001It's 7 o'clock. So, welcome to the board of education meeting and I will go ahead and call the meeting to order and please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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, tonight we have some special recognitions that we're going to do and I'm going to turn it over to Dr. B. Thank you and good evening. Today is a fabulous day. I had the pleasure of spending some time with all of our uh future retirees. So, thank you for the time and thank you for sharing some of your personal stories and your journey. Um I did um stay to uh Caroline Harraves and and Principal Rekenberg that
002they would do the honors about kind of giving your history, your journey. So I won't upstage them, but I'm ready to step in. Yeah, I'm ready to step in if uh anything is missing. So, you know, once again, thank you for making some time for me to sit with you. Um, I I really enjoyed it and congratulations on reaching the finish line, you know, um, putting a period at the end of this particular sentence and I'm very happy and excited for you for what's next. So, without further ado, Caroline, you want to start with Dr. Wald? I'll start with Dr. Wald. So, Mike Wald is a legend. I mean, you're just you're like infamous within Summer's public schools. Can I can you hear my side of the story? So, Dr. Wald has been an educator
003for over 30 years. Began as a school counselor for three years and then transitioned into becom school psychologist in in the town of Summers for 29 years. Um, Dr. Wald is for many years was the only school psychologist. So he was carrying an enormous case load. But in being the only school psychologist, he worked with literally every student who was going through the special education process. And for many of them was able to witness them from elementary age all the way up through high school, which as an educator, and you know, I think most of us could say that when you see them so young and you get to see the growth that the students make by the time they're ready to graduate, it's a pretty special thing. And Dr. Wald has been able to
004see many students who have many successes. Um, and you've been there to guide them and you provided counseling and support to families. You've helped them understand their own brain development and what their disability means and how that impacts their life and how they are able to carry on and live, you know, really independently with a lot of skills built in. And you have worked on that. Executive functioning, ADHD are definitely your wheelhouse. I think you really enjoy digging into and getting to understand students. So um you know for that reason alone Dr. Wald is very well known within our community be a huge resource lost just because of the history. He's been in the people services department for so many years. Um, when we asked him fondest memories, he just said, "I hope that I'm
005remembered, you know, fondly." And I think that's an understatement because, you know, you will be greatly missed, but I also know you're only a phone call away and we'll be checking in to see how things are going. So, I just know that about you. On the side, he's a magician. So, if anybody has a child's birthday party, he's also going to spend his retirement time traveling. he wants to go to Canada, get a part-time job, and you're kind of doing private therapy, which I think is right up your alley, too. Um, so you have a lot of retirement plans. So, I know it was not an easy decision to make, but um, you know, you're want to have some good years spending time doing what you love to do. So, thank you. So true to
006form, when I was stalking him today, he was meeting with a student, you know, so we had really good conversation about cats. I'm a dog person, so we talked about cats. And Caroline, just to echo your comments, you know, he talked about how he got into the job, and he got into it for the right reasons, and we thank you for your service. Great job. [Applause] Mike, can you Mike, can you make it disappear [Laughter] once? Thank you very much. You're welcome. Lori. All right. So, next we have Lorie S. Lori has been with Summers Public Schools for 10 years as a special education teacher at our high school. Before that, you have over 30 years in education. So, Lori has certainly done her time. Um, Lori is the case manager that I call when
007I have a situation and I just I need somebody to just say like, "Tell me what you need me to do." Lori is the person that I call. She works with all students. She loves all students. Um, she's always flexible and no matter how a student is presenting, Lor's door is open and I have always known that and Denise before me knew that about Lori and that's invaluable as a director um to have that type of staff member in your building that cares that deeply for our students. So Lori, your retirement plans, spend more time with your grandchildren, Cape House. Lori has a property on the Cape and she also hopes to travel to Italy, so hopefully she'll be able to do that. Um, you know, but Lori, I just wanted to thank you because
008you advocate for the kids very strongly. Um, and they always always know that your door open. That's you do, but your heart's your heart's there and it's it's always within the right reason. Always. So, we just want to thank you so much for your dedication to summers and we'll work with you. We'll miss you. Congratulations. [Applause] This is so nice. It was a student. So, I was I've been stalking the high school like over the last week or so. Student yells, "Don't retire. Don't you always have snack." I mean, you know, what to keep in your room to keep him coming in. So, um, and then last but not least, Lisa Grineer. Lisa has been a school counselor within Summers for 29 years, 25 years. Um, so fun fact, 19 years ago, I was in
009summers completing my graduate work and Lisa was one of my mentors actually when I was going through um, graduate school. And so, you really helped shape what I knew about school counseling, what I knew about how school systems functioned. And so Lisa and Lynn were like my school moms because I was much younger at that point in time. Um but your just knowing that you guys were there and just seeing how you conducted yourself and the connection that you had to the families, the kids, the resources in the community to make sure that the students had what they needed, our 504 students and their families. Um Lisa is a wealth of knowledge because she's been kind of running things from the school side of for for many many years. Um, and so that loss will
