Somers BOE Meeting - October 14th, 2025

001you know, she lives in somewhere in Springfield or near Springfield and was showing her that she >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, especially for elementary. I I know I look at it every day, too. Coming out early so we can play with the dog and stuff, but >> yeah. >> Well, you know, check out that or do we know yet? >> Um 167. >> Really? Pretty good. I checked >> and it's been what, like a week or so? >> Two weeks. >> No, not two weeks. A week. >> That's pretty good. >> And I'm going to do um the QR code for parent teacher conferences. I'll put them in the offices when they walk in. the first few minutes. >> Yeah. >> Interesting. [Music] Okay, it's 7 o'clock. Good evening. Welcome to the Summers Board of

002Education meeting on Tuesday, October 14th. And if we can 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. All right. So, we will start off with a motion to approve the minutes of September 22nd. Okay. From Kim and a second from Jan. All right. Any questions, additions. All right. All those in favor of the minutes. >> Okay. And that's uh fives. Yes. And one abstension. >> Yep. >> All right. And I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you. And good evening. Uh I have four or five updates. Uh we're going to talk about student performance data later in the meeting. Uh but the first thing I'd

003like to mention is that the uh First View real-time vehicle tracking monitoring platform is up and running. I'd like to thank uh Mrs. Ratawitz for uh sending me a message uh to investigate that. Um so I appreciate that. Um we along with First Student got that up and running. Over 100 parents have signed up. Uh if you're interested in signing up, please go to the district website. There's a QR instructions and a QR code there. Also during parent conferences, the QR code will be uh made available. So if you're a parent, you can sign up and see where your child is on their bus route uh and kind of gauge how quickly they'll be home or how soon that bus will arrive at your area. So thank you for that. Uh at SCES parent conferences

004are on November 5th, 6th and 7th. Um the high school college fair was on October 9th. Uh it was well attended. I'm happy to say that all four grade levels were allowed to participate. So freshmen had the opportunity to interact with um college representatives. Um Dr. to reckonburg about how many over 100 >> there were 112 uh schools there >> schools there military was there >> military as well >> trade schools >> yeah trade schools so well done I thought >> uh also I'd like to commend uh MBA uh principal Martell and staff for putting on their their uh growth ESPback growth breakfast uh I think it was a wonderful opportunity for students to be recognized. Parents came, grandparents came, and I know even though I didn't eat breakfast, it looked really good. Uh and

005and lastly, uh we have PSATs coming up uh on the 17th at the high school. So, if you have a high schooler who's going to uh sit for that exam, please make sure to get plenty of rest that night so they can show us their very best for this assessment. And that's all I have for any questions. >> Okay. >> So Stephanie, >> I just you caught my attention there with um the exact growth breakfast. So it sounds like you're celebrating students who are growing could be from a one to a two or two to three, which is very different than celebrating the top performers. Could you talk a little bit about that? >> Oh, absolutely. I'd be I'd be happy to. Um, and when I got here and met with principal Martell, we were

006talking about the ESPback breakfast that she had been doing uh prior to my arrival and it recognizes students who hit their growth targets. So, you know, you could be in a level 1, 2, 3, or four, but the state puts out growth targets for you. So, it's a way to keep students engaged. uh it gives them a tangible goal to go after and if they hit that growth target they get recognized publicly. >> Oh, that's awesome. >> So, you know, you may great work. >> You know, you may a student potentially might not hit a four, right? >> Right. >> But if they're at a level two and they worked really hard in that level and they hit their target, someone is noticing that. >> Thank you for sharing that. >> Sure. Thank you. Okay.

007Okay. So, you all have the September report in your packet. This is through September 30th. Um, two big notables uh changes from August, which I'd kind of given you all a heads up about in the last meeting um to expect is that uh we have four long-term substitutes right now working for us. due do maternity leave, leave abs and whatnot. So those get recorded in the other instructional. So that's why that number is so high. We are still paying some of the teachers that they are subbing for due to um sick time and such that they are allocated. Um once that those unpaid time days start coming in then we will take care of doing a transfer from the salary line into the long-term subline just to even that out and true that up. Um

008I also think there is one long-term sub where we don't have what their end date is. we budget them out for the end of the school year, but I don't anticipate them working until the end of the school year and we'll have somebody in that position. Um hopefully within the next month or two. So, I just wanted to draw your attention to that. That will end up getting cleaned up hopefully before December 31st is my anticipated um goal. The other area that I wanted to let you or draw your attention to is the special ed tuition line. in September, I'd let you know that we were still waiting for contracts to come in. Believe that all of the contracts are in. Um, yes. Um, so pending any unexpected outplacements that we don't have yet, excess

009costs once we get that reimbursement, which comes in February, um, March, and May, that will offset the negative balance that's there. I make I don't make that adjustment until I know how much we're going to get because we all know that I come into these meetings and I tell you that we expected this amount and now we're only getting this amount. Um and so I don't want to make an assumption about where we're going to land with that money until I have a better idea of that and that will happen in February. So those are the two biggest um changes in this budget over last month. Um everything else is kind of running as as expected. Um, right now we're showing a positive balance of $292,000 depending any crazy things that happen between now and

010the end of the school year. Um, as always, monitoring utilities and electricity and water, not too much water, but oil. We haven't had any oil deliveries yet. Um, knock on wood, we still have some warm weather coming maybe in the month of October. Um, and we won't get our first oil delivery until either the end of the month or November time frame. So, So that's where >> the tanks were topped off. >> We topped them off in June. Yeah. >> So we're starting point, >> right? Right. But we still use the oil for water the um the hot water. >> Um so that still gets used a little bit, just not as quickly as it does. >> Right. >> In the winter months >> when we get two or three deliveries a month in from

011January to March. >> Questions for Stephanie? >> Um I just forget. When do you find out the excess cost reimbursement for the year? >> So we submit for the reimbursement December 1st is the date that we submit all of our high-cost students to the state. Then in February I will get kind of an idea of how much we get our first kind of deposit of excess cost um or we report again in February. be deposited in March. And that's really around that time frame is when I find out. I get an estimate. I haven't run it yet. Usually, we anticipate 100. If we were to get a 100% reimbursement, we're up in the $300,000 range. >> Yes. >> I do not expect that we are going to get 100%. We never have. >> Yeah. 60

012last year. >> Uh it's Yeah, it's been dropping. I think it was at I think 59% and then they infused they gave us some extra money last year if you recall. >> Um I don't know what that's going to look like this year. Um I >> So did they give extra money in this budget? >> In last year's budget they gave us money. >> They don't have the numbers yet. >> We don't have numbers yet. >> Oh, >> we don't get it until about February >> um of what we're expecting. And they'll tell us here's what 100% would be. Here's your capped amount. And then they give us a percentage of the cap amount. >> Okay. >> Um so I won't know that until about February. I on average since I've been here, we've gotten

013anywhere about 200 to 260 depending on how much money um we've put into outplacements and how much the state is reimbursing. So we can expect about I would say 200,000. But that's a total guess on my part on where the state's going to go. >> Okay. Anything else? >> I I have two questions. One is on the variance for the health insurance. >> Y >> is that just due to the makeup of the plan? And >> that is right. So we had a few people that left our district and they were taking either single or the waiver and the new people that came on are taking higher typically a family plan. >> Um so that's the reason for the increase. >> So do you think that trend will continue throughout the year or we don't

014know because of when they come and gone. >> Exactly. Um the there's also the potential that people have the ability so if someone goes out on a leave of absence they can if they are on FMLA they stay on our plan and they pay their portion as an employee once they go off of FMLA then they have to pay 100% but I don't always know if that's going to happen or if they are even planning to stay on. So, for example, if a teacher goes out due to a maternity leave and they choose not to to continue their employment for the year, they've asked for a leave of absence for the rest of the year. The first 12 weeks are covered under our insurance at their employee rate and then they once that runs out,

015they can say to us, we're going to go on our spouse's plan and then they leave us completely or they stay on and they pay 100%. and that I have budgeted for them not to pay 100%. That they've been on our plan all year. So that will fluctuate. >> So now if they're paying 100% of the insurance cost and I'm not, that will that will give us money back. >> Right. >> And then lastly for me is the variance between the other instructional and the salaries. >> Yeah. >> We're still upside down a little bit there >> because we're still paying some of those teachers for their sick time. >> Yeah. So, I'm paying a teacher and I'm also paying a long-term sub. But, and both of those things are income. >> So, once that

