12-03-2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

001It is now 7 o'clock. I would like to call the December 3rd, 2025 Board of Education meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I will now turn staff and student recognition over to Miss Wy. Before that, one second. As a reminder, and I do it, please be sure to turn on your microphone when speaking and voting to ensure those online can hear and silence your phones. >> Thank you, Cher Ponds. Good evening, everyone. Um, for staff recognition, we've invited Nikki um, Yankee, I hope I'm pronouncing her last name correctly, um, from Stafford School. She is a PAR educator in the LEAD program. Um, and Amy Martino, our director of people personnel services, um, recommended Nikki um, for the great work she is doing with the Buddy program, and she's going to explain

002more about that program to us. But I also wanted to recognize Miss Latana Pharaoh, principal of Stafford School, who is also in the audience. So, thank you, Miss Pharaoh, for being here to support Nikki. And I invite Nikki to come to the podium to speak more about the program. >> Welcome. >> Thank you so much for having me here this evening. I just have a quick for all of you. How many of you uh speak with one adult that you look forward to no matter what it was you going through when they showed up and you let them know you were happy to see them. I know I had that one. Uh my husband with his uncle. >> Sure. Um, I'd just like to take a minute and tell you about the buddy program at

003school. The buddy program the buddy program is building library dynamically for it's for our kids to participate to participate in the lead program. What it is, it's connecting our kids with other adults that you may not see on a regular face. Those adults are the ones that represent fun. Whether it's lossing the ball, whether it's drawing, whe sorry, um whether it's drawing, whether it's, you know, going for a walk, these adults are just fun like that one adult hide. They come, they do quick popins, whether it's a minute, two minute, just to say a quick hello, how are you, and see if they're doing okay. The buddy program, it's not just staff, it can be staff, be administration, be kitchen staff, it can be anyone in the building or anyone in administration who would like

004to be a buddy. I know we've s Martino who is a buddy. Um these are some of our staff members and administration coming in to do just like coloring, hanging out, you know, they would go and visit, come in. This was today. Um came in to have lunch with one of our students. One of our other students went and visit his buddy. So, it's a great way for them to connect. It's also another level of support for them. They have another trusted adult in their life and it's just fun and we are so we are thrilled to introduce our December craft accomplish with our buddy kit. So, we'll be doing our holiday craft this month where staff will come and pull their buddy and they would just do decorate an ornament, throw a gingerbread house,

005um create a little another little ornament with some finger paint. So, it's a lot of things for them to do in that one little bit. So on that in closing I would say we are thrilled for this progress we have made so far and we are incredibly we are incredibly excited to see what the future will bring for this program. So in closing I just want to truly appreciate truly appreciate the opportunity tonight to come and talk to you about something that is so near and dear to my heart. this buddy program. It's amazing to see the staff interacting with the kids and it's bringing staff together and we are connecting. So staff I haven't seen on a regular basis but coming into the classroom and it's making that connection and everybody is getting closer

006and supporting each other and I absolutely couldn't be prouder at the staff at step two. Thank you so much. [laughter] I think that is an amazing program and thank you for sharing it with us. I think uh at Christmas time it's even more amazing to be able to be there for people and do a craft and just reach out. So we appreciate all of that hard work that you're doing. >> Yeah. Come back. All right, >> come back. >> All right. Um, if you guys have any questions at all, please feel free to email and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you again. >> Thank you. >> Oops. To the chair. >> Yes. >> Can I make a comment, please? >> Absolutely. >> I had the privilege

007of working with Nikki in my building at Hubble, right? you were at Hubble for a while and it's um you were always a positive person in that building and um it's nice to see that Stafford school has really um made use of your talents and that's an important it's important in my book as well as I think everybody that sits on the board of ed is making those connections and um I think that in particular with with the other um schools we have as well you know I know Hubble has the lead program um I think I don't know if you already have cuz I haven't been there this year. But I don't know if you're able to share more of your successes with the other schools because I think that that's um that's a

008necessity and a blessing. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda. We have approval of the minutes. You have all received a copy of the November 5th, 2025 regular meeting minutes in your packet. Are there any corrections or abstensions? >> The chair. >> Yes. >> Do I abstain as I was not a member of the board? >> You don't technically have to if you've read them and they look fine, but you can if you want to. >> Um, >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the November 5th uh meeting. Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. You all have received a copy of the November 12th, 2025 special meeting minutes in your packet. Are there any

009corrections or abstensions? >> I'll have to abstain. Okay. >> Can I have a motion? make a motion to approve the um special meeting on November 12th. >> Second. >> Motion's made and seconded. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously with one upst. Next we have committee reports. The first committee report are student representatives. We will have Amelia Brown, senior at Bristol Central High School. >> Oh, you're the chair. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Were we going to do many reports? >> Okay. So, who would like to go first for the complete reports? I can go first. Um, for the student achievement and outcome committees, um, we met on November 19th, 2025 and, um, Kari provided us with a curriculum overview so the new members could get acquainted with the process of, um, research and

010writing and refining different curriculum. We also received timelines um, of all of the different um, curriculums that will be reviewed in the past and present, future. Um we also were presented by um Laura Lanza the curriculum revisions for a personal finance course you'll hear about tonight as well as a civil engineering and architecture course. Um we also were presented with the on-track graduation um rates which we are have the highest um on-track graduation rate since 2019. So, we were informed of all of the different um practices and what the strategies they're putting into place to keep that um momentum. >> Thank you, Commissioner. It's Simons. >> Good evening. had a special policy meeting um on November 24th and we primarily focused on meeting policies that were identified as priorities in our audit and we will

011be hearing uh one six of them. We'll be learning more about them tonight. They've been moved over. You >> happy to report on my first Finance and Operations Committee um meeting. The meeting was held on November 12th. We discussed uh the budget update through October 20 uh October 31st, 2025. We received some information about the cafeteria report, um some appropriations over $10,000. Uh Amy Martino delivered her pup pupil personnel services report. We looked at student activity accounts through October 31st, 2025. And we did have a somewhat robust conversation about substitute teachers, our budget for substitute teachers, uh the data around the need for substitute teachers, how many substitute teachers have been activated. We are going to be getting some uh additional data moving forward and um look forward to continuing conversations and really ensuring that

012work with fiscal stewards um and being really transparent forward facing um for the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, that ends for committee reports. Can I just ask a question about the finance with this um the review for the subs? Um when we were going through the budget process um one of the items that was brought up were that in being able to retain the KTAs that they were able to also substitute in classrooms. Are we using that um are we using that to the the fullest extent that we can to try to limit the amount of outside subs? seeing nothing. Okay. And and we're still having to deal with a an extreme shortage area. I >> think part of the conversation as well was um we just have a shortage of subsout.

013We do have some building subs, but we were trying to like analyze some of the numbers around how many subs. And we didn't have answers to these questions. It was just conversational at this point. And I know that um the district will will be providing some information in response to the questions that we had um but also looking at the rate at which we pay subs um and determining whether or not that's a a deterrent for people, you know, considering substitute I want to call it a career, you know, but pursuing substitute teaching in Bristol and just kind of looking at the broad scope. So that's something that I think we'd want to look at as well. who are we engaging on? Are we able to use the staff that we have um to offset

014some of the costs for hiring out outside subs? I don't know. Um superintendent White, if you have anything to add to that, >> you know, just to to add on to Commissioner De Antonio's question, um we are using other staff including instructional support teachers. Um but unfortunately when we pull these folks who are um providing interventions for students then the students are not receiving that supplemental instruction. So it's a concern colleague needs understand. >> Thank you. Next item on the agenda is the student representatives. It looks like Amelia Brown is out of town tonight and unable to join us. So we are going to move on to Bristol Eastern. Paige Ansa. Good evening. Tonight my report will focus on past events as well as upcoming events within Bristol Eastn High School. Recently Bristol Eastern held

015its annual pep rally to get students and faculty excited before the bell game against Bristol Central High School. Leading up the pep rally was spirit week presented by student council where students and staff members were able to dress in the pajamas for pajama day as a meme for meme day and as their type for dress as your type day class colors for color wars and finally wearing the class t-shirts for the day of pep rally. Our football players cheers and marching band put on awesome performances and our head coach Mr. Julius and Mr. Higgins gave powerful speeches to build morale within the school community. Although East unfortunately suffered another loss to Central, I can say for certain that both Bristol Eastn and Bristol Central were able to come together and bond during this exciting day,

016especially by helping to raise money for the Salvation Army, who had a Battle of the Kettles competition that Bristol Eastn High School won. Bristol East's concert band has also been hard at work preparing for their winter concert. Conc's first winter concert rehearsal will be this Thursday, December 4th, with the official concert being Thursday, December 18th. During the concert, past Be alumni will be invited back to play our fan fan favorite Slayigh Ride. Beta has also been hard at work preparing for their play, Clue, which presents a night filled with mystery and surprise. The the play will be performed in Be's auditorium on December 12th and 13th and at 700 p.m. both days. Our annual PJ day for the kids is hosted by student hosted by student council. Coming up, PJ Day for the Kid Kids

