001foreign foreign good evening everyone it's great to see a packed house here for our May 4th Board of Education meeting I will officially call this meeting to order and ask everybody to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I'm going to ask that everyone join in a moment of silence for Wilfredo Vito Hernandez who was a community outreach worker at Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central from 1998 to 2019. he was also a security guard for our Bristol adult education program from 2001 to 2003. and for Gene King mazzotti who was a teacher at multiple schools throughout the district from 1959 through 1973. thank you I will now read our meeting Norms all participants will actively participate engage in the work of the meeting and have equal voice and air time assume positive Intentions by
002respecting and honoring the diversity of opinions beliefs and perspectives cultivate trust by being honest and focusing on ideas practices and the work not people and these Norms will be upheld during all meetings and in all interactions outside of formal meetings I will turn staff and student recognition over to Dr Carbone thank you we have a a lot of fun recognitions this evening and we're going to start off first with our two finalists they're going to go to the national competition for The Invention Convention we have two students with us they are going to share with us their invention but first the coach that is helping Elijah Simmons from south side I'm sorry Emerson delaria from Edgewood Mr Fusco is going to explain what The Invention Convention is and then we're going to bring up both
003of our recipients and our awardees and they're going to share with us their how about okay so good evening yes I'm Mrs defuzco the gifted coach from Edgewood school and um first of all I would like to thank you all for having us here this evening to share the Connecticut Invention Convention finalists from Bristol Public Schools this year Miss Ferroni the gifted coach from South Side school and I we're so proud to have over 50 BPS Scholars take part from grades three through five in the invention conventions at Edgewood and South Side schools The Invention Convention is a global program that teaches students problem identification problem solving entrepreneurship and creativity skills as the students focus on everyday problems they try to come up with a solution or to fix this problem through researching and development
004of an original invention tonight's students Emma Emerson delare from Edgewood and Elijah Simmons from Southside Advanced from our school-wide competition through the state finals and will now have the opportunity to share their creativity at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan during the national Invention Convention finals which run from May 31st through June 3rd the students will enjoy a welcome celebration at the Henry Ford Museum they will spend the day the next day pitching their invention and answering questions of the judges assigned to their invention Circle award presentations will take place on the third of June so I'd like for all of us to congratulate Elijah and Emerson and wish them the best of luck on their inventions [Applause] so Emerson would you like to start fault foreign we'll temper the questions but does any
005of our commissioners have a question about Emerson's invention and just for the folks who cannot see this it is a way to protect your furniture from pushing into the radiator does anyone have a question um nope it's um aluminum metal would you guys like to go and look at at the invention in case you can't see it you certainly can because it's I already have an order in I'm going to commend you in the fact that you also thought about not scratching the floor so that's top notch we're a full full sale I think you have a couple more okay I think you have some some buyers in the house thank you so much congratulations and good luck thank you [Applause] oh can you come over by the microphone Elijah hello my name is Elijah
006Simmons and this is my invention the squirrel spinner and you might be wondering how I made it first I mean my dad we went around looking for a material to make it and then it's a dryer vent hose and I saw that it was very flexible and knew that I could use it for my invention then I covered the entire thing in electric I mean foil tape electrical tape on the bottom tricky to come a hose clamp and a ball bearing and I put the metal rods in like this that squirrel spinner could spin so Elijah is I see that you have a stuffed squirrel is there a is there a spinning opportunity of that swirl to demonstrate could you show us there are two ways [Music] and off they go and then me and
007my mom looked on the internet to see if our invention was a first made and we searched all websites everything we could find and there was not a spinning squirrel baffle and after that I knew my invention would be a plain original excellent is there the back of your shirt I think I think you have a message for us right when the when the squirrels are spinning the birds are winning okay so Commissioners do you have a question for Elijah I have one Elijah now that you know that you are a plain original are you going to now take your next steps to get a patent excellent and you could submit this as your Mastery Credit Opportunity when you're a junior in high school credit done I will I will be an investor right now
008so we have a again so we already have buyers in the house and unfortunately for those of you who know my my nickname is squirrel and I'm a little a little offended but it's okay it looks like a good ride and you have saved the birds Elijah nice nice work so Mr Fusco we're very excited for both of our inventors and we wish you the best of luck in Michigan and we can't wait to hear how things turn out so congratulations excellent work I'm moving on I forgot to mention I'm sorry that both Elijah and Emerson are in the fourth grades thank you we are moving on um I would like to invite principal wininger to recognize our next staff recognition thank you Dr Carbone Commissioners how am I supposed to follow fire safety in
009the squirrel chucker I don't know amazing work you guys can't wait to see what you do in high school I'll probably be retired by then but anyways um tonight Commissioners it's my pleasure to speak on behalf of uh coach Tamara Stafford Kirk uh for those of you who don't know she was an outstanding track and field athlete at Bristol Eastern in Campbell University in North Carolina she's made her Mark as a highly successful coach at Bristol Central uh with cross country and track and field teams uh that she's been coaching since 1998. she coached the Rams to the CIA class L cross country Championship in 2010 and has had several top three finishes in outdoor track now Bristol Eastern she was a four-year track and field athlete in class L state champion in the high
010jump in 1992 as well as a New England place winner in the hundred meters meters and high jump she still holds the CCC South Championship meet record in the high jump and lets everybody know about it at Campbell she was a four-time conference champion in high jump and broke the school record in the event as well as a coach at Bristol Central her teams had won the class L state championship in cross country as I mentioned she's had two runner-up finishes and eight 2018 2019 with her boys indoor track and field team and they were also class L runner-up in 2007. her teams have won over 50 conference championships in Cross Country indoor and outdoor track and field she's coached many individual state champions several of her relay teams have won State honors and gone
011on to qualify for the new englands and Nationals earning honors there as well four of her student athletes have gone on to become all Americans at the Collegiate level as a teacher she believes that physical activity and motivating students to take interest in their physical fitness development is one of the most important things that we can teach young people teaching students lifelong strategies to promote their health and overall well-being is what she is most passionate about and numerous students that she has taught and coached have gone on to pursue careers in PE and coaching uh on the sports Fields it's also important to note that she keeps in touch with many of her former student athletes and she also got her justice of the peace certification so that she can conduct weddings one of which
012will which will happen next Saturday for two former athletes from Bristol Central so she stays connected and influences them incredibly well so we're so proud to have her as part of our staff and certainly want to congratulate her on this amazing amazing honor hey you know you're here you should talk about the wedding I heard all about it yesterday oh yes uh Spencer Johnson and Lauren Bossy who are two former 2012 graduates are getting married next Saturday and I will be officiating so I'm super excited about that and Lauren's brother Mikey is on my team now so it's a really cool connection um I do not have anything prepared but I just want to thank everyone I really don't think I'd get this honor without the support of my community I'm a Bristol girl through
013and through I love my city I love my school I love my family which is huge because of all the years and time I've spent here so thank you very much I'm really um touched to be honored tonight thank you [Applause] and the most important fact is that Mrs Stafford Kirk will be honored as one of the 100 women of color of influence at next month's Gala so congratulations on that Statewide Ward as well so we are going to go into our student leadership awards um and we will be leading off with Bristol Central but just a little bit of background on the Connecticut Association of boards of Education student leadership award annually School administrators and teachers recommend to the Connecticut Association of school boards two students to be recognized for their leadership skills students
014honored this evening were nominated by their principals and teachers a brief biography and evidence of their leadership is included in the application and hence tonight's honor these students being recognized have shown excellence in the following areas willingness to take on challenges capability to make difficult decisions concern for others leadership within it the classroom and outside of the classroom ability to work with others willingness to commit to a project and the ability to honor a commitment this evening we will begin our Awards with principal winiger and the Bristol Central honorees sure thanks I'd like to welcome up to the podium Sydney Rodriguez who you should all recognize as our liaison to the Board of Ed and Carson Rivera so I'll begin with Sydney City serves as a recreation leader for the Bristol Parks and Recreation she's
015also served as a member of the Bristol Central climate and culture team and as a freshman ambassador she served as a elementary school orientation volunteer and volunteer at our freshman orientation and for our sophomore orientation as well as we came out of the pandemic she volunteers her time at Bristol hospital and for a Summer Music Workshop in New Britain she's received many awards and certificates including principles Commendation the honor roll the University of Maryland book award and the all dem all academic team for women's lacrosse she's been accepted at the University of North Carolina Drexel University the College of Charleston Elon George Washington University Northeastern University University of Tulsa Monmouth and High Point North Carolina she has chosen to where'd you go she has chosen to accept a full scholarship courtesy of the day of
016Pride scholarship to the University of Connecticut to pursue a degree in elementary education which I'm sure she'll come back to us with that's it all right congratulations C our second Award winner tonight is Carson Rivera Carson has volunteered as a Unified sports referee his academic honors include the honor roll scholar athlete the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame gifted and talented National Honor Society National Latin Honor Society he's also the captain of the Bristol Bristol Central boys basketball team the Bristol Central boys soccer team and the Bristol Central golf team and in all three Sports he's been honored with all academic all-conference honors not only that he serves as a Bristol Central ambassador and he's a hallway lighter upper as we'd like to say the nice thing about both Sydney and and Carson is their presence
