06-04-25 Regular Board of Education Meeting

001And they're looking he's looking for something now. One that came out from over this side. He's like comfortable. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Did you smell finest? Yeah. Some handic. I don't know if he even Somebody said that they were going to say, "We heard you. We saw you come out of this house." He bicycle cuffs and stuff. Oh my gosh. Seriously. Wow. Testing one, two. Testing one. Two. testing. One, two. Hi, good evening. It's 7 o'clock. I'd like to call the June 4th, 2025 board of education meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Please join me in a moment of silence of Frank Anthony Douls, teacher at Hubble Ivy Drive, Northeast Edward and Southside School, the years of 1968 to 2002. Please also join me in a moment

002of silence for Robert teacher of social studies of Eastern High School. Thank you. As a kind reminder, please be sure to turn on your microphone when speaking and voting. For those not, we'll kick off tonight's meeting with staff and student recognition. I will turn staff and student recognition forward to Superintendent White. Thank you very much, Vice Chair Simmons. Um, this is always a wonderful event at our June board of education meeting when we're able to recognize our par educator of the year and our teacher of the year. Um, we want to thank everyone who participated who nominated um their colleagues for this award and also the staff members and any commissioners who participated in the screening of application and interviews. Our first recognition is for our 2026 PAR educator of the year and I invite

003Amy Martino to please come up to the podium to have the honors. Thank you, Miss Knight. The Ann Murphy, the Annarie Murphy Par Educator of the Year Award honors extraordinary dedication and impact of our PAR educators, those quiet yet powerful forces in our schools who play an essential role in shaping student success. Named in memory of Ann Marie Murphy, a cherished parent educator who lost lost her life protecting her students during the tragedy at Sammy Hook Elementary School in 2012. This award stands as a temp a testament to the compassion, bravery, and unwavering support PAR educators bring to their roles every day. PAR educators are the heart of our classrooms. They offer crucial supports to teachers. They provide small group instruction, individualized academic and behavioral support, help with students in transitions and toileting, fostering a

004safe and supportive environments, and most importantly, they ensure that every student feels seen, heard, and valued, often becoming a child's strongest advocate and biggest cheerleader. This year, we are thrilled to recognize Mr. Miss um recognize Mr. Daniel Costa seated over there. Please stand. Thank you. as our 2026 Bristol Par Educator of the Year. Before I have him come up and give his own speech, I do want to share that Daniel embodies everything that this award stands for and so much more. Although Daniel comes from a family of educators, his professional path didn't begin in the classroom. His early work involved directing scout rehamp programs, managing facilities, overseeing budgets and operations, and won't say a time in the other organizational system. He said exactly wasn't. But in 2019, he took a leap into the world of

005education, accepting a position as a one-to-one parent educator for a student with significant special education program needs. As his former supervisor, I had the privilege of witnessing his growth firsthand. From day one, Daniel approached his role with a deep sense of responsibility and genuine desire to learn, he quickly became a leader among his peers, not through value, but through action. Always thoughtful and composed, as you can see tonight, Daniel would often coach others on strategies he developed and rei refined throughout his own practice. but is very quiet. His demeanor, despite being quiet, his presence is most powerful. He is a detail oriented, intentional, and completely centered on what is best with his students. No matter the situation, he remains calm, kind, and grounded. Recently, Daniel transitioned into our community vocational program where he works. His

006work has continued to have a profound impact. Watching him in this role has only reinforced what we already know. His dedication to student success is uneven. I have to admit that our best day was yesterday when we surprised him with flowers and balloons to congratulate him for this award. It was quite unforgettable. So, as the announcement was made and his face turned bright red, a wave of applause and cheers erupted from all the students and sounded. The joy in the room was palatable. And yes, some people fed tears. A colleague passing by summed it up the best. There's no one more deserving. And I'm so very happy to be a parent educated. Daniel, thank you for your compassion, your quiet leadership, and your tireless commitment to students. You make a difference every single day to

007work, and we are so proud to honor you with the 2026 educator. Good evening members of the board of education. I am so honored to be a par professional here in Besto. Uh I've had the privilege of working with so many dedicated staff. As a proud recipient of PAR educator of the year, I want to take a moment to highlight the vital role of education that we have. We are more than support staff. We are partners in instruction, advocates for students needs and bridges help students reach their fullest potential. Every day we help create inclusive accessible learning environments where all students can grow. Thank you all very much. Congratulations. Thank you for your service and very well said. Really appreciate and honor the work of pair professionals and service that you provide to our students.

008So, thank you very much for um our next recession is the 2026 teacher of the year inviting. It's a good night. Socrates wrote, "We are not citizens of just our hometowns or nations, but of the world." This powerful idea aligns with the Bristol School's vision for graduates that all students leave our schools prepared with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to thrive independently and contribute meaningfully in a rapidly changing global society. Each day, our 2026 teacher of the year brings this vision to light, broadening students perspectives and helping them understand the value of their voices and actions both locally and globally. This year we received 110 nominations, a powerful testament to the passion, commitment, and excellence of our educators. Selecting just one honore was no easy task. But through her outstanding application and moving interview, one

009candidate rose to the top. See her on the screen. It is with great pride that we announce the 2026 Bristol Public Schools Teacher of the Year, Sarah Lindstöm. So most of our teachers of the year are very humble and they don't like to be the center of attention. But I am going to ask that you come stand front and center while I uh share a little bit about why you are recognized in such a way. Sarah Lindstöm is a proud graduate of Bristol Public Schools and a member of Bristol Eastern's class of 2001. Sarah returned to her hometown during the height of the CO9 pandemic. She has spent 18 years in education with the last five at Bristol Central High School where she teaches in the world language department and is the department chair. Beyond

010her classroom, she's a leader in the field, an active member of ACTFUL and Connecticut cult, and a national presenter on topics such as language proficiency development, curriculum design, and standards implementation. You might recognize her name because we've uh mentioned some of her national presentations here before the board uh in prior years. From Sarah's start with us, she sought to make a meaningful difference. She identified a lack of engagement and access for heritage Spanish speakers. Students with native fluency but few opportunities to advance academically. At the same time, no students were enrolled in AP Spanish and existing pathways didn't exist to meet their needs. Rather than accept the status quo, Sarah listened closely to her students, used their feedback to guide her research and advocacy, and built a compelling case for change. With collaboration across schools,

011the Office of Teaching and Learning, and Schools Counseling staff, Bristol Public Schools launched Heritage Spanish courses in both high schools for the 22 23 school year. Sarah's work reminds us that transformative teaching begins with listening and that real change is possible when we lead with passion and purpose. Her efforts have given our students more than access to rigorous coursework. She has given them a stronger sense of self and a place where their language, culture, and potential are honored. for all that she has contributed and for the lives she continues to shape. We are proud to celebrate Sarah Lindstöm as the 2026 Bristol Public Schools Teacher of the Year. Wow. Thank you so much. Good evening everyone. Um I said I would make it two minute speech so it ended up being about five minutes but

012I promise I'll stop talking at five minute mark. Um, so yeah, I mean now Carly has given a little bit away of what I was going to share, but I'm glad because I think some of this deserves repeating. I am a very proud graduate of Bristol public schools. I went to IB Drive, Edgewood Northeast, and Bristol Eastern. And two generations of my family before me were Bristol graduates as well, and a few were even wellknown. Some for their accolades and others for their antics. Uh, and I carry all of them with me as I stand here now. so grateful to be celebrating in my hometown. Our schools, our teachers, and our administrators are exceptional community builders. I felt this as a kid, and some of my former teachers are here or listening. So, please know

013that I felt this because of you. Um, and I certainly feel it now. I may still bleed a little bit of blue, but I have to say since becoming a RAM, I have feel I feel so welcomed, encouraged, and supported by our RAM. I have no idea how our administrators do it, but everyone at BC knows that Eat, Ryan, and Jeff will support and help any way they can, and that we have a school culture where the entire staff truly looks out for and cares for one another. It has truly been a homecoming in every way to be working at BC. Standing here today, being recognized for my work and achievements as a world language teacher has made me think about how many others have a part in this recognition. Anyone who has learned a

014language knows that it takes time and it takes a team. And I'm so fortunate, we are so fortunate um to have a team of phenomenal educators teaching languages in Bristol public schools from middle school through high school to all levels of teaching English as a second language. We have so many dedicated professionals working to bring language, literacy, and culture to our students. We also have a have visionary administrators at the district and school level who value what we do, who have worked to improve to approve new courses, new opportunities, and improve learning outcomes for our students. I would like to share a few of the highlights and accomplishments that we have achieved together since I started working here with teachers in 2018 and as a teacher full-time at BC in 2020. Um, at a world

015language conference in the fall of 2018, Kathy Archeald, who was the department coordinator at BC, saw a session that I co-presented on testing for the seal of my literacy. She stayed after and told me she was from Bristol and wanted to start testing for the seal. We im immediately made another connection through Gina Gallow, my forever friend and a superstar language teacher in her own right. And the path was set for me to help language teachers in Bristol give students more opportunities to shine. The work we set out to do all began because of Cathy's vision and her work to make it happen. Once I began teaching here, I saw the need to give students more language opportunities, especially our native speakers of Spanish. At that time there was no AP class running and we

