11-05-2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

001Good evening. I would like to call the November 5th, 2025 board of education meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence in memory of Nancy Winters Dani, BEBC Latin teacher, school counselor, and head of guidance. as a reminder to all commissioners, please be sure to turn your microphones on when speaking and voting to ensure those online can hear you. The next item on the agenda is staff and student recognition. I will turn staff and student recognition over to Mrs. White. Thank you, Chair Ponds. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Um, our first recognition is for Nikesha Yankee. Um, she was not able to join us today. We were uh we wanted to recognize her hard work as a parent educator in the LEA program at Stanford Elementary and um the

002leadership on the buddy building up diverse dynamic program. Amy Martino who's our director of people personnel services um is able to speak about the program and recognize Miss Andy. So thank you. Thank you. I do want to uh thank both Miss Yankee but also our principal Frell for really leading the charge of this project. So Nikki reached out to me a couple months ago and said, "I've had this great idea for a long time about students who are perhaps in more segregated locations that they have so much to give. And how great would it be to create this buddy system where folks within the district can be buddies to our youngsters and vice versa. So I can tell you I am a buddy. I have signed up. Hope many of you guys join me. But

003Nikki called me a little while ago and said, "Please don't share too much because I want to come next month and really show you what the program is all about and everything our students are doing." So, >> thank you. We also wanted to recognize and congratulate Commissioner Kristen Gant Antonio for being recognized at tomorrow's second annual advocacy and action lunchon for advocacy and special education. Uh the organization announces a winner and a runner up and missionary Antonio received the runnerup award. I believe she was nominated uh came as a surprise but it was nominated by a parent in the community. So, we want to recognize this achievement and thank for all she does say. >> Thank you, um, Iris. I appreciate being the recognition and, um, was obviously humbled by the support of a community

004parent that nominated me. Uh, big show, big shoes to fill for the reason why the award was created in the first place. And, uh, I'm I'm honored to be, um, recommended as runner up. So, thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes. You all have received a copy of the minutes for the September 10th, 2025 regular meeting in your packet. Are there any corrections or abstensions? >> Abstain. Hearing none. Can I call for a motion to approve the the minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I >> motion passes. Uh two abstensions. I now need um you all received the October 1st, 2025 regular me meeting minutes in your packet. Are there any corrections or abstensions? >> Motion

005to accept. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes unanimously. One more to go. We've all received the October 30th minutes in your packet. Are there any corrections or abstensions? Abain. >> Mr. Tagella lost his name. I'm saying. So, do we have enough? We have five people. >> What are we going to do with that? >> Motion to approve a special meeting minutes at October 30th. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. Then next we have committee reports. Okay, I think that's my cue for school family community partnerships. Uh we we met this past month and reviewed uh a lot of the accomplishments we had over the year. We looked at the bylaws which really um anchored the committee and the work that

006we're doing to make sure that we are aligning ourselves with the bylaw language. We did as a committee develop goal a goal and action plans um to lead our work in the committee. So we started to look at the accomplishments the things that were done each month the guest speakers that we had um speak about what's happening in the community because our work is about partnerships. So we we did um have community partners come in. We reviewed that work and we also looked at what we will do moving forward if we want to continue the work if we believe that the bylaw language is um truly reflective of what we should be doing in school family community partnerships. Um and that's going to uh really inform what we do next year. We do not meet

007until January. So we have some time to engage leaders in this work, people at state department of education and also leaders, national leaders, some of the people that we did engage already to help inform our work and create surveys and really make sure that we're um hearing the community. So, I think that we'll be able to come back to the table as informed committee members uh hopefully with some brush ideas, but also looking at some of the the information um that was helpful. We also looked at data and worked with um Superintendent White to ensure that we were on the pulse of what was happening in the district. Um so, I think we're really proud of the work that we did. Oh, we did start the the um meeting activating well-being as we always do

008when we looked at um movie quotes. So, we tested committee members movie quotes and it was fun. Prizes were given um to the winner who I believe this time was Deputy Superintendent Hawk. Um so, we we we had fun, but we also take the work seriously because um partnerships uh I think is foundational in in what we do in the district and in the in the committee. So, thank you. >> Good evening. I'll be reporting out on two committees. Um the first I'm going to touch on is student achievement and outcomes. We met October 15th. Um the primary focus for this committee meeting was on our SBA, our 2425 SB achievement data and our uh 2526 last data. uh we really highlighted actually I want to give a shout out to administration because the the

009powerpoints the graphs and the data that was presented was so robust it really helped to gain a better understanding of that achievement and growth. So thank you. Um and then I do want to hop over to policy committee. Um we had met on October 22nd and we have two policies that were passed to the board for review tonight. Um the first being extracurricular and co-curricular activities and then um the second is armed security guards. So we will be touching more on that tonight and learning more about that policy and having further discussion. Um, oh, one key thing for our policy committee, our next meeting is scheduled for January 28th, but we are going to be working on scheduling um a special committee meeting to really tackle um the remaining policies that were identified in our

010audit. Thank you. Good evening. The school safety committee met on October 8th. Mr. Cabllis provided safety updates and a policy for armed security guards was presented, discussed, and voted on which then went to policy committee. It will be presented later tonight and our next meeting is January 14th. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, see this is my last meeting. I'm going to say this about finance and operations. We're financed. We're operating. It's all good. >> There's Eric. We're going to miss you. He's slapping off. Okay. Next, we have the student representatives. Bristol Central will go first with Amelia Brown. I think we have Amelia online. Hello and good night. So, my name is Ameilia Brown and today I will be presenting on the happenings of Bristol Central. First and foremost, many different factions of Bristol Central

011are preparing for the up andcoming holiday this month. Our athletic leadership council is busy prepping a Thanksgiving food drive while the Interact Club, a volunteer club, is organizing a powderpuff football game where the girls play football and the guys cheerlead. All proceeds are going to the Makea-Wish Foundation. And so far, they have raised over $60,000 for the Makea-Wish Foundation with this specific event. Later in the month, the club will start gathering resources like baskets, turkey, gravy, and more to give to a family in need. They work to give a family everything they need for a perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Next, we have dance team and cheer. Both teams have just finished collaborating together for the football season for the halftime shows. The next time they will make an appearance together will hopefully be during the Battle

012of the Bell game. Also, both teams are preparing their routines for our preh holiday pep rally. Specific to the dance team, they also performed Thriller and posted it on their social media for the month of October. Speaking of October, in this past month, BCHS's National Honor Society has inducted a fresh new set of seniors and will have their quarter 2 meeting tomorrow. In October, we tutored freshmen, and participated in cleaning up our school's courtyard. The activities for this month include cleaning the Ram Locker, organizing the entire thing on Veterans Day from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and cleaning up our hill near the softball field. An event that both Interact and the National Honor Society took part in was the walk to end Alzheimer's. I've been going with Interact for the past three years to

013this event and I can say that we enjoyed the event every year. We helped set up and take down the event as well as participate in the walk itself. It is a very sentimental moment for all. Another event, Team Impact, raised over $4,000 for the organization for kids with disabilities and match them with professional sports teams. Next, with more club shoutouts, is our essential math team. They have prep they are preparing for their next competition and grew from a team of 10 to a team of 30 members. Most of the new members are underassmen who are very motivated. There's also she leads. She leads is a female business club with over 30 members. In the club they do professional workshops to become better business people and they help with interviews, resumes and more. Lastly is

014DECA. DECA is the business club and last Friday they attended a fall leadership conference with about a thousand students from Connecticut who went to the conference to learn how to become better leaders and prepare to do better in DECA competitions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next we have Paige Ansa of Brisernert. >> Good evening. Um, this report will focus on past, current, and upcoming events at Bristol Eastern. First and foremost, our homecoming on October 18th was was a success. Our theme was rhythms of Rio and student council did an amazing job setting up and managing the event. DJ Eni set the vibe and the photo booth from Art Rich was a huge hit. Thanks to the student council and Mrs. Delennia for all the hard work. Student council is also helping out with pajama day

015again this year. Pajama day will be on Fridays, December 12th, being led by our very own student council public relations officer, Karen Satula. Although it's not required, students and teachers are encouraged to try and donate to help raise funds for the Connecticut's Children's Medical Center this holiday season. Be's model United Nations has been hard at work fundraising for a 4-day trip to attend the Model UN conference in New York. At this conference, club members will have the opportunity to represent a country and debate their research topics in the committee in an attempt to have their ideas hopefully pass in the final peace deal. It's a wonderful opportunity as we are able to meet with people from all around the world. Our most recent fundraiser was our double good popcorn sale which ended today and made

016$3,826 with Aaron Martin being the top seller making a thousand $1,00055 $1,055 in sales. modu we able to keep half of the proceeds. Science national honor society committees have been up and running. The recycling committee has been doing a great job collecting the bottles and cans from classrooms every week. The school beautifification committee has been working on getting new science themed lids made for recycling bins. And the real world science committee has been working on planning field trips. The Bristol Eastern football team won their first game of the season away against Ram Ram High School last Saturday, November 1st. Great job, Lancers. They are away at Eio Smith this week and have one more home game on November 15th against Newington before the big battle for the bell game on Thanksgiving. With fall sports ending,

017whistle winter sports be starting again soon. Wrestling and boys basketball had their meeting on October 28th and triyouts will begin soon for basketball. Indoor track has their meeting this coming Monday, November 10th, and winter cheer triyouts are on November 19th and 20th. That's the end of my report and thank you much for your time and have a great night. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the chair report. Um I do have a report this month. Um, as we reflect on the year behind us, I'm proud of the progress we have made together as a board from listening to our educators through the survey de developed by the school family community partnership partnership committee under commissioner Maria Peros Simmons uh, chairship and implemented in collaboration with the teachers union which was the first

018open-ended anonymous survey to assess school climate and it garnered over 500 responses and gave our staff a voice to addressing critical facility needs and advocating for the complete renovation of our preschool building. The board has worked diligently to try and meet the needs of our community. Assistant Superintendent Hawk has been working hard to enhance school safety across the district, including the successful implementation of Alice training this past Tuesday. I heard it went well and got good feedback. These efforts reflect the board's commitment to ensuring safe, supportive learning environments for all students and staff. I want to commend Superintendent White for her strong leadership, integrity, and professionalism throughout the 202425 school year. She now has a full cabinet of highly capable professionals, including the addition of uh Joe Gowski in human resources, who has come in,

