had more than half the participants we we had a subscription that didn't didn't get operationalized apparently but it will be we decided to have another one this coming Friday breakfast forum with me I guess it could take up to a thousand and I rather think if the governor publicizes what he's thinking I probably will have about a thousand people call him you on Friday but we do appreciate the input I think those of you from the board that listen thank you we did take notes there and me and thank in means for sending it out to this is a
036or forte I mean folks really were considered they knew that we were under strain and if we go dissin sterling they'd like to see it enhanced this is learning point to some are concerned about cleanliness in returning things of that nature that we need to be mindful of also helping although they appreciate the communications weekly and robo calls that some work with parents in terms of supporting disabilities that's the route we go would be very appreciated as well I think Friday but there'll be a little more meeting but data's because I think I'll hear from the governor those things that he's asking the towns to do so the comments will be probably much more clear and useful I did get some comments from the teachers which are appreciated particularly in the arts you know how
037do you have an art class and how do you do this with with with materials they actually sent me some recommendations I sent over to Kevin that we could put in our in our idea boxes so I thought the night was uh was appreciated by me and I think those parents have participated we're on point and they were helpful to us they said surprise I thank them for that um let me segue into reopening 2020 the constant is the unknown I think the latest and I heard that just this evening Connecticut in fact New Haven and Hartford few two cities that actually had very low numbers of grown in nineteen harvest cases and I think they're waiting for something like this to put together their recommendations so I think the the ink is still wet
038on the pages that we're going to be hearing about tomorrow and we will hear about it tomorrow we do have a regional group that we have taken the leadership to ask for because it will impact our region we have so many parents there working close by and our teachers and faculty to work a neighboring district it would be nice to have some cohesion in in the dish in the area if it comes down to that so we have asked that this group convened as soon as the governor puts out his edict to us and then we have a committee that's working and from that committee I'm sure we'll have to expand we have a high we have a secondary we have an elementary we'll get some feedbacks from other other folks as Aaron just mentioned
039both at the elementary school and that group will have to come together and along with the City Health Director to talk to us about the lens of safety because as I promised the parents we might not have the best plan Hey nope everybody's not gonna agree with it but my god we'll try to get the safest plan that we can for our kids so that I guess will be happening on Thursday we'll have superintendents we'll have a peek at it tomorrow apparently and then it will be public to the to the public on Thursday Kevin you want to add to that please Kevin is the liaison by law we have to have one person who's the Czar of reopening I introduced czar Kevin so yes Thank You Sal for appointing me so I just wanted
040to I'll just add to what dr. Sauer just mentioned we we reached out to ed advanced as soon as we were made aware that the commissioner and the governor will be updating us with something more formal we now anticipate that there's going to be considerable flexibility for districts and so get given that anticipation we requested ed advance and they did an amazing job facilitating the initial workshops on this and then they they they stopped the meeting is waiting for something formal to come out from the governor's office so you might recall it was almost a month ago there was a Friday we were expecting something official coming out from the office we're still waiting for that for that information and now it appears it's going to be coming something was going to be shared with
041us momentarily and so the thought is the the school district that are part of the ED advance region they will be reconvened so we can revisit at advances has developed a template for all the districts to use and so you know some of the mitigation strategies that the various subcommittees and I have developed will be literally cutting and pasting and putting those strategies in that template but they but-but-but the big the big work is determining how we're going to reopen schools um and then all of the other strategies will follow and so we have a work cut out for us certainly moving forward but as Sal mentioned earlier we want to be we don't necessarily have to be lockstep with our neighboring districts but I do think we want to all be on the same
042page given that we have our power you know a lot of our staff in neighboring towns and then those staff of course will need to be available if they're gonna come to work here in Danbury so we're hoping we can help each other out in this work any questions before I move on some school update Cara and Kelley or Kevin okay yeah I can start so just just an update for the board you know with everything going on of course schools continues to move forward and so we have to we've appointed two people in charge of k5 summer school they've done an amazing job and as you might imagine academic focus has had to change considerably given that we're going online so Carol on top of you know literally changing everything that we've had to
