They're paying for the lawyers. Um, and on that um the board has spent enough money uh in on time on training as it relates to ethics, FOIA issues, meeting conduct, its obligations, and governments in general. Um there was uh the complaintant has been informed multiple times of this type of behavior over the past year actually has had the complaint for five months and as an adult would have the ability to say hey let me try to rectify this um and additionally the complaintant wasn't the only person at the on the board at the BEA meeting um and yet that other person chaired the November 20th meeting and is similarly um respondent to a similar ethics complaint. So that person would need to recuse in the um agenda item post the executive session because uh both the complainant and her accomplice would be um essentially have a personal conflict of interest to sit in the deliberation and vote on that last agenda item.
Good evening everyone. Today I want to recognize a very special student in our class. Someone who may not always speak the loudest but whose actions speak volumes. Luis Bucherasaurus. This student is quiet and reserved but within the quiet quietness is a heart full of kindness, respect and extraordinary responsibility. He leads not with words but with examples. Always doing what's right. Always treating others with care and always showing a deep sense of integrity. He notices the small things he helps without being asked all the time and he brings calm and thoughtfulness into our classroom. The calm and an emphasis. His quiet strength has made a lasting impact on all of us. We admire not just what he does, but who he is. Truly special and truly kind. Once again, let's recognize Louise and give him a round a big round of [Applause] applause. Can you take a picture?
Um I would like to start off by saying that I feel like that we need to have better communication from schools to our us as parents. Um whether it's a big incident or something small, I do not believe that we have a good line of communication. Uh we have parent square, we have, you know, communication by text, phone call, things like that. Um but when big things happen, especially I do not believe that just a mass email or something like that should be as effective as a personal phone call. Um I also would like to say that, you know, again, as some people have said, it takes a community and there's no one to put single blame on. However, as a community, we're all to blame. every single one of us. We're all parents. It starts at home. We have to teach better. We have to do better.
Uh this is my 16th year here in Ashland. Uh 11th as the superintendent and and I can say I'm really proud of of how we've built programming in our district to accommodate all of our students and to do the best we can. Sometimes it's it's challenging for us to to educate all of our students, but we are a public school system and that is our mandate and that's what we will continue to do. Uh we are approximately 21% of our students are on IEPs. Uh 7% of our students are identified as English language learners. That's a significant number. It's over 200 students. To give you a frame of reference, when I started in 16 years ago, we had less than 30 students who were identified uh as English language learners. Of this um population of 2,900 students, I always think it's interesting. We have about 28% of those students who live in condominiums or apartment complexes.
Um and if you don't then you will get an ethics complaint if you don't refuse. Um additionally it's it is a public matter now. And if you're going to go into executive session, you need to name the matter. The matter isn't just a serial number now. It's the name of the respondent. Thank you. U, the other public comments are both for second public comments. So, we will proceed with the meeting. I'm sorry. Right. Yeah. I I I mean I'm looking at it. I see it. But um but I think it's it's clear why I was initially confused. Please go ahead. Mrs. Deborah, Brookfield res. I too want to address the um situation that's going on with uh the e ethics violation. Um it is budget season and I'm wondering how if we're not addressing um who is leading the board at this present time that we are going to have a failed budget.
Congratulations. Okay, I need I need him with me. So, today today I'm incredibly proud to celebrate a very special student, our student of the month, someone I like to call our little president. Why little president? Because from the moment you walk into the classroom, you carry him. You carry yourself with quite confidence, calm leadership, and a natural sense of responsibility. He is the kind of student who doesn't wait to be asked. He sees what he needs to be done and just does it. Whether it's helping a friend, straightening up the classroom, or answering a tricky question, he steps up without hesitations. And he's not just smart, he's sharp. He asks great questions, explains things to his classmates in ways that I sometimes just stand back and smile. Honestly, he's like a little teacher. There are days when I feel like he's running the class. Actually, he can lead a group, settle a disagreement, and encourage someone who's struggling, all with kindness and patience beyond his years.