016kind of evens out, maybe a teacher's not returning now, we cut their off their salary. The salary line goes up and I can transfer that money to the um the other instructional. And same with the example that I gave. I have a long-term sub that we don't know what their end date is. So, I have them going until the end of the year. >> I do not expect to be paying them until the end of the year. Okay, that should balance out probably. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Good questions. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I'm going to turn it back to you and Dina. >> Thank you. So, we're going to tag team uh this presentation. Dina is going to start off and I

017will tag him. >> Okay. Hello. So Dr. Galloway and I are here to to talk to you to present some standardized assessment data our annual presentation. Um we are going to review data and then talk about the plan moving forward based on the data. So the data driven decision-m um I think as questions arise if if you want to jot them down because they may be answered later in the presentation. Um and we want to kind of give you all the information although I know Dr. gallery presented you with some of the data before the meeting and then you have your your kind of hard copy here. So, um we always begin these presentations just kind of quickly reviewing our vision and mission because it anchors our work here in summers. Um new this year,

018um we have been working as a curriculum department with administration and teachers on our elements of effective instruction document. So this document ties together our vision and mission, our portrait of the graduate, but also what we believe supports this within the classroom. And those are kind of the roots of the tree. Um, so this is something that I I talked a little bit um with the curriculum subcommittee about in the spring on some of the work we've been doing. This is something that we finalized um over the summer and that we shared with teachers out. And so if you think of the students kind of up in the the canopy of the tree leaving us, right? and then the teachers rooting them in um the elements that they need to get to those uh four

019C's which are our portrait of the graduate. Um so this also anchors all of the work that we do um in summers and you've seen these before. which is our learning stances kind of fills out our triangle which is if we are going to be in a continuing improvement mindset we have to have the right mindset entering into these meetings right it's not personal it's about the work the information's out there and our our primary goal are the kids right how can we move this work forward to support student learning um and so we got these actually uh years ago when we were doing our K to3 literacy work we've adapted and adopted them as our own and it's infused in kind of all our curriculum work so that's kind of our equilateral triangle of

020how we frame all this. Some of these slides you've seen before, so I'll go through kind of quickly. We are going to talk tonight about EPSback in grades 3 through eight for ELA and math. We are also going to talk about the NGSS uh science scores, which are grades 5, 8, and 11. Um these are all digital. They've been digital for a few years. They are given in the spring um of each year. For Smarter Balance, there are a range of scores that a student can get that equate to four levels. Within each one of these levels, there is a scale score and it's adjusted annually. So, a level one in third grade is not the same as a level one in fourth grade. It's an adjusted scale score for each year. Um, we are

021always hoping for students to be at levels three and four. So, that would be our meets and exceeds to grade level standards. But in reality, we want students to make growth similar to the question you would ask Ed about the growth breakfast, right? While it's important to get kids at the top level, it's also important that students grow within their level. We pull all our data from Ed Site. Like to thank Jessica Wood for that. Thank you, Jessica, for helping us pull the data in the back. Um and we um have pulled data that is all um certified and public for for us to to view. So in an ideal situation, I'd be coming up here, I'd be sharing data with you that shows that we have at least 70% of all our students at

022level three and four, right? So that is our our what we strive for. That is not our benchmark. That's our baseline. We would want threequarters of all our students performing at or above grade level. In reality, I would really like to see 70% of our students meeting their growth goal because we do know that there are students that are going to operate at that level one and two for various reasons, but as long as they are showing individual growth, that's really important. Um, we went to a workshop on data years ago by the state and they really talked about the four ways that you can look at data, the four types of data lenses that you can have and really the the gold standard is the match student cohort, right? So this idea of comparing

023a student to student year-toear as they progress through school. And so we are going to show you data in a new way this year. So so those of you that have been here for a few years, the slides kind of look the same. This year they look different. Um and that's purposeful. So I'm going to I'm going to talk through these with you. So I'm going to show you slides that have um ESBAC and NGSS data. And for our ESBAC and ELA um this is a mix of achievement data and growth data. So, we'll start with third grade. Third grade is our entry point for ESPback. Um, it's the first year that students are taking ELA and math. You have third grade achievement scores here at each level. So, if you look in the red,

024you can see for ELA, 21% of our students in that cohort are at a level one. If you go all the way up to the blue, which is exceeding, we have 24.2% in that. So, these are where they are starting. Right? So, these are the students at each proficiency level. This is a different view because I want to talk a little more about that individual student achievement and and their growth goal. And in the past, we always showed you levels three and four. Three and four. And that doesn't tell a whole story about data. And so, it was important for us to show you where the kids are starting. This is where it gets very colorful and interesting. So, here is an example of and this these charts are replicated. So, I'm going to kind

025of we'll give you the overview and then we'll kind of go through them grade level by grade level. So these slides for grade fourth through 8th grade are comprehensive grade levelback data scores for ELA and math. The numbers in the margins represent achievement data. Okay. So we can see the percent of students at levels three and four. In this case these are last year's fourth graders how they did in third grade on the left in math compared to fourth grade. So in the margins you have their percentage at three and four on the left math on the right ELA. You also have a colorful bar graph that represents the SVAC score ranges. You can see that the score ranges for each level is adjusted right based on the years. So the first bar graph on

026the left in math represents third grade, fourth grade, they haven't gone to fifth grade yet, but you can see how it would it was moved up. The line graph, which is the overlay on the bar graph, represents the student cohort scale score. This takes into account individual student growth within all SBACK levels. So you have achievement data which is straight numbers 1 2 3 and four. But then you have a line graph that shows growth within that cohort. It's important to note that the state calculates and sets the students growth goals. We do not. So they will look at their scores in third grade and create an adjusted growth score or a benchmark for each student. look at the students fourth grade, make an adjusted growth goal for fifth grade and so on and so

027forth. We've repeated this pattern for each grade level. So this is the same for fifth grade. What you see in the margins is we have more years of data, right? So we have fifth grade students from last year how they did in fourth, third, and fifth along with their um average scale scores on the graph. >> Can we go back Dana on one side? I just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly. So if at if the bottom of the red is the floor, >> correct? >> And the top of the blue is the ceiling. >> Correct. >> Is this graph telling us that our students from third to 8th grade have raised both the floor and the ceiling? >> So this is only fourth grade. So that's important to know. It's just our fourth

028grade students. >> Let's see if my little >> I'm just having a hard time seeing the numbers at the bottom. >> Right. So Oh, the numbers at the bottom are just the grade level. >> Right. So this will if I come up here apparently the screen meets the point like an estimation of what their scores. >> It's a projection of where they're Yes. >> So this is the third grade bar graph. This is the fourth grade bar graph. This is eighth grade. Obviously they're not there. >> And third grade is what they actually achieve. >> This is their correct third and fourth is actual. >> Correct. So what this represents is their average scale score. So this is the average of all students. Meaning there could have been students who were in the level one

029in first in in third grade. They were given a growth goal. They're still in level one. >> Yeah. >> Here, but they met their growth goal. >> And you're extrapolating that out based on that run rate. >> Correct. This is actually taken from Edsite. We don't pull this data. These are the actual um charts that we've taken from EdSight. So, the state puts these together for us. >> All right. >> This view is straight achievement data. This is telling you that in third grade, 64 approximately 65% of kids in math were at levels three and four, right? compared to the same group of kids, give or take a few, right? Because we get new kids in, kids leave, who were at 62% achievements levels threes and four. Our average scores are in that green. >>

030Correct. >> And the first two columns are the first two bars here are actual data >> and the rest are are projections. >> There's no projections up there yet because they haven't taken the test. Go ahead. >> Yeah. So, you're saying right. I think those are just the windows that they can perform in. So the scale keeps changing every grade. Like you said, the floor rises and the ceiling does too. So >> they can score within that, >> right? Like >> that graph doesn't necessarily look like that for every district. >> Yes, it does. So the bar graphs look the same. What changes is the line graph within the bar graph. >> The bar graph stays the same because the scales the scale ranges by level are set. So Dina, the orange is what all

031districts get for level one. That's the range of scale scores for level one. >> Okay, it looks orange to me. >> Sorry, red. >> And blue, not purple. Right. Blue >> is what a level four scale score range is for all students, all districts. Correct. Got it. Correct. Why are so the data that we don't have yet to to Carl's question why are there colors in in those later grades? Do you know like >> why are there colors in the later grades? >> This is that we know the cut points. >> We know the cut scores. >> Oh, so those are cut scores. >> So So Ed, if we were to articulate this axis, we would know that we've got roughly the bottom at 220 up to let's say 2400. And then here we could

