1. 2023 Bristol Teacher of the Year

 

2. 2023 Bristol Paraprofessional of the Year

 

3. 2022 CT COLT Student Award for Excellence in World Languages 

• Umar Malick - UConn ECE *
• Ethan Aurigemma - UConn ECE
• Grace Mazzone - Italian Independent Study
• Jade Gaud - Italian II
• Patrick Wininger - Italian II

4. BoE Student Representatives

• Sydney Rodriquez - Senior
• Trisha Mohan - Senior

5. Illustrative Mathematics - Teachers Christine Rydingsward, Shannon Tierney, Samantha Wrenn, John Hanrahan, and Amanda Musumeci

 

6. Connecticut Association of Schools - Ellen P. Hubbell School

• Outstanding School Climate Award 
• 2021-2022 Exemplary School of the Year

7. Connecticut Association of Schools - Greene-Hills School

• Outstanding School Climate Award
• Middle School of the year for 2021-2022

 

8. CTPTA Teacher of the Year - Julia Darcy - Greene-Hill School *

1. May 4, 2022 - Regular Meeting
 

Communication & Community Relations	Finance	Operations	Personnel	Policy Committee	Student Achievement
Kristen Giantonio, Chair	Dante Tagariello, Chair	Eric Carlson, Chair	John Sklenka, Chair	Kristen Giantonio, Chair	Todd Sturgeon, Chair
Shelby Pons	Kristen Giantonio	John Sklenka	Eric Carlson	Shelby Pons	Kristen Giantonio
Dante Tagariello	Karen Vibert	Chris Wilson	Karen Vibert	Todd Sturgeon	Chris Wilson
Alternates:
Eric Carlson	John Sklenka	Todd Sturgeon	Todd Sturgeon	Dante Tagariello	Dante Tagariello

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
Sydney Rodriquez - Senior                     Trisha Mohan - Senior *
Fatima Aamir - Junior *                            Pushpita Hussain - Junior 
                                                                 Max Stavens - Junior                                              

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

Dr. Carbone will report/update the Board on the following topics:

1. District Update

• Innovate and Elevate Continuation Plan

2. Reimaging BPS 2022

• BAIMS Update
• Edgewood Transition to PreK and Redistricting 23-24

Wilson, Robert - BOE - Director of Safety and Security effective June 15, 2022
Ziegler, Nathaniel - BOE - Supervisor of Special Services effective June 30, 2022

Lussier, Brian - BCHS - School Psychologist effective June 15, 2022 
Paquette-Claman - BEHS - Family and Consumer Science - effective June 15, 2022
Twiggs, Tina - BCHS - Family and Consumer Science - effective June 30, 2022

Dubay, Lisa - BECC - .5 PreK Special Education Teacher - effective June 15, 2022
Mercier, Elena - STAF - Social Worker - effective May 2, 2022
Timreck, Kaitlyn - EDGE - Grade 4 Teacher - effective June 15, 2022
Trombley, Jennifer - BEHS - Special Education Teacher - effective June 15, 2022
Uraco, Rachel - ID - Grade 4 Teacher - effective May 13, 2022

Mark, Katherine - GH - Kindergarten Teacher
Neal, Melissa - WB - Grade 1 Teacher 
Ojard, Hannah - BAIMS - School Social Worker 
Pietrowicz, Olivia - WB/NEMS/CHMS - Secondary Math Coach 
Sica, Kayla - EDGE - Grade 1 Teacher 
Slotnick, Tatiana - EDGE - Grade 4 Teacher

Diaz, Gregory - BEHS - Technology Student Association Advisor effective April 26, 2022
Paquette-Claman, Creighton - BEHS - Student Council Advisor effective June 15, 2022

Camerato, Kyle - BEHS - HS Instrumental Band and HS Instrumental Jazz Band

Sirianni, Scott - WB - Coach of the Gifted - effective June 15, 2022

Zettergren, Nina - EPH - Kindergarten Teacher - effective April 9, 2022 through June 15, 2022

 

Members of the public are invited to comment to the Board on any topic related to school business. 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

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 be read at the meeting by the Board Chair.
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 read 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. The public may speak as agenda topics come up for discussion or information.  Anyone digressing from the topic will be ruled out of order.
7. Written statements and materials may be made available, in advance of comments, for distribution to Board members.
8. Speakers shall state their positions on the subject being discussed.
9. 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

The NEMS Building Committee voted to ask City Council to authorize the BoE to apply for the school
construction grant for the NEMS Building Project.

