001They all said hello. >> There's one over here, sir. >> That's Eric. He did it. Carl, good to meet you. >> Hi. >> Good evening, man. >> Wow. Ready? >> We're on. All right, we're live. We'll give it one more minute. All right, it's 7:00. Welcome to the Summer's Board of Education meeting, November 10th, 2025. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Our first item of business is our special awards and recognition. And I think I'll start off and say a few words and then Dr. Galloway also has a few words. Um so tonight is a meeting of mixed emotions. It happens every
002four years when there's a turnover after the board of education election. So tonight we honor two board members who did not run for reelection. Carl Stebins and Jan Martin. Each member of the board of education brings special skills and knowledge to our team. Jan was an English teacher at Summers High School for 16 years and was also teacher of the year in 2012. She was elected to the board of education in 2017, but she also served previously from 95 to 97. And she has served as board secretary the past four years. Carl was elected four years ago. Carl grew up in Summers and graduated from Summers High School in 1994. He has a wealth of experience in the business world that has been invaluable in negotiations and budgeting. Under his capable leadership as chair of
003sourin negotiations committee, we settled a new three-year contract with the teachers union, a new three-year contract with the administrators union, and a new contract with the pair educators. Jan has been chair of the curriculum committee. Just in the last four years, the committee discussed and recommended additional AP and ECE courses as well as new courses at the high school, a new reading program, and a new math program K through8. All of these were approved unanimously by the board of education. Carl has also been a valuable member of the budget planning committee, offering insights from his business perspective, but also his unique perspective as an alumnest. Jan has been a valuable member of the policy committee. Clarity and grammar are all important in every policy we review. We will miss her attention to all those details.
004Jan and Carl will be hard to replace. Their commitment and compassion for the summer school district is exemplary and replacing two of our four committee chairs will be an extra challenge. Thank you both for your total commitment. Jan and Carl, you will be missed. >> Thank you for those comments. Uh Jan and Carl, um I thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead here. um 2 and 1/2 years ago I sat there for the first time and and met you and your support, your feedback has been invaluable. Uh Jan, you have caused me to reread my stuff multiple times cuz I could hear your voice like what is Jan going to find? So I thank you for that. And Carl, I thank you for your ideas, your feedback. Um, and your thoughtfulness. Um, Carl,
005often times when you would start speaking, it was kind of like IATEN. People wanted to hear what your perspective was. You always posed thoughtful questions and you got me and my team to think about things through multiple lenses. So, I greatly appreciate that and I thank you for your service, both of you. >> Thank you. Thank you, man. That's all. >> Okay. Carl's going to go first. >> You're welcome. Carl, >> is there an opportunity for us to say a couple words or >> Yeah. >> Would you like to say a couple words? Yeah. >> Jan first or me? You want to go first? >> You go first, Carl. >> All right. Okay, Jen. Well, that that was very nice of of both of you, Ann and Sam. I much appreciate it. Um, you know,
006today is the Marine Corps birthday. And often times, uh, people will say to me, "Thank you for your service." And my response to that, uh, every time is, um, I appreciate it, but I really should be thanking um, the DoD because it did more for me than I did for it, for sure. And I feel the same way about my service with the board of ed. Um, I appreciate all those kind comments, but I really feel like I got more out of it than I put into it. And mostly what I gained was a knowledge and a deep understanding of just how organized and professional all of our staff and administrators are. And um, that was a big lesson learned for me is that Summers Public Schools is in really good shape and I'm proud
007to have been a part of it. So, thank you, Paul. And the last thing I'd say is Sam, I've never heard somebody say that they wanted to hear me talk. >> You're welcome, Carl. >> Thank you, Carl. >> Thanks, Carl. >> Great working with you. >> Um, it's been my honor and privilege to serve on the Summer's Board of Education for 10 years. And this particular board has been very special. I think uh although we came from diverse backgrounds and different political events, um we united in a nonpartisan manner, all right, with only one agenda and that was to be advocates for whatever is best for each and every student in the Summers public schools. And I have to thank Carl a little bit for being the uniter in this in this uh at you
008know for this award. I'm proud of what we accomplished together. All right. And I'm most proud of being a part of selecting Sam Galloway as our superintendent. Uh with Sam at our helm, I think we've made great strides in the last two and a half years and I look forward to what's going to come. Um and thanks to all of you for being such caring colleagues in our important work and I will continue to be an advocate for students in summers but from the other end of this room. So thank you all. >> Thanks J. Well said, J. Okay. So, we will move on to the approval of minutes from October 27th. So, we'll take a motion for that. from JT. Motion >> approved. >> And we have a second from Kim. Corrections, additions. All
009those in favor? >> I. >> Okay, that's unanimous. All right, we'll turn it over to you. >> Great. Thank you. And good evening. Um, my comments regarding my update tonight will be about Veterans Day and some sport sporting events and activities that have been going on. um because I'll present my goals which will really talk about the academic side of things. So tomorrow uh the Veterans Day program at SES starts at 09:30 and they'll be in the gym. MBA and SHS are having a joint program at the high school and that starts at 9:00. We have multiple guest speakers coming. Um, and the program in the auditorium will run from 9 till about 9:45. And at 11:11 they'll have a volley outside as they did last year. Moving on to sports. I haven't uh given
