Um, top of your head, am I missing anybody? I don't think so. technology. >> Oh, sorry. Technology IT department. >> Other follow-ups. Number one. >> No, that's it. Thank you. >> Okay. Um I'm satisfied with that answer be because if there's a lawsuit, it seems like those are the person almost likely to have to give up whatever cell phone could have info on it. >> Yeah. And I think where it came from years ago, like you mentioned, when I first started, I had my own and then this was I'll go I'll even go back to the days where cell phones first started coming out late 90s, early 2000s where you were charged per minute. You might some of you might remember that if you were early on the technology front. Um, you got a cell phone and like 10 cents a minute, right? So even if I called you, you were paying because I called you, right?
>> Any opposed? Thank you very much. We'll jump right into the highlight of well, one of the one of the highlights. We have so many things going on tonight. One of the highlights of tonight's meeting, Superintendent's Recognition and Awards, and I'll turn the time over to Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, if you'd join me in front of the dais for this evening's recognitions. Can you hear me? >> Yeah. >> Woo! First thing I've done right all day. Um good evening, everyone. How are you? >> Good. Looks like we got a pretty vibrant crowd here tonight. Before I get to the recognitions, I want to acknowledge a few people in the audience. Uh first from our superintendent student senate, uh these are juniors and seniors uh throughout our high schools uh that um are part of the superintendent senate. We meet on a monthly basis and we actually ask them to come to some of our events so they can see what we do and uh so they can kind of learn about what's going on in the district.
Perfect. Um I appreciate that. So, yeah, no, I I'm I'm certainly um you know, I think we we are from my point of view anyway, we're we're trying to work with with the town as best as possible while you know, advancing our district's strategic plan as as best as we can uh within the confines or the constraints of our of the budget. Um there is a $278,000 difference between where where our 2.5% from where we're coming in to where the town um you know wants to be. So, I'm hopeful that uh we can get closer uh to to funding our you know our budget request. Um do you feel optimistic, Mr. Carli? Uh I mean, certainly more optimistic than I was prior to our meeting on the 23rd. Obviously, there's you know there is a level of support and recognition for our needs amongst uh the community, the the other boards.
um who's given us quite a bit of good feedback on on the creation of this. So really thankful for that group. The uh the road map here is sort of the things that have happened prior to my appearance here at Dober Sherborn and and kind of where we're at right now. You can see we're at the green stop there. uh but we went through uh four stops before that of learning the basics of AI, assessing the tech capacity of our district, uh assessing the potential impact on teaching and learning, understanding privacy and data governance, and there's been a lot of talk about that on my end uh as we've introduced staff to the student data privacy agreements and the student data privacy consortium through tech. Uh and and then finally landing at step five of strategic alignment and guideline development. And that was getting that group together, going to the Kosen conference, building something together there and then bringing it to faculty that we could share.
>> Not because you called me. and conversations were really quick because people would rack up 10 to 10 dimes, right? >> Not a bad thing. >> So then when human beings, right, were administrators and the districts needed to reach people, they were paying people a I don't the correct word, a stipend, a reimbursement, >> a reimbursement or that always then that got iffy saying, okay, well, if you're paying me a reimbursement, does that mean you have a right to my information on my cell phone? All that kind of stuff. Um it's still done that way in some places still today, don't get me wrong. So just so um member Webb knows that, right? Not every place issues cell phones. Many do, but not all do. >> And then I think we're at the point now where most people most in life have phones and their unlimited minutes, all that kind of stuff.
So, uh if Mary Maguire and Carter Carmichael, please stand up. They're both from GCA. Mary's a senior, Carter's a junior. Welcome. Thank you guys for being here. And then from our Aspire program, which is uh a group of individuals who are educators who that are thinking about becoming administrators one day. So, we have an Aspire program that we kind of put them through the paces. They get a see a glimpse of what that looks like and tonight we have Mr. Jeff Singer from Aspire. Please stand. And smile. There you go. Big smile. There you go. All right. Thank you for that. Uh tonight we're going to honor a few different categories. The first one is our AP Honor Roll schools for the 2025. Launched in 2023, the AP School Honor Roll recognizes schools whose AP programs are delivering results for students while broadening participation. Schools can earn this recognition annually based on criteria that reflect a commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college readiness.
