to 12 noon food packages will also be available here in our Avon administration center Monday through Friday from 7:30 in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon parents will simply be asked to sign in with name student name school building we will ask our parents to limit themselves to one package per school-age student we recognize that you have many many questions and we want you to hear from our community partners and know that we will be constantly providing updated information on our website now I'd like to introduce board president and angle her who will make comments on behalf of the Avon community community school board of trustees thank you Thank You dr. Martin I am an eagle hard I'm school board president and I first want to say thank you to our many partners in the community the state who have provided amazing support from the first phone call yesterday morning - today we your guidance has been exemplary and we want to thank you on behalf of the Avon School Board of Trustees I want to emphasize that the board members are focused on the health and the safety of our students and staff we are working side-by-side with the administration team our trusted Health Partners and the Indiana Department of Education to ensure there is minimal further exposure to our students and staff and continue receiving educational services despite our unique situation thank you for joining us we appreciate your support now I'm dr.
box our state health commissioner will come forward good afternoon everyone I want to thank dr. stop of itch and superintendent Goreman for including me in this conference today I wanted to take a minute to update you since it's been since the end of last week that I was updating you on where we were we had one case as of the end of last week and have added three additional cases since that time you know the original case was a Marion County individual that had contact in Boston out there with individuals who became ill from Ovid 19 our case here in Hendrix County has a similar contact and that individual is able to isolate at home we've had a second case in Hendricks County and this is the only one that we have it's not an adult and that individual is also isolating at home and our third case is in northern Indiana and Noble County that individual is hospitalized in Mobile County they're but stable all of our individuals are stable at this time we have tested 30 individuals and have only these four positives every every other test has been negative we are continuing to monitor individuals that are considered to be at at higher risk and they are on home quarantine and that is going very well we continued to work over the weekend when we found out that we had youth that had tested positive and we're very happy to engage with dr.
suffrage and with the superintendent and the school board here along with their principals here and we had a lot of very good discussions and I think that they have come to what they think out of an abundance of caution is the best way to make sure that they are protecting all of the youth here in Avon Community Schools I will say that they are exceeding even that which the CDC might recommend that they have to do again just trying to make sure that we are keeping the health of the students here and the safety at the utmost of every decision that is made I want to say this is very clear this is not a spring break where everybody runs out and goes to the ball goes to the movies goes to the theater goes to you know whatever museum we really need if we're going to have this work to have these individuals social distance which means that you go home and you read books or you play games with your family or you do your video games or whatever those activities are that you can do at home rather than being out in public because the point of this is to kind of socially distance children and and other individuals I also want to say that most of these cases 80% of them are mild and of those cases that become more severe and unfortunately in some rare circumstances can lead to death that's using our high-risk population those who are 16 and older who have other underlying chronic conditions so I think that we all should be thinking about if we're ill that we stay home and we social distance that includes Grandma and Grandpa and other individuals and as you're looking at your community are there individuals out there that might need you to go to the grocery store for them are dropped by the pharmaceutical store so that they don't have to go out right now in public they may be already social distancing themselves we really do want to make sure that individuals in our long-term care facilities are protected and I know you're not here about long-term care facilities but again long-term care facilities are a collection of our highest risk population under one roof so if you're sick please don't visit please call them and tell them why you're not visiting but please do not do that and as always the Indiana State Department of Health will continue to engage anytime that our local health officer our local school systems our local school boards reach out and be there for consultation and assistance thank you and now dr.
David Stockbridge will come and speak you the Henderson County Health Commissioner health of the circuit good afternoon everyone so I just wanted to first of all start off by once again thanking dr.
box and the entire Indiana State Health Department we have been on the phone and texting all weekend long often calling her and her fellow staff late late last night so thank you so much and thank you so much as well to superintendent Goreman we have also been texting and communicating constantly trying to get her the information she needs and answer any questions that we can to be useful as a as the Henderson County Health Department like dr. box explained what she's seeing around the state she also gave us a great idea what this virus is all about but I think the biggest message I want to tell the community of Hendricks County is we need to prepare we need to be safe we don't need to panic we really really don't need to panic we need to just once again distance ourselves to some degree and that once again with this new with these cases this sorry what I want to say is this is a respiratory virus okay this is simply a virus can be spread by coughing sneezing it could be found on services but it's still just a vise it doesn't look very long on surfaces without human house so how do we defeat it it's pretty simple we wash our hands we wash our hands we wipe down surfaces with very simple cleaners and we just take basic precautions I I can't tell us enough I really just want us not panic prepare wash our hands wipe down surfaces and everything's going to be okay I think it's really all I have to say it's obviously as a Mandrax county health department we will be available questions they will they will be coming up whenever somebody thinks that they may have had contact with a patient or they think they may have covet 19 what we would recommend you do is call your office call your physician's office first get guidance from your primary care doctor if they need help or if you get directed to us please feel free to call it's okay we want to make sure that everybody gets the best information possible I think with that so good afternoon to Avon community and to the entire state of Indiana what I would like to start out by saying is please be assured families and communities that the school are the job of schools right now is the safety security and well-being of our students that is our top priority it has been and it will remain remain that way I want to thank dr.