010an update in a while regarding sports, but I'm proud to say that the boys soccer team will be playing in the class semi-final tomorrow in New Britain at Willowbrook Park. Game time is 4:30 p.m. He's done an amazing job. Great. The girls soccer missed out on the state tournament for the first time in a long time. There were a lot of new faces on the roster this year. The girls competed all fall and came up one game short of qualifying for the tournament. Cross country very similar. A lot of new faces uh on the cross country team. And they did have one off state of Jonathan Breton uh for boys cross country girls swimming. Uh they run in a co-op program. They're two students from summers in the swimming program and both have had successful
011seasons and they have qualified for finals at the states and the finals are scheduled for Wednesday evening. And football uh it's also a co-op. Uh with Stafford they their record currently is 3 and4. Their next game is Friday evening 6:30 and they are going to beat Windsorlocks. We have to speak it and field hockey. So field hockey is coming back and you know I spoke with uh our ad Scott earlier and I'm going to actually read what he if you know Scott th this is is very uh interesting. So, this is in Scott's words, in what has been a feel-good story of the fall, the field hockey team qualified for their first state tournament since 2012. While they lost the their tournament game to Eos Smith 2:1, what a fantastic job by our coaches and
012players to get this program back to being competitive in both the league and around the state. So, I was ribbing him a little bit about the the feel-good story part of it, but I commend all of our student athletes and coaches as we continue to move forward and win tomorrow in New Britain. So, that concludes that particular and the other thing we're playing Cromwell tomorrow and I know the soup from uh Cromwell and Zack. So, I need to have bragging rights over Anza. So, I hope they pull it off tomorrow. So, I'm going to stand and take care of the goals. >> Yeah. >> So, I did put a copy in your folders. >> Great. >> So, I have uh on here my start was in April of 2023 and here we are. Time flies
013in 2025. And I've said before in this room that time from April to June was really about uh making observations, trying to figure out what was happening here. And the board charged me with figuring out why this particular district was not outperforming neighboring districts. I I feel like we have a good handle on the why of that. So what I did discover in April was that we had passionate people who cared and that's very very important. So now I'll just peeling the onion back. There were some systemic issues. We didn't have a line curriculum. So I've said it before, teachers are teaching hard, working hard, but is the curriculum was the curriculum aligned to the standards? And the answer was in some cases yes, in some cases no. So, so that creates, you know, if
014you look at our our district data over time, you'll see these spikes going up and spikes going down. So, it makes it very difficult to predict in real time how kids are going to do and course correct to meet their needs as they are learning or struggling. 23 24 over that summer I was trying to wrap my arms around what's the best way to move forward. So I did adopt the coherence framework uh from Harvard adopted it to here just to bring coherence and alignment for our organization and then I in my walkounds when I got here I thought it was really important that the schools focus on the nine cast indicators. I I did feel that the culture the climate was strong. I felt like the parent community and the relationships with parents and
015school I felt like that was strong. So I did direct our principles to apply for that award. I thought we would be competitive. However, we did garner that award and NBA was the first school in the district to do that. And what's important to note about that that was outside people coming in. So we weren't self-promoting. They came in, they had no skin in the game and and judged us against other schools statewide. So, I'm happy to say the elementary, excuse me, the NBA won that first year and I was encouraged uh through my relationship with Cass. They said, you know, your elementary school should really give it another shot. So, I give the elementary school big credit for being not hitting the mark, but being competitive, but to go back at it. And, you
016know, we're all proud to say and to know that they did garner that awards. And that is really hard to do. Two schools in one district in such a short amount of time. And what I said, I thought that that was the lowhanging fruit. It identified it. It was the lowhanging fruit. moving student achievement will be more incremental. And here we are now in 2526. Due to your work and collaboration as a board, we now have a standards aligned K5 ELA. We have K8 math curriculum and now the high school is going through their own curriculum alignment, teaming, collaborating, and moving forward. During conversation, I talked about the power of collective efficacy and collaboration to all of our staff members. And I talked with our staff members about our theory of action. If we do
017these things, we're looking for a certain result to happen. So, if we implement strong instructional practices, prek to 12, hire and retain highly qualified staff, foster positive school climate. That was a strong point. like me coming in the door. That was a strong point of the district. Develop and implement a differentiated, relevant, and rigorous curriculum. That's what that new curriculum is going to do. And at the elementary school, over 20 teachers are now trained in letters training. That's that skill to help students read better. It gives teachers the tools to do that and to be very precise with that. So, we've now acquired the curriculum. We have teachers at the elementary level trained well with the support of SEF, another community organization, which is almost unheard of to have an organization like that to support
018a school district. Amazing. And we will continue to provide meaningful, relevant, and ongoing PD to staff, then student engagement, growth, and performance will increase. So that is our theory of action through collective efficacy and collaboration. And this is a visual representation of continuous improvement. And I've talked about continuous improvement just as a way of it being our culture. To never be satisfied with where we are, to always examine practice because if we're always doing that, that means we're giving our best to every single student. And in real time, we're understanding if students are moving forward or if they need more attention. And that's what that culture will will give us. So the instructional core is made up of the student, the teacher, and the curriculum surrounded by those four domains. Then wrapped around district and
