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for an exciting match of Super Smash Bros where the Blu and cyber Tigers W will'll be facing off against B you in our last match of the regular season and the academy team will take on north of Vermillion special thanks to auction at Wells County Foundation Indiana Esports Network and the Army National Guard for their support of our program thank you have a wonderful [Music] night [Music] n [Music] e [Music] a I [Music] all

uh speaking with legislators and it is really interesting because they do listen and in fact there was one conversation that we had around the table that was about the flexibility the 103 flexibility waiver and how um we've had some some flexibility with that but yet they took something else out of the a bill and once we talked to them they actually said yes we we'll try to get something back in there not not that it's really going to happen but they do listen sometimes so it's just good to go down and talk and meet with them um and so the session actually ends March 8th which is next week from Friday that's when they want it to to end um one of the legislators said that he told me he said well a lot of times at the end they become creative um with the bills and things like that and so being creative those sometimes makes all of us nervous because what they may add at the very end so any we we'll see what happens but it's always good to to be with them and to learn and just give us let let us share some of our concerns about um what they're doing and how we can make things better so that's all I had all right Mr Drake's not here so move on to new business um you got a recommendation to approve resolutions approving the master lease purchase agreement for the uh 101 computer refresh for staff and students um any have any questions or thoughts on that you have any I don't have a official presentation I tried to present the numbers there and that document as best I mean as accurate as they Poss can be um I know if you guys have questions I'd be more than happy to answer anything and Brian as well on either the product that we're getting or um anything with the lease or any of those things that was a question sure so I let me just say one thing before we start though so there's just a little bit different from so your paper copy is just a little bit different from what we have on the scen this was yeah and I just added more information I didn't take nothing was taken away it was just to give more clarity well I glanced at this paper earlier to will here and the textbook rental F 922 595 yes correct with 186 600 pro salvage value I not have my number yeah mine M my math is different it could be I did it on Excel but that just a test all that sorry yeah I mean it still is above the student number I may have pull that from I may have copied the wrong sale so so it's been four years since we've been in this and once again apple is the only company that really has a division that prices the educational piece right the way they do well let me you are correct my number is wrong so I'll get that corrected um yeah it's the apple is the only reseller of Apple um as far as education's concerned yes it's a solo bid if you will um we could we could take bids from Chromebooks or things like that um but they have a division that you work with for the education absolutely just like that's when they first got in this that's the direction they decid to go and you would work with if you not necessarily Chromebooks per se but if you work with Microsoft for their product you would work with their education division as well when when we buy our Microsoft how does that compare I know it depends on what you get loaded on here and all that no all that packages compared to like a consumer price it's it's better yeah we get a better price yeah typically um and the we're buying iPad uh gen 10 get um which are a little higher caliber than what we typically purchased the education model right now is actually the iPad 9 however it it's manufactured it's was started being manufactured two years ago and so I have issues with going with that one because of that the thought process is that they'll probably release a new one education version in the fall but obviously with our time constraints that's not a possibility so the 10 is actually substantially discounted right now it's $90 off the normal price um so we went ahead and selected that version of the iPad but it is a little bit higher the processor and the memory and all that is a little bit higher caliber than what we've purchased in the past so it's a larger increase from our 2020 uh refresh to the 2024 it's actually like about 19% but we're getting a little bit higher product than what we typically would purchase as well um but yeah you I'm trying to think back usually you went 5% long on the units yeah last in 2020 we went 4% I went 5% year as well um and last 2020 was the first year that we went iPads K to 12 uh if you remember in the past for our 20 uh 2012 and 2016 refreshes we were used to be K uh two iPads and then third through 12 we bought MacBooks for so um based off of what we've seen wear and tear on the devices and stuff I I figured we'd just go back to the 5% uh buffer plus with enrollment um we' seen um we seen more traditional students as well so buil a little bit of a buffer there um you went back to from 4% to 5% I I agree I think you guys want to do it that way here's my biggest concern I suppose overall you know i' watched this trend from day one when Dr Weaver convinced me well she tried to that it was self- sustaining which there's no way well you know we went from MacBooks to iPads sure the state having textbook changing that you know are we a are we going to be able to get the 922 th000 next time around or how is that so that's an accumulation over the past four years so 9 122,000 yes with them underfunding it is my concern because we're going to have to step in like we did this year and fund a percentage you know and all School corporations took that hit yeah how does that affect this P here on trying to fund the next right and so let me try to explain this a little bit of what I can of how we're envisioning this right now U because obviously this was the first year that those changes have happened and so what what we had to do is we had to submit a um reimbursement claim for for those costs right and so even though what we you submit you're going to get whatever anyway because it's all based off of enrollment that kind of gave us a general idea of kind of where we're losing out on based off what we had been charging in the past okay and so for example this year we submitted almost $392,000 based off of our current student count of what we had charged for in previous years the total came out to be about $392,000 okay which was actually about $182 per student we submitted that the state reimburses US based off our ADM count so much dollars so they ended up reimbursing us 340 just over $340,000 which came out to be about $158 her kid and so what I did was I broke that out out into three categories based off of what we had been charging category one was devices category two was textbooks category three was consumables okay those would be like we call them 61s but those would be things you would charge for art class or science lab or something like that um so when I broke that off based off of what I submitted okay um we submitted $210,000 for devices we submitted $110,000 for textbooks and we submitted $71,000 for consumables that got us to that 391 number that we submitted so we only got 340 of that right and so what we plan on doing is we're going to make sure that we cover what we need to cover for devices so in that case $210,000 out of that $340,000 is going towards devic uh and will build up in that fund over the course of four years um then the rest of it because we did get a little more additional than we anticipated the rest of it comes out to be about1 128,00 000 left over that's all going into textbooks that covers our devices and textbook rental costs the consumable costs those are just going to be things that we're going to have to spend out of our education fund because they are educational fund related uh because these are things that are part of their instruction and so some of that stuff we were already absorbing in our educational fund it's just now we won't get the reimbursement for it because we're not charging the parents for for that cost so it was something that we were still covering from an expense side we just don't see it we just won't see the revenue from that for that if that makes sense and so long term then I think that covers hopefully covers our needed areas when it comes to the devices and textbooks for the most part but that number obviously that's only 840,000 over four years we need 1.3 right so we're still shortfall and that shortfall we've always been okay the shortfall is made up in the sale of the devices typically there's still an over short there's still at least 300,000 yeah so you're prioritized so first first dollar in will go towards devices second Dollar in would go towards textbook and then anything else yeah well I'm hopeful that the state if they if they want to go down that road go ahead and fund the thing you know right and that could change it could it could um it will change next year but it can change next year by there is legislation out there that will get rid of the textbook fund and dump all that money money into education fund which makes it it's not less money it just makes it harder to separate out that money because now it's mixed in with everything else so I don't necessarily like that but I I it looks like it's going to pass but that's just a a different way of having to manage that money I guess so so for sure a shortfall in Expendables but are we hurting we've gotten have enough to do the textbook piece thing you think or we're going to so a lot of that's just based off print un less of us is just based off of if our textbook costs were accurate um and who knows what additional books or things might be needed that we maybe didn't charge for in the past um where we could have but we won't because we can't charge now and so it put School in a bad position because you're trying to be on equal plane with surrounding schools and at the same time you're absorbing and a lot of the textbooks are you have to have the device to be able to access the textbook so um and if I can I know why that number is off I I had reduced to be a little bit more conservative on my sale machines and I when I did that I didn't reflect the total number on the sale and you anticipate just opening it up to MSD all and then typically that's what we do it yeah no we always like to um as a reward for the students and staff taking care of our devices over the four years we like to give them a first shot at their particular device I feel like it's warranted um and then yeah we'll typically open it up to particular to the community MSD Community I don't think we'll open it up to the community well we have organizations that do reach out to us and we try like um I think 4H as as for and we'll try and accommodate but the big difference this year versus the previous years is a lot of people like the laptops well we don't have very many laptops you only have you know the 225 is stack laptops that we have so I would assume a lot of the staff will purchase those as well and so we won't have a surplus of laptops now we'll have we can sell iPads all day long and then whatever the remainder is will sell to the highest bitter and there's so many companies that buy those nowadays that I bet we'll have at least 10 bids on those so and then they they'll send some kind of schedule about condition and we'll look through those and try and make the most important decision on those as well so well so obviously so do we have to do every four years or how is the we have we've done four years since 2012 so this is our fourth refresh uh it's worked really well for staff and students um I mean the St student devices four years after four years of use are pretty I mean they're in good shape but the we usually typically see the repair costs are mounting now I will add uh one other caveat to this is um it was too cost prohibited last time to do a fouryear Apple Care on our iPads that is now the standard that uh so basically the three-year price is now the fouryear price for that so we will have complete device coverage uh breaks anything uh I think it's two per year per device for all of our entire iPad Fleet and would be completely covered for all four years so um if you're asking about the possibility of a fifth year I would say it would be more possible with this Fleet than it has been in the past usually what we do is when the kid breaks it we pull those those monies together those first couple years and then that money we try and use to do repairs but we have gotten eat up pretty good this this is our fourth year we we've had substantial amount of breakage this year uh and so those ones have have taken a deep hit but um we wouldn't have that but I would say if there was a fleet that possibly could this should be in the best shape because we have four years of coverage 100% well just you know I just do the math it gets closer to you know like if you did the next time You' cover your cost closer on fiveyear spread versus and my like I said my sale number is all truck conservative okay we haven't sold this many iPads before so I don't have as good of a I don't want to overshoot I'd rather be under and get more how many do we have um that's a dayto day we should have we start off with 1870 um I would estimate that we're probably going to be in the 1750 is range I bet we've lost at least 100 or more over the four years as you can imagine that's not bad yeah we yeah we typically do yeah I would say yeah the first three years were good CU those get replaced but yeah we're and I would add it's not necessarily the students doing anything to cause damage to these devices it's just the age of the device it's just that's where we are with these any device that's four years in is it's going to start showing its wrinkles and we're at the wrinkly stage of these devices yeah and batteries become start becoming an issue and if the batteries were an issue we try and replace as many of them as we possibly in by end of year three to make sure everybody's good for year four but yeah you're going to see a lot of wear and tear but that's typically why we haven't went to a fif year has a switch to the iPads versus the MacBook feel good I would say so uh it the first year it's a different it's a new device so uh but as a students have gotten used to it as the teachers have gotten used to it as we've gotten used to supporting the device I think they they learned the versatility IL of the device I mean the Chromebook is awfully appealing because of the price when you look at it initially but it's a Unitas uh it types that's what you get to do with it with this you get the you get the typing abilities you have the crayon capabilities to draw and I know we have kids that really take advantage of the digital notes which brings up lots of its own I see using are remarkable there it's there's an app on the iPad that kind of mimics that and and there's a lot of power that comes with that so I I think our kids and our staff are learning to take real advantage of this device over a I yeah I think you're doing a good job with it um the new devices as well um on the iPad it it's close to the what this looks like with the with the blue but they have a uh they have a trackpad now too so they can get those finite uh like a mouse on it spilled in to the case um and the cases are don't have that cloth material on them anymore I wish I had an example to show you but the the material that the keyboard's built out of is the encasing the whole thing now so we can use some harsher chemicals on those so can clean this cases a little bit better the cases have a three-year warranty on them still from Logitech we get those through and we're also buying the the Logitech crays again uh with the devices we feel it's a good investment if a kid loses those crowns they're responsible to pay for one or just for go having one is what we typically done um with those but yeah and just to speak to the lease we' never have done a lease schedule with apple um but just talking with Chris and with cash flow and being able to project these things out and the money in the bank generating Revenue as well we felt that they were offering this at 0% then we take advantage of it but this was negotiated after the price was already set and so we probably take advantage of that so then you put carry into the cost and no this would be the if we paid cash today this would be the cost you would pay I do have something to share here but I had saved an email aware of this from 2015 and it's the projected refresh for 2016 and be our first time to refresh and we were still doing MacBooks for MacBooks but the anticipated cost of everything new was 930,000 just giv the round numbers the save money was 900,000 so it's actually more than what we have here in the account so the trade difference for the whole package and these numbers are high because we're looking at 1,700 student MacBooks but the trade difference was half a million dollars and I believe a made that up with Bond money I just found that interesting because I was told back in 2012 with s but I like to you corrected the story it was Dr Weaver that said that not yes yes yes were you I was I started here in 2009 so this is the end of year 15 now appreciate you guys both guys' efforts questions all right can I get a motion so move second got a motion in second for the recommendation to approve this resolution for purchase of the um staff computers or refresh all those in favor say I I any opposed thank passes recommendation to approve vendors for the wireless refresh and I can speak to that stud and I I didn't print this off for everybody but I assume you guys have and typically I haven't brought e projects they haven't been to they haven't crossed this threshold to where we need to do seal bids in the past so is it is everybody familiar with eate okay so eate is a federal program that pays for um there's different categories there's category one and category to so to help offset the cost for schools and libraries um the federal government Pi help pick up a portion of that based off the free and reduced status of a school district um our percentage is our free and reduced percentage is not 70% but the calculation comes out to they cover 70% of the cost so typical category one projects that we do is all of our internet so our fiber that comes in and the fiber that goes to our other schools which are called WS those get uh we actually have a combined percentage for City Schools since it's a joint so that's a 75% um those are considered category one and so we only PID 25% of the cost of of those um so this is what's considered a category 2 project and so we put this out to seal bid because it cost $150,000 threshold um and so this Matrix here is the Matrix that's we pay uh a company called adtech to help us keep in compliance with eate there's a lot of Hoops to jump through and a lot of red tape um and so this is our evaluation Matrix for it and I brought it to you guys one because of the price tag so our total cost for this project would be $ 49,7 7780 um and what this project does when we what we typically done is every four years when we refresh our devices we also refresh all the wireless and all of our buildings just to keep the current we are on a four-year cycle with that as well and so that's what this is um that's what the cost would be to go ahead and do that and so the actual total cost I don't think I for me but you can see the numbers there so this is actually going to get divided up if we accept the bids so cdwg had the best bid for the access points and the licenses that I asked to be quoted um and then inter had the best bid for the installation price so those we would buy the devices from cdwg and intersect would install them now you'll see lower bids and higher bid bids um however we have we use this weighted scale at the bottom and what I asked to be bid was the moroi Mr 46 which is the access point type I can't control what other vendors bid so some of them you can see Matrix bid Aruba Alliance Technology Group bid extreme Integrity Network Solutions bid Ruckus so those obviously got docked on the points down below that's that's not what I asked to you bid it's a different brand of uh access points that we don't use um so talking really fast here but and I'm looking for approval to basically uh do the the bid to these two vendors at the that total price and I I can go more detail about you you like as well that's your overall price but then we're paying 30% the 30% is the 4977 that is what we would cost yeah it's a I should have had it on there but it'd be the total of the 17930 and the1 147 996 so it's a great deal it's a great deal for schools uh one of the ways eate gets funded is part of like telephone and cell phones part of your cell phone bill the portion of that goes to the FCC who oversees this and they distribute the monies just be same number of points points yeah well it's a few extra we have a couple projects where we're going to be explaining in some of the press boxes and things so there's a couple more than what we currently have but yeah it' be a one for one replace with a I think there's eight additional or nine addition the other are four years old any value we'll try we always try to sell them but yeah yeah we hav't really just just the access for points or wiring also or just no wiring yeah it uses the current wiring uh and then it's just a we just put the new ones up and they do more stuff and it keeps our Fleet running smoothly as well so that is not that is an old one the only reason we keep that there is because there's a there that's where a projector used to be right there yeah yeah that the newer ones is out there there's three in this building one in the bus barn so um with the project that we're wanting to do a Sharp Creek we put them in movable yeah yeah we just we just take them down off the drop ceiling and then put them in the in the new rooms yep yep no problems withing that that's completely allowed within each side of question you got one that you're buying the product off of then the installation do that effect like any kind of warning or anything with them I mean no CDW is a is a very big company company um however the vendor they typically used to do installation is not available and so they did not bid at all on installation see there's na that's what war yes and there is a lower bid on the installation price that also did quote correctly however when I looked into their bid they had a lot of misquoting and there was they only quoted putting up 100 I think 150 of the access points so we asked for 200 so I'm not really sure how they came up with that number um so I had concerns about that and I can't ask once the bid's in and the bid's in I can't ask too many questions about the since it's sealed any other questions get a recommendation for this motion a motion for this recommendation I'm Mo to accept second got a motion and second to recommend to approve the wireless refresh all those in favor say I opposed okay motion passes recommendation to approve the pause for Shar Creek Elementary sixth grade transition to Northville Junior High School expl yes so you know that we' Southwood is has their sixth grade um up at or southw Junior Senior High School last two years uh we were looking at um the different projects uh for Sharp Creek and so we were going to we've been a lot of meetings obviously you had to vote on that too um to do that but because of the design details um that have changed um over some of the meetings that we've had as far as with the norfield elementary project um we need to pause and the reason why is because we need those classrooms where the sixth graders years we're going to go uh to move um because we are having the the project done in a different spot as far as the starting beginning part so because the board has to approve it and then that goes to the doe I thought it would be best then to go ahead and have you officially pause it um we have let the staffs know um about both Sharp Creek and norfield about the potential for this to approve tonight uh for that pause because if we don't pause it that means means we have no places for those other classes and so you would have to bring in Portables or something like that we don't want to do that and so um if you approve that tonight then I will be contacting those parents uh tomorrow via email Andor voice message through our school messenger uh format so move second got a motion of second to recommend the pause of Shar Creek Elementary sixth grade being moved to northv all those in favor say I any oppos passes and the last one recommendation to approve an Extended outof State field trip for Shark Creek fifth grade to Chicago Illinois on April 19th of this year a motion in a second second got a motion in a second all those in favor say I I oppos all right motion pass no unfinish business or policy public comment this isn't under oh go ahead I just have a question I know um is is there a cost savings by having the computers in the classrooms the devices in the classrooms for the students as opposed to when they had textbooks then and workbooks is there is there any kind of um cost savings one way or the other hard that's hard to determine the problem we're running into is that textbook companies aren't selling textbooks anymore everything is software so you have to have the device to have the textbook and so without the device we wouldn't be able to get a lot of that textbook access because is software driven now and this doesn't necessarily answer your question but the other reason why we need um the devices is because most of the um required assessments um State assessments are done online also and so we have to have the devices for that also be able to take the required State assessments it also FS for Ry days and stuff like that where you can't come in e-learning right for e-learning right and just for the knowledge of learning um how to use the device use the device because that I mean most of everything that we do you have to have a device to do your either your banking or any of those things you it's just that is U training for for the future for them also a good question originally I'd hope to save some money not buying books and the software but they were smart enough to price the software at the cost of book yes right out of the gate I have a not a public comment but uh we have voice sectional right now Mr Drake is there and I asked him to go ahead and just share the score so I thought I'd share the score so the good guys are ahead 5939 at the end of three and so um the plan is for Northfield that's Southwood to move on and Northfield got the buy so South and Northfield if they continue with that score they'll both be in the semifinals on Friday night Southern W so just thought I would just report that playing two different teams two different teams yes that's yeah we don't have to play so we always play each other if they both could win if they both could win Friday night then we'd be the championship so wins Friday then they'll win the whole thing if I read the bracket right no I know who's going to win oh whoever scores many points all right um one one thought that I've came up with for Aaron is I thought about these laptops M have you thought about offering these laptops that staff uses to kids that are in our schools that are going to college because those computers are very expensive um it thought about offering it to them possibly first because it would be a little thing that they can kind of get over I've had to buy a couple of them already sure and the things if those are good they're good back books you know they might be something that you know if we somehow could offer to some of those students that are going on uh yeah if we have any like I said we have limited Supply because we only have enough for the STA the staff that we have you said 250 so I'm taking out of the we have some left over we can definitely see about offer that I feel like that would be an issue I'm just wonder if I'm just saying seniors that are going to that are have already voiced that they're going to college I would like to see them get the first choice not the staff because those are the kids that's what we're supporting here is the kids and making them successful going on so I'm just I'm just throwing it out to be a thought because staff's going to get another set of computer that we're buy them right correct so I'm talking about the kids that are going on that are going to need something um they're the staff already going to get something we're paying for it so just a thought yeah the tough part would be then who doesn't get their device if that goes yeah we' have to change I'm just I'm just saying they all seniors get first choice right so yeah I understand the the staff part but I'm just wondering I just I just thought about it and I'm like you know if that's aard recommendation because I'm just I'm just thinking you know thinking about the kids um and families so it's just a thought you guys we can we can talk about it so any other items no all right we're

could you please join us in the pledge of Alle flag of the United States of America stand na indivisible welcome everyone have a nice tonight it's exciting um Terry could you please call the W absolutely Frost here no here Ben yosf here T here gorson here wons here Ty here we're all here tonight we have anyes email I got gosh thank you sorry the Wi-Fi Stevenson is continues to be bad so I can't connect the I shared it with you you just did yeah or it should be shared already got it got sorry running a little bit sorry I was out of country last January meeting I was in India so could didn't make it to this but yeah okay there we go sorry for the delay so because of that I have extra stuff to share today lot of cool stuff going on uh so yeah the first thing uh we've done a lot of cool stuff uh building and creating our community here at Stevenson so uh we had our Sasa actually partner with um Freedom flow to provide menstrual products for women across rural India and they had a very huge success we had our Asian-American stud a night market happened these are some pictures from that as well um I personally haven't had the chance to attend a Night Market at Stevenson so far this was my first one uh super great experience lots of cool food um performances all that sort of stuff um over here we have our right club host its annual page break festival and so for this we had Peter middle schools come to Stevenson um and had the opportunity to engage with writers at Stevenson and kind of get to explore the different writing opportunities participate in some workshops some professional development sessions and just get kind get a chance of what the different courses are offered at stev in in the kind of writing English space um and then over here we had our um successful Fine Arts tour so our finance department had the opportunity to go to the different feeder middle schools tour for and get students exed and hyped about uh the Fine Arts opportunities available operative students um in terms of serving our community um there have been a couple things that have happened so first off our gift of Hope and organ donation had a collaboration with NHS at the last uh committee generals meeting that was awesome um over here the black student union uh organized a food lab as part of Black History Month I think they also had like uh learning to step like a African-American dance ritual um and they had like different feeder middle schools like I know apics black tranqu black Tranquility Club also had the opportunity to attend and learn from some of our BSU leaders on different you know African-American cultural tees and dancing cooking food Etc um and then over here we had our umu we had our students helping soldiers organize a very successful fundraiser and they also had uh invited we'll be welcoming guest speaker Bruce Johnson who is the CEO of the Behavioral Health Services and former active Duty member um and then over here we have our Kea entrepreneurial showcase which is happening tomorrow and I actually have a whole slide on that towards the end because I wanted to talk a little bit more about that one so yeah um in terms of field trips we've had a lot of um fun uh application of content through field trips over here we had our students in accounting one uh field trip over here we had our marketing classes take a trip to Soldier Field as part of their spars Sports Marketing unit um and then over here they visited the um our investment management class visited the Chicago Board of trade um as part of a fun field trip outing to the city um so it's been a lot of cool stuff I'm in Spanish Literature this year and we are traveling to the Art Institute of Chicago next month um to do some fun like text Art comparison and have like different tapa Samplers and stuff so very exciting stuff and I think second semester is usually pack a lot of fun field trips yeah and then we've also had some pretty fun academic victories um our science 2024 regener on SDs Scholars were announced last month this is one of the most like prestigious science competitions awards that can be given to any sort of Youth high schooler and there's only 300 that are awarded and this year we actually had two of them awarded to Stevenson students which was awesome that's a huge huge like Prestige we had our debate tournament also do pretty well this is our debate tournament at icda 5 they play second at the Tournament of Champions this is our debate tour Congressional debate tour team at Barkley Forum at Emer University um La two weeks ago and then last week they were at upen for another tournament so so a lot of great stuff in that in that kind of Realm um over here we have our Science Olympia team um who've been doing a really really good job and then this is the National Stock marketing competition and they've also been performing really well and they actually um won third place natural that was some pretty cool victories from the academic side of things this month um and then in terms of Athletics um Emory who is a current senior actually broke the Stevenson record for women's rebounds that was very cool our table tennis club they had a competitive table tennis competitions throughout the year and they're now had it to State um our Archery Club they also um yeah they've been they've been doing pretty well they traveled to Danville High School uh two weeks ago perform got first place there and then this is our iced hockey team our Allied iced hockey team so that's also some pretty cool stuff and then in terms of Arts we obviously have our Varsity Patriots who are outside there uh one first place at ihsa State no surprise they've been doing a really really good job for all the years that I've been at Stevenson so a huge congratulations to them um we had a successful Consortium uh performances so over the month of January and February um obviously we had our Orchestra Consortium choir Consortium and band Consortium concerts for a bunch of feeder middle schools um middle schoolers had the opportunity to perform with their Stevens and counterparts and kind of get to explore the fine arts department a little bit more um there were 16 uh students from Stevenson who had the opportunity to attend ilmea um ilmea is like a Statewide um Arts Fine Arts Festival um where they get the chance to perform with some of the best singers some of the best um like instrumentalists across the state so that was also some pretty cool stuff um and then we also had our freshman sophomore play um which they performed three times over the last two weeks ago um and had a good turnout as well so yeah those are some performances I think I'm gonna have to I'm gonna email the can I share this with the board yeah you can share this with the okay just tell us a little bit about it yeah so this was before Odyssey um I interviewed I think about 8 to 10 students about um what they kind of envisioned their Odyssey experience to be like for every one of us there kind of their first Odyssey experience that they've had at Stevenson um and so kind of getting their perspectives looking through their course schedules and so that was a it was a fun video I wish we could have watched it but no worries it'll load and then once it hits my I'll share okay sure sure sure um so these are just some pictures that we've captured from Odyssey they had so many different options this year they had everything from western African drums to uh plating this is like a plating class that they had over here pottery making I know a lot of my friends had pottery making uh Shakespeare improv um that was also a pretty unique class I I was in that class I'm a lot of my friends we like read Shakespeare in class but it was cool to kind of act it out um they had a lot of they had a lot of cool vocalists like Jason dryer and a lot of very like big people in the Chicagoland area former students in alumni come come and it was it was just honestly a great experience given that we haven't been able to have have an odyssey since 2020 um so that was also something that was a nice break in our you know long semester and I remember talking about this at the student leadership advisory council meeting but you know oftentimes January February March can be very like early months weather is cold outside we're stuck to the same schedule and so Odyssey was a great kind of two-day break from like the regular um academic classes so that was enjoyable and then this is the entrepreneurial showcase so so um I'm the president of kba this year kba is a service organization that um microloans to Country entrepreneurs and emerging economies um and we kind of provide them with you know obviously starter funding and they're able to grow their local businesses um to support their local communities and make living out of that and so we've supported through keba over the last 20 years over 660 entrepreneurs um and so this year for the first time ever we are organizing something called the entrepreneurial showcase so over the last like several years of Kaa has existed a lot of our events have been primarily fundraising based so we organize s factor which is the singing competition we organized Kaa challenge Bala pla which is a basketball competition for the first time we're doing something called entrepreneurial showcase and this was because we noticed a lot of people they didn't actually know where where all this money was going right like we've loaned over $60,000 over the last 20 years but really where has this money gone and so what this is is really we had about 22 teams have the opportunity to select an entrepreneur that Kaa has microone to in the past um and ESS essentially designed like a booth a bulletin board with activities and informational content on these specific entrepreneurs that we're supporting what do they actually need money for how have they used the money for in the past um and so tomorrow we're featuring our first Kaa entrepreneurial Showcase from the point so for anyone that you know is in the building tomorrow I encourage you guys to come out to the point um and this is going to be a really really great event excited to see what our teams produce about their entrepreneurs and about their specific countries but yeah that's just what we've been up to to in the last two months clearly a lot of stuff happening uh but excited to be back in March and share some more about turnab about a lot of other things that are coming up soon yeah any questions yeah so I'm curious you said that you've made 60,000 in loans in the last 20 years and these are micro loans so are they getting repaid are you then relending right so we pay them a starter amount uh they use that money and then once they like kind of build back that Revenue they micro L it back to us so that the funding just keeps cycling and and we just keep making money obviously through the events I think we donated Kaa donated I think 15K to the Stevenson Foundation last October so thank you that's amazing any other questions thank you so much we appreciate you thank you thank you okay do we have any visitor statements tonight all right then I guess we're on to the okay so um we begin uh tonight with um Ambassador Awards and tonight we have um our director of curriculum instruction Mark hesek is here with us and Mark I think is going to um begin tonight with recognizing some of our students with Ambassador Awards and just one quick thing about Ambassador Awards um we'd like to give out Ambassador Awards uh from the board and these go to the students who have achieved um at the highest levels either academically or co-curricular through Athletics or activities um and tonight we have an amazing group of students as well so Mr O take it away tonight we're here to announce our competitive dance 3A dance state champions um I'm going to ask you I'm going to call you up and then get created by our president of board and then I'm just going to ask you to stand over there okay so we've got Ariel [Applause] [Laughter] chepi conrat Gabriella DTI picture Isabelle [Applause] botcher congratulations [Applause] bndy you don't want me in the picture I'll just ruin [Applause] it Ali fman Christina [Applause] Fang Tess [Applause] [Laughter] Freeman thank you row [Applause] he Kay [Applause] Kaplan Irene Kim Casper [Applause] C nicholet [Applause] lean Ain Lou [Applause] Addie L thank you [Applause] Michael Ellen [Applause] Nolan Gabby [Applause] ostrand Katie pck [Applause] pansi Michelle [Applause] Po [Applause] Calli [Applause] Schneider ail [Applause] 10 and their coach Christen Carson all right can we uh can we get a picture of the whole group soen right [Music] we yeah really perfect oh my God okay perfect one two three one more one two three then everyone else my legs [Applause] [Music] Bo I know I think they should [Music] have thank you guys you bye good to see you nice [Music] thank a science team saw all his dancers I didn't think he was the coach the yep all right okay well that was fun you dancing tonight Lord I was G to put on a ter I would not be nearly as entertaining as they would do the routine where's your routine just wait all right so um all right so next item on the agenda is our curriculum team uh presentation and tonight we have members of our science division here we're very excited to see you all and you'll recall that uh over the course of the last couple years we've asked teams to come and present around the work there we're yeah the work that we're do that's a great picture by the way the work that we're doing related to social emotional learning so I will let Steve uh introduce the members of his team and we'll go from there absolutely I don't want to te you much of the Thunder but Mark linenberger and Dave Eddie are the AP Physics 2 Team they've been teaching this for us for several years and this uh last spring about a year ago they came and they said we have a different idea for how we want to approach some things um teaching kids some of the skills that they're going to need long term as most of these kids are seniors but I will stop right there because I think that's probably going to be part of your presentation so yeah away yes yeah whatever all right you're good um so in a science division um but you want to talk about our yeah so AP Physics 2 uh there's actually only three sections of the course it's just Dave and I teaching it um it is almost all seniors there's a few uh juniors in there um they are pretty much all going to college um lots of kids doing stem stuff you know at college um and one of the things that Dave and I always talk about is just this idea of like what do the kids need and and then we'll go on from there so um go ahead Dave you want to talk about this oh yeah I love talking about this um so you know one of the things of a p a PLC is to take a look at data and have our decisions driven by it and so we took a look at our Panorama data and um although we were always very proud of our panorama data um we were able to dive deeper into a couple of elements that we saw that there are a couple of areas of growth and um and so some of these questions really started to take a theme and that's when yeah so and we we kind of looked at this last one as you know like our curriculum is is based on the college boards we we we don't get to choose our our curriculum now we do I I think we do a great job of showing the kids how our curriculum relates to everyday life but we kind of viewed like this last one that we put the blue box around as what skills can we try to teach the kids so that you know once they go to college what are what are some of the things that we can work on with them so that they can use that at college and then hopefully use it Beyond when they become you know kind of lifelong learn Learners so that one's me all right um so we decided that uh this was you I think well this one must okay I thought it was you okay I I I'll tell I'll say a little bit about this one so one of the things that I think Dave and I do really well and it's it's easy on a two-person team is is we talk every single year and just like hey what do you think where where are the kids at what what do we need to do what what what can we do to help the kids um and then I'll let you go from there okay um and it's one of my favorite questions and a lot of time it's been um skills-based and how they really struggling with graphing or a mathematical aspect about physics uh but this year we noticed that um along with the trends that came out of the Panorama data that students were having a hard time identifying what it was that they didn't know um they would go into a test and we'd ask them oh how do you think you did oh terrible I did terrible and they did great or it would be the opposite itd be like oh I think I did really well and not so good and so that there seemed to be like a disconnection of not being able to identify what they knew and then um this one was a little bit deeper but they also didn't know how to respond when they did identify that there was an issue with their understanding um and so that responding to what they knew and what they didn't know was very reactionary in our course uh before this year's goal for us and so I made a little graphic uh up at the top this was very much the process that our students went through uh they would learn something they would process it would practice it and then they would have the first performance of it and from that performance they would get feedback from us and only at that point would they remediate any of their misunderstandings and then they would reperform but we found a lot of our students were so dependent on that reperformance in order to have that sense of success or know how to succeed and that made us pretty worried knowing that most of our students would be going off to college in the next year and they aren't offered that opportunity for rep performance often um and so the idea that we had for this year was to have this remediation happen before the performance so the students still go through a standard learning cycle of learning processing and practice but before uh the assessment came in with our performance we wanted to implement a series of uh self assessment tools that the students would put into place so that they can use that self assessment to determine what is it they need to uh remediate in their own understanding before the performance so we wanted to actually push that remediation before their initial performance this is um in line with our student agency and when we were talking about this um we noticed it was kind of built under resilience and proficiency uh students were able to remediate misconceptions prior to the ass uh the assessment and allowed them to be a little bit more adaptable and a lot more self-aware about what their understanding was and then also to develop self assessment strategies leading to uh a more individualized plan one than which they were able to build themselves so here's what we actually did um so what we decided we were going to do and it it it wasn't easy because our course is one of the few AP courses that's that's just a period long um but we decided we were going to build into our schedule before any assessments so before any quizzes before any tests the kids we would take some class time and kind of have the kids self assess hey you know hey tomorrow you got a quiz this is the stuff that's on your quiz and we want you to think about hey just this content give yourself a grade one to four you know like uh for the we our our three skills are mainly graphical math and verbal those are our three skills that we do so hey give yourself a graphical score for that content give yourself a math score for that content a varable score for that content and then hey what are you going to do like if if you're like hey you know what I'm not so great at this or this doesn't I'm I'm not really sure how to do math with that then then what are you going to do before the actual assessment so that hopefully you can study smart and perform better on the assessment um and then after the assessment and this was mainly just to collect some data for for this purpose for our slow data and stuff like that um I think it's the next slide we had then this the students uh one of the amazing things work there's a lot of amazing things working with Dave but one of one of the amazing things working about Dave is is that uh Dave is amazing at putting he he put together like these really great um Google forms and stuff like that but uh so essentially we asked them questions like hey how did you perform like on on the test did you perform like you thought if if you performed better than you thought well was that because you studied smart or you just didn't self-analyze correctly um if you performed worse than you thought like like why do you think that um and so we after each of our assessments we spent a little bit of class time and had the kids fill out this kind of self-reflection yeah it was a little bit of combination of having an opportunity to self assess prior to the assessment and then after words say how old do you think you did on that uh and we collect data because that's that's what we do and so um we recognize that um only about 57% of the students felt like they were assessing themselves accurately and that means that the remaining 43% were either rating themselves too highly they thought they were going to do better than they actually were or they were rating themselves too too low um that they felt like they were going to do worse but they did better um so the uh the next questions that we asked were actually a lot more um revealing to us the why do you believe that you did better uh question was great because students are always happy to do better but why do they feel like they did better this was very informative to us that a majority of our students felt like because they engaged in Focus study that was based on what they were struggling with before the assessment that's why they felt that they ended up doing better um some my favorite is they felt they just got lucky on it and just rolled the dice and but it was a very narrow wedge and so that was important um but uh others said that their preassessment level was they felt was too low um one of the more important ones as well was when we said why do you believe you did worse than you predict we left this one pretty open-ended we gave them a couple of pre-s slugged spots that they can choose and then had other in which they were able to type in whatever they wish to do so I threw this all into chat GPT one of my favorite tools you know and asked it just to give me a summary and um some major themes emerged they said that they had difficulty understanding the graphical content this was just for our one standard um so this one wasn't a surprise to us but others uh recognized that they uh had incomplete preparation uh they had time management issues on the test uh they didn't pay attention to details whether or not that was about the question itself or attention to details in the content um they increased their um and other things that they wanted to do was they wanted to increase their study efforts they felt like asking questions and seeking clarification could have helped them out more they could have reviewed um and reflected on the material uh improved their time management and homework completion that was a big one that uh was a large realization for many of our students that they actually should do the practice that's available to them and then specific learning strategies that uh that we employed so these were some of the pieces that they identified that they would like to do next time um um on reflection and so one of the things the the idea was you know can the students before they take a test can they kind of predict how they're going to do and if if the prediction is like hey I'm not going to do great then let's do something so you can do great um but uh we found let me just see where we're at we want um we we found are we starting to talk I'm just going to talk about what I want to talk about anyway I'm just gonna talk about what I want to talk about um we found that uh kind of from doing this process the way we are moving forward with this is we decided it it made sense to have them turn in some review materials a little bit earlier and try to get feedback on these re review materials a little bit earlier and I think we have one of the main tools that we're trying to emphasize with the kids and we're trying to give them different ways of approaching this but the one that both Dave and I agree is probably the best is what we we've dubbed a one pager but for some kids it turns into a three- pager because they do one for graphical one for math one for ver verbal but I always approach this with my students it's like all right think about you you have a test tomorrow and the and you know tomorrow my kids their kids are taking a test or a quiz on refraction you have a you have a quiz tomorrow on refraction what graphical stuff do you think is going to be on the quiz that's your one pager what what math stuff do you think is going to be on the quiz that's your one pager what what verbal stuff am I going to ask you on the quiz that's your one pager and we're trying to get these students to turn this in sooner so that we can give them feedback and go like hey I think you're missing remember this whole Lab that we did you're missing that you know go back and revise and and I've I've found once we started assigning this a little bit sooner I've I've gotten a lot more students actually coming to me and going hey can you just look at this ahead of time and do you think I'm missing anything um and which is a cool it's it's a really nice review tool and and this is even when we're going over the assessment I like to do things like did if you you know let's say we have a question on tomorrow on Snell's law or graphing or whatever um if you didn't have that on your one pager like you should have and let's let's kind of think about that and moving forward but the idea is this is just a tool that hopefully the kids when they go to college all right I got to study for the test what do I do this is something that hopefully some of the kids will will do and use is that me or you yeah again um and so to Mark's Point um one of the things we wanted to do was we wanted to um have the students self assess earlier and be able to make that a gradual Rel of responsibility to where that was more on on themselves um and so they can use remediation tools that focus on those self-reflective practices we ask them to do um uh practiced recall and elaboration so different strategies they can do in order to help them with their self assessment so um yeah I is there anything more you'd like to know about our self assessment and our student learning objective in science a question go um I noticed in the student survey data that you collected it gives you a little bit of a window into the students selft talk right how they're seeing themselves as Learners and thinking about themselves when it comes to Readiness and whether they're sort of um over predicting or underpredicting their success and then also like when they're reflecting and looking at where they were less successful someone wrote like I made a stupid mistake or made a silly mistake are you seeing shifts in in in this little window into their selft talk as you're using these approaches like are are they being a little Kinder with themselves because it's it's challenging content I I will say not really like yeah yeah yeah like I think the answer that we've found and one of the reasons like we've kind of we're changing things a little bit this semester is is because we kind of found the our answer was not really like like what was what the type of responses we're were getting early in the semester were kind of same as the type of responses that we're getting late in the semester would you agree with that davee yeah the students were they were working through self assessment strategies and they were doing them but we were we were looking for like does it change the overall pattern so we looked at the beginning of the year versus the beginning of the semester and the end of the semester we were hoping that they were a little bit more aligned or that they're like language themselves about what they were missing and what they were getting was going to deviate or improve so over this very narrow window we didn't see very much change that's one of the things that led to us realizing we probably need a little bit more time between the self assessment and the actual assessment to give them that time to truly remediate and so that's what we're trying for second semester we we put something up on canvas where they would deliver a plan that we would be able to review and review with them so it's more about those actionable steps not just the awareness of it but what action can you take yeah I mean honestly we we're hoping like you're saying but it it I mean you know this this was our first go through and it like the the first semester our first semester stuff it didn't really show that it's hard because the highest achieving students are often the hardest on themselves true yeah goad I had two questions but I'm not sure I'm going to ask him anyway but I think the answer might be totally different than what I was expecting um I was expecting you to say this had all sorts of impact on you know on their learning and also it's it seems like it would have an impact on the other competencies I mean the sense of belonging and and all the other things that it's it's such a neat tool that you're talking about and teaching the self I'm kind of surprised he had the results that you had and then I guess if I had a really good director of my department um then I'm curious what they would think about does this concept you're raising apply to other subject matters in my department and how how does this fit if I had someone in my department that was kind of thoughtful I wanted to think thank you very subtle that's very subtle okay we'll just leave that but you know you asked the kids to respond to uh you had that kind of the the two slides the pie chart the one before the chat GPT you had the kind of the three different responses of did they are those are their responses in line with what you thought they would say in other words like if you go back like to that one would you have uh one that one would you have predicted this kind of distribution this is the the one that I was happiest with when I saw yeah um I would have thought for sure um the reality would have been a greater I got lucky at this because I just tried it and it worked out in my favor uh or just that they happened to have done a pre-assessment that was too low but this was the one indicator that that they felt there was value in there now whether or not it had a big impact academically like it shifted a grade dramatically throughout the semester but at least that they were able to recognize that their focused studying based on their preassessment was valuable to them right I I definitely took that away as a win yeah it might be a little bit hard on ourselves because we wanted to see everyone went from 60% to 100% yay you know everyone's getting fors now but uh that's and I'm sorry if I missed the punch line on this one but did you notice a change in distributions on those assessments then or you didn't not really not not really and well I will say like the distribution with with the feedback was pretty consistent semester but as the semester went on there's certain things that Dave and I did in class like one of the things we started doing was collecting the one pager sooner and and kind of changing how we review and you know like some of that and and and that had a definite effect on their their test scores like we saw as the as the semester went on like I would you agree with that that that like some of that which like like it's it was one of those things that it was kind of it was not really exactly what we were hoping for but I think in the end like that result was a good result and if nothing else my our hope is the kids are going to have some different review tools some different ways of helping themselves when they go to college yeah you know because I know I I haven't been in college for a long time but I know it looks like I have just came out of college but years you know but uh but I haven't been in college a long time but I know like my most times in college it's like hey you got a test next Tuesday good luck and and so then how how do the students how do we help the students right to get like yeah to figure that out for themselves and and that that's that's really one of Dave's and my like big goals with this if if they could if the kids walk away with having this one tool that they can pull out to get ready then whatever the data is it it was yeah and that's that sense of efficacy I mean my my takea away from this is that okay well that may not have been true but you guys learned something which was good the kids may have picked up on a particular agency skill or whatever that might be and the reality is generally speaking there's are pretty high achieving kids anyway so the movement is you're probably not going to see as much of a as an obvious leap but the fact that you all learn something from this that's pretty good you know so and that's right I right I think they're not giving themselves enough credit if I could for just a second because even that small step of moving the one pager up that conversation is really teaching the kids the agency and advocacy of well I should have been starting this earlier and I should have been doing those practices and they're starting to do them because of that conversation no it's huge it's really good you guys yeah I think it it informed our practice every bit as much as it may have in for yes I appreciate that I appreciate that your what your concern is for their future growth for their col how well they're going to do in college all of those sort of big picture things I think that's really great especially in an AP class where we could get really focused on what your score going to be I think that you know taking that approach it's it's super value valuable to them whether they see it or not now they will someday but thank you so are you uh taking this uh practice that you did the one pager thing and re-evaluating it are you sharing that with the other members of uh the science department yeah we the physics department they're on other teams yeah yeah oh you're on other teams too y yes also they shared at staff development in the fall the plans was earlier on um but we have three strands in our professional development and one of them is um helping students take ownership of their own learning so like what are the strategies and so they shared um at one of the meetings like here's what we've done here's what we've learned here's what didn't go so well and yeah that started some good conversations and you're not hiding this right no don't let anybody don't this really work likes to keep secret Terry don't tell anybody Terry well thank you very [Applause] before the group leaves there's like a whole bunch of like congratulations sitting right in this room right like so congratulations uh I'm this part well I mean there's like all kinds of good news right Dave Betty you know in the fall or in December I think yeah um Molly fill in the D oh sorry read a I did all all those things is our great uh director of Student Activity so that's very exciting and Molly's our new Student Activities coordinator congratulations and Brett Erman uh tonight uh director student learning programs pretty exciting and I think we're also uh Bittersweet approving Steve Woods uh retirement as well and so I don't think so because you have too many you have a few years to put up me yeah yeah yeah so you guys denied that one that's later in the agenda so anyway congrat what what an amazing group so congratulations and thank you for all you guys do we appreciate it thank you congratulations thank you for being here and um there may still be some cookies if the dance team didn't take do we have anyone left to teach science now everybody moving on 48 others up there running around well we will be coming back with some new hires soon thank you guys we appreciate itks thank you right um It's Getting Thinner and thinner here um okay so uh next item is just a first reading of our um textbooks for or this year's recommendation for um textbooks purchases for next year um this is just a first reading uh you'll have an opportunity to take a look uh at those books if you're interested by Statute actually we have those books here in the district office someplace uh I'm assuming Mark's office uh so by Statute if you wanted or any member of the public wanted to come in and look at them you're welcome to do that um and many of these are um e-learning books correct um is that geometry one that's it is learning yeah so um you know there were many folks who were very you know nervous on behalf of the textbook Publishers about oh no how can they make their money into the future well they figured it out and they figured it out so it's a yearly fee for many of these books and um that's what we have here so just a first reading uh we'll bring that back to you um in March for your approval uh you will see your usual assortment of um Personnel items there including as we said I think Molly is in there there um Bret Erman is in there Steve Woods Retirement letter is in there as well um so science is uh lots of changes going on but um they have a deep bench so we're going to be okay um so that will be taken up in consent uh we will not need an executive session following the meeting and then Shan only has one item for tonight and it's a first reading that's correct so um as you know we uh contract um right now with constellation um energy for the purchase of electricity and national uh natural gas to really um avoid the volatility of uh both markets um we we work with our provider um to determine a you know what is the price at when's a good time to price and then we can kind of set our budget and uh not have to pay um exorbitant fees when we have a polar vortex or there's brown outs rolling brown outs or blackouts whatever may be happening on the East Coast um unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it um we um uh are at the end of those contracts and therefore we need to um take a look at renewing them we're in the process of doing those evaluations right now what I will say is that um the uh state code um does not require us to actually bid um these services or the procurement of these uh products um so we are in the process right now of working with a couple of different vendors to get some good pricing um to see where the market is at um what I can tell you from our first meeting that um the Market's higher than where we were um but lower a substantially lower than where it has been in the last year um so uh when you think of things like the conflict that's going on between Russia and Ukraine right now that had a extreme impact on natural gas prices which then impacted the energy uh the electricity prices and uh because we had entered into some agreements um or these agreements we actually just had steady pricing for electricity and national gas and avoided um those types of volatility and that's the whole reason we do this so there'll be more information forthcoming um you can expect it in March is this a pre- purchase or we're just setting our rate we're setting our rate for the future so we don't trade it um we purchase it and hold it or use it I guess should say but we don't purchase 100% of our need either because we have other things to offset okay and then uh you'll see uh only one foyer request uh this month that Sean and his team completed and that takes us to consent okay can I get a motion to approve these the consent agenda so move second okay Terry could you please pul no I Ben ysf I CH I gorson hi moons I TI hi cross carries seven to nothing okay and then uh I don't have a whole lot for tonight other than um I just uh p and I wanted to share with you um under important dates uh you'll see a link there to I know that uh you have a Google Calendar and I think all these things are on the Google Calendar as well P right um you know Spring's always a busy time so in addition to the things being on the Google Calendar we wanted you to have this as well um March 8th we have an executive technology meeting with Gary um all are welcome uh if you want to come to that though let us know because um we would need to know that otherwise it'll just be Gary and a small team uh March board meeting uh April 9th uh Finance or dialogue in April prominent Patriot uh we have our scholarship reception in April um Amy and Steve sometimes come to our faculty and staff barbecue lunch for Teacher Appreciation Week it'd be great to see you there uh May 16th uh retirement 25 year and tenure party and I just wanted to alert you again to the week of graduation um um we're going to end up just the way the dates fall we have a board meeting the next night we have a board meeting and then we have graduation so that's a big week if you could just pencil Us in we promise to feed you well uh that week um it'll be a busy week uh for any of you golfers out there there's the foundation golf Ting on June 3 June board meeting uh no meeting in July as usual and then August 2nd and third is our Retreat so feel free to print that out I don't see there being a lot of changes at this point um but they're also in the Google Calendar so and then uh thanks to Jamie and Pia for putting some um nice little Kudos in the back of the board book um but it interestingly enough Kos actually covered most of them so um he's pretty amazing um yeah he's really good and I it looks like that video finally loaded and so I'll share that with you as well so share it as a Google present or a Google doc and then you can download all right that's all I have can I get a motion to adjourn so move second all in favor I right

