Board of Education Meeting of February 19, 2025 - Adoption of the CIP

001e e e oh yeah good evening and calling the meeting to order welcome to the West Hartford Public Schools regular Board of Education meeting it is Wednesday Fe uary the 19th Charlotte may you please call the role Mr gagman here Mr Goldman here Dr Harris here miss maramon here Mrs nazarella present Dr Thomas Faron here Mrs jagalo present student representative Sarah granquist here and student representative Alexis Nan here thank you and Alexis may you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance of Ali to the flag of the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you we do not have a revision to the agenda order and now it is time Madam chairperson may I request a revision to the agenda order

002oh okay um I do have a member of my team that has fallen ill so I was I was hopeful to request uh if the board would entertain a motion that one of you would make to postpone the enrollment projection report until our next meeting thank you so much Mr Vice so with the proposed recommendation to postpone the multi-year enrollment projection is until the next meeting is there a motion so move thank you Jason is there a second second thank you Ethan discussion again the rationale for the suggestion was made but any any additional suggestions all right all of those in favor say I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it thank you very much all right and with the updates to our agenda we now shall proceed to public Communications and this

003is where we have an opportunity to hear from you your thoughts your questions your suggestions with this being the second meeting of the month we are receiving comments on agenda items only and for your awareness today's agenda items include adoption of capital Improvement plan for 2025 2026 accept revised policies 4080 5110 8355 proposed calendar for the 2026 2027 school year accreditation accreditation of ta and student AIDS into West Harford Board of Education par professional contract multi-year enrollment projections Personnel actions and approval of minutes from February 4th Board of Education meeting so robust schedule this evening and with the list that we have here I just have one name on the list so we'll begin with that individual and that is John Lions before coming to the podium we'll ask for each individual to share their

004name please and you have three minutes to speak we ask for you please be mindful of Charlotte who will hold up a yellow card when you have one minute remaining in your time and when your time is expired you'll see a red card we are attentively listening these directions are for everyone not just you we are attentively listening however it is policy that we do not respond to comments as they are being made thank you madam chairperson uh my name is John Lions I live at 21 chest Hill Road uh here in West Hartford uh while not the issue I came here to discuss I just want to compliment and thank the entire board of education for their leading the efforts in restoring funding uh for the State Transportation shortfall uh you did it without

005incurring any West Hartford taxpayer expense and with full recognition of the extreme urgency of the issue thank you to the chair thank you to the superintendent's office thank you to all of the members of the Board of Ed thank you mayor Sher caner and the Town Council and our West Outford State delegation who all realize the urgency so uh if there are more people here I'd ask for a round of applause but congratulations so uh and really well done thank you um I'm here to support uh in support of the change in public comment policy uh which you'll be voting on tonight uh I view one of the vital roles of the Board of Education as a potential Last Resort for the Des for a desperate teacher or a desperate student who sometimes does not

006know where else to go for help and needs to be afforded a platform to bring an important issue to the board's attention taking action could ultimately help ease a substantial burden or even head off a crisis for one of West hartford's smartest our teachers or one of West hartford's brightest our students by broadening and encouraging public comment it is a great step forward in the process I have felt that the current policy was in many ways a reaction to outside forces that neither know West Hartford nor understand education in general while sadly our wonderful and unpaid Board of Education volunteers have had to Bear the brunt of some unfortunate and absolutely unmerited verbal attacks as Marl Wilson said it comes with a territory public comment must favor the voices of our teachers our students and

007their parents and the new policy does just that thank you all very much thank you that is all who we have on the list but we'll ask if there's anyone in the audience who cares to make a public comment with that we shall pause on public Communications and now proceeding to non-staff Communications and reports and this is where we're able to hear from our student Representatives what's happening in their schools and so let us begin with Sarah sharing what's going on at Hall we had a number of exciting events over the long weekend at Hall on Monday the hall booys hockey team won against Connor in overtime with a goal by De lnstone it was a very exciting game from what I hear on Friday the boys indoor track team competed at the class L

008championships and we had a number of relay medalists yesterday the girls indoor track team competed at their class L championships and we also had a number of medalists and a variety of events congratulations to all of our indoor track athletes and we are very proud of how you represent Hall on Friday night at the hall Conor boys basketball game West Harford Unified sports had a halftime game over the past week calls wrestling boys basketball and cheerleading teams had their senior nights where we celebrate our seniors for their dedication to Hall Athletics over in the music department students continue to represent us well the concert Jazz man competed at the prestigious Charles Mingus competition and won first place they were awarded best big band and outstanding woodwin section two cjb players Khloe majri and Nathan bardy

009were awarded outstanding soloist Awards we congratulate all of our concert jazz band musicians and their incredible director the famous pops and Jazz show is back and tickets are now on sale at pj. lotus.com this Saturday we have the chocolate cafe performance here at the Town Hall this event is all sold out and we are so excited to see everyone there to celebrate West Harford music the Career and Technical department has brought a number of programs to haul students during lunch baves featuring a visit from the hospital for special care to talk about volunteer opportunities and Lake compounds to share summer employment opportunities with students this was a great program and I know many of my classmates and I were able to gain information and access to career opportunities through these Outreach events our past two

010community lessons have been in celebration of Black History Month over the past two weeks we learned about influential black people in America's history and next week there will be a panel discussion that all stud students will attend to learn more about Black History Month also more generally in the community there are multiple upcoming training events for teens at the library on February 26th there will be a teen QPR suicide prevention training and on March 5th a teen Naran and opioid overdose response training thank you Sarah Alexis what's going on at Connor um Connor continues to stay busy with the various events we have planned we recently celebrated national school resource officer Appreciation Day on February 15th thank you to our Conor SRO for keeping us safe every day additionally in order to honor our counselors

011as a part of National School counseling week we encourage students that email their counselors and thank them all for their hard work especially with their student support and college advice they also organized the SAT power Prep Academy a 5-we course held for conid and Hall students to help prepare them for the SAT which begins soon sorry at both conid and Hall students are exploring the theme African-Americans in labor throughout Black History Month this theme highlights the vital contributions of black workers both voluntary and involuntary throughout American history exploring the intersection of Labor and the black experience across various Industries and movements at Connor we have been learning more about this theme during our community block and we'll again like Sarah said um listen to a panel discussion about this topic next week Conor is hosting

012High School tours for families interested in seeing the building during the summer Connor's principal Mrs tambrella Noble sent out an email with a link to a form to sign up so make sure you check your email if you're interested there will be various times to tour on July 8th July 22nd and August 11th Connor science club will be competing at the high school Northeast science bow this Saturday at Yukon after qualifying through local Regional and state comp competitions the science bow at Yukon will provide students with a venue to test their own knowledge and understanding of science as well as provide demonstrations of various career opportunities throughout the day we wish them good luck sorry the production of disaster the musical is still going strong as they have headed into their last month of rehearsals

013tickets are on sale right now at Conor drama. l.com and shows will take place during the first and second weekends of March go get your tickets to watch an amazing show filled with call backs to the 70s chocolate cafe will take place on February 22nd right here at Town Hall with one show during the afternoon and another show at night like Sarah said while it is sold out you can join the wait list in order to catch a chance at seeing an outstanding performance from cissi camarada and interel or kp's bow strings depending on the show for Conor Athletics many winter sports have begun to wind down their Seasons celebrating various senior nights and preparing for the postseason one of Connor's wrestling seniors Braden s hit 100 wins this season additionally girls basketball played yesterday