019school initiatives. And I have at the top conduct superintendent school visits. So, I go into classrooms as a collaborator, as someone to collaborate with school leaders and teachers about what's going well and what's not going well. And as I said, we we will continue to promote community and parent outreach, which are strong areas for us. So, we're going to keep the gas, our foot on the gas with those cast 9 indicators. are not going to let up on that and then continue incrementally to improve student achievement. So, I'm happy to say that I think it is the last time that the high school had this distinction was probably in the '9s and that is due to the hard work of the teachers and leaders and school community at the high school. So, in this district,
020you have three schools that have achieved statewide recognition in less than two years. So, it was here. It's just a matter of of focusing on the right things at the right time and then having the ability to react to what kids are showing us. If they're being successful, then we push them. If they are struggling, then we remediate and then accelerate. Last year when when I addressed you as a board, I talked about two areas that we could hit quickly and I called that the lowhanging fruit. I talked about the PE and I talked about chronic absenteeism. And people would say, well, what's the big deal? PE and absenteeism. But it all counts on the school scorecard and our district scorecard. So if you're not paying attention to those things, you once again will be
021in that space of wondering why. Why is the school underperforming? Why is the district underperforming? Because we're not paying attention to the right things at the right time. So, what you'll see here is the first set is the high school over 3 years and they have their chronic absenteeism down to now 8.9 and still working on it, not satisfied with that. And that decrease comes from student we we want you here following up with parents and also making parents aware that absenteeism it stacks up. So if if at all possible please bring the kid to school. And at NBA I talked about that anomaly that 21.80 that was a clerical issue never to happen again. So they are back to where they need to be and working on getting that lower and as you can
022see at the elementary school it's been a steady decrease over time. Our goal in this area is to honestly get below 5%. So that's what we're driving at. But if we are not at 5% like we know why we know who wasn't there we know why they weren't there and we understand the circumstances. And then I harped on, I challenged, harp, jumped up and down, whatever you want to call it. And I said, I'm here late every day. I see kids running through this campus all afternoon into the evening. Why are we underperforming in this area? And it goes back to focusing on the right thing at the right time. So when you focus, you can improve. So SHS at the at the high school, they've improved from 54 to 61. Uh they have a
023hard time with the sit and reach. I'm still trying to figure that out, but we'll keep uh getting after that. And then NBA >> uh our Hall of Fame coach made big strides there from 58 to to 71. And that helps with their school their school performance index score. And it helps us as with our district performance index score. And at SCES they were focused uh on improving in those areas. I was in the gym when they were explaining to students how to do the exercises. They had it's a big big gym so they had it sectioned off. Kids were testing on one side participating in regular gym and it was kind of going back and forth. So kids were invested. So we're not done in those areas but those were two areas that we
024focused on and I'm happy to say they were improvements. And each school is in a slightly different place. So at the elementary school, the biggest uh school with the highest student population, 2 and 1/2 years ago, they did not have the ability to examine student performance information. They had no platform whatsoever. So now they do have a platform. It's called Looker Studio. Other districts use different platforms, but the essence is having the ability to give an assessment, put it into the system so you can identify trends and make course corrections to react to what students are showing you. They are now using uh focus interim assessments and interim assessment blocks. These are assessments that are very similar to the ESPback exam. And also, you know, these little things count. At the elementary school, the third
025graders were taking the assessment on iPads. That's a that's a barrier. It's more difficult to navigate that way. Now, it's on Chromebooks. They're working with just those technical things. Um to make it easier for students to perform. They are partnered with Eastcon now. Um the datadriven decision-m process. um is improving due to this external partnership and that time is very important because you don't have a lot of time. So now teachers have to come with their data already examined sit around the table talk about what worked, what didn't work and then leave with a plan of action and then come back and then talk about did that plan of action work it didn't work and and that's that recursive process that we need to to happen. So, we now have an external partner who comes
026in and models that, mentors that, and then they'll be off on their own shortly. And and here's where the so what of being a board member, right? What you see there, high quality materials for ELA and math. That's a gamecher. That is truly a game changer. Now, teachers have the tools. They have the curriculum that's aligned to the standards. So, we will continue to improve at MBA older crowd middle schools are middle school students are interesting right we need to engage them and you know principal Martell and the team they've been doing the SBA breakfast for a while and that's part of it part of engaging with students getting them to understand what their growth goal is and getting them to pursue that growth and they're also now using FIABs and IABS in the in
