001Calling to order the West Harford Public Schools Board of Education meeting um for Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. The last meeting of the current calendar year. Um and I we will start out with a roll call. Ammani, please. >> Miss Maramman, >> here. >> Miss Yagalof, >> present. >> Mr. Gagnan, >> here. Miss Hers >> here. >> Mr. Weiner >> here. >> Miss Blake >> here. >> Mr. Goldman >> here. >> Savannah Singh. >> Bridgette Feny >> here. >> Thank you. Ammani. Um and Bridget, can you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Um so, uh there is no revision to the
002agenda order. Um so we will be moving into public communications. Um, so this is a time for the board of education to hear from the public regarding thoughts, questions, concerns, and suggestions that you may have. Um, when you come to the podium, please give your name and town of residents. Each individual is allowed three minutes to speak, and please be mindful of Ammani, who will hold up a yellow card when you have one minute remaining with your time and a red card when your time has expired. At that time, please conclude your comments and respectfully take your seat. Uh please be aware that we are actively listening as a board while you make your remarks, but it is our policy that we do not respond to comments as they are being made. We will begin
003with comments on agenda items. And as a reminder, agenda items for this evening include a presentation of the construction improvement plan 2026 2027, the annual inspection and evaluation for indoor air quality, ratification of the WHAA contract, personnel report, and approval of minutes from the December 2nd, 2025 board of education meeting. We don't have anyone signed up for agenda items, but before I move on to non-aggenda items, is there anyone who would like to speak on any of those topics? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to general comments. And first on the list is Elena Tanitki. >> Thank you for letting me speak. I never first to come to anything so bear with me. So my name is Elena Tanitk. I am West Harford resident on 86 sequin road. I have three children in West
004Harford public schools, elementary, middle, and high school. Uh, and I'm here to speak about uh concern for the safety and security that I have for our children at the schools given the heightened um uh anti-semitism. my um so just to give you a sense of where the Jewish community has been with been going through. I'm not going to repeat the news. As you know, Kanuka started in a very on a very sad note this year with the events in Australia and for some it may seem like a far away place. That doesn't concern the community here or your students. However, that is not so. um with um in the last two years the anti-semitism rose 400% including here in Connecticut and it's time to be proactive and not reactive and put safeguards in place to
005in anticipation on of events rather than reacting when something happens. Um on this Sunday night we had a similar celebration and just to give you a perspective of where we are at I'm going to read um uh reassuring remarks from the organization leaders for the event and let me and I'd like to know if uh you would be reassured by this. So I just want to reiterate that and please help people know that West Harford police has unbelievable security plan. Fire and ice is extremely secured with bomb squad, SWAT team, undercover cops, drone surveillance, as well as fortified in many angles. I will spare you the photos of the snipers that I uh took that were standing on the roof of this very building during our celebration. And I highly doubt that any of you
006um I would I would venture to guess that most of you would not attend the Christmas celebration that would be preceded by this warning. So, um, as much as we try to shield our children, we cannot from this. Um, and over the past two years, I've seen little evidence that the school board has evaluated the policy and renewed the the superintendent's practices related to addressing modern-day anti-semitism and fostering a school's culture that actively rejects hate um, uh, against Jewish people and all groups in general. Um and um I'm just what Jew hate um and anti-semitism should never be dismissed as a problem only for the Jews. It is a so societal disease. It's corrosive and destructive um and frequently one of the first signs of society in decline. Jews are often the first but never
007the last. And most importantly, it's purely unamerican. Um and and they uh um and it erodess our society and freedom for all citizens. Uh here I see the red card went up, but I wanted to bring up an event that happened just last week to my niece in whole high school during the class. the student got up and said um just kind of unprovoked or from some sort of exercise and said all evils in the world uh can be blamed on the United States and Israel. What bothers me about this is not so I mean it bothers me to the max of what the student said but the teacher did not know how to respond and was purely in shock and just kind of shrugged it off. And that is very alarming that the teacher
008is not empowered or taught or unabled to know how to respond to this to this these hateful remarks. I won't even I'm not going to go into the awful Instagram posts that the student has um that are also very threatening. But by teacher not responding or bringing this up to authorities um to to school authorities um makes a Jewish child feel unsafe and also gives a permissive environment for everybody in the class. This we we need more action for so that we don't see events that we have seen unfold just over the last weekend. >> Do you want to wrap up or you're good? Sure. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Um, all right. Next on the list is Tally Cast. >> Hi, my name is Tali Cast. I live in West Hartford and I
009have three children, one of whom goes to Hall. Um, I'll try to speak qu so under the three minutes. Over the past two years, events around the world have created deep fear and safety concerns for Jewish communities. This past Sunday, over 15 people were killed and 50 injured at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia. Jewish communities everywhere are shaken by the knowledge that people were murdered simply for gathering joyfully to celebrate a Jewish holiday. Here in West Hartford, the impact of this climate is very real. Participating in Jewish life, whether at Hebrew school, synagogue, or community events, now takes place under armed security with snipers positioned on nearby rooftops during large gatherings. Therefore, Jewish West Hartford Public School student safety and sense of belonging cannot be an afterthought. The district's recognition of Jewish American Heritage
010Month and inclusion of Holocaust education in the curriculum are appreciated and meaningful steps. However, they are not enough. They're not enough on their own to address the forms of modern anti-semitism that students are facing today. Modern anti-semitism is not just an abstract concern. It is in our classrooms and hallways. My daughter, a sophomore at Hall, recently heard another student making anti-semitic, anti-ionist remarks. For a teenager who is simply trying to learn, to participate, and to feel safe among peers, hearing her identity attacked in this way is frightening and isolating. When comments like that are happening here against the backdrop of frequent violent attacks domestically and abroad, it underscores how urgent it is to ensure that our schools are safe, not only in principle, but in day-to-day practice for Jewish students and for all students. That
011means the board of ed must move beyond general statements of values to creating clear policies, established procedures, and direct expert-led training for teachers and staff. Educators need concrete tools to navigate classroom conversations about anti-semitism, anti-sionism, and even anti-American rhetoric when it ages into hate. They should be prepared to recognize when a difficult decision crosses the line into discrimination or harassment and to intervene confident confidently and consistently. This kind of training would send a clear message. There is a genuine zero tolerance stance towards anti-semitism and related ideologies and that students must understand the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Ultimately, this work is not optional. It's a core professional responsibility for a district proud of its diverse student body. Recognizing anti-semitism, anti-ionism when it appears, understanding the impact on students and staff, and acting promptly in alignment with
012district policy must be expected of all educators, not left to a few who happen to feel more knowledgeable or more comfortable. Lastly, meaningful progress requires transparency, timely communication with caregivers, and a genuine partnership between families and schools. Only by working together can we develop and implement the concrete solutions our students need to feel safe and be safe in every classroom every day. >> Thank you. Um next we have Ofer uh Sadku. >> Hi everyone. Uh my name is Ofra Sadka. I'm a parent to uh three uh boys in the public school system. Um uh I'm Jewish uh and like many in this community also have strong ties with Israel. I wanted to speak briefly about the importance of uh um training for teachers about anti-semitism about anti-ionism and how to deal with the discourse that's
013happening in our classrooms. I just want to give my perspective as a parent to kids who are really exposed to that kind of uh conversation at the school and uh where I think the challenge is. So in my view it's been tendency uh in the past two years to kind of veil anti-semitism uh with anti-ionist rhetoric saying well I'm not an anti-semite but I'm definitely anti-ionist where it's almost literally means the denial uh uh of the right of Jews to have a homeland and a state while accepting everyone else's. And to me obviously this is uh um you know anti-Jewish discrimination. Now it is super clear and super legitimate to have different and diverse opinions and uh uh about policies and politics and and and actions super legitimate. But when the discourse slides into uh
014this kind of delegitimization of the mere existence, then this turns and gets a very much darker and sinister shade. And this is where I think training is needed because truthfully, you know, these kinds of uh of conversations are very hard to have when you don't know the facts. And if we just offer that kind of information first to teachers and through them to the general community, I think we'll be in a much better off situation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um that's everyone who's listed here. Is there anyone else who would like to make public comment? Okay. All right. Um, now we are moving on to non-staff communications and reports. And we're pleased to be joined this evening um uh with by Savannah Singh in place of uh Kayla and uh really excited to hear
015reports from both Hall and Connor. So Savannah, can we start with you? >> Good evening. I'm Savannah and I'm filling in for Kayla. I'm happy to give a quick update for Hall. On December 5th, the Unified Theater performed with the theme Superheroes and Villains. It's an annual event featuring both Hall and Connor students and it was a really successful and fun performance. Also, the answer show, which is our improv group, performed recently, and it was super funny. Everyone really enjoyed it. On the sports side, winter teams are getting ready. Basketball, track, and cheerleading are in full swing. Big congrats to our Hall Essports Super Smash Bros. team who won the CIA state championship last Friday. PJ day was also last Friday and we raised $1,540 for Hall across the WHPS schools. $11,250 was raised and
016Hall and Connor collectively raised $2,92. Looking ahead, our orchestra and band winter concert is coming up on December 17th, and there are lots of sports events happening this week. Student council is also planning a talent show, a prom fashion show, and a student versus teacher basketball tournament. So, lots of fun events are coming up. Students also have some exciting opportunities coming up. They can still enroll in the April Break Europe trip, an 11-day adventure visiting Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain. In addition, through the Fund for the Common Good, students can propose projects that benefit the community, such as promoting equal equity, equity, environmental preservation, or access to healthy food and safe water. Also, just a reminder that Tuesday, December 23rd, will follow Wednesday dismissal times. That's the latest from Hall. Thanks. Thank you, Savannah. Over