014in the first round of their CCC tournament beating Bristol Eastern in to advance the second round of cccc's we wish them good luck with the rest of their journey and are hoping for some Hardware to bring home after finishing their season with a huge win against Hall boys basketball will be focusing on preparing for the upcoming state tournament with winter sports ending we'd like to remind parents that registration for spring Sports have opened so don't forget to sign up your athlete for their respective sport lastly as always Den discussions will be continuing in order to Foster more conversations between our Administration and students allowing us to continue improving our school environment thank you than you Alexis boy a lot is going on at your schools excellent excellent excellent thank you so much and with that

015we now shall move on to unfinished business where we have adoption of the capital Improvement plan for 2025 2026 seeking a motion that the Board of Education adopt the capital Improvement plan for 2025 2026 is there a motion so moved thank you Jason is there a second second thank you Latoya discussion so Mr P so good to see you and we'll we know we've pres you've presented it to us before and we had preliminary discussion conversation and this is brought before us once again but nonetheless out of respect to you and Mr VZ will pass the mic to you to share thank you very much so as you recall back in December we came and we presented um the capital Improvement program for the next two years as you recall in this for this budget

016uh for the capital improvement process uh the board uh sends a recommendation to the town manager which he includes in the town's Capital Improvement uh program uh so we're asking you to tonight is to review that and to approve that in order and then we'll send it to the town manager so happy to answer any questions regarding our last meeting thank you very much teammates any questions again this information was shared with us before and lots of time to review discuss ask questions and if there are any outstanding questions please do share as I swivel my head back and forth I see none so with that with theem motion on the floor we shall proceed to vote all of those in favor with approving the capital Improvement plan for 2025 2026 please say I I

017I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it thank you very much and as we continue to move along we now should move on to new and revised policies as a second read reading we first have a motion by Laura Thomas farguson Jason gagman and Gail Harris that the Board of Education accept as a second and final reading the following new and revised policies which were reviewed by the board policy subcommittee they refer to policy 4080 R use of social media revised 5110 confidentiality and access to education records revised 5360 use of private technology devices by students new 5370 students use of the district's computer systems and Internet safety revised 6320 weighted grading and calculation of grade point averages revised and with the motion on the floor rather with the proposed motion on the floor

018is there a motion to accept these as a second reading so moved thank you Shannon is there a second second thank you Gail discussion so again we've had these brought before us before and have reviewed and Dr Moro is not here I'm looking at the table I I can cue this up for you a little bit if you'd like uh Dr Maro is among my um folks who have who have just Fallen ill so apologies for his absence he certainly wishes he could be here but um I would point out uh quickly uh the use of social media policy 4080 which you can find in your board book on on page seven um that that's essentially a rewrite of the policy it's very you could see that the the old policy was kind of stricken

019struck out and there's a very short new policy that just kind of comes up to date um with social media practice um the confidentiality and access to educational records revised policy beginning on page 10 that has very minimal uh updates I just think it's some word smithing some language changes uh replacing things like school system with district there didn't seem to be a dramatic amount substantial in that um the 5360 use of private technology devices by students that's an entirely new policy and it's it's in recognition of the fact that students certainly may bring their own device um into a school but but they would be accessing School networks and and essentially that all the typical school rules uh would still apply uh to include you know things such as you know the potential need

020to to search a device in in the cause of an investigation or something to that effect um despite the fact that it's not a school device if if if that were the need um and then lastly 6320 weighted grading of calculation of grade point averages that's simply revised uh with the primary change being an addition to uh to account for the uh the common means by which the state of Connecticut calculates grade point average for the um for the automatic acceptance program into community colleges so just an awareness that of what that system is but then um in terms of the grade point average that we calculate we would continue to follow our rules so that's that's just an overview and if there are specific questions um either the subcommittee or certainly I could try

021to to assist in anyway thank you yes Gail thank you um I just had a couple of questions on the um policy uh with access to educational records um so one of my questions was um regarding a student who's 18 in the system um whether that student because they I guess are legally an adult at 18 would have the right to limit who can access um the record um is that are you asking if that's inclusive in the policy or just in general my my my understanding from my days at the high school were typically that um unless a student has been emancipated if they're still living with their parents despite the fact of uh their legal status for voting and such that um other rights don't necessarily automatically transfer under school but um that's

022a fast answer I can get you a better answer if there's a page reference that you want me to look at specifically it was more of a general question okay that that's my understanding that they would need to be emancipated okay um I also had one other question um well why don't you go because I'm can't remember what it was I'm trying to find it this is probably just nitpicking um policy four policy 48- uh use of social media is basically about employees it doesn't say that though so initially when I read it I just assumed it was everybody whereas when you do Pol and I realize this is set up by the law firm policy 5360 actually specifies student you know private technology devices by students so I that's a good observation I I'm

023going to need to look at the numbering system but my recall is that um the 4,000 series um that's all specific to staff so all of those policies are are are designed specifically for staff and then everything under the 5,000 series would relate to students which which would be the explanation as to why 480 is narrow um no I don't have a problem with being narrow I just figured should say employees use or use of social media by employees I don't know if if you can run it by yeah if that's a change that uh that the board is in favor of I don't you know it's well it's just me but I can't speak for others well if I if I if I may I respect receive the question as uh Mr vus was

024sharing it is listed under Personnel series 4000 so person out in it of itself uh presumes talking about staff um so your your question is in terms of adding a word or so two words so let me ask this then is it um with that so let me I'll pause with a comment with that okay and please continue with your questions that was my question just to me it's a little inside baseball that oh you you knew but understood no I I think it's a DI Minimus change that we could pen and ink in if if if if you all were in favor of it it's really we can make an employee use of social media but so what what I'm trying to pause and process to see is if we need to amend the

025motion to when it comes time to voting that it reflects the additions that will be made or are you proposing to hold off on voting until said suggestions are are made which I'm hoping you're not per se but nonetheless want to respect what you are suggesting if others are in agreement with me would do it if not then it is what it is with doing what oh in terms of the words just adding use of social media by employees okay do you wantt the title is the title what page what what do you want to change to say use of social Med by employe you want to say by my EMP I feel like it's created a firestorm in this no so right right so it does if is it fair to say it's not

026a substantive change or added you're making it's just more as colleague said contextual more informational okay and so with that unless there are any objections from colleagues as we continue to to process we still will be able to proceed with voting with that piece okay y all right it was small that's that's no that's but this is for thank you any other questions or suggestions Gail yes but eth your mic thank you um going back to the same policy with the um confidentiality um I had a question also um and I I understand if you know you don't have the information right now but my question is um there's in there's you know a lot of discussion in here about um allowing people to have um access access to student information uh that are doing

027research um or educational research and that the um the student information would be blinded with some kind of code so um and then there's information also about consultants and contractors having that information as well and it just curious um of a couple of different things one is do parents have do they have the right to or do they need to consent to students information being G being given to outside researchers uh I can tell you in the medical field even if you're blinded you have to still consent so I'm curious if there has to be some kind of consent process and then um if you have an outside consultant you know working in the school do they have access to Student Records or is that something that has to be consented to great questions so

028thank you for that um so first and foremost um you know the whole confidentiality access to public records has to do you know very broad very important policy um you know that that that relates to you know furpa and and other pieces um relative to your very specific question about um research so uh as a district the first thing I would want to mention is that we are very cautious and very infrequently um engage in uh educational research as it really as it would relate to specific um Student Records or anything that that is not anything that happens with any with any common Occurrence at all however it is important that should it happen that there be a policy in place uh that that you have all consented to agreed upon and understand um which