016weren't yet giving any tests to give the seal of literacy and so many Spanish police uh speakers were in classes like Spanish 2. So I worked with Kate Carbone, Carly Foron, Fleshic Ward, the guidance department at departments at both high schools and my other incredible colleagues Steve Trochce at Eastern's Claudia Lansa to design and implement heritage class so that students can learn in a way that fit their needs. We also revamped the other higher level Spanish four and five classes so that students could communicate in real world ways. We have started working on the lower level languages classes. So the lower level language classes so students are really using the language not just memorizing vocabul and verb charts. And I'm so happy to report that these efforts have been remarkably successful with more students reaching

017our Yukon AP Spanish class each year earning six college credits and we have gotten over 100 seals of illiteracy this year as a district. Um, Bristol Central actually celebrated yesterday after school at our largest celebration of world language student achievement yet. And so, while student achievements and language proficiency are impressive, the heart of my work is teaching for global citizenship and intercultural competence. I'd like to just quickly recognize some huge ways that my colleagues do this. Um, Gina Gallow and Italian and Ana Rochester and French have been bringing students abroad almost every single year. The amount of time and energy put into the planning, never mind the trip itself, could be its own full-time job. This is love. Love for our students, love for our profession, and love for the world around us. This year,

018I was asked to compile a list of clubs and activities that help our students become global citizens. And I realized that every single one of our world language teachers at BC has a club or activity that would qualify students for the certificate of global engagement. Steve Trochce runs a thriving and influential culture club. Kelly Monahanoya and Sarah Mallaloy run the Interact Club where students do volunteer work at the local, national, and international levels. Gina Gallo and Kate Olsen run the Italian enrichment program at Southside. And I have the elementary Spanish club at Southside as well. And of course, the travel experiences for French and Italian and some years Latin, too. And this is only from BC. There are so many ways language teachers work to give students a global perspective and connect to the community.

019We care and we are a fundamental part of the development of Bristol's vision of the graduate. We teach students to make meaningful contributions to a rapidly changing global society. And we give them global awareness, social and cross-cultural skills, and the ability to communicate, collaborate, and show empathy toward others. It is my hope that we will continue to keep growing our program, expanding our middle school offerings, bringing more language experiences to elementary schools across the district and have even more of our students graduate at the intermediate level or higher in one or more languages. So, as you can see, I am excited to be here, so honored to be recognized, and to teach world language in Bristol. I'm so grateful for Bristol. I'm grateful for my family, both the Bristol family and my actual family, who

020supports me, helps me, and encourages me every day. And I look forward to any chance I get to keep telling everyone how great Bristol is and how much language learning does for our students. Thank you so much again. Have a good day. Congratulations, Sarah. Thank you so much for your beautiful speech and your recognition of your colleagues and your time at Bristol education. Um and how inspired you to come back and serve very very beautiful and waiting for your advocacy students and next recognitions continue with Leic board uh recognizing our students who achieve the seed by literacy. So, it's obviously appropriate and exciting to be able to update you on our progress regarding SEO literacy after Sarah just so elaborately spoke about all the efforts of the world department to provide kids the opportunities to

021develop proficiency and see themselves as global citizens. So, what I'll add is that this spring we had 102 students qualify for the seal of Apple and Stan testing. Eight of those students qualified in more than one language. Students qualified in Spanish, Latin, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bian, and Arabic demonstrating proficiency that they have acquired through their coursework here in Bristol or through their web experience. Students who qualify through new testimony, Apple stand awarded the seal of literacy when they graduate. So, some students earned it this year but won't actually qualify this year but won't be awarded the seal until graduation. and their success represents the rich cultural diversity of their public schools and the very hard work of the students and teachers like Sarah from the rest of party. They're so committed to making the

022study of world language both culturally relevant and focused on meaningful. So we're excited to celebrate their success to continue to grow language program and the testing options available students the rest of them. And next, both of our seniors, student representatives are not online, but I did want to publicly recognize and thank them for their service on the board for the past two years. I wish them well in their future endeavors. Uh, Bristol Central's representative was Abigail Wasta and Bristol Eastern's representative was Payton Trough. Two superstar students who were leaders at their schools and we look forward to the bright futures that they have ahead of them and hearing about all the wonderful work and service that they will provide to their communities. So, thank you again to both and Abigail. Thank you, Superintendent. I don't

023know who's cutting onions in here tonight, but those amazing uh recognitions for our PAR educator of the year and our teacher of the year really really I'm I'm just so proud to um be here in Bristol and have my children attend schools where we have such dedicated people students. Now we will move on to the approval of minutes. Um, you have all received a copy of the minutes for May 7th, 2025. Are there any corrections or abstensions? Motion to approve. Second. Okay, we have a motion made by Commissioner Van Gorder to approve and second by Commissioner Carlson. Okay. Um, all in favor? I I should have asked if there were any um comments, questions, but we just got so excited to move it that we did. So, all in favor? I I. Any opposed? Okay,

024motion passes. Now, we will move on to our committee reports, finance and operations. Thank you. Policy. Good evening. So policy committee we met on May 28th and we have um two items that we discussed that are actually on our agenda tonight. Um the first is we had a wonderful presentation um from the Rotary Club uh about the international exchange program. Uh we discussed and reviewed our current uh travel and excha exchange program policy. We'll be discussing it a little bit later tonight. And then we uh also discussed the Connecticut school climate policy. Nice shuffle for the students. Uh so student achievement we met on May 21st and we have um the committee moved six uh curriculum revisions to the board that we'll be hearing about. Thank you so much. Safety met on May 14. The

025meeting was held in executive session with um security director Mr. Bellis and superintendent. Items assist us for feedback on hands training sessions. Our next meeting will be held right before the start of school on August 20. Thank you. and split family community partnerships met um uh first started with activating well-being. We did an activity about just the facts just the facts about what effective school family community partnerships looks like and um insert any opinion had to be very objective and everyone had um really strong ideas or facts about what healthy and effective um spoken community partnerships looks like. and I can say that Bristol really represented all of those. So, um then we looked at our community partnership reports. Uh Southside School PTA was featured and the president Christina um spoke about the amazing work

026that they're doing also was present to talk about the impacts that the PTA has had on the Southside school community but the school community at large. Um, also I would like to ask um, Superintendent White and Deputy Superintendent um, talk to please share the community school community shout outs if you share that meeting. Sure. So I shared um, new initiative that public school um, has just implemented last week called talking conversation. It's really an an open invitation for parents, family members to come and have a conversation on coffee and some light breakfast um with Principal Deo and the social work school social worker there to do that composi um and I understand that they had a couple of parents that showed up had a really rich transparent conversation where parents had opportunity to provide some

027feedback and um ask some questions. had a really good first session and I thought it was just a really great way to invite families in. I know that other principles uh for example Dr. Hubert has said something similar, but he has gone actually gone out into the community and met different community members of that. deserving shout out was to she decided to have 162. She did bring together. One of the reasons why we're highlighting these school community shoutouts is hopefully to inspire other members of the Bristol public school community to share these amazing contributions of the people that you see who are working hard. And it doesn't have to be the person who is doing it in the most overt way. It could be our silent heroes to our quiet heroes. Um but please consider

028sharing a school community shout out at the school and community partnerships meeting um monthly. Thank you. Then we looked at um liaison again. We had um a expert, if you will, Jodie Beller, and started to talk to us more about how we could liaons and um staff celebrations as a way for being a really big part of our culture, even monthly, not necessarily having to wait one time during the year if we wanted to celebrate the great work that are doing. And then we had Nick Russo also paid to talk about this board with the student representatives and how to engage student representatives. um in a different way, maybe having a seat at the table and conversations about the things that we're doing, especially the things that impact students. Then we had Dr. Bradick round

029out the meeting with his final family community partnership full and action plan. Thank you. Speaking of student representatives, um now we can move on to our Bristol Central representative, Familia Brown. She online. Hello. Good night. As the Bristol Central School is winding down, the beginning of the month of May the 2nd, the junior class of 2026 had their prom. Us class officers worked hard throughout the school year so that our class could enjoy themselves on this special night. We had a DJ, food, a prom king and queen. Next, a total of five Bristol Central students received an award for their outstanding volunteering performance. Their names are Lette Castillo, Samra Alusfi, Grace Manzone, Jackson Ray, Madison Lamar, Kyra Wallace, and me, Amelia Brown. The award was also for being youth and prevention leaders. A lots of

030clubs and sports are coming to end. The band and theater had their New York trip. And in the middle of May, while the majority of our sports are ending and getting ready for nationals, there are many other things that the school is getting ready for. Towards the end of May, theater went to Halos for their theater nominations. Our students Amelia Mara and Damon Gagy were winners of the theater award ceremony in different categories. On the last day of May was senior prom. They took many pictures outside the venue and inside at the photo booth. In our month of June, many sports are starting to meet and recruit students for the next year's sport teams. And just yesterday, the Bristol Central Dance Team performed their last recital that went off without a hitch. After our final

031exams, we will have graduation in about two weeks. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next, we have Paige and Ash from Bristol Eastern. Hello. Good evening. Tonight's report will focus on past events, activities from student council and other clubs and events that will mark the end of the school year. It will be a rather lengthy report. First of all, United Way hosted its 33rd Day of Caring on May 16th, 2025. The Day of Caring is a United Way sponsored event where the community can come together to volunteer and provide service to local nonprofit nonprofits and public organizations. This year, United Ways youth board members met at North Cemetery and did a variety of volunteer activities such as cleaning tombstones, weeding or raking leaves. Be model United Nations hosted a mock conference on Friday, May 30th.

