001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the September 22nd board of ed meeting 02. Mr. Angley, can you please take attendance? >> Joe Abdella >> here. >> Mickey Salem, Stephanie Colnik, Jesse Leeman >> here. Angela Mackieo, Alex Mcnautton, Justin Angley here, Jen Pod here, >> Jane Sergeant, Pete Tagley, Mary Weber, Christine Widig. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, any public comment on agenda items? No. Okay, moving on to the consent agenda. Uh looking over the September 8th uh minutes, are there any uh edits, changes that we want to make to the consent agenda? Yes. Okay, >> Mike. Reports and recognition. Uh D, the finance and operations. The very last line it says item 22. That was not the one. It was the other one. 534. >> Okay. >> But that was it. >> Okay. So then we do
002we want to make a do make a motion to amend >> a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. >> Okay. Second. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. So we will adopt the uh new with the minutes amended. Thank you very much. Presentation on the planetarium. Where is Dr. Fizo? I can't see you. Hi Friezo. Yes, please. Welcome. >> Well, I I just like to say thank you so much for giving uh uh Don for giving me the chance. uh uh Superintendent Shells for giving me the chance to present to you all. What? Don. Okay. Thank you, Don, for giving me the chance to present. um about this past year in the planetarium. Uh a year ago, uh I I uh laid out for you what I thought some of the opportunities were
003and what some of the uh ideas moving into uh our first year really of of uh of the planetarium coordinator position, what that involved, you know, what what what the prospects were. And we've had a chance to put those into action. And I'd like to tell you a little bit about it and maybe say a few things about um what we might want to do going forward. And I think that's about it that I want to say here. So can I invite everyone down to the planetarium now? Don. Okay, great. >> Well, that was amazing. Really beautiful. So we're so lucky to have Friezo. >> We are. >> And the planetarium. >> So fortunate. And I do know that our seniors love the planetarium because it sold out twice the when we brought them there.
004So that was pretty incredible. And >> just about >> uh I think like [Music] >> we could squeeze a few more seats than there were in there basically limited by >> you know confines of the space. So I think there's probably about 24. >> Yeah. >> It's pretty incredible. But when I wear my other hat for work, he and I are we have a lot of fun trying to stir up a lot of fun things for the community. So yeah, we have some good ideas for this summer. So I'm excited for sure. Um okay, so uh board's report. I don't really have a lot to share other than um we were all at the board's retreat this Saturday morning, which I thought was wonderful. I thought Tom Mooney um did a wonderful job um sharing
005with us uh reminding us all obviously of our um and I always feel like I walk away learning a lot um in terms of reminders of what the board's uh reviewing the board's uh roles and responsibilities and I think the scenarios that he brings always um I we all learn something new so and obviously the only four scenarios he wanted to do six and I like I think we're going to I think four is going to be good and I think four was good. So I was really happy about that. So thank you all for coming. We had 100% attendance. So thank you all for joining and obviously we'll talk later about the uh self-evaluation. So thank you for coming and that's it for me. >> Okay. Well, good evening everybody and for my report.
006Let me just start by saying we did have a good experience in the planetarium just now. We should just note that this board made that happen. You all understand that. But there are a few newer board members and that space over the years had fallen into disrepair and disuse and this board supported refurbishing it. Not just making the space beautiful again, but buying a whole new system for the projector. It had been analog for a long time and now it's digital and connected to a worldwide network of resources. And when I came here to tour this place for four years ago, uh I everything was beautiful, but I said planetarium. I mean, I think it's very unusual for a school to have a planetarium. So, it's one of the jewels in our crown and we
007we're grateful for for the support. Um, so our open houses happened across all our schools and I believe they all helped our parents to connect with teachers and administrators and to understand how we work, what our mission is and um to help every child feel supported, feel like they belong and help them grow to have good minds and good hearts. I have that poster on the wall of my office if you're ever there. It's a quote from Nelson Mandel. It says, "A good heart and a good mind is always a formidable combination." So, that's what we're trying to build in our kids. And I think our teachers and our parents came together at our open houses to to get a window onto that mission. Um, there's a a movie opportunity I wanted to make the
008board aware of. It's Thursday night. I know you're saying you're sending me to the movie shelves, but um and I only got this Friday when I went to meet with um some local superintendents, but it's interesting and I've been spreading the opport the word to uh teachers and and parents. Uh and it's called Counted Out. I don't know if you've heard of this and there will be other ways to watch it, I'm sure, but it's being screened by Ed Advance uh up in Lichfield. Uh this is a free screening. Uh I don't know if it's in theaters or not right now. Counted out is about how we teach and understand math and how math can shape um the future. And it's been reviewed as a compelling documentary that explores why math education matters more than
009ever now uh in addressing the challenges of our time. Some of them political, some of them rooted in the project of the humanities, but all calling for a numerousy and an ability to quantify things to rank evidence and come to conclusions and decide what policy you're going to support. So the idea here is it's not just about memorizing the quadratic formula. It's about developing a skill set that helps you intervene in important policies. So the film offers a fresh look at how math can empower kids, especially some groups of kids that might have been left out of math instruction before. So I we've got some teachers going, some students going, and I'll pass this flyer around for anybody who's interested. There's a little QR code on the bottom you can scan if you want more
010information. Okay. Um there was a big homecoming uh weekend at Chapag started with a pep rally on Friday. This year I understand they had I don't know if it was the real Nanowag mascot or a fake but that person that mascot was arrested by SRO failing put in handcuffs and taken out. I don't know how we feel about the looking reading the room. I think you all find that's terrible the poor mascot. But it was a all in good fun and it was uh Yeah. No, he wasn't arrest. That's sweet. No. Okay. Obviously that went over like a lead balloon. >> Yeah. Right. Nobody got arrested for real. Okay, Ben, rewind that. Erase that. Um, nobody got arrested for real. They they have this joke every year, this spoof where the mascots battle it out.
