February 26, 2024 - Work Session Public Meeting

001we're live and now recording thanks Katie we begin with roll call please yes Mr Antonio here Mr Badger Mr blefeld here miss Kabachi here Mr goson Miss car Nikas here Dr Morris Mr Walker Mrs Ginsburg here and Gavin Lewis Richmond here seven present two absent and one student board rep this evening thanks Katie all right now we will do the Pledge of Allegiance and I believe I had a help her somewhere Benjamin from lower gwined thank you for helping and Welcome to our guests and visitors this evening for our February 26th meeting of the wiah hicken school board first if you take a look at our agenda you'll see a list of prior meetings we had a meeting on January 29th that was a work session February 5th was our regular public board meeting on

002February 20th we had both a policy committee meeting and a board racial Equity oversight committee meeting the 21st was our finance committee budget workshop and the 26th earlier this evening we did have our Communications committee and we have a bunch of upcoming meetings on March 4th we have our curriculum and Technology committee meeting meeting followed by a regular public board meeting March 12th be the finance committee budget Workshop March 18th another work session and April 2nd a regular public board meeting all right so now we'll move on to WIA hickin High School monthly highlights good evening everyone um my fellow board reps abandoned me tonight but that's okay um so I February at the high school is very very um eventful so I'll start off with the Lunar New Year Festival um our Asian Student

003Association hosted their annual Lunar New Year Festival celebrating the holiday on February 3rd I heard it was super successful they ran out of food that so many people came and I think they had to order pizza so yeah very very fun um and definitely save the date for May 18th for their third annual Asian cultural fair and then we also had silent night um which fans um held and that was where we were silent until the eighth uh point at our basketball game which is really fun people dressed up in costumes like Blake another student of board rap he dressed up as a Smurf so it was great um we also had our whhs musicians um auditioned for prestigious pmea groups um and those were District cour district band and District Orchestra so congratulations to

004them because it's really really hard to get into and then we have um our Hispanic Latina Association they supported the MADD Dixon Community cupboard by donating winter clothing um and it was a very successful donation I'm not sure how much they got but they had a lot of bags so I'm assuming they did very well um and last but certainly not least this month was Black History Month um and we did a lot uh throughout the district which I'm sure I'll be mentioned later but I'll mention the black student union that was founded this year by myself um so first we did Elementary School visits and that was last week we went to Shady Grove Sony Creek and Blue Bell so we had a three-part presentation um 23 of our members Pres presented about Black

005History Month like we gave um cool facts about it then we read a story about an interesting black figure like we had um katangi Brown Jackson the first U black female Supreme Court Justice and then we had um an activity where they drew who they wanted to be because we showed them aspirational black figures and we want them to think about their own aspirations um and then today actually we had our cookout which is hopefully an annual thing um so it was after school event in the Square gym and we just had a bunch of food we had people dancing was really fun so yes awesome thank you so much for that update and uh did we get a picture of Gavin as a Smurf that you can share oh I was not a Smurf

006no oh no Blake Blake is a Smurf I'm sorry yes there are many pictures as Blake of Blake as a Smurf yes and um your presentations at the elementary school I think were very moving um my daughter actually for her figures ended up choosing uh justice Brown I think in part because of the presentation love that that's amazing any other comments or questions no thank you for that update I know Mia was talking about the cookout all weekend so I hope she made it so oh good that's awesome great work I have a question were the presentations that you did at the elementary schools in the classrooms individually or was it an assembly um so we had members go into Pairs and they each went into the classrooms together um and they were with their

007friends and they were like giving basically a lesson any other comments all thank you again for that update all right now we will move on to our Middle School presentation okay thank you uh tonight we continue our our season of welcoming students and we see a lot of of eer faces with us tonight and we're honored to have tonight uh wien Middle School staff and representatives and to introduce all that is our assistant principal one of our assistant principles Miss Tamar mcel good evening you can hear me G congratulations on starting the black student union and everything that's going on at the high school Dr chrisfield thank you for the introduction good evening Dr danan and Bard I'm very excited to be here tonight to represent the Middle School um to quickly turn it over

008to our Ela department chair Mr to Nikki and one of our seventh grade teachers M danu uh they have an awesome presentation for you I'm so excited about the number of students who came out so you can hear how they're doing with our new curriculum so I'll turn it over hello I'm Mr toor Nikki and as Miss Don who and I were discussing in the foyer I am notoriously long-winded so I'm gon to try and keep it succinct um what we're demonstrating with our new uh curriculum is how our standard spiral and um since we have a veteran group of teachers that have been collaborating for a really long time um we're able to kind of not only do our standard spiral but uh the different lessons compound over the three years that students are

009in the ELA department at the was middle school and some of the end results are the products they create throughout are really awesome and some of the end results are really awesome um so I need to start with our sixth grade staff um so sixth grade wanted to help with the transition from the elementary years and maintain a um strong textbook and this is a new text book to us this year it's hoton Mifflin uh into literature um it's basically broken up into four reading units three writing units the reading units are um shorter pieces that work in tandem with their core novels and independent reading and book club options um it has different options on their um online platform that allow for um our El Learners to access the materials as well as some

010leveling options of the pieces as well so not all students are expected to read the same pieces in in the textbook it can meet them at their level in some ways um the reading units are discovering your voice never giving up finding courage surviving the unthinkable it's a lot of um looking within and examining the protagonist and how they are able to find strength within themselves to overcome um their writing units are Loosely um parallel to uh what we build on for the three years at the middle school they do have to write argumentative pieces they have to take a position on the topic and support a claim using evidence um they use research skills and and um examine sources like vet sources and they have a number of creative projects that they do throughout

011the year to allow the students to experiment with their personal voice um up next oh yeah okay so then book clups this is some of the new books that we ordered with the curriculum um our new book clubs are esperons for sixth grade esperons arising out of my mind and the new kid um these are books that feature diversity and representation within the authors and the protagonists of the novels um they're at a variety of levels that allow students to access reading and enjoy it as a as a not a stressful experience um the titles that we selected for this slide also build on the units presented in the textbook it's individuals overcoming adversity in in a variety of different ways um and this is done in tandem with the whole class novel reads um

012a new one is A Long Walk to Water which continues to build on them those same motifs so when we move up into the seventh grade curriculum um we were able to add a huge variety of um books for the kids for independent reading and book club selections um some of the books that we were able to pick up were Outsiders ghost boys um fish in a tree Star Girl baring uh Baron grounds you're going to hear about in a little bit ghost crossover and Marcus Vega doesn't speak Spanish which is a really great story um and the kids have um again the variety of authors representation in the authors representation within the books so kids truly can see themselves um and then we continue we actually couldn't we couldn't let go of The Giver

013um in seventh grade um and that is our um whole class novel all of the seventh graders will lead that and it gives them the opportunity to explore the idea of making choices what impact it has on their lives and all of the um book clubs and short story um short stories that um the students have read um all contain a lot of that after you've kind of in sixth grade you've examined and and made those decisions now seventh grade we start to look at what other impact does that have on us how does that expand um who else could that does that impact in our lives um and just kind of taking that Ripple of how does it impact us moving out a little bit further how does it impact their lives so we

