Board of Education - Monthly Meeting - 5.14.2025

001um like to call the meeting to order. This is the East Southern Board of Education for May 14th, a regular meeting. Um before we start, can I get a motion to add the elementary school update under item one, number or letter C? So moved. Second. And can I get a motion to remove the audience as citizens this evening? So moved. Second. Any conversation? All those in favor? I All right. Pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. Excellent. Exits are located on either side of the room. You can take a right or a left and follow all the way outside. Right now. Oh, okay. Great. And this evening we have a special elementary school update. So, we

002are going to ask Principal Peterson to come up with her group. you speaking in the mic? That would be great. However, yeah. Hi, good evening. Thank you for having us. We have our bimonthly elementary school reps here today. We have Cordelia Ebrite and Dominic Dejakamo from Mrs. Katie Hills class and they have prepared some thoughts they wanted to share with you about ehes happenings. Third graders took their Smarter Balance Day assessment over the last two weeks. Many of us were nervous at first, but we worked hard to do our best. Families and staff wrote positive notes of encouragement to all students, which helped us feel everyone's support. Third graders also had their second annual disco field trip. It was planned and implemented by our PE teacher, Mr. Kelly. It helps us use the skills we

003have learned in class on a real life disco course. Letty Lakes were PTO who covered the cost of the trip so we could go to this year. Friday, May 9th was Eh PTO's annual basket bash fundraising event. There were more than 90 baskets, a 50/50 raffle, a top raffle, and a silent auction. Funds raised all go back into our school for events and activities, cultural arts programs for every grade level, appreciation for staff, and even field trips. Thank you for everyone who came out in spite of the rainy weather to support our school. Recently, PTO has sponsored cultural arts programs for kindergarten Horizon Lings, first grade animal show. Second grade perseverance and facing challenges, and third grade. A third grade program was about Native Americans artifacts. We worked in groups to examine an artifact and

004try to come up with what it might have been used for. Then the presenter gave us an information card that explained the artifact. Kindergarten has another program this week which is focused on life cycles of different animals. Kindergarteners took their first to kindergarteners took their trip to Rayo Lake Farm on Friday, May 2nd and first grade visited Cold Spring Farm on Thursday, May 8th. Students had a wonderful experience on both trips and connected their learning about community and animals. school and local community. Thanks to PTO for covering the cost of these trips, so our students were able to have this real world experience. Students have been spending time in the EHDs garden, getting the beds ready for planting. Planting, seeing the new greenhouse go up and spending time in this learning space. Students are also

005connecting with the local farm with food scrap Fridays. are learning about composting and sending scrap from lunch waste once per month to the farm to support the animals. Mrs. Larry's class has been working with Mrs. Endorf to get this up and running and helping our students learn about the basics of composting and world language. We are researching this a Spanish speaking country and putting together presentations to share with our class and school community. We are researching the maps of the country, food, president, and currency. We get to decorate the boards with our information. Friday, May 23rd is get outside and play for children's mental health. We look forward to the different activities like the bounce house with Mr. Kelly, and the elephant toothpaste with Mrs. Miller. We can't wait to see what else teachers have

006planned for us. We still have many exciting things still to come. Third graders will go and visit the Nathan Hray Middle School. We are looking forward to seeing all the classrooms and where the lockers are. For social studies, we will visit the Amasa day house and the Goodspeed Opera House. Second grade will has their first ever disc golf field trip and their trip to Makamuda State Park. Third graders will have their ice cream social event in June. Field day is Friday, June 6th. Students are looking forward to the kids um dunk pink parachute games and picnic lunch, a kid and the kids versus staff kickball game. What are we most looking forward to next year? Lockers, of course. Having two home room teachers and seeing some of our friends who are older. What will we

007miss about ehes? Our teachers. This is our last board of education meeting at ES student reps. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of the amazing things happening at our school. [Applause] Thank you very much for the update. Thank you so much. Anybody have any questions for us? Anything? No questions. Great job. Great job, Jackie. No questions. Great job. Thank you so much for coming to speak to all of us grown-ups. I know it's I feel scared sitting up here and I'm behind a table. So, I'm just very impressed and very proud and you should be very proud of yourselves. So, thank you. Absolutely. I I echo everyone's comments. I think it takes a lot of guts and gusto to get get up here and do what you're doing. Um you have represented your

008classes very well. So, congrats for having a great year. Okay. I always think that you guys do a great job and I do think you're very brave. I don't like public speaking still. So, uh, good job. And you'll you will like fourth grade, I think, even though you'll miss your teachers after. I don't have anything to to uh ask, but I think you guys did a great job, and I thanks for your report. Congratulations on a job well done. Thanks so much. And um congratulations on your graduation fourth grade. Exciting. Oh, and I guess I was going to say about field day. I know I volunteered for the dunk tank and I think TA also volunteered for the dunk tank. So we will be sitting up there for you to try to help us. And

009then there's the kids version which is really just the bucket, you know, the bucket. D. Congratulations. Thank you. That's being done. [Applause] All right, moving right along. Uh, report of the board chair. I have quite a few notes. Um, we are in the midst of budget season along with all the other towns in Connecticut. Um, last night we had the town meeting. It was moved to referendum. Um, so that will be on Tuesday the 27th. The polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. Um, some districts are reporting that they had success in getting their budgets passed and many have not. Um so let's hope that um we are successful at the first time. Um and we can go on to there. Um attended a safety meeting this morning. All is well. I'm

010really excited about some progress there. Um another thing I want to bring up is coming up in November is the elections for municipal. Um the board of education several years ago started changing over from six-year terms to four-year terms. In that there's going to be five seats that are open or up for election. Um and they will be all four years. Um, if anyone is interested, and this is a bipartisan just general comment, if anyone is interested in running for the board of education or for that matter any board, please stop down and see the register of voters. They are um located on the other wing. They can assist you with answering any questions as far as far as uh party affiliations or anything of that nature. If anyone is interested in running for the

011board of education, feel free to reach out um to me and I will get you in touch with um CAD which is Connecticut Association of Board of Education. um they have so you want to be a board member and it's a great booklet that explains the roles of the board of um education the limitations and it's very very helpful um because we definitely want to you know keep the momentum going for the for the board of education um attended an audit meeting this week um to review the annual um town audit and town report um just a couple of little challenges and working on processes, but all is well. Um, really pleased to hear that the board of education looks in really good shape, so it's happy for that. I want to take a moment

012and thank our two reps um this evening as well. Um, this will be your last board meeting because then you'll be graduating. So, um, just, you know, a thank you for that. And um we're going to be recognizing you as well on May 22nd. Um I have for each of you a joint letter that was sent to the governor and uh state rep and senators. The letter was from East Adam, East Hampton, and from region 13 in regard to funding public schools. You can pass them down. Um, public schools and the lack of funding that we get for special education. So, I wanted you guys to get a copy of that. Um it'll go on to say about there's a 4 billion um surplus from the state and 4 million um was allocated to cover

013excess costs. However, um a lot of the small towns were not going to be receiving that money and we really need that for excess costs. If anybody in the audience wants a copy of that letter, it is available in central office. Um, I also received um couple of um letters and or and emails. Um, some of them have to do with personnel matters um which the board really cannot comment on. Um, one involved a student matter that was directed up to the superintendent and um got my monthly email from from a parent um in regard to the run club. Um and then earlier this evening um there was a email that came out that I dispersed to everybody from um Lisa Conroy. It's in regard to Senate Bill number six, sections, five, and six. And

014um it really has a hardship on park and wreck um programs. So, if you're interested in supporting um you know um talking to a state rep or you know um legislation, you can do that on your own through your own personal emails. Um I want to do a huge shout out to um our IT department. They have been working tirelessly on meetings. every time I seem like I go to a town meeting and they're setting up things or, you know, meetings during the day and here and um I don't think that they get the the acknowledgement that they they really deserve because they're always behind the scenes. So, just shout out to them. Um, and a shout out to the PTO. Um, wow, basket bash. And then the next day, you know, they're doing a

015flower sale. And all of those monies go directly back into student programs, which are excellent. And last but not least, please um keep an eye on the calendar, on the website, end of the school year. There are so many activities that are coming up. And does anybody have any questions for me on my update? Okay, we're going to move right along. Middle school engineering the future. Come on up. I've been looking forward to this. Hello, I'm Mr. Yeah. That way you guys are on camera. Hello. I'm Mr. Badala and this is Mrs. Thod. Hello. And we have I'm Michael. And I don't know if you guys have known but uh I was hired three years ago uh as a computer teacher and Mr. Peacock wanted me to revamp the computer pro uh the computer program

016at our school. So we have started implementing a program called project lead the way. Uh it's last year was the first year that we I had been trained in you know a couple modules so I started using it last year. Uh we uh got a couple grants last year for it. We've actually gotten about $25,000 in grants to implement the program with supplies and training fees and uh you know just participation fees for the years. Uh and since then Mrs. 30 has jumped on board and we are now both project lead the way teachers uh in gateway teachers in the middle school. So we've been working together to create two different tracks of project lead the way courses throughout the middle school. So we have one track that I will be teaching uh and this

017will be starting next year actually from fourth to 8th grade. Uh this is called the innovation track. In fourth grade, we have a new program called uh inputs and outputs. Uh all about what goes into a computer system and you know also relates that to what goes into the human body and the outputs in the human brain. How how the system works in your body relates to a computer system. Um fifth grade will be design and modeling which will be hands-on building projects uh using the design uh process um figuring out problems you know solving problems with groups. Um, sixth grade will be computer science for innovators and makers, which will be using little uh little micro computers called micro:bits and they get experience with coding um building using motors, different sensors, pressure and light

