001only okay you all up all right good evening everyone I'd like to call this um meeting to order this is the East hadam Board of Education meeting for June 12th um first order of business can we stand and take the Pledge of Allegiance please to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all in the event that anyone needs to leave the building exits are on two sides you can follow the hallways all the way down to the end um if anybody is here this evening for the um Awards um and recognitions I'm sorry that you didn't get the message that um that has been postponed due to the serious nature of issues that have been brought up to
002the Board of Education since the development of um this month's budget I'm going to ask the board to consider the following motions is there a motion to postpone it agenda item two which is the student staff and Community relation um recognitions and resolutions to a later date so moved second any discussion all in favor I is there a motion to postpone agenda item three board Ray board and purple fund presentation to a later date to be determined so moved is there a second any further discussion is there a motion to move all in favor agenda item seven report of the superintendent to item two on the agenda so moved second any discussion all in favor I okay is there a motion to move agenda item number five audience of citizens to item three on the
003agenda so moved second second any discussion all in favor I I motion to move action on the minutes to item five on the agenda committee reports to item six on the agenda so moved second any discussion all in favor motion to postpone new business items a and F to a future date to be determined and move new business items in Num number nine to item number seven so moved so moved second any discussion all in favor okay thank you all for your adjustments there I appreciate it this evening's agenda then we'll begin with the superintendent report good evening thank you madam chair my update this evening has one Focus regarding the recent student behaviors involving racial videos and messages we are deeply concerned about the disturbing footage involving students the immediate response was to involve
004law enforcement and we did take action as a new member of the East hatam Community I have had many positive experiences and am witness to the dedication of students staff and families in their desire ire to create a climate of respect and human Integrity the vile actions by children who live in this community underscores the need to prioritize racial relations we cannot do it alone a goal of the district remains to foster a school environment where every individual feels safe valued and respected what has been on display is not a reflection of the community that I have come to know and certainly and certainly not representative of the experience that I had during the hiring process and it is not representative of the values held by this board however we will not ignore the reality
005of what has occurred and the urgency to be responsive we will not ignore the concerns that exist today in our schools and in our community again we cannot do the work alone together we must build a culture that values diverse races and that every person of color experiences the respect and integrity that needs to be assured to every human we want to partner with Community organizations to assist us in the eradication of racial bias and Injustice our community is suffering and much harm has come from these actions there there is no time to rest we must address this at a community level with honest open discussions which we will do thank you thank you any comments from the board in regard to the report of the chair I mean superintendent did you put it well
006yes put it very well okay excuse me my allergies are bothering me so I'm not sick I'm just coughing audience of citizens the communications and audience of citizens is an opportunity for the citizens of East Tatam to briefly and respectfully Express their thoughts concerns and questions to the Board of Education please come to the front of the room um state your name and your address and please limit your um time to minutes um please understand that the chair will stop public comments if at any time the comments include any specific um or otherwise personally personally identifiable references to staff or students the board does not engage in reply conversations during this period of time during the board meeting the chair or the superintendent will respond to questions in a timely and appropriate manner would anybody
007like to address the board at this time it doesn't matter which way you face you microphone the microphone you can be on the microphone so it gets on the recording yeah yeah uh my name is Anita Ford Saunders I'm the president of the middle sex County NAACP I live at 14 in middl toown thank you for allowing voices to be heard tonight I'll be at several weeks after learning of this Behavior I am a third party looking from the outside yet with information shared with me by a young man's family and the Keen Insight of lived experience of a black woman who grew up in Connecticut we can all go on all night long about what this was harassment it was disgusting it was Despicable and described the actions of the offenders as narcissistic behavior
008from boys who think that their privilege frees them from consequences I think we're all on the same page here superintendent Deo thank you for reaching out back to me the other day as I stated in our conversation the time for talk one andone motivational speakers or team building sessions are over bad behavior deserves consequences these are hate cries you may be shocked by my terminology but if you look at Connecticut Law the definition of hate crime is clear intimidation based on bigotry or bias they address certain actions that intimidate or harass another person motivated in whole or in substantial part by his or her actual or perceived r religion ethnicity disability sex sexual orientation or gender identity or expression there are four more criminal statutes that address hate cries but the one that rises to
009this occasion says ridicu on account of race pre or color first second or third degree intimidation based on race the finds are Hefty between three and $10,000 and it can accompany jail time up to 10 years for both so let's just sit and let that marinate a little bit it's a hate crime I've learned that even though we have these laws on the books it's not easily enforced that's a problem that needs a solution as situations like these become more pervasive in our school systems you all are not alone Parental Guidance and oversight are crucial none of us are perfect parents but thank God a father for whatever reason looked at his son's phone and saw these series of texts and posts that contained racial slurs and slander that were designed to erode his son's
