001Good evening. It is 7:08 and I'd like to call the school, family, and community partnerships committee meeting to order. Um, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Our first item is approval of the minutes. Can I have a motion to approve the meeting as they exist on our agenda? So moved. Although I left. Okay. Second and then I just Okay. Well, I'll open it up to the question. Okay. So, did our minutes from the last meeting? Um did see them but they are not up on board. Welcome. Okay. No. I saw them. It's possible that maybe they not send not see them. And in that case then we will do what we did in our previous meeting and defer them the next month. Let's just So I am going to amend my previous motion
002um to approve the minutes and the amended uh language will be that we will defer the minutes for next month's meeting. Second. >> The motion has been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I I Okay, motion passes. Thank you. Do we have any public comment this evening? I just checked. We do not. Okay. So, no public comment. We will now go directly to our agenda. And as always, one of the first activities on our agenda is to activate well-being. And that's just an opportunity for us to connect with one another and um sets the tone for the meeting. Um and this month's uh activate well-being activity, you get to choose who doesn't love choice. Um and we always invite people. It's never a requirement. It's always an invitation. But this month, the invitation is
003um for folks to share their favorite summer activity or a fall tradition that you may be looking forward to. So your as summer comes to an end and the fall season is now upon us, um I would invite people to share either a favorite summer memory or um a fall tradition that you may be looking forward to. Oh, do I have a volunteer to serve? Okay. Commissioner, the sign is Pula. So, one of my favorite fall activities that or tradition that I'm looking forward to is ever since I was little, ever since I could ever remember, we always go watch the Monk Festival parade. in the same corner. We have my aunt or my aunt and uncle that used to be the ones that would go down to the corner, preserve the spot at like
004six in the morning. It has now fallen on the next generation to do that. So, we run down to the corner. We lay out our blankets 6:00 in the morning. And it's just it's something that I remember as being little the cousins we always looked forward to just gathering and sitting there and then we would walk back up the hill have a little cookout just have fun and it kind of kicked off the fall. So I'm really looking forward to that. >> But two things resonated. You're very committed with that time and also did I hear Coco? >> Coco. >> Okay. Is the invitation extended beyond uh >> our door is always open. >> That sounds amazing. always open. >> Well, you'll be doing that this Sunday then. >> This Sunday for the parade. >>
005Yeah. >> All right. >> Thank you so much. >> Who might I invite next? >> I'll go. So, I love the Mount Festival. you know, always the braid, but um every fall I tell school um I take my kids and usually a couple extras out of school early on a Friday and we go to Rocky Hill Fair and explore there. So, yep. One day um in October, my kids will be getting up early on Friday. >> That's right. That's an approved uh excused absence. Oh, that sounds amazing. Is that the one that you see on the highway? >> Yeah, >> that has a big pumpkin patch and the big Oh, that ride. They have a giant slides. They have the um corn maze. So many activities, so many food choices. You can spend hours. They
006have a big um instead of a sand pit, it's with corn pearls. It's a good strategy, too, because that place gets packed. >> Oh, like on the weekend, so it's better to do it sort of during like the biggie. It's better to go on a Tuesday random Tuesday. Um, thank you for sharing. May I invite another person? >> Sure. So, one of my favorite things in the summer is fishing. And when I was younger, um it was intentional that um my father, my grandfather, both of which have are are no longer with us, would take my brother and my cousins, and we would go and spend the night on the lake on his boat. And all through the night, we would fish. And um that's a memory that I have that still to this day,
007every summer, I make sure that I'm, you know, fishing. It's a good pastime. A lot of folks find it uh maybe a little bit of time consuming, but for me it helps me practice patience. So I really enjoy it. >> It's a beautiful core memory. Thank you. >> Mr. Dantonio, no, you're not on the mic, but >> it's up to you. I mean, maybe the people online would like to hear, but you don't have to. I'll leave it up to What was the date again? >> October 18th. Accommodations in that area, is it difficult to find or is it could be a day trip or would you recommend staying overnight and finding a place? Is it It's about a two-hour drive from here. You think? Two two and a half. Sounds like we might even
008have a tour guide. That's amazing. Thank you so much. May I invite anyone else? adviser. And so my mother used to pack the five of us into the station wagon to bring us to Watch Hill for Mother's Day every year. I don't know why she thought that was fun. Well, my father stayed home in St. Paul, but um I have continued the tradition with my girls. So that's our special goat who um went to watch Hill this year. We've gone to other just other years. It's so funny how boat that your own mother brought to it just it brings your right back. Although we used to have to climb over boulders and stuff to get down to the beach and all the section Taylor. >> Wow, that sounds amazing. Did And you did that this
009summer? A Wow, that's a beautiful summer memory. And I bet that's also a core memory for for you. Well, obviously for you, but also for your family, for your pearls. That sounds beautiful. Um, Miss Zitro online, would you like to share? It's always an invitation, never an obligation. If there's if you'd like to share a favorite summer memory or a fall tradition. Sorry, I'm trying to be techsavvy. My husband and I were making bets on whether or not you you were gonna call on me and I was like I don't know if online people can contribute. >> Oh, always. >> Um I think honestly my son plays flag football and I love go when it gets a little chillier out. Right now it's still kind of warm, but when we go to those games on
