An additional unique factor that is really specific to world language is that some of our partner schools currently offer Spanish. District 146, 118, 117, and 135 all offer Spanish at the middle school levels, providing students with the opportunity to accelerate their Spanish course sequence when they arrive at high school. with other partner schools not offering Spanish. This variance means that our students entering high schools come with very different levels of exposure and proficiency. And any new language need to be mindful of how it complements or competes with these diverse feeder programs. In order to ensure success and sustainability, the district is working through the following steps. A decision needs to be made whether the curriculum will be tailored specifically to implement a heritage Arabic course for native or home speakers or an L2 course for new learners. A decision needs to be made if the program will be offered as a full four-year sequence or as an elective opportunity for one or two levels.
Um, not just this tree is likely to fail at some point. Um, so three is the highest hazard rating, the highest potential risk. Uh, one is the lowest. Um, I have 21 trees at a three, uh, 21 trees at a two, and then four at a one. Um now the eight ash and the five standing dead trees uh half of the hazard rating three trees are dead. That's 13 out of 21 uh are dead trees. And the other trees that I put in that category are there because there's significant rot in the can there's significant rot. Uh there are mushrooms growing out of them. uh there sign uh a very long significant cracks in the stem um to earn that h that third hazard rating. Uh the twos are sort of in the middle. Uh they are trees that I want out um but not they're they're just not quite bad enough to get the three.
We need to assess how these offerings impact current staffing and our abilities to sustain the world language program. We need to establish caps to accommodate the staffing limitations and encourage existing teachers with the Arabic bilingual endorsement to complete the required proficiency test for a world language endorsement. We need to evaluate the feasibility of offering a course at a single building rather than implementing it in all three district schools. And the district would need to invest in professional development for any staff members who hold the bilingual endorsement and seek the world language endorsement in actful high lever teaching strategies and methods that are specifically designed for teaching second language acquisition. As I mentioned at the beginning, we're currently in the administrative review phase pending resolutions of the decisions I just outlined and impact from our staff members and community. A formal recommendation will be presented to curriculum advisory education committee and the board of education.
And then the ones are trees where uh a lot a lot of the ones are they're just kind of leaning um and they're a little bit too close but they don't really have any other defects. Um or I think there's like I think I have two undergrowth trees on here uh that are uh not wire compatible. Uh that is they grow so quickly that and they sprout so aggressively when they are pruned that they are not able to be controlled by pruning. Um and I think something that's really important to >> Can I ask a question just about that last slide? Um didn't you say for the three category that half of half of that 21 are dead? Yes, >> but in the chart right above it, five are dead. Like I count how the two charts relate. >> I'm I'm counting the eight as uh part of that 13.
>> Thank you. >> That was a great presentation and and the one thing I I need to emphasize and I need to emphasize it to everybody in this room as well as the board. This is what is supposed to happen in our schools. the administration is supposed to do this type of work. This is not the board's job. Okay? So, I do thank the board for not passing the motion last month because if we did, this would not be happening. We would be forcing the district to do something that they're not ready for. Our job is not to do the day-to-day operations of this district. Our job is to give that work to the people who know best. Nita, Dr. Noline, Chuck, Charles, the other people that are out there that work for the district. That's their job. We hire our superintendent to bring in this team to do this work.
So I >> these are the ash the ash are aggressively infected with a pest that kills them very quickly. >> So those 13 that 8 plus five is all kind of or almost all of them are in that three category or maybe they all are. >> Yes, they are. >> Okay. Thank you. to the board. I sorry for butting in. I just want to also add that um of the four lowrisk trees that Matthew mentioned, some of those are undergrowth trees. Um what those mean is those are trees that their trunks are so small you could probably wrap a single hand around them and close your fingers together. Um at most maybe or two hands. So they're very very quite small and they're just starting to grow into the power lines. Um usually those are very fast growing trees um that within one or two years will be tangled up in the power lines and causing fires.
It is not our job as a board to tell you what to do. is our job as a board to approve or disapprove the recommendations you bring to us. So once again, I thank the board for doing what was correct last month. And I hope everybody in the audience understands that the reason that motion died was because that is not our job. That is not our responsibility. That is their responsibility. And once they get to the point where they are able to make us a recommendation, then at that point we as a board will do our job. But until that time, we need to let them do their job. Please understand that because I don't think most of you do. And I think if you did, some of the comments that we've gotten, we would not have gotten. Okay? because we are doing what we are here for.
