001Welcome to the Wattsburg Area School District where we are student centered and future focused for a world-class education. Uh would you all please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'll now call to order the Monday, October 13th work session. Uh we did meet prior to this work session uh an executive session uh to discuss some personnel matters. Uh may I please have a roll call? >> Mr. Blazer >> present. >> Mr. Bumagen >> present. >> Mrs. Berlingham >> here. Mrs. Heatherington >> here. >> Mrs. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Morve >> here. >> Dr. Pushchek >> here. >> Dr. Williams >> here. >>
002Mr. Young >> here. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bendig. All right, Dr. everywhere. >> We'll turn for school reports. >> Uh actually, we have an academic uh update from the elementary and we can do that uh at this time where school reports are on the agenda. So along with the gavvel, the pointer's missing. So unless someone's got a laser pointer, you'll have to kind of follow along. So all right. Well, good evening everybody. For those of you who were with us last year, I just want to refresh you on um some of our goals and where things uh ended up at the end of last year at the elementary center. So these are our 2425 data results. Nice. Oh, mouse is different than mine. Oh, just a roll on that. >> Thank you. So, just something
003to uh kind of pat ourselves on the back about. I think I may have mentioned this last year, but on the future ready index, we did have our all student group exceeded the standard um demonstrating growth 100% in each area of ELA, math, and science. So, a big pat on the back for our students for that. They did a great job there. And I just wanted to refresh you with some of the historical PSSA data that we had. So looking back I have the last year data for um excuse me the year prior data for 24 uh 23 and 22. So you can see that consistently we are making growth. There were a couple years there for um our third grade ELA. We we were off a little bit um less than a or 1%
004full on that area and then off a little bit more for fourth grade ELA less than a full percent. But historically we have been making growth in all areas on the PSSAs in ELA and in math. So that's a positive for us. Those Yes, thank you. Those are grow, right? Growth for those that are proficient and um advanced as well. So, I was going to show you with the pointer, but I'll just read it uh for you. We are also above the state average in all of those areas as well. So, every single one of those we we did exceed the state. Just real quick, if we're starting over here in third grade with ELA where we had 67%, the state average for proficient and advanced was 55.8. 8. So we uh exceeded quite highly
005there. 54 for the next 52.3. When we head into fourth grade ELA, we had 57.4if excuse me, they had 57.4. The state had 51.8 and 52.2. So you can see that we we are exceeding the state. Looking at third grade for math 51 in uh 2024. For 2023 was 51.7 for the state, 47.7 for 2022 for the state. And then that last group of columns there for the scores, the state had 48.6 and then 46.5 and 42.3. So we've been doing a nice job exceeding the state average. Now, the scores have not come out yet. They will be out actually on Thursday. So, I'm looking at the raw data that we had. And unfortunately, when you're looking at everything in the red, this is the raw data from the spring. So, not what you would
006hope to see. Although, I am hearing rumors that this is common statewide. I don't know if it a lot of it has to do with that transitioning over to um computers for the testing for the students. We transitioned for our fourth grade and our third grade will be transitioning this year completely which is it is somewhat concerning for me because when I look at it we actually the the lowest area that we went down in was third grade ELA and that was um 19.6% 6% and they did not transition yet from last year into the computer. So, originally my thought was maybe typing out, you know, the long open-ended responses kind of got to them, but that would have not been the case. So, I'm anxious to see what the data shows on Thursday and
007to dive down to the deeper strands to see exactly what what transpired there. But all in all, I mean, there was a dip, but nothing um not as as much as I'm hearing through um some other friends of mine that are in administration of the dips that they may have made. So, I am anxious to see what happens statewide. In math, it was uh 5.3% for third grade and ELA for fourth grade was 4.1 and math for fourth was 7.3%. So again, preliminary and looking forward to see what comes out on Thursday. Okay. And then I just broke that down for you. So pairing off of what we talked about last year, we really were focusing on um our intervention time and again to refresh you, that's the time in the day where we don't
008teach anything new. It's a 50inute period of time where the students are going to the different interventions that they need and they're getting what they need to help succeed in the classroom. It can be a more focused tier one support or it can be a tier 2 support by going to title. Uh we do break the kids up into smaller groups based on their acadians benchmarking for ELA. And so once we take out um like our 10% of title kids, then we're looking at the remaining of the class switching up between the five other teachers. Some of them are teaching our kids that are bubble kids that are are not well below benchmark but are below benchmark and could be running that risk of going into well below. So we work a little more intensively
009with them. Uh we use the 95% program which I had touched on last year as well. So we're we're giving them some focus and then we're working on our kids who are maybe at that yellow point moving into the green. So that would be those that are below who are trying to move into the at benchmark. We usually have about two groups of those students. And then we have our students who are green and blue who are usually at benchmark or above benchmark. And we have a group or two of them depending how many students there are per grade level. So, I'm just putting this here because this is the acadence um definition. And when you see the red, when I show you the different visuals that we have, that's showing you that these students
010in that red area for ELA are considered to be well below benchmark. And they have a 10 to 20% chance of future success. That is their prediction. So, that's high risk. And obviously, we're very concerned about those students. We want to make sure that we can get them reading and um leaving us with as much of a foundation as we can offer as they're heading into middle school and beyond. So that was really our focus last year was to increase those tier 2 supports which includes title and the intervention and get those students moving out of the red. >> I have a question if I can. >> Yep. >> Is the pull out title support still limited to 15 pupils per grade level? Last year at the end of the year, we were able to