010Sunday mornings, I just think that's so fun and I love um football season in general because I just think it's like fun to watch and he's so like into it and yeah. >> So fall flag football. >> Yeah. >> Is there tailgating involved? I don't know. I don't my kids aren't that >> football. But is is that like part of the >> No, it's more just, you know, you kind of like reconnect with all the parents who are involved and it's at it's at Farmington High and it's just fun. It's a fun vibe. >> Well, that sounds super fun. One more question. Who thought you were going to get picked? You or your husband? >> He kept saying he was like, "Call on her. Call on her." Ah, >> I was like a kid. >>
011I felt it telepathically. I knew >> he said I >> Well, thank you for sharing. And I'll I'll round out um by sharing as well. I'm going to share a favorite summer memory. Um we I got my husband for a stocking stuffer or Santa did. Um these bucket list, it's a bucket list card. They're cards and they have them for almost all 50 states. They had them for Connecticut. And they're specific to your state, whatever state you choose. And you can pick out a card. They're categorized by time of year. So, we made sure we picked a summer one, but well, my each of my boys got to pick. They were so excited that they got to pick. And it's like a scratch off and you scratch off the activity and it tells you like
012it tells you the town and then where you where you have to go. And no matter what we picked, we were going to go. So, we went to I believe it was East Frambe to uh the falls. My my nine-year-old picked that and he was super excited. We had the greatest time. And then my older son Elijah um picked the place in Mbury where it has those big tubes and ziplining and I forgot the name now. That might be it. I don't know. It's Powder Ridge. Is it Powder Ridge? I think it's Yes. And what they and they they retrofit it with these massive tubes and you jump on these water tubes. And seriously, like my body contorted in ways that a 50-year-old body should not be moving, but it was super fun. And it
013was it was like inflatable, this inflatable slide, and then you could do ziplining and they had mountain bike trails and it was it was super fun. Um, but they were both really excited that they got to choose and the family went and I really recommend these cards. They're like bucket list cards and they're they're super fun. So, those were two really um beautiful self membran that I haven't opened it yet. >> Are you serious? Oh my good. Well, it's any time of the year. So, now we'll have to like challenge each other. When you pick one, let me know what you did. I'll pick one. I'll let you know. inspired to crack it open this weekend. Thank you. >> Yes. Oh, so for next month, well, now we know what we could talk about. Um,
014>> we'll end up at the same place at the same time. >> That would be serendipitous. That would be amazing. They're super fun. It's I can't wait to do some of the winter activities because I'm predicting that there'll be some fun winter activities where I naturally want to like stay in the home. I kind of need that nudge to get out and explore. I feel like the cards will help facilitate that. So, well, thank you to all who participated and even those who chose not to. That's the beauty of the invitation. Okay, so now we're going to move on to the community partnerships report and the next two agenda items. I always get super excited about that and the school community shout out because it's highlighting the amazing work that members of our community um
015the school community or the community at large are doing to impact the lives of the people that we serve. Um so on Friday I had the honor of attending as a guest the Salvation Army um advisory board meeting where I met our two guests here. Um we have Captain Juny and Captain Dustin Fitch and they're going to tell us about the amazing work that they do and that the Salvation Army does for the community and for the school community and for the the populations that we serve. So, I will turn it over to our captains and you know get you got the button. Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Um first off, thank you guys for having us and for the opportunity to be able to share what we do here in the Bristol community. Um
016we are going on 140 years of being in Bristol which is really exciting. Um look for a little more about that to come. But um in the Bristol Salvation Army, we have Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays a community meal that happens at our facility that is open to anyone um no matter the age. Um it happens from 11:30 to 12:30 and that is a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays, my wife has been leading a women's group that allows ladies to just come together and chat and have the opportunity to get to grow together and do life together. Um along with that Wednesdays, we literally came straight from there to this meeting is our CAM Academy and that is a creative arts and music program that we are desiring to see grow here in Bristol even
017more. It has done well in the past. Some of our kids have kind of aged out of that program. So, we're looking for the next generation and hopefully with folks like yourself having the opportunity to be able to get in contact with people in the school systems so we can let these kids know, let their parents know and have the opportunity to have kids that are creative. And I heard you speak a little bit about something creative coming down the pipe in the last meeting. So, I'm excited to to see what that would look like in the school system. But for us to find opportunity and that will be going on on Wednesdays now through October the 29th and then it will start back in February. February it will run to the end of May.
