Board of Education Meeting - October 28, 2025

001And as always to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. >> Thank you. Uh, >> okay. I actually have a few things. Um, the musical is You're in Town this year, which is a funny name, but it's a good show. Um, and we have auditions. >> Thanks for the qualifier. >> You're in town. >> Yeah. >> Um, our auditions for that were this week. And then we also had the first New England Math League contest which had 189 students participate which is an SHs record um for participation. And then fall sports are coming to an end so there's a lot of people moving on to CCC's. So girls field hockey won 3 to2 against Connor. Um so they're

002going to CCC's. Volleyball won um against Newington in their tournament last night. They won three games against Newington. So they get to move on to quarterfinals for CCC's. And then girls soccer is playing East Cath East Catholic right now in Berlin for the CCC championship game. >> Um yeah, so a lot of the fall sports are entering CCC's. So if you're interested in fall sports, go to games. >> That's all I have to uh yeah so update from communication committee. Uh we met on the 24th. Uh so have some notes from that. So focus of the meeting with uh David and Neil was on uh looking into website enhancements partially from the feedback uh received from the board last year and the timing aligns with u the masscom messenger contract that we have that's up

003on the 30th of June next year. So looking for a cleaner, more modern look and feel to the website, easier way to find things, search functionality, things like that. So David's um discussing potential partners. She's got a meeting with a vendor tomorrow. Um, it's a widely used vendor in the educational website space and they also have a mass communication tool as well as the website support. So, potential opportunity there to replace two vendors with one. And for budget considerations, hopeful that doing so will help us budget as we need to do a new contract with somebody anyways. So, as it moves forward, um, focus on some key areas. It'll be the graphic design, systems capability, infrastructure, and user experience. and it'll be important that we have the proper support in place to support that technology

004development as we go forward. So, our next meeting is the 9th of January. We'll get an update from David on how that's going, as well as talk about the communicator, which will have additions going out in February and June. And we'll also talk about where we're at with the vision of the graduate videos and if there's anything coming for budgets using communications at that time. So, that's where we stand with communication committee. >> Thanks, Jess. Uh, nothing from my committee. Just wanted to say that Henry James did their fall fest on Friday. Yep. >> And it was great. Kids, so many kids attended it and they all had fun. So, thank you guys for for doing that. >> Yeah. Just a few things. Um, >> we had council meeting last week and and um Matt,

005you probably heard the same thing from Dr. O and all the superintendent. But you know the big the big news this year for the legislature and of course the legislative issues is the MAGA funding and sped and with all this federal uncertainty happening during the shutdown. We're day 28 right now um and the inaction at the federal level and the state level. No one is coming to save us. So we really are going to be in a bind come next year. Um, on the CAPE front, there's a lot of great webinars that are happening at the moment and and we're kind of gearing up now for for January Connecticut school climate and understanding the 2025 changes to the state education funding. So, if anyone anyone is interested, you can they're only about 45 minutes. You

006can just get on and log on and hear them. Um, we also have the federal um uh hour policy hour and some of these are very interesting also. So I can get on those also with NSBA. Um, navigating the federal voucher pro program implications for public health and schoolboard advocacy. It's not so pertinent to us here in Connecticut, but it's good to know what is going what is happening other parts of the country and if it ever comes down the line. Uh, the other one is about powering school boards, transforming student futures again, you know, with the precursor to what's going to happen in DC in January and also Connecticut. And then just the um action alert from the uh NSBA federal policy. The short summary of what's been happening now with the shutdown. Of

007course you all know about it. You've been reading and hearing about it. But um in the nutshell obviously the staffing the employees are either furled or laid off for good. civil rights funding, title one and IDA duration impact program funding, school meals, um EPA funded grants, Head Start programs are disrupted, um K12 funding and advanced funds are scheduled for release. But those are basically the big ticket items that are happening while we are in this shutdown and and stuff. And I don't know if any of you saw, but um Patrice McCarthy from Cave, Executive Director Cave, published in the Hartford Current today, a very good um opet opinion about election 2025. Vote for your board of education like your kids are on the ballot. It was very good. I think every board of education member

008and everyone um that is voting in the state of Connecticut should read about this. and um it's pertinent for many towns that are having some very aggressive fights and issues and things. Fortunately, we are having it here in Sbury, but it's really important to know um that this is where we stand and we stand together as 1400 school board members in the state of Connecticut united for the same thing. So, that was in the current today. So, if you get a chance, you know, read it and make it'll make you feel good. It'll make you proud that you're one of the 1400 board members and we represent the school children not only of our district but of the state and the country. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Um two things. One is I didn't

009I thought our audience might know or want to know your child I think the PSAT are out already from when they took them on that day. Yeah, I was waiting to get confirmation, but I think you might be right. >> At least my child has it, so they are out. Yes. So, so check that. And then the other thing I wanted to say was thank you to the PTO's again for the cultural enrichment because they had that last week, I think, and it was wellreceived and a great experience for them. >> I Nothing. Thank you. Next Tuesday, November 4th, we will have a full day professional development. So the focus of the morning will be around advancing curricular plans and curriculum development K12. That's very exciting. And then in the afternoon, uh there will be

010time for teachers to work on their individual growth plans. So we're also excited about that. We're also partnering with Sigma and they will be offering some different wellness sessions for teachers during their lunch time and just a great day ahead. >> It's it's election day, so that's another thing I should mention that the day off of school because of election day. Uh in Brian Watson's absence, I'll give a update on personnel and negotiations which we learned um this morning that the T teachers have successfully ratified the tenative agreement. Um they held a vote over the last couple of days and the their ratification got over that. So, two weeks from tonight, we'll present the major uh outcomes of the negotiation and it'll be up to the board to vote and then we'll have a full

011agreement. paper now. >> Uh just one update on solar at Latimer and the high school. Looking to put out an RFP uh next week uh for another uh PPA agreement similar to what we do at the skating rink in town to um uh put solar on the roof in those buildings. >> U mention the election said said encourage everybody to get out and vote. Um, two quick things. Um, on an annual basis, as as the board knows, Sue and I, uh, go out to each of the schools and conduct what we call a listening tour. So, we pick a kind of different segment of the staff population each year. Uh, we've done team leadership teams, we've done special education. This year, we thought it would be cool to pick like year one to three uh,

012in your experience at Simsbury. and it's like yielded a really interesting group of like some veteran teachers that are new to Simsbury, teachers new to career in Simsbury and the input and the dialogue that we've had has been really rich and um very helpful. Um it's an exercise I know that we both really value. We've done four of the schools. We got a few more to go. Um and it's part of the info I'll share with you at the end of the year kind of my evaluation some of the themes and important things that our teachers are having us to having us think about them. It's been really positive. also had our first um Jen's usually there with me in these meetings, but had something today uh PTO group. We had a nice turnout um

013and kind of just had like coffee and conversation and talked about uh some things that are going on in the district, things that are on their mind and again like getting your boots close to the ground and getting some real good um input and feedback from our >> That's all I had. Thank you. Uh, first item on the agenda is the approval of the October 14th minutes. So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> Any oppos? >> Thank you. >> Yeah. First time. Yeah. Just one uh item tonight. This is one of the notifications of your intent to retire three years from now. Um, so a special education teacher at at Henry James, Tracy McConnell, has um put in for three years from now, this

014in the fall um for her retirement. Currently 24 years in Simsbury. I first met Tracy uh when she was at Canton High. I did my administrative internship there and then like a year later she followed me to Simsbury. um and has been at Henry James teaches a lot of times some of our most impacted special education teachers just a really gifted teacher and we get her for three more years >> question I'm just looking at the date October 19 2028 um what's the significance of the fall >> so teachers retirement formulas are based on your age and level of service so that might be a significant birthday for Miss McConnell Okay. >> Answer my question. >> Anything else for >> need a motion? >> Oh, we do need a motion. >> Oh, was that not

015a motion? We don't move that the board of education accept the notice of intent to retire of Tracy McDonald effective October 19th 20128 second question. >> All in favor >> uh Henry James. >> Yeah. So, we're excited to have the Henry James Leadership Team here tonight to present their annual report to us. And we also have a special staff guest. Um, and as been a little we're starting a tradition, I guess we uh talked about a staff member last year and in recognition, we wanted to do that again this year. So, turn it to Scott. >> Yes. Um, so excited to start um tonight's report to recognize a staff member. Last year, we recognized Brian Foreman. Um, and it was just it was just a really cool thing and a cool way to start our

016um our report in a really human way. So, tonight we wanted to recognize Laurel. Um, really embodies everything that is great about Henry James. She is a practicing artist. Um, she shares her craft with her students. Um, so it's really what a benefit that they have to be able to have um, a real-time artist as a teacher. Um, there's no way she would have allowed me to have like a slide about her um, up here. Um what she gave me was a slide of some students and this is just last year like so if you think of the work that she inspires in her kids um and this is year over year over year first place piece uh piece uh poster contest um a gold key winner um for Scholastic Art Awards a silver key

017winner um and if you've seen like the flyers for the chat dream big contest that gives like a college scholarship um Ella Wenberg was a winner um and and this It's all because and this is just a small sampling all because of the the coaching that Laurel gives her students and the inspiration that she um gives them as well. Um so that's with the students with the staff. She's also um my on my leadership team. She runs um she runs point for all of our essential arts teachers. So um anytime there's like some things that we're doing um whole school, she's able to coordinate that with all of the related arts teachers. Um so she's on my leadership team for that. Um and then districtwide she has um a lot of contributions too. Do you

018want to say a couple things? >> Sure. A huge part of what she does she's been a master mentor and truly a master in our team program which is the program for teachers who are just starting in the profession and there are very specific modules that they participate in. Uh we collaborate with a retired world language teacher Jan Sans to help us run that. But Laurel has been a master mentor of numerous new cohorts of brand new teachers into the profession and I believe that there is direct correlation between what she does with them and their staying power and our retention of really incredible talent. So, she makes it safe to ask questions and to not know and she partners with teachers and she's just incredible and extremely humble. >> Oh my god. >> Okay.

