Board of Education Meeting - May 5, 2026

001Good evening everyone. We are calling to order the West Harford Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting. It's Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, 700 p.m. Um I want to just say I the vice chair Latoya Yagalof and chairing this meeting. Um, our chair Shannon Maramone wasn't able to make it due to personal reasons. Um, so we will start with our roll call. >> Miss Maramman, Miss Yagalof >> present, >> Mr. Gagnan >> here, >> Miss Hers >> here, >> Mr. Weiner, >> present, >> Miss Bleach >> here, >> Mr. Goldman >> here, >> Kayla Jaw >> here, >> and Conrad Kauki >> here. >> Kayla, will you loosen the pledge? Thanks. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America >> and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

002God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. And so we are actually going to start our meeting with the superintendent's presentation. the superintendent uh will do a presentation of the finalist for the West Harford Board of Education Teacher of the Year. >> Thank you very much. And u I'm standing for this so that I can greet our teacher of the year finalists. So this evening um I have the amazing privilege to recognize and celebrate our three teacher of the year finalists who are in alphabetical order by last name uh Miss Mary Beth Hixon of Morley Elementary School, Miss Elizabeth Plof of Duffy Elementary and Miss Kathy Woods of Aken Elementary. So I am beyond proud congratulating these three amazing amazing educators. They are they are just incredible representatives of a a talented

003pool of dedicated teachers who work tirelessly to prepare and inspire every child every day. And I applaud the selection of these three phenomenal professionals whom I want and I want to compliment and thank the teacher of the year committee for their commitment and hard work. This effort, our teacher of the year program is coordinated entirely by teachers for teachers and it represents a shining example of the dedication, appreciation and collaboration that exists in our school. And I cannot think, I said this upstairs, of a more fitting day than today, National Teacher Appreciation Day, to welcome these sterling representatives of our amazing professional education staff to our board of education and publicly acknowledge the incredible work that you do every day. The caring efforts and giving of yourselves that you pour into our student body is

004an investment in our collective future. The dividends returned can be seen in the vibrant climate and culture of this community and the countless ways that students show and sometimes do not always show their appreciation. So for me, the executive team, our board of education, to each and every one of you, I say thank you. You make a real difference. So, what I'm going to do now is I'm going to read a short biography of each of the finalists and then I will ask them to come forward and I will present them with a plaque from the board of education um and an opportunity for a quick photo. And again, alphabetical order, no no uh no knowledge, no hints. Mary Beth Hixon. Mary Bethan is an 11-year veteran of the West Harford public schools with service

005as a reading specialist and also as an elementary classroom teacher. Mary Beth currently makes magic happen every day for morally kindergarteners where she inspires a love of learning, a love of reading, and the development of character and shared values. She is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University having earned a Bachelor of Arts in early childhood and elementary education and also a graduate of St. Joseph's University where she earned a master's specializing in elementary reading and language arts. She continued her professional education earning her certification as a literacy specialist through the advanced alternative preparation program from Alberta's Magnus College. She is an act she is active in professional learnings and advocacy for educational innovation securing grants and resources in support of little libraries and play-based learning in early childhood classrooms. Mary Beth's colleagues remarked about

006her dedication in the importance she places on keeping students at the center. Her principal Ryan Clearary shared, "Mary Beth is the living embodiment of the student first decision-making idea. She is one of the most compassionate and dedicated advocates for children that I have ever worked with." That advocacy is paired with a passion for speaking up for what she feels is best. I'm told that Mary Beth is not afraid to express her feelings, whether related to the monthly brunch, the kindergarten SST process, or anything else. And building administration knows explicitly where she stands. That's a strength. Mary Beth is active in the community, extending her commitment to service above self well beyond the classroom. She is a coach for Girls on the Run, a nonprofit community-based empowerment program that teaches essential life skills through lessons that

007blend physical activities with life skill development. In addition, she volunteers with the Crosby Fund for Haitian education, supporting students in Haiti through scholarship and fundraising. Finally, she mo promotes lifelong learning through participation in such events as the CRE open choice book tasting promoting inclusive education through picture books. She gives back even when on vacation and you may see her sipping chowder at a meeting of the Eastam Cape Cod community group. Mary Beth, thank you for always exemplifying the heart and the dedication of a teacher. Thank and please come forward. Elizabeth Plof. Elizabeth's resume boasts 27 years of teaching or education related experience having served in more than a a third of her tenure with West Hartford Public Schools. Her depth of experience logs service in early education, alternative educational programming, sheltered English immersion programs, and

008other specialized settings across at least five different states. I believe Elizabeth wisely settled in West Harford as a special educator in 2017 and has experience at both Norfelt and Bugby, but she traded in her fins and her wings for dragon scales to proudly join our den of special educators at Duffy Elementary. Elizabeth earned her Bachelor of Arts and Human Development from KBY College and a dual masters of science in special education and childhood education from Brooklyn College. Elizabeth has carried her volunteer spirit with her across every setting in which she finds herself. Over the years, she has given of her time in support of efforts such as America Reads, America Counts, the Head Start program, school-based environmental projects, and many more. Here in Connecticut, she has been active serving in multiple leadership roles in Hartford's

009Noah Webster School to include as a mini grants manager in support of innovative educational opportunities for Hartford youth as well as being a Girl Scout troop leader for a local troop. In the Girl Scout spirit, Elizabeth has always been prepared to give of her time and herself to support children through educational activities and character enrichment. Elizabeth is an al is also an active member of the professional educational community. She is a frequent presenter at workshops, parent programs, and professional learning opportunities within the school. She has mentored early career teachers and presented as a panelist in support of learning opportunities related to students with exceptional needs. Her colleagues describe her as the secret sauce to instructional strategies. and her principal, Miss Lavy, describes Elizabeth's command of current research and her ability to translate that knowledge into

010meaningful individualized instruction as transformational relative to outcomes for students. Her students describe her as making them as making them feel safe, building their confidence, and giving them exactly what they need to learn and grow. Elizabeth, thank you for living the Duffy promise through your demonstration of compassion for others and your gentle and healthy respect for all learners. Please come forward. There she is. Kathy Woods. Kathy Woods of Aken Elementary is a wise choice and swoops in as our third teacher of the year finalist. Kathy has devoted the majority of her career in education here in West Harford, serving the district since 2008. She began as a teaching assistant at Brayburn Elementary after relocating from North Carolina where she worked two years as a sixth grade upper elementary school teacher. Kathy worked across a variety of

011schools in different roles, landing back at Aken in 2018, where she has excelled as a first grade teacher. Kathy earned her undergraduate degree, a bachelor's in education from Wake Forest University, North Carolina, and a master's of education with a concentration in reading and language arts from St. Joseph's right here in West Hartford. Kathy is an active and visible presence in the school community and throughout the district. She has served as a homework center coordinator and volunteer. She dedicated 20 years of service on a variety of West Hartford PTO's as her kids came up through the district, both as a volunteer and PTO leader. She dedicated six years with the foundation for West Hartford public schools, two of which she served as a board member. She is active in the EDC, our equity and diversity council,

012and I see her frequently where she offers me sage counsel as a member of the superintendent advisory committee. Aken staff always know where to find her in the morning reheating her Starbucks coffee. Kathy also has a longstanding connection to the department and children of children and families as a licensed foster parent. In recognition of her incredible dedication and contributions to community and youth, Kathy was recognized as the West Harford Educator Association's Citizen of the Year in 2010. Kathy has a range of interests and is known to have a green thumb. Speaking on her strengths as principal uh her strengths, principal my remarked, "Kathy brings first grade to life with the same care and patience she gives to her beloved garden, planting seeds of curiosity, watering them with encouragement and somehow getting every little learner to

013bloom in their own unique way. Having lived in seven different states, she's basically a walking social studies lesson full of stories, perspectives, and the kind of adaptability that makes even the wiggliest first graders feel right at home. Whether she's nurturing young readers or the latest batch of flowers, Kathy proves that with the right mix of sunshine, structure, and a great sense of humor, anything can grow. Kathy, thank you for sewing the seeds of inspiration among all those with whom you touch, students, families, and colleagues alike. Please come to be recognized. our teacher of the year finalist. One big round of applause for all three of them. Congratulations to all of the finalists. Um, and also happy I was going to wait till the end of the meeting to say this, but I think this is

014a perfect time to say happy teacher appreciation day and week and month and year. Um, because the work that you do is constant and we really value you. Um, it is really this is a it's always been a challenging time to be an educator, but this is a uniquely challenging time to be in the field of education. and um to see the way that y'all show up with smiles on your faces and there's so much passion and love and support for our kids and community. Can't thank you enough. So, thank you. We appreciate you. We value you. All right, so we're going to move on to public comments. And so, um public comments, you have three minutes per person. Um and people commenting on the agenda items will be permitted to comment first. We don't

015respond. That's just part of our own policy. Um, and when it's time for you to start landing the plane, I'll just go like this. So, we have one person, Ryan Carstead. Am I Did I pronounce that correctly? Ryan Carstead. >> Yes. >> Okay. Awesome. All right. Come on, Ryan. So, just come up and just uh state your town of residence and Yep. Yep. Right there. Thank you. Good afternoon, board. Um, my name is Ryan. I'm a resident of West Hartford and a proud parent of a seven and 15year-old. Um, my family left our support system. We moved across the country to the best school district we could find and afford. Ultimately, I was educated in a poor rural district in Texas about 30 years ago. And to some extent, I'm a little shocked at the

016quality of education my oldest is receiving. um with regards at least to technology usage in schools. My oldest child's mental health has suffered. His grades have fallen dramatically due to his access to these addictive platforms like YouTube on school networks. None of these websites are accessible in my home. His screen usage is limited and monitored while at home. He chooses to skip school to skip clubs in favor of more screen time. He also skipped eating lunch in order to access the internet during his lunch break. So far, the Hall administration has simply given me the runaround rather than implement any guard rails or restrictions on his access. The same request was met with amazing support by the administration with Smith STEM for my youngest kidd. My youngest has already seen a positive shift in their

017behavior at school with these small adjustments. The impacts of access to addictive platforms on a developing brain are significant. It is linked to increased social isolation, decreased mental health, and a lack of critical thinking skills. Since his int since the introduction of Chromebooks, academic scores across the US have dropped. We are falling behind. The screenbased education that our district has chosen is not serving our future generations. And at the same time, ad revenue during weekdays for Google has increased since Chromebook usage began in schools. The over reliance on Chromebooks as a babysitter for kids and a lack of hiring of teachers has been detrimental to our kids development. Often my oldest will spend an entire period in the cafeteria because there's no substitute teachers available. This feels unacceptable to me. Money is being spent on

018technology and Chromebooks that should be relocated for our teachers. We are putting more money into big tech companies rather than our local communities. There is no reason our children should have access to AI, social media, or video streaming services while at school. These platforms have been shown to cause more harm than good over and over again. Big tech does not have our kids' best interests in mind. Only the parents and our great teachers do. Um, thank you for your time. Thank you. And that's all we have signed up. Is there anyone else who would like to give a public comment? Anyone else who'd like to give public comment? All right, moving right along. So, we're going to hear from our students. Kayla, would you like to go first? Awesome. >> Good evening. Here's an update

019on recent events and upcoming activities at Hull High School. Hall students are currently in the middle of advanced placement exams which runs from this week into the next. A large number of our students are participating and taking the opportunity to engage in this college college level coursework across a wide range of subjects. Looking ahead this week is junior prom which takes place on Saturday, May 9th from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville. Meanwhile, in the arts, it has been a busy and successful season. Hall's coral program recently held its cabaret performance, and the theater department performed its spring play picnic, which had a fantastic production. Earlier, students participated in the West Hartford Musical Theater Awards, which celebrated theater across the middle and high school, high schools in the district. As

020we move further into spring sports, senior nights have begun for various teams such as boys and girls lacrosse with more celebrations scheduled in the coming weeks. Tomorrow, students from Hall and Connor will be recognized at National Signing Day at the town hall. This event celebrates students who are pursuing careers in the trades after graduation and during the event, the first scholarships from the Elmwood Community Church will be awarded. In addition, Hall recently hosted its Hall Connor first responders baseball game on April 27th. In this event, Hall represented the West Hartford Police Department while Connor represented the West Hartford Fire Department. Hall came away with a win and it was great to honor our first responders. I also want to recognize an important achievement within the Hall community. Our principal, Miss Isacs, has been named the