019hit the ground running, and is doing a great job, and Jodie Bond who is promoted to be our director of finance for the district. and she um has just been doing an amazing job as well. Um together they have strengthened the district by aligning staffing and fiscal practices with board policy and state mandates and by advocating for equitable funding to support every student's potential. Under her leadership, teacher retention rates have improved and districts safety plans have been strengthened through new measures and Alice trainer certification. Superintendent White is approachable and responsive, and she continues to create opportunities for meaningful two-way conversations with families and the community. She was recently recognized for reaching out to the leadership of the diversity council to explore ways to collaborate, which is an example of her inclusive and forwardthinking approach to

020leadership. As I welcome new members to the board, we also have to say farewell to two valued colleagues, Dante Tagriello and Eric Carlson. And I want to personally thank both of them for their dedication and their service. Dante's financial expertise has been invaluable and his deep knowledge of Robert's rules and all things board related has guided our work for years. He's been a true mentor to me and I will greatly miss his contributions and his passion for our students, families, and the community. Eric Carlson has served alongside me for the past six years and his expertise in operations and facilities, although you didn't really demonstrate that tonight, Eric. will be difficult to replace. He exemplifies bipartisan leadership and consistently demonstrated what public service means, always putting the needs of children in our community above politics.

021Looking ahead, we welcome a new board of education which will be sworn in next week following the inauguration. We are pleased to welcome two new members, Barbara Tedesco and Cara Ledger, both former teachers. Barbara was a former a recently retired former teacher right here in our school district. She's made Barbara. She was a kindergarten teacher for 15 years and has decided uh to throw her hat in the ring and come work hard for our community. Um to ensure a small a smooth transition and continued e effective governance, a special board meeting will be scheduled on Wednesday prior to the finance meeting. At that time, we will discuss upcoming priorities and opportunities for all board members to engage fully in the work. Oh, I didn't say Cara Ledger. I'm sorry. I missed it. Is Cara here?

022Hi, Cara. Okay. and Cara Ledger who was also a former teacher um who brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise that I am confident will strengthen our work. Um, okay. So, I know um much of the board's work occurs in committees. For example, the finance and operations committee receives a comprehensive monthly report from Jodie Bond, our director of finance, detailing the full education, budget line by line, ensuring complete transparency to the public. I encourage community members to attend comm committee meetings either in person or virtually to stay informed and engaged. For those unable to attend, all meetings are recorded and available on the board of education's website. Committee participation is critical way for board members to contribute to the success of our schools. I encourage both returning and newly elected commissioners to consider serving on

023a committee. If you have a preference, please communicate via email and let me know what your interest is and how you would like to impact the work of that committee. Together, we have made meaningful strides and together we will continue to advance Bristol schools. I look forward to a year of collaboration, thoughtful oversight, and continued progress for our students and educators in our community. Thank you. The next item is the superintendent report. >> Thank you very much, Chair Ponds. Um, I welcome the opportunity to provide an update on my superintendent 2526 priorities. Uh, one of the focus areas is partnerships with community. Um, and I had the opportunity to have a very collaborative conversation with John Prescott, who is the director of education initiatives with community impact and engagement for the United Way. Uh, we

024discuss a potential partnership for guest readers on ReadAcross America Day as well as possible book donations from corporate sponsor. As Sher Pans mentioned, um, I had the opportunity to meet with two representatives from the city diversity council. I'd like to thank Chair Marcus Patton as well as Dave Ratcliff for meeting with me to discuss how we can partner to support our youth. They are particularly interested um in reconnecting with the high schools and um have opportunities to talk with students um learn more about their opinions and their feedback regarding diversity. Perhaps even have um students from the high school participate in diversity council meetings. Um, so I encourage them to reach out to both Principal Higgins and Principal Wager um to get their opinion and feed feedback on how the council can um really collaborate

025with them on their ongoing efforts to enhance student voice. I wanted to thank Erica Triani uh from our Bristol Public Schools Office of Climate and Culture. Um she along with Cecilia Ger are hosting a citywide food drive on November 14th to support families in need. Bristol has approximately 8,000 residents who receive snack benefits and many of them are our school age students. On November 14th, each school will collect non-p perishable food items which will then be gathered and distributed to local community community agencies. We intentionally planned our drive a few weeks later than most others so we can help um replenish supplies when local shelves begin to run low. I know that there are also um schools that are also doing their individual school drives. I know that every year West Bristol has a yearly

026food drive that begins in November and ends at Renmiss Gala on no on December 19th. I see commissioner consignment to be able to nodding her head. So, um they have the green light to continue with that as well. Um and additionally, our central office is hosting a food drive for the month of November to gather donations to be brought over to our neighbors at the Agapy House and given to families in need. So, I wanted to um thank Ashley Albert, Caitlyn Lee, and Bridget Colola for working on that initiative. And this afternoon, Mountain View School received a visit from the Connecticut Democracy Kid Governor Tour for their annual statewide election rally bus tour. They are they were visiting participating schools across Connecticut today and made a stop at Mountain View where fourth and fifth grade

027students got to hear from the current kid governor Kitty uh Martinez and some of his cabinet members who were also present and spoke to students to build excitement around the kid governor program as well as the statewide election and candidates for the 2026 kid governor and the importance of voting and I think voting ends at the end of this So, thank you very much to the Connecticut Democracy Kid Governor Tour for making a stop in Bristol. And as um Chair Pon shared um yesterday there was an Alice training districtwide. I wanted to publicly thank um Steve Cabllis, director of safety and security as well as deputy superintendent Mary Hawk for a very successful um Alice training yesterday. The training consisted of participating in scenarios utilizing Alice techniques and strategies, school building familiarization and lesson plan

028familiarization. The training was led by district administrators and certified Alice instructors. Pending plans moving forward regarding Alice include scheduling a makeup training session for those who missed yesterday's training. Parent notification and hosting a parent information meeting in person. I think that in-person session is taking place next week Thursday um November 13th here at the BOE building. Administrating training to our K through2 students consistently across the district through classroom lesson plan instruction. students will not participate in hands-on scenarios. We just wanted to make that clear that it's only the staff members who are are participating in the actual scenarios as well as planning for the first hours lockdown drills in our schools. And finally, I wanted to recognize our departing uh BOE commissioners, Dante Triello and Eric Carlson. I'll start first with Dante. Dante's already laughing.

029I don't know. What do you think I'm going to say? But Dante is always kind and helpful, willing to come to central office any time to assist us, especially when it comes to budgeting and financial matters. Quickwitted, always with the best comebacks, can always cut right through where the issues are and what needs to be done immediately to move the work forward in a positive direction. Thank you Dante for your service and for being an invaluable mentor. And next we have Eric Carlson. Always there for you. You can call Eric. He's like a father figure. You can call him. Eric, I need you to come to the meeting. I need you to No, no. I'm in the highest compliment. Always can always call on Eric. Eric, I need you to come to a meeting with

030me. I need your support. And he'll come, no questions asked, and sit there, even if he doesn't say anything. Just his presence speaks volumes. >> And if he does say something, there's Ericism. Yes. Right. >> Always. Always the best. Always willing to put people and causes above politics. Eric is quiet during meetings, but then we'll say something that will cut right through it. He's not only served on the board of education, but also on our building committees, donating additional amounts of time and service to our students and families. So, Eric, thank you for being a man of principal and thank you for all of your years of service. Thank you. We will miss you. >> Representative Cladio. And I did want to congratulate um board of ed commissioners who were elected to continue to serve

031on the board. Commissioner Jill Simons Bula, congratulations. And Commissioner Jennifer Van Gorder, who I think is at a soccer tournament tonight and couldn't be with us or may be a little late. So, we want to congratulate Commissioner Van Gorder as well. Congratulate congratulate our newly elected board of ed commissioners Tara Ledger and Barbara Tedesco. Welcome. Wanted to congratulate our board leaison, Eric Rosen. Wanted to congratulate um our incoming mayor, Ellen Zapo Sassu. Congratulations. >> Congratul U um I wanted to say congratulations and thank you to Mayor Jeff Kajanos in the office and in the audience. Thank you for your years of service and we wish you all the best. >> And that concludes my update. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to

032approve the consent agenda which will include its items B1 I'm sorry 8.1A to 8.1E. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. >> The next item on the agenda is the October 1 enrollment count for the 202526 school year. >> Grabs. >> Mr. Mr. Gowski. >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh, Mr. Chi, if you can just click on that blue link right there for me. Um, just the commissioners are aware, uh, this report um was updated. There was a slight typo in the Ivy Drive numbers. Um, a zero was missed in one of the numbers. I just want you all to be aware that there was a slight change um that you might notice on this report compared to what you have in board book.

033We will update board book so you have the accurate report. So tonight I am sharing our October 1 enrollment report. As always um these numbers are a snapshot in time of October 1st and as you all know we have students that um come in and out of the Bristol public schools throughout the year. So these numbers are subject to change. So, I want to begin by noting that this report does look different than it has in past years based on feedback that we had received from the board to help um clarify uh the different aspects of our student enrollment within the Bristol public schools. So, the first thing I want to bring to your attention is just in case because I know you probably hold on to your notes from previous years is the enrollment

034report from last year to this year. I'm just going to explain a little difference um just so that any questions come up it's clear what changes we are looking at. Um so we have formatted the enrollment report to remove students who are not physically seated in Bristol public schools each and every day. Um for past years we've always included our magnet students who don't sit in our desks. Um, but we do look at them under our entire umbrella because ultimately if these students decide to enroll back into our district, we would need the seats for those students. So, at the very bottom of the report when you see the number, it's going to look much lower compared to last year because we've removed roughly roughly 300 students and have put them in their own category.