017is felt no matter where they are in the building whether it's a classroom the crowd the cafeteria the hallways they are seen and heard for all the right reasons Carson has been accepted to the University of Maryland Penn State UConn and the University of West Virginia and he's taking his talents down south to the warmer climates of the University of South Carolina next fall where he will pursue a degree in finance so congratulations to both Carson and Sydney so when he comes in the room or passes down the hallway it's it's a compliment it's a intention for all the right reasons thank you to recognize the recipients from Bristol Eastern High School principal Higgins good evening members of the board I believe both of our award winners are attending in the virtual world tonight they
018are not here with us but it is with great pleasure that I introduced this year's to recipients of the cape award for Bristol Eastern High School first we would like to honor zunib Hassan you would be hard-pressed to find a student more involved in our schools clubs and organizations than zanibes most notably and most recently she attended the model United Nations four-day seminar with a team of our students in New York City while they literally worked on global issues and collaborated on real world solutions to the problems our planet and Global Society faces she also led many initiatives this year via her work as president of the Amnesty International Club while this club works on advocating for human rights she and the club took a special interest in raising awareness and solving the problem of
019violence in schools in April she and the club remembered the sad anniversary of Columbine by hosting an organized School demonstration that and I stress organized very organized uh that asked students to consider ways of being safe in school and to make commitments to a healthy safe way of improving our own buildings safety and school climate the rest of her resume is way too long and distinguished to State here but rest assured if there is a champion for a healthy happy Community it is her congratulations second we would also like to honor Logan Crowley Logan is a senior who is a planning to attend CCSU to run track there next year Logan 2 is a member of our model un team and he represented Us in NYC last month as part of that same team of
020dedicated Scholars he is a four-year member of our track and field team and has made all academic honors all four years of high school in fact he is one of the two recipients in our building who is recognized this year as a Cass ciac scholar as well he's a member of multiple National Honor Societies in our building and in addition to that he is a Lancer Nation Mentor who works in his senior year with our freshmen as they transition through their first year of high school never will you meet a young man as calm cool and collected as Logan congratulations to Logan Crowley on this great accomplishment [Applause] recognizing the students from Chip and tell middle school will be principal Fitzpatrick it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Kobe xenathog come on up
021Kobe and adiba Hussein come on thank you this is what their team teachers have put together to describe their participation and their influence on our chip and sell community Kobe is a student that has risen to the occasion this year academically and socially staff and fellows classmates can rely on Kobe and his leadership Kobe goes above and beyond in his coursework and supports his peers fully whenever given a task Kobe works on it to the best of his ability he even takes his coursework a step further by incorporating his own research into his work he is a genuinely kind student that has a positive impact on all his peers and teachers Kobe has worked tirelessly to be a better student to help others to work diplomatically and to be an Exemplar among his peers congratulations
022Kobe and our next student is adiva Hussein adiva has gone above and beyond this year in her studies she has shown personal growth academically socially and in serving her school and local community she takes the initiative to begin her tasks in class is the first person to volunteer to help others and takes on leadership roles in coursework this year adiva has been active member of the AVID program taking on community projects and extra coursework Avid is an additional graded course that contains projects and Community involvement and she has been a valuable asset to that program and that work that's done in our community adiva has worked tirelessly as well with her classmates and has also been a model student who has worked diplomatically and in ex is an Exemplar student as well congratulations to recognize
023the students from Northeast Middle School principal sonstrom and I think I see Mrs McCabe as well so I have the honor of introducing our first Cabe winner muktadir Chowdhury who I believe is virtual tonight so I'm going to read what the red team wrote about muktadir over the course of this school year muktadir Chaudhary has proven to be a friendly well-spoken and caring young man to teachers and fellow students alike he is well liked by his peers and respected by his instructors Mr chowdhury's work ethic has certainly contributed to endearing him to the staff in his consistency is in being prepared for class participating in a positive and consistent manner plus his diligence in completing high quality work on time are major factors in being nominated for this prestigious award muktadir appears to have an
024intrinsically motivated personality that pushes him to excel both academically and as a kind helpful and upstanding person congratulations thank you and I have the pleasure of introducing Ibraham hakan nizam as as an outstanding member of the blue team at Northeast he is a conscientious student in all areas and excels academically he participates daily in group activities and is always willing to help out a peer in need he regularly displays critical thinking skills and positively contributes to classroom discussions he is respected by his peers and his diligence and positive nature are greatly appreciated by his teachers on a personal level he greets me every morning and is the sweetest most polite student in the mornings he is a polite and he is polite and kind to everyone and he definitely leads by example we are very
025proud of hakan and know that he is has a bright future ahead of him Solutions I believe Dean Rivera is online I don't know if principal gaudette is who will be introducing the students from Green Hills yes can everyone hear me okay awesome okay so first I want to say apologize Mr gaudette is currently at an awards dinner for one of our teachers we had uh Awards both nights but I just want to say I'm here representing Green Hills School and I'm so happy to be here to honor our capes Scholars I want to First honor Donato salzillo and he is an eighth grader in our team who is a scholar athlete who puts a 100 percent into everything that he does in school Donato is always hard working and he never misses an assignment
026he works especially well as a leader in all of his small groups yes are you able to hear me okay hold on do I start over Dr Carbone should I start over okay Mrs Rivera can you hear me okay one second [Music] are you muted on your side Gina nope okay I know Zoom can hear me because they're saying yes excuse me you have it on the phone so I just want to say because I want to say a big congratulations it works especially well as a leader and all of this small groups in additional balances competitions we are so proud [Applause] States along the way s and services academic Excellence she's also a role model for her peers expectations [Applause] both outside of school and inside of school as a result we approaches winner
027foreign [Music] Alexis Alexis has shined as a student leader throughout her eighth grade year at West Bristol school she's continuously displayed a willingness to work with others in all of her classes showing her peers how to work together to achieve success Alexis is always willing to take on a challenge for example she worked hard over the summer to ensures to decrease the eighth grade algebra class so she could get ahead of her studies in high school Alexis is a reliable dependable leader for her peers that has demonstrated all the qualities necessary to be a kitty leadership award recipient Alexis has truly demonstrated what it means to be a leader of America West Bristol school and is it true is a wonderful young lady very caring Team all the students at our at our elementary level
028Andrew Pierce congratulations Alexis [Applause] the next award recipient for West Bristol is currency ex with us virtually right now uh Harrison has fourth grade person has continuously the ability to lead others throughout his eighth grade year at Westwood School he's always willing to accept the challenge and ready to work hard to achieve success the most notification with great concern for others in both uh things uh for others in both your academics and there's still emotional status for example Harrison provided his classmates and designed a Quizlet to help his peers study important topics and concepts for nearly all classroom tests and quizzes this school year it is Harrison's ability to lead care for and encourage others that make Harrison an exemplary candidate for the cave leadership award congratulations Harrison thank you on behalf of the Board
029of Education we thank and recognize all of our recipient Award winners you are true Scholars and our standouts within your school communities congratulations as Mrs Rivera had mentioned Mr glaudette was unable to join us because of our next award recipient who also cannot join us this evening but a fifth grade teacher Julia Darcy at Green Hill school has been um Chosen and selected as the Connecticut PTA or parent teacher Association teacher of the year and the recognition dinner is this evening so we want to congratulate her as she receives her award for a prestigious Connecticut Statewide honor so to her fifth graders and to her efforts congratulations [Applause] annually the Board of Education also recognizes within our own School District staff Achievement Award winner recipients a staff Achievement Award recipient is someone who goes the
030extra mile throughout all of their workings and dealings within the district today this uh this year through the Personnel committee commissioner skelanka as well as Dr Dieter have selected seven of our staff members that were going to be recognizing at a dinner on May 16th this evening some of our award winners are joining us remotely and some are in person I will be reading each of the names and we will get to know them more deeply at a dinner in May so first we would like to congratulate and recognize Danielle atencio who is a lead special education teacher at Hubble Elementary School our second recipient this year of the staff Achievement Award is Mrs Jennifer Broderick who is a guidance counselor at chippens Hill Middle School our Hubble Elementary School principal Miss Christine De Leo
031and we are also going to add that Hubble elementary school is going to be in a stiff competition on May 12th when the visiting committee from the Connecticut Association of schools comes to decide who are the who is the elementary school of the year and Hubble Elementary School is one of those recipients so good luck we wish you the best of luck to you your staff and the Hubble hounds we would also like to recognize the efforts of Mrs Lorraine Wright who is an Excel paraprofessional at Mountain View Elementary School sure as well as Rosie mastriani who is an El and Spanish teacher at Northeast Middle School [Applause] and with us personally so that we can wave and and see Ron if anyone knows what Ron sedeki does it is everything because he is the
032electrician across the city and we call on Ron for everything so congratulations Ron and just to add a little bit of drama to the visiting committee on May 9th Green Hills will also have a visiting committee from the Connecticut Association schools because they are up for the Middle School of the year and we would like to recognize Mr Kevin kamesky as a staff achievement winner the math interventionist at Green Hills and also give him the best of luck when the visiting committee comes to Green Hills foreign on behalf of the district and Board of Education we would like to acknowledge the outstanding contribution and work of our teachers administrative assistants and para Educators on April 6 schools and the district recognize the work of our para Educators as we all know the work of our
