001Good evening, but I'm good. Oh, yeah. I can see that. Good evening. It is 7:00 p.m. and this is the East Haddam Board of Education uh regular March meeting. It is March 11th, 2026. It is 7:00 p.m. I'm going to ask you to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Where is it? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. There are two exits in this room. That either way goes One goes to the front and you can come to the rear entrance uh exit as well. Uh we're going to also um see agenda item two is the school presentations. 2A, we're going to start out with the high school library media. Just
002want to preface and thank um our high school colleagues. This is a continuation of presentations um that we've been having. And so, really excited to have them showcase great things that are happening in our high school. Thank you. So, um hi everyone. I'm Joshua Strecker. I'm the uh library media specialist at the high school. Um I'm also a um person. I live in town and have a daughter who goes to fifth grade at the middle school. Um you know, so I'm just wearing all the hats um in this room. So, um happy to be here. Thank you for giving me the time. Um so, uh my goal tonight is to kind of just give you a snapshot, I would say, of what life is like in the library. I titled the presentation "What's Great in
003the Library," but to me that's kind of like everything that we're doing. Um I'm really proud of the things that's that are going on in the library, and so it's great to have a chance to share them with you. Um I also want to just note right off the top that I'll probably switch pronouns between I and we quite a bit because I have a fantastic staff person in the library, um Mrs. Kim Chrysler, who's also a townsperson, and she's really integral to everything I do in the library. So, if I say we, I'm talking about the two of us, you know, and um so I'm sharing the credit for sure. Um as well, just like one little addendum to what I would call the goal, is that um I'd like to share with you
004kind of what I see as some short- and uh medium-term goals for the library. This is my second school year in this position, um and you know, I've certainly seen it as an ongoing process to sort of shape the library programs into what I think they're going, and that requires goal setting. So, um I'll definitely be sharing kind of some of the goals in each area that I've come up with. So, um let's start with curriculum support. Um so, for my position, I support all of the curricula in the building. Um so, you know, some of the highlights that I'm involved with, so um early college um experience program through um Mrs. Mazotta's uh room. So, basically that's the HDFS program, human development and family science. That's a course that gives college uh chance for
005college credit, and so I assist her um in students doing college-level research in that room through um resources made available by the UConn library system. And so, I'm kind of the bridge between the um resources that UConn provides and the students in her room. So, like that that's one example of a curricular area I support. Um another area I support would be um the history and science uh sorry, history and English programs, especially in sophomore year. So, they do a Model United Nations unit that, um, stretches throughout, um, April into May, um, culminating with a trip to New York City. And so, I help them with that. So, like for an example of what they do in there, they, um, role-play as a country, research some of the issues with that country, and present possible
006solutions. Um, and so, again, I'm the bridge between their ideas, what are the problems, and finding, researching what those problems are, and how how to solve them. And so, I provide that link to the information as part of the curricular support. Um, I'll just hit on one more curricular area that I support. Um, for example, um, geometry class, um, Mrs. Johnson runs a, um, unit where she has the students will research a real-life, um, water crisis somewhere in the world, and then present different possible solutions using geome- geometrical theories to decide how best to implement those. Once again, I'm the bridge between the students' questions and the answers, and kind of instructing them on how to access the information they need. Um, so, I I hope you're starting to see a theme there of kind
007of the role that the library and I support in all of those curricular areas. Um, by the way, if you have questions along the way, being a teacher, I like to see hands raised, and, you know, it doesn't bother me at all. So, if anything I say is unclear, or you want more, um, information, please just let me know. Um, so, let's jump down to technology. I have a question on curriculum. Sure. Go ahead. Um, career exploration. Um, so, you know, not everyone is going to be college-bound. What what is there any overlap, uh, for you helping kids who want to explore career as a tradesman or some other, uh, arena? Is are you helpful in that way as well? Um, I try to be. Um, what I can say is, um, with Dr. De
008Brito's guidance over the last year, I've created a career center in the library. It's um a self-service place using a four-step approach where students can research, um take so like an interest profiler to see what kinds of things that would match both their interest and um educational goals, you know, so whether that is college bound or not. Um you know, it has avenues for that. Um looking at what the prospects for are for that and kind of following through. It's all based on QR codes in the library um because I'm often times not there to manage I try to push out into classrooms as much as I can. Um so it's all kind of self-service as far as taking the QR code off the board, scanning it with their Chromebook and then accessing um folders
009of resources I've put together to help them. Certainly um though when students come up to me and say, "What do you know about this or would that?" We make time and I make time to help one for sure. Um so I would say I am involved in that. That's not my main focus, but it's certainly another area that I support. Yeah, I just you you have your bullet here career career exploration, so I was just curious how that's tied in. Yeah, it's through that career center. And that's a great example. Thank you for asking that question. Please just do that. Jump in if anything's not clear. I'm not going to read every bullet on the paper, you know, I'm just kind of give you the highlights. Um so for technology, that's a main role that
010um the library fills right now. So every student has a one-to-one device in the high school that is issued to them. Um as you can imagine with 250 plus devices, they don't always go smoothly. Um so if something happens to them like let's just say for example a battery goes dead, um they can bring it to the library, swap it for a loaner computer, and we take care of that. We uh put in a help desk ticket in for the IT department to come and look at it. The student uses the loaner computer until their computer is fixed and then we swap it back. You know, so there are some hours that go into making that all run, but with the goal of minimizing educational impact when something goes wrong with these devices. Our job
011is to just make sure that that swap happens quickly so that the students can get back. I will say sometimes we try to also troubleshoot a little bit to make sure that we're not overburdening the IT because if we can take one problem off their plate, that's one can be really helpful for them as well. So we we're not swapping screens or keyboards or anything like that, but if it's something that like just resetting the Chromebook or something like that can accomplish then you know, we take care of that. Um I'll also talk about the TV studio. We have a fantastic TV studio as part of the library program. That's a course that I teach a TV studio course as well as Mr. Stone who's a technology education teacher. The main goal for that is
012we teach students how to produce and edit video with the main goal of producing the morning news regularly to provide announcements for the the school community. We also will do special projects that teachers will ask us for like for example Mr. Bosworth our athletic director and health teacher. He has some students that um broke indoor track records this winter and so we're going to put together a little package. The students are going to put together the package with my guidance to kind of celebrate those achievements. So like our TV studio program I would say is vital for how we disseminate information throughout the school community and it's through the library program. Um I'll touch upon the goal there. So one of the things I did last year was I wrote a grant to the library
013board for a 3D printer and that they did grant that through their generosity. Um so that's been placed in the library. The goal the idea being to bridge um the gap between a student who say has access to uh technology education after they learn 3D design and 3D printing, but then what happens when they don't have that class anymore and that's a passion of theirs. So, they can come into the library. I included a design station computer, so they can do their designing and then with my assistance print it on the the 3D printer and continue building those skills. Um a great example is we have a student who 3D printed a robot. Um he did the electrical work and all of that and I will say he didn't use like me like 100% he
014has a 3D printer at home, but you know, he saw me as a resource and we worked together on that. Um and so I'd love to over the next year or 2 years to continue to build that program and make it more available and more accessible to students. Not in place of technology education to be clear, but to supplement and then encourage those passions that the students have. Um no questions there. I'll jump down to facility. Yeah, please go ahead. How much was the 3D printer? Oh, um I couldn't tell you exactly, but through the Ray Board it was probably with all the accessories maybe $2,000, but I I would ask your your forgiveness if I'm wrong. I don't know off the top of my head. Um Yeah, you mentioned earlier that you had curriculum
015that you work with and and that kind of Is that stuff loaded into Atlas? Um not by me. Um it I would follow along with what the curriculum is that the individual teachers follow. Like for example, the English um curriculum. So, I will go in and help them write a paper on Hamlet. I have a background as a English teacher and so I will go writing instruction is a passion of mine. So, I will go in and help them with that, but that's part of their curriculum. It's not my specific curriculum. Does that make sense? >> I was trying to figure out. >> Yeah. All right, thanks, man. You're welcome. Um all right, so on to facilities. Uh so, the library is set up in sort of a learning commons model. To just do kind
016of a quick explanation what that looks like, it's um tables, comfortable seating, flexible seating to accommodate different purposes within the library. So, it's not um stacks of shelves and you know, shh quiet all the time and things like that. It's more of a holistic holistic approach to what the library should look like. You know, noting that sometimes students need it's best for them in their learning if they can come in and have some downtime. Whether that's during a flex, which is like a study hall, or they stop in for 5 minutes or something like that. So, we have things out there to support that as well, which is is um echoed that philosophy is echoed by the types of uh furniture that we bought um through a grant last year to kind of refurbish what
017the uh library furniture looked like. So, there's some comfortable seating. There's tables on wheels um so that they can be moved for meetings or um conferences or whatever uh you have. So, you know, I think that's really important to just to understand the philosophy of what the library looks like. It's probably a little bit different and certainly different than what it looked like when I was in high school, you know, and so just kind of understanding that philosophical change if that makes sense. Um and the facility, we've done a great job of um buying furniture through this grant, the um innovation grant that that echoes that. And that, by the way, was done all with student input. You know, I I took a lot of student input as far as what the design looked like,
018what they were looking for in the library, and then implementing that. Also, researching through uh other area high schools and what they were doing and what worked best for them. Um the goal for that is I would love to add a little bit of lower shelving. So, So, the grant, that was the one thing that we couldn't purchase. It was just too expensive. It was priced out of the grant. The lower shelving would help us delineate spaces to make it more flexible in a way. Let's say if you want quiet study, you can go over there, you know, and the shelving kind of um shows that. If you want more group work, you come over here and just do that. As well, um I choose shelving because I would love to put more books on
019display to encourage more literacy because, you know, I think about what it looks like when you walk into a bookstore. It's not see the spines of the shelves. You see the covers of the shel- of the books. You Sorry, you don't see the spines of the books. You see the covers of the books. Um and so, I'd love to have more books on display for the students. Um also, another stretch kind of goal I think would be maybe something like uh a smaller version of your screen because there's no way for us to project something. So, when we have a college visit or something come in, we're trying to pull resources from other parts of the building, specifically the TV studio, to help that. So, I would love to see something added to the library
020um to make that happen, you know, if possible. All right. Um is it okay if I go down to the next one, programming? All right. So, when I say programming, I'm talking about the programs that the library that we have going on there. Um so, we support lots of different meetings, um whether that's college visits, um student organizations, whether you know, student council, um Straight from the Heart, things like that. Um we also have a student-run book club in the library that meets at least once a month, which has been fantastic. That came right from the students and I just have fostered it and kept it going. Um I love that. I'm very proud of that book club and the the work the students are doing there. Um we also use just timely events. So,
021like it's Women's History Month, so we've got a lot of books on display about Women's History um to make the students aware that it's happening, but also to give them resources to educate themselves, um you know, appropriate. Um I think that's about that. Any Any questions about programming? Oh, some SEL programming as well. I partnered with a townsperson um who has a therapy dog in town to come in and just do some um just invite students in again to have a break. And it was really nice to access someone in town at Sheep Gate Farm who was able to provide that for us. All right, last one, collection and circulation. Um so right now our collection is in pretty good shape. Um I uh as a librarian, you know, I it's twofold. It's not just
022buying, it's also weeding, getting rid of outdated materials. Um so and to make it more appealing to the eye for students to be able to quickly go and find something that interests them. And then also purchasing based on student needs. I take a lot of student feedback. Um makes the lists out of the books that students want. Um uh for example, I uh created a graphic novel and manga section of the library totally based on student input and what they were looking for in response to student um desires. So um I that is ongoing. Um one of the other things I I'm proud of from last year is creating satellite libraries throughout the building. Um so that students who don't have a flex or a study hall to come in and check out a book
023have a way to get a book. So it's like a little cart that'll be in a social studies classroom, in English classroom, almost like where you least expect to see it. And then there's a system to check it out with us so that they can access that material right from there without even going in the library. Um and those are refreshed timely. Um Okay, I think that's it for collection and circulation. So what I hope is that I gave you a little bit of a a snapshot and set like I said some goals as to where I'd love to see um the library heading in the future. Um if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear about them. That's about it for me. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. SAY THAT AGAIN? >> DO
024YOU DO ANY COLLABORATIONS WITH OUR LIBRARIES? Um certainly. So right now one of the programs I added was library card drive. So I will actually go around the flexes and say, "Do you have a library card? Do you have a library card?" We have the forms right in the in the library. Right now I lean heavily on the public libraries to provide things like ebooks and audiobooks because they're so expensive that sometimes you get end end the subscriptions aren't very friendly to school libraries. Like so for example, you may get 10 or 12 checkouts or 1 year. So you're not actually purchasing the book, you're purchasing a license for a certain number of people. And so we get priced out of them very quickly. So I I really lean on the public libraries for that.