017is a fundraising event that supports children battling cancer. PJ Day is meant to help Connecticut's Children Medical Center and raising funds to support this cause. So, wear your comfiest pajamas and donate to the cause if you're able to. Fall sports are officially over and winter sports are starting up. Wrestling started this past Monday, December 1st, while boys and girls in their track and boys swim has their first practice this Thursday, December 4th. Boys basketball also has a f second tryyout day this Thursday. National Honor Society is bringing back our annual student teacher basketball game. On December 23rd, both students and teachers will have the opportunity to go against each other in a friendly basketball match. National Honor Society will also have halftime games for students to participate in while players catch their breaths. More to

018come on this event will be announced soon. Finally, Lancer Nation is hosting a fun door decorating activity within home rooms. Home rooms have the opportunity to decorate their doors with a nice holiday or winter theme in order to encourage home room students to work together. That's the end of my report. Thank you and have a great night and a great holiday season. >> Thank you. The next item on the agenda is a chair report. Um, tonight I would like to share that the Bristol Board of Education will be participating in an onboarding of professional development session with Nick Caruso through CABE on December 17th. This session will give us a chance to reflect on how we work together as a board, strengthen our leadership, and think critically about how we approach our governance responsibilities. Over

019the coming year, we'll be focusing on our board and district goals. By setting clear goals and working intentionally, we aim to improve how we serve our students and the community. If our efforts come together, it could even position us for the CAB board leadership award. There's no guarantee, of course, but if we all put in the work, it's possible. The superintendent and mayor will be hosting a joint special meeting on January 13th with the board of education, board of finance, and city council. Shipman and Goodman will provide an overview of the laws that govern the education budget. This meeting is educational and will give all three governing bodies a chance to work together with a shared understanding of our roles as we prepare for the upcoming budget season. It's an opportunity to collaborate, learn, and

020coordinate through the bud budget process. These efforts to strengthen the board are ongoing, and I appreciate the commitment all board members have made to participate in the CAB onboarding. By focusing on our goals, learning from experts, and improving how we work together, both through CAB and with our city partners, we're setting ourselves up to govern more effectively and make a meaningful difference for our students and community. That concludes my report. The next item on the agenda is the superintendent report. Superintendent White. >> Thank you, Chair Ponds. I wanted to uh begin my remarks by introducing Cindon Molina. Um she is the new executive assistant in the office of superintendent. She started this past Monday. So, we wanted to welcome her to our team. >> Welcome. We're so happy to have you. I got a cheat

021sheet early. I was like, "This is the best thing that ever happened." >> Yeah, she's off to a great start. So, thank you, Sydney. Um, also want to welcome Mr. Peter Kelly to the table from the city council um our new city council leaison replacing Eric Rosenrren. We thank Eric um for his years of service to the board and we welcome Mr. Ken. Thank you. >> Welcome. Um, so I wanted to begin by thanking the Bristol NAACP. They have given me the honor of asking me to uh be the keynote speaker at their um breakfast, their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast on January 19th, 2026, 8:00 a.m. at Bristol Eastern. And I'm very excited to um share my journey, some of my background and experiences and also talk about the board's um dedication

022to improving outcomes for all students um encouraging students um to service the community and we have some examples of some of those students with us tonight. So looking forward to sharing the about the great work happening in our schools and also how we're engaging students in service to the community. Um it's a a great breakfast that of course um helps support a scholarship fund for students um from our district as well as other neighboring districts. As in every month I wanted to provide some updates on my 2526 superintendent priorities. Um on Wednesday, December 10th, you want to advance the slides, Jeff? Perfect. Oh, next. Yep, you got it. Thank you. Um, the next coffee with the superintendent uh will be on Wednesday, December 10th, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Um, I want to thank Jay Mia

023from the Boys and Girls Club. Um, he agreed to partner with me on this coffee with the superintendent. Um, it will be at the um Cambridge Park on 61 Davis Drive. Um, the public is welcome to attend. It would be an opportunity for me to talk to some of the students um who participated in that after school program, the parents and also the staff at the Boys and Girls Club and learn more about the great partnership we have with them. Um wanted to thank Prudence Crannle. Um they are working on developing a training for school psychologists, social workers and school counselors focused on awareness of sex trafficking. um being aware of the signs um supporting victims. Um so they're working on a workshop that I believe will be presented um in January to those groups

024and we um have some plans to have some ongoing training and support. So we thank them for their partnership. Next slide. So as part of staff engagement, I've been able to partner with the partners for educational leadership. Um, we've talked a lot about staff engagement. We've had examples of different surveys that staff have completed. Um, and this will be a real opportunity to go more in depth to um provide teachers and administrators an opportunity to really share with me what's working well in the district, where we can continue growing, um, how we can deepen engagement. Um and it will also provide an opportunity to develop uh future struct structures which include the establishment of an advisory council. So I look forward to hopefully starting those focus groups in January. And in terms of my superintendent

025goals, I did share um priorities in August, but this is a new priority that um I really developed in and I want to thank um Carly Foron um chief academic officer. We've had conversations at student achievement committee um where uh the CIS office has presented our accountability data, our smarter balance data, and we've had conversations about um the real importance of focusing on datadriven decision-m ongoing looking at student performance data um progress monitoring to make sure that we are pre providing the necessary instruction and support to students. during the year. And so this is going to really be a focus um of mine in supporting that office and supporting the building principles in really making sure that we're a datadriven decision making district. Um I know often the board when I make priorities and when

026we bring forward ideas or initiatives there are questions about data, what's the evidence? So, we want to make sure that we have um resources and tools to provide that data readily and that we're being transparent with the public about what our data is showing and how we are using data to make informed decisions about policies and procedures. So, I wanted to make folks aware of that. And then finally, uh we've scheduled workshop one and workshop two. Um it's budget season and we've um started meeting with principles and departments in terms of their budget requests. And so budget workshop one where I will present my superintendent's proposed budget. Um I think we had a pretty good response when we held the last one on a Saturday. So we're going to return to that. It will be

027Saturday, January 24th, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in City Hall Council Chambers. Um, and of course um the public will be uh invited to participate in person and we'll also have a Zoom link for those who want to um participate virtually. And the second budget workshop will be held here in the BOE auditorium on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2, 2026 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Um, and we're still waiting for a date from the city board of finance and when we would present the board's uh budget to board of finance. And that concludes my report for the chair. >> Yes. >> I just have a quick follow-up question on the data driven Sure. Um, so I I'm uh I'm just seeking clarification. It's not that we didn't have datadriven approaches before. This isn't the first time

028that we're implementing datadriven approaches to decision-m. It looks to me more like you're trying to standardize reporting of them across the district. So I was just trying to understand the difference between what we were doing before and what you're proposing differently now. >> Thank you for the question. So I think um you were at one of the student achievement meetings when uh Mrs. Foron was talking about strategic reviews for example and there was a change in the format of the strategic reviews. I know that when I started as acting superintendent in May of 2024, um I had just started and there were some virtual strategic reviews where principles presented and talked about their literacy, math, and attendance goals um and what initiatives they implemented to meet the goals and what progress they were making. And

029it was a real opportunity for a central office to provide them with input and feedback on their goals and how they were progressing. And so last year we changed the format of that and I think we want to go back to where they're talking about their literacy and math goals and um their attendance goals. So making it more specific to each school. Um and then really providing them with ongoing feedback. Um, also wanting to make sure as superintendent, um, I'm keeping up to date on where each school is, where their data is. I know the CIS office does a great job at that, but I want to make sure as superintendent I have a a good grasp of where each school is in terms of their goals. Uh, that will help me decide how I

030can be more supportive of the CIS office and also the principles. So, I appreciate your question. I didn't mean to make this happen. We did >> you did I wanted to give you the opportunity to tell the public the uh the improvements that you were making. >> Thank you. Next we have the consent agenda. And I have a motion to approve the consent agenda which will include items 8.1A to 8.2B. Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. >> Any discussion? >> Is there an update on the um the um plan for replacing Mr. Yes, I completed the final interviews um and offered the candidate, my preferred candidate um the position last night and so we're just working on negotiating salary etc. um and we completed the reference check.

031So I'm hoping to present um to the board next week in a special meeting with the finance after the full of finance committee. >> Thank you. They actually did have a um question. We're losing two um psychology eastern. Are we posting that those positions or are we waiting? I believe I approved one today. >> They're all posted. Yeah, I know. I definitely approved one today. So, they're all posted. >> Okay. Motion's been made and seconded with no further discussion. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. >> Next, we have grants. And I will turn this over. Oh, I'm sorry. We have public comment. Is there any public comment? I >> I think you're correct. I have it on mine as grants for the next agenda. Oh, no. That was for part of the

032consent agenda. I made the same Oh, I did the same thing. >> No public comment. >> No. >> Okay. Number 10, deliberated items, district leadership team reports. First, we have Amy Martino doing people personnel services report. >> Hi, good evening. As of November 1st, 2025, there were 1,769 students of the 7,892 enrolled pupils required special education programming. This enrollment uh maintains the 22.42% that we've been seeing over the past few months. As of November 1st, 122 students with disabilities required to go out of district programming. 92 students require special education programming at other public schools. That would include magnet schools. Then during the month of October 2025, 37% of our newly registered students were required special education programming at the time of instru. We had no students proceeding out of district uh programming at that

033time were enrolled. And then during the month of October, we had 33 211 and 69. Any questions about the numbers before I go over to the collection? You should have a colorcoded with you. Looks something like this. Um, I know Miss Bonds when she speaks about the budget, she last month was talking about incumbrances. However, I am preferring to stick with what we have expended giving the changes that occur within our district at all times. >> Excuse me, Amy. I'm not sure they have that document in board book part of the board book. We can certainly share that with you if you don't have part of the pack of finance. Well, I couldn't put it up right now. Um, but I I certainly could send that to you. >> Maybe. Can you put it up?

