Fairfield School District board meeting, Sep 8, 2026
3 h 30 min · 4 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 3 h 30 min.
- Who spoke · first speaks at
- Jennifer JacobsenBoard member
- Kristin O'NeillBoard member
- David KrasnoffBoard member
- Kathrynanne FlynnBoard member
- Nick AyssehBoard Vice Chair
- Jacquelyn BardenwerperBoard member
- Jason LiBoard member
What happened
What happened at this meeting
Fairfield school board approves 2027-2028 capital and non-recurring projects 2:16:59
- The board discussed the capital waterfall through 2041, including a recommendation to move the Ward High School HVAC project up on the schedule and the amount of seed money for the Jennings project. 41:08
- The board approved the capital and non-recurring projects for 2027-2028 as amended, 8-0. 2:17:27
- The board also took up a postponed amendment to the class size policy, Policy 6151, and voted 6 to 3 to call the question. 2:24:13
Item by item (10)
- Opening and public comment 4:43
- A speaker at public comment raised the $75 million for Dwight in the capital budget and said facilities rank low for student outcomes. 6:16
- The speaker also said a design for new artificial turf fields was poor and said the fields should be grass. 7:51
- Another speaker at public comment thanked the board for work on class size and said a 2nd grade class had 15 students instead of 23. 8:41
- Annual athletic financial presentation 9:21
- A presenter said the district has 141 athletic teams, 253 coaches and 1,514 student athletes, and offers 42 sports including all 27 CIAC sports. 13:04
- A presenter said Fairfield Ludlow generated a little over $28,000 in ticket revenue last year and Fairfield Ward about $19,000, with the primary purpose of covering police and security. 23:50
- David Krasnoff asked what kind of support the athletic directors needed, and a presenter said they need secretarial support and help with finance and bookkeeping for money totaling over $2 million. 36:40
- Consent calendar 41:08
- Capital waterfall 41:08
- A presenter said the Ward HVAC project would cost about $41 million in construction costs and take about 24 to 30 months. 44:15
- Jennifer Jacobsen said the total cost was $54 million, and a district staff member said that figure includes all soft costs. 48:24
- Jennifer Jacobsen moved to add a Jennings entrance vestibule project to the waterfall with a project total of $739,878 and an estimated district share of $560,532. 1:46:45
- Capital and non-recurring projects 2027-2028 2:03:43
- Jennifer Jacobsen moved to add the Jennings entrance vestibule project to the booklet with the amounts approved on the waterfall, and the amendment passed unanimously. 2:05:46
- Kristin O'Neill moved to remove the word potential from pages 9 through 14 in the Jennings section, saying it would reassure the Jennings community. 2:07:02
- The board approved a request for a short recess. 2:17:32
- The word removal amendment passed 7-1-1, and the projects as amended were approved unanimously, 8-0. 2:16:54
- Class size policy amendment 2:17:40
- The postponed motion would lower class size limits to 21 in kindergarten through grade 2 and 24 in grades 3 through 5, starting in the 2027-28 school year. 2:24:11
- A speaker who said they created the financial document said the amendment would result in an additional 6 sections for an additional $749,000. 2:34:14
- A speaker at public comment asked the board to consider the same class size reduction for a school left out of the proposal, and another asked whether anyone had talked to teachers and students about class sizes. 3:13:04
- The board voted 6 to 3 to call the question. 3:12:16
- Ed specs for building project 3:16:00
- First reading of admission policy 3:18:54
- Superintendent's report 3:20:07
- The superintendent said the district's registrar will leave at the end of the month and the district is seeking a replacement. 3:20:07
- The superintendent said free school breakfast is available to all students through the 26-27 school year under the new state budget. 3:22:04
- The superintendent reminded families that motorized vehicles, including e-bikes, are prohibited on school grounds for anyone under 16 without a valid Connecticut driver's license. 3:24:12
- Committee and liaison reports 3:25:13
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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