The Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a one-year renewal to Newtown Public Schools' contract with Chartwells for food services during its Tuesday, June 10, meeting.

Chartwells' contract as the district's food service provide began August 23, 2022. The contract renewal will be effective as of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, and the terms and conditions of the original agreement, as amended, will apply.

This comes after the contract was first brought to the BOE at its previous meeting on June 3, where Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia said it came to the Board for a renewal process because federal funds support the program.

Each year, she said they have to look at federal regulations, amendments, meal patterns, and more.

However, BOE members voted to delay discussion regarding the contract because they wanted to have accompanying documentation of the Chartwells contract.

BOE member Shannon Tomai raised concerns regarding certain language in the amendment of the contract on Chartwells' responsibilities as included in the fees.

"I wanted to confirm that they did not delete responsibilities from their original agreement because it's odd that you would have to list out services in an amendment if you aren't changing them," Tomai explained.

Gouveia clarified that the contract renewal comes from, and is highly regulated by, the state and the United States Department of Agriculture. She added that it is standard contract language and has been repeated over every year she has seen this renewal and contract.

After further discussion, Plante specifically asked Gouveia if it is consistent with the scope of services in the district's existing contract, to which she said it is.

Other Approvals

BOE members unanimously voted to approve the Educator and Leader Evaluation and Support Plan, which was detailed in the Board's June 3 meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti said in that meeting that it is a mandated change in response to Public Act 23-159, which "significantly amended the prior Connecticut General Statute governing teacher evaluations."

The act requites all local and regional Boards of Education adopt a new educator and leader evaluation system that is in alignment with new statutes.

Uberti noted that the requirements actually took effect July 1, 2024, and that districts were required to submit their revised plans for the State Department of Education for review.

Uberti said they modified the old plan to meet the most basic requirements of the new plan with the district's teacher and administrator union for the 2024-25 school year. This way, they had a full year to develop a new plan.

A Professional Development and Evaluation Committee was established at the end of last year to oversee the plan.

The district's Educator and Leader Evaluation and Support Plan tackles key philosophical changes, such as the prioritization of educator growth and support, integration of ongoing professional learning, and encouraging collaboration to strengthen trust.

These changes will be implemented through what Uberti described as frontline professional growth. This includes consistent monitoring and reporting, streamlining the evaluation process by digitizing forms and rubrics, and more.

Plante thanked the PDEC members for their work in developing the Educator and Leader Evaluation and Support Plan.

"I know this is a tremendous piece of work, so we really appreciate it and look forward to rolling it out," Plante said.

The BOE also unanimously voted to approve applying for the Connecticut Primary Mental Health Grant for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years for Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The motion also includes action for Uberti to sign a letter communicating support for the continued implementation of the Connecticut Primary Mental Health Project at SHS.

Plante said it as a renewal of a grant that the district already has set in place. Grants Specialist Judit DeStefano adding that it is a mental health program for the inspection and prevention of emotional, behavioral, and learn problems in K-Grade 3.

DeStefano described it is play-based intervention, where children are pulled out of the classroom several times a week for 45-minutes and learning task orientation, behavioral adaptions, assertiveness, and social and peer skills.

DEI Subcommittee

BOE member Christopher Gilson provided updates about the BOE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Subcommittee. These updates came after the subcommittee’s meeting held immediately before the full BOE meeting that same night.

Gilson started by sharing how Director of Teaching and Learning Kara DiBartolo is working on a hateful language protocol. She told him that there are two ends that the district needs to improve on regarding hateful language: immediate response and follow-up with families.

Gilson said that DiBartolo has gotten feedback to build and develop the protocol from several different avenues such as Nixon & Co Consulting Group, an external partner contracted with the district that specializes in Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion work with schools and organizations.

She also spoke with district counselors to be sensitive to Newtown student’s particular needs, according to Gilson.

He said this will be specifically rolled out to the school’s principals and assistant principals to get more consistency and better interactions with the public.

The other topic of note, Gilson said, is that the district’s DEI website is being updated and should be rolled out by the end of July.

The subcommittee also had its traditional review of incident data, which Gilson said Uberti informed him usually “ticks up” at the end of the year.

“But it just points out to me that we have issues that we need to address and we need to take seriously,” Gilson continued.

He noted that the district’s activities with Nixon & Co have “wound down,” as its three-year contract and mission plan with the company has recently run out. However, Gilson said the district may still reach out to them in a limited capacity in the future.

While the recent BOE DEI Subcommittee meeting was meant to be the last meeting, Gilson said he feels that it’s “clear that we need to have further discussion” and to keep the ball rolling for improvement.

He added, “I think we need another meeting before the beginning of next school year, because I would really like to see our school be more aggressive and look different for our students for next year.”

To that end, Gilson said the subcommittee might go from meeting once every other month to once a month again.

Other Updates

Uberti noted that the district recently received the resignation of Middle Gate Elementary School Principal Chris Geisler, who has served in the position since 2010.

"I would like to acknowledge his contribution throughout his tenure," Uberti said.

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