box she has been amazing to work with and her entire team she has been very inclusive with the Department of Education she's been very transparent she is also sending the message of this is serious but no need to panic I also want to commend governor Holcomb and his team they have also included us in these conversations they understand that there are 1.2 million students sitting in our schools and 78,000 educators and a lot of families that are impacted on that and I want you to feel confident that your state is doing amazing work in a collaborative fashion and that is not to be assumed or taken for granted so I am proud to be a part of that too dr. Harmon and her team it has been amazing here at Avon from that first call very receptive Barrett very inclusive has really asked great questions and and taken a very strong leadership role in making sure that the students here at Avon are safe and secure and and and things can move on in a positive manner here in the community nothing is perfect about these decisions and there are challenges that come along with such difficult decisions but I have the confidence and your superintendent and the entire team here at Avon that things will go well I also know - a lot of that depends upon the family's response and so Avon has always been blessed with a community of a lot of families that are very supportive of a school and the decision to make and I do not foresee that changing in the near future as a state across the entire state you have superintendents who are very busy being very diligent in reviewing and sometimes revising as necessary their plans that's why we plan and we prepare for days and and situations like this and so we are working with our local health departments who have been extremely inclusive and helpful for our local schools but it's busy but I want you to know that I have confidence in all of our local state superintendents who will keep students their safety their health their well-being as our top priority so again dr.
box I cannot thank her enough and her team and feel very confident in the Indiana's in good hands at this time dr. Stockbridge dr. box and dr. McCormick will take a few questions if you have for dr. box I believe dr. Horne Minh referred to two students and you referred to one student can you clear that up for us we had only report on positive cases and dr. hormons referral then was about there may it be another child in the community that is showing symptoms of upper respiratory laura's time so the second child hasn't necessarily or at least the test results for the second child have not necessarily come back yet I have no further positive tests okay and can we determine what school that second child was attending that is not information that we give out with regards to patient privacy telephone calls and even people who say they're calling the hotline number and it's not being answered is there a reason why this is apparently not being staffed 24/7 the hotline is being staffed 24/7 from 8:00 to 8:00 it's being staffed by a group of ten called individuals who are taking the calls and taking information we are adding to that call center from 8:00 to 8:00 we'll also be adding another shift from 8:00 and the evening to 8:00 in the morning to get additional help because the person that was taking it from 8:00 a.m.
to 8:00 8:00 a.m. was our state epidemiologist or the epidemiology team and that team is trying to take calls from providers and from individuals who have been exposed to kovin 19 cases and what we're getting is a lot of very concerned citizens asking questions so I would strongly recommend that citizens go first to either is DHS website or the CDC's website to educate themselves many of your questions may be answered right there there's just a ton of information there the second thing is in addition to adding more call help for that epidemiologist from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. we're going to be working with our poison control center who we already work with to take calls so that if you are a provider or someone who's from a health care facility we will send that call directly to the epidemiologist and other calls will go through the control if there are definite health care questions in there then we will use I use new tela-health that they are using surveillance system where they have actually healthcare professionals nurses on the phone and answering a lot of questions and helping individuals for free across the state to know whether they should go into the emergency room because they're sick enough to be tested jump like you're overwhelmed no sir not at all we're just in the process of gearing up for what we expected can you indicate to us how your investigators go about tracing the web of individuals who may have been in touch with your one positive young student or even the other student who we do not have test results on right so you know it starts with an individual maybe that flew back say from Boston and was exposed there so what flight did they fly on then we get that information to the CDC and the CDC gets information back to us about individuals that live in our communities that set within a certain radius of that individual who became ill those are people that were following up if we have a particular case we're going where were you pretty much every minute of the day you know did you go to the grocery store did you go to the pharmaceutical where you were you had a wedding where you you know where you had a conference did you go watch at b-dubs maybe the ball game with everybody so that we can start to trace back close contacts of that individual again this is usually spread with someone that you came into contact with them six feet not just for a brief period of time but a protracted period of time and then we actually reach out to those individuals to make sure that they know they may have been exposed and if those individuals potentially develop symptoms how they can reach us to know how to facilitate medical care have you been able to trace the young child who has tested positive back to your original case and that would all be confidential information that I couldn't I couldn't get out what good is it to close schools and send kids home if they're going out and we're associating with other kids or other feminists I mean