0212026 outstanding firstear principal by the Connecticut Association of Schools. I've seen firsthand I've seen firsthand her dedication towards listening to student voice, improving the school culture, and the overall positive impact she's had on our community. Lastly, happy teacher appreciation week. We want to thank all our teachers and educators for the work they do each and every day to support students. We also thank the hall PTO for helping to recognize and celebrate these dedicated professionals. And thank you. That was so it was so good. I just had to clap again. Yeah, those updates were awesome. Kayla, looking forward to hearing your Conrad. >> Hello everybody and happy May. Um, we also want to say good luck to all our students taking AP exams in the next two weeks. Uh, your hard work and preparation will pay

022off as you take this advanced coursework. Um, the thespians will be holding their inductions and theater awards on May 8th in the black black box at 6:30. Congratulations to all these amazing actors who are recognized. Junior prom and senior prom are coming up quick in the next few weeks. Junior prom will be on May 15th while senior prom will be on the uh on May 22nd. Celestian Camarada will hold a concert on May 17th with a performance at 3 at St. James Episcopal Church. The solo choir will hold a performance at 7. Please come out and support our talented musicians and singers. Uh last Wednesday, Connard welcomed uh the West Hartford Police Department, West Hartford Fire Department, and AMR for a mock crash demonstration. Thank you to all who who participated in this important safety

023awareness event. I'm also very excited to announce that Unified Theater had their performances last Thursday and Friday. The sense of community was amazing and so many people came to see our actors. Also, spring sports are um right in the middle right now with Connor softball, Connor girls and boys tennis, girls golf, uh boys baseball, and then boys volleyball all having games in the next few days. Um we hope we win all those. Thank you for listening to Connor's updates. >> Yeah, she got me this time. >> Yeah, thank you. Well, those are all great updates and um I know that y'all must be really excited about coming to the finish line high school. Yeah. And and big plans for the future. So, I know we'll get into that later, but yeah, it's it's great. All

024right. So, next we have unfinished business um revise new policies second and final reading. So recommendation um a motion by Marian Bleach, Latoya Yagalof, and Jason Gagnen that the board of education accept and approve as a second and final reading the following revised and new policies which were reviewed by the board policy subcommittee. Um should I just do start with the 4,000 series and then five or just go all the way? >> It's your call. I was going to combine if if we need a refresher. Um I'm happy to do that if you guys just want to vote. Um, but I would certainly want to at least combine the uh 4011 and 5691 if that's possible. >> Okay. Yeah, then I'll just go straight through. Yeah. So, personnel series 4000 policy 411 revised prohibition of

025sex discrimination including sex-based harassment policy 40 485 revised use of social media by employees. Policy 4340 new reports of suspected abuse or neglect of children or reports of sexual assault of students by school employees. Student series 5000 policy 5610 sorry 5,610 revised administration of student medications in schools. Policy 5,691 revised prohibition of sex discrimination including sex-based harassment. Is there a motion? So >> move second. All right, good. Um, so just a quick overview again for policy 4011 and 5691. That's just updating um based on the um federal court decision to invalidate the 2024 Title 9. So that'll put us in um to update those policies so that we're following them. So I don't know if you want to vote on those two or do you want me to just keep going? question. >> So, I

026already know the answer, but I'm going to ask it anyways. This is just cosmetic type stuff, >> correct? Well, it's cosmetic to go back to what was essentially before there were some significant changes made um for the 2025. Remember, they had to go back to what was previously done. So, we did a lot of updating to follow those new guidelines and now that all got appealed and Yeah. >> Thank you. All right. So, I guess motion to vote and it's on policy 4011, 4085, and 4340. >> So, I would do 4011 and 5691. >> Okay. All right. So, all in favor of uh policy 4,1 and 5,691 say I. >> I. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. >> Um, so 4,080, if you remember, we looked at just changing some of that to to align

027with what our sort of what's listed online to to that. And then really just again, I think it embodies um our role to try to, you know, balance respect for individual expression while also maintaining a safe, focused, and effective learning environment. And just that's 4,085 under the new numbering. >> They're all They're all >> Yeah, they're all moved. So, we just need to vote on them. Um Yeah. Should we do them all separate? Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. Um all those in favor of policy 485 revised say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Motion passes. um 4340. So again, in consultation with Shipman, they told us that we really should have a policy. Um so we created a personnel version of what we already had, a student one, and so this will mirror

028what was 5680. It's just now on the personnel side. >> All right. All those in favor of policy 4340, say I. >> Any opposed? >> Right. And last but not least, 5610. So, this just aligns with some of the um changes that were allowing us to use the most appropriate and current medical tools to respond to student emergencies. I also know that at our last meeting, Miriam had asked um for clarification. So, I wasn't able to get it into the print, but I did hear back from Shipman, and we will make the adjustments. So, we'll be able to add um I think it was physicians assistant um to I think it was C1 and C2. So when that gets posted online, that'll be there. >> All right. Awesome. You want to say Oh, all right.

029Um All right. So, all those in favor of 5610 say I. >> I. Any oppose? All right. Motion passes. Thanks. Okay. So, new business. So, we have uh 2026 2027 budget revision. A recommendation that the board of education adopt a revised 2026 20227 budget of 226,56,566 and begin the process of identifying potential reductions in the amount of 700,000 to the previously adopted 2026 2027 board of education budget. Is there a motion? >> Reluctantly moved. >> Second. >> Reluctantly seconded it. >> All right. Thanks. >> All right. So I will introduce this. So um this motion and the intent is um to really as as you see how the motion is worded to really begin a discussion and provide opportunities uh to to address the need for the current need for a $700,000 cut. So, just

030to refresh the board and the public listening at home, at the April 20th meeting of the town council, um the board of education budget was cut by an additional 700,000 uh bringing the total reduction of the West Hartford budget uh that you sent forward down by $2,46,755 to a to a budget of $226,156,566. And the council's hopes uh were that the board of education will be able to accomplish that cut without really increasing class sizes or um or laying off teachers which um you know as I have shared uh is something that we agree with um and and but it is a it is a tall order. What's happened since that time quite interestingly is the state has uh not yet passed but uh published information about an increase to educational budget uh to the

031educational cost sharing roughly in the amount of um uh $170 million that will go to towns and municipalities. And um West Harford uh would appear to be receiving roughly $2.8 8 million in supplemental educational aid as well as an additional $392,000 in municipal aid. That's that's totally separate from uh the educational budget. Now, the state's actions are are pending approval this week. Um and then it's going to take some time for our town council to sort things out. Um but the hope is that uh we can have some conversations here this evening um in the event that we do need to make some cuts um in as much as $700,000. Um and uh should that happen then really the conversations that emerge from this evening would help to inform recommendations that we would uh put

032into place onto the May 19th budget and hopefully uh be able to kind of close the books on next year's budget at that meeting. So, so that's an introduction as to kind of what's there and uh the team is assembled uh just really between myself and them uh to to be helpful and responsive to any questions. Um I thoroughly recognize that this is ground uh that probably none of us necessarily want to walk. Um and and the goals here remain to to be able to identify courses of action um if we need to take them that um make the best out of a difficult situation budget-wise. Um, and certainly understand I want to I want to give all credit and and respect to our town council that have done amazing work to um to really

033look at the budget as a whole and to be able to provide uh the best and most responsible budget that they can uh to keep taxes down here in the district. So with that introduction, I'll I'll yield the floor back to you and u engage in any conversation. Jason. >> So, so just as kind of I understand, you know, what this recommendation is and what we're doing tonight is really this is our charge to you and your team to, you know, find the best ways to make these cuts and to present us with some options on the 19th. Is that fair? >> Absolutely correct. >> And then second, just going back to you mentioned the potential additional state funding. Can you explain how that works at $2.8 million? Where does that go? You know, does

034it come to us? Does it come to the town just what are the dynamics there? >> Absolutely. So um and in truth I was having a conversation at the there was a meeting today of the Harford area superintendent advisory um and many area superintendents were asking that question. I was asking that question. And I brought um I brought some language uh from the amended Senate bill number one uh to look at that specifically to have an understanding and I've also you know done some engagement with um uh Lisa Hammersley of the Connecticut State School Finance Project and I I've had multiple conversations with our town manager uh in the last 48 hours and and he's talking to council to have that understanding because it presents presents itself in an interesting way in the um statement

035of the law that that makes it difficult. Is this money is this money? When it was originally sort of being talked about by the West Harford delegation and I had conversations with them, it was said that this is going to be essentially like um the ECS money, educational cost sharing. That money goes directly to the town and the town would have uh decision-making authority over how it is made. the language of uh substitute Senate Bill One provides some ambiguity as to whether or not that is uh that is the case or is this a grant? Um and when I when I sort of pulled superintendent's understanding of that today in the Harford area group, I had about half the group that said, "Yeah, we had the same question. We think that's board of ed." And

036we had about half the group that said, "No, that money's going directly to the town." Um so I think that's that's part of the reason why we're going to wait until the 19th. Um there's also some uh in truth if you know in full transparency there's there's a couple of typos in Senate Bill one uh there was something that said the money was going to come into this fiscal year which is not accurate. The money is actually for next or school budget year. The money is uh not going to be added to anyone's books to to try to be spent in the next two months. It's going to actually be next year's money. Uh, but there are some there are some typos in that Senate bill that need to be re fixed before before it

037kind of hits print becomes law. So, um, so that's that's a long-winded way of saying not really sure on that, but uh, gonna get back to you. >> What I'm hearing is one way or the other 2.8 million is coming off of the town's overall budget that includes our budget. >> So, the town will get 2.8 million. However, um the town did already um make presumptions about an increase in um ECS funding that was you know town stays in close communication with our delegation and uh I believe in in my last review of their budget they were anticipating roughly 1.2 million to be coming in. So so they are ahead of the game in that regard. Uh but but it's not a it's not 2.8 million above and beyond, but it's it's good for the

038town. At the end of the day, we're all we're all happy uh that there there appears to be some um some financial relief. >> Jen, um thank you for that. That's very helpful. Um my question um or interest I guess is about this $700,000 number. Um, you know, I've heard a lot of discussions and I'm hoping you can shed some light for me and um for others about, you know, why uh I guess you can't say why, but like what what caused I guess the this discussion about whether it's the town money or the school money and there's this $700,000 that like the board borrowed from the town or something and now we have to give it back as kind of like the dialogue. blog that's circulating and I'm having a hard time explaining it

039when asked. So, I am hoping you can help me out here a bit. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, um in some of the initial conversations, it would it would certainly appear that the town council was hopeful that they would be able to achieve a reduction in what I had presented as my recommended budget to all of you. uh roughly in the amount of two $2 million that that that apparently was uh kind of the target number that they were looking for. Um and I know that when we came together and we looked at those reductions, the board identified um $1.3 million in in cuts and there was $700,000 remaining. And what's that $700,000 also is the amount of money that the board of education had in excess in the previous year. And that the reason we

040had such a sizable excess was because uh as as many of you will recall in very late in the game just like very late in the game this year the state legislature is doing amazing things for us but of course their calendar and our and our budget calendar don't align. So very late in the game um budget game for us the state provided a bailout for districts related to excess cost reimbursement and that was very fortunate for us. It enabled um it enabled a uh an endofear surplus. Um and we had the conversation and made the decision and in consultation with folks at the town, you know, apprised them of the fact that given all the volatility and all the unknowns with excess cost reimbursement, we wanted to put that money into a non-lapsing account.