014kind of continue to grow that out a little bit and then um we have some students that are going to actually talk about why don't we we want to get through everything in right so you guys want to come talk about your books and we have a um art project that the kids worked on when they finished um their flying lessons and so rishan is going to speak um on you want to give a little bit about um Baron grounds can you go second you can go second yes second okay so um one of the books that we were able to purchase is called flying lessons and Other Stories it is a short story collection um all of the um stories are there is a huge variety of students um sorry characters and authors represented

015um this is one of the stories it's called the difficult path um it focuses on um some very some very interesting characters and Pirates um and Peter and Emily are going to give you a little bit of an explanation as to what the story was about and how they came to create this poster uh we chose this particular story because we found the title very interesting when the author wrote it as the difficult path we wanted to understand and know why she chose this uh what we learned from this story was to face your challenges and your fears also because that's really important to learn um about this body biography um we chose a lot of elements that the story mentioned such as the boat which which Ling rode away on to escape her being

016married off as she was a servant for for Le family uh the te is to show what ly reads to um survive and let the Pirates stay or let Ling Su stay on the ship with the Pirates because she wanted to run away from the Lea Family Fox Ling linga was very fortunate to be one of the only girls who was taught how to read in this time period She Used this ability to to her Advantage when she read many of the tea crates explain and telling the captain of the ship t t that what they were teny eventually makes the comes to conclusion that linga should stay on her ship and teach her how to read so the pirate has also one of the key details about the um about L staying on the

017ship because um well she gets a prior hat from the captain and that's her key so that she got to stay on the ship and run away from the family um as part of the assignment is also we were we had to write a biop poem um L who is smart Brave observant emotional who thinks she hates being a servant who understands what it is like to be ordered around who wonders about what it is like to be on a ship who wants to get away from serving the Lee family who worries about marrying fooding who says the ocean who fears going back to her master who tries to do her best who enjoys listening to poems who dreams about leaving her master and who likes to wear serving clothes in the beginning and ends

018up in a pirate the here in end Ling and this is a poster that we made there's some key details that are a little bit hidden first we have the difficult path at the bottom of the books and um the iron God te which I explained earlier was the key to show that um Ling Su got to stay on the ship um on the right side of her is her servant attire she in one of the scenes of the book she was out shopping with one of the other servants and she came and she saw a ship in the distance while the one of the servants was very frightened she looked at it with Wonder and kind of dreamed to be on that ship um I'm going to be talking about the book that the

019earlier in the year we've read we also had story circles we about different books that the board has purchased I read the book called Baron grounds it's a story about a two IND Native American indigenous children from the cre nation that get trapped that get sucked into a drawing and into a world of the cre of of where cre um folktales have come to life this book talks a lot it's told in the first person by by Morgan the 13-year-old First Nations teenager and in Miss and when they get sucked into mwa which is where they um the cre is called Earth they're in an endless winter where the where a man has stolen the summer birds that their mission in the book what conflict was basically where they had to find the birds and

020save and rescue the the n The Villages from their endless winter during the story it's kind of like Narnia The Chronicles of Narnia where during Narnia they they when they first arrive in Narnia it's an endless winter the ice queen has taken control total control and and um taking total control of the world everyone is afraid and is they're starving and living in fear this is a kind of a more modern take on Narnia where instead of some European PE kids going getting sucked into to the Wardrobe these are two First Nation First Nations team middle schoolers getting sucked into a drawing and rescuing the the cre folktales from the endless winter and getting the summer birds back from the man the board was this was a smart thing for the board to purchase because

021if the this helps um shape the students minds and my mind it also helped I learned a lot from this book including like the differences in the world like not how not everyone always feels included in in in schools and classes people feel different and have different emotions about different things like Morgan is very very angry when she gets adopted but um and her foster parents try to make her feel at home home but she feels left out because in her last few homes she wasn't always treated fairly or she wasn't always included in all of her life things so what she acts differently to different things than most people would instead and her foster brother doesn't know about these things this is an example of how different experiences can change people's lives thank you

022guys um uh so I just wanted to thank Miss donah Who and the rest of our step publicly this the diversity of representation that you hear in our independent readings and our book club books um over it's been a years long project and the books don't just fall fall out of the sky it's taken an immense amount of research um we don't go for the easy low hanging fruit of the trendy book that just happens to pop up um mustan who's an example of our staff members who attend conferences and tirelessly research constantly for not just the um you know the book that's getting all the buzz at this time but the books that will functionally work best within our curriculum uh to support our students um in their reading experiences at was Middle School

023so as we build on Seventh grade's work when we get to eth grade we're still focused on the individual's identity um but this we we tilt the question to say how does one's Community impact their identity um that's how we begin the school year and then we work into the second marking period to the classic Of Mice and Men where we say how does the national Community affect someone's identity so you can really see how the the steps in sixth and seventh grade lead to where eighth grade is trying to steer the conversation um our we got a ton of new book club books um that students can choose to read independently or in pairings and I have some eth grade students here that are just going to share three titles with you very quickly

024cool are you good to go okay Miss o is going to start us off one of the new books that the board decided to purchase uh was the 57 bus the 57 bus is a non-fiction book um about two teenagers named Sasha and Richard and the and it's about a crime in which Richard who is an African-American boy sets Sasha's skirt on fire when they are riding um on a bus on a city bus it should also be noted that um Sasha is not their given name they are an agender person and were assigned mail at birth so uh I think it's really important for a book like this to be in the curriculum because it's going to make people in the career community at school feel safe and represented and um the book also

025goes into detail about Sasha's side of the story and their friends and how their school their school Community is shaped and even though whis is really supportive of the lgbtq community I think I'm pretty there's a severe lacking of GQ representation in the curriculum so adding this book I think is not only going to make the students in the queer Community feel safer but it also will make the people who don't know much about the queer Community um it's going I think it's going to help them because I and I think uh it's going to help them because they can be exposed to different identities of people and I vers and diversify the characters that they meet and not only does it go into detail about gender identity and gender expression it also explores Richard's

026side of the story um and goes a little bit into the incarceration system of America and uh and about his school Community because he is an African-American boy living in modern America and it goes into detail about his experience in his school and how his uh school is not very well funded not like ours and I think it's going to Open the Eyes to many students who did not know about uh and uh it's it's going to Open the Eyes of students who didn't really know much about Sasha or Richard sides of the story hi I'm Juliet and I'll be representing all our broken pieces all our broken pieces is a story about two t dagers struggling with important and relatable factors of mental health the girl Lennon struggles with OCD with the publicity of

027mental health on the rise it is important for kids especially young teenagers to understand the various Ways Mental Health is presented wasen is a very diverse Public School making it likely to meet amazing kids who struggle with OCD one of my best friends struggles with OCD this book not only provided a resource for her to be represented but also helps others Gras the understanding the boy character Kyler struggles with burn scars and insists that he should be hidden the two teenagers find each other and the ability to separate who they are and who they are seen to be this book explores the depths of identity and teaches the valuable and crucial lesson to find Comfort within hi my name is Amanda Boro and I chose to read the radius of us by Mario maror this