029is what is here in print but um to that point then when students are involved yes we do have an informed consent by the parent um regarding any participation by a student in such research there would not be a time um where where any you know you parents would always have the ability if we had agreed hey there's something happening and it is of some importance and we do think it's worthwhile um we would send notification home um to parents and we would be looking for signed consent or the opportunity for them to otherwise opt out of any such thing um in terms of the consultancy um again I think this is a policy that is attempting to forecast any any um any types of occurrences that might you know might happen it's obviously informed

030um by Shipman and Goodwin so so they've kind of looked at this and they've got the benefit of working with districts across the state and they they try to you know put everything in that a board might need um I am not thinking of An Occurrence where there would be an outside consultant um where where something like that would happen but I think there there's the potential like there must be there must have been um situations where you'd want to have um a policy resting in place should that need arise um but you know in terms of giving you a better more comprehensive answer I might kind of need to go back to the farm and think about that I mean I don't and I don't know if it needs to go in here if

031you are getting consent from parents but I don't think the policy actually says that you know because there is a whole thing in here about research you know says that parents will need to give consent for for records to be sent out for research so I don't know if that's something that should be in there or if it's someplace else that would take care of it restate your question I apologize I missed it I I'm saying that you're saying that if the if you did do research which I understand is a rare occurrence but if it were to happen the parents would have to give consent for records to be sent out I think that's what you said yeah generally if um if there's going to be something that needs to look at individualized data

032then parents would give consent for their students to be participating in that um there there have been other research projects again in frequently where if there's some summary data that um that someone's looking at to try to make some conclusions that's not involved with individual students and students don't need to produce any work they don't need to do anything um that's that's a that's a different that's a different piece so um I don't know if that answers your question sure I think there it would also have the interplay with furpa yes so I think that's where you would get the protections that that you're looking for Gail so and and this does cite that especially on page 30 it talks about the interplay with furpa and then to your earlier question I believe eligible student

033is defined on page 12 which would be it reads as a student or former student who has reached the age of 18 years of age or as an emancipated minor does uh well I think Paul answered that but I I just don't know how that an entirely answers the question of whether an 18-year-old could decline having parents viewing records or maybe it does I think there's you know there's a legal challenge that a student might invoke but it's been our you know it's been our general practice that if you're not emancipated it would be unusual to be living under the same roof and refuse your parents to allow it and I think that would come with its own set of legal tests um that I have one last question but if somebody else has like

034um my my last question was about the HIV um related information in here and I was just curious as to why um there's you know lots and lots of information regarding HIV and no other you know disease that is in here uh legal legal preceden and requirements um I'm I'm sure it was I don't have the specific legal reference I know there are a number of them at the end of the policy but which one connects specifically to that but um it's not chosen over any other medical issue you know by our own desires simply based on legal precedents and legal cases to inform um that are common throughout the state yeah I mean I would assume we wouldn't discuss any medical issue but it seems like they talked a lot about that particular one

035okay that was all my questions any other questions so what I will do I will go through each individual one for us to vote just because we know we do have one added two words to add to one specific policy uh so beginning with 480r use of media however including by staff at the end so again 4080 well let me pause any other discussion or comments or is it okay to proceed to a vote all right so with 408- use of social media revised but adding by staff all of those in favor say I I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it 5110 confidentiality and access to education records revised all of those in favor say I I I any opposed any abstain the eyes have it 5360 use of private technology devices

036by students new all of those in favor say I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it 5370 student use of the district's computer systems and Internet safety revised all of those in favor say I I I any opposed ni stain the eyes have it 6320 weighted grading and calculation of grade point averages revised all of those in favor say I I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it all right now moving on to a second motion by Jason gagnan and Gail Harris that the board accept as a second and final reading the following revised policy which was revised by the board policy subcommittee referring to policy 8355 meeting conduct public comment revised is there a motion so moved thank you Jason is there a second second thank you Gail discussion so

037again like the previous ones this was brought before us we had discussion at that time and this also is a time for discussion of this proposed motion and so opening it to the floor to hear your thoughts and I will give a heads up up with this one because we we had um robust discussion before we'll ask for a roll call vote when it comes time to voting on this policy but thoughts or comments regarding policy 8355 Jason I'll take off from your point of robust conversation and and um what I've been thinking a lot about with this policy is is good faith and good intent and I know it might not be in Vogue these days to look at public servants and the discourse of public servants um to to look at them and

038think that when they disagree they disagree on the basis of good faith and good intent but I think that's exactly what we have on this board is that people of good faith and good intent who simply disagree on the existing policy and and having served over the last little bit more than a year now I think I've gotten to know each of you enough to know that wherever you fall on this issue you come to this from a place of wanting to do what's best for our students what's best for the community what's best for the people who serve our school um and so I think everybody you know this board knows that I think everybody out in the community should know that um I also know too that the existing policy was not some

039kind of effort to squash speech um but rather to promote efficiency um and I think the fact that we have that robust debate is healthy um I think that we've been able to do so in in a respectful and collegial way should be a source of Pride um and I hope it also serves as a model for for the Times ahead there's an expression in the law that bad facts make bad law um the Pol this policy arose the existing policy arose out of a difficult and unique set of times um a bad set of facts for a policy that was meant to govern more broadly um the proposed policy that that we're voting on tonight is designed to simplify that policy um and to make access to public comment easier uh for the residents

040of West Hartford um as I noted during the first read uh the first reading um it takes courage to come to a board of ed meeting to speak to this board to know you're on you know TV um and often on very sensitive topics and it's difficult not only in terms of that courage that it takes to do that but it's difficult logistically um you know I talked about you know the the Hoops that that I sometimes have to juggle to get to this meeting right is it swim practice is it baseball practice it's probably both um and my my poor wife has to take the brunt of that but the people who come to speak to us face that same challenge every day that they come it's you know who's going to get pick

041up the kids how are they going to get to their sports or their after school activity who's got dinner covered okay can we arrange for um you know Child Care um and then to show up and to be told that I'm sorry you got the wrong day I just think is is unfair to them and I think to the extent that there's a burden between you know having a more efficient meeting and letting people have that more Open Access again I think that burden should should fall on us um I also think that it's a policy the proposed policy is one that I think would help some of the more marginalized communities um within West Hartford I mean the the chair spoke today about there being 70 different languages spoken in West Hartford um you

042know some of these people who come to speak to us take that added you know leap of Courage that English is may not be their first language they you know they may be the first to be here and be American citizens and to come again and stand before us and speak and to be told you know sorry you you missed what what meeting it was I I think is unfair to them it's also designed to ensure that and I know this was never the intent of the policy but we have had speakers come on the wrong day on a day when they're not you know entitled to speak on an agenda item and we have voted to make exceptions on certain occasions and I think we all agree that there are occasions when there should

043be exceptions some more than others um the problem is as soon as we start doing that we put the board in an unfair position of having to decide who gets to speak on what topics do we allow an exception and I don't think that's the proper role of the board and so what I believe is before the board and and again I know that was never the intent but there are unintended consequences to I think trying to do the right thing in allowing certain people to speak um I just think that a simpler policy that opts for more Open Access is the way to go and so I believe that this is the right policy for the community and though I'm sure others will adamant disagree with me I think it's the best policy for

044the board um again in Striking the balance between efficiency and more Open Access fewer barriers I'm going to be on the side of Open Access and I do recognize that there are in fact other ways to reach the Board of Education um but I think there's a significant qualitative difference between an email and looking Us in the eye and telling us something that someone thinks we need to hear thank you other thoughts or comments regarding the proposed policy change or policy on the floor which is proposing a change Latoya yeah thank you um thank you Jason um so yeah um hey everyone um so I want to take a moment to um acknowledge the importance of public engagement and our work as the board um and we all value transparency accountability and Community input um

