>> No >> my understanding from the attorney general's open meeting law guidance is that members may deliberate at a properly posted meeting since tonight agenda includes committee discussion at the FY27 budget. It's my belief that deliberation would be permitted. I just wanted to publicly say that. Okay. I um I am going to say that the legal council advised me that this is not a regular committee meeting. I have not called the meeting into order. Um so I am going to go with what I was advised >> then it's an open meeting violation for there to be a quorum on here tonight. So if we are not calling a meeting then one of us needs to log out so you can continue the meeting. Okay. I was not advised that there could not be a quorum. I thought >> if it's a quorum, it's a meeting.
So, um that said, I'll turn it over to Matt if you want to um give us any updates on the information you have and then we'll open up the board to any questions or concerns. Yes, I do have another PowerPoint uh I think shorter shorter than last time but with some uh context and tidbits if I can share my screen. Let's see. I think it is this one. >> Oh, I also while he's getting that ready, I also want to comment that um Scott had wanted to set up a Zoom with Matt to talk about a um just talk about a few issues that questions he that he had and I was there as well for that. um for those questions. Did you want to uh say anything about that, Scott? >> That was just this afternoon, kind of last minute. >> It a short little call this afternoon.
And then our students with disabilities. So that's often referred to from this Connecticut State Department of Education as high needs. So, if we're looking at our multilingual learners, we're at 37% of our student population are currently identified as multilingual learners. That does not count students who've exited because they've reached a level of language proficiency. So, that could that doesn't include um students who came to us as language learn uh multilingual learners and now are um exited from the program. Our free and reduced lunch number is at 56%. We get that number through students um whose families qualify through our SNAP benefits. So in the past we had people filling out forms and things like that, but this is students who directly qualify. And then students with disabilities, we are at an increase of 15%. So just as a reminder, our percentage overall, we have the highest percentage of students who are multilingual learners in the state of Connecticut.
This vision is supported by the ASDB regional cooperative agreement and the background image um which you can't really see on the slides uh here shows that because it is the state of Arizona with a bunch of connecting networks. Next slide. Um ASDB uh has regional cooperate agreements and amendments with 78 members in region one, 76 members in region two, and 94 members in region 3, bringing a total of 248 contracts across the state. The agreement outlines the specially uh the specialized services for deaf and blind students by participating in a cooperative program that shares resources among participating schools in the regions. Next slide. This agreement clarifies the allocation and collaboration and and equal equitable responsibilities between members of ASB. But the agreement does not uh reallocate any responsibilities of fate or free appropriate public education. That is still the responsibility of the district of residents.
Our Amplify uh contract ends this year. It was a seven-year contract. This is the last year of that contract, so it was time for us to look anyway. um AMPL any science program tends to go um be aligned to the NGSS standards which are the national standards. Arizona has messed with those standards. So finding a a program that matches the grade levels and what to teach um is difficult. Um so that's part of the reason we're not happy with Amplify because it doesn't align very well. So we're looking at others Um the assessments we use, we use DNA for ELA math and we also use it for science which is not up there. Um we you use that for both our benchmarks that we do quarterly and the teachers use that in the classroom for like their CFAs or their common formatives which are usually like five questions or so to measure how students are progressing um on a specific standard.
In TED Ed, we make speeches about things that we really love and we talk about how our talks are gifts to the audience. You're talking can be about anything. For example, bullying the real you or like mine, trash, waste, and pollution. >> Art ed. Take a deep breath. It's okay. It's good. Um, so we would like to invite you to our TED ed to our TED ed um >> presentation in April where we hope our speeches make a powerful impact. impact on our audience and they walk away inspired. May we hand you invitations, >> please. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Superintendent comments. Dr. Straer. President Mcronis, governing board members, members of the audience, uh just want to share a couple of events that have occurred since our last meeting. Uh yesterday I had the privilege of representing MUSD at the Northwest Fire District's annual award ceremony.
That's good. >> [laughter] >> Hang on. Hang on. Stay there again. >> [laughter] >> Yes, sir. I'm going to take a picture of myself and All right. Awesome. In in your honor, we have JC cookies in the hallway, so please take some. Keep them in your pockets for friends. >> [laughter] >> Great job, guys. [applause] Just want to congratulate those three students. What What a What amazing accomplishments. Um you know, I think back when my kids were in, you know, high school and did the athletics and the sports and how that really taught them leadership. It taught them teamwork. There's so much more um to it. So, well done. Congratulations to all three of them. Um so, next we have a JCSC information statement. Yes. So, this week I did share, actually yesterday, um with our families through Parent Square an information statement. I would like to read it aloud tonight so that community members can hear it as well.