Uh so so we appreciate that very much. I I have a meeting tomorrow morning um with the town administrator. So, hopefully um you know we'll know a little bit more at that point, but um I'm going to update him based on what may may happen today um in this meeting. Okay, perfect. Happy to hear that. Um and then I see my my last uh point would just be that we're continuing uh to spend down school choice the $245,000. Um I'll just say after um you know certainly reading some of the local media, there's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks out there that think they know best uh with uh the school budget and uh how we should be spending school choice. Um I I will certainly say that spending school choice all at once in 1 year uh does not make any physical uh sense.
um using AI sort of as the catalyst for our portrait of a graduate and and three pieces uh in particular and those were uh innovation, critical thinking and empathy and citizenship and trying to think while we talk about AI as this sort of um disembodied voice that speaks to us through the computer putting um the human in the center of the loop and and anything that happens that while the innovation can exist through the AI tools um the human is the one that's going to start and end the process. Um that using critical thinking and and developing AI um intelligence as a human being um being able to to gain those AI literacy skills in every class, not just in a technology class, but for for an English teacher to say, you know, uh here's this tool that we're going to try out. Um, we wouldn't just hand you, if this were a technology class, we wouldn't just hand you a saw and let you go to work on some wood.
It's gone from, you know, limits on data and a lot of those things where sometimes it's just part of doing business like you have a phone number in life and you have a phone and we're going to use your phone. And we had these fancy, very expensive radios that were supposed I was supposed to be able to call >> the middle school principal, principal to principal, and it was supposed to be private and all of that. And they never worked because we were all a different channel. >> So I still would have to call and say, "Get on channel." >> You know what I mean? Like it just never quite worked. >> Are these cell phones used places other than the school buildings? >> Yes. So when you mean yes, no matter where I am. >> Okay. >> It's a regular cell phone. >> Well, I was just thinking because remember mentioned Google Voice and I'm just being very penny pinchery.
The AP School Honor Roll offers four levels of distinction: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. And tonight we have three schools that we would like to honor. So, from Gilbert Classical Academy, if you guys would come on up. Give them a hand. Come on, Mr. Dr. Hood. Now, Gilbert Classical Academy earned the platinum honor, which is the highest recognition. So, please give them another hand. If you guys would introduce yourselves and what you do at GCA and then you pass it down. I know, you were looking at me funny. >> Um I'm Dr. Hood. I'm the principal of Gilbert Classical Academy. >> Rebecca Jocelyn. I am a performing arts teacher and performing arts department chair. >> As Dr. McCord has already introduced, I'm Carter Carmichael and I'm a learner at Gilbert Classical Academy. And AP taker. >> Taker, pep head, all that kind of stuff. Hi guys, my name is Mary.
Uh we have fiduciary responsibility and to spend all of our school choice funds in 1 year um would put us in a uh a very bad spot for the following year. So, I you know I'm confident with this uh this budget plan. Um you know I certainly I would love to have seen everything else be funded, but I think going at the town, this shows that we're willing to work with the town. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Mr. Noons? Yep. Oh, um actually, Mr. Kylie, can you leave it up for a moment cuz I have a couple questions. Mhm. I got just one thing to make. I um Go ahead, Mr. Noons. Sorry about that. No problem. Thank you. Madam Vice Chair. Uh I appreciate the work that that has gone into this. Uh As I've kind of said before, I for one am am still torn with putting 50 59.2 million dollars uh as our budget type of deal, the six the 6.85%.
Uh, we're going to go over the safety precautions, etc. before we go any further. So, um, that's where the critical thinking piece comes in in AI literacy. And then lastly, the empathy and citizenship piece, understanding that there is ethical considerations to to consider. um that some of the boards of these companies are all white men, that um some of these companies, the algorithms are designed with bias. Um that bias does exist in in some of these products. Um and that we need to make sure that we raise good digital citizens and that our students are um only using tools that have been vetted by student data privacy consortium um groups. And of course that uh that center the human in the center of the loop centering the expertise the the core here the core principle is that AI is a tool uh that it's not going to be a replacement for human judgment or for instruction uh or for student engagement and that people should be aware of potential environmental impacts that AI may may have.
So like if you have a Google Voice number and set up just to use Wi-Fi, I wonder if you'd be able to get away with not actually having a contract. But you know what? That's an IT question. Not for me to micromanage. >> You could. And I think if you had Google Voice, I don't know much about it. I I get the concept of getting a different number on your phone. You can do that. I think that people might be >> an unlocked device. Buy it cheap purchase >> and then use >> You own these Wi-Fi. >> We do. >> You You own these phones. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, yeah. Anyways, I'm thinking of things that are going way too in the weeds technology and that is outside. >> No, I don't think you're too in the weeds. So, I think that's similar to what I was thinking, like how can we, you know, I get I'm over here just looking at a few hundred worth of savings, but how can we Well, I think well, the way that the way that it's out of my purview is coming up with the system of how to do it needs to be coming from it, not from just my big mouth of wanting to tinker with other people's toys.
