Region 20 Board of Education

7/10/2025

Present: Tiffany Parkhouse, Chair, Krista Rizzo (online), Robert DeLayo, Susan Wheeler, Kara Cruoglio, Diana Barnes, Ashley Hall Daddona, Margaret Hunt, John Morosani, Billie Jean Sideris,  Ashley Westfall. Absent: Scott Pottbecker (excused)

The Region 20 Board of Education held its first regular meeting for the 2025–2026 school year. Tiffany Parkhouse (Warren) was reelected as Chair, Ashley Westfall (Goshen) was elected Vice Chair after three rounds of voting, Ashley Hall Daddona (Goshen) was chosen as Secretary, and John Morosani (Litchfield) was named Treasurer.

Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Villar presented the employment report, outlining internal transfers prompted by the approved budget, the resignation of a Spanish teacher at Lakeview High School, and nine open positions across the District.

The Board voted against having security personnel at meetings. Villar, who did not see a current need, explained that although security had been approved in August 2024, personnel had not been present since January 2025.

A substantial portion of the meeting focused on a draft Budget Mitigation Agreement between Region 20 and its member towns. The agreement proposes that the towns “help the District mitigate the total shortfall by making voluntary payments to the District” over three years, with one-third paid in the first year and the remainder determined after an audit and paid in equal installments over the next two years. The agreement, which reflects the maximum contributions from the towns, will include a list of invoices to be paid. Cardillo clarified that invoices paid by Region 20 for Region 6 and Litchfield during FY24 would not be included.

Villar described the agreement as a collaborative effort with the First Selectmen and called it an “opportunity for the District to reestablish trust with the four towns, to work in collaboration with the four towns, to resolve very significant financial obstacle.” He argued the plan was preferable to holding a district meeting to seek a supplemental appropriation.

The Board also discussed the State’s Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR). Villar summarized the MBR as, “in its most basic sense, how much money were you given to spend on education that’s not capital items and then that is the calculation moving forward.”

Westfall asked whether the payments would be included in MBR calculations. Villar said he was working with attorneys to “create a scenario where we’re not increasing our MBR.” Villar acknowledged the lack of legal precedent and emphasized that attorneys had framed the payments as debt service, typically excluded from MBR, but called the situation “uncharted territory.”

Morris representative, Billie Jean Sideris, was concerned that the language “is dishonest” and “defrauding the government;” she also asked if the District was “comfortable signing, certifying under penalty of perjury, that this money is for land, building, capital and debt service.” Cardillo stated the funds would be reported under the Debt Service category, that she would work with the State to ensure accuracy, and verified that expenditures would be reported to the State in the appropriate categories (e.g., staff, supplies). To manage cash flow, she said the District would be “perpetually, maybe one month, two months late on all our bills going forward for three years.”

The Board approved Villar’s continued negotiations with the First Selectmen. Sideris was the lone dissenting vote.

07/25/2025

Present:  Krista Rizzo, Robert DeLayo, Susan Wheeler, Kara Cruoglio, Ashley Hall Daddona, Margaret Hunt, John Morosani, Billie Jean Sideris,  Ashley Westfall

Absent: Scott Pottbecker (excused) Diana Barnes, Tiffany Parkhouse (Chair)

Secretary Ashley Westfall of Goshen chaired the meeting. John Morosani (Litchfield) asked about how the texts had been chosen,  “they don’t look representative of what I would think would be seen in a middle school curriculum.”  In response, Margaret Hunt (Litchfield), chair of the Curriculum Committee, clarified that the listed texts were only samples and chosen by “… by experienced teachers,” adding that “there’s a bunch of those texts which are really great.”

Other Board members noted that many of the texts were already part of the existing curriculum, often selected to align to social studies topics. Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Villar acknowledged that the texts were “not the traditional canon,” and “represent, in some cases, other cultures” but that the texts were “not radical, extremist.”

Dr. Villar apologized for the timing of the curriculum presentation, explaining that development had begun in the previous academic year with a fall 2025 implementation in mind. He urged the Board to support the proposal suggesting, “Allow this to move forward because of the quality of work that the teachers put in.” He assured the Board there would be regular updates on curriculum implementation. He also clarified that there would be no changes to the high school curricula and that, if approved, the middle school ELA curriculum would be a pilot this fall.

During his report, Dr. Villar acknowledged issues with the rollout of the PowerSchool information and highlighted a “need to coordinate better.” He also informed the Board that Lakeview students had been notified about campus parking, which is limited due to space constraints. He reported that student schedules had been released and fall athletic registrations had occurred. He concluded his report by announcing the upcoming Freshman Orientation and Meet and Greet at Lakeview.

Chief Financial Officer Julia Cardillo presented the financial report, detailing current expenditures and budget encumbrances. Data entry of encumbrances was still underway and she assured the Board that the process would be completed by the next meeting. The report generated no questions from Board members.

The Board approved an agreement with the Town of Litchfield to formalize pension procedures for District staff who had previously been employed by the Town. The Board also approved a two-year contract with Dr. Ann Milanese to continue serving as the District’s Medical Advisor. The $6,000 contract reflected a cost decrease compared to previous years and included no increases over its term.