025For sure. Yeah. Also we partnered with them in the last calendar year for summer readings. We partnered with them for um we kind of revamped that as a whole district and worked with the public library for that. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Does anyone else have any additional questions? I would definitely like to say thank you very much for this great explanation and definitely gives people like myself a different point of view because it's been a long time since I've been in the school library and it's definitely a lot different. So just you know the innovation that you're bringing. I love that satellite cart idea in the different rooms. That's amazing. And also really the the encouraging the extra passions. I mean that was just so thoughtful as far as the the 3D printer
026thing for people that don't It's just thinking outside the box in those types of scenarios and really appreciate that. So Thank you very Great job. >> Absolutely. I think people underestimate the amount of support that the library actually does provide to the students. So, kudos to everything you're doing. Thank you. I would like to say I'm glad we got the pictures. I've been looking forward to seeing what we have in the recent make our subcommittees. I think it's 4 years ago we we stopped meeting and started over here. And it's definitely nice to see that you have uh new titles cuz I think I had memorized where all the titles were and then I What was It's nice to see that there's new books in there. It's an ongoing process, but yeah, for sure. Thank
027you. And Rio, any other thoughts? Like I said, really happy to have them here at Showcase what's happening. Thank >> Thank YOU SO MUCH. ON TO ITEM UH 2B, which is the presentation on the agriscience program at the high school. So, I'd like to start by recognizing these beautiful arrangements. And March typically Connecticut Association of Boards of Education does recognize March as BOE members month. So, the timeliness and greatly appreciated and and thank you for thinking of everybody. It's amazing. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for all you do. Uh so, just a quick introduction. Uh these are tremendous staff members that lead our agriscience program. This is Cheryl Carberry and this is Felicia Gerard. So, kicking it to you. Here you go. And there are there are students here
028as well. Oh, yeah. Many students in the crowd. We have students and alumni. Thank you for having us. It's awesome to see alumni. Sure. Lots of carrots taking on this role. We could not do it without all the people in our community. So, we really appreciate it. So, all right. Um So, we want to give you um a brief overview of our program. We have two program teachers and then one paraeducator. We said not to recognize your birthday. All right. We have courses in animal science, natural resources, and plant science. And they are designed to support the Connecticut Career Pathways, STEM education, and always essential skills for success after graduation, no matter what that is going to look like. Our spaces include a spacious animal science classroom complete with quite a zoom, um different kinds
029of species of animals. So, it's not just what we're learning in the classroom. It's the fish, the reptiles, and um whatever we've got in there at the moment. Um We also have a um class or regular classroom where your beautiful arrangements are made by um Mrs. Gerard's plant science students. We have a greenhouse, and we have a sugar house. We have large equipment including an 18-passenger We have a five-passenger truck, and it's large outside storage shed, and a floral truck. Our courses are designed for all students, and this is really important because we will, you know, anyone that walks in the door, we pride ourselves in having a very diverse classroom. So, it doesn't matter what grade the kid is, what um level of ability they are. We welcome everybody in our classrooms at any
030time, and we challenge everybody. Our main goal is to prepare students for their futures, whether that's career, college, or simply as a member of the community um for our agricultural education. The fundamental freshman has a freshman year to do plant science freshman exploratory class, and they follow their freshman year. Um one of the core areas that they focus on during that class is agriculture. Um and then when they are finished with that class they can choose between all of the different pathways that we offer. For example we go over these classes there. So we wanted to give you an idea of what maybe a typical course would be if you were sitting in our classroom. Every class kicks off with a safety unit. Safety is key. We are very fortunate to give the kids a
031lot of unique opportunities and work with specialized equipment and there are always going to be some risks that come with those things. So we go over personal protective equipment, standardized operating procedures, and things safety precautions that go directly with whether it's working with the lab or it's working with the animals, whatever you know goes with with the content. Um curriculum always promotes current industry knowledge and skill development. So it's just not what you know, it's what you can do. We have hands-on authentic learning experiences and we do strive and no matter what course you're in to develop your employability or soft skills cuz you're those are going to take kids, you know, many places. We value career exploration and we give the kids many opportunities in many capacities to do that and we try to
032make connections to the community. The community is really important to us. So guest speakers may come in or we may go to the guest speaker. We will take the kids on field trips and the pictures here you'll see the kids went to the Connecticut Flower & Garden Show two weeks ago with us. We combined my landscaping class with Mrs. Gerard's horticulture class and the kids loved it. And they really had a great time and they learned a lot and there were so many career opportunities for them to learn out there. And then also we help kids with job placement and we do a lot of course projects that are directly presented in our service learning institution. In addition to what we do in the regular classroom, we also offer early college education credit through U
033Conn. Currently, we have two classes that participate in that and we're hoping to add more. Um, in Miss Carberry's uh, companion animal class, our ECE students have the ability to earn a peer-free pet sitter certification. And I am looking forward to in the fall, as part of our vet tech curriculum, adding the recover initiative. Um, my background is as a veterinary technician for 10 and 1/2 years. And uh, the recover initiative is the standards and how a veterinary hospital would perform CPR on an animal. Which I've done more times than I can count. Um, so I actually piloted this program during my student teaching uh, with Middletown High School. And it was really successful, so I really look forward to bringing it to the AgriScience students. Um, we also assist students in job placement within
034the community and local agricultural businesses uh, through different partnerships and uh, connections there. Um, and in general, AgriScience students are offered have the ability to apply for and are offered scholarships in specific AgriScience education um, and careers. So, we're going to pause for a minute to recognize some of our students that have actually been our first round of students in the companion animal ECE class that are receiving their peer-free pet sitter certification. So, um, could those students uh, please come forward? And maybe you guys can line up here. So, these students put in the effort to complete the course. I think everybody here was an A student. And in addition, they also went beyond to earn their fear-free pet sitter certification. Um it's really great to be able to add things to their resume. That's
035sometimes hard for teenagers, right? So, um industry certification is something that is something we're bringing in and then I think it's going to serve them really well. So, I just want to say as your teacher, I'm like so proud of you guys. You guys are just awesome and fun to work with and we work hard with you every single day, but you're just like very impressive, very responsible. All right. So, WE HAVE OKAY, CHLOE. AND THEN SORRY. OKAY, NICK KNIGHT. AND HE ALSO WAS A STUDENT THAT WAS ON THE Channel 8 news clip on the your training classes I think was sent to you guys. Yeah, so you recognize him? So, uh we also Okay, SO ANGELINA RECOGNIZE OKAY, MATTHEW RETIRED. COULD YOU ALL COULD YOU ALL COME and have them face this way? I'm
036going to face this way. Can you all get in the picture, too? Yes. Thank you for your help. Please. Bookend it. There you go. Great job. Thank you so much. We're so proud of Yes. of everything. Thank you so MUCH AND CONGRATULATIONS. WE DO HAVE ONE STUDENT in AG who couldn't be with us today and that is Luke here, so we will finish up for him. Excellent. Okay, now we're going to have two of our chapter members, officers, come up and introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about the end of the day chapter. So My name is Payton Baldacci and I am the president of our chapter. And my name is Faith Kalish and I'm the secretary of our chapter. So our chapter was first chartered in 1921. The national FFA organization's mission
037is to make a positive difference in students' lives by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. Great FFA members are also part of the Connecticut and national FFA organization. Members attend leadership workshops and conventions, we volunteer in the community, participate in the annual wreath fundraiser, create agriculture exploration experiences, participate in career development events, and develop new friendships, and much more. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU. SO CHERYL AND I ARE DEDICATED to the total growth within our careers. We maintain membership with the national >> I did it during my during Yukon when I was getting my masters and Cheryl does it every year. Um I also this past summer participated in Council for Advancement and Support of Education which is also known as CASE. And I plan on
038doing more programs going forward with them as well. Cheryl attends professional development for ECE at Yukon. Um she's actually going tomorrow. And I also maintain my license as certified veterinary technician every year. Um and we as we grow and change we continue to revitalize our program to stay with current industry practices and we need to learn and add in our new business practices. And um every year we Can you go back one? Every year we go to school for May and our district and as you see in this picture it's in the stir. I could remind you we are standing in our field. I'm standing in the Every year? Every year. I love it. I look forward to it. All right. Um finally we um so even though we are very new to each other
039we we have gelled like unbelievably. Um we have a lot in common. We have a lot in common. Collaborate constantly. We have goals for this program. We are growing this program and I will say you know this I miss Mrs. P who retired last year but it's wonderful to have Mrs. Draj. She's brought so much to the table. Um we are able to really grow our program and um very excited about that. I'm growing um and teaching things that I never thought I'd be teaching. So it is really fun to challenge yourself as a teacher um and um develop the skills. Very excited about the next steps. Um so, we are going to continue to add industry certification in all areas. Um we have goals for that. We would like to upgrade our greenhouse. When
040we were at that Connecticut Garden Flower Show, we were really dreaming. Dr. Carillo has challenged us to dream and dream big, so we appreciate that. Um but we really like to expand our vertical cert curriculum and grow our greenhouse. Climate controlled. Um we'd like to revitalize our dog grooming lab. We used to do a lot with that. It kind of went by the wayside, and but we really want to bring that back cuz it's so popular with our community and students. Um we're going to be adding extended learning opportunities uh in agriculture through our virtual learning courses at the high school cuz the kids, you know, they they take our classes. We're a small school. You know, we try to get kids in as much as we can, but sometimes kids want more and more
041and more. We want to be able to give them more in other departments. And then finally, um as mentioned, we do want to continue to increase those um early college education offerings specifically in the plant and science area. Um So, um that's it. Everything that we do is possible without the Board of Education and the Board so we would like to thank you for supporting us in the past, currently, and more. Thank you. I'LL GO AROUND FOR ANY QUESTIONS. SEAN. YEAH, I know. Um this is so exciting, really, this program. And just to touch base on what you just said, we as the town of East Haddam are just so blessed to have the Board of Ed as far as the grants and the funds. I mean, you don't hear about that anywhere, ever. So,
042to be able to have that is just amazing. So, nice to see that we utilize that to the best of our abilities. So, and then just yeah, just very excited to see that we're you know, when you you come to when you think East Adam, at least myself, before I moved here, you think I literally think agriculture science. That's like what you think about when you think about East Adam. So, to see us expanding on these programs is real special and you know, um and just a couple things they say I mean, every time I bring my kids the only first thing they say is they want to go to that animal science room. They want to go check out all the stuff. So, and they're still young. So, they're they can't wait to get
043to the school so they can go to the animal science classes. So, that's it's really and uh and if you need any specimens for your dog grooming lab, be sure I'll be I got three big dogs. No problem. So, I'd love to get into that, but all kidding aside, really appreciate it everything that you guys are doing. Done a fantastic job. Love to hear that about the vet tech stuff. I mean, that's incredible. I think we were just talking about that. Melissa brought that up last month. Um we were talking about, you know, doing more with the vet vet techs and and uh kids and everything. It's A lot of them are looking to get into that, but I wasn't, you know, sure that we had that. So, to hear about those types of things
044is really incredible. And then also just that last thing is the development of employability and soft skills. That is so critical. And you wouldn't believe, you know, seeing young adults coming out of the schools now after the COVID and whatnot, but we're really lacking that. So, that's great to hear that you're doing that. Doing a fantastic job and uh thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you. You're very um they are very important to me as you know, to the board. Yeah. Thank you. Sure. Um I I'd like to add I I I'm a former English teacher. Um I always felt like the tech ed folk and ag ed and that kind of thing were my best friends because when I couldn't get a kid to behave himself, I could go down there and
045say, "Listen, would you talk to so-and-so?" And they always did. And the kids complied cuz you folks connect with the kind of kid that a traditional English teacher has a hard time connecting to. And those kids need a place to belong. I've been singing this song my whole career. Um is heartwarming to hear that. I I'd also like to point out that in two meetings down here at the Board of Ed, we've heard three separate teachers say kind things about our superintendent and her encouraging them in their work. That's important. Um It speaks well of you folks and your character that you're willing to share the credit, and it speaks well of her that she's actually doing the work, which is not always the case. Um And I I'm going to apologize a little bit.