[Music] yeah [Music] hello and welcome to week 12 of the ihn competitive season today our varsity team is uh 72 and two they will play against BDU uh they are 0 five and uh zero we have dropped to sixth place after last week's tough loss against Blackford but we are hoping to get back into um into like at least top two during the postseason that we can rally and claim second place spot in order to at least make it to state to at least try to become runner-ups the structure for our League's competitive uh play is called a 4v4 four uh crew battle players from opposing teams take turns fighting in one-on-one matches with the winner of a match carrying their remaining lives or stocks to face the next me member of the opposing team coaches must disclose with one another in private before for the first player on each team in for a set after a player has lost a game they will be eliminated from that set if a player has won they must continue fighting until they lose within that set any uh stocks that a player will have will remain and um to save the stocks they will jump off or SD at the beginning of the next game we have Eli playing I don't know who that is then we have the opposing team playing Sonic the Hedgehog he's a nice advantage in terms of damage going for the belly flop see Eli trying to look for some damage to start up a combo hitting him off the map getting some nice juggles in getting the first stock off the Sonic trying to go for some ground pounds getting a grab getting ni little combo in going for another grab Landing it Sonic just getting some nice chip damage off of Eli Eli hitting at the projectile spinning off the edge oo the Sonic hitting Eli into space pretty much getting his last getting his first stock Eli having really good damage on the Sonic which can definitely lead to a yep quick kill making the damage fairly even Sonic charging up El countering Miss flop ooh Eli picking off a very nice heavy attack throwing Sonic off the stage uh Landing us a victory in this uh set this round I guess while we wait for the opposing team to get their P member uh thank you to our sponsor Adam Wills internet Telecom TV your local service provider with gigs uh Speed Internet TV and telephone service for business and residential customers in Adams and Wells County El's going be facing off against the bayth ooh it seems that we made a mistake we have to reset the match this does not count towards iing we we just have to do a quick reset because Eli hit before bayith before having to reset his stocks it seems in the varsity game Noah just won his just won the first round for the Varity team it seems like okay now going JV game let's see and see having a pretty small damage lead Eli coming making it a small comeback with a very heavy attack heavy attack Eli hitting a lot of recoveries eating them spinning them out oh missing the heavy attack been charging your attack all the way killing Eli getting both fist STS down best case scenario Eli takes both stocks and going onto the next run o worst case he dies without taking off the second St but that is very unlikely o can he recovery he does manage to recover B hitting a projectile Eli knocking them far spinning them out hitting the heavy attack seen a lot of this from Eli see that that seems to be the biggest part of King's kit is that a kill no not quite Eli getting the best case scenario that I mentioned earlier Eli taking two of the players off their team taking six socks we only losing two of his own if they keep this up they won't even need three other members waiting for the next yep King D versus DDD go o third match now starting both them taunting to show that's already Eli hitting the heavy attack very early on doing lots and lots of damage o o just missing the heavy slam on the hammer Kazi already very low on HP nice Edge guarding from Eli missing the hammer again belly flopping getting a stock off yeah nice up tilling the hammer ooh Eli getting two stocks while keeping it that was a clean stock well perfect stock technically he did not take no damage that stock nice block o hitting a grab then a laser ooh seems like the spike ball saved him ooh Eli reflecting the projectile Landing the hammer taking out 2/3 no 34s of the enemy Team all by himself Eli performing very well that game oh Kirby 2 1 go Eli esting let's see can Eli solo this team by himself let's see King DDD is a very heavy character which means he's very he's a lot slower but he does a lot more damage and he's a bit harder to kill nice uh down from the Kirby ni small combo in can Eli take off at least one stock from the Kirby just to help out his team and to at least not leave this Curby at least uh not leave the Kirby empty-handed belly flopping getting the kill nice clean stock oh the Kirby eating the projectile thing King DDD eating the Kirby nice reversal grab good block let's see can Eli pick off a second stock maybe even solo the entire team by himself nice block ooh nice STD from the Kirby making it game Eli another being able to take off the uh second [ __ ] the Curby but it's fine because we still have three more members and this is their very last member so we are in a very good position doing this unless this Cirby just goes absolute beast mode and destroys our team which hopefully won't happen oh we're going for a Kirby mirror match we got to see who is truly the better Kirby cyber tiger Kirby or North verb Vermilion they kby they do have to SD once [Music] so are the cir is going to be friends or the or the oh let's see oh not be to Edge that let's see we do have a lot of damage placed on us and Kirby having very minimal they Kirby taking off our taking off Kayla's first stock let's see can we get a quick stock off the Kirby just to make the if person easier if killer does manage to die oh they Curby killing ours it seems K didn't manage to take a stock off you let's see if Kayla can take up the final stock off hitting her uh o that they did manage to kill our Cirby but we did take a stock off him let's see who's going to be playing next see we're having py pyro and myth is he all they need to do is just take out two stocks with their three all right so we're starting getting some nice damage in getting some rushes on them going to py nice fire wheel yep oh yeah we do uh manage to pick up game one um while we're waiting for the second game to start very special thanks to the Wells County foundation for a special grant that allowed us to purchase the computer that this stream is currently running on without their support we wouldn't be able to provide the quality program that you guys are currently enjoying as of now and do they have one more or currently just waiting for the second round to start say something hi we got the captain of Varsity Jaden over there I'm the captain of Varsity I'm not going to stay look at my shirt it's very cool yeah it's D it's uh dun Sparks from Pokemon gen five is when he came out which came uh which came out on the uh Nintendo I think it came on the DS not mistaken I don't know I don't like gen five getting sidet trackers waiting on I believe our opponents okay I guess we right uh waiting uh do you have a favorite nonprofit that could use an awesome fundraising idea auction is an online and inperson auctioning platform that can help your nonprofit host a great Charity Auction find out more at auction.io that's auction.io hello we're spicing things up hello Eli here it is we're spicing things up we're spicing things up should I have my jersey too late whatever who cares okay I'm going to have it on later chair over there oh you want that chair okay you want you want the fancy chair I can kneel he's going to have the fancy chair in a bit he can have fancy chair okay yep so stop this madness El you did um you did insanely well during that match taking out 34s of their team and taking a third of their last person so you pretty much did like 80% of the work he did like over 80% of the work for your team so I guess like how do you feel just doing that much um against the enemy team as uh DDD I'm chilling I'll do it again do it again hee W stop them not them it it's it seems like they're not going to stop him from just be nice dang dang but yeah my jersey um what's like your like what's like your strategy with like is it just like land heavy attacks and spit on them I'm just going to I sit back throw projectiles and if I think they're going to fall into something I'll throw it out like a road trap this is an OverWatch they don't it's not OverWatch Oh I thought you were talking about Hog's Pig pin no that's okay oh Road trap ah I got it yeah he has his jersey now and if you want to look like us with our Dapper Jersey check out the link in the description to get some sweet merch Shameless plug yep so we have the captain of JV Jordan playing NES look at him look at how silly he is with his electric thingies and his being a child oh oh little known fact there's a fact that not a lot of people know what's the fact yeah yeah it's a little known fact M he's going for that PK pulse powerful attack but it was blocked by the shields back throw very powerful kill move whatever who cares they probably can't hear you yeah probably not hey can you hear me you can probably hear me now he's going for the PK Thunder he's going for that Jordan special he's going for the PK flash I'm talking very fast he absorbs the arrow the arrow for some health absorbs the Arrow does it again yeah that blue field absorbs all projectiles and he's going to hit that confirm get the up Smash and get the kill very nice from Jordan keeps side being keeps getting that electroshock he's hitting the combo but he dropped it and he got punished for it there we go oh barely missing the PK Fire good side be there from dark pit looking to absorb another arrow but he misses actually both of them missed just holding that yo-yo there for a while just windling down the shield getting some health from The Shield oh looking for the kill move it does not connect though PK Fire n going for the PK Flash and that's the match very good all right that guy's leaving you to get you got to get the you got to get the cool chair I get to get the tool chair for like 2 minutes before we start playing yeah because chairs are very comfortable too very good showing from JV yeah look at me with my microphone woe zoi I'm going to flex for the camera I don't know what to do I should be I should probably be going we got a match in like a couple minutes so yeah um so was that practice that was going on like before cuz I saw it like up there yeah we are what was practice sorry um I saw on the screen right there uh we're just like practicing against each other or is that like like you're actual like match match yeah no it was just an online match we haven't started yet we're going to be facing BDU when we get into the actual match it's going to be good match it's going to be our last match of the regular season and we're looking to end it with a victory are those ties or that losses those are loses don't don't make anyway we're going to get into it it's going to be a great match going to have a lot of fun everyone and yeah good luck to me I don't know yeah woohoo see you on the other side spread peace and love very cool yeah seems like they may have accidentally s see oh he has PK Fire another one getting him with the side the side a barely missing the PK Flash just barely missing the PK Thunder Landing the PK Flash and that's a game Jordan is currently rapping while we're waiting for the opponents to I guess just get their character Varsity will be starting their match very soon oh I'm getting here with the grab wait can he recover can he recover barely gets the recovery ooh barely the PK flash just tickling his feet oh it doesn't want the PK flash getting some nice damage in sending it back out missing ooh getting H with a super armor move oh he he he taunted Jordan has to at least get get a stock up he if he wants to get back for the Taun he at least has to kill him fully but let's see if you can H with the PK Fire Jordan just going crazy he took that taunt personally sending out the PK Flash getting past with super armor and that's game Jordan unfortunately not being able to take off the Kio we're having Tristan on I think that's Joker I don't know the full roster by heart so seems to be in a we seem to be uh wait nope never mind I was looking at the wrong character um I believe that's bayith um apologies for those at home yep bayith bayith versus shoker I was right on both the characters but uh he did manage to pick off a kill the stocks do be are currently in our favor we did lose the first round against them though uh this is the varsity team placing not playing placing uh playing by the way so uh we will you'll all see I guess the difference between uh the skill level between JV and varsity Joker picking off the kill getting a nice commentate getting a nice little combo in okay we are in a bit of a losing position in terms of HP but we can definitely make that back pretty easily h a nice Arrow uh J took down the CIA the JV opponent is on their last member stocks are one to one both of them also being clean e we are in a pretty big uh Gap in health right now let's see if trishan can make his comeback hanging off the ledge they're back on no they're on the ledge get nice recovery o they do manage to counter and um take out Tristan I'm not sure at the exact stocks that we're at as of now going to JV sock for two to two our pyro mythra versus their Kirby which uh did show to be the I guess turning point for their team he seems to the Kirby seems to be the best member for um North verm they didn't miss like a a stock the Kirby they have two stocks to take out the Kirby's One stock let's see how they play this out o we are a very low HP while the Kirby is pretty much clean on their stock Kirby being within killing rang or at least close to it but he does the Kirby does get picked off that means JV wins two to nil JV winning their game we got the captain of JV Jordan uh Mike's over there Mike's over where there oh does it work yeah it works I'm like 99% sure good good so um yeah uh JV won yeah we won uh 2 and 0 um shouts out to the other team they played very well for them um I see a win in their future it just wasn't against us do you think that there Kirby was their best player on their team I'd say Kio was probably their best player what whatever he did just worked I guess I guess I only speak from experience cuz he was the one that got me out of the thing yeah so maybe there's a little bit of bias but after watching all the different uh characters play I'd definitely say their kazia was the best one out of all them from my perspective it seemed to be that the their Kirby was the best because he just seemed to have I guess like the bigger kills that's true yeah so that that's true he did he did take out multi multiples of our team he was the one that brought Eli down yeah brought Eli down killed your Kirby and then I think he got a stock off of your pyro myth yeah yeah which which I was getting a bit nervous cuz I felt like that Kirby was going to just do a reversal he just locked in yeah just locked in like he just noticed everything that we were trying to do and so it was a massive struggle to bring him down I guess yeah oh look at that Varsity is also playing right now did you have any questions actually um how do you think the team like I guess like feels with the addition to Eli do you think it's like oh awesome welcome addition yeah welcome addition um but I I don't want to is it like less stressful on you too cuz he's also like very good at the game I'd say sort of yeah I'd say sort of um I like the fact that we're putting in the more the work and they're not expecting me to take 10 stocks just to tie yeah I'm liking that that's fun so it's it's just like a lot of pressure off of you yeah yeah plenty of it off um but I don't want to I don't want to stray from the fact that we need Adriana we need her back we need her back I just hope she she doesn't get sick again yeah because that's been sucking having herun gone even for one even for um one even for one time this was also the last game for JV so it's nice to end off one a win I guess so but I just wish he was here to share it with us win's always feel more sour when your full team isn't there it it it would have been awesome just to have the whole team together for one last game yeah but on a side note uh got Jaden versus their Bowser yeah we do have we have Jaden and Bowser's off the ledge congratulations to Jaden he did really well that round actually I don't remember the last time I played against someone and they jumped off the ledge for me um shouts out to jadden I guess he's doing so well yeah they were just they were just shook yeah they were shook they were Shook at how good he was and I and he has been getting better like his normal jab like a squeaky Hammer he's been using that way more and I really like it I wonder if we'll see the thing he's been working on I I I don't want I don't want to spoil it for the stream but but if he does hit it that would be very crazy that would be so cool and I also heard that Noah also has a new technique he's planning to use now I don't know if he used it in the last match do you know what it looks like like I don't I don't I just know he's been working on something so I'm very excited to see it I hope we can see it with our own eyes this stream but Diddy Kong o That's yeah did that's a similar character that he was practicing it on it was he's actually played against a Diddy Kong before which is good so he already has the practice so he's going to go over there bye Jaden cuz his recovery is really good and he's allowed to just do that I mean with NES you have to go down but with Isabelle you go up so he's immediately going down with the land mine and the Diddy Kong just steps on it and activates it he ain't worried about it and now he's all up in Jaden's face oh man pressuring a shield and Jaden's just trying to get by this D Kong also knows the power of the banana he tried to use one and also knows the power of the landmine which is why he avoided it by shielding that's good all right uh did he K doing an up smash uh which is okay I mean it didn't do anything but it's okay that oh wow comboing in the midair wow okay and a forward smash on a shield met with nothing um Isabelle does appear to have less of a shield than Diddy Kong yeah so she's definitely a lighter character yeah definitely lighter what do you think I guess like how much I guess heavier do you think um Donkey Kong is than Diddy Kong in terms I guess like in terms of tanking damage and like just dissing out damage oh I don't know I mean Donkey Kong is way more a I'd say Donkey Kong is like it's like two times heavier than than Diddy Kong he's more focused on his raw attack power while Diddy Kong is more so with his speed and also apparently exploding things wow launching Diddy Kong off the stage um yeah oh but he launches Jaden off the stage is kind of sad but you know what it's okay it is okay we can do this okay didy Kon getting these upwards chains oh and he throws out the banana which of course hits Jaden and he gets it again for a combo but throws the banana off the ledge that could have been that could have been a real combo St we don't need to worry cuz he throws out another banana which Jaden catches and uses for his own combo ability hits the forward smash but Diddy Kong throws a banana at his face oh my gosh they're just exchanging blows yeah trying to trying to push another one to the edge this is like a Sumo match with how quick they're going oh my God gosh all right the Banana's back on the field oh wait it's gone again dang oh the banana rest in peace to be the banana but never mind potassium it does have potassium but too bad we don't have any cuz the Banana's gone oh wait did he yeah there's another banana on the on the floor oh and he threw it oh Jaden just barely missing it and he picks it up again just for the banana to disappear and H to step on the landmine wow their upes are just coming into play like Diddy Kong's banana and Jaden's landmines they are so good now can Jaden hit he was trying to fish hook into the land mine I know oh oh he a he stepped on it but no dice no dice but there is a banana he's got the banana throws it off the ledge to no avail oh and he blows up himself he blows him Diddy Kong blows himself up to get the kill you got to do what you got to do I guess yeah that was good play from the Diddy Kong I barely use his upb on stage purely because of the fact that it gives him damage I'm like why would you do that I usually use side be that's probably the nest main of me talking let's be honest um side be side be side side besides oh look he's caught in a column of flames guess it's time for me to forward throw down throw up throw up air any aerial and now we're bringing out snake to deal with the Diddy Kong he's we have Noah this is this the person you was talking about so excited because Diddy Kong already has projectiles in the form of his bananas but snake has a ton of projectiles in the form of his grenades his guns and all this stuff all this stuff so we're going to see the stuff today Diddy Kong does have to jump off the ledge one so oh went out in a blaze of glory with his rocket Barrel pack let's see who who is the better zoner who is the better zoner now Diddy Kong is at a bit of a disadvantage and Noah's keeping his distance with his grenades went in to take the Banana by force and lunging at him wow wow this Noah really knows how to play no one knows no one knows he knows how to play oh boy he's at a lower percent but let's and let's hope it lasts oh it didn't last dang it as soon as I say it's the commentator's curse it strikes us at the worst possible it does I hate it when that happens I I can confirm I've done this for a while yeah I've done it myself too like all the way back in week three it was bad it was bad I'd say I'd say Noah's gameplay is like snake himself it's solid ooh I know Solid Snake Solid Snake gameplay oh but Diddy Kong hitting Some solid combos of his own putting the pressure on Noah this is not going to be easy for him oh man so many combos looks like didd Kong's trying to end this quickly just with the up smash he could have taken gameplay it just looks smooth it does look smooth he has been playing snake for as long as I can remember oh and there we go and that smooth plane just got got a stock off of Diddy Kong which is good for Noah congratulations to him he's doing great oh oh he got knocked up but he hits the ground because snake is fairly heavy and hasy good all three STS and manage to get the final commentator Cur right as I say it as soon as as soon as you question it you never question it we're wanting him to pull it out all right well that's okay he still got two a yeah he's probably going to pause the game and come in here be like where's my stock I don't know why I sound like a Coach B bu I don't know I'm going to stop that anyways Noah is not contous for at home he he is not nowhere near Country nowhere near Country imagine if he came to school with a cowboy hle anyways he should have been coming to school with the crown cuz he is currently doing some work oh I should have said construction hat oh well he is doing work yeah he's doing a lot of work but Diddy Kong tried to disrupt his combos with a banana but it isn't really working uh Noah is setting up for the bomb oh he went right through him but he shielded it but it shielded oh but he went for another oh hitting it oh but he's still alive he's still alive oh but he's setting one oh it didn't work oh it even tried to land on him oh the one two sending out for oh it didn't work just barely missing just barely missing can he cancel that I think so you have to yeah okay okay I will ask him one of these days all right all right up we go oh the up smash the up Smash and the up air there's a lot of up going on oh well oh man oh and sending off the land mine good job for the Noah I mean for the snake player my goodness Noah is No Object yeah oh but he did but he does only have one stock he may not be an object but he does have one stock that's one object you don't want to lose in this game yep oh man you going to keep or somehow gain more if they add a feature where you can just like take stock like a vampire which that would be oh my gosh like life steal yeah like you just go up to someone oh oh snake snake win snake win snake win snake win snake win snake wins oh my gosh that is so cringy my bad anyways the Diddy Kong is out so now we have to look forward to who they're going to pick next um maybe they'll pick out their second I think that that was their second there was their second that was their second I think okay um so I hope that they bring out a nest cuz they realize that Nest can actually heal off of all of snake's grenades and his side b as well and his forward smash there's a lot of stuff that NES can heal from so n is like a pretty hard counter to snake I would say yes I've beaten Noah snake multiple times um so let's hope that's it's okay alrighty all right so we're actually oh this is our third versus their last it's our third versus their last who else do we have oh this is a toun link is he good I don't I don't know the meta of this game I don't know I don't use Toon Link I use young Link I I've tried using toun link multiple times but he's basically his projectiles do more damage but they come out slower So speaking of projectiles um no off the yeah Noah's projectiles himself he might as well be shooting a cannon of and saying hey I'm snake and I'm gone all right um oh wow we got a bomb brawl we got a bomb brawl here like toun link has his bombs and snake has his bombs in the form of grenades although um although uh toun link doesn't really get the special special names for his bombs but he does have a sword which is pretty cool oh and a hook shot too with a back throw didn't even capitalize on it he sent him over there just to stand there I don't really know why he did that all right there's a dash attack and didn't really punish for the down air which is probably the best option that Noah could have done oh wow this this toon leag really knows how good this how good his down air is it sends him down really quickly and it's very hard to punish unless you're like what makes it hard to punish what makes it hard to punish one it's a very fast Target and two it's a very small Target like a tiny child plummeting down uh managed to pick up a stock on the so much for plummeting down he's straight up plummeting up oh wow oh wow tried to hit him in the face with his knee but that didn't work all right that's illegal using oh oh that's the up special but it doesn't hit him off oh boy I see Noah maning to recover yeah toun link up special can be used both on the ground in on the ground and in the air like in the air it's used for his recovery but on the ground he can even charge it so if Noah were to go into the sword he would get sliced up real bad like a human blunder in that sense oh Noah just got Blended himself wow at the very least Noah did take a stock so I believe it's Sam up it should be Sam up right now um I think it is Sam up yeah it should be if I'm not mistaken we've had Tristan we've had Noah and then we had Jaden we had Jaden so it should be yep it's Sam it's be Sam and he's probably going to bring out his King K rule which is pretty cool oh yep there it is m139 do you have you ever wondered uh what 139 stands for I actually have yeah me too oh I I don't know I don't know what the M what the 139 is I know what the M yeah it's minion he was apparently a fan of Despicable Me I think a lot of people are it's a really good movie I'm sorry this pickle is me oh wait no despicable me not this pickle is me we're not talking you pickle Rick no we're talking Smash Bros um I really likeing of pickles King K rule looks like a pickle all right let's see will tun link do a down air yes he did he did his down air he he did the thing so our three STS versus there two stock so should be a very interesting match Tom links had a bit of a disadvantage um I don't really think he's going to win but then again but then again he he cooked he really cooked Noah he was Really Cooking with Noah then again Noah did only have one stock left so H yeah KK Ru has a lot of projectiles of his own which makes it pretty hard to deal with oh he's also got a giant stomach he'll use to turn you into a pancake wow we it's no wonder his stomach is gold that thing is doing gold things for king koll oh and his recovery is also doing cool things and he brings out a boxing glove where does it even come from nobody knows from The Cape the cape that's it he keeps his boxing GL it's like it's like duct taped in his cave so like anything that he needs he just pulls it out of the cave yeah yeah almost breaking T link Shield but toun link Shield was a bit too big oh wow and he counters T Link's bombs which is really good I personally hate him when I'm a projectile character and they and they just counter my projectiles he guy don't like counters in general but they seem to be working for us and almost nailing the stock with his down smash but a neutal air sending him off to the right side of the stage missing oh oh and he gets back oh he goes for a down air oh and the toun links down air connects oh my gosh oh what a dash attack sending him to the corner and we win congratulations to Sam he didn't even lose a stock wow and even if he did lose a stock he still had two more to rely off of he did he did so he was he was just in a really good position but for what it's worth that tun leag definitely did a lot of good stuff for his team yeah he did a lot of good stuff he took out Noah and sent us to our knees that's what pretty that's pretty hard to do normally um yeah so so now it's time for sponsorships all right you ready for the sponsorships y I know I am Dominic have you ever wondered what I like in life uh yeah I like Adams Wells the sponsor of today's video thank you to our sponsor Adams Wells internet Telecom TV your local service provider with gigs speeed Internet TV and telephone services for business and Resident customers in Adams and Wells County thank you to Adams Wells for sponsoring this video yep I think they have a baseball team in this area they do I will wasn't on there I was on the Pizza Hut team oh for a t-ball no not for t-ball it was like fourth grade I think I was the bat boy I was that kid I I didn't even play the game I was the bat boy I picked up the bats and play then I had to give them back cuz I realized they were from the other team it was kind of it was a thing it was a thing I was the first of my kind after I was a bad boy other people started becoming bad boys so you're a trend Center yeah Trend Center of course I started playing NES I'm pretty sure that's why everyone plays NES at this point yeah I have been playing him since melee not even smash not even smash 64 yeah me and my cousins we play on on the GameCube um I'd like to also take this opportunity to say hi Mom a very special thanks to Wills County foundation for a special grant that allowed us to purchase the computer that the stream is currently running on without that their support you wouldn't be able we would not be able to provide the quality uh programming that all of you guys are now currently in enjoy and if you look down there you'll notice that they changed the stage to Battlefield now I can't really tell from that tiny picture whether it's small Battlefield or or a normal Battlefield so I'm very oh it's small Battlefield so they only have two platforms to work with only two not three not three and they're a little more spread to get pushed together than normal Battlefield so there he is and we are sending up Sam first so hot off the heels of being last he's first this round so we're very excited to see his King K roll very excited to see King K rule um brushing your hair King K rule probably couldn't relate to that yeah um all right here we go I'm excited and if you are wondering what is behind us that is the map normal Battlefield so we're not playing on this map back here because of the because of the uh because of the platform there it is there's Final Destination but we're not playing on that either I want to I want to grab it I want I want to grab I'm going to grab name tag oh there you go grab it I'm going to go grab yours it's inverted there you go if you're I'm grabbing yours there you go a get get your hands away from my name tag it tastes good stop eating my name tag uh also if you if you want your chest to look really good really Dapper really good uh then check out some cyber Tigers merch is the link in the description you'll also find info for the stream today so check it out if you're interested and if you want to get your want to get it customized you can do that too oh what an awesome gamer the name tags oh shoot oh oh oh there he is Raven over there named after his favorite Teen Titans that's not how I got the name I don't know how I got it it's like your birth mark you don't know how you got it it's just been there yeah it's just there it's just something I liked okay so they're really thinking this over te Titans huh I got the name before I even watching any type of Teen Titans uh which one did you like better normal or Teen Titans go when I was a child but I mean it's just like more of a it's like a no when I was younger when I was younger I meant to say when I was younger cuz it's just more appealing to like a younger audience espe especially during like 2016 2014 when comedy was like at its peak but like you know now like I'm older and like how like the show just gotten like more I just appealing to the I guess humor of kids now I I've grown to uh like the original oneway more okay well we're off the topic of we're off the topic of superheroes fighting and we're back to giant crocodiles beating up tiny electric mouses here we go I'm sorry mice mice that's it tiny electric mice even though it's only one even though it's only one we could get a character with just a lot of Pikachu we could Co imagine if the entire team is just Pikachu is waiting to happen they're just like we know how to beat this team Pikachu Pikachu Pikachu and Lesly Pikachu Libre oh sorry we should probably get back to the match uh the problem with that is the fact that Pikachu is so quick and King K rule is so slow now this works in two different ways on one hand Pikachu needs to do a lot of damage to King K rule but on the other hand it's easier for him to do damage because of all juggling I know oh and a down B to wow sending lightning from the heavens even God doesn't want King G Ru living no I'm just joking he wants everyone to live oh knocking him over to the right side of the stage Sam's in disadvantage and wow the disadvantage got the best of him no okay and the Pikachu going right back to what he was usually doing I'm pretty sure he hasn't landed an attack that hasn't been in the air other than that one down be yeah oh never mind there it is commentator's curs back at it again oh but back to the airs back to the Aerials he is really going all over this King K rule he's like a mosquito at this point they might as well just make Pikachu a flying type they might as well look at how much he's just jumping through the air look at that he lands and sits there just for a ground attack to throw him off oh King K Ru throws his crown which works it hits him which is good but let's see if it could hit him harder and potentially take the stock oh there's hitting him harder now let's see if he can take the stock he's sending his projectiles off the ledge but it didn't do anything cuz Pikachu got right past it but he claps but Pikachu almost he almost gets clapped and again he gets clapped clap clap for Sam and the Pikachu they're both playing very well well Sam's playing King clap for King K because of the claps that he's doing yeah but also oh speaking of clapping oh my gosh oh my gosh I can't talk KK rule just got clapped by Pikachu's Thunderbolt out of his nose I don't know where it comes from does it come out of his nose is that where his electricity come from um if so that would it's a it's a typically cuz I'm I'm a massive Pokemon nerd yeah um he can create a lot of the electricity from the like righted part of his cheeks they're like conduct and way so like he'll use that to generate the electricity and he can bounce between the little like flaps he has on his ear um he can also do with his tail wow I but since he's an electric type Pokemon it's just kind of something that's like flowing through his body okay okay this thing is looking very dire for Sam he just hit the triple digits heck he's at 1 12 three now he's at 132 oh my gosh he he just did nine damage oh my gosh now he's at 143 that's 11 damage just kidding yeah that's 11 damage sorry my math is on he know math I think maybe do you know Ma I try I try I never got into Honor's algebra never got into Honor's math in general I got into honor English which is pretty nice oh oh man unlike my grades for honor's English Sam just send Pikachu Sky High wow oh setting him skyh high as well Sam did he no he didn't get three stocks he took a stock which is okay he clapped once uh good job for the Pikachu though he took out our King K rule no hard feelings we all know this is just in good fun um yeah we're doing we're doing okay we already won so the worst that could happen is tying so we're going to see who they send in next maybe they'll send in maybe they'll send in Jaden who picks NES oh it's Tristan who's picking bth he will pick NES one of these days they'll all see how good NES is sorry I sound like a cult leader my bad we we're not starting Colts we're starting brawls and smack are we you know why can't we just hug n oh look at the match it's starting no no it's below you I pointed below you oh yeah it's below you oh and now it's around us we're we're in the world of Smash Bro I'm I'm wait no it sorry that sounds so cringy stop stop wait no that Tristan no don't hurt Tristan oh but Tristan is performing the hurt himself look at him go oh shoot my arm got cut off I'm sorry oh wow almost broke the shield wow Tristan almost made Pikachu's Shield get cut off there we that knock back was on me okay okay a dash attack that's pretty good didn't really capitalize oh it is you're right look at you go why are you punch him to help Tristan your hand got cut off oh who whoa he's getting oh wow he's all the way up there oh wow now Tristan is a smaller Target than King K rule so it isn't as easy for the Pikachu to land all his aial so I think he's changing up his game now he just did another neutral airer oh just did a forward smash at ledge neutral B when he's far away I know how this works works at this point come on dude you got to Mak it up I mean it hasn't it's kind of worked for him honestly oh charging up a bow to no effect or should I say to Bow effect sorry that was a bold pun like and you know no I I'm not all to S good anyways oh hit him hit him before the lightning hit him oh sorry I shouldn't say him you need to know who's who you know Tristan hit Pikachu before the lightning hit Pikachu there we go oh speaking of getting hit Tristan is getting hit but he hits Pikachu right back nasty upper with the sword nasty absolutely nasty waa oh man the up smash doing almost nothing but the down smash catching him it's kind of like young links in which it goes both sides if he were in the middle of us it hit me then Tristan I mean then Dominic my bad Raven over here oh gosh I'm sorry you're really going to R my gamertag even though I already showed it on stream publicly live to for the entire world to see I guess so isn't that how you want to be known as in the future yeah I'm was going to be on the street walking my hey it's Raven yeah that's who it is anyways anyways oh man the Ford air from the Pikachu um as for all of his Aerials I'd personally say Forward Air was probably the most strongest it isn't the safest option um but it does the most damage it does do the most damage I think and Pikachu does take off the kill on Tristan yeah he does take off the kill which kind of sucks but you know what Tristan's pretty good at killing himself heck he killed Pikachu before Pikachu killed him so killing himself with a comma or no comma I'm not gonna say yet we'll find out when they actually it would be a comma it BEC himself Comm oh well well like I said my grades in English weren't that great I can speak it okay without a stutter but sometimes I do sorry sorry can't make fun of stuttering people it's not their choice anyways yeah some of my friends have stutters and I want and I hope they don't get mad at me for that anyways all right trizzy using all of the weapons at his disposal cuz fun fact his weapon can actually transform into three different ones oh and it's oh and unfortunately in a reversal irony his three stalks have transformed into one y his weapons go from one to three his stocks go from three to one wow but he's going to be but Pikachu is at 87% he could take this last stock and that would be a massive win for our team now we would still be behind but you know what we wouldn't have the pachu to deal with which is pretty good actually if you ask me been doing yeah he's been doing great he's taken five stocks so far maybe even six but we're not going to we're not going to say anything unless we do reversal reverse commentators curse yeah what to say what if we like reverse jinx ourselves yeah that way we declare we have a win but like no but no knowing my luck we're going to say the Pikachu's winning he actually going to win so it's going to be reverse commentator's curse for the Pikachu yeah not commentator's curse on the Pikachu maybe we just shouldn't say anything like that meanwhile the Pikachu has brought the stop has brought the percentages up a decent amount trting getting hit with almost every aerial this Pikachu's got wow from this might not be as even as we thought well this might oh and a Dodge oh and he falls the Pikachu getting to kills off of members off we have six stocks to 10 dang well that's okay that's okay yeah that's okay I'm I'm we all we all make mistakes Jaden out we all make mistakes oh no we're missing where are we where are we I can't see us oh oh there we are we're we're back we're back from The Ether Dimension oh boy okay so I guess this stage counter pick was is working out very well for them yeah all right so they're bringing out Noah my prediction wait wait wait Noah doesn't you Noah uses joycons oh yeah that's Noah that's the Noah that's the Noah we going to see you know Noah when Noah no is you know Noah knows Noah cuz every Noah knows Noah when no one knows Noah oh yeah no one know Noah when no one knows Noah no one needs to channels inner Apollo KAG or MVD or Shogun whichever snake player you think of sorry those are the only three I know except for Noah cuz everyone knows everyone knows Noah Noah knows you no I'm just joking he doesn't know you unless you go up and talk to him he's a pretty nice guy he is pretty I got a stock off him during practice I was just spamming a on the controller and I I managed to get a stock off that's that's pretty cool all right up smash oh man snake doesn't really have the aerial so I don't really know how he's going to deal with the Pikachu with the Pikachu being so fast cuz pretty much all of Noah's projectiles they come out very very slow like his grenade he's got to pull the pin off and then throw it and wait for it to explode his down be he puts it down but has to get away from it and aside me he has to have a decent amount of room to make sure the Pikachu doesn't hit him how is he going to do this well we'll find out how he's doing it cuz he's doing surprisingly well actually um sorry not surprisingly well we knew Noah would do well he just does well with everyone no one knows snake he knows snake and this Pikachu is about to know how much this Noah no snake y oh my gosh sending him over to the left how many no Noah puns can we make with no as a homophone I wonder I don't know like count I don't know but if you're asking me but if someone were to ask me oh wow take it a St finally this Pikachu goes down Noah keeping all three of his stocks congratulations to the Pikachu but he got taken out and our snake gets to move move on to the next round we're excited to see who it is so now it's nine stocks to six it's better than before mhm um but anyways if someone were to ask me hey Jordan do you know a good snake player I would just respond I know a guy that's what I'd say that's what I'd say i' tell him that I tell her that whoever asked me uh behind us you could see the character that they're picking if you didn't know you know what let's go let's go in the boxing ring it's right there a it's down there now it's I mean it's down there it's there oh yeah act Channel your inner little it's all in the mamad AL it's all in the hips that's what I've noticed you don't need to move your upper body it's all in the hips you are moving your upper body through the use of my hips yeah cuz that's how you move your upper body through the use of my hips it's the hips it's like you're dancing with your fists probably shouldn't move the microphone around that much okay okay so they're they're selecting I think they're going to select the nest come on guys select the nest for good old Jordan up here sorry you you already know my name it's that thing up there Jordan oh oh they p a SORA different type of child but that's okay this one's got the keyblade blow up the child you seem to be very excited about that should we schedule the therapy session Raven anyways on to the battle it's time for them to battle inside joke between uh me and like I think it's the club team on OverWatch that I'm not I up children it's a joke it's an entire joke around you well see there's context behind it well let's not say it here we might get demonetized if we even made money on this channel one day one day one day after a thousand years when we finally get the potential to get ad Revenue we get money what if no money Noone no monetization what no this is nonprofit no we need more subs we need we need more views well we know that we only got like what 429 subscribers he need toate oh my gosh we need more money so we need you guys to like share and comment and reply and do whatever you can to this video we got to make this we're struggling we're not struggling at all we're perfectly fine but please extra money is very helpful speaking of struggling this Sora just lost a stock congratulations to Noah he's really making the Sora struggle now I don't really know much about how to play Sora so I'm very excited to see how an actual person who presumably Mains Sora plays him all right so using has as like a secondary man cuz I think this person might have played someone else I'm not 100% sure they did there wasn't a sore in the first round at least from what I remember all right so using the uptail side special oh man oh man okay using neutral B neutral special again it changes between three different magic so Noah's got to waa Noah's got to fly oh my gosh it's like that one marshmallow song We're rising and we're losing stocks but we'll make it through yep I don't remember the rest of the oh we're Rising we're falling we're Rising they're falling we're Rising they're falling let's hope they fall some more sorry we're not hoping for Destruction we're hoping for good games good games no hard feelings cuz you never know maybe the Sora player will be your boss in the future I doubt it but maybe maybe I hope not all right so Sora is currently oh never mind I was going to say how he currently had Thunder but now he's got blizzard and I don't really know how to use blizzard not like that though he didn't even hit Noah he just ended up just getting hit by the uh oh he do barely miss the he did barely missed that he just ended up hitting the grenade and blowing it up in his face yeah all right so one thing I do know actually about grenades is his fire ability he can do that for as many times as he wants he can just keep pressing the B button and firing off those Fireballs as much as he wants it's up to him whether he stops or not or someone could always attack him yeah see he only did one but he could have done 10 before he fell to the ground cuz Sora is very floaty oh he does no one making no one making the Sora fly a little more taking two taking three taking six taking six no four four so now it's five stocks to their six Noah is freaking killing it right now yep he is flipping killing it he's flipping doing this he's showing everyone what's what he's showing everyone [Music] how sorry sorry for the weird noises that's why I'm holding my mic away special shout out to doctors doctors are important make sure you go see doctors I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow actually good have fun with that I will I get to miss first period you get to miss first period yeah I'm glad I do I don't like my first period Well I get to miss part of first period on Friday actually why read Across America is happening I get to go to the elementary school and read oh my gosh it's a young Link sorry as y with with young Link who's my third main after your second Lucas like NES Luc Lucas like a copy and paste of no no that that just shows that just shows how little you play of the character I don't play Smash we're not getting into that we're not getting into that right now I guess young l drinks his milk and snake hides in a box what else is new oh hitting him with the boomerang wow I think he I think this is the Toon Link in Disguise he hasn't really used this down air as much as I thought but then again young Link's down air isn't isn't as quick as uh T links now I know someone who would disagree with this counterpick at least I think cuz I've heard eam on YouTube say that young Link is the worst of the Three Links and that Toon Link is better than him now I personally don't agree with that but he said it so so and he knows more about this stuff than I do also a good Pikachu player anyways anyways what if that was their Pikachu player in the disguise oh my gosh eam and disguise coming in and breaking into the stream that would be so cool oh man a here we go they're both at very high percentages the thing about it is is that young Wing struggles to find a kill he needs to get Noah he needs to get close to Noah oh does manage to pick off a stock off he does get close to Noah but but at the expense of getting blown up cuz all the bombs happen to be near snake and bombs blow up but the reason this young Link really needs to get closer to him is so is so that he can use all of his smash attacks to to nail the kill cuz not many of his projectiles can kill and even if they can they're at a very high percent they kill at a very high percent meanwhile Noah gang this young link up to 82 and what I've just realized is our stocks are even yep Noah single-handedly evened up the stalks so that's good for him yeah oh and now he put us in the lead with his leg his single leg he just went who he pushed it up he pushed it up he did it there we go that's what he did he did that yeah he he did the thing he does he does like ta he brought out his swivel chair just to do that yeah all right I almost H the chair behind us don't hit the chair I almost this blue CH that's for Casper that's for Casper Casper's sitting there don't hurt Casper oh shoot speaking of getting speaking of getting hurt snake just lost a stalk and now this young Link is trying to put the pressure on it trying to prove his dominance compared to snake but I don't think snake is being phased he isn't really being frantic in any way and looking at the webcam he doesn't even seem to be nervous yep in fact he seems to be calm oh he just gets hit with the forward smash but once again that doesn't kill that's one of Young Ling's best kill moves but up air is also up smash my bad up smash is also really good and this young Link is general and it's really good and he stopped the and he stopped the snake from stopping them Jaden has to take out four stocks four yep so he has three um he do that yeah that's at least two a stock he has to take out the young Link and once once he takes him out then the then the opponent team will get to counter pick specifically for Jaden's character which makes it even harder yeah so we're gonna see how this goes who's all play for them like who who do you think is going to be their left oh no I thought I thought they were playing did they bring out the Diddy Kong this round they had a Diddy Kong they did have they did have a Diddy Kong yes but then again that Diddy Kong was wearing the same outfit as this young Link it was the pink version so maybe this is the toe maybe the Diddy Kong plays the young Link I don't know it'd be kind of weird it'd be kind of weird for all their for all their changes yeah you know I used to play Young link for Varsity but that was last year I wasn't as good as this young Ling but I certainly tried my best now one thing I haven't really seen this young Ling do is angle his boomerang you can actually angle it depending on the controller press if you just do side be it'll just go to side but if you flick it to the side and move the control stick up it'll actually make his boomerang go up and vice versa with down he could do that oh there we go he just bounced it off the stage as soon as I said not as soon as I said he wasn't really doing it he Shields the fishing pole which is good I usually fall for the fishing pole especially in neutral cuz I'm trying to look for a way around it but it doesn't really work all right young Link Landing all these projectiles which is pretty fine pretty fine for him anyways but for Jaden it's kind of is kind of sucking yeah it's kind of sucking how many projectiles he's getting hit with but he does have all three of his stock so he's doing pretty good as long as he just keeps his third stock he should be he should definitely be fine cuz obviously he'll have a reset on damage so he will he won't have 95% he does shield the up smash from young Link and knocks him off to the do the thing do you think he'll do the thing we'll find out oh the down air I thought he was going to do the thing he takes the stock the young Link doesn't end up taking a stock from isab to three to three three to three Jaden versus even if Jaden does manage to win this game I'd still say no is the MVP I'd say so too he's taking a ton of stops he he's done like half the team mhm I I don't like it when I only take one stock it makes me feel like kind of worthless honestly but the fact that Noah was able to help out his team so much yeah is pretty cool get them back in the game it's pretty cool that Pikachu just did so much that Pikachu wall uped everyone and the fact that they did it in his best in his second best costume kind of also sucks too they didn't even do it in Pikachu's best costume which kind of sucks would that be a Pikachu Libre yeah Pikachu Li bra's his best costume I agre it's a different Pikachu though it's a female Pikachu actually because of the end of the tail it's a heart or or uh mushroom it's a heart yeah yeah it's a heart males they just more Jagged who are they bringing out yeah it's just a let's check it's a peach onor wedding day outfit wow peaches peaches peaches peaches peaches we are getting copyrighted Jack Black please don't a Jack Black please no I liked you in uh please sorry I'm trying to trying to think of a oh wait covers aren't copyright we're stupid well I'm stupid I was the one who I don't know peaches peaches peaches peaches ah sorry well are we sorry no we're not we're singing Peaches and we're happy the digital footprint is going to go crazy it is it's going to go absolutely insane we're going to be pushed to all the sides of YouTube because cuz we're going I was thinking Peaches I was thinking peaches too but they aren't even the best fruit I like mango I like Mango Mango Mangos mango mangoes mango I don't like mangoes fun fact mango is the name of a uh Pro smash player there's a pro smash player name mango oh wow speaking of mangoes I don't know why I said mangoes but Peach booty slapping Isabelle off the stage kind of sucks that SBE does a lot of damage lots of it which I don't like but you know what it's okay Isabelle can still win now I barely see Peaches oh okay okay that's close that's close Okay a Forward Air neutral special that's pretty good all right Peach trying to hit with their side special side smash but to no avail it's kind of kind of ironic that there's no Veil considering that she's literally in a wedding outfit yeah anyways both of them hold Shield but Peach grabs first ah it's too bad that she went for a grabage she went for like a slap in the face that way um um anyways uh sorry uh ignore me uh Jaden just took a stock so congratulations the stocks are now even now don't worry if we lose this then we don't lose the entire thing we simply tie we simply tie which isn't ideal but you know what we I'd rather us tie than lose yeah I'd rather us tie than lose all right so Jaden gain these fishing poles to connect which is really good I don't really know what happened like Peach used to be dodging all of the all of the all the turn up I don't I don't know my vegetables I eat them trust yeah but you know something cool about her turn-ups it's the fact that it's the fact that the face that they hold changes how much damage they do actually the face on the turnup dictates how much damage it does it's weird so if you die to the turnup it's it's most likely luck based it could be luck Bas I mean it's not that much of a damage difference but she can also pull a bomb out if she's lucky enough so let's hope she doesn't do that well I know she could in melee I don't know if they kept that in WoW speaking of keeping it in Jaden has to keep in his excitement as he takes out the oh wow one stock to one St One stock to one stock on the last round this is so scary but Jaden does get the peach up to 44 she counters nothing which is good up to 51 57 he slowly building up the damage which is good which is good we all 67 back in the summer of 67 83 oh sorry 83 this is so nerve-wracking he's just building up this damage he's just building up this damage what will this Peach do it's all this pressure that Jaden is oh wow Peach tried to give him a rainbow but he said nay Isabelle says nay to rain rainbows she doesn't like rainbows her a bag of Skittles but you know what I say to rainbows y peaches peaches peaches turn ups turn ups turn up turn turn ups maybe pull out a bomb once in a while oh Isabel landmines oh sorry do you think he'll try to go for the thing I think he will try to go for the thing I hope actually no oh does he win he wins he wins Varsity wins 2 and 0 wow that was so close last stock game that was in insane so are we having interviews with the winners I believe we should yeah we literally have a chair in the background and yeah sorry Casper you're going to have to leave I think you you might say I don't I don't know oh yeah he might stay or someone may sit on him we'd rather not we'd rather not we remember what happened last time um but anyways um yeah thanks for joining us on week 12 yep it was a pretty good week we won why are we having interviews that's the thing are we it's j we are having interviews come on in Jaden what's good it's you in this in this room I mean sorry you join us at Final Destination yeah the Final Destination Final Destination anyways it's time to talk interview time so here's a mic what was your opinion on the Pikachu and then I guess kind of like going through your team scary yeah yeah uh it was terrifying immediately getting half our team down to one person but me and were able to bring it back very good this is our first win in a while so this is big very good um although like you did win the match for your team I would I would have to say that Noah is the MVP of this match because he did you guys I think you took more stocks I I'm not 100% sure I didn't take more stocks but he also he got you guys back in the game yeah he took out like half 1 te huge props to Noah if he can do an interview we should get him yeah um can we yeah can we get him like for real this he's going crazy he's been going insane lately yeah um but kind of I guess cuz like me and um me and J were talking about your thing that you've been working on the um yeah still a long way to go until that thing will be incorporated but it's it's in progress It's in progress okay so I don't want to spoil it we don't want to spoil it we're not spoiling okay cuz I was going to ask you um pass mic to Noah so get it going this is the MVP of uh today's match Noah um yeah so I pretty much uh brought the second match dude back around we our first six stocks we only took one so that was pretty big and I took um I think I knocked out the Pikachu the uh Sora and got stock off there and then I got to stock off the uh toun link yep so then I think that was pretty big because then it was a four against four against three so Jaden only had to take four stocks which he did pretty good um I think that we could do a lot better we just have to keep practicing was there any like I guess like new um characters being used or just like everyone just like working with like their Mains in this match for the Cyber tigers um the only person who's really using a new character is Tristan and he has switched to bileth he used to be playing Little Mac so I think he his uh practicing has uh like he's improved since when he first started playing the character um and then other than that I think everybody else used their Mains yeah um what's your opinion about like going into playoffs like what do you like except for I guess Blackford like who's like something like you're mainly looking out for and I guess trying to improve on um I guess personally um there were two teams we tied against um I think we have we have a chance of beating them but I think if we had a different um currently we only do two matches and in the playoffs we do three so I think if we done the three matches I think every time I think we would have won against those teams but we tied I think those are our biggest competition besides the people we' lost to for which is the only thing we've lost to really um and I think that if we keep practicing I think we we got it and we can beat the other teams uh what's something that like you're mainly I guess like working on as a player um it's always uh reading um opponents I'm always watching what um my teammates are doing and hopefully that I can catch something that um they don't see and that'll help them win so I think it's uh better to actively watch the match and help your teammate out and then sit around and not do anything um I also think that as a player I can be learning new tips and tricks for my character there's always uh something new that can be learned um I know for snake um I saw a video a couple months ago about a new um a new trick he could do and after he was out already out in the game for however long and it only recently came um to light like a few months ago so there's always something new that your character can be doing yeah so I assume like whenever I guess like you're on the bench just like waiting to be played you're I guess kind of absorbing like how the opponent moves and just like how like they just move around the stage how they play their play style and how they recover off the stage I seen like the like homing rocket that you do um you're good at hitting that so I'm assuming that's like we main like looking out for when they come back to Stage to look for a uh quick kill yeah when I when I do that I want to see how they um reapo the stage and if uh they do something that I can easily um easily uh uh punish um and there's certain things that every character does that are just punishable like air dodging um if they air Dodge too early then they're stuck in the air and they can't do anything for a while if they air Dodge too late then you've probably already hit them with the attack and they have to do it uh just right so I want to like I'm watching for how they um how they uh approach the stage and if they can do something I can uh exploit I'll I'm watching for it yep uh thank you uh thank you for this interview um thanks for joining us this evening that concludes this week's stream but uh join again us next Monday at 5:00 p.m.