032say like maybe this is 25 all the way up to 32. So this is not like the previous graph where we looked at you had the the band was wider because the percent was so this is straight achievement by level because I don't have growth scores cuz this is their entry point. It's different. So this is standalone. What you're going to see in grades four through eight all looks like this now because we have growth data for those because we have multiple years of testing data. >> Make sense? >> Yep. Dina, before you go go back to the other one, >> since we're here, um, I've already met with Mel and and we understand that we are looking for a higher entry point >> for grade three, right? So that then you get the the

033buy in and efforts of K 1 and two to get us a higher launch point in grade three. And you know, it may sound like not a big deal, but in previous years, our third graders were taking the assessment on iPads, but that's a factor. So now they move the Chromebook, they're going to be taught how to manipulate the Chromebook. That's an obstacle, right? So although it's grade three, their first point, we are working for a higher launch point in grade three. And we know that we have um internal assessments that we utilize particularly I would say with ELA but also in math that are aligned with the science of reading that are predictability reports right we know that if students are performing well on their dibbles assessments we know that if students are performing

034well on our universal screeners in math that it's predictive it's going to be a better predictor of how they do on the SBA combined with test taking skills. So can they type? I mean, this is the first time that that you're doing the ELA assessment in third grade and you're asking students to type a written response that has to be X long. Most kids are used to touch screens. I don't know if any of your kids, your personal children know how to use a keyboard. Kids like, "No, they do not." So, that's something that we're looking to incorporate at the elementary school because there is both test savviness regardless of the test you're taking and also the content um that you need to know to take the test. I mean the older ones do because

035you learn it at in media at some point but yeah my third grader last year would have had no >> correct way to type test out minus Julian. >> So if I move to the fifth grade data it's the same look as fourth grade but you can see that we have an additional year's worth of data right so we have how last year's fifth graders did in fifth grade achievement wise in the margins and then we have the growth scale within the line graph on the chart. And so this tells two stories, right? In the margin it tells us the kids that are at or above grade level, which to me is kind of like what we're hoping for, right? But then it says even though we may not have met our benchmark of 70%

036achievement, we are seeing some growth with students overall, right? Those level ones to twos, the level ones within level one, some kids that might have gone two to three and kind of go from there. >> Sorry, I'm No, go ahead. I'm a skip ahead student. >> Oh, wait. You need to wait. You need to wait. But would you say on this slide >> that the story here is the ELA performance of our students? >> Oh, I would trended upward. >> I would say that and I would see that you can see some positive ELA trends that I could say have a direct correlation to our science of reading shifts in instruction or phonics instruction because as the students get older, they've had more exposure to those solid tier one curriculum resources. Absolutely. >> And I

037think the other grades are going to show that too. >> Oh, because you skipped ahead. >> Strike that for a minute. But I would say that that looks like we we're doing something right there. >> 100%. Okay. >> I I would say that my goal as a curriculum director since I got here is to find out the story behind the numbers, right? And so when you have numbers that are showing up, down, left, right, and it's like what is happening, right? And so we had to sh up the base. And so I do feel confident in saying that we've seen some great positive sustaining gains in ELA because that has been a curriculum that we've had K to 5 the longest, right? implemented with Fideli science of reading coaches to support just really strong work

038when it comes to that and I I feel confident about that in math that would also speak Carl why I put together the math leadership team to mimic the lit the literacy leadership team because we saw such positive gains in how we handled that let's do the same thing with math >> I get it now makes sense that's why we got the new K through8 math program we saw this because math is not showing the same trend as >> uh no but we are also in our first year of implementing the math program right Okay, >> makes sense. >> I got them. Thank you. >> And again, I won't speak to all of these. The data speaks for itself. But again, you can see as we go up in grade level, we have more data

039because the students have taken SBbacks more times. When we do get to our eighth grade cohort, you'll notice that there are no third grade scores. That was sback year. >> Um, sorry. That was CO. We indicated it in the back. Yeah. No Sback due to CO. So the first bar is blank >> but the trends are the same. I mean the ELA is going up and the M >> Yeah. I mean we see some we see some dips, right? We see some dips but overall >> overall overall >> um you know not thrilled with the percent of students that are that are at those levels three and four. Uh less of a blow when I see the students making some gains. But I I would say this. If you notice the trend line in math,

040we're now in the yellow, right? if as opposed to here where we see the trend line going like yellow to green or even here in math when it's kind of like green. So would I like that trend line to be higher? Absolutely. But this is kind of our starting point. I'll take some of Dr. Gallery's thunder. He and I often talk about this year being year one. This is like kind of year one. This is our set point data because I I I feel like I can speak from a curriculum lens confidently with the programs, the materials, the coaches that we have in place. And we know that it's going to take a few years of fidelity to instruction to the big pieces that we put in place till we see results. So for me

041in my lens, this is benchmark data, right? >> I worry about Oh, sorry. This this is like my third year in a row bringing up this eighth grade group which is now freshman. >> Correct. How are they managing in high school at this point? Yeah. How I'm like I've been concerned about this for for three and I know this is just test data. >> There are so many other factors that >> Yeah. You know that make a student a student, >> but like this one in like this group consistently is just different than the rest, you know, and I would wondering how they're doing in high school. >> Well, is that true though? Like if you look at the scores from seventh grade to eighth grade like we see that here for this one cohort

042but is that true for other cohorts >> as they metriculate seventh to eighth grade. >> Yeah. So is there a pattern every year in seventh to eighth grade? >> No. If you look at it there's no one like go to go last year's data >> but you bring you bring up an important point because there's as a director of curriculum there's two lenses at which I look at. One is the individual student growth data but then there are also trends. So all things equal. If we have the same teacher who's been in the same grade level year after year who potentially gets a high cohort of students and for whatever reason boosts them higher or they always tank when they go there. I wonder about instruction. I wonder about assessment. I wonder about fidelity curriculum.

043I couldn't say that before because I had no curriculum. I had no programmatic materials. It was inconsistent at best. Right? I feel confident more confident now in math because I know what the teacher should be doing because we provided them with materials that are aligned in spirals. K to8 high quality with coaches to support that. It's going to be easier for me to look at those trends potentially and see where those pitfalls are with instruction, right? >> Um I I do think Kim, you're talking about a unique cohort. I will tell you that attendance has been looked at with students in this cohort. We look at how they collaborate and interact with each other. Um Sam, I don't want to steal all this fun because he does have some slides coming up where we'll speak

044building to building about some kind of interventions that are in place because the data is just the data, but we still need to address it, right? And it's one point which I do appreciate you bringing up, but it's an important point. It's it's an important point. >> All right. So, moving off of ESBAC, ELA, and math, this is our NGSS data. This is interesting to note. I say this every year. These are not the same students, correct? This is important for us to understand because they teach they take it in five, eighth, and 11th grade. So if you look at the fifth grade scores from 2024 to the fifth grade scores now, it's a completely different group of students. What this could do to Ed's point is potentially give us an insight on curriculum in

045those grade levels. Right? So regardless of the kids that were funneling through there, how are they doing? This is straight achievement data. So, these are the percentage of students at levels three and four on the NGSS assessment through the years. Nope, I did that. Just kidding. Fix that. >> Okay. Transitioning from ESBAC and NGSS data to SAT data. Reminder, the SAT is open to all enrolled juniors. We assess in the spring. Um, we encourage participation. In fact, we have a high 90s participation rate annually. And please note that in the spring, so this was just our second year of testing digitally. The test switched from paper to digital assessment. So you can see that summers does continue to outperform the state on both the total score and also the reading and writing and math scores.