027the past that it didn't happen. And the the power of that is it's like if you take an SAT prep course, part of taking a prep course is understanding how questions are phrased. Understanding what that question is really asking you. So the practice and experience with these assessments will help students and then teachers use the results to course correct instruction. and then standards align and learning targets posted. You know, these little things where either the essential question or the learning target is on there, the teacher knows what it is, students know what it is, and everybody knows what should be happening. And if as you saw um in that in that circle earlier, those are some of the things I look for when I go into classrooms and I sit down and talk to students
028and say, "Do you know what's going on?" or do you understand? Can you tell me what you're working on? Do you like it? Are you struggling? All those kinds of things. So I can have gain that understanding for myself as well. And at the high school, uh, you know, this is their year to shine like the other two schools receive awards. But I'm so proud of the high school. It's really hard to move a high school sometimes. And they also now have the ability to disagregate data and learning targets are now posted. um do nows, you know, problems when you come into the classroom, they're posted up there are phrases like PSAT and SAT questions to to get students familiar with the language and what those questions are asking them to do and also teaching
029students about the test at that age. And I know Dr. Rekenberg, she's running her predictability reports into next year and and that's helpful over time cuz if your kids are not meeting certain benchmarks, then you can take immediate action to try to uh remedy that situation. And also, we will continue to provide SAT prep sessions. So, districtwide, you know, there's an ELA, math, uh, leadership team, culture, climate, and the AI team is getting up and running. Ongoing PD, uh, we've created efficiencies regarding meeting time, scaled them down to Mondays because the time meeting time is so valuable and teaching time is so valuable. So we've created efficiencies there and we call them meeting Mondays now and schedule classroom walkthroughs throughout the year and our goal it's good school district good school district but not satisfied
030we want to be exceptional and in in numbers if if I said you know school performance index score of no lower than 80 that's what we're trying to get for instance the high schools at 86 6. Now the uh elementary school's 75 and I'm very confident she had a 10point swing in one year at SCES. So with this new curriculum, I'm I'm confident that that school will be in the 80s and the middle school. We have some more work to do. The objective is to get all three schools at least at 80 and that puts you in really good company uh statewide. I just put up the seven these seven steps and really I at this point in time I do feel like the assessment and diagnosis is completed. The new curriculum has remedied a
031lot of that. The system that I've talked about has remedied some of that and these other things are all ongoing and I would anticipate them to remain ongoing because that's tied into continuous improvement. You've seen this before. These are the nine uh cast indicators. And this, you know, in a school, it's safe and healthy school, community involvement, personalization of the school environment. So, all three leadership teams know to keep the gas on these nine indicators. Now this, you know, when we talk about coming here as a new superintendent in 2023, I came to find out that the leadership hadn't out of the superintendent's office hadn't guided leaders to these 12 indicators. So understanding that I'm confident in that our leadership understands these 12 indicators and this is where you get your school per performance index
032score and your district performance index score. So if people weren't focused on you, you know the why, right? Why is Ellington ahead? Why is Sfield ahead? Why these others? If you're not tracking and following this map, then it's hit and miss, right? But now every educator can see themselves in these 12 indicators. And I'll point to indicator 12 cuz some will say, "Well, what does that have to do? I teach music or I teach art." I really don't have anything to do with the indicators. No, you actually do. Indicator 12 is is arts access. So, I know in all three schools, teachers have been made aware of this. When I went to the high school, this was last year, I think in late spring, the high school teacher, they had never seen this. And it
033was it's like now I can I can see where the targets are. So, I think that that contributed to a nice bump for them this year. Uh, and we're looking to continue that. So, here's where we are from 2023. The first three bullets are to me are really noteworthy in such a small district uh to be recognized by the state in each of three years. There were improvements in all schools, a decrease in chronic absenteeism, but we are not satisfied. I want to make that clear. Our movement at this point, in my estimation, will be incremental. But the goal is to realize that incremental change and hold at a high level. And you know, I've said it before, that's where you get a school district like Madison and I watch um school districts like that
034who have been able to maintain a high level over time. And that's really the objective, not to hit it out the park one year and then dip the next year, but to build sustainability over time. That's the ultimate goal. And my clo closing comments are this. You know, I talked about strong prek to grade three and I've challenged principal musi to have our third graders hit aspect at a higher entry point and the little ones are starting to show that growth according to the dibbles assessment that they're looking at now. So now we start low from grade three moving up and we want strong grade three to grade five. And then the next thing is that transition from five to six to make sure we don't have a dip when they come over to grade
035six. And then maintain that level of achievement and then make sure there's a smooth transition to high school, grade nine. And then now, you know, high school kids are going to start to figure out what they like, maybe if they want to go to college, maybe if they want to join the military, or maybe they if they want to go right to the workforce. But the goal is to make sure the kids are prepared to go in either of these lanes. So that's ultimately the goal and and you know I put that you can go anywhere from here and that's really the the goal in such a small community, a school district with less than,400 kids. I want every student to be able to pick a path and be able to get there from here.
