Board of Education Meeting

001experiences supported by its strong community whose decision-m is based in the best interest of all students. Um before we start, I just want to announce um that both Shannon Kavalo and Sharon Adek are here but they are remote. Um so thank you for joining us uh Shannon and Sharon. Um our student representatives have a snow day today because school was canceled but our board members do not. You guys don't have a snow day for fun. Um, so thank you everyone for being here tonight. Um, may I have a motion for approval of the minutes of January 12th, 2026 regular meeting of the board of education? So move. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second by Steve. Any questions or comments? Um, all those in favor. >> Sharon, do you vote? >> Sharon

002Gavalo. I >> Okay. and Sharon addict >> I Okay, everyone else is I so it carries. Next we have the enrollment report by Superintendent Smith. board members got a advanced copy of this. Um, we're going to take you through kind of an executive summary. There are some more slides that I didn't necessarily plan on touching tonight, but we could certainly answer questions on them. Um, and those slides will be on the website as well. Uh just a reminder that uh all these numbers are October one enrollment. Our enrollment changes every day with um students moving in or or out of the district. Um October one is the official state snapshot date. We do a report statewide anytime you see student data on any state report. It's all the October one numbers. uh from the in

003October one numbers are how we calculate the ADM or the average daily membership and that is the percentage of students from the sending towns and that is important because that is how we calculate the budget obligation for each of those towns um and it is a year in advance or in the rear so this year's October one enrollment drives next year's budget obligations for the two towns uh there are many people uh that contribute to this report. Uh, Miss Magleio does a really nice job and our HR director, Miss Fairborn, is here tonight. Um, she does a lot of the heavy lifting that is behind the slides that you see. So, thank you for their efforts. Um, I leave this up here that there is a when we talk about demography, there's an art and

004science to it. Um, we work with two differenters to uh do this uh calculation. NZDC and um SLR consulting. uh which is um actually they changed their names again. Um but anyway, Mike Zuba is the demographer specifically works with us. Um here's where we're at. Uh the 25 26 school year is that line uh down the middle, that horizontal line. You'll see that we have seen decline enrollment since 2015 2016. That's the far left data point. Um however uh we are at the low point of that decline and will be somewhat flat uh and with a slight increase over the next 10 years uh as projected. This is the ADM number that was sent to both towns uh back on October 14th when this was calculated. Uh what you'll see is there's some discrepancy depending

005on the state reporting you're looking at because uh there are students that are in programs outside of the district that the district is so responsible for. Uh and so those numbers are included in here. We roll up our class enrollment. So here it is by school uh the number of teachers. One of the things that is always a question How do you have declining enrollment and yet staff change remains consistent? Uh because there's usually critical mass. So if you have 18 students, 19 students, or 17 students, that doesn't change the number of teachers in that classroom. It's only when you meet or hit certain tipping points. And so you'll see that that enrollment change did not hit any of those tipping point thresholds uh by school. Here is a breakdown of all of the certified

006staffing in each of the elementary schools. Um, and the year-to-year change. Um, just note, you'll see that there was one shift in Long Meadow. You'll notice a reduction in a special ed teacher that got moved to another building. You'll see that a future slide. Other than that, from staffing was consistent year to year. Non-certified. I highlight that the biggest growth in this crisis is in our parent educator line. Uh those parent educators usually or all cases come uh in conjunction to a student's individual education uh plan and are necessitated by law to be and required uh when a student moves into the district. If that student has a parent educator already assigned to them, they're obligated to maintain that service. uh or that uh service is added through a process. That's where you see the

007largest uh enrollment or uh employment growth uh in our non-certified staff. Uh similar in uh 612 uh there's a larger breakdown of the type of positions, but it's the same. Uh these are all certified positions. uh you have no Shambo memorial and the high school uh and yeartoyear enrollment change. I'll highlight a little bit of the high school one uh further in the presentation. Other than that, you see the special ed uh special educator increase at Robo. Uh that is due in part to the CL program that we added there in this year's budget. uh secondary non-certified staffing and you look year-to-year growth. You look in the special education assistant RBT alternative headline that is uh par educator piece uh which again shows the staff. Here is a district uh district-wide snapshot of all of

008the certified non-certified staffing and how it breaks down across the district. Some of the positions that are not in here, for example, are uh substitutes would not be on this list. These are full-time uh certified non-certified staff positions. Here is your roll up yeartoear. You'll see the staffing increase. Um the breakdown of those staffing changes are below. Uh we added the learning center teacher in the budget. We added the district manager, district data manager in the budget, the facilities and security supervisors in the budget. It is currently open. We've posted it twice. We've done two sets of interviews. We've yet to fill it. Um some of that work will be done especially for the long metal roofing project through an outside consultant that will help do the lifting on there. Six parent educators that were

009highlighted in the previous slides. Uh the reduction at the high school uh that 6 math we had a math teacher retire earlier this year right before school started. We did not fill that position. It is technically in our FTE count but it is open. Our intent was and remains to run the year and see if we can maintain current class size and instructional levels without filling that position. Uh and then we'll make a decision at the end of this year whether or not that position needs to be reallocated, filled as is, or restructured. But we wanted to take the opportunity uh to see if um we could get by without that position. Uh you'll see on the right we um while we added six PAR educators, we currently have 20 PAR educator openings uh throughout

010the district. That is not unique to region 15. That is a challenge with filling the PAR educator positions statewide. Um and so the that's not the same 20 PAR educators. We've hired multiple through the course of the year. um turnover rate especially among the first two years being a parent educator is extremely high. Uh this is now higher level um enrollment data. Uh you'll see that the projections uh versus actuals for this year total districtwide at the elementary level. Um our projections showed us 61 students higher than we actually are. A lot of that's attributed to kindergarten and the shift in the kindergarten start date. Um the shift to the September ones. Um it's still a pretty significant conversation. U school districts have interpreted differently whether or not they allow a waiver process. Uh we

011do think that the legislation uh this session that will address uh the discrepancy among the application of how that's uh inter seen. Currently in our enrollment for next year, I believe we have 30 uh students that have requested a waiver out of about a 100 uh current registrations. How that shows up in the beginning of the school year is a little bit yet to be seen, but it's still an active conversation and that attributes to some of that discrepancy. Uh and then the enrollment at the middle schools, you can see Memorial was projected to have 16 more students than they actually had. Uh and uh Roshambo the difference was um eight less than enrollment drivers. Um always fascinating. And here's you get into the art and science uh where we looked at birth rates and

012project that forward to kindergarten start rates. You'll see a little bit here where the September one shift of the kindergarten entry age has been uh incorporated into this model where so if you go and compare this to previous projections there are some uh nuances based on that shift single family housing again a couple years ago we saw a tremendous amount of housing sales there's not a lot uh available on the market So although sales have devalued a little bit, I think inventory still continues to be a challenge for folks trying to move in. Uh the kind of more important slide I think for for our work looks at this is the projected trend over the next 10 years. Some of this becomes important should we decide to move forward with a school construction project. we

013can do a look forward forward 10 years. Uh so this enrollment projection will have kind of material significance um over the course of the next year or potentially over the course of the next year. And so you'll see these numbers do not include the prek. So we look at Long Meadows number specifically their uh SANS prek uh middle school of note as um my friends in Memorial will tell me is that there's a bubble coming in two years uh that we're a little bit uh interested in how that's going to uh impact the uh school and then you'll see kind of that decline which is really the trough that's moving through the elementary schools um hits the middle school and in 2030 will start to shift back um and regrow to be slightly larger than

014we are now at Memorial uh versus Brook Chimber which will have a little more end space. So you'll see that the uh this is the summary. I won't necessarily read it to you, but uh continued growth kind of at the bottom of the uh decline enrollment and should stabilize a little bit. Uh and then we'll shift due to the kindergarten uh start date. And that is the enrollment summary. whole five slides or less. Again, if you notice on last slide here, there's slide 42. So, there's another 20 or so slides mostly from the demographers that go into some more granular detail. The website should maybe demographic questions. >> Any questions or comments? But >> two questions I was ask did the numbers change the calculations that tecton was doing in terms of like enrollment and

015reimbursement and then the second question is to you happen to know I won't hold you to it but if prek if the state somehow makes I don't know if the word is universal or mandatory would that mean basically you know basically if there's say three kindergartens in an elementary school I need three pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3 pre 3k classrooms that >> um so the first question is tech worked with Mike Suba put these projections together so their work mirrors what's here um and in some of the conversations that uh we've had we've talked a little bit about this um use the

016word hot district thing this shift um you know if you look at the uh middlebury elementary line there um and their growth over the next 10 years. The ability to create some easing at Middlebury Elementary by shifting them to Long Meadow and Long Meadow students shifting to potentially two to elementary schools that have a little more space takes this into consideration. Um as far as uh mandatory universal preschool, um it's unclear yet what that means to public school districts. Uh our anticipation is to create more capacity in our elementary schools for prek. Those would be tuitionbased. Um they may be state subsidized. Um as of today, I've got no indication that universal preschool translates to public school universal preschool. Um so it's a mix of public private. And really the uh the grant incentive on

017school construction is to develop more capacity because there's not enough preschool space. if you immerse in preschool is even a concept whether private or public there's just not enough. So our desire is to increase potential capacity. Uh but that will be tuition based whether that would come from state subsidies or private families. Thank you. >> Do these account for any big housing projects that might come to either town? So they only account for housing projects that will be currently on books. >> So if they're like in the zoning process um as new construction then they would be on here >> but they're not yet zone like they were talking weren't they last meeting about the salary training school some of that that could make a dramatic change to some of the statistics. >> I think

