Board Of Education Student Updates November 13, 2025

PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTO

At each meeting of the Board of Education, three student representatives from Southington High School update the Board and the public on school system news. This year’s representatives are Ethan Hoffman, Arshi Roy, and Samrath Singh. What follows is the report delivered by Roy and Singh at the November 13 meeting, which Hoffman was unable to attend due to a conflict with an athletic banquet.

Arshi Roy – District Report

At Derynoski School, the Therapeutic Learning Center participated in a district food drive to support students in need, with K–2 and 3–5 classrooms teaming up to collect donations.

At JFK Middle School they held a Hats for Hope on Friday. Students and staff wore hats to raise funds for the Tommy Fund, supporting children with cancer.

The Student Leadership Council implemented a gratitude wall in the cafeteria with cards featuring positive messages.

Southington Community Services recently filled their van with donations of canned goods and non-perishable items that will go out to local families for Thanksgiving.

The Comprehensive Learning Center is sponsoring the annual BINGO event that helps raise funds for field trips showcase the program and raise funds for field trips.

On November 7, students at Flanders Elementary held their 21st Annual Veterans Day Ceremony where they honored those who served with breakfast, student artwork, readings, and musical performances honoring veterans.

At DePaolo Middle School, 8th-grade students decorated Veteran Stars that will honor veterans tand their own family, and they wrote letters to veterans through Operation Gratitude. They would like to thank Army Sergeant Lou Urso, a Vietnam veteran.

DePaolo’s International Club explores and celebrates the beauty and diversity of the myriad of cultures represented in the student body of our school. Every day they learn about new cultures and research their traditions. Students will learn about geography, history, and traditional foods, fostering connections across cultures.

The First Lego League Competition on Saturday will be held at DePaolo, hosted by members of the High School CyberKnights robotics team.

DePaolo’s Leadership Program is currently collecting toys for the annual holiday toy drive.

High School – Samrath Singh

Over the weekend The Blue Knights Marching Band performed at Nationals at Met Life Stadium. They placed 2nd with a score of 96.45, which I have been told is the highest in recent history. Color Guard as well was awarded Best Color Guard at Met Life.

Currently, students and teachers are in Italy on their trip, completing an educational and cultural immersion experience. This week they are taking Italian classes.

The Veterans Concert was performed on Monday night, featuring both vocal and instrumental pieces. Members of Team 195, the robotics team, also visited the American Legion, connecting performance with community service.

The American Legion Oratorical Contest, which one of our students won at the state level last year, will be held again this year.

Powder Puff students are practicing strategies and team coordination in preparation for this spirited event on Saturday, November 15.

Parent–Teacher Conference are being held today, November 13, with another session in the spring. This is the first year without an open house.

For the Culture Night, December 3, students are preparing to participate in the school’s cultural showcase.

Everyone at the Pep Rally & Homecoming had a great time.

Athletic Highlights

This is the last time you will hear about fall sports as we are about to get into the winter.

Katie Cavanaugh, one of our Girls Cross Country captains, qualified for New England Regionals with a top-25 performance at the State Open and competed in Vermont this past week. (She came back to Southington High School to attend homecoming the same day.)

Eight swimmers from the Girls Swim Team advanced through Class LL time trials and competed in the championships this past Wednesday.

The football team defeated previously undefeated #4 ranked Windsor High School, 28-7 at home in a crazy upset, and will host Maloney this Friday for Senior Night, celebrating senior athletes’ achievements.

Many student athletes attended a CAS/CIAC conference for Student Empowerment Day, which focused on leadership, confidence building, and community engagement, including panels specifically for men of color and women’s leadership.

New Board of Education Sworn In With Democratic Majority

Board of Education Democrats Dawn Anastasio, Robert Brown, Lisa Cammuso, and Zaya Oshana PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

The mood at the start of Thursday’s Board of Education meeting was generally upbeat as friends and family members gathered to watch the nine members of the Board being sworn in for their two-year terms.

Town Clerk Kathy Larkin came to the podium to deliver the oath to the five Democrats on the Board – Zaya Oshana, Lisa Cammuso, Bob Brown, Dawn Anastasio, and Terri Carmody – along with the four Republicans – Colleen Clark, Joe Baczewski, Cecil Whitehead, and Sean Carson. All were present save for Carmody, who was unable to attend in person.