046This is also historical data for SAT. Um again these are different kids. Um we have the number of test takers, the average score and then their ELA and math sub scores. >> Why are the number of test takers so much lower this year? >> So it depends upon the cohort of students. Right now we have a very very high >> that's the number of kids that are in the class. Yeah. >> Okay. So they take it as juniors. >> So the other thing is that um we have about a 95 96 participation rate. So there are some students that are taking the majority of our students are still that represents the current enrollment grade right now. So you lost a couple. >> Okay. We also speak to our AP data. Um a reminder that generally

047speaking most widely accepted is a score of three or higher. How it's important to note that colleges um can set their own policy around the scores and the AP credits that they accept. So this chart shows you the AP courses that ran during the 24-25 school year. You have a breakdown of the score ranges from 1 through five. Um the right is the total number of exams and then the percentage of pass rate for those exams. I do like to frame this which we have an open AP policy for our courses. So we allow students to enter. Anyone that is interested in taking it has a counseling session if they weren't recommended for it. they understand what they're getting into. Um, I also will show you a slide um that I've spoke to the subcommittee

048about a few times regarding the APEC courses. And there are students who were enrolled in some of these courses that were there more for the ECE credit than they were for the AP credit. And so that may speak to some of the score ranges that are not in the in the three and above. The next two charts I really like. It's a unique view on this data. So if you take a look at this chart, this tells you that this is the percent of AP test takers scoring three plus. So 90% of our students who take AP exams, and it could be more than one, are scoring a three or or higher on those exams. And the next chart shows us of all the exams that were administered, all the AP exams, 85% of them

049overall were scoring a three and a half years. And in those two cases, we did see growth from the previous year as far as the students receiving a 3 plus and also the the exams as a whole um being a three or more. This is a slide that we have shared with the subcommittee. Um this is just to let you know that we do offer a robust list of advanced courses. The top represents our AP or ECE courses and then the bottom is the AP. We are working to separate the courses as much as we can. Um we default to the ECE course. It is preferred by students. Um and the subcommittee can can tell you at a later date that today we just presented them with new course offerings to even offer more robust

050advanced courses from AP. Um and actually some other dual credit courses uh beyond Yukon. So uh this is this is good work by JB and the high school and the coaches because this is where we want to head and this is what the students want. Just go ahead. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. >> I know you said that. We should >> No, it's okay. >> But I don't think we'll be talking about this after. >> So, ECE is through Yukon. >> Okay. >> So, why do kids prefer that over an AP? >> Because with Yukon, you are getting college credit upon successful completion of the course. >> You Oh, you get college credit. Correct. AP you get college credit. >> You only get maybe. >> And then even if you Sorry. >> No, go ahead,

051Sam. dropping it a bit >> maybe depending on the school or university if they will accept it or not. >> Oh, so even if you got a four, they might not accept your forward. >> Some universities doesn't matter. >> Okay. >> All right. Can I add >> It's not a guarantee. >> Can I add one thing to it? >> As as a high school program, you have more control over student performance with an ECE, which stands for early college experience, than you do with an AP exam. With an AP course, you have one assessment >> for a student to show um their understanding of that content area. Whereas in an ECE course, the our teacher is grading them. Our teacher is putting the test in front of them. Our teacher is grading that test. So

052all of you we have way more control over how a student performs >> and much much more data sense along the way. Right. >> All right. So, Dr. G, this is you. Would you like to click or do you want me to click or >> I've been waiting? I'm waiting. >> I'll move out of the way, but I'll jump in if I need to. Okay. >> I like to stand. >> Okay. >> So, as I said before, there's a script and I may go off script uh at times. And I remember in the fall of 2022 when I sat at this table talking to the board who was interviewing me and one of the tasks uh you wanted me to engage in was to figure out what was going on. Why was this district being

053outperformed by a n neighboring districts and I have the answer. Um I told you when I started in April of 2023 going to that close of school I knew teachers care. I knew that. I had been in every single classroom. I knew that. I knew that we had some gaps. Teachers and leaders did not have a platform that they could look at student assessment data in real time and course correct if things were working or not working. That did not exist. That's an identified issue. I then came to understand K5 ELA. There was not an aligned curriculum to the standard. So people are working really hard. The question is, are they working on the right things that the kids are going to be assessed on in the spring? And that's where you get curriculum misalignment.

054And that was a problem here in ELA and it was a problem here in mathematics. So the task was to diagnose the issues. When I met Tim Pausky, my first thing was I said, I need 70 points on the SAT to get this district back where it was in previous years. Now you have SAT prep classes. the principle is locked in to you create your own predictability reports. Now that is new. So from that 2023 and trying to understand what's happening here, those are big ticket things that will inhibit a district in performing at a high level, a high sustained level. And that is what we're after. We're after incremental change that we will be able to sustain and keep over time. And you know, I talk a lot to to Jamie and Jess and

055the other leaders. If you look at a district like Madison and then I've talked to you about Han High School, they they were a Blue Ribbon Ward award recipient because as a high school, they were able to sustain high achievement over time. And that's the goal. She already knows that. Like unrehearsed, you could ask her what what's the goal. So that's the goal. So here's the so what and and and the way forward. So, Principal Mucci knows and the teachers now know and have access to Looker Studio >> and you know other districts use other platforms but it is the platform where student assessment data goes and teachers can look at it in real time to see our kids moving or not. Not only teachers and leaders but me. >> Mhm. >> I'm in there

056all the time. And to that point I interviewed five of your freshman. I think it was last week in the conference room and we had a face tof face conversation. Tell me what happened in eighth grade. What are you doing now? I'm playing soccer. Do you understand you need to keep grades for eligibility? So, I'm in it with the leaders. So, and I saw them at the um your college fair. >> One came up and then five came up and then we we talked about soccer. But you know it's it's any interaction that will keep kids engaged and at that age they have to buy into the so what right because that is a factor. So at the elementary school they're using looker studio. We're now looking at growth projections. We're using smarter balance in

057a more efficient way. at the elementary school. You now are using the FIA. Yes, that is new this year. Am I right about that? >> With consistency this year by administration and curriculum. >> Roger that. I talked about coherence and alignment when I first got here. So that's the alignment that I'm talking about. There's a partnership with Eastcon, an outside facilitator to work with the leaders and the teachers about the datadriven decision-making process. In a school day, time is the enemy and adults need to meet and be efficient with that time. That means they come prepared with their student performance data. They share that data, share practices that are working and also if they are struggling with something and in that space there's problem solving that happens and they leave with a plan of action

058to go implement and then come back in a certain amount of time to revisit that to see if they're successful or not. Honing that skill of adult action uh will reap benefit. new standards align highquality tier one program programmic materials in math and ELA and that's the board's support. You'll say, well, what's the so what? You know, when you look districtwide, if you don't have a curriculum in ELA and math that's aligned to standards, it's hit and miss every year. Every single year. Now, we have those things. We have over 20 teachers trained in letters training, the science of reading. So, now we have the materials. We have the adults who are trained and also working on process. So that's the way forward and so what for SCES going to the middle school and and

059let me just pause right here. Take you back to April of 2023. I'm walking through the buildings. I said Mel, you have something here. Marggo, you have something here. Hence the application for school of the year. People will say, well that's not student achievement. You are correct. That has nothing to do with student achievement. but the recognition that good things were happening here and then you applied for it and you won two statewide awards. So that's the lowhanging fruit that we went after and we got. So I just wanted to point that out. I am aware it's tremendous award, but it is different from the student achievement that we're after right now. Right now, we're engaged in that slow, purposeful, incremental change that will last. So, at MBA, as if you have a middle schooler,

060you know, they revamp the report card to separate out work habits from, well, what does the kid actually know, right? because you can get a false sense of security if homework is weighted a certain way. The kid is well behaved, turns in homework, but what does the kid really know independent from other resources? So, good job on on revamping that um report card, you and your team. Also, standards align learning targets are posted now. So now teachers are actually posting what the learning targets are and as part of their practice the student should know what the learning target is as well. So now the student and teacher on the same page. Integrate skills across content areas. Every classroom teacher has skin in the game. Even if you're a specialist teacher, you have skin in the

061game. meaning we need your effort and we need your support for the greater good and at the high school Dr. Reckon Birdie loves data and projections. So she is all over we are all over trying to understand how students are performing in real time. So we can see kids who are performing well and also kids who are struggling. Also at the high school, standards aligned learning targets are posted. >> Thank you. >> Um math assigning students with do nows that match PSAT and SAT. For those of us who are adults and and if you've taken assessments before, sometimes your familiarity with how they're asking you the question helps you perform better. So that's why you know those do nows are problems at the beginning of the class uh that teachers put out and and students

062engage in teaching students about the test and that goes even back down to third grade. You know when I I was talking to principal Musi about I said we want our third graders to hit a higher launch point and that's the buy in from grade 2 1 and K so they see where their skin in the game is. Uh Dr. Reckenberg already runs the predictability reports with PSAT and SAT. She has a good gauge on what needs to be done and you know as part of the strategy is to provide students with SAT prep sessions. We did learn um I think we started that my first year here >> um that students who attended >> all the sessions >> did better >> 100 points. >> Right. So what we also found is that students also

