I mean, it's a very basic thing I'm saying right now. We'll come up with some lisbang words on how to say it. But I mean, I actually wrote, "What new initiatives have we been using and has it made a difference?" And share with the board >> and so right and so now now I'm writing goal and I'm trying to figure out the words for that. But I think that the bones are there enough to >> write the goal with our goalith. >> So I'm putting a lot of pressure on you. >> I shouldn't have said >> and then I mean not to have the goal but with an attitude of flexibility and recognizing like >> it's okay if it didn't work. We we can shift gears and we don't have just because >> you know we bought into that two years ago doesn't mean we have to >> it's doesn't have to be our hill to die on right I mean we can have a attitude of flexibility >> recognizing when >> it's not going well.
Yes, some of these are unfilled positions. Those are easy positions, right? You can say, "Hey, when you're looking at your budget, looking at your household, what are what are costs that are on your budget currently that you can pull out that that are not going to impact students immediately?" We've done that. We have made an effort to ensure that the financial stability and the fiscal responsibility of the schools is taken into account here. We are reducing positions as well. Director of social emotional learning, our special ed coordinator position, middle school Spanish position, nursing, we have teachers who are retiring that we're not refilling those positions. It comes at a cost in terms of increased class sizes for sure. Those are things that concern me in the future, but it's the right thing to do now. And that's my point in terms of looking at the budget in the broader context.
I mean, we have a couple months before these um >> Yeah, I just didn't know if that contact from Halo was helpful. The gentleman I spoke to. >> So, he I think he's an installer, right? He from Halo. Is that the I think so. So, >> so that I mean I have like five contacts from before when we met with Brookfield Care. So, >> okay. A whole list addition. >> Yeah. There's like there's like four or five people that were on that Zoom. So, I mean the drip grant's great, right? It can get funded, but if we can use the drip grant to fix schools somewhere else and get more grants. Absolutely. Certainly. So, absolutely. >> I will do some time. >> I'll call the gentleman that I spoke to originally and just get the other contact information. >> Excellent. >> Just just one other quick thing on that.
And then we're working on um starting a pilot at the beginning of the year. We all were very hopeful that we could adopt something before the first before the school year starts, but it's proving to go a little slower than we anticipated, which honestly I'm not too upset about because I'd rather really look at all the curriculum that people are interested in, make sure our whole district has the chance to pilot and do sample lessons, and then do the survey at the end to let us know if they liked it or didn't like it. um because we want to make sure that what we get people are excited about and that we think is the best program for our students. So if that has to get pushed off a little bit, I mean not really excited about that, but I'd rather do that than just rush and then maybe have something that not everybody is is excited about and feels good about.
>> I would say not only I was going to say not only can we I think we I mean I would go further to say I think we should If if we're not seeing growth and we're spending to Tom's point, we're spending money on it. Then why are we spending money on it? Like and we want that being said, you know, sometimes it takes new programs a while to show you can't also just say, "Oh, you had you had one school year." I mean, that's not fair either. But you but you need to we can do research to figure out like in schools for this whatever has been successful, how long did it to kind of establish the pattern of being able to collect um accurate data if that makes sense >> like a not to just keep you know using the technology example but I think sometimes when you invest a lot of money in something um you know there every part of you that wants to see that that's working well and um yeah not wanting to jump ship right away because there's been a large amount invested in that and so rather than yeah just ditching it anyway >> my point being like yeah just an attitude of flexibility and being willing to shift gears when >> if it if well taking into consideration all the many other variables because 35 kids in a class are 35 different kids and for one isn't going to work for the other.
Most mentioned this earlier, our pupil, our per pupil ranking, what we spend per child in Ashlin compared to the state, we rank 362nd of 396 school districts. I'll be honest, it's a catch 22, right? We outperform many of these districts, most of the districts in the Commonwealth by spending less money. I get that. I get the argument. My fear is if we don't continue to figure out how to stabilize our budget, we will see us drop in terms of our performance. We do more with less. We talk about having uh the ability to be financially um thoughtful um to look at go back Michael just one slide sorry we've built programming I've come before this body numerous times I I was telling Fran Blake earlier this is my 17th year now in Ashlin 13 as superintendent and what I've recognized is we've built tremend tremendous programs for our students in this district.