010self-esteem that demeaned his child he took his responsibility as a father to Heart protecting his son East hadam you are living your George Floyd moment let's be clear we have not seen the terror of a man being murdered smothered in front of our eyes but when you choke the light out of a culture you are preventing someone from breathing you are preventing a child from living the life they were destined to live you are preventing a young soul from thriving so look inside yourselves you knew this was happening on some level and how dare you let it Fester finally I represent the middle sex County in dou ACP our branch is only one of 18 in the state representing close to 3,000 members we are here we will be here to support and protect marginalized
011students in p and middle SE thank you thank you thank you anybody else would like to address the board can you step like closer to the microphones just so we can hear you um thank you very much for allowing me to speak today my name is with vice president um I'm here today because that could have been my own son um I'm a former Colchester resident I live in Hartford and um I'm absolutely horrified because I know had this student reacted in a different manner um I might not be here right now he might be in juvenile detention um there would have been consequences for a negative reaction much swifter than um the response has come for his harassment students of any race should feel safe in school um and this students family was absolutely
012horrified to find out that our little blue state really isn't as tolerant as what he thought when he moved here from New York I would hope that the school board does take this seriously and um that they consider what actions would have been taken had this student reacted negatively other than to say that he hates himself this student said he hates himself in those screenshots he said he hates his race he hates his skin tone things that you know you're not supposed to think about in school you're supposed to think about math reading your future um he's going to carry that for life and um I would hope that the district goes out of their way to seek counseling for this child make sure that they have Foster the safe environment not only for him
013but for other students of color that may come into this District thank you thank you thank you oh is there any anybody else who would like to address the board of education at this time my name is Dina Deo St gerain and I actually fear stating my address because it's not just one person that did this to the sport child it was 10 people and I am appalled that I only was notified 9 days ago from Dr deetto about this incident and it's been happening for months and my child is attending this school and I am just disgusted and appalled by the lack of communication the lack of transparency and the letter that was sent out it was more about the use of cell phones than about the word racism and what actually is occurring
014in our school system and at that it was only sent to I believe just the middle school students because I've had friends from The High School contact me and say did you hear about this incident in our town and they were not notified they did not get a parent Square message so I just want to State for the record that I just disgusted and appalled and I already have other children that attended the school system that are now in different high schools and I am looking forward if I can get my kid out of here for the next year I would have I wish I can split myself three ways but I can't so unfortunately my child will spend another year here but I hope not beyond that thank Youk you thank you thank you
015is there anybody else who would like to address the Board of Education my name is Sarah Young I'm a licensed therapist in Connecticut I used to work as a contracted employee for the school as a therapist in the middle school and high school I am appalled by the culture that is fering in these walls the things that I heard and seen walking through the hallways at our Middle School Confederate flags racist slurs I was not surprised to see this information I gave a presentation to a seventh grade class about gender sexuality and race I received negative feedback from pupil Services Josh Martin in and my boss director of East hadam Youth and Family Services Tony and I resigned from my job due to the negative feedback from community members and people in power in this
016town I took another job outside of this town serving students in this school system I am serving students within this school system who have been bullied due to their race and segregated from their education because of the color of their skin I demand a meeting with Josh Martin to speak about this further please do not identify staff members we all know his name thank you is there anybody else who would like to address the board yes hello um so I am a resident in town Brandon Spencer 153 Smith Road um I've not been here long five years I come from a very diverse Town within the state born and raised have never left um I thought that my children I have a a son in high school I have a daughter who is who will
017be attending the middle school next year it's all extremely troubling to me this is not the environment I want my daughter to be in this is not the environment that uh I apparently my son has has spent some time in um and it's very very troubling and concerning to me and and it's really making me rethink um the decisions we made to be here um I wanted to put that on record um I promised I wasn't going to come up here but thank you for for speaking up because it needs to be said as a resident here this is not to be tolerated I do not want my children to see this I do not want my children to feel this way uh and I do not want them to be exposed to anything along
018these lines it's not fair uh to anyone thank you for the time thank you thank you any other comments why not hi I'm Barbara Wilson Clark Hill Road East hadam my daughter went through the whole school system she's out of college now but I'm just in shock I don't have all the information so I don't have I just want to know are these the people people have they identified the people that committed these hate crimes are they still in school is there any information on you know what's going forward going to happen any other comments question are those students still in school or we're not allowed to ask that they can't we can't answer that and which I will go over after all the audience speaks I'm just you know and I and I understand