And so those are why those are being targeted while they're still small and don't have a lot of wildlife value or habitat value. Um, and that also encourages it releases um trees that are a little bit further back by allowing more sunlight to get to those trees as well so that they they grow the trees that are in a better location are going to grow rather than trees that are going to cause fires. >> Yes. And mass general law defines a tree in the right of way as one and a half inches in diameter. That is these laws were written a long time ago. um that is not an industry standard for what we understand as a tree. The forest service I think uses five or six inches in diameter to define a tree. Um so in in that way um these laws are a little outdated but they're what we have to work with.
And so, thank you for the wonderful presentation and all the work that you are doing. And when it is time for a recommendation, then we will determine yay or nay. >> Please don't make the assumption that we don't understand. Thank you. >> Okay, I'm going to let we're not going to engage. Um, but I'm going to let other board members speak because I know other people have different thoughts and opinions. So, Tim, would you like to add anything? >> You can we can ask questions now. >> Asking questions. >> Yes, you guys listened very well. I know you guys had some listen. This is taking, as Dr. Nelting said, a unique path. Um, that is why we asked for this presentation tonight and what I said last month. I stand behind that people have had various thoughts with this. this has come to us a different way than usual and and that's okay.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Um so I think something that's really important to contextualize this proposal is um 46 trees is a lot of trees. I think it's the most that I've come to the Ashlin planning board or my predecessor came to the Ashland planning board at any one time. Uh it's almost 50. You know, uh when you look at them on a spreadsheet, it's a lot. Um but I do want to stress that these trees, the majority of them, basically any of them that aren't on cross street are bordering a state park. Um, I would consider these not street trees per se. They're forest trees that we built a road through. Um, these aren't these aren't um big stately oaks that, you know, they only went around for a block or two. Um, they are in the middle of the woods. Um, the DCR figure for the acreage of the state park total is 1500 acres.
Um but um I know if that one slide that you had was kind of where the next steps some of the steps I do think we do have to talk about. Some of the steps more to the right I personally think are more administrative like class cap and stuff like that. But that being said I want to open up for questions. So thank you for having your patience Tim then Chris and we'll kind of >> Yeah. This is an amazing presentation. There's so much information that that we've had a lot of community members out for quite a while now asking these kind of questions and you know these are questions that we haven't had answers to either. So you guys did an amazing job putting this all together. And I want to remind everybody too that you know this is something everybody can access uh you know from here and in the future to go see you know go back as far as our uh certification requirements for anybody who's interested in eventually becoming an aerobic instructor the possible ways we can go with this you know for future comment down the road.
A quarter of that about is in Ashland. I actually I think it's a third uh especially when you take into account the water. Um but I want to go I'm going with a quarter because I want to lowball these numbers. Uh and you'll see why in a second. Um a 19 a 2019 to 2020 study I found published by the forest ecosystem monitoring cooperative at actually my own alma mater the university of Vermont. It's actually authored by a former professor of mine which is a fun little discovery I made today. um gave a status uh report, a lengthy one on Massachusetts forests. Uh and it found that in areas that are considered forested um they're counting on average 190 trees per acre. So going back to previous slide, 1500 acres for the state park given from the DCR. A quarter of that is would make it 375 acres.
So I thank you for that. Um, one of the questions that I have is we were talking about National Lewis and um, what was the other institutional that does certification? Is there any kind of feelings that there might be other institutions coming in the near future who may be offering >> these endorsements? >> Not that I'm aware of. Um, as of uh, early this week, I confirmed with the regional office of education, the South Cook office, that those are the two uh, ISBY approved programs. So, I haven't heard of any universities um in addition uh that have have received ISB's approval right now. Those are the two programs that is publicly available on ISBY's website. >> Anita, I'm going to um I know because I asked you this question the other day about the universities with you trying to say if you've partnered or you trying to offer like student teaching, come with us.