019>> And I'll stop there. >> Yeah. So, we're just so lucky to have you at Henry James. You know, whether you're a student or one of your colleagues or or your principal, we appreciate you. So, thank you. >> Thank you all very much. You know, 31 years I've been teaching here and and really love like honestly 31 31 this year. Isn't that crazy? Time flies. But uh it was like one of the places I really was that's where I wanted to work and because every like oh the art department there's amazing and absolutely they were that's where I learned everything right from my Paul Kowski and Cindy Rem and Cindy Parsons and you know all the ones that came before and then of course just all of you folks have been the board of ed

020has been amazing. So it's just a place that I've absolutely loved working and love having other people love working. You know what I mean? It's great to bring new teachers in and get them excited about what they do. And then you know the students like this is not me. This is them. This is they're they are the talent. They are the ones that are just amazing. I come to the art room all the time of any study hall. Come down see me. Absolutely. It's just I love when they get excited and and are so happy about what they're doing and just thrilled that they can create something they didn't think they could create. So to bring that out in the students is just amazing. So thank you. Sorry. No, I'm completely embarrassed. MY FACE IS

021READY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. >> You can't leave yet for a little while. >> Um that theme of support from our mentor teachers from our new staff has been very evident in the things that they value say, "Wow, you really have this one right. It's a great program. I did forget to mention like probably she's touched so many of the artwork that's just around in this room, right? Anyone high school there? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Great way to kick off our um annual report. Um want to start I chose this picture on purpose. Uh I don't know if you ever like move into a new house and you have like that creaky stair or the mailbox it doesn't shut right and then like years later it gets fixed and it's like

022life-changing. I came back from vacation with the flag pole painted. It was so exciting. I parked next to that thing for uh seven years and to just see it a nice not rusty or anything was wonderful. So >> where are we going with this? >> Shout out to Kyle Loveland, former student of mine. >> I had to ask him why we were talking about the flag pole. I was like I didn't even notice. >> But very exciting. Um so we just want to start with some of our highlights. I know we have a full agenda tonight, so I'll go a little quickly through um some of this, but um some of the highlights from last year included our study skills committee. You're going to hear more from Jacqueline about that in the future, but something

023we're extremely proud of and you have an exhibit um in your folder as well. Um there's been so much in the news about cell phone policies and stuff like that. You know, we took that on maybe like two or three months prior to it becoming a major thing and it has really made a difference in Henry James. you'll see um in our um climate survey data. Um we'll talk more about the cell phone policy, but um really um we're proud of the work we've done on that and that we didn't need to have anything fancy or anything. We just asked students to put their phones in their lockers, held firm to making sure they're in there and it's just worked. Um so sometimes simple is best with with some of these things. Um we had

024the first time we've ever had parent teacher conferences at Henry James last year. So, we're very proud of that. Um, we're making some tweaks to it, but that'll that'll be coming again this year. Um, extracurricular life, our goal is to every student try something after school. We share that with them at the start of the the year. Last year, we had 78%. Um, so we're still have a ways to go, but um, we're excited about that. Um, parent education series. Um, Jacqueline really has spearheaded that with our PTC um, and getting local practitioners in to speak with parents. They've been very well attended. Um, we've had the highest ever PJ day. I'll explain why in a little bit. Um, but we raised a tremendous amount of money for for CCMC last year. Um, our musical

025continues to be really strong. You heard about the fall festival. Um, they get just as excited about the spring festival coming up and obviously neon night's one of the biggest deals. U, but we've also grown our culture night. Um, which is really exciting. We have, I think, over 50 families come. We have food and performances and stuff like that. It's excellent. Um, I already talked about the art awards that we we've gotten, but we've also had state titles in robotics um and math counts um as well. And then we started a new summer reading program called Book Breaks. Remember, we did the one school one book thing um in the past year where we listened to students and they said, you know, we didn't we didn't love being maybe pigeon holed into one book that

026we might not like. So um we found a new program that um offers us so many authors to have virtual visits um for and students have a little more choice in it but at the same time they are having a common experience because it's a list of books. It's not just read any. So, that's just a quick quick summary of the highlights um from last year, but I would be remiss if I didn't talk about probably what's the most I think the most important thing we did this year, regardless of data um that you'll see that we're really proud of. Um is we had to walk through two really difficult time periods last year in Henry James. We lost a student um and we lost a beloved teacher as well. Um, and sometimes that can

027can destroy a school year and really, you know, bring a school to its knees. But I think we did the exact opposite. Um, we took both of these um events and use it to bring our community together. Um, and and we had this response um where we did um an amazing Lego product project. Jacqueline really spearheaded that with Abby. I don't if you want to say a couple things about that. Yeah, I mean just in knowing that this would be coming her her passing, we did a lot of work just to prepare for it. We met with um professionals at CCMC about how do you, you know, go through a death of a student with with a whole school and they coached us through, you know, how we could do it. And so we had

028whole plans where we trained the teachers, we had read alouds, um we created a memory box where every kid in the school wrote a note to the family. Um, and then one of the things that we did later in the year, because we didn't want it to be kind of just happen at her passing, we wanted to keep her memory going, um, was Legos were one of her favorite things. And Lego generously donated. I can't even tell you. I mean, it was this like serve in like a car your size that I saw coming in filled to the brim with Legos of every color, size, shape. Um, and our student council went and sorted them. And I I'll give a shout out to my brother who does some Lego planning. Um we created an activity

029surrounding peace. Um it was joy, strength, and love, which were kind of big things that Abby represented. And the kids had to plan a Lego build that represented Abby or something that she loved or something about that idea if they didn't know her well and write about it. And we had um we spent the two days when we returned from Christmas break doing that. You can see a picture of kids on the floor building Legos and they just it was a way to kind of embrace her and embrace their grief in talking about it. Um, and we still have some displayed cuz we didn't have the heart to break them down. Um, and it was just an amazing experience um, to do that with all of the students and they want to keep that going

030kind of in her memory but maybe change the theme each year and do that. Um, so that was really great. >> Yeah. And um yeah, to just put a cap on it, you know, a few students also did some fundraising um on their own and really donated to Aby's um foundation and we received an award from the Connecticut Association of Schools for Citizenship um with that as well. So um it just it's just a hallmark of how strong our community is and and wanted to make sure I mentioned that. All right, so I didn't have a good transition from that to data. Um but um that's what this a big part of this report's about. So I want to go through our state testing data. Um and then obviously we can take questions on on

031where we are with that. Um but we'll start with English. Um our English um Smarter Balance um results came in came in at a school as a school at 75% of students meeting um or above. Um that is a 2% increase from last year's scores for for the school. Um and then if we took a look at grade seven, um they came in at 78 and a half%. Um that's a 2.2% increase from sixth grade, which you very rarely see um any of our like if you look in historical data, um increases from sixth grade to 7th grade. Or if you look at comparison towns, say they have a 68 school, fifth grade to sixth grade, um that transition year usually sees a little bit of a bump um in in there. So that's a

032celebration. We haven't seen that happen since pro before co where you saw an increase in in anything from sixth to seventh grade. So that's a celebration. Um in the derby comparisons um I put these in this year just I think to talk about a little bit because it's something you look at. Um for those that are listening dirt is like a group of talents that have similar economic educational profiles. Um and so that's where you say to yourself what does 78 and a half% mean right? Um and so we look at some comparisons there. So this year for seventh grade, we were third in the derby. That's a plus six change from last year's um seventh graders. Um when you talk about the ranking and we're within 1% of the top score. Um so this

