Meeting transcript
BOE Meeting 9.9.26
September 9, 2026 · Watch on Zoom · All meetings
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the meeting to order at 07:03. And, principal Taylor, in honor of the fact that I think we're getting fantastic views tonight, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Be delighted. Excellent. Usually, I have it written with the kids, though.
Let's I'm gonna I'm gonna just can you be the only one who said that? I pledge 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. Great.
I don't know how many openings do. That's the third thing there. So I'll skip right to comments from the public. And so I don't forget you, Christina, do you have any comments? I'm also gonna do. Excellent.
Jen McGoldrick, would you like to comment as well as do our fantastic job as our clerk? I'm all set. Thank you. Lee? Melissa Liteska? I'm all set. I'm all set. Thank you. Terrific. Jamie Tilden Bailey. I'm all set. Thank you.
Did I see you driving a bus this morning or a town van? Yes. You did. Excellent. I thought that was you. Is that Christine Mendazzo? Yes. It is. Hi. Welcome. Do have anything to say?
I don't have anything to say, but thanks for asking. Okay. Katie Gibson. I'm all set. Thank you. Hey. John Rambo.
John, do you wanna make any public comment? Okay. Doriana, I know you're here maybe in a reporting capacity, but would you like to say anything? I am good. Thank you. Okay. Stacy Kaufman.
I'm good. Thank you. I love it. Let's keep going this way. Okay. I did mean to say, I'm Shannon Loudon. I'm the vice chair. Caitlin is not here this evening because the RAM open house is occurring at this time, so she asked that I'm on the meeting. So hello, everybody. Communications. I know that we all have received quite a bit of communications back and forth between board of selectmen, board of education, counted, you know, attorneys and whatnot. I'm not aware of anything else. Are there any other communications that we need to discuss? Okay. Take it away, principal. Well,
I'm so excited. Thank you for letting me share in celebrations because we definitely have a lot to celebrate. So in planning for today, I was trying to, know, you balance a lot of things. I want you to have a lot of information, but I also want it to make sense and kind of so I have some numbers, but I have some visuals and also just some information as we look at the twenty five, twenty six school year. So if you recall right at the end in June, I did present our DIBELS, and that's our k three universal screener for reading scores. So I am I'm not gonna do that tonight just so you know. I'm gonna focus on our state assessments, the SBAC scores. But, certainly, you'll hear me reference the DIBELS throughout the year because that is how we also measure the younger kiddos reading growth. But this particularly is going to center around our Smarter Balanced achievement score. So let me share without further ado. Maybe share. Alright. It's a little slow. Alright.
So we're gonna just start diving in right away with proficiency because that is the typical standard that people are most familiar with looking at. So we take the SBAC math in grades three through six and the ELA, the reading in grades three through six, and our fifth graders take the science. We have about, this year, about a 110 testers for reading and math, of course, fifth grade, a much smaller cohort last year for science. So you can see this year, the Connecticut average, 51%. That's the percentage of students who have achieved a level three or a level four. It went up about 1% at the state level for both ELA and math. So the state average is fifty one percent and forty six point seven in math. Very excitingly, you can see we had tremendous growth this year. So in ELA, last year, we were at 64.8%, and we are up to 73%. And then in math, we were at 53.2%, and we were at 69.4%.
So we are very, very excited about this. And my math said that's 16.2. I know.
Wow. Yeah. So a a very large gain. We're excited we had. You've heard, of course, over the past few years if you've been here, a really strong push on ELA and really looking working on our reading curriculum. But last year, that math work started, and that will continue this year. And, obviously, we can already see the benefits of that. I always include the four Hebron, Marlborough, of course, and Bolton and Columbia because they're typically right around us. I will show you as we go through a bigger picture, a statewide look, but I know those are the towns that typically you know, it's just something to reference around us. So, you can take a look at those. What does ELA stand for again? English language arts. So sometimes you'll hear me call it reading. It depends on my Yeah. Where I'm calling it ELA or reading. But it does measure reading and writing.
Hold on one sec. Yes. I'm gonna write this down. I know. Very exciting. Sweet.
So the other measure that we talk about in so this is proficiency. Right? You can get a one, a two, a three, or a four. So these are the percentage of students, which when you think of our percentage, we're about a 110 kiddos, so right about one percent per child. So it's actually works out nicely to think about Andover in terms of kids. The other percentage is growth. You have two growth percentages, and those are really important, of course, because we wanna show progress over time. So there's two. The first is growth rate, and that's right here. Growth rate so every year, let's imagine in third grade, Jerry takes the test. The state is gonna set based on how Jerry scored. He got a 2420. It's gonna create a goal for him. If Jerry learns all that he needs to learn and makes the right amount of growth to eventually make sure he's proficient, then this year, he should score a 2,810. Right? It's gonna set a goal for him. There's a lot of, you know, functions that does that. This is how what percentage of our kids hit that goal. So this is an incredible jump. This is actually the harder of the growth scores. So this is saying that sixty eight percent in ELA and sixty seven point five percent of students hit the growth, the full target that the state set out for them.
Every student gets a target, whether you scored a one or a four. So even students performing above grade level have a target score. So that's everybody. The second, and where you see, again, this big, big jump, is for all kids, how much what's the average amount of that target that they scored? So now we're gonna look at everyone. Whether you made the full goal or not, how much of that goal, this is the finish line, did most kids get to? And that's where you see this incredibly high number of 84.385.6%.
Zoom user. Do you want me to admit even though they don't have a name? This is Alicia Lee, I believe. Oh, perfect.
And so that's that's a huge jump. You can see I put this one all the years in here so you can see how we've grown. How many kids are not only hitting their goal, even if they're not, how close they are to that goal is significantly higher. Move over for woah. Woah. Okay. It's just
apologize. So then what they do is they talk about they create a district performance index. So you've probably heard of the accountability index, maybe, if that kind of surfaces online a lot, and it's essentially you'll hear it referred to as the district report card. So sometimes you'll see articles like, let's talk about the district's report card. That's your accountability index. There are 12 factors that go into an accountability index. Because we are an elementary school, they don't all apply to us. So there's really only four factors that we are scored on because we don't have graduation rate, right, or, like, access to their certain sports and arts ones, things that wouldn't apply to us. So in order to essentially compare fairly to make sure everybody's on the same playing field, every student earns points for their score. So you get a 100 points if you score a three, but you might earn a 110 points if you score a four. If you're a two, you might score 60 points, 40 points for a one, all different depending on where you score. That's then averaged, and you get your district performance index. So not how this was our percentage for achievement. Now we get a district performance index. The goal the state goal is 75. So you can see we've exceeded that in both math and reading, which is very exciting. In science, you can see because we're small, the state will not publish because it's too identifiable our fifth grade science scores because the cohort is small. Does that make sense? Mhmm. So I can tell you because I can, of course, see by kiddo. We are at in the 56, 57%
achievement in our science from last year, but you can see the depart the district performance index is 73.2. Because, again, you're gonna get credit for how many kiddos performed at each kind of band and how they grew. And so you can see from last year, these were this was the performance index that we scored last year and this year. So you can see that small loss, like we said, in science, an area that we're still continuing to focus on. Bit harder to track trends because it's one cohort that changes every year in the size, but it is an area that we are always looking at. Where most of our focus has gone, as you know, is into math and reading, and so you can see that increase there.
What was the size of that cohort? Refresh my memory.
25. Yeah. Okay. 24. So, I mean, it's tough to It's really tough to use its data, but it's not trend data that we can really dig our teeth into. So it's something we keep in mind, and it informs us, but not the same way that our math and reading can. 36 is about 25 students, so it's about that. Yeah. Okay. Yep. So then there's the growth score. So remember that accountability index? What happens is that accountability index is published usually in. So if I have it, obviously, by our October meeting, but sometimes it's November because that takes time for them to calculate, I don't know, whatever magic formulas, right, they use, but we do have all the data for it. So there's that growth target. You can see this from last year, this huge 15 percentage point change in growth for us this past school year.
Our chronic absenteeism, that's a number you want to decrease. We are now below the five percent state recommendation, so we'll get full points in that area. And then PE, we actually jumped up 9.2% proficiency. And it was, I will tell you, very challenging for me to find a school, a district with a higher PE percentage that meets the target growth target health zone. Because at first, you might I just you know, you might look at that 57% doesn't sound high. Remember, unfortunately, we're not responsible for all health choices for a child. And so the state sets, you know, on the mile run, the sit and run, you might remember, we have to touch your toes. All of those tests, our fourth and sixth graders take those. So this is a really nice growth for us and will be, you know, counted in there.
And so last year, we had a 74.4 on our accountability index score with that goal. Again, we don't know. That isn't out yet, but you can see every area that we've ticked up in. We anticipate that we'll see a really nice growth in the accountability index. Okay. So this is a lot of numbers, so I wanted to be able to kind of show it to you a little bit more visually. So here we are on nice little town map, and here's Andover in pink. What I've highlighted in yellow are districts that had a higher math and ELA proficiency score than us. So these are the only districts in Connecticut that scored higher than us in both math and ELA. So, I mean, it's a very you can tell it's a significant achievement, but you can also see the trends of where those that outscored us. Mhmm. You can see this is typically an area down here that, you know, is talked about as a group. Sorry. I made that come up. And then there's only a couple. You can see the Simsbury, Avon, Farmington line here and, really, Glastonbury. So then if you come down, there's only an additional one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight districts that scored higher than us on just one, either math or ELA. Wow.