018sensors. Uh, seventh grade will be automation and robotics number one with some new kits that we got from our grant this year. They're called VEX IQ kits. are plastic and more snap together kits a little bit easier than the eighth grade kits that we have were purchased last year. Uh and then eighth grade they move up to automation of robotics too which is a continuation of robotics with different kits more a little bit more involved kits and then uh Shayen has been doing some trainings as well and this is her discovery track uh which she's going to be leading starting next year. Great. Uh, first of all, I want to say thank you to Joe because without Joe, I wouldn't be standing here with my Project Lead the Way shirt um speaking in front of

019you. Um, he has secured all the grants for the um the training and for the supplies. So, um, thank you to Joe for for that. Um, so I've taken um, Magic of Electrons Green Architecture so far. Um, and Joe will be able to train me in structures and stability because he's going to be a lead teacher and flight and space, which will will fit nicely into the curriculum that I've already developed. Um, so I'll start out in fourth grade with structures with bridges and skyscrapers. Um, we'll move on to simple machines and I have some stuff in my uh some equipment in my class where they'll get to actually uh test out the simple machines. Flight and space will be in fifth grade. Um, I have rockets, I have hot air balloons, and we're going

020to be tying in the project lead the way lessons into that. Um, this year currently I am teaching magic of electrons to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade because that was the only one I was trained in and none of the students had taken that. So um magic of electrons takes a deep dive into um how electrons kind of power the modern world and how computers uh communicate and lays a basics basis for uh future study in high school. Um I'm geared up this summer to take medical detectives um which will give kids a taste of um getting into uh medical careers. um they learn how to take somebody's blood pressure. Um there's a dissection in there. Um so that one will be uh really exciting for me because I'm actually certified in biology. Um and

021then I just um finished taking a very challenging course in green architecture. Um and uh the kids get to build their own shed and they have to use the architectural ruler and learn how to draw things to scale. And let me tell you, I was up late at night trying to figure out how I was going to teach all this, but I think I've got it now. So, we'll be launching that next year. Um, I think the kids will all that's kind of like the when we were talking with the implementation specialists um with Project Lead the Way. So, part of purchasing um Project Lead the Way, every year you get access to all their experts and their curriculum writers and their implementation specialists. So, Joe and I get to meet monthly with them. Um

022and they said that green architecture is their really that that's their culminate culminating experience. So um we put that one in eighth grade. And the way project lead the way is set up is that there's one program for K through five which is called launch. There's another program for six through eight which is called gateway and then there's high school. So what our plan is um where to next uh we would like to start implementing or at some point implement project lead the way at the elementary school level. Um I will be able to train any teacher uh because I will be trained in the launch all the modules. So for no cost at all I would be able to train each of those teachers who wants to those classes. Um there's hours of of

023you know hands-on curriculum. It prepares students for project lead the way in junior high and it encourages collaboration and problem solving. Now down the line we would even like to expanded through the high school so you have a whole track from K through 12 of Project Lead the Way classes. Um it's you know it it encourages STEM engagement. Uh they offer college credits for some of the high school courses that you can get into. So I know that we lose a lot of kids going to vinyl and some of the tech schools. So this could be a really cool track for kids who are involved in the you know interested in the engineering field to really stay in district and follow that through and go all the way to college from there. Um just so

024these are just you can kind of look at this these are just a little uh just just names of different modules that are in the launch program from K through 12. So, we have structures, pushes and pulls, lights and sound, properties of matter, stability, motion, waves, energy. Um, there's, you know, properties of matter, animated storytelling. There's all these different pathways that the kids can take in the younger grades. Um, and then in high school you've got uh on the right side you've got introduction to engineering design, principles of engineering. And if you I've taken some class, some uh field trips where I go and visit schools that have these K through 12 project lead the way uh tracks and the things they're doing in high school are crazy. The inventions these kids are making. um

025just ideas like creating apps, doing all this stuff that is just you would never think about like you know freshman, senior, juniors in high school doing you know that they are. So I would like to invite the board members if you guys could all just kind of turn around. I have some uh examples or projects I would like to invite you guys just kind of come to this back table area over here and I've got our guys are going to show you a couple of things that they've been working on in school. I'm start in our in our sixth grade. Um this year we're doing we're doing design in sixth grade. Next I'm actually moving it down. Um and this is one project that we've done where they had to create a puzzle cube. Right?

026So they had all these requirements about the puzzle cube. They had to have this many puzzle pieces. Each puzzle piece had to be made of this many uh cubes. It has to have, you know, no no pieces that are the same. So, first thing they do is they use these little linking cubes to build and design their own puzzle cube. Then they assess all of the different pieces. Make sure they follow all the rules. After they're done with this, they've got to create a key, right? And this is thinking in 3D, which is a hard concept for them to get, you know, to to really master. So, they have to create their key with their puzzle cube so that it matches. And then they actually get to build their own wooden puzzle cube to take

027home with them as, you know, a take. Um, this is another design and modeling. This is all about precision measurement. This is called an air skimmer. It's kids think it's like a paper airplane, but it's really a little hovercraft. So, what this does is they have to follow this blueprint. We do this as a class. We draw on the board. We, you know, measure each individual piece. Uh, and I go around and just check them and make sure they have. They check on each other. And in the end, they come up with this little air skimmer that when if you measure really precisely, it should on a nice like smooth floor. It even does on the carpet pretty well, but there we go. So then afterwards, we have a competition and they like to, you

028know, see who's gets the first, right? And then we have Michael. This Michael over here, he's going to explain to you. This is a seventh grade project for computer science for innovators and makers, but we're actually moving this down to sixth grade next year. So, go ahead, Michael. Tell them what you're what the project is. So, we were designing or not, but we were cutting micro bits to send signals to other things. This project specifically was called safety. So, what this is supposed to do is there's a light sensor in this box and gets under or over 1,500. If you It'll start beeping and then that'll change and start flashing. You put it back on, it should make a smile and it should stop. So each each pair of students had to design some some

029device to keep something that they cherish safe, right? So this one was an Oreo. We 3D printed a little Oreo in there. So every time someone tries to open the box, it sets up. And this is EMTT over here. And this is automation robotics. So they're tell your uh the goal of that of that project. So, one of their one of their challenges was to make the wheel make the bot the drag it was called a dragster. make the dragster drive faster than the actual motor moves. So, they had to figure out a way using what do we call those things? Gear ratios. Well, so they use gear ratios to figure out how to connect the gears to the motor that are going to make the wheels spin faster than the actual motor. How do

030you actually do that? [Music] Show them. So, show go ahead and start the So, before you put on the floor, so take a look at this is the motor, right? That's how fast the motor's going. Look how fast the wheel is going. All right, you're going like quadruple that speed because he used a larger gear connected to the motor and then connected to a tiny gear is going to rotate more times for every one rotation of the bigger gear. causing the wheels to spin at a faster speed. So if you want, you can put it down the ground. Maybe you can catch [Music] it. It should speed up. We might need a new battery. [Music] So, and that is we're just kind of spread the spread the, you know, excitement of project to the rest

031of the district and get everyone else excited about it. Uh, and see the potential of it could happen. So, you guys Yeah, we can [Music] just gonna give everyone a second to get back up front. I'm gonna start off the conversation with Dr. Turrito first. Good evening. So, I want to thank you and congratulate you. We can tell the energy is contagious because Joe's leading the way and I was super excited to hear about our students dabbling in Project Lead the Way. When they first asked me, "Have you heard of it?" I go, "Have I heard of it?" Yeah. I was doing it 15 years ago when it first was really intense at the secondary level. And then a few years ago, they introduced K on up for all elementary. So we already have an

032elementary school teacher who's going to get trained. So so there is a commitment to build is what I'm saying. I also would like to recognize and I don't know if people know this but Joe Bidala is the teacher of the year at the middle school [Applause] and Sen was a former teacher of the year as well. But thank you. We I was so excited that you were coming because I I definitely want to showcase all the great things that you're doing. So, thank you for being here. Are you guys excited about your projects? Are you enjoying learning? Yes. Yeah. What's your favorite part of this? For me, it's how engaging it is and how hands-on. I'm always excited for the class because I know I'm not just going to be sitting there. I'm actually going

033to be engaged in doing something that I really enjoy. Awesome. How about you? Well, I like all the coding and box that we do and every day we get to do something different. That's excellent. I'm going to start on this side. Gabe, I don't have any questions, but that's really impressive. I don't think I could do any of that now. You keep up the good work. I don't even know what you guys are going to be doing by the time you're in high school. was very impressive. I think you guys are really cool. So, you stay cool. It's really awesome. I was going to say exactly what you just said, getting in the classroom, being hands-on. It's like you can probably retain the information more because you're doing it yourself and so it builds that

034independence. So, it's awesome and I can see your enthusiasm. Thank you. Um, I'm impressed with the fact that there's instruction happening because of dedicated teachers that actually engages kids in practical learning. Um, I have a bunch of degrees and I went through college and all that nonsense, but a lot of people learn differently and it's nice to see you taking care of all the kids. I look forward next year to having you come present to the U curriculum and policy subcommittee so we can get this stuff all appropriately approved by the board. It'll be great. I think it's exciting. I love those projects that you're working on. I think it's great that you've gotten it down to the middle level and into the elementary level. I think that it's been a really great project that

035you've been building. So, I'm happy to see it happening. Ken, uh, for the third graders in the room, and I know we have a couple board members of third graders coming up. They I have to say that uh, I'm really impressed. I'm a fourth grader and his favorite classes have been STEM and computer. So, it uh, this is awesome. It's very impressive. I I think this is wonderful. You can clearly see all the enthusiasm in your face is just showing everyone what you've done. It's amazing. And I'm gonna say you're gonna have some stiff competition once the elementary school starts this. And I'm excited to see what you're going to do by the time you get to high school. Jackie, again, thank you for being brave and showing up. Teachers are used to speaking in