033the um rankings I just I haven't included in the past because sometimes you could celebrate and it's a decent score or you could be really upset and it's still a decent score in the ratings depending on like the spread of the scores amongst the towns. sometimes the spread of the scores amongst the towns are so small that it's it's margin of error territory when you talk about statistics. So, um I'll come back to that as we look at their comparisons from from test to test. Um but we're happy with that obviously. Um the grade 8 cohort was a 72.4. That's a 1.9% decline from seventh grade. Derby comparisons 14th which is a is a minus one from last year's 8. However, um they're within 2.8% of top five. And I would say like when I

034look at derby comparisons, you want to be I think we should be somewhere in the neighborhood of the top five. Um and when I say neighborhood, that means a few percent away from top five. Um so every percent is about six students. So I think that's an a good framework to think about the where you are there. So this group's within 2.8% of the top five. So, you know, within striking distance of them, um, that means the scores for grade 8 and ELA are fairly well clustered. Um, when we look at the reflection of what we did with ELA, um, we did pilot EXL for students to set individualized goals. We focused on specific ELA standards to make sure um, we were monitoring how students were were achieving those. We collaborated with world language and

035social studies on literacy skills. And then the book breaks kept the kept the summer reading alive. Moving on to science. In science, we were at 73.1% students at or above goal. And that's a pretty strong continued performance. It is a 1.7 decrease from last year. Um, and I would say we're going to get to math in a minute, but I think this with this cohort that kind of tracks with the math performance of this cohort. Um, notable though is when we look back when these kids took the science test, they took this science test back in 2022 um, as fifth graders. So when we look at the derby comparisons, this year we were 10th, which is a minus six change from last year's eighth graders. However, it's 3% within the top five. And when you

036look back in 2022, these same group of students were 13th and they were 12% away from the top five. So they've definitely seen some significant growth um from fifth grade to 8th grade um in their performance when you benchmark it to the relative dirt. Um how do we get there? We really focus on the NGSS style lessons which is more about those phenomenon um and how we how we have students explore. It's not just vocabulary science how we maybe have learned in a lot of memorization. They're really being taught to think critically and respond to these. Um, we are continuing to work on curriculum development in science to align lessons with their unit of studies. And then we do have an in-house practice test we do in seventh grade to see how they're doing, get

037them some familiarity with the test, um, and have the eighth grade teachers take that data up to prepare students for eighth grade. All right, math. So, in math, we've done a lot. So, um, at last year, if you remember, we we presented an improvement plan. um we presented an improvement plan. We had some data that we weren't terribly pleased with. Um and so um we're we're happy that we I think we're going in the right direction um here. So this year we have 66% of our students at goal or above in math. That's a 6% increase overall um for the entire school. In grade seven um our students 72.4% of them met goal. Um that's the strongest performance seventh grade's ever had in Henry James. So smarter balance has been given. Um it is a

0385.4% decline from sixth grade, but that when you look back that's in line with the declines that you see um HMS dirty averages um that sort of thing. In a derby comparison um we're ninth. That's a plus seven change from last year and we're within 1.6% of the top five. So you could see that like for seventh grade really strongly clustered scores um in that in that area um for dirty in grade eight we're at 61% that's a 1% increase from seventh grade um but tucked inside of that when you look at dig into the data a little bit more the students in math 8 so we have um algebra we have algebra 1 students math 8 students and advanced math students so the math eight students the percent of students students meeting goal increased

039by 9%. Which is a huge improvement over anything we've ever seen with that group of students in taking that course. Um, and I I can talk to what why we think that is in a little bit. The percent of students in algebra meeting will actually decrease by 4%. And we can talk why we saw that as well. Uh, and then in the dirt comparisons, we were 14th um, which is minus two from the eighth grade of the year prior. And this is where I say when you look at those percents, when when does it give you pause in terms of being off that top five? This particular cohort's 11% off the top five in Jersey. Last year they were 12% off the top five. So slight improvement. So reflection on math. So the 2024 2025

040improvement plan I like I said I think it has absolutely set us on the right path. We obviously have work to do. Um but um all of our indicators are moving in the right direction. Um what what did we do? You know, we really focus our teaching practices on engagement. Um that was math and focus. It's vertical team visits. We made visits to the elementary schools to see like what were the students engaging in down there? What does the curriculum look like and how can we make a good transition to seventh grade? Um and I think that that showed up in our seventh grade scores. Um and then talking about building thinking classrooms, these are like instructional strategies that help boost engagement as well. Um we also engage in pilot. So this is a new

041data system and practice um platform for students. Teachers engage in a ton of professional development around this. Um we had students engage in 30 minutes of practice per week. Um and then our PLC's focused on really looking at analyzing this data as the year was was progressing. Um, we also engaged students in setting their own goals with um, EXL and ESCA. And then I talked a little bit last year about the testing culture. I don't know if you remember I said like we had this culture where students could just jam out that test in the first day and then and then sleep in the next day. So we stopped that. Um, and we we split the test up into sections for students so we weren't having them rush. Um, we did have some review sessions

042after school for math to just kind of do a little bit of teaching in to how do you prepare for a big test. Um and then obviously we tucked in test preparation throughout the year in their math assessments. Um so that's our math reflection plan for continued improvement in math. Um we really did some reflection on um in terms of monitoring student progress and informing intervention. We adjusted the diagnostic tests that we have them take at the start of the year. Um we're really using to identify and retach for requisite skills for units. um we moved from 30 minutes to two teacher assigned skills which is in line with the research that was telling us. So that's a big adjustment that we've made for students. Um and then you know a question I think you

043would have especially if you have an eighth grader going to 9th grade like how can how can the ninth grade teachers be informed on what lagging skills this particular cohort might have? They can access all of that through that's going up uh to the nth grade as well. >> Yes. Can you talk a little more about the moving to two teacher assigned skills per week? What does that mean? >> Sure. So, so last year we had students, we just said log 30 minutes of practice, right? So, like tonight, let's pretend it was last year, you're a math 8 student. Um, you go home, you open up, you can pick any skill you want, you just do 30 minutes. So, we found some students were like doing telling time ones or like 4 plus three or

044the hundreds place. Um, >> it was based on their arena. It was based on their arena, but they could also just pick anything they want. And then even middle school students, being middle school students, could figure out a way to like open the test and have it log the time without doing anything. Um, so we moved it to two assigned skills. So the teachers actually pick the skill they want the students to work on. Um, that's related either to their unit or to like something they need to know in order to be successful in their unit. Um, that might take them 30 minutes. It might take them less. I think for a lot of students, we're finding it takes less. For some we're finding it takes more and that's where the time comes in and

045says we don't really want you taking more time than that. So that's a conversation with student and teacher if they're really getting bogged down >> and it it they have to reach a certain reach a certain proficiency to complete that assigned skill. So it's an 80% proficiency. Um and yeah, so you go you see it at home, right? So you go up to 80% but if you you know along the way if you get one wrong it knocks your percentage down and then you know you get more targeted questions. So are those skills assigned individually to the student or class based? >> Most of the time it's class based because it's based on the unit they're in. When we get into intervention or students we are concerned about that's when we're creating individualized plans where

046they we find through their diagnostic test that fractions we really got to shore up their fractions here even though that's not a unit for seventh grade if that makes sense. >> Thank you. >> Yeah for sure. Um, one of the things we're really um focused on this year in in um the teacher evaluation is is engagement in math. Um, and so that's looking at a lot of the different ways in which we are designing our lessons. Again, that's building thinking classrooms, but we also incorporate a student survey. I did include some data, initial data in your folders um that I I could just refer to really quickly right now. It's not done. We've gotten um we're we're conducting this survey between now and November 1st. It's like a blue sheet looks like this, but I

047thought I'd give you a little peek at the initial data. Um the questions we asked are obviously down the line. Um if we look at some of the percentages, this is we didn't include any neutral. You had to you had to pick as a student positive or not positive. Um and so like the engagement numbers 87% 88% um say I am engaged in a typical day in a classroom. And we did define it for them because I think middle school needed that defined for them. Um so that's good and that's reflective of I think what we're really trying to do early in the year um is is get kids active up moving around talking to each other in math class and not just sitting and doing practice problems. Um just some others to highlight. I

048think the positive relationship with my math teacher um really excited about those numbers in this early data to have you know 90% of the students over 90% of the students say they have a positive relationship with their math teacher and the percent of ones is was so small um as well. So I think that's that's excellent. And then I think if you look at the relative um weaker ones that I'm interested in math, the I'm comfortable discussing math problems and if it's safe to make a mistake, those are all things we're really working hard on right now um in the math like those are teachers goals about making mistakes and about um having dialogue in the math class um and like trying to increase that relevance. I'm interested in learning math number, right? Like trying

049to increase that relevance to it. So we're still looking at the data. I look forward to sharing it um when we have like we're going to do this fall, winter, spring. Um so maybe in the spring we can share like where we are after a year of working toward this stuff, you know. Okay. And teachers have this data. They'll be looking at it. Obviously, they really want to see um what their individual classes are like and stuff like that. We've broken it down that way as well. Is it would it be a decent time to stop and ask about math? I know we had a lot of questions about math last year. Um if anyone had any math questions. >> I'm sorry I missed it. Um, you say there's 414 responses. So, is that >>