036So I think that's my Yeah, the little guy tells me little guy right there in the green. I've been looking at him all week when I've been going through this. He tells me that that's the last slide. So, that's where where I am. Uh, pending any questions you have at this point. >> Questions, comments? >> I have a comment um that I just heard yesterday um that a parent who came to the math program. All right. And has children, four different ch children in four different levels. Was so excited about the math program. He's saying that his youngest is learning things that his oldest is learning. He can see the vertical alignment. >> See that that alignment, right? >> And he he's doing algebra. >> Yeah. >> You know, at this he was so excited
037and he's he's a math person. So, I thought that was good. I I cannot state uh enough how important it is for teachers to have curriculum that is aligned to standards >> because if it's not aligned to standards then they're trying to create materials aligned to standard and that's wasting their time. >> Mhm. So that that's a big win for the district honestly. And now now we're in that implementation phase, right? And that's my job to is to make sure that we're implementing the program with fidelity and then we're following up and getting everything that we can out of this this program. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Stephanie. >> Hello. >> Great. Thank you for asking. >> All right. Um, so for the October report, there are three areas that I want to
038focus on. And I know one of them I'm focusing on like every single month and that's our salaries category, right? Because we have a lot of long-term subs right now. You'll notice that in the teacher line and then the other instructional as I indicated last month, those would start evening out um as our teachers that are out on leave move to an unpaid status, their salaries get freed up. It will pay off the long-term sub and we'll do transfers in January for that. Um, I do expect that in November there'll be one more adjustment. We'll have a long-term sub coming off as a new teacher starts in the position that they've been covering. And so that should adjust those lines a little bit. Um, and that's why we're waiting until January to do any sort
039of transfer because I knew that that was going to happen. We just didn't have the start date officially for the new science teacher up at the high school. So, we have that now. That's starting next week. Um the insurance line did adjust down a little bit which was great and I was happy about that because we had a couple people come off of our insurance and then just this past week I was told that there were two families coming onto our insurance because they had a life-changing event and lost their their spouse lost their insurance. So now we have to put them onto our insurance uh because that is a a change for them. Um so that will be reflected um probably in January's report because they'll come on as of December 1st. That that
040will all get straightened out on for December 1st um which will get reported next in January. Um the last line that I just want to draw your attention to is the non-special ed tuition line. We get our finalized numbers of who is at VOAG, magnet schools, any other public schools. October one, they run those reports. Enrollments get finalized through the state and then those um the BOAG programs bill us and the magnet schools will bill us for education services. I only budgeted for five kids to go to BOAG because we had four last year. I put one in just in case a eighth grader decided that they wanted to go to a VOAG program. I had seven additional students. So we we're way under budget for our VOAG program. Um so that was about I
041think last month I had about $55,000 in a variance because I didn't know how many kids exactly were going to go and so now we're negative 20. So a little bit of a hit. We'll figure it out as we go through the year. It'll offset it eventually, but we will have to do a transfer. Um, I'll probably do that in January as well, cuz that once that bill comes in, that's that's that's the bill and so we'll pay it. Um, so those were the three big areas that I kind of wanted to touch on tonight. Uh, big changes, big things happening in those lines. So, if you have any questions about any of those or any other um line on the budget, I'm happy to talk about it. questions. >> Is the big increase in
042VOAG predictable in any way or is it kind of >> I wish I could say that it is. Uh normally I would say I plan I always go through when I'm going through the budget and I'm developing the pro the budget for the following year. So like what I'm going through now I always look at what our enrollment is. 12th graders I take off. Historically we've only had one or two kids go to BOAG. this I I can't I don't know why there are seven kids that went to VOAG this year from the eighth grade going into nth grade. Um Dr. Galloway and I have had a conversation about it briefly. Um what is driving those kids to go and look somewhere else? We we offer the teched program up at the high school. So
043there's what what other than the curriculum or the opportunity to be in a teched program is causing them to want to go vocational or or agricultural. >> So to that point, I do have the list of families that chosen to go to Rockville EOS. >> Uh Rock, we have Rockville. We have one at Sfield, which we we've known they've been there for a little while. >> I understand that one, but I'm going to be calling the parents to understand There's nothing wrong with it. That that might just be the lane that they want to run in. But just in doing my due diligence and trying to understand because that was a big number. >> Yeah, it was. I mean, we doubled our number. >> Yeah, that was a big number. So, I had the list
044on my desk and I'll >> I'll let you know. >> Yeah. When I've called everyone to kind of find out. >> It could be an interesting trend. I mean it it's a small enough number where I'm sure it'll work itself out throughout the end of the year but because it's seven additional >> it's seven additional right so now those freshmen are likely going to continue right >> in that program >> and then talk about it and then potentially recruit right and then it just starts to >> become more and more >> total of 11 >> yes >> right >> interesting >> thank you Sure. >> Anything else? >> You know where to find me. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Opportunity to add or delete any agenda items. Seeing none. So, we'll take a motion
045for the consent agenda from Shane and a second from Mike. Okay. Questions, discussion. All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. That's unanimous. All right. No old business. New business. Carlos, >> welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening. >> I am Mr. Besco. I've been teaching at high school for 29 years and I'm here to propose a trip for you. It's uh it's the spring of April 1 August of 2026. It's been a while since our department has now turned overseas. So now that we're at the pro, we will have to start that again. And there you go. And let's start first in the top thing. Um, it's a 10day trip. It starts in Madrid and it goes all the way to the province of Vandal Lucia. That is in the southern