parents are out there right now swapping babysitters looking after each other's kids what's the good of closing the school that people aren't for me well first of all I asked first before for them to social distance so I understand that they're going to people that be people that have critical jobs and they need to go to their jobs and they may now have three children that you know they can't leave at home all day so maybe the neighbor or someone else in the family can help to watch those children so there may be times that there have to be some groups but a group of four to six children is a lot different than a group of 450 kids all eating lunch together all going to recess together all going to the same classroom so the social distancing that we do in smaller groups is very different than what happens in school systems and that's why I took the time to say you know this isn't the time to go to museums it's not the time to go to to watch the movies it's not the time to go out to the bounce house or whatever else that kids like to do it really is a time to kind of stay home hunker down and do things within your home do we know I'm sorry showing symptoms this most recent student started showing symptoms on Sunday I believe and how do we monitor folks that are self isolating or how do you tell folks at home to monitor their individual well people are being told they're coming back right now from countries like Italy and South Korea and you know even from across the state where they've been and maybe have been exposed to cases and they're being told by the CDC to self quarantine but the State Department of Health does not get names and numbers for all those individuals because those numbers are actually overwhelming with so many countries involved in this right now so what we do do though is follow individuals that are isolated meaning that they have tested positive for covin 19:00 and we know that they are stuck in their home they may need resources from a medical perspective they may need someone to deliver medicines or food to them and they may be separated from the rest of their family because they're isolating from their family also so do medical professionals I mean go knock on their door once a day and take their temperature and you depend on somebody in the house to take that temperature we actually make sure that they have things like tylenol and motrin and a thermometer and a sheet to actually record this and then we usually virtually touch base with them so a lot of times that's over a cell phone where we can look at them and ask you know has your have you developed shortness of breath has your caught cough gotten worse what is your temperature done in the last 12 hours and that usually happens twice a day last week there there's so much out there girl we're not getting tested what happens when you get a call-out from someone in the Yvonne community says yeah I have a kid in the school and I have these symptoms are all of those people are now going to be potentially tested how do you separate out right so that's why it helps if you go to your health care provider to talk about your symptoms because we don't want to and we already are just because of the flu season we've already got 85% of our flu tests are still coming back positive in our state so that shows you we're adding the flu on top of the code of nineteen now and most people that have symptoms that's going to be related to influenza so what we don't need is to have every person walking into the emergency room and asking to be tested for code 19 first of all we are still carefully following the CDC's guidance and that is that we should test individuals that are hospitalized with severe lower respiratory illness no other indication of what's causing that individuals that are at high risk especially individuals that are in a high-risk setting they have been exposed to kovat 19 and then those individuals that we know we're exposed to Kovan 19 that we are on watch for to make sure that if they develop signs and symptoms we really want to make sure that if our health care prevent professionals develop signs and symptoms because they're going and touching lots of immune suppressed patients very elderly and sick patients that if they develop signs or symptoms we need to test them yes sir what's the long-term plan say four months from now somebody's still sick do they have to come to school what's the plan for that right I think that's an excellent question and I think that this is going to evolve and we're going to transition as this disease transitions eventually we'll all get to the point where we just kind of live with coven 19 as a part of the infections that we get during this flu season time probably we're not at that point yet but but what I want to say to the public is that your children what we see with global disease right now across the entire world is that children that get covin 19 not only do very well with it but they aren't great spreaders that's the problem but they're their mortality rate with that or their death rate is below influenza so that should be reassuring I hope to families out there that have worries about their kids and I know we spend most of our time worrying about children when we have them even when they're 30 and 31 services to possibly question a higher can an answer can you both address that question also question what the data shows on ATMs and individuals sharing the virus because that's another concern that's out there that they're always a symptomatic of walking around so because this is novel or new virus we don't have as much information as we do about viruses like influenza and other viruses so to tell you that it only lasts for two hours or it only hangs in the air for two hours I can't give you those specifics about this virus yet so that is still very up in the air but we do believe that most of these respiratory viruses can live for a time on a surface and that's why it's important to wipe those surfaces down and when you're touching things not to be touching your face your nose your eyes which we all tend to do right that's a normal thing because that's how you're going to introduce that to yourself that washing your hands very frequently somebody in Washington State told me that their grocery store clerks have to set a timer and every