035So, I want that to be very clear because that would probably spark concern of whoa, we just had a large drop. Um, but I want to point that out initially so that everybody was aware. Um, so additionally, this report delineates students and special programs that are located in different facilities within our school district. Um, so for example, as we go down to the elementary schools, you'll notice different program names that are listed. Um, those students just for logistical purposes and keeping track of where our students are. For instance, in Hubble, we have some students. probably's not a good example, but for looking at Green Hills, we see some numbers there where students might be in different programs. They might be housed in different uh schools within our district. Um, but we want to keep track

036of their home school for enrollment purposes. So, at this point, I'm going to go through um our different schools and programs just so the board that you all have a comprehensive overview of our enrollment and trends from October 1st of 2024 to October 1st, 2025. So, I'll start with Edgewood PreK. Um as of October 1st, uh 2025, enrollment in Edgewood PreK is 260 students, which is a decrease of 35 students from last year. And that reduction in students is to two factors. Um first uh at Edgewood the preK4 is now a full day program. By creating a full day program we've reduced the amount of sections we have available for our preK4 students where you can enroll less students. If you have less sections compared to the AM and PM that we used to have.

037Um also as you know our program right now is located out of Giamati. the space is a bit smaller. So, we are limited to how many students we can accept um and house in that facility. So, that's where you see that drop in overall enrollment. Um now, I'll transition over to the elementary schools which are our K through five facilities. Um I'll just go through each building. Hubble Elementary as of October 1st, 2025, 361 students, which is a decrease of one student from last year. Green Hills, the K through5 component, total enrollment, 622, decrease of 12 students. Ivy Drive Elementary, 403 students, a decrease of six. Mountain View, 348 students, a decrease of 19. Southside 485 students decrease of 31. Stafford 387 increase of four. West Bristol K through 5 component 588 students decrease of

038seven. So our total K through 5 enrollment is 3,194 students. Uh we've had a decrease of 72 students, which is roughly about a 2% decrease at the elementary band. Looking at our middle school grades, 6 through 8. Bames, 261 students, decrease of seven. Chippen Hill Middle School, 624 students, increase of 44 students. Northeast Middle School, 340, increase of 1. Green Hills 6 through8, 287, decrease of three. West Bristol 6 through8 258 increase of 14. So, total enrollment at the middle school level, 1,170 students, increase of 49 students or roughly 3% increase. I'll finish by going through our high schools. Bristol Central High School, 1,166 students, which is a decrease of 36. Bristol Eastern High School, 1,048 students, decrease of 14. uh BPA, Bristol Preparatory Academy, 42 students, decrease eight. The total 9 through12 enrollment for

039Bristol public schools as of October 1st, 2025, 2,255 students. Um we're about down 59 students, which is a 2.5% decrease. So if you're looking at the end of the report, you'll see our sum which is roughly 7,000 598 students which do not include our 270 magnet students. If you were to increase those students, we would reach up to about 7,868, which would be more in line with the trends that you all are used to seeing. I do also want to note that what's not reflective on this report is 480 students that do attend other public institutions, but they're not reflected over here. They're involved. So I can give an example. Let's say if a family moves and a student is a senior and they move to Burlington, Burlington might take that student in for their,

040you know, senior year, you know, split situation, but those students don't fall under our report. >> Can I ask a question? >> Sure. >> So I love the way that you're doing it now in the breakout. It makes it much more clear. One of the questions I had was when you were going through the elementary by school and showing us, you know, this school went down by one or two or and I think the largest number was 35 in one school. What was the largest number? >> Uh, southside of 31 students. >> 31 students. Okay. So, my question is I I can't see right here, but does it say by grade? >> So, no. Well, I mean, we we can obtain that data if you need to have it by grade, year-over-year. >> I don't

041I don't need it, but I think what it would do is show even Okay, so 31 students, you would think maybe we would reduce by one class, right? But they're spread probably across all of them. So, when you look at have we had to reduce the number of classes because of a any of these like did it actually impact >> I give an example. Let's say if we're looking at Southside right now, let's say fifth grade, you have one, two, three, four sections. If you were to get rid of one of those sections of about 23 students throughout their class sizes would surpass 30 students each and for any educator would understand 30 elementary school children in a classroom is substantial. >> Yeah, that would be too big. So, right, I just wanted to, you

042know, kind of understand what those numbers mean. So when we see we're we're you know reduced by 72 students across how many schools and how many classrooms it's not actually reducing the number of classrooms we need. >> Correct. And these in these sections that we have here. Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Just one other question. And the 480 the students the number of students that attend other public institutions are are those also our um outplaced populations is included in that number. >> So that would be falling under the magnet the 270 students. So student students that we provide um let's say IEP support um or tied to us still here at Bristol public schools. So we still count those under our umbrella. those 480 students or students who are completely disenrolled

043from us, but they might either live in Bristol still or have a custody situation. They're split between two parents and they select one district over the other. But hypothetically speaking, those 480 students are entitled to a seat here in Bristol public schools if they need to soon. So the um approximately 120 placements about right now and that's included in the 270 number for the magnets. >> It should be. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is grants with Amy Martino >> the bridge connect. >> Thank you. Uh so we've had a great opportunity this year uh through the state of Connecticut there um it's called the bridge uh grant and so we are offered of $40,000 across two years and the intent of

044that is to really enrich some of the transition services that we're providing to students. It's quite a lift in the state of Connecticut to ensure that our students not only in high school but middle school have opportunities to start that transition earlier and earlier. Uh so we are going to have access to representatives coming into our district providing lessons to our students and um again we can use those funds for additional service providers, transportation, other outlets to get our students engaged with the community. Uh we have been approved and we're already starting to work with them. I think we have our first meeting next week. So we're excited about it. >> Questions? >> One question. um we previously had funded an inclusion coach at the high school level, but that we no longer fund that

045particular position. Is there thoughts that we might be able to uh include some type of inclusion coaching with some of the stuff that you're engaging with the grant money? I don't think that was our intention. I think some of the practices that our inclusion coach was previously involved in, we've already embedded that into some of our work. Um this particular grant looks at some of the um in addition to like courses that we're already providing, what are some other opportunities for job shadows, job coaching, going out into the community um etc. for some of them. They also talked about some level of increasing PARHA educators more as a job coach instead of a traditional Farah educator. Uh so those are just some of the opportunities that we've started to talk about. Thank you. Thank you.

046>> Thank you. >> Next we have public comment. Do we have any public comment? Now I'll read the public comment rules. The board welcomes public input and appreciates the diverse perspectives of the community. While the meeting is open to the public, it is fundamentally a meeting of the board. The public comment period allows community members to share their insight with the governing body about the agenda items that the board will be reviewing or deciding on. The board values this input and will consider it when making their decisions. Community members are encouraged to express their views on the topic related to the agenda. To comment on a topic that is not on the agenda, please email your comment via the contact list on the Bristol Board of Ed website. Items requiring consideration by the board must

047be approved as an agenda item by a vote of the board. Members present such as such items may be referred to for further study and not necessarily acted upon at this meeting. The rules of the board include everyone is requested to address the chair for recognition. Each speaker each speaker must state his name, address, and the topic they are commenting on. Comments are limited to items on the agenda. All speakers must observe rules of common etiquette etiquette. Personalities are not to be injected. Speakers should not attack or question the motives of others. Anyone violating this rule will be denied the floor unless waved by the chairperson. Each speaker shall limit his or her remarks to three minutes. A speaker will have one opportunity to speak per meeting. Written statements and materials may be made available

048in advance of comments for distribution to all board members. Speakers shall state their positions on the subject being discussed. Board members will not respond directly to comments during the board meeting. However, the superintendent may direct the questions to the appropriate staff member for followup when appropriate. The chair has the discretion to provide brief factual information. For example, the chair might explain that legal limitations on the board's authority prevent the board from considering the requested action. Speakers cannot donate their time to other people or speak on behalf of other people. Disruptive behavior, harassment, and violence are not permitted. In cases of disruptive behavior, the chair has the authority to warn the speaker, request them to leave, or in extreme cases, clear the room. Uh the we have a list of people. I'll start with uh Jeff

049Kajiano. You want to talk about the same topic go first? Um, good evening. Thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate it. Uh, my father, Alex Hamsy, or Hamzy, regrets that he wasn't able to be here because he did make the request to um, Mayor Kajano about naming the Northeast Middle School Gymnasium. Um, and so I wanted to be here on his behalf to thank you all so much for considering and actually doing um, that in honor of my brother and his memory. And so just wanted on behalf of my family to just make sure you all knew how grateful we were. We um my husband and I live in Farmington with our son, but we over the last year have lived with my parents um as our home was being renovated. But

050for that period, we got to watch this school come to life. Um and I went to Northeast, so it was a sort of my brother and my sister. But um so watching the school obviously was really special, but to know that you all were supportive of naming Jim Museum after him was really special and so just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you on behalf of like appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> And the only other thing that I wanted to add is Allora couldn't be here either and she knew that um the Hansy family was come speak too. She just sent me a note. So when I relay that though she uh extends her great gratitude for the consideration, she would greatly appreciate it. It would mean a lot to the community

051to ensure that he is never forgotten within the Bristol schools as Dustin was the resource officer at Green Hill School. Um, and she also thanks you on behalf of Phoebe Parker and that's all >> I don't have anything planned to say other than the these men will never be forgotten and their service um is just something that our community will remember And I I think that we could say that we loved your brother and his and his partner. Um, and we will forever be grateful for their service to our community. So, thank you. The next person on the list is, and I'm going to try to say the name, Alan Ed. Is that the nickname? Rudy, that makes it easier. >> Alan RS 53 Woodfield Road C B C B C B C B C

052B C B C B C B C B C Bristol come to speak briefly about the redistricting process comment talk about a high pressure meeting to speak in front of you guys. Uh so I'd like to uh express my frustration with the redistricting process and urge the board to push off the paid redistricting as far as possible uh as suggested by plan at least push it off another year. I understand with aging infrastructure and location of students uh throughout the community that there needs to be a change to districts students go to school. With that said, I don't understand why this uh without with proper planning this process couldn't be condensed so that there'd be less movement. Um uh with that said, you know, the my first son, he is on track to be redistricted