017to you, Bridget. Hi. Uh, I'm Bridget. I'm the representative from Connor. This is my first time meeting a couple of you, so I just wanted to introduce myself. Um, first of all, happy holidays, and we'd like to tell everyone that SAT Academy is coming. This academy provides test taking strategies, practice questions, and support to help students feel confident on test day. Students who attended the academy increased their scores by an average of 50 points, which is a pretty big deal. So, please be on the lookout for signups after break. Miss Tamberlin Nobel will be holding Jen discussions. A Google form was sent to students to sign up for December 17th. Students will have a chance to bring up any great ideas they have for Connor because we love hearing students voices and ideas. Thank you
018to Connard School Counseling and our National Honor Society because they will be hosting Coco and Cram on Wednesday, January 14th and Thursday, January 15th. Students, if you want to participate, please sign up. Musical season is also here. Auditions for this year's musical, Anything Goes, have come and gone with a very talented cast being selected. Our theater department is ready to prepare and produce a great show this year. Con's winter concert will also be this Thursday. And if you wish to truly feel the holiday spirit, then you won't miss this great show. Also, thank you to everyone who supported our NIAK visit at Connard. We deeply appreciate the dedication of our steering committee as well as our co-chairs Lindseay Tringali and Brad Normand for their tremendous leadership in organizing this visit. Thank you to all the
019students involved in tours, academics, and sharing about Connor. On the topic of field trips, Connard's EMS class went to St. Francis Hospital where they learned about the level one trauma center, got certified in stop the bleed, and spoke to the nurses about their real life experiences. Students had the opportunity to visit the rooftop he helipad and learn more about how Lifar transports its high priority patients. Very interesting. I was there. It was awesome. Tomorrow is also Connor's mom trials team's uh conference meeting trial and they will compete at Hartford Superior Courthouse simulating a real criminal trial. Best of luck to them. Uh Connor was also featured on the broadcast of What is Right with Schools for Channel 8 and students got to highlight Connor's recent mural project which I've talked about plenty and the people
020that led it. It was really interesting. Um in the athletic section triyouts have begun for winter sports and we look forward to seeing our teams form for the 2025 2026 season. Congratulations also to the Connor student athletes who have made their commitment to continue their athletic careers in college next year. That would include Annabelle Tracy who has committed to Salisbury University for lacrosse, Paige Lopez who will be going to Emanuel for soccer, Gracie Lowry for swimming at Fairfield, Kayla Lowey for swimming at the University of St. Joseph, and Freya Morris who will be playing field hockey at Union College. Next up is our winter spirit week, which has been a blast so far. With Monday being dress up day and today being Grinch day, we are excited to see everyone bundled up for sledding day
021tomorrow. And we hope that all students and staff are making good use of the photo raffle where you can win real prizes. Um on the section of clubs and other Connor hosted its annual PJ day for the kids on Friday, December 12th and Connor students fundraised for children battling cancer at Connecticut Children's Hospital. It was such a great opportunity to dress cozy and support a worthy cause. Uh, also Connor's Future Educators of Diversity Club created a wonderful studentmade gratitude display across from the cafeteria to remind us what Connor students care for and celebrate during Thanksgiving. This was a while ago, but still relevant. Over the past few weeks, Connor Science Students and Environmental Club led a campaign to collect donations assisting Connor students and staff who have loved ones in affected areas of Jamaica. It
022was a very successful fundraiser and it went very well. Uh the community service club also had a very successful canned food drive, sending almost 300 cans and non-p perishables to the West Harford food pantry just in time for Thanksgiving. And finally, Connor's holiday helpers program continued the tradition of assisting Connor and Smith students this holiday season. This year, we provided for 20 Smith students, 51 Connor students, and their siblings and families. There has been overwhelming support from students and staff, and we thank all who participated. That's it. And thank you for listening to Conrad's updates. >> Thank you, Bridget. Um, well, no shortage of happenings. You guys are just roaring right into the end of the calendar year. So, thank you for all that sharing. Any comments or questions? >> Oh, yes. Well, I just
023wanted to thank both Bridg and Savannah for your detailed reports. And I especially want to thank Bridgette for pointing out um the involvement of both uh West Hartford High Schools, Colin and Connard in the Connecticut High School M Trial Tournament. Um, in my other position, I am the chair of the bar associations committee that organizes mock trial, and I am thrilled to see both Hall and Connor there in Hartford Superior Court tomorrow. I can I can't officially root for you, but I can very unofficially root for you. And uh I'm looking forward to stopping in to see both teams. So, wishing both Paul and Connor the best of luck tomorrow. And they are not facing each other. >> Yeah, your name is on the front of the packets, correct? >> My name is on the
024front. >> I was like, whoa. Okay, good connections. Okay, thank you. So, so really, so good luck, you know, good luck to Connor and good luck to Hall. I will definitely stop by tomorrow. >> It's See, it's good being part of the board. You get to meet important people. >> Will you sign the cover? >> Uh, no. And in all seriousness, thank you so much for those very wonderful reports. Uh, it gives us a lot of, uh, joy to hear. So, thank you. Um, so, moving on to new business of the board. Um, seeking a motion that the board of education receive the capital improvement plan for 2026 2027 and begin the process of reviewing for final approval and adoption at the January 20th, 2026 board of education meeting. >> So moved. >> Thank you,
025Jason. Seeking a second. >> A second. >> Thank you, John. Um and we are joined by uh Julio Darte, Barbara Rua and Bob Palmer Palmer to share a little bit more about this presentation. >> So as the team gets set up, uh I think board members I think you you certainly know Julio and Barb and it's and it's a pleasure. I don't know if new board members have met Bob Palmer yet. Bob, uh I just want to sing his praises. Uh he is director of plant and facilities. He is an absolutely crucial member not only of the board of education team uh but he's dualheaded and he also works for the town of West Harford. He is um he is without replacement and uh I just want to thank him publicly before they get into
026their report. But I'll turn it over uh to Julio to lead us through. >> All right. Thank you very much and hello everyone. Um, our capital improvement plan outlines the funding for school maintenance, new construction, equipment, and technology. Here, the town allocates appropriations for two years in the CIP, which is why you see a more specific breakdown for the 2-year period listed in our CIP plan. This plan is essentially your recommendation, which then goes to the town manager for him to fold into the town's capital improvement plan. So in short, you approve the recommendation that we make here and then the town approves the appropriations so that we can get going on all of the amazing work and things that need to get done. So just a quick uh overview or the purpose again of
027the capital improvement plan. It's to clearly outline our long-term facility and infrastructure investment through a 12-year planning period. It supports ongoing maintenance and replacement cycles, identifies and prioritizes new program enhancements, and ensures alignment with the town's established CIP structure. Collectively, this approach promotes strategic planning, fiscal responsibility, and a long-term sustainability for our facilities. You can see some key dates that I've highlighted here. Um, so again, today, December 16th, we're here to present uh to the board of ed our CIP plan. We'll be back here on January 20th for approval and then at that point we will submit it to the town manager where he'll put it uh in fold it into the town CIP plan and they'll hopefully vote on that April 21st and we'll know where everything lands at that point. So I'm happy
028to take questions. I don't know if we want to just hold till the end and then get through them. >> You a clarifying question if that's all right. >> Sure. Um, so just one question kind of going back to the first slide. Obviously I'm I'm new to the board, so if you could just help me understand this a bit. What is the board's role here? Maybe I'm looking to everyone on the board. It seems like it's a kind of a foregone conclusion that we're going to approve this. So I'm guess I'm wondering like what are we looking for? What um what's the what kind of feedback are you looking for from us? Um, can you talk me through that? Maybe it was the second slide, but the the timeline and kind of like your um
029your request from us to review this and then on the 20th approve it. >> Sure. Well, I know that was posted to the board. So, first and foremost, absolutely. Tonight, you're receiving a report. There is no vote tonight. uh like like the budget presentations that you'll see in March. Uh you have an opportunity to receive it, digest it, uh to understand if there are questions or that you would like to make to to the team in terms of potentially any feedback that you might be hearing from the community, any information uh certainly as you gain tenure on the board. Um information you might have about gee, what about what about this or what about that? Um, we've heard at times, you know, one of the hot topics that have that has come up over the
030course of years for which the board has had a very active role in the CIP has been uh the heating and ventilation specifically, otherwise known as the air conditioning project. Um, and I and I would say that it was based on feedback from our board of education and information that they heard uh from the community uh that the team uh not necessarily the exact same team that's here in front of you, but Bob was there um and members kind of put together a 10-year plan to say how can we incorporate uh a largecale uh project that that incorporates heating and ventilation systems and refresh into West Hartford Public Schools across our 16 buildings. um quite a significant undertaking something that's underway that you may have seen a little bit about but those are the kinds
031of things I think it's as as you hear you know I would certainly always tell you that you have uh in Bob and and you know in terms of uh the facilities themselves an expert without question but um you know you're responsive to the community feedback and and the ability for you to ask questions um if you happen to be hearing uh something that maybe we're not addressing publicly that we would like to bring light to. Um I I would never say never, but I doubt that there's going to be a project that Bob hasn't envisioned, isn't aware of, isn't somewhere on sort of the list. Uh but oftentimes in some of the questions the board will ask, well, I thought we were going to have project A. Uh we talked about that last year,
032but I don't see it. And maybe there's a reason that project A had to get rep prioritized over projects B and C based on things that just happened, supply chain issues, all all kinds of stuff. And and I know that Bob will will speak to all of this in his presentation. So, but that's a short answer. >> Awesome. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> So, just a quick recap of last year. So, you can see that last year's board adopted budget was reduced by the town council by $39,000. Um, that ended up coming out of our computer infrastructure and our furniture and equipment replacement line. Uh, but as Bob will go through and mention a couple highlights, we were still able to accomplish a lot of really great things. Some of them we've