036front of groups. Students not so much. So, I think it's really great that you're here. Um, I think it's really awesome that the program that you're doing does extend to K through five because the elementary school does have a STEM special class that does a lot of uh these things just without the electronics and computers. So, I think implementing that as well and getting that down. Um, my oldest will be in fourth grade next year, so you will get to see him as well. And I'm very excited because this is 100% in his wheelhouse. So, thank you for presenting, Sean. And I'm just over the moon. I mean, I come from a manufacturing business with engineering and all that and and at home being a gear head myself. So, this was just absolutely amazing. I

037have a few little kids in the elementary, too, that I try to get into this. So, looks like we're we're in good hands, obviously. So, thank you so much. And I'm just really I'm just so excited to see what this brings for the kids in the future. Thank you. Thank you. And I just want to wrap this up with I think the entire board um supports uh project lead the way and really um your dedication to doing all of the learning and then implementing it. You know, train the trainer and now you're training everybody else and um the students that you know I'm watching you guys and I'm like that's why we're board members. This is what we want to accomplish. you know, the student learning and the student achievement and seeing that you guys

038are really learning something you want to learn about hands-on, it makes it worth it sitting at the board table. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Um, next presentation is our middle school playground trails presentation. Hi, see a little bit more of me. Um, so I also, um, run the bike club and the outdoor club at, uh, the middle school and, um, I think it was in 2021 that I last stood here before the board of education giving an update about the trails. So, I figured it was time again because we've had we've done a lot of work. Um, so here we go. So I have lots of pictures. All of our trail names are school themed. So we've got Taco Tuesday, principal's office, lunch lady, um, detention, suspension, play on

039words. [Music] So forward. There we go. Uh, so I did that. Um, so our playground cha trails um have eight to nine miles that are just on the um 200 acres that we originally got approved for. We're expanding that and I'll explain that a a little bit. Um we have smooth winding paths. It's well-g graded. Um it's designed to be for beginners um for hiking and for biking. Um there the trails are only open to the public during non-school hours and we have that posted um everywhere on any trail um uh app or website that we are getting the word out about our trails. Um and then we have ongoing developments in addition to the trail system that I'll go over. Um so this is some of the educational use of our trails. Um we

040recently got a grant um this was a little mini grant from um the eight mile river uh watershed to do a stream study uh and we studied the macro invertebrates in the in Burook and they um classified them all and they did abundances of species to assess the stream health. So look at that. Where is that? He's famous in two places. Um, and so they they had to actually kick with their feet into the nets and and and bother the rocks to get the bugs to come up. And our our stream was very healthy, so that was good. Um, there's more pictures of them getting the samples. Uh, this was in fourth grade. We we used the trail for a rock hunt with the kids. We're learning ignous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. We are finding that

041there is a lot of shist in Mudus. a lot of it actually. So we're very metamorphic heavy here. Um so just a little timeline. Um I started um working on the trails in 2014. I arrived on campus and I said, "Oh my gosh, we have over 200 acres of land." And I went to go out onto the trails and the trail literally just went, it was a cross-country trail. It was maybe an eighth of a mile in and then back onto the driveway. I said, "Oh, this is a tragedy. We're going to have to fix that." So since 2014 um we are we've been expanding uh we now have eight or nine miles of trails that you can hike and bike on. Um so and we have expanded the trail system initially in 2022 after

042the approval from board the board of ed towards Bule Brook which if you're at the middle school is towards the I always tell people that's towards the dump from from the that's a a good uh cardinal direction right there. Um we got a grant from um NEA in 2023 for further expansion of the trails and then we got another grant last year from NEA um to get um further expansion and to maintain the trails as well. Um the exciting part about 2025 is we have started to expand on the adjacent land to the middle school that the town has just acquired the Croberg property. Um, part of the land is owned by the town and part of it is owned by the conservation commission. So, we've been working with them, too. And we just put

043in a really easy uh beginner trail that we named prek. Um, if you've never seen our trail maps, um, this is the trail maps on um, trail forks and we have um, kind of two sid kind of three sides. One side goes um up the up towards um uh again towards the dump. Um we have going down the driveway and then out towards the fields um on the west side of the property. Uh this I just added this map in the new um the new land that we got from the town got um is in purple. So, that is where we're going to be expanding the trail systems. Um, some of the land is going to be where it says to be continued for agricultural use. Those will still be um hay fields, so we're

044not going to expand onto that. And you can see where the the middle school is and the existing existing mountain biking trails are in yellow. Um, so this is really exciting. Um, I saw it's on your agenda today, so I'm just putting a pitch out for approval. Um, I applied for a grant through Safe Routes to School. We've been working with Safe Routes to School about bike and pedestrian safety. Um, they're part of the program Vision Zero, which aims to have zero pedestrian and bike deaths in Connecticut um, through the state DOT. So, they do training in schools and give out money to help um, help uh, get the word out about safety to kids so that when they become adults or as their children as well, they are safe. Um, so we we recently

045got um word that we have $5,000 for our bike club program at school um which we're hoping to use to get a fleet of bikes and some helmets uh so that we can offer some fitness to kids on campus. Um and these are some of our partnerships. We can we could kind of go back on that later. I'll share the slideshow with you. And then I just thought some pictures are worth a thousand words. There's my little bike club. Those are the little guys. This was opening day a few weeks ago um with I had about 15 kids and then there were some adults that were there as well. We always do an opening day in May. Here's some trail work that we did. Um we had Pedro's Tool Station uh donate a kiosk and

046a a place to repair your bike. And then no child left inside people. We don't want these kids on their computer screens. We want them out enjoying the world. So, um that was that I think is those are both my children I believe um when they were a little bit younger. And then uh this is um somebody that um participated in opening day. This is a video that I think in the sake of time because I know you have a big agenda we're going to skip. I think you could Oh, no. We can skip it. There you go. Um, so next steps. Um, I plan um a community events at the the trails. Um, I spoke with Irene Haynes and we're floating a bike rodeo on June 7th. Um, so stay tuned for that. Uh,

047I'm going to continue to get the word out to the community about the trails because it's less work for me when people use the trails for hiking and biking because then I don't have to get out there and clear them off. Um, and the environmental club really appreciates that. Um, we're going to continue to work closely with the Eastam Conservation Commission and the New England Mountain Biking Association for any expansion or upkeep of the trail system. And I, you know, the reason why I do this is to offer outdoor opportunities for kids. you know, stepping going back when I first got here in 2013, stepping on that campus and having 200 acres and nowhere to bring the kids outside. So, that's what, you know, that's why I'm here. That's why I keep doing this, so

048that we have outdoor educational experiences. Um, and the kids could be healthy. Wow. Thank you. Excellent. Any questions? Any comments? Go ahead. I was just wondering um I had recently come across there was an autism nature trail um and they have sensory experiences for anyone who can walk across this trail or you know it's accessible. I shouldn't say walk across but uh anyone who can access the trail. I just wondering if there are any plans to add any sensory elements to any of the trails. Let's do it. Let's do it. the new the new property um right across the street from the middle school. So like if you walked out the front door and there's a stone wall there, that's very flat and very accessible. Um the other parts of the property are some parts

049are what I would say are difficult for walking initially because there are some downhills but that's very flat. So I would say that let's connect and definitely. Yeah. Any other questions? The trails that are all like you said something about being mostly flat. So I don't know if I hear I assume there's like different terrain throughout. Yes. Yeah. And the biking and hiking that's the same trail though, right? No, it's not just one. No, no, it's a shared trail. Yeah, it's shared. Oh, yeah. It's all shared. Yeah. your kids across like bridge and a rock and a bridge. Yeah, it's pretty get off and walk. Okay. I would probably just fall off, but most of them get off and walk. Okay. Yeah. Where where's the map located? Like if somebody wanted to go at the

050end of the presentation there's a QR code. Okay. Is it on the website? And then also at all the kiosks. Okay. All the kiosks have it, but I can set I can set it up too. We probably probably should put that somewhere on the town website. Yeah. It's also on Trail Forks. It's on trail. Trail Forks is an app. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, Trail Forks will actually it will have the map and then it it will locate where you are on the trails so you won't ever you won't get lost. Oh, I like that idea. Yeah. And um my other question was there the trails just so the public is aware they are open to the public when school is not in session. So during summertime or holiday times and weekends. Correct. Okay. Not

051during school hours. Not during school hours. Correct. I just want to make that clear. So people go out and use them but understand that's part of school property if you will. So during school hours, no. So that'd be awesome. I'm really impressed. Thank you so much for all your hard work. We are moving along now to our next presentation, leader and me presentation at the high schools. All right. This is a presentation that we are pleased to bring to you. Um, I'm going to yield the floor to our team leader and our students who are members of the lighthouse team. Uh, with that said, my job is to pass out their presentation. So, this is Mr. Johnson. He is our teacher leader and he's going to run us through as well. Hi. Yeah. So, this

052is um connected to the lighthouse team, which is a student leadership team that we brought in this year that's connected to the leader and me curriculum, which is our social emotional learning curriculum that we just introduced this year. Um, so that's the social emotional part of this is something we do on Fridays and advisory and it's all connected student leadership and this is kind of a separate team the lighthouse team of students where they pretty much do all the work. I know they said I'm like the teacher leader but kind of I just provide the space and the opportunity and troubleshoot with them and they really do all the work from the emails to the setting up the presentations coming up with they're going to tell you about their plans. It's really all studentr run

