001That's a win. like >> if you walk away. >> He did. He did. Yeah, he's been going to >> be my basically like when I see him figure out how to match the game. >> It is 7:02. Um let's call the Thursday, May 7th, 2026. Um, Wilton Board of Education regular meeting to order. Has everybody had a chance to look at the agenda? Yes. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> Thank you, Pam. I'll take Pat as a second. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Um, comments from the public. The board has set aside time at the beginning and end of regular meetings for public comments for members of the public to share their views on matters involving the Wilton public schools and to help inform the board's decisions on such matters. Two
002minutes will be allotted to each speaker and a maximum of 15 minutes to anyone subject. For the record, please also give your name and address. The board considers the views of citizens in its deliberations and welcomes and appreciates public comment. The board listens to public comment thoughtfully and with interest. The board however generally does not respond to public comment during board meetings by offering commentary or answering questions. The board also invites commentators and the public to contact the board or the superintendent directly with any specific questions or comments. Are there any comments from the public? >> Seeing none. Thank you. Um consent agenda. Um tonight's consent agenda has the minutes from the executive session on April 23rd, minutes from the policy and communications um meeting on April 23rd, our regular meeting minutes from April 23rd,
003and then there's um several policies. Policy 1112, News Media Relationships, um policy 2140, Superintendent of Schools. Policy 3232, Individuals with a Disability Act, fiscal compliance. Policy 3516.5 sexual offenders on school property. Policy 4115.3 valuation termination and non-renewal of athletic coaches. And policy 411 recruitment selection and appointment of certified and non-certified staff. All these policies came before the table and were noted that the only changes were of technical nature of corrections, typos, um capitalization, etc. Um so they are on tonight's consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Some move. >> Thank you, Lori. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Nicola. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries uh unanimously. Um board chair report. I would just like to thank everybody who tuned in or came out on Tuesday night
004for Will's annual town meeting. Um the budget is on the ballot along with um nine bonding proposals and we ask um please if you did not come to the meeting and didn't vote right after the meeting or during voting is taking place at the Cloon Center this Saturday please come over and um vote for the budget. vote for um the four bonding proposals that were approved by this board for our school infrastructure continuing improvement program and um thank you all for your support. I would just also like to take a minute to um give a little shout out to the Millerrisll PTA Carnival folks. You had a very successful weekend. Um, I know that you can't control the weather, but you also had really great weather. Um, which hasn't been the case the last couple
005of years. So, I just want to say, um, well done. I know, um, my kids had a fabulous time and they span the the ages of attendance and heard, uh, lovely things throughout town. So, thank you very much, >> Kevin. >> Great. I'm just going to flag uh two upcoming events for you. Um, tomorrow night 6 pm to 8:00 pm at the Wilton Library is the annual FAPA art and music show. If you've been to it, then you know it's a must event. Um, we have an opportunity uh to showcase our students prek through grade 12. Um, so the library is decked out all the artwork um in the past and I expect it will be tomorrow. There'll be uh demonstration stations and then our musicians will um engage us through the across the night.
006So, um it'll be a beautiful night and please um take a minute and stop in. Um next week, um I was curious last night if the you folks on the far side of the stage could hear the band practicing in the banner. Pam said you couldn't hear anything. I heard a whisper of it at one point. So, it must have been the acoustical design of the auditorium. But, uh next week, uh The Little Mermaid debuts Friday night at 7 o'clock. Um tickets are available online. Uh you can also see the show um Saturday the 16th at 1 and 7 and then Sunday uh at 1. And so um like our previous performances, I am sure the doors off the place and so if you have time, please go see it. Thank you. >> Oh my
007gosh, I can't believe it's like we're all talking about end of the year stuff. So it's May, so everybody get ready. I just >> do five things in one night. >> Yep. Um, first up for review and discuss, special education report, Wilton goals and priority 3 through 12. Great. So, I'm going to um invite Nicole F and Sharon Dandel to join me. We'll take these three seats over here. >> Thank you. >> Bring our work to life. I forgot my notes. >> All right. Well, thanks for having us. We're excited tonight to bring our work to life for you. Um, so I think before we start, we want to give a big thank you to all of our social education teachers, pair professionals, school psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists, and counselors who make it all
008possible under the leadership of Nicole and Sharon. And then we have a remarkable IIL team. So we have Sarah Marcus who's currently on maternity leave. So Rebecca Westwood is in for her at Miller Driscoll. Um Katie Miller at Seder Mill, Holly Mets at Middlebrook, Julie Lawrence at the high school, and then Denise Hernakis out in community steps. So without all of that amazing team, none of this would work. Um so I'll go to the next slide, which really talks about the goals that we set for this year. So I'm sure you've heard us all talk this year about accessing grade level content. Um so when we looked at that we really looked at it in two lenses this year. Um one was our implementation of support services and then looking at our MTSS model. Um
009so when we look at evaluating our support services we really K5 looked at our push and pull out model and where we were taking students from where we were pushing in to ensure that they had the most access to grade level content. Um and at our middle school level, we really looked at our push and model by team and then our skill blocks. So students get support services at middle school cross team based on the area of need. And then the high school, we really looked at our Kota classes, our academic lab, and then you heard me talk during budget season um about expanding our DBT program K12 and what that looks like. Um and then we really looked at what our attendance and crisis intervention looks like. So when we think about that, you
010know, that's home visits for students that are having a hard time. That's care coordination. So when a student is hospitalized, um, and then put in what's called the PHP. We did say next year we're going to make you an acronym cheat sheet. Um, so I apologize. >> I started it. I just >> And then we were like, oh, we should have put it all together. So if it gets feel free to stop me. So we have students who are hospitalized and then put in partial hospitalizations where our mental health team will work with both the hospital the step down program outside therapist and family to do quar coordination which really takes um a lot of time and effort amongst our staff um all with the plan of bringing students back to school after that crisis.