034>> Let's try. While he's attempting to do that, um I will just share with you that as of November 1st, 2025, all of our special education mainline items remain where we would expect. Miss Bon did share with the committee that as of November 1st um with encumbrances, we were over in a couple of the lines. However, she had shared that she wasn't concerned given that we haven't received our excess cost. Um, I will share with uh everybody that I did sign off the first installment of our excess cost. It was close to $24 million. Uh, so that is going to be focable with overage. Again, I'm feeling very comfortable with where that stands. Um, and just as previously noted, we were over in our extended school year line um, as well as in our preschool

035line primarily due to either professional services or contracted services that we were prior to. budget. I missed it. If it's helpful, I'll share my sheet. Perhaps you guys can share it. Okay. Thank you. And I apologize. Next we have Mr. Bagley speaking about themes music 2028 Europe trip. That's exciting. Good evening commissioners. Um my privilege again to uh introduce Teresa McDonald who is one of our music teachers at Baines and she will talk about her proposed music trip to uh Europe and I just I I'm excited to present her and because I had the opportunity as a I think it was a sophomore in high school to do almost this very trip and it was life-changing for me and getting to perform um and visit visit some of these cities and experience the musical um

036culture in all these cities was incredible. And not that every single one of her students is going to become a music supervisor down the road, but it it was life-changing for me. And uh so I'll let her talk more about it. Uh >> first, Mr. Bagley, did that happen in Bristol? Were you in Bristol? >> I was not. I was well what was neat I was a little quote unquote and I had never been out of New England and it was my first time out of New England and as Teresa and I were talking before a lot of our trips that I've done with the my Bristol kids with my Bristol students a lot of them it was their first time either out of the state uh we did do a England uh advance trip

037and it was their first time out of the country so those kids still talk to me about those trips and those are the memories that I retain. Of all the experiences I have, I still remember that trip from 1982. >> So amazing. It's incredible. So sorry. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Teresa McDonald, the fire in general who's a teacher at Wings. Um so I have a few slides that I'll you don't mind just kind of going through those. Uh it'll help me to make sure I'm focused in my speaking. Um, so the trip that I'm proposing is through EF tours. Um, and the name of their proposed trip is called the sound of Europe. Um, so you can see some of the highlights already, but I will get uh deeper into it.

038Um, but these are all pictures from their website of places that we um that visit trip. So next slide, please. So this is a nine-day trip. It's a little bit longer um than uh actually, let me rewind for a second. Uh, Lisa Carol has proposed the London trip. We went last year. We're going again next year. Um, the reason I even thought to do any of this is because I went with Lisa to London last year and going in again with her next year. Um, and we had such a great experience using EF. Um, everything so amazing and helpful and um, so anyway, I had the thought, let me do something that's not just theater. Let's do a music trip uh, to really reach out to our music students and offer them travel opportunities as

039well. So, um, the London trip was a seven-day trip. This is a nine-day trip, so it's a little bit longer. Um, and I was talking to somebody about it again. We want to propose for April 2028. And someone was like, "You don't even have the calendar for that here yet." Which is true. Um, but EF is fantastic in working with schools. They know that that's a thing. And so they will work with us with dates once our calendar comes out. Um, so anyway, our proposed uh we will probably leave a little bit before April vacation. So maybe the Thursday u my EF rep was be like, "Well, Wednesday's cheaper." And anyway, I said we can have that conversation later. But it's a 9-day trip. So, the first day you fly overnight, you get to Germany.

040Um, when you get there, uh, they don't let you, they ask, they have you try to sleep on the plane, uh, because they have you hit the ground running the first day you're there to try to get through jet lag. Um, so you hit walking tour of Munich, they get you moving, so that way you're not falling asleep on a bus. Um, the next day we would go through Munich. Uh, there is every place that you go through the F tours, they hire local guides to bring you to all these places so you're not just like wandering and slay around. Um it's really very focused and uh very well thought out. Um so uh a tour of Munich on day three, traveling to Salsburg and visiting Mozart's birthplace, which is a huge person, a huge

041deal for a music nerd like myself. Um day four, uh this is where the name of the tour comes from. You take a Sound of Music themed tour of Salsburg. So Exactly right. Sound of Music. It's so good. It's so so good. Um, so there's a tour base around uh that movie, which is really a neat thing. Um, on day five, visiting uh the concentration camp on the way to Vienna, which I think is a great social studies connection. Um, especially I don't actually know this right now, but I remember when I was in eighth grade in Bristol, we talked quite a bit about the Holocaust um, in seventh, sixth grade. So, uh, anyway, having that connection there as well, I think is really a neat thing um, and a historical place that I think

042really important for students to uh, be aware of. Stop for a photo at that super cool palace. I'm not going to butcher the name of it. Day six, take a guided tour of Vienna. And the next slide has the rest of it. Uh visit the CC museum. Uh housester music. And so that day um that museum is house music is an museum and it's a whole museum music making stuff. Uh so it's a pretty cool thing. Um and then Bratzlavia on the way to Budapest and uh go a walking tour, take a guided tour. So, as you can see, there's like just a huge um to-do list. It's packed full of activities and and culture and history. Um and I looking at this was just very excited about the agenda. So, that's to choose this

043particular thing. >> So, EF Tours is an incredible organization. They do everything. Um and they provide um local support insight worldwide. I don't have to read this to you. I will read but um they EF stands for education first. So what they do they work with students. This is what they do. Um they even uh for a lot of their tours if students are interested they can apply to um have their tour count towards college credit. Um they there's like a report that goes along with that and they can do that through the um they have rigorous health standards. There's always someone around and support everywhere you go. Um and again I felt that firsthand when we were in London. Um, we never were without help. We never were without any really. Um, so I

044was very pleased with our experience with DF. Um, they were just really, really great and made us feel supported, our students feel safe and the chaper feel safe. So, what's included in our uh the price of going on this tour? Like I said, we get a full-time tour director who's with you the whole time. Um, our guy in London is Gareth. He was great guy. He connected really well with the kids. Um he was on our tour all the time. He introduced us to the guys who were going to take us all the local places. So we would have a gear. It's true. Um all transportation is included. Flights, buses, trains, anything that we would need. Everything is included in that price. Breakfasts and dinners are also included. Um and one of the really neat

045things that EF does is they really are encouraging students to try new things and try local things. So the dinners that are included are often local meals. Um and they work with all students who may have any sort of dietary restrictions. Um all hotels are um included and the tours tickets as you can see all of the things that we are doing are included. The only thing that's not is lunch which again when we were in London we were able to find a preon or grab some things from the breakfast buffet and go from there. So it was very easy for us to to navigate through all. Um they have a very extensive insurance policy built into their price as well. So uh the standard included coverage as you can see is over there on

046the left. So should the program be cancelled uh or if you need to cancel up to one year before departure, you get the full refund minus the $95 deposit. Um if there's a program interruption, illness or accident, baggage and property, all those things are covered. Emergency evacuation. If you wanted to add on extra coverage, then there's just a shorter window that you can cancel within. Um, but we all found the protection pretty sufficient when you So, I left this in here. Even though these are all pictures from London, you can see I'm in, if you scour through, I'm in all of those pictures. And it truly was a life-changing experience. Um, not only for me, I' i've had been blessed to be able to travel quite extensively um, as a musician. Um, I feel like

047I always tell my students this, music will take you places and I mean it because I experienced that firsthand. Um, for this trip it was our theater students and to see some kids who maybe never uttered two words having full conversations with kids who don't go to their school by the end of this trip was just so powerful. And um, I'm just thrilled to offer an opportunity for our students to become global citizens to be able to see that other things exist. Um, one of my things in my classroom is I always make sure our students are singing in other languages. And I often get the middle schooler question, why are we singing in another language? And my answer is because other places exist and we need to know about them. And this is my

048way of giving you a taste in that. And to offer an opportunity for students to travel to Europe where there's so much history that predates the creation of our country. Um, I think is just not something that can be replicated. Um, and the experience will will stay with them as Mr. Magnus said the whole it's thing. So now you're all wondering how much does it cost. So I will tell you um the total cost for students as of right now is $4,134. That's a total encompassing price. Um actually I don't know if that includes the uh deposit on the top or not, but that's the price that they are giving. Um if this passes and I'm allowed to proceed with this, um I would launch this in January. Um, I would have a um a