011rearrange the schedule so that we could have 20 in some of our groups. This year, we're looking at 15 for some, 20 for others. The concern is that the way uh title is written, we can't have our students pulled out during core academic time where they're learning something new. Uh we want to make sure that they're still being given the core curriculum. So, we've been talking about how can we make adjustments in the schedule to maybe get that intervention time larger, you know, a little more time for the kids. We're being creative. Some of our students this year, um we're going to pull out during their morning meeting time, but again, that's an important time for the kids to get to share things and be star of the week. So, it's it has been difficult
012trying to balance um where we have free time. there's just not enough hours in the day. So, at this moment in time, it's it is 15 to 20. So, I just wanted you to understand the probabilities because I'm going to be showing you a lot of the Aaden stat data and you're going to see a lot of colors. We talked about the red being the students that are well below benchmark below benchmark and you can see for yourself they're saying, you know, 40 to 60% of future future success is likely. So these students are at some risk and these are the students that we tend to have in our intervention time group with a teacher who is doing um either a double double dose of foundations or a 95% group which is another phonics program
013that we have for them. So that's what we work on with them that targets specific skills. Then jump past the blue go to the green. That's our our next step. Those are the students that are at benchmark and then blue would be the students that are above benchmark. Okay. And here's why I was going to laser point for you. So, you're going to see a lot of these little half circles here. And this I pulled right off of our Clever portal to show you the Aadence data. So, we get this every time we benchmark. And we benchmark three times a year. We do that in the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year. Those are benchmarkings. We still progress monitor throughout the year. So our students who
014are in the red, we're going to progress monitor them more. Usually about every two weeks so we can see how they're doing, if they can come out of a title group, maybe go back into one of the intervention groups in the classroom or maybe we see kids who are in the yellow and um is there opening or a space for them in title. So we want to progress monitor every couple of weeks. Our students who are in the yellow, it's about every three to four weeks. And then our students in the green and the blue, they're usually holding pretty steady with benchmarking, but though of course teachers can administer progress monitoring if they feel they need to. So when you look at that nice thick black line, we're trying to get students, you know, as
015close to that line as possible and ideally over the line. We'd love to see 80% of our students in the green or the blue. So, when you're looking down at the bottom, how the red and the yellow kind of come together, this is an interactive site, which you won't be able to see, but this is where I get the data from. That will show me together how many students are um well below or below. And then when I'm looking at the green and the blue, you'll see that other line across the top there. And that tells me how many students are at and above combined. So, I'll be talking mostly about our students that are in the red because that was our focus and goal was to try to get as many students as we
016could out of the red, but I will also share with you some of our blue and green data together for those that are at and above benchmark because they really did make some good progress. All right. So, BOI, beginning of the year, EOI, end of the year. So, on the left hand side, you're looking at the beginning of the year data. And then, right, that's the middle of the year data, which I didn't list for you, end of the year. And then I'm showing the percentage of students that actually moved out of the red. So when we're looking at kindergarten started the beginning of the year at 38% ended with 15%. These are students in red. So 23% of our students moved out of the red. When I'm breaking that down to actual bodies. So
017we started off with 31 kids in kindergarten that were in the red and then by the end of the year we had 12 students that were in the red. So that was wonderful to see that kind of movement. Okay. And then when I'm looking, the numbers are small there, but we had uh 81 students to 80. So we only lost one child. Sometimes that that can kind of skew the data a little bit because those numbers change, but we stayed fairly consistent there. Stayed consistent with the number of students we had in first grade, going from 41% of the students in the red to 35 of the students in red. So that's 6% of students that we had movement with. When we're talking actual bodies, we went from 45 to 39. So, six kids that
018we saw there. Second grade did have a shift of the amount of students. They had 95 at the beginning and then at the end of the year they had 91. So, they lost four students. I did go through and and look and see they were students unfortunately that were in the green. Um, but we did go in the red from 31 bodies to 23 bodies. So 37% to 25%. So that was 12% of students that moved out of the red. So when I'm looking at all of this, especially for our primary grades, and this is where we tend to have the lowest amount of students that are identified learning support, and and oftent times when I'm looking at the data, I will see a good 80% of the names that are in the red are
019students that have learning support. students here. We only had last year I want to say that it was uh three or four that were identified in the primary in that area. So this was great. This shows us that our title services and our intervention are definitely working. Then I go up to third grade and fourth grade and we went from 48% to 40 at the end of the year for third grade. So 8% change there. And then for fourth grade, we went from 36 to 26. So 10% change. That outstanding. So when I'm looking at the average for third and fourth grade, I took that because those are our testing grades. And I just was interested to see what kind of change we had, it was a 9%. And then schoolwide average overall, we had
020a 10.5% um change of students that went from the red into either the yellow or green. Any questions so far? So, if I'm if I'm looking at this right, third grade, at the beginning of third grade, 48% of the kids were below >> red. They were well 48% of the kids in third grade >> were well below. And still 40% of them at the end of the year were >> were testing well below. Yes. >> Which was an 8% increase. >> Those are co babies, aren't they? >> I don't know if they still are. >> I think it's fourth grade now. >> Fourth graders now, which would be the third graders last year. >> What was last year? >> Yeah. >> Two years ago. >> So starting fifth grade today would have been starting kindergarten
021when they when we >> Yeah. proud of. >> But so these would be kids that were in preschool during those co years where masks covered, you know, >> vital parts of speech, not being able to see. For sure. >> I mean, these numbers are kind of >> Alarming yes, >> Miss Barone. So, first of all, they are alarming, but there's improvement. I mean, we're seeing that right through the school year. The 29% schoolwide average that end the year in the red. Can you go back to where you were explaining the categories and where it said 10 to 20% success rate is that or expected how did the was that worded 10 to 20% >> you're talking about here >> future success correct >> so we're saying 29% of the entire school at the end of