028book is about a girl who's named Gretchen who experienced a traumatic event that changed her view on everything creating a mental block between her and the real world she meets a boy named Phoenix who reminds her of her attacker and gets frighten and runs away quickly slowly Gretchen comes to terms with her emotion and begins to form a bond between the two we get put into Phoenix's point of view and we learn about the hardships that he has went through and about all the trauma that he has experienced Gretchen helps Phoenix through a hard time and the two end up forming an unbreakable bond this story teaches readers not to judge someone based on stereotypes or appearances but rather by getting to know them personally as you do not know their story readers of all

029ages will be inspired by Gretchen and Phoenix's empathy and apply this into their own lives it is important for students to take on the responsibility of supporting their peers and this book encourages them to do so reading about characters who are going through a rough patch in their life is something that readers can relate to which makes them feel seen thank you for providing me with the opportunity to read this book thanks so um it's just as an aside it's really nice as an English teacher when you're setting up this like giant um book club assignment and you don't really have to like sell the kids on the books they're like oh my God you have radius of bus oh my God and I'm like hey okay like it's great um we were also able

030to get the house of Mango Street which was previously a book used in the nth gr at was second high school that um they transitioned away from so as they transitioned away um we used it in 8th grade um Sandra SOS is a phenomenal author it was a really great book a great teaching material to start the year with this year it's little vignette um but also focusing on identity development within a community so um the last thing I wanted to share with you is a cool project that our eth grade students are able to do and they write a children's book so after examining identity development in relationship with your community they have to write a children's book that teaches a lesson based on how your community impacts your identity and we were actually

031able to last year in a beta version and this year in a more full-fledged version we were able to ship the kids back to the elementary school that they came from and uh read the books that they composed based on that prompt so that we wanted to make it real like it's one thing to just come up with an idea but no you are presenting this message to your community uh so what lesson do you want them to have um it actually turned out great because kids start off thinking that they want to write a kindergarten book and they don't actually realize how difficult it is to take this high level concept and refine it down into really simplistic symbols and vocabulary and likewise the kids who wanted to write these long fantasy stories for

032fifth graders got five or six pages into these long fantasy stories and realized it takes a lot more storyboarding than they realized but seeing the kids go back to their old stomping grounds and seeing their old teachers and seeing their the neighborhood kids and their getting a chance to coordinate them reading to their siblings or their cousins or um it was really truly a community experience it was one of my favorite things I've done in my career here was really great experience so the books that we've shared and the assignments um kind of all are fertilize this this type of opportunity so that we can really get a a great experience for the kids as they make their way through wh middle school so unless you have any questions well thank you so much for

033that presentation so I may have missed at the beginning so the book clubs how does that work exactly are like teams the students put together to read a particular book do they get the a choice well I can tell you that was a hick and middle school is a highly differentiated learning environment so um it really it changes on the day that changes on the day um sometimes book clubs are set up where we offer like we tiar the books and share with the kids the tears and sometimes we'll like assign readings to the kids um based on their the the data that we've collected on or sometimes we'll let them know how the books are tiered and say if you're really into horror and you want to read the medium piece take a stab

034at it dude maybe this is your maybe this is your chance for a little extension activity um some if it's an independent reading option definitely they we let them know the different levels of the books and let them take those types of opportunity anything you want to add to that um in seventh grade we will give them like a limited you know if we have maybe 30 books at the ready we may only pull 15 to offer to certain classes depending upon the makeup of the classes um some of the higher levels we will hold for the the classes when we have that data that we know those are the kids maybe it's a a different um content or a higher reading level because we have all of that data so we will tiar some

035of those options and and provide maybe limited option but it's still student Choice um out of those 15 what they are interested in what what their capabilities are and sometimes quite honestly interest Will trump capability any day of the week um and it really we do we switch it up constantly yeah so and I will say it's not always mut exclusive too like last year um I had a group of students that hadn't read a title ghost Boys in seventh grade and I was able to quick just run down and you know have a quick conversation run to the book closet get it and get it set up for the kids so I think like having this new like robust catalog of books to offer them really allows for that flexibility and the differentiation however

036either the instructor wants to set up the leveling of the groups or the students themselves want to set up the levelings grps they do have then groups of students though that are all reading the same book not I saw there some that were class at times yeah yeah do they have the opportunity then to read it and discuss amongst each other in like small groups yes yeah yes that's great awesome and I saw so many familiar titles up there my son's in sixth grade and I saw a lot of the titles that I've seen in his room this year so wonderful um other questions yes Rosetta so I I just found like some of the books that you guys are amazing and I would like to read them so I want to know the name

037of the book where they get pulled into the picture the baring grounds and then in the eighth grade the first girl 57 bus thank you I I think both of those books are amazing as all of them are and I applaud you guys reading because I think it's really important reading is amazing so you guys are doing a great job um well first off I want to commend the students uh for being brave and standing up in front of us to present about their book projects um it can be intimidating standing in front of a room full adults and also being televised but you guys all did a great job so thank you again for coming out tonight have another round of applause from kids um in addition I I I really liked seeing the

038changes to the ELA curriculum that's happening at the middle school um it it feels very different from the ELA curriculum that my own kids went to um five or so years ago um the the diversity and the representation of different voices and perspectives in the in the materials is fantastic um someone one of the students made have mention earlier that whis hickin is a very diverse school district and some folks might not realize how diverse it is and how it's become over the years as as an example uh 40% of our students are students of color we have about 22% of our students who come from low-income families um and those are just a couple examples of the diversity in our school community and it's great to see some of those perspectives uh being represented

039in the curricular materials that are being offered um I think um I've heard Dr dwan and some other folks on the administration talking about the importance of having um I believe mirrors and windows in the curriculum that we have for our kids Windows meaning and mirrors meaning that students can see themselves or people of similar backgrounds or life circumstances being reflected in what they're studying and seeing and the importance of that as well as providing Windows um into the lives and circumstances of other students who are different from them to give them uh more appreciation and some perspective and empathy for others who are not like them so I think that's fantastic and then finally the there's more agency it seems like in the books and options that they have there is a book that

040seems like each grade that everyone reads which is which is fine but it's really awesome that kids also have the opportunity to pick something based on their interests um and what they want to explore and that's kind of worked into the curriculum as well so good job all around and uh great to hear thanks thank just to add on to what you just said also one other component is that I feel like I'm very fortunate I work in an extremely diverse hallway like the staff members that they're not all English teachers but they're raising their own kids and they're engaged in the school district and when books are coming across their RAR too they're always willing to share with us to help build out like our understanding of what's of what's available so I I

041just really appreciate the STA that I work with I I just wanted to say thank thank you so much for the work that goes into the thoughtful selection of these books um this just seems amazing especially when I think back to what I might have read in middle school this seems just so cool and I really do believe in um you know bringing different perspectives to the table to increase empathy and understanding of you know something outside of your world and so this is just so important thank you so much and great job kids yeah again amazing jobs with the students I know firsthand how intimidating it can be presenting to the board so amazing um and also I just want to say I'm really really happy with the changes like thinking back to when