every hour they go and wash their hands with soap and water I mean it's really if you're wringing out a big you know boarder at that time it goes off you're off and you wash your hands with soap and water so those kinds of things can really protect not only the individuals that we are seeing but the individual the individual people that are serving the population the asymptomatic is still an issue out there we we know that there's community spread so if that is somebody's spreading when they're asymptomatic or somebody who has small symptoms you know when somebody asks me about a kindergartner whether they have symptoms you know kindergartners can be symptomatic and not know it until their fever goes to 102 and then they're like a rag doll then you give them the tylenol and they feel better and they're running around again so symptomatic is hard to tell with some individuals so we don't really understand that's another thing about the virus we can't specifically delineate Davenport our plans in place to address what working parents are supposed to do when kids are off for such a long period of time and also as their future plans for a ponds able to do alerting days but what with other districts or other schools might not be able to do this is there a plan in place for now it's a great question so every district is unique in Indiana just kind of a ballpark about 50% of our districts are one-to-one that means one child one device k12 so that is an advantage that doesn't mean that that's a take-home device so that's the other piece of it to have in this conversation so elearning is a great viable option for avon it may not be a great viable option for another district so it really goes down to local planning and what makes sense at that local level and making sure that all options are are thought through in which I have the great confidence on our superintendents the other piece of it is you better believe we're going to be on the phones talking to each other about what works what doesn't work what can we learn from Avon or other districts that may go through this so unfortunately Avon doesn't have that benefit right now but we have other schools in other states that have gone through this so a lot of a lot of learning for all of us but a lot of that's a local decision and got them according at this kind of pressure conference and you
good evening my name is Rene Viera I am president of the dump educators association and I stand before you as an employee a teacher and a parent a couple of items on your agenda this evening one when you go into executive session I know you'd be discussing negotiations again the DEA appreciates the efforts that the School Committee has put forth in order to support us with the town in the Select board and we know the other item on the agenda this evening is a budget for fiscal year twenty one there are a number of ways that this town can help support its students we know that we're in the thirteen percentile for per pupil spending across the state and that's quite an embarrassment especially for a town that offers so many things well whether it business growth or Oceanside's you know and our excellent schools but our low tax rate in this town is appealing when you go to the town website there it is come on in live in Dartmouth however we can't continue and I many of you understand the conundrum that were in that we can't continue to offer quality education and to maintain services with increased costs whether they be technological costs building costs heating costs and we're put in a real tough situation you know it's hard for us to stand here before you knowing that you're doing what you keep and that you've spoken out for us but we're here this evening to let you know that we hope that you continue on our half and that mr.
Crowley we understand that you're in a position where you know you have a number of people you need to try satisfied with the very small and we appreciate the work that you've all done to do that we're here to support you anything that we can do in order to increase the budget for fiscal 21 please know that we here and we just thank you for thank you cheering none will close public comment next thing on our agenda tonight is approval of a minutes so I will chair would entertain a motion to approve the regular session minutes of February 10th so moved second any discussion okay sure hearing none all in favor I will now entertain a motion to executive session minutes of the same night February 10th 2020 so madam chair with the stipulation they be held until the matter for which they were intended is concluded second chair hang none all in favor aye and so next on our agenda we have our student rep and Enrico he's here to update us on what's happening at the high school good evening everybody the DHS deca club did an outstanding job at the state competition recently Colin zoo placed first overall in Restaurant Management qualifying for international competition in Nashville Tennessee Colin also received recognition for placing first in a role play - and second and written marketing test in the Hotel and Lodging management event - various plays seventh overall and received second place in roll play - Sophia weight placed ninth overall in the category the theme of Riley Hanes and Orly Gonzales plays seventh overall in the hospitality services team event and the team of Adam Noseworthy and Alex Mathis placed eighth overall in the financial services team event the hockey team lost a close game yesterday in the division three South sectional championship against Hanover the team had an excellent season at a great tournement Ron the DHS Theatre Company recently traveled to Duxbury High School where they participated in the m80 G Theater Festival and a great job - the DHS robotics team for a strong showing at the state championship the 6th and 12th place finishes among 36 of the top teams across the state represented Dartmouth very well the world language department celebrated national foreign language week last week with the theme of with languages you're at home anywhere students and staff answered daily trivia questions and engage other activities aimed at sparking interest around the study of languages and cultures this week the class of 2022 will host a spike ball competition on Wednesday starting at 3 p.m.