043do k12 had to do it again for summer school and so we have a delivery in place and summer school regular summer school k5 will July 6 and that will that will go throughout this summer into July 30th for for grades 6 8 & 9 12 will also be from July 6 to July 30th the times will be Monday through Thursday from 8 from from 8 to 11 for the a.m. session for the high school and 11:30 to 2:30 for the p.m. session for the high school we we also we are running one accelerated course for the high school this summer and that will actually start on as soon as next Monday the 29th and will continue through July 30th and I know you know Kelly also has some summer programming and so she may
044want to also give an update thank you Kevin and we have approximately 250 students that are going to participate there students with special needs that will be participating in a virtual special education extended school year program what we have done is we have hired numerous special education teachers support staff occupational therapists physical therapists speech and language pathologists and counseling staff and we have device kids into small groups and they will be scheduled for at least an hour of virtual instruction a day with your special education teacher plus individual or small group sessions with all the related services staff and then in addition to that we will be also providing some online supported activities for reinforcement through the utilization of the Google classroom which was a model that we use during the school year they will
045have a you know very small group specialized to target on their needs and the really the sole purpose of the special education summer school program is to keep consistency with the scheduling and to avoid regression of skills for any of those students so I have to give a big thank you to my team the five special education supervisors have been working tirelessly along with myself to come up with 250 individualized unique schedules for every single kid that's participating so it's been a little different but we will certainly excited about it I think it'll go very well and what we tried to do is build off of a lot of the things that we put in place this year and we heard the feedback from students and parents and teachers as well on that virtual instruction
046the live instruction was really helpful and so we are putting a stronger emphasis and focus on that with some supplementary support and activities and we're copying very similar to the secondary model where they'll be an AM and PM session so the total time that we'll run it will be between 8 o'clock in the morning and 1 o'clock in the afternoon but students will be scheduled you know early morning or later morning based on the group that they're assigned to those individual schedules will be mailed out to parents on Monday of next week and teachers will get their class lists and assignments by Friday of this week so I'm excited I think it'll go very well but it certainly has been a unique undertaking this does anyone having a question for Carolyn thank you Carrie ok
047I think yeah I just wanted the board to be aware that we they call it the kinetic association for athletics CRS see they have with the core we so socialization of high school athletics which means they'll have conditioning and that is to begin July 6th they'll be able to high school with that requirement then the high school along with ship service training our ad and others have been meeting with the nurses and also word flickin saw consultation with the city they set up rules and regulations on safety and so those will be published and given to parents but we just wanted you to be aware that on the July 6 we're gonna they're gonna start seeing athletes which is probably telling all of us they fully expect they have some kind of a season next
048year whether they're spectators not that's another thing but so that's gonna begin July 6th at Danbury high school there's a morning session and then there's a break for cleaning what-have-you and then the high school will then be reoccupied with another group so that's 32 on July 6th will that be all or just football are we talking just what no no no I believe it's all these lakh people's rest are all any of the kids I want to come actually yeah that's my youngest he's voluntary participation for any of the sports so both the coach it is as well as the student want to volunteer to participate so it's open to all and it will probably assume most of the athletics happy conveyed to the athletes to sign up day calf they have a protocol that
049they'll be let me just actually I just took it off my agenda I'm sorry let me go back to it I've been asking for what they would they what they're doing Kathleen is there like for example Tuesday a 23rd Dobie athletic staff mean jury duty information with all damn very high school coaches the athletes the trainings will be there on the 24th the information would be shared through the damn very high school website so that all athletes and parents would know last week next week put out Louisville call to Denver High School community what information those students in participating week of the 3rd use of social media at all that week for Denver high school parents that's reparation of the first summer session so they have an outreach plan starting with the orientation of the