033para Educators is vital for the success of our Scholars receiving special education or related Services last week we recognized the work of our administrative assistants and their efforts to ensure our schools programs and offices run efficiently and are responsive to our parents Scholars and staff needs and this week we recognize the outstanding and tireless work of our teachers their commitment and dedication on a daily basis makes our classrooms as you can tell Innovative supportive and inviting spaces for our Scholars to learn and grow congratulations and we appreciate our teachers our administrative systems and our para educators that concludes our staff and student recognition and I would ask if it was okay with you if we give a couple of minutes so that our inventors can dismantle and get back to score see you tomorrow all
034right wonderful however this is thank you good luck [Music] foreign thank you the ram s ay I'm so excited right now it's free food all right guys I got a big reveal plan thanks tonight thank you I'll take one okay um [Laughter] thank you sir you too violation okay that has been so much fun but I do need to bring us back to business next on our agenda is the approval of minutes I will start with our April 6th regular meeting you've all received a copy of the minutes in your packet are there any corrections or abstentions hearing none may have an emotion an emotion may I have a motion to approve the April 6 regular meeting minutes has written second motion has been made in second and two times any discussion hearing none all
035in favor please say aye aye aye opposed abstentions thank you next is our April 20th special meeting again you've all received a copy of the minutes in your packet are there any corrections or abstentions okay may I have a motion to approve the April 25th regular a special meeting second motion's been made in second in any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye aye aye aye opposed thanks commissioner Barnes and abstentions thank you motion passes we'll now move on to committee reports and we will start with our finance committee commissioner tragriello yes thank you madam chair um through you the fines committee met on April 13th for our regular scheduled meeting and there was not a lot to report with respect to the fund balance the we are hovering around 130 000 and
036while that appears quite low as we have to continue through June there's an expectation that we're going to see additional revenues to the general fund and these also include two outstanding excess cost grants that have not been that were not appropriated at the time um regarding our expenses the business office continues to close open POS which are going to move our general control and maintenance plant lines are closer to budget and the only area of concern was our special education line which was over by eight hundred twenty thousand dollars that said the business office was in process of closing around 609 thousand dollars of open POS which was going to bring that overage down significantly um the last thing to report is that with respect to the cafeteria as of the meeting or SnapChat balance
037was a positive 828 thousand dollars so it continues to do very well for this year and that concludes my report thank you thank you next will be operations with commissioner Carlson thank you madam chair uh the operations committee met on Wednesday April 13th Jim Callahan shared several updates with this number one chippensville underground storage tank update location where the tank was will go was reviewed with staff and it appears it will be placed next to the generator it will be an above ground storage tank that'll save on Save on costs and actually it's available as opposed to an underground which may take 14 months Edgewood roof schematic designs were reviewed currently the plan is to include the Mechanicals to ensure that an all-in price if the estimates come in high which I'm going to warn
038people they're going to come in high there's shortages of material and there's just a lot of nasty little shocks out there we can take the Mechanicals out of that out of that project temporary repairs took place during the school break to address leaks and bonding Bristol Central High School Bristol Eastern High School culinary arts lab project there were issues with the contract negotiations Tim Callahan spoke with Jim Barrett dra in good faith Mr Barrett will Begin work they will be getting out to the schools next week to investigate existing conditions traffic study update team from benesh is still working on cost estimates they're in the early stages and have very raw costs this will continue they will continue to work on them and present to the committee next month Green Hills will be the high
039priority Northeast Middle School project update was a very successful meeting with the State Office of school constructions and grants review information was presented to the state that was well received during the meeting the boa Administration presented the planning options demographic study program and project phasing Dr Corbin Carbone talked about the educational program and how it will work in the future it will explain that this is the next step in the facilities planning Boulevard was the first Northeast as a second the state strongly recommended new construction and encouraged the Board of Education to get this project in as soon as possible that's it thank you next to cover student achievement commissioner sturgeon thank you madam chair uh we met on student achievement committee met on April 20th it was quite a lengthy meeting so I apologize
040in advance for as long as this will be but uh a lot of informational topics were discussed the first was School counseling curriculum uh resources crew resources basically social emotional learning uh that was at the request of uh myself the committee chair the administration presented information regarding the framework for crew and advisory and uh social emotional learning which is being used in the district the castle model is one of the Frameworks being used to shape the Connecticut school counseling K-12 framework um this would be it's being used here in uh in Bristol the framework was uh previously approved by a board of education in July 2021 we had several questions about the uh the items and we plan to have more discussion at Future student achievement committee meetings uh information for the Mastery credit experience
041was also discussed it's a requirement for all students in graduating class of 2023 and Beyond it's part of the state legislation that all students must earn one credit as a Mastery experience mastery-based learning has been developed to ensure that students are prepared for college career and Civic life through multiple and flexible Pathways uh informational also was a curriculum preview for Black and Latino studies which is an elective it's a new curriculum curriculum required by Connecticut public act 19-12 once the curriculum is approved Bristol Public Schools will implement the course next year as an elective at the high school level it was a non-action item so no action was taken but questions and discussion did follow information for chemistry performance graduation requirement for chemistry change for the class of 2020 the performance changes in recent years
042have been likely to impacted by increasing student enrollment and pandemic factors um again it was a non-action item questions and discussion followed we also had uh information for curriculum for modern band for Middle School modern band for high school as well um continuing with that we had uh curriculum preview for a ukulele songwriting and digital music in sixth through eighth grade for uh specifically for Baines we went on to our decision items the K-2 mathematics revision uh the revision is a transition of the K2 curriculum using illustrative mathematics as a resource it was unanimous unanimously voted to approve the revision decision was made on the curriculum revision for course local Ensemble 6 to 8th grade the revision of the curriculum is focused on skills which are applicable to any type of coral Ensemble that was
043also unanimously approved a decision was made on a revision for course vocal Ensemble 9th through 12th grade um the revision was necessary and allowed for focus on vocal skills rather than Ensemble techniques that was unanimously approved there was a decision made on a curriculum revision for digital media production this course was previously called video production the course focuses on using professional video and photo cameras and software uh the software that's used to edit it that was unanimously approved and then finally we had a curriculum revision on Advanced Digital Media production uh of course stresses the importance of teamwork through a variety of projection projects it was unanimously voted uh to be approved as well and that concludes the report thank you rounding out our committee reports policy with commissioner G Antonio good evening thank you
044madam chair uh the policy and Communications subcommittee meetings were canceled this month and in lieu of them we held a booster club workshop on April 27th during the workshop we discussed policies and procedures related to booster clubs donations gifts requests Etc during the meeting we discussed things that were going well things that were not going well and suggestions for improvements and those suggestions will be discussed at the June policy committee meeting that concludes my report thank you thank you moving on to our student representative reports from Bristol Central Sydney Rodriguez good evening board members it's nice to see everyone in person um tonight I'll be presenting to you the happenings of Bristow Central since our previous meeting in the past month we were all able to enjoy a well-deserved spring break spring break to help
045Propel us through the rest of school year since we've been back AP course teachers have been preparing their students for their exams which is started this week and will continue into next week Mia giantonia's voice to change project the healing Garden was selected to receive a twenty thousand dollar Grant from the State Department of Education to be built for students at bchs although Mother Nature hasn't been the nicest to us spring sports are off and running last night girls lacrosse sealed their place in the state tournament with an 8-4 win against Middletown making their records six one and one this is their second straight year making it to the tournament and I know the team and myself are very excited speaking of wins the boys baseball team just beat Eastern last night with a score
046of 1-0 the girls softball team is also having a successful season with a record of 7-2 the boys basketball team was honored at the state capitol on April 26th a special thank you to Senator Henry Martin for arranging the visit on April 26th we held our National Honor Society induction ceremony welcoming 56 new members and this past Saturday we had an amazingly normal Junior Prom from what I've heard and and seen in pictures it was quite an exciting night and I know the Juniors had a great time the senior grad Party Committee has been working very hard to raise money for an amazing post-graduation party at the CT Sports Center in Shelton these seniors are very excited for graduation and everything that comes with it we are currently in the midst of teacher appreciation week
047on months on Monday and Tuesday teachers were able to sign up for free chair massages clubs have been delivering treats to the teachers all week and will end the week with our annual teacher appreciate appreciation breakfast on Friday so in recognition of teacher appreciation week I personally would like to thank all of the teachers that I've had the privilege of gaining Knowledge from not only by what's in the curriculum but also how to be kind patient understanding and overall a good person specifically I would like to thank my fifth and sixth grade teacher Mr Reynolds my 10th grade teacher Mrs landro and my current physics teacher Mr Brewer not every student in their 12 years of schooling is lucky enough to have it to have had a teacher they were able to call their friend
048but I've been lucky enough to have numerous thank you thank you and now to update us on Bristol Eastern Max Stevens good evening we've had a very eventful month at Bristol Eastern as the school year draws to a close spring break brought some much needed rest amidst this exciting time this the Wednesday we got back from break behs had our very first walkout commemorating the tragedy of the Columbine shooting in 1999. this walkout was hosted by our very own behs amnesty Club taking place on April 20th all who donated were able to walk out to the turf and discuss issues such as school safety and inclusion in total the amnesty Club raised 410 I was donated to Sandy Hook promise we hope to see more events like these in the future as they have a