063work. So, we had students who were interested in coming but had other obligations. So, we're still working on that. And district-wide, you know, kudos to you and the teachers in the ELA and math leadership team that I have witnessed when they're at at as nun. I go sit into those sessions and teachers are engaged in good quality work that's well done. the elements of effective instruction. That's the document with the tree. So, we're being purposeful about what instruction looks like in this district and providing ongoing embedded PD to support standards aligned instruction. And that's, you know, I've said it before, you can have people who are working really hard, but they are not working on the right thing at the right time. And schedule classroom walkthroughs. Um, you know, the meeting Mondays is just an

064efficiency uh that we've created districtwide to uh be more efficient uh with our meeting schedules to create more time. So, you and I do classroom walkthroughs to ensure that all the things that I said previously are actually happening in real time. >> I see artificial intelligence. >> Yeah. >> That's new. >> Yeah, that's new. So, that's a new district-wide committee that we're convening. The state has kind of a position statement in their stance on infusing thoughtful AI into curriculum and in classrooms more for middle and high school. And so we are just getting our feet wet with that. We have teachers that are going out and getting micro micro credentials in AI. We're part of a correct consortium group on AI. I've been Justin and I have been going to meetings together as both it

065right from the nuts and bolts end and the curriculum end. So this is new for us. What if I could speak to this slide for a minute? So this makes my organizational type A brain very happy um because this allows for sustainability. So when we knew that the literacy leadership team model worked, we knew how to replicate it, right? When we knew that a um barrier for administrators, building based central office getting into classrooms was meetings. We streamlined the meetings. So meeting Monday was one way to streamline, but we also cut back on the number of meetings. Do we need to meet every Wednesday? Do we need to do this? because we need to be where the kids are at and we can't do that when we're in meeting after meeting and meetings are important

066right for communication and collaboration but how can we do it in the most effective way um whether or not you have heard this as well the afterchool meetings are also on Mondays so we did this with faculty as well so faculty meetings curriculum meetings support staff meetings all occur on Mondays as opposed to wait is this the week that I have a Wednesday meeting because everybody does better when they have like a pre-planned schedule um and then Sam and I to your point about walkthroughs. Um we're doing them together in parallel. So that's a practice that administrators in the buildings have done, but we're doing it and then we're debriefing afterwards like what did you see? What did you pick up? What was important? Um and this work is now anchored in that tree document.

067So that tree document that we call the elements of effective instruction was just us articulating what we knew to be good. Right? What are we looking at? This, this, this, and this. Well, let's solidify it. the full document which I've shared with the subcommittee and I'm happy to share with the full board links everything teacher evaluation so it shows you how learning environment is tied to a domain within tal it shows you how learning environment is tied to one of the four C's or many of the four C's for the portrait of the grad so it's this nice little package of like we say what we mean we mean what we say and for me the thrill of being able to replicate a strong practice with the why is important because when we had positive

068outcomes in the asked. I couldn't tell you why. I couldn't I couldn't say certainly it was because of this because there were 6,000 of those happening on the background. Um we threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what fit. Um and I just the last thing I would say is when you were meeting with uh building buildings at faculty meetings and talking about focusing our efforts, you're the best analogy you gave was when you said everyone is digging like really nice holes, but we need to lay the foundation over here. So you're all working really hard on a hole over here and we need to be here. And I loved that because it's not to take away from effort. It's not to take away from the love of all things we were

069doing. We just weren't digging where the plan said we needed to dig. So >> well, pluck that in my review. Duly noted. So here's just some of the work that um I've been engaged in as superintendent. the leadership that comes out of my office and it really was to work with leaders about these 12 indicators, how they're constructed and how they could best impact their schools. So in the past, right, a discussion about these 12 indicators did not occur. >> That's accurate, right? And I I purposely put up and under each indicator and teachers have seen this right when I talk about the skin in the game. So if I'm a teacher, I know that I have impact in indicator number one. And that's just creating clarity for the teachers related to these indicators. Last

070year when I showed these to you, I said we I knew we could immediately impact indicator 4 and indicator 11. That's something with focused effort you can make an impact on. That's chronic absenteeism. That's doubling down on phone calls home or and creating the awareness for families to know when kids would hit um the percentage of time out of school where it would be a negative and indicator 11 physical fitness. Two what I would say lowhanging fruit that we went after and I said that last year this time indicator 4 and indicator 11. So true to form when you focus on the right thing at the right time, chronic absenteeism at the high school has decreased from 13.2 to 8.9. And that anomaly that you see at MBA honestly was clerical, but it went to

071the state. So we have to own that 21.80 rectified never to happen again. >> 11.0 zero in one year >> at the high at uh the elementary school. Kids love coming to school, right? >> So 7.8 brought down to a 730 and this is just an example. It's not it is related to student achievement because if students are in school, they're going to learn, but >> it's just a direct link to the indicators that I showed and the focus that the adults put on it. and the physical fitness assessment um brought it to the attention of the adults. Adults got kids engaged. I think parents got engaged and we focused as a district on improving those results. So, what you see, I know it's physical fitness, but I'm anticipating the same kind of um positive

072movement in student achievement over time. At the high school, 54 to 61, NBA 58 to 71, and I know coach is still going to try to hit the 75 for me. um our Hall of Famer coach at NBA and at the uh elementary school from 38 to 55 and that's focus clarity and focus. [Music] So in in closing in the in the two point maybe 5 years that I've been here thanks to the board there's now a line ELA curriculum there's a line math curriculum there's a platform where teachers can look at student performance data in real time a platform that I use almost every day as well the data team process is being improve approved through a relationship with an outside facilitator and sometimes it's it's good to bring somebody with outside eyes into

073your space to cover your blind spots. Some data is good, some data is not good. I am anticipating and pressing and creating the sense of urgency around understanding if our practices are effective then we must replicate that and if they are ineffective or not achieving the result we must understand the why so we can course correct so that concludes my thoughts from my 2.5 years of being here I um things have been properly diagnosed. The adults have an awareness um and honestly a caring and motivation like to be really good. I've said this before that I this district is not close to its ceiling. I do think that we have the staff and ability to be a top district in the state. I'll continue to say that. So that closes my remarks pending. Any questions,

074>> questions, comments? >> I have some. Let's go right ahead. Go right ahead. >> I would say that um what we heard tonight in 2025 versus what we heard in 2021 is much different. Um, I'm sure you can feel it too, Dina. I, if you can recall back, most of the folks were here for that presentation versus tonight. Um, what stands out to me is is the team. Uh, Dr. Galloway, you implemented some plans and and went after a couple of those, you know, number four, number 11, or a couple of those areas, and you made improvement. Um, the ELA implementation, we made improvement. So it proves that this team can strategize, make plans, and move the needle. And now it's just a matter of selecting the right areas to do that. And five things

075that I I would say are a separation that give me a good feeling that uh this group is is heading in the right direction and uh improving education here in the district. Uh first of all, implementing the ELA plan and the results that came of that um it shows it worked. and uh repeating that uh because the data is now showing us what we need to do for math and taking the steps that you took to implement the K through8 math program um just seems like a very wise decision. Uh Dina, you mentioned something tonight that you did not mention then and maybe it was a lack of data, but it really struck me because I I remember asking questions about it at that time, which is using data to identify opportunities for individual instruction

076improvement. Mhm. >> You can now match that data and look for those trends. And >> that's that gives me a lot of comfort knowing that our district is is doing that. Uh using the data to also adjust uh uh deficiencies in curriculum if if it shows you that. Um and using the data to address long range planning like implementing new MAP programs or new ELA programs. Uh I think we also added as a team STEM and humanities coaches. And so hopefully that's >> yes >> adding value as well and Looker Studio. And the last thing that I would say is what is significantly different is the cohesive strategy that each person in the room here is connected on their part from when the kids enter the district to when they graduate. Um finally, as a

077summer high school alumni, I would say our our finished product when you look at the four C's um hits the mark. >> Mhm. Um, but some of the measurements that the state uses maybe don't highlight what our students are doing 10 or 15, 20 years after. We got a couple other summers high alumni here in the room that are doing very well for themselves. And I think that our final product maybe doesn't always get the the due that it deserves, but the assessments and the test scores will improve with this team implementing the strategies that you're implementing. Um, and so I just want to say I think that's uh in a 4-year period we've come a long way here and I I appreciate um your leadership with that Dr. Galloway and Dina. It's uh >>

078Thank you. >> We're in a much different place today than we were four years ago. >> Yeah. >> I think the world is in a different place too. >> Like let's be honest, right? Things are we're very different. I will say that the work that the curriculum department does couldn't have been done without the coaches. I can't. There's no way. I also like that um I always say that we have like a lean mean curriculum department. There were many districts that chose to use COVID funds to uh get coaches and it was unsustainable and we um inherited some other districts met misfortune. Right. So when positions were cut, people came to us and I'm so proud that we can continue to operate with the coaches we have. And so to your point Carl and Dr.