041And a non-lapsing account um basically allows boards of education and towns, they have the same thing, to be able to carry money over from one fiscal year to the other. Um what's new is that boards of education previously didn't have that um ability to do that all on their own. They had u previously that had only been a function of uh the town council or the board of you know finance depending on how different how different districts are set up. Um, but we we we were able to do that and certainly we communicated with the town about our intent to do that and uh it made good fiscal sense and then really through the amazing work of Melissa Cavalero and the special education team uh we've been able to keep uh kind of a a

042tight lid on um our expenses as they relate to out of district placement. Uh her team has done amazing work to bring folks back to the district. Um, and we this year uh announced very publicly that we anticipated uh a savings overall. We were we were anticipating a surplus of roughly $600,000. Um, and we made the uh prudent financial decision to amortize that savings over a multipleear period in order to uh lower the board of education's budget for the next 3 to 5 years. um and and dedicated those funds specifically to the risk fund which which relates to the insurance costs and and that's obviously been skyriting skyrocketing. Where the difficulty comes into play is that when the town council passed our current year budget last year, it didn't have that $700,000 in it. So

043that $700,000 was not part of the existing mill rate. And therefore, since we were building our budget sort of with assuming that as a baseline, um there was a $700,000 gap in the mill rate in in what folks were being taxed um that the town was going to have to make up. So that I think is where some of the confusion in terms of how people are interpreting, you know, what's been said publicly about it. But that's the explanation as to why the town is saying, you know, they have to make up the difference of that 700,000 in their current year budget in order to uh you know, even in order to in order to go forward, it's like anything else. Uh Barb will tell you anytime you sort of if you if if you

044if you have a one-time money source and you and you utilize that money source, uh for example, this this money that we're getting this year, if if that money is not um assured in the following years and uh there's an over reliance on it for existing operating expenses, then you you you're good for the year that you're in. but you dig a hole for yourself in in in the follow on years. And that's kind of the conversation from the town. >> Um, just a quick followup. Thank you for that. I mean, I um I I find it hard to understand how $700,000 is going to impact the mill rate, which we don't have to talk about here, but I just feel like I need to say that in public. Um, and I guess I just

045um I guess it doesn't really matter, but there seems to be like some sort of discussion of like whether it's the town's money or the board of ed's money. And I guess I I I struggle with that a bit since we're all trying to like, you know, row in the same direction here and reopening a budget discussion is is always challenging. So, I just I feel the need to point that out. Um, that being said, I also just want to uh, you know, support Jason's comments about you guys coming to us with ideas. I think it's very hard, especially as my first, not even year yet, um, picking what I would um, want to cut, which I think my kids would choose more recess. If that if that's any cost savings, I promise them I

046would uh, share that this evening. So, um, beyond that though, you know, I no other ideas. No, I appreciate that. And then and to both of your comments, I want to make sure I give them, you know, I I equally struggle. You know, we're we're we're in a really strange and difficult place uh having a conversation about cuts, about potential cuts. and I'll I'll phrase them that way optimistically that there are potential cuts uh given the fact that there's this uh you know we've been set onto this path uh going back into April and the information that we have today paints a very different uh financial picture and we're we're in an unknown spot because um while the money is certainly uh out there and being talked about um for those purposes at the same

047time you know there's been significant shifts and moves across the board and and and I certainly understand the you know the concept of uh you know finding a way you know it's one town one collective effort um but uh but we're not sure where you know and the town council hasn't even had the opportunity to to weigh in as to as to what any of this looks like. So it is uh like we're we're I don't know skating on ice blindfolded in the dark uh at the moment. But uh you know understanding that the charge is um should there be a need for us to make additional cuts? Where do we think, you know, where do we think what what are the priorities of the board of education relative to making those difficult decisions that

048we thoroughly understand are not things that we either recommend nor necessarily want. >> I'll yield to Ethan. >> Couple questions just so I'm clear. The state legislature, my understanding from the news, ends tomorrow. Yeah, by by the end of this week, I believe the governor will vote on it. >> Okay. >> I know. Barb can probably. >> Yeah. Session ends tomorrow. >> So, we'll know by tomorrow, I assume. >> No, just the leg this legislative session will be done and then more information, you know, and analysis will be forthcoming. >> Well, after the the legislator votes on it, the governor has to sign sign it before it becomes law. >> No, no, I understand. But he has to have a law to sign, >> right? So, tomorrow midnight ends. >> Okay. >> Theoretically, unless they

049go into special session. >> So, The question I had or I'm a little confused about is there's there was a $700,000 gap by the town council for us. There's a million2 or 2 million8 of available funding from the state. We don't know how the town council is going to use that or do we know? >> No, we don't we don't know yet. They haven't had uh the opportunity for any public discussion about it. >> Okay. But do we know when they'll decide? Um, so in my conversations with the town manager, uh, you know, we've talked about trying to have enough information for this board of education to make decisions on May 19th. >> Okay. So, either A, we need to come up with $700,000 of costs or B, the 700,000's covered by the state funding,

050but we don't know that yet. >> Correct. or C there's you know we have to come up with less than 700,000 but still something it's you know there there are many possibilities so it is >> so assuming that there's money available is it possible to have more money put into the lapsing fund again >> for because you're going to have the problem next year >> yes whether that's on the town side or the board side you know there there are many possibilities at this point >> but right now we're in limbo so to speak >> correct >> I want on the record that Ethan just advocated for the town giving us more money to put in. >> No, I'm I'm trying to figure out where it's going. >> Just giving you a hard time. >>

051That's fine. >> No, it's just it's worth >> I second that motion. >> It's fine. No, I'm just trying to understand. Um, so real. So, is it worth is it is it worth discussing savings if we don't know what's going on? >> Yeah, I appreciate that. And you know, these have been um these have been a lot of conversations. In fact, I had this conversation, you know, um with your board chair Shannon, with with the town manager. Um I think there's a responsibility for us, you know, if we're faced with having to make that decision that we understand um you know, not knowing, but if we're faced with that, I think I think it's important for us to have a a good understanding of what priorities might be if we need to go down that

052road. Um and not necessarily that you know we need to have uh 100% granularity with that but sort of what are the feelings of the board if we're there because um if those if we need to do make some cuts or or all of the cut uh we we would want to be able to you know begin the process to have the public discussion about it so so that we're not um number one so that it's not going to happen in the dark you know too quickly on May 19th. Um, and May 19th is a date that I continue to target. There there isn't a there isn't a necessarily a statutory requirement that we make that, but you really only aside from calling a special meeting, which we could do. Uh, there's only one board

053meeting after that. And if any, you know, if we were put into a position to have to make a cut and if those cuts involved people, um, we would want to ensure that we're providing people with fair notice and um, and the opportunity, you know, if it came to that because >> I think you'd also don't want to hire people if you're going to have to come in with this issue. So, I assume you have openings just because of the end of the year. >> Correct. And we and we look at those when when we're facing this pretty much at the end of every year and based on where the budget is. Um we look at our hiring place uh prospects in some areas we may institute a hiring freeze where then other areas such

054as um such as critical areas of shortage. The sciences is one. Special education is one. some of some other areas. We greenlight hiring because we know that number one there's not a there's there's not the same depth of candidates and number two uh you know we also look at hey we expect that this position is going to be a priority um whether that's the area itself or given the number of vacancies that we might have in a particular area. >> Okay. Because my comment was going to be if there is a possibility whether significant or small we should start the work now because you don't want to be turning turning on a dime. >> Exactly. Which is exactly why we wanted to have this conversation tonight even though we're in limbo. >> And then the

055other comment was going to be for future. Does it make sense and I I think the town council has control of this but to come up with different dates for having the budget approved because obviously Mar it's just too soon at least because this is the second year in a row. >> Yeah. And it's interesting in in uh I I think we've we've had a couple of unique circumstances related to the state budget and its impact on town budgets. But what's very interesting is that West Harford is one of the one of the latest boards of education to adopt and and let me tell you that everyone's in this boat. So at this Harford area superintendent group, every person I spoke to, they were in some form of a referendum or a special vote like

056they're and they're used to being done in February. >> It just seems like we're not we can't make decisions because >> No. No. and and and you're absolutely right and tonight is not intended for any decision making. It's really discussion to get a sense of um potential areas for investigation. What questions you have that we can potentially bring back between meetings or certainly at the May 19 meeting? Well, Mike, for speaking for myself, I'd like to know if there's possibilities for people leaving that we can avoid or we have another person to replace them or we don't have to go out and hire somebody where if you got to have >> so a p so essentially if there's a person who's left to kind of hold a position um >> if we can I mean

057to your point there's going to be certain things like the scientist you can't but there's hopefully others like >> and uh and I do believe you know some from some conversations I think there are places where we can look at that so uh we'll definitely jot that down as a place where hey I'm aware of uh a certain retirement what would it mean in that position you know classroom positions obviously that's not usually um a way that we can go but but positions away from the classroom where there's a retirement can we >> uh divide and conquer differently >> right but I just think and again speaking for myself the sooner we start on it, the better because you don't want to be scrambling at the last. >> Understood. No. And and so that's that's

058definitely an area that um we can look at and and in truth, we have looked at a little bit, but we can look even more deeply and say here are some areas uh where there are positions that are away from a classroom where we've seen a retirement and maybe um how do we how do we do without a position? So, that is definitely one we'll write down and and make sure that we can speak to and um talk more about it if you have specific questions. But >> then the other thing I'd say is if there's additional money beyond the 700,000 I put into laps and so for next year. >> Understood. And u you know as of right now I know that you know prior to this announcement um you know we had a

059plan for our excess. We're re-evaluating that plan. That's also um something that we can do. We can ask the board to, you know, rather you you voted to amortize that money and put it towards future years. If we had to do a cut, that would be an area that we could talk about where we could um pull back on that knowing and and it's a question of would we have extra money if money came to us or would the town have extra money to where we could, you know, potentially look at, hey, we don't have to worry about that as much because we know the town has a non-lapsing. So, you know, that's a that's an excellent point. >> Other reserve accounts or acred accounts that might have extra. >> So, what we did was

060we took uh we took the planned excess that we were looking at um and we had amoritized it into the risk fund. So, that's one area that we we are going to look. >> But I'm wondering if there's other reserves. >> I could >> uh there other are other reserves, but they're niche to how the money was originally generated. So there's no the non-lapsing fund is our broad-reaching reserve. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead, Jonathan. >> Sure. So I just wanted to follow up on the really just two points. Uh first off is in terms of priorities and areas we have to make the cut. I think we're all united and I would just join in with wanting to avoid any possible impact in the classroom, any possible impact on the students. Um, and I

061I I trust that all of you are on the same page with us. And I also trust that all of you have more granular knowledge in terms of where those cuts could possibly be made than than we would have sitting on our side of the table. So, we would certainly be relying upon all of you to uh show us the best possible way and come up with the best possible recommendations to make that happen. Um, the other point would be on the non-lapsing fund. I heard an analogy and I think it's sort of circul it's circulating circulating out there probably on the non board of ed side and it's it's been out it's I know it's been out there in the community that the non-lapsing that we are treating the non-lapsing fund as if it's

062part of our budget. Um the analogy that was used was that of a child's allowance. So, if a child receives an allowance from their parent on week one of $10 and manages to save five of it, they now have $15. The child goes to the parent, you know, they the child saves five of it, they spend then they uh they spend five. Next week, they get 10, they don't spend it. So, now they have $15 in the bank. Week three, um the child goes to the parent and they ask for $15. And the perception is out there is that we're asking for $15 rather than the 10 we're supposed to get. So, which would mean that the non-lapsing fund lives within our budget as opposed to outside of our budget. So, I was just wondering

063if you could provide a little bit more clarity on that recognizing that my analog my explanation analogy may not have been the best, but it's the the idea really the question is where does this money live and how does it relate to our budget and are we using it to inflate our budget? No, that's a fair question. Um, I'll start and I'll let Barb correct anything I say incorrectly. Uh, and I enjoyed your analogy, but I'm going to keep as far away from it as possible. >> Just that and that's a fair response. I'm I'm I'm just relaying what I what I what I've been told. And I I think, you know, I think it is important to set the public record straight as to what this money is and where it lives. >> Absolutely.