018And in May, you may or may not have heard the Salvation Army does a summer camp called Camp Connory. It happens in Asheford, Connecticut. We provide transportation for those children. um that is for children 7 to 12. And we also have the opportunity for high school students and college students to have a chance to have summer employment. And what would be great is for them to have that chance to come and learn some life skills, learn how to do some leadership, and to, you know, lead the next generation. And so there's a lot of opportunity there. And on Thursdays, we have something called Club 316. And this um is a scout and troop based program that is K through 5. Um and it will be ending also October the 30th. Happens from 5 to 7.
019Both Club 316 and CAM is 5:00 to 7:00 and it will pick back up uh after October, the end of October, pick back up in February. Um the Salvation Army is known very well for their Christmas campaign and Christmas is, you know, on the horizon. I heard someone laugh already. It's October. Why are you thinking about Christmas? We're always thinking about Christmas. Um, we will soon have our signups for folks that are in need of assistance, whether it be food, whether it be toy. And I just want to give you a couple of dates. Uh, I want to leave you with a flyer when we're done, but I would love to give some dates for anyone that might be listening or or hear this at a later time. Um October 14th and 16th from 9
020to 1:00 p.m. we will do our signups. Monday the October the 27th will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday October 28th and 30th will be from 9 to 100 p.m. And then Monday, November 3rd, 5 to 7 and Friday, November 14th, which will be a makeup day, last opportunity to sign up, 9 to 300 p.m. And we will just ask folks to bring their ID. Um, bring some type of proof of your children living in your home, whether it be a birth certificate, whether it be shot records that have an address on it, maybe even school forms. I do know that some schools have the address of the student on some of their communications. Um, we would just ask for those items. And, um, food will also be signed up for for
021Thanksgiving on those days as well, being able to take care of two opportunities at one time. Um, we would welcome any questions you may have about uh if there's programs for specific needs, but we do also for the parents offer um help with rental assistance, utility assistance um we do have a very active food pantry um which we always welcome donations for to help out with. um because need doesn't know a season and we uh want to make sure that we're not um just aiming for the holidays, but we're truly aiming to help out anyone at any time during the year. Um thank you very much for the opportunity to share. We really appreciate this and uh we hope that um this can be a great partnership to work with folks down the road to
022see the future of Bristol grow and flourish. So >> Oh, thank you so much. I know that's probably just a snapshot of all of the things that that you're doing and all of the ideas that you have, some of which I learned about when I was uh attending the advisory board. Question about the women's group on Tuesdays. What time it is at 10 a.m.? Yeah, 10 to 11, but sometimes, you know, we are women, we go over the time. Sometimes we go have coffee and sometimes we do a service project. So it is whatever >> sometimes there's a service project or sometimes it's just getting coming together and having coffee and communing with >> um our women's um group is a four-fold program um education service fellowship and worship and sometimes we be looking for
023someone to come and teach us anything. Yeah. Could be financial literacy, can be anything. So, sewing or knitting, quilting. >> Yes. >> Oh, wow. That's lovely. >> Now, is there um a place or a a way for us to be able to share um what you have outlined today with the school community or um with our community at large? We would be happy to share both the flyers we have in physical and digital form. Um so they can be sent to parents or if you have a platform that parents can log on to to see what's going on, we would love to have those posted there. Um our Facebook page and social media is always a good place to tag into and see. Um if you could just go to Facebook and look up Salvation
024Army of Bristol, we're going to be very easily found. Um and you can be able to see a lot of our things that are going on there as well. We're always a phone call away. You can give us a phone call at the Bristol Salvation Army. Um, I'm only two months here, so I don't have the number memorized yet. Just Google it. I promise you, Marge, who answers the phone, will be more than polite and sweet to give you any information that you may need and help you out. We are also looking, you have any high schoolers? I know seniors need volunteer hours here at the Salvation Army. We have kettles coming up and I know winter gets a little cold, but we would love to have some help from those seniors, from maybe sports
025teams, be it um service clubs within the school to be able to help ring the bells to help support these things that we do, not just during Christmas, but all year long. Ah, >> so that would be a different battle of a bell, wouldn't it? the kind of um thing. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Oh, and I don't know forget to tip your waitress. >> I don't know if this would be something that you guys would know, but if there is a contact that you could give us for the central and the east to reach out to. I think there's a great idea that was thrown out at our advisory board meeting and I don't know if you had heard it to be able to think if maybe the Salvation Army could potentially ring at that