022the year is the 10 to 20% future success what is that future success mean >> how is that defined >> I I don't know this is was according to a cadence and that is what they statistically come up with >> future success. >> Does does that mean that they get to proficient level later? >> I'm sorry. Is >> that what that future success means? >> I again I don't know what a cadence means by >> it says probability. So it's predicting something. >> Yeah. >> Probability not guaranteed scoring benchmark is not a guarantee of future success but indicates the odds are in their favor. >> How they come about that I I don't know. the same as you know probability like with CDTS. >> So if we're limiting 15 to 20 kids per grade level
023and we have one and two in that grade getting the certified pulled out instruction, how do we how do we increase? >> That's a great question. Yeah, longer days, more people. I don't know >> because rough numbers, right? If there's a 100 kids per grade >> roughly, >> that means 30 kids are below are in the red. >> And if our limit is 15, 15 kids are not getting the instruction that they should. but not necessarily because we're not taking into account the number of kids that have IEPs that are pulled out for learning support. So, we're talking about in the red if I want to pull out when you're that's why I broke them up by K1 and two because they receive less learning support because most students aren't identified until the end of
024second grade. Third and fourth graders, more students tend to have IEPs. So when you're looking at the red here, >> yeah, that yes, >> there's going to be a higher number of students in that red for third and fourth that have IEPs. So they're pulled out. So say you have 10 students during that time. Those 10 are pulled from the hundred. So we're left with the 90. Then we're taking the 15 out for title. Then the remaining students are divided up amongst the five classrooms to do the various intervention groups at their level. I do. I was going to say again I'm just I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the other version just because I'm not my background is not academia. Again I have to like just kind of per say that so much of
025this I think we all have to think about the fact that there could not be things that we might be able to do if there's environmental mental health and other factors that are most certainly playing a role. when we look at our society as a whole, there is so many pieces that are not going to be able to change just because the kids are in this school. So there's other pieces that I think are just going to be beyond the control of what we can do as academics, right? So again, I know that Watsburg does everything in their power to enhance the mental health, the emotional stability, but there's a lot of pieces I think people forget about because they just look at the numbers of what are kids doing academically. That does not always
026make a difference or change anything. They cannot always focus and do the things that they need to do if this is their safe environment. School means nothing. So, it's just something I think it's concerning, but at the same time, there's a lot of things out of our control. So, when we think about what's happening in the homes, >> we can't control what's happening outside of here. >> I couldn't agree with you more, and that's not something I want to jump on my soap box for here, but I am proud of the progress that we made because we are making progress. We're not going in reverse. I see how hard our teachers are working and the programs that we are putting into place. Um, in our building we do have a lot of children that are
027early identified with mental health issues with home life problems, traumas, separation. I'm not throwing up data here telling you what our free and reduced lunch population is or >> you know the emotional state or trauma because that's not what you asked for. You asked for the data >> the academics and also again appreciating our our teachers who I know are spending time working with those kids that are going through those transitions. So, And absolutely we we want to make sure that they are making that progress but we do recognize at this level that we need to meet their emotional needs first before their brains will even allow that information to come in. So we do take that aspect of things seriously. >> Um you know and I invite you all to have a a walk
028around the school and head downstairs in the one two gathering area. Mr. Berlin can show you where we just opened up a new sap room and yeah, >> we're putting in drumming and we're having counseling there for the kids and we're providing them with that environment where they can explore um their mental health concerns and trauma so we can try to make this a safer environment for them. >> Well, we do appreciate your time and effort. I do I do know it takes a lot of work, but it is harder sometimes when we can't when we don't step outside and look at the bigger picture. It's more than just what's happening in this building. >> So, but we appreciate the work you're doing. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, real quick here. So, obviously
029we see progress. That's great. Um, >> from a Mr. Breton's, you know, question is is extremely valid and obviously we know the constraints with time and staffing and and what we're required of the school day. Um so you know from a data presentation perspective um it would be you know even I mean you can show how you get it you know from the vendor and and their portal um but to break out that that red block so we understand like if there's there's special ed students within that block if if we have 38 kids there and and we know 15 are getting pulled out like >> right >> and then we have whatever 25 identified as as special education and that that are that are receiving services specifically tailored for them, then we say, okay,
030we may have a population of three >> that aren't being served rather than a population of 15 or 20 or 25. >> Um, so just from a data presentation perspective, it would be really good to break that out. >> Um, because and I see so and and you can expand on that, but >> we did start doing that. So, >> and and one thing I do want to note too as well, just just for this this board, you know, if we think about our our turnover in this building, um especially over the last three years >> and who those specific individuals were and what grades they were servicing, I'm I'm actually not surprised to see where kind of the precipice of some of that falls out grade level wise when we get up in that
03134 range. Um I'm glad that we've stopped that. bleeding, for lack of a better term. Um, but you know, obviously we've got to pick back up where we left off. Um, and and if you have that broke down, >> yeah, because I mean, obviously we want to ensure that our students are service like and there's only so much all of us can do, right? But it can start here. >> Uh, when you're looking at this kind of data, it's important. Go >> grab the mic. When you're looking at this kind of data, it is important to know what our special education population becomes in grades three and four. And I don't think that's unique to this building. That is just specific to elementary grades like every school building goes through. Learning sport is not something