033talked about at our opening schools um and and um you know some of the things that we're still continuing to work on but as Paul mentioned there were some projects we were hoping to get to and for various reasons weren't able to which Bob will highlight as well. So I will now turn it over to Bob. >> Great. Thanks very much Julio. Um so we'll we'll talk about um first are the projects that some of the highlights of the projects that we did complete last year. So, um, one was the we did a roof replacement at Bugby, which was desperately needed. We were actively leaking there, so that was a very welcome project and very timely. Uh, we did some sidewalks and paving at Whiting Lane. Uh, information technology was able to upgrade some computer
034infrastructure even though their budget had been reduced by the town council a little bit. Uh, King Phillip main entrance, we did a a renovation of that space for security purposes. Um, we did some district-wide furniture replacement. Again, that budget had been reduced, but we went and uh did the very we we rep prioritized the list and bought the essential things that we needed to. Some of the bigger bigger projects that we did, we renovated the hall cafeteria and servery, which came out amazing. There's a picture of it here in the presentation. Um, and uh, also at Hall, we also did um, six of the restrooms were renovated there, which is was desperately needed. So, those were some of the highlights. There were other projects that were completed as well. Um as as Julio had mentioned,
035we had postponed a few projects and for various reasons. Uh Webster Hill boilers were scheduled to be removed. That's part of that fresh air project that um Mr. Vacinus was referencing. Um Webster Hill is our next school for fresh air and ventilation air conditioning. Um we are having a a a slight delay in that project for design concerns. A couple of issues have come up. Originally the idea was to put the equipment on the roof after a structural analysis. Who can't do that? So now we're pushing it down to the ground. And we're also running into a problem with um refrigeration. Uh the industry is changing the to a different new more environmentally friendly refrigeration type. So we're kind of stuck in that middle there. So we're going to end up so we have to
036go back and redo the documents to accommodate for the new refrigeration that we're going to be utilizing. So, um, another project that we, uh, decided to postpone was Wil Auditorium. As you might know, we're in the middle of, uh, redoing the main entrance to Wulkit at this point. Uh, we thought it would be better to incorporate it next summer, um, to do that work next summer when we'll be doing other interior work and not disrupt so much of the school uh, during last summer. Um, as we continued that project, uh, another project that's not here that was postponed was KP flooring, King Phillip flooring project. uh we just had designs and delay uh getting the environmental abatement designed correctly. Um so we just had to postpone that a year. So um still in progress we
037I already mentioned already was the woke at security and office improvements last summer really focused on site improvements uh for that at Wulkit. We are basically moving the front office to the front of the building. It was kind of embedded in the building and we couldn't do a um safe security entrance, what we call a man trap, uh without physically moving the office because of fire code and the way that the office intersected with many many of the hallways and other uh spaces in the building. Uh so basically we're moving the the whole office to where the canopy was to the front of the building. Um, and that project is well underway. Uh, the site work was completed, most of the site work was completed last summer. So, it gives us expanded parking. It gives
038us a new, uh, driveway for, uh, student drop off and pickup. Um, the parking areas were redone. Uh, so that was a great improvement to that facility. Those were desperately needed as well. Um, right now we're focusing on building the the new office building itself. It's been closed in. Um, and we're beginning to work on the interior of that space for the winter. Um, and the goal is to have that completed sometime in the spring. Perhaps we can move them into there, move the office during the spring break, hoping. But, uh, if not, we will just do that during the summer. And then the where the existing office now, we'll renovate that space into small instruction space, which is really needed at that building as well. And we'll do some of these other projects that
039we had postponed as well. So that kind of gives you an overview where what we're up to right now. So what's going on uh what we had done and what we are doing right now um going forward for next year. So we have several different if you were able to read the um capital improvement plan that we submitted. Uh there are several buckets of uh accounts that we utilize that are repeated and these are repetitive types of maintenance uh improvements that we do year year after year. Um, and those are repeated. And then for special projects such as the Wulkit project that we did, we we do what we call um, excuse me, as a special project that have a short-term duration. We called them a program enhancement. Uh so we'll we'll program those in
040um for a year or two or however long it takes to do those and then uh those fall off the list. But we we have this group of projects that are always repeated and there's different projects that fall into those categories and I'll explain that in a minute. So so um so the first one is exterior improvements and this includes typically roof and masonry repairs on the exteriors of buildings. It could include windows as well. Um so we always have roofs to do. So, we have 16 buildings, 1.8 million square feet, not quite that much roof space, about half that, but we're always doing roofs. So, we always have roofs projects going. Um, so the roofs that that we plan on doing this upcoming summer are at Brayburn. Um, and and that's where the majority
041of this money will go to. That's that's really what it's earmarked for. Um we I've increased the price the budget amount for this account a little bit because we are seeing rising prices as we all are and inflation uh is in the construction industry between labor and materials uh tariffs those types of things are affecting us. So those that's the project that we plan for exterior improvements. Interior improvements are really anything that happens inside the building could so it could be renovation of offices, classrooms, um any any other types of things. So we do several different types of projects within this. Typically we do flooring projects out of this account. So uh next year we plan on next summer we plan on doing flooring at both King Phip and Wilkit. Again we'll pick up the
042project that we postponed from last year and we'll also try to incorporate in Wulkit. Um Connard food lab renovation is a project that we are hoping to undertake. Uh we plan on renovating the caf uh cafeteria and servery at Connard as we did at Hall last year. And we're also going to re be replacing the fire alarm system at Connor which needs to be updated and replaced. So heating and ventilation. Um this is an account um that has been historically here and this is really not focused on that fresh air and air quality project. That's a separate account in itself. This is really looking at boilers, standalone air handlers and that type of thing um in the in the in the other buildings. Uh so really most of the money that we're looking at for
043this upcoming year is going to be utilized to upgrade our uh building management system. We have um what we call direct digital controls to all of our buildings. Not all of our equipment is on this. We still have some very antiquated pneumatic equipment. Um very old school, but it still works. Um but it's uh where we can when we do projects with HVAC money we we also include new controls but at this point our control system is about 20 years old and we are due for a major update. So we'll be spending bits of money out of this we'll spend a lot of money out of this first year of this and then the subsequent years we'll be spending more money to continue that upgrade of that those uh devices. We just at this point
044we're outdated and we can't even get the spare parts for those systems anymore. So asbestous removal um is tied to other projects. We never just do an asbestous removal. It's always tied to something else. So projects that abatement we plan on are tied at King Phillip to the flooring, Brayburn to the roof. There's uh sometimes there's a speestous in the roof. Uh cement that they use and and some of the the parapits have cement component uh speestous components. Uh wit we'll we'll utilize that there too for flooring. Um and sometimes when when we do HVAC projects, we have piping and we have boilers that have asbestous as associated with those as well and that's used to do that. Um we generally try to test for those ahead of time and know what we're dealing with.
045Um but sometimes we open up something and we find something surprises us. So we we have a a fallback here with this asbestous account. So that helps us to manage that. So, continuing with the 26 27 CIP site and athletic improvement. So, uh this is an account that covers a lot of things. This covers parking, uh driveways, it covers playgrounds, it covers athletic fields, uh so anything really outside. Um the allocation for the 26 27 would be utilized for paving at the Aken parking lot. Both if you know Aken, there's two different uh sections of parking. would be done for both. And also at Hall, the main driveway, um there's a water issue as you come down the hill on the left side as you enter the build, as you enter the school grounds, uh
046water seeps out of that hill and it forms ice on the sidewalk and on the roadway. Um, so we want to uh do a project to just uh correct that drainage and get it into uh underground into the underground system before it forms ice on that um situation there. So for most of those projects, we're able to use our uh town civil engineering uh folks to help design those. So we we um appreciate their cooperation and they're great to work with um and they really uh help us out with that. So, the other project that we're uh was the major enhancement that we're proposing this year. Um this is uh we we didn't include it in last year's, but this is something that had been bubbling up over the last few years. We had it
047on the radar, but it's really kind of accelerated. Uh and we really would like to to tackle it this upcoming summer. So, the track and uh field areas at Hall um are really uh beginning to deteriorate very quickly. So the there's a rubberized surface that's on top of a buminous concrete which is really asphalt. Um and so that asphalt as it ages and cracks and shrinks um and it also moves because of the ground frost heaves. If you know the hall site at all athletic fields they're very wet there. So there's a lot of heaving and motion there. Uh so that the deterioration there is is quite significant. Uh we've been making repairs to the rubberized surface and to the underlying asphalt and spots over the last few years, but it's really just accelerated. Uh
048these freeze thaw cycles that we have just really uh just make it worse and worse and worse. So So our proposal is to come back with um post tension concrete, which is what we did for the tennis courts a couple of years ago. if you're familiar with those. Um it's a it's a newer technique um that puts utilizes concrete, but instead of using reinforcement rods, it uses cables that are placed under tension that gives the concrete its strength and it basically creates one gigantic slab that really does not move. Um so that's what the the whole idea is. So it really doesn't move. It wouldn't be so impacted by the freeze thaw cycles. uh it's much stronger, much more resistant. Um and then you would apply that rubberized surface right on top as we have