010be felt. I've had people actually today tell me like that your loss will be felt for a very long time. So I know you don't believe it, but it's true. So Lisa has a new granddaughter, Nora, in Colorado. So hoping to spend some time in Colorado with Nora and her daughter. Mark, you too, I'm assuming. Yeah. And also has a new RV, so hopefully we'll be able to travel in retirement. Um, and you know, fondest memory. Lisa had some funny ones about, you know, going back past the in school suspension room and seeing like help me signs on the outside things that you do when you're in a high school. Um, but the biggest is just knowing and greeting all of the students because school counselors work with all the students and you get to
011know all the students. So just being a presence where they knew students knew that they had that support whether it's social, emotional, college, um, academic, you've been there for everything. So I personally want to thank you because you've been a huge impact on me professionally um, but also to many, many other people. So thank you. [Applause] So your ears must have been burning today cuz you were talking about Oh yeah. congratulations on many years ago. Yeah for the department of correction styles. Thank you. So, um, as as a new principal, I have to say that sometimes I don't get the the glory of getting to know somebody all the way through their career. So, I'm going to do my best, but feel free to add some other things. Um, I am a firm believer of
012going out with a little bit of a laugh and and feeling like happy and and content in in your decision- making. Um, so I wrote it as a newsprint article and it says Sue Cormier from ski club queen to garden goddess. Um, so Sue Cormier has dedicated a whopping 24.7 years to the noble profession of teaching. Yep. Every decimal counts. Every tenth of a year is counted. Sue's favorite memories aren't tied to textbooks. They're about the clubs and the adventures she dove into with students. And when you say adventures, she immediately talks about ski club. I'm sure Sue could teach a master class in wrangling teenagers on skis while simultaneously making it look fun. For her retirement plans, she's looking for a simple yet profound joys of leisurely gardening and devouring books. Just a heads
013up, do not try to slip her a sci-fi book. um her preference is decidedly not quirky in that department. And here's the kicker. She's going to miss doing labs with her students, but she's definitely definitely not going to miss the grade. Um I think we've all dreamt that dream for Sue. We salute Sue for her incredible dedication, her adventurous spirit, and her wise decision to ditch the red pen. Enjoy every leisurely moment, Sue. C I'm going to have a red hand burning cereb had to unstick them from his uh electronic seats in the car pens everywhere and I broke the seats in his Volco because they got jammed in the Thank Thank you for that. So, um INZ couldn't be with us, but did I done world language Spanish? Um just very briefly, we we
014talked a little bit. She's going to brush up on her Italian. She's going to brush up on her friends. She's going to travel. She's got a daughter in San San Diego. Um, she's been with Summers Public Schools for 26 years, world language team leader and a mentor teacher. So, she's highly respected. Uh, we also talked about her I think he's 95 her 95 year old dad who still plays Botchi. Uh, so she's going to have more time to spend with him, spent with family. She did say she was going to sub for us, right? She did say she was going to sub, which I highly encourage u because the the relationships are still there and it's when she feels like it. So, I'd just like to publicly acknowledge. So, thank you. That concludes uh Okay.
015All right. Uh Dr. the wall. So, this would be the time where you could either stay for the rest of the board meeting or like maybe go write up an evaluation or go have a beverage or something. This is where the apple disappears. You're all welcome to stay or not. Thank you. See you. Yes. I can't wait. I will see. Are you doing? Yeah, I'm on the show, too. 7:30. Okay, moving on. Item four, approval of minutes. So, we'll need a motion for the May 12th uh board minutes. JT and a second. from Shane. All right. Corrections, additions. All those in favor. Um, anyone opposed? And abstensions. Two abstensions. All right. And back to you for your update. Great. Thank you. I do have some um written comments. I'll start off with first I'd like
016to thank the board of ed full board of ed parents staff members for their support during the budget process. I do want to state talk a little bit about the process. The process started with multiple meetings with the budget subcommittee where we went through every single line of that budget um to vet it uh to bring forward a solid proposal to the full full board and I thank you for your support in endorsing that budget. We then took the our budget to the board of finance and thankfully the board of finance understood our rationale and supporting explanations and did not cut our budget. So we were able to move forward with the 5.68%. I would also like to publicly thank um Brian Whistinger, the town's chief financial officer. Um I've been here two years or
017so. We meet regularly. We've developed a really strong partnership. Um I I do try to operate with partnership and teamwork uh being at the forefront and Brian has been an awesome teammate in this process. He's come over here. We've strategized and and we're two separate entities but in our meetings we're talking like one. So uh I don't want that to be lost and I thank him for his efforts and thankfully on the 20th the members of the town supported our our ask. So, you know, I just want to state confidently that our leaders, our teachers and staff will show up every single day for our students to accomplish what what we were supposed to accomplish. And that is supporting students and providing them with the best educational possibilities and outcome based on on their needs.
018So, that's I'm I'm going to ride that thankfulness all the way to the end of this school year. Um, but I I did want to say, you know, it was a challenging process, but I'm so thankful that we're able to maintain our staffing levels and move forward as a district. Um, changing the subject, I just want to update the public regarding the SCS HVAC project. Uh, the board of selectmen will have a meeting on June 5th. I'll be at that meeting where they will designate the members of that build of the building committee. I'm told it will be the same members and then I'll update you of course the board and the public about what that outcome is. Um my personal opinion on on this is I believe that the school is worth the investment.
