By Cherry Dumaual

NEW FAIRFIELD — The New Fairfield Board of Education (BOE) kicked off its regular meeting on May 2nd with a congratulatory tone by honoring four outstanding NF students with the Annual CABE (Connecticut Association of Boards of Education) Student Leadership Awards for their exemplary leadership skills. The award recipients are middle schoolers Logan Coster and Lauren Madureira, and high schoolers Anne Johnson and Erik Muhlenberg.

After the award presentation, the meeting proceeded with a more somber note. Colli ers International’s Owner’s Project Manager Scott Pellman gave an update on the ongoing investigation of the propane issues at the NF High School. He explained that, in the next steps, a company will take physical samples of liquid and send them to a lab for analysis to determine the problem. The expert laboratory tests may help identify the cause of the lack of gas smell in the school building. Board members asked Pellman tough questions for clarity, such as the timeline for getting the lab results and resolving the issue, i.e., if it will be done before school starts this fall. Others questioned the inconsistent results, the ongoing costs for the investigation, who is liable for them, and what can be done if the laboratory results don’t work.

Pellman said, “We are hoping that the laboratory tests are going to help us key in on listening to the problem. Once we have identified a specific problem … we can start talking about the costs that we have incurred throughout this process and look at redirecting those costs. But at this moment, I cannot say that we have a prime number one, likely suspect in front of us. We have been working towards trying to figure out how or why we have gotten to this position. And once we do that, then we will have the discussion on where the blame lies and who should be paying for those costs.”

BOE Chair Dom Cipollone emphasized to Pellman that, moving forward, the Board expects ongoing reports and any new information as it comes available. “So, in the spirit of consistent and transparent communication, I am going to ask that we get regular reports at every one of our meetings on updates and where we are on this … we need to get to specs.”

During his Chairman’s Report, Cipollone further stressed that clear and consistent communication is vital. “You know, you venture into the world of social media, you see half-truths, half-stories … if you want information, you can watch our meetings. You can come to our meetings, you can email us officially when you want the information from the board. We are not going to respond to requests on social media for information.”

The other major topic at the meeting focused on providing clarity on how the NF elementary sch ool operates. There are two schools, Consolidated, and the other, Meeting House Hill, sharing space in one huge building. The Consolidated/Meeting House Campus is led by one principal, Mrs. Allyson Story, who gave a slide presentation on what it takes to run a pre-K to 5 school, how they manage budget challenges, how two faculties can collaborate effectively to serve nearly 1,000 students. Principal S tory explained, “We had to learn how to live in our building together…learn how to utilize the space that we had. We have one cafeteria for example, we have one playground.” She further explained, by learning how to live together, “we have had some wonderful opportunities to bring our students together…The older students learning from the younger students and the younger students learning from the older students.”

In her following remarks, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kristine Woleck commended Principal Story and her staff. “They are working to really leverage the power and potential of a pre-K through five structure and program to build community and to build coherence by community. We need those opportunities for there to be connections among students at different ages and different grade levels, leadership opportunities for our older students, mentors for younger students.”

Dr. Woleck pointed out what is important to remember, “A pre-K to five building is working to have lots of opportunities to integrate across those grades, but some things do have to happen at t hat grade level at the level of each grade…we still want to be sure that our buildings are being resourced the way they need to be across the district. And, at the elementary level, we want to ensure that, even within a pre-K five structure, we are still resourcing that.”

In response to Principal Story’s and Dr. Woleck’s presentation, Chair Cipollone expressed his point-of-view, “It’s one principal, three assistant principals in a bustling pre-K to five elementary school. I think there should be a rebranding … with new signage, so there is no question when people get on social media.”

Dr. Craw, sharing his perspective, noted the rich history in the community around the two schools. “So we have to be very sensitive to that. This is a discussion that can come back to the board with additional information feedback…some opportunities maybe for staff and families to give some input.” In talking about the building and the need for numerous administrators, he said, “from the road it looks deceptively small…just going up and down the corridors back and forth in between the different [wings of the] building, in and out of classrooms , it is huge… And I think people do not really understand the scope. So when they talk about oh, we have all the staff, well you could not run a space that size with what people are proposing. It just wouldn’t function.” He ended by saying, “Having the community speak about this is important…for the purposes of less confusion and more cohesiveness, one school, one building. So we’ll talk about this more as we go on.”

During the public participation, a number of topics were brought up related to political and social controversies in education, including a chorus song with politically charged language, the role of music programs in challenging societal norms, and addressing racial injustice in schools. Despite a few opposing views, there was agreement among the speakers about the importance of emphasizing the value of listening to diverse perspectives and collaboration.

The next regular meeting of the New Fairfield Board of Education is scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m.