001thank you okay we are now live streaming okay great um I'd like to call the um Amity Board of Ed Communications committee meeting to order at PM um the first um item second item on the agenda is approval of minutes from our June 13 2023 which I couldn't believe when I saw this 2023 meeting um any discussion on the minutes for those who were in attendance well and to be fair I believe Donna is potentially the only existing member who would have been in attendance at that meeting and I can't even remember if she was there um but either way we may still need to have some somebody make motions to approve the minutes um I can't remember if I was there either Jen because it was granted June of 202 you were there you
002were there okay then I then I say yes we appr it okay yes let approval I'm sorry do we need a second to approve it um no we don't need a second but we would just need um to call the vote so um Donna yeah okay Dr oladell yes Miss Bradley abstained Miss Lombardi abstained and Mr McDon Mr McDon you're still on mute for right now so I will take that there you are how about now if you can hear meain okay thank you all right the motion passes two to zero okay great um do we have any public comment we did not receive any requests for public comment tonight okay um so the fourth item on the agenda is discussion of committee purpose and goals so I thought um we could um spend a
003little time talking about how this committee came to be um so we thought of and not we but um I think primarily our former board member Jennifer Turner um you know had this idea of forming a commit or creating a space where we could have dialogue with community members and the the impetus for that was to you know was for us to sort of start to develop greater trust with the community and since during board meetings we cannot respond to public comment we would provide a forum that there could be sort of bi directional exchange and folks could ask questions real time and get answers real time um so that was the like I guess the original um goal of the committee we also um you know at the beginning of the um this um
004committee um spent some time um uh thinking about ways that we could communicate um all the great things that are happening within our school district um but we sort of abandoned that because Paul has a or or had a sort of write up that he would send after board meetings that address some of the questions that or statements that came up during public comment and so since then we've sort of been solely focused on you know organizing and planning for these Community forums um it doesn't have to we don't have to sort of end there um there's some other things that we can think about um doing like you know we can think about other ways that this committee can be helpful in um you know uh commun creating opportunities for us to communicate with
005our uh community members um in ways that again will help sort of proper information exchange and to build trust with um Within our community so any sort of thoughts or question Kathy has a question can I ask a question yeah first of all and and maybe I should know this who who gets Paul's letter uh everybody does so who who is everybody so we will send it out to um we have a list of news media Outlets so we send it out to them they have the option of what to publish and how much um so typically the orange and Woodbridge toown news will publish it in its entirety generally Milford orange times will publish in its entirety although I think they sometimes have to edit for space um New Haven Register never publishes it
006at all um and then I'm trying to think if I think there's a couple um I send it to the first select men I've just started doing that so that they can Incorporated it into their News letters that they send out but again I have a feeling they may have to edit a little bit because it's long and then um when we have the staff available we convert it into an electronic newsletter which is a lift serve and so people who subscribed to it are able to get it delivered electronically Jen do um how about um parents like across the district do they I thought they got we we got PA's letter as well so we we did it as a list serve because we walk this delicate line of parents who complain that we
007communicate too much and the emails just clog up their inbox and then they don't read anything versus the people who want to have the emails and so we figured that if we did it that way the people who were interested would subscribe to it and then they would be able to receive it and then the individuals who feel like were clogging up their inboxes wouldn't have to have another email coming from us so um one I one idea that we can sort of consider is you know um as we think about um the the district website is there room to have Paul's letter sort of you know how you can go and like access like old board meetings and minutes if I had staff who could manage the webs you betcha again it's one of
008those ideas that I I I wholeheartedly agree I just don't getting somebody to redevelop a whole new section where it's going to go and make it so that it's prominent and not just buried in something else is part of the challenge but yeah okay you know I think I mean I I think the other foundation of the committee and it actually sort of stems even a little further back um the community forums certainly were an idea that grew out of Bethany because the Bethany School District does those regularly and has for a while so that definitely came from Beth Bethany um but prior to that we had some um board members uh primarily um Mr brow and Miss Iker who would just make plans and like hang out at a Starbucks on a Saturday morning