190 trees per acre times 275 acres mean that in the Ashland portion of this park there are 71,250 trees. Um the United States Forest Service figure for the annual natural mortality rate in New England forests and this is just from forests doing what forests do. the trees are competing with with each other for resources, getting attacked by um native pests that are part of the local ecosystem, droughts, what have you. 1% of trees die every year. Um this would mean that the expected natural mortality rate every year for the this the uh the Hopkin State Park portion in Ashland is 713 trees every single year. And uh I'm asking for 46 trees. Um a portion of those 13 of those have already died. Uh so they technically wouldn't even count for this math. Um so uh in one project I am asking for um the amount of trees that die each year in ash in this state park or uh in Ashland is 15 times uh the number of trees that are on this tree list.
Are you having any success with that right now? No, I have not uh heard of any candidates in um either programs. Um but both deans of students know to contact me. Um and we would support any uh future candidates in any way possible. >> Okay, thank you Christina. >> Um yeah um I appreciate you I guess the very last slide with the timeline on there >> because that's kind of where my question center around. Um I mean we're in February, right? And like we're on the administrative review which is tag like for September. So like arguably we're way ahead of schedule um you know to get this implemented. Hopefully we have like a glide path towards approval for Arabic in November and then implementation for like 2728 school year. Is there anything at all that we can do to try to get those next three steps done before like the end of this school year?
And going back a few slides, this is a tiny tiny little corner of Ashland. Uh this is not a large area relative to the rest of the town. Um there's a lot of trees that are dying each year. Um this is not a number of trees that the forest is going to notice. It's less than what it's already dealing with. And that is the end of my session. >> To the board. I'm just going to add in also to Matthew's point on that regarding how many trees are falling there. Um, for anyone who's driven down cross street or how street uh during a storm or right after a storm, you're familiar with how many limbs and branches fall on the road and it's kind of hazardous to drive down. I myself have gone down there during some of the storm water inspections under the conservation hat and had to get out of the vehicle and move trees off the road because it was impassible.
Because my biggest concern is that if we have a very narrow window of, you know, job postings for that, you know, world language teacher with the certification that's like so narrow that, you know, we might miss, you know, people that are out there. I mean, and I I certainly don't want to put, you know, the cart before the horse as far as like meeting with the teachers association for the clicker advisory and and getting feedback from them, but it would just be, I think, like exponentially more successful if we could have a job posting like well in advance of next February so that you know those applicants are are finding us or maybe even into their final year of college could say, "Hey, maybe I'll take these other courses over the next 18 months to get that qualification or or something like that. >> Yeah.
Um, and that this happens almost every storm we get. So, you know, there are trees coming down. There are branches coming down. And most likely the trees that are listed here, if they're not taken down by Ever Source as part of this job, is going to come down on their own before their next cycle in five years. and when they do come down, there's a higher chance that they're going to take the wires with them as opposed to being assisted down now um in a safe manner. So, that that's part of the the reasoning why they're doing it this way as opposed to just letting it happen naturally. Um obviously with the conservation hat on, we'd love to to leave even dead trees standing. wildlife value there. But we also have to think about, you know, we don't want our residents in Ashland going um without power during a storm because a tree fell down and we have to clear the tree to even get to the wires and it can take hours, sometimes a day or two.
C can I just add on to that? Like I was thinking in my head like if we could post a job in September that would give a whole bunch of people some time >> to think about if they want to move because frankly 230 is a good district and we do um poach people, talented people from other districts and uh we want to poach some good people for our district. Is there any I mean two questions. When do we usually post a job for world language teacher and can we move it up a couple months to kind of lay out this big runway to invite uh new talents people into the district. So if I can just jump in real quick and then Dr. McMillan might might have some. We we post you're going to hear in a few moments you're going to hear my updates to you about staffing for next year.
Um, as well as we don't want to have fires in the the middle of a wooded area along the the state park and with our water treatment plant uh down there as well. Um, you know, this is kind of a priority area for for Ashlin to make sure that we keep our power and we're not etching on fire. >> Yes. Thank you, Becca. And in fact, when we were doing our site walk, Becca and I um back in February, uh we added a few of these trees actually were added at Becca's request for that reason. They're not really they're not threatening the wires that much. But if we're going to if Everource is going to be in town uh doing tree removals, uh we may as well get these trees as well if they're not necessarily threatening the wires, they are threatening the road and the right of way.