045however I must express my deep concern about the proposed change to our public comment policy as a black woman and a dedicated member of this board I have personally experienced the weight of the challenges that led to the current policy um it's not just a procedural discussion uh for me um it's about ensuring that all board members especially those from underrepresented backgrounds can serve in an environment that is safe respectful and conducive to progress the decision to structure public comment in its current form wasn't made lightly and I say that um because you know initially when we first started talking about it I was like yeah like maybe we should but then I went back and did my homework I went back and I watched those meetings I read the articles um I read comments

046of board members that are sitting at this table um and um and I and I got a deep understanding of why that change was made um and so I just wanted to to add that um and it it really was a response to a reality um many of the Town witness firsthand um and in reality where meetings became unmanageable and where dialogue was often uh overshadowed by hostility and where board members particularly those from marginalized communities were subjected to targeted attacks and we can't ignore the historical context in which these issues arose we saw education become a Battleground in the last presidential Administration um and I'm not talking about the last one but the one before that we know we know which one I'm talking about the one we're currently in again um and particularly

047around diversity equity and inclusion and as a town we're still working toward a board that is truly representative of the diverse voices in our community yet right now only two people of color sit on this board to revert to a policy that previously enabled toxic discourse would be a step backward and could once again put colleagues especially those in the minority at risk of undue harm the current policy has protected me once there was a a meeting um where someone from the public came to speak on a night um that was agenda items only and they got up to the podium and they started to personally attack me and it was racially charged and because of the current policy I was protected from that and that person was not allowed to continue speaking this is

048not about limiting voices again as a black woman in this country I know firsthand what it's like to have your voice limited to feel unheard and unseen and so I would never um dare to put the public in that position it's about ensuring that public engagement is constructive and that this board can effectively carry out the business of serving students Educators and families the current policy aligns with structures used by many other boards across the state where they have one one meeting a month and they allow public comment we have two meetings a month we're giving two opportunities for our public to engage with us it still allows for robust public participation while also respecting our time and our capacity and most importantly the Dignity of those who we serve and I feel like there

049are so many other things we can prioritize that directly impact our students and especially right now I urge my colleagues to consider what this change would mean not just in policy but in practice we must ask ourselves who benefits from this change and at what cost we have an obligation to Foster an environment where all members feel safe to lead and where our work remains focused on the students success and so I also want to say I respect all of my colleagues here at the table and understand we don't always have to agree on everything and I also want to offer that if this policy uh change does go forward I don't know who's going to be here next year but if this policy this policy change goes forward I really hope that I can

050trust my colleagues to stand by my side shoulder-to-shoulder with me if those personal attacks do come and be and and show that Ally ship in real time um because that's the only way we're going to continue to diversify this board if we want the board to look like the community then those diverse community members need to see people who look like them serving here and also um being protected and defended so for these reasons I have to stand firmly um in my support of keeping the current policy in place thank you thank you other comments or thoughts regarding the motion on the floor Ethan okay so in the spirit of transparency I was against the change um when when it was changed several years ago and I believe uh that we have seen more conf

051confrontations and conflicts especially given the number of speakers we've had than we had before the uh change was made um and I think it puts this chairman in an or chairwoman in an unfair position where she has to determine what's the agenda and what's not the agenda particularly because the decision process happens when the person's already speaking so we've had a number of those and um it's caused more conflict than I think it should we've had uh one parent who showed up had hired a babysitter which was expensive for her to do only to be told she couldn't speak we overrode that decision but it put you know the parent doesn't know um as Jason said there have been multiple times when the board has voted to allow speakers to speak just because of the

052timing of what they were saying relative to an incident in the school or what was going on in the Middle East sorry um we've had parents want to speak about a request for their daughter only to be turned down then to get their email saying they needed a decision by the board which probably wouldn't have happened but we didn't even get in the decision process till the it was too late for the student to make it have a change um I believe it's important to hear from all the public and frankly given the political um Outlook of the town it's going to be more negatives than to me than positives but that is democracy um so I'd like to hear from as many as possible and I think specifying first meeting second meeting if we

053only had one meeting per month then I would vote for one one speech or one public comment per month but we have two I think we should take advantage of it and it follows New England has a tradition of letting the public come and speak I think we should honor that so I vote to the change and I'm I appreciate it being made or being requested so thank you other thoughts Gail yeah I just uh wanted to um first of all I wanted to thank my colleague Jason um for speaking so eloquently um about why we do need to have this change um I'm not going to reiterate all the points that he made but he said it quite well and quite eloquently and um I think that the Crux of the matter is that

054we uh need to allow people to speak we need we are here to serve the public we don't need to make it complicated and the policy that we have currently is complicated as we've all seen with too much friction hostility um putting our chairperson in a the uncomfortable position of having to decide what is and what isn't um an agenda item sometimes um and you know then having to decide if we're going to allow someone to speak or not allow someone to speak so um I entirely support uh this change in the policy as it's written and I also want to um commend Jason um for writing the policy which is not something that typically happens most of our policies are not written by the board uh but Jason being um as eloquent as he

055is was able to write this policy and make it uh just simply simpler and easier to adhere to so I just wanted to mention that and um thank him for all his hard work on this thank you other qu comments yes Claire so um I will be voting against the policy change the intent behind the policy and making the change was never about silencing and I resent that that has been made public that we were trying to silence the revision was about adding structured and focused attention once a month on the agenda at the time we made the change we had 154 speakers in that one year compared to an average of 37 speakers for the past four years before that there's a very organized National website established to promote conservative and discriminatory education agenda

056it is actively operating in our district the online instructions and encouragement for writing and presenting to board of EDS as well as submitting Freedom of Information requests has directly impacted districts in Connecticut with the existing policy exceptions mid-mon were allowed after a board vote no one individually made that decision my vote was never based on who was worthy which was also stated by a board member but on two what two topics that were dramatically affecting residents in two years we've had two residents come to the podium to speak against the policy or write about the policy change unlike some of my colleagues I believe West Harford residents are able to understand and follow this policy open for meetings the first meeting of the month allows the public to come with any concern before and after

057the meeting this far exceeds districts in our state I believe it is a mistake to change the policy and I will be voting no thank you other Shannon so I don't have a lot to add to what has already been uh conveyed by some of my colleagues I will be voting in favor of the change to this policy um purely uh from the vantage point of Simplicity and trying to make things as clear and straightforward as possible for the residents of West Hartford in trying to understand when they can communicate about a particular issue and I myself have found it confusing and difficult to explain to others what meeting of the month is the right meeting to come to and so therefore I would like to remove that complexity as as possible I do want

058to uh mention though that I in no way want to dismiss or discount the concerns that have been raised by those who are uh not voting in favor of this change and I believe that we need to solve we're trying to solve for a different problem and fundamentally I think that we need to focus on the line that was there from the beginning in the policy which says that no person shall interrupt a meeting or render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and the chairperson May order any individual who engages in such conduct removed obviously an extreme example but I think that we need to as a uh board be in a position to um address instances of incivility and disrespect in that moment and this policy doesn't solve for that the the old

059policy that we're looking to change there's still an opportunity for people to be disrespectful regardless of whether it's an agenda item or a non-agenda item and what we need to do is be really on our game to address that in the moment which is hard to do I will be the first to admit confrontation is difficult but we need strategies and uh opport ability to kind of take the that situation in its context and make sure that we are staying focused on the protocol of this board and how we want uh public comment to be a model to our young people um and handle those situations on a case-by Case basis uh I'm I very much believe that we can do that effectively as a board it will take you know practice and skill and