>> Yeah, >> but Carter, he's holding Ariel. Looks like Bartal is better. >> Carter's specialty, though. >> It is. That's why if you see him in the air, you want to get him out of it as soon as possible. >> Mhm. >> Ooh. Down to the last almost 5 seconds. Four, three, two, one, and now we are into overtime. So, >> not yet. >> Once the ball hits the ground, then we hit overtime. But by the looks of it, Carter is carrying it. >> Overtime. >> So, now they do another kickoff in order to see where it goes. And that was a pretty neutral. I think we won that actually cuz the ball went into theirs. >> If the ball went into theirs, we won kickoff. It would be a perfect neutral if it went along the line. But since it went into theirs, we technically won it.
>> Have I thought we could have a quorum as long as we did not call the meeting the the committee to order. If that's wrong, then would you like to log out? >> Sure. >> I will log out and Rachel, if you can please update me after the meeting, I guess um as to what's going on. It's recorded, William, so you can watch the recording after the meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm really disappointed. >> Well, this is something that we need to clarify. Obviously, >> if there's three of us on here, it's a quorum and so then it is a school committee meeting and we would need to be called to order or we would be in violation. >> Well, I am going to go by what legal counsel told me. So >> yeah, >> if you want to log out, Rachel, I'm not logging out because I have to preside over the meeting.
Just wanted to understand more about what was, you know, how like the number of houses that were affected in that area. And you gave me some clarification on that. And then just some other um pieces that could be um affected like we talked about how the uh water treatment plant over there could also lose power. at the same time when those houses in that area loses power. Um I drove the street and looked at them. Um so I was didn't have as many questions about the physical trees but more about the area. How many people in Ashland were affected? How do we really you know understand like we pass this how does it improve the lives of those well hopefully you know the the power outage portion of the the lives for those people that live over in that section. Um so just kind of understanding more of that part.
And our per pupil expenditure as of the last um published data from 2324 uh according to the state was at 17,100. So just a quick background of what the accountability index is. This is kind of our district and school report cards that we get from the state. So those of you you are new to the board and or haven't kind of looked at this in a while, um it's a comprehensive framework that they developed in order to measure performance at a district and school level in order for us to identify improvement areas. So they have their own um accountability measures at the state that they need to say that they're working on. So this is an opportunity for them to to really monitor what's happening at the district and at a school level. And it's a great way for us to see how schools are doing and how we're doing overall.
Uh slide 10. Our next slide. Um the district of residents is responsible for the establishment of the IEP and adherence to all state and federal laws as well as all special education and related services to students that are in addition to the students hearing and vision loss. Next slide. Each member is responsible for transporting students to the what the what our uh agreement says is instant school or to what our agreement says is other school covered by the regional cooperative as well as cooperating with ASDB providing space non-specialized materials and other special education and related services. Next slide. ASDB outreach and cooperative services services does not include direct instructional services which means we are not the teachers of record for reading, writing, math etc. But we do support the access to the curriculum which can um include direct instruction for things such as braille or individual literacy and or concept development and means.
In grades K through four, we use um MCL class, which is also Dibbles, and that measures students reading skills. Um we use FastBridge for math across the district. And then for ELA in grades five and up, and that's um another skills-based, so it's not testing standards, it's testing the skills students have in order to reach the standards. And then 95% group we use for progress monitoring and reading in K through well we have it in K through8. So all of our all of the state assessments um are coming up right after spring break. So uh as actually just completed we take the AASA which is um reading and math. Arizona science for fifth grade and eighth grade. MSAA is the alternative test for special education students um with higher needs. And then the alt alpha is the alternate Azela test which is a for students who are second language learners but also apply um for special.