053twice. The second son, he uh attended Edgewood Academy last year, received half a school year disruption basically with the roof renovation. Now he's on task to be redistricted with this next thing. So both my students are going to be redistric my children to be redistricted twice basically. And it's never easy as a parent to worry about how their child will perform at school, make friends, connect with teachers, let alone now we have to worry about this redistricting process. So, please figure out how to make this change basically less painful as possible and uh stop causing undue stress to the parents that just don't see their children succeed. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mike Arishenko. >> All right. Is it on? Okay. So, for the record, Mike Erosen, 40 Palmer Place. I'm just going to be

054brief. Um, I am going to touch on the armed guards in the school. I'm in favor of it. As you guys all know, Alex goes to Stafford. And as a parent, it's always bothered me that we protect money in the bank banks and politicians with armed guards, police officers, but we just kind of don't value our kids. I guess this I say we there's this weird standard where we don't value our kids the same way. and I want to afford them the same protections as politicians and money in the bank. I've seen some of the community feedback about, hey, let's let's hire veterans to do this. And as a vet, I'm going to push back on that a little bit. Um, a lot of us have had bad experiences and some of us have have

055wounds that just can't see. It's the invisible look. Uh, I think last time I saw around 60% of veterans have some sort of PTSD. So, I would urge the board to not really listen to community on that one unless you're going to have some sort of rigorous mental health background on checkup vets. And I again, I I hope that you guys proceed with the former police officer plan that's currently being talked about right now. 100% in favor of that. And the last thing I want to touch on is I want to thank Commissioner Tagriello and Commissioner Carlson for their service to our schools. I know the two of you have really faced a lot of political pressure and you did a hell of a job ignoring it and always putting our kids first and our

056school first and I thank you for that. Excellent. >> Thank you. Next, I have Jen Tagella. Good evening everyone. My name is Jennifer Tabriella and my address is 64 Berry Road. I'd like to start my remarks by congratulating all of the newly elected and reelected board of ed commissioners and to welcome back Chair Palms for another two years to lead this board. I know what you've been put through. I know your heart. I know when your priority is the district and not a political agenda, you can't fail. You will have an amazing team surrounding you as well as more than a few phone friend options. You have a badass tribe. And as you know, this is not a term to be disrespectful. It's a powerful reminder of our friend and former colleague Karen Bber. She

057would be very proud. My reason for being here tonight is to speak about one whose service is ending. A man who has been there for me through thick and thin. A man who was wise, honest, loyal, and fair. A man that I love dearly and I'm lucky to call my family Eric Carlson. I lovingly refer to Eric as my bridge over troubled water as he has been a constant source of stability and strength. I can't recall what made us bond over our years of service together. But I will never forget his words that he said to me in 2021 when my conviction stood strong in the face of my then political party. Do what your heart tells you and I'm always behind you. Eric, like myself, didn't fall prey to partisan politics. He recognizes the

058best result is usually somewhere in the middle. He's steady and resilient. His words are often few yet forceful. He has been a gift to the Bristol public school system, a friend to many, and a bridge over troubled waters multiple times. I love you, Eric. Madam Chair, at this time, I would like to ask your permission to address this. >> Go ahead. >> Commissioner T. I remember campaigning with you in 2019 like it was yesterday. I recall being slightly anxious when you won because I knew that we would butt heads. You were my bestie and I knew how scrappy you could be. I also knew Bristol struck gold with you. Your dedication to providing clarity to constituents was second to none. Your desire to grow accountability was evident and the district is so much more transparent

059because of your work. Eventually, we did butttheads. And not that I keep score, but I was right. Once you saw past partisan nonsense, you became unstoppable. You utilized the power of bipartisanship like none before you. You along with a handful of others impacted policy changes that were necessary and powerful. You collaborated with the illustrious Dr. Madios to get the Bames Theater to thrive. You helped spearhead the elimination of gate fees to allow all residents the joy of watching their student stars play. You became board chair as a Democrat on a Republicanled board. You transcend politics. But what strikes me the most above all of your accomplishments is what you did with your power. When my health became a concern, you left it all. Despite my begging you not to and Dr. Carbone begging you not

060to and Shelby pawns begging you not to. >> Begging >> you cast your position of authority aside to hold my hand through it all and to love me well. So much for the petty talk of you being power hungry. Dante, you're a legend. Your brilliance, articulation, and charm will forever be unmatched. Bristol public schools are losing a champion tonight while the nonprofit world is gaining a prodigy. I love you so very much and I'm so proud of you. Thank you for your service to our hometown and more importantly, thank you for being you. That is all. >> Next we have Marie O'Brien. Marie O'Brien, Center Street. My comments pale in comparison to what you just heard, but I stand here to thank Commissioner Carlson and Commissioner Tagler for their service. I have attended countless committee

061meetings, finance and operations committees of this board, watched them in action, watched their very deliberative focus as they tried to describe properly and accurately the problems that this board was facing before they went to judge solutions that were being offered. In addition to what has already been said about the two of them, I want to thank them for the time that they spent with Clifton Lawson Allen, the accounting firm that the city actually provided for a very successful audit of Bristol public schools, but more importantly the initiative that we were all part of. uh but your valuable time with the data analytics division of CLA and the initiative of creating a dashboard that will provide I think a better methodology and a better tool for this board to handle the very complex budget and numbers

062that you have to deal with. I think you've already seen from Mr. Bowski this afternoon how a way in which you present the data can help you better understand what it is that you face in order to provide the kind of excellent innovative public school system that we all have been used to here in Bristol. So again thank you to the two of you. I hope your legacy uh in fact that that dashboard project does not keep your voices silent. You still live in town. I still expect you to show up and um and voice your concerns at board of finance meetings, city council meetings, and other uh and other venues. Thank you personally for all that you have contributed. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person on the agenda is I think it

063says Eric I'm Eric Veron, 45 Fleetwood Road. I'm here to speak in opposition of policy 51 uh 5142.41, the armed security officer thing. Uh look, I'm a parent. We're all scared. All the parents are scared. We see the news. We see all the sensationalized stuff. We see the day-to-day stuff. But we got to be smarter. We can't just policy out of fear. Uh there's been a safe a focus on safety in a lot of the comments earlier and I appreciate that, but we have to be smart about where we use budget, especially in a a year when budget and taxes are such a big thing for voters. Uh how we're making our schools safer and how we're making our schools better. Uh armed officers have been present, as I said in the policy meeting on

064Zoom a few weeks ago, at about a quarter of mass casualty events in schools. They don't make a They're not a deterrent to these events, nor do they make an impact on the amount of casualties there. As far as day-to-day violence, they really don't impact day-to-day violent. They respond to it. It's a reactive measure, not something proactive that stops it at its root. Even from the Alice website with the Alice training we just did, wouldn't we be better off with armed security guard? It says although armed security guards may be on the scene, they may not be where the incident is happening. And that's the point, right? I'm not, this isn't against any of the SRO's or uniformed officers we have, but they can't be everywhere. They can't know where these things are going to

065happen. They don't have foresight. And unless we're hiring the flash, they can't be there fast. We need better resources for counseling. We'll be better after school resources. There'll be better community building resources in schools. Those are the kind of things that stop violence before it manifests into either one of these large scale events or even small scale events, things like fights and arguments in the halls about high schools. Uh I I'd also ask about what we're going to what this is more cost. You know, I like I said, budget is a big thing. What are we paying these folks? I know we've seen that this I've seen this floated as a way for Bristol to save money at large. That just tells me that we'd be shifting away from SRO's into this kind of realm.

066And I just don't think that that would be a better case. If the police department is unwilling to supply SRO's, I don't think this is a willing answer. I just, excuse me, I just think that this needs to be a better thoughtout policy. I think we need to to pump the brakes on this. We shouldn't be implementing right now. should be thinking about better ways to use our budget to make our our schools better for our kids, have better educational standards for our kids, have better community for our kids, and that's just a better, more efficient way to make our schools safer and and a better place for our children. >> Thank you. And the last person is Morris Patton Street wasn't but I realized that the name I'm sure the last few days my

067mentor I I should stay represent quickly quickly. I would like to specifically address that and Carlson as a former chairman of the board of uh Democratic committee. I campaigned against both and I thought that your time tonight at this board was amazing. You guys show that Bristol is truly a community where you put someone against the world. They're going to do right all the time. It's not politics. I think both of you have represented that incredibly well time on this world. you can be a little bit less to borrow without me here coming at both of you should be ready speaker bipartis and I was also inspired by conversation by Mr. about student when he talk about which is really what I want to speak about because it spot my head I am actually statewide

068parental community family engagement for uh committee volunteers with parents I've spoken at the last two conferences I see you at all of them I've actually speaker there again twice a row and one of the things through my research regular meeting I think you guys would benefit from knowing is some of the things pay before see the enrollment numbers in that particular demographic and how low they are. I've been able to go back 10 years and look at those numbers and it's the most stagnant enrollment in the city by about 3.6 63 8% 8% based on the number that was so I had said to myself how can we get that number up in the reality it's pretty simple that number is stagnant because if you look at the website our enrollment in the community is

069way up but if I go to a web page there's nothing that converts to any other language outside of English so if I'm a 27y old with a fouryear-old old that I want to get into an early prek program and I say on a website how can I do this? I can't read it. And if I'm able to get someone to read it to me, I need to know how much it costs. If I click the link on the city of Bristol website to say how much is early education in Bristol, it's obviously I'm sure you all know it's income. They click on it and they don't say that. If I can't read English and I need an interpreter for the website, I'm certainly not going to be able to convert a complicated Excel document

070into figuring out how much I have to pay to get my child into I am a super education that I could get to this day. My daughter is Connecticut. She's at the University of Alabama scholarship say to me what were the most crucial elements to getting her there? We started her with PK at three years old. I drove her 18 miles every day to give university back in school because Bristol didn't have a program for us. We had it back, but we have to make it work. Can't beat. So that's where I want to give it to you. Take a look at that website 3K34 superimporting. We have the resources especially with this academy coming online. But again, if I'm someone Polish speaking, French speaking, German speaking, if I'm French Canadian, if I'm Spanish and