032that uh students get um you know access to in grades K1. It starts in grade two. Mr. Or alluded to that. So currently we have about 15 students in third grade learning support for ELA. In fourth grade we currently have about 20. And again, that's me looking it up and anticipating that question from my phone. So I I it could be, you know, a couple here or there, but 15 to 20 per grade, >> which is significant. You know, when you look at >> Well, that changes that differential dramatically. Then I appreciate you pointing that out. I mean, that's where we're >> Doesn't the title the the title teacher only has 15 slots? So regardless of IEP student or regular education student, that teacher only is teaching 15 spots per grade level. How does the
033title How does that pull out for title work? >> I I follow it if you want. >> Okay. Yeah. >> No, when we when we determine that a child should be receiving special education, that is a tier three level of support and it is more intensive than title one. So they're going to a special education teacher for that service. Um and no longer going to title. We're really using title as a evaluative period to say we need to evaluate for special education. We are we're not, you know, an RTI school, but we are following that model of tiering our supports for our students and making that that process um using that process to evaluate. >> And these numbers were the entire student body including the IEP and >> correct. Correct. Yeah, that's everyone takes the
034occasions benchmark. >> When I asked our title teachers to give me numbers of how many students actually exited the program, um, and again, I was it's not built in here, but we don't have a lot. A lot of our students when they're in title, maybe two to three might exit um, per year. oftentimes the exiting does come in form of going into learning support. Uh because again when we're looking at students and we're talking about we talk about them at our building level team meeting and we want to make sure before we make a recommendation to the school psychologist that they be tested that we have gone through every avenue possible to make sure that they're receiving all the academic supports that they that they need that we have tried everything with them. So we
035do see a bigger exit tending to be students who wind up going and receiving that more intensive learning support. >> Can you go back to the heat gauging slide? Uh yeah. >> Is this what you're referring to? >> No, come back. And yeah, I just want to see K1 into two numbers. >> So I could speak for three years on this and write six books, but I think a lot of people have done that before me. So the only question I really have for you is what do you feel like you need? Right? So you know getting scores out of kids comes down to like three things in my book. The first one is do the teachers have the materials in front of them right? So good curriculum. Two are the teachers giving good instruction
036right and then last but not least is the the extra supports like title. if you are going to sum things down and I know that's very generic in what I'm saying but is it like when we start to go into budgetary talks here in you know January and into February is it a new curriculum that we're looking at is it more PD for teachers or is it to Greg's point you know like hey we can only put 15 on this roster and really we need another person to tag in >> I appreciate your question and if I'm being completely transparent I don't want to say things that are gonna upset other people. I I'd love more personnel. I' I'd love title aids. I mean, I to for someone to push into the classroom to help
037the students that are are those bubble kids on the yellow. I don't have title aids. I'd love another full-time uh title professional. That would be fantastic. Then I could assure that we are getting 20 kids seen at a time. Our third title teacher also services math. So he's, you know, not able to do as much as he would like. We did have professional development last year. We had a woman coming in from Wilson who was going over foundations and the program with our teachers, making sure they were teaching things to Fidelity, working with them, co-eing with them, then also watching them and providing feedback. So I feel like we we've gotten stronger in that area and we're doing a good job. So I truly feel that it's it's bodies. We, you know, we don't have
038enough bodies for that intensive. We have one instructional aid for the entire building. >> So, it's just an aid. It's not an actual title teacher. >> One aid. Yeah. >> Okay. And just real quick, you were talking about special ed numbers. Am I correct on that? And you said that you're um you limit to about 15, right? Uh kids and per grade level >> or title. >> Yeah. Yes. somewhere in that ballpark. >> And then your third grade numbers for uh special ed were >> 15. So they're getting caught in the blender, >> that's >> right. >> Yeah. But if you're using title the way or RTI MTS name whatever which abbreviation you want you're it sounds like you're getting those 15 kids into title. They're getting caught into title going through but then we're
039spitting 15 special education students out because they're not successfully getting out of title enough getting a diagnosis IEP world. So it sounds like the bubble kids potentially for you need some more people so that you can clear those kids but then reinforce the yellow and green to make them moving up into >> I mean we're we're making like I we're we are making progress getting kids out of the red not as much as we would like but when we were looking at it today when Rob and I were having a conversation you know we're we're not seeing that big growth of of green you know I'm not seeing as much green as I would like to see. Obviously, I'd love to see a lot less red, you know, and >> equal amount of yellow and
040a lot more green. >> Yeah, I it's just remarkable the differential between the end of year performance. And again, it doesn't take into account, you know, the clientele in each class, the any potential changes that were made in staffing or any of those other things, but but the end of year to beginning a year is a pretty stark contrast in some of those. >> Yeah. And and I'll tell you, um I'm pretty new to the elementary data. I mean, I I had a pretty good lock on the high school data and and that stuff's complicated. This can be like drinking from a fire hose. And and I've used the same analogy again and again uh over the past couple weeks as I've started to dive into this and that is like you know if if
041I'm preparing to study for a test and I spend hours and I make the best note cards and flashcards you've ever seen in the world but I don't spend time studying them. I haven't really studied for the test. And so what I'm trying to figure out right now, I mean, we've got data and Aadian data and CDT data and PSSA data and and all the data from our individual ELA uh curriculum and and math curriculum and things like that and just diving through that and figuring out what tells the best story and what do we do with it, you know? So like for example, just in the short time I've looked at the Acadians data, um a couple of things stand out to me. if we could hold the gains that we're making. In other