009just to talk to people and they made sure they represented both parties they were there to talk to the orange people it was that informal exchange that back and forth that we can't have at a board meeting where we're conducting the business of the board that it seemed people were craving and that was the intent of this committee um you know other ideas that we've had at one point there was um a deliberate effort made that we would have board members attend ptso meetings at the schools because again it's a it's an opportunity where board members can interact with parents and interested families and answer questions and um you know it I think just um it became a challenge getting individuals to have the time to get to those meetings um we have sort of
010those opportunities for that that um I would say more dialogue type of conversation um it's just a matter of how we seize it and and take advantage of it I thought we weren't supposed to comment to the board to the public so you can't comment representing the board so you can't so you couldn't necessarily go out and say for example well the board is going to approve a 3% budget because then you're representing the whole board but you can go out and say something like well we had a really good dialogue on Monday night between the AFC and the Board of Education and had a chance to ask a lot of questions about the budget and get answers by the way if you want to see them there's a document online um it's more like
011you can you can sort of advertise everything that the board does the other important part is taking questions back because a lot of times people will have questions and then right at the board meetings they ask us questions they don't get answers Paul will often times try to answer those but again it's a much more informal process where literally you can write down a question and give somebody an answer Jen you're reminded me that yes this all this this all goes back to the um referendum time last year when there was a great need to like just answer questions and make yourself available um to folks within the community um who had questions about sort of why you know budget wasn't passing and um so yeah yeah thank you for for that um so yeah
012but for now again focus on yeah go ahead Dana I don't I only attended one of the forums so how how many had have you guys already had we had two so so we started to build the idea last last spring um last Springs Forum topic was just academics um so it was pretty Broad and it actually I think because it was a broader topic generated a wider variety of questions and probably a higher level of interest um obviously I think a good number of you were at The Forum in um this October and you know we we brought up this social emotional learning in part because it had it was actually somebody requested it at the first Forum could you please do a topic on that so we so we said sure um and
013it's relevant and it comes up a lot um but I think it was a little bit more of a narrow concept so even though I think we shared a lot of good information and answered a lot of questions because it wasn't quite the umbrella that the other one was didn't necessarily generate the same type of questions that we got yeah the one I attended I thought was so it was so well put together I think that it was very informative from the parent so now taking myself out of the board member seat to parent from a parent point of view it was so informative and I think the forums are great and I think whatever topics that come up that seem to be a topic of interest for two reasons they're more intimate this the
014the live streaming it's intimidating and I felt more like we were together as it like I felt like we could have been at Starbucks talking about this stuff it was less intimidating so I really think that there's probably and I also think because I talked up the social emotional um Forum to a lot of people and body who don't read Amon happenings I don't know why people don't read them but they don't and they missed it and they were devastated that they missed it and when I was telling them how great it was and how we were able to actually have the dialogue I think once people realize what they are about and how good they are and how effective they are I think they will really take off that's coming from the parent side
015of me um you know I I just think they're I think they're great and that was one of the things that why I wanted to be on the committee so I just think that um the more we can make people understand what they're about how they run I and then get people to go to see how it is I think they I think they would be amazing I think I think I think you're right TAA I think the perception is that we're just going to get a presentation like we get in the board right that's the perception but the reality is it's much more informal there is that interchange you can ask questions the people can respond it's much more a communal event right and I think people's perception is it's just a download from
016the board yeah no I mean Dana I'm glad that you felt that it was like sort of a more intimate environment and and sort of warmer um because that was that you know that was our intent so that's that's great to hear that and the good news is you'll have a role in making sure that happens for future forums um so I mean one thing I was thinking was you know um you know we we um talked about whether we should have it sort of recorded or have it uh broadcast and you know just starting to plan these we decided that we would just take it one step at a time but that's certainly something we can think about and consider for future forums um maybe not you know may or like maybe the one
017after that um so I think last year we decided and Jen correct me if I'm wrong that we would have about three two or three forums a year I think we said three two forums per year two it it was one in the spring one in the spring after the budget passed because we wanted to really keep it separate from the budget um and not make it appear like it was somehow some kind of plug that we were using to get people to vote in favor of the budget um plus we could run into some referendum laws so we just said after the budget is done um and then one in the fall um you know that October time worked really well I mean I think that's the other thing that we're always sort of