050coaches we have discussion on hiring update where we are since we're in the last meeting yes please so welcome to the last meeting we need midway the first meeting of next year with hiring we're now kind of just starting to ramp up hiring season as many of you might remember as our discussions about enrollment we've done some of elementary teachers in particular to try to measure the ebb and flow of enrollment around the district so that process of relocating and transferring elementary teachers is more or less complete at this point I think everybody's pretty happy with where they're going and so we're in the process of getting those folks settled and that was something that I did in close collaboration with MEA dan Barry and we had some volunteers and so that has all run
051pretty smoothly as a result there's not going to be a whole lot of elementary hiring it's something very unusual that I don't really clean before there were very few elementary positions we're in the process right now of trying to fill some of the harder to fill a secondary position school level and in special education and as I've mentioned in earlier meetings we are onboarding naturally so my team is doing everything either via email or direct links online and we're actually trying to get ID cards done remotely as well now so we're making the most of our newfound situation and trying to get everybody in as quickly as we can so it'll be a nice know I say this every way it looks like it'll be a later hiring new dress than in years going forward
052or an papist and we're happy that we haven't had to lose anybody we haven't had any layoffs or furloughs so that's been a really good part of the process summer school employees are all in 100 and those folks have all been transitioned into their new positions and they're all ready to go for the start of summer school as well so we're in kind of full hiring swing now that's where my group is before I leave my report this caracal you have anything to add so you know I was last meeting Cara I did just a little bit her school conversing and I just wanted to let the board know you know you may get some parents this summer asking a we know what they can do with their child and what kind of programming and
053you know there are definitely limited options somewhere out there because of what's going on but please refer them to the k-12 interactive site it is updated with grade level suggestions for the practice we're highly suggesting the kids continue to use you know what we what's their parents can be assured that that what's there is vetted certainly they're they're bombarded with lots of programs right now that they see on the internet but they're not sure which ones are appropriate which ones are high quality which ones are standards aligned and so you know our team has done that work additionally there are the programs that students normally use during the year we usually close those licenses down and we do a lot of RIRA stirring in the summer but we're leaving those licenses open longer through August
0547th so kids can continue to practice and we won't roster next year students with all of those licenses like I Excel arrest kids imagine learning things like that that they're already using we won't do that we won't roll that up and reset that until August so this way kids will have a seamless transition they're able to keep the glaad tops this summer so just you know if you get you know parents or community members who do ask about that you can you know definitely refer them back to that website as a safe place to get some good suggestions for a little practice that's appropriate okay Kelly you good nothing additional for me just the update on okay just to the board are it looks as though our enrollment has kind of slowed down remember last
055week the week whatever was accelerated so we're kind of like I know we didn't in August yet right but right now it it hasn't accelerated so so much it's kind of slowed down I did if you permit me to make a comment here because of the opening remarks from the parents we won't have time to talk I think part of the board's responsibility in mind is to give notice when things are going to happen in the district that is regarding student comportment our other rules and regs and I believe you know in the cases of the grading into high school which we knew would be very very difficult for a number of reasons we did put folks on notice however it was done it was a very difficult decision to do if you could recall
056the state was very explicit about equity and access that grading should not have occurred that it should have been a pass/fail but we went the extra step and I'm gonna like Kara spent a few minutes explaining that and why and we knew there would be some positive and negatives about it and I do understand that so Tara do you want to make a few comments sure sure and so you know just just as to remind the group that we did offer students the choice of either choosing their numerical GPA or selecting to opt into the pass/fail system and so you know the the one thing that was clear is that you had to choose a system and then it was up to the student to do that and of course they you know would receive
057guidance from their parents or teachers to to help them make those decisions and students were given a form to fill out with deadlines and dates we did state that the DLP's that the DLS would not impact GPA so those you know and we held true to that and so if students opted into that this particular quarter and attention a semester depending on the way that it worked they would you know that would not impact the GPA it would basically freeze where they left off after first semester and that what would only be determined was whether or not the students received credit for that course so if the student failed they would not receive credit for the course they would have to retake so they had to do enough to to pass the course and to