042words, if we didn't see any summer slide, these would be great numbers. You know, they're still alarming. They're still higher than we want them to be. But if if if our first graders could come back, >> you know, this year's first graders could come back and have the same starting >> score from their kindergarten year. We saw 23% growth in kindergarten. I mean, that's fantastic if we could build from there. So first and foremost, how do we stop that summer slide is a concern of mine. Secondly, um you know, uh uh looking at this like we are seeing good growth in that lowest group kid. >> Now when we look at the growth overall as a cohort, it doesn't look as impressive because we're not seeing as much growth to Hillary's point just a minute
043ago in those upper level kids. And so again, when I look at it, I can see like our our tier 2 interventions and our tier three interventions are working. >> You know, you're not going to see, you know, >> you've got midline compression that occurs. >> Yep. Yep. >> I mean, it's all midline compression and and but again, you know, that the falloff is >> Yeah. >> Rob, will these numbers help you then to help also re-evaluate some programming? For example, like your EOI from K to first, right? That's a Ukraine then it's right back to the starting point and gain again right back to the starting point. Will that help you inform decisions based on like summer school or the need of or the lack of or to you know say hey we have
044funding for it but it's clearly not >> getting the stuff that we want out of it or maybe the wrong kids are signing up for it you know will that help you? >> I hope so. Like I said you know I don't know enough yet. You know if I'm being honest it's just they're still a learning curve for me. Um, but even just looking at the way that we're doing things as as you know, I hear about team meetings and we have these conversations like it it's I'm starting to to to get a fuller picture, it gets a little bit better every day for me. Um, and and just in terms of working with them and figuring out what they need >> if and if I can hop in for a second and and I'm
045actually even asking you too, Dr. Williams because we're finding at least our teachers are finding a big disconnect between what our students are doing you know integrity and foundations then we're doing the test for foundations and we're able to see through the classroom tests how they're doing but that doesn't align foundations does not align with the a cadence benchmark so there there is a disconnect between the programming and the assessments and then and I had mentioned last year if you if you remember this assessment as well it's a national norm so we're we're looking nationally I don't have access and I would love to to reach out and get some access to find out how are other schools that are using a cadence doing compared to the national norms as well so we're looking at
046how we are compared to the national how are the local schools that use it doing compared to the national as well um and then too when I shown you last year just the different tests test. Again, bear in mind, we're not comparing apples to apples. It's apples to oranges. These tests are changing because the kids should be growing and changing as they're moving through the year. And so, you know, second grade, they're starting off with letter identification, but by the end of the year, they're doing, you know, reading fluency. So, the test just changes completely what's being tested. So, those are some questions that I have that I haven't been able to get answers to. Um, but I wanted to cap up just real quick the at and above so you could see how that
047ended since we talked about the red. So we did increase 17% for at and above for kindergarten, 13 for first grade. We went down 9% for second, uh, increase nine for third and 6% for fourth. And again, second grade is when that test has the big shift as well. >> I can I just make one comment? >> Yep. Um, this is a little bit alarming and I realize that there's a lot of factors that we can't see, but I do appreciate all the work that you guys put into this and the teachers and I know it must be dis discouraging, but keep it up. I mean, they are improving. We just have to find the >> Yeah. >> hook that works. >> Thank you. Um, So where we want to head, I don't know, we
048want to see our kids in yellow and green. So uh again like Rob had kind of just said, so I'm sort of recapping obviously those kids and the improvements that we have had of our students u moving out of the red. We want to maintain that. Then I'd love to see us strengthen that tier one and tier two supports and move the kids from yellow to green. Ideally, I'd love to see a 5% increase uh for our students in the at or above benchmark per grade level by the end of the year. So, um we've been looking at the schedule. We're trying to think now, you know, we may have to increase our intervention time to see if we can't if we don't get more resources, if we can't get three title groups in um
049during an intervention and then have another pull out during a different time that's non-academic during the core so that we could get 20 kids is where we're trying to head is to increase that Anyone want to do math? >> Yeah. All right. So, math doesn't have as as big of a a change in it, but concerning for me was the 6% in kindergarten or excuse me, in first grade that uh decreased. So, we actually ended up having more students uh in first grade. Again, math supportwise, that's all of the classroom teachers doing that. We don't have a pull out title program for math. Uh for K K and one, we do have our one title teacher who when she's working with them on title, she will go over um just number formations and number values
050with them. So they receive a little bit of that unofficially. And three and four is where Mr. Shores who um does also do reading is able to then take out small groups for math as well. So our schoolwide average that moved out for math was 1.3%. So not as big of a of a move as we had in ELA, which like I said isn't surprising to me because we don't have the resources there for math. But you can see, you know, fourth grade we have, you know, a larger amount of students that are in that that green and blue area. Of course, they started out larger there. Um, and typically on the PSSAs, math has been a slightly higher scored subject for us. Now, the the kind of story behind the story here is, you
051know, this is a little bit more proof that our tier 2 title interventions are being effective because we're focusing all of those resources. We have three title teachers and all of that time and all of those resources right now are being put into ELA because that was the bigger area of need. Um, and so to me, you're you're going to see in if you dig down into the the populations that are um, you know, below basic and struggling in math, it's that same population for the most part that's struggling in ELA and we're seeing much bigger growth in ELA. So, um, yeah, Mr. Angler, to that point, if you uh if we had uh double the resources for that extra intervention and focus this other team on math, does I'm assuming these are some of