Um and then we go into our schools. You know, kids go into school right after home. So, school is a big part of us and our children's future and their lives. Um for instance, just for example, my child was kicked out of school recently for something that was very serious. However, it could have been more of a learning lesson than something that's going to be on his permanent record. And I feel as a It is my opinion that due to some of the major things that have been happening like the suicide and um the sexual misconduct that sometimes after a big event like that they try to crack down on smaller things. I just feel that if we would take those things head on first and deal with it as a whole versus wait till something big happens and then do something that we would probably be more successful with our children and their future.
Uh it's it's a pretty significant number. Uh and it's one of if you look at communities surrounding us, you can go to Actton um you know that's another community that has a large condominium and apartment complexes. Um and and it you know we we have a lot of students that come from from those um living arrangements. 40 languages are spoken within our district of our students. 40 different languages. I think when we look at our academic excellence, we tend to always look at the high school. Uh, and rightfully so, uh, it's what many communities would call the flagship of a community. And we've been fortunate within this district to have an outstanding high school. Uh but it it starts with the prek and the elementary schools and the middle schools uh middle school uh in in getting our students prepared to be at the high school.
I think it comes into play. I think people are questioning the uh who is at the helm here and the abuse of power that we've seen existing. If we want to have any attempt at trying to pass this budget for the board of education, I think it is in the best interest that that person step down from their responsibility of being a chair. Um what many people now are well aware of um with prior things that have happened with the BEA is that that person has access to our legal department. And how do we know that that's not under the guise of other issues that just you yourself want to um manipulate, if you will. Um, I don't think that it's a it's in a good place that you're running up legal fees and costs. I myself had written a letter in very early on when this had happened that we are looking at legal ramifications.
And let's not forget forget he's also incredibly athletic, just like the sisters. Whether it's soccer, basketball, or just a fast game of tag at recess. Oops, recess. He brings the same energy, fairness, and team spirit that he brings to every everything he does. But what ad what I admire most is that he's not just working hard for himself. He lifts up everyone around him. And that's what makes him a real leader. He reminds us every day that being a leader means serving others, showing respect, and doing the right thing even when no one is watching. So congratulations. You are a bright light in our class, a learner, an athlete, a helper, a friend, a little teacher, and a leader. You truly deserve to be a student of the month, and we are all lucky to have you. Keep leading the way, Jordan. [Applause] [Music] I'm the only short.
Um, so I just, you know, offer my help. Um, if there's anything as a parent that I can do to do better in my home with my children to help other parents or other children or you guys as the school board, please, you know, um, I'm all for it. I think most of us, especially now, coming to see all the things that are bringing to light. Um, you know, we're here for our kids. We love our children in this community. I think we're a very tight-knit community, and I love our community, but there's a lot of things that I do not love about our community. in the past couple months that have been happening. Um, so thank you for your time. Just to go back up to make sure Tim Phelps is not in the room and does not wish to say anything. Um, well, that's all of the individuals who signed up for public participation.
Um the highlighted uh in bold up there I I wanted to mention this. We gave 450 advanced placement exams. So that's those are college level classrooms that our students are are engaged in. 450 exams in 28 subject areas with 91% passing uh of a three a score of three or higher, which means they get credit when they go on to college for those classes. That ranks 20th out of 290 high schools in the Commonwealth. Pretty impressive. And you know, the high school was honored as an AP school of distinction. uh we continue to work, you know, uh on our mental health and our social emotional learning. I think it's uh it's evident that we need to um continue that effort. Music programming. Uh we don't talk enough about our arts programs and our music programs, but you can see up here how well our students perform uh out in in the Commonwealth.
And yet here we are. Nothing was done about it. It's it's it's open. It's it's it's just not good. And I, as a taxpayer, don't want to pay for somebody else's misjudgment and fights and um call into their call the call of their character. So, um I think that the board needs to address this and something needs to be done. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so moving along. Um written correspondence. Stephanie, what do you have for us? Following people have written emails to the board since April 202 Lopez, Christina, four emails, Matthew Greenstein, Brian McGovern. Okay. Now, now we're going to go uh toward the approval of board minutes. Uh so before I make this motion, I wanted to point out that the special meeting minutes um are not included in our packet. So we're not going to be including them in the motion tonight.