No, and you know, I just wanted to thank Brookfield Cares again for for the effort on the grant. This >> y >> was when I was >> and they, you know, worked great with the schools and so, you know, in the last meeting that I sat in on with them, you know, we're continuing to brainstorm ideas around how to move forward with the education that was planned with that and and opportunities to do that. So, >> I just I did want to thank them. >> Yes. >> Again, for the the effort there and, you know, of course disappointed we didn't um >> Yeah. >> get that grant. So, >> yeah, they've been great. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And just lastly, we continue to look at how power school can help us also with our data management. Uh especially around, you know, legislation that came out more recently with challenging behaviors and things like that.
So that's the math data and then of here's the summary. um on or above grade level nearly doubled by spring. One level behind stayed relatively stable at 40% to 47%. This indicates that while students were moving up from two or more grade levels behind, pardon me, which drops from 38% to 25%, they're still landing in the one grade level behind category and not yet crossing the threshold to proficiency, which clearly we see with a percentage. Um and then the most significant movement was uh 13 point drop in students who were two or more um levels behind. So that's math. And then on this next one, I thought typically when I give you guys the data, it kind of stops there, right? Um so I thought, well, it might be interesting to look at the the domains that are tested in both reading and math and where students are scoring there.
Um, and so I struggle with trying to come up with data when every kid is so different, you know, and the the get up and move math classrooms that I've gone in and observed that are just fantastic might not work for a group of students who are like, you know, I just want to learn and be in my in my seat, you know? So, >> um, while that strategy might be a great strategy for some, many, most, who knows? >> Is it the only strategy or do you use a variety of strategies in a classroom to meet the needs? >> And then how do you scientifically get any data on that? >> It just teach, you know, talented teacher who can adapt those learning styles. Create a environment where everybody finds right. >> Well, nobody said it was going to be easy. >> No, it's >> but I think we can start somewhere.
For the students, when the great question about how much does it cost to have our students go out of district, how much are we reimbursed? This number here, 10.7 million, is an estimate of an annual savings by building programs in the district. It's great work. I'm thankful for this community supporting that. Thank you, Mike. But what the budget still doesn't do, we're not talking about our capital needs. The $14 million of capital needs that exist just for the schools, critical facilities, infrastructure. These are going to require separate conversations with with the town, the select board finance committee. It's pretty significant.
How do we um really capitalize on using P school as our data warehouse um and filling in information where we can uh access it more readily uh and ensure that it's in a location where um it is is kind of true, right? And and data validity is important. So, uh, we are working I've been working with the principles and our power school managers that actually reside here at the high school, uh, in doing so and we're coming up with some great solutions. I'm really, um, it's really promising there. Some of them are writing kind of code behind the scene. It's just impressive what folks can do and we're building out some really good stuff. So, I'm excited to, you know, be able to have that in place also to launch for next year. Um, so that way we have a way in which we can ensure that our our data is in the right spot.
um to kind of drill down a little deeper and go like, okay, maybe we need to be spending more time focusing on an area that maybe um the kids are are struggling more in. Or maybe we have a whole bunch of kids in yellow in an area and if we just really do some more work there, maybe we can get a bunch of those kids in yellow up to proficient um if we spend a little more um dedicated time on on those domains. So that's what this graph is um for reading and it's only for the spring diagnostic so the end of the year. So that shows you um the percentage of kids green is on or above. Yellow is one grade level below and red is two or more for each of the domains. So under at the bottom you have phonics, high frequency words, vocabulary, comprehension as a whole and then they split it out to comprehension of literature and comprehension offormational text.
>> Well, and I think >> you choose three things within that to really look at instead of >> start small. >> But I I think that's >> Oh, yes. Go ahead. >> Um I I would agree Gail with what you're saying about um I think what you might be trying to say is not just um having different ways to deliver something but but also looking at the goals as different ways of um different metrics to determine if the goal is successful because it'll be different for different populations of students. Um, within the LCAP world, um, as parents, we some of us attend those meetings each year and the goals are delivered to us, but we never circle back to, well, what how did it work last year and what was the change that you guys did last year and did it work? Because the goals just kind of keep repeating.