032The mock conference is meant to mock the actual New York conference that model UN attends every other year. With this model students are able to learn and visualize what the conference in May will actually be like as well as given the opportunity to research about United Nation committees and speak about their findings in front of their peers. This year's mock conference topic was on the integration of migrants into the workforce. Students represented a variety of different countries such as China, Bangladesh, France, Belarus and more will be attending the New York conference next year. Eastn's music department hosted several middle school students on Friday, May 30th for music in our parks um which is a m festival performance and and a music park visit. Our school welcomes several several music groups to come together and perform

033as well as be judged at our school before their trip to lay compounds. Try recently had its induction ceremony for its new members on Monday, June 2nd, as well as elections for officers for the next school year. Officers will include Jayce Koser as president, Shimone Riarchick as vice president, Shane Scan as treasurer, Eva Gaml as secretary, and Fatima Matila as historian. National Honor Society hosted its first meeting Monday, June 2nd with its new inductees for the 2025 to 2026 school year. During the meeting, the advisers were over the expectations for new members, voting for officers for the next school year, results will be posted on Friday, June 6th, and outlining plans for the upcoming school year. Bristol Eastn's Lady Lancers have an amazing opportunity to play flag football against their peers. Mr. Baker and Mr.

034Laauo has started two girls powder puff football teams. Both teams will practice and will eventually face off against each other on Thursday, June 12th. In addition in in addition to the coaching from Mr. Baker and Miss Alao, both the pink team and the black team have a number of student coaches from the boy boys football team. Next, I'll be covering some news from student council for teacher appreciation week. Student council had a variety of events in store for teachers such as decorating the decorating the cafeteria and getting pizza for teacher meetings on Wednesday. Coordinating a teacher apprec appreciation activity in home rooms where students wrote appreciation letters to the teachers and pushing a snack cart filled with treats brought in from student council members. A big shout out to Mrs. Delennia, Giovana Hatcher, and Luke

035Fian for their awesome planning. Mr. East Student Council is hosting a picnic lunch this Friday, June 6th. Students will be able to go outside to the cafeteria courtyard during lunch waves. They can bring blankets and towels and picnic with their friends. Teachers are also invited to picnic with their students as well. There'll be games such as giant yachts, cornhole, hopscotch, bubbles, and more. Spread the word. Finally, for student council news, the student the council will be meeting Monday, June 9th for the end of the year celebration as well as for off officer elections for the 2025 to 2026 school year. The school year is coming to an end and final exams will begin soon. Many seniors were exempt from finals due to high performance and for maintaining grades. Many science students were also exempt from

036their chemistry exams if they're able to pass the IGSS testing. For everyone else, finals will begin on Thursday, June 12th, and will continue until Tuesday, June 17th with June 18th reserved for makeups. Mr. Fus, Mrs. Fusil, our child, family, and community teacher, will be selling stress balls during lunch to help students keep calm for the upcoming finals. June 18th is graduation for our beloved seniors. Although a bit although it is a bittersweet moment, you all know that the class of 2025 will move on to do great things and become a special an essential part of society as adults. As they take the final steps as high school students, we celebrate their achievements, their growth, and the friendships they made along the way. While we'll miss their presence in the halls, we look forward to seeing

037what what they have in store for the future. That concludes my final report for the 2024 to 2025 school year. Thank you to Mr. Higgins, Mr. Redmond, and Mrs. Ventana for their help and their support and for giving me this one wonderful opportunity to be able to give these reports. I can't wait to do this again next school year. Thank you and have a great night. Thank you so much. Excellent reports from both of our student representatives. Next, we have the chair report. Chair Hans is obviously not here this evening and I do not have a report. So, we will move on to superintendent report. Superintendent White. Thank you, Vice Chair Simmons. Um, at the last regular, uh, finance and operations plan meeting, there was this ordered that budget workshop and so the decision was

038made to have that workshop after the city of Bristol formally adopted the city's budget, which they did on May 19th. So we have scheduled that water event workshop for Wednesday, June 11th at 5:00 before the regular scheduled finance and operations only meeting. At 7:00 there will be a special meeting to include any proposed budget cuts. Um I did send an email out to people to let notify them these meetings and also that any recommended proposed budget cuts that I would present on Wednesday will be made available to the board of commissioners Monday afternoon to review and ask any questions and comments to legislative updates during last month's board of education. meeting, I indicated that there was a proposal to possibly uh reduce the number of alliance districts. Um, which would mean that Bristol would no

039longer be an alliance district uh based on the uh DPI accountability index measurement um that the legislature was using. Um, I was notified this afternoon by the CSD turnaround office that as of this afternoon, we were still in the alliance district, but because this is the last day of the legislative session, they wanted to wait until tomorrow morning to make sure everything was official. So, they will confirm with me uh tomorrow morning regarding our status as the alliance district. Also, you're probably aware that the Connecticut Senate approved the BNA budget, which now goes to the governor for his inspected signature. Um, I did also want to let you know that there was a House Bill 5001 that passed. This uh was a bill focusing on early childhood and special education services. Um, and within that

040bill, there um is a provision for what's called a seed grant. exceed standard for special education and expansion development. Um, this would expand district's on-site special education services or expanding tier 2 interventions in math and reading academic or behavioral supports helping to help prevent students from needing additional services. Um, according to what was in the bill, uh, Bristol received $82,474 in fiscal year 26, fiscal year 27 to help support the city grant. Um, any money we might want to use over our own programs or expand our existing programs to be able to service questions. Um, as part of this bill, it also requires CSV to set a rate schedule to be reviewed every two years, eliminating how much providers could charge for services. It would also prohibit special education institutions for raising rates in the

041middle of the school year. Um since the legislation um the legislature closes this evening uh we're still waiting for figures on any other funding that person may have this to receive confirmation on those numbers. As I do I'll certainly share that with the board. Thank you very just a couple. Um so they they did approve setting schedules but our are including tuition. Yes. So it's requiring CSD the department of education um to work on setting that rate. So they were think monitor take more of a leadership role in that. I know in some of the testimony there was concern that setting certain reason so the providers would actually um potentially force providers to go out of business would be less services for right but also um increase their students and also there's also not services

042right There's definitely question. Um, do we know now that the budget was finalized to whether or not the special engagement funding would I don't have the confirmed number. So did you want to share about having a confirmation first or have I hope to have a confirmation tomorrow? Absolutely. Before next week. Yeah. Um another question. So the workshop is going to go through um community and there were positions that were noticed specifically that were not there is those possessions are still before. Do you mean in sort of like a consent agenda? We voted on five additional positions but the teachers but the coaches noticed and voted on the addition of the positions. My assumption is that you know the budget would still be limited that way and or we need to know if we have an

043in that is still going to be part of the introduction package. So making sure that it's a clear decision. Um, I would I would say that I think whatever we would need to do to align with our consent agenda process, if there is um a position or positions that need to be eliminated and it's something that the board does need to vote on, then we will do that. Um, I mean, selfishly, my hope was that we were able to balance the budget in a way that we didn't lose anybody that we were waiting to um, vote on any eliminated positions. Um, but I would I would say that we'll when you get your final budget numbers and then you're able to um to round out those figures then have to be both because we don't

044have our meetings. So that's why I'm trying to understand why meeting questions. There was a board meeting. So there was a conflict where um Miss Bond was not available. I was also not available. Um and with the resignation of Miss and this were there before she had resigned all of the villages. Thank you. Great. But we now we have our consent agenda. Speaking of consent agenda, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes items 8.1A through 82B? Thank you. Motion has been made and seconded. Oh, discussion. Yes. I did have a question. Uh are any other teacher resignations they take advantage of? It wasn't a retired retired two years to Absolutely. Yeah. Is this something that you could have available at the workshop for us? Any further discussion? going. Um, I

045just want to recognize and I know the superintendent superintendent and Alysa both outstanding teachers and administrators was obviously outstanding. It's a very sad customer to see them. So, thank you that we'll be getting them and I'm sad about that. Um, Dr. Huber was actually celebrated at our school family community partnerships. He received one of the school community shoutouts for all of his contributions. And um my husband and I were at the school for a meeting for one of my sons and my husband was guess have a filter. He said, "Dr. Hooper, why are you leaving? Why are you leaving?" And um Dr. Hooper celebrated the amazing work of the district and it was talking about the accomplishments of some of the initiatives which we've had over the past few years with the science of reading

046and integrity and you know, illustrative bath and the district that he's going to is just starting those initiatives. So, he was excited to be able to bring his experience and um knowledge gained in the past, you know, three years, but we're still bringing those initiatives through um to a new district. And I selfishly said, well, that's lovely, but I to this day. Um but it didn't work. It didn't work. But um I appreciate you celebrating this accomplishment. And um Miss P. I don't know this team, but I um you know do work directly with Southside School and um I I will also echo that it's a huge loss. Any further discussion? We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Public comment. Miss Eric, did we receive any