The NEMS Building Committee voted to approve the Education Specifications and as a state requirement the BoE and City Council both need to approve these as well.

On June 1, 2021, it was unanimously approved to move forward with the project to build a new larger Northeast Middle School and to repurpose Edgewood as a Pre-K building. Phase I of the Reimagining BPS includes the opening of BAIMS, the closing of Edgewood School and repurposing it as a Pre-K to relocate BECC scholars as well as the PreK scholars placed throughout the district, building a new, larger NEMS, and redistricting PreK-8. To continue on the path of Phase I, the Operations Committee reviewed and took action on the plan to forward it to the full board to take action on the redistricting plan.

The friends of Bristol Eastern Athletics have been raising money for fencing in the outfield. They had raised $2,438.56 and stopped fund raising once COVID-19 hit. Aldi Fence provided an estimate to build a dugout fence enclosure with no roof. This estimate is $3,360.00. In addition, Aldi Fence also provided a quote to provide an outfield fence in the amount of $16,000.00.

Dr. Kimberly Culkin, Director of Special Services, will update the Board regarding Special Services programs and topics.

 In June 2019, CT PA 19-12 was passed to develop an African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies at the high school level. Legislation identified the State Education Resource Center (SERC) as the coordinating entity to develop the curriculum for this course. State statutes require that local or regional boards of education offer this Black and Latino studies course in grades nine to twelve, inclusive, in the school year commencing on July 1, 2022.

The course is an opportunity for students to explore accomplishments, struggles, intersections, perspectives, and collaborations of African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino people in the U.S. Students will examine how historical movements, legislation, and wars affected the citizenship rights of these groups and how they, both separately and together, worked to build U.S. cultural and economic wealth and create more just societies in local, national, and international contexts. Coursework will provide students with tools to identify historic and contemporary tensions around race and difference; map economic and racial disparities over time; strengthen their own identity development; and address bias in their communities.

The 6th grade Modern Band exploratory curriculum is broken down into 3 units which are the fundamental instruments in any modern band. As you can see, students will first learn Guitar, followed by keyboard, and end their semester learning body percussion as a tool to understand the drumset. Any one of these instruments on their own can take years to master, so the course is designed to teach the foundational skills of proper holding and playing technique with basic music literacy. An example of this is found in the Guitar unit where the learning targets range from I CAN: Hold my guitar in proper play position to I CAN: Identify the difference between a C and G chord and perform a two chord pattern song with those chords.

 

As you can see, the curriculum is intentionally scaffolded so that in 7th grade, they are reviewing some instruments (such as guitar) to learn a greater proficiency standard. This can be seen in the learning target, I CAN: Read tablature music and performa song using tablature on my guitar and bass. This is the next level up in terms of music literacy and performance. Additionally, each unit accumulates to the final unit of hip hop where students learn the basics of how to rhyme words in a comprehensive line. The learning target include I CAN: create a 4 verse composition and I CAN: collaborate with my peers to add beats, harmonies, and melodies to my piece. This final unit truly ties in the learning from 6th grade that is expanded upon here in 7th grade to create a composition that utilizes all of the instruments and skills in this culminating project. 

 

In the final year of 8th grade modern band, students again are learning at a higher proficiency level to perform the instruments they have been learning since 6th grade. To go off the same instrument of guitar, in 8th grade, some of the learning targets here read I CAN: Perform the e-minor, C, G, and D major chords using intro strumming patterns and I CAN: independently learn how to play a new chord. Additionally there are 2 more units that go greater in depth and are scaffolded from previous years learning. For example, unit 4 is on song structure where students learn the components that make up a song (intro, verse, chorus and hook) and culminate this into a final project in Unit 5 where students collaborate with one another to create an original song using all the instruments and analyze and apply feedback to their performance as well as provide it to their peers. 

Along the same principles of modern band for middle school, high school students do not have to have any previous experience playing an instrument to take this course so there is no pre-requisite and students will earn .5 a credit. In thinking ahead to future years of students who will matriculate from BAIMS into this course, the first unit of Learning is an expedited unit for students to learn the basics of guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum set. The proficiency expectation is increased for this high school course as seen in the learning targets of I CAN: perform chord progressions on guitar, bass and keyboard, as well as I CAN: explain basic song structure.