049great impact on our school communities creating a sense of togetherness and inclusion spring sports are in full swing as teams prepare for tournaments towards the end of the month as schedules meet their end in the past week especially there's been a lot of action if the weather cooperates there will be plenty of more in the upcoming days and weeks a b testing on started on May 2nd and will continue until May 13th students have been working hard for these and will finally get the satisfaction of completing these strenuous courses in a normal year once again this past Sunday May 1st our Junior and senior scholar athletes were recognized for their outstanding academic and athletic performance requiring at least three Varsity letters and an academic average of an A minus or higher this Friday and Saturday
050the behs drama club will put on their first normal spring production in over two years with Shrek the Musical and speaking of Saturday the school have plenty will be plenty busy in addition to Shrek musical there will also be a bottle in can drive and Mother's Day flower sale going on sponsored by the class of 2022 grad party as sats are happening that day as well and finally that same morning the student council is hosting a Red Cross Blood Tribe in memory of former behs and Chip until middle school teacher Mr Jay Vanetta the community is invited to any and all of these events seniors are senior celebrated College decision day Monday May 2nd by wearing apparel for their pledged college it was a Bittersweet day for most of them as they're preparing for a
051completely different chapter of their lives finally as we look ahead Junior and senior prom are within weeks Junior Prom is May 21st and senior prom is May 28th there's plenty of excitement as Juniors and seniors prepare for problems they weren't sure they would get at the beginning of the year that concludes my student report thank you very much and have a good night thank you students I will now move on to my chair report seeing that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week I find it fitting to take a few moments to acknowledge and thank the amazing teachers that make our district truly shine my oldest daughter is graduating high school in a few short weeks which has had me reflecting often her success and her desire to grow and push herself can be tied to
052many of the dedicated teachers that have poured into her throughout her years every child deserves a champion an adult who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best versions of themselves in the 13 years that I've been a parent of Bristol Public Schools I have seen that personified countless times and I will share with you commissioner Wilson that your daughter is one of the top teachers in my son's life still his favorite to this day I am eternally grateful and I know with certainty that I can speak on behalf of the entire board when I say that our teachers are truly awesome those who teach change the world over and over again and to that we owe our praise and that concludes my report for this evening I want to hand
053it over to Dr Carbone for her superintendent report thank you just a few other updates from around the district for our parents who have Scholars entering kindergarten this year we will hold our kindergarten orientation on May 26th each School site will be contacting our incoming kindergarten parents and they will receive detailed information about this evening as mentioned Bristol Central High School successfully held their prom this past Friday later in May the senior prom at Bristol Central and the Junior and senior prom at behs will be held we will make home test kits available for all families for both before and after each event to ensure we reduce the likelihood for the increase of covid-19 because we are going to finish the year with all of our programs moving along as scheduled and lastly for those
054who are interested in a vaccination clinic we will be offering clinics on May 11th and May 25th respectively updates on our reimagining BPS 2022 and in particular our Bristol arts and Innovation Magnet School our fifth Lottery poll occurred earlier this week currently we have 254 middle schoolers already slated to go to the school we only have 22 open seats for middle school and we have over 140 students at the secondary level who will be attending classes our open house dates and tours will be solidified a little further out into May when we have our certificate of occupancy date locked in and really the big news tonight and I would like to invite Mrs McCabe and I know Dr sarley's online as well as Molly Daigle up to the microphone because we have a mascot we
055do so thank you Dr Carbone and good evening again Commissioners it has certainly been a very exciting time as we get closer and closer to the opening of Bristol arts and Innovation magnet school so I wanted to tell you about our mascot um just prior to April vacation Dr sarley Who we mentioned is virtual this evening contacted all students who will be attending bames next year and requested submissions for a new mascot that would incorporate our school colors of black and gold we had about two dozen submissions which were then narrowed down to two choices by our Baines founding faculty and those choices were then sent back out to incoming Bain students to vote on their choice and so it's my great pleasure to introduce the artist who created our mascot and have her reveal
056that mascot Bristol Central Junior and future Bame student Molly Daigle thank you um my name is Molly Daigle I am a junior at Bristol Central High School and will be attending Baines next year for some of my High School elections for my senior year when presented with the opportunity to design a mascot for a brand new magnet school I was extremely excited and honored with the possibility to have my work represent future generations of vain machines I wanted to make sure that what I designed represented the strength the resilience and of course the creativity of our current and many future generations of famous students to come and with that I would like to reveal our mascot [Applause] meet the babes bears it represents all of the things that you said Molly and more and the
057fact that it is drawn by a future student to be part of our history is just phenomenal and we thank you for your artistic talent because that is great and as we know there's been a couple bear sightings in Bristol lately very timely Molly [Applause] that concludes my report thank you Dr Carbone we can now move on to the consent agenda may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes items ha1 through 8a9 second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion through the chair who has made that motion commissioners hearing no discussion all in favor please say aye aye opposed abstentions thank you next we'll move on to public comment Mrs Ms Everett is there any public comment is there anything online okay so before we do the live
058public comment is there anybody online that wishes to speak at this time no okay thank you I will first read the rules for public comment everyone is requested to address the chair for recognition each speaker must State his name and address all speakers must observe rules of common etiquette personalities are not to be injected anyone violating this rule will be denied the floor each speaker shall limit his or her remarks to three minutes the speaker will not be recognized for a second time on the same topic written statements and materials may be made available in advance of comments for distribution to board members and with that I will call up our first Speaker Tom Burrell Tom Barrow of 498 East Road Madam chair and board members thank you for this opportunity to speak and to
059let everyone know where my wife and I are coming from she's going to speak after me we are bible-believing Christians as such We Are Men mandated by Christ Jesus to love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us we are also mandated to stand against what God calls evil in doing so we incur all kinds of condemnation from the progressive religion all the accusations of the social justice inquisitors that are seeking to divorce our culture from God and religion in standing for traditional Family Values we have been called racist homophobes transphobes bifolds white supremacists etc etc etc but whatever you call us either in your mind or with your tongue you will not incite us to return the hatred you feel for us because we put God first in
060our lives and we love our neighbor as ourselves we are so happy to be free from hate and we only wish that for our enemies but we'd like to recommend here tonight to the board is that they follow the new city Administration policy of not flying the lesbian gay bisexual transsexual queer intersexual asexual flag this June from the flagpole in front of this building that Banner does not represent the liberation of sexual orientation that Banner represents a radical gender ideology that is out of control destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of children through transgenderism throughout our country that Banner represents state-sanctioned enforcement of teaching gender fluidity to K through 12 behind the backs of parents that Banner represents a culture that encourages drag queen story hours for toddlers in the words of one gay
061political action group it represents the destruction of the oppression of the heterosexual Norms which means the destruction of the nuclear family that flag does not represent inclusivity it represents the oppression and the extinction of traditional Family Values please change the policy to only flying the American flag state flag and Bristol flag thank you next Deborah Barrel Madam chair and what board members my name is Deborah Barrow 490 East Road part of the celebration of gay pride month is the singing of a gay anthem it's called a message from the gay community it's very easy to find online the words go you think that we'll corrupt your kids if our agenda goes unchecked funny just this once you're correct well convert your children happens bit by bit quietly and subtly and you barely notice it quietly
062and subtly is right a Common Core Curriculum and social emotional learning SEL curriculum that is included in every subject and every grade level is quietly and subtly brainwashing our children into a radical socialist gender ideology designed to destroy traditional family life here's how Penn State University education department describes SEL remember they are talking about children here with increased awareness of systems that perpetuate unconscious bias ableism white supremacy comes the opportunity to dismantle rebuild and restore our Collective Humanity I'd like to eat that again with increased awareness of systems that perpetuate unconscious bias in children ableism in children white supremacy and children comes the opportunity to dismantle rebuild and restore our Collective Humanity unquote they are talking about social engineering children leading them into a radical socialist gender ideology these are not their children they are
063our children the lgp lgbtqia flag is part of this agenda can we be so blind so stupid as to let a fly flag over our Board of Education building please adopt the same policy our city council is and only fly the American flag the state flag and the Bristol City flag remember whether we believe it or not we are all made in the image of God and one day we'll all give an account what we have done with our lives thank you so much thank you that concludes public comment next on our agenda are deliberated items and our district leadership team reports first for arnem's new building conceptual design approval Tim Callahan good evening everyone I'm here tonight to talk about a motion that we want to put forward um we uh commissioner Carlson talked
064about it we're in a unique environment now for bidding projects and seeing costs escalate um we are talking about a motion to uh the the building committee has requested that we move forward with the project for 89 million dollars and asked us to bring it forward to the board we've also introduced us to to the city uh and let them know that we have an increase um and that is part of our increase to our Capital Improvement plan uh the project numbers were at um 70 uh 75 000 for 75 million four hundred thousand um they have escalated to 89 million um these issues have to do with uh the cost of escalation which is at probably an all-time high typically we work in around a three percent margin now we're looking at seven and
