BETHEL — Last month four Telstar students and two faculty members traveled to China for two weeks. On Monday, SAD 44 directors heard from the group about their experience and how the country impacted each of them.

Dean of Telstar Middle School, Lindsey Luetje, and Dean of Telstar High School, John Eliot, were the two faculty members that joined the students.

Luetje was not present at Monday’s meeting, but thanked the school board for “supporting the trip” and for the students Eliot for being great throughout the entire trip.

Senior Ainsley Brown said the schools were substantially bigger and that it  “put things into scale” for her, since her class will graduate less than 40 students in June. Brown said that in China, each class is split into groups. She said one of the classes was divided into 10 groups, with one section alone having more than 70 kids.

Sophomore Andrew Leighton said that the friendly atmosphere stood out to him.

“Everyone was so friendly. So many people just came up and started talking to me,” he said.

Leighton met two brothers in one of the schools they visited and related to how the two brothers interacted with each other, comparing it to how he and his brother often act.

The students wrapped up their presentation by highlighting some parts of the trip and talking about what they learned.

“I realized I should be more appreciative of the things I have here,” Charette said.

“I learned that I love to travel and experience new cultures,” Pereira said.

Pereira added that she hopes to host Chinese students at her home next summer. She hosted two girls from Wenzhou 51 this past summer and said it was a lot of fun.

“I enjoyed dorming with the students at all the schools we stayed at. It was a nice experience,” Leighton said. “I also learned that traveling isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I also liked flying, especially when you land and you get that stomach drop feeling.”

Leighton explained how he had never flown on a plane prior to the 13 hour flight to Beijing.

“I found learning about new cultures extremely rewarding and very enriching,” Brown said. “Life in China is very different, but the people are not that different. We were met with open arms, which was relieving because it can be scary going this far away from home for the first time.”

Brown added that she is looking forward to watching the schools relationship with China continue to progress.

The students had the opportunity to make dumplings at a school in Chengdu, and Pereira noted that process is ” a lot harder than it looks.” Students also visited the Great Wall, which was one of Eliot’s favorite parts of the trip.

Project Opportunity funded the travel costs for the trip.

Other business

The board approved increasing the pay rates of substitute custodians, substitute food service workers and substitute school secretaries to $12 per hour, meeting the new $12 per hour minimum wage. Director John Walker was the only member opposed. He wondered why the pay rate increase for the substitutes was lower than proposed pay rate increase for a substitute bus driver ($14 per hour was proposed increase and it passed later in the meeting).

“I think those positions, having done them myself, are worth more than minimum wage,” Walker said.

“The reason it is $12 for those positions is that we are having as difficult as time getting substitutes for those jobs. We are having a difficult time getting bus drivers,” Superintendent Dave Murphy said.

Director Marcel Polak, having been a substitute teacher in the past,  said he thought it was fair to pay bus drivers more  because “it’s a more challenging job” and that they have the “safety of the kids at stake.”

“Bus drivers are a greater rarity than substitute teachers,” Polak said.

Walker responded by saying that all the substitutes should receive the same amount of pay.