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Berlin School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet

2 h 01 min · 2 public speakers

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 2 h 01 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Berlin school board approves capital funding request, pre-K playground funds and textbook 1:34:26

  • District staff presented the 2026 student achievement report, covering state test, SAT and Advanced Placement results. 57:36
  • Board members discussed whether to seek bids for transportation services, and the speaker running the meeting said the board appeared to want to go with a request for proposals. 1:38:01

Until Nov 4, lines where a board member takes a side don't name the member. Why →

Item by item (14)
  1. Call to order and pledge 14:49
    • The meeting was called to order at 6:38 PM, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. 16:26
  2. First grade engineering presentation 16:54
    • First graders from Willard Elementary School presented work from the school's STEAM program. 16:54
    • A teacher described an engineering design process of plan, create, test and improve, in which students built Lego ramps to see which made a car go the farthest. 20:35
    • Board members paired with students to build and test ramp designs, and the board then took a recess from 7:01 to 7:03 PM. 21:14
  3. Student representative and committee reports 38:43
    • During the student representatives' report, a speaker announced a BHS Drama Club production of The Alibis on Thursday, October 29th and Friday, October 30th. 38:43
    • Student representatives said a Berlin High School invent team would travel to Fort Collins, Colorado, for the North American Symposium on Bat Research. 42:16
    • Peter Zarabozo said the transportation contracts would be discussed later in the meeting. 44:01
  4. Public comment 44:36
    • A speaker at public comment asked whether the board had discussed provisions of a state education bill on curriculum materials for Islamic and Arab studies, and whether materials on other religions would also be offered. 45:13
    • A district staff member said the district's curriculum does not include teaching religion and is available to the public online. 50:37
    • A second speaker asked how many other states were passing similar measures. 52:12
  5. Personnel retirements 52:46
    • Vanessa D'Anna moved to accept the retirement of a grade 6 language arts teacher after 39 years of service. 55:01
    • Jennifer Jurgen moved to accept the retirement of a reading intervention teacher, effective June 30th, 2027, and to thank the teacher for 34 years of service. 55:48
    • Each retirement motion carried 7⁠-⁠0. 54:39
  6. Consent agenda 56:18
    • A motion was made to approve the consent agenda as presented. 56:18
    • The consent agenda carried 7⁠-⁠0. 57:00
  7. Student achievement report 57:03
    • A staff member said 71.1% of Berlin students met or exceeded the SAT evidence-based reading and writing benchmark, compared with a state average of 55.3%, with an average score of 534. 1:09:13
    • The district's math supervisor said 42.6% of Berlin students met the SAT math benchmark of 530, compared with 31.3% of students in Connecticut. 1:14:08
    • A presenter said the high school had been recognized for a 3rd consecutive year on the AP Honor Roll and that 91% of the class of 2026 planned to pursue college. 1:18:02
  8. District enrollment report 1:25:57
    • A staff member said enrollment was stable, with a 5-student difference from the prior year. 1:26:21
    • A speaker said enrollment stood at 2,552 students, a change of less than 1%. 1:26:46
  9. Choice program report 1:28:26
    • A staff member said the district offered 14 seats and filled 10. 1:28:36
    • The staff member said the district was at 3.2% and must stay at least at 3% to maintain the $8,000 reimbursement it receives. 1:29:41
  10. Request for capital funding 1:31:17
    • The superintendent presented a prioritized capital list led by McGee science labs, with the renovation estimated at $3 million. 1:31:17
    • The list also included Hubbard lavatory renovations, a Hubbard boiler, vans, track resurfacing, parking lot paving and security cameras, totaling about $6.9 million. 1:31:33
    • Jennifer Jurgen moved to approve the request for capital funding for submission to the Town of Berlin. 1:34:20
    • The motion carried 7⁠-⁠0. 1:34:40
  11. Pre-K playground funding 1:34:26
    • A staff member said the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain gave $20,000 toward the preschool playground and asked to allocate $40,653 from the DRIP account to pay for the rest. 1:35:12
    • Peter Zarabozo moved to use $20,653 in DRIP grant funds for the remaining balance, including a 10% contingency, and to issue a purchase order to Creative Recreation of West Hartford, Connecticut. 1:37:00
    • The motion carried 7⁠-⁠0. 1:37:34
  12. Transportation contract discussion 1:37:34
    • Peter Zarabozo said the contract increase was estimated at 10 to 12%, compared with a typical 3%, and asked whether the board wanted to seek bids from other companies. 1:38:01
    • A staff member said the district had a 5-year contract in the past and had spoken to 3 other districts that switched companies. 1:40:22
    • One board member said the board should do an RFP so it would have the data in front of it before making a choice. 1:51:02
    • A speaker said it seemed the board wanted to go with the RFP, and a staff member said the process would start. 1:54:35
  13. Grade 5 textbook adoption 1:54:44
    • A staff member proposed implementing Wit and Wisdom in grade 5 next year to keep alignment with grades K through 4. 1:55:06
    • Jennifer Jurgen moved to adopt the textbook Wit and Wisdom, published by Great Minds. 1:56:31
    • The vote carried 7⁠-⁠0. 1:57:03
  14. Adjournment 1:57:02
    • Peter Zarabozo made the motion to adjourn. 1:57:02

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “Berlin Board of Education Meeting -10/13/2026”