052the same students, some of the same students that are maybe underperforming in ELA or underperforming in math. So, I guess my basic question is, is there enough time in the day to give them the basics they need and push into two different major topics? >> No, I I think the struggle is twofold, right? So you you have limited resources in terms of what you get from the federal government for your title services, you know, and that funds about two and a half positions. Um, and like you said, limited time. So you triage where you think the biggest area of need was. And you know, that was identified even before I came to this role that ELA was the bigger need. And when you look across the state, you know, we are still doing well compared
053to the state averages in math in particular. >> Um, >> I guess to Miss Barbaron's uh point earlier, is it possible to get comparison acadance data or do we even know what districts in IU5 uses the same? >> I I don't know. I was going to start picking up phones and calling people. Dr. Williams, I don't know if you have insight on that. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I could get you Klein Clarks and Rolling Ridges and the city does it, too, but I don't know if that would be comparable. >> Yeah. >> And I poured through some of the occasions, too, just to see. I was just curious with their percentages. I just wanted to know even nationally what percentage of kids when they're doing that beginning of year benchmark are actually in the
054greener blue and I and I couldn't find that information on the cadence um website or anywhere that I had been looking you know I assume it's 80% is but they weren't sharing anything along those lines for me to be able to say yes that is So I I don't know. Okay. So in any event, I was just saying yes, absolutely. We need to have a stronger math focus for 25 and 26. I mean, we we've been holding steady, but 1.3% growth is is not what I want to see. They're not making as much growth as they are in ELA. Uh if we don't have more resources, we're going to have to be a little creative here. Uh, one of our original thoughts is perhaps we need to be switching classes for math at least in
055two, three, and four in our upper grades to have them going to the different teachers in the grade level and having them tiering that support for them. And definitely needs to be a 26 27 focus goal for the school. >> Is that something you currently do in fourth grade only? >> We do it at intervention time in uh one through four. They do switch >> for math. I'm sorry. For inter for intervention, not for math. No. Yeah. >> Just for intervention for the ELA. >> But you do the tiered math in fourth grade. No. >> Okay. This is a new thing. >> Yes. We're saying we would love to start doing that. Yes. We do do some switching for fourth grade more towards the end of the year as we're preparing for PSSAs. We then
056run through our CDTs and see where our weaker strands are. Group the kids accordingly to that and try to do like booster groups, you know, like a month, month and a half before to see if we can make some progress. That's all I got for you. All right. Thank you, >> Mr. President. Last thoughts. >> Can I Sorry. >> Yes, Mr. Breton. >> Um, couple thoughts on it. Uh, I'm a big advocate for early intervention and seems to me I don't I don't know there's no magic wand for this issue and there always seems to be a summer slide for all of our grade levels unfortunately. But if there was a way that we could have get resources to these kids earlier, get them caught up >> and not have them summer slide, right? So
057that you're not like right now we have to have resources at every grade level. You know, in the future, could we be stronger early intervention K1, K2, and not have to focus so heavy buildingwide like we have to focus right now is a buildingwide initiative. So, you know, anything we can do with early intervention and getting kids to move to proficient earlier and hopefully staying there. Um, I am an advocate for help. Um, I would think it would be interesting to see even though we're broke and all our money spent, if there's room for title aids, if that's something that could be on the lower revenue side of things, expense side of things, and if that could be something that could could help with um this problem. Uh, and I'm actually really concerned, Mr. President,
058you mentioned it, but uh our teachers are trying really hard and I know a couple over the years have expressed this to me that it's demoralizing to come to work every day and feel like you're failing because your kids are still below basic. Uh, and so I am concerned that maybe our slide her our teacher, you know, numbers aren't going to stay where they want if they come to work every day and just feel like they they're they're trying their hardest to get the kids to move and the kids just aren't aren't moving to what their expectations are either. Uh, I know our teachers are trying. I know our teachers are working hard. Um, but that can that can weigh on them mentally, too. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Brema. Anything else from anyone? Right.
059Thank you, Miss Barboni. >> All right. We'll now turn to guest and citizen comments. Is there anyone signed up to speak this evening? All right. Dr. Berlin, will we have a superintendent report for next week's meeting? >> I will have a few things to share with the board. Yes. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. We'll now recognize Miss Vicky Bendig for the business administrator's report. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh for this evening, I have the treasures reports um general fund uh cash in the bank as of September 30th, 8,213,959.84. 84. I will have the year-to- date budget versus actual report for next week. Um, the capital projects uh has $1829 in that account. Uh, cafeteria as of the end of September, $780,836, sorry, $886.84. The cafeteria profit and loss report will be ready for next
060week. And the student activities accounts uh total in those collective accounts at the end of September was $58,23868. Moving on to the bill lists. Uh checks already written for general fund totaling $130,331.78. no capital projects written and cafeteria had $658.75 uh total checks written since the work session. The other bill lists will be ready for next week. That is all I have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bendy. Any questions for Mrs. Bending? All right. There will be uh one uh item under legal advisement uh asked to be on the agenda for next week. This is to approve the sale of uh property. Um I'm going to leave the index number out. uh 86 Pine Leaf Drive uh two lots uh from the Erie County Repository. Um does anyone have any questions on this one? I'm sure
061Mrs. Bending can expand. Hearing none, you'll see that on the agenda for next week. Uh we will now turn to Dr. Andy Pushjack for finance. >> Thank you, Mr. President. One item for the board's consideration next week, which is the uh monthly uh budgetary transfer from budget to actual as attached. That's the only item for next week. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Pushjack. Uh, now for building and grounds, uh, we'll recognize Mr. Jeremy Blazer. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have nothing at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. Blazer. Uh, for personnel, we'll now turn to Mr. Nicole Lee. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I have eight items for consideration next week. They include A appointments, b resignations, e substitute list um additions, d leave requests, e conference requests, f letter of agreement