050We're not done. >> Is the whole school. >> We're whole schools doing it. We're just not done yet. We have a couple more. Um, like we have John Prell, a new math teacher. We said hold off on that a little bit. Let the kids get to know you um before you fill out the survey. So, like his aren't in yet because we want a little more time for that, you know, that kind of stuff. >> Yeah. >> It's three You're doing it three times. >> Three times. Yeah. That's short. It only takes the kids like, you know, five, 10 minutes. They're open-ended, so we're great. Um, like if you look at some of their open-ended at the bottom, I just cut a few, but they were great. Um, they they really they really believed the

051survey was anonymous because they gave some real true opinions and stuff and they did put teachers names in there and stuff like that. So, it's good. You know, we got some good feedback from them and teachers will it'll be good for them to see that. >> How are the teachers like it so far? >> Uh, the survey they have. I don't think we've really dug into the data yet. That's going to be something they look at on the fourth, I believe. um that that Pat Long has as part of >> I'm getting the impression they like the ISL. >> Yes. Yes. Um in ter >> you're hesitant in your >> but I think there's still some growing pains, right? Like because they're figuring out how to best use it with kids and in a positive

052way too um and how to best like we changed the assessment this year. So what's the most effective tool for us to look at kids performance because it gives you a great you know their grade level and then it gives they also have practice in the arena what they call the arena which helps them show their adjustment on that grade level throughout the year and then there's benchmarks but I think it's just it's growing pains >> there's a lot to there's a lot and that's where I say like the math if you look at the list of everything we did with math um last year you almost would expect like an implementation with all the new thing teachers were doing and and and the data shows that we still grew. So, I'm really happy about

053that. Like I I planned on this math plan being like a three four year thing, you know, like really this is a lot that we rolled out last year. >> The arena, explain what you mean by that. >> So, the arena, it identifies skills based on like so if if a student takes it in eighth grade and they come out with um a seventh grade level, um it will identify skills that they need to work on. And so every week the math teachers on a block day, the kids spend 10 minutes in the arena which has targeted skills that they can work on to then monitor their grade level improvement throughout the year. And then they'll have a benchmark um assessment in fe February. February >> um which will kind of re-evaluate that >> that

054grade level marker, you know, it's >> so the student can see it, the teacher knows it's where they are in the arena. Yes. >> But no one else knows. No, except for >> anybody wants >> we can, >> but other kids can and they talk about it because part of their goal setting is they they do goal setting relating to I related to and their growth target on ESPback. So, um so they're aware of it. I mean, like my son's in eighth grade and he came home the first day, he's like, "Mom, I got this in ELA and I got this in math." Um and so even just a year in, the kids are very cognizant of what they're doing. >> When do you do those assessments? Um, we did one in the last week

055in September. >> Last week in September. >> And then we're doing one in February. And then you have an option to do a third one in the spring. Last year we didn't do it with everybody because it comes right after ESPback. So it was kind of we looked at students who maybe we needed to measure their growth a little bit more versus kids who were on target because it's a lot of testing at the end of the year. >> This tool has a ton of potential. >> Yeah. >> And I think Jacqueline's hesitancy is because we're still trying to figure out based upon all its potential strengths, what is best for us, >> what is best to inform what we need for information to make our adjustments on the daily, but also curricularly or can

056we can run certain standards reports? Which standards aren't kids demonstrating proficiency with yet? What does that mean? Where should that standard fall? So there's just a lot of moving parts where we have access to a lot of information and we have to make some decisions about what's the information that's going to help us best to teach better and for students to hit higher levels of learning >> and volume for kids, right? Like you made the changes, >> right? >> The two targeted skills where it's kind of more open-ended. That's pretty interesting. >> And what it is not is a replacement for expert classroom instruction, right? you know, you have to be very careful when you have a tool this comprehensive that it doesn't take all that over, you know, >> and I think it's it's

057been a huge positive change from STAR where STAR was just, you know, three separate tests and there's no >> backup for you to do it like to give kids practice or to go through all your skills and to look at test questions. And so this is giving us such a huge wealth of information that it can be overwhelming at times for teachers like Sue said because there's so much to sift through but it really has helped us throughout the year to give kids especially in intervention more targeted practice too throughout the year. >> Wait to after what you just said kind of speed up my questions is you this earlier about just the transition I'm always these guys I know I'm kind of obsessed with transitions. Yeah. >> Uh from grade levels and so the

058eighth grade It's had some challenges with the new system and everything. So now they're freshman, right? How do you how do you convey that? Just can you speak to that? Like how do you convey that? >> Sure. So So we Yeah. So we have math vertical teams. So our department supervisor is talking to the high school department supervisor. Um the n the high school does have so that data is carried forward from eighth grade to the nth grade teachers. Um so the nth graders took a diagnostic test as well. Um and so there's conversations that obviously happen between the two departments. Um our algebra um curriculum we we've worked on aligning that. I don't know Sue you want to talk to that at all but like we've so we're consistently working on that to make

059sure that and this is a special cohort of kids that like obviously a lot of kids did great but there are some that are still continuing to struggle. Um and so it was important it's important for those teachers to have the data in terms of where they are. Right. transition now freshman high school. So that all that a lot seems like a lot going on with that cohort. Yes. >> We went full bore all kids both grade levels at middle school spattering at the high school last year and students with IEPs grades 2 through 12 as the pilot. And then there was some cadence behind what this data was showing and it's now adopted in both math and ELA in 9th grade, 10th grade and different 11th grade classes. Along with this, we are doing

060some extensive professional development. So, I partnered with uh Berlin public schools and we had an ISL expert come out to uh Berlin High School and it was just Simsbury in Berlin. They had full AP that was very specific to questions that we want answered. So, it's learning for us too and it's learning again how to use the data to do better for kids. And so, I think there will be at least one more evolution. Uh we're including elementary professionals in the conversation as well to say, is this a a shift that we want to go to grades 2 through 12? But more to come, we're not at that point yet. >> Has it been brought down to six though, or is it just seven? >> If uh there are students with IEPs, we use it

061for diagnostic otherwise middle school up through the high school. At this point, >> are you contemplating bringing it to everybody in six? Yeah. >> 2 through 12. >> So, but prior to getting to the two and up because then you're talking about second graders and the Chromebooks and it's a whole different thing. >> Is there an in between step where at least that because to your point about transition to the six to seven transition you would have that data for at least those kids. >> We'll be certainly thoughtful. I mean students are already using iPads for STAR even in the second grade. So it's we'll always be thoughtful about that transition, but again we have to really focus on what is the data that we're looking to garner and for what purpose. So yes, it

062makes sense you go seventh, you go sixth, but those are still discussions that we're having. We want to be very thoughtful about that. Right now it's still star and then it'll be interesting just as a side note here like because I feel like star results haven't always been in my limited experience haven't always been given to parents and families and resulting that. So, if there's a way to expand that, have Il given out to families at some point, that I think could be helpful as well. Um, and then my other thing was for next year, is there any way you could bring historical data um to Jack's point, but from sixth to seventh on the testing? Like it would be interesting like I know you mentioned it and I believe you but I would also

063like to see the data too big because from sixth to seventh and that is every >> yeah on that six to seven the five and a half% decline in line with historical >> why is that I mean it seems notable right so these kids in six score here they come into seventh and they go down >> I'll start I'll stop there because then I have a question about eth Yeah. So, so when you look at the transition, when you look at that transition, you're going from number one, you're going from an hour plus hour, I don't know, elementary hour, 20 minutes of math to 42 minute math period within like a block. So, just you're you're the amount of time you're spending on math is is reduced. I think you also think about just the

064bandwidth it takes to make a transition. um because you see this similar thing um say in West Hartford when I when I was there studying this uh as well um that drop is five to six because the middle school starts at six um so there's some bandwidth that you lose I believe and then you offer you're offering so much more at the middle school in terms of of what you're doing you're taking a world language every single day um you have wellness every single day um and so you're you're you're doing more than a lot of math math, English, and such. Do you know what I'm saying? So, there's there's more subjects that the kids are are responsible for. So, it's it's not as siloed in terms of what they're working on, I believe. Um,

065and I'm I'm going from an educational um rationale rather than that. But, you see this phenomenon across, you know, across our dirty schools as well. There's also the social emotional aspect and the developmental aspect of of moving from elementary to middle school and just the changes in friendship, their body, their brain, everything which has a huge priorities. I mean I was in my middle school head I'm like how many times have we said six, seven? Um >> but you know like that's that's that's where their head is at a lot of the time and their focus isn't the same um because they're very concerned about their social status and their you know just their development. um socially and emotionally. So that also plays into changes in data over the years. >> Makes sense. But I