079It's that idea of what do we need and let's keep it right because we want this to be a realistic longitudinal change. Um but this work can't be done without the coaches. Um I've been in the district long enough as a teacher and administration and administrator when I've been handed curriculum with no support. It happened multiple times. Well intended, right? Here's the new whatever it was, math, social studies, science, and you were left on your own. very different now when we have coaches and outside professional development to support the implementation ongoing and embedded. So when I speak to the math program um one of the things that Melissa mentioned was the um FIEB schedule. So we had asked teachers to do practice assessments for us back in your stats. The coach's summer work was pacing

080that out. So imagine being a teacher and they're like all right you you teach math here's the FIBs that match this unit on fractions and let's talk about when we're going to give them. Um, we also talk about pacing, right? So that idea of of that lesson a day because we don't want to create gaps in the kids learning and rather than just telling you that the coaches provided them with pacing guides. So there's a lot of work that helps the lift of the teachers which the coaches directly do. It's not something that I as one person could do and to be honest it's not something that previous curriculum director directors could do. So I feel like the work we did in four years was a lot of curriculum work that should have been done

081prior to that and we were just working hard to fill in the holes fill in the holes. Um and it it was uh it is a very different climate now than it was back then. Um but thank you for pointing that out because I I feel so proud of this work and I've been in meetings where I finally feel like we are ahead of the curve. I' I've talked to other people. Sam has done a really great job of telling us to get out of the district in the best way. Go see what other people are doing, do site visits, what's happening, collaborate with peers, and it's nice to be able to offer something because there were years of nice fat in there when I was like, I would leave. And I'm like, we don't

082have that, we don't have this, I don't have that. And that like it very was deficit- minded. Now it's asset. People are reaching out to us for resources. Um, and that's a good feeling. >> So, so to that point, you know, in the military, they they say go see what right looks like. >> Mhm. So I encourage the leaders to go out to other districts who are excellent. Doesn't mean you're going to cookie cutter what's happening there, but as a leader, there might be something that you can take away that has value. >> And also, I'll make this last comment. I don't know if you pay attention to some of these um magazines or ratings. The niche rating came out and it just drives me crazy, right? because it has the high school at 114

083and we know that's not right. So, we were finally able to Thank you, Director Wood and Dr. Reckenberg. >> We contacted them. We got into the database and we were able to update the information. And here's the list of You won't see this till next year, but um the special ed information was updated. the course catalog, the number of AP programs, AP courses offered, languages offered, athletics page, boy sports, girl sports. I think they had us no sports. >> No sports, clubs and activities, honor society, specialty subjects, faculty count, after graduation rates, all not included in in the rating. But you know it was bothered. We met about it. >> It sure did. >> Yeah, we did. Um sometimes they feel my sense of urgency. But thank you for your effort. That will be reflected

084probably next year and the ranking should look uh much better. We have to do the same with US News and World Report uh because they pull information from different places and sometimes it's really hard to get in there to make changes to your school. So, I just wanted you to know that you'll see that change next year. >> I noticed that some of the reviews, you know, from the students or parents 2018, >> you know, 2017, no no >> ones that are up to date, >> right? So we we control what we can control, right? You live in town, you want to see in print, >> right? >> Top number related to your high school. So we were able to make some changes. So we'll see where that puts the school for next year. >>

085Dr. G, is that something someone needs to look at every year and go in there and make sure >> Well, well, yeah. I mean, I was no sports. you got lacrosse >> uh coach of the year type of thing and thus >> so I just wanted to put that out there and I've said that before uh in meetings that some of the data that left the district is not a true indication on what's happening. So we just want to make sure that what we're doing here is properly reflected out by the state or some of these publications that mean a lot to families. you you read it. You want to see a good number next to your high school, right? So, >> I'll stop there. >> And if I can ask, it's great reflection there,

086Carl. Thank you for sharing that. I have the same sentiments. You talked a lot about Looker Studio and it sounds like that's a platform that doesn't really cost us any money. It's kind of open, but with that, somebody's got to enter all that data in, right? And it's kind of like a blank surface or platform for and it creates visuals, right? Right. >> So, a couple questions about that because we're relying heavily on them for that temperature, right? Keep checking the temperature, see how we're doing, which is awesome. >> It's going to be key to your success here. >> So, who who enters all that data so regularly? I can speak. >> And then also, um, when it's in there, do like, have you created your own algorithm to make it say, hey, these all

087these assessments out spit out one flag like a color or something that says, hey, watch out for this kid. this kid's going in the wrong direction like or do you have to just look at all these numbers you can >> So that's a great question. So when we were first looking at setting up Looker Studio we consulted with ECON so we worked closely with a consultant the first year who came out and it became very apparent to us and Jessica please chime in if you'd like that after our third meeting that we had the um technical savviness in our district to manage looker ourselves. So there are some districts that consult with Eastcon and Econ will help manage their looker. We needed to help launch Looker. So the curriculum coaches, myself and the IT department

088went with a consultant, she went through how to set up the studio and then through the IT department, we managed the studio. So Sam is very big on standard operating procedures perhaps from his military background. And so we have a full standard operating procedure and flowchart, but to your point Ed, it says who does what when. So there is some data that is directly inputed through the coaches. There is some backend coding. Jess will speak up if I'm wrong or cough. That's where like um some of our digital databases speak directly to Looker. >> Now, what happened over the last few years is we did test and get feedback. So, we showed the administration like our first studio in this in this building and like Jamie and Melissa were like, you know what? I wish

089you could do this for me. I I wanted to say this. Okay, hold on. Let's fix it. We showed it to the teachers. Um so, we have multiple studios by building. Um, new this year, uh, we added, um, the, uh, growth score ranges for SVAC scores. So, we used to do flat, you know, your son was at a level two. Now, we actually tell you the score range and where the child's at because what if they're a level two and the the max score is 100 and the kids at a 98. Those are our custoy kids. Like, two more points. Like, what is that? Do they skip a question and not come back? So, we've we've done a lot of those ed. We do have color coding. We do have a lot of filters. We

090also have cross filtering. Um, but we're also trying to be sustainable. And so Jess is definitely my sounding board for when I'm like, I want this and she's like, okay, yes, that it's too much, Dina. And and also there's some data that you have to leave Looker to drill into, right? Um, so meaning that we have the universal number screener at the elementary school. It's something that we use in math. We have students average scores in there, but there is definite benefit to looking at the actual response that the kid wrote because you know in math sometimes it's not attending to precision versus not knowing you know whatever the formula was. And so um there are times when the top of our studio kind of says this is the overview but please go here for

091more detailed information. Um, but what we really wanted and the reason that this occurred twofold, I sat in on data team meetings. Um, at the elementary school, Melissa and I had created this really great data graph. And the teacher spent more time finding the data than actually talking about what it meant to kids. So, we had to go here to find attendance data, here to find aspect data, here to find whatever screener. And by the time we were done, it was like, so, so what? Well, we don't have time to talk about the kids, though. Um, and I also know neighboring districts, perhaps someone in the audience had talked to me a little bit about another district and people that had come from Southfield had had really good experiences with Looker. We did not want

092to pay for a platform. We felt it was important that we own the platform and so that worked for us and Looker's part of Google with Google for education. So, um, we feel we feel good about it. >> That's great. Can you advance one slide? So at to to your point right I mentioned looker studio but when I'm looking at student data I'm looking at looker studio I'm then looking at site I'm then look bless you I'm then looking at power school I'm looking to see if this this student is regular red is a student special ed is a student high needs and these are the questions that I ask principles and leaders like do you do you know your kids to that level and that's really trying to build a culture so we don't

093lose any students. So if students are spiking positively I think two years ago when I got here I said find me the sixth grade kids who are excelling in math who are already they already have it I know that they are there we had to kind of makeshift in assessment because it didn't exist and now you have applied mathematics class in grade seven and grade 8. So that's just the culture that we're trying. I know I talked about Looker Studio, but >> that's one point for me. Okay. >> And you can ask them. I'm in I'm in their students stuff like every single day. So when I sit down with a ninth grader at Dr. Rekenberg's school, we're looking at Edsite and I'm showing them as a ninth grader what they did in grade five,