019ma'am I understand unfortunately because of the situation I won't say who I am but I am a town member been through a long time um had family older kids go through one daughter went through the school system the other ones went to Magnus schools and my current son stopped going here went to a Magnus school um and it is sad to hear about this it's not shocking to me um in my situation the person who received very similar situations was in the in your system and um came from a different country she's not black but she was not treated well here and a lot of the people that she wasn't treated well were people that I grew up with here for the last 40 years years and um I can't go into a lot of
020detail but I'm glad somebody's finally addressing this because it's really it's sad that a young kid did it it was even sad for uh the person in my family who had to go through this like I I wish I could give you more information but she actually works for a different system and I don't want anything to get back to her or anybody else otherwise I'd be glad to go into detail I wouldn't say any names of any people it's just it's a broad thing in this town and know a lot of the people that teach there grew up in this town and it's kind of more like a click in that middle school and that click better stop it got me to move my kids to a maget school they're doing wonderful but this
021click hurts the children it hurts the teachers It Hurts The Faculty it hurts everybody and it's about time this is going on for a really long time 10 years ago it happened to us hope it doesn't happen to anybody else thank you sir is there anybody else I would like to address the board Karen blasik 53 Palmer Martin Road in East hatam I was sickened to hear that this has happened in our town um but my suggestion to the board is to be transparent as possible serving on the board for six years myself and not being on the board for a couple years now I know everybody has talked about transparency that's your main what if your main goals transparent to the public transparent for the budget transparent for other things happening you need to
022be transparent with this that is happening in our town that is my suggestion to all of you and I feel bad for this whole school system that um is really a wonderful school system system except for what is happening right now so that is my my suggestion transparency because that's what you preached for years thank you thank you is there anybody else that would like to address the board my name is Ash I will not say my address as I am a minor I to school I'm in high school now I go to a different high school I went to this school I cannot say I enjoyed my time in school this school is not a kind place I still have a little sister and I'm just appalled that this happened in this school and
023I'm not appalled that it happened I'm appalled at the reaction to it because I went to this school and I saw how they handled things and I knew they were not the greatest but the fact that this could be ignored for months a poliy knowing that people I care about are in the school and they are surrounded by this hatred that should not exist in schools in school is supposed to be a safe place for a child to be able to express themselves and to be themselves and to know that a child could sit there and be bullied for months un end with no reaction from the school and just for them to sit there and let it happen disgust me the average number of students in a grade in this town is around 70
02410 students in a grade is 17th of the grade I'm appalled that this was never addressed I read the letters that you sent home I read them from my mom's phone the word racism was not even mentioned which I find aoll you are a school you should be able to address the fact that racism exists and you should put your a foot down and state that is not okay because I am incredibly disappointed that a town could sit here and let racism run wild through their schools and do nothing about it so what I want is for Action to be toen because my sister is in the school she will continue to go to the school for another year and I'm horrified that this is what she is surrounded by and that these are the
025people that she will be around and that they could do something to a child and have no consequences thank you please become more transparent and please do something about this because it disgusts me that this is the town I live in and this is where the people I care about go thank you thank you thank you is there anybody else that would like to address the board hello my name is AB Bol I'm not from this District but I'm the president of black lives matter 860 and I I've graduated school 2004 and I didn't have these type of situations to kind of deal with in my district but to see this in this district is it's not surprised because I've been hearing some crazy things but I feel like it comes back down to the
026comfort of certain individuals so if certain individuals are comfortable saying certain things they're going to be comfortable doing certain things if certain individuals aren't comfortable doing things they're not going to be comfortable to do things if you get what I'm saying so you got to get these students uncomfortable with doing things they're comfortable with doing cuz that group thing is that's comfortable kids shouldn't be comfortable speaking about certain things that they not supposed to be speaking on that's comfortable they got to get them out their comfort zone because some I was an athlete and me being an athlete I was comfortable saying certain things but I wasn't comfortable doing certain things but as an athlete you're comfortable doing things especially in large numbers of groups cuz we were taught to be in large numbers of
027groups as athletes we going to talk a certain way with our athlete Partners we're comfortable with that certain students don't have that comfort so when they come to school they looking to get their education and comfort through their education and when they can't do that what do they actually have that's all I'm going to say you thank you sir is there anybody else that would like to speak anyone else like to speak yep I live at 69 sh bestl Road and I know a lot of you here and um lot of you are wonderful people um what a lot of people may not know is that I went to school here elementary middle school and high school and I grew up as with a background of Cuban and also polish stuff and I didn't really
028know my que side I know my polish side because I grew up with my polish family more and I didn't up with certain words but here in high school when I was in high school I learned what the word SP meant cuz somebody called it to me and this was in the 90s so these things were happening a while ago and the problem that I had at that time is I didn't know where to go or who to talk to about this and I think there needs to be an outlet for kids to go to if they think there's a problem or somebody that needs to have something addressed in a way that doesn't create a stigma for that person I think that was my problem um you know overall there's a lot of great