The goal of a comprehensive Physical Education program is to develop a physically educated individual who has knowledge, skills, and the confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity. Early childhood is the time to begin the development of active and healthy lifestyles to prevent the growing rate of childhood diseases. 

The Bristol Physical Education curriculum is aligned with the national and state physical education standards. Our goal is to reinforce and enhance a child’s inherent love of movement and play by providing multiple opportunities to learn, through meaningful content and appropriate instruction. By weaving fitness concepts sequentially throughout the curriculum, our objective is for students to achieve and maintain healthy fitness levels and physically active lifestyles. We strive to stimulate their desire for play and fitness by affording them many opportunities for success to reverse today’s trend toward youth inactivity.

6th grade exploratory for vocal ensemble centers on ukulele. It is broken down into 4 units so that students can learn the basics of ukulele and accompany themselves while they sing. The learning targets found in Unit 1 are the very basics of ukulele including I CAN demonstrate how to properly hold, tune and play open string on a ukulele. Unit 2 introduces students to the music literacy aspect of playing the ukulele in performing the C Major scale and the skips associated within the C Major scale. Unit 3 culminates the two beginning units so that students are performing chords and finally scaffolds in the final unit of performing on the ukulele while singing simple melodies. 

 

In 7th grade, students experience digital music within the digital music mac lab at BAIMS. There are just 2 units as each unit is rather large and encompasses complex ideas. For example, learning targets found in unit 1 include I CAN select loops from a bank to demonstrate musical style, explain musical loops and how they can be extended in time, demonstrate how layering loops can affect the rhythm and harmon, and refine and present my project to the class. The second unit titled commercial project allows for students to explore the creation of a fictitious project that solves a problem a student is facing or sees someone in their life facing. This leads to the creation of a spoken advertisement to sell the product, use of microphones and recording live sound, creating musical backtrack to accompany the advertisement and refining and editing the work using music software to finalize and present their product. 

 

Finally, in 8th grade students experience songwriting which is broken down into 3 units. In the first unit they learn what standard notation is and chord basics of major and minor triads. This builds off of their knowledge from 7th grade and has a greater emphasis on music literacy proficiency. The second unit teaches students form of current song and students are expected to analyze example music for lyrics and lyrical structure which scaffolds into their own creation of lyrics regarding a topic they are passionate about. The final unit culminates the previous units where students will work directly within a notation or songwriting software to create their own piece with a verse, chorus and bridge as well as lyrics and 4-chord progressions that repeat to create the refrain in their music. This course is even more exciting as it serves as a taste of what the high school level of songwriting will bridge into.

Scenic Design and Construction I and II are designed to coexist. Students at both levels will follow the same topical modules. The learning targets are adapted by course to provide deeper experiences for those students who have already completed the first course in the series. This course development structure exemplifies a growth model and student leadership.

This BAIMS course offers students the ability to learn the design elements  and construction components necessary for theater set production. In this introductory course, students learn the basic elements of the design and construction process. Students work with students in Scenic Design and 

Construction II to support and develop their skills.

• Grades: 9-12

• Pre-requisites: None

• Credit: 0.5

Scenic Design and Construction I and II are designed to coexist. Students at both levels will follow the same topical modules. The learning targets are adapted by course to provide deeper experiences for those students who have already completed the first course in the series. This course development structure exemplifies a growth model and student leadership.

This BAIMS course offers students a more advanced access to design principles and construction application of the sets for theatrical productions. Students in Scenic Design and Construction II are leaders in the course.

Construction II to support and develop their skills.

Grades: 9-12

• Pre-requisites: Scenic Design and Construction

The Board of Education recognizes that college, for many students, continues to be an important pathway that helps to provide students with the necessary skills for work and lifelong learning. This Policy sets as a goal a
District initiative to improve the completion rates for FAFSA among grade 12 students.

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

Any communications/information regarding building projects:

1. MBIAMS Committee Update
2. NEMS Building Committee Update
3. Edgewood Roof Project Update
4. High School Culinary Project Update
5. ESSER/ARP Building Committee Update

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

This month, Commissioners representing Middle and K-8 schools will give reports.

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