011And the way it looked this year was there was a fake handcuffing of the Nanowag mascot. >> That's That's cute. Yeah, that was the reaction I was hoping for, Alex. Okay, thanks. Um, and then Saturday was homecoming. There were athletic contests here all day. We didn't win all of them, but our kids performed well, of course, in every single one of them. And there were some booths and some food trucks to make it festive for the kids. That was really neat. And then on the elementary front, as we get into the beginning of October, we're going to see the return of our primary partners program, which was a great innovation that we started last year to get all the kids from all three schools together at Chapag last year for STEM and Agra Science experiences.
012And this year, as you know, the focus is shifting to art and music. So, they'll be gathering here several times during the year to have a joint experience around the fine and performing arts. And I want to reserve a little of my time now for my report um to for Miss Snowden to update you on a few important things about her work. Uh the last thing I'll say is I have one personnel uh update to give you an appointment. Mora Yosis as a pareducator at Washington Primary School. Miss Snowden, did you want a few uh seconds? >> Thank you so much. Uh, I just wanted to say I'm going to the documentary viewing on Thursday night and would be happy to share any impressions from that. Uh, Mary and Mar and I are going together
013and hopefully we're going to get a few other teachers to go too. I think it's so important because our attitude around math I think has to change and I I think that that will be a big message of the documentary. Um I am uh tonight wanted I wasn't able to make it to the last board meeting and at that meeting Don had asked me to update a little bit on new teacher orientation and convocation and PD and how that went and so I just thought I'd share the topics that were discussed on those days and then some of the really terrific feedback that we got from our new teachers and then from the rest of the teaching staff for convocation and PD. So, new teacher orientation was held on August 18th and 19th and the
014topics, you know, it included every member of our administrative team was there at some point meeting and greeting teachers. We talked about the strategic plan, teacher evaluation, curriculum and instruction. Uh they got um a brief Alice training, you know, security training. They got a technology um presentation and training. They heard from the teachers union. They had an indepth training from our business office from Nicole. Um Alli O'Hara was there to uh discuss pupil personnel and special education and then the second day in the afternoon they got time in their buildings with their principles which they all said was extremely invaluable. When asked um is there anything specific about the sessions you um that they said were the most helpful? Was there anything specific that was helpful? They just mentioned every single thing, you know, every
015session was helpful. Uh they said um from at from learning about Atlas where we keep our curriculum to learning about special education to Alice training, everything was was helpful. They said that openness to questions uh was really helpful to them. It was a very conversational um feel in the room during those two days. identifying resources for them, going over the strategic plan. Um, one person said it was the clearest and most informative and the most efficiently run teacher new teacher orientation I've ever been to. They gave us a little bit of feedback when we said, "Were there any aspects of the orientation that were confusing or unhelpful? You know, we're always trying to get better." They made a suggestion. This is a really good one. Could they get a next steps checklist? They're getting a
016lot of information in one, you know, in a short amount of time. and they said it would be helpful to have sort of a checklist like how what to do next with each thing. They also said um that time more as much time in their classrooms as we could provide would be helpful. Uh the final comment I'll read was I was very impressed with the orientation. I feel confident moving forward into region 12 and very aware of who to go to for help with every topic. Thanks for being so timely. So really overall fantastic feedback from our new teachers. Um, I think our admin team put a lot of time and thought into how we organize those days and and it pays off for them. And then right after that on August 2021 and 22,
017we had convocation and then professional development days. And the topics that we covered there were that every school had a faculty staff meeting. We talked about vision of a learner and how we're sort of launching that with adults this year in the district. I I mentioned this last year and I'll come back and update the board on that as the year goes on. Uh we had a restorative practices presentation from Ed Advance. We talked about the instructional work that we're doing with leaders of their own learning. Um we there were grade level and department meetings and then there were building based meetings around safety and security. um I you know meetings around students who have IEPs and 504 plans and then teachers got time in their classrooms and um time to finish some of the
018mandated training that we require. Pared educators also had a couple of separate presentations on supporting complex students and uh giving specific feedback to support student growth and again collected feedback. Uh that's very important. We you know we want to get better and better. When asked, let's see, I got 37 responses. When asked to rate their overall experience, out of the 37 respondents, 20 gave it a five out of five. Overall experience, 13 people gave it a four out of four and four people gave it a three out of five. Sorry, four out of five and three out of five. So overall, extremely impressed. Nobody gave it a one or a two. Um, when asked to rate the structure of convocation, including the schedule and locations, similar breakdown. People were very satisfied with the days and
019then the different topics that were presented. Very similar breakdown. 22 people gave it five out of five. 11 people gave it four out of five. Three people gave it three out of five. One person gave it a two. So um you know lots of positive comments. Again sessions were relevant and well delivered. Uh provides focus and alignment with personal and district goals. Um the convocation and faculty staff meetings were valuable in bringing the entire community together and having shared time together. And then you know of course we asked you know what can we do better? People said as much time in our classrooms as possible. I know that's on teachers minds on those first days of school. Um but overall that was really the only critical comment. Topics were directly related to creating a positive