046I normally wear hearing aids and I'm having a problem and I don't have a hearing aid right now. So, my hearing's pretty badly impaired and the noise from that thing's not helping any. So, I didn't quite hear one thing. The certificates the kids got, what were they for again? So, it's um Fear Free certification. So, Fear Free is a newer movement where kids are well, anybody that studies and learns that animals can have their fear, anxiety, and stress reduced so that when they're going to the vet or they're being groomed or they're being handled in whatever way, you can reduce all that and make it a more positive experience for the animal. Okay. And they passed that certification. They passed it specifically for what's called pet sitter. There is lots of different avenues for >>
047That's what I thought you were I heard. it. So, if you have anyone who would like to be gainfully employed, my wife and I need to travel 23rd of March someone who can take care of our cat while we're gone. So, tell them to get hold of me. So, there um one part of their final exam they actually had to create this card, so Let's get them. Yeah. See me before you go or call me after. Absolutely. Same here. But, thank you very much and same thing for the librarian gentleman who was here earlier. Um It's really encouraging to see this kind of work happening. Thank you. Taya? Yeah, thank you so much. If you ever If you ever want me to bring my bunny in I'm going to get her certified as a therapy
048dog, also for the library as well, cuz I heard of that You have a therapy dog that comes in. Um Yeah, I love this. I remember when in high school we had like this like mini daycare where people would I had like no concept of it cuz I didn't take the class, but like people um brought their children in and the high schoolers learned how to take care of children and it translated directly to career opportunities. So, I think that your class is so cool because the kids can really understand like what career opportunities are out there and I think that that's sometimes just hard in school to like actually under Unless like your parents have a job that you think that you would want to do or you talk with somebody else's parents, it's
049hard to understand like what your schooling could translate into. So, I love that aspect of it and obviously it's therapeutic for the kids, I assume, and and just fun and a way to relax. So. Thank you so much. Gary? I absolutely just love the fact that the kids are earning an industry certification. I mean, it's hard enough to graduate from college and you try to find a job and you're giving kids this to add to their resumes while they're still in high school. That is awesome. Are you looking at other certifications to add in? Yes. That's um very good. We meet at the personal professional development goal every year and last in my past in the past two years and honestly I've looked at a lot of the bad ones. And I mean you've got
050to weed through the downside to find something that budget-wise works and the kids can handle and it's going to serve the students um and challenge the students. It's a definitely fine balance but um you know it's a journey and um this was the first one but I've got a few more that I'm definitely considering. Um So let's say well if if anyone would ever consider working on my cat he'll give you a run for your money. Thank you for everything you're doing. Um there's a lot to like here. There's a lot to love here actually. Um I particularly like the connections to the community. East Haddam is at our roots an agricultural town um and so exploring that is important, vital, you know, keeps our history going, keeps our connections to our community going um
051and a lot of kids just have that background and that desire. Um so I definitely love this a lot. Can you just tell us a little bit more about your greenhouse dreams? Like what do you want to do with it? What is it now? What's the like what are we using it for? What do we want to use it for? So I'm still adjusting to the greenhouse itself. Every greenhouse is different. Um my dream would be to maybe have like a stand-alone one so that we can maybe control a little bit better with heat and fans and things like that. Um and then I really like students to start growing things themselves. So, um from seed to harvest um and seeing that process. Actually seeing the roots grow is also important thing. Um you can
052plant something in like a clear container and you can actually see the process itself and teach it that way. Um eventually I'd like to have them to be able to maybe start selling what they make. Um and for that we would need business to start besides a floral fridge and um for them to really grow. Um so, really just tapping into A, making sure the students are interested in this and letting them be the driver of where they feel like, yes, we want to do this and then bring it to the greenhouse. Really making them Yeah, that's awesome cuz so much growing happens when you're not there. I think that our our current greenhouse is a challenge. I mean, I've been here over 25 years. It's been a challenge since day one. It's very temperamental.
053It can be too hot, too cold and it's it's it's so we have lights so we can't always grow what you want to grow in the season. So, that's why it would be really great to have something else to kind of start fresh and then converting the greenhouse that's attached to my classroom is just kind of really cool. Um but converting that is really a whole lot of work cuz you have to actually get everything out, make it a green house, and then bring it back out, make it a green house for plants. That's where you probably saw So, um We have a lot of planning to do but I think but we started at least even with the cold gap structures and it's working surprisingly well. Things that kids could go buy for their
054own backyard. That's the process. It's all about teaching them skills that they can take home So, yeah, I would obviously echo the comments here, but I I do have some questions if you don't mind. You know, if you're not aware, we've had some parents interested in trying to looking at all their options. And mainly because what I'm hearing is the certifications maybe for welding or for other options. So, I'm just curious, when you are talking to kids, what is it that they're interested in? Is it plant science or are there some other opportunities that we haven't funded yet that we could fund based on what students want, not what we want? Okay. Um so, it seems to me that all the kids who walk in love animals. Um it's sometimes harder to get the kids
055to want to work with them with plants, but we do get kids that are plant crazy and and we convert a lot of kids and the exploratory course introduces them to plants they may not have thought about them. So, we're doing pretty good job of filling our plants and our classes are animal classes and our natural resources Um I know when I came to this town, like what drew me was the environmental aspect. It was a very, you know, natural resources friendly town and I feel like that is still true of this town. So, our natural resource program is another area where we're really growing and we're filling classes. Um the ag mechanics is something that we're not going to be able to teach because we are not qualified to teach our ag to do
056that. that. There are safety issues with that. But we have an amazing two two gentlemen in our tech ed department who are going to be Well, they're doing the welding. They're doing the auto mechanics. They're going to be doing a lot of things that were I still teach a tractor driving class. I'm sorry. Are you saying that they want to have a welding class or they're going They're going to have They have one. And are they getting certified They're part of another class. It's not a welding class. I see. So it's not a focus training. They're not getting certificate for welding out of this class. Okay. When I graduated from Hal Ray, everything was much different obviously. We're in the the building that was our high school. And one of the things that we all
057did was we had to do a tractor engine repair class. And I distinctly remember working with another friend another girl. She was a grade higher than me. And we had to take apart a engine of a tractor and put it back together. And I think I I'd like to know what are we doing with mechanics? I love the plants. I love the animals. But I'd like to know what we're doing with the mechanics because it seems to me with the with EB and their expansion and dedication to growing jobs and other opportunities, whatever we can do for our kids so that they have a certificate or something that can actually put them in the workplace. That's what I'm interested in. So what are the kids Are the kids looking for that or no? So definitely
058we have kids interested in kids. Absolutely. But again, the tech ed department is more now handling that and they're they're always full. They even have like an after school club for automotive. So they're We actually just talked to them today about like the engines that we were using. They're going to start using and taking apart and putting back together. They're not the tractor engines, but they're bigger tractor engines. >> I I don't know what happened back in 1988, but I'm pretty sure it was neighbors bringing in broken tractors and we were probably fixing them. But, it was great experience. Um and then my last question is the sugar house. >> Yes. Um you Are you out there sugaring right now? I mean, okay. >> Um This has not been a banner year. >> No, the
059snow is real deep to be traveling in the woods. But, the nature has not been cooperative. But, that's a beautiful building and I and I don't like to think of it sitting there closed up all year. So, if you're not using it for sugaring, what else are you using it for? >> used. Um we have professional development every week actually for next year. Um and we're going So, there's So, there's no activities that happen at in it during during a school year unless it's sugaring. >> doesn't Yeah, it doesn't really lend itself I've never been inside it. I've only been around it. >> it's cute. It's like a little wooden cabin. Yeah, but it's Any Any outdoor classroom Nothing like that can be utilized? That building can't be utilized for anything like that? Because there's
060such you like basically cooking in there, you're boiling sap. Um it it wouldn't probably be the best idea to be in there when you're not doing that. Yeah, I mean, it gets cleaned and all that, but in terms of space also, there's not a lot Do you have a lot of space to use it for that? Sugar shacks are really That's That's their specialty. They're used that Okay. It's a tight space. Like, you're not taking pictures >> Yeah, and you know, Annie, you always get my mind turning when you ask these questions. But, yeah, it is a tight space and there's a the stove that you said in the middle of it. Um so, I I just like the location of it. You talk about the environmental sciences, you have the hiking trails literally out
061that back door. So, I was just curious what else you could do here. Yeah. And there's picnic tables. Yeah, there's picnic tables too back there. And I go out there sometimes with my natural resources class with my kids. And look at scat. Look at scat or whatever you can find to help us. All right, thank you. Um I'm just going to echo what everybody else said. There's a lot to love there. I I love these classes for like transferability of skills. Even the direct pipelines into your career stuff. I think there's a lot of cool options. So, I appreciate the exposure that I got to these classes. Um I also throw a plug out there. My wife's a veterinarian and I've taken classes in animal training. So, I guess lots of other things. Thank you
062guys. Where does she work? Uh she works at a central vet hospital. So, it's a small hospital. Okay. We can talk after. Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you. We I I feel like I haven't been super active in quite a while. Thank you for everything. Thank you so much. Thank you. THANK YOU. I WANT TO LET THEM MOVE OUT first before You want to say the next one? Actually, you want me to make a motion to add the high school reps? Yeah. I'm going to add the two reps. So, item three on our agenda tonight is the audience of citizens. The audience of citizens provides an opportunity for East Haddam residents to briefly and respectfully share their thoughts, concerns, and questions with the Board of Education. Any written comments or materials must be submitted
063to the board chair and may be distributed at a later time. The chair reserves the right to discontinue public comment at any point remarks include specific or personally identifiable references of board employees and students. This portion of the meeting does not involve discussion. All questions will receive a timely response from the board chair or superintendent. We're going to limit to 3 minutes tonight cuz we have a very loaded agenda. Do we have any citizens? Oh, can you come forward and just just state your name? We don't need your address, but just your name for the records, please. Uh good evening. My name is Jennifer Can I go? It's the microphone that'll pick you up. Thank you. No, no, no. That's okay. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Blasky and I'm the parent parent of Griffin
064Blasky, an eighth-grade student at Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School. Uh Griffin is currently applying to the Agricultural Science Technical Education Program at Lyman Memorial High School. After visiting the campus and meeting staff, he is even more motivated and confident that this is the right environment for him. He thrives on a hands-on setting and he has clear interest in food science, large animal, ag mechanics, small large chainsaws, carpentry, welding, forestry, and aquaculture. While we respect the programs offered at Hale-Ray, Middletown, and Middletown, they do not provide the level of specialized hands-on coursework Griffin is looking for. Lyman offers comprehensive pathways in these areas allowing students to gain real-world experience and technical skills. Lyman has also expanded its welding program beyond agricultural welding giving students the opportunity to earn OSHA 10 certificates and other industry-recognized credentials. Students may
065also earn credits preparing them for either workforce or further education. To my knowledge, East Haddam has not sent students to Middletown AST program in many years. We believe allowing students to attend Lyman better reflects our geographic location and student interest. It could create opportunity for others in the future. Our request is simple. We want Griffin to attend the school that best aligns with the goals, learning style, and future career path. Assignment to a VoAg program should not be limiting students' access to the program that best fits their educational educational needs. We uh respect- fully ask the board to reconsider the assigned VoAg program and approve No- Lyman Memorial High School as the sending school for VoAg. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Any other audience members? I don't know if I'm on