064So, um, so the $700,000 existed in last year's, uh, budget and, and of course, you know, it's a responsibility of the board of education to have a clean closing the books year-over-year, but the state of Connecticut did have the um did make the decision um, and and look at how boards of education operate uh, to provide for an opportunity through a non-lapsing fund for boards of education to if they have a surplus to carry that money over into the next year. And that's what we did. Um, and then that vote was to take the money from the non-lapsing fund and to incorporate it into the board of education's budget. And and the board did that and legally speaking that money then became in our budget. It was your money. It was in your budget. Um,

065and that is all above board and exactly what it was. um with the intent that we expected we would have costs um related to out of district tuition um and the ability to carry that money over would uh would certainly be a benefit you know uh to be able to help reduce the budget as we then look forward to this budget cycle. Our analysis demonstrated that we thought that we would need in a maintenance budget where we maintained uh pretty much the same service had very modest minor adjustments to the budget that we would need what we had. So it's not a question of in that anal and I will go to your analogy. It's not a question. Just for anyone in the public, whoever the people in the public are that might have made

066that analogy, I'm certain with all of the best of intentions. Um, it's it's it's not sort of a a a childlike demand for something that is not necessarily deserves. It's it's a fiscal analysis of what we thought that we would need. And the idea being we felt that we would need that 700,000 plus everything else um plus the additions that we provided uh to the budget which I understand were you know um when you when you account for that 700,000 and you account it was in the neighborhood of 6.5% uh that we had originally put forward and and we talked about the reasons for that. Um that's our analysis of of what was necessary and the good news was at the end of the day um elements of that analysis uh specifically the insurance came

067down by a healthy percentage workman's comp came down by a fair amount um and we made other adjustments in light of uh the financial situation existing in town to reduce the overall budget. Um but it's but it's not a you know where where it comes into a point of friction which is thoroughly understandable and I acknowledge is that the town hadn't been counting on that 700. So when when they have to set a mill rate um and they have to you know the mill rate and all the work that goes into what the actual tax increase is going to be then needs to take into account that 700,000 in addition to our our increases. So they're starting you know they're starting from a from a lower floor because the floor that when we did a

068roll forward the floor that we were starting from in our analysis had included that already. That's the only disconnect. It's not as big a disconnect, I think, as you know, in terms of like when you really step back and think about it, it it makes total sense, but I think people are making more of it, especially if they're using an, you know, if they're sharing analogies like that with you that, you know, I don't know. I'm not sure how to take that, you know, but and I I I certainly don't think that anybody would suggest that we don't that we or our students don't deserve that money. I think it's more that the qu there's there is a question out there about where this lives and I think also it's I think you know I

069think on the government side customarily the idea is you spend what you get and having the availability of a non-lapsing fund rewards good management. So and I think I think that's important to emphasize that we that if we're efficient we can if if we're efficient we can fill that non-lapsing fund and leave ourselves a cushion for future years. >> Yes 100%. And uh I think it's I think it's the size I think it was a sizable you know it was a sizable um appropriation of funds that came through that excess cost reimbursement. And I think if if the board of education you know has a has a surplus in any given year you know that's that's 100,000 a little bit this or that and there's a discussion and there's a discussion with the town to

070roll that over to help smooth things out for the board in in the future year. I think that's all fine and good. I think there, you know, I think the reason there's concern with it is because it was, it is a sizable dollar value at the end of the day. Um, so that it's a, you know, it's a fair amount, uh, when you have to look at the big picture of what a tax increase is going to be to be able to make up. So, I, you know, I'll I'll approach that discussion point and any potential friction that lives out there in the community, you know, through hopefully a more um, you know, I'm trying to look at it in in a reasonable way and understand where we're coming from, where they're coming from, and

071um, and I get it, I guess, is the best way for me to say it. >> Well, thank you for that, >> Bar. Thank you. And I appreciate the opportunity for us to continue the conversation uh especially in light of the recent uh financial developments. Um I do want to express my concern that you know especially for my colleagues and I who just we just started here you know the budget issue you know the situation with uh the district numbers and the state contributions has been a challenge for years and I anticipate uh that it will continue to be a serious challenge that we have to navigate you know going forward. So I guess my concern is really ensuring that uh and looking at and asking for the district again as I've mentioned before to

072look at the process for efficiency to look at you know how how are we looking at every department to make sure that we're assessing um not just output but impact on student achievement um what's our process for looking at efficiencies all the way from admin role staffing staff who don't have touch point with students all the way across Ross the district. So I think this going forward is going to help us um as we then discuss priorities and and you know make big picture recommendations as well. Um and on on um then I also want to say that um when asked for suggestions I'd like to raise the concerns that many parents uh have expressed to our community which around tech use and so I think this is an area that I had uh also

073addressed when we had line item conversation about the budget. Um and so this is an area that I would like to pursue. I think it would be helpful for us. I think the evidence is overwhelming. Um and so I would like to know um as I asked previously um again about non-mandatory text spending uh not purchasing new Chromebooks and onetoone devices um looking at uh reducing bandwidth um as we know the cell phone ban is uh currently I think it's in the Senate I don't know if it was passed yet but >> it seems that it's coming. >> Okay. Um so we'll see how how that goes. Um, but again, you know, I would say we don't have to wait for the legislature to be making these decisions. The evidence is out there. Other districts

074in Connecticut have made uh many recommendations about tech use based on all the evidence and concerns about uh about how it's negatively affecting students uh mental health, their academic achievements. Um, so I think looking at how we are spending on technology, including apps, so I ready and for example, have class action lawsuits against them. Uh, concerns about data um, and data breaches. Um, so there's a lot to really unpack and look at where the district is spending money related to tech use. And so I would like to raise this as a concern, as a line item for uh, some very serious consideration. Uh relatedly too, I'd also like to bring up uh for my colleagues that perhaps we consider uh on the same subject a resolution um again to be discussed when Shannon's back in

075greater detail um at the next meeting perhaps about what our priorities would be around tech use in the district um including edtech opout out um the bans for personal use. I mean there are also like fiscal uh benefits I would say or savings perhaps um for addressing all the tech as well. So um I want to to raise that um share that share this thought with colleagues. Um certainly we can uh discuss more in in detail. Um >> just on that point you stole some thunder because that was going to be a request for a future agenda item to >> to give the district more guidance on what we're looking for. >> Terrific. in terms of screen times and things like that. >> Perfect. Exactly. So, thank you. >> Yeah. So, if I may, uh,

076because you said a lot, a lot of good stuff, a lot of important things. Um, and I want to unpack a couple of things. Uh, first and foremost, relative to, um, kind of the analysis, the efficiencies, the big picture look at the budget as I understand it. Um, 100%. And, and I would want you to know, um, it's something that we do every year. It's something that we've done year over year. What's interesting about as as as uh those of you that are brand new to the board this year, you're coming on at a time, I think, where you did not see uh a dramatic amount of uh recommended adjustments to the budget. So, I can appreciate and understand if if there are questions, hey, you know, how deep is that look? What do you

077you know, I don't see a lot of change. The previous two years when you go back, um it was in the neighborhood of a total of 40 positions or more. uh we had come out of esser we we stripped ourselves of a lot of esser positions and in the pre and then in the following year another 20 positions um and a number of other adjustments. So there have been, you know, so I would I would want you to know and have confidence in the fact that there is a very deep analysis that goes on year-over-year to find efficiencies and and uh you know we have gotten to a point because we've done very well with that in terms of our analysis to to find lots of efficiencies that uh you know now we're getting to

078the point where you know cuts start to hit bone. Um so we have to be cautious. Now obviously year-over-year there are always changes that occur. You know the what what drives our expenditures are our people. What drives our staffing levels our people are our enrollments. And our enrollments are going to be generally flat but we have interesting and different things that have happened. We had a change to uh start age uh for elementary which had an impact in terms of the staffing at that level. We had that non-funded mandate to um have students who are in our post-secondary program educated through not just until their 22nd birthday but through the school year of their 22nd birthday. That created an impact on our staffing. All of these things, you know, come out of different legislature and

079and and we react to them and we and we react um always obviously in the best interests of our students. Um but that's, you know, I would just say we do that. We'll continue to do that and and you'll see different things. Um I know one of the one of the criticisms that's come out through the budgeting process is oh you know you've got a lot of administrators you're administrator heavy you got all these elementary assistant principles. So that was enacted uh for the 2425 budget. Um that was a change of positions. It was 11 bodies that were already there that were not administrators that were transferred to administration. um that happened in trade with a net decrease of 2.1 positions and a net impact to the budget of a savings of $48,000. So year

080over year we're in year two of that we've saved with the wage increases over $100,000 by virtue of doing that. So, as people talk about, oh, the incredible ad you made to the budget, it's it's it's sort of a misinformed criticism, um, that no, no, no, we've we've saved $100,000 in two years by virtue of making that change because it enabled us to make other an entire administrative restructure to how we supervise at the elementary level, how we work on special education. It's improved the strength of our special education programming. So, overall, it's been a it's been a huge it's been a huge win. Um, you talked about the edte use and um, you know, I've said it before and I'll I'll continue to say it because I know that it's a it's a topic

081of great interest in not just the district uh, but I think as as folks are saying it's kind of in the in the larger community in the United States. Um, and I would agree um, and we have already begun Ann's office and others have already begun in a look at you know what is our edtech usage and what does it look like? I want to be sure though at the end of the day that we don't take something that is a curricular issue and turn it into an operational issue. Um which is to say, you know, there's a lot of talk about we should just stop buying Chromebooks altogether. Um, which would be like saying we should just stop paying the light bill and and hope that uh, you know, magically the the power is

082going to stay on um, for our needs relative to state testing because we need a fleet of Chromebooks in order to accomplish that operationally. Um, there was an email that came in to my office today that suggested the board of education cut the CNRE budget, which the board of education does not have any ownership over the CNRE budget. And the number the CN budget has already been dramatically cut by the town. And the funding that's going into the CNRE budget um is not just for Chromebooks. It's for a lot of other things. our priorities in educational spending, in technology spending as a board of education uh coming up have have probably less to do with Chromebooks and more to do with um our our security structure, the ability, as you're talking about, uh data privacy.

083It's it's our ability to guard against those things. Um we are we are in need of updating our infrastructure so that we're not um going to fall prey to um to attacks. Uh but that said, the other thing that was talked about in this email and you mentioned onetoone uh I know that we talked uh as we're investigating and exploring the potential for onetoone at the high school and in an email that I just read from from a community member the thought was and I understand the thought is a logical thought. Hey 1:1 is going to increase your number of devices. Well in actuality if we went to one one at the high school we'd be able to decrease our number of device. be able to decrease the number of Chromebooks that we would need

084to buy because the way that you outfit high schools where we're talking about it is you outfit high schools so that you can have um carts available uh in classrooms in an ideal world in every classroom but we don't do that but in a majority of classrooms carts you need to have a greater number you need to have for the potential largest class that you might have in a given year. Um and you need to obviously have a few extras and spares. Um, so that's where we I think we talked about it during the budget process. Why why do we have more Chromebooks than necessarily enrollment? And the answer to that is twofold. Number one, a lot of our Chromebook purchases, you know, were made, we're keeping these devices for over 10 years. They're made

085and our enrollment has been decreasing. So a lot of our stock we have we have more because we bought them several years back. The second answer is because as you outfit carts, you you know you might have a class enrollment at 20 21 but you have 25 or 27 because that's the class size guideline for a high school. You have that many devices available in the cart. Um if we go one to one we can at the high school we can decrease our number of devices. Um, so it's something that we're exploring, but at the end of the day, uh, we do plan relative to, uh, a future agenda item, and I would ask that you let us lean on that word future agenda item as opposed to immediate agenda item. Uh, allow for an

086and the team to uh, to really conduct the review, the recommendations. uh there's no there's no hesitation uh from us in terms of uh we understand um and I wouldn't even say it's the charge from the board or the charge from the community because it's our charge. It's a shared charge. We're we're trying to reduce the amount of screen time. We we recognized that when we were in COVID and we had to put everybody onto a computer and a device, uh, the pendulum swung all the way over to one side and we're trying to get back to the correct I won't call it middle ground. We're just trying to get back to the correct uh temperature and level setting for for what uh device usage needs to be. So, we're on that mission already. uh

087we would like to make it transparent, but we need to do our homework and we need to uh inform uh the board with kind of where things are and where we intend them to go and then get that feedback and and share it with the community as well. So, thank you. That's helpful. And just to clarify then, would we still be able to see uh how uh technology spending is kind of um or non-mandatory spending is still kind of itemized in the district? So looking at non necess like not apps that are fun but not maybe curricular necessities um you know what a change in bandwidth would look like you know all the things related to tech I I can you know I I don't think you need me to list them all right now