011Um so those and then our community partnerships. So, we have a lot of community partnerships um with different organizations in town and have really strived this year to build more connections for families that have students with disabilities. Can be a really isolating experience. Um so, we've created um community connection meetings where we have parents from every building that come together. We've created a resource list for parents of like what's a good dentist to go to in town, where do you get a haircut if your child's having a hard time. Um and then we had some larger events. We had the fashion show which all of you attended. We had our especially everyone concert. Um so looking to expand that to try to have one per quarter for next year. Um and then we looked at
012our MTSS model. We're in full implementation 612. Um and then looking to expand that down to our elementary schools for next year. So those are our goals for this year. Um which then leads us into the broad spectrum of students that we service. Um so we have a wide range of neurode divergent learners. Um you'll see that we've had an increase over the years in our students um with autism and OI label. Um and these are numbers, right? Um so trying to bring these numbers to life for you, I think is important. So we have students who really perform above benchmark on standardized tests, do really well from a cognitive standpoint, and the school day can really be hard. Um they might miss social nuances, they might miss social cues, kind of the hidden curriculum,
013I call it, of school can be really challenging for them. So those are students that will work in small group to scale them up from a social emotional perspective and social skill social thinking. Um then we have students with really complex cognitive needs um might be intellectually disabled who we really believe need to have access to grade level content as well. So we work really hard to scaffold and um modify that curriculum when appropriate. And then we have students at all ages dealing with some emotional dysregulation who really require that acquisition of skill. and then how do we generalize it out into their classroom to make sure that they're not learning skills in isolation. Um, and then we have students with specific learning disabilities, um, attention deficit, um, all that kind of goes in between,
014but this just gives you a little bit of a landscape of what some of those numbers look like. Um, so next you'll hear so based on this, go to the next one, Lucille. Um, so in order to have access to grade level content, you need to have time with your non-identified peers. Um so we are proud to say that you know can read the numbers but majority of our students spend more than 69% of their day with their non-identified peers. Um and because of the really um I think broad continuum of service we offer less than 3% of our students are outpaced. Um, so our next slide, you've heard us talk for a long time. Um, about our achievement gap, which is still very much an area of of focus for us and growth. Um,
015this slide really breaks down the last three years across our DUR in terms of where that achievement gap percentage lives. Um, so you can read it. We have work to do and we're moving a little bit in the right direction. Um, I'm going to talk more tonight about what our plans are to address that. Um on the next slide I broke it down a little bit more for you based on students with disabilities and without disabilities in terms of what that gap is and again that's over three years and comparison data with other schools in our um and then the next three slides um is by ELA math and science for our MAP test. So that really looks at the point differential based on the RIT score which is a scale score. So that really
016looks to uh track student growth over time. Um and really this data is meaningful in the sense that our students who were significantly below benchmarks or students that kind of fall in what we call the red and then students that are approaching benchmark in the yellow, those students are making more growth, which is what we want to see. Um and is really an area of a focus going into next year of really looking at the conditional growth percentile for students because that measures students against themselves. um and seeing more than you know 50% to see a year's growth in a year's time. Um so that just breaks that down again over the last four years and the DUR comparison data. Um and then we had a tri-state visit this year. Um so I broke the
017last three slides into what our essential questions were. Not going to read them because you can all do that. Um, but the key takeaways that we really learned from M visit, which was a a meaningful experience, was defining what some of our key terms are, making sure that we all have shared expectation on what those terms are, um, really formalizing our MTSS process, looking and securing common planning time between our special education and general education teachers, looking at data points outside the MAP, um, but making sure that there's a scope and sequence behind that, and then really aligning our professional development velment to our goals going into next year um in alignment with our general ed partners. Um so this just talks a little bit more in detail, but those were really the big takeaways
018for the next three slides. All right. Um, so I'm gonna have Sharon and Nicole talk a little bit about some glowing moments from the buildings and teams that they work with. So Sharon will start us off. Um, been a very busy year, so it was really good to stop and reflect. Um, we we hit the ground running. Um, we have a very full preschool, as you guys know. Our enrollment remains high there. Um, we already have our weight list and everything for next year, which we talk about every year. It's um we have a coveted um six classrooms down there and so much um so much growth in our ability to integrate the pre-ereading skills and all of our curriculum and bringing it down to the prek4 and really kind of um bringing our teachers
019down there, bringing those teachers up to see, you know, what the differences between preK4 and kindergarten. Um so, a lot of great work down there. Um we also had um a lot of new staff this year. So we had the, you know, I think new staff brings you the opportunity to um reassess what you need to revisit. So some of those um just foundational skills and strategies and um really integrate that professional learning back. So it's a good opportunity to be like, okay, let's revisit some of our professional learning for um learning disability, dyslexia, autism, things like that. we have um a lot of work to do with u making sure that we are um getting all of the newest assessments that are out there. So we we had um vetted and ordered and started
020using a couple of really um comprehensive evaluations um at the K2 and 35 level for really digging into the dyslexia piece and identifying earlier and identifying more specifically where the areas of weakness are. that's been um really helpful in all of our PPTs and things like that and parents are really appreciative of it. Um along with that, the new curriculum um has really been a very good partner to what we do in special education. the teachers are attending the regular ed professional learning both at Miller Driscoll and CiderMill um and unpacking that curriculum making sure that all of the um most important benchmarks are being met at a much earlier age and then working together um with Dr. Chuck Smith's help and getting all the interventionists together really just making sure it's a all hands-on
021deck approach. So, we've been doing a lot of that work um at Miller Driscoll. And um this year, in addition to everything else, we um and I'm not sure if you guys have um already talked about this a little bit, Melissa, but the um DBT elementary curriculum was finally released. The training was finally um made public. We um with Melissa's help, we were able to get teams together and we were able to begin um our first actual continuum of service at the K2 level for five or six of our students that really required um that those intensive skills um to be delivered on a daily basis throughout the day and with a very consistent team. So, we attended the training together. Um Kathy with her masterful scheduling and and her support and her help with
022all of this. Um and also because of the fact that Miller School is very nicely organized into teams, we were able to really focus in on on um certain group of students and a certain group of teachers to get this underway. We have significantly decreased um the level of dysregulation, restraints and seclusions, things like that. we have some great data um that we can you know certainly put together over the summer. Um and that is probably um one of the you know I think hardest things that we did this year that have had the quickest sort of turnaround. Um but I also think that um really quickly I want to mention the new curriculum at K2 talks there's a whole unit on um students with disabilities. So the whole second grade got the opportunity to
023really dive into this um curriculum and it's is it six weeks, eight weeks, six weeksish. Um and so we u Melissa, myself, we partnered with the coaches um in how to unpack some of this for the our youngest learners, how to make it meaningful for them and how to you know um help them process some of it. This culminated with a very organized um hour and a half of u some high school, middle school and high school students with disabilities coming down into Miller just and speaking to our second grade classes in in paired groups. Um it was absolutely amazing. It was phenomenal. The kids were so like um happy to be there and to talk about what their disability journey has been and how it's affected them and where the you know the pitfalls
024were. Our second grade students obviously got a lot out of the curriculum because their questions were amazing and on point and just so mature and we had a lot of laughs and we also learned a lot and I I I loved that and Melissa organized a lot of that with Gina Ddon um who's one of our coaches at at Miller Driscoll. So that that's a huge glow. Um and then Cider Mill we've done a lot of I'm going to steal this. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um we did Um, we continue the new assessments at CiderMill as well. Um, I've we've absolutely loved having Janine there. Um, you guys know all of the great um, structural organizational pieces that come out of Miller Dresccoll and Janine has done such a good job and such a quick
025amount of time with bringing that into grades three through five and and making a really nice bridge um, for our students with disabilities to transition into grade three and just getting those structures set there. um we did the training for um the elementary DBT with them as well. We do have two um very successful groups of DBT running at the grade 35 level. We're going to continue to refine that. Um, and also I think our biggest um, movement at CiderMill um, is working with um, Chuck to get all of our support services together, make sure that the schedule allows for that collaborative time so that we can continue to work together with regular ed and make sure that our students with disabilities have the same experiences um, and that the time is really well spent.