042I was in the middle school like six years ago it yeah definitely wasn't the same books and I know how important it is like when you're figuring yourself out at that age to see yourself in literature like I'm super passionate about English itself I want to major in English so seeing kids be able to read a book about them or about someone like them or even something someone different and them that they can learn from is just amazing um Mrs Bower has been great in helping me get books uh here and there in small quantities but uh one thing like you just mentioned six years ago six or seven years ago I remember saying like how many books do we have that have a cell phone in them like we were desperately in need of

043like updating our books just so it was a more relatable world to what our kids are living with like they need books that reflect kids interacting via social media and via cell phones technology and stuff and your books can very quickly get outdated and then it's harder to get the kids to connect because it's not the time period that they're native too so it's just a small detail that goes into researching like what we need in terms of materials yeah I too want to say thank you to all of our students who came out and shared with us I know it's it's really awesome and also intimidating and parents this is recorded you can download it and play it back mple times at multiple times in their lifetime too um I remember last year when

044we got um the curriculum proposal and I was so excited to see the titles and the authors and now it's just amazing to see it come like into action and that's just fabulous so I know many of you thanked us for buying the book but really you need to thank the administration and the teach teachers and the the people who sit around tables talking about how to build out our curriculum because they come to us with recommendations and they're usually phenomenal so we're always going to say yes to these phenomenal options so watching this come together is awesome um I have seen my children read these some of these books uh like on their own 57 bus excellent fish in a tree star girl I I love these titles and I love that these are

045options that our kids are are getting to read and Mr T side not my kids still reference you all the time so thank you thank you all for everything that you do and one last bit of Applause for everybody any other comments or questions yeah Marshall just a quick comment um we heard several times that um it could be intimidating to get up and speak in front of the board um but I think it's important to note that not one of you was and not one of you should have been um because when you come up and present in any capacity when you know it you understand it you have passion for it and you just talk and teach it shows that there's no reason to be anything other than excited about doing whatever you're

046doing and that's what you showed tonight this is a tool that will go with you reading the books is wonderful and reading the presentations but getting up here telling us all about it uh you had no reason to be anything other than what you were which was confident and wonderful uh and so for that for for you and for your teachers uh thank you for allowing us to be your students tonight to hear from you and uh I know that we're going to be hearing a lot more from each and every one of you as you go through your school so thank you anyone else well again thank you to our students and thank you to our teachers who are here with us this evening very nice job yes um all right so we always

047like to get a picture at the end so if we can buite our students back up and teachers and let me see who hasn't done a picture yet Gavin go on up there and zephy you haven't done a picture in a while right and while you're doing the picture I would like to take a look at this poster and if anybody else wants to take a look you're certainly welcome to stay for the rest of our meeting which will be just as exciting and interesting um or you can leave and if you do leave uh please grab some goodies on your way out one of you could stay stay we can handle all right um we will move on to our next presentation Black History Month yes thank you we are so excited um we

048have Miss tour with us this evening to share out um updates on how our schools have uh celebrated and continue to celebrate Black History Month we know that black history month is Black History is American history and so we are continually embedding um this content in our curriculum all through the year um this month is Black History Month so this is the time that we can lift up some of the things that are happening across our district so thank you so much for joining us miss Lor good evening everyone thank you for the opportunity to share how WIA hickin school district is celebrating black history month so at Bluebell Elementary we have had the opportunity and this is something that Gavin has already spoken to to have members of the whiskin high school's black student

049union visit blue Bell's fourth and fifth grade classrooms to share presentations showcasing achievement and contributions of black Americans students of course had an opportunity to engage with the high school students in discussion and ask questions additionally students had the opportunity to read from African-American poets like Phyllis sweetle and Eloise Greenfield and then they created their own poems based on Greenfield's honey I love in second grade students researched famous African-Americans on Pebble go fact item World Book they then presented their learning through canva as you can see in that Center photo PowerPoint and posters to share with one another another all students in grades 3 two through five research black influential people at low gwened Elementary we continued with our wonderful researching we opened up in Lowa gwet with a kickoff event symbolizing their commitment to

050celebrating diversity fostering inclusivity and honoring the profound contributions of black individuals throughout history the laser light show highlighted music art and history of key moments and influential figures in fourth grade students embarked on a journey to research filled with creativity they have been passionately delving into their own lives and in treatements as long as well as black lives and figures who have left an indelible mark on our world from civil rights activists to scientists artists writers inventors and Beyond students have chosen individuals who have inspired them with stories that resonate deeply with them additionally students had the opportunity to look at Dr King's teachings and through his teachings they selected quotes that they interpreted recognizing their profound impact on our society and their enduring relevance to his messages some students also dissected these quotes to

051explore the historical context societal impl implications and enduring relevance in today's world all great levels engaging students um in various research types of projects so they were learning as they were going through many of the things that we're seeing and highlighting on these slides with jady Grove Elementary day two were very lucky to have students from the high school's black student union visit in fourth and fifth grade and again they shared presentations showcasing achievement and contributions of black Americans the elementary students once again had the opportunity to engage in discussion and ask questions of the high school students and then share some of the things that they gleaned during Black History Month in the center there are photographs across all great levels showing um some of the work they they did on biography projects which

052focused on the achievements and contributions of black Americans students presented their research in a variety of ways most notably by creating hallway displays for the entire school to see each day in February first grade student stud have been learning about a different leader in black history students are keeping track of these leaders in their Black History Month journals which they use to explain why the leaders are important and influential some of the people highlighted include George crom third Good Marshall Bessie Coleman Maya Angelo Michael Jordan Wilma Rudolph and so many many more first graders are also learning about another courageous first grader Ruby Bridges after reading about Ruby students highlighted what made Ruby so special for our kindergarten students they also Drew inspiration from Dr Martin Luther King Jr highlighting some of the things they

053dream about for a better future at Stony Creek Elementary we had our third grade students practice story sequence and comprehension by piecing together the beginning middle and end of an AI generated article on Coco golf career in professional tennis in second grade students also engage in activities such as read alouds learning about Dr Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and they also created their own I have a dream statements third grade students selected and researched influential African-Americans that had an impact and they researched using Pebble go and then presented to their peers at wiik Middle School in art 8th grade students have been working on a cartoon drawing styled art piece that encompasses the use of a variety of cartoon drawing Styles and techniques and one unified design students were able to explore artists including Floyd

054Norman Marie Turner a leader in the animation industry t k Shaw um to draw inspiration for their own artwork that is showcased in family and consumer science classes students also learned about African-American artists such as Faith Ringold um they looked at very closely her hand painted story quilts by painting on quilted fabric they were able to replicate a lot of her own Styles in Tech at classrooms students had the opportunity to produce documentary style videos based on events on our monthly calendar we have an internal District cultural calendar that they were using to recognize um those months and then also o students had the opportunity to create videos for Black History Month which they shared during their darling morning announcements in Spanish class Dylan Middle School um we had an opportunity for students to look