good evening tonight is February 28th 602 this is the Ashlin school committee meeting as always we start by reading our vision statement this is our new and approved vision statement and it reads the ashon public schools strives to be a model District that creates a culture of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff who feel safe and supported are empowered with academic and social emotional skills to Purser pursue pursue their chosen path and embrace their roles as positive contributors to local and Global communities this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV um I'm going to start by asking folks to um I'll review the agenda then we'll do attendance um order of business is we've done our call to order opening procedures will'll review our agenda in a minute we are now um public comment and then uh administrative items for tonight include review and approv correction to the school year calendar 2425 um we'll have a a presentation from Miss St k at the high school about weighted courses we have an update from Miss Arnold uh regarding English language English language education department um an Eagle Scout project presentation from Nathan Gan I'm pronouncing your last name correctly Hi Sam um assistant superintendent update superintendent update warrant approvals gifts and donations member updates action items and then adjourn um I do believe we want to take things a little out of order to allow um Nathan to go first and then allow him to get to a meeting I think um so I'll ask to do attendance make sure people are okay with the order and ask if everybody's okay with uh resequencing to move our fourth item up to just follow public comment Ry yes okay and you're here too right and I'm here you know here and yes Paul yes I'm good with that as well and remotely Lori ER in yes all right and as well for me all right um first item on the agenda is public comment is there anybody here for public comment going once going twice moving on okay um Nathan want to come up to the podium and anybody else who is going to speak with you is welcome to come up as well I believe it is yep you're good thank you all right hello uh my name is Nathan groven and I am a junior at Ashton high school a member of Ashland Boy Scouts troop 232 in Ashland um and I'm working on my Eagle Scout project environmental sustainability is very important to me and when I started to think about completing an an Eagle project my goal was to help um promote this in our community last summer I consulted um ashen's Town sustainability project manager um Miss Samantha Riley as well as the Ashland High School principal Miss Kelly sterr on how I could complete how I could complete an Eagle project that would help the schools become more sustainable uh Miss Riley Miss s Cur mentioned that they were both hopeful that the schools would start composting again and requested that I build a structure for the high school cafeteria that would facilitate both Recycling and composting before moving forward with the project I met with various um Ashland High School staff who would play a role in the ongoing maintenance of the system and I started to get a better sense for some of the challenges that the school would be facing um with composting um working together the final project that we came up with was for me to design and build a permanent wooden structure um that can house two large plastic bins that are the bins will be about 42 in tall 24 in wide 32 in deep um and the bins would be currently used for plastic water bottle recycling um in the cafeteria but would be a compatible size or the shape would be a compatible size um for the composting bins um if and when the school decided to move forward with that part of the project um the recycling bins will have an immediate um good impact on the high school because we are selling over a thousand water bottles um a month at the cafeteria many of which are being found in the trash bins um the environmental action Club at ashon high school um generously agreed to take care of the recycling bins as part of their bi-weekly recycling pickup um and if this plan is approved by the school committee I will go through with the approval process with Boy Scouts Council and I will have the full support of the troop both leaders and Scouts have a couple of the Liv Scouts here um to design and build the structure in a way that's durable and longlasting for the school thank you for your consideration thank you Nathan so I wanted first just thank you for um W you stay up there for a sec don't you hang on um thank you for you know as you're thinking about your Eagle Scout project thinking about serving the schools and we always appreciate when members of the community and particularly students are looking to give something back and help um let me I think it's probably important because the logistics in this get some understanding from Administration whether it's Mr Adams or or Miss Haner to talk about um sort of how this would work and whether it works um and then we can also get some questions in from the school committee but why we start with you Jim sure first and foremost thank you for considering uh working doing something with the the schools we've had a number of projects uh Through The Years uh I think back all the way to Craig Barrett in the initial um Courtyard at the high school and and to watch how we um had transformed that place into you know an area where our students can actually use it um throughout the year which has really been wonderful so my comments are are from uh John Murray who's our director of facilities and and um I want to make sure that his concerns were brought forth I know you'd had conversations with him yes and certainly the the conversations with regard to composting and how you've adapted uh your project from there uh certainly um it's something as he said to me he said Jim I'm I'm certainly in favor of sustainability uh projects that and also in favor of composting but he also believes that from all literature uh educationally we need to actually start it much earlier U not just at the high school but much earlier uh at the elementary schools and Lead its way up um but with regard to this project in particular uh with the recycling bins he still has a number of concerns with it um in terms of where it would be located how will it impact uh the custodial and maintenance staff on a regular basis on a daily basis in terms of their time uh whether it's I'm glad to hear you talked about the environmental club uh being responsible for actually removing the bins and putting them into the the bigger recycling bins otherwise that's another um aspect of the job that the custodial staff would have had to have undertaken which I didn't you know catch the first time I really appreciate you said that because that was a concern that Mr Murray had was additional work for the custodial staff of taking it and putting it into the bins that Waste Management uh needs to use so when they wheel them out and waste management picks up all of the the recycling it's another transfer that has to occur so I appreciate you that you clarified that so that was one thing that he had he had mentioned um in terms of sustainable where it's going to be placed that's a concern that he had I I don't think we have enough details with that uh where is it going to be in the cafeteria and if so how will that look in terms of uh cleaning of the calf all the time but is is it if it's then put in the the back area in the loading dock area uh what is that going to do in terms of space um there as well um so those were his his concerns and I just wanted to bring those up um partly because again as you know Nathan you've had those conversations with him I think throughout this process um and and it's fair to say he still has some some concerns about that component of it he's absolutely in favor of trying to figure out something for you to do with the schools with from a sustainability standpoint but he doesn't know if this is the right project so okay do you want me to just like try to address those things certainly if you you're welcome to I think the board would like to hear they're the ones who will vote on this but I just want to give the feedback from Mr Murray okay y so the problem just to be clear is location basically of this um okay so I discussed at the meeting I should can elucidate a little more about what the meeting was so I had I had a few meetings I actually got to meet with Mr Kyra first to talk about things I could potentially do and you sent I was really I really appreciate you sent an email out to all the principles and stuff like that um end up coming back to the high school um looking at stuff and had that um next meeting which I talked about with Miss Riley and Miss aner where we talked about the composting and then the third meeting which I've had with people which is separate from emails and stuff which I actually unfortunately never got to John Murray wasn't able to make it to the meeting um that timing didn't work a couple people weren't able to make it to this meeting which I'm now talking about the third meeting um even though we got to talk um a fair bit over email about these concerns um so at the third meeting we had a few people present we had the custodian actually um as well as um Miss iner Miss Riley um Mr O'Brien was there as well and the chef chef Tony so we could get his um advice and opinions on this he's actually the one who brought up the whole idea of recy um recycling water bottles cuz I didn't realize how big a thing it was in the high school um but he's the one who told me about the Thousand over thousand water balls a month but to get back to your question um the location that we discussed was sort of close to I don't know how recently everyone's been in the high school um the old place where we used to stick um the reusable trays which we've moved away from that sort of corner having something that goes along that wall doesn't block the door anything like that the size fits I've checked that like if I build the stuff that's compatible for these things and they slide in then it would fit nicely um but it would be by and against the wall of well next to I should say the place where we used to put reusable trays to get washed um and that's the plan that we had talked about in that meeting okay I just want asking like follow up with that so thanks because I'm learning this as well part of the the conversations we've had again in the 10 years that I've been superintendent and the projects that we've agreed to and and the board has supported we've actually had the a visual of what you're looking at and what you're planning on doing there and I think that's important uh partly because of where you're describing I don't think they're all going to know exactly what you're looking at and and I get it I know where you're talking about um but I think that is important uh information to to see exactly what you're envisioning um want we see if we have some questions and and sort of where the committee is as a whole because I think if if there's General support for the project but there's some Logistics that need to be worked out I think we can approach that differently than if people are for some reason anti- composting or anti C which I'm guessing it's not guessing not the case but you know so um I'm anti anti sustainability so great only in big buildings yeah so anybody have questions or comments um I have one question um and of for when I was originally reading through um your summary I was picturing this outside so I'm glad to know it doesn't sound like it's outside um but one of the things that that kind of came to mind and Mr Adams mentioned this a little bit in terms of best practice practices around composting obviously we're not quite ready to compost at the high school yet and I think the research shows that in order to be ready to compost at the high school we need students learning it from an early age and as they age up eventually we'll be ready to to do that at the high school too so my thought is around the materials that you're going to be using to build this um and making sure that whatever those materials are they're sustainable if you will for lack of a better for lack of a better term to make sure that it's there's not um a lot of concerns or or maybe thinking through how to alleviate concerns or how to deal with issues around if um if they're getting wet if there's mold if the if it's wood depending upon where it is again I can't quite visualize yet where where you're thinking of putting this but to make sure that if it takes 10 years I don't know when comp when we're going to be ready to compost at the high school and so it may may be more focused on recycling for a while so thinking through making sure what are the materials you're going to use to build it is it going to last uh for kind of the duration that we're hoping will take to get to the where composting will be a reality so i' I'd love to learn a little bit more about that and that you may not have that detail yet um but I think that's something that would be important to think through as well too okay do you want me to talk a little bit sure you I don't have the full flush out thing it's actually part of what I'm working on for when I propose this um to the Boy Scouts Council cuz they they're definitely going to be asking about materials and looking at that exact um thing um I'm lucky to say that as someone who hasn't done said everything about materials I've looked into um different types of wood how we could whether it's lacerate or have it be pressure washed whatever it needs to be or have a coat of some sort of plastic thing that goes over the wood um I'm lucky that I have my project coach who's done this for a fair few projects before and also a couple other very handy um leaders in the troop who really basically all the leaders show up to every Scout project and most Scouts do as well and it's a team effort and they will definitely be talking it over with me on what they think is right um I think definitely durability and sustainability like you were saying of the structure we build itself will be important I guess I don't have that detail for you but I can definitely tell you that that's something that it's already a requirement quote unquote or something that I would be thinking about and is something which we've had some discussion on and certainly will have more in the future well just I mean in general again thank you for thinking of the schools thinking of sustainability I applaud your efforts I think this sounds like a wonderful project I think a few more details would be helpful though so that we can better Envision exactly what this looks like um to to see how it will come to fruition and what the different stages will look like okay Marcy Paul and and Lori chime in if uh or put your hand up or something but yeah I mean so I Echo I won't regate everything but he said about uh appreciate you wanting to uh use your Eagle sou project to for the schools I think that's great when I read through this um uh I I really immediately wanted to understand the process right not of your project but the the vessel or the you know this the structure is kind of an end point of a process that I don't know that we have uh right so we don't we don't currently compost and there's certainly uh some some uh some training or or or conditioning of people that need to occur we need to have a process for that um all those things and so I balance the I I have some questions about the process and understanding that uh understanding how this integrates with the other components that we already have our Waste Management collection and and all on all those things and and then you kind of piggybacking on that when you start to it's one thing to have recycling um and then when you talk about composting in the cafeteria in particular right uh sanitation we don't want this to become where our health inspector comes in and says what's that smell what's going on and in in a cafeteria right we have to be very sensitive to that and as we talk about it especially around the composting piece uh cuz cuz I want to I want to value your project and what you're going to do as well so I don't want I don't I want to make sure that it's something that's going to be valuable to us and that we're going to use and not uh not just be a token thing that's that's sitting there so I also when I look at composting in particular I'm wondering about something constructed like this as opposed to something purchased that is metal or what whatever that's purposely built that will force something like that because you're going to have those materials if if it's metal stainless steel or whatever it is those are sanitary those can be wiped out easily where a porous material like a wood or something like that you know you can put something on it uh a lacquer or a fish or something but then you have to apply it you know again in that maintenance so uh that those are the initial things when I read it I'm like okay we we we don't do these things today at least some of them um and so if we don't have that on the road map or a plan to do them uh I I want your your what your efforts to be not done in vain right um and so those are my initial thoughts of just questions around it because I think it's great that you want to do this because yeah the the amount of recycling that doesn't get recycled is is is something we want to address um so maybe at least for what you already do know you can talk about a little bit of the process that I'm trying to understand what you envision the process being of students or or faculty what are individual uh person's roles in this what are our students supposed to do what are our staff supposed to do uh and what is that life cycle of hey someone comes in the cafeteria they purchase water they do what whatever they do and what does that look like because the Box you know the the structure is just a one component in a in a system and I'm not I'm I'm just concerned that if we don't have the system we don't have a plan for the system I don't want I don't want to waste your efforts okay that makes sense yeah yeah um I think you're what you're saying is very important um the truth is that for now I mean the reason that I don't think my efforts would be in vain is quite simply that it is going to be functioning as that recycling bin which we don't have and that I have seen myself and people like Chef Tony have told me that like there genuinely are people who just because they're not a fan of the taste of the water which you get from the filters which I don't really mind myself and I use um but they don't like it is what his um theory is and so genuinely there are people in the calf who just buy the water bottle dump it and then walk to the trash can and throw it out um so I think that the efforts I'd be doing to have something in the schools instead of nothing would already be a benefit um I'm not as Focus right now in terms of building this and putting it in there um about the composting part in the sense of that I I think the recycling part is already helping and that's sort of the in your mind this as a standalone recycling would be of value um you you absolutely come on up Kelly yeah okay just a little history that I know we talked about um way back but um our our um environmental action club actually did obtain a grant um to bring in um uh composting recycling bins um I think it was back 16117 maybe um so we did have a process of getting that started uh the composting was a big concern at the time because of the upkeep of it um and but prior to that recycling students recycling their plastic in the cafeteria was something that happened and it for some reason doesn't happen anymore um which is part of why I found it this to be a very valuable project um and so we do have have um the composting outdoor squares in our court one of our Courtyards where students were bringing some of that compost um and we you know in talking through this whole process um really um you know those of us that were part of it really saw a need to say we need to uh you know our high schoolers do tend to recycle in the classroom bins um I think yeah you actually do quite good job yes and our club comes around and helps the custodian my understanding is that the custodians do um work and empty those bins into the big into the big bins um but the club wants to be a part of that and help with that um but we really saw the glaring issue of um the bins in the cafeteria went away um and we want to find a way to bring them back into the culture um so we've talked a lot about the education that will be on our role and the the um you know part separate from your project the education will be do with students um and part of I think what you you have been talking about is um you know Divi designing something that we can put something in that only allows you to put in a water bottle or something like that so that other things aren't getting put into the big recycle bins we have I just wanted to share a little the history that we have had some persective if we if we never do uh composting in the cafeteria this as a recycling project is valuable definitely definitely and I would say when we talked we used to have um our scraps went to a pig farm or something and and we I didn't know till we came back to the school year um that we didn't have that um relationship anymore with where some of our kitchen scraps were going yeah because I have a different concern when it comes to composting you know my wife composts so in inside we have a small canister it's got a special bag it's got a special lid you know and so and that's just in our house it's not in you know had the things that you experience the fruit thighs and the the mess and and and so I I think I think separating those out and saying hey is this good with just the thing that we think we can accomplish you know in the near term um why don't me see if Marcy or Lori has anything and then I want to sort of throw out an idea for folks I don't know mercy of anything yeah I mean two things that come to mind and Kelly you just said it one is if you can when you're documenting your process talk about how you're going to Loop in the education of your peers to take part in recycling Andor eventually composting I think that's really helpful and was also just curious if you had spoken about putting this in at the lower schools like if you had gotten into any of that in the meetings and you don't have to answer that now it's just a question um if there's you know literature that as you go up through the schools that would be a helpful way to start it and I guess the other question I have because I'm an accountant is what's the cost to maintain this going forward and have you thought about that and is part of it and again you don't have to answer that tonight it's just a just a question and you're doing a great job answering all the questions by the way very impressed thank you um I can definitely focus on the last one first because I think that's the one that's most fresh to my mind and it's pretty simple in the sense of um I have to do fundraising for my own project in the sense of I'm not asking you guys for money to complete this work I would be building it and implementing it using the resources that I'm able to fund raise and I'm lucky that some of the leaders have trucks and stuff that can help me drive it over and um we can all work together and get it put in the right place so MoneyWise that's all set um as well as um with recycling we already have a recycling contract and if the um environmental action Club so is taking care of it then we wouldn't need any custodians to be working on it in terms of just picking it up so that should be zero cost as well so the recycling portion of the project would definitely be zero cost um yeah from a from a location is would this is this near the trash receptacles as well because it probably won't work very well if this is off in the corner and the you know the trash recept are in the middle of the room just like at the at the grocery store can I can I hold on that thought because I'm I think where what I was going to suggest and I want to get Lor an opportunity here too but um is I think there are a lot of details right that we can make a decision about that we want to hear more on or we want to say look he's he's trying to do something that's really positive here and I think everybody's responding by saying this is a great idea and thank you and so I think generally speaking we want to encourage that and support that but we want to make sure you know all the concerns are addressed and so we can either look for Nathan to come back with more information or we could also sort of refer this to Administration and look at and say if superintendent and the building principle and our director of facilities are okay with the implementation do we need to do we feel the need to hear anything more and the only reason I cut you off all and I apologize for doing is you know sort of getting into the logistics I think you're raising a valid point of if one bucket's over there and the trash is over here kid's just going to go to whatever his closest right well if they got to go to the trash anyway they're they're going to make one stop right um so I I think that's it's a valid valid consideration but I don't know that's one that we need to get into um so before we kind of come back to sort of how do we want to proceed let's see vasy from wherever you are in the virtual land any any questions comments yes we can um so first of all thank you so much for bringing this forward um we love a great Eagle Scout project and and we've had so many great ones and this sounds like a great one too and we um certainly are all very much Pro um Recycling and sustainability my concern just for tonight or at least in this moment is that that um if what I'm hearing our if our facilities director isn't 100% like on board in this moment at least with what was initially presented that would be a big obstacle for me to be able to support it I mean you the school committee does have to approve anything where there's going to be an installation on the property and so if there was any concern on that end I really would either want to hear more directly from him or I'd want the administration to go back and answer questions and even if some alternate things come up tonight I also feel like there's a bigger conversation here that we haven't really had as a group that is it's glaringly obvious now that it's that it's necessary that we talk about you know these are important things and Miss St Curry did get up there and say we haven't had Recycling and we need to fix that but I feel like you know there's some kind of managed conversation where we need to understand understand what needs to happen in each building um what needs to happen first how is the education going to happen who's paying for all of this instead of letting little projects go along here and there unless there's some kind of variation of this that can you know be a quick fix for something um that wouldn't be the end of the conversation for me I I so I I feel I would feel like I need more reassurance from um the administration and our facilities director and I would want to get together with the school committee and whoever needs to be there to educate me more on how we have a thoughtful process about how to move forward in this realm so Nathan can I ask you are you do you have a time constraint that you're working under that you know you need to get your project done by May 1st or or something like that or is this something you're going to work on over the next year um um well the time constraint is technically my 18th birthday but and which I have time time for cuz I am a junior and I turned 17 not super long ago um the hope that I definitely had was that I could do it this year like sort of finish the whole um planning process this winter and start working on building and then implement this spring um so and yeah and I mean I'll be gone for chunks of this summer and then all of a sudden you're back to school and it's close so right so it definitely sounds like there's there's a need for some sort of more detail work and to sort of hone in on what the project really is going to be now and how it's going to work and again I'm looking to both to the rest of the school committee as well as Administration to see whether people want to sort of have a final approval after we get more details or people comfortable sort of deferring that to Administration to work out and sort of um sort of generally give some blessing on at least going forward with this um so let me just pose that question to folks and see where we are it for me it it would depend on where Jim uh John and Kelly think it is right because most of the time when we we approve something you know uh sub to you know subsequent staff or or Administration approval or whatever it it has some it's a little further down a little further down the line and so I don't want to pass the buck as it were I don't I don't want to just hey we love stainability we have the fact that you want to do this and and and it should should be able to be great and then just ship it off our plate if we should be looking at it deeper um and I don't want to put the administration in in a position so I i' I'd want more information about how they where they felt it was in the process to to because I don't want to you know just kick it kick it down the kick it down the road prematurely I agree um I think it it would be helpful if if you're able to come back to another meeting with some of the details that we've asked questions about U maybe if you have a visual to share so it can give us those of us who aren't as familiar with the cafeteria kind of to be able to visualize what the project looks like um and you know kind of uh some of the bigger picture questions that we have as well too I agree um is I I trust our administrators fully but I also don't want to leave something else on their plate when we could could work through some of the details at this level as well too Mercy any thoughts I agree with all your thoughts Okay Lori thumbs up all right so I think what we it seems like we'd like to do is is hear back and I'm kind of throwing this out just for not ofe or consensus to do a little more work with building Administration director facilities so that all the concerns are kind of worked through to their satisfaction so that they can come in and support the project as you presented in the next version But please understand that we're we're supportive of what you're doing and this is want to make yeah absolutely just need we just need a little bit more detail before we're ready to rubber stamp it and and and and and it doesn't mean that everything has to be ironed out 100% with the you know with everybody because there's plenty like I said we we approve a lot of things uh you know that would just be uh you know pending you know working out the details with the administration or whoever is appropriate so doesn't need to be 100% but um it's I think we just feel it's a little premature to to say yes we we say yes to the concept right and the idea if that makes sense does that work yes I wonder if it would be helpful to get a slightly if you guys could potentially spend time like listing the main concerns that you have or you want me to be more clearly explaining next we can all articulate me an email and you and I will set up a time and we'll make sure that Miss senker and Mr Murray were there so we can we'll walk through the concerns within the calf itself yeah and and what we we can do is we can we can send an email to Jim about the things we that they want to have answered everything we've talked about is also recorded and we can go back into the questions that may have been asked and you know you got you got Pepper with a lot of questions so if you didn't catch them all it's perfectly understandable um and we can talk you know talk with you through the administrative staff to make sure all the concerns really are addressed and then hopefully we'll be in a position to approve what you come back with yeah I can I can say personally thinking of the separately composting and and recycling is easier for me um and it is meant to be thought that way it's a it's something that's purposefully meant it's purposefully built so that it could be helpful when the time comes but the truth is it's trying to sort of like um M toasty said saying um that you're fixing sort of a smaller problem and more of a putting a patch on something that I think it's going to be easier for us to say recycling we understand that and we you know the the scope of issues is smaller if we're trying to solve sort of the bigger problem as well now given you know the sort of the health concerns sanitation concerns education concerns that's I think a more complicated project um and probably one that is a little harder to to approve so I think if you if you're able to focus as Paul's saying on the recycling component first that that probably is going to make it easier for us to vote we're meeting every two weeks so so we can keep this moving quickly yes okay thank you all right thanks for coming in we're excited about it we just ask a lot of questions more details and and don't feel obligated to stay go to your next meeting go go do what you got to do I know you're already late all right thanks thank you for coming in great project all right um do we want to I know Miss Sinker is going to be fairly brief do we want to allow Miss S Kerr and Miss Arnold to do their present presentations first and then go to our calendar just to allow them to be done a little bit quicker okay with that yeah I I think we should have more conversation CU she wasn't at the Chistina wasn't here for our last meeting so I think going over how we arrived there would probably be help all right so I think um Kelly that puts you up next are you pulling up the presentation yes ma'am I am it's easier if I get on Zoom or something why it switched it over sorry it doesn't matter so thanks for having me here tonight I just wanted to give a brief overview um um I know Mr Terry's been keeping you updated on some of the conversations that we've been having um at the um High School site Council over the course of um mostly this school year we started last school year um so just wanted to um start with um this is a slide from um presentation that I've shared with uh three parent meetings that we've had over the last couple weeks and um and basically started that conversation with saying it's not you know whether to wait or unweight GPA is a conversation that's happening um in isolation here in Ashland it's a conversation that I've been having with my colleagues across the state um and this is just um some thoughts from an article from my Professional Organization um that kind of summed up some of the thoughts we've had and the conversations we had as a site Council when we started this conversation in terms of you know where do we need to be and thinking about that were encouraging all students to reach their academic Excellence um and we as a faculty have had um a lot of conversation over the last couple years um um regarding the rise of competition that we have seen among students um so those are just some points that I wanted to include um that I think speak to um what we stand for at Ash high school and that we really want to provide students with an opportunity to um take classes that are challenging take classes that will help them Reach their goals in the future and um will help them balance what is important to them um as as adolescents who have a lot more going on than just School even though um from our point of view you know school is is their number one job right now um so you can go to the next one yep sorry um so you know one of the things that we had a lot of questions when we started talking about this and some members of the council and I will say both uh teacher and parents brought this up as a topic as a request for us to talk about um last spring and so thinking about um our school Improvement plan obviously based on the Strategic plan you know where we were talking a lot about social emotional learning uh student Mental Health Equity um we had a lot of questions that came up about um we to GPA why do we do it how do we do it what does it mean to us at Ashland High School um in our meetings um with students and parents we spent a little time talking about this as the role of site Council and um that you know the site Council works together to research and explore different topics and from there decide whether or not we you going to make a recommendation um to the school committee when it is something that's a a policy that um you would be responsible for voting on um so we you know our hope over um the meetings that we've had recently was to educate people on that piece um and to say that we're having some meetings to get your thoughts and inputs on where we are and what we do currently as a school um you I shared four questions that are um you you know not the only questions we had when we started but um some of the some of the guiding questions we had um about whether or not waiting GPA continues to be relevant at the high school level um you know there's always es and flows and um I know um you know we talked last night that we have faculty that do remember when we were unweighted um and um are currently looking into that history of when did we move to waiting and why um we talk we talk a lot about um does our current system um show that we value the work of all students and does you know is there a message we're sending in terms of how we weit things to our students that we value work at one level differently than we value at the other levels um we had a lot of conversation about and and this has been ongoing um about getting um to the place where students are taking classes that are of interest to them or at their appropriate level um and are not just a class that they're choosing to get an edge in their GP pa um and you know we talked about would these changes um and we don't know the answer would these changes if if we were to recommend a change um would there be an impact on student mental health um you know we hear regularly from our counseling department um and our teachers that the level of stress students are feeling um you know whether they are um you know recommended or override a class um you know how do we get better at looking at that balance because students um the level of students in our counseling office seeking social emotional support because of how they feel in classes overwhelmed um has continued to increase and it's continued to be a a concern for us you can go to the next one um so part of our process is um you know again I started by saying these are conversations we're having um across um you know I I am part of a group that's email about 40 principles in the Metro West area and you know probably 15 to 20 of Us come together once a month um and talk about topics like these and how every school is is approaching it um we share resources uh constantly so we started with um you know I had received resources from schools that had already have always been unweighted schools that have recently unweighted um so shared some of the information and research that the schools that you know three of the schools that had most recently gone through this process um and shared that with our site Council and that was one of our you know first or second meetings this year is kind of just looking over what other schools had done not that we're trying to compare ourselves to these schools in any way because they're very different districts um but to have some conversations about what are the steps they took when they went through this process which included a year or two of their site Council to having discussions and some research Etc um and some things that we took away where we want to we want to be having some conversations with the colleges um and we want to be having conversations with our students and parents um and so we really just started with a very brief um survey to the 35 colleges that our students apply to the most um to get some feedback it was very brief it was three questions I believe um counseling department developed it just to kind of get a start for what do we want to look at um again we held some Focus grp groups with our students you are attent there to ask what do you know about weed GPA what do you understand about it um how does it um impact how you make your choices As you move through high school um and then you know our attent was to get some of that same questioning done with our parent groups um I don't think that was as successful but we were able to share some of the information we had collected um at this point and really hear some good feedback um from the parents that did participate um and then we have um you know we have as a um a group I think we've talked about this um at three meetings um and have had discussion that with every question we ask it brings us three more questions um and you know my experience with this site council is we are very thoughtful about making sure we're asking those questions and thinking about what is uh what are the pros and cons for our students and and wanting to be really thoughtful and take our time if we were going to make any recommendations um so um these are just some of the um oh I just wanted to share a snapshot of some of the things one of the questions that was asked for the college um of the colleges and um you know we laughed because the college was going to say you need to do what's best for you um but I shared this because that was one of the the big pieces of feedback and questions that came to us um as we've gone through the process that we've gone through over the last couple of months is um you know we really need to get more information from colleges and see where they're at and where they're headed um as we make any thoughts or changes or ask continuing questions um you know we have gone down the the road of should we you know um should we be considered you know using weighted and unweighted should we be looking at other you know and parents have brought some of these questions to us should we be looking at things like limiting APS should we be having questions about what our override process all those types of things um are questions that you know we are being thoughtful about is this even the right question we're asking right now and should we be looking at other questions as well um so you can go the next one so really we where we are at um we just came from a meeting um where the the agenda item for tonight was to share the feedback that we had received from students and parents um we were um I think halfway through having student meetings um the last time we had um a site council meeting in January um because we did those during our exam cycle and um just finished parent meetings last night and um you know so our tent tonight was kind of talk about where we're at and what do we think our next steps should be um you know we talked about that we um out of uh area schools the majority still do wait um it's you know out of out of my responses just reach out to our local group it was about 22% on weight um 77% to um you know we had a lot of talk about um our understanding as High School staff um how that most colleges have their own process for what they do and that they unweight um and that because of the disparity of how schools weight you know we and we have information about um you know schools in our own our own League each of us do it differently um so really wanting to look at um the college process and what colleges are looking for is kind of um a next step for us um you know we were able to see in some of our our research early on I said one of our early questions was is this going to help students make better choices for themselves and more related to their interests and we do know from the schools that have already done it that they do see um especially the students that are looking to take really challenging classes that that that didn't not change for them those students were still choosing um the most challenging classes um regardless of whether of the onwaiting um one of the questions that came up um that we' have done some followup with some colleges um is the question of where that GPA and that rank as the school reports it falls in U merit awards um for students um so maybe you know so that some of the feedback we got was that perhaps colleges are using that information from the high schools when they talk about whether or not a student is going to get Merit money and we don't want to have an impact on that that might be negative but we've stopped ranking we only school's report we you know our Merit money goes to the students that are in the first desile GP some Merit money is given out via right right but we're doing we're doing we're doing desile rank we're not we're not doing ranking so correct changes within that desile I would assume that that shouldn't be a consideration I would imagine cuz we're not you're 35th you're you know we're not we're not ranking it that way right no but some school strictly look at GPA to determine Merit not the class rank or death well and some of the feedback we got was some schools look at where they fall in the death AIS right right for for merit um and then we you know as I said every every time we ask a question we get three more so we've been talking about what does this mean for our honors Awards you know Val and cell what does this mean for our criteria for NHS what does this mean for what Naviance looks like um you know and how do how do schools that have made those change because everyone uses Naviance how does that impact them because if you haven't been in there yet you get a scatter gram of you know where your child Falls based on their GPA and the colleges they're looking at so so Kelly with uh with the waiting we do uh I think you said it but I want to confirm our way of waiting isn't necessarily the same way somebody else is waiting right correct very correct so you know I guess if there's not a standard way to wait across uh schools then use that's why that's one of the reasons why that the school the colleges have to have their own way because they have to somehow normalize something that's not normalized right right so U that also then you know is is something to to consider that it's not just waiting versus un waiting everybody else is waiting but we're all waiting it differently right so there's not a consistency there so uh going strictly off GPA across you know for students that are applying to a school uh they have to be doing something just not just straight GPA to compare an naon student to a hon to a Hopkinson to right to the other schools as well they're right they're looking at our school profile along with our transcript and what we offer what students are able to take how rigorous of a course load is is the student taking in relation to their skill level Kelly when you guys got feedback from the colleges did and this may be one of the new questions that you have right as you move forward but were any of the questions relative to um you know kind of where at how they how they determined the rigor of Ashlin because obviously I know like if and this was new to me as my son was applying to college this year that they pretty much every school he applied to strip strips down that GPA and they Rec they add points their own points back in based on honors or AP courses um and so you know what his stri down GPA was was not necessarily what they found his GPA was but their GPA wasn't necessarily our GPA so they kind of figured out for for themselves and so he still got extra points for those honors classes and those AP classes in the eyes of the colleges he was applying to but I know kind of they may not give Ashlin the same amount of points for an honors class as a different high school we may get more than some high schools based on the rigor of our program so do you have any understanding or information from the schools and how they determine that rigor and kind of where where we fit in and just kind of if they're looking at us without any weight in those GPA you know and it this kind of I don't know if it's a loaded question or complicated question but um I I think it would be helpful to hear some of um because we have a rigorous program I think ashon High School is seen as is is very rigorous and in competitive program um whether you're in cp2 or whatever whatever level you're in um and so I think it would be helpful if the colleges were able to share any of kind of that thought process as well too you know I can't answer that question I would um I would say that I would assume Mr McAn could answer that question um in in terms of one of the things we talked about you know helping students understand is you know not only does your transcript go to the school but our school profile um and I did see one of the pieces of feedback that was um a comment that one of the colleges made was you know Ashland has a a good profile that does a really good job of explaining what your school offers and what your school does and that's one of the things we look for we want to be able to understand what your school does and and you do it well um but yeah those are yeah I mean it's that question may not be able to be answered because every school does it a little differently but that's certainly like I think a piece of information that's helpful for people to understand cuz I didn't even I didn't know that until I went through the process you know with with my own son but it's um but it's refreshing to know that they added they added back in on their own whether we put it there or not that that extra boost Mercy um well I have lots I mean I was in the meeting last night so there's clearly a lot of questions and what struck me is right now we have a lot of qualitative discussion happening and I need more quantitative discussion I think we need more facts and there's a lot of questions and I'd like to understand all the questions I'd really like to understand from an admissions office perspective especially outside of even where our students go like because it's all over the board what those perspectives are and how they would impact our students I'm definitely the Merit money is a a is a concern um because there are students who have received scholarships from ashin that was based on Rank and so how does that waiting or onwaiting I mean I know it's one of the many questions but I think it would be really helpful and I know you you're having focus groups or whatever but there's so many clearly a lot of engaged parents so it' be really great to really get a good list of data that we could collect understand figure out a way to formulate and present I mean you're very brave to have gone in front of all those parents with you know kind beginning information I think there's a lot of information that I would want to understand as a parent of a high school and incoming high schooler and how that would impact their you know going wherever they choose to go because from my perspective we want to give our students the best shot they have right and so while the waiting or onwaiting may only make a difference to however many you want to give those c those kids their best shot and I know everybody in this room wants wants that so I I would just say if there's a way we can formulate and collect data so it's it's more going to give us um I guess something that we could formulate an opinion on that's not just people's opinions or anecdotal to the extent because a lot of it's hard to measure and so I'm looking for what is measurable data that people have collected who have been through it or does it exist and I don't know the answer to that I want to say Mar you're making feel really good about something I shared with Miss iner earlier today which was that I thought this committee was really going to be looking for evidence that demonstrates if we're making a change somehow it's going to positively impact kids right right right and and it's not just about what we might do but what's the goal of a change and how do we know if we make the change we're going to achieve the goal and I think those are all really difficult questions that you know it's way too early in the process to have answers to MH um but as Kelly says you know every time you ask one question you get three more and they're all good you know well and that's why I want I why I was asking those other questions is because people will say oh everybody else waiting but does that matter if everybody's waiting differently right so how do we you know put context around any of the data points to make it so we can judge those data points appropriately just to just to say that sounds on its surface hey if everybody else is doing it we're going to stand out and it may not be a good way but you know if the colleges have to figure that out anyway because everybody's waiting differently then you know maybe that's you know maybe that's not such a a valid data point or or it is right I don't know and and you know I'm I'm going to look at it from the point of uh the same way we look at we look at our entire student body and not just this you know the thing about National a society all these different that's valid things we need to look at but you know our student body is you know that's a very small subset of our student body right and so how does this impact our entire student body and almost you know I'd love to say that everything we do has a positive impact on every student it it doesn't there's a lot of times it's balance and we do something and you know the student you don't get you know it has a has I don't want to say negative impact but it doesn't impact that student as positively as it in impacts this other group and and we have to weigh that right and I think that goes to what you're saying is how do we go from a very passionate because I've had conversations with some people who are asking me about it right they're very passionate about it but I don't know that their passion is based on uh anything other than wanting their kid to have the opportunities you talked about but is that a fallacy right uh or is it trending to be a fallacy you know if if you went back you know 10 years what was that percentage of unweighted schools right probably less is it trending to is it is it trending towards doing this and should we even if we don't make a change now be looking at how we adopt something that might be right you I I will say this it did take on a life of its own it was typically we and we talked tonight um at site Council that we have had a lot of things that we have talked about and and looked to make changes at the school and some that we have brought here to um school committee and often there are conversations that are happen over the course of two or three years or at least a whole year um and um you know after one or two meetings this was um so I don't think in in other situations um we would have been seeking information or holding meetings to say this is what we've been doing this is where we're at um as early on until we had some more questions answered um but we had to address it on a larger scale because it was such so many parents who are so vested in it like take their questions right and let's explore are the answers to the questions and I think you know what struck me in the conversation last night is there seems to be a real focus on kids and their stress and their perceptions and so I think I need to spend some time with Jen Cutler and understand you know what what we're doing for counseling and all that but that's what struck me like okay is is changing this going to change that I don't no so um and those are the conversations we're having yeah so I think again I just think there's a lot of questions that have to be and to that point in ter this is kind of a process question but I have so I was on the zoom last night as well too and I had a sticky notepad in front of me so I just filled it up with my questions wonder why You' been holding that was all I had and I didn't have time to rewrite it today so I just brought the pad with me but the questions that you know that we have or and I don't know if you've already determined a process for this for either parents to submit questions I know your this conversation is going to be ongoing I know you last you mentioned last night you're going to be seeking input and getting greater input from students and and Gathering some more information from that front but in terms of the questions we have as a committee um what's the should we share them with Mark and he can bring them to site what are your thoughts I think for for me and and I want to make sure Lori gets a chance to get in here too is you I think the point of this discussion tonight was for Kelly to let you know what's going on in more detail um you know there is it may not be time to submit questions yeah yeah yeah there there's an ongoing dialogue around the site Council um you know the agenda had other things on it that we never got to today because this conversation took up an hour and 20 minutes and then Kelly wisely said I don't think we're going to get to those other things yet um you know I think if you have questions I me my view is sen M Kelly is things that you know because I'm not at every meeting I I Tred to get to them all but I I missed a couple when we were talking about this you know share them with her by email you things you're thinking about because I think um a they probably have already been discussed to some degree my gu fil right Kelly can filter those and and I'm sure you've got something there nobody's talked about um it'll enable them to sort of think about it I tried earlier today to give them my two cents and it was the comment I made to in response to Marcy's comment a minute ago of what I thought the committee would be looking for and it was you know really said look I think if we're making a change we've always been driven by what's best for kids what we're going to need is some something that shows us if we're making a change that what we're doing is best for kids right and I don't know how that's going to be defined it's could be a million different things and I think Paul you're right like the chances of hitting it for all 200 or 200 plus kids in in a given graduating class or all 800 and something in the building it probably isn't going to be that you know it's not going to be perfect um it's not perfect now it won't be perfect whatever we do but if we we're going to want evidence that says if you do this it should achieve this outcome and that to to to focus a bit on what are we trying to achieve and then how are we going to figure out whether this makes a difference at all um so I think I think you know for where things are and my guess is this dialogue is going to go on for a while we're joking at the end of the meeting today said you know it's probably the parents that are going through kind pre enrollment now that might see something change yeah um I mean to sorry just one thing about for me also because I do this at work as well it's not just about a change that whether it has a positive impa it's also we do something right it's not that we're not doing something and we're going to add we're doing something and can we evaluate its impact you know um and just because we've been doing something doesn't mean we should continue to do something um even if it doesn't demonstr you know because I don't want to put the the hurdle in that if it doesn't have some significant or you know impact you know positive impact that we should make a change but if we are doing something we should also understand the value of doing that thing right um and so just I want to add that in there fa point it's it's it's also about hey it's not like we're going from zero and we're adding you we're looking at adding something that but we are doing something and just the same way we evaluate uh we should be evaluating our programming and everything like that and we should be evaluating the things we do um so this I think is a is a is an opportunity to do that um the other component is do you have anything that kind of lays out you know not not a timeline as like hey this date but a process because part of me wants to say hey I have some questions but I want to I want to throw them out at the right time right I don't want to if if if I so I and I I appreciate you coming in and and giving us the the where things are but just an overall if there was something that says hey we it might change but here's the vision of the the the steps we would take before we would even make a decision where we we would so that way we know what you kind of lay out a journey and we understand where you are on the journey because we have this discussion and you know I still don't know would we want to have some are we going to try to vote on something you know at the end of the year beginning next year I don't I don't know that where where that what that Journey looks like and like I said the journey might change but in your current view maybe having something that says hey I think typically when we start a year we have you know a plan to to and with a a larger topic we have a plan to talk about it for the year and and come by the end of the year with some sort of resolution of whether or not we're going to make any kind of recommendation or not something that's bigger um you know I think about more something recent in terms of community service that was a three-year discussion before we felt comfortable making a recommendation this this one seems like like like one that's a tall task for a single school year yeah so no we do not have a road map because again a lot of you know every question brings a new one if I may Kelly I just say I think the the next point in the dialogue that we were going to get to in site Council that we didn't was next steps yeah right and so there was starting to be a dialogue of at least what do we want to look at next um that'll be next month and that's what I was getting at and that's why I said not a timeline not not not a journey timeline but hey here are the steps we want to take and I you know until we get to this point I can't tell you you you may not be able to tell us an estimate on how long a step will take but just kind of a a flow of hey these are the types of things we want to go through to get there regardless of the time frames just so I could better wrap my head around the let me try to get Lori a chance CU I keep threatening Lori do you have anything you want to to share you do have to unmute first though oh my gosh um I've been thinking about this for like 20 years and I've been on the site Council and I I know it's been a conversation and and there's been a lot of fear-based stressful conversations too even when we went to the desile system instead of the rankings I mean there's a lot resting on this for lots of different people my kid in full transparency my kids are at the other end of all of this they already got into Great Schools they already had their education and I would say even benefited in some ways from the system we've had Merit money we've we've um had uh shortened College experiences because of all the additional credits and so forth and so on on the other hand um I really also have always felt like you know just the system we have is not right uh not we us Ashland but just one that we've all kind of found ourselves right in the middle of this sort of Merit system and I mean are we who we say we are and and what we say we're doing if the focus the system is really built on you know how many feathers can you collect by the end so that you can get into the best whatever which is a concern of all of ours including mine um but I'm not sure that that the person who easily gets an A in the top class and it's going to position them well for the Merit etc etc is any more deserving than the person who is trying their best in um a cp2 and working really hard and uh I think it also takes the focus off of you know just education in general like learning and love of learning and also learning how to go through your whole life and not constantly find yourself in this kind of system where you have to earn points to get to the next level it's like some kind of video game you know you're just leveling up with all these things that you're collecting all way without really a true connection to your what you're even doing there so um and I also don't think we're ever going to answer the question you know if we ever decide to make a change or take a risk it's probably going to be without having the level of comfort that we would all want to know well how's this going to improve things and can you be sure and unless we're the last to do it and we've seen everybody else do it and get great results but I think you know I I think that the reason why we're having this conversation and why it's been ongoing for so long is that at least to some level we all know that there's something a little off about it even though we also understand that um there's a lot of fear involved in taking ourselves out of that and certainly none of us wants to place our children at a disadvantage so me I don't have an answer I'm just saying that I think something about how it works doesn't sit well with me and it never really has and I don't know the answer to what's better but I think other people feel the same way or we wouldn't be constantly having this conversation and I I do also think that you know whether there are baby steps that can be taken or whether it just has to be a hard you know give it a try but I think it is going to be one of those things that if it comes to the decision-making point it's going to be a risk and we with any risk we may find that we're way better off than than we were before we took it and we may find that it was a mistake but um it certainly don't love me there's a lot of mixed messages out there I remember even it's a long time now but when my kids were touring colleges I mean we would go to the high school and listen to the talks about picking your courses you should pick the class that's appropriate for you and at your level and then we go to our schools and they'd say you know if you want to come to this school you better take the highest class that your high school offers and you better get an A and you better be number one kind of you know what I mean these kids are just getting so many if there's a lot of pressure and I'm not sure that it serves them well in the long run even if they do get the Merit like so what if at the end of the day they haven't learned anything and they're miserable so and again I and I say that as someone who has um you know benefited from a lot of that and and know of regrets about that but I I do um I I do want to make sure that we are doing things for the re right reasons and that we're in line with the values that we say that we have thanks sorry really I'm sorry I was just gonna say I didn't I didn't share any teacher feedback um regarding this this topic and I think something you just spoke to is um very much what teachers are are feeling right now is a a a very big increase in students who are taking a class just to take it um and and and the teachers want the reward to be uh the knowledge and the love of learning and um have found that that is um in a not there in a way it probably was there 10 years ago 8 years ago um and then it's more about the number so if I I can I think the purpose of this conversation was to let the full committee know kind of what's going on um we're certainly we don't have a recommendation we're way away from debating the final decision on it um and so my sense is that we probably should kind of leave the conversation there but um Kelly are you okay receiving feedback or just even emails sort of about questions because I think the more information you have about what the school committee is going to be interested in hearing about um and you're certainly welcome to send to me I will do my best to for whatever is easiest for that's why I asked process why you send M Kelly would copy me on them can I just ask a quick question the site Council minutes mentioned focus groups are the focus groups the ones you already had or are you convening more no no no more although no actually I I will say uh what those groups showed us is that we need to find ways to reach out to to to more students and parents and I would but we have to talk about how what that's going to look like I would say and my sense is that there's probably an increasing body of understanding going on out there right now but there's a lot of misunderstanding out there I mean I've gotten at least a few questions directly that clearly demonstrate people think it's going to happen tomorrow right and and I've been pretty clear I will say this I spoke maybe a little out of turn just saying at today's State Council I said I think it's highly unlikely that we would be doing anything sort of that affects the kido's in the school now you know that it's more likely track would be for an incoming class of nth grade or something like that and I said no promises but but the way we've implemented things over time is and I think that's a barely safe B um so Kelly thank you for coming in anything else you want from the committee now okay perect thank you for undertaking this process too it's and having the parent groups and student groups I'm sure there will be more to come I appreciate the thoughtful process you're underg actually Kelly just one question for the focus groups and stuff how do you how do you feel you reached uh a did you feel you reached a good uh cross-section of which is why that's also part of my concern same concern we had when we talked about programing Mendes is I don't want to just hear from from these very engaged families and I want because we want to look at it holistically yeah how do we do that yeah I we had the same conversation this morning if you didn't catch your answer is no yeah and with this is probably is also an educational piece because those other families made a GPA what is what are you even talking about right I I received a lot of those emails right yeah um yeah I mean I was say like just waiting to your point earlier like I think the high school I graduated from we had a 13o scale my GPA was like 11 something you know and I still don't know what that means thank you Kelly Christie next up hi how's everyone doing good good thanks for coming in no absolutely thank you for having me I um I'm just giving a brief update on what's going on in the English language education that was code for don't ask me that many question question right told her yeah you you no you told her the right thing you know what happens up here sorry christe go so just an update on where we are um the last time I was with you we I had some goals um for the year and so it's an update on some of those things and some of the great things that are happening I started with the numbers because that's always important um and so I put where we were in in June Sims so the end of last year and then where we are currently Sims is just for Marcy and for anyone else it's just the data that we present to the state that's the actual date at the end of the year where we ended okay thank you you're welcome thanks acronym police um and so for at that time um and so the first box is um multilingual Learners um and what that number represents are the number of students within the district whose first language is something other than English so whatever they put on their registration and it's reported in our data management system um those 933 students currently 926 students speak another language at home as their primary language there's more that speak other languages in the home as well as English or whatever it is but it's not their primary language so the number is even greater of multilingual families if you will um of those students 21 are currently in the English language education program and that's prek to 12 so they are considered English language Learners they have um direct English language instruction as part of their day um then the next number the 196 CHR for maybe maybe you explained it and I just didn't get it yep I'm looking at those two first lines and they went like this right one went down not a lot the other one went up by a fair amount but I would expect them to kind of almost be in a similar Trend but so so may help me help me understand not necessarily they they um not necessarily so two things one you're dealing with June data which also includes students who may have graduated correct or moved on so they're not part of this year's numbers so the numbers that have come in at 926 the the new students could be English Learners um so so they're not Apples to Apples I was looking at Le so then it would also say more of the multilingual families multilingual children are qualifying for the English language program so that so if you looked at it that way so within that we we qualify okay yeah there's two factors I didn't expect them to be perfectly parallel going in opposite directions just struck me as as odd but and then um for former English Learners or Fels are students who have exited out of the English language education so they are now considered English proficient if you will um and we monitor those students for four years and so that number that 196 of the students who are within that 4-year period so there are more students who have exited out but we're not keeping track of those numbers um in this data is there any kind of data about like an average period of time that is student would be receiving yield services or too variable to um average 5 to seven years okay is it probably depends on when they enter and I I yeah understand there there are many there are many factors but that's the what the state guidelines are that's what we're expecting okay around that um and then so then I have the numbers broken down by the schools high school middle school minda warrant and that warrant number June doesn't include the incoming K students so that's why that number goes up so it doesn't quite and I kept looking at I'm like that doesn't make sense but that's why because we don't report on the incoming K class is that the same with pway because their number went up pretty so that again kids move got right and so um there are probably a few more at pitway this year than they were before so with with that warrant so last year so that's but but you but you also shifted some so so an increase is still an incre I'm trying to grab it's about the same of what Warren had last year it's around the same so so so when you're you're not counting the second graders uh at the June so you're not counting the second graders that would now be mindz students at the end of June cor so you only have two two grades okay that that's why all right yep because the shift happened and then the shift happens but you you don't have uh the you don't new cohort yeah so you only had two two grades as opposed to three yes got now I and then the number at the bottom new to US schools so that's a number that's also reported to desie um in its students within their first year so like 12 months um so right now that's at 59 students within the district that are is that is that a new reporting statistic and that's why we don't don't have it for last year um it's not new reporting it's new to the slide and and that when you say new to US schools that's not somebody entering prek or k that's actually does include K A K English learner that does count for them okay but not the prek but even if they lived in the US for three years and then they just start the age into the school system that's new okay they're still considered new because it's their first time in schools and they're an English learner so then this slide just talks about the languages um because I know this has come up before so I again digging out of um out of iPass our information system and this is what's reported as the primary language in the home um so the top language is Portuguese then I had to compile the Indian languages and dialects into one section to see actually how many that was and that's 198 then we have Spanish Russian Arabic Chinese um which includes Mandarin and Cantonese Romanian and French and then the bottom box or all the other languages that are less than 10 many of those are one two five something like that but I thought that was um interesting to look at the number of languages spoken in in District um so then I will just talk about some of the highlights that are going on um at the high school level um last year a new El teacher was hired and that really helped us to be able to separate classes by level and really they created curriculum to really teach the students at their language levels and really differentiate by the courses um and so that's been going really well um uh Middle School uh one of my goals was to have some dedicated collaboration time between between the El teachers and the content teachers that they work with um and so that's been happening mes and Warren um they have data team meetings where the classroom teachers um like the third fourth grade teachers are looking at data to make decisions about instruction for students and the El teachers are participating in those conversations so that we're looking at the student um holistically to make decisions for those kiddos and that's been going really well and and those are pictures of high school kiddos um and then K12 um there's a new uh progress monitoring software tool that we're using it's called flashlight 360 um and what it is it's a speaking and listening tool that the students are using regularly within their classroom and the teacher able to do progress monitoring and measure the speaking and writing skills and see how they're progressing throughout the year and actually um flashlight 360 there was a study at John Hopkins that just came out today I got an email about that saying that flat using flashlight 360 is making a significant difference with students in learning the the expressive language piece um so that was exciting that and the teachers all are using it K through 12 they love it um they actually flash light 360 I'm one of the ambassadors because I'm telling everyone about this great program and it's it's going really well to make decisions for our English Learners um access 2024 is the state testing that our English language Learners do every January February it's a test for listening speaking reading and writing we call it the mcast for English Learners if you will um because that's their year-to-year measurement so those um results will come back in May and we'll be able to look at that data compared to last year and continue to make educational decisions for our students so is that that data kind of similar to like growth percentiles but in in eel yes yes so in the listening speaking reading and writing um and so they give them the student growth percentiles like what they should make um what the so that they could exit the El program in five to I think it's five to seven years so it's like this is what the growth should look like over time and if students aren't making the growth then we make plans for them similar to like the mcast if the students aren't making growth what's the plan and how are we going to make sure that these students are successful and how are we sort I don't know if there's a like I understand the student growth percentile 50% is what you expect in the year you know and and we have many of our schools or grade levels where we're doing better than that in certain areas is there something comparable here and and if so what does it tell us about how we've been doing I don't know about the 50% percentile but I know so for each student they give them a targeted goal of what they should get the next year again depending on when they arrive their age their starting level and like what the growth should be so it's more based on the students individually so that maybe the better way for me to ask that question is you know are are students hitting those targets that are being set for them at a fairly High rate I mean or one that that you are satisfied with I would say right now yes I think there's pockets in areas that we're working on there's a term called long-term El so so English Learners who have been in the program what we would say long term like it's maybe it's too long and like targeting those students and what can we do differently for those students but overall there's been good growth yeah thank I just have a quick question about the flashlight 360 so is this kind is this a program where the El teachers can go in and say and kind of set the levels for a student of where they should start learning or is it they all kind of start in the same place and the program is built to determine what they need to do next it is it kind of self-directed or teacher directed it's it's very teacher directed and it's not like um where it's not like an I ready where they they're just going through standards right like they're going through like first grade standards this is more where like so The Benchmark all the students kind of in the elementary got the same Benchmark so it's a prompt there's a picture and they're asked okay describe what you see in the picture so then every student is at their level so if they're a newcomer level one and they can say ball tree house that's what they're saying then the teacher is scoring it that way if they're a little higher then they're saying phrases if they're higher they're saying sentences and and going growing the language that way so then the teacher can then say okay this group of students we really need to work on vocabulary or transition words or something like that so then they can give them more practice in that way so they can set the program to say these students need to work on these skills as and as they and so then they have practice that way and then they're using it to inform then their direct instruction is more on that so it's less of an instructional tool more pract is a practice and another really good thing about it is the students are practicing speaking into it and the access testing is speaking so if you go back a page the picture the kids um in the top picture they're actually on the program there and so they're getting practice and speaking and what I found and what the teachers are telling me is now those kids when it's their turn to talk they're saying more because now they've had real practice in speaking and speaking and one of the biggest problems or issues if you will with English Learners is they don't they don't have enough there's not enough practice in speaking so this tool is giving them practice now everyone in the class has a turn to say something versus one at a time and calling on and the hope is that that will then and translate into their classrooms and now they're raising their hand and they're more confident in in speaking thank you J so then this was um Family engagement and partnership um Lexi is the interpretation um um product that we're using and I I did some data on that we had from September to now over 4 500 calls and meetings I broke it down special education is also using this which translations interpretations for their meetings um so they had 127 meetings with interpretation or calls if you will and then everyone else is 389 just to give you some numbers um and the fall y family night was a huge success thank you for those who came um the next one will be in the spring at Warren we'll focus on the summer programs um summer activities that families can get involved with and how to read the access scores for the family because they'll get a score report that's kind of complicated but like what does that mean for your student um so we'll be looking at that I'm still uh working on the lpac which is the English language parent advisory Council and looking for leadership um for that so the leadership it needs to be a parent of a current English learner or a former English learner um and I'm also participating in a series from the Federation uh for children with special needs a newcomer Family series it's about welcoming um newcomers U welcome scent is in the notes there's all the list of workshops in there I can't remember them off the top of my head but it's I've gone to two so far and it's really good and I'm looking forward to building that welcoming environment um and working on how to welcome families into town along with um Caitlyn who presented I met with her yesterday that was that was I queued up name I went got the email and I wanted to check on that see if you um and she's working on uh a project with the with the library and so we're we're going to help support her in in that and awes and esmer and I we've been working on that that's thank you anybody have any questions Lori no you're good okay thanks chrisy appreciate you coming in all right let's um go back to item number one it'll feel better when we get past number one go back to five I guess um review and approve you Cas um review and approve correction to school year calendar 2425 so do you want me to te this up Jim or you want to sure you can te up all you want all right so in our last do I have to separate the two of you no we were just looking at the Google drive because ours look different to make sure we have the same Bo so at the last um meeting we had we approved a school calendar and then there was an oversight in that calendar in terms of when the April break was scheduled it was showing the week before and so Jim caught that afterwards and what that did was it meant that the Friday before which previously fell with in that school vacation week now is a holiday we've recognized in the past meaning Good Friday so we needed at a minimum to make sure we're approving the correct calendar showing that as a holiday um we had a lot of conversation about sort of USS and holidays and things last time um Tina you weren't here I was not here last time so quick summary on that but she said you but I did watch the meeting you don't have to summ for my benefit you don't have to summarize thank you though um so I think the only question we have here is is the first we have to at least again technically approve the the corrected calendar the one point I think is fair for further discussion at least in my humble opinion is does because that ultimately pushes the last day of the school year out one more day does that change anybody's opinion about the two days right after New Year's which the vote was in favor of extending the break to there was the second and third I assume would be those two days correct um to the point where people want to revisit that I'm not going to since I voted sort of against those days I feel like you know I said my peace on it but for those of you who were supportive which D obvious you weren't here um you know it's a question I think of like nope we still want to leave it that way we're fine but I don't think we have to have the conversation about holidays generally again um so I don't know who wants to well I mean if there was you know we've all set our peace on some of these things so not the holidays necessarily but anything you watched it deserve put you on first kind of like many of you I don't I didn't have a super strong opinion about it one thing you know that that I was thinking about and and did speak to a couple of parents I didn't have the opportunity in to there was no ashack meeting so this wasn't a discussion I had with anybody outside of a few personal friends um who have students with disabilities one thing that came to mind was is two weeks too long of a break but conversely is coming back for two days and then transitioning back in for just two days then transitioning back out for two days then transitioning back in for to kind of go back full-time would that be more difficult for our students with disabilities and I think it's six and one half dozen of the other I think for some a full twoe break is going to be better for some coming back for two days is going to be better and there's no kind of quick but that's just my thought process that was the one thing that I was thinking of in terms of is this going to impact some of our students negatively to have that long of a break and I don't think I you know landed solidly a yes or no I think it's different for every every student so um you know I I I think looking at the the thought in terms of those two days tend to be uh very low attendance days I think looking at our calendar the the last day school is going to be probably the last two days of school will be super low attendance days and so I think it may be a trade-off when we're looking at the strictly from the attendance piece um but I don't have a a strong opinion on it um either way I mean I can tell you even after the meeting I didn't I didn't like it you know I still don't like it uh you're looking for a better answer right yeah I mean because yes I'm the proponent of I I really didn't like coming back on you know that early because you know that new year is not a daytime thing it's it's a nighttime thing so coming back doesn't allow for unless it's a local unless your family is local you're not spending it time with with your family right so um that said especially how this lays out right the way it lays out right now getting rid of those two days allows us to have the 180 80th day before juneth right and if we have one snow day still completing it in that week right um so I don't know I I was almost regretting going with the flow uh last time in in voting for it even though I like I said tried to stop you no you you were you were too late you were the you were the last vote yeah maybe okay so I mean you know and I I asked about I was thinking myself do we revisit it here I I'd almost be willing to reverse that based on how this lays out right uh that we can end on the on the 20th even if we had one snow day which is basically probably what we're going to have this year hopefully we should just vote on like no snow right and because problem yeah the Mendes students from a from a heat perspective are not going to be a problem right but everybody else you know that last week in June could be it could be could be fine but it could be brutal right and I don't know I I don't I don't love it I'd probably lean towards flip-flopping and going back to the other one especially how it lays out now but all right anybody I mean we can we can do this two ways um you can get a motion to do one thing or the other and then just have the dialogue or get everybody else to chime in but I'm I'm not going to die in that to okay Marc anything you you know your view on it I just I would leave it I would leave it like it is I mean I think we had a robust discussion I think there was evidence to you know keep the days like they were in January we cannot predict the weather it could be hot in September and we could have to call day I would just leave it how it is and then we move on with our lives well moving on making decisions sometimes good thing yeah I mean the the the counter though is so say we have no snow days not a single student's going to be in there on the 20th why why the 23rd yeah yeah they're not going they're not going to come back why why you know well I mean last year the school calendar ended on a Monday and plenty of people came back so I think you know but it wasn't this late though that you know when you're so I don't know let's see let's just see if Lori want time INE all here it was the 17th last year I know because I was one of those people who pulled their kids out of school so I mean all I'm saying is parents are going to choose to do what parents are going to choose to do I think I think we made a choice I think we should stick with our choice and that's my opinion fair enough I rest Madam tosy yeah I mean I I was tossing it up in the when we made the decision six of one half a dozen of the other but I also feel like since we've made it if I had been hearing from people that they didn't like that or were disappointed I haven't had a single email about any of it um I had some verbal feedback in the beginning that people were looking forward to that extended break so I don't I don't have a real reason to change my vote um and it's been out there for a couple of weeks I don't know if people have started to make plans so I'm I'm going to keep my position not that I ever felt strongly about it to begin with but I have no reason to change it either all right let's why me just get a it's not been out we voted but nothing was published so I kept on getting people asking me when are we going to get it when are we going to get it even afterwards but so nobody knew about it unfortunately all why don't we why don't we get a motion on the table um it sounds like the motion's probably going to be in favor of adopting the um corrected calendar as presented by Jim which is to keep us closed on January 2nd and 3rd um and to recognize Good Friday Friday holiday on the 18th of April that's okay so do we have a motion so moved okay is there a second second all right roll call Vote with M to and virtual Marcy hi tinina hi Paul I'm gonna join you on the no side but we're going to lose but that's totally fine I Le I'm not going to die on the H Lori bye all right I'm going to maintain my positions to know on that all right 3 to2 calendar is set moving along and if nothing else as Marcy said we've got a decision decision we can tell people what the deal is there you go all right um assistant superintendent update Michael I I really just wanted to um bring to your attention some pretty great data that uh I was just able to to see um after our winter benchmark assessments were done specifically at Warren um as you know we've adopted I um from K to8 this year uh to do all of our assessment data um and it's now a a assessment which is going to be fantastic and we can watch how our students are progressing from K through 8 uh but in particular the uh Ela data from Warren is really worth highlighting uh in in the fall on our Benchmark um only 34.3% of our students were um scored on grade on or above grade level and on the winter Benchmark um that that rose up to 60.4% so I know that we've talked a lot about l literacy here and a lot of specifically the early literacy that we're teaching at Warren and all the work that has gone into that um you know with with Kate Alman who now has moved to Mendes and Pete and Kathy FIA and I just really it's a it should be a point of Pride for those teachers there and I really wanted to just be able to talk about that publicly of what a great jump that is from the fall to the winter in terms of how our students are progressing um that's specifically the I data you that's specifically the I data and that I ready data I I I think that we're probably overdue for me to kind of take some time to go over a lot of that data um in a meeting where we set some more you know intentional time for that but I just wanted to you know let that be known that we're really proud of that and and you know in we saw it in math as well we we saw a pretty significant increase in math to um 18% of our students were on or above in the fall at Warren and in the winter data 43.8 so we're seeing great growth and this was also there was there was great growth throughout the entire District um with what we did but I just really wanted to point out the work that's been happening there and I think some of that math is also probably directly related to the St math program that we adopted this year um and Pete and Kate wrote a grant for it and I'm excited that that uh Jenna has decided to write the same Grant to try to bring stmath to Mendes and stmath is a program that provides students an opportunity to um solve math equations in a really different way in a in sort of a game style uh and I think we've we've seen that our kids are benefiting from that uh so I'm excited that they're trying to get that same Grant at at Mendes um beyond that really exciting stuff um you know I talk about our year two three Mentor program that I'm really proud of our our partnership with men and Upton in Milford uh over the next month we are going to have uh 37 teachers 37 of our teachers visiting Milford and menen Upton on various stes and we'll have 26 teachers from menen Upton and Milford on March 4th and 24 teachers coming on March 13th to see the great work that our teachers are doing and one of the things that we focus on when when they visit us we talk about student engagement um and we have them look at at how our teachers are engaging our students um and and finally I know I said it last time but we've got a Wonder a wonderfully robust uh drama Department here here in Ashland and uh we should be proud of that uh Chicago is is coming on board here on on this weekend Mr Harrington's uh students are performing that Friday Saturday and Sunday and uh at AMS uh The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tain debuts tomorrow evening and Saturday afternoon at the middle school U Mr Lang Meer and ashon high grad has come back as our as our Drama teacher and he's excited to have a performance with his students uh so I'm looking forward to going to that tomorrow night and hopefully heading to the high school on Sunday great thanks Mike any questions for Mike Lori yeah fantastic thank you uh Jim just briefly just a couple things we have uh continued our work on our budget uh we have March 16th is a workshop for the school committee uh and we have an admin meeting Tuesday of next week to to really clean that up a little bit I'll be meeting with Mike Herbert on Monday uh to see where he's he stands right now currently with the budget so we'll be having a conversation there scheduled for 8:30 to noon correct it's showing in my probably it's going to be school in the music room that's okay yeah um I L my um yeah first I heard about so uh the process of um negotiations are underway uh with our PA professionals our ESP unit and uh that's uh going well um and was one other thing I was thinking about the budget PA of professionals is it the overnight trip oh yes just a update on uh during during February break our wrestlers um were in participating in the states in new englands and needed uh you know had an opportunity to stay over because they weren't quite sure if they were going to play in the morning our policy is that normally would come before the school committee for approval but we do have a section within uh the policy uh that allows uh Administration to make the decision to allow folks to stay over uh and then report it out so that's what I'm doing uh there is also that potential uh happening again this weekend uh coming up um so we had six wrestlers last weekend stay over in p uh and we potentially have a couple that might stay over and and Jim because it was a little confusing based on your message to us um it's because they because we drove they went down on the bus is the reason because you said that they stayed with their their parents not everyone stayed with their parents yes no so that's the reason why not everyone's with their parents okay so that's the part I was confused about where where do it Fallen with our it falls within the that frame school trip so yeah yeah okay that's all I yeah thank youa for reminding me no problem all right uhul warrant approvals sure uh between February 15 2024 and February 28th 2024 I Paul Kendall authorized by my signature payables in the amount of $745,000 36 revolving expenses of $94,900 184 Grant expenses of $4,299 and meals tax expenses of [Laughter] $938,000 hi Dina hi Paul hi Lori hi and I for me and then uh committee reports of activities member updates let's start with Lori since she's way probably Lor nothing to add okay Marcy anything no Tina I have nope not this week no uh nothing in particular I just uh we did receive our supplemental reimbursement last week from uh I think I mentioned it previously and Marcy might have been prior to you being here so so uh the legislature approved $100 million uh of funding to the msba to um uh add supplemental reimbursement to projects that were adversely impacted by uh the pandemic and uh we were one of the first ones uh on that list and uh we did receive we we submitted U about a it was actually pretty quick so I think it was the end of last month we submitted and last week we did receive the $5.5 million reimbursement supplemental reimbursement for that so thank you the legislature for that that'll that's uh it doesn't as I said before it doesn't increase the project budget it just decreases uh uh the amount increases their their portion of that P and and how much we need to do for long-term borrowing so probably too late to undo some of the value of engineering decisions you we've had a lot of conversations about that um and we I was being somewhat fa no it's a valid it's a valid question because we we've talked about it multiple times and there uh most of the things um we uh as I said as I said it D didn't change the overall budget but most of the things that we uh removed we had as add-ons afterwards so we've gotten most of those things back there's there's certainly changes um that didn't come back because they're too late uh but I don't think they're subsid to ons okay um and for me the my biggest one was with SE Council earlier today um we've already talked about it you know all the topics we've talked about I just say they're they're really having very thoughtful conversations um and in the room is Kelly um M Gant um both the Deans typically um Sullivan wasn't there today uh one two four parents are present today one student um Miss Tumi and Miss Eagan were all there and they're really really just doing a really nice job trying to sort of work through the issue so give them credit for the time energy they're putting into it other than that I have nothing with that we have a motion to adjourn so moved I have a second second I like keeping it keep it consistent that's I give me the give me the deer in the headlights Lori it's my new role I Marcy I Dina I Paul I and I for me we are adjourned good night everybody good night good night everybody good night