029things about this town I know there's still a lot of problems for example I applied for a substitute teaching job in the school I haven't received a phone call back I don't know why I have a degree I speak multiple languages you know I'm on PTO I do whatever I can so I think there needs to be a lot of changes and I think um what the last man said I thought that was really great you know if these people didn't think they were comfortable doing it they wouldn't do it I think that more people needs to have a more open mind and because in this town here you don't need to why would you it's so easy everything is so easy for everyone here because everyone is always so supportive within their group and
030life is just made to accommodate them they don't have to accommodate other people so I think a lot of people need to learn more about considering others and more about you know the impact of their actions too not just you know what's going on and how you know what's going on other cultures because it's right here they just don't realize it and they just don't want to be part of it and you know there's so many great things here in this town it just gets overshadowed by situations like this which is really terrible and a student having happened to them is scares a lot of other people and so there really needs to be some sort of resolution as soon as possible thank you thank you is there any further comments I have one letter
031from a um oh go ahead um I was by everyone's comment justed visit a couple things um when I was employed for the school district excuse me could you speak up we can't hear you when I was employed for the school district I attempted to start an lgbtq safe space as well as an affinity group for nonwhite students I attempted to start this in the high school and I was told by Administration to focus on making a support group for student athletes I also decied to have this conversation with my employer East hatam Youth and Family Services when I interviewed for East hatam Youth and Family Services I asked what do you guys think about me trying to talk about white supremacy in the schools and my boss Tony mccab told me we don't talk
032about that here you are clearly trying to silence your most vulnerable and marginalized students I am sitting on a lot of individual examples of this that I would love to discuss with somebody because it is egregious thank you thank you this is not the first time so I have one uh email that came in um that um specifically asked for me to read it um I have fielded other emails um one email went directly over to Dr deito and will not be shared because it identified their their children in the district um so and then the other email I did respond to as well so this is from um Nicole Hendry dear members of the Board of Education and the community um I love our town and I'm very invested in making our town to
033be the best it can be so that everyone who lives works or visit here feel safe and welcome I have been thinking about the recent story that has attracted attention to our town and wanted to share some thoughts from my perspective I am angry to to learn about the recent incidences regarding one of our students facing ongoing racist acts by their peers exclamation point I will also say that I'm not surprised as this is not that as this is not an isolated incident and goes beyond incidents of racism while there are many kinds of wonderful people in our town there are a group of students families in our town with an intolerance or outright hatred to anyone who is different from themselves I have firsthand knowledge of students being harassed C slers targeted and threatened
034because of their race their religion and their identity especially students with their identity along with the lgbtq and Spectrum the these incidents have occurred for over many years I feel every student and family who has faced harassment and threats no one should have to face this ever exclamation point everyone should have the right to attend school and feel safe and welcome this harassment comes in in forms such as comments where there adult where adults are out of earshot is being called a slur it's pushing kids into lockers when no one is looking it's actually threatening text messages is an offensive post on social media it's on the bus is students telling their peers to commit suicide because of the race religion or identity is students talking about violence or wanting physical harm to another student
035because of their identities some students have chosen to leave the District because they do not feel safe and continue to face harassment by peers in their town at other opportunities arise imagine leaving the district to get away from peers who harass and threaten you and then continue to face that even when you are no longer in school with the peers the district has provided assemblies where speaker has been brought in to share stories and experiences and the group of students demonstrate that intolerance hatred racism bigotry towards their peers use those assemblies not in a way to reflect on their own impact towards others and share empathy but to double down on their behavior and further their mistreatment of their peers there are many staff and administrators who are working to change this culture but there
036is much work to be done all of our students deserve safe welcomed supported and accepted thank you for your time sincerely Nikki Hendry of East hatam okay as the chair of the Board of Education and on behalf of the entire board I do want to thank everybody for attending this meeting this evening and I would like to thank you for speaking oh you want to speak yeah okay sorry I thought everybody had spoken I apologize I'm not good at this so that's okay I'm Jennifer 72 Oak Ro those of you I know a lot of you here know my daughter very well thank you um this Hit me hard I'm a teacher in another District so you know anything to do with kids kind of hit too hard and I guess you know this happens
037places where the district are in we work really hard and you know making sure everyone's feeling comfortable where they are in that culture and I guess where do we go from here like how how do we build this up and how do we work together now to change things thank you thank you is there anybody else that would like to speak I didn't mean to cut people off just come on up you don't have to you don't have to wait you wait thank thank you sorry I know emails yeah it's [Music] ashley6 in East um I have four children who go to school here um Elementary two middle one high school um and we also moved into this town and I had the pleasure of working um in the school district for a little while