018aware of there's a lot that goes on in the school that draws our community members away from being able to participate in things um and so we're trying to find sort of that sweet spot where we know that that most people would have that availability to attend um so you know I think we'll still have some we can still have some flexibility with the fall date because I don't know that we all like were like wow that was perfect but the May date seems to really work because um like I said it's it's after the budget it's not it's like just close enough to the end of school year that people still are care and are paying attention um once we cross um you know anything after Memorial Day it's kind of like the school
019year is over so um so it just it the timing of it works out pretty well yeah um if there are any other questions about sort of the purpose or goals or ideas for the the committee itself and obviously we'll have lots of other opportunity to brainstorm other ideas or you can think about other things that um maybe within the purview of of this committee Mike I know you were sort of interjecting and then I don't if we answered your question or I had a one Paul's letter do we get CCD on that because I don't think I've ever received one but like how often did do them yeah so typically we do them after each board meeting um I think I accidentally forgot to do one after the January meeting because when I went
020to look I was like oh there's December and February I just drafted um what we used to do was send you the link to the electronic version so you could just click on it and see the electronic version um but unfortunately the staff member who I usually have working on that um has been uh out ill for a while and so I don't really have somebody who can convert it yet um but I know I saw it on the orang toown news yesterday when I was searching online so it's available there and I can at least send you the link to that okay and this might sound like a strange question does anybody get to see the letter before Paul sends it out no is just me the chair so yeah so so uh we
021have actually a bylaw that um says that the official people who communicate with the pressor with the public are either the board chair or the superintendent um so and actually for a while we used to try to part of the reason why we always had this committee on the Tuesday after the board meeting was that it would help us figure out what we wanted to include in Paul's letter um so that was usually our Pro so we always had the meeting Tuesdays after board meetings so then we could say okay these are the topics we should put into the the letter so while the communications committee had input on kind of the topics um it usually ended up being Paul and I who would write it a lot of the information comes from the superintendent
022report so sort of the good news stuff that goes into the I just pull some of the items right out of the superintendent report that's in your board packet um and then Paul usually has an opening statement that kind of addresses something that came up at the board meeting or a Hot Topic that's you know sort of being chatted about in the community um it often includes what policies we just updated um and um and the other problem is we're always up against a publication deadline so um again second Monday of the month is the board meeting the second Tuesday of the month was Communications and pretty much the second Friday was the deadline for when I had to have the newsletter to the news outlets now that orange Town news and Woodbridge Town news
023are both online and only online we may have a little more flexibility with them but that was kind of the the cycle again because of publication deadlines okay no I was more my question was didn't it be following up like how you were stating it as Paul's letter was it more from the board point of view and you weren't involved in it like is Paul the only one that was writing it nobody was seeing it until it hit the papers so as long as there's always a second person involved it just seemed the way that you were versing it it was Paul's letter Paul did it and I'm like nobody I've never seen Paul's letter how does this work is it just something that Paul did but so you're involved there's there's vetting back and
024forth it's not just Paul writing a letter that nobody else gets to see yeah actually I usually start with a draft and send it out to him and then he adds sort of his kind of board chair take on to it um and and honestly he tells me when I put too much in yeah he's like no don't leave this weird Paul's letter Paul doing this and just as long as there's a second eyes on y I don't really mind whose eyes they as long as there's always I can set well and I guess ultimately when it's published it says news from the board chair and and again just trying to um sort of have the board have that front face with the community instead of it being the superintendent because you're really the representatives
025for the community um so yeah I yeah I just wanted clarification on how it was sounding to me so and you answered exactly what so I'm good okay all right um Carol anything else Carol yeah hey sorry it's it's Donna um at one time we talked about a newsletter for uh like board's Corner did that get taken over with Paul's letter or is that something that was still under consideration someone can remind I think Paul's letter ended up serving its purpose but I do think that at some point what we have to really do is go and have a warehouse of those letters on the website because then that becomes the corner where if somebody has questions about something that we wrote about a year ago and it's like coming back up again we can