053and driven. So I try my hardest to to say as little as possible and just let them do all of the work. And so that's what I'm going to do right now. Okay. Hello everyone and thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. We are members of our school's new lighthouse leadership team and we're here to tell you a little bit about what we're all about and how we're approaching our mission to cultivate and inspire leadership within our school community. So leader me is an evidence-based comprehensive improvement model developed in partnership with educators such as Mr. Johnson here that empowers individuals with the leadership skills they need to be life ready such as being independent, interdependent, balanced, and being able to make a meaningful contribution in their everyday lives. So, what is Lighthouse? So,

054our Lighthouse team is composed of both students and staff split into three action groups. Each group's goals contribute to Lighthouse's overall mission, which you will soon hear about, and members in the leadership, culture, and academic, which are the three action groups consist of students and staff. So, there's like separate little groups that each staff and students kind of work together with to communicate to complete goals that they set individually. And students lead their teams in activating these goals. staffs are more like mentors and guides, but in the end, students are the ones that are actually doing everything, making the goals, making the plans, making everything that we do happen. Um, there are a lot of teachers who do this with us, but mostly the children, like the students do it. uh which includes the Johnson,

055me, Aubrey O' Connor, Kayn Cami, Ellie Sori, Ella, nope, Sarah Evans, Kate Carvey, Aiden Deoman, Olivia Scooby, Leah Scott, Jesseline Ramos, Tyler Folic, and Kobe Bryant. So, our mission statement was created at our first team meeting earlier this year, and it is as follows. The goal of the Lighthouse leadership team is to guide and support the implementation of the leader and me program, fostering a culture of leadership, responsibility, and personal growth. Our mission is to empower students and staff to develop essential life skills, promote a positive and inclusive school environment, and cultivate a strong sense of community through the principles of leadership and effective habits. Some of the current focuses and events that we have taking place currently in the lighthouse team has been meeting twice a month. Once with the team and then once

056with all action groups from December to April, we've met with our leadership coordinator three times and full day school trips. We have created a timeline for the future in preparation for next year. And we have created and implemented the seven habits into our advisory lessons. And we've also been planning the launch assembly which has been led by the leadership action team. Now a quote by Dr. Stephen R. Cubby who's the author of seven highly effective habits of effective people is leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to do it themselves. Now leadership is a choice an option. Just because I'm not the captain of the soccer team doesn't mean that I can't be a leader on the soccer team. And through Lighthouse, we strive to achieve every

057student in our school to use their influence for the better of their school and for our community. So the seven habits of highly effective people is to be proactive which is accept responsibility for your actions. Begin with the end in mind. Make a plan. Set goals. Know what's most important to you. Put first things first. Do your most important things first. Think win-win. Stand up for your needs and wants. Be considerate of others needs and wants. Synergize. Value people's differences and strengths. Combine thoughts and sharpen sharpen the saw. Find balance in life and avoid burnout. Now, in the five transferable skills that you're given on every graded assignment in our school, um the effective communicators, they all fall under conveying clear ideas and being able to do that. Now, informed thinkers is being able to

058plan wisely for your future and have ideas and goals and taking action to reach them. Problem solvers is being able to recognize and read your situation and using trial and error, be able to find the correct solution to solve that situation that you're in. Now, self-directed learner is taking action for yourself, whether that's learning a new thing and using that for yourself and for others. and synergize for responsible citizen is a cumulative effort of all the other habits and it's the ability to work with others teamwork and be effective. So for the culture action team our current activities that we have under that we are currently undergoing is promoting clubs. We're planning to do a club fair to promote inclusivity. We are planning volunteer day which will be explained further on and we are creating

059more career opportunities for the students of Nathan Hway. Our goals is to improve inclusivity overall, create a diverse and welcoming environment and increase participation in everything in our school. Our mission statement as a cultural lighthouse team will be to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment to increase membership and diversity in our school and we will encourage and promote participation in various clubs to and activities to our school. So for volunteer day, as mentioned earlier, students will sign up and go to willing local businesses and they will help earn volunteer hours by joining the workforce for the for the duration of the school day. And this will give students an opportunity to have a hands-on experience in the workforce to learn communication skills and teamwork skills and to give students an opportunity to have short-term

060positions in different industries which have which to their own likings and will impact them in the long run. All right. So for the academic action team, so we have been currently trying to encourage learning, making a goal for better grades for everyone that is involved in our school, encouraging putting more effort into their work and bees are better. So bees are better is a program that the freshman advisors actually made, which was so they would for a semester, let's just say, try to motivate their students and all the freshmen to get B's or better. And if they did, they would get like a little goodie bag, little prize. And we heard many people, many students that were not just Russians saying, "Why didn't we get that? Why don't we have that?" And so hearing those

061just responses in everyday life, we were like, "Well, let's do that. If you want motivation, let's give that to you." So that is what we're striving to get right now. So our goals are to improve student achievement, promote success, enhance study and learning skills. So our mission statement as academic a action team is we will encourage learners to participate in their academics with effort and hard work. We will create an environment where it is normal to want to challenge yourself academically and strategically. So our final action team is the leadership action team and our mission statement is as the lighthouse leadership team or leadership lighthouse team we will engage our school community to develop leadership skills and create and participate in further leadership activities. We will collaborate to establish better communication between leadership clubs and

062create a more united and inclusive environment where anyone can be a successful leader. So, our current events are planning and activating the launch assembly, which we will hear about shortly, uh, sharing Lighthouse's mission with the middle school noise makers team, and cultivating student interest in being leaders. For future goals, we have fostering communication and involvement between our school's clubs and sports, decreasing stereotypes of what a typical leader looks like, which will increase students awareness of their own ability to be a leader, and also to resolve scheduling conflicts within our school. So on June 4th is our launch assembly. So this the goal of this assembly is to share our mission with the school and how we will impact its future. So this assembly is taking place on the senior trip day because seniors will unfortunately

063not be very impacted by this program. Instead of the seniors we are bringing in the eighth graders to really have a sense of what our school will look like in the future. So the goals of this assembly are to kickstart incoming freshman involvement and a sense of belongingness to recruit more members to our team and to introduce an environment where students are excited to be leaders and excited to get involved within our school community. So we are having a pep rally type thing in the gym during assembly to really engage students and learning about it. So each action team will be doing a different activity to like promote their action team. So, the academic action team will be doing a trivia game. The leadership action team will do a minefield challenge. And the culture action

064team will do an obstacle course. Um, for our future plans, we will be creating a timeline for next year. We're also going to be creating wow factors in the school building and environment. that might be like a physical something that has a striking appearance or it might just be improving the environment of our school. Um, we are hoping that the launch assembly will recruit more members of this team. And we are also hoping to be open to any feedback especially from you that you may have and factoring all feedback that we gain from everywhere else so that we can continue to improve and strive towards more leadership in our school community. So, thank you. Wow. [Applause] I haven't started with you. Okay. Um, you're definitely leaders. I can definitely tell by the way you present

065yourself and you're very well spoken and I recognize some of you as former voice makers. Could be wrong by recognizing your faces. So, uh, congratulations. You are a a impressive group of young young students here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think you did a wonderful job. Such a great job just outlining everything that you did and what your plans are, your forward thinking. I absolutely love it. Great job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. Again, thank you for speaking. Very brave. Um, on top of everything, what really stood out to me is inviting the eighth graders, soon to be incoming freshmen, to welcome them into it before they get to start the new school year. I think that's really important and a really, really great thing. So, thank you. Just an amazing

066job. Again, just like what Kira said, I I see some faces. I'm blown away by how you have so much time to also do this. you said a few times a month and I know you guys are in I see your faces in many other clubs and sports. So it's it's amazing that that you're bringing this and start a new program. Um what you had mentioned it just caught me what you said just by being a captain doesn't make you you know the leader. There's so many other ways to be leaders and uh you know by leading by example. Exactly what you're doing tonight shows that you are all leaders. Um and uh that was That's a great thing right there. And then the volunteering in the community. That's that just sounds like such a

067great idea. I mean, develops not only helping the community, helping yourself, learning like what you said, what you may or may not like in the future. Um, and the relationships that'll just come about that. So, I'm just so proud with everything I'm hearing. Uh, looking forward to seeing how it develops. Thank you. Thank you guys for your presentation. It's really nice to have a full breakdown of everything you guys have done this school year because I know it just started but you guys have done so much in the school. It's great to see your hard work being recognized. Keep up the good work. Thanks for presenting. Keep up the good work. Really impressive. I love how you're bringing the students together. And it sounds like you guys have a lot of different opportunities with all

068the different like I recognize your faces. You're in other clubs. You're doing other activities. So, I think this is a great way to bring people together. Um, and so it's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. What everybody else said. Great job. I do have one message for the young man up there. Get some of your buddies moving because the girls are making you look bad. I think this is wonderful and like others have said, I think it's great that you're connecting the schools. This has been a longstanding forward position to get the schools to sort of integrate with each other as the grades go up. So to bring the eighth graders up to the school early and show them what it's like and get them engaged, I think is really great. And I just love all

069the inclusivity and the opportunities for kids to get involved and the recognition that leadership does come in different sizes. So that's a really important facet to understand because you encounter it forever. Yeah. just conclude with you guys are so dynamic and um I am so impressed with everything that you are doing. Keep up the great work and look forward to hearing you back here next year with more programs and more energy. Dr. Sabrina, I I want to thank Mr. Eard and Mrs. Shley. I know she's back here somewhere back there. Um and all of the staff because it's a collective effort. you're here representing the greatness that exists within the walls of the school and so we're really excited to see it evolve and develop further. So, thank you for being here this evening. Thank