019If we have to rescope the project then then we'll have to just talk about it. But at the end of the day we still have over 600 students in a space where we need to do something. So, I'll be a very active voice on that committee to advocate for uh what our students need and what you guys direct me to do and I'm happy to do that. Um, turning the page, I just want to update you about MBA. Um, they had a really great um walk-athon on Friday. They raised over $1,800 for an organization called HARK. and that organization supports individuals with developmental needs. So, it was a really good school community project. Uh they had music playing. They were out in the back walking around uh with a purpose. So, I I applaud them
020for that. And lastly, at the high school tomorrow morning is Capstone up in the library media center. I'll be up there after I go to the author's visit at the elementary school, which we're looking forward to that. And Capstone is running from 7:40 to 11:03. Not 11:04, right? 11:0 schedule. Yeah, I know. I know. We're just very precise in our presentation. Yeah. So, I was up there earlier today and and uh Tenley was getting that everything squared away. So, if you can fit it into your schedule, just just swing through and see what uh kids are doing, uh I think it'd be well worth your time. And that concludes my report. Any of your questions? Okay. Any comments on the superintendent report? I think I will just want to also add a thank you to
021the board of finance for the support that they showed on our budget this year. And I know um in the past there has been reluctance on their part to have the board presented to the town that's over a mill increase. Um and I hope that all of you had a chance to read the letter that the board of finance had in their flyer. And I did send a thank you note to Mike Parker because I personally felt it was the best letter that I had seen that the finance board had put out in decades because it was a very clear explanation as to why the taxes were going to go up and it was it was in a very positive positive written letter. I mean, it was a great benefit for the veterans to not
022pay as much taxes, but at the same time, the rest of us needed to pick it up. But you could see where there it's all logical reasons of why the tax rate was going up. So the end result was not only that we passed the budget. The town residents passed this budget overwhelmingly and the past history of the turnout has been pretty steady at about a 5% of the registered voters that come out for the budget which is not impressive. It's kind of discouraging, but for this budget referendum, it was 12 and a half% of the registered voters. So, we more than doubled the turnout and yet passed the budget almost 2 to one. So, I know that there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes. I know that some of you
023talked to friends, neighbors, sent out text messages. We know the staff was working. I mean, this was a total team effort with fantastic results because we all know that when the budget is cut, when do you get that money back in the budget? If it's something that you need it and we have to cut it, it goes in the next year and you slowly get further and further behind. But now we're we have turned the corner. I I mean this is it's big. It's just really big. But again, it goes back to starting it out. Kim heading up the committee. The committee went over that thing line by line, presented it to the board. We passed it unanimously and it went on from there with the presentation to the finance board. So just for them
024to say you know what you have justified your needs and we are not going to cut you know I can say thank you but it it's I'm not really saying I could say it a hundred times. So it's really um thank the board of finance and everybody that that helped to get this passed. So okay that was only going to be 10 words but Um, oh, an administrative report. So, school wellness committee. Okay, Cheryl, I think you are up. I am up. Yes. Hi. Hello. Hello. And welcome. Thank you. Okay. Um, as usual, we're very busy in the health offices. Um, we've seen about 10,000 kids this year, uh, visits. So, um, I have my, uh, report kind of broken down a little bit different this year with our new, um, technology. We can break
025it down into little smaller pieces. So, we have, um, injury and illness visits per building. I broke it down. Um there was a total of 5,000 visits between the three schools for injury and illness. Um the high school at 599, the middle school came in at 1,600, and the elementary school just shy of 3,000. Obviously correlates with their population, right? Um the other visits, because there are a lot of other visits to the health offices, um amounted to just shy of 5,000. So, a little under 900 for the high school, 2,000 for the middle school, and 2,000 for the elementary school for the other visits. Um, and then there's the medication visits, which aren't lumped into those. Like I said, I can break it down to really see what the kids are coming in for.
026Um, the medication visits, the over- the-counter or the prescribed ones. Um, those kind of the numbers are still similar. you know, obviously the elementary school has more, so they're going to have more medications given. Um, you it's like a two to one. It's over it's close to 3,000 in the elementary school for medications that were given this year where at the middle school it's about 1,000 and 500 at the high school. Um the most frequent medications that are given are for um asthma allergy you know anaphilaxis that kind of thing or um other allergies um ADHD and orthodontic discomfort that's what came up. So, um that doesn't include in those medication the medication numbers, they don't include things like Tums or uh glucose tabs or, you know, um cough drops. Cough drops and benadryil. That's
027on my list. Yep. Um those are charted a little bit differently. Uh one of the biggest things every year I come in here and I talk about wanting a breakfast program at the middle school and you'll hear me say it for as long as I'm here. We need a breakfast program at the middle school. It's just how it is. Um, so this year I charted when food was available. Um, I pulled it from the three schools. So they come in for food, it's not there, we don't chart it. We have something, we chart it. So at the high school, there were only 55 visits for nutrition. Um, the middle school there were 739 visits. And at the elementary school, there were 117 visits just for food. So that's you figure there's what 320 kids in
028the elementary school or in the middle school and there's over 700 visits for food. So um that's been my big push for breakfast. This is because they're hungry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some kind I mean I could go on and on about why they're coming but yes they're hungry. they're not eating at home, whether it's in the home or they just don't want to grab it or they're running late and they don't want to grab a banana or a granola bar or whatever. So, they end up in the health office wanting food and they're not getting breakfast at home, right? So, we're feeding them breakfast. Um, we've been we've managed we've pulled things around and made it so that there are there is some food every morning, but that goes through, you know, within the first