058satisfy the course requirements to get the pass if students wanted the numeric they had to in your system and just to kind of correct the I know we there was a couple questions about class rank we are going to run class rank and so that will you know that will affect everyone class rank is important for a variety of reasons which is one of the reasons why we also wanted to make sure that that new students had an option for numeric grade because there's a whole lot of reasons beyond what's happening now for that in terms of college in terms of scholarship opportunities in terms of different requirements from from programs that are very highly competitive that one that may want to see that so that was why we went the extra mile to offer
059both systems it was very complicated it was there was a you can imagine with the number of students and the number of teachers in the number of courses you know going through all of those to kind of make sure that the data was clean that there weren't any mistakes you know everything is hand hand clicked by each teacher grade each number each comment and so there's a lot of work on the back end we were not able to run class rank until all of that proofing was done however it was important to get the transcripts out to the colleges by their deadlines so the transcripts did go out they just went out for class rank is being run in the next day or two and that will be updated in PowerSchool and if anyone wants
060to get an updated transcript all they have to do is simply request it and we can have them come and take it up in the office so we you know we have managed to figure it all out it just took a little bit longer than it normally does under the circumstances and the team at the high school worked incredibly hard to get that to get that done and the data department and worked incredibly hard to verify everything on the back end and to make sure that that was cleaned up we are not running in honor oh we did not think that that was an appropriate thing to do not all kids had the same opportunity in that regards for class rank students did have equal opportunity to make those decisions to preserve their GPA prior
061to this and so we felt that that was equal so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear you know we felt that we've offered a variety of options that was in the best interest of the students and that was fair for everybody and honored everybody situation to the best of our ability Cara I have a question about rank sure what what lets in I'm thinking nothing so much for seniors I'm thinking more for like freshmen or sophomores or juniors they take a semesters worth of pass/fail grades now that effectively adds that many more credits to where they are it makes it that much harder for them to move their class rank going forward well so what did you know you're betting you're batting a harder to move your batting average and August
062that it is in April sure but what it also did is it preserved where they were before prior to the disruption so if you had a particularly if you to be you know average of a fee you know going in you you base if you entered into the pass/fail system you kind of froze that if you in the numeric system if you were you know you wanted to choose into the numerix and that numerical grade would feed into the the first semester grade and your GPA would be averaged out cumulatively and that would be weighted and fed into class rank so you had an opportunity to to really to improve your status if you chose to the numerical tenth grades were higher than they were the first semester so basically you either preserved where you
063were where you left off or you were able to you know the enter your numeric sin to feed into that that GPA which feeds into class rank so it was an opportunity for kids you know kids made the choice based on what was best for them and their situation thanks you're welcome thank you I know we generally don't comment but I thought it was fair that the parents at least heard the border the rationale it was it was like everything else I think you know it was difficult did the end was very difficult with the grading I will tell you that but the verification process was was over the top but that had to happen to be fair to everyone that it was accurate so I need to publicly thank all of those folks that
064did that with Dan Donovan and his team and the registrar's and everyone else though in counselors so thank you I will move on if it's okay madam chairman yes okay so summit I think I said something to the board but last week I think it was Monday I got a call right after aboard meaning that they would like a representative that walk were to walk through up at the summit I eat a matrix and the state was looking at the ideas whether of getting a building for to accommodate the enrollment that we have asked the city to be mindful of based on the demographers work and that we needed some space and then adjust building a place well the idea of purchasing a place was something that the state wanted to come down and actually
065take a look so we met with them on Monday and I'm gonna let Cara take it from here because she was there and then I do I have some comments at the end about some things I think the board should think about Joe I did write Joe this morning in this afternoon as well Facilities Committee because I think we're going to have to have a committee meeting and discussion with that but you should hear a little bit cara cara was also invited to visit with I guess the department after the Monday meeting in Hartford just to talked with them the meeting on Monday we had most if not all of our delegation state delegation was in attendance they took a tour as well and then the next day there was a private conversation with the