065a half percent so this is what we're anticipating for the cost uh the cost of the building so there's a motion here I don't know if the chair would like to read that or you'd like me to read that to move forward so we can move forward the project with the current scope this project will be a brand new building uh right next to the existing uh existing building that will be used to swing space and then we'll we'll create and build the new building so it'll allow us to occupy that space and then we'll finish the demolition I believe on the next slide we do have a site plan book but we probably should read the motion and I'll flip you to the to the slide I'll read the motion thank you the Board
066of Education approves conceptual design of the Northeast Middle School for new construction with a total gross square footage of 130 000 square feet consent and a conceptual estimate estimate of 89 million 68 962 dollars and go forward to the city council to take any action as necessary we'll have a second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion through the chair can we see the next slide so we can see he has it right up there thank you so this indicates uh that the concept that was selected to move forward we're well on our way with schematic design this is a new freestanding building that will be built outside the footprint of the existing building uh we'll be putting in a new access road and parking in the front of that building if
067you can see that there I think next time I'll bring more slides if you'd like that Dr Carbone to show the plans where we are with those and some of the other things that we've developed in terms of Ed specs but I thought this was a good a good place to introduce this we have in this uh scheme the ability to increase the fields also to increase the parking and to move the building off to the edge of the site so we can have more space uh internally to do all those things we need to do any questions Sam yes is that soccer field where the existing building is now I'm just trying to get it yeah yes are there any other comments or questions before we move to a roll call I should note
068that there's um the access road the current uh road that they come in in and out on is going to change and we're gonna have a gate on that so we're gonna have access on One Direction most most of the time we'll be able to control again outside access to that school a little better I have another question what's the reimbursement for this um the reimbursement for this and I'll talk a little bit about that is 50 55 um that we are eligible for 59.2 percent but a number of things become ineligible so we anticipate about five percent of the cost being ineligible uh those are things that are off the site uh those are things that are considered uh repair rather than replacement so it's a whole language that we deal with uh up
069at uh ocgr so the cost implications for this is the city share for this change in the cost is about 6.4 million I've already talked to Diane Waldron review the cost implications and our bonding situation there so they're quite aware of this we obviously reviewed it with a capital Improvement plan uh the total difference between the total project costs is uh 13.7 in the total project cost and the city's going to come up with 41 million dollars yes I have just one um Tim could you either uh subsequent to this meeting or if you I don't know if you have it now can you provides the schedule that the that they provide you with material changes to this contract meaning where the increases were the most material I certainly can we have a detail of
070that we actually looked at three schemes one was a smaller project that did meet our program requirements came in on budget um the project that we wanted and then a renovation status but we don't qualify for a renovation status so we have that all in detail from our construction manager be happy to share it thanks just just to note Renovations this was actually going to be slightly more yeah the renovation was 94 million total and that meant we we and we lost Fields site uh and we had to also do it in a longer time period phase project so I always call it the uh upholstering and chair wire sitting in it so we would have had to keep the existing building a lot of it that building is in in rough shape uh rough
071shape right now uh and and the state has really encouraged us to go ahead and build new I mean it's a kind of a rare stance but uh they're coming out to take a look at it they've seen a lot of the stuff our existing conditions reports that we shared with them so they're they're uh they're aware that this building is in dire need and are encouraging us to get this up there as soon as possible again to avoid cost escalation more I'm just prior to the vote I don't have a question but I just want to make a comment that um this board and previous board before it and even one more board before that have spent a lot of time energy and effort looking at our conceptual plans for the redistricting for the
072buildings for incorporating mbiams we have spent hours and hours going through some of these plans and suggestions for um creating a brand new nems in order to be one piece of a larger puzzle that helps us attain the goals that we're all here to work for it is very unfortunate that at this one point in time that we're fighting historic inflation that has now affected these plans um and that I agree is a hard thing to try to uh um address with the public because of the price tag that's associated with it but I'm here tonight to say that the work and the conceptual design and the decision to go with a new Northeast Middle School is something that I still agree with and I just wish it didn't happen right now uh and I
073wish we weren't encountering these issues but if we have agreement from the city um it still has my support tonight thank you any comments no Ms Everett may I have a roll call vote please commissioner Carlson yes commissioner G Antonio yes commissioner ponds yes commissioner scalanka yes commissioner sturgeon no for Chicago yes commissioner vibbert yes commissioner Wilson yes yes motion passes thank you next to discuss authorized signatory resolutions for the bristol board of education Dr Carbone with the recent hiring of Lynn boysport and the departure of Jill we do need uh the board to authorize Lynn as the signatory so this evening we're asking for your recommended motion to be voted in so that Lynn can be effect as effective on May 23rd to sign contracts transmit all of our financial um payments on behalf
074of the board and so that would go into effect Jill will also be on um part of the Bristol Public School System until May 27th okay I'll read I'll read motion the Board of Education resolves that Lynn boys Director of Finance is hereby authorized to sign contracts financial transmittals and payments on behalf of the Board of Education effective May 23 2022 unless other otherwise ordered by the Board of Education commissioners motion's been made in seconded is there any discussion I just have a question for the chair sure is she here officially on the 23rd correct oh okay any other questions or comments as Everett may I have a roll call vote commissioner Carlson yes commissioner giantonio yes commissioner ponds yes Mr sablanca yes commissioner sturgeon yes commissioner tagarello yes commissioner Ribert yes commissioner Wilson yes
075chair duby yes motion passage unanimously thank you next to discuss a Peru trip for April 2023 a Lesh Accord hello good evening Commissioners I'm excited to be able to once again ask for you to approve international travel for our students um as you know the World Language department has been working hard to focus on the goals of building real world Proficiency in the use of languages and fostering cultural connections we were happy to award students to sealed by Literacy for the first time last year we look forward to awarding the skill to even more students this year but there is no more meaningful or authentic preparation for those goals than the kind of linguistic and cultural immersion that students experience when actually visiting a foreign country Andrea shock and Claudia Lanza are eager to offer
076this opportunity to their students so I'll have Michelle come up and speak to the details of the trip and answer any more specific questions that you may have thank you Mr Ward good evening everyone hope that you're well to our esteemed members of the Board of Education members of our Administration teachers parents and visitors who are present tonight we would like to offer our most sincere vote of thanks it has been three years since we have been able to provide opportunities for travel abroad for our students we are gratified to feel that the long drought might finally be ending as Educators we have always been deeply committed to offering these opportunities to our students there is simply no substitute for the experience of stepping onto the streets of another country thousands of miles from your
077home and gradually watching that land transform from a place foreign to us into a second home full of new experiences new people New Opportunities and new ways of communicating I am joined tonight by Melissa Barrett who is here to speak on behalf of our tour company explorica and we'll answer any questions in a little while or concerns that you may have with you this evening I have the privilege also of introducing you to this 2023 April school trip to Peru from the opening welcome excuse me from the opening welcome of Lima to the Grandeur of Cusco The Mystery of the Sacred Valley and the Majesty of Machu Picchu Peru is a country filled with truly unique sites and experiences I tell my students if there's one place in the world that I can take you
078this would be it this is a 10-day trip starting one day before April break 2023 the dates of the trip are April 6th through the 15th the proposed itinerary will allow travels one day of adjustment before starting school again on Monday April 17th we are proposing this trip through explorica a company we have used in the past which has now joined forces with World strides both companies continue to enhance Scholars life experiences through travel with more than 400 000 participants yearly and have over 50 years of experience along with a sterling reputation for boosting student confidence elevating World language skills and instilling a lifelong love of travel the trip is called Peruvian Incan Adventure I believe you have all had a chance to review the itinerary we land in Lima to start our tour with
079the gold Museum and other sites related to the to Peru Spanish heritage from there we fly to Cusco in the sacred Valley of the Incas we will finally step into the unforgettable steps and realm of Machu Picchu we will take our highest elevation to Lake Titicaca and the floating urosh islands the total cost of this trip is 3 500 it includes a travel Protection Plus plan which uh is pretty all-encompassing and I will let Melissa add some details um if questions arise it includes our round-trip airfare of course all three meals every day all of our lodging a full-time bilingual professional tour with us all the entrance to all the attractions that we will see a tour diary that they do online for everybody now so the parents feel as connected as they can with
080us they take a big picture every day and make certain that everybody sees the highlight of our day and we have local guides and uh you know all the buses and transportation is all set up in country so um ask me anything we're so excited to be able to be doing this again even though it's just a year away or we're gonna try the chair I just want to thank number one our staff and I say this every time somebody comes before this board and asks to take our students abroad the level of commitment and um courage it takes to still provide these opportunities for our students is commendable especially during you know a lot of stressful times and the fact that the staff is willing to take our students to give them these incredible
081experiences I traveled when I was in high school it was one of my most favorite memories and I'm glad that there's still staff that's willing to do this for our own students thank you all very much do you have any other questions I know before it be in behind the scenes there were a lot of questions about covid and the what-ifs so that's why I brought her here because she knows all the details of the program that we have paid into and we just wanted to ensure that everybody had a comfortability with what we were proposing found the answer somewhere I know that the other opportunities have um other class trips set up something for the students to be able to um uh create sort of a savings plan for themselves throughout it so I'm