038and I am also a teacher in a different School District um and uh yeah I mean I think it's super upsetting and just disturbing when you look at it and when you know that you could even like Google out the information and find it like my daughter who is in seventh grade was able to access some of this stuff and if you see it it's just like wow like so upsetting um and besides just being upsetting and shocking I agree with the who just spoken it's an opportunity to really like look at why is this happening why is it okay that people feel comfortable as the other man had said to even okay to say those things and feel like they could do that for a long time you know that must mean that something
039is not going quite right it's not all the schools obviously but we all have a responsibility and if we don't know what's happening and we're not aware I don't know how we're supposed to help you know as parents um I personally do have communication with my children with their social media but not everybody does and that is maybe I know this district is good about setting out educational things for parents to get involved and understand like all the different things that they should be policing for their children but I think it needs to go a different step further my own daughter she said like she hears lots of racist stuff on a daily basis and when we have asked her if you've reported it you know she said she doesn't feel like much happen she
040feels like even when things are recorded it only goes to the the part of checking in about it but not necessarily taking the next step of like what would happen after that so I guess I would say as a parent if my own children are telling me that they're uncomfortable then it is something that needs to be like looked at further than just like this is one incident or this is just one little tiny thing that happened and I really hope it isn't a thing that obviously it's not fine but I think there's a a culture that you can just sweep something like oh this incident happened and this is one little isolated thing and this is not how we always are um my son who is in high school had a teacher used a
041word and immediately like vocalized how I was kind of shocked at that cuz he came home and he was like oh my gosh my teacher said this in a lesson and I said you know what the problem is with that is that we forget as adults like we are impacting kids and what they think is appropriate or not appropriate and even just by ignoring something then children think that's appropriate right or if we only sort of address something they think okay that's appropriate we can ignore it too um I do believe a lot of younger children don't always know exactly what words they're using what they're hearing what they mean but then maybe we need to be better about teaching them like why this is not okay you know I think that's really really important
042so I wanted to share that with I think we all agree on that and I'm sure that would make a lot of people feel a lot better thank you is there anybody else that would like to speak is there anybody else that would like to speak okay thank you all for coming sharing your concerns your comments um I would like to reiterate um what Dr toito said in her message and um that really um represents what this board would say as well um please understand that there are federal laws and state um statute that prohibits the Board of Education members from addressing pacifics related to Student Records discipline and any consequences additionally because there is police Poli involvement and students involved are minors we further are restricted to not making any comments um the board
043does have confidence in the capabilities of our superintendent and staff to handle um these situations um and they they have to handle them within the laws the policies um and the procedures there are many laws regarding this um we collectively as a board as Administration um superintendent are taking this issue very seriously the board is going to continue to review our policies um we're going to take um measures to ensure that those are followed and we are going to ensure that our strategic plan addresses safety equity and inclusion of all students in our district this issue also infects the entire town of East hatam and our community with that in mind the Board of Education and administration is going going to continue to work very closely with our community leaders this includes our Selectmen our
044school resource officers and Our Youth and Family Services as you notic at the start of this meeting I asked for several um items to be moved kind of around and taken off of the agenda we still have other important items that we are going to have to discuss at our meeting and move kind of forward through our agenda everybody is welcome to stay but I just I I am going to move to the next agenda item got to come up close come up I'm a grandmother of a middle school kid and I am very upset that I found out this afternoon that this was going on in middle school I'm deeply concerned about my grandchild and all the children and I do hope going forward that we have more information and we're not given the
045information or find out the day of the meeting I wish there there had been more openness regarding this thankk thank you okay we're going to move on to I'm going to be moving on to action on the minutes is there sorry okay sure my time um I just wanted to say that um despite the fact that I'm here due to a racist incident um racism sexism um discrimination against LGBT students special needs students all these doors lead into the same room so if it's happening to one marginalized group of students it's happening to others and and this is something that shouldn't be swept under the rug and I would hope that there's more than just a strategic action plan but that students do not feel comfortable engaging in this type of behavior thank you thank
046you okay I am going to ask one more time if there's any more audiences citizens before we move forward with the rest of our agenda how do you investigating he I can get back to you with the specifics on that as I stated at the beginning of the um audiences citizens we don't engage back and forth we do have your contact information and I will make sure that you receive that information thank you is there okay perfect thank you thank you is last call for audiences citizens hi my name is John um we were talking about I liked how it was defined early on as hate crime right it's not just racism but crimes I'm kind of confused about the venue of what's happening right now because not a court of law but I just