026and we we have some great plans coming up from that. But I think that the work we did this year um is is so important because it's it's messy. Um and you know we leave meetings not happy sometimes. Um but that's that's what has to happen today and then we will you know have some great outcomes with that moving forward. So those are my highlights. >> Yeah. Um thank you. Thank you. And then at Middlebrook, as you know, it's we're very proud of the the team structure and I think part of what we've tried to do this year as we look at supports across different disciplines is to break down what those teams look like a little bit and share kids across interventionists, um, special education teachers. We started that work in a very small
027way this year and want to scale it up next year. We've had some really great data in um, sharing the supports and sharing the expertise of people. Um, and part of that starts with our MTSS model. So we revamped SRBI have a very strong model thanks to Katherine also um who runs those meetings and um bringing really everyone into the room to talk about how to support kids as they move in or out of special services. So we want to take a a child where they are regardless where they are on the continuum of support. Um so and part of that too was blurring the lines of um cot helped um created classes that were highly packed with kids with identified needs. So we put we created a push-in model across um all the classes
028and that has been very complex in a middle school and also very successful so far this year. Um we have some tweaking to do to increase some of the um data collection but I think it's something that um all of our staff has worked really hard on and it's been pretty successful. Um we continued our executive functioning work that was um targeted within small groups in special ed and then weekly groups with the counselors and then um Poly Mets, our instructional lead leader, really led a committee of people to embed the skills across grade levels and identified um three to four skills per grade level that we pushed out to the general ed teachers. So it took the onus off special ed and embedded it into the curriculum. Um, and that was also grounded in
029Chris Bogart's work. And then, uh, something that we, um, are very proud of is including some of our kids with the most complex needs even more into the general curriculum and even some of our stride classes that were a little bit harder to access. Um, including a PE class, which we've really done some great work bringing in role models into that PE class to help kids access in the best way they can. the the PE curriculum. Um, and it's been a wonderful experience for the peers and for the kids with the highest needs. And I welcome you to come see that class at any time if you need a little bit of joy in your day. Um, and then we continued that work up into the high school this year. Um, as you know, I'm
030new to the high school. Thank you for welcoming me. Um, so we started with Miss Bogart also embedding some of the work for executive functioning. Uh, we did whole school training. We got input from all of the different departments at the high school uh to identify where we think the skills are lagging there and then we started to identify the skills that going from 7 8 9 10 11. So we're going to continue that work next year um and build the vocabulary and where that will look in each department. So that's still continuing. It'll begin um coming up again in the summer. Um but I want to thank our special ed teachers and some of the instructional leaders at the high school for that support as well. Uh and then we did a lot of
031great work with the coaches at the high school looking at the achievement gap data specifically um and identifying where we can look at the strands of weaknesses and then how we can embed that into um services that were already in place and then really looking ahead to next year and reimagining what those services can look like. So, um, we've done some had some really great collaborative conversations with the interventionists, Chuck, and the special ed department. So, I'm proud of that collaboration so far. And then um the pretty visuals are of um the post-secary options for our students with special uh special needs. So, of 52 students, 34 are and some of the these numbers are fluid. That's why there's two visuals. Um 34 are attending four-year colleges and some of them are represented there. Uh
032three are going to community colleges, two are going to uh trade schools. Um about 13 are unsure are still not committed yet. And then uh six students are staying in our community and going to uh community steps. So um some moment of pride for sure. And that's great to thank you. Um and then um our last slide is really around our goals for next year. So still continuing our goal of accessing grade level content um but really taking some of the feedback from Tri-State and the expansion of our continuum of service which I thank you because some of that was budgetary around our BCBA and OG specialist um to really look at the different domains in our service. So um we've talked a lot about DBT. So just really um looking at fine-tuning that to
033have assured experiences between grades and skill sets by grades similar to how Nicole spoke around the executive functioning. Um so we have a team that's doing some summer work this summer to roll that out. So we have a a scope and sequence by grade around that curriculum. Um, the integrated supports is a lot of what you heard Nicole and Sharon talk about of really looking at flexible groupings regardless of a student's identification label and how we share supports across our special education teachers and interventionists which um, Chuck and the coaching staff have been a huge part of. Um, building thinking classrooms is something that we're really leaning into with all of our teachers and making sure our special education teachers are a part of that um, is really important to us. And then you heard
034us talk a little bit tonight about our MTSS model. Um so really looking at expanding that which really targets tiered interventions for students prior to being identified. Um and really tracking that not just around the referral of intervention but once they're in intervention, how are they doing? What does it look like? When do we need to change things? Um and how that plays into both academic growth and social emotional well-being. Um, >> and we'll have an acronym sheet for you. >> Yes, we promise. Trying not to lean in on them tonight. >> Any questions? >> So, the DVT, so at the workshop, you told me to go look at the videos and I did >> and so I'm tell you, I just suggested, >> but I did what you said. So, so do you, so
