Notes from November 12 Board of Education Meeting

All photos by Nancy Sasso Janis

Click here to read the BOE meeting minutes from the October meeting.

The November Board of Education meeting was the first time that the newly elected members met in public. The meeting was held in the gym at Naugatuck High School and began a little earlier than usual, so I missed the caucus that happened before the meeting. Dorothy Neth-Kunin was elected to serve as chair of the board, Glenn Connan will be the vice-chair and the newest member of the board, Jason Celozzi, was elected to be the secretary. Following the voting for the three top positions, the board waved going into executive session due to the time.

The STA Bus company announced the winners of the recent Bully Free Zone poster contest. The kindergarten, grade 1-2 and overall winners were from Andrew Avenue, while the 3-4 winner was from Western. The grade level winners were awarded $250 in field trip scholarships for their school, while the overall winner was given $1000 scholarship in field trip money for their school.

The Naugatuck Public Schools recognized City Hill Middle School custodian Carlos Olivera for his help with a recent incident in the school gym.

Bernice Rizk reported no financial issues and reviewed the timeline for next year’s budget planning process. The board voted unanimously to the approve the proposed tuition, which was set with a 13% increase. Ms. Rizk requested permission to change the signers to a document submitted to the Whittemore Trust regarding Hillside landscaping to the current superintendent and her assistant.

The business office aggressively encouraged other bidders for the HVAC contract and four companies came for a walk through. Sirocco, a local business, was the lowest bidder. Ms. Rizk reminded the board that the business office likes to favor local contractors and that the workers will sign in and out at the school when they come to work on the boilers and cooling systems. There is not automatic renewal and there is an out clause for both parties of the contract.

The board was presented with a packet of pages of changes in the They also accepted the blueprints for the new roof for Hillside and Western School, that will go out to bid in December and they expect to get a good price. The schools are borough buildings allocated to the BOE and there will be 75% reimbursement and 25% paid by the borough.

Naugatuck High School principal Jan Saam presented the high school’s strategic school plan. Ms. Saam described the plan as being aligned with the district’s plan, as well as their motto “In Pursuit of Excellence.” The high school faculty will be working to increase the graduation rate to 85%, increase student performance, decrease chronic absenteeism (more than 18 days,) decrease discipline incidents, increase parent engagement and increasing favorable survey results.

The high school principal also they intend to improve instruction with a focus on mathematics and providing a positive learning climate by building trust and positive relationships. In order to increase the perception that teachers are interested in what students are involved with outside of class, teachers will make a concerted effort to attend at least two school events per year. Students are encouraged to take good care of their beautiful new building. The grand reopening of Naugatuck High School is scheduled for Nov. 25, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, from 5:00 to 7:00pm. Student tour guides will be strategically located around the building.

I was pleased to hear that Ms. Saam would like to try to offer theatre courses next year to accommodate the extremely talented students at NHS. The play planned for April will be ‘Almost Maine’ by John Cariani.

Under monthly reports, the media center at the high school officially reopened on Tuesday, Nov. 18. David Heller said goodbye to Mayor Robert Mezzo at his last official BOE meeting.