018that's something too that's out there. >> All right. I just have one comment and it's just that I always appreciate the 20 plus year look back. Um because I think it's very easy to get get caught in a oh look you know here's five to 10 years of data and let's just draw a straight line down or a straight line up. Um and you just think it's helpful to see that this es and flows and you know I think a lot of people will will tell you oh my gosh we're overcrowded or oh my gosh you know with declining enrollment and as if we're ever going to go down to zero kids are just appreciate you know that we have that look back and we can kind of see that these numbers and flow we

019should any other questions Thank you very much for that presentation. Um, next we have the region 15. Oh, you want to make sure I just want to make sure Shannon and Right. So, we'll move on to the region 15 data report. Dr. Chia had up Um, so if you can go to the next slide. Um, so I know that the board has already seen this, but for people at home or people that watch this at a later date, um, tonight, some things that we'll go over are the summitive uh, state data, which includes the Smarter Balance, NGSS school day, SAT. Something that's new to the region 15 data presentation is um the special education annual performance report which we'll share some information about. Talk a little bit about advanced placement data and the next generation

020accountability index and and the more important part is sharing the current work that we're that we're doing here in region 15. And so um you go to the next slide. Um we've talked a lot about in recent years about the dur or the district reference group. And so um in this slide is the definition of that from the school and state finance project which talks about how the derves were created not to rank schools or to provide the indicator of of school quality. They're really um something that's used and and based on the median household income. It's based on the percent of students who receive free and reduced lunch um family structure um the district enrollment. And it really only tells part of the story of education here in Connecticut. And so, um, the DURS

021within the state of Connecticut range from like letter A all the way down to letter I. And with A being the highest socioeconomic, um, group, I obviously being the lowest. And historically, there's been a connection between the academic achievement and the socioeconomics of that DURB. And so, we actually use that as a compass like our direction. We're in group B. So, that's our compass. we look at uh Derby districts to see how we're doing compared to them and to see how our work is doing in compared to them. And so um in the next couple slides you'll see um information from region 15 but also equated to our DUR. And so we'll look again at smarter ballots and the nextG for last spring um 2025. And so last August at our uh board retreat, the

022um board saw the region 15 numbers. And so we couldn't show you at that time the comparative data because it wasn't out yet. And so now in these slides are the comparative data where we look at um not only our derve but some of the select towns that we pull out. And we'll see as usual, you know, region 15 outperforms the state. We've done that in the past, we're doing that now, and we expect to do that in the future. We're actually not satisfied with that number. we've never been satisfied with that number. And so, um, that's why we look at our DUR and we look at our peers to see where that gap is. And you'll see that there is a gap. And so, we know that our students are just as capable as

023students in other districts and we know that our teachers are just as talented. But what this gap shows us is that there needs to be that consistent focus of the work that we've been doing on tier one instruction, which is the instruction that every single child gets um, here in region 15. And so that instruction um for tier one is supporting um in planning. It's supporting the execution of standards. It's supporting differentiated instruction and it's supporting scaffolding the work that we've been talking about for the last few years. And so when we look at um math, it's the same story, right? Um region 15 does well compared to the state, but when you look at the Durk and you look at those select towns, there's that gap. And again, how do we make sure that

024we're closing that gap? We're working on the tier one instruction that every single student in region 15 should be getting. And NGSS, no difference. The only thing is there's a little bit of a smaller gap between um region 15 and u the dirt in those select towns. But again, it really is about focusing on tier one, which I'll explain what we're doing um in a in a few slides. One of the things that we've taken a look at is how does uh region 15 compare to the state when they pull out the different student uh groups or student categories or what the state calls the subgroups. And so here what you'll see is for both ELA and math um the percent of students that meet or and exceed for the state and for region 15

025based on those different groups. And what you'll you'll see is that region 15 compared to the state is above the state average. That percentage is above. But what you don't see on that slide is that statewide 63% of special education students are at a level one. Um 45% of high need students are at a level one with ELA. What you don't see on that slide is 67% of special education students for math are at a level one and 49% of how need students are at a level one. So, the reason I point that out to you is these this is work that the entire district is doing related to all these different student categories and how do we make sure that every single student whether you're special ed, high needs, gened, is is at working

026at a um a way to meet uh proficiency. It's not just here in region 50, it's across the state. And so, if you go to the next slide, the same thing for NGSS. So if you look here, yes, region 15 um is above the state for um science for those different groups, but it's the same data points. Um if you look at the state for special education, 52% of students are at a level one. If you look at high needs, 36% of high needs are at a level one for science. So these po these data points, the last few slides are for that one time, that one day that we take that test in the spring. And so what we really want to take a look at is how do cohorts students do as they

027move through region 15 schools and is there any improvement in that. So if we go to the next slide, the next slides show um cohort data. And so you can keep clicking it. So the arrows come out. Um and so if we take a look at ELA um and we look at students move from third grade to fifth grade or from um third grade to fourth grade, what we want to see is that percent increasing. Um are the percents of students that are at meets or exceeds increasing as they move through region 15? And so for elementary um uh um ELA, we see that and while the rebound and the recovery from from COVID is not as quick as we would like it, um there's still signs of improvement. Albeit it's at a at a

028slower pace and at a smaller pace. If we take a look at math and if you click through so the arrows show through. If we take a look at middle school math when students enter sixth grade and they leave it in um eighth grade on the right hand side there is an there is an improvement again a small improvement from sixth grade also to seventh grade. One of the things to be aware of is that there's either um a stag stagnation in the um the percentage of meets or exceeds at elementary or a slight dip and that could be attributed to the fact that last year was the first year of implementation for IM districtwide. Now the previous year we had pockets of of schools and of classrooms trying out IM but last year was

029really the first year of a full implementation across all four elementary schools. The good news is that that is that stagnation or that small dip is easy is easily fixable. So we have the same program K8 now where before we didn't um that this K8 program as students move through should build consistency with regards to routines that we do in math with regards to vocabulary that's used in math with regards to um the structures that are set up in math. And so as they move from grade to grade, that should set a better foundation for students as they move through our K8 program. Where before we had two different programs, one at elementary and one at middle school. If we take a look at the next uh slide, this is the cohort data for um

030for NGSS. And so can you click through? Um and so if we look at students in fifth grade and as they progress through to eighth grade, there's an increase in the percent of students that are meet that meet or achieve um or exceed the um uh the state proficiency. And again, if you take a look at eighth graders by the time they get to 11th grade, there there's that increase. And while again, not as big as we would like it, it does show that there's been an increase. So move on to the the SAT um data which again the same thing that I have said previously um similar to the ESPAC data where again um the the region 15 numbers we saw back in in August the comparative data we didn't have and again compared

031to the state we outperformed the state but looking at those uh specific districts that we pull out or those specific towns in our dur we're somewhere near that or we're even below that difficult to do cohort data since um through different 11th graders each year. But what we can do is tr is track how 11th graders have done over the last few years. And so one thing to point out um and one thing that we were surprised about was that 43% in math um at last spring. And so one of the things as we dug uh deeper um Miss Wick and I um realized that there was a new test last year. there was a new online adaptable math test for um the SAT. And so what that did last year um was it sets

032up two modules. The first module every single student takes and depending on how well you do with those adaptable questions, it will filter you through um to one of the two second modules. If you struggle with some questions on that first module, the second module that you get to may end up being at a lower level where it caps the actual score that you're able to get. And so um so we're looking at how that has played into our 43% and our um overall average score of a of a 515. That breakout student group data um we just couldn't do because um the numbers were so small. And so that data since the numbers are so small, the data could be identifiable. So we couldn't um do that and show that here tonight, but we

033wanted to be able to talk a little bit about the special education annual performance um report which is new um to the data report here in region 15. And so uh we took a look at the state region 15 and again like those districts that we compare ourselves to. And so looking at the time with non-disabled peers, one of the things that we we realized is that we are lower than the state or the amount of time that um special ed students are with their non-disabled peers. And and I'll talk a little bit about the work that we're doing to try and increase that number. Um so we're at least above what the state has. That second column where it talks about the state ident identified measurable result, that target is determined by third graded

034ELA scores. And so um as you could see the state target is in those parentheses. The start the state even beat their own target. Um and so uh you could see that we are um second highest to Monroe in there. But the interesting thing is we have if you look at the last column that prevalence rate we have the second highest prevalence rate of um special education students. But that state identified measurable result was the second highest meaning that um our students are were are doing well relatively um in third grade ELA. If you click on the the next slide um this slide looks at fourth grade students with disabilities proficiency uh percentages for ELA in grades four 8 and 11 and then for math for grades four 81. And so again, as you can

035see, there's the list um you know, for region 15 and all of those different groups. And again, while we're above the state and and some of the select towns, those percentages still are low. And so, um and as and as a state, they're low. And so, um as we work towards like increasing like tier one and and working with um our special education, uh teachers, um we're hoping that those proficiency levels increase. And so, Dr. Sherto actually just returned from a a co a cohort that she is a member of that's a national cohort where she and other special education um educators are working towards determining how we can start to support more more students in special ed and increase the proficiency levels that they um that they receive here in in not only the

036um Connecticut but also in the US. talk a little bit about College Board. Um the work over the past few years um we've mentioned has been to increase the number of students that are taking at the least um one AP course and we've mentioned before that data show that just taking one AP course um or one college level course in high school regardless of whether a student gets a five or a two on it um significantly um they're more likely to uh to to graduate from college on time. And so the goal isn't necessarily to collect fives and make sure every student gets a five on the exam, but it's al it's to ensure that every single student here in region 15 that wants to go on to school knows what the college rigor is