[Music] because we need to update munus which is our payroll in HR software but we can't really update munus because we're always running payroll and doing other human um human resource related duties and so we're creating issues where we can't update munice to provide us more ability to to more efficiently run the payroll and you can see the problem so at least at this point um that position was it has been added in so um I will go through the budget details um there are copies of the budget posting that was put up they're on the public comment table I apologize the numbers are a little bit small but they are there so um okay so the overall budget this year the fy2 I will review there we talk about the budget in two different ways one is an all funds budget that includes money that we ask for from the city as well as Grant funds and funds that are in our revolving accounts local appropriation is exactly what it sounds like those are funds that we request from the City to fund the educational program so you can see we're comparing last year's funded amount from all funds and also the local appropriation so there is a decrease in the all funds budget of 8.04% um this is primarily because we're losing a lot of our grant funding the eer 3 was a substantial uh funding source for us and that is not going to exist after September 30th and a de an increase I apologize of 5.29% over last year's local appropriation last year you probably remember we had a quite a significant budget request um that was due to settling multiple contracts and having multiple years of retroactive pay be impacted um at one point multiple Year's um increases being reflected in one budget that's not the case this year the only contractual increases are the one year's contractual increase instead of some cumulative hope that made sense so we talk about an all funds which includes local and grants and revolving or just the local appropriation for the most part our conversation tonight about the budget is the local appropriation that we're talking about okay so I can go through by cost center um for the most part and I will ask Mr pockette to interject as we go so these are reported by as you can see the cost center often they are school-based or um you can see department when I talk about having met with department or um building level administrators it basically breaks down into the cost centers how they're reflected so North parish is actually a our preschool building um we had some increase reflected primarily there our contractual increases reflected across all of our departments we also are using um we are not using revolving money in the funding of our preschool staff right now um in part that is because at preschool primarily we have a number of students that come into our program across the course of the school year most with unknown needs at that time and because we have an integrated preschool program what that means is we serve students who do not have special education needs as well as students with special education needs um most of the time in a public school setting the purpose of a preschool program is so that we can appropriately serve the needs of students with um disabilities so um they are able students are able to enter our preschool when they turn three if they have identified special education needs and we don't always know when we're building the budget which three-year-olds will be coming in and what their level of need is so at this point we are not recommending that we use the revolving because we you anticipate that that could be necessary as we go through the year and then we would need to use revolving for um student supports Federal Street I'm not going to cover buildings or departments that have very minor increases or decreases most of the time what you're looking at in some minor changes within a school are that we have contractual increases that get added into the salaries we have staff that move between buildings they may change they may work in one building when we are building the budget and then the following year when we're building the new budget they've changed to work in a different building so salaries fluctuate somewhat um and in some places we've added staff um primarily that occurs with instructional assistance to address student needs so generally a few percent one way or another is really reflected by by those types of changes okay the English language learner department is this is reflecting the increase um the addition of a teacher but we have had some staffing changes so again it goes back to um reflecting changes in particular staff salaries the increase of the budget okay Athletics increased 15,000 I know there were comments about different numbers um the budget request for athletics was 15,000 um supplies and materials for their um nursing again minor we have some minor increases administrative technology there is a fairly significant reduction um we have made some fairly significant changes to things that are not necessarily our Chromebooks for students but things like addressing copy or P es to be much more efficient um to decrease the purchasing costs for toner in our buildings and repairs to old copers um and we've also been very um strategic in looking at any type of online program that's been used and purchased either on the administrative side as well as the instructional side so that is generally why you're seeing a decrease in techn technology um I will also say that a good almost all of the technology updates that will be seeing in this upcoming year will be Grant funded there is a significant amount of the eer 3 available um to fund two things one our security project which is thankfully going to be finished up this year as well as technology updates so we expect there will be um you know funding that is spent on technology but not from the local um the increase in the assistant superintendent curriculum and instruction that is the department the curriculum and instruction Department um this generally reflects that we have moved expenses for our literacy and math materials primarily out of Grants into the local budget for next year we do still have things that are being purchased with grant money this year before it expires so um but that is primarily um the expense we also are looking to replace science textbooks um I'm sure Mrs Bennett's quite happy about that our science textbooks across the secondary level are um rather old and not really meeting our standards anymore um systemwide this is primarily reflection of some staff our director of Behavioral Services and our equity and Community connections coordinator that had been Grant funded have been moved into the local um those positions support our students um with social emotional and behavioral issues mental health issues um work to coordinate our in District social work and counseling staff with outside agencies um such as CSO CHD DCF to ensure that our students have the most positive School experience that they can and that we are providing the resources they need during school um and our equity and communication equity and Community connections coordinator um one of his primary responsibilities is to work with families who are struggling with School attendance so both extreme extremely critical um supports for our students and staff special education minor again minor some minor changes Transportation a significant increase this is primarily due to the new contract that was signed school committee voted on that I think the last meeting um we had one bidder so they are provider um and Mr pette had shared at that time that the increase that we saw in that contract is fairly consistent um right Andy okay so it was a pretty consistent um Personnel oh we have to fund um some contractual requirements so um for whatever reason that was not reflected in in the line last year so we have reflected it um which is why there's that significant increase and then school committee that is the position that that um was brought in for the HR and school committee support and then business administration um you folks um voted to approve a job description for an assistant business manager this reflects a pay adjustment as well as some other contractual um increases in the business department so overall that reflects uh 5.29% local appropriation um request I do have um you all have a very large copy of the budget request in front of you um I'd like to go through a few more slides to make some um to share some data and then I would like to go through the budget point out some um different places where there are resources included um and I believe that through that conversation I may actually um be addressing some of the concerns that were shared um so if that's all right with the committee okay oh I forgot one of the most important parts Grants grants and revolving so we still the this is the amount of money that we are assuming will be available to use as a revenue to offset the expenses in the fy2 budget budget so we are planning to use 297,000 of the eer 3 you can see $683,000 from Title One um Title One funding is funding that is provided to districts for literacy and math support primarily we have interventionists that we pay their salaries we also have some instructional materials and online resources that are paid for title four is for um Andy help me I'm sorry yeah is that Google it we're gonna use our we're gonna phone a friend and we're gonna google title 4 because it is late and I've I've forgotten um so tag that's our grant that we get because the district um has been identified needing Improvement for academics so we get funding um from the State Technology healthy safe schools safe and healthy students well-rounded educational opportunities there we go um thank you so tag is used um to support instructional materials we also pay for stiens for our instructional leadership teams instructional leadership teams are teacher made teacher madeup teams that work with the administration and work with their colleagues to help look at data identify areas of need Drive instructional change advise their principles on changes instructionally that are needed they provide professional development at times to their colleagues so they really are a critical element in the work of improving our student learning idea 240 and 262 are both special education grants they can only be used for special education and IDE a 262 actually can only be used for preschool for special education school choice I think that's fairly self-explanatory we are assuming that we will use 300,000 of our school choice and then circuit breaker um in case you don't are not familiar with that circuit breaker is a reimbursement structure in Massachusetts where districts are reimbursed for high cost special education um programs so there is what's called a foundation that's a a particular amount of money that's utilized assuming that that's what's spent per student we are able to request a portion of reimbursement for anything that is four times the foundation number so I'm using this as an example these are not actual numbers if Foundation is 10,000 we have to get to $40,000 of expense and then we can request reimbursement of a percentage of what we've spent over that so if the total program is 50,000 we can request right now is it 75 75% of the other 10,000 so I know that's a complicated um It's Complicated system but it is not reimbursing the district for all of what we spend and um not as many you know as much as um some of our resources do cost in terms of instructional materials and Equipment um and the number of staff that we thankfully do have that support our special education programs and students um it is a fairly High bar to reach before you are able to request reimbursement so we are looking to use 1.2 million of that in um the fy2 budget so three just over 3.6 million in um non City funds are built into the budget to offset expenses okay good okay I know this is very exciting stuff so I want to share some of the positive because um the school budget represents a significant portion of the city budget and I thought it was fair that we share some of the good things that are coming from the use of those funds one is attendance now attendance is still something that we need to work on but it is also something the entire Commonwealth is working on and as a matter of fact in October the commissioner made a point to say that he will be shining a light and issuing a call to action on chronic absenteeism and last year we actually surpassed our goal from the Department of Ed in terms of improving student attend and we all know that if our students are not in school to be in front of our teachers we are not going to be able to help them learn to read or write or make friends or do any of the other benefits that they Garner from being in school with us so I will share in FY 23 uh oh I have to go back I got it we are not going to be um we're going to be gentle with technology for the rest of the night so um FY 23 is last school year last school year our chronic absentee rate just from August through January was 37.9% this year in the same time frame 30% so um and chronic absenteeism is the definition of that is missing 10% of the school year or more um again very striking numbers um but not out of the norm across the Commonwealth unfortunately um as a matter of fact in the meeting where the commissioner made the comment about shining a light um he also shared that one in four students across the Commonwealth has been um identified as chronically absent since we came back from the pandemic so that is a very striking for for the Educators anyway it is an extremely striking statistic um so attendance rate that means positively how many what percentage of our students are in front of us last year through January 89.4 this year 91 so we are working with families and having more of our students in front of our teachers one of the things that is most striking was most striking for the administrators is last year last December 2022 on average half of our students um were out this year it improved to 36.8 again we're not happy with the current numbers but we are celebrating the Improvement because that many more students are here with us to learn so resources going toward attendance are making a difference nwaa that is our um formative assessment meaning we do it several times a year so that we can monitor student performance it is math and English language arts hopefully okay so I'm comparing last year fall to winter because those are the statistics we have available to us this year so we're comparing the like time frame last year to this year so last year the RIT score that is basically just a it's a performance measure it's consistent so a RIT score is similar to using inches to measure someone they're consistent and um an increase is an increase a decrease is a decrease um so RIT scores last year from fall to winter increased um this year our scores I apologize math last year the RIT score went from 196.7 in Fall to 2011 in the winter so an increase but this year same time period they went from 1955.

for exiting double Point Tetris tournament play uh special thanks to auction at Wells County Foundation Indiana Esports net L the Army National Guard uh for their support for the for our program without them uh pretty much none of this would be possible have a good night [Music] yep and

7 to we also went what we believe is the more important statistic to monitor is the percentage of students who are meeting their growth goals growth goals are set for each student it's not a static amount for for all students it's individual based on performance last year the number of students meeting their growth goal in math 31.7 this year in that same time period 60% we look at English Lang anguage Arts last year um we had a RIT score increase fall to winter of 3.4 points this year same time period it was 6.1 points so again a nice increase and the percentage of students who were meeting their growth goals in English language arts last year 35.4 percentage of students meeting growth goal this year in the same time frame 56 .8 again we want all of our students to be meeting their growth goals that is that is our goal for the students however we are extremely pleased with the amount of growth that has occurred in one Academic Year and we may have used the ssos um acronym previously which I will Define Statewide system of support those are folks from uh the department of Ed that work with the district to help us in our improvement work and a quote from them when we reviewed our midyear data recently was that these reflect a pretty remarkable change it was more exciting in person than to hear it from me being said but you know they are acknowledging that um these are nice jumps in performance also and NWA some of our special populations these are um groups of students that require a specific Focus for us because they have been some of our most challenged groups of students so our English Learners I'm just going to share the percent of students meeting their growth in math last year 23.8 to this year 72 in the same time frame thank you for the wow we agree we feel like that for our students that is a huge huge um impact for them um again our English Learners in English language arts last year percentage of students meeting their growth goal 36.4 this year same time period 62.3 again huge jump our students with disabilities in math last year 30.7% meeting their growth goal this year 59.5 English language arts last year 36.8 this year 49.6 again not where we want them to be please don't make the mistake that we're done that is not where we are at all but so pleased to see that the efforts that we're making We Believe are having this impact on our students learning Karen has talked a lot this year about our work with HQ high quality instructional materials that is um funded by a grant FC 185 and the Consultants who work with us through that Grant are the teaching lab so we also had a midyear review of data with them they call it a stepb I don't know why but um and this is the a summary of some of the data from Fall so this September to um winter of 24 so they came and visited again um in February and they use a specific tool that looks at our student learning not our student not our teachers teaching our students learning so core action one this represents a significant increase in our students accessing high quality instructional material ials following the content and core two is them asking questions higher oh I can read it if I put my glasses on if I put my glasses on core action two is regarding um the questions and tasks in the text and they are attending to features of the text so them understanding the text that they are access ing they dramatic increase and they also are answering questions and engaging with tasks that are related to grade level vocabulary and understanding the impact of that and that students are using evidence from the TX to support their ideas so these have shown significant increases in the numbers of students percentage of students accessing those types of behaviors when they were observed in their classrooms um also the teacher directed instruction increased from 61% to 92 in The observed classes that doesn't mean before teachers were not teaching they were it is a specific reference to following um the the work in the curriculum materials and students accessing the specific materials that are provided through in the English language artarts case it's CK which is our Ela program which you've probably heard before okay I hope at this point um so um we also have uh 100% of the classes that teaching lab was in the students were accessing the content that was aligned with the high quality instructional materials so 100% of the students that were in those classes are getting um they're getting instruction out of materials that have been vetted by large numbers of Professionals in the field and support learning on grade level content the other piece that's extremely exciting is when the folks who were visiting looked at work samples from our students 100% were doing work on grade level uh the the material was on grade level and 72% of those were the students were able to demonstrate full comprehension of the standard that again is we think it was a huge bonus and shows all of the incredible work being done by our staff and again teaching lab um said in their summary that we were hitting the use of hqm out of the park and that is our teachers in the classrooms using this and engaging in the professional development okay the other thing that happened in the last couple of months is desie visited two of our buildings and the center for district and school partnership is the arm of desie that came and they observed in Federal Street and Newton and they showed areas of strength positive climate the absence of negative climate which um I had a moment when I looked at that report um but it's the absence of negative climate positive behavior management and productivity meaning the amount of time in the classrooms that are being used for active instruction all areas of significant strength the areas that we still need to work on are exactly what we're working on in professional development so different instructional learning formats meeting the needs of students who have different learning styles and needs um providing feedback that doesn't mean teachers aren't talking to our kids they are it means providing feedback in a way that um enhances their learning of the content so but these are the exact topics that we are working on um so this is again positive that completely objective people who don't know what we're working on came into the district and their um observations in two of our schools reflect exactly what we believe are the things that we're doing well and the areas that we still need to show growth okay so in the budget because we've talked about I have talked about all these positive impacts for students and I also want to highlight where we are including um funding that I believe will continue to support our students um academic growth and engagement and well-being and I also believe will answer some of the some questions um in the budget for fy2 we have maintained funding for all 12 counselors at one point um several of them were grant-funded they are all in the budget this is guidance counselors and social workers for a district our size to be able to support this level of social emotional um resources is incredible but I will tell you that we utilize every moment plus some of all of their time um we have budgeted 428,000 and some change for physical education that is um maintaining the staff that we have had just a reminder physical education and health are required for our students so we need to make sure that they have access to um those courses across all of their grades and um health is a graduation requirement we have budgeted 303,000 and change for our music staff that does include the 25,000 that is still in the budget for strings for kids for next year this reflects the increase of a music teacher for next year we have budgeted 362 2,000 and change for our art staff that's consistent what it has been um we have $388,000 in the budget for stiens for extracurricular activities the stiens are dictated in our teachers contract um and the list of clubs or stipended um positions that are available are also in there um teachers do have the ability to propose new clubs there's um as matter fact we have to provide funding for up to two new clubs every year and our staff does um take advantage of that and they offer additional after school activities for our students we are still grant funding instructional leadership teams which I already talked about all of the requested academic resources are included in the budget that does include $14,000 that was requested for the music department so all of what was requested was budgeted um we have budgeted for all the field trip funding at all schools so any teacher who's doing a field trip um is able to submit that request and will get funded I have not um have not denied funding for any field trip that has been requested um we are providing library books districtwide with to focus on Equity inclusion um Karen has talked about our work with the libraries across primarily the elementary schools that have all been revamped we've weeded replaced many many books um across especially the elementaries but we are still building rebuilding the libraries at um the middle school and high school and then what we don't generally talk about but I think is very important is that the district does offer free before school care at all elementary schools and that is built into the salaries um of folks who who do run they do run that so um that is continuing to be provided for the district so um you know we have we have a lot of wonderful things that are in place um we have professional development and structures in place to support our staff in meeting student needs s we're increasing resources for students through Staffing and specialized programs or elective course offerings our current structures um are being shared and you folks don't necessarily see our structures but the work of our professional development cycle the instructional leadership teams our learning walks that Karen has talked about um is actually a model system you know it's not making change as fast as as we'd like with the um academic performance of our students but they are moving and we feel strongly that we need to retain the structures that we have in place and we have data to support that what we're doing is having a positive impact academic performance and attendance so um we'd like to keep the systems moving so I don't know if anyone has questions about this part or you just like to move into looking at um the very large budget the mayor has a question hi ah first that's very impressive with the improvements I'm very I'm I'm that's terrific thank you um I so I have my questions I think maybe more for Andy but the um so the title one uh you plan for six 63 this year could you tell me what you've spent Title One the last couple of years do you have would that be on your computer if not that's okay we can tell me later because I have a a few questions just even a maybe even last year I do have no it's no I've I've got the report up I'm just it's the columns are too small that it's now they're showing up as the number signs here title one here we go it's n fy22 we spent 50,58502 three $46,800 I'm GNA have to that's uh the balance as of now I would have to run a report I would have to get back to you on that okay any any idea what it might be like is it a million oh no not no we only get 600,000 okay all right how about may I may I can it's just on the revolving may I I have a couple um and the Ida it was the first one I didn't get the numbers the 240 2 yeah I had 240 the one it was a larger one what we spent what we were allocating this is what I wanted to know what we were allocating this year and maybe even just the last year I don't mean to make too much trouble cuz I didn't know was was going to ask this but what it was this year and last year and what's in that these are revolving right that idea is a grand so which he's turning microphone on at the beginning of that slide it had revolving so I just wanted to know the ones that are actually revolving what the balances are that are in them do do you know what I'm saying because so that slide that was in my presentation included um included grants as well so Title One um title four Ida both of them um those are grants so any revolving it's which were the revolving so circuit breaker circuit breaker and school choice okay so can I may I ask about those two yes cheer okay yes you have the floor okay so circuit breaker circuit breaker this year and last year and the balance in the revolving if that's possible and for the next one whatever they whatever those two were that our superintendent just said last year we spent $655,000 circuit breaker and for school choice we spent $125,700 that we spent that's by the circuit breaker tat okay choice we were able to spend less because of the influx of the eer grants that we had to therefore that was a whole idea was still right so and what's the balance in the school choice balance as of right now remaining balance is 410,000 was 300 in in next year's budget okay so you plan 300 in this 410 correct and the other one because I don't know all the rules on this I'm sure I'm not alone with that maybe I am but um the circuit breaker we I actually remember this from watching other meetings you have to spend the amount the prior year amount that receed correct okay any other revolving with any wiggle room well I mean as far as wiggle room it would be what I like to call the legitimate shell game in the sense that we could theoretically like the superintendent mentioned ahead of time about the preschool revolving account that we could use use for any new students coming in that would need some severe special needs we could theoretically use that for the preschool program and then reduce what it is in the local budget but that's the whole the concept of the all funds is like quite honestly it's the all funds number is what it takes to run our run our district you know and it's funded by the local the grants and a revolving account so hope I answered your question you did and then there's the um I mean we've got some other ones there's the athletic revolving account which that one goes towards athletic so and then building use go that's kind of our you know for the nominal amounts that we get we use that to offset the cost for any custodial coverage for any outside organizations that use the facilities any one of them have a balance of over a 100,000 oh God no okay thank you if only okay we're on questions on the superintendent's presentation so far any other questions member PRI thank you I want to ask about grants um I watched last week's city council meeting and one of the councilors was uh implying in their uh remarks that we don't need an ass assistant superintendent we need a coordinator of curriculum and a grant writer and I'm wondering if you could talk about I I don't expect you to have a number of how much we have in terms of grant funding but I would love to have that maybe for next week's school committee meeting what we what we received in grant funding um in FY 24 um but can you talk about who writes the grants that we do receive because we do get a bunch of them and how that how that works sure so um I'll take credit for my one that I wrote was the grant for the um energy recovery units on the Middle School roof but outside of that um Dave messing our director of pupil Services writes the two special education grants and then Karen writes all the others so all of the title grants title one two three uh no I apologize Dave messing writes title three so 124 she wrote the um grants that we received for the high quality instructional materials which has been hundreds of thousands of dollars she wrote the um Reinventing history reimagining history which is providing for professional development based on the new standards um I'm trying to think of of any other Grant she's written but it's you know over a million dollars and I think you know Karen is the director of teaching and learning um and the grant writer so that sort of encompassed I think in that discussion it's sort of a title great thank you if I may for example just I just have the fy22 end of the year financial report which is a required report that we submit to the state backing out I'm just rounding out the special education grants um if you want to say the grants that assistant superintendent patow wrote total just about million and I believe that was prior to the hqm grants that is also true thank you both member of child thank you I'm going to uh ask two questions that I anticipate being the questions people ask me so I'm going to let you answer them so the first is you said the 14,000 requested by the music department is in the budget um would that be as part of the music where where in the budget you said the 303 music staff you said or would that be in the 388,000 extracurricular where would people be looking to find that in the budget the materials that were requested would be in high school supplies and materials um salaries are in salary lines um transportation would be built into the field trip line at the high school um so it's not we do not have a music line out in in the budget it's that's not um one of the broken out budget lines um but the they're interspersed into the different lines um reflective of the category of the request okay and the second question just because I know people will be asking me this of the elementary schools Four Corners received a 10% increase when they had the largest budget to start and I know people are going to ask me about it and I'm pretty sure I know where the differences are but there's anything that you have to say about that four corners increase so one of the elements and it would have you know you're um sort of preempting the line the the department discussion which is fine um one of the largest lines that was an increase was in the social worker we had a change in staff and on our teacher salary schedule depending on your degree and the number of years worked salary fluctuates and so the person who left was making making less than the person who came in so that reflects actual um salary the other piece at for Corners is um integrated arts I know that was um a question so the new music the new position for instrumental music was added into the Four Corners line the other the integrated arts teachers at the elementary as was referenced go to all three elementary schools so it doesn't really matter in terms of Form and Function where their money lies so prior to this just for the sake of insuring because when we build the budget we literally go through the entire staff list and make sure everybody's in the budget so to ensure that we had all people present and accounted for um they were primarily listed in two buildings so the library media specialist um correct me Andy that had been Grant funded believe was added to Four Corners and the new instrumental music teacher was added there but both positions will serve all three elementary schools um and generally I I think most people familiar with our schools realize Four Corners has our highest need Elementary level special education program where every student in the program has adult with them so if we had 12 students in that program the classroom actually has 13 adults so that given that Personnel is our highest category of spending um that reflects in the four corners cost center um so that those are primarily drivers for the increase thank you very much did that answer yep that was exactly what I was looking for okay good other questions about the superintendent's presentation so far knowing we'll be going through the line item review well not every not line item but but detailed budget review let's say it that way it was more for relief of everybody to not think we're gonna hit every line Sorry I know the big the big copy's loud a little bit on the microphone but much easier for everybody to see so um and it was either too big or too small so we went with too big okay good just checking okay and um folks also it's listed on our agenda that we would take a break at 8 o'clock but that I think assumed is 6: PM start time since we started a half hour late tonight I'm going to assume our break can happen at 8:30 if we need one okay go ahead okay so going through the cost centers I apologize I have notes just to make sure um I don't forget anything so I think we've North Parish NP is North Parish that's a um I'm only going to talk about the significant line changes not anything like I mentioned previously that had a a minor increase decrease um North Parish the increase in teaching staff costs it's you know 79% increase that actually generally reflects that we are not using revolving funds that that's and again any staff line just so I don't keep repeating it every staff line reflects the contractual increases so um so that increase generally reflects that we are not using revolving at this time um social worker we had a split position um the preschool has had a split social worker position we did not take it away we just moved the funding to one line for accountability you know in terms of making sure we had our people accounted for there we do not expect a change in social worker coverage at the preschool um 119% again um the PA professional increase of 119% is again the revolving funds um situation Andy you're going to yell if I say something incorrect right absolutely okay and then instructional supplies does reflect a 50% decrease but after um Merill who was the director at the time solicited Supply requests from the staff looked at the um clerical supplies that were needed and ones that we still needed she put forward a budget that reflected a decrease increase in the supply budget so um and the field trip just so you see that is reinstated exact amount that had been in Prior um and had been Grant funded so any questions for a mayor yes um two questions one is um the CH the number of students last year and this year if you happen to know it if you don't that's okay we can find that okay you don't okay and um that revolving um what's in that [Music] revolving if Andy has that and if not we can get it another time do give me a minute please I don't know if it helps answer the question mayor but we have um six integrated classrooms um we in order to make sure that we're hitting ratios um outlined in regulation we always um assume that we will have seven students with I mean eight students without disabilities we have seven seats available for students with disabilties all those are not filled at the beginning of every year because as I said students come in when they turn three so we need to make sure we can account we also have a um spe highly specialized program for students who need to be in a special ed program most of the day and that has a smaller enrollment um so that's you know approximately we have six classrooms with 15 students all or most of the day we we current sorry we currently have $2,249 in the pre revolving started the year with 57 728 any other questions on North Parish hearing oh yes please this is just a real quick one and will probably apply to the other ones as well so I'll just ask it now you had mentioned that the um the social worker line just went somewhere else for accountability where did it go Newton okay I will try to remember if we're moving people like that um but thank you for asking okay if I may also the a enrollment for the 23 24 on the was reported that desie is 90 students last year last year give me yes no was that last year 232 October one so that was our October one the the year prior was 82 for AEL keeping in mind as of October 1st we would still have vacant spots available for students that yes I think it's just the kids in the seats it was just on October one kids seats yes okay so the next building page two is Federal Street um social worker you see a little bit of an increase there that again is actual cost um looking 100% we did not eliminate all of our uh kindergarten par Educators in terms of State reporting and I should let Andy explain this but I'll take a stab at it but in terms of State reporting our budget has way many more lines than is necessary at some point in time lines were added for additional detail that aren't required with State reporting so we've been making an effort over the past three years to sort of consolidate funds into different lines we've if you've been on the committee you've heard that before um so par professionals kindergarten is no difference in terms of budgeting a reporting than par professionals so right correct okay um and then um Andy you're going to have to remind me oh in um last year under the um building monitor there's a a fairly significant change it's because we had a position in that line that didn't actually go in that line so we've moved it so we didn't lose people they just their money moved um and Andy I apologize can you remind me why we have a 58% increase in the special ed pair professional maybe you can't okay while you're looking the other piece I want to highlight is in the integrated arts it's a 20% change that's just reflective of the actual salaries of our staff over previous that's also the not using revolving account funds thank you okay we use Choice some choice and there was a to sped tuition revolving I don't know if there's any questions about Federal Street again most of the lines are minor change so see n oh there did we the the the teaching staff that was down 17.45% did are there less teachers there or less children that was that the reduction from the so last year when we did the budget um we budgeted for number of teaching positions but later identified that we were able to reduce one but it wasn't reflected at that time so it's reflected we anticipated needing an additional position that so when we built the budget and since we're comparing from the original approved budget it was no longer needed so therefore that's a reduction and then the other reduction changes are to Andy would you please uh turn on your microphone uh new positions that were less expensive than others and the student population there was about the same from one year to the other yeah we can go so Andy's pulling up the October 1st report that's the date that's the moment in time when all districts have to report to the Department of Education what the enrollment is at that time so that's that's the number that we we go by when we talk about enrollment correct so yes in 23 it was 193 24 okay good yeah I think so yes okay for corners I think we've hit the highlights um due to the questions previously I'm just going to scan quickly um some of the changes like special ed teaching staff um like I said the social worker that's just reflective of changes in personnel and salaries um building monitor again change in personnel and then instructional supplies and office supplies again when um Mr Browning solic IED from teachers looked at what they had what they needed he gave us a supply request that was less than last year and again I I want to highlight the literacy materials the math materials um those do not come out of the building based budgets that you'll see reflected in the curriculum and instruction department just so no one thinks that um we're not going to be purchasing math or literacy or other um required content mat materials questions on the Four Corners page seeing none okay Newton again so here's the social worker we have an increase significant increase on that line that's just where the entire salary for one person was reflected instead of split across two buildings um again for um the reduction in the par professional line at Newton we did have a position that was not required that is not in the budget and then we did move went to move some people from one line to another just reflective of creating more accuracy so um that is a reduction of one staff person again not necessarily current but from the original approved budget last year um yeah that not too much else for significant change at Newton unless there's questions questions on Newton mayor okay I I'm sorry I have two questions I'm Gonna Keep at this one just so Andy I just want to keep keep you ahead I just want to know the numbers from one year to the next in four corners and the Newton school but I'm going to ask that for each one just so you'll be prepared ahead of time and to go back one if I may the the substitute teachers that was a $67,000 can you tell me what page um this is on page three the subs at the substitute of regular teachers do those subs go to all uh that was 67,000 and are we do we have a do we have a bigger subpool it it looks like last year was about 21,000 I just wanted we have a long-term sub there for the year so it's categorized there thank you okay and then you can tell me later the numbers I don't want to keep interrupting this is what this is for so please keep asking are you all set so I see at Four Corners this year we have 210 and Newton is 183 and we're going to keep going 301 so at your leisure you can tell me what we had last year in all four of the schools left to go four corners new um Newton Middle School and high school I just you know the changes and we can do that later because I want the superintend it might be easier if I may if everyone's got stuff to write on I'm going to I'm because the way the desie website works I'm going to just list this is the 2223 so the October 122 numbers which is based for last year got it so Four Corners was 214 Federal Street was 193 mhm Greenfield High 454 Greenfield Middle 300 Newton School 203 okay and AEL was 82 now fast forward to this year Four Corners is 210 Federal Street is 182 Greenfield High is 448 Greenfield Middle is 301 Newton School is 83 AEL is 90 thank you what other questions are there see n okay oh newon c up okay on to page five all right Middle School we are getting into more lines so again I just want to make sure all committee members are clear and people at home if you happen to be looking at the budget in terms of Math and Science Academy um grade level staff that doesn't really matter in terms of us accounting for teachers so please don't worry and think that if we don't have any staff listed under grade five that we're getting rid of fifth grade we're we are not despite the desires of the fifth grade students they still have to come so um I just want to make that point so for the line You'll see Greenfield Middle School guidance and school counselor 183% increase but if you look at the line below it which is social worker that is zeroed out so they've just been combined sorry my I got very loud there um the athletic coaching staff was moved from the middle school and just added to the high school totals so you'll see um generally the athletic supplies and um expenses have been moved into the high school okay uh building monitor that is a decrease because last year um Mrs fenamore utilized two and then that was changed and um this year there was only one building monitor in place and then again you'll see for the most part the athletic supplies have all been moved to the high school line and that's it for the most part the Middle School lines are generally reflective of um specific staff people leaving or being hired and contractual increases questions on page five the Middle School seeing none on to page six we're moving High School hello more lines okay um okay extracurricular activities increased um again that's putting some of the money that was Grant funded in last year and just reflective of any stiens or or costs associated with extracurricular activities um oh where did I go instructional electives we did not cut half of our staff this is reflective of money being moved into different lines um rather than the reduction of any positions the two people who were budgeted their positions continue to be funded and filled it's just again putting them in the correct places um you'll see the reduction of social worker at the high school we did not eliminate a social worker the money was just moved looking that increase in grade eight teaching staff is generally where the elective money went to due to staff people moving different positions within the high school okay High School integrated arts again we didn't lose anything from last year to this year it's people moving into different positions and if I may just when and it's no you're absolutely 100% right but I just want to give you an idea and it's this is more of a sneak preview of the workshop that I would like to do that we've talked about but for reporting purposes to this state for Department of elen Secretary of Education the there are three categories of or say the type of instruction that they look for when it comes to reporting regular education special education and chapter 74 which is vocational education so when you look at the lines I'm just going to use this the high school as an example the line 104 the ghs teaching staff line 106 ghs instructional electives line 112 ghs teaching staff grade 8 line 113 High School integrated arts all those are technically regular education and in addition elll English language Learners is considered regular education so this is where it's when whatever Personnel were originally assigned or the position was assigned to a line you know in our efforts to try and consolidate that because it quite honestly can be very untenable when it comes to trying to discuss with you all of you and that's not a criticism it's I mean I sometimes find myself getting lost as to where it is people are when you have so many but it's like quite honestly there are three those are the three areas regular Ed special education and Vocational so there's nothing saying that we wouldn't and we would have and that's the when we as Dr depar alluded to earlier about our use of the munus accounting system and the HR components of it we'll still be able to tell you who's an elective teacher who's teaching music who's teaching PE etc etc stuff but for the reporting purposes that's all regular education so I just wanted this is a highlight lighting of what it is you know so for trying to make it seem like we're not playing games or there's no Shenanigans going on here it's just that there's just an inor inordinate amount of accounts created that really when time comes for what is it that you know the education of the about here can kind sometimes skewer what it is that we're looking at so I think what I hear you saying is that over time we've accumulated a lot of lines to be able to look at a lot of detail but at a certain level of detail it starts to lose meaning because if a teacher moves to a different school or something like that then you're seeing fluctuations in a line item it doesn't really tell a story about what's happening with education in our schools you're hired so GL Martini correct me if I'm wrong what you're saying is that we will be looking at a confusing budget document like this until we are four years out from these changes in order to be able to compare to the previous FAL years like this if I if I can like when we have a teacher who um I can give a very specific example moves out of what was previously classified as an elective course into what we would consider a regular Ed teaching class you know teaching we don't necessarily um and then we have somebody else take their position in the electives we're not necessarily worried about putting the money back in electives as long as all the people and all the money are accounted for we're trying to put them into the correct categories instead of all the micro categories I understand what you're saying about that my question is it going to look like this for the next few years because we had these lines before and therefore for they have to be in there until they fall off the left hand side of the grid so I and I'd say it's going to be an exercise I'd say both prospective and retrospective where the retrospective side of things because I mean as I've this is my company's third time back in the district here and it's been something that I've always wanted to change where it would be worth the exercise to go back and for Budget presentation purposes to make those ioral CH changes because we know the lines that need to be in a sense Consolidated into one so that as we go forward and we do this as I've been talking with the assistant business manager it's you know I say it's an easy technical fix to go forward of what we're talking about doing and you know she agrees and everything so then it's like once we do the prospective part the retrospective part is actually going to be easy enough because I'm just going to you know quite honestly because all that information for when we do our budget development El is exported into Excel so that we can share with everybody and manipulate as needed it's going to be a worthwhile exercise to do it so fingers crossed that going for hardly agree that a worthwhile exercise I'm very pleased I will not have to do it however but I'll watch when you guys look at it that way no you won't I won't no I won't but I'm really happy for all of you that it'll get done my apologies for the degression I just wanted to kind of level set as that's what when we're talking about some of the things that you know she references when people are being moved oh okay so um again the so I'm getting back onto the high school I've moved down to where we're talking about building monitor um that really is we had people change positions and so we've accurately reflected the salaries of the people who current ly hold them because um sometimes during the course of a year we have a lot of movement within our staff either within a building or between buildings so [Music] um oh I was saying my goodness 75% increase the addition of the $45,000 that's Beacon that's our Alternative High School program that has since its Inception um been Grant funded and now we need to move it into the regular budget so that's where that is under um other services principle and we actually had um a decrease in athletic supplies okay so um one thing I will share since you know I know that the music conversation is um clearly a priority for many people as as it should be um I do want to say that there is a budget request that was submitted along with all the other requests at the high school it is integrated into this budget I've had the opportunity to have a conversation with our Music Teacher who shared um you know why requests have been made to the booster club which is certainly in an effort to support students and shared that um you know when he came into the schools um the torch was passed so to speak and that he was um told what the booster supported at that time and that has been maintained certainly I don't know what I was not here at the time of the change so um you know Derek has has worked to ensure that we got the request because we don't want to continue to ask the boosters to to fund things but um I want to make clear it's not because we don't support the music program it's in the past it was past practice that was being utilized um from the music department which is all you know Wonderful intentions and the music department was beautifully supported by the booster club and we want to absorb those things into the local budget not really any different than when I got here um in some of our schools Parent were being asked to supply all of our instructional materials like parents were given lists of things like please send crayons and pencils and Kleenex and I stopped that practice I believe that the district needs to budget for the necessary instructional supplies I somewhat laugh and say with the principles if if families prefer to send Puffs Plus tissues that is absolutely a welcome donation we'll buy School tissues which you know School tissues we all know what school tissues are we will provide tissues we will provide crayons and pencils if someone wants a particular pencil or crayon for their child or their child's class that's a different conversation um so I just want to share that we we do budget for supplies and materials they are in um and we will continue to do so um the current music staff is is you know we've added a position to the music department um the year that you know I appreciate that in the past we've had higher numbers in some places for our music department but when we look at the context of the district at the time um we had um elt at our middle school and in speaking with the principle she shared the very positive impact that elt had on the music program made it much much easier for the music teacher at that time to offer after school band to do full band practices to do events absolutely that you know students were a captive audience and they they had the ability in that context to do more um we do not have elt it was ended prior to me starting as superintendent so it creates some challenges and I appreciate that um so we're you know we recognize there are some challenges but I also you know we did add the instrumental music teacher back in we invested um a fair amount of money last year on new instruments for the elementary level so we'd love to have a teacher who can teach them you know teach our students how to use them um so just making reference to that because I know that was a concern and and a fair one but I expect that we'll see some some significant change in that piece going forward okay so high school um the field trip money was added back in um that was Grant funded last year so that was put back at the pre um well at the fy2 24 level I don't know if anybody has questions about the high school yes member Martini I think um you've spoken to this a couple of times but just for the sake of being super clear where in these lines is reflected the music teacher at ghs I will have to have Andy let me know if it's electives or General Ed staff um holding you know the name yeah I have to tell him the name you believe he doesn't know the exact name of every staff person we have we got to work on him the the other piece Kate when you're asking about the music teacher salary there are stiens for the music program that are separate from the salary they're they're embedded in um other lines where other s bins for extracurriculars are while Andy's looking uh when the budget request from any Department including the music department is incorporated into this where do the instructional supplies go so depending on the exact request it would either go into um mm it could be General supplies if they're asking for things that are pencil Post-it like um it could go into ghs elective supplies it could go into instructional supplies could go in for transportation field trips um so really it depends what thing it is that we're funding thank you Andy integrated ARS okay so that it's line 113 okay uh and I can only assume that if a field trip or field trips is included as part of that music budget it goes in the transportation field trips line generally is that that's where you would see that um is there in the past year how many music field trips have been requested for approval for a funding to the best of my recollection I've so field trip requests just to clarify for everybody field trip requests go from the requesting teacher to the principal to me to sign off um to the best of my recollection I've been asked to sign off on one and it was funded it was funded to the best of my recollection absolutely okay I'm asking because the correspondence that I've received seems to um consistently bring up three three things field trips uniforms and uh Instrument Repair so uh where would you see uniform maintenance or replacement um it could be in any any of the places that I said it could be instructional supplies it could be elective supplies um quite frankly if it's um you know a music repair shop because if we can't repair the it could be under uh District contracted Services okay uh and do you know off the top of your head if you have had requests to approve funding for Instrument Repair off the top did I just mix two topics instruments and uniforms I'm sorry bating that's all right it's getting late um I do not recall getting any requests last year we had requests for elementary um I don't recall but I don't again I don't have the in front of me but um I think that the um past practice of asking the booster to fund the bulk of the music expenses is what was part of that right okay um was there any part of the budget that was requested by the m music director that was denied in this all of the music all of as far as I'm aware all of all Supply and equipment requests that were forwarded um from departments to me were incorporated into the budget okay and I have a related question if uh there are stakeholders um such as parents who wish to have uh input with a department head into their proposed budget how can they do that well the um you mean with a principal or uh curriculum if someone has an idea about what they would like to see the music department put into their budget requests for the next fiscal year how would they go about doing that's the role of the school council that's what I was going to say I've answered a lot of budget questions you can answer that one so the school council's Authority is to advise the principal and ab buildings as to what it is they'd like to see within the school and that's the the venue where that should be occurring right and um Dr dear could you review uh when generally and how uh School councils meet and are open to people so generally I'm being rough with guidelines I know they're all different well and I'm just giving the generals um generally they're scheduled monthly some some buildings may be doing them in person some may be still doing them virtually um there's parent representation student representation um community members are often part of school councils but they are meetings that are open to the public right and the principal chairs and usually chairs with um a parent representative okay um and I know we have talked about school councils before and I'm not going to digress about this much because we're talking about the budget but uh in the past there have been some issues with um getting information um posted accurately And Timely so that people would be easily able to tell when their next school council meeting was and I know that was something that was um going to be improved worked on in the new school website so is that the case I'm not to um Dodge the question but I'm not responsible for posting the school council meetings that would be um PTO you know they work with the elementary principal to get things on school councel they work with the building administrators to get things added to the website so I guess if there's an issue with with any of that information I would suggest folks reach out to the building principal of the appropriate building to inquire as to the location of meeting postings okay thanks I'm done with that now thank you um member deneve and then mayor dorer thank you so much for such an easily digestible but this is a gargantuan undertaking and thank you so much it's so easy to read and comprehend I'm glad um so most of my questions you already answered like a magician very good but I did have one question and it was about the booster club because we've had lots of emails and people have come and spoken um have you or anybody done any um Outreach with the booster club or have they reached out in order to work on a plan to absorb some of these costs so that um we can handle them as a district so I'll be um so generally the booster as far as I'm aware would work with they certainly work with music teacher and then generally boosters are at high schools and they generally work with building administrators I don't know if there's been any communication um but honestly the scope of the budget request out of the music department is fairly easily absorbed okay so so every listening unless the music department unless the band all of a sudden wants to you know go to an international competition we might need to chat about that but the budget request that was submitted this year is easily absorbed into the budget even if there are budget cuts it's $14,000 in a $24 million budget I understand thank you I just wanted to make sure that people understood how that worked and Y so they can go forward and get that sure thank you mayor I think this would be for Andy it's just something I don't know if on every salary line item that you have salaries throughout every school for all different positions if and like health insurance is it's 8020 for City and town if if you found out that the cost of health insurance was going to double or triple would that change the salary numbers okay [Music] microphone it would not here because the health insurance is on the city Side Of The Ledger other questions about the high school okay before you move on I think it's time for a five minute break uh looking at the clock up there we'll resume at 9:04 p.m.

okay we are resuming our budget hearing and we are on page seven okay so page seven represents multiple departments um the English Learners are at the first you can see there's a significant increase in line 40 which represents the additional position um just looking um increase in athletic transportation is primarily driven by the increase in the transportation [Music] contract looking to see any significant increases or decreases School Physician Services um there hasn't been an increase in her cost in a number of years so there was it looks like a huge chunk but it's not a big line to begin with so um that's about um the superintendent's office is pretty um pretty flat most of the um line items didn't see an increase and if I may just the regarding the salary the administrate superintendent salary at the time that we built this I had that as a placeholder while negotiations were going on so obviously that will be adjusted to reflect the correct salary but it was a placeholder at the time so I don't know if anybody has um any questions about any nursing English Learners or superintendent's office yes member ston I was just wondering if you could walk me through it's happening in lines 135 and 136 that's the English language learners but for um a and Federal Street why just where where those positions are reflected so um North parish is our preschool yeah they don't have um an English learner teacher um and then Federal's position if I'm not mistaken is split the yes it is a split position so the salar is just reflected solely in another buildings line any other questions on these categories all right page eight okay the IT department is at the top you'll see we have an increase in the data management staff line that reflects the requested um position that is being reinstated it was reduced last year so we're hoping to put that back into the budget um then um um contractual hardware and um contract phone and Hardware um John our director's done a lot of work in looking at our contracts for phone service um as well as photocopiers so you're going to see some reductions across a number of lines like those two 45 and 50% reductions um we've also as I said really looked at the online programs that we're using some of them fall under his budget line and some of them fall under the curriculum lines but we really look at usage and necessity and eliminate what's not being um highly utilized in the district and then um professional dues and subscriptions was a administrative decision I'm not sure what he just changed what had previously been budgeted under that line in his budget um and technology equipment again some of that is replacement we've been using grants to do um some tech upgrades so he's needing Less in local at this time you know I think it's fair to share with the committee that at some point as the grant funds are gone the replacement cycle for the Chromebooks is still going to be needed so you should expect to see some change in that to reflect a replacement cycle um it is much more wise to replace small percentage of Chromebooks annually than to try to do the full scale replacement that we're somewhat forced to do for two reasons we're going to have a fairly High number of Chromebooks go end of life meaning that they no longer take security updates um at one time and we have the grant funds available now so we're somewhat um out of necessity we have the money so we need to make the purchase now but that'll be spread out over the course of the upcoming years so the next department is the um assistant superintendence department so scrolling down you can basically see that um most the instructional supplies districtwide we've added um some local back but we're still using a fair chunk of Grants so the all funds for instructional supplies is 285,000 but only 79 of that is reflected in the local um again at some point there is going to come the need to move the purchase of all of our English language arts and math materials into the local budget um Tech instructional supplies this is primarily the um addition of Naviance which is um in part the College and Career one of the College and Career ready resources I referenced um Naviance is used middle school and high school to help students do career interest inventories um strength inventories at the high school level they're looking at you know career searches College searches things like that but it's a structured curriculum that's driven through the Naviance program um so we're hoping that that'll be a helpful resource for our students so um that's the in assistant superintendent so all the curriculum and instructional resources reflected there and then systemwide is somewhat of everything else um are um employment screening testings not um not anything funded we do post at times um ads in the recorder for jobs that come up as you'll see um marketing things like we are um a surprise but Mrs halpin's recording some radio ads for kindergarten registration so don't tell anybody it'll be a surprise when you hear them on the radio um so it's just an accumulation of things that need to be used um to make the district run so I don't know if there's any questions on this page questions yes member seon then member priy what is line 204 that's the this is systemwide undistributed salary I just don't understand that's the social justice coordinator and director of Behavioral Services that were Grant funded prior thank you very much thanks um if we didn't this is line 2113 I'm talking about the parking lot rental yes if we didn't rent that parking lot would we have space for our Middle School staff to park no thank you we don't really have space for them to park now other question other questions on page eight page nine oh we're almost there okay um this is primarily the special education department reflected um the administration special for the most part that is a that reflects the reallocation for the assistant director of special education as I said there are state and federal timelines and processes that are required under special education and the volume just really necessitates additional support we had two positions at one time we were not able to fill one last year so we took that as one of the budget cuts but um we'd like to fill it and repost it to try to get another um position um so psychologist districtwide we're estimating salaries we had two retirees several years ago this is really um you know adjusting for our estimated hopeful salaries um tutor special we did not eliminate them their salaries were moved to a a line more reflective of um it's just tutor special ed it was a we had duplicate lines um and then um what you'll really see at the bottom um a fairly significant decrease in our out of District tuitions um and if you look in that far right column P you'll see see the significant use of Grant and revolving funds to offset special ed tuition so $2.2 million um and then at the bottom is Section 504 that's general education services that are needed for students who have um physical or mental impairments that's the language in the 504 rules that's um but it is still considered general education so we do have some funding for services that have been needed in the past and cover what um typically has come up for students under Section anything okay good okay all right facilities um before I even start I'm not going to say it for every line you folks know I believe that we have a new facilities director and and Mike our current facilities director moved a lot of things from building to district from supplies to equipment so you're going to see quite a bit of Shifting between budget lines right okay um okay so um I'm just scanning down to see if there's anything hugely significant but you'll see you know one line such as um contracted Services building and maintenance at Four Corners is up but then maintenance and contracted services at central office is down substantially so at the end of the day um you know his department is only looking at a 2.3% increase so I apologize decrease so um he really just shifted um one of the things that was in last year's budget was some um Machinery needed to clean and polish floors which were purchased so that's reduced from this year's budget allocation which was 50,000 so I don't questions on page 10 member ston just for man Andy you just said that 2.3 2.3 speak right into the microphone you said that that 2.39% was a decrease then I'm reading all of these wrong there's no parentheses yeah there's no parenthesis on that there's no per parentheses on the percentages but on the dollar amount there is it's a former on line 283 the the total for that correct C it's not showing up on our report that way look at page 10 line 283 that salaries on this page 23 yeah that's weird on my I'm looking at my Excel here and that's that has a negative so okay well we'll yeah we'll fix it okay thank you I don't think you've been reading them wrong no it's it's that would be bad on page 10 no you're you're good thank you we'll make sure that we correct any other questions on page 10 all right page 11 last page okay um transportation there are a variety of Transportation costs um special ed Transportation staff you folks know I believe we have have our own transportation department they provide um a significant amount of um out of District transportation for students who attend specialized programs they also provide um almost all of the special transportation in District so um they are also um members of collective bargaining so there is some contractual increase there um transportation contracted Services that's the um contract so field trips transportation for special ed I mean um transportation for field trips districtwide those are handled out of the buildings and um we have to provide transportation to the um school that moved into the district so you'll see um in increase there and then um gas repairs um the cost has gone up substantially and so we're reflecting um an increase in that line for um cost of gas and repairs for our IND District Vehicles then um Personnel again these are a lot of HR functions such as the um you know incentives are part of um contracts that's where the sickle buyback reference was from the um cover sheet that we went through it was classified under Personnel that's where that is that's a contractual requirement we also have um funds that need to be allocated for unit a our teachers and Unit C who are primarily our par Educators for course reimbursements that's contractually required you'll see those reflected um and then there's some expenses for the committee dues legal um and then the business office expense at the end the primary increase was covered at the beginning with the um what is primarily a salary adjustment for the assistant business manager and that is that and it's actually 5.29 not the 5.86 there were some adjustments between the time we had to publish in the recorder and um so the amount you have that you were presented with this evening reflects the 5.29 accurately so that is that questions on page 11 mayor disor um line 284 uh why is that one so different all funds in local in 2 4 as opposed to in 25 and can is there it's a combination of yes the revolving account uh we have a transportation revolving account for the transportation that we provide for other districts um we have not allocated that to that line which we've done in the past um in addition to what we have to do because our transportation drivers are are hourly so we in a sense plan for the worst once we you know as far as I want to say the worst like everybody working the maximum hours at there potentially could so that is though I'm going to say what is reflected there um so it's a combination of planning that they're all going to work full-time in a sense for the number of hours that they normally drive and not applying to Transportation revolving account funds that we get because we don't know how much we're ever going to get because those are kind those are Hit or Miss as to what it is that we're going to provide anticipating your question um we as of we're projecting to we technically have $252,000 in the transportation revolving account I you get like a a mind reader I do also want to share that one of the things that we are starting to do is um we have to get into a replacement cycle for our District transportation vehicles um so that's something you know that's potentially a use for some revolving funds is to purchase a new vehicle we we are in the process of purchasing one because they over years they don't work so well anymore mayor on that um you do a lot of other school systems right so is this the the standard transportation that we do here meaning as far as doing our own um it varies there you know admittedly I say amongst if you want to say in the world of my company I'd say maybe three do their own transportation out of 16 do their own but I do know others and there are even some bigger districts that do their own transportation wer public schools for example do their own um so it's it varies um I'll be honest I I tip my hat to those districts that choose to do it on their own because I got to say it's a headache uh when I've been in places that have done it on their own you know so I I've got a soft spot of my heart for the transportation staff here and the coordinators um but yeah it's so doing it on our own is was a decision to administrations AG goo I believe two superintendents ago and a business manager and a transportation coordinator felt that it would be more cost effective and the potential for Revenue generation to help with operations um admitted that decision was made preco and then when covid happened it really kind of threw that plane out the window so if you know I'm not going to say this is your question but is it worth it doing it on our own I'm going to say right now it's relatively too early to tell because we really have not had a consistent time where it is that we've been able to analyze the effectiveness of doing it on our own versus a contracted service due to that gap of the C and the fact that you know in order to really analyze you need to have some significant longitudinal data regarding the effectiveness of it and the potential for Revenue generation as well any other questions on page 11 okay we are through with the Page by Page um so with is there anything else you want to say superintendent I just want to re just want to reiterate that I want to go back to where I started at the beginning to say that um I believe and our administrative team believes that the work we have been doing for the past three years is starting to show an impact for our students and um we believe strongly that we should be continuing with the structures that we have and um I appreciate it's always challenging to try to allocate a budget that meets the priorities of everyone in the district um this was my recommendation to you folks I will say always you can do whatever you feel best with the money and um you know administratively we will make it work if it's really something that would be challenging I'll share that but you know you it is as soon as you vote it is your budget to do with as you will so I appreciate the support that um I've had in the three years this is my last budget so I really appreciate the support of the committee and all of your appreciation for the resources needed to make the changes that all of you have prioritized so thank you thank you and with that I would hear a motion to accept the superintendent's budget for fy2 as the school Comm committee budget for fy2 at the total amount of$ 24,1 120,000 and 120 how do you say that 24 such a large number 24,1 12, 359 so moved a motion from Member Martini is there a second second a second from Member Den discussion if they're none I have some comments um I feel like these discussions are are difficult because um money not put in one place has an impact on a student and money where money put in another place could have a a benefit to a different student or could have have a benefit to the students as a whole so they're challenging discussions they're very important discussions these are people's hard-earned dollars that go to work and we want the students to get the best outcomes possible um and certainly um you know we heard a lot about the music program tonight we've also been at meetings and getting emails and calls about language programs they're so important to us every single one of these things and I feel like one thing that is important to me is looking at the bigger picture which is we live in the richest country in the world and school communities like ours are forced to have these really tough discuss discussions about we fund this we're not funding that and so I know there's been some discussion of people who are interested in looking at maybe we could cut the assistant superintendent position well you know one of the things that was highlighted in the budget was the $590,000 a year that we're getting from the the Department of Education to help us turn around the schools because for so long we didn't have a curriculum and it was reflected in in the before numbers that the superintendent highlighted and I feel like the after figures that the superintendent highlighted are showing the result of making a substantial investment in have having an actual curriculum for our students um so that curriculum leadership is so important so I I understand people may have um you know genuine differences of opinion about about that but the I guess the other part is that if folks want to come to us and tell us we want more funding for music I would love to hear which line you want us to take it from you know do you want to take us to take it from the English language Learners or from the equity coordinator or from special education or from the beacon project that allows students that aren't being served by the kind of standard curriculum to have an alternative experience like where exactly should we take those funds from so I think that important questions to answer but I think the even bigger question to answer is why are we in a position where we have to make those types of decisions that are so painful and why our community is all all around having to invest so much effort into battling out over these um relatively uh small amounts of money in in the richest country on Earth so um I just kind of wanted to it's very important that we get into the details that we go Page by Page and we answer every question we W to you know the superintendent and her team have put an enormous amount of work into doing that and I I want to thank you for that I also want to applaud our students who've been applying themselves and have changed you know have have have they're they're the results of those numbers you know they're the ones who made those those changes and they did it with the help of their teachers so I want to thank the teachers very much for everything you've done to to turn those numbers around around and I want to thank the administration uh I and the superintendent the assistant superintendent and everyone um for what you've done to to make those changes and I also want to thank you the school committee members because and not just the ones sitting at this table but ones from previous groups of school committees because I personally feel like some some of the most important choices we've made were um uh approving the appointment of uh the assistant superintendent Karen patad who's done such a great job and who I'm I feel so fortunate has agreed to take on the superintendent role going forward and our hiring of you superintendent you you really came into a tough situation and you've really dugged in and no one's worked harder and you've applied everything you've known and it's such an honor to um be the recipients of your of your final budget the attending your final uh budget hearing um so I just really want to give Applause to everyone and and and repeat the superintendent's appeal like please let us keep let us keep doing what we've done what we're doing and and let the systems that we put in place continue to work because that you can see the results in in the um in the in the numbers and in the the response from the consultants and experts who come to visit our schools and say we're we're on the right track and we're making a difference thank you for letting me talk anyone else have any other comments before we vote all right I think we should do a roll call oh yes please mayor um I think you did I think you worked very hard and did a great job I just want to say I'm going to be abstaining on this budget I just want to explain that I'm going to do that every year because you'll see that from the next four years because I'm looking at the overall thing and I am sitting I'm just that's I just wanted to explain where I am I said I have another thing that I kind of hinted at because I'm looking it significant Insurance increas in increases I'm not sure that that I that I can legitimately be doing this but I'm sitting here taking it all in and uh I think you made wise choices overall so I just wanted to say that out loud so when I was abstaining my teammates here understood why thank you any other comments or questions before we vote secretary Den I think we should do it by roll call all right roll call vote secretary Den yes Vice chair Martini yes chair Johnson mad yes mayor dorer abstain member pretti yes member seon yes member Childs yes the motion passes with one abstention all right thank you everyone and congratulations thank you next we will have a motion to close the fy2 budget hearing which will be followed by a motion to adjourn so can I have a motion to close the budget hearing please so moved a motion from Member ston and a second from Member Martini any discussion all right I'll all in favor I I I all any extensions anyone opposed motion carries the budget hearing is closed now we'll um like to hear a motion to adjourn our school committee meeting move a motion for member pool and a second from Member seon any discussion all in favor I any opposed any abstain we are adjourned at 9:35 p.m.