055at notable afro Latinos and featured them including some of the things in terms of food culture and music art club members are also creating currently projects inspired by featured contemporary black artists so at the high school um Gavin had provided a wonderful um showcase of the things that are happening at the high school for Black History Month that includes some of the announcements that are airing in the morning highlighting famous black people the black student union of course attending the elementary schools to read novels to students in grades K through five and then of course um the Black History Month door decorating contest you can see at the very bottom there um showcasing many of the individuals that they learned famous black individuals they did research on them the doors are not just beautifully um

056artsy and aesthetically pleasing but they're also very informative based on what they've gleaned from their research in Mrs Kim's class which is in that upper right corner area her ninth grade students were able to do a Black History Month Weeden and they were looking at different Elementary level books and it was very interesting because those books were tied to um an oral storytelling introduction that I did with them a week ahead so I was able to go into that same class and provide a framework for them regarding oral storytelling leading into the Harland Renaissance period and then participating as well in their reading that they had which was remarkable and very interesting they looked at a host of different things such as tone and Motif and imagery through the different Works um and then had

057engaging conversations with one another as they talked about the theme and the audience and claims that were made in different classes such as environmental science um students are working on different ways to use their project to review videos and social media for black naturalists environmentalists environmental scientists and farmers in grade 12 in ela they're stepping into the shoes of Americans who've been marginalized And discussing how nonwhite American Authors write in relation to a classic such as um James Balden Ralph Ellison's work and Walter D Meyer's work we also have in biology students honoring Black History Month as well as women's History Month um by focusing on a science project that they're currently doing on the contributions in the stem field so overall in you know we look at what we're doing in terms of celebrating

058back History Month as Dr danan noted it is something that is wonderful to celebrate but the other people pieces the education and so throughout our schools there's the intentionality of the education that's going through black history of month to make sure that our students are aware and understanding fully the contributions of black Americans in the United States on this slide there is a link that I want to showcase you this was actually shared by Mr tow Nikki um this is an internal resource for staff and what it does is actually in clicking that it's a contribution of a gallery of sort and the gallery just takes you to a host of different things to see so as a colleague if I were to click on this piece it's loading Lift Every Voice um this was

059originally was a unit that they had done in English and then it really extended and moved forward in different ways so if we were to click on just um using the mouse like make a footprint there it will take us somewhere like click on that footprint and it moves us through to a gallery so this is a digital Gallery that's embedded here and there are videos and different things if you click again it'll take you to different individuals such as Phillis sweetly and different individuals that we talked about and so forth and this is an internal resource for them to glean and it's something that of course is cross discipline um and it's to help them in terms of their own knowledge and understanding as well and so this is something that is shed throughout

060the middle school it is collaborative it's interdisciplinary in nature and I just wanted to highlight that too because that's another resource for our staff as we continue to learn during our time here so thank you so much for this opportunity to share what we've done in celebrating Black History Month any questions thank you kayia that's a wonderful presentation and I'm so happy to see all the wonderful things we were doing in our schools this month um any board members have questions or comments yeah zy thank you for your presentation it's always great and I don't know if this question's for you or you but how did this BSU Elementary School connection happen it it's so lovely I I like how did it come to be um so basically I I saw that other clubs did

061it before and I also wanted to visit Shady Grove again that's where I went um so me and Mrs ladimore um Talk talked about getting that started and she actually reached out to the principles of those schools and then we got permission to get transportation and stuff um so yeah I think that answers your question I hope yeah other questions or comments yeah what that a quick question about what you presented to the kids like how did you decide what you were gonna present um so when I was creating BSU I already made a list of things I definitely wanted to do and reading books about black figures that we don't always hear about was definitely something I wanted to do because though it's very important to learn about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks

062I feel like we have to learn about other figures as well um so yeah I definitely want to do the Reading part and then Mrs vlore actually came up with the presentation and the activity um so I like that we had a multifaceted presentation to give them and they seem to enjoy it anyone else all right well again thank you so much thank you so much all right we'll move on now to our first public comment period um I don't see any registered Katie is anyone online there's no raised hands on Zoom okay so we'll jump in then to the board president report and um what I have we'll be voting on next week is the dates for next year's board meetings um so if you can think that far in advance to next school

063year uh these are the dates so we'll approve those next meeting any questions about the dates comments no oh yeah just just one note for board members is that um in the past we've typically had um a voting meeting in the early part of January and you might notice if you look closely at the schedule we don't have that early uh January voting meeting and we simply have uh just one uh meeting in January at towards the end just the way the calendar worked out it just seemed uh more appropriate to do it that way I didn't think anyone would be too sad about having one less meeting but just wanted to note that for every yes thanks for pointing that out Joe any other comments or questions all right then we'll move on to

064superintendent for thank you I actually have no informational items or action items on this agenda I'm going to try tonight hard to be uh for secretary for the for one meeting that's it and Way's absence all right we'll come back to you then shortly um we'll move on to the assistant superintendent report Dr Johan thank you I don't have any action items for review in this section um but I do have one informational item I'm excited to share um just a brief recap of the professional learning experience we had experiences we had in February for our support staff and our professional staff on the 15th as you know there was a half day and that afternoon our support staff stayed and engaged in professional learning their sessions focused on positive behavioral interventions and supports PBIS

065for short um as well as proactive Behavior strategy some team building activities and um Microsoft Office 365 training so um I want to give a special shout out to miss Lor who helped to coordinate all of those opportunities and soliciting feedback from our support staff on what are the areas of need um for developing that um second professional session professional learning opportunities for support staff this year um and a special shout out to all of our administrators and um and teacher leaders who helped to coordinate excuse me to facilitate those opportunities for our support staff members so it was very well uh received by the by our support staff so that was it was it was an awesome afternoon um and then on February 16th was a full day of inservice that was the inservice

066day for professional staff our faculty um and that day consisted of the morning which is typically District coordinated professional learning opportunities um and so in the morning we had ele teachers who selected from a variety of sessions some of which focused on um strategy and resources to support English Learners other sessions focused on math interventions reading interventions proactive Behavior strategies mental health first aid and Innovative AI tools for teachers our secondary teachers in the morning uh met in departmental groups and focused on curriculum conversations such as um program needs assessments so that's when they sort of take a deep dive into what are those areas of needs that's one of the um iterative processes that we have in place whereas we can take a look systematically at at the curriculum without looking at the full

067review process so this is one of those sort of um intermediate opportunities where where staff can take a deep dive into needs assessments and resource collaboration um they also spent time in the morning focusing on um adl's no place for hate sources which was wonderful as well there were other more targeted opportunities in the morning for specialists in addition to those that I just mentioned and then in the afternoon School leaders had designed building based professional learning experiences that focus on building specific needs as always um I just want to say thank you to all of our administrators instructional coaches and teacher facilitators who help plan and provide these awesome learning opportunities for our staff so special shout out to all of those involved that concludes my report thank you so much I have a