046part of Spain. The closest is about 4,000, a little bit more. And I do have some parents are interested and I'm very excited that there's all these three parents that come along and uh I think it'll be fantastic. So, April 1st to April the 10th. Uh, I'll make this a little bit bigger. So there we go. And what does the trip include? Let me start with that first. It includes transportation from uh Boston all the way to uh Madrid, all the internal transportation of airplane and bus and back to the states again. It also includes all the meals, includes all the entrances to museums to different attractions. uh in those 10 days uh all the hotel lodging and guided sightseeing as well. All right, I have a map here that gives a little more detail
047how the trip goes. Uh from we depart from Boston, we arrive in Madrid. We spend a couple days well three nights in Madrid and then we go down to Toledo. Mad is the capital city of Spain. Toledo is the former capital Spain, a stab bea capital in 1492. Very interesting year. After that we go down to Granada. There are beautiful sites in Granada. Lots of UNESCO places in Granada. Then we go down to Cilia. Uh these are places that throughout the years I have spoken and um especially in Seville during this time period during the time period of holy week they have what's called Sabana Santa. It's a very special uh way of celebrating Easter. Very different than we do. They don't have the Easter bunny. Instead, they have a older traditions that when students
048see here for the first time, it's a culture shock to the least. So, it it does have a very academic and cultural experience. It's not a touristy trip. Uh there's a lot of things. As a matter of fact, one of the things that students will do uh during the while the trip is happening is that two students uh the night before we depart to another place will present I will do a presentation to the group that comes along with us and will tell us where are we going, what we're going to see and what is the historical and cultural relevance. So, every student that's attending the trip, which by the way is available to students that have completed Spanish three honors, and we have a pool of about 40 or so students. I don't think
049it's going to be 40. I'll be happy if we get 12 students. That would be fantastic for students, parents, myself, and another shot. So, I'll get them back here. So students will present the night before for instance we arrive on um on Wednesday night and Monday to Spain that evening after we have go on to our hotel and whatnot we'll have two students that would present what we do that day the following day excuse me and then the following day we have two different students and we will rotate that so throughout uh those night nights excuse me we'll have students that will give us a little bit of a view what is it that we are going to city. So, we're tying it to what we do in the classroom. And after Seville, we are
050going to Kadis. Kadis is in the Gold Coast. Um, all southern Spain, uh, it's called consider the Gold Coast because it has sunshine a great number of days throughout the year, way more than we do down in Florida. And after that, we'll go to Granada. We take a bus uh to Madrid and go back to um to the US. Uh we arrive in Boston and the trip with EA officially starts the moment we board the plane and it ends the moment we um leave the plane from the high school parking lot to the airport is something that we provide and when I mean we as the students the students will be the ones that will pay for the transportation but official the trip with the F starts from the airport from the moment we board
051the plane to the moment we depart the plane and let me do a little bit more um the specifics some of the sites that we're going to see. Dr. Callaway, if I'm going too slow, please stop me and I can move a little bit faster. >> Four and a half minutes. All right. It's only seven minutes. So So some of the sites I'm not sure if you're familiar with Madrid or Spain, but uh we have quite a quite a full schedule. every single day we'll be visiting and I think rather than me showing you lots of text probably better if I do some image because images are always give you a little more of flavor this is what we see uh this is of the picture of downtown mad and mad obviously we're going to
052have the royal palace we go have the uh the museum of uh the museum sophia that's when students uh can actually see some of the famous paintings by the castle and other well-known in Spanish and European painters. All right, we move it on to the royal palace. Uh we also get to go in and all these things places that we go to they already inclusive part of the original um um original uh price and all along from the moment we depart the airplane Madrid, we have a tour director. He is the one that will be taking care of all the logistics behind the scene. I'm in charge of the things before the trip and during the trip. I take care of the students and and anybody else that comes along. That's my job. But there
053logistics specifics of troubleshooting problems that may happen, which always happens. Uh there's a tour director who's bilingual and he is with us 24 hours a day. He sleeps in the same hotel. He or she, I'll take that back. he or she sleeps in the same hotel where we are. So if there's an emergency, uh we have someone on call and they always uh have a a number of a group of people in case of an extreme emergency that can react within 24 hours anywhere in the world. That is the big selling thing, right? Um then the villa of Seville, uh another famous uh place in Spain, one of my favorite cities in Spain. Wonderful place to retire. And then we have Then we have Alhamra. Um I'm not sure if you have ever heard of
054Alhamra, but this uh Spain was conquered by the Moors for seven centuries. So they left a giant legacy. Uh and one of them is a beautiful buildings like this. That's the Moish architecture uh that has survived. Um Spanners normally when they took over cities uh that was left by the uh Moors, they destroyed them. But this was such a beautiful place I decided that we're not touching it. We're keeping it. It also happened with all the places above Spain as well. They kept um all the places that had cultural significance. Okay. So, I think that gives you a quick overview. I'm sure um 6 minutes. So, I'm going to slow down here and I'm open for questions if uh if you have any questions. >> So, quick question. This looks this looks like a great
055trip. So, maybe I misunderstand. The kids are responsible for their own transportation. >> Kids are the ones who pay. I'm the one who coordinates. I get a bus. Okay. A bus from the high school parking lot all the way to the airport and back 10 days later. >> Okay. But that's outside of this trip. >> That is outside of EF. EF is a company that we're paying to. Students are paying to. And this is uh the transportation from the high school to Boston is totally separate. Although I did build it and the application that I submitted for more of it as $4,100. That's what I submitted. That's why the dis there is a quick uh small discrepancy with what you saw here if you were looking at it. Okay. That is a discrepancy of a