066guess what I would say, I do have math concerns in the middle school. I've said that the ELA went up 2 and a half% from six to seven and the science went up 5% to 7. So I mean those same things apply. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. For sure. That's that like the data is that's why I think having more data with genies. I would love to see six through 10 because you say it's the same students, right? If they're here and there's diff then they come back up by 10th what's happening. So that transition is happening but it's not impacting them in ELA or science. And then when it comes to the eighth grade algebra kids, that concerned because something worked with math 8 that didn't work with algebra, right? They went opposite directions. >>

067And that to me speaks maybe to is there a difference there, right? Because algebra should be should be the kids who are higher than math 8. >> Correct? So should be grasping these things and whatever we're doing to improve the environment they should get an accelerant if you will and it went the other way. So I would be curious on your thoughts there. I'll pause there for that one. >> So I mean obviously we spent quite a bit of time looking into that. I think part of it is the algebra that algebra 1 curriculum is a it's a rigorous curriculum. They're studying algebra. I think what we found is what some students in that cohort needed was more brush up on the stuff you're not teaching in that class. So, for example, um you might

068not be doing very much with shapes and some geometric concepts and stuff like that, but that's on the ESPA and they covered it in math 8, but they didn't review it in algebra because you figure those kids are are they're going to be fine. Um, and so that's something where we're looking back now at their at the algebra ex data to see like what skills are some of these kids missing. And I think we were so hyperfocused on those kids that were right around goal um in that math 8 that we were, you know, we were putting all of our arrows toward that um or all of our energy toward that um and weren't necessarily looking at what skills might these algebra kids be missing because as you said, like we would expect them to

069make gold, right? Um and so it's going back and tucking in um some more experience with some of those um standards that they just need extra practice with. >> Yeah. And I agree with that. I think that makes sense. I think there's almost my opinion having seen it. There's almost like >> maybe that expectation is too high for the algebra kids to everything you were just saying the transition all this stuff right. They're coming in in algebra in seventh grade because they were good at math in sixth grade, but it doesn't mean they're still not seventh graders that still have everything you're saying. So, I think you're on the right track there because right, they still need all that extra. >> So, it's how do we fit that in? That's right. >> Those are the

070kids that are on the track. You want to keep them on the track. So, I think you're on to something there. Um and then the only other thing I would say there is also when you talk about the higher rated right the algebra right is for these studies and stuff you said you have breakdown by class and teacher and stuff >> because I I think that'll be interesting to see too because I think so much of it will come down to especially with math more almost than anything else >> because math self admittedly right once your kid hits like an algebra you can't help them as much right like there is much more for the for our students, the teacher almost matters more than almost anywhere else. Like middle school map, right? Like there is

071a there's the whole transitioning. There's seventh, right? In, out, on, >> right? But in that in that middle, right, so much depends on that middle school math teacher because the parents can't really help as much. there's not just as much out there online kind of graphs, you know, which geography thing or this thing, right? Math really, if there's not that connection between teacher and student >> and it just snowballs. So, yeah, I I think you're on to something there. And I think it's important to kind of grab those seventh graders early and be like, you're on the right track, but it doesn't mean you're here. You still need to be proactive, >> right? Yeah. Well, and it's it's challenging because the seventh grade pre-alggebra curriculum is covering the seventh and eighth grade content in one

072year. So, you're trying to get all of that and you have to make some choices along the way. And so, we're hoping to use to kind of reinforce all of that material. I don't know to cut the conversation, but I just want to make sure you you're have time to get through the presentation. >> Yes. Um, yeah. So, we'll certainly, you know, pull some historical data. All right. Um, I didn't want to wrap up all this academic talk with how I mentioned this with Laurel. I'll just be quick on it, but like that's not everything we do at Henry Gyms. Actually, it's related to the math question is like we're doing so much more with our students um that when I talk to colleagues in other other middle schools, it's getting crowded out by like

073this pressure to improve math scores and this pressure to um and students working with their hands, students, you know, working with wood and sewing and and and having wellness every day and and um and and singing. Um and so like I just don't want that to get lost that the comprehensive program we have. We're extraordinarily proud of um of the other. >> All right. We also give a student survey. Um there's a lot of information here. Jacqueline's going to go quickly through um some of the high points. Um but really good news in our climate and culture survey last year. >> We we had a lot of overall strengths. Um excuse me. But one thing that we wanted to note was that if you include neutral responses, they were well over 90% in in all

074the areas that we highlighted. So that was really great because neutral for middle school kids can mean, you know, it could be negative, it could be positive. Um, but it's it's not something to ignore that really our strongly disagree and disagree were very low percentages. Um, which was great. Um, there was really a strength in our overall safety um, and a culture of belonging which went up by 7%. Um and students really felt the school was fun and engaging, calm and welcoming. Um and there's a lot of opportunities to be involved. Um we had a lot of surprise um positive data on our cell phone policy. So like Scott said, that was the first year we instituted and the we were very clear in the expectations of off and away and it's not on your

075person, it's in your locker and we also had very clear guidelines of what happens when your cell phone is found. So I think having everything really articulated for the students made it easy and there was a lot less arguments between students and teachers too which created a positive culture and there was also less lengthy trips to the bathroom or you know sneaking around or um concerns about like what's on Snapchat right now or I've got to respond to this right now. Kids were present. They were present for learning. They were present at lunch for conversations. They weren't trying to sneak it under the table. So it really changed I think the culture and climate of the school for for positive. Um some concerns and suggestions for kids are typically the same. They you know more

076activities and we really stress with them that if there's something you want to do we can start a club. If you can find a teacher to support you um we can do that. There is a big push to have better lunches. Sorry food services. Um but you know bigger bigger portions too. They're middle school kids. they're growing and if you see what's on their plate sometimes like they'll go back for a second, sometimes a third lunch. Um they want more breaks in the day which is tricky because they have four minutes of passing but um they always want a little more time for that and more active classes but that speaks to some of the work that we're doing on engagement and really getting the kids up and moving um throughout the day. Um I

077think the response to data we'll kind of talk a about a lot of these things um throughout the presentation but it was we saw a significant decrease in no one seems to get in trouble and I think a lot of that has to do with you know we clearly outlined those cell phone policy. We clearly outlined a tardy policy which then this year we it was tardy to class you know first time's a warning second time you know call home third time is a a lunch detention. um it really kept the kids in line and this year we transferred it to tardy to school and tried to model after the high school's tardy policy which has made huge differences in the school and I think when the kids know the expectations they better align themselves

078with them. Um a big piece that we also did um was our behavior matrix. So that really defined all the areas of the school and how they align to our roar um the tenants of roar of respect, responsibility and integrity. So the kids help define what does it look like for each of those tenants in each area um of the school. And this year we had our eighth graders make posters that we now have hanging around the school um outlining that. So this one um for faculty and staff, we were over the moon with our results. I mean they were so high in in all areas and people really feel like they belong in the Henry James staff. Um that it's a good fit for them. they feel supported, that it's a positive and welcoming

079environment. Um, and we were excited that behavior was barely mentioned by the staff because in prior years, um, student behavior was a big issue. Um, so we were excited at the positive changes in that. Um, there weren't as many concerns to highlight, but they really, you know, want us to continue with the policies like the cell phone policy that we put in place. They would like us to continue to have PD opportunities where they have choice. they appreciate that targeted to their department um not to have a one-sizefits-all and certainly AI is um something that people want more professional development with. Um as far as we've talked about the 67 transition a lot. We've started to do some work on I've worked with Betsy on developing a committee so we can look at that transition.

