Board of Education members invited Newtown High School Athletic Director Matt Memoli to deliver a fall sports update during their Tuesday, December 17 meeting.

He was joined by some high school athletic staff, along with student athletes from various high school sports teams, for the special occasion.

Since many of the athletes in attendance had games or tests, Memoli said that he would recognize their accomplishments and respective teams before diving into the actual presentation. Memoli highlighted several sports, including field hockey, boys’ golf, football, and volleyball.

The high school’s field hockey team and boys’ golf team were crowned South-West Conference (SWC) Champions this year, and that the football team also had a “phenomenal regular season this year.” The football team ended up finishing the regular season 10-0, and outscored opponents 467-186 over the course of their 12 games.

The last group Memoli wanted to recognize, but who was unable to attend the meeting, was the high school’s volley ball team. They came as the runners-up in the SWC in “one of the best volleyball games I’ve seen in the last nine years.” While the Newtown team ended up losing to Joel Barlow of Redding, who has won the conference for the past nine years, they were voted sportsmanship winners for the conference for volleyball.

At the end of the season, the coaches and players vote for which teams they believe have the best sportsmanship. Memoli said that all of the district’s five teams came in the top five for the conference, but volleyball landed in first place.

“For us, we have a lot of teams that are always finishing in the top, and to win the sportsmanship award is a really great honor that gets overlooked sometimes, so I wanted to make sure to congratulate them,” Memoli said.

Memoli also highlighted Newtown High School senior Soheib Dissa, who is involved in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. Dissa ended up being nominated for Gatorade Player of the Year for Connecticut for cross country, and has achieved several accomplishments such as SWC Champion, Open Champion, and New England Champion. Memoli also said that Dissa just got back from San Diego for Nationals, where he ended up 13th in the nation.

The district’s athletics accomplishments come from more than just their results, as Memoli highlighted the team’s various community service efforts, such as team fundraising nights, volunteering at locations such as C.H. Booth Library or at events such as Night Out In Newtown, hosting games through Families United in Newtown (FUN), and more.

Above all else, Memoli expressed gratitude towards the various coaches and athletes throughout the district, who he said came to make their fall season as special as it was.

Reports

BOE Chair Alison Plante started her Chair Report by saying that the allocation for repairs to the high school roof were approved by the Board of Finance and Legislative Council at a joint meeting last week.

Facilities Director John Barlow had previously gone to the high school’s roof and discovered a 180-foot tear in the roof above the auditorium. After being told by vendors the roof would not make it through the winter, BOE members were encouraged to request the funds to repair the auditorium roof over winter break. Repairs for the high school auditorium roof were included in a comprehensive roof replacement for the 2026 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), totaling $4.3 million.

With the BOF and LC voting to approve the auditorium roof repairs, the $600,000 set to fix that portion of the roof will be removed as an emergency appropriation request from the 2026 CIP. According to Plante, the work to repair the high school’s auditorium roof will be completed over winter break.

BOE member John Vouros had then asked about the status regarding the reallocation of Newtown Middle School’s HVAC funds. Totaled at $450,000, these funds were previously approved for in the 2024 CIP and were allocated for engineering and construction management of the school’s air conditioning system.

The BOE members unanimously voted at their November 19 meeting to repurpose the funds and use them for an electrical study. The study would determine if they could put in window units at the middle school, which Uberti said at that meeting would be more affordable.

However, Uberti later announced at the Board’s December 3 meeting that they cannot switch what the money is allocated for, since the allocation was previously voted on and bonded. Uberti then wrote a letter to First Selectman Jeff Capeci regarding what the Board voted on in the motion.

She said that Capeci later drafted a resolution, which was discussed at the recent tri-board meeting between the Board of Selectmen, BOF, and LC on December 9. Uberti continued by saying that “there were issues with the way the resolution was constructed, and they decided to send the solution back to the first selectman.”

Part of the discussion she said centered around breaking what they want to do into parts. Uberti said this means it would be difficult to say what they would be actually requesting, “when we don’t know yet what the feasibility study would show.”

“If the study said it [wouldn’t support what we were trying to do], then what? What would be required to get the building to handle that, or would we be looking at a partial section of the building instead,” Uberti said.

As of now, Uberti said that they are waiting to get an estimate on what we could expect a request for proposal (RFP) to bring in for the cost of that study. Once they have that information, Uberti said they will consider potentially funding that part with other money “so that we would have a clear answer” and create a clear plan of what they will use the previously appropriated funds for.

“So we’re working through it,” Uberti explained. “We don’t have any definitive answers at this point, but that’s where we’re at.”

Plante also provided an update on the BOE’s subcommittees, and announced which BOE members will be on which committees. The Board voted at their last meeting to keep their four subcommittees for 2025: Policy; Curriculum and Instruction; CIP/Facilities/Finance (CFF); and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.