060patience um but that would be the way that I would like to proceed going forward come what may um and with that I will just say that I'll be voting in favor of changing this policy all right so everyone has shared their thoughts and I will share mine and I excuse me I appreciate and respect the comments and thoughts that each and every one of you have shared I will say from um the start and as I have shared from the start the last time we conversed I am also on the policy subcommittee and I am a minority in that I'm not talking in terms of ethnicity I'm talking in terms of the viewpoints of this proposed policy where I'm not in favor and um just to to elaborate as to why not to repeat

061so much what I said before but I do want to to clarify the chronology of events from then until now because I certainly also do believe in recognizing facts and I want to make sure that we are all looking at facts in the same way so we know that from the policy that was in place for for some decades there was an initial modification to that uh policy and those of us who were on the board at the time and on the policy subcommittee unanimously were in support of that I'm looking at UIL as well because we were in favor of the initial change that was made where it prioritized speaking on agenda items first followed by non-agenda items and then we did make a second change that was voted on in June of 2022

062and so our first meeting in September of 2022 is where it was put into effect and we know anecdotally persons have referenced uh times where three particular times where we did vote to suspend the policy to allow for persons to speak on evenings that were intended for agenda items only we'll remind us all those that are currently on the board as well as those who are were not that at the time when we were making voting and having discussion for the initial policy change there was discussion that acknowledged there may be times when we may have to suspend the rules and how the policy will allow for that and so fast forward to September 2022 into October there were unfortunately three instances where we did have to apply that we also know from September until

063October November there were a couple of moments uh one in particular where we did have someone to come to speak on a non-agenda evening and when reminded that we're speaking on agenda items only um they expressed their disappointment with that and commented on the challenge of that and wish they had have known beforehand that that evening was only for agenda items and the person although disgruntled did sit down did remove from the podium but what was said as we say we may not comment when public comments are being made we do make note and we appreciated hearing that because what we did do is we went back and intent Ally modified the boilerplate language in the agenda where it did specify that the first meeting of the month is for agenda and non-agenda items and

064we also have a boiler plate when we meet the second meeting of the month that specifies where receiving comments on agenda items only since we have made that change I don't recall having repeated instances as we did before matter of fact come the beginning of this academic school year we have not had challenges with respect to persons um stating they did not know or they were not aware now I'm I'm saying we do not have challenges with a smile only because we know we have had persons that may have inserted non-agenda items on agenda items only and yes I would interject and remind them of the agenda items now I appreciate my colleague saying uh with respect to the chair's role and how that is a challenge and and this I respect the empathy for

065that however I receive the challenge because that is what we are entitled and supposed to do as a board member and as a chair and so if that means upholding the policies that stand even if that means having to do so with some assertiveness that is what has to happen and so since we have had the beginning of this school year can only think of one time where that assertively had to be applied as a colleague also mentioned we have received one maybe two feedback from the public with respect to the policy change I'm saying all of this to say because his colleagues have made reference to the events over the past year plus it has spoken as if we've had ongoing challenges ongoing rebukes by person ongoing senses of confusion and that is is

066not is not the case I also say this knowing I'm in the minority with the vote this evening so the proposed changes will likely go forward however I do think it's important to stand on principle and ensure that all voices are heard and we are speaking on facts I also do want to say that one specific time when we did have a moment where a person had to be reminded of speaking on agenda items having to assert and be reminded of the policy and what rules were in place I also don't want to have it to seem as though in those moments of difficulty what would be easier or to simplify is if that policy was not in place if it were't evening where any comment can be spoken on uh I know that uh

067I'm not in favor of that perception because it's almost as if to say if a child is not happy about going to bed at 8:30 well let's extend their bedtime to 10:00 and I'm not um I think it's important when their rules in place and when there's a policy in place for adults to respect that and there's a proper time and a place to speak their disagreement on that and again serving as chair there are moments when you do have to assert yourself for the order and the better good of the board in the efficiency of the board now one specific piece in terms of the proposed language change again the way the current policy is we receive comments on any item the beginning of the month the second meeting of the month agenda items

068only that's it we still have two board meetings a month we still have public comment at the beginning of each meeting public comment at the end of each meeting that's an average of four public comments per month the first meeting of the month you can speak on any item the second meeting of the month we're asking for you to please speak only on agenda items and I've already listed what the agenda items are for this evening so we see how there many times it could be rather lengthy and so I just want to be clear that what we are voting on is per recommending for those bookends not to be there for the uh means in which how many people can speak in particular at the end of the meeting the way the proposed language

069is written it's giving no um boundaries in terms of how many people can speak on agenda or non-agenda items and so respecting moments we can agree to disagree want to ensure we are doing so with the correct facts and the chronology of events as they have transpired and so with that everyone has spoken and so we now shall proceed to a vote a roll call vote please Charlotte Mr gagnan yes Mr Goldman yes Dr Harris yes Miss maramon yes Mrs narella no Dr Thomas farus no Mrs yalof no the motion passes and so with this new policy change we will have the language updated and it will take effect for our well our next meeting is the first meeting of the month anyway so it would have been agenda non- agenda but moving forward it

070will apply to those meetings and so with that we now shall move on to new business where we have proposed calendar for the 2026 2027 school year as a first reading seeking a motion that the Board of Education review as a first reading the proposed calendar for the 2026 2027 school year is there a motion so mooved thank you Jason is there a second second thank you Latoya discussion and we pass it to superintendent vus thank you very much um so I will uh direct you to page 51 uh where you can see the proposed school calendar for the 2026 2027 school year just a reminder that we uh typically will publish calendars two years out to uh allow for uh adequate planning for families any travel that might be Associated and things of that

071nature and we follow um a pretty standard uh practice with our um school calendars uh that I I imagine you've grown accustomed to in terms of um starting school uh that last week in August uh um kind of kind of helps to uh generally lead the kids into uh three school days followed by four school days followed by five school days but uh some differences this year perhaps with with the layout of the different holidays um we are in common in general with uh other districts in around the surrounding areas um but but as a board you have the ability to make any individualized adjustments you would like um the only thing I wanted to point out any different refence say to this proposed calendar from the current year or perhaps even next year um

072two things which really just have to do with where holidays fall so as you know uh we have um frequently have the uh Jewish holidays off and the holiday of rashash Shana during this particular uh period is going to fall um on September the 13th which is a Saturday so it uh it's over the is it over the weekend yeah 12 it's so you okay so it's okay in other words yeah okay thank you I'm sorry uh the evening of the 11th the Friday evening the 11th through to through to that and then likewise dwali I know we've we've had Dali off but when we first when we first put dwali onto the calendar it also fell on a weekend and it will uh again fall on a weekend um during November I believe it

073November 8th um and so it is not listed as a holiday um here for the school year calendar because it will not fall on a school day however we will not lose sight of the fact of either of these important uh religious observances and we will be certain to incorporate them as we have in other years when we've had a religious observance fall on a on a weekend or an otherwise non-school day so pending any questions on this calendar I submit it to you for first reading thank you any questions observations yes G um I just was wondering why juneth is on the calendar if it's beyond the school year yeah so we have included it uh typically just for summer school purposes we will sometimes get questions we've had several questions this year um

