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4,24 the budget balance Carri forward on the revised budget is 1,632 15 do I have any questions on the revision no questions was that it yep that's it Miss syia no okay thank you thank you appreciate it uh with that we'll move to adjourn the public hearing move by Miss syia Hendricks I'll second the the motion all those foro against motion carries public hearing is adjourned at p.m.

we'll be over at Neely Traditional Academy celebrating their National Blue Ribbon Award with their students teachers support staff principal and their families the National Blue Ribbon Schools is the United States Department of Education award uh program honoring high- performing schools and schools that are making great strides and closing any achievement gaps between students so once again congratulations to neie we look forward to seeing you on Monday uh winter break begins on Wednesday December 20th and lasts until Tuesday December or January 2nd school resume on Wednesday January 3rd 2024 as we say goodbye to 23 it's important to recognize what a great Community we live in in Gilbert and East Mesa we're blessed with extraordinary students families and our teachers support staff and administrators are second to none I am personally thankful to be part of this GPS family and I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year we will see all of you in 2024 Mrs wood that concludes my report for this evening thank you Dr McCord uh I did not see any request to speak to the governing board tonight so we will move to our reports 6.01 monthly financial report for month ended November 30th 2023 Dr mcord thank you madam president govering board members I'll turn it over to our associate superintendent of Business Services Bonnie Betts thank you uh thank you Dr McCord um good evening governing board members um Madame President um this uh report is is fairly short um but but both um Lauren toska and I who's out in the audience are available to answer any questions you might have so to begin as always um we start with the district operating funds so the big change for this report this month was the fact that we are adding the projected budget revision Vision number one we intended to potentially have to do a revised budget by December 15th however due to our additional carryover as well as additional student count um student counts at the end of last year which increased our budget balance carry forward by a million dollars we were not required to revise the budget so we plan on bringing the revised budget to you the first board meeting in February so you can see that on the maintenance operations uh fund line the adopted budget was $286 Million about and it went up to nearly $292 million that uh has a contribution of about $950,000 from that increase in student Counts from the prior year due to the recalculation along with about um $4.8 million of additional budget balance carry forward the other thing that's important is that 200 92 million nearly excludes the $1.2 million transfer of the district additional assistance into M we had enough available budget capacity that we did not need that transfer so we felt it prudent to move it back into the unrestricted Capital fund um you can see that all of the budgets uh or all of the funds on this page have a projected budget revision uh based upon mostly the impact of the annual financial report uh finally the other fund that is highlighted is fund 610 or UND Capital outlay note that the adopted budget was about $ 52.8 million and it went up to $5 55.3 million that's reflective primarily of the encumbrance period and not getting materials in in time to be uh to end the prior fiscal year so that difference of about $3 million um is already in the encumbrance for the uh new school year because it was planned to be spent we just didn't receive the materials so the purchase orders rolled over and now it's encumbered in the New Year leaving an available balance of about $26.7 million so before I move on are there any questions regarding this particular grid okay great so this is just the details of what I just shared um so this is the federal grants uh the most notable fund on this page is the 220 222 uh idea Part B note the adopted budget was the $5.8 million and that we revi we plan on revising to $7.4 million primarily due to the work regarding maintenance of effort if you recall you did approve a revised AFR that allowed us to move M Monies out of um out of M I mean sorry move move expenditures out of idea and move those expenditures into M giving us additional budget capacity in idea in addition the high cost I wanted to point out uh the idea high cost note the year-to DAT expended encumbered of 21,000 generally we do not have a budget reflected on that line because the amount of money that is reimbursed we always submit our high cost expenditures and the amount of money that is reimbursed to us does not meet the total expenditures expended it depends upon how much money is available at the state level Statewide um again small changes in adult education and vocational education all those funds that are not highlighted you can see that the projected budget revision number one is the same as the adopted budget so any questions on any of that before I move on just on the idea high cost so if it's if it's 21,000 which is a a smaller a small amount but if that should that be negative then in any of those things so basically what we what we probably should do is as the reimbursements come in we should put in a budget to reflect that so that the available um balance becomes zero so when we when we show the dat expended encumbered we expended that but we also have received the reimbursement already as well so it kind of matches out um but but you're right the grid does not show it or reflect it correctly so we will start putting in the reimbursement amount under the budget line so it shows a an available balance of zero okay that that's good even just your explanation just helped me understand that thank great thank you was there any further questions board members no okay oh did you no okay thanks m p great thanks uh state grants we had talked about the instructional Improvement uh fund a coule couple of times the last couple of months note that we now have a projected budget revision number one there of $2.8 million and you can see the Ava available balance is now $1.2 million uh Structured English imersion you can see that that projected budget revision number one is significantly lower that particular fund uh changes drastically year-over-year going from nearly $2 million down to 33 ,000 um but you can see that we have not expended to that a nearly $2 million budget and then the results-based funding budget was slightly larger due to carryover monies available and then the school safety program this has been negative for a while as well so we had expected that possibly that budget will go up but we don't have any certainty there so if if we do not receive the $674,000 we will um move move that $9.4 million of a of a overe expenditure into another eligible fund okay we're just leaving it there to reflect that for now okay and then the Enterprise funds the big change here was in nutrition services we had anticipated a beginning balance of $3.5 million and you can see it's now up to 8.7 million so the biggest difference with nutrition services with all of our other funds actually this is true with both community school as well as nutrition services they operate through the summer so we do not have that 60-day encumbrance period so we are estimating what that final uh ending fund balance is going to be reflective of June 30 but there's still activity going on in June and remember we adopt the budget in in mid June so um that change is regularly expected and both the beginning balance in nutrition services and Community Schools did increase um you can see that both of the available balances are still pretty healthy in those two Enterprise funds okay any questions on that okay great and then finally uh other District funds uh note The Joint technical education fund that too had additional uh budget balance carry forward than we originally projected note that the year-to date Revenue uh column is at zero so the next time you see this grid we will be reflecting what we anticipate we will receive in Jed monies um to update that accordingly but you can see that the year-to date expended encumbered is $5.4 million leaving us an available balance of about 3.6 million and then just minor changes in the internal service funds a beginning balance of um $773,000 with the revenues um just showing minor changes from the prior month and that is all I have to present to you thank you board members are there any questions okay thank you very appreciate it thank you thank you Miss bets and your team we appreciate you very much we will now go to 6.02 teaching and learning academic Spotlight Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board members tonight we have some folks from our teaching and learning Department uh more specifically our special education department and I'll turn it over to Mr Ryan to introduce them excellent thank you Madame President governing board Dr McCord thank you so much we're excited to have this evening uh an update from Fran Gren Bacher our director of special education and Courtney Med Medina our secondary coordinator of special education services um we talk often in the presentations that have come so far this year been focused truly on what we do K12 academic intervention um curriculum usage this is a little bit different this is kind of outside of a typical scope that a general Community member would think of when they think K12 education in Gilbert Public Schools um these these ladies are tremendous to work alongside and learn from on a daily basis and the heart that they have for what they do for our students um just want everybody to know it isn't just k12 and what their grades are Ong the way but it's preparing for life after a graduation and um tonight they have a presentation put together for us that uh I'm excited to hear so thank you so much turn it over to them thank you thank you Madame President board members Dr McCord we appreciate this opportunity to share with you a little bit about secondary transition or more specifically postsecondary transition so I'll give you a little bit of the of background um the exceptional Student Services Unit of the Department of Education identifies 17 performance indicators that districts are expected to meet Targets on throughout the year two of those 17 targets have to do with secondary transition and so we're going to share a little bit tonight with you about indicator 13 and indicator 14 of those performance indicators indicator 13 discusses our responsibility to work with our students who are in the at the high school level who have turned 16 as they plan for life beyond graduation Beyond when they live leave school and go on to whether it's vocational career interest some kind of a educational opportunity and our teachers you might not know but our teachers in addition to teaching all day at high school they then complete their day by case managing a group of special education students in that role as case manager they convene IEP meetings they make sure the right people are at those meetings make sure that the right topics are discussed and we have our data ready for those meetings and help make sure that students IEP is followed and is on a trajectory to help them be successful and one of the things they help oversee is the development of each student's transition plan so that transition plan takes into account some required assessments to figure out what students might be interested or ready to do when they exit high school we develop some postsecondary goals that are measurable what are they going to do could be something like enroll at Chandler Gilbert Community College or it could be obtain employment as a veterinary technician or whatever they're interested in or what they want to do um the team then develops a set of coordinated activities that support the student towards those goals and what they want to work on they develop a course of study which lines up every class the students are going to take freshman year through when they exit Gilbert Public Schools so that we keep them there again on that trajectory of success they will look at the annual IEP goals and make sure those are aligned so let's say that a student um says that he wants to get a telemarketing job that's his measurable goal to obtain work at that maybe that aligns to an IEP goal that is he's going to work on some reading skills so he can read the training manual to be able to do that so it all comes together in a package where we're looking at those goals that they have for career or continuing education along with their IEP goals and then we make sure it is at this point that that student is definitely invited to their IEP meetings we love to have students at their IEP meetings whatever their age but specifically when they get to be 16 so much of this plan focuses on their interest their abilities what they want to do in life it's even more important that we have them at those meeting so they can have a voice and be part of those decisions and the considerations that are made for them good evening sorry I'm a little short here it's with great privilege that I'm here before you to talk about all the things that we do in Gilbert Public Schools to support students and their transition needs both in high school and to prepare them for After High School um first I'd like to take a moment just to say that our students are the reason why we do what we do um and I'd like to just give a special shout out um and a thank you to our certified and classified staff that are the backbone to our program they run things they go above and beyond to meet the the needs of our students um district and campus leadership without their support um we wouldn't be able to do what we do so uh just thank you to all those folks and lastly Our Community Partnerships out there we have plenty of um community-based instruction sites that allow our students to come and practice their skills and hopefully generalize those skills um out into the community so just wanted to give a thank you to to them as well so um going to go through a little bit of what is offered at our at our um comprehensive campuses so with every comprehensive campus they are staffed with a transition coordinator which is a 0.2 FTE um in addition they also have a Paris specialist which is an 8 Hour um position and those folks uh assist students with their transition needs so they might help with some with those transition assessments they might assist students out in the community um they do a plethora of things so it doesn't just stop there um they really are meeting those unique needs of their students um we work in great partnership with our course description book committee to make sure that all of our students have access to transition activities um while they are on the campus so these are just a few of the course description um courses that we have and offer as supported through special education so we've got application of life skills career exploration um we've got community volunteer experience so there's a plethora it doesn't just stop there we've got lots of opportunities for our students to practice um and learn what it is that they want to do Post High School um um we also work collaboratively with each of our campuses to give our students the opportunity to build those skills while they're on the campus uh finishing up their graduation requirements but also practicing those skills as um as bran mentioned on their transition plan so another shout out to all the departments on the campus that allows our students to um work in partnership with them we've got folks in the school store we work with the a atic Department we work with nutritional services so there's just a lot of opportunities for our students to um learn it is learn what it is they'd like to do uh and and practice those skills and generalize those skills um for post high school we also have off-campus transition programming which is really exciting so our students that um require additional specially designed instruction um and require some off-campus transition programming to continue to make progress towards their transition goals um we have off-campus programs housed at Gilbert Classical Academy and this is just the housing unit for um this program all of this um students at every comprehensive campus um May at some point participate in one of these uh transition programs it is really an IEP team decision if they feel like that is needed um they still connected to their comprehensive campus and that they attend their first period on their home campus and then they are transported over to Gilbert Classical Academy and participate in their transition program and that could be there are some students that require some more support that maybe they're doing um activities on the GCA campus they also have lots of Partnerships out in the community where they're doing community-based instruction um with the teachers there and the pair professionals that help support support that program we also have another off-campus transition program that students apply um to be part of it's called project search and it's something that you all um or the board approved back a couple of years ago um and it's a really exciting uh Venture for our students who need that support with learning workplace skills so project search is our partnership with Banner Gateway and students participate at Banner Gateway in their internships and rotations for their full instructional day so they participate in the project search curriculum that um goes over things uh such as goodness all kinds of workplace skills looking at um how they might work with an unknown supervisor things along those lines uh it's the project search curriculum and they are then partnered with different um departments on the banner Gateway um location to practice those skills and hopefully generalize skills that they can use whether they get hired at Banner Gateway which is the hope that's um something that we really love as part of that program is that Banner Gateway wants to hire our students they learn those skills but we also have students who may generalize skills that they learn there to then apply for a different job maybe at a veterinary office um and work there really exciting um we offer a GPS transition Services fair so this is something we brought back last school year um where we bring in local agencies and organizations that support uh our students and their families and adults with disabilities um so we're bringing that back again it was a really good turnout last year we had about 30 plus agencies and organizations such as Vocational Rehabilitation Valley Metro evit uh Chandler Gilbert Ark the list goes on there are so many folks who want to help our students and their parents um figure out what's next uh for them post high school so we're doing that again and we invite all of you if you'd love to come and um come and see it it really is a great turnout we have a lot of students who come and have conversations with the organizations and agencies uh that's going to take place February 29th at the community ed Center um from 4:30 to 6:30 so it's just a a great opportunity for our students to learn what's out there um After High School okay so the other indicator I mentioned to you there were two indicators that have to do with secondary transition the other indicator has to do with post School outcome survey this is a required survey that the Department of Education ask us to do every year we attempt to reach out to as many students who graduated the prior year as possible and there's a set of 14 questions that we ask them and what the Department of Education is really looking for in that survey are two data points first of all they want to know how good is our capture rate how many students do we maintain relationship with and are able to they'll pick up the phone when we call basically we hear from other districts where they tell us oh our kids once they're gone they won't even pick up the phone if they see it's our district calling them we don't have that experience and I think that's um speaks volumes about our amazing staff teachers campus staff and the relationships they form with students our students do respond now on this indicator the department of aded sets the criteria this the success targets and they ask that we have a that every District have at least an 80% of those previous students will respond and participate and um we are really happy to let you know that our number for this last year was 89.4% so we exceeded what the state's Target was and um pretty handily so that's that's a very strong number that means these students are answering the questions they're happy to talk to us when we call back we have staff who have to go through this questionnaire now the other thing they're looking at is so what do you find out about your students when you ask those questions how engaged are they because we want them we've developed these wonderful plans I talked about we have these great programs on campus at GCA at Banner but are they doing something meaningful once they're done that's the other question that that remains to be answered so what the ad has set at as a Target there is that 73% of students will meet the criteria in these four areas I will describe for you and you'll know we're at 80.3 so we far exceed that Target as well the way that they classify that a student is engaged is one of four ways first of all are they enrolled in a higher education institution part or full-time and um in in a two to foure program the second criteria would be are they competitively employed are they at least making minimum wage at a job 20 hours or more a week if so then they would consider them engaged the third element is other Education and Training have they gone to evit are they doing some kind of a vocational education program or some kind of adult ed program if so they're considered to be engaged and then the fourth one is other employment do they work in a family business are they self-employed employed what are they doing maybe it's not a minimum wage more traditional type of employment but some kind of employment so if they if that student answers through the series of questions on the survey that they are involved in one of those they are considered to be engaged post high school and that's how we get that score so like I said we're at 80.3 we we have really surpassed what um the state is hoping the target would be at 73 3% so we at the at the end here we gave you some some data points um right now our special education population is just a wee bit under 4,900 so 4,900 special education students we have about 50 students right now who are participating in off-campus transition programs so that's a good number we have seven FTE full-time teach teachers who are working with our students to help work on these after graduation skills and uh work planning um 124 Paris specialist hours a day go and a lot of these students need some support especially initially when they're out at these job sites learning how to work and how to take things School skills and put those into the work environment um and we currently have 21 campus or off-campus sites that partner with us so that can be a variety of different businesses that invite our students to come in as part of their transition day and practice those skills as Courtney was talking about generalizing skills they've learned in a classroom but now can they can they take that communication skill and answer people's questions at a place of employment um that type of thing so those sites we highly value our community Partners they are very um helpful for us so why do we do this well we believe not only is it a legal requirement but we believe fundamentally every student in special education receiving any kind of special education services is entitled to a wellth thought out transition plan that really is individualized to what that student strengths interests and abilities aligned to and and that's on us to provide them with that they all deserve it and we want to make sure and then we want to help them Reach whatever that plan sets out for them we want to continue to meet and surpass State targets those targets are great we're not really sat we wouldn't be really satisfied with meeting the targets we want to continue exceeding what targets the Department of Education has set with uh postsecondary transition outcome surveys these programs and Courtney I already mentioned this they really are a collaboration the campus administr ation the teachers on the campus the Paras on the campus staff at District who help oversee and help us keep these programs running and families and the students themselves it's it's a big huge effort and combined effort of all of those entities working together to help these students be successful and of course we appreciate your input um I do remember coming and talking about this little project called project search and what do you think wants to partner they want to put some money up for this really neat program but no one had done it in Arizona yet we were the first they sought Gilbert public schools out and now here we are seeing that we are having success with that program and these students are being hired by Banner Banner has always said with that program I think I shared that with you the night we talked about it the first time they did not see this as just a program to get some good PR over they said from the get-go we want to hire Gilbert students that's what we're all in this for and they have made good on that they are hiring our students and um parents are thrilled we go to the graduation each year and the parents are just over the moon and excited about the success that their students have had especially with that program because a lot of times these are kiddos who maybe aren't so interested in going to college but now they have I we had one parent at the graduation um just this past May who said everyone in our family does medical stuff and she had given up that she would ever be in the medical field because she thought things would hold her back she is one who was successful in Project search and now has a job in the medical field might be a little different than her family but she feels like she's arrived she was just tickled so you made that happen by approving us the and giving us that opportunity to go forward with that and we really appreciate that as as well so I think that is what we wanted to we're real excited to share with you transition what's going on in transition and what we're doing for our students after they graduate from gilber public schools thank you very much thank you so much we appreciate it board members yes is it still 22 when they um are they go till they're 22 yes and do you have do you have a program on every High School Camp every Comprehensive High School campus we have the Campus based programs Courtney so all of our comprehensive campuses have the opportunity to provide transition Services we then Beef It Up with the additional transition programs that are located at Gilbert Classical Academy um so that first slide where we talk about the Paras Specialists that are involved and the transition coordinator they assist and make sure that our kids are having those active experiences on the campus while they're receiving all their other credits to make sure that they're practicing those post-sec AR skills um and then if they need additional support past that then the team might consider an off campus transition program thank you you're welcome any other questions yeah I go ahead so um just remind us how long it's been about 5 years I think since we started doing project I think we've done search I think it's been at least three or four years yes I think we started right actually before covid cuz that first year was a little bit of a challenge with parents being always comfortable with their students being in a hospital environment given all the unknowns with Co so it's been a few years but Banner has asked to continue renewing that partnership um because they believe in that program well I I just have to say I I really admire everything that happens in our special education department to support our kids and I actually feel like we need to take some of the practices from Special Ed and help our regular students with social skills job hunting preparing for After High School I just think there's a lot of best practices that might move over to help just some of our regular kids so I really appreciate it I know that you guys are doing a phenomenal job so thank you thank you you good thank you thank you so much for presenting tonight we really appr it you guys thanks to all of your employees like you mentioned we great well that will conclude our reports tonight thank you for those that will take us to our consent agenda items 7.01 approval of consent agenda items board members is there a motion I move that we uh we approve the consent agenda items as um presented thank you Mr Jetty it's been moved is there second second thank you Mr Thompson it's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda items as presented board members all those in favor please vote by saying I I I and any oppos with nay thank you that passed 4 Z that will take us to our request for future agenda items if there's anything tonight otherwise please let Dr McCord myself know appreciate that um that will take us to our board committee reports 9.01 city of Mesa liazon I do not have anything to report tonight 9.02 uh Mrs paig is not with us so we'll go to 9.03 Gilbert Education Foundation and audit committee Mrs humph so we um have read through the uh Innovation grants and those decisions are being made and that should be out in just a few days and then just a reminder to students that the um scholarship applications are open and also our staff as well they can go there and and see if there's a scholarship ship that they would like to apply for so those are available until I think March 4th thank you 9.04 Insurance trust representative Miss U jetti I don't have anything to report tonight we're meeting tomorrow thank you 9.05 legislative representative Mr Thompson nothing tonight thank you thank you our meeting dates future meeting dates Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board members our next board meeting is January 9 that's a special organizational meeting and a brief board business meeting January 23rd we have our board policy committee and January 30th is our board business meeting great thank you very much that will take us to our adjournment board members is there a motion I move that we adjourn thank you Mr Thompson it's been moved is there second second thank you Miss humph it's been moved and seconded that we adjourn all those in favor please vote by saying I I thank you that passes 4 Z we wish everyone happy holidays and we will return in January thank you guys

6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturdays to try to serve you know athletes could still do them on Saturdays or even 6 to8 um depending on the season they offer three courses per semester it really engaged the kids on IEPs on autism spectrum um to get more Hands-On creative and creating things um and aside there was a job core table outside as well um and and they mentioned that job core is 120 different sites and it's a post-graduate program but they mentioned there's dual enrollment for senior year which is really intriguing I I wanted to try to look more into that um but you can graduate with a skill you live on campus they have social workers is an amazing supportive program for kids that college is not for them um so that is also I'll give this to you guys but it it was a really exciting program too sorry if I can't understand me oops oh it didn't bring it up all right sorry sorry I just wanted to fly through the pictures of their there sorry too many windows open uh so this was the presentation they gave they have a lot of support um you guys again can look at some of this information it's not oh um anyone that's text ABY know how to get out of here or I mean there is that is a link I don't know how I can open that with presentation I apologize guys oh I see you're gonna have to end the slideshow and then drag it over oh okay you can't bring anything over thank you um kind of a big statistic is that they had uh they had to do pre- survey that 30% were giving like minimum effort in school uh were engaging in school and then at the end of the survey up to 60% of the kids were engaging in class so not only were they engag Eng in this material after school but then they were more engaged to learn during the the school hours um sorry so just some of the pictures some of the schools and these weren't Tech schools but some had materials to do um welding and different science projects um they also had nursing tables uh culinary carpentry um they had virtual we building and and the mom was a school Committee Member was also speaking on this panel and this was her child really he was on on the Spectrum and just became really engaged and enthusiastic and really came out of the shell so to speak um so it's a really you know in terms of equity kids can feel more comfortable feel like they're excelling at something and then be more participating during the day in their regular classes um but it was just a really exciting program and there's grants available aailable um so it's just very exciting thing got say that more than once it was very moving the that Mom you know she had a tear and ey we all had a tear and ey just in the difference it made for those kids that felt so kind of limited in the academic classes so we talked at length of this on Friday so this is uh don't stay on your message strategic plan at the Forefront but there was a lot of great material on how to engage the public and get our message out like the three-year plan not even staff knows about that um so really trying to get the video of when you did your Spiel like not uh you know year ago fall right so this it was really about communication and they talked about the Strategic plan but it could be about anything and I don't really know how much we're communicating with our community but they they were were suggesting that we do it like we invest in it dollar Ford dooll with policy and it's not really like PR it's more like Community engagement and building pride in the school and getting parents excited and you know the the larger Community excited can probably help with budget the whole budget process if everybody's just really um psyched about what we're doing in the school and um this is you know it goes along with with Carol's District Improvement goal with the community engagement you know and I know you're going to a lot of events and things but this could be an extension of that even um they they just talked about some of our modes of communication like the website and how we can make it more interactive more visually appealing and more intuitive um has to be ADA Compliant mobile friendly and you know just having more interactions like you know the accordians with the FAQs and things like that just to make it more fun have really great pictures uh so social media they suggested that we're communicating throughout the year about our progress what we're working on initiatives shout outs to teachers and students of course having permission for all of that uh just news stories just all kinds of things that just make people like everybody can be informed if they want to be and excited about what what we're doing and they even suggested printes so if you have if you do have a strategic plan you might want to have a nice print out of that and give it to the different stakeholders in the community and you could even make bookmarks you know have a QR code on it I thought that was kind of a cool idea but but basically they were just emphasizing the need for communication and I was wondering if do we have like a Communications person on the school committee or or we don't so this is for school committee not the district it's kind of both um so it's really both well it's yeah very separate because the District maintains and controls their own web page and school committee has absolutely nothing to do with it right um yeah so we we mentioned like Carol's newsletter yeah we have a a page on their page but like John's controlling his school Sydney's controlling her school Lisa has tondo we don't have any control over what they're putting on their site the pictures they're posting like we don't have any access to that so yeah I mean it was talking like Carol's newsletter and the principal's newsletters that like are those going out to the general public and and sending them maybe to the town or posting them to the the Boon neighbors connect or whatever to engage and so like for the link there's a lot of parents but maybe the's parents are burned out and we can get wider community members to come and do nature or science or um if we Outreach to them and so that was some of the thinking good point yeah it was pretty exciting so we could do probably a lot with that if we want to um okay I think that was okay so this was another really great talk and it was about how to navigate polarizing debates and you know we're in a very polarized Society right now our schools are getting hit with all of these topics as well um one thing that really hit me in this talk was that the teachers are really affected by it and so much so that they s limit what they talk about with their students me that was just in the survey that was done through that organization but the Massachusetts law requires that multiple perspectives are taught and but teachers are afraid to say things that are controversial so they just don't know if they're going to have the support so so this in this uh Workshop they suggested that we do have training for teachers on what the topics are how to handle it what they can say maybe what they shouldn't say say just so everybody's on the same page and everybody feels supported and the teachers don't feel like they're out there alone and that they'll be attacked um they they also suggested and I love these ideas that we have a monthly Community conversation events scheduled throughout the school year where we can invite the community in have a certain topic maybe have it facilitated by somebody that's you know like a separate organization like maybe like braver Angels you know somebody like that and where the you know parents community members can interface with the school we can really get you know just work through some of these topics that are so divisive we could also have listening hours what they call and that could be at a local community center like at 19 Carter like we've talked about before um we could bring braver Angels into the school you know to have different talks as well and they also suggested things like surveys polls um and just being out in the community like Carol is definitely doing and also after or any events like this that we share what we learned with with the rest of the community so that everybody who spoke feels heard understood and then the rest of the community is informed as well and then they they touched upon when you are in a polarizing debate so like when somebody comes up to you starts yelling shouting this happens a lot on social media as we know they actually recommended that you don't engage on social media because once you reply to one comment you you're on the hook to reply to all of them and usually those conversations don't actually make any progress and that's why they emphasized more of these face-to-face opportunities and being out there making yourself available for face-to-face conversations um and they said you know if somebody comes up to you and you're out in public one of the best ways to start your response is just to refer back to core values and that what your core values are the school's core values are it's just a very centering positive way to start the discussion they also suggested and this is for everybody if anybody's watching in the community too that we focus on the issues and not the players so we're not attacking each other you know we're talking about the issues themselves also to not be dismissive of opposing viewpoints you know diversity in thought is important and um uh I think that was it yeah and just the social media that it's just not the best platform I'm sorry my notes are on so the next talk kind of um kind of continued topic from what Lisa went to uh it was uh an all conference presentation called transform of relationships uh and and she she had this I don't know if you can't see that very well huh scarf thread so c s c a RF um and so they do stand for certain things so the first one is status so so when there's change uh it's not the change they're afraid of it's it's being left behind and so with status it's your relative importance with others um and so you know it's make clear that it's not your status that's being changed it's belonging for everyone um my apologies and is it clear that these are these are people that might be questioning initiatives like for diversity equity and inclusion she was the speaker was talking about like these might be some of the concerns that people have yeah and and to take take it like this is maybe why they reacting the way they are right exactly like they have legitimate you know life experiences and concerns that make them you know scared and these are ways to communicate with them yeah so the status like we're not going to you know you're not going to get cancelled um no one's going to to get fired and and that they feel listened to um the certainty you know the ability to predict the future so knowing what the next move is that you crave data not being left out of what the plan is um because it is very frustrating not to know details certainly when I wasn't part of this committee I felt very frustrated that things were getting talked about and I felt details weren't being shared to follow along um and you know it's that fear of the unknown and then autonomy the sense control over events um again that all opinions matter no one's going to be discounted and that in disagreement that we grow um and that we all want to be heard and to do it with me not at me um then relatedness the sense of safety with others that sometimes people feel you know it's the smaller group being comfortable in the with and the bigger group but then also the bigger group being comfortable within the smaller group um and that it's about the the kids it's about Humanity it's not about certain groups or or identities and the last one's fairness so to manage expectations that we all need time to process change um and that it's it's important to recognize that change takes time but it it was really a fascinating talk um if you ever get a chance to hear Dr darnisa Amante Jackson talk she was a very dynamic speaker and I guess Carol had heard her at another venue as well so um one thing that came out of that talk as well is that when you start with diversity it takes like four to five years to see the belonging and the inclusion come out into mcast scores um so I thought that was a really interesting thing that even like the funding and the you know the the mcast scores it takes time to to see those things come to fruition and come out in the MC scores so and that that is data supported by a Harvard researcher as well so this next one is interest based bargaining um so we are going to be bargaining I think the summer of 2025 Carl was saying um and I guess bees had done this before Carl was saying when she was part of that committee um and the basic principles are separating the people from the problems Focus on the interests not positions um and your partner is coming to a solution rather than them versus us um it is a five to six hour training um but it sound like the people that go through with this training and the process it's a very satisfying and productive experience um when the bargaining happens we both went to this presentation um so it's culturally responsive social studies so it was Medway that piloted this program um and so I really liked it because it was a critical thinking so the piece of paper that they handed out was was this and it was an article about this person and she ended up running The Gazette and it looked it it talked about some of her background and her religion and then it said it made you look at and ask you these things and how would that frame her experience in life um and so I think it's really critical skill for our kids to assess a source of information um and to be able to you know go out and look at the internet like not all the internet sources are the same and um and so it was really an interesting um curriculum that desie has it's a pre curriculum and the goal is to live local think globally and E ethically it seem to really bring the history alive you know because you're looking at it Through The Eyes of these historical figures yeah and we were talking about um historical fiction and how that again brings it alive and and makes makes a different perspective real to to kids so this is a lunchtime talk um you know artificial intelligence teachers are starting to flip the curriculum read at home and then come write the essay in school um to prevent cheating to prevent cheating the G GPT detectors aren't really useful to detect when they're using you know the whatever gbot um and but to also make room for some experimentation like how could it benefit us this is something that is now going to be in our lives um so um software designers now are using AI alongside them to develop software so we have to kind of think about incorporating it as well there was a lot of slides for this one um kind of the big takeaways there's two different talks on legal um issues and different cases that are ongoing um and they were Mas masc legal advisers and actually a colleague of Kim's was there and so one of the takeaways is they really encourage us to have a written policy about f Facebook page um to be very clear about who controls it what's posted and and if responses are are done um and then there's different forms within the school and in the school that the school can limit your first amendment rights when it crosses a line of violating someone else's civil rights which I thought was interesting um and right now in the First Circuit Court Massachusetts um so far is upheld the schools required to teach certain sub subjects no matter what one of the last ones I went to was communication Styles and Jim Hardy I guess is retiring soon uh but he assessed you know a series of questions of what your communication styles are and he comes to school committees and tells you you know does a whole questionnaire and tells you what your communication style is and how they can work together and how they're important to have opposing Styles but that if everyone's kind of like on one side of the grid it was a you know X and Y if everyone's on one side of one of those lines that sometimes you can come across challenges um and so we had a bunch of different books working with difficult people dealing with people you can't stand coping with PE difficult people and I hate people which I thought was fun um but just so many resources there and like I said if you want more details there's a ton in the drive there's a two-hour meeting you can watch from Friday um but I really encourage you to think about going to the conference in the future it was really interesting to hear what else is going on in the state and different Desi and and other resources and obviously we can't do ad Justice with a 10 minute little great thank you guys so much I appreciate it that did remind me I did forget one thing speaking of the faceb page um usually the chair controls our Facebook page it's just how we've done things in the past I'm actually going to delegate that to our district secretary which is lii Hart um so if anyone has an issue with that please let me know but pretty much all L will be posting on our Facebook page it'll be agendas and factual information that we've already discussed at meetings so she's just taking it off my plate so it's one less thing I have to handle um and for that I'm greatly appreciative okay all right did anyone have questions for Jess and Lisa yeah the blackone collaborative that you mentioned yeah um can you say a little bit more about that like who's involved how is that something you're asking us to start or it's an idea right so we're thinking how do we keep the students that are finding they need to go to aset um and so it's a way to offer them um you know there's only so many minutes in the day it's a way to offer them kind of these different handson classes and that they can experience different things and maybe do I want to do that in the future no I don't really want to do that in the future but find out now before they go off to college or or whatever trade they might think of um so it's something to investigate um we belong to the aspect collaborative and so you know just trying to think of like what our resources are and then reach out to other schools to see if that's something they may be interested in I know there was a a parent who was interested in trying to restart the stem pack it's not quite the same as this but they might be interested in working on that with you I don't know that's a great project for your subcommittee um actually there was a lot of things in your presentation I was thinking that you guys maybe could pull and then what you can do is bring your ideas to the committee or bring them to Carol obviously first and how she feels about it if it's doable in the district but that's a great task you know for them to do the research and the leg work ahead of time at their subcommittee meeting and discuss and see um you know what needs to be done the cost obviously is going to be a huge thing and then it would have to be brought to the committee and yeah the grant yeah go ahead car two quick things one is the conversation on Friday that we want to put the my newsletters the newsletters should go to the towns and that's something and I start doing so even that is a simple way to communicate even the Facebook page and number two the Strategic plan all of these are great resources we don't have all we have to decide which ones are important to our district but they're great to know who we can contact when we need to one of the key ones I think you talked about is the Strategic plan I know I keep reading the drum on this but it ties into the work of graduate the collective Vis of the 21 stakeholders who are involved in that discussion putting that together the next step is to develop a strategic plan that's a piece Peter spoke about it earlier I I can't be responsible for what happened in the past but going forward involving these individuals all in the Strategic plan is our next steps today and I think we can pull a lot of these These are the direction we want to go in no sense going in a I'm trying to avoid is this is my idea that's your idea I'm weing all over the place what is our Collective vision for our children we have to decide we're to Crossroads right now about that we have new you heard a whole different profile coming into the high school all of the schools who are these children coming in what do they need to succeed we talked to alumni last time next time we're going to be talking to admissions counsels from the colleges you get feedback and I'm going to start to put this together The Next Step next year is starting to go on that strategic plan we're finishing up that the district Improvement plan with concrete plan a lot of things we needed and we did need them to that point the math teacher is among those right on there and there's each thing presents its own kind of separate issues we're finishing up that last year next year that ties in perfectly with the timing to launch that strategic going forward it just makes sense because it's systemic and it involves a collective body stakeholders all different types of so thank you to Jessica for for capturing all this I I am in awe of that I go to these conferences all the time um so I hear all of this and the body of me one communicating that but when we can sit and talk about them right and I you share that it's a tremendous it's good great it was a great confidence I'm sorry okay Lori you have two minutes to do your super so for policy there are two um policies that we're voting on those were in first reads last time there are seven ones that are the seven that are in the drive that are first reads this time we went over it Mike Carol and I and M MC suggested changes and we agreed with all of them so that's an easy reading you can see the differences I made sure that I put them in there so you can see the old policy the new policy where the changes are so those are in the drive for you for a superintendent evaluation update um in the drive you'll see we have the Jess and I updated the new um evaluation model as well as the rubric to reflect Carol's goals I'm not going to hand it out we're not going to go over it but it's in there if you want to take a look at it we we'll be presenting it in January um we had discussed originally having an masc come in do a workshop with us train us on superintendent evaluation there's too much going on with budget we found online at masc and I will send you a link there's a webinar if you want to watch it you can if you can watch it on your own time and there's also um Miss Costello has created a folder in the school committee Drive entitled superintendent gold FYI goals FYI school too evidence um unlike past years where we were given this all like at the update stage Carol's putting things in as she makes progress which I think is really helpful so please try to check in on that every now and then it'll make the evaluation at the end of the year a lot easier thank you that's awesome and side note to Piggy back off of that speaking of Carol's goals we actually a little business item we actually did not vote on them we discussed them she's been moving forward with them as a formality we never voted so tonight it's just a formality yep we didn't we went back in love we did we check yeah we agreed we just to the vote we agreed on it and I don't I think because we were supposed to vote the following meeting and then it just never made it on the agenda um but we did review the goals so we are going to vote on those tonight um and there's lovely little folders that Carol is tucking things in exactly we're already almost at the midyear point so um so we will vote on that but if if anyone has any questions on that now lri would or Jess might be the person because they've been working on that if there any questions on Carol's goals it will be colorcoded Carol was really great she put in each standard and how it related to it it's just it's just it's phenomenal and when I present it next time it won't be a very long presentation when Justus I present it um you'll be able to see that it's just it's going to be really she she's laid it all out for us that we can honestly just look at the work and then write it and not have to pull and go do our own investigation and thank you for the compliment that is what it's supposed to look like oh my goodness it is tremendous they know that they all do that we just haven't seen that in the all right Carol what do you need five 10 minutes well I don't know I'm I'm GNA start with the easy stuff first we do have the date for the school resource office forum for Boon that's going to be uh that's on Monday January 22nd from 5 to 7 Megan and I are meeting with B selectman and John Mada April stward I think that's it on Thursday to set up what we're going to be talking about so the Forum is obviously going to be publicized across the town in Boon and it's question and answer period for folks we just want to make sure we we have what we think folks will want to know about during that time so um that's the school first off forum for town of boy individuals was the burd invited today I I haven't invited anybody yet oh oh Julie you this is confusing because you didn't come to that attend that select Bo meeting in Boon they specifically asked to hold a town Forum to see if the town is vested that was a boon Board of select a select board ask in Berlin because so the srl would be based at it would be a boon police office officer for Tanto and no I know that but they work in Partnership that's just why I'm asking just to least this is just to decide if how the town feels if they even if the select board will even approve it because we can't do anything until they approve it so once the town approves that then we need to Loop Berlin in so that that same select I believe Mike was there I believe Mary Porter from Berlin came and he expressed um she was not she said the schools took all the money last year so there's no money left over for she did not see a need for Berlin to have an SRO this would be something that would be funded through the police so that would be a Berlin thing if they want something specific for Berlin Memorial there's also a Tanto pce well the way it works is it would be a boon police officer that would build the district and then the district would have to allocate part of that expense to Berlin but the but so Berlin PD is not going to have any should be in collaboration but this is this employee would be working for John and nunia no yeah I understand that but seeing as he's an SRO I I'm just saying just to keep Berlin if it is a community for I would just say out of courtesy to the Berlin p p for or being asked to pay for it we can absolutely invite them to the Forum yeah unfortunately you know what I'm saying though about the decision making is John is hiring the person John is supervising the person because it's in the town of Boon so how would that work if Boon goes ahead with it and we have a Tanto you know that Berlin should be painful but you haven't asked burlin yet that's one of the conversations I think we well that's going to be in the budget it'll have to we'll have to decide it'll be an ask in the budget so it's going to end up going on Town floor whether it's approved or not but that is going to be something that would be in the budget so it's not really asking Berlin it's putting it in the budget T budget wouldn't be there it be cover town but the Berlin part T budget would say that again sorry you're saying it's different between the two yeah that's what I'm trying to figure out both go in the B they both this forum though is decid is determining if the town of boil [Music] I get what you're saying it's if the police if the police want to actually hire an SRO so it's for the police Saturday not the school Saturday this meeting that we're having and then the same thing for the for because the select board in Boon has to approve you were at that meeting right it was kind of confusing the select board has to approve the police to hire an SRO right has nothing to do with the school that's select board and police in the town of because T sits in the town of Boon yeah I'm a little bit my understanding was don't think the percentage breakout was it's definite say it's 6040 60 to the school 40 to the the time of boil Bo percent 60% will be split in our buget to yes and then on the police side you know there's other expenses benefits vehicle all that uniform police outside school time yeah exactly so that's why this is a boon thing for now and then yes Julie will absolutely we'll like invite them to the Forum but it's a boon select board PD decision yeah he might we'll invite her we'll see her tomorrow we'll invite him yeah the other the next thing community outreach I'm just as I'm out there in our community PTO meetings everyone tomorrow yeah tomorrow I finan I'm out there with our people but I want to get out more to the general population the general community members I wrote a list down of places that I want to get to um just me one that was great today I did I was at 19 Carter not to push the budget I just want to tell them what good things we're doing at the schools and hear what their concerns are hear their questions so I'm kicking up the coffee chats they send the date within the next couple of days um out of what what I'm planning as I set these up the the libraries and the different areas the other thing we talked about doing I wanted to maybe Megan you and I can work on it and making sure we hit the meetings the finance meeting select board kind of DIY it all up so everybody knows where they're going to be um on different nights or can be um because I think it's important based on our's presentation that we show to the table so we'll get those two that I can work on that yeah like a sign up sheet I think we had a sign up sheet last year yeah we STI something in the drive and if everyone can you know tackle so they we just wanted to bring everybody involved get everybody involved in that um so we need to beight um last thing so this is a bigger topic and I think it's going to roll into a lot that Julian Megan and I have talked about and speaks to that policy I let me just say a couple as we approve facilities use they come to me and I sign them in this case they came through first it was Tanto and I said well they have to have a custodian they've had custodians right too had boil so when I came time to sign Berlin might will be a custodian there that's what the policy said so I happened to be sitting with Megan I said I need to call Julie as the head of the W department and tell her this so she went okay and then she left and and I called Julie and that was that was a shock and it didn't go overwhel I am responsible for the policies of the school committee anyone were not following it's important you tell me about I need to look into we need to change and that's what our work is and I'm holding them now I'm caught between a rock and a hard place because as we talked about a few minutes ago it never was followed in burlin it just never was with everything it just S I don't know what happened it just never was now I'm sitting here and I'm like I need to follow the policy and then we went back and forth I'm like but it's your policy I'm know to tell you if I don't you can fire on me if I outwardly sit down to follow this policy you have the right to on me and I'm being in support and now following your poliy that's a little L thing so not only that and that's so pleas of what I worry about I think um I'm worried about the Safety and Security of our children I'm worried I'm I'm constantly on this this is my biggest initiative is why we have that crisis team from years ago I started that crisis team so we could come together as teams and protect those children children while they're in the school day I think we've done an excellent job with that they never want to turn around and say oh my God we did do something we chose not to for whatever reason and something happens I could not live with myself with that for not doing everything we possibly can and that's why we have had all these people involved in that conversation during the school day now we run into I think this the better part of it and I think it's a gift in a way is although it's been very unsettled I don't know how to describe it expensive expensive all kinds of extensive exensive and it does it raises all kinds of things of looking at the security of our buildings beyond the school day so we one thing the girl in peace brings up having a custodian there I do think it's important things happen during that time when when these games are kicking off or whatever it is it doesn't even have to be games there could be other reasons the building is rented we have that when other people from other places rent our space right in the facil especially my biggest concern because Boon and Berlin are very contained when they come in the rec programs that whole there's only a small section that they can be in um and and that can be controlled Tanto is my bigger concern look we're sitting here now the door's not Lo yeah who who's I don't mean to scare people I'm just trying to elevate how we can protect everybody who's involved it's a crazy that things are going on we get reports about things going on in the Commonwealth thank God not here but they're happening they're happening she we get phone calls you would get phone things right when you were a chair things happen and will happen happen you I don't know but but let's take care of things the best we can some of it may be an inconvenience as we go forward but then some of it will just become habit I don't want to make this decision and I'm backing I want input from people who who have a stake in the game that's why in my report basically I'm saying please let's form an ad hoc committee and look at the Safety and Security of each of our buildings what do we want to do going forward when do we want to lock the doors in the afternoon folks come in and out of here in the afternoon I I tried to start it and then I stopped the admin team and I said let's look at this after the holidays let's some we have to send out communication people can't show up at the door and then we've loock the door the next day otherwise everybody's why is the door locked it's not what we've done in the past but if that's what we collectively feel like we need to do my god let's do I mean let's let's take care of these things I I don't want to be by myself and making these decisions right now can uphold is your policy and I think we've worked out a reasonable decision around us for burlin for this year going forward I I I think I think we have I know Julie's G speak to that just gonna say it's a perfect set I don't know do do you want to comment on that Julie the which part that we've worked out a solution I've heard what Julie thinking the locked doors you want to talk about that first so what is the concern so what there was people found in a school they somehow got in they weren't supposed to be there the the concern is what they're they're going to hide out overnight until school come in the next day do something plant something C joint whatever it is yes that's what happened that came on the news that was one that's one incident but there are other things that have happened Through The Years in schools after hour I want to scare people but just I'm just trying to say let's be proactive anyone could get walk in right now and like go hide in one of the classrooms and be here or like plant something so we talked in the beginning it is to have the the key cards you know we did the additional cameras and the best rules for everything put those in we talked about the side door here that is kids are coming and going without any anyone sorry is anyone monitoring the cameras like overnight though or when people aren't in the building like is anyone actually monitoring those cameras monitor so having the doors open at night just sort of throws at all yeah that's exactly what she's saying how what do you mean how do they open that then having the doors open right now having these doors open or like on a weekend all that work you do during the day for extra security buzzing people in secondaries moving their desk they can see out the window cleaning up the trees and front of bees so they can actually see out the window again having an open for or any event was yeah kills all that effort unless and that's why I'm asking let's figure out what we can do better around this this is just this is why this wasn't like a specific agenda item I asked Carol to talk about her we haven't this just came up like a week ago so I think there's two separate things here Julie's going to talk about her piece about the cost for the custodian that's something different that we can vote on tonight and hopefully find some type of resolution for this thing I think we need to kids show up on it was a few weeks ago kids show up on Thanksgiving for basketball Ando a lot nobody knew what was going onake I was getting questions what that going idea I think it was a misunderstanding because Carol that's when she initially got some communication and she had communicated with some of the administrators and I think there was confusion amongst all of us um and that's when Dan who's here work with Julie and me and we we worked out schedule concerns and and fix that those schedules it's all new it's all new to us yeah so I guess my suggestion would be to have a group maybe another subcommittee that works with the police departments yeah I put a list of people my computer died it was in Carol's report but um I mean you got to work with the towns it' be interesting to know what other schools do yeah absolutely I think that that's part of our work so many schools the other thing Julie that the reality is like well this committee could put it out there we could go on the list ser and ask what other schools do we can see what other schools say they do and that's the other thing what you say you're going to do and what actually happens in real life sometimes they two different things right propped open three hours later I me we talked about that too because my my my position was that okay some District I go to superintendent meetings I ask what do you do they tell me things maybe it doesn't happen reality and some don't care end that they don't do it that's their problem some our problem I want to do what we want to do and what's best for us so ask other people so we can figure out strategies how'd you go about doing this how'd you get these people great to gather information from them but what they do what we do to do what they're doing do we I just think it's really crummy for the student I just think it's crummy for the students like this is their school they can't enter their school after hours because it's locked that creates a that's what this that's whats to get them in the door that tracks in school but that's that's a bigger a huge student IDs like students are they really responsible enough to be responsible for being able to open a building like no they're gonna like lose their ID on the side of Route 70 part of life you got to do it at work train valid have ID I guess if you lose your ID yeah right so I think that these are all good things that we need to talk about would driver Li these these are all ideas to bring to the we need it needs to be a bigger discussion though it's not we're definitely it's 8:30 we're not going to solve this so I think think maybe when Carol and I meet you guys think about like who's interested in being involved in this and and doing it I know Jessica you done so much so I don't want to put anything else on you because she just took off uh planning the master steering plan for me and she's on Port of graduate so you know I mean I don't know who's interested Lisa Mike or lii or Julie yeah so I mean like to Dan obviously yes absolutely like man and D that goes without saying yeah that's absolutely your realm um so I think car why don't we chat you guys think about who might be interested in sitting on this committee um you guys also have to have a say you know programming that goes on the weekends and it's your building so I just feel like this is a huge conversation and then the last part of this we want to kind of decide what we want to do then we kick it back to policy you guys have to take a stab at that and then it comes back to the committee I don't foresee this being done this school year I foresee this something that we would initiate for the next school year um hopefully you know being voted on by by May or June um so what's the security in interm with this FBI directive status quo status quo as it was we didn't make any changes because we haven't voted that would have to be a change of policy you don't have to vote or do a policy to put in security controls right that's why I said to my admin team I wanted to go forward and do a communication to to the public after the holidays that we need to sit down and work out how is this going to look but I don't know why you don't just reach out to the police Chiefs and get there into they I I have not yet well I talk to them all the time I'm sure I know what they would say you're right then we have to notify if we choose to do that and lock doors after hours more it's been really difficult even to consider that because there there's a there are there's significant public feedack huge that's G to create hug maybe instead of paying for Jor you just pay for security guard is what we talked about but a security guard so we had talked about that was something we talked about building a security guard into the budget but you would need that person to be here not every night and then weekend so you're T 40s so 40s hour tickets right or we can we can mon we caning for we strict access to different areas by ensuring that these door doors the corridors are locked that only one door is open there that it's monitored there that we have something going across and I have talked about something across the stairwell yeah the point is car it's the committee doesn't have to wait to plan a meeting to plan the next meeting to form a committee to have a meeting to plan the security protocol if it's a security and you've had it for three weeks now can you can make changes to security nobody's going to fault you for making security changes but what should she do you lock the door I don't know you you work with the crisis team and the police Chiefs all the time I start there but as far as long term we can do this what we're talking about but immediately if there's an issue a current threat assessment whatever you call it to the point where the FBI needs to send you an all superintendent a notice I don't know maybe that's just they send them one every day it's like candy I don't know but if it's rising to that level and now we're hearing about it we haven't heard about it in 3 years anything like this I would suspect you have authority to make security changes at the doors I would I would just add to that that It's Tricky Danto yes I mean these are least buildings right Danto yes I know you're the superintendent but B and BMS that school locks to these to the gym spaces so you say just lock the doors that is immensely disrupted to these youth programs so you're saying so I know I'm familiar with BMS you come in the side door you can only go into the atack room the bathrooms the gym in the gym you've got the office you've got the stage you can't the cafeteria automatically locked there's an entrance to the cafeteria that locks and then the double doors are locked bees has a similar setup anyway I don't understand we sweep room bathrooms the we do every time sweep the building that's we do after an open house Ry Ryan would do that I know at bees before he leaves so that for basketball at bees yeah it's 8 o'clock at night after he's gone no Mike's there 10 right 10 what time is no Mike what time does Mike stay night yeah we and I think same at burlin right you have custodian I mean so that sounds like problem solved then what are we worried about well it's the doors are still open so those two fine but he's the last one to leave that's when the door gets locked and then yes that's what we do at status even taking the the sports program out of it we have PTO meetings at night I think of Berlin there's a PTO that's going on in the library the link meeting but the do open all the way down the hall by the gym right that's how they're Coman is still in the building so Mike or whoever the burlin person is what part of their job is to make sure everyone is out and then sweep through no but even during that time period do we want the door locked that's what I'm saying and somebody has to be there to let people in then who would open it well you you move the PTO meeting to the cast that's exactly right but somebody has to run out and open the door not in not maybe building building no not at CL it's unlocked because then the after school kids are out and then the basketball program's in so you can still get from the gym into the cafeteria no uh no it's locked but if PTO was in there and they it is it locked or is it unlocked it's completely locked you cannot get in the school side of the building P wanted to have their meeting in there they would put someone at the door the C door and make sure nobody exits I mean these are not these are easy fixes I don't think the answer is no we just have to figure out what we're going to do at tont over the weekends T well no I I we have more than that but yes add too so yeah and same thing so yeah I think burlin and Boon but now you know if you don't have a custodian so in Boon um the gym is only open for three hours on Saturdays correct Cindy and then the building is locked and nobody's in there the rest of the weekend correct so fine Brian is there those 3 hours the custodian and Boon is there for those three hours on Saturday he's responsible for checking the school there's no issues at Boyston Elementary and there is no need for that gym any further than those three hours because Boyston has Hillside which their wreck basketball uses as another facility to practice but he also shouldn't even be on school who right well he's not it's fine I'm saying you said check the school is so you can get from the you cannot get from the BS gym to the school no there's a door that's locked that they keep locked um so it's a bathroom a very little hallway and then the gymnasium they also have a stage and all that there's closets and whatever but it's sounds like it's a solution for that the issue is Tanto okay so what do we do with Tanto do you keep the door like again it's a high school so on the weekends are people in here probably right Lisa um so I mean there's practices there's practices practices not only that you rent it out to multiple places I know we had a dance recital here I mean it was people were all over the place so I mean there needs to be a policy moving forward what is the policy are the doors always going to remain locked and when you do you need to purchase a security guard if you're going to have a recital here do you have to have the doors locked and have a security guard or are you allowed to have the doors unlocked and it's free roaming in the school you can get any and then or does somebody have to sweep the school after I don't know I don't know so here's my question what even with the security guard I'm coming here to watch the basketball game all right yeah and then I go in the gym and I come right out and I go up the stairs well if the door is locked and people are going to complain what I'm saying lock anything going St what's that front door so even at the security let somebody yeah they don't know exactly so we're trying to control Society here I don't know that I feel like maybe it's worth a meeting with the police Chiefs mik right the crisis team so maybe Carol you and I should talk to them maybe at the next Crisis meeting we can bring this up and just say what do you recommend and maybe we don't need to make this more into what but it needs to be a reasonable solution we can't just be okay we're just G to have the doors locked all weekend at too know the way is to have all these other doors all the way G always closed at weekend only you get through is key or badge do is there a Swip thing at every double door yeah oh there is they just to this area every yeah oh there oh I didn't know that Sol oh there it is thank you except for the up get upstairs this they as they can't get through they won't be upstairs no locked oh those backs locked so every door is locked you just have to be designed it that diligent about lock the spaces just have to be locked whose responsibility is that codian codian but we leave the door open to the access to the gym whatever it is to come gym in the bathrooms so then you so all is locked so this open area will be open and then the custodian needs to do a sweep before he leaves but then you absolutely need a custodian well then you would need a custodian to and be honest with you custodian is always been um for like if there was something on the weekends so we there never have to be a hired custodian during the week because that custodian is on staff until 11 but on the weekends because I used to do student council we always hire a custodian for anything if a custodian was not on staff we had a hire one so that's always been the case for Tahanto and I think it's because of the nature of the building all right so Carol let's do that let's do that we'll add that on to our agenda and then something and I'll bring it back next time um I done so I can only speak to what I have done yeah just like Saturday practice do I'm curious no because that's a employee of the school that's a team correct was that the employee of the school coach comes in no no janitor come in [Music] on should be talk after him all right Julie give your um quick thing vot on that so tell the committee what you're asking okay so currently the PO policy requires a janitor on staff for the entirety of the time that anyone is in these buildings now larger discussion is for our to maximize facility use I would propose that these schools go into share use agreements with the towns so that these gyms especially can be used by your community members whether it's your youth basketball programs it could be the seniors that do share volleyball or pickle ball or whatever it happens to be um that they're able to use these facilities right because in Berlin we have no rec center there is no senior center in Boon I know they have limited re space over there um yeah but it's just the gym it for the policey upstairs um so it's just the gym so is there a senior center there no no so we have to be able to or we should be the schools should be supporting Community Access to these to these sites right certainly for seniors and youth nonprofit organizations um so I I I'll definitely recluse myself from this vote but I I do want to make a motion to um in a current policy I want to which is file KF Community use those facilities I want to strike completely service fees and rental fees for um all youth groups that are registered 501c3's or nonprofit associations um for the rest of the year and to bring this policy back to policy subcommittee to to bring it back to the policy subcommittee with a better understanding that these nonprofit groups are just that they're nonprofit groups for the Youth in our community so you want the school district to pay for the custodian so here's the tricky thing right these these groups have been functioning for over 10 years without any custodian on site we've manage the floods in the BMS gym Berlin Recreation committee pays for the gym floor we pay for the basketball hoops we pay for the maintenance of that facility so with all due respect I get they you're trying to uphold a policy but that building is funded that gym space maintenance is funded through the Berlin Recreation committee not the school so to come to present this to us when we' already started our program to me seems like it's in it just it just doesn't show good measure or good faith with with that organization I understand your upholding policy I really do I I I get that um and and so because of that that I think we rewrite that policy but in the meantime right now I'd say for BMS and B that you strike this my motion is to strike the service fees and the rental fees for any organization that's registered Serv in terms of custodians correct so no custodians or or let me qualify that and it will be overseen then by The Parson rep committees but Boon and that's not the case why think Ryan on Sat Parkson no rental basketball does boon pays rental no they don't they I believe they just pay for they just pay the c c it's a CIA they just pay Ryan three hours yeah they just pay Ryan yeah it's over, okay Ian it wasn't that way last year I have all the bills okay I last year they paid a rental fee I mean I don't know if we're talking about the same program the Boon youth basketball program cmf basketball same different no that's okay Boon West bston basketball yeah yeah yeah I paid a Jim usage and custodian last year yeah Carol wave that fee this year waves the Fe for anything that involv our children yes it also pays for and they pay for the floor they pay for the boops yeah they do the same thing for the gym Boon pay I'm talking about hills Hillside oh yeah yeah yeah pays for Oiler right now as far as I'm I know that's not happening after and they're not paying for the Hoops because we're having some hoop issues the floor issues no that's all through the school I'm talking about the hillside sorry that's I just clarified with her yeah B no because yeah I understand ra isues over there and the floor and you know so I think we should keep bees as is and I think it's working no one's complaining Ryan is there for three hours you're comfortable with that that's always how it's been in Boon right and paying for Ryan as far as I know and the only thing that organization is paying for is for Ryan for three hours I can't speak to what they're paying for at Hillside I don't know the answer to that oh beside yeah Hillside because they have two so the thing is with boil they have two gyms so they just need the school facili gym for those three hours because they also have their recreational Hillside gym so they have two gyms in Bur we have one gym what w wave them for well that's what I would think I think it has would but then do you want to have custodian there is the question because I don't understand ever since I've been in this town I've been told when they built the School BMS it was intended to be shared community space the community can use it November or sorry January 11 2022 Susan was chair we're on this policy committee Jeff was here I remember having this conversation the town gets free use of building BMS so are we going to charge town meeting we've never charged town meeting for they use the building basketball whoever else we Charing I'm sorry that's the facilities use but they don't pay they do get it free we don't charge anything we they have a custodians on the duty during that time so that's not an issue it's really the weekends we holidays weekends holidays custodial fees so I guess the question is saying I it says custodial Fe it specifically says custodial Fe dur does it specify after must be present at all times yeah so they're already there as Dan said I think they have a custodian in every building Monday through Friday on business days from like 7 to 11 right so if the custodian is there for town meeting which is a week night Monday 7 to whatever right basketball's there on a week night 5 to whatever why are they treated differently no it's not we're just talking about weekends so so the the custodians there basketball do pay during the week for the week the weekends you pay so we pay you know you know you've been there 9:00 amm until 7 at night we use a BMS gym so that's at 3650 an hour that's pricey right okay no it's 10 on Saturday and then Sunday as well it's used to because that's the gym for the burlon news basketball program for Boon they use the hillside program but because they're such a large program yeah I don't think we should be separating schools it's right it's not Equity whatever we pay in one town other so but the difference in equity I'm sorry no you go the difference in equity is that Julie if I understand correctly you guys are maintaining that school JY with your money well I think that was part of the conversation with Jeff was we don't charge in BMS it's it's always different in BMS it's always different in Berlin yes because it's always been different that was part of the conversation so I don't I don't even know that this applies to them that policy well the way it's written it does yeah it's yeah so either so I guess here's the question the first question is how does the committee feel about first let's take Berlin Julie has proposed let's just let who has a key you yep I have a key so Julie would there would be no custodian on the weekends Julie Lee is in charge of opening the building and closing the building and sweeping doing stuff in the building done for 10 so there will be no custodians in the building that's yes it is Wick confusing trust me so I would like to add yeah she's not getting paid the question is is the committee comfortable I don't I don't want the award I've always said that let's be square here 10 years of that I thought left off discussing this for this year we burlin because the custodians are having a minimum of three hours in their contract for any kind of overtime which is is included Brian would be covered in Boon the earliest paid the three hours but in Berlin for we talk throughout this year going forward is bur would just pay that like that three hours even if they're there 10 hours the the Dan has custodians available to open up when everybody goes and set everything up for them and then come back walk up sweep the school make I say sweep sweep the area make sure everything's safe clean up the bathrooms because they get heavy usage make sure the floors are okay because we start school the next day a lot of times after that Sunday so that would be the the custodian fee would be the three hours that's where I thought we left off discussing I didn't think we we did jie is I had a change of heart I'm sorry Carol she just told me I not know before I'm sorry I had to go back to the so I guess my question is Julie's put her position on the table Carol has put her position on the table this is a difficult conversation I want to know how you as a Committee Member feel about allowing let's put Boon to the side because I think Boon is working I get that you said we have to be Equitable but then you're taking away like Ryan has depended on that income he's that's he's always done that so say no Ryan you don't get those three hours how much money did did the re pay for the floor and all the equipment so it might actually be exactly so I guess the question is let's put push Boon aside the question is to the committee how do you feel about allowing jewelie this waiver would just be for this season and then it we have to change the policy I agree the policy has the policy has to change um allowing Julie to not have have a custodian there and she's in charge of that building I just just the gym area not the building yes that that area the other option that Carol just put on the table was to agree to have burlin pay for the three hours just like Boon does and have the custodian come in and open the building on Saturday and Sunday morning and then come back and clean up clean the bathrooms and close on Saturday evening and Sunday evening and so be six hours it would be six hours exactly right concern is also if nobody is in these buildings and if we do this blanket across the schools no we can't do this for I don't well but then that's kind of what Mike I think is saying cross we have to do the same all now we have something happens and I'm not talking about security issues I'm talking about the bathroom time we can't do that something happens in the buildings and nobody even knows about it the the heat went out what other time if something happens the person that contact is going to be Dan and then he's going to be called on the weekends it Carol if something happens in these buildings on the weekends nobody's here and that happens what do you do I mean it's a gift that people are here nobody's here for example I got water Al a flood that's I mean that's extraordinary fire goes off I get the alert yeah like I know when you go Jung what about like you know the end of an event like maybe an hour worth of can three hour minimum minimum three hour for custodians per day which is as you can see we've exhausted this topic Julie and I right so what do you guys think those are the options really like I we've kind of gone through every Avenue so the option is to wave B fees no custodian Berlin only I don't think we need to change Boyston or Tanto and the equity pieces because like you said Berlin rack is paying for the floor they're paying for the Hoops in that facility Boon doesn't do that no one does that for Tanto so that's option one option two Carol's put it on the table three hours on Saturday three hours on Sunday the program is responsible for can I or the other option is go pounce Ang got have these students already paid for basketball because whose pocket is this money coming out of yes ma'am they have the the fees are already there so I don't know if the program probably doesn't have the cash to cover have you yeah do you guys even have the cash to cover this and how be impactful for sure yeah exactly have to go back to families and or yeah they'll have to get donations or whatever that would be the programs we have to look at it from the school committee but yes that would be the program's issue yeah no I'm just curious yes yep you're exactly right LA and that was the issue that Julie was trying to present is that if she had known about this last Summer she could have changed her fee schedule and actually we looked at it Berlin youth basketball pays significantly less than Boyston youth basketball because Boon has those fees built in because we didn't know this for some reason they were getting charged a rental fee and a custodian fee in Berlin wasn't um last year so and but we we we there's that too I mean they pay $1,000 and they have the usage fee I don't know I don't know what the usage fee is Bo for last year it doesn't matter whatever happens to be but the idea with W programs is it's affordable for families this is programs are not trying to make profit here we're just trying to give these kids an opportunity to have something right these towns do not have thriving Recreation departments they're volunteer run what do you what do you guys want to do starting with you like I mean if I vote on this it's voting in my favor because I'm a member of this my kid plays here too of them so maybe I should vot I mean so does mine actually ironically enough well your kid doesn't play for burlin do yeah both kids well then we don't have we're not going to have a COR I mean I'll vote in my self-interest and not pay more if you want but that's what it will be but I'm asking you do you want no custodian in the building or do you want to pay parents to get one no what you would have to ask the participants to not to pay for the three yeah I think it's hard to ask you know a kindergarten parent who's showing up one hour a day for eight weeks to pay another $40 I think that's absolutely I mean could it just be a janitor for Sunday to make sure everything's clean for Monday I is that the biggest concerns are not problem on Monday morning never that's I'm Italian I mean I would guess not many if they're in for an hour and how many kids are actually going to the bathroom Carol how do you [Music] feel all so we know so we have this is the vote then we have to wave this policy because we're out of compliance with policy if we do that we just have to strike parts of it we can keep the top all right so Julie put your so that means we Dan listen this that mean there would be no custodian John you're comfortable with this I think it gives us time to think through a more realistic plan that's gooda yeah if we strike through now or just do a waiver oh no this is just GNA be a waiver Berlin youth basketball only or any Berlin youth basketball only through the season which ends February 12th Julie but it's I would say yes this well not on the weekends yeah I would say this is for any any youth group or any fiber1 C3 or what happens now we get a bunch of applications from other groups hey your space is free can I use it no but they would be no that's people fees yeah these are res groups Julie no you just said any those no resident resident Julie then we have to change the policy yeah the whole thing the waiver we're gonna vote on right now the waiver we're voting on right now is specific to burlin youth basketball right now all we're going to do so regardless this policy is getting kicked back to LA and Mike okay sure regardless you guys can R it but you have to remember keep that in mind it it's for everybody yeah right now I'm so mad I got free lunch baby wait a second I want free lunch [Music] okay Julie the motion is gonna be specific to Berlin youth basketball for basketball season we're not giving any more free passes to any other groups right now actually question so time meeting is during the business hour there's nothing else so if there's another group that wants to come in on the weekends when Julie Julie's already using the space for this so like let's say in March somebody's like oh I heard it's free we're just going to come in use the space no that's this this vote well no this vote specifically no the the motion is just for burlin youth basketball to wave all this for the remainder of the basketball season in the for Berlin well because the the director of re will maintain the security and the cleanliness yes because the president of Youth Basketball will for the next three weeks February 12th no February the week February 12th we going to play I would like to go on record of saying I I think this should be done for Boon as well how do you feel about that I think we need time to talk about it but I think there's a little discrepancy there because you're saying the rep is paying for that we at well they're not yeah and Ryan has been doing this for years I don't know how many years and if we're talking about it's not losing his job it's taking something away taking away from something he's planned through he's already set his good point can I add you that just good point another just to throw out there the fees that are collected are used for the gym floor for the for different things right so those would go lower that's all just I think we keep as this I get that you're looking for the equity Berlin they do it R isn't paying for anything for the school burlin rack is paying foro so I think the motion on the table should be specific to Berlin youth basketball for the remainder of the Berlin youth basketball season there's nothing no other progr go a policy and this policy and then you guys have to you guys can take this to policy and as long as it's done before you know the next season well no because then that space could get used for like we run basketball camps that's not for youth basketball that's through the W Department right so hopefully by March or April yeah I don't mean like next basketball season the next season spring season knowing this now you adjust your fees for right right right right well she's gonna adjust the fees but do you want in that policy do you want to put a maximum on there what if a program needs we we'll hash through that you got to Hash through that that's what I'm saying all right so Julie make your motion please not to be rude can I suggest somebody so given given the money put in by the rec department for the floors and other gym equipment the fees I don't know hopefully service fees and I move to wave all fees for Berlin youth basketball for remainder of their season through at least February 28 2024 is there a second is there a second ni have I'm watching second any discussion all in favor I I'm an i as well uh any opposed have to yes you can Y and Julie recuse your as she is the president of Berlin youth basketball all right motion passes can I just I do appreciate Mike made a point to Carol that we need to start following policy and that's what Carol was doing I 100% agree y so yeah so the obvious question Poli for another meeting okay okay I'd like to make a motion to approve the Tahanto Mark fidr Foundation donation all in fuss okay go ahead so we' had issues with uh other local companies and their donations and asking for the money back when it wasn't applied how they thought it was going to apply I was confused in what was provided in the drive with this specifically mentioning the Unified sports program what best buddies information being included in and I I can get clarification because best buddies um is part of the um Special Olympics part of the Unified sports it's it's all it's all kind of combined they're the same legal entity the same program that we have here same particip the same particip the same I and I I asked I reached out to the Fedrick um to to get more clarification on that and she didn't respond because the other thing speaking of a policy is that the donation policy specifically says the committee will spend the money as they see fit so but we do work to honor the wishes of the donor which specifically says we have a unified sports program right we don't have best buddies I know that's a separate vote coming up later so it's a little this missing information like if we vote on this and I and I didn't reach out yeah I know you did I don't know if we vote on this and there's leftover money technically we can use the money however we see fit it doesn't have to be leftover money it's whatever money we could use any of the money so maybe when we do these votes we should say to be used for well that's that's the the thing so to be used for you un ified sports but then it looks like there's a best buddies program to be run separately from this because I see the the financial breakdown of that program there which it looks like you're intending to use money it's all the same participants it is all the same all right so we but is it the same program because we already voted for the Unified sports program we have that going that's ongoing that's I think it was specific to what weightlifting or something weightlifting but they want to expand that um through the that's funny if they want to expand it to bot and and and and track okay I mean that's the confusing part because that information wasn't in there so the donor is saying the donor I don't know it's confusing to me because I'm not as familiar with these programs it sounds like two separate programs I tried to search Unified sports and Des ples together I didn't get anything that said they were together so I don't know I just we're we're into the weeds and the details of policy here so I think maybe we modify the motion to say to be used for Unified sports um sure and then if there's money left over you'd have to take it back to the committee and and we' have to revote on how to use those funds no just go to the next or go yeah it would be in a rare situation if the program somehow like like this is enough funding for one Whatever wants to be done are those other sports only through best buddies or are they under the do we have best buddies and Unified sports that's not what the donor's letter says the donor's letter it's so so the donation came because we were um I was at school councel and a member of school council a Community member who has um knows the mark FID Foundation okay there's that connection and so we were discussing that we were going to do best buddies and then through Best Buddies we hopefully increase the Unified sports and programming for um that group of students and this person at the school council said I can get you money to help you start that and I'm like great so this is for you know best buddies and un you know and ex extended unified because we need um nursing and also Care Professionals um and staff when those programs are running she's like absolutely you know I'll get you some money she came in the next day with $3,500 and said get these programs going that's that's awesome I'm totally in support of Ito local right asked I've asked for I wrote the people and I said can you please we need this specifically outlin and they just they didn't reply they just want it to go to this really this group of students for encouraging them all right I think we say to be used for Unified sports in the vote I think we're covered so the the motion has to be amended no I feel like it's best buddy who's the that's not how I interpret SOI Sports now we have the best buddies they might be under this kind of the same umbrella but if you improve it as Unified sports I think then we can't like we can't should prove it as best no we still have uni best buddies I think you got it the letter I have it right here in black and white it specifically says two separate programs I don't want to get into a situation like a few months ago L A Local Company want their money back um I mean I think they they're trying to pull together best buddies like as we speak you know they've been waiting we've been waiting explain how it's best buddies rather than Unified sports Olympics is defin best buddies are all supporting aspects of the same overall yeah I think we're getting caught up on DET yeah great they want to donate to Youth and sports best buddies I think I think out this is a good proposal of course you explain so all right all right we're GNA take the vote as is so the motion on the table was to approve the donation um of $3,500 to Toano from the mark sorry FID FID Foundation that was the motion on the table she did it nicely second you said so L and then Julie all right any more discussion we're g to vote is this so this is not to be specifically used just to use how this is just accept the donation and let the school use it potentially be used for something children of can [Music] weiling to the donor so to say used to be used according to the letter en thees of children disabili through focus on Sports and sports education the last paragraph of the letter says please direct These funds toward the Unified sports and fitness program signed warmer guards and Jessica F all right so so I to apply this money to the unified supports program as the donor was say sports and fitness programs would that kind of expand that's that's them describing their mission right towards univ Sports and fitness programs so fitness programs could so if we approve this and then we approve best buddies could this then just go to best buddies because best buddies is part of Unified sports that was a question I asked but nobody could answer it she said yes I'm thinking yes because that's what the letter does say so y okay okay so the motion about best bu but it says Unified sports so if they want Unified sports best buddies they're not the same and why we need to vote to create the best buddies if it's the same thing why so we should have voted for Best Buddies first Branch Sports yesan of it where do I see that so in the last sentence if you said if you would vote for Unified sports and fitness programs that should include anything that we might later vote under that including best best buddies a fitness I don't know what it is on the Mas a yeah yeah oh oh oh sorry Oh I thought you were no best buddies is like when yeah they go I know I used to do it when I was in like I I volunteered you goor that right you go yeah you got like there's kids that work with kids with special needs and they play sports they play games moved to motion to spend the money as the donor asked in their letter that should be blank enough y someone want to second that motion second okay all in favor of the amendment I'm an i as well that the amendment passes um anyone opposed no all right so um so now I'd like to make a motion to approve the donation of $3,500 to toono from The Mark fit Foundation as amended right the amended motion or specifically say to be used for as the droner wishes y that second all in favor motion passes all right um could I have a motion to approve the creation of the best buddies Club at Tanto second any discussion all in favor I'm an i as well before the ey is fine but it doesn't say anything in here about who's going to run the program who's the funding looks like it's only for one year what happens next year does this become part of the bu so that would be up to you it's Michelle Peterson she runs our program for the tools for living um program and the um tools for Living Program and um those students with special needs so she was wanting to you know start this program to see if you know it would you know benefit the students the whole school year and she was she was she was willing um to come speak today um but that would be a difficult ask to have somebody sit through four hours of meeting to come for right a moment so yeah all we need is the information of the drive above moving forward yeah moving forward I think we said for approval of clubs we need to know the cost to the district who's going to run it and any other perent information so I guess after this year we'll be part of the budget is my question so my take on it is that it's funded from the donation that you just approved the budget is in the drive it doesn't say the name of the person who's the advisor but but there is a right and it is not in next year's budget because it's funded by the donation that you approved so this doesn't start until next year or is it starting it start start it's gonna start as soon as it gets approved because it was it was on the agenda for last I think it's like uh was like 3,200 or something to run it and the donation is 35 so that's one year right or is that one one year no we discussed this this is for this year only so maybe that'll be a reiring donation so yeah that's right so the budget was going to be adjusted like there was additional exp year so we up the expenses it'll be used yes so that was my question so it's a one year it's a one year yeah try it out and see if it's successful maybe we'll be lucky to get a donation again next year or maybe get a I I think there's a very good lik to Contin to be supported could I have a motion for the approval of the sports card Club at Tanto sove oh any discussion yeah I understand that you're upset that we're here for four hours but I mean there's things that need to be discussed um so the sports car club this is good it says who's going to advise and all that there's no cost so that's great but mentions specifically uh buying and selling and trading cards so i t i t because that was written up by one of the students and I told them specifically that they couldn't do the buying and the selling good because that was my we get into IRS issues and all that I I we're gonna have to make that clear so amend the motion have to make that clear they're they can trade yeah the other thing about trading so here's I thing about trading right I just went through this kids trade and sometimes they get pressured into trading things they might not want to trade and that's fine if it's at lunch or on the bus or outside of school we're actively endorsing this now right what kind of safeguards are they going to be so that you know kid doesn't come in the next day and say I feel like I got traded out of something I didn't want to then you got parents calling the schools sayy why are you taking my kids think I bought him that for Christmas or whatever are there plans to deal with that um permission slip in the beginning permission let's make sure we include that that's a very good idea yeah you're agreeing yeah let's make sure we includ that [Music] drama so you're need to sign some sort of waiver that you're not gonna be upset if you decide you're free to choose and trade what you want but once you do that's final there need to be some well parents need to be involved in signing that maybe I don't know depends let make sure we specify and have to amend we just make a motion to specifically approve this minus these buying and selling and uh making sure there's a permission for the training m we have to four hours so we have to amend it because motion the floor yeah so amend the motion to specific to specify there will be no buying or selling and that a permission slip will be needed to join the club as a waiver on the trading of cards all trades are final second all in favor of the Amendment I'm an i as well I it's a monster agenda it is it is a monster okay um so could I have a motion to approve the sports card Club as amended second all in favor m& as well motion passes before I make a motion is there any other questions about the Nature's Classroom trip fundraising or the donation from from AP bu guard for the donor's choice for theou Club stien have no questions on they classroom by have some other all right go which one M um let's see well overgard uh again it doesn't say um it specifically says for music right instruments course music so let's make sure we have that in the amendment what was it I mean in the motion I had no idea what that was and so it says specifically for Cindy did you want to just go into a little detail yes John and I met with um the music team there was funding needed we put out for donations it's very nice B stepped up and it's still the music program he didn't give us a letter he just would you wrot a description awesome and he goes to the music program for so generous yeah okay what about donor's Choice did you have a question on that uh I thought this looked like a cash donation but earlier tonight someone said something was it's actually materials so donor's choice is a one of those websites where you uh post and you need things it's a a lot of teachers do it um this individual situation is a new teach you who didn't know that fundraising has to be approved Ahad a time um because she did an ear job and did it all the time it was fun so um what I like about because n talked about the some of these online fundraising set you're kind of funky uh in donor's choice you they list what you're going to get and for her it was um sensory materials is the for our program our purchese program for some special needs so it's fundraising not donation well yeah it's a donation that comes from a fundraising grp that's a completely different policy I know it yeah that's the first thing I said teacher didn't understand that she didn't get so that policy needs to be Revisited for such websites like that I think it cover I think would cover that if it was follow I don't really think it's a big deal I don't think there will be much to do there some there's not a low of control there's a yeah there's an issue about using the school's name like what does that website will thatle data or how responsible is you know you I put my thing up on whatever chines money.com and I got all this money do I have to really spend it on yeah this is kind of what we ran into last year with that one group and it was it was a similar website the key to this is that how it is like here we have the link we see how it was posted we see what this particular teacher asked for it is our job when well when this is accepted that's accepted with the use that it was posted for and I think with that other situation there was a lot of confusion with that my opinion if you follow that okay what about thee Club s do you have a question on that one yeah I got aot question okay who's that for Lisa well it's an mlu first of all should we be discussing that in Open session or executive session well it's just a club stifen but it's an M can you say again what your it's anou which specifically in the mou says it's going to be attached to the collectively bargained agreement should should that be discussed in Open session or executive session it's [Music] reallocating existing fund is just reallocating it well that's another question I have about it but oh yeah this just you guys already voted on this we did yeah why is it in here yeah I thought we did too it's funny you say that we you already voted on this all the different CL right yes so what's theou well so that being what it might be number four says this agreement shall be attached to the party's Collective barting agement and shall be made a part thereof so that is what brings up my question should this be discussed in an open session or executive session since it looks like without knowing this information it's possibly a type of negotiation I'm not sure that's my question the other issue I have with it is um number three well I guess we should answer that question before we get into anything else wait a minute this is from the bbea this isn't from you Lisa right no this is already voted we have a we have an agreement with the CBA what is it I'm very tired thank you so we have an agreement with them you both parties have agreed to change some clubs just transferring over to different clubs the same funds but the contract that you all signed says differently this is just going to something that you need to approve and sign and everybody's good so now right there is a whole C in the teachers contract that stipulates club stiens because there's Mount that we stipulated the contract contract totally right yes so that's why I'm Sugg it's already approved in the contract we can't appr in the contract that we don't need because we voted in the meeting on the other amounts we never caught it when we voted before amounts when you approved it before the pro the M probably should have went with it but it didn't so now it's going later all right well then my next question is number three it says funds will be transferred from two nonfunctioning positions to newly funded sty positions what are the two nonfunctioning because I see money going out of five and into five so is this written incorrectly does it need to be revised say five to five are you on the so should say five nonfunctioning to five if you total but it's confusing because it's saying it's being transferred from two I don't know what two is being transferred from that are nonfunctioning but then ABC and that's the question is it I row is nonfunctioning so the first part is nonfunctioning the word two is should not be there the word should not for the following or whatever I think should just be out it was those five we voted on those they contradict what it says in the contract so now n's trying to fix it I'm just trying to get the contract from these Carol you put the word the two should be took the word two out me she meant the word these which is the following so a but now you okay as long as we're specific about what's on here not if you're not specific about it I agree okay that you can have six more that you want to do something okay anything else on that one uh um I was just curious what matters oh John can explain that mind matters I was just curious like real quick didn't your son do mind matter so mind mind matters is um to you support social emotional health among the middle and high school students they support um refresh day um and they're supporting you know speakers to come in so that's that's what they do you know just supporting any other questions all right could I have a motion to approve the bees and BMS Nature's Classroom trip fundraising efforts did we what we didn't vote on that did not no I just talked about all of them and now I'm going to bang all the second all in favor I I I'm an i as well motion passes but I have a motion to approve the $ thousand donation from AP buard hardwood and TI company to Boon Elementary and Berlin memorial for instrument purchases and music program so second any discussion on that all in favor I I'm an i as well motion passes um could I have a motion to approve the donation of $477 from donor's choice to Berlin Memorial School second all in favor I I'm an i as well that motion passes okay we've already approved witson we've already approved the facility waiver for Julie but I have a motion to approve theou Club stien at Tanto as currently written Carol made the changes wait that's currently WR Carol just made the changes there's a PDF in there too that you won't be able to change so there'll be two different versions in there so we should probably the word version so yeah make sure Nicole that you get the word version delete the PDF in there for thatou is she already or just delete the PDF Carol already fix the word document yeah delete the PDF you can turn that word document to a PDF when you put it when you zip it to put it out to the all right so the motion is on the table did we get a second second all right all in favor I I'm I as well that motion passes all right I have a motion to approve superintendent costell's goals so any discussion fantastic all in favor am as well motion passes okay we have three policies we need to vote on do anyone have any discussion on policy CH CHC or gbaa okay could I have a motion to approve policy cha development of procedures policy CHC procedures dissemination and policy gbaa which is a policy against harassment and discrimination of employees and adult volunteers so hold on one second I I think the motion is wrong I I believe CHC has been combined with cha oh okay oh they're combin so com yeah so it's we're only approv C and GBA I'm sorry it's okay no confusing so that motion is going to die nobody yeah all right so could I have a motion to approve policy chha which is the development of procedures which replaces policy CHC correct well now includes includes policy CHC procedures dis procedures dissemination and policy gbaa which is the policy against harassment and discrimination of employees adult volunteers so all any discussion right all in favor I'm and I as well that motion passes all right I miss any we have a bunch of first reads so you guys can take a look at those did I miss any votes we jumped around okay all right so future agenda items one thing Jess and I talked about was the survey so Jess is that something that you and Lisa want to tackle at your next um Student Success meeting or so it was something that came up in our super school committee self assessment that the self assessment well no our our school committee self assessment it came up as an item that we were not addressing and so it was reaching out to the community I can get the specific item so the superintendent evaluation subcommittee also does our self evaluation for the school committee and one of the items is do we seek The public's input so justess suggestion was to perhaps do some sort of survey but I'm not sure that falls under our per because we we were talking about how how would we get the results what would the questions be who would who would go through all of those in the past it was the parent advisory committee to the superintendent no longer exist but they we're doing portra graduate instead yeah so so that was the former entity that came up with the survey so was the survey to survey was the the question it would be in general to pull the community to see get a pulse on how things are going things we doing well things we're not doing so to me that fall I feel like it could go either way um but I feel like given how much lry has on her plate from policy and chairing the super oh yeah so I mean I I think it's a great idea and I know you have a on on your plate too so I don't know if you know if that's something you want to talk about Lisa if that's something Lisa want I I think it's a great idea it's just who's gonna actually tle success so if you want to talk about it I'd like to come to your um meeting because I missed it last Friday so let me know next time you're meeting and I'll I'll com the handbooks the handbooks were the other thing oh yeah the handbook is gonna be in January you push that out yeah yeah yeah no but just longterm looking at them oh Student Success sub committee excellent that's great yeah get that on there yeah anyone have anything else for next meeting they want to just a meeting sometime in the future the Y coaches oh yeah Julie and um I believe at the next meeting in January Carol are you gonna do your mid mid year report I think that's when it is I'll double check it's either then or February but I'm going to do a very brief presentation on the evaluation model in the rubric which should hopefully be very self-explanatory um so it shouldn't need a lot of explanation but again those are in the drive people can look at them Ahad a time but I'll give you a hard copy at that time so you can take a look at it and ask any questions or give any feedback okay and the Yonder um they i' I've already reached out to them they're willing to come speak to the committee I think it should go to the whole committee not just the subcommittee so people can ask questions and have the conversation with them there are grants available schools are being funded through grants for this all right let me talk to Carol and see how she feels then we'll see if we can cell phone pouches corre yeah yes I'll talk to Carol I don't think there's any harm in getting them on it's just which meeting yeah of course right because the outside vendors like to have long PowerPoints all right okay can we make sure not to lose track of the uh mascot discussion either oh the mascot that's right I forgot you did bring that up to the okay I can talk to Carol all right anything else our next meeting will be Tuesday January 9th at 5:00 pm in person can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting move second all in favor thank you so much that our meeting