088but um big picture again like licenses and softwares uh replacements because I I guess one of the concerns or one of the pieces of conversation which I hope would be again for future again is looking at device usage in prek through let's say second grade. So if you're going to I don't know what the term is upcycle you know uh technology devices then potentially you're saving money by not having to uh purchase more you have you're able to extend the life if you know you're you're moving some up. So all of these things I hope and look forward to continued conversation. Um, so I just wanted to add that and also so it sounds like this is an edtech audit perhaps if >> yes so short answer yes we're we're engaged in it and I

089don't know if >> do you have a time frame also do you have a time frame for when you think >> we would have more information >> hi everyone yes we um we spoke with our principles at our last principal meeting about the launching of you know you might call an edtech diet or some type of a view. We talked to them about thinking about the things they see around school that they might say hm I wonder about that usage if that's a a high pri high efficiency usage or if that is something that could be uh you know uh lessened or eliminated. So the principles were thoughtful just very informally talking about things that they they think are highly val valuable that involve um edtech and things that they they could wonder about that

090is is that the best use? So we have them thinking about it. We talked about people volunteering and they've written to me who would like to serve on a committee starting with some type of real assessment of where are we. Um Barb was very helpful to me and she gave me a listing of some some um as Paul said during COVID there was an explosion of these kinds of um programs so that kids could engage from really home their bedroom like really far distant places from us. And the district had cut out many of the bigger platforms in the one particularly called Near Pod that we had bought districtwide. We had eliminated that at least three years ago now. But you know people get used to them and so they might be buying them at

091the school level. So we were looking at Barb Barb helped me find some some material that will help this committee come together and look not only at what they see in the day that they term as highly valuable, questionable, I don't think there's value. um and then we'll have some resources to look at. And I said to them, I don't think we should immediately start swinging pendulums left or right very quickly. I think we should really look at what we have and make some informed decisions. Um, and uh, I I'd like to get that started, but obviously getting through this year and some of the major initiatives we've had, but I do see that coming together with the interested people this summer and then and really starting to get lists of what what we have

092because it's something get away very quickly from you. So, um, I've had principles write and they're interested in joining um, up with us and um, reviewing and so that we can make some good decisions. >> Yeah. And they're practice things that we'll you know be able to do and talk about that we can do you know very quickly. You know one of the things that came up I know people spoke about the use of uh screen time as a reward. You know our principles talked about that there didn't seem to be a lot of there didn't be seem to be a lot of love in the room for that practice. So changing that practice and that's where I say there are curricular issues things that we can change very easily. Then there are operational things,

093fiscal things, budget things that it doesn't cost me or nor does it save me anything to make a change over here. So I don't want to conflate these two issues. Um and I do want to you know I've got I've got the team behind me. I've got the charge. Um, so I I need the time to work with uh the leadership and to and to as as Ann is saying, make sure that we're, you know, providing our teachers with a clear set of expectations that they can operate around because at the end of the day, it's never, you know, excellent, amazing, uh, educators who who have to be able to interpret and make kind of on the ground in their own world decisions on things. Um and and uh it's it's it's not as simple

094as any kind of a black and white policy that says X Y or Z. So we we want to make sure that we have the uh the correct approach. You want to add? >> I just uh I just wanted to add also that some of the speakers who've come up asked to meet with me this summer. So I've already been scheduling I think I don't know Kristen helps me schedule meetings, but Kristen is on it with the group. And there's another group in town. They're the uh group that was really uh a lot of folks uh Irene Garno was helping with this from Charter Oak and early um our pre-K program. A lot of parents talking about how helping parents too to keep you know make good decisions about when they're giving children screen. So

095I thought those two groups could you know they both have the same goal in mind right coming from different angles one looking at the home use and one looking at the school. So, uh, we are making efforts to connect with those parents and have, um, you know, a meeting either late this school year or early in the summer to hear their, you know, particular input as we put it together. >> So, and one of the things you mentioned was things getting away from us a little bit on the tech side. And you know, one of the things I've heard happening is you have students who have the ability to disable whatever, you know, blockers or, you know, whatever blocking devices or blocking software are installed on the district computers. And I was wondering if there's

096any if there's been any kind of broader attempt to address that. Um, and I know we I know we're hesitant to do things that are more disciplinary, but um, to the extent that that's, you know, a student infraction or students or students violating the rules and, you know, making unauthorized modifications to the devices and then of course accessing stuff that is going beyond what we want them to be doing on school time. I was wondering if there's been any efforts on the ground to address that. Well, that's a great question, Jonathan, because um uh there, you know, there there you can YouTube anything these days and you can find there are, you know, Paul and I looked it up ourselves like because we've looked at should there be certain kinds of software, but um that

097that help with that. But the the on the other side of that is you could quickly look up a video to get around that software. So, you want to use your money well, right? You don't want to buy something that you think is saving you. So, that we are aware of it. We work with Jared Morren on that issue. he is, you know, full-time. I know I look like a tech person, but I'm not. Um, we work with Jared's department on that to find out uh and and they have good they have good uh tracking devices to see if things have been gotten around and then we apply the student code of conduct using uh appropriate technology use which we have the students in the students handbook and that they read. So, it is addressed

098whenever found. And um but you're absolutely right to say there's lots of information on how to get around the the blockers. And I think I don't know, Paul, when you were talking about our infrastructure, if that's some of the security you're talking about, >> I was going to say that, you know, my opinion on the subject is that the best the best defense is good old-fashioned uh monitoring. Um and and then of course thoughtful thoughtful uh you know if design of a lesson in terms of if you're going to be asking for this usage in the first place. So so number one if we're cutting back on the real need you know is it a real need to utilize the technology which I think is the bigger question. It's the curricular question. Can I accomplish

099the same instructional goal without the technology? Uh then I wouldn't need to have the device out in the first place. Number two, if I do need it, then I need to have a thoughtful way just let me walk the room, let me look on screen, you know, um it goes to, you know, Miriam brought up the um the cell phone ban. So, so as you all know, there's already a ban on cell phones in elementary and middle school. So, this really impacts only the high schools. And I'm not, you know, I I talked about I'm I'm not looking to expend money to buy, you know, the pouches, the pouches or whatever. uh to implement this. We we actually have a very effective system working right now where we ask students to have their devices off

100and away. Now, we will ask them to essentially extend that throughout the entirety of the school day. Um and the only place that we'll really need to have any increased effort or monitoring are the places where they had previously been allowed, which would have been the cafeteria or would have been say a study hall. So, is it going to create friction and issues in a study hall? Yes, it is. Is it going to create referrals? Uh, I'm certain. It does it does it qualify for the expense of 20, 30, $40,000 so that I can better monitor a study hall? I professionally don't think so. >> Is another tech question. >> I was just going to say I know we need to get to the budget. >> That's what I was tech thoughts. I completely agree.

101I'm thrilled. We're going to talk about it later on the agenda, but I am looking to >> get our business of the evening done. >> Yeah, you read my mind, Jen. I was going to say this is a conversation for a future date, >> but thanks for all the insight and I also hope that when we uh have this conversation later that we also include the voices of our students. Um, so any other >> budget? Go ahead, Ethan. >> So, assuming we're not able to use the 700 or the 1.2 or the 2.8 8. Is it possible to have like a workshop before the 19th so we know what's coming before it comes? >> Yeah, if we need a workshop, my hope is to, you know, my hope is kind of this is informally workshopping

102it tonight so that we know uh and and get some direction in. And so the direction I'm getting right now uh I definitely heard you know positions that uh that'll be vacant at the end of the year uh do the analysis can are those things that we can redistribute and that's something and you know we we are aware of some I'm hearing you know and we're already doing like the more in-depth analysis what are some other things um I'm hearing you know infrastructure uh technology you know look for that um I'll offer you know we're also looking at we you know This is just part of what we do in general. Something that we always do with the budget. Uh we look at the number, we look at the enrollment. Is there any change to

103the enrollment from uh from what had been out there? And I had Barbrey run our enrollment projections just to see if uh there has been any change. You know, there are a couple of areas. So there there we may bring some recommendations based on an updated analysis of enrollment. do we think that we can potentially shave um some positions here or there? So, so that's a piece that we'll generally do. Um I mentioned the risk fund. You guys uh kind of talked about that uh briefly as an area away. So, um these are the ideas that I'm hearing right now. They're ideas that we already have as well. Uh some new areas or at least you're giving me sort of a an appreciation and understanding for what might be priorities. Um but uh happy to

104hear more >> and I just want to make sure we can discuss before >> I I think some of the hesitancy you're kind of getting from us in terms of just throwing things out there to to be quite frank is I don't think we're in a position to say pull on this string and know what the effects of that downstream are. So, I think we really are looking for knowing the guidance that you have from us, from the town council about where, you know, their mind was when they made this cut is I think you're going to need to come to us and and quite frankly, I think it may be that March 19th doesn't make sense as a May 19th doesn't make sense as a voting day if we're going to have substantive changes

105because I think the public is going to need a chance to weigh in. So, we may need to alter that timeline. No, understood. Absolutely. And that's where, you know, and and thoroughly respect and appreciate, yeah, you know, there might not be that one thing that you hoped for last time that you, you know, that you're that you're hoping for now. I get it in terms of what does that mean? Um but uh general guidance relative to um you know I I I'll make the broad assumptions like the town council said we really hope we don't we don't want to lay anybody off and we don't want to have dramatic impact to class sizes. Um looking to hear from you I haven't heard it you know I I saw public come out in in droves you

106know always concerned about programmatic cuts. We don't want to cut program. and we don't want to you don't want to. So, anything you know in and along those lines that helps us to prioritize those have been my priorities. My priorities I said from from the get-go and I and I believe it was um pretty much echoed by the board of education that that those are your interests as well. I'm not looking to to change um what we do, what we're known for. Um and and so just just sort of wanting to wanting to uh make sure that we're get you know I'm getting feedback from you guys around uh what are the things even if it's not what you want to cut but maybe the things you want to ensure that you preserve. >> Sure.

107I I I think if you go back to a lot of the statements that we made when we were you know voting on the budget about kind of how we came to it and what we thought about it. I think a lot of it was preserving and one of the reasons we agreed at least in in majority to you know h send a budget that was higher than we knew the town wanted was to preserve those programs those things that make West Hartford West Hartford. So I I I feel like we're going to be in the same boat. But again, yes, it's, you know, the class sizes we heard so much about, right? The ensuring that there's no impact on on the, you know, front and center interactions with the kids, but it is those

108programmatic pieces, I would imagine. I'm not trying to speak for everybody, but certainly for me it would be right. The the music, the arts, um, all those places that we excel. I mean, sports where all the the words we get there, the unified sports. Uh so um you know to the extent that we can keep you know what makes us special intact I think that's the charge as well. >> I would I would agree with that. You know I think um the other challenge is like this $700,000 feels very wrapped up in some sort of you know financial drama or something that feels kind of irrelevant um to be very honest. Um so to me that's a frustration. It feels um I'm not sure what what exactly we're we're doing here, but if we do

109have to find this magical $700,000 number, um I agree that, you know, my um wish would be for, you know, students to be impacted the least. Um and the the amazing programs that we have here to remain in place. I know there's a lot of uh discussion around like admin and things like that as as you addressed earlier and I appreciate that and at the same time um I know how valuable all those folks are to you know making the trains run on time and and that all that all builds. So um I just want want those folks to know that we see you too and and and all that you do. Um, so yeah, it's a it's a it's a tall order for you to deliver this. Um, but certainly, um, I'm I'm certainly

110in line with with how Jason described it. >> One area that that I know we're exploring is kind of changing how the counseling model is done and and maybe going out with an RFP so that, you know, agency might come in and and then they can get, you know, insurance can cover that and get build and so it's kind of, you know, the cost is not falling on the school system. I don't know if there's anything we do in the interim that can help kind of pave that way to to get that set up that is a cost, you know, savings to us. Um I I know a number of years ago or at least a couple budgets back, we did vote to to save I think the three funds that that exist on are

111ones that we saved in the counseling realm. Um I don't know if there's anything there if you know we have this on the horizon where we're going to be bringing in additional resources or different resources if if there's a way to start saving there as we pave the way for that. No, that's an absolutely fair question. Um, so we do we do have a partnership right now uh with the bridge where they come in and they provide clinical services at both the middle school and the high school, right Melissa? Um, previously it had been with Hartford Healthc Care at the high school and the bridge has taken that over. Um and that's in addition to you know we we are mandated uh to provide clinical service to provide school psychologist social work support as part

112of IEPs but um but it's kind of like a release valve and it's it's great for it's it's great for the bridge it's great for our students and our community because it's kind of pointed to contact need um through insurance billing and um we have talked about you know there's there's the opportunity if um there you know there there had been budgets in the past when Esser went away where we were looking to reduce those three positions. Um there was a lot of feedback, a lot of board discussion. Um and we were able to we we originally had five positions under Esser. We were able to maintain three of them. Um if we were to look to make any changes there, the hope would be uh to be able to to provide some backfill possibly

113uh with a model like we have with the bridge to be able to to provide some supports. I know um you know it's a discussion point would we would we look at one position two positions based on hey making sure that we could still provide supports and services because those folks are doing amazing things but um you know as as was said we look are there any retirements are there any folks that are leaving would there be a position even if we change it could we could we adjust how those services are provided uh that's an area for us to uh to certainly explore and and something that we can bring back. Um, but I do want to, you know, in saying that, I would want to make sure that I could find that backfill.