And so when you kind of put that together, these are the districts performing at rates that we are aspiring to. Now don't get me wrong. I thought about coloring the math the other way. Showing you, look. There's districts that we scored higher. But I think it is an important thing to know about our staff and about our work is that isn't we're not looking back. We're always looking forward. Because we do believe that we want every student in Andover to achieve proficiency. And so that's where this is where we're going. Right? These are districts that we are seeking that same level and aspiring to proficiency. And, sure, if you went through each one, there are some of these that are point, you know, two tenths higher than us, but they get their shaded in. Right? Typically, the highest proficiency rates in the state that we see are right around 81%, just so you have a context of kind of how high right now proficiency looks. So the last visuals, you can get a sense. It's going the other way. I know there's a rotate. Mhmm. Oh, yes. K.
So this is the education reference groups, and so the state puts together these groups. They don't change frequently, and they they're supposed to take into consideration a lot of things, demographics, size, who you serve, all of those pieces. And over time and data over years, they create these groups of comparable school districts in some ways. Right? And so when you look down here we are. We are in group c right there in pink. In our group and in all the groups before us, you can see in yellow, it's the same as the map yellow, our schools or districts, I apologize, that has scored higher than us in both reading and math. And orange would be in one or the other. Some if you're a real data, really into data, EdSight is a public website that you can go on, and you could certainly pull this data from any district if you were interested in seeing it. But that's that's an important thing to note. The other thing is we do have students who take the alternate assessment. And so some kiddos based on their needs need an alternate assessment. Of course, I can't, because it would be identifying, tell you how many students take that. But of our students who take the alternate assessment, they're also scored on a one, two, three, or four. And we had all of our students who took the alternate assessment scored proficient or above proficient.
Those percentages are not in. They do not the state does not combine them. So I just think it's important to note those students are working just as hard, but they were also on or above. Do they have growth goals as well? Yeah. Yes. It's I believe this what the state does is publish alternate assessment data. However, as you can imagine, we're too identifiable. So we don't get that moment of getting to see, but I do. And so I did wanna share that with you because I think it's important to recognize the work of that that group. And you could see also I'm sorry. I should have pointed it out here. Our high needs group. And so the state also looks at this data in terms of students with IEPs, five o fours, free and reduced lunch, all kinds of different factors, and they wanna make sure that subgroup of students is growing just as fast or strongly as your other group of students. And so we did show a lot of growth here as well. How many kids do we have in that group? Two identifiable. To share an exact number. Oh, I know. You can't even say a number.
No. I wouldn't. No. Because we're so small, it's tricky. It's
tricky. This is actually sorry to interrupt, Tyler. Yeah. No problem. This is along the lines when we talk about other data that we don't share, budgetary data and things like that, you can see up there, it says suppressed.
It will not share. I could have Will not share. My proficiency for high needs. It will share the the DPI, the performance index, because it you can't tell how many points a kiddo got, but it won't share my just performance. I I can calculate it based on individual test scores, you know, in our building, but I get it. They wanna, you know, of course, protect small groups of kiddos.
How are these groups how how are why are we in a group c, someone else is group b? What is that?
So the state creates those looking at demographics of families, size of your district, performance over many years, median income. Yes. They have many different factors. Like I said, they don't change frequently. I haven't seen them change in many, many years. You know, someday, think they will when they have to put Andover in group a. It's gonna be, you know, a Unfortunately,
Taylor is absolutely right. They don't change regularly. So those 11 in group a are very oftentimes just unbeatable. Their their scores, their resources, their things of that nature. Of course, we all aspire to get their scores, but those are the Fairfield areas down there. I know they're called Fairfield County more, but those are those 11
up there that have always been Woodbridge. I don't think Woodbridge is. Right. It's an interesting I think that's new gateway. Interesting that there's always, like, an outlier. Like, why Woodbridge. Woodbridge is not.
It's Region 5. Right? Yeah. It's up by, like Woodbridge. I mean, because of the map. I've studied it so much recently. Here is Woodbridge. Just so you know, I only crossed up District 9 because it's a high school only. It's not because I don't wanna be compared to them. They just don't have SBAC scores to compare to, whereas the other district, the regional district do. Yeah. Again, like, you can see even region eight, which is RAM. I didn't cross them out because SBAC scores you do take SBAC in seventh and eighth grade. So they do have some might argue it's not comparable to us different grade, but I wanted to keep that there. Yep. So you can see like, Marlboro is in group b. Yeah.
I'll ask and see. I'm asking now. Alicia. Alicia. Oh, don't know. Oops. There we go. Come here. I can't sorry. My service isn't the best.
We heard you. That's why I was saying to mute, my dear. Sorry. No worries. Alright. What
I don't think I have one other thing. Did I
I just wanna make sure performance index. I did pull Hebert and Marbo. That's not on the paper just so you could see not just in proficiency, but in terms of that performance index, which, again, is what the state uses as an equalizer so that you can compare places in in theory of different sizes and and demographics. So so last year, I I when I ended this presentation, I kind of I went into our strategic plan and kind of where we were going. You'll see the strategic plan. You can see it on the website. I think I gave it to you maybe in June, but I can give you another copy. It's very small shifts, which is a good sign because what we are doing and what the work we did last year is really working.
And so we're not you know, there's not gonna be a brand new initiative that we need to talk about or or new curriculum. It's continuing to deepen the work we're doing. And, you know, I'll talk about when we get into my report a little bit later, unless you want me to, just some of the professional development we're doing around these topics to continue this work. And we're very excited. Like, we just finished our beginning of year math assessments for grades three through six, and we are try to say it right.
We are starting the year looking at 7072% proficient using our m class and I Ready. So to me, this is this is so exciting, but we haven't lost that growth, and that's very exciting. Because what we don't want is a student who can hold it all in for a test. Right? And then maybe the next day, it's gone. That we don't want that. That's not what we're teaching to. It's not our style. So to come off a summer, and we do test early. We're nine days into school, and come out with such strong proficiency. Three through six is really exciting to see. So we know that work is kind of deep and carrying through, and they're ready to go for this year. So
very exciting. Questions can I answer? Yeah. And I don't know if if the population is too small. But Sure. Of the the kids that met their growth goals Yeah. Or that set by the state, like Yep. Guess the question is to the ones that didn't Mhmm. Do we know, like, what groups they're in? They do. There is not a strong
there is not a group that stood out. Okay. Last year, I did show a chart of that because what we could see last year was our ones moved really strong, if you remember. Mhmm. And then our twos the other groups were about the same. Mhmm. We see it about the same. Yeah. I guess Yeah. It's a good question. We do get that. I think what's driving is, like, you know, especially during, like, conversations we've had this year, making sure that it's not just all groups. It's that it's we're also making sure the higher end groups are getting And that's yes. And that's why we those two numbers, our growth numbers, are very exciting because you're absolutely right. It includes your fours Mhmm. Which they don't get to just sit and earn points. And if a four drops to a three, we won't score as many points in that that index, if that makes sense. So really looking at those is important to us. Yeah. Because I I I have. I've been in districts where you look at your twos, and that's all you focus on. Like, you just want to everybody your three, and that's what we're worried about. And that's not other number mix. And to be honest, when you think about it with a 110 kiddos, not that any other district doesn't care about each child. We care about each child.
Each child. I I know every student that isn't proficient or is above proficient or is below proficient as does all of our support team on both ends to ensure that that growth is happening. Because if it's not, we're losing out. You know? Yes. I want a 100% proficiency. I recognize that, you know, 80% is is the ceiling in the system we work in, not in the proficiency world. Right? Because we want to be able to have all 110 of our end of our kids line up and say, they are proficient and prepared and ready for what they need to do. So we're we're well on that track, so we're very excited.
Can you just go back to the middle of this one for a second? I can. Right here. Right there to Bree, to your point, and I know you said you didn't know, you know, if she'd be able to focus on one particular group. But if you look in the middle, it's all students Mhmm. That have made those gains, the top, the middle, and the bottom performing students. Yep. The gap between high needs and nonhigh needs narrowed in both subjects Yeah. From 20.7 points to 14.5. So that gap Right here. Between that Uh-huh. Top and the bottom My apologies. I apologize. Gap. You see that? So that was a great question for you to ask. That gap Sorry. We excluded it. But Oftentimes in districts, the the problem. Yeah. To your point. Yes. You get the fours that stay fours, but they're exactly the same numbers they were. So there are four. Right. And then you have the students at the bottom, and the only kids making growth are the high twos going to a low three. And that is, like Taylor said, like like Sharon mentioned, is unfortunately usually the first line of defense. Let's just get that up there by moving those kids in the middle. But what this team did here that's so amazing is right there in the middle. It is every single student. All students are moving. The remedial students are moving. The the students that have special needs are moving. The academically talented students are moving, and the middle of road kids, they're all moving.