037like when they get there, so that they aren't intimidated by that first year of college when they when they get there. which is why we've been working on expanding access not only to AP um classes but also to the early college experience classes which we'll talk about in a in a few minutes and remove barriers so that students can take those courses if they if they want to talk a little bit about the nextgen um accountability um indices well before we focused on one test on one day this slide shows like as a district how we perform formed overall as a school system. And so it measures 12 indicators which are listed there. And yes, while region 15 scores above um the state um you go to the next slide, the state um looks at

038the gap between non- highnee students and high need students. And this and if this district gap, can you hit one more? Yeah. Um if this district gap is higher than the state gap, then it indicates and is considered an outlier, which is that right hand colum. So, as you can see, um, region 15 is listed as an outlier for ELA, math, and science, but that gap is 1% 8/10en of a percent or or one and a half%. And so, the good news is that that gap is closable. Um, we don't need a total total overhaul of the work that we're doing um because that 1% is within reaching distance. The goal is actually to ensure that the work is done systemwide. And I'll talk about the work in a few minutes. The work that we're

039doing is done systemwide and not just in pockets in classrooms in certain schools, but it's done across the school district. So this next slide really just shows that information that was on the previous slide and it it tracks it over the last five years. So on the right hand side is region 15's accountability index for the last five um five years compared to the state. The next slide um shows that same thing except for the elementary schools. So DEES, LNES, MES, and PDS are all listed there. And what you'll see is that those stars above the years are when each of those individual schools were classified by the state as schools of distinction. And so you can achieve that in three different ways. You could be high performing, which means you're in the top 10%

040of the state overall. Um, you could have high growth, so you're in the top 10% of the state for your growth. Um, or you could have the greatest improvement. You're in the top 10% of the states for improvement. This year, so 2025, um, LMES was a school of distinction for high performance and for high growth. And so you'll see that um, star listed there. The next slide shows um, for our secondary schools again that accountability index over the last five years for um, the two middle schools and and the high school. And I'll talk a little bit about the work that we're doing um specifically at the middle schools in a few minutes. Um another um indicator for high school and for the region is the college and career readiness. And so while the state

041target listed here is 75% like that gray line there in the middle, the region exceeds that for um that blue line which is taking the um the courses where we need to provide a little bit more work is um for that yellow or orange line which is passing exams. And so we're pro um the way that we're working on that is by providing more choice and opportunity for ECE courses, those early um college um experience courses, providing more opportunities and encouraging more students to take at least one college bearing course or one AP course too. Um and we're incorporating more SAT like um language and questionings into our daily instruction so students know um what types of language to expect when they take some of these um assessments. So I mentioned a little bit about

042the um ECE or the dual credit courses completed. So this um is a chart that's taken from the state site that um was harder to read uh on the state site. So we put it into a chart. And so what it says is if we look at 2024 to 2025, there's been um a significant increase in the uh number of students that enrolled in a dual credit course. So you know 49 to 100. And so, um, the second, uh, category really is looking at the the courses that are offered for dual credit. And so, back in 2024, we had just world language that we offered. But thanks to the state for offering um, a grant and the board for um, um, helping us be able to institute some of the new ECE courses, we were

043able to expand that for more language to um, different other areas. As of last year, the the uh university or college that we were connected to is Yukon. Next year when we do this presentation, what you'll see is more um universities and colleges listed there than besides Yukon, things like Southern and um every day looking into other universities that we can partner with. So another data point that we could look at is um to see how the region 15 how region 15 is doing compared to others is this college enrollment persistence and graduation. um point. And so the data here is from the graduating class of 2019. And so for example, if we take a look at the region 15 bars, um what that says is 84% of that graduating class um was enrolled in

044a college or university within the first year after they graduated. If you move to that orange bar, what that says is of those freshman, 91% of them persisted into their sophomore year. they showed up for their sophomore year. And so then if you look at that green bar, what it says is 65% of them earned a college degree within four or six years. And so that's the same for um each one of those um different towns. And so as you could see, we're on par with the comparative set that we have been comparing ourselves to throughout the presentation. So when you see the numbers on the slides, especially the ones of the conflative set, um we like you feel this sense of urgency for inclusion. Um the focus is is really to scale up the

045work that we've been doing in pockets that we've been doing in certain classrooms that we've been doing in certain schools and work that we've already start. And so I'd like to take a few minutes to explain like what that work is. So, um, last year, and I think Josh mentioned it earlier, one of the things we put into the budget was, um, money for a data warehouse and for a data manager. And so, um, that data warehouse manager has been working with me and with our coaches and with our interventionists to populate that data warehouse. And so, um, while it's not done, um, and I don't know if the work will ever be done populating it, we wanted to show you a short video of the work to date. So what has been in there

046to date and what is some of the work that we actually can pull out of that data warehouse as of right now. And so I say as of right now because even today they were they were adding more things to it. But it's about a six minute video that I think gives you a really good idea of what this um warehouse can do and the work that we're going to do using it. No, I can just send it. We can actually really great job narrating. It's way better. Sorry. Work in production. Oh, there it is. >> Oh, is that yours? I'm sorry. My computer So it's not Yes. >> The TV stuff. >> All right. Well, I don't want to. >> Yeah. >> I don't want to build any anticipation comes off. Please pick it

047up. >> Yeah. I'm gonna stop it. audio there so it'll sync up. >> Set go. >> Hello everyone. In this video, I'm going to walk through a few different views of Educ that can help us with data analysis across the district. These views make it easier to see student information in one place and understand what the data is telling us. Let's get started. In student views, Edge Climber provides a visual representation of students where each circle represents an individual student. And when student identities are visible to the user, these circles include student photos, making it easy for educators to visually identify students they work with every day. On a single screen, users can view all selected students, whether on school level or district, depending on their access. Here, students can by school, grade level, gender,

048ethnicity, or disability. Allowing educators and leaders to order students in a visual way. Right. We can begin building layers to narrow our focus even further allows us to create filters based on sensitive attended and depending on the question we're trying. In this example, we're going to start by creating an assessment. will ask to identify students who scored below benchmark on fall 256 math reading assessment. Once we apply that filter, the system quickly identifies the students that fall under that criteria. From there, we can continue building and layering data. We now have the ability to add another assessment. Let's add in last year's spring smarter balance the assessments course and as edit timer to also show us the students who scored below benchmark in the 2425 school with both filters applied to focus group students who

049meet multiple criteria without having to do manual. At this point, we can group these students by school, grade level, gender, and more. Cooking options are customizable, allowing users to organize and analyze students in the way that best supports. Education charts allow us to compare student performance across two different assessment. For this example, we're going to look at map assessment. Selecting fall to winter and focusing on growth. With a click of a button, we now have a visual that makes it easy to quickly identify patterns. Each set of lines represents the group of students and the flow shows how those students move from their starting score in the first left window on the left to where those same students scored in the second selected window on the right. If you want to learn more about any

050group, you can simply click on the line itself to view students that make up that group. From there you also have the ability to export this information in save for documentation planning or writing. Instead of sorting through spreadsheets, this chart allows teams to see student movement instantly. From any of the data we've covered, you can drill down into the student profile to see the full score or you can go directly to a student profile if you already have a particular student. With a single click, we can switch the view to see historical data from past years, allowing us to quickly understand long-term trends for students. Returning to the current year, we can see that assessment scores and gradebook data are updated, which ensures that teachers and staff are always working with the most current information.

051As scores are fed into planner, they are automatically reflected in the student profile, eliminating the need to track data across multiple systems. If you click into map score, for example, edit generates a longitudinal chart that brings together both historical and current performance. This chart compares to student scores, the district average, projected performance and national contracts to the data. Below the chart, you can see all the detail components that make up the score. As we click through, these details update automatically, saving time everything in one place. This allows educators to spend less time searching for data and more time using it to support students. As you can see, Educ allows our district to move seamlessly from highle data analysis right to individual student insight from building multiple student groups, layering multiple data points, analyzing group across

052assessment windows, and finally understanding the full picture of an individual student. Project can help us turn accurate data into actionable information by supporting informed decision making, targeted instruction and improve our students. Thanks for problem solving tech. So um so one of the things that we've done with edge climber is naming the names and that's what we've called it. And so, similar to what Diani showed in that video, um, at the beginning of the school year, I met with the coaches and the interventionists and we did that data sort. And so, I asked them and it was also a way to help them learn the program. So, we looked at their school and we labeled um the assessments for last year's um, Smarter Balance and last spring's NWA. And what you could do then um like

053the video showed is um you can then say you want to look at students who were above a certain or below a certain percentile. And we actually got chart paper out and we named those names. We wrote out the names of students that fell below on both of those assessments because we said those are two data points that we had in there at that time. Those are two data points. And so both of those data points can't be wrong. And so what we said is then they're going to go back to their school. they worked with their administrator and they did that same work with their teachers. Who are those students that flagged on those assessments? So, as students are coming into the school year, we know that we need to have our eye on

054those students. We need to know them by name and we we need to know where they were struggling on those assessments. And then as we work through purposeful planning and we do our data meetings, what are the strategies that we're then going to put in place based on what that data tells us? not only what are we gonna put in place, but then how are we going to monitor if what the strategies that we're doing are working or not. And so, um, this actually helped us be able to look at multiple data points and not have to pull either multiple spreadsheets or go to multiple platforms. All of that information is on one uh is in one place. Then, um, one of the things that we've been working on too is having a data structure