029hour and a half of school. So, kid comes in first thing, they're hungry, they get a Neutrorain bar, let's say, if that's what was for today. um by 10 o'clock there's nothing there. So if a kid comes in at 10 o'clock, that's when they can get down to the health office and we have no food left, then there's no food. So they're mostly coming in the morning. They come between Yes. They come between 7:30 and 9:30. 10:00 used to be our structured snack time at the middle school. So usually it's between after 10:00, no one comes in and and I'm out of Where's the food come from? So, I use some of the health budget to buy like goldfish and neutrorain bars. Obviously, nothing super healthy. Um, but then we have the choice grant that
030we use that that buys breakfast for the choice kids when they come in. And if they don't eat their breakfast, that's brought to the health office. And that usually consists of yogurt, cheese sticks, juice boxes, pop-tarts, neutrorain bars, and they have something different every morning. So, it's not usually the same um from day to day. And it's also if if those kids that come into school decide to eat their breakfast, then there isn't something that comes down. Is it the same kids over and over? Really? Usually. Yeah. Yeah. And there are some that will come right before the lunch with an empty lunch box and that's a and we just kind of throw things in the lunch box so when they get to the lunchroom they can have food. So, um so that's always been
031a push for me. Do you do you think it's lack of food at home or just forgetfulness at home and not having enough food? Um, I think it's all three. I wouldn't say forgetfulness, I'd say laziness on the kids' part. You know, they're still trying to figure it out. Um, but there is, you know, food disparity everywhere and it's here in summers also. Um, but I do think it's, you know, they I have kids. I know they wake they're at that age they wake up they don't want to eat first thing in the morning and they don't want to grab anything or there's nothing in the house. So has this been communicated to the parents and guardians of the MBA in any way? Sometimes. Yeah. And it depends on the situation. Oh, so you're you're
032saying it's been communicated to the to the individual, not like to the wide group of parents? No, we did put out in a newsletter this year if anybody wanted to donate snacks they could that you know um we get water through our budget we can get water we can get goldfish and we can get neutri grain bars and I think I'm looking at you because I don't know if Stephanie's told you all the other food Dr. Galloway that we that be no. Yeah, that would be no. Okay. So, we could get some but um but there is that that kind of that's always been kind of my push is the breakfast because we are feeding a lot of kids. Um back to my numbers. Sorry. Um management, the management piece on our numbers in the
033health office is also really important. Um managing the the meetings of course for the kids. um collaborating with the doctors, getting the doctor's notes in, writing the plans, that all falls under the management piece of um the healthcare plans and and the documentation that comes in, making sure that piece is all figured out. Um the numbers at the elementary school for management this year were 5, 469 at the middle school is over a,000. At the high school, a little lower, number 82. Um the average visits a day in the middle school and the high school are about 25 to 35. that pretty much correlates with the the student population. It doesn't change too much. Um the elementary school gets around 50 depending on on their day fluctuation. Um in addition to those we do all
034our screenings that we have to do. Um the elementary school has to screen um kindergarten first, sec first, third, fourth and fifth for their hearing and vision. Um in the high school it's done as needed. Same as in the um middle school. in the high school and the middle school, we do scoliosis screenings. Um, that's what we do. Um, so we're doing those every year. We haven't we, Last year, we had I don't think any referrals. This year we had some referrals. We had 28 referrals out of um, SCES, nothing out of MBA, and two out of the high school. So, those are really low numbers. That's really good. Um, in addition to that, um, you know, also what falls into our other health category is the mental health piece. We're continuing to see the
035overflow of students from, uh, the counseling offices, end up in the nurse's office or the nurs's office first and then they end up in the counseling office depending on how how the flow goes. Um, but we're doing that more and more often and there is that that mental health need that's, you know, rising everywhere and it's no different here in summers. Um, so we're trying to manage that. Um, same as we always do. Um, and attending those support meetings and the MTSS meetings to make sure we're we're also kind of on the page with the educational, you know, the teachers to make sure that we're not missing something, some medical need somewhere. Um, I think that's almost it. Uh, mental health calls for 211 outside for outside school support this year, not very high. Three
036at the elementary school, they called out um 11 calls from the middle school and six calls from the high school um for outside help to come in that were made by students. No, made by staff. So, the support staff, we make those calls if it's, you know, something that needs outside. Yeah. And is there a protocol to shut the school down if like someone is being tended to for a medical emergency? Yeah. Yeah. It'll be a medical home and explain that and they're like, I don't know what happened. I'm like, I'm sure. Well, you don't want anybody in the hall. You don't want them to see somebody stress or anything like that. Yeah. That's the protocol for all three schools. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um we're involved with the uh the attendance committees to help the
037kids stay in school, get to school, home visits, all of that. Um, attendance is always a a problem. Chronic absenteeism continues to grow and we're trying to manage it with people services just as you know other districts. We're no different. Um, hygiene kits. We're going through hygiene kits like crazy. Um, this is new. We started a couple years ago with hygiene kits. Now it's growing and growing. Um, kids not brushing their teeth, not washing their hair. I don't know what's going on and how that that they're being taught about their bodies or how to clean them. Um, but that's another piece that we're really doing this year and like I said, it's been growing over the last couple years. The toothbrushes, the deodorant, the face wash, the all of that stuff. Um, they're in all
038the health offices for all the kids to use. A lot of them, especially as they're growing, they forget the deodorant that you give the kids to the kids or Well, we Well, like No. Oh, toothbrushes. Yeah. Well, we use prepasted disposable toothbrushes. Um, the deodorant is spray, so more than one person can use it. Um, face wash, it's usually packets of towelettes, that sort of thing. So, they don't they don't have these things or they don't use them. Oh, okay. So, they they'll come in and, you know, ask for them. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So, we're providing a lot of the hygiene and stuff and then the hygiene education that comes along with that. And what what school is that? I'm at the middle school, but this is for middle and high school. Elementary school, not