070you. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. [Applause] Okay. I have um next is um the donation of Aderand um chairs and naming of Stonewall by the um Hassam Foundation. And I just would like to recognize everybody here who's with the Hassam Foundation. If you will introduce everybody from that foundation, you want me to do it? Sure. Um good evening. Uh my name's Rob Klic. I'm the vice president of the uh Hasslam Memorial Foundation. We have our president, Melanie Kolic, and we have our secretary, treasurer, sorry, treasure, Nancy H. Uh for those who don't know, the Hasslam Foundation, our memorial foundation is a nonprofit foundation that our mission statement is to give back to the youth in and around East Ham. Uh the foundation was formed in 2021 in memory of Richard Hasslam who was a big

071big part of East Hatam. Um in the past he was a very popular um person. He was a constable. He was a baseball coach. You name it, he did it. He stepped up for the community. And unfortunately upon his passing, we wanted him to pick up where he left off. we found uh formed our foundation and what we do is we give back to the community. Some of the um projects that we've done just for reference uh we've donated two scoreboards to the East Hatam Little League that are at the elementary school fields. We have donated a trailer to the East Hatam Boy Scout troop. We've donated turkeys to the food pantry at Thanksgiving. We've donated to youth and family services. We've donated uh new uniforms for the middle school cheerleading squad because theirs were

072outdated and they needed new ones. We've donated uniforms to the high school softball field, I'm sorry, softball team for their trip down to Florida this year. We've donated to the high school soccer team for jersey or for warm-up jerseys and backpacks so they looked uniform showing up to other schools. So that's what we do. And every year we like to do a big project and give back. And the way we do this is we host a annual golf tournament which Patty has our new flyer. It is actually coming up in September. The registration is up now if you're interested. Uh it is September 8th and it happens to be the 80th birthday of Dazzle. So the timing couldn't be better. So, with regards to this project this year, we were looking for something to do.

073Nobody had actually reached out to us for a big project. So, we're like, got we have to do something. It's we're not going to skip a year. And for those who don't know, Tyler is our son. He's a freshman at the high school. He's on the soccer team. We were sitting at a game one night and we noticed, I want to say it might have been some of the softball players that came down and were sitting along the retaining wall at the soccer table. And we said to ourselves, Melanie and I were sitting there and we said, "Wouldn't it be great if we kind of created a student section at the soccer team?" And we were kind of tossing around ideas and what we could do because everyone was we noticed a lot of parents

074were bringing their folding chairs down and just coming right off the parking lot and it's right there. They were just sitting there folding chairs up and their grandparents were there. It's it was it was it kind of formed itself. We said why don't we just throw up do something nice and throw up a bunch of aderond chairs. And then that kind of started spitballing ideas. And the idea came up that let's create a student section. Let's create let's bring the aderantic chairs in and let's name it. Let's give it a name because the basketball court has a student section called the sound. Um unfortunately I never went to East Adam but Melody did so I've heard all about it. Um and we're like let's give it a name. Let's make it let's make it fun

075and let's make it last. So, the idea was to put up the aderondic chairs. We're going to probably put up about two dozen. Um, and the name kind of came in the fall. We're at a soccer game and we had just had that large earthquake in town. And the buzzword was fault line. So, we ran with it. It fits the school. It fits the mascot. It fits the town or it fits Moose. So, we're proposing um to put up a student and family section. Doesn't necessarily have to be students, doesn't necessarily have to be families. Kind of combination um of chairs. Uh I've talked with Don at length about how the town's going to maintain them, mow around them, secure them so they don't unfortunately walk by chance. Um and that is all going to

076be taken care of by the foundation. Um, and we're going to also pay for the sign and the installation of a sign on the face of the wall. So, um, the chairs will be the new composite wood so they won't rot. Um, we're looking at the kind that fold in half. Now, they do that. New to me, too. Um, they fold in half, so it might be uh it's easier for them to store them in the offse. We figured they would be out for the soccer field uh for the fall season of soccer and the spring season of track and field. They can be used in both and then put away for the winter so they last longer. Um that's pretty much our proposal. I have passed out a couple AR uh renderings of what

077it would look like potentially. um obviously pictures of the existing wall that are there and um and a potential idea for the chair. So, is there any questions? I believe that this has already gone through business planning and it was your intent to bring that forward. So, is there a motion to accept a donation? I just want to say real quick that I love Incorporating the buzzwords to name it from last fall. I think that's like really unique and cool. And if Don's in, I'm in. Like if he approves, I'm on board. So, thank you. I do have one question which we did discuss a little bit at the business and planning meeting and that was storage. And before that meeting, we didn't know that they were going to be folded. Correct. So, we didn't

078land on a storage place. We Don and I had actually talked about it. It's it's whether or not they want to take them off the field for the winter, right? Or they can be left out. Uh if they do get taken off, he had mentioned that they didn't think they would have the room in one of the buildings. Uh again, this was before I realized that the newer style anoronic chair is actually fold in half, right? Um we talked about maybe just putting them up alongside of one of the storage buildings and throwing a tarp over it just to kind of keep it out of the weather for the winter. Um, if we end up going with the folding style, which is a full aeron, it's not the plastic kind, it's it's the composite wood.

079Um, there might be potential that these things can actually be stored inside. There might be space now because they will collapse to I think I believe the dimensions are on it on the back page. What they will uh yeah about they're about 12 inches when they're folded up thick. So there is potential to keep them indoors then. Yeah. You don't keep them. Are there any other questions? And before I ask for a motion, I just want to thank the Hasslam Foundation for all you do and um honoring Mr. Hasslam is extremely special to me. He's uh the whole Hassel family. So, thank you. And um really excited about next year's tournament being on his birthday. That's just going that's just going to be awesome. Just look at happen to work out that way. Yeah. Well,

080he's watching over you. Yep. He really is. So, with that, is there a motion to accept a donation from the Hassel Foundation for an chairs? Second. Any further discussion? All those in one quick question. I don't golf. Is there a way I can make a donation to actually come to dinner? Or you can make a donation? Yeah. Jim, you made a donation last year. I couldn't remember. I thought I did. And that was perfect if you'd like to do that again. But come have dinner. I I think I've just been disinvited, but my mom wanted no cross conversation. Hannah, keep it back at board table level. Any other? Okay, there's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I Thank you very much. Thank you so much. No, thank you. Thank you. Very exciting.

081That's going to be awesome. All right, Liam and Aaron. All righty. Under the finance and technology program, seniors Nikki and Bender Lisa designed and sold Forever Young sweatshirts to Helray and East community where all the proceeds went towards the Connor Young Memorial Foundation. Um, this community service project allowed students like Ben and Nikki to learn leadership and entrepreneurship skills with the intent of bringing the community together and honoring the life of a student Connor Young which is really great. The culinary department held a pizza with family event where culinary students and their parents and or guests work together to cook pizzas. On April 22nd, middle school students were able to attend the Hail Ray experience where prospective students were able to see the class's clubs the classes, clubs, sports, and community activities offered at the

082high school. And in addition, the US history students were able to showcase their World War II project in an art gallery, highlighting their recent learning about World War World War II. On April 24th, sophomore students were able to attend the annual career expo at Weslian University, where students were exposed to a variety of potential fields that they may be interested in. Many students were able to engage different people working in fields such as medicine, landscaping, engineering, technology, and more. On April 26th, the class of 2027 held their tag sale at the middle school where community members were able to purchase and or buy event buy items at the event and they raised a lot of money for their classrooms. Congratulations to Olivia Scooby Bones Carly Cummings who were announced finalist for the shed writing competition.

083Big shout out to the additional submissions from our school and I also was the I also created the cover for the shed winners group. Congratulations to Omar Lopez and Jaden Reyes for becoming the recipients of the 2025 Bo Dardi and Mike Savage teammate award for their leadership and impact to our unified sports program. They were awarded at the Aqua Turf with their families. On April 30th, seniors were able to showcase their senior capstone project to the community, highlighting their passions and career plans. Congratulations to all of the seniors who have finished their project from those aspiring to be in the medical field, automotive field, history field, and everything in between. Yesterday, May 13th, was softball senior night where players Mackenzie Albert, Jackie Gets, and Kit Turnowski, as well as the manager Autumn Smith were celebrated.

084And the noises took down Glastonbury with an impressive eight to one score, which brings their overall record for the season to 13 wins and three losses. So, they're on a roll. And this Friday, they take on Coventry. Last Wednesday, basketball senior, oh, baseball seniors Aiden Brown and Sebie Sugar were celebrated at their senior night against Old Brook. The baseball team currently sits at a record of two wins and two losses. On Sunday, May 4th, seniors Gabe Ninland and Mackenzie Albert were recognized at the CIC's annual scholar athlete banquet at the Aquatur for their achievements both academically and athletically. On May on May 1st, the entire school gathered around the courtyard to for the announcement of the class of 2025's validictorian and saludiatoran. And our validictorian is Nicole Wang and our saludiatoran is Aaron Mano. [Applause]

085And now they have the pleasure of writing speeches for graduation. I just I just want to thank both of you for being active representatives for the school. I've really enjoyed having you both here and I think um you guys contribute a lot, you know, so um just thrilled the way that this is going and I spoke to Miss Record today about continuing on the program and and you know and um getting you guys engaged at the level and at the table. So you know, thank you very very much. Say anything? Thank you and congratulations. Um the the career expo was just awesome. This is my second year going and I'm just like get really excited because you guys just have done so many great things. Thank you for being representatives here. It brings an energy

