Guilford board awards $635,000 technology lease

Board of Education · Meeting of July 13, 2026

GUILFORD — The Guilford Board of Education received the district's first annual report on student behavior under Connecticut's new school climate law, logging 46 incidents that triggered tiered discipline and 44 reports to the state Department of Children and Families in 2025-2026. Safe School Climate Coordinator Katherine Kennedy and staff member Doug Hamel presented the data, broken into three statutory tiers plus the DCF count. Prevention Coordinator Leah Foster reported Guilford's 2026 youth survey found marijuana use fell from 12 percent to 7 percent since 2023, while cigarette use rose 1 percentage point, prompting a new nicotine-prevention grant.

The board separately waived competitive bidding and awarded a five-year, $635,000 technology and vehicle lease to Cogent Leasing and Financing at 3.95 percent, undercutting a 5.09 percent Huntington Bank offer. Members also ratified three teacher retirements, six resignations, and a $2,717 Guilford Newcomers Club donation for lunch debt.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,351 words

Source: the Board of Education meeting of July 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.

The Full Article

Agenda Order and Minutes Corrections

Before taking up substantive business, the presiding board chair asked members to swap the order of agenda items 9.3 and 9.4 so the board would vote to waive bidding requirements on the capital equipment lease before voting on the related financing resolution. The change passed on a voice vote. Members then approved minutes from the June 1 special meeting and the June 8 regular meeting, the latter with several corrections: a grammatical fix to language describing the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education's Student Leadership Award given to students identified as Kira Mani and Parker Onisill; a spelling correction to a student representative's name; a wording fix to a sentence about Calvin Leete Elementary School's community-seed program; and the addition of two items, numbered 13 and 14 in the minutes, that had been omitted: the formal record of the board's June 8 vote to enter executive session for the superintendent's evaluation (moved by Amy Fenollosa, seconded by Jennifer Baldwin) and the vote to adjourn that meeting (moved by Richard Hersh, seconded by a member the presiding officer identified only as "Mr. Scudder," a name that does not match any member on the board's current roster). The amended minutes were approved unanimously. This item consumed roughly ten minutes and carried no substantive policy content beyond the record-keeping itself.

June 2026 Financial Report

Board member Richard Hersh presented the monthly financial report, which the board had already reviewed in an operations committee meeting held immediately before the full board session. Expenditures for June totaled $10,798,928.48, or 99.12 percent of the approved budget, slightly ahead of the 98.8 percent spent at the same point the prior year. Revenue for the month was $41,150.20, including $349.31 in non-resident tuition and $40,800.89 in Medicaid reimbursement. Hersh said the district's employee-benefits line ran slightly above last year's pace because unused life insurance, disability and pension contributions from retiring staff flowed into a general reserve the district can draw on later. Capital spending ran higher than usual because the district redirected unspent special-education tuition funds toward furniture purchases that had been deferred, and transportation costs rose due to higher special-education coverage and driver costs. The full monthly warrant, covering all payments made by the district, totaled $2,835,764.16. The board approved the report unanimously with no discussion beyond Hersh's summary, since the operations committee had already vetted the numbers.

Superintendent's Report: 2026 Youth Survey Results

Superintendent Paul Freeman opened his report by inviting Leah Foster and a colleague identified as Carolyn Regan to present results of the Search Institute's attitudes-and-behaviors survey, which Guilford has administered to students in grades seven through 12 every three years since 2010. Foster, who identified herself as the prevention coordinator working through Guilford Youth and Family Services, said the survey used "informed passive consent," meaning parents are notified and may opt their child out but are not required to opt in, producing participation Foster and Freeman both described as "almost 100 percent."

The question before the board was not a vote but a briefing on four core measures the coalition tracks: 30-day substance use rates, perception of risk, perception of parental disapproval and perception of peer disapproval. Comparing 2023 to 2026, alcohol use fell 3 percentage points, marijuana use fell from 12 percent to 7 percent, cigarette use rose 1 percentage point, and prescription-drug misuse was unchanged. Foster tied the cigarette increase to a 2-point drop in perceived risk, a pattern the coalition has observed before, and said the district secured a new "underage nicotine prevention program" grant, effective July 1 and running one year, through the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and a regional prevention partner Foster did not name with full clarity on the recording. Perception of parental disapproval remained in the 90-percent range across substances, and perception of peer disapproval rose across the board, including a 17-point jump for marijuana, which Foster attributed partly to the coalition's tabling efforts and its partnership with the school's Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter.