055where the last um couple years that's really been our focus. How do we make sure consistently across the district we are looking at it at data points? We have data to back up what we're thinking and we're not just going to say I have the feeling like Carrie's struggling. I have data to back up why Carrie is struggling and then where is she struggling and then what am I going to do for that and how am I going to track whether that intervention is working or not. And so all of that is the the work that we've been doing across the district. While that happened in pockets last year at certain grade levels and in certain schools, one of the things we talked about is how do we make sure that we're doing that systemically,

056not individual schools, but as a as a system. And so our coaches and our interventionists have been really um key in in in that information in that doing that work. But not only have we been looking at like that data, we've also been looking at easy CBM data, we've been looking at formative data. So data that we do every day in our classroom where we figure out if kids have gotten it or not. So, it's like those exit tickets or those thumbs up or those thumbs down. That's all formative data that we get to say whether we think kids are understanding what we're teaching or not. And then how do we collect that data and determine what we're going to do next? And so, one of the things that we've been working on is collecting

057this data and using that for win time or for what I need time at the elementary level. So, we've been collecting that data and we've been looking at a grade level, let's say fourth grade, and um as a per group of fourth grade teachers, we've been putting buckets together of the different skills that we see that students are struggling. And then what we say is, okay, this teacher is going to work with these students on this skill, this teacher is going to work with these students on these skills, and so on. It might not be your students, but it's still the fourth grade team. So groups of teachers working together on how they're supporting their grade level rather than it just being supporting the kids in their classroom. They're supporting the kids in their grade

058level on certain skills. Additionally, um the coaches worked with teachers this year on where and how we're going to implement the um interim assessment blocks. So those IABS, so those IBS are something that come along with Smarter Balanced. And so they're short assessments that are related not only to the language that Smarter Balance uses, but it's also related to the um the skills and the standards that are in that grade level. And so teachers and and coaches work together to figure out where those IES fit within our curriculum. And um as we give those, we then take time to analyze that data and see where students were struggling. Were they struggling because of the language of the question that maybe we're not using that same language in our program or in our daily um instruction

059or is it because we need to go back and reinforce and retach something. So they're using data from from those IABS. Another thing I think that we mentioned last year was that NWA was updating their um their norms. So they do that about every five years. And so one of the things that they also updated is the correlation between their scores and ESPback. And so in the past where we've used like the um you know 40th percentile or higher because that's considered average. One of the things that we're looking at is that's not good enough because it doesn't mean that if you're at 40% that you're going to be able to get a three or four on Sback. So what we've done is we've taken a look at those correlations and as we move through

060the school year those numbers change. they raise obviously is what what you would expect. A number that or percentage that you would have in the fall isn't the same percentage on NWA that you should have in the spring. There should be an increase. And so we've been monitoring those to make sure that as we move through the school year and we give NWA that those students um are reaching that percentage. We're not just sticking for that one number that would have been at the beginning of the school year and not necessarily at the end of the school year. Um and again I I mentioned about that that data process where in the past we've talked a lot about like looking at the number and saying like oh you know kids are struggling. Now it's yes

061kids are struggling what are we going to try and how are we going to keep track of what we're trying to see if it's actually working. So that like data process that that um that is about results and it is about if it's not working then what are we going to try and do? So that's the data piece. >> I have a question data piece. >> Um I see that you plot a lot of different data. >> Yes. >> Do you add behavioral issues into the data and specifically the point collection? Because I would imagine there could be a direct correlation between frustration with grasping the content and acting out behavioral issues. And then on top of that, what does that do to the effect of delivery of the content? And if you could add

062that into the data collection, too. If maybe there's one specific thing that you're teaching and you have student A and B that act out at that point out of frustration. Um because a lot of the behavioral issues you see are frustration. >> Yes. Yep. So um so in edge climber you absolutely can do that. Are we there yet? No, we're not there yet. So um one of the things that we have done is we sat with um the coaches and the interventionists and said like what's the immediate data that you need in there? Um last week we started meeting with the interventionist to say how do we put intervention data in there? Um we have done that work with behavior and I can give you an example um from last year. So one of the

063schools said exactly that. There was a certain grade where teachers said it's really difficult to get through the curriculum. We're starting to see all these behaviors. And so, um, the principal with the coaches and the intervention said, "Okay, let's make a list like what are the behaviors that you're seeing." So, teachers in the grade level said, "We're seeing this and we're seeing this, we're seeing this." And they have, you know, in their meeting room a a chart paper of like all the list of behaviors that they're seeing. And so, the conversation was, "What's one behavior that we want to tackle and what are the strategies and ways we're going to do that?" And so, then let's try that and we'll then come back and see if like that's working in order to be able then

064to get through our curriculum. And what we did see was that consort that consistent effort of like everybody trying the same strategy actually does work. I was more wondering I like that it works but I was more wondering if there was something in the content if they could pinpoint something in the content that the kid or kids were struggling with that would trigger the behavioral outburst or whatever. like is there some way to track that as well? >> I'm working on this and this is more >> I think there's always a way to track the data and I think Diani our data manager has been really great in trying to figure out how to enter that into the system but I think it's different for for kids like it's really hard to say blanket third

065grade when we get to this content like this becomes frustrating. I do think that it is about having the the tier one plus strategies when you start to see some a few kids or one or two kids start to get that frustration level. What then do you kind of pivot to do with those two or three kids that you're starting to see the frustration level rise and and that's what we've been working on this year. What are those strategies to be able to do that in a moment and in small group? Um the other work that we're doing, I I I mentioned a little bit about middle school and so um Josh and I have been meeting with the middle school administrators, so the the principles and the assistant principles and the department chairs um

066to really talk about like that that planning of instruction. So what's the instruction that we're planning? What are the strategies? What's the curriculum that we're doing? And then how are we going to monitor that so we know that what we're planning and what we're instructing is actually making a difference. And so we've had multiple meetings and we'll continue to have multiple meetings over the course of the the school year to check in to to monitor to progress uh check to see how things are going to offer support um professional learning. We're actually really fortunate here in region 15 to have a multitude of ways to to receive professional development. So it's not only those school PD days or purposeful planning days, but there's wrap time. It's per teacher request. Teachers have requested additional time with

067the coach. the principles are really great about getting coverage and we were even fortunate last summer and again um this coming summer to have like many institutes and so all of that professional development really is focused on tier one what do we do in the classroom to ensure that all students whether it's special ed ML gened all students can access that curriculum and so um we've been talking a lot about grade level standards and priority standards and how do you scaffold those for students that that need it. And it's not everybody that's going to need the different scaffolding. It it would be some students that would need that. We had um teachers go visit other teachers classrooms to see how it's working in others or what it the strategies those other teachers are doing in

068their classroom. We talked a lot about small group instruction. How and when and why do you pull small groups? And so this is also where Edge Climber can help with that data to determine who are those few kids that may need a small group on the side while while other kids are working. And so um we've talked a lot about um what types of assessments can we collect to determine whether we need to have small groups or not or we can determine whether we need to reinforce something or retach something. Coming up in February, we're having PD for secondary teachers on morphology. And so one of the things we heard from teachers was about vocabulary. And so how do we teach kids to when they come across a word to figure out what that word

069means. And so as we um do that professional development which is going to be delivered by our coaches and by our ML uh one of our ML teachers looking at the roots of the words and the prefixes of the words and what do those mean and how when you put those parts together can you then decipher what the word means. um the use of AI to be able to scaffold our our tasks so that students in at different levels can do that same grade level task but maybe with a little bit more scaffolding or support and our institutes that that we had last summer that we have plan that we plan to have this coming summer which are facilitated by our coaches are based on what our ELA teachers have asked for. So last year

070we talked to them, we gave surveys to teachers saying like what are some things you want to talk about when we have our mini institute and it was things that all related around um instruction tier one standards for that grade level and how do we make sure that we're able to to make that accessible to all of the students in our classroom. Um some of the things that we I mentioned before was like that work with special education. And so we've been doing some work between um special education teachers and gened teachers because um not only do we need to increase the amounts of time that special education students are with their non-disabled peer peers, but we also need to talk about what language do we use? What's the vocabulary that we're using? what are

071the instructional strategies that we're using um to make sure that there is the um that grade level content, but also when special ed kids um come back into the gened ed classroom that there's not that learning gap that they have to hurry up and figure out what what structures we're talking about in a math class or what are the routines, but that those are already built in so they can seamlessly enter a Jed classroom without having to do some catchup. And then um I mentioned about the development of like high school opportunities. So we have been talking a lot about ECE courses and making sure that there are those courses that students are interested in taking so they have that college experience. Um pushing students to take at least one AP class so they have

072that experience and aligning our essentials classes. We've been doing that work the last two summers where we're revising the essential classes, which are classes that our special education students are in to make sure that it aligns with the grade level standards of English, of math, of social studies. So students in those classes are not learning stuff that number one isn't grade level and number two isn't aligned with um the classes that we're teaching. So again, when they go into a Jed classroom, there's not that learning curve to try and have to catch up to things that they missed. So there's been a lot of work that we're continuing to do. It's it's not work that we just started this year or that we just started um last summer. It's work that we have seen um

073needed to be done when it comes to tier one. And it really is about each and every child in the classroom. How do we make sure that teachers and and we're flexible enough so that when we see that there are some kids that need more or see that there are some kids that need enrichment, we're able to do that. And so that's been the work of the administrators, of the coaches, of the department chairs, and of the teachers um for the last couple years. So I know I just talked a lot. So any questions? >> Thank you. Thanks. I think you should go first rather than waiting till the end to do the story. >> Um, thank you very much for this and there's a lot more information in here and I really really appreciated

