January 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Meeting

Rationale: 
Nancy Kleinschmidt - Executive Assistant - BoE - 1960-1967 and 1978-2003
Marlene Carson - Secretary - BoE, Greene-Hills, Stafford and O'Connell - 4/28/86 - 1/29/06
Timothy Ustanowski - School Resource Officer - Bristol Central High School - 9/8/04 - 9/07/11
 

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The Business Education Foundation, through donations, grants and partnerships is able to fund programs not normally included in the school or City budget. The Foundation also promotes partnerships that enable
Bristol Public Schools to benefit from corporate grants and matching gifts. These partnerships educate the community on the needs of Bristol Public Schools and deepen community support. 

Click to see the list of 24-25 Mini-Grant Award Winners. 

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1. December 4, 2024 - Regular Meeting Minutes
2. December 18, 2024 - Special Meeting Minutes

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Finance/ Operations	Policy	School, Family & Community Partnership	School Safety	Student Achievement & Outcomes	Labor Relations (Ad-Hoc)
Eric Carlson, Chair	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula, Chair	Maria Simmons, Chair	Lorianne Osenkowski, Chair	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula, Chair	Eric Carlson, Chair
Russell Anderson	Maria Simmons	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula	Russell Anderson	Kristen Giantonio	Dante Tagariello
Dante Tagariello	Lorianne Osenkowski	Jennifer Van Gorder	Maria Simmons	Maria Simmons	Maria Simmons
Alternates:
Jill Fitzsimons-Bula	Dante Tagariello	Kristen Giantonio	Eric Carlson	Lorianne Osenkowski

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Student representatives from Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern will share activities, surveys, suggestions, and topics of interest in their respective schools.
Bristol Central                                         Bristol Eastern
Abigail Wasta - Senior                              Peyton Troth - Senior                                                        

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Chair Pons will update the Board and the public on topics related to the Board of Education.

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Iris White will report/update the Board on the following topics:

1. Redistricting Update

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Courtney Decker - BCHS/BEHS/NEMS - Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services

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DiGangi, Ashley - BCHS - Special Education Teacher - Effective December 24, 2024
Lanza, Claudia - BEHS - Spanish Teacher - Effective January 29, 2025

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Sirianni, Scott - WB - Grade 8 Team Leader - effective November 3, 2024
Austin Mathley, Nathaniel - BAIMS - Grade 7 Team Leader - effective December 7, 2024, through the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

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Dauphinee, Christine - BPA/Adult Education - Instructional Technology Coordinator

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Dauphinee, Christine - BPA/Adult Education - Webmaster 9-12

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Wright, Marissa - ID - Kindergarten Teacher effective December 2, 2024 through TBD

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Bristol Public Schools applied for a competitive School-Based Health Center Grant through the School-Based Health Alliance.  This grant aims to implement, expand, or promote programs within school-based health service sites.  This initiative is focused on enhancing health education, mental health support, nutritional education, and outreach efforts aimed at students, families, and at-risk populations within these sites. Funds may support varied operational costs, including personnel and supplies, and one-time costs related to equipment purchases (including mobile units and telehealth infrastructure).  Bristol’s application focuses on addressing three key areas:  mental health awareness, nutritional education, and family engagement.  Bristol’s proposed budget allocates funds for an Outreach Coordinator to manage promotions and bilingual engagement, QPR suicide prevention materials, nutritional education and cooking classes, and specialized programming for community engagement. Significant in-kind contributions from partners reduce overall costs while maximizing impact. On December 18, 2024, Bristol Public Schools was notified that we had been awarded $20,103. 

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Members of the public are invited to comment to the Board on any topic related to items on the agenda. Items requiring consideration by the Board must be approved as an agenda item by a 2/3ds vote of the Board members present.  Such items may be referred for further study and not necessarily acted upon at this meeting.

Anyone wishing to address the Board should adhere to the following procedures:

Before a Remote Meeting - Submitted Public Comment must be received by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. 

1. Send your comments to: susaneverett@bristolk12.org
2. Be sure to put PUBLIC COMMENT - BOE in the subject line.
3. Include your name and address.
4. Direct your comments to the Board Chair.
5. Your comments will not be read at the meeting, they will be distributed to all Board members and placed on file.
6. All comments should be written in an appropriate manner, comments regarding personnel or confidential student information shall not be discussed under public comment.
7. Any comments not adhering to the guidelines will not be shared at the meeting.