020experience as a school. you can't beat the chance to work in your classroom and feel a little more settled before the first day. Everything felt cohesive and well prepared. Um, so overall really positive comments and a few critical things that are great that that we can work on that and make those first few days with teachers even better next year. So that's it. Just wanted you to know how those how those days went and feeling really good about the organization and how hard we're working to be thoughtful about that. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate that. Um, before we move on to reports, um, treasures report, which actually is going to be out of, but there is a few things I just want to I'm going to just talk briefly about, which I did not
021talk with you about, but I'm going to just mention just a few things that I would like to just talk about. Um, uh, in terms of Nicole and all of the hard work that she does for our district, I was just trying to list all the things that Nicole does for our district. Um, and I think that we can all chime in as if I miss something. By all means, this is going to be uh, feel free to let me know if I miss anything. But I just feel like we just need to just sort of create a a little bit of an idea of all that she does just in case um we don't seem to know the the laundry with the things that she does except for the laundry. Do you do the
022laundry here too? You don't do the laundry. Okay. Just in case you don't. But of all the hats that Nicole wears, which we all just kind of I I marvel at all that she does. Um, and it just sort of amazes me that whenever I ask a question, she just knows, right? And when I don't know something, within minutes, she finds out an answer. Um, and then I ask her a question about something at home and she knows the answer for that personally, too. So, um, she seems to just be like an a mecca of information. But in terms of region 12, uh, it's just remarkable. So, for anybody who doesn't realize what she does, here's just a little snippet of the things that she does. She certainly helps us with human resource in terms
023of all of our employees. Um, believe it or not, she does the buses. She's in charge of all the transportation for the buses. And not only that, but maps out each and every student for pickup and drop off, which is pretty remarkable considering that we don't live in neighborhoods, right? So you can have uh two students that live 20 miles away from each other and she has to figure out the mapping for that which is pretty remarkable. Financial every single aspect of our district the financial aspect of it. Um the budget, every aspect of the budget, she has to figure out negotiations, employee time off um oversees the facilities department for all of the buildings and the management of that contract provider the providers for that. Anybody else want to chime in? I know I'm
024forgetting a ton of health insurance. Anybody else? Huge one. Just a little bit. Health insurance for the entire district. Um, so I just think that we tend to forget or take for granted or think we don't realize all that Nicole does, but I just think it's really important that uh we all remember um when we forget the things that she does that we just want to thank you, Nicole, for how hard you work for the district. >> Yeah. And we're just very grateful because I think sometimes we think that everybody else is running around crazy and we and not only does she and I will give you this up. I will promise I will. Not only does she do all of that, but then she takes the time for each of us individually when we
025call her or see her or visit her when she's got a billion other things to do. She still takes the time for each of us. And that also is really remarkable. So, I just want to thank you for all that you do. >> Yeah. >> And I think it's important for everyone to think of how many jobs she does and how many people we would have to hire to do the buses, to do be the HR person, to you know, every single thing that Nicole does would require multiple people. So you are beyond amazing and I don't know if you sleep at night and how you do if you do so. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you. We cherish you. >> Not to mention the the amount of money that
026she has saved us in this district. It's it's astronomical and I just I can't even believe it. But thank you very much. I promise I I am going to give this to Don. But the other thing I don't think anybody else realizes, well, we all realize this, is that she cares so much about each and every student. She genuinely cares. She cares so much when she hears that there's a situation. She wants to make sure that there there's accommodations, that she figures out how to make it work. She cares so much about the people in this district. And I don't think people realize that. And I think that because she's sort of in the office behind the scenes trying to figure things out that people don't realize that and um she's always making sure that
027figuring it out to the best of her ability to make sure that things happen. So that's my stepific every year major part of the to stay in compliance grant writing everything >> yes population of students in need and how we're you know accommodating all of them um and like all those hats that she wears she also does the job so well. That's right. So, it's not just doing all those things, but it's doing them well and and and helping everybody out. >> That's right. >> And now I'll let you >> I was just gonna add um all those things are absolutely true and they're all zones of incredible technical expertise and I've observed I've worked in a few places literally she could run circles around her counterparts in in all those areas and that's all
028really important. I think though the other side of it is she has a role as a as a confidant to all of us which is a more human side. Now she leverages her technical expertise in those moments where you seek her out for for counsel but I feel really lucky to have the culture here that we have not just this board but people around me like Nicole and Carrie and Ally and the rest of the principles that I can sit with as a cabinet and get wisdom when I need it. And that's Nicole is very generous. She never thrown me out of her office and I'm in there a lot and the stuff that interferes with the finance which is supposed to be her main thing, right? I don't know how she does it all.