And that gap now is getting smaller between the students. And that right there is what makes this team amazing. Mhmm. Right. Because you can make your numbers look a little better. Yes. But this is where you you can't sneak it up like that. That right there. That's why they do this. Right. Right. Right. Because I I love this map.
But it's a different story. It's just straight proficiency, right, which doesn't always account and get to tell every kiddo's story. And so that does that does this. And when we see once we get that accountability index that it's all combined, they have, you know, ways of scoring, you'll be able to see kind of points in that area. But that is gonna be a big piece for us is that the high needs student gap narrowed. And, actually, our high needs group was improving faster, which is why that narrows, which is what you need to happen. Right? Which is exciting. So, again, the work of of all of our staff.
And, you know, I said it in the beginning, but I don't wanna discount our k two team because that work has begun there. And that's really where we've focused a lot of our the past five years since I've been here four years, those early reading skills, and so that kind of and math kind of bridges up. So we're gonna continue that work in math. ELA, we're on it. We're doing it. Math, we have more to go. And then, you know, no one likes to hear science and social studies are last on the list, but they're on the list. So we are getting to pilot some open units that RAM is using up if for science in our fifth and sixth, so we're excited about that. And then, you know, Melissa and missus Lateska and missus Hopkins working in social studies in fifth, sixth this year,
kind of really taking a look again, aligned with RAM because it's not that there's a state test if that's a little bit more about content preparedness and genres of reading and writing. So we're we're excited for that work this year too. Another random question. Yeah. Oh, really? You already asked one.
I get a lot. No. I was I was gonna ask you a question. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Mentioned the k through two. Right? They're not taking this. That group is also the group that was impacted by the change in the law Mhmm. With the age. Mhmm. Yeah. Do you think when they start taking this test,
that change is also going to increase, like, the growth that we see? Absolutely. I mean, that's why the state made the change is that the proficiency and the studies they find from other states are showing that we're we call them the burr babies, but those kiddos who were born from September to December were often found in intervention, needing additional support for a myriad of reasons. Right? And and we do nobody wants birth date to be a reason that you need support. So I do think it was a rocky transition, and we felt for many families. We're very lucky here that our families had an opportunity for full time school regardless, whether it's pre k or k. But we know in many districts that wasn't the case. So I do think they're gonna see as that cohort now kind of those move up, and there's no more waivers. If you didn't hear that in July 1, the law did change. So we'll we'll have to amend our policy because that won't can't supersede the law. So,
yeah, I I do think that will be a difference for us. You'll be able to see that pretty quickly with your DIPPLES numbers, though. Right? So you'll see the trend kinda move up. Yep.
Okay. Here's a really tough question. Okay. To what do you attribute this wonderful success, and how do we
maintain it and build on it this year? That was my question. Thanks a And that's the next point. No. No. How do we keep this going? Right? Yeah. The answer is specific and nonspecific. Right? So
the the word is high impact teaching strategies. It's not a curriculum. Right? We like bookworms. We like YouFly. We like Illustrator. We like or we don't, you know, depending on anyone's personal opinion, but the high impact teaching strategies. So we really had to take a step back and say, we're doing a lot of things. Every teacher here was doing a million great things. But what is the thing that the research has actually shown moves kids? And let go of the rest. Right? Not the thing you think you should do, but what is the thing that actually moves kids? And so in reading, that was a lot of work around how to teach reading, and it's it's scientifically based explicit instruction. So things like, I'm actually gonna teach you how to pronounce cat because c says c as opposed to, and this can seem dramatic, but it was true, you're reading a book and you notice there's a picture of a cat, so I'm gonna associate that word as cat. But that that was a a teaching strategy used years ago even when I was teaching that was really popular. The science says that doesn't work. It may work for some, but it's not going to work for all. They actually need to learn that this symbol c says, and it needs to be in short doses. I mean, it could go on forever. Right? So there's high impact teaching strategies that we've accumulated and that we're still accumulating into a bank, so to speak. And
even if you came in tomorrow and said you are no longer allowed to use bookworms, you're using discovery reading, a new textbook you gave us, those don't go away. Right? Those those strategies we're using don't go away. So that was the big piece in reading, and it's the same in math. And that's I I always say we're kind of, like, a year or so behind in math where we were in reading. So now as we enter kind of into that year two of those high yield instructional strategies, so some things you saw or you may hear is about the problem solving. So we've done a lot of problem solving where students are up on vertical whiteboards, working together, less, in some ways, less scaffolding in math. So often, Jerry's doing 24 plus 32. He raises his hand. I can't do it. What does the teacher wanna do? We wanna help Jerry get it. So we're like, well, four plus six. Right? Instead, we ask ourselves, is that a proximity question? Is Jerry asking me that because I'm standing close by?
Right? But kids do. Because the teacher's there, and I'm supposed to ask the teacher. Is that a clarifying question? Is there something he doesn't understand the directions? Right? Or is that a content question? It's just some of those thinking. And so we have reduced some scaffolding in math and said, wait a minute. If we need to keep the rigor high, how are we ensuring that the kids are doing more work, right, when it comes to the cognitive load? So there's two examples. There's many, but that's where I kind of said in the strategic plan, and I'm happy to pull that up or I can do it next month. You're gonna see though they're listed, but they haven't shifted deeply from last year. It really is just again, we've added in a little pre k to k work on this year's strategic plan because that's where we are. That's the next step is looking at that alignment. Right? And what's the bridge there and always looking at that sixth to seventh alignment.
So it's not a curriculum, but it really is what is the teaching strategy. And, really, the power is in any and I I've seen some teachers here. They're can name them the same. They're using them the same. So choral reading is a strategy, and that's reading out loud together because it's practicing fluency. And daily fluency practice increases your oral reading fluency. And they're all it's happening everywhere. So it's consistency. Sorry. I'm getting long winded. Sorry, Shannon. No. No. No. I don't Put myself up. It's a very important question. So it's long and short. Right? It's high yield teaching strategies
and figuring out what those are. And that work, I can't I say it all the time, but I am so lucky because we have a staff. This isn't me going to find them and saying, missus Dixon, missus Delnastro, like, go do this. This is team deepening. Like, let's dive into the data. Here's the gap. What does the research say? Like, we have to find that out together. It's not always delivered to us, unfortunately, by the state or by the curriculum. Right? So staying active in professional development is also huge. And then that class size piece. Right? And so I think we know I know the budget is always, you know, tricky, but reduce having that fourth and fifth grade into two sections the past few years has been really significant, and now sixth grade staying in two sections because there is a difference in teaching fourteen and twenty eight and how deeply you can get with every kiddo's needs. There there just is. And that's you know, when you John Hattie is, like, an educational researcher. If you look at his work, he sees class size.
He looks at that. Like, what is the the scientific impact of each move you make? So It sounds like with the lower class sizes too, you said a lot. You didn't say collaboration, or maybe you did, but it seems like there's a lot of collaboration Mhmm. Between the teachers, and then that increases the consistency from grade level to grade level to grade level. And so it all And our data teams are multigrade. Yeah. So they're vertical teams. So my fourth and fifth meet together. My second and third meet together once a week to review data. So what that does is it aligns practice. Right? So wait a minute. If fourth grade's teaching fractions like this,
then third grade's gonna say and fractions come up. We we did half a year on fractions in data work with third and fourth grade because it's once we saw alignment, man, when they come to fourth grade, they already know exactly how it's been you know, there's so that's part of it too, and that's really difficult to do in schools. We've been really creative in our scheduling to allow that to happen, and so that to get that team of four together every week. Yeah. I think that's an important thing to keep up. Absolutely.
What I hear at those meetings and I'm not in Mofton. But what what I hear when I walk by those meetings is also and this can't be discounted. The teacher's dedication to the individual planning for each student. You hear them where they say This student. Oh my goodness. Look what happened with this student. Taylor's in my office today, and a teacher came in having results from one student so excited because look. Look what happens. Look. We got this result from this student when she came in, and she was just so excited about being able to see the results with that individualized student. And they all do it. All of the teams do this. It is that planning for the class as a whole, for the grade level as a whole, and for their individual students. So Taylor just mentioned those additional grades, and that's where the board gets to say, see, we did this too because you guys advocated last year, and supported what we said we needed here, which was the addition of the fourth and fifth grade second class, and that made a huge difference.
A huge difference from all the kids in those grades.
Mhmm. I just wanna say thank you to you and your staff. You've done a phenomenal job being a teacher in a classroom for eighteen years. I am so proud to be a part of the school community. I'd like to keep it going and do my part even though I'm not a teacher in a classroom. I recognize what's going on and how good it is and what it is doing for the I I'm proud of the school. Thank you. I'm very proud of the school and for you and your staff. Phenomenal. Just incredible. They are phenomenal. And I wanna say thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. And I wanna continue to advocate for this building and the school and the people who work here.
Yes. We appreciate that. I know the staff does as well. Very excited.
If we were to announce that, like, in a press release or something, how would you word that? Our achievement? Our support? Killed it. Actually, Yeah.