41 furniture and Equipment 75 educational technology it is up 1.18 tech services up7 and a new line item um is of small Capital which I'll explain in a minute is up .27 you take just that that's 3.54 so that is a 12.4 increase and then this the administration proposed some new staff that equates to 23,000 67 you take all that that gets you to a 12.40 then you have to net out what we project for our open Choice funding of $925,000 everybody with me so far that would get us to a net of a 9.40 budget then if you go down to the bottom and these are the things that needs to be discussed from now until the the superintendent presents that's why it's good having a forecast budget because there's discussions that need to be had before the the superintendent presents the final Administration budget but with the governor's budget there is an increase to the education cost share Revenue that it'll be new Revenue to the town of $398,000 which within this number is a 1.24% and within that education cost share and I'll share this in a few that there are some things that the governor expects to be an operational budget that it is offset by this money that is coming in this new money of Education cost share increasing us 3.98 and then as we said earlier in our financial report there's an anticipated harer revenue for special education services that we buil back Harford at an $850,000 which equates to 2.61 so right there if you take those those two numbers that's a 3.85 if you net the 9.40 with the added Revenue that is coming in that is truly designated to the school to the school but Revenue to the town it brings it to this number to a 5.55 so we're playing right now with two numbers a 9.40 but when you look at the revenue that is coming to the town due to education an increase in the education cost share of 398 and then 850,000 you you net out at 3.85 so right now we're around at 5.55 at this moment in time do I expect on February 13th to me for me to present a 9.41 or 5.5 I don't I don't I think there's a lot of things moving Parts feedback that will get from the next several meetings before the administration um presents the budget could it be higher it could be things could happen within special education things could happen within um things that health insurance could go up it could go down those are all moving targets but right now this is where we're at so before I go deep into the memo if you look on your last page of the slide deck this is an example of what I'll be looking for and what I will be presenting to you on the January 9th meeting so let's say one of you had a question and it says are there any upcoming Union negotiations in the next two years we will write the answer yes par and custodial unions in the spring of 2024 and administrators and secretaries Union in the fall of 24th there's the answer to the question I'll go to the next question that so each question will have its own slide if there's 20 questions we'll answer all 20 questions at the that Board of Education meeting on January 9th that's why it's imperative for us to have your questions by December 30th because I I just don't think it benefits us to have rapid fire questions on January 9th and me saying I'll have to get back to you it's a very unproductive use of your time and a very frustrating use of administration time so now let's go back to the memo go to page two I'm going to quickly go through page two at this time we don't anticipate any retirements our health benefits that is factored in is utilized at a 9% uh rate of increase that's the same rate the town is using our transportation goes up 2.5 plus we had to build in if you remember we're riding a $45,000 negative to the preschool uh Transportation so we have to build that in to next year we got to make sure that if we're riding a loss this year we build it in to next year so it doesn't happen again salaries that thanks the the Board of Ed did a a great job with negotiating a a fair contract with the teachers with the this forecast budget includes uh the step advancement one step and a 2.5% increase at the top step 3% increase for administrators 3% increase for secretarial and as you know we're negotiating with uh our non-certified in our custodial utilities water and sewer increases 12.5 but we we see some other savings as I mentioned special education as I mentioned before I need to pick up the gap of the the almost a million dollar that we had from this year into next year that's why there's an increase of 3.9 maintenance in facilities there's additional funds in this forecasted budget allocated to grounds additional 37,000 in building maintenance not only to maintain and but also improve our Aesthetics that's been very important to the board of bed furniture and equ equipment is up 84% due to technology equipment that was in the past ordered from Grants and some of it in the open Choice funds educational technology as I mentioned enrollment is going to be down next year by eight students not enough to decrease a section in in anywhere especially when the next year we know we're going to be up an open choice I I think it would be way too difficult tonight for me to go over this forecast budget and then show you how we're going to spend $950 ,000 so we'll show you at our January 9th meeting how we're recommending that we spend the $950,000 chart three we went over chart four uh page four this is uh again the enrollment and then the middle chart on page four is your operating budget projections this is the most important um chart that I think that a a board of finance and a board of education would want to know that this school year this is our history of 3.

and as chair I declare this meeting adjourned have a great night and we'll see you in January byebye thanks all

okay welcome ladies and gentlemen thank you for your patience uh we'll call to order the Tuesday December 12 2023 barbecue Unified School leadership governing board meeting um roll call um Sil Hendricks and Kathy vs president um Ella chriswood absent and mam Stevens absent okay we do have a quorum to continue this evening agenda letter C is our Pledge of Allegiance if you are able to please stand and and join us in the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all thank you letter D is our routine business number one is the approval of the December 12 2023 board meeting agenda board members are there any changes or is there a motion to approve um Miss uh Hendricks yeah I wanted to um for the convening into ex executive session um and this is in regards to the superintendent Z can you get your mic a little bit closer and this is in regards to the superintendent's um contract um I'd like to [Music] um um not postpone it but table that uh until um January's meeting so we'll remove letter H from the agenda this evening and place it on January's agenda is that your motion so that does that eliminate H one and two right well it'll be H and I sorry letter h i n and j o i and J okay so those three are table right right yes do I have a motion so go ahead and make the motion to approve the agenda with uh the changes that have just been made motion to approve the agenda with the deletion of letter h i and J to be placed on next meeting's agenda in January um do I have a second second second by Miss Kathleen Vance all those in favor m a motion carries we'll continue with our agenda this evening number two is the approval of the November 14 2023 regular board meeting minutes board with your approval will will also approve November 29th 2023 special board meeting minutes without objection a motion to approve is there a second second second by Miss Sylvia Hendricks all those four motion carries letter four is our call to the audience sorry number four one second President W members of the board members of the community we do have the privilege of having three um call to the audience um and we can have the first person come forward which is Francisco Franco no Francis Benavides please come to the podium oh she thought that was I'll take the back are there any cars from call to the audience uh this is the time to be presented no call to the audience for the record we have no call to the audience we'll continue with our agenda this evening letter E the information items number one is the barbecue reai School District students of the month Mr Diaz president members of the board this is um the the time in which we get to celebrate all of our students thank you parents thank you staff um thank you members of the community please join us in celebrating our standing students of the month if you your first time you're going to go forward you're going to shake everyone's hand going to come and get you award and go back for a picture and let us know what want to do for you you want to show a part for the picture a number one for your picture for the picture we can dab we can do pretty much anything but so at this uh good evening president wendia governing board members superintendent and Community um our first student is a pre- student and I saw him out there from Miss Vega's class uh Matthew Lopez and family can you please come [Applause] up Matthew is from the house of isab Bindy he is very helpful in the classroom he helps other students especially making puzzles he is always happy he plays with everyone it is a pleasure having Matthew in the classroom when he grows up he would like to be a police officer so he can help [Applause] people what do you want to do you want THB up all [Applause] right our next student is from Miss salo's Kinder class Bren [Applause] Chico Bren is from the house of Amistad he he comes to school every day with a happy and positive attitude he is so eager and joyful to learn and he shares that with his classmates he works really hard and he reminds us regularly to celebrate our accomplishments Bren is usually the first one to encourage his classmates and he says things like we are doing a great job we are working hard and way to go everybody he is so kind and happy they are glad to have such a wonderful encouraging teammate in their classroom thank you Bren you are doing an amazing job when he grows up he wants to be a clown our next student is from Miss Hernandez's first grade class Dario [Applause] Ortega is Dario here no okay um our second grade student is from Mrs Granado's class Miss Aurora [Applause] Monty aot is from the house of river aot has shown excellent ability to set goals and shows persistence in achieving them she is accountable and responsible she makes smart decisions and listens to opportunities to improve aot relates with well to her classmates and is appreciative of different perspectives and experiences she shows a positive attitude with classmates in group projects and activities and both takes and gives the suggestions and directions effectively she is indeed a pleasure to have in the class Aurora wants to be a teacher when she grows up because she wants to help teach children in the community especially in reading and [Applause] math [Applause] our third grade student is naon oin are you [Applause] here and our last student um was nominated by Miss K from our culture one of our culture classes James Bernett Cooper [Applause] James is from the house of isab Bindy he is very attentive in class he is picking up the language very fast when they are reviewing the lesson he always has his hand up and can answer in the atham or English depending on the question he is not scared to try to pronounce the words James said when he grows up he wants to be a movie actor because he wants to make movies [Applause] awesome congratulations and now from intermediate campus Miss beay [Music] Lewis Mr Flores good evening parents Mr Flores will present his fourth grade student Mr Flores fourth grade teacher of work is with PR I present to you the fourth grade student of the month of November friends join me in welcoming student of the month Laya Pablo [Applause] buendia lla has shown significant effort and Improvement in her academic and behavioral performance her positive attitude greatly impacts the classroom environment she takes a leadership roles in the classroom and she approaches challenges optimistically encourages peers and maintains a positive demeanor she conly dis displays kindness empathy and respect towards her peers teachers and other staff members when she was asked how can she make the word a better place she said I can make the word a better place by helping to take care for the environment in my own little way I will pick up later when I see it because it may cause damage to the earth I will spread awareness by encouraging my classmates to do the same congratulations lla [Applause] [Music] thank you um is Chrissy Anton here no Chrissy was our fifth grade student in the month and our sixth grade student was from Mr Marcos I don't believe I see Mr Mr Marcos no okay Mr Marcos chose Alexis Miguel I know I saw [Applause] her so Alexis helps the class tremendously she helps clean the classroom she participates and has respect for the teacher and her classmates she is working with her classmates and finishing her work on time she she amazes the teacher so much she submitted her work with the highest expectations and even works on Saturday on her homework [Music] and she wanted to create a better place by trying to strive to make a positive impact on the community by not only cleaning the trash off the floor but also by actively helping people in need and donating items to those less [Applause] fortunate and our next student I want to read about him before I call him up because this is a special um nomination for this student so if his parents are listening um I chose this student for his Fearless acts of speaking up to let a staff member know that there was a fire on our campus in the bathroom many students wouldn't speak up to tell an adult so we are very proud of him to give our security Allan Leonard and custodian um Chris maretta time to act fast to make sure that all students were safe and that everybody got out and they were able to put out the fire because this one student spoke up because many students won't speak up so thank you to his parents for being raising a respectful son and always being willing to help others this is not this isn't just a one-time act this is him every day of being respectful so thank thank you parents Keenum [Applause] Francisco [Applause] [Music] good good evening governing board Mr Diaz and Community I am here to present the students of the month for the secondary campus sorry they should be starting with seventh grade we'd like to invite squea Velasco to come on up [Applause] the seventh grade team named skya Velasco as the November student of the month skuya is the daughter of shayen salaya and Eric Chavez her home Village is cells and her home district is hian district skuya is a proud member of the House of dreamers skuya is an athlete playing both volleyball and B basketball her favorite class is math with Miss bash skua's favorite teacher is Miss clovia Martin because Miss Martin is nice and cool and gives you more time to do your work after graduating from Baba KY secondary sya plans on going to Toc then transferring to a 4-year University her current career goal is to become a firefighter there are two people that skia greatly admires and would like to thank she would like to thank her parents for pushing her and being hilarious e8th grade would like to ask Hy sha Juan to come on up I see there she is the eighth grade team names haa Juan is student of the month for November haa is the granddaughter of Elizabeth Jose her home Village is Nock and her home district is babok ky District haa is a proud member of the House of dreamers she serves the she serves the eighth grade as the vice president her favorite class is math and her favorite teacher is mix wenka because they are funny and nice and helped her with a lot of math after graduating from Babble K secondary haa plans on going to either GCU or U OFA bear down her current career goal is to represent the th aam Nation to the world one person that haa greatly admires is her sister Kaye Juan because Kaye is strong nice and Kaylee is always there to support haa keep up the good work haa and keep pushing to learn and grow as a student we can't wait to see all you [Applause] accomplish ninth grade would like to ask is it SEMA Sima Simon nalum Simon Alam is the Freshman Class student of the month for November Sima is the daughter of Jana Jane and Sammy nullam her hometown is the Philippines she was selected to be a member of Amistad the House of Friendship she loves to play Bad mitten her favorite class is autoshop because her dad teaches it also her favorite teacher is Mr Nom because he is her dad after graduating from Baba K secondary Sima plans on attending college most likely in the Philippines her current goal is to become a chef if Sima has a secret superpower it would be teleportation because she would like to be able to travel the world and be home for dinner congratulations we are so glad you you are here and we are so proud of [Applause] you 10th grade would like to ask Dania Miguel to come on [Applause] up Dania Miguel is a 10th grade student of the month for November Dania is the daughter of floraa Gomez and Maurice Miguel her home Village is cells and her home district is San Javier District District she is a member of the House of dreamers Dania is an athlete playing volleyball basketball track and field and softball for the lady Warriors she serves on the Executive Board of the student council her favorite class is team sports with Mr me who is also her favorite teacher after graduating from Babble kver secondary she plans on attending tocc for two years and then transferring to GCU her current career goals are to become a flight ATT attendant because she wants to help people and to travel the people she admires most are her sister Alexis and her best friend congratulations Danisha we are proud of [Applause] you 11th grade would like to ask sajan nalam to come up did I say that right San San nalam is the junior class student of the month for November she is the daughter of Jana Jane and Sammy nullum her hometown is in the Philippines she is the house of dreamers like her sister sajan loves to play badminton her favorite class is art with Miss roach because she loves drawing her favorite teacher of course is Mr nullam because he is her dad after graduating from Babble key secondary she plans on returning to the Philippines and attending college she plans on studying nursing if sajan had a secret superpower it would be invisibility congratulations sajan we can see how wonderful you are and we are so proud of [Applause] you and finally for 12th grade we have Jaden [Applause] Juan Jaden Juan is the 12th grade student of the month for November Jaden's Guardian is Elizabeth Jose and she lives in Nock and her home district is Baba key she is a proud member of the House of Friendship she is active in ath athletics and is one of Babble KY high school cheerleaders that's probably where she is Jaden loves to read and she likes all her classes and teachers equally after graduating from Babble KY she plans on attending Prescot College where she plans on studying design her current career goal is to become an interior decorator in a large city one person she greatly admires is Destiny Roes because she is very encouraging and is a good example congratulations Jaden we are all so proud of you and now Mr Fox good even good evening board members good evening superintendent Diaz good evening the remainder of you that are left we go last which we we we like our position but our crowd gets a little smaller so let's make sure we clap a little extra for this uh month student of the month we had a tie over at Indian ois middle and high school between two senior students who have displayed um just absolute academic prowess time management skills um their attendance is well over 90% for the both of them so first I would like to call up ladies first Miss Maran [Applause] Johnson this young lady has the ability to spread herself so thin there's some of the reasons she's spreading herself so thin she's a fantastic mother and a great great role model for little Genesis who's right up there [Applause] and then um we had a we have a young man who every Community Day it's such a it's so much more fun when Mark Blaine come on up Mark when Mark Blaine shows up with his little brother on his shoulders uh getting pulled around by kids that are about up to his waist he again juggles quite a bit in his life he's come over quite a few obstacles and he still proves to be a family man for his younger siblings so we are very very proud of [Applause] Mark [Applause] good thank you guys very much again we just want to make sure to share with the community and all of our our faculty staff administrators that it does take so much for us us to be I mean for for our students I know especially to be able to be successful so we always want to take a moment in during our monthly meetings to celebrate thank you for being here to help us celebrate and continue to do well those of you who received Awards and those of you who have not yet you are absolutely still capable so thank you so much for joining us we'll take a short break and then we'll come back to our meeting if you are more than welcome to stay um but we know you have dinner to get to so thank you go for it go for it go for it 2023 2024 senior class Tri presentation MRC um one of our student senior represent we have two students representative I want to thank the members of the community of parents um and I want to also point out the with the purpose of having our senior class go back and continue to check on the progress on the trip um as part of the govering board and in the superintendent's office is that we want to continue to ensure that our students are on on track um and that they have everything that they need and to ensure that they have all of the details ready given that we want them to enjoy their trip um also um we want to use the um the influence of the governing board meeting as one of the additional venues that um all of the parents will get information uh to ensure that we all have the same information and no point parents can say that they did not get any information um and um number three is also uh part of doing a due diligence that um now that they have the big items that they also have the the small items um of possible unexpected items so that they wa they have everything that they need to enjoy the trip and having said that please let's give him a hand to our two leaders that are going to be here to represent and also let's give our our send our our best thoughts to our our teams um I know they're going to be um they're on a big game tonight and um we Deon was supposed to present but he's also one of our players so let's send him all of our love and all of our strength and now take it away thank you thank you good evening my name is Jordan Jose I am the senior vice president and today we'll be talking about our travel plan for a senior class trip should be able to hit thank you so far we've raised $5,750 since the senior year has started the total amount in the account is 3 32,670 before we purchased our luau which will be 8,795 leaving 20 23, $864 65 we're planning on asking Desert Diamond Casino Legislative Office executive and etc for for additional help thank you um we're also planning on continuing our school sales we estimated about 7,000 to 10,000 still to come the following is the travel receipt I believe yes it is a travel receipt for our airfare oh is her flight information sorry our updated quotes our airr will cost $222,000 there will be a $1,500 deposit to hold the seats in March we're going to make a final count either we add or reduce the seating housing is paid for confirmed 35 people we will be able to add more rooms if needed there is no required fee for this donated time share info about housing on December 4th on December 4th we received this note regarding the registration fee for booking the rooms stating that there will be no money needed for the oh my je get up here this is the info about the housing introduce hi I'm Jem Ro and the secretary for 2024 senior class this is all the info about the bedrooms the uh information about the uh bedrooms that we're going to be in okay we plan on announcing tutoring and at class and parent meetings in order to notify students of resources to help us stay on track to be to graduate we can also suggest alternative to students to get caught up we have 31 students that have 15 or more credits and 15 that have 15 or below thank you let's give him my hand once again I want to president Mia if you allow me um I want to commend our senior class for the hard work and all of the work that they getting not only as a community as as as as a parents and the staff that are supporting this endeavor um it it it shows all the commitment based on everything that you have fundraised and you continue to fundraise uh we want to promote and continue to promote that we have tutoring after school for students that um want to meet the eligibility we also going to have winter credit recovery for any of the students that are um following um falling behind we want as many students that want to make this happen to ensure that I take advantage of all of the opportunities that we have to reach the goal um one of the areas that I also look forward to continue to hear from my seniors um it I know that once you pay the Lu out and once you pay the the 202,00 for the airfare um I I don't want you to be surprised but I want you to keep in mind um somewhere on the back of your mind um how are you guys are going to budget the ground transportation needed what do I mean by that the transportation from here to Phoenix and from Phoenix back since you guys are going to be leaving from if we can put it all in in in a future uh presentation cuz um some we can you can share that I'm going to ask the questions but but please bear with me it's not all of the parents are here and I want to make sure that everyone gets the information if you have the answers great but I want to make sure that all of the parents and the members of the community have the same information um and this is something that I will also look forward to here for um since it's not in the presentation so it leaves room for asking questions and and and I want to make sure that we have the same opportunity uh to ask because if something goes wrong um I want to prevent that ahead of time last year based on the senior trip we got involved at the at the end of the year and it was a little bit too late I don't want to repeat history and that therefore we want to make sure that we cover all of our um cross our our teth and that our eyes if you have any extra information or share some information on ground transportation um the food um I I I need some clarity because when you book a time share some resorts they required a a um Resort fee and sometimes they don't let you know until you're there I want just if somebody can call and ask for clarity um I know you it it's free and I appreciate Miss casades but I want to make sure because those fees sometimes they can be up to $1,000 per unit Reserve I just don't want surprises for my for my students or for my shop RS um also um the plan for uh the students are going to be leaving early in the morning and and and and there's already budgeted food for the airport um or the or when they're traveling and also uh the how is ground transportation once a g to Honolulu from the airport to uh the resort from the resort to get groceries and also for the Excursion um and I'm again I I see that there's $33,000 8 ,000 for the laa 22,000 for um airfare and I I I'm excited to hear that you're going to be reaching out to other agencies uh for support um but I want you to keep these on the back of your mind um if you have some of the answers please come back and and share that information but I just don't want you to be surprised this you've been working so hard for this trip and I want you to make sure you enjoy it but these are some of the questions that so far you guys are my St students you guys are students and I want everyone to make sure that they're not surprised um Miss Leila Choy you were raising your hand do you have any additional information that you want to share no I okay so it as soon as you have more additional information we welcome you to come back um that way we know that you are on track and also let us know what additional support is needed for tutoring so students they reach the goal um members of the board any other comments or questions Miss syia Hendricks yeah you look like you're doing a you're doing a great job in your planning I just had a couple of questions in regards to the luau is that for how many people are you did you pay for and then also the airfare for the 22,000 how many is that for 30 students 32 students we're both okay all right yeah was just kind of curious I was look trying to look for the the numbers of of how much it was for for each mean for how many students for each of those events or the the flights and the the Lu but it looks like fun any other comments and questions how many Sheron are going I didn't see cost are you paying your own chap room is it included in there um it was included actually in the traval form that was sent to the board early on to get approval okay I think the question was the shop rooms included on on the traveling and and the reservations okay thank you m um I think that you know what uh superintendent is really trying to express is we want to make sure that all the bases are covered like for the food to make sure that there's enough food for all the kids to make sure that there the ground transportation the cost is something that's not overlooked and that you you you keep that in mind um you know th those things that you might not have thought of um that's what we're trying to help in that area so you know um I know in the beginning I thought I had seen something about a plantation the pineapple plantation was or was that something else that was in there too and there was other things um the the Deep diving or the No SCUBA diving that was an option yes okay so those things aren't happening um Plantation and the zoo are happening but I we haven't decided on the water only because a lot of kids don't know how to swim and so we're trying to do more land stuff okay but so those costs are also in this the presentation or are they not part of the presentation yet the figures or the cost no okay soed okay and then on the presentation it had that you had October date to um make a deposit so that was that done on the air the depit was already made but that was the first um quote that I had gotten from the airlines I have to get permission in order toce to make that deposit so then there was a different quote that was uploaded so this one is a different quote yes that was the first one oh so this isn't the real one no okay that's it for now for me okay if there I know that questions thank you so much for the presentation um and we look forward to any other additional information thank you [Applause] everyone number three is our barbecue unified scho shim.

uh3 6.3 7.9 which was approved um this past year we're projecting a 9.58 um but again we should be putting in that chart that even though fiscal year that's actually wrong it's not 9.58 it's actually um 9.4 uh Z that four chart in 2425 that's an error it's 9.40 and then the the next chart we're projecting out that in 2526 um it could be 6.24 and then we'll see a dip in 26 27 to 3.88 and then another dip in 2728 down to 3.77 again these are estimates of where we are forecasting relative to uh where we are and then you could see the next chart is our special education budget history you can see in 2223 our budget increased 20% in special ed 20 almost 26% 23 24 and then 19% in for 2425 now page five really goes into uh the detail of what's in um this forecast budget so from a staffing standpoint you're going to see that the Administration has proposed a campus supervisor that will help with safety operation and oversight at Cherrybrook a lunch recess monitor at Cherrybrook for $10,000 kindergarten srbi pairs right now we have three kindergarten pairs in our kindergarten classrooms this is to get it back to where it was when we had six but that's going to be taken out of our open Choice Grant I just wanted to list all our staff down here campus supervisor at Canton Intermediate School to help with with the safety of8 an open Choice after school care coordinator that's not in operation but will be out of open Choice funds and our academic and social support as we know that we're struggling in student achievement in the area of math and English at the intermediate school so we're requesting a tutor of $20,000 the the mental health of our students is so important and we feel that there's a a gap for our Middle School students that they need more emotional social emotional support of 43,000 we're hoping as you know that we're Commissioners Network School of getting those funds from the Commissioners Network ramp math English language arts tutor at CMS we're hoping for 20,000 we'll get that out of the Commissioners Network Grant several years ago the prior Administration cut the English Department share at the middle school in the High School uh that's a very important department to have um leadership there that is 50,000 unified arts department coordinator for 3500 that would provide organizational leadership for art Tech and PE we have no supervision for our middle school and high school students after school so we put in a 19,800 uh supervisor field hockey coach or field hockey program at the middle school is growing um so the Administration is recommending another field hockey coach the athletic department used to have a athletic department secretary so this would provide the athletic director with secretarial support it's been six years since we five to six years since we've had this support there an Extended year coordinator for pupil services to oversee summer vental developmental needs for our special education students the next one in occupational therapist that's actually cost savings that actually would be approximately $75 to $80,000 because that's what we're currently doing we're Contracting out so it be a cost savings to do it inhouse and then one thing that I'm very proud of that will meet our uh embracing diversity goal um to participate in the teacher Residency program for $60,000 that would come out of our open Choice funds that would enable us to bring in a minority a candidate to work with us year train them through the uh teacher residency program and then during the second year we would hire them as part of our staff on page six some notables that you'll see is relative to within this budget is some highlights is math instructional materials for pre-algebra for 6,000 landscaping for all our schools 26,000 I'm not going to say all these the the library uh system for 4,000 we got to replace some dishwasher at the the the high school and the The Culinary room for 8500 we're going to reduce the Panorama line item and do surveys inhouse one of the things that we feel that could possibly be a cost savings that's why we're not saying that this is our final budget is we're working on transitioning a transition program for our 18 to 22y Old where we send them out to maybe expensive school and we're trying to do it more local we started a gry started a program and uh we went out there yesterday to visit the program and we really like that party here baby is the the magnet school tuition that typically was in open choice but that is a perfect example $80,000 that the governor has said that that education cost sharing extra money that the town's getting that should be utilized for that and then one of the things this is something new that to put this on the board's radar screen on page seven I asked administrators to look out now for Staffing for 25 26 26 27 27 28 25 26 you can really see kindergarten teacher as we've discussed srbi pair if we have one extra section we would want support in that classroom a PE teacher we're looking at that we think we'll need another tutor based upon data at the Intermediate School the business teacher with a new State statue uh requiring uh business we feel that we need to build that department transition coaches here's another example that we feel that it will be a net zero to us with combining uh and sending uh kids and being part of the the gry program human resource specialist this was a position that we had within the C public schools that was eliminated several years ago if we had a human resource specialist it would save us money from the time that the amount of time that we're calling attorneys and doing different things to um have a human resource specialist uh learning lab teacher we're thinking possibly a commissioner Network R and we're closing for 2526 a maintenance Personnel that will really go after and take care and work with the town on looking after our uh our grounds and then notable again looking at the transition program but also as Mr Bishop uh said that 2526 I anticipate that there'll be funds added into the budget for the possibility of a new language arts curriculum program to be at Char Brook primary school and possibly the Intermediate School 2627 there's a proposal for a 0.25 talented and gifted to increase that at Kim Intermediate School 2728 to increase it by 0.25 you'll notice in 26 27 27 28 there's not too much staff request because our enrollment stays flat and then in 2930 when I look at the forecast and memo for next year there may be even some elimination a sta based upon our enrollment uh going down so we're really going to have to look at that the next part is new to this board of education on page eight is a a small Capital that this is all part of that chart that I showed you of [Music] $86,900 and our superintendent of building and grounds to really go through and say what do we need for the the next five years in in small Capital type of items here you can see at Cher Brook there there's an a kilm there's tables there's attic ladder there's the courtyard maintenance and then in 20627 they would like to do a Gaga pit and then in all year Courtyard maintenance and then in the Intermediate School 12,600 replace four doors exterior doors rug replac replace AC units uh ventilation upgrade and then you can see there for 2526 26 27 rug replacement pressure washer replaces in tier do the middle school and the high school 131 graphic printer washer dryers um entry door Runners and then you can see what they're proposing for the years's out Athletics gym chair volleyball standard and then on page nine you could see the the pupil is the Music Auditorium and upright piano and then information technology and internet filter migrating nursing software to iCloud and then districtwide interior ex exterior doors for a total of $86,000 those are things that we'll probably be discussing through the the the budget process then when you go on to page 10 and this is our large Capital I'm required by the superintendent by the uh Town Charter for the superintendent to provide a large Capital list by January 1 to the CAO because the capital large Capital funding is combined between the board of AD and the town so Mr Skinner will actually receive the forecast and memo tomorrow and I also want to let you know that I'll be attending the the the board of Finance meeting in January we also present the the forecasted this forecasted budget to the fortify January not the December meeting I'm going to wait till the the January when I also have the open Choice uh memo um also to them lot of these things have been on our large Capital list the the major thing if you look at page 10 in the middle is the $500,000 for Portables we're looking to do that over a 2year so you'll notice in 2425 there's 500 and in 2526 there's 550 you could see the important things in 2425 are the permanent amount of gim wall padding um underground storage at Cher storage tank replacement at at Cherrybrook slate roof replacement at CIS rooftop CIS on page 11 flooring for 30,000 uh replace AC heat air conditioning at CIS the look at the high school middle for the next several years that it it looks like we are not even able to find parts for our current system that we have in for PA and they have to go back to find people that know how to work on that PA system ceiling tile issues then on page 12 bathrooms you'll see I am recommending the the turf and track we do have enough funds right now in the large Capital to do the turf but I want it to be clear to the board and to the community that that's just the turf we need to start putting aside money for the track now we've received word that the track probably has 8 to 10 years left of life but if you start building now you'll be able to fund that so we're looking to get quotes on that and then one of the the last items just to be transparent an unfunded mandate by the state is $70,000 that we are required to do uh HVAC testing and a balancing every five years and by January of 25 we have to make sure that we do that so I put the $770,000 in there that could be um something that could be discussed it's going to it it was discussed already at the the capital meeting the other day should that go in operational or should that go into large cap I have the feeling that it should go into large cap because it is something that every five years that we're going to have to do but it's the same money so the difficult part with the large capital is if the town only has a million dollars I just gave you one approximately a million dollars just for the school side and I know that the town has other that they have a list too and then we project out to 25 26 919 and then it goes down because you're taking the modules out um after the the 25 26 school school year so that is a high level of where the administration is right now with the forecasted budget in summary we're at a 9.40 but if you N Out the additional Revenue that is coming to the town the the forecast budget is at 5.55 so as I said it's the first run I'm asking that you would have questions to Claudia myself include us all on the email and Donna and John by December 30th any questions that you may have regarding this again this is just the beginning of our budget process and introducing the the the budget to you and making it that it's a public a transparent and an ongoing conversation and it really provides you and the board of Finance where we are at this moment in time to really look at what what are we doing within the town and and where is the school system at at this time so I'll take any questions at out of the superintendent's office regarding forecast budget Mr D okay thank you Mr uh Dr Gman I thought that was well done there's a lot of information here that's why we didn't want to just shotgun uh questions asking you do that I'm going to give you just a couple quick observations number one is uh the superintendent mentioned that there's a $931,000 deficit that we carried over from last year we made the board of aware of that you take that that's about 2.5 percentage points so if you take that back down if you go back to that 555 okay um if we didn't have that that particular um bump in the road have to handle we would have been a lot less and the second thing is we have to ask the board of Finance on our ability to keep that Revenue that uh is in the Box here um we're either going to look to the town like if it was going today which is he he's made mentioned a few times it's 99.4 I would prefer that that Revenue which is ours should come to us and we would be at the 5.5 uh 5.55 and again if you took that 931 it's about 2.5% that brings us really right down about 3% where I think U is is very reasonable inflation is still running at 3 U well they said today about 3.2% but you know throughout the year it's been 3.6 so on and so so forth so um I think superintendent and the staff has done an excellent job presenting us a defensible budget there's more work to be done get your questions in and we'll take it from there we'll move along but this is this is uh a totally transparent process right now starting a month early um so that we can get the public involved and we can begin having those conversations with folks in the public on what's going on so all right so get those questions in all right uh everybody online okay still with us okay good all right thank you again Dr Gross made a good presentation thank you administrative staff for putting that all together it's it's a new day uh clearly in C when it comes to budgeting so we appreciate that okay um all right we're going right to uh to standing committee report now I'd like to pass this out because I don't think folks understand we haven't made it clear enough on committee assignments it it is so important that we follow our committee assignments and we participate at the committee level and um just to reiterate again on the finance committee Russell bush is our chair Joe shidler Kim svin Ry donnal are on the finance committee the finance committee meets at 8:00 in the morning the same day is the board of education so uh it would be important you can attend either uh hybrid or you can attend um in in the superintendent's office the policy committee is chaired by Mr Shyer on that committee is Peggy Steinway cdy Muller and Ryan Odon that committee takes place on the same the Board of Education meeting and that is if 5:30 in the evening so um that is that committee and we could really use your help I mean all these committees are extremely important the curriculum committee is chaired by Erica Hayes it's with Kim suvin Alicia Jordan and pegy Steinway Peggy um I'm sorry and uh Erica's group meets like the what's it specifically John is it like uh like the third Wednesday third Wednesday at 9:00 uh upstairs in the Middle School we do it then because sometimes teachers are invited administrative staff is invited so that's why that's a little bit different try to canile this in one day remember the board of education is only meeting one day a month although Mr shy will remind me that there are other meetings along the way that make it um make it more than that one meeting but um the official meeting is one one day a month on CIP it's Russell bush is a chair Erica Hayes Felicia Jordan and Sydney Muller that's that's pretty a easy board uh that comes together maybe twice um maybe twice uh to put together and to agree what the CIP is so um and then on teachers union negotiations we've had the per Union will be Russell Kim and Erica and on the custodial negotiations will be Peggy Joe and Russell I am on all these committees at hoc I try to attend all of them I have a little bit more of a trouble with curriculum uh and we've successfully negotiated the teachers union so these are the Committees that you're on so sometimes we're meeting there's two of us and we're saying we're looking at each other saying or three of us we're saying who else is on this committee where are they we need you to participate on this committee because unlike tonight it's going a little bit longer the reason why we can go to one meeting a month and the reason why they go they can go pretty quickly usually out by 8:30 uh 8:15 is because of the committee work so I'm going to encourage you to do that so with that we've had our finance uh committee uh report so I'm going to go right to policy Mr shler thanks L uh we trying to make some progress on the move to the shipment policies as you know uh it's complicated and it's time consuming uh the committee feels that it's important that we vet all the policies we just don't adopt them because you know shipment said good they have to have should we they fit us uh so we're going through all the policies uh that that it's important that we get input from the committee members all the committee members and from the whole board uh because these are policies that we're going to agree to live by and schools to live by that Lou signed all of us a section of the 4,000 series that in order for that process to work the whole board would have to come to the next policy meeting that the 4,000 Ser is on the next policy meeting so that's not practical and understand that so whatever section of the 4,000 series you were assigned if you have read through them and you have no issues just send an email to John or to me and Lou and say I'm fine with everything that's there I'd be surprised if you were but that's fine uh and then if you have questions get them to John and me and Lou and and you'll get answers you'll get answers in writing or if you're at the committee meeting we would prefer that it possible you come to that committee meeting the 4,5 000 6000 series are long and they're very important so if anybody can come that would be great uh the and if you get any questions you have on the part that you're responsible for uh again we'll go with December 30th to John beforehand so he's got a chance to get information for us for the January 9th meeting um we met tonight and we reviewed the 1,000 2,000 and 3000 Series uh you know it took us a while uh we had a lot of questions on some of the policies John was able to answer almost all the questions the committee is comfortable with his answers and with the policies the projected policies there were three policies that we still have questions about and we take them back to John uh so when when we've gone through them all then we'll make a motion for a second reading to adopt them all right now we have a first reading uh but there'll be no motion to go any further until we we've vetted all the policies so I know it's comp at I know it's time consuming uh but your input is important so if you can can do your bit there and get your comments and questions and if you can come to the policy meeting that would be great January 9th January 9th at 5:30 I covered all John you did you did a good job um just to just to reiterate on the sections of 4,000 Felicia has th000 4,000 to 3,000 uh 4,000 to 40003 Kim has section 404 of 400 04 to 4,5 um Peggy has 406 to 409 Cindy has 4,10 414 Ryan has 45 and 416 Russell has 4177 to 419 and Erica has 420 and 421 so if you could be ready uh with your comments and you may tonight we went through several that said fine fine fine others we had some questions on so as Mr Sher mentioned please get those questions in any questions for Mr Sher or on your assignment so on 1 nine I'm hoping that most of you can make the 5:30 meeting so we can clear these clear these uh to get through the 4,000 cycle and get into the 5,000 okay okay thank you very much for that all right technology I can please do um on Wednesday November 29th we met at sher's primary school learning Commons we had a fabulous meeting and productive um uh John Bishop presented his monthly new monthly reports that he'll be presenting to the board of ed with the activities and progress and things the work that he's doing which is correlated to our district goals and um we received that hard copy and then we also did a first read and review of The Canton High School program of studies um then the Cherry Brook staff of Heather santanella and Kate do the L literacy Innovation specialist and the math and science coord coordinator presented a excellent presentation about play based learning the new legislation um that has been passed in in the work that they're doing at the Cherry Primary School to um provide you know training to the staff support of students and teachers for for play based learning at sherck primary school and the board had an opportunity to interact with a Kindergarten class so that was fabulous we did some habitat building with students of purposeful play and we uh discussed the equity Action Plan and there's going to be a plan to have an equity team update at curriculum meetings once the plan once the equity team is you know developed and has momentum and running they'll update us at our curriculum meetings the work that they're doing and I believe that was pretty much it we you know was a wonderful that was a productive great meeting yeah we were there for an extended amount of time good but that was a a useful amount of time too right any questions on curriculum okay um Communications I don't know Felicia if you want to say anything on Communications um Mr Daniels um um Miss Jordan actually shared with me that uh she wanted me to be able to provide an update on it uh as she's not feeling well okay um so we did have the opportunity to have our our new Canton Community Connection uh sent out to our community in the the Valley Press so we're excited about that fabulous by the way it's great and it's going to come out in the digital Edition to uh the entire Community as well again this Friday we're already uh hard at work at the uh next round K our our work never stops with that we've got another uh uh newsletter that will be coming out shortly for us with that and then as I shared before another Community Connection video series um with uh representatives from the various mental health groups in the area if we can Tim that around budget time so we can make some comments we're going to have they're doing one in February yeah February and then they're going to do um a budget one specifically for Budget that will happen right before uh the hearing in the boot it will tie into there is a there is a quiet period that we have have to just be cognizant of that uh we can't we can't Advocate past that time once the board of Finance sets things but we can we we'll have to talk what we can set we I think we could be informational we just correct it would just be our budget okay all right okay thank you very much I think I think the calendar events is really the school calendar for a second is it the second no she should have given you a calendar of events of things that we have the calendar events yeah comment on that or no no okay good um Board of Education announcement anybody have anything that they want to discuss bring up before the board comments online I know we have some not feeling great people but is there anything no okay good all right we'll move right along um board action items okay so we have two which you have two action you have two action items um one is to email the superintendent um the business manager and Mr Bishop and Claudia questions for the um on the forecast of budget and then you have any questions regarding policy to Mr Bishop by um December 30th okay right Kim that's what we have anything else okay all right let's go to recommended actions consent agenda uh can somebody make a motion that the camp board of education approve the consent agenda thank you Joe second second thank you Felicia got it uh any discussion on that all those in favor so we are we at oh we're at 80 uh Ryan you in okay T do we have you're on virtual or not we have not been in the past I don't think so Ryan thank you Ryan eight so we're 80 on the consent um approval of the Canton Public School calendar which is in your kit if you had a chance to look at it this would be the second go round on that any further comment Dr I have received no question from the Board of Education neither look good good okay uh can I have a motion board the C Board of Education approve the 2425 Kon Public School calendar please thank you uh Kim thank you Cindy I'll take you this time thank you all right we have first and the second any other conversation about that no we're good all those in favor I hi it's 80 again thank you very much we'll send this out to staff and families tomorrow okay um approval of the education spe specification for HVAC Grant submission you want to just yeah so what this is this was actually approved the other day by pmbc also that is part part of us applying for reimbursement for the air conditioning that is going to be put on the auditorium the Board of Education just needs to approve the Ed specs the Ed specs within your packet is just the what's going to be done in their conditioning is going to be put on the top and requirement by Department administrative services and the grant is that we need to show that the Board of Education approved that specifications for the grant okay simple deal uh can I have a motion that c Board of Education accept the education specifications as written and submitted related to the air conditioning fresh air project at Canton Middle High School 76 Simons Avenue Canton Connecticut thank you Peggy thank you Russell first and the second any other questions on that no we're good all right all those in favor I we're 80 again okay thank you very much with that that I would just uh I have one final thing and folks not online I was trying to figure out what would be a nice little gift for um uh for the end of the year so I I have from the board of education for Terry and that for Kira but board members I have for you um when I was on the board of Selectmen we had pins and they were pretty impressive so I got everybody aboard of Education pen so if you would pass those down for your LEL so when you walk into a building you know I was down in Washington DC everybody had a pin on whether you're a union member Congressman Senator so we have enough down there yes thank you all right so I thought you would enjoy the pins we have extras so I'm going to make sure that our our our uh administrative staff I'll give to be quet so they all have it oh yeah we didn't have enough and and and you get one oh your sitting now test the box I didn't know who you had in mind all right it's the C I do we have enough are we missing any one you sure car you to yeah the whole car you to this will identify you as C Board of Education members all right you yes please do and Board of Education members online we'll make sure you get those later budget pack with your budget pack exactly uh with that I'll take a motion to adjourn all those in favor oh first Kim second Russell thanks Russell uh any conversation all those in favor I 80 thank you very much