068question so the different courses for back lack of a better word that we offer those days um who comes up with the topics thank you for the question um we use information that we collect from our staff in terms of what the needs are we also engage in conversations with our administrators in terms of the building leaders what are they noticing what are they noting in terms of some staff development needs so it's a combination of that we also are very intimately aware of what our growing population in terms of our student body um needs and how we need to keep up with supporting our staff and meeting our students needs so it's a combination of all those things that helps us to get a sense of what the professional learning needs consist of great

069thank you thank you anyone else questions comments all right seeing none we'll move on to our board oh thank you again we'll move on to our board solicor report Jeff there will be I believe according to my records two action items uh next week which will be motions to approve confidential settlement agreements with respect to students a24 and B24 with a cap of liability on a24 $5,000 and uh on B24 $9,000 thank you Jeff any questions or comments right seeing none we will move on to our board secretary report Jim thank you we have uh for review tonight only four sets of minutes from recent meetings U the first would be the January 22nd facilities and transp ation committee meeting the second will be the January 29th work session public meeting the third being the

070February 5th regular public meeting and then the fourth being the February 20th policy committee meeting uh which we will uh hear about as a summary later this evening any comments or questions on that report right then we can jump right into theard treasure report okay and on this uh section 11 we have just for review tonight the treasures report for the mon month of January 2024 thank you any comments or questions regarding that report right thank you Jim for filling in and now we'll move on to our HR report Danel all right good evening uh for your reviews tonight are only three items under section 12 of the human resources report uh the first two action items include resignations retirements appointments postseason pay extracurricular changes and volunteer additions item three is uh for your consideration

071of approval of an agreement with Procare therapy for occupational therapy services and that concludes my report this evening thank you so much any comments or questions yes Stephie hey Danielle um I looked at the prare therapy um agreement contract and I don't see anywhere in there on how they screen their occupational therapists or anybody really in that document and I went on their website and they do look like they're they only work with school districts but I just want to kind of understand what their screening criteria is and what kind of you know things they have to get through to become part of this network and how do they get into our schools sure their requirements are the same as ours um and and we do work with these agencies uh quite closely so we

072do require and need to need to take a look at it actually comes through my office um all three clearances and they have to be within a year um and they also need um you know TB tests um and proper licenses uh license to be a part of um and work in our in our schools so um that's the bare minimum minimum um lots of times there's training they also have to meet the requirements um you know like mandated reporter training so um things like that they have to do so um yeah may not be spelled out in there I mean I can I can certainly if there's something I can find for you I can send it over your way but we wouldn't work with any agency that didn't um require those items and

073and again we I do have to review all the clearances as well so so that's helpful Danielle when when I look at the retirement report there's a lot of Shady Grove experience going um is there from an HR perspective any concern plans uh yes well well yes and no right um you know we have individuals that are um at a at the age where they can retire so that's really exciting for them um and uh we're g to we have we've actually started advertising for our elementary positions so um as you know folks exit we will enter new um new teachers as well so um we are a really desirable district and we already have um many applicants uh and we're not even not even ready to start the interview process so I have no

074doubt that we won't fill them with um great and wonderful qualified teachers so thanks any other questions or comments all right seeing none thank you again Danielle and we will move on to our Communications committee report zey so we had a meeting right before this meeting with the communications committee and a few others also joined us um we had a guest speaker um for the first kind of 20 minutes or so of the meeting um to talk to us about um Grassroots advocacy kind of efforts uh she is currently a school me School Board director in scatton but she was the psba advocacy kind of liaison not liaison but I'm getting her title is wrong but she was the advocacy person um uh at psba um this was brought on because in April we are

075going to Harrisburg uh psba has a legislative day where we go up to Harrisburg and we can talk about various things with our legislators and it was just kind of an effort for us to kind of help prepare for that um that's open to anybody who's interested you can still get on the P PSP a website and register for it but right now I believe it's myself deian and Amy who have registered for that so that that was one item uh we did talk about the satisfaction survey um we had done two surveys in the past keep me honest here 2018 and 2019 um then Co happened so we kind of put a pause on it we are looking to roll that out again this year in May but um Kristen rolands has reached out

076to some of our building principles um sharing this uh family satisfaction survey with those principles and there were some ideas of adding some questions or making some changes what we all talked about is maybe keeping the same questions but adding to it to help supplement some of the principal requests and needs we did unfortunately run out of time but we will be looking at uh what we want to tackle for the 2425 school year from a Communications perspective and we were thinking that it could be something that we can fold into goals and kind of cover off at the retreat later this this school year so that is it any questions I know that was a bit fast but our meeting was quite fast too okay thank you thank you and just a comment so

077we are going to be putting together materials to take with us to that advocacy day uh typically they do give like a one sheet that you can hand out that has some like basic facts but every District gets one and it basically has the same facts about every District so in addition to that we do want to put together some very whis a hick and specific things that we create so if anybody has anything that they're interested in at the legislative level please you know email the three of us or if anybody else wants to join us um please sign up but if you have anything and you can't be there that day shoot us an email so that we can make sure to include it in the materials we're prepar we should put a

078copy of the board resolution of yes 1848 yeah I agree all right anything else in Communications all right then we will move on to curriculum and Technology Dean thank you Amy um I think that Dr danan has a robust report for us this evening than thank you um yes this evening we have one informational item and three action items for which we'll seek approval at the next boort meeting um the informational item is that um we are putting forth the special education state plan for 2024 through 2027 every three years districts have are um tasked with preparing and submitting a special education state plan um to the Pennsylania Department of Education and the plan um is required but it also helps to demonst the district's commitment to ensuring a quality education for our students um

079who have disabilities and who um are in need of these services so our plan um includes information about the programs that are provided within our district and um programs that we are accessing outside of our district boundaries um it reviews compliance um status on various State monitoring measures um reviews the special education professional development opportunities that we're committed to in our district identifies areas of disproportionality and ways that we're um always striving to ensure least restrictive environments I want to give a special thanks to our um administrators in our department of student services Dr Hima kesy miss jacovino and miss lober for their work on um putting leading and coordinating the work around this plan it is currently posted on the student services web page of our district website and it'll be there first for

08030 days for public review and then we'll um seek board approval for this plan not at next Monday's meeting but at the um public board meeting on April 2nd which will follow the 30-day public review period any questions um just you know can be directed to the administrators in our department of student services or can be sent to me and I'll and I'll reroute to one of our team members to um to provide responses um I also this just want to take a moment to remind the board that um Dr H mclusky is also going to be joining one of our upcoming finance committee meetings well she'll be providing an overview for the board um about our special education programs and sort sort of where we've been and where we're going um so that's our

081informational item any questions before I move on to our action items is the document already on the site I went to the link and I don't see it is it is it there it it should be live but if you're not seeing it we will certainly make sure to check okay um and it's sure that it is yeah thank you for that thank you we'll we'll look into that to confirm um and then as I mentioned we have three action items that we are reviewing tonight that will'll be seeking approval next Monday the first is approval of our 2024 summer programs so there's information listed there about the summer programs the summer and then the remaining two items are from our technology department one of which is approval to purchase Network switches which is a