074from members of the public hey are you going to be holding um summer school or anything on juneth and we we tell them no and we've told them in the past we hadn't designated it because it wasn't part of uh school day but it is useful it has come up in the past where we've had extended snow days to where it kind of crept up onto the observance of juneth so having a formal recognition that should there need to be um regular school if we had that many snow days or just for the purposes of transparency for any summer school to put it onto the June calendar I just curious then why like something like July 4th wouldn't be on there because when that hit um yeah we just don't have July on the calendar

075at all oh okay Claire um in in the calendar such as this is the um extended school year start date not determined at this this time correct not determined so so we're typically um utilizing this calendar the extended school year the summer school dates all of those things are determined once we know exactly how many snow days we're going to have okay any other questions or comments regarding the proposed calendar all right again this is a first reading so the next time it comes before us we will vote however if you do have any suggested edits or anything along those lines please do share them with Mr vies so they can be applied accordingly and now moving on to recitation of teaching assistance and student AIDS into portions of the West Hartford board of education

076PA professionals contract and so with that we will seek a motion that the Board of Education ratify the negotiated agreements between the West Harford Board of Education PA professionals and the board of education for the period of July 1 2024 through June 30th 2026 is there a motion I'm moved thank you Shannon is there a second second thank you Jason discussion so hello Mr Julio darte uh we'll pass it to you great thank you so good evening everyone presented for your approval tonight is a ratified agreement between the Board of Education and the West Harford Board of Education par professionals Union located on page 52 of your board packet this negotiated agreement formally incorporates teaching assistance and student AIDS into portions of the West Harford Board of Education PA professionals contract this group of approximately

077150 dedicated staff members plays an important roles in our schools stepping in whenever needed they work across various settings contributing to a positive and inclusive learning environment whether covering classes in a teacher's absence or supporting students with special educations needs they collaborate with staff and administrations to ensure the smooth operation daily operations and activities and enhanced student learning this agreement was ratified on January 21st which it recognizes again the West Harford Board of Education pair professionals Union as the exclusive representation for teaching assistant and student AIDS who work 25 hours or more a week it also defines a specific sections of this contract that will apply to our teaching assistants and student AIDS it establishes a general wage increase of five an additional $5 for day for the 2024 school year and an additional $4

078on top of that for the 2526 school year it also aligns with Public Act 248 providing three sick days effective January 1 20125 and then sixi days effective July 1st 2026 it also grants a $500 attendance bonus for any teaching assistant or student aid who works at least 82 school days per seme semester and with 91 school days in a semester essentially that means that they've had 90% attendance or more and it also ensures that all teaching assistants and student AIDS receive priority consideration over external applicants for full-time paraprofessional openings so this summarizes the agreement as always I did want to take a moment to thank all of our teaching assistants and student aids for the dedication flexibility and support they provide to our students teachers and school Community every day I would I said

079we but I would be happy to answer any question that the board may have thank you very much I see L Toya's hand and then Ethan's hand and then Claire's hand um so I don't have any questions but just wanted to say this is awesome um and uh thinking about my own Journey as an educator I came up from the bottom in that way you know I was the crossing guard and then I was the lunch in recess staff and then I was a parah and then I was a tutor and a teacher and um and so recognizing that hard work that that staff puts in and really holding the school culture um and so I just I love to see this um I also am hoping too that it can be a model for

080other districts I get to travel all around the state and work with different districts and this is a a particular population in our school that feels underappreciated and unseen and and um you know not fairly compensated and so I love to see um you know what we're doing here and also just continuing to move that Equity needle like right we're like doing it and I love it and so I just wanted to commend um commend our district on this I think it's wonderful um and I think it really will increase that pipeline for peras um moving into and and teaching assistant moving into those teacher roles and school leader roles um and that that's what we want to see here so thank you so much um to everyone for all of the hard work and

081I'm just excited about this Ethan question for you um the agenda items say a cre of teaching assistance Chan defined as so it's essentially if previously the teaching assistance and our student AIDS were non-union members so essentially what that word means is it's they're joining portions of the parac contract and there was they voted for this correct okay the um just to get context is it possible at least in the future even if you have it now how much is this because and also is teach is the um stud student AIDS aren't online I realize I'm looking at the last month's budget and you all aren't but is student AIDS go under teacher Assistance or is that to have to wait for Liz so essentially we used to have uh teaching assistance and we had

082what they were formerly called Paras Subs so we've changed that name to student AIDS um I think more accurately represents the work that they do every day okay um but that is a line item that I believe so going to PA professional so I think is that how she's probably coded it yeah yeah like I said I'm looking at you not so yeah yeah no and I I should have started off by just thanking both Liz and Andy for their support in these negotiations um as they did take some time to get to this point we are also excited about it but I appreciate their support throughout that process and do you have an estimate of how much this was going to cost um I know that Liz does and I can certainly have her

083get that and we did have that I just don't want to give you inacurate number off the top of my head it's just given the conversation two weeks ago yeah I think I think yeah I think about a 150 total so it's essentially taking the line item that you're probably looking at Ethan and adding you know $5 a day what that would come out too um for all of those folks 180 days yeah and you know one of the other pieces too is that they are essentially uh compensated only for days that they work so when they're not at work they're actually not compensated um previously I don't have any problem with that my problem is we're voting on something I don't know how much it is so that's my concern so all right thank

084you oh can I just is it possible in the future to just try and dollarize it sure and I I promise you if Liz was here she would give you that answer I apologize for not having that for you I understand thank you I just wanted her to know how valuable of a member of the team she is I approve we already know that yeah I I I expect it's to around um just over $100,000 total I I just I'm still up I I just think as a board we should be dealing with the actual amount and saying yeah because otherwise there's no context yeah I'd feel comfortable telling you that it's between 100 to 300 for the two-year the duration of the entire 2-year contract okay that's sort of where I assume but I

085just to but for future too understood thank you Claire um Bravo this is this is well a a great move um these individuals are so essential in so many classes and to so many students um there is a shortage right now we need to recruit as many as possible um and and keep the high quality so I'm I'm very happy to see this change um the uh so they will be full voting members then of the par Union they are correct again you know there's only certain portions of the contract that we've accepted but essentially they're the key components for them and many of them have already joined I believe the Union as we've gone through this process and I know that in speaking to them they're they're very very pleased with this and do

086they have Healthcare so they do not so that is the big difference between essentially these roles and our PA of professionals and so that was one of the things that we were really excited to put in here too was that last talking point that essentially they'll get priority um in any openings that we have for pair of positions and so you know in in theory when we have a pair of opening they'll be the first folks that we're hoping apply and certainly if they're qualified for we'd want to give them the priority for that um so again it's been a conversation many of them actually you know have different insurances in different ways so it's not necessarily the their sell but we recognize for those folks that want and need the insurance we want to

087make it a priority for them to be able to get into that um parab bargaining unit that does have the um you know the benefits with it and do they currently do goal setting and midyear meetings with administrators so they currently do it but not as formal of a process it's one of the things that we have incorporated into this is actually having a um you know essentially now review process so that we can formalize that a bit more and I think that also helps us you know just add a a little bit more uh weight to the to the positions and and have those good conversations with administrators and you know some of it is not necessarily just about the goal setting in my mind it's more about hearing what are their um career

088aspirations right right and sitting down and you know and talking about the person who tells me yeah I really want to be a teacher someday oh I didn't know that that's great here's some Pathways to get there you know we've talked about our future educators of diversity and we see this as a pathway where folks could come in here get a you know move on to a parel perhaps or even go to that and and really get them in the classroom so um we started to do some of that but that was really you know the the reason why I was excited for the evaluation model it wasn't that they're you know needing uh necessarily the the feedback on the work it's more about just providing time for folks to have a good Rich conversation