Mr pres for this item we don't have a a nomination for this month um the one that was submitted will be part of the was sub Meed late will be presented during the January meeting okay for the record we do not have an award for him award would have been good to know so we could have taken it off the agenda I'm sorry would have been good to know we could have taken it off the number four um AUM Language Center AUM Language Center and language Advocates presentation Mr Diaz pres W members of the community please let's put our hands together to welcome Miss Francis and Miss Andrea to for the presentation whoever is going to come to the feel free to join us so you can drive uh let's put our hands together and welcome them thank you for being here that's good C Nick it's good to be here with everybody thank you for letting us share our presentation with you tonight uh we have myself Francis benas I'm with The aam Language Center and then we have our language Advocates that are here with us as well and they're also going to be presenting um tonight so we have Miss Andrea Ramon who's an instructor at Toc she teaches the atham language and she's also an immersion trainer with The atham Language Center we have Dwayne Pierce who is an instructor he's a part of our language Advocates Group Ron Jano who's our director of The Language Center and then miss TR cha who is one of our language Advocates and the language Advocates um is a group comprised of different representatives from Lang um language focused programs Across the Nation we have people people that work within the community within the nation within the schools entities of the nation who are actively working toward language continuity and one of our primary goals as a collective is to support that the language continues to move forward and be a strong and vital part of our community and so one of our primary goals is to ensure language continuity that we want to visit with the schools the communities the districts to share about the status of the language and how the whole Community has a role in ensuring that the language continues to move forward so tonight we're going to talk a little bit about the current status of the language our shared language goal and then um our shared language goal how the schools are a part of this effort and then some resources that are available so we'll start off with Ron who's going to talk a little bit about the status of the language the AUM language along with the all other language indigenous languages in in the United States are in danger and um you know there's a big um emergency I guess you call it in in the language and so when we looked at uh um B of Education report that talks about the national language back to the other one the it was uh mentioned in there that 100 that in the United States there are 100 67 indigenous languages that by 2050 there will only be 20 indigenous language remaining so uh for a we want to be in that 20 uh if that's where it where it goes so um for the Autumn language it is an endangered language and we're using the data from UNESCO which is the United Nations uh educational science cultural organization and it's the one that most people use when they uh talk about the status of the language and they do say that theum language is definitively endangered meaning that um even though there are still speakers uh of the language that uh when you look at the age group they're mostly the elders uh um here 70 and above and the children are the wants they not learning the language but yet if a language is to continue and survive it has to be learned by the children for them to carry it on um and I I say that language endangerment is it creeps up when you you know you don't think about it you don't see it you don't really know it and then all of a sudden it's there and you know for myself just to when I became aware of um that the the children were not learning the language is when I started working for the school district back in '94 and I was um working with um third grade class and one of our duties as um aids to the classrooms and and in that time all classrooms had a a in their classroom and we taught language and culture to the children um and that that was when I first realized that that the children uh third graders that none of them spoke the language before then I just thought everybody spoke the language because that's how I grew up and that's how what I saw so um from that time on um working um as an advocate for the language um because I feel that language is a lot more than just communication it involves a lot of different things to be able to know your language to be able to speak it and things like that uh it brings a lot of empowerment brings a lot of self-esteem and and you know especially here in the town Autumn nation and and so that was uh you know one of the goals of um creating this Language Center is that a lot of other um indigenous groups and even just here Hiller River and Salt River they were doing a lot more with um and they had less speakers than we did autum is in a a good situation right now where we have a lot of resources meaning we still have a lot of speakers and I I used to say that um that uh I was a young Elder I guess you could say um I'm saying that uh there's still a lot of young Elders speaking the language a lot of resources when I think about it now I'm I'm that was back when I was like 30 years old now I'm 60 now I'm in the Elder know and those kids that I worked with in N uh third grade they're now 30 years old and yet they didn't speak the language in third grade so um again it's just showing that um that that that language endangerment is creeping up on us go ahead so uh we looked at uh some data that was collected back in 2004 with the uh educational uh comprehensive education study that was done and in that um it was a big thing that happened um but part of it I did talk about language they they collected data from on a survey about language and back then they they did uh in 2004 uh in the 60 plus a age range the the the speakers were in about the 90% there were 90% that were speaking the language and they did a for forecast for 2024 which is next year and those 60 age group category there's uh it's about uh 80% or Dro in about 10 10% and then in 2044 would be 50% so that was back in 2004 uh when we um when the uh Language Center was established one of the things that we did was to do a survey again um and so the next survey was in 2020 and 2021 um the next SL up yeah now up number six next one yeah so we did a survey with The Language Center and we collected um respondents almost a thousand respondents here on the nation and when you look at the 58 group range around 60 around there yeah which is the purple color so the third column down from the right uh you can see that it's from top down it's almost to the 50% range so here in 2023 uh when they forecasted in 20 2004 that in 2055 we will be at uh 50% but in 2020 we're at 40% with that 68 screen 8 each range group so it's it's um you know we're we're getting there a lot faster and that's happening you know all over the um languages are again going extinct rapidly and and so um The Language Center was created to try to uh do something different um to to be able to um somehow uh work on um having the they call inter intergenerational transmission from adult to child of the language uh so that when they grow up they'll have that language and I say that um that a child is going to learn English no matter what that's how we grew up we learn AUM as our first language but as We Grew Older we learned English and now you know we're bilingual and and it doesn't hinder our our academics success or you know our growth and things like that that that um being able to speak two languages uh helps you more than if you didn't wer weren't able to speak two languages um so that's kind of u a quick uh status on the language and where opum language is right now thank you um some yha um [Music] um yoube fore [Music] for ter foreign spee for fore [Music] for um for reuben reuben Diaz [Laughter] um for for foreign spee foreign spe spee foree um fore for [Music] oh bananas oh oh we don't have any [Laughter] fore [Music] fore [Music] um growth mindset for [Music] for [Music] for fore for [Laughter] YouTube after school programs fore speee um building [Music] one [Music] um buildings cafeteria fore like um so really quick um so I was expressing that I wanted to uh share the presentation in athum in case we have people that are listening to all them um u in case we're have we have listeners that maybe are listening live or you know catch the video later which is what I do cuz I forget about the meetings than I catch it later but um a lot of the the reason behind that is a lot of my students will say and people around me will say I don't know where to hear aam I don't have a place to hear aam so um I wanted to share in aam you know those uh for the individuals that do speak aam understand aam but also for the ones that are Learners or curious of how our language sounds you know that they can go back and listen to the presentation in autum and um so one of the key goals for the um Language Center is to not only reclaim but normalize the use of the autum language normalize it and you know just to share a a little bit um Ron was sharing when he noticed the shift I noticed the shift when um I was at my grandmother's my grandmother was my main U my H but she was my main caregiver and when my aunts and uncles came home from boarding school they would only be speaking English and me and my H about would be like you know we just kind of look at each other like okay you know then but then as the break would go on they start shifting back to AUM but then they would go back to their boarding school and then come back and then they'd be using English again so um that shift was happening early on already and um so one of the key things that we wanted to highlight and bring awareness is in normalizing the Y and I was sharing how it was um great to hear Reuben say you know introduce himself in aam even though he's not aam but he's taking the initiative to introduce himself to aam and um hearing Sylvia's response to the roll call to attendance yanuk I'm here it it was great to hear that because you know it normalizes that situation and um learner speakers can maybe use that like oh that's all it is okay you know I can start saying that too I can start doing this too so the audience that are present are like oh what are they saying and they'll come and come to you and ask you what did you say you know what did you and but if it be when it becomes normal it's just going to be a given that this is how you do things so and we're not saying it's good or bad we're just encouraging you and um so one of the things that um you know with this slide I just wanted to highlight we wanted to highlight the things of um you know those of you that are aam language speakers to continue to use it at home even in your daily commands or whatever it is continue to use it and even if you just know a little bit use those uh what you know and it's going to become normal for the children children to to use it hear it and um use it um the other thing that um I shared about was the radio station they're already doing sound bites for word of the day or some of the interviews and the DJs they broadcast in aam and English you know that's really awesome because then again it normalizes and I would love to con we would love to con um encourage them to continue to do that because again it normalizes that our is still out there and um so for the parents Guardians and um the community whatever it is you know if you can uh use it in the community the community events um celebrations all of those things like it was awesome to see um in the preview you guys were showing clips and um I believe it was Tony Johnson that was doing the the shaut and he was singing and he say and it was so awesome for the children to say I mean it was just automatic and that's that's awesome to see and hear um that's what we mean by let's continue to use more aam to normalize it and um so we are acknowledging those things that are already happening in the community and encouraging you to continue it and expand on it and um so even at work and U Mr Pierce is going to go more into about the use of it so I won't get into it but um so what we also stress is that um I know that there are some family members um and community members that say and this was old myth that was I I'm not going to get into the history of how that came about but there um community members were told it's going to mess you up it's going to stunt your learning if you don't learn English all of that is false all of that is false and there's research that um say it only enhances your understanding of the world and I was sharing how when you only know English you only see the world from one perspective but when you know more than one language like ours you can see from this angle and this angle and this angle because when you start speaking our language you'll see that we can say something this way we can say something this way we can say something this way we can say something this way there's multiple ways of saying the same sentence and so how awesome that is and research shows that that only um expands a child's understanding and awareness of the the world and academically they can um it only enhances their learning so I refer to the the sign that's here the growth mindset so everything that you see on the growth mindset part and I'm very familiar with the growth mindset um everything that you see see there that's what it enhances when you know another language and culture because you can see the world and um in a different way so we encourage you to continue to use it um and if you're not um seek the help of The Language Center because we can help you enhance those things and if it's already happening if you already have resources at your school awesome um if you need need additional help uh The Language Center is there to help you with um maybe the language or the content to to bring more awareness to it and I was also sharing how knowing uh the and him the language and culture when a person or child especially is aware of your language and culture and in history their sense of identity is even stronger and they have more confidence and self um empowerment and Trust in themselves to move forward into the world um when and I was just sharing when I used to teach High School I taught a lot of urban students where they only grew up with English and um most of them had um lost sense of identity and we just hungry to learn like who am I where do I come from um I don't know where I'm going without this you know this foundation and so all them language um history and culture when they know that they have that Foundation to fall on so it really is helpful and I've seen students in fact one of my students my former students she's finished uh she graduated at U OFA and she's doing a presentation of how coming into her own aam identity helped her um to really solidify herself and she's graduating she's doing doing a presentation probably right now as we speak and I'm but um I'm not going to mention any names I don't have her permission to use names um so um so knowing having this Foundation it will only strengthen um and it also um sh it also minimizes the sh the um e um it minimizes the being ridiculed uh for a child when um somebody is like you know it's not res it's not Village it's your identity and so when we min minimize when when people have more knowledge of the language and and the culture and the history they have more confidence and recognize it's not a negative thing and so it minimizes the the ridicule that can be affected by it um so um and also understand and I'm not going to get into that um so um when so again just encouraging you to encourage people that are fluent speakers to use the language um and also for those fluent speakers to if they have learner speakers that want to learn the language be available to them but also know that The Language Center is available for them and so then I was talking about you know if regarding the after school program you guys um have after school programs but if you want to if when you want to start an immersion based uh student centered uh after school program The Language Center can help you with planning because I know as a teacher it's kind of like like another thing to do like H the principal and the superintendent is going to make me do this and it's like ah well the if you have an idea you have a proposal of what you're thinking bring it to The Language Center and they're an um we're an awesome resource to help you uh possibly with uh whatever language or the U challenges you have but maybe the content and um maybe even help you find um a Community member that's certified in the language to teach those uh after school programs so um and then also just using the the Y at um community events with families and then I was just sharing about and I I'm pretty sure you understood this part like to optimize um the school buildings I know you have some buildings that are in autum but um but also encouraging you if you wanted to transition to aam sin nich you can also reach out to The Language Center and can help you um and I the the example I gave was like because the classrooms are house they houses they can be like Banky coyote house they can be cow house and I was that's a joke but anyway um yeah um instead of like building one which is so you know blant give some life to those buildings and and that's what I appreciate about the the the community college is that we have our buildings named in aam and even our non aam faculty they say oh we're meeting at iumi you know and it's like cool they're not saying building one or or whatever they're saying or Etc so anyways I could go on and on but I'm gonna stop right here um reach out to the aaman center and um continue to do what you are doing and if you need to or want to expand reach out to the DNE pierce my name is Dwayne Pierce I'm from way over there because I'm over here now uh in the community of walk I always like to tease people over here because it's so far west but uh I teach over at the college I teach history and culture and what I do there is kind of what I do when all around I live in Tucson in the middle of all that and uh what we do there is um just use a them whenever you can you know I grew up speaking all them and English at the same time but then I went to boarding school St John's and uh graduated and all that and went to the workforce so my all them kind of went to the side you know and then barely after I decided to go back to school is when I realized that like uh Ron was saying you know all of a sudden when I grew up everybody spoke all of them you know unless you went into town because you didn't want to get into trouble so you spoke English but uh we spoke all them and then it never dawned on me that I won't be able to go back to my community and not hear it until recently and it's like wow even the kids you know they don't know so what I do in my classes is I use all of them as much as possible most of the students do not speak all of them and I'm myself am still relearning it spoken wise I can understand well but trying to get the words out but I'm working on it so I use all them as much as possible a lot of the students appreciate it they are the ones uh that live in the urban areas like Phoenix and Scottdale they appreciate it because they don't hear it at all up there so what I do is just like when I'm teaching my classes first off I say quit saying to you know that's just rude is use the language don't hyphenate or abbreviate it I say that all to all my classes don't say t that's just that hurts say so I kind of enforc that part and I use the emic you know when you e people if there's because I do have relatives that come to my classes and they expect better treatment is just because you're my nephew or whatever you know I E them in front of everybody and everybody just okay and they might know what I not know what I'm saying to them but I explained it to them you know like uh her other half is my hak so I will call him my Hakim and he understands you know but I use that in my classes and when I'm talking about the community I have a map that I got from the museum that has some all in Autumn I already know what their their Autumn names is but I put it on my screen because I'm virtual so it said don't say Santa Rosa is G don't say sanav sanav is the church but the community is walk you know and I do that throughout my classes and um the my cousin has a a weird phone message thing where he'll go you dial it and then they go ha then you start talking like he's there and then sorry I'm not here but can you leave a message but you know ha is like short for ha H you you know that's how we talk ha so I'm I start talking but but that's one way you could do to use it all the time is change your answering machine to all of them you know and that way they have to ask you what did you say what does that say and then you get to talk about it uh share your stories and songs in all them we learned a few songs when I took the AUM classes from Miss Ramon and Ron over there we learn songs so I sing them not to everybody but in the morning when I get up in the morning I try to get up by Sunrise just to talk with everybody that's around that you can't see if you know what I mean and I sing them songs but uh also questions you know like uh how that you know what is this you know and people will look at you at first but then if you use hand gestures they kind of have a like she was doing about the bananas I had no idea we had a name for bananas until now but uh that's what I do and nicknames you know I use nicknames for people I have my nickname that I had as a little kid uh my H called me uh Mo which means you know like she would tell me to do something and it means like shaking your head in a negative ways so they still call me that and I'm approaching 67 that's supposed to be a little kid's name but everybody in the community knows me that so I I in turn uh nickname my students and people I know based on how they act and what they do or some feature that's really prominent so just those everyday things you know use what you know every day share do not be afraid to make a mistake because uh people on the east side talk different from people over here they they talk real fast over here and it's just like [Laughter] and as Mr Ron always tells me you people at walk talk so slow that we going to fall asleep by the time you get you know it's okay you know just use it use it there's several dialects and they're going away but uh more in a u i don't know like a a composite aumn language of all the various dialects coming into one that's okay language is always change and uh but just use what you know daily with everyone around you I wear t-shirts that have all them written on them when I go into town and people say that's so cool what does it mean and I explain you know word for word and they're interested and then you go out to my community and they say where'd you get that shirt I said those guys over there I don't know addresses it's over there around that house and uh so there's little things you can do to use the language daily whatever you know and then as they were saying once you start that it becomes more normal uh I grew up speaking it we got in trouble from the sisters from speaking all them in front of everybody so we learned in front of the Miran don't speak all of them but around the community you better speak all them so they know that you belong there and that's all I wanted to say is just use what you know daily and then it'll become more normal for everyone so in conclusion I just want to say um thank you for having us listening to us as we try to bring this language awareness to the community and um and to you know the schools and everywhere else um we did this with the legislative Council and we had a symposium language language Summit which we titled which uh kind of translates as bringing our minds together to save our language and and so that's what we want to do we want to gather you know our thoughts and our ideas and everything together to work together to try to uh stay away from this endangerment title and so and bring the language back uh to the children um I I made it a point when when I started working in language that I wanted to do a lot work with the children to be able to bring that language back because of what I saw in the in the school district when I started working there um and so um I think that's the main thing that we're trying to do here is to bring everybody together we know everybody there's a lot of people out there working on language doing things and have that uh thought about doing something and uh The Language Center is at Don a community college but it's not uh a center for the college it's a center for the the whole nation um and so we wanted to say thank you again for having us thank you [Applause] any comments from the board I I I have I have one go ahead Mr di I have two number one um yes we're hiring um and and we need three more autum y teachers so I I know that you have a database um we're ready to hire them 6 months ago so that's the first one uh the second one do you guys have an actual curriculum to share uh with schools with a community uh for after school programs um a five-year curriculum for teachers and students we tailor a lot of the curriculum that we offer based on what the need is there's a different um needs across the communi that we work with the schools we work with but if you're looking for teacher training we can offer teacher training to um the teachers here is that what you're asking for um what I'm referring to are there any materials that we can tap into because we have some teachers but they're developing the curriculum as they go it will be very helpful if there's now a curriculum that then our teachers can tap into um so that they can focus on teaching the language of the Y instead of developing it ex exactly we've collected resources over the years and I know when I worked at the education department the th ofam Nation education department they had a language resource center and so they had a lot of different materials for grade level um subjects common topics that are taught across all schools related to the language but there isn't a specific developed curriculum I know when Dr Morris was here she was working with the um teachers and developing a curriculum centered around the seasons and the autum calend calendar but that was something I think that was the most comprehensive um that was developed are there any plans in developing a curriculum that then our schools or let me use that much can use yeah we can work with the teachers because we have a database of 10e language and culture teachers who have more than 15 years of experience teaching language and culture in a classroom setting that could work alongside the teachers that are within the schools now to develop something like that that's something that we could help support through The Language Center thank you think U was that it Mr di yes that's it I said two but it was five sorry what I was just going to say I know that and thank you for pointing out um I know that the efforts have been pretty pretty extensive on on the end of the school particularly because um even for myself being a student it was was the only place that I heard any aumn and now the point being made about being ridiculed or having making making it make individuals making others feel uncomfortable about even trying to express themselves in that way um I'm glad that you had a conversation with legislative Council but what but what I know has been also detrimental to that is while they're while they're voicing their support um legislative representatives are also saying bring a translator because we're not going to tell you what we're saying which is which is you know if that's how you want to cheat somebody I think that's fine but the way that you all approached and and how I feel as an individual who desperately wants to be able to help and be um at least find a solution for what what I know we all want in the long run um that genuinely came and and feels like how many uh individuals who still are seeking something in themselves especially because we know we're all them and we know what we who we belong to that language component um while it isn't difficult I know just seems to be far away from from from many of us but we do I think here even as a board try to ingrain as much as we can into the op I mean into the what we're doing for the sake of what you just said the more that it's visible or the more that it's used uh Sparks the question in the mind of all those that are watching all those that are that are at least um listening so thank you so much for the presentation um I I'm I'm very very eager to see what we can actually do to work together especially with our um our amazing uh culture teachers and our director for culture language um we put a lot of trust and heart behind them and if you hang out for a little bit I'm sure that there are videos of the children doing even much more um um that it's just been very organic you know not nothing that we're forcing and nothing that we're ridiculing anybody about but just being present and continuously doing it every single day um that it makes them feel comfortable with understanding and and speaking so I'm grateful that there that there are welcoming and very genuine individuals that are behind this project and and I can't wait to see what will come of it and I hope forward look forward to being a partner and how we're doing it Miss vs um um Teresa are you saying anything not to hate [Music] you okay so I so I'm very nervous so got uh H got um sck that I didn't pick it up um or he so see smart hook hook because us for us who don't it's just a dream oh yeah mqu mqu we but just want to say thank you to especially my supervisor Teresa for taking the initiative to to use the language at the office you know just here and there it helps um and want to thank the center for everything all the efforts that you're doing to I didn't realize until I really saw I mean I've heard about the statistics but to really see it and know that it's leaving and I remember at one time Danny what I was was talking with Danny and I know I had to do a speech and not them and um I I don't I just remember saying that we are we are the own we are the enemy of our own language but it's true how um be be a them um have that mindset of you're going to confuse the child because that's what was told to me when I was trying to I was really trying to learn and I was talk teaching my son and he could name all the animals he could name the colors he could he could he was learning but the people the the language or the speech from not here on the nation said why are you trying to trying to teach him you're confusing him and he's not his the sounds and I told him because he's a them and that's his language and you won't understand that because you're not a them so that's how important it is I remember one time I was sitting I was going through stuff and I was sitting there crying outside and my son and I was watering the trees and my son was sitting next to me and he just sat there and he and then I I I told him you don't have to learn a them it's not important because that's what I was trying to get someone to understand you don't teach atam you just speak it you just speak it well pick it up and I remember telling him you don't have to speak aam and he looked at me and he was looking at the stuff floating around in the water and he said and I I looked at him he goes yeah what the and then that change changed everything that's how important it is you know he said to me look there's a fish and it I just I just finished telling him it wasn't important and yet I knew that was wrong so I'm really glad that you're here today because our teachers here our language teachers they know it's important but us as a board we have to still make those changes about the buildings that's a great idea about knowing the directions that it's posted somewhere so that the kids will pick it up but my hardest thing was trying to do the verbs the connections to the nouns that's the hardest for was for me and I still can't do that I can hear I can listen I can understand but for me to say something that connection is not there yet and yet it's a powerful word thank you Miss syia thank you for your presentation um I I I've witnessed um you in at s part of The Language Center and what you're doing and all the work that you're putting into it and I really hope that we um we we become part of this uh this project and that we we uh get our we get our staff our teachers and everybody um I think that this is something that maybe could represent it at the um at the beginning of the school year I think that that way they would have a better understanding of what direction we're looking at and what we're looking at to increase our language and I Doo um I only understand it quite uh some and I do speak a little bit the only person I will converse with is Andrea because that's how she'll speak to me and so I have to answer her in you know in what I know you know what I know how to speak uh but again um and Teresa I know that I'm very proud that you are our first uh earned your your your degree in a Don aam from Toc I'm very proud of that and I know that there are others behind you that are that are looking to do the same so again thank you for your presentation and I really would encourage um us as the school district Mr DS to maybe have this presentation done in front of all the district Miss Andrea so they're preschoolers and right now we have a check up check and um so just know that in a couple of years these preschoolers who are moving towards FL in the be and one of the things I'm right away they will get targeted a lot of all right away they were to them and so that's another part aess of like what a phone speaker looks like and confid it's just that this other needs to the confidence level of that child instead of labing them right away so yeah be ready for those prol they're already showing signs of and understanding there's different stages of learning and understanding and Andes are asking what I have some members of the community that they're texting that they can't hear you that if you don't mind coming to the microphone whenever you ready to share something else okay [Laughter] thank okay if there's nothing else thank you so much again for your [Applause] presentation [Laughter] thank you Dwayne [Laughter] [Music] yeah I'm going to join you for lunch and the immersion where's my invite it's not in my calendar number five this evening is the bar Unified School District governing board financial report Mr ragle tough follow okay can the top one please thank you okay so attached here we have the fiscal year 24 student I'm sorry I was was in the in the mode good evening board president buendia miss Vance Miss Sylvia Hendrick and um superintendent Diaz I'm going to be presenting the Student Activities and auxiliary numbers for November so attached I have the um fiscal year 24 Student Activities auxiliary balances through November 30th 2023 the Student Activities account received deposits totaling $3,775 um the high school student council I tried to go in order so it can follow um the high school student council had receipts totaling $1,184 um dollar the class of 24 had receipts totaling $892 class of 25 had receipts totaling $34 $2 class of 26 had receipts totaling $354 class of 27 had receipts totaling 3 th $320 and the eighth grade promotion account had receipts totaling $250 all from the food sales at the high school babo day on um November 15th the high school's High School boys basketball received a deposit of $170 for concession St sales at the girls basketball game on November 18th the high school girls basketball um Team received a deposit of $263 for concession sales at the girls basketball game on November 20th the ending balance for Student Activity account on November 30th was $15,512.71 you the student auxiliary um fund received revenues totaling $426 3 in November the high school auxiliary received deposits of $412 for the high school girls basketball gate fees and a rebate check of $850 from the All-American publisher publishing for two two um 2023 posters the high school also had a dispersement of $210 61 for an Amazon order $800 to Benson Union high for the boys and girls Basketball Tournament entry fees and $400 to Valley Christian High For Boys Basketball Tournament entry fees the um intermediate had receipts totaling $3,313 from Scholastic Book Fair sales the ending balance for auxiliary on November 30th was $1 17,30 .51 do I have any questions on Student Activity and auxiliary questions from the board okay I'll move on to our um expenditures balances if you want to open up the department budgets and the first one should be the district office or sorry district office District as a whole so um number one thank you attached here you'll find the um fisal year 24 expenditures through November 30th um 2023 um the m&o budget balance re um reflex 4,852 727 and 31 we are 5 months into the fiscal year and everything is looking good we have submitted subed a December budget revision um due to the loss of average daily membership or ADM for approval which was the hearing that we had earlier today overall we currently have an 83.7 2% or 188 million 864 and 40 I'm sorry and 76 Cent budget balance excluding incumbrances we received 5,28 5,768 and4 so far in fiscal year 24 in revenues from all funds excluding fund um for Student Activities and Insurance Fund and as a just an extra side note the business office continues to submit documents for the performance and single audit requests daily do I have any questions on the um expenditure budget no questions thank you thank you thank you m you had mentioned the audit and that's occurring now right yes we're still currently in our audit two two separate audits okay two separate m one for the AG's office and then our um single audit with our our annual audit with our and and when is that uh proposed to be completed we're pending right now we had um communication from the um Puma County office they are um there's a lag time and they have not completed um reconciliations so anything that has to do with our cash is on hold and cannot be completed until we get notification from the County um so that part is waiting but um we just have a few more items to wrap up but when we have a few more items and we submit we get um back from the Auditors and they have more stuff for us to pull so it's a daily thing um when I do present at the um board retreat next month I'll be going over more in depth of the audit process and types of things that they ask for the number of requests that we get from them so that the board can have a better understanding of the audit process did you did you send us an engagement or was there an engagement letter or something to and over there was like several and we've been just hearing that it's still in process still in process still in process but what then are we how are we or what do we makes me feel I guess yeah so I think we need to know what are we doing what are we sending are we waiting for something are they waiting for something um it's a ongoing process yeah we get multiple requests and then they will add on depending on spending um so we have two additional um grants that they're going to be auditing also so impact Aid will be audited we did get that was part of the letter impact Aid and Esser and so it's an Ence it's a whole separate audit just on that funding so it's more items for our department to pull um and communicate back and forth with the Auditors on but that part has not even started yet so but that isn't part of the single audit it's part of the um Grant Federal grant audits okay I guess I guess why I'm asking is that when are we going to see results of the audit and findings if any so that yeah that usually they they wrap up in March um yeah the deadline is the the last day in March and so we typically hear around that if they can finish before then we do they usually have deadlines should be completed I think part of what has extended it to is all the eser money that we get that they have to audit so that is is very intensive to pull all of that information also it's been added on top so I once the Esser money is done and spent the year that that gets audited it should fill back to normal I'm hoping I think I like a maybe at least an initial summary from the beginning um when they were initiated if there is an engagement letter or something to kind of lay out for us to that degree sure absolutely then you can give us more detail at The Retreat sure that'd be great okay is that okay okay thank you missco you're welcome like the claps let's all let's keep that energy number six bar Unified School District um principal reports Miss Enriquez together to welcome Miss Enriquez from a far away land coming to present okay good evening president buendia board members Mr Diaz I have submitted my board report and writing I hope you had the opportunity to read it um and Mr bats if you could play our video sorry caught you mid [Music] drink [Music] and I need you to repeat after me [Music] okay I can't hear you a little bit louder m is [Music] is [Music] sorry about that I was trying to get up full [Music] screen [Music] my AP works hard on this [Music] video [Music] and I need you to repeat after me [Music] okay MMA I can't hear you I can't hear a little bit louder little bit louder by M [Music] by [Music] my [Music] fore [Music] try that [Applause] again too close too close okay we'll fix it later what's the last [Music] song C remember the A and E care very good y y y okay very [Music] good very good next any questions from the board for Premier report I don't have any questions thank you let put our hands together for m j [Applause] please good evening board president wendia board members and superintendent Ruben Diaz I hope you had a chance to read my board report and Aaron you can go ahead and play [Music] it [Music] know [Music] okay and on Friday today's Friday we have our three star students that are going to be selected know thank you for everyone that's going the star that means you are you know an amazing example of what is student that's learning in this classroom environment is thank you special Point giv you access to access an amazing book of your choice so here we go who's going to [Applause] start the numbers put [Music] [Applause] [Music] they did all right yeah the negative coordinate should be zero yeah that's good oh okay so you guys have to ride and horse right okay tell the the two main ones from our story what were they um jar um these are spur to like kind of spur the cow to go sometimes cows in the Sho they don't want to go but then the guys who open the gate they close it again and then they open it again then they'll go out we just have to sprad them real hard and then this what makes this is what makes them go so um I'll show you just a few few of them um the first one I showed them was the diamonds first one is oh there's two if you know the string games um come let me know but my people because there's snow now and the bugs are not here um we can play the string especially the spiders the one that I can do and I'm pretty sure miss beay knows this one this one we call this one the coyote so this one they're moving and then the last one that I know that I'm going to tr try to teach my class I'm TR forgetting and it takes me a while to remember is the person flipping over the over the fence so I don't know if you guys can see it there this is just a game My People Play Because the the the days are shorter and the nights are longer so um back home a lot of the students are playing this now so if you guys know how to play the string game or if you want to learn come ask some of my students so they can come and um teach you guys how to play so thank [Music] [Applause] you to the to the turn around turn [Music] around thank you all right I guess I should ask if there's anything you feel like you want to highlight in your report or something we shouldn't Miss unless you have questions no um the only thing I want to highlight is um um I want to make sure that I acknowledge uh Alan Leonard and Chris maretta for their courageous efforts to make sure that our students were safe um when the accident happened on the intermediate campus um Alan he Alan Leonard made sure that all the students were out of the bathroom and because of uh Chris Marietta's fast actions the fire was not able to spread and so I'm very thankful to both of them and to our student of the month kingom for speaking up right away so we knew where it was as as fast as we could get to it and so it was able to be taken care of right away and the fire department also made sure that um they acknowledged them and told them that they did a good job and so we're hoping for um them to know and hopefully they're listening that we do appreciate what they did thank you I think that's [Laughter] it Miss Edna Lea miss Lea let's give her some love come up you're next good evening president wendia miss fance miss Hendrick and superintendent Diaz I have submitted my report and if we could play the [Music] video quarters what we need to put more quarters yeah all the snacks [Music] water [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] same question miss Lea anything you feel like you want to highlight or anything we shouldn't Miss yes so if you go to Priority three uh I don't know what page it is two three one more go up a little bit higher oh right there at the bottom sorry the top of the that page so I highlighted um some of the changes as we're going through the year you will see that I I changed the color of anything that's new to that month and we've been working on fun and engaging lessons and the most recent update is that we are collaborating with Miss Cornell here from the district to help our teachers um gain more information and learn more strategies from Avid so although some of our teachers have gone to Avid training it's kind of like anything if you don't continue to use it um so we have some of our new teachers and our leadership team that is going to be working with Miss Cornell to hone in on those strategies so that they can then go and work with their departments awesome great use of resources yes thank you so much any any other questions thank you Mr Fox you're up let's get for [Applause] [Music] Fox good evening president of buendia board members superintendent Diaz you've received my report and I hope you had the time to look it over and play that video Aon please [Music] hey [Music] he [Music] [Applause] so I had a lot of trouble hi uh getting one of my slides in into perspective where you could actually see it it wasn't $200 it was $4,200 that Yodo over the month gave uh dis disperse the 28 of our students based on attendance no that's what that's the green one right there okay question question if not always appreciate it thank you sir thank you guys appreciate it and youth on their own is a great um organization so yeah they've been very generous [Applause] yeah number seven this evening is our barbecue UniFi schip govering board member reports who's going first no reports I don't have a report okay no problem number eight this evening um barbecue scoter superintendence report no report we'll move on I'm just kidding the what I missed it I'm just te rewind um president Mia members of the board members of the community and fellow colleagues uh thank you for being here as part of the report I want to make a few highlights um um I want to thank um the the team and and the cabinet that participated in the cognitive coaching um sessions and even um Miss um Steven she participated in some of them um this is one of our goals um we have which is number 10 that we're going to be coaching throughout so there will be some makeup sessions for some of the sessions that we missed for some of our staff members but nevertheless I'm very proud and I'm very grateful that everyone was able to participate and see the change um also I want to take advantage of this moment to highlight some of my team members report um it's um starting with with operations thank you for the trainings that you're setting up with waxi to continue to uh commit to you providing um support to your team and it's exciting to see the weatherization project is coming up and also ageback in the roof um projects and and the progress that you have made um and and to over see that for the intermediate um The Roof is 57% completed and for the high school is 30 something 36% completed so we excited that our schools will have new roofs I also want to thank um Miss agie Hart for the work well done during Miracle on Main and also for the month of November um serving 184 families and serving over 7,000 pounds of food for the community let's give her a big hand for that and thank you to the curriculum instruction Department uh Miss uh kiny and Miss Medina uh for coordinating the classroom visits um having a Rue board members as well as the ilt from the district for the month of U I mean for the for the spring and we send the uh I for the fall we also send the signup sheet to our Gover board members for the spring so looking forward to see you join us um we highlighting uh as part of getting to know our staff members um as one of the requests from our govering board members if you don't mind Aon um looking uh pulling out the one for uh the speech program no one the speech program um I would like to introduce and and the governing board uh members to uh to meet our Kathleen crane which is a speech program and all of our contribution to our district including uh modeling communication providing speech language interventions and providing informal assessments of a risk students and also provide information of developmental milestone and expectations and at home interventions for the community so let's give a hand to our speech pathologist for joining us for being part of our teaching Community um another department that I want to highlight is our counseling department and for the counseling department I want to encourage our staff and our community members uh the as part of their newsletter for November they have including included the top 10 coping skills um holidays give be blooming for some um of our brothers and sisters or members of the community um I encourage you to please take the time to see some easy ways in how to promot promote Wellness to our community a big hand to our counseling department and job well done and have having said that I I also want to thank our uh District Affair manager for supporting and capturing all of the highlights um for the month of November and putting this video together so if you don't mind aing thank you m ready a not yeah let's go I tried to cover my shine IED stay in the l i i i don't want to hide No not tonight you want me to take my light fit it in your box right I want you to look at me in [Music] the I'm about to show you where the light comes [Music] from I come this is who I am I it I'm it all over and girl I I'm show the world where the love is I'm not evering and love out is what it's all about everything to see the lock get down yeah it's going down you want me to take my light fit it in your box right I want you to look me in [Music] the I'm to show you where the light here I come this is who I am I won't hide it I'mma take it all over the world to the young to the old every boy and girl ready [Music] yeah to keep this deep little light of mine it's time to let it shine a bit cuz there's no point in hiding it it's everything I am the source of All My Hope and it's the reason why stay there's no more I'm showing them how I feel CU is [Music] [Applause] more [Music] show [Music] you yeah [Music] [Applause] questions was there was there a an update on the gym at I school yes we do have an update um on the gym um we have have completed the requisition process we're waiting now for tarot um and we're hoping as soon as ter completes their process to begin the work at the gym once s approves it it will take two weeks for the uh for the gym floor to be completed four weeks four weeks two weeks I'm just kidding I want it done in two weeks I want it done in two weeks you made him nervous um okay thank you perfect appreciate it anything else I guess just with the with the basketball season going on now I noticed there is kind of adequate seating but I just think that like tonight I don't know about the varsity game if it got really filled up because I was already filling up for the JB game and people were still coming just a little bit you know just making sure that you know we don't have any kind of accidents I guess in regards to them with the seating for the Bas basketball games or season that's going on now we're just real cozy when you're at the game we're getting closed we're getting that's a good thing so if you have any connections in teror we welcome any support is that it yeah okay we'll move on number nine no information for coaches and Club sponsors letter F this evening is a discussion and possible approval of the barbecue UniFi School District 2425 2526 calendars Mr di president president Mia uh members of the governing board members of the community we are excited in and in presenting uh the governing board not one but two years um two academic years of calendars to be able to um get it approved um and if we can get that 2024 for 25 school year here in on on the screen it and the process that was that that took place there was a community that was put together to be able to look at what are the needs as a district what are the needs of our community and also what are the academic needs and requirements for the state and under the those circumstances the committee um brought uh brought together this proposal that includes the four Community Days um if you notice in yellow those are the Community Days um we have converted uh the we're proposing to convert the um Miracle On Main a community day um so we can prevent some confusion in the community that given that when we had late events um we usually have no schools for that dat um another major change that you're going to see in in this calendar it's um also day it's also included um as part of the calendar that will be culturally culturally sensitive um based on our attendance data that's one of the days that um are impacted by making it um one of the holidays um it will um allow us to have control over the other days um on the attendance uh we still have the 180 days required by the state and we also continue to have the three days for new teachers five days for uh returning teachers and you're going to see that the the starting of the year on the 25th and on the 26th of July they half days um what it will allow U the um not only for the students to start but also to be able to have have um um come to meet you teacher day um and on both days that way the families have multiple children they have the opportunity to come and meet their teachers on the 25th or the 26th depending on their schedules comments questions concerns and any members of the um committee you're welcome to also share any points um that I might have missed mras did you have any parents on your committee a parent uh we don't we did not have uh parents as part of the committee um president M howcome uh um would it be would it be Vice maybe to just include a parent I just say that because I know much of the much of the discussion that we get or the comments come from parents or at least and at least including including a Community member might feel a little bit more no we didn't uh president Mia um what we did we had the committee and then the the the calendars were share with all of the schools and the staff to give us additional feedback um but no no parents were to my knowledge um m andz can you confirm my understanding is that no no parents um were included as part of the committee okay okay well can you speak on the microphone um given that the members of the community um they can hear us when we don't speak on the microphone we did try and consider um the nation's holidays and when the nation employees got or were able to leave home early then we try to um accommodate our schedule as well because then when the nation gets off early then they come and take our students out early so um we try to accommodate their schedule as well I think one of the go miss one of the um I thank you Miss P Lewis I am close to the microphone I think one of the things that I I had thought about after meeting with you was that um I know that um I don't know I guess maybe as a question and a comment in regards to this the the month of February where the rodium fair is has is slowly coming back I guess um I think it came back last year after the pandemic you know where you know but but it's not a FL it wasn't a full rode on Fair and I'm not sure what the what it is going to be this year which means you know the carnival the you know things like that but um just just curious to see if that affected or last year when it came back uh the attendance and and then also um if we consider that for this year this coming Year's calendar and the following year my understanding is that um that committee took a to took a look at all of the attendance patterns and the changes that they made on the schedule were to prevent any additional uh absences um and they accommodated the calendar to prevent um absentismo header Miss Enriquez thank you so we didn't do use the microphone as Miss beay mentioned we tried to ensure that all the days off all the PD days surrounded the community um needs so for example if you look at what you were talking about Miss Hendrick the 31st of January since the first weekend of February is usually the rodeo we made the 31st a PD day so that students aren't here because we did look at attendance from previous years and those were days that um students missed a lot of school um so rather than making it a half day we made it a no school day and typically what we do as a staff is we go and support our students um that are participating in the rodeo so that's part of our professional development oh okay um so we did take those things into um sorry I lost my train of thought consideration thank you to consideration um and then if you notice we did three half days in September the 25th 26th and 27th to accommodate parent teacher conferences because we also noticed if we do it in one night you're really pushing the conferences to only be 10 minutes and that's not fair to the parent that's not fair to the child and that's not fair to the teacher um so um teachers are required four nights on on their contract so rather than having conferences in the spring and the fall be considered two of those nights we want to utilize those nights to have more parent teacher nights and students so that we can teach certain strategies to parents but not only that but have like make it take it nights whatever the school um plans for it so that we can start bringing Community back into our schools as well that focuses around those academics awesome thank you thank you answers my question anything else go ahead Miss man I think that it's a good idea to have the twoyear schedules because um you're really looking at I mean it it it did it just all the colorful and stuff but it was a lot of work that went into this I could just tell so thank you for the team for doing that um and then so now the community will know not only next year but the following year so that they will be prepared and and um it's out there so thank you yeah I think just to add to that and and it helps them plan you know plan their their you know Vacations or whatever it is that you know in different types of um uh events that they want to do you know as a family ditto without any objection I'll motion to approve uh the the um item as presented second second by Miss Sylvia Hendricks all those voting for against motion passes number two's discussion and possible approval of the barbecue read fight schoolers expenditure report sorry expenditure budget revision number one um any questions if not I'll move to approve Mr second I just had a question go ahead I guess I was a little bit kind of confused with that the the enrollment went down but the budget increased no no oh it no it decreased the memo you can see okay and sorry for notes purposes I miss who made the motion on the previous one and who second it I motion I second it we vote it for thank you okay maybe I heard that wrong but okay I think that was yeah and with that I was second it you see you want to see make the Motions yeah are you sure you want to see no okay so when made the motion second by Miss syvia Hendrick HRI all those in favor against motion passes letter G is second consent agenda this evening Mo up I mean motion D I'll second the motion motion by Sylvia Hendrick second by Juan buendia all those in favor against motion passes no letter h no letter i any requests for future agenda items policy review future meeting it's part of the retreat I don't there will be a section as part of the retreat of policy review I think it it would help if you let me know any specific policies well I would like is for you to go through and look at any policies that you're having in any questions on difficulties with or need updated because I think we know that there things that come up and maybe there's a way and a means that the board can help support you carry out those policies in a better way or or in a way that helps to support you and the staff much better chronic cism anything I think that as a team I think that's something that you could work with your if you want I would set up a committee of your administrators or whomever just to take a look and propose and then we can review I I know I've been asking for it for a while but because I know that the in the previous years there were even instances where you know policies can be updated there are stuff that we actually need to make sure are updated to help support our communities the district but we'll look into some and that will be part of my oneye anniversary policy GI for you [Laughter] guys um Miss V I don't know if it will be an agenda item um but just thoughts on I know that their three-year goals is coming to an end the stretch goals it seems like so if if your team will start looking or you and your team start looking at the addition the because we want I I love the fact that there's the threeyear stretch goals and then after that keep us going wants more three years um during the retreat you'll be able to see The midye Benchmark uh and or during the fall and another fall during the Spring last quarter we going to be planning for the next two year and revisiting then the twoyear goals as well to determine what modifications we need to change based on our growth okay that was just I want to just keep going and keep doing what we're doing as far as making sure that everybody's on the same page and everybody knows and that we're moving forward after the first three years to an additional whatever you're going to do whatever wherever we're headed that we just continue rolling that don't stop yeah we don't have a choice yeah that's what you're going to give us a a glance at we're going to give you a glance at where we are on the fall data and then uh with based on that data you're going to take a glance of what are next steps for the spring that we're going to work with the students and our teachers okay and it's not until the Summit Retreat that you going to see any changes on the three-year plan okay sounds good uh everybody got the dates right M okay 27 28 sent anything else for future meeting agendas huhuh I what a couple of things um there's a few items a new hires that I may be asking to see when are you available for special board meeting um and um I need to meet with my team regarding the January meeting um many of my team members will be on a two week fall break um a winter break um and the documents are due when they're on vacation and that creates some changes uh those some conflicts but let me sering my team members because some of them they want to keep the board meeting as it is in January uh some of them they would like to postpone it a week um uh not on the second week but a third week in January so they have time to complete the uh the the reports when they come back but I'll be coming to you with more information and and asking for guidance if you're available for that I want to say there's a statute that we have to have our organizational meeting before a certain date in January too so just keep that in mind check the Arizona statutes and we had to do our organizational meeting before I'll check on that but double check Miss V yeah yeah I think we have to have it by the 15th or something go organization meeting uh this is by benam stum no I just I just wait for him to let us know about that special meeting about the special meeting I mean right now you want to announce for me I can't do the 10th 11th or 12th in that week and if we do it I mean the ninth works it's perfect because I already plan everything around it but either way but I think there is a statue that we had to do something before before that 15 okay let me check on that um and you say that you cannot do it the 10 11 and 12 oh I'm at a Naf Port Retreat Naf office retreat okay so I'll be coming to you um I'll send uh Z communication uh do not reply all um regarding the January meeting okay and then you were going to work with us on a special meeting on a special board meeting um I know today is the 12th um would you be or in any of you be available on the 19th like midday afternoon me it's a it's a okay that's fine I can do noon I can't do evening um yes we can do virtual virtual 19 oh uhhuh at 12:00 okay okay okay um once I post the agenda I'll be available to any questions that we we can expedite the meeting as well okay thank you any movement to adjourn move Movement by Miss syia Hendricks second I'll second the motion all those in favor to adjourn December 12th meeting motion without any objection motion passes to the time is 8:50 p.m. we are adjourned thank you 8:50 p.m.