049now. So uh the downside is that it's more expensive. So we're estimating it's about a $2 million project where asphalt would probably be about half of that. But the good news with the the concrete is that it's guaranteed for about 50 years. So it's a a really long uh lifespan for the concrete. We would still have to periodically every 7 8 10 years go back and do that rubberized surface, scrape that off and reapply that but that would be small very small comparison to uh the underlying uh by 2 minutes concrete or regular concrete. >> Now is that is that just the track area or does that include the that entire football field as well? >> No, the the turf field is separate. So it would just be the the track areas and those associated
050areas. That end that end area that you see down there, that's all got concrete underneath it that's used for track and field. >> So thank you. >> Yep. So So that's one of that's So that's it for 26 and 27. Uh for TW, excuse me, technology and infrastructure. Um there's a significant increase in this line item. Uh typically it's been around 300,000. Um our information technology director is asking to go to $600,000 um just because the the the need is we keep falling behind on updates. Um and we're also proposing that we split the funding here. So and historically this has been what we call capital non-reoccurring. Uh these are not really bonded funds. These are typically were funds that uh almost like operating funds. uh and typically they were funded out of the uh
051current s they would be funded out of surplus for the town from the town um and funded forward. So that's why sometimes we see that the those that account and the furniture account would get slashed because they didn't have surplus to to allocate to that. Uh so it the strategy here is to split that because some of the items can be actually bonded because they do have a lifespan of more than seven or 10 years. Uh typically for capital bonding, you want to have a product that has at least seven to 10 year lifespan or more if you're bonding it. Um things of lesser cost would be uh continue to be CNRE basically cash. So so that's a difference there. And again, we're asking again for furniture and equipment. Um, these are desks, student desks,
052teacher desks, uh, lockers, uh, basically any fixtures within a school building are are typically how those are purchased out of there. So, >> all right. And the final u, >> excuse me, just one question before we go on to next year or are you done with No, go ahead. >> Okay. Um, well, first of all, you're very impressive with how you know all these schools so well, so I am amazed. Um, and I'm also happy to hear that you're looking into new ways of making sure the uh, you know, new products we put in can last longer. So, thank you for all that. Um, most of these are going to be because I'm because I'm new. So, for the bonding, is that town bonding or are we getting state bonding dollars or can you tell
053me a bit more about that? And then the second question is related on the grants. Um, who's granting us that money? And I guess for both of them, do we have is is that approved? Do we have it? Where where does that stand? >> Excuse me. So the debt service is held by the town. Uh they're their buildings and so they're financially responsible for the debt service and so that's included in their budget and they follow their their policies on debt as a percent of total expenditures and etc. So that that was all under the town. And then the grant pieces um as it relates to these projects are state funded. And so there are certain school projects that are eligible for partial state reimbursement. And so Bob's group um files for those and gets
054reimbursement. The rates vary depending on the type of project. Um but that is many of our recurring projects get state reimbursement. >> Okay. So when you say grants were are we borrowing money? Did you did you say the rates or did I misunderstand that? >> So they essentially offset a share of the cost of the project. Thank you. Um, >> one more question. Um, this probably goes to both sections, but how do you prioritize? I mean, I would imagine, you know, every school thinks that their school is the most important and every, you know, roof is the worst roof in the entire town. Um, how how do you find that tricky balance? It it really goes down to we look at our work order history and we look at our expenditures on what is costing
055us the most money and what's what's causing us pain. You know really life safety kind of things take priority. So um leaking roofs are obviously a big pri life life safe life environmental issue in a building. So that goes, you know, fire alarm systems are high priority, emergency lighting, those types of systems in general in very good shape with those systems. Uh you'll see in the CIP that we're beginning to replace some of those, but um but it it they're planned replacements. They're they're, you know, that's they're planned because they're at this these things are at the end of their life. So that's really how it works. We certainly get input from principles and seek their input on things that they really need for their buildings and and want to see for their buildings and
056things that are causing them problems. So and we try to address those as well. get their input and try to address as what what we can. So, >> makes sense. Last question for this for this section. Um, is there anything that uh you're you're thinking like gee, you know, x y or z should absolutely be in the 2627 budget, but for whatever reason it's not, or 2728. Um, which I'm sure the list is long, but like anything major that you feel like is being overlooked for for whatever reason. No, I think we do a really good I think we're very fortunate the partnership we have with the town and that we're funded in these reoccurring accounts. Uh we're very fortunate that we don't usually have to go to referendum on these types of things. Uh
057unlike other towns, uh so that we have a very consistent we have a a good solid 12-year plan. We we generally know where the how much money we're going to be having in those years. Um there's flexibility in that plan to move rep prioritize projects which helps us to to solve issues as they come up is things become the priorities change obviously. So so I think we do a really good job. There's there's always things that we would love to get done but I think we always get the essential things definitely get done and then some of the nice to haves get done as well. So that's those are the things that happen. So I think we do a good job with it. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Yep. So, this would just
058be following up on uh Jen on on on Jen's uh new member questions. Um when when it comes time for the council to make their cuts in terms of the CIP, are do they do they offer a general cut that we then allocate or do you or or do they make have input on specific lines? >> Uh they typically decide where they're going to cut. um they typically look at that CRE line as the first thing to go so that because that's cash. Um uh I'm involved in the process over on the town side. So I bring forward both the town CIP and and the board of eds together. Uh so I'm involved in those conversations and I'm advocating for the projects that I'm here talking to you about tonight. So, I'll continue to do
059that and I'm not always privy to what they're going to do, but I I generally have an idea what's happening and if they're looking to reduce, I can help guide them to areas that might be less critical than other areas. So, to help, you know, prioritize where the cuts might have to be. So, generally, we've only seen reductions in the Cre in the since I've been doing this, which is 13 or 14 years now. So, >> yeah. And I think that's a big difference between your board of education budget and the CIP budget. you know, that is that is probably the biggest kind of a difference in terms of recommending projects for inclusion in the CIP, but at the end of the day, this this goes forward to the town council for inclusion in the
060larger. >> Well, thank you both. Sure. >> Sure. I have a question also. Thanks. Um, also as a new board member, um, curious about when these big projects are instituted that require maintenance and maintenance is planned at the time of initiating these contracts. Are there also contracts that kind of lock in maintenance service plan so that it helps kind of budget and understand potentially what kind of fees would be incurred or is it variable, you know, year-to-year? Are there Does this exist even? Just curious. Thanks. >> Yeah. So, you know, the shiny new stuff is great because it's under warranty for a year. Um, and generally we hope that we don't have to deal with it too much. We do have an in-house maintenance staff of um technicians, so HVAC and electricians and plumbers and
061those types of folks that um maintain the equipment. So, they'll get training from the vendors on new equipment as it comes in, learn how to take care of it. We do supplement that with contractors as needed. So we we we know the plans maintenance requirements and when we have to do it and you know those types of things. Uh so so it's a combination of both. We we and things become e newer things actually become a little bit easier typ typically for maintenance from a maintenance perspective. So uh and with training that we get from contract from the vendors that was suppliers of these this equipment, it it typically works out pretty well for us. So uh you know we're obviously adding more HVAC equipment to buildings as we go through and do this air
062quality improvement programs. It's a concern for me about our HVAC staffing and whether they'll be able to handle it. Um, we have recently just brought on an HVAC company to help us with that. Um, kind of as a standby just in case we do need help with that as we continue to add equipment and and u just make sure that we can keep up with the the pace of repairs and response to to problems as we need to. So, >> okay. Thanks, >> Ethan. >> I get about six because I was saving them, but I figured since now um this is fiscal year 26 to or 25 to 26 is the current year. Is it possible to get a schedule or maybe you did it, I just don't remember that shows 25 what was actually
063done and what had to be held off because there's a number of items that you weren't able to complete >> from the previous year. >> Yeah. I can I can provide >> for future. >> Yeah, we can go back to that. >> Okay. The town decided not to do certain spending. Any reason why or was it just too much total? So when they're looking at the financing um they're looking at the different financing sources and uh what's required when it comes to the capital non-recurring expenditure fund those are general fund dollars and so um they're balancing it against you know when they're looking at the mill rate and the impact on the taxpayers um whether they can make the general fund contribution to the capital non-recurring expens they're looking in total >> excuse me >>
064they're looking in total how much they're going to spend >> they're looking in total how much they Yeah, because because those are those are essentially current dollars. >> Okay. The uh I noticed there were a couple food items in the capital improvements above Connor Hall. Isn't that is that paid through the capital or is that paid through the um nutrition spending? >> So that's a combination. Um the resources available in the nutrition services fund can support the project, but they're actually only able to support the servery portion. So then the small amount of the project that was outside of the servery was funded with uh capital project. >> So this is the spending outside the servery as you said it. >> Yes. In in Bob's plan. Yep. And then the servery pieces were paid from
065the nutrition services fund. >> Is there any estimate on the um I assume the grants are what you're putting in for capital you're hoping to get grants to do as an offset. Is there any estimate of what the grants could be or is that too dangerous to speculate? It's it it varies a lot. So our our typical reimbursement rate is 38.25% something like that. Um but there's what they call eligible and non-eligible costs. So that's that's the tricky part. So uh they will pay for a 20-year warranty warrantied roof, but for we like to do a 30-year warrantied roof. So, they'll pay up they'll pay the cost of a 20-year warranty, but we'll pay the the differential cost for the 10 years to get the extra 10-year warranty on it. So, it's a thicker membrane.