039not so much. They just they do a lot of the clothing changes. Um, and they have their baskets of clothing for accidents. Um, do you have numbers on those hygiene kits? Sorry. No, because they're not specifically made. Yeah, they're like in boxes and they take what they need. Yep. Um and I don't know how Monica does has hers set up at the high school. Um so there's been a lot of hygiene stuff, a lot of the nutrition piece and then a lot of the sleep hygiene. That's another piece that comes in. And we're seeing more and more kids um with sleep issues. Whether that's stemming from mental health issues that are growing or if it's stemming from screens or not consistent bedtime or bed routine, we're not really sure. Um because kids say they're going
040to bed, they just can't sleep. So, um so a lot of sleep education as well. Um health-wise, that's you know, kind of a whole person. The health-wise this year was flu and pneumonia. um multiple rounds through the school. Pneumonia started early in the fall and there were I think three rounds of pneumonia that went through and a couple rounds of flu. Um not a lot of COVID, not a lot of strep. Um allergies this year. If any of you experienced allergies, I'm sorry. It was horrible this year. Kids were so sick, eyes swollen shut. We sent a lot of kids home um for allergies because the typical Zerek or Clarodine wasn't really doing the trick this year. So, um as as staff health and wellness goes for um staff um the staff shows up in
041the health offices and wants to talk and air their grievances and they know it's kind of a safe place and nurses don't tell their secrets. Um so the mental health problems that we're seeing or not I don't want to say problems but the issues that the kids are facing the adults are facing also. So there's the uptick in that. Um uh generally SCS and SE nurses report ongoing feelings of their support of support and appreciation in their buildings. So that's always nice. Um and new this year that we had was we had a new medical adviser this year um her first year. She did great. She's available when needed. She came to the school. She'll do file reviews. Um very accessible. All the nurses have reached out to her at different times during the year
042for whatever needs. and she's been responsive. So, that's that's good. Um, we did go back to in-person training this year for our staff the beginning of the year. We have to do a rundown on um bloodborne pathogens and AETs, EpiPens, that sort of thing. First aid, um, seizures. We used to do it in person. We switched to videos. Felt that was a little easier and teachers can watch them when they wanted. Uh, they didn't like it so much. At least that was the feedback that we got. So, we did go back to inperson um and everybody seemed to love it this past year. So, we're going to continue with in person um during that that first week before the kids come back. And that's it. Wow. How do you tell the kids are tired? They
043just come in and say they're tired or Yeah, I'm tired. Can I take a nap? And it's usually no, you can't. You're in school. Yeah, that doesn't work for me either. Just saying quickly. Someone else. Oh, go ahead. No, I'm just I not for my own personal experience, of course, but are kids coming in sometimes because they just don't want to be in class? That was my question. Always. Are you able to kind of diagnose that? And so, out of those calls or those visits, Yeah. How many of them would you say are legitimate someone's sick and how many are like I didn't study for this test and I just not from my own personal experience of course but so that's I wouldn't say that's so much in the elementary school y okay that that's
044a whole different world down there um the middle school it happens uh you have to call their bluff just like you would as a parent or a teacher you know um staff don't they don't want to say to a student no you can't go to the nurse because then it's that's opens up a whole lot of something else right so rather than saying no wait till the end of the period or no you know I'll call the nurse maybe the nurse can come check on you that sort of thing um they just say okay here's here's your pass why don't you why don't you go down to the nurse and the issue with that too and that's fine come down say hi get out of class take a breather I have no problem with out
045for a minute or two, but those health offices get busy. And when you get three or four kids coming in and then you have to assess three or four kids, it's not the quick 5 minute hello. It turns into the 20 minutes that they're out of class because you're seeing the new ones coming in that you have to make phone calls on. How many, you may not know this, but my thought goes to I wonder how often these kids are sick because of the poor nutrition. Do you notice that it's the same kids a lot? Yes. Yes. Because of the poor nutrition. So if you're hungry, you can't learn. If you're, you know, and you're not going to feel well and you're not healthy, you don't feel good. It's sick. You're tired. Yeah. Going back
046to Mike's earlier question, how how and when are parents contacted? So, if it's a if it's a kid that's coming in all the time, it would be myself. Or if it was somebody that I knew was seeing um another member of support, I'd talk with them first. And usually the first thing is and um does the person receive free or reduced lunch? Because a lot of the kids once their card is full and they have no money there, they don't want to. There's some that don't want to ask parents for money or they get yelled at for asking when they run out of money and they ask for more money. So, it's one of those things where like, "Please don't tell my parents, but can I have I don't have lunch today and I can't
047I don't have money on my account." So, usually if that happens more than two or three times, then it's a phone call home saying, "Hey, look, you know, Joey's coming in and he he hasn't had lunch. He doesn't have money on his thing. I've been feeding him." If it's somebody for breakfast over and over again or anything that's routine, headaches every single day, stomach aches every single day, it's a phone call home saying, "Hey, something's up." Is that communication received? Well, I just I have to imagine that it depends. Yeah. I mean, just seems like a little bit more discipline would go a long way to fix that problem because I don't think that it's necessarily the school district's responsibility to feed your child and clean them and bait them. Our job is to teach
048them academics. So, I don't want to assume such a large burden of all three meals in a day and cleaning. And I think as a parent, if it's effectively communicated, you would come up with some type of course of action directed by that because that's your responsibility to your child. But if you don't have the means of doing it, that's where you're saying this program could help those that don't have the means. You're not necessarily saying rolling out a whole program for the whole school, but those that may need it. Is that what you're Is that the request for the breakfast? Oh, I think it should be for the whole school, and it shouldn't be free. I'm not saying a free breakfast program. That's not at all what I'm saying. Um I I mean, that