026game and help raise awareness for food insecurity in our community and supply some canned goods or you know financial assistance to buy that food for our food program that doesn't just help adults but helps probably some of the children that also reside in the schools here in this community. Well, we have our deputy superintendent, Mary Hawk, here. So, this would be a good connection to, you know, start these conversations and see what ways we could um formally partner if possible and also ways that we could get the word out about the things that you're doing um currently to support the community, but maybe how do we partner, you know, moving forward. So, that's a great contact and I can make sure that you have both captain's contact information um and I can also make sure
027that you get Deputy Superintendent Hawk. >> Thank you so much for that. We would appreciate it very much. >> Absolutely. Um the with the exception of Camp Connory, which I know is off off site, are all of the other um events that you mentioned at the Salvation Army location in Bristol? >> Everything happens at 19 Stern Street, Bristol, Connecticut. Um what's really great is some of this CAM program gives kids an opportunity later into the spring to compete in a very large Salvation Army um competition that is called Star Search where we go to Hershey, Pennsylvania. They get a chance to go to Hershey Park, which is always a good selling point. And uh they get to compete against other people from Ohio all the way up to Maine. And um that's in music um
028monologues, troop drama, um choruses, and uh individual singing competitions as well. >> Oh, wait. We have Oh, sorry. We have Lindsay Dietro. Oh, she Oh my gosh. Our our person, the school community shout out who's going to get the accolades after the agenda item after. She is a trailblazer um in the work that she does. There she is, Lindsay. Feel free, please, to jump in. >> I put it in the chat, but I said feel free to give him my email address because I can connect him to a lot of our performing arts programs at Bames and at both high schools. I'd be happy to do that. >> Oh, that's wonderful. So, she can connect you with the performing arts programs and she also directs. Her work is phenomenal. It's it's the next agenda item,
029but and we're going to highlight the things that she's doing with the school community and summer programming and the Rockwell Theater, and it really um aligns very nicely with the CAM Academy that you were referencing. Um and so that's certainly a mission that I think we're all um connected to. So, commissioners, any questions, thoughts, feedback? One thing that popped up was the connection with babes and I I it seems like it would just be amazing. >> You'll hear more about that next. Yeah, absolutely. >> Um I don't So for the the camp in Asheford, so for the high schoolers um for employment, do you take students from Bristol to Asheford for employment? We supply transportation for them and get them down. Normally you're there for five days. They come back on a Friday evening. Um
030has been in the past what it looks like. This may change to where they may have a couple of days to stay on camp and spend time with one another to help build some camaraderie as well. But currently in the past we've seen we pick them up on Friday from Asheford. Um we bring them home and on Sunday evening we drive them back so they can prepare for the week ahead. So, we do offer transportation for them both for campers and for staff. >> That's wonderful. I mean, I'm fairly aware of a lot of the things you guys do. I usually adopt a child every Christmas and you really serve us a lot in the community. You do a lot of great work. So, appreciate it. Really excited to hear about the 140 year celebration
031perhaps. >> That's amazing. Thank you. We're working with our advancement team and um hopefully the mayor's office to be able to get something going that will get the media in and have a great, you know, positive media influence to get Bristol a little media attention as well. >> Absolutely. Excited. Well, we're happy to support the work that you have done and the work that you continue to do. um if there's anything that we can do as a as a committee but as a board or as a district then please don't hesitate to reach out. >> Thank you so much. Anything further? >> Okay. Well, thank you again. Um we will now move on to um our next agenda item which is a school community shoutout. So really excited to have Lindseay Dietro here as our
032school community shoutout recipient. And we include this as a recurring agenda item because there are so many amazing talented um staff members in Bristol Public Schools and we want to make sure that we're celebrating the great work that um that they do. It's it's kind of like exceedingly above above and beyond. Um, and I I I was I was aruck to be honest when I attended the In the Heights uh production at the Rockwell Theater in August. It was inspiring to see both current and former Bristol public school students bring such energy and talent and heart to the stage under Lindsay's direction. Um, so we've invited her to talk a little bit about what she does as an educator in Bristol at Baines, but also the Rockville summer summer theater program and um for Gusco
033Get Upstage Company um the amazing things that she's doing. I won't even dilute it with my attempt to to share it um articulately in an articulate way because Lindsay is going to be able to to to bring this home for us. My one concern is we don't hear her that well. Is there a way to amplify her voice a little more? >> Can you try just talking for a second? >> I can try to project. I should know how to do that as a theater director. I don't know if that's better. It might be my connection. It's like testing a microphone. It's not your connection. I don't think it's just not playing over our audio. It's playing through. >> Oh. I can keep talking. I don't know if how much you need me to talk,