035just describe to me how you do that, how that looks, what that looks like, how it's structured, >> because it was fascinating to me to look at the videos and I I could see I could tell that they would be pretty effective for kids. >> Absolutely. And and they're they're highle skills brought down to, >> you know, a 5-year-old's, you know, level. So, um, for our students that require that level of service, we have their schedule set. So, you know, and this and this is also fluid and flexible, but they may come in right off the bus and come right into u Maria Streman's um room where they would sit and do some of that the mindfulness, watch one of those videos, talk about one of the skills, how does it relate now that even
036just getting them to do that? >> Yes. >> Probably a month, right? So it's a very slow process because you have to at that age get them to understand that this is going to help them and not further disregulate them whereas a slightly older child might be like okay >> which the bus might have already done >> sometimes. Correct. Kathy knows that because we spend endless hours talking about that stuff. Um, so that is like that middle of the day we will do another check-in and then there's always an end of day check-in where we review the skills that day. >> Same kids. It's a it's a cohort of students right now that's um four. However, um once we and again, I don't want to, you know, jinx anything, but like we really significantly decreased
037the level of dysregulation and you you could almost just instantly see the anxiety in some of these students drop because they knew they had this structure in place and they knew who their people were and they they felt like, okay, like I can do this because I know I can have a bad day and I have this at, you know, at my disposal and I have these people that understand me, get me. um it takes a long time, but those videos are sort of integrated into I think she uses one a week and then if they can't get that skill, she'll stay on that, you know. So, it definitely takes a while for them to to understand and some of the skills are a lot easier than some of the other ones to to understand
038like >> you can have a bad day and you can recover and do something great at the end of the day. Those are really that's really what we're trying to teach these little guys. Um but it's it's a mindset. there's training for the pair of professionals. So, a lot of these kids have pair professionals with them in the classroom for safety and to embed those skills in throughout the day. So, maybe they're in the class and they're, you know, mid-nowledge block and they're like, you know, I've had it. I can't, you know, I'm tapping out. >> Pair professional is there using that same language, using the um strategies. So, there's like a constant um flow of those skills being given to these kids all day long. They can't escape it. So because everyone's trained in
039it at their special ed teachers, they're regular ed teachers. They're pair professionals. So that language is used all day. >> Yeah. And so you all use the same language. >> We do. Yeah. >> That's great. >> And we try, you know, we did a lot of work with Middlebrook. Um obviously Tanya Leonard is so deeply rooted in this. She came down, she spoke with us um several times. Melissa pulled the whole district um sort of DBT mental health um continuum together at one point so that we could talk about talk about it from that age all the way up to the high school um and just what it what it looks what's different and we're going to put it back together over the summer um and create um like a flowchart document kind of thing
040for it. Um, and then the the with all of this training and with the success, we're going to build on that. We do have other students slated to also receive this type of service moving into next year. Um, we had an immediate need to bring down some high-risk, very dangerous behaviors. And now that we've done that, we we are planning on really opening it up to more. >> It's been a very effective methodology. >> It really has. It's been impactful. >> Yeah. And it's a tiered approach too. So you know Sharon's examples were really critical um of a small cohort of students. And then when we look at expanding that model, if we look at our secondary model, we have students at secondary who require a daily and we have groups that run once a
041week. Yeah. >> Right. So this can really hit a wide range of students based on the level of intervention they need. >> Um and students can take it identified or not at the high school as a credit through wellness seminar. >> And all that includes parent parent training also. So that's what I was going to ask at Middlebrook there's a parent training module and I didn't know if there was a similar availability >> um because yes they get it all day but the school day six generaliz it's been great I mean as you could imagine we meet with the these families quite often and we're we are sharing a lot of it but Maria Streman who's the one running all of this down there I say running it but she's leading it um along with
042a a nice team um sets up she has set up bi-weekly um same the same thing that Tanya does up at the Middlebrook where um you can sign up for a slot, >> right? >> And then the parent can um sign up, go on and then she will talk to them about the skill they're learning that week, how their particular like individual because it we're so small >> at Miller Disco she's able to do it on an individual basis. So she's telling these families how their student is doing with it all. I know um at the secondary I think sometimes it's a a small group of parents and so you're not talking more specifically about the child but more about the skills. >> Well, and we've scaled it up already and you guys are are
043on your way. So um and we have it included in some of Jory's weekly letters and also um just like newsletters going home so that parents are parents start using the vocabulary across. Someone said the word but today and I was like I haven't heard that word in a long time. You know, we got one of my favorite emails was from a parent saying it was a middle school parent who got, you know, into a middle school moment with their child and he was like, "Mom, stop. We need to DBT this." >> Um, and it was used as a verb and that's when you're like, "Yes, you know, we've done it." Um, so that's really the end goal is to expand that language. >> Yeah. >> It's been a real game changer. >> It has.