I mean, I think we're looking for it's not a one shot deal. Right? We can't just say we had one good year, and that's not what you see when you look at trend data. And, again, there's a lot of information. So how many graphs do I put in? But when you look from '21, '22, '20 we know that narrative is often post COVID. Right? What's the post COVID growth? Mhmm. And and I think what we're gonna see is that consistency build now year after year where we stay at those high achieving levels, and that's also what allows for that deeper enrichment piece. Right? Because when you are looking when I arrived at proficiency rates in the fifties, you have a split class. Right? You have a lot of needs, and your regular, we call it tier one instruction, has to meet the needs of most of your class. Well, when your proficiency is low, that's really hard to do. When you start the year, when we're on day nine and our proficiency is here and you can go, that's where we're able to say, okay. Not only can we just deliver the instruction, but we can we can meet every kiddo where they are, and we can enrich and deepen. Because we that's the thing we also believe in. And I know if Christina over there could talk, she she believes every kiddo is an enrichment kiddo. That's the thing too. Right? We know that it's not just a child who might be identified as gifted.
It's also a child who just has ability to go deeper into a topic, which all kids do. It's just figuring out where it is. So, yeah. I think that's what we're excited about is to just kinda put the gas on now. This was a big growth year for us, and we see with our third graders coming up, they're right there ready to go, which is that payoff of the k two work. Thanks. Yeah. Nobody else.
Thank you. Thank you for letting me take this. That was a celebration. Oh, yeah. It's me. I entertain a motion to adjourn? No. No. Okay. I still have too much to share in PD.
Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Well, let's get on. Next on the agenda, approval of minutes. Do I have any motion to approve the minutes from our August 5 special meeting?
I'll make that note to to to the minutes from our special meeting in August 5. Do I have a second? I'll second it.
Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. It's 700, Jen. Not 7. 60. That's 600, Derek. Yep. I need the math proficiency. Okay. Opportunity to add or delete any agenda items. Did anybody see a need to add or delete anything?
I would like to add something to the agenda. Mhmm. I think we should talk about the proper way to gain information. There's a lot of information that we should get that we don't, other boards and other towns get. And I've asked three different times, three different ways, and all three times I was criticized for the way I asked but have not got the information. So Can you be more specific? Because I think it's gonna depend on the information you're seeking. So can you just explain what you're looking for? Right. So recently, there's been a lot of talk about, you know, how we're getting money from the the town and everything. Mhmm. And I think it's important that we actually have how much the bank statements, you know, how much we actually have in the bank. And I didn't think it was a difficult request. It's pretty easy to do, and, you know, I feel like that we should have got that information. Okay. Anything more? I asked previously for a record of the repair and maintenance. And for the last two years, we've been over budget by the repair and maintenance pretty significantly, and nobody knows what. And I think it's it's, you know, the information we should have had while we were asking to transfer funds. And by me asking, it just feel like I'm under fire for asking information that we should have, and it shouldn't take that long.
I need a more. That's it. So if you put that in a request to add it to the agenda, is there a second to add it that information request to the agenda? So I'll wait for a second. What I'll do is take the request back to to see if we can add it to next month's agenda. So I wonder
Yeah. Why nobody wants to talk about this. Well Because, you know, this is information us as a board should have. You know, we should, to do our fiscal responsibility, we should all be aware of the finances that we are doing. And,
you know I'm gonna speak for myself, and I don't know that this is out of turn because we're supposed to stick to the agenda, and it wasn't added as an agenda item. But having been here eleven years, I'll tell you just historically what my feeling is. And that is that I trust our superintendent. And then I know that, having been the chair, now having been the vice chair, all of the check registers, bank statements are reviewed, by the chair. And I know historically, have to to check these all tonight and sign these checks tonight. So historically, as a board member and as also as the chair, I didn't feel a need to get that specific or to use my terminology, just myself, to micromanage. I really thought that that was getting way too specific. And I I guess I trust both our superintendent and the chair, vice chair, our financial person, all of the people for whom that information is detailed and second nature and readily available. But you as a board member certainly are entitled to information. If you're not getting it, that's not okay. But I think we need to talk about as a board, and that's why I'm suggesting we we add it to the agenda or ask Caitlin about adding to the agenda exactly what information people are interested in having. So I'm speaking very personally. I've never felt the need to review a bank statement. I I just haven't. I've I've looked at enough of them as the chair, and I trust that our chair does that. I trust that our financial person does that, and I trust that our superintendent does that. As far as the record of repair and maintenance,
I know we look at that on a monthly basis as far as the financial statements and have an opportunity every month to ask questions. If you're looking for kind of a a very detailed description of exactly what the money was spent on, I'm sure that the doctor over there would not have any problem reviewing that information with you specifically. But, again, I mean, we add it to the agenda if Caitlin decides to do that next month and specifically get at what information other people might wanna have, what detailed information.
Yeah. I'm just simply asking for information that other boards do look at. And Yeah. And even if you even just by asking,
it shouldn't be a problem to get the information. You know? I I agree. And I I guess what I'll tell you is when I was chair and then over the last many years, just having heard that this is an issue, I have checked with other boards of ed. I don't know any other board of ed that reviews check registers. I I if that's the way our town I don't even know if the board of selectman does it, but if they do it, that's that's how they have styled their need to review financial information. I just don't know. And I I did check many years ago and keep up with it based on the fact that this is an ongoing issue. Other boards don't do that. Other boards do? Of Ed. Boards of Ed, rather. Other boards of do, though. Which ones?
I talked to the board of Ed for Guilford. Uh-huh. And they provide the checkbook register every month. Okay. And
as you know, was in trouble. I don't know how it happened, but you know? That's not a board of ed. I know. Okay.
Okay. As the chairperson, I don't have an oral report because I didn't plan on being chairperson. But I just will say congratulations. I just I'll echo what what Jerry said. Incredibly proud of the work that everybody has done in the school. And I think the board should take credit for really, really pushing the budget issues as difficult as that has been. But I think in doing that, listening to all of you to tell us what the students need so that we can advocate for the budget that the students need to bring about this incredible level of achievement. So congratulations. Really terrific.
Congratulations, Kostini. Mhmm. Congratulations, every teacher and paraprofessional on the meeting. Mhmm. Way to go. I think that was an excellent oral report, so we'll move right on to the superintendent's oral report.
Well, first of all, when we went back to celebrations, we did miss one because she's not here September 5 with Kate's birthday, but we will move it to October when it's Jerry's as well. So there'll be double cupcakes.
I'm count on getting two. Yep. You're cutting it. That's better. We gotta celebrate two. What's on your birthday?
So Mhmm. Mhmm. As we move on, let's see. Let's start with Graduation. Project. It's for the house. So, yeah, like, which one do I wanna start with? I will start with facilities, I guess. So a couple of things. We have two let's see what I read on this. We had the Encore fire extinguisher deficiencies fixed. When Encore comes in and does, it's in in the summer, we get a lot of our inspections done, obviously, because school's not in session. There were a couple of deficiencies within the fire extinguishers that needed to be fixed. Encore came in and fixed those, so we're good to go. We have no more deficiencies as far as Encore is concerned with our fire extinguishers. There was a heat detector deficiency that Encore also fixed as part of that regular summer, check, repair, and maintenance. We had our, fire inspection, our annual inspection for the sprinklers, and that went fine.
The AA pest control came. Everything was good with that. No little mini Mickey Mouses that we had to worry about over the course of the summer, so we were good there. There are two projects that will need to be fixed that fall under the safety and security one, and then the other one will go through preschool because it's a preschool related item. I have a picture here. Thought it should've so let me explain the first one. This one we've been putting off until we received the drip funds last year. This is the outside of the gym door. Mhmm. And what happens in the wintertime, because there's no snow rail here, is that the snow builds up, and then it becomes ice. And as the ice melts, they wind up usually with a lot of water down here. But last year when we had, like, our 16 inches of snow, it was even worse because the icicles get thick. They get heavy. They presented a hassle of danger to a danger to anybody underneath that door. There were a couple of times when Scott would have to go out there and break them down because we know that people use the gym on off hours
if they've put in to use that. And if we're not here, there is that worry then that there could be an injury. Mhmm. And this has gone on over the the years a few times, not so much as it was last year. So, because we are working with, the remnants of, safety and security grant and with the DRIP funds that were given to us from the state last year and this year, we did look at pricing, what we would do to put up, they call it a snow rail here so that that doesn't dam up there and cause all of that to fall down here. We got two prices very different from one another. The first price that we had received was from Silk City, and that price was almost $17,000. Woah. And we said for a railing. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, it was a nice railing, but we we didn't need all that. So we looked at two other prices, and the cheapest one is Eagle Ribbon. That one will do they'll furnish all the materials, the labor, the safety equipment to get this done. It's an 80 walkway pad that will go onto that existing roof to present that prevent that snow from sliding off. There's two rows staggered from the roof edge. It's 10 feet back from the roof edge, so that gives us that safety net there. And that one's $87.50 that will go through and be part of what we have for safety and security. So that will be done in the in the coming months. Mhmm. Yep.