On specific vaping data, Foster said 98 percent of Adams Middle School students reported no vaping in the past 30 days, up from 97 percent, while at Guilford High School the figure rose to 87 percent from 79 percent in 2023. She also cited a decline in self-reported depression, suicidal ideation, antisocial behavior and violence among surveyed students, noting the latter two had risen in the 2023 survey.

Board members pressed on methodology. One asked whether Foster had access to national comparison data; she pointed to the federal Monitoring the Future study as a better national benchmark than cross-town comparisons, since towns use different survey instruments. Another asked directly about the data's reliability

"What's the predictive validity or correlation with behavior studies? ... We have a high number of students who are not using this and that, but behavior studies suggest something quite different." — unidentified board member

Foster responded that she could not compare the survey against specific outside behavior studies without reviewing them side by side, but noted the Search Institute discards responses it flags as unreliable, and that nearly a decade and a half of consistent data collection helps smooth out any single year's reporting bias. Freeman added that the district saw numbers worsen immediately after the pandemic and views the recent improvement as a signal, not proof, that students are "beginning to feel better and settle down." No vote was taken; the item was informational.

New Annual Report: School Climate and Challenging Behaviors

This item exists because a new Connecticut school climate statute, which took effect at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, requires districts to report annually to their boards on challenging student behaviors that rise to a "tiered response." The Guilford board adopted an implementing policy in April 2025 and regulations in October 2025, and appointed Katherine Kennedy as the district's safe school climate coordinator to administer it. Staff member Doug Hamel introduced the item alongside Kennedy, who compiled the report included in the board's packet.

The question before the board was simply to receive the first such report, not to vote on it. The data break into three statutory tiers: behaviors requiring a temporary classroom clearing specifically to prevent possible injury (one incident districtwide); behaviors involving what Hamel described as a credible intention to cause bodily harm (45 incidents); and behaviors resulting in an injury requiring medical attention beyond basic first aid (zero incidents). The three columns total 46. A separate, non-statutory column tracked reports filed with the state Department of Children and Families, totaling 44, which Hamel said reflect mandated reporting obligations triggered whenever school staff have reason to suspect a child is being abused or neglected, regardless of whether the suspected conduct occurred during school hours.

The presiding board chair raised a concern likely to arise from parents reading the report

"I think that there would be parents in the community who would say, 'My own child's classroom was cleared more than one time. How could the total possibly be one?'" — unidentified board chair

Hamel and Kennedy explained that most classroom removals occur to protect the privacy and dignity of a student having a difficult moment, not because of danger to other students, and that only situations meeting the statute's bodily-harm threshold count toward the one-incident figure. A board member also asked whether the 46 figure represented 46 individual students; staff confirmed it counts incidents, so a single student could generate multiple entries. No vote was taken, consistent with the chair's framing of this as the first of what will become a recurring annual disclosure.

Personnel Actions

The board ratified the retirements of three special education teachers: Terri Beaty, with 25 years of Guilford service; Susan Bohan, with 17 years; and Michelle Pasienza, with one year. It then ratified six resignations: Carrie Albers (special education, Guilford Lakes, two years), Jillian Bathrick (literacy coach, Adams Middle School, six years), Teresa Donnarummo (art teacher, Calvin Leete Elementary, 12 years), Kristen Meyerjack (science teacher, Adams Middle School, 17 years), Benjamin Moore (school social worker, Guilford High School and the Guilford Transition Academy, five years) and Heather Renz (art teacher, Guilford High School, 10 years). Both motions passed without discussion beyond the presiding chair's acknowledgment of the departing staff's years of service.

Guilford Newcomers Club Donation

The board approved accepting a $2,717 donation from the Guilford Newcomers Club, conveyed through a letter from Superintendent Paul Freeman to the district's dining services coordinator, specifying the funds be applied to students' outstanding school lunch debt. The vote was unanimous and undiscussed beyond the chair's thanks to the club.

Capital Equipment Lease: Waiver, Resolution and Award

This three-part sequence exists because the 2026-2027 budget included a $635,000, five-year capital lease to finance technology equipment and a facilities maintenance vehicle, and Guilford has needed a bidding waiver for this type of lease "for at least several years running," according to the presiding chair, because few banks will enter tax-exempt municipal leases of this size.