034but I can try. They're just working on in a minute. >> Lindsay, can you try to speak for us? >> Hello. Hi everybody. >> Perhaps sing. I don't know. >> Do you sing? Not right now. >> It's not. >> It's mine's on. >> If not, maybe we can take the microphone to the Thank you for trying. >> Okay, Lindsay, we're just gonna have you share out and we'll try to amplify somehow over here, but we'll also be very quiet so we can hear you. >> Okay. >> Ready? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, so thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Um, I, uh, started, well, I wear a lot of hats in the district. Um, and that has changed over the last few years. So, I spent 17 years at Bristol Central as an
035English teacher and a drama teacher. Um, and then when BAS opened up, I was uh, blessed with the arts integration specialist position. Um, so I work with teachers on different elements of the arts and infusing the arts into their classrooms. and I also teach theater at Bames for high school students. Um, and I'm the director still of the drama program at Central. So, it's been about 20 years. And we now have a bunch of grant programming that kind of connects all of us through Get Upstage Company, which is my summer theater company that I started in Bristol in 2010. Uh the goal of that program was to bring Eastern and Central together every summer to do like a sort of mega musical and St. Paul's. Actually, it was kind of our goal to bring all
036three high schools. Um and that continues to this day. We had to leave Bristol for a little while um because of spacing, but when Rockwell and Bames reopened, I was like, I need to get us back. We need to be in Bristol. That's our home base. Those are our kids. So, um, we brought this idea of, uh, Get Upstage Company coming back and letting the Rockwell basically be our home. Um, and in return, we would provide programming for students. So, our kids, similar to what I think the Salvation Army does, um, service some of our underprivileged students with some of these programs that they could not otherwise afford. um through the reciprocity in the district and through grant funding. Uh luckily we're able to do that. We have a lot of our students on scholarship
037um including high school students who also um have employment. So a lot of our focus is on theater education for young students. Um but we have sort of well we do have two different programs and um one of them is essentially a a middle school program. Um they did Legally Blonde Junior this summer and it was 60 kids and we have a wait list every year. It's a very very popular program. Uh we hire our high school students and some of my older Gusco students to run those programs. They serve as the counselors. They serve as the music director, the choreographer, and they get all kinds of experience working in those um fields. Um and then my program that I direct that you were speaking about, we did In the Heights this summer. Um, and
038we had a ton of of Bristol students um, actually from all three schools, St. Paul's as well. Um, and we had a really great really successful summer. Um, and it's it's been amazing. And, um, I I don't know if you could hear me before, but please feel free to give my direct email, which is my name at brislk12.org, uh, for the Salvation Army. I would love to connect um, because of my work at BAS and through my theater company. there's a lot of like through lines where we can make connections and and get kids involved and we really want to explore community partnerships. Um it's one of the big focus areas at Bames particularly with the arts. So you know you were speaking my language and you were talking about performance opportunities and Hershey Park
039and um we have kids middle school kids all the way through high school seniors who would love those opportunities. Um, and when you asked about service organizations, um, I know Bristol Central has a very active club called Interact. Um, they do a lot of community work and there's just a lot of things we can do to make those connections. I know that's not really what this is supposed to be about, but that's also kind of uh what we're doing, right? We're trying to connect the community to the schools and all of that. So hopefully I can help with that as well. >> I think it's this is exactly what it's about. I I I that's perfect that how you tied that in because it's all about the partnership. So please, wherever it may lead you,
040>> thank you. I I think that's it. Unless anyone has questions, I don't know. I'm here. I'm in Bristol forever. I feel like I never leave. I'm always like doing some kind of program or something with someone. So, um, if anyone if anyone needs to connect, especially with the arts, that's that's my life's work. So, I'm here for it. So specific to In the Heights, can you just share what was, you know, some of the most unique points about besides that it was out of this world amazing. I couldn't believe the level and the caliber of performance I was getting for $20. It was amazing. The singing, the the acting, all of it, the sound, the dance, it was just amazing. Beautiful. and the age of students. Maybe you could speak to how unique that
041was for this this performance. >> Sure. Um we it's an auditiononly program. Um our summer camp, Rockwell Summer Theater is not it's um it's a sign up program. Um but our goal is to keep kids active, Bristol kids specifically, as part of the community. Um and then ultimately move up to that higher level of performance. um Get Upstage Company, um sort of has made a name for itself to be um the the sort of mission of it, I would say, was to take on show titles that people often don't want to approach. And sometimes that's because of content. Uh sometimes it's because of caliber, just the expectation of talent. Um sometimes it is casting requirements and and In the Heights falls into that. Um, it is a show about a Hispanic community. Um, and people