066this list to talk or not. Um my name is Anna Tramuta. Good evening. I'm here tonight as a parent of two daughters deeply committed to the agricultural education, specifically food science and meat science. I'm asking the board to allow East Haddam students the option to attend Lebanon Regional High School. Middletown is our designated school, but it does not offer food science, which is the pathway my daughters want to pursue. Lebanon home makes it a difficult fit. The East Haddam program, while valuable, focuses more on companion animals, ag mechanics, and forestry. Lebanon offers a true farm-to-table model. Students breed livestock, assist with birthing, raise animals to harvest, and then move to meat science and food science, where they develop recipes, test products, and learn how to market agricultural goods. Recently, students have shown different school-owned species
067in eight different fairs. These um species include sheep, beef and dairy cattle, goats, pigs, and horses. They compete in livestock evaluation, milk quality, horse judging, FFA Showmanship Day, Junior Leadership Conference, and image at the chapter, district, state, and national level. These hands-on experiences align directly with my daughter's goals. This is also about social and emotional consistency. Lebanon school culture closely aligns with East Haddam, allowing students to transition smoothly into high school with peers who share similar interests and backgrounds. Right now, I am paying tuition out of pocket because the designated sending school does not meet my child's needs. At the same time, we fund placements for students attending Vo-Ag and state technical schools when those programs would serve them better. The state pays a portion of the ag tuition at every agricultural center, and that
068structure is the same whether a student attends Middletown or Lebanon. Changing a district-designated center simply requires notifying the state. I've already spoken with the Lebanon Superintendent, Andy Gonzalez, who has welcomed East Haddam students and is ready to work with our superintendent to make this transition as smooth as possible. East Haddam has only ever had two students attend Middletown Ag, graduating in 2004 and 2008. And both were already enrolled in Middletown public schools when they moved to East Haddam. No students are currently enrolled, and this change would not displace anyone. Our agricultural students deserve equitable access to the programs that best support their goals, just as every other specialized student in our district does. I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any public comments? Seeing none, I'm going to move on
069to item four, which is the report of the board chair. Um good evening again. Hopefully, we've made it through all of the snow days this year. We've had very uh interesting winter. On February 19th, I participated the monthly CABE check-in. The Purple Fund Committee met for the first time in I don't can't tell you when. The capital budget was presented in the evening. On February 26th, the Board of Ed met and adopted the 2026-2027 budget. The first week of March was Read Across America Week. I read two books to my son's elementary class on Friday. I especially love reading to the elementary school students because they're so attentive for the guest readers. Um Any more public comments? Seeing none. Is there a record of who you met? Cool. Uh on Wednesday uh March 4th, the
070fifth grade band performed at the middle school. It was an excellent performance. I was really impressed with their skills, especially since they just started their instruments this fall. Uh this Monday, the Board of Ed has uh gave an overview of the budget at the Board of Finance. They want more time to review the budget line items, so we'll be going back to the Board of Finance on Thursday, March 16th. Uh that meeting started at 4:30. Uh Jim and I >> What's the date again? Uh Thursday, March 19th. I believe it starts at 4:30. I'll send an email, but I bet it's 4:30. Today, Jim and I attended a CABE uh on the hill event in Hartford. CABE discussed which bills they are supporting and which bills they are opposed to. Uh we got to march
071from the Bushnell to the capital. We got to spend some time in the capital, which was extremely the LV too was very busy today. There are early dismissals this week for a professional development on Tuesday and then today through Friday are conferences. I had my students conferences today. I'm always in impressed with their teachers. I um I and all teachers how invested they are in the students, how organized they are, how dedicated they are and I always find their classrooms very interesting. Does anyone have any questions? I have a question. Sure. Um so you mentioned the reorganization of the purple fund committee. I think it's how did you I don't know how you described it, but it sounded like it was a new committee or or what is it exactly? So part of that MOA,
072did you receive it? The document from 1930? I don't recall receiving it. It was part of the uh Dr. Rios' update. >> Okay. Um there's a PDF on the bottom. It's a black and white copy of this MOA from 1930 and it tells who has to be on the uh purple fund committee. Okay. And I I do not my knowledge since I've been on board hasn't met. So So that's why I'm asking. So this is a committee that had been formed in the past that stopped meeting. Is that what you're saying? >> Yes, I don't know when it stopped meeting. I don't know how to And it's been reformed? Yes. And who's on it? Myself, Dr. Brito, Tim Cahill and tonight we're going to add under new business we're in section E of new business
073a community member. Mr. Cahill talked about it in his presentation. He did he? Okay. He had a suggestion. Okay. And this is a committee of the Board of Ed? No. Purple funds. That's what I thought. >> So how are we appointed how are members getting appointed to the committee? >> It's in the MOA. It's supposed to be >> The MOA was from 1937. So, how who appointed the people today? Oh, it says right on there who's supposed to be on the board. It was called the town school committee, which is now the Board of Education. So, it says the chair, um this I believe it says the superintendent. Yeah, whoever It says Mr. Cahill talked about that. Uh and whoever's in the charge of the money is supposed to be on the committee. >> So,
074why isn't the treasurer on the committee? I'm not sure. That's the person's on the It's supposed to be whoever's the fiduciary, or like who's the Yeah, Mr. Cahill explained all this during his presentation. And then uh a committee member who lives in East Haddam that's appointed by us, and that's what we're going to do tonight. And so And so, has anybody talked to our town treasurer about this uh fund? Or any interest? Have we approached In order to have some synergy with our town, and the town treasurer is the fiduciary for our entire community. I'm just curious why we Mr. Cahill presentation. Okay, I talked to the finance director. Okay. I mean, that's not our purview. It's a separate endowment. So, it's however that works, whatever that language is. directed by us. So, I guess
075how is Mr. Cahill I know he's managing the the the funding separately with the Rayboard and some other endowments. Is that why he's been placed on the committee? >> Yes, it says that. The person who is the trustee the trustee in charge of the money is supposed to be on the committee. Okay, trustee. That Okay, that that's the language I'm not sure that's the exact verbage they use. >> All right, I'll go back and read it. I missed it. I didn't see it in the board packet. And >> Oh, it's on the Dr. De Biasi's whatever packet. I didn't see it. Sorry. And why aren't we as a board talking about who we would like to see as a community member? Why are we taking recommendations from somebody else? >> Oh, I'll I'll recommend him.
076I got to meet him and I think it's a great recommendation. You're going to talk about it tonight? >> I'll I'll talk about it in the new business. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other additional questions? I'm going to move on to the report of the superintendent of schools. I'm going to add in there high school reps, too, after Dr. Brito cuz somehow you guys were put It's going to come under me. >> on the agenda. Yes. I apologize for that. Um so, good evening. We've had an abundance of school closures, um and they did interrupt Read Across America, unfortunately. So, everyone who was scheduled and due to the closing, due to the late opening, um people are invited to work directly with their assigned teacher to pick a different date to go and read to
077children. So, that that I was one of those folks. Um want to also reiterate the concert was fantastic. Um the fifth graders really it was just amazing to see their growth in such a short amount of time. Um SAT testing happened. So, that's always very exciting for our 11th graders. It is a required um state assessment of all 11th graders. Um this week is very exciting. We talked about parent conferences. It's also a time where families are able, and this is set up at every school, communication went out to families from me and from the schools to give input to the belief system, um belief statement, sorry, and um developing the vision of a learner. So, every school has posters of pillars of the belief systems and then opportunities for families to respond to questions.
078And so very exciting that we are moving forward and there are surveys that are being distributed and forum virtual forums that are happening. So we started this process in the spring and we're um trying to wrap that up with everyone's input as we develop the strategic plan. Um it is board appreciation month. So want to thank you all. Um sometimes it feels like a thankless volunteer position, but you put in a lot of time. There's a lot of information to sift through. It's a lot of responsibility. And so want to recognize that and um the average science students did a beautiful job of putting together these arrangements for you. And still under my report, I'm going to invite our student representatives from the high school to give us um some updates. So on March 17th,
079Hall High School National Honor Society will be attending the CA N HS convention at Central Connecticut State University. This was a field trip that got rescheduled due to a snow day. Um this convention is focused on diversity, inclusivity, and unity in NHS. Members of the club will be attending workshops and breakout sessions to learn more about different types of service activities and how they can improve their chapter. Um we touched on this a little bit already, but from last week's trip for March Madness, we read across America by taking books to the elementary school for our students. Uh this allowed our students to share the importance of reading with others. Um on March 20th, the National Honor Society will be hosting a blood drive Uh NHS will be participating in the Special Olympics Polar Plunge.
080We signed up for this last go to the arts website and fill out the form for the event. Recently, a few of our own Hill Regional athletes have been recognized for their outstanding talents in sports. Mia Pesci earned first team all-conference. Peyton Balducci earned honorable mention. Colby Bryant earned second team all-conference, and August Ruggio earned honorable mention all in basketball. Congratulations to these athletes. Mrs. Lejeune's chemistry class recently conducted an experiment exploring the unique properties of dry ice, which sublimates skipping the liquid phase. Our students observed the fog created with carbon dioxide and water vapor and discussed the science behind the reaction. Uh this experiment is a testament to the hard work and curiosity of our teachers and students. Um additionally, student of the month recipients and nominees were honored at the special breakfast. These
081hard-working students have demonstrated unique effort, leadership, character, and commitment to the Hill Regional community. Uh we are very proud of their accomplishments and the impact they have on the classroom environment. So, this next one was also kind of touched on a little bit in the agricultural science presentation, but the plant science and landscape management students enjoyed attending the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show on February 20th. The show provided students with an engaging experience exploring 150,000 square feet of innovative themed landscape designs. It was an excellent field trip for exploring environmental science, horticulture, and creative artistic design principles with special exhibits. Uh this Thursday, our girls basketball team will be competing in the state quarter finals. They will be going head-to-head with Innovation Technical High School at Innovation High School in New Britain. Uh tickets can
082be purchased at gofan.com, and they're sold out. We wish the players good luck. Go Nighthawks. And last night on our list, on Monday, March 2nd, the AP chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, and Forensics classes took a field trip to the Boston Museum of Science. When they first arrived, they were able to sit in on an electricity show where they learned about lightning bolts and Tesla coils. The whole experience engaged students in interactive STEM learning and promoted critical thinking, engineering skills, and a lifelong interest in science. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for our high school reps? >> I do, just one. That blood drive that you're doing on the 20th, what are the hours for that? It's um it starts at 8:00 and ends at 1:00. Any additional questions? Thank you very much. We'll move
083on to item six, which is action on the minutes. Do I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of February 11th, 2026? So moved. Do I have a second? I have a change. Do we have a second first? Second? Okay. Thank you. Any discussion? Uh yes, it was a a small typo um Heartfield under right there, just above 12. The motion just above 12. Okay. I guess I got to get you to read my name. Well, how many times have you corrected yours? That's okay. Any other additional corrections? Now you need to do Um can I get approval with a correction on item 12? Uh can I get a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of February 11th, 2026 with correction? Can I get a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye.