You're taking care of the ice jams as far as the icicles falling. Well, not any backup of water. It's gonna be plugged into the building. So there are I'll pass the picture around so you can see it, Jerry. There are
there are drains in the bottom or, you know, a couple of drains in the bottom, like little gutters, little holes down there to drain it. Right. Okay. But the problem is when those ice cools melts, then Yeah. And it stays wet there and doesn't go in, you know, into the drains on the side, it ices back. So it's the ice coming down, but it's also the ice right there, and that's why I showed you the picture right there in front of that gym door. So that's why that spot right there is of extreme importance for us because It is. Right? It is. And last year was exceptional. We know that. Every winter is not that way. But, you know, every couple of years, we wind up with that situation. So we hadn't fixed it in the past just simply because it wasn't urgent at the time. But now that we we do have the ability to use safety and security for.
Yeah. And so that's and that's coming out of a grant, not out of
Right. You with the safety and security grant, you you spend a certain amount first, and then there's a reimbursement. And that takes a while during the course of the year to get the reimbursement, but, you know, Jody has kept track of of these items and then put in for the reimbursement. Once it comes in, it'll be reimbursed to us, the 8,700. Okay. So that's the snow rail. Going through it. And then there's two other things this year. So when Jody does her financial sorry to let's go ahead of you with this, Jody. But you'll see that we have been awarded some additional funds through preschool. Again, this was an area I know that a lot of people didn't necessarily agree with the trajectory. We kept saying, we know the state's gonna give us more money if we just continue to do this, this, and this, and they have.
The early start and the smart start grants have gone up by $20,000 for us. So because we continue to stay in those programs, because we've continued to keep the program the size that it is, we, in fact, will be able to use those funds for preschool programming and or repairs and maintenance. And so thank you. And so the two things that are slated to be done this year with some of those additional funds. The first and foremost one is the safety issue, but, again, it goes through preschool, is that with four preschool classes, the availability of safe space outside for the kids to play gets more difficult on a nice day when all the little ones wanna go out at the same time, and Patty's saying no to that. And so as you know, if you've been in the backyard, we currently have two preschool areas that are fenced in. We have the older area with the shed that's closest to the senior community center. That one's been fenced in for a long time, and that's the first area that children play in. And then we had got in a year or two ago with preschool funds. We had got in a second area, play area in the back fenced in, and that's about 36 by 36. And that's been a very popular addition back there for the kids and for the staff. Because as you know, we have this great yard out there, but it's not fenced in by the woods. So to have those areas for the smaller kids has been, you know, amazing.
So the there'll be a third area roughly the same size, that will be fenced in. We're waiting for two quotes. The first quote, I actually had just done almost the same size area in another school. So that just happened to be the first company that I called because I knew what that price was, and it did come in at the same price. That one was 7,700. So we're waiting now for two other companies to give us quotes, and then we'll, we'll, you know, look at the comparability to their quote and and go from there. But, again, that'll be preschool funds.
The second fenced in area? You're talking play area? It's one of the large sandboxes
now. Usually, it's in the sandbox. Yes. Gotcha. That area. Yes. Because that'll be the third area that's age appropriate Gotcha. For the kids. So you know? And I'm I'm sure they'll be thrilled with having that third area Absolutely. Out there. Because sometimes there are, you know, four or five classes that play out there at one time. So, you know, it's it's it's just safer. And then the other area that it'll be long terms, it will not be on next month's agenda. We do have to get quotes and, you know, take a look at that, would be the preschool blacktop, which is out in the back. Not the blacktop up here, the one that's right outside of the the preschool playground there. As you guys know, we have other areas around the the front of the building that have a need for repaving and things of that nature.
But the preschool blacktop area is one that the preschool increase could cover, so that's that's allowed. So there are a lot of cracks down there. If you go down there at any given moment in time, you can see over the summer, especially, that there's a lot of grass that grows in that area, and they're just not using that area. And at some point in the near future, you know, the cracks will just become dangerous. And you know a year and a half ago, we had to close-up here until the it was crack sealed. And so we really can't afford to close an area down there. So so yeah. So the money came at a good time then, the increase to those
grant funds, the early start and the smart start. So those would be two things that we'd be we'd be doing moving forward down there. So let's see. Question. So Yep. So you said Early Smart and Smart Start? Smart Start and Early Start. Yeah. Those are the names of the two preschool grades. And those are paying for those two things you've got? Yes. And because on the bottom, Marcy, if you look on the bottom and sorry. It's it's going before us financials. But if you look on the bottom of what she what Jody had handed you Mhmm. You'll see those numbers Mhmm. Are bigger than they were last year. The one in orange on the bottom, Smart Start, was $65,000, and it's now 84,500 Nice. For this year. And then we were at $1.23, and it had gone up to $1.30 for early start, and now it's $142.05. So it's a nice increase. So and we knew it was coming, so we just had to patiently wait for it. Mhmm. So that that that'll be a nice, you know, little bit of a preschool windfall there to do some of the things that should be right out of the preschool
account there. So that's good. Let's see. The high quality, as you know, the high quality incentive special incentive grant that we received, that 2 '25, that program. I know Taylor will talk about the program itself, the logistics of it, but that's up and running. And it's in the grant management system now, so, obviously, everything's been approved. The two twenty five by category, BCBA services through a company called Bloom, the training of either a BCBA staff member that would work here or RBT services or someone that we opt to be trained for those strategies as an RBT or strategies utilized by an RBT. It will pay for anything necessary in the room itself or the two rooms there that need to be configured or reconfigured. So during the course of the planning for the SOAR program, if they decide that the desks need to be different to accommodate
the type of instruction that goes on in that room, new desks will be purchased, and they'll be purchased with that money. And, again, we spend the money, and then we get reimbursed from the state the way all most of our grants work. So there's two twenty five in that for the year. It's only good for the year. There's no rollover to the next year, and it has has to be used as prescribed by that grant application. So so that would be good. What's that called? High quality incentive special education grant. Okay. So that was the one. Marci, there 40 other awards in the state, so we were very lucky. I noticed we got a a high amount. Was significantly high compared to everyone else. Well, $33.50 and 500 were the max that you could apply for. 500 if it was a capital and $3.50 if it was an operational. And, yes, there were some that were $3.50, but we obviously didn't put in for $3.50. We put in for $2.25, which is what we felt, you know, was realistic for the size of our building and the development of that program and what we thought they would approve. So, yes, we did get lucky that they gave us the whole thing. It was a it was a celebration that day too,
so it was nice. So I didn't really understand what you're saying we're gonna be using it for.
So it to build the program, because this is the first year of that SOAR program, and it's to service the needs of, you know, our tiniest to our oldest student here, but students that require additional support outside of the classroom Mhmm. To make sure that they are successful within the classroom. It's not meant as a fully inclusive a fully secluded classroom. It's to offer an opportunity for a highly qualified group of individuals to teach strategies to kids to make sure that they're getting what they need, and it's gonna grow during the course of the year. Kathy Harbeth is the the teacher that is spearheading it. And so the state offered that as an opportunity to expand what you currently are able to offer. Ultimately, it was to avoid outplacements. That's what the state did. They said we're gonna put this money here because it's very expensive
and not always the right thing to do, but sometimes the only thing that people can do. Yeah. And so it's to avoid that. And so we're building that problem. It's called SOAR. Taylor can tell you a little bit more about it when she gets to hers. So how much is it gonna cost to carry on? What happens if we don't get the grant next year and the year after? So that's the reason why a fair amount of it can be used to reconfigure the room now because you don't have to reconfigure it from year to year. That's like a start up cost. Mhmm. That's why a fair amount of it will be used for, the BCBA services. What's that? Behavioral intervention services. So these are behavioral analysts, and they come in, and their job is not to come in and do all the work. Their job is to come in and and train the staff
on how to develop the strategies and the skills, that you would utilize after they're gone. So Bloom, for example, has a specialist that comes in, and, they are part of meetings with, Taylor, with the staff that's in that room. And they would go through the individual, IPs for students, and they would, make suggestions on programming. They would model programming. There may be some times when that staff will go see other programs. And the goal then is by the end of the year for us to be able to do it ourselves, without all of those, interventions. We would be able to run that program on our own then. So the program is run with the teach the the staff that we have. Do we need to hire new staff? So, Bloom itself, the BCBA, they are not currently part of our staff, so they would be an outside, contractor that would come in and assist, staff. It also means that there would be additional staff that is getting paid to work in that room, during the course of this year in some capacity, whether it's part time, one day a week, whatever it is, to make sure that our staff in the future then can carry on on their own without that. So there'll be professional development opportunities as well.
Yeah. Well, we just have to be careful. You know? If we add a new program, we need to and they don't give us money to continue it. That's gonna add to the budget, and it's gonna make it difficult to keep keep going with it. And so that's why it's so important that,
the BCBA come in and, really be able to work with the staff and train them right.