094six, seven, and eight. And I will continue to do that with all of your kids up there because they need to know that other people are supporting, are looking, and are interested in in what's going with you, whether it's going well or are you slipping and and why? So that that's why I put that last slide up there because that's how I look at student data edite powers school looker studio and in that site you know there's attendance and then I get to see data over time >> in ELA and mathematics. So >> that's great. >> So that's just the culture that we're trying to foster. >> I can really see that and my question really just comes from is it sustainable? Like do you have the staffing requirements to to maintain this cuz it's

095really great work. It's amazing and it's going to be key to to growth that we have. I think a few years ago um you mentioned this Carl we had like a lot of change right we had a lot of change we had administrators that change or people change positions in the district and I joke about his standard operating procedures but they are helpful because when I even though I've been in the district for 21 years coming into being the curriculum director not a lot of stuff was like articulated for my position and I think I speak for all the directors and all the positions because there was just this like well that person was there forever and so I appreciate that the standard operating procedures allow somebody else to pick up that all whoever that

096is, right? Maybe it won't be on my plate 2 3 years from now, but someone else can now come in and be like, "Oh, this is how this works." Um, and >> you mean like six, seven years from now, right? >> Yeah, sure. >> But but I also think it's great too because when you're flushing an idea out, like we've shared those SOPs with people and be like, you don't even know this. Does this make sense? You know, you don't know this procedure and we we've gone through that. And so that helps with sustainability, longevity for sure. Um, and we do a lot of cross trainining now, which is has not happened in the past. So I can't be the only one that knows what goes into Looker, right? >> Just can't live with me.

097>> So >> yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> So I've been sitting here thinking of where all of us were on this board of ed four years ago. where we had just kind of made step one realizing we needed to do something and really coming from you Dena that here's our long range plan. >> It's going to take us several years >> but this is why we need teacher coaches >> but we can only do one each time. >> And then I remember we got a big budget cut. >> Mhm. But I give credit to the board because this board said, and you were one of the ones that led it, we are not cutting the teacher coach. If I remember Ann, there was actually a time when you guys held back on the

098budget to add an additional coach. So you actually had to vote no, revise it to add the coach in, which was very impactful and meaningful. I mean, showed the value of education, right? This is what we need. And let's it was a fairly new board, but we I think we all recognized >> we need to start somewhere. >> Um, and then through that process, then we ended up hiring a brand new superintendent. >> And I still think back to the interview and we were very upfront. You know, we can we can do better, but >> how can we do it? And you know it's just it's a different feeling as you said really really well better than >> um so I think I just want to say thank you to you Sam great presentation and

099one of the advantages in having this recorded is that I hope word can get out that this is something we would hope community members and every staff member would come back and at least tune in to see this presentation >> because we are being positive but we're being transparent. >> Mhm. >> But we are definitely the pendulum is going in the other direction >> and that's the hardest part is to get it to change >> and it's not going to be maybe as quick as we want but there's so many good signs looking at those lines on the graph. So, um I guess bottom line is, you know, I just want to thank you and Sam, but the staff because it's it's that he's all in this together. So, next year is going to be

100even better, I think. So, thank you. All right. Anything else here? Do you want to have closing anything? close or not. >> Thank you. Give me the opportunity. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Opportunity to add or delete agenda items. All right. Seeing none, we'll go into consent agenda and we'll get a motion to approve from permit. Thank you. And a second from Carl. All right. Any questions on the consent agenda? All right. All those in favor old business, new business. All right. So, speaking of alumni call, um we now need a motion to approve um the freshman basketball coach. All right. So, this goes back again to the nephysis on policy. So, what year did Tony graduate? >> 1991. Okay. So, now we have Tony's son is uh >> going to be the

101assistant coach. How often does that happen? I think that's pretty neat. Anyway, all right. So, can we have the motion to take care of >> Carl? Do you have an official motion to read? >> Yes. >> Oh. Oh, okay. All right. I'll do it. >> Okay. Motion to approve the hiring of Brady Palacei as freshman base basketball coach per DBS policy 4112.8. >> Okay. A second to the motion >> from Colonel. All right. Any questions on that? All those in favor? That's unanimous. Okay. Number two, the organizational chart. >> Thank you. It's not much to report on that. We we did um adjust the reporting lines uh with the principles and assistant principles. Um and the number of positions are also um next to the jobs which was the same as last year. So the

102only change is the reporting line has been um further delineated. >> Okay. Any questions on the chart? This is our annual review that we're supposed to look at this this time of year. So it's nothing that we need to vote on. It's kind of FYI, but it's in our policy. All right. And then we have the first posting for two policies. Any questions on those? Okay. Move ahead to committee reports. Champ. Okay. That curriculum committee met just before this meeting and we approved um six new courses and one is a Connecticut state welding course. Um we have one two three four ECE courses. Uh one is popular music and diversity in American society. Fundamentals uh ear training that's in music as well environmental science and ECE personal finance. And then we also have another course

103data science um that has also been approved. And our next meeting has been cancelled because it was going to be the data meeting and we've just been presented with the data. Okay. Next meeting for policy is October 27th at 6:15 p.m. And planning and finance. Yeah, we are this Friday at 5:00 p.m. for uh we're going to do budget transfer CIP and start talking about the budget. >> And that is that in person or virtual? >> That's fine. >> Uh it's in person if you can be there. Uh I know I'll be here >> in person. Are you going to call? >> I'll be here. >> Okay. >> I'm going to the um Hall of Fame induction for Ken McCarthy Friday. >> Yes. >> All right. I'll be away, but there'll be a way to

104call in or >> Yes, we have a Google Meet already set up. >> And I think Mike was going to come first as well. >> Yeah, I thought that he said that he was coming. I just don't know how. >> Okay. 5:00. >> All right. Well, we're in negotiations. >> Um, nobody meets Clint. We're home. >> Okay. Uh, building committee, we met this afternoon at 4:00. Um, we talked about getting an independent estimator um to get a better idea on the latest expenses. I think we're we're hoping either the beginning of November or the beginning of December to get the application in for new money that's available. Um, and this would come under a different category under the construction. um hierarchy of the state if that's the right term. The advantage for that is if

105we can get additional money there. We're not in the deadline for getting it done. You have a deadline when you have to start the project, but right now we know we can't get the money that was approved because there's no way we can get the project done by December 31st, 2026. Um they also talked about having an informational meeting um for the elementary staff. Um so they're looking into that. And I think also the possibility that Bill Meyer as chair of the building committee may come to the next board of ed meeting to kind of give kind of a a summary of where we are and an opportunity for the whole board to ask questions. >> I'm sorry. I have a question. >> Mhm. >> We've been at this for like four years. >> Why

106do we now need anformational meeting for summer elementary school teachers? We've done that, >> right? I did mention that at the meeting today. Um >> we've done all this. >> I think it was more of this is where we are now. >> So another month delay, more delays after delay. Okay. >> Yeah. So just redoing editing basically >> basically. >> Um but um they did get the the the plans, you know, the plans with all the split units that are going in the classrooms. So that's been done. So now it's are we going to go out and rebid the whole project? It's like there's so many moving parts. What's the independent estimate on cost? Is that you're saying they already have that? >> No, that's what they talked about. >> So, there's a plan. >>

107Are they Are we going to get an independent estimator? >> Who's doing it right now? >> We don't have anything right now. We're basically working on the numbers from what a year ago that we're were high, >> but it was it's a totally different we didn't have split units or anything like that, >> right? So now we need you know an updated estimate with >> we have no company working with us right now. >> Is there a company who like >> put together plan for the split units? >> The plans came from >> Gil Bane >> and they didn't provide a cost as to >> but technically we have not hired Gilbane to do the project. >> Yes, you're reading that correctly. Mhm. >> You reading it? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >>

108So, and so I think of the Bill's point is of coming to the board and having him say this is where we are now with an opportunity for questions from all of us. >> This is the next meeting, next board meeting. >> I that's what we talked about. >> Okay. So I don't know what we have. >> So a construction grant though you don't get the same reimbursement rate. It's like 37 stone, >> right? The one we were getting was 60 62.5. All right. >> So I don't know what if it's higher or lower for the construction. >> 50. >> It changes every year. >> Yeah, they have. >> It changes every year. formula >> and it depends on what year you apply for it. >> Depend on when we apply for >> if it's