026keep referring people back to there as another place of information okay so as you brought that brought the website up Jen the position we were talking about last night during our meeting would this position also have the responsibility of developing a said page that we were talking about for this I mean you said you have Personnel who have been out who usually convert this and make it available and the next part of the question is you know when we update our policies you know whose responsibility is it to take care of that just to make sure that our policies are in legal compliance it's it's nobody's that's the problem there is nobody in charge of the website so but would the position that we talked about last night be the person would need yes right
027so this is why I really believe that this position is imperative uh for multiple reasons that you know things that if someone you have a staff member who's sick who can't get to it that this is a responsibility that this person would have and it's one more way that the community sees the district and keeping a robust upto-date website so I actually support the position we talked about last night staying in the budget and I think St too close to the budget conversation but no I don't want to get too close to the budget conversation but as a committee I think that we should talk about the value in this position and how it supports communication as a role not just for the district and the board but also a Personnel within the district who
028has the responsibility and there are legal types of consequences for for policies um and being able just to maneuver around the website so I just think that perhaps maybe we should talk about why it's important and what this position and the role that it fills not you know within the budget but within the um just just the entirety of this position yeah I mean that's a good point Donna like so you're asking us to think about like how some of the ideas that we have for this committee and thinking about how best to communicate um with our with the larger community and how this role can be really instrumental in helping us as a committee sort of execute some of these things some of our ideas well yes that and then there was also true
029and then there was also the conversation about you know what we brought up last night about the unleveling which is you know I don't want to jump ahead of the agenda to talk about the next um Community Forum topic but getting that information out to where we're not as board members getting many many questions around the Strategic plan and the unleveling where some parents actually felt a little blindsided and not in the loop and this would also support that and help that I mean now we're having this conversation you know because of timing in the budget in May and that you know we understand that but I feel that there are you know I've heard from many concerned parents regarding this topic specifically okay um all right so I'm gonna I'm gonna hold that um
030for a sec Donna um until we get to um The Forum topics I do wna if there if there not any other questions right now I do want to move on to um number five on the agenda the committee bylaw um so Jen and I met a couple weeks ago to talk about this committee so this committee is technically an ad hoc committee um but I think if I remember correctly Jen Paul was interested in exploring how this could be um like move away from being an ad hoc committee to being a permanent committee um and you were going to look into bylaws um about Communications yeah I so I'm I'm a little behind on that but I will um so a Communications committee is actually not a a typical board committee um Finance is
031typical Personnel is typical communication is a little bit more unique um not that other boards don't have it but I just don't have like a vast array of places where I can pull some language from but um what we would really need to do is as a as a Communications committee we would develop a bylaw that would establish our purpose um and kind of the reason for having the communications committee um and sort of the scope of our work and then um we would have to have that so we would sort of write that bylaw then we would bring the bylaw to policy and then it would go through the policy process to get approved by the entire board so what I will do between now and I'd say that like the next two well
032maybe up through like a little bit after May 11 or March 11th when we have the next budget board meeting um I'll try to draft together a very um simple bylaw that would be used to help establish the committee in the meantime what um what what the members can do is I suggest you go look at our bylaws and look at the language that forms the other committees because you'll see that it's not like very detailed it's it's a very broad General umbrella view um Finance doesn't work because Finance is unique and it's its own thing but look at the language around the other um sort of major committees Personnel facilities um uh curriculum and you'll have a sense of what a bylaw for a committee looks like and then um I can have a
033draft ready that I can just I'll email out to people um just so you can read it ahead of time before our next meeting Jen just curious how is there a time limit on like a committee being ad ad hoc or can you just like as long as yeah an ad hoc committee can last until the chair disbands the ad hoc committee like it's just it goes in perpetu okay I guess what's the can can I I didn't ask a question so the purpose of this committee is to create more interactive communication be more proactive with the community correct yes do we do the same thing with the students what do you mean yeah explain a little bit more so do the students know what's on very high level what's going on in the school