047feel like there is um a lot of incompetence uh in the town and sure you guys are nice people but this has been going on for decades and years now you know it's come to we're here today um I would just like more like to address the people of the town and say like um I think these are elected positions in the board and in the town and how the state you know how the police will handle it and stuff um they're also Servants of people so just uh as as this progresses um and I know like Med Fast but Watch What Happens updates and kind of decide how we want our town to run our state run and um come up with our own action plans or people willing to execute what people are
048meing right now and um thank you is there any more audience of citizens before we move on [Applause] sir my name is is uh David Rome I'm not from this town of East okay uh but I've been a resident since 1942 in Connecticut and mostly in M six County I was raised in Portland and went into the service and what I would like to say is is what we need not only in East hatam I know a lot a little bit about East Adam but the surrounding town but I'm saying this to you as as not only a black man I'm really really upset about what I had to hear here and and I knew this growing up in this area but growing up outside of East SLE I never I I knew it but
049never thought it was would come to to this kind of Life somebody said earlier being transparent we you need to do that but you need to do it in this whole town you got a board of education up here the people up there that represent this town needs to be the color of everybody representing this town in the school system I know that like Middletown like Portland like the stampton like just about a lot of places in in this area the school system doesn't even reflect us it don't reflect us I'm my money and I don't have much but I'm willing to put it all here that that is no different here that like in Portland like in Middletown like in sampton Colchester you you you don't reflect it and and so the town people
050here you need to get up you need to get out and you need not to be afraid to speak up in part in the public excuse you need to get up and you need to get out and you and and and go find black people go find Puerto Rican people go find gay people I don't know all them I'm 80 some years old I don't know all those letters I can't memorize them but you need to find people like that and and get them to get out and and help them and the vote and put them in positions like on this board put them in in in politics in the town and and and and that's the only way you're going to get a change and that's the only way you're not going to get
051old people like me upset about something like this I want to close with this I went into the United States Marine Court I was appalled when I went in there because I heard the word and I'm going to say it some of you skated around I was called a I was called this I was called a pump and everything else and I had to put up with but while while I was in the service they started changing there was only one boot camp for Marines and that was in Paris all and and then they started one in San Diego because somebody high up officers said we got to stop some of this and that's how they stopped it and they brought they they brought more African-Americans I don't even like that word black people they
052brought more black soldiers and and not only put them in the Marine Corps because we was all over but they start giving us rank where we could start making decisions so that's why I'm saying Board of Education super I don't know anything about you but if you really want to make a change in this school system get some black people in the school system and not just black people get educated black people they're out there we're out there and and and and put them in the school system make the Board of Ed education that you're over hire the people not not just go out and say oh we're going to the black schools we colleges and stuff like that get down in here and you will someday I won't be living but you Sunday make
053a change sorry about that thank you thank you sir and thank you and thank you for your service Cindy would you you like a glass of water no I'm okay you're okay are you sure yeah okay any further comments audiences citizens all right I'm going to move on can I have an action on the minutes a motion to approve special meeting minutes May 6 so moved second any further discussion all in favor I I is there a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of May 8th so moved second is there a second any discussion all in favor is there a motion to approve special meeting minutes of May 28th so moved second second all in favor I I I need to abstain I wasn't there on the 28th okay I want to move on
054to um committee reports oops um policy and instruction Jim yeah um for those people who might hear this before I get started I just want to point out no one on this board has been on it more than five years most of us have been on it much less than that okay policy and instruction subcommittee met on June 7th all members were in attendance we discussed graduation standards and electronic device policies and we have sent them forward to the full board tonight for a first read the graduation standards have been strengthened with the need to earn additional credits matching what was required prior to when the St State lowered its standard in addition students will now be able to earn credit if assuming it passes uh will be able to earn credit for work study
055and other potentially career oriented training opportunities we will be coming back to the graduation standards because part of the goal is to set it up so that middle school students can get credit if they have accelerated and taken High School Credit court or School courses in Middle School prior to doing that we need to make sure that the courses and the assessments are aligned and that takes time so we are moving what we can forward understanding that we'll be coming back to it at a later date um regarding the electronic devices policy um I'd like to offer a congratul shout out to miss endorf who took the lead on setting up the revisions for that policy which is really nice and she did a great job um it's also important to note that that policy
056as well as others that are being approved for a second read which means they'll go into policy um are addressing exactly the kind of behaviors that we've been hearing about tonight it explicitly forbids that stuff and I think it's important to know that these things have been in the works for months because it takes months to get it here okay um the same is true of the updated School climate policy as I said law does not require us to update that policy for another year but we're doing it now um just a note to the administration in in the build in the place um you may need to update your student handbooks to reflect some of these changes um and you may want to make a point in the handbooks of high liting some of