049meeting for anybody who's interested to go. This is not just to BAME students. I'm offering to any of students in the district. Um, I would prefer that they are in eighth grade uh and above by the time we travel. Um, but that opens it up to our current sixth graders to register now um to be about that later on. Um, so if they register right away, it would be and they choose to do a monthly payment. It's $171 a month um up until we go. And that cost is, like I said, for a 9-day trip with everything included. Now, [laughter] with all of those tours and all of those things included, um, I just found the value to be so great when we went to London. So, looking at this, it felt um, it felt

050worth it to me. So, I felt comfortable moving forward with this. So, that is all I've got. Do you have >> Will there be opportunities for fundraising for them? >> Yes, thank you. Oh gosh, that was like one of the big things I was told to say and I didn't say a single thing. Yes. So EF is um amazing with different things. They actually each student who registers to go actually I should say person because it doesn't have to just be students. Adults can sign up as well. Um every person gets a dashboard um and they can do fundraising opportunities through there. That's one of the first things that EF just offers to all of the students who go. So um they can send it out to family at Christmas time or their birthday and

051say instead of a present this year, I'd like for you to help offset my cost in my trip. Um, so that's a really great thing. Um, Lisa and I have also been talking about this quite a bit because she encourages students to reach out to their former teachers um or community members as well that they might be familiar with to ask in that way as well just to support them in their travels. Um, I definitely will do lots of fundraising once we have a group. Um, as a music teacher, uh, I do calendar fundraisers for my own program, so I'm familiar with creating those. I'm happy to do things like that. Those tend to bring in a good amount of revenue. Um, and I'm happy to work with students to uh do uh the food

052things, the, you know, the Chipotle, the Panera, those things because those usually bring in at least a couple hundred bucks. And if we advertise it right, you know, and you do enough of those, we have a decent amount of time before our trip starts. So, there's plenty of time. Uh, but yes, I do plan on doing many fundraising opportunities to help offset those costs with students. I will share that Gina Gallow did one for bingo for the Italian trip and raised thousands of dollars and paid for the bus buses to bring um I'll be calling >> and she she did she hired a company to run the whole pocketbook bingo. She didn't even have to do it. Um and she took collection like people donated raffles and she brought in a ton of money that

053way. >> Yes. Um, and the Polish Club is the only club that's licensed for bingo where you don't have to pay. So, there's an inside secret. >> Thank you. I'll be sending you an email for all that information or in >> reach out to the board too when you do if you do a bingo because we'd love to donate or participate in any way we can. >> Thank you. Yeah. And as music students, in theory, we can be doing events like this too where kids are performing, right? we're giving them to share their gifts and coffee houses and things like that. Those are all >> on my brain all the time. So, those things are not hard for me to organize and I'd be happy to do those for our students given who signs up

054and what they're willing to do. >> Yeah. Is there a ceiling to how many students you're going to be able to accept or it's however many people are interested? And >> that's a great question. I don't like I actually don't know if there's like a cap. I do. So what I know from London, we had a group that filled like we went per tour person. So like our Gareth in London, that guy who brought us around everywhere, they have a certain number of students that that person's going to be in charge of. Our group was not large enough to have Gareth to oursel. So we actually shared him with another group that was from I think um so with this upcoming trip to London in 2027, we are almost to a full capacity. we have

055so many students registered for London that we're almost to our own exclusive guide um for that. So I don't know that number and I should. So thanks for asking that question. I don't think there's a ceiling. Um I think they will just add on staff members and and make sure that we have enough tours booked with the group. Um so yes, I don't believe there's a ceiling. >> And could you just remind me and I'm sure you had it in your itinerary, but what were the dates of travel? So, it's not official yet because we don't have the April calendar yet, but the plan is to do it over April break. Um, and because it's a nine-day trip, um, my thought was to leave a few days before break begins, so pulling students from from

056class for like the Thursday, Friday. Um, so that way we can we can come back and students can have enough time to adjust back to our time before school starts back up again on Monday. >> Is there a cost associated with um, students who want to obtain college credit? That's a great question that I also don't know the answer to. >> Yeah. Um there might be. >> Yeah, >> I remember they talked about it like the fact that they offer it, but I did not look into it myself, so I'm not sure. Um I do have flyers if anybody would like this. There is a QR code at the bottom so you can scan it. It'll bring you to their website and show you the whole itinary. I'm happy to share these with you guys

057as well. So that might answer that question. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? I'd like to make a motion to approve the trip to um the sound of Europe as second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Is this how we sign up? >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, the next item on the agenda is the redistricting option and we have Mrs. Thank you very much. I actually have very little to say except for a big thank you to Patrick Gallagher who has been leading us through this redistricting. Uh he came last month and gave us a very thorough uh report on what his vision would be and how he feels as though we would have the

058least amount of disruption. So I will invite Patrick back up because we promised to if you had any further questions that he would be. >> Good evening everybody. Pat Gallagher with MP Planning Group. I don't have a formal presentation for tonight but just to go over kind of the highlights of of what we're recommending for implementation next fall is focused on the middle schools and it will be to align the two middle school zones um with the high schools. So yeah, happy to entertain any questions you may have or you take action. I don't have a question, but I will just remind everyone that the two zones would be all students from Chippens would be going to Central and all students from Northeast would be going to Eastern. And so we'd no longer have small

059factions that would be deviated from their classmates. I guess I have a question. I'm not really sure. It's um towards you, but um so we have Green Hills, right, which is in the southeast area, and then we have Chippens Northwest. Um, so I was wondering, and a lot of Green Hills parents are really nervous about this, um, if maybe for a few years Green Hills students could take priority at. >> So, but would if they were into arts or just as a school? to the chair if I if I could I can actually speak to that uh for this coming year. Um I I would have to say that we have actually already begun the lottery selection process. So our first round of of selection of uh students selected has already been completed. We wouldn't

060be able to prioritize additionally or anything like that at this time for this coming year. So every all all families have been communicated with already for this first round and offer seats >> maybe for second group. >> Um we'd have to look into uh what the the the requirements are. Um but I would certainly speak with Gabe and whatever the board as a would like us to to look at. So currently our lottery system is based on a certain percentage of students from each school and slots at each school and it's random. >> The first round passed away. Yes. >> Yes. And so that's completed and then the second round is random as well or >> uh it's a continuation of those students who were added to the weight list uh who were communicated as

061as possible weight list students. uh they would they would be given the priority to be able to choose. Um again uh have to work with uh principal maid over at uh banks to figure out the specifics. She knows a lot more about the technicalities of this lottery process than I do. >> And the selection process when it becomes um not as random and there's a choice is priority is given to students who are interested in the arts. >> Exactly. Right. Correct. So, well, >> what would the reason be? Can you can you go further on what why you would want to give Green Hill parents? >> Sure. They're really nervous about going all the way across town. I mean, it's it's >> like that like the buses going across town. >> If if you have

062to pick your kid up for an emergency and the bus is going across town, it's it's a big adjustment >> like from Green Hills to Chippens. It's a big adjustment. at least and that's in a car. Forget about bus and bus stops. You're looking 40 minutes each direction probably and you have kids in other schools too and they doing it was just a thought of the question. So there's also tech too over at less it's not just art. So thinking, you know, as a little stepping stone if we if we could um there are a lot of students at Green Hills that do put in and don't get it through the ladies and uh just prioritizing them so they don't it's it's going to be a big change. It's a big change because we're going

063from one corner of Bristol to the far opposite corner. Like northeast is far away but it's not as far away should appropriate. I guess I never thought about it. I thinking where I live and going to central from I was one minute from Chippens and then driving to central is 15 to 20 minutes depending on traffic. >> Go from Chippens to Greenhouse, >> right? Yeah. It's probably similar to going to central. >> It's you know that's what I'm saying. So, I just know it's weighing really heavy on on the greenhouse students. Um parents, it's it's unfortunate that both of our middle schools are up in the, you know, northern part of our of our town. But, um you know, so I'm I'm hearing from them. This is why we did the K8s um was to

064have a middle school on our side. And I understand getting rid of decades too because I wasn't really favorable to the model but uh that's definitely going to be an adjustment. Yeah. So I think what we have to do is look at when we got the grant to redo veins and what we how long we said that we would do the randomized lottery and uh once we fulfilled that it may have been fulfilled already then I think we can bring this question back to uh this is the case I I've heard different things from different people I've heard three and five. Um, but I do I do want to make sure that we're doing everything we're supposed to so we don't get in trouble. Um, but I think that we can further have more of

065a discussion about this. So today our task is to vote on the one thing which is these students that go from central or from chippens go to central and from northeast go to eastern and that your question will have to be at another time because we'd have to look into what Mary said whether or not things can be changed and then how that would impact equity. across the district for access to the building. >> Yeah, I I thought I thought you really when we when we provide the board with the information, could you let us know what the um what the trends have been in the last two years if possible with the acceptance rate going from round one to round two? we fill up 90% with round one and there's really 10% which doesn't

066give us a lot of leeway in round two anyways and because I know you're restricted by the rules for filling the lottery so it would just be good to understand if there was if people [clears throat] were trending to want to get into veins to begin with under the regular round rules and uh you know we've been struggling to fill slots we don't really know >> we're not struggling to fill >> I'm over exaggerating just you know what I mean just knowing where the trends are for the enrollment. >> I can tell you that there were multiple multiple rounds where it went even went into the summer. So, she starts in November and she wasn't done until the summer this past. So, it was something you can look at. We just have to take some