066>> There's a submerged. >> Excuse me. >> It's just a lot of merging. >> Yes. Right. Um, so there they have So, it, you know, so say a roof comes in at $2.1 million, not all of that is going to be eligible. They'll they'll they'll they'll decide that there's there's rules that they're they have certain things are eligible and certain things are not eligible. So, okay. >> Uh, so you know, >> we won't get 38.25% on that whole 2.1, but it'll be significant. It'll represent a majority of it. So, >> no, it just be interesting to see how much is covered. >> Yeah, it again, it varies by the the building and the roof and what has to be done and what equipment is already there and all this other stuff. >> Yeah, just a
067recap would be interesting. >> Yes. >> Um, so this is just a question on the scheduled table three. You have reoccurring projects. You have project enhancements. Elementary school air quality improvements. Seems pretty um consistent. I was just assumed that'd be a recurring project. It's just nitpicking. I just trying to I'm trying to understand. >> Yeah. >> Ethan, you're asking the elementary school air quality improvement which is listed as a project enhancement. Why it's not reoccurring? Yeah, >> I just want to make clarifying your question matter, but I'm just curious. >> Yeah, it it's not intended to be forever. >> We're hoping to get to the end of it at some point. So, >> but in the 12 years here, it's not going to end. >> Okay. >> So, it was originally designed as a 10-year
068program and then um the town reduced our amount. We originally had asked for $8 million a year, then they reduced it to 5.54. So, that's why you see the extension now. So, so now it's about a 15, maybe even longer. So, we'll see. >> So, my final question, at least for now, is um the reoccurring projects is sort of general, >> correct? >> I assume though, you've got like a plan behind each one of them of, you know, hit this school or hit this area first. Is it possible to have that just realizing it it's going to change? >> Sure. If you look on uh page under planned projects for fiscal 26 27 27 28 28 29 I do three years of planning there that identifies the major projects that I we want to take
069on. So >> yeah I was looking more just somewhere by school or by something to differentiate them. It's page uh four of the >> Yeah, page four will list it and it lists it by school. It doesn't doesn't necessarily identify like the Aken parking lot project obviously that falls under u correct me if I'm wrong Bob exterior building or you had just done it site under site but it is listed under Aken parking lot and driving >> site improvements. So each one of those projects falls under one of those four major categories that Bob was sharing on the previous slide. I was looking more in maybe it's just my way of doing it is like you have um exterior school building improvements so that would almost be its own subset and then I'm going to
070do a first I'm going to do >> Yeah. So if you go into the tabs and you go into the um item description and the booklet >> Yeah. >> Um you you'll get a it'll describe what exterior building improvements is. It gives you a description and justification and then at the bottom of the last sentence in that I list the project that I intend to the project or projects that we intend to do under that category >> for some that were general >> for that year. Yeah. Right. So the the project is always specified at the bottom. >> Okay. >> So >> right. So I have Thank you. >> All right. Any additional questions? Uh oh, Bridget. Hi. I just have a question about the Connor fire alarm system >> there. Sorry, I'm just curious.
071There's been like attempts to fix that, right? Have we? Right. >> We're going to replace it. >> Yeah, we're going to replace it, but there has like >> Yeah. No, we we spent quite a bit last year working on that. Yeah, we had quite a bit an issue with that, right? So, >> because I just remember Sorry, I was just curious. >> It was right at the end of last school year into the summer. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Very painful. >> It's good. Thank you. So now we will be moving on I think uh oh oh no sorry more to come. >> Yeah a little bit more. Uh so elementary air school air quality improvements. We've talked a little bit about it but this is that long-term program to to there's seven of
072our nine of our 11 elementary schools have or had uh v virtually no fresh air systems. Um so uh those are the priority schools. Um and so uh so basically Smith and Charter Oak are the were the only two original schools that had fresh air and air conditioning throughout the buildings. Uh Woke It and Brayburn have fresh air systems, but the rest basically had minimal systems in them. Some portion portions of the buildings, new additions, that type of thing, have uh those systems in it, but the the original structures uh and you have to remember most of our buildings, the average age is about 65 years old. So they they just don't have that infrastructure in them. So, so this is that long-term project that we allocate 5.54 million for each year. Um, we just
073finished up Duffy. We just did that one. It took two summers. Um, ended up coming in about $9 million. So, it's a little bit higher than we thought. Um, there were some real big challenges with that building. Uh, electrical and all kinds of other issues, but um, so it's up and running. We got new windows. We have all fresh air. We have air conditioning. We're we're twe getting the tweaks out of the new systems getting it running very well. The next one we want to do is Webster Hill. Um we are in design with that one one right now and I've talked about the problems that we've encountered there. So we're hoping to straighten out the design issues, get out to bid this spring. It will not happen this summer. Just just long long lead
074times on HVAC equipment and electrical switch gear. Uh we might get some enabling work if we select a contractor and get um get it bid and awarded. Um we could do some enabling work. Um it probably won't be as in an invasive pro uh project as Duffy was uh because most of the work will be happening in the tunnels underneath the school. So um so each building will be a little bit different. Uh but we'll continue to work on that. Um it, you know, we need to accumulate some funds from year to year here to to help pay for these if they're going to be more than what we think they, you know, originally I think we started off at $3 million and, you know, very unrealistic. And then, you know, COVID happened and then
075inflation and everything else. So, uh, so it's really just escalated. So, but we're committed to doing it. Um, we love how Duffy came out. We It's very It's I think the people, you know, living in construction is challenging. If you've ever done it in your own home, you know it. And doing it in a school building is extremely challenging. Um for staff and teachers, mostly the kids, I think, love it. Uh but uh so we'll continue to do that and and to to work around the school schedules and get those done. So So that that was 2627. >> Ask a quick question. Um, just related to the budget for this item, you said you had asked for 8 million, but it was brought down to 5.54. So, you're basically like working within the means you've
076been kind of capped at. Yeah. But you have that much more that still needs to be done. It's just kind of the pacing of it is based on the budget allocation and there's no wiggle room on that. No, I I you know, we we talked about it and it and it's actually working out for us because these the design process for these projects is very complicated and it takes a long time. So, I mean, we got one under our belt, we're working on the second one. I think we'll get better as we go. Um, but it just um they're very complicated and they take a lot of time and planning. So, you know, this the pace is fine for the money. I we as long as we have money to to start the design and
077then we accumulate more funds to actually do the work um then we can keep going. So we'll we'll we'll try to expedite some. We're we're in good shape with that. You know, originally it was 8 million. That was a hard pill for the town to take. Uh so they they reduced it to 55 and then they stretched it out from 10 to 15. So and you know realistically we're probably going to go longer than that because we're just going to need more money. So, so >> just curious if you're having any issues in finding contractors to complete this work. I'm the daughter of a HVAC contractor and know how rare they are these days. >> We certainly are. Yeah, it's it's it's challenging. Um, you know, COVID really changed how the trades operated. A lot
078of people left the trades. Um, so and we don't see a lot of people going into them and the people that are going into them are very well paid and we do not pay that well. So, So, uh, I have two open HVAC positions in my staff right now. I have an electrician position. We're really struggling with that and I know contractors are too. So, I think they're and people are jumping from company to company because they're just looking at the money and people are some people are paying it. So, so yeah. Uh, so we're looking forward uh the second year of the uh capital improvement plan 2728. Again, we'll go back to uh exterior building envelopes. So, that that would be the roof replacement at Wedding Lane would be the next one we would
079focus on. For interior renovations, uh we're looking to do exterior door replacements at Sedwick and Connard. You know, they say exterior, but we kind of count it as interior. We're doing more flooring uh at Duffy. Uh also, we're looking to renovate restrooms at Aken. Uh the air quality will continue. Um, we're looking at the next schools we're looking at are um Norfeld and Bugby for that after Webster Hill. Um, I'm probably going to favor Norfeld over Bugby because the windows there are so at Norfeld are in really bad shape and I really just need to get those replaced. So, we'll do windows and fresh air as as part of that together. Um, for HVAC, uh, we are looking at replacement of air handlers at Sedwick. Um there are several in that building that um I'll
080talk about a little a little bit in my next section. Air quality uh uh but we'll we will look at replacing air handlers and we continue to the districtwide controls upgrades that I talked about previously. Um site and athletic field improvements for 2728. Uh we're looking at parking lot and sidewalk improvements at Duffy. Um prek playground improvements at Whiting Lane. Right now, the prek playground is inside a courtyard. Um, the prek program at Whiting Lane is the early learning center has really expanded significantly and it's really just too small. So, we really need to go outside of the building and put that in its own special area. So, that's really what we're looking to do there. Uh, computer infrastructure would be the same as what it was for this uh 26 27 year. Asbestous is
081again tied to other projects. uh would be tied to King Phillip flooring and Duffy flooring. Uh the roof at Whiting Lane. Furniture would be again the same uh $200,000 for just different types of things, different furniture requests throughout the district. So, all right. So, um if you didn't know Bob before, I think you know him now. Um and I hope you know as Jennifer said is that you get to see how fortunate we are to have someone of his caliber. um not only his work ethic, but just his knowledge. Um and certainly even I just tried to remodel our bathrooms at home and just finding the people and the parts that were willing to do the work. Um it's it's so challenging and so to see what he has to go through and his team
082um and then also just to see when things do break to to your point, Miriam, his ability, his team's ability to come in and and fix that so we don't have to go outside is really just impressive. Um, so again, I think just to take a look at the capital improvement plan, you know, it really is a a 12-year fiscal. Um, it focuses on our ongoing maintenance, repair, and modernization of our school buildings and our infrastructure. And it really is a long range plan that allows the district to address critical needs in a thoughtful and systematic manner um with ultimately protecting the community and the town's investments and the facilities that we know are critical um for our students success. So you can see that for 2627 the recommended total appropriation is $14,890,000. Happy to
083answer any questions if there's still any questions. All right. Uh well thank you very much and very much appreciate the thoroughess and thoughtfulness with which this was presented. Um, and I think that we are going to continue to be joined by Julio and Bob for um the next recommendation. So, seeking a motion that the board of education receive the annual inspection and evaluation for indoor air quality as required under Connecticut General Statute 1020. >> So moved. >> Thank you, John. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jason. And over to you both. >> Great. So, thank you. So, as you know, maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment is one of our top priorities. Um, one way to ensure this is by meeting the state air quality standards. So, tonight we are presenting the annual inspection
084and evaluation for indoor air quality as required by Connecticut General Statute 10-220, which mandates an annual review for every school building. Um, to meet the requirement, the district must complete three key actions. uh one is it must conduct an annual inspection uh and evaluation. Two it should make the results publicly available and three it must submit the required documents to the Connecticut Department administration administrative services. So at this point I will turn it over to Bob. >> Okay. So the the um the state law that dictate this has two parts to it and there's this annual inspection and evaluation which we're talking about tonight and there's also a five-year evaluation. and I'll talk a little bit about that as well. Um so for the annual inspection and evaluation um we're required to use what is
085called a tools for schools uh product which is from EPA. Um this is the second year that we've done it. Um the good news is we have done used tools for schools for 20 years. So we and evaluating our indoor air quality. Uh a little bit more significant than what we were doing previously. um they they added on a bunch of things to to to do with it, but that was fine. Uh so it's really there's six different um forms that get filled out uh by various different individuals in the school district. Um unfortunately, most of this happens to land on the the responsibility of the head custodian at each school. So uh they end up having to do a majority of the work. So there's a building building and grounds maintenance checklist which is
086the responsibility of the head custodian. There's a waste management checklist which goes to the head custodian. There's a ventilation checklist. Our HVAC foreman uh does that. Um so there's a walkthrough inspection checklist. Um the head custodian leads that, but it is also includes a school administrator and it will include a school uh parent or guardian of a student. Uh and that's really a a general walkthrough of the building. Uh it's also a survey of building occupants uh to get their feedback on any issues that are bothering them in their classrooms or or other spaces within the building. Um there's what there's there's also what is called the IPM which is integrated pest management. Uh we're required under state law that's a separate program to have an integrated pest management service that's run by um the
087manager of building services who works for me. Uh and then there's a food service checklist which is done by the kitchen manager. So, so there's a lot of different groups here that different people that uh work on this and put it together. Uh we assemble it in plant facilities. I have all the reports here. Um they're all scanned. They're on our website for plant facilities. Each school is listed. Uh the reports are there for the public as required by the the the state law. Um we use the reports. Uh we read them and we go through them and we generate work orders and tackle some of the issues that people are doing. It also helps to guide our uh capital improvement plans if people are complaining about certain ventilation issues or other issues within a
088building. So, it helps to give us some feedback on that issue. Um there's some other things in there people put in there are just not related, but they're in there. So, I didn't edit them out. Uh so, that's really what that is at this point. Once you accept it, I'll uh go to the state website and post that we've completed it for the year and we're we're kind of check it off the list. um they don't want to copy so they just want us to do it. So um but it's it is a good process. We again we've always used tools for schools. Uh we've had training on it from the state for many years. Uh unfortunately they don't offer it anymore. Uh but uh our custodians are well versed in it. They understand it.