044It's been a huge game changer. I I do want to just give a shout out um to Kathy because this is I mean obviously Melissa, you have to have somebody that's willing to go along this with you and obviously Melissa is that person. Um and Kathy I mean to stop mid-stream we had to reassign staff. We had to reassign, you know, case management. We had to have a lot of sometimes uncomfortable conversations with families. Um and we had to we had to change a whole lot around. We had to move rooms. We we did a whole bunch of things. Um, and I think I just want to say thank you because like none of that you you won't be able to do any of that unless you have a principal that's working right alongside your
045assistant superintendent of special ed and and your staff. So, it's been a huge team effort. >> Pretty great though. >> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. >> You said at um Miller Driscoll there was about right now there's four students but over there maybe there was five or six. And what's the number of students in like the similar program at Cider Mill? So, CiderMill, currently we have um two of our school psychologists running um these DBT groups. Um I want to say each of them have right now between five and 10. Some it it's flu it fluctuates cuz some have come in and out. So, it's a little bit it's fluid up there for sure, but there's probably I would say like 20 students maybe total that have that attend either 5 days or 3 days a week
046of this. Both of those um school psychologists have also along with this training started what they're calling like a soft start and they have kids coming in first thing off the bus and going to their room to do um sensory activities um a homework that they couldn't get the night before that they were stressing about whatever it is those same students are afforded that opportunity to come in and start their day there and like you know start on at at a good um pace and then get into the classroom for morning meeting. So that's also been >> and those groups are across each cohort, correct? >> Yeah. So yes. So again, like everything's going to um be a little bit more structured next year, but for this year um on both sides, the north and
047south side of the of the building, we have a fifth grade. We have our our biggest group of our fifth grade over there, but she does also have um a three four. >> Okay. Yeah. Can I ask a question about uh achievement gaps? Sorry, >> sorry. >> Um, so the the numbers are good. They look like they're moving in the right direction. Um, what practices are do you think are contributing the most to the improvements? >> Yeah, it's a great question. Um, so I think right, we're going to use our DBT skills. We're moving in the right direction and we still have a lot of work to do. So I think when we look at what's contributing to it and our goal setting, you know, I think a large portion and Nicole shared a little
048bit around it is really our integration with our coaches. So they have really helped us to unpack the data and see some trend lines. We have also really spent a lot of time um within our IETS with our special education staff looking at our students approaching benchmark. So um those are students who kind of live in the yellow when you get that pretty color chart sent home. um really spending some time looking at those students and really honing in on what skills. So, not just looking at their scores, but looking at the skills within those scores that they were struggling with um and providing the right intervention and support while maintaining their time in the classroom. So, if you only look at, you know, trying to close that gap by pulling them out in retention
049services, you just fall further behind. So, that balance that you saw in our first goal around balanced classrooms is really critical. Um, so that I think is another contributing factor. So really looking at the skills that we're lacking, their time within the classroom, how we balance that with intervention. And when you think about that, right, there's a lot of people vying for time in that equation. Um, so that's where we've spent a lot of time talking about some of the artificial barriers really that we put up, right? You know, if you have an IEP, you see a special ed teacher. If you're starting to show some lagging skills, you might see an interventionist, but that interventionist might have a group of kids that a student receiving special education is having the same issue with, right?
050And we're all trying to get the same amount of time. So that's where to answer the second part of your question, looking into next year, we've talked about the integrated support. So trying to put down some of those artificial barriers and sharing students regardless of where their identification might be um with our support staff. >> Yeah, of course. >> I guess just the um achievement gap. Y >> So we're always talking about closing the achievement gap. What is what does a realistic expectation around that look like there? Is that something that is a constant moving target? Is there you know because I or is it something that's never attainable but we get you know I just >> it's attainable I just optimal goal >> it it is I I don't if if we close the
051gap all the way we have no special education so >> I like my job but um but the gap the gap also can look like different things like Melissa was saying before we have really high performing kids who don't look like that on testing because they're not emotionally able to take a test or available for learning at that point. Right? So data can look very different dayto-day as we know right. So I think that to answer your question there isn't one plan because every kid is different and we need to meet them where they are. They might need this. We have kids who you know who bomb test and then they go through the roof because they're emotionally able to to perform and access their knowledge, right? And then some of the most significant data
052that when we were looking at the different bands on the map were the kids in the red that we call it the the kids who really are um really not nowhere near benchmark made the most gains in our plans this year for targeted instruction where we thought that was going to be most of the kids >> um closer to the cusp. So that's interesting data that I went through with the coaches this week and we're like, "Huh, that's so interesting that that was the most effective for them when we thought it would be most effect." So it's really just like reviewing and understanding and most importantly and in all our conversations that I've had with both departments um interventionist and special education when you're talking about numbers and systems fine. But when you really talk
053about the kids and who they are, that's when people get invested and people, you start storytelling and like, oh, that worked for them and this is what, you know, how I got them, you know, engaged and motivated and and yes, this kid can do it because we're going to show them how we're going to do it. And so really, when you identify who the kids are, that's when they're going to make the progress because they become a part of it, too. So, and I think that part of my point to that is hearing some of the work behind that those numbers is important for us to hear and for everybody to hear too because that actual, you know, that kind of one benchmark number doesn't necessarily tell the full story or doesn't really kind of
054reflect the complete success of the program or how, you know, kids are doing within it. Okay. So, I think that like hearing just more about what's underneath. >> Yeah. >> Underneath that. >> Um >> I it's a good point. I think that's something we've talked a lot about for next year as we integrate supports. You're adding a larger team. So, we also been talking about what data points we're going to look at in between standardized assessments to answer some of those questions. Right. >> Really, is there other measures of success that we can kind of pivot around and and >> Yeah. and add to this, right? >> Yeah. We went through the budget process. You talked that you were going to measure not just and you mentioned earlier tonight, but I just didn't see it
055in here. The less of the gap relative to some general population and more about progress against, you know, perceived ability of this student to make progress. >> you have that somewhere? >> Yeah, I can share that with you. So, we have the con uh we have the conditional growth percentiles by grade of our students with disabilities and without disabilities. So, I can share that with you. That's really some of our work this summer is we're really looking at data structures in between these standardized assessments. And the area to really focus on that is going to be that growth percentile because that is measuring them against themsel. And for a student like Nicole was mentioning that's in the red and is significantly below benchmark. That's a student that we're going to want to see growing way