029If you look at that finance stuff and now I am up close for the first time. I literally don't know how it all gets done. She showed me the stack of reports that I had to approve and I looked at them. Hundreds of pages of accounting down to the last penny for every stapler we bought and I literally said, "You did this?" And she was like, "Yeah, like that." Um, it's quite a standard and it's unsung sometimes because it's over yonder and not out in the in the limelight. I'm glad that we're talking about it a little bit now and I'm glad that we have we're lucky to have such a dedicated team. >> Thank you. So, thank you. >> So, treasures report. Well, I think it's only appropriate that uh we have a treasur
030report after that because I'm going to pass it over to Nicole. Is there anything that uh that I need to report because uh uh we had a meeting uh our last board meeting on the 8th and uh I've not heard of any catastrophes since then. >> No catastrophes. I did want to share though, I saw on Facebook the town of Bridgewater >> got this giant check from Kerma, >> like like you won the lottery. >> It was $4,900. It was their um share of their return from Kerma >> and we got one too, but I just got a little check that got dropped off in the mail slot. Like I didn't get the big thing and and ours was double what Bridgewwater got. >> So I feel kind of jilted that we didn't get the
031big check. But if anybody's wondering, since you know we did use Kerma, we did get front back as well and it was just shy of $10,000. >> Yeah, they had they put it in the town newsletter a picture of Curtis and I can't remember who was with him holding the check up in front of I think in front of the library. Sorry. >> Although we haven't had a meeting yet, um there is the only thing I have to report about that is that they're going to have the A Expo on October 18th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. And this is the fourth uh ecquin uh ecquin event that we've had. Um, and there's going to be other things there like, um, hay rides and floral design presentations and pumpkin carving for the kids. And
032then there'll also be a barbecue chicken lunch. So, um, go if you can. I can't make it. I will be in New Jersey for my high school reunion, which we don't want to miss. And um so but but please go if you can because it is it is something to see and you to watch our kids do presentations as are marvelous especially the the equin stuff. I I love that. >> Thank you Mary. >> Curriculum Justin >> nothing new. Our next meeting um is October 6th at 5 5 p.m. >> Okay. Thank you at advance Joe. >> Uh nothing new to report. >> Okay. Thank you. Finance and operations. Alex, >> I have nothing to report. We have not had a meeting since our um last board meeting. So, uh nothing to report. >> Okay.
033Thank you. Uh policy. Oh, no, sorry. Labor uh negotiations. >> Nothing new to report. >> Okay. Policy Justin. Um, so the committee just met earlier tonight and we discussed policy 5114 which is student discipline >> and we approved the policy for to bring to the board for a first read for our next meeting on October 6th. So look for that in your packets and we'll discuss that at that time. >> Great. Thank you. uh strategic uh plan or strategic long range plan. We uh meet for the first time I believe on October 6th as well for the first time for the uh this year and that's it. We have no old business, new business. >> Yes. >> Sure. we had to cancel our last meeting or the meeting that we had planned earlier in September
034and we there's a lot that we want to discuss and there's also other meetings going on that night so we we had to put it before so are you good okay um okay moving on to new business to consider and if appropriate approve the field trip request to the model UN uh conference to Boston. >> The board might recognize this as a long-standing Chupali tradition. It's a important experience for our kids where they all get assigned to be a they don't have any say in which delegation, but they all role play a delegation from around the world on an important issue. Uh and the kids enact debate and discussion and deliberations. They learn a lot about policy issues. They learn a lot about um leg legislative bodies. They all have a chance to experience public
035speaking and they meet people. They make friends. Mr. Dennis chaper owns the trip and he trains them and all the things they need. They meet regularly as a club to get ready for the experience and they're up there, I guess, for three nights and come back uh on the fourth day. Um it's grades 9 through 12. It's very well attended and we'd appreciate continuing uh board support for that trip. Can I have a motion for a second? Uh, all in favor? Anyone opposed? Extensions. They're going to Boston. That's great. We're happy to send them. Great. So, now moving on to the last item for the evening, the uh board of ed goals. I'm assuming we all did our homework. Yes. Yes. Good. Was it I don't I'm not asking for you to hand it in.
036>> I went to the >> Okay, it's fine. Okay. So, uh, for those of us that did do our homework, um, I think that, uh, when I handed them out, it was really good timing in terms of, uh, looking at the superintendent's evaluation, um, and then looking at our own, um, self-eval evaluation as well. And when I was reading through this, I underlined the um one of the sentences that said that while the board of education and the superintendent have different goals and responsibilities, their work must complement each other. So I think that that seems um appropriate and I thought that that helped me in terms of looking over some of the work that we've done. Um and when I was looking through I thought that the different sections were the vision um for those
037who maybe haven't reviewed uh the vision uh we have community leadership we have board operations board ethics and then the board superintendent team. Um I'm just going to kind of I for me the synopsis for me was that I felt that the board vision seemed timely in terms that we just kind of have worked on our strategic plan. So I felt like we kind of nailed that right in term for me personally. But I don't know if we went through this if there's anything in particular that we that anybody felt was lacking or maybe we didn't um nail so to speak. Yes. Um, I just want to add in addition to this strateg strategic plan, I also want to >> um celebrate Carrie Snowden for her excellent work with the curriculum. Thank you. Making our
038work as a committee, you know, much easier and um I I think incredibly productive. >> Absolutely. Well, your time when you came in, Carrie, it just sort of >> made everything come to life. I feel like it came to it was on the paper, but then when you came, you just brought it to life in terms of bringing it to the teachers and then bringing it to us. And so I'm so grateful because I think seeing it on paper is one thing, but then seeing when you bring it in and then bring it to the teachers and then seeing how excited they are about it changed everything for us. So thank you so much for that and thank you Justin for bring for saying that. I really appreciate that. Is there anything in terms of
039the vision that any that's um that you know moved anyone or there was anything that anything that in particular? No one. So we pretty much okay cuz I kind of got vibes on that. Everybody else you I know these two especially. Yes. Okay. Yes. We'll get our light by the end of the year hopefully. >> Well, that we all don't. >> Ah, I got Yeah. No, I I thought this was a great exercise and certainly a very difficult one for me because I >> That's fair. >> Really? Yeah. When things were referred to, I really found myself saying, "Well, what is that?" >> Yeah, >> that is. which was why to be honest, Jesse, I was kind of hoping maybe we would review it a little bit on Saturday for that purpose, especially for you.