042wanted to tell me that we shouldn't do it because we didn't have enough Hispanic kids. And I said, "No, if if you build it, they will come." And and that was basically what we showed them. Um, and so we were really happy to be able to do that kind of outreach. Uh, we do some heavier shows. Uh we did Jackal and Hyde, we did um Rent, you know, shows that are that can be a little heavier in content, which is why we do audition based. Um our ages are 14 to 24. We tend to be closer in average around 16 to 19 is what I found is sort of our pocket. Um, most of our kids are pretty local, although some drive an hour depending on what the show is and, you know, how excited
043they are to be part of it. Um, we tap into local colleges and universities to try to get classes and connect with students. Um, we've always loved the idea of older students working with younger students, especially students who are interested in pursuing theater. Most of our older kids are uh BFA students, Bachelor of Fine Arts students who um audition into pretty high level programs um and work really hard and want to be literally like have Broadway dreams. Like most I have literally four kids right now who just moved to New York City to pursue their dreams. Like it's it's part of like our network. It's part of what we offer. Um making connections for kids and giving them these experiences. So, watching the Rockwell Summer Theater babies, like we call them our theater babies because
044they're just like miniature versions of our older kids. It's just such a great dynamic. Um, and I think Bames has really been a significant foundation for that. Um, it just feels like so apppropo to have our students who end up and actually we just did auditions. We're doing Little Shop of Horrors uh in November at Bristol Central and every student, this is kind of like a shout out to Bames, but I whatever. I'm proud of my school. I don't care. Um we every student who came up as a ninth who auditioned for us, my people who are not Bames but central were like, "That's a Bames kid. That's a Bames kid. That's a Bes kid." Because they know that we're training them to do this kind of highlevel performance. And I think that's ultimately the
045goal of all of these programs is to get kids to be inspired and excited and maybe, you know, make this what they want to do with their lives. So, um, In the Heights was a really beautiful show for us. It's one of my favorite shows. It's Lyn Manuel Miranda's first show, if you don't know, um, before Hamilton was In the Heights. And it's just it's a gorgeous piece, mostly music. It's like almost entirely sung through. Um, Maria, as you were saying, like the vocals were incredible. We had, you know, kids who were for I had babies who were like, you know, just freshman in high school in our dance core. Um, all the way up through our oldest student was 21. He's a 21-year-old. Uh, goes to CCSU. Um, and that's another great connection um
046that we try to to keep going because colleges want to recruit kids and and we want to connect kids to these local especially local colleges. We have a lot of Westcon uh a lot of the local in general Quinnipak Yukon um and a couple New York schools as well. So >> wasn't Abua um a Bristol Eastern student and is she a sophomore? Her voice I was mesmerized. Is that correct? She's a sophomore or a junior. >> She's a junior this year. So, yeah, she's 16. She's unbelievable. Her name is Shaina Swain. She goes to Eastern. Um, she is just incredible there. And like you said it in in an email when you were offering this uh invite that the amount of talent that we have in Bristol alone is amazing. And so, you know, these
047opportunities for students to keep growing and learning more about their art is just amazing. >> Wouldn't it be fun at our board meetings to have >> really incredible? >> Some kind of performance selfishly that you know, but some way to showcase this amazing talent that we have that I don't know that people know. I don't fully know what's happening over the summer and the opportunities that these students have to perform and how deeply moving it is. Maybe we can think about ways to have every board meeting about students in some way, some student showcase. I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there. This is not been vetted in any way. Sorry, but I was just feeling moved. >> I vote yes. Uh, very nice. Captain >> Lindsay, if I may ask a question, something
048in my creative heart kind of got excited here. Um, when you were talking about some of the college students and some of the older um, students that you work with at Bames, um, in the Salvation Army, we are known for music. However, God did not gift me with a musical ability. So, I don't know how to play anything. Um, we would love to have music programs. Do you think at any point BS may have students or um alumni who might be interested in helping teach um some of the future musicians that could come through at the Salvation Army? >> I'm sure we can. There's a lot of avenues we can take. Um Bames has high school students who take electives and there's music, there's vocal, there's theater, and then we also have arts and creative
049construction as well. Um but um even just general connections to both the high schools. I mean I'm sure we can we can connect you with band teachers, choir teachers, you know, the instrument side of things um is a a different animal, but I don't I certainly don't see why we couldn't have that conversation. I I think there's a lot of things we could do. uh whether it's getting students involved in the Salvation Army programs and activities or doing that sort of teaching dynamic with the older students teaching younger students. That's what I have found is like the best part of of all of this connection that we have is that the like the kid it's the kids who are looking for work, the 16-year-olds who are trying to build resumes and and trying to make