074some of the additional drill downs. Um, and I thought Diani did a great job narrating, you know, how these tools work. So, so that was really nice to see as well. But, um, I mean, I should mention when I got the pre-eread though that my, you know, stomach kind of dropped >> and I know like we've been seeing, you know, similar data in prior presentations. you know, we're not, you know, quite um, you know, meeting the the same performance as the rest of the dirt. >> Um, and you know, I I have always felt, you know, these last few years that we've taken the necessary steps to kind of correct that. And you know I and I can see you know where it is frustrating that maybe that that's not you know um showing us

075like a nice steep return um back to scores that were more comfortable. And I guess I'm I'm hoping um you know as we look into some of these other schools or some of these other districts in the dirt um these change over slightly over time as well but >> um is there anything that we are kinding from what other districts are doing or um is is there I mean I assume that you guys are always talking but I'm hoping to shed some more on that. >> I can speak I mean I'm part of a network of >> most of those superintendent uh participate in or if you look at uh all of instructional practices. Um I think that the shift um the difference you want to say systemic over time >> is I visited some

076of the middle schools, some of the high schools, some of the elementary schools that are on our comparison list. Um their classrooms don't look different than ours. There's not a where you walk in and you're like I'm shocked. Uh I've talked with some superintendents who are in our uh district preference group. uh both those that are in uh the higher DERS and lower uh same exact conversation. Uh I talked to what we would consider a very high performing uh middle school exact same conversation that we're having here about tier one instruction insisted uh you know and so I think that there's not like a smoking gun. It's not like let's change this because that's what this district's doing that we're not doing. Uh I think when you look at the arc students aren't veneers. Uh

077and so I I think that's one of the the challenges is that we have pockets where uh we can give you kind of a direct correlation between input and student achievement. Uh we have not been able to say systemically across the district everybody's doing the same level of input or giving the same level of output. Um I do think while not everybody has data warehouse data systems matter um consistent data structures um when we talk about comparative districts um from a you're new to our school district this is our process uh from kindergarten to 12th grade this is our process maybe age appropriate and a little nuance based on the grade or content area um I I don't know that um it was highlighted enough that in June we signed a contract to purchase a

078data warehouse. In January, we sit here with a full production used every day, not fully built out. Um I've been in three districts where we built data warehouses, this speaking the third. Um in none of those were we production ready in five months. So, I mean, I do think that the work uh to get to that analysis piece has been pretty substantial. Um, and the fact that we're having regular meetings where one of the hard parts, it's easy to say students struggle, it's hard to say this child is struggling with this skill and this is the kind of um if you think medical terms, this is the the treatment that we're going to provide. We're going to be able to measure whether whether or not that treatment is working. That is really hard to do

079when you're talking about like nine bolts changed every day, right? Uh and so the ability for us to kind of spend less time talking about which assessment you used and did you look at last year, we spent a lot of time like uh just because it's complicated like I don't say admiring the problem but admiring different data sets. uh this is and this is not so bold right the structures over time is the fix uh and uh but I do think like when we talk to other districts uh you're going to see little changes for the new assessments and all those state has new mandates all these nuances the assessments change like the SAT did that require adjustment but that's everybody it's the core stable structure that happens every day across the district is how

080do you kind of correct for somebody and and honestly like that's the problem that we see in that achievement gap it's it's the same core problem that's where Dr. kind of talked about that tier one, you know, there there's no program we're going to bring in that's going to fix a hole. Our teachers are good teachers. Our class sizes are manageable. Our curriculum is good. Like it's about getting all of those pieces working concert so they're not ranking against each other. >> Yep. You know what? Sher has had her hand up for a while, so I want to make sure I get her. And then Sally, it'll be you. So go ahead Sharon. >> Hi. So thanks for the presentation. So my comment is somewhat similar to Heather. Um I understand that there are many

081variables. I understand that there are many strategies. Um, but for the six years that I've been on the board, I continue to have been an advocate for different tools, different resources, but I continue to say what is the return on that investment. Um, and I'm really struggling actually to understand the effectiveness of what we have done year-over-year and relative to how we are overarchingly performing relative to our peers. We've implemented scaffolding. We've implemented PD. We've implemented coaches. We have done all of this. Um, and I get that there have been all sorts of different challenges. But again, I go back to where is kind of the rubber hitting the road and where are we investing and what's the return on that. So building out a data warehouse is effective to support analysis but at the

082end of the day that's not helping overarching performance. Um I really need to understand particularly as we go into this budget cycle what resources and what things should we be doing? can we be doing differently or what do we need to change and pivot relative to where we have been investing to ensure that the um children in our region are getting the best education that they can. Um, so I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with um, how we're performing. Um, and I really need to understand a lot more of relative to what we have been investing what we think we may need to do to kind of really um, improve our overarching performance with the understanding that I do think change takes time. I understand that you can't just pivot and expect

083something to be implemented and to be um performing at a very high level very quickly, but the reality is we've been having this conversation for six years, at least the six years I've been on the board. Um so so I this is really going to be a fundamental critical component when we start thinking about how we are funding certain programs, certain resources going into the budget cycle. from my perspective. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sharon. >> Yes. Go to Sally next. >> Okay. One quick question, maybe one bigger one. Um, are we sort of rel relative to the other schools that you've been talking to? Are we somewhat late in adopting the data warehouse, you know, structure? um or I'm just wondering if that's something that other schools are sort of ahead of us on

084or where we go. >> Yeah. So, so um not every district has a data warehouse per se, but the data structure or um a data um uh plan is something that we we just talked the other day that we as a region are kind of late to. And so while there have been pockets of people doing a data team or a data structure that hasn't been like a K12 across all schools across all you know across all of the region it's been in pockets. And so one of the things and you know and to Sharon's point too the data warehouse isn't the be all end all. It's what you do with it and then what like how are you then monitoring the the strategies that you then put in place. And so really where we've

085seen that work being done in individual places shows huge gains. So the point is to then be able to scale that up so that everybody is kind of like rowing in the same direction and doing the same thing. So that's been that's the work this year and the work next year. How do you make sure everybody's doing the data protocol that that talks about knowing what the issue is, being able to then um you know put the remedy in place and then being able to monitor that remedy to see if it's even working and if it's not working to put something else in place. Like it's this reiterative process where you're you're trying different strategies to get the student to be able to learn um the standard or skill that you want them to learn.

086And so that's been the work that we've been doing like how what's the systemic way to continue to do that across all the all the buildings rather than it being in pockets the systemic application of it. We're a little bit behind sort of and then my other thing is and I I just wondered if you could speak to the thing that really stands out to me numerically is just the difference in the ELA scores. I mean if we just look at the where we are as an average there's a 10point gap there between us and jerk B versus a five point with the math. And I just wondered if you could speak to that a little bit more in terms of what are approaches to that >> go. Oh, so slide uh five and six

087like I just did a quick back of the napkin. It was like 59% like we just average the the percent u across all the grades for region 15 it was like 59% and third it was 69%. just at our ELA proficiency scores, you know, our language. I mean, in the context of reading waiver and everything else in the background, but I just Yeah, >> I guess both Carrie and I kind of tagged a little bit. I mean, one of the ironyies state has spent so much time talking about literacy and our argument a little bit that math has been statewide a bigger problem and that's not true necessarily here. In part, we spent a lot of time creating this consistent math structure. Uh I do think we've spent uh interestingly enough the whole conversation around

088the reading program. Uh none of the students that are underperforming uh are addressed by the state's concerns about the phonics program in elementary school. Um and so I do think there's kind of our issue with that whole waiver piece was we're focused on the the wrong outcomes. Uh in that comprehension. All of those tests are comprehension tests, not box tests. Um, so there's not one answer. I would think when you look in different grades, like third, fourth, and fifth grade have kind of different issues than graded um versus high school. And so there's not uh one answer to that. There's a lot of answers to that. Uh, and I think that is like the middle school piece we've been really leaning into um around rigor. You do like item analysis of the smarter balanced assessment.