114Um, because I know that the work that those folks are doing is is pretty amazing relative to the tier one support that they're able to provide. Um, but it could be an area if there's an anticipated um, opening where we wouldn't lose any staff and we could and we can look to bring in a service to, you know, at a lower impact school. Anything else, questions, comments? All right. So, we are going to be connecting about this again May 19th or maybe sooner. Um, yeah, that's a lot. Um, so more new business. the ratification of the West Harford Board of Education Local 1303-340 of council 4 AFS CME AFL CIO recommendation that the board of education ratify the negotiated agreement between the security guard employees and the board of education for the period of July

1151st 2026 through June 30th 2030 >> ratification >> second awesome thanks thank you Latoya I know that was a mouthful, so we'll refer to them as our security guards. Um, we are looking to ratify a 4-year contract. To give you a little bit of context, we have 22 security guards that work in our schools and programs across the district. Um, often, not always, but often they're retired police officers or have experience in the police force. they we want to publicly acknowledge and thank them for all that they do each and every day um to keep our buildings safe. And also beyond a safety issue, they also are so ingrained in their school communities. I know every time we go into a school, one of the first people we see are the security guards. They're in

116the hallways. They're out at recess duty. They're greeting people when they come in. They're interacting with students. They're present at evening events, sports events. Um they really are such an important part of our structure and what we do. So we thank them for that. Um I'll just go through some of the highlights of the agreement and then happy to answer any questions that you have. So the four-year salary um increases. The first year would be step movement and a 3% wage increase followed by a 2.75% increase. 3% and then 2.5%. You can see the longevity payments. Those are a onceearly stipend um based on years of service. Looking at the insurance cost shares, the first year um the employees would contribute 21.75% followed by 22% 22.25 25 and 22.5. And then also that pension contribution

117you could see goes from 6.75 to 7 to 7.25 to 7.5%. Um any questions with any of that? Thank you. Just to clarify, is this the same as an SRO or is this different? You can answer. >> No different. So our SRO's are actual West Harford police officers. Um, so you'll see them, they're in West Harford Police uniforms. These folks are in our West Harford public schools uniforms. >> And the SRO's, just to be clear, are paid, you know, their salaries paid by the West Harford Police Department. And we are so thankful for the collaboration that we have in terms of them stationing people in our in our schools. >> Great. Very grateful to have both. >> This is just for my own education. How many are in the high school, middle school, and elementary?

118>> I believe the high schools each have four guards. Um the two larger middle schools have four. Um and then there are four shared between the 11 elementary schools. There's also one guard at Bristo and one guard at Strive. Right. 22. >> Okay. And there's 20 security guards. >> 22. Okay. Thank you. I I I'm interested now. So, um well, I guess I'm intrigued to know why don't all the elementary schools have um security folks >> as long as we don't breach too much. I mean, I think the the the shared use of security staff, um, you know, without getting into specific hours, days, or assignments, or anything like that, um, it's not an uncommon practice. We're a pretty big district. Um, you know, I would tell you that the, uh, that the personnel needed

119necessary at the high schools, you know, certainly certainly equates to that number. Um and uh you know our elementary schools I wouldn't I wouldn't you know in addition to our school security personnel we have community resource officers that kind of do sweeps. So we work with the West Harford PD so that so that we know the schedule so that we can ensure that all the schools themselves are secure. But um in terms of uh having a dedicated individual at each one of the schools, it would you know there's a cost to it and and I think there's um that that would be the most that I would say. It certainly would be you know something that would be very very um beneficial and nice to have but we haven't we haven't incurred that expense. >>

120Thank you. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know how I feel about security guards at school and if it is better or not better. I feel like we've seen lots of national uh reports about that, but um it's just intriguing. So, thank you. >> All right. So, we are voting, right? Okay. So, all those uh in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? All right. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, so next we're going to have our superintendence report. >> So, thank you so much and uh, welcome to May. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Uh, May we celebrate many, many things, not the least of which is Jewish American Heritage Month as well as Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Um, and we look forward to May 23rd during which uh educators in Connecticut and and Connecticut

121as a community celebrates intellectual and developmental disabilities awareness. Um, I also want to obviously acknowledge in May uh that uh it's coming up, in fact coming up this weekend, Mother's Day. So a happy Mother's Day out there to all of our moms. Um, our collective appreciation cannot be overstated. Um, lots to celebrate. I believe unified theater was was always mentioned already mentioned by Conrad but u we also had unified sports uh in late April Connard High School hosted unified sports celebration. It brought together students with an intellectual disabilities and their non-disabled peers from across all of our program schools. Um it's always a heartwarming observation of the teamwork, the friendships, and the reflection of our diversity and our unity. Um, I want to throw a shout out to uh the Quest program uh and to

122director Mary Thompson. Uh, there was a middle school Quest fair uh that was held a couple of weeks ago. Um, I think it was right after the board of education meeting maybe on the 22nd and it was a packed house. I you couldn't park. Um, and students were up there, middle schoolers, they were confident, they were engaging, they were providing information about their passion projects. Um, and on the heels of that event, then there was the art quest fair uh at the town hall and you all got to appreciate uh that artwork um as you were upstairs in room 400 at the reception. So, huge huge shout out to all of the teachers that provide that inspiration. Um, once again, West Harford has been named uh one of the best communities for music education by

123the NM Foundation. And I say once again because West Harford has earned this distinction 19 times. Um that places West Harford in the top 5% of districts nationally to have longevity with that award. And there are um quite a significant number of districts um nationally representation from all over. Uh there are only two other communities in West Harford who have longer longevity than us. Um, and I won't name them because they're not really as good. They're just we need to catch up. Uh, it was already mentioned uh about the amazing recognition of our Hall High School principal and uh so thank you for that, Kayla. But um I had the privilege of joining both Sarah Issacs, our outstanding firstear principal award winner as well as Jocelyn Tamberella Noble and uh building administrators from both schools

124uh at the Capitol building um on the 29th of April when each of them received public recognition and a proclamation. And I very very thankful to our West Harford delegation for coming out um and supporting them and providing those uh those citations to them. Uh, I also need to throw a huge shout out uh for a West Harford team of students, too many to name, uh, from both Cedric and Connor who competed in the history day competition this past weekend. Uh, there were a total of nine Cedric students who meddled. Uh, they received medals and five of the nine qualified for National History Day uh, in June based on being either first or second place in the statewide competition. And then likewise, there were three Connor competitors who all meddled either first or second and

125also qualified for the national contest. And I don't know, is one of them a relative of yours there? Yeah. Excellent job. Excellent job. Um, huge c uh kudos going out to David Lee, Quest teacher at Cedric, for his inspiration, his guidance in and around this. Um, just just so thankful. Um, on the topic of Jewish Heritage Month, uh, in and in addition to all the school-based events that are ongoing, the Office of Equity Advancement, uh, coordinated with Edy, uh, Patino, who is the associate director for Jewish Community Relations Council. She was a panelist and a speaker at a recent middle school career exploration, uh, where she provided insights about her job and how she became involved in Jewish advocacy. And then in addition, the office of equity was represented at the storytelling for impact workshop

126that uh was sponsored just uh just last week I believe uh by the Jewish leadership academy and the federation. So very proud for those partnerships and something to highlight especially during this month. Um, and then the America 250 uh efforts continue. And over the past several weeks, our teachers have led students through integrated science, social study, and literacy units uh developed by our curriculum office centered on the role of the white oak tree in our environment and within our history. Um, across school, students have been engaged in readalouds, uh, as an oak tree grows, using as a foundation to explore how white oaks have shaped northeastern communities like our own. Uh, there have been a number of events to include uh, tree plantings that are ongoing through the very generous donations of our PTO's. And

127there are follow-up activities um, that will relate to the 250 project. And really the whole thing, I'm so impressed with our curriculum team and their and their design around this because it's not only a not only an America 250 project, an environmental project, but it's a legacy project that will uh continue and be appreciated for years and years to come. Finally, it is toward the end of the year and there are a number of things and I want to I want to make you aware of them uh as you may have interest to attend and I certainly want to make the public aware. Not the least of which is tomorrow, our high school career signing day, which is where we have students from both of our high schools who will come and uh be recognized

128in terms of career and technical fields that they're pursuing. Uh that's here at the town hall tomorrow, Wednesday the 6th at 9:00 a.m. Uh upcoming we have Laura Stack joining us. She's part of Johnny's Ambassadors. She's hosting a parent workshop on the dangers of THC that's going to be hosted at Bristo uh May the 11th at 6 p.m. She's coming back through the generous the generosity of an anonymous West Harford donor um she had previously presented to all of our high schools and she'll do that parent workshop and then present to all of our middle schools and it is um I just want to encourage folks it's one of the most powerful presentations I've seen. Quest is uh keeping on its type three role doing its elementary presentations at Chardro this coming Monday, May the

12911th at 6 PM. Um you guys got to see uh Shelley Solomon and speakers from the adult education program. They'll be hosting their end of year celebration here at the town hall auditorium on Friday, May the 15th at 5:00 p.m. Uh we're hosting our annual mentor breakfast, Carol Wilkus, uh and all the amazing work she does. Uh that's going to be here at the town hall auditorium on May the 18th at 7:30 a.m. Um West Hartford Public Schools softball will be celebrating its 50th season. Uh celebration going to happen during the Mayor's Cup at Connard High School on Wednesday, May the 20th at 3:45 p.m. Please come out. They're going to be recognizing some of the long-standing coaches and and just icons in sports here in West Harford. Uh we are moving forward with our

130military inductee ceremony on Tuesday, May the 26th at 6:30 p.m. And last but certainly not least, we have our interl festival. That's the uh interele, you know, it's all of our elementary schools. Uh that performance will be at the Bushnell. It is not to be missed. It is on Wednesday, May the 27th at 7:30 p.m. That is my update pending your questions. I have one question uh not super relevant to this report, but um I'm noticing the minutes and I am curious um if we ever found out an answer to um the young lady who spoke about walking for graduation and that policy. I'm I'm not expecting one on the spot, but if someone could share back with us um you know for those students in a similar situation moving forward that they would be

131able to walk at graduation. Yeah, we can certainly have more discussion, but our current policy, just to be clear, and I um first and foremost, I would I would want to share that our administrators, our counselors, and our teachers do every single thing possible, and I mean every single thing possible in support of students to help them um overcome any obstacles and make the achievements necessary in order to in order to graduate. Um, but we do hold a bar of you do need to meet the actual state graduation requirements in order to walk at graduation. And um I would I would offer it's a slippery slope to change that from a um from a ceremony um of that accomplishment to uh to essentially something social or on a promise. What we find is often um

132when you know when there are when there are big issues and I and I you know in fairness I I don't want to talk about obviously can't talk about any individual circumstances but I would I would want to share that every effort is always made and uh our goal is to support students with ontime graduation and and when they don't we do offer if if they can't make it uh in a given year We want to find a way to celebrate them because the accomplishment is no less if it takes them into the summer or into another year, but it but it's a slippery slope. So, u something I would invite if the board has interest um we can we can look at that. But, uh that is you know correct that you you need