bed meeting of 2023 there has been adequate notice of this meeting provided by the Board of Education in the Janu 9th 2023 and January 12th 2023 notice in the asbery Park Press and the co-star setting forth the date time and location of this meeting similar notice has been posted in the Burl Hall the Bri School website and the Burl clerk has been notified BR Mr Becker Dr de brosia here Mrs Jones here Mrs mcdevit here Mr Milano here Mrs re here Mr vital here Mrs W here Mr Walman here and a very stand [Music] for to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all and if someone can make a motion for the approval of minutes I make a motion for the approval of minutes [Music] second Dr jio yes Mrs Jones yes Mrs mcdevit yes Mr Milan yes Mrs Reed yes Mr V yes Mrs wolsh yes Mr wal yes and now we're going to move on to presentations uh NC boy soccer 2023 championship team coach uh Pete [Applause] [Music] Dad one take we on the air oh we're on the air yeah good evening everybody thanks for coming out tonight for this nice celebration for both the boys and the girls um before I start talking about the boys I just want to congratulate the girls on backtack that's an incredible feat to do and um it's a very tough League to play in and you girls just showed so much character and so much drive and I'm very proud of the eighth grader showing in the leadership that they did for some of those younger girls and of course coach cardamone working hard with the girls every day at practice fantastic job please give them a round of [Applause] [Music] applause so um I think I'm about 16 years into this which is unbelievable to to think about but every year it's such an enjoyment to be around the kids to be someone who is uh supporting some sort of leadership guiding them through just not soccer but their academics making sure that their day is positive day checking in with them from time to time um I've had many many boys over the years in different sports soccer one of the most enjoyable we have the boys that we had this year as a collective group were Sensational always on time always respectful always kind to one another other people and if they weren't I was there to make sure that was happening but I had a special group of kids that that came up when they were sixth graders three years ago there was there was a just a a block of them and they all came at the same time and some years you know we have a a large group of boys and you just can't keep everyone and then there's those years where you have just enough so you bring them all on board and um I had a real good group of sixth graders that have been with me for the last three seasons you know and I listen a lot of these boys and girls they come into these programs and and they could play they could play soccer they're trained very well they they practice hard they're practicing two hours every other night so sometimes just the roll of the dice you know you get a group that's just very good to play they play with each other well and I just have to facilitate it you know sometimes the the mark of good coaches is just recognizing that you have these good players and you just put them in the right spots and let them take care of each other and I watch them when as sixth graders we we had heartbreak as seventh graders um and then as eighth graders you know they ran the table again um this group of boys again the sixth graders who are now eighth graders now they went basically 30 and0 for three seasons had the one overtime loss in the last few minutes of overtime and this year they didn't Trail in any game at all like any of the games and they did it respectfully they knew when the score was you know unattainable for the other team they understood to come off the field and get some of those other boys in there so you know very proud of the fact that They Carried themselves that way so um without any further Ado we're going to go ahead and announce the names and Miss bler right here is going to have the certificates because I'm getting old and I can't remember everybody off the top of my head so um Parker basman are you here tonight Parker no Parker basman Parker if you're out there in YouTube land congratulations put this right over here okay Zack Blackman seventh grader Zack Blackman fantastic job Zach wonder I'm just gonna give you a highi like this hey hey hey hey hey good job and you're gonna stay here so we have a picture all right Ryan Caputo is he here tonight Ryan Caputo is not here tonight he is doing his homework I know Ryan Caputo is doing his homework I kid Chris Cohen Chris unfortunately went down Chris unfortunately went down in a uh yeah I'm gon go like this in a he had a foot a foot problem the whole year he really couldn't play it it broke his heart but he was there every day coming to the practices coming to the games and supporting the team so uh we missed him this year but he was a a big part of our team over the years Um Zack keran is not here tonight he is practicing wrestling yes so he said but Zack ker was fantastic never played soccer before and we taught him how to just shadow people and he was just a nightmare for them no no I know this one so this is uh John John benedetto my boy John my youngest had to caught him as a sixth grader wasn't quite ready yet but he he hooked on with us he did a fantastic job uh I'd be a Miss remiss if I didn't have a shout out to my son Peter who's a senior he just finished uh Squan soccer over there thanks for coming Peter uh will Dinger will Dinger here's Parker thank you will very much will started out as our goalie and he was useful outside in the field too hey look at this Parker Bassman is here Parker had a great basketball game today Parker Parker hey Parker he was fantastic for the for the three years I had him and then when some of my big guys went down he stepped up fantastic job just a fantastic job sixth grader Patrick Healey you're right when this sixth grader walked onto the field I thought uh what am I going to do this guy and he just did nothing but score gigantic goals hard to hard to keep fastest kid on the field wow what a player he is thanks Patrick James Kea he just goes by Kea with us we only called him Kea and he came with us for last year for seventh grade and he had a fantastic job you want to say something no okay was coming in for something Travis Levy Travis I had since kindergarten he was in my kindergarten class and believe it or not he was this big and um what what a warrior this guy is he's goingon to do some Sensational stuff in in in high school uh had the broken nose we didn't do it it was some someplace else it happen and he fought tooth and nail to get back into the game and thanks Mrs Levy for letting him play appreciate that we needed him uh Renzo lucarelli Renzo Renzo Renzo such a fantastic play he had a lot of flare out there he did such a great job Renzo thank you so much for everything another one of those eighth graders Robbie lucarelli Robbie the quiet the quiet brother but he he was fantastic uh another great taco player for us good leaders this guy so I had him in the kindergarten too we threw him threw him in goal because we wanted to see what will could do out um and he maybe he made one of the greatest saves I've ever seen I mean I've I've been coaching a long time Outside Inside Soccer he stopped that kid no over there in Heights oh my gosh changed our whole season Charlie Mahoney after the season I told Charlie he had a month of free whatever he wanted to do and the month's over so get your work done let's go is Sean here Shan McCarthy Shan Shan McCarthy come on up Sean's another one of those Rogue athletes who we just caught a brad on he's B anybody who's bigger and stronger looking than me you're coming on the team Seb McDougall McDougle Seb first of all Seb is having a great wrestling season right now over at Belmar so congratulations on that my friend um you're doing he's doing a fantastic job all over the place but we're gonna we're gonna bring him in right Seb get in the line Rhino Ryan olssen Ryan's another throwback from the kindergarten days what a fantastic little player he is lives across the from Tommy Johnson so he gets all that from him pety PCO I sorry Mom I have to call him Peter on the field but we all know he's pety here great job Peter is Wyatt here Wyatt here Wyatt there you are behind the computer come on up Wyatt again when some of the boys went down Wyatt was back there holding everything together so great job Wyatt thank you very much for those three years and Jack [Applause] Walter Jack Walter is gonna be another Sensational soccer player at the high school level and what a great leader I I can't thank you enough for everything you did Buddy and that's it thank you very much everybody yeah let's get a picture oh and the trophy Jack would you grab the trophy thank you all [Music] right my wife ladies and gentlemen B guys in the back guys front we're going to be right over here everybody on [Music] this first and look there and another one another one that one over there all right boys conratulations [Music] now we can have Miss Cardon come up [Applause] [Music] and all right once again uh thank you so much for having us here tonight um what was so special about this season was uh yes the girls won right the MC championship for the second year in a row but um what made it extra special was that we did get a chance to share this experience with the boys team so um it's so nice that we got to do everything together um the girls had an incredible season uh they finished the regular season with an overall record of 9 and one we had an unfortunate loss to St Catherine's early on in the season but we did learn um a very good lesson um through that game and we definitely made adjustments accordingly throughout the season which helped us finish the season um regular season scoring 47 goals and maintaining four shutouts so um very high scoring in a lot of these games um the girls took care of it out on the field and because of that we sealed that top seed spot going into the playoffs so in the American Division we were that top seed which is very difficult to do because as Mr D said we are definitely in the more competitive division the American Division we then faced Avon in the semifinal game uh the second place team in the uh National division um the girls came out right as a force to be reckoned with so we did did have home field advantage uh the girls went on to score seven goals in yes only UH 60 minutes so um it was a very high-scoring game the girls played phenomenal and we then Advanced to the finals where we were going to host St Dominic's for the third time now for those of you that play sports you know trying to beat a team three times seeing them right is almost an impossible feat but the girls were ready and they said up to this challenge so when we did face them at home right in the final game we started the um with the lead uh so it was Charlotte liel that was able to score the first goal of the championship game giving us the one nothing lead unfortunately St Dominic's answered back and tied the game at 1-1 at halftime we had our halftime kind of pep talk where we knew you know what we needed to do and honestly it came down to heart and I have to say this team um lays it all out on the field so the the amount of heart and determination that they play with each and every game and even practice with is inspirational um it's something that as a coach you know you only can dream of and they gave it to me every single time we stepped out onto the field which was incredible so about 15 minutes into the second half we scored uh Cassidy Eastman scored the second goal of the game giving the Blazers the lead which thank God because I don't know and parents Stand By Me on this I don't know if we could have handled right another game that went into penalty kicks um the last three games when we were in the Championships went to penalty kicks and there's nothing more nerve-wracking than having to go you know have the championship game come down to penalty kick so um we sealed the win with that 2-1 uh final score to win the championship and ultimately go back to back which like I said all is really really hard to do so girls I can't thank you enough for such an incredible inspiring and memorable Journey um my eighth graders you were our team captains and you let us not only on the field but off so the amount of leadership you showed right I and thank you enough for every everything that you've done especially for our younger players parents Administration board thank you always for your unwavering support it means so much to us and the team and girls um I wish you the best of luck in everything that you do so make sure you're setting your goals not only in soccer but in life and you will definitely go places so without further Ado please come up when your name is called and once again again congratulations eighth grader Cassidy Eastman come on up right and Cassidy doesn't know this but she scored her 50th career goal in our semifinal game against Avance so well done that's a hard thing to do sixth grader Kate Herbert come [Applause] on Bren Holly are you here eighth grader and sweeper Aaron Imon Aaron did a wonderful job of maintaining our formation in the back and huge goal kicks for us each and every game lla jadus are you here thank you sixth grader Molly [Applause] Kemba eighth grader Avery [Music] coblin Avery um was in the Midfield uh she started at top and then when we adjusted our formation she would ultimately kind of go wherever I asked her or wherever we needed her so whether it was attacking the goal or getting back on defense chasing down Defenders with those long legs um she was all over the field right thank you Avery uh eighth grader Charlotte liel I don't think Bren McDade Bella Pomano the girls are very busy they're involved in so many other things eighth grader Ang goalie Matalin [Applause] [Music] Pula congratulations uh meline is probably the top goalie and probably was last year as well in the entire league I've never seen so many incredible saves um and when she comes off her line she goes with it with everything she's got and I would surely not like to be on the other end of that so she last year I think was the reason that we ultimately won that championship game as well those saves in net um the way that these girls played I'm pretty sure they could be ESPN worthy of some of those highlights so well done Kira [Applause] [Music] Shalo Sky [Applause] Smith Abby [Applause] Ty Samantha Sammy wall [Applause] and last Ella [Applause] woodro and once again here at [Applause] [Music] the a trophy [Music] yeah thank you thank [Music] you for we have one more presentation this evening now this is where I wish it was like so our final presentation this evening um is [Music] in so our final presentation this evening is in recognition of Mrs madali Jones who has been our board president um for this past term or two three um you know um she has been such a great asset uh to our school and to our district and so I would just like to read a little bit of something and then see if any of the other board members would like to chime in um mandali Jones has served on the Bri Board of education for 14 school years and her dedication to the well-being and success of the students of real has always been her top priority and her commitment to working collaboratively with all stakeholders has resulted in very positive outcomes for Belle Elementary School while I have only been here a short time and in that time Mrs Jones has demonstrated a keen ability to really listen to all perspectives and she has served as a cohesive force in analyzing complex issues and building consensus Mrs Jones conducts research pertinent to school issues and operations stays informed of Department of Education updates and developments across the state that impact the education of our students she is diligent in her efforts to remain informed and to make sound decisions I have greatly appreciated working with Mrs Jones over these past six months and I know that everyone here will miss her steady leadership and kind heart thank you Mrs Jones for serving the community with the highest level of integrity and dedication we wish you very well in your future endeavors and I hope you will remain with us at least on the playground committee so I just want to recognize uh malali and just a very heartfelt thank you for all you've done this was reversed about six months [Music] ago does anybody else want to say yeah I'd like to say a few things sure want come to [Music] that I raised my hand like was in class so I've known Mall's family since since my my oldest son who's now in eth grade started and our boys have we together I knew her her husband through Sports and stuff but I really got to know her when I joined the board five years ago and um what an amazing person in general but what a hard worker um her her service to the board this is a lot of work and and she she puts in even more work than than I think anybody has over these past five years as as the president of the board um is really where I think she shined um um I you know I don't I don't pay compliments easily I I think that she's really from my point of view epitomized a leader somebody who I I haven't agreed with her on everything but you would never know that because she's always even if she doesn't agree with you always willing to listen uh try to see things from someone else's perspective and always always always her decisions and her her choices were always keeping in mind what would be the best things that she felt were for the kids so I would follow her anywhere and um I'm really going to miss her especially these days where it seems like in this society it's become where if you don't agree with somebody you have to hate each other and you have to be screaming and yelling and and you can't be friends or or anything like that you know we need more medall Jones in the world and I think it would be a better [Applause] place you have I'm staring at this no from the from the plan dist flow in my hand thank you so much I'll definitely uh tack on to that and and Dave's not kidding um we all give many many hours each month madali gives days days each month um to this to this board and to this town um I am really really going to miss that leadership um midali when I first joined was running policy and you know we get these policies and they're very sometimes difficult to understand but Al had just the wealth of experience to to really explain things to a newcomer like myself and um as president it was always available for me to bounce those things off and and say m does this make any sense and one of the reasons she's so good at it is that um she's able to have tough conversations there's nothing that you can't bring up with her um and you may not agree like David said but you at least know where she stands and the values that she has and the love that she has for this board and for the school and for Brielle so thank you mall it's been awesome serving with you thank you so [Music] much I could say one or maybe two things so so I mean you have to say two because I've known you for but you know from you know I try to be as objective as possible um your educational background experience helped many situations that we've been involved with especially especially especially over the last um three three years you you you you approach issues and it seems as though you've already been through them you know I I I I don't I don't really know if I can explain it you know any better than that it seemed as though you've already experienced it so you kind of knew you were going you know and seeing so many different presidential Styles over over over over the last year number years yours yours is very calming yet very authoritative in a wonderful way in a wonderful way um I I EO Dave Dave and sh's you know opinion to the sentiment I I would follow you anywhere I am truly gonna miss you I'm truly miss you and since been on the board said how many years [Laughter] liketh thank you to the newest member here I have to say did you think of my paper cuz I wrote the word m i you're so calm I it's so reassuring and refreshing um we spent many late nights right out of the gate when I joined and you really helped me on those late nights in the super search stay calm and focused on the goals um I just really appreciate it you made this year so lovely and I feelit that I only got to be with you for the one year I would try to get you to go again but I'm glad for you to take your time to be with your family because this is a lot of time thank you for everything thank you thank you and I have to add I've known malali for a long time we are next dooro neighbors and uh I couldn't have gone into this role without talking to her first and of course uh she served as an inspiration for me uh a working mother a three kids and knowing that she did this and did it so well inspired me to give it a try as well and uh truly don't know how we could have gotten through the last few years especially the superintendent search is was a lot of time and again we put in the some time but she put in a whole lot more and uh I will miss you so much in this capacity I will see you but I will missed you in this capacity very much thank you for everything that you did thank you I don't I don't want to I don't want to add on too much but these past because I'm new too and everybody has said this beautifully but I really do looked up to you and considered you such a mentor in this very early stage I'm learning a lot I'm not in the field of Education been an excellent Mentor in my pity thank you and thank you for dressing up to you're you're welcome no problem I would also like to thank malali uh it's been fantastic you bring a lot you know from an education perspective being in the classroom being an administrator uh you know a parent Community leader you've just done a lot uh thank you for allowing me to serve as your vice president for the last two years I'm definitely going to miss you and uh also knowing you a long time before this through the cup Scouts in town yeah so thank you thank you I'm going to miss you too [Music] [Applause] [Music] thanks thank you very much everyone thank you for the kind words and I am going to miss working with everyone too now um I wrote a little something I have my president's report but I did write a little something on some thoughts that I wanted to share with everyone so I was going to wait until the committee reports were done but maybe I'll just say it now if that's if that's okay with the ba board secretary [Music] so so I I thought about you know what uh words what should I say um for you know my final meeting and you think about there's so many things that you could talk about especially when you've been on the board as long as some of us have here um we we've experienced so much um we've dealt with so many issues and so there's so many things that we could write about but um I kept coming back to um seed um it's interesting because Miss cardo mentioned that too um so um so this is I wrote it down because otherwise I'll start to rain go into other things so all right um can everyone hear me back there okay because we got the fancy microphones just in case okay all right thank you okay this translates into those that plant good seed will harvest good fruit my father would say that to me all the time this has become the Mantra that I have tried to live by My Life by whether it's my personal life marriage kids my work and my service initially when I joined the board years ago I did so as a writing writing campaign and one of my re reasons um one of my major reasons was to keep a pulse on the education that my kids would receive it was not long before the seeds I had planted were not just for my three but for all of brielle's children the role that I had embarked on the one you elected me to do would require me to consider every child that lives in Belle whether they attended Belle Elementary School were placed at a district or attend the high school because they are all our responsibility throughout my years here I have watched children Excel and I have watched children struggle as board members we do not manage the day today operations but we have the authority to ensure that our policies contain rules and procedures that will bring into existence a learning Sanctuary where all children will thrive a seed will remain dormant or inactive until conditions are right for germination sunlight supports the germination process by warming the so the soil you didn't know you were getting a science lesson here tonight right so I ask the board members to plant good seed in every decision that you make and be the sunlight that warms the soil we have the opportunity to create an environment that will allow success to take root in each of our unique Learners you will experience a harvest of good fruit and um I I would like to thank I would like to thank the parents and community of Brielle for electing me to serve on the board uh Board of Education I thank Mrs postra and her administrative team and I wish you many years of success and it has to been a pleasure working um with you it's been six months but it feels like a year right we've been together on the phone and you know everything so meeting each other and all of that um thank you to Diane um our ba and board secretary um I bother Diane all the time and she helps to keep me organized and on task and um and and I appreciate that Dian oh and congratulations to Diane because Diane just completed her one year um um mentorship and so now she has her standard um ba and so congratulations you're an inspiration you're an inspiration Diane um and I would like to thank our amazing teachers who go above and beyond we have amazing teachers here in Brielle um and that's why I can never be on the negotiating team because I would probably give them everything that they wanted because I love the teachers so that's why Joe takes care of it because you know all right so um and also I'd like to thank Sher Adams our board attorney for all of her counsel and I learned so much from you and uh again on the phone all the time you know we're always you know um thank you for taking my cause late at night I appreciate that um and also the support staff secretaries again always so helpful when when you're a board member and you're in this role there is a lot of communication and the secretaries are great um they've always been very helpful to me AIDS um I have to say the AIDS here my kids were and before care and after care and those AIDS they were like second mothers to my children when I had to work and so I really appreciate everything that they do I'm thankful for the people um behind the main office that you never see um they're the part of the child study team um I I thank them for for everything that they've done um and also the custodial staff I'm always so grateful and thankful for them because this place looks like a palace they do an amazing job and we are never without when we come um to one of our meetings or anything um so I thank I thank them as well um and I hope I didn't forget anyone in the Learning Community because I'm very grateful for everything that they've done here in Brielle um and um I'd like to uh thank all the board members um I've been very fortunate all the years that I've served um I've learned so much from um each board member um I feel like I've been with this board the longest maybe it's those late night executive sessions that we've had in the past few years it feels like you know I'm with you guys all the time um but I thank all of you and it's been um a pleasure to serve alongside of individuals who sacrificed so much of their time to make Bri L men um the best school for our kids in the entire learning community and lastly um and I don't want to get emotional um I I have to thank um our Vice President Joe Milano um you know he's been like my Board of Ed husband um I you know we and it's funny because we're very different but and and we would have conversations and we didn't always agree and I could tell when we didn't agree because Joe would say all right thank you very much for your click you know but he would but you know I would yeah you would text me you would text me you know and then yeah you would thank you you would always thank me you know and um but you know we we communicated there was always respect and that's so important there was always respect when we talk to each other we would listen to each other and um and he was always very supportive you know there were a few months during the summer where he needed to fit fill in for me and he did um and I'm very grateful for that I I I'm very grateful for that um so thank you thank you all right thank you very much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everyone all right so um we will now continue with visitors business visitors are per uh permitted to comment on agenda items only at this time please state your name and address oh wait did I miss something oh yeah that's that's been on the [Music] agenda come up do you need the microphone decided to reti asuc it was call Labor of Love selfless of our school as the Pres ofation was just leer she was a of inspiration hering Comm toer Environ learning andow has Mar hearts and forunate to know ch Tri stood par resilience kindness and the boy left departure pres ment guide the shoes she Lees behind are not just B they filled with of Journey that touch as we navigate theth forward car with us Lessons Learned and the spirit life Nar passion comp this she passes on it's not just civil leadership it's a beacon that reminds us Contin the journey she started and the commitment to [Applause] [Music] shaping yeah yeah thank you so much for those kind words and I I want a copy of that PR that that's beautiful I want that thank you thank you thank you thank um any any other um any other visitors business no okay um thank you so much for those kinds would you like to introduce the new board members now before we go to oh sure sure okay oh okay I'm did I SK okay okay and so um we had our we had our um Board elections and so um we had two incumbents um Sean Walman and um Ted Vali and um so thank you for continuing his service thank you y your bookins thank you for and so we have a newly assigned uh board member and uh his name is Liam starky uh and he's in the audience hello Liam welcome welcome and um welcome to the Brio Board of Education and um I wish you a lot a lot of U luck um it's it's a lot of work um but I'm sure you're going to be just fine so welcome welcome to the board [Applause] [Music] of okay all right and so we're going to um we're going Liam did you want to say anything I I think you can say something now if you if you would like yeah you can stand up uh a senior high school graduated from long uh so pretty young feel I have a lot to learn from all you it's great to be [Music] [Applause] [Music] here awesome and um yes Liam you're going to be the youngest you're GNA be the young that you know I do have to you know mention that that um one of the youngest the youngest board member um but okay so the old ones leaving and see the new ones coming in see what's happening here but good luck to you young man good luck to you all right um so we're g to move on to oh correspondence no correspond um committee reports District Operations Ted sure I met a couple weeks ago um the report says 84 minutes but I think it's 84 minutes and 33 seconds I I we discuss uh the playground equipment there was an issue with the neighbor fence status of the media center floors and the status of the a Mrs poster discussed the fact that she had met with certain stakeholders stakeholders and staff and was able to get feedback from them and some of the some of the comments some some of the comments included the need for for POS possible possible um phys physical physical physical barriers around the the the area that's playr playground equipment POS POS possible expansion of the of the of the of the of the entire area um a storytelling bench which I thought was very interesting very I'd love to hear a story there too and um more space between the individual pieces which which which makes sense there's no reason that that is so Cor uh and then the type of um ground cover mul sheater you know some some people some people some people brought brought up some brought up some kind of synthetic substance whatever but whatever the case is it probably need some Ro right um Manan just went went through this process and they spent about $300,000 on I think that's right I think that's right we're we're looking at we're looking at we're looking at a at at at a you know a combin a combination of pieces and and obviously the number you know the you know the number and or combination of those pieces is is going to drive the cost of this we're anticipating a cost any anywhere between $150 and $250,000 I think that's how Okay um the neighbor fence I think we got some feedback from the town just quickly is that correct and and the town um the town confirmed the fact that the neighbor put up a fence on school property so we wrote a letter to the um neighbor asking the neighbor to take the fence St that is that accurate that's that's that's actually two things I got it's pretty good um the the the media media media media s we have we have a revised bid for 87,000 actually saw 875 here some there um but but it's but still came still still came in still came in a little bit higher with work Mike Mike Mike m Mike m Who's the who was the architect of record he was um you know nice enough to come by and give us his time he he walked us through the process um and the one knowing knowing that everyone is anxious to get the project done um he he he had indicated that we're going to have a waiting period and and and the whole issue with the waiting period is um we have to we have to make sure that all the moisture is is is is gone and the and the the initial area the initial area under the floor that contain the moisture wait to make sure it's dry before it put the floor back on so so that's going to he said that could that could that could take several weeks depending upon what the conditions are outside so you know we're hope we're we're we're anticipating anticipating a completion date prior to the start of school to be September next year that's that's what we're hoping for right and briefly we discuss the status of the order the order is complete we're waiting for holar to come to issue the final report once they issue the final report we can determine where we want to place to the place the reserve Place reserves to get us the most benefit going forward that's that's that's the EXT any questions any questions for Tad or or comments uh so this this fence is the one that last year we had a couple they wanted us to put in a fence and they they put up their own fence but it wasn't on their property it's unfortunate [Music] okay anyone else comments thank youting was a good thank you minutes all right so we're gonna move on to representative to Manis Squan Joe uh B is always very well represented in Manasquan for sports and academics uh the last meeting it was brought to my attention the field hockey team uh won their division the last time that had occurred was in 2005 Belle had nine girls on this team that were on the first team that when we started it at the elementary level those nine girls playing at that level so excellent you maybe starting it you know young here kind of assisted them you know with their championship this I'm um outside of that no further report so I'm going to add to your report Jill because I was actually on a zoom meeting um with um Manis San's engineering teacher Miss Edwards and um the Esports team and so they have this Esports team it's it's just growing and growing and so um and I think last year that or maybe two years ago they were championships they were the champions and um and they compete against different high schools throughout New Jersey and then there was like this major uh uh tournament in um Stockton in Atlantic City U my son does the Esports um but how impressive the students created this video um and applied for this Grant and so Manasquan got the grant they got $30,000 $30,000 and so what they're doing what they've already started doing is renovating um their Esports uh room and so they have like top-of-the-line computer systems and all of that so um on their their next meeting in January they're going to show and they created the vid this the video is fantastic it it looked like a video game I mean they did an amazing job so um and this is with Intel um is the one that has been working with them and so they're going to have uh they've invited the esport team and they'll you know they're going to have a they're going to show the video and all of that um in their January meeting but um so good next week oh okay so meeting yeah so um big big things happening with that one other question M postra or Miss Adams did something change with the sending District representation um it depends on the the population so it changes periodically but is madis San's board going to be increasing not that I'm aware of it's I don't think it's going to go beyond what it already is it's 12 right we received we received a letter I saw some of those letters but the way I was looking at it it looked like two spots may be added I hadn't I hadn't received anything to that effect yet but uh that uh right now it's it's if you have 10% of the population at the high school then you get a seat but because some of the other districts don't ever have it they have rotated um different years but generally you always have a seat here in Bri and then other districts that have lesser percentages of students switch but I don't I'm not aware of anybody else adding seats but it looked like the three districts would get a seat and then the remain in four districts would share rotating one or two spots within NE I unless I read it wrong it's not have to go to a referendum but maybe find out more next week it it's legislative so unless maybe they modified it but I'm not aware of it so I'll check into it yeah and the letter that Diane and I received um or I think Stacey was the one that got the letter it was just stating that because of our number of kids that we had a seat have a seat that's that's that's I didn't see that do they have um representation from other boards for their superintendent search have they discussed that they have not really they have not discussed that at all probably only the ones who have a person on the board unless they're going to have some other AD hog kind of committee participation any other questions for Joe okay next next meeting next meeting could you could you could you tell us uh the total enrollment and and and the Ral students and all I I just like I just like I just like to compare I believe manage fund's total enrollments 940 something kids 950 kids roughly and we have 2 20ish is a little less it will be in the attachments the exact numbers attach I I'll find I'll get that in a minut all right so we're gonna move on curriculum and programs Mr Becker's not here uh Human Resources Joe uh the only thing I want to bring to the board's attention is under we spoke about it in committee back in I of October uh D6 which is the bottom of eight and the top of page nine these changes were due to uh minimum wage changing from January 1st 20124 so uh the increases were basically related for that do we know what the other sending districts break down there substitute we were somewhat similar we did we had I don't have it on compared that we were come January we don't know they're going to be changing much sure but in line with minimum wage and yeah and bu certificated like you have to have a teaching certificate to earn at $140 yeah there differentation I like that that was important to people yeah uh Joe for sorry right now it's 125 so that's where we made it we still kept the $25 difference yeah I'm sorry no um there I just couldn't tell is there anything that's uh uh for D2 are we putting anybody forward tonight as are we putting anybody forward as a replacement for D2 in this not yet not yet any other questions all right so uh we'll move on to policy sure thank you midali um policy committee met on December 7th at 4M M Mrs Polster and Miss Quigley joined from the administration and Mrs Walsh and Mr Waltman joined from the committee uh there were two main agenda items discussed the first was a bit of a celebration that board doc has completed the initial load of all of our policies uh and they can be found on the board DOC website uh it's been 16 plus months or so in the making so that's that's really great um soon this will be embedded on our website and while all the policies have now been loaded uh we are aware that a number of them are not up to date there was a period of time when policies were being updated but a digital copy was not being stored so uh we have a plan uh put forward by Mrs pster on how to address this basically uh there'll be a training that U Miss Quigley and myself will attend on December 18th I think maybe Mrs Walsh as well um following that M bolster will divide the work amongst the appropriate staff to go back to our 2019 board agendas which is about the time where this started to occur and we'll look at all the policies that we approve for each meeting um and working backwards from today we'll be able to identify the latest versions and we do pass a lot of policies but we just need the the most recent version of each one of those so we think this is uh anticipated to run smoothly second um we did uh discuss 12 policy and six regulation updates that were provided by Strauss smme uh policy and regulation 16421 uh it covers how the CH how the staff um can use sick leave this was a a new law that that went into uh that was passed the summer and went into effect and we already approved this as a board there's just been some formatting changes to be consistent and so we're putting those back through uh similarly policies 3161 and 4161 are being updated to capture both how the staff are to record these absences uh because some of the sck Le categories have changed but there's also new qac requirements um for analysis on the absence data that the administration is responsible to news each year uh policy and regulation 2419 our school threat assessment teams we also passed that in August we had to have that in place by September there's no material change to what we're putting forward tonight uh but the formatting and verbiage of both is slightly modified um so we need to put that through again policy and regulation 5111 have been revised to reflect uh 18a 38-3 and they talk about the policy for eligibility eligibility of residents and non-residents um so the policy has basically been shortened the regulation has been extended to cover what was pulled out of the policy we're not making any material changes to what this means for Brielle um basically it covers things what happens with if a student's moving into the district uh what happens if their house isn't ready we already have those timelines that's at eight weeks and similarly if we have a 18-year-old who's going to manisan high school and their parents leave Belle um as long as that happens by uh February first so we're not changing anything it's just the the policies are being reformatted uh we're also introducing policy and regulations 3212 and 4212 which are suggested policies from Strauss Esme uh remind staff will reduce expectations of privacy when on school grounds uh and this includes District owned devices and other property um we are not including the section that pertains to prohibiting students to recording staff or other students without permission as we understand this is a greater concern concern in larger districts and high schools and our cell phone policies of putting cell phones away in home room is is working well um so that's not an issue for for bees at this time finally uh Strauss smma has Consolidated numerous Food Services policies into the new policy 8500 and while we don't participate in the national school lunch program at prel we did want to codify how we provide reduced or no cost meals to our qualifying students um which this policy provides so that's it for this month thank you all any questions any questions or comments okay all right thank you Sean and move on to community relations Sarah we did not this past month um although there's time going on in school I I know report will probably cover specifically wanted to just mention the playground committee which to um to meet and be in communication with that great update about Ming with a game time representative and moving forward with um proposals uh and so that is coming along very well we are which is one of our board goals I know um to get that playground in place and so that is progressing I'm sure you'll have more on it and more detail but um yeah that's it okay um total Madan enrollment 1,450 okay High School enrollment 948 their Elementary which we have nothing to do with is 502 okay okay uh maybe missley if you could provide just a board with what we have going there so I just have a very brief brief report um Joe and I met with uh with Stacy on November 27th um I wanted to meet with u Miss polstra to sort of tie up wrap up Loose Ends um there were so many things that we're working on and then it just seems like something else will comes up you know um so um and I asked Joe to be there um so we basically um we went over uh the media center and this was in November and then but you know like a couple weeks later there's progress you know so I was happy to hear that this evening uh we will be approving the water mitigation project so um we're moving along with the media center and um and I want to let the parents know that uh we've gotten emails and parents have come to the meetings about these issues and we do hear you we hear you and um we're trying our best to get these projects done the other one um like Sarah just mentioned the playground um we have a committee now the committee has already met and I think um Miss poer will be talking about that um and she's been doing a lot of work um she's really been making phone calls and doing all of this so we're moving along with that um and then there is the prek expansion um we've been talking about that for the past couple of years um there appears to be um some need uh for that um and we're not sure how great a need right now we have a halfday program and so but we've gotten some parents on asking us about that so I you know we've been talking about it we've been working on it and we've um Miss foler developed the administration developed a survey which that was going to be our first step um and when we met Joe and I and Stacy were talking about it and different committees have been discussing this and um this is going to take this it's a little complex um there are a lot of um due to state regulations and requirements one of the things that Mrs postra has recommended and I agree with her on this is we're going to have to have some kind of a building like facility analysis and because we want to make sure because of all those regulations that we have the right place for the children that we are set up properly and we have everything that they will need so this um I ask uh the community and the parents to be a little patient with us because it will this is going to take um some more research and some time but it's not impossible and we are working towards it the other thing is busting busing for sports that's come up um and we've also again brought this to committee um this we continue to discuss this years ago we had this when we had budget cuts we removed it um and the the issue with the busing is the lack of bus drivers and um and that's that still continues but I think that um committee could come up with some creative ways to make this happen and this is busing for sports not the other busing and um and so as a parent of an athlete um and driving him to and from parents don't mind the driving but sometimes there could be liability when we have um a van full of kids right so that's something that um and and it's also buing for for a team it really helps to bring that team together and it's part of the experience and I think our kids are missing out on that so um something to think about um for the board to continue to to have this discussion um and then tonight on the agenda we have board goals um we have four goals um and we've been talking about them one is uh devise and execute a plan to fund the construction of a new playground that's already in the works um the other goal is with this goal it second goal we had it last year but it's carried over because uh change in administration so we need to continue with this goal and is basically to review and revise job descriptions for administration administrative support staff to ensure they are current um and of course our superintendent's taking a lead on that and um and we're going to support her efforts uh third goal is reviewing the bylaws and policy and thank goodness those things are uploaded I mean it's been so much work um so uh Shan good work with that um getting that done I know you've been really pushing for that so you may be able to check that one off soon and then our fourth one is the board will make a good faith effort to settle the teachers contract for 24 through 26 right okay and and Joe's work already started working on that um so that's it that's my report um any questions okay sorry on the pre if we have a preschool do do they do we need to provide transportation and does that grade fall into the requirements for any types of Transportation the preschool if there was a full day preschool only if it's if it's required in an IEP which is already this scenario yeah that's current whether that already exists the reason I asked is are any of the um sending districts also looking at providing full day or do they offer full day preschool this one has three classes this one does you just bring up the the building potential you know my mom was a head start teacher I know what those classrooms need to look like and and that is a big big investment I'm just wondering if we've looked at shared services with other other sending districts as an option we we haven't done that yet and so um I mean we just started talking about this and so those are the type of things that you know we discussed with Miss pulse ra and so committee will have to um start to brainstorm and and really take a look at this very carefully looking at regulations and what's required because it's a lot more than you're just having them come in and and setting up a room and Joe and I you know Stacy took us on a tour and we were looking throughout the building to see possible locations and it it it could possibly mean that there might be some structural changes that will need to take place to house a full day um pre properly bathroom yeah and I also think you know with the other ma two major projects that we have going on right now I would want to be careful about taking on a third until we kind of you know put the playground and get the library you know the media center up and running again um and then at that point you know do this preliminary work that we need to do in terms of a facilities assessment and really looking at all the requirements you know but you need a 700 foot room there's you know requirements for bathrooms there's you know so it would we want to do it the right way and you know um ensure that we have everything we're supposed to have um should we go in that direction of expansion which I I know everybody would love to do uh but I just want to make sure that our plan is is set that we have the the funding and and the you know um the resources in place to be able to support it for the long term and that our facilities meet all you know all the requirements that the state um has in place for preschool um so we'll just move on right to your administrative report okay so for my administrative report um again I want to congratulate Ted and Sean for um being on the board again Ted you've been a longstanding member and you know Sean I know you know we're happy so happy to have you for your second term as well and Liam you know welcome uh we look forward to our reorganization meeting in January uh where you know everyone will take the oath and and we will begin as a new board in January so congratulations to everyone on that uh there has been a lot going on in school over the last month or so um we are having an author tomorrow for our K through three students her name is Mary Beth Paradise she wrote A B book called Beach Santa that is being sold locally uh so she will be coming in to meet meet with each of our grade levels tomorrow to talk about her process and and what inspires her to write and um so we're really looking forward uh to that uh the PTO has been very busy and I'm very grateful for all their great programming um we are of and running with our second round of enrichment offerings had a very successful book fair um they hosted a pancake breakfast here um on Saturday along with The Giving Tree um so really the PTO has really uh been such a great part of our school for the last month uh we have spirit week coming up next week which is kind of a nice way to settle into the holiday break uh we know our kids are getting very excited uh for the break and so um you know each day um next week we'll have a different theme which we're looking forward to um I wanted to also make people aware that bag's next meeting is January 9th and they have invited Amy foresight who is a local pediatric occupational therapist to do to a presentation on zones of Regulation and co-regulation uh with your child so you know we invite the community to come and and listen to her expertise um and I want to thank our bpeg um leaders for for making that available to our sta um to our community um and um just to follow up uh to be some clarity with playground since uh The District Operations committee I have been in touch with a few people one person in particular um who actually um did the Manos Squam playground um he is in after I met with him to share with him our priorities The District Operations committee had given us a a tentative budget so he right now is putting together designs and plans for the playground he hopes to have those um drawing to me before December Break um and so then I will as soon as I get those we will get a date on the calendar in January uh for the playground committee to come back together and take a look at some of the ideas based on the input so things are moving along um I'm so happy that we have a contractor ready to start the media center work um so things are really progressing and you know looking forward to the next few months and I hope everybody has a really lovely December break thank you any questions okay so we're going to move oh hi reports they are in your folders um I believe we had three two two investigations this month um so um one was founded and one was not can I ask question the uh doe report as well is that part of the oh that is that oh yes thank you that is um on the agenda tonight also is our uh the school self assessment for determining grades for HIV uh this is based on last year 2223 so um our guidance counselors and and Mr Sabia who is the district anti-bullying Co coordinator um you know have to go through several categories and give ourselves certain scores based on certain actions that we take um a passing or meeting all the requirements um gets you a score of 40 um we our team scored ourselves as a 57 um meeting all the requirements exceeding in a few areas um as we look at it as a team moving forward it helps us identify things that we can continue to enhance around school climate and things like that so it was I think a really uh thorough look at you know how we're doing in this area um and like I said you know certainly we're meeting all the requirements um with some opportunities to continue to improve um and then this score will be posted on our website and submitted and certified for the state just just a question last year we had a 77 out of 78 and now we have 57 out of 78 I can't speak to the year prior to that um but I wanted when the team came together to look at last year uh we you know we really looked at the evidence that we felt was required to justify exceeding um and I think what we have here is um an authentic reflection of 2223 but I really can't speak to the year before I'm sorry thank thank you if we don't have any other questions for Stacy the district goals do you want me to do District goals too okay um yeah in conjunction also on the agenda tonight board goals um District goals are also on the agenda and these um I have put forth in front of the board of things that we're working on um here at the school level um and you know the first goal is really for us to analyze and assess um the implementation of our Ela and math programming uh we do have new standards um in both Ela and math and we also adopted Whitten wisdom as the ELA program last year so it's really important that we're looking at like our testing data at the implementation of wit and wisdom of use of other tools that we have like linkit and I cell and really look for places where we can continue to enhance our curriculum um and you know support our students achievements so that's an area of focus this year um that we are working on at the district level secondly we are really starting to look at and starting to research some programming with respect to student social emotional development um including things like character education executive functioning uh zones regulation some of our teachers have just been introduced to some training there uh we would like to do A needs assessment and using our data and you know multiple sources of feedback to really try to develop ways to support our students you know not only academically but in their social emotional well-being and their ability to get along with others and to develop some of those other skills that we know are so important to their success and then lastly our third goal is a little bit more more um day-to-day operations I guess you could say uh we're really um looking at opportunities to expand the use of certain online platforms and programs that we may already have so for instance we use um Genesis for our student information system um you know linkit is relatively new here as a student assessment and and progress tracking uh platform along we're using it uh component of it called Intervention manager for our inrs process so there are certain platforms that we're using uh where we feel like we really want to take a hard look to see if we're getting the most bang for our buck out of each of them and are there certain components we're already paying for that we could use with greater efficiency um you know and so we're really looking for those Pockets trying to get rid of of paper in certain places where we can um and you know move forward so that we can you know be more productive and more efficient with the platforms that we have so that's the third goal questions all right okay so we're gonna so we'll move on to action items all items below are upon the recommendation of the superintendent um Julie you want to do curriculum and programs um sure I set forth the motion that agenda uh A1 through A6 for a second second yes Mrs Jones yes Mrs MC yes Mr mil yes Mrs yes Mr vital yes Mrs Walsh yes Mr wal yes but I need to abstain for A4 [Music] all right and so uh thank you we'll move on to District Operations T sure um the dist District Operations I like to move items B1 through B5 please second Dr yes Mrs Jones yes Mrs de yes Mr milanich yes I just want to bring attention that there's no July meeting kind of going a little later in June and possibly a little earlier in August that's a change that's yes Mrs Reed yes Mr vital yes Mrs Walsh yes Mr yes and Sean policy yeah I'd like to motion that the board approves uh the policies under C1 for first reading and the one policy under C2 2460 special education for a second reading second yes Mrs Jones yes Mrs MC yes Mr M yes Mrs reath yes Mr vital yes Mrs wolf yes Mr Wolf yes okay and Human Resources jum to make a motion to move under Human Resources D1 through D second [Laughter] yes you know I'm wondering do I have to abstain from D6 the increase in the hourly rates you don't have she substitute she's already okay was oh okay okay that was yes yes yes yes yes yes W [Music] yes okay and at this time we have visitors business visitors are permitted to comment on agenda and non-agenda items at this time please state your name and address [Music] yes thank help draw some so let's just say that our town Little League Baseball Championship was game being held and had a kid team at some point dur championship game reported by sever the parents on your child's team if the opposing team as it plays out in your child see losing getting could the B come into play think just one crazy sents this information allegations willing to bet most parents put this situation like at least have the allegation to [Music] surely commission the of game with the little Le commission comforable not other reason concern of all children what about the team that there was no wrong doing I think they having Evac me that's all checked out great there's no CL no as was air wind but if the B found to be violation rules and regulations oversiz and heav should the wom really be okay back to perhap kind of see where I'm going as I'm sure you most of you already know the recent the recent School Board election November 7 there were a multitude of Voters reped receiv unsolicited text warning of the election specifically requesting the support of a particular candidate as a matter of Interest almost all of those who approved unsolicited text documented receiving them at the very same moment in time additionally almost all of these voters do not recall to the consent and receive the text the end result was of this text campaign resulted in several voter complaints with the FCC and the division of Consumer Affairs of the Attorney General's office so what does this all mean obviously I'm not aware it's a good porer in digital media now digital identity fraud you have some experience in the field so here's my interpretation some of legalities around sending these text texting for the purposes of promotion generally falls under the umbrella Tel marketing is thus governed by the New Jersey telemarketing act under that law sending un unsolicited robotex is Del as a sub of that generally need to some sort of PRI consent to receive such messages and senders are required to identify themselves with the right in ble being decided by pain of 15 votes definitely makes me wonder what if but forget that for a moment all the a A4 mention information concern with number of Voters from this town I would ask the bo if you're comfortable sping individual without having having attorney consider evidence possibly for for inqu sur there is no MTH wronging involved we think that winning candidate and his campign team would have no problem sharing detail details around this Che the bottom line is this everything checks up fine at least the can feel good about the integ election results I don't see that how that would be possible this matter is looked into and assessed official manner ahead of that and so perhaps a good jurisdiction for the board and perhaps may you know where I've been what I've been looking into I just think that this is it's not about anything more than the Integrity of the election and legalities around that so I just wanted to say this this evening that there are many voters in this town who shared information with me T there's major concern about the actions taken around this such a slim margin no disrespect to any of the candidates does make you I appreciate thank you Mr B thank you can I ask um Miss Adams um what is the procedure with if there's ongoing investigations that have CC the basic Ally the Board of Elections gives us the results of the election and and we unless we're told otherwise by a court by the Board of Elections or someone else um we seat those candidates at the next reorganization we don't have any specific investigative authority over an election per se you know we need would need to be directed by an agency with that jurisdiction or the courts and that's you said I'm sorry the what was the body the Board of Elections as a county yeah the County Board of Elections gives us the results if there's a question about the process that is may be held may be uh considered by another agency but it's not an internal board type matter so I fig that might be the answer so I mean you know Attorney General's office not Pro office so you would need to be I guess need to be requested of you to perform this because the board of election says that you know it's kind of on you got see there seems to be an ed Circle nobody's got the to who's got the jurisdiction this still answer and it's it's nothing more than just there would be no ability for the board to do an investigation in terms of a process of campaigning um the if there's a challenge to practices then whatever is alleged to being violated there are agencies that review whether there's a violation it's not the board the board is told the results and if the if something happens or a decision is made that changes the result of an election then we're advised of that and we comply with that but it's not in front of the M County superior court and they sent me to the m County prosecutor office sent me to the Attorney General of the Department of Consumer Affairs I think that's kind of where it is there were enough you know filings on behalf of Voters for various reasons so I that's kind of the angle that I take trying to find who does have kind of jurisdiction rights and at least perform an inquiry around it so and I I respect the fact that you guys don't have those power you know by speech if you will was kind of trying to get you guys about the Integrity of the election somebody up so yeah that's to do so just something to think about [Music] people thank you Mr B for um Coming Out and sharing that I'm sure that wasn't an easy thing to do um rep thank you any questions payment of bills um so we're gonna move on to the payment of bills Ted sure to make a motion that the Board of Education authorizes authorizes payment was following December 2023 bills list and that the secretary is authorized to Warrant of the treasurer in total amount of 1,228 14920 I'll second that Dr deia yes Mrs Jones yes Mrs mcdev yes Mr M yes Mrs we yes Mr Vitali yes this wal Mr wal yes and is there any discussion of old business the board members we are going to miss you oh thank you miss you thank you and thank you again for the kind um and there is no executive session this evening and if someone can make a motion there was one item that was in the co-star I believe incorrect um about participation in our meetings okay so um there was um and the co-star is stated that um it stated that uh Liam starky would um it was reported that uh you would attend he would attend the meetings via Zoom so there were a lot of questions about that um I mean I I got questions uh from community members about that um because um especially our newer community members weren't familiar with the zoom meetings so a little history with that um prior to um covid we always had our meetings in person and then uh during covid we had to uh change revise the policy in order for us to be able to have zoom meetings and and that's what we did um after the build when after Co the buildings are reopened and so we we again revised the policy and so we do not allow Zoom meetings we went back to in-person meetings the only time that we allow uh communication uh participation uh via uh internet via Zoom or um Telephone is if we have if we don't have a quorum and that is the only time where we will allow uh that type of participation but the way it stands now and I believe that's policy 0162 I think 0162 I think you're right yes is it um uh yes um attending board meetings I think it's called Uh that's where it states that so as of now that's how um that's where we stand but we don't do Zoom meetings it has to be in person unless there's a a lack of a qu any questions on that all right so um then we can someone can make a motion to adjourn meeting I think you should do nobody will I'm okay so I like to make a motion uh to adjourn don't anybody say something don't sit here all night my last and final board I will second it because it is your wish [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] than everyone [Music] there it yeah it doesn't go

believe it's being recorded by waca cable TV but it is being recorded on Zoom by the district our order of business this evening is the call to order opening procedures agenda review and adoption there will be time for public comment um we will have presentations by the student advisory Council the administrative items tonight include the school Improvement plan for Mendes the school Improvement plan for AMS the superintendent update warrant approvals consent actions minutes from November 21 2023 gifts and donations committee reports of activities member updates action items and then we will adjourn yeah uh I'll just take the attendance and make sure everyone's okay with the order of business this evening Tina hearing yes Paul heing yes Aaron hearing yes Mark heing yes okay uh next I will ask if there's anybody here from the public who wants to offer the school committee some comment this evening I see some names but I think those are all our students okay seeing um we will move on to the presentations by the student advisory Council hi everybody I think some of you have to unmute yourselves hello hi who's going first tonight I know it's a little different because we're on zoom and we're out of practice some of us can go first awesome thank you so um we held the Powderpuff uh uh football game in which the uh seniors won so that was pretty successful it was a it was a sucessful stugo event and the Red Cross Club also held a u blood drive in which many people uh chose to donate blood so that was one positive thing that um occurred in the last few weeks as well and uh for seniors College decisions are beginning to come out so those who applied early action early decisions are getting their acceptances and there also happens to be a uh student run m page on Instagram where uh seniors can uh see their acceptances and all so that's something exciting that um that has occurred within the past few weeks thank you thank you who's next I can go next thanks Emily sorry my video is not working today um but so last week the band concert had their Winter concert night um and so we got to play a lot of different holiday songs um and two of the band members read The Polar Express story for um a lot of the young kids we did a lot of advertising at the the Warren school um and at the Mendes school to try and um get some more Community involvement um and then last weekend there was the illuminate Ashland around downtown where people could listen to um and see different like Arts programs perform and so the new banto Society is the uh the high school's new chorus Club so they performed then and then tomorrow the chorus and the B cont Society both have their winter performance concert at the high school excellent thank you who's next Vanessa yeah I can go next so just a little sports update um now all of the winter sports are up and running and both the boys and girls basketball teams um varsity and the JV teams played hackington yesterday and that was pretty successful both teams all teams showed pretty well and the boys hockey team have a game tonight actually against Norwood that was at 3:45 and indoor track has been doing pretty well they've had two meets so far they've won tonight as well in Boston and swimming will have their first meet tomorrow at Babson College vers Westwood and wrestling is doing pretty well as well and they have they they had their first meet this past Saturday and another update is also that we have our clocker Idol which is a singing and talent show uh which will be on Wednesday December 20th at 700 p.m.

believe it's being recorded by waca cable TV but it is being recorded on Zoom by the district our order of business this evening is the call to order opening procedures agenda review and adoption there will be time for public comment um we will have presentations by the student advisory Council the administrative items tonight include the school Improvement plan for Mendes the school Improvement plan for AMS the superintendent update warrant approvals consent actions minutes from November 21 2023 gifts and donations committee reports of activities member updates action items and then we will adjourn uh I'll just take the attendance and make sure everyone's okay with the order of business this evening Tina hearing yes Paul heing yes Aaron heing yes Mark Hein yes okay uh next I will ask if there's anybody here from the public who wants to offer the school committee some comment this evening I see some names but I think those are all our students okay seeing none um we will move on to the presentations by the student advisory Council hi everybody I think some of you have to unmute yourselves hello hi who's going first tonight I know it's a little different because we're on zoom and we're out of practice some of us can go first awesome thank you so um we held the Powderpuff uh uh football game in which the uh seniors won so that was pretty successful it was a it was a stugo event and the Red Cross Club also held a u blood drive in which many people chose to donate blood so that was one positive thing that um occurred in the last few weeks as well and uh for seniors College decisions are beginning to come out so those who applied early action early decisions are getting their acceptances and there also happens to be a uh student run commits page on Instagram where uh seniors can uh see their acceptances and all so that's something exciting that um that has occurred within the past few weeks thank you thank you who's next I can go next thanks Emily sorry my video is not working today um but so last week the band concert had their Winter concert night um and so we got to play aot of different holiday songs um and two of the band members read The Polar Express story for um a lot of the young kids we did a lot of advertising at the the Warren school um and at the Mendes school to try and um get some more Community involvement um and then last weekend there was the illuminate Ashland around downtown where people could listen to um and see different like Arts programs perform and so the new banto Society is the uh the high school's new chorus Club so they performed then and then tomorrow the chorus and the bont society both have their winter performance concert at the high school excellent thank you who's next Vanessa yeah I can go next so just a little sports update um now all of the winter sports are up and running and both the boys and girls basketball teams um varsity and the JV teams played hackington yesterday and that was pretty successful both teams all teams showed pretty well and the boys hockey team have a game tonight actually against Norwood that was at 3:45 and indoor track has been doing pretty well they've had two meets so far they've won tonight as well in Boston and swimming will have their first meet tomorrow at Babson College vers Westwood and wrestling is doing pretty well as well and they have they they had their first meet this past Saturday and another update is also that we have our clocker Idol which is a singing and talent show uh which will be on Wednesday December 20th at 700 p.m.

[Music] good evening this is the Greenfield Public Schools school committee meeting it's Wednesday December 13 2023 we're at the Johns on Community Center 35 Pleasant Street uh gctv is recording this meeting should the meeting extend beyond 5:00 p.m. a 5 minute break four members of the committee will be observed we're did I say 6 PM did I really I am so sorry should the meeting extend beyond 800 PM a f minute break will for school committee members will be observed thank you all for being observant and we'll move right into the agenda with a roll call please secretary extrom member denie here secretary exom I am here member Johnson mad I am here Mr chair Martini here chair pretti here member wall here we're here um mayor wed Gartner is not expected and do we have a quorum yes we do have a quorum we have a quum we are called to order at 6:01 p.m.