047public comment? No. Okay. Nothing. Okay. Okay. Okay, looking now at agenda item number 10, deliberated items, district leadership team reports. Starting with 10.1, report on dress down days for the 2425 school year. Superintendent White. Yes, thank you. As every year, we like to make the board and the community aware of um the dress down charity totals uh the charities that we supported this year and the amount of money raised. Thank you all as always to the staff who participates and donates. I know that we always receive a very nice thank you acknowledgement um from the different charities that receive the donations. So, thank you to everyone. Thank you. Next, we move on to authorized signatory resolution for the whistle board of education. So now that deputy superintendent uh Hawk and I are official um this

048is a regular activity of the board to um approve we must the authority to sign um contracts on behalf of the board. Okay. Thank you. So can I have a motion to approve the authorized signatory resolution for the missive board of education as presented to change instrument and that's affected discussion. All in favor? I oppose. Motion passes. Next, we'll move on to uh revisions to the parent conference dates for the 2526 school year. And we have Carly for sorry I am fighting the need for spectacles. This is not a lie. like this is the first year that I'm doing this and I always laughed at everybody who did that like why is this happening and yes I might I think this is this is this is get to the get to the heart okay so

049I'm going to move back one then I might need um authorized wait where are we um certific ification of authorized signers of the CSC, Bureau of Health and Nutrition, Family Services and Adult Education for B099, Agreement for Child Nutrition Program Superintendent. Thank you. So, this um revises the authorized signers to approve myself and J County Super. Thank you. So, can I have a motion? to approve the rev the revised authorized sign of child nutrition programs to be Iris White superintendent school and Jod von founding super motion has been seconded discussion all in favor IO Now it is. Thank you. The parent conference dates initially proposed for the 2526 school year need to be revised due to March 20th, 2026 being Eid, a holiday for Bristol public schools. The BFT contract prohibits teachers from attending after

050school meetings on the day before a non-working day. It is recommended that the parent conference dates be changed to the following week as proposed in the attachment that you have in front of me. Now I have a motion to approve the revisions of the 25 to6 school year calendar reflect changes to the parent conference needs. Second motion has been made and second discussion just any other further discussion. Okay. All in favor motion passes. Moving on to energy efficiency project. Um so previously I think it was a couple of months ago uh commissioner Carlson along with a presentation by Mr. Presto spoke about the energy efficiency project and resource lighting of energy. Unfortunately, we didn't board their vote necessarily in order to visit. If there's any additional questions, they need to be answered. Pretty effective. Hello.

051Thank you. Thank you. budget reduction. I was here for the initialation. was very telling me I'm pretty much really just in case anyone's looking anyone was looking for a reference on well it looks like there's a breakdown of um trying to cost incentives And then the annual um energy day if anyone looks like it's from page 11 start when this came to vote or this came before the board a few months ago there were some really good questions about the impact that it would have on budget. Um and then when it came back around, uh Misha Carlson reached out to the board to advise us if this would be coming onto the agenda again and that if should we have any questions to reach out to um which I did and I asked um what

052what might be our cost or will have budgetary impacts and I appreciate that commissioner responded that the loan is ever source benefit zero and that the sund an electricity box out and then there was a forward uh from it and so I will be happy to talk about there being zero up costs um zero cost during construction possibility project covered via the onill source um so there was some information just by way of transparency for the public that by the way just um yeah I just uh I hope these numbers are correct because uh city electricity Susan, did we did we make a motion or did we go? So motion file also made motion second. Motion's been made. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Next we will move on

053to what personnel services report. Tonight I will be reporting on a special education environment found. As of May 1st, 2025, 1,839 of the 8,94 enrolled students are identified as requiring special education program. This enrollment reflects 22.72% of the total DPS student population. As of May 1st, 125 students with disabilities required out of district programming at out of district school placements. There were 93 students requiring special education programming at other public out of district schools that include magic schools. During the month of April 2025, 22% of the newly registered students were identified as requiring special education services at the time of registration. None of the newly registered students required services and out of district. So during the month of April, there were 22 211 calls and eight 90. So change. Yes. Um I would say yes

054across. Yes. It really does come in um depending on that. Um it's hard to say, but I would say you get that large impact over like a summer. um wanted to sort of but that typically is about Thank you very much. Now we have the spring fine arts report with Ken Bagley. Good evening, commissioners. Uh, thank you for giving me giving me this opportunity to recognize the activities and achievements of our fine arts students uh, for the spring semester. It's my privilege to have the position in Bristol public schools to champion arts education and to share with you tonight some of the accomplishment of our students that have excelled both inside and outside of the classroom. However, to paraphrase Von Placeer, a spreadsheet will never comprehend the value of an arts education. Nor will a

055monetary figure ever adequately reflect the value of an arts education. The value and importance of a music education, an art education, a theater education is far greater than the tools used to misunderstand. So instead, and for me, we see it in the eyes of our students and indeed how the arts play an essential role in all of our lives every day. So it is always an honor to share with you some of the moments in which we could see the effects of our arts education in our students eyes. Um all of our artists, musicians, and the busy this spring in the month of March. We celebrated music in our schools month with several collaborative um H2. Let's have a collaborative concert. May highlighted our student artists and our own art show here at the board

056of education and our thesbians have been busy preparing and performing their spring musicals districtwide. Um you all have been very busy and both the student achievement committee and here in the full board reviewing and passing new and revised curriculum and just the fine arts department this year we have passed 11 different curricula uh just for the fine arts. Um, yeah, if you guys go through all that sound. Um, I also the the Connecticut associate association of schools high school fine arts awards annually honored two outstanding seniors from each of the member schools in the state who excel in the performing of visual arts. They must possess the qualities of scholarship and leadership. Excellence in performing or visual arts is of the primary importance in the selection but scholarship and leadership are also supporting criteria. The

057recipients of the cast high school arts awards uh from performing arts Derek Griffith uh from Bristol Central and Claire Darling from Bristol Eastern. And in the visual arts, Emma Lucasia from Bristol Central and Desiree Baron from Bristol Eastern. On May 5th and 6th, we held our opening gallas for our annual art show. We had over 1,500 people come through those the show on those two nights and and a few more throughout the month of May. Uh many pictures were taken by proud family members of their student artists standing next to their work with that pride and sense of accomplishment in their eyes. It was a great event and we're already looking forward to next field show. Um the art department this year was fortunate to have two collections of artwork donated to us. Uh Richard

058San tosso was a native of Bristol. Special thanks to art teacher Ryan Hill and Principal McCabe from Bames for curating and setting up a show of his work. Unfortunately, Mr. Santoso died during the preparations. So, the show served as a memorial to his work. And if I may read a little bit from his biography, Richard Santoso was a self-taught artist whose work and life were deeply rooted in the spirit of community, creativity, and giving. Born and raised in Bristol, Richard displayed an early appreciation for the visual arts, though his path into the world of painting and sculpture would be shaped by ex experience, persevering, perseverance, and a natural natural gift for seeing beauty in me every day. Richard's body of work spanned over six decades, included more than 80 original paintings, as well as handcraft

059sculptures and carousel horses. Hopefully, you got to see some of his artwork uh presented over in the gallery room. Um also, Jerry Graasso is an award-winning international fine arts photographer and visual artist. He has donated a significant collection of his photographs which we'll be displaying here at the board um board of education and hopefully in other buildings across the district. Um, I take these donations as a validation of Rich Public Schools commitment and stewardship of our outstanding art education program and the fine work of all of our art teachers to inspire our students to express themselves through their visual arts. So, thank you for your continued support of our programs. I am proud once again for the ninth year in a row to announce that Bristol has been honored as a best community for music

060education, a nationally recognized designation from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation for our outstanding commitment to music education. This is a testament to the support of the city, the vision of the board of ed to recognize the importance of music education in the lives of our students and the efforts of the music teachers to continue to provide excellent music instruction to all students in Bristol. To qualify for the best community of notion, we answer details questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facility support for the music program, and community ma music making programs. responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by the music research institute at the university of the campus system. So it's it's nice for nine years in a row we've been recognized uh for that. Hi. Um,

061even though it is from a spreadsheet, I wanted to share some of the numbers of participation with you to put into context the reach of our performing groups. Our um, programs continue to grow and in some areas we are well beyond our precoid numbers. Um, for the statistic majors out there, yes, some heads did get counted twice if they performed both band and choir, but the numbers for Bristol are strong again and a factor in being designated in the best community for music education. And just to point out that bottom number, total music participation in our performing groups from grades four, which is our beginning bands, grade five, we have advanced band and chorus. And then in the sixth through 12 programs, we have both band and chorus. We're servicing nearly 40% of the student

062body in Bristol and just those performing groups and that doesn't include our elective groups. Um, music in our schools month. Earlier this spring, as part of our music in our schools month celebration, we hosted several collaborative concerts. Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central both hosted a a band concert that included their feeder middle schools and elementary school bands and concert together. For our all city honors groups, the music teacher selected students and rehearsed them outside of school for an all city honors choir and an all city honors band that performed in March. And spring concerts this spring since since my last report, February, we've done over 30 performances, music concerts since February. So, it's been very active. Um May, every school did their spring concerts and it was wonderful. I attended as many as they could.