082assuming you're structuring something like that for them as well so we have something similar we do have individual fundraising Pages for students and they can use that however they want to if they want to just send the link out to all of their family and friends and say hey instead of sending me you know 25 bucks for Christmas this year how about you send it send me to Peru instead for example we found that we have a lot of great success we did actually just have a student from a different School in Illinois that raised three thousand dollars for her trip and she didn't know that she was going to be able to go on it without it so she was able to fundraise the entire 100 of the thirty thousand dollar trip so it
083is possible we have seen it done in the past and we will continue to see it done in the future you guys have any coping questions please ask me I like I said we're ready I think we're covered it out behind this table so I mean I totally understand that thanks so if no one has any other questions or concerns meh we've had a lot of students go already this year and that's a really recurrent theme that I've been hearing from my teachers when they come back is that they just feel there's everything from being able to understand what it's like to be on the opposite side of you you speak English you speak a little bit of Spanish they know now what it's like to be on that opposite side in Peru or in
084Spain or something like that and it's really opened a lot of their eyes to kind of some of the struggles that people who don't necessarily speak the best English so that really stood out to me as a comment that I really love to hear is that these students just come back with a better understanding of the world both that they live in and the world around them through the chair I'd like to recommend a motion that the Board of Education approves the April 2023 trip to Peru by Bristol Eastern High School pending submission of all required documentation to the principal and superintendent second motion's been made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye aye aye opposed abstentions unanimously passed have fun thank you thank you very much next
085on our agenda are curriculum revisions oh you're I'm sorry you're right the special services leadership team report Dr Culkin glad to be with you to provide you with an update of enrollment regarding our students who served by the special services department here in Bristol as of April 13th of 2022 21.09 percent of our total Bristol student population which is 1703 students out of 8074 students are identified as students requiring and receiving special education programming during the month of March 12.19 of newly registering students were identified as students with special needs at their time of registration during the month of March there were no students who newly enrolled in Bristol Public Schools who were receiving their programs and services through out-of-district special education school programs as of April 1st 2022 122 of our 1703 identified students
086required out of District placement and special education school programs 71 students required special education programming and services at other Public Schools such as magnet schools these numbers reflected no change in the total overall number of students attending private out-of-district placements or receiving special education services at Public School placements compared to the months prior I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about this piece of my enrollment update I just have a question about the risk assessment yes and we have more information for you this evening actually okay okay so each month I do provide you with a number of risk assessments conducted this evening Amy Martino supervisor of special services is going to share with you an overview of how when and why student risk assessments are conducted in Bristol Public Schools Mrs Martino
087has served as the district's trainer for staff who conduct risk assessments for several years and is prepared to share with you information regarding that process this evening and if you're ready I'll turn it over to Mrs Martino great thank you thank you Dr Culkin good evening Madam chair and Commissioners one of the many roles that Educators hold is to ensure the safety of our Scholars ensuring safety requires that any verbal threat or physical action both implicitly or explicitly exhibited that would suggest harm to oneself or another is examined that interventions are implemented and that there is a system in place to ensure prevention risk assessments are completed for any individual who engages in behavior that implies harm these behaviors can manifest themselves in a variety of ways such as verbal comments writings drawings gestures and
088in social media posts as we have seen over the past few years a risk assessment in and of itself is intended to identify the level of risk in order for the team to best recommend appropriate interventions so what exactly is a risk assessment Ben I think that's what we're really here to understand a risk assessment generally is a series of questions that are geared towards identifying the following is there any past or current ideation or thinking of harm from the individual are there previous or current plans of acting on that harm to oneself or towards others is there a means to act out any type of plan that might have been in one's mind what is the immediacy of that plan are there preventative factors for the individual or other life factors or stressors that
089one hadn't been considered yet and then lastly what are the systems that are in place that are both preventative supportive or impacting such as family stressors family positive factors counseling services and community supports next slide please the staff who complete risk assessments within our school districts include clinical psychologists School psychologists and our social workers it is common for our clinical staff as part of their preparation training to have experience with completing risk assessments however all of our new highly Stout our hired staff by Bristol Public Schools is trained using our system and our procedures each year a refresher training is provided to our staff and all of our newly hired administrators and social emotional learning staff are provided with an overview so that their verse in the services and interventions that we offer from our
090clinical staff next slide as you can see here one of the most important factors is identifying the level of risk upon the completion of the risk assessment the level of the risk is immediately determined and implementation of supports or emergency services are implemented immediately above or just a few of the supports that could be considered depending on the level of the risk each student's unique circumstances might require a different level of support and the degree of school and outside Services very much so depend on the level of risk as well as each student's circumstances as the school team Works to support our Scholars we ensure that the individual is supported using a holistic approach depending on what the student is needing most is where we put our interventions a wraparound approach has been shown to
091reduce repeat individual cases and overall improved outcomes for our Scholars prevention is also built into our SEL curriculum as a means to support Scholars with developing pro-social behaviors healthy habits and coping skills to Aid our student body in developing solutions to intense feelings and situations thank you for your time if any of the Commissioners would like additional details I'd be more than happy to schedule a time with you and are there any questions for tonight my question was centering around we get the number of risk assessments and considering the climate that has been going on we're noticing a trend that it's not unique to Bristol um out of those risk the number that we get those risk assessments I'd like a better understanding perhaps as we move forward about maybe on a percentage basis or
092whatever the the leadership teams feel is appropriate of how many of those result in a medium or high risk determination because that in turn impacts the interventions and the re-entry pieces and we want to make sure that if we are identifying more and more medium and high risk that we have the appropriate um number of Staff in place to be able to support the level of intervention that's needed for those Scholars and I'd I'll leave it up to the team to be able to identify that for us for the board our data could definitely identify the number of cases that warrant 211 or 9-1-1 calls versus is the ones that we could identify sort supports right within our buildings so we could support that thank you that would be very helpful any other questions the
093only other question I have but I think it's back to Dr Culkin was there was um an allocation in the budget um the request this year for a dean of special services and I was just wondering if there was an update on the hiring of that staff member we have not posted that position because the budget isn't approved all the way through the process so once we have that from the city then we'll post so is the expectation for the next school year correct okay thank you all right thank you thank you we'll now move on to curriculum revisions first we're going to discuss our K-2 math curriculum this will be a second reading Julian Roman um good evening Madam chair and Commissioners the K2 math curriculum revision was reviewed by the student achievement committee
094on April 20th we moved it forward to the full board for your approval the curriculum addresses the current Connecticut common core standards and focus on the big areas you see here I would like to thank our elementary math coaches Joanna Vastola Scott rule Debbie Vitale Sarah kulig Tanya palmeri and Kara sadolino for all of their hard work and dedication to their process if there aren't any questions I would ask for a motion to approve the K-2 math curriculum revisions still moved second motion has been made and seconded any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye aye aye aye opposed abstentions thank you thank you very much next to discuss black and Latino studies which was a first reading Mr Ward well again um so I'm here to talk to you a little bit
095today about The Blacklist Latino studies course this is the first reading so I'll present some information that we discussed at the student achievement committee meeting and then take any questions that you may have um so this course as commissioner sturgeon explained is uh came about as a result of Connecticut public act 1912 which was passed in 2019 which charged uh cert the state educational resource center with developing the coordinating curriculum development of this course and offering professional learning it requires that this course be offered in all Connecticut High Schools starting the year 2022 and 2023. um Circ random number of surveys and focus groups of students teachers and community members to identify common themes including the desire for a deeper study of inequities a better understanding of varied backgrounds more connections to local contexts and
096a focus on positive portrayals and accomplishments of African-Americans and Latinos throughout American history the course that you see in front of you was developed with those goals and themes in mind it's organized into two semesters the first being a focus on black African-American history history the second one being a focus on Puerto Rican and Latino studies the first semester is organized chronologically the second or second semester is organized thematically so the main focus of this course and some of the main differences like I said are to explore some of the topics that students will have encountered previously in their studies with a different lens a different focus and a slightly more depth with a focus on the history of race um and racism and stories of resistance resilience and um encourage so any questions that
097you may have I'm happy to entertain this time I do uh through the chair yeah do we have a comment uh you know looking at what's in this in this course I'd like to see included a food element cooking element into this if you're going to look at culture and history and stuff like that certainly food might work its way in we might be in nice little additions you know so we're spending a million dollars on the new kitchens at both high schools to see them put to use maybe get a chef to prepare you know those cultural meals and visiting chef from a restaurant you know let me know well it's that's you know that's why that's what I want you know it wasn't that long though oh thank you can Karen put her