066department who would be looking at reviewing the plan if they're going to approve the funding and mr. Conte already has been who he's been just terrific about working out the details up in Hartford along with the rest of the the contingent to up there if they're going to make some changes so Carrie would you want to just briefly talk about it sure so we did have an opportunity to go back up to the to the summit keep wanting to call the matrix but it's it's been renamed so if I say matrix just you know I mean the summit so and you know just to look at the space we you know like many of you we did get a chance to see some of the some of the plans behind there it seems to be
067very exciting I think you know the first hurdle is to make sure that the project itself can go through when I went up to Hartford it I think perhaps my my I visit with them may have been a little premature and talking about the different pathway and all the things we're excited about the programming piece which I think you know we really have to spend more time thinking through and vetting and working with the high school and district administration to make sure that we are actually fulfilling the you know the right pathways in not only just at that location but at Danbury high school as well because it's not just a singular program that would be at the summit it would be part of a complementary program under Granberry high school that would include multiple
068pathways and then one of the one or two of those pathways pathways would exist in the Academy in that location so so the visit in Hartford was really more along the lines of the logistics of the project itself the nuts and bolts and whether or not the ideas of how they are going to position that building for reimbursement would would be possible you know the ways that you know to be explored and I think that there's legislation that actually has to be changed in order for that to happen so there are some definite hurdles there to to overcome before you know we start developing out you know the programming that goes in there so basically we need to own that building for them you know I think would be a cleaner transaction and so they're
069looking at details on how to to do that this is an unusual approach usually they build from the ground up they dig and build the entire project and so this is a building and would be buying an existing structure and then refurbishing it and then getting approval for reimbursement and that just hasn't been done they face talk about you know fifteen or sixteen checkboxes on the sheet and and that doesn't exist on that sheet and so how did how to get around that and how to navigate that and work with some area folks to get that done so there's a few hurdles to to happen but certainly the project is exciting I'm hoping and hopeful that it would go forward and once that happens again we'll be working more collaboratively to make sure that you
070know what we what we do put there in terms of programming fits some of the visions that we've been speaking about you could be assured that it's probably long of the stem lines you know we've done our homework and research with the Northwest Regional workforce board the types of programs that are in demand right now in this area in this catchment are architecture construction finance health science information technology and high-tech manufacturing so you know we'd be looking along pathways along the lines of those pathways but and also understanding all of the tenants who are over in in the building per se we've heard some exciting tenants that are there now there are some exciting tenants that are coming in and so how do you utilize the resources in our backyard and that would be just
071down the hall to help build the program help to support a program and maybe even to help fund a program and so there's there would be a lot of work involved in getting sort of those potential ideas and so we're starting to explore those now but the first phase is getting that project approved and moving it forward before we can get to the they're really fun stuff so so so for the board you know we've been chatting about what what it would be and we've kind of come along giving parents choices that's been a focus of ours as a as a district where we could where we can and I e you have a is which is an inter it's a inner district which means outside students as well it for inside programming of course
072we have the the program at the high school the early college the freshman school all participate in that you've got culinary you've got nurses by choice you know the board when when Westside open we made it made it to academies just respecting that if there's an interest on a family to enter into it so the idea has been do we do we propagate that do we permit more choice for parents the view has been in my view yes we'd like to do that while we not only solve a space problem but you know not solved but but enhanced the Challenge that the state has put before all of us are you preparing youngsters for the workforce are they the proper areas will they be certified and are they not just dead-end jobs and this is
073what we're talking about is why we went to Nashville to see how they did it and so I guess to the board I just want you to know that when you when this ketamine is coming together it has to be with your collaboration of what we want to do that because you could simply say let's just have another six new drug Andry district and put everybody up there and make it really simple well it won't be that simple but you know we could do that but and I just I was saying the Jo and an email that I think there needs to be some board conversations I'm certainly looking at this as another supporting magnet school for parent choice I'm looking at this as a alternative to a normal bath way up at the high