057these things particularly since when parents sign those handbooks they're acknowledging their understanding and awareness of these policies so it'd be a good idea to make sure that they really do understand and are aware of them uh we had address to uh hope to address some other policies at that meeting on school facilities and the student dress code but we just ran out of time we have scheduled a meeting for Jun July 12th which is not typical so that we can continue that work and we will do so and that's the end of my report fantastic um business and planning Miss Cara we met on May 15th and most of it was uh maintenance related um there is an attached uh copy of the minutes in your packet but I would say most of it in
058regards to maintenance uh we Al discussed the May and April uh year to date um uh warrants year to date and um we T briefly discussed fiscal year 2025 which uh includes a $240,000 cut from the board of finance and uh we're hoping to make that up with insurance but that's uh to be determined and we are also going to be meeting next week before the end of the fiscal year which is June 30th okay thanks anything else that's it okay personal and personnel and negotiations we met last week I think I'm not sure of the date and we discussed the um transportation contract and um sort of got our heads wrapped around what we have in place now looking forward to when our negotiations come up next year so just sort of getting our
059heads wrapped around what that may look like okay Capital Improvements we met on Monday June 3 um East hadam the we uh were awarded the HVAC grants in this second round of the state HVAC grants uh for the high school uh Chiller in the elementary school project um we are uh obviously because I reported last month there was a big difference between what we went out to bid for and our professional cost estimate and now we are uh so we got the state Grant but now we are in running for an eversource rebate to take a big portion up of the cost estimate that was unexpected and um the the bidder that the lower bidder we had to go with did um come down on the price a little bit with or uh some reductions
060to the system U like if there was good better best maybe more better than the best and then air air changes okay we understand what you're saying and uh that's it so hopefully we get that eversource rebate and then we can there is a possibility we'll have to go to referendum because the price changed so there's a big situation there okay learn we met on May 9th and um the agency gave updates regarding early childhood education um the learn team of Early Childhood Consultants spent the whole week writing uh a continuation of grants for the School Readiness programs for Gren leard New London and Norwich um the IT team was also a um a part of the conversation um the team submitted a proposal to function as the external managed service provider for the Salem
061schools School District um and if awarded learn will provide um break fix support it networking and uh District leadership support um another point that came out of that meeting was the office of teaching and learning the alliance uh hosted the igniting change conference um on Tuesday the 14th um in Hartford and about 340 Educators from across Connecticut had attended that um student Support Services was also on the agenda learn it is about to open they actually just had the opening of the transition Academy in Niantic um it it was a soft opening but but the actual opening happens on July 1st um and then they gave their agency updates and um it was a very very good conversation one thing that I wanted to uh mention as a takeaway was um that they referenced um
062their policy about um lead uh the Connecticut leader and educator evaluation and support plan overview and one thing that stuck out to me um as part of the discussion about the process was um that they wanted to make sure that the training for admins and teachers um because they're pulling in um I believe it's called mcrell okay I don't know if you're familiar with that it was the first time I had heard of it um but it was on how to lead and manage change and I think that that um you know supporting leadership growth and supporting especially after the discussion we had tonight it's going to be more important than ever for not just Administration but our Educators to be able to manage change and do it effectively so um that was was a
063huge takeaway for me and um I'm glad I made a note of it because here we are thank you T ray board I don't have a report but I don't think I missed a meeting either so um did Sean give a report at the last board ofed meeting that I missed he did um rayb was at our Awards dinner they um did give out um quite a few Awards um and uh Mr Kill was planning on being here to give a presentation on that and the purple fund um we will reschedule that and I'll see rescheduling I I just didn't feel it was appropriate to start off a meeting with number one Awards and with a RB you know celebration when you know we there was important business and it it would not I was
064afraid it was going to look right so um we have so um we will get back to that and we're thankful for everything that they're doing um long range Capital Improvements um has not met I will be getting in touch with uh Mr Corvett and getting that set up um there's quite a few ants with Irene um to get that all set up um in the the near future uh we have quite a bit of work to do so um I'm kind of excited to get the tribe boards back together um meeting the Selectmen the board of finance and the Board of Education to talk about our Capital expenditures where we are where we need to go uh we got some serious um things that are kind of coming up there um and last committee
065report is security and safety um did meet and uh we had a lengthy presentation and um demonstration on some new technology that's available um thank you Don for uh don anger solar um for putting that all together and um you know our ssos and our sros have been doing a phenomenal job um you don't hear about some of the work that they do or the investigations that they are handling because we are dealing with students we are dealing with minors and the board including myself is not proving to discipline or Consequences but I can tell you that they are extremely busy um and watching out uh very well for our students and I just wanted to share that as the security report report is there any comments in regard to any committee reports anybody have