063I couldn't get to all of them. uh but as many as they could. Um Connecticut Music Educators Association sponsors music festivals in each of the four regions of the state festival. Students audition to be part of these festivals by preparing solos, scales, and site reading. Bristol is part of the northern region, and each year over 2,000 students audition to be part of a festival chorus, band, orchestra, or jazz band. First, I'd like to recognize students from Bristol that have been selected for the Northern Region High School Music Festival and that says middle school. Oh, I did the high school folks at the January one. Okay. So, I want to recognize the the middle school students. Um from Baines Baines we had Alina Rivera Suarez, Aland de uh Olivia Moral, Jaloo Owens, Michaela Santana and Karani

064Gayz from Chippens, Alessandro Mayora, Lucas Bush, Kalin Bush, Yanji Wu, Sophia Gabbert, Finnegan Gong, uh Justice Carter, Anna Nu, Du Bang, Brendan Hill. From Green Hills, we have Alana Kelly. From Northeast Middle School, Antonio Chatfield, Matthew Dopo, and Anthony O'Briie. And then from West Crystal, Juliana Shist. Um, across the four districts in Connecticut, students that are accepted into their regional festival are then invited to audition for all state. Bristol had several students this year achieve this high honor. Um, from Bristol Eastern, Ava GML, and from Bristol Central, Haley Bush and Nathan De Santos. In addition to the audition festivals for the middle school and the high school, CMEA also sponsors an elementary honor band at our annual state convention. This year, we had several of our instrument uh, elementary students participate. They are Chase Roberts

065and Luis Santiago from Chippen Hillil Middle School. Um, CNA includes up to sixth grade in the elementary honor band because some towns the way some towns are configured is sixth grade is considered elementary. Um from Green Hills, Abia Kazmi from Hubble, Katarina Verve from Ivy, Ali Tisha from Mountain View, Benio Morales from Southside, Zara Matthysse from Stafford, Olivia Mada and Oliver Planka and from West Coast Volcan. for our theater department. Spring is musical time in our theater department. These shows are such a great opportunity for so many students to participate backstage and onstage to put on these productions. In all the amazing musical opportunities I've had in my own life, there is still nothing like putting on a musical. the communal aspect of the hard work that goes into a show, the bonds that get

066made with the cast and crew and the elation of performing for an appreci appreciative audience. It really is a special honor. This year we had the following musical performances in Bristol. Uh Bristol Central did Mamame Mia. Uh my margin got off when I put a slideshow in here. Bristol Eastern did Rock of Ages. Uh Chippens did James the Giant Peach. and the Bames drama club did Frozen and the Bames musical class is doing Into the Woods and you still have an opportunity to see that this Friday night at either 6:00 or 8:00 at the Bames Theater. And what makes this show special is um the behind the scenes theater class did all the costume design, scenic design, and they're the stage managers, the stage hands, the lightboard operators, the spotlight operators, the scenic and prop

067painters and builders, hair and makeup, everybody backstage. So, it's a true collaboration between the musical theater class, and the behind the scenes class working together. And this is starting to fulfill the original dream of what BS could be. And as alluded to before, um the Halo Awards are sponsored by the Seven Angels Theater and are basically the Tony Awards for Connecticut schools and 6,500 student shows that were judged and eligible for nomination in the 44 different categories. This year, Bristol had an amazing 27 nominations for awards in so many different categories. And tonight, I'm proud to announce that we had four winners of Halo awards. And they are for Bristol Central, best performance in a comedic role in a musical, Amelia Amara as Rosie and Mamia. Um, also from Bristol Central, best standout performance in

068an ensemble cast by Damon Gagning as Max and Cecil Pal and Arthur the Gardener in the play that goes wrong. Um, from Bristol Eastern, best dancing of for the entire cast and that was for their production of Rock of Ages. Um and then Bristol best performance in a supporting role in a play Selena Parzan as Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It's quite evident that these student achievements, shows, and performances could not have happened without dedication, skill, and creativ creativity of their teachers. We're fortunate to have a wonderful staff of teachers that inspire our students every day. We're even more fortunate and most especially the board of education and our leadership at the central office. So, thank you again for taking the time to recognize our fine art students and allowing me

069this time to share that with you. So, thank you very much. Congratulations Mr. Bradley on here award winner. Uh I know that that is you in part by Laura leadership department along the right opportunities for our students right here. So congratulations. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. I love how you mentioned that not everything can be quantified in the way that we we might see with test scores and that the impact that the the arts have on our students may not be quantifiable in that way. Um but certainly we need the arts and we're so lucky to have leading this amazing work and we're so fortunate to have um the amazing educators who are supporting this work as well. Thank you. Next we have winter and spring sports recap Sarah Guzo and

070the Bristol BE. It's a BE and BC student leaders. All right. Wonderful. Uh good evening commissioners. Um good good evening, Superintendent White, Deputy Superintendent um uh this evening. Uh we missed our winter sports recap. Um so we're going to be doing winter and spring. Um I'm used to getting up here and clicking through the slideshow butchering some names unfortunately. So what we have here today is our student athlete leadership council president and vice president of Bristol Central and Bristol East High School. Student Athlete Leadership Council is made up of elections from the oldest administrators. Um best one hopefully from the list and most well behaved of our student athletes um at each of our high schools. Um they are elected voted in. We meet once a month to go over things like student engagement, looking

071at, you know, bringing more student athletes, bringing more community into our sporting events, how to improve our student uh sporting events, how to improve our student athlete experience overall. Um they also work on community service projects um which um seen at our Thanksgiving football game. Uh we do a food drive um that they work very hard on. In the spring they go to Indian rock and they do a lot of mulching and uh lots of tough work during the spring. So um this spring our um president and vice president of each high school are going to present the winter and spring recaps. Dr. I am Chris the vice president of council. Thank you for the opportunity to announce the boys basketball team. Jo fast made it to the semifinal as well as having several statements

072and but She's also scientist Jeff was also shooting competition accident. The rest also that they were trying to build a team and they gave their [Music] hospital and using something different from the co-op team. There were CCC styles training that the highest team. There were two teams that were broken throughout the season 5.5. There were um there were five state qualifiers and they were the same. Those are collage. There's my back. There were also individual buyers that made a product in large confidence very much. The team is still young this year. We're happy that we can create now that there's more solution. Thank you. and I'll um the boys baseball team had a record of 13 and seven. They won the CCC Central division championships. They qualified for the CCC state tournament and they qualified

073for the state. Aiden, Aiden Lopez, and Rafo, Miss Class LC, and Mason Allen, Hayden Lopez, Jake Montana, Tom Ferro, and Rodale all received all. The girls softball team had a record of eight and 12. They qualified for the state tournament and their swing was a majority under class and had no senior on the So this was accomplished when junior's freshman um Haley P and my signer all received girls tennis team had a record of four and 14 and although they didn't have much team accomplishments. They had team input. Um their players said that they had a lot of time in business games. So although a lot of them didn't go their way, a lot of the matches there are seven matches. So a lot of the games were three to four. So they were very

074close to matches. They had a introduction of a new head coach that um all the coaches have and have started coaching soon this year and the players told me that they felt very close and bonded and had a lot of hope for this season. Next, the boys tennis team was seven and 11 this season. Um they also were not able to qualify or go very far but they did also have a good impact. They said they were very close and well bonded team. They were supportive of every player and they were very outgoing and had a very fun season. Girls lacrosse team had a record of four and tones. Cali Waviko and Emma Fiaga received all compliments and their team input is that they said they went very well this season um compared to last

075couple season and so they feel like they really the boys lacrosse pull up between Bristol Central and Bris 15 and three. They won the CCC South Divisional Championship. They were the first seed in division and 13th seed in states. Brady Bell, the rear, Jaden Glasper all received 200 career points. Connor Ali, Brady Bell, Matteo Demarco, Braden Dwire, Chase Dany, Jaden Glasper, Jackie, Yan Reardon, and Eden Titchy all received all conference. Boys golf has a current record of 150. They won the CCC South Championship for the third year in a row. They are projected to go undefeated as their season is still continuing. They have won 44 dual meet matches in a row which as of yesterday what is a new school record. Um for individual accomplish accomplishments Avery Phillips and Joey Pitle won the two

076the CT two man's tournament. Joey Pickle and Avery Phillips also received all conference. And yesterday, Avery Phillips had his first hole in one at the city championships. The boys out there outdoor track and field team had a record of 6 to1. Um their they placed fourth at the CCC championship meet. Um their voice 4x8 team which included Isaiah Fabriio, Nathan Pellerin, Brandon Sison, and Julian Lopez won first place at the conference championship meet. Tristan Tucson placed third at this meet and also broke his own record at in the 100 hurdle race. Tristan Tucson placed third in the class L meet and sixth in the 300 hurdle race. Will Postell played second at the allconerence championship meet and in the class L in triple jump. Julian Lopez was third in the class L at in the