084Abstain? Motion carries. Can I get a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of February 26th, 2026? So moved. Second? >> Second. Discussion? Yes. Um, on those minutes, there's no start time recorded, just as a heads-up, which troubled me. And it also really doesn't reflect the conversation at all about the budget. Doesn't even mention that board members have questions, for instance. So, for those reasons, I'm going to be voting against the minutes of February 26th. Um, we definitely need to make a correction on the time. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm going to make another motion for with the correction. Time we need to correct. Yeah. Call order audience citizens but Um, we can expand upon board the board discuss the super bowl. Okay. Uh, we definitely need to make the time correction and we can expand upon
085item three on the agenda with the Yeah, we'll get more detail on I on three. Do I have a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of February 26th, 2026 with the corrections of time uh, of the start of the and expansion on the budget workshop and discussion. So moved. I second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposition? I'm going to abstain until I see the corrections in section three. Okay. Thank you. Motion carries. Moving on to, uh, agenda item seven, which is the committee reports, starting with curriculum, policy, and educational programming subcommittee. Okay. Um, we met, um, on March 2nd at 3:30 in the afternoon. Um, the majority of the meeting was devoted to gaining some input and information from professional staff in the district regarding sort of the current state of our
086curriculum. Um, we discussed the need to develop some new elements as part of it. Um, there was clear evidence that uh, a great deal of what we might normally want, at least in what we saw that day, already existed and was in pretty decent shape. Um, doesn't tell us anything about anything else. We looked basically at one unit for one course. Um, so we didn't really get an in-depth view. Um, there was an agreement to sort of fine-tune what we eventually hope will become a board-approved curriculum template. Um, and I did review at the time the fact that we had changed policy to kind of bring it in line with the vast majority of school districts, which do require Board of Education approval for all curriculum. Um, under state law, the Board of Ed must
087establish a committee to approve to approve and, you know, guide curriculum and all that. Um in most districts, that's done by the Board of Ed itself. There's usually a subcommittee that kind of uh guides it and then it goes to the full board for approval. In this district, um for a long time that hadn't happened. And although there were teachers who stated that there had been curriculum brought to the board for approval, um I have yet to see any evidence that that happened. I'm not saying they're not telling the truth. I'm just saying I didn't see it. So, um it's kind of hard to know. Um I thought it was a fruitful discussion. Um we talked about a couple of different options. Given that there's some evidence that at least some of the curriculum was
088in reasonably good shape, I we talked about the idea that we uh maybe set up sort of uh provisional approvals. Once we get an agreed-upon template, template, things can come forward and it wouldn't be fully approved because it wouldn't be what we would describe as complete, but we would be able to approve and basically thank people for hard work that they've done. Um and then continue moving forward. Um Not sure there's a whole lot more for me to tell you about that. Um we also discussed a policy which is we believe required by law and which is on our docket for today to be approved. Um That has to do with early dismissal to provide employment opportunities for high school students for various kinds of things. Um and that's actually as I said, it's actually
089legally required. It should have already been done. Not quite sure how it escaped us. I don't know if it happened uh, during the transition or if just didn't pick up on it. I I usually am pretty good about that stuff, but I I think either missed that or it happened, as I said, in some sort of transitional time. I don't know if it matters a whole lot, but we want to get caught up and be doing the right thing. So, I would recommend that the board approve it. Under normal circumstances, that would take a 2-week process. Uh, a 2-month process, cuz it would be a first read, and then following month it would get full approval. Um, I would recommend, when we get to that later on in the meeting, that we just do this
090as a one-meeting thing. Primarily because there's absolutely nothing controversial about it. The language is straight out of the Connecticut Association Board of Education, which got tasked with sort of drafting it for the state. So, I don't think there's a whole lot there for us to play with or be concerned about. If folks want to take a full normal 2 months, that's fine, but it just means we'll we'll be a little bit beyond the behind schedule, but it's not a crisis either way. Um And there's a couple of other policy things we have been looking at um, establishing a volunteers policy, and there is some ongoing discussion. Um I had been in contact with Jody Galar, who runs policy for CABE, and he sent me a template. Um, I fine-tuned some elements just to reflect some
091of our local experience. Again, I don't think any of it is controversial. Uh, but there were There's elements in the original policy that uh, I think generated some mixed feelings on. Some people felt it was going to create onerous burdens for both school staff and potential volunteers to the point where people might not want to volunteer because of the hoops they'd have to go through to get approved. Other folks felt like the potential benefits of those hoops were sufficient to justify adopting it and we have not come up with a final answer on that. There was a little confusion. I think that's at least partly my fault, so I'll say that right up front and it was never intended to come to the full board tonight, but I know it got included in your packets.
092We can discuss things if you want about it. Under normal circumstances, I would have waited until we had a vote of approval from the committee, which we do not have at this point. So, you folks can decide what you want to do about that. Um Dr. DeBruto and I will be meeting sometime soon to take a look at the proposed curricular template and see if that is going to satisfy concerns of um committee members and and then if it does, we'll we'll move forward with that expeditiously. Um My hope would be to have the curriculum template agreed to and then brought to the full board for approval. I would hope that we would get that done in April at the latest. And then subsequent to that, I'm hopeful and I'm putting it that way cuz
093there are time crunch impediments that are real life things and you know, staff have full-time jobs and all that kind of stuff. But I would hope to be able to start at least doing provisional approvals for some of the curriculum that currently exists before the end of the year. Um we'll see if that pans out, but that's that's kind of what I'm hoping for. So, if anybody has any questions or anything to approve. End of the school year or the end of 2026? End of the school year. Okay. Um whether that happens, I can't guarantee. Partly because you know, it like I said, there there's time constraints, and um there's work to be involved even with the provisional stuff, even if it's just a matter of getting things into the template. You know, there's there's
094stuff that's got to happen, and I'm not sure uh I I'll leave that up to our lovely Dr. DeBrito to figure out what's doable without making people nuts, which brings no one any benefit of any kind of which I'm aware. Any additional questions, Mr. Jen? I'm good. Thank you. Sean, uh business and planning subcommittee report. All right. So, yes, we um let the last meet was last month on uh February 17th. Um went through our regular maintenance reports that we get from Don Ingersoll. Uh commend him, lots of reports. We went over our regular maintenance reports, the facilities project updates from the elementary, the middle school, and kind of the district-wide. Uh there's a lot of things going on, and uh happily to notice that the HVAC for the elementary school is I would say
095100% complete. I think it was like 99% complete. Um and so, point is it's uh running well, everything. The kitchen is 100% up and running from that generator. Right? That's uh So, the gen So, everything's working well. Um went over just a lot of good things that were they're working on. So, that was the maintenance report. Um also talked about food services. So, that was a discussion. A lot of good uh uh talks around, you know, different opportunities um for bringing in new foods, programs, and certain and such stuff like that. Also, the rates for the 26-27 year. So, that'll be a discussion um moving forward. And then we talked about our uh ongoing conversations in the bus transportation bids um that Christine is leading so the charge so well with uh Dr. DeBritto. And
096um so, those are going well as surprisingly well, very well. Um So, that was the last business and planning. I was going to roll right into the P&N um It's okay. You can move right into uh personnel negotiations team team. Yes. So, and then so, yeah, for personnel negotiations, a lot going on as well. Unfortunately, we did have a meeting uh canceled um last week before due to the snow as well. Um so, that was for our stipends negotiations. Um so, we're just rolling that into our next meeting uh which we are following up on on March 30th, which we'll roll right into that um for the next stipends uh meet. Um And then we also have uh on March 25th another meeting in where we are prepping for our next negotiation for APSCUF. So,
097that will be uh coming in the near future. And that's all I have for that. Thank you. Just a quick question. Yes ma'am. What are the times and are those two meetings I I don't for cuz I wasn't able to attend the last one. >> yes. I didn't mention that. Um so >> you said? >> Yep, the 25th is at 6:00 p.m. And uh just because I also the March 30th for the stipends is at 5:00 p.m. Okay. Thank you. Is there a meeting on the 23rd? >> Yeah, what about the 23rd? What is the 23rd? Is there one of them? There's a That could be for Both? Up Sue? For stipends. Sorry. Sorry, yeah. Little no. I also stipends for the 23rd. I missed that. My apologies. So our next meet for the 23rd
098is for stipends which is at 5:00 p.m. Um also we do have the 30th as well, so 23rd stipends at 5:00, um the Up Sue 25th, and then again stipends on the 30th. I'm I'm just curious. Are those meetings public? If if I wanted to sit in on one of those, is that legit or not? The negotiations are not public. Just asking. Sorry for the confusion. >> Is the 30th meeting just a a whole Just a play, yeah. Another play sober. Right. And that's why I didn't have it. Yeah, sorry about that. No, no, no, you don't have to be sorry. I just want to make sure I get it straight. Thank you. Um Can I mention one thing I forgot? Sure. I wanted to get a little input from members of the board while
099doing other work um and reviewing some of the policies and stuff. It's clear to me that we are getting not only a whole lot more stuff in our monthly warrant than we ever got before, but we're actually getting more, I think, than the policy calls for. And I am concerned by that, and not because I want to keep anything hidden, but just because it's hard for me to imagine that anyone has the time to do a meaningful dive into a 40-page report every year, even while certain people are getting forced to print it, collate it, and share it. So, I would like the support of the board, if it's considered acceptable, to meet with our business manager and kind of fine-tune the warrants, so that we're still getting the information which the policy calls for,
100but doesn't maybe waste so much paper and time and energy. Now, if people are routinely going through that in a deep dive every month, I'll shut my mouth and mouth and walk away. That's fine. But, if we're not really using it meaningfully, I mean, I had mentioned it last week. I I can't I I'm retired, and I can't go through that whole thing all the time. I spot-check stuff. Um if if that uh is typical of what other folks are doing, that they're not able to really get through that anyway, I'd love to lighten the burden on the staff and I don't know how people feel about that. So, is board policy to receive a warrant, but I guess we can say um Well, the policy calls for the major um line items and sub-line
101items. I think we're getting a much more granular detail than that would ever encompass. Um and it may be that trying to separate it out would add more work for the business manager. I don't know. That's why I said I kind of would want to talk to them and find out what works. But before I even waste the conversation time with them, I want to find out how people on the board feel. So past past experience, we used to get that like one One or two pages. >> One or two sheets. Yeah. I think it was made in Excel versus like Munis. Um What if we take what you're saying and then you look at it so then you have a reference of Okay, it looked like this. Now it looks like this. And get
102it in book like so you so others can see it. I have I just just if you're looking for other info I'm following. the level of detail, the more the better. Uh I would be very hesitant to now say we're not going to have the onion unpeel and it's a 20 uh layered onion, we're only going to unpeel five. We're unpeeling 20 right now, let's continue to do that. I I I I am a big proponent of give people the information and it's their choice whether they review it or not. We shouldn't dumb it down just because it's too much information. That's where I am. All right, the only thing I'll say Melissa, it's not It In my mind it has to actually be useful to ask employees to put the effort into it. If
103it's useful for you, that's a legitimate thing. I respect that. I'm not I don't want to sound like I'm suggesting we're not. But after we changed the policy, we started getting so much more information already. We used to get something that barely qualified as a one-pager. It was worthless. Um and if the majority of the board can't make use of it, um I just don't know that it's worth it. But, it's a different, you know, you have a right to your opinion. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just explaining >> I mean, I guess, you know, not to put you on the spot, Christine, but you've been put on the spot. You know, I mean, it sounds to what you pre Is it true what you are bringing is just um printing? I'm I'm collecting
104this data print, or are you going in and manipulating columns to get it all combined onto a PDF? Like, is there's Are you doing something that is very time-consuming? No, it's a report that's easy to print, but there may be a report that will satisfy both needs. That's more condensed. So, let me take a look and see if it satisfies your needs for the detail. >> We don't print anything anymore. That's why we're all lugging these things in here. So, whether I'm scrolling through 70 pages or 25 pages, I'm still scrolling. It did reduce what you got this time that left off the detail of the individual charges. Let me take another stab at reducing it to something that has both maybe satisfies both >> can talk and see if we can come up with
105something that satisfies your wishes and concerns, but still uh it's just not so overwhelming. Are there board members that feel like it's overwhelming? I guess that's what that's >> Well, that's what I'm trying to find out, yeah. Well, maybe So, at one point, too, we also got I don't want to make too much work, but we also got like a Excel summary. I would say it was made in Excel versus Munis, and then the Munis backup with that. So, those who didn't want to go through Munis, they could look at the summary sheet versus everyone who goes through MUNIS. That would add the layer of extra work. Right. Right. Yeah, that That Excel spreadsheet >> That wouldn't achieve what I'm flow, that's not what you're looking for. It wouldn't achieve what I'm looking for cuz
106it would add work. I'm trying to reduce work and for those of us who do rely on paper um to reduce cuz I I can't look at these things on a screen. I mean, I physically can't do it. Um so it's still is a lot of paper to handle and store. But in for accuracy, the reports come directly from MUNIS. Right. I I I do echo that sentiment that we might have never received a correct Excel spreadsheet. So, um I do I I look through it all, but I'm going to look through it all anyway. Mhm. Within my role. So, um I'm I'm happy either way personally because I'm going to do it anyway. Um but if it's this is merely pulling a report and it takes 2 seconds, then I'm not sure that it
107does add too much work, but maybe if there's a more of report that would work, you know, better for everybody cuz this is still a lot of, you know, nothing happened this month. Um over and over again. Um but I would be Like how much work would it be to pull a couple sample reports and say these are our options for a different board meeting? So, you have to get that go into a business planning for a little more detail and then I think for me the reality is you're so busy trying to finish the audit for FY 25. I don't I I don't want less information and so, you know, I think if anything, you know, you're still busy cleaning, you know, finishing and putting bows and getting things dotted and crossed, this seems
108like maybe I don't know if it's a priority. I don't know. We do have a preferred report. I I'll have to say that. I do have a preferred report that anybody could take a look at and get the same gist of the of the information and it's a one or two pager. Um I'd be willing to show you all that report. It might be easier for those that want less information, but remember that this report's a snapshot time. It's what processed through Munis and two days later could be something different. So, it's a chance for you to see where we're at in the moment. Um And and the extra detail can come through conversation, but Cuz we're not doing we're not doing some other things that probably should be doing. So, for example, I thought
109there was a a requirement to post quarterly reports of actuals, revenue, and expenses. I don't know if that's you know, there's things that are not happening now. The more information we can provide our residents, the better. I would much prefer somebody say, "Geez, this report was 80 pages long and I couldn't read it all versus, "Hey, this page was a paragraph and a half. What's what's going on?" What are you fighting? Exactly. Well, I think it's a quarterly. We're monthly. That's the That's the warrant. No, no, no. There There's a requirement in in state law that stuff gets posted on a quarterly basis on a website and I'm just saying I don't think that There's things We have a We have a lot of problems. That's what I've heard and I just think before we
110create a new create a new process, why? Let's clean up everything else we're dealing with. >> I think we can deal with this. Let's discuss it in business and planning cuz that's the numbers. Numbers committee. Um I'm going to go to 7D, which is East Hampton Schools Capital Improvements Committee. We did not uh meet prior to this meeting. Uh 7E is LEARN. Terry? I have an entire report printed out for you. So, at the February LEARN Board meeting, we heard a presentation from Waterford Public Schools about their district's strategic plan and some of the demographic trends that they are experiencing. Um, like many districts across the region, Waterford has also seen a decline in overall enrollment over the past decade. Um, at the same time, their student population is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse.