080Our study skills has also worked on um helping the transition from sixth to 7th as well um with the family. Yeah. study skills. >> Oh, thanks. >> Thank you so much. >> Yes, I was going to talk about it a little because it gets mentioned throughout here. So, >> is this being distributed to sixth graders? Like, are they going to get a chance to see this implemented this year? >> We have not because we're just it's the first year for us and we're still figuring out how we're implementing it. So, we have not given it to sixth graders yet. >> I will tell you that all principles, including the high school principal, have asked for copies. I don't know if they've asked you to autograph them yet, but >> waiting for like my moment >>

081um copies so they can share with their teachers and so we can create this continuation. >> Yeah. >> I mean, I wonder if it's worth thinking, is there a downside to just printing up a few more of these and handing them to every sixth grade student to look not just have some exposure to it? >> Then we can think about at the end of the year when they visit with us or something. >> Maybe send like a nice gift when they can visit or something like that. But I think the power in this is that it was really made by Henry James teachers >> or Henry James students. Like it's it's very personalized. So I think it's a good template um to lead from the middle on like how can a high school take something

082like this and >> and move it there and how can elementary principles take it there. For sure. >> Yeah. Um so with our family survey survey trends um overall safety increased, belonging increased um overall for all the questions that were asked with the family we saw an average of approximately 12% improvement. Um we attribute a lot of that to the work that we did with parents over the course of the year. Um the conferences were huge bringing parents into the middle school. I think they miss that. they hear so much from their elementary teachers and you get to middle school and it's very different because there's power school and you have eight teachers and so that personalization is a little bit different. Um so getting them in the building was really great for us and

083we're going to continue to look at that process um and refine the parent teacher conference um with them. We did a lot with our parenting series and then this year we are teachers have started the parenting series rather than bringing outside resources. So they did um development or sessions with parents on Google Classroom and the work that we did with Google Classroom um streamlining it creating to-do lists for students so that it's easier for them to use and we also taught the parents about P school and I think we had about 40 plus people at our first PTC meeting which is pretty amazing. Um, so I think all the attention that we've given to parents and and creating that open communication with them has really been um, great >> and wonderful. >> Yeah, >> do

084you have the numbers of how many people actually responded? >> That's an awesome question that I don't have my fingertips on, but it's more than 100. >> Did all students were all students required or given? All students and all staff, too. >> I could probably get it on my phone. You give me five minutes, but >> All right. So, moving into the last part, we've talked about Yes, it's okay. >> Um, on your concerns, suggestions, varied opinions on ISL. Can you talk about what some of those varied opinions were? >> Yeah. So in in the open-endeds, some teachers were just felt confused or like didn't you know are still wondering if this is the right platform. Um you know that kind of thing. You would going to get that in any implementation year of a

085survey. So um their their questions were about the 30 minutes and how hard it is to track that and the students are are kind of like phoning it in for the 30 minutes and that was what those comments were about. So part of that change is we're more focused on skills. So you can monitor if they've done that skill or not here. >> I think some parents aren't as positive. They were glad to see their kids practicing, but then also it becomes an addition to their regular homework. So there's a time management piece like you have a week to complete 30 minutes in math possibly. The English wasn't doing it every single week. 30 minutes in English, you have Dualingo and world language. So it's managing that on top of your regular assignment. So I

086think that you know people are like what what's going on here? All of a sudden we have you know a lot more platforms that they're working off of. >> Yeah, it's it's a lot to manage as a parent, right? To have classroom have this and have that. for sure. >> It's more than >> 100 640. Last year we had about 650 students. >> 680 I think last year. >> That's a good sample size. Yeah. Okay. The survey. >> Um and my question was about seventh and eth. >> We did we did seventh and eth and they met with their connections teacher. So the connections teacher, it was a process with the kids um over the course of a few months where the kids gathered some sample information. They filled out some questionnaires about their goals.

087They set goals at the beginning of the year. So they talked about their progress. They did a little power school summary. So the connections teacher was really a representative. They didn't get to go and meet with every teacher because we also wanted every teacher engaged um in the process which really I think helped. >> Yeah. Did the um question for the families have anything about math or wasl? >> This was just openended. There was no question about it. >> This was really climate and culture >> and just kind of >> just came up. >> Yeah. >> So I wonder too though back to earlier if like was just used as like a math thing, right? Like if parents are in a home and have concerns with math and is the tool to get better at

088math, is it a math comment? >> Could be. >> And then also just the openended I do It's interesting to me a little bit, maybe it's just throwing out an unnecessary question, but I'd like your thought that families, parents are saying that on behalf of their children, right, >> that they feel that their children have a better feeling of belonging >> in the school. >> Yeah. >> Than the students feel like that to me seems odd, right? Like I feel like as parents sometimes you worry a little bit more about your student. like you feel like, oh, like, you know, how do you think he fits in? I think he's doing all right. I'm not really sure. You're a little more concerned, right? Yeah. >> This is just interesting to me that the parents are

089like, it's 70 something%. He's he's good. He's doing great. And that he's coming in at like 60, right? Like that to me is just it's an interesting dynamic that parents feel. >> I didn't read it that way though, Josh. I thought it meant like as a like I would have answered that as a family, do I feel like I'm welcome in the school? >> You have to look at the question. >> Yeah. Is the Is that the question? I thought it was is it a because safety >> actually I think the question is my child >> my child is my child >> there's a delta safety as well so your question is the right there's an interesting disconnect >> right I was thinking that too do I feel like I belong the family but then

090I switched it because how would I feel safe as a family like I feel perfectly safe I'm not there >> but um >> the question is my child >> that's so that's it as like >> and I think when it boils down to it like having a middle schooler at home. >> It's, you know, how was the fall fest? It was fun, >> right? >> You know, and then like we're out there watching them like having the time of their >> time. And that's how they answer these like >> you think the parent numbers would be >> come in and say, >> "Yeah, I don't know. Everything's fine." others are just >> so I think I think seeing that does to me because I saw the sixes it seems a little if families are feeling

091though to your point that the kids are coming home they're feeling good right it just may be the difference between an adult answering a question like if we add those neutral on a lot >> exactly >> so yeah >> talk about the um implementation of the new challenging behaviors plan what is that Sure. You know, fortunately, we haven't had to fill the form out yet. We've been having a really, really good start to the school year. Um, but really, this is when you have, um, a really significant issue, um, whether it's physical, um, bullying, um, just like dangerous issues, >> needing to empty a room for some reason, then there's a new process that we would fill out. It's good because it documents, you know, what we've done. It guides us through the path of

092what to do and I think it's it's good for accountability. So, like I said, fortunately, like we've unheard of. We're off like I at Henry James. I was going to conclude with that. What a good start we're on. We're going to fill one out tomorrow probably. >> I'm not going to, >> but um the kids have been doing a magnificent job this year. >> The climate has been amazing. Last year we had last year we had some big behaviors um and so it's been it's been great and we've been working on a lot of restorative practice and and pairing discipline with education too. So which has been I think really helpful. >> Yeah, good question. Um okay, I know time is going late so I'll go somewhat quickly through this just goal setting. Um we

093were excited to be able to take the new board of ed goals and and start with those at Henry James to set to to um establish our goals. So then we boil that down in context the vision of the graduate. I make with my leadership team kind of our priorities. So like these are our priorities for the year. You've already heard about all of them. So I don't need to read them through you. I mean this is the work that it's all grounded in the data that we saw. Um you can certainly take a look at it um another time, but these are the things that we're working on as a school this year. um when we break them down into the goal areas. Like I said, we've talked about most of this, but um

094I'll just a couple highlights. You know, curriculum is a big goal of ours right now. Sue and her team have gotten a new platform for us to put our curriculum in and really looking at priority standards for each subject area is a is an emphasis this year. So, that's kind of a big push. I already talked about Excel. We talked about math. Um talked about collaboration across the grades on math and literacy skills. I didn't mention the math. math. I know we're interested in math, but one of the parts of the math test is this performance task that the students have to do. They get 90 minutes to do one problem. Um, and it's like a graph and a bunch of questions. They have to write and and um I if you're watching a kid

095take this. Some kids just look at that and go, "Shut the Chromebook. It's too much." Um, so social studies has taken on the task of doing some of their lessons that have to do with economics and having students practice those kinds of tasks. So, social is going to be doing some of that this year um as well, which is great to cross discipline math into some of the other subjects. I think it's exciting because I forgot to mention that. Um and you already talked a lot about the the study skills handbook. >> We're just super excited. So, it went out to students a couple weeks ago. So, we're our committee is actually meeting to say, "Okay, what kind of lessons can we do throughout the year so it doesn't get lost?" I mean, it'll get

096lost in their backpack. They only got paper copies. We haven't get them the really nice ones yet, but you know, how can we continue it throughout the year for both students and parents? We're hoping to present it at one of the PTC meetings, too. >> What one thing I think social studies taking out some of the math is awesome. Like that's what you were saying about the each class is only so many minutes. >> Yes. So, we've got to bleed it in to other areas. very smart >> tech >> logistically it would probably be a nightmare but it would be one thing as time goes on if what's being done in math still needs work >> I know you can't make math longer because not everyone's in class at the same time >> but a

097consideration for is do we get to a point where math really everything else is everything else is doing great right do we need it like you get like a sixth math class each Is there something there where it's like something because I think what you're doing here is a way to weave we weave in additional math which I think is very smart but I I do think there's something to that. So kudos to you for that's creative. I think it's really good. >> Yeah. Just one last comment that I want to remind the board and we're actually going to get an updated curriculum committee that Betsy Gonzaleis and Pat Long as the HJ department supervisor are working together to do a full 68 curriculum review and math also and to say what are we really

098doing what standards are we addressing what are we not what does our data tell us so that is evolving this year we'll be giving updates as that just I'm sorry to kind of couch some of you know the things you've been talking about. I think there's just been a real focus and commitment to reestablishing an instructional culture, right? like um so focused on positive climate engagement of kids but now an opportunity to really kind of clarify some expectations use department supervisors in a different way and really kind of uh think culturally about the level of instruction is kind of kind of exciting it's a continuum right certainly >> but u I was just going to say just gonna echo what Josh said but I love weaving math into other disciplines because like I mean I've