071I don't know English, I can't enroll my child in early education in Bristol. So, I just want to bring that point up so you guys are at least aware of it and can I come in pivot to just say, let's just convert the website into another language, take down the Excel document. I think it's West Hartford, Harvard, Britain, Waterberry, no problem. on those cities. But I believe that on all of their sites for the same page, you can click and go to a state sponsored page that calculates the uh the rate for how much cost. So they have that you cannot have that set. So I think it's super easy to increase at the moment. We can get those numbers up to by simply changing. >> Thank you so much for listening. >> Thank you

072so much. Okay, so that is the end of public comment and the next item on the agenda is deliberated item district leadership team reports. Pupil personnel services Amy Martino will speak on this report. Good evening, commissioners. I do have to just say I always follow the best conversations. I think that might be strategically planned. Thank you for the the laugh at me. Um, I'm here to talk about the enrollment counts for students with disabilities. So, as of October 1st of 2025, 1,763 of our enrolled students were identified as requiring special education programming. This percentage still reflects 22.4% 4% of our total BPS population. As of October 1st, we had 119 students who were requiring out of district private out of school facilities. There were 93 students that require special education program at other public out

073of district schools including the magnet schools. And just to add a little bit more of uh to what Mr. Kowski was sharing is we had the 119 plus the 93 in magnet but some of these numbers don't include some of our DCF placed students and some of the other students that we are fiscally responsible for in both seats bill during the month of September 2025 22% of the newly enrolled students required special education stu programming at the time of registration none of the students received programming in out of district programs and then lastly during the month of September number there were 49211 and 0911. Any questions about the enrollment numbers before I go to budget funds? Um I'm continuing to show the graphic that really uh shows the difference between appropriations versus the year-to-ate expenditures.

074So as of October 1st um all budget lines presented were trending as we would expect. the extended school year, preschool, section 504, and equipment lines were removed from the chart because the low allocation amounts really spewed the data. However, I will share with you that during the September 1st report, I did share that the preschool line was overbudgeted. At that time, it was by $54,9547. This was due to salaries that had been encumbered. The section 504 and equipment lines were unremarkable during the month of October and they are not over budgeted at this time. So we're really where we should or I would expect them to be. There any questions about funds? >> Thank you Amy. >> The next item on the agenda is the redistricting report. Um, Iris, >> thank you very much. It's

075my pleasure to introduce Patrick Gallagher and Mike Zuba from MP Planning. Um, Bristol Public Schools contracted uh with both of these gentlemen to help us with phase two of the redistricting. They are both formerly from the Slam Collaborative um the company that we contracted with for phase one. So, I turn over to Mike and Patrick. Thank you for being here in person. >> Good evening everybody. Um so for tonight we have a recap of some of the past efforts going way back to uh rematching Bristol phase one and then kind of leading into um our recommendations for uh for tonight's meeting. So um just kind of getting right into it because I know we have a full house tonight. Um kind of recapping the reimagining Bristol plan from um 2023. um that really kind of

076set forth the wheels in motion for a lot of improvements to the schools that we're seeing today. Renovate old and outdated schools, redistrict to create parody and class sizes as well as establishing consistent grade configuration. So um rather than having the K8s looking at that consistent K5 68 912 model as well as increasing access to um early childhood programming full day prek programming and having better opportunities to have greater efficiency across all the school buildings. So, as part of phase one, way back in the start of the 2022 23 school year, Baines opened. Um, Edgewood Elementary closed as a elementary school. Um, the early childhood center opened up and there was a redistricting for the start of the 23 24 school year. Looking at what phase 2 was imagined as part of Bristol uh BPS

0772023, um, NEM's opening is right on our doorstep. um that's set to occur for the start of the 26 27th school year. Um we'll begin that final transition from those K8s into K5 schools. Um the redistricting for that is what we're going to really kind of focus on tonight and present that on what those boundaries are going to be able to look like for that element. Um and then just kind of recap kind of the criteria that we use as we go through this kind of process. So, as Pat will talk about some of the key elements of the middle school redistricting plan, but something that we really kind of focus on is having logical transportation routes. We know that the cost of transportation is not something that's going down. Um, we also want to

078minimize disruption where possible. Um, that's always hard to do as part of a redistricting plan because you have to be able to balance um all these different competing interests. Um, and then really kind of leading into that enrollment balancing. So, how best do we rightsize? Um, how best do we provide space for um enrollment growth? And then how best do we efficiently staff the buildings themselves so we can ensure that um we have a very efficient staffing model going forward. Um, as part of our key charge um as we started this process back in the spring and Pat will touch on some of the highlights for this um develop 10-year enrollment projections. It's important to be able to get an understanding of how many children we're expected to have within the next 10-year window. Um,

079establish the capacities for the middle school as well as the elementary schools. Talk about what that means. And I know um we've had some conversations on pivoting from that original um Bristol um 2023 plan. So, we're going to present a menu of options at the elementary school and then really kind of focus on the middle school redistricting tonight. Um, that's really where we see that key element taking place for the upcoming school year. With that, I'll pass it off to my partner Pat to walk us through those baseline conditions. >> Thanks, Mike. So, to kick off our process, we really wanted to get an understanding of enrollment trends uh for the district. So, we prepared 10-year enrollment projections uh both districtwide and by school and by grade. And what we're seeing is that um really

080a lot of stability within the community. Um and we are projecting that stability to continue uh for the foreseeable future. Um as you can see on the chart here over the next 10 years, you know, we're really anticipating minimal variation from today's enrollment. Um some some growth in individual grade groupings as some bigger classes move up. Uh but that is largely uh in line with our current levels. We also wanted to establish um planning targets for um the middle schools as well as uh inventory the space at the uh K8 schools that will become available once the students switch to the um uh to the middle schools. So currently both Green Hills and West Bristol fall five section per grade model that continues off the three middle school grades and the capacities of those buildings

081ultimately depend on how that space is reuse and I'll touch on that a little later in the presentation on you know we think a really important conversation for for this board is to determine what the best use of that space is. Um if it were used for K5 instruction you could obviously accommodate more K5 students up to a seven section per grade model at both schools. There's other options that I will discuss as well um around special programs as well. We uh developed enrollment targets for the middle school to facilitate the uh map that we will be showing tonight. Uh for Chippens Hill, we uh established an enrollment target of just over 850 students. And then we went through that same exercise at NEMS and established an enrollment target of 752 which aligns with the

082750 student design capacity that's been talked about for a number of groups. And then we are anticipating that the enrollment levels of fame as will continue at current wellness. So when we started this process um you know we really kind of jumped off that um reimagining BPS 2023 timeline um and you know as we were working through our options ultimately we um we decided to kind of focus on the nodes of of what we need to accomplish for the fall of 2026 and that really led us to focus on the middle schools. Um, so we know that the new NEMS will open uh with fall of 2026 with a larger capacity and that school needs an attendance system. We also know that Green Hills in West Bristol are going to be transitioning from a school

083to a K5 school. So those students should be zoned as well as middle schools. Um, having done this for a number of communities over the years, we always recommend that any changes to boundaries are adopted. You know, really by the end of the year prior to implementation to give, you know, adequate parental notification as well as to give you guys an opportunity to budget for any one-time costs associated with those redistricting, you know, um, understanding any bus routing or changes that'll need to occur, staff movement, etc. Um, and then an important part of any redistricting involving a construction project is really trying to align with the design capacity of the school that went into your school construction grant application. Make sure that we're maximizing your reimbursement of this. So, our recommended middle school boundaries that

084we will be presenting tonight are the same ones that we presented at the special meeting um would be implemented for the 202627 school year. And one of the long-standing goals of the the reimagining BPS plan was to try to align the middle and high school attendance zones to the greatest extent possible. And that was always kind of an asterisk of we're going to look at the enrollment right before the school opens and confirm that and you know there was always a chance that we'd have to adjust based on the enrollment uh projections that we have developed. We feel that um you are right on target of hitting that 750 number at NEMS. Um, and it'll really provide that consistent pathway. Once a student is established in middle school and sixth grade, they will follow that

085same pathway, that same cohort of students all the way through 12th grade. We both worked in Bristol for a number of years, and we know how much pride there is on whether you're in Bristol Eastern or Bristol Central. Um, so we know that that can now, you know, start in the the middle school grades as well, some of that nice community rivalry. So Chippens Hill would be aligned to the Bristol central attendant zone and um NEMS would be aligned to the Bristol Eastern attendance zone. So this map here just um shows what the middle school attendance zones would look like, the identical boundaries to your high school attendance. Um we do have quite a bit of impact to students. Um, so based on our October 1st enrollment, we're estimating about 580 students currently in sixth

086and seventh grade fall within one of the areas that would switch middle schools. So we have all of the sixth and seventh graders attending West Bristol and Green Hills. Um, they would be assigned primarily to Chippens Hill. Then we also have students living within uh staff the Stafford and um Hubble elementary areas that currently attend Chippens. they would be assigned to uh northeast middle school. Um so again a quite a quite a large number of students and and one of the reasons why we always look for that December adoption to give you know adequate time for parental notice and then also um a pretty substantial change in transportation likely for for the middle schools as well. We developed enrollment projections for the middle schools based on these new attendant zones. Um and again we're right

087on target with the northeast middle school design capacity of 750. your special programs are categorized separately by the state. Um so we have 51 students um in the middle school grades that are in programs within your uh facilities in grades 6 through 8 and we would anticipate that those would be evenly distributed uh well u you know distributed between the two middle schools and so that 722 once we factor in students special programs is likely to be much closer to that 7. and then projecting out and looking at our enrollment targets for the middle schools. We're really operating at a very comfortable, you know, low 90 to 93% um across the board. So, we're at a really comfortable level where we're, you know, able to um you know, not have class sizes of 25 to

08826. Our target, I think, was based on a class size of 23. So, being slightly below that gives us a level of comfort that we'll be able to uh educate those students, you know, accordance with class size policies. So we have an interactive map. This was something we did as part of phase one that was hugely successful. I believe we had over a thousand people view it as part of phase one several years ago. So we have developed this for the middle schools. Um and we have a link that we've shared with T. If it's up on the website, it will be very soon. And what it does is it allows people to, you know, open the map, search by address, they can type their address in, it will zoom to that location, click on