And so that's what the state gives you the money for, which is great. And remember, it helps prevent outplacement. And I think that's the bottom line too. Absolutely. That I mean, that's grossly expensive. And so
yeah. Yeah. I I will say, and Val knew this, the program is happening with or without the grant. It just It's enhanced. Yeah. Right. This is definitely an enhancement because these kiddos are our students, so we really needed to reconfigure how we were best supporting them and looking at just all of the additional services that kiddos get and how we can make that more effective. So just so you know, SOAR, I make sure I we're we're getting our acronyms right. It stands for supporting opportunity, access, and relationships, or if it's an acronym. And, yes, we have a logo, obviously. I'll make sure you see that shortly. But Jenny Morell, our early childhood specialist, Kathy Hartnett, our special education
teacher. And then when you think of our speech pathologists, any supports from BCBA, OTPT, and we have our paraprofessionals. They all work as a team to support these kiddos. And like Val said, some spend they've spend varying times in our SOAR classroom, but also inclusion with our our other classrooms. So it's an exciting exciting program to have in house. And a lot of times in bigger districts, you see these programs maybe all housed together in a building. You know, if there are six buildings, you know, if there are six elementary schools, one elementary may house a program such as this. We often call it our multiple abilities program, so you might hear that phrase,
and that might be including inclusive of students with multiple disabilities and categories. So because, of course, we're only one school, we house here. And so even just thinking of those playground projects and things that will really benefit all of our students, so we're excited about that. That was it for me. Excellent. Transitions right to me then.
Oh, no. I'm sorry. Questions? Any questions of the superintendent?
I actually just had a quick question about grants, and it might be a better question for the PTA liaison or both of you. Maybe you can answer. I saw that in the past, the PTA had received a grant for the playground from the is it the I might get it wrong. The Greater Hartford. Is that something that we're doing again, and is that something the school can apply for to to maybe help with one of the outdoor things like the blacktop or, you know, a smaller amount? That's not something the school can do. Sounds like their one of their goals are to prioritize, you know, educational opportunities or something that it said. And I didn't know if that was something that we could look into or if that's something that's
to Yeah. No. I'm not yeah. They they take applications from, you know, lots of places. Yeah. It's not that we're not able to apply to them. I mean, they took them from the town too. Okay. I don't if that was on our radar or something to the school or if the PTA was looked at. We we we've seen them before. I know the PTA has before. They tend to be, I don't wanna say, smaller because that's not fair because they do a lot of great things in the community. But, you know, small smaller agencies apply for them each of us. $5,000.
Yeah. It's usually half our nose. Right? Okay. I was thinking about fencing outside, and I know that's covered. But, again, is there well, the budget's tight. And so is there something that we Buildings as large as the school Yeah. Normally,
the the projects are are much larger than the scope of what they do do, and it is smaller agencies. Not that they probably never done something in a school. I don't wanna say they haven't. That's not fair. But, usually, what we're looking for is a little bit bigger, so we just try to seek grants elsewhere that are are a little larger. Gotcha. Thanks.
Excellent idea there. It is a good idea. Always think in there. Yeah. Or the PTA. I don't know if they're working on it. Stuck. You're getting closed in a couple weeks. Oh, you're done. You are. Okay. My apologies. I guess I'm the new PTA, Lisa. Good thing. Yeah. If you change your gaze I think Our first PTA meeting is next week. Okay. So I feel like it's in a couple of weeks that it closes. And I don't know anybody on the Andover committee. Yeah. Is the new PTA president. Got you. So could be someone to chat to. But, you know, somebody in the Hartford Giving Foundation, maybe you can see them. So just that opportunity. A little bit helps.
How are the outdoor classrooms doing? You know, they usually require some maintenance. Are they being used?
So there's I know we had There's the area right outside
5th, 6th towards the back. So with the picnic tables and covering next to kind of the new playground that MTA did. So that's use that area is mostly up older grades. Not that a younger class couldn't go up there, but not as frequently. And then we had we had fixed that last year. Yeah. Dropped classroom up top. We had made sure the steps and everything were restabilized, and so it's in good shape. And yeah. Cool. Absolutely. Useful. Very critical. Okay. I'm not gonna go too long. I know I've got so much today, but it's a heavy time for for professional development, so I just wanted to make you kind of aware of the things that are going on. Perfect. Thanks. So we had professional development days prior to when school started, and a lot of things happened there. So from some of the more every year things, for example, we had our updated PMT and CPR training. So PMT, physical management response so that a select group of staff is trained in de escalation strategies, both verbal, but then if for some reason there needed to be any physical restraints, they're adequately trained and certified there. CPR, all of our pre K and K staff for NIAC accreditation are CPR and first aid trained, so we had to get those updated, some of those.
And then in the pre K K world, we spent a lot of time as NIAC has I'm trying to say it the right way now. NACI. Did you know? Flew me up. That's how you're supposed to say it. NACI, has updated their standards as they do every so often, and so we spent a lot of time in study of those standards. The state of Connecticut with the increase in grant money, we love that, also comes the increase in accountability, which we don't mind. But what the state of Connecticut has done is contract directly with MACI, with NIACC, to increase surprise visits. Thank you so much, state of Connecticut. We love that. And so we just wanna make sure we're really prepared. And so we did a lot of self study, looking at our current practices, making sure they're aligning to everything. Our accreditation is every five years. So we're, like, almost in the midway. You remember we accredited a few years ago. So it was a good time to kind of just refresh there. Midway sounds like secret visit time. I know. That's why we're like, we're ready. It's coming. I have it I sense it in my bones this year. So we worked on that. And then as we talked about our SOAR
program, had some professional development with our BCBA and Bloom working on DTI and data collection, so discrete trials. Certain kiddos need certain kinds of interventions, so they had some training there. And then we really started work on our restorative practices, which I mentioned. While an initiative from the state in in an effort to reduce suspensions and expulsions and really any exclusionary discipline practices, is practice we were already starting but really starting to deepen. So we have been working on closing circles. So if you have kiddos in school, you can ask them about their closing circles, which is a nice way to reflect on the day. And then we'll be continuing that work. We have half day Friday. What is today? Wednesday? Yes. Half day this Friday to talk about the five restorative questions. So when kiddos are in conflict, what are the questions we ask to bridge and come to a resolution? This we are also this year in the what's called the scale initiative. So last year, we did assessment audit. Every district in Connecticut was required to do an assessment audit. So we had to submit to the state every assessment we give and every grade level.
And so what they do is they compile that, look at the hours that you're assessing, what kinds of assessments as we know we don't wanna overburden kids with assessments. So then from that, there was an opportunity if you wanted to join what they're calling the scale cohort. This is essentially a coaching program for districts to ensure that our practices, what we're currently doing, is aligned with best practice with the current research on assessment of students. So, of course, we signed right up, and we were accepted. So Val started in already with the superintendents meeting, and then Christina Fraser and myself will go to Hartford two days this week, and then monthly Zooms to become scale coaches. Sounds so fancy. But, essentially, it's the assessment assessment guides to the school just to, again, ensure that we're not over assessing and we're assessing correctly. So
in that span of that year, we the state will also provide a coach to come to our school for a day or two and look with us at our practices and ensure that we're really doing what's best for kids. So that's exciting. It was a cohort opportunity. Of course, they're already saying they do hope that every school over the next two to five years will participate in this, so we'll be on the on the front lines. Let's see what else. This next week, I'm also going to be at EastCon leading a co leading a professional development on connected leadership. So that's exciting. Working with area area, but not necessarily close by, principals and assistant principals, so that'll be happening. And then we also have if you're familiar with TEAM, all new teachers have to go through a induction program, I guess you would call it, for two to three years called TEAM, and that program's changing. And so as a district facilitator, there's a training on that as we update. Right now, our beginning of the beginning teachers write papers, five different papers, and that's gonna shift away from traditional paper writing, which we're thankful for as they're now professionals, and more coaching more of a coaching model with experienced veteran teachers. So we'll be learning about that. So like I said, September is always a busy professional development month, August, September.
I think I covered it. Any questions on professional development? Oh, sorry. I did miss one. On the election day PD, we're really excited that I can't think of the exact date in November. The staff will be attending the CEA, the union, the Connecticut Educator Association, is hosting a professional development. I believe it's at Foxwoods this year. November 3, all about innovation. Yes. All about innovation and how we bring out innovative practices to align. Again, you'll hear me say this a million times with us scientifically research based practices, but where does innovation fit in? So all of us will attend that day there, so that's exciting. Now I think I got it. Questions? No. K.
For Danny. And then me? Yes. Fine. Well, Val stole my thunder. No. I'm sorry. No. She deserves it. The eight times the fourth? No. Then we'll start with a pre K. So as Val said, you know, getting $40,000 more in tuition and then between the other two brands. So so that's good. When you look at the chart, I color coded a little bit to make it easier. But we do have a little bit of carryover. So that that third column there where it says CO, that is the carryover from last year. We're allowed to carry over a little bit. That that helps.
Where are we getting more intuition? What? You said we're getting more intuition? Yes. Yes. And what? Just depends on the tuition cost for each family because some
Oh, different based on people's Different people. Family. Yep. Yes.
Yeah. And the and the money's I literally got money today and added that today. The checks to to be deposited, so that's why I didn't have this last week. But so we're looking good on the the pre k. And then, you know, I I I guess if you have any questions with the expenditure report, I mean, right now, eleven eleven percent expended. We're on track. There's I have one question. Go for it. You wanna
Silly apps cleaning, We're already projected to be over budget on that one. Which one is that? It's in I'm in the details report on the summary, and it's nine sorry. What is the ID? 00243026102625. Okay. 2625.