099got two kids how many times have I heard boy I don't want to take another math class and my point is always you're never getting away from it you know >> whatever you go into math is going to be a part of it so I love that you're teaching them that >> very basic idea >> question how many on average how many minutes does a student have in math during week >> oh you're really testing me now with the black which It's 53. It's 53 minute classes and you have three or four a week depending on the week. So like I have math period 8. So this week on the first day of the rotation is a Dday. So I have math. So I'll have math four rounds out of the five days. And then

100next week it's different and I'll end up having it three or something like that. >> The reason why I'm asking is that >> Oh, Scott knew I was going to ask. What was that smile? the um the it's just would we get more time if we change the schedule at how you change to match the high school? >> Let me do a comparison of instructional minutes elementary, middle, and high school and then I can share that. >> I'd just be curious if the schedule. >> I don't think I don't think so. Yeah, I'd say I'd say average like three and a half hours probably >> because it's three hours some weeks, four hours other weeks. >> All right, we >> I mean there's not we've already highlighted most everything on this. I think the only

101thing that we just wanted to talk about was >> that little block there. Um and I think you have that in your folders. Um, >> yeah, it was really great. Um, you know, because we were dealing with some issues and we had students fill out a survey about the three things like write three words that you don't joke about and then once we compiled all that we um Scott did a great job making the word cloud and the bigger the word is the more often it was um >> represent >> you know represented or you know the larger the the word was um so it was great and we have in connections they go over that and then all the kids sign it as a contract hang it in the room. Uh when we have

102students who pick on somebody for one of those reasons, we've used it. We've created reflection questions tied to it. So if they're in a detention or something like that, they have to select some words to talk about why we don't joke about it. What are your next steps? Sometimes >> color in the word that that >> Yeah. Yeah. And depending on what it was, we've had different people come in and speak with them. If it's health related, we've had the nurse. Um Degan Art has worked with students. We've, you know, so trying to pair that education piece with what they're doing. So that has been really great. and we're about to resign the contract this year. >> Great. >> All right. >> Um, under premier workforce, we talked about most of this. I think I

103just highlight one of the things in teacher evaluation we do that's different at Henry James is is teacher set Aurora goal, which is like what's one thing you do outside of your classroom to um contribute to our community. And so everyone decides like something might be student council, but it also might be, you know, just mentoring another teacher or something like that. It could be a large or small goal, but they all sign a goal. Um, >> what do you see there, Scott? Like any kind of common themes you see there? Be curious like how teachers view their role in the community. >> All all kinds of stuff like >> we did, we did an interesting exercise the other night because, you know, we always go, nobody will, you know, volunteer for anything. And then

104we took, >> oh my god, everyone's doing >> everyone was doing something. We couldn't find somebody that wasn't involved. Whether it was running a club, whether it was, you know, you have the people who always chaper own the music events, you have, you know, people who are, you know, on various committees, it was actually really >> interesting. I'm going to bring cookies and walk them around on Fridays to spread cheer, you know, like so all kinds of different stuff they they do, which is great. >> Um, very middle school. >> So, um, the other stuff is really like our focus on PLC's. Matt kind of talked about that this instructional culture piece uh new teacher evaluation that's all about you know our workforce and making sure we retain and and and um keep our keep

105our teachers challenged right um strategic investments um you'll see this in my budget of working our title one study skills teacher into the regular operating budget so we're not um reliant on federal funds for that person especially today um And then our structured study hall teachers, someone we're looking at to do some more study skills work and help support our initiative there. Um we have six new hires. Um they're doing great. Um but we will focus on on boarding and throughout the year. Um and then continuing with stuff like the flag pole. >> I was going to put a picture of our boys bathroom, but then I thought better. >> I was saying the bathroom the bathroom was >> but that was good too. Um so last piece Jen clicked it already. I wanted last

106last year I started I I showed you our new H&N club and it was kind of like a rough cut. So I wanted to just show you like a little glimpse of um the HJNN. They're on like their eighth episode. We won't watch the whole thing because I know time is of of the essence but I can just show you just their start like their lead in. Hello, I'm This is First, we have some graders sharing about their experiences at Hi, I'm Recently, the seventh graders took a field trip to I'm going to interview them and find out what their favorite part was and what they learned from this experience. >> Hi, my name is Violet and my favorite part is the tire. The tire is a group effort. >> Sounds fun. My name included

107lots of motivation and I learned that communication is key especially in team learning activities. >> Thanks. Now, let's head over to Tesl. >> She's right. Communication is important. Last up, we have >> the thing I knew most was at the connection to make everything. From this activity, I've learned that teamwork is really important. >> Thank you for your experiences. I hope you had fun. So now we'll have a recap of the book that public library book show was held at the Cbury High School on October 4th and October 5th. It is put on by the friends of public library. All of the books were sorted by genre. There's even a section for large print. You can see that the sale takes up both gyms at high school. There are usually many books geared towards middle

108schoolers and high schoolers. The best part is that books are only a few of puzzles that can be used in space. Please don't. Please drop off all your books, puzzles, games, DVDs, STDs all year long. >> So, you can see they're like they're getting out and about now. There's a there's a spot in there of them at the um at the talent show where Jacqueline and I performed. Um and they're like there on scene and stuff like that. So, like the skills they're learning are really it's really great. It's really great to see what they're doing. So, it's ton of fun. um this is their like third episode of the year so far. So like every couple weeks or they're putting together >> um in class. So we usually do it during connections or our

109fifth period's a little bit longer because of lunches. So that's an extra 10 minutes for >> announce also. I was reminded that the Kathleen McDow teacher grants helped to support some mics some new equipment to kind of level up >> some of what they were doing at HN. So that was a cool connection. Is it an after school show? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's great. >> They're all over the school and she's made like press passes. >> Yeah. Cameras and all this stuff. So, it's really cool. It's good. >> Winding trails. We did talk about that earlier, but it was a great trip. Kids had so much fun. Watching them work together was fascinating. It is. >> And seeing like who steps forward to lead and who learns how to follow was great.

110So, >> great. questions. >> I do question. >> Yes, >> you're on the um and if it's a long answer, you don't have to answer the connections. I am curious how do connections work at James now? >> So, we're built right now, um there's about 12 to 13 kids in a connections. Um every teacher has one in the building. The kids are organized by team. But what we started, was it a year ago? >> This is new. You wouldn't have experienced >> a year or two years ago. every child in that teachers connections class is a student that they have because before it was, you know, alphabetical the first five go here and then, you know, the next whatever. Um, and so that has made a huge difference that it's someone that you have throughout

111the year and they can build that connection with them. So, we're really strategic. It's a very um arduous process in the summer to make sure it all works, especially for the teachers who teach smaller groups. Um, but but it's a great, you know, and they do team activities through connections, team building. um assembly goal setting all the goal setting the conferences stuff is through connections. So it's been and that was part of um the reason why we made sure it's a teacher that they have so that when the conferences came they could talk to that kid they >> meeting with the teacher that they have. >> Yeah. >> Great job. I mean the study skills is huge and appreciate. I know when you're trying to change to McMouse and the culture of all of it

112and you're doing it with a neutral like I know it's hard to move that ship but you know kudos to you for doing the score showing right obviously we talked about the math but everything else just you know it looks great and appreciate you the study skills the way you're weaving things in I appreciate the creativity and the way you guys are attacking that strategically so that capital >> we are going to >> kind of kick off the capital conversation for the year with a review of year one projects. We have a a couple pretty large scale uh priorities to talk through. A few visuals uh that I think will uh will help because um one of the projects which is uh turf replacement and track replacement always gets quite a bit of interest and

113um dialogue to go with it. So I'm going to kick this to Jason and he's going to >> kind of go through year one. Thanks. Thanks guys. So, when we looked at our six-year capital plan, uh, one of the items on it, one of the larger items on it was a partial roof replacement at Henry James. Uh, the roof is in, uh, decent enough condition and the other roofs are are fairly new at this point. So, our roof fund is is okay to take this on for another year, we felt. So, we're going to push that phase uh out. Uh that leaves the uh turf and track resurfacing. Um we'll just take a look at some of the uh conditions here. Looks pretty good from afar. This is uh from the security camera way up

114on the pole. But when you start to zoom in and look at uh the track conditions, we're looking at a variety of patches in different locations. Um another patch here. Uh, also, uh, tears in the track. Uh, this the projector, it doesn't really show it too much, but it's sort of a, uh, striped color where the the center line is lighter than the than the edges uh, just being worn out. Uh, there's also a separation between uh, the turf and the track, and this is somewhat of a concern. a rolling ankle could happen here certainly. Um, and that goes for quite a distance as it's separated. >> That's been an ongoing issue. I mean, we were involved with that a few years ago. You you can see the color differential of the turf right up