089Um we get new staff and teachers and we kind of have to train them on it. But it's a good program. It works well. It's it's very common senseoriented. Um just make it just checks and balances making sure you're doing the right things in your buildings. So So any questions on that, >> Jennifer? >> Um so is is that binder the report? >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that. Thank you. >> 252 pages. >> Sounds >> uh Ethan. >> So there's not a pass fail. It's it's just formative more more than anything. It's a compliance. Yeah, it's a requirement. So, compliance requirement. >> All right. At one point, is there a past fail or is that No, >> no, there's no, they don't even want the reports. >> Okay. >> No,
090but I think >> but we use them internally. I mean, we've always used them. Yeah. I mean, we use them. So, they're valuable to us and if people want to look at them and read them, they certainly can. So, there there's some good information. No, it's just I would think that at some point there's you passed you f I mean where where there's issues how do you you know it's just you guys going through and identify >> yeah no so it certainly helps us identify issues and problems and to >> by virtue of voting so tonight you will pass >> well it's only if it's the right answer >> it's a little strange >> it it is it's a compliance so the the the question they're asking is did you do it and and we
091do it. >> Yeah. I just would have thought they would have said if you have this many on this score, you're not acceptable, but it doesn't sound like it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> And Ethan, too, just to you know, I remember when I was a principal doing these walks with, you know, a parent and with a faculty member and then doing the checklist and then ult even back then like meeting with our head custodian Bob and saying like, "Hey, here's some of the things that came up." And then we would really tackle them internally to look at those and the the problems that we were like, "Wow, these are multiple people in an area. It's got to be something. Let's look at it." And then going back to your point, Jen,
092to say, "Hey, this is probably something we need to elevate on the CIP um to get it pushed through." So, so I guess there we keep ourselves in check and we know that certainly our our staff keep us in check as well. >> No, I I see the benefit, but I can also see how it could be >> immaterial if somebody just ignores it. So, thank you. >> It it so it just sounds like we preceded the compliance exercise in the sense that it was already happening and now it's just been y >> stated as a requirement, but you were doing it and actually doing it in a way that was meaningful and being applied. So, that's helpful. If someone did want to read all 200 plus pages, where would they find it online? It's
093on the uh plant underneath plant facilities under uh indoor air quality >> on the website. >> I'd also add to is that our you know our principles have really solid relationships with all of our folks in their buildings and typically if there's an issue people aren't waiting for us to to do this. They're just going to approach and say, "Hey, there's a concern. Can you look at it for me?" head custodians are going every day to look at things so that you know we're not surprised when we see a report that is positive because we've really looked to proactively address the issues and and even as Bob's gone through that CIP as he starts to identify several things he's put that in so it's been fixed and never gotten to a point where people are
094frustrated with you know the lack of response to an issue that may be occurring in their room. >> Any other questions? All right. Uh we'll move to a vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any nays? Any abstensions? All right, the motion passes. And uh just a note that Bob, if you have any opportunity to talk to young people about these opportunities in the trades, I think that you have a very compelling case to be made. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um so uh next uh item of new business is ratification of the West Hartford Board of Education Administrators Association contract. So seeking a motion that the Board of Education ratify the negotiated agreement between the West Hartford Board of Education Administrators Association and the Board
095of Education for the period of July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Jason. >> Second. >> Thank you, John. And we are uh rejoined by Barbara and also joined by Shannon Modinski. >> Majinski Majinski. I got that right. >> Majinski. Um and welcome to the table. So, and thank you for staying Julio. So, we'll turn it over to you. >> Good evening. So, before you for approval is the ratification of the West Hartford Board of Education Administrator Associations contract, which we also refer to as the WHAA. Um, the WHAA consists of 64 members. Um, this includes all of our building principles, assistant principles, department supervisors, including those that are in pupil services, and some of our other directors. Um, and I just want to start by thanking all of
096our administrators um, for their endless dedication to our students, our families and staff. um they work tirelessly, all hours, many late nights and weekends to really foster that sense of belonging with all of the members of their school communities and also to really work to create an environment um where all of our students are able to reach their full potential. So, we are very grateful for all that they do. Um as Shannon mentioned, the contract you're voting on is for three years. It covers the time period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Um, the negotiations took place in September and October. They were completed on October 31st. And although two of the members are no longer on the board, I did want to thank Jason and Lorna and Gail. Um, yes, for being
097um, a very important part of that process. And I also just wanted to highlight some of the different key components in the agreement. One of them is that each bargaining unit member shall receive a $250 increase to their annuity for each contract year. Um there are five steps on the administrator contract. And in the first year there will be step movement and a 2.75% general wage increase which is also repeated the second year. And for the third year from 2028 to 2029, there will be um step movement, step movement, and a 3% general wage increase. Um and we're happy to answer any specific questions that you have. >> Oh, Jason, >> I just want to add my having been the only one left, uh just how um appreciative I was of not only our team,
098but um you know, negotiating is part of my day job as well. So, I've been through a lot of them where it's not done in good faith. It it's not done um professionally. And I just have to say that the WHAA representatives were amazing. They were so professional. They were obviously there in good faith. Um I I think we can say we actually kind of enjoyed the processes as far as these things go. Um and I think we ended up with a a very good fair contract that is at market value. It matches, you know, what what others in in the state are doing. Um, and I hope it sends the right signal that we really do appreciate all of the the tireless work that they do. Um, my question is does has has the
099union ratified the contract? >> Yes, the union ratified the contract earlier this week. Any other questions? >> Oh, Jennifer, >> I was going to ask Jason's opinion on it. So, it sounds like you're >> in favor. >> No, absolutely. I think this was a very fairly negotiated contract and you know it's you know some you get some things you want you get some things you don't and and that's kind of you know it's fair at the end of the day. So um you know it's been ratified by the WHAA and I think we should do the same. >> Awesome. Thank you. Just one one um I guess question I just don't don't know don't know myself is a step movement. What what does that mean? So that means when we hire a new administrator, where
100they're placed on the contract is based on their any prior years of experience that they have. And then each year of service, they move a step up on the salary scale. >> Okay. So then once you uh reach the fifth step, you're just given like a crown or something. >> You've earned your stripes. Put me on that committee. >> It's just Yeah. then they would not have any more step movement, but they would still receive that general wage increase um for whatever step that they're on, but five is the highest step that they can be. >> Ethan, >> to follow up with that question, so a step movement would be 1% 2% 3%. >> So if you look at the contract, there's an actual breakdown of each. So we added 3% onto each step, but
101there isn't there's already a break within each step of of a different level. >> They're going to move up a step without the without the 2 and 3/4%. >> Correct. >> So my question was I assume it's different, but what's the average step movement, you know, as a percentage? >> Do you have the breakdown >> or something ballpark? It doesn't have to be. >> Sure. I would say uh the average step just ballparking, you know, it's it's like a a few thousand dollars in between. >> Okay. But I'm still getting trying to get percentages. >> Oh. Uh as a percent uh less than less than 2%. >> Okay. So roughly call it 2% one and a half%. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Latoy. Um, so I know we have like some efforts to
102increase divers diversity in the district. So I'm wondering um especially around administration. Are there financial um incentives for black and brown people to work here? >> We don't have any specific monetary incentives, but we're always looking to increase the diversity of our workforce both in teachers and in administrators. So, it is something that we're always actively looking to pursue because we do recognize just as our teaching staff does not match our students, neither do the administrators. So, that is there isn't a specific dollar incentive to that, but it definitely is something that we're very mindful of and always working to increase. >> Right. Definitely. And I think that's something that should be taken into consideration because I think that's how we're going to bring the diversity here. um it's it's an extra burden quite frankly
103to be a black and brown uh teacher and administrator in the district. And so I think we should start thinking about that financially if we're not already. >> One quick question. I don't know if you guys are or if Latoya you know, but do other districts do that? Is there um some sort of best practice that we could mimic around that or um some other place that that provides more? I don't know. >> Yeah, I'm not sure. But I know we call ourselves leaders and I know we have an office of equity and belonging. So I'm sure we can figure it out. We got money. It's West Hartford. >> So I I I guess going to uh Jason's point in terms of uh making the new contract um conform, you know, conform with surrounding districts.