089the map, and it will show what middle school will be assigned to for the 26 to 27th school year. If you have location enabled on your device, uh you can also put my magnets to your location. So, this is a really nifty tool. You know, having gone through this a number of times, the number one question is, how am I impacted? Where where am I going next year? This is a really fast and easy way for families to join them. We also have a community forum pencled in for uh the Wednesday, November 19th that'll be dedicated to the middle school redistricting right here from 5:30 to 6:30. Give parents an opportunity to answer any questions. We'll also go through the interactive map and do a demo and make sure folks can uh have that find

090that and um kind of how we'll wrap up tonight is to look ahead at what actions would need to be implemented um in the future. Um so again our focus for next year is on the middle school boundaries because of that NEM's construction project um being completed but we recognize that one of the lingering questions is how do we best use that 68 space uh that's opening up at Hills at West Bristo and we always like to say that the attendance zones should follow the plan and we know that there's been a lot of ongoing conversations about what the plan is for various programs at at prek for the district and until those are known. Um we would caution against making any changes to the elementary schools because that ultimately impacts what the best use

091of that space is. And so we've kind of outline some questions for the board to consider over the coming months that can really help solidify what that plan is and what the best use of space is. Um the first would be kind of determining that long uh that long-term plan for Edgewood. Um confirming, you know, the Edgewood project or or will we have to shift back to the elementary schools? Um, we know that the Stafford renovation project's been under waterfall for a number of years. So, kind of thinking through that project and getting confirmation on that project timeline and implementation. Will we need swing space? Can the kids stay in the building if it's renovated? Is there talk of consolidating facilities for all things that are really we need to know before making those changes

092to the attendance zones? you know, the last thing we would want to do is implement something for this year only to have kind of a plan change in in a year or two and then have to um to make another decision, you know, I create to to the system. And then um another kind of thing that we was maybe less at the forefront back when we had talked about the plan three years ago was the growing need for districtwide special programs. Work with a number of districts across the state. This is a a growing topic everywhere and that these programs these days the populations are growing. So another important consideration as one of course that so our our consultant recommendation would be to maintain those current elementary boundaries through the 26 27 school year while

093the board um determines that best piece of space for grade. We have projections that we've developed based on your current attendance zones. It was nice to see Joe's report and kind of see how the sectioning and and class sizes were relatively even across the board. That was always a goal of phase one. Um and kind of confirms our approach of of trying to make those changes long lasting. Um and and um so this just shows our individual school projections again largely stable um with all schools below the enrollment targets except for Green Hills which is slightly above and IB drive which is slightly above. Again these are are targets. They're not massive. I believe they're based on 21 students per classroom. That's certainly something we consider decisions. So again, um we just wanted to to

094um start the process of engaging the community, letting them know what changes are coming, especially those for next fall. Um and then kind of leave you with some homework uh to implement over the next 12 months. >> Thank you. Do any of the commissioners have any questions? we were able to have a workshop with um the firm and these gentlemen who helped teach us all about this because we had a lot of questions and and it took some time. So today was more for the public to really be able to hear this as well. >> I just have one quick question um directed at Superintendent White. Um, in the phase one, we did have some areas of concern where some parents had come out, whether it be a particular street that had aligned with one

095of the first redistricting or a few families that may have been um more impacted than others. And I know that the previous administration had um made recommendations to some of our parents that that felt particularly agreved that they could contact the superintendent and that um certainly um certain circumstances would be under consideration. I'm going to assume that you're probably going to do the same thing during this most likely. Um I know you've always said that you know your door is always open and part of my reason for saying this is that a that you know we recognize that some areas um and some families it happened the first time it's probably going to happen the second already heard from one family and that um I know that it was it was handled to the best

096of the ability that we could last time and I'm confident that I think you'll rein reinforce that that opportunity will exist this time as well. Absolutely. Yes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to declare that. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> The next item on the agenda is the policy revision uh for we have Mary Hawk and Carly Foring coming up. Wait, did I miss it? Oh, sorry. I'm sorry I skipped it. NM's phase three FF and E approval. Tara Landon. Sorry, Tara. I almost missed you. >> You're behind him. I couldn't see you at all. >> Oh, it's still on. I do that every time. All right. So, this is the last time you'll see me up here for the FFN um approvals for the Northeast Middle School project. So last week I

097was looking forward to over the uh furniture package, the computer package, the technology package, and the equipment package and the estimates that go with it. So just to confirm the estimates, we had um $4.1 million set aside for this package for this epony package and they actually are about 3.95 right now. And we do still have money in contingency in the event that something does come over budget. So, as a state requirement, uh we do have our preconformance preconformance bid um reviews scheduled for next Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And in order to um go to that, we have to have this very specific approval read and approved. Um so, they'll talk to us. >> Does anyone have questions? Make a motion as part of the state requirement for the pre-bid conference BCR November 10th, 12th,

098and 13th, 2025. School building committee and the BOE must review and approve the final plans and manual. >> No, actually that's not the >> Oh, >> do you want me to read it or I have it in front of me? >> You have it. You read it. >> All right. So it's to approve the final plans and project manuals as prepared for bidding and dated November 4th, 2025 and the professional cost estimate completed in accordance with level 3 of ASTM international standard E1557 standard classification of building elements and related site work uniformat 2 for this project dated November 4th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Any questions? >> Without questions. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. >> Now we have the policy revision and we have Mary Hawk

099with policy revision. Okay. Five is it 11.1? But no, it's 5142.41. Um I do want to just say one thing about this revision. Um before Mary speaks, the initial intent of the revision was because we have um a director of security in the district already hired who when the law changed to allow armed um per people who worked in the school district or um who were retired officers in compliance with the the parameters of the law to carry um a on and this change that we are considering doesn't include hiring any additional guards at this time. We didn't budget for guards. We don't have that in our budget currently. So, if we were I know the community had opinions about whether they think there should be or shouldn't be added positions, but this policy change

100allows our director of security who is already who meets the qualifications of the law change to carry a gun. And it's not any other positions at this time. And if any other positions were ever to be added, it would be in communication with not only the police department and the chief of police, but also the board of finance because whenever the board of ed needs money or a new initiative, we present that in a budget presentation and we request that financing. There is no plan in this moment for that to happen. So, I just want to be clear that that we're voting tonight for something that would allow one of our existing officers to have um to carry a gun. And there's been instances where, you know, we've been it's been recommended to us that

101that's a good thing because it's somebody in the district who might be on site when something happens versus um not having that in in a horrible opportunity. So, uh with that being said, I'm going to turn it over to super assistant superintendent one um box. Thank you. And just for clarification, our director of security is a former uh state police officer. Our foremost responsibility is to keep every student and staff member safe. Over the past months, we have worked closely with Chief Morel and the Bristol Police Department to evaluate how we can strengthen our school security system. After thoughtful consideration, collaboration, we believe the addition of armed security officers in Bristol public schools is an essential step towards ensuring a secure and confident learning environment. This recommendation is not reactionary. It's proactive and researchup supported.

102Across the state and nation, districts that employ trained, vetted, retired police officers as armed security report faster response times and improve coordination with local with local law enforcement during emergencies. In Bristol, we're fortunate. We have a police department that values partnership and training. All of our school security officers will be retired police officers and who will not only serve to protect but also entrust members of our school community visibly, approachably, and engage in prevention as much as protection. We recognize that safety is not just about responding to a threat. It's about creating a climate where students and staff can focus on learning knowing they are secure. Our collaboration with Chief Mel ensures that these school officers will be carefully selected and rigorously trained. By adopting this measure, we are making a clear statement that in

103Bristol, the safety of our children will never be left to chance. Together, our police partners, we are building a district that is not only strong academically, but steadfast in its commitment to protect every child and every every day. As Chair Pans pointed out, the current program is simply to have our own director of security as a another person that can protect our children. We will be collaborating with the police department. We have no no um discuss we haven't had any discussions about removing SRO's. We're only looking to make Bristol schools safer. Thank you. And at this time, I'd like to ask Chief Mel and Bristol Security Director Cavllis to please come to the podium for this important discussion. >> Good evening board. Uh Chief Mark Mela. Uh first and foremost, I want to extend our

104heartfelt thanks to the board for recognizing and naming looking into naming the two gymnasiums in honor of Alex and Dustin. Um I can't think of any more fitting um dedication. both officers were so instrumental in interacting with our youth as SRO's and cadet adviserss and uh it's truly an honor and on behalf of police department we really appreciate it. Um as it relates to the policy change the Bristol Police Department fully supports the board and their move towards harming their security director. Steve has been remarkable partner and has demonstrated u integrity and fully capable of carrying out and fulfilling that mission protect the schools. And I just wanted to let the board know that the Bristol Police Department will continue to collaborate and extend any and all support that the board deems necessary to make

105this successful program. Good evening. Just want to say thank you guys for supporting us in this endeavor to make first public schools one of the safest districts in the state. Uh I believe that an educational district should adapt to the changes in society that we face and as stated earlier we see it in the news every day and these statistics unfortunately are are not said to improve in the near future. So I think combination of supplemental armed security staff along with the police department not only in schools but in our extracurricular activities sporting events where sometimes we can get in excess of a thousand people at a sporting event that uh oftentimes doesn't have adequate protection staffing to be able to supplement that would also be a benefit as well. But I think that along

106with what you said, Mary, about providing a safer school environment, I think we do owe it to our teachers to give them a safer environment to be able to do their jobs effectively in. Um, I believe a calm staff is an effective staff. And I think that extra layer of protection is necessary and well warranted given our society today. And again, I'm excited to get this going and appreciate your support. >> Any questions? >> Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. >> Any discussion? May I want to thank you for clarifying with the public that um this initial move is to allow our security director to carry. Um he's already here. He's involved in all the security details within our schools. So it makes sense to have him have the ability