e um good evening um everyone thank you for coming or watching um I apologize that we started a few minutes late we'll call me to order at 6:36 uh we knew that we had a couple of members that were on our way on their way so we wanted to wait for them be courteous um thank you for attending and watching the Bethany Board of Education December meeting where we Inspire and Empower children to thrive in the World of Tomorrow we will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance if everybody please stand to the flag United United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible libery and justice for all I would like to move that the Board of Education move to the election of board officers and return to the regular agenda can I get a second I'll second okay all those in favor say I I anybody opposed I'll now turn the meeting over to Mrs bird our superintendent for board officer elections okay so at this time we are going to begin the uh office the nomination for the office of chairperson once the chairperson has been elected the meeting will be then turned over to the chairperson to conduct the remaining elections um for vice chair and um secretary so I'll need a motion um from a member of the board to make um a nomination for the chairperson of the board to accept nominations yep uh I nominate John Paul Garcia for chairperson of the Bethany Board of Education I I just need a motion to accept oh sorry I need a motion to take nominations for the chair I jumped the gun there okay I'll make a motion okay I'll second thank you s all right it's been properly moved and seconded that the board accepted nominations for the chairperson of the board board members wishing to nominate any individual for chairperson uh will be recognized at this time okay uh I nominate John Paul Garcia for chairperson of the Bethany Board of Education and uh that's it Mr Garcia do you accept the nomination for chairperson I accept the nomination okay John Paul Garcia is nominated are there any further nominations for chairperson hearing none may have a motion to close the nominations for chairperson I'll make a motion I'll [Music] second all right the nominees or any other board member has an opportunity to speak on behalf of the nominee if they choose to do so if not we'll begin the balloting okay I'll entertain a motion to open the balloting make a motion to open the balloting Mr kaso the election of the chairperson will be by written ballot uh Donna richardi is going to uh assist me with being the teller today um so Donna if you would please pass out the Ballance it's very very informal and at this time board members will vote by writing down the name of the person they wish to vote for for chair person secret ballot what's that secret ballot when you have your ballot you can just raise it up and Donna will collect those and bring them to me [Music] this is your scripture yeah nomination of the vice chair after they announce your chair I guess she's G to announce it all right the ballots are in and let the record indicate that John Paul Garcia has been elected chairperson of the Bethany Board of Education the new chairperson will now assume leadership of the meeting and continue with the election process all right thank you everybody uh let's continue the nomination of Vice chair um move that the Board of Education accept nominations for the position of Vice chairman I'll move I'll second is that recorded all right do we wish to nominate an individual for vice chairman I'll nominate Angelo [Music] Amada second okay um anybody need to Second this please second okay the sure uh Angelo do you accept the nomination for vice chairperson I'll accept the nomination okay Angelo is nominated for vice chairman are there any fur nominations for vice chairman all right move the nominations for vice chair be closed motion requires a second second I'll move all right let's open the balloting for position of Vice chair coming around you're on know if I cut enough paper how many are we here oh we're done secretary I'm going to rip these let's put them in half there you go indust young that works be resource sometimes thanks [Music] oh quick you're on want to make sure you get your steps into it thank you and we have to do it one more time too so don't sit down I I was thinking about where I was getting more paper I can rip my something do anymore she can actually give them to you what's that I said you're you're actually in charge now but if you'd like me to do it I can yes go ahead okay it's much easier just want to follow the rules with your commission and I have you do the secretary too [Music] okay all right uh let the record indicate on behalf of the chairman that Angelo Amad has been elected as the vice chairperson of the Bethany Board of Education congratulations thank you I think baby all done all right nomination of the secretary secretary shall perform the duties of the chairperson at Bethany Board of Education meetings in the absence of the chairperson and vice chairperson we move that the Board of Education accept nominations for the position of secretary I'll move uh I'll second and Sue Second Joe moved and Sue seconded uh board members wishing to nominate for an individual or secretary will be recognized by the chair the format will be I nominate so and so for secretary for the board of uh Board of Education a member will need second the nomination so does somebody have a nomination for secretary I nominate Caroline Larry and I'll second the nomination do you accept the nomination I accept Carolyn ner is nominated lry is nominated are there any further nominations move the secretary nomination of the secretary be closed a second and Jaso Suson done this is it I think this is the last to open the ball what's that need a motion to open the ballot oh I need a motion to open the ballot oh all right I motion so second thank you all right we have to make sure we get a reporting secretary right now we'll talk about [Music] that and K would you do the honors one last time yes good thing I can count at least to [Applause] okay Mr chairman let the record indicate that Caroline liry has been elected Secretary of the Bethany Board of Education all right um before we move on to the PTO report and our regular business are we going to entertain getting a recording secretary that is the discussion of the then I think we should talk about that because I think we need somebody uh on board fairly quickly and um I know we talked about it um and I really think that uh we should have somebody on board ASAP do you have somebody in mind when you say recording secretary are you talking about taking the minutes and but the position of Board of Education elected recording secretary or your administrative assistant Administrative Assistant to take minutes and notes as required that's a separate posting I understand that I don't have anyone in mind okay does the board feel strongly one way or the other about it it's my recommendation that we get a paid uh paage staff to to handle uh um recording the uh I mean we have a a tape recording but uh to also take minutes as such so should we there's a there's a description in the bylaws of duties of recording secretary so I guess we should uh well we can either vote as a board to have one of us be it or we can continue to pay somebody a stien like we did for Sue Carpenter okay so that's what we like and that's if that's what we all like to do then K would well what does the board feel what's the the board's I think we should move forward with K Post in the position the same way we did with Sue okay um so we'll dump that in klap is everybody on board with that yes yes yes okay did we vote on that the last time do you need to vote on it we had we assigned that role I do not know I was not present okay um on that without it being on the agenda the the bylaw says that the recording secretary is appointed by the chair that's what the B says right that's for one of the members of the Board of Education ah I see that's not for well then I let let's let's uh can we move forward without being on the agenda let's yeah we can modify our agenda so motion I'll need a motion to modify the agenda to to have a discussion about the retaining of a uh paid Administrative Assistant to take minutes of meetings how's that I need a second second it all right now we go into discussion and it's serious that everybody's on board with this can I have a vote to uh a motion to uh appoint K as our search committee to hire find and recommend to the board a recording secretary as a paid assistant not a board member I'll make the motion if if appropriate perhaps one of your staff that might benefit from a sing don't know but I yeah I me if if it would be a way to incentivize yeah if it would be a way to incentivize somebody on your staff to make a few extra dollars you know I mean I'm not particular about who but I just think we should have somebody a uh I just think we should have somebody that uh and just to clarify so then after this after we vote if it's voted yes that's it you just you hire someone and that's it or do they have to get voted in you were making a comment about in the past that you may have had to I don't I don't know I don't believe it was voted in I think it was just a stiped position just be we agree to have that position and then you're responsible for the hiring of that position right if that is what the Yeah that's the way I I think we could authorize her the fiduciary responsibility to think we could trust her yeah that's the way we handled so could you just let me know who was the person that seconded that last motion was you right um that but that said who's our recording secretary for this evening is it I've been doing thank you and plus we have I'm not all that worried about about it because we have the tape recording also but I think going forward that's something that has to be handled K shouldn't be responsible for that thank you there's enough will thump on you that being said uh let's go back to the uh uh to the uh published uh minutes and we'll go to the um you got PTO PTO report and so you'll step up give your name hello uh Melissa zdo PTO president um first off on behalf of the PTO board of directors I want to congratulate the newly elected members of the Board of Ed and newly elected officers in the board education um so we last left off we distributed our our pies from our pie fundraiser that was held outside uh Town Hall um I know I personally distributed the pies that went to the nagat economical Outreach Network they were very grateful for our donations so thank you to everyone who donated and purchased pies uh this past week last week um we held the snowflake shop here in the gy so a big thank you to Agnes cran for organizing that to all our volunteers her who came and helped WAP help the student shop um unfortunately I wasn't here well not unfortunately I was in Florida but um so thank you to everyone who helped out I hope the students had a great time shopping and I can't wait to see what the students got for their um for their loved ones our next me PTO meeting is scheduled for uh December 21st here at 6 PM um we have a couple of things we're going be discussing including one of our new events which is coming in January which is going to be a fun run um it's going to be it's the actual event is going to be on the 23rd but it's a week long hype up event there's going to be all sorts of communication going about that in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for that we also have um a restaurant a restaurant night planned for billies on December 10th I'm sorry not December 10th January 10th um just go to Billy support our local businesses and now we to cut back to the PTO of also um Lego Club the last day Lego Club has been wildly successful uh the last Lego Club for the fall is meeting tomorrow um we did have to cap the winter registration to 50 students just we did that from a safety standpoint everybody's getting sick and we didn't want all these kids coming in with their germs and they volunteers and everybody getting sick so we did cap the winter at 50 and we have met that um and the first um meeting of the winter is going to be on January 11th um we do have a waight list going so if a student is wait listed they will get priority registration for the Sprint session um and that's pretty much all I have to offer for right now thank you very much all right public comment um at this time we will entertain comments from the public we will have three minutes to speak please state your name and address clearly for the record oh okay okay we're back okay Switching hats here I here I am again football yay football um so last time I'm sorry Melissa zalo the1 Beacon Road uh so the last time I was here the am and IU football team had just won to nor Connecticut Pop Warner Championship it was progressing to the regional championships this was their medal from regionals Northern Connecticut well they won regionals they won New England and this one they their New England Champions this this win got them into the national championships wow also known as the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Orlando Florida so when I said I was in Orlando that's why I was in Orlando last week the team went last week and we didn't with Nationals but the Amity team did make history by being the first Amity team to ever make it into Nationals and they are the top eight in this country the country okay can't tell I'm proud but if you're wondering why I'm bringing this up um when I when we found out we were going to divisionals I reached out to Mr reale Mrs bird to let them know about the boys playing and we played at seamour high school we played against bth from the northern Mr rewell showed up Mrs bir showed up and pre teachers showed up Mrs beer Mrs hly Mr gel and they won which meant we went to Regionals and Mr rewell came to our game in Manchester High School when we won against Stafford Springs in the playoffs to Regionals so I just want to say that boys were so excited to have their staff have their teachers their principal their superintendent to watch them I even have parents coming up to me saying how awesome they thought it was that these that they were taking time out of their weekends to come and support our boys so I wanted to thank Mr reale Mrs bird Mrs spear Mrs hly Mr gamela along with all the other teachers and staff at BCS for showing support to our boys 11 of the 21 players on that team are from Bethany which is half of the team and we even have one coach from me these administrators and teachers recognize that student successes don't always happen in a classroom and that BCS students are more than just some number on a standardized test and yes they are students first and foremost but they are also athletes musicians artists writers dancers and a whole host of other things beyond the classroom and the lessons that they learn while being athletes musicians artists dancers Etc will translate the classroom so on behalf of the am9 football team especially the Bethany players Jackson zdo C Fischer carine pasarella Carter grey Eric youngberg Gabe morai LJ Valente Marcus sh Mason Shipman and W students I want to present Mr re with a little token of appreciation I do have something coming from Mrs ber but it just didn't arrive yet [Applause] and just for the record I had heard from another parent that they were touched that you guys had showed up they were very very appreciative the kids were very appreciative that you guys had showed up also the fact that there were 45 Amity kids down there 10% of the school was down there CU my granddaughter was down team we did have three cheer teams from go we had yeah it was pretty uh the kids had a good time but they were very touched the fact that uh Miss bird and Mr re whale showed up at the game and the other teachers showed up they were the kids I've heard that from at least one parent so thank you very much guys cheer brought home two national number threes so what's that cheer brought home two national number threes yeah yeah and they and the girl my granddaughter's team was fifth um and a five y I guess New Britain um was it Britain Britain brist Bristol yep Bristol got took home a number one yeah number one I know there's yeah I think Bristol was number one Connecticut's very well represented in every year first year the W team made way to the Super Bowl they lost well one of the comments said that going into the stadium to play the game was he said you know they may have lost but it's still something the kids are never going to forget a representation of Connecticut wented like Manchester we were alled yeah it was supposedly it's impressive well congratulations everybody okay uh any other public comment all right uh then I'll entertain a motion for approval of minutes of the November 8th regular meeting second just a a couple of spelling mistakes on there for Dr sec I can't what's that couple of spelling mistakes on there for Dr W forgive my pronunciation Dr W SEC Nita I see it and then uh Mrs athman yep in the presentation area there other than that good thank you all right anybody want to make a motion sorry I think maybe first selectman's name might be misspelled there under the public comment line as well yeah it's not con it's co yes this is why you need somebody well do we have a motion to accept it as amended so moved I need a second second all in favor uh before we enter the committee reports I think with the exception of Finance which met last night um I think given that the first off does everybody submit their um their questionnaire on which committees they would like to be on I know I haven't I have not I was email I was locked out of email as well what's that I've been locked out of email for the past three weeks up until yesterday so is there any way you have a paper cop those I do not okay and I never received a copy it was in the newsletter that Weekly Link in the weekly okay I forget what number but well we we'd like to try to get that done as soon as possible um like I said I know I've been remiss and if anybody else has been remissed let's see if we can get it done um because I would like to hold in a bance the uh DEC 8 the various committee reports until we get that resolved who's where who's on what and um and so forth does anybody have any um any issues with that or any discussion about that issues no but I just a question if we how does this normally work is it just we all get our assignments and if so is there going to be any issues with holding it off because is there supposed to be stuff that's supposed to happen between now and the next board meeting or are we just going to get sent in like a week or so or does it have to happen at a board meeting so that's at the discretion of the chairperson of the board the assignment of the subcommittee it doesn't have to happen in public form of the board and so that would be at Mr Garcia's discretion uh the assignment of the Committees and the notification and then the only thing that has to happen between now and the January meeting is a finance subcommittee meeting which is why I suggested the only thing that I know of and and correct me if I'm wrong the only thing I know of is the finance has to go and we'll talk about that during the finance finance committee meeting but everything else uh there's nothing here that really facilities meets every 3 months Aces you know curriculum uh policy transportation and uh negotiations that negotiation is not even on the list um so there's nothing here that's in a bance that that can't be held in a bance for 30 days while we try to sort out the uh the Committees and if anybody's got anything you know I'm open to any suggestion anybody wants to make so Now's the Time to discuss it you probably just want to make sure you get committees taken care of before the end of the year because we already skipped curriculum this month you don't want the first Wednesday of January to go by without another curriculum meeting I understand that and uh and that's why I I want everybody to get their their their paperwork in as soon as I can so that we can get this resolved because we have to call everybody I mean it's just not a matter of just saying you're on it and you know there's there's decisions have to be made by nine people so Okie DOI well if that being the case then um we'll skip Aces we'll skip curriculum we'll skip facilities unless there's anything hanging K there to my knowledge on facilities there was nothing hanging curriculum was there anything hanging you know there wasn't anything hanging but I was kind of going to throw in a a shine on curriculum even though we didn't meet um I wasn't sure if I would say it under public comment or under curriculum but since I was on curriculum well you're on curriculum so yeah so as you know in the meita was a chair right she was so the chair so it's up to you sport let me just give a little bit of shine you know we've talked about sort of the Spanish program and the English program the math program you know I had the unique privilege of attending an open house for the oh geez I'm going to forget what it's called the the unified Unified sports program this afternoon and and for those of the people you know also a parent here at the school and for those in the in the audience on the board that don't know what that is it takes the the students here with special needs and it pairs them with another student from the general student population in an after school program where they do some sports activities you know and um the games are mildly competitive you know they're certainly athletic and active and it just really gives those students who might not have an opportunity to be um treated as part of the larger student population uh a chance to do so and I was just so darn proud of the kids that that were there you know it it's not something that comes necessarily naturally to people to treat others that are different the same you know and not just the same but to really welcome them into a group and make them feel 100% welcome and natural and these kids did it and I just want to give them so much Shine for for how how cool it was to see them all playing and laughing and just enjoying that hour and I know my daughter comes home from that program and she absolutely loves it and she's beaming for the rest of the day like she just loves being active but she has like a friend that she talks about there um and I and I just think it's a really cool program and I'm really glad that our school does that that they just have that little extra time after school um to really enrich each and every kid that is part of that hour after school and so I just wanted to thank everybody and let you you know just the parents and and the school Community know that you know in addition to the educational work we're doing here there's there's some Community work that gets done here that's that's pretty awesome and so thanks that's that's part of our curriculum too that's pretty pretty great thank you um anybody else about curriculum all right then we'll move right to finance amam you might as well Trot that one out finance committee met last night if you look into packet you'll see that we have an operating budget summary as of November 2023 a little bit further up too under general education projections remain status quo from last month general education continues to show a surplus of $4,560 which is due to the salary adjustments for your buyers under special education you will see that the special education salaries is now showing a surplus of $35,200 from last month operations and overhead ends the month with a deficit of $4,055 as reported last month the overall budget is now showing a surplus of $80,500 K uh started with the balance of $6,450 6 in July we've expended 50,7 120 for salaries and supplies and have deposited an additional $2,177 41 for tuition payments this leaves the prek with a bank balance of roughly $ 58,5 6427 as of November 30th 2023 our 102 48 account started the year with a balance of $369,990 74 we have expended $1,987 197 for salaries Pavilion work and new classroom supplies and we also have deposited $81,400 76 this deposit includes the $78,000 we deposited from the 2022 and 2023 Surplus and interest ACR thus far this account has roughly $349,450 53 as of November 30th 2023 we have still not yet received reimbursement from Asus for our pairs working with open Choice students since the receipt of reimbursements was an issue last year we're holding off on making any other adjustments to the budget until we have the funding in hand the funding is received we are looking at an additional savings of $20,000 in salaries and benefits as for the audit Brandy reported the audit is still underway as far as we know they have not filed for an extension so it should be finished up in the next week or so they have requested the documentation needed to review bry's EFS report the report must be certified in an audit report filed with the state by December 31st regard of whether the town audit is finished or not as always we are hopeful they will be done soon at this point nothing major has been flagged or addressed in regards to the Board of Education with regards to our Budget moving forward for 2024 to 2025 although I do have some notes on that I'll turn to Mrs B to report um and give a little like he gave us last night yeah so you'll do that in your report so Mrs ber will report on the budget where she stand so far when she does her uh superintendent report later on in our agenda any questions myself John Paul or Mrs bird could potentially answer anybody got any question questions I'll need a motion to accept the uh report on the operating budget for November as presented Amy moved it second second Angel Second it all in favor no opposed okay moving right along policy I'd like to put on hold until that committee gets there's um gets uh restructured there's nothing any great shakes in there that we have to do so we'll put that on hold Transportation um same thing with the transportation unless there's anything K you need to no meeting no issues right unfinished business none new business uh the calendar I think Kay has to walk us through that this is something this is one of the downsides to having a November election is that we're coming in um well let me back off first off I'd like to welcome Shannon Joe Caroline and Susan to the board to our merry band of of men and women and um I hate to say this but we're going to have to get up to speed fairly quickly because we're in the middle of a couple of things one of which is we just got presented with the school uh calendar which has to be uh resolved by January so that's not a lot of time so uh I think K we should hit that one right now um and uh we can do that under um new business or superintendent report however you want to handle it I can do on the agenda we put those in advance oh okay we're going to hold off I I Susan asked me a question I said as far as policy goes until we get the new policy committee straightened out we'll put that in a bance because there's nothing there of any great shakes so you're talking about report or the item on under new business both because new business is going to be policies so we'll put those we'll put those on hold also so are we going to make a motion to we're out of order oh okay well let's up a second then not go out of order yes please um thank you unfinished business is the calendar first before take care of unfinished business no new business is the uh 20 425 calendar it was started last month right so it's unfinished it's right there and number seven you're looking at the meeting minutes Mr gcia not the agenda for well then seven under eight new business policy I would recommend that we put the policy under new business in abeyance until after the policy committee is restructured we have to go to look at the item right number seven unfinished business we have to do that first that's what we talked about calendar we got to vote on it correct don't look at that those don't look at that okay look at the you must have gone by it it's back there keep going there you go okay it takes me a month or two to get straight now don't worry there a lot of paper we to fix that too um policy Transportation unfinished business is the calendar yes I got it right okay so let's discuss that right now because that has to be done by uh relatively quickly yes so last month I was asked for additional calendar options um I presented to you previously a calendar uh proposed draft calendar with our standard um President's Day break and then a second option with a full break in February um after my meeting with boa colleagues I did create an additional um option for your consideration that aligned with what um I knew Dr buers was going to be presenting to The Amity board based on some data that she had found as well which is similar to the data that I had presented to you all last month where we do find an uptick and absenteeism the Thursday and Friday before the what we have fately called the fake Break uh in February she did present um and have conversation with her board on about that so I presented you I present you with these three drafts one is our standard calendar that we've had the last several years with two days off in a February break one that represents a full week off in February break and one that represented having the two the Thursday Friday before president's weekend and then that Wednesday afterwards giving that total of the 5 days with the goal of trying to add three days to your calendar as had been discussed previously um and I'll share with you that on Monday evening The Amity Board of Education um in their meeting did approve their 2425 calendar with a full break in the week of February so that's draft two that that is our version of draft two yep that's draft two correct so our draft two aligns with what was passed uh at Amity on Monday that's for the three Amity schools all three Amity schools that's for all the schools so uh Amity High School Amity Middle School Orange Amity middle school Bethany the cend they will fall so if we do something different does that impact our transportation on the days that we uh am is not in school and we are in school we'd be responsible phisically for those full bus runs because we do share bus runs with Ed for n buses so that's a cost issue and I think there was also a discussion last month of that if families have you know kids in multiple schools that having some variety in the calendars is challenging as well it's probably going to be the the issue with that would be more so I think us being off and the older grades not because if you have younger children though if we are not aligned there still runs the risk of potential absences now because if grade 7 through 12 is off maybe maybe people take vacations um what I'm curious to know is was what was the discussions after because I know some of the things that I had raised were how did we start with February break if we the reasoning for adding days was because of needing to extend past June and it started with February break and I know that I had asked was anything else you know discussed or um looked into or researched and it still went back to Let's research when the absences are over February break so was there any discussion of it not ever being February break and why was it February break yeah so I can't speak to what hamd finally decided in terms of their vote on Monday we did have additional conversations at our boa superintendent meeting about if we were to add days did we wish to add religious holidays we had conversations about which holidays would you add when would you add them how many holidays are you going to add we looked at adding days to other um days that we already have off so but they wouldn't be static days so let's say that we added a day to when we have we celebrate wases right because that's already a day that we have off if that fell on a Thursday in that particular year we we take the Friday as well so then it' be two days there and and two days somewhere else it seemed very disruptive to instructional Cycles to have some additional random days so we tried to condense it so it' be less impactful to instruction so what days like the day before Thanksgiving or things like that discussed those days already count um so you're talking about the Wednesday yeah so we talked about taking off the the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving break and what did that do um to scheduling but those weren't uh supported by the other districts looking at those other days so talking about just globally having the conversation um people didn't want to Monkey around too many of those already standing holidays I did watch The Amity board meeting and I do know that they um there was no other opt the only other option was still the February break just adjusting it to a Thursday Friday um Monday through Wednesday but there was praise for Bethany um taking the the action of actually looking at Data before just throwing out dates um and that would praise for that um and then I guess decided to actually follow suit and look at when the actual absences were so um I think that's a speaks volumes of you know you thinking ahead so go ahead no please AMD I had been considering right um or some students had asked about Eden devali but they chose not to put those in the new calendar not for this calendar um in our conversation when Dr buers shared with us that it had been approved um my understanding is that their board um asked the students to consider resubmitting that not for the 2425 calendar but potentially for 25 26 or sometime after that which is where my concern lies because if we are are looking to extend and add days fine right we do it as February break okay but then if we now add the three holidays in and potentially with maybe potentially with observed days maybe not if we add in those holidays oh and then we have we're kind of encroaching juneth a little bit so then we have another day for that and then we get three snow days now we're looking at back in the problems we had when we got rid of February break is we're back into June 20th so if they're going to consider the holidays this is where I didn't want to my concern was jumping right on adding vacations in if you're going to add days other places maybe wait but I think Amity has a tendency to just jump on things really fast I think in terms of also um considering the the full week for February um it's also a time where the school can shut down and disinfect and kind of reset and and it will help with illness um or stop the spread of illness or hinder it and then that in terms could help the absenteeism so what are the makeup something to consider excuse me yeah no I'm just saying that might be something to consider as well my wife was always a big fan of that it was always a um try to break up the site because that's usually when the everybody in his brother starting to get sick get sick um when were the makeup days for snow what was the intent for doing snow if we had snow days if we have snow days if we have we built snow days into the calendar if we exceed the snow days that are built into the calendar those are made up at the end of the year yes okay that's snow days are made up at the end a day but the but the bottom line but the bottom line the bottom line is draft two aligns with Amity so people with kids in both systems should have the same schedules I think it's aw I think it's awfully hard to consider calendar that doesn't align with the m system exactly I I think we have no choice I think we have no choice but it's you know does anybody have any um concerns questions or comments Now's the Time to do it because K doesn't need an answer I mean I I agree with Angelo I am worried that if we start adding more it's going to build up so I think if we think about this as and I know it's hard to give people a February break and then potentially take it away but like to try to be as clear as we can that this is what we're going to do for this year but depending on what other days need to be added next year that this is Fe break would be back on the table for that future discussion hopefully because as I think EJ said we're kind of you know it would be hard not to follow us and Carol said the same thing would be hard not to follow us now our hands are tied we really aren't getting much of a decision in this they made the decision for us where the tail on the dog do you know what orange district is doing or Woodbridge for beer and their other public schools and you have not um presented their boards with any other Alternatives other than the standard calendar um they did make the their boards aware of the requests from Amity and The Amity students also reached out to those Boards of education but what they had presented at this time is just the regular calendar with the two days off um I don't know where they plan to go we just met yesterday they've not made a decision as to what it is that they're going to propose to their board okay so they would ensure the additional cost on busing then too orange and Woodbridge uh orange is not part of our group they their when do we have to make a decision um I have to have an approved calendar by January because I need to in this calendar or also your Board of Education meeting dates and by law I have to present those that information to the town by the end of January so you do have another meeting before then um but I would definitely need an answer by then because I don't want to get in trouble with the town all right keeping with that then before we vote on the calendar um a suggestion does anybody you know we meet Wednesdays at 6:30 um does anybody have any suggestions on changing any of the meeting date time or location does anybody want to discuss that if we're going to have to make up a calendar Now's the Time to do it the as a board meeting or the subcommittees oh it's a board meeting in other words we have to by law we have to publish our meeting dates and the times and locations a year in advance that's PL and Zoning everybody has to do that so in order for K to finalize a calendar we have to decide a do we want to continue the meet in the uh School B do we want to continue to meet at 6:30 on Wednesdays second Wednesday I mean Now's the Time to have that discussion we have a new board we have four new members uh would you need to make a motion to the agenda to have that discussion because it's not listed I'll make a motion to amend the agenda to dis well no the Calendar's listed the Calendar's listed this Falls changing a board meeting Dae time falls under the school calendar sure because we if we change the school calendar but I mean if you want to do it we can I'll make a motion to uh amend the um amend the uh agenda what agenda agenda to discuss possible uh Board calendar location and meeting times do I have a second I'll second do we have any discussion are you talking about for 2425 or for the remainder of this school year because these well this year we have one more meeting no we can't change that that meeting's already been published it's next it's December uh or excuse me um no that's that meeting that meeting January so that's so yeah that would be a change if we two different things I think we have to finish this is just the school but I think we should make the motion to then have the discussion about our dates and everything yeah but she has to put this in this calendar also this is this is just the school calendar the board meeting doesn't have to like we can publish that on our district calendar with our dates but aren't our board meeting dates separate from the school okay one at the time then they're separate but they're they are just listed yeah they're listed here so I think we should probably close this one out but then make the motion to then open the the board calendar or the board meeting dates and times all right then let's not let's not confuse the issue let's concentrate on the but but here's here's my question so we're going to move forward with option two and then open the discussion to the board night in time is that what you're saying yes that's yeah okay why don't we do that well what what's discussed is is draft two which aligns with The Amity calendar what everybody feels we should do let's take a preliminary vote and then move it oh make a motion to vote to accept draft two the calendar okay we have a motion Angelo second discussion all in favor I so then I think we go with draft two which aligns with the EMD calendar now I'll entertain a motion to have a discussion about the board calendar location and time of meeting second we have a second Angelo all right discussion personally we are Board of Education I can't think of a better place to meet than in the school uh 6:30 seems to work and um Tuesday seems to work or Wednesday excuse me Wednesday Wednesday um but I'm open to any suggestion you know we have like I said we have four new board members there may be something we're not you know seeing maybe somebody wants something different you know Now's the Time to discuss it because we have to set that for the next 13 months is there any economic benefit to having it in town hall or any accessibility benefit well the only problem could be that if we make that change now the gym is supposed to be renovated soon and then we're right back here it's something we want to move to do it might be something that's a future agenda item I was just thinking like for connectivity or like Zoom like I don't know what the the setup there for we don't really have that now there but once it's renovated it'll be like an ideal location because it'll be all up to date so it might be something to discuss maybe to be considered again at a later date once it's well it have to be considered either you know next year or we would have to amend uh and that's usually pain in the Buns to to amend your uh meeting schedules but I agree but that's I think the school's a good place to be you know just so we're going to stick with this time this date and this location agree do I have a motion do we need a motion well then we now have our calendar for the school move to close discussion well like I said it was it was raised it's it's it's something we have a new board we should you know at least Trot it out and see what it looks like because somebody may have an idea [Applause] okay uh under the new business bylaws I'd like to put that in a a bance until we have the curriculum or to the uh policy committee uh put together so I need a motion to um hold off on acting on new business until next month somebody want to make that motion does it affect our mandatories because this we have two motions here one for mandatory rision and one for technical there's time for the mandatory and the technical revisions okay so move time ask what is What is the time is there a is there a time frame of we should have it done by most of these are July 1 implementations if there's any substantive change because it would be something connected to regulation so you have time to and yeah and just to be up front one of the things that we're going to be looking into is whether mandatory is actually mandatory or recommended because there seems to be some confusion and we haven't gotten an answer from our attorney yet which is something we have to um we have to chase so these would be so you is the the motion is to move these to next month's board meeting or to back to the policy committee yeah you could well I think we need to refer them back to the policy committee to sort out the mandator we have I have to get with Kay about this and I think for the time being we'll carry it to next month but at that next month's meeting we'll have an update for you um but but here's my question John sure if the policy committee the new policy committee reviews this documents and comes back with change then those documents will be go back to First reading correct and then we start the process over so why don't we table them until the policy committee brings them back forward but that's what I'm saying we have July don't put a don't say next month let's tap them into review of the policy committee to bring them back to the board we can do that too what I'd like to see let them review them and then let them bring a whole package if you want to put that in the form of a motion we can do that too I think we held these for first reading because we knew we had new new members coming right even though we've been holding them over I think we held them so that every then we can do that also it's it's not a big deal like Cas said there's nothing here that has to be done this week or this month technically we have to take action upon these by the June meeting correct I would say so you would enroll by July 1st correct you need to do it in May for at the latest May for first read for a vote very bye okay so why don't we table into review of the policy committee bring make the motion somebody make a motion I'll make a motion think somebody second it I just want to because some of these require the superintendent to promulgate regulations so I just I don't could could we back it up a month to April so that she has time to to make regul well hopefully we'll get it done sooner bring back and then we'll move forward once they did wait a I just want to make sure I have just a point of order if I could just make sure I have the motion correct and then who's moving it who's seconding seconding the motion um the motion on the table is to the motion in front of us is to table all new business pertaining to policy and is it to send it back to the policy committee for further review yes yes with the understanding that it has to be completed by the April meeting well first reading has to be at the April meeting to vote in May at a second that's fair that's fine that's awesome that work but we have to have a cut off date in there as Shannon was pointed out we need time for the stuff to get sorted out well and that would give us April May and June so if something comes back for first reading there's discussion goes back to policy committee it still gives us that time frame to move forward with the mandatories the person who second that motion lawyer responds somebody asked so if it comes for a first reading and it's edited and it comes back is that a new first reading or is it a second reading when it's edited it's a first read of the edit it's a first read of the edit so April's not could potentially not give us enough time to implement it by July 1st if it has an edit so I think I think one of the bigger questions to direct the policy and I obviously we don't know who's going to be on the policy committee but it sounds like there's some concern about what's mandatory and what's not when it comes from our legal um advisory um you know staff you know it depends on what you consider mandatory right you know we trust our legal staff to tell us what's mandatory but they're protecting us from liability right so what we might it might not we have to get a ruling we can't they haven't responded yet yeah I and and to be honest with you anybody who's dealt with attorneys they could they could tell us however they want they can tell you whatever they want it's it's something that we have time let's get it sorted let's get it done correctly so going forward we don't have to have this discussion again and let me just say EJ I brought I brought this up in the November meeting because I looked at the the list of policies I marked as mandated and I compared them with a uh Cab's website and their list of mandated policies and there's all there's 11 policies here that are marked mandated and I could only find four of them sure at Cave right and the rest of them were were recommended so there's some confusion somewhere and I don't know if it's a clerical error if it's a difference in legal opinion or some other confusion so it really needs to get sorted out because when you say mandate you feel like the hands are tied you don't have any choice you got to pass it we need to know what is optional what's next so so let me ask you a question should we Define what's m is a mandate policy something that state statute says we must do yes is what I would consider mandated yes yes because I know we've had some problems in the past where we said cave and legal councel and it's been drawn out in this forum that that was not the truth so I agree with you we need to get a handle on it and you know even when we say legal counsil and c I always like to to see that supporting documentation cuz we've been proven that that has not been in place we need clarification yes for those policies and I'm I'm sure whoever the policy will handle that appropriately well if Shipman and Goodwood could just give us a list like C has published a list it may be pretty simple maybe there's I don't know if they'll match which would make it less simple but uh you know that there's we need to understand this because right now you know you say mandate it it it sort of means we don't have a choice just pass it and off we go and it's a legal basis determination this is one of the things that somebody's going to have to hit the ground running quickly because we don't have a lot of time to to play with it so and correct me when I'm wrong we revisit our policies every three years on a rotating basis correct corre or as State Statute changes is that fair to say that is correct okay okay as we're having this discussion I'm thinking of two things that are coming that one thing is coming up and one thing tied to it potentially Cape training for um new board members that's going to be mandated potentially but also thinking about how at one point in time we had our attorneys we had Shipman come in here and this is a couple years ago right where they came in and actually had like a basically ran our p a PD for us professional development for us maybe that's something that we're possibly do for and we have new board members um we have some questions about some of this maybe that might be as our summer Retreat you can have a PD Retreat yeah our summer retreat planning something like that again maybe we can have discussions about these these things with our attorneys essentially and may we can discuss it we can see what the ramifications are we can see what the uh Logistics are and we can uh report back in January is that something we can do between you also have a representative from Cade come I was at the leadership conference last week and they're more than happy to do PD Retreats at any time of the year that a board opts to do so you can have a combination of the two or have separate ones that might be something to look into and I know you know based on these discussions I think it sounds like it's pretty important so if we can get that done we have to try to find a time that we can all be there because it's it's great in theory but if there's a date where only four of us can make it then it kind of defeats the purpose so if we can as a group try to you know put that together with K and well that's something I I think we can discuss we'll Chase it and I'll get back to you next I'll tell you what I'll give your board report I'll give the board report next month and what we find out how's that okay yeah I guess things are a little rough right now with all the holidays everybody's running around you got to get past the first of the year okay yeah we'll work it out still have yes ma'am you need to vote on the motion yeah it's we got to say I or nay or call a motion for a vote all right call a motion so take your vote all those favor table right the table the policies and refer them back to the committee yes is that everyone I didn't know exactly what we're voting on would you like me to exate the motion the motion was made to I yeah it just took me a minute to figure out which of the many things we were talking about was what we were no please if you have questions please let's get them out all right superintendent administrative report you covered some of it so welcome to all of our our new board members and thank you for your willingness to serve uh our community in this way in your packets you'll find the enrollment summaries for the 2021 2022 22 23 uh school years in comparison this year we started the school year with 445 students and as of November 3r 2023 our enrollment is currently at 449 students we've gone up just a few students any questions as I keep going no okay um Personnel update uh the following staff have resigned from their position Courtney Bergen uh a part-time custodian uh Christopher gamello a fourth grade teacher he is returning to his old uh District of bridge courts he feels he's better suited to be teaching in an inner city um and Sue Carpenter uh Board of Board of Education administrative assistant and uh HR person and your uh who active assistant as well uh Mr rewell and I did send out a communication home to the families um Tom sent it out uh to the fourth grade families that were affected by Mr gamela with a transition plan uh that went out yesterday um he did share with his students and so all of that they've been notified and at this time we have a plan in place for some consistent coverage with Meredith indorf uh Mrs indorf is our building sub she's also a certified teacher and she covered a long-term maternity leave for us last year so she will step into that position while we post and hopefully find a more permanent replacement uh assuming that we have viable applicants it most likely will not happen until after break uh to your point um it'll be posted tomorrow but I don't know that we'll be able to vet applicants and get interviews done in the next five days but we will try our best so how long was this teacher with the school he just joined us this year okay that's what I thought yeah all right just wasn't his passion correct okay def go after your passion he said Bethany is a lovely Place uh he really enjoyed working here gave lots of kudos to our students the family involvement and the collaborative efforts of his team but it's not where his heart is so she likes CER study my daughter's the same way yep so my daughter's the same way chase Your Passion otherwise you'll never be happy yep yep yep and you did hear a little bit about uh budget development previously um it's a little more challenging this year we do have more students we have more staff um Supply costs you know less grant opportunities all of those things but we're continuing to plug away at it in hopes of presenting my superintendent spending proposal to you next month um as is tradition but if that changes just let me know uh last month we did share that our status quo number is higher than it was last year right out of the gate um with just contractual increas increases we were at 8.11% 8.11% largely due in fact uh to the teacher contract that we just negotiated um after meeting with all the Departments and factoring in their requests I've gotten up to a 99.59% increase um then we factored in some conservative Grant offsets and again we only factor in Grant offsets um for the grants that we know that we have there are other grants out there that could we could potentially get that would also work to our our favor but we only count the money that we have um so when we factored in the grant offsets we were able to lower the budget by [Music] $223,700 out of the 10- 248a account that is also now part of that increase um in health insurance usually Brandy and I have a better sense at this point of a not to exceed number we did meet with the town uh it was just last week um they're not able to give us a not to exceed number and they're not looking to give it to us anytime soon they'd like to have some additional time to see what kind of claims come in uh and then they'll get us that number but usually once we get that insurance number we are able to get it down another percentage point or two um that was the case case last year so that is what I have to report on the budget at this 6% what is the dollar figure on that because you went back and forth in numbers right you were percentages then you were dollars I don't have that in front of me right now what was the question what was what 9% then she has 258,000 then she had six what's the well last year's budget was 75 so 10% is 750,000 somewhere in the five $500,000 range I don't have but what I was going to suggest is one of the things we talked about is K has to present the board has to present this to the board of Finance in February correct we don't have a lot of time to fool around with this and that you may want to consider thinking about a workshop in January if we need one to go over the budget I definitely think we're going to need one well we we won't know until we refine the numbers a little better but I just want everybody to keep that in the back of their mind that we may very well need one we haven't done one in a number of years you know it's been pretty cut and D Dred we've been coming in at you know 2 and a half 3 3 and a half% a couple years we came in flat but um so it's just something to keep in the back of our mind that we may very well need to schedule a uh intermediate budget Workshop once K refines the numbers a little better okay I don't know if you have the answer to this but if you the current teacher contract if that had stayed remain the same and you were going to roll that into next year what is just the cost increase of things like keeping the lights on turning the heat on like what increase would it give us solely from that regardless of you know principal expenses or or you know building supplies and I what's that increase I think we would still be high in the 4 and 1 half to five range um in my conversations with some of my local colleagues and in the even small district superintendent meeting most districts that have negotiated a teacher contract and if they negotiate at kind of what the going rate is which is anywhere it was at 12 and a half now they're inching up towards 133% increases over the three years those districts are seeing a significant increase in their their budget proposals for this year many of them are also seeing increases because they kind of are falling off that the Esser Cliff um because they're incorporating staff that they hired with Grant funds that's also hitting people's budgets luckily for us that's not the case we a little fiscally smarter than everybody else um so what we're looking at is because of enrollment and also as I shared with you there are some other programs that were Grant funded that are part of this cost so if I were to remove for example our boost program which as I've said for the last three and a half years this is the year it was going to hit the budget removing the Boost program gets a down into the fives but that's one of the things we have to talk about in the budget meeting right that's a student facing thing so with our teacher contract we just approved the hard cost impact is roughly 2 and a qu% or 325,000 somewhere in that ballpark but I don't want to quote you exact figure because I don't have my binder with me yeah I'd like to know actually what that hard that hard number is of contractual obligations versus old versus new and then we kind of figure out where we are you know it's a reality of a number because people are going to be asking because they got their assessments two I can I can certainly have that information for you and add it to right butd going to go up so we can have it next one no but no say two and a quarter SE should be 17 can you restate your your specific question I can I can provide you with updated information remember correctly our 2 and half% budget increase last year was 258,000 we were 3.58 yeah whatever it was 258,000 so I'm just curious what our teacher impact is because I know people are going to be asking what they see these increases look we had to take care of our teachers which was appropriate yeah percentage and dollar and percentage and dollar amount okay so and I and I would say as as a board I you know I know a lot of folks you know are joining us now on this board um there was a lot of pressure from the community um and from the staff to make sure that we were developing a staff that would want to spend their entire career here um to be members of our school community and to feel valued and to drive um results for our children and our families and um I I think we really developed a responsible budget uh for the town you know that um um made sure our teachers felt value you know felt valued and so there there was a cost to doing that but I think that it it was something that the town was calling for and that the teachers really deserved you know and so um we were in a rough place you know inflationary uh you know place and and I think the town is going to struggle with that this year as they go into the budget season you know and we all did just get our assessments so it's going to be a conversation in the community right people saw their assessments and they haven't seen what the mill rate is yet but the school budget's going to be prickly you know when anybody hits and we got to go to that referendum um it's going to be prickly you know so um you know we'll be thoughtful when we when we look at this budget you know not that we're not always but we'll we'll need if when we're voting for it we got to support it when people ask us why it is what it is we got to be thoughtful with how we respond and let them know every sacrifice advice we make you know in there let's be honest with them you know and any time it's it's more we got to tell them why yeah you know so we you know they feel like we're being honest with them you know so they know what they're getting you know for their dollars I think the teacher contract was absolutely well deserved for what they do here yeah I I hope the community feels that way too because I think our teachers are pretty great well and I just want to highlight something else that Mrs bird said right which is just the numbers in front of us we gone from 387 students and Vol 21 to 449 students there's going to be an increased cost to teaching more kids and I think that's needs to be part of the discussion too the Secret's out everything is great stop telling people to move here don't worry they got their put the house up for sale all right all right moving right along what else so just keep that in mind we may have a budget uh Workshop coming up in January uh two two other things K the roof I forgot to during facilities are the roofs scheduled the roofs the 16th what's that on Saturday okay you got any hbac grants cooking anywhere not yet okay all right um director of special services Miss Kesley you're up okay thank you um professional devel vment we continue to have professional development with literacy how and every grade level has now received one rotation of coaching and that's focused on the science of reading and grades five and six have had one day with the math math consultant from Ed advance and they will also get to have three coaching Cycles with our consultant um regard to curriculum um I know that word has gotten out but I just want to share all again that we finally received word on our waiver we've been waiting and waiting um 16 districts around the state were approved four were partially approved which means they must add an additional component five districts had transitional approval which means they must add and substitute uh specific programmatic curriculum components and 15 districts had limited approval which means it was not approved at all we were pleased to have received a rating of partially meets expectations this means that we'll be able to continue to honor all of the hard work our staff has done to create a strong reading curriculum and supporting resources the CSD is requiring us to add additional resources to support our work in the area of vocabulary and comprehension um basically the partially meets expectation means that we do not have to make drastic changes to our K3 reading by the July 1 2024 implementation date we have time to select what our required resources are and thoughtfully plan for its incorporation into our existing program um I was also able to secure a grant so we will not have to find the funds out of our current budget nor will we need them in the proposed uh spending plan for 2425 uh Mrs bird notified uh the Greater Community once we had um confirmation of the grant so that we could let our community know our status and that there would be no Financial impact um one thing that's noteworthy we were the only District in the boa who received a partial approval the others are not approved with a rating of limited and just further information about the grant the grant that we received was for $74,000 to use towards the approved science reading programs and we'll be evaluating the state approved programs um for vocabulary and comprehension to determine which one it best meets the needs of our students and our staff and um just finally with special education we continue to have an increase in referrals and the team is working really hard to meet the needs of all of the students uh we currently as of today have 92 students within IEP and this is a trend that's happening across the state some of it's postco but having an increase any questions are you using a platform called amplify um we do have amplify for Science and we've had that for years and then we use that for um mclass which is the state required screener that we use called Dibbles okay yeah I'll just mention that you know that some of these curriculum places have started Plastering the board email with promo oh really so I don't know if that's part of their contract or if they just like took Liberties but it's sort of like I think it's inappropriate you know C I understand you know that's the board of it but I'm not so sure that the you know the uh board emails should be at Liberty to any vendor servicing or potentially servicing the school what they tend to do is just go to a district website they'll look up all of the boards of Education or the district because on your your information is on the district website and so what they'll do is they'll just go and take the information and then just kind of start spamming you all right well I'll try to unsubscribe but sometimes that's feudal I just Del use it yeah I know but you know you get a couple hundred emails a day it's delete delete delete delete it's ridiculous thanks all right thank you Miss kessle Mr Reed Swale you're on all right so uh as always we've been pretty busy uh uh post our last meeting uh we had our Veterans Day assembly and I wanted to just um be on the record send a de thanks to ad Seth Adam spoke to our younger students uh and Seth spoke to our older students and I think both really kind of brought and represented and presented uh the day really well um you know Adam's Adam's really great at being relatable kind of talking about his his time and his service and really being able to kind of connect and and answer questions from students um and Seth kind of switched up this year and um and brought a presentation around the Medal of Honor um a lot of times he'll talk through some of his service um but he really focused on the Medal of Honor and talking about um what it means to earn the Medal of Honor and um and all sorts of different facts around those recipients and I think it was a really great space to kind of think about and really for those kids to learn a little more deeply about something that connects to Veterans so um just really grateful that they continue to be our our Point folks for those assemblies um and that they do such a great job of making it um something that's relatable to the students uh American Education week um was really successful we had a ton of Volunteers in um a lot of activity here students writing um notes and letters and a lot of community members and family members coming and joining us um of note uh so we had a student who brought a proposal for an after school computer science for all Club um we were able to lean into that with her uh Mr gasio has uh signed on as the adviser for that uh they've got about 15 sessions on the books and they've been um going really strong with that uh success begets success and so I uh I had two young gentlemen uh in sixth grade who came up to me and asked to start an orts gaming Club to which I was like whoa what are you talking about uh and I was like let's be careful with that uh and so I gave them a couple of parameters to think about in terms of researching and things that way uh and they've come back with some ideas is so um we're very much just in the idea phase but it's great to have um spaces where kids feel empowered to to kind of take a lead to come forward with something that's an idea and we as um staff um what appropriate and and able to kind of rally around their ideas and kind of Empower them so uh looking into that and just thinking about what the what that might uh look like maybe not necessarily for this year but um we're starting to see students just kind of stepping forward with leadership and ideas there and um we want to just honor that uh our community meeting uh this last month was the theme around gratitude um and then we had our holiday food drive around Thanksgiving uh Leadership Council working with Miss mathman and Miss laskan uh were able to take all of our donations and put together 15 sets of food uh for families and need um they also worked with donations from the PTO um and Bethany Rotary Club as well so it was really great um just a a great amount of food able to get out for families uh picture retake day was on o 8th um and then we had two really great events uh that centered around our choir Mrs pots um had our choir um coming down for the tree lighting um they had the the concert and I sing along um it was absolutely adorable um on the 3rd of December and then she followed that up uh that week on the 6th uh with the kids singing for the senior lunch and so that um was really wonderful our snowflake shop was um unbelievably successful it's wonderful like the kids having a space like kids are often not able to share in that idea of of like the the surprise right they have to go with somebody and it's so great that they can kind of come to that shop and have something as small as it might be to kind of be their own and and be their way to be able to surprise and enjoy in that in that gift giving um and so it was really great to have kids be a part of that um thank you to the PTO it's a lot of TBS of stuff that come in but it's so great for the kids just to be able to have that um report cards went out on December 8th um and then as you heard Unified sports had their had their their party this afternoon so a lot of things that have been going on um as we look forward we've got our holiday uh toy drive that's ongoing the toys that we donated to troop I um and the youth Continuum uh next week is our spirit week we're very excited for some seriously atrocious sweaters I have to choose between two the light up Stitch or the Savannah bananas it's it's Co flip for me um we also have some really fun things we're trying you know um it it it doesn't always you know kind of take away the long hours and the hard work but we're trying to put together some fun things for staff uh we've got a secret snowflake um going with staff and then also um we've got uh Miss naan and I um and she has informed me that we are going to be dressing up um as we do a snack cart at the end of the week for staff so we're just trying to give um a little levity and a little shine to the staff as well uh our um in lie of our um community meeting for December we've got our winter sing along that'll be taking place on the 21st um we're really excited for that so um kids will be in the round um in the gym and be uh singing several um winter songs uh and then on uh the 22nd Yours Mine and everyone's favorite highly competitive annual Summit volleyball tournament guaranteed to follow all the expected rules or we will be called out um will be taking place on octember 22nd it's very competitive fifth grade has won it a couple of times recently um so we're just excited to kind of have that as a as a cap off before we go to Winter Break um and then as we return um in January um we're going to really be hitting the ground running our uh winter Benchmark for I ready opens on um January 8th so we're going to be getting into that getting that started um and we've already been doing as um Miss Kel said um part of amplify M class which is part of um one of our assessments um and so we've been seeing a lot of um teachers doing some ongoing uh progress monitoring with that and we've been seeing some pretty positive results there and our winter Benchmark uh window is a chance for us um through several different assessments to to gauge what our what our progress and our growth is so far through the year so um that's coming quick upon us and uh and that's what we've got going until um we meet again in January thank you very much I got a couple questions for you we're halfway through the year now yep how's the tininess in the upkeep of the interior of the building then with the janitorial staff I know that was a huge sticking point and I know we worked towards some goals how would we doing there uh anecdotally I would say that convers I would say from a personal anecdotal speaking I think that the the building is being well maintained and I think um what I see both from tickets that I submit if there's something that needs um addressing or um in conversations that I have with team leaders so I have a monthly team leader meeting um and I think previously I used to get a lot more um feedback around some tickets and things and I think um if if I was um if I was representing what I would say the feedback that I've gotten is that um you know in anything there's tickets that need to be submitted but they're being um addressed quickly um and I think the staff is really appreciative of that do you feel they have significant Personnel to maintain the Excellence in the building currently I I haven't seen otherwise um I know that we had the the resignation of the staff members so I know that's always a little stressful especially when you've got a small crew right a crew of five or six you lose one it's a fifth or a sixth of your your group um but I've from what I've seen they've they've been able to maintain their schedules and do well with it at this point we're actually getting teachers sending in emails saying Hey i' would like to give a little shout out to Mr Fallon and his cre you know bathroom looks good or I put in this ticket and something that previously you know took days perhaps a week he had it done in two hours so so staff are actually giving positive feedback unsolicited positive feedback about all of the all of the staff we had uh just this last weekend we hosted the Lions craft fair here and got tons of feedback emails from how supportive they were how quickly they cleaned the building when you walked in here on Monday you would never building was full of people and all the things that it had this weekend so very positive change yeah I'm glad to hear that because I know that was a real sticking point before I just wanted to ask you you had mentioned that in January the the I Benchmark opens so when when is that data then become available to things are going the moment at which the kids finish the assessment okay so individually so I mean I guess the it's that's like the short of it like once they're done we get the number um the long of it is to really kind of judge by class or by grade or by school we really need to get that we need to get the you know our total sample through um but when for any students that we go once they finish that assessment we immediately get that data it updates their my path and their programs that way um and it can really inform Us in terms of where their growth is or where they might not be growing um but we we take that in a cycle so the it's the forgive me it's the 8th to I want to say the 26th I think I'm wrong on the 26th but it's in that that middle of January and then what we do is we use that post that through our data teams we analyze at a grade level and a classroom level as to where we are um and then um Miss nathman um and Mrs Hub myself we meet on a weekly basis and so what we do is we piggyback on that and take more of a global look at that um both by grade and then by school looking and seeing if there's any trends that we have and then based on that any needs for um potential support for either classes grades students um and then along with that on an individual student basis we take a look at what we expected for certain students growth and then whether or not we need to re-evaluate on a tier one classroom level tier two or potentially tier three and then we look at what levels of academic support kids might need so by first week of February we've kind of gone through that that whole um cycle because also along with that you have teacher goals that are having to come through um um and their teachers are wanting to report out to us because we have our midor meetings so we try and set that with the window so that there's enough time for them to be able to reflect and then we can have a discussion you know in in the middle of February to be able to discuss where staff are according to their goals and then make plans you know based on their needs to be able to help them be successful okay that's really helpful I have a totally different thing to say which is just um you mentioned the toy drive and I you mentioned how great it is with the snowflake shop that kids can actually go and do the shopping themselves and I just want to the fact that kids you know sometimes when we have a toy drive it's up to the parents right to donate toys to it but because the kids can donate their paws and they um can really feel like they're a part of donating to to um uh to kids who wouldn't have toys otherwise I just wanted to shout that out as something that I think is a really tremendous opportunity for our kids to practice that um that giving part of of the holidays well just to picky back on that uh I just had a cup of coffee out of my Christmas mug that my youngest who is now a senior at Amity got in the snowflake shop when he was here so um and there was a discussion about it so it left an impact for sure so that's nice anything else thank you chairman report nothing correspondence no correspondence public comment second go around any member of the of the public would like to get up and speak now is the time to uh you have 3 minutes please state your name and Paul you want to come down all right um I just want to kind of circle back on a couple of things that were talked about during the meeting with regard to your calendar for the board meetings not the school calendar itself but for your board meetings keep in mind that once you set that calendar any deviation from that becomes a special meeting even if you were to keep the same date but change the time that becomes a special meeting which now means you have a lot in agenda whatever you put on the agenda cannot you cannot add to that agenda so because you have new members on I just wanted to sort of throw that out there so you're aware of that okay um once you set that calendar is pretty much good to go any deviation becomes a special meeting so okay uh couple things with the just with the budget uh K the school the town hamdy and Woodbridge we work together Woodbridge kind of orchestrates it to do a Consortium uh they advertise for bids for fuel gas diesel um and then we do the bid opening next week and the lowest bidder will get it for the next year so that sort of helps us with budgeting so we know we give them the amount of gallons now we have some more vehicles that have turned over to gas so we had to kind of up our gas number and lower our diesel because of the vehicles so we have to kind of keep in mind what we what we have to use and what we need to to fill so just keeping in mind that is a budget piece we look at and we try to lock it with numbers for that um just so you know the board of Finance did meet last night we did discuss dates for uh budget workshops so right now they have said it to be the last Monday of January which is the 29th and the first Friday of February so they're basically the same week it'll be the Monday and the Friday and we know we usually try to put the Board of Education early on one of those dates so you tell me if you have a preference for one of those dates and I'll make sure that we lock you into that time probably starting at 3:00 again okay so just let me know um oh just to swing back to the very beginning because I think a couple of a point of order couple of motions were made when you discussing appointing K to do the search for a meeting clerk K you may want to just look back to your minutes I don't know if those two motions at the very beginning so your your minutes are accurate I don't know if those two motions were ever voted on they were not they were I just kind of caught it as all of a sudden it moved on and I thought you had on the table and neither one of those voted on so that your minutes will be accurate okay oh and happy holidays to everyone so mov so we need to vote on something what I was going to say do we want to Circle back yeah all all that happened John was they were just so moved so let's do wrap up public let's let's let's he's going to dig it out I'm going to try what's that I said I sure going to try let's see do you recall which of the Motions that may have been to move forward with the uh hiring a search for a search for a thing and appointing you that was just is so moved okay it was like the third or fourth thing we talked [Music] about her time's [Laughter] up this it would have probably been after the election of Vice chair and nomination of secretary and then we had the discussion question about hiring somebody y well we can do it again let's just stick it um so there was a motion to uh task me with posting and hiring for your uh Poe yes that's correct so all in favor I think that's it then I think that was thought thought there was only one yeah that's the only one that really means anything yeah because it just kind of was a so move then we moved on everybody was happy okay I think I think connected to that was the motion to amend the agenda to discuss tasking you with that and then it was sure was the motion specific enough to empower you to research hire and employ this person over the all right is that all taken care of I think you need to still vote on the motion to have modified the agenda to have had that conversation where you then moved then let's make the mo then I need a motion to modify the agenda you made a motion to modify the agenda well then let's call for the vote all in favor no no nay no abstention okay thank you is that it motion to adjourn well just one thing um thank you for electing me if anybody has any questions my office is in town I'm here all the time feel free to call there's nothing that nobody uh can bring up that we we can't discuss uh rationally and calmly if anybody's got any questions or anything they'd like to see change let's bring it out and then we can bring it up at the next meeting but I'm in town so if you feel you want to talk about something just give me a call but thank you um now I'm a motion to adour second second all in favor all in favor nice okay

call this Mee to order for to the flag of the United States of [Music] America so annual organizational meeting first item the new board res I you can you can do individual or you could do one entire group do we have anything we want to do with that I don't recall we so I um would like to add to the motion that has been motion presented and add Diane as vice president and Denise as Clerk and Rhonda as Denise and that's [Music] Rhonda representative on the M County school yes I'm sorry Rhonda as um representative for us at the School Board Association meetings and Steve can be our large Ro you good with that Amendment okay we had a a second on that well you you made the original motion she amended your motion so we need a second well we have to make sure that you who made the motion is good look that I accept her Amendment now we need a second I'll second okay uh roll call vote I I I I and I okay we've got our representative Bond you wanted to be the representative I I was just begging for that position again about our new board meeting schedule still going to be second Wednesday month uh for the most part yes um you will see in proposed dates those that are not the second Wednesday have been starred um in fact the January meeting we don't come back from holiday break until January 4th which is a Thursday and meeting agenda is due to be published that Friday the very next day so what we are proposing is to push that meeting one week further to the 17th um and then the other ones that are marked would be our La our second meeting in well actually the two meetings in June June 5th would be the first and then and it's not started but it should be and then June 26 which is the approval of our budget and our l C uh there's no meeting in July August 21 we are proposing to push it to the 21st because school starts on August 15th uh and then looking at December of next year because it is an election year and it will be seats up we cannot legally meet until the election results have been certified official by the county and that we cannot meet until the earliest is the second Friday of December following the election I don't see a board meeting on a Friday night in our future um so we're proposing to move that to the first inum is due on the 15th though so we might have to ask the county if we can get an extension the 15th of the Sunday yeah and and all Madera County actually all school districts in the state are bound by that so they'll be impa so that's why the dates are not truly all the second Wednesday of the month I think to work you might have to turn it on it is it's on can you guys hear us and I also know that August there's the 45 day revive so we might have to look at that one as well the December one but I'll follow up before the next meeting and for June we usually don't meet so early so we're going to do because we usually do it the last two weeks and and that's something that we could take a look at depending on the budget that early if you just get the numbers yeah and that really is dependent on on the budget process for this year we know with the announcement of revenues being extremely short for the state um we're anxious to see what the governor's proposal looks like in January and if it looks like it's going to drag out then at one of the meetings in the springtime we will propose changing the date of the August meeting because we anticipate the need to do a 45 day re there was confusion this year about our meeting date and it kept changing and it's all based on whether we have to revise or not this was the first time in in my memory of not having to do a revise from what the original proposed budget was is this an action item or okay I move approval of the um onates that are meeting schedu the meeting schedule as we have a second okay okay call I I I I and I okay next item considering adjusting our meeting agenda to start with the closed session this is something that we have discussed uh previously um a lot of districts have made this move already and it really is in an effort to streamline the business of the board and that is that we would meet u in advance of Open Session um to and we would start with Clos session and as long as work schedules allow our ability to get together what's being proposed is meetings will begin at 5:30 pm.

session at 7:17 p.m. uh trustee shoson can you lead us in the flag salute please please stand a a face the flag again I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right thank you for that and uh trustee Bo can you lead us in the district mission statement yes beesa Union School District provides all students the skills to become lifelong Learners and successful 21st century Global Citizens thank you and trustee menz can you lead us in the Norms of the Board of Trustees basa Union School District Board of Trustees agree to focus on the best interest of students at all times be respectful listen openly address problems and process not persons keep each other informed maintain confidentiality work toward the future learn from the past equal participation from all members stay on task thank you for that and uh during a closed session the board took action on two items Dr quentes can you report these two items out yes thank you on am matter the governing board approved the settlement agreement with a vote of 40 in favor for resolution of a dispute regarding ing special education services provided to a District student based on an IEP for the educational services in exchange for full waivers of any and all federal and state special education claims against the district on the second matter the governing board also agreed and approved the settlement agreement with a vote of 40 in favor of the resolution of a dispute regarding special education services provided to a District student based on an IEP for Educational Services in exchange for full waivers of any and all federal and state special education claims against the district thank you for that Dr quentes uh now we'll move on to our annual Board of Trustees organization I'll start with the first item uh is there a a nomination for board president I nominate Jay shason for president second second and okay so uh we'll now take a vote all in favor of this nomination say I I I okay the motion passes uh at this time I'll now pass the gav over to uh trustee Shon you want to take the lead do that okay thank you trusty uh Newan thank you for your service as the president of the board um next would uh like to elect the vice president of the board do I hear a nomination for the vice president I nominate truste wak for vice president of the board second he been nominated and seconded um M boak do agree my pleasure all those in favor say I I I thank you uh trusty wak uh we'll move forward with the election of the clerk for the Board of Trustees is there a nomination for election of the clerk I nominate um Hugo am menz sure and I'll second that nomination I forgot the name for a minute sorry nominated and seconded Mr em is you're okay all those in favor will say I I I thank you um next we'll appoint the superintendent as as the secretary to the board uh do we need a nomination for this motion oh um so I'll goad move to appoint the superintendent as secretary to the board there a second second okay all those in favor will say I I I thank you um item e is designated designate the regular meetings of the Board of Trustees um designate that the regular meetings of Board of Trustees shall be held at 981 R Park Drive open session commencing at night at 700 p.m.