098microphone on Susan just did because Susan saves all of us um I'm very excited that this is happening I almost think it should be two separate courses one on black studies and one on Latino studies if this is long overdue education is wonderful it's not that long ago that there was well no it's not that long ago it's still happening but that there was much worse oppression happening and educating this generation on facts and Truth hopefully going forward there will be less prejudice and discrimination we can learn a lot from our youngsters anyone else have any questions yes I have a Content related questions comments um I know it hasn't been too long since we had our meeting in discussing this I don't know have you had a chance to look into some of the
099primary source quality of those materials yeah yeah I think you're talking about the can I get statues that were a little difficult to read so I did a little bit of looking um and wasn't myself able to find like a cleaner version that you could expand but I know there's a network of teachers throughout the state that are teaching this course there's uh professional kind of networking opportunities offered so I'm sure that I'm sure that we'll be able to find like copies that are pleasurable and useful yeah great thank you is there somewhere we're going to be able to see what exactly we're going to be teaching other than what it says right there yeah so the the curriculum provided by Circ is 300 something pages long and it kind of it like the statutes
100that Mr tabriano is referencing or come from a lesson that's identified in that curriculum will you be sharing that with us so that's linked into the curriculum that you have for approval okay perfect thank you anyone else have any questions or comments I know this is just a first reading so thank you very much Mr Ward next to discuss modern band for middle and high school Carly Fortin foreign Commissioners I'm here for Mr Bagley who is fulfilling one of his final obligations from his former position which is conducting the pit Orchestra for the Bristol Eastern musical production of Shrek and tonight's their final dress rehearsal so he would have normally been here to present I'll be presenting on his behalf so the first curriculum we're presenting tonight is the exploratory curriculum for instrumental music in
101grades six through eight at beams the exploratory curriculum for instrumental music centers on Modern band the sixth grade modern band exploratory curriculum is broken into three units which are the fundamental instruments in any modern band as you can see students will first learn guitar followed by keyboard and at the end of the semester they'll be learning percussion as a tool to understand the drum set any one of these instruments on their own can take years to master so the course is designed to teach the foundational skills of proper holding and playing technique with basic music literacy an example of this is found in the guitar unit where the learning targets range from I can hold my guitar and proper play position to I can identify the difference between a C and G chord and perform
102a two chord pattern song with these in seventh grade students are reviewing some instruments the same instruments that they saw in sixth grade to learn a greater level of proficiency this can be seen in the learning Target I Can Read tablature music and perform a song using tablature on my guitar and bass this is the next level up in terms of Music literacy and performance additionally each unit builds to the final unit of hip-hop where students learn the basics of how to rhyme words in a comprehensive line the final unit truly ties in the learning from sixth grade that is expanded upon here in seventh grade where students create a composition that utilizes all of the instruments and skills in one final culminating project in the final year of eighth grade modern band students again
103are learning at a higher proficiency level to perform the instruments they've been learning since sixth grade for example unit 4 on strong on song structure is one in which students learn the components that make up a song introverse course and Hook students will demonstrate their learning on song structure in a project-based unit in which students will collaborate with one another to create their own original song using all the instruments that they've learned in their prior years students will also analyze and evaluate their own and other songs and performances this is a first reading so if you have any questions in the intervening month they should be directed to Mr Bagley through the chair a quick question will there be instant instruments provided for those who don't have their own yes it's part of the um
104ffne and the materials needed to implement our curriculum at beams then we have the next modern band for high school the next item on the agenda this is also a first read along the same principles of modern band from middle school high school students at beams do not need to have any previous experience playing an instrument to take this course so there is no prerequisite and students will learn half will earn half a credit by taking High School modern band and thinking ahead to Future years of students who will matriculate from beams into this course the first unit of the course is an expedited unit for students to learn the basics of guitar bass keyboard and the drum set the proficiency expectation is increased for this High School course as seen in the learning targets
105of I can perform chord progressions on guitar space and keyboard as well as I can explain basic song structures unit 2 is titled Master as students will collaborate with the group members to perform basic songs and Advance into performing song covers and original songs on chosen instruments unit 3 is fittingly titled final as the students are tasked with an exciting culminating project they will collaborate with one another to create a budget for their band record a song and perform it to the class this opportunity will give students a feel of what it is like to be a professional or aspiring band and Performing group again it's a first read you'll be voting for approval of the next month's Board of Education meeting questions or comments so we've just reviewed the exploratory courses for instrumental music
106at beams now I can introduce the exploratory courses for voice the exploratory courses for voice music at Bristol Ames include ukulele digital music and songwriting the sixth grade exploratory course for vocal Ensemble centers on ukulele it's broken down into four units so that students can learn the basics of ukulele and accompany themselves while they sing The Learning targets found in unit one are the very basics of ukulele including I can demonstrate how to properly hold tune and play open string on the ukulele the course also introduces students to the music literacy aspect of playing the ukulele and Performing the c major scale and skips associated with that scale ultimately by the end of the exploratory course students will perform on the ukulele while singing simple melodies in seventh grade students experience digital music within the
107music Mac Lab at bames there are just two units as each unit is rather large and encompasses complex ideas for example standard notation what standard notation is and chord basics of major and minor Triads the second unit teaches students the form of current songs and students are expected to analyze example music for lyrics and lyrical structure which scaffolds into their own creation of lyrics regarding a topic for which they are passionate and the final unit students will work directly within a notation or songwriting software to create their own piece with a Verse Chorus and Bridge as well as lyrics and four chord progressions that repeat to create the refrain in their music this course is even more exciting as it serves as a taste of what the high school level of songwriting will be again
108that's a first read as a new course that's going to be offered for students with that and ukuleles will be provided okay so then the next two yes I'm speaking faster than the clicking I think one more ahead no worries uh the next course is a revision so this would be up for a vote tonight uh the current sixth grade six through eight chorus curriculum was approved prior to the adoption of the national Court Arts standards in 2014 thus necessity necessitating a revision for this evening the grades six through eight and nine through twelve minutes here sorry a curricula were revised at the same time so middle school and high school and one full committee was revised which brings our curricula in chorus into greater alignment supporting students as they progress through each grade grades
109six through eight and grade 9 through 12 chorus will be presented as two separate items here tonight we'd like to thank the teachers who served on the curriculum revision committee Danielle abusowitz Michael kodair David Nelson and Liza Siegel the shift of this curriculum was powerful since we moved from our curriculum that was focused on Ensemble specific techniques to a focus on skills that are critical to any type of Choral Ensemble these 15 units intentionally build upon one another and as students progress through the grade levels the rigor is increased based on music selection and complexity in each subsequent level this revision was presented to the student achievement Committee in April who recommended it to the full board for approval this evening at this time I could answer any questions for it or I can request
110a motion for approval second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye aye aye aye opposed extensions thank you thank you and then finally Grade 9 through 12 chorus or vocal Ensemble the High School chorus as I just mentioned was revised as part of the 6 through 12 curricular revision for chorus as with middle school the high school curriculum was revised to centered more on skill development rather than specific Ensemble techniques because of this shift this curriculum will also be used for beams as the vocal Ensemble curriculum students at Bristol arts and Innovation Magnet School have the option of taking this course as a semester while our Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern students will take the course of Chorus for the entire school year this
111flexibility at Bristol Ames allows for some of our students who are interested in voice to take other courses such as musical theater in the spring at Bristol Ames while the unit titles are the same as what you've seen in the Middle School curriculum at the high school level as students are introduced to these Concepts they're introduced with level three music and original pieces of Mozart for example that increase the complexity and understandings of Music literacy and performance and again this curriculum was presented by Dr Surly to the student achievement Committee in April who recommended it here tonight to the full board for approval so moved I was waiting for you to ask for the motion yes sorry second all right motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none all in favor
112please say aye aye aye opposed extensions thank you thank you very much next up to discuss digital media production Dr reckenberg good evening commissioners before I begin I have to thank Michael LeClaire and John Horan on their dedication to this work and this curriculum document they're both passionate about digital media and it's chosen their work digital media production is a course revision the previous course was titled video production this is a first level course that focuses on using professional video and photo cameras and the software used to edit media edit the media produced there are five units in this course the first one introduction to digital media Concepts two fundamental camera techniques three basic editing four phases of digital media production and five Advanced editing and I'm happy to take any questions or a motion