115against the track. Um, the way the turf was installed, Jason will probably get into it later. Whatever happened with the drainage, it pulled towards the center and away from the track to the point before we laid a little bit of the new turf down because we did a repair several years ago. The contractor filled it in with stones >> and we had a real issue there for a bit of the stones getting on the track. So, we were able to to get a repair, right? >> But it's really pulling significantly again. And I know you'll get into this Jason, but both these um large scale items, I mean, they have a shelf life, right? And and we know that uh when we when we go in and there's a cycle, the track is well beyond

116uh it recommended cycle. We did a a painting and a reservicing of that years ago. There's not really anything else you can do to it now. And the turf is right on the limit of where it's supposed to be. I don't want to y >> take all your thunder here, but one of the challenges with our turf, you like you talked to our coaches in town, >> that field is utilized so heavily by the entire community. So, it's not just high school sports rotating on there. It is all weekend. It is youth teams. It is adults. It is, you know, a constant beating uh in maintenance in in terms of of just the life of that. So >> it sure um as we discussed the the turf itself uh you can see this rippling effect

117as it's as it's loosening up on the on the ground. Uh those bands rippling through the turf. Uh and then in in places we have seen separations. Um the the use of this the varsity sports practice six times a week all of the varsity sports and then in the fall there's more than a dozen teams from uh soccer, field hockey, football, lacrosse, cheerleading. Um and then in the spring also rugby, track and fields, um special Olympics teams, uh park and wreck clinics. Even in the winter, we have uh the indoor track going out on the outdoor if weather permits uh along with uh community member activities, just people showing up and using this on top of it. And then in the summer, we see our heaviest use with uh 16 different activities uh from uh

118again soccer, lacrosse, strength conditioning, rugby, track and field, the the DCE camp, park and rex camp, youth football. Uh it's it's an extreme use and uh >> Jason, quick question. all of the nonschool they there's a fee that they pay >> uh I believe it depends on on the activities >> if it's a simul >> right >> if we're an independent organization coming in from the outside >> um but yeah the uh the complex was put in in 2005 it was uh the track itself was resurfaced in uh 2014 and uh the turf was uh done in 16 the major resurfacing uh with an 8-year warranty. So at this point it's it's beyond its warranty period and and that's under normal use conditions and I'd say we are in the the heavy use range terminology

119correct. So with a turf resurfacing you're talking about putting essentially a new turf, right? the track. Are you digging it up? >> Yeah, this this the uh the actual track replacement is more than the turf replacement. >> No, no, we looked we looked at several options tried to exhaust different with the life of it and what we've done already. >> I assume there's efficiency or synergy doing them at the same time. >> Yeah, there's there's a few reasons as to why you would want to do that. Uh not the least of which is that the turf and track are integrated. So if you were to go back and do it later, you'd be you'd be taking the turf off of um and and certainly just these things go up year-over-year. So you're going to spend

120more in the later years. >> When would you be doing this between your season? >> Um it would it would be through a summer project. The >> take offline any 16 activities that >> correct? >> So the resurfacing of both that you have on this next slide. Sorry. Um that's replacement of the chart and the >> correct. >> Okay. >> So what do the 16 activities do in the summer? >> Where do they go? >> We'll work with the athletics department to manage uh where either in town or in building or the other fields at the school we can move to. >> Have to use the good old fashioned grass. >> Yeah. Terrible. >> If you were to like I think a great point, right? Numbers just keep going up, right? If you got a

121thing that's any kind of a safety hazard, >> if you were to pick any square footage area in this town that gets used by as many families as that square footage, >> there's so much dialogue, you know, being a running sports about field access and desire for more fields and quality fields. Yeah, >> keep up your main one, you know. >> Absolutely. I think looking at it right right below the there's clearly a thing here, right? Like the hen has come up Jason's taking look we can make it another year. Right. Right. So if it's on the list, right? So that's just something >> my piece my piece on that I don't want to you know dependent on what the town has as priorities too and and um you know if there's an opportunity to

122pull that back up you know but I mean we're always um of the mindset to provide priorities which is what people want so that's kind of what we're doing here but you don't want to get in a situation I agree with the recommendation but um if there is extra capacity based on what the town needs and we have a chance to move that back up. I would want to be able to at least have that conversation too, you know. Um, but a what is it overall? It's like the way we the way we look at approvals and debt service right now, it's about like 5 million a year. >> Yeah, it's a 5 million a year or 10 million every two years. You could do seven three or you could do five and five. >>

123So, it's tight, you know. >> And we have other uh things going on. Uh flooring is always uh on the top of the principal lists in all the buildings and uh I've been meeting with Kyle and he's gone out. He has uh I think at this point all but one of the school principal meetings done. So we've got a pretty good sense of uh what the asks are going to be and we're certainly going to use that uh that every other year flooring uh amount which is at uh on this list as well. And then the last piece is uh network improvements. This is also bianial, so every other year. And uh it's a $350,000 amount. And this year we're uh replacing network servers from around 2011 2012. So they're certainly >> everything we're looking

124to replace really has gone beyond its expected lifespan. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah, from a priority standpoint, we're we're pushing out as much as we can push out, but there are some things that really just need to be >> careful. It's a good list as we have in the last few years. So, that'll be over with our board of finance friends, but >> as we get into the budget process, we get into the workshop, we'll share the the balance of the six year. Um, we've had the conversation about uh tech time coming out doing some work with us this year. We have a finance committee meeting coming up. It's going to present several different kind of scenarios to us and we plan to have a board presentation. Um the 11th I think the 11th of

125November. Um and I shared that information the other day finance. >> Are you going to talk any more about that thing or can I ask a question? >> Oh sure. >> The um the SHs you're going to out for um but are those because those are the newest? >> Yeah, the uh the big factor in adding solar is the age of the roof because the panels have roughly a 20-year lifespan. So, you kind of want to marry that up. So, after you've put a roof on, you don't want to do it immediately because you want to make sure you've seen a year uh with the roof to make sure there's no manufacturing issues with how that was implemented. Uh but then after that year of of burn-in for the roof, uh the panels go on

126and then when they're about to be replaced, the roof is also about to be replaced. So gets into a cycle >> and the high school is is right in that zone. Uh Latimer is certainly right in that zone as well. >> Yay. Um, so the first quarterly, the report of the year, there's really not a ton to report. Um, the majority of our expenditures typically take place during the school year when school's in session. Um, but there are a couple highlights I just wanted to point out on the report. The first one being on that first page, your open choice attendance and early learning grant. Um, you'll see that we're anticipated to receive um, 1.9 million this year. there was an increase of about 89,000 um and this is due to the increase of our

127open choice students. We were able to add about eight additional students from last year at around 10,000 a student and therefore we bumped it up to um about 100,000 $100,000 given the 10,000 per student and then they had a little bonus bucket of money if you will at the state that's divided amongst um qualifying schools. the other um special ed the excess cost grant which we typically talk about um our 101 filing is due December 1st so we'll only have estimated grant reimbursement numbers um provided for the January time frame so keeping a close eye on that one as we start preparing those reports um those are the two main highlights I had on the grants and then on the expenditures um you can see under the um table that's provided there that the majority

128of changes in spending are typically just related to the timing of vendor payments. There wasn't anything that I could see that was um grossly out of whack, if you will. Um the only thing I wanted to highlight because there's a huge just like there's a large discrepancy in the percent spent is the insurance and pension line item. So last year um one two three four five six it's a seventh line down and you can see the fiscal year 24 25% spent was only at 12% and fiscal year 26 we're already at 25% spent um and this is due to a um a timing and vendor payment but it's related to our annually annually required contribution for our pension. So last year that payment was made in the second quarter whereas this year it was made

129in the first quarter and since that payment is well over um a million dollars um it's just driving up that percentage. >> Yeah. So in the in the second quarter it'll even out. It just looks weird because we we did it so early in the year this year. Um and that's all I had for highlights unless anybody else had any other specific questions. Just quick question obviously always a big topic just how the state tuition how we feeling about those um obviously the percentage it's a little tick higher than it was last year but >> yeah so that's that's related to just the timing of the vendor payments, but um Melissa Abby, our budget guru, um keeps a close eye on that and so she meets monthly, well, she meets weekly with um Katie Crisilla,

130the special services director, and then monthly, I believe, with Matthew. Um but she keeps tabs on it and right now we're within budget. We're good as far as tuitions, we're good as far as transportation. So, >> fingers crossed it stays that way. Absolutely. All right, that comes to our second public audience. Seeing this here, our next meeting um be the two weeks from >> Just to note that is Veterans Day. Town Hall is closed, but obviously us in the schools are Thank you everybody. >> Bye. >> Good night. >> For over 40 years, SEM has been the voice of our town, >> bringing us together through local programming, >> education, and live broadcast. >> SEM isn't just about television. It's about empowering our community, >> ensuring our voices are heard during government meetings and celebrating

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