077400 meters and Donnie Rodriguez placed third at the conference championship meet and fifth in class L for Jeff Isaiah Frizzio Aiden Georgeopoulos Noah Georgeopoulos Julian Lopez Nathan Pellerin William Postel Donovan Rodriguez Landon Sison and Tristan Tucson all received the allies And for the girls outdoor track team, they also had a record of six and one. Um, for individual accomplishments, Ela Elena De Santos and Tracy Mills both received all conference at the CCC Championship meet. They also are a very young team and they have thrived having a better record than last year and even more difficult conferences. Thank you. Hi, my name is Lester Adel. Thank you for having me here to present the end of winter season. The 2024 25 season ended in the football country campaign with many accomplishments and records being achieved. Starting

078off with the girls basketball team, we saw the team reach 10 wins their season. A team mostly consisted of unpacked group veterans. The team had three allconerence players, Commander Noel, Yellow Mley, and Autumn Leo being selected along with a couple of division one offers. Autumn receives list of athletes who have reached the 1020s club. Moving on to the boys basketball team. This season we saw the king's lead with a record of eight wins with nerve-wracking moments and game winners. Seniors Xavian Tate and Jordan Chisum led the team in battle and both of them receiving the allconerence titles. Jordan's performance was highlighted when he reached number four on BB's top scores list with 966 points. The wrestling team put on a memorable campaign in the program history with an impressive record of 10 wins and three

079losses. They were the class and runner up with USA Bian being the state champion champions. They managed to be backto-back CCC solid champions and in the dominate uh season along with the state title. Senior captain was highlighted for his uh for his record of 100 wins in his period. Junior Trevan Gordama was also awarded all conference and will be performances. Moving on to the cheerleading team. Uh they became Seesaw championships for the they became Seesaw champions this year with an impressive with an impressive list of Allison Craig and Ellie being highlighted for the allconerence team. Moving on to the indoor track team with an incomplete team mostly due to injuries and most of the team being a sports. The team had a memorable campaign with the community coming together and Jeremy Mccur Royal being the

080person to make states opens with their shop and also having a better team during the road season. Good evening. My name is Kate Patterson. and I'm the vice president for the leadership council of the team in the spring. The girls lacrosse team had a 13 and3 record which is the best record in program history. They moved on to win the CCC South championship game against Mill. They unfortunately fell short in the state tournament game but they have such a good tight on the go season vary this last year. Sophomore Harper Dolphie scored her 100th career bold and sophomore Aaron Martin was had 200 sings as the allconerence goal. Boys the boys lacrosse team had a 14-2 record. Brady Bell, Jaden Glasper, Ian Reen, Connory, Jack Harley, and Brian Der were all named all conf. Ian

081Ruden, Jaden Glasper, and Brady Bell all made the 200 point. The track and field team had Lincoln Bashaw qualified for state open and discus. Jacob Rogers for javelin and the boys 4x8 which consisted of Jace closure coind Brendan Tardarelli and Johnny Casper Jacob Rogers Lincoln Bashaw and Jerry McCra are all made it to all uncommons. The record was for the girls was two wins and five losses and the boys was four wins and five losses boys and girls tennis team. The girls had a record of three wins and 13 losses and boys had a record of one win and 12 losses. And although these records are not the best, they had a good team chemistry and they had a memorable senior win. The golf team current record is eight wins and three losses. It's the

082first time they made the state tournament since 2007. They now have a record of 10 and four. And Joseph Chapman is named all conf. The softball team had 14 wins and six losses. And Haley BB, Gracie Brown, Emily Valentine, and Kren Tula all named Alcon. Emily Valentine had her 100th and she was also a D1 cadet and she was also named all state. Billy BB had 100 strikeouts. Finally, the baseball team had four wins and 16 losses. And although the team only had four wins, they saw many players step up, including freshman Sammy Casola and Elijah Emmer. And they played many games at varsity. Owen Myers was named. Thank you. Before they run away, I do just want to um acknowledge the hard work that these athletes um have put into these presentations. As you

083may have noticed, they are winter and spring athletes. Um so between their busy seasons, between their of course their work academic workload, um they entirely created these presentations with the help of the athletic coordinators, um we worked very hard even up until probably a couple hours ago to make sure that our spring season records and updates were were as up to date as possible. So they did a this was all they did a fantastic job. So thank you. Thank you very much. That was an excellent idea to have um the student leaders present. Thank you. I love that student lead. Now we are looking at our curriculum revisions. We will start with algebra 1 academic curriculum revision. Laura Lanza, are you happy you'll get a break from me over the summer? Um, so I have

084a few curriculum for you tonight. The first is algebra 1 academic. This is a 9th grade course that broadens and formalizes student knowledge of functions. We've revised the curriculum to align to Illustrative Math's updated curriculum which is version 360. Um, so some changes and shifts. We took some feedback from teachers with regards to student understanding of linear functions. Um that led us to put unit 3 back in the curriculum that allows for um some more application of linear equations through statistics. Um IM has added some checkpoints as common formative assessments. So again, teacher feedback was that there wasn't a lot of formatives leading up to the end of units. So those IM assessments will um really support that and support student learning. Um and then teachers took a look at what they currently teach, what

085the written curriculum was, and really tried to marry the two to make sure that we had that on record. All right. So a special thank you to every teacher who teaches um algebra and academic. They spent two days um rewriting the curriculum and reworking things along with the math coaches. Um it was a very reflective practice. They took a really deep dive into assessment practices and looking backwards at what they teach and what really needs to be emphasized. So I'll take questions or a motion motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. I believe we have you for intro to C.WE. Yes, you do. Okay. Um, so intro to CWE. Um, so last month I did present the career work experience 5100 course. This is

086the prerequisite to that course. It's a grades 10 through 12 offering. The vision is that students will take intro to C.WE we to gain any industry credentials needed to be eligible for an internship in their area of interest when they take CWV5100. We offer things such as OSHA certification, CPR, first aid, amongst many others. Um, we also encourage students to take CWV 5100 concurrently with a CTE course that would deeper their career exploration. So the units in this course are listed here. Um to highlight some of our shifts in the career acquisition unit, unit two, teachers um have really started to look at online platforms that people are using such as LinkedIn um to introduce students to those types of ways of putting themselves out there. Um so definitely more of an updated approach. Um,

087I think Jess even unlocked LinkedIn for our students that are in these courses so they can start to begin um, building their profiles in an appropriate way. Um, like I said, we offer OSHA and other industry credentials and the unit 5 unit um, really got a good overhaul as well with some updated worker safety laws and employment laws um, new family leave act. So, I'd like to thank Michelle Pupe and Bratben for their work on this curriculum, and I'll take questions for a motion. Second. So, motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? And you have the next one as well. Just construction technology. All right. last one till the fall. Um so construction technology curriculum revision. Um again last month I presented tools and materials. This follows in the pathway for

088that course as well. Um the teachers revamped this course so that it can be a grades 9 through 12 offering. It used to be that tools and materials was a prerequisite for this course but teachers really wanted to create multiple pathways into the construction pathway. Um so they revamped the curriculum to ensure students could be successful in this class without taking tools and materials. So the focus of this course is construction of buildings and how technology aids in designing all aspects of a building so that each component works as a whole system. The culminated project is for students to design a house and a plan for how HVAC, plumbing, electrical will fit into the framing and architecture that they choose. So, I'd like to thank Mr. Artino and Mr. Petroski for their work on this

089curriculum and I'll take any questions or motion. Sure. Um, so don't get any power. They do in unit one. They do. Yep. Unit one is measurement and safety. That's right. tools and materials used to be the prerequisite course. So, we only had u measurement and safety in that course because we wanted to make sure students could take construction technology without having taken tools and materials first. We made sure we have a short unit here with measurement and safety as well. Yep. Yeah. I believe that question came up um at our student achievement meeting for us. So you're definitely on point like that was that was I think notable. Yeah. And really we try to do the safety up front that's really necessary and then leave the rest throughout so that it's y motion has been

090made and seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor? Okay. Any oppose? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we have grades three through five math curriculum revision with Jillian Helman. Good evening, commissioners and superintendent and deputy superintendent. I am happy to um share the grades three through five math curriculum revision with you tonight. The goals of this rebration were to move over into the um IM360 as Laura was talking about as well. The team worked to update the learning targets and success criteria to support students in understanding what success looks like within each of the lessons. We also embedded the universal design for learning teacher actions. These strategies are not only good for students with um special needs but also good for all students. We added specific Connecticut English language profic proficiency standards

091to support multil- language language learners. And the final revision was to add family support materials that now include videos that families can watch at home to support their child with their instruction. These family support materials also come in nine languages so that we are reaching more of our families with those support. And the units are as follows. And a big thank you to our crew that came in over multiple days. We had Mariah Graham, Julia Darcy, Alyssa Gian, Carly, Lauren Gonzalez, Karen Hbert, Rebecca Cohan, Danielle Leup, Julie Oaks, Julia Paul, Natanya Paul Mary, Scott Rule, Cara Satalino, Melissa Zed, Kevin Taylor, Joanna Vasto, and Debbie Vitali for all of their work through this curriculum process. I will take questions or motion, please. Motion has been made and seconded. Discussion. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion

092passes. Thank you so much. Next, we have AP psychology curriculum revision with much. Good evening, commissioners. So I'm here to present the revised AP psychology curriculum to you. It was last revised in 2019. These revisions were prompted primarily by revisions to the course exams between collab and college board. They themselves were changing their course exam description based on recommendations from the American psychological association. Um so that the AP exam now lines up with their findings and what should be the intro introductory psychology. So um our goals were really just to align our system course and current practice with a biased course because they have these social knowledge board. We also took a really careful look at the casing which is always a challenge for AP because it's an AP site is really heavy. There's just

093a lot of terminology that you need to know of course. So we took a close look at that um incorporated that knowledge into success criteria and then shared the resources and coaches between two experienced teachers. One of which we was fortunate to have the training in the revised um course description last summer. So we was training that we brought that knowledge back to the course. Thanks Jer and gardener for all their work turbines that course. Um it was a good opportunity for them to get together. They both teach lots of other classes. So, it's a chance for them to put their heads together and really look at the courses and description board think about how to that outly. So, I'm happy to take any questions or motion to make psychology. Motion has been made and

094seconded. Discussion. All in favor? I okay motion passes and I believe we have you as well for law and justice indeed. So I'm excited to present to you the revised law and justice code. Um this is an existing elective that we revised and updated was last revised 2007 to have credits that propose credit requirements in humanities and social studies. Um we revised the course into four units which you can see there and justice criminal law and types of crime criminal justice process mock trial and main goals were really to align the existing course to updated social studies standards and also to align expectations to the intro to criminology that we are currently developing creative capital high schools the law and justice post is one of the most popular electives that they offer. So excited to

095be turning mantle pathway that culminates in dual enrollment credit injunction SCS. We wanted to make sure the law justice was built. Thank you. Motion has been made. Second discussion. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Now we'll move on to a textbook adoption. This is for a textbook recommendation for history of American popular music. It is a first presentation. Panda. Good evening again. Uh yes, this is a first presentation. So this is informational. Um in December uh you folks approved our history of American popular music. This is a dual enrollment course uh with Veton offering our music students some college credit. Um this is a required text for the course. So we didn't do the normal textbook review process uh because this this textbook is required for the course through Yukon. Um the

096textbook is American popular music from minstral seed to MP3. Um we're looking for 40 copies uh for a total cost of $4640. This is funded through the dual enrollment grant. So it's not coming out of the general funds. Um, just as just as a reminder, our history of popular music course. It's an introduction to popular music and diversity in America. Jazz, blues, top 40, uh, rock, hiphop, and other genres. Musicians in their music studied in the context of the 20th century and contemporary American society, emphasizing issues of race, gender, class, and existence. Um, and so this is justformational. I have copy if anybody would like to review it before next month and I'll present again uh next month for a final presentation of the adoption of this. I believe this will come up in August.

097Okay. Yes. At the next at the next board meeting. It just gives a little more time should somebody wish to get and if if you would like to review a copy just let me know. I'd be happily any question please. I thank you very much. Thank you very much. We now have policy. Our first policy revision uh is policy 5131 911 Connecticut school finance policy. I'm gonna let Joe handle this piece because she's the polic chair. So, I'd like to make a motion that the board of education policy be second. Motion has been made and seconded discussion. Thank you. Yes. Just to give out um so this policy was developed to provide districts uh guidance on the provisions. Um and it was done in um it was developed in collaboration with a uh guidance from

098the commission on women, children and seniors, equity opportunity and other members of the statewide social emotional learning and school climate collaborative. Um it is uh required to be in effect by July of and it was recommended for us to this one's rather easy because it is the language is actually mirrored from what is required of us. So um and that was something that was discussed at um policy fun. Okay. So the policy is many pages and part of the is the intention forms. So um it says that the board of education may adapt or adapt uh and that it's not required or we also adopt forms as policy. Yes. The the forms of God that they provide are highly situation. I was gonna say, go ahead. The forms are just so we do have. So

099just in my question itself that policy now every single language administrative. So it did come up in conversation and we happened to have Kith um present uh before the following committee and they ended uh contributing to our conversation. Um these forms the forms themselves from what I remember they're not uh required by law but they serve a model. Um and it was recommended by K for us to adopt the policy as is. So my point being you can adopt the policy but allow the foreign control of the administrators and still and they also control consistency across the district. So the administrators have made a change that works better than the district including the preventing societ. So I'm just bringing it up whatever anybody votes and decide but if it's for these are administrators administrator considering

100policy policy and you're willing I just need a little clarification um because what's up what like what the policy is what we're approving and what's uploaded on board but doesn't have in our hand it was in the packet and it is labeled with the policy numbers uh yeah so the policy that's uploaded on the board book doesn't have attached to it so they're so what we're approving is the policy the the the forms have the pol the corresponding policy on top so that if you wanted to reference which policy is connected to the form, you're able to do that um uh rather quickly. But so just some confirmation of the what we're what we're voting on is the policy uh revision 5131 um 911. And Jill, from your examination, those forms are not part of

101what has been presented for the policy provision of that is what I am viewing here. I would welcome a second look just it's just the thank you. Okay. Well, very good. We had a motion and oh please I'm sorry. Um, so this came from from Dave as well as from Harvard legislative as well and we're being and we're being asked to uh to them no other um engagement center um so how is it similar to policy Um yeah, so we have let's see but Okay. So the policy Just to pro to piggyback off of that, uh, the legislature had partnered or had reached out to CAVE essentially to uh, create a climate policy for all the schools in our state to be able to then review and adopt. And so the legislature reached out to

102Canadian we partnered with those other agencies that I had listed off at the beginning and they created this climate. So they were asked to do it by the legislature. At a minimum, the language that is being presented has to be adopted as it is written. And um I think what deputy superintendent was saying, Deputy Super Hawk was saying is we had most of the components of this required policy in place as a district. So I think we were doing some really great things. Um so at a minimum the way that the policy is written it was being mandated statutoily and they brought um aid in to write the policy. So we have to adopt it as it is written um at a minimum and then should there be any uh potential revisions after its implementation

103then it would come before policy if there was something that needed to be anned. So the board still as long as it doesn't change the baseline like the foundational components of the policy that we're mandated to adopt. Yes. But if there's something that we wanted to add an additional uh climate committee that meets with, you know, the superintendent, I don't know. I'm just throwing something out there that we're adding sort of in addition that doesn't change uh that sort of baseline that Yes. Is there a financial to um you know if we don't we could be out of compliance. So I would say yeah we could be in a very precarious position. Um, we already have visions about being sent. Um, I have I have a little Sure. Sure. Sure. No, I I I absolutely

104understand. It's It's one thing when we're freely doing it because we know it's in the highest good and then being told something, it kind of gives a different feeling or vibe. Um I I don't I mean we haven't redlined like looking at our policy in existence and then looking at what we're sort of mandated to implement. Um so I I don't I can't speak directly to like what those um maybe small changes would be. I mean that could be something we could look at doing um just to see what were the outliers what what part of the mandated policy didn't we have in place that we now have a new practice or you know um certain that was actually so I think going forward maybe the chair could consider making sure that practice so that

105the changes what is maybe something that wasn't compant the option just to be I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. So when we're re revising policies, the board would find it helpful to have an itemized kind of outline of what the differences are to present. Thank you for that suggestion. I appreciate it. Oh, thank Um just to also add um to kind of piggy back off of this a little bit um policy uh has also we didn't have we ran out of time in that uh committee. So we have tabled that to our next policy meeting because that corresponds with this policy and we have to go through that and make sure that both policies are aligned with one another. Um so that's a piece of this that I think is important

106to note um because it is directly related. Um CAB did they they were very clear that this policy in order to be in compliance we do need to adopt it before July 2020. And I and I do recall that when um on pre previous policy meetings, we were getting updates about this specific uh policy from Dr. Deer and he was checking with the state department of education regularly to to see when the policy was finalized so that we could adopt it. Um and so you know it does take some time for the policies to be to be written and then approved so that they can be dispensed um statewide. So, you know, I don't know if that also was sort of played into where we are now and needing to to push this through so

107that we're in compliance. Um but we were getting regular updates and um and here we are with this policy now um that we yeah it was done it was done. Um so we have we have a motion. We have a second. We had some healthy conversation and discussion about this. Uh let's let's go to a vote. All in favor? I I any opposed? Okay. Motion passes. Wonderful. We're moving on to policy 6145.6 instruction travel and exchange open. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Um, no, I couldn't hear that well. Um so uh this policy is a policy that we um had our Rotary Club really actively involved in. And this policy is to amend language in our current policy to for this school year coming up to wave the tuition requirement so that should Bristol public schools

108um want to have an exchange student, a student from another country come in and experience our amazing, wonderful district that there is the opportunity to do that. So we had um some very uh skillful conversation about this topic. We also had our our cave um members in the meeting and the you know were sharing their feedback both on policy and experientially um and so we voted this out of policy to present it before the board. I know that we do have our Rotary Club members here. I learned a lot when you presented during policy. I learned a lot about the impacts um that this program has on students and a district and creating those sort of global citizens that our teacher of the year talked about earlier today and immersing in that experience. Um so