Yeah. Let me I have to relook at that. I think we have the floors done in the summer. Like the rugs we do. The rugs done in the summer. So they so they it is things that were, like, more, like, starting the year. And I do have to look because it is possible. See those accounts between facility maintenance in interior? So when I saw that, I said, oh, let me look back. Because last year, what probably happened is we took something from the interior as opposed to the cleaning. Oh. So I'm not worried there because we have was probably in the maintenance there. So it's probably just where I allocated it as compared to last year. The only little thing too is printing. So if you look at printing, I've encumbered that. And, again, I think having been new and with a new Xerox contract, like, at the time, I think when we did the budget, I didn't realize that printing would be a little bit more. So, again, we'll take that from we're not using as much of books and things because of the program. So, like, when we do the budget next season, I'll put a little bit more in printing, taking away from the book line items. So we might have to do a little bit of shifting, or I'll have to kind of take it from another area. But
I'm not worried we'll be fine because we're not we're not spending as much in the books there. So that'll shift for next budget. Any other questions? And just then just to let you know, we had a big report due. So I appreciate it. I July and August was really, really busy. I, you I thought that, like, I went on one vacation, and I regretted it because I'm like, came back. But, really, we had to you know, all the payroll had to be adjusted, all the teacher retirements. You know, just rolling over everything in the system was really laborious. So finally, I feel like I'm getting my head above water. We had a big state report called the EFS with the MBR report due. So now just so know, we're working on is now getting all the grants or getting them in the system on the spreadsheets so that next month you could see better all the grants at a at a glance to see what's going on there. So finally and and it is on my list, Marcy, to look at break do all the facility stuff. It's just really at the time of the request, it was when the auditor was coming. It was closing out the books.
It was getting everything turned over. It was just a really, really heavy time. So now Mhmm. Actually do have some breathing room to start looking at some of the historical analysis of the of the facilities. I've started doing an analysis of the electricity costs with the solar. Yep. We're basically right now saving about 1,000 per month between the PPA and but I'll I'll keep track of that. We'll know more when when, you know, weather changes and everything. You know, working with the town to get the invoices paid timely for the bathroom Mhmm. Project. So those are just some things we're working on. And what's PPA? A purchase agreement. Power purchase agreement. Yeah. For the solar. For the solar. Okay. Alright. So
so the You look good.
You are a testimony to where I feel like Sharon Schadenburg. The way you handle your job is incredible. Oh, sweet. And and you've got such a handle on it. I don't have to worry about it. I really don't have to worry. And that's a comforting feeling knowing that you have somebody with your competency
running the business aspect of the school. Well, I appreciate it, and I do appreciate having had time with Terry to truly learn everything because it's a job that, again, in other districts, it's probably three or four people. Right. Obviously, not much grander scale, but it was definitely I have to say it's definitely a position where just learning a lot. But I it I love doing it, so I just wanna say I love being here. It's a wonderful school. I it's such a strong staff administration. And I just also wanna say Val said something about being more than lucky about the or something about being lucky getting the grant. And I'm like, it's not luck. It's Val. Thank you. It's Val. I had that written down too. Yeah. She spend a lot of time and energy right now. And getting that grant. How many people on the state got that? 40. 40. Four. So it's a big it's a big deal. So
so thank you. Thank you. Questions for Jody? No. Thank you for coming in so quickly, Shannon.
I'm glad you're satisfied. Happy to meet you. 30. Happy to keep moving.
Excellent. Well, I think adjournment is no. Okay. Liaison reports. CIP did not have a meeting because we didn't have anything to address. Taylor?
We have our LGP next Friday, which is our the preschool the early start, local governance council.
So nothing to do with. Thank you for I know. I gotta start using. I'm getting there. I know. Natalie is He's trying to follow along with all these. What are you talking about?
Snowblower thing. Excellent. So I'm just gonna ask that one. Snow. Sounds like a snow day. That? Yeah.
You're right. You're right. It did it did. Yeah. Get that. Yes.
No. Yeah. No. It's snowy. But I just want you to know it did come in. So Supposed to be a less than a year. So Oh, good. Course. Because we're prepared now. Like, we're prepared. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Is the fastest way to make sure Absolutely. This thing is prepared. That's right. Got it. Great. Bathroom project update.
So we are in our we're at 95.9% to the edge there. We the town had come in and done the inspection, and, you know, they they gave it the green light, but there were a number of things on the punch list. Eric and I have been have been working on that, you know, making sure and Caitlin as well. Just making sure that all three sets of eyes, all of the things that we find, are fixed and fixed appropriately. The biggest one was there were two, tiles that had been damaged once they were already put in. And so that took them a little while to figure out how they were gonna go about taking out finished tile, and fixing that. So so, they're just about done with that. They did manage to replace the tile that was in there, and it's setting now so that, when they put the screw back in, it doesn't crack again. And so there's about two other little things. One of the bathrooms, the middle one, the single, stall, that was the adult bathroom, that's in Kara's office. That one's completely finished. There's no punch list for that one, but small things. We should be good to go
by next week. So everything should be all set by by next week. So Nice. We did a little usable. Yes. Excellent. So it's a small punch list left. Great. Congratulations. Yeah. So feel good. So, yeah, sure the kids will be happy to be able to not walk so far.
Okay. Let me grasp about that. So yeah. Yeah. We're good. Okay. Or policies. Woo hoo. Shit. Okay. Comments from the pup now. So last month, we got kinda one of those bags designed over the park. You very much. You're not how much do I have to do it? No. No. No. I know that Sharon got an opportunity to look at the 1 thousands and the let's see. What else do we have? That's 7. Right? Did I just hand you that?
Have the. Oh my god. Yeah. And the sevens. What did you and the sevens. Yeah. I don't I don't think she got the sevens. Yeah. I like the sevens a lot better. Yeah. They're thinner. Yes. That's like thinner. So now that you all have had an opportunity to look through these, you can kinda understand it's very difficult to figure out how to get them to you and with changes other than to have Diane redline them, get them in the package. The package went out a day earlier than I thought, which is why you don't have the 9 thousands. But that's because Monday was a holiday, so we wanted to make sure everybody got it in the mail, who likes to get in the mail. Sharon Yes. What would you like to tell me about what you would be examining? I looked through the 7. There's I have not I didn't flag anything,
and I'll have to find it. But the one thing that jumped out at me is that, fee for the gym. That was probably the back of the package. That's the one at the top of my my mind because it looks like our policy says we don't charge for the gym. And is that something that we want to leave open for the future, or am I misreading it? Let me just find the page. I think it's Some notes here. Thirteenth. Oh, no. Here we go. So, yeah, thirteen thirty be halfway down. There'll be no rental fees charged for the use of the building to nonprofit duly recognized community groups, which, like, rec basketball would be included in that. Right? Travel basketball was a nonprofit. Right? And have we been talking about charging fees or is not? Or I do not. Just maybe we wanna think about that, Jim. I appreciate that Yeah. That possibility. I know it it had come up in the past. And so, again, I don't know if we just wanna leave that as an option. Well, I guess the the thing we
would need to really determine there is are they really a nonprofit? If they totally because I don't know to what end they use. And I know they charge fees. Mhmm. So I don't know. Does that I don't know. I didn't have a child involved in that. But any fees we paid, all of the coaches, at least to Yeah. Analogy to soccer were volunteer. Right. So I'm imagining, hopefully, it goes towards oh, yes. I could imagine. So it goes towards referees, probably for games. Yeah. It is. Maybe uniforms, basketballs. For the no. No. Not Thank you. Not it. Not in the lottery.
It meant to be One basketball. Problem. Well, not sufficient. The equipment according to three. 1330. The year was last year was in 2018.
Oh. Wait. Am I looking at the right thing? You are looking at the right thing. And I do know that you moved on to the next one already. I agree. Yeah. And I do know the new the new travel lead. They did set it up as a No problem. Like it was set up as a five zero one c. Yeah. Okay.
So it's interesting. I know that community and senior center has started to charge for use of it Okay. Also. However, not for boards and committees and stuff who are from Andover. Right. So they're charging for people who wanna hold parties there. Mhmm. But for example, if you're a committee or board, they don't charge you. Mhmm. So I think it's I think it's something we have to question. I think we need additional information as far as don't think they make a significant profit, if any. Right. Which is how they qualify as a five zero one c. Mhmm. But certainly worthy of of consideration. We no longer I don't know what's gonna happen with pickleball this year given that we now have courts. Have they talked at all about wanting to use In the winter? The facility in the winter? Should they use it in the winter? I wouldn't I don't typically get a building request form until they
wanna use it. Until the winter? Right. So currently, I don't. But that wouldn't indicate one way or the other for me. Okay. We do have an increase in desire to use it, so I I'm just trying to prioritize child focused activity. Right. Only what what else have you what else what else application The increase in basketball because there's two leagues now or I don't if that's the right word. So I you know, that will just for this season will be most, if not all, days of the week. Okay. So that will be you know, I I want it's I, you know, I don't wanna say no to anybody, but I wanted to prioritize children. So I have not that I've had to say no. But if other requests came in at this point for the fall Right. Season, it would be tricky, I think, based on the increase in basketball use. Understood. So I don't know how we wanna
I think I think we should just maybe do a little bit of research. Mhmm. Sounds like that's right up Breeze Alley now that she's a doctor. And she has a child in the program.