074school so those are you know some things that I think you should have at least some did some thinking from our board that's different I think it needs to come out and not feel as though you haven't participated I think that's the last thing needs to happen we said to the town we need space they're going to give us face what we put in that space would be what we do so I just I'm just respectfully putting it out there because one things you would expect this to start to do is to start looking at we have researching careers and start putting things together that will be operationalizing to Ed specs that you would have to approve otherwise it doesn't get done so I don't know whose if Jo the Britain has any comments but
075this would be a good time hand up for a while oh I didn't see that got a lot of people on here so I just wanted to jump in real quick and I don't know you know who the best person is to answer this question dr. Selar or dr. Kazmir oh so my question is this I know that we're sort of in the planning stages to see if we can get this building you know put together for us and and work out the logistics of how the state might reimburse for it their concern about sort of some of the limitations that will be in that space as a result of making those decisions to do the build first or to do the planning for the build first as opposed to you know sort of having
076a more not a fixed curriculum because I know that's like a longer process but like a more you know a better idea of what the the areas of study are gonna be so you can sort of build the space around that to some degree one seconds to tier one of them Kate and Joe the numbers will require another pot so the original thinking of two pods wouldn't been sufficient so physically Kate it'll be a largest structure now I'll let Cara talk about the other piece you know that the we had some conversation around the 612 piece being tricky right because we're talking about you know keeping kids separate from high school kids and and then so like the broader vision and I'm gonna get to your question about the building first before you know knowing
077what's going in there the broader vision is that ninth graders possibly eighth graders but ninth graders would receive an exploratory college and career pathway course that exposes all kids to different pathways they understand what those pathways can can lead to not just at entry level but sort of a mid level and then an endgame right a bachelor's degree or a high tech certification and in something that allows them access to another level of job so you know one of the things that we want to make sure that we do with the pathway program is that it has some teeth in it so kids graduate like a CNA program with some other certification besides just a high school diploma so you can enter the workforce you've got skills you have a leg up you've got some
078contact hours done you're certified you can go right to the workforce or you can go off to college you can go to school for nursing or for a medical you know we want to do biology because you want to be a doctor someday but in the meanwhile you're working in the hospital you know so there's multiple tiered options so these we're looking for pathways that have some teeth in it that give kids choices when they graduate so in that exposure to those pathways and those choices and those industry recognized credentials happen through sort of the course exploratory course overview in ninth grade and then we'd want to see students have a knowledge base enough to choose a pathway for 10 11 12 and so you know this space has been designed for sort of a
079to accommodate the middle school space crunch as well so it's turning into a 612 Academy so in order to you know you'd have to consider you know sixth graders coming in seventh graders eighth graders might not necessarily choose the pathway that is located in that location right so that location could be prime for let's just say it's architecture and design let's just pretend that that's what it is they have to be able to make a choice and maybe Danbury high school has the CNA program they have the culinary program they have a lab a finance or about health and bioscience program there so you would want to see I mean in my vision you would want to see students you know having an opportunity to have a choice of the pathways at KU choice so
080it wouldn't be an automatic rollup sixth seventh and eighth grade once you're there you roll up to that location but rather that there are options for you um so in terms of the build we definitely see that location as an opportunity for STEM related pathways and in all of the STEM related pathways that we saw we went to Nashville all them include some sort of some type of design projects builds space you know they need project rooms in space and so that's one of the things I did mention to Tony that no matter which way we go to it we will need project room space we will need certain types of electrical things wired in so that machinery in of certain kinds and so we have to have sort of a ambidextrous project spaces that
081we can kind of build with the future in mind and so he he I felt comfortable that he understood that Tony was a huge very excited about this I know we actually enjoyed my conversations with him I think he's just as excited about as I am in terms of thinking about the possibilities of design so I do feel that we're gonna stay close enough on this to make sure that that both project spaces and that those builds are we'll meet the requirements of a stem aligned pathway Academy okay thanks and then it actually brings up another question then so for the middle school piece of this school you're talking about the ninth grade doing an exploratory program which is similar to what they do at Abbott tech and I think that's it's a really good