welcome staff students stakeholders and community members of Clearwater USD 264 I'm glad to present you with our next uh superintendent update um our Clear Water Clarity Volume 7 um and we're going to talk a little bit about uh how school hours are calculated uh what goes into effect for snow days uh and just some uh legal ramifications of where we're at what statutes are impacted by this so as we keep focusing in on our three basics of why what and how so really just why are we doing this so why why do we have U attendance rules that we have to abide by what are those rules and then how do we calculate that and how do we uh make sure that we achieve this so this uh month we're going to really focus on within strategic plan goal number four making sure we're having consistent and relevant uh communication so we really want to make sure everyone in the community understands what our requirements are uh for school days uh in terms of the requirements from ksde how that impact us when we make decisions in regards to snow days and then how that impacts us as we look towards the end of the year so we're really going to focus on creating Clarity around those school hour requirements so the first thing we're going to look at is State Statute so uh years ago it used to be the total number of days that you went to school is what counted so 86 days was the number it didn't matter how many minutes or how long you went each day you just had to go 186 student contact days well that changed uh years ago to now where it is only based on hours so it doesn't matter how many days you go you are required to go a minimum of 1,16 hours uh to be accredited for this to count as a school year uh for all things that happen with our students if they are a senior in high school they are required to go to 1,86 hours as a minimum and you count the minutes each day so for us at USD 264 we have 405 minutes and what goes into that that we'll be able to talk about in just a little bit we're also going to be able to focus on what are the parent teacher conference days inservice days and and work days so on any given day when a student is in session every one minute that they are in session we get a count one minute towards our allotment of 1,116 hours currently our calendar is 1,157 hours and that's what the board has decided is an adequate amount of time at this point in time that can always change based on um the board needs and wishes and also with negotiations with the uh teachers but when we have parent teacher conferences every one minute that we're in parent teacher conference counts as one minute of student contact time as defined by the state when we have inservice days meaning teachers are in professional development there are no students in the building we get one/ half of the amount of time so if we have 45 minutes we get 202 A2 minutes counted towards student contact time and when we have work days meaning teachers are just working on their rooms preparing their rooms having those opportunities to get ready for the school year and no students are in session that counts as zero minutes so again every minute the student is in we get to count as one minute every minute of parent teacher conferences counts as one minute every minute of inservice days counts as half a minute and work days count as zero minutes so as we get to the idea of understanding that we have about 41 hours worth of time that is uh in the schedule that we are not required to attend but we know that it's beneficial for the students academics is then we have to start looking at weather days and more particularly when we have snow days and uh fortunately this year we've had a couple snow days uh that we've been able to kind of have this discussion whereas in the previous years uh due to lack of musher you just haven't had that opportunity so some of the key things that we really want to focus on is we want to make sure we're able to get to the students to school and and from school home uh student safety is our number one priority in making sure that that the buses and the bus drivers have the best opportunity to get them there and and safety uh is our number one concern so when we are looking at the forecast we are more specifically looking at what are the conditions going to be when the students are getting picked up and when they are getting dropped off um we have almost a little over a, almost 1100 students and we transport over 400 students per day um in those conditions and so we're looking at that opportunity of what does the forecast look like again forecast are difficult to predict and so sometimes uh we'll be right and sometimes we'll be wrong our goal is to make the decision by 6:30 in the morning uh we typically our first bus is going out at 6:30 in the morning and so we want to make that decision beforehand uh unfortunately conditions exist at certain times uh change rapidly as we know in living in Kansas and so that can't always happen um but that's our best goal when we're making snow day decisions is make that decision by 6:30 and we're really focusing in on what are the forecasted condition conditions when students are getting picked up and when they're going home if the conditions are fine when we're picking students up and then from 9: to noon we may have some weather come in but then the road crews and our maintenance Crews able to get things cleared off and get the road conditions back to being uh in good condition by the end of the day those are things we'll take into account as well when making that U decision we also know that uh area schools uh superintendant we all communicate with each other on what everyone's doing and sometimes we take into account our neighboring districts and what are those uh things that they're doing and also knowing that we're in a co-op with Goddard and we share some resources with them that takes an impact into some of our decision making as well so based on the information that we've shared about what our minimum requirements are and what uh what the snow days that we've taken this year is we understand that we have about 27 hours of time left for non- seniors before we'd have to start making up time uh seniors have about 10 hours of time left so what happens if we run out that's a two-folded question fold number one of that question let's focus on the seniors the graduating class of 2024 currently they are scheduled to be dismissed on the Tuesday prior to graduation if for some reason we have some major weather coming in or we have some other delays where we're not able to attend school between now and then there may be some time we can make up on that Wednesday or Thursday of that same week without having to move graduation or do anything uh different so we feel pretty confident that we have around 16 hours plus the 10 hours of time that's still built in before we'd have to start considering some alternate uh opportuni so we feel very good there the second fold question about if we run out for all of our other students the 27 hours is we have to designate two days or we can designate between two and five days in a calendar when we do not have students in schedule that we will make up those days uh if we run out of time if we make up those days we get double the amount of time counted So currently are a lot of days uh are the two days after school's out May 17th and May 18th I believe um right off the top of my head and if we go to school on those two days then we will get double the amount of hours uh to count towards our time hopefully we don't get to that point I just want to make sure everyone's aware of what do we have remaining and being transparent and what would be the options we would look at if uh we get to that point again we know in Kansas if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes and it's going to change uh just like this week we're going to have some uh highs in the 80s and then we've got some really cold weather coming in and then it coming right back to the 80s so the chances of having a very strong spring winter storm uh are likely uh as we all know and so we just want to make sure that we're prepared for if we get to the opportunity at the end of the year uh what we may have to do so again we're focusing this year of being the one for someone so make sure that if if we know something or someone is struggling make sure those staff and students are reaching out to each other make sure they make connections so we can support each other and that we live out our vision of being one team one family and one District again here's my contact information if you want to reach out and have more discussions around uh school hours or any other uh needs that you see um around the school district are always welcome to uh talk to our constituents so signing off on our latest Clear Water Clarity volume and hope you guys all have a great March and enjoy spring break

[Music] pursuant of the open public meetings act adequate public notice has been given by the secretary of the eim Township Board of Education in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board of the Board of Education Office emailing written notice to the brones and County Times in The Courier Post filing written notice in the municipal clerk of eam Township Mr Yates can we have a roll call please roll call Mr Bach pres Mr Brown here Mr dear here m Miss Fox here Mrs null here Miss Lee Mr Thompson here Mr pisaro here Mr conon here we have a quorum thank you we'll now be looking for a motion to move into executive session whereas an njsa 10412 allows for a public body to go into close session during a public meeting and whereas the Board of Education of e sham Township is deems it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the Board of Education will reconvene following the end of the Clos session at approximately 7:30 p.m.

or fall out of a fight on campus or instigating or planning a fight well actually you didn't quite give us what do you think about um the adding instigating or planning a fight between others I feel like we didn't land anywhere with that that one I it's like again where are they is it instigating or planning a fight that's going to happen on campus I don't know you know what I mean this might be something that like more often It's A disruption to the school day because they're planning the fight to happen at the end of school yeah um Jay there was a long conver or there was a bit of conversation at the last meeting about um you weren't at the last one right the stuff out of the way for you two okay so the last one though we're at J we I'm opening up JK right okay cool the last one there was a lot of discussion about like how and what speech could be regulated so the issue is that there's some of speech that causes a dis that that like the actual planning of the intended speech causes A disruption of the school y I feel like the answer is going to be it depends in like a I hate to give that answer like on a Case by case basis yeah and my thought was yes you're right and when we when we're doing it all it is really difficult I just think it would be nice to like have it be somewhere where families know that there's a possibility that the school is GNA sure I think maybe like possibly or may or like using language that's like kind of permissive but not required so just says circumstances that may implicate and then these Rel listing to circumstances as long as we leave it as May yeah like if it's something along the lines of use of language that disrupts the this classroom environment may result in because then it gives us wiggle room to like it's not a required you have to agreed and that's one we're always because a tinker and all those other um cases we're always working with the attorney and double checking on whenever that comes out yeah yeah yes I'm always like let me tell you about something called Tinker are you ready to want to hear I met Mary Beth Tinker to the school that I worked at in Portland did a whole presentation she was cool kids liked her she still does like School tours I'm sure you could probably get her to come here it doesn't seem like she's doing it to bankroll anything yeah oh yeah that would be cool for sure um and then same thing then with this with I feel like we definitely talked about the violating something that violates crimin of Law and that was like we have um kids like intimating on their like iPad like oh like we're going to meet tomorrow or like hang out and without being like I plan to weed with you March 23rd like they're definitely doing something that that was why that was one that my assistant principal wanted me to bring up and but but I think the concern there was that I I think we talked about it yeah because it was it if they're using a personal device outside of school because this is not about them using device our devices this is just simply off- campus so unless they're just they're just speaking and meeting up and doing that that doesn't necessarily fall under the pury of the school schools I mean yeah BBE especially if they're not using explicit language unless you because it's really hard to prove what people are you mean you'd have to have an expert but even but even if two kids are are planning to like on their social medias are oh are explicitly saying they're going to do something that's illegal that's not going to be done on school grounds like none of that falls under our purview so shoot for the stars we got enough stuff to deal with in our schools man we don't need to take these resp these were just the things when I went not the police I think if it happens on our device even then if it's not explicit language it's it would be a hard sell to make too because and I draw a parallel and not to say that I'm comparing us to prisons but I have a case right now that involves lots of um gang leaders in Doc and I have tons of transcripts of conversations where then the Dos like if you just read the regular trans transcript you would have no idea what they're talking about but now they've like inserted all these explanations of well this means this and whatever that's not necessarily going be admissible in court okay and so like if they were just getting charged based on like what they said there would be nothing there kind of thing and so I think that's where it's like a weird thing to tiptoe around yeah would it maybe instead of just violate criminal law it maybe encourages um criminal activity during during school hours are on school property yeah I think that's good yeah that's good because at least that gives it a school-based context I think so that's good say it again me sorry what about the concept of uh like portal to portal talk about that because he mentioned that like it's not taking place on our school grounds but what if I think that's why he said during school hours or like during the like the I know what you're talking about the in parenta whatever the hell and can't even remember the Latin thing and then the third one you know what I'm talking about the Fallout of a fight on campus right we wrote These two weeks ago it's not my brain's fried but I believe what we were trying to get at is um kids are they're filming this they're filming fights that happen on campus and they're posting it on their social media so it was like we want to be able to say like you can't watch something like be wrong on campus and then like use it for like social media likes is what Karina and I were trying to get at yeah or in some cases they will escalate and like encourage and they they form a circle and they like push a kids together who probably weren't going to do anything at all also they can use their devices to record them that's happened a couple of times I you want to check with Jessica on okay I do think there's probably a way you're allowed to restrict the use of electronic devices during school hours right and so that would be like obviously how did they get this video they're recording it at school so there's that as far as like the act of posting it online I think that if they're doing it outside of school that's like a whole other issue that I don't know that we have control over but like actually recording it while it's happening probably an issue yeah that you can control or deal with so I guess this probably falls into the serious or severe bullying but if they're doing that like you know say another student's walking home home and then they you know Corner them and film it and whatever but it's off campus it's outside of school hours but they're both students well I think there's a in a thing you inserted in there which is on the way home right so there's like certain parameters if they're on the way home from school that's technically still within like that in Loco parentice thing but you know there's a time and place where that's kind of wears off but if they're like at a weekend birthday party there's nothing you can do about that but if and also like if it's like you your release time was three and the fight's happening at six at the par I don't think you could argue that it's like on the way home you know what I mean I think there's going to be some limits to like what is what time is on the way home and where right but I mean it could be argued that you know then the kid who's being targeted now they don't want to go to school now they're struggling they're yeah I mean it's like doesn't I think what the difference is is discipline versus like interventions right and so it's like what can you actually discipline someone for versus like some other kind of intervention so if if something like that did happen like what happens now like like what so you know say if student a comes and with their parents they're like dude this weekend this happened now this other student is blasting on social media now the kids's getting bullied on campus for it or something like is like what like is there I mean I'm sure something's like this has already gone down what what's the what's the protocol or what what or I'm so I can speak to that because something like that happened recently um uh so typically what you do is you meet with a parent and you develop a safety plan um and uh it all depends on whether or not the police are already involved if the police are already involved you work in tandem with them in terms of like what you do and what you don't do because if there's an open investigation by the police you don't want to do anything to interfere with that investigation um so as long as you're not going and interfering with an open investigation with the police uh typically the conversation turns to a safety plan um and that could be a range of different things it just depends on the circumstances it could be like a no contact contract um it could be like if there's concerns in unsupervised areas like recess or lunch or in the hallways um you can establish like a um like say uh there's a person that's going to walk them to one place or the other or if they're afraid about being out at recess or lunch they can go have lunch with uh another teacher or up at the front office or something like that so you just come up with a in conjunction with the family and the student um like a safety plan to make sure that there's no uh worries or concerns moving moving forward and those kinds of things and the no contact contract is where you uh meet with the bullies and let them know hey you're on notice you cannot have any contact with this person at all um but like I said that kind of depends on uh the open investigation of the police because you don't want if they have pictures or video of something and you put them on notice the first thing they're going to do is go and kind of delete all that information which will make the investigation a little bit more difficult so that's that's common practice as far as I know if you want to add anything more to it I think that like what you were asking like what what do we do um we have like three violations that we can like pursue like an investigation for so like disruption a threats bullying and intimidation um and then also um like it's not bullying the other one is I just had it so I was listening to him there's those so we'll go through those and we'll investigate through that and that's how we can discipline so for instance if the student says that like they're unable to come back to school because the other student student is like threatening them throughout the day the like and then that um cway safety plan is part of our restorative practices so it might be like the entire consequence or it might be like an addition to that and then usually when parents come to tell us about after school things we just kind of have to like share what their parental rights are and like tell them that like you might want to consider like going to the police and stuff yeah but we'll usually investigate it through like just other violation methods okay thank you um I went so the last part is what Katie's comment was um and I just went back up because it reminded me kind of what Allan had been working on um like a closing but I think it I just brought this I only brought this down because I thought maybe we'd want to connect it too where are you at on page right there where you are oh page six here yep oh there we I kept scrolling past it okay I thinking like this as like let's do some positive things positive supports and so I wanted to make sure that our language matched um oh that's right I forgot about this okay yeah it's been so long and then maybe at the top too Allan where this where I pulled this from you could put dig digital citizenship too I don't even remember where you pulled this from so suddenly I I was there and suddenly a note of mine appeared wait a second I trying to make it bigger but I can't it won't let me oh oh you copied it explicitly from that cop and past it's new second paragraph okay there it is and so you were suggesting what in there I just was thinking that was talking about like our our steps to help like short of discipline to like be positive and restorative and y yadada y so I was just connecting the to oh yeah clearly I didn't finish that same because it ended with a comma the list of you're talking about the list of yeah so the district take affirmative steps to work with the student short discipline to engage in a future respectful and accountable digital citizenship did you have an idea for we could do better I mean no I think that sounds great when I read it I thought well there's no way I can make that better but okay it's just I just thought wow one sentence okay I I figured anything would probably be better great when it works out that way we you want to leave it I like it okay I'll just resolve my thing here okay so now on to the next one that's it I think so there's still the containment um and the isolation but there's that one port like board policy that we have to ask to get permission confinement oh yeah that one that's true um but that so it's not done technically but I feel like we have to wait till we can do the first board um for the additional policy well I mean you're talking about the restraint and seclusion policy because it's listed in our agendas is it there now so do you want to go do that instead of start working on jica um no okay I really don't because as one of the main Trainers for the restraint stuff that we do I want to be able to take the time to review it before we come to before we talk about it in he so we just need to remember we have to go back to JK after that one oh yeah okay that's it cool and then we're looking at J IA n j i r a that doc okay I just copied and pasted them both to the same document thank you okay you can I so I'm not saying that we have to in this first comment I'm not saying that we have to have something about risc clothing but I just feel like that is the thing that people want us to address um is the length of the shorts or the the height of the like how much sternum is covered and so I feel like either we acknowledge that we don't have that as part of our thing or there needs to be so in the re regulation so in ra it it doesn't use that terminology but it does speak to like clothing must not be see-through and must cover students undergarments chest and torso when standing or sitting so in ra it does get to that level which I think sounds good because it's not gender specific which is the thing I would ask us to avoid so it's good to have it in regulation because policies more challenging to change and regulation's a good place because if something new crops up we can make an adjustment advise the board or if we discover something um violates you know someone's specific gender needs or something that we didn't anticipate we can fix them and uh Daniel Lopez couldn't be here tonight but he did asked to have me share a comment that he said um um we got rid of uniform policy at our Middle School which was approved by parents at Gateway uh for this year and have only had to dress code one kid year for wearing an inappropriate shirt that he just ended up turning inside out and he says I am I am in support of removing uniform policies for the middle schoolers that was his comment yeah I I just a general comment I think what is interesting about um I think that the just a general comment that is I don't know I want to say a misnomer because that's not the correct word but I think that right now our current stakeholders are under the belief that our policy is that we have a uniform but when you start to read these it's like our policy states we can have a uniform so um that would might be something that we want to consider like if we don't change anything or we change a bunch that we at least get that word out to families and yeah yeah I don't want to in misinterpret or interpret what people are saying but my my feeling from the the person that had uh written us at the last meeting was that there was a feeling that they wanted a to establish a um like a sort of and and like I said I could be misinterpreting it but rather than having each site make their own decision about whether or not there should be a policy around uniform that as a district we should make sure that there's not a policy around uniform that was the way I interpreted like like you know you as a district you cannot pass one or you cannot have one that wasn't my interpretation I could be wrong yeah I I mean we we could certainly reread that statement but um since it was from our last in our last meeting but my interpretation of what that comment was saying was that that really it's it's like once the decision's made because it's up to the administ the site principal to ever decide whether or not come back to that conversation that they'd like to be they'd like to have something that that ensures that the conversation happens from time to time whe whatever that timeliness is so that a school once they have a uniform if the principal just kind of likes that they're not necessarily stuck with that the community is like but we don't really want this um and it also kind of goes to the first comment that um actually Megan and I were both making the same comment on jic where it says the principal each School shall meet with staff and parent representatives to develop School guidelines for student dress and Megan qu ask like how often should that take place and my immediate thought was yeah we should actually put into our policy like or at least in the regulation an expectation of how often schools might need to be I said five years I don't care what the number is but I um I would be wary to I and I would not at all support I'm just going to say it to have a policy that makes us all all one or all the other um because uniforms are such a divisive um piece um when it comes to dress code um so I I agree um that I don't know if we should want to go one way or the other because I think that is hard what I really valued um and it's similar to I think what the comment was um one of our parents they suggested that it should be like a district uniform that's offered oh and so they're saying like um it's just polos um like of any color or maybe we did pick like kraton blue or something and then like dark bottoms so that way because they're their feedback was the issue is as families move from school to school got we like require them and this is a perfect example is Miss Ayo our assistant principal she had bought all of her kids their macin clothes and she came to our school and then it was all new school shopping and middle of August so I think that I really valued that idea in my previous District when we um because every school that had uniforms they all they wanted their school colors and like and so it be it wasn't was a mess um and then the polic and what came down at from the district level was at as of a certain date all any child at any uniform school can use any color combination that are currently approved by any of our schools so that we didn't even going into it it was whatever was okay at mon Vista if that's what your wearing when you go over to wherever to excellencia or whatever it was okay and it just kind of kind of got that and then over time some of the color patterns color combinations kind of started fading phasing out because they were only used by one school you know that kind of stuff happened but I kind of like moreal I kind of like the idea of like a school identity and if a if a school does decide to have uniforms and use uniforms it there's a certain amount of I don't know school pride that goes along with that and you know because it's another way to reemphasize school colors and school mascots and stuff like that and I think that's a you know sort of a social emotional thing that I think is often underestimated um I I do like what Allan was referring to about how like you know maybe we should put some parameters about how often us principal should meet with staff and parents because there is if there is an undercurrent um that maybe the principal is unaware of or choosing not to listen to um I I feel like it's important to go and say Hey you know you need to you know you need to meet with your constituency your your families and your staff and see what the pulse is at a particular site and whether or not this is something that I want to move forward with and I also feel like especially people that have that don't want it and you find out real quick how many other is like one person doesn't make a movement just because you don't want uniforms don't assume that everybody else feels the same way yeah I've talked to couple some parents and some kids and it does it does seem to kind of Swing both ways like you know because some parents they're like you know just be you know just just think looking at it as like you know for families with different economic means it just makes it so much easier for some people like you know getting their kids dress in the morning or some kids just having to choose takes a long time um I think there is something to be said for when you're in a uniform kind of kind of switches a little bit that switch in your mind where it's like okay time to learn like it it does I think in a sense you know help get you in that that mode [Music] um and also you know obviously at our school we've and I think we're probably pretty LAX you know so we don't have uniforms and they let the kids you know choose what they were so I have seen girls with like mid drifts and short shorts low cut shirt um so like for instance one of the parents today she's like oh you know I don't like seeing that you know with their their bellies hanging out you know and so it might be better to be in uniforms but I don't know as a parent I I I go both ways but I do like the idea of like uniforms but maybe with like the caveat that kids are allowed to kind of customize them you know sure put a patch on it and litter your name onto it or something um I like the idea of whatever color Polo you want but as long as it's a polo or something but I also get the school pride although I remember my high school colors but I don't remember my Elementary School colors I think my junior high were red but I mean me personally me personally uniform I I I like uniforms and for the same reason you do and I know during when there was a big push towards uniforms and this was years ago when there was a big push towards uniforms a lot of it was because of a difficulty for uh leaders and teachers to police gang signs um and um and um and the and the whole dynamic between a male leader addressing a female wearing things that were you you had to be very specific about that stuff and I mean me personally I'd rather deal with having a kid tuck in a shirt having a kid tucking a shirt or rather than having a girl having a girl that is wearing something that is for me maybe I'm old school is really really inappropriate and they laugh at me and say no it's not it's perfectly fine and it's not just girls like we see boys wearing like little mid Rift type things um and it's I don't know it's it's an awkward conversation yeah and so um I was gonna say like so I was in seventh grade 25 years ago when like the district was really switching I think the whole District was kind of switching gradually each school at the time and um I remember at my school specifically at the time I was at builtmore um and at that time we had no school choice so it was the boundaries but also this other boundary at builtmore was this little pocket that was over by like six between 16th Street in the freeway and from McDow to Thomas and so it was very clear there was a reason there was a certain population in the school that they were not that they felt it felt like they were targeting um because it was very much about gang stuff and even when we had the uniforms um I felt like as a student it felt like we drew there was more attention on our what we were wearing and doing after we got the uniforms than what I remembered before and like people were getting like cha I mean chased like it was so crazy we weren't allowed to have shoelaces but whiter than our fingertips we weren't allowed to wear Nike cortezes we weren't allowed to dye our hair certain colors we were to not wear you know like it was very much getting directed um and so I get it and it I felt more of a disruption afterwards because it was just everything was drawing attention to that um and I was definitely a shirt folder um I never tucked in my shirt as like an act of defiance um when we first got them there I remember we could wear maroon or white polos and then either Navy or khaki bottoms um like pants scir shirts whatever or shorts or pants um and so yeah as a some I mean obviously there was like everybody either hated it or like but I I and it goes back to one of the comments I made in here which you'll see in a minute is like I think as long as we are like building a culture that isn't one dis like disproportionately um targeting or enforcing like what people interpret to be gang affiliated things um that's an issue that we need to be cognizant of and then also just like Yeah The Changing Times right like when I went to Camelback you could not wear spaghetti straps you if you did you would wear this shirt that would like was meant to shame you and it had like this thing on it that said that you like violated the dress code obviously that doesn't happen now but like you know so those things are would not fly and you can just wear spaghetti straps I can't back now right so like I think the times have changed and so I think we have to be cognizant of that too at the same time like I think I think the way that this is written especially in the the regulation as far is like covering covering students undergarments chest and torso when standing or sitting I think like that's I feel like that's pretty good like the way that be is written that's just me so anyway that's just me sharing obviously I don't have a vote or Say in any of this but just letting you guys kind of know my thoughts there yeah my thought in regards to you know policy wide doing one way or another again if people in the district you know if it's say uniform only then you know that might drive them away for some folks so I think yeah maybe leaving it up to I guess you know I guess who then who then is it up to the principal and and team or yeah right now I think it's a it's a principal initiated decision I do like the ACT another element now that I'm thinking back I know we forget things about our childhood um is like the the money aspect right and so for my family I felt like that was a big thing for my parents they were happy to not have to like buy a bunch of different clothes um in high school I had to buy my own clothes but I mean we were there used to be this store Factory to you right here on McDow that's where we would get our uniforms and um like it was much cheaper and easier to do that than some of like me wanting like different all these different shirts and pants and shoes and whatever so yeah and each school has was apparently aison usually has connections and ways to kids and that was the other thing I was going to say is we have like a lot of mckenny vento kids too yeah and with a a uniform it's an equalizing force and that's another thing that pops up tell your the shoe gay man the shoe game it's really there or the stains or the holes exactly it's not it's not as equalizing I think I'm not I'm not into writing rewriting the policy that removes the ability for schools to have D um uniforms that said I don't believe that uniforms lived up to the expectation the research does not indicate that there's any actual benefit over non- uniforms the early research did but the early research also was happening at a time when schools were very much putting a lot of different things for social emotional pieces into place at the same time and they never that early research never accounted for those other variables to determine what was actually having the impact on the culture um interesting and the later research that did account for that has indicated there's not or it's a very small um effect size in terms of the impact of uniform over non-uniform yeah yeah um but that said I again um I think it's just because a school made a decision 20 years ago that we should be a uniform school doesn't mean that 20 years later that it's still what's right for the community and I think that we it I think we need to codify somewhere in here that there needs to be one way or the other that there should be a regular conversation on whatever that regular is for each School Community to have that conversation but what's right for them I agree and I'm neither for or against but one other Factor just for awareness is that the district for many years has had a partnership with um the Virginia Piper foundation and they actually provide a pretty healthy supply of uniforms for our families you know that that need the support I the thing I don't know is how you would convert that to just providing clothes right so um and so it's not an advocacy thing it's just another consideration certainly part of the thing that I um so full transparency I I'm actually very anti- uniforms um I don't I believe that they're typically like they've been historically like racist and txas um and so I I don't see it um so I I'm just saying that so you know my filters I feel like what would be most as I'm trying to figure out how to like work it for our community is if we were uniform offered but we weren't uniform policing because I I don't want a police uniform I have like a large percentage of kids are chronically absent if they showed up in like like just be here I like I will not talk to you about the material of your pants come on yes have a seat so I think that that then this might be as a personal thing for me but just the clarity of like when we have a regulation and we said okay we have a uniform is that what is the like can we be a school that offers a uniform that families can choose to send their kids in and if they choose not to then they can come and free dress like is it is it a have to thing my my best you know we could check with the attorney but my best interpretation is that our system allows for family children and how the school functions in regards to uniform and I think the model you just described would be something that could be floated as an option to families and if they were in favor of it I think it would be fine and I think that something goes to that is the actual regulation which can be accomplished by wearing a uniform or regular clothing right so as long as what they're wearing meets that the dress code I think is is one thing but a un because we really we really have uniform codes on our campuses not dress codes yeah um and I okay yeah well in the regulations we had both there's the dress code and then there's the no but leaving on sites like if you go to if you go to any of our sites they have ex gateways Middle School everybody is doing a un a uniform code like policing yeah are you suggesting like that we have a uniform a uniform but they opt into the uniform basically really a uniform because it's it's not but but if we had this is literally I think about this way more than I need to but my thought is if it would resolve all of the situ all of the issues if like the families who wanted a uniform for cost for ease we have the option for you you can definitely do that with your kids if you want to do it with your kids K5 because they're little but you want to give that like expressive freedom to your middle schoolers fine um but what it so that was all is that I don't because I don't think that there's a necessarily the a value to like everybody must look the same in order for us to feel like we're in a place of learning um I think I understand that I I what I I guess what I'm confused by is is that really a uniform you might as well just say there's not a uniform it's not but I think I think what Adriana is saying is if we if the only way we have to provide you know like free clothing to families who need it is that we have this donation of these uniforms you certainly could the child could wear the uniform to school and anyone else like if a family's like look this is easier for me I like it they could certain Choice except for the fact that what I'm wearing right now does not have is not a polo shirt I am dressed in the uniform of at least one of our campuses right this is not a big stretch and like I don't I wasn't even on that campus today so yeah well I think like I don't know looking at it as my from through my parent and PTO lens like I'm like yeah you know that's cool because as a parent like save little homie my Sunny he's like no I'm not doing my laundry guess you what you're wearing a uniform this week um and then also as PTO it's be like all right spirit week whichever class wears the most uniforms you you get a prize like I could see how you can then use it to incorporate school spirit but then it's not you know then it's not so like obvious like oh that kid always wears the same uniform but no like I don't know I could see how that could be a fun kind of mixed B and then it leaves it open to those who don't and then there's some kids who like thank God I could wear the same thing every day such a load off you know that is absolutely they're diverg and they're like I don't want to choose an outfit right that's that's me on the weekend I have a Saturday outfit in the Sunday have to think so I I could see how that could yeah and I not saying like the direction we're headed I was just wondering like can we like what what is the policy like can we do that I don't think you okay so maybe make something that's like you know per the principal and family solicitation I like what Alan has up there shall meet with staff and pray Representatives develop School guidelines for the dress code once every five years and so I just right now added the at least once every five years whatever that timeline is I'm I'm certainly I picked five but I don't know if that's actually that's yeah that's a that that kind of sets some guidelines and doesn't prevent one person from holding the community hostage and I think but some putting something in there about uniforms and then I don't know like if that money is always going to be there but fa the district facilitating with dispersement of uniforms if desire you know and and we we can also look into like there's you know like I don't know if we have a closet full of like you've got the the Native American shirt on today I think like some of the schools have shirts like that so I don't know if we could if they would be willing to fund a closet of school shirts and District Shir and some what would be the equivalent of uniform because the reality Even in our uniform schools they are constantly allowing kids to wear t-shirts for this and that and the other like they're constantly violating their own uniform policy for whatever reason they want and I'm not critiquing them for that I'm just acknowledging like that's that's the reality of our current uniform it's it's not 100% all the time every day fundraising thing well it's funny and it's not I was going to say I think the biggest impact and the biggest push back will be wait a minute we do a lot of our fundraising on dress down days right so yeah um I have a question about the five years if we think of and I'm I'm in the weeds but it usually takes like it takes about like a year or so to [Laughter] get but like it I just wonder if by the time you do like a true process of getting all of those stakeholders to like develop guidelines if like the five years is going to come before that you like if it takes like a year to figure it out then you and then it's four years of implementation before you're having and then all of a sudden you're starting all over again so that's the only thing or or is it like years from the Implement like five years of implementation so you would have to decide like I'm G to four I would I would be happy to entertain whatever variation on that theme that we'd like to make I just want make sure that we put something Concrete in there and keep in mind it says that they'll meet with staff and parent Representatives that meeting May consist of what we're doing is working and we are recommending not to change just because you're doing it every five years doesn't mean it has to change every five years and I mean it could be as easy as wouldn't it like a a a you know calling a special ptso PTO meeting with student council or something and you know we're going to have a dress code meeting and we're going to have a vote I don't know I think there's a danger in making it too specific because then you kind of tie hands of local sites and how they want to approach stuff and it may they may want to take it in a different direction climb out the weeds climb out the I know I'm just wondering if it's even just if it's just like like you should get five years of implementation right so change it to six I'm good well I've you fun no I'm just but you know what I mean because like I think the thing is is like it's it's so much work to be like thoughtful about getting something um and then if you know if you were 60 40 and then 40% is like we're ready for you to review this well what's interesting is that to go into uniform it takes 75% of the parents to agree to it in that community in for that school um if you read down below and to come back out and yeah we've used it in the oh okay but what does come back out of it mean no uniforms at all there was nothing in here that said there was nothing in the policy that said how you stop being a uniform school and you know our interpretation was Well it can't be like once you do this it's forever right so um so if the rule was you implement uniforms based on a 75 75% vote it seemed only iCal that if you desired to remove the uniforms that that would also be a 75% vote it would have the same threshold got now this group could recommend a different threshold but that that is what we've had James can I ask for a couple minute recess so I can step out oh right we're at a yeah if I if I once I step out of the room we're not at Quorum oh yeah yeah thank you recess five minutes I don't know that any them much time but sure let's say five minutes okay it's up there you see it up here and a tweaking one or the other that I don't know that we need an implementation year for like like it just so because of where you happen to be writing this it's kind of like after initial implementation of the well student dresses has been imp implemented for years so just it just kind of awkward I I I know what you're getting at but how would you like to say that basically like if so like let's say what's what's next year year school year 2425 we totally train dress Cod I'm just saying that like when that dress Cod becomes implemented if we don't Implement until 256 I count to start that's what I was try and I and I get that and I but I'm also thinking like when you say totally change your dress code like what are you even talking about then because unless you're going from a non-uniform school to uniform school what dress code are you totally changing okay that's helpful to know I was thinking like if we changed we changed our dress code colors if we changed if we went so if you're a uniform school and you change your uniform colors like or if we went to like um we right now we say khaki and we say no jeans so if we changed that um I I think there are so many things that could get changed a year that would take time to figure out within the uniform policy the uni but this is not the right there that's not the uniform policy that's student dress the uniform stuff is down below okay then yeah so maybe it's every five years and then maybe we can make it you know after you know after the implementation of changes to uniform it's every five year maybe we just write a little bit differently in the uniform section okay thank you I just I just need to talk through what where we're at so are we deleting after ini so yeah so we're leaving what I've put added in the at least one every five years and then when we to the uniform it'll be at least 35 years after implementation if there's a change to the uniform or the initiation or change to the uniform code then be after after the implementation of that change okay okay so I'll have to find a place to put that but we'll get there so can we resolve Megan's comment done all right moving along next is Katie's comment how is this determined how can we Ure this isn't abused yeah like remember the big heavy chains for the [Music] wallets yeah iard and keep in mind this policy was probably in place when we had shop class that's true so like that's what comes to having trades that's what comes to actually it looks like this policy was last updated 2019 actually I'm thinking to that the kids do have those rings that are like they're meant to be like protection what's a protection ring Ackle basically just one knuckle a two two finger ring and then it was like cat ears they're big keychains too I hope those don't end up at so I my NCI trainer hack goes on based on the wording of this because the wording here is if it presents a safety hazard which first of all an object does not present a safety hazard unless it's a weapon or or a bomb or something like that so it it's actually it would need to be being used to create a safety hazard in a way that creates a safety hazard before we would know that it is a safety hazard yeah I mean pencil could be a safety hazard absolutely I said a pencil could be a safety remove that from you what did you say he said a pencil was his weapon of choice so I took his pencil away um I thought this was targeted at like and I'm just thinking like the gang activity not having something that could be used as a like a stabbing device or something like that maybe I was no I and you're Pro no you're probably right about some of that I mean that's probably some of the thinking there I just think in terms of the way it's written I think that that's probably where it calls into question and why Katie May thought wait a second well how about or like Jewel that could present a safety hazard shall not be warn or could be asked to remove be removed or my concern is that some of this is so so subjective and like what I inter what I see a piece of jewelry and I interpret it as a safety hazard and then James sees the same piece of jewelry five seconds later on the same kid and does not interpret it as one and then we're trying to deal with it in two different ways that it's I think that's where some of the problem is with the wording on this one I don't I honestly don't feel like it should be deleted though especially after Adriana's example yeah wasn't well see but that and there and that goes to my point right if she wasn't being unsafe with it then why is it a safety hazard yeah you know could you could you change presents to creates so that in my mind the difference between presents and creates is presents is I could interpret this as a safety hazard cre8 say there was a safety haard simply because that piece of jewelry was in the environment there you go I like that yeah May yeah I mean at the end of the day it's making sure that everybody who's implementing is on the same page about what we're talking about but then again sa oh well yeah sure everything's the same except substitute creates safety hazard yeah actually a current right right as oppos to yeah or if they're always fighting right exactly not always fighting I guess all right K did we adequately address your question okay I do [Laughter] do all right next thing was uh G subject to the above no hats bandanas or other head coverings or sunglasses may be worn in a classroom or School building and the comment is why and depending on what the outcome of that conversation is my addition may or may not have any relevance whatsoever but I'll put my hoodie I can fall asleep or I put my hoodie so that like I don't have to look at you I don't know why we originally had that but I know that when teachers have talked about in that AR they already Place proba inter they if they're do to that length to not engaged there's probably something else what do you mean they're G to find another way to disengage if you can't wear a hoodie or if you can't I'm to find something else to do maybe act out or do something like that it sounds like somebody who already does it want to engage for some reason or another and so if you take away the reasons the ways they're engag disengaging now they're find another way to disengage yeah but also I don't know I think like my kid likes to wear hats cuz he loves sports Sor it goes to like building maturity trust respect and those things are I think there's something to be said for like building trust with youth and like okay let's assume we're going to be at this level of trust and if you break it then you lose privileges I think there's something to be said for starting at a deficit with like as a kid not being trusted with things so those are my those are the wi that I hear I wonder all of this if this if we consider hats and bandanas and whatnot um that's to Lear what if we did something along the lines of what we did with the jewelry like has like there has to be like a proven use of impacting your learning and that's when you that creates a distraction wow I'm trying to figure out how to draw a a line that truly connects wearing a hoodie to not learning hide in I've seen kids they tuck their cell phone right here and they're like hey what's up but that's an issue of violating having a cell phone and using a use of Technology that's not is that really a I'm just it is at the site no I appreciate that I'm and I'm somewhat Playing devil's advocate because I'm not necessarily opposed to keeping this keeping this in here but um I think I think we have to be very honest again like as Katie said in her note this is pretty Antiquated thinking I mean this is like these are rules from you know back when I was a kid and um is it are we really in the same I mean we're not in the same reality of of Life as we were when I was when I was our students age I so I feel like this kind of reminds me of the same conversation that's related to how uh and it I don't know if how prevalent it is now but I do still hear some teachers using it a couple of years ago we had this whole concept of slant right where you had to go and set up you had to make eye contact and it was a big deal for a while there and there are teachers that still use it today and the idea is especially for young kids that you are showing respect to the speaker and you are showing that you are ready to learn um and I kind of put this in the same category as that uh because you're essentially setting the you're as a teacher you're building the culture of wanting to learn and I know for a fact that we've had some teach teachers that have had some real concerns about hoodies and head coverings and things like that and they really do follow slant they really do Implement that and I I I would say if you're gonna remove something like this they really needs to be a change in how uh and how teachers teach um because I I really think that that that does affect some of the culture and I mean you can get into a discussion about whether not it's like a you know the style and the philosophy of teaching in which your approach is and it's most effective but I I don't know I I can tell you and and I kind of understand what you're saying about how if they're going to disengage they're GNA find another way to disengage but I I well what about the but I would also argue that I could be wearing a hat or a bandana or head covering and sunglasses in a room and still do slant like I I I was going to go into like this is all drawing at my old courageous conversations uh in uh facilitator mind which is that like what is slant rooted in to me slant is rooted in whiteness I think that like also there's like a neurod Divergent issue there like certain ways to sit are going to be uncomfortable and not conducive of learning for certain people like me having to sit I'm going to be so focused on making sure I'm sitting the correctly I'm not going to be paying attention I'm going to be like oh my gosh you know do like I mean I think we just have to remind ourselves like where are these ideas coming from and why are we and I'm not saying that anything's good or bad I'm just saying like remember to question all of these things like in whose world is that the proper way to learn or to show respect I this we they also they also had Coral response Coral response was a big thing too and I mean I I personally have issues with those things as well probably for similar Reasons I'm just saying it you're you're for some teachers there is going to be a huge cultural shift in fundamentally how they build uh culture in their classroom and how they approach teaching so it's not a it's not a simple like let's just not do this I mean oh no I definitely get agree with that I think that I think like ultimately it like the what you have un let get it if it's like something interfering with vision or distracting so like can the policy be like no I guess that would be and honestly bandanas in general like I don't understand how that's just not like blatantly racist or like just trying to Target gangs in a certain I was gonna say it what else and yeah and to me it's like if it's not interfering with learning why are we trying to control it and regulate it and that goes with some of the uniform enforcement it's well yeah I didn't want to say that but I think that's true too it's all like it's like not sweating the small stuff we as as educator our teachers spend so much time dealing with behaviors because and some of that is they're dealing with small stuff that do they really have to be dealing with it and if our policy requires them to that's I think and it's not really truly a necessary thing to force teachers to have to deal with then maybe it shouldn't be in policy and if a child an individual child is misusing because they're using their hoodie to to be able to distract by wearing their headphones or use technology when they're then on an in kid- byid basis they may lose the privilege of getting rare hoodie for a period of time until they demonstrate or whatever like we do with everything else like it should be a case by case and Daniel's a gen teacher and I know he's very talk I know he's like outspoken but I'm sure like as a whole I don't see like genen Z teachers being into like enforcing something like this well one thing Jay and I were talking about earlier that this is reminding me of is because I was talking about how my kid doesn't doesn't like coming to school sometimes and sitting in the class and learning and and Jay made a good comment about it's like well you know as an adult sometimes we have to be in places that are boring and learn how to sit for a couple hours and so I think you know sometimes kids are going to have to learn that you can't wear your head hat and your bandana for a couple hours um so may but you know so perhaps instead of [Music] saying let's see wording it something along the lines like um you know hat hats bandanas head [Music] coverings may be asked to remove per teacher discretion so it's like allows it but it doesn't require it but then again I don't know you know as as a prince vice principal or assistant principal or principal like does does that make it then like well teacher a said I could how come I can't teacher B's class I don't know I can tell you yeah I mean I can tell you in in in in the time period that I've been an assistant principal which is is small um I'm not I'm not trying to say that it is I had more people that have expressed concerns about hoodies and and things like that not I mean I I don't really see any point for sunglasses I I I I I would I would like someone to explain why sunglasses should be allowed I I don't unless there's a medical condition I don't see any a psychological I think you could not have a medical condition and this reminds me of our thing with why is my brain going out what's her name at our conference she's a very famous like cow person on the temple grandon temple Grand she was going on and on about the lights she was like just get them to not have to deal with the lights and it can like do wonders or whatever so I could see certain things like that I I am someone who is photosensitive and who is triggered by fluorescence and like I've had a couple of times in my career where I've just blacked out if I've sat under the fluorescent lights long enough but being able to do a hoodie or I'm not asking you to take it off no no I'm just saying it's it it helps with the lights like sometimes the lights are too bright I wasn't pick I wasn't I wasn't picking on you Adam but you know being able to restrict some of the light actually really helps me a lot and so um there are kids who may need Yeah in our office there are there there are three of us that if we're the only three in the building we turn the lights off because oh my God this stuff is horrible to work with I only have lamps and I never turn off in my office I hate these things so the flip side of that but that not the flip side of that though is I've walked in the classrooms where it's pitch black and they are focused on their iPads and that's that's not good either I don't think that that's any better I agree but to me that's that's building the capacity of a teacher to understand how to manage the environment in the classroom for learning not um writing a policy about whether or not kids can wear sung you know what I mean because there's no exceptions in this it says you cannot do these things yeah no hats no bandanas other heck it's just a no that that's why if it's going to stay it would really be nice if it was a May and if it was based on a disrupt like like anything typically the focus should be is it disruptive to learning right yeah kind of going back to Tinker will say we've definitely taken sunglasses from kids that are just like the they're the kids are wearing them for a joke oh those little plastic ones or or they come in and they wear the hats that have the like oh the little ears and the ears and stuff and those those are kind of distracting so yeah visor I think it would be it would be nice to I think a nice compromise is to say something about you can't wear these if they're distracting and I know that super subjective but I do feel like the teachers have shared that the hats and Hoodie thing can get out of control and so to like thoughtful about to be thoughtful about what their needs what their needs are is maybe we consider yes exactly perfect something akin to that I short I short-handed the front stuff I think that would be good so give give the teachers that like agency to say like yeah because you know I mean we've had some kids and on like even like on a free dress day they'll like we don't let them wear hats on a free dress day but they'll come and they're absurd they're totally absurd they're hilarious but you're like take that off so I like for teachers to have the power to to delineate that for the kids but then I think Alan your addition becomes absolutely necessary if we do that because we can't have teachers asking people to remove religious head covering yeah the day after 911 you know like in the early 2000s it wasn't a bandan but it was like a triangle with the little tie thing for girls uh a doag well no it was like a just a little triangle that would kind of go over your hair a little bit you know what I'm talking about and then you tie it under your hair um I wore one of those that was like blue with white stars and it was the day after 911 and somebody at cam back confiscated it and give it back to me because they said it was a bandana and I was like okay I'm sure the Crips wear these sir but go ahead and take it I a fash so I moved where I wrote to be the intro sentence my intent is to take out the subject to the above no hated it out but Sun talk to me about sunglasses while I continued to edit here are we yeah including that not including that I definitely have teachers called to tell me to confiscate sun to come confiscate sunglasses from kids because they they won't stop wearing them in class and messing around so I will say it is a problem at least some teachers have faced in their classroom before and I I have no skin in that in that game I'm just saying well I mean I we probably have well we probably have teachers that would say they have the same issue with Hats so yeah my question is are we leaving sunglasses as a part of this really kind of leaving it up to if it's not disruption and I mean if kids's wearing them and nobody's paying attention to it and they're doing what's expected of they're learning like why why should we fight the fight I I I feel like I'm an outlier here I I I think it's important to sweat the small stuff because that's how you build culture and if you can build culture that way then why would you not want to but I guess that's just me build culture in well so like you the the goal is to have uh is to as a teacher you're trying to build culture and relationships and trust with kids and being have them focused and ready to learn and sometimes you come to school and you're not really feeling it so what we all have our processes and R routines that we go through they may be different for each person but we all have our processes and routines that we go through to help ourselves get ready right you get up in the morning you're like H I want to go back to bed then you you your your process is you know you get up you take a shower you have your coffee you have those things and there's these little things these little small sweaty things that you go through in order to get yourself ready to move and be ready to go to work and I think the same thing is true with kids sometimes kids come in they're not really ready but they have these established routines and expectations if you have a kid who's you know wearing sunglasses and pulling a head his hoodie over his head like a troll they're not really going and reading themselves for Learning and um I think a lot of our kids struggle with uh social emotional uh introvert uh type of feelings and I think it's unhealthy to encourage more isolating behaviors I think it's better to uh try to go and encourage things that are not that and I don't interpret that as encouraging IC I interpret that as forcing if if if a child walks into a classroom environment and they're feeling that discomfort level of discomfort being in there and they need that that sense of security to be able to function and then we're forcing that security away from them to me that's not supporting a child at all so I mean there's lots of nuances to this for sure yeah no and I so I don't know I I I feel like force is a heavy-handed word I I'm not saying that they're forced to do that we have kids like there was a kid recently that had 26 absences right and the she was afraid to come to school sure and uh we have a plan in place right and part of that plan is to reach the goal of you being safe and at school um so you have these little steps along the way to help and they they start off with the Assumption of you know we know that you're nervous we know that you're scared we know that you're having troubles with this so let's let's have these little these little steps in place to reach that but I think not having those steps and just pretending that that's not important is not a healthy way to go about it right you don't just say well this kid's an introvert and this kid doesn't want to go to school so we just let him stay home no I no I appreciate that however I'm not sure that not having a hat on not having a hoodie on not wearing sun glasses equates to being let ready to learn and I think that right I think that there's an assumption there in in that example that getting them to that point means they're now ready to learn and and um and I don't know that that's true for every child um and when our policy is no child's allowed to wear a hat or like hoodie if that's because what if that for that child that you just described if once we start getting to school but there's still a lot of anxiety about being in class but if they can wear their hoodie they can now spend they're they're willing to spend time in class so they can build that sense of being okay with being there but our policy is like well no kids aren't allowed to wear that's what I'm saying it's like it's it's presumptive I I I think thr in the maybe limited is and I'm okay with they recover that but I I think as far as throwing the word sunglasses in there throw it in I'm okay with this this is not something that I'm against I I'm just I'm expressing my my nervousness about it because I know there are teachers that are concerned and if you remove that as a an ability for them to uh to manage it will be a fundamental shift in how they approach teaching which I think is not a good idea so but this okay I think gives people an element of uh of um um control over how they can you know you can either choose to go and limit it or not may be limited so I'm okay I just want to express my feelings yeah no I I appreciate it and I appreciate I appreciate us being able to gauge kind of in that dialogue about it and you're like okay put in sunglasses well I was thinking that too because I could see you know especially if a kid's vaping in the bathroom he's gonna put his sunglasses on so you can't see his eyes are cashed you know like that's that is a very very important point I one I I just highlighted the or if authorized because now I think the way that it reads we're basically saying we that was originally there to be like okay fine you can wear the hat but now the way it reads we're saying like they could authorize for you to not wear the hats I don't think it's necessary but I wait say that again we'll read it because it's like hats they may be limited or if authorized like I'm just thinking do we need this any anymore we don't need I don't think we need like you're not we're not authorizing that you can't wear the hat and we're ordering saying that you can wear the hat so we don't need it as oh right right right oh I got you you're talking about removing that yeah I don't think we need it but I wanted to make sure because claw's heavy so I want to make sure I was okay so proper um well I would say the um authorized by school administrator can come out I would leave in the by Medical Professional yeah we and we probably need like a word like unless yeah that's what we we just need to fix yeah it says except for but yeah yeah but I'm also want um am I where am I at there's except why is there parentheses around the a oh because you're putting in option because yeah because I'm putting oh yeah ah putting options in copy well I I hate just contrl Z no no do it put it do it let it go copyright and then say control Z just once undo the oh my God that bugs the crap out of me contr Z I'm G have to remember that okay I I just I just put those in there to kind of break the exceptions out a little bit better that I think that's easier to read um should that be a lower case I was thinking that too you're welcome to fix it I'm afraid to whoever fix that that or an uppercase are one okay and then OB and obviously like I personally agree that my addition I and I know that well in the original writing it wouldn't have mattered because it referenced religious stuff up top now it doesn't say that so you're right it's even more important I put that there yeah last thing I want is that like we put this in place and the very first issue is that someone's really oh I'll start wearing Yas just to prove a point yeah sometimes I think you know life would be so much easier just wearing a burka sometime as long a wicking burka right so FYI we're at 628 oh are we thank you yeah we're having such a great time flying by so there's not a lot the next comments are in the uniform stuff um they're all mine and it's not it's actually basically the effective one page set um so the the premise which says given the substantial potential benefits and um my comment is like the research doesn't play out take it out take it out [Music] um but if we take it's kind of like I don't know where to take that CU it it's the beginning of a string of could could you just start with the wordthe before governing board capitalizing that and then it reads the governing board shall allow individual schools in the district to adopt a uniform dress policy under the following conditions I'm good with that and then we're not making all these assertions that have no sounds I'm not sure why that would ever be in policy well because you know sounds Jay felt like it would be really fun to do this we added this my hunch is that when this was originally added and they were trying to justify why right when it was first written it was probably to justify why this whole new thing about school uniforms was really it's not racist at all it's because of all of [Music] these um and I I don't know if my my second one needs to be explicit because I'm I appreciate that these conversations oh we do want to add in like the every fivey year thing so yeah I was trying to figure out like um so but on item C the individual schools have conducted a series of informational and educational meetings I and aside because again my brain was on the research that that that those are reflective of current research but I don't know if we need to dictate that within the regulation probably not so and I'm okay with I'm okay with taking out I just I had a need to express well and it's not skewed now that we took that first part out like it it feels like it reads like honestly reads different without starting with and you will love this and we will tell you why make sure we have an opportunity for us to tell you why you will love it before I think there's like I will teach you what you need yeah yeah informational stand is that okay yeah and then what was I like I obviously I wrote this um a couple weeks ago because I was in her early before her last meeting I'm like oh we're getting to this day hting oh and now this gets to the students moving from um school to school within the district yeah and no are you suggesting an edit to that or just an awareness I I think that I wanted us to talk I'd like to have my question answered by this group and then if it informs a change then great and if it doesn't need to inform a change I'm okay with that too but I just didn't want it to like if there if a school is determining the type style and color of the uniform dress code at that school knowing the transientness of our of our population or when um I don't remember I don't even know which of our schools or uniform schools or not but like if we move a child for special education Reasons from one school to another school we've now financially forced a parent to potentially now have to buy new uniforms or yeah uniforms in the first place which honestly I don't know that we can legally get away with in that respect so I just I just have concerns about it overall but um but particularly if they're moving from one uniform school to another like or maybe it's allow you know if that happens maybe it's allowing a grace period or some I don't know I just I just kind of like like I shared with you guys earlier what our other District did it was just simply as of the date of the policy it was whatever School whatever color options were available were now available to all students at All Uniform schools and that's just what it became maybe if you throw in like type style and color of the official uniform dress but you can wear an unofficial one too I don't unofficial colors yeah or something or I'm I'm stuck on the grace Gard you're talking about I wonder so if you play out the options right if I if I like really did wear an orange and I went I came from Bill I like came to mon Vista and now I'm wearing orange and black because I'm that's my vibe I think that makes it challenging so I wonder but I do think that we should give families like a Grace my question is why does that make that challenging I guess because well would make it challenging in terms of the like implementation of your uniform code like if you were trying to maintain consistency to the uniform and a kid could say oh but I'm wearing this color because it's from this school I think that would be a dil would be a dilemma people trying to enforce it so I wonder if having you can wear anything from the other in a time frame like you have the whole year but your next year you really should start getting down with the colors that we have here because if you're really really like James I it sounds like you're very committed to a uni form dress code policy if you were doing that wouldn't it I feel like it would be problematic right if you wanted them to be in their like um well I can't I mean I know I know it sounds like I'm like gungho uniform I I guess I am um yeah I guess I am I I just I I I've seen some things that to me you're uncomfortable but um so uh I well what's practice now right but now I think well I don't think we have a set practice for everybody I know like kids who come from the schools were like okay like families will work with actually um Elizabeth to see like what we provide some where are they going to be at and then we're just kind of informed like oh mom says that she's goingon to be able to get something in a month and so like okay in a month be ready you just give them a grace period based on the conversation you're having with the individual family basically is what we do now right I I thought several years ago didn't we go to to having like each school could have one unique color but there were there was a set of colors that were districtwide it is okay I just don't know what the Yeah I didn't know that either until somebody told me like everybody you told me enough there's a district everybody every uniform has to every uniform policy in the district has to have like Navy and white is that right it's in one of these things is it I'm not sure top and yeah somebody mentioned that to me moves from school to another school their uniforms don't match with even align with anything that monista has if that existed it would be in this adoption of school uniforms policy so I don't know where else that would live I didn't know that well I think each School adopts and I think it lure well it's I don't think it's lore I think it was a request from Community Education that helped support purchasing uniforms for the families to make certain that there was a way for every family to have able to Transit from site to site if that makes my guess is that was a superintendent app like action yeah I don't I don't think it ever made its way to policy I think it was at a leadership council meeting and it was a request from try to remember remember her name the person before um Ivonne was our community ad director so marel yeah yeah so if if we write something akin to that into D like you know because D is about their schools presenting a plan of what the what their uniform is going to look like as well and it's interesting because the next thing is well is there policy and procedures for punishing the kids who are support you know um um but um if the next thing were then like you know all schools must include at minim must allow at minimum Navy bottoms white top or something like that if that were in here I I would I'd be okay with adding that I think that would address my concern and we would just want to communicate it to the families because it may affect their selection I know if I was buying for my kid and I knew there was a universal color and a school specific color I'd buy mostly the universal color right okay so to summarize we're gonna we're thinking that we're going to include in here that there will be like a universal color component to any um dress code or uniform policy that's done by a school is that written somewhere well that's what we're talking about adding into d right now oh okay because no it's not so then so just to play it out we would not put something about you can wear the colors of another school I would be okay with that say that you can only wear the universal colors okay yeah I think that that addresses my big biggest concern which is a kid moving from one uniform school to another uniform school and now we've got a family that and especially when it's not at the family's family isn't necessarily the ones making that decision I feel it's really an unfair burden to put on families if they can't just if there's not some Universal that they can turn to so that would be like I I know we're going to like organize these I was just going to add it to D are you adding it somewhere else that's fine she was adding an i at the bottom but I was gonna say um I was going to say um um all school plans must allow for um Universal District uniform so we are creating we are creating work with this which I know we are creating work with restored practices but then who may we who do we need to reach out to about determining what's going to be our Universal uniform colors I say what are the universal colors I I was told it was navy blue and white that's that's what I recall which made sense with with khaki pounds uh with khaki what it's it's Navy shirts and and khaki pants yeah everybody can do that yeah because excellencia did Red did red and white right and then they did khaki um yeah I don't know who told me this um it was definitely something it clearly it didn't make it into policy but it was definitely a Leadership Council thing like like almost seven or eight years ago really yeah and and it had it had to do with um the the ability to provide uniforms for the mckin vento families so I don't know what I don't know what all the what or I don't know what we want to say there because I'm not familiar enough with the uniforms and what the options are in terms of bottom wear like lower body wear well I don't I don't feel comfortable even I believe that's what it's been I feel like we need to just like put like to be deted well or I wouldn't even name it in the policy we could say as determined by you know it should either live in regulation or just live as a this is the regulation that we're oh we're in rank I'm sorry um need to figure out don't know yeah well I'm okay with like we need to follow up let's put something there and then put question marks yeah whatever I'm okay I'm I'm okay you can leave what I wrote you can put question marks and then we can do followup I'm good yeah again I think that addressing it this way I think me addresses my concern so I'm going to close up my concern while Adriana is retyping whatever of mine that she's retyping now I'm just adding a comment okay because I feel like that's what we said comments are gonna be things we came back to yeah [Music] 641 are you entertaining a motion to adjourn the meeting then no no time keeper well we we're finished with jic CA and jic we just finished yep that was it that was the last thing can we what oh we're not done we just we just want to add like when when would we review Once you have a uniform when are you reviewing it oh right that every five oh right thank you for remembering that wouldn't it fall under the wouldn't the policy Trump the the regulation so the policy is already saying you have to revisit school dress every f five years yes but part so Adrian I think what Adriana was expressing earlier is that when you're doing uniform stuff that to we need to that she's the thought is to allow a year of implementing it before we start counting the five years so can we just make it six years for uniform or maybe it's my thing is just people come people are frustrated by the uniform and I feel like it needs to be clear because how when when do they get to expect change and when do they get to expect like you'll move on and I don't think that it's clear here but I also don't think we need to like we've been doing just fine without a single number in there so we're probably just fine without it um I just feel like you know like like like kids for instance have been asking to not have dress codes I didn't know that we talked about like it doesn't say anywhere to like revisit whether or not the kids want it so like how often can kids be like you know what I actually hate that you said kids can wear Ben bandanas because this guy's been wearing a bandan and blocking my view for days so I feel like that's missing in there where are you at this your I added an an i okay and I just copied what we had above and I know we need to adjust it but yeah to I I don't know like review commitment we to like make sure that well but see the threshold for for going in or out right we what's not in here is the actually going out gotcha so that doesn't exist in here well can we just add it to the going in and just make it in or out [Music] um well let's see so that would be back to the sentence the paragraph that became a sentence what letter are you suggesting where she's that I is was the copied from above and now she's she's doing some wording but I'm at the first par intro paragraph into this section [Music] um so I just added that wording in there so we're in the use of yeah yeah under the following conditions the involvement in the 75% right so that would want me to change B support [Music] the adoption or ending of to just to clarify that y there there might be some other little warning changes in there that but it just feels the cleanest because then it's all yeah you don't have to have a bunch of duplicate language the question still is how often does a school a uniform School need to revisit the conversation so could maybe adopt maintain or end the use of oh yeah yeah now because I have a mathematics brain we've created a a a black hole in the middle of that because now we're saying 75% to adopt 75% to maintain or 75 that actually is a problem that does not work yeah what happens if you don't get 75% 6% to Main oh well I guess we have main well but you also can't you can't end either right you can't end or main exactly so then you become Schrodinger's uniform yes it neither ex it neither exists nor nor doesn't exist so what I'm going to do here is oh yeah I noticed oh multiple times s like five I don't see I don't see his hoodie over his head yet [Laughter] so oh okay sounds to me like we need to there we go there's my note work on need to account for fair math related implementation I just need to get something so we know what that needs to be worked on okay oh I move that we adour me wait wait wa real quick what's our plan for the next meeting so we can we finished JK we finished j i c a and j i c a r a what do we want to work on next what do we got left we have we didn't oh yeah j i r a okay I don't remember us having the secret societies did you do that no we did not do secret societies next jicf or we can do we did uh student interrogation searches and arrests no we didn't we that was if we're just going going in in the um did we already do JK JK expulsion expulsion students that's further down oh okay we did ji though correct ji student rights and responsibilities I thought we yeah that because that's the umbrella one that we went back and did right I just remember another one talked a lot about expulsions and I don't remember which one that was it was suspensions but JK and that was JK right which we are kind of sort of done with we have to go back to after we do okay JL DB I just I think so like jicf J um can be probably paired with something else well how long be jkba or something like that if we did I feel like we should just do the restraint and seclusion so we can be done and done done with that so I feel like that one well because that'll allow us to finish up um JK JK and then I also feel like parents want quite answers and about student bullying harassment and intimidation so JL DB and then also agenda is jic K and jic KR yeah and then what did you say jic K and jic KR now in terms of like kind of sorry go ahead we typically like will go through and say like what we can adjust yeah so should we plan to come to learn about them or should we start making stats at changing things and then what do we want to do with that what do you think go what did you say could you repeat that I was just saying typically um I think we've it's we're smoothest when she's first told us like what it's in our like purview to change and then we change it so if that's the case then we aren't doing any homework other than like a general reading um or do we want to try to take a stab at the date of our next meeting sorry March 19 March March 19 I say no homework a spring break oh yeah there's Spring Breaks do what do okay that's fine I gotta advocate for Adam yeah that's no problem okay I'll just look through both these so to clarify we're doing J DB and then j i k and j i k r so my question is when we do jbb are we then going to go back and finish JK before moving on to jik I think that would make the most sense and then they will set us up nicely because then you probably will only be sharing the details about the bullying threats and intimidation and that'll be pretty heavy to wrap our heads around so wait so wait jld DB JK then jic yeah because there's a SE there's a section in JK um that we're waiting that we wanted to do the restraint and seclusion policy on first because it there was some overlap and we want so then we need to go back to JK figure out what to do with that section got okay I move we adjourn oh yeah second is there a second all those in favor I Adam do you um agree with the motion to adjourn