104How competitive are our salaries um and are our salaries for uh you know for administrators compared to our surrounding towns in terms of incentivizing folks to want to come here? >> Yeah. Yeah, and I know Jason, we we went through and you could certainly speak to this too. Um, but we looked at all the comps for essentially all of the districts around, not only in our area, but really across the state. And we are very, very competitive. Um, you know, very, very competitive. And I think too, there's a piece not only financially that makes us competitive for folks, but I think just who we are, what we believe, and what we stand for. Um, I know there's not a monetary piece attached to that, but I know people want to be here because they know
105what they're going to be supported in and what the district's mission is. >> Yeah, I totally get that. I just want to like really like hit the nail on the head that like while we are competitive, like it's still not enough. like being a black and brown person teaching and leading in this district comes with something extra and it means you have to make an extra investment in yourself that is monetary to be able to take care of yourself and show up as your best self. Um, and I just think like I don't want that to get lost in the weeds of like we're we're competitive and maybe it's not monetary, but it's other ways like money is king. And so I just I want to make sure that I like I'm emphasizing that that
106we I really hope that we're taking that seriously. >> Miriam, >> I just have a question. Um, what percentage of our teachers are part of the union? Is that do we know? Do we have is that >> teachers or administrators? >> I guess anybody >> all educators? >> I mean I I there's not a lot. I don't I mean I don't want to give you a percentage. I I would say I don't I don't think it would be 5%. >> I was going to say close to 95. >> Okay. Who are >> Thank you. >> are part of Correct. >> Thank you. And just following up on question, >> just following up on uh one of the other questions in terms of the in terms of the compensation for folks who reach the top of
107this, you know, their final step. Um let's say you have an assistant principal who's been in that role for 10 years. So they're certainly maxed on they're certainly maxed out in terms of their compensation on steps. Are there longevity awards or other incentives to uh motivate them to stay? >> No. As someone that just came off a position for 10 years in a school, you know, I can tell you a lot of that motivation is just being part of that school community and wanting to be there for your students and your families. Um, certainly there's still, you know, compensation provided as far as with hire date, you know, with retirements at some point and number of sick days based on your date of hire. But there is no specific longevity to administrators. But I am
108proud to say that many of our administrators have been here for a very long tenure and are into that, you know, 10 to 12 year range. Um, you know, really just shows their loyalty and their commitment to their school communities. >> I appreciate that. Thank you, >> Miriam. Are teachers >> Sorry. Um, are teachers who are members of the union um eligible to have their teachers union dues withdrawn from their paychecks? Okay, thank you. >> Yes, dues can be they're withdrawn from their paychecks. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Any further questions? All right, seeing none, uh, thank you for that presentation. We'll move to a vote. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any nays? Any abstensions? All right, the motion passes. Congratulations. Thank you. So, now um moving on to staff communications and reports
109where we will hear from Superintendent Vicinus. >> Well, thank you. Good evening. Uh happy Hanukkah to everyone and uh we're really into the uh the winter season, the holiday season and I believe this is the last board meeting of 2025. So um um very very happy to uh present to you this evening and um you know I start my comments typically you know I'll do shares but it it was um obviously a very challenging weekend um for all of us as we as we look out at happenings um across uh really not just the United States but uh with certainly in Australia as well and Um, I had the, you know, as I think about that in juxtaposition with where I was tonight and tonight just prior to the board meeting, I had the absolute
110privilege and pleasure uh to attend the Connecticut Teacher of the Year awards ceremony where uh I formally was able to uh accompany and recognize Christina Fideli, our 2026 West Harford Public Schools Teacher of the Year, walk her across the stage um alongside the other teachers of the year from across um all of uh the sister districts here in Connecticut. And I really was booied by kind of the understanding and the recognition of the relationships uh that our teachers have and the special place that they hold safeguarding and caring for all the children um and what hope that brings uh as as we look out uh to the world and we and we think about our tomorrows. So, I wanted to offer that um both as um sort of a somber sort of a recognition of
111what's going on in the world, but but but really more so in celebration of what happens every single day in our classrooms. Um I want to share some celebrations. Uh I think this was already mentioned, Savannah mentioned $11,000 raised and both of our Bridget also mentioned pajama day. uh very very excited for our school's support in that uh in support of Connecticut Children's Medical Center. Um kudos to all of the students, kudos to all the staff that that participate and support not only of the fundraising but the awareness. Um very very proud uh for that here in the district. Uh I want to throw a shout out. I don't usually uh talk about individual school nights, but uh Tony Davilla and and is a new principal over at Webster Hill, assistant principal Kate De Julius
112has been there for a little while. They hosted I had the pleasure to attend their reading night that happened in between our last board meeting and this board meeting. Their theme was reading under the stars. Uh the event was a just great opportunity not only to highlight academics but to meet and greet for Tony to really to really engage with the Webster Hill community. Um, I need to do a huge shout out to the library media specialist Joey Tivera, our literacy specialists Rachel Sullivan and Lee Epinger. Uh, any other the Webster Hill team that was there, but I think they were the lynch pin in planning and it was huge, huge success. And I also want to give a shout out to our post-secary students and the staff of the Next Chapter bookstore who braved
113the frigid temperatures on December the 4th during the West Harford holiday stroll. Uh a great great event, but oh my goodness was it bitterly cold that evening. Um it it's just one of the great events and kudos to the next chapter for helping to make that community event uh something very very special. Um so proud of them. Uh I wanted to share West Harford Public Schools has been very very recently highlighted in an Associated Press story. I provided the link to you in in a copy of the comments uh this evening. uh and that's for its efforts uh to provide for Asian-American um instruction and and history integrated into our curriculum across grade levels uh elementary, middle, and high school. Um and this is an effort that's been undertaken by our uh previous board member
114um our own Jason Chang. And uh very very excited to to be highlighted for the work that we're doing here in West Hartford. work that we've been undertaking since before kind of it was a thing at the state level. Uh and very important work. Um I know both um uh I know Bridg mentioned it and I know it was it was last year that Hall had its NEAS visit but Hall recently received its letter uh from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges re related to its accreditation visit last year last spring. Um and in its letter, the commission cited uh positive impressions regarding progress in the priority areas as well as an absolute multitude of uh commendations to include just a few uh mental health supports at Hall, the focus on equity inclusion,
115the robust the robust program of studies, the depth of curricular choice for students, and the numerous programs and partnerships connected to school counseling. And that's just naming only some. And likewise, Connor just recently completed its denial NASK visit and in a its written report is pending. It will take uh probably until either the end of the school year, early next school year. But the visiting team commented uh to the faculty about a number of commendations to include fostering a culture with a strong sense of belonging, commitment to student centered decisionmaking, student pride and enthusiasm for learning and the depth of meaningful and authentic learning experiences as well as strong teacher collaboration and support for professional learning communities. And again, that is an abbreviated list of many commendations. So very very proud of both of those
116um schools on their accreditation and all of the foundational work that goes in across our elementaryaries and middle schools to make uh the the prek12 program and and post-secondary program so strong. Um as part of the America 250 celebrations, uh West Harford Public Schools is partnering with the town of West Harford and also specifically with the leisure services department to promote tree plantings on public school campuses. Those tree plantings are intended to take place this spring sometime around the April time frame in coordination with both um Earth Day and Arbor Day. Uh Connecticut State Tree, the White Oak, has been specifically chosen to honor our state's role in American history and its value for the local ecosystem. And of course, we know the fame charter oak not only a name of a school, but it's
117a historic symbol of our state's role and quest for American independence. So, as further details uh that emerge, they will be shared with our public through our school newsletters. And if there's anything additional to report, even by way of reminder, I'll share it here with the board. Other than that, as uh Savannah I think mentioned, reminder that uh Tuesday the 23rd, our last day before our winter break, we'll follow a Wednesday early release schedule. We do have that information posted up onto our website. We do still continue to get questions. So, I'll provide as many reminders as possible so that uh we don't have any students looking for a way home unexpectedly on that day. Uh pending any of your questions. That is my um report for this evening. >> Any questions? All right. Thank
118you, Paul. That was wonderful. Um so, moving on to staff reports and board discussions. We will be hearing a personnel report from Shannon Majinsky. uh and we look forward to hearing that. Hello again. Um so during the year I will provide quarterly updates on any changes with certified staff. So what the following it's on page nine of your board report and the following is a summary of changes that have taken place since September when I provided the last update and I just want to give you a little context just to some of the terminology. So certified staff are those staff where their positions require teaching certification. We have many many staff members such as paraprofessionals, student aids, teaching assistants that are working within the schools, but they don't their positions don't require a state certification.