I now call to order the Chica Unified School District uh regular Board of Education meeting for December 13th 2023 it is 5:00 pm and uh we will be going into Clos session seeing that there are no public comments at this time uh we will go into close and return to open session at 6 pm e Al righty good evening the uh the uh board was in closed session uh we took no action during closed session and uh now we are reconvening an open session um this is the regular Board of Education meeting for December 13th 202 three uh let's have um everyone please stand for the flag salute salute pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please stay standing [Music] than [Music] e thank you well the next thing on the agenda is our organizational uh organizational meeting so we'll move on to that uh and so um during this portion and this time of year uh we uh go through the process of electing the board president vice president clerk um and then appoint the secretary for the board and so um not to take too much time away from our student presentations and all that um I'll just start off by asking if there are nominations for board board president for um this next year uh yes Mr Robinson thank you Madame President I nominate Caitlyn Doby for president any other nominations I nominate Matt tennis for president um I accept you accept I accept all right uh okay um so we will uh do either of us want to give a statement or do we want to move into vote I'm just following my sticky notes following Direction yeah I follow directions sometimes I'm a rule follower um I'll just say that I would uh want to be a very fair president and um give everyone their say and I guess if there's one thing I would maybe do differently is uh I would probably make every effort to um move meetings on at a a steady clip not that you move j don't do a good job but anyway yeah that's that's one difference maybe I would I would I would highlight fair enough sometimes I get silly and tell too many jokes um any other thoughts from board members I'll make a couple comments okay um I think it' be nice to have um just another perspective I mean I certainly think you um you'd be my second choice gayen um I've seen Matt be very fair um I think he um listens to all points of view and I think that's um a valuable quality and um I think he represents um a parent um first and foremost and I I see that as as highly valuable I understand you're also a parent um but it's it's nice to have that perspective of somebody who has kids um that are actively in in our schools um yeah that's all that's nice thank you I just to remind that our recommendations for qualifications for the office is it to have been through the csba board president's training have you been through that Matt okay no I have not okay um so let's go ahead and move to um the vote uh since the first nomin can I just clarify something please so does that um disqualify him then no it's a recommendation a recommendation okay yeah there's a a The Matrix in our board handbook that has an outline of qualifications that we would want to see in a president but it's not a requirement and president Doby I just want to point out we do have a uh speaker request for this item for this specific item item well it's for um the whole organizational meeting for the organizational meeting okay well that's a little bit complicated do we need to call that person up now yeah let's do that okay all right um so we do have one public comment before we take action thank you Mr land um let's uh call Julie thre up for public comment BL mice thank you board yeah actually I was going to U make a recommendation on number six the agenda layout so I'll just throw that out now um I would love to see items from the floor be added to the workshop meeting as well so we had two opportunities each each month to come and give public comment on any items not on the agenda I see that at every other meeting city council school um the County supervisor meeting Etc so I think that'd be fair and I do support Matt tennis I think it's time for another leader to come up and and participate for another year and I'm sure he'll go to training once we elect them in thank you all right um I'm trying to remember how we've done this in the past when two nominations uh start start with this the first one okay thank you for reminding me uh we only do this once a year so um since I was nominated first uh we'll start with uh myself and um because my mom told me you should always vote for yourself since you know you'll have at least one vote um I'm going to say yes um for me for president I'm going to vote Yes on Doby n yes for Doby congrulations not voting you can vote for yourself I voted for you last time around I don't want to vote May on on you okay especially since the writing is on the wall thank you Becky for your kind words um and and um yeah I'll just abstain on this vote because but I I I'm with you in spirit and and totally will support okay that's fair thank you all right with that I will take the helm again as president um please always know you can communicate with me um as needed um and then we'll move along to uh vice president nominations Madame President yes I nominate member um landow for vice president do you accept I accept thank you I nominate Rebeca conen I'm going to decline it this time okay any uh any statements to be said mean if there nominations it doesn't seem like you Nom time to make speech yeah get three minutes I'll I'll nominate Matt tennis I accept I'm sorry I didn't realize we were still nominating any any more words for folks no okay um okay and so we will we will start the vote um with Mr or Lando uh let's start with you Miss Robinson I vote Yes on Lando hey yes nay yes okay congratulations we are going to move on to clerk nominations for board clerk I'll nominate Miss con I accept any further comments I think she'll do an excellent job I do want to say that um in the last year you've grown a lot and your confidence is really great and it's been really nice working with you for this this first year of your term and um I'm excited to see you grow as a leader um with that uh let's start with Mr tennis I I I I yes all right and Secretary of the board um we'll request the board to appoint superintendent Kelly Staley as secretary to the board we do we it's unanimous yeah I'll I'll suggest that but only if she appoints Erica Smith to help her do that [Laughter] job yes too your your help is appreciated as well uh all right all those in favor say I I it's unanimous great um number five set date time and place for the regular meeting um and regular board meetings uh are there any questions for clarification um on setting the date time and place of the regular meeting or any changes that we might want to consider okay is our a motion um I'm sure Erica didn't make a mistake but we have checked to make sure that March has been moved for our spring break right okay thank you so I move adoption of the board meeting schedule as uh presented in the agenda I'll second that motion okay all those in favor I I it's unanimous it passes we'll move on to 4.6 uh this is agenda layout so this is um the order in which we do our agendas for our um board workshops and our regular board meetings so those are two different types of meetings we have one regular board meeting a month that's where you all are at right now and we have one Workshop meeting per month um except for certain months that we only have one meeting because of scheduling and and things um so are there any um technical questions or a motion that anybody would like to put forward we did get our one public comment in and we can always revisit these as well um if anybody who wants to maybe change anything in the future we can always agendize and have that discussion later so I will call for a motion I move approval um as submitted second uh further discussion board are we ready to vote Mr chenis are you ready to vote sorry okay just making sure everybody's looking at the computer so I can't tell if I need to give you more time um okay all those in favor uh with uh keeping the layout as is um uh say I I it's unanimous and it passes uh 4.7 is the workshop committee assignment um we went through the process of assigning um board Liaisons for Workshop committees last December um unless there's any compelling reasons that anybody thinks that there should be changes made we could also um leave that as is um are there any questions for clarification um just a clarification we normally go through reassigning and in August I believe so is that what happened that's correct usually we go through in August this is on here for those years when we have a change in the board right and we might have someone the board and somebody new come on so it's really not relevant this year suspected okay I'm ready I move approval I'll second we have a motion by um member Robinson and a second by myself all those in favor say I I I I it passes unanimously and we will move on to student reports well we have some excitement for you tonight we have two student groups here and I think we're going to liven things up a little bit and ask the bidwill band if they are ready to go I'd like to invite Mr Dave McCay up to introduce the band oh there they or maybe it's Tanner that's what I thought Mr mck nice sweater Mr Bidwell thank you superintendent Staley board I'm not going to take up a whole lot of time because Mr John's uh students speak for themselves um but I do want to brag on Mr John's for a little bit I don't know anybody on planet earth that could even come close to being an awesome band teacher that Mr John's is for Bidwell Junior High School um kids if you agree give it up for Mr [Applause] John's so Mr John just want to thank you uh not just for leading an awesome band and giving our kids a way to belong and contribute to our community we all know how powerful the Arts can be for us I'm a band Kid myself um but you also do an excellent job raising up the next generation of teachers U Miss Kovac at PB now and then we have miss cheum this year doing an outstanding job seeing your work ethic and your passion for kids is uh humbling makes us all strive to do better and you're you're a tough act to follow so without further Ado I'll turn it over to you sir and your awesome kids thank you thank you all right okay so um I'm not going to talk too much because you're here to hear them not hear me talk um but you heard us play the star spingle banner earlier we have had three major performances this fall with our group of sixth seventh and eighth grade students which you see um behind me um it is the the holiday season and with all the wonderful things also comes coughs colds and other things so we're missing a few members but we're going to play and we're going to be beautiful and have a good time so you heard the star spangle Banner which we played at our Veterans Day Heroes concert we also played a um Halloween concert which you'll hear us play Ghostbusters from in a little bit and of course you're going to hear Santa the Barbarian which we played on Monday at our concert um at PV high school so this one got a little narration so I'm going to hand it off to one of our students you ready all right here we go band this gos this one's Bluetooth even more fancy when the Winter Winds blew and an age fairly long ago in the dark yti season brought the darkness and snow they told of A Gift Giver in Tom's antiquarian from the far icy wastes he comes Santa the Barbarian I can [Music] talk e [Music] thank you and we don't want to take up too much of your time however a little bird told me that superintendent Staley has always wanted to play as part of the band so you need to come over here for a minute and um Mason wave your hand Mason Mason's going to teach you your part sure it will there's only right notes and notes that are close okay's okay ready all right so Mason you're just he's just going to teach you steady beat talk talk we're gonna be playing Ghostbusters okay you ready ready Stars he'll start and then he'll hand it off to you ready yeah all right thank you ready here we go one two one two three [Music] four [Music] bu [Music] ah [Music] B give it up for superintendent hey uh Kelly Staley you are an honorary Man member of the Bidwell band see now you get to play all right sit down all right they have other things they have to do today chairs allion thank you Mr John's and thank you to my teacher you are fabulous over there thank you Mr Johns that was awesome thank you kids you okay we're going to give them just a little bit of time to grab their stuff and clear out because we have another student group coming up and I would like to introduce Emily Mullins principal of Hooker Oak Elementary School so fun fact uh Mr John's and I go way back to Middle School uh honor band uh together Quincy and Chester yeah so we uh we've known each other for a very long time and I'm a little upset that he did not invite me to come play with the Bidwell band tonight so I didn't know in advanced notice enough I could have done I could have done I could have done the star single banner at least thanks Tanner thank you again bitb ban this is a tough act to follow they were so good and I don't think that our students knew that they were in for such a a treat for a concert so um I'm just briefly uh going to touch base on um what these students are going to share with you and that is um our Hooker Oak uh an second annual sprouting business Market that was held this last Saturday and um Miss Zoe one of my student ambassadors is handing out some information about that for you to pruse uh we had 64 student vendors this year which is amazing who um filled out business application s to obtain a business permit and then went through the process of um creating a business plan and deciding on their pricing point and all of the logistics that go into running a successful business and then um our school was open to the community last Saturday for community members to come and um pru the various vendor stalls and uh we also did a toy drive as well to as part of that event so um I couldn't invite all 64 of them I really wanted to um but I did want to invite um a few of them to just give you a little bit of information about the process for them what their business was and um that you might even get some samples out of this too so we're going to go ahead and start with Miss Sydney uh hi I'm Sydney and I'm in the fifth grade and my store was of things I made and I make here I'll hold this for you yeah I'm I make little bears and I I sew them all by hand because I don't have a sewing machine I make little bears I make scarves and blankets and they are really big blankets but yeah and pricing you learned um uh my pricing I had to learn how to price things off of how much they were and so I couldn't just like do how I wanted it like I wanted the blankets to be $20 but they were $20 so that means I wouldn't be making any profit off of it so I needed to make them like $30 if I wanted profit and even after the sprouty market was done I still was able to sell the extra stuff like other blankets that were that I didn't sell but I sold most of my stuff and I learned uh how to price things at what they're they're meant to be and um how to spend my money cuz I can't spend it all once I've got it unless I want money how much did you make oh I made $155 from this [Applause] Saturday hi my name is f I'm in third grade and my business was I made these little mushroom ornaments out of orange peels uh they were $3 because it I used most of the ingredients out of nature like I went outside and I got the sticks um what I learned from this is I learned how to um give the change back like if somebody gave me more than they were actually for I would I could give them change back and I I made [Applause] $103 next um uh my stand was a juice stand and so the process here can you hold this yeah thank you the process of doing this whole stand was first we went up to um our friend's house and picked a ton of apples then we went home and Juiced everything then we went and set up the stand and then sold a ton of juice yeah was it called it was called Jude judee's Juicery Double J's um and one thing that I learned from this is like how to set up a business and like make sure everything is running and yeah how to set up a business how much did you sold how much did you make I sold I sold one glass was $2 I made $87 and I sold one entire jar of carrot and about half [Applause] orange my name is hendrik and I'm in third grade and I did hot cocoa treats for my business and so first I did these hot cocoa jars and um they they you can there's marshmallows and chocolate in them and you can add warm milk or warm water to make it hot chocolate and then there's these stir sticks that you can stir in your hot chocolate and it gives them flavor and there's um different flavors there's Andy's mint chocolate peppermint and white chocolate peppermint and I made [Applause] $142 and he has some samples for you you of some of his product um so I am beyond proud of all 64 of our student vendors um they just did a phenomenal job we had students um as young as 5 years old out there selling their products and um even more so impressive were the students who participated last year and being able to see how their business plans had evolved from the year before they learned a lot and then were able to then put that knowledge that they had learned the year before into improving their businesses and the other thing that was quite remarkable was how their business plans changed uh the event was from 11: to 2 so some of the prices changed at around 1:00 1:30 um and then they started really marketing their products um there were a lot of um cookies making their way throughout the multi-purpose room on trays and um students encouraging you to buy them so uh they did a really great job of just adapting their business plans marketing their products and it was a very very successful event very proud of them thank you for coming tonight and thank you for such a wonderful activity this uh shows a lot of different strands in the academics hit here okay we're going to move right on into the recognition portion of our meeting and I do want to say if uh students need to get home well they're going okay no holding them back byebye thank you for sharing so I want to invite up Mr Bruce Bayard he is the principal of Shasta elementary [Applause] school thank you Kelly thank you members of the board um I really appreciate the opportunity to um recognize several of uh the teachers at my school uh I'm going to start first with a three-person recognition they are my non-sp specialed intervention team and it's made up of Jen Denzel our reading specialist uh Julia Del kiaro and Allison Simcox who are Title One teachers and there are so many things that they do for um me and the school it's going to be hard to get it all in um just a few minutes first of all they're all former classroom teachers um and there's one former special ed teacher and so I feel very very lucky that um I have people who have inclass experience running our interventions because they really understand what is going on in class and what they need to do to help supplement that I'm going to start with Jen Denzel she is our reading specialist um Shasta as you may or may not know has um 650 kids in a school that was originally designed for 245 kids so space is at a premium and so when we were uh blessed with the opportunity to have a reading specialist I had to find a space for her and the only space that I had available was one of our teacher uh collaboration spaces which looks like a garage and it's where we park our golf cart so um she is the in the reading garage we called it and so uh when I moved her in there I got her a nice little mechanics shirt with her name on it and uh we decided to continue the narrative um she diagnoses the problems um that the kids have with um their ability to learn how to read she works with the kids and the and the teachers to fix those problems and then she gets them back on the road back into class able to read at a grade level she is amazing she has forgotten more about teaching reading than most people will ever learn um and I am incredibly blessed to have her um along with her is Julia Del kiaro um she did her student teaching at Shasta and uh was working to Orland before I called her and had a quick interview at a Starbucks to bring her back um so she has her special ed experience she also was a a third and fourth grade teacher she taught my son in third grade and um after having um some kids she wanted to do some part-time work and I couldn't think of anybody better to do our Title One along with that because we needed somebody more than just a few days um Allison Sim Cox who is also a part-time teacher and taught up in Washington um she is partnered with Julia they work together the three of them um they research and Implement um new programs um usually ahead of the game on everything they um will teach our AIDS and our teachers about the new programs and how to implement them into our classrooms um they are experts on campus uh teachers go to them they invite them in for observations um without them I would be totally and completely lost um they are such an effective team they look at all the global data on a regular basis every six weeks they create new groups and they review the data through um forma assessments and summative and once they get them done with what they need to do they get them back into class so they can move more students in um on a daily basis the three of them really two of them because Allison and Julia are never there on the same day they see 80 students a day and those are 80 students out of our 650 kids that are not in special ed that are getting extra intervention help to get them so what does that mean that means last year in first grade at uh the Benchmark the first Benchmark 42% of our students were at uh where they needed to be in the bpst the basic phonic skills test by the end of the year we had that doubled to 85% and it is because of the teachers and because of our awesome intervention team so Jen Denzel Julia delaro and Allison Simcox congratulations to come up come on we're going to give you a small token to keep you hydrated during all that talking work you guys are doing picture sorry at least makes me [Applause] feel okay this next one I'm going to try not to get emotional um Brook Ube is our extensive needs um teacher she works in a classroom that is um filled with students who are non-verbal and are um on the autism spectrum she um has refused to um change the format of the classroom to get students that um may not have as many needs and therefore might be a little easier to work with there is never a downtime in that classroom um a lot of classrooms you can tell students hey it's time to do some independent work in her classroom there is no independent work they are um she and her staff are with kids shoulder-to-shoulder all day long and um a little bit about her she started as an instructional par professional um at the same program um at another school and was so effective moved into the teaching realm and so when she when the program was moved to Shasta um after the start of the school year mind you um she was still working on her teaching credential she Not only was doing the best work on campus but she was also doing her own work to get um where she needed to be so the Hindu goddess of learning is Sarah swatti and when she created a mold for a teacher um Brooke is that mold um she is hands down the best teacher I've seen in 25 years she is kind she is patient she's dedicated she's passionate she's skilled observant intuitive and generous she's humble she continues to push herself to learn new things and to work to benefit her students and her families but most important she's transformative she has changed the opinions of um the students and the staff at our school about students with special needs um she has brought to our school an ability awareness day um we had we participated in our first ever bu County track meet which I went to that um was absolutely amazing and she has inspired me to be a better person and I can't thank her enough Brook rebay congratulations we love [Applause] you all of that times 10 I don't know how you you doce congratulations thank you again I would like you to uh invite you all to room 17 and see her in action it is a lot of fun um I did did ask her to bring um one of the communication devices that she um uses with her students because they're non-verbal a lot of them use a AC devices which are modified iPads so that students can communicate their needs um watching the kids grow through her program um when they come to us as third graders is phenomenal um just the other day I was in and one of the students was um working on um some sensory items and so I went over to get sit with him and he let me know that he needed space face which was um get out of my face old man so um I really enjoy going in there it's uh it brings a smile to my face every single [Applause] day and the last recognition Jacqueline and I are gonna do together and I'm just gonna call Mr Carver on right on up here and you're G have to stand here when we talk about you so so uh John Carver is retiring in the next month and this is his last official board meeting and I just want to say a few words about John Wayne Carver uh he was hired in 1993 as a custodian Sub in 1995 he became a permanent custodian 1998 promoted to senior custodian 2009 promoted M supervisor 2012 M manager 20 5 he became theot director and now 31 years later uh he's leaving us for the greener pastures of retirement or maybe Oklahoma I hear possibility Missouri there's a few options um John has a huge heart matched only by his huge work ethic um he was the first one to let us know about the Orville Dam evacuations he was immediately over at the fairgrounds making sure that the people being evacuated had everything that they needed um and he even volunteered buses to help people that couldn't get out get out some of them might have been prison inmates but we did that too uh there was a need to get them out into another location when the campfire occurred John was first on the scene again working with Transportation uh he housed the paradise transportation department as well as nutrition services at our our Corp yard and made sure that they never had a break in Services when they started up back again with their students he also made sure all of our classrooms were clean and there was a lot that went into that with all the smoke damage um so that when we reopened it was safe not only for our own students but for the paradise students that joined us and during Co you're going to hear this repeated theme first one there what do you need me to do um making the the custodians were the one of the few groups that still had to come to work they did not get have the opportunity to work from home they were here every day they were cleaning classrooms they were making sure that whenever it happened we were ready to reopen and uh there were several all nighters that were pulled especially when the decision was made we going back they had to have all those classrooms ready and then we were doing cleaning between classes worked all of that out um he just always makes sure that our kids are in the Forefront and that his team is here for them and uh finally I do want to say that John likes everybody to believe that he is a tough guy and carries a big old Hammer but um I'm here to tell you underneath that all he's a great big softy and he would do anything for anyone he has a heart of gold he give you the shirt off his back John we love you and we're going to miss [Applause] you and we're going to get a picture oh sorry I gotta let jacelin talk I just hogged the m just have a few words Kelly took took a lot of it you can see John has seen um seen this District through and through um you know has really kind of you know increased over the ranks over the air and taken on additional responsibility but always had um that student Focus to start with and you know it's bittersweet to have this this moment today of him moving on but um it's the next chapter it's not the end I'm sure we'll see him around for a little while um but I would just you know really reiterate what Kelly said his work ethic and dedication to this District he works seven days a week um for this district and he always looking out for our facilities and our kids and our students and it's a I'm sorry Jacqueline it's a Sunday but I need you to know about X Y and Z and it's like he's on top of it um it's the first thing that's brought forward on Monday morning meeting with staff and getting things resolved so um a lot of sentiment is the same as Kelly but um we are all certainly going to miss you [Applause] John oh Jee 30 seconds timer on battery's dead in her clock so that's okay so I stand before you in awe after three decades I bring you nothing I don't have my keys I don't have my school district jacket all I bring you is my gratitude this is my family it's been a long road but I'm better for it and I can only do as good as I do for those that were that are around me I surrounded my myself with great people that helped me do everything that Kelly said so my gratitude goes to CCA my management team and our leadership thank [Applause] you I it all righty that's a tough act to follow so many so many nice things to say about all of you folks um the next uh up on the agenda are announcements so are there any announcements from uh board members this [Music] evening okay seeing none we'll move on to um item number eight items from the floor uh we do have one uh uh person signed up for items from the floor floor so at this time I'll call up Julie three um Julie knows this for everybody else items from the floor is um a time for speakers who wish to address the board uh regarding a topic that is not currently agendized um and so uh we will provide three minutes to address the board at 30 seconds uh left of the 3 minutes uh bell will ring and uh as a reminder the board can listen to public comment on items from the floor but cannot respond to speakers under items from the floor thank you president Doby and you know for everybody watching at home you guys miss so much when you don't come to these meetings we had the Bidwell band earlier seriously it's an amazing um organization that you run um so yeah I'm here to again advocate for the health of the students two years ago this month I stood before you and implored you to not mask up the kids and now we've got pre-printed science studies that show The Masks don't work um we were fortunate to push back on the vaccine mandates that toxic drug is going to go down as one of the the worst most um again poisonous toxic shock um In Our Lifetime and I just want to again continue to ask that this school district refrain from interfering anymore in the health of the students I keep hearing about health clinics and wanting to build more things on campus and get involved in the students Health um I know the bu County behavioral health or public health is looking at fluide treatments and dental sealant the the ssris um the HPV shots you give at the junior high is is just so much of a disaster waiting to happen my daughter's got ovarian cyst issues from that HPV shot gardisil is one of the most toxic um you know that was never done in my lifetime in the 70s and 80s and we wonder why now our children have a 54% 54.6 chronic illness rate that has never happened in our lifetime it's outrageous be countyy is in the top five for cancer rates we need to start being honest with ourselves about why that is on December the 7th Jennifer Kennedy who's one of my friends in the health Freedom Movement filed a lawsuit against the LA Unified School District in the California District of uh California for civil rights violations against their teachers she's seeking redress from the school district for deprivation of the teachers constitutional rights to refuse an emergency use authorization investigational drug without incurring a penalty the LA Unified School District's unconstitutional unlawful malicious unequal and contractually violative covid-19 investigation drug mandate and even though the def defendants mandates were instituted during an in response to a pandemic emergency as the US Supreme Court noted since the beginning of the pandemic even in a pandemic the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten so again I'm here I'm I I'm working with the medical doctors for Co ethics International I'd be more than happy to bring in detox strategies talk to your your um teachers and your students because again I think we just are going to you know wake up and realize that um there's been a lot of damage done by these shots and the more we separate the schools and not keep the secrets from the parents this that and the other I think you're going to be better off and avoid a lawsuit like this so thank you for your time tonight thank you uh next up on the agenda is consent calendar excuse me um let me see we don't have a public comment for consent at this time um are there any questions for clarification on consent for from staff um would we like to would anybody like to pull a consent item I'd like to pull 9.3.1 please this is the um um accounts payable warrants okay so 9.3.1 under Business Services consider approval of the account payable warrants we'll pull that um are there any other items to pull all right seeing none do we have a motion for the rest of consent the consent calendar besides item 9.3.1 so moved second okay we have a motion by um member Lando and a second by member tennis uh any further discussion board uh so we will do a a a actually we were unanimous last I believe okay so all those in favor please say I I I um and no none opposed okay uh Mr tennis we can re visit 9.3.1 on the um list of expenditures there's one particular item uh check number 6234 3074 62034 uh this is a payment to the law firm of um I think it's Leone Al Albertson dewis Leon Albertson dewis yeah I just don't agree with the expenditure so I would move this item minus that check um I'm hearing no second on this um is there any clarification from staff that uh any member of the board would like to make uh do we have an uh sounds like this Mo the motion fails um do we have an alternative motion yeah I'll move uh passage of the item as presented I'll second that motion okay any further discussion from the board yeah actually um I just think it's important that even when one of us or a group of us doesn't agree with the outcome of a decision of the board we are a board we work as a group um and to vote to not pay our debt for services rendered would put us in a really precarious and unethical position okay um we'll do a Voice vote um and I'll start um I vote I I vote Robinson I Conan I Lando I tennis n okay um it passes four to one moving on to discussion action Cal calend um under Educational Services 10.1.1 a discussion action item uh which is information on student citizenship and disciplinary measures and other tools we might employ to foster a positive and productive School climate thank you president Doby can we go to present mode or we go okay um the agenda item from previous board meeting was board clerk tennis mov to place an item on a future agenda to discuss student citizenship and disciplinary measures and other tools we might employ to foster a positive and productive School climate second by board president Doby and the motion was passed by vote so that's where we're here to discuss that um agenda item so first thing that we're showing here today these are the questions so we sent out a survey to all of our staff certificated and classified which is about 1,600 employees they're both pretty close to around the 800 Mark we had around um close to 400 about 25% of our staff respond to the survey we made it for the um survey that you can only do the survey once so they had to put in their email so we just wanted to make sure we didn't have continual people to taking the survey over so as you can see um some of I don't know the questions and I just want to clarify the the color so if you can see that we have red and orange and then we have two colors of blue red and orange when we're the question was asked red and orange would mean that would be an area of concern that they believe on that question blue means um not a concern so example of the first question was at this school how much of a problem is disruptive School behavior um so as you can see that out of the people who took that survey um it was a high percentage believe that was a problem but I before I get into the survey I just want to make sure and we're going to go through some other data besides the survey we'll go some um suspension expulsion data and we'll go over the comments that were made on the survey what I want um the board to understand and the community to understand when we go over this survey when we go over the discipline survey 98.3% of our students have at this point in the school year have not been suspended so I I want to let you know that a majority of proportion of our our students again over 98% of them are making the right decisions on our campus and and have not been suspended so when I'm going over these things today I want people to really understand that our our students a high majority of them are making the right decisions at school so I just wanted to kind of to start with out on a positive note because some of these things that we're going to be going over will sound like it's a negative things are happening on our campus and obviously there is some some concerns that our staff felt but again when we're looking at the DAT a majority of our students are making the right decisions on our campus so again um as a school how much of a problems disrupted School Behavior again um there was a Contin are you able to go over that the percentage I don't know I don't know but again they believe it was somewhat unfavorable or unfavorable so majority of our staff live that was who took their Savi thought that was a problem at this school how one second Jay sorry there you go I got everything else but this one up before the uh before the meeting so you I'll have just Tim kind of go over the percentages and Tim I want you go ahead and we'll just yeah so as Jay said the red and the orange indicate um areas of concern or unfavorable responses regardless of the question stem the question stems are are different and require different um response choices so the way to to customize or um standardize these responses is to go unfavorable somewhat unfavorable somewhat favorable and favorable so again the blues are positive the red and the oranges are areas of concern so we can see here um Jay started off with the the top question which was by far the highest area of concern for our staff um we can see almost 30% of our staff um responded unfavorable to this this question and an additional 46.6% responded somewhat unfavorable so this one is by far the um the biggest staff concern per this survey and I just want to make sure sorry Tim I want to unfortunately when we did the survey when we did the how we did the survey we're not able to disintegrate between High School junior high and Elementary on these percentages right now this is just all all levels um other other high areas of concern higher areas of concern for staff or um physical contacts among students and we can see for that 22.5% of our staff responded unfavorable and 45.2 um somewhat unfavorable following that were verbal abuse of teachers by students 28.1% unfavorable 35.7% somewhat unfavorable um as we move down the list I'm not going to go over every question just kind of the highlights um in the interest of time um after that was the question um to what degree do you believe the prohibition of suspending students for violation of 48900 K which is an ed code number um which is essentially um suspending kids for defiance and disruption um negatively affect overall student behavior um and we can see a high percentage of of teach teaches here 36.1 answering unfavorable 16.6 somewhat unfavorable and then we have about a third that weren't sure and I take that to mean that um I don't know what 48900 K is I don't know that we're not allowed to suspend for that um and so um that's that's my best um you know guess at what what those not sure um means one I want to make sure that we highlight and I'm sorry to if you did was the staff at school um no the safety staff at school Rec safe at school safe at school again there was a high percentage of our staff that believe that they feel safe at school even though they're saying the disruptive behaviors and things are going on our staff feel still feel safe at school at a high percentage and um another you know area that teachers indicated a high perent percentage of positivity for where staff at the school recognizing students for positive behavior I have a question any questions on this yeah I don't I don't this isn't really a data question um for the what's outlined as you know some of the problems or issues that we're seeing uh are any of those um sus suspendable offenses or to or what degree are they do they become suspendable offenses um if you go down the list um I'll let Jay Jay chime in as well but um harassment and bullying can be suspendable physical abuse of teachers absolutely physical conflicts among students absolutely um verbal abuse of teachers it depends on your interpretation of of verbal abuse but yes in some cases no in others um that one's a little bit more of a gray area right and then disruptive student Behavior also isn't necessarily suspendable no it's not anymore Defiance and strep of behavior well as as of January um high schools will not be able to suspend for that K8 already that law is in place but they just pass legislation that we cannot for disruption or Defiance Behavior example is put your phone away no I thought you were telling me to put my phone away no my head stop asking questions I'm going to hear it more often than I should probably any further questions about this we'll go over different ways that we can handle um the 4900 K and way we are doing that on our campuses now when it comes to disruptive andrup we'll in our later on in the slides go back to thank you yeah you got it there we go okay then we also asked we had open response questions so they could give us comments at the end so we're going to kind of have Tim kind of how we broke them down um related to the school U discipline and what did you see as your biggest concern yeah so um how we processed this data was to um look for any person personable identifiable information um remove those from the item responses and then we used artificial intelligence to look for themes U and then of course a human eye reviewed the the themes and and the responses to make sure um we were on track so um some of the the the themes for this um uh this question were disrespectful behavior and we saw that in the um the multiple choice survey question as well on the earlier slide um administrative challenges um overwhelmingly the staff was very very complimentary and positive about their administrators um recognizing that they were very very busy um a lot going on as far as Behavior goes a lot going on as far as running a school goes um they're very complimentary in general um that being said it's it's a challenge to manage Behavior at at a at a school um they mentioned parent influence specifically lack of support for disciplinary decisions Tim what does that mean what does that mean um the last one so I take the lack of support for um disciplinary actions and instances where parents hinder consequences for their children children's actions to mean and I want to reiterate what Jay said earlier you know 90 98.3% of our kids have not done anything close to a suspendable offense um we have wonderfully supportive um families in Chico UniFi we really appreciate their support at times and it's a very very limited amount of time there's disciplinary consequences that the parents don't agree with and don't support that the school um mandates for the student and what I want to to be is very careful when we're looking at comments that we get you know when we ask open-ended questions like this we don't have data that shows that we've have so many parents you know we're not tracking anywhere that says we don't agree with that discipline you know we don't have ra we're just showing you what some of our staff members in they're perceiving and wanted to put into the survey we don't have data to back up these comments but you say that it's very rare that a parent pushes back on a discipline I I would say so you know in my experience on a School site absolutely it happens but it's rare generally you're on the same page with the parent and you can rest assured that they're backing you and you're backing them and your your partners but it is a a theme that came out of the survey right what do you like so so of how many respondents were there I'm sorry of this 385 and so maybe how many people said that that this was I I would hate to throw a number out off the top of my head okay one of the top three responses though uh these aren't in any particular order okay yeah um so we have um specific discipline problems um you can see some of them cell phone use bullying um inadequate consequences for certain behaviors um age specific concerns um in particular um need for additional support in the early years that just changed sorry there we go we have safety and support um concerns about safety lack of supports for students with emotional behavioral needs learning environment affected by disruptive behaviors was a concern um systemic challenges um and finding effective consequences other than suspensions um and lack of consistency the next one is what do you see necessary steps to improve your student dis IPL at your school so consistent consequences was a theme um restorative interventions and supports um you've heard us talk about restorative practices restorative justice um over you know the last number of years and that's what that's referring to staff training and involvement specifically around um Behavior plans and involving them into decisions about student discipline um policy and enforcement again consistent consequences that came up in the earlier question extortive interventions or support I'm sorry this is um I think we there might be three of us hitting the no okay okay um more support for administrators um cultural and social emotional support for our students um parental engagement and in particular recommendations to hold parents accountable for their children's Behavior cell phone policy came up and a tiered approach for Behavior interventions so those were the themes um in our that we could you know call from our our um open responses any questions about those I think I'm G gonna go back to um what do you see as necessary steps to improve student discipline at your school and the first one staff training and involvement um training teachers on Behavior plans and involving staff in discussions about student discipline it seems to me like I remember that this was part of the topics of our inservice this last round did all teachers take advantage of that topic or how how is that we brought in um Grace Deerborn um back in August and every teacher um first we flip-flopped them in the CFA so Elementary got to listen to around classroom management and techniques with different cultures different types of students and then then we flipflop then secondary came in and then we had 88% approval rate and we were asked to bring her back so we brought her back once already where she just again did the next modules again of different types of um discipline in your classroom and how to handle them she did that out with Elementary and she's coming back in March to work with our secondary teachers under that also if between inservice trainings a teacher feels or an administrator feels that a teacher needs additional help on the topics that she presented and and I understand that she is very good what kind of um um tiered support or or whatever you do we have to continue to strengthen a teacher's um uh skills skill sets in this area do we have anything between in Services where we can yeah again through collaboration and our in our staff meetings we're working on that but I also want to let you know that when Grace comes back for these we have her work with our administrators uh um half the day also and so this last time for an example we asked we had all the different things that Grace um Dearborn could talk about the different modules and so we did a survey and said okay what do you want that's going to help you to be a better leader on your campus as an administrator to go again be able to show um your staff the next steps too along with that so she's coming in to work on trauma trauma informed practices with our um principles and our project Specialists and to and counselors to be able to help support our teachers in those areas is and then again we're bringing her back in August um to do some more support training for them so each time she comes in she also does training for our administrators also to make our administrators better to help our teachers in those situations so she does a half day with the teachers and a half day with our administrators and I'm going to jump in here too as part of our supervision and evaluation process that will usually take place between the site administrator and a teacher who may be struggling let's say in classroom management and uh they can get them additional support they can send them to training they can bring in a mentor teacher to work with them on those specific uh areas where they need support and that does happen as well and a lot of times we'll ask where we know a teacher is very successful with their classroom management and so we'll bring that teacher who's asking for help hey we want we're going to pay for your sub so you can go watch this teacher and work in their classrooms and the different practices they use to be a better teacher with when it comes to classroom management work with your students de developing relationships with your students so we we offer for those things too thank you okay really before I jump into um year-to-date suspension rates and some of the details of that I wanted to talk about U couple of the limitations of the data that I'm about to share with you so one is the data that you're about to see um is year to date as of um reflects year to date as of December 7th of every year that you're going to look at um a lot happens after December 7th every year um we'll typically see a spike in discipline towards the end of the year as you know we get close to Summer and the weather gets warmer and things like that um so this is year to date um that so that's one you know limitation but it's it's comparing Apples to Apples okay uh across the years uh another limitation is that um we are we are looking at at codes here okay a student gets suspended and let's say um two students get suspended for two separate incidences under the same suspension code say they were in a two separate fights um the details of that fight may be very different the outcome disciplinary is the same and the way it's coded for us what Education Code did that student violate is coded the same so there's some Nuance lost in here um that being said this is how the state of California um evaluates our our disciplinary practices and our school climate um is on suspension rate um suspension rate means that it is the percentage of students that have been suspended at least once um out of all the students that attended school for that school year okay so if a student gets suspended five times they count as once in suspension rate okay so so that's that's exactly what you're just wanted to make sure you knew the details of exactly what you're looking at here so I'm going to go into a more detailed view here and what we can see here in the colors of the line chart is different levels and groupings of schools in Chico Unified so the blue at the top is alternative education um the orange below is Chico Unified as a whole Elementary is red the High School is light blue and Junior High is green okay and again these are uh suspensions up through December 7th so when we look at our district as a whole the number that Jay was referring to was 1.7% so that means 1.7% of our students have been suspended at least once up to this time in the school year with that all also means I want to point out again is that 98.3 haven't been and that's that's a a pretty large number um really we are below um historically where we have been at this point by by just a little bit you know um I don't think by seeing this low lower rate this year that anybody's jumping up and down and celebrating and saying we're in the clear for the rest of the year or anything like that it's just a compare some point we're not too far above or below where we have been in the past um just to go by level here you can see alternative education is it tends to go up and down a lot more because there's a smaller number of kids so a suspension or two can greatly um change that rate due to the the smaller end size of that um of that population here so we can see we're down a little bit from last year but not not as low as we have been um at times in the past um one thing that you'll notice here is speaking of low times in the past the uh 2021 school year has left off of here because kids were largely off of campus and it was very much an artificially low um suspension rate okay um when we look at our high schools here um we also see not very much variance but but lower than we have been for a few years okay but we don't know necessarily the number of suspensions it's just the number of students that have this reflects the number of students but not the number of suspensions correct correct yeah um you can see Elementary about the same as it has been in the past Junior High High pretty much static over the last few years um and lower than historically 171 18 was the high point for junior highs in the fall um so we really um like I said like we are we're not Skyhigh compared we don't see a huge Spike um we um nobody's jumping up and down and celebrating and saying we're in the clear once again um another thing to note here is that um this is suspension rate by school level our ed services team has access to all different looks at this by site by you know grade level by student Group by code um you name it um a lot there's a lot more detailed analysis going on like one of the statistics he showed me today um well he showed me as of December 10 that one was December 8th 8th um we were up to we had 212 but um with two or more suspensions so if a student has been suspended twice two different incidents we were at 56 three or more that when student that's been suspended three or more times was 24 students so I mean if you're GNA if you're wanting to know if it's a one group or is it so um I would you know like what is that 25% of them have been suspended twice out of those 212 and then it goes down even further when it gets down to 26 um students have been suspended three or more times okay when we switch to expulsion um again altet is a very small number of students especially in the fall so um we see the more wild fluctuations in the number of expulsions so this is alternative aded alternative aded um as of the seventh hadn't expelled anybody from alternative Ed and that's a that's a little bit confusing but just to just to clarify kids get expelled from like Chico high for example and get sent to Alternative that so that expulsion is Chico High's expulsion on this chart um so going down um this list uh we can see the district we are actually down a bit um over you know the past few years after a high that we saw last year for last fall that's a district as a whole um Elementary um very very few kids are expelled from elementary um and you can see that reflected here um our high schools are also a little lower than normal um especially in comparison to the last couple years Junior Highs are down over the past few years as well and that's expulsion in particular are there any big reasons to jump out as to why expulsions are down we'll kind of go over the slides and what are the things that we're we're doing on our campuses um next uh and Tina's going to kind of talk about those here in a second but we have some we believe you know we'll go go over some of the things that we are doing on our campuses um I don't want to spoil her her slid so I'm going to let her come up and and answer your question one second I almost did Tina too um I don't know if you're going to get into this um but are there laws about you know you can't expel people very often anything like that no um the only law that we have right now is the one that we can't suspend for defiance and disruption just want to reiterate though when we do decide to expel a student a second time let's say they are expelled to one of our alted settings and then they do something at that in that setting that require that could could result in an expulsion they're still our student we still have to decid in most cases have to decide where they're going to be um attending school uh there's all kinds of options um that are very expensive but they're still our student and I don't know if either one of you want to touch on this but there are only certain things we can expel for so there are restrictions in terms of when we can expel students it sounds and appears like those are any of those recent developments I think that's true Defiance rule is sort of kind of recent suspension yeah yeah on the suspension on the expulsion it's um what we normally call the big three fights weapons and drugs um those are the ones that are the ones that will get you expelled and it's usually for multiple offenses for that so if it first time if you got um a student got suspended for drugs we don't go to the expulsion um unless it's some type of egregious a lot of times with a weapon like knives or something like that we'll look at possibly expelling um we'll we'll do a pre-exp posion hearing for sure on that to go over that but um it's usually those big threes of what's what's going to get you expelled any more questions about these charts over uh suspension and expulsion rates okay and another uh piece just to add in January I'll be reporting to the board on our state um uh give you know the suspension rate that the state provides us on on the California state dashboard and um I can't say right now because it's a it's private data but um Friday um you'll see our um suspension rate stay relatively static last year over the previous year um so the the data shows that we are we're actually down a tiny bit but we're relatively static um and more details to come out on Friday with the state dashboard release okay so we're going to get to Matt's question now we're going to bring up Tina kind of things that we're um working on um to try to keep kids um not making mistakes on our campuses I also want to before I go there and Kelly just brought up a good point when I when I'm talking about drug offenses it could get you expelled maybe after the second time I'm but if a student is most likely selling them that's going to we're going to be looking at most likely uh for at the expulsion process it's different if they have it on them versus trying to distribute and sell yeah and a further clarification if a student um is found to be in possession of a weapon expulsion is the first option if they're in possession of a weapon then we reconsider was there a special incident for example they left their pocket knife in the back of their truck right then we have to make make a decision about what the uh what the discipline action will be but with weapons just so the public understands it's a huge safety concern so the first option is expulsion then we consider okay is there special circumstances that could um preclude us from moving through the expulsion process so just want to make sure we're clear about the safety issue with weapons good evening nice to see you all again um Jay's right and and you know you can jump in anytime here J that that is okay with me if you want to uh as part of this agenda item we did have the piece that talks about employing um practices to create a positive and productive School climate and you can see here a list of things this is um this certainly does not include everything I'm sure and it certainly does not include uh it doesn't say the relationship with the adults on campus that kids connect to as being a big piece of U support for their positive behavior choices but uh this list will reflect what all of us on campus want we all want and you tonight here at the board we all want kids learning and we want them to be learning in a positive and safe environment so these pieces of uh additional things some we've had on that going on in our schools and some are new we um support those in in all of our efforts to keep kids making the the best decisions they can and connecting to school so as Jay mentioned and eileene mentioned a little bit previously the staff professional development is continuing uh we've heard from our staff about the desire for more uh professional development on discipline strategies especially coming out of covid Grace derborn is one example she runs a business called conscious discipline and some of the ideas are are not new to teachers but she revisits some things that teachers you know people like me that have been in this a long time may have known and and forgotten and also for our new teachers coming in they are very realistic they're very um connective to students they're very simple and I think a part of a big part of the reason our teachers connect to that is because they are very doable you can go out tomorrow in your classroom and employ some of those strategies to help students in your class restorative practices as have been mentioned um those are going on in our schools every day they uh do help promote students to take responsibility for their actions if need be and also building compassion with a group of kids who have have been hurt potentially by a by a student's choice we do have a consultant on uh PBIS coming this spring and and it's kind of ramping up what we've done in PBIS for many years to the to the fact of how can we how can we use our PBIS strategies and what we have going on across the district but also connecting to these perhaps more volatile behaviors that we're seeing in schools and this disrespect that teachers are commenting on uh happening in class how can we utilize PBIS and leverage it more for those particular reasons mtss implementation is ongoing and continuing behavior is a big piece of that uh PBIS is ongoing and continuing and as I mentioned we're going to notch it up with uh this this specialist coming to help us look at how we can do that district-wide systematic tracking of minor discipline this has been helpful because it helps us um see Trends early and helps intervene early it helps get staff members who connect with the students where we might see some some spikes uh really get digging in and and trying to intervene there before before it gets a it gets to be a place where it's hard to come back from do you have the clicker thank you uh we have added tools to allow for better analysis of student discipline those are in the form of our thresholds mainly that come through edge of climber weekly if again if we start to see a trend uh growth in either minor discipline or some major discipline we can really uh bring that right to a team of site people and there are many people on a site there's school counselors there's the administrators there are teachers there are support teachers a wide variety of people that put their heads together on how we can help support kids um we utilize the espit team you've heard that going throughout the year you you've heard us talk about that again that's early intervention additional counseling staff we do have counseling assistance along with our counselors toolbox self-regulation instruction this is explicit instruction for our elementary kids mainly on um resolution of conflict and how they can have some more self-regulation when that conflict occurs and and ideas of how they can respond that maybe maybe are better choices and safer choices we have added the elementary and Junior High reset rooms well Elementary has been around for a while but junior high is what Jay referred to a little bit ago this year um as a resource on campus for an alternative to a home suspension students can be on campus in a in a small room with with a small group of kids if there is a um an infraction that would warrant a suspension or an alternative to a suspension there um is a teacher in that room it's built on the elementary reset idea of um really looking at when the student is in a calm space in this room you can kind of identify what maybe didn't go so well what are some choices and ideas that will help if this happens again and what's the plan going back into class so along in that those lines on that reset room the students still get their classwork from their teachers um in that reset room so they don't fall behind but we also bring in counselors to come in and talk to them POS their counselor that they know from um to talk about choices and how I'm you know how we can I'm here for you if you're having an issue then can come to me instead of um making this decision we also have our Target case managers go in and talk to them about hey I can con connect you with um your family and things that we can do to help support you so we we don't just sit them in there with one person all day we bring in people in to kind of come in and talk to them about making better choices and what can we do to support you so you don't make those poor choices again so that that's one of the things we I was talking about on the 4900 K since we can't suspend but we can bring them into a res reset room out of the classroom in there to do their work to have the admin talk to them have the counselors talk to them and have a teacher talking to them to making better choices in the future have we had good success Staffing those so what we've done at the junior high and I know um ped's there but what we've done is um this year we found we've asked our principles of find longterm Subs that they've used in the past that have been very successful that are not one of our teachers and so what we did was we brought them in talked about what we want to see in those classrooms what those types of things so we can have a reg person and that person also spends time out at in between Class periods or Rec or breaks and second chance breakfas is to get to know those students so it's not a somebody at the beginning the year because we started this research um research uh reset classes after school started so we didn't have teachers at that time to put in so we wanted to have a regular person in there so so far the people that we are of using are being successful because it's every day the same person um Elementary we do hire teachers um to be in the reset room so they are have been very successful we have one that has a special ed credential and one that does not um to work with those students and we also add AIDS in those classrooms to make it more support how long have we had the elementary reset rooms uh it was there when I was at McManus so over five years and the and then the junior high reset junior high is this year this year and Ted who's our Guru of Elementary um says 10 years that we've had the reset at elementary okay yeah it probably has been and I will tell you uh having been a site administrator on a site with reset it the by and large the students that had to attend reset for um something that did not go the right way have appreciated that they have they like having a chance to talk to somebody they like having a a reset having a safe spot to analyze what happened they're very honest they're very open uh and they don't want to make the same uh mistakes or make the same decisions that uh have come up and there are ways that kids can be be there there are things that the the the Reset Program goes through and talks with just ideas of how you can manage that conflict the next time it happens kind of a toolbox again of things that may work for for next time it comes up because we know things do they do come up and we want our kids to kind of think back to what are those things that they know they can do well that will enable and help them to um to do what what they want to do which is you know not go back to a reset room or get suspended kids kids don't want to do that they really do not yeah I I don't know any any any little boys who ever would have gone to that Elementary Reset Program U but I do get a strong sense that uh Mr Weaver who ran it a few years ago did a great job and I think Mr Roy also ran it and did a really good job um from what I was able to gather and are they still that is still in the operation Mr Roy is still doing it no Mr Roy is gone um can't help me with his name Mr Townson is there now yes a good resource you know for the district I think to have a place where um somebody can go and uh you know take some time off the off the road so to speak for a little bit and check in with somebody and you know get a sense that time for some personal corrective action agree I spent many a day walking through there and it was always a great thing to do do we have the data or the ability to track the data about the the the students that are going into reset and not returning to reset or who um who are frequent flyers and uh but never reach the point of being suspended or not um you know like kind of to know sort of the cumulative success of that especially as we push it into the junior high level where we clearly have our high um rates I know I kept my own site data because I was curious about that and Tim says that yes we we do have that longitudinally for everybody so on the slide before she talked a little bit about thresholds and I just um want to just tap in a little bit about how really that's an exciting tool for us it's through educ climber and when we get to when we're going to be using it with Fidelity all the time we can set thresholds and what we talk about is some a lot of kids will make a mistake on your campus where it's going to get them in trouble because their emotional bucket is full okay so when they walk onto our campus and their bucket's already full they've been whatever happened at home or whatever and as soon as one thing happens at school boom they're going to explode right or a kid says something to him or a teacher says something to him that just sets them off so thresholds what they can do for us we can set it so if a kid has been tardy two times miss a couple days at school and excuse his grades just dropped from a c to an F or a B to a d or you know an a to a c all of a sudden that's dropped their attendance is down they've gotten a few minor disciplines you know being a little defiant and all of a sudden we can see an uptick we can set a threshold it says boom it sends it to their counselor to their teachers and to an admin an email somebody better check in on this kid because something's going on so we can set those thresholds on our campuses through that where hey okay before we'd wait to something bad happen or wait for a grade kid to flunk in out but now we can set these thresholds and say somebody better one of us or all of us need to check in on the student because the grade is dropping and they're starting to make mistakes on our campus at the small level so I'm not saying that's going to save everything that happens on our campus but you can sure get to a student maybe that's starting to build up and where they're going to have a problem and I think the fact that those thresholds are going to make a difference and not only does it send an email it shows the picture so you it's not a number anymore it's a student oh wait a minute I know that you know I see that student yeah he is in the back row left I'm going to go in and say something so I think those in the future are going to make some really good gains for us these tools are what did you just say in the future what I believe those thresholds are going to make very big gains for us to get to kids before they make um mistakes on our campus so you think and you guys are enumerating a lot of really positive things that we're doing are these working are we are we are we moving in the right direction again our suspension rates are down our expulsion rates are down I'm hoping those are some of those things what the counseling and everything else we're providing for our students are going to make I'm saying we still help students making mistakes we got again we gave you numbers of kids that are making multiple mistakes and we still have kids and we're not getting to all of them but I'm saying some of these smaller ones are not leading if we can get to them while they're small before they make big mistakes is where we want to try that I think these things are going to be helping before some of them make big mistakes so in the the big picture is our our rates are down are going down or we're trending down for suspensions and expulsions but the and it's not really a butt and the first set of slides was the survey from our staffs that are kind of raising some Flags about their concerns and so my interpretation of you know the what is it the 207 students this last year that have been suspended at least once um that we are seeing less broad behavioral issues but more poignant severe behavioral issues at the same time a little bit more intense but also uh we are seeing kids showing more disrespectful Behavior too which we cannot so we have a both ends of that where kids for whatever reason and um it's across the country in in our state that kids are adjusting coming back from the the pandemic been a little bit um we've yeah less regulated than what they have been in the past and again that's why we're trying to put all these supports in to get it back to where we are and again we are seeing some large behaviors too um in our expulsion things and what's what's happening with kids that are way up here um with their discipline do we know if we have more I would i' just call them frequent flyers of the ones who have been suspended more than one time now than we have in the sort of recent past or since you've showed the data or we don't know that we can't parse that out necessarily we could um we just don't have that in front of us I think Tim was today was just showing me what this year's frequent flyers look like it was how many of was mult because I I really wanted to know and I asked him is it the same kids group of kids making the same mistakes because a lot of times our students and our student groups are telling us it's the same group of kids I just wanted to see if the data showed that that's that's kind of where I think my my mindset is going to also hearing just all of it and and then so then the follow-up question is next steps to address that very much more like specifically you know and what are we going to do about it briefly I can I just interject that you know one of our key goals for the board we have four of them it relates to positive climate and school culture and if you've got somebody around who's a frequent flyer who's just putting pressure on everyone around them you know that that in my opinion even if they weren't doing the infractions that surround um that you can suspend for just showing disrespect for teachers I mean this goes against the grain of of uh what a lot of us remember from our Public School experiences you don't mouth off to teachers and expect to just you know be able to continue to do that well um recently we've been talking to our administrators and that's a great Point Matt is because we do show them these suspension rates all the time you know and we don't want them to be of you know I don't want them not to discipline somebody because we're going to show graphs you know we're telling them if they are showing disrespect and or they're doing things that we can discipline for them please do because our students want and our teachers want and our staffs want have safe environment on their campus so we're telling them be be careful about looking at the graphs all the time do what's in front of you to make our school safe and I think you're correct on that can I ask a question of clarification do these policies uh they don't impact the teachers's ability an individual teachers ability to do a one to two days suspension out of their class right yes there's ad code that a teacher can suspend a child out of their class for two days um for any Behavior it could be K it could be 400 or disrespect they can say you're out of my won't be impacted by this new law that's going into effect J no and but the difference on that is they do have to provide the the work for them because when we send a kid home the teacher does not but if a teacher suspends out of class they do have to provide the work and communicate with the family and communicate the teacher has to communicate with the family that I'm asking your child not to be in my class for two days I have a question do they go home then sorrya no we'll put them in one of our reset rooms if unless it's an expend suspendable offense then we we'll go to a different level but if a teach if a student is being disrespectful to a teacher the teacher has a right to suspend out of class for two days and we will most likely put them in the reset for that period or if it's Elementary in one of the reset areas for the whole day and at the secondary it would just be that one period they would go to their next period class and we did just recently talk to uh a group of students in elementary junior high and high school and they do not like the disrespect that that they are seeing in classes towards adults very clear they're part of the 98% yeah um so in closing and with that oh sorry yeah go ahead um I guess in regards um to the staff survey I mean I definitely saw a lot of themes there that I think are concerning and I think we as a board have an obligation um or responsibility to address some of the the staff concerns and I it seems like they have some really um good ideas um particularly they're asking for um more consistent discipline and um stricter um policies um I guess my question is though um have we done a survey like this in past years um to where we could kind of compare the climate um how teachers are feeling how staff administrators are feeling now compared to maybe five 10 10 years ago maybe even pre um do you want to answer that J yeah we we do climate surveys multiple times a year for parents students and teachers and STA and staff not this particular survey to had Direct questions about disrespect this and that you feel safe at school you feel supported by your administrator those types of questions not these types of questions in regards to those questions it seems like that's one area that they they do feel like um supported and in their safety and and with their administrators I'm I'm just particularly I guess concerned with the other categories yeah and I and I guess when this was brought up we were curious to see what they had to say in this survey to to see if we were hearing some of the things that the board is hearing and those types of things and yes we are adjusting it with our administrators and our counselors and everything else with this survey um again but we don't want to say that these bars mean something we want you to take care of you have the right to keep your your school we see um going back to that list of the from the staff survey what do you see as necessary steps to improve student discipline at your school one of the suggestions or ideas or themes was a tiered approach um suggestions to differentiate interventions for for different Behavior tiers and there's a few ways we could look at that but um for example something that I could see as being a potential issue for our teachers is is is that one to two day suspension um ability which is a a good tool for for when it's necessary um but if it's inconsistently applied from classroom to classroom especially at the middle school level that could be really confusing for kids so is there you know some sort of way to train staff a little bit more specifically about using that utilizing that tool um for very specific behaviors or um I'm not asking that question to be responded to it's just like you know how do how do you how do you kind of take a little bit of that pressure from the teachers and the confusion for the kids for those inconsistent you know class-to-class policies because it is confusing for kids they can act and say one way one thing in one classroom but they can't do it in another classroom and and they're they're you know it's a different it's especially confusing in junior high obviously consistency and fairness and and everything else is always the key again going over the reasons like talking with the Junior High um faculty about hey we're we the reasons why we're putting these reset rooms into your your school sites is for these reasons and why we can put them in we don't want you know we want to be able to do um give that support and so the teachers again one of the suggestions was to have reset rooms and right before we put the survey out it's when we were implementing them um because we were hearing that from other school districts that that they were also doing and we were able to find some funds and our Title One funds to add these but again a consistent so a kid has to know but again that's a a teacher to a teacher from a counselor to a counselor or even an admin to an admin it could be a little bit different but yes it is important to be consistent one thing to add on that too for the tiered pieces Grace Dearborn the trainer we talked about has published some books with um that are that are re very usable handbooks and she lists a lot of different ideas for tier one interventions tier two and tier three so I think we've just scratched the surface with that I know some schools this year would after her training in August they've started to incorporate some of these things into their staff meetings and you know what what a tier one might work for me but maybe doesn't work for somebody else that's why that list is really nice because a teacher can go okay well let's let's get to the the tier one thing that's going to affect this this student and make an impact because again just one one thing may not work will not work for everybody we know that so I think the more people get into using and utilizing those ideas could be helpful to to what you just mentioned I also like on the um recommendations or ideas from the staff survey that there's um not just punitive type measures that there are suggestions for more relationship building and connection making so something else to for us to keep revisiting and I did want to end with that tonight and it's not on this list right here but we know the number one piece is connection it's human connection it's connecting with somebody on on this the campus that you you um you like you have fun with you you respect and uh that happens in Spades across our district every day we saw it here tonight with the teachers just a small uh sampling of teachers and administrators and School staff um so that that is a huge piece the people piece of of discipline any other questions for us um yeah do we do any kind of I know we do the climate survey at the end of the year but do we do something like that where we just check to see whether at the end of the year basically how successful has PBIS PBIS been does every staff and every student know exactly what behavior is expected in a given situation and what's going to get them sent to a reset room I think that that part of what you're saying is tied into the PBI structure that the sites have and how they look for um they've recently a lot of our site PBIS teams have applied for and have received different like gold gold star status what whatever the different statuses are right now I can't think of them all but I think a piece of that is how effective across the board how how effective is this and that your students know what this is because they're the ones that need to know that explicit teaching and they need to know what it is so they can know how to make those good so I do think it's it's woven in there I am not an expert in that at this moment in time to tell you but um but I do know people that that know more than I do about that yeah Jessica Capen who's our PBIS coordinator she's also assistant principal of um chicao Jr but we give her release time and um hours to work with all of our staff and our PBIS teams so they're constantly and like um constantly working on what's the next steps what are things that we need to change and all those types of things she just did um with PBIS training me this about a week and a half ago where she had all the teams um in there and again we're also bringing one of the um main PBIS people out of Oregon coming down to work with Jessica Capen and our PBIS teams um about um different steps and next steps for the different types of behaviors so we're continuing trying to improve and grow with our PBIS and looking at them and are were they working or not yeah so anecdotally there was you know some some staff that had expressed last year that they felt like PBIS wasn't working and that was almost regressive in some ways at the middle school level um so what I'm hearing you say is that it's it's kind of an evolution based on those types of feedbacks and and kind of exploring we have some schools that have very much embraced it and are doing well and our platinum and we have schools that just aren't there yet so it is a work in progress for sure and will vary from school site to school ask a few more um I've been saving them up sorry guys um so there's about 24 25 students you said who have been suspended three or more times okay um do do we have a specific plan for those students that's that's a really small number given how big we are um once a student hits their their third suspension do we have something in place say hey this is exactly what we're going to do to make sure this doesn't happen a fourth time yeah again we have use our restorative practices and those types of things to work with the student but it also depends on what they're getting suspended for you know if it's um a ones which it could be a fight or a threat versus they've been suspended three times for profanity so one of the things we would would be different I mean if it's obviously if it's the fights and the big three we're talking about is exposion but if it's the profanity and those the smaller suspensions that are not getting them to an expulsion type of thing yes and that's when again I believe that the counselors are mtss coordinators our espit process they'll bring in the teachers the counselors to talk about the student what's working what's not working with them with you guys with this student what's our next steps what's a tier one intervention we could be doing in our classroom for the student tier two outside of the classroom check in checkouts every day with the student so we'll assign possibly an admin or a teacher or a counselor that see that student first thing in the morning check with them at the end of the day those types of things and do we track those students year to year are we we going to be able to say next year hey last year we identified these 25 students um are they still getting multiple suspensions next year what we do is we have students again that we know that we need to at the beginning of the year so um one of the things we came before we brought our counseling assistance and we added to more counselings okay here's our students that we know and our admin they look at then on start going from elementary to Junior High Junior High to high school so each one of those admin teams or their counseling teams know who those students are if they're going from one level to the next but if they're coming back on that campus let's check in with that student before he starts school let's call the family what do they need do they have everything to start school because maybe we don't want them showing up without a backpack and they're already behind the eightball for whatever reason but we're checking in they have the list of the students on the PBIS teams or the counseling teams or the admin teams that they check them in those students um and hopefully again um that that's going to make a difference from that student from one year to the next but again what Tina said do they have a relationship with that admin team do they have an relationship with the counselors so they know that those are the people okay we're starting the school year fresh or even the second half of the Year let's start this week you know those types of things it's developing relationships with that admin and their counselor and teacher or something on the campus Tom I think the again yeah we don't want those kids coming in the next year making three more suspensions and those kids are to immediately before even school maybe the week before school starts and right when school starts at first week so is it reasonable for me to ask um on December of next year how this year's uh you know 25 students are doing yeah it's reasonable you can say hey who are those kids and how what is what does their data look like obviously we yeah we put that on your calendar then and it and it may or may not be consistent oh absolutely I just want to know I just want to make sure we're tracking following those kids because those are kids who if they're getting in trouble repeatedly for more than one year they're looking getting in trouble with the law later on I mean right they said the kids we can see a pattern it's going to be bad for them want to make sure can we actually do something and if we're not what we're doing is not working year over year then we need to really look at that we can do that yeah I told you we can do that with educ climber now we can track a student and it shows the students's picture yeah that that's what I was going to say is um that we we have provided the tools for sites and what we're talking about right now I'm not sure if this has been done but certainly there's the capability of an admin team at the beginning of the year saying show me show me the kids that had that got suspended three or more times last year Boop here's all their pictures here's all their data um that that tool is in place the way I see it um Tom would be we we have the tools in place now with educ climber where who's our El students on that campus here's their pictures who's the ones with 504s here they come down here's the ones um that have an IEP that you need to know about making sure that you've met you know with their case carrier we're able to do those things which we weren't be before and if and if the administrators are asking for that data we clearly can do that and I think the tricky part is is you know clearly we have some things that work for some kids and are very successful um but there are as Tina mentioned earlier the same thing doesn't work for every student and how do we individualize it if it's 24 25 kids we're looking at then we should be able to really own in on those kids and one example on a School site just to speak to this a little bit that we know of Tim and I were just talking about is um the data shared with the staff once a month and um the number of minors number of Majors what they are uh so the staff is aware so there may be a staff member in that staff meeting that connects to that student and can go in and if and the document ation piece is so important for people who are working with a student to put in what what works what doesn't seem to work so you can work smarter not harder the next year when the student comes into um to a new year so all of those pieces work together I think and um that has the potential to be really effective specifically to your point of of the students that you were referring to I can keep on PING you guys for one second probably this is a question for Tim um are there districts of a Sim ilar size and demographic that have significantly better data than we do in terms of suspensions I am in the process of crunching that data um I just got it this morning for last year um and working like crazy on that right now yeah we'll be able to report to you in January last year we had we identified a couple um and just to give you an example of how the state works one was so drastically low that we believe they were probably may have been some reporting kind of playing fast and loose with their coding okay thank you thank you excuse me um I don't think we have public comment on this item we do not okay um okay well so this is a discussion item um and we have no public comment and if there's no further uh technical questions um I could ask if there is any particular um action that a board member would like to propose at this time Mike I wrote a little draft letter for your consideration I tried to write it from the standpoint of uh what I thought would be uh acceptable to everyone on the board it's just a letter asking uh the state that would be the governor and the legislature to restore some ability of staff to um suspend for defiance in the vein of U improving School climate I'm sure you've PA read it so I won't belabor the point I read it yes and um I I generally like it there's a um some language I would like to see revised if that would be a possibility um sorry hold on really quick so is that a motion to put this forward sure sure I move um passage of the the draft U but I'm very open to any kind of friendly Amendment okay sorry go ahead would you like to second I mean I don't know if there's a way in this moment to Friendly amend I mean there's a lot of language here and and things of that nature but if you were to Second it then it would be on the table for discussion we can talk about the contents yeah I second it awesome okay discuss away well so I'll jump in um I I'm not opposed to you know considering this and and talking through any type of um uh maybe minor changes that we might want to make to it um probably not tonight necessarily but if we came back just kind of prepared to have that conversation um I so where I kind of leaning going back to yes teachers can suspend still for up to two days at a time so at least that's still an option but but it doesn't always mean that that's going to happen it is punitive and so um not teachers don't always like to do that and it's applied inconsistently from classroom to classroom especially at the secondary level so then also the context and background of this specific Ed code it probably would be nice to kind of go over that a little bit better especially as it's being implemented in January um if we were to bring this back to you know kind of move forward to to uh to give it a final approval to send or not to send um but but that all said um the data from the staff survey um besides the third who just weren't sure because they probably weren't really that familiar with the concept it was a huge amount of staff who were aware that think that it's an issue um and so that's compelling as well um so yeah that's my that's my bit to to say I think um the general theme that I like is that um I think um I I guess my my main concern when it in in regards to um quite a bit of the Defiance and things we're seeing on campus is just some of the lack of respect for authority and I would like I I love all of these um PBIS um I implementation tools um my thought is they're not mut you know mutually exclusive we can um support um these kids in this way but also have a high standard and an expectation for our students and when we see um problems arise we are intervening before um so hopefully we don't get to that point where we're needing to um suspend or um expel a student but um I just would like to see us um like just just with anything else having a high standard for um academics having a high standard for um student Behavior I I don't know I've been in those experiences where I'm with my um kids class and we're on a field trip and um someone comes alongside and says wow like what a great well- behaved respectful group of students and I think um there's a lot of pride in that and I think as a community um in Chico like I I want that for our community I want um to set good examples high standards of um behavior and respect and I think um generally speaking kids feel um successful when um they um understand um expectations and limitations and they know that there's loving staff who are going to come alongside of them and help them meet those expectations so um I love this in in theory and I think we could work with it and make it something that all of us support and um see it as not um oh like just setting um kind of a standard um for what we consider Excellence um thank you and and I man I understand you know what you're trying to accomplish here I I think we have accomplished what you've stated internally within Chico Unified this is what we said we wanted from our students all of the supports and things that we've put in place our monitoring systems our our things were are going to do what this is saying you know needs to be done and I don't disagree that it doesn't need to be done but I don't think we need to involve the state and doing it thank you very much I think we know what we need to require of our student population and parents and community in order to accomplish what you've stated I know a lot of the um background for why the other was taken out of the Education Code was because it was utilized to um discriminate against um students of color that were being more often suspended for that reason which is kind of not even you can't even document it kind of thing that it was taken out in order to protect the abuse and it wasn't chco unified necessarily although we did have some problems but we know you know Orville got dinged for having problems with suspensions um Oakland A lot of districts were not being we not doing what we're saying we're going to do which is put in effective tools that to the problem directly with a strategy for helping students make better decisions so I I absolutely understand you know why you drafted it and and I I know that what we're going to do is going to in effect accomplish what you're stating we need to do because that's all good stuff in there um but the one downfall is don't turn it back over to the legislature in the state we've got it you know Chi unified we've got it and uh I mean it doesn't seem like the staff agrees I I I I will Echo that um our staff's tired they're really tired and they're feeling pretty beat up um and I think that making a statement that while we absolutely will continue to expand our relationship building and our positive interventions and you know all of these tools that we're talking about and are that are continuing to evolve as we learn more there still does need to be a standard set that says that that our our students are expected to to behave in a in a way that is conducive to a safe and positive learning environment just just like just like it was um stated and on that note I would be curious to know whether our Union Partners have any feelings about whether or not this letter should be sent I'm hearing a lot of anecdotal anecdotal stuff but I don't have any data and actually the 385 number is a strange number to me for a response rate out of 1600 um I just was asking Tim by email if they could break that down by certificated versus classified we don't have that data it was 385 certificated I think you're seeing something significant um but if you're seeing you know quarter of our certificated teachers responded and the results we got were that then those numbers look very different to me you know it's not again statistically representative maybe but when teachers have an opportunity to speak their mind and they don't I I just not sure what I would take from that um however I would say that the single thing I hear most from teachers anecdotally is um a lack of respect in the classroom lowlevel behaviors are difficult to discipline for and our students are saying that too thank you I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that thank you I think that that's I want I think that that highlights a good point and I don't know if maybe Mr tettis wants to amend your motion um to bring it back with some of this additional context and maybe a little bit more of a a chance to reach out to membership or you know or if we want to just go for a vote now and then and then see how that goes I mean well I mean Miss Conan you've said that you want to see some changes um but you don't know what those are right now and I I could understand not everybody's an editor on the flly yeah no I mean just one simple example um second paragraph towards the end um students for bad or disruptive behavior I mean it just maybe like some more in my opinion appropriate language maybe inappropriate versus bad I don't know just some simple changes in language not not taking away from the theme at all really and I might be able to also do a little edit on the Fly and you know be okay with it but what I think I I would prefer is to be able to put put it give it give the context and kind of go talk more about how this came to be this new policy um and and maybe if there is more information we can get from from our boots on the ground yeah and I'll say I feel stronger about this after the presentation this evening so I came into this liking it and after the presentation I feel like I love it maybe I can just maybe get like some sort of good faith intent from you to put it on a a a soon to occur agenda perhaps the next agenda um and then and then I'll just take another crack at the draft maybe interacting with you maybe kind of an ad hoc situation either with you or with Miss Conan by ad hoc I mean taking a minority of of the participants of the board and then in that legitimate context having you know focused conversation and maybe an editing session would you want that to be you or Miss conin okay and you don't need a just trusting Kay may I make a substitute motion um yeah I move that we bring this draft letter back at the next regular meeting after getting uh input from board members and uh unit members is that reasonable okay can I get a second on that then I'll second it no oh I'm sorry I was trying to get back to the first two paragraphs um that talk about where the letter is going I absolutely would support our drafting this as an expectation statement but where we're sending it I don't agree with I I I you know why because they need to hear what their policies are doing to the classroom they're so sometimes our legislature is so disconnected from how their decisions make an impact to our staff and our students and they need to hear from us they don't hear from us enough I don't think I don't think that we have enough Lobby lobbying that happens I think that you know making a statement about something that we know is going to directly impact our students students and our staff in a negative way is is uh it's something that is within our purview and and and is really kind of what our task is is to do is to represent our community and our students in our school and and you know send that up to the to the the powers that be did you have something to add I I if it's okay yeah I would say that um one our members would very much appreciate the any support that you're offering because this is definitely an issue um I also did refer this up I don't know if you're familiar with our CTA governance structure to our um board member our CTA board member who represents 14,000 teachers in North State and his response because what I wanted to know was is CTA working on this at the state level is this something that is being discussed elsewhere and as you might expect yes it is being discussed elsewhere um but the only response I got at this point was there's nothing concrete happening so with that in mind um hearing from local communities may be something that would be appropriate and helpful I think it's a very fine line to walk because on the one hand yes we do want to support our teachers and this is clearly a problem and people C clearly know it we have really hard data on that but what M Robinson said is also true um the impulse for 48 900k um was pretty clear um bias in terms of how suspensions were playing out across the state and we're not a mean I'm looking at our state dashboard right now and you see that the very high suspension rate is African-American American Indian Foster homeless and student with disabilities right um and a lot of times not and again same way we talk about how most of our students 98.3 98.7 of them are doing the right thing all the time our teachers are doing the right thing almost all the time and they're all trying to do the right thing all the time but we also can't ignore that there's a potential for for bias and sometimes it's easier to say hey I don't know how to address the problem you really have right now get out of my class and that's not what we want to do right what we need is a more comprehensive system for both maintaining order in the classroom so learning can happen while also making sure that we're addressing the root causes of those um and I do think that 400k is probably too big a step in the wrong direction but yeah so it's worth sending this letter I think but I the solution is going to be long and hard fought I think um is there Spa there's space to bring this back at the next meeting okay figured as much I mean we've stayed here for very long hours in the past anyway so I wasn't going to say then we won't but just curious I I do like this suggestion that you have an anahaw group look at it and do some revisions and and bring it back is Rebecca the best person to put on the ad am I the best person to have on on the on an ad hoc I you know I don't I don't know what what what are your thoughts Miss da I was going to say since you wrote it it might be good for two other people to look at editing to too many without you oh yeah right thank you wasn't following you there sorry I think it should be Rebecca and Tom yeah I'm happy to do that okay that sounds great are we ready to vote Charlie's busy too while I have the mo Mike I forgot to make an announcement earlier it's totally off topic I sign my kid up for TK for next year so that's really exciting she's going to LCC I just thought of that like five minutes ago and missed the opportunity anyway back to the topic at hand sorry sorry are you letting us know that she's going to be a discipline problem is that what's Happening Here we we talk about big feelings a lot and boundaries and body space so I I'm hoping but sometimes she has some behavioral issues yeah PK is a big step um all right are we ready to vote I am I'm ready um let's do a Voice vote let's let's let's start with Mr jennis we are I make a motion that we form an ad hoc committee consisting of Rebecca k and Tom Lando to review this draft here and uh I guess propose changes to it that will be either submitted as a single collaborative effort um they might each choose to submit their own drafts a conen draft and a Lando draft that's fine and then and then and then this draft in its original form uh or some future form could be submitted but yeah uh could we ask with with addition with a with a little bit of additional context about the a law the law so a little bit snap information from staff thank you and and then Charlie can be more prepared I believe Kelly Charlie take a shot at we caught the SN cut so I guess somebody needs to second that I'll second it Rosia are you're following this motion you got it can you type fast enough yeah it's a good thing we're being recorded yeah uh all right so we have a motion from Mr tennis I'm not repeating it um and a second from Member Robinson uh and we'll start the vote with you Mr tennis I allby I Robinson I con and I gland I all right it's unanimous it passes we'll bring that back in January um and if with that let's go on a 10 minute break please break time all right we are reconvening to our regular session we were on a break uh we will now continue to our next item which is from Business Services temp Point 2.1 is a discussion action item on the 2324 first interim budget hello uh Sharice jacqulyn and I are going to present the 2324 first interim budget um last time we brought a budget to you was last spring um first interim is really great it allows us to update that budget once the school year gets rolling and programs are in place Staffing's in place all right some major themes tonight funded average daily attendance utilizing the three-year averaging methodology concentration dollars federal and state grant funding and one-time expenditures all right you guys are used to seeing this slide this is our actual versus funded average daily attendance um the graph on the left is actual enrollment in average daily attendance on the right right is funded enrollment in Ada um as you know we are funded on our daily attendance not enrollment um back preco we could really count on being around 95.5% of enrollment um as our Ada obviously that changed with covid um we're hoping to get back there we're inching back up um the state recognized that this would be an issue so they implemented a three-year averaging method so so you can see that our funded Ada is a much smoother line that's the slide on the right the bottom than the actual Ada which kind of plummeted back in 2122 so our funding is more smoothed out and that results in more dollars to our schools all right this next slide is unduplicated pupil percentage this is kind of a new slide for our our site District um unduplicated pupils are free reduced lunch qualifiers English Learners Foster homeless um you can't count count them twice even if they fall into multiple categories thus UND duplicated in order to qualify for concentration dollars districts need to hit the three-year average of 55% which we did in 22 23 you can see um that resulted in concentration dollars added to our lcff uh to use for supplemental programming we're using that right now for mostly reading teachers and professional development um but you can see in 2223 and 23 24 our up percentage is going back down so it remains to be seen whether or not Chico will continue to maintain that population all right this is a new slide as well this is some funding from major grants that we are uh working on right now when lcff came into play a lot of the categorical funding went away um in favor of uh to give districts more um control um now we're kind of in an era where a lot of grant funding is coming back which is really good it's a lot us to continue some of the programs we had in place during covid um the flip side of it is that uh these grants are restricted um we can't spend them on anything we want and um also the big thing is a lot of them are not ongoing so we have to plan for when these would go away all right some major assumptions we used uh local control funding formula revenue is based on the state adopted budget with a cola of 8.22% funded average daily attendance based on the three-year prior average as we talked about unduplicated students uh percentage 56.