062for dental exams, uh g pyramid healthcare student assistance program services agreement and life insurance consortium agreement. Does anyone have any questions on those eight items for next week? >> All right, hearing none. Those will move over for the agenda next week. Thank you very much, Mrs. Lane. Uh the chair will now recognize Mr. Britney Berlingham for policy. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I will have one item underneath policy next week, which is the um the subject of first reading of policies, which is to approve the first reading of policies as outlined and attached. And as of now, that is it. >> Does anyone have any questions on those 11 policies for next week? >> All right. Hearing none, those will move over for our agenda. Thank you very much, Mrs. Burlingham. The chair will now
063recognize Mr. Steven for curriculum. >> Mr. President, currently there's one item for the uh agenda next week under curriculum and that is to approve the quote from the uh SA VVAS learning company to per purchase physics textbooks uh and the digital license courses per the attachment that'll be on the agenda next week. >> Thank you, Mr. Morv. Are there any questions on the physics textbooks? All right, we'll move over for next week's agenda as well. Thank you, Mr. Morve. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> The chair will now recognize Mr. Jesse Williams for technology. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have nothing on the agenda for next week. >> Thank you, Dr. Williams. Uh the chair will now recognize Mr. Greg Brimman for transportation. >> Mr. President, we'll have one item for next week underneath
064transportations to approve the transportation requests as outlined. >> Um sorry, I have three items this week. I missed that. Looked earlier. >> Yes, we'll have three items. Thank you. Uh the item B, the Durham bus driver list additions uh as listed and item C, the Durham renewal proposal as well. Uh that is not attached yet. >> Uh yeah, that's just to uh direct the administration uh to contact. So there's no attachment. >> Well, those three items for next week, Mr. President. >> All right. Are there any questions on those three items? All right, hearing none, those will move over to the agenda for next week. Thank you very much, Mr. Burton. Uh, the chair will now recognize Mr. Lee Heatherington for athletic and extracurricular. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Next week, I will have four
065items on the agenda. Uh, athletic resignations, athletic appointments, volunteer list additions, and extracurricular resignations. Uh does anyone have any questions on those? All right, hearing none, those will move over for next week's agenda as well. Thank you very much, Miss Heatherington. Uh we have one under miscellaneous. Uh this is to approve the solicitation and sale of the EF educational tours trip to Iceland in the summer of 2027. Uh dates to be announced for the Air Force junior ROC students. uh provided that all the criteria of policy 913 non-school organizations groups and individuals are met. Does anyone have any questions on the solicitation? All right. Hearing none, that one will move over for next week as well. Uh Mr. Morve, will we have an Erie County Technical School joint operating committee report? Excellent. >> Yes, Mr.
066President. We will have one that will cover the September board meeting that we had last month. >> Excellent. Thank you very much, Mr. Morve. Uh and Dr. Pushjack. Uh, Northwest Tri County Air Mini Unit. Will we have a report? >> Yes, the same. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Pushjack. Uh, it's now time for board correspondence and dialogue. Does anyone have anything for the good of the order this evening? >> I just have one comment. I'm not sure how I'm going to run a writing campaign when the school board can't even spell my name right. >> Oh, no. >> Was it >> Is it the H or the A? >> It's the A. Leah with no H and Heatherington with no A. >> That was in my head all night last night >> on the
067roll call. >> Heatherington roll. >> There's no A >> on the front. >> That's all right. Jeremy, >> Mr. President, >> as we get that corrected. >> Yes, Mr. Morv. Uh I'm so sorry. I apologize. >> I have uh a question that was um and it regards the uh our district policy. I think it's number 237, which is the use of electronic devices. Um there was an article in the paper about a month or so ago about student cell phone use and what Erie County schools do, etc. And at the end of the article, it says that the uh under Wattsburg, it says that middle school students must turn off their phones and leave them in lockers or cubbies throughout the school day. Um, from what I read in the uh uh and then it
068also says that we are continuing to use, although that is being reviewed by administrators. So, two two questions there. One, it looks like when I read the policy, it didn't really say specifically that under middle school use that uh they're supposed to be within their lockers. Maybe I'm just reading that incorrectly, but uh and then I guess I wanted to follow up to see if we truly are reviewing this policy. I mean, I see that other districts are using it and it seems like that there's been some success with student outcomes um with banning cell phone units from start to finish within the school day. I know it says according to this article, Harbor Creek does that. So maybe Dr. Williams can elaborate on those things. Um my point in asking all of this is
069is this time for uh Watsburg Area School District to continue or to consider a change in policy where we um put the cell phones away from start to finish within the school day. >> Yeah, it's an excellent question. Um you know obviously our our building administrators do have the you know levity within the policy to have additional restriction if they deem >> necessary and it becomes right then it becomes a variable and you know uh non-standardized yes >> uh enforcement policy. >> Yeah. And the the interesting thing that we got to do with the middle school this year um was make a transition from accessibility during a lunchtime period that existed for two of those four grades and then and then removing that. Um obviously uh I'll say obviously even though you won't know but
070you probably can already realize it does make a difference >> in the social uh well-being of the students uh which has been proven out but I'm going to let Dr. Berlin expand um on that as kind of a use case. >> Yeah, I'm just experiment right now as a for instance the waters just to bullet point this whole thing. Elementary school no electronic devices just I'll summarize >> middle school high school again according to 237 it's prohibited during class time and that's really kind of about it. And then when we go to the high school, it says it's uh cell phones can be used. They're they're silent, turned off, and then cell phones may be permitted during the school day as as authorized. >> There's some You left something out. Could you pull that policy
071up? >> This is 237. The last revision says September 18th, 2023. Is that the wrong one? I >> No, no, that's the right one. I just want to make sure that we don't brush over >> um some of the detail there that's delegated to the to the principles for enforcement. without getting into this while he's looking this up again where this all wants to go is ultimately are we do we is this a board action that it's something that we want to consider and think about >> um eliminating cell phone use throughout the high school or and and the middle school throughout the >> I think Mr. Morve is proposing a straw pole here. >> I'm proposing what? >> Proposing a straw pole here to find out if we want to entertain this. >> I'm