049would be wonderful in in a perfect world, right? Um, but having the opportunity for somebody who has a dollar to buy a bagel, let's say, um, or something like that, or a juice box, or or if they did run out of the house, but they do have money on their card, they're able to get something, um, to carry them through to lunch. I just just want to clarify. Yeah. and and I and you have and as a nurse, I look at at at the whole picture, not just the school's responsibility to teach them academics, which that is their number one priority, obviously. I think we'd all agree on that. Um, but in order to learn, you have to be wellfed and you have to sleep and you, you know, you don't necessarily have to have
050clean clothes, but if your friends are picking on you because your clothes are not clean, you're not going to be able to be in the mindset to be able to learn, right? So, it's kind of that whole whole child model, right? Understood. No, I can appreciate that. It's the communication of the parents thing that I'm just trying to grasp and understand because I feel like if I ever got such a phone call like we would, you know, address that. Yeah. But if I don't know, right, then how can I fix that problem? Maybe the kid doesn't want to say, maybe they're embarrassed, maybe that, right? Especially at the middle school, you know, self-awareness is skyhigh, insecurities can be high. So that can be a delicate situation. just want to we we we don't want you
051to feel like you I'm not going to speak on behalf of the board, but we don't want to ignore the request for a breakfast in school. I just wanted to understand the request and then see if really it's just better communication at home. Might be able to remediate that going into the next school year, if that makes sense. Yeah, it Yeah, I mean, we do have that communication. Uh what works nice is when the social worker is involved too because there are those resources within the town that that are there and it's not just one person, right? And there are a lot of people that are um too proud, you know, and and they won't take the help. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the the food issue is is concerning and I do know the
052kind of the community um food pantry now that's run over the congregational church now has 60 families that they are servicing which is it's a lot people don't realize and these are you have to be a resident of Summers to go for the food truck that's something else But the the Monday food pantry is only for residents and that's 60 families. Yeah, we were a couple years ago um we used to things had changed a little bit and I don't know uh I think there were some legal changes. I'm not completely sure so I don't want to speak out of turn but we had had the list of the free and reduced lunch. So the social work our support services along with myself we would work and we used to put together um uh bags
053of food like a backpack of food for the kids to take home on the weekends. So we knew that they had some food. We used to when it was the old food service also at the end of the week or at the end of the days we'd get sandwiches and we'd be able to send sandwiches home with some some of the students. Um but that that like I said that was a couple years ago but that was the way we tried to kind of keep a handle on it. So one other question which you may not be able to answer. We got a report from this was precoid from the director of special ed and it was what was happening at that point around the country with kids starting around age 11 to 14 with
054anxiety and depression that was precoid and how it had going up very quickly. M you gave us the list of the medications that kids are on. Do you know how many how many students are actually on medication for anxiety or depression? I only know because I only know what's reported to me from the or do you see that number? I mean we know there's some is that there's a lot of them going up or it is going up. Oh, it is not stabilized. No, it's No, it's still going up. And this is in the high school too. Yes. Now, but I can say this is that uh the diagnosis are increasing, not necessarily the medication. So, you don't have to medicate. A lot of parents choose not to medicate their child. Okay. Okay. So, the
055diagnosis are going up. Um the medications with that, but not everybody who's diagnosed needs to be medicated or parent chooses to medicate them, that sort of thing. Um, we have, like I said, we had, uh, elementary school had 2,712. I can actually tell you, um, I think I can tell you. I don't know where to put it. I thought I did. No, I don't think I can. I'm sorry. I thought I had that. I just have the administrations now with my medications. I'm sorry. But it's an issue that is it's still increasing. Yeah. So the Yes. So it's still increasing. Um those medications aren't always given at school. They're given in the morning or they can be given at night. So we're not always privy to what medications they're on. What we are seeing the
056increase of and which is still continuing to rise is the kids coming in with anxiety, the kids coming in with depression, the kids coming in with obsessivecompulsive or um it's usually just anxiety and depression that are really big that are coming out in the um middle school and high school years. Um and then the self harm and that's the other thing that's increasing is self harm. Okay. And my only other question is do you see any increase with students with diabetes? No. Okay. We have we have some at the elementary school. Um that was a large concern of mine. Um looking at our past fitness scores and seeing just the general overall well-being and health of of kids growing up and and trends. Um we have some at the elementary school. I don't have any
057at the middle school. Oh, okay. which is wonderful. Um, and the high school, I think she has one because this is something that's happening in some other districts, but no one knows why there's an increase, an increase. So, we have to look at if it's type one or type two and those types of things because it could be diet, it could be, you know, there's a multitude of of things that Yeah. that come into play with that. Yeah. So, besides wanting a breakfast program, is there something else that this board of education could do to help you and your staff? I don't believe so. We're all very supported. Um, for the most part, Dr. Galloway has been great. I know the nurses feel supported in their buildings. Um, and they do love working here. So,
058um, people don't generally they don't stay here for the money. they stay here for the family, you know, and it's really a lovely town. The kids are great. The kids are great. And so I think that's what um the staff picks up on. I know that's what the nurses pick up on. You know, we're here for the kids. So, well, we thank you for everything that you are doing and all of your staff. It's a big responsibility, a different kind of responsibility. I mean every teacher has a huge responsibility but this is a whole different aspect of every single kid that's important and you see them all. So that's it. Any other questions for sure? No. Okay. Great. Have you All right. Opportunity to add and delete agenda items. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. We got