067time to really make sure that we're doing right by everybody. I asked a lot of questions over the years because as um an arts and music and technology uh school, I thought kids should have the option more than they have. And I know that this year there is more of an option than there has been in the past for waiting lists uh to be instead of pulling another round and another round and another round. Um, but at the same time, the formula of parody per school, pulling the same amount of kids from each school so it doesn't overly impact one school was an initial goal and changing that. I mean, the unintended consequences of doing that where bus prices went way up because we're pulling kids from all over the town. And so I think

068there maybe should be a meeting or some board workshop to discuss and listen to the community on what they want around um it becoming a school that's truly a choice school in the district. And I know there's even been conversations about um opening it up to other districts and letting other districts pay uh to have music kids attend. People have asked about that in the past as well. And so that could generate an income uh and really make it a state-of-the-art kind of fame school, which was the initial um idea when Chris Wilson was very, you know, involved and supportive of this school happening. And so I think it is good to think about having these conversations and as they loosen um the belt around how we have been doing it based on the funding

069we received and give and we have more opportunity to talk about what our community really wants and how we want to see that school thrive. >> I would always come from a position for the students first before we get up that side whether it's a money maker or not. That's just my personal feelings, but I, you know, it's not, it would be good to get a refresher on when all of the rules stop so that if we wanted more input into how we could see the school. So, even just a a whole like let's put out an agenda for another meeting so we can all understand that especially with new board members that were here for for >> and if the rules did change now, I think it's a good time to have those conversations.

070I'm not in favor either way. I just think we need information and see what the community wants. So maybe we can put it on a future agenda soon. Okay. So are we going to make a motion to approve those um lines? >> So just one clarification on which one we're voting on because you presented us with four options. So >> we're not doing the options. We're just doing the lines. for the middle school >> just the lines. >> Oh, so I got it. So your focus because in that last meeting there was um information given to the board that said in order to meet the timelines and the number one priority goal of the district, it was encouraged the board to consider only making sure that we could um do the lines from middle school

071to high school for now. There's going to be some reassessment on the use of the open space in the other building which is ongoing and that also would allow you to meet all the deadlines if I'm recapping that correctly. Is that right? >> So really the implementation starts with your budgeting process which is starting now. So really our our recommendation would be that the implementation for the middle school for uh 2026 27 um gets voted on tonight and then I think the ongoing conversations around the other options depends on what option is. Any option that moves a lot of students I think it's it's we're probably too late to make any of those changes. If if it's more of a programmatic shift, I think um you know this is relatively soon, but there may still

072be assess those options. I'll make a motion to uh approve a redistricting option that concentrates on middle school redistricting only to align with all Chippens Hill middle school students going to Bristol Central and all Northeast Middle School students going to Bristol East. >> Second. >> Can I have a second? >> Thank you. Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? I >> I I >> opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Next we have Sarah with the fall sports presentation. >> Great. Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for having us. Um so we started doing this a little bit last year. Um this is um the president and vice president of our student athlete leadership council. Um so welcome new commissioners. Um what we uh started doing a few years back is a seasonal presentation

073of our sports programs highlights of the team accomplishments as well as any individual accomplishments that can be recorded um for each season. So, um, in conversations, um, we decided to turn the presentation over to our student athlete leadership council members. Um, and this is our senior, um, representatives, the president, vice president of source control, and Crystal Eastern. Um, so they are going to be presenting our fall sports presentation. Um, I just wanted to introduce them um, and just, um, highlight a couple of things about our fall season before they jump into specifics. Um, so if you may have noticed, um, our Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central sports teams have been playing some new faces. Um, our CCC conference has been realigned and this fall was our first season, uh, playing a lot of different, uh,

074teams that we have not played in the past. So, you may have seen new teams coming to our schools. You may have seen our kids traveling a little farther, getting out a little earlier. Um, and we made it work. And I think that I'm very, very proud of our fall sports. um they faced some really difficult teams, some really difficult cities and towns um with very comprehensive uh sports programs. Um so I'm very proud of our fall seasons this far. Um and I'm excited to see them get comfortable in the new reenment. Um we culminated our fall sports season obviously with our battle of the bell where our student athlete leadership council runs um a food drive donation. Um we were able to work with the battle of the kettle bell too this year. Um

075so we had lots of initiatives going on that morning. Um, I'm very proud of the donations that they were able to receive. I posted some photos. Um, so, uh, the previous year wasn't as successful. This year, we're back to our normal donations. Um, so they were able to pack my car all the way in my trunk and my back seat. So, I was very proud of them. We're looking to continue to build on that initiative. Um, a very competitive football game between Versa Central. Um, with a interesting plot twist at the end. So, um you know, everybody was excited and it was a good it was a good fall season. So, um I'm going to turn it over to um Think Bristol Central is first um to do their fall sports um presentation. >> Uh

076hi, my name is Caitlyn and I'm going to be presenting Bristol Central. Um so, first we have boys soccer. Um they had a record of five and 11 this year. um their team didn't go or their season didn't go as well as they wanted, but I got some team input from one of their captains and he said that um there's a lot of growth among the team and uh they had saw a lot of improvement from last year. Um and an individual accomplishment, it goes to Miles Fisher who received all confidence this season. Uh next up, girls soccer. Um they had a record of 20 and five this year. Um they qualified for the state tournament which was a huge improvement from from last year. Um and again their captain said like all over there

077was a lot of improvement seen among the team. Um individual accomplishments. A freshman Bria Rossi had 19 goals this year. Um she was the lead scorer for the team. Um, and I didn't have an exact number, but she had multiple hat-ticks too this season where she scored three goals in one game. Um, and then Nicole Ramer and Bria all both received all conference this year. Um, for girls volleyball, um, we were the runner up for the class L state to state tournament this year and, um, we also reached quarterfinals in the CCC tournament. Um for individual accomplishments, um Lily Kirk, Ella Pratt, and Jillian Bray all received all conference. Lily Kirk also got all state and was one of the five five student athletes in the state of Connecticut to receive all region. And she

078set a program record by receiving her 10,000. Um, for girls swimming, um, the co-ops, uh, the record is incorrect. It they went three and one in their conference. Um, uh, for individual accomplishments, uh, Vanessa Les received all conference. Sorry. [laughter] Um, Ava Zki received all conference and Leila Anino received all conference. Um and Vanessa Leek uh also competed at states for the 100 meter stroke. Uh first for cross country um some team input was that they received a lot of growth and throughout all the team this year from varsity runners to JV runner and some individual accomplishments. Emerson Maisie and Nathan Pelerin both received all conference and um they had great performances from all schools at the city meet. Um football um they had a record of four and six. Um they had some team

079input from one of their captains saying that it was a strong season having lost a lot of games last year. They had a pretty young team and um there was a lot of growth from all players. Uh they had five players receive all conference including Jaden Glasper, Quincy Lawson, Gabe Boulette, Malachi Holly, and John. And lastly, girls cheer. Um they had a lot of um team input uh saying that they learned a lot of new skills skills to learn to use sports competition season coming up this winter. Um they developed a lot throughout the team and there was lots of growth on the JV girls growth with the JV girls growth as well and overall it was a great and amazing season. >> Thank you. >> Good evening members of the board. Thank you so

080much for giving us the opportunity to uh present the BHS report and also highlighting the comments for the first panel. Starting off with the boys soccer team who finished with a solid record of eight seven and one after being moved to a tougher class. They faced some of the top programs in the state but still challenge putting out several of big upsets and qualifying for the state tournament. Along with the team's hard work and ethic, captain Lennon Gow stood out this season for his leadership qualities on and off the field. Lennon was selected for one of the allconerence players for the team. Along with his amazing accomplishment, Lennon was selected for the CSCA senior vote. Junior Matthew Cabera was also highlighted for his outstanding performance this season, rewarded with the allconerence title. Matthew helped orchestrate

081the attack and put off huge and valuable game season. The girls soccer team had a tough and uh competitive season, also moving up a higher class with the boys team. They competed against some of the best teams in the conference with a record of three wins, 11 losses, and one tie. Coach Angelina Sarto is eager to continue for the program for a strong future. Moving on to our volleyball team, they had a solid campaign, ended the season with 11 wins and eight losses. Despite having new staff and leaders, the team adjusted well and for the state tournament. Here are a few player highlights. My hatcher was fourth inc class L for blocks. Italy was third in the seats at ninth pass out for digs. Harper Doffne was eighth in the simple kills and Jared McCra

082Royal was 10th in the season for blocks. Junior captain Savannah Drury was chosen for all conference. End of the season as ninth in class for kills and second class for aces. Senior captain in the seu was also chosen for a confus and in her high school period as second in the CCC for aces fourth for assist and 10 for this. She answers season with 1,745 period assists. >> Good evening. My name is Kate Patterson and continue. The football team had a frustrating and shortcoming year as we saw them finish the season with one win and nine losses. Although the Lancers were not as successful as they had hoped, they gave it their all at the annual bell annual bell game. With high pressure and excitement, they made it into overtime, but sadly fell short this