133to you need to be getting your your diploma on that day in order to participate in that ceremony. I don't want to take time now, but uh I I am intrigued in the um policy. So, you know, either you can share it with the board or we can take it offline. I I would just I guess highlight, you know, college graduations, which I'm sure probably have differences, you know, people walk and um even if they don't have all the credits. Um and I I know this is a big a big deal. Uh so anyways, yes, I would like to know the the exact policy um either directly or through the board, whatever you find to be the easiest way. Any other questions? All right. Yeah, >> I would support that explanation, that exploration. >> Yeah,

134I'll happy to send you something, but I don't think it's going to be a lot different from what I'm saying. It's like the policy is you have to you have to have ach you have to have achieved all of the um you have to have earned all of the credits. We will work with kids right up until hours before graduation. Uh but I'll I'll prepare something and I'll be glad to share it with the board. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you for those updates. Um staff reports, board discussions, uh personnel report. So we're going to have Shannon join us. No apologies necessary. This not for public uh posting. That is why. >> So I'll wait till everybody gets a copy. Um, but this is an update that I give four times a year regarding

135certified staff. So, this reflects the changes since the last report that you received in February. You will notice that the list is definitely longer than last time, but that's very common for this time of year as we start to get more notifications of resignations and retirements. Um, so on the first page there are 12 resignations which is consistent with what we had at this point last year. We were at 15. And although you'll notice that it says that staff have resigned for personal reasons, we do give out an exit survey to all staff um that are leaving the district. So, we do collect anonymous information on asking why they're choosing to leave um because we always want to be focused on the retention of our staff and we want to look for any trends. So,

136I can share that 15% um listed their reason for leaving as a relocation. 15% were for career advancement. 10% family needs 10% pursuing a career outside of education. 20% chose other and then the remaining 30% um we give the survey out also if people are retiring so 30% chose retirement so it's always good for us to look and just notice you know some of those reasons and some of those trends in addition to the survey I also offer to have an in-person meeting with any staff um that are leaving and I have had about 12 meetings so far this year and it it is always a good opportunity I always appreciate that face to-face conversation um just to get more input from people. Looking at the next page, you'll see with the retirements so far

137we have 18 for this year. Last year at this time we were at 16. Um and I do certainly want to take a minute to acknowledge and give our deep gratitude to the list of retirees. Collectively, they have given 401 I did the math twice um years of service to the West Hartford public schools and our students and the people on that list have averaged over 22 years in our classrooms. So, we definitely want to wish them that is a round of applause. That is um a healthy, joyful and fulfilling retirement. Um does anyone have any questions? Do you collect these back? I don't recall. >> I can. >> Thank you, Shannon. >> All right. >> Thank you so much. >> So, now on to routine matters, approval of the minutes. Um, so recommendation that

138the board of education approved the minutes of the regular board of education meeting that took place on April 21st, 2026. So moved. >> Second. >> Um I guess do we just vote? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Minutes are approved. All right. Uh information and reports. Uh board members, uh any communication and reports from other boards, organizations, anything? Oh, yeah. Can I just ask a quick question? in anticipation of next week's class size workshop, right? Um, is it possible to get information as well about physical space considerations? >> Absolutely. Um, >> please >> can you tell me tell me more or email me specifically what you're looking for? I'd be glad glad to build that in. >> Sure. I guess I'm trying to uh anticipate the

139conversations about numbers and classroom how much they can hold if you expand. So, and then if you know how does that play out with actually what space there are like what is the makeup of each you know elementary school and how this would affect like would you need? >> No, absolutely. That's just >> happy to provide that and and uh we can get more granular but the short answer when we've looked at that in the past is historically we do have adequate room in our classrooms you know where where we would need to you know potentially displace or if something was there um it might mean that a particular content area like a world language or something which might have a dedicated room could could get displaced uh or or something of that nature. But

140the the overall classroom space is is generally adequate for for what we've seen with increasing and decreasing, but we'll look at it a lot more granularly to make sure that we're prepared to respond to that. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right, great. Thanks. Um, okay. So, future business announcement of uh future meeting dates. Next meeting, Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, regular board of education meeting, 700 p.m. here. And then Tuesday, June 2nd, our final meeting, regular board of education meeting, 700 p.m. also here. Is there a request for future agenda items? Um, I have one too before I pass Jason before I pass it over to you, Jason. Um, so this wouldn't be necessarily for, you know, one of the next two meetings, but it would be for uh an agenda item for like

141the beginning of next school year um around the inclusion of student voice on the board. I know we have our two uh student reps from student council. Um but we're looking to get more broad uh just more diverse voices and engagement. So thinking about student leaders um and you know just different ways we can have those interactions from meeting them at school to maybe panels but wanted to bring it up so that we all could talk you know share ideas about different initiatives we think could be >> so if I may uh something that we used to do I don't know if you guys are familiar with this or not but um because it because it kind of ended with COVID and we haven't brought it back yet is we had a what on the

142agenda we had what was called student participation and we would try to um if not at every meeting at least once a month have a student group something that was uh a group of students who would come and uh I believe I I don't know if it was before public comment or after com public comment I'd look but they would come and make a very short presentation five six minute presentation to kind of provide that student voice that's something we can certainly do we can we can resurrect um the alternative or or perhaps not an or but maybe an and if there's something um specific of interest that the board kind of hones in on that they're that they're aware of or recommendations that I bring forward to you for a more formal presentation. Uh

143sometimes as you see we have presentations where we will not only have the adult voices but the student voices uh be able to share and we can we could do more of that or do something that is student focused in that way. So there's a couple of ways we could we could we could accomplish that. Awesome. Thanks. Yeah. And I'd definitely love for us to have it on the agenda so we could just have a more formalized conversation about it and lock that down. Cool. >> To the extent you need a second, I'll second that. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> And then just uh renewing what we talked about earlier um on our our very detailed tangent. Um very appreciative of the thoughtfulness and the deliberate process that that you guys are are

144working on. And if I was thinking of a resolution, it would be much along the lines of what you're already doing. I was especially appreciative of this idea of, you know, not swinging the pendulum all the way back because we're reacting to something, but doing something that's very data driven. Um, so I would just like to keep that on the agenda. I think it it's really important to obviously, you know, the many many parents we've heard from, we're all, you know, parents up here who are are dealing with these things. Um, so very important to, I think, do keep that on the agenda. >> No, absolutely. Definitely planning, you know, for that as a board of education report uh coming up in the in the fall at some point. And I had already told the

145principal group expect this to be part of my convocation comments uh you know first you know first meeting back with with with teachers to to be able to try to provide some expectation setting with everyone. I I would I would humbly suggest um you know we could get maybe a uh round A round B like to me um grade uh elementary school kids accessing YouTube is just like an easy no more like there to I don't I don't know what the reason for that would be. Um, and so I I appreciate having the conversation and that not everything can happen at once, but I would imagine there there are some lowhanging fruit we can execute for the start of the school year that I would really like to see happen and then um the the

146items that require a more detailed conversation, we could, you know, obviously pursue that, too. >> No, understood. Agreed. >> Sorry. So, just to clarify, this will be on the agenda for the 19th for us to discuss or >> No, I was understanding that we would like future reports and I'm hearing a couple of reports next year about the progress, what's immediate, what's what's the followup, which is kind of already in the direction that I'm planning. So >> I mean just to follow up on on Miriam's comment, my expectation too was that we would be discussing this at one of the next two meetings so that so that work can be done to execute for the start of um school. I mean again I I I to me there's lots of things like I know that

147there are kids in elementary school who bring their cell phones. I know that kids are on YouTube when they have free time. I know that it's hard to turn around the Titanic, but again, I think it is really important that we do this quickly, some of these things, and I um you know, tell me what's possible, I guess. But my understanding was we were going to be discussing this at the one of the next two meetings to take action where we could and then obviously some other things will require more conversation. So I I had a different understanding based on what was discussed with with you know between Paul and an and what they're working on and and my position would be what I heard is they're you know gathering the right voices. They're meeting

148with the right people. They're working on these very things. Um I think they have the charge from us. So I'm not sure what especially given the agenda the tightness of the agendas over the next two meetings what we would really add to that other than give them the charge that we've already given that the community has given them which is we want less screen time in the classes but it needs to be a very reasoned look at it and I'm sure that I I can tell you anecdotally they're already doing these things. Um third grade at Aken is having screenfree week and the challenge is to also continue that in in at home. So these things are already taking place across the district. >> In some places I >> I think they are taking place

149across the district whether it's in every classroom right now probably open for debate but I think the district what more are we asking the district is looking at this they're planning for it. >> What I'm asking for is um I would I would like to know that changes will be implemented for the start of the next school year. Um and so if if that can't happen, I would like to better understand why. Um and um I guess one question would be, you know, are you coming back and seeking some sort of approval from us for these changes? Because if not, it would seem to me you could share with us on the second um and we could give feedback. And I guess I if if you're not if if folks aren't thinking these are going

150to be changes for the start of the school year, when would they be changes for and um I guess what other hurdles are in the way of of of executing on that? >> Well, as I was sharing at convocation, you know, I plan to have comments that talk about expectations so that I can outline them with teachers. So I do anticipate changes but and and there's lowhanging fruit. I don't know that that surfaces to the level of a board of education report. I'm I'm not a as as I've said kind kind of said there's a larger look at this that we need to do in terms of what's happening in instructionally. But if you know I've kind of already said it and I'll say it again and if you want me to come back and

151say it some more I'll say it some more. The lowhanging fruit pieces you know we're happy to do. those aren't those aren't those aren't necessarily difficult decisions when we talk about people. But I would but I wouldn't also want to characterize um any one anecdote as something that's epidemic across the schools. Um but that said, I'm aware we need to look more deeply at what some instructional practices are. We want to look at you know I think the part we need to take some time is hey if there are certain platforms that are in use that we feel aren't important uh we need to we need to make sure that we can you know it's not just a matter of you know unplugging it and ripping it out we say well what are you using

152that for what's the alternative how do you get back to that um I think there may be some professional development that we need to do we there may be some communication structures that need to happen across across our middle schools and so that they can assure that the students experience is that was one of the things that brought this to the forefront. Uh more so at the beginning of the year that um the collective amount of screen time that was happening at in that case at the middle schools was more necessarily than the teams had realized because they didn't have good communication structures around what they're doing. So some of that's pacing out if there if there are pieces that we need to keep. How are they paced? where do they live in the curriculum?

153There might be parts like that, but there's a there's a ton of easy things that we can do and I think um our principles have the message, we have the message. Um we're going to execute that message. I would want you to have confidence in that. I you know, I'm not really sure the granularity with which you want me to come back and speak about it. I >> I guess I'm I'm not having a ton of confidence to be honest, Paul, with the comments about how many times you want me to say it. Um, I guess my my concern comes down to the fact that I think, you know, a lot of parents are very concerned with obviously tech usage. It's I think pretty apparent and not anecdotal that tech is being used in schools

154in a way that I think most people would agree is inappropriate. I am looking for examples and maybe a list of that type of activity that will change. I'm looking for, you know, I'm not exactly sure how this executed, but let's just say, you know, no more YouTube in, and I get that's a broad blanket, whatever it is, but this is for the example, no more YouTube in elementary. My hope would be or my in my mind how this would play out would be, you know, you Paul come back to the board and say, "Hey, we heard you public and everyone else on tech. here are 10 things that we are planning to implement by the start of the school year. You know, no more, whatever it is. Um, so that the community understands what's

155happening because right now I don't I don't know of any changes besides like kind of the oneoff, you know, a school's going tech-free for a week or what have you that are planned. And so that's what I'm looking for is like what is going to be changed for next year? >> That message hasn't changed for me. So I hear it. I continue to hear it. I'm sorry you don't have confidence. >> When will I guess when will we know then? >> Let me finish. Please. >> You're asking for something without a deep understanding of what actually is happening in the schools. That's the part that takes time. Um, it's great for folks to come in and share some anecdotes and say everything's on fire and everything's broken. Um, without necessarily a deep picture and understanding,

156we'll provide that and we'll make sure that we can make, you know, right-sized changes um, and we can do immediate things. And if you want me to come in and give you 10 things, I'll come in and give you 10 things. But what I'm what I'm telling you is it's not going to be over. The discussion on my end, my work is not going to be done on June 2nd. There's a lot of effort and work that I will continue to need to do and it will be ongoing improvements. Um there are fast things that we can do. The YouTube stuff, some of what you're saying, I got it. I hear it. I don't disagree. Um I want to look at it. you mentioned, you know, you know, elementary kids that bring cell phones to

157school, and I know that there are medical situations where that occurs, but I I'm not aware of an elementary student that's bringing their cell phone to school and using it in a classroom and and like that's being okay by a teacher. So, some of these things are just kind of anecdotes and they're not part of broader policies, but it's but that policy already exists. Um, so you know, I don't I don't know exactly what you want me to report on in that regard, but I'm not on a different side of this than you are. I'm not trying to go slow, but I am trying to make sure that whatever changes we make um stick and are implemented with fidelity and are clear for our teachers. So, I'm just looking to say, yes, I hear you.