at the DHS music Department will host their annual Pops concert Thursday on Thursday evening the DHS debate team competed in an MSD L Division tournament on Saturday February 29th in Shrewsbury Senior John Gonzales senior Brendan Rico and freshman Morgan Melo all received a bid to compete in the state tournament this April thank you alright so thank you for that next on our agenda is we get to hear from Heidi Brooks and just Heidi or Rick just Heidi she we're lucky to have Heidi Brooks here to put a spotlight on student learning and all of the other fun activities that are happening at hotter school thank you I have sent a larger version to school committee and to keep within the time I've shortened it down but Rick says that you should probably get nourishment and there will be a short intermission well on behalf of the students staff of part of school I thank you for giving us this opportunity to show off Potter School currently houses 7 years of learners preschool through grade 5 this is amazing span of learning and more importantly as the foundation for the expanding educational experiences to come middle school high school and beyond a student's future success starts with a strong and broad foundation our goal is to foster productive members of society to that end we must intentionally socialize our students to treat each other with kindness encourage risk-taking foster a variety of academic and non-academic interests all in an effort to inspire them to set and achieve goals continuing in a forward trajectory at Potter school for a small number of students that path starts in our preschool but for most it begins in kindergarten and continues until 5th grade a school is never a mere structure made of bricks and stone it's made from memories successes failures first love's heartbreaks and part of everyone's childhood but as hard as our teachers work to plan just the right lesson with just the right amount of breath to capture a span of understanding when our students reflect on their elementary days it is not those lessons they remember with fondness we have a wealth of resources in our region which some of our students and their families would never visit if it would not first goal field trip this could be due to cost to distance to knowing these destinations exist through our process of identifying a destination or presentation at a destination that enhance our program of studies we create shared experiences for our students that expand beyond the walls of our classroom arts and enrichment begin brings programs to Potter some programs ban pre-k through Grade five while others are grade specific some programs are sponsored by the district however most of these programs listed here are funded by our PTO our PTO like many PTO s make school memorable while we would have loved the students to remember the are inspiring long division lesson the mind-blowing spelling pattern for the magic of school lunch it is the above and beyond the traditional school experience that becomes the fondest memories of our students long after leaving Potter our PTO funds most of our arts enrichment activities offsets the cost of transportation and admission fees for field trips as well as a host of additional expenses that directly benefit our teachers and students plus our PTO has taken on the task of organizing family experiences to create a neighborhood community feel allowing students to interact with school friends while their parents expand their social circles as well we have our annual Halloween party family fun at the Dunkin Donuts Center every Friday in March our PTO sponsors activity nights paint night bingo night puzzle night movie night this year we're adding a dance party our fifth graders run a concession stand at each of these events to help fund their fifth grade party speaking of fifth grade party our fifth graders are sent off with an end-of-the-year tradition a theme inspired party to celebrate with their classmates and our end of the year would not be complete without our annual cookout and field day another tradition we combine the typical field day activities with the coolest inflatables for a day of fun this is a rain or shine event Albert Einstein said play is the highest form of research and we're thrilled that the elementary level still has recess our PTO sponsored a playground beautification day where we painted activity at areas created a natural play space with logs and stumps for climbing and building our yoga valley is a popular spot and mrs.
meadow our art teacher added her artistic talents to some permanent works of art on our playground our playground is more than just a space for recess it's our outdoor classroom we have purchased an assortment of big toys for organized games and there is truly no better sound than children running and laughing at play and teaching kids to count is fine but teaching them what counts is best we are uniquely potter every school has its own unique blend of energy at Potter we try to expand our children's minds by expanding their world our part of traditions combine our love of country family school and each other we have PBIS school-wide celebrations rain or shine we celebrate our Halloween with an annual parade we love our garden a de F grant started us out nearly 10 years ago with four raised planting beds and we've expanded to include a 30 by 30 enclosed garden and a tree farm celebrating our work with UMass Dartmouth Jane Goodall's roots and shoots program our organically grown garlic offered for voluntary contributions at farm and Coast supports our modest budget our Earth Mother and Goodman will be recognized in April by the Dartmouth Grange for her efforts she would receive the educator of the Year award since the spelling bees inception since the spelling bees inception Potter school has contributed three award-winning costumed teams each year and we are happy to fill the ranks of the Miss spellers our annual Thanksgiving assembly combines a celebration of veterans and first responders a chorus of holiday songs leading up to the annual arrival of Albuquerque turkey Potter supports Potter our port Potter families a generous to their neighbors in need and we cannot thank the high school bill Kingsland and the music department for this annual gift our staff and students treasure this experience and we love seeing our former students several years ago our PTO gifted us a peace pole this peace pole is a daily reminder that we can only control what we can control and may peace be in our schools this year's Super Bowl challenge brought in three thousand two hundred and ninety six non-perishable food items for our largest donation to the council on Aging's food pantry this is one of our favorite assemblies and highlights Potter school's selfless giving we use the energy of our preschoolers through 2nd graders to pump up our students in grades three four and five in advance of MCATs testing we line the halls for our own version of a rolling rally our youngest students create messages of inspiration which they deliver to our older students on test-taking days and mrs.