083year. The cheerleading team has their competition season in the winter, but they did an excellent job showing up and supporting the football team at every game. Moving on to the cross country team, they had a respective record of 12 wins and six losses for the boys and seven wins and 11 losses for the girls. Our team continued the streak of winning the city championship, starting a streak that they look to uphold. And a special shout out to Jayce Ker for being named the city champion. Mason Forge, Cole Bean, and Jace Ker were chosen at the as all conference recipients, and the boys team was tied for third in the conference. The girls swim and dive team saw a dip in their performances this year, ending the season with one one win and four losses. However,

084they had a larger number of girls qualified for seats. Lily Sherik, Vanessa, Vanessa Leesik, Ava Zaraki, and Leila Anino were all chosen for the all crumble award. We just want to culminate the presentation um by thanking our student athlete leadership council. Um they put together these entire presentations. They collect all the photos and the data from their classmates, from the rest of the student athlete leadership council that works to collect um items from their teams. Um they work with our amazing athletic coordinators, Greg Mononttoyo and Dave Greenleaf at the high schools um to put together these presentations for everybody. Um so I'm very proud of them. Um we are going to be moving on from our seniors. So thank you all so so much. Um and we are going to be doing our next selection

085for the student athlete leadership council uh coming up in January. So I just want to publicly thank you guys in particular. Christopher Michael couldn't be here tonight. He's getting by so him. Um but I am very grateful for the president vice president of first standing versus student leadership so much. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Through the chair. Yes. >> I just want to let you know that you uh did a wonderful presentation and we giggled with the name Leashik because the gentleman behind you's first name is Leshik. So if you ever need help with a name, just turn around and there's somebody to help you. >> Okay, that was awesome. >> It doesn't sound like it looks the word. It's an easy mistake. Okay. And last, we have the regular board of education 2026 meeting

086dates with Superintendent White. >> Thank you, Chair Pond. So, I think we typically have a first review to give the board an opportunity to review the dates and then next month we'll come back and um take a vote and have additional discussion. That makes sense. through the chair. Just a quick question. In the past, we always adjusted the July board of ed meeting and the September board of ed meeting to the second week. Is there a reason why we're not doing it this year and we're moving it back to the first week? >> I think it was just following the first Wednesday of the month, but absolutely any adjustments that may I think I think that makes sense. We may have done that. It may it may stand for reason at least for July because

087of uh and for September because of the uh the holidays might people might be on vacation or whatever. So >> the chair I know that we were also looking at um committee dates to potentially reframe um some of the dates particularly finance and operations. We usually um sjourn in July, but there was recommendation um that we have that meeting in July because there are end of year reports that are important. So um with Commissioner Janon's recommendation to look at those two months, we also try to align >> um with some of the changes that we've been discussing in our subcommittee meetings. >> Thank you. We'll make those suggestions. Okay, next we have curriculum revision. Uh first person, Laura Lanza, doing personal finance and investment. >> Good evening. Um so my first curriculum for you tonight,

088moving from student achievement, is the personal finance and investment curriculum. This will fulfill the Connecticut high school graduation requirement that began with the class of 2027. It's a half-year course and it's open to grades 10, 11, and 12. It's our basic financial literacy course where students get an overview of why they would want to maybe spend money. There's a little bit of a psychology component in our first unit. Um, they look at different careers and how those careers can set you up for more or less financial success. There's an earning and reporting income unit, which is about um taxes and looking at the IRS website. Um they then they go into budgeting, their credit and credit scores and how to earn a good credit score, banking, savings, and investing. Um so this is the team

089that refined, modernized, and formalized the curriculum that was last reviewed in 2006. So it was well overdue and um in perfect time for it to be a state required um course for our students. They did use um some student voice to make some decisions. So they kept in some activities that students said that they really liked as well as that behavioral finance unit. Um there is a Connecticut state model curriculum. So it's also aligned to that. Um at Bristol Eastern we had Brett Bison, Sharon Jakes, and Britney Mccari. And at Bristol Central, Lori Roberge and Samantha Zapperela. So I'd like to thank that team. So we'll take any questions or a motion. One quick question. Um the personal finance investment course was course one of two to receive um credit. >> Yes. >> Is that

090college credit? >> Yes. >> Yep. So this is the prerequisite to advanced personal finance and advanced personal finance um is aligned to tons and that's where you can get college credit. >> So that hasn't changed. >> Nope. >> Thank you. I'll make a motion to um approve the personal finance and investment curriculum. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I I >> I opposed. Motion passes unique. >> Thank you. >> PLTW Civil Engineering and Architecture. >> You never get me for just one curriculum. There's always more than one. Um, so we have the PLTW civil engineering and architecture course. This is a college credit opportunity as well through the University of New Haven. It can earn students three college credits if they earn an 80% or better in the course

091and a C minus or better on the end of course exam. Um, in this course students are designing residential buildings, they're designing commercial buildings. Um, and they're really getting a very good understanding of 3D modeling through the use of CAD. um Autodesk, Revit, some software that um civil engineers and architects really use in the field. They also get to survey land and see what wetlands there are, if buildings would fit, what the zoning would be. Um so, it's definitely the end of our pathway um with these courses. So, Rockco Martino is the one that worked on this curriculum for us. Um, our last curriculum for PLTW, Civil Engineering and Architecture, was reviewed in 2011, and it was the PDF documents from PLTW's website, basically just uploaded into our, um, curriculum document. So, what Roco did

092was take all of the newest versions of those things, synthesize them, um, put them into a really teacher friendly format using our new curriculum format. Um, and it was a lot of work, but he did a great job. and um he reflected here on how he really likes um how students get to do the work of the discipline. They're really acting like architects. So they're using the program Revit. They're um going out into the field and they're doing land survey. Um I mean this is a great opportunity for students. I'll take any questions. I'll make a motion to move the PLTW civil engineering and architecture curriculum division approval. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? >> All in a quick question. Yeah. Is there a prerequisite to this class? There's actually no

093prerequisite. We just suggest students follow the pathway that we have for them so that they um it's a pretty advanced course with the surveying. Um but we support them in whatever level they're entering. And what classes would would be recommended to have in advance? >> So we have our intro to engineering classes, um 3D modeling, um anywhere any of our courses that are using CAD and Master Cam. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Okay. No further discussion. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you. Next we have policy revision uh 5144.12 restoration justice p restorative justice practices sorry with uh deputy superintendent health. >> Thank you. As mentioned earlier these were all um out of our um mandated uh policies that had not been passed yet. So, we did do many policies,

094but I don't want you to think that we didn't spend a lot of time doing our research and some really excellent conversations. Um, the first one, restorative justice practices. This was actually brought to policy in 2024 and it was inadvertently not brought to the full board. Um the basis behind restorative practices has been adopted by all Bristol schools and the basis of it is that when a child makes a mistake instead of just giving a consequence you also teach them from their mistakes. So if a child storms out of a class for example the counselor might meet with them and say like who do you think we disrupted today? Was it just you? Was it you and your teacher? Was it you in your class? and how can we make this better and make up

095a plan so that we don't do this again. So that's the basic of um the restorative justice practice and I would recommend that >> question any discussion. Um yeah, if I could ask a qu a couple questions for uh for repeat offenders um you know what what's the restorative practice um to deal with um students that might you know yeah it might be a habitual for them to dism fights things to advantage. >> So there are two different things that will happen. they'll get a consequence and the consequence let's say for the first time is an inschool suspension the second time is three days of inschool the third time it's out of school suspension and so on and so forth with the restorative practices they will get deeper and deeper into helping them if it's

096fighting controlling their anger so they may give them a few different strategies the first time something happens the next time that it happens they might have a daily check-in with their guidance counselor to go over the strategies that they've already taught them and then if something's continuing to happen, it can go to a different level. We now have Wheeler Clinic in all of our buildings. So maybe talking to the parents about um going to a wheeler clinic. Um so it's very similar to the way you worked with discipline. You worked with restorative practices, >> but they still get the discipline. >> Oh yeah. >> It's not taking away any discipline. It's just adding a way for you to um better yourself and say sorry to your community or work on how to better communicate. [snorts]

097>> Um are are at what level does it uh does it take for uh for repeat offenders uh for um you know for the school or the administration to engage with parents? How many times will that what's the benchmark for that? Is it two times, three times? If it's a repetitive behavior, >> if there are any consequences given, then the parents need to be contacted. >> They're contact immediately. Okay. >> Now, if it's something like, you know, I I knocked a pencil out of her hand and the con not really consequence as much as coming down to the office. Um, some administrators call the parents anyways. Some administrators might say like, you know, I haven't seen you four years you've been here. Why are you knocking a pencil? You know that's not who you are.