119Um, we do have a total of about 900, 98 to be exact, certified staff members within the West Hartford Public Schools, which really just gives you another sense of how large the district is. Um, when one of the categories is the employment of interim teachers. So, an interim teacher is a teacher that's hired under a contract that is 60 or more days, but not a permanent position. Um, as far as employment of contracted professional staff, since September, we've um hired seven new staff members. And in addition, we've also hired three interim teachers. I did look back, I always like just to see the comparables to where we were at for the same time period last year. Um, this year we have a total of 10 new staff we've hired since September. Last year that was
12012. So very consistent to where we've been in the past. A lot of those positions were positions that had been posted during the summer and we just were not able to fill them before the start of the school year. Um interim positions are often for staff that may be going out on a maternity leave or a type of medical leave. Resignations, we've had five resignations since the start of the year. Um at this time last year there were three. Um where it lists, you know, personal reasons is we do always ask input when someone does choose to resign. We offer I always offer an in-person meeting. I do send out a survey just to try to get more information for our own practices to know why people are choosing to leave. Um certainly it's their
121prerogative. Some people give a lot of information, some don't. um of these, you know, I do know that one of them they were moving out of state and another person um has young children at home and chose to spend more time with their family. Um do you have specific questions about this? Anything I can answer? Jennifer, um as following up on Latoya's diversity, um line of thinking, can you help me understand um the diversity in new folks that have been brought on and then folks um that are leaving? >> Yes. So, I can um I can share at my September report, I talked specifically about the new hires that we had over the summer. 13% of our new hires were minority candidates, which is consistent um to where we've been in the past where I
122was around that 13 to 15%. Um for these staff members specifically um I don't have that information readily available >> and I I just would caution just because it's such a small list and that becomes personally identifiable. I want to stay stick with the aggregate. >> Yeah. But we do look at that overall holistically when we do our yearly reports. >> And in in that yearly report, will there be um you know uh steps or some some sort of um game plan to improve that number? >> Yes. And we can talk further with that. I know that um we can talk about you know some of just the different hiring practices, our recruitment strategies, some of those efforts. I can share more information as far as what we're doing to, you know, diversify our teaching
123staff. >> And I want to mention, you know, it uh Shannon will always do a great job to talk about what those consistent efforts are, but we also have uh filed with the state uh department of education, what's called an increasing educator diversity plan. something that we've kind of always practiced. Uh, you know, we opened an office of equity advancement well before, but uh I think it was two years ago years ago that the state made that a requirement for all school districts to to uh sort of develop a plan, put it to paper and submit it to the state department of education for their uh review. And as as I recall, I think I remember Julio was the HR director at the time and ours was one of the first plans to be submitted
124without the requirement of a resubmission which I which I seem to recall understanding was >> something to happen across the state if I have that correct. >> Okay. So when when do you guys typically discuss that that uh information? I guess you know my feeling is like I'm happy that we're submitting a plan. I would be happier if we were showing some movement and you know that's not on any single thing. It's not like I'm saying it's your fault or anything like that but just >> and we are showing movement. So I would >> that's what I'm interested in knowing. Yeah. Is is when we'll we'll get more is that a one of the um planned it's generally meetings or >> the bulk of our hiring occurs kind of over the summer. So you're you're
125generally going to be getting that um information provided to you at that back to school report in October uh or excuse me very much the first report in September. The other opportunity where we kind of talk about that metric in May we give a report what's called the profile and performance report. It's a very large report on all metrics that the state uh department of education collects on schools and part of those metrics are the same as your ed educator diversity. So there will be a kind of a refresh of um where we are where we've been historically as one of the indicators that comes in that. So those are the two primary times. I don't know if you talk about it at other points, Shannon, if there's an end. >> I don't know yet,
126but I'll >> um Thank you. That's really helpful to know. Um I think it would be it would be helpful for me to learn or hear more about this prior to the summer hiring. Um, you know, I am certainly no expert in this area, but um, sounds like our internal town and and school diversity officers, I'm guessing, play a role in that. Um, so if if that's the the big time um, to hire, it would be great to learn about that before then and if that's possible. I don't know how the schedule for our meetings are are set. >> Yeah. No, we can definitely add that to the agenda and we work very closely also with Terresa Wrangler and the Department of Equity and Advancement also in that process. Yeah, I just wanted to um
127say Jen, I appreciate your your push there. Um I know sometimes it can feel like oh we're like but like this has a direct impact on our black and brown students. So the sense of urgency is critical as a black parent in the district. It has a direct impact on their day-to-day. So >> and we wanted to remain on the forefront so we do >> Thank you. Any additional questions? Right. And I do know the increasing educator diversity report, you have kind of a submitted report which we could get around just so you can see the current version. Um, and uh, I I worked in the division at the talent office at the state department of education that prioritized this initiative and created a toolkit which I know that West Harford has taken very much
128to heart. Um, so there are a lot of efforts happening not just at a district level but at a statewide level and a regional level and a national level. And the challenge I think is that there's you know just a lot of you know unfortunately with Connecticut we are so regional we end up sort of um you know u robbing Peter to pay Paul if you will uh because we're we're working with a kind of constrained pipeline. And so the goal right now is grow your own pipelines and career pathways that prepare students starting at the earliest grade levels to think about education as a career. Um because we just have we have to build that bench >> and we do have a lot of those efforts already ongoing within the district. We have a
129future educators of diversity program at the high schools. So we can definitely share that information just to raise your awareness of what we are doing and then always looking for ideas of additional steps. >> Great. I love a career pathway. Yeah. And I think to Bridget, did you mention it in your update, too? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. It's making me happy. All right. Uh thank you, Shannon. Thank you. >> All right. Uh moving on to routine matters, approval of the minutes. Um let's see. Seeking a motion to approve uh that the board of education approve the minutes from the regular board of education meeting of December 2nd, 2025. >> So moved. Thank you, Miriam. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Jason. Any discussions or edits? All right, seeing none. Uh, all those
130in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? >> Abstain. >> Oh, thank you, Latoya. One abstension. Uh, the motion passes. Um, moving on to information and reports. Um, are there any board members who have reports from other boards or organizations across the town or district? Okay. Um, any other information or discussion? Yes, Latoya. Um, I just wanted to add on to our um, I know we're closing out for the holidays and wanted to say happy Hanukkah um, to our Jewish brothers and sisters in the community and our Jew Jewish brothers and sisters on the board. Um and also happy Kwanza um for families who are going to be celebrating that on December 26th. Um and Kwanza on the first day we say habaragani to each other and UMOA which is unity. And so
131I want to just, you know, lift up that with all that we've endured this year, with all of the the death um of so many people, so many communities across the world, um of all oppressed peoples, um that, you know, hoping that we can all think about how we can contribute to more unity in our more immediate community and um not be so divided and just realize the importance of taking on um that fight as a collective. So, happy holidays everyone and I'll be thinking about how to build more peace with you all and hope you want to build some peace with me and um yeah, thanks. Thank you, Latoya. Any other comments? All right. Well, I think that's a nice note to go out on. So, thank you. Um so, future business, announcement of
132future meeting dates looking forward to 2026. Um, our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 20th, a regular board of education meeting scheduled for 7 PM here in town hall in the legislative chamber, room 314, followed by Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026. Again, a regular board of education meeting, 7 p.m. here in the town hall um legislative chamber, and then followed by Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, a regular board of education meeting at 7 p.m. again here in the chambers and town hall. Um, so looking forward to uh touching base with everyone here on the board and in the community when we get back um in the new year. Uh any requests from the board for future agenda items? Jennifer, I just have a question um from my colleagues here. So we heard from a few folks tonight
133about concerns over anti-semitism in schools. Um I'm I'm wondering you know when or how we get an update on what's currently the policies for principles teachers replying to a situation in a classroom where there's such speech andor um like educational programs. I'm not I'm not positive what I'm asking, but this seems to be um an issue that a number of folks are concerned about. And so I'm wondering um what kind of information we can get and and so we can even figure out if we want to do anything and what we can do. >> And if that requires a second, I'll gladly give it. Um, I mean, I'm I'm thinking it starts with the policy committee to review the current policies and then have a discussion with Paul and the administration and figure out if
134there would need to be a re kind of revision or amendment to the existing policy. But >> I can say I can even share if I understand the question just to just a share what current practices before uh and and I can do that in my next uh superintendent update. Be happy to do so, share some information with the board. Um, and we do have uh both programs, educational programs that we've done in the past, but we do have one that uh I'll be excited to talk more about that's upcoming this spring that I've mentioned uh a couple of times uh in the past, but as the date gets closer, uh partnership that we have going with the University of Connecticut. Um that uh has to do with not only anti-semitism, but identity as a
135whole. Um so very excited to be able to give you guys an update on that. I believe that's going to be there's going to be a uh public um an invitation for some public settings with that. So, it's something that I have planned to provide information a little bit closer to the date, but I can I can give you guys kind of an advanced look. >> Yeah. Yes, that would be great. And I would specifically like to know what's going on in the um elementary schools. Um because I think you know for so many reasons we got to we got to start young. Um so I know a lot was discussed about the high schools which I I also want to know about but I just want to emphasize um I'm I'm really interested in
136the younger grades too. >> Certainly taking that note. Ethan >> just to follow up on that it's question is is there other programs we can do since there seems to be an issue at least what we heard in at hall so are there things >> yeah so I'm saying there's as I there's programs that we have done and there's a program that we're currently initiated in and if there are other programs certainly uh I don't know if that's >> I was just wondering if we could be looking for those >> we're always looking for those but absolutely all right >> well I we can contact the federation too as Actually, we had uh a meeting as recently as today with the Greater Harford Jew Jewish Federation. So, uh we're we're in regular contact, but if
137there are ideas and I know your situation in terms of the board, we would welcome >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I would just suggest that we let Paul report back out next meeting before we, you know, push that on to the the policy committee, which, you know, implies action. I think we need to know where we are first. >> Thank you, Paul, for making that offer. Um any future agenda items? All right. Um moving on to comments from visitors. Are there any visitors who would like to make a public comment? Seeing none, um we will actually be um moving into executive session. Um, so the following item on the agenda is an an executive session pursuant to Connecticut General Statute Section 1 206B to discuss strategy and negotiations with respect to pending litigation
138to wit town of West Hartford claim L004460047. Before we enter executive session, I would like to note that it will be held in the glass room located behind us. Following the executive session, board members will reconvene back in this room for the adjournment of this meeting. Without objection, I move that we enter executive session to discuss strategy and negotiations with respect to pending litigation to which town of West Hartford claim L0044 60047. Is there any objection? There being no objection, the motion passes and I invite Superintendent Binis, Assistant Superintendent Darte, Corporate Council Dodge, and Assistant Corporation Council Lure to join us in executive session. motion. >> We are now out of executive session and the time is 10:05 p.m. Absent objection, I move that the meeting be adjourned. Any objections? Hearing no objection, the meeting
139is adjourned at 10:05 p.m. Thank you and happy holidays.