107to carry while um in district. So thank you for clarifying that to the public. It makes a lot of sense, I'm sure. ease some minds. >> Any other questions or comments? >> You the chair? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I I I'll I'll echo that comment. Um do appreciate that even as a board member to understand uh the thought behind this. Um I do think you know the community comment that did speak to me um Mr. their own particularly around budget and safety and community resources and you know I won't be on the board but as the board moves forward and looks if they're willing to look to expand this particular program to enhance the view of safety of our district we should look at community resources in addition to this particular program as many people

108know the board itself this past fiscal year had cut its own budget by $6 million which ripped resources out from our school in our classes which has a direct effect on um our students. And so as we move forward, new administration, new opportunities for partnership, and I appreciate the chief's comment about continuing to have a robust partnership with the school system, I will vote in favor of this, but I do think that the board does need to continue to explore all options available to us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? >> Uh yes, if I may. Um, I just uh I do want to um address uh certain parents concerns about about having armed uh security at the schools. I I I totally understand where they're coming from. Um I wish we were

109at a place in our our time where we didn't have to even consider this, but unfortunately it's it's the sign of the times and and just like um just like Mr. Shenko had stated, you know, we've, you know, we have armed guards at banks, we have armed guards at jewelry stores, and we even have armed guards at grocery stores now. Um, for us to not, you know, make that a consideration for kids, for our children here in this in these schools, and in the face of incidences that we've seen time and again, um, I I think it would be I think would be a disservice to the community. So, I'm in favor of it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, since Coline, which was 26 years ago, I don't think much has changed. If anything,

110maybe it's gotten a little worse. So, having this extra pro protection in our schools, I think it's going in the right direction. >> Thank you. >> So, I would like to acknowledge the um the comprehensive approach that Bristol Public Schools is taking. This is just one piece to put a policy in place. um establishes a framework and that framework allows our security director who already meets the credentials to be able to um be present in the schools armed. But we know that we're establishing a framework um as we move forward if we we choose to expand this effort as a district um that we're able to employ retired law enforcement who also meet criteria. Um, but I also want to acknowledge um the district's efforts um in restorative practices and even starting in elementary school

111with true and social emotional learning and really creating good citizens. I see that because I have an um a a nine-year-old who's in fourth grade and a 13-year-old who um is in eighth grade. And so I have conversations with my kids every day. Well, when they let me. Um but also with the amazing educators in this district. So I know that this is part of the daily practice to create good citizens, kind, empathetic um humans. And so that starts early and um I I I appreciate that as a parent because then I can reinforce those things at home. So this is one piece. We're building on a foundation um of practice in Bristol public schools. We're building on a culture that is creating good humans, but we're also mindful and um to our direct security

112director's point, we're adapting to what is happening in our communities and we're preparing ourselves um for a worst case scenario. Uh so I appreciate that we're having those conversations and in policy we've had budget conversations. So we want the community to know that we are being really fiscally mindful. We know that this could potentially be an increased cost to uh the community and so we're taking it step by step. We're taking it slowly. We're being really um mindful not not because just because we know it's going to cost more, but because we know we've had extensive budget cuts which have impacted um students and so we don't want to um create an undue burden on an already somewhat stressed community fiscally. But we have been having those budget conversations and we've been looking at other

113districts. We've been looking at some exemplars. We've been looking at things that are happening in Connecticut and outside of Connecticut. So if and when we are ready to take the next steps, we are wellversed in the process and we are engaging community voices um in in that as well. Thank you. Oh, I'm in support. Thank you. >> Okay. um been learning more about school safety than I've ever wanted to learn in my life. Um schools have become a target for some listed and sick individuals. So we definitely have to have levels of security and it's got to be multiple. Uh this will be one aspect of it. We need other we always want to keep different ideas in mind. I've got granddaughters in a school that is a target basically. Uh it's a private school

114have multiple of this security they hire Navy Seals to actually former N former Navy Seals to uh handle security that's in school that and I mean you don't know where they are you don't see them as opposed to say an armed guard their other level of security happens to be the uh secret service you see them pretty easily armed guards with that you know we see him become a target. So the best thing is to keep anybody who remains ill on their toes and not knowing what's going on. But this is one good step like to see it done. >> Thank you. I echo my fellow commissioner's thoughts and I would like to say I also really appreciate just the planful process and discussions that went around this policy. Legal hesitate is sponsoring legal as

115well. I think that's a very important thing to point out. Um and I would say if there are no other comments or questions, I would love to make a motion on this. I'd like to make a motion uh to approve policy 514241, armed security. >> Second. >> Sorry. Armed security officers. >> Motion's been made and seconded. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for the thoughtful discussion and the engagement from the community and we will keep you completely informed as this process um or if this process and when this process takes any other action. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is policy 61452 extracurricular and co-curricular and we have Miss Karly Florian. she can get by the cameras. >> Going to want to take their microphones

116back. Now might be a time for that. Unless you're This is about middle school athletic eligibility, but >> it's an important policy. It is. >> It is. >> Okay, we're all going to stay. Uh, good evening, commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to present a proposal for a revision to policy 6145.2, 2, which is our eligibility extracurricular and co-curricular activity policy. The proposal uh for this revision really came from discussions with our middle school administration. Uh they had recognized that the standards for uh participation in extracurricular and co-curricular activities among our middle school students is more stringent than the requirements for eligibility for high school. Our high school eligibility requirements are governed by C are informed by CIA and so we really would like our policy to align from middle school to high school. Uh

117what they're proposing is that we remove the conduct expectation from our uh eligibility policy for middle schoolers. We do have conduct standards within our athletic student athletic handbook and our coaches uh follow those conduct standards with their students. If students are, for example, um if they receive any kind of disciplinary consequence during the school day, their ability to participate in practice or events would be um reviewed by the coach and the administration. Our current policy restricts uh participation in activities if any student has more than one uh x in conduct. And so the uh proposed revision is to remove that language, follow the student athlete handbook, and then uh hopefully engage more of our students in these extracurricular activities. Uh the intention really is knowing that when students feel committed and a part of their

118school community, they're going to be more engaged and act to be a good citizen. And so we don't want to deny students that opportunity any further. With that, I'll take any questions. Any questions? Okay, with that I think someone will need to make a motion. >> Like to make a motion to pass policy 6145.2 extracurricular and co-curricular. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next is new business uh 12.1 naming of the new Northeast Middle School gym the Sergeant Alex Hamsley Gymnasium and we have Tara Landon coming up. Hello. Um my commissions again. So we had um approved this at our August building committee meeting. It is something that um we had been discussing with Mayor Piano. Um I believe you brought

119it up >> in the micro August. >> Um and we finally kind of got together and here we are. I mean, we just uh with full support from the building committee, we'd like to name the gymnasium after Sergeant Alex that would mean a lot to our community and I know it would mean a lot to the board. Second motion motion approved. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I motion passes unanimously. The next item is 12.2 naming of Green Hills Gym, the Lieutenant Dustin Damonte Gymnasium and Iris White. >> Thank you, Chair Ponds. Um after the NEM's building committee had voted to uh move the recommendation for the new gymnasium um to be named after Sergeant Hamsey. Um I want to thank uh Chief Mel who was able to connect me with

120uh Mrs. Damonte. had a conversation with her about the family's wishes and she said that the family would be very honored if the gymnasium at Green Hill School was named in honor of um Lieutenant Dustin Damonte. Um and I want to thank Principal Scott Goddet because I called him and he immediately said yes, very much in favor. Um Mr. Damonte was a very beloved staff member at that school and we want the gymnasium to be an inspiration for um generations to come. Can I have them approve naming of the new greenhouse school gymnasium in honor of the distance? Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. The um last item before adjournment is information liaison reports. >> Well, I wouldn't want your final meeting to be

121devoid of a liaison report. So, obviously I um it has been a little while um since I given a comprehensive report. Um, and I'm proud to provide that report both at Southside and um, Bristol Eastern. So, at Southside, uh, Principal Abraham shared some great information about Watchd Dogs. And for those who don't know, watchd dogs are dads of great students, and it is really a way to, um, bring in male role models into the school. And it's, um, very successful. The kids love it when their dads walk in at recess or to the classroom or to the cafeteria during lunch. The kids eyes light up. So, um they're off to a really great start this year. There's more than 20 male role models signed up and committed at Southside supporting students throughout the school day.

122Um they're hoping obviously to enlist more dogs as they're called and they have matching t-shirts. Really cute. Um, and they show the young boys how to be gentlemen through discussions on etiquette, manners, and conflict resolution. Mr. Cucuzi, grade three teacher, shout out to Mr. Cuzi. He's taken over as the top dog coordinator for Southside school. Um, Southside's great beyond fun run. It's the largest annual fundraiser, so hope to see people participating. Uh, that kicked off this past week. So far, they've received almost $2,000 in donation. Their goal is to reach 10,000. So, anybody feeling a little generous in the audience? Um 100% of the proceeds go directly to field trips and enrichment activities for all students. And the fun run takes place on Monday, November 24th. Staff participated in Alice training. This is happening throughout

123the district. It was mentioned earlier in today's meeting. Um, but takeaways included feeling empowered to make decisions based on the information given during a crisis, greater confidence in how to react, and helping our youngest learners understand that all they need to do is listen to the adult in charge and to help to help everyone keep everyone safe. And I had an opportunity to interact with some staff who were coming back from Alice training at Southside and all of the feedback was very favorable. So, I think that's a testament to the efforts of our security team and um uh Superintendent White and Deputy Superintendent Hawk and all the staff who are trained to be um Alice trainers. So, thank you to their efforts and helping keep our staff and students safe. Uh and finally, uh at

124Southside, with guidance from our curriculum and instruction services department, Southside staff and students will be embarking on a year-long journey exploring the focus question, what are the most critical classroom physical arrangements and routines that support smooth inclusive discourse. Staff will be observing colleagues, talking with students, and exploring current research related to this topic. And this says to me that our staff are constantly learning and growing, and that this is important. Um, this is these are important initiatives um at Bristol Public Schools. So, that's amazing. Bristol Eastern, you didn't think it was over yet, did you? >> Okay. Uh, I have one ever. Okay. Um, Principal Higgins shared that uh, Brisil Eastern Eastern completed the NIASK accreditation visit this past month. That's a very rigorous process uh, of accreditation. Uh they hosted a team of educators

125that came in and evaluated the progress as it related to NEAS standards and principles required for accreditation. Um they received valuable feedback in areas where they could set goals uh for even greater success and receive many compliments on staff and student performance as well as the systems and supports on the staff and student performance. Oh, I already read that part. Um this the systems and supports they have in place to ensure student success. Students are getting excited for the upcoming pep rally later this November. This is one of the most spirited days of the year in which staff and students perform skits, dance routines, and other performances that help boost school spirit in anticipation of our annual bell game at um at which Eastern and Central football will face off Thanksgiving morning at Muzzy Field.