059to direct filling. I'll go fast. Um Emma and Carolyn were not able to make it tonight. Uh Emma had a um away softball game and um Carolyn wasn't feeling well. So, so just some of the recent events that we've had, KOD is our celebration of the arts. I don't know if you've been able to experience that, but it is it is I I didn't even have words for it. They um the art teachers and the music teachers collaborated together. They had an opening where you had band students playing in the stairwell. You had band students playing in front of the auditorium. You had art displays all over the building. There was a cabaret in the um cafeteria. And it was a three and a half hour event. It went on for a good period of
060time. There was a full concert including band and chorus. Um our our arts teachers do a fantastic job and they just want to showcase the amazing things that our kids do. So that was fantastic. um the summer's youth for a change spirit week. We had um Ava Depo spearhead that she worked with the the summer's youth for change um group with Ariana Flag and they they did a spirit week all about mental health awareness and every day had a different theme. So that was fun. um the honors and AP art group, they had a field trip that to go to Boston and to help pay for some of that that uh field trip, they sponsored a paint night where Mr. Kiper and the AP students u demoed how to paint a lovely painting that somehow
061mine came out looking appropriate. Um and it was a really fun night. There were there were students, there are families, their grandparents, and they're all just there painting the same little flower and hummingbird. Um the junior class sponsored a car wash. They were on on site last weekend. The biob blitz um Kenley Schultz and Aaron Maynard and uh Mary Ny are absolutely fantastic. The the bioblitz was districtwide. They recruited researchers from universities. They had DP on site. They had stations for kids to investigate all over campus what calls our campus home. And the students, they did scavenger hunts. They walked around. And I felt so terrible for this group because it rained on the bioblood. So they did have to move a lot of the events on the inside. But um it was spearheaded by
062all by our STEM uh team, a number of students that pulled it all together. And I I'll show you some photos of that. For the past two weeks, we've been running AP testing. So that that has been the kids. I think they're happy to have it done. You watch the stress just roll off of their bodies as they live uh for the day. And GSS testing was a fantastic outcome this year. We blew out all of our past performance, way more than ever expected. Um, our students showed up, they took the test seriously. They asked questions. More students stayed for the extra time than we have ever had before. Um, which was really nice. Teacher appreciation week. That was also fantastic. Um, special thanks to the uh the parents that really supported and and brought
063in food for that. Um and Joyce Breton, she did an amazing job planning and and pulling all of that together. Um we had capstone events from the fall that had we had capstone presentations from the fall. Na Molly Tab and Devon Nether had their actual events happen in the past couple of weeks. So Molly Tap um she really wanted to bring attention and awareness to suicide among athletes and so she hosted a community event called um Morgan's Challenge in order to help break down the stigma of asking for for mental health support. Um, and she hosted it through a lacrosse game, which was the sport of choice of of the student that had committed suicide, who was a a university player that this was named after. Um, and then Devon Nethercott partnered with a bicycle
064group um out of out of Massachusetts and Devon and his crew gave out I think about 35 bicycles. I have to get the number free to families and summers. Um, they were delivered in the MBA gym because it ranked. Um, and so the kids, it was it was just the cutest thing. And I there was a student that said, "This is better than Christmas." Like some of the things that the kids were saying. Um, we also had our honors English nine went to the Mark Twain house. We have therapy dogs, George and Molly. They have been with us for more than five years. They had their final visit. They are now officially retired from us. Um, your books were were distributed. We have really been talking about attendance more so than ever and especially with
065students and calling their attendance numbers to light. Um, and so we had some attendance rewards. Uh there was an ice cream social for students that had perfect attendance within the months um and so on. So that happened. Um the Rockville Bank Community Foundation scholarships, they gave pretty hefty scholarships to two of our students, Maya Serrano and um oh my gosh, Lucas. I'm going to say the wrong last name. It's stuck. I'm going to come back to it. I'm going to see his picture and then it's going to come out. Um, and then the Memorial Day ceremony was this past weekend. So, there a good number of our band and chorus kids participated. So, you can see this is our biob blitz and um our STEM team are working with students across all age groups uh
066in the district. There's some really fun things there. These are our students that um got the awards. They had the Rockville. They had a a whole dinner um in Ellington at a banquet facility. Those are therapy dogs. The and then Molly Tab and her Morgan's Challenge. You can see the team. They had special shorts. And the Kota the Kota was just amazing. Um there were just so many different things and so many performers that um really surprised me with how they come out and they they they seem so shy and so quiet and then all of the sudden you put a little microphone in their hands and um and they change your your perspective of them. And then you can see the bike event. There's a good number of the students there that got their
067bikes. Um and Devon is in one of those photos supporting um The every student that got a bike also got a helmet. That's nice. And then the paint project is at the bottom. Everybody made their flower. Uh probably the coolest thing that uh Dr. Valerie and myself and Steph Leaven sat in on this past week was the architecture design 2 class has decided that they wanted to make their last um project of the year count. They wanted it to be something big. uh they they learned that we were going to start we're going to put a pause on our food service program so that we can build it up and and and really start thinking about updating it and getting it to more of a commercial program. So this group of kids, they came together,
068there's um seven students. They came together, they collaborated, they they interviewed staff members, they interviewed people who work in restaurants. They worked with um with construction managers. They really got into the idea of really thinking about the space for um the food service. Right now, that's three separate spaces. There's a classroom, a commercial kitchen, and a residential kitchen. And they came up with a fantastic design where they um they combined the three spaces or two spaces, the residential and commercial kitchen, so that you had a demo teaching area and the executive kitchen component, the demo teaching area, and then the sous chef stations. And it was really really thoughtful and well thought out. And you can see the s the sue chef stations here the um you can't see the demo station and so on.