050some money. um they are the ones who are most excited about working with the young kids and and if they're doing it in something they love like theater, performing arts, music, I I think it's it's a really really great feature for sure. >> Thank you for that. And just to let you know, as a visual artist, I would be more than welcome in any way that I could help out with whatever you guys have going on. Um it's something that I'm pretty passionate about personally. >> Amazing. Yeah. Well, let's connect, please. someone I put my email address. Oh, it's up there. It's in the chat. It's my name. >> Make sure that all the connections are made. >> All right. >> Thank you so much, Lindsay. I want to open up any um anyone else
051have anything to share, questions, comments? >> And thank you. >> Yeah, it's I know it's beautiful, right? Always happens just the way it's meant to. Um, thank you, Lindsay, for coming and I know we'll be seeing more of you and the great work um that you bring to this community. We're thankful for you and um we hope to see you soon. >> Yeah, come see all the shows. Eastern's doing Clue. It's going to be really funny in the fall. We're doing Little Shop. We're doing Guys and Dolls in the spring. Eastern's doing Legally Blonde. Um there's a lot going on. Bames is doing Once Upon a Mattress. Tons of theater. Tons of performing arts stuff. um and visual arts too. Um we Bames has a lot of really great plans uh for for now and
052for the future and we're going to do a lot of gallery stuff and um big celebrations of student work. So keep your eyes peeled. >> Thank you so much. See you there. >> All right. >> Take care. >> Good night everyone. >> An inspiring evening. Well, the last agenda item um aside from adjournment is school family community partnerships goal and action plan. And really what we're tasked with, I think, at this point, because we're going to be coming up on a year after developing our goal and our action plan and really trying to um be intentional with what we're doing in this committee and make sure that it's bringing to life the spirit of the bylaws, um what we're tasked to do as a committee, but also make sure that we're, you know, really being
053of service to the to the community um the school community. I think what we want to do and please jump in um is is two things. One look at what our goal was and and because we're coming up on a year, did we meet our goal? I mean, our our goal was really taken directly from our bylaws. So, the bylaws were the guide. Um, you know, our our goal was during the 2425 school year, the committee will actively engage members of the Bristol and education community to inform the committee's work in developing, outlining, reviewing, and implementing all policies related to the board of education's communication with its various constituents. So, we kind of want to tease that out, you know, at our at our next meeting. And I think maybe you know us doing some
054work on our own between now and then because in five minutes I don't think we're really going to resolve this agenda item. Um but did did we do that? Where were some gaps? What areas were we maybe more successful? What areas could we grow a little bit more? Um uh I know that we we looked at review and monitor district goals and attainment of goals related to family engagement. So, there were times periodically where we had the district report on those family engagement goals, whether they were superintendent goals or um district goals at large. Maybe some schools had goals specific to family engagement. And we had Dr. Brick who came in um during his 093 um mentorship to speak to what the district was doing. Um and he really served as a design, a superintendent
055andor designate. Um, another goal was to review district partnerships with business and community organizations. I think we continue to do that monthly, which is why having the recurring um, community partnerships report on the agenda is really important to make sure that we're fulfilling that and on the pulse of what we're doing as a district to engage community partners. I'm sure we only hit the top of the iceberg there, you know. Um, another goal was review and report on success metrics of district level communications with stakeholders including but not limited to district preferred portal like parent square. This is an area I I don't know that we had as as robust um representation. So it might be something to look at. How are we engaging? How are we communicating with the community? Parents Square is one
056component of it. Um but we know that there might be some barriers to parent square. There could be language barriers, there could be technology barriers, there are lots of barriers. So, how are we also? So, did we have enough information there? That could be something we would follow up on. Um, goal four was to work with the superintendent or designate to identify areas of policy and resources necessary to carry out district priorities related to family and community engagement. Some of that could be grant funding. There could be um what we've done in policy, which is looking at things that are mandated statutoily. Um, you know, this might be another area that we could tease out a little bit more. Um, and then goal five was committee will actively engage members of the Bristol and education
057community to help inform the committee's work. Did we do enough of engaging um the Bristol education community? Certainly, we had Lindseay Teacher, which was wonderful as a BTS um as a BTS representative, if you will. Um, so I think we want to take a little bit like a deeper dive between now and October to see where we represented, where areas where we might want to bolster our efforts a little bit. And the other thing is really looking at what the bylaws delineate as our responsibilities as as a committee for the school family community partnerships. Um because our responsibilities, the way that the bylaw reads is the focus of the school, family community partnerships is to improve students social, emotional, and academic outcomes for reviewing and monitoring district action plans and communications targeted to district stakeholders.