Laurie Murphy has created an EM cast video which incorporates all of our staff as well as messages from professional athletes and celebrities on occasion Potter gets lucky and has a presenter that leaves an impression mark wood one of the founding fathers of trans-siberian orchestra's spent a morning at part of school and made the violin the most popular instrument this year our fifth graders teamed up with DC TV and the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuge Management District to create public service announcements focused on the band use of plastic bags these PSAs may be seen on DC TV linked to the refuge website and on Facebook several years ago we created a placeholder in our schedule for every classroom to ensure that our students were exposed to stem opportunities working as grade-level teams the teachers created a Bank of stem lessons that incorporated their grade level science and math standards into an engaging learning experience offered initially as an experiment this block of time has become one of our students favorites this year we were finally able to create a dedicated space for our instructional technology teacher miss Sandra chica the stem lab is the home to all the cool toys and tools available to our digital natives green screen Osmo coding bots 3d printer our elementary students have it all no manuals are needed in their hands they create and recreate with an energy not seen in any other area of our building this year Rick and I were asked to be the shark tank judges for our AI stem club just like our TV version mr.
wonderful and I put our product designers through the test do ya wanna scuba our second grade geography play is an annual highlight to the school year these catchy tunes play in our heads long after the curtain closes Potter's polar plunges thanks to former student M Acharya who challenged Rick and I to plunge the Potter school team has made an annual pilgrimage to the water's edge to support a Special Olympics program if walls could talk guards would say thank you mrs. Neto our art teacher has created interactive models that delights our visitors during open house and combines our back-to-school messages what lifts you up be the eye in kind these have become favorite photo op spots our fourth-grade peoples promenade gives purpose and audience to a whole new meaning to our 4th graders as they learn about a famous person then need to dress in character and a paragraph highlighting this person's contributions we cannot wait for zet free to rejoin us for our booster fun run his energy sparked all of us our family surpassed our wildest dreams capturing a donation from each of the 50 states having over 70% participation and raising nearly $20,000 for our PTO after seeing the student athletes at Dartmouth high school signing on to college sports teams we thought we'd add the same excitement to signing onto part of school incoming kindergarteners and new dupatta students alike created this unique social media post and finally the North Branch has opened and the Potter school students are excited to get their first official library card and be able to borrow books we are hopeful that the branch will expand their hours in the fall so that our students can make this a weekly visit educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all what you believe behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others Potter school has benefited from many years of consistent leadership the success of Rick and I gather is the direct result of the administrative teams before us John Fletcher and Carol Cara Fotis John Friday yellow and Jackie Figueredo Jackie feeder Figure Ito and I Jackie Figueredo and Deb Cavanaugh Deb Cavanaugh and I and now Rick and I but administrators can only do so much and ultimately part of success comes from our family like every family we can drive each other crazy but we are better together we believe in each other we believe in our kids they are our why Rick and I have had a good run we've put seed pushed each other to be the better versions of ourselves and together we've been able to bring the best in the 4:7 ultimately we've made Potter our happy place I am confident that Potter's legacy is in good hands and Rick and Melissa our kids are depending on it thank you thank you mrs.
Brooks in everyone else it bought a school that partook of that wonderful video / slideshow it's obvious that there is a lot more going on and a lot different types of learning and gives the students a reason to be there and congratulations job well done man personally good luck in the future thank you so I had the opportunity to go up to the North Branch Library last weekend and I am so delighted for Potter yeah it is a wonderful resource and I was amazed like I Drive on the road and they look far apart but then you get up in the building and they're so close and it's just a beautiful building and I'm so happy that that is there for you I think it's gonna be great for the students and then I also just want to say thank you for your leadership over the years it's always great to hear stories about what's going on on a Potter and we deeply appreciate your leadership there thank you so is this called the the Heidi Brooks farewell tour Potter is a it's a wonderful family both my kids went through there you highlighted a lot of the great programs and a lot of the great aspects of Potter's school the community but something you said that does stick and I think is really true is the the consistency with the leadership between you and Ric and you know you give your predecessors that came before you and of course the wonderful staff at Potter but oh there's just it's remarkable the things that have gone on through the years and the kids the the pictures of the students you know that's a testament as well so I wish you the best of luck thank you mrs.