072bringing this up because I'm just trying to understand. >> No, absolutely. And a president, just to clarify, we have no use at the middle school. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Period. There's no use at the middle school for the elementary center and the policy allows the administrative authority per building. >> That's correct. >> To >> be more stringent. Yes, sir. Middle school. And that's what we're gonna bring up. >> Chose only to change from >> using cell phones at lunchtime for two grades >> was the only previous cell phone use at the middle school. >> Yes. >> To now no cell phone use. >> That's correct. >> Okay. So, just to everybody's on the same page, there's no cell phone use >> at the middle school as >> during the day period >> as extensively
073uh described by the administrators to the middle school. >> Yes. I'm trying to understand where it says that in that policy. >> Okay. So, if you if you look under the policy, it's limited electronic device use grades 5 through 12. And there's some bold that was um put into that policy a couple years ago. So, it would be item B under that outline there. Subject to princ principal authorization, cell phones may be permitted during the school day at designated times, including but not limited to scheduled breakfast, lunch times, and hallways. So, the default is no use, principles authorize use. We went to this a couple years ago. Um, and that was ahead of, you know, moving transitioning this way because we've known this has been an issue. So, if you notice what happened this year,
074cell phones disappeared. uh in five through eight and now we're positioned to look at the high school. So this has been a multi-year setup, Mr. Morve. Um it wasn't, you know, I I already had an answer for Val Meyers when she called from the times. So I just you this is not something that was on our back burner. I just want to make that clear to everybody and the administrators acted within their authority level as per board policy. And I will say this too, the best board policy does not always line things, you know, look like a student handbook. It should delegate authority properly um uh to to administrators. So so there can be uh some flexibility within clear guidelines because no two situations are ever the same. Um, that being said, eliminating uh cell
075phone use 100%. Belt, you know, >> bell to bell beginning of the day at the end of the day at the high school. I think there's more consideration to be had there. And I, in all fairness, I I I think that the high school administration should weigh in on that. And I know Mr. Hudnell is developing a uh a survey because we we should gather some input from the staff and parents and things. So I know that and that was the my comment to Val in the paper about studying that >> uh is that we're that's where we're going with that Mr. Hudnel that was already in the works there. Um, so we're going to be positioned well to look at this and if the board, you know, would like to do a total band.
076Um, I would recommend specifying that for those upper grade levels uh just because it is such an integral part and um out here there's lots of rides that get arranged and there's a lot of things to be uh considered as to how you want to outline that um with the community needs and voice in mind. So that's my response to that. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on cell phones? >> So, I would say that if the administration deems that to be something necessary, I would be willing as a board member to vote. Um, if you feel like in the end you're going to move in that direction anyway and you want to put it in policy, I I would be willing to vote on that. That way, it would take some of the
077pressure off you guys and put it back onto the board. And that way, when Grant Young comes over to my house, I can say, "Blame dad for what ended up happening." Apparently, I get blamed for everything currently in sixth grade that happens. So, um, no, and I will say thank you for clarifying, Dr. Bland. Thank you for bringing it up, Mr. Morve. Um, you know, the the the principal authorization, you know, to allow use in those, you know, non-learning times. Resending that in the middle school, I think, was a good, you know, test case. Um, how fur's been on the discipline side for cell phones since that happened. a decrease from many to none. >> Yeah, I mean much much less um there was lots of of issues created during the day with all those
078>> I guess my my point in reading and saying all of this is because it seems like everything that I've read so far seems like it's a very positive thing within the school buildings. Let's put it that way. >> Yeah. And I think with that high school study there may be an argument to be made. >> Um and we'll see what comes from that. if there's an argument to be made that there is some use that, you know, may have educational, you know, positive outcomes. I mean, obviously, we've heard from, you know, our staff that we're going to be looking at different AI initiatives and how we integrate that into what we're doing and and in the high school, right? Um, and of course, I will say, you know, personally as a parent, um, and
079not not just a member of this board, but as a parent, um, you know, I would fully support that that bell-to-bell uh, situation. Um, but if there is an argument to be made at the high school level, then u before we act as a board, I would like to hear um what that what that um >> and I don't disagree with any of that and I'm not trying to run rough shot over anybody. I'm just trying to understand, you know, there was a there was a discussion and it sounds like there were >> ongoing internal discussions. I just hadn't heard any sort of update on where that stood. I wanted to understand the policy as it is written currently. >> Yeah. >> And you know what then potentially is is our move if any. Yeah,
080and to Dr. Williams point, I think it's important for us to at least have a temperature read um so that the administration understands that, you know, if if they come to us with something that's going to better support our our student body >> um and and help with a multitude of issues, not just education, but the social and emotional wellness and we're not obvious. There's other districts that have obviously done it. >> Yeah. And likewise, if we weren't, then they would be shuddering saying, "Why can't we help our students?" So, I appreciate the dialogue. Um, and that's what's important about this time together. So, are there any other Thank you, Mr. President, for >> for board correspondence and dialogue. >> Uh, I will miss uh the regular board meeting next week. So, I would ask
081you all to be extra special and kind to Mrs. Lee. She chairs uh the meeting and I appreciate her service as vice president of this board and my apologies that every year I have to miss the uh regular board meeting this month, but uh there is a professional commitment that I have to uphold. Um, are there any other items for the good of the order? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move push check. >> Nicole, second. >> All in favor? I I >> We are adjourned. Thank you very much.