089Our students do really well on kind of what we would consider type one and type two questions or factual literal questions. When you get into like messier questions, >> we we struggle. So >> like to infer to do inverting. Yeah. And so our work has been a little bit on u hypothesis that we're kind of working through right now is the idea of scaffolding. I think Heather alluded to this earlier. We want students to do well. Um our teachers want students to do well. No one wants to see kids struggle uh and get frustrated. But there is like healthy frustration and there is this idea of kind of mental tension. And when you get to those higher order questions around inference, you have to be able to struggle. And so, how do you work with

090staff to build kind of that fancy zone of proximal development where there's enough tension and struggle to stretch students, but not so much that you're frustrated. And so, middle school specifically, that is one of the uh theories hypothesis that we're working on now. And that was our our work last year at the Institute for Middle School. Again, none of this data really surprised us because we've seen kind of some trend data. Um, and then to kind of where Sharon was going before is these aren't necessarily new interventions, but how do you operationalize some of this? How do you design teacher training to that's accessible? >> Yep. No, I was saying asking teachers too like what do they feel they need with the students that are in front of them like what what professional development would

091they like? And so that's where the institute uh came out of last year where we met with teachers and they said it would be nice to have time to meet together to talk about these things and it would be nice to be together vertically to like talk to teachers either below that teach the grade below us or the grade above us to have that conversation about when kids come to me they should know this this and this and I'm not starting over again you know about like character development. We hear that, you know, students in, you know, in middle school, you don't understand character development, but we talked about like they they start character development in like kindergarten. So, like here's what that looks like in elementary school. Here's what that looks like, you know,

092through third grade through fifth grade. So, by the time they get to you in sixth grade, they would have already had these things. You don't need to start all over again. >> So, inferencing is for math >> for ELA. >> EA. >> All right. Sorry, Steve. >> Oh, sorry. I don't think you're probably more in depth. I just have two questions. Um, we were talking about the inferencing and the struggle. Maybe it's for a lot of kids, maybe it's the struggle to take the risk and be wrong because everything I mean look, we're all talking about achievement and data points. >> They're especially in middle school, they're very keenly aware of our school. >> Um, so that struggle to take the risk. And I mean from my perspective, math has a right and a wrong

093answer, but science could kind of, you know, work your way through and hypothesize different things and maybe culture like math versus like a science or um ELA class. But then the other question I had and I just want to throw it out there. Do our kids and our teachers have test fatigue? When we're talking about all this data collection, we talk about it all the time. Are they just like another test? you know, are they going into some of these assessments like does it matter? I mean, when you talk to some parents or some students, they'll say us, you know, it's this test or that and we're testing again. Are we pulling the teachers out too much? Like, >> so we did have that conversation about um test fatigue uh last year with the principles

094and we talked about NWA specifically because that's the one we can control. We can't control ESPback, we can't control um you know NGSS, but we could control NWA. And so um we were taking that three times a year. So you know falls, you know, winter, spring. And so we said, do we really need to take that three times a year? Can we do it twice a year? So then we look at it in like the fallish, so like late fall, and then we look at it in like the spring and does that give us enough info rather than doing it three times a year. And so we said, let's try it. And so this year we are trying it. we took it in like I want to say Decemberish and then we're going to take

095it again um you know like late winter early spring rather than doing it three times a year because of of just that and and then with all the other assessments that you know we have to do and even the the formal the informal assessments right that we do every day right so how how do we make sure that we're not like fatiguing kids and and um the first uh comment that you made um about like kids being afraid to to do things a lot of what we've been talking about independence how do we help kids build that independence rather than doing something and saying like to the teacher like is this right? And so like how do we like make them more independent to be able to kind of like calibrate themselves and and be

096able to take that risk and and not worry about like the power school, you know, grade that's going to be in there because that does become like obsessive, right? Kids become I I've seen it with my own nieces like become obsessed like every single day like looking at that grade that's in there. So, we've been working with um you know with students on like how do we make sure that it really is about the work and it's not about the grade. It's not about like make sure it's right or it's the one right answer. Um, I understand what the dirt be certain towns in that dirt, right? You know, like the the holy grail, you know, but I don't uh I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. But, um, the board though, we do I

097mean, it's a gosh, like, you know, $90 million budget. Um, and I think it's, you know, our job. Um, and before I even start, actually I I we do not have some sort of illegal secret meeting, but I feel like my comments are the same as what Heather said and what what Sally has said and what um Sharon has said. And the fact that I think we're all kind of picking up and feeling on certain things and feeling the same way, I think speaks volumes. So, you know, it's our job as a board. We want to um look at the return on investment and One way of doing that is comparing ourselves to to other districts. Um I uh think the unfortunately with the way the data is like the sort of the lead story

098is the probably the worst t points of the data which is the ELA. Like you get into that and it's like oh darn it and then you kind of go through the rest of the presentation and you start to feel like a little better. um that and the the middle school data like just the aggregate middle school data. Um, I think and I and I went back and I looked at all the presentations, these data assessment presentations. And if we go back to 2021, we were talking about tier one instruction and purposeful planning and professional learning communities. 2022, phonics and math assessments, purposeful planning, and how are we going to use data support for new teachers, review of the curriculum? 2024, map assessments, phonics. last year, how do we adjust the lessons to meet the

099needs of all students? Let's let's we need some ML teachers. Now we're going to do illustrative math and we're going to use data for instructional purposes. This year a tier one again and now we're naming student names. as a I you know as it's a leap I make a leap of faith like I am a lay person and when I hear this is the plan I am making a leap of faith that we are on the right track to make to improve these scores and in particular you know the again we'll focus kind of on the the ELA at the younger grades I mean how do I how is a board how do I trust but verify like I am I think I am at the point where I think you you have to understand

100that I I personally have I have doubts. Um I think two years ago I mentioned that I think last year I felt like maybe we were we had sort of bottomed out and we're and and and now we didn't. Like I I I have doubts if if someone said to me is region 15 a high performing district and I showed them those ELA scores from the first slide, the answer would be no. We're not um not based on on that. I get high performing has many definitions, but if I were to say ELA scores like no, we're not. And I think it it now it it sort of passed the Paul over sort of all of this work that's been done. I wrote down too is like well was you know it was right to

101read is that whole thing that we did with um sort of trying to buck what the state wanted was that the correct thing to do? I mean, I think you tried to touch on that. Um, yeah, our curriculum, like, is it I I feel like we're constantly iterating over it. Like, if we're looking at other districts, are they they doing the same thing or are they like one and done and that's it and they're moving on? Um, if I look at the the the middle school, honestly, I start to wonder what else is going on. Like, would a cell phone ban necessarily be a bad? like is that are there distractions? is the schedule in the middle school which we worked really hard. Is that somehow trying to be all things to all people? All

102these doubts are are really I think they're just coalesing. Are we spreading ourselves too thin with what we're trying to do? And we have. It's we've added the the coaches, we've added the ML teacher, the additional teachers to better support the teaming models of RMS. We've added a data person, BCBAS, high dosage math tutoring. like how like thank goodness because I I don't know what these scores would be like if if we didn't do that but I can't tell if we're at the end of a long arc where everything is just going to get get much better. I know or we're spinning our wheels like I I after all these years like I am I don't I don't know. I don't know. And um I I I had also wondered about testing fatigue. Um and

103I I really I wrote down like as a board, how do we like I don't I don't want to wait until this time next year to find out that it it maybe didn't get any better. Um, but I don't know as a board how that how do we keep sort of keep tabs on that so at least we're not surprised. Um, I agree with Sharon. We're having a budget presentation and we and all this stuff that's been added recently which I under again I mentioned all and I understand that the cumulative improvements that we hope to see from those additions can take years to sort of work their way through. But I I like something's added to that budget. It better be something that like that that we can directly correlate to like this is

104really going to be the the bee's knees and solving all of our our problems. Um so I and I just there's just a lot that um and and when when do we pivot as Sharon said when when do we ask for help? I understand you went to other districts, but is is that really the scientific way to go about it saying like, well, we have, you know, they it looks the same. I I I I I don't know. I think for data driven people that we want to be like sort of the observational approach isn't going to cut it for me. And I would really like to know as a as a board member like what is the status of these other districts and their curriculum and what are their class sizes and what is

105their schedule like and is there anything that and I know you've said there isn't really a smoking gun. I I would kind of want to see more data around around that. That's that's that's really um I'm not I'm not in a a good a good place. Um I I feel like as a board member specifically, we've I I kind of at the sort of the end of my rope after all these years of I think being very generous with the community's money. Um, >> um, I know Sharon has her hands up. Um, does anyone new want to say something or do we want to go to like I want to take up your spot, Tom, or or Jeff or >> Sharon? Go first. >> All right. All right, Sharon. Spot to you. >> Thanks, Tom.

106I have to say well said Steve because um I couldn't agree with you more and as I was listening to comments of other board members I also was thinking you know we've received a lot of feedback on purposeful planning. We've we've asked questions about is taking teachers are taking teachers out of the classroom to do that purposeful planning actually helpful or is it detrimental? Um, we talk a little bit about test anxiety. I understand that there's intramback data that's done. I'd like to look at that. Um, I understand that other districts may be performing well, but to Steve's point, they're they're outperforming us. So I'd like to understand now that we have data and analytics, are there any retrospective cohorts that are being evaluated to really understand how certain pockets of students may be slipping

107or advancing within certain um assessments and and possibly why. There was information that was shared at uh summer retreat year before last about very specific cohorts of students. how are they doing? So, um I I just want to say kudos to Steve because he kind of I think has read my mind a little bit. Um I really really really need to understand uh from a data perspective and I keep on going back, you know, I remember conversations years ago, we're endorsing this, we're we're funding it. when are we going to start to see the change? And and I do think that we are at a like um a pinnacle to really try and get an understanding of what is fundamentally going to help um substitution rates. Do we need more resources? Do we need smaller

108class sizes? Do we need more coaches, less coaches? I don't know what the answer is. Um but the more we can leverage data um and I am also very interested about intramback assessments which I understand are happening and you guys have line of sight on performance which is new to me um and maybe I'm not articulating that topic in the right nomenclature but you guys have an indication over how our students are performing before the end of the year. Um, and if there are certain things that are happening relative to that other than what's been presented, that would be very important to know as well. Thank you. >> Great. Go ahead. >> Um, let me start by just acknowledging a couple things um that I was happy to see that I agree with. um data

109warehouse looks super cool and I can tell that that's going to be a really useful tool moving forward and I do applaud the team for getting that up and running as quickly as they they've got. Um, another thing I've been a big fan of uh through our work in PNC and then you know seeing it come to fruition is the uh the push to add ECE courses. Um I was happy to see that growth and obviously you know we're adding more offerings every year. So I'm really excited to see our students taking advantage of it. I think it's a really great program. Uh applaud the district for going out and getting that grant that really allowed us to develop that. I think that's going to be a great start moving forward. Um so that's good