111Um, the number of multilingual learners has doubled. Actually, it's more than doubled. And now they have more than 20 languages represented among their students and families. And something I learned, which I'd never heard of this, um, Urdu is identified as the second most common language. If you're not familiar with Urdu, this would be Southeast Asian and uh uh Middle Eastern. So, you're going to hear more of this in Pakistan and uh India. So, I thought that was interesting. Uh they also discussed ongoing challenges with chronic absenteeism, uh particularly at the middle and high school levels, um not unlike us, which is something a lot of districts continue to address um post-pandemic. One of the key strategies Waterford highlighted in response to these trends is strengthening family engagement. So, the district has invested in family engagement
112staff and outreach efforts aimed at improving communication and connection between school and fam- schools and families, particularly for those multilingual households. Uh the goal is to ensure families understand available supports and feel connected to the school community, which in turn helps improve attendance and student outcomes. So, it'll be interesting to get an update from Waterford on that. Hopefully, they'll come back later on in the year. Um we also heard a second presentation on student voice as a driver for school improvement. The focus there was on creating structured opportunities for students to share feedback and contribute to school improvement efforts through tools like student surveys, advisory groups, and listening sessions. And um teachers also shadowed that student for a day. So, um they really got a chance to from the students' perspective see how policies in
113school actually impacted um the student experience. So, um so, it's really being driven by the student experience, which I thought was great. Um the premise being that when students feel heard and included in as part of that conversation for strategic planning, um engagement and school climate tend to improve. Uh lastly, overall uh the takeaway from the meeting was the growing emphasis on engaging both families and students as partners in strengthening the school community um and supporting their success. It was pretty interesting to see how districts are approaching both the family engagement and the student voice as part of the school improvement efforts. Um and I see a lot of that being echoed here. And it'll be interesting to see how these uh strategies continue to evolve across the region. Any questions? That's it. Thank you.
114It's on the agenda. Ray Board, Taya, and Shawn. We meet next week on Monday or Tuesday. I think Monday. Usually it's on Mondays, right? 16th. Yep. The 17th. At 3:30. We have it on Tuesday. The email said Tuesday. Yep. So, Tuesday. Yeah, so we have not met yet. Yeah. I know. Oh, there was one other thing I wanted to mention. I forgot. Um LEARN is doing a disability summit this weekend, and I will email all of you the flyer for the program. Um it's typically done at uh the I think the share it's going to be at Mosey Poiku and Son. So, um I will make sure I send all of you a copy of this presentation and a copy of the flyer. Thank you. Uh Long Range Capital Improvements Committee is a subcommittee of
115the First Selectman, and that has not met in a while. Safety and Security, uh we last met in January. I'm going to move on to new business, item eight. Um discussion and possible action to create a non-lapsing Christine. Christine. I'm going to give the language so that you can have a motion to create it, cuz it's never been created by the board. >> So, the policy was created. This is legislation that happened in 2024. Correct. So, this is to create the actual account? We never created a bank account. Okay. That's good. Just curious. I didn't write it up, but um the motion should read um that the board makes a motion to create a non-lapsing account um to apply unused funds up to 2% of the budget each year. So moved. Do I have a
116second? >> Second. All those in favor? Um just a discussion. Go ahead. Um so, are you so you're saying that we don't currently have one even though that this law passed previously, so we've never held the 2% since the law was passed. Is that accurate? Yes. So, there are funds from last year to recoup and to to deposit into the non-lapsing account. They're sitting on the books right now. Excellent. By at what year? End of End of 2024? When we close 2025, there will be uh funds available for 2025. How much funds are left over in 2024? It's around $238,000. And if I recall, there was specific policies over the spending of that 2%. Is that accurate? >> Covered by a policy for the board. And when when that funding is allocated, does it have
117to have a vote of the board or is it a direction of the superintendent? The funding use? Yes. So, the expenditure of the funds have to be approved by the It does require a vote of the board. Okay. Okay. And I'm just curious, how many funds how many accounts do we have? Like Like, you know, when I think about You know, the responsibilities, is there one main account and now we have a non-lapsing fund? Is it one main account, a capital account, and now a non-lapsing fund? Can you give me Sure. So, we have the 1010 accounts which are the general fund accounts. Say that again, the 1010 >> those are the first four digits that got it. That indicate that they're general fund taxpayer funded accounts. There are grant accounts that start with 2550,
118our cafeteria accounts. Um within the grant accounts, there are um individual accounts with the different grants, IDEA, Title 1, Title 2, um and then general grants that might come through that are not um entitlement grants that are expected every year. There are uh shared fund accounts. Shared fund with the town? >> Town. Um there are revenue accounts that don't on the board side that don't carry funds. The town will deposit money into those accounts and then we apply them to the uh expenditures. So, those accounts should net zero um at the end. And so, typically, we wouldn't write a check unless the fund unless the approval was given from the or unless there was some communication with the town to deposit the the funds into that revenue account, so then you can write a check.
119Is that how it works? So, the taxpayer funds are on our our budget lines. So, those are already funded with a budget number um in each of the accounts and you see that in your reports. Yeah. Um cafeteria doesn't have a budgeted amount. We have a checkbook where um accounts from come into the town and they deposit them into our checking account and we work on balancing them throughout the year with the finance director. Um there are Val and I are setting up the grants to have budgeted numbers so that if we know we're getting $100,000 in Title 1, it's allocated in the budget areas so that it's easier to see the drawdowns. That's been a challenge with the audit that they were not budgeted. They're not budgeted with money, they're budgeted with numbers so
120that when the funds come in, both Val and I get the notifications from the state that said, "Hey, we deposited this amount of money at the town." And here is the category, the dollar amount, the date, and some information. And then I would send Val an email saying, "Please deposit it into this line." If she's not already aware of where it needs to go. I I had a constituent ask me about student funds, student activity funds. Who Who's Who oversees those funds? So, those funds are held at the schools. At individual schools. >> schools, there are three. Each school has one. Um, they do quarterly reporting to me on on the funds. I have the access to the accounts to see um, those go through. Yeah, a constituent reached out because I guess somewhere else
121in the part of the state there was I mean, listen, uh, sometimes government doesn't think long-term and online uh, betting and online gaming have really created big problems for people and some addiction like anything else. And student funds were completely, you know, um, taken for somebody's malfeasance. And they asked me what how how do we do that at East Haddam? And I didn't know. So, I appreciate that It's spreadsheets for each like at the high school. Um, they'll keep a spreadsheet on your book. Certain activity is the dance, whatever happens, they do have a deposit on the top and then they do the draw downs and then they report those quarterly to me. Okay. Thank you. And Melissa, that's a statutory obligation under the business office for every school district. >> Okay, good to know.
122Okay. And you asked about the capital Yeah. account. That is held with the town. So, before the non-lapsing legislation passed, any up to 2% overage would go into the capital account always, and then the board goes before the town Board of Finance and make requests based on needs. So, that is still in existence. Okay, helpful. Thank you. >> The non-lapsing account, the policy governing it was modeled after that. It expressively expressly forbids buying routine stuff with that money. It's to be held harmless, to be used for kind of emergency special needs, student needs, you know, a wrong kid moves in and suddenly you need $500,000, or emergency repair problems, or just long-term capital needs, you know, the bleachers in the in the gymnasium have to be replaced. I almost got crushed in in gymnasium bleachers
123once because they hadn't been, so I'm familiar with that problem. But but to your point, you said no matter what what it is, it still have the books, the policy doesn't allow the expenditure to happen. >> Not until the board approves it. It's not legislative. It's legislative. Perfect. I have a motion and second on the floor. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor? I. I. Any opposition? Extensions? Motion carries. Uh 8B, discussion and possible action on the bus bays. I'm going to turn that back over to our business manager. I think that's Part of the uh Here on the one page here that shows is for each of the bus companies. So, we were fortunate to get two companies that were very interested in providing a service to the South schools. One is
124our current vendor, Dattco. The top of the worksheet that I I put together is the current cost of those different types of services. So, a type one bus is a door-to-door everyday bus for all students. And currently right now we spend $329.96 for that service per day per bus. That, if you look down at 2026, Dattco bid 444 and M&J bid 435. If you go down to the next, just following the first column because that is the major expense, the type one bus gives you 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030. I can tell you, talking to colleagues, that they received bids that that topped off at a 50% increase. We originally budgeted for 15%. This came in a little bit lower than that. There is one area that I am going to one of the big
125um options for us was for us to negotiate further after this. So, we got different numbers the first time and then they exchanged their um their bid numbers at the bid opening. And so, we gave them an opportunity to come down to give us a last best offer and that did then net even further cost savings to us. The one area that I am going to have a third look at is the athletic field trip because right now it's $54 with a two-hour minimum. Next year would be if we went with Dattco, it would be 79. If we went with M&J, it would be 85. A significant increase. They both came to the two-hour um requirement. There is one M&J originally offered three hours and did come down to the two-hour minimum, so that that
126was helpful. What really um excited me was as we went down um the years the 15% 13% came down much lower. Um so looking at um the next couple of years we'll be able to budget a little more tightly for transportation because of these numbers. Um M&J gave us a better cost significantly less than um Dattco. They're um they service school districts in this area and they were very interested in adding that to their um their opportunity because they're here. Um Dattco has operations all over. I've I've done business with them in Middletown. Clearly money um is a factor, but service is just as important especially to our parents and our students. Um so the assistant planning can talk to how they felt about that cuz that didn't come into play um with my numbers.