give Applause after people are done too two one okay so oh my God that's loud um I feel like AI or oh actually okay I feel like more schools should do like what our school our school does suror inter immediate like they're more kind of open about Ai and I know in some of my different classes were able to use it and for like English we use it for brainstorming ideas and things like that and for my coding class or computer science we use it for coding like help with python or HTML or things of that [Applause] nature I think um artificial intelligence should be um an asset with Project based learning project project based learning is already an asset um so instead of students being measured by their grades or their test scores they're being measured about their engagement and a broader Horizon beyond the classroom and with artificial intelligence being an asset they could have a broader perspective to the resources and the information they learn done well done uh I think we should use AI for in in classes more often for TAS for assignments that would be really helpful for example we had a uh assignment at my school where we would make a resume using chat GPT and it would be cool to see more assignments like that [Applause] I think something that would help students with the usage of AI is clear regulation and rules that are more concrete because if we know the boundaries then we can try to use the AI to the best potential and also um there's there's a fine line between using it for plagiarism or for improvement of your work so I think that it'll be a lot more efficient if students knew the correct boundaries I believe AI should be used in a way and are encouraged in classrooms and it's use as well because then teachers can use that to change the curriculum or lessons plans specific to the students to meet their needs and also to meet them where um they might be struggling with and that would encourage both like learning ability and also just overall absorption of material in class I believe that the school and staff should use AI as a way for um not only just students but also the staff to be able to use AI to a more beneficial standard uh instead of using it um as a cheating method and rather just being able to improve one's own creativity along with learning [Applause] ability I believe that teachers and educators should connect with students and work alongside them to gain different perspectives of the future generations and how they're going to be impacted um with real life real world situations and use AI U utilize AI to help solve problems uh I think one thing that teachers can help use to promote the use of AI is to change the perception of AI um a good analogy is to view AI as um it like as a boat so instead of anchoring down the aspirations of students it should rather be the sale to allow students to explore Endless Possibilities within education thank [Applause] you I think in order for teachers and Educators to to like better Implement aii into their curriculum they have to become more well-versed and more comfortable with AI so that they know the true difference between it being a tool and it being like a cheating device that way they can guide their students to know how to use it in the future I would say I want schools and Educators to stay open-minded about what AI offers because um AI is inevitable it will continue to uh like succeed so I think if teachers and Educators can uh find a balance between um being academic being AI being considered academic dishonesty or as a [Applause] tool so AI already exists which means that teachers might as well use it to their advantage and I think that they shouldn't ban it outright but they should teach students how to use it in healthy limits such as by using it for ideas or for brainstorming and another good use of AI is for teachers to use it for the things that they could that they uh basically to save time and use the time they saved to get to know their students [Applause] more I want School Educators to not look as AI as a negative way and as a positive way and instead of um making it a negative way in the classroom as cheating and to make it a positive way and to embed it into daily resources at in the [Applause] classroom I want teachers and Educators to use an AI in our classrooms to like help the the students better understand various topics based on different perspectives I think um teachers and Educators should use AI as a positive way it's always seen as immediately oh AI you're cheating but it it actually can be used as a resourceful thing you can learn and not just be seen as cheating just like how when internet was introduced into schools it was like groundbreaking and we use the internet every day now to learn get resources and we can use AI for that now um I think think or I want schools and Educators to Simply put an effort to learn about Ai and what it offers um what else was say um and be aware of the consequences but of damn I'm [Applause] blinking I think that Educators and teachers should use AI so that that they could save more time with grading and things that take a lot of time so that they could take more one-on-one talks with students I believe Educators should use AI to create a more nourishing environment for the students an example is in ahsd we have Capstone projects right so AI can help stimuli those projects and give the teachers and the students ideas to have an efficient project thank you first off I think AI can be used to strengthen the bonds between teachers and students second of all I think AI can be used to develop better grading Frameworks and Grading rubrics for students um and third I think AI should be used to assess the competency of teachers and probably like train them that will increase the competency of the American education system and thus American students and prepare them for the 21st century um I think that Educators and teachers should uh use AI more because I feel like and they should also not jump to conclusions about AI because it cannot only be used for cheating but it can also be used to help students uh with a with better writing and it can also help teachers grade faster and better more efficiently I think it's important for educators to see AI like chat gbt and other tools as Helping Hands and not something that's completely plagiar plagiarizing students but I still think it's important that students keep their original Concepts and ideas just because AI isn't their own idea [Applause] so I think it's important to remember that students learn at different paces and teachers can only be so many places at once so that's why I think it's important for us to embrace AI not be afraid of it so that every student can reach their potential and every no student gets left [Applause] behind I believe with proper regulation AI can utili can be utilized in the CL classroom enhance critical thinking skills for example if I ask AI 2 plus two it shouldn't give me the answer of four it should enhance my critical thinking skills by providing me a way to think of it in a different manner like two apples plus two apples and try adding those together with proper regulation AI can be used in our classrooms [Applause] effectively I think that AI can be used as a supportive tool for students because it doesn't tell you the exact answer as most like for example Scrappy I think it helps guide you step by step which is actually learning from [Applause] AI with how diverse every student is and their learning abilities and how they think I feel that AI is going to be really connective not only towards the teacher but towards the student on what they learn and what they expand on in the [Applause] future well done I think we're blown away I'm going to ask the adults here to give their feedback oh yeah come on up Brady Brady was filming he gets to do his are you still filming John we need Brady we need Brady just quick all right hello I feel like in the AI world we should use AI to help improve film making I'm in film and I feel like AI would be a great teacher to help out in these different projects whether it be podcast making movies making horror films I feel like AI should help out with that it shouldn't take over the job industry but it should also help out out in times like these thank you well done that was blow blew me away Ron Mr Yoshi come up and give us your thoughts on the on the students ideas here everyone I just want to tell you how impressed I was with your answers I think you really got the essence of today and I think that um we're on our path to a brighter future because we're starting to just ident identify how we can use Ai and education and in your lives do you guys realize that I think the jobs that are out there for you haven't even been created yet and so it's going to be exciting to see where you guys land um in your futures and we're so glad that you were a part of our um Summit today so thank you and Mr Mr Brian Brady let's thank him for organizing let's get a couple more comments Mr bowsky come up and tell us what you thought as the leader of Performing Arts in Anaheim Union what do you think of these ideas I think it's a lot of great ideas because it's not just about what AI gives us back but what we do in in response to it right it's we talk about the time that it's going to save a teacher well a teacher can provide targeted feedback but if AI is looking through 50 60 100 200 essays and it's helping Identify some things that students need we still need teachers to teach those things to help the students be able to do those things better but it really does take that that time pressure off of the teachers so I appreciated those those perspectives today is really a good way to look at it last but not least or two more Nadia you give us your thoughts here come on up what do you think of the students ideas um I think you guys are a lot smarter than I was when I was in high school um you guys have great ideas and you're being exposed to things that a lot of kids don't have opportunities to so take full advantage it's nice to see you guys [Applause] here I'm a foreigner to all you guys so I came from Northern California and I'm just blown away by what you guys just did right you want from coming here today filling up your brains with like content and hearing what everybody but AI couldn't have done what you just did you got Brave you talked to each other and you came up here and gave a speech in front of all your peers that doesn't happen with AI it can be helped as a tool to support that right you guys are all ready for the next life to take over right the world is ready for you going back to your question we need you guys and what you guys showed today is what everybody in this room that was here before wants to see critical thinkers students that are engaged students that are are are brave students that are willing to work work and learn and then come up here and perform and we as somebody who works in education for a long time this is what we want and your parents are going to be proud and the world's going to be proud by what you guys can able to do so thank you guys for doing that today and and making me a part of it thank you thanks you guys we can chill out relax I don't know how you're getting home but your chaperon do it was great to meet you you guys blew me away I didn't think you'd I thought you'd do good but I didn't think you'd do that good that fast like I I believed in you but I should have had a higher bar of belief yeah

I K12 deeper learning Summit my name is Brian bsky I'm the director of Arts education for the Anaheim Union High School District and I'm excited to serve as your voice for the event today we hope you're enjoying your breakfast and making some new friends we have nearly 700 educational leaders in attendance from 31 States Canada South Africa and even Germany now I'd like to introduce you to our MC for the a12 deeper learning Summit Anaheim Union High School District superintendent Mr Michael matsuda superintendent matsuda is a nationally recognized 21st century educational leader known for Innovation entrepreneurship and compassion under his leadership ahsd has built a new educational model along with several teacher leaders higher ed nonprofit Partners supporting the development of Pathways to Career preparedness student voice and purpose through a focus on instruction now with the Advent of AI Michael matsuda believes we are at an Oppenheimer moment in educational history a moment in which AI can Empower or undermine Humanity please welcome superintendent Michael matsuda thank you thank you very much welcome to the National AI K12 deeper learning Summit we are so happy to host so many educational leaders from around the country and around the world it is indeed an Oppenheimer moment Robert Oppenheimer of course is widely known as the father of the nuclear bomb and he lived a life of great remorse one of his quotes that struck me and reflects this particular particular moment is that The Optimist thinks this is the best of all possible Worlds the pessimist fears it is true during this Summit I ask you to be both an optimist and a pessimist because as you know the stakes are too high and we need to be both aspirational and skeptical and we need to challenge ourselves in and our teams on what should be our next steps I'd like to thank my fellow co-chairs for providing the vision and Leadership to make this event happen Jean clar bzar the CEO digital promise let's give it up D [Applause] frad Alex Coan the CEO of aieedu Alex [Applause] in June on the brilliant Professor from the UCI Irvine School of [Applause] Education we teamed up nine months ago and launched this effort together and everyone leaned into the effort and created the outstanding content you will experience over the next day and a half I can't thank you all enough for your part parnership and friendship I'd like to also thank all of our convening sponsors and Grant supporters Google for Education we have love working with Google on this Summit and we have over 800 students enrolled in the fabulous Google certificates program that deserves a round of applause another amazing convenient partner is the Chan Zuckerberg initiative the folks yes the folks at czi truly understand the importance of using technology to enhance student voice and whole child education the Stewart Foundation are longtime co- collaborators in our efforts to build a community Community Centric Justice and Equity centered school district and finally e Cadence Learning Foundation our nonprofit learning platform that has brought to our district a paradigm shifting tool strengthening student learning across the district with cuttingedge AI infused features and of course this would not we would not be here if it weren't for the vision of Vice chairman of the Orange County Board of its supervisors Doug chaffy we're going to hear from Doug in a few moments in the Anaheim Union High School District we often start events with a little breathing exercise so please I invite you to Center your bodies close your eyes and take a bre breath with me fill your lungs taking in oxygen The Gift of Life think about that as you take another breath think about what it means to be human now as we continue to breathe keep your eyes closed and listen to a story in Greek mythology Prometheus was the god of fire he disobeyed the king of the Gods Zeus and dared give fire to man now why did he do that man has since used fire for both good and evil but for that serious transgression Zeus banished Prometheus to an island forever having his liver pecked on by vultures for the next two days during this Summit imagine that you are Prometheus before the banishment in the hungry vulture of course and you have this amazing gift called artificial intelligence take a breath and please open your eyes and like Prometheus We Didn't Start the [Music] Fire turn singri turn singri singri turn sing elri s s do it again do it again my robotic brain oh [Music] all the same all the [Music] same do it again do it again caution approximately 5 seconds remaining till effect size 4 3 2 1 warning warning warning [Music] warning go all the way againi expion [Music] leing parade Michael phelp Johnson Kanye W us string [Music] ever he was always since the world weight tville electric Jeff basil clate change goes Pacific patch Al miles Avatar selfing electric cars Sr I Prince and the queen D World Trade play what else do I have to say we was always [Applause] [Music] still upload completed [Applause] wow let's give it up for Oscar Gonzalez and his incredible Anaheim High School dance team AI this new type of fire has vast potential for improving human lives and the potential for the opposite as well as educational leaders our job is to train and develop the next generation of thoughtful ethical and productive citizens the challenge is the reason we are here it's all about becoming more human folks and speaking of a wonderful human I want to introduce my friend dog chaffy our Visionary Vice chairman of the Orange County Board of supervisor who truly gets it when we went to Doug with his I this idea to host an AI education Summit he did not hesitate Doug was the first one to pledge a convening sponsorship of [Applause] $100,000 he understands the importance of our Educators staying on The Cutting Edge of innovation and quality instruction we are fortunate to be represented this morning by Doug and his capable team give it up for his team too they're [Applause] amazing i' like to now invite my friend Doug chaffy to say a few words thank you Doug [Applause] you know if that dance doesn't light your fire I don't know what will that was just fabulous good morning I'm Doug chaffy Vice chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors Orange County has 34 cities 28 school districts 3.1 million people which makes us larger in population in 22 States I'm privileged to be one of five people to run the county and that includes 18,000 employees to serve you so it's a certain honor to be here with this tremendous crowd from some fabulous places coming together in common to study about Ai and how we can promote that through education so among the statistics we do have people from three countries 31 States and 100 school districts I want to particularly thank the Anaheim High School District we giv me an opportunity to be part of this ground baking Summit uh I didn't create the idea but I was very pleased when it was given to me to be one of the early people to support it this will help us everywhere including my County so we're lucky to have a Visionary education thinker like Mike massuda who really desist most of the credit for this and I'd like to give him a round of applause so we've been joined together here by Educators and leaders who are not just observers but active architects of the future of Education you all be embarking on a journey of Discovery as we explore the opportunities that AI presents it is a realm where the traditional boundary of classrooms textbooks are redefined and limits of learning are expanded Beyond imagination you're here not just to witness change but to actually shape it to collaboratory design and educate your future that empowers students and equips them with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century as you navigate the sessions and discussions that lie ahead let us embrace the opportunity unities that AI presents while being mindful of the ethical considerations very important that accompany such advancements our goal is not just to integrate technology into education but to do so with a profound understanding of impact on students teachers and the community that we all serve at this Forefront of your minds think about ethics something called algorithmic bias which is sometimes built into that system data privacy and how technology can be harmful as it relates to AI now I can't go through a script without departing it from it uh let me share with you two experiences recently I've had a shoulder repaired how was that done a CAT scan was done to my shoulder the data was fed into a computer with the help of a 3D 3D printer the part I needed to prepare my shoulder was created using I think titanium powder through that process that is how AI technology at its finest can help human beings in medicine and a lot of other places but there's the other side of that yes there really is a dark web recently our district attorney had a Cyber attack of his website somehow his his uh password got out and in the we hours of the morning there was someone in there looking fortunately it was discovered early so there was not much damage but still the system had to be shut down while experts came in to be sure there wasn't something implanted that could later be harmful during that process they also looked at the dark web to see if there's anything there and yes they found what appeared to be some data from the Orange County District Attorney's office so I learned that process process there are actually broke deal with people in the dark web and through the broker we're able to buy that off the web using Bitcoin so it's very untraceable so I mention that because there's some jobs out there for important future called cyber security some of the finest young minds need to get into that and it will pay very well so I want to express my gratitude to all of you for your commitment to this transformative cause your education and passion that made Gatherings like this not just a conference but a catalyst for change together let's engage in meaningful dialogue share best practices and Foster collaborations those pave the way for future where artif pardon me artificial intelligence and education work hand in hand to unlock the full potential of every learner so AI can be used for good and for bad for the good of the human race and moving us forward in imaginable ways and all of you are the Genesis of that when you educate your students so thank you all for coming everybody one more round of applause for Doug chaffy our [Music] [Applause] supervisor for nearly a decade we and the Anaheim Union High School District have placed our focus on the Northstar of developing students to be F fully human ready for successful careers and college and to be active citizens after all it's all about all of us being better neighbors better parents better workers better leaders and more than ever better citizens Aon I is now part of that focus and we are integrating AI tools into our schools because we believe understanding AI will be integral to students personal and professional lives and that's why I am so excited to have this next panel of amazing experts come on stage and share their insights and wisdom with you take a breath in and enjoy the rest of the conference thank you very [Applause] [Music] much thank you superintendent matsuda for your inspiration this morning and for that terrific segue into the next part of our morning together so now prepare to be informed and enlightened during our fireside chat a panel discussion featuring some of the most influential Minds in education and Technology we're proud to welcome jeanclaude bzar zard CEO of digital promise Alex Alex kran CEO of AIU and Dr Mary Joe Mata senior program manager for Google as our distinguished panelists Emma gagos an esteemed equity in education reporter at edsource will moderate the discussion guiding us through an insightful conversation about the future of AI in K12 education and it's broader impact on [Applause] society take it away Emma all right good morning everyone um I'm excited to be your moderator um for this excellent panel where we will explore The overarching Narrative of how artificial intelligence is reshaping the educational landscape and its implications for school leaders Educators and students our experts will delve into the transformative potential of AI in enhancing learning experiences and outcomes the challenges and opportunities it presents and the ethical considerations that come with its integration full disclosure in the spirit of this conference we had chat gbt craft this introduction and brainstorm some questions I think it performed admirably but I'm not worried about it coming for my job yet now let's get started okay chat gbt made a splash when it arrived on the scene many schools and teachers responded with blanket bands treating it like the equivalent of academic the academic equivalent of steroids now most guidance that I've seen recommends against bands so my question to you is um how blanket bands may affect marginalized students so I'm happy to start um hi everybody I'm Dr Mary damata still very weird to say that because I just got my doctorate last June so um congrats the impostor syndrome is real also please continue to keep going to your primary care physici um so um in my experience the work that I do at Google I sit on a team for um it's called education for social impact and um I'm one of the program managers for an Afterschool computer science program for black Latino Hispanic and Indigenous high school students um we're actually going to be opening up an Englewood uh an Englewood based lab so if anybody's interested let me know um but one of the things that in all of the research that I've learned is oh now we're in the dark whoa all right this took on a very different kind of vibe um is that uh when you look at the impact of tool wide bands on certain populations of students it tends to affect students in lowincome versus high income situations um I myself had a very direct experience with this UCLA sent out an email to every single student and said please do not use generative AI tools it is the equivalent of getting help from another person and cheating and in my mind I thought but if students are unable to go to the tutoring center on the UCLA campus Because it closes at 5:00 pm every night because they have to work a second job or go home to take care of their families I mean what are they supposed to do um in my opinion I think one of the biggest issues is that uh according to a study from the US Department of um I think of was Cu uh Human and Health Services 57% of low-income households have internet and the average megabytes uh per second are 25 whereas with high income it's about 85% and it's an average of 100 megabytes per second so if you have schoolwide bans on AI what ends up happening is the kids that have access to good internet and tools at home are just going to have better access to those tools in general whereas the students that don't have Wi-Fi and device access at home are not so the question is do we want to continue to be a part of the exacerbation or do we want to try to address it in a healthy responsible and community-driven way so so I get this question a lot lot and I think when people ask me this question they're expecting me to say oh yeah you know we absolutely need to lift these bands it's all about Ai and schools and and I often have to remind people that so so I'm the CE of the AI education project and we're a nonprofit focused on um bringing AI literacy to k12 and and really empowering students and teachers with all the Knowledge and Skills that they need to thrive in a world with AI but that doesn't mean that we're the AI implementation project and we actually don't go to schools and advocate for using AI tools that's not really the first conversation that we start with um so I actually think in many cases if not most cases schoolwide bans on chat GPT is the right move if I was a superintendent I would I would ban chat GPT because uh it's very reasonable to pump the brakes while you evaluate and try to better understand what are the safeguards that we have to have in place what is the sort of Baseline knowledge and we talk about a literacy a big part of that is how do you use AI tools not just effectively but but safely and responsibly and it's not something that's as simple as you know a widget that you sort of install and then suddenly chat gbt is safe um this is a learn behavior that really has to be taught to teachers um and to students and so um a schoolwide ban in principle makes sense if the if the ban is part of a process of um figuring out how do we actually do this in the right way but we also know that if you graduate high school today two years from now certainly three or four years from now so if you're a freshman in high school today um if you graduate high school and you don't know how to use these tools um you know the analogy is like the computer is like a bicycle for the mind as Steve Jobs said um you know llm is AI it's like a sports car Supercar um you will lose the race if you're trying to compete for jobs and you don't understand how to use Ai and so the question for schools is they have to teach students how to use these tools and we can't or rely on them to build those skills at home um and so there there needs to be some plan about how do we get to a place where there's uh like trusted tools that we feel comfortable putting in front of students um because they that's the one place where we can really ensure that all students are building those skills uh equitably and responsibly so yeah and I'll take a slightly uh perhaps different different tack to um the conversation so I too can understand the NK reaction to to Banning and we all know the challenges on Equity uh my 11-year-old was using GPT uh when he came out I know it was there was an age requirement his entire class was using it he goes to a school in Silicon Valley so this is other the kids um and actually called a couple of my colleagues in districts who actually were Banning this stuff saying what the hell are you doing um and but for for me what it really indicated was the fact that our pedagogy was so backwards and had not evolved to a point with technology was a tool to be used in the classroom I don't know how many of you guys old enough to remember when the graphing calculator was seen as a cheating tool um I was teaching physics in New York City the New York State Board of region banned the graphing calculator on any assessments short few years later I became head of high schools in New York and I remember the day I got an email from my chief our chief of staff who said how quickly can you spend $50 million and I was buying TI 83s for the because it became a requirement on the test and one thing changed on the assessment show your work that was it so you think about pedagogy you think about assessment Etc if we really have evolved to a place where the technology is integrated uh into what we do every single day um it becomes a tool there's no need to ban it but if you if we are so sort of entrenched in the old ways of assessing kids and teaching of course it's a a cheating tool um and we can give tons of examples hopefully here some today about how AI llms Etc can be used as an enhancer um as my colleagues here U from digital PRS will tell you how we augment the intelligence of the relationship between kids students and content yeah you guys are teeing at my next question beautifully because um you know we are in kind of this experimental phase in in schools with artificial intelligence not just schools I think everything um but so I've seen some experts worry that a sort of two-tier system might iiz in the way that AI is deployed in schools with better funded schools with more time resources staff and Technology um are able to you know change the pedagogy as you said and come up with creative AI proof lessons that help students develop critical thinking um you know and creativity um and so here is a question from chat chbt um how can we ensure AI Technologies and education promote equity and accessibility rather than exacerbating existing dis arities somebody else want to start I'm happy to to start um so let let me first of all say that that digital Equity is is a foundation to this conversation our chief is actually here in the audience when you think about access to to powerful Technologies not weak Technologies powerful devices access to broadband uh we as a country still struggle to close that Gap um you know the pandemic should have taught us that access to so aitous access to technology is a critical foundation for the work um the second thing thing I'll say is that in our paraphrase Richard Elmore uh the late Richard Elmore at Harvard often said that the most important relationship in education is between teachers students in content we know really it's teachers students families in content right how you know technology or AI is augmenting the intelligence of that relationship frally is the work if we get that construct done really well and understand what it means for neurodiverse kids what it means for black and brown kids what it means for poor kids in Appalachia in part of New Mexico that that the teaching learning construct remains that what we know about what we do in teaching learning is still Paramount how you think about education technology and its integration into that mure is the work that we need to do and the equity discussion does not change it remains it it mors it evolves but the foundational aspect of what we do in schools uh frankly is the work that we need to keep doing yeah it's it's I mean it is a certainty right that if your your school doesn't have access to um you know AI tools let's say let's fast forward three or four years from now um there you are going to be at a disadvantage but it is not so is not so simple as well every school needs to have access to these tools and then then we've solved the equity challenge it's really um the analogy that I use is you can imagine the the the pitch when uh the self checkout machine companies were trying to sell the Safeway and um you know all these companies and they were probably it probably was something like you know imagine these self checkup machines it's going to free your employees to go out and interact with customers and recommend different recipes and and then fast forward to today and you know you're standing there with your hand up and this poor lady is kind of trying to rush around and sort of help deal with people's you know all the glitches that are happening and it's because um you know just because a tool can be used to increase productivity or augment people you know it depends on how you deploy the tool and so the equity conversation also needs to be really grounded in how do we use and Implement AI in a way way that empowers teachers to do more of the work of of their best work as Educators which is that sort of like interactive classroom uh Hands-On learning experiences where they're actually um helping to build skills and support students learning um and I think you know if if you disintermediate those two things My worry is that we get too focused on the widgets and we forget about the critical role that teachers are going to have in and really helping the the most marginalized kids 100% um I like the fact on the last question um that John brought it down to sort of a practical situation so I'm going to do that for this question I taught in uh the Third Ward in Houston Texas so as a middle school math and science teacher um and when I was teaching science there uh this was back during the days kind of the early days of onetoone iPad technology where that was all anybody could talk about uh no one was really talking about it in my district because we were more focused on just making sure that we could get the kids to pass the star test then I moved back to Los Angeles where I grew up and I started working at a Catholic school and the Catholic school was losing kids to the charters and the parents were coming in being like we see these schools with onetoone iPads we need to get those in Stat or we're going to look like we are falling behind and the reason that I bring that up is because I think it's easy for our minds to automatically go to like bilateral situations where you either have it or you don't but in both of those situations there were complexities that needed to be dealt with the conversation needed to happen in some capacity in Houston but in Los Angeles at this you know tuition based middle class income school that I was teaching at there was almost like a rush to do it because of the keeping up with the Joneses thing and frankly I think that this question comes up every time there's some sort of new tech new software new widget that comes into the Lexicon that everybody starts to think about so I would answer this probably like I answered questions on panels five years ago six years ago seven years ago which is every situation is unique and complex and you have to bring in all members of the community teachers parents administrators and students especially the students to figure out the best ways to integrate the new tech moving forward whether AI or anything else yeah great thanks um yeah I want to turn to um uh talking about disabled students um a survey from the center for democracy and Technology found that students with disabilities were more likely to use AI but also more likely to face discipline for using it so I'm wondering um if you have advice about how educators can thread this needle of using this powerful technology um to help a group of students who arguably might benefit from it more than anyone I I mean we really need to get away from penalizing students for using AI I mean it's like like you it's it's almost unfathomable today that you would penalize a student for like using Google to help with their homework um I think that ultimately in the same way that and and especially because you know a lot of the conversations that are going to be happening today are all about how do we help teachers use AI tools and the the dissonance of really thinking about okay well how do we help teachers use tools and then in the same breath talking about how do we prevent students from using those tools is is it's just it's not very logical um and students see through that so I think you know as the so the primary focus here is obviously like we need to get away from penal penalization it's also the case that you know for the accessibility Community large language models are probably going to be it's the group that will be among the most transformed in terms of their experience in school because the applications when you think about you know whether it's language or whether it's personalization of learning um there's significant ground that we can cover um so you know I would say this is maybe one of the most maybe top priorities for schools is like how do we figure out how to implement that well but yeah don't don't punish kids that's crazy yeah I agree I mean the opportunities for students with disabilities to use technology to further their education I mean isn't our job as Educators to provide them with every opportunity to be able to learn as much as they can I mean I the penalization thing makes me really nervous I will say that um about that is a coalition of diverse Learners and he was working with student voice at the time which is a nonprofit to basically Elevate the voices of students with disabilities in the edtech conversation because he felt like it wasn't happening so this kind of Echoes the answer that I had to the last question but I think bringing students with disabilities into the conversation as well to understand what their needs are and also to cocreate um good use case policies is a win-win because you automatically get the support of the family and the student and then also the educator who who is implementing it when they co-create these use case policies together um and that's something that I think is honestly advice for just AI implementation in general but especially where student I I do fear that students with disabilities are some of the most under asked and underc consulted um users that we have out there in K12 education right now let me talk this two different ways one is whenever I see adults punishing kids for being um creative or using using tools it means the adults afraid of the tool right so let's be clear about that um but when you think about no diverse kids or kids with with um special needs AI has great potential frankly to support those young people uh at digital pise we have a structure called the learner variable Navigator it is a learning science tool translated to actionable tools for for educators um and not being integrated into school of G Panorama um Etc the team now is looking at ways of transforming the IEP from a deficit based construct to a strength based document leaning on learning science um so you think about how AI can actually enhance that uh that is part of the work they're looking to do together thanks to the Oak foundation and maybe I may be helping us with that as well too we have an application in there you think about really Shifting the conversation to making that again really individualized right that could apply for all kids not just kids who special needs uh because if you listen to uh to Todd Rose he talks about every single person has a jagged learner profile no two people are the same um yet we in education treat everybody as if they are there's there's an average person the three-hour test Etc it's about the average kid or the average person no such thing so AI I think has the potential there to really help us get to what we've been espousing for decades right personalized instruction but leaning on that kind of technology to support support again leaning on learning science to support the individual child that is in action and we're trying to develop tools for that right now digital promise I'm so glad that you brought up Todd Rose Todd R has anybody read the end of average by Todd Rose it's a great book isn't it Todd Rose is a professor um at the Harvard graduate school he he left oh he left yes that's okay he needs to spread his wings um but his book The End Of average is is a great read and I think actually very pertinent to this conversation so if you're looking for a new you know book for your book club sorry to everybody else in the book club but suggest that one yeah he he has several but that is the best book I've seen it's called the in of average uh but really cat you to understand this idea of the Jag Lo profile of each person and how in every industry we've built stuff around the average person education is the most notorious for the aage for the average person but AI I think has the potential technology has a potential here to really help us to get to the individual needs of individual children if you have a second again it's a free tool on our website called learner variability Ator LVN or lvp take a look at it uh you can look at third grade literacy to high to all the way up to high school and math Etc it really helps you understand in the technology AI is only going to put that on steroids great all right um let's turn to algorithms okay so generative AI output is only as good as his input um and we've seen as technology gets rolled out not just with artificial intelligence um it has these biases the same biases that humans do so racis sexism homophobia a ableism um or it could just flat out be inappropriate so what can Educators do to ensure that they're bringing tools into the classroom that are both appropriate and inclusive so I'm going to start with this but I'm kind of curious for your take on this um as well so um I I I it it concerns me that many times when we talk about algorithmic bias the conversation goes something like well we need to just solve algorithm bias and then once we solve that then we can use these tools and I would pause it to you that we will probably never fully solve algorithmic bias yeah at least in the next 5 to 10 years and by the time we've solved it we've probably unlocked a level of of AI that is going to change society in ways that we can't even imagine anyways um and so I think it's it's it's less about how do we fix that problem more about how do we build the competencies and knowledge to use the tools with the understanding that you're always going to have to be cognizant of you know where might that bias play and what are sort of the mitigations or in some cases the considerations about maybe we shouldn't be using AI tools for certain things like for example you shouldn't automate all of your grading at least today uh using chat GPT because companies and the thing is you know and um and I'm sorry I'm going to put Google on the spot but this is even in the news um uh the the Fiasco around Gemini um first of all that's not unique to Google every language model out there has versions of this weirdness that comes about depending on how you prompt the question um you can bet that open Ai and Google are working extremely hard to try to figure this stuff out and the fact that they haven't yet I think is a demonstration of the fact that we're probably not going to get there soon so what is the solution you just have to figure out okay well what are the applications that make sense and how do you build sort of those um that awareness that we're going to have to have as teachers in the same way that we have conversations about um you know bias in equity in other context let me add a layer to to Alex's um answer and and I completely agree um one of the things that the team uh Digital P spous in a push all of the time you may have seen it the guidance coming out of us doe around putting the human in the center um so machines making decisions making sure that human beings understand what is being made when AI is being used and they use their judgment understanding especially around this kind of these kinds of issues to help to make the decision right if you live it to the machine to make a decision then yes it is baked in you're not going to remove it let me give you a concrete example as to when we did not do that with with tragic consequences more machine learning than AI but when you think about the 737 Max 8 so I'm I'm a pilot so I talk a lot about Aviation so forgive me um if you see what happened with with the max 8 there were decision being made by the by the machine would that the pilot being in the middle they had no idea what the hell was going on and by the time they try to figure out crash that has been solved of course right you cannot remove the person the human being in their judgment in what is being made or things being made by machines that's one of the ways of mitigating some of this stuff right if you yourself as a as a teacher or as a education leader understand the potential biases or baked into these products then you can say doesn't make any sense to me I'm going to come back and do it differently uh the second thing I I I'll say is that and I've been pushing this a lot in the last number of weeks AI is an edtech conversation in education you're not not going to be buying AI you're buying attech products that have ai inside of it uh or will have ai inside of it the question for you as leaders in education is um do you have an N Tech strategy for your District by the way most districts don't uh the CTO the chief technology officer and the chief academic officer don't talk to each other uh we're watching there products being purchased by the CTO that is not part of the instructional program or technology being introduced into your schools by students by teachers without you even knowing what what's coming into your schools right so having that kind of a tech strategy to understand by we're spending billions in at Tech in this country and if you talk to anyone of VCS I'll Ventures or anyone else they'll tell you AI will be in every product ech product and by the way most of us don't have an ftech strategy that is baked into our instructional strategy in schools that is the way to begin to really manage this kind of discussion think in our school systems okay um I'm trying to think about the order in which I want to answer this I'm going to give you a small anecdote and then I'm going to directly respond to what Alex said A friend of mine was a teacher in New York Public School System actually and he taught in a school that had a lot of West African students um there was an edtech tool that he loved using I won't name it here many of you are probably familiar with it but it's not really the point of the story the point of the story is that in order to participate in the activity on the tool students had to input their names and when his group of students input their names the tool recognized their names as slurs or inappropriate language and he sent a note to the creators of the tool and said hey what's going on here and what he realized was the tool was created in northern Europe by a company that was largely made up of white male engineers and I think the example of that that really embodies is that when like you said algorithmic bias is never going to go away because as humans creating the tools we are inherently biased that's just the human experience but by giving H the company that feedback they were then able to make those edits right and so in the case of Gemini and some of the work that's or some of the issues that have come up more recently that's exactly what we need to do and I think teachers need to work with students to get them comfortable to give that feedback and become a part of the creation process honestly um the other thing that I would say and this is very near and dear to my heart because of the work that I do with code NEX the program that I run at Google um if you have a group of I'll just say myself girls who grew up in the San Fernando Valley uh who are big fans of Ryan Gosling and Chad Wick Boseman RP creating tools it's going to be a very different type of tool from other demographic groups right and so when we think of who is creating these tools I think it's our responsibility as Educators to also provide as many opportunities for students to develop the skill as they need if they want to then be the people that are creating and designing those algorithms um yeah feel free to clap with that go for it sure yes I mean honestly um I think that there's a lot of missed opportunity right now for honestly us as a state to bring more Computer Science Education into the classroom Ai and computer science are concentric circles they're not one and the same but they're connected but I do think that in my opinion it would be if if we could reach a place similar to what Chicago public schools has reached where every high school graduate has to have at least some computer science requirement in order to graduate from the public school system that would be amazing now my colleagues will usually remind me like listen it's and it is hard it's because it takes resources and it takes um professional development a lot of the things you were talking about funding um but to me that is a a big step that we still just really haven't been able to figure out and that is something I'd like us to be able to do and don't get me wrong Google is just as responsible for that as y'all we are in this together um so let's make it happen if we can can I make one modification to the suggestion computer science is is something we push quite quite hard on and Google is has been helping us with this as well on computational thinking so think about that structure versus computer science right so competitional thinking involves skills like debugging algorithmic thinking pattern recognition and my favorite district and there's a couple but my favorite District that I was uh visiting last year with a whole bunch of folks is in Alabama Talladega County Alabama they' have now taken computational thinking and integrated across the entire District in every core so picture this kindergarten class building bird houses talking about computational thinking Crown High School honors English class doing Shakespeare talking about computational thinking those skills those competencies are integrated the entire core content and every child's experiences that so they learn how to manage machines versus the other way around so that for me is a solution because computer science course is are great but too often only selected kids get it uh whereas CT Pathways every student in every class from pre to 12th grade uh really part of the conversation that's great what's the name of that district tala county and you guys were there after we visited uh Jenny was telling me that they got there for two days a week you stayed in Talla County the other one is fet um I think in um uh Pennsylvania I think is the state great um well and so biased algorithms are just one of many things that um Educators need to think about when they start bringing this Tech technology into classrooms um we're still in a very experimental phase I think that's why a lot of you guys are here trying to figure out how to navigate this um there's a lot of uh companies pouring a lot of money into AI making a lot of really lofty promises um about solving long-standing Equity issues in education so um Educators have a lot on their plate post pandemic and so I'm wondering what advice you have to Educators trying to navigate this uh slightly chaotic landscape I would say okay uh first of all um I think there's a moment of recognition which is there's still a lot of fear around AI but if you are a living breathing human with a smartphone you are already using AI every day raise your hand if you used Google search within the last 48 hours congratulations you are an AI user nice work I think that there's that kind of sometimes we forget that AI is actually integrated into a lot of the technologies that we're already using so when you get past that then I really like to tell Educators you don't don't necessarily focus on using AI in the classroom quite yet take it into a low stakes environment like your life outside of the classroom to get comfortable with it um one thing that I love telling people is if you're not a huge fan of cooking like I am but you need recipes I love going into Gemini and saying I have these things in my refrigerator give me a couple of options for recipes I can make super easy and it gets you kind of into the vein of thinking about it is just a a tool that you use not necessarily to do the whole thing for you but to replace a task or to help you think about new ideas so that's my recommendation is really to start um integrating it into lower Stakes environments before you really kind of Go full throttle with it in the classroom I also highly recommend Google has a ton of trainings on this got a shout out to Google for Education team team um we also uh applied digital skills has a couple of you know very straightforward and easy to follow lessons as well again take it out of the classroom first so you get comfortable with it and then bring it back in yeah I think we're preaching to the converted you guys are here I mean the fact is that you are here because you want to be part of the conversation so that's my first advice be crew not passengers uh in this effort don't sit back and wait for things to happen to you lead and push the conversation second I would say is play play with the stuff as much as you can um I met the teacher of the year from Kentucky a few weeks ago and he talking about how he was using one his stuff in his classrooms he was having a blast uh not necessarily being supported by the district but he was doing this kind of stuff um give you an example of what one of our colleagues uh one of our convenings talked about in using CH GPT for example because you can ask the LM to have kids write a five paragraph essay and the kids go put it on Char GPT and they get the essay and they achieve it right or you can have a child for example have char GPT write write an essay taking a position on a particular topic ask the machine to take a account the position on the same topic you're teaching pro engineering right then ask the child to work with a partner and develop a a a presentation ju position the two the two opinions from the now you're leveraging the technology and what you do in your classroom um so think about fly ways of really moving your pedagogy where you assessing kids where the machines can help and the last thing I'll say is again this stuff is going to show up in your in your Tech products I was in a call this morning uh with the CEO of brain pop and that they moving earnestly and thinking about how AI is going to be showing up and what they actually do how it's going to show up in cni that's the way in which it's going to show up in your classrooms right um so pay a lot of attention to your a tech product integration I keep pushing this this conversation especially for the system leaders in this room because too often I'm saying again we don't have an N Tech integration strategy this is how AI is going to show up so watch what is happening if you are an educate a teacher in this room push it to the school leader the principal hey I'm seeing this can we use this we test this idea but right now frankly it's a play it's a play it's a play it's a Sandbox of play and be careful how you play of course because the data you're putting in becomes public yeah it's important to note that like you know large language models are not they're they're not an invention per se it's more of a discovery um and you know The Cutting Edge of large language model research is in many cases people just goofing around with the models and trying to figure out what happens when they put this prompt in versus this prompt and so um the the key to to using llms is uh is domain expertise plus experimentation and like that's it right so domain expertise plus experimentation there's no book of prompts that you need to memorize um the only thing you actually should remember is ask the llm Gemini or Chad GPT whatever your request is uh ask it to think step by step so that actually does um research has shown that actually does increase the quality of the outputs it also helps to be polite oddly uh to be polite to the model I'm serious um but some other quick advice for teachers take-home essays are done we need to get over it like if you are assigning take-home essays like you should just expect that your kids are cheating and and frankly I think it's on youti dissertation I use Gemini um it's on you if your kids are using it I would say like I wouldn't blame the kids for that I think the teachers need to um you know I like debates because if you think about putting student pitting students against you know uh one another with different sides now they're both using let's say chat GPT uh now it's not a matter of whether they're using it but rather how are they using it to enhance their position right so there's like I think tweaks like that and if you don't know where to start you can just literally ask you can say hey I'm trying to write a lesson plan I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to use Gemini like can you give me some ideas about how you can help me write this lesson plan and it will actually give you like three to five great ideas and so that's a good place to start yeah there's a question coming up I believe where we talk about how we think that teachers can I think save themselves time and oh I cannot wait for that question okay well let's just jump right toight just quickly before we go to that to that question just going back this idea of having lesson PL being being built I saw a tool a few months ago uh and we asked it to create a lesson for that was Project based and for dyslexic kids the Project based structure was actually quite ingenious the dislexia and the leaning on learning science was pretty awful and unless you have some understanding that what is being spad out is is language crap um you're going to use it uh but again that human in the center understanding anybody's coming back to you and using your judgment what you know about your class and what you teach is Paramount because again machine is learning uh it may not be pulling from a strong database there are folks working hard to change that including Google um but just understand that sometimes what you're getting may not be you know quality stuff okay um well I am excited to jump um on to this uh this question about how this is going to lighten the load and make your lives easier and I just want to add my my mom a retired District administrator and so she's at home she has a lot of time to experiment with whatever um she loves using um generative AI to like write thank you notes do all this stuff and so she's in touch with her principles and she's like she was a former principal she said you guys need to get on this like this is going to make your life so easy think about you don't have to like sit there pour over an email or you know because that's a lot of what you know principles do so um she's like this is just going to like you know it's like an assistant for you so I mean that's just a personal anecdote but um yeah so you know we've been talking about the student learning experience I'd like to hear how you think that this is going to help teachers who need you know and Educators um yeah all I can say is that when I was teaching um on Sundays I would go to Corner Bakery at 9:00 a.m.