110stuff. Um I won't retread a lot of of what folks have previously said. Um I'll just nod my head and agree like I you know I think I feel a lot of the same frustration that's been placed at the table. Um, something Heather said at the beginning that that really resonates with me. It's like what makes this so tough is I see the work that you're doing and I I don't disagree with it. Like I I everything you've done seems like the right thing to be doing. Everywhere where we've made investments seems like the right thing to be doing. Um, so it's it's frustrating not to see um not to see that show up in the results. Um, and I don't want to distill everything down to just that the results, but that's unfortunately that's

111the measurable data point that we have and where I became really concerned. You know, Carrie, I very much appreciate that you right off the bat you're like, "Yeah, we're exceeding the state, but the state is not our measuring stick." as I look at at where we compare like how we're just kind of scraping over the state average and yet we look at the DUR average and it feels like we're several deviations away from the median in our DUR. Like that's to me that says um not to be too alarmist but it feels like we are losing and you know we didn't talk about growth so much in this presentation. I know that's something we measure, but you know, just looking at the achievement, seeing the achievement kind of backslide from last year, and you know,

112I've heard us talk about we're covering our pre-COVID levels. Um, and we're we're moving further away from them this year. Last year, it felt like we're getting closer to it. Maybe we're on the right track. This year we're moving further away. As you look at our peers, our peer list here, a lot of our peers have gotten back to their pre-COVID levels or at this point are exceeding their pre-COVID levels. And some of them in fairness some of them had a lower bar like we were outperforming them precoid but they have caught they have they've made that roundabout and they're back to where they were and we feels like we are slipping further away from um so you know I agree wholeheartedly about I think we're well resourced here. I think this board and this

113community has been super generous. anytime resources have been asked for like we have supported it. Um I look at our people and I would put our people in this district up against any other district. Our administration team I would put you guys up against any other district. Our principles absolutely against any other team. Um I haven't met all of our coaches but the ones we've met like I can't imagine hiring better coaches than we have. Our teachers same thing. Like I haven't met the majority of our teachers, but those that I've met on a whole like I would put them up against anyone. So it's I don't think it's I don't think it's resources. I don't think it's it's staffing. I it can't be intention because you've been so intentional in trying to address this.

114Right. So what is that like what is that like we're missing something? It feels like we're missing something. is that dark matter that we just can't see but has this gravitational drag on these achievement numbers. Um, you know, I hope it encourages us to question a lot of the assumptions that we've made. Um, you know, I I have no doubt that you're working tirelessly to figure it out. I have no doubt. I know you guys. Um, but we've got to figure it out. We have to. We can't. It's It's not right. And I know I'm charging, but we can't have half of our sixth grade not meeting the state standard in ELA. Like, that's not that doesn't align with what we've invested and set up in this district. We have to figure out where that

115disconnect is. >> Any other comments? Um, I would just like to, um, before we close also, um, I'm not going to belabor what other people have said, but I agree with many of the points that board members have made here tonight. Um, I think that this board has been very supportive of this district. Um, especially in the last few years. I think Steve and I have been on a long time where we've seen boards at times the board has been, you know, like yeah, um trying to cut things and and we have been, you know, you need a coach. We want our kids to do well. Um and you know, so I appreciate how supportive that this board has been. Um, I also just want to give a shout out to LMES um, in the

116midst of all of this um, because they did get a school of distinction um, honor and I just I you know I had this pre-eread and I was thinking about again the same struggles that that the board has talked about tonight and I just remember when we did our board tour last year at LME um, and we kind of like let the principles do whatever tour that they want like show what you want to show us. Um, or you know, sometimes board members have things that they want to see, but LMS in particular wanted to show us their purposeful planning that they were doing and they had a meeting and it's rare, I think, for board members to be invited behind the curtain like that. Um, and I don't think like I carry the educational

117background to fully appreciate what I saw, but I did feel pride that they had um in in the work that the hard work that they were doing and obviously it paid off. Um, so I just want to, you know, give a shout out to LMS. Um, and I think what I'm hearing, um, and we'll talk to Josh about it. Maybe perhaps we'll do some kind of a further update on this before the end of the school year. So, the next time we're hearing about this is not at the retreat over the summer. So, maybe we'll do something. Um, I'm not exactly sure what I'm hearing from board members that we want a couple like maybe another touch point um on this. So, >> when Carrie and I spot. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess the

118the first piece is uh >> I appreciate the frustration and the cander uh and I do think you should be skeptical um of everything. I think we are all the time. Like if if our scores were at the 78th percentile, we'd still be skeptical. And none of this is designed or uh created based on a whim, based on one visit to any one district. based on any one comparative point. There there is no one thing. Um I agree with all of you. We appreciate the support uh the resources the uh intent to preserve class size, the support in uh not hiring teachers based on the lowest cost teacher but hiring the most qualified teacher. These are all things that we've done over the last seven years that have been supportive. there isn't one thing that

119if we flip a switch somewhere um we all of a sudden shift from where we're at. Um I do think it's very fair to say where is the return on investment of of these resources um and I do think we look to pockets of where these things have taken traction um and how we've adjusted. I do think when you say uh whether or not we're a high performing district I think how we ch used to define that is partly we created a portrait of a learner. Nobody put seventh grade ELA smarter balance scores on what portrait of a learner should look like. No one talks about and and not part of this example is the universities our students uh are placed in. I would tell you that of all of the data we looked at

120tonight, the persistence rate to me is one of the more valuable. I don't care if you get into college. Returning your sophomore year because you were successful your freshman year talks about being a successful district. When we hear from our graduates that I got to college and I sat next to kids from other school districts who were less prepared than I was, that's anecdotal data that didn't show up in here. But it matters to how we define our district. None of this is uh looked at uh transactionally or superficially. Um all of this is how we dig into do that work and and the idea that like what pivots I would say all of our work is data driven. All of our work is what's working here. I agree with you about the the sixth

121grade ELA score. There's not a sixth grade teacher in this district who would not share that with you and has not been part of the conversation about where we're at. The whole summer institute that Dr. chief at ran last summer was around fifth, sixth, and seventh grade ELA and digging into this to you can't solve a problem that you don't understand. And I I agree with you. When we visit other districts, when our teachers visit other districts, when we talk to other districts, our our students aren't different. Um our parents aren't different. Our teach some of our teachers are the same teachers that come from some of these other districts. Um when they come back, I say because it's again I'm on visit, Dr. is on a bit. It's a snapshot, right? It's not systemic,

122but when you talk to teachers from other districts that we hire and say what's different. Um, you know, there isn't one thing. It is a systems piece and the data warehouse isn't a silver bullet, but it does help us have more targeted specific conversations. If we don't do anything with that, if we have teachers that don't uh have enough space or capacity from a a language standpoint of how are we talking about what students are struggling in, what's the grade level standard? That's the work. Um, and I do think that you have four elementary schools that have all been schools of distinction the last four years. That means they're in the top 10% of achievement in the state of Connecticut. So, while I I'm not shying away like we're here and we're highlighting no no

123one gave you a presentation where we sugarcoated anything, where we shied away from anything. We can't change those gaps if we don't lean into the why and and what's the difference. And I do think it's it's a whole bunch of things that we can certainly put a presentation together, line of sight pieces, um we can go as granular as you want and and all of it is true. Uh, and so that is the the test piece. So we don't want to teach to a test, but it's also if our students get there and the language on the test is not language that we use. Like that's a factor. The fact that it was our mind last year, that's I'm not it's not an excuse because other districts were able to manage that, right? Like but

124did we intentionally teach kids this is going to be online and here are the questions. I don't know all of the answers. So that is kind of the instructional practice. I don't want to jump in front of you. No, no, I think I think you said it and and and two, like it's not teaching to the test, but it's unfair not to make kids as prepared as they could be, right? So, like to give them like those IABs, which is what Sharon mentioned, which was listed in the presentation, like those are things that we did sporadically across the district, now we're doing them consistently across the district. So, I think the one word tonight I would say is consistency. like where before it's been like the work has been sporadic in different places and and

125our work this year has been really to make it consistent so that it shouldn't depend on the classroom that you're in or the school that you're in. Like everybody's doing the same thing. Everybody's rowing in the same direction. Everybody's giving the same assessment so we can see over the course of the school year where kids are we get to the spring and we have to take a state assessment. So, if it's one word I would leave you with is is consistency. Um, which is the work that we're trying to do this year. >> The persistence thing with the colleges. Um, this is the it's from 2019. I I know so we're going to sort of cite that. I I it probably hasn't changed that much anyway, but that that for us, but that was pre-COVID

126and I know that data is hard to collect. So, it would be curious how that data was um >> that's the latest on this on the site to next year they'll do the following year. Yeah, there's a >> couple years they're looking back. >> Yeah. Um, I think it's somewhat I mean I think you have to like reach back and ask people like there's no >> so the state collects that through it's called the national clearing house that tracks that by by student ID number. So we get no names. Um the state gets no names but the colleges report that uh based on student ID number that gets tracked back to the district. Does the clear now show you persistence more recent than the six years because that six years for graduation obviously necessary but

127distance from >> last three would be >> they they at least report out that it's accessible to us four year so we do have like a fouryear and six year rate we've grabbed the six because it includes the four years uh >> 2019's the least >> but that's the at least that publicly we have access to I don't I mean I'm the clearing house the national clearing house organization must have >> they they have we struggled with that at post too when I was there persistence year over year is >> so much more valuable in the short term >> than the graduation rate because so many other things are happening over that and you can't change everything six years in in review right you need to be close to >> our our only way like