034right in the middle school right if you're going to start wrestling in the high school if there's you know some some Pro new program some event some something going on do we communicate with the students on a broad level as the board never um as administrators yes probably more from a principal level and I think it kind of depends on what the topic is so certainly let's say um if the board had approved a middle school wrestling program then Mr Goodwin would definitely be out there selling an advertising that we had a middle school wrestling program um our kids are extremely aware of the library media renovation and you know we'll have some input into that but um the topic like Middle School um on leveling that's not it's really an educational practice recommendation so
035that's not something necessarily have a conversation with the students about um I'm trying to think portrait of The Graduate no I constantly involved in like the like the media renovation like the new things happening in the library like things happening with audio visual like whatever it is that makes them feel great about the school there's interesting things happening that may may or may not be aware of and and I don't know like you said that may very well be happening it just I knew we were talking about the public and I didn't know if we car to you know if we car for the students Kathy I imagine that like student council and I mean I I imagine there are like uh you know ways that um this information is communicated within schools I imagine
036from like stent Council I don't know and like clubs teachers the principal I don't know um the principal send out something at the end of each week that has like a list of like all the things happening I every time go ahead so it's cared for it is cared for absolutely yeah um okay so we can um you know and Jen I don't know I guess what's the push for us to like move from being an ad hoc committee like what's the benefit like I don't know I guess why and why now you know I I I I I don't know either necessarily um I think it's okay for us not to to rush it I think um I think again maybe the idea uh with the bylaw kind of helps put a a frame
037around what we do so we don't overstep bounds um and that may be the reason for sort of more formalizing it um and I think the other thing too um as we sort of saw last night like when it's not formal there's a question as to whether or not we have the authority to do it or not um so even though yes we absolutely can have ad hoc committees and we have authority to do all kinds of things as an ad hoc committee I think the formalization process kind of takes that argument out of you know out of the wind out of those sales okay good point um all right hey Jen can I ask you you a question just because I think you're the longest and the most informed are you seeing a need
038for this to the public besides what we see on our side do you think like we need to go to a formal committee do we need to take you know do we bring back um I can't think of his name right now going to Starbucks on a Saturday morning what that productive do we need that like with the last board meeting with the issues that were brought up like is it becoming more and more pertinent to have this committee um so I I I think actually this committee so this committee's role would actually not be dealing with something like the February 12th board meeting um and and that's because and and and when it gets to that level that's where I'm starting to dig in with PR Specialists and carefully crafting messages I think um
039well let me rephrase it off of that and I didn't mean it in that direction just the open communication from the board to the public like does it ease some of the stuff not necessarily that specific item that was on the February board meeting but so are you seeing like say from five years ago preco to now there's more of a need for this do do we step it up preemptively so that we are getting more information out there just to make your job Houser's job and theoretically our job easier down the road is the atmosphere of everything changing I guess um I I don't know that the atmosphere has yes the atmosphere has changed in a way that people seem to pay more attention to board meetings now than they ever did five years
040ago I mean honestly like if we had a public comment it was like a shock so um so there's definitely been a shift there I um kind of like Dana love the intimacy of those Community forums because there is that back and forth that we can't get in a board meeting and I think it all makes us much more human and much I mean again when we're at a board meeting we are doing the business of the boards so we're at work um whereas the community Forum feels much more like you are just sitting down and having a conversation and I do think we have that need maybe not because the community has a desperate number of questions but just because I think we have to it gives an appearance of being much more accessible
041than what I think is typically perceived um and I think they're very well received um the the the ultimate I guess challenge is that um some of the conversations or the comments or observations that happen at the board meetings I'm not sure that Community forums are going to necessar neily change any of that so I think we have to go in with that sort of acceptance as well that the community forum is is really it may not have the result that of of changing people's minds but and I think I think they're they're more um they're more required now because change is constant right and then on once things start to change people get uncomfortable they think they didn't know it they they want to be able to ask questions some people can't come to
042a board meeting some people don't want to ask don't want to ask a question at a board meeting during public because it's on because it's televised so I think that intimate forum is a great idea I also think because the amount of change and because of social media the misinformation that's out there those forums are very helpful but I think I think it's also important to remember that so um Mike um said something about being like proactive so this committee was formed if you remember how we started this conversation today this is this was a reaction right that we we were actually reactive um to you know sort of feelings of distrust within the community feelings that um or thoughts that there was a lack of transparency and so part of the like formation of