126So, Thanksgiving morning, Muzzy Field. And what was pretty exciting was um Chair Ponds and Superintendent White and I got to talk with some students in Mr. Staven's class at Bristol Eastern after students mobilized and reached out via email to talk about school lunches. They wanted to have some conversations about ways to improve school lunches. We love to empower student voice and uh I was certainly energized with the conversations. They were wonderful advocates and we had opportunity to talk to students and staff in the cafeteria and I was really inspired by how committed the staff in the cafeteria were. They were they showed us around the cafeteria. Um talked to us about the safety measures that they take to ensure the food is prepared uh according to standards and even one person shared how she was

127able to make some was it turkey chili? Yeah. make some turkey chili for the students and that that was a fan favorite. So, uh we're going to have more conversations, but it was an excellent opportunity to be uh present with students, speak directly to students and show them how when they raise their voice, it moves the meter. So, it was really exciting. >> I will Yeah, I will share that that it was um a great strategy. the the civics class sent 24 emails at the exact same time to my email uh with their complaints. So like literally they were just popping up popping up popping. I was like my god what's happening, right? And I was so impressed by it because it's such a great strategy to really make your point, right? Like I mean

128I wanted to know why 24 students were sending an email exactly the same time. Um but that was great. So, I do have a report this month. Sorry, Dante. I never do. But James reached out. Uh, you know, I'm let my liaison school pick when they want to tell me something more than do it every month. But they said, "We got some really good stuff going on that we really want you to know." And so they said, Leam McCabe sent this today. She said, "There have been some amazing things happening at Beames this year. The instructional focus for all stu subject areas has been moving students forward the production of high quality work. This process mir mirrors an artist process with models, drafts, critique and revisions. Mro, our beam's art integration specialist created an identity

129project for each grade level that helps students artistically express their identity while also teaching them this process. You can see these projects adorning students lockers throughout the building. Additionally, a Bristol Education Foundation miniigrant won last year by art teacher Miss Burton has transformed the halls into a living museum, creating an authentic showcase for students highquality work. Bames is excited to be utilizing their 21st century learning center grant again this year to support our triple threat afterchool program. This grant program supports 40 students with homework help and allows them to participate in a variety of activities including theater, film making, newspaper, a kindness and community service club and STEM through this year. Through this grant, 10 lucky students will be able to see Hamilton at the Bushnull next week. Speaking of Hamilton, today the Bames 8th

130graders had an unbelievable experience. Mr. Dietri was able to organize for Seth Stewart, an original Broadway cast member from Hamilton, to come and talk with all eighth grade students. Seth was in the original Broadway company and took over as Thomas Jefferson Lafayette in 2016. Today, he spoke with students about his journey from smalltown Ohio to Broadway. He spoke about the power of having a dream and following that dream no matter what anyone thinks. He spoke of the hard work it takes to actualize your dreams and how that work needs to start in 8th grade. He also discussed the history behind taking real events and seeing them take shape on the stage and what it's like to be in the room where it happened. There was also a showstoppping rap battle from Hamilton between him as

131Thomas Jefferson and Principal McCabe as Alexander Hamilton. She was so grateful, excited, and nervous to perform on stage with with a Broadway star. But as she says, there is always the expectation of performance in all subject areas at Beames. She should have to live up to that expectation as well. And according to one eighth grade student, she low-key cooked it, which is very high praise coming from a 13-year-old. Seth Seth Stewart then taught the original room where it happens choreography to about 30 eighth grade students. It was amazing to see how quickly they learned the steps and most importantly how much fun they had and how much their confidence grew. If you tune in to Channel 3 News tonight, you might see a few clips. Overall, it was a pretty great day. And I sent

132you the video. Can you play the video of the rap? I can't wait. takes a second. I tried to email it to you, too, but I don't know if it came through. We're going to watch a rap battle, Dante, for your Eric and Dante's final night. Get to get to watch a rap battle. Just for you. Coming. I wish I could have planned. This looked like it was you. Did you both go? No. Two. Hi. Oh, >> is there a way for me to throw this up there? Okay. Well, let's see if we could just hear a minute of it. Can you play it even? Play it even if we can't. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Are you You have not true example. I'm afraid you're around. She is good. We don't >> I think they did

133a really good job. I wish they were doing the show. I'd go see it. But um yes. So that's the end of my liaison report for BAS. Does anyone else have a leazison report? >> How can you top that? >> No, I mean I can't I do one a year and it was a good one, right? >> Okay. Well, if there are no more liaison reports, uh, >> are we going to be able to comment? >> Yes. Is there >> uh Commissioner Tagello wanted to make and Commissioner Eric Carlson wanted to make some final comments. >> What happened? >> I said age before beauty. >> Okay. Age before beauty. >> Um I just wanted to say that uh these last six years have taught me a lot about the school system and um I've been

134happy to work everybody on this board. Um, we've had troubles, but we've gotten along when we needed to, and we've accomplished what what needed to be done for this school. Um, I'm only taking a break, so if you all screw up, I'm coming back. Okay? And I do want to wish uh the new new uh commissioners good good luck. Thank you. >> Thank you, Eric. My remarks are a little more um prepared and not as off the cuff. >> Yeah. >> Um first I I this is in my remarks but anyone who came up um and spoke and including uh the folks sitting here I appreciate your remarks. Um they do mean a lot and um you know none of this is about any of the people sitting here and I think that's always an

135important thing to remember when you are serving. Um you are doing a public service not a personal service. Um, four years is not a short time by any means and um, for me it's truly been a long four years. Looking back, I feel a strong sense of accomplishment for this board. It has evolved from being quiet quiet and overlooked to standing front and center right where it belongs. Closing any chapter of service is never easy, but I would be uh, remiss if I didn't share a few reflections um, and admit that this is actually an easier chapter to close um, than some others I've had to. Uh when I first ran for the board of education, my message was simple, transparency and accountability. It wasn't an attack on any group or ideology. It was about

136bringing people to the table, opening up the books, showing the facts, and making the case that investing in our schools is investing in Bristol's future. Over these four years, the board has come a long way. We've codified practices that ensure elected members and by extension, residents have a seat at the table. Many of our accomplishments have been bipartisan and that is something we should all be proud of. Not every success has been celebrated as a collective and that has been a disappointment. But that's the nature of public service. Knowing you are in the fight for what is right even when it is not easy. This board has also gone through a dark period, one marked by division, hostility, and political gamesmanship. We have seen people vote against the interests of students for the sake of

137politics. We have seen AI videos targeting officials and their families and social media weaponized to smear the character of good people who were simply trying to serve. Despite every attempt to seow chaos, from weaponized resignations to attacks on the superintendent search to even the rebuilding of Edgewood, common sense has finally prevailed. Yesterday's election was a turning point. It it rejected the deceit, the malice, and the obsession with power that has overshadowed this district. The supermajority has become the super minority. And with that, there is now a real opportunity for this board to rebuild its reputation and return to the work that truly matters. Before I conclude, I want to express my gratitude to a few people who mean a great deal to me during this journey. First and foremost, my wife, Jennifer Tagriello. Jen, you

138have served this board with grace and dignity for 10 years. Your leadership, honesty, and strength have been unmatched. It was an honor to serve alongside you for two of those years. Long before I sat at this table, you are a mentor and an inspiration, showing me what true public service looks like. You have endured the harshness that comes with politics with unbelievable composure. And I know that in the crossfire of others desperation to cling to power, you are often unfairly caught in the storm that was meant for me. For that, I am deeply sorry. Through it all, you have been my true partner, tolerating endless late nights and endless meetings without complaint. I am forever grateful to you. I am proud beyond words of what you have accomplished and even prouder of the woman that

139you are. To my partner in crime, Eric Carlson, thank you. You have been a pillar of honesty on this board. I remember having to convince you to run in 2021. And I'm so glad you said yes. You never caved to pressure. You never bowed to ego. And you always stood for principle. You do not tolerate nonsense. And this board was stronger for that. I know you're more than ready to reclaim your Wednesday nights. And you have earned it. To Jill and Maria, my Democratic counterparts, thank you for trusting me with leadership responsibilities even when you barely knew me. Your integrity, calm, and attention to detail helped steady this board during the turbulent times. I will miss working with you both, and yes, even the late night caucus screenshots of Facebook chaos. To Iris and Mary,

140thank you for stepping into leadership when things were at their most difficult. Iris, your patience and poise under criticism have been remarkable. Both of you have served with quiet strength and deserve the full respect of this board. To Barb and Carara, welcome aboard. I could not be happier that you will be serving alongside Jill, Maria, and Shelby. You both bring experience, passion, and a real love for the community. I will always remember our campaign adventures. Barb reminding me for the hundth time to unlock the back door of my car and Cara sprinting about no soliciting signs with a smile. You made the process fun again. And finally, Shelby, I don't know whether to say I'm sorry or congratulations. You have been through the ringer. Fake ethics complaints, professional smears, endless misinformation. Yet, you never stopped

141fighting for the truth. You never wanted this job, but you have done it with more courage and diligence than anyone could have asked for. Last night, the city rewarded that perseverance. Bristol elected leadership that values partnership over politics, integrity over ego, and education over division. To those who will continue serving, I wish you strength, patience, and perspective. And to the students, staff, and parents of this district, thank you for reminding us all why this work matters. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve and I thank you for that. >> Thank you. The meeting is adjourned.