040Yeah. >> So, I apologize for that. >> I mean, I found myself going online looking for u what I could find of the I think it's called the vision mission missions goals. Yeah. >> So, I went online and I found a document from 1999 and uh >> did you go on Oh, >> I'll forward you ours which would be helpful for you. Is it? It's on our website, too. Yeah, I'll forward it for you. We just reviewed it. Yeah. >> All right. So, I was clicking around and, you know, that just gave me just >> Yeah. >> points of interest to pursue. I think one phrase that caught my attention a lot was, >> you know, like in the first sentence, a primary focus on student achievement >> and um I'm certainly and then also
041high achievement for all students. Yeah. Then in some of the preamble talking about >> evaluating the superintendent based on student achievement. And so that's just a part of the board's job that I have yet to experience in >> um so I answered a lot of not shores, but that's not to be seen as any sort of >> we're going to forward you that would be really helpful, wouldn't it? Our um strategic plan so you can review it. >> Um and I think that then maybe you can retake it and >> I'll retake it. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um and then and save this because then maybe next year you can sort of get a sense of how you this year vers uh versus next year. Um but I think that that would be really helpful for
042you. But it was helpful too to have this this questionnaire compared and then after working on the strategic plan I thought that the questions were helpful. So maybe that will be a little bit um different experience for you next year. Jesse community leadership. Did anything stick out for anybody in particular? >> Can I go backwards for just a second to division? There's the one thing was was stressed over over and over again with student achievement, but I don't really feel that that's all that we do. We we educate the whole person and not only their their student achievements, but their their personal achievements and their health and their well-being and their happiness. We don't we that might be the thing we're supposed to say. >> Well, you know, Mary, I went back to read the
043strategic plan myself to kind of get a sense of what student achievement really meant >> because I felt the same way as you and I really achievement is a very it's not just academic, it is whole, it's the whole student. And so that was something that kind of got stuck with me because when I looked at it here versus what I looked at it on our strategic plan, it it it feels very different when I read it in our strategic plan versus this. So I agree with you >> that that I was like, >> but if you were to read it differently in our strategic plan, it is the whole student versus it here. So, I'm glad that you said that because that was something that I felt too, but when I read it in
044our in our actual strategic plan, it really is different in terms of what achievement looks like. >> So, yes, thank you for saying that. >> Um, community leadership, anybody have any comments about this >> or 11 board? >> Sorry. Thank you. Oh, what? First try. Um, the boards collaborate with other school boards. Well, I always said not sure, but is that something that boards do? Um, I don't remember ever meeting with another board from another school. >> I know. I kind of I put myself in the middle of that because I wasn't I always felt that that was something we did when we were more involved with Cape to be honest with you. When we would go on those uh those retreats or the weekends and we don't do that anymore and that was the
045time that we would engage more with other boards and connect. Um, and I liked that actually that it was fun and it was nice to kind of engage with other >> uh boards and just get a sense Stephanie >> and I think that kind of ties into 10 as well because when we were part of CA we did a lot of advocacy up at the state. I remember going up there with different groups. Agreed. >> Pat Constantino at that time and being a little more involved in those things. So I know we have done it in the past. >> Yeah. >> Um but also for 11 I I mean I think most of us were here that was I don't know maybe two years ago when we went to Oxo in that was really nice
046to meet the superintendent there. So, it was one of those nice experiences where you go to another district and you visit another school and with their administrative team and hearing their perspective of us and knowing, you know, what we do and knowing our community. I remember at that time it really stuck out to me that their superintendent, I can't remember his name now, I'm blanking. Um, but asked, you know, how's Sheila Ana doing? You know, like he remembers working with her. He remembers, you know, coming in and seeing um, you know, our three towns. So that I think was a really illuminating trip and you know if there's opportunity to do something like that again to collaborate I think that's that was a nice we did >> yeah that's a really >> we have done
047periodically throughout the years but there there isn't always an opportunity to do that every year. >> Yeah that felt like this one in particular this section of leadership was something that um I felt like we could work on just in general. Uh, I felt that um 11 was definitely one that I was I wish we that we could work on. Um, and I do think that I mean I think about at Advance Joe as as something that we do that you in particular work closely with on behalf of us, but it would be an opportunity that maybe we could maybe as a board engage more with as with other um dis districts if they have >> um other >> there are a lot of services that we don't utilize that advance has. I mean but
048again just for example with um with special education we have our own system right but they provide that for many other school districts and as a risk that's that's one of their facets but you know there are a few other things that that we probably could utilize but that like the the career accelerator you know I think there's a lot more opportunity there as as it grows as a program grows and you know, if we grow along with it, we may be that that good partner um as other school districts are as well. But yeah, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of facets of of at Advance that could be utilized, but you know, we'd have to really sit down and pick through things that that could be helped here. Um, but uh,
049you know, Ed Advance is a great it's it's a great tool to have, but at the same time, like I said, we have a few of those already in our arsenal now and and they do cater to bigger districts in in some areas only because it's it's more fruitful for them. I mean, even like with our folk, that's that's one of the things about Nicole is is the food. she's on on that as well. >> That's things she does. >> So, that's a facet we forgot to mention. And um along with that, you know, if we stay with it at Advance, maybe there will be some changes and improvements, but I think we're going in a different direction, right, Nicole? With the with the food possibly. >> Awesome. >> Yes, Stephanie. Um, so is CABE