056past 50 50% in a year's time. Right? So really setting some targets based on where their baseline is. Um but I can share that data with you. I do have it. >> And then the other thing that just I guess at some point would love if there's time to go deeper. It's like I I see some of the variation and it's not clear to me whether these movements are sort of statistically significant or whether we're sort of just seeing normal variation or or you know population changes, people leaving the district, new people coming in, and how much of those factors are like like I guess I'm I'm kind of hungry for a little bit of a decomposition of not just how much did the number move, but what were the various levers that were causing
057that movement? >> Yeah. Um we have some more segregated data. I could share I think in so I could share that with you and happy to unpack it more. I think in terms of population data we have not had a decrease in our students with disabilities. Um if anything we've had an increase in more of our students with um so if you look at that demographic disability category we've you can see we've had an increase in our students with autism and OI. So we've had some more variability in the students we're seeing um which I do think plays into it but I can share some of that data with you. On that note, actually, if you have it as a followup, yeah, I would love to see some of the trend data. I'm curious to
058know >> like the the population of prek, >> it's pretty large. Like it's larger than any other class grade up till fifth grade, I think, maybe even higher. And so I I don't know if we factored that into like needs in the in the elementary school in the next three to four years and that will be budgeted properly for the number of students. Um but I think it would be important for us to know whether we think that's a statistical outlier of a class of prek students or is that the number of students we should expect to come in with disability. >> Yeah. So that number um has increased over the last few years for sure. Um I also think just being mindful for all those listening and watching um our students with disabilities in
059that prek 3 and four um that are referred from birth to three. the there's not many preschools that give them support and services. So, them coming here, that number sometimes looks higher than what we might see in kindergarten. Um, but that has been a number that has been increasing and is something that um, Bernardet has paid a lot of attention to and I think you might hear us next year talk a little bit more about what we want to do before preK. So, I'm glad you asked. And then I was just also just a little bit curious, you had the um for each school you kind of had the numbers of referrals and then found eligible um found eligible and attending. Yeah. >> So, um are you finding that the referral kind of number over
060years is is holding steady and is there like a split between you know is there is it like 50/50 school parents like what's the difference? Um so we've seen if you look at our referral data by building over the last 5 years. Um so the place where we've seen a a really um steady decrease is the high school um which we invested a lot of time in that over the last four years cuz that's a space where if a student is being identified you worry right um we do have students with some complex social emotional um situations that arise at high school and that requires some significant intervention. That number has really decreased over time. Um, our Middlebrook number this year has decreased since we started our MTSS process. So, that's really trying to put
061interventions in place before they start. Um, we've stayed pretty consistently at Cider Mill. Miller Driscoll is the highest it's been in a while this year. Um, but I don't necessarily equate that to being a bad thing. Um, you know, if I'm going to look at a time when a student is requiring intervention or needing support, I'd want to see those referrals in K2. Um, that's not a bad space to see them. Um, but that we've been a little higher there than we have in the past. >> Any other um questions for Melissa? >> Well, the trick is they're un they come into kindergarten unidentified. >> Um, >> and then there's that whole process of trying to find where how you can help them. Yeah. >> So that number is always going to be fluid and
062that that's probably always going to probably going to be heightened just by the nature of the world now and what where kids are. >> Yeah, I think we're definitely seeing a more diverse range of referrals at a younger age than we were seeing before. I think to your question around parent and school referrals, it's it's pretty evenly split. We've spent a lot of time looking at that data. Um, and I also think, you know, there's a number behind the referrals and it's also, you know, that's a journey for a student and a family. Um, and we want to have, we want to have the right data before we make a referral to talk about a child having a disability. And it's also, you know, the emotional journey that you coach a parent through. Yes. >>
063When they are going through that, there's a grief behind that for a lot of families. There's fear. Um, and I think, you know, that's some of the work I'm most proud of with our teams is the um the emotional support that they give to families and students. Um, you know, that PBT process is is really challenging. Um, even when everyone around that table is in it and feeling good about it as a parent, um, it's it's a very emotional experience. Um, and I think the work our teams do to support parents through that, to make sure students are progressing and to also have them understand is um, a big part. Um, so when we see it younger, that's more time for us to help them in the journey >> and you'll be more successful as
064they go through the system because they'll start they'll trust it. >> Just listening to the questions around the table, I think one thing we can do is plan um, a data workshop for the fall. >> That'll be fun. >> We'll have it will be fun. Well, our current end of the year data. >> Yeah, I think that that's >> and you have a little bit of proof of concept just with some of the >> we can share some of our summer work and what our new positions are doing. I think the the work that you guys are just starting to really do with that like the flexible grouping and the sharing of supports seems so promising. And so to be able to, you know, hear more about that and see um how it works. And
065I think also how some of like the effects of the DBT programs in the in the little schools and just understanding some of the um achieving gap questions and the data behind that would be great. >> Yeah. Okay. So, like a general sense just based on the questions I've heard tonight. Um, but if there are additional questions as you're thinking about that are kind of interrogating what you've seen or heard so far, um, send them along and then we'll just we'll plan for September. >> Can do it together. Ch. >> But it's really, you know, to hear some of where we were in the beginning of the year and some concerns and hear um, kind of the progress that's been made in in this year has been really um, tremendous. So, thank you all for
066um >> thanks for all your work, >> the hard work and some of the difficult conversations and the trial, you know, trying things and figuring things out. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Whitland public schools edspecs >> in service to helping you sleep at night. Um I provided everyone uh draft copies of uh educational specifications developed by fire and KG&D for Miller Driscoll Cider Mill and Milick schools that high school education spec specifications do um construction. So what what these documents are are the school districts um detailed accounting of what we believe we need in our educational spaces to provide uh quality education. And so the way it's organized as you'll see when you go through it um each of the documents part one educational activities and so it lays out um in you know kind
067of fine detail um grade level overview um the number of classrooms the types of classrooms and then um some of the qualitative characteristics that we want inside all of those spaces. Um you will see thematically as you read across them um interest in opening spaces up in accessing outdoor spaces and creating more flexible spaces um in trying to be um better prepared to respond to whatever's coming in the future in terms of educational shifts. So there's uh real focus on flexibility um in the way that our interests are described um in addition to some much more you know practical things like making sure we have enough power outlets in the right places so kids can charge their devices and things like that. Um so there's nothing you need to do with these tonight. I'm not
068going to ask the board to do anything until fall. Um the other necessity we have is we're gearing up on large projects. The state requires educational specification documents as part of the eligibility process for reimbursement. And so what I would ask is again if you're having trouble closing off page one start to familiarize yourself with a contest. they will read, you know, very similarly in style across the schools. And so, and then if you know, as you're kind of working your way through them, if you know, questions emerge or, you know, there's something you you want to come back around to, um, we'll do that. Um, in terms of next steps, um, we'll have, you know, Eric back working with the high school staff to finish off the development of the high school educational specifications.