086to our board meetings and it's really nice to hear straight from you what's going on at school. Like there's really nothing like it. So thank you and congratulations. Great job. Um it was particularly and and this is not the first time. It's particularly gratifying to me when I hear you folks saying nice things to your younger colleagues who are reporting. Um that's not always typical of high school students and it's nice to see you being atypical. Thank you. Thanks both of you for being with us for this season here and uh I hope that you both have good luck in your futures. Congratulations on your saludiatoran opportunity. Thank you for uh spending the school year with us and uh you are busy especially if you're that's a hats off. It's awesome. So congratulations to both

087of you on your graduation. Go everything everyone said. Congratulations Erin. Great job and Gabe both of you have just represented your class so well and um it's been a pleasure having both of you here. Jackie. Yeah, kudos. You made it almost close. Thank you for uh taking even more time out of your very very busy uh life to continuously give us the updates. It's for me really important to hear through the students voices what the students are up to, not just an adult telling us. So, it means a lot. Thank you. Absolutely. I mean, for coming here and showing up every month and staying some late nights with us, you know, that's very commendable, especially with your busy lives and sports and schedules and and uh your celebration of what you're doing. So, I appreciate

088the updates. You've had fantastic updates all season. And like TA said at the Career Expo, I saw saw your booths and guys working hard and I know you'd be on that lighthouse team because you are definitely a couple leaders yourselves. So, um, you know, thank you again and good luck to you in your future endeavors. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Is there an action um on the minutes? A motion to approve the regular minutes of April 9th. A question. I speaking for myself was kind of confused about the vote when we first started. I wasn't sure. I thought I made assumptions. I wasn't sure. Um, we're not doing the audience of citizens. That is correct. We moved that. We took that off. We have 89 page. Okay, that's fine. I just just want to say

089for the record that I didn't vote yes on that. Just I guess you didn't vote no. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I just It was going really quick. Didn't I missed it? So, all right. Um, is there a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of April 9th? So moved. Second. Any further discussion? I have a couple corrections. Okay, go ahead. Uh, at the top it says special meeting. It was a regular meeting for April 9th. Top left. Okay. Make the first motion. My name is spelled wrong. I don't really care. Just for the record. And then at the end to the consent agenda, uh, I don't remember who the second person was. Terry had an emergency, so she had to leave. So Terry, where are you looking? The last motion. Well, the second to last motion

090on April 9. Yeah. Well, it says to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 10. Yeah, I see. Okay. Yeah, I wasn't there for now. You weren't there? Okay. I must I'll have that in my notes. Is there a motion to approve the April 9th minutes as um amended? So second. Any further conversation? All those in favor? I. Is there a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of April 23rd? Still moved. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Okay. Report of the superintendent, Dr. Durrito. Good evening. A lot to share. I want to Hold on one second. Are you guys all set? Did you need a correction? Um I just little details. So the one we just voted on all of the in absent one with somebody absent for the adorment. for this.

091I left one minute. We were looking at the numbers. That's right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um want to also recognize um Shayen Bod because the noise makers last year the vision zero program distinction award if you recall for their work with the Connecticut Department of Transportation and exposure to safety and bike riding. So that didn't come up while we were talking right after presentation. So I I wanted to recognize that. And in addition, we got word that the high school is going to be receiving their $5,000 um coming. So we don't have that yet. So stay tuned for that so they can get some bikes and helmets and do great things and appreciate Miss Thot's work and spreading the love across the schools. Um okay, want to recognize three students who were

092at the dinner last night, the Ray School Corporation scholarship dinner. Um congratulations to Aaron Allen, Nicole Sakorski, and Chloe Door. Um it was a lovely evening. Um and we're really lucky to have um the support of the Ray School Corporation. Want to also acknowledge on April 30 there was a surprise lunch um hosted by students at the high school for senior citizens. And um it was an amazing event and the senior citizens actually stood up and gave a standing ovation to all the students. We're like we want to see all the students. They came out um and it was it was fantastic. Um and by our culinary arts teacher as well. So it was outstanding. So I think we got to continue this you know tradition of a surprise event for our senior citizens. Um,

093PTO rocks. I went to the basket bash and you really could take that on the road. You can go to the Excel Center and fill it up because it was amazing on Friday night. It was pouring rain, parking lot was full, flying out the door. It was out, it was really outstanding. Um, and so the parents, the community really came together um, and donated so much and the kids and the families had a fantastic time. um thoroughly impressed and really joyful to be there. Um want to thank um our students and staff for enduring the standardized testing um era at this time. Every year in the spring they have to take they start off with the SAT. For 11th graders, they have to take the NGSS. Then um grades three through eight have to take

094Smarter Balanced English Language Arts and Math. Um, and fifth and eighth have to also take the NGSS and that's in addition to high school AP tests that you know kids also take. So, it's really a very busy time and um want to thank everyone for their patience and endurance um to stick through all of that. This past week was teacher appreciation um week. I'll call it week because parents and the community come out and they celebrate and and pamper and do all kinds of fun things um with lots of amazing food. Um so really want to we recognize the teachers but want to appreciate the work of everybody. They show appreciation throughout the year for other staff members as well. Um because you know there's a national day for everybody which is great. No one's

095left out. So, want to thank um the parents and the community for assisting with those celebrations. Um want to also thank the Hassel Foundation. I know that they are not here right now, but they continue to support the community, support the school um system, and it's fantastic. I did go to their fundraising event, and I already put September 8th on my calendar. Um so really appreciate everything that they do for the community. Um continuing a little bit about Project Lead the Way, you you saw the presentation um earlier. Uh one thing about this program, it is aligned to NGSS standards beginning in kindergarten all the way through. And students in high school, they just take the course with an assessment and it is an automatic credit um for college. So, I I know that firsthand

096experience with WPI. So, it's definitely an industry standard um program and I'm very excited to be a part of growing the program. And that's it for me right now. Oh, wow. Thank you. Yeah. I'm um thrilled to hear about the um the main board scholarships. to them give out free scholarships and do the dinner and they invite you know you guys to go. I'm sorry I missed it this year. It's the first time in a long time I missed it and it's amazing. Yeah, they they just do so much. And then um same with the Hen Foundation and everything too. So any open round in regard to superintendent? I just wanted to quick positive note. Um getting back to the testing um speaking for myself as a parent as a third grader doing that testing

097for the first time I know can bring lots of anxious feelings. Um, I was really grateful to have been reached out to, I think all third grandparents were reached out to uh weeks before testing started saying, "If you would like to send in words of affirmation and notes for your third grade student, the teachers of each classroom would hand them out before each day of testing to have words of encouragement from their grown-ups for them." And as a parent that just meant a lot um to know that we were able to be a voice in the moment right before the testing started. So wanted to say that was really great and thank you for everybody that made that happen. Yeah, just to bounce off what you said, not only did we as parents get to

098write notes, but also teachers, staff, and teacher knows another staff member. It's just like coming home with a folder full of positive affirmations when it can be really stressful. And also something that I heard from one of the teachers that just really impacted me was she said to the students um this test is a reflection of how well I'm teaching you and this is not on you. And it was just like it was honestly very heartwarming. So, thank you for everything you do and all the stock at the school. Excellent. Anything else? Okay, let's move on to policy and instructions. I see that you've been relatively busy there. I don't know what to talk about. I I have a um very dedicated group of people that tolerate to me driving them like a nut. Um

099which is fortunate. We met on May 1st and we've got lots of policy stuff um for tonight. Uh some of it will be the second read and be done assumingly and then there's a bunch of stuff for the first read. Um we are trying we're driving at two different goals at the same time. One is to update curriculum uh policies because they haven't been handled uh in a timely fashion last several years. Um the other is a selection of um other policies that Dr. Drio was kind enough to hand off to me and say, "Here, go deal with these." Um, so we're kind of working at both. We will be meeting again this month on the 29th. I am very grateful that the team agreed to do that. We will also be meeting at some

100point in July, which is not always typical, but again, we're trying to get a lot of stuff done, and they're they're very cooperative, very hardworking, and have a lot more work to say. Um, if anybody has any specific questions regarding the policies, uh, I can try and answer them for you as we get to things. Um I do want to mention uh we've gone through a bit of a shift in how we're um processing them and uh I have begun sharing everything with all the board members before we actually meet so they get at least a look at it because it's hard to get things to them in a timely fashion sometimes otherwise. Uh, this month policies you got were here's the completed version in normal white type and here's the original version and they

101weren't marked up because you already had the marked up stuff weeks ago. If that doesn't work, if you want me to do something differently, just speak to me later and we'll see what we can work out. Other than that, thank you very much. How are we doing with um getting updated on all the policies? Like are you a quarter of the way through? Like where are we at? And I'm not rushing you. By the end of uh tonight, yeah, we will have approved probably um upwards of 55 policy changes since we took over. Um that's pretty radical. That's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. Um so I'm not going to even try and tell you what that is for an overall percentage. Um, it's a lot of work and we're moving

102as quick as we can. I mean, we're bringing four or five policies and clearing through them each meeting. I I'm not I'm not criticizing. I guess No, I know. I just don't have a good answer for you. It is. It's a challenge when you have an 89 page packet, you know, to go through. So, I give you guys a lot of credit and um well, that's why I really kind of rest upon what you guys are doing in your community to make sure that it's all and I work pretty closely in preparation, too. Um, but that's also why I started sharing things with people earlier on. U just because I figured people need some time even if there's some changes before the final version. Better off u to have a look at what's coming than

103to say here it is um you've got five minutes, read it and tell us what you think. That's not workable. The committee is very thorough. go through every word. No word is unchecked. and if we have to slow it down, that's the right thing to do. We do slow it down and then come back. So, we definitely are expeditious and efficient and thoughtful. Any questions for policy? Yes. I actually was recently approached by the sustainable sustainability committee chair um asking the board of ed to make an equity statement which may involve some policy. So I made a copy of the of a packet of information. I know the board is not going to discuss it today, but I'm hopeful that we can move it to the June agenda. And I was going to give a