128our line of sight into that piece is like now we talked to freshman who graduated last And that's the I mean again it's not as comparative that is I don't have that for Avon or Brookfield or anybody else you know but we do have that for our own students. Again it's also somewhat specific in that oftentimes the students who are the most su successful are the ones you know most uh likely to come talk to us. the ones that you know not that we don't have that but uh even in survey data the ones that respond you know are it's hard to to tease out kind of an implicit bias in the data collections. Um so it is but our we always invite students back our teachers talk to them our career center our counselors

129talk to them what worked what didn't work you know you prepared Uh next um we have information and proposals finance and facilities committee Miss Shannon Kavalo this proposals are the our update from tonight right >> I'm I'm sorry can you say that one more time >> this is our update from this evening right not the proposals right okay so finance and facility ilities met this evening at 6:30 Tuesday, January 27th and we discussed um two things, right, that I think we'll be talking about later. So, we talked about the transfer entry for the roof replacement at Long Meadow as well as the Friends Together program tuition rates that we'll be approving for 2026 to 2027. And then we also discussed that we issued the final repair bond. I don't know, Joe, if you want to

130add anything about the repair bond. >> Um, we just our final repair bond. There's a full report in the finance agenda. Basically, we got a very competitive rate. We had about nine bidders um overall. And then there's an example that shows when we kind of did issue bonds the last cycle because we really had a big municipal lock up in in the bond market. We saved approximately about $600,000 over the life of the bond if we issued it then. So waiting is definitely it's a good report >> question and and I I I said this at finance uh tonight and I will say it again. Um I was uh fortunate enough to be at the big bond reveal a couple weeks ago which was very very exciting. um you know, when they reveal the they

131pull back the curtain and they show all the bond numbers and everyone was really excited um to see the low um uh percentage we've got, which was excellent. But I um let finance know and I wanted to let the board know um how uh enthusiastic our bond advisor was about the work that's being done in region 15 um in terms of budgeting and how we're handling our debt service. um you know he was very very complimentary of the work um that that Josh and Joe have been doing. So that I wanted to let the rest of the board know about that um because it's always nice to have good news. Um and again I can't reiterate enough about how exciting it was. It was just uh just >> I really I really liked it. You

132loved it. >> It's a really fun thing to do. I wish we you know take that on the road. So thank you for that. Any questions for Miss Cavalo about finance or facilities? Um, next we have the G uh PESGS uh building update. Superintendent Smith. >> So, no presentation. Um, if you thought the last bond um bid was exciting, but I hope the next one will be even more exciting. Uh, so just a a couple of things to note. Um, we went and toured Cheshire's construction site. So, thank you for those of you that were able to um kind of uh literally weighed the muddy waters um of the construction site and see the building and to see uh that's a school that's being built on the same site, very close proximity to the existing

133Squeal um and to walk that. Um that school is scheduled to open in September. Um, all things being uh equal, I believe that they would welcome a visit for those that that want to return and see that school once open. Um, and also uh met with Chester Chester to talk a little bit about um some of the cycles they went through, specifically the space waiver process. Um, and we have sample language that was part of the implement bill that provided the space waiverss to Cheshure. Um, we are coordinating with our state reps to both understand that language, the process to introduce it, when to visit both PEES and GES. So hopefully when they um advocate on our behalf, they have a visual of the schools that we're talking about and where they are and have

134some uh voice that's authentic in that process. Um we are in the process now of working with the uh web developer uh very much heard the fact that we have 47 different uh presentations with lots of information that's really hard to decipher. So all of that information is now in the hands of a graphic designer and developer that hopefully will have we purchased a URL and a domain site um that hopefully we can share with you in the next week or two um some images and some um design work. uh for that. Uh we've also met with uh Tecton and the bond advisor um in preparation of I think it's in March that we're going to have the honest question that people have is what's this going to cost? And so that's a really difficult

135we thought sixth grade ELA was hard to answer. Um five years from now what will this do to my property tax bill? um is really hard to project out, but I think it's really important to be transparent with taxpayers um as to, you know, it's going to be a range and it could look like this and it could look like that. We keep having uh bond issuances like we just did that really uh helps that scenario. Um but we're also talking about how do you uh slow roll the bonds and all these scenarios that we'll have for you um at or before the March meeting. So you can start to have that conversation. >> Um the so you mentioned the Hartford delegation is doing a tour of the schools but we're also be setting up

136another tour for our first selectmen both first selectmen and possibly other we're working that out. So there's two other tours that are going to be going on. Um it's very exciting. Any questions on the PSGs update? I do thank you for arranging for us to look at the Ches that was really informative. Sorry, >> it was very nice. It was very informative. Thank you for inviting us to thank Cheshure for allowing us to come in >> and tour the schools as well. Yeah, it was really great to see like how their new school is being built so close to their existing school because that was definitely a concern that some board members had and we were able to ask like how how did you guys handle that? And the superintendent there, Dr. Solen, talked about

137how they incorporated it in their their school day and the kids were involved in many different like projects of like laying um brick. They were they had what did they sign a steel >> Oh, a steel beam. >> Steel beam. >> Um like they had pictures of the kids with like the hard hats on and >> they did math. >> Yeah. >> So, it was really educational for us to go and and and see that. So, >> and I liked how they kind of showed us, you know, how they worked with the interruption of the school day. You know, if they thought it was going to be too noisy, they did different things. and that the kids actually I think the principal had asked that they pull the um the clock down so the kids

138could actually watch and see things. I thought that was pretty cool. So I can imagine that was really a highlight for those kids. >> I don't know how many people are watching from home but I think and also like an ironic highlight is that the person on their building committee is Mr. Gussenberg. >> Yes. >> Who was my principal at PES, >> you know. So he was he was interested to see that we were there to visit to basically replace the building that he was principal at. So >> he also was the principal at >> he was first built. That's correct. He's probably gone through this process >> multiple times which is why he's there, right? Y >> All right. Any other questions or comments? >> Um next we have board member comments. I just

139wanted to real quickly say because I'm not used to being like a negative pointing out problem sort of thing, but like the takeaway for me um kind of with tonight's discussion and I just want to make it clear to teachers or anyone who's out there is like we see how hard everyone has worked parents or students, teachers, administrators, Tom I think got this, but I want to make sure I say it myself just because I feel like it's an important takeaway is that we kind of want to figure out what it is we can do to be more help and kind of where where where there are holes to be filled or things to be just like Josh said, it's not one Um, but I do want to just make sure it comes across how

140appreciative I am and I think we are as a board of all the work that does happen every day in the school and it's not that in this system it's not that we don't see that just that we want to want to find ways to make it better. >> Any other board member comments? >> Yep. Sharon, you have your hand up. Yeah, I was just going to echo uh Sally's comment and and also uh comments earlier related to um the board the tour at the Cheshire School that was in my mind it's it's like a picture is a thousand words, right? It it really solidified for me how it can look, how it can feel. I think that there's so much information to be gleamed from individuals that have already gone through a process. There's

141so such a a willingness to share the information. And the more we can tap into that and and not necessarily just specific to Cheshire, but for other people that have gone through that, it will only make what hopefully will be a project for region 15 stronger and better. Um, so I really commend um and thank the Cheshire School District for allowing us to come and tour and and of course um hosting us and and really allowing us the opportunity to see how it can come to life and some of the things that they managed to navigate and the way in which they navigated it. It was I I think it was just um super beneficial. Um, so I just wanted to really just echo the earlier comments during the superintendent's comments. So, thank you so

142much. >> Any other board member comments? >> All right, we have comment next comments from citizens. The board of education will recognize citizens from Middlebury and South Berry and citizens are asked to state their name, their town of residents, and to limit their comments to three minutes. Any comments from citizens? Nope. No one. All right. Um, next we have regular business requiring board action. May I have a motion to approve the transfer entry for the roof replacement at Long Meadow Elementary School in the amount of 1,368,970? So moved. Okay. So Heather did Rogers did the motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I got sacked by Sally. Um uh Joe, do you want to talk about this? >> Yes. This is the remaining balance inside debt service. We have issued our final band

143payment for the year. This is the remaining balance that sits inside debt service. This will then transfer up into cap our capital general fund capital account for the long metal roof. This will be part of our state application that goes to them um in check. So this just begins to put the ducks in a row to pull the application together. Still not an award or committed through the roof. Just moves the money kind of into the right places. >> Any other questions or comments? >> No. Okay. So, we'll do a roll call for this. So, let's start with Sally. >> Sally Romano. I >> Heather I. >> Don Marks. I >> Mary Manzo. I Heather Rogers. I >> Steve Sai. I Jeff Olsson. I >> Shannon Kavalo. I >> Sharon addict. >> Right. It is

144unanimous. Thank you. Um, next we have announcement of future meeting dates. Our next meeting will be Monday, February 9th. It's a special meeting of the board of education. Um, it is a board professional development opportunity at 6 pm at central office. Um, you know, we expect everyone in region 15 to do professional development and that's a good form of practice for the board as well. Um, so that's going to be our opportunity to work on um some of our uh roles and relations um with the board. Um so six o'clock central office, we'll probably have dinner. Okay. >> All right. Um next Monday, February 23rd, it's a finance meeting at Pump Rock High School at 6:30. um followed by our regular board of education meeting at 7:30 where we will be having our budget presentation

145and the superintendent's midyear evaluation. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you, Heather. Do I have a second? >> Second by Sally. All those in favor? mine.