069and then I'll have him come back to one of our early board meetings and just you know provide a brief presentation to kind of talk you through his perspective as you know he was putting these together in partnership with our staff and then we can entertain questions and go there. One thing that would be fascinating is eventually get to that point when when he does come to present or as we're leading this like definitely understand why we want to follow EDS specs to make ourselves reimbursement eligible. It'd be interesting to understand where we find ed specs, if at all, to be in conflict with what we would otherwise want to design. And >> just understanding what the trade-offs are that we'd be making to say, okay, we're going to we're designing it this way to
070comply, but if we had our brothers, we would actually want to do it this way. And there's a trade-off decision to say, do we follow the ed specs to be compliant for reimbursement purposes or do we go with what we think is in the best interest of the of the school and the students. So >> I have no idea whether those trade-offs exist, but if they could give that lens, I think it'd be really interesting. >> That's a really interesting question. Sorry, just maybe my >> You want me to read say it again? Well, no, no. I just want to trans like to what extent is the edspec um like a documentation requirement versus a what the mission and what you're allowed to do requirement. And I I don't know. >> Yeah. I So I
071would say >> it's purely like how do you write it up? >> Right. Right. Right. Right. True. >> How can you make it however you want it and then that becomes the spec and you can just follow that. >> Yeah. I I think so I would you know one you know I think we'll come back to that question. That's a that's a a wonderful question to dig into. I think you know what you'll find um in sections of the document there are certainly um philosophical and aspirational elements that describe you know kind of our approach to education. You'll also see you know a very practical accounting of the number of rooms we have and we think we need and in part that's based on what's currently existing. And so, you know, to your question, you
072immediately took a look building new school, would these be the documents? And and maybe they would be, right? We still need x number of classrooms, x number of offices, x number of whatever. But I'm going to think I'm going to chew on that one myself. >> Yeah. I guess it's like is I don't even know. Is it a self attestation that we followed it or somebody review it and say, "Yes, you've met the core requirements of ED." Now, this is, you know, I I I don't want to overstate this, but um you know, my general understanding is, you know, when you're pursuing um reimbursement at the state level, I don't know that any actor at the state really cares about the content and what's in here versus um did what you um actually designed the
073bill match what you said and like that's where the eligibility is determined. And so in terms of beginning from the beginning, you know, we can design, you know, what we want and what we think we need. And in part, I think that's, you know, what you'll see here. >> Yeah. >> Could be process. >> I don't know. >> Yeah. I would just Yeah. Would be interesting to know like if we ever felt constrained. Well, I said it could just be a fault process like and if it's just a I think it comes back to thing which I before like if it's if the process is mandated then probably the process content is mandated then that's a different story. >> Yeah. Fair. Understood. >> That's a you know in the winter you get your budget book
074and in the summer you get your facts. >> Not being Well, may you know, fulfilling what's in this book become something that we look at annually and move towards. Uh, next up we have um first reads of several policies. So, we'll start with um policy 4132, professional publications and presentation by staff. >> So, you have these policies when last we met. Um, review and discuss. They'll be on discuss and approve on the next round. But just to refresh your memories in this uh review, we um struck some of the language and revised it for readability. Um the other ad um that was not present in the previously existing policy is the last sentence about the district's right to um a legal claim on products created by employees that are working for us um use of
075school system funds. Do we have many staff that do this? >> Um, off the top of my head, I can't think of it. You know, I mean, it's more common to see staff, you know, engage in studies for, you know, their dissertations or masters or things like that. But >> can you think of one specifically are you talking about? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. So the answer is no. >> Any other um questions about um policy uh 4132? And so that'll um next meeting it'll be on um for action. If anybody has any questions between now and then, they should feel free to um send them into Kevin. Um next up is policy 5144 physical activity and student discipline. >> Right. So here um there is an addition of a line. school employees
076may prevent a restrict recess when a student poses danger to the health or safety of themselves of the students or school personnel. Um Mark and I had a very rich conversation about um K proposed language and what it all meant and then um distilled it to a single sentence. >> So basically the philosophy is we don't use recess as as >> Yes. And there may be a time or a case to prevent, you know, or that we do need to use it and it's not as a discipline, but it's for the health and safety of the child or other children. Any um questions or um comments about 5144.4. Again, that'll be for action at the next meeting. And in between now and if you guys have any questions, please reach out to Kevin. >> Probably
077the only thing I was kind of on this one is there was a a law passed and this is a response to that law as well. >> Oh, sorry. Yes, I should have said that. That's right. >> Oh, yes. So, there's the new referral. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Next up is policy and regulation 5118, attendance of nonresident students. So I'm going to request a change in this policy um from the board. So this has been a longstanding policy um and it speaks to so the policy um this is actually the regulation the policy language um enables the district to allow non-resident students to attend. the regulation colors in those details. The provision I'm interested in modifying is uh in reference to children of employees. And so up until 2017 um employees children
078could attend our school space permitting um and there was no charge in 2017. in the board at that time changed and introduced um a 30% of the tuition charge of you know that given perial um expense of that year for um any children of staff members hired after 2017. Um this is one I've been thinking about for a while and as we have been watching the u complexion of the talent pool change and the um the competition for highly highly qualified teachers grow across the region. Um this is a policy that could you know with the um deletion of that provision could serve to help make us a little bit more marketable um for some of the best staff out there. And so, um, that's my recommendation tonight is that we strike that language around,
079um, >> the tuition charge. Yeah. The 30%. >> So, it be free. >> It would it we would revert back to the practice that all of the employees hired prior to 2017. And >> that's a good idea. >> Yeah. And so, you know, I went back and when I was thinking about this, I looked at the just the distribution of um children of staff that we have here and the vast majority are actually of um staff that were hired prior to 2017. And so, um you know, it it seems to me that this probably has been I can't prove a negative that we somehow missed, you know, some of the best because they were going to have to pay if they wanted to have their kids come here. Um but I think as a marketing