104copy to each member so that they could have a chance to sort of get their head wrapped around it prior to and the policy questions that are in here would be policy committee. I uh Laurel was kind enough to give me a heads up that this was coming and I looked um we just updated the relevant policy a couple of months ago. So, we almost certainly do not need to do any policy work. The board may choose to make a separate equity statement, which that's fine. You know, there's no there's uh no harm in doing that, but I don't think it's going to have any policy implications. We just did it in April. Okay. We are we are absolutely up to date on all of this. we are covered and a lot of their certification

105includes things at our schools. I'm happy to read through it and go through it like Jim mentioned, but you know what? We're not behind on this. Absolutely not. Okay. So, what we need, Laurel, or what you need for this grant is a um an equity statement from the board or do you need the policy? No. So, there attached to the packet are four equity statements that came from four other school districts. two of the school districts chose to site policy and then write their statement in conjunction with two only wrote statements but didn't involve policy. So there's an option and one of the things that I've written about in here is that I'm willing to draft an example statement based off of the information that we've got in this packet which you'll see that the

106board could review and decide if it's something that they feel to support and move forward. What I would recommend is pay everybody has this packet policies meeting have policy paid close attention to the last two pages which are your examples. Well, no, there's there's many examples. There's four examples. so that they go back probably six or eight pages of the statements from the other districts. I would like you guys to go look which one aligns closest to our current policy and make recommendation to the board in June. All right. And I think just she's volunteered to to give us a little leadership. I think we ought to listen to what Laurel says as part of that. And if you want, you and I can sit down and go through what you come up with. Not

107that I need to, but I'm just saying I'll offer to help. Um, and then we can kind of look at it. We probably will not get it to it on the on the 29th, but we could do it in the June meeting. So, the reason that I'm asking for this out out of sequence here is that there's a little bit of an expedition issue. the the sustainability piece of this equation has a deadline of August 19th that the statement needs to be submitted in order to achieve the next level of achievement within the sustainability objective and that would be the gold standard which is meeting all 12 of the criteria in all the different elements. So these schools are involved in this. So the deadline around this is what's kind of forcing my hand given

108that I've just recently received this information and the timing that it takes us to do a process. So it goes to policy policy reviews it it comes to the board for a first read. It goes back to I understand that but I was trying to sort of like that's why she reached out to me working within that elasticity. I wanted to make sure we have enough meetings on our scheduled agenda to meet there. We're not writing a policy. We're writing a statement. So all it has to do is come to the board as a statement and we approve a statement. So we're not approving a board. It doesn't have a first read and a second read. Wonderful. So that's why I made the effort to look the policy up. So what I'm asking and I

109think so we stay in the norm is you guys can talk but you have all these examples. You don't have to recreate the wheel here. You know you have all of these that you might find one that aligns very well. You tweak a few words and then you make recommendations a couple of them together. I just wanted to point out that this is an ask from an organization for us to do more work for their certification. While I, you know, I support sustainability and everything in our town to bring in sustainability. I work with their organization through the school, through the town, all of that. I don't want to run the risk of us racing to reach their deadline when this could have been brought up earlier and this is not our our our what

110I can do is I can write a statement and bring it to the June meeting. I was trying to send this to the correct policy you know and it because realistically policy you know everything that's in these policies. So I as a board chair I can just write one and bring him in June if you think it's going to be I don't think it's a big deal. I think but we're we're certifing we're c this is to certify the town. This is not like a school certification. No, they need they need a statement from the board of education. I know what they need. they they used uh part of their silver certification last year was pollinator gardens at our schools already. So, we we do support them, but I'm just trying to make the point

111that they have a deadline. We don't need to add even more to what we're trying to accomplish if we can't do it. And that's not a negative. I don't I would just write a statement and bring it in in tune then. We feel it's going to be too much. I I don't think it's a big deal. I I agree that someone else's lack of planning does not create an emergency for us. Right. On the other hand, if we can accommodate it easily in I don't see why we wouldn't. And we just updated the relevant policy by happen stance. So the work is pretty minimal. Um you and I could work on something. Let let the board chair know what's going on. I'll keep you guys in the loop as I always do. Is that acceptable?

112Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, I again I fully support the s sustainability organization and making our community both school community and district town as sustainable as possible. I just my initial like body reaction to getting this was this needs to be done and we need to do it but like it doesn't h it's not that I think the statements are pretty are not that difficult you know because it's just a lot of it is already in our language where reaching out into are trying to build something. I just I don't want you doing the work that's not you doing the work that's you not doing the work that's not this right. So we'll figure it out. We have June meeting and then um we can always call a special meeting and if it's just

113and also the August meeting right before the we're okay. Okay. All right. business and planning. We met last Tuesday, May 6. We talked about uh maintenance stuff. The elementary age back project is underway. That switch here is delayed. So, we're probably not going to make the December 31st state deadline, but um I guess a lot of schools aren't. So, there's a waiver available. Uh went over the uh foundation donation, which we talked about tonight. We went over food services which discussed tonight too. I didn't realize not on the agenda tonight. Yeah. Okay. And then uh contracted with a grant writer for a security grant and that would be really amazing with our tight budget. So cost of that. Um in regards to the services, we discussed how like how to we need to increase our

114amounts of breakfast and lunches served. And uh we decided as a committee that we're going to keep the price the same for the 25 26 school year because we thought if we raised it might further uh you know decrease amount of people that want to and um we also talked about if anyone's listening to that the business man is the only person that sees the free reduced to lunches so if you think you're eligible you should apply for Do we need a motion to No, we don't need a motion because we're going to keep the same. Thought we had to every year. Is there a motion on um to keep the food charges the same for the 2526 school year? So moved. Second. Any further discussion? Can I just provide a little bit more than

115what? Oh yeah, go for So we're seeing a decrease in breakfast and lunches purchased all around a decrease in breakfast and lunches purchased. We are we had a discussion and decided to keep the price of the meals the same because of other increasing costs. We're not sure exactly why the number of breakfast and lunches have decreased. However, we did have free breakfast and lunches during COVID and then we had free breakfast after that. That could be a reason. We also had some discussion around the content of the food which I think is going to be an ongoing discussion probably not tonight, right? But an ongoing discussion that we need to have about that because some of us had concerns about, you know, what what are the lunches? There's specific nutritional values that need to be

116within the lunches and packaged foods can provide that specifically because you can actually measure. In the past, I'm sure most of us remember our our lunch ladies lunch people were making lunches from scratch or they were served on trays. Now everything's throwaway. We're wasting a lot and the food is not as nutritious because we have to have those measured values. But just for the public understand that it's an ongoing conversation that we're having and we do want to keep the pricing the same so that we can make breakfast and lunch as accessible as possible because no matter what the students need to eat and we're just hoping that the nutritional value can increase over time and I think we'd be all ears to any board members or any uh public person that would like to

117email and have like what would it take I guess to buy breakfast for lunch or we have to advertise advertise I don't mean paid advertising I mean like remind people on parrot square like it's available how much is it how to use like the payments applause and all that stuff because you're in the red for um for the lunch program and it's significant numbers looking at it like lunches last year 23 24 school year versus this their average monthly last year was uh uh 7,182. This year it's 5,179. And I think the three breakfast last year, you can see this number between 23 24 school year was 4,973 breakfast and this year it's 1,743. It's a huge drop. If if people ha if the community members have thoughts around why you're not having your students

118eat breakfast and lunches at school, please reach out to us because we need this information. And if you potentially can apply for free or reduced lunch, apply because that's important. Every student is fed no matter what. Every student is fed no matter what. But if you could potentially um fall in the range, then apply because it's only going to help you and it is completely confidential. We do not know anything about it. There's only person who knows and that is it. Yeah, that's I was I'd say other things I talked about like when we were kids or like even past generations that like people were like they have said to me, do they have a different card? Everyone has the same stop. So like even the lunch staff doesn't know who's free and reduced. So

119if you think you are eligible, you should apply for it. And just quickly to mention on the nutritional value of what we have that is all like regulated through a the state. So every meal essentially has been approved from the state level to meet state guidelines. And I know that our state is this way or that, but we are one of the privileged states who have the funding and the people in charge actually put effort into our schools. So I don't think that that's necessarily the most important place to put our effort into because we could I mean there's we were talking about earlier like we're involved in a program through the state to get extra funding for our food program because we meet the high bar criteria which let me is not a high

120bar but a certain level of like the bare minimum like we're doing the best that we can of the bare bones. It does. It needs to be in my opinion and some other board it needs to be looked at and hopefully I'm crossing my fingers for revisions over time because if you look at the menus there's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? [Music] It's Isn't it done? USDA. It's fedally. It's not state, right? Yeah, it's USDA. It comes from the USDA and then the state has even more rules. So, I'm saying it's it's really hard for cost to change when it has federal guidelines against state guidelines. We can't even like say we wanted to buy carrots from like a local farmer to put carrots on the plates for

121kids. We can't do that. There are there's farm to table. Okay. So, carrots was a bad example. Say we wanted to like get like apple juice boxes. Correct. Apple juice boxes. Apple juice boxes. I I didn't mean to. Depends on the amount of sugar. Yeah. Right. Okay. Anything else for business and playing budget? Last meeting before the budget. You should all vote on Tuesday, May 27. Um, personal and negotiations. We did not meet and you will be setting up a summer calendar because you do have things coming up, correct? Yes. Yes, we will be setting up a summer calendar again the whole summer. Will you be having that available in by June? Yes. Yes. We're beginning in June. We're beginning in June. All right. Um, capital improvements. Not bad. Learn. Oh, we met. This was