109general construction 2026 is about 59%. So not too far once this application gets turned in supposedly we would find out in about 30 days whether or not we get this new money. >> Oh that's good. That's pretty quick. >> Right. So there's that might be one fast part I guess. Um and then they're thinking that they may be able to start something in April. But I bet if you spoke to the elementary school teachers that is what their response would be which can we just >> well again it might be delivering of materials or working on the stuff on the exterior of the building. there there are things that could be done and then go full speed during the summer, but it's just there's so many dominoes and as soon as you make one decision,

110it's like, well, what about this? What about this? And >> how do you get a grant if you don't have the cost? >> Well, that's what they're working on now. They're going to have to get a new ready. >> I think it's going to be realistically December. >> Okay. Yeah. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> Did you want to add anything, Stephanie? >> No, I do not. >> Well, I mean, was I accurate in my description or did you want to add anything? >> Okay. So, that's the building committee. All right. Um, CIP, you're going to be discussing that at your meeting, correct? Anything from Craig? >> Uh, meeting tomorrow, I believe, the next meeting. So, I'll update next meeting. All right. And Shane's not here for SEF. All right. The advanced calendar was in your

111red folder. So, we did get a thing today, I think, about the Veterans Day that's actually going to be at the high school this year. Did I read that right? >> Yeah. We're combining middle and high school, >> right? Okay. That's great. Um, and the SCF meeting. Okay. And um for most of the board members, we're trying something a little different with really advanced notice. December 8th is the board of ed family photo. So I know we had four attempts this year and um we didn't get to do it. So December 8th. Okay. So you can plan your outfits anytime. All right. And we're also giving you advanced notice this year on the capstone. So if anyone is available, even if it's only for one or two hours that you can be one of the

112evaluators for the capstone projects. I mean, when we're talking about what we're actually producing here, um, I've done this a couple times and I have yet to see one presentation that is not outstanding. So, okay. And we also, so we don't lose track this year, we've got the date already for the next review for the pension fund. So, we're trying to do a little better on on our our meeting days, our meeting Mondays, as Dina was talking about. Okay. All right. Audience, the citizens, staff, and students. >> Yes. Uh Ben Camarada, my chair and sit down like the rest of you. Um how much time do I have? >> Well, we allow according to our board policy 20 minutes for everybody that wants to speak. >> Great. Um yeah, so kind of a concerned parent.

113So this is the first time I've been to a board event meeting like this where you went over everything. Um and honestly was impressive, right? So it's like we got the plan, we got to exe execute the plan. So for me that was that was great to hear. I also think accountability is really important in business and of course school systems a business and speaking from a parent perspective. Uh, I think it's fair to say the vast majority of parents in our school system have no idea, even if you guys try, what our aspect scores are. Certainly, I didn't until very recently. Uh, and we certainly don't know what they are relative to other towns in the area that we should be kind of benchmarking ourselves against. So, I just went through um, and I'm

114not just going to cherrypick the eighth graders. Um, but if we look at the most recent ESPback scores met or exceeded grade level for ELA eighth graders, Ellington was 69%, Sfield was 66%, summers was 50% as we saw. Math, Sfield was 69%, Ellington was 67%. Summers was 35%. Just so you know, I'm not picking on them. Sixth grade math grade level met or exceeded Ellington 69% Sfield 65% summers 48%. Go down to third grade English grade level Ellington 67% Southfield 58% summers 48%. So, as someone who's got two kids who had already graduated 8th grade, someone you know uh who's in a son who's in sixth grade as well, like these are very real things we need to be talking about. We're not even close. And I appreciate the transparency and saying that, you know,

115things need to get better. If I had to guess, the guy sitting in that chair four years ago said things need to get better. So maybe two and a half years is is not enough time. And I understand that, but it's jarring to look at those numbers. Uh especially relative to Ellington and Sfield, which I think we can all agree, hey, those are two fair towns for comparison, right? Nothing wrong with comparing us to those two towns. Um Sam mentioned the Connecticut and Next Generation Accountability Index. I think that's great, accountability index. That's a great title. So he had mentioned, but it's essentially the report card that shows how a district is doing. He had mentioned there are 12 data points. So if we look at the last two years that are on record, summers

116in 2022 23 uh rated a 79.7% out of 100 and then the very next year 2023 24 summer was rated a 76.8. So nearly a 3% drop. Um and as we know these are just stone cold facts, right? Um so it seems like in that regard we're trending in the wrong wrong direction to be fair. Um, and then if we if we don't love facts, um, and I almost hate saying this because it's anecdotal, but, uh, the teachers union survey that came out, I've had a number of people, uh, mentioned to me who work for the school that a lot of the teachers when you had the meeting were shocked at how poorly the climate of the schools were rated by the teachers. So, if we look at, you know, relative to where we are

117against other towns, if we look at, um, you know, potentially what teachers are saying, um, it seems a little different than than what we're hearing tonight. Um, so I just want to make sure that we're holding ourselves accountable and and more so that we're doing everything in our power. Um, and and again, presentation wise, curriculum wise, like that was really impressive. I'm I'm very very hopeful. Um, I can't get over the fact that, um, here we are with these super low scores, especially relative to other talent. And just this past spring, yes, I'm going to say it again, uh, we decided to fire a guy, Jim McFe, 30 years, we all agreed the schools were clean, they were wellmaintained, they were safe. I verified he had a flawless performance review record. And yet time and

118resources speaking to town attorneys, Ann and Sam meeting, not even informing the board of that decision. You know, this is a guy who had 150 to 200 people show up here. We had former principles, active teachers, town leaders all spoke. Also a guy who had to fight for medical insurance while his wife had cancer, which was public knowledge. So that was a thing that happened. Um, and I just want to make sure there's accountability. There was no accountability for that. Sam was given an extension, given a raise. I'm not going to pretend that he didn't deserve it, right? I don't know the ins and outs. Um, but I think accountability is really important. So, if we can't have accountability, cuz he was never given a reason why he was let go. If we can't have

119accountability there, and we at least have it with the board of education and the superintendent when it comes to the actual education. And speaking from uh a personal perspective, uh my wife and I made a difficult decision a couple years ago to take our two daughters out of the school system, or one at the time, rather, and Olivia just uh left after 8th grade. Um and like I said, I went to Somers, she went to Somersai. It was a tough decision. Um, but man, after I see how my father-in-law was treated in the spring, how he's how he was continued to be treated over the summer, and now looking at these scores, we made a great decision. And that's a real problem because there are a lot of people like me in this town that

120will make that same decision. And my daughter was rattling off the other day the amount of kids who left Summers. We're going to have that. I understand that. It's way too many. And as we all know, usually not the kids at the bottom of the class, right? It's higher performing kids. Um, God bless my daughter who works very hard. So, I just want to make sure that our priorities are straight. We should should be focusing on everything talked about in this meeting. Sam, you can command the room. Honestly, sounded great. Love it. Seems like we're we're focused on the right stuff. I want to make sure that we are focused on the right stuff and not getting rid of people who are beloved by thousands of people in this town and doing it in a

121weird secretive way and then having no accountability. So, thank you [Music] >> Gina Olarchic. Um, I just wanted to thank you for the presentation and really talking about the next steps. Um, being in education myself, although we wish things could happen overnight, it does take a good 3 to 5 years. Um, but I I think that what we're seeing is moving in the right direction and I think that that's exciting. Um just want to remind um with professional development especially with these new curriculums in the past has been a onceanddone and I think it's important to remember that we need to continue to invest in the ongoing professional development for these programs um so that teachers can continue to get the training that they need and we can have good fidelity of implementation and sometimes

122that's forgotten when we're budgeting and we're looking at different things. So, I think it's important just to remember that we want things to keep going. We have to keep giving that time and PD to our teachers. Um, and then just I know this eighth grade class cohort may be an anomaly. Um, you have those from time to time, but looking at that 35.1% just wondering um what kind of supports are in place for them because we know math is a four-year requirement. We know that if they don't pass algebra 1, they're going to struggle for the remainder of that. So just making sure that in all of these plans we are looking at those little hiccups or cohorts that have some difficulty and putting the right supports because having people talk to them and knowing

123that they're supported but also giving them the support in there where they don't have to choose the support over an elective class that might keep them interested is extremely important if we want to continue. Um, and I think that's the challenge when you start to make these growths is you've got these gaps to fill in between and we're going to have to continue to be creative for those classes in the middle so that they're getting what they need as we're pushing up these well-rounded, foundationally strong students. Any other comments? Good. Can we share the dur information at a later point in time? >> Sure. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Seeing none, um I will take a motion to adjourn from Jan and a second from Derek. All those in favor? All right. Meeting adjourned. 8:38.

124Thank you for coming. Adoption of the question,