089about what is it that you want from the district too yeah and would you I don't need specific data but would you say this 150 staff is is a more diverse group than our Stu our teach teachers or our current par Educators yeah I'd say that's a fair statement okay um it's very important that they have a voice you know they're dedicated and they they um we want them to stay we want to give them opportunities to grow um and become teachers maybe join the student Residency program um so thank you very much for presenting other qu gaale thank you um I just had a question um regarding the I know this isn't exactly what you're talking about what is the accreditation for like a teaching assistant is that some kind of is that there's

090some kind of accreditation to that or there's not what we're looking for is someone with a college degree and essentially and there's been some flexibility now at the state level as well but that was one of the requirements um for folks and and really what you're asking is because they're able to cover classes independently um and so that's something that you're looking for as a requirement the state's now opened that up so that we can if someone maybe doesn't have that there's other ways of us essentially being able to to look for you know what we call an emergency certification for that um it would be dependent on their background and and perhaps some relevant experiences they've had uh with child care or with children and working in those environments but you know it's something

091that I know a lot of folks have pushed at the state level to try to look at some of those requirements and trying to find what's the right balance you know again I think that's that's the piece we're always looking for we want to open up doors for folks but we also want to be mindful that you know we want to have qualified people sitting in classrooms okay thanks other questions or comments all right I sh share the appreciation expressed thank you so much and with that we have a motion on the floor pardon me yes Ethan so I'm G to abstain just because I think when we vote on these things we should know how much we're doing so it's nothing against contract it's just understood again I would feel very comfortable 300,000 300,000

092would be a very fair um number I could feel confident telling you but I I respect your position on that thank you so and I hadn't asked for it before so on me all right before we vote any other last comments or thoughts Ethan thank you for sharing your stance with how you will vote all right with that with the motion on the floor all of those in favor say I I any oppose any abstain abstain one exstension the eyes have it thank you very much than now moving on to staff Communications and reports and we shall receive our superintendent report passing it to Mr vicus thank you very much um I will be brief but I have big news across the board so I'm most uh most excited to share this first news and

093I hope I'm not stealing any Thunder but Lorna and I uh were invited were invited to be part of a press conference this morning at the Legislative Office Building during which both our Senate and our house leaders announced a very exciting Bill to provide much needed um and greatly appreciated support for special education funding in response to direct Outreach uh to uh our delegation to the legislature in general across the state of Connecticut this was not just west Harford but um and and certainly in response to the community listening circles that I think you've heard about uh the legislature announced that it will be adding $40 million to the excess cost reimbursement funding coming from State Surplus um this action supports without question our most fragile Learners it ensures our ability to deliver on both

094a promise and a responsibility to provide a free and appropriate public education to our neediest Learners it will directly support students with needs related to specialized transportation individualized services and tuition costs for outof district placements when students present with needs uh that are beyond what we can support in our building and District programs and uh I am unquestionably grateful to uh the legislature for their uh attention to this um and I also thoroughly appreciate their uh their commitment to ongoing work because this as I think the the statement was made is a deposit toward a larger need uh I think there's recognition out there in the community uh about the impact of some of the shortfalls and what it means relative to localized funding and and certainly continues to be a driver for us and

095for districts across the state so I can't say enough about um my appreciation for uh for their actions this week um students kind of stole some of my thunder about some of the big stuff happening uh at Connor and Hall not the least of which it is February it is Black History Month um they mentioned and just add a point of emphasis the panel discussion uh in support of the 2025 uh Black History Month theme uh African-Americans and labor so I'm very excited I'm looking at Latoya I know she's going to be a panel member on this joint Conor Hall presentation as well as other community members um very excited for the engagement of our community with our schools um I also share and when I send you a copy of my notes uh there'll

096be a link to a video um as you know at the elementary level um we have uh system by which students will research a prominent African-American their contributions um across a range of different fields Sciences politics um the Arts um and the students will will you know each grade level will have one area that change that theme and they change the theme so over the course of their ele experience they've gotten to investigate a series of six different individuals and benefit also from the research of the other classes and there's a wonderful video that one of our elementary schools has done to kind of highlight this so I'll share a link of that with you so that you can see that I want to cycle back to some news that I I brought up in

097late December I think I mentioned that our pre kindergarten program was being formally assessed by the National Association for the education of young children otherwise known as nyak um they conducted site visits right before uh the holiday break literally the day before the holiday break at Charter Rook Webster Hill and Smith now I don't know if you can recall what school was like on the day before the holiday break um but it can be somewhat hectic at times um and so we weren't we we weren't um necessarily so excited about the choice of date but we had every confidence in our Educators um and we were so excited to receive the news uh last week of their score on the accreditation and they uh earned an amazing score of 99.31% out of 100 nearly a

098perfect rating across 10 different standards and 53 different competencies um and they are just to be applauded for the amazing work that they do every single day um [Applause] absolutely and fairly certain if it wasn't the last day before break they would have gotten a clean 100 so um I want to send a huge thanks out to the West Harford prevention partnership and also the community of concern as well as um staff from connard and from Cedric Middle School that their support for the recent viewing of screenagers uh which was hosted at Cedric middle school last week uh there were a total of 60 participants who learned about the importance of screen limits and the of each appropriate use of cell phone and social media so just a few short announcements there um pending your

099questions uh other than that are we're kind of nose to the grindstone with budget preparations for March all right Jason so no questions but just a a real thank you to you Paul and your team for for jumping all over this the the hold that had been there in the the EXs cost Grant um you today did a fantastic job representing West Hartford as did our chair who did just a wonderful wonderful job um my most heartfelt thanks also to our delegation and and I hope people are watching because they should know how hard our legislative delegation worked to get this done they LED it every step of the way um I know they were responsive to all of us who reached out to them um multiple times um and also to others around the

100community who' really brought this to to everyone's attention absolutely Echo all of that thank you other comments regarding yes Ethan just just a question it may be too early uh because you just got the news today we had a million dollar negative variance do you have any idea how much this would be we're so we're anticipating it to be about one point just under 1.4 million I believe Teresa corrected me 1.36 was it um now that's that's using today's figures there will be um updates from Statewide at March as to the actual costs we've kind of submitted our projected costs but um as real costs come in they'll use those updated figures and they will be Distributing the money in accordance with the formulas that they have but there is a uh there is a

101article that kind of outlines it uh for every District in the state of Connecticut you can look at what the anticipated outcome is and then relative to us just um you're absolutely correct that in our in our financial examiner report we were projecting a 1 million do shortfall and that was based kind of on taking every available cut that we had to make short of closing school and fur all of us a month earlier something um so we will be able to uh really be able to take a second look at that we'll be able to uh you know postpone some of those cuts uh maybe make them savings for this upcoming year uh should we get in excess of that million but our our total shortfall from the 85% that you know is is

102we're kind of banking on in terms of what's what's in the current uh what's in the current law our total shortfall was 2.6 million so we were able to and our shortfall from 100% was 3.7 million so we what we were able to do with what where we had budgeted and finding other Cuts we were able to narrow that gap down to a million uh so now we've got a little bit of breathing room from that should that come in somewhere close to 1.4 we anticipate 1.2 1.4 at the end of the day is probably what we'll see understand so that was for this fiscal year what does it say what or is there any excellent question that is the open-ended question how about next fisal year because we know two years out the governor