now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education will go into Clos session for the following reasons as outlined in njsa 104-112 items 2.2 through 2.4 do we have a motion motion by Mr physico seconded by Mr Bach any questions or comments before we head into an executive session seeing none roll call please on Executive session Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr ficaro yes Mr conon yes we're in executive session now thank you we'll see you all back at approximately 7:30 [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] w [Music] w [Music] w [Music] yeah [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on to he go on to [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] n [Music] yeah [Music] SC [Music] I [Music] oh [Music] sh [Music] a [Music] I [Music] yeah [Music] a [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] down [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to here oh go on to [Music] here [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] what [Music] h [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] with all those who are able please rise for the fledge I pledge allegiance 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 mission statement tonight will be read by Mr demarcy the mission of the eve sham Township School District is to promote excellence in an environment that engages students in meaningful learning experiences in partnership with students dedicated staff families and Community the district provides a strong Educational Foundation that will Empower our students to achieve their unique potential Embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk taking and responsible decision- making repeat respect themselves and others problem solv individually and collaboratively become contributing members of a diverse Global Society thank you Mr deari I'll now hand the floor to Dr Smith for presentations that's e we want we want to rec want to recognize these these wonderful students for earning placement in either the Olympic honors band Andor the all South Jersey band so if all the students could kind of come over along with Miss Goldman and Mr White please and uh Mr Hoffman I saw here and Miss green they may not want to come up but they're here I want to acknowledge both of you as well for supporting music programs in your [Applause] schools so we've got uh Dana Kerber Olympic honors band congratulations Evan sarone for Olympic honors bandul Casey Liza did I get there okay for for South Jersey band great job job elain eart for Olympic honors band and Carly Ridley for South Jersey band and Timothy Carl for South Jersey band and Olympic honors band he's had another gig so uh and in fact you know two of our students were at another gig earlier tonight they were playing with the eam Jazz machine which is um I think a group from the high school mixed in with the middle school and they were over at senica high school and that's music you can travel all kinds of places you know through your instruments so just encourage you students to keep with it you know carry it on with you through Middle School into high school it's you played so beautifully and we're just so glad that you're here as our students making such wonderful accomplishments so congratulations again if we can give one more round of applause thank [Applause] you thanks M gold oh picture make sure that Barry gets in the picture if any parents want to come up and take pictures too feel free to come forward so now we're gonna We Go From the Arts to Athletics uh if we've could have the Dei Middle School girls basketball team join us up front and then we've got hedge coach Melissa Walker and assistant coach Caitlyn Rell if they could come up too um awesome I feel a little smaller all of a sudden s here see I don't you know if you want to say anything about the season all just tell us a little bit about it okay undefeated I just I'm asking like give us a little nugget like like a little bit I mean that's that's an accomplishment right um actually 18 and0 if you count from last season we haven't lost since December 2022 which is very impressive um some of these girls have played since they were in sixth grade seventh grade amazing I I can't talk too much because I'm going to lose it uh super special girls they actually raise your hand if you're playing a championship game this weekend as well yeah eighth grade travel team made it and then so did the seventh grade travel team Cherokee is extremely lucky to have these girls they've taught me a lot more than they have any idea all right awesome girls that's awesome that's awesome that's fantastic so we're gonna call you up over one at a time uh Isabella Bandoo come on [Applause] over Gabriella dispenser Aaron Gallagher Sydney Gaiman Lillian gorsline rain green Gabriella [Applause] Medina Maggie melnichuk graci [Applause] odonnell gyneth Oliver Arna Patel Rogers Mora Spicer Carly sansky that I get that right did I say that right sansy sansky SSP thank you thank you Lauren [Applause] Vega and Lee weiner awesome can me give me Round of Applause for the entire team and the coaches [Applause] fantastic good job a lot so uh as I typically do at the end of presentations if there were families here for the presentations you're welcome to stay if you but it feels like between the the band students and the basketball students there's a a lot of practicing going on so if you got to get off to practice or anything else feel free to leave we appreciate so much everyone coming out for those presentations and congrats again to the wonderful students all right the meeting will now be open to the public referencing agenda items only however if your questions or comments pertain to litigation student or Personnel items or negotiations we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person and state your name and address at the beginning is there anyone who would like to speak about agenda items today um that is a board created section we do have two motions under that but it's nothing that is public information or both student matters okay but do I speak now do I speak no you would speak in the second the second portion yep thank you all right seeing none we'll close that section out moving to the approval of the minutes we need a motion to approve item 6.1 and 6.2 do we have a motion motion by Mrs null seconded by Mr Thompson any questions on the approval of the minutes seeing none roll call please Mr Yates on the approval minutes Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox abstain your abstention is noted Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you moving to superintendent items uh we need a motion to approve items 7.1 through 7.8 do we have a motion motion by Miss Fox seconded by Mr ficaro before we vote I'll hand the floor over to Dr Smith thank you Mr Canton I'd like to start off by recognizing the importance of this month as Black History Month in etsd and Nationwide to that end I'd like to highlight the leadership of our board member jiren Brown who has already made a positive impact through his thoughtful and kind approach and great sense of humor which I look forward to more of uh in these early stages of his time on the board first second and third anytime and particularly during The Long Winter stretch I'd like to thank our staff for their dedication day in and day out the work with children is very rewarding but education also has its stresses especially when budget cuts are looming and with the uncertainty that that brings starting next week there will be meetings just with staff to discuss Staffing impacts of our budget our tenative budget board meeting will be on Tuesday March 19th at 7:30 here at Marlton Middle School per standard budget timeline information regarding the 2425 budget and future plans will first be shared publicly at that meeting District timelines depend on state timelines state aid numbers were only just released this afternoon some districts their aid changed a lot the final budget approval meeting will be in late April early May providing time for stakeholder input a District's process takes the time that it does to enable consideration and Care in preparing the budget and Future plans all in alignment with that District Mission read so well by Mr Demari at the outset of this meeting which is to support students absolutely to the greatest extent possible the March 19th meeting will include also a presentation about preschool namely preschool education Aid now this opportunity people may not know Governor Murphy spoke about it again in his governor's address earlier this week it is nothing less nothing short than the greatest single opportunity ever provided for any District including this one in the state of New Jersey and any District in pursuit of its Mission has to talk about it the chance to provide two full years of school for every three and four year old in town not only at no cost to the local taxpayer but earning more money back for etsd in order to preserve and restore programs and services for all children and we will hear on that same day March 19th and and next week with staff about what the budget next year looks like and unfortunately um you know we are going to need to be making some cuts as we sit here right now we are all paying for preschool for other towns kids every town around us and Beyond and we're paying not only for the preschool for those children but we're paying for the money that those districts are getting back for their regular budget that they're netting for their budget from that preschool expansion we'll talk more about all this on March 19th because again any District in fulfillment of its mission to provide the best possible education for all children now and tomorrow and the day after that must talk about preschool and we'll talk we'll talk application we'll talk scenarios we'll talk possibilities let me be clear no application has been submitted nor will one be until at the earliest the summer so the next deadline is August there's time to walk and talk talking about the budget will be horrible we are trying to find the least horrible path but I am looking forward to March 19th because then at least we can be talking about it because uncertainty is really difficult and I wish we could talk about it right now but we can't and also on March 19th most of all looking forward to talking about to opening the public conversation about preschool and the incred incredible positive potential of that which no one no one can fully conceptualize how impactful it could be to provide two years of school full days for the youngest students of a town they they're academic their social their emotional growth and how that impact of those two years is going to Echo into kindergarten when on day one of kindergarten they actually have two years under their belt on through first grade second grade elementary school middle school high school college career affecting how they are as people as parents as neighbors as everything that's the mission of a district that's what we're going to get to talk about I can't wait I hope to see everybody back here on March 19th last two mentions first for beer um I will be sending emails [Music] tomorrow to the Beer staff and Community announcing the plan for beer moving forward uh Mrs Schroeder's leave has changed and extended like I said emails going out tomorrow on that I would like to thank interim principal and former Jagger principal Miss Su scrunchie for her help over the past weeks as her last day inter principal with us was Tuesday this week lastly a huge and heartfelt thank you to our eim Education Foundation for the tremendously successful undertaking that was the Double Down fundraiser on February 2nd truly a village effort our district appreciates all the work of EF for our students especially going into the seventh straight year of State a reduction and as a save the date the next big EF event is going to be on Monday June 3rd which is the Memorial Golf Classic and that ends my comments Mr K thank you thank you Dr Smith any comments from the board taking a uh get used to this uh taking a look at the uh at the agenda just we're going into the first reading of the calendar today um I am very happy about this in particular for adding in these two new holidays Eden Dali I think this we have a community that is growing in diversity I think that's very important for us I think it's great for the township I think it's great for the school district and I look forward to uh having these days recognized so I'm very excited about this and I just wanted to share that in this first reading so thank you again for everyone who's worked on on that here and in other school districts that supported into this thank you any other comments from the board seeing none Mr Yates roll call please pardon me on administrative items Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs NL yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes Mr conon yes the motion carries thank you moving to item eight curriculum and instruction we need a motion to approve items 8.1 through 8.6 motion by Mr Brown seconded by Mrs null any board members have any questions or comments on Section 8 seeing none roll call please on curriculum and instruction Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes M fox yes Mrs N yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes Mr Compton yes that motion carries thank you moving to item number nine we need a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.17 under finance and operations do we have a motion motion by Mr dearcy seconded by Mr physico any questions or comments from the board Mrs S I just had a question on 915 for Mr Yates I noticed this is an I believe an application for funding is it a grant for some of the capital projects that we were looking to do namely a few of the schools and the HVAC systems yep so the uh New Jersey school Development Authority has made uh approximately $75 million available to public schools in New Jersey we qualified for roughly 103,000 um and working with our facilities team we've identified that we're going to put to use um those funds towards new boilers in two locations three boilers two locations okay so this is not we are we guaranteed to get this funding um to my knowledge yes okay yeah as long as the board approves the submission of this and we submit a uh proper application which really just lists the identified projects boilers would qualify we get the funds okay great thank you you're welcome any other questions or comments seeing none roll call please on finance and operations Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs N yes to 91 92 93 abstain on 94 board member travel as I have signed up for some trainings and workshops yes to 9.5 through 16 um so to clarify yes to all you're abstaining from 9.04 correct your abstention is noted thank you Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you moving to item 10 Personnel we need a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.10 do we have a motion motion by Miss Fox seconded by Mr Thompson any questions or comments from the board seeing none roll call please Mr Yates on Personnel Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs NL yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes the motion carries thank you moving to item 11 under policy we have no new policies moving to item 12 committee reports are there any committee chairs who would like to share a report this N I wanted to briefly share the curriculum committee did meet earlier this month and we have one new member well I'm new but also Mr Demari welcome and we uh look forward to your addition you've asked many excellent questions so together we discussed um many things Bas we discussed a lot about the budget for next year and also the revisions coming up that are for for the language arts curriculum we spoke about that and um let's see what else oh the high impact tutoring grant that miss mulick explained to us which was on the agenda tonight she had put in an application if I'm remembering at some point in the fall and we are awarded the money but we need to have approved this resolution to accept the money so the high impact tutoring Grant is going to go for specific things you have't earmarked for and if you don't mind just a little bit about that because I don't remember try to Pro so me uh basically the grant was $230,000 um and we are using that for third and fourth graders that was a like you got priority points for shoot targeting third and fourth grade so that would be through our reading staff providing that we also are using it for all for before and after school tutoring for IRS as well as to support a couple of our summer programs uh for students in thank you so that's basically an overview of everything that we discussed at curriculum and we of course meet monthly so I'll report back next month thank you thank you Mrs noler there any other committee chairs who would like to share a report seeing none we'll move into Old business of which we have n uh item number 15 new business we have two items for new business today we need a motion to approve the special education settlement as discussed in executive session do we have a motion motion by Mrs N seconded by Mr frero uh don't think we can do questions or comments so we'll move to a vote on new business item number one Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes M fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes the motion carries thank you one more item of new business we need a motion to uphold the finding of no Hib as discussed in executive session do we have a motion motion by Mr Brown seconded by Mr fysic Caro roll call please Mr Yates roll call on new business item number two Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null abstain your exstension is noted Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you we will now move into open public comment this meeting will now be open to the public referencing items of Interest how however if your questions or comments pertain to litigations du in or Personnel items or negotiations we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person yeah please limit your comments to three minutes per person one public comment per person and please state your name and address at the beginning and Pope 16 kirkdale Drive Marlton New Jersey addressing I don't think the microphone's on and Cataline 16 kirkdale Drive in Brush Hollow addressing the vote it's I have it marked section4 is that correct uh yes ma'am okay the first thing I would like to do is address the board on number one do you read what the state of New Jersey publishes for instance the December 2023 anti-bullying task force specifically contradicts each vote that affirmed that ruling the difference between bullying and conflict do you even know what it is clearly you do not if you did you could not make that vote in good faith secondly do you know what the qsca is you all want to know what the qsac is Miss please Face Forward I want them to hear it because they have a right to know that that is a report that should be published by the school district by each school as reported to the state of New Jersey it gives a grade if that grade is less than 80 the school is considered interum which I don't even know what that means but I will tell you you want a grade above 80 because that's high performing I have looked at every school individually I've looked at the board's website I have placed a phone call to the superintendent's office there is no reply at all and yet the state has said without a doubt it must not you may not maybe you could would should but you must publish that report when I call the superintendent its office I was told you'll get a call back right away except the person answering the phone didn't know what it was so she had to find out do you know what it is if you do have you been given the report and if you have why haven't you given it to the public now as far as this anti-bullying all I can tell you is when a child is pushed down and he receives bruises and abrasions and it doesn't happen once it happens two times it happens three times and you say it's not bullying because this person doesn't have some identifying characteristics well let me tell you something if I ran into any one of you in a store and I decided to push you unprovoked if I decided to slap you in the face causing bruises and bleeding do you think you would consider it an assault and here's your choice boy board here's your choice if it's not bullying then it's a conflict and the difference between a conflict and bullying conflict is two people it's a fight it's you and me bullying is one person you've reached three minutes please wrap up your comment I can't everyone gets three minutes so I have to enforce that equally then do your homework and I won't have to come [Applause] back good evening my name is Cindy Las Salvia I'm a teacher here in Eve sham for 23 years classroom teacher reading recovery teacher and now the reading recovery teacher leader for our district as stated before with the budget talks getting into full swing I'm sure there's going to be tough decisions that will have to be made in light of lots of talk around town and social media I wanted to make sure that you hear about reading recovery in a positive way all of its successes and how we've been addressing the needs of children here for years and years I also would like to emphasize some facts about reading recovery we appreciate that all voices are heard I want to talk about what reading recovery is and what reading recovery is not briefly reading recovery is not a classroom program it is early intervention for students who come to first grade significantly behind in Reading and rating from both half and full day kindergartens and outside educational settings it is really hard to wrap our minds around five and six year olds already coming in way behind but that's the reality this is an intervention that is supplemental to good classroom instruction we have wonderful Partnerships with our classroom teachers and that is invaluable for our students Success reading recovery is not longterm it's shortterm to help student students accelerate their learning with a highly trained teacher teachers are trained for a full year and after that teachers attend 18 hours per year in professional development reading recovery is evidence-based research-based and yes science-based data is collected every year for every student reading recovery teaches phonics and phic awareness on a daily basis along with fluen comprehension and writing skills children need to know letters and sounds in order to read I am absolutely happy to further this conversation at any time with any of you and we can look closely at the data reading recovery has has been and continues to be the most highly effective intervention for our young students it is financially self-sustaining Eve sham is a training site and we have outside districts pay for their training when they come to us year after year reading recovery is a partnership with all stakeholders I have forwarded the board parent questionnaire feedback surveys I have forwarded the board first grade teacher surveys please take the time to read all of them parent surveys are not just emotional feel-good stories they represent real kids in our classrooms right now our district has valued the importance of early intervention for the many for many many years we invest early in all of our students just like we will be with the preschool and we place an importance on helping our most needy Learners crack that code ma'am you reached three minutes please thank [Applause] you hello my name is Rachel zabriski I 534 Justice Drive Marlton New Jersey and I've come here tonight both as a resident of eam Township but also as an employee of the eam Township School District I have taught kindergarten and I'm now currently employed at jaggard elementary school as a reading recovery teacher and the school's interventionist I've raised all four of my kids in eam Township and they've attended the Isham Township school system ever since kindergarten one is now in college two are Cherokee excuse me and one is currently at Dei Middle School three out of my four children were very successful with their academic careers they all have pretty positive experiences but my one child my daughter struggled with reading she's quiet shy introverted doesn't really like to take risks lacks some of the self-confidence that's needed for that and overall she did not like reading which breaks my heart to say that as a reading teacher but it was not her favorite thing to do when she was in elementary school she also was was recommended and to be brought before the inrs committee for attention and focusing issues her first grade teacher and I communicated often and we both agreed it would be best to have her screen for reading recovery unfortunately when she was screened she was not eligible there were other students that needed it more than she did as a teacher and at that time I was a stay-at-home mom I worked very hard with her but we all know how that goes sometimes when you're working with your own kids it's not always the best scenario and the reason I'm telling you this and sharing the story with you is that she struggled with reading not because of the curriculum it was because of who she was as an individual with time and growth and development she got where she needed to be but as I said it was always a struggle for her as a read and Recovery teacher I've seen students come to me that struggle with reading for so many different reasons their home environments do they have books there some do some don't are they read to some are some aren't what was their previous schooling experience did they attend preschool which hopefully now with moving forward with Ean that's not going to be as much of an issue as it has been in the past their background knowledge some of our children come they have plenty of experiences but not all of them do and do they have that support that's needed to help them succeed with reading some children who are younger and not developmentally ready struggle with reading because reading and writing both are developmental skills and they are complex some of them have stronger oral language skills and some have weaker oral language skills speech and language development all of this has an impact on how successful a student may be with their reading it's not just minutes okay thank you good evening Heather Toco 16 Anapolis Drive uh I've been an eve sham resident for 17 years um both my children have gone through uh the eve sham Township School District my son's currently at decy midle and my daughter's at Cherokee um I've also been a reading specialist at a neighboring school district for 22 years and throughout my teaching career I've had the opportunity to be involved with numerous reading programs and what I've learned is that no single approach helps every child last year when I was presented with the possibility of Bec becoming a trained reading recovery teacher I jumped at the chance to teach this research-based program teaching with reading recovery methods I've been able to accelerate my students reading growth so they are on par with their peers in the classroom this has been the most effective program I've ever used with students who are struggling to learn how to read and a great component of this program is the ongoing professional development that takes place after the training I truly feel for fortunate to be a reading recovery and to have the support of Cindy lasalvia and Eve Shan to continue my professional development and the residents of Eve sham School District are just as fortunate to have all these amazing reading recovery teachers working with the students here to accelerate their reading growth thank you hello Melissa Smith 239 Foxwood Lan in Marlton I'm speaking as a mom a teacher and a taxpayer in Marlton I'm going to speak about being a mom first my son attended full day kindergarten at Rice Elementary he had an absolutely wonderful teacher Mrs debio as he entered first grade he continued to struggle with learning his letters sounds words and early reading readiness skills as his difficulties continued in first grade he was fortunate enough to qualify for the second round of reading recovery with Tina plumber he was able to receive the much needed one-on-one intensive program that was specifically geared to his needs my son son has since been diagnosed with dyslexia but now he's a real reader I credit the Intensive interventions he had through Reading recovery in his first grade year with helping him gain the fundamentals to be as successful as he is now as a teacher in our district I taught first grade for eight years my co- teer and I would hope and pray that our neediest readers would qualify for reading recovery 5 days a week one-on-one intensive intervention 12 weeks for children to flourish many many of our students would exit reading recovery on Benchmark level I've personally seen the success of this program both as a parent and a teacher as a resident and a taxpayer in our town I ask that you continue to allow the children of Marlon to receive the benefits of this necessary program that has proven to be so successful for our children thank you [Applause] Gina D Simone 313 Windsor Lane shocker I'm going to talk about reading recovery so let me be clear I wholeheartedly agree that our school needs the addition of phonics and spelling programs as these are fundamental skills needed for successful readers however these components are already an integral part of our current reading recovery program you know what they say if it's not broken don't fix it reading recovery is not broken we don't need to fix it it's an intervention offered to first graders as you already heard that are below grade level it's designed and executed using all the fundamental parts of reading phonics pheic awareness vocabulary fluency and comprehension I'm going to try not to cry here my son Braden has been fortunate enough to reap the benefits of this program as a parent watching a child's struggle is awful you know your parents most of you I'm sure so this program's been incredible for us under the expertise of Mrs Ur good my son has made progress he is meeting almost all categories except for one with his fellow first graders this is I can't even express how this makes us feel as parents and that's in just 20 weeks in other in our world where we're always looking for the next best thing the next new fed the next best practice please stop and look at what's right in front of you this is working you hearing that it's working look into this please read and Recovery is phonics it is everything that we are looking for and as a district as a teacher of more than 22 years I beg you to add to our program and not take away Mrs urg good and the other read and Recovery teachers have worked endlessly to help our struggling students they get rigorous intensive training that is ongoing it supports individual needs we can hand Any teacher a curriculum protocol but knowing what to do with it and how to help a child is different it's more than phonics we cannot forget the human element on a personal note seeing my six-year-old go from feeling stressed significantly behind his peers to wanting to read begging to read reading to our our rescue dogs that to me is priceless you can't get it from a curriculum protocol you can't thanks Mrs Ur good you have changed our lives and we are eternally grateful thanks for being a teacher that not only goes above and beyond but loves what they do and loves to make a difference this Mr Smith and the board this is reading recovery thank you I am Mike fiser I live in 49 B Air Drive um thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today I'm here as a parent deeply concerned about what I've heard regarding potential cuts to the reading recovery program I understand the challenges of budget constraints but I firmly believe that the future of our children especially those in dire new of support like my son Dylan should not be compromised Dylan's Journey with reading was not an easy one I still vividly remember the struggle in Dylan's eyes and the frustration and Silent tears when reading a basic skill that many of his classmates possessed it was heartbreaking to see him come home frustrated feeling left behind as his classmates move forward but then something remarkable happened when Dylan was introduced to reading recovery it was a Beacon of Hope tailored to meet the needs of children precisely like Dylan it gave him the one-on-one support he needed from compassionate teachers lifting him up word by word book by book until the day came when reading was no longer tore but a delight and even an adventure within weeks of starting the program we saw a change he went from being a child who couldn't follow along of us when we would read to him to one who couldn't wait to dive in to show us the words he can read and before we know it he was ready to select books of his favorite athletes solve Mysteries with Encyclopedia Brown or get lost in the Magical World of Harry Potter but perhaps the most amazing part of read recovery for Dylan was not just the tailored academic support but the relationship it fostered his teacher was more than an educ educator she was a mentor helped him gain confidence in his academic ability this program gave Dylan the courage to take risks to embrace challenges and to grow not just as a reader and writers but as a confident young person ready explore the world of learning with enthusiasm I urge you do not let budget cuts undermine the Val this invaluable resource the costs of this continuing are reducing the re reading recovery program is far greater than its Financial expense we should we would be failing our children are most V vulnerable at a time when they need us most in Sharing Dylan's story I hope to shine a light on an immeasurable value value and profound impact of children who like Dylan have found their path through Reading recovery it's a plea to protect and cherish the program that holds the power transform the educational Journey let's ensure that every child has the support the care and the opportunity to reach the full potential thank you for your consideration let's make a choice to support these kids growth their confidence and their future hello my name is Heather urg good I live at 129 Hamilton Road I am a teacher in the district I am also a parent of students who went through the district I have a current eighth grader um as a parent and a teacher in this District I've heard a lot of thoughts and opinions Lately from various stakeholders about what is best for children each side comes with their passion their data their anecdotes but I truly believe that all of us the Board of Education members the parents the administrators and the teachers we all want what is best for the students the children who we are all here to serve I started as a first grade teacher here in the district district and when I taught first grade my colleagues and I would work hard to meet the needs of the children that came into our classroom and we would celebrate when one of our students was chosen to participate in Reading recovery because we knew that would make a significant difference in their abilities to read and write there's nothing like the collaboration between a first grade teacher and a reading recovery teacher to help meet the needs of a student who is struggling with early literacy skills that is what inspired me to get trained in Reading recovery knowing that I could make a real difference for students in our district now as a reading recovery teacher at Dei Elementary School I have worked with all kinds of children I have worked with children whose home language is English Arabic Spanish Russian Bulgarian Punjabi Mandarin and Ukrainian I have worked with students who are in regular education spe special education and those with 504s in doing so I have witnessed how complex learning to read and write is and that no two children need exactly the same thing to become the best reader that they can be there is no one siiz fits-all program when it comes to teaching children to read and write our curriculum meets the needs of many but not all reading recovery meets the needs of many but not all systematic phonics instruction meets the needs of many but not all teacher expertise ongoing professional development and high expectations for students are all factors that have been proven to have a positive impact on student achievement and growth I can assure you of this reading recovery teachers have expertise they participate in meaningful ongoing professional development they have high expectations for all the students they serve reading recovery teachers teach phonics they teach site wordss they teach strategies for comprehension and for problem solving words that are a part of our very complex language reading recovery meets the needs of a wide range of Learners it does not discriminate and it helps them grow and become more confident confident readers and writers my hope is that all the stakeholders here tonight can agree that reading recovery is not harmful to children as some may have you believe and that it is vitally important to have an early intervention in place that strives to accelerate the growth of the students who need it most thank you I I'm Ed Goodman 11 Stafford way um I have a son in kindergarten at Rice I've been a special education teacher for the last 15 years I'm speaking tonight to support the need for a structured systematic phonics approach in all K to2 classrooms in the district it's obvious that many people have um some positive things to say about reading recovery however that's just an intervention and I think that's also clear um what what I believe and what our parent advocacy group believe is that in our district we need to have the structured phonics approach in all the kto2 classrooms a few weeks ago we met with representatives of the district um and I was encouraged by the meeting honestly because I feel like there's a lot that we do agree on um the first thing I feel like we agree on is that reading is complex that was stated multiple times tonight as well as in the meeting however a structured phonics program in early Elementary grades can make it much less complex by giving students the ability to attack the complexity of reading by relying on skills they've learned rather than guessing based on queuing strategies that are taught throughout the district's um literacy programs so being that reading is complex why aren't we evolving to meet the needs of our students with current best practices currently States across the country are seeing a need for phonics instruction so much so that they're requiring it in their updated standards I understand the district uses the fontas and panel phonics program however Ed reports rate the program as partially meeting expectations for reading foundational skills with a score of 114 out of 202 and in my view that's just not good enough while reading is complex and we agree on that we would like to see the complexity being addressed in our programming another thing that we agree on is that we have great teachers here in E sham we should be giving them the tools they need to make sure that every student is taught basic literacy skills that they need to thrive in their education the programs we had we use have made major shortcomings in phonics instruction and have come under criticism from Recent research it's clear that we have terrific Educators we should be equipping them with the resources they need to be highly effective the final thing that we agree on was that we want the best for the children of eam I'm lucky enough to be able to provide my son with structured phonics instruction at home but not all parents can do this I know I'm doing what's best for him because I see it in him every single day a structured approach to phonics is what is best for all students in Eve shamp everything that we agree on gives us a lot of common ground and we should be working together from that common ground to have a more effective conversation moving forward I challenge the board and District administration to look at the research that the parent group has shared evaluate our literacy programming although I agree that there is no Silver Bullet there is not one end all Beall approach it is clear that our programming does lack a stru a structured phonics program and quite honestly it's dated um this is resulting in growing learning gaps in Upper Elementary grades in middle school I see it every day at work and I'm sure if you ask some of your reach three minutes thank [Applause] you hi Jen peoples 211 Royal Drive I wanted to take a moment to address the board and administration tonight although I fully support reading recovery that's not why I'm here I have been the PTA president at beer school for 12 years but I have been a parent and volunteer there for over 18 I have had four kids go through the district my youngest being in fifth grade I'm here tonight because what is going on in our building currently is just sad our principal is out on leave until after spring break our interum has left and our guidance counselor has recently resigned and there has been zero communication that has gone out to the family since January we deserve transparency our children deserve transparency the entire situation from an administrative standpoint has been poorly mismanaged and it's very disheartening there has been no consistent person in our building for weeks no one to offer support answer questions Etc no one has stepped in no one has stepped up the way they should have for our children our staff and our school and this is not the first time we had a very similar situation occurred just last spring it is also my wholehearted opinion that if it was another school it would not have been overlooked for this long we love thank you we love and support our teachers and staff and I have to tell you they've W done a wonderful tremendous job during this very very difficult time for us but it has drastically affected morale it has drastically affected school spirit and it will affect our children it will I do understand after reaching out to Dr Smith today that you are seeking an alter like a permanent solution it just never should have gotten to this point I speak tonight as a parent advocate as a PTA member as a voice for our children we deserve better thank you for your time Kimberly Hansen 111 met View Circle good evening as each and every one of us standing before you tonight do I have a significant number of concerns about what's happening in our district at the Forefront of on what's many of our minds is the fifth grade while I'm unsure if moving fifth grade is truly a possibility Dr Smith's lack of response on the matter leads me to believe that it is as a former educator myself I can only express how much of a mistake adding fifth grade to the middle school is I have spent 13 years at a middle school teacher have my graduate degree in educational leadership and development I have done extensive research on the history of middle school and why it was developed it exists to give students ages 11 to 14 a separate place to grow mature and come into their own when done right middle school should be a safe place for students to not just focus on their academic achievements but spend a significant amount of time working on their social and emotional development as well most fifth graders are outside of this age range and a full Middle School model is not appropriate for them there are articles that explain more about why fifth graders do not belong in a middle school setting they need that extra year to grow and mature and I am truly questioning what we are considering sacrificing that year for personally my biggest concern however is our sta staff as I'm sure you know there is a mass Exodus of teachers all over the country teachers and staff are leaving not just their schools but the field of Education itself they're not leaving because they can't hack it or because the job is too hard they're leaving because they are not supported and they are unable to do the jobs they were hired to do I have expressed my concerns about this and have questioned what administration and the board is doing to support them and my concerns have been dismissed or fallen on deaf ears my own daughter has lost two teachers who have left the profession my concerns were dismissed because these two staff members left on good terms and while that very well may be the fact of the matter is that these teachers still didn't feel enticed enough to stay many of the families here tonight are frustrated at a lack of transparency and communication there have been more resignations and Staffing changes that we as families have not been privy to and have to find out through the grapevine or emails that happened too little too late I am imploring you to work with families teachers and stakeholders and have us in conversations about the future of our district starting those conversations in April is too late to our teachers I say thank you I see you I see what you do day in and day out and I appreciate you I know what it's like to be in your shoes and I promise that as a parent I will do everything in my power to support you advocate for you and your well-being hello my name is Audrey Gillan I live at Rockingham Drive in Marlton I'm a retired employee of eam Township School District I have three children who attended esam Township Schools I have attended many board meetings over the years at the January board meeting this year the word transparency kept being repeated February 20th 2024 this year just about a year after my retirement I received a check from the eim Township School District I believe this check was for the overpayment of my share for health insurance benefits IIM Township School District was not in compliance with a law that was passed and signed by Governor Murphy in July of 2020 I just want to say to the parents the administrators the board members it's important for the parents here to keep speaking up keep asking questions and keep showing up the truth always comes out and your voice should be heard thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Colleen Ellis I live um on tby Lane in Marlton um I'm here because myself and I think a lot of other parents feel like we were sold a story when we were urged to vote to fund full day kindergarten with our tax dollars um and we did so in order to preserve our Middle School structure and we feel like the rug is being pulled out from under us in the name of pursuing a preschool Grant additionally I am hearing from friends and neighbors who are teachers in the district and who are members of the union and of Union leadership that Dr Smith has not been transparent with them about proposed budget cuts and has not collaborated with them in uh an effort to see where those cuts can be made or shifted it seems foolish not to include the people who work most closely with our children and who know better than anyone the impact that any Cuts would have on them in preliminary discussions about the budget especially in a district whose theme is cooperation parents and teachers are tired of being asked for patience when our kids education is at stake and rumors about cuts are flying around unaddressed and the failure to address them just lends Credence to those rumors I urge the board of education to ask the following questions regarding the preschool plan how is this going to help our current students when it will mean the district having to match the grant money that is given by the state which can only be used for the preschool program what is the plan for implementation these grants have a quick turnaround time of 60 days once that Grant is procured is this District prepared to implement a full program in 60 days and are you thinking about the children that are going to come here with IEPs where now you have a half day preschool disabled program you will have to offer a full day preschool disabled program and those kids are going to need support and sadly I don't think judging by the current state of the special education programs in this District they're prepared to expand that support what happens when the grant money Runs Out out and the district is left to fully fund the program and also given the numbers released by the state today that show a significant reduction in the anticipated cuts to state aid how does this affect the budget that's currently being developed and not discussed with parents or teachers or anyone else who has a stake in it my husband is a US Coast Guard veteran and I'd like to leave you with a quote by Captain Warren judge who's the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Training Center in Kate May transparency and Leadership is not merely about revealing facts it's about fostering trust through openness honesty and accountability thereby Illuminating the path towards Collective success we as a community are continuing to ask you for transparency in the interest of the success of this district and all of our kids Amanda gaun five links way it's disappointing to have to speak again tonight regarding our advoca advocacy group's concerns for Eve Shan's early literacy curriculum however the district's in action compels me to do so I'm here to express the urgent need to closely examine the philosophies practices and programming of your early literacy curriculum the system is broken esam's use of an inaccurate benchmarking system leads to inaccurate identification of students in need of intervention the students who are identified are then placed into intervention programs that are considered by research and literature to be insufficient for struggling readers and ineffective for dyslexic students there's a complete lack of effective progress monitoring in both the general education and intervention programs the general education and intervention programs do not meet the criteria as a structured approach to literacy the district continues to ignore the substantial evidence that demonstrates structured literacy is more effective for all readers not just struggling readers however none of this is new information I've been expressing this and providing the supporting research in literature since October the district is citing philosophical differences or the reading Wars to justify the their inaction however the large body of research that exists regarding the science of reading has made these so-called reading Wars irrelevant a leading expert in the field Dr Seidenberg describes the increasingly Advanced sophisticated body of scientific reading research that has developed over the last several decades as quotes it's not at any level where any reasonable person could debate it doesn't turn on one lab or one funding agency or any one method it's an overwhelming success in the science and yet it has had almost no effect on how educators think about reading and indeed people are quite willing to keep fighting the reading Wars endlessly similarly another leading expert in the field Dr Moz questions the room for philosophical debate in the teaching of reading Dr Moz States preparation for teaching reading often is more grounded in ideology than evidence while the academic freedom that professors often invoke has a place in teacher education its claim is not as absolute as it may be in the humanities professional preparation programs have a responsibility to teach a defined body of knowledge skills and abilities that are based on the best research in the field this is no less important in Reading than it is medicine or law evidence to guide our practices is stronger than it has ever been the preparation and professional development of teachers must be better aligned with the Decades of reading science I'm here tonight to remind e and Leadership of their responsibility to their staff and the students they serve to stop ignoring the Decades of reading research that it should inform instruction and practices it's time for ISM leadership to St believing in a false dichotomy between a structured approach to foundational reading skills and developing Rich comprehension in a love of reading and learning as Dr Moz States the science of reading is inextricably linked to the love of to teach and Inspire the Next Generation we simply can't have one without the other thank [Applause] you Angela Stuart Wong kirkbridge court tonight I'm asking for transparency from the board and from the superintendent transparency for what interventions and curriculum change will be provided to our children that will provide explicit research based fonic instruction also how will the district measure progress and growth moving forward I left the recent meeting between parents and administration with more questions than answers again transparency and communication also transparency for what will happen with fifth grade my daughters in third first and preschool will be negatively impacted by this change my third grader already was virtual for kindergarten due to co co already negatively impacted this group of children socially emotionally and academically now you want to transition them early to an environment that is not developmentally appropriate let them stay in the elementary environment let them be leaders let them socially and emotionally grow where they are developmentally comfortable and safe thank you so my name is Tama I'm one of the members of the Marlon Muslim families can I start first with our greeting in Islam Salam alaykum which means peace be upon you as one of the Maron Muslim Community I would like to thank you Dr Smith and all of the members of the board of education for supporting our propose to add to add fit as a holiday in the school calendar for everyone fit is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan Ramadan is our hly month which we passed for 30 days from down to Sunset our children are honored and grateful for your decision they feel now included they feel their voices were heard thank you so much I'm sure your decision today made difference to our children and for the coming Generations we appreciate all your work and thank you so [Applause] much hello uh Jason RC kirkbridge Court um I'm a parent of uh kindergarten and first graders in Eve sham um I'm not in education or an expert in reading strategies or philosophies so I won't share my thoughts on why I believe the current reading curriculum is outdated and inadequate or why I believe an explicit structured phonics curriculum is needed instead I'd like to share some observations and experiences I've had related to struggling with readers in our curriculum uh it's been my experience that borderline struggling readers are not being um given helped with additional um with additional resources and the reason that's happening is a lack of resources my daughter was recommended for reading covery recovery by her kindergarten teacher uh towards the end of the year uh and after the districts or whoever's consideration she she was denied because she was a borderline student and there were many more students that needed help or more help than her is what we were told um so in short there were too many kids that needed help with reading for the district to support um there have been there have continued to be struggles this year in first grade with reading um at our first conference we again inquired about reading recovery after being told of those struggles and we're again told that there wasn't room for her um um and that there were in fact only eight spots in her school for first graders um so she continued to struggle we were continued to be notified of her struggles and she was just recently been accepted into the reading recovery program which we thrilled about she's finally going to get the help that she needs um and so I share all of this as an example of how we're failing our students a lot of you know there's there's a lot of different ends of this but um the current reading curriculum is creating more students needing help than the district can support by choosing to not by choosing to not Implement an explicit structured phonics program and also not providing sufficient resources to certain groups of readers they are creating a growing group of students that need help and then refusing to help by not providing sufficient training to teachers and very limited access to reading Specialists if you can't support the number of students needing help with your reading something has to change and to the reading Recovery Specialists we love you guys we need you guys we we want you guys to have the tools and resources to help our children thank you hi thank you for your attention tonight I'm Cindy Rogers I have a third grader a sixth grader and I teach fifth grade in another District tonight I here to be the voice of the teachers our teachers many of them at e sham Township School District are not comfortable speaking publicly for fear of Retribution so they've asked me to speak out on behalf of them about their concerns about the possible restructuring at the middle school one employee asked me asked me to share that she has children in the district but is considering moving out of town because of the possible changes this employee also regrets voting for full day kindergart and feels misled another teacher is concerned about fifth and eighth grade potentially sharing bathrooms riding buses together passing each other in hallways at arrival and dismissal she said it's not age appropriate and also the start times are too early for a 10-year-old another is concerned that they will be required to teach a subject that they are not certified in staff is concerned about cutting independent study which is when students meet with their teachers for extra help to catch up on work from being absent to meet for tier three teachers are very worried about our special education population Cuts would cause them to have several special education teachers throughout the day and no independent study time where they can finish tests or get support or review material teachers are worried about losing their Team Planning time which means all co-planning periods are gone teachers can no longer work together helping a struggling student plan lessons or units or theme days for kids they're losing a planning period and gaining an entirely new class to prep for teach and grade staff noted that students will be moving all over the building and there is not nearly enough staff to monitor the Halls lockers might not be in your classes what happens if a students forget something do you waste 5 to 10 minutes having them go back to their lockers to retrieve it or will teachers start giving zeros they also brought up that students will not have the same guidance counselor or vice principal throughout their years at Middle School since they will be all over the schools instead of one designated house class sizes will go up parents need to be aware of how much children how much help their children are going to be losing because teachers will not have the time nor the flexibility to provide for their students anymore and teachers do not want this change they want to help and support and motivate the students not turn them away we do not want to see the house concept go it's so much better for the kids to have a team one staff member said and I quote every single thing about this plan is detrimental to the students and staff these are some pretty heavy thoughts from our teachers and I say teachers of teens and pre-teens are pretty special people they're dealing with children who are trying so hard to grow up but are still kids kids who are pushing the boundaries pushing away their parents navigating changes but who need love and support and understanding our teachers need that time and space to work with these youngsters 83% of the budget is teachers and that's who it should be we need them they are the heart and soul of our schools and yet their voices don't feel that they're heard let's fix that thank you hello my name is Jennifer peelman and I live at 33 snuffbox Lane my husband and I both attended eam schools as do our three children tonight there are many people in this room coming together to stand for what they believe parents want fifth graders to remain in elementary school settings because they Thrive developmentally in that environment Beyond this room there is a petition of over 525 signatures who also feel that 10 years old is too young to be in a middle school setting in class on buses and in after school activities supporters supporters of the current Middle School structure stand here tonight in hopes of protecting a model that is the Envy of many other districts we can't allow our middle schools to become Junior highs our pre-teens need a safe environment where they can be seen as individuals by their teachers tonight you see passionate people United in the red color thanks for wearing it Dr Smith long before this this meeting people have written emails made phone calls done research and more all in the name of sharing the super with the superintendent and the board the vision for the their vision for this District in Dr Smith's recent email update he highlighted that families were surveyed about cultural holidays in the school calendar I applaud the fact that families were surveyed and their input was included the desire for collaboration and involvement is a theme that is echoed at school drop off PTA meetings and social media people want their voices heard they want to offer ideas and more than anything they want transparency I am deeply concerned about transparency particularly where the preschool expansion Grant is concerned as we Face Aid reductions and Rising costs of everything it does not seem fiscally responsible at this time to apply for the preschool expansion Grant in the name of transparency I feel it's important to share that this grant does not provide all the funds that are needed for the program and the district would have to put up Financial Resources in addition to the grant to cover expenses at the January Board of Mee board meeting Dr Smith spoke about his dedication to students he seated I can't stand up in front of our community and talk about reductions to kids that we serve to pay for a program for kids that we don't he was speaking specifically about TBA but I believe the statement still completely is applicable to the preschool expansion Grant if we move forward to the grant now at a time of rising cost in the district we are essentially inviting more students to be part of the district while changing the experience for the children that are already here and that change is not in their best interest academically or emotionally Dr Smith and members of the Board of Education you are sitting in a room full of passionate committed and knowledgeable change makers you are in a position to bring the groups together we can work to achieve something we are all proud of I encourage Dr Smith and the board to host a strategic planning initiative where employees parents students students community members and stakeholders can come together in collaboration now is not the time to add programs at the expense of our current students it is not the time to hastily restructure the district or cut program minutes it's the time for collaboration and strategy cooperation is key and I hope Dr Smith and the board set an [Applause] example my name is Andrea Tierney at 241 conastoga Drive I am the parent of three children in this District I know you have continue to ask for patients from the community but we also recognize the need to fully express our concerns before you move forward with the plans that may be that we may be deeply opposed to as you formalize your budget proposal we hope that our voice gives you the opportunity to reflect what we value most I want to speak to our opposition to any form of restructuring our current School models we are opposed to reorganizing the middle schools in all 56 and a 78 school we are opposed to removal of the team models Middle School teachers need to be able to collaborate to support our children appropriately Junior High models have gone by the wayside because they're developmentally inappropriate for this age group we are opposed to removing the fifth grade students from their home schools these children have begun their education in an unprecedented time with Co lockdowns they need consistency and support more than any other group before it is essential that we do not further imp experiments these ideas do not align with research on students social and emotional well-being rather they serve as cost-effective educational factory models that are just pushing out products you cannot cut Corners like a business when you are in education we understand that free preschool sounds enticing but we know that the implications of this program come with substantial requirements this grant is far from free and it burdens the burden it places on this District demands will is going to take away from our current students those that we're obligated to provide for if the state is committed to providing free prek programs it should be fully operated by the state and allow the districts to continue to concentrate on our current students we also know that this grant is never guaranteed to invest a tremendous quality of our resources and uproot our current students to accommodate the prek program in elementary schools is foolish you are only one election away from having a new Administration come in and eliminate funding this makes no sense we are wholeheartedly against the district seeking this grant okay I'm going to speak a little bit separate to reading recovery my daughter went through the reading recovery program and it was tremendously helpful but she's no longer in that program and now I'm seeing a backslide I am fortunate enough to have her in a special program in Burlington for dyslexic students okay that is rooted in oron gillium methodology it is very important that we not just put them in Reading recovery reading recovery is amazing but it's not the the only thing and it's for kids that are most critical okay she has greater potential than what she's reaching right now and I have the means to take her to tutoring but not every family does um this community is engaged and supportive of our schools that is a gift that many many struggling districts dream of do not Overlook how fortunate you are to have informed and motivated parents we would be happy to support Advocate and organize on your behalf of our district and our Educators in just one month our Facebook group has has brought 700 people to this conversation you have the opportunity to change the Public's perception and show that you are listening to us we will be patiently looking forward to see I know okay we will be patiently looking forward to seeing your tenative budget in [Applause] March hi my name is Haley wilham I live on pen Court in Cambridge Park I have two daughters one is in kindergarten right now now and one will be in kindergarten this next year um my husband and I recently moved to this school district because we believed it was a great school district and we wanted our kids to go um to Dei Elementary and Dei Middle um as a community the quality of the school district is of the utmost importance not only does um it attract families who like myself and my husband were seeking a good education for our children um but more importantly quoted directly from the e sham Township School District Mission a strong Educational Foundation will help our children achieve their unique potential Embrace lifelong learning develop necessary risk-taking and decision- making learn self-respect problem solving and most importantly become a contributing member of society this district is at a pivotal moments we can either rise together with transparency at what we are facing as a school district to find and fund a solution to this budget deficit without closing more schools without changing the structure of our middle and elementary schools and without cutting necessary programs to fulfill our District's mission or we can fall together I know that a lot has been said this evening it is only in response to rumors of the board's plans as the budget has yet to be released one of those rumors that I've come to know is the plan to close dcy Elementary I know originally when the vote for full day kindergarten was discussed there was a last resort mentioned um which would be to close decy Elementary if the vote did not pass now that it has pass it is my understand that my understanding that decy is still on the chopping block that means about 300 students would need to be redistrict elsewhere to schools that already have nearly 450 to 600 plus elementary students in a district that is so extensive deacy Elementary is a gem it is a school that provides a small school feeling in a very large District it is a school where a large proportion of kids walk to school with their friends parents grandparents and even with their pets parents talk to each other catch up with their children their children's friends for decades researchers have pointed to the one key School success factor that transcends nearly all others such such as soci Soo economic status student background and that key success factor is actually parental involvement it has been proven students whose parents stay involved walk with them to and from school volunteer at their school have better attendance and behavior get better grades demonstrate better social skills and adapt better to school the benefit of elementary students going to school close to their home being able to actively commute to school by biking walking and scootering is unquestionable and I know I can confidently say that the majority of us parents at deacy elementary moved into these neighborhoods so that our kids could walk some of us even reap the benefits of being a walker ourselves growing up and we wanted the same for our kids so I stand here tonight to implore the board to find other ways we are a capable Community who have an underlying similarity we love our children and we want what's best for them so please work with us parents before making these decisions that can have a lifelong negative effect on our child's education the school's success and more importantly their childhood Rachel Willie 200 Tomlinson Mill Road last time I was up here I was speaking to our community and asking them to vote in favor of the kindergarten referendum today I'm speaking to our board and superintendent being part of the kindergarten committee was an incredibly rewarding experience it was my first experience as a resident and I was energized and inspired by the other members and residents the moment that we learn the referendum had passed will be treasured in my mind and heart for many years to come that moment was special because it gave me the Incredible Gift of experiencing the power of working together for something and not against I believe in the power of Hope over fear and I believe that people are motivated to build by hope and motivated by fear to tear down it has been heartbreaking for me to hear residents and staff members of our Township voice their fears about the referendum they feel they were convinced to vote Yes for the referendum only to learn that they may have been Mis misled or misinformed I have to assume that hearing the residents fears and suspicions is difficult for many of the members of our committee in the absence of information people fear the worst having personally experienced the positivity and heard the motivations of those of us on the committee I find it difficult to believe people were misled I'm not a leader and I don't know what it must feel like to deal with the pressure and frustration of your positions I am a staff member a resident and a parent and I'm asking our board and superintendent to please include the ETA Union president in the discussions and planning for the budget please again include parents and residents in the process allow them the chance to give their valuable insights and perspectives as the plans are being built instead of as a reaction to What has already been decided please give the power of Hope another chance and deny fear the opportunity to grow thank you for your time hi my name is Erin guini I'm 25 Nottingham Road I'm going to Echo a lot of sentiments that were already said tonight um last year in the fall the goal of this District was to get tuition free kindergarten for all students we the community were an asset to that process you needed Us in that process we advocated we advertised we spread the word and you rode our momentum all the way to the bank we put a feather in your cap and we earned something for our district to bring us up to Pace with all the other area districts however it's critical to point out as many others have that some of us do feel misled we were told that voting yes for kindergarten and bringing that into our district was not going to impact current students I voted yes for full day kindergarten and I have no horse in that race my kids are out of kindergarten I paid thousands $11,000 for kindergarten and I still voted yes for other people I feel that I was manipulated and I wish I could get my vote back these new proposals leave us with lots of questions questions about time timelines questions about how this plan is going to impact our children and almost as importantly questions about what other tricks you have up your [Applause] sleeve our children have heard these rumors they are coming home asking us where they're going to school next year and we do not have answers for them we are asking for transparency all of us we are asking for honest conversations you are asking for input we are asking for dialogue we want you to be able to answer the questions that we are coming up here and asking rhetorically in three minute chunks of time you relied on us to help you pass that referendum and now we are being silenced by the repercussions of that vote I would like you to slow down I would like you to think about how this is going to impact the children that are currently in our schools and I would like you to make sure that what you do and what you propose does not negatively impact some to positively impact others thank [Applause] you my name is Aaron Gerson I'm going to withhold my address but I have my license if you want to see it and Dr Smith I believe you know me by now since you no longer respond to my emails I'm a Marlton resident and a mom of three kids I have over 10 years of experience teaching at public and private collegate institutions in Alaska and New Jersey and over five years in organizational Communications and I mention that because foundational educational years are critical to ongoing development and I've seen it firsthand in student later my husband and I bought our house here because of this District I remember when my oldest now at Cherokee went through a reading recovery with Mrs Las Salvia and it was a GameChanger but things have changed and that's why I'm here wearing green and red my youngest is at beer I Echo the concerns about the lack of communication and the lack of administrative leadership across the board and especially at beer I Echo concerns about moving fth to middle school I Echo concerns about how we best support our youngest Learners as well as how this board makes decisions that impact all of our children and the future of our schools here I call on you to allow open dialogue regarding strategic planning to be transparent and to start acting like it's your kids in these schools now hi my name is Tiffany Davis and I live at 25 appway first I want to say thank you to the board for what you do I know that it's a volunteer job and it's mostly thankless today I'm here to speak regarding the consideration of fifth graders being moved from their home Elementary School to a middle school setting I have two children that this would impact my daughter Eva who's currently in in fourth grade at VanZant Elementary and my daughter Lily entering kindergarten in the fall while I'm thankful and appreciative that kindergarten was voted through I'm beyond distress to know that Eva might miss her last year at vzy without any real length of time to prepare for a transition to a midal school setting Eva was in kindergarten when the pandemic started and the school shut down she was also fully remote for first grade since I was working from home I'm grateful that I was able to keep her home and safe during that time but she did miss the socialization and typical Ed Ed first grade education my all kids during that time during the pandemic to keep her spirits up I would remind her that it would all pass and the amazing things that she had to look forward to after especially fifth grade at VanZant fifth grade at VanZant is beyond magical and I only ask that if you make this change you would give everyone enough time to prepare their children properly Ava has aimed to be the first person in at school in the car line every day since learning in third grade that she could be selected for card line safety and fifth grade she really wanted to be a safety she really wants to be a safety to help walk little kids to their classroom ever since she saw a few having a hard time leaving mom or D at the Carline getting and getting to their classroom calmly Eva's also started preparing for her fifth grade student council run that I'm not sure she would attempt if not in the comfort of her Elementary School where she knows she's always been supported by the amazing staff and faculty around her I could go on about the things that Eva would be devastated to miss out on but I hope that gives you an idea of the few things that many kids would be shattered to miss out on while I do understand that you're working diligently to make a shrinking budget work the BET to the best of your ability in a position that no one wants to be in especially people in charge of shaping the lives of young children my only ask is that you do not rip the current fourth grade students out of their school who have not spent any time mentally preparing for such a life adjustment or being prepared by their teachers and adults around them please take time to consider what it would do to the emotional stability of 9 and 10-year-old little kids now knowing that Lily my in my incoming kindergartener might not go to school might not go to fifth grade at VanZant and may go to a a different fifth grade housing situation it would allow me time to adjust my Approach in transitioning her at a younger age in tamom with her teachers and with ample amount of time if this transition is truly the best solution for a hard situation then all I ask is that you give us some time to prepare and for research to be done and not just Jam this through let's all work together for the best outcome for all of our kids thank [Applause] you is there anyone else who wishes to speak seeing none we'll close that section out just to reiterate I say this every month um to all of those who spoke today and especially those who didn't get through their 3 minutes please do email us your comments ments um I think that's important hearing them all today is wonderful we like to read them as well um so to everyone especially if you didn't get through or three minutes please do email us your comments as well um moving to board yeah go ahead thank you Mr canthon i' just like to there was a lot of great shares tonight we appreciate everyone who took the time to come either to listen or to speak um I would like to say some responses the um it is I wish like nothing else that we could share the budget tonight right no no the to and I and no one this is one of those things where so just to give you an example of some data the comments tonight which we appreciate every single one of them lasted for over an hour not one person volunteered tiered one cut so please let me finish right please let me finish okay it it is well I'm please just let me finish right I so I share that to underline that it is not easy to build a budget in the seventh year of State reduction with Rising costs in every area when we've already cut everything that was cut the last six years can't be cut again and unless you're on the inside of that a person can't understand right so I all the ideas that we heard tonight we want to hear those okay and I but I am saying as a data point there wasn't one idea shared that involved cutting something and that is that is not the the need to balance a budget is no one else's responsibility other than the board and Central Administration right I I'll I'll I I was trying to engage in dialogue but it's not going to work so would any board members like to make any announcements I would like to just say thank you I know I recognized a lot of names from corresponding with you over the past few weeks and like I've said in in terms of the transparency I do understand um it's kind of just ever evolving and thank you for coming like I have definitely been listening I know the rest of the board has been listening we've been having conversations on this and just please continue to email any ideas any concerns you have we are listening to them thank you Miss Fox Mr [Applause] fer I want to just quickly uh quickly say something and uh echo echo what you what Miss Fox just said um i' I've been through a lot of these and when you come up here and this I'm speaking for myself here uh this is very important to me uh I took copious notes of a lot of what you said tonight I take value in what you said tonight and I'm hoping there's two things that I hope for in March one a clear dialogue from us at this table so they finally can hear from us because I think that's important for them because right now what it feels like and it can be frustrating is that it feels like they're talking to a wall and we need to when that time comes in March we need to open that like a door and show that discussion of what's going on for us that's incredibly important secondly as I said before I use this time your emails have been so so important and heartfelt to me I've tried to reply to as many of you as I can can but sometimes it gets a little little difficult and I apologize if you're not one of those people um I'm going to take your concerns and it's going to help me in the next few few weeks marinate because I need that that's important for me to make these decisions because you're you're right you're right we're here we're elected we have to make these decisions all right that's absolutely 100% true and I got to be you know I got to stand up and I got to stand tall and do that whether it's it's right by what goes here right by you I have to stand tall by that just like my colleagues do here all right so we get there there's two things I ask here for my fellow board members One open dialogue and discussion I think that's fair and two we're explaining two plans two different presentations it is very easy very easy to take those two presentations Bumble it up on our end to make it confusing we need to create Clarity because when things are confusing confusion turns to fear and fear turns to anger we cannot let that happen we're too strong of a community for that so it is vital for us as a board and my advice is to marinate on everything that was said all right we're going to come back collect ourselves here two very vital presentations separate from one another but so very important have that dialogue that we need to have ask those questions we need to ask all right and do what we need to do that is right that's our responsibility that's our job that's no one else's that's ours all right but I want to make that clear to you all tonight from me all right and I I I won't speak for anybody else it's not fair but I have I am listening and I understand and I appreciate you all of you thank you um you know I think Mr ficaro said that very eloquently and accurately as to at least how I feel um so I'm not going to you know extend that any further than it needs to go aside from saying thank you for coming out and you know telling us your concerns I've read through many emails uh if I haven't got back to you yet I'm I'm working on it uh and uh but other than that you know that's how we know uh and also know you know before I was on the board I've come to many public meetings and there's been times where I felt you know they're not listening to me um you know here's the notes I I could tell you you know all of us are are are hearing what you're saying uh and we're talking about them um aside from that some other stuff I wanted to mention earlier in the meeting was mentioned the eam Education Association they had the fundraiser doubled down uh they raised tens of thousands of dollars for the district that is a direct assistance we see see that in the form of classroom supplies uh education resources that get used to literally help teach our students um so thank you to that group they do amazing work every single year uh and I just wanted to recognize them one more thing um state aid reductions was the reason is why I ran for the Board of Education uh that's something I was studying in college uh I'm still studying it and at the end of the day I think it's the biggest issue our community faces but not just us onethird of every other community in the state of New Jersey last night I was in Haslet speaking with their Board of Education members as well as their state legislators and probably 70% of that meeting I was at was spent talking about school funding reform and the money that they lost this is an issue that our community is not alone in that we have to unite with other communities if we are going to make treaten ultimately heard about you know how we feel about the state aid reductions that our district received uh and for that I wanted to share two opportunities uh that that are out there the we we know Governor Murphy just announced what his budget was uh which for the past five years has consisted of uh well over it was $7.6 million in losses to our district uh this was the last year that you know of the those portion of that $7.6 billion uh and there are public budget hearings that they are conducting both virtually and in Trenton to talk about that issue and where we have the opportunity to go and speak on Eve Shams behalf I know I will be at the meeting uh in in but there's also a virtual option uh the two Trent meetings for the assembly budget committee are Monday March 11th uh in the State House Annex um at 9:30 a.m.