043this committee was to address that right to create those intimate um spaces like not televised where folks could come ask questions get answers and you know administrators were there board members were there right so that that that's it so we're not actually at least like we're not being we weren't being proactive however I think you know the the forums have gone well and the goal is for it to sort of repair the rebuild trust right that our community has and like for our community to say you know what this is transparent I have questions about this look there are people here in the small setting outside of a board meeting they can answer these questions hard or or not hard questions right um and so that's the that's sort of the that's the goal and
044and I think we have talked about how lovely it would be if the community Forum could be proactive I think what we've all learned is that we never are very good at anticipating what is going to set off The Firestorm um and so we'll think it's going to be one thing and then it turns out to be something totally different um so that has been I think our Challenge and so I again I think um to the best extent we can continue to try to be proactive but I think there's always going to be a reactive component to this meeting because you know we've we've said things like yeah this is what we think it people are going to feel and then it's something totally different we're like wow we didn't even think that that
045was going to become an issue oh that's interesting Carol oh I was GNA say Carol it's interesting because I see it as filling a need not being reactive so it's filling a need that we need to communicate a little more and people have questions and they really would would like some answers and I know I fled this one other time and I don't know if there were any other I mean there there is a need there is a need other districts have a Communications you can call them a director a manager who has a cohesive message has a uh Communications plan from the website to uh what's going on on social media and Grassroots and the communication so it comes as if a a consistent message with um you know a Communications plan from the
046newsletters to the pr to you know fielding all of the the pr now that you Jen that you mentioned that you have someone as a consultant for PR they would fill that need and they would work with with Jen and the other administrators well so when I can't remember who was asking question about you know how how is information communicated to the students and to parents and to the community and even I think sometimes what's get lost is transitioning the sixth graders into the district as well yeah no I agree I agree I mean so when I say reactive like we didn't there was an issue right that caused us to think about like ways that we can improve communication um so so that's what I sort of meant with in saying that we're we're
047reactive um oh no no I completely right but it was reactive but it was also feeling feeling need right it's like anything you feel you feel a need because it's it's there yeah so that's a so I'd like to segue to talking about a little about um potential Forum topics for May um so again we have two um we plan to have two forums per year um the next one will be at the end of May I should know it's like May May 20th hang on 20th uh give me a second it is May 20th okay so schedule for May 20th so I thought you know it's never too early to start the brainstorm um for topic ideas so yeah I'd like to just open it up if folks have ideas for um potential topic
048ideas again we've had two so far the first Forum topic was academics um and the second was SEO and Jen I don't know if we had or Donna if you remember other topics I know we've like brainstormed lots of different topic ideas if there's some from last year um that we sort of tabled or or you know and prioritized um academics and and over I don't know I think I can go back and look at my know but I think to Jen's point we don't know what is going to I believe it was set off a firestorm and perhaps I thought that maybe talking about the unleveling or deling however which however we want to phrase it in May was a little late but I think maybe it would be very timely especially if we
049can talk get get into the um sixth grade transitioning because they're going to be um affected it's brand new and especially for parents who have multiple children within the district it's going to be different and new when they're registering for classes I think uh I have a I have a sixth grader so I think we start registering in April if I'm if I remember correctly I have to go back through through Mya email um yeah it'll it'll be probably earlier the registration actually will probably open up this week for seventh grade selection of classes is a little bit later but yeah registration starting like within days okay so I'll I'll I should see something and so I would like to maybe throw that out there um as well and I'm not sure Jen if you
050if you get through the PTO or how we get to the sixth grade parents or now that they're in the system no they're not in the system until they leave the elementary school correct uh in terms of communication yes yeah no we we did this last year for the academics you'll remember so yeah we we have lists and I just sent it out to the the uh um superintendents and just ask them to have their principal share the information okay okay all right so then I should see it we get a we we get a weekly uh email from our principle so we should see it and I'll see what that that looks like so maybe so maybe Jen how do you what do you want to call it do you call it unleveling or