050or something else like that something we'd consider doing again? I remember like there were reasons why we discontinued that for a little bit, but I don't know if it's >> it is something I I've thought about in terms I know that we use um ship in terms of >> our policy, but I do think that it's a conversation in terms of more community engagement with other districts that may be something we can explore this year. I you're you're part of CAPS, but as far as like board >> of school superintendent, but CA is a good support for boards of education. Um there's a cost, >> right, >> that comes with membership and you'd have to I'll have to find that out for you. Do you know, Nicole? >> Well, last year that we were members,
051which I think was three years ago now, it was just under 10,000. >> That was that was one of the deciding factors, right? that was a deciding factor for us to drop from there. Plus, back to Ed Advance, some of their services are very similar and and do help us with with some of those ends of of what CAB has, but they do they work with CAB as well. So, I mean, there could be a connection somewhat there. >> Can you still engage in their retreats even if you're not part of their >> I'm not sure about that. And I think the last time we paid It was about $9,800. We were still part of the policy. I don't know if there's a membership that's less expensive if you don't accept their policy. We can
052look into that. Ship is policy. >> That would be interesting. >> There are still also there are opportunities as non-members to join some of their like webinars and stuff like that because I still get their emails and I have done them periodically over the last couple years. >> But I Yeah, like their retreats and stuff they used to do like in mystic and >> Yeah, they're fun. And they're they're when you're up there too, they're um the workshops and the presentations that they have are I think they're so interesting and I I loved them actually over the years >> and I think there are randomly some opportunities outside of CABE to join like you know webinars and and not a retreat but like more like discussions for like the state board event. Yeah. I mean,
053that doesn't really connect us to other local boards of eds, but it's a opportunity to connect with the state board of ed. >> Yeah, >> Jen, I think um I asked Megan when we were considering whether to stay with Cab or not, I asked her if we could still go to the convention and she said yes. >> Feel like that we would be able to do that. One of the things that I liked about the convention that g that I got a lot out of was meeting with the state board of education to see what what they were up to. That was very that was >> very interesting. >> That was that was my favorite part. >> I agree with you. >> Maybe we can just look into that. That might be one of our
054goals just to kind of see if there's a way. I know it's usually November, right? >> Yeah. >> Um so that's something to talk about. And the only other thing that I kind of made a little comment or remark about was just that I think we can do a better job communicating our vision with the comm community with our our community. Um and I think that which we were going to talk about that and we got a little sidetracked with a few um issues last week but um we're going to get back on that wagon next week. Y >> so um so that we can um talk to I can work with Ben again next week on that. So that will be one of the things that maybe we talk about is maybe highlighting a
055little bit of what our strategic plan is and how we incorporate that into everything when we share our bulletin. So I will um we'll talk about that next week. But if there's any other ideas or goals that uh incorporate uh that and please share them with me so that uh we can add them to any other ideas I can add them to our list. Next up I believe is the um board superintendent team. Was there anything that stuck out to anybody in particular? I didn't miss anything. Oh no. Did I missed board operations, didn't I? I apologize. Board operations. Was there anything that stuck out, Jesse? >> Got it. >> Um, no, I just wanted to speak to number 19. Uh, having recently gone through this experience, I would say that, uh, >> there was
056certainly a warm and welcoming, uh, spirit. I don't think there was a very good comprehensive orientation. Uh and uh I think it began frankly with a lot of confusion at the town level regarding how elections worked and there was a lot of effort to figure out when the date was and what if two people were running and then finally the election came and um I think there was a post on Facebook and then uh I just remember kind of waiting a month and I never heard from anybody about when the term started. uh what was required of me in terms of saving potential future dates for meetings or you know and then I ended up meeting with Dawn and getting you know a packet and then another packet later but I would say that I
057I I've sort of in peace meal finding my way through this and that's just my personal experience that I >> Yeah. So I wrote that as well actually was for you in particular. I wrote that we could definitely work I I will say for two things that I thought of in particular for you was that not only were you new but we also had the transition of a new superintendent which I think I think that was unfortunate. So there was that switch over. Um and then I think that in terms of beginning I think that that was a town thing. So I think that that was unfortunate too was that the town aspect was that and then the um July 1st part was when Don was officially starting and so then there was that part
058of it too. So and then because I was the because of uh the Washington usually does their board of ed election in May. We were late in June. So I think in all it was the perfect storm for you starting July 1st that that it just worked didn't work the way it usually does. So I would say for you in particular when a new board comes in you would have Debbie Bivven reach out to you hypothetically when you come in with the dates and all of that but I think it just didn't work that way for you. However, that being said, um I agree with you that there should be something that could work even in addition when all of the players are in place and plugged in and it's supposed to be um and