and sit there until 5 p.m. creating my lessons every every single Sunday for the entire week because I also worked at a kip school and Kip back in those days was a 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. schedule and we had Saturday school from I I know from 10 to 2 um and so if I had had generative AI tools back then I would have used them to reduce the amount of time it took me to create slides and curriculum more recently uh I've been using them for tasks that are somewhat repetitive in nature namely writing letters of recommendation for my Cod next seniors when they're applying to to college um but I do think that curriculum development is a huge one and then grading thank you for that comment about take-home essays by the way um the Google for Education team there's a something that we now provide called practice sets which are basically AI laced grading tools and Grading is something that I also used to spend hours and hours and hours on and having the tools that exist today would have just saved me a lot of time so I would say grading curriculum development and um letters of recommendation can I just say that the teaching profession if you're a school leader the job is unsustainable uh if you think about my old days as a teacher in New York City five classrooms 34 kids a class uh and doing especially with your seniors and they come to you for recommendations uh I mean it's impossible so there's a quite three or four groups right now in the US rethinking the mental model for teaching uh the the idea that even if you have one class that you can solve the needs the jagged learner profile of every kid in 150 kids in your case load is impossible so all that beyond the fact think about for example a bunch of things uh teams of Educators including parents supporting the needs of children right and how that kind of structure in a School leveraging Technology as as an enabler as well can become even parents being being part of that team is the way in which some of us begin to rethink the way teaching ought to be done again teachers in the center uh the idea is that AI can replace teachers is absolute nonsense right uh there are folks again who are thinking about that too um hopefully they'll never succeed but you think about this idea of really rethinking the mental model yes from pedagogy to assessment to curriculum to paperwork um all that can be can be can be can be changed I know a team in Melbourne working on reducing a teacher's administrative case load or burden by 25% using AI so the folks who are actively working on tools and solutions to make the job more more sustainable and doable and we all know here that we are losing and not gaining teachers at all we have a crisis um not just in the US frankly right um that the job has to be made much more sustainable so lots of opportunities here uh to make it happen one last thing very quickly when I was teaching physics BL AI more technology um I shifted my my laboratory if you remember your high school Labs your science labs The cookbook lab right you follow procedures at the end of the then you have no idea what the hell you did right uh that was science the way science has taught many many places leveraging technology we made the experimentation to be about one to two minutes the discussion the analysis was 45 minutes think about that kind of of shift in in in in in Paradigm this is the potential for technology and Ai and really making this much more about case conferencing discussions and less about the the procedural stuff that we need to do in our classrooms yeah and it's it's it's less about sort of it's less of this like plug-and play uh productivity hack that like you know if you think of like the the full workflow over the course of a day of an educator you're not looking for like this huge chunk of time you're actually looking for these sort of like slivers of work and so part of this experimentation is um it is the correct realization if you're like ah this is actually not that great I could have done a better job with this like often times when people start start using Gemini they'll they'll kind of had that reaction where it's like it's actually not that great and that's that's correct it's it's but I'm I'm going to use uh so so Ray an educator at anham Union I was talking to him last night and he was telling me about one of the ways that he has been using um chat gbt and it was for grading but this was like a really good application of use of llms for grading and it was it was not to actually provide students with a grade but rather to provide the initial feedback that he would have otherwise had to to write down and read every uh every essay or every assignment um so what he does now with the time that he used to use sitting down and writing that feedback he gets the chat gets chat to provide the feedback he gives it to the students and he says it's it might be it might be wrong this might be trash I don't know but I'm at least I I want it to be a starting point for a conversation and then he uses the time that he would have spent uh providing the written feedback to actually meet with students one-on-one and like that is the magic of how this can really augment and Empower teachers is it's not about creating a huge amount of like body of work but rather unlocking time that can now be more interactive and personalized and you know I don't think that that model can necessarily be copied and pasted into every single class but um you know if you spend if you invest you know a reasonable amount of time over the next couple months you will find those the versions of that for yourself and your kids are really going to feel it and see it um I would like to turn to um talking about uh guidance from the government so we've seen some guidance um the B admin released the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights um handful of States including California have have released some guidance as well but um I'm curious what you would like to see um from the government what kind of role it should play and also you know what kind of role are we should demand that it plays um you know what and what would be the you know what kind of guidance what kind of Regulation funding and what's the risk of weak regulation too I kind of want to understand the stakes here I have you to jump on this one quickly um and I'm going to call out a few of my folks who are in the audience I think the US government is doing quite a bit um to be frank and uh PTI Jeremy and Judy are here I've been working with the US doe office of at Tech and producing a lot of guidance for the field Ani and education so these documents are available on their website or our website uh please feel free if you're a system leader here I'm going to push please lead um there's a document Jeremy just produced um because one of my biggest uh pain points and heartache was that states in the US were not leading districts were thinking about this teachers are thinking about this School principles the feds but not the states uh jimy just produced a document that looks at Six States who actually are providing guidance and beginning to talk quite a bit about this the document is available on our website it's dig pr.org States aai um so it's starting to happen here I know Ministries around the world wholy are taking about this as well um but no one's arrived no one knows the answer but the doe um in the US has been doing quite a bit in producing uh Guidance the states need to step up a bit more yeah I mean funding I mean a lot of times we we've looked at you know the ethical principles that either school districts or organizations have published um and they almost you know invariably they include accessibility and equity and you know I think what's missed in that discussion is you know if your principle for implementing AI is equity and accessibility what you are also saying in the same breath is we are going to pay millions tens of millions hundreds of millions of dollars a year to cover the token costs of these llms that price might come down at some point um but if we really care about this being something that every student has access to um we can't just expect schools to come up with those line items out of thin air it's going to require serious dollars and I can't imagine where that how that's going to happen without you know a very concerted effort from the federal government and state governments to ensure that districts have that um that bandwidth to to do it yep yeah um in the same vein of making it rain uh I would say it there's a real opportunity for the government to invest in research and um funding for research in fact I brought with me this was a um a piece of research that six of Google's top VP senior vice presidents put out um about a month ago it's called Ai and the opportunity for shared Prosperity lessons from the history of technology and the economy um and it includes the perspectives of our chief legal officer Chief finance officer Chief research officer and one thing I found really interesting in this is there's a section where they talk about pieces of technology that probably we don't really know about because they sort of fell to the Wayside because they didn't get enough research and development to really see them through um as an example if I say Concord other than the bird does anybody know what the Concord is a couple okay so the Concord was a supersonic plane that was originally intended to change uh air travel as we know it due to really largely from the government um their it is um it can be applicable to so many different Industries not just at medicine um soci to see the funding that was being taken away from NASA um to go towards space travel and I'm I'm actually going to we're starting to we I could I could listen to you guys for another hour we need to wrap up but so I you know I just want to go ahead and thank you guys for um all your insights um Round of Applause for this panel they did really great okay okay and now I'm gonna pass it back to our announcer Brian bski so much well thank you Emma in just 3 minutes I will introduce our first Spark talk but before we do that I'd like to ask each of you to turn to an elbow partner and share one or two Reflections from this morning's fireside chat with each other our next speaker is coming up in just one minute ask everybody to please take your seats this at this time we ask that you direct your attention back to the stage and if you have moved around we ask that you return to your seat [Music] d okay thank you very much our first Spark Talk of the morning is from Keith strier vice president of worldwide AI initiatives at Nvidia with his primary responsibility for Global public sector and AI Nations part Partnerships clap once if you can hear me clap twice if you can hear me thank you very much our first Spark talk this morning is from Keith strier the vice president of worldwide AI initiatives at Nvidia with primary responsibility for Global public sector and AI Nations Partnerships Keith is the the leading Authority on National AI infrastructure and was appointed in 2021 by the oecd Secretariat as the founding chair AI compute and climate task force to guide member nations on large scale Computing Investments Keith was recently appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce to the first national AI advisory committee to advise the president and the national AI initiative office on how to ensure continued us leadership in the development of trustworthy AI Keith also served as a guest lecturer and facilitator for Harvard Medical Schools Center for biomed informatics for 10 years he has a Bachelor of Science with honors from Cornell University and a law degree from NYU School of School of Law Without further Ado here is Keith strier all right good morning it's great great panel this morning thank you for all the panelists thank you Mike thank you everyone what a great session this is the first time I've had the chance in all my years of speaking on this topic to address Educators and students at the same time I'm very excited for those that are listening in or or will be watching this later uh as well as all of you here in the room now I've been asked to spark your imagination in 12 minutes on an incredibly complex topic I probably need 12 minutes for each one of the slides that I have in my presentation but I have like 40 seconds so I'm going to do my best to both speak slowly and clearly but race through it at the same time that shouldn't be too hard um so let me uh see if this clicker works great so I do have four learning objectives uh and they're not discreet they sort of roll up together right so once I want to hope you slightly better understand AI just a little bit it's a little more AI 101 um I also want to both widen your perspective but also sharpen it because there's a lot of noise with AI and I want to try to help you focus on what I think is important I also want to emphasize this theme of personal accountability it was touched on a bit on the panel this morning you know everyone not just big Tech firms but everyone School administrators teachers students need to understand the implications of these Technologies and The Cone consquences of using them irresponsibly and then finally I think our future is a shared one right no man is an island is that ring a bell right whether AI becomes a positive or A negative for you individually for your school for your community for our nation is really a up to a collective action right individual choices that we're going to make so we're going to come back to that okay so let's get to it you know what what is AI and again we need an hour and a half on this and we've got seconds but let's just get I'm going to try to hit some big points and then if you want to talk to me after we could do that right well I think it's safe to say that AI is really one of the most compelling one of the most transformational Technologies of our time uh earlier Mike and and and and uh that amazing Dance Crew kind of emphasized how it's like fire it's like discovering fire and that's and there's some real truth to that uh the Google CEO and some other CEOs have also referred to it as the new electricity uh now there's a little bit bit of hype in there there's nothing wrong with little marketing marketing is good but but there's also truth because general purpose Technologies like AI don't come along that often and when they do they change every facet of society in fact I think since the dawn of civilization since we domesticated plants there have only been 25 or 26 general purpose Technologies AI is the latest so it's a big deal it's hard to find a corner of the globe or a segment of the economy or a a field of academic study that will be unaffected by the rise of machines that can learn and simulate human cognition now as a starting point I do want to address sort of a myth which is that everyone thinks that AI is a robot now there's a little you know there's there's there's a visual element to this right every Hollywood movie to date you know when they talk about AI it's always typically except maybe now I think about it war games with Matthew brri no robot right that was just a really big computer called Whopper which was actually kind of cool but but every other movie I think pretty much portrays AI as a robot and and I get it robots or families of robots having dinner it's kind of interesting it's visual you know it's fun to look at but uh and the truth is robots have been around for a while but almost all the robots that ever existed since the beginning of time up until recently were all pretty DB it's true so yeah you some robots that can navigate your house and vacu and and there are some very sophisticated industrial robots that are working on assembly lines that can build things but for the most part they actually had very little to know AI right they were executing against rules and tasks interestingly the irony of this slide is we're actually on the very cusp of a gener of a wave of humanoid robots hitting the world you're going to start to see headlines all the time right now over the next year or two on this it's just coming now sort of the integration of these brilliantly engineered mechanized structures with artificial intelligence this new generation of AI allowing them to to not just navigate but to sense understand and interact with the real world and really meaningful ways we're still probably three or five years away from from C3PO maybe longer than that but but it but it's coming it's it's actually coming but unlike Terminator these machines are purpose built to make the world better so you'll see these robots more engaging in a caregiving facility say helping with the elderly or in an industrial setting taking a allowing humans to not have to do really dangerous jobs like cleaning the inside of a nuclear reactor and that kind of thing so I think they'll be good but just buckle up because these things are coming okay so there's this famous quote right 1962 by the science fiction writer Arthur C Clark that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic the thing is AI is not magic maybe a dynamic Brew of some kind but definitely not magic the better way to think about about it is that AI is software but it's a very specialized kind of software it's software that writes itself and this has far-reaching implications right so this takes a little explaining machine learning is a process uh it's through which mathematical models acquire knowledge through experience not unlike humans right all experiences is all everything we experience is a form of data right just right now the images the sound the the the all the all of your sensory experi is streaming into your brain is just data right and that data is wiring your brain and triggering neurons and so forth an AI model is no different it's called an artificial neural network for a reason and as it's fed data you know as the data goes in its Network forms get assigned weights and intelligence comes out on the other side now a human must design the model and humans must feed the model but after that what we've actually learned is the most powerful AI models literally train themselves they actually call it unsupervised learning and this is very powerful but of course as as another colleague on the panel said earlier keeping humans in the loop is also very important but in the future as AI expands its role in our world traditional software written by people will be less and less part of the it landscape and AI models will write their own code this is why my CEO Jensen W recently said in an interview that learning to code or learning to program may not be as useful in the future for the broader population we're always going to someone's always going to have to Cod but maybe not everybody so another way to think about this mindbending concept is that AI is not one thing it's not a single technology it's a constellation right it's a constellation of Technologies and knowledge domains and tools and techniques and platforms and so it's a little bit confusing when people talk about AI like it's this monolithic discret thing because it's really not right and so it's also not just a career for math Wizards although AI is math but it's a much because it's a constellation right people with those natural skills I'm not one of them by the way people with those natural skills they should pursue that we love them we want them go build AI for us that's fantastic but there are many non-technical professions there are many non-technical careers and there's and the vast majority of us need to appreciate that we need those skills right so we'll need lots of experts in the world related to AI who don't have a PhD in AI you'll need experts who can design the regulations and the policies and the rules to govern AI you'll need uh experts that can manage AI projects or design AI interfaces or manage or mitigate AI risks you'll need vendors that can sell AI or support AI adoption there's just going there's just an incredibly long list of AI related jobs and skills that don't require you to be a math Wizard and none of those jobs existed a few years ago in fact AI is going to affect every single profession now it wouldn't surprise you to know that it it it's it affects gaming right and actually you know there's a really interesting history about the connection between gaming and AI because a lot of the early AI actually the the the sort of sandbox for AI if you will kind of came up through the gaming industry but the the uh now ai is really transforming gaming in in a really lot of cool ways if you're a game designer you're using AI to build Virtual Worlds you're using AI to improve or customize the gamer experience you're using AI to take those non-player characters and make them really rich and interesting but what about what about doctors and nurses and other Care Professionals right AI is revolutionizing that field as well it's enabling you to pick better therapies for your patients to improve the accuracy of Diagnostics to you know to to help identify new molecules for Discovery and then to streamline that process of turning that molecule into a product so every single field and in transportation which is a multi-trillion dollar part of our Lives not just cars but any anything that moves right if you're if you're in that industry whether you're a designer or an engineer or maybe you're working a dealership it doesn't matter you'll be using AI to eliminate accidents and make cars safer in fact I'm pretty sure years before we have a self-driving car that is fully self-driving and safe on the road you will see traffic accidents go like that because AI will make it difficult to die in a car because it'll create a shield around that car and it'll bring so much intelligence so much sense making to that car it'll be very hard to have an accident in that car even if you fall asleep even if you're inebriated even if you don't know what you're doing even if someone's trying to hit you that car will steer out of the way so that that the technolog is going to make the world better even on its journey to making it autonomous right but you're going to improve the efficiency of those cars you're going to reduce traffic which is also have uh benefits for the climate climate change and that kind of thing so lots of lots going on the the no matter your career understanding the best ways to lever AI will be very very important now the reason we're talking about AI at all and it was discussed this morning is because of this incredible thing called generative AI made famous by chat GPT which only blasted into our world in November 2022 it wasn't very long ago right I mean what is it 15 months ago 16 months ago nothing has been the same since we inside my company we talk about it sort of as sort of pre-chat PT and post chat GT I mean you know the world really did change very very quickly now we don't have enough time to unlock this Branch this is one of these two hour slides but I do want to make just a couple of points so you have you have this first generative AI is not just about text it's not just about a conversation of course that's where it started but you know you already see how it's evolving to other forms of content right you now have the ability to generate music and videos and voices and other kinds of things in that way but it doesn't stop there because language isn't just about that many things are forms of structured language probably one of the most exciting and sort of lifechanging applications of Jer AI is that we're now training it on the language of biology and the language of chemistry right actg that's a language too right and so now generative a mods are able to generate new kinds of proteins new kinds of materials new kinds of chemical structures you're going to see generative AI being used to dramatically transform science things that would take 10 years can be done in 10 minutes things that couldn't be done in a lifetime or 10 lifetimes will be done in a summer and so there's going to be these huge leaps in science as a result of gener AI and I think that's that chapter is just starting to play out now one of the real miracles of of AI generative AI is that it speaks your language it the language of AI is human language right you can engage with it talk to it direct it correct it it's accessible to everybody it has democratized itself you don't need to code you don't need to know python to use AI That's what's so powerful that's the reason Chacha BT became the fastest adopted technology in the history of mankind right 100 million users in 60 days it's never happened before right and it's no longer just a tool for scientists it's a tool for everybody right and that's comes back to talk a little bit earlier about accessibility right and it's true if you don't have access to the technology there's far reaching implications not just at the individual level at the classroom level the school level it's true at the national level and this is playing out across 193 Nations across the world there are only 32 countries in the world with a supercomputer the other 160 countries don't have that ability they can't participate in the same way so this is a very complex conversation that starts at that level and goes all the way down to individual students in your classes now the rise of AI has prompted concerns about work and I get that but what happens when you graduate that matter that the the the output of your of of your graduation your ability to be successful participant in this new economy depends on the teachers in this room and the Educators in this room and and and all the the Educators across the country right the most powerful use cases for AI is not to replace people but it's to augment them it's to make them more effective to make them more productive in fact every 30 days roughly 1% of all jobs disappear through Innovation that's a very common normal course of work and yet despite this the number of job job openings exceeds the number of people looking for work today that nothing has really changed in that regard work is transitioning and it takes time for people to get new skills to get up to get retrained so that is disruptive but this is not a new this is not the first time nor is it the last time that this will happen in fact 30% of all the jobs that exist today did not exist 25 years ago so this is a pretty normal cycle I'd say it's more accurate to think about it that AI is reallocating work not destroying it now there are big implications for education of course as well right work will evolve and schools must evolve too right education must evolve to how we teach now how we learn how we measure academic success how how students the tools that they have at their fingertips and I think that that actually any concerns that AI will make teachers less valuable is crazy teachers have never been more valuable schools have never been more important you have to empower these students to understand and apply these Technologies to prepare for new fields of study new ways to thrive in a world in which machines can be smart but will coexist with us you cannot deny that so the way I think about it and I I hope I can convey this sort of optimistic perception is that AI is like a superpower right it's like having a billion brains in your back pocket I think it will unlock human potential it will accelerate scientific discovery there's no question about that it will improve the health of entire nations and it will generate new artistic formats we're just starting to see that too of course you know how the saying goes with great respons with great power comes great responsibility right the cape isn't free AI for good is a choice the same tool that can upgrade diagnostic imagery and help save lives by detecting cancer earlier that same tool can also be used to create fake videos that embarrass and bully people the same tool that can Empower someone born without sight to see the world and to live in it more independently that same tool can be used to invade someone's privacy the same tool that can help students organize their their work expand their mind that same tool can be used to cheat on assignments and to avoid the hard work necessary to be successful in lives so most of us will not be Engineers we will not design these systems but we will have to choose how to apply them right we will have to know how to apply them when to apply them them where to apply them and starting as early as possible we have a shared responsibility as Citizens as parents as Educators to embrace them and become literate in them and to help students through the example of our own behavior how to use them in the most responsible trustworthy and socially positive way now one final Point AI does not rain down from clouds now I did say in the beginning that you shouldn't think about robots at AI I just could not up with a better image and I was you know on the little generator trying to create these cool images I was using open ai's Dolly platform and this was just the coolest one I could find so I apologize for using robots as a metaphor AI but it just worked so but AI does not rain down from clouds this is very important there a really tactical point but you need to have this in your mind where does it come from it doesn't come from a stor doesn't come from clouds AI is manufactured AI is made on supercomputers these are the new engines of economic growth the new factories of our world AI factories quite literally they're popping up across the world these are large these are very specialized machines software and Hardware that work together and and they they you know they are the future they are they are the backbone of this economy and so these specialized machines there's also careers around them and I know a think or two about this because I work for this company you may have heard of it called Nvidia and and and you know we we make these machines actually so so supercomputers are really what's EMP powering AI today and the technology inside them is really where the magic happens so at that I think I've exceeded my time by a few minutes I apologize for that I want to say thank you good luck and may your future be brighter with an AI co-pilot by your [Applause] side but another big round of applause for Keith strier from Nvidia thank you Keith for helping us kick off with an inspirational spark talk let's take two minutes again to share with an elbow partner at your table a couple of Reflections about Keith's talk okay will be back in just about 1 minute one minute hey we ask everybody to wrap up your conversations at your tables and direct your attention back toward the stage again clap once if you can hear me clap twice if you can hear me thank you very much it's a big room thanks for indulging me this morning leader June an education where he directs the design and partnership lab or the DAP lab and is the founding director of the Orange County Educational advancement Network or ocean Dr an bines expertise in participatory design methods for education and conducts research on what is possible with New Media and learning Technologies in Ocean he has created a schoolwide initiative that matches UCI faculty and doctoral students with Community Partners to create research that directly aligns with Community needs his past and current projects range from designing social media tools for children's science learning alternate reality games for stem learning with NASA the Smithsonian institution and Computer History Museum data visualization platforms that Foster pedagogical change with mathematics teachers stem learning installations that are designed into City spaces that Foster Family interaction and AI tools that help with College and Career mentorship introducing Dr June an all right can everybody hear me okay in the back yeah great so uh when I was asked to give this spark talk uh to provoke some thoughts organize us together uh as a summit I of course started out with the big theme so AI being the big theme Here of our Summit and also the letter e for Education our educational Endeavor that we're all trying to promote here but I'm going to do a little Switcheroo in my talk what I really want to talk about is how we're amplifying our intentions for education and how we might start to think about equity in more nuanced ways and the reason I want to talk about that is because I want to directly address a common theme that has been coming up in our morning conversation here which is every time a new educational technology arises we're always faced with this dilemma in the history of edtech research we always see that the technology opens our imaginations up to what is possible our aspirations for doing things differently uh but we also always see that implementation in the classroom looks very different it's very complicated classrooms are complex organizations school districts are complex organizations and we often don't see the promise of the technology that is coming about so how do we deal with this dissonance um I one way that I am thinking about this dissonance from a personal example so on the left hand side is the head shot that I use for all of my uh websites and uh University uh social media accounts and things of that nature uh this is from like 12 years ago so even this head shot's pretty outdated um so I decided to create a new head shot for this event I used a generative AI tool gave it some of my images and gave it some prompts um I think this is a really good indic uh kind of analogy for me on the dissonance between reality and uh our aspirations um so I think it's pretty good I think it's about 70% there which kind of is like how large language models are working out for me right now it's about 70% there um and the things that it does well I think it captures my Essence a little bit um but uh the funny part of this is uh I like the right the right hand image in that head shot because it feels like it's a good head shot for starring in my own Korean drama on Netflix right so I that might be a good aspiration I kind of like this but there there's a distance with that reality in seriousness what I really want to talk to you about is how we make sense of the Gap so I'm talking to my educator friends out here and as a former uh Middle School and High School educator and school administrator that we will see the real consequences of AI right uh but we also in this Summit and in all the meetings that you're going to be in you're going to see the potential for good that we could also do right how do we make sense of this Gap I want to give you a couple of provocations and a couple of heuristics to think about as uh we go through this Summit together so three frames that I'd like to introduce in my 10 9 10 minutes that I have left with you so first is this idea of a theory of amplification really drives my own research so Dr canaro Toyama at the University of Michigan has written a book about this and promotes this idea but really it's that technology actually doesn't cause anything so technology doesn't cause learning it doesn't cause us to reduce inequality right these are the these are the problems that we are are concerned with as Educators technology actually amplifies our underlying human factors that are already there so what that really means in you know this is another 2hour slide but in 30 seconds what I would love and challenge us to do in this Summit is uh to think about the statements we're making so if our aspiration is for technology to reduce inequality that's probably an inaccurate statement right uh what we should really be looking at is what are our organizations doing to reduce inequality what how are our societies structured to reduce inequality and how do we want to then design AI tools to accelerate that right so the AI tool is not going to be the the tool that saves us right it's the tool that actually accelerates our intentions so that's leads to my second Point what that means for me as an educator and as an education researcher is for us to think about uh what our intentions are for Education when we're sharing our best practices when we're sharing new ideas for how to use Ai and I want to give you a couple of examples from my own work uh particularly with ahsd but here's a kind of a thought experiment that I would love for everyone to engage in whether or not we want to explicitly admit this or not we have structured our education systems to serve one function which is to grade and sort students right we do lots of things but that is also one of the functions of our education system right and if we're honest about that there's a logical kind of corollary to the AI tools we could build which is to accelerate the grading and sorting of students right and that acceleration is probably going to be the unintended consequences that you tend you'll start to notice right um another example of this is uh we often think about our K12 education system as really needing to provide those foundational basic skills for every student right that's a valid goal um but this amplification idea and Our intention idea naturally lets us understand that if we create AI tools just to teach basic skills we may be improving on that uh but we'll run up against a conundrum which is we're also creating AI tools that will replace those basic skills right and we're increasingly realizing that it's the human factor the Ingenuity the collaboration the adaptability the flexibility like those are the skills that actually are going to uh accelerate young people right um so just thought experiments there because I'm going to use that kind of structure the last thought the third thought I'd like to uh leave you with is uh to be very explicit as we talk with each other and learn with each other in the next two days about what our definitions of equity are so what I mean by that is I will guarantee you that a lot of our conversations of equity will be around access very good goal Big Goal and it'll probably be things around uh skills and student achievement and narrowing the gaps right that's often how we talk about Equity here but I want to give you a couple of alternative ways to open up our imagination for how to think about Equity because it matters for how we build tools so I'll give you a couple of humble sacrificial offerings of a work that I'm doing in my research lab so we are the design partnership lab the DAP lab uh feel free to DAP me up if you see me throughout the conference um and I offer these just as kind of thought experiments for you about how we try to think about uh these ideas differently so the first project that we're working on is uh focused on fostering occupational identity for young people this is funded by The Gates Foundation and just to give you that kind of uh thought process we went through so imagine if we're working from a framework that education is a grading and sorting mechanism right a very logical tool and I say this with no value judgment a very logical tool would be to create ways to tell students what they're suited for in their careers um and I and uh it's also a very valid way to think about the idea uh it also reminds me of like dystopian science fiction like we we could go down that route very CLE uh easily right um the way that uh the DAP lab and how we're thinking about this was to actually uh study the research about how young people develop deep identities towards career Pathways and if you actually uh think about uh highly resourced and privileged communities those families are not thinking about uh telling my kid what they should be when they grow up those communities are uh focused on thinking of the Hidden curriculum of developing a career let's think about how we all got to where we are right that hidden curriculum involves knowing who to connect with what questions to ask people what experiences to get myself into right um these are what we call the hidden curriculum so we asked ourselves as a as a lab how could we then use AI to amplify the learning of that hidden curriculum right so this is what we're trying to do right now it's a very simple tool that we prototyped where uh young people actually just share aspects of their anxieties their imaginations their plans for the future and we actually engineered uh AI helper that synthesizes their Reflections and gives them kind of like what we call a career gram it's like a report that says hey this is what we hear you thinking about and you know it actually might be useful for you to go talk to a mentor about X Y and Z right it's a very simple idea and we're starting to do research on this and what we're learning um particularly with uh undergraduate college students is that uh when I send my career gram to a mentor before I go to their office hours or something the nature of the conversation changes drastically right so um me as a professor hits close to home because I often have students come and they want to meet with me but they don't know what to talk to me about right and what we're finding in our research evaluations of our prototype is that the students now have something to talk about right they now know that deeper question to ask right um and so we're thinking of AI here right not as a uh grer not as some telling you what you should do but actually as a fac facilitator of deeper interaction right um a second example is a project dear to me that is a collaboration with ahsd here actually um and when I started working with ahsd I learned that the one of the big drivers um missions of the district were were to really value these skills right these skills that are going to be the differentiators in the future uh what the district calls the five C's um this project is funded by the Chan Zuckerberg ini initiative and it's the same kind of thought process I want to offer you here so if we have an inherent mental model that education again is a sorting mechanism for society it's a very logical step right to create tools that grade students on their skills right and to tell them you're doing well on this skill and you're not doing well on this skill right uh you can imagine the acceleration of that kind of mental model right so we came in as a partnership and thought about this a little bit differently and this is actually this Mission comes from the district it's kind of why I love working with Y all because this is like coming from you all and uh so what if we think about education as centering student voice and reflecting their funds of knowledge right uh what if AI then instead could be designed not as a grader but as a tool that reveals uh the funds of knowledge that students have right could that change a system um so very similar to the career ground project uh we're trying to co create tools where uh students can reflect on their assignments and projects and life experiences we're actually designing an AI system that pulls out the kinds of collaboration they're talking about the kinds of leadership creativity create creative thinking uh so we're trying to pull it out from the students language right um and that's an affordance that we couldn't do before but now we can because we can experiment with large language models right U before we had to give a test because that was the only efficient technology we had right to assess something but now we can experiment with uh thinking about these skills from the students perspective the research on this um oh actually I made a note to myself I'm going to look directly in the camera right at this moment we also have AHS students at UC Irvine with my students in the DAP lab and they're watching this live stream so I want to give you a shout out right now um and the students are actually going to be co-designing the dashboards of how they would see their own data and we're going to integrate that with the district's tools um and so this is kind of the partnership process that the panel in the in the beginning was talking about right it's like this is a way to give uh students voice in the creation of their own tools but what's really cool about this interface is uh we're thinking about the tool not as a report card for students but as a tool for students to collect their experiences right and to demonstrate the kinds of five C's that they're collecting over their lifetime okay so research is ongoing this is the very first year of our Pilot We piloted this in the fall with teachers and our uh instructional coaches at ahsd we're collecting data um I will tell you it's a very messy process so that 70% there we're like kind of 70% there with the technical infrastructure right and it's a constant process for us um but we're also learning that uh we have to work together with the district uh to think about about the shifting of those of mindsets of how we might use the technology together right and this is where I give all of the credit to Educators in the room right back to that amplification Theory uh a our AI tool is not going to be the causal Factor here right the causal factor is going to be all the instructional coaches all the teachers working with us to tweak this tool to amplify your process right so uh I'm excited to share that research uh probably next year but um uh so I will end with these thoughts uh please come and uh talk with us more in depth about our work we'll be uh presenting both of these projects in more in-depth sessions but I want to end with uh some ways that we might be critical friends to one another as we're going to sessions uh learning about really exciting possibilities and that is really uh asking these things of each other let's think about what intentions this new idea is actually trying to promote and how the use of the AI is intended to amplify that intention right that's kind of a common vocabulary we can use um and another is to think about uh what Notions of equity we're implying with our Solutions here so and it's okay to admit that it's okay to say we're focused on test scores or we're focused on reducing gaps right um I tend to like to think about AI as how could it amplify the connections we make with one another how could we use AI to build richer interactions around the learning because I think that's where the magic is going to be uh but generally I think it would be super helpful to be critical friends with one another and ask each other what is Our intention what are we amplifying and I think that will be the secret magic sauce of uh reducing that dissonance between reality and aspiration right and I will try to figure out how to reduce the dissonance of my profile pictures in in the future but thank you very much [Applause] wow that was a great way to kick off our AI Summit thank you to our uh the spark talk speakers Keith strier and June an to our fireside chat guests to superintendent matuda and to supervisor chaffy now we'll spend the next few minutes at our tables sharing with one another a couple of the highlights of the morning sounds like there's some wonderful conversations at the tables now you're going to have a few minutes for a break before your first Workshop which will start at 11:00 all the workshops are near this plenary space and you can feel free to ask for help if you're findi having trouble finding your Workshop from our events team you can check your app to see which room you're supposed to be in we'll see you back for lunch in this same room at 12

as well as Wednesday March 20th now you know go figure they put it on a week day everybody's working at that time uh so you also have the opportunity to uh speak to the Senate budget committee which will be hosting a virtual call-in session where you can express your concerns about how much money we're losing uh at 10:00 a.m.

on Tuesday March 26 uh if you are curious and interested about speaking on Eve Chan's behalf to the big policy makers in Trenton uh that we talk about you know the state aid cut so much please email me and I will be happy to share those details with you thank [Applause] you I love going after the two best speakers we have on the board sorry um I just want to you know let everybody know thank you for coming out and speaking we do appreciate your emails we do read everything um I know I'm a little behind on responses you know myself but work's been a little tough this you know past week and half um we are elected officials you've elected us so we are here to represent what the community feels I take this very seriously please keep your voices heard thank you anyone else likes to speak seeing none I'll just reiterate the opportunity to testify that Mr deari talked about um I've gone the last 3 years um it gives us an opportunity to be one in the crowd that talks to another governing body so it's a very humbling experience so we do understand what you guys are going through when you're talking to us um if anyone would like to speak we've had parents come with us before when we testify so please do like Aiden said or like Mr Marcy said email him email me email any board member um we'll be able to to organize and and testify over there um last year in the year before we were the only Board of Education who uh testified I I find that shocking um and we were also the only group who had more than one uh person speaking towards the the budget committee over there so um the more the marrier if you guys would like to to join us uh to come speak let us know closing that section out move over to a second executive session which we need to have tonight whereas an njsa 10412 allows for a public body to go into Clos session during a public meeting and whereas the Board of Education of eam Township is deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the Board of Education will reconvene following the end of Clos session at approximately 10:15 is uh now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education will go into close session for the following reasons as n outlined in njsa 10412 we do not expect no action yeah we do not expect action to be taken after executive session do we have a motion to go into executive session motion by Mr fiz car seconded by Mrs null uh any questions or comments seeing none roll call please Mr Yates on Executive session two Mr Bach yes Mr Brown yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs NL yes Mr Thompson yes Mr fisicaro yes and Mr conon yes thank you everyone we will see you back at approximately 10:15 where we expect no action to be taken thank you [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] n [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] here [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] no [Music] Jo [Music] w [Music] la [Music] n [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here [Music] goes on to [Music] here [Music] for [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] w [Music] w [Music] pap [Music] oh [Music] St [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] go on to hear goes on to [Music] hear [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] down [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] la [Music] everything [Music] I [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] w [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] go on to [Music] here [Music] he [Music]

[Music] e [Music] h [Music] Superman [Music] are you chewing on [Music] your welcome to all our Colt families I'm Diana quas the principal here the p princip and I'm Steve lean the director of student services we're really happy to have you all joining us this Friday evening and we have our third graders who've been wildly working very hard on this wonderfully wild performance tonight right yes and thank you all for helping get them set up we think Mrs bti and um Mrs lean and Miss Randon and who am who else am I competing um from our specialist teachers and for our third grade teachers help as well as they've been preparing for this wonderful performance for you all tonight please feel free to take pictures we are live streaming this so if any family members weren't able to make it you'll be able to go on to our website under live streams and you can rewatch the performance tonight and have them watch it too [Music] okay there are times the zoo is boring when the Wild Things Are snoring no creatures creep no peepers peep no howling in the [Music] Roaring but then I wonder what goes on on when night time comes and we are gone to creep us creep to peep us Peep and and dance into the Dawn and how i' love to see it all and joy the night and freefor all I creep and Dan I creep and dance I creep and PRS and have a wild things ball [Music] Rock the arms [Music] monke up in the can dancing all to the left to the right your arms [Music] like [Music] [Applause] monkey the the [Applause] H is the thing within the feathers that perches in the soul and sings the turn without the words and never stops at all and the sweetest in the Gale Was Heard and sword must be the storm that could have bash a little bird that keeps so many [Music] warm I heard it in the cheres lands and on the stranger sea it to ask [Applause] [Music] finding romance he could like an eagle P dance the [Music] he resist but he was [Music] Lely him a chance [Music] s [Music] circumstance to the Flingo and shees to [Music] [Applause] [Music] dance love and Rance like [Music] [Applause] ance some say that I'm un mble because of all my spines but as the other porking Pines and they don't seem to [Music] mine for they see that my inner self is tunder through and through for they know that I am as lovable as any in the zoo ever with a porine dancing is part of his [Music] Des good dance hard to you [Music] treat must the line [Applause] he clasped the cck with Crooked Hands close to the Sun in lonely land bring with the Azure world he stands watch wall and [Music] rapt [Music] rap [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the rap [Music] [Applause] [Music] r [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] r [Applause] Jim seem lazy and sometimes crazy gas are hairy and kind of scary and those silly Wings seem to bounce like boom I like to watch the at the cuz they like to play monkey see [Applause] [Music] monkey [Music] [Applause] [Music] on [Music] only [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Birds Go fluttering in the air the rabbits run and Skip brown squirrels race along the bat the M ples racing as these creatures playne the silence snake go creepy creep the birie seen out loud you the insect s it's gross the frog say with the snake is always with not a sound through the grasses deep the silent snake goes creepy [Music] creep like dance RH [Applause] to sing K I am very proud I am very I [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Li Tiger Tiger Burning Bright in the forest of the night a hand i l the line he draws in the waist he has a big head and a very small waist but his shoulders are Stark and his Jaws there again and a good little child will not play [Music] [Applause] [Music] above you better outat [Music] [Applause] [Music] on better the are on [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Applause] [Music] out theat are [Music] the the cool guys are on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the [Music] thank you so much for coming out tonight by the way my name is Cynthia bti I'm one of the music directors here and your third graders have worked so incredibly hard on this musical wild things if you didn't quite get some of the lines they were saying they were actually famous poems by um by famous poets so that's what they use to intertwine with their Wild Things musical um I'm incredibly proud of these students and the effort that they put in you can just tell by their costumes by the way that they memorize their lines and um your support as parents is very much appreciated and we're so happy that you came out tonight to watch them let's give them one more round of [Applause] applause so your students are going to exit the stage and they lineup over there on the back wall for you to pick them up and that's it for tonight thank you so much again for being here [Applause] yeah

and now I would like to introduce our excellent lunch fireside chat this of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of education and the workforce executive director of AI Academy and professor at North Carolina State Gabriel Lopez director of research and practice measures from the Chan Zuckerberg in Chan Zuckerberg initiative and Tyler shman a science teacher at Cambridge Virtual Academy and Magnolia High School in Anaheim they will delve in yeah give him a give them a round of applause they will delve into the dynamic intersection of AI and career preparedness for K12 students moderated by Anaheim Union superintendent Michael matsuda this session is a deep dive into how we can equip the Next Generation with the skills to thrive in an aid driven world and now superintendent matsuda thanks [Applause] Brian you know um been spending lunch trying to get a read on the AUD sort of the buzz out there and the energy I um I yeah I don't know I can't say how proud I am of uh our community in the district and all of you guys taken the time to come out and uh kind of back and forth uh so the questions are not necessarily going to be answered by each person uh but I wanted to give you a little context too because I'm going to have them share about what they do um this panel is on Career preparedness what do AI made uh as a career and uh you know how is this transforming I think the morning speakers s sort of teed it off really well challenging us to this an opportunity to uh think about the intention of schools what is the purpose of school in this sort of upside down world that students are entering and what are we using AI to actually measure because I think those are really important questions of think about as we prepare young people for uh the world of work and um so I'm really happy to be uh sort of interviewing our guests we have a classroom teacher uh we have a professor that has an amazing program uh that is already forcing us to rethink schools it's not just in this in K12 we're talking about you know uh several entry points and we're going to hear more about that and then we have another Gabby is someone who is sort of the policy area and looks at things from 30,000 ft so think about that as we do this progression and again it's not going to be like everybody has to answer the question so it's more of a discussion so we're again we're going to start off with just a couple minutes of um what from a teaching perspective Tyler what does career prepar this mean in this new AI world yeah so really quick I'm also a new lead doctor so Dr Sherman um that's weird and yeah I am a classroom teacher I teach in at Magnolia High School and I teach at our Virtual Academy and then I always say I also have the greatest job too I get to work very closely with our learning management system e Cadence where we are really integrating AI at every level um I was was thinking about all all the CEOs and superintendents and all all these impressive titles so I was how could I inflate my my resume a little bit so I'm also the commissioner of my fantasy football league um yeah I got dared to say that so we're we're good but yeah I mean I think with with uh with careers and we had we had wonderful uh some speakers yesterday is I with with AI I think it's the first time in I mean many years hundred years that there is there's something that can disrupt the way that our classroom looks and what education looks like so there's often with jobs is we don't know you know what jobs are coming in you know two three 10 years from now and I feel like that's what's exciting about this type of work but what what stays true Into the Heart of au hsd and our teacher through the the vision of superintendent matsuda is skills are always going to be there right so even though there's uncertainty with with AI and and what it means teaching students how to critically think how to to not just trust it because it's there like they still need to fact check it just like they would if they search for a website on a website and so teaching teaching those skills and then and then ultimately W with jobs and I we always say you know especially with e Cadence about the power of of getting data and finding those insights at like at a street level and understanding what our students want what are understanding what companies want and then building jobs off of there thank you Carla Johnson executive director of the AI Academy and professor at North Carolina state so I think maybe I can add a slightly different perspective to that um I've been involved in this thing called stem for over 20 years now I'm was probably one of the pioneers of that um and I can remember me meeting with in Ohio with state legislators there and um was announced as a stem cell person so we've come a long way in 20 years um and by virtue of that work I've really you know moved into looking at Ai and building out inclusive Pathways for individuals to upskill and also enter AI careers in the last four years um 17,000 jobs and I know it's probably more than that but the last search on LinkedIn 17,000 jobs for everything from entry level to you know more highly skilled um Professionals in Ai and it's so important now to be thinking about how we actually develop future talent to do that in a in an educational system where science even isn't taught in a lot of schools right so we have a lot of challenges there um with the AI Academy we've been able to build a program that um engages I guess we've had almost 2,000 people now in the last four years from GED to PhD who have entered the program and are now out and prepared to move into careers in the workforce and that's been enabled with Partnerships with over 100 Industries um everything from Healthcare to financial to entertainment and also oh yeah the it companies everyone needs AI Talent now and so we need to really be thinking about how we now back that into um K12 schools and so um NC state has partnered with inep I know Alex is here AI edu um to build something called the national inclusive AI Alliance and so that's something that we're really thinking about how do we now take what we've learned from a Workforce Development program for um individuals across the United States and and back that into high school because it's so needed thank you and we have Gabby Lopez director of research and practice measures from the the Chan Zuckerberg Institute yes so um first of all thank you for having us here and we're excited to be in partnership with all of you here um at the zzi as we very lovingly call it um we really are thinking about how to take technology build with Educators and address to address the most pressing needs that Educators have in the education space and that's all in service of unlock moing unlimited student potential and so all of the work and the the way in which we see the world is really about how do we take what's what we know in learning science what we know technology can do and should do and what Educators need in order to bring that reality to life and when we think of AI we think of it needs to address specific needs that and specific as answer specific questions that we have in service of education and in service of a system that was designed for a very different purpose many many years ago when the world was a different place and now we are at The Cutting Edge of a world that we don't know we can't imagine what's going to happen 10 20 years ago what the workforce will look like but the fundamental skills that we need to have in order to engage in that future don't change and you named them Tyler so excited to be to have this conversation Mike so you know we've had a lot of uh well actually not that much time to really reflect on so much information that that was presented this morning my head's kind of still spinning um and but we had an interesting conversation at our table Gabby about um sort of the the purpose of Education where are we going with this you you want to maybe comment and on your Reflections from this morning yeah absolutely we um I was I mean obvious we are whole child people um at zzi that has been the history of our existence we've worked on um what it means to go to school and have your full essence of being reflected in the curriculum in um the choices that the agency that young people have how educators engage and and um are in relationship with young people and how what struck me about this morning is we we had a very nice sort of learning progression for those of us who like scaffolding um it was quite nicely done I will say uh In This Moment In Time what do we need young people um to walk away with once they leave our doors in order to be critical consumers of the things that they see in the world the information they see in the world how do we support them to develop visions of themselves and each other in deeply human ways the technology is a tool humanity is something we engender and we see in one another and that at the end of the day we have to design tools that help us see each other as dignified human beings worthy of respect sense of belonging connection all of the things that make us uniquely human that will never really be a part of technology and shouldn't [Applause] be I I I I would like to chime in a little bit about like it's such a fascinating question right what what the purpose of education is and I I think the answer to that you know my opinion is the purpose of education is different for every student and different for every person and I think as a classroom teacher what we always try to do is differentiate our instruction for for students and on a broader scale okay we have to differentiate our education for for students but it's always been a really I mean we all are Educators in the room that is really hard and extremely time consuming and I think where AI is is changing things is we are able to create a way more personalized education way more personalized assignments in the classroom we know we if we can identify student strength interests wherever even where whatever they want to do colleges we can get a sense of that that sense of belonging and all those things that you mentioned that are so important but AI is that I feel like that that Catalyst right now that is going to allow us to differentiate what education means for every student not just this one size fits-all right so Carlo it sounds like you're already on the pathway to reinvent and education when you say that it's not your program the AI Academy is not just for K12 students I mean you um talk about meeting U you're talk it's open to adults and meeting them where they are what do you mean by that well it's interesting I I think let me do a Prelude to that first you know I think about and this is going to be fun show hands how many people remember using an encyclopedia britanica to do their work in school yes I am not the only old person in the room and then we had to shift to the 21st century and oh wait a minute we have this computer we can look up all the information we ever need we don't have to memorize that periodic table anymore and then now we have ai that can write our papers for us so um you know some of the challenges I'm also we're the head of a university Professor um now we're seeing people in our course is writing beautiful papers AI enabled and then they have an oral exam and they can't stand up and explain any of it so there's a disconnect there there there is something that we need to work on but for um what we've been able to do with the AI Academy and we have people date of birth before 1960 in our program we have people that are fresh out of high school there's so much momentum around interest and Ai and people wanting to just get in the game or try to reinvent themselves and so so what we've been able to do with our program is to really make multiple on-ramps so that they're able to do um the way we do it we have a flipped classroom model so they have interactive seminars from computer science and AI professional or experts at the University that they will view before they come to the main part of our program which is live interactive workshops four hours a week so it's pretty intensive um but they are engaging with data they're engaging in discourse they're talking about things they're um really discussing what are the ethical considerations that we have to really attend to and there are a lot of them um but the the most important thing is accessibility and so we have I think 30% of the people in our program have never programmed probably have never taken a computer science course now of course their pathway is a bit longer but um you know what we're thinking about now is is that even enough um you know thinking about how we make this available to students in high school and then even before is something really important so there will be some modifications we need to do to make it accessible but the the thing that I really think about AI that is so beautiful is that AI can make um education more accessible and and build more Equity because to your point teachers in the classroom um there's only so much time and 45 minutes goes by so darn fast and wait a minute you had your hand but we'll have to get to that tomorrow and I don't really know if you understood what we talked about AI can enable all that stuff so that teachers are able to really be able to do more of the differentiation and things like that so those are all things that we're considering and doing quite a bit of research on now so our district Prides itself in being Progressive and transformative yet um when we look at at our internal data uh we have about a 70% uh usage of our learning platform which I understand is higher than most districts Tyler um you know you you were very optimistic about these tools and how it can make teaching more efficient how do we train teachers or how do we frame this uh these exciting things in ways that we can get the other 30% yeah I mean that that's that's the million-dollar question right and I I think to me again everything goes back to AI just being so new and and people not and so many of our teachers have been teaching you know since uhsd is such a great District it's you know they're 10 15 20 30 years into the profession and it's it's hard to change we've already we've already talked about teaching is a hard profession so so getting that change takes time however with AI I think it's just about exposure it's about meeting them just like our students where they're at and showing them how it can save time how it can get them to know their students better I think when we're talking about jobs I think we're in a teaching crisis right now where so many teachers are leaving the profession because it's so hard so if we can if we can use AI to actually get to the essence of why teachers want to teach like for me I didn't get into teach I didn't get into teaching because I love biology I teach biology I like it but I got into teaching because I love the connection with kids so with with e Cadence rlms I have so much time because of these little like features of not having to deal with the nuances where I can actually spend more time with my students so it's making me kind of revitalize that that fire that passion for teaching again so if we if we find those teachers amongst all all teachers but our district of like what is it that you value of teaching and I promise you especially with e Cadence and and AI there's a way that it can work for you and it's just finding that anybody else want to comment on how do we scale internally and externally you know all of you guys going back to your school sites how do you share this and how do you scale it how do you frame AI as a you know an expectation in uh young people's careers I think that it goes really if you think about inquiry based science so making that shift from teaching science from from read the chapter to the questions at the end and maybe don't look up the answers which is a lot of the things that we didn't want science teachers to do um there are people called early adopters Michael and I think that that's really where it starts um a lot of the work that we are moving into now is providing training for computer science teachers so that they become AI experts and then you have a resource in the building that other teachers can come to and learn more about how to use the AI Tools in their classroom so that that's one place to start but professional development just like trying to learn any kind of new curricula or any new kind of teaching strategy is so important and there's so much research about that L Desa moon at the University of Delaware is probably one of the leading people that have done this type of research and it requires 80 hours of professional development sustained at least across one school year while they're actually implementing whatever the Innovation is to actually enable teachers to be able to begin change it's simple you have to address a need that teachers need at the end of the day it it has to Absolut it can't be something that's theoretical it can't be something that's arbitrary it is super simple if you and one of our panelists this morning mentioned this if you address the thing that is going to leverage that five minutes for you to sit and check in with one of your students you'll do it you'll we we all will do it our human nature is to like get take care of that thing we have to take care of and then let's move on so that I can connect with you and we haven't quite done that very well in in edtech true what what is the importance of U just preparing students for a mindset of change you know the you guys just went through your first round of workshops I was in Alex's Alex coach trans workshop for a little bit and there's it it just there's just so many tectonic shifts going on so rapidly uh and that's you know and there's all kinds of political stuff going on and there's all kinds of objectifying going on how do we prepare kids um for this world and and I think this is some of the work that jun's work Professor uh an is working on but how do we prepare them uh with using AI tools for a mindset to deal with all these changes students are easy I think the students are easy I mean the students nine times out of 10 know more about the technology than the teachers do but I even think of Michael fand's work which I believe he's here somewhere um you know thinking about educational change there are a lot of um guides that we can point to to be able to do that um empowering students to lead this within class teachers should not be afraid absolutely there's a we've ignored for a long time we've well let me backtrack we've acknowledged the importance of TW quote unquote 21st century skills we have neglected to Anchor in the ways in which young people learn and the ways in which we've we have now science tells us that young people need experiential learning they need to understand relevance they need to have agency all of those things are deeply important when you enter the workforce when you enter College when you are exploring your identity and purpose and all of those things and we have fundamentally not I uh structured our schools and experiences to design for that and also learn the content that we need to learn those things don't have to be separate they have to be connected and married uh um deeply in order for them to for young people to have the skills to be successful in the future we need to learn how to learn we don't actually do that in schools we don't help ourselves learn how to learn because things will be changing so fastly and fast and they change so quickly we wouldn't have imagined a year ago that we would be having this conversation around AI in education if we taught young people to to learn how they learn to support each other in that differentiation and that scaffolded learning and that interaction in that interaction then that is applicable to lots of different domains and different types of information I I think that's a very important concept of um because this this panel is about career preparedness right learning how to learn is requires reflection and requires uh uh planning experiences for kids where they can learn how to learn where they can you you can build in the reflection where there's uh Transcendent learning taking place Tyler you want to comment on that on how our district is approaching that definitely and and but just to go back a little bit further learning to learn I is one of the coolest phrase that's stolen um but I I think with AI with all of the Power of it it it can make it almost too big sometimes so I think it's really important as as you know superintendent as teachers like we don't lose focus on what we value right and that is for us in in ahsd that is again that skill building the five C's and the importance of Professor an's work with UCI and that reflection component for our students so we we are as a district we are saying that our Northstar if you will is teaching to these 5 C's and not to the test right which as a teacher has Unleashed me and I I'm never feel this pressure of any kind of standardize anything which is which is awesome but that that reflection component for our students does a couple things one I think there's a a incredible skill of learning how to reflect that our students are naturally doing built into the system but then two with because of Professor on and the work is we are learning so much about where they are and that information that that he's producing for us is allowing me to be a better teacher and allowing that student to be a better learner because I know how to teach them so that that type of work and and again not losing focus on the skills I always I always say like content can be learned it's th it's those skills that take so much more time to to um develop Carla I know we talked about this earlier is sort of the the ethics of um you know uh how do we integrate the ethics ethics into our training for this next Generation I know you guys are doing a lot of work in that area as well absolutely and it's something that's so important um in AI overall um so and within the AI Academy we have it embedded in all of our coursework to give you a sense it's four courses they take one course at a time 10 weeks each So within a year um participants in that program walk away with a data scientist and AI associate credential um recognized registered apprenticeship credential um so a couple of examples one of those courses is data mining and in that course um we purposefully embed data sets that have implicit bias within them Compass is one of the data sets and so um they use that they manipulate that they learn about it they learn how to think about their own internal um personal biases and then we build upon that in the final course in machine learning and in that course um there are specific um bias awareness uh activities that they do and in those activities they really learn how to be more cognizant about their own implicit biases and then think about how that actually will um influence their interpretation of findings of the data their conclusions and then also their decision- making processes so that's something that we really focus on helping them to be more self-aware of their own but then also to be able to identify and spot that within existing um data that they may be working with Gabby would you like to comment on that or take it I think it's I'm I'm fangirling over here like oh my God that's so cool I want to do that um so no I think I'm well if you think about it that if we intentionally build um ethics into this training and I think ethics training should be cross-curricular um that is a reflective practice that we're building in right it's I I think all of this we need to be intentional about building and reflection and that that's where that Transcendent learning comes in so I I think you nailed it earlier uh with one your opening statement today is where teachers and and students there there needs to be this aspirational thinking but there also needs to be a little bit of skepticism with it right and and also I I think it's it's so important because I as we're learning about what AI is we we we need to teach our students to fact check like those skills aren't going away like just how we have like for the longest time we're we're teaching them to you know vet their sources get multiple perspectives you still need those skills those skill just because it's coming from gemini or or Chachi doesn't mean that it's it's real in fact like often times it's it's not right so you I always like I like I don't know the right way of saying this but like you need to use your brain a little bit and and you need to teach that but that needs to be built in to the way of thinking right now I think we're we're in a weird time where it's what is popped out of chat GPT we are just accepting where the the shift is and the power of this room is that shift needs to be 100% awesome that that popped out something cool it saved me time that I could steal that but it is not just accepting it it is then challenging it and then going to Google and researching it and doing more than just accepting what pops out agreed it is a um it's an interesting Dynamic that we have right now where we we have always quote unquote always trained ourselves to check the source MH and for whatever reason in this moment in time we are neglecting that and we're assuming that we let's give ourselves a little credit and assume that we have been helping young people and students understand that they should be factchecking all along the way and so now it just means that that language that we use for fact checking and evidence we've evidence generation data deren decisions we've got we have all sorts of language that we used for these processes assume that we have created the base level for that build on that so that we make it a normative thing that we all do and we still have the right we use this information to develop opinions and develop arguments and all of the wonderful things that we want to have um young people engage in as we engage in a Democratic Society can I add on to that a little bit um 21st century skills the partnership for 21st Century Learning almost two decades ago came up with this framework of 21st century skills that every student should learn um prior to Common Core those were embedded into some of the state standards so we had some early doops Ohio was one of those um but when people when I go in and speak to schools and I've done a whole lot of work with schools to help them change you know make a transformation into a stem approach or a stem school and it really you know at face value that excludes a lot of people in the building oh I'm not sim so it's not for me um the the way that I really um just break that right at the beginning is stem's 90% 21st century skills and they're like what and then they figure out that you know the English teacher can benefit from that anyone else can benefit from that but at no time more than ever 21st century skills are so important and and one of the key parts of that framework um are media literacy skills right how to be able to evaluate the data that you're pulling from the Internet or getting from chat G you know and so I think that that's something now that it's you know included in a lot more of our standards common core and others um it's it's really important for the teacher to focus on that so fun fact Proctor and Gamble how many use a how many people here use a Proctor and Gamble something something in your house tide you know all those things um a person who's applying for a job at Proctor and Gamble it's been this way for over 10 years they're headquartered in Cincinnati Ohio how I know this um their interest interest part of their application um process is to gauge the individuals 21st century skills regardless if they're going to be the front desk receptionist or the pH CH PhD chemist so industry recognizes the importance of these skills and to be able to do these things and so that's another caveat to you know really moving forward with an AI agenda computer science agenda you know whatever we want to call it depending on what what um roll out we're looking at focusing on those 21st century skills is critical how do we measure those skills oh we have an assessment we've developed for that yeah that yeah there and that's the biggest challenge though Mike you're exactly right because um when I work with Schools they're like that's great but that's not on the report card like we test science we test this and that and so we've developed a tool that can be used from kindergarten through oh pretty much next to the Grave that measures a person's um progress toward Mastery in each of those skills across the lifetime and so a lot of schools have moved to assessing that and you know on top of the content traditional content Assessments in k12 and so it's important and and the beauty of that is kindergarten you're probably going to get a whole lot of you know not you know the lower level but um the thing I always talk about and I've used it with NASA use it with a lot of people in this room I'm sorry to burst your bubble but a lot of people probably will not reach Mastery on that assessment because they're naturally things that we're better at so maybe some of us would be knocking critical thinking out of the park but maybe Death by PowerPoint is still a thing so our communication skills could use some work um but it's important to be able to assess that because how else are we going to help students move to the next level well that that's exactly uh kind of where the five seats came from that um the uh 21st century skills so you know we we need to talk more about how we are attempting to measure those skills with some level of um predictability right I mean I I think it's easy you just partner with czi and UCI yes we think a lot about measurement so full disclosure measurement is my jam so it is the thing that will make my eyes light up we can have deep conversations about it but disclaimer I am not a measurement person by training and and that it's t that I I suspect that that's why I'm so curious about it because I've always wanted to understand how we Define what success is how we Define curiosity I mean come on it looks different across every single one of us and so we think a lot about what are the ways in which we can naturally capture this information in the way that you're interacting and setting up your classrooms in the way that you're um engaging with young people and the way that young people are engaging with technology and with their Educators it's a natural occur these things happen naturally in classrooms when good teaching and learning are happening I think that's something that we're trying we're grappling with because the um the satellite data that we're all used to the test data has it's um it's easy to quantify right whereas once you start getting to that that map and the street data the street data is difficult to uh quantify and synthesize but that's an area I think where AI could really amplify to use uh Professor an's term um you want to comment on that Tyler yeah absolutely I I I mean I think it it has to start at at that street level and and we were really aware that in ahsd we are we are a Community School District right and and part of that is is finding our needs and assets of our community so what we did um with Carlos and his team uh with the from the community schools and then our partnership with e Cadence it's like data is I think probably the most valuable currency right now everyone is trying to collect your data all of our apps right now are tracking where we are and what we're looking at and all those things right but the hardest part especially at a at a anywhere but especially in within a school system it's that data is great sending that survey out is wonderful but without insights and actions it's just a bunch of numbers and letters on on a that's right on a screen now do we still use paper I know um but with within within e Cadence now at our fingertips I can I could put up a QR code right now you could all type something in and by the time I turn my head it's already synthesized the top five themes that's something that to this point has never existed but imagine being able to collect data and get those insights so quickly to now we can take action and I know this is a little long-winded I'm sorry we have in at Magnolia we we have raising student voices and a student came in and they they survey all of our students about the needs or their concerns of the school right and so it was awesome our our student leaders came in they did the survey and I asked the person who was running it I was like how are you like how are you like synthesizing this and he's like well I just tally when I say words and I'm like hey I got a tool in E Cadence let's put it through and then we found like the need I think this one you know pretty pretty standard cafeteria food but what's funny is on that that was on a Monday and on Tuesday I did a lesson on it and then I had multiple students come up to me and be like we always take these surveys and then poof they're gone but this is the time where I felt like I said something and then we did something about it so they felt that purpose they felt that agency and what I just did mattered because we were learning about it the next day and that's the power of being able to synthesize quickly so I would propose as we close this out um we've we started with we've been challenged with repurposing schools and arguably we've created schools based on satellite data right we've built schools and school systems and that's been our purpose for the last 25 years I would propose that now we have access to tremendous Street data voices from kids and parents and families and that's where the AI tools can be used to inform us on re reimagining what school can be I that's that's kind of what our table talk has been about yeah you want to comment on that yes oh my God so exciting um I know I get excited about everything easily excitable um we are at a moment in time where we can engage one another in understanding the information that we have available to us and that has not happened at scale before I I have an analogy that I was thinking about when we were having our table talk conversation which is I remember so I'm old I remember when I was training folks and working with folks around the idea of datadriven decision making and we would set up the room be in a classroom or AUD or cafeteria whatever the space was in the school and there was tons of you know flip chart papers with information and thing like paper everywhere and there is no way on God's green earth that we as human beings would be able to interpret all of that data and then make some decisions about what moves we were going to make the next day there's no way the brain cannot process that kind of information we now have the ability to take all of this information recognize patterns that's the beauty of AI and the tool recognize patterns understand the things that are happening and then consume that and use what we're uniquely good at doing as humans interpreting that to engage with another human being that at the end of the day is the beauty of the moment we're in right now well I think that's a great way to end our discussion I want to say this that it's not you know often times people say oh that the answers are in the room I don't I don't think they are but I think the questions we're at a point where we need to ask these question but another round of appuse for super