082part of the um The Five-Year Plan in our technology department um so this is something that we intended to to move forward with in terms of the the timing of this um and then the other item is for wireless controllers and wireless access points um this was a part of our plan but we're shifting it a year early so that we can hopefully take advantage of some e- rate funding um that will expire after the 20124 2025 school year so um with that e- rate uh funding we'll get a discount so we're hoping to get that um so those are two items that well three items that will be seeking approval next Monday that concludes our report thank you questions Stephie did you have a question I do but it's so I did read through

083this document and it's a lot to digest and I I realized that this is probably a format you have to follow and I was trying to think like is there kind of a cliff notes version that you could provide or the department could provide um and then I had questions but I'll send them via email because they're probably things you're going to have to look up anyway um but that was my kind of struggling thought through all of this yeah we we will we can absolutely work on that um in the next couple weeks um to provide click builds version for the board absolutely yes yeah no problem thank you any other questions all right thank you for that report we'll move on now to facilities and Transportation Joe thank you um there are no

084informational items this evening and for review tonight and vote next week we have three action items to consider the first one is um a contract award for some masonry repointing work at the middle school and the high school this has to do with the brick facing of our buildings um the second one is an approval for contract to install five aluminum bleachers and two portable benches at the high school's turf fields and then the third one is a a proposal from Lions Recreation for the installation of a two Bay swing set at Stony Creek any questions about any of those just just one Joe were these cost that were already built in for um one was for the the bleachers and the Stony Creek was were those each already allocated in that budget or are

085these above that budget I see our man Wade is not here for the specifics I mybe will follow up with him yeah I think maybe Wade could better answer whether or not I think the bleachers were like an haton to the okay to the high school Turf project I'm not sure so I guess we need to get a response back from Wade on that and then the the Stony Creek one is I think it's yeah you saying was a part of the construction is that was your question yeah so is this like something that we had budgeted for or is this above and beyond right I can answer to some degree um both of those be it the field project or also the Stony Creek when um projects are paid for with with debt or

086with from the capital reserve fund sometimes things come up that are smaller that you wouldn't have out of the capital reserve fund or out of the debt issue um in the case of the the playground once all the dust settled over there we realize that the access to the existing one isn't ideal okay so it could come I don't know we'll we'll get to you the source of that 45,000 um whether or not it was specifically budgeted it certainly wouldn't have been in the debt issue but it could be in a different account thank you any other questions or comments is that how much swings really cost well the whole package of of uh the swing is probably a good bit less but the structure and the the ground preparation and the installation okay and

087you couldn't move the existing structure they keeping that I don't know if keeping it or not but it could not be moved to the new location I I had the opportunity to tour the school last Friday and they explained that you needed to for uh access purposes it needed to go to a different part of the grounds oh for like correct gotcha just because I know usually equip like playground stuff is paid for usually through the HSA but is this an exception based on the fact that it was construction related I would say that the latter the yes I mean sometimes we do partner up with with hsas for for individual Pieces perhaps not the whole thing and in this case it's a it's an access matter anything else all right thank you for that

088report Joe thank you all right we'll move on now to finance Steve sure um for informational purposes we did have a committee meeting last week and at that committee meeting we were uh introduced to the uh proposed FY 2425 budget with an overview of the budgeting process as well as uh um what we have available in terms of uh both uh funding Revenue via uh taxes as well as expenditures um we'll be talking about that over the next few months um and uh but just a reminder uh that we uh withen uh has a great record of academic performance while maintaining the second lowest millage rate of the districts in Montgomery County so just uh wanting to maintain that as we move forward um and then in terms of uh action items for the next

089meeting uh we'll be reviewing the financial reports for uh January um we also need to look at uh bids for musical instruments the uh Intermediate Unit uh member services budget budget will be reviewed and uh just an item for approval of uh the you know occasionally we have tax refund requests and looking at those uh that have come through and approval for that um and then our list of payments that's it great thank you any questions or comments so I but I have questions on the musical instrument piece of it because it doesn't make sense to me so I'll send him an email because it's just odd this what was your question in case any yeah anyone else is thinking the same thing because I need my glasses um so the total bit amount is

09039,000 but the highest bid was 31,000 it it's just like like none of these numbers kind of make sense I feel like there might be just some either a missing of information Su of all those all those the three will be awarded in the total sum of 39 okay so unclear and then what are we getting for all this uh we'll get you the exact instruments what we are doing in this case is um not so much adding as replacing instruments that are a little on the tired side and and one of the the reasons for it now is we adjust we have an opportunity to high school specifically to um really go through things that have been in storage and and confirm that they're really not something we would they not up to our

091standards and so we had to I authorized replacing them now rather than waiting having our students wait for new instruments no for sure um the way this read to me was that we asked for five bids and these are the five bits that we got and we were choosing 39 that's I I it just read got it very differently than how I interpreted like what we're trying to do here makes a lot more sense now that you explain that that's not how it is re got some days are for zero dollars too I know I was like I was like this makes no sense we're definitely rewarding that dead for zero I appreciate you asking that question for clarification yeah than clarifies a lot of things any other questions or comments on this report all

092right thank you again right policy committee Marshall thank you Amy um we have some items this evening to discuss the first is an informational item uh which is a February 2024 committee meeting recap where we discussed 10 policies uh some new some with revisions and some just simp simply up for a three-year review uh based on our review I'm going to be asking for a vote next week the policies include uh 105.1 which is a review of instructional material um this is a new policy uh regarding uh parents ability to review materials distinct from say library or academic testing um uh materials or academic assessment materials uh we have another new policy 105.2 which is an exemption from instruction uh due to either religious beliefs or specific statute um we reviewed 144 which is a

093revision to the selection of Library materials and it talks about uh broadening definitions discarding old materials uh challenge materials as well as donations we looked at the policy 200 which is a revised policy per the psba regarding enrollment having to do with active duty military uh in order to make the transition uh easier for families moving in uh we looked at 246 which is a three-year review regarding student wellness it was last done in June of 2021 um after the internal review review no changes were recommended 249.000 December of 2021 uh and again after review no changes were recommended 2 54 is a new policy regarding educational opportunities for military children and this is to ensure that uh resources are in place for them um policy number 810 has to do with a review of

094Transportation including parameters for walking uh versus busing and no changes are uh recommended in that regard uh policy 815 has to do with acceptable use of Internet computer and network resources is a revised policy for the district uh having to do with data security and breach policies uh as well as accessibility of District sites finally we looked at um policy 819 having to do with suicide awareness prevention and response this is a a revised policy uh a substantial revision based upon psba changes based upon uh our review of these 10 policies uh at the meeting uh next week I will be uh looking for approval of uh action items 1772 through 17.8 which is um either new or revised policies uh and this will be the first reading of those either new policies or revisions