059Don's there and everybody's supposed to be in their place that it should be a little bit more um streamlined regardless. So, I agree with you on that. Um, I'll just say too, like I think you're right about like the town communication that you know how the towns operate our elections and everything is is separate from our board operations. I don't know that we have any say when we talk to the I think the towns are separate from us. We have no communication >> too. So the way Roxberry does it is different the way Washington Bridgewwater does it. So I think that is I don't >> and they need to all get together to figure it out collectively which is separate from the board. >> Right. So yeah I mean that's that was an unfortunate thing
060that's that's outside of our scope. I wouldn't >> I don't know if there's a way for us to collaborate with them, but they Yeah, it themselves can figure out >> tricky too for me being up for election and being the board at that time trying to navigate how to give my first selectman. It it just it just all of it felt wrong in a lot of ways. So I think it was just challenging on a lot of levels. So, but I agree that in terms of having some sort of a system that works for bringing in uh new um uh board members that is more streamlined and more welcoming. So, that is on in my notes for sure. Um and then so thank you for bringing that up because that I agree with. There was
061also um a few other things that uh did you Stephanie was there anything else that that you checked off? Yeah, I would have said like 21 like professional development, but I think that ties back to the previous page like yep, if we were part of an organization, those kind of things come hand in hand or maybe utilizing at advance better or you know I think there would be opportunities for that more. >> Um I don't know that we participate in professional organizations 22 but I was split on that because I know we actively support local organizations. So I don't know. I mean, is it important for us to also be a part of professional organizations? Is that normal for boards? Oh, but maybe if we just even had some idea of some professional development that
062we could even just send out to the board if there's some interest for people that for throughout the year they want to plan accordingly. I think that that's something that we could just maybe look into >> that individually. That's like a full board thing that we >> Yeah. I mean some people could have no interest but some might find something that could be um fascinating to them. So I think so um and also to the board belonging to active and actively supports and participates in professional organizations that was to me goes back to CABE that was something that um I'm kind of still thinking about a little bit and I would be curious to know if it's something the board in particular if they do have tiered memberships. I don't necessarily think we need to
063do the policy, but I don't know. It's kind of nice to have friends, but not for tender. But I don't know. I think we can maybe look into that a little bit and get some ideas of what other options there are. Um, is there any other um, Alex, is there anything that piqu your interest? forgot to put thing on. Um I only had one two and that was the new board member orientation. I felt that we really fell down on that. >> Yeah. >> And uh that's why I gave it a two. >> So um I think we need to do better on that in the future. >> Agreed. Yeah. Okay. Um board ethics, how did we fare? anyone Stephanie? >> I mean I had I put down pretty high mark I did too. I
064thought I mean I for 23 I'll say the first one I don't do we have an explicit code of ethics. I mean, I know that's always kind of been, you know, kind of t we run a meeting and we've consistently run meetings where um there's been a standard of how we the rapport, how we talk together, how we expect the public to communicate, how we expect our administrators to show up. So, I mean, I know that it feels implicit, but I don't know if we have an explicit one. So, I don't remember if that's a policy that we have or not, but >> I don't know. Do we? Some of the things you're talking about show up in board policies. Some of them show up in law. Some of them show up in custom and
065practice. But the idea, you know, I could research whether professional organizations have codes of professional responsibility and ethical codes that they look at to guide their behavior. We're lucky right now. I think this is an incredibly functional and above above board, you know, but the idea we all have we all have outside professional codes that we can look to to help guide us. I'll look into that for boards of education. Yeah, >> Justin, >> one trend I've noticed over the last two years is that we I think we we've again over the last two years have done a very good job. Um even though there's 12 of us, we have 12 individual voices. However, um I feel like a lot of the decisions, if not all the decisions are, you know, it's one collective voice
066and I think we do um very well with that. I agree. I agree with that as well. Mary, >> um, number 24, that was hard for me to answer because I don't know about everybody else's confidentiality. Did they go home and talk to their spouse about what's going on or their neighbor? I don't know that, but I would assume so. >> We hope not. I mean, the the way to know that is is it doesn't get back to you, right? >> No, we have had that get back to us. Oh, you know, we have had less before, but >> before >> but um as far as I know, not not now, but that was hard. It was like, >> yeah, >> can I really answer that? >> Right. That's true. And the only way that
067we have gauged that in the past is if it's gotten back to us through other >> people to what Justin just talked about. Um, the one thing that I that I really like about our board is that we are all focused on the our students. That's that's number one, number two, number three, and number all the way to number 10. We are we it's all about the kids and that's the way it should be. >> Yes, I agree. I agree. I feel like Yes, Stephanie. Sorry. Uh no, our human encyclopedia also just showed me that we have a bylaws uh board policy 9271 is our code of ethics. So we do have it explicitly. >> Great. Maybe we should all have it. >> Yeah, that would be great. So review again. >> Yeah, put that
068on our goals code of ethics. Okay, that's good. Um that's good. Thank you, Nicole. Um, great. I mean, I thought we I think as a whole we I I think it's important again that we don't let politics interfere with our district business. I mean, that's really important. I think because we're a non-political board, that certainly helps us um uh in a lot of ways. So, I think that again makes us I've said that in the in July, but I'll say it again. I think that makes us uh the kind of board that we are in terms of coming here for the kids that that strips us of all um of all of our nonsense when we come in here. So, I'm really happy about that and I hope that we remain that way. So, and