at the ashin high school in the auditorium and it's our 10th season so that's pretty exciting and we have eight contestants five judges who are teachers and then it's a $5 ticket uh to get in and you can either use cash or check and if you're using check you can make it out to the AHS Student Activities and all the proceeds will go to the ashin emergency fund awesome thank you idle is always a a fun time Karina do you have anything yes so on Sunday I'm GNA uh we had a very successful student council pancake breakfast and we raised a little over $1,000 and we had a really good turnout from the whole town everyone had a lot of fun which was good and then also the Ashland High School theatrical Society just had their auditions for the upcoming Musical Chicago and we just started rehearsals and the show is going to be on March 1st 2nd and 3D so that's really fun awesome thank you all we appreciate it lots of good stuff going on anything else anybody want to add and if not you know the drill you don't have to stick around we know you have a lot of homework you're good as well you thank you good night everyone than you good night okay next up mindes the school Improvement plan presentation Jenna turn it over to Jenna and I think you have full access to share your screen Jenna okay can everybody see that anything yet Jenna just the zoom thing you're on the wrong tab there Jen is it okay great so this is the um these are the Strategic PR priorities for the district um upon which we based our school Improvement plan I have it in a different format here just to share tonight though I do have it written formally there as well um the first bucket bucket is the equity and the standard that we looked at was promote appreciation of diverse perspectives to Foster mutual respect and cultural understanding um it's really developed uh as we've gone this year we were um able to join adaptive X which is a professional development development company through um the Department of Education and they're really leading us through a small leadership team there's six of us on it through um some modules so that we can then turn in turn work with the staff and develop a uh common understanding of what it means to be a culturally responsive school um it's a pretty big undertaking and so far um I think I've really enjoyed the PD and I'm excited to help our staff come on board with that are there questions about the equity piece the next bucket is social and emotional learning we chose to ensure all students have a sense of belonging and are connected to the school Community we spent all of last year as a faculty talking about how we wanted this to work it was really important to everyone um and to the site Council that we continue to have multi-age multi-grade learning in some way at mindes particularly with the new space in the new building so this was a perfect one for us um so we're doing Community Learning which is in that we took the whole school we shook them up and we created 30 new classrooms that have third graders fourth graders and fifth graders in them and each month we have an activity um and the kids are meeting other children and they are meeting other teachers which also um connects to our our need to watch and make sure that all children are connected to an adult and have a safe adult that they can go to in the school I've been interviewing some some kids about what they think about it and mostly it's positive I had one student say he didn't like it um but they're really enthusiastic about the activities so I my hope next year is to move some of the activities into some learning kind I mean it's learning always because it's social emotional but maybe some more academic based activities as well when we're meeting any questions on this one resource management this was a great one for us this year because with of the new building so our goal was to provide safe environments for all students and staff um and I have to give a lot of credit to Kate who really nailed it in the fall in terms of coming up with plans for our arrival and our dismissal and communicating that with everybody um at Mendes because we were we were ready on that first day and the kids came in and they found their classrooms and that was really exciting so we have all of our plans in place all of our routines are working we've done the practice for some of the drills and um I'll continue to work with the Safety Committee to make sure that we're up to date and um doing all the right things there this one will definitely change for the following year and finally curriculum and programming um we chose to improve student learning curriculum and consistency of instruction aligned to the vision of The Graduate across grades um we have started very formal and specific data meetings this year where teachers are looking at information from amplify and also from I ready to look at exactly where kids are in their learning and to see where we need to do targeted instruction to improve student growth um that's in the area of ela is where we're focusing this year I hope next year is to expand this to math so that we are able to provide um enrichment and intervention across all areas any questions on that one Jenna do me a favor just so the the committee can see the consistency from when Kelly presented hers go go to the yeah this one yep yeah just so so they can see that this is what's being posted Jenna just pulled stuff out to make it simpler for folks and we did all get that document earlier today so hopefully everyone had a chance to look at it and if you have any questions on those details now would be the time everybody good all right I'd like to just also thank my site counsel and Kate it's been a lot of work it's really well well I hear somebody but I can't see who's talking i g just thank the site Council for all the hard work that they did last year working to develop this plan and to thank Kate for all she's done since she's come on board and Paul who is our um leaz on so it's been pretty seamless so thank you everyone awesome thank you all right next up sorry Lori can I just jum in for a second I just want to want to make a comment that the things you see at Mendes but also at Warren and Pete presents that walking into the building and seeing all the data teams and to the different data teams not only academically but the teams uh it's really quite you know the teachers are quite engaged and really walking through all of that data has been pretty impressive to watch um I've walked into both buildings and Mike has as well to see the teachers um focusing on looking at the data and how we can improve uh student outcomes so it's been really really great thank you Jim last chance for questions for Jenna going ones letting you off easy tonight Jenna Lori just procedurally we um we don't vote to approve these is that right no okay unless the law has changed but I I know that uh we used to back in the day and then the law changed to that school committee just uh like if we had an issue this would be a chance to give feedback um and then you could go back and and work on it and come back but we're not uh officially approving or rejecting anything that's the job of the site Council thank you yeah all right Dave okay thank you we were all just waiting and saving all our questions for Dave and GNA pound him so perfect does that work yep y okay so similar to Jenna just front page we based um our school Improvement goals on the district strategic priorities and objectives most of the goals that um are on the template are new goals for this year we did have some that have that do repeat um but a lot of them are goals that were and things were implenting this year so under the equity priority um you know is something we have been doing that we want to continue to create individualized Student Success plans for all students who do not meet expectations on mcast tests we are expanding those this year um after the new year just going to be meeting in our teacher teams talking about what those plans are how would adjust plans to create them for um for all students so that's something that we're going to be discussing we have been creating issps now I want to say um I want to say this is year four maybe year five that we've been doing them so we feel they've been successful those get mailed out after Thanksgiving for those families and we'll be working on that the second half of the year for the template for all students can I just ask you generally I don't want to take us on Sidetrack but just how how that's going how families are responding to that process and um you know I'm curious any feedback you have on how the ISP issps are [Music] going uh yeah so it's it's going well I mean they were mailed to families uh around Thanksgiving um I don't know how many families reach out so the letter say to those families you know here's here's mcast scores here are some of the interventions that the team has talked about that they'll be implementing and of course we want to reach out to families to see if there's something that that um they feel would be helpful something that should be part of the plan um knowing their child the best so U I know that there are some parents who have reached out to to teachers and had questions around exactly some of those interventions or um you know what that process looks like some of the questions were more um we created them for anyone not meeting expectations and some reached out where their child was one question away from meeting expectations but just as um part a process we did those for all students so we didn't was difficult to draw a line but I think just feel it's going well you know those interventions they're working with those students we'll review them January February when we're sort of halfway through the year to see how the interventions are going and you know we find out how the students do as as we progress through the year um ultimately looking at mcast tests in the summer right when we get those results but now with us using I ready andl and some of those programs that we're getting more immediate feedback and teachers are looking at um data as the school year goes along so I think that's a huge help as well so so far so good but you know as I said earlier we we have a little more work to do in the spring and and if I I can just inter interject for a second I think one of the things that's been really helpful is our partnership with open Architects um and that's going to even allow us to take this to the next level I think we we discussed the fact that right now we're only utilizing the the free version which gives us mcass and access but we have um developed the contract with them and are on board now and they are currently developing our fullscale uh portal that's going to include all of our data um I'm expecting that to be done by February maybe even sooner and Dave will be able as as everybody will be able to now have easy access to personalized um data portals for every single student that's really going to allow the staff to to even Implement you know more detailed issps for all of our kids it's exciting stuff Dave can I ask you a quick question um since you've been doing these for a couple years or a handful of years for the students who haven't met expectations on mcast do you have any kind of anecdotal data of how they've helped those kids either be able to meet expectations or you know kind of make progress in whatever areas they need to make progress I mean I think most of the students have you know were have made progress I mean where when you look at our overall performance numbers and growth we're very happy with it I think some students we look at it right some students have done very well uh others didn't make the progress we would have liked and didn't have the growth we would have liked and teachers you know talk about why that might be and what we can do to help support those students um so it's I I think overall we we feel they we feel they an important part an important part of what we do and and uh again I really do believe that now that we're using um the systems programs like I ready in math and Ela orl or amplify in in science as well that I think this is only going to give teachers more immediate feedback and to be able to make those isps even more specific or to be able to adjust them really in terms of what interventions are aren't working so I I I think we feel it's um it's extremely helpful and and uh in terms of what we do excuse me sounds like that data comparison that Mike was talking about will be really interesting to see and be able to kind of track um you know kind of the progress of different different populations including students who have been on isps yeah absolutely and I think to have them all in one um one spot one um program is going to be huge um to be able to have that easy access and also to have it in one spot where you can easily get that data from all those different programs is is going to be that much easier for for teachers and that much easier to to look at data and be able to use that to Target instruction so I think it's I'm really excited about the open open Architects too is Dave just a quick question kind of on something you said relative to your answer to Mark and uh have you noticed that at least C certain parents it sounded like you you were saying that their perception uh and feeling towards these issps might be negative and and and they wanted to be on the other side uh of you know if there were one question in in uh on the on the uh needs Improvement or not meeting expectations right that they felt that the isps were negative in some way because if it was me and my kid were either on one one side or the other one question one question on either side i' I'd be really thrilled to have a individualized success plan right for my student so are they are they thinking that it's a negative thing to have an issp or uh I didn't get that I I get it that it was more of you know uh I thought they were you know I thought they were doing let's say so far they were doing well this year in class and you know then we we get the news that they didn't meet expectations are they doing are they doing okay it was it was really more about their performance now as related to the issp that makes sense I don't know that I got sort of negative in as much as do I need to be worried about what they're doing right now okay so it was it was more of an alert like hey whoa something might be might be wrong that I didn't think was wrong right exactly and that's why we have the teacher information and all their emails and contacts so they can just reach out if they because some those questions do come up um and they'll reach out uh it's it's not a huge number like I said to you um it might be a couple of parents who have those questions but I don't know if it was sort I wouldn't view it as negative in as much as I think they're doing okay yeah is that the case and so sometimes it's teachers talking through hey they're doing great they're right on track working hard this year you know so I know there were some of those exchanges with teachers okay yeah it was more just wanting to make sure that you know if we can you know somehow help them see an issp as a positive thing regardless of where where they are right um and I think Paul that's why moving to try to have uh or having all students receive those right so it would be everybody receives those it's just a question of what was their performance last year and what are some of the things that we are looking at regardless of of that performance so I think that may take that you know that misunderstanding away but I think a lot of what we got was more about uh they wanted to make sure that students were performing well this year to date and um from what when those parents reached out they were so I think it was just having those questions yeah great yeah Dave can I ask you one more question um so what does it look like for a student who may be on an IEP if they would be someone who would be flagged as a student that you might develop an issp for do they get that as well too or is it a conversation that happens with the IEP team yeah so a lot of the the accommodations on an issp would be the accommodations that are on their IEP right so that's the issp wouldn't change right so whatever they should be getting for their IEP that those would just be put into their issps right because those are some of the things that they need to access the curriculum or to be successful so um they really they carry over if you will right so it's just um so they would get both documents would it be um I'm just trying to think of how that might work within the special ed process because I can see how it would be confusing for parents whose kids might be on an IEP and then they get another document and wondering what does this mean how does what's the interplay with the IEP I just didn't know if there was a different process or different notice or um whether or not maybe they didn't get one and it was just something that was flagged for a discussion for the IEP team yeah no they they get the same they get the same letter you know that the other parents get so on that top letter just explains what an issp is and why it was created and um you know for a lot of them it's just that a lot of the accommodations are the same as what they would have in an IEP so it doesn't um it doesn't change anything for the IEP so no no and I wouldn't anticipate I'm just see I can just Envision where there may be some confusion on behalf of parents so just something to and if it hasn't come up I'm sure kids on IEPs have gotten them so if it hasn't come up I'm or if it has I'm sure you've you've been able to deal with it but yeah no it hasn't you know I think if we did have those questions those are things that we could put in the letter just to clarify but to to date I haven't had that question okay so are we good with issp actually Dave I think I want to go back to what antina's points at the beginning um so if we had let's assume 20 students who started out on issps at the beginning of the year that we identified as we're tracking the students their assessment what percentage of those students at the end of the year would we have identified to still be on an issp right so I guess in other words if we've got 20 by the end of the year we have 50% of the students are making significant progress to take them off issps yeah so um I could I'd have to go in and get those numbers I can't tell you that um our sixth grade had you know has uh most of them as you move to seventh grade and the eighth grade the the numbers of isps decrease in terms of what the percentage is I yeah I'd have to look but the the sixth grade students have or sixth grade teams have um a larger share and do more issps uh so seventh grade those numbers go down absolutely and then in eth grade is each year that has been the smallest number that's created I would just have to look in terms of what those percentages are but it is positive so the the eighth grade teachers are doing less of those isps because students are growing and reaching those goals then sixth grade and that's been consistent since we've done that okay that's the point yeah thanks okay so for um then the next one was just around math placement and uh just as part of um the math vertical team we're having conversations around the math placement process we've in really targeting and looking at math placement um from grade five to grade six so the ma the vertical math committee is meeting to review um math data student performer performance so that placement and programming you know we want to make sure that those are Equitable um for all students so um we're we've started those meetings we're looking at um our process and looking at student performance so that's something that we're going to be looking at throughout the year to make sure um that we make any adjustments or we we want to make sure that our process is Equitable and that all students have access to um to the advanced um math courses especially focusing on grades 56 so um that's taking place this year as and that's under our Equity under the equity objective and then the equity team you know one of the things we're doing um we've done some activities and worked with Staff last year around race and equity and Dei and we wanted to bring it to to students and have an impact there so last year we piloted The Playbook 351 program and that's training students um who are interested in the program providing the opportunity for a training around it's really an anti-bias anti-discrimination program so it entails um student students being trained um they do some teamwork activities and some scenarios um and largely it's driven by students so really the goal is to have those conversations or those activities run by um our Playbook 351 ambassadors or former ambassadors so um I had a meeting actually this week with um with Sam levenson who was a former play 351 Ambassador when he was at the middle school and he's working with um myself Miss makuchi who piloted the program last year our Equity team to um create a training for both seventh and eth grade students so we're excited about that to bring students into theold um we'll be training eighth grade students first which is next week and seventh grade at the end of January so we're just trying to as much student interest as we can start training students and I think it's it's a way that we can have um have a direct impact and have students involved I think that's what was kind of missing in that first year so the Playbook um fits perfectly within what we want to do so we're excited about that there are questions on math math um placement or are Playbook trainings for students the second strategic priority is um with it being seal something that has been happening um and we're excited that our guidance counselors monthly deliver lessons to students in all three grades they've started sending home a seal newsletter where families can get a background on what they've been doing in terms of the lessons they're including parent tips or strategies that relate to those presentations so um just listening to the counselors after the first two months they said students are doing they're excited students are doing an amazing job with it they're participating and um it seems like they really feel like they're getting something out of those conversations um the last lesson was around digital citizenship is certainly always timely um so those are going really well and we'll continue to send those updates out to families I think that's an important part to it um this year programs were still running for for this year the um signs of suicide program to be delivered in eth grade um that will be happening happening after the break I did connect with decisions at every turn well also be providing the minding your mind program to 7th and eth grade students um we did that last year as well Dave say that again what what is the minding your mind program it it's it's a program where young people so they the the presenters that they have are uh people who are uh in the early 20s you know so really um I think the kids look at them and they they come up and this program has them talking about mental health challenges that they've been through and their experiences and at the middle school level they they do also focus a lot on um the strategies and things that help them um on their path to to success around mental health so it's really just young people talking to our kids around mental health um so um it's last very well received eth grade and in seventh and eth grade last year so certainly gives them great information and talks about strategies and um ultimately we want to destigmatize that mental health and in talking about mental health so that's the underlying importance of the program in and of itself so um the presenters who spoke to us last year are coming back um year before that they were different presenters but they did a great job in the first year but it just so happens that the same two presenters will be um coming back to speak with us in another couple months so but it's a great program I think it's very happy with the way um it's been received so and and then I just noted the Metro West Health survey that we gave this year it's given by annually so that data typically comes we might get a summary in the spring but we have pretty much the full data in at the end of the school year and we'll review that data Insight Council certainly with staff and talk about goals that we can set for following year so I think that's something that we've been that data we've looked at every year and um I want to say each time the data does come out there's always goals that we set based on we feel the data the feedback and some of the needs that come from the survey so so that's an important part of what we do our as well questions on those so we had theal lessons SOS minding your mind and just we just did the survey last month and again we'll get data in three or four months so under Resource Management the two of those pieces were we implemented or piloted I should say we piloted goguardian last year with about a dozen teachers just to to take it on a trial run it went very well all the teachers a lot of positive feedback and we're using that our teachers are all using that this year and that program is really about monitoring online use when students are using Chromebooks and working in the classroom so we provided a training at the beginning of the year truth be told it was a brief training it's pretty intuitive and um the teachers who who piloted agreed with that it's really easy to use and um I I think people within a few weeks felt like they had a grasp of it and were using it and um right now we're really comfortable with it so there's a lot of positive feedback from teachers on go Guardian it it did have we have we gotten any feedback from students on go Guardian they don't like it there's a reason why I asked yeah I mean I've heard I've heard many many stories how many you know how many are uh tall tales and how many are uh are actual but uh but just yeah yeah you know I don't know what you're hearing is you're hearing probably a broader uh section than than I am but yeah yeah you know I think you know ultimately it's I think the teachers like it you know just it's it's good that the students know we have it too so that teachers you know if they're doing those activities that it's something that they they can use in in that they they can't we can use it to monitor students so I think um I think for the most part students have kind of gotten used to it um by now I I didn't think that they liked it when like the teachers pilot it they just kind of figuring it out but um haven't heard a whole lot of of feedback off of it other than you know for some students that might not be thrilled with the idea that teachers are doing that so it's a challenge right in classes where um teachers are kind of run those activities and uh especially in Middle School to students so tempted to open up so many tabs and try you know we want them on task so I think it's certainly a a great step in that direction yeah I mean so is there some of the feedback I've heard and I I don't know anything about it so take it for what it's worth um there were I've gotten some feedback from kids that they're there were some privacy concerns right uh that uh that teachers were able to see or do what what they were doing when they weren't in their class and things like that so I don't know um if there's anything that that we need to do to look at and ensure that we have best practices around um just implementing it and and effectively using it know in in the best way to to balance the the privacy and the control and safety of it right yeah I mean in talking to teachers they're they're using it when they're in their classes so you know in terms of it being turned off or if students are taking their Chromebooks home after school I I can't speak to that but I I know that teachers are using it they're actively using it when students are are in their classroom um so uh I haven't heard teachers are you know I don't know that they would be going and looking what students are doing in the next class because they have another class in front of them right so that might be a student perception so again I can't speak I can't speak that they might feel that way and worry about privacy but ultimately it's it's just teachers monitoring what students are are doing while they're in while they're in their class so um I I haven't heard students share any privacy concerns with me so anything along those lines it's just mostly not liking if they're off task and the teacher can see that they're opening a tab and doing something that they shouldn't be doing that's mostly what I hear from students right yeah um and then the second one was you know we be we did begin to install cameras um in hallways at the middle school so um we started with really kind of our two main hallways last year and you know each year we're going to be looking to add more of those interior cameras they're in the hallways um for us it's really helpful um where students especially at intersections where students are are constantly passing or in front of bathrooms that type of thing so it's just kind of monitoring hallway use and we have used them I think it's really helpful at our level so if there is a an issue something happens um that either isn't seen or there's kind of multiple stories it's it's great to be able to look at cameras and kind of see what happened so we'll be looking to add cameras as we continue to move forward you know there's a lot of hallways so we're starting with the main hallways and we'll go from there but I I think it's it is really helpful to have those cameras up and maintain safety and everybody knows those are there which I think it's a good thing so um we're going to continue moving forward with that but this is really the first year that we've had those we've had exterior cameras but um we have not had hallway cameras until this year so can I just like get back to Paul's question about the the Privacy I'm assuming these are all School issued Chromebooks right just for the purposes of of their education and their school workor so I mean it I'm not sure that there should be any expectation of privacy or how is it communicated to the kids that they're only to use the Chromebooks for their schoolwork and it's not for games or whatever else they're trying to do yeah that's by teachers it's being yeah and it's you know that's the acceptable use policy as well they should be using it for school purposes and the teachers are constantly constantly in them that that's the purpose of it so yeah as I'm just thinking I mean if it's a tool um for Education provided by the district then there really shouldn't be any expectation of privacy well so I don't think this is the appropriate time but I don't agree with that at all because just because it's a district tool does not mean that teacher a should be able to track what I'm doing whatever I she wants right so it's the same way that teacher a shouldn't have access to the students emails that's a district thing and the district as a whole has access so through Paul Carpenters group and stuff like that for the right reasons we can get access to it um it doesn't mean that teacher a should have access to everything that the students are doing whenever they're doing it so there there's just because it's a a district resource doesn't mean that every District employ emplo should have access to look at what they're doing when they're not doing something contextual to that that class so so that's not my understanding of like the implementation um I thought it was when when students are being asked to do a specific task on their Chromebook that then and only then pretty much the teacher would bring it up and just make sure the kids aren't on YouTube yep YouTube and whatever else that they could try to figure out what tabs they can try to open but yeah that's the purpose that's what they're doing yeah the teacher if they go into another tab the teacher can actually go in and close the tab like so if I went on YouTube and was watching a video um they can go in and close the tab and then say the student focus on your work so um I think the teachers the teachers do teachers do find it they do find it helpful and students knowing that it is helpful to try to um Rand them in because it's difficult a lot of times those seats are in groups they're all facing in different directions it's challenging for teachers when they're using their devices to keep them on TK so yeah we need with the shift in education and the leveraging of Technology there will also be a shift in the tools that help us manage it and you know we first had iPhones there were no controls on them now we have parental controls I don't see this as any different and like I said I don't think this is time for it but the the intent isn't what I'm complaining about or even bringing up as an issue that there's no controls saying that if teach that teacher a can only use it for that reason or only use it at that time right so uh but again that's that's a to topic for a different time okay what questions on cameras too just again for us it's new we just started it this year and we're going to continue to work to just you Dave on the cameras when you think about years past where you haven't had them and you haven't and you've had incidents and are you feeling more supported as a administrator and able to deal with things better now having them yes yes I think especially at our level too where you can you try even it's try to figure out an issue let's say something happened and maybe a student it was an issue a student was hurt or something happened and you talk to four students and you get four stories that's challenging and you want to ultimately make sure you're having the conversations you need to have and um if there was a safety issue or something happening we want to make sure it's addressed and it's hard to do that sometimes if you don't exactly know um what happened and it certainly helps out with other with other pieces as well whether it be you know if you're worried about vandalism you're worried about people being in areas of the building they shouldn't be things of that nature so um I think it is I think it is really helpful I know that uh Mike Morrow my assistant principal I know he he likes it sometimes where it's helpful to not have to talk to 10 students if it's in an area where there's a camera and he can just kind of okay that's what happened and move forward from there so it can it's great for safety and I think it's great for us making sure we address the situation properly and I I think it's ALS also a huge time saer too where you know it can it can take a long time if you have to talk to seven eight or 10 students um in one of those areas so now I think it's been I like it I know I know if he was here he would tell you he likes it um so J Jenna Jenna and can and Kate can tell you how much they they appreciate the cameras yes they do yeah just anecdotally I mean I know at this time well not December of last year but last all there were Tik Tock challenges that might have exacerbated things but do you feel like you've seen a reduction in vandalism as well because of them I would I would say yes we we didn't have a there wasn't a significant problem with vandalism until that Tik Tok challenge that's um really what where we saw a lot of our issues around that time um but I I think it's it certainly is definitely helpful because if something does happen we can narrow down a time as to when it happened and that that helps helps us out a lot so um I I would say yes if I think about even this year we we have not had many of those types of issues um so you know whether it's the students know that the camera's there now I I don't know but I know that um we we haven't had um those issues this year to date which has been which has been a positive because the students notice they're there the students know they're there um but uh which I don't think is a bad thing thanks and the last priority for just under curriculum programming we are using new software um this year so for our science department that is amplify so this is the first year where all really all three grades are using the same software so teachers were trained um to use the amplify science program and those are being implemented in all grades so um again I think the great thing about that is in terms of being able to assess students along the way have have them use that as benchmarks and and be able to to see and apply that data and how students are doing um is a huge positive so I think it's a lot it's a it's a new software program I think um I think the science teach do like it I think it's adjusting to that and figuring out um what they want to use more of what they want to use less of but I I know when using the program they see it as a positive and I see it as a huge positive that all students in all grades are using the same the same program so um that's one of the programs as well as I think I put it that down here as well and that that's I ready both math and ELA teachers are uh implementing uh I ready diagnostic testing and one of the other new programs I didn't put it in here other new programs piloting is also ISL so there are some probably about a dozen teachers who are using ISL that software um so I think I know Mike we talked about open Architects earlier no if assuming that we're moving forward these things it'll be hugely helpful when we're talking about you know amplify um I ready potentially I Exel to be able to house that data and be able to access individual students and performance in those in one spot will be um will be significant um and the last piece on there really is I know we've had conversations just about um scheduling and and looking at scheduling and we've had a SK you know scheduling Committee just to look at things like um class sizes and numbers in our school and you know making sure that whatever we're doing schedule wise or programming wise U maximizes performance and maximizes opportunities for students so that's something that we're we're looking at I think we're continuing to look at sort of where numbers are falling in our school and enrollment but that's something that we're continuing to analyze for this year as well so Dave can I ask you a quick question about the scheduling piece um my understanding was with the the half team that was brought on to the Middle School um with the funding that we'll have to absorb for those new teachers one of the things we were looking at in terms of class sizing has been the the change in schedule and how that may be able to help um in terms of class sizing so I had in my mind that kind of a new class schedule or kind of this analysis would be done for if there was going to be any change would be implemented next fall um so what is your thoughts on a timeline in terms of implementation of any scheduled changes and and kind of how that may impact the the Staffing issue for next year yeah in terms of timing I'm not not sure how long it would take I mean I've had conversations with superintendent Adams too just about sort of um enrollment numbers and I think last year we had had those conversations in scheduling committee and um our the numbers shifted a bit so it's something that we we started looking at it you you're right I think if we were to make any changes for next year that's something we would have to identify by the spring for sure we start our scheduling process um really in in around April or May is is if we were going to make any significant changes we would have to make the changes certainly certainly by the spring right if if any changes were going to be made for the fall for the coming year so if there were any major changes um that we were going to be making to the schedule that's something that would have to in terms of timeline um for the 24 would have to be you know would have to happen or we'd have to make those decisions by um would want to make them by March or April of this year at at the very latest and do you feel like the scheduling committee is prepared to do that or like where where I guess I'm curious where you are in the process y so we yeah sure Jim so Tina um couple things with this I think as we're looking at our enrollment numbers uh we sort of put put it on pause a little bit with regard to uh the scheduling committee at the end of last year because we we couldn't really come to a consensus at that point with the faculty and staff that really met the needs of all of our students special education students our Pullins our pullouts uh you know the push-ins uh the the additional services that that students needed the current schedule is meeting that need and we weren't able to figure out a way to actually design a schedule that actually reduced staff or not necessarily reduced sta but took away that half team if you will uh and able to to then offer the same services that we were um required to offer our students on on IEPs 504s Etc so as we were looking at it even going into the 2425 school year those half teams we envision to exist at least one more year um until we can really figure out a schedule that is appropriate that meets the needs of of our all of the populations there's no perfect schedule that's what we all figured out um but counseling staff special education staff uh voiced a lot of concerns about moving away from the current schedule and how we are going to provide services so it's a much deeper longer conversation um but if if there's going to be a change my guess is it would be the 25 26 school year that's helpful to know thank you I like I said I just had a different timeline in my head so it's helpful to understand that thank you yeah yep and that being said I also want to state that we did start absorbing um into the operating budget this year in anticipation of the Esser money being um taken away so and that was the last piece of curriculum and programming any other questions for Dave I don't see any I don't hear any thank you Dave thank you to the Middle School site Council and the Mendes site Council and to all of you for it's great to see like the consistency in the reports and everything trailing back to the district goals that we had set so great work everybody thank you so last chance for another question and I'm going to move on to Jim for his superintendent report okay Jim Dave Dave can you stop sharing thank you uh just a couple things one um you know I've done this in the past and it's nothing I ever want to do again in the future but um I as a as a community and a administrative team and school committee and the entire faculty staff and the community of Ashen just start our thoughts prayers and hearts go out to the Noel family and um loss of one of our former students unexpectedly uh right before Thanksgiving so um you I just want you know to state that upfront that um you know the support that the district and the community has given um to the family is been outstanding and and continues to be so so um you know Pete was on here uh I would just tell you how impressed and grateful and thankful that I we someone like Pete um leading that building and and how he has approached this entire um tragedic sit us so so that's you know I I just want to start with that um secondly um there will be a calendar survey coming out uh by the end of the week uh as we continue I've had a few Community questions but also teachers who've asked about usually we have the school calendar um already approved sometimes I have two years worth approved um by now um typically in November um but I I felt like we needed to to ask some questions uh with regard to uh next year's calendar and calendar moving forward um so a survey will be coming out um if I was to present a schedule to you right now um of of the timeline for a calendar itself we would be ending the school year in 2425 right around June 28th um uh if we had five snow days so um just something that we need to be thoughtful of in the future um the Strategic plan um I know we've been waiting and finalizing that Mike and I are actually hopefully will be finalizing it with Prem on Thursday of next week uh finalizing meeting ready to come to you as a board for your final input um so that's our goal um and then we are also in the process of developing a a team to review our student management software system uh currently we have iPass uh we have two more years left on the contract but uh it's not really the most efficient and effective um student management system uh and there's probably only about six more six districts in the state that are actually using this system now when it used to be actually um pretty high and so we're going to take the you know a thoughtful approach and we have teams from each building uh and looking at three other um three other systems um that will hopefully provide us again when we talk about the data and the open Architects and uh the data that we're trying to pull from iPass um it's really a challenge at times um and even parents and teachers and user friendly we we want to open it up more for for families to use so um I think that is all I have for an update uh next Friday Friday is an early release day uh for the winter break December break that's it thanks Jim Paul do you have warrant approvals I do uh between November 21st 2023 and December 13 2023 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signatures signature payables in the amount of 85,681 .7 this includes general fund expenses of $56,700 183 in Grant expenses of $2,250 and meals tax expenses of $833 thank you uh minutes from November 21 2023 does anybody have any recommended changes seeing none hearing none who has a motion I move to accept the minutes as presented second all in favor Mark got do this one by roll call um but yes Erin yes Tina yes Paul yes okay and then gifts and donations yes yes for you oh did I not say Paul no yes me you just kind of raised your hand like you're yes gifts and donations uh yes we have a few I'm going to lump up we've got like 15 um that donated to the helping our own fund uh so I'm just going to lump those all together um $660 we have a $3,000 donation to the student travel expense from Kristen and Michael Worster we have Planet Aid $210 35 for miscellaneous gifts and donations and massachusett Institute of Technology 2200 for uh miscellaneous High School gifts and donations for a total of $ 6,873 thank you do we have a motion to approve those move to approve as presented second all in favor Mark hi Ain hi Tina hi Paul hi I and member updates we're at the end who's first I'll have know first I don't know who's first Lori but can I go last absolutely thanks I'm happy to go first Goa you can Mark we'll fight over well my update was going to had no update so there it's notu it in um I just wanted to update there was an ashack meeting last week um that I was able to go to and um Christy they had invited Christy Arnold to attend the meeting as well too to talk about collaboration between um ashack and the um El parent advisory Council that uh Christy is trying to get off the ground and so um you know they kind of shared some ideas in terms of collaboration Christy did a great job of course as always of explaining um you know kind of her role and her staff's role and kind of the the overlap uh for certain students that receive both El services and special ed services and so there was um you know a nice conversation about uh parent Outreach and collaboration so I think that'll that'll be nice uh moving forward um and it was a nice group there were a number of new faces at at ashack as well too so it's nice to see that group growing thanks Tina um I'll share next I I've only uh gone to the warrant site Council since we last met um but we had really great communication there about communication uh there's a parent on the site Council who has dual citizenship and her husband has dual citizenship and she had put together an excellent PowerPoint about um communication from that point of view reaching out to our immigrant communities or you know the the groups that we've talked about for all these years U about trying to reach and I I thought that her presentation was really well done and um it uh brought up a lot of you know points from uh it we just had a lot of empathy it was a very empathetic conversation and I thought that it would be helpful if she brought her Powerpoint to the school committee at some point so if you guys also would think that would be useful it was just it's a really great parent perspective and it opened up some really great conversation um so I'd like to add that to an agenda in January if that that sounds good to all of you that sounds great yeah okay Paul uh I know there's several things I'll probably forget the I think the big one is I think I mentioned to the group before uh that the legislature had approved $100 million uh to funding to the msba to uh provide some additional funding to projects that were adversely impacted by the pandemic and so we had some estimates I think I threw out there that we expected it would be around 3.4 to $3.8 million or something like that uh happy to report we we just received the updated convoluted spreadsheet that they Ed but uh the end result of it is that uh it uh we're going to receive 5.57 million more from the msba so that's that's some good news um good news on that front now just so you understand what that means that just means that the proportion of the pie that they're paying is more it doesn't increase the the project budget or anything like that so it's uh instead of them paying a little over uh 26 uh well and this the final number won't be done until we know what our final budget is and what we expend but uh the max maimum Grant was just over 26 million and now it's uh just under $32 million so so that's some some positive positive news that's hot off the presses from when did that come Jim yesterday day before yeah yesterday yeah so that's all I have I'm sure I'm forgetting some some things but well that's excellent news it's always good to hear about money coming in rather than money going out so good news Aaron okay um well my first update is I attended my first ever Ashland high school wrestling tournament and um she's not on tonight because she's at a meet right now but I wanted to call out Nora um because watching Nora wrestle was one of the most inspiring things think I've ever seen an Ashland athlete do um and then not only to have like wrestled and just lost a really intense match and she was in the stand and then immediately saw one of her teammates was wrestling and as somebody she's very close with she ran right back down to the mountain got on the floor and was cheering for them and it was an incredibly special moment uh last Saturday both Mark and I were there um but being able to see not only the whole team um but it specifically Nora and the fact that she is our student liaison I was just incredibly impressed by her and wanted to say that before I go on um so as most of the committee and uh admin team knows and for anybody that knows me on LinkedIn um my entire group um at work uh was divested from GE to ernston Young a month ago and it's taken a for me to kind of understand um what our future is and what will be expected of me in light of the changes we have an extremely bright future despite the fact that there were quite a few layoffs ity yesterday uh that are in the Wall Street Journal but my group specifically we have a big ask in front of us and being on the leadership team I will be tasked with a lot um I've served on this committee for eight and a half years and I have loved the relationships that it has brought I have so much respect and admiration for the intellect the empathy the capability of everybody here but I also know in times past when I have tried to balance too much or pull myself too thin you know lots of different things have happened while I've served that it's been not only a disservice to my family or to my work but it's not been the best I just I know I'm going to be in the office a lot and I'm going to be traveling a lot and I won't be able to to give this what it deserves anymore um and so with that tonight is my last meeting and I'll be tendering my resignation um effective immediately um the few people that knew about this have already said oh well hey now you can run Ai and I was like no absolutely not um the only thing I will be doing from a volunteer perspective for like a while is being the kids night out face paint lady for two more times and then my career with that is also over um but it has been sorry um still sitting off camera holding my hand it has been an honor serving with you all and I'll jump in if you need a minute just to catch your breath um thank you for I mean eight years volunteering on this board we all everyone here knows what's involved in that um I know sometimes it's hard you know the community might only see us and one or two meetings a month and um isn't quite sure what we do but but I know that you have uh put your whole heart into wanting to make this community better and thank you for your service and thank you for um you know it sounds like you're going to be having an exciting new job and you'll have the ability to give that the attention and your your family and I just wanted to thank you for your contributions and wish you the best I'm I'm not going to say goodbye I'm pretty sure we'll see you again and we'll figure something out in that regard um but thank you yeah I'm I'm not going to say it any better than than than what she just said so uh so I'll just say thank you as well and and did what she what she said so yeah and and I want to join in that too AR it's been you and I didn't know each other really before um before we started serving together and which was very close in time we both joined the committee about the same time and um it's been a pleasure become a good friend and and thank you for everything you've contributed to you know to our group as a committee as a team rather than just a committee but to our community more generally thank you and I've served with you the shortest amount of time but um thank you eron for all that you've given um you know your time and effort to the to the school committee uh no doubt that you're going to continue to find other ways to be involved uh but it's when you need to to take the time to make sure that you have time for your family we all understand that um and so you I wish you a ton of luck in your new position I'm sure you're going to knock it out of the park and um like Lori said this isn't goodbye um but thank you for all that you've done and I'll jump in just from the administrative side eron uh you know it's always a balance right when you have someone come aboard and and you've been with me 10 years my my entire you know just about my entire 10 years superintendent but when when folks come on to a board such as this with children within the system it's that balance of trying to figure out okay how do I be um an advocate for my child how do I be the the leader I need to be from a school Committee Member and you always kept that in Balance so I don't think any one of our our administrators felt as though you crossed a line with us or with them uh as as a parent versus a a school Committee Member which takes a lot of work because I know in many districts that happens all of the time and um so thank you for that and I think it's a that's a model that I hope everyone can can continue to follow and our board does that I'm not saying it doesn't it's just I want that to be known that you've done that as well so Aon would you like to make the last motion to adjourn um I move to a journ second all in favor get a roll call I think Paul hi Tina hi Mark hi me I Aaron we'll be in touch we're gonna get together and celebrate you and Aon I my final I thank you good night everybody thanks everybody bye

at the ashin high school in the auditorium and it's our 10th season so that's pretty exciting and we have eight contestants five judges who are teachers and then it's a $5 ticket uh to get in and you can either use cash or check and if you're using check you can make it out to the AHS Student Activities and all the proceeds will go to the ashin emergency fund awesome thank you Idol is always a a fun time Karina do you have anything yes so on Sunday I'm gonna uh we had a very successful student council pancake breakfast and we raised a little over $1,000 dollar and we had a really good turnout from the whole town everyone had a lot of fun which was good and then also the Ashland High School theatrical Society just had their auditions for the upcoming music Musical Chicago and we just started rehearsals and the show is going to be on March 1st 2nd and 3rd so that's really fun awesome thank you all we appreciate it lots of good stuff going on anything else anybody want to add and if not you know the drill you don't have to stick around we know you have a lot of homework you're good as well you thank you good night everyone thank you good night okay next up mindes the school Improvement plan presentation Jenna turn this turn it over to Jenna and I think you have full access to share your screen Jenna okay can everybody see that anything yet Jenna just the zoom thing you're on the wrong tab there J is it there okay great so this is the um these are the Strategic PR priorities for the district um upon which we based our school Improvement plan I have it in a different format here just to share tonight though I do have it written formally there as well um the first bucket bucket is the equity and the standard that we looked at was promote appreciation of diverse perspectives to Foster mutual respect and cultural understanding um it's really developed uh as we've gone this year we were um able to join adaptive X which is a professional development development company through um the Department of Education and they're really leading us through a small leadership team there's six of us on it through um some modules so that we can then turn in turn work with the staff and develop a uh common understanding of what it means to be a culturally responsive school um it's a pretty big undertaking and so far um I think I've really enjoyed the the PD and I'm excited to help our staff come on board with that are there questions about the equity piece the next bucket is social and emotional learning we chose to ensure all students have a sense of belonging and are connected to the school Community we spent all of last year as a faculty talking about how we wanted this to work it was really important to everyone um and to the site Council that we continue to have multi-age multi-grade learning in some way at MES particularly with the new space in the new building so this was a perfect one for us um so we're doing Community Learning which is in that we took the whole school we shook them up and we created 30 new classrooms that have third graders fourth graders and fifth graders in them and each month we have an activity um and the kids are meeting other children and they are meeting other teachers teachers which also um connects to our our need to watch and make sure that all children are connected to an adult and have a safe adult that they can go to in the school I've been interviewing some some kids about what they think about it and mostly it's positive I had one student say he didn't like it um but they're really enthusiastic about the activities so I my hope next year is to move some of the activities into some learning kind I mean it's learning always because it's social emotional but maybe some more academic based activities as well when we're meeting any questions on this one resource management this was a great one for us this year because with of the new building so our goal was to provide safe environments for all students and staff um and I have to give a lot of credit to Kate who really nailed it in the fall in terms of coming up with plans for our arrival and our dismissal and communicating that with everybody um at Mendes because we were we were ready on that first day and the kids came in and they found their classrooms and that was really exciting so we have all of our plans in place all of our routines are working we've done the practice for some of the drills and um I'll continue to work with a Safety Committee to make sure that we're up to date and um doing all the right things there this one will definitely change for the following year and finally culum and programming um we chose to improve student learning curriculum and consistency of instruction aligned to the vision of The Graduate across grades um we have started very formal and specific data team meetings this year where teachers are looking at information from amplify and also from I ready to look at exactly where kids are in their learning and to see where we need to do targeted instruction to improve student growth um that's in the area of ela is where we're focusing this year I hope next year is to expand this to math so that we are able to provide um enrichment and intervention across all areas any questions on that one Jenna do me a favor just so the the committee can see the consistency from when Kelly presented hers go go to the yeah this one y yeah just so so they can see that this is what's being posted Jenna just pulled stuff out to make it simpler for folks and we did all get that document earlier today so hopefully everyone had a chance to look at it and if you have any questions on those details now would be the time everybody good all right I'd like to just also thank my site counsel and it's been a lot of work really well well I hear somebody but I can't see who's talking just thank the site Council for all the hard work that they did last year working to develop this plan and to thank Kate for all she's done since she's come on board and Paul who is our um leaz on so it's been pretty seamless so thank you everyone awesome thank you all right next up sorry Lori can I just jump in for a second I just want to make a comment that the things you see at Mendes but also at Warren and Pete presents that walking into the building and seeing all the data teams and to the different data teams not only academically but the teams uh it's really quite you know the teachers are quite engaged and really walking through all of that data has been pretty impressive to watch um I've walked into both buildings and Mike has as well to see the teachers um focusing on looking at the data and how we can improve uh student out outcomes so it's been really really great thank you Jim last chance for questions for Jenna going ones letting you off easy tonight Jenna Lori just procedurally we um we don't vote to approve these is that right no okay unless the law has changed but I I know that uh we used to back in the day and then the law change to that school committee just uh like if we had an issue this would be a chance to give feedback um and then you could go back and and work on it and come back but we're not uh officially approving or rejecting anything that's the job of the site Council thank you yeah all right Dave okay thank you we were all just waiting and saving all our questions for Dave and GNA pound him so perfect does that work yep okay okay so similar to Jenna just front page we based um our school Improvement goals on the district strategic priorities and objectives most of the goals that um are on the template are new goals for this year we did have some that have that do repeat um but a lot of them are goals that we're and things we're implementing this year so under the equity priority um you know is something we have been doing that we want to continue to create individualized Student Success plans for all students who do not meet expectations on mcast tests we are expanding those this year um after the new year just going to be meeting in our teacher teams talking about what those plans are how would adjust plans to create them for um for all students so that's something that we're going to be discussing we have been creating issps now I want to say um I want to say this is year four maybe year five that we've been doing them so we feel they've been successful those get mailed out after Thanksgiving for those families and we'll be working on that the second half of the year for the template for all students can I just ask you generally I don't want to take us on Sidetrack but just how how that's going how families are responding to that process and um you know I'm curious any feedback you have on how the ISP issps are [Music] going uh yeah so it's it's going well I mean they were mailed to families uh around Thanksgiving giving um I don't know how many families reach out so the letters say to those families you know here's here's mcast scores here are some of the interventions that the team has talked about that they'll be implementing and of course we want to reach out to families to see if there's something that um they feel would be helpful something that should be part of the plan um knowing their child the best so I know that there are some parents who have reached out to to teachers and had questions around exactly some of those interventions or um you know what that process looks like I some of the questions were more um we created them for anyone not meeting expectations and some reached out where their child was one question away from meeting expectations but um part a process we did those for all students so we didn't it was difficult to draw a line but I think just feel it's going well you know those interventions they're working with those students we'll review them January February when we're sort of halfway through the year to see how the interventions are going and you know we find out how the students do as as we progress through the year um ultimately looking at mcast tests in the summer right when we get those results but now with us using I ready andl and some of those programs that we're getting more immediate feedback and teachers are looking at um data as the school year goes along so I think that's a huge help as well so so far so good but you know as I said earlier we we have a little more work to do in the spring and and if I I can just inter interject for a second I think one of the things that's been really helpful is our partnership with open Architects um and that's going to even allow us to take this to the next level I think we we discussed the fact that right now we're only utilizing the the free version which gives us mcast and access but we have um developed the contract with them and are on board now and they are currently developing our full scale uh portal that's going to include all of our data um I'm expecting that to be done by February maybe even sooner and Dave will be able as as everybody will be able to now have easy access to personalized um data portals for every single student that's really going to allow the staff to to even Implement you know more detailed issps for all of our kids it's exciting stuff Dave can I ask a quick question um since you've been doing these for a couple years or a handful of years for the students who haven't met expectations on mcast do you have any kind of anecdotal data of how they've helped those kids either be able to meet expectations or you know kind of make progress in whatever areas they need to make progress I mean I think most of the students have you know we have made progress I mean uh where when you look at our overall performance numbers and growth we're very happy with it I think some students we look at it right some students have done very well uh others didn't make the progress we would have liked and didn't have the growth we would have liked and teachers you know talk about why that might be and what we can do to help support those students um so it's I I think overall we we feel they're we feel they're an important part an important part of what we do and and uh again I really do believe that now that we're using um the systems programs like I ready in math and Ela orl or amplify in in science as well that I think this is only going to give teachers more immediate feedback and to be able to make those isps even more specific or to be able to adjust them really in terms of what interventions are aren't working so I I I think we feel it's um it's extremely helpful and and uh in terms of what we do excuse me sounds like that data comparison that Mike was talking about will be really interesting to see and be able to kind of track um you know kind of the progress of different different populations including students who have been on isps yeah absolutely and I think to have them all in one um one spot one um program is going to be huge um to be able to have that easy access and also to have it in one spot where you can easily get that data from all those different programs is is going to be that much easier for for teachers and that much easier to to look at data and be able to use that to Target instruction so I think it's I'm really excited about the open open Architects too is Dave just a quick question kind of on something you said relative to your answer to Mark and uh have you noticed that at least C certain parents it sounded like you you were say that their perception uh and feeling towards these issps might be negative and and and they wanted to be on the other side uh of you know if there were one question in in uh on the on the uh needs improve or not meeting expectations right that they felt that the isps were negative in some way because if it was me and my kid were either on one one side or the other one question one question on either side i' I'd be really thrilled to have a individualized success plan right for my student so are they are they thinking that it's a negative thing to have an issp or uh I didn't get that I I get it that it was more of you know uh I thought they were you know I thought they were doing let's say so far they were doing well this year in class and you know then we we get the news that they didn't meet expectations are they doing are they doing okay it was it was really more about their performance now is related to the issp that makes sense I don't know that I got sort of negative in as much as do I need to be worried about what they're doing right now okay so it was it was more of an alert like hey whoa something might be might be wrong that I didn't think was wrong right exactly and that's why we have the teacher information and all their emails and contacts so they can just reach out if they because some those questions do come up um and they'll reach out uh it's it's not a huge number like I said to you um it might be a couple of parents to have those questions but I don't know if it was sort I wouldn't view it as negative in as much as I think they're doing okay yeah is that the case and so sometimes it's teachers talking through hey they're doing great they're right on track working hard this year you know so I know there were some of those exchanges with teachers okay yeah it was more just wanting to make sure that you know if we can you know somehow help them see an issp as a positive thing regardless of where where they are right um and I think Paul that's why moving to try to have or having all students receive those right so it would be everybody receives those it's just a question of what was their performance last year and what are some of the things that we are looking at regardless of of that performance so I think that may take that you know that misunderstanding away but I think a lot of what we got was more about uh they wanted to make sure that students were performing well this year to date and um from what when those parents who reached out they were so I think it was just having those questions yeah great yeah can I ask you one more question um so what does it look like for a student who may be on an IEP if they would be someone who would be flagged as a student that you might develop an issp for do they get that as well too or is it a conversation that happens with the IEP team yeah so a lot of the the accommodations on an issp would be the accommodations that are on their IEP right so that's the issp wouldn't change right so whatever they should be getting for their IEP that those would just be put into their issps right because those are some of the things that they need to access the curriculum or to be successful so um they really they carry over if you will right so it's just um so they would get both documents would it be um I'm just trying to think of how that might work within the special ed process because I can see how it would be confusing for parents whose kids might be on an i p and then they get another document and wondering what does this mean how does what's the interplay with the IEP I just didn't know if there was a different process or different notice or um whether or not maybe they didn't get one and it was just something that was flagged for a discussion for the IEP team yeah no they they get the same they get the same letter you know that the other parents get so on that top letter just explains what an issp is and why it was created and um you know for a lot of them it's just that a lot of the accommodations are the same as what they would have in an IEP so it doesn't um it doesn't change anything for the IEP so no no and I wouldn't anticipate it I'm just see I could just Envision where there may be some confusion on behalf of parents so just something to and if it hasn't come up I'm sure kids on IEPs have gotten them so if it hasn't come up I'm or if it has I'm sure you've you've been able to deal with it but yeah no it hasn't you know I think if we did have those questions those are things that we could put in the letter just to clarify but to to date I haven't had that question okay so are we good with issps actually Dave I think I want to go back to what antina points at the beginning um so if we had let's assume 20 students who started out on issps at the beginning of the year that we identified is we're tracking the students their assessment what percentage of those students at the end of the year would we have identified to still be on an issp right so I guess in other words if we've got 20 by the end of the year we have 50% of the students are making significant progress to take them off issps yeah so um I could I'd have to go in and get those numbers I can't tell you that um our sixth grade had you know has uh most of them as you move to seventh grade into the eighth grade the the numbers of isps decrease in terms of what the percentage is I yeah I'd have to look but the the sixth grade students have or sixth grade teams have um a larger share and do more issps uh so seventh grade those numbers go down absolutely and then an eighth grade is each year that has been the smallest number that's created I would just have to look in terms of what those percentages are but it is positive so the the eighth grade teachers are doing less of those isfps because students are growing and reaching those goals they in sixth grade and that's been consistent since we've done that okay that's the point yeah thanks yeah okay so for um the next one was just around math placement and uh just as part of um the math vertical team we're having conversations around the math placement process we've in really targeting and looking at math placement um from grade five to grade six so the ma the vertical math committee is meeting to review um math data student performer performance so that placement and programming you know we want to make sure that those are Equitable um for all students so um we're we've started those meetings we're looking at um our process and looking at student performance so that's something that we're going to be looking at throughout the year to make sure um that we make any adjustments or we we want to make sure that our process is Equitable and that all students have access to um to the advanced um math courses espec focusing on grades five to six so um that's taking place this year as and that's under our Equity under the equity objective and then the equity team you know one of the things we're doing um we've done some activities and worked with Staff last year around race and equity and Dei and we wanted to bring it to to students and have an impact there so last last year we piloted The Playbook 351 program and that's training students um who are interested in the program providing the opportunity for a training around it's really an anti-bias anti-discrimination program so it entails um students being trained um they do some teamwork activities and some scenarios um and largely it's driven by students so really the goal is to have those conversations or those activities run by um our Playbook 351 ambassadors or former ambassadors so um I had a meeting actually this week with um with Sam levenson who was a former play 351 Ambassador when he was at the middle school and he's working with um myself Miss makuchi who piloted the program last year our Equity team to um create a training for both seventh and eighth grade students so we're excited about that to bring students into the fold um we'll be training eighth grade students first which is next week and seventh grade at the end of January so we're just trying to as much student interest as we can start training students and I think it's it's a way that we can have um have a direct impact and have students involved I think that's what was kind of missing in that first year so the Playbook um fits perfectly within what we want to do so we're excited about that there are questions on math the math um placement or our Playbook trainings for students the second strategic priority is um with it being seel something that has been happening um and we're excited that our guidance counselors monthly deliver lessons to students in all three grades they've started sending home a seal newsletter where families can get a background on what they've been doing in terms of the lessons they're including parent tips or strategies that relate to those presentations so um just listening to the counselors after the first two months they said students are doing they're excited students are doing an amazing job with it they're participating and um it seems like they really feel like they're getting something out of those conversations um the last lesson was around digital citizenship is certainly always timely um so those are going really well and we'll continue to send those updates out to families I think that's an important part to it um this year programs were still running for for this year the um signs of suicide program to be delivered in eth grade um that will be happening happening after the break I did connect with decisions at every turn we also be providing the minding your mind program to sth and eth grade students we did that last year as wellam Dave say that again what what is the minding your mind program it it's it's a program where young people so they the the presenters that they have are uh people who are uh in the early 20s you know so really um I think the kids look at them and they they come up and this program has them talking about mental health challenges that they've been through and their experiences and at the middle school level they they do also focus a lot on um the strategies and things that help them um on their path to to success around mental health so it's really just young people talking to our kids around mental health um so um it's last very well received eth grade and in seventh and eth grade last year so certainly gives them great information and talks about strategies and um ultimately we want to destigmatize that mental health and and talking about mental health so that's the underlying importance of the program in and of itself so um the presenters who spoke to us last year are coming back um year before that they were different presenters but they did a great job in the first year but it just so happens that the same two presenters will be um coming back to speak with us in another couple months so but it's a great program I think it's very happy with the way um it's been received so and and then I just noted the Metro West Health survey that we gave this year it's given by anually so that data typically comes we might get a summary in the spring but we have pretty much the full data in at the end of the school year and we'll review that data Insight Council uh certainly with staff and talk about goals that we can set for following year so I think that's something that we've been that data we've looked at every year and um I want to say each time the data does come out there's always goals that we set based on we feel the data the feedback and some of the needs that come from the survey so so that's an important part of what we do around as well questions on those so we had theal lessons SOS minding your mind and just we just did the survey last month and again we'll get data in three or four months so under Resource Management the two of those pieces were we implemented or piloted I should say we piloted goguardian last year with about a dozen teachers just to to take it on a trial run went very well all the teachers a lot of positive feedback and we're using that our teachers are all using that this year and that program is really about monitoring online use when students are using Chromebooks and working in the classroom so we provided a training at the beginning of the year truth be told it was a brief training it's pretty intuitive and um the teachers who who piloted agreed with that it's really easy to use and um I I think people within a few weeks felt like they had a grasp of it and we're using it and um right now we're really comfortable with it so there's a lot of positive feedback from teachers on goguardian he hey Dave have we have we gotten any feedback from students on go Guardian they don't like it there's a reason why I asked yeah I mean I've heard I've heard many many stories how many you know how many are uh tall tales and how many are uh are actual but uh but just yeah yeah you know I don't know what you're hearing is you're hearing probably a broader uh section than than I am but yeah yeah you know I think you know ultimately when it's I think the teachers like it you know just it's it's good that the students know we have it too so that teachers you know if they're doing those activities that it's something that they they can use in and that they they can't we can use use it to monitor students so I think um I think for the most part students have kind of gotten used to it um by now I I didn't think that they liked it when like the teachers pilot it they were just kind of figuring it out but um haven't heard a whole lot of of feedback off of it other than I know for some students that might not be thrilled with the idea that teachers are doing that so it's a challenge right in classes where um teachers are kind of run those activities and uh especially in Middle School students so tempted to open up so many tabs and try you know we want them on task so I think it's certainly a a great step in that direction yeah I mean so is there some of the feedback I've heard and I I don't know anything about it so take it for what it's worth um there were I've gotten some feedback from kids that they're there were some privacy concerns right uh that uh that teachers were able to see or do they were doing when they weren't in their class and things like that so I don't know um if there's anything that that we need to do to look at and ensure that we have best practices around um just implementing it and and effectively using it and in the best way to to balance the the privacy and the control and safety of it right yeah I mean in talking to teachers they're they're using it when they're in their classes so you know in terms of it being turned off or if students are taking their Chromebooks home after school I I can't speak to that but I I know that teachers are using it they're actively using it when students are are in their classroom um so uh I haven't heard teachers are you know I don't know that they would be going and looking what students are doing in the next class because they have another class in front of them right so that might be a student perception so I again I can't speak I can't speak that they might feel that way and worry about privacy but ultimately it's it's just teachers monitoring what students are are doing while they're in while they're in their class so I I haven't heard students share any privacy concerns with me anything along those lines it's just mostly not liking if they're off task and the teacher can see that they're opening a tab and doing something that they shouldn't be doing that's mostly what I hear from students right yeah um and then the second one was you know we be we did begin to install cameras um and hallways at the middle school so um we started with two really kind of our two main hallways last year in you know each year we're going to be looking to add more of those interior cameras they're in the the hallways um for us it's really helpful um where students especially at intersections where students are are constantly passing or in front of bathrooms that type of thing so it's just kind of monitoring hallway use and we have used them I think it's really helpful at our level so if there is a an issue something happens um that either isn't seen or there's kind of multiple stories it's it's great to be able to look at cameras and kind of see what happened so we'll be looking to add cameras as we continue to move forward you know there's a lot of hallways so we're starting with the main hallways and we'll go from there but I I think it's it is really helpful to have those cameras up and maintain safety and everybody knows those are there which I think it's a good thing so um we're going to continue moving forward with that but this is really the first year that we've had those we've had exterior cameras but um we have not had hallway cameras until this year so and I just like get back to Paul's question about the the Privacy I'm assuming these are all School issued Chromebooks right just for the purposes of their education and their schoolwork so I mean it I'm not sure that there should be any expectation of privacy or how is it communicated to the kids that they're only to use the Chromebooks for their school work and it's not for games or whatever else they're trying to do yeah that's by teachers it's being yeah and it's you know that's the acceptable use policy as well they should be using it for school purposes and the teachers are constantly constantly reminding them that that's the purpose of it so yeah as I'm just thinking I mean if it's a tool um for Education provided by the district then there really shouldn't be any expectation of privacy well so I don't think this is the appropriate time but I don't agree with that at all because just because it's a district tool does not mean that teacher a should be able to track what I'm doing whenever I she wants right so it's the same way that teacher a shouldn't have access to the students emails that's a district thing and the district as a whole has access so through Paul Carpenters group and stuff like that for the right reasons we can get access to um it doesn't mean that teacher a should have access to everything that the students are doing whenever they're doing it so there there there's just because it's a a district resource doesn't mean that every District employee should have access to look at what they're doing when they're not doing something contextual to that that class so so that's not my understanding of like the implementation uh um I thought it was when when students are being asked to do a specific task on their Chromebook that then and only then pretty much the teacher would bring it up and just make sure the kids aren't on YouTube yep YouTube and whatever else that they could could try to figure out what tabs they can try to open but yeah that's the purpose that's what they're doing yeah the teacher if they go into another tab the teacher can actually go in and close the tab like so if I went on YouTube and was watching a video um they can go in and close the tab and then say to the student focus on your work so um I think the teachers the teachers do teachers do find it they do find it helpful and students knowing that it is helpful to try to um bring them in because it's difficult a lot of times those seats are in groups they're all facing in different directions it's challenging for teachers when they're using their devices to keep them on task so yeah we need with the shift in education and the leveraging of Technology there will also be a shift in the tools that help us manage it and you know we first had iPhones there were no controls on them now we have parental controls I don't see this as any different and like I said I don't think this is the time for it but the the intent isn't what I'm complaining about or even bringing up as an issue that there's no controls saying that if teach that teacher a can only use it for that reason only use it at that time right so uh but again that's that's a top topic for a different time okay what questions on cameras too just again for us it's new we just started it this year and we're going to continue to work to just you Dave on the cameras when you think about years past where you haven't had them and you haven't and you've had incidents and are you feeling more supported as a administrator and able to deal with things better now having them yes yes I think especially at our level too where you can you try even it's try to figure out an issue let's say something happened and maybe a student it was an issue a student was hurt or something happened and you talk to four students and you get four stories that's challenging and you want to ultimately make sure you're having the conversations you need to have and um if there was a safety issue or something happening we want to make sure it's addressed and it's hard to do that sometimes if you don't exactly know um what happened and it certainly helps out with other with other pieces as well whether it be you know if you're worried about vandalism you're worried about people being in areas of the building they shouldn't be things of that nature so um I think it is I think it is really helpful I know that uh Mike Morrow my assistant principal I know he he likes it sometimes where it's helpful to not have to talk to 10 students if it's in an area where there's a camera and he can just kind of okay that's what happened and move forward from there so it can it's great for safety and I think it's great for us making sure we address the situation properly and I I think it's also a huge time saer too where you know it can it can take a long time if you have to talk to seven eight or 10 students um in one of those areas so now I think it's been I like it I know I know if he was here he would tell you he likes it um so Jenna Jenna and can and Kate can tell you how much they they appreciate the cameras yes they do yeah just anecdotally I mean I know at this time well not December of last year but last fall there were Tik Tok challenges that might have exacerbated things but do you feel like you've seen a reduction in vandalism as well because of them I would I would say yes we we didn't have a there wasn't a significant problem with vandalism until that Tik Tok challenge that's um really what where we saw a lot of our issues around that time um but I I think it's it certainly is definitely helpful because if something does happen we can narrow down a time as to when it happened and that that helps us out a lot so um I I would say yes if I think about even this year we we have not had many of those types of issues um so you know whether it's the students know the the camera's there now I I don't know but I know that um we we haven't had those issues this year to date which has been which has been a positive because the students notice they're there the students know they're there um but uh which I don't think is a bad thing thanks and the last priority for just under curriculum programming we are using new software um this year so for our science department that is amplify so this is the first year where all really all three grades are using the same software so teachers were trained um to use the amplify science program and those are being implemented in all grades so um again I think the great thing about that is in terms of being able to assess students along the way have to have them use that as benchmarks and and be able to to see and apply that data and how students are doing um is a huge positive so I think it's a lot it's a it's a new software program I think um I think the science teachers do like it I think it's adjusting to that and figuring out um what they want to use more of what they want to use less of but I I know in using the program they they see it as a positive and I see it as a huge positive that all students in all grades are using this the same the same program so um that's one of the programs as well as think I put it that down here as well and that that's I ready both math and ELA teachers are uh implementing I ready diagnostic testing and one of the other new programs I didn't put it in here other new programs piling is also ISL so there are some probably about a dozen teachers who are using ISL and that software um so I think I know Mike we talked about open Architects earlier no if assuming that we're moving forward these things it'll be hugely helpful when we're talking about you know amplify um I ready potentially I EXL to be able to house that data and be able to access individual students and performance in those in one spot will be um will be significant um and the last piece on there really is I know we've had conversations just about um scheduling and and looking at scheduling and we've had a SK you know scheduling Committee just to look at things like um class sizes and numbers in our school and you know making sure that whatever we're doing schedule wise or programming wise U maximizes performance and maximizes opportunities for students so that's something that we're we're looking at I think we're continuing to look at sort of where numbers are falling in our school and enrollment but that's something that we're continuing to analyze for this year as well so Dave can I ask you a quick question about the scheduling piece um because my understanding was with the the half team that was brought on to the Middle School um with the funding that we'll have to absorb for those new teachers one of the things we were looking at in terms of of class sizing has been the the change in schedule and how that may be able to help um in terms of class sizing so I had in my mind that kind of a new class schedule or kind of this analysis would be done for if there was going to be any change it would be implemented next fall um so what is your thoughts on a timeline in terms of implementation of any schedule changes and and kind of how that may impact the the Staffing issue for next year yeah in terms of timing I'm not not sure how long it would take I mean I've had conversations with superintendent Adams too just about sort of um enrollment numbers and I think last year we had had those conversations in scheduling committee and um our the numbers shifted a bit so it's something that we we started looking at it you you're right I think if we were to make any changes for next year that's something we would have to identify by the spring for sure we start our schu process um really in in around April or May is is if we were going to make any significant changes we would have to make the changes certainly certainly by the spring right if if any changes were going to be made for the fall for the coming year so if there were any major changes um that we were going to be making to the schedule that's something that would have to in terms of timeline um for the 24 would have to be you know would have to happen or we'd have to make those decisions by um would want to make them by March or April of this year at at the very latest and do you feel like the scheduling committee is prepared to do that or like we're where I guess I'm curious where you are in the process y so yeah sure Jim so Tina um couple things with this I think as we're looking at our enrollment numbers uh we sort of put put it on pause a little bit with regard to uh the scheduling committee at the end of last year because we we couldn't really come to a consensus at that point with the faculty and staff that really met the needs of all of our students the special education students our pull-ins our pullouts uh you know the push-ins uh the the additional services that that students needed the current schedule is meeting that need and we weren't able to figure out a way to actually design a schedule that actually reduced staff or not necessarily reduced staff but took away that half team if you will uh and able to to then offer the same services that we were um required to offer our students on on IEPs 504s Etc so as we were looking at it even going into the 2425 school year those half teams we envision to exist at least one more year um until we can really figure out a schedule that is appropriate that meets the needs of of our all of the populations there's no perfect schedule that's what we all figured out um but counseling staff special education staff uh voiced a lot of concerns about moving away from the current schedule and how we are going to provide services so it's a much deeper longer conversation um but if if there's going to be a change my guess is it would be the 25 26 school year that's helpful to know thank you like I said I just had a different timeline in my head so it's helpful to understand that thank you yeah Y and that being said I also want to state that we did start absorbing um into the operating budget this year in anticipation of the Esser money being um taken away so and that was the last piece of curriculum and programming any other questions for Dave I don't see any I don't hear any thank you Dave thank you to the Middle School site Council and the Mendes site Council and to all of you for I it's great to see like the consistency in the reports and everything trailing back to the district goals that we had set so great work everybody thank you so last chance for another question and I'm going to move on to Jim for his superintendent report okay Jim da Dave can you stop sharing yeah thank you uh just a couple things one um you know I've done this in the past and it's nothing I ever want to do again in the future but but um as a as a community and a administrative team and the school committee and the entire faculty staff and the community of Ashen just our our thoughts prayers and hearts go out to the Noel family and um loss of one of our former students unexpectedly uh right before Thanksgiving so um and I just want you know to state that up front that um you know the support that the district and the community has given um to the family is been outstanding and and continues to be so so um you know Pete was on here uh I would just tell you how impressed and grateful and thankful that I we have someone like Pete um leaving that building and and how he has approached this entire um tragedic situ watch us so so that's you know I I just want to start with with that um secondly um there will be a calendar survey coming out uh by the end of the week as we continue I I've had a few Community questions but also teachers who've asked about usually we have the school calendar um already approved sometimes I have two years worth approved um by now um typically in November um but I I felt like we needed to to ask some questions uh with regard to uh next year's calendar and calendar moving forward um so a survey will be coming out um if I was to present a schedule to you right now um of of the timeline for a calendar itself we would be ending the school year in 2425 right around June 28th um uh if we had five snow days so um just something that we need to be thoughtful of in the future um the Strategic plan um I know we've been waiting and finalizing that Mike and I are actually hopefully will be finalizing it with Prem on Thursday of next week uh finalizing meeting ready to come to you as a board for your final input um so that's our goal um and then we are also in the process of developing a a team to review our student management software system uh currently we have iPass uh we have two more years left on the contract but uh it's not really the most efficient and effective um student management system uh and there's probably only about six more six districts in the state that are actually using this system now when it used to be actually um pretty high and so we're going to take the you know a thoughtful approach and we have teams from each building uh and looking at three other um three other systems um that will hopefully provide us again when we talk about the data and the open architex and the data that we're trying to pull from iPass um it's really challenge at times um and even parents and teachers and user friendly uh we we want to open it up more for for families to use so um I think that is all I have for an update uh next Friday is an early release day uh for the winter break December break that's it thanks Jim Paul do you have warrant approvals I do uh between November 21st 2023 and December 13 2023 I Paul Kindle authorized by my signatures signature payables in the amount of $85,900 expenses of $56,700 $483 in Grant expenses of $2,250 and meals tax expenses of $833 thank you uh minutes from November 21 2023 does anybody have any recommended changes seeing none hearing none who has a motion I move to accept the as presented second all in favor Mark got do this one by roll call um but yes Erin yes Tina yes Paul yes okay and then gifts and donations yes yes for you oh did I not say Paul no yes you just kind of raised your hand like you're yes gifts and donations uh yes we have a few I'm going to lump up we've got like 15 um that donated to the helping our own fund uh so I'm just going to lump those all together um $660 we have a $3,000 donation to the student travel expense from Kristen and Michael Worster we have Planet Aid $210 35 for miscellaneous gifts and donations and master Institute of Technology 2200 for uh miscellaneous High School gifts and donations uh for total of $687 35 thank you do we have a motion to approve those move to approve as presented second all in favor Mark he Ain hi Tina hi Paul hi I and member updates we're at the end who's first I'll I don't know who's first Lori but can I go last absolutely thanks I'm Happ go Tina you can Mark we'll fight over well my update was gonna had no update so there it's snuck it in um I just wanted to update there was an ashack meeting last week um that I was able to go to and um Christy they had invited Christy Arnold to attend the meeting as well too to talk about collaboration between um Ash pack and the um El parent advisory Council that uh Christy is trying to get off the ground and so um you know they kind of shared some ideas in terms of collaboration Christy did a great job of course as always of explaining um you know kind of her role and her staff's role and kind of the the overlap uh for certain students that receive both El services and special ed services and so there was um you know a nice conversation about uh parent Outreach and collaboration so I think that'll that it'll be nice uh moving forward um and it was a nice group there were a number of new faces at at ashack as well too so it's nice to see that group growing thanks Tina um I'll share next I I've only uh gone to the warrant site Council since we last met um but we had really great communication there about communication uh there's a parent on the site Council who has dual citizenship and her husband has dual citizenship and she put together an excellent PowerPoint about um communication from that point of view reaching out to our immigrant communities or you know the the groups that we've talked about for all these years um about trying to reach and I I thought that her presentation was really well done and um it uh brought up a lot of you know points from uh it we just had a lot of empathy it was a very empathetic conversation and I thought that it would be helpful if she brought her Powerpoint to the school committee at some point so if you guys also would think that would be useful it was just it's a really great parent perspective and it opened up some really great conversation um so I'd like to add that to an agenda in January if that sounds good to all of you it sounds great yeah okay Paul uh I know there's several things I'll probably forget the I think the big one is I think I mentioned to the group before uh that the legislature had approved $100 million uh to funding to the msba to uh provide some additional funding to projects that were adversely impacted by the pandemic and so we had some estimates I think I threw out there that we expected it would be around 3.4 to $3.8 million or something like that uh happy to report we we just received the updated convoluted spreadsheet that they use but uh the end result of it is that uh it uh we're going to receive 5.57 million more from the msba so that's that's some good news um good news on that front now just so you understand what that means that just means that the proportion of the pie that they're paying is more it doesn't increase the the project budget or anything like that so it's uh instead of them paying a little over uh 26 uh well and this the final number won't be done until we know what our final budget is and what we expend but uh the maximum Grant was just over 26 million and now it's uh just under $32 million so so that's some some positive positive news that's hot off the presses from when did that come Jim yesterday day before yeah yesterday yeah so that that's all I have I'm sure I'm forgetting some some things but well that's excellent news it's always good to hear about money coming in rather than money going out so good news Aon okay um well my first update is I attended my first ever Ashland high school wrestling tournament and um she's not on tonight because she's at a meet right now but I wanted to call out Nora um because watching Nora wrestle was one of the most inspiring things I think I've ever seen an Ashland athlete do um and then not only to have like wrestled and just lost a really intense match and she was in the stands and then immediately saw one of her teammates was wring wrestling and it's somebody she's very close with she ran right back down to the m and got on the floor and was cheering for them and it was an incredibly special moment uh last Saturday both Mark and I were there um but being able to see not only the whole team um but specifically Nora and the fact that she is our student liaison I was just incredibly impressed by her and wanted to say that before I go on um so as most of the committee and uh admin team knows and for anybody that knows me on LinkedIn um my entire group um at work uh was divested from GE to ernston Young a month ago and it's taken a month for me to kind of understand um what our future is and what will be expected of me in light of the changes we have an extremely bright future despite the fact that there were quite a few layoffs ity yesterday uh that are in the Wall Street Journal but my group specifically we have a big ask in front of us and being on the leadership team I will be tasked with a lot um I've served on this committee for eight and a half years and I have loved the relationships that it has brought I have so much respect and admiration for the intellect the empathy the capability of everybody here but I also know in times past when I have tried to balance too much or pull myself too thin you know lots of different things have happened while I've served that it's been not only a disservice to my family or to my work but it's not been the best I just I know I'm going to be in the office a lot and I'm going to be traveling a lot and I won't be able to to give this what it deserves anymore um and so with that tonight is my last meeting and I'll be tendering my resignation um effective am media way um the few people that knew about this have already said oh well hey now you can run Ai and I was like no absolutely not um the only thing I will be doing from a volunteer perspective for like a while is being the kids night out face paint lady for two more times and then my career with that is also over um but it has been sorry um still sitting off camera holding my hand it has been an honor serving with you all Erin I'll jump in if you need a minute just to catch your breath um thank you for I mean eight years volunteering on this board we all everyone here knows what's involved in that um I know sometimes it's hard you know you know the community might only see us and one or two meetings a month and um isn't quite sure what we do but but I know that you have uh put your whole heart into wanting to make this community better and thank you for your service and thank you for um you know it sounds like you're going to be having an exciting new job and you'll have the ability to give that the attention and your your family and I just wanted to thank you for your contributions and wish you the best I'm I'm not going to say goodbye I'm pretty sure we'll see you again and we'll figure something out in that regard um but thank you yeah I'm not going to say it any better than than what she said so uh so I'll just say thank you as well and and did what she what she said so yeah and and I want to join in that too AR it's been you and I didn't know each other really before um before we started serving together and which was very close in time we both joined the committee about the same time and it's been a pleasure become a good friend and and thank you for everything you've contributed to you know to our group as a committee as a team broader than just a committee but to our community more generally thank you and I've served with you the shortest amount of time but um thank you Aon for all that you've given um you know your time and effort to the to the school committee uh no doubt that you're going to continue to find other ways to be involved uh but it's when you need to to take the time to make sure that you have time for your family we all understand that um and so you I wish you a ton of luck in your new position I'm sure you're going to knock it out of the park and um like Lori said this isn't goodbye um but thank you for all that you've done and I'll jump in just from the administrative side Aon uh you know it's always a balance right when you have someone come aboard Bo and and you've been with me 10 years my my entire you know just about my entire 10 years superintendent but when when folks come on to a board such as this with children within the system it's that balance of trying to figure out okay how do I be um an advocate for my child how do I be the the leader I need to be from a school Committee Member and you always kept that in Balance I don't think any one of our our administrators felt as though you crossed a line with us or with them uh as as a parent versus a school Committee Member which takes a lot of work because I know in many districts that happens all of the time and um so thank you for that and I think it's a that's a model that I hope everyone can can continue to follow and our board does that I'm not saying it doesn't it's just I want that to be known that you've done that as well so Aon would you like to make the last motion to adjourn um I move to adjourn second all in favor did a roll call I think Paul hi Tina I Mark hi me I eron we'll be in touch we're gonna get together and celebrate you and Aon I my final I thank you good night everybody thanks everybody bye next meeting January 10th sorry had put it on the recording put it on the recording I got it all right recording stopped thank you