103has committed to $40 million two years out so so what that really leaves us is is the gap um in the coming school year and next year yep yeah next school year this this coming school year after this year is complete 25 26 Still an unknown that is still an unknown uh they they commented that about that today at the L they they uh they were not able to commit anything they wanted to allow for the budget process you know to carry through but they did set an expectation and a hope that this could sort of be a new floor I think was was the comment made um and and really demonstrated an appreciation an understanding that um that this is a significant issue across the state of Connecticut to bad you can't pocket some

104of the money for next year thank you other comments CLA yeah I had read that there was an additional 13 million um to focus on reducing outplacement and finding ways to um educate more students inhouse rather than to private um schools do you know much about that and is is that 13 million going to districts or I can't connect that off the top of my head I can't connect that 13 million specific figure what I do know is that there is an effort and and I think this might be what you're referencing to um encourage school districts to look at Regional Solutions and alternatives to outplacement I I don't have the dollar value specific to know that um and I know that you know one of the the things that we want to test within

105that is um my understanding is that's for new programs and and the question is what about if we were able to uh talk about the expansion or the enhancement of existing programs because that's one of the things that that we've talked about here as a board quite a fair amount um we have a number of existing programs here in the district that we're extremely proud of that that do all that they can do to keep our students here in District and not not face out placements um and we would love the opportunity to be able to expand on those um and to be able to receive some of that state support in order to do so but um we're unique from other districts you know relative to say our school engagement program or our intensive

106behavioral program or our post-secondary program um you know those are just some of the programs that that that already exist here that other schools might say access other districts might excess that money to build and replicate something similar to what we have um our ability to kind of create New Alternatives and new ideas um really become um I think they come with with with significant uh additional responsibility uh relative to like when when we're out placing we're talking about residential therapeutic placements um medical placements you know things where the the um the responsibilities are are are so far above and beyond our our typical controls and our and our TP you know that that we're seeking outside Professionals for that so um it's a great um feature of the state and we want to test

107it to see if there's a way for us to tap into it um but uh you know but we we've got some really strong programs right now so the other thing is um the transportation cost is is is sometimes as much as the program and so there has to be some kind of way to organize or streamline or do something because the fact that it might cost as much to bring a child to school as it is for the private school um there has to be some way to cut that appreciate that point 100% other questions or comments regarding our superintendent report yes lorya yeah I just wanted to kind of second that um great work um you know to you and Paul Lorna um for representing us and our state delegation um and also

108you wanted to again shout out Claire for going and testifying um and also getting that interview um with NPR and I think it's just it's really cool to see us all coming together and and and standing up for our kids and our families um during a time where it's kind of tough uh and so I also wanted to say um in the spirit of Black History Month that we have an amazing um uh Equity inclusion uh coordinator in our town um and uh she's been organizing some really cool events in the town I know there was just one last weekend um or two week two weekends ago where they watched a documentary at the library um and had a great discussion so I definitely encourage people to go to the town website um and look

109at how you can engage get educated on black history there's a lot of things um that just aren't taught um I'm I'm learning new things every day about our black our beautiful black history and so I think when we have these moments and these opportunities we should take advantage of them and just make sure that we're informed and and it's also a great way to show solidarity with the community so thank you any other questions or comments I want to Echo again uh what has been shared from our superintendent thank you so very much the executive team fellow colleagues thank you for your advocacy certainly yes CLA for you testifying certainly as well want to thank our delegation Senator slap representative Ferrar representative exom and representative Gilcrest for their ongoing advocacy and squeaking the wheel

110but most importantly want to thank those parents and those family members and those young people who went to those listening sessions who spoke to their delegation and who advocated and we want to have you to continue to do that because we're so fortunate for where we are now but we know that we still May face challenges down the road so please continue to advocate in that regard so thank you thank you thank you and I also want to Echo the importance and thank you so much for recognizing the way our district is honoring black history month but we know that black history month and black history is American history and so that is something that can recognize year round because if it were not for the contributions of African-Americans we would not be where we

111are and so thank you so much for ensuring that we as a district uphold the policies and beliefs that we support and recognize for all of our students and with that we now shall proceed and I see Mr D is there once again to our staff reports and board discussions where we shall receive our multi-year enrollment projections now we know that typically that's right we did pause on that and I was going to say thank you I wasn't going to say thank you but I will say thank you now and so now we shall receed to Personnel actions and so Mr DTE passing it to you please all right thinkk I definitely wasn't going to be able to answer those questions um I'm pleased to present our latest Personnel report which can be found on

112page 59 of your board packet for your review as you know I provide regular updates on any changes related to our certified staff including teachers and administrators tonight I will summarize these numbers reflecting all changes since my last Personnel report in December this month's report includes the following two leave of absences and one retirement we also hire four contracted teachers and six interim teachers so short and sweet thank you and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have thank you very much teammates any questions regarding this information Claire I just yeah uh the special education hires I know it's a very um hard Market to find teachers right now um and I just wanted to say that's great that you've got three and and looks like they come in with some great experience

113yeah thank you I mean they're they're all phenomenal hires um again I want to give kudos to Melissa cabalero and her team who are also always out there but I think it also speaks to the district and the reputation that we have across the state um that even hiring in December we're able to have folks that want to be here so again kudos to the reputation that we have here and for some of the other decisions that the board makes and that we all make um that sometimes we don't know necessarily feel but I think these are the things where you see that come out any other questions or comments all right thank you very much now moving on to routine matters where we have approval of the minutes seeking a motion that the Board

114of Education approve the minutes from the regular Board of Education meeting of February the 4th 2025 is there a motion so moved thank you Jason is there a second second thank you lato but Ethan appreciate your support as well discussion any suggested edits seeing or hearing none all of those in favor say I I any oppose any abstain the eyes have it now moving on to information and reports board members do we have any communication and reports that you would like to share or any other information or discussions seeing none moving on to Future business announcement of future meeting dates our next meeting will be on Tuesday March the 4th 2025 our regular Board of Education meeting where we shall receive presentation of the superintendent's budget at 7:00 here in in room 314 followed by

115Wednesday March the 12th 2025 budget Workshop number 1 at 7:00 here in room 3:14 at the Town Hall then again on Tuesday March the 18th 2025 regular Board of Education meeting at 7:00 here at the Town Hall in room 314 and then again Wednesday March the 26th Board of Education public hearing at 7:00 followed by budget Workshop number two all of which take place here at the Town Hall in room 3114 do we have a request for any future agenda items Claire yeah I just have a question about um the budget workshops um is it clear to the public which um meetings are the best to go to or where we have the the most opportunity for public comment so with that and recognizing lots of activity in March so thank you for raising the

116question we do know that public comment is offered at every meeting but with public hearing that is specifically to discuss the budget process we do know pieces are underway and we'll have more to share at our next meeting to offer additional opportunities to hear from the public regarding our budget process we know that uh the S wheel gets the oil we certainly have received uh Insight from that from today's events and we know with our budget process we want to be able to uh ensure that we are uh hearing from all so specifically to your question the way it currently stands budget Workshop number two which is following the public hearing that is where a person can come to speak to the budget however the meetings where we offer public comment they could also speak

117about the budget process at that time as well and I may send out a communication to the district just to reinforce that just given the significance of the budget yeah because Workshop might mean something to us but I I just feel like we need to bring the language down to um something that your average person that doesn't know what a workshop is or what a hearing might be just get the language um very Layman understood well received and superintendent vas is nodding so we will comply yes thank you CLA any other comments or requests for future agenda items that is seeing none do we have any visitors who would like to make a comment seeing none we do not have an executive session therefore seeking a motion to adjourn don't move thank you Ethan uh

118is there a second second thank you Shannon meeting adjourned at 8:40 e