069I think that in terms of our internal and external conflicts, I think that openly, honestly, and respectfully, I think we all genuinely respect each other. And when we don't agree, we can do it in a respectful way. And um I think like I've said a million times, this is a board in particular for the 12 years that I've been on, not the 104 years that um eat and uh has been on. Um but uh but I um uh I think it's just a really uh cohesive um wonderful board. >> Yeah. I just had one thing on number 26. I read it differently than you just described it. >> I didn't read it as politics internally. >> I read it as external politics, i.e. pressure from communities to do something that may not be the board
070feels right, but we get pressure and have to spend time dealing with it. You know, >> I think it can be both, right? I think it can be a little bit of both, Alex. And I I think you're right. I read it as is outside politic opposed to internal. >> And I think probably because I'm still scarred over the spring and the summer in terms of our town election. I think that that was a little bit of both for us, which was a >> a political of internal and external, but um I think you're right. So that's great. >> Um >> Jen, >> yeah. One thing that um that I that that bothered me this year was well it was one policy actually but the fact that the state says to us well you're going
071to adopt this policy whether you adopted as a as a board or not. That was the one about um the uh uh yeah the epinephrine and the uh narcan uh and and >> no matter how I voted it was going to go through anyway but >> that's sort of the nature of the beast right that's that's how >> but that's the one thing I that bothers me >> state says oh you have to do this >> but that's what we have to do as a local board when the state brings policies We have to >> that's a law. It's a state statute. So it's not them forcing a policy on us. It's we may as well adopt it as a policy because even if you don't, >> it is a state law and you have
072to follow it. >> And I I asked about actually I asked about that and that was the only way that they could get that statute through was to to to put that in. And I told them how of course I told them how much I didn't like that. But um for all that was what >> it's a lot of laws we don't like but >> yeah but we still have to >> abide by them. >> We have to follow the laws. Yeah, I understand though. I get it. Um so moving on to now the board superintendent team. Uh anything in particular that stood out for anybody? Did we Yes, Justin. >> I'm not sure which number exactly this refers to. Maybe it's 28. Maybe it's 32. Um but recently I've sort of been feeling like
073there's been um unfair pressure and blame put on only a select few group of people that I I don't feel is is warranted. So, one thing that I would be I'd like to see moving forward would be more of um an explicitly stated chain of command with levels and and various layers of of accountability so that you know again people who >> within the within the within the faculty and team not the board. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Of of different people within the um if you would just explain it a little bit more. Well, it's just, you know, I I just feel like certain people um have to bear more responsibility than others, and that's not necessarily part of um that person's job description. >> Yeah, I understand what you mean by
074that. >> See us work on that a little bit more. >> Yeah, I understand. Thank you for sharing that. Is there anybody else that wants to share >> anything? Okay. Um, so I I think that's a fair um I I share with you in that Justin. Um I I think that for the most part I have um I scored well for us in this uh but I think now that you talked about that Justin I kind of agree with you and my perspective has shifted a bit. Um, but I think in general I think the board does demonstrate support and respect for the superintendent and um and I think it's really important that we do support our commander and chief um especially as a unified front because I think that that really helps to show
075uh unity in terms of a collective group and especially with our new chief here. I think it's a good it's really important that we do that. So, >> very supportive. >> I think we are too. And if we're not, we'll just, you know, we'll let you know >> behind behind the curtain. >> Right. Right. Right. >> Yeah. No, no. And I will say that I think Don, you've been doing a fantastic job and we're really we're really um I think that you know there's been a lot of curve balls and really great things to this year and um and we're just really been really happy with your leadership. So thank you very much. >> Thanks. I just am lucky to have a strong team that helps me. >> There's a lot of kumbaya tonight. A
076lot of love being shared. So thank you. Yeah. So, I appreciate it. So, um I'm going to kind of work out a little bit of uh some things that I've heard tonight. If there are some goals in particular that have not been discussed that you want to share with me offline, please feel free to email me um and I will put them up. But I think that it's important that we have some goals to um have for the year. I would love you to talk. >> One of the things that one of the things that's interesting to me about this is I'll be presenting to the board on October 6, you know, what I would want my goals for the year to be. And of course, I want to align them in a way that's
077um create synergy. And of course, I'm going to look at our strategic plan and I'm going to look at, you know, our data and talk to all of our stakeholders. And many of you have already helped me in my entry plan by talking to me. There are a few of you I still have to talk to. But one of the things that I want to think about and align to were the the goals that you're talking about here tonight. And just to reflect back what I'm hearing, some of the themes that I heard were talking about how we measure achievement in our students, how we build connections with the community, um dealing with political forces, but also making them feel, you know, getting in here, getting into that planetarium, feeling like they're part of our
078school and reaching out to them. how we create a culture of mutual support so that um so that we share uh triumphs and tribulations as I was saying before. Those are some of the things that I heard. Does anybody want to add anything or refocus something that they said that they think I'm not commenting on right now? >> Ownership among all of the um ownership among all of the faculty so that It's not just burdens burdensome on a few. >> Got it. Okay. >> Is that right? >> Yeah. >> Well, I appreciated being able to listen to the discussion and use that to help me refine my own thinking. >> Thank you. >> Um I think that's it. Does anybody else have anything else they would like to add or share before we end? No.
079Can I have a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Everybody have a wonderful evening.