122a long meeting. Oh, boy. Um, so I'm I'm going to give you the highlights. We met on May 8th and the bulk of the meeting was updates on grants and your budget planning process. Uh we have talked about school restructuring, uh regional partnerships, and a whole bunch of operational matters. And one of them that stuck out to me was the cyber security incident that they um they had a cyber attack on April 17th and um the files that were on their on premise server were all kind of scary. Um but they had Thankfully, you know, cloud storage data um uh their finance documents were unaffected. However, the attack did expose some confidential but not financial personal identification information. So, uh they had cyber insurance that covered uh the forensics team, provided a forensics team and

123recovery resources. So they were able to get everything back up and restored within 10 days. But it really puts a spotlight on the importance of cyber security. So um that one definitely stuck out to me. The other um key points um aside from the the budget, the legislative updates they talked about uh two major 66 page special education bills have been um introduced and there is a a big concern with um special education funding in general and how it would affect um rests and the way that they are structured. It's particularly concerning because the bill um uh would really affect the amount of funding that they would be able to uh receive and also place caps on that funding. So really this is a huge concern for for learn huge concern across the board for

124everybody. So right now they're actively advocating against state efforts that could cap that funding and reduce local control. Um they are piloting remote learning. There's a remote learning project that they are looking at very carefully right now and so stay tuned on more information on that in the next uh few months. Um they're investing heavily in leadership development, curriculum alignment, family engagement, and regional collaboration through grants and restructuring. Any questions about learning? Okay. Rain board. um not and we did not meet other than the beautiful scholarship awards ceremony last night. So that was great that just wonderful to see how many adults support the students. There were three students that received scholarships. Two were going to central accounting was the other student mechanical engineering. Okay. Okay. And then young student going to Connecticut Community College,

125Middle Sex. Yeah. So, it was just Yeah, it was nice to be involved and invited and it was a beautifully planned dinner and just a wonderful celebration and also the retirement of Mrs. Peas as well. Um, it was just nice to be a part of that. I'm sorry I missed that. Um, Long Range Capital Improvement Committee has not met and safety and security. We did meet today. Um we spoke about um some grant opportunities and upgrading um security features um in the schools over the summer. So, um that was great. Can't say too much more outside of it, but felt very I felt really good with all the progress that's being made. Um, okay. All business. We are all set on. Is there a motion to approve the $5,000 grant from the Connecticut Department of

126Transportation and partnerships with the Councils of Government Government COGS for the middle schools? Second. Any further conversation? All those in favor? I. discussion and possible action on policy 6162, instructional resources for teachers. Um, let me just explain this. We are um proposing an update to policy um within CA's setup that basically replaces the one I'm suggesting that we delete, which is what 6162 is. It's no longer in Cab's core policy manual. the subject matter is addressed in the one that you're going to be looking at to approve. It's kind of superfluous. It makes sense to just we've done So, do we want to dump it now before the other one is done or do we want to I think it's outdated. I I think one way or another it needs to go if you know

127what I mean by that. So, what is your delete it now? Is there a motion to eliminate policy 6162 instructional resources for teachers? Any further discussion? I got a question. So, what you're are you replacing it with? 6162. 6161. Excuse me, looking at the wrong thing. My apologies. 6161. 6162 is the one we're deleting. And 6161 is under C. Yep. Thank you. Thanks for catching it, Cara. Okay. Motion and a second. Any further discussion or questions? Are you all set? Sorry. Sure. No, don't be sorry. All those in favor? I Okay. Discussion and possible action on the following policies for first reading policy 3450 money schools. Do you want me to read all of them or you want to do one at a time? Um that's what folks want. I don't have to speak at

128a time about any of them unless people have convers you know questions. I will tell you in the first one um it just requires that um when money gets collected they go to Liberty Bank and do a night drop and you don't need a debit card just a a regular deposit. So okay policy 6140 curriculum just updating policy for curriculum it goes with what I was saying before about a lot of policy a lot of it was just ignored and state law was ignored in the past and then on top of that what we have was outdated. So this brings it more current and puts in some strictures to try to keep things moving properly. Policy 6161 um basically similar okay policy 6162.51 to survey students. Uh that was one that Dr. Drio asked us

129to look at. There are policies that govern how kids can be surveyed and under one conditions and this is updating it and policy 6159 uh same thing but different subject matter has to do with IEPs special education and I will just say that Terry had a very heavy hand in updating that so it's been gone through is there a motion to accept policy 3450-6140 61616162.51 615 59 as first read. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Sorry, I just had a quick Oh, sorry. the money in school buildings sometimes for certain things for PTO in the office. PTO is not involved. I already looked into it. PTO is a separate organization. This is just like the high school plays where the high school collects money. The money is held in

130the office for PTO. If it's more than $100, they can't hold it in the building. It has to be put in the bank. Even if it's PTO, because that's a 50. Well, PTO is a different organization. We have money, then it's up to DTO to to designate where they're putting their money. The schools can hold it, but they're not liable. Yeah. This is only student activity funds and and stuff like that. This is we have no jurisdiction for them or for the athletic boosters. Doesn't do anything nothing to do with this. Okay. Okay. All those in favor? I Acceptance of consent agenda 1210. We're almost there, guys. Um, warrant 2025 for March policy 5114, policy 0521.3, policy 5144.1, acceptance of the following resignation. Dave, I'm gonna spell it, say his name wrong. Kuski, thank you.

131I'm really tired. Kuski. Um, Jennifer Garden, Meg Latiri, what Cranton I'm sorry, I'm getting really tired. I've been up since 4. Um, Alyssa Lutonium. Lutonium and Cindy Houston. Is there a motion to approve consent agendas 1 through 10? One through five. One through five. I'm I'm sorry, guys. I'm like really thinking fast here. through five. Any further discussion? I have something to say. Um, so speaking for myself, yes, I am a board member, but I am also a parent and volunteer in the schools and communities. So, I am clearly speaking for just myself. I am not speaking for the board, any other members of the board. You're at the board table. You have to speak as to get how can I speak on this? Speak on over there. Speak on what? The resignation. The acceptance

132of the following resignations. I if they're personal issues. No, it's it's not negative. I'm not arguing. I just want to say my feelings without leaving any names or making any blame. And I just I just want to be heard so I can step down from the table and be an audience of citizens. I don't have audience because I didn't We don't the board voted. There is no audience of citizens for this. Okay. Then I am speaking for myself as a board of ed member. I am just be careful that I might have to shut you down if and this is based with the attorney. Let me let me finish. Be advised that any comments or concerns indivol in involving individual staff members or any personnel matters which may identify employees by name or implication are

133strictly prohibited and the board of education will need to close comments on that. I hear you clearly. I will accept interruption and pause when needed. I will not talk over you. Um I am um saddened by the resignations of some staff members um that have changed the lives of many students in our district. Um I am curious about the um what feels to me like the sudden number of resignations. Some we knew were coming, some we don't. Um and my one question which I understand probably cannot be answered now but for myself I'm wondering do we do exit interviews? Do we offer exit interviews? And who conducts them and is that something that the board could be included on the results of and that's perfect. comment, that's fine. That's not that I just I have

134to be very careful on the attorney. I cross a lot. So, um, exit interviews is something that we've talked about before and I I would like to see them as well. Um, maybe at the end of the year we could do everybody human resources for so resources. No, that's why I was gonna make a comment as well if I can. This town desperately desperately needs somebody in human resources to be shared between and the town side. Can you say it again? I couldn't hear you. I said that this town desperately needs somebody in human resources to be like a shared service position between that board of ed side and the town side. We really need some human resource expert in this town. So, Right. So for exit don't have human resources that's who would be

135conducting them. How can we have exit have that happen if we don't have human resources like where would could we reallocate that to because I think it's important for it's you to know and us to know why staff are deciding to resign whether they're retiring or going on to another job or a conflict. I don't know. Maybe they just don't like it. Maybe they love it and they can't do that. I don't know. I'm just saying like we need the opportunity to hear feedback so we as a board can support you and we can work on it. So we have to send out an exit survey for certified folks when they leave and they are like voluntarily they can return the survey and then what happens in theory? Yeah. She's saying she has to receive

136it. Okay. It depends on what we would just take that that's supposed to help us to make better decisions for on boarding for whatever trainings whatever it is. I I wouldn't know unless I had I know I'm asking the question that you don't actually have. I was curious how it all works. Just for the record, if I'm understanding things correctly, um that would never be anything the board was actually privy to. It's part of right superintendent's charge. Correct. Right. I Yes. And no. And our job as a board is to like hire and give feedback to a superintendent. So, and that's this isn't I'm just again hypothetical. If the superintendent is giving the exit interview and the superintendent is getting the responses and the board's job is to hire and and and give feedback to

137a superintendent, but the information on what the superintendent is getting from the exit interviews is not given to us. And how are we giving a fully formed response to how the superintendent is doing? The intent is not for the board for evaluation superintendent. The intent of the exit interviews is to help the superintendent with hiring future staff. So that's just okay. So that's just the beginning. Okay. It's just one of those things that's compartmentalized separately from our role. Our role is so limited. It really is. Especially when it comes to any issues and things like that and that's you know so we had a motion to we got okay is there a motion to invite the superintendent to executive um session discussion oh we did that was the discussion we voted and then we have

138to vote after that voted and then after you did your second I think it's all in favor I right said all in favor no we did not do all that's what I said all in favor all right can I have a motion to go into executive session and invite the superintendent for the purpose of discussion discussion concerning attorney and privilege communication related to board's role in personnel matters so moved Second. Second. All those in favor? All right. We are now in executive session. Congratulations again.