Board OKs $6,980 in gifts for high school

Board of Education · Meeting of September 22, 2026

SIMSBURY — The Simsbury Board of Education celebrated Simsbury High School's new national Special Olympics recognition for its Unified Sports program and approved $6,980 in gifts at its September 22 meeting. Coaches Brooke Bollmer and Jody Robinson and student athletes including Alex Wallace, who said Unified Sports "brings so much positivity, friendship, and happiness to everyone involved," were honored for meeting ten national inclusion standards. The board unanimously approved a $2,980 gift from The Hartford for the Robotics Club and $4,000 from the Tariffville School PTO toward Camp Jewell costs.

Administrators reported the high school ranked third in its district reference group and 465th nationally in U.S. News rankings, up from 530th last year, with 975 of 1,122 Advanced Placement tests scoring a 3 or better. The district's year-end finance report showed an $88,451 surplus on an $88.8 million fiscal 2026 budget.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,626 words

Source: the Board of Education meeting of September 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.

The Full Article

Unified Sports National Recognition

Simsbury High School has been recognized by Special Olympics for its Unified Sports program, a national honor the district said is based on ten standards for inclusive athletics and activities and comes with a special commemorative banner for the school. The recognition covers Unified Sports, an after-school program pairing students with and without disabilities, as well as related offerings including Unified Theater and the in-school electives Unified Wellness and Unified Art.

The question before the board was simply to hear and celebrate the honor; no vote was required. Coaches Brooke Bollmer and Jody Robinson were recognized, along with athletes Beth Franks, Andrew Aguilar, Nia Khaim, Jack Danielson, Ivy Leonard, a student whose name was transcribed as "Vinciano O'Keeve," Alex Wallace and a student identified as Sarah Nair (a speaker at the meeting acknowledged uncertainty about the correct pronunciation of her last name). Athlete Alex Wallace spoke on behalf of the group: "Unified has become something I genuinely look forward to because it brings so much positivity, friendship, and happiness to everyone involved." A board member asked whether Unified programming was concentrated in one part of the school day; staff explained it spans after-school sports and theater as well as in-school elective courses. The segment closed with a group photograph and no further board action.

Principal and Committee Reports

A staff member, introduced only by first name as the person compiling updates across buildings, ran through brief items from each school: Central School's back-to-school picnic and welcome event; Latimer Lane's open house serving 495 students; Squadron Line's curriculum nights and incoming fourth-grade bike safety program; Tariffville School's open houses and a sixth-grade trip to Camp Jewell (elsewhere in the meeting referred to as "Camp Joel," apparently the same trip); Tootin' Hill School's curriculum night; Henry James Memorial School's new intramurals program and a seventh-grade field trip scheduled for September 28; and Simsbury High School's open house, a Connecticut Central Conference sportsmanship event at Goodwin University on September 24, and homecoming events beginning October 3.

Board members gave brief committee reports. A member identified only as Tara reported a personnel negotiation session the prior week that "seemed to go well," with another session planned to try to finish it. A member identified only as Kate reminded families of an early-release day for teacher professional development and the year's first curriculum committee meeting. Members identified only as Steve, Jen and Neil had no substantive updates to report; a member named Brian was noted as absent. This item was informational; no action was taken.

Approval of Minutes and Gifts

The board approved the minutes of its September 8, 2026 meeting on a motion and second, with no discussion, by unanimous voice vote.

Two gift items followed. The first was a donation from The Hartford insurance company matching $1,500 independently raised by the Simsbury High School Robotics Club, for a total gift of $2,980. The motion to accept passed unanimously with no discussion. The second was a $4,000 gift from the Tariffville School PTO to help defray costs of the school's outdoor education trip for sixth graders. Before the vote, a board member asked whether staff could compile, for a future meeting, how much each elementary school's PTO contributes annually and what the per-family cost of the trips is; the district's response was noncommittal but affirmative ("I'm happy to do that for you"). The motion passed unanimously.

Simsbury High School Annual Report: Academic Achievement

This item exists because the board's practice is to review each school's prior-year performance data at the start of the school year before administrators set priorities for the year ahead. The question before the board was to review Simsbury High School's 2025-26 results and hear proposed priorities for 2026-27.

The presentation was led by the school's top administrator, referred to in the meeting only as Maggie, with assistant principals Ken Para (grade nine), Scott Redman (grades ten and eleven) and Georgia Robert (grade twelve), along with new department supervisors Mike McCain (science, hired at the end of the 2025-26 school year after joining the science department in 2018) and Manika Kanan (math, with 19 years of combined teaching and data-analysis experience).

Simsbury High School ranked third within its district reference group (DRG) and tenth in Connecticut in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, and 465th nationally, up from 530th the previous year. Administrators said the ranking reflects Advanced Placement participation and performance, state assessment scores, and dual-enrollment college course offerings. Of 514 students who took at least one AP exam (an increase from the prior year), students collectively took 1,122 AP tests, of which 975 scored a 3 or better; about 89 percent of the 514 AP students achieved at least one score of 3 or higher.