During a Meeting

1. Everyone is requested to address the Chair for recognition.
2. Each speaker must state his/her name and address.
3. All speakers must observe rules of common etiquette.  Personalities are not to be injected. Anyone violating this rule will be denied the floor. Unless waived by the Chairperson or a majority of the Board,
4. Each speaker shall limit his/her remarks to three (3) minutes.
5. A speaker will not be recognized for a second time on the same topic.
6. Written statements and materials may be made available, in advance of comments, for distribution to Board members.
7. Speakers shall state their positions on the subject being discussed.
8. Board members will not respond directly to comments during the Board meeting. The Superintendent will direct the question to the appropriate staff member for follow-up

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 In response to the State Board of Education’s (SBE) request for applications for state and local charter schools, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) received an application to establish a state charter school in the City of Bristol called the REACH Academy Charter School of Bristol. This application was sent to the Board of Education Chair and Vice Chair on November 5th but not to the Acting Superintendent.   REACH Academy previously applied for a state charter in Bristol in December 2022.  According to the CSDE, the application did not score high enough to move forward at that time.  The SBE conducted a public hearing to gauge community support on the potential charter for REACH Academy Charter School on December 19, 2024, at the Bristol Board of Education Building.  Pursuant to C.G.S.10-66bb(f), the CSDE is required to solicit and review comments on the potential establishment of the charter school from the Bristol Board of Education and local and regional Board of Education for school districts that are contiguous to the district in which the proposed charter school would be located.  The deadline for this Board of Education to submit the written comment is January 14th, 2025.   The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote on this application during their regularly schedule meeting on Wednesday, January 15th, 2025.  The SBE will vote on whether to grant a certificate of approval.  The General Assembly may then vote to appropriate funds for the school. If such funds are appropriated, an initial certificate of approval for a charter for a local or state charter school shall be effective and deemed a charter as of July first of the first fiscal year for which such funds are appropriated. If the SBE approves and the General Assembly allocates funding, the school proposes to open in August 2026 and serve students pre-K-4.  In Year 1, the school would serve 200 students, then increase by 100 each year, reaching 600 students in Year 5. 

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Each school year the High School Program of Studies is updated with new courses and information. Peter Wininger, Principal at Bristol Central, will present the course updates.

Program of Studies Updates

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Dr. Gina Gallo and the Italian students of BCHS seek approval to continue our 16 year exchange program with the G. Nolfi classical language school in Fano, Italy. We are requesting permission to travel to Italy and host Italian exchange students during the 2025-2026 school year. This proposal requests that we host our sister school during the fall of 2025 and travel to Italy in the spring of 2026. This period of time has been chosen to meet the needs of our scholar athletes who have shown interest in the program and will have a break during the winter/spring seasons.

The goal of this exchange is to create opportunities for our students to use language in a full-immersion setting while acting as cultured global citizens and ambassadors of Bristol. A program such as this aligns with our vision of the graduate a supports our global mindset reinforcing our initiative to "work collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts as well as understanding other nations and cultures including the use of non-English language"

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Bristol Central High School students and staff are excited to propose a study abroad trip to the Pintadera Language School in Sardegna, Italy. This week-long experience will provide participants with the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich culture and language of Sardegna. During the program, both students and teachers will stay with local families fostering meaningful cultural exchanges while attending an accredited language school that offers courses in art, history, language, and communication.

In addition to language immersion, this program emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration. Students will continue their studies in history, art, and music, integrating these subjects into their language learning experience with a major focus on healthy living through food and community. This holistic approach not only enhances language acquisition but also deepens students' understanding of the cultural context surrounding their studies. This trip parallels the students' study of the Blue Zone culture and the Slow Food Movement in Italy in both Italian class and human development, food and nutrition courses.

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Amy Martino Director of Pupil Personnel Special Services, will update the Board regarding Special Services programs and topics.

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Pottery 3 is a new curriculum that continues the skills and knowledge built in Pottery 1 & 2.  This was presented to the Student Achievement Committee on 12/18/24 and passed to move to the full board for approval.  

Rationale:  Improv Comedy is a new curriculum that expands our offerings in the Theater pathway.  This was presented to the Student Achievement Committee on 12/18/24 and passed to move to the full board for approval.

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Found Object Art is a new curriculum that expands our offerings in the Art pathway.  This was presented to the Student Achievement Committee on 12/18/24 and passed to move to the full board for approval.  

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This curriculum is a revision to include the new national and state standards.  The curriculum is shifting to skills based health.  This was presented to the Student Achievement Committee on 12/18/24 and passed to move to the full board for approval. 

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The Board will discuss any new business proper to come before the Board.

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Edgewood Pre-K Renovation has been established as a building committee project. Please appoint a member of the BOE to be the liaison on the building committee. This person along with the City Council and the BOF appointees will form the subcommittee to pick the remaining committee members for appointment.

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Commissioners will report to the Board on any groups/organizations in which they serve as Board of Education Liaisons and information pertinent to those roles.

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The Board will vote to convene into executive session for the purpose of:

1.  Possible action concerning the Superintendent’s performance goals (proposed for executive session).

2. Discussion concerning the performance of a board member (proposed for executive session).
 

Rationale:  The Board of Education will reconvene into public session to take votes on any items discussed in the Executive Session.

Rationale: 
There being no other business to come before the Board, the meeting should be adjourned.