127Um we did talk about legal issues. Dattco's a little bit bigger. Um they had 49 open um lawsuits. Um M&J had two. They're accidents that happened on the bus. It wasn't anything that was troubling that that stood out. Um but you know, things happen and and safety is is a big concern. So I I tried to pull it out. You know, type one type two buses. Um they're four and a half five-hour buses. We're not going to pay any overage um like we are on the current contract. Right now we pay $26 or $27 an hour if the bus route is longer than 4 and 1/2 hours and many of them are. So, that isn't embedded in that first column, that first heading because there are additional charges other than the ones that that you
128see here. Which will not happen in the next 5 years because we said we're not paying the extra. So, I think it's They'll look through the numbers. I think that it's a clear financial decision and then you make the decision based on the whole package. Does anyone have any questions for Christine before I make a motion? I have one quick one. Maybe not quick. Um we heard a lot today at CAB's Jan the Hill about the requirement to basically move toward electrical buses. Um is there any planning for that? Going on? I mean They aren't Yes. So, the language in the bid was that they would need to follow the state law with regard to any electric requirements. And that's true for any bid that was submitted. Mhm. I had to, yes. >> In our
129bid, yes. It doesn't necessarily get picked up. Um and we'll pat myself on the back when they said that we were incredibly both said we were incredibly thorough in um trying to hit every circumstance whether it was the name on the bus, that if there was a substitute that we would know, the type of communication that they're required to give, the fact that they have to have two spare buses on our property in case there's an incident, an unknown incident that happens that we needed immediate spare, the age of the buses. They were concerned that we were requiring the age of the buses to be much newer buses. That came into play in their calculation. They did ask if we would relent a little on that. We said no. Um, so, you know, there are
130opportunities to These were all safety things we felt were very important. And so, Dr. DeBritto and I looked at several towns um who supported our our research in getting as much as we could into there to say, "You'll have a dedicated manager. You will contact us for notifications immediately." Some of the things that DaSilva currently does, but we expanded on that. Just to make sure that every single incident that we heard about through the parents was addressed in a required part of the contract. And as we develop the actual contract, those terms will get into that contract. My final question is bus drivers. How are we handling I mean, you know, it's the Atlantic kids have had the same bus driver. We have a lot of local employees. I'm just curious how that's going to
131work. Will they just, you know, invite them to apply or is there any conversation about that? We talked to to M&J. We didn't need to talk to DaSilva about it, but that you know, certainly it's a chance for us to to evaluate the bus drivers that we find are stellar to support their their employment with M&J, but they need to hire people and they want to hire people that have the route experience. Um so, they are they are going to look at those those drivers. And just as it relates to Jim's point, which was a good one about electrified buses, you know, I imagine that you're going to see them kick that goal post out. We were talking about that today. Well, what's interesting is DOT has already asked to be allowed by diesel buses.
132It's, it's that they are So, this is this is clearly It was an article, I think, in the Connecticut Mirror earlier today. So, I'm not I don't I think it's a false flag, you know, that they're just going to keep moving out. And this This community doesn't really allow for an easy transition to electric buses because of the distance that they travel and the how far a bus can travel will not And they were talking about the idea that the current infrastructure for electric electrical power in the state won't support it. And it may be years before it does. You can't buy buses and demand that they be charged electrically when you don't have way to feed the electricity into them. What's in there in case they decided in this contract here that that they're
133going to do something about it, that they will provide those electric buses? It is currently in state language by I think it's 2030. >> Yeah, it's 2030. Uh but there is a an act uh SB 416, an act concerning transportation system modernization uh by how they're going to prolong this because uh there's no way we were told today at the cable van that the expense of the buses, the infrastructure, and including towns that are way larger than us, we're talking about how they are they are studying for what the future would bring and um what the town, I'm not sure I can say what town, uh they had they their study that they did said they had no electrical power. And this is a way larger town. Not enough electricity to electrify. And they were
134talking about the fact that buses they're much more ready for this in most districts because they have a couple of Amazon warehouses, was it? >> Yeah. Windsor. So, Windsor doing stuff like that. And they said if we're not anywhere near it, you guys are really stuck. And we're in We're in what they call a distressed municipality and I find that really rich because I don't think we have the funding as a distressed municipality. Yes, we are on that list. for the buses. For the buses. Cuz you and I know what a distressed municipality really is and In particular for the school buses. They say that we would be East Haddam is on the list for 2030 currently for school bus for electric school buses. I don't I'm not suggesting we do it tonight, but I
135think at some point it's important that boards of eds voices are heard at the capital, not necessarily as in, you know, it's great to go individually, but at some point we may want to, you know, take a vote on some issue on this issue and send it up to the transportation committee. That'd be great. I'd be happy to look this up, SB 416 because I don't know if it's been heard already, but I think that uh that definitely should be heard for even just the finances, just the financial burden for a small district like ours. Is there any additional questions? No. Do I have a motion to award M&J Corporation the East Haddam Public Schools transportation bid uh starting July 1st, 2026 commencing June 30th, 2031. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
136Thank you. Discussion and possible action regarding food service pricing. Back to Christine. So, we recently went through an audit um of our food service operations. Came out really well. Uh we had some things that we had to make some minor corrections and one of them is the cost of meals. So, we are significantly low on the cost of meals to our students um and our staff. So, we're asking tonight for approval to increase the staff meals to $5. Um so, that we run our operations in the negative a little bit um which happens in most districts every single year in the districts that I've worked in. They run a little low because we don't collect um from every single student. Um it's not an easy task. But, the meals at $3.65 for staff um really
137need to go up to $5. The student meals um we're going to bring to you at the next meeting. We need um to provide to the auditors the food service auditors, not the financial auditors the approval from this board to increase the the pricing. There is a tool that the state and um the federal government does to calculate the cost that student meals should be. They will not require us to go up the entire amount because it will be a big jump. It could be $0.45 or $0.55 for the kids. Um they will require us to go up in increments. I think it's between 10 and 20 cents is where the kids will need to increase. But, we will need to increase the kids probably every year for a couple years to get up to
138that level that is more consistent with class. They don't want to see us running in negative because we're not charging the students. So, the student one we're not we can't vote on tonight because I don't have they haven't created the tool to give me the threshold. So, as soon as they do that, that'll be at the next meeting. But, the the adults that needs to be increased to $5. We need to provide the support votes as evidence that we have complied with what the state is telling us. Is that for breakfast and for lunch all staff meals versus staff lunch? >> Staff lunch. Staff lunch. >> So, adults Adult adult lunch. Adult lunch. If you want to have lunch, it's going to cost $5. Are we serving staff breakfast? They didn't address the staff breakfast
139cost. I don't think we serve many staff if any at all staff breakfast. They can buy But, it was the lunch that that didn't meet the criteria. And the price increase would start Next year, it'd start next year. This fall. So, someone would make a motion to increase the staff >> I'm going to do that. Oh. We have any more questions first? Sorry. It's okay. Can I have a motion to I can't even think. At the start of the 2026-2027 school year, make adult lunch prices $5. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Anybody abstain? Thank you. Motion carries. Okay, discussion and possible action on school 180 school days for students. Okay, sure. Currently the calendar has 181 school days for children, but the law indicates that students have to go
140180 days. This last additional school closure bumped us to five days. We are making up four, which would take us to June 18th. The staff still have a day they need to make up. That would be June 19th. And rather than have the students go till Friday and then the staff go till Monday type of thing, we're hoping that kids actually if the kids could get out on the 18th as opposed to the kids also coming in on Friday. I really want to correct that. Um we allowed it before. Apparently that's just the way that it works here. And then there's language in the calendar that was that says we would start to pull from the April break. People are really not we don't I don't recommend that. I think it's fine if we end
141school for children on the 18th as opposed to having them go to the 19th. So just correcting that. So I have a question. Does the state allow us to go to June 19th? Yeah, but schools can still a district our district still stays open. That is still allowed. Yes. Yes. >> Okay. So if teachers come in on the 19th, are they getting additional pay because of that? Not at all? >> it was actually recommended from the union president that that could be the day. And we I came up with something creative that I heard from a colleague as an alternative and that was not um something that um was accepted. So um it would be like professional development day for collaboration on the 19th for teachers. What are other districts doing with all these fundings
142It depends on their calendar. They might already have had 180 days. If we only had 180 days, I wouldn't be coming to you. A lot of districts just have 180 school days for children accounted for. This district had 181. It's just one of the news that did this. Just just this past week. They reduced it to 180. >> from 181 to 180 cuz that's the state requirement. I'm just curious. So, if if if it's on the 19th, is it mandatory that teachers attend? Can they call in sick? Can they use a vacation day? >> call in. They don't get vacation. But, they can always uh if they're Do they have personal days? Oh, okay. So, they could use if they don't they don't have to attend that. Okay. No. Well, I would say they do
143have to attend. With the contract. If they're ill No, it's part of our contract. If they're not What is part of our contract? Not calling in like the day before or day after school starts or ends. I believe there's language like that. >> if they're sick That's for personal time. That's for personal time. Sick time If somebody is ill and they're calling out sick, they call out sick. But, they couldn't use personal time according to what Karen said. No, they would they never wait that late to You can't have the personal time extend a vacation. You're not supposed to get personal time because to extend vacations and stuff. That's pretty universal in most contracts. We'd have normally 181. That is part of our contracts. But, this year we're asking for 180. Um I don't want
144to go into April vacation. Nobody will. Why not just go into April vacation? I think we'll have a lot of absentees, um, so I think hunt personally I think 180 days is appropriate and ending on June 18th. >> For the students the teachers work 185 days. >> 185 days. Yes, so this would be their 185th day to comply with the contract. Is there any additional questions? Yeah, I mean so I I have a hard time with this cuz the snow days were really challenging and all of the delays um I heard a lot of complaints from parents and I also um just have a hard time with it going into the summer. You know, you have to find care for your children, so I wouldn't want to impede on April break at all, especially because
145people have established plans. Um but I personally won't vote to have children stay home or have their last day on Thursday just because I want my kids to go to school on Friday and then be done with school for the summer because park and rec camp doesn't start, other camps don't start, so you have to find care, you know, the snow days especially for certain parents who have certain jobs, you have to go even if there's snow, so you had to work and arrange arrange child care for your children. Um and so because of the complaints that I've heard and um just my own challenges, I I wouldn't vote for that, but So you're hearing that for students to go to school on Friday and the teachers are obviously would be at work >> Yeah,
146it's not a big deal to have 181 days. Yeah, I I I hear of course, you know, I I get and I respect the teachers of course, you know, they they would like students to end early and for them to you know not have be able to start their last few days. I I do get that. Well, the teachers weren't the ones who said don't have the kids come to school on Friday. >> No, I That was really just an internal conversation. I'm just bringing it forward because the calendar has four days marked in June as makeup snow days, which ended on the 18th. It's up to the board if you would like to change that to have the school end for children on the 19th. I was just suggesting 180 because the stars, if
147you will, on the calendar ended it with makeup days on the 18th. And I was just trying to stick with that. Is there a chance that we're going to be interfering with people's vacation plans by extending the school year for kids? I personally don't like the idea of anybody working or going to school on Juneteenth, but I'm not going to argue with the contract, obviously. Um, but I'm not a fan of Personally, I'm not a fan of anybody being required to go on Juneteenth. Period. >> So, that means the teachers will have to work on Monday. I'm not And I'm not, like I said, I'm not going to argue that. That's in the contract. That's what's been decided. I'm not going to argue it, but that's where I stand on that. I feel like I
148feel very differently if it wasn't a holiday. Well, the law actually indicates that we need to then do something cultural on that day. So, we would do something cultural to honor Juneteenth. So, it's not like that wouldn't happen. So, just to share that. It's important to share that. It would be very difficult on the last day of school, especially since appropriately celebrating Juneteenth is having picnics with your families. Are you saying that for the teachers or students? >> Both. Okay. I just like to follow up tea. So, are you saying that the East Adam camp doesn't start until Monday? Is that what I think I >> No, no, no. It doesn't start for like 2 weeks. I think I just just to make things plain and simple. When students have snow days, many times school
149is then extended to accommodate the fact that parents had to take days off or they had to play teacher when their kids were home and work at the same time. And so, I would like that accommodated and I've heard from other community members that they also would like that accommodated and so, I'm speaking out about that. Just to simplify it. I know the teachers did not recommend that the And that has nothing to do with it. Um I was just sharing that, you know, we're speaking to the public here and I know that some teachers may be listening. This isn't anything against the teachers that I want my kids to go to school more so that the teachers can have my kids and I don't have them. I just want to speak to the fact
150that people work when their children go to school and when the children are out because of snow, sometimes parents have to go in. Say they're health care workers, they have to go in. They have to bring their kids maybe in the snow somewhere. Um that can't really be helped. School has to You have to maintain the safety, but in order to accommodate that, when I was younger, we then extended the school year to accommodate it and it's just what happens. We pay our taxes for our children to go to school and so, I want my kids to go to school. Um if the school year if we never had any snow days, the 12th, that Friday. Okay and the teachers would then still have worked one extra day? No, it would have been it would
151have been 181 school days for children and for teachers. Cuz we would have had no snow days. >> Okay, I got it. My apologies. So, can I make a motion to approve Thursday, June 18th, 2026 as the last school day for students accounting for 180 school days? So, moved. Second. All those in favor? I. Any who believe I opposed? Opposed. Opposed. Melissa. Shawn. Taya. So, that means 1 2 3 4. You still have three. Four to three. Uh it is half motion passes and I don't have to break it. Thank you. You said four to three. Four to three. You, Terry, and Jess approve. Taya, Shawn, Melissa disapprove. I don't vote on the board chair unless I need to uh Unless you break a tie breaker. Tie. So, that's why you see that on your
152minutes when it says like eight people and I don't. So. Motion carries. Discussion and possible action to add a community member to the Purple Fund Committee. So, this goes back to that document you received from Dr. DeBritto on the updates from March 9th. If you scroll down, there's a Purple Fund PDF. Um I met and uh Mr. Tim Cahill is recommending William Dowling. He is a uh Is he a former attorney? He's a retired attorney for the New York Yankees. For the New York Yankees. Um and he is uh I would say a wealth of knowledge based on his uh career and I uh appreciate Mr. Cahill's um recommendation. I don't see why we wouldn't uh be uh opposed. It's supposed to be somebody who Um He's a resident of East Haddam. So, this school
153town committee, which is Schedule A, number three. Yeah. So, the school town committee, which is now known as the Board of Education, is hereby authorized to associate itself with one person selected by a majority of its members, who's a resident of East Haddam but not a member of said committee, the Board of Education being, and all of said persons to constitute and be known as the Albert E. Purple Memorial Fund Committee. So, have any questions for me? Reading that, Kira, does that imply that all of us are on the Purple Fund Committee? Because it says the entirety of the School Town Committee. Voting. Voting for this person. Look at the last sentence of that paragraph you just read. All members of the School Town Committee are part of the Albert E. Purple Memorial Fund Committee.