On Next Generation Science Standards testing for the Class of 2027, the school ranked first in its DRG and third in the state, with average scale scores holding steady across four years (1,131, 1,130, 1,133). Eighty-nine percent of students scored a 3 or better; the share scoring the lowest level fell to 1 percent from 4 percent the prior year. Administrators highlighted a comparison of the same cohort's special education students: 66 percent were below goal in eighth grade NGSS testing, compared with 40 percent (11 of 35 students) in eleventh grade. "When kids aren't there, they know how to intervene," the presenter said of the department's approach, crediting close collaboration between general and special education teachers.

On the SAT, English language arts college readiness (a scale score of 480 or above) reached 86.2 percent of grade 11 students, the highest in six years and up from 83.4 percent the prior year; the average PSAT-to-SAT score increase for the same cohort was 27.7 points, with notable gains in the "expression of ideas" and English conventions subscores. Math college readiness (a scale score of 530 or above) reached 58.1 percent, ranking fifth in the DRG; the top DRG school scored 64.3 percent. A board member asked how the cut score was determined; staff explained it is a national threshold tied to the statistical likelihood of success in a college-level freshman math course. New this year, the school began offering SAT retake opportunities to students who did not meet the 530 math threshold.

College and Career Readiness

Assistant Principal Georgia Robert presented post-secondary outcomes for the Class of 2026. Nineteen percent of graduates were admitted to a "top college," defined as a top-50 national university or top-50 liberal arts college per U.S. News, up from 17 percent the prior year. Seventy-seven percent enrolled directly in a four-year college (down from 81 percent), while 14.5 percent pursued a two-year degree (up from 9 percent), a shift Robert linked partly to Connecticut's tuition-free community college program for first-time enrollees. Less than 1 percent went directly into military service, and 6 percent went straight into careers or trade apprenticeships, including aviation maintenance and welding.

A board member asked whether the district could separate "trade school," "gap year" and "straight to career" into distinct categories going forward, noting they represent different outcomes; Robert agreed it would be useful and said the school plans to reconnect with recent graduates around Thanksgiving to gather more detail and potentially have them speak to current students.

Robert described an expanded career pipeline: a new Early College Advanced Manufacturing Pathway (ECAMP) with Goodwin University offering 21 college credits and a paid spring internship; the school's third annual career fair, which will build on a prior fair featuring 30 careers and 40 professionals; an inaugural trade fair held last year with Lincoln Tech, Goodwin, Tunxis, and the competitive Bristol Tech aircraft mechanics program; site visits to Collins Aerospace, Bombardier Aviation and a local design-build firm identified as Lilia Dahl Brothers; a first-time visit to the Wallingford Trades Fair; and a new part-time career coordinator whose first newsletter to families went out the day of the meeting.

School Culture, Discipline and Survey Results

Assistant Principal Scott Redman presented discipline data showing most categories flat or improved year over year, including a drop in verified acts of bullying from five to two incidents, which he attributed partly to a state-law change replacing "bullying" terminology with "challenging behavior" reports in some cases, alongside genuine behavioral improvement. Class cuts remained the single largest discipline category at 152 logged instances, which a board member questioned relative to total enrollment of roughly 1,200 students. Redman said the school does not break class-cut data down to the individual student level the way it does for suspensions, where 19 students accounted for 104 days of out-of-school suspension.

The most detailed discussion centered on the school's tardy policy, which bars students from athletics or extracurriculars during their season if they arrive late to class. Tardies to class fell from 1,444 in March of the 2023-24 school year to 461 the following March. "So in one month, we cut it by 1,000," Redman said, while acknowledging an "extinction burst" of pushback when the policy launched. A board member said students had told her anecdotally that the policy was "a little painful at first, but it's made a world of difference."

Survey data presented by the administrative team showed 62 percent of students feel supported by staff (up 6 percentage points) and 66 percent feel the school is safe and supportive; of 23 total survey questions, 18 showed improved favorable responses and five declined, each by less than 2 percentage points. The family survey drew 149 responses, with about 80 percent reporting a sense of belonging for their child, 81 percent saying students are encouraged to explore varied interests, and 82 percent saying students are motivated to learn. Families flagged continuing concerns about vaping in bathrooms and limited awareness of career programming; staff said a first offense for confirmed vaping use results in Saturday school, with possible referral to a school resource officer or a juvenile review board depending on the student's age, and described an active cessation-programming partnership with the Farmington Valley Health District. The staff survey drew 76 responses from roughly 120 certified staff, with 95 percent reporting engagement with grade-level or department colleagues and about 75 percent agreeing their compensation is competitive.