I was proud to represent our transportation team as they received the community service award for their quick professional response during last year's bus accident that involved the Kingman school bus on I 10. I think this is a great example of the vital role that our team plays in the safety of our community and it also highlights the strength of our partnership with Northwest Fire. We are incredibly proud of our drivers and our support staff in our transportation department for their dedication. Also, last week uh Vice President Raymond uh talked about uh our final working session of the strategic planning committee. And while we plan to bring this group back for a formal celebration of their efforts, the heavy lifting of the plan is now complete. We spent our final session fine-tuning our goals, strategies, and some specific action steps. Several board members have been a part of this uh process along the way, as well as there's some members in the audience that have been a part of this process along the way.
Um and there are copies in the hallway if anyone in the audience would like to to have one to follow along. Um so, I'm going to read this out loud. It is rather lengthy, um but I'm just going to read it as is, the entire statement. Um dear families and community members, we would like to take a moment to share information with our families and community regarding several concerns that have recently been discussed in online community forums and social media. We value open communication and understand that families want to feel informed, heard, and supported. Public schools operate under legal guidelines that differ from those of individual citizens when it comes to communication. While individuals may choose to publicly share information about themselves or their children, school districts are required to follow student privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, as well as employee privacy laws.
>> Even if we didn't get on ball first, we still won kickoff. >> So unlike the regular countdown who got a little close to our side comfort >> instead of the timer counting down like it normally would, overtime will actually count upwards to show how much extra time it took. >> Mhm. To get one goal. one goal. I would say this is a very good team matchup if it if we're sitting at zero zero going into overtime. It kind of reminds me of the national like teams going against each other like France versus uh >> oh Carter with the score 51 seconds >> 51 seconds to get there though. >> So that took 6 minutes and 15 seconds >> to score a 34 mileph goal. >> And if you don't know that's a very slow goal. Mhm. He walked it out. >> He walked it pretty much.
>> And it it's a meeting. So I I I I don't understand how we're not >> It was It's a forum, William. It is not a meeting. And it makes >> it's a meeting if there's more than three of us on on the call. >> I mean, that's what happens at town town meeting. You know, our we have four towns. They have to call the committee. if a committee is present. So if a committee is present then we have to call or we will be an OML violation and you did post a meeting. >> I posted a forum >> any but you posted that the school committee was going to be there and so then if we show up it is a school committee meeting. >> Okay. Well >> I'm gonna stay on the call and we'll see if there's an OML violation filed or not.
Yep. Great. All right. So, with that, I will turn it over to Matt. >> Uh, do you all see the PowerPoint? >> Yes. >> Excellent. >> All right. So, hello again, everybody. Uh, Matthew. Um, so on the left, I have some new introductory photos uh, compared to last time. So, these are photos I took um last summer, the most recent summer, uh during an outage investigation actually for the circuit. Uh there was a treecaused outage. Uh this is right near the hop the line with Hopkin. I think it's technically on the Hopkin side, but you can see where the you can from where this was taken, you can see uh where the road names changed. It's very close to the Ashlin portion. Um, and you can see that this tree has failed onto the wires on or it did at least. Uh, on the right you can see uh where we pushed it off to the side of the road, but at the top of the photo you can see where the primary high voltage wires are.
So what we really focus on is that number three, identifying improvement areas. So we drill down is is able to be our primary focus to say like how are we supporting leaders in the district both at central office and at the school level in order to pinpoint areas that we need to focus on in order to improve outcomes for all our learners. Um we have a tiered level support that often happens at the school level and um this is way that we determine that often um as well as the the proficiency levels at at school levels. So our accountability index values we put schools into categories. We don't get a category as a district. We just get an overall percentage that we earned for points. But with schools, their points put them into categories. So if you're a category one school, your accountability index is falling between 85 and 100.
Next slide. The agreement does have an addendum A attached to it and this gives examples of instructional opportunities that are available to member students. Next slide. Uh when member districts refer to a stu refer a student to ASV outreach and that student receives itinerant services then the ASV outreach teacher travels to the school where the student is enrolled and will provide the special designed instruction to the student at that school. These services are designed to be intermittent and are typically written in increments of quarterly, monthly or weekly. In addition to SDI, we provide training and consult to school teams. These are typical these are typically only one there are typically only one or two students at a single site that we serve and the teacher travels to multiple sites in a day and that is the that's itinerant services. Next slide. Cooperative services. Including cooperative services as part of our services now allows districts to travel to uh transport students who need services from a teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing or a teacher of the visually impaired to a single site.