Brooks and your future endeavors but um and I'm sure I'm sure we're gonna continue on true moving forward and lots of great things to come so I look forward to the future as well and so thank you thank you yeah I just love where you went with this presentation because a lot of times we kind of stay focused on you know your your school improvement plan or district plan and how it kind of relates and that's all very valid and well and good but what I loved so much about this presentation is is knowing you is know is knowing how authentic and true every single piece of what you've shared that you probably don't take credit for that your team has built it's just wonderful to know what incredibly empathetic and contributing young little humans you are educating and our future is so bright and so when you talk about our town and the pride that we need to have it comes from the classroom and that drive to really create these well-rounded amazing little humans who will one day be well no I wish them well sitting in this seat you know contributing to our town the town of Dartmouth and how how likely it is that they'll stay here and contribute here because of how you made them feel so thank you for this this was a wonderful presentation thank you we do call Potter a legacy school we have a lot of repeat families you know we sadly I can say that Rick and I do walk you know they walk through the door and we realized that they were off on the students and they back and enough time has passed it's not like they're very young family parents but it really is it's great and they enjoy it and they come in and they want to show their their kiddos or their spouse the halls that they walked and the bench they sat on and yeah the gym which now seems so much smaller to them and always does right but it's a great place okay now we're going to turn it to some old business and the beginning of that list is mr.
Kiley if you'd be so kind as to give us any update that you can on the fiscal year 21 budget so our work with the town side of government which is pivotal to the overall but you know I think that that is an important aspect that we still need to figure out and I don't still don't have answers but I think that from our perspective at this point we wouldn't recommend any any changes to what we've proposed previously and it certainly you know like to have discourse on that if you have any questions about the budget we'd be happy to entertain them but at this point it's presented the way it is and we don't we don't have any further changes dr. Gifford and I have been you know actively engaged with the town side of government on this and continue to be and especially as it relates to collective bargaining which we'll be discussing later in executive session but at this point we are standing with what we've previously okay mister Thank You mr.
Fayyad dr. Gifford any change in the town numbers from Friday afternoon I mean I guess I'm being facetious here but have they changed any no no okay you know where I'm going to still the same yes okay Wow so we're two weeks away from the public budget hearing are we gonna get look I'm trying to be honest and be real here mr. kyliyah we is there any expectation that you think those numbers gonna change drastically in the next two weeks the town's numbers the town's numbers cuz right now where we're about four what about four hundred thousand apart yeah I I do think that that there is potentially some or some opportunity for that to change between now and then dr. Gifford and I have had a very recent conversation with the town side of government we're hope we're somewhat hopeful that could be a positive change in the next two months away from actually needing to vote on this so and we really will need to vote at that time in some way so the pressure is on for sure but but yeah it's an ongoing process for sure do you want to I because you know as you know we had the budget subcommittee meeting my colleague Carol's not here dr.
Kara photos isn't here do we want to talk about any of the changes any of the proposals I think that at this point we're not recommending any change so we're leaving this budget the way it is and then we can have that conversation in the coming weeks as to what we're gonna do it's possible that it could change on the 23rd it's possible because I think this committee is gonna look for an answer from central office I understand - what what are we gonna do how are we gonna vote this budget and as it is and take it - you know let them either try to find the money or tell us to reduce it put it on them put it on the town to reduce it but at some point we don't have a recommendation when we're not recommending that you looking to reduce this budget right now at this point yeah okay so I mean I'm inclined if we can't come to an agreement to put this forward as it is this is not we're not asking for more this is a level services budget despite some assertions that we are asking for quote unquote the best we are not I wouldn't be ashamed if we were asking for the best right I mean why shouldn't we be asking for the best for our children I'm so angry about that right now that is an insult to the children of our town to tell them that they do not deserve the best I would put this budget forward as it is and not recommend cutting that's me personally because we're not even asking for the best we're not even at average right we're not even close right so we have been asking for quite some time for more resources from the town and we've been told it's not forthcoming I don't I don't know what we can do right without erasing the gains that we've been able to make over the past several years so I am not inclined personally to support any cuts to this budget we as presented it because we're not asking for anything more the additions we've added are offset by things that we're taking out so that's just my personal maybe the town will get closer to where we are but if not and when we have to vote I'm inclined to vote for what we have yeah I mean as my colleague said you know this this is like we're not asking for a lot and the quote was we want the best but we want everyone else to pay for it I'm unashamed to ask for the best version yeah wheats an insult so be it yeah we're not asking we're not asking for the best you know but sadly we're asking for very little you know I'm