So the two paths forward we have and I'm over my three minutes Mr. Mr. Schuster, I apologize, but the override, which is structural stability, freeing up school choice funding to help with strategic needs, long-term sustainable growth and a path forward versus reliance upon one-time funds, depleting those one-time funds, and then having to come back to this community saying, "We need an override. at a significantly higher amount in the future. Deeper cuts. That's the reality if we continue to rely on one-time funds. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Mr. Herbert, I'm going to ask you for a moment, please. Right now, I'm speaking directly, even though I'm looking at the folks in the auditorium, I'm speaking directly to the folks in the cafeteria. If you are in the cafeteria and you're in the possession of an orange card, you're not going to be able to vote unless you're in this room.
Uh, we can always access it and it's valid. Um, and I know the high school grad party hasn't happened yet, so I I'm just keeping it honest. Very important. If you're interested, you can help out. Please do. Quick shout out on that for the grad party to all the parents that we had a lot of parents show up on Saturday morning to help us move stuff for the Savers fundraiser. I just want to say thank you to all those that showed up. We really had a lot of help. So, thank you. And yes, help out with the grab party, please.
So that kind of drills down a little closer. And then I did the same um for math. So math is number and operations, algebra and algebraic thinking, measurement, data, and geometry. >> Yeah. So that's where we're looking going into state testing which a lot of state sites have already started state testing. So um encouraging growth um more in reading um hopefully we see that again on our CAST like we did last year um but again we'd like to see the percentage in green higher in both reading and math. So, those are things that we're going to be paying close attention to and probably making not probably making some changes in um what's expected instructionally during the day for the upcoming year and um kind of doing some things different to see if see if that'll be helpful um with our scores. >> Questions? I have a question.
And I think that as the public, it would be great to see that accountability process happening in real time. I think the metrics that sometimes even with LCAP they use to determine if a goal was met >> aren't necessarily indicative of if this student population it was meant to serve if that goal was successful or not. >> Right. Right. >> Sometimes it's more of did we do it rather than did it work. >> Exactly. >> Yes. >> Thank you for that. >> Yeah. >> Excellent point. >> How about section three? Great conversation. >> Yes. >> Well, obviously num number seven was the weekly. You scored pretty well in all of the confidential matters. Confidential Participate professional development putting in the time and energy. >> Participate at professional development for the trustee or >> yes for the individual trustee. This was you answered it for yourself.
There are dozens of empty seats in this room. I'm going to ask the folks who are sitting next to empty seats to raise their hands so when folks come in from the cafeteria, they'll be easy to identify where those seats are. If you are not in the auditorium, you will not be able to vote or otherwise participate in town meeting. Only in the auditorium. So, as folks come in, if you just want to sort of raise your hand that there's a seat next to you and they'll be able to easily see that. I thank you very much, Mr. Herbert. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. So the presentation I plan on doing tonight for article 4 um consists of again the broader budget and then also talking about some of the municipal departments.
Any questions? Other questions? Got to go to the prom. Saw you walk in, but I didn't get to talk to you. >> It was pretty awesome. That was a great venue. So, >> okay. >> All right. Well, thank you, sir. Um, we will move on to our subcommittee reports. We'll start with finance. >> All right. Thank you, Rob. >> Absolutely. Um our last uh finance committee meeting was on April 14th. Um and I'll start with the uh regular reports. Um we had the check registers over a thousand. There was no particular questions from the team on that. Um Casey presented the overall status um of our year-to- date budget which we are trending to about 450k surplus. uh that's only uh a 0.82 variance on the whole budget. So very tightly managed and that surplus is not new news. It's continuing from the special education transportation uh overage that we saw over the summer.
All grades, right? Everybody uses I Ready? Um yeah, it's that um kinderland doesn't take the first diagnostic. >> I was looking at the like we scored really well in the high frequency words and phonics and it made me think of like the lower grades and I thought well maybe middle school doesn't do this but there's middle school phonics and high frequency words and yeah they started out at that and then like typically the older kids like test out right like they do well on that but we do have some older kids that are still struggling in that area. Um, so I could even I could I thought about drilling down even more like with this per grade level. Um, I didn't get to it, but I certainly will do that. Um, and the principles will be looking at that and of course the teachers. Um, but yeah, since it's all the way up to 8th grade, um, that's probably why that green bar is significantly higher than some of the other school.