I'm our student body president. >> I'm Vedra Colly and I teach multiple different things at GCA. >> Humanities, there you go. >> Humanities. Hey, give these guys a hand. What a great honor. If you guys would shake hands with the board and then stay for a picture, that'd be great. Well done, guys. Stay right here. It's picture time. >> Picture time. You guys stand in the middle, we'll crowd around you. >> Okay. Who wants to feel tall? >> That would be me. Well done, PCA. Next up, if I could have Highland High School, those individuals representing tonight. Come on, Chad. Listen, you can't argue with me from the stands. Goodness gracious. Yeah. Oh. >> I dropped my leg. >> You look good. You look good. Highland High School received the bronze 2025 AP School Honor Roll. Give them a hand. Introduce yourselves since you didn't know you were going to be up here.
Um I'm a little frustrated uh because I raised the question at uh when we were presented this budget at the beginning of February to say we need to make sure that uh town hall was aware of where we were going and it was emphasized that they had been at the budget subcommittee meetings. So, they knew where we were coming from. Okay? And why they didn't uh at that point in time or uh you know, maybe a week or so later uh say you know, we got a problem. We can't You can't do that or we we being the town cannot do that. Instead, they wait till you know, quarter past 4:00 for our meet our last night our meeting in March to uh to send us their their proposal. With that being said, I'll get off my soapbox on that. Uh we've got for discussion for and we had a little bit of a discussion with uh the uh kindergarten the $300,000 in the kindergarten stabilization type of deal.
Uh we spend a lot of time at the high school department at the high school faculty meeting talking about the impact of the technology that we use on the environment. um that as a tech department, we have a recycling plan that we work on um that all of our devices when they've reached their useful age uh that they're no longer useful, um we strip them down and break them uh out for the parts that we can continue to reuse uh ourselves. And then anything that's left over goes to an electronics recycling company who further breaks down those products and uh and moves on from them so that they're not just being thrown in a landfill. Um and the rule of thumb that we came up with was that AI generated materials should never be given to students or colleagues without being vetted by a human.
But yeah, it is something that >> Can you adjust the camera a little bit? >> Um, >> I can't see who's sitting next to Roland. >> It's handy. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Anyways, moving on from cell phones. Uh, why are we tracking food service vehicles only? >> They were something they decided to do. Huh? They being >> food service. >> Okay. Food serviceed. >> So, and when I did my one-on-one with member web, you know, she brought it to my attention and I verified not that it was, you know, they there was an issue. Apparently, the prior food service director had concern about some of them taking the vehicles, not necessarily for school related things. So, she had uh the trackers installed. So yes indeed that's what it is. So >> which are not secret in that. >> Yeah they're not all the employees.
>> Yeah, exactly. I'm I'm Mr. Taylor, Chad Taylor, and I teach AP Human Geography and AP Art History. >> I am Brian Yee, principal at Highland High School. >> Hi, I'm Lauren Harmon. I'm one of the assistant principals at Highland High School. >> Well done, Highland. Shake hands. Stay here. Picture time. >> No, these shorts are going to be memorialized in pictures. >> Well done. Thank you, Highland. And last but not least, if I could have those from Campo Verde come up. Campo Verde received the bronze 2025 AP High School Honor Roll. Congratulations to them. If you guys introduce yourselves. >> Todd Dumas, principal. >> Jeff Singer, administrator. >> Erica Helfrey, administrator. >> Shannon Lang, counselor. >> Monique Dor, assistant principal. >> Sarah McManus, counselor and AP coordinator. >> Congratulations, Campo. You know the drill. Shake hands and smile. Yeah, this is this is usually how it goes.
And no, I don't want to you know, and and we did have a discussion about using that for personnel, but again, we walk off that cliff next year because we don't have the $300,000 to fund that uh those positions. So, my thought has been and it may be all wet now after last night's selectmen's meeting, if it even happened, was to take some of that to take that $300,000 and and and Mr. Kylie and I had a discussion on this this morning. And Jim, I just came up with one other uh idea. But, you know, what part of the the use the $300,000 to you know, make the adjustment in the uh the the 15 grand that was cut from the music, the 107 that was cut from athletics. And again, this is trying to fix some things here. Uh with 15 grand uh and this is and then I Mr.
So you see the loop there. Human intent the AI draft the human uh vet vets and edits the product. And then lastly for me I'm sorry I have one more after this. Um understanding the scope of the AI iceberg that there are things that we're going to look at as as a staff and as students. um the generative AI tools like Gemini, like notebook LM um that those are going to be the focus of our academic guidelines. Uh at the same time, there are other tools that have AI built into them that we may or may not realize. If you go back all the way to the '90s and think about Microsoft Word 95 and our friend Clippy, who I think is on here somewhere, >> right? The sort of the first AI tool, right? You're writing in Word and it says, it looks like you're trying to draft a letter.