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New Milford board reviews calendar, facilities work and budget items; finance committee motion approved
Summary
The board reviewed the proposed 2025–26 calendar, approved facility upgrades and purchases from restricted cafeteria surplus, and approved finance items from the Finance & Facilities Committee; the business administrator also flagged a Department of Agriculture deadline for district breakfast implementation.
The New Milford Board of Education reviewed a package of district business including the proposed 2025–26 calendar, facility improvements, personnel appointments and routine finance approvals.
Superintendent David Colaso presented the proposed calendar for 2025–26 and said the goal is to "get out as early as possible in June," using blackout days and professional‑development scheduling to target a mid‑June last day if emergency days are not used. He asked for time to observe the new June election timing before making a recommendation on whether to close schools that day.
Colaso also asked the board to approve the February discipline report and suspension report. He said three incident reports were investigated in February, with one meeting the investigative criteria and two determined to be unfounded. On suspensions, he reported two high‑school students were suspended for a total of two days (each serving one day of in‑school suspension); DEO (transcript term) had five students suspended for a total of six days with mixed in‑school and out‑of‑school days; Berkeley had no suspensions; and Gibbs had four suspensions totaling four days.
On personnel, Colaso recommended paying a long‑serving volunteer (Mr. Ulrich) hourly for extension season work and recommended hiring Caitlin Aberger for ESY services to preserve continuity. He also requested approval of DeMofer Foundation teacher grants to fund classroom enrichments including robotics and a high‑school piano program.
The superintendent described facilities work including replacement of the high‑school cafeteria windows and ceiling, a senior lounge renovation and repair/cleaning of an illuminated crest outside the gym. He characterized planned equipment purchases—listed as a Ford F‑350 with snow plow and cafeteria assembly‑line equipment—as "clever spending" to use restricted cafeteria surplus funds that otherwise cannot be reallocated.
Business administrator Stephanie Pichard told the board the Department of Agriculture requires the district to submit an implementation plan by April 30 to serve breakfast at all four buildings under updated eligibility standards. She also said the preliminary budget must be submitted to the county Department of Education the next day and noted a proposed increase to tuition/charges for out‑of‑district special‑education students who require a full‑time instructional assistant.
Committee chair Cheryl Kilmer moved to approve finance items FA 24‑25.178–0.183; the motion was seconded by Stephanie Carpenter and passed on a voice vote recorded in the meeting transcript as "Aye." Later, the board approved routine meeting motions to close public comment and to adjourn; Nicole and Joe are recorded as participants in the seconding and voting sequence.
The board did not take up the musical, wrestling recognitions, or other events at this meeting and said those items will appear on a future regular session agenda. The next board meeting was announced for Wednesday, March 26.