051deling I've seen it I'm calling it unleveling right now but yeah that's that's the term we'll go with okay so that's what I was using and someone used D and so I wasn't sure what we certainly certainly one of the other topics that's come up multiple requests has been to have a Forum around diversity equity and inclusion um yes that was one as well so that's been one of the topic requests um I'm trying to think no there's not really been a lot of other suggestions from the community per se um so are there things coming up because as you guys are talking about this I'm thinking of things that have set off fires in the last year and are there things coming up that are going to impact the student in different ways and
052the one thing I'll bring up and again I don't know that something like this would be um sufficient per form it might be too small or maybe you'd have to put in a few things but remember at that board meeting when everybody was going crazy about the new Hall Pass App oh like something like that I thought of you know where it was in there was mentioning of it in like July I think we got like an email about it but who the heck read it other than me and then I think it was mentioned in the community happenings but again I can't tell many people tell me they don't read it I don't know why read it um but something like that I would think and you may say it's not big enough of
053a topic and it might be something that was the topic we had no idea it would become such a big deal because we had a hall pass system already and all we did was change to a different one and we're like whoa why I don't get this um but yeah that was our exact example um you know anything coming down that that you know that's what I'm just thinking of that's that's going to be new I mean I know everybody wants to talk about Dei but aren't we all kind of sick of talking about Dei like that's every meeting and I know they want to talk about it and that's great let's have a forum on it maybe that'll fulfill the needs of everyone to hear everything and to see but I think you guys
054are transparent about it at every meeting so whatever have a Dei one but then is there anything else coming coming down the pike that might be a topic that would be maybe of Interest maybe it's not going to set a fire off but an interest Jen so that's a good point Dana I had two bigger suggestions um one could possibly be just having a community Forum around the Strategic plan and the timing could be one of two um we could do it in the springtime and then since the topic of like unleveling is in the Strategic plan since the topic of Dei is in the Strategic plan since the topic of school climate is in the Strategic plan or curriculum revisions like all of these things that I think people have like sort of their
055in individualized passions about they're all in the Strategic plan so it would be really broad but we could potentially answer and address a lot of questions and Dana to your point the Strategic plan outlines sort of Visions for the next two years so something that maybe is going to Rattle feathers might sort of come up um it would help in the spring because my admin team and I will go and we'll you know sort of close out what we accomplished this year and build out for a new year so feedback from the community at that point could sort of help us guide that the challenge is people would have to read the Strategic plan and I was going to say that's exactly what I was going to say but not the entire strategic plan plan
056I think that would be too overwhelming for people and I and the reality is like people aren't going to read it so I think we can use the Forum as a space where people can learn about what's in the Strategic plan related to specific topics so if unleveling is one we can say you know we can open up the Forum to say or advertise that you know we'll address topics like the next to um and this is a great way for us to be proactive um in communicating um we're gonna like address topics within the Strategic plan and here's an opportunity right to come and like talk about what the you know what's written in the Strategic plan regarding I don't know Dei unleveling whatever but we can take each and maybe we can pair
057them I just don't think the like whole thing but maybe we have two things within the Strategic plan within one forum depending on sort of how broad how much information there is about well certainly let me just I'm sorry I didn't mean to overtalk you but I think the idea of picking out like one or two items or three items in the Strategic plan but for people to understand we do have a vision and a plan of where we're going right which people are making decisions right am I GNA go to Hopkins am i g to go to Ammon I'm gonna go to right and this strategic plan says we have a vision of where we're taking this school and I think that's a just that alone is a great message yeah yep and and
058like Cathy a strategic plan gold one and gold three are the ones that impact kids gold two which is around resources don't it's really more about teachers and staff so you could literally go into the first and third goal and probably again as a committee if you look at it you'll see the things that you think are going to be topics and and and the messaging that I send out is easy because I can just say we're going to talk about X L and Z if you have questions about X L and Z ask your questions here so I think if we pick what those topics are we could definitely make it broad enough to cover concerns but narrow enough that we're not because again the other thing you have I have to bring up