058So did we do that or is that not as we kind of work as a committee, is that not a realistic task, right? like what what do we what do we want to be as how does it align with district values, mission, vision, right? Are we are we hitting it? We know our community. We know our constituents. We know the people we serve. Um that's the diversity of all of us as commissioners, what we bring to the table. Um is that is that what we really want to be tasked to do? Is that is that reasonable? And so when we looked at what our responsibilities were, review and monitor district goals and attainment of goals related to family engagement, review district partnerships of business and human organizations, reporting on the successive metrics, work with superintendent
059to to identify policy and resources necessary to carry out those priorities and make recommendations to the full board related to the responsibilities listed for the committee. I I think we really have to spend some time on those responsibilities to see if it it's really what we feel our focus should be. And if if it is, great. We can continue. We can continue with our goals. But if not, if there are some gaps or some areas that don't resonate or don't feel like it's really what we're meant to do, we could always talk about bringing um the language, the bylaw language policy and seeing if there are changes we want to make and then of course we know it will go to the full board. Um but I just wanted to plant the seed as we
060go up on our oneyear fullversary if you will. you know, we kind of I just Yeah, let's just throw that out there. Not as funny as my earlier joke, but um you know what I mean, though. Is it something that we want to revisit? Yeah, I'm going to put this out. I'm going to put this on the table so I don't forget about it. I don't want to forget about today's meeting. I'd love to see or tease out a little bit how we can be strengthen the connection between the community work and getting that information and those updates and work to the board. So I feel like that could be teased out a little bit. >> Um and just thinking about >> um you know ways in which community engages with us. It seems like
061we have a little more engagement than you know on the board level. So, how can we get some of the information from here into that meeting? So, it's getting >> right. I I think that's a great point. I mean, we as as the chairs, we report out, but it's, you know, a twominut report that sometimes feels a little rushed because we usually have like quite a robust agenda and it's late at night. >> You right. And so, I think you're exactly right. Is there a a mechanism, something that we could even create? Maybe each of us share something that and now this will make the meeting longer at the full board meeting, but you know, how are our voices heard at the full board meeting in in a way to like truly represent the things
062we're doing here? And we've talked about wanting to have more um engagement like we don't have as much attendance at our board meeting, you know, at our committee meetings. How can we change that so that the word gets out essentially? >> Just thinking about some of the other committees, there's very concrete things that are always reviewed from those committees at the board and I feel like there's hope to see some we I always walked away from this committee being oh my god that's amazing. I had no idea and I'd love to be able to share that >> with my thoughts. >> Yeah. Well, think we're all open to ideas if there's any way that we could do that and have a, you know, a stronger sort of uh share the things that happened in this
063meeting that these great things happen. I I've learned so much from the presenters that we have every month, things that are happening in our community that I definitely didn't know were happening before. >> Yeah, that would agree. Commission Border, any thoughts? Um, so the policy and student achievement is definitely like a different fair, right? Voting on curriculum and policy and financials. So maybe from committee to community, right? But um this it's definitely committ. >> Yeah. Oh, that was fantastic. >> Um, so I don't know, it's just, you know, making me think about that. And I mean, you've really done a great job bringing in a bunch of, you know, the captains today and Roderick of course and um, FRC, Dr. Maderos, right? So you've worked really hard on making this committee something. So it's appreciated.
064Um but yeah, I guess you know we'll we'll look more and dive into the goals and everything and maybe come up with something a little helpful and constructive for moving forward. Our goal. I love that. Go. Look at that. From community from community to community goalversary. We got all kinds of like >> Oh, we're definitely using that. That's a borderism right there. I love it. >> Um All right. Well, so that sounds good. It sounds like we're we've kind of gotten some energy moving around this. We know it'll be on next month's agenda and we'll be prepared to um speak more sort of um explicitly about goals, goal accomplishments and looking at what our roles are and how we want to maybe shape that if we want to shape it a little bit how we
065want to share out from community to community in our uh board at large board meeting. Okay. So if there's nothing before nothing more before us um then we will adjourn at 8:05 p.m.