098Get back to class. >> You're the chair. >> Yes. >> Um so does each school make their policies and procedures based off of this policy or is it districtwide? >> This will be the policy for the but the operational guidance is based >> something that would be know superintendent's office. >> Okay. puts out operational guidance for policies >> and is there continuous training for teachers? >> So I can tell you this year, that's all I know. Um so this year uh Erica Triani did a training with first to make sure all administrators had restorative practices. Um the next layer uh was that she did all of the social workers to make sure that they could then train the teachers. And that last level is going in place this either this month or next month. The

099administrators are getting back to me and the social workers are going to have time at a faculty meeting to train all the faculty. >> Thank you. >> To the chair. >> Yes. Um maybe I could offer a little bit of um a little bit of clarity too. This is, you know, not something we as a staff in Bristol, um, I'm not going to be able to count how many years back, but it's easily over 10 years, maybe 12, 13 that we began the um, the steps. We learned about restorative justice, restorative practices from um forgetting her name, but I believe she was with she with Yukon, I don't remember now. Lynn Fryberg, was that it? >> Oh, Joanne Fryber. >> Joanne Fryberg. Yes. Thank you. I had the right. Yeah. So, um we we began

100this process and we changed a lot of what we did in the classroom. Um, we moved away from immediate punitive measures and things like, you know, at the elementary level, I could tell you we used to all have boards that had your name, child's name, and you were green, yellow, or red. And, you know, you lived with that color for the rest of the day, which often colored the rest of your day if you were on red immediately. So we began to um improve on some of those practices and um looked for opportunities where the kids could uh change their day and that has a lot that says a lot about what the restorative practices is too and it's not um and I can only speak to the elementary level but um you know you

101would have somebody even in kindergarten um doing something you know agreious enough that they bothered a um a peer or the teacher or something happened and um they just needed to be talked to about it. And a lot of what happens has to happen outside the classroom because as classroom teacher you can't you can't take those 10 minutes to step aside talk to the child. So, um often we would have the social worker step in or somebody else uh in the building, a trusted adult, and go through, um the practices just like you said about asking, you know, what happened? How did this impact someone and what can you do to repair that situation? So that there's some thought behind hopefully um the next time they act. So it's not something that happens immediately but

102it's a culture we have to um we have to bring about and I do understand that there you know there are the pe people who say and justifiably you know like there are teachers that'll say well why isn't there any discipline but it's not that there's not any discipline and certainly when things are um like I said egregious enough that you have to take another step then that definitely has to happen and we need to have people supporting us in that too. But I think this practice is um plays a huge role in modifying a lot of behavior and having um children like I said even in the age at the age of kindergarten think about okay I caused this big disruption now what now what happened now my teacher couldn't teach the kids couldn't

103learn and what could we do to fix that and also a lot of it involves too is that making sure the teacher um is ready to accept the child back into the classroom. And that just means that, you know, if I had to go back and teach and a child's coming to me and they want to um make amends or or say something to me that sometimes it takes a minute um to kind of regroup and you know, and we we learned things like you know, not showing what we want to show on our faces and you know, making children feel comfortable and supported. So there we've been we've been doing it in different ways um for a lot of years and I think it's um doesn't help to be punishing in every uh every

104act but I understand Russ I think where you're coming from that you don't want to completely um get rid of any partial discipline >> when necess the chair. >> Yes. Um, the thing that stood out to me throughout this conversation, um, that I learned about restorative in the background information question is that, uh, I highlight that the restorative practices does not mean that students serious and we won't uh, get a pass or a lesser It's more of a so I think that was the thing that really stood out to me that the place of following the law or when there's certain steps that need to be taken for those students or accidents. Well, I know for like if it's anything criminal, we have resource officers and you know, police to handle stuff like that. Just

105I guess my question was like, you know, I know that there are there are some schools, you know, some more than others that do have some some students that do have issues. It is unfortunate, but I think a lot of that, you know, does come from the home. So, I think, you know, they got, you know, disruptive things going on in their lives that they just having a hard time managing. I was wondering, you know, that's how kids, you know, you know, kids are going to, you know, kids are going to emulate that, you know, that behavior outside school system or in in the classroom. Um, and as one I was just trying to get an understanding as to how the, you know, how the the school is, you know, programmed or set up to

106to negotiate that with with the student. >> Chair, I just wanted to add to that um something that Barbara brought up. It is important to note that it's something that takes time too to cultivate. It's like a school climate. So, doesn't happen overnight. And that's why I asked about teacher training too because as a teacher who kind of got thrown into that without proper training, it was a struggle. So, I do think it's critical that that's thought of and um there's time put into it and it is something that you're building a different you're cultivating a different school climate that in the end you'll have less outburst, you'll have less things because you're taking that time to build a different climate. So, I just went into >> I just have I have some questions. >>

107Sorry. >> Oh, go back. >> Um I'm just curious what what kind of data are we tracking to determine the success criteria because I think it looks probably looks different between elementary, middle, and high school. Maybe a little more similarities from middle to high school. And um is that success criteria presented to the policy board? And then number two, if we're tracking that success criteria um how does it correlate to reducing suspension rates in the middle and high school because we keep seeing the suspension rates ticking up. So how do we know that restorative practices continues to be successful as you move through the grades? And then the last question I had and then I'll be done others can ask theirs. um because I sus I suspect you might have to get back to me

108on this but what is the summary of the changes in the policy that we're seeing tonight from the version that was passed in 24 if >> so sure we post both both were provided the policies so you can look at them side by side this is mandatory so this is one that has to be passed it's not something we have it's not an optional um and all of your questions will they can absolutely answer them but probably not tonight they can get you that information. Um and so >> because if we're doing something for 10 12 years, we want to make sure it's successful. And there's probably um correlates with training, new staff, you know, >> I feel like we got we were zero policy when I or zero tolerance when I got on the

109board maybe the first year. Um was it Kristen? Because we got on the same year. >> I was a little bit before you, but yeah, I don't remember when it started around. >> It was 2018. Yeah. And so then it switched but we and we had another policy that began this work. This has just now been statemandated. So the language we had to adopt. So um but the operational side of it is what you're asking about more so than the language. And you can look side by side at the language changes. Um I don't know them by heart but we did go over them in the meeting. Um and the >> language changes were statutory changes. >> Yes. That's fine. >> All statutory changes. So, um but if we we can let um Commissioner Van

110Gorder ask her questions as well and then for the next five, what we'll do is we'll take the motion and then move to discussion so that then we can just vote. But are are you okay Mr. So I was just wondering so we do restorative justice and my kids have gone through the color system plenty of times being stuck on red or green. >> That was before. [clears throat] >> Yeah, I think you got rid of it now. They got rid of it now. But um so are these things that we're already doing? We just don't have a policy written on them. >> Well, that wasn't what she described was PBIS, not restorative the color. >> So this this policy here is this stuff we're already doing that we just didn't have a policy written

111or is there going to be new things implemented? >> So many people believe we were already doing it throughout the district. This year training started through Erica Trani um based on the legislative mandate to get this policy through because we did vote on it in 2024 and we took it out of subcommittee but it never made its way to the full board. We don't it was an accident. I don't know how that happened but um and so yes they were beginning the work. Um, and now the operational guidance that goes along with this new legislation when we pass it is something that the superintendent's office will be rolling out. And then I guess my only other question is, is there anything in here that is contradictory to our policy 51441 when it comes to or

112the other one that comes to punishment or >> it doesn't tell us that we can't discipline. It tells how to teach kids how to make um is it retribution? What's the word I want to use? >> Giving them a chance to make it right. Giving them a chance to be held accountable but to make it right. So that students are owning reconciliation. Students are owning their role and the impacts that they had on the school community and they're part of the solution as well. They're acknowledging um you know maybe that there wasn't a skilled skillful decision that was made and the impact that it had on the school community and then taking it the step further to give that student an opportunity to make it right repair the harm. >> One other quick question. Why

113do we have to pass it tonight? >> Oh, it's mandated by legislation and we're a year p overdue. >> Okay. So, >> so it's not anything that is the operational guidance that we have any control over. It's just the mandated legislation that requires that we pass this. >> Okay. So, the state is telling us we have to pass it anyways. >> Yes. No matter what. Every every one of these policies >> Yeah. >> is from the CABE um audit that said you're out of compliance with these policies and they have to be passed immediately because they're legislatively mandated. >> So, if we don't pass it, we don't get funding. Is that essentially what happens? Um, I mean, I I don't want to find out. [laughter] We're broke, so we need to pass it, >> but

114you can vote however you >> appreciate the answer. >> Yeah. I mean, everyone gets their own vote, but So, Commissioner Simons Bula made a motion. Can I have a second? >> Second. Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Next one we have policy 4212.42 drug and alcohol testing for bus drivers. Again, mandated. Yes, this is another mandated policy and it actually follows uh state and federal laws um as far as drug testing um and alcohol testing of bus riders. Uh there is something new to this uh legislation. Um they've asked that the district uh train all bus drivers in using the EpiPen and that's the only thing that is really a change. Everything else is state and federal law >> and I have a motion

115>> motion to pass policy 4212.42 drug and alcohol testing for bus drivers with me. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? >> Just a quick question. Is um the the public health department doing the training or our nurses? >> I reached out to the um health department and they're they will not be doing the training, but we will be putting the training in place. Probably our nurses. That's how I got trained. I got trained my my school nurse. So nurses work for the health district though, so they're responsible for the training. >> From what I understand, you can hire any nurse to do the training. The health department just said that because they don't know who the bus drivers are and they don't know what their capabilities are, they didn't feel comfortable training them. philosophically

116I'm struggling on that through the department of public health for the district and new employee >> nurses but um >> but the nurses can be hired just to do this. So that's the plan right now. >> Okay. Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Next we have 4113.12 minimum duty free lunch periods for teachers and other certified staff. This was also a mandated uh policy. The district put it in place two years ago, but they didn't adopt the policy. The policy, I believe, was exactly two lines. I It's a very >> the shortest policy I've ever seen. >> I've ever seen. So, it just basically says that um teachers and the staff get a 30-minute lunch. Can I have a motion? So, move >> second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any

117discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Now, we are on to 3542.43. 43 charging policy food service. Okay, this was another um mandated policy. This policy really focuses a lot on if a child doesn't have enough money, uh we don't withhold food for them. We are a free uh district for meals. So the only way that there is anything that we would need for this policy, it is if we've already given the child one meal and the child decides that they want a second meal, but we use um credit and bucks for that. So you'd either have cash or you'd have your bucks if you want a second meal. Um, but this policy is more uh surrounded about, you know, a district cannot say to a child, you owe me $5.