After 18 years as the minority caucus, Democrats won a majority in the recent election and with it gained the ability to select the Board's Chair. Oshana was nominated by Carmody and approved by a 9-0 vote. In brief remarks that followed, he paid tribute to his father, Zaya Oshana Sr. – the namesake for Southington’s Oshana Elementary School – who served on the Board of Education for 34 years.

The process of choosing the Board’s Vice-Chair and Secretary involved a bit more drama. Carmody, who was attending via speakerphone, was nominated by Brown for the position of Vice-Chair. Baczewski, speaking on behalf of the Republicans, then nominated Brown for the same role, praising his experience and engagement. The vote broke along party lines, and Carmody was elected 5-4.

Next, Cammuso nominated Anastasio for the position of Secretary, citing, among other things, the 34 years of experience of her father David Derynoski. Once again the Republicans nominated the nominator, with Baczewski praising Cammuso’s skills at listening and collaboration. By a 5-4 party-line vote, Anastasio was chosen secretary.

After a short recess, Oshana asked for a moment of silence in honor of two longstanding members of the Southington educational community who recently passed away: music teacher Conrad Gozzo, and Angelo Coppola, who served in a variety of educational roles during his long career.

Beyond that, the Board's agenda for the evening consisted of various pro forma announcements and approvals. The longest speech of the evening was delivered, not from the dais, but from the podium during public comment. Jillian Carlson stepped forward to request that the Board openly address problems with the Department of Pupil Services, both in the way it is led and the way it is run. Noting that the office serves nearly 1,000 students, she read quotes from various stakeholders indicating that the department has been in various ways dysfunctional. She cited statistics which seemed to indicate that the Southington school system is diagnosing a rapidly growing numbers of students with emotional disabilities, against a statewide trend headed in the opposite direction, and suggested that cognitive disabilities were being misdiagnosed as emotional ones.

The meeting concluded with Board members going into executive session to discuss a student matter.

How Students Are Different Today

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BROWN

"Why can’t kids today be like I was growing up? They are not like I was!” 

Every generation could say this, but it seems young people today face unique challenges. Cell phones, iPads, busy parents, social media, Covid isolation, increased information availability, and an at-times overly hostile or divided social-political environment all have brought new challenges many of us did not face growing up. How have these factors changed students?

I went on a field trip recently with my granddaughter, who is in fourth grade. I noticed that the vast majority of students had very short attention spans, did not read much, and seemed to need constant stimulation in the museum we were in. This got me to thinking.

As a teacher friend and parent recently explained to me, many young people today are more open about expressing emotions and feelings. That is wonderful – while growing up in the 1950s, I was discouraged from any such expressions.  

However, as several other parents and teachers have told me, more students are anxious, face more social and emotional challenges, have shorter attention spans, need more instant gratification and excitement, and read fewer books. More have difficulty relating to other kids and working through conflicts without parental intervention. 

Loneliness and even hopelessness are also on the rise.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that the number of high school students reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness rose 40% between 2009 and 2019. Some of the factors driving this trend include the rise in social media and smartphone use, increasing academic and social pressures, and growing competition in college admissions. 

There is a book by Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation, that explains some of this and has several suggested solutions. He suggests that schools restrict or eliminate cell phones, that parents wait until high school to give their children smartphones, and wait until age 16 for social media access. He also suggests parents encourage more outside, unsupervised play for children. 

Limiting cell phone use may help, but the reality is that outside school they will still be influential. We still need to adjust teaching and parenting.

First, we must meet students where they are and not try to take them back to the “good old days.” This is for parents, educators and society in general. That means parenting and teaching need to evolve – after all, we no longer need to teach most kids how to milk cows or work on an assembly line. Southington's and many other towns' schools are evolving, and we must continue to do so.

Students should also be encouraged in school to interact with and respect others and do small group activities. Schools need to ensure that they have sufficient mental and social-emotional support personnel. Community support for that is essential. Parents and society need to encourage our young people to go outside and play, engage in sports, do social activities, dance, appreciate nature, be creative with music and arts, resolve their conflicts amongst themselves and not rely on adult interventions always.

Finally, we should foster curiosity and a thirst for learning and growing. Teach kids to respectfully and thoughtfully question everything – the status quo, the way things are done, rules, authorities. Encourage expressing emotion and listening as important skills. Instead of always trying to change them, approach children with curiosity about their world, about any traumas they may have experienced, and learn what makes them tick. 

Our young people are our future. They are the potentially productive workers and involved citizens of tomorrow. Our society needs them to succeed for us to all thrive. 

Bob Brown is a longtime Southington teacher and current Board of Education member.