109I I I know that you're available if there are any questions. Um but why don't we start with a motion to approve policy 6145.6 six instruction, travel and exchange programs. Um, with the uh understanding that we are for this school year removing the language that requires tuition. Okay. So, the the I'm asking for a motion. Motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion in crime. What was it used for? So from my understanding, Bristol hasn't really engaged in this um process and the tuition as it was assessed was the per pupil expenditure which uh in Bristol was around 19,000. But what we learned from our Rotary team members was in in other districts and we also learned this from our our CA representatives. No districts are paying this tuition. The idea is that it's you

110know it's an exchange that we can take a student in and a student in our district can could then um go and have the same experience in another country. So is the tuition paper so far though they're not going to be charged. Correct. That's a good question. Um are there any countries currently that are that are not allowed to participate in the exchange program that you're aware of? would you mind going up to the to the microphone? Thank you so much. And if you don't mind, you could um introduce yourself. I know that you have long-standing history with the Rotary Club. My name is Lyman Louie and I'm the district chair for the inbound students. Um and the district itself is the northern half of Connecticut and the western half Massachusetts. Um, and the specific

111question, if you'd like to repeat it. Oh, I'm happy to. Yes. The question was, are there any countries that are not allowed, if you will, to participate in the exchange program? There are 50 country, 50 zero countries that do participate in the program. In terms of of forbidden or that sort of thing, this particular program is considered the least expensive. and the safest program. Uh, and by that I mean there's a cadre of of advisors that within the ruler organization they're involved. There's an extensive examination of the host families and the host clubs themselves. U so answer to that it is not really an elimination. If you're asking from a safety standpoint, it was fair to say that 10 years ago they had a fairly good representation from Taiwan. They are not going to I

112don't know if that answers the question, but but it's really different participating. And you're carefully vetting you're carefully vetting the countries that we're releasing students to to ensure safety to ensure that the host families um have been well vetted and that it's going to be obviously a little Yeah. And there's some very very strong state departments too. So that for myself I have to take three different examinations every year for anybody that's host family anybody that's in residing in that in that house uh that's over 18 has to take exams the house is exam to make sure that it's as suitable. So we try to make it not only as safe but we'll go through we don't do fingerprinting as a lot of the teachers have to do but we do do a lot of

113reference checks and stuff like that. Does that answer the question? And one interesting one that I learned about during the presentation that I I found so interesting was you partner with a counselor as well. So this the student when they come has multiple supporters. Yes, definitely. Within the Rotary Club itself, there's obviously the president for that year. We changed presidents in July. So it's not the current president. It's next year's president. There's a Yo, youth exchange officer within the club. There is a counselor within the club. was a club member that would have if this is a girl that's coming in and so it'll be a female counselor within the club. The student is provided by the club an allowance of $100 a month. That's that's just her allowance. No money is provided to the

114host family. This is this is a unique program. And there are some very strong very good competing programs that also addition offer a stipen to those families but we we're not in that category terms of trying to define the expense to the girl coming in there's her airfare which hypothetically depending where she's coming from she comes in with a with a the ticket to come in and then an open journaler so that she can lead time. For example, if the school because of snow days or something like that runs in the week, the leaving time is adjusted. So, they pay airline ticket, they pay for an insurance policy which runs between $500 and she has to buy a blue blazer and they come adorned with all kinds of bling. Any other questions? Thank you very

115much for considering. Thank you very much. We appreciate what you do for our committee. Okay. Any further discussion? So, we have a motion. We have a second. All in favor? All right. I I Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Any new business before the board? Okay, now we have our liaison and information reports. Do we have any commissioners who would like to share a liaison report? Thank you very much. We we appreciate you. Okay, I am going to share a leazison report. And are you sure? Yes, of course. And nobody can tell me no tonight. Okay. On behalf of the 22 the 20 high school members of the state student advisory council on education and the commissioner of education and this from Bristol Eastern Bristol Eastern high schools project mental health exploration day was selected and

116recognized as a 2025 challenge to educational citizenship award statewide winner. A school plaque acknowledging this accomplishment was presented to staff and student representatives from Bristol Eastern High School on June 3rd, 2025 at the CAS CIA offices in Cheshure. Students were able to accept their plaque and give an overview of the mental health club work and exploration day and Southside school. Um Dr. Huber wanted to make mention of um there was a field day. So shout out to Mrs. Galsy and Miss Lopez for coordinating a really wonderful field day. And um my third grader guilted me into going. I had a very busy morning and his little puppy dog eyes like almost started crying when he found out nobody was going. So I had cleared my calendar for the morning. Um and it was worth it.

117And while I was there um Dr. Huber kind of pulled me aside and showed me something that I thought was exceptional. Um during field day there were stu there was a special area for students who were um neurodeiverse and um it was so shout out to Mrs. Costa, Miss Smith and Mr. Nelson for planning the first ever neurodeiverse field day and you got to peek and all the students were enjoying this this area to the side of field day um that was really more meeting their needs and um by having the second option students could navigate between both activities um in a safe and comfortable way. So that was a really fantastic event. That's all for my lesson on report Mr. Rosen, just very quick. Um, it's the it's going to be the third annual

118family funday. It's going to be on Saturday, June 21st from 11 to 2 at Bames and a rain day of the 22nd. It's organized by the Bristol Early Childhood Alliance and the School Readiness Council. It is free. It's free and it's a fun day for families with young children. With resources, games, and food trucks, the committee is still looking for sponsors and vendors. uh reach out to Maggie Adams at Bristol Childhood Development Center if you're interested. I just have some things on this. I've gone to all three and they are amazing and they've grown through and not only just seeing the kids playing together and doing all these activities. One thing that I'm passionate about is there's so many services out there and there's so many so much help out there that people have no

119idea about. at this event there's so many people that are there to help with these services and ask questions. So just the engagement me walking by and we say wow I never knew that or I never could get an answer for that I didn't know that existed here it's great and then above and beyond watching the kids make it real you know playing with each other just having a good day. Um so I recommend anybody go to this event it's a wonderful event. The other thing I'd like to say is the um early birth of early childhood wines in the school readiness council these people are but I'm leazison on to them as well and people don't I don't think they get recognized as as much as they should um because they they are passionate

120they are dedicated and that's one of their things too that they're passionate about is connecting kids and families with resources so I just wanted to give them a little shot that's thank you so much maybe you would consider um at the next school family community partnerships meeting in August coming to speak um in this area with community um supports and community based organizations and sort of get a little bit of a report on this. You can come come remotely as well. What's happening is they're merging. So there's two things coming together right now and it's kind of flux but we're all working together through this transition with budget and everything figuring out a few things. So hopefully I'll have some better answers. Maybe I get to switch the government as well. She is phenomenal. She's

121got the answers. I'll tell you. Great. So I'll circle back August or September if needed a little more time but that would be amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any commissioners who would like to share information here? Okay. Okay. Well, now we get to vote to convene into executive session. Can I have a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing a discussion concerning the superintendent's evaluation? And we will also be inviting superintendent White to the executive session. Motion has been made and seconded. Discussion motion. Yes. Um unfortunately board wasn't advised that this was going to be done. We didn't see it until the general day. This is usually something that have prepared for we also don't have that that's required but I do think that this is a very process.

122It's 920 and we were not informed that this was young. So we have a little bit of concern with it. Questions that had so I I can't speak for the chair. Um, but I will say that the notice was um distributed in alignment with guidelines. Although I can appreciate that having more advanced notice is always better when when being planned. Um, those are for public meetings. This is an executive session. The public's not allowed to. So the people that are important to be informed about the executive session. So I think it's noted that you would like to be informed with more advanced notice and I appreciate that and I can pass that along to the chair. Yeah. And this I I'm didn't get this result yesterday. Okay. Yeah. was a fair question and I think

123uh think this some better. Well, each commissioner is welcome to vote whatever way they feel most comfortable. So, we can vote to go into executive session or not. I make a motion to postone the discussion concerning the superintendent evaluation to our next. Well, we have a current motion on the floor. So, motion has been made and seconded to go into executive session. So, what we can do is we can vote and we can vote for yay or nay. And by default, if we don't vote to go into executive session, we would have to obviously reschedu at a future date for the person. I prefer that we move it forward and just vote and get it on the record because it was um scheduled to go to ex executive session tonight. So motion has been made

124and seconded. All in favor? And if we can do we can do a roll call vote. Um Susan, can we do a roll call vote? Okay. Um Commissioner Anderson. No. Commissioner Ozenowski? No. Commissioner Danton? No. Commissioner Van Gorder. No. Commissioner Simon Spiel. Commissioner Carlson. Commissioner Simmons. I'll vote. Why not? Um motion does not pass. Uh we will not go into executive session. I'd like to make motion to schedule executive session being able to do that. that during that schedule so that we don't have multiple hour meeting but however it gets scheduled and I will I will make sure that um chair ponds is well aware of all the concerns that were presented and they're very valid concerns so I will make sure that um that is conveyed so that we can have um adv enough

125advanced notice where people are comfortable and um in an agreeable time and date is as is practical and motion. So would not be able to be designed purposely. So this is timesensitive. That was a major thing. We can have a se a separate executive session even though we're not having a board meeting in July. We certainly can schedule an executive session and uh yeah. Yeah. and we'll keep we'll keep everybody on the pulse of when we're scheduling and you know work with uh our leadership to make sure that we have more advanced voters. Okay. So the last item of business is adjournment. Uh with no other business, can I get a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? I Good night.