082exposure education wise and and sort of helps kids really hone in on something that's going to work for them so I think that that's a very successful model to use and I'm assuming there be caps on these different areas so that you know the highest you know forty kids or fifty kids from each you know section automatically get that as it if they want that as their first choice they get first first grab at it or something like that well that's I mean that's we'd have to work that out in the em eight different schools handle in different ways and you know the the the the goal is to have enough really great pathways that there's a there's something great for everyone and to really it's to make sure there's a good fit and when
083and when there's a demand right this is it this would be student driven so if you of course experiencing a greater demand in certain pathways and others you know rather than capita you know similar to the way we do course enrollment how do we how do we find ways to expand it and if there's pathways that are not meeting the needs of students and families then you know how do we look to to to realize okay just just to add on that I think a point that came up and it was a hard moment for me is that try to create an academy that is not mutually exclusive to Denver in high school so there would be opportunities at Denver High School for youngsters to move in and transition if they change their mind on
084one of the pathways so they would be working through those departments which which is really a great which is it just creates more of an opportunity for kids to make a choice instead of narrowing that's always been my worry is to narrow them to two quickly when they're just exploring well then they can open up so I think that's something I found refreshing as an idea that we this is not a program that's a high school I'm sorry it's not a high school it's a program the kids will get a damn very high school diploma just as the board has permitted ace and reach the kids want to participate in athletics they can but if they want to go to the culinary there we don't have yes you can do that you know things like
085that and that's it opens up venues I'm sorry Cara de interrupts oh no that's fine there are so many details to work out that's kind of far down the road and coming up with those decisions but I have do you have any thoughts on the the middle school piece and how that might relate to yeah I think I think the more that we can do in stem the better and I think foundational stem work for all kids is important we have a STEM Academy at West Side that's very popular and and we should we should we should take heed right and say you know what that's it that's it's it's also feeds into multitude of some of the pathways that we're also talking about so how do we build more computer science and and and
086continue to model a lot of times what has happened you know West Side we've had some programs that have been over there that we start off as you know this is kind of a West Side only fitting only to a few years later adopt components of it into all of the middle schools because we you know we've run the model it looks good it's engaging it's responding well to it and so that tends to happen with new programs is that if when they're successful you should replicate and grow and and you know I see the that proof that would be an opportunity to kind of grow out some some more stem opportunities for kids and foundational stem courses that could serve a variety of pathways excellent Thanks just a quick question I know this is
087very preliminary but is there has there been any thought about admission the admission process you know instead of the usual lottery system you know could it be like an application admissions I'm sorry was that discussed or yep the board I think that's a board level conversation and and I think it's a pretty hard Congress we've permitted choice and not a merit-based yeah their skill I just doesn't mean the kids are unskilled I don't mean it that way it's you know if mom wants you to go there because of a B or C and you don't have the skills but you want to take a risk what we've tried to do just like high school getting the APS and other give the youngster an opportunity so it was open to all youngsters and it was a
088look at the draw I mean that's been our our role to get kids in there we were more concerned about balance racially and when we did that you know then there was that the kids wouldn't be successful we knew just giving them the opportunity the right teachers that almost 99.9 of our kids could do things so that was the only thinking Rachel ya know it's very exciting I'm excited by this project yeah we all want to teach there okay madam sure um I'm just because there was some conversation about continuing discussions I know we're technically done for the year I am available for sites and facilities at any time over the summer we will we need to be yeah whenever I went Joe whatever you want to call a meeting dr. sell whatever you need
089us I'm definitely available it's a very exciting opportunity or even just some updates you want to shoot us by email that's okay too yeah we'll get that out go ahead Joe I'm sorry I just well you know I'm a huge fan of the Academy model since we got the presentation from Terra you know like over half a year ago so I'm all in on this project I think we have a really unique opportunity to kind of build it from the ground up not literally but so it's gonna be easier I think for us to start something new like this and it would be to change something that's pre-existing so when we can because I know we don't really have enough information to convene the site's committee right now but I want a workshop it I