059a panel of Staff who can answer some of those questions so it has to have a little bit of a container on or else I don't know who to have up there who can you know adequately answer the questions um the other topic and again this might be the Forward Thinking topic and I don't know that it's burning or pressing on people's heads yet other than Educators is the conversation around AI which is all we talk about in our classrooms right now and I think it would be fascinating for parents to start to hear about it and its intersection with what kids are and aren't going to do both in school and then in their future but that one may take a little more work on my end but I think that yeah I I
060love that idea too I was just going to ask has has the administration like formed boundaries around um AI use and sort of do you have a an approach or or something you share like what are the boundaries what are the guard rails for the we're we're we're still we're still learning it um so right now we we only use generative platforms that have the agreement with the Connecticut um you know internet and child FPA protection acts so we can't like necessarily well in theory we can't use like something like chat GPT because it doesn't have any of those agreements um so we encourage our students at least through the school to use some very specific generative Technologies um we're still teaching teachers how to use them um we did that you'll remember policy just
061upgraded you know updated the policy and we left the language very very vague because we don't know really where it what it means and I think the conversation we're having right now with staff is not if you teach it and if you use it but what is the purpose of your task and then to what degree does AI help you and at what point does AI become doing the work for you instead or for the kid instead and so yeah we're like literally figuring it out kind of like everybody else but I think that's the the reactions if the reactions of the staff to it or anything like the reactions to our parents are going to be it's going to be all over the place from like this is the coolest thing and it's going
062to change the world to I think everybody needs a pencil and a piece of paper because if don't nobody's going to think for themselves anymore so I mean like I think it would be a very a really interesting conversation to have with our community I yes I agree I mean it's gonna be an interesting tool and watch it develop over time um so yeah if are are do we think that the unleveling is perhaps a good m topic and maybe artificial intelligence a good fall topic I I think the unleveling should fit into a bigger umbrella so if it's part of a strategic plan discussion but I think we should also probably reach out to other board members because there's a small group of us here right trying to sort of guess what the community
063is talking about so um I think when Carol and I met she talked about just sending an email to all of the board members and saying if you have ideas for Community Forum topics email her and then we'll be able to sort of pull from what other people think to decide what fits within that strategic plan kind of umbrella so that we may maybe focus on three to four or two to three items I think three is probably good yeah and so the idea is that the the idea wasn't for us to sort of decide tonight it was just for us to start to think about um potential topics um I still need to I need to reach out to the entire board to see if other folks have ideas for Forum topics and then
064and then I think starting in March will really start to sort of nail down I think we need to pick a topic probably next month during next month's meeting and then sort of you know put the logistics together and think about you know advertising and other things um and prep for the Forum in May um it might seem far away but it'll be here may will be here before we know it um so um well it's 6:32 about two minutes over any pressing last uh comments um before we adjourn um so I would just make a recommendation that we sort of reestablish kind of that more consistent meeting so March 12th would be our next Communications committee meeting um and we've we've had the practice of doing them uh virtually um because we've all just
065come typically off of a board meeting the night before and so um so if everybody's okay with that March 12th at 5:30 would be the next meeting and um work with Carol to put together an agenda but it would be pretty much probably trying to shore up the topic of the community Forum review a draft of a potential bylaw and then um kind of discuss any that we think should be included in the monthly chair newsletter report okay yeah that sounds good the fog Has Lifted good um and does 5:30 work for for everyone Dana what about you I know 5:30 is pressing yeah I mean I might be in my car driving home tonight I was lucky enough to get out early but say she was the first one on board tonight yeah if
066I have to be in the car driving home than the car driving home or I'll you know I'll sign on is I usually leave work between 4:30 and 5: and it just depends on how awful that traffic is on yeah okay um all right well let's let's for now we'll stick with 5:30 to 6:30 um and then you know we can always sort of revisit if if um it doesn't work um okay that I think that sounds good Jen and I I'll connect with you ahead of the next meeting to um to map out the agenda for our next meeting and then otherwise you'll see an email from me well to the whole board uh rest of the board just asking about sort of ideas for um May Forum topics quick question car make sure
067Carol when you send it you do it as a BCC so that way they only reply back to you quick quick it's not a meeting yes um I know we're going to look at the bylaws from the other committees are we supposed to work on by who's doing the bylaws I I'll do a draft but if you just look at the other ones just to kind of see what the how the flavor of it runs then you'll sort of get a sense of how I dropped up the communications draft perfect okay thank you yep all right thank you everybody meeting Jed at 6:35 thank you you thanks everybody