080opportunity it's self-evident. >> Yeah. And I just I asked Maria just to be prepared to gonna talk a little bit about the um the prospective employee piece. >> Sure. I think this is a a timely conversation because hiring season is in full swing and the landscape in hiring has changed over the past 5 years. In real estate it's still a sellers market. in hiring in the field of education. It is very much a buyer market and we are seeing more now than ever before candidates that are looking for the total package. Candidates that are looking for um opportunities that are closer to home. So they're less willing to travel for work because they're thinking about the work life balance. They're looking at the fringe benefits that we offer, the tuition reimbursement. there are questions about
081allowing their children to come here uh for the education and um I would see this as a strategic move to strengthen our recruitment and retention strategy because staff who bring their children here are more likely to stay for the long term than staff who who don't. And I think this is something that would really set us apart from other area districts. um this this does exist in area districts. I will say the trend in area districts typically is to charge some portion of tuition. And so again, it's thinking about what sets Wilton apart as a desirable place to work and to stay for the long term. And so I would really uh I would support this. And I will also say anecdotally, we do have questions from staff members annually about the prospects for bringing
082their children here. And those staff members who were hired after 2017 do you know it gives them some pause to think about spending even 30% of the tuition cost to bring their children here. So that is a factor that I think um prevents some people from bringing their children here where otherwise it wouldn't be. So I would very much support it. Any questions for Kevin or Maria? Any come up within the next two weeks? feel free to um pass them along. Thank you. Um next up under possible action items to discuss and approve. Um once again we have the Wilton WP the Wilton PS 2627 revised district. So, nothing major here. After two years of having to uh cancel professional learning for teachers in February, um we're just going to give up the ghost. And
083so, we moved the day. Um initially, we were thinking in September in partnership with the WA and have dialogue with them. they really asked to try to have is uh they acknowledge just how disruptive the fall can be. And so what we're proposing in this calendar change is to move that professional um learning day to November 2nd. That's the Monday before election day. Um and we are intentionally trying to frontload the day and not put it in the back part of the calendar because we have the reading curriculum still. We just have a lot of demand for professional learning support for some of the new curriculum. >> So that they would have Monday and Tuesday off. >> Monday is an early release. Tuesday is already Tuesday learning day because it's election day. >> So I
084think that just needs to get noted on that box next to November. It says the third is >> Oh yes. So just the note about the second being the uh >> professionals. Yeah. Professional. is off for election. >> Y >> but then you said this was in September. >> No, no, November 2nd. >> Originally the day September >> one in September on the original on the original calendar that we adopted a year ago, this day was actually in February. Mhm. >> Um and so we we've always had we've kept that initial day in September. So when we were looking to locate the day from February, um some of the initial thinking was to put it on the 30th. >> Through the consultation with the the our staff, um they request we not do that. >>
085So we'll just strike from September what the 30th is. Take that off the list on the side. >> Yeah. So that was Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> That was September right there. Yeah. So that's the like this just go. >> Yeah. And the meditation moves down to the second, >> right? >> Have we ever I don't recall talking about it, but we absolutely could have. Are there programming and like continuing ed programs that can run on those days specifically to help that are that don't require staff who need to be in the professional development work to just help with child care for families? >> I think continuing ed runs a program and >> it does >> I don't know if it goes all the it does it at Miller Driscoll I think. >> Yeah. Cider
086Mill. >> It does for a after school beyond >> that small group. >> We we do such a good job of putting these dates out there and then like they come and then all the parents are always I can't believe we have another cuz like they're very warranted and we do all the explanation but >> you know part of that's on parents to just you know try to plan ahead but like I just wonder if there's we have whatever a thousand kids plus or a couple thousand kids. >> Yeah. So they I mean it'd be you know fee for service kind of program. Yeah, >> you know, I think we'd have to talk to the continuing it folks to see if they could staff up a drop in, you know, for kids who are other
087than already in their program because those are not kids that were able to serve. >> I know it take a lot of coordination, but >> I it's I mean it's it's I know we we've had conversations with Dolores in the past and um you know staffing is an issue, >> right? You're basically hiring additional staff for a day. >> So, you know, absolutely. Let me go back and bite the apple again. >> Is there a motion to pro approve the Wilton Public Schools 2627 calendar as drafted on 5, which changes um the half day from September 30th to November 2nd. >> So move. >> Thank you, Pam. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Lori. All in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Um, next up is policy 6163.1 and 1312.3 selection
088of school library materials. This is on for its second read. >> Right. And then >> the appendices are attached. >> Yeah, I neglected to include the append in the virgin saw two weeks ago. That's noted. And there was also clean up in some of the language, you know, the capitalizations and things like that, but it's ready to go at this point. >> And um just a further note that this is a response and to change in legislative requirements. Are there any um questions or discussion? on um selection of live selection of school library materials. >> Is there a motion to approve policy 6163.1 and 1312.3 selection of school library materials? >> Thank you, Nicholas. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mark. All in favor? I motion carries unanimously. Um and lastly, we
089have a recommendation to um retire policy 3541.32 transportation for co-curricular activities. >> So this this policy came up as part of the review with the policy committee of you know policies that just haven't been touched in a while. This policy is unique to Wilton. I went back to Shipment and Goodwin. They don't have a model. I went to the Cade policy manual. They don't have a similar policy. So, I asked um our attorney to review it and make a recommendation. And you know, in addition to the policy being just clunky and dated um she also noted that we really don't need it. Our transportation obligations are covered in our comprehens. So, the recommendation is to retire it. Any uh questions or comments on retiring the publicity? >> Good run. >> You've now been absorbed into
090the comprehensive transportation policy. >> Is there a motion to retire? Thank you, Pat. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mark. All in favor? I motion carries unanimously. Uh comments from the public. >> No comments from the public. Um future business I want to remind you in residents if you haven't voted go out and vote. Food center Saturday budget and bonding. Uh we have an anticipated executive session again on May 21st prior to our regular meeting on the 21st and then there will be a regular meeting on June 4th. Hope everybody enjoys the warmer weather weather, all the coral and band and sports activities and the year activities. Uh meeting adjourned at 8:14. Thank