not inclined to ask for any you know typical for a reduction I how can we really yeah you know and and you talked about you know I don't know just I was very disappointed at the last Select board meeting and to hear some of the things that were that were said we have miss Heidi Brooks up here building these empathetic future contributing members of our society yet you know another quote was that we lack the empathy for fellow town people because we're supporting or or asking for something that isn't the best that's far from the best in looking at all the parents that are contributing that are volunteering that are raising twenty thirty thousand dollars for our kids to participate in these extracurricular activities filing for grants and the Dartmouth Education Foundation contributing just in just great amounts to really just maintain what some of the progress that we've made it's really difficult I mean there's not a lot of money going around but another thing that was mentioned that everyone needs to set priorities and I think it's really about time that we set a priority that supports the future education of our students and that includes every staff member I mean every everything that's in there and then some so that's all I have to say no but thank you for yeah since we're gonna go down this road I'm I'm quite honestly really frustrated and disappointed in some of our select board members and in some of the comments that came out of their mouths during that meeting where they took up the override that without they knew about this we push this for that forward to them a while ago and it wasn't until it was the last minute right before the deadline to put it on the ballot that now we're gonna now we're gonna start a whole new committee and we're gonna explore it for the next several months I mean just say it's just really disheartening that that it's just a couple of the members in the tone the tone they took during that meeting but I do agree that you know if if that's the the pleasure of this committee and moving forward we really should be asking for more than what we're asking for yes mr.
Nunes sorry that's okay my turn to pontificate this is a mural and I had a brief discussion where we got here tonight and I was let her know that I was not happy after last Monday night's meeting I caught the tail I walked in late so I have not heard the comments I've heard of them so I'm not going to pass judgment per se but I'm not happy that they decided they wanted to throw us under the bus okay it's as simple as this this is a town override for town employees and retirees not the school not just the school teachers with all due respect and I appreciate them here where are the rest of the town employees with this process that's gone on they haven't showed up they haven't been you know I've they've been knocking on the doors at selectmen I don't know I haven't seen them there but you know there's nothing you know the selectmen of drag their feet we had this discussion back before the holidays they got in the January you know give it a cursory glance you know had a brief discussion in February and said all right we'll be back in March and at the eleventh hour it's like we can't do anything because we don't have enough time to properly fund it well you know shame on them because they've had time to work on it they knew where we were where everybody was I mean when you look at this budget I mean there's oh there's over seven hundred eighty thousand dollars of items not wish lists things that we needed textbooks teachers you know supplies things of that nature okay therapists it's what we needed last year we were nice people a nice committee and we gave him back seventy five thousand dollars because they needed at the balance the budget well it'll be a cold day when this this person votes for a reduction as far as I'm concerned our budget going forward is the budget we have I never had all services never is every time I turn to just couldn't catch that part of the meeting so with all difference I didn't see it so I can't comment about it much as I would like to throw somebody under the bus I can't because I don't have all the facts [Laughter] so thank you for that so let's move on now next on on our agenda we have the second reading in the vote correct Michelle Roy will review the revisions to three School Committee policies JB equal educational opportunities jf a B F educational opportunities for children in foster care pre-k through Grade 12 and jf abd homelessness students enrollment rights and services so the only adjustment we made from the first read was in the spelling of pens jocular all the others are put forth in the same manner that they were the first reading okay anybody have any questions if not could we take them all together and in the vote if it's the pleasure so I will entertain a motion to vote to accept the revisions to J be equal education opportunities jf a BF educational opportunities for children in foster care pre-k to grade 12 and jf8 B D homeless students enrollment rates and services so moved second okay any discussion cheering hearing none all in favor okay thank you for that and so we move to superintendents update sure so a couple of things we have moved along with the school choice application process having received approximately 65 to 70 applications so um with with Kate's help we are sending out those acceptances people are returning them from the choices that we've made with the lottery I just wanted to recognize a few people that the DSM a sends a letter about I think you've received in your packet but I'd like to publicly recognize ed Egan Kahlo and Jose Freitas custodians on duty the day of the February 22nd nespa indoor percussion show and like I said the DSM a was very happy with the help and the friendliness and all of the support that they give them for that event and sent a nice letter and which I have since also sent them thank-you note which will okay yeah and also Brittany Medeiros cafeteria worker who really supported that event that day so it's always nice to have other groups recognize some of our employees that step up to the plate and go above and beyond as you probably remember we have starting a strategic planning process tomorrow so we will have about thirty folks in the Quinn community room starting that work on that and I wanted to recognize mr.