118I'm not giving you the food to them. We don't do that as a district. We never have. And the reason the conversation in the committee was we still need to pass it because it's statemandated. And in the case that we ever one of the schools did not make area eligibility and was no longer completely free, we would have to have the policy in place. Um, so we had to move forward with passing with putting the policy forward for a vote >> and the policy that's uploaded reflect changes. So the red is what's uh being out and the blue is red's being taken out. Okay. >> The strike is the attention. >> Okay. Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Uh, one quick question having

119the policy covers us for if we fall out of the districtwide. So that I that I understand, but this policy language doesn't say that we would be required to then take out of our own budget to make the school that didn't qualify on the state plan to like anything else, right? It doesn't >> No. All it would mean is if we did not offer free lunch at one of the schools and a student was hungry and they owed $5 that they still get a lunch. >> Right. Okay. >> That's it. >> Perfect. Okay, motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, we're getting close. 6141.52 challenging curriculum. And I think we have Miss Forin coming up for that. >> Are these the last two for the night?

120Okay, we'll go quickly then. We'll answer all of your questions. But um okay, so the first policy is 6141.52. This is a policy that will look familiar uh to you because you last month approved 6141.51 which was for advanced coursework describing the selection uh of eligibility of students to engage in advanced coursework at the high school level. This policy specifies the eligibility for students at the middle school level. This is a a required policy based on our CABE audit. Uh we did make some changes to the language of this policy uh based [clears throat] on its alignment with 6141.51. Uh we this policy as it was drafted by CAE had some language uh that was not an alignment. For example, um some of the criteria included describing students um attributes as having superior cognitive ability

121or being self-motivated or self-disciplined. The Bristol public schools philosophy is we want to open as many doors as possible to for students to our most challenging courses. And so we've used that same philosophy that was used in the 6141.51 to uh describe the eligibility requirements for advanced coursework at the middle level. year. We also eliminated a line thanks to Commissioner Simmons feedback around priority placement of students who are gifted and talented into uh any advanced courses because as a general process practice that we use, we again want as many of those seats uh to be open to all of our students as they exist. And we use um a selection process to identify the eligibility of students. One of those factors in determining eligibility aside from academic performance is uh input of the teachers, administrators,

122students and families. And I think this can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. >> Passes unanimously. >> Take it away. >> Okay. So then the last policy of the night is 6172.1. Again, this is a mandated policy uh as identified through our policy audit. Um, Deputy Superintendent Hawk, Alan Thuriel, who is our gift and talented coach for the district, uh, and myself have reviewed the potential policies under cave, the recommended policies and are from the versions that were presented. We've identified the policy that's here before you tonight. All of the policies that we've reviewed define bless you bless you uh define gifted and talented students and it also describes how the students would be identified through

123an identification process. Uh while the other version of the policy um had some details around uh the provision of services to gifted and talented students. We identified the policy that was there for you this evening to approve because it describes that the school district shall provide educational programming within budgetary constraints. We felt that that better reflected what we do provide our gifted and talented students here within district. Uh whereas the other policies really just talked about supplementary materials or more enrichment activities that weren't as ongoing and consistent with the activities we do provide. Additionally, the policy we're recommending tonight expands the gifted and talented identification to describe outstanding talent in the creative arts, which has been a goal of our gift and talented uh teacher, Alan Theiel, over the past few years. Answer any questions

124you may have. Make a motion to pass policy 6172.1 gifted and talented students as presented. Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? >> I just have one quick question for the chair or one comment. That could be a question. Um funding support for the great work that is being done in the gifted and talented program. Do we anticipate that we'll need to insulate that funding a little more with the expansion of the effort? That's a great question. I don't work directly in the development of the gift and talented budget. I do know that our numbers have seen an increase and the number of students who have been involved in the programming. I know deputy superintendent Hawk uh works closely with Mr. Theo should have more insight on that although we're working on developing

125the budgets for next year u in the moment. So it might be something we need to get back to. just anticipating that we might need to see um an increase in that to account for the rise in students and also the expansion efforts. >> Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. I believe his case load is now in 240s >> for one person. >> One person >> no assistant, no secretary, nothing. all the schools and he interacts with all the students and all of the schools. So I think that's really it's a big job. >> Amazing. Yes. >> I had a question. >> Okay. Um so for the increase of uh student enrollment in the gifted talented program, is it um because we have more students that qualify for it now? U just wanted to

126know what the uh what the underlying increase is or what the cause is for the increase. >> Uh there I wouldn't say I'd have to look back at the specifics and the number of students that we have increased over the years but we did uh change some of the assessments that we've been given giving to students to identify to uh explore a greater number of talents that our students might have especially in the creative arts. Um, prior to some of the work that's been done, it was more based on academic testing. And now we see that we have some students who are qualifying because they're demonstrating talents and music to connect to something that we've talked about earlier this evening. >> Okay? >> It could be music, art, creative arts, something. >> Okay. So, excelling

127in other things outside of just, you know, math, science, but also music, art. So >> aligning to the statutory language as well, which includes um high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic or leadership capacity or in specific academic fields. So it's nice to see the district have this expansion effort um to some of the things that aren't so quantitative and especially we have BES >> and to really tap in to the amazing talent at BES. It's great to see the increase in numbers which means that we're reaching more students. >> Okay, >> motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Uh before we move on. Okay. Next we have informal liaison reports. We have executive session as well. So are we does anyone

128want to do an informal leaison report? >> Moving are we moving over? >> Oh I I'm sorry I skipped terra. Okay, before we do new business, I am looking for um a volunteer to serve on two committees. Bames project building committee, which Tara says has possibly only one more meeting. I think we're replacing uh Eric and also NEMS if it it will go until the end of this year at least. Is anybody interested in serving on either of those building committees >> through the chair? >> Yes, >> this is I just wanted to let you know I am online if there are any questions regarding either of those. >> When does the NES go on? >> When does it meet, Tara? >> Yep. So, the Northeast Middle School meeting meets the second Tuesday of the

129month. We'll finish out this year. will at least meet monthly through August. There may be um beyond through the end of next year and then in 2027 there will likely be some sporadic meetings just to do our punch list and to do our final close out of that meeting. So there would be a guarantee of at least eight meetings for next year plus um December's meeting is is next Tuesday. So, >> what time do they meet on Tuesday? >> Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. >> like it looks like I'm pretty available because I'm not on any subcommittee, so I might as well. >> Okay. Well, thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And would anybody like to do the one last meeting of Bames? >> I can handle the last meeting for BAS. That's on

130a Monday. >> What day, chair? >> So um BAS will actually be a special meeting because we have not met for a while and that will be the final meeting to close it out. We were just waiting for um some of the final punch list items in the basement after the um basement issue that we had. So we'll likely meet probably early spring of next year for that final meeting. and I'll certainly um Commissioner Anderson, I'll reach out to you and make sure that it's a day that you're available. >> Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you, Ter. >> Yeah, of course. >> Okay. So, Tara, I will turn it over to you. >> Are you going to be speaking about anything else or are we >> So, I just um if you just want to

131make your appointments for the last two meetings, the Edgewood um the just so we can make it public. So for the Edgewood PreK meeting uh meetings and then um the Northeast Nois Bristol Central roof meeting >> yes Commissioner Pero Simmons will be doing the BOE I'm sorry the Bristol Central High School roof replacement and I'll be serving on the Edgewood PreK uh project committee. >> Thank you. And just to that note, um, Commissioner Piro Simmons, I'm going to be reaching out to you because we will be having our subcommittee nominating um, committee meeting for that. So, we'll be able to get that committee started and and moving on so we can try to get something going before the summer. >> Thank you. I look forward to that correspondence. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. >>

132Thank you, Tara. >> Thank you. Have a great night. >> Okay. You, too. And so I think we didn't have any liaison reports. So we're going to move to executive session. But before we do that, I'm going to ask our friend Peter Kelly if he has anything to say because we're going to let him go home and not stay through executive session. Okay. Thank you. Then we will um now go into executive session discussion and possible action of superintendent goals for 2025. Motion >> um motion to executive session and invite >> superintendent white. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? I I motion passes. >> Thank you.