Priorities for the 2026-27 School Year

Administrators outlined three focus areas: continued curriculum and grading alignment across departments; chronic absenteeism, including a new partnership with the organization New Path through a grant held by a staff member identified as Heather Tanis; and communication, including the rollout of the ParentSquare platform and a redesign of the school's "Connect" advisory period based on student focus groups. One focus group participant proposed inviting a speaker identified only as "Mr. Moore" to address juniors and seniors. The school is also developing a "digital program of studies," built with help from a staff member identified as Ben Rondonone in the business department, intended to replace a static PDF course catalog that students said they rarely use.

Year-End Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2026

This report exists as a routine year-end accounting of the district's prior budget cycle. The finance officer, identified in the meeting only as Amy, told the board the district finished fiscal 2026 with total expenditures of $88,734,660 against a budget of $88,823,111, a surplus of $88,451.

Several line items showed accounting reallocations rather than true savings: an apparent $791,000 instructional salary savings was largely offset by a corresponding $845,000 overage in the insurance and pension line, the result of how grant-funded salaries and benefits were budgeted; Amy said the district will correct the allocation method for fiscal 2027. True savings included about $25,000 in special education contractual services (speech and hearing testing, evaluations), which a board member noted represents a turnaround from a $700,000 special education overage two to three years prior: "I just wanted to take a second and say, appreciate this board was laser-focused on this issue and attacked it from a multitude of ways." Other savings included roughly $40,000 across about 50 small training and conference line items, about $59,000 in supplies (including a duplicated $40,000 assessment purchase), and about $100,000 in textbook and technology licensing, partly from switching VMware software products and partly from a delayed Henry James history textbook purchase.

The district's excess-cost special education reimbursement grant finished at $2,075,987, about $30,000 below a prior estimate, which Amy attributed to lower eligible special education costs rather than reduced funding. The district also received $244,717 in additional Open Choice and early-learning funding, about $146,000 tied to additional enrolled students and the remainder discretionary state funding. Pupil transportation showed an overage tied to the district's use of the M&J Bus Company to cover routes during staffing shortages at its primary contractor, Salter's. The non-lapsing fund balance stood at about $860,000.

Community-Based Organizations and Workforce Development Report

A staff member identified only as Matt prepared a report, required under a recent state statute, listing the district's formal agreements with community-based organizations and its workforce development programming; the board was directed to review the material in its meeting folder, with no discussion recorded.

Committee Assignments

The board noted its committee assignment list with no changes.

WHO WAS THERE

Board members referenced by first name only, with no surnames or roles confirmed in available sources: Steve, Jen, Tara, Neil, Amy, Kate. Brian was noted as absent from the meeting.

Staff in attendance: Maggie, identified as the senior administrator presenting the Simsbury High School annual report; Assistant Principals Ken Para, Scott Redman and Georgia Robert; Director of Student Athletics and Activities Heather Golden; Science Department Supervisor Mike McCain; Math Department Supervisor Manika Kanan; a staff member identified as Sue, who introduced the administrative team and later described a statutory reporting duty; a staff member identified as Amy, who presented the fiscal 2026 financial report; a staff member identified as Matt, who prepared the community-based organizations report; and a staff member referred to as Ms./Mrs. Seidel, who led discussion of survey data, the Connect redesign and staff professional development.

Unified Sports coaches Brooke Bollmer and Jody Robinson attended with student athletes Beth Franks, Andrew Aguilar, Nia Khaim, Jack Danielson, Ivy Leonard, a student transcribed as "Vinciano O'Keeve," Alex Wallace and a student identified as Sarah Nair.

Outside parties: none identified as applicants, attorneys or consultants at this meeting; a brief recorded appeal for donations from Simsbury Community Media aired at the meeting's close but was not board business.

ORGANIZATIONS AND DOCUMENTS REFERENCED

Special Olympics — awarded Simsbury High School national recognition for its Unified Sports program, the subject of the meeting's opening item.

The Hartford (insurance company) — donated $2,980, matching student fundraising, to the Simsbury High School Robotics Club.

Tariffville School PTO — donated $4,000 toward Camp Jewell costs for sixth graders.

U.S. News and World Report — publishes the national and state high school rankings cited throughout the academic performance discussion.

College Board — administers the PSAT, SAT, AP and NGSS-related assessments discussed; also provides practice resources referenced in the SAT discussion.

New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) — the subject of the school's self-evaluation report completed during the 2025-26 school year, referenced in survey-methodology discussion.

New Path — organization partnering with the district on a grant-funded chronic absenteeism initiative.

Farmington Valley Health District — partners with the high school on vaping cessation programming.

Goodwin University, Lincoln Tech, Tunxis Community College, Bristol Technical Education Center — postsecondary and trade institutions represented in the school's career and trade fair programming.

M&J Bus Company and Salter's — pupil transportation contractors; M&J assisted with routes during Salter's staffing shortages, at higher cost, contributing to a transportation budget overage.

Fiscal 2026 year-end financial report — presented at the meeting by a staff member identified as Amy; source for all budget figures in this article.