066anything that they want to say in regard to any committee reports no no no no good all right we are moving on now um again we took off the discussion of the board's um annual self-reflection off of off the agenda um I believe that that was the right call that it needs to be more of a workshop I think that um we're still processing everything that we heard this evening um and incorporating that into our our self-reflections is going to be important so that we can set our goals as we move forward um all right so discussion and possible action on the following policies for first reading policy 31.8 use of electronic devices would anybody like to speak to this before U miss you kind of took the lead on that do you want to
067speak to it or I do um the reason why I started on this policy which began months ago um before I was aware anything that was discussed tonight I felt that it didn't address uh certain language um and gave specific examples of what is and is not appropriate for students to have on their phones um I know we all like to think and hope that in the home there's discussions about consent what is safe what is not safe what is okay and not okay my view of what that is is different from somebody else's so I felt that um updating this policy to give that language would give um I'm talking about in front of me would allow for um specific paths to take and language to address and correct and have conversations um so
068that's why it got brought up it truly is uh it is what it is that happens tonight but I'm happy that we have it here okay are there any questions on the policy has everybody taken a time to read it y okay does a policy follow along with the guidelines set forth by cab quite closely yes okay is there a motion to approve policy 51 3181 use of electronic devices for the first read so move for first read second any further discussion it's 81 it's 81 the good question is um is the policy number 5131 81 or8 I believe it's 0 8181 but I'd be more than happy to double check that I believe it's 81 on on there as well yeah it's just a m type on our agenda okay okay so there's a
069first and a second a first and a second any further discussion on policy 513 1.81 I did I miss that there's nothing in here about the use of social media am I correct and that there's nothing in here about that there isn't but there's social media apps aren't accessible through the school's WiFi if I am speaking correctly yeah they can't I mean there's limitations to the school's Wi-Fi that students can't access that um that being said if that's something that we would want to discuss more I would love to so you want to send it back to and it's okay do you want to send it back to um the committee to have that refie of course you were allowed to question like this before but yes I would like to please okay okay do
070me a favor um just send me a note about about what kinds of things you're looking for so that we know what to do with it yes all right well done thank you okay so um policy 6146 graduation requirments has everybody had a chance to review and think about that policy and is there any comment or anything that needs to be discussed on this say only any on anything I would have said I said in my report exactly okay is there a motion to approve policy 6146 for the first read so moved is there a second second any further discussion all in favor I I okay okay now we're moving on on to acceptance of the consent agenda items 1 through six is there a motion to accept to sense AG agenda items 1 through
071six move um oh sorry I'm sorry I'd like to pull out the warrants [Applause] okay I thought it was already all right the warrants have now been pulled out oh my they already ped no is there a question on on the warrants that you want to bring up yeah um I I was going through you know as is typical for me the the legal bills um and some of them seemed I mean I I know things come up but $199,000 in one month for special education expenses seems exorbitant and I'm wondering what's going on and there were similar issues in other months there was another month that would uh $99,000 just for special education um I got on the board in part because I became aware of what I considered to be very inappropriate behavior
072using the law m in dealing with special needs families okay and it makes me nervous when I see that much money being expended it may be perfectly legitimate and I do understand that but I would love to get some kind of additional Clarity because it makes me really nervous than so oh go ahead um so I can say that there was um a case that was being prepared and then that case was withdrawn there was nothing egregious that um the district had done but it was a gathering of information um potential towards due process to maintain student um so it wasn't that the district was somehow withholding information um and that those hours of preparation added up to that cost um but that there's no litigious um what what about and I'm I got to
073find the the document speaking of February um well in let's see here in November there was almost just shy of $9,000 that was spent on special legal fences that was before you were here February there was $19,000 is what I'm talking about and then in March there was $99,000 so I'm like I said I'm just wondering that's a lot of money and if it's legit that's fine I can believe that could happen these guys get 250 350 an hour I understand that but still it seems like a lot of money and I'm just wondering what's going on well I can say there sometimes complications and to ensure that the district is being protected and to ensure that what the district is doing is viable there's a lot of research and hours spent from the board's
074attorney that I do not see continuing I think there is resolve okay is this related to doe process actions taken against the board no not against the board in reverse due process to maintain a student that we could serve here as opposed to out placing I'm done okay you could put them back on so I'm going to put those back in is there a motion to approve um an acceptance of consent agendas 1 through six no moov is there a second second any further discussion all in favor I okay okay we are going to um move on to our next item and that is going to be a motion to invite the superintendent schools into executive session for the purpose of discussion of nonunion wages and Contracting negotiations is there a motion so moved is
075there a second second any further discussion okay all those in favor I I okay no votes will be taken uh during executive session thank you all for coming this evening it's appreciated I'm gonna we will take a five