Good. Awesome. Congratulations to the board. Long story short, we've never done this before, but it's your last time as a teacher recognizing one of our students for student month. Can I ask Miss Kot and the teachers and the students they recognize? Can they come up and get a group picture with you? It's her last time. She's not doing the boards anymore. In honor of Miss Kay, teachers, can you guys all go up there? Stand behind the board, please. and students go with them. Go up with them. [Applause] That sounds good. Parents, you want to join them? Parents, you're welcome to join behind. parents take service of the month selection all our teachers got our students ready One, two, three. Last time look at Angelina's first. One, two, three. Then she's tippid back there. Miss Sanchez. [Music] So today we just want to take this time to uh stay right here.
And I want to just say very quickly, thank you. Um, thank you for stepping up. Nikki, Galita, Alexa, Jedadia, Anonymous, and Sarah. Thank you all for stepping up. um mostly to say we love our community and we want to help. And that's what I heard. That's the communication that I heard tonight is that you want to be part of the solution. And um we as a a school board, I think if you talked with each one of us individually, um that that feels really good. It feels like community. And so I just want to say thank you. Thank you for that. Um I do want to remind I would be remiss if it if I did not remind here with a larger group in the room. Um also with um probably a larger group live live streaming as well. Um I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't remind you all um how to report events or how to communicate.
I think it's important that it's middle and high school, right? So, we're we're starting next year to have more opportunities at the Mendes School, grades three through five, which is important for our music programming. And then athletics. Uh, you know, we tend to in most high schools around the country think about our athletic programs at the high school level as being the, you know, the beall, the endall of of a high school career. I I tend not to think that way. Uh, but we do have outstanding uh opportunities for our students to participate in athletics and they perform quite well. So I'm going to conclude by next last slide Michael we have over this is these are just it's hard to read and I apologize again but what I want to emphasize is this over 200 colleges and universities in the past year uh have accepted our students this year we are sending students to Harvard Dartmouth Cornell John's Hopkins UMass Holy uh a variety of schools across Cal Berkeley, across the country, Syracuse, we got them all.
We'll have them on the next agenda. That was my error. I got them to Lisa late. Okay. Uh where are we? Here we go. I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended. Regular meeting 49205. Okay.
Hello. You're not shy. Um guys, uh how many years have you done prek? 2016. Uh in my experience in other districts, Dallas Unifi, Tucson Unified, I've never seen any prek teacher anywhere. Every single day should be every parent, right, Tyler and all the time. Absolutely. And so, u this is an honor of all your dedication and uh enjoy your next chapter in your life as the assistant business manager. But guys, let's give it up for she deserves Well, I think you'll find it easier to be a preschool teacher. Anything else? Okay. Uh Mr. President, uh that concludes the awards and recognition. I want to at this time, you know, all of our families and and students, families and teachers, uh you have a lot of things you got to do. go home and have dinner, do homework. You're welcome to do that right now. I know you maybe want to stay for the whole meeting, but you know you want to go home, too.
We talked a little bit about communication. So we we talked a bit about this um at the last um school board meeting. Um but I want to just go over the ways um that you can report bullying or events or issues. It takes I think someone said it takes an entire community. It takes all of us um reporting and talking and having open communication. So we would um just review these items. If you see a problem, if you hear a problem, please ask for help. have your child ask for help, you ask for help. Um, this includes talking to adults, um, includes teachers, counsel counselors, administrators, um, working with school principles to resolve any, um, issues that you don't feel have been um, resolved. Um, you can communicate concerns via email. Um, Parent Square, I think that was brought up. Um there's an anonymous um bullying report form that's on the school's website.
St. Michaels, you know, we got a couple St. Mike's grads up here. So, um but but what I'm what I'm trying to get at is our students are prepared when they leave here. And that is a credit to this community for supporting our schools uh and our educators pre-K through 12, preparing them to be successful. Thank you, Mr. Moderator.