I can tell it is going to be a good meeting uh we'll move into approval of minutes we have three sets of minutes to review and I would take a motion to approve alog together the three sets of minutes from November 8th November 14 and November 20 so moved wait there's a mistake that let's second it first okay and then please second thank you and the mistake is please which set on November the uh 8th it is where the chair down at the first page JW chair in the second sentence wanted to create equity not inequity second line do you see it there Susan Farber thank you other Corrections okay we'll move to a vote anyone abstaining any no votes all hold on please go ahead we need to do a friendly Amendment for with that uh approval of the minutes with the suggested edit as opposed to as they see oh sure so we'll yeah we'll yes we'll approve with the suggested edit as once corrected um any any no votes any extensions so that passes unanimously and we'll go to public comment uh Susan Farber who's our first person just go ahead and give us your name and the town you live in and then you have three minutes Alex coie I'm from Greenfield I have some notes here sorry let me pull them up hello my name is Alex gly I've been fortunate to live in Greenfield for the past 12 years I'm a parent of two elementary students in in the district I'm grateful and appreciative of the work the district and the committee have done all the time required to overcome challenges and affect positive change in our schools for our children I'm also grateful to all the teachers and administrators districtwide for their hard work and dedication I agree with the changes proposed to keep fifth graders in elementary school I agree with redistricting to make all of our schools populations reflect the diversity of our community I don't agree with this happening right now the decision laid out before the committee is a false dichotomy we do not need to displace young children from the school communities they've come to know and are comfortable in in order to achieve redistricting and keeping fifth grade in elementary school a group of children who have already had their comfort routine and normaly so disrupted by the pandemic with the closing of their dayc carees preschool schools remote learning cancelling of activ ities quarantining and isolating from friends and family we can achieve these goals and put into action the work of this district and committee without displacing disrupting and having a negative impact on the children of both in District choice and those whose home school would be changed simply by allowing students to stay in their current schools while phasing out interdistrict choice and phasing in redistricting we can have the desired positive impact on students while eliminating the negative impact on all the kids who would be uprooted both of my children are in District Choice my wife and I made this decision based upon geographical convenience we made this decision under the guise that this would be the school our children would attend and stay for their Elementary School career as recently is the beginning of the school year when enrolling our kindergarten many other parents have made the same decision for different reasons but under the same premise and promise and other parents still whose home school will be changed through redistricting will lose the choice to keep their kids in the school Community they have made their own and our comfortable in children are resilient and adaptable to change however haven't we asked this generation of kids to be resilient and adaptable enough to change in their young lives so far because of the stress a change in school could cause our children my wife and my initial plan was not to not discuss the possibility of a change in school with them until it was decided however our daughter found out through her friends at school that this was a possibility before we had the opportunity to talk to her she went directly from finding this out at school to crafting without any guidance or feedback from us a letter to read at the next school committee meeting that night well as a parent I had mixed feelings about her speaking during public comment I felt the importance of empowering her to be heard as an advocate for herself outweighed my qualms I'm glad that in doing so one member of the committee's response calling her a third grade child who has her own personal challenges entitled did not register I also forgive this member as I know she just like all of us has the greater good of our children and community at heart this being said I would ask the committee to make their decision based upon the wants and needs of the kids it will affect and not anyone's Personal Agenda we've heard from children and parents of intradistrict choice who do not want to have to relocate what about all the students and their parents whose home school would be changed shouldn't this be a choice for them as well not an imposed decision these two groups were given an exp expectation of stability when they began Elementary School Alex I got to ask you to wrap it up we'll do thank you so in closing why risk the negative impact on all the students who would be relocated to achieve a goal that can still be achieved if we just delay implementation if these changes to redistrict and move fifth graders to improve our schools and help our kids why force them now and create a negative impact on these same schools and children if we exercise prudence and patience this will create the greatest change in the long term with this I thank the district and committee for creating a great plan and ask them to wait and implement it when it can have the greatest benefit without any negative impact on those is intended to help thank you for your time sorry for going over you're okay thank you just your name and where you live and you have three minutes hi everyone my name is Stacy ston I live here in town um I have sort of two items that I wanted to touch on in the three minutes the first is support for intr districting or for support for the redistricting without intradistrict Choice yeah I can support for redistricting without intradistrict choice and I recognize that this is a difficult issue for many people including the person who just came up and spoke but but when I was reviewing all of the work that had been previously done on this issue by the members of this committee and members of of the school administration it seemed like the choice to redistrict without intradistrict Choice was the one that had the clearest number of benefits the fewest numbers of negatives and the fewest open questions that are let yet to be resolved um and when you're making policy that's sort of like the perfect trifecta that you go on when you make decisions um I recognize that for some students this will be a very impactful decision but as someone who attended two of every type of school two Elementary two middle and two high schools because I had to move around as a child your kid is going to be okay I know it's going to be difficult at first but like you mentioned they are resilient and it doesn't have to be as traumatic as it you know might seem um so I just wanted to voice my support for that the second issue is that um you know I'm going to be on joining you in just a few short weeks and I've been getting contacted already by certain folks um alerting me to issues that they would like me to raise on their behalf so I'm doing that um the issue that has been brought to me is about volunteering in schools and I have a a question which obviously you can't answer but has there been a change in the way that the policies for visitors especially parents are being enforced um one parent alerted me to their in their Elementary ENT classroom they were no longer able to join their child for a gingerbread making activity and that actually the whole gingerbread making activity itself was getting scrapped because the whole point was to bring parents into the classroom to be with their kids and that they were told the teacher was told and the parents were told that this was disallowed that for me is a mixed message when I hear we want volunteers we want more Community Support we need parent involvement and yet we're making it somehow more difficult or nebulous as even to how to go about doing it that's just like we're working at Cross purposes um and so I just wanted to raise that as something for you all to to hopefully look into thank you thank you just State your full name and where you live and you have three minutes sure um my name is Seth Melon and I'm a parent of two Elementary age students in the Greenfield Public School System I'm speaking speaking tonight over the concern of the estimated increase in class sizes of the elementary schools and the proposed changes to be voted on tonight this increase in class sizes and decrease in the number of classroom teachers as best I can tell is a result of trying to fit fifth grade into the three elementary schools while many parents during the listening sessions of 20202 expressed a strong desire to move fifth grade out of the Middle School it was not made clear or at least I didn't fully understand that an effect of such a move would be a substantial increase in class sizes in the elementary schools to be clear if the option is to have fifth grade in the elementary schools and have bigger class sizes or to have smaller class sizes in fifth grade in the middle school I personally would rather have um the Greenfield school committee prioritize um small class sizes it seems imp imperative to me not to make a voluntary decision that increases the number of student to um teacher ratio um there are many reasons for this most notably all children will likely receive less individual attention to to um get the help that they need to be at or above grade level in reading and math and as a result of large class sizes many families that live in Greenfield May Choice out so that their children can be in smaller class sizes in surrounding towns um I greatly appreciate that you all listened to the parents of Greenfield students and are trying to act several changes in response to those repeated concerns um it was not until the last three months or so that I understood moving fifth grade into the three elementary schools would cause such an estimated um increase in class size and I'm concerned that many other parents may also be surprised at the outcome and when given the choice would ask that you prioritize classroom size um if your plan is to hire more assistance to support the larg larger classroom sizes I would like to point out that it seems to me that Greenfield is having a hard time finding and retaining assistance for example my son's kindergarten class does not currently have an assistant teacher it seems more strategic to me to keep great teach the great teachers we already have than to create a scenario where we have to solicit other highquality classroom staff that may not materialize I understand that my preferences may be different than many other parents and stakeholders of the city and I ask that now that you've created a plan that fits within the budget and addresses some clearly stated concerns um please wait to enact the plan until you have had broad feedback from parents indicating that they understand the ramifications of the plan and want to move forwards with it much like you formally asked for feedback in the listening sessions of thanks thank you I'm sorry I didn't I didn't catch your name could you say that again Seth Melon thank you I wrote a list getting organized at my old age is your name first where you live three minutes web I live in Greenfield um I listened to the budget meeting the other day um I was really happy to hear talking about fixing the elevator at Federal Street School you know it's one of these things we can't keep putting a Band-Aid on over and over and over again and I know it's a lot of money but I feel like it's a long overdue lot of money so I hope that when it comes around we're able to get creative and find a way to make sure that both sides the North and the South side of Federal Street School are fixed um I mean we can talk about the fact that it's going to take six years for intradistrict kids to phase out six years is what the number was that I heard when I was listening to the budget meeting which seems like a long time for something that has already been going on for four years another topic is as Stacy already touched on was the visitor verse volunteer supervised versed unsupervised how there's been some miscommunication possibly I'm hoping down the pipeline that's not allowing parents to participate in classroom activities while being supervised by a classroom teacher I know that when I volunteered for the book fair I had to be fingerprinted and qued and even though I was supervised the whole time by the gym teacher who happened to be in the gym and I could visibly see the office from my location I was still fingerprinted and qued and watched every movie and read every document or slideshow as you would like to say so I'm just trying to figure out because I've read through a bunch of policies and it doesn't say anything specific when I read stuff it says we encourage parents to participate so how are we encouraging parents to come and participate to make gingerbread houses with their with their with their child or caregivers with their child if we are telling them they need to be fingerprinted and cored to come into the school to participate in the classroom event supervised I did send out an email and I did get a response back a delayed response at that back that didn't really clarify my answer um it just seems that there's more to this topic or again there's some miscommunication I know when I I listened again to the budget meeting it did say that the people who are going to do the elevator didn't want to get fingerprinted but we are still allowing them into our building they would just need to be supervised so I don't understand how that same procedure wouldn't apply to parents of students is where I was curious um I was again you know we talk about the differences between elementary schools back to budget there was some discussion about some fencing money that was going to be transferred from one school to another school that needed fencing and it was for me I'm like okay so we're not putting this money in this school for fencing is there another area we should be putting it into in this school instead of taking away this money to put it into another school thank you thank you anyone else for public comment don't be shy okay thank you all we will move on to it's just one to me brother it is um the other one had his wisdom teeth out today so naturally he's taking the day off um be a little surprised if he was here but we're going to start with student council as per usual um the student council completed another successful Spirit Week the week before um Thanksgiving students Dred in various themed outfits during the week which was captured by the yearbook staff which turned into a slideshow at the end of the pep rally the lip sync theme was musical artists and each grade gave an amazing performance the senior class took home the well-deserved Victory with their Taylor Swift mashup throughout the week we had penny wars and collected $566 for Special Olympics this money will be part of our donation to the upcoming Polar Plunge in March looking forward to our December events of ugly sweater day staff appreciation breakfast potluck dinner and pep rally in December Key Club is making a positivity campaign based on student responses at the Turkey Trot we're creating a food pantry for students to combat food insecurity um and the Key Club is serving as elves at the Salvation Army and Christmas party and they are baking cookies and Stone Soup Cafe to help their fundraising efforts um they meet after school on Thursdays winter sports have started and hockey's first game is this Friday and the girls basketball start on 1214 and indoor track on 1217 all schedules are on Arbiter live and we hope to see you at an EV um Library club's book to movie filmfest series started two Fridays ago and a well attended showing of the new liveaction version of The Little Mermaid and will continue mon monthly all the way up to March the next film they are showing is a haunting in Venice on January 15th which is based on AA Agatha Christie's book the Halloween party copies of the book are available for students to borrow in ghs library and families are invited to read along by borrowing books from the Greenfield Public Library who co-host these events this film series is free and open to the public um French Club will host their annual or their biannual Coffee House event on Thursday December 14th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

with close session and then with the understanding that open session is scheduled to begin at 6 uh just as we always have for my my concern is most of our open sessions are longer I mean closed sessions are longer than a half an hour and for us do that I think we just need to minimize our chattiness maybe if we just focus on the business at hand most the questions who are are most I think knowing that we have that 6:00 meeting start scheduled would be the reason we want to take care of our close session business more efficiently if it if it means that we do start Beyond 6 o'cl on occasion then so be it closed session happen to take longer um we would meet in Clos session in one of the side rooms here so that the public could still enter and be waiting for us to come in um I don't see that really as as a huge issue um on a regular basis here sometimes we're here so late you know 9:30 or 10 that would be nice not to be here could we if for some reason you think it's a heavy closed session that might take more deliberation could we um change meeting times to like 5:15 maybe yeah as long as we meeting as long as we post it in timely manner to stay in compliance with the law absolutely so maybe that's a you know another option we flexible mhm how though okay should be okay and I try when I'm when I know I have a meeting but you know things happen and for for this board at least before four of you could make it earlier for sure um and so we would have a quorum okay not to leave you out Rhonda but we would have a quorum we need to get started earlier okay okay my yeah it's a legitimate concern yeah okay do we need a motion on this uh make it official probably okay I motion approval the session FR second roll call vote I I I and I so great January will be meeting at 5:30 correct correct okay the doors will be open so you won't have to stay outside and fre we come on in here anyway so don't worry with that section of the organizational meeting U complete you get to pass the gabble off to Julie Steve really you do that didn't take long to understand oh wow it's like you're a night you're getting [Applause] du are it's official I do want to make a note about the January 17th I have a meeting in Fresno so I maybe kind of late I'm not sure yet until it gets closer but I'll text you and let you know but you guys start without me like you said it'll be good I can barely hear you could you oh I'm sorry can you any now I was just telling you that for January um meeting I have an actual meeting that day in Fresno so I might be late or might not be able to or join this close session but Ronda I'm sorry but you have to give your excuses to I'm just letting you know don't expect me okay moving on to item number four consent agenda I move approval of the consent agenda is our second yes any discussion I I just had one question [Music] sorry I I saw that there was a anestos officer I just wonder One anestos officer does we have to um designate someone to be the contact for um asbes anything any kind of removal of items in the Robert Diaz is our so Robert Diaz go around witho keep track of the paperwork regarding what we have left of older build okay any other questions um I don't know much about Eagle Academy and I I read the whole thing and I didn't see that named the words Eagle Academy anywhere other than in the title for this one particular thing could did I just hear more about what that is the Eagle Academy is the after school program one of the after school programs here at OES um we were able to picky back on the grant that was awarded to chel Elementary and they have graciously through the years opened up the opportunity for other districts in the county particularly those of us in eastern M County to jump in on that Grant um the grant pays for the California teaching fellows to come in and provide programming for students space is limited in that program we always have more kids in need which is why when the after school program opportunity came up through the Extended Learning opportunities Grant from the state uh we jumped at it so there are multiple opportunities here at OES but this is a continuation of what we've had in place for a number of years I dare say close to a decade or more right so it's more or less a nickname for this it's always been called Eagle Academy okay the mascot here ATO yes is Eagles um all right thank you y no more questions I just had some questions that I had already given to sah regarding reink autism I wanted to know what that was and she gave me a very detailed description of that program and also um the training program um that was for developing resilient Educators and so I got all my answers I for crisis any other questions call vote hi hi hi hi oh wait I'm supposed to go last sorry matter well just because we're out of order sit up again I know I well I've got you here you can correct me I also just wanted to um just acknowledge um Mrs oer who is in the audience tonight who um she was part of our agenda but I just wanted to acknowledge her years of service and say thank you for everything that you have done for our students in our district and yeah you're are sad to see you go but happy for you okay um moving on to item number five Financial reports um monthly approval of the warrants I motion to approve is there a second I'll second thank you Rhonda any discussion questions I had asked Tara about the mountainer you program so I had told her that um this past year my collection was that they charged between 25 to 30,000 but I notic they gone up to 44,000 without supplies you had mentioned that's part of the contract well they had raised the um rate they were paying the staff and they had added a couple staff but it was the contract that we approved I think back in May had the total for the whole year so it's broken out over each month depending on how many school days so some months will be lower or higher depending on how many school days there were on staff that was there but the total will net out to what we agreed on in the contract so and and an after school Grant covers that program so thankfully they have that I noticed that one a big part of our budget was the door locks and that projects looks like it's coming along well was good yeah okay any other questions call vote I Hi I hi hi motion carries okay item two quarterly reports on investments so this is just something um that comes up once uh we reach a certain period of the year right now we're reporting on July through September and and um the attachments there cover our trust which covers our funds and then our total investment for the op retiree liability um is slightly down from June but as you watch throughout the year it's kind of a pattern where it goes up a little down a little but has stayed more steady than it was during the co years so we still um we'll report on that at a later meeting about the the TR but we still have over what we need so we have a asset versus the liability because trust for the retiring cost [Music] information okay any questions thank you Tara moving on to item six hearing of persons wishing to address the board we have one person this evening Cecilia oer it's not all three of my students if it's not El it's yeah I got it right um lot of you know me I'm siser taught a lot of kids of yours um I just wanted to since I'm on my way out sorry I'm surprise you're going to come and say something so I'd like to thank you all for what you do to support our children community and School staff I have worked in the field of Education since I was 18 I have taught every grade great grade in a number of schools big cities little cities big districts little districts I've taught in a different language and even Tau a different country I've also seen a lot of changes throughout the 37 years I've been involved in education through all of that I'm certain of one thing new technology new curriculum new techniques none of that matters as much as good people and we have a lot of exceptional hardworking people in our district not to brag I've been one of them so I've never seen myself as anything other than an educator I've known I wanted to be a teacher since I was in eth grade but I'm leaving education sooner than a lot of teachers do I love teaching I love the kids and I love the people I work with because they're [Music] family the field of education is increasingly stressful in order to do my job and need needs my kids I found myself working 70 hour work weeks which doesn't leave much time for one to take care of oneself or one's family so please do everything you can to take care of the people you have working in our district I know how true their cards are and how much of themselves they give every day on top of that I've been on lots of interview panels and I know how slim the pickings are getting out there another thing that's close to my heart is the students that are English Learners if they don't ENT school at a young age we don't have a lot of support set up for them I really enjoy this year working with that group of students trying to figure out ways to meet their individual needs but even my help was less than what a lot of them need so I appreciate my 26 years that I worked in past Lake School District like I said we're family even though Friday is my last official day I'm not going to disappear I'll still be a around so thank you for your time [Music] number seven action items [Music] um okay uh number one positive certification of person report so you'll see there on the attachments there's um I'm just going to list with there really quick there's a board packet and then the cash flow which also gave you a copy of and then the presentation which I'm going to go through in a moment and then the full first interim report the 100 page report for all the funds um which is also on our website um but if you click on the word packet I just want to highlight a couple things before I get into my presentation so I'm not going to read through the first page which is the narrative first and second page because I get into that in my presentation uh on page three you'll see fund one that's our general fund so I highlighted the revenues and expenditures as well as the ending fund balance and then on page four um what that fund balance is made up of which is mainly the restricted funds the ones that I've talked about before that are for specific programs and then on page 11 uh I included the page that breaks out the restricted funds so you see what those programs are and the amounts that make up that restricted balance I just highlight that because when I first was here and was newer um I didn't always break that out so I want to make that clear because that isn't included in our Reserve that those are restricted funds and then additionally at Pages 12 and 13 is where you'll see the multi-year projections so that's why we're having a positive uh certification we're saying we can meet our obligations in the current year and then the two uh years Beyond and to do that if you look at some of the breakdowns of the numbers you'll see um some things are Ed you know a lot of the onetime restricted funds are going away um and we're just just meeting our Reserve which is there on page 13 um but that's what we need is those yeses at the bottom of page their te saying we meet the criteria in the state software so that we can pass a positive first in um so now if you want to click on the presentation so I have to uh load that up so this is as I mentioned the 2324 first intro so first I always like to get into the highlights I think it's really important to point out all the great things I'm not going to sit here and read through all this I pulled most of this from the awesome thing that Mr Seal's added each meeting where he's had all of the sites um doing their section on the agenda where they've been highlighting all the great things going on at each campus and I love seeing that and knowing that um here I am crunching numbers or whatever we're working on all these plans but actually seeing it come to fruition what's being done at each of the sites I love the pack program at the points program for PBIS at oci I've heard really great things about that um and I've heard about the fun uh dance parties at o at the recess on Fridays I'm trying to make it to one of those um and then we have um the positively POS how do I say that three times fast readers uh with suuma which is where they go over and read at the SPCA there to the animals and it also helps kids build their reading skills I think that's such an awesome idea and I'm sure the animals really enjoy the visitors um but I love hearing about all the great things going on at the sites and um you know seeing like I said everything that we've worked on um you know really providing all these great programs for our students so um I always like to start off the that so for the first interim um when we do the nyp which is the multi projection we have to have some assumptions so there's some factors that I have to put in um in order to come up with um the projections to say we can meet those two fiscal years coming up so the Statewide estimates are projecting a $58 million shortage through 2025 uh they thought by pushing back the tax deadline that that was going to bring in more revenue from the higher earning people in the state but actually that didn't um happen so they're talking about um you know the whole state being impacted for the next couple years by this so they told us to use a 1% Cola for next year and 2.7% for the following year though some advocacy groups are saying you should use 1% for the both years um which is really drastically different from the 88.2% that we had this last year when we were building the budget um so that's just one of the factors we plug into the calculator and that helps us give our Revenue projections um our lower enrollment is used on the first but the budget was built at the end of 2223 when we had more uh enrollment so you kind of have to keep that in mind because that will have a trickle down effect um as adaa comes in lower than enrollment and then now we have around 30 less students than we did when we ended the year the good news is our unduplicated pup count is up uh to 579 so that brings in some more um that means we have students in the subgroups English Learners Foster youth homeless Youth and um lowincome students and that came from our um income verification form that we sent out as part of the lunch program that brings in some additional revenue for supplemental and concentration grant funding and that's something we already have in our budget but it just allows us to have um a lot of those programs and extra electives and things it's good to have more funding there and then our myp always includes the step and column uh increase of 1.75 just kind of an average number of use every year uh everyone um who's not topped out leads up a step and then stirs and Pur increases year to year uh this year we saw an 8% increase in the cost of our health welfare plan so if you think about Cola being 8% then everyone's Health welfare went up um that was pretty pretty crappy to see because in the past we would have 2 to 4% increase in our Health and Welfare but it's impacting everybody in the state um you know everybody knows that when you're going to the doctor and just the costs of medical and dental division have gone up Nationwide so I continued with that 8% in the multi-year projection just assuming it's probably not going to go down if the forecast in the economy is the that's good and then um there's lower federal and state restricted funds because a lot of the one-time monies on that restricted page are running out you know the co funds end in 2024 and then um it seems like they always add different different ones so there could there could be other ones some of them um that we've been doing all these big project and things with will be finishing up and since we adopted the budget our lcff funding went up slightly I'm going to cover that on a lat slide um but we were not needing the reserve when I loaded everything into the state software so I had to go back in to the county uh Financial software and I had to remove some vacancies of positions we didn't fill this year um due to our lower enrollment so so um that was the only way to meet our reserves so we're really kind of kicking the can down the road if um you know our enrollments down funding is lower but yet we need more um services and supports for our students and our staff um so you know education funding really should be more of a priority in my opinion but so now we do meet the reserve by me removing those vacancies they were placeholders in the budget in case we need to fill certain positions oops I have to go back sorry too much so what I always talk about what's our current status so this is just what we're here we're we're certifying that we can positively meet all our financial obligations through 2026 um but each time we're kind of just meeting the reserve uh our budget Workshop in January will show us the shortfall of the state will impact the budget but again A lot of times by May things can change even more and you can see oh wow in the cash flow the cash B seems really high but a majority of that is the restricted funds um and then you think oh there there's a lot of cash fting there but if you look to the next two bullets so monthly and this has increased dramatically over previous years we're spending around 1 million um with payroll and benefits and also um 285,000 in accounts payable so that's what you see on the warrants so that's that extra cash flow other than the restricted amount is what's sustaining each month we're doing payroll we're paying our bills um and then December and April they P they'll post our tax revenue and as I mentioned before we're down 30 students so we get funded on a threeyear average adaa um but each year our adaa is usually in the past before covid it was about 40 below our enrollment but then the last couple years it's been about 70 below the enrollment because we've seen a lot of absences and that's been discussed with chronic absences um so over time when you're using the three-year average and we had a couple of the higher years in there for Ada it's going to be um the lower adaa and that's going to catch up um when when you look at the funding and that's something not just here but Statewide all districts with a lot of people leaving uh California and um we weren't in declining enrollment a couple years ago so when I would hear people talking about that at conferences I was kind of like well we're not facing that our involement is going well um then the pandemic came along and we saw um a lot of families either moved or kept their students home and that NE number really never came back uh where we have 820 students now we used to have 890 that's pretty substantial if you figure our funding is around 11,000 a student and if you lost um 70 students that can be pretty F financially impactful so I wanted to I don't want to read through this uh in detail I know we have a lot of other things on the agenda but there's some new funding called prop 28 it's art and music funding and it's going to be ongoing this is different from the one time part mus discretionary Grant um it it's only going to be just a little bit over 100,000 and it has I didn't see that it's covered by that picture sorry um it has to use equally uh at each site and you have to have a plan at each site it's like they give us all these plans we have to do any each site and most of it has to be used for Staffing if you look at a teacher salary and benefits that's really only enough for one teacher or maybe a couple part-time teachers um but that's something you're going to have ongoing if they want to bring back some different disciplines art Music Theater different back into schools and then our learning recovery emergency block rant because of the shortfalls in the state budget they did reduce that uh down a little bit um but we haven't done anything with those funds yet they do expire in 2026 um and then the art music One Time Grant again was reduced um we have to have a plan to use that we had only really discussed using a portion of it for the high school band program but other than that we haden't really um done the plan yet because that one also we have till 2026 and then the covid Esser funds are expiring next uh September so right now we're using that for the door lock project and then um getting the portable infrastructure requirements um and then we do have four positions that we had moved um last year to meet the rise so we had moved eight positions over we moved half of them back to the unrestricted budget and there's still four positions that are in the co funds um and then as we just discussed earlier the elop that's after school program Grant we use that for my club and that's been great as well as some other um after school programing trips prek implementation and special ed those are one time um we're using them now for the for the staffing for those programs they're just a portion of those salaries and then the kitchen infrastructure Grant is what we're using to do that one that you saw with the bid that we're doing the walk in fridge and freezer so if you see an expens it's on a warrant that's actually under one one not under the cafe fund but that Grant just covered the cost of that and then we do have restricted Lottery funds that roll over year to year um and we've set that aside which you'll see on that snapshot of that restricted fund page um for future curriculum adoptions but we don't use that we just we get a small amount each year and we just kind of let it accumulate so I just wanted to go over that's the bulk of that 1.7 million so here's the lcff changes from the budget adoption as you can see it's really only in the supplemental and concentration grant funding um and it's because of that higher number those 579 pupils that are UND duplicated those are the students in those subgroups um so that just increased the funding in that area but it doesn't really give us any extra funding or anything because we already have all the programs um over there under supplemental concentrations so it was around 184,000 um that that up last year we had seen a bigger change in our lcff um between the budget adoption and the first in room but this year it's m and then everybody was excited last year when we heard about the home to school transportation reimbursement changes sorry um but then they said we are taking out um the part that's on the lcff calculator so we were told last year we were going to get around 400,000 for that um but then if you look I can refer back to this previous slide um but if you look here there's the home to school transportation that's I don't know oh it's letting me Point um those are on the lcff calculator so those are the two amounts so now we're only getting um you can see here the estimated funding for the HTS is the 76,000 so they may seem like we're going to get this additional for 100,000 for home to school transportation but then they said oh no that's already on your calculator we're just going to D that out and you just get a little bit we done a plan and all that for that so um that was something where we thought there's extra Revenue coming in but it's really just small amount um here's the general fund stats so you can see here the original budget versus first term if you look um the revenues and expenses um are close to netting each other out um the main increase in revenue is offset by required expense budgets in the restricted programs so anything we got like the art and music Grant or the learning loss Grant you can't just have a revenue budget in software you have to have an expense budget so we might have put something on your services or supplies like as a placeholder so that you're allowed to allocate those funds but that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to spend those we still have to do a plan and do all that but the biggest change we have was 28,000 in special education we had to increase the contribution since we the budget um and that's mainly in the other operating expenditures of 5,000 category of services because of our due process lawsuit where we had to pay a litigation fee which youve seen on the last warrant as well as the services for that student and this has been going on for several years so that's really impacting the budget for such a small District as well as the county um special education programs there's a few of our students who are lucky they go to the county but they had to hire at the county for those students 101 so they'll bill us for that as well as we pay some parents Mage currently things like that and we did add an extra teacher and a few AIDS so special ed is the biggest change where um we had to add to the budget in terms of Staffing and um and those services that are in the 5000 so you can see we meet our Reserve there and we have a little bit remaining but that can be uh that can fluctuate um due to they've already said our tax revenues are going to be less so this will be fluid and changing throughout the year but the majority of the ending balance is the restricted programs and you don't count that towards your reserve um and I always like to have this slide Kurt could help me with this one just showing the cost of snc which is step in column and stirs and purs so just our benefit and our our um our retirement benefit and our salary cost year over year you see see there where there's a couple years where it's um bigger especially last year that was when we did the 8% um and then ongoing just knowing it's around um you know around 150,000 F certificated and classified so that's a cost that in your budget that ride out the gate without receiving additional funding or anything like that you have to pay because there's always going to be people lower up and the benefit costs are increasing so anything really extra that comes in this year um went towards that as well as a special ed cost but yeah that's why those two years look so much bigger um because of the um the r last year and then the year before was a one time and if anyone has questions or comments um the next thing coming up I'll be working with our attendance sorry this was such a gem Eric so it's on Facebook it's on Facebook so I feel like it's fair game it made my day so it's working so hard I wanted to share um we have the ABA report due on January 9th so I'll be working with Nicole who's our student our student database and attendance um U person and turn I'll be working on submitting that but we don't get funded on p18 but they want to report and see where you're at with your attendance and then the governor's budget Workshop is in Sacramento in mid January we'll get a little bit more with numbers um that will um give us some ideas for projections for next year and and then the second inter room so the second piece of this um is due in March and then we'll be working on elap and budget development and then in April so we turn in our P2 adaa that's where we get our adaa number that we build the budget off of so all the absences or different things we have going on that's when we kind of know where we're at at that time of the year in terms of um what our Ada rate is which is the average daily attendance and then in May uh we have the May rebonds and then that's some years it's about the same as January some different so it just kind of depends on the economy what's going on in the state and then in June we'll have the two board meetings where first we review and adopt the budget so if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer those question yes that recovery that be taken away or that um well as of right now they're talking about looking at reducing more of the onetime funds I think that is State sees that those funds are there and they haven't you know their the period to spend them hasn't run out yet and so they were talking about doing that to offset the Statewide shortfall they could reduce it down further but it wouldn't make enough of a difference you know if they have a 58 million but I could see that they could reduce that further hopefully they know a lot of districts have put things in for that um you know so they would but so have we plan for that and we haven't had a plan yet honestly I know everybody has just been so busy there's so much going on there's been talks of having be you know some type of man coach or um any type of supports for students for achievement and learning um it could be but it's onetime fund so it's kind of um you know you need to see how to best use that because you wouldn't want to hire Like a Rockstar app person and then F the F away you know so nothing's been decided there's lots of good ideas out there um some districts could be just using it to cover some cost but we don't have any plans that I haven't been made aware of we have had some plinary discussions internally potential uses of that um those discussions keep coming back to the idea of math coaches and providing RTI and Mathematics similar to what we do with Ela and um we've discussed previously the need for more focused attention of mathematics based on performance of of students and and Michelle's going to provide some of that data a little bit later on the agenda um that's where those discussions keep coming back to um but as Tara just mentioned Our concern is we start that program and that funding goes away we have to make sure to extend that program Beyond 2026 that there will be additional monies coming in either they renew the learning loss Grant or we get more funding in other areas to to allow us to continue to employ those individuals that positions but that being it's state instead of federal funding so it's a little less restricted you don't have to have a plan and there's not as much you know rules that are in place compared to like the covid funds so and I think not having a plan just makes it a little more flexible you know that we could have discussions I mean that' be a great item to have in the future if we wanted to have discussion plan for that but we just haven't gotten there with all the other stuff we have going on yeah so I conf that happen we have a couple years yeah those discussions that I mentioned they're really picking up seeing because we're looking at implementation AUST the upcoming school year right any other questions thank you chair feel like we have a good picture of what's happening and like you said it's fluid okay is there a motion to approve the positive certification of first in report I motion to approve second any discussion questions call I I I I and I two okay um next item adoption of board policies administrative regulations and bylaws presented for first reading at the November meeting so I make a motion that we adopt the policies administrative regulations and bylaws presented at the November meeting I'll second there any discussion yes I have a comment on regulations 6161 selection and evaluation of instructional materials under the criteria section it says criteria for selection and adoption uh I would like to add to that consideration of age appropriateness any given instruction that would be let is middle page [Music] right1 page in the middle criteria for selection and Adoption of instructional [Music] material right um you said the regulation right yes regulation okay I'm back okay [Music] well in there with regard to any kind of selection I would like to include wording that has to do with evaluating the age appropriateness of each High I think that's very important any other discussion I think my only com about appropriate is who deciding because everyone's going to have a little bit different opinion on when kids are ready for what so I'm not sure if we put that language in and how do we measure it I think to that question and also so Dian to your your suggestion I think both would be addressed with the first criteria and that they are aligned with content standards adopted by the State Board of Education and then consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework also adopted by the State Board of Education which is a the content standards for first grade for example would be sa and say these are all supported by well item three um under criteria to the satisfaction of the board are accurate objective current and suited to the differing needs and comprehension of District students at the respective grade levels I think that agree ultimately if we if we as a district or proposing adoption of instructional material curriculum the ultimate decision rests with the board come forward you would have the opportunity to review that material and use your judgment as toiz policy 61631 the library media center we're changing what we okay can you give us a second over follow one more time16 policy 61631 Library Med okay my understanding is that all of the library materials are are they available for parents to see yes and there there's um there's actually an opportunity we have online catalogs where they can use their their child's device their child can go on and see what books are available for checkout the entire staff is listed okay so anytime there new books it's always updated there are concerns that there are are books um and it's not just about the LGBT but there's actually obscenity and and uh my understanding is that the American Library Association put standards for County Libraries public schools and colleges are they sent from all Senate laws do we have any concerns like that that have been brought forward in our district no they' been brought forward in oural that's great good and we have a County librarian uh oversees our libraries and works with the staff there I did find a book it's it's called gender queer and it's in the adult explicit section and it's all cartoons from page one do we have an adult explicit [Music] sectionary the county library we don't have any in the county library what this is just in our schools on our sites okay my understanding is that all across the country those available to show so I'm glad to know that and I was noticing um on page two the it's under the heading selection and evaluation of school library materials it's the second sentence Library material shall be selected and evaluated through a process that invites recommendations from administrators teachers other staff parents Guardians and students as appropriate yeah I appreciate concerned and I think where that's coming from this um well there's a there's there's groups coming into our our school district right now doing some seminars and other kind of things so parents start looking at the curriculum looking at the books in the library looking for for okay things I don't know I I don't know all the details that's since the parental right thing fail that's what they're focusing on right now is the library curriculum and one the books that are in the libraries you said there's a group that has coming into yes so we're going to have some parents that are going to be looking for something I don't when the Librarians Place orders those come through the district office so I'm reviewing orders but they don't even come to me till the principes have Rie the book orders and there's a whole process the librarian doesn't go to Barnes & Noble grab some books you know they have to place an order through the district using distri signs and it follow I'm not accusing anybody I'm just saying that it's that's the new Focus right now yeah I'm just assuring you that there's a lot of vetting and that's all looked over material up to be part of it minut I think that's important to understand the process that you just explain Tera and then to also have these policies in place that state that they are going to be selected and evaluated through a process that invites recommendations from administrators teachers other staff parents Guardians and students as appropriate covers it there are checks in B is in place I mean yeah you know we may hear more about it I I tell people to talk to your teachers talk to your principles principles will talk to the superintendent there's a problem you know so that's all I that's all I know about but I know that there's going to be more focus on on in our elementary school libraries the next few months are there any other um comments or questions about adopting these policies reg administrative regulations and bylaws [Music] you I I I I I three times um motion Carri um item three early dation of retirement incentive I found um very specific uh language in the last paragraph This is not a retirement incentive instead it is an incentive to provide early notification of the plan to retire which allows the district sufficient time to recruit and hire Quality Personnel to fill those vacant positions for the 2425 school year as well as develop an accurate District budget yeah so we always put this out around this time of year so that we can do that by giving the deadline and getting the early notice so that we know what people's plans to retire and as long as Randy and I have had this on there we had increased it so we had talked Michelle talking about um you know that amount probably should go up it's been several years you know and everybody knows the cost gone so we wanted to bump that up a bit um and put it out there this time so we have the deadline and give people time to decide if they're kind of on the fence just a little bit extra of a bonus so that deadline is February 2nd and the notification is to be given to the superintendent right and then that way we can advertise it um the positions earlier you know a lot of people were looking for changes in position or moving to a new area you know they're not waiting till July to do that people are planning head we can get the best candidates by being head of that that's a little bit of a was it bucks a couple years ago it's been a thous every year for probably four or five [Music] years theie to it is it's going to be especially important in springtime as Tera laid out and I may mention of it earlier with sa revenues coming in anywhere between 26 and4 billion doll short in the current year year current Year's budget what impact that's going to have on the governor's budget proposal in January um most folks connected to this are predicting lean times next year and a very difficult budget which doesn't happen very often in election year but it very well could happen um in California for this upcoming cycle we need to have very accurate picture of what our staffing needs are and what those costs are so those who were on the offence about retirement um we just need to know in advance so that we can budget accordingly and have something as accurate as possible I make a motion we accept the early notification of retirement in stive second discuss second wel I I I motion carries okay item four resolution 248 authority to apply for electric MERS Grant with sjb PCD some good news um as you may recall or maybe those who are newer to the may not recall we have partnered with the sing Valley Air Pollution Control District on a number of projects Through The Years uh that allowed us to purchase school buses as well as our maintenance custodian electric utility carts most recently uh there is a new Grant opportunity and as most of us know it's it's in an effort to get most if not all gasoline powered or diesel powered engines in our um yard equipment for the better term um out of operation and instead in their place replace them with electric power well recently you approved a right on Long mower that is no longer used as Surplus well not long after Robert had posted that mower um on the website that we put our Surplus items on we learned he was approached to learn of this grant opportunity that what one right on lawnmower is worth $155,000 to the S Val po Patrol District um to benefit our trade in for a new electric powered Ron lower and if you took the time to look through the attachments and all that can be available and all that is eligible for trade in it could be very substantial to the district and so what we are asking for in this resolution is that we we essentially grant our mot director the authority to negotiate uh the exchange of our Surplus equipment toward the purchase of the electric power equipment I make a motion we Grant the authority to apply for an electric M Grant I second any discussion thank you Robert you're welcome looking forward to this yeah to see what they're like this will be a good opportunity because we still have the gas um Power Bruns at each site so we'll have one um electric one that we can see how it lasts what it does how it does before we have to go that route for sure um my understanding um through this that if we find more of little stuff Randy that we have to come back with resolution each time that we do these and it's not just a blanket I think the board would be happy to consider that request Hi I hi hi keep on your toes been like this from beginning okayy um item eight informational items our enrollment report so you'll see two items there the last time I had included the adaa I forgotten about that but it shows you average daily attendance for each of the sites as well as the enrollment I'm not going to go over that but I'm going to start including that with the enrollment and then on the December enrollment you can see uh last meeting we had 823 this time it's 819 so it's kind of a usual pattern it goes up and down a little bit each month sight to sight um but still better than the 813 we had CI on Count Day few more than that small changes at each site what is encouraging on the 88 report that Tera has provided is that the 88 percentages are holding a little higher than what they have in recent a lot higher than what they were in recent years with all three primary sites at over 91% tendance and that's that's Improvement yeah understand that we were just entering cold and flu season but still yeah and back in our Heyday it was more like 95% and yeah during Co it got in the high 80s so it's good to see that getting back into the 90s very I'll take item two inter District transfer reports there were [Music] none um item number three uh 2023 2024 C proposal csca and csca 757 to Bass Lake joint Union Elementary School District so we uh completed this process with the bass Teachers Association earlier in the year and we are in the midst of negotiations currently uh CA has submitted their Sunshine proposal for the current year they are looking for a multi-year agreement they would like to discuss the Articles listed there article seven dealing with salary article 8 benefits article 14 classification and reclassification Article 15 layoff and Reemployment uh article 17 dealing of safety and article 21 was term looking for a multi-year agreement that is their Sunshine proposal that's before you just as an information item tonight I'm happy to answer any questions if I can I have to answer since it's cca's Sunshine proposal questions number [Music] four yeah and our proposal in response to CSC item four and essentially we have agreed to discuss their ideas in all of those [Music] areas okay item number nine presentation and discussion of student achievement data cast prity Etc and the School dashboard report there it is up on the screen can you guys hear me yes okay so I'm going to go over the cast data on the California dashboard for um the last several years so I took um so this information is the state test that word for eth graders take in the spring and um I went through and and took all of the categories that are reported on the dashboard and put together some data on each of them and compared best like to the state so the first slide is for chronic aism which we just kind of talked about a little bit so um just a little bit of information about chronic absenteeism percentage is a student is considered chronically absent when they have missed 10% or more of the school days in a school year so if you look at 2019 in red across this bar graph is the state percentage and then blue is basake on all of these slides at the bottom I noted this for 20120 and 2021 there was no data for those years so those are flat on all of the all of the barbs I thought it would be interesting and important to look at data um pre pandemic as opposed to post so that's why I chose these years um so this is a look at Chronic absenteeism percentages for um 2019 through 2023 I think it's important for our discussion when we talk about Chic absenteeism this is for any absence either the child is present or not present an excused absence doesn't just seriously disappear the child is absent okay they may it might have been an excused absence but they're still absent so it's all absences in total corre next one talks about suspension rate so this is um percentage of students that were suspended at least one day so this Compares again um California to Bass Lake and those are our percentages um across those years for suspension rate questions about that one do you have a question about just why do we think we're so much higher than the state average um prior meetings we've discussed our concerns about the change in student Behavior post pandemic and we're we're seeing violent behaviors exhibited at the youngest of Ages that we did not see prior to the pandemic now I don't know if there's a cause and effect associated with the pandemic or we're trying to ascertain what that is but it's interesting to see the state average where it is because I know everybody in Madera County has had a higher average than what they had prepandemic and it it's substantial so we have a lot of really smart people people who are a lot smarter than I who are looking into the why yeah and I'm going to work on comparing our data to the other districts in our County also um that information isn't completely out yet for the public so I just went ahead and compared for this presentation for now to the state but we will be looking to see um CU I think that's important to look at um our compare like our other County Schools too so like how we're doing because it's more Regional it's more apples to apples I thought the state [Music] doesn't so these are correct I do question um I these are calendar years not school years no it's a school year school year and then it's testing year so it's in the spring yeah this is all this is all last this this is all data from um the spring of 202 yeah like last school year could it be because you're enforcing it more than other districts yes thank you which we yes that's one of the concerns that we have with the state data is are the districts in Madera County drawn a hard line and I I would respond yes we are because there's what's appropriate and what's not and I don't want to go to what's not thank you it's very commendable appreciate that I appreciate those that sentiment however we get DED when we do and everybody needs to understand that and if we get to a certain threshold just like we are in differentiated assistance for like chronic absenteeism if the state continues to look at this data and see that we are at a higher percentage than like then um we might have to put some plans in place to try and reduce our suspension rate that's not a thing right now but that could be a thing so we kind of have to keep keep an eye on it I would be very concerned if our principles were using suspension as a tool too frequently or halfly and I can say with extreme confidence they are not I agree suspension is the last resort okay next slide is English learner progress so this is the percentage of English Learners that are making progress towards English proficiency can take a look at that if you have any questions okay question so 39.7 in 2023 that's 39.7% of our kids were making strides towards proficiency so basically 60% uh English Learners of our English learner population 39.7% of them are making progress towards English proficiency has defined obious criteria okay so have the test that yeah there's a test and then there's um like District criteria also for um reclassifying yeah so this is this is um defin definely an area that needs to be looked at this yeah so this is definitely something that has traction and is being paid attention to yeah what what I what struck me when I first opened it is you look at the data comparison between 2022 and 2023 the state data State performance declined 2% while local here in Bass Lake we improve by 7% I will take 7% growth any Year from one year to the next so that it's encouraging but it's still an area of emphasis for sure right like the percentage is discouraging however the growth is encouraging so we can continue to see that Trend but maybe like bigger jumps would be cool yeah would be cool yeah the next one is English language arts so this is um determined it's points below standard unfortunately we didn't have any that like all of our data is points below standard so um it's a really complicated and convoluted equation that gets to this um but obviously we would want to have that number be small right we would not want to be very much below standard and we would rather be above um but that's how you decipher those numbers so again something to be paying attention to and then the next one is the same concept but for mathematics which we talked about earlier and clearly is a top priority grow right% yeah Statewide it's a it's glaring and um there was growth so that's fantastic just looking at even the state average prepandemic to where it is currently Statewide oh my goodness yeah so that so as this data has been trickling in over the last couple of weeks it's got our attention and it's got the attention of a lot of folks Statewide and that's why when I said our most recent discussions about the grant funds have centered on math coaches so that's um for the cast the seate testing and the California dashboard and then I did do a couple quick slides on our I ready data for this school year so the slides I just went over for for for years previous and then last school year and so this is where we are currently with I ready I do want to put out a disclaimer the winter diagnostic is not completed there are a few days left and so those that's just kind of like where we are but it's not the very end result um I can actually report on that at the next meeting if we want a more accurate um but for reading in the fall of 2023 so the beginning of this school year 25% of our students were on grade level in Reading 34% were one grade level below and 41% were two or more grade levels below and then now currently the m s although it's not not all the kids have tested yet but um as of a couple days ago when I ran the reports um 37% on grade level so that's good and then um one grade grade level below is 33% and two or more grade levels below is 37% so we want those numbers to go those percentages to go down and they have good okay are my eyes seeing me am I a poor math student it looks like win looks like 107% 37 + 33 plus yeah it so that happens like often when I'm doing the reports for I ready and I've asked them and there's no real good answer yeah like I know it's it's weird yeah I know it's not helpful at all maybe some kids are more than one category no I don't know why it does not and honestly like I've tried to understand and [Music] they I CH it up to our kids give 110% only yeah it's super weird I don't know I and then I did the same thing for m so compared ball to so progress so that's academic achievement as of now at least for you know the data that I collected um but I will bring more data to you guys like I said to compare like within our region I think that's important to look at and then um continue to track that right the other thing that'll come to you is a report on the California dashboard the California dashboard does not go public until the 18th I believe it is that's correct uh so we have been allowed embargo access so we can see the data there is some good news to report there we just can't present it publicly tonight um but one it's what we've always done but two it is a requirement that we present the dashboard on the board agenda and so that'll be coming your way most likely in January I think the next step at least for me as a board member I would like to just have some sort of report on what intervention looks like in this District as a whole is there a comprehensive District Intervention Program is it by grade level at each site how are we handling intervention because we're making strides right but how can we like makees and what does that look like and I think it's important that all of us particularly around this table understand what is in place what is in place in terms of innovention what what programs are we running as I mentioned earlier we know we have RTI for ELA reading and we have a huge ging hole there for mathematics so we have to develop a plan together we are going to address those concerns because the data speaks for itself if you look at performance not not only locally Statewide so I think this absolutely has to be an ongoing conversation with regular data reports and I think to like not only the academic but also like probably bring to you what we're doing for differentiated assistance for The Chronic aasm because that's I mean those are related right like if we have so many kids absent so much well it makes sense that our academic achievement is probably going to suffer because of that so um I can put together what we've been working on in those committees to address that and then also what current interventions we have for academics and kind of like conversations about where we'd like to head yeah yeah because really at the end of the day you're all you teachers here you're all intervention teachers you're intervening every day that's what you're doing so but what does that look like collectively as a district so that just so that we know what's going on we know there's a map right where are we headed how are we getting there and so we see progress right but what's the next step to get to the next stage to really feel like you guys are empowered to make the difference you know so that the kids are working academically on grade level that's the goal right so how are we going to get there even with the challenges that we have even with the finances that we have how can we at least get as far as we can even if we can't get 100% there I think it's really important to mention as well and it really it to be part of our work with differentiate assistance and some of the things that we have coming up educating our our families our parents the importance of having the kids get to school on a more regular basis because when we're running chronic absente rates over 31% the impact that has on our classroom teachers the amount of ret teing that has to occur um was in a very interesting discussion last week in County Superintendent meetings as we were working on a project and talking about the [Music] change the changes that we have seen ushered in rapidly by the pandemic but the number of professions that are allowed to work remotely now and that that is really an appeal to a lot of Industries well I stopped and thought back to our local practices we have gone to one to one we have adopted Google Classroom when a child is absent and they they have this at home they have access to all of the activities that they're going to do in class that day so how much of that is playing into a decision well I'm just going to stay home today I I can do all my work but what they don't understand is they're missing a key ingredient to their education and that is the interaction with their peers in the classroom and the teachers in the classroom for that original instruction and we've almost out of necessity made it easier for them to stay at home and not fall behind on their assignments but they're falling behind in their learning and it's something that I wanted to throw out there for all of us to ponder for a moment um but it's the way of the world education has to figure out how we're going to resolve this and I don't have the answers but like I said earlier we've got a lot of people smarter than I who are working on this well plus I would wonder when you mentioned the behavior and the suspension piece too because Behavior plays a role in kids um they're disrupting their whole class so those students aren't learning or then that student who being removed I would feel like that would that impact achievement as well and I'm hearing about you know behavior issues districtwide do you think that ties in as well absolutely because the learning environment has to be not only physically safe but cognitively safe social emotionally safe and we our learning environments are being disrupted which is disrupting the work of our teachers and our students so everything goes into the supow if you will and it's a strange bre right now I have a question about theism so um so on the one side it's like 30 whatever per abente ISM but then the Ada say this for like 92% so how does that translate chronic abente rate is is based on a student if a student has been absent 10 or more days during the school year they are deemed chronically absent so 31 1% of our students have 10 or more absences to their name but the actual average da attendance still is over 90% weird right yeah it's two different ma a third of our kids AR are absent more than 10 days yeah I don't know it affects the a though because you know more and more kids that are chronically absent and that's where you see the Ava percentage go down overall [Music] any other questions thank you okay item 10 accomplishments and other reasons to celebrate from throughout the districts oakst Elementary School principal Williams Oh Robert she's m what I I can project that I'm Happ to want I'm with you know I mean you saw me today I I rocked should go on yeah super good and there's a partridge in a Paar tree yeah okay so um uh in November December um we had our OES connect Corp go March in the Veterans Day Parade I don't know if you guys know but um the Veterans Day Parade is one of the largest parades this side of the Rockies um they did a great job they were patient and uh respectful and they just really did a fantastic job um I know that um Lieutenant Smith and Taylor really appreciate all the support they get from the board and from parents and teachers so it's a great program and our district is really lucky to have that uh we have several classes uh embarking on field trips first grade classes uh went to raiy and learned all about the the jobs there in the different departments this was part of their curriculum for uh Community jobs so they had a blast doing that kids always do um something new that I I noticed was learning all about eart ordering inment so yeah big thing um we uh the K2 classes took a field trip to decorate Christmas tree and that was a blast I know Mrs Etta shared that um there were a few kids in her class that it was their first field trip and so that's really really exciting that they had the opportunity to go and do that so that was blast and the tree looked fantastic um and then a really big win for our district um in an effort between nurse Jordan right CFO Tera Panella our librarian Kelly R um and our health a Gloria bile nine students um and there's a few also that that are about to uh have three eye exams and glasses so that is super exciting that we have that opportunity going so um that's just amazing and [Music] [Applause] that's Archer [Music] Muma we're not doing sake shovel sorry we're not it's a one time only performance for the children good I got a video vide on interet all right so de shout outs um we did have a holiday performance today Mrs Peterson's lunchtime inal programs in full swing teams have been competing in kickball mini soccer matches basketball and in anticipation of rainy weather that hasn't been tled yet they've been playing card themes like spoons in theary and it's hilarious uh architect for kids were fortunate enough to join their oi and O counterparts to Mar in the B state parade parents loved their kids opportunity on that day amazing our acquired Club had a field trip to you somebody high school for vocal pant uh right after Thanksgiving break they had a great time they were able to work with the yhs band and choir performers as well as perform with their counterparts from River Gold Elementary our kids are actually at y High School now participating in the winter concert uh they were invited here but they were double booked but I believe they'll be here in January to perform PR you well the uh primary music program of Mrs event is an amazing addition to all of our extras the new Piano thank you very much is getting a workout it is much appreciated at today's dress rehearsal for the kids holiday performance one of our sixth graders performed a solo on the piano she did a great job she was so nervous she did so well um three of our wasuma girls were robotics champions last month there's an article attached in The Marosa Gazette two of our sixth graders page Stampley Shar and our fifth grader Chloe sanville are involved in a robotics program through their Girl Scout Troop they were the only all female team that walked into the competition and according to one of the moms everybody turned with the then went and then the girl one whole thing so kind of cool uh there girls to our Mass program is ready to go we're just waiting for some snow our first day on the slopes is set for January 12th weather perit our PBIS team is in puling with our tier two PA pushing into spring teachers with lessons our teachers are working with the PBIS team to discuss what lessons they feel their students would benefit most from and Miss Co either implements those lessons in class or they work together on lessons that are appropriate for the students are needing at that time and we know that children always let us know what they need Miss Kyle's December newsletter is the end of the presentation for you all so you can see what she's working on congratulations to our girls at basketball team for taking second place at their end of season tournament at Min High School last Friday came down to the wire they lost to Spring belly by one bucket it's okay they played really well our boys soccer team took third they did they did both our kids are wrapping up their second I ready Diagnostics the initial results were been promising the teachers have done a great job coming up with a variety of different incentives depending on the grade level to incentivize some growth and attention to the test because it is a long one Mrs retirement has finally arrived I'm not going to talk about it I already CRI about it today I'm not going to do it again uh there are some pictures in there about the pollinator Garden uh John Cotton came and spoke to you all about the pollinator garden and it was installed with the assistance of some of our second and fourth graders uh Miss balmer's kindergarten and Mrs Frank second and third graders decorated the community Christmas tree love that little spot right next to the highway uh there's some there's some photos in here about what our PTA has going on the Grinch came to do a special reading for some of our Primary students and we had our Christmas tree left uh you all are invited to our Jingle Bell run this Friday we are having sand pancakes after we run not before uh two of our sixth graders organize a canned food drive to benefit man house as a part of their make a difference project there's a picture in there about Jacob in Brooklyn and then our master lessons for the month involved plants as spices and let say Verma culture example wormology is what and of course they love learning about the [Applause] worms and principal mcgr thanks um so have to work a little harder on this one next time um is this all right uh let me see here mine was a little more succinct to the point I would say something like that uh we had our first dance on December 8th that's good we've been doing it for a while now we have each school has a dance and everybody gets to go from the local schools it wasn't always like that but it is now and it's nice because we can have like one and each school and then kind of travel around and that went really well a lot of Parental uh help and input lots of adults there other schools sent people um to cheron and to know their kids and that kind of thing but we've been getting a lot of support from parents this year more way more than last year at o which is super nice um our leadership students and some other students made ornaments and we went out and decorated the tree we hooked a ride with cat there I called her up and said would you like us to uh join us or something like that on the bus and we head over there and she said oh already got bus booked and everything like that I said okay well can we join you and she said yes um so that was good um we have intermal soccer going on right now we have five teams and seven students actually down playoffs right now so it's um getting down to the championship when is that tomorrow tomorrow okay um so that'll be that stepen handed out the card card lock badges last week to the staff and so we've been working on that you were asking about how that was going um it's been going really well uh we've been working together a lot uh Stu and I have and now the whole staff um just using our badges instead of keys trying to find out where any of the week spots are if something's not working correctly and just kind of troubleshooting like that it's been going very well uh and learning a lot about the system that way we're even able to use like those CS for bathroom passes now so we can have a restroom lock all the time and you can use that where could key in and then key back into their classroom that way and so it limits the number of people that'll be there but it also gives us a visual of who's there because they the passes are hooked up also to the cameras so you can see who went in and out that kind of thing so that'll help us um with any issues that right now specifically we have like their sensors and things like that we haven't had much of a problem with that this year last year we had a lot big problem with that and we cut it out a lot um but this will help with silly things like get paper towels W put them on the ceiling or something I used to do that yeah um so that's been going really well we have a new K bask um it's very cool there was a picture of it uh in your report yeah can wait you okay maybe ter can I come over on Friday I haven't asked you yet you know to where so that' be cool and then uh it's almost break is my last thought so we've been uh things have been going very well it's been the last couple weeks because you're amped up I might say something like that but things have been going much better and I just you know we you were looking at some reports and things like that Michelle was doing the report with the all sorts of different things um academics and behavioral stuff and um talking about suspensions last year we had a ton of suspensions in the last couple years at oci for sure and the behavior is very different um than it was before the pandemic and like Mr seals was saying I don't know if we can pin it on that or not but it's true that before and after are different that's for sure um this year again is different we have way fewer um suspensions and um coming up with other ways to deal with problems and that kind of stuff which could be more effective for that and and the kids are kind of getting that that part of mind is being drawn and that um that this is an acceptable way to be and that we're not going to deal with it here um and the parents seem to be getting that also which is really good so there's progress being made on that so it doesn't really have to do it this much thank [Applause] you I would add to that too only the parents are getting it they are supportive of those efforts so it's been a good partn and Tim's defense while his report May lack the photos and Blitz and glamour of the other two Tim has been the first to get his report turned in [Laughter] we won't talk about the [Music] effort on to item 11 report oh just a couple of things um I want to Echo some of the statements that or topics that have come up tonight I already had them listed to share and Report uh first the concerns about the state revenues coming in so substantially lower um while they terara mentioned in her reports that they have reduced some of the onetime funds already uh and that equates to midyear cuts um if ever there was a recipe for midyear Cuts this is it I to to push off the deadline as far as the state and the IRS did for individual tax returns coming all the way to November um and then to come up this short in Revenue that that's scary um so we're just we're monitoring the situation I don't want to be a doomsdayer but we need to be prepared of what that could mean fortunately we have the ready day fund U that is full that that the governor could choose to tap into to offset some of those shortages he's made no indication that he's going to yet um but we aren't sure what the implications are going to be since this report was just released within the last two weeks but but we need to be uh we should be concerned and definitely paying attention to that uh other concerns that I had came up in a report about student attendance and chronic absenteeism and we touched on all of that they're very real and um I'm looking forward to some of our efforts through the differentiated assistance um projects that we have coming up and those committees coming up with some of potential Solutions and educating our parents and family like I said earlier this evening is critical it it may just be oh it's it's just a it's just a Monday it's only a half day well technically no it's more than a half day it's an early release it's short by an hour um but it's so important that we get our kids to school to receive that original instruction um I do want to give kudos to Stefan and Robert for the door lock project that continues as Tim mentioned it we're pretty much fully operational at oci um I actually ironically used my new card this week and the irony comes and that it was to stepan's office so off the access that yet no well he may have since then my car did not work on his door anymore but um today after the the holiday show here at OES Tera and I were on our way out to the parking lot and we saw OES feachers using their their cards on their on their doors here and it is so slick you walk up boom you open and you're in there's no wrestling with the key and then have to turn then turn it back tap and go so very efficient and and so it's nice to see it all come to fruition um as I mentioned ter and I were able to get to the holiday shows not only here at OES today but also at wuma this afternoon uh the term I keep coming back to cuteness overload it is the both shows are awesome and the involvement of the staff which isn't going to be tomorrow sadly I'd sure like to see it happen again not to mention the dancing snowflakes of luma uh doing the shuffle if you're able to come tomorrow morning here at o and tomorrow afternoon at wasuma you will not regret the time the individual student performances at wasuma today one with the violin the other Heather mention the piano oh my gosh it's worth the price of a mission and it's free but it's still it's worth the price of the mission uh you'll be you'll be blown away the the talent I shouldn't be surprised at this point after being here in the community for for a decade more than a decade um and having served as four years principal of yhs is seeing the culmination of the music career through grade school but the musical Talent the theatrical Talent the skits that were performed wasuma today original work by students just so much creativity um it's nice to have pots of money coming our way for arts and music to support what is so much part of the culture of e County um so kudos to all involved with that and then lastly just happy holidays to everybody holy smokees I can't believe we're already here but um and know my Christmas shopping is not done but the the school calendar this year is going to allow time on both the front end of Christmas and the back end after New Year I encourage everybody to kick your feet up enjoy some lovees their time that's my report thank you and number 12 board member comments Rhonda you want to get us started oh okay um well I'm going to volunteer for Mass again and I remind you guys that I am a level one also known as a but they could still use my help so I'm going to do it and I'm really good in the boot room but um so we went to orientation and we'll have our first mask snow permitting on the 5th of you know January so that the students can come the next week so that's exciting um I wanted to say thank you so much to Mrs o Mrs oer I know personally firsthand how awesome and great of a person you are I love the um statement one person can make a difference and everyone should try and I think you exemplify that for multiple people not just yourself and like I said I can say that firsthand because my children had you multiple years and you are going to be greatly missed not only by your students but by your your co-workers and your principal I'm sure you have been a huge asset to the team and I just I it makes me get very emotional thinking you're not going to be there but I'm glad to hear that you are going to be around when you're not out having fun and um but I can just say thank you so much for all your years of service I have witnessed it and I have been blessed by you my kids have been blessed by you so many others have but I wanted to just say thank you so much you're going to be missed that's all for me this I don't know you really we met but but I want to e those sentiments as well just because um you know I just keep hearing month after month you know that when you announce your retirement just how everyone's so broken up by it and and sad to see you go and you know I also want to say I know the stress is a part of of you meing and it always breaks my heart as this educator to hear that someone's leaving the profession because of stress it's just it shouldn't be that way it is that way how can we mitigate that I don't know the answers to those questions but um thank you for everything that you have done for our distur and wish you all the best and continue health and happiness in the future um I also wanted to say that I really really appreciated the presentation tonight on academics um I felt like this year in some of the meetings we've had more controversial policy you know discussions that have been put forth that potentially affect a very small percentage of our student population but what we heard tonight affects 100% of our student population and I think these these discussions about academics should be absolutely at the Forefront of what we're talking about that is what we're here to do is to educate kids so I'm hoping that we can have those discussions about prevention and creating plans and helping teachers and everything that has to do with academic success so and happy hols everyone Merry Christmas enj yourth I just wanted to share my experience working or volunteering and this is it's second grade class this year and in addition to doing the math assessments which I did see a good Improvement since last last fall um doing some fun things in their phonics and such uh and so we before Thanksgiving she had a a pie tasting and so all the kids had to try about six different pies and by the time they filled up the plate it was bigger than them but it was so cute to see Mrs Elliot and she was like the Mama saying Okay you naing in your lap and this and that and then she says now class she says if you don't like the pie you think it's disgusting what do you do they said we are quiet we don't say [Music] anything yes it's been a privilege being the president of of of the school board last year and I know we've had some controversies and that's been an interesting experience anyway I don't have much to say tonight just Merry Christmas and thanks for for showing up and supporting us all oh and I will be at o in the morning for the for the show so will I I'll be S she said as she said as Santa let's get him she said as Santa oh oh you know what we will have [Music] okay okay last but not least um I'm looking forward to the upcoming year being your president and thank you Stephen for you know holding down the rins and I'll take it from here thank you um also wanted to just acknowledge uh Mrs o and her years of dedication to this district and her students and all that she has sacrificed to um serve all of us and I am lucky also like Granda that my children were able to be educated by her during a very difficult time in my life their lives and she just held them so close to her heart and her name comes up often as their favorite teacher and um you just have touched so many families and there's just not enough words thank you kind of works but somebody needs to work on that in ela better words for thank you okay yes okay perfect um item 13 future agenda items we'll have the audit report next month that's so exceding assets and the balance sheet and all and talking about intervention yeah learning about what how we do it well we mentioned earlier that we'll have a dashboard report coming your direction so yeah they'll be ongoing dialogue about student performance okay next uh meeting date um was one of the dates that was changed so I don't believe what's in our agenda is correct no it is 17 um she talking the 10th online signed in that that part didn't be changed but dates that you approved early the dates that we approved earlier January 17th but on item 14 next meeting date it says the 10th so that's and then just as a reminder the board will be here we'll start our close session at 5:30 yes and then open session at 6 that time does not change correct okay and then sorry January 17 um item 15 public comment regarding closed session items I didn't see any PR slips of anybody that wants to speak so uh we are going to um recess Open Session and start close session after the room is vacated thank you so much for everyone for coming and your participation tonight a [Music] res