095to the policies and we'll ask for the approval of that first reading next great thank you Marshall any comments or questions Bey sorry um quick question thank you so much Marshall appreciate all the work um Katie used to do like our little cheat sheets for these policy changes do we not get those anymore because I I love them you know me I like show to the meeting if you show up to the meeting you get one sorry we will make them available I was like stuck in traffic that's I'm sorry it is it is reserved for those who enjoy the no I'm just kidding uh they were hand out uh oh were they I think we did get them and they are available cor yeah so on the policy committee agenda with each policy item

096you'll see that summary and the policy there so it's not the document like cover sheet like we used to do it's now with um each individual policy now that we're in board docs so now do I like I would physically have to go back to that meeting to pull that you could do that and I think the meeting minutes are also with this agenda too and you could review the summaries there as well okay thank you I love cheat sheets I I was a big fan of that cheat sheet as well by the way I'm with other questions yeah can I just ask a question about so um the policy oh my gosh it's so long I'm scrolling up to try to find the number um it's the one about book removal and then at

097the bottom there's a red item saying any material removed from the library as a result of the above process is not eligible for reconsideration on to be added again for at least two years from the applicable decision so my question is if there was a book that was removed that I would like to see back into the library how would I go about asking that question or proposing that or challenging that or whatever challenging the challenge right so one of the the purpose of that language as you as you might s uh surmise is to to not have us uh deal with the same uh question uh multiple times you know just Time After Time and instead have a two-year period of when it was decided and went through the process um then that's it

098for two years and then if something is is removed um as a result of this process the same thing two years we would go through our normal process of selecting materials so it's not like somebody from the community would come in and say hey we ask that you add book x to the library it would be for our noral process whether either Librarians or curriculum and teachers who always go through a whole process every year of getting new materials so if that book is not in the library anymore as a result of this process and two years has been up and if the staff decides that that's the book they would like to have back in the collection then just like any your whatever gets into the collection is the staff's call based on their

099professional judgment so there's no process by which I could ask for a book to be replaced back in that was previously removed than years correct there no not before either either either before or any at any time you anyone is always welcome to suggest to the principal or teacher or one of our directors hey have you ever have you seen this book I mean we saw tonight an example of some really awesome books that I think Mr toraki said that his his colleague was providing that may be um uh that may meet our standards and our needs and be added or it may not it will just go through the normal process and everybody's welcome to suggest things any other comments or questions so I think the biggest takeaway was we're not going to receive

100book donations ever again um that's a good that's a good question the answer is we we definitely struggle with people who are very very generous is this actually the same same thing the public library and hey I've got this huge box of books sometimes they're in good shape sometimes they aren't sometimes they're may be appropriate they may have passed our normal process of vetting books sometimes they may not so instead of receiving hard copies of things in books or materials um it would be very gratefully receiving a monetary donation and then then we would use that money to go through our normal vetting process to select materials as far as the donation I'm just wondering so we have a lot of empty shelves in our library couldn't we do like give a book take a

101book and like the librarian can maybe go through the books and just make sure they're appropriate but possibly more of a public library type thing um if we have empty room on our shelves uh we have money budgeted and we can actually uh go about fixing that problem it's a nice problem to have yeah I would love to see more books in all right any other questions or comments all right then we'll move on to our RI committee report Paul thank you Amy uh the committee met on February 20th 2024 um we had a wonderful presentation by the administration um and it was about gifted and advanced placement cources um Dr danan do you want to give a brief update on what was presented yes thank you um the uh two topics as you mentioned

102was were gifted and um AP advanced placement courses um Miss Lor shared out um just sort of reset for that committee because we have some some new committee members so she um took some time to reset in terms of providing context for gifta programming and AP course uh course selection process and the courses that are available to our students to select in terms of AP courses um and as always she reviewed the dat data because we have the um um Equity data dashboard she was able to pull up the data dashboard directly from the website and walk through not just what the data um show but also what the action plans include um and spoke to some of the um additions and conversations around um adding to our action plans um she also spoke um

103a bit about the process through which we have been working with our um leadership team and the the experiences that our leaders are doing to engage staff in conversations around the action plans and we'll hear more about that in an upcoming presentation actually here um at one of our Port meetings um but she walked through that just a little bit um as it related to our gifted and AP courses um as always you know the the most enriching part of it is opening the floor to suggestions from the um racial Equity oversight committee and so that that is something that takes a a good bulk of time where the committee members are sharing thoughts and reactions and suggestions for um ways that our district can explore moving forward Miss Lor then takes those ideas and

104feedback and insights and brings that forth to the district Equity planning committee um which is our district committee consisting of students and staff um support staff faculty administrators um where we roll up the sleeves and and get get some of that work done so um the other thing she talked about at that meeting was the upcoming um Community conversation event that the board's racial Equity oversight committee is going to be hosting on March 11th um at the pinland uh Woods Community Center um so this will be the second of the two Community conversations that our racial Equity oversight committee is going to be hosting um information was pushed out to the community um recently for um adult parents and Guardians to sign up for board members to sign up uh to join us for some

105of those um listening conversations on March 11th so look for that in your inbox and please make sure to RSVP so that we can plan accordingly that concludes our report thank you Dr dwan yeah it was a great meeting um we hope to get as many people out as possible as Dr dwan said on March 11 so I just want to reiterate that for all who are available to show up there always a great program they've been well received and again it's another opportunity for us to have um direct feedback from the broader community in addition to what we get from the ri Committee in and of itself so look forward to that and uh and hopefully continued great work for the administration's part to increase participation and kind of track the progress that we're

106making within a lot of the programs within wi hickin I think we heard a lot of that tonight and several times over in terms of the overlap with the black history month events and all the belongingness um efforts it all comes together and District's doing a great job of at overseeing that and making that happen so thank you thank you Paul any comments or questions just real quick um unfortunately March 11th is reading Olympics so there's going to be some portion of Elementary School families that would that might be tied up with that including myself so I won't make it sorry any other comments or questions zy nothing on this one shocking [Laughter] all right then we will move on to health wellness and safety oh thanks Amy there are no informational items and no

107action items for the committee tonight all right thanks Rosetta right then we'll go on to our report of board Representatives Marshall extracurricular nothing to report this evening all right um mciu our meeting is this week so I'll have have something for next week North monos St your seat go we went to finance we we were not able to attend but the meetings indicated that there was a change to the uh apprenticeship program um reducing the uh number of 10th graders in the apprenticeship program um but increasing the apprenticeship time uh for 11th and 12th graders any comments questions all thank you for that report psba danan um I'm going to for this to wait he's not here but there's some there's nearly a billion dollars of grants available through the justice department to prevent School

108violence so I'm going to forward him that information maybe we can do something there also the psba applications for the scholarship are accepted through March 15 I think that was already taken care of though right Jim perfect I think that's it all right thanks Dan um ERC uh nothing to report there thank you and did anybody have any questions about psba I forgot to ask or yes or see there's no report all right thank you all right then we've gotten to our second public comment period nothing nothing on Zoom all right nothing in person so we'll move on to board comments any board members and comments all right seeing none all right last chance anyone all right then can I have a motion to adjourn so move second all all in favor hi meeting adjourned

109really