158we can give you some some broadstroke stuff uh for the beginning of the year and then we can come back and give you multiple reports throughout the year as to how it's going. >> Thanks Paul. Um Jonathan, >> I'll defer for now. >> Ethan, >> my comment was going to be there's been a lot of comments from people, but no, we've never asked you to do anything. So to all of a sudden turn on a dime, say something in two weeks, I don't think it's fair. I I do think we need to look at it, but we need to look at and do it right. So it's just my two cents. >> No, you know, it's just a f it's just to follow up on that. You know, I think the community has spoken. Um,

159it's clearly a priority of the community. It's clear clearly a priority of this board, but you know, I understand that took us well over six years to get to this position and it is going to be difficult to turn on a dime and get back. So, I would certainly agree with Jason that we want a deeper and more reasoned appro, you know, more reasoned analysis of what to do. That being said, if there are things that we could be doing more quickly, we should be doing them. And I I I I would I would agree I would agree with Jen on I would agree with Jen on that that if there's something that you know and you could even update us on what you plan to put into your convocation speech to the you know

160to the teachers in terms of the in terms of the priorities of this board and the priorities of the administration on the tech side. >> Agreed. And I don't disagree with Jen. I don't disagree with you. I think it's I think it's both. I think there are things I can share with you in the immediate and I think there are longer term things that are going to require some thought and some time. That's all. >> Thank you. And that was one point I was going to make that I do think it is imperative that we consider both that there are things that we should be doing now um that we don't have to recreate the wheel on. We have, for example, Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the country, 500,000

161students, many of whom in title one schools, made very significant changes um in their uh resolution that they're going to be voting on in June. So, for example, there are also other districts in Connecticut who have policies there. countries not America countries as a whole who have enacted various tech bans and they have seen the benefit um of such uh policies in place. So I appreciate that yes we need to be thoughtful and we need to have a thorough um edtech audit or investigation however we want to frame it from our specialists in house. I would also like to say that perhaps our IT department of 15 and a half staff FTEEs could be running reports to show exactly how many hours our Chromebooks and our iPads and all of our devices are being used

162and how many websites and how many hours on YouTube and how much money essentially is then generated by the outside. How, you know, we're looking at usage hours. We're looking at nonchool approved usage hours by students. I mean, these are all real issues that are being explored across the country, um, across the world. So, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We have great examples of school districts who are making very significant policy changes. Um, and yes, maybe they have been exploring some of this longer than we have, but it doesn't negate the fact that, you know, when you have experts in a variety of medical uh and and allied fields um and mental health, etc., all expressing very grave concerns about the impact of of our students. Yes, we as a board can set

163a broad resolution, some broad thoughts about what we would like to see happen and it's up to the district then to come up with how you operationalize that and what that would look for look like in the various schools. Um so I do think that we can do both. I do think that um that in the next couple meetings we could discuss further a resolution with with some of our priorities for immediate action to be considered for the beginning of the school year. Um again we don't have to recreate the wheel. So that's and certainly we can we can look at existing policies other school districts etc. um and have those as reference um available at that time. So I think we're mostly on the same page. The the question is in terms of deliverables

164and and what we're looking for. So for instance, even if I were to think that, you know, we should pass a resolution and it should direct you guys to do something. I want that to be an informed resolution and I don't necessarily know what I'm looking for because I may think something is lowhanging fruit. For instance, YouTube. I will tell you there's a lot of great stuff on YouTube that has led kids to find whole areas of science or history that they didn't know anything about that they fell in love with. So to say that, you know, there should be no tech in grades K through two, I don't know that to be the case. I know it sounds really good. I don't know that to be the case. And I know that Los Angeles

165is has a resolution where they're directing the the district to do something, but again, what you know, what did they do to get to that point? what what information did they have to better create a directive and that's what I think you guys are going to spend the summer doing and meeting with the the you know the stakeholders in the community kind of gathering that information doing the the edtech audit and so I think I need more information before I direct you because that that's the resolution that I had in mind for future agenda item would be directing you to do what it sounds like you're about to do Jason, we can also discuss, you know, and look at policies and links. I mean, in in these resolutions, they're citing literature and experts. So, to

166spend some time, I think it's an important subject, you know, these that we can do our own research and I think maybe some of us have done more than others and that's fine. There's it there's just a plethora out there like it's out there. The evidence is there, the data is there. So we just we can look at it and you know >> but we're missing our data and that's key because whatever we build I want to be West Hartford's. I want it to fit our needs. And so again I I think we're on the same page. We're speaking the same language. It's just what what are we looking for that that the district isn't going to be undertaking. >> I guess for me it's it's the timeliness of it. I mean, you know, I

167had a kindergartener, more than one, come home and like they learned about YouTube in kindergarten. I mean, to me, that's a very hard to understand example. Um, and I guess I worry too about kids, you know, the longer we we take to take action, um, the more harm is potentially caused. And I agree. I'm not looking for like rip all the iPads out of school, but you know, kind of as was mentioned, some of this lowhanging fruit, whatever you want to call it. Um, you know, using um time on on iPads as a reward or or what have you. Um, and I understand that it can't, you know, be across the board cuts, but I do think there are actions we can take um in the near term. And that's what I'm looking for. And

168I I appreciate that our schedule is ending in June. Um what I'm trying to understand is if something is going to be rolled out for next year, like what we're thinking that's going to be. Um and then I guess a general timeline of when we can expect um more information, which maybe you can share um at the next meeting or the June meeting. But I guess I I'm I'm I'm I'm not understanding what is happening. Um I think that I need more clarity on that perhaps. But um I I do think time is of the essence here and and that has to be a piece of it as well. >> Yes. Sorry. Um edtech opt out. So this is also something that's been uh a hot topic. Um parents are doing it. they're asking for

169it. Um, so I think this is something that we need to consider, at least discuss, find out how that would uh look in our district. Um, and I appreciate the parents who've been sending articles, who are involved in various uh grassroots advocacy groups, who have been uh sharing a lot of information, suggest making suggestions. So, um, you know, many thanks to our community for speaking up and for helping educate us. and um helping empower us also to make these decisions. >> Awesome. Thank you. Uh yeah, good discussion. Um and it sounds like we have some things in motion. Paul's agreed to share some things that could potentially happen immediately and then we have a committee being formed. Um and this is just my, you know, kind of two cents on this. Um I'm excited that

170we're gonna that this is going to be on the menu. I think I know that this is something we have been thinking about. Um, as a from the space of being an a community organizer for many years. Um, one of the things I had to come to to to when know when it comes to making things move is you do need to there does have to have to be time to hear um an array of voices. And so we've heard the community. We've heard some of the community by the way. I want to point that out when in the grand scheme of how many families we have and the communities they represent. We've heard some of the community. Um we haven't really heard um the majority of the comm the majority of parents on this.

171We haven't heard student voice on this. And I'm excited about the the staff um uh staff group because we need to hear their voices as well. Um and I think that's what's going to help us make the informed decision. So, yes, we're like we we hear families and we want to hear from everyone and we want to take the the time and energy and intentionality to do it in a way that's going to make sense for West Hartford and also be sustainable so we don't have to keep coming back to the table. So, >> just one other point on student voices. I just want to mention that we do have two ver we have two extraordinarily capable student seats. Um I know we I know I know we have Conrad tonight in place of Bridg.

172We've had Kayla. You're empowered to do more than just report on what's happening in the high schools. As far as I'm concerned, and I I hope I sincerely hope my colleagues agree with me. If we're asking for a student voice, you're it. You were elected to be the student voice for your, you know, for your high schools and as far as I'm concerned, for all of these schools that funnel up to your high schools. Um, we value your input and if we're talking about a classroom facing topic like this and its effect on students, please feel free to speak up. Don't hesitate. We want to hear what you have to say. >> Thanks, Jonathan. Yeah. All right. So, >> Oh, you want to say something? Go ahead, Conrad. Go ahead. I think that um through

173I've been at a couple of these and this is always the most prevalent conversation and I think um it's a very valuable conversation to have because I even see it throughout my own grade. Like I think uh the main issue is not the YouTube, it's the access to social media that has like the the scrolling feature to it. So it's less about the actual YouTube and it's more about the the access to information that doesn't help you in any way. For example, if I watch a Tik Tok, I'm going to forget it in a minute. A YouTube video on the other hand, like you pointed out earlier, can open up many perspectives to science, history, and passions. I I think that the social media part of it and the the scrolling part is a thing

174that doesn't open that up and is a much more prevalent issue than um the one of a YouTube. But this is what I'm this is mainly high school what I'm talking about since um I think like you said earlier it's a very different stage of development for many different kids and I I have a I have three younger brothers all at different points one in elementary school one middle school and another one in high school and I can see it too like when you compare how I how I went about technology when I was seven versus my brother there is a difference and I think that does need to be noted like and I do think that that is influenced by school but also not directly that um they have access to it all the

175time. So like you said earlier it's not like any kid has the phone out in an elementary school. It's more of a topic of conversation that is interesting to everyone because some kids don't have it and what happens is as they kind of like think it's cool. So this one kid who is allowed to do it then is uh I don't know he gets more attention and that topic spreads and that's how the um the greed for technology happens at the age but I think in the elementary schools like eliminating reward systems like you said could be very beneficial because it eliminates that like game aspect to it and that like dopamine hit almost that you also get with a Tik Tok. But on the other hand, I do need to say it isn't realistic

176to fully eliminate it because these skills that kids uh develop with technology is just a crucial part of anyone's development, especially in a completely different generation. >> Should have just gone to you first and then we would have had the problem solved. >> I appreciate the comments because and I, you know, I apologize to Jen. I'm not frustrated with this conversation. I am frustrated with the broadstroke that I that I hear painted for schools. And I think Conrad, you you know provide a very authentic um viewpoint on the explanation of the intricacies of this to you know and it cycles back to what Ann shared about, you know, her effort with this isn't just curricular. Her intent is to pull in the parent community and to talk about those aspects as they exist and as

177they live outside of the school hours because I will whole sail admit that we have work to do to to rightsize the amount of screen time that kids are getting in the schools. We need to look at what assignments are. We've talked about it. I've talked about uh Ann can can nod up and down that we talked with our principles about the gamification of homework. That's something that I want to get rid of. Um how fast it happens is in in an expectation is very fast in terms of like what folks talk about bringing back uh textbooks and all the rest. That's the longer look that we need to make because I'm here to tell you that the textbook makers ain't out there anymore like they used to be. Um, so there there are pieces

178to this puzzle that require um thoughtful analysis, but there but there are there are pieces that can be fast. And then there's a home responsibility and part of that are things that we want to do not in an aggressive or pushy way but in an educational way with parents to be able to talk to them about alternatives. So I think we're, you know, I I do get frustrated with the broad strokes that this gets talked in about that, you know, and it and it often feels like, you know, everything at the school is broken when in reality I think there are pieces that we can fix, need to fix, want to fix. Um, and some of it's fast and some of it's going to take a little bit of time. That's all. >> Yeah. Thanks,

179Paul. Um, yeah, big conversation that lots of voices have to weigh in on. I was a fourth grade teacher and we taught girls, we taught fourth graders how to code and yeah, just a lot of different things. So, I don't know, bigger big discussion. Um, so we talked about those requests for future agenda items. Um, any comments from visitors? Nope. All right. We don't have executive session and All right. Motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Second. >> Oh. Um, we have to vote. >> Oh, yeah. I mean, does anybody know? I showed your eye. I I All right. Great. Motion assured at 9:33. Okay.