056price. Yes sir. Thank you so much for putting this field trip together. Experiences like this for our students, authentic worldly experiences like this are are so important for them to have. It's a lot of work to put together something like this. Never mind to get this presentation together tonight. So, I want you to know how much it's appreciated that you're doing this. It's time away from your family. You're working with our students. So, but it's it's really beneficial to them. So, thank you. >> Can you talk a little bit about the students to whom could attend this uh >> Oh, yes. It's open to students that have completed Spanish three honors. students that completed Spanish uh three honors are current seniors, our current juniors, and obviously it's going to be open to students that currently
057have uh and Spanish for honors. So, we have a a long a pretty large sizable pool of um of close to 40 students or so. >> That's great. So, that if you take all those, you're saying that's the 40, but you think you will probably only get 12. I I'm just taking a wild gap because honestly I've been um I've been holding back putting out a lot of info out there because I want to make sure that first uh the proposed idea gets approved by the board of ed and once that happens like the first thing that I'm going to do I'm going to contact some of my students and put on Google Classroom that the trip has been approved and then what I need to do next is schedule a parent uh information meeting
058and I'm hoping to do it next week. So, a week from today or so, I'm trying to do as soon as I can uh because there are some deadlines that students need to meet with their families of paying deadlines and also some insurance deadlines uh that need to be met. So, I need to do my part. I need to make sure that after today uh I do another session similar to this and answer all the parents questions. Obviously, their questions are going to be more specific than what you yours are going to have. And yes, they will share rooms. So the rooms could be anywhere from two students, three, four, five or six depending on the hotel. There's a a quite a long list of hotels and they could be anywhere from two to three
059star hotels. And uh and overall our our thinking students will get a a good idea of what's like outside of summers and and often times is a culture shock. But a good culture shock and I think as parents we all want to make sure that our kids experience that especially when they're young. >> Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. >> So Carlos, >> yes. When was the last time you did a a trip? >> I've done uh three trips with Summers. I did one with another school of the past and my last one was in 200 something. Honestly, I can't remember exactly. M has done about four trips as well. She did three participated in one in Costa Rica and she did them after I did them. So hers is I think maybe her last
060trip is around 2015 or so. So it's been a while since we have started trips. >> So when you did it before did did the kids do anything with fundraising or is this kind of >> No, historically we have never done a fundraiser. What they do have nowadays, they do have each individual student gets a website dedicated for fundraising and that's where parents, family members, and friends can contribute to. That is the most um fundraising for $4,100 plus other expenses will take a long time. And I' I've spoken with other teachers at the high school. How much it takes to make profit uh from the fundraising and making $4,100 per student at a significant amount that I don't think what no matter what we do, we we will get to that point. So that's really
061uh only available as we have always done historically to the students that can afford it. Unfortunately, that is the case. >> But at least there's an avenue for >> there. There is an every student will have access to a place that they could send that to uh extended family members and friends or anybody they want and they can deposit money there if if they wish. >> So will they have to is there a deposit to sign up for? Yes. >> They don't have to pay upfront right now. >> No uh after you initial um registration I think is um $99 something to that effect. A very small amount. Oh, then they have to make three payments and uh they're broken down in and separated in different months and some parents pay on one shot. Parents
062have the ability to do a direct deposit. They have the ability to do all different deposits as they wish as long by a certain time they have to have met their uh their required guidelines and especially when they request um an all-inclusive insurance meaning that they can get all the money back at the last minute when they they also have the ability through this company uh they also have to have made payments um by certain dates and that gets a little more technical. So normally that's the page that's the fine print and when I have my parent session I say before you do anything you need to look at the fine print if you're going to get insurance because that's off my hands. Those are the decisions that families need to make. Get your regular
063insurance or you get your uh insurance plus+ but in order to be able to withdraw uh the day before you need to have a certain criteria and and I don't touch that because it gets a little bit complicated >> if things happen. >> Exactly. things happen. So we we do have that great option as well. >> Okay, >> other questions. >> I was curious question. >> Yeah, go ahead relate to safety. Um I think Spain probably state department reports would probably say it's pretty safe to travel but the board we have a policy for shap students and one >> international travel or is it the same? I I believe it's six students and one chaperon that has >> six students and one chaperoon to eight. >> So it's been one to eight to eight. >>
064Oh, wonderful. Look at that. >> And that's the same for domestic and international travel. >> Yeah, we don't have a separate policy it looks like. >> All right. >> I always took an account as being >> He also said parents. There are parents who want to attend as well, >> right? I'm curious if any I mean the policy is what it is but just considering that travel I'm curious if we might be able to solicit some of our SRO you know expertise to be one of the shaft rooms and travel along. I think that may be helpful. >> That would be fantastic. I I would love that. >> Um it does sound like principles going Carl. There is a separate part of the policy it looks like for international Okay. >> I mean, she she
065just put a policy in her consider that. >> Okay. Just adding international travel gives me concern about safety. understand that there's a plan in place for our board policies or that we just stop something before the trip to just give parents and students um comfort >> comfort in in knowing that that there's really a strong safety resource uh as a part of the group. >> Okay. >> Sounds like a great trip. Just um I I I think we should all be just a bit concerned with international travel. Yep. >> Okay. Are we ready for a motion on the floor? >> I had one question. >> Yes, sir. >> When are you guys planning on going? >> Oh, April 1st. >> April 1st to April the 10th. Uh is the day after the SATs. >> So,