So does Sharon. I'm I'm just not really. Well, you were the one who priced out the app. I I said basketball, but, I mean, anybody who wants to use a gym. It sounds to me like the wording is saying we don't charge anybody. And we had talked about increasing revenue, and that is an option going forward. We have budget restraints. And so, again, I don't I'm not making a policy to charge anybody. I'm just saying, like, the wording should not be as specific as we don't charge people. That's what it says to people now. And so leave it open to the possibility if we need to in the future. Right? Absolutely agree. Okay. Cool. No? No. I'm just read like, I I I'm reading this, and it says There's a custom follow yeah. Says, like, public emergencies, full functions, obviously, wouldn't have priority. Town or regional meetings. It, like, prioritizes
them. Oh, you're looking at thirteen thirty a? Oh, yeah. Okay. Then no. No. No. And then there's But that top server 30,
which is somehow the Andover Recreation Commission we use at the school facilities.
1330. And 1330 B is where I also get there. Okay. But here's let's let's remember.
It is all the same policy. A, b, and c is only to differentiate page one, page two, page three Mhmm. In the wonderfully inartful way that Kate has decided to designate them. So you're looking at the second page. Okay. Where on the second page?
Just a little more than halfway down. It starts the paragraph. There will be no rental fees charged for the use of the building. Yep. But but yeah. But it also It's nonprofit to recognize community groups.
Mhmm. There'll be no when when charged community groups charge admission fee. Well, wait. Hold on. There will be no that's interesting. Yeah. If the proceeds are expended to an educational civic or charitable purpose. But then it goes on to say there shall be rental fees charged for building use not outlined above in accordance with the fee schedule established annually by the board of ed.
Okay. Which we haven't done annually in eleven years. That's probably We haven't charged in eleven years. Right? But we also haven't established a fee schedule. So bottom line, I agree that we should consider that policy. Mhmm. I think in order to do that, we need to know facts. Mhmm. Mhmm. So how much what the fees are that are charged for the various leaps that use the gym. Mhmm. And then what are the fees put towards. Would
you like to do that for basketball? I thought Brie said she wanted to. No. Brie said she said Sharon also has a child. Well, agree. I think well, here's the thing. I think that we should define what before we do this. Yeah. What is a local community organization? Well, right. Yeah. Yeah. Duly recommend community groups. What does that even mean? Right. Like, so I think to I think we need to define that. And I also think we should benchmark what the community center is charging for. Sure. And I would say that we would want to be consistent.
Yeah. Agree. I I think what I heard you saying also is that you just don't want to totally
prohibit the possibility of charging in the future. Right. Because we we had talked about increasing revenue when our budget got slashed terribly, and where where can we get money? And that was one of the things that I was little. Well, I need to leave it open as an option. I think that it is it is defining who will and won't be. Yeah. So I think we I think what we need to do is define where a duly recognized community group is. Okay. Right. And then for those that are not, create a fee schedule. Sounds like a plan?
This seems like it's keeping it open for that, though. Right. But except for the fact that we haven't established rental fees or anything like that. Yeah. Which we could do at any time. Well, it says we do it in our policy.
So just give it to me now. That's a new policy. Yeah. Gonna have to do it now. Okay.
Do you have a way I mean, I know you had mentioned this, but I thought I had seen when we were doing policies before, there was redlining. And Yeah. I did that. So I was able to do that with Diane. Diane sent me the policies.
I redlined them, and then she was able to do it so that she got it all in the mail to all of you. I just I didn't know if there was any other way to maybe get it to all I I was just looking for ideas. I mean I mean The other way I thought of, excuse me, is just to email it to all of you as red line copies Sure. To your email addresses. I thought that would be really easy. Yeah. We can convert this into a Google Doc and have a shared document.
Yes. So when she sends them to me, they're Word docs. I put them in Google. Perfect. Yeah. And I can do that. Okay. Okay? Yeah. Good. Okay. But So Also, I think that would help, like,
if we we can comment. I was gonna say maybe Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So yeah. That works. Editable.
Yeah. And not what? Editable. Like, only you would be able to edit, but everyone else can edit it. Not a comment. Exactly. Right. Just so it doesn't get many maintain control. Yeah. Right.
That's a great idea. So okay. We will do that. We need to
I only had one other question. This is the because the rest of them are pretty straightforward, update legal references, or there was simple stuff. But there was one. So thirteen twelve b, the first paragraph. I I have no idea what that's saying to me. Somebody told me. 13 But I can't wait. No. That's Zero saying which one what? Sorry. 1312 b. And the recommendation was consider stronger statement, and I fully agree. I don't even know what they're Okay. Do you know? I'll, yeah, I'll share it. But no. Interstate. Wait. What one? Life in extreme proportions.
Maybe it needs a read out loud now. Oh, yeah. So what's it about? Do do you, like, do believe? Do want me to
everyone else? Yeah. I I could do that. This has to do I I'm imagining just with book banning is how I read this. Okay. Great. Is that what you'd see? I apologize, Shannon. I don't have it in front. No. That's okay. I just We're community read it. We're validation. Public complaints.
So in all cases, the decision to retain or reject challenged materials So it's not just book banning. I mean, curriculum materials or whatnot, shall be made on the basis of whether the material represent represents life in its true proportions, whether circumstances are realistically dealt with, and whether the material has literary or social value. Factual materials shall be included in all instructional material collections. I think that deserves some further Yeah. Right? Life in its true proportions.
I would like to know what that is. Yeah. I agree. It does sound it does sound like book banning or curriculum. Right. Yeah. Curriculum changing. Well, if and, again, this is page two. So if you go back to page one, the Board of Education welcomes comments and suggestions for improvement from the citizens whom it serves, constructive criticism of the school, blah blah blah blah. Sorry. Look on our website if you'd like to see further. Mhmm. Okay. So I think let's do this. Oh, let's The one thousands and the seven thousands and the nine thousands. Let's take one. Do we wanna take the one thousands or the 7 thousands for next month? The sevens are what's so
easy, dude. Right? There's not that much. Let's do the 7. 7,000. Okay. I didn't write anything down in those. They're all pretty straightforward.
And this is why we're gonna do them. So we're gonna do the nines, finish those up. I will get those to you in the Google Docs format, and the sevens. And what we're gonna do is create documents that all of you can comment on. And I guess the the thing that I would say is is threefold. One, I look at Cave's comments. Yeah. Right? So you have to look back at the whole survey that they did for us. Right? Two, sometimes Kate has on its website, and we all were given the opportunity to look at that. Mhmm. As far as policy language, they have various ones. Like, there were probably five to seven for the one dealing just with lawyers Right. And accountants, for example. And number three, and I think Cave has already dealt with this, always a question of whether or not we need the policy. Is this something over for which we need a policy? And Cave already did that work for us. Thank goodness. So we'll create a document. We'll make it available to everybody, for comment,
and then we will make more progress next month, I guess. Sounds good. Okay? I have to imagine, though, having it in a shared document like that would make your life easier to It would make my life
Yeah. Absolutely. It it will put my life in proportion. I do believe whatever the heck that language was. Life in all its proportions. It's okay. Anything more about board policies, items for discussion, anything more?
One suggestion. Could you is it possible I know these are really long sheets, but could you link, the K policy review in that or in addition to the shared document just so it's there to easily reference rather than me whipping this thing out, Stuff it under the bed, it well, look at it again. If it's electronic, you can't who's doing that? I will do it. Okay. Awesome. I will, but somebody will. Somebody will. But if it's if it's too much of a problem, that's fine. I mean, I can hang on to this. It would be nice to just I have I was gonna say I've actually used it.
Okay. They're all here. It's all included. So yeah. Okay. What did you say, Taylor? I apologize. Diane has it digitally. I had it. Apologize for me. Yes. I will say Sharon St. Ron said. Thank you.
And only Sharon will see. Sharon's comments from the public on agenda items. So much for a quick meeting. Sorry. Are two here and for May? Excellent. Christina? All set. Jen? All set. Thanks. Christine Randazzo? I'm all set. Thanks so much. Thank you, Christine. John Rambo?
Okay. Stacy Kaufman. Hey. I'll come back to you, Stacy. Charlene Del Mastro. All set. Thanks.
Thank you, Charlene. Thank you for being here. Stacy, any comment?
Hearing none. Other action items. Do we have any other action items? Excellent. Okay. Regular board meeting is October 14. Items for our next meeting policies. And as we look at that and we're done, we're gonna do the 7 thousands and the 9 thousands. Val, what do you anticipate being on the agenda for next next month just so we can put that in perspective? Any
what's it like? A large amount of things that are No.
That that fine. I'll get busy. No. They'll be that's the smaller updates. There'll be the finalization of the bathroom. Taylor may or may not have the updated state results for the index, but, no, nothing major. Thank you.
30? Excellent. I will now entertain a motion to adjourn. I won't make that. Okay. Everybody Jerry, you're very specific about it. Do want a second? Okay. Yeah. Second it. Okay. That's about that's about script it pretty quick. 847. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. We did
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