154So, just to clarify, we are all part of that committee? I also don't see anything >> hold it until we hear more from our attorney. I would. This whole thing is full of also language about the town treasurer, which I raised earlier. Now that I've read it, I have We are in discussions with the board attorney, so I am happy to table that. I will table it for further recommendations from our I'll make a motion to table. I um A E. I would second it. Uh all those in favor of tabling? I. I. And anybody opposed? Okay, motion passes. Uh new business item F. Discussion or policy 5113 work study student employment / work release. We're going to discuss the following policy for the first reading. That's your work study one. Are you ready for
155that one tonight? Yeah, that one like I said, you know, I I would just approve it and you know, finalize it, but it's not a crisis either way. I just there's nothing for us to do with it other than comply with the law and move on. I had two questions. Um one was that second bullet point says the principal or designee collaboration with school counselors will determine the maximum number of work hours for each student. I was wondering if like school time work hours should be should should it be specified that this is during school time, not like that they're approving the hours. So, I was just wondering if like the phrase school time should go before work hours, so it doesn't look like the principal is deciding how many hours a kid can work
156in general. Is this the second bullet point? Yeah. It's the second bullet point on this first page of 5113.13. Um I I don't I don't think that that might be the best idea. Um and I say that less as a board of ed member as more as an former assistant principal of high school for a long time. Um sometimes when kids start working, it's really hard to get them to not come in so exhausted they can't function. So, I didn't write that language. I can't explain the logic behind it, but your suggestion in a normal sense makes perfect sense until the old assistant principal hat comes on and says, "Hey, wait a minute. I don't want this kid working 45 or 55 hours a week. He's still got to come to school." Um so, you
157guys do whatever you want. I'm not going to oppose it. I'm just explaining where I stand on it. I hear you, but I don't know that they would actually have that kind of control, and we don't necessarily want fam you know, people thinking that they're controlling the kids' lives outside of school. Like I said, >> But I I If you guys want to word smith it, that's fine with me. >> I'm being nitpicky, but um No, I I think it's a legitimate concern. I don't I don't think you're ill-founded here. I'm just coming at it from a different standpoint. And I I have any problem with people wordsmithing stuff and and making changes as we go. I used to get more irritated when we weren't allowed to do that. It was like, "Oh, well, never
158mind. It's got to go back to committee." Sure, let's waste another 4 weeks forever. So, if you guys want to make that change, I'll support it. That's fine. Um I I worry about kids getting overworked. Uh just not necessarily about the way the written the policy is written, but these There's two the 1 2 3 4 Uh bullet points five and six, the student must attain a promise of employment and student must show proof of employment. I mean, proof of employment's different, but getting a a promise of employment, is that true of the work study students, too? I believe that's true of any kid seeking working papers. That's state law. Can I get a motion to pass policy 5113.13 work study student employment {slash} work release? Oh, wait a minute. Scratch that. Do you want
159to make this Make a suggestion about that policy. I had said before, let's do it and just get it over with. Let's do it as a first reading, give ourselves time to think about whether we want to adjust that language. Okay. Like I said, I I have a thought about it, but it it's not the only thought, and there's a colleague on the board who has a different thought, and it's worth thinking about. Okay. It's not going to kill us if we're So, we will >> devoting a little time and attention to thinking about it. It's not a problem. So, we will uh do I have a motion to for it to accept the first reading of policy 5113.13 work study student employment {slash} work {dash} release. So moved. I have a second. Second. All
160those in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Abstain? Motion carries for first read. Uh F2, which is the policy 1212 school volunteers. Do you want to table that? I I think it would be a good idea to table it. I also don't really have a problem just having the discussion so the committee can take the thinking in and give us feedback to take back to the committee meeting with. Um I I can go either way on that. I don't I definitely don't think we should pass it on a first read. I mean on a on only one read. I'm going to suggest table it because it hasn't passed out of your committee yet. That's what I thought. And if anyone has any uh suggestions, I would suggest contacting Jim or go to the policy meeting. >>
161Um well, don't come to the policy meeting cuz they wouldn't That would create could potentially create a quorum, which could be a problem. >> Oh, yeah, we would be a quorum. But email me. You've got all the language that's in there. Um and the concerns have to do with the federal checks and that kind of stuff. So um if you have thoughts on it in any particular way, just email me and I'll bring that to our next meeting. Do I have a motion to table policy 1212 school volunteers? So moved. Okay. All those in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. 8G, I had emailed you ahead time. There was a discussion of possible action uh including >> those. including I'm we are going I'm just going to read it, but discussion of possible
162action to include waving the second reading on the following policies, policy 3293.1, authorization of signature, and policy 3326, paying of goods and services. Per our Board of Ed attorney, I am going to table it and under Robert's Rules of Order and the attorney's advice, we are not discussing it because it's versus Go Bones. We're laying it on the table is literally the the expression. So, I'm laying on the table. Do I have a motion to table it? So moved. Do I have Second. There was two of you. All those in favor? I. Anybody opposed? Any abstentions? Motion carries. Item 8H, which is the acceptance of the consent agenda. Items one through four. Let me read it then we can discuss. One is disciplinary reports. Two, enrollment report. Three, February 2026 warrants. And four, acceptance of
163the following appointments. I'm sorry to anybody if I say your name is wrong. Jasmine Similan building substitute at Nathan Hale Ray Middle School. Michelle Flynn, executive assistant to the superintendent. Aurora Fitch Laxen La- La- Tanzio. Tanzio, thank you. Paraeducator at the East Hampton Elementary School. I'm sorry. And Shoshana Walsh library aide paraeducator at Nathan Hale Ray Middle School. Uh is there any discussion before we even go? Discussion. Yeah, go ahead. Um so this enrollment summary says we have 946 March 1st. February we had 934. Did we actually get 12 kids in a month? So going along with that I know we get them every month and so I'm kind of being annoying and asking this question but the question is how difficult is it? How difficult is it to get what last month's was? Just
164like adding a column this is what it was February. Yeah I would if that's not difficult. I think it would be helpful to me because finding out we got 12 kids in a month is big. So you you'd like a running tally on that report month by month. That's what it is. Not necessarily month by month because that would probably just get just like the month before. It's like an increase in transition school. No am I wrong with I would have to go back. I just looked at the bottom line and looked at the bottom line and was surprised that Just it like was There you go. Oh there are. Yeah there's a large increase in transition Nine of them. school So it's actually school. Nine in the transition >> transition program. Is there that
165much of an increase in transition Is that the program that's in East Hampton? No. Do we have that much of an increase? Just I'll I'm happy to do it because I want to make sure that we just report the transition kids in the last report and then to see if it's I think it's apples to apples. Transition maybe wasn't included in the next last numbers. It was, but there were two and now there's 11. Maybe it wasn't this calendar. Good catch. Okay, so we'll let's enroll I'm going to table that enrollment because I'm I want to see what that true number is, too. Um any additional questions? Wait, I have a question on that discipline There seems to be a lot of physical contact. Uh issues in the elementary school. Just curious, like what is
166what are the strategies that we are employing at that level to obviously create an atmosphere where kids aren't physically being physical with each other in elementary school. Like what is going on? A lot of these are on the bus. Which makes it quite a challenge. So, the principal deals with the referrals. But they referrals are like when the driver writes up a referral because the student behaves this way towards another student and I they're very impulsive and they do touch quite a bit and so there has to be training of, you know, your personal space and things like that. Um but that's Do we have a situation where we have a child that is a repeat uh issue discipline issue and if we did On the bus, yes. I have definitely seen that and um
167it's highly unusual in this district to remove them from the bus. We have done that where the parent is a part of the process and then it gets to a point where they're suspended >> Yep. from the bus. Yep. So, that So, we're doing that though. There is very rare, but um And And do parents So, when there's maybe been a second issue, is the parent told that that could be consequence so that they are providing instruction at home. >> Yes. Yes. That's our intent. So I can dig more into >> I just want to make sure that it's not like oh Johnny, please please stop doing that. I I want to understand that there's There's dialogue, there's explanation, you know, they're growing. >> I grew up in a different time period clearly. So you
168know, there's a lot of dialogue but is there actual, you know, accountability? And so that's what I want to hear because when I see that number of children having phys you know, physical aggression I want to understand that first of all that the bus knows that they're also going to have that we have the bus bus people's back as well and then you know, ultimately that we are making sure parents understand that there are consequences and that the when the consequences include them having to drive their child to school um that maybe they'll be you know, more of a partner to make sure that the punishment at home ends that behavior. They're more likely to bring their lawyer. Huh? That was a pretty good joke. I said they're more likely to bring their own lawyer.
169Oh well, listen, that's another issue clearly. Are there any additional questions? Do I have a motion to accept consent agenda items one, three, and four? Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Anybody opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Item nine, audience of citizens. Nobody else? Okay. We are going to move into item 10, which is not a discussion on Should we discuss on non-union salaries? Uh we're going to take executive session. Do I have a motion to Oh, do you want to be in there? Yes, you have to invite me. Yeah, about Christine or just you? No, just you. Okay. Do I have a mo- vote uh motion to move into executive session and invite the superintendent of schools uh for the non-union salaries discussion. So moved. Second. 9:34 Do 9:34, thank you.
170Do um All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. The only thing we'll vote on in there is adjourn. Thank you. Motion carries.