The board was first asked to waive the standard three-bid requirement. Staff member Pat Trudeau, who fielded board questions, explained that she solicited proposals from only two firms, Cogent Leasing and Financing and Huntington Bank, because larger lenders have shown no interest in leases under roughly $1 million

"Over the years we have found less and less banks want to do this. We've had a number of them before and they all dropped off. They want million-dollar leases, not a $630,000 lease." — Pat Trudeau

The waiver passed unanimously. The board then approved a resolution formally authorizing the district to serve as co-lessee with the town of Guilford on a lease purchase agreement not to exceed $635,000, with the Board of Education responsible for all payment obligations and the superintendent and the district's business office authorized to execute final documents. The town's Board of Selectmen had already approved entering the lease. Finally, the board voted on the award itself. Huntington Bank's proposal carried a 5.09 percent rate, with payments of $139,912.53 in advance or $146,519.75 in arrears. Cogent Leasing and Financing offered 3.95 percent in advance ($137,025.42) or 4 percent in arrears ($142,638.22). The board awarded the lease to Cogent at the lower advance-payment rate, unanimously.

Committee Reports and Public Comment

No board committee, including Policy, Operations, and Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, had substantive items to report; the presiding chair noted the Policy Committee had not met and that a member referred to as "Ms. Plouffe," whose committee role was not specified and who does not appear on the board's current roster, was absent. There were no liaison reports to town committees and no LEARN regional education service center report. No members of the public rose to speak during either public-comment period on the agenda.

Executive Session

The board voted unanimously to adjourn into executive session to discuss the superintendent's evaluation and contract, inviting Superintendent Paul Freeman to join. The chair stated in advance that no further public discussion or voting would occur afterward except a vote to adjourn the meeting, consistent with the format used for the same topic at the June 8 meeting.

WHO WAS THERE

Richard Hersh — board member; presented the June 2026 financial report. Role at this meeting not confirmed as an officer position; current roster lists him as Secretary as of October 2026. Presiding board chair — ran the meeting, proposed the agenda swap, read minutes corrections and led discussion of the climate report; not named by name in the transcript. Other board members referenced in minutes corrections as having moved or seconded June 8 votes: Amy Fenollosa, Jennifer Baldwin, John DellaVentura (transcribed "Del Ventura"), and an unidentified "Mr. Scudder." Attendance of these individuals specifically at the July 13 meeting is not independently confirmed by the transcript. Superintendent Paul Freeman — staff; introduced presenters and participated in discussion of the youth survey and climate report, invited into executive session. Doug Hamel — staff member; co-presented the school climate report. No title given in the transcript. Katherine Kennedy — Safe School Climate Coordinator; co-presented and compiled the climate report. Pat Trudeau — staff member; answered board questions on the capital lease bidding process. Title not stated explicitly in the transcript. Leah Foster — prevention coordinator, Guilford Youth and Family Services; presented the 2026 youth survey results. Carolyn Regan — invited to the podium alongside Foster for the survey presentation; not clearly attributed any direct quotes. Lynn Landry — acknowledged by Superintendent Freeman as present in the audience; affiliation not stated. "Ms. Plouffe" — referenced as absent; affiliation with the Policy Committee noted, not confirmed as a board member.

ORGANIZATIONS AND DOCUMENTS REFERENCED

Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) — source of the Student Leadership Award referenced in a minutes correction. Guilford Youth and Family Services — Leah Foster's organizational affiliation for the youth survey presentation. Search Institute — developer of the attitudes-and-behaviors survey administered to Guilford students since 2010. Monitoring the Future study — national survey cited by Foster as a better benchmark for national substance-use trend comparisons. Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) — school club cited as a partner in peer-disapproval messaging. Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services — funder of the district's new underage nicotine prevention grant, effective July 1. Operation Parent — vendor supplying parent handbooks distributed by the prevention coalition. Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) — recipient of 44 mandated reports cited in the new climate report. New Connecticut school climate statute — the state law, effective at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, requiring the annual challenging-behaviors report presented at this meeting; implementing policy adopted by the board in April 2025, regulations in October 2025. Guilford Newcomers Club — donor of $2,717 for student lunch debt. Cogent Leasing and Financing — awarded the $635,000, five-year capital equipment lease at 3.95 percent. Huntington Bank (Huntington National Bank) — competing lease bidder at 5.09 percent, not selected. Guilford Board of Selectmen — approved the town's entry into the lease purchase agreement as co-lessee with the Board of Education.