Board of Education Digs into Minutes, Goals

School leadership praised for quick response

By Avice Meehan

The Botelle Board of Education quietly dropped the Pledge of Allegiance from the agenda of its Sept. 9 meeting but took up other housekeeping issues that generated a comparable amount of discussion. These included the amount of information that should be incorporated into meeting minutes, the accuracy of year-end budget numbers, and the value of revising the board’s mission statement and goals.

Superintendent Kevin Case’s report outlined his continued efforts to meet with community members and showcase the programs at Botelle, including a weekly video that will be posted on the website and shared via email. Case said math instruction will be a major focus within Region 7 and will engage teachers from all schools, including the high school. He also shared updates from the “State of Connecticut Back to School Meeting” for school superintendents that included a briefing from Gov. Ned Lamont. Case said the governor is hoping to revisit the school cost sharing formula used to support schools and alleviate local tax burdens. Norfolk receives approximately $25,000 under the formula because the large number of part-time residents makes the town appear wealthier than it is.

Principal Lauren Valentino also walked the board through the goals that she and the teaching staff have developed for the year in the areas of literacy, math and school climate. They will be shared at every meeting. “All of these are geared to our students growing,” said Valentino, noting that every student has individual goals set by their teachers but are also expected to be “an active part of the learning environment.” At the October meeting, Valentino will brief the board on the results of statewide assessments.

During her report, Board Chair Virginia Coleman-Prisco praised both Case and Valentino for their management of an incident that occurred during a late-afternoon soccer practice on Aug. 27, the second day of school. She praised the proactive approach to communications. Said Amy Bennett, another board member, “The level of communication, without getting into too many specifics, matched what my child was reporting at home.”

According to a communication sent by Case on Aug. 28 to the entire school community, a young man was taking pictures of the practice and wanted to join the children. A verbal altercation occurred when he was asked to leave. Case and Valentino were notified that night. After speaking with a State Police officer about the incident, Case requested an additional police presence for a few days, in part because of the fatal school shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis the same day. The matter was resolved when the family of the young man became aware of the situation and intervened.

Following the inclusion of reports from the principal and superintendent in the August minutes, Coleman-Prisco led a discussion about the level of detail included in the meeting minutes. After a review of previous practice, the board agreed to include the two administrators’ reports in the minutes going forward while maintaining the practice of reporting votes, without a summary of the discussion, in the minutes as specified under Robert’s Rules of Order.

Board member Walter Godlewski raised questions regarding the accuracy of round figures in the 2024-25 budget reports and urged for more precise reporting in the future. In addition, he called the board to define current board goals and perform a self-assessment. Case said it would be useful to have a facilitator to work with the board in updating core documents like the mission statement and goals because he could not lead a discussion and participate. 

“We hear about the big picture, but we don’t talk about the big picture,” said Godlewski, who acknowledged his own “steep learning curve” as a relatively new board member. For her part, Coleman-Prisco said it is difficult to discuss higher goals when it is “tough getting a quorum.