066and chances are that the great majority of the students are um are taken uh obviously well of course everyone will be taking the SATs. >> Very cool. Sounds great. Thank you. >> I did a little due diligence on the company, too. Just trying to make sure we're not going with a, you know, a startup here that looks like looks like they've been doing this for over 55 years. And >> yes, uh I've traveled over past four trips that passes with this is done as well. I think with the exception one year uh in her four trips, she's also used of EF. We are very comfortable and we like the way they do things. Right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Can we have a motion then to approve a move from Jane for
067the Spain trip and a second from Ed? All right. Any other comments? All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. I think that's unanimous. >> Well, thank you so much for sending support. Thank you. Good job. Okay. Next, we need approval for a hire for a parent educator. Do you want to make that comment? >> Sure. I'm very cognizant of the methodism policy. That's why I bring it toward you. Um, but we have a very high quality candidate to be a parent educator that's in town. Um the brother actually um is highly regarded at the school, hence the nepatism and also the mom works for the district too at NBA. >> So this is for a par educator position I believe at SCS. >> Okay. >> So there's a student at the school. >> You're
068saying a her brother's a student? No, the um the employee who we're recommending has a sibling who already works at SCS. >> Got it. >> And the mom works at MBA. >> Okay. >> So, a family deal happening there. >> Would there be any supervisor any concerns or >> Okay. either one. >> All right. Motion to approve hiring of Isabella Friia as SCES PAR educator per DBS code 4112.8. >> All right. And a second from Derek. All right. Further discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Another unanimous. All right. Uh the other ones under new business are the first postings for a whole bunch of policies if anyone has any questions on those. Um otherwise we'll move into committee reports curriculum. Uh we're on hold until the end of the year. Okay. Uh
069policy we are also on hold um till the beginning of the new year. Planning and finance >> uh December 1st is our first uh our second budget meeting >> and salary and negotiations. Carl >> uh salary negotiations all >> okay >> uh building committee building committee met last week. Um the we are moving ahead to go ahead and apply for uh new reimbursement through the hierarchy of construction money rather than the HVAC money. Um you can apply I guess the window so to speak opens the first of the month. So they're hoping the 1st of December. uh they then have 10 days to get everything in and at this point there doesn't seem to be any reason why we can't meet that deadline. Um then the committee will start reviewing these around December 14th and
070supposedly we will find out within 30 days whether or not we will get that money. So that's kind of where we stand. Um Melissa Mui came to the meeting prior to that, so she had an opportunity to ask questions. They had some for her. It went very well. Um and that's kind of where we are. We're moving slowly, but I think once we get the grant in there and I think then they can start kind of putting a schedule together. So, okay. You have any questions? >> All right. Uh, anything from Correct, Carl? >> Yes. There's a meeting this Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. >> Okay. >> Um, as you know, I'm out of town on a business trip, but I'm able to attend, but I did forward the invite to you and Sam if somebody
071from the board would like to attend in my absence. I believe that's allowed. So, right, >> I I forward that information to you and Sam. So, if somebody wanted to do that, I think Mike Briggs might have uh set it on 104 for me. >> I I I have, Carl, you're right. Seems like you're volunteering me. >> All right. Well, we we may forward that over to Mike. I will be out of state, so I will not be available. >> Yeah. All right. Thanks, Carl. >> Little parting gift from Carl. >> Yeah. So, if you can forward that over to Mike, that would be great. >> That'd be fabulous. >> My heart is too much. >> Thanks. >> Um, anything for SCF, Shane? >> They're meeting this Thursday at 7 and I intend to attend.
072>> Okay. Noted. >> The emphasis on the right continent was there. >> Okay. >> All right. Advanced calendar. uh pops concert this weekend. Um now one thing I should probably add to that. So I've heard pretty much from everybody. So the board we are all on board for participating in the Christmas gift again. Um, I think November November 14th or 17th, um, we'll get the list and I'll send it out to the board and then you can each pick what you want. And I think that's that's not a meeting. I think that's our exception to the rule that this one is helpful if you reply all so everybody knows what everybody else is bringing and we don't end up with eight bicycles. Um, so I'll send that out once I get it from Lori. But
073great program. Okay. The other advanced notice is the capstone presentations and that's going to be January 13th. So if anyone can attend, you can go for just if you only have an hour or two, you only have late morning, um, you can let Tenley know and then she puts the schedule together. But um I've seen quite a few of them and I have yet to see one that is not outstanding. So I think this is one of the best things that we uh are doing for our students. Okay. I think the rest you can self-explanatory. All right. Audience is citizens staff students. Gina Arctic. Um just wondering with um and thinking more about the a boag applications. It's a pretty lengthy process. So I'm just wondering if maybe Mrs. Bohan can kind of keep a
074list when kids are working on their application or getting their letters of recommendation just so that you have an idea of how many applied each year. >> Okay. might help to maybe guesstimate a little better if you know how many are interested. >> Okay, good point. >> Anybody else? Um, yeah, Lisa, >> just wanted to thrilled about Dina and Sharon joining the board. The knowledge that and experience they have is incredible. Um, also it means we're losing Jan and Carl and I know from what you've said and said for years now how the special contributions that both of these people have made to the successful functioning of the board. And I'm not saying that I didn't get a little teary when you were talking about them. just I want to thank you both for your
075service to our community and to our kids. It's it it's incredible that how much you give of your time and your expertise and I'm s so grateful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And so speaking of Gina and Sharon, I think I sent an email out. So, we're all set up with Dave Marty, who will be here at the next board of ed meeting. He will be here at 6:50. Um, so prior to starting the meeting at 7:00, he will administer the oath to everyone that got elected or reelected. We do that first before and then you're you're all official before we open the meeting right at 7:00. So, it'd be great to have us all here 10 minutes early. Um, so I'll send out a little gentle reminder about that. >> Okay. >>
076All right. Jan, >> last time. >> Okay. Motion to address meeting a second >> by Shane. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. and meeting adjourned. >> 809. >> Thank you very much. buy our tickets.