090really think we have opportunity to do something special so whenever we can get together and dr. Sol I'll let you and in care whenever you guys think sure asked to get together please let me know yes just to respond to there's a lot of conversation happening about graduation requirements project portrait of the graduate we're talking you know we're having those conversations about what the endgame is for our students in Danbury so all of this stuff fits in together we've been having conversations with Dan Donovan and the curricula administrators and since even having those you know the state has moved in a certain direction and we'd like to you know make sure that we're we're giving our kids the best that we can and the timing of this project and the space need it just happens
091to be coinciding with these conversations so it is an opportunity to to redo some things and to make in to include this this piece into it so we're super excited about it and we have been having conversations with Dan Donovan and he's on board as well you know everything requires staffing and and there'll be changes you know new buildings everything so we have to accommodate all that and and you know very efficiently use maximize the staff that we have with the certifications that they have and arrange courses in certain ways to to create opportunities and so it's tricky but this is we're at the precipice were right at the cliff here of being able to do it and so we have to weave it all together anybody else so I don't celebrate any questions thank
092you information we'll move on to the board chairperson report but before we do that are there any committees that would like to have some type of report any committee report I think we saw it down to the WAC being that okay my report is very quick I want to thank all board members for their support and just working together to make sure that we listen and do the right thing that we are supposed to do or we were elected to do and support each other and if we don't understand what would and how much we're getting from A to B then we have the conversation with one another to sort of disgusting it might not be the correct way that you would like to go but is it the right thing that we should be
093doing for our district I am amazed at working with each and every one of you I know you all bring different talents and and I respect every one of you and I hope that this summer that you will have a great summer and most of all safe summer I especially would like to thank Kate booth when when I sort of get sort of in a little frizzy about you know the computer not doing right this ain't doing like she tells me how to click in and get where I need to be I think Kathy who I totally respect for her support over the years and Gina who has just been so kind to me when I call her early on the side come on Jim just not working and she's always so blessed and I
094just want to say I really enjoy working with you and I hope that we can continue to move the district forward as a good working together board and that's my goal in my own ago Amy I have one chance for you I would like for you and sometime an artist to contact Nick LaRussa and see what we can do to set up for him to either come and do zoom or I have a workshop and I'm gonna put that back in your hands okay other than that I would like to say to dr. Sam that as a group we have decided that we're going to be open this summer those that are round and I know some people are going on vacation and doing whatever they would like to do with their family but some
095of us are going to be around we would like to be a part of any type of discussion that you're having about moving our district forward what we need to do as a boy you just brought up the Career Academy we don't want to get information on the back end we want to be a board to be supported on the front end and if we have to have a sizing facility committee meeting let me know so we can have a conversation with those that are here and have the meeting we usually don't meet in July artists and we know that September when it comes we're going we're talking about September the 9th and next thing we know they want to be preparing for Christmas and we sort of missed out on things so we as
096a board want to be a part of the overall discussion so hopefully when we set up our committees especially the Saxon Pacific Committee and whatever's going on with 2020 the Career Academy what's going on with openness food in August we would like to be a part of that discussion not only in so I just want to be that thought with you and hope that you give information to us so and we have to sit down or do soon we will be available for that and that's in am I not a report just comments as boards here if there are no other discussion all hearts are in the right place I hope again I want to thank each and every one of you for all your support and all your hard work that you have done
097to help make our district court is and zoom was not easy but you guys came in and everyone did what they needed to do to make it successful for our students and I totally told you so thank you again I need a motion if there's no other comment anything I need a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved move by Joe yes I can sack of them by Rachel okay I can't see no face can't hear no voice Rachel okay second biracial Oh mostly self-care good magadh all summer does