The Board of Education listened to a presentation detailing strategic priorities and measures of progress within the Newtown Public Schools district, as well as discussed the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), issues with bus transportation, and more during the Board’s Tuesday, September 17 meeting.

Director of Teaching and Learning Kara DiBartolo kicked off the first of several presentations that are designed to highlight the work being done in the district in support of its Strategic Plan. Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti said that DiBartolo’s presentation specifically focused on outlining the various measures of progress used across the district, and how these different metrics connected to the strategic priorities.

As is the case from the data review reports in the past several years, Uberti says that there is a vast amount of data being collected on what is happening in the schools, with much of it publicly available on the Connecticut State Department of Education website.

“Please understand that this is our first iteration, and with only having had six weeks in my role as superintendent, we’re doing our best to provide a solid starting point for this work,” Uberti said. “The metrics shared tonight represent what we identified as key measures ... However, we’re also looking at all other data on a regular basis, so what we share here tonight is by no means the only measures that we’re looking at.”

She said that they want to keep the presentations relatively short, so “we won’t drown you in information.” The next meeting will have Uberti doing the 2023-24 data presentation for the Board, where she hopes to connect that data to some of the highlighted key measures discussed in DiBartolo’s presentation.

After Uberti, the next presentation will have the elementary and intermediate school principals present their strategic school plans to the BOE, followed by the middle and high school the meeting after that. The final presentation will have Uberti share the goals that are being set by the budget, facility, human resources, security, technology, and education directors.

“When we reach the end of these presentations, it is my belief and hope that you all will have a strong understanding of the work that is taking place in the district, and that will hopefully lay the foundation for a productive budget process in January,” Uberti explained.

CIP Discussion

The Board of Education also passed the CIP as presented in a unanimous vote after much discussion between Board members and Director of Facilities John Barlow. As BOE Chair Alison Plante outlined, the BOE had their first read of the CIP during their last meeting. The Board had only briefly talked about the CIP after discussing the Facilities Study, as the study acts as a current state assessment of Newtown Public Schools buildings and will heavily inform the CIP. The study outlined near-term issues in each building, and how to know what issues to address and prioritize.

Since the last meeting, Barlow had made some adjustments to the numbers in partnership with Uberti. He said that what they are really looking at right now is year two, and that 2024-25 is the no bonding year, so the year two money would potentially be approved in late April. After that money gets approved, Barlow says that they can start working on the 2025-26 projects from there.

Barlow overall selected three projects that he feels are of immediate need, which require $5.5 million alone. The first of these is a roof restoration for Head O’Meadow Elementary School, which would give them a 20-year leakproof warranty.

“And the reason why that one is an important piece in this is that there’s a grant that [Public Works Director] Fred Hurley has to put solar panels on the roof. It has a three year time frame, so we would need to do the roof on that building in order to meet the needs of that grant and expel that money for the solar,” Barlow said.

He later noted that this is an Eversource grant the Town applied and was accepted for through the Eversource grant program, meaning there would be no out of pocket expense for them.

The second project he chose is to add the redundant boilers into the Newtown Middle School. This comes after the issues with the boilers in the building last year, which he noted caused them to put quite a bit of money towards portable boilers and oil tanks due to a lack of system redundancies. Adding these boilers would give them the redundancy that would prevent the building from closing down.

The third and final project Barlow highlighted is the re-roof of the Newtown High School. He says that the re-roof is currently estimated at $4.3 million, but that there is a non-priority grant from the state of Connecticut that would give them 35% reimbursement on eligible costs.

Barlow also noted that the high school roof is “beyond restorable,” and that the re-roof would include the A, B and C wings and the auditorium.

“Certainly we would have to expel the full amount of money in order to get the reimbursement back, and we would be applying for that low priority grant starting in April. We would start that process once the money gets approved to get that work done as soon as possible,” Barlow explained.

While various other projects were adjusted and shifted around, Barlow said that the Facilities Study will be the driver for bigger discussions as to what will happen with the buildings in the future. For right now, he says that he is mostly focused on having accurate numbers for 2025-26.

BOE member John Vouros brought up his concern for the middle school’s electrical issues, which he says they have been dealing with since 1968. The item as listed in the CIP would be an upgrade to the building’s entire electrical system and is estimated to be around $1.7 million.

“I am petrified that that’s not going to be done ... and it’ll get pushed. It’s not something that can get pushed,” Vouros said. “I live in fear that by year three that we’re not going to have the money and we’re going to still be talking about the same problem.”

Uberti said that they want to bring forward the facility study as she thinks seeing that study in its entirety will provide a lot of context for what they decide.

“There’s no doubt that we hear the concerns about the air conditioning,” Uberti said. “I think that where we have it right now is appropriate because, for the reasons [Barlow] said of those things in here too, they’re critical. And the [electrical issues] are critical, but there may be another way, another avenue to get there.”

Vouros was still concerned and wondered why they could not start paying for the electrical system in year two of the CIP as part of a band aid, and then finish paying for it in year three. Barlow replied that these are only his recommendations, and that the CIP is ultimately the Board’s decision.

“So if you guys wanted to vote to move something in or out, back or forth, up or down, that’s well within your purview to vote,” Barlow continued. “You know, it’s not really up to me. I’m just giving you the recommendations on what I think [is] where we should be, but if you want something different, that’s the purview of the Board.”

Reports

In her Chair Report, Plante shared that they discussed at the BOE CFF Subcommittee meeting earlier that night that the Board of Finance is spearheading a budget work group. This group is designed to bring together members of the BOF, the BOE, and the Legislative Council together to start meeting in the fall and “just to get an early read on where we think the budgets are heading before budget development officially begins,” with the process starting in early January.

For Uberti’s Superintendent Report, she shared that they have a candidate for the position of Assistant Superintendent of Schools. The candidate was selected between two finalists and is in the process of providing their notification of acceptance of the position. Once that happens, Uberti says that she will send the BOE a written recommendation for hire, and then that will be added to the next meeting’s agenda for the Board to accept or reject.

Earlier that day, Uberti and Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia met with representatives from All Star and its parent company to discuss the district’s recent issues with bus transportation, such as lack of communication. These issues, Uberti says, have been on the uptick, and coincide with All-Star’s long-time depot manager giving his notice of resignation.

“Additionally, we are again feeling the impact of the national driver shortage, with the number of drivers having resigned right before the school year began. So today, we reviewed all of the complaints that have come in, and we’re going to be following up with a list of those complaints in writing,” Uberti said.

Uberti said that they were encouraging, and will hope to have a new manager in place within the next week or so. In the meantime, the current manager will stay on to help with the transition to a new manager. In regards to the driver shortage, Uberti says that they are working on shifting a group of full certified travel drivers to Newtown.

As for the future, they are looking into potentially taking broader steps next summer for bus routes and the number of stops they currently have.

“Although consolidating stops is never a popular topic, I think that the public understands the driver shortage that’s happening, and if having fewer stops means we can run buses more regularly, then perhaps this is the time that we should look at that,” Uberti said.

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