113to approve this revision make a motion to approve the digital media production curriculum second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye aye aye opposed bye abstentions thank you next we have Advanced Digital Media production also a second reading again I have to thank Michael Claire and John Horan for their hard work on this revision prior to the revision this course was called television production the advanced digital production course stresses the importance of a production crew thus requiring teamwork among our Scholars through a variety of production projects students will experience the duties of key positions within the television Studio from pre-production to post-production student will participate in a variety of production roles including scriptwriter storyboard designer performer anchor camera operator floor manager audio director teleprompter
114technical director I'm gonna stop this Advanced course will focus on both studio and field production techniques students will have the opportunity to develop a TV production and post-production techniques students will be expected to assist with the TV production of the community in school events field assignments may require providing own transportation this class incorporates current technology used in television Production Studios and there are five units in this course the first is Introduction to television production two live video switcher and streaming applications three Advanced Audio operations four Advanced camera techniques and five Advanced lighting techniques at this time I'm happy to answer any questions or take a motion to approve this revision make a motion to approve the Advanced Digital Media production curriculum revision second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion hearing none
115all in favor please say aye aye aye aye thank you hi opposed extensions next on the agenda is new business is there any new business that needs to come before the board hearing none we will move on to building reports and first to discuss MBI AMS Dr Dieter thank you madam chair good evening Commissioners our project at Bristol Ames progresses in Earnest toward our June 1st substantially completed temporary certificate of occupancy date this past month those of you familiar with the site have likely noticed the exterior site work is progressing we've had final elevation site work and we're making preparations for Paving plantings in the outdoor Amphitheater are also emerging if you've passed by at night you may have been lucky enough to still a glance through the windows of some of the new finishes
116and fixtures in the theater and library media spaces and as we reported earlier there's been many inquiries from alumni groups and interested parties regarding tours or access to the site at this time we anticipate expanding tours in Access in late June or early July with formal open house and opening ceremonies details to follow at a later date as I've been talking we've been cycling through pictures this is the Outdoor Amphitheater that frames the main entrance in the view to the right the view to the left is the elevation uh scene off of South Street can we go back through Mrs Daley cool uh the image on the left is the downstairs uh Coral room we have uh you can see the duct work in there as well as acoustical panels and acoustical panels that incorporate
117lighting the image to the right is the uh from the ground from the main floor of the theater in the apparatus above us is a bar that will in the future hang lighting and other audio visual equipment and you can begin to see some of the other sconces and other fixtures emerging in that image this next group of images is the dressing room uh We've a lot of people seem to be fans of the perimeter lighting mirrors but those are in the dressing area and then the area to the right is preparation in the gallery walk through area if we walk through there now we now have tile in that space this was some leveling and other functions going on before the tile was set uh two very exciting spaces that are coming together uh
118the image on the left here is our kitchen uh all the commercial equipment is in uh and we are making connections and anticipate moving toward a health inspection and testing of equipment uh sometime in the next couple of weeks the image to the right is the maple flooring hardwood flooring strip flooring in the gymnasium and that's a equipment that is uh doing the final sanding we are anticipate striping and other activities will occur uh sometime next week in that space and then once that's complete we will fit the entire perimeter of that gymnasium with uh padding that's consistent with the black and gold themes of the school these images here the image to the left is a teacher work room that will also have table and copiers and other spaces for our teachers to collaborate
119or take a break and the image to the right is the solid surface installation that is in the secure main lobby just adjacent to the main entrance of the building and I think it might that's it we're back uh back at the top so I'm happy to take any questions that you may have through the chair I have a question Dr can you go back to that staff room you got to change the doors that would bother me they open at the wall on the refrigerator thank you for pointing that out commissioner we will follow up at the building site I was just wondering if we're going to make sure that before he actually graduates and goes to UConn that the dunk Master Donovan klingen tests out those basketball hoops in the gymnasium we may
120be able to arrange that however a tour of the lower level may find some restrictions as we do have some limited headspace in that in that area so yes thank you Dr Dieter and next to discuss a multitude of updates is Tim Callahan yes thank you very much um we uh did a good presentation on the Chairman's uh presentation uh and uh we covered a lot of stuff tonight so I'm going to make this quick and take it to questions um we're we're progressing along with South Side there are uh a couple of things that needs still need to be done we're going to be doing our change over to air conditioning we're hoping that will happen in late May when it gets warm enough uh so we're gonna have to do our testing and
121balancing after that we're also um upgrading a uh area around a a unit for a catwalk for uh safety issues those two things will be done uh shortly we're hoping to do the catwalk during the summer not to disturb the kids so that that's ongoing any questions next I've pretty much covered a lot of the stuff that I was going to do here Northeast Middle School is going going uh along well um you will be coming back to this board with um more detailed information in regards to planning Ed specs estimates which you'll need to approve for us to submit to the state in June so um we'll be providing you more detail tonight we just wanted to make sure we get the finances in line next or sorry any questions Edgewood School we've completed
122probably um 90 of the CD documents we're working through the estimating right now uh and we're also going to be pricing the mechanical work on the top of the building as an alternate so it can either stay in or come out of the project if we have number issues any questions uh in good faith uh dra has started work on this uh we met with them uh a week and a half ago um they picked up drawings we reviewed plans we went through all that that information uh they're concerned currently putting existing condition documentations together so we understand where the mechanical electrical Plumbing is in those spaces and we're going to do a site visit on the ninth to start the schematic design and kind of talk about the layout uh layout of the the
123plans and where we can put stuff based on what the existing conditions allow us to do any questions Sr funds we're uh we're looking at um going out for an RFP for engineers uh and uh that I can give you the dates here don't have them memorized the RFP is complete uh through the purchasing department um we're looking at issuing that on the 16th of of May uh and the submission will be due back in in early June uh to get that roll and so we'll be selecting an engineer to get kick off the process and start the start to work on those those both projects it's uh um in that case we are looking at chippens Hill as a primary and Hubble is a secondary project for those those two any questions thanks thank
124you next on our agenda are our liaison and information reports and this month Commissioners that are liaison elementary schools are able to give their reports I will start to my left commissioners Mr sturgeon uh yeah reporting on uh IB Drive um the first graders have been learning about measurements during math they were very fortunate to have as was already brought up are soon to be Yukon Superstar Donovan klingen visit the school uh the students had a Hands-On real-life experience with him they were able to measure his shoe and his height you using unifix codes they had some pretty good pictures of him uh out there with the kids uh Ivy dry students are also taking on new leadership roles at the school during the Spring parent teacher conferences students in second and fifth grades piloted
125a student-led conference where they developed portfolios featuring their best work and shared their strengths weaknesses and progress with their families they've also taken the lead during monthly uh Pride Town meetings they're now facilitating and running assemblies every month April's meeting was about diversity fifth graders with the support from the first graders I love the fact that they're helping each other there created flipgrid videos about how they Define diversity and why it's important an important part of school Community May's meeting will be hosted by the third graders and will feature principal Gomes being duct taped to a wall which is also a PTA fundraiser um and and lastly the new sensory room is entering its final stages of development as we know culture City partnered with the school and designing the room it features a yogibo
126bean bags bubble wall multi-sensory activity panels a nanoleaf and custom art piece art piece featuring The Ivy Drive Dragon mascot so finishing touches are happening on that now they hope to have it open to students soon that's awesome anyone on this side of the table here go ahead anybody else I don't want to you can go ahead um I visited South Side recently I try to get there once a month um and I had a very interesting time there Dr Huber has lots of events for families to come in and this one was a social emotional type event and we started all together and then went in smaller groups to different rooms uh the event Incorporated a lot of Mark brackett's ruler and some other activities it was amazing to watch some of these little
127kids we talked about how kids can get very excited and out of control and we all learned the kids knew them these activities to easily calm down it was really interesting to be there I had a great time I can't wait to go back and I he also shared with me some very interesting and phenomenal information about our young scholars there in kindergarten currently one hundred percent of our students are within or above grade level learning in Lexia also in kindergarten in our unit 4 fundations assessment they exceeded the goal their goal of 93 of their students scoring at above proficiency in grade one unit 5 reading assessment on characters study we exceeded our goal of 80 percent grade two are Unit 13 foundations assessment 88 of grade two students support proficient or higher grade
128three on the most recent math IAB are third graders exceeded their goal of 75 percent at or above proficiency and they saw 91 percent of those kids achieving success grade four on the most recent Ela research 73.5 of the students scored proficient or higher and lastly grade 5 on their most recent Ela assessment on informational research the fifth graders exceeded their goal of 67 percent at or above proficiency they saw a two and a half percent of Awesome Kids scoring at above proficiency that no they saw 70 72.5 percent um Dr Huber did ask me to extend an invitation to any Commissioners who would like to go and what he walks around the school with you you go into classrooms and see what's going on It's a Wonderful learning opportunity as a commissioner and he
129sincerely expressed an invitation to any of you just send him an email call them up whatever he'd love to have you there wonderful thank you I will be presenting on back on Monday May 1st the Bex students helped to kick off the Senior Olympics by marching and carrying the opening ceremony torches next week they will be having a family fun tie-dye night and they are very much looking forward to that they continue to work hard every day with our foundations and bridges curriculum to prepare all of the littlest learners for kindergarten councilwoman lusitani do you have anything that you'd like to share No thank you okay with nothing further before the board I will now adjourn this meeting thank you