069Actually this is the regular ranges and then they turned the classroom into a restaurant and so you can actually see the whole shape of the classroom with the with the windows and the and the exterior. It was they really did a fantastic job. Um they priced it out. They I don't think that they were close in their price, but um it was it was a really fantastic presentation and they were so passionate and um one of the things that I asked them was was it difficult to work in a team? And they did. They found some challenges in in how they worked with one another, but overall they were very proud of their product as a result of that collaboration. Some upcoming things that you need to know about capstone is tomorrow from 7:40 to
07011:03. As stated earlier, we have prom on Thursday. Underassman awards are on June 3rd. Senior awards are on June 4th. The senior picnic had been moved from last week because of the rain to June 6th. Step up date, eighth grade, will be coming to us on June 9th and graduation will happen on June 12th. and we're busy. So, what was different this year with the science exam that you wanted to work a little harder on it? Um, we we um well, we bribed them. You know what we said was um any student that showed a certain level of growth from 8th grade or exhibited proficiency on the exam, they would be exempted from their science final exam. Uhhuh. And so what is ironic to me is that they traded a two-hour exam or an hour
071and a half exam for a 2-hour exam, but you know, so they actually ended up testing longer, but they actually did a very fantastic job. Um the results were were more than I expected and the growth was um we would expect a minimum growth of 300 points between 8th grade and uh the 11th grade iteration of the NGSS. And we um for for students in some of our underserved or special populations, they were probably around the 350 to 370 mark, which was great because they achieved that 300 plus some. Um so, and then we had kids, you can watch, you can go into the test data from 8th grade and and into um high school and you can see how much time they spend in the test. And then there's a lot of this that
072had happened of just clicking to the next question or selecting and moving on there. The kids really did think and and take their time. So interesting. They just needed a little carrot. We'll call it a carrot. A carrot. Okay. You shared so many awesome things here like kids should be congratulated, you know, in each of those areas. Absolutely love it. Uh can we talk a little bit more about that opportunity the uh research and design students? It was it research and architecture. So could you say that they also collaborated with outside um designers or what what was that like? They they reached out to people that that there were a lot of connections just from in the room from the students either family members some new electricians some new contractors and then Mr. Pilowski also
073knew a number of people in the field just based off of his experience. And the kids collaborated. They they asked some questions. They sent some emails. Uh they got a lot of responses back. It was great. Yeah, that's awesome because it sounds like that's not something that's necessarily built into the curriculum. Like they each do their own, right? Typically, so they all have to design something and that the end of the year project is always a design project um in order to renovate a space. But this year the the whole class unanimously really wanted to really think about that space and so and then they want they were they wanted to make sure that Dr. Galloway heard their thoughts and prayers. Um and so we we attended as they presented and it was just fantastic.
074Right. So I guess what I'm so excited about that as a fellow educator like you always look for opportunities, right? This is a real authentic experience. And you took that, they took that opportunity and ran with it. Right. They did. And they didn't just like, all right, let's design this, but they collaborated with people here all the way up to the superintendent outside. Like they even um the CAD a CAD system to create like a a moving visual of if you were walking through the space, what it would feel like. It was it was so well done. Um, in my prior district, I was collaborating with architects and and designers on renovating a kitchen space. And so my knowledge was coming forward as we were working. And I was thinking, these kids are blowing those
075people out of the water right now because they were they were really thinking about so many details. Um, so that's great. That's so great that you were part of that, too, and helped them reflect on that learning. So, no, they loved it. Nice work. That was very exciting. It started with a conversation a few months ago. Yeah. And I walked away from it and then uh they called back and said, "We have a presentation ready to present." And I mean, I think that that it was so exciting. And Justin Felch was in that class and part of the group. You guys met him last year. He's that student that's well advanced in the solid works. Oh, yeah. So, he let Mr. because know to let me know that he wants to come back to to
076you guys to present. So I'm going to put him on the docket in June. So you talk about authentic experience, you know, when when the students have a chance to interact, in my opinion, with people who care about what they're doing, then they want to show show you what what they're doing. I I was just like blown away by that presentation. Yeah. And Emma was the hard driving project manager. Emma, when you asked her the question, was it hard to work in a team? Emma just she's like, she didn't want to throw anybody under the bus. She was like, well, but we had our challenges, but they overcame their challenges and that's all that we can ever ask for in a high school setting, right? That's that is the goal is to teach them how
077to how to work collaboratively. Mhm. This is all good. We're good. We're in a great spot. I have um about 120 thank you notes from the bio blitz. I have a couple with me from from students across from SCES just thanking our kids for coming out and doing projects with them. They're really cool. Okay. Any other questions or comments for J. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Opportunity to add and delete. Seeing none, we'll move on to take a motion for the consent agenda from Kim and a second from Ed. All right. Any questions on the consent agenda? All those in favor? And that's unanimous. All right. No old business, no new business. Committee reports, curriculum, you have your next meeting on the 9th, 5:30. 5:30. Policy, we will be meeting on June 23rd.
078And right now we're going to set it at 6 pm. Planning and finance. Uh we are on hold right now. Okay. And salary negotiations is on hold. Building committee Mike. Sounds like we'll find out on the 5th what what's going on with that and who's on it and when the next meeting is. Okay. All right. And there's no correct report. Uh, what about SCF? Shane, I did connect with Dr. Salva. It sounded like they pulled in just over 39,000, I believe, from the fundraising event they held this year on the springfest. And then I wasn't able to attend, but Jan, did you say you could make the the presentations for I don't know if you had anything to add regarding the They were they were very impressive and they were both approved also. Oh, for
079the latest grant. Yeah, there's two two grants that were presented in the last meeting. Okay. And I don't have anything from Cape and and Carlos not here and audience to citizens, staff, students. Maybe SCF can give a grant to feed the kids in the school district, the health department. That might be a grant opportunity. Okay. All right. So, we will take a motion to go into executive session uh the board to enter into executive session and invite Dr. Galloway to discuss his evaluation. Okay. And a second from Shane. All those in favor and that's unanimous. So, we'll go into executive session at 8:10. Okay, we're back in open session at 8:55 and we will now take a motion to adjourn the meeting. Take a motion to adjourn from Jane and a second from Jan. Any
080discussion on the motion? All those in favor? That's unanimous. And so we will adjourn the meeting at 8:56. Thank you very much.