001All right. So, it is uh Thursday, June 4th. It's 6:03 p.m. and I'm calling the special communications meeting of the Graten Board of Education to order. Uh first order of business. Um does anyone have any um uh suggestions for changes to uh the minutes of March 3rd? If not, we'll consider those approved. And the next item is publicity for the opening of Mary Morrison early childhood program and the dream shop at Fitch High School. >> So if you'd like to take it away. >> Sure. So let me I'm just going to share my screen. So let me just do that. >> And so we have um Rebecca Bayas um with us um communications coordinator. We have Amry Mancini, assistant superintendent. Uh Jen White, board of education. I'm Jay Whitoff. And we also have um uh
002Chair Beverly Washington online. >> All righty. Can everyone see my screen? Okay. The presentation? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Um, so I figured I would start by recapping what's been done so far for each um, both Mary Morrison um, and then for Mary Morrison, I'll show you what's been discussed internally. Um, ideas we've brainstormed and planning that's already underway um, for additional publicity through an outreach through the summer and the start of next school year. And then I'll do the same for the dream. Um so very much already very active with outreach and informing families um and the community that we are opening the Mary Morrison Early Childhood School. Um and that's really been going on since um since mid year. Um we started talking about it I believe in January in our school matters
003uh newsletter. Then it was really one of our lead stories in that article. Um, we did also conduct an early childhood interest survey with the community. We, um, as you may remember, I think we presented some data on that and captured some really strong community, um, feedback and engagement on that, particularly from families who were not currently enrolled in Graten Public Schools. So, um, that was fantastic. And we've actually followed up with all of those families. Um, we've been doing a lot of targeted communications messages to different subgroups. um as well as broad messaging. Um and like I said, following up with specific um very targeted groups um the survey uh the folks who completed the survey um our current rising students who will be moving to Mary Morrison next year. Um students who have
004been previously screened by the early childhood program but either didn't accept the seat or uh did not meet the screening criteria and weren't offered a seat. So, there's been um a tremendous amount of outreach going on to um help with the enrollment and registration for that program. Um as part of that, we've had social media outreach um and sharing information with our community partners um posts and information on the district website. Um we were talking about this in person with families at the early childhood resource fair back in March with flyers. Um I was not able to attend that event but our registration team was there um and they did a fantastic job obviously representing the district as they always do. And then um we did have um a large article about the program earlier
005um that it was being considered um and speaking about that in the day. So that's everything that's been going on and happen happened so far. And what we've been brainstorming and talking about um is increasing theformational resources. We're currently working on a full refresh of the early childhood web page to reflect all the changes to the programming. Um, we are also working on a video Q&A presentation that we're going to be doing with Karen Hyatt, um, as well as some of the teachers, probably going into a classroom in one of the schools and doing very sort of interview style Q&A and putting that together with some presentation slides and images answering some of the questions and things we've been hearing from the community about bus transportation before and after care, what the hours of the
006program are going to be, um, what the structure of the program is going to be, what's the curriculum. Um, so we've been capturing all of those, um, questions, we also have a Q&A just about ready to go that we'll be getting up on the website to provide some of those, um, facts. And then getting closer to heading back. >> Rebecca, can I ask you a quick question? Now, when you say the Q&As's, are [clears throat] they can they be on YouTube like a like a regular board meeting? >> Yep. So once we do that video, the intent is to put it on the website, we'll put it on YouTube, we'll put it on Facebook, it will have a lot of legs and be able to be posted and shared in quite a lot of locations.
007>> And how are you doing um trying to connect with Sean Greenley about putting her on channel whatever that channel is? >> I have not reached out to him yet, but he is on my list to reach out to and talk with him um and look at what we can do there. >> Okay. Thank you, Rebecca. Certainly. Um, and then as uh heading closer to actually the opening of the program, you know, I know there's a lot of activity going on right now at the building with preparation of the classrooms, preparation of playground space, all of those things. But once things are in a a a good place, we do want to explore having a ribbon cutting ceremony. Um, we also want to look at having potentially some activities for families and children. you know,
008maybe even just a playd date at the um playground where we can have a district representative who can be there to also answer questions that the families might have um and sort of um some other back to school meet and greet um or pre-our of the classrooms which a lot of the schools do before the first day of school. And of course the first day for Mary Morrison will be a little bit later than the first day of our elementary schools GMS and Fitch. So, one of those days might be a nice opportunity to have families come in and do um a little tour or again just a quick little visit to the classroom. Um and that can help with transitions for the students as well. And then we would expect and that we would
009have a lot of publicity right at that time again with ribbon cutting ceremony or families coming out um the first day of school there um that we would be, you know, having Mark Russell going out taking photos. would certainly expect that the day we'll do um a large story and piece on this. Um and then beyond the start of next school year um we'll certainly be highlighting potentially you know the expansion of the program and what's happening for the 27 28 school year um looking at you know those the three-year-old program moving over there next. Um and there is some outreach going happening currently with the um any students who are going to be moving from Mystic River to Thames River next year and making that transition. So we don't want to forget about them
010either um and that change that's happening there. >> That's everything. Mary Morrison >> um Rebecca what what are the ideas for the back to school activities? >> I miss that. We talked about um you know possibly doing some sort of playground playd date, inviting families to come out um so that the kids can interact, parents can interact, having some district representation there just to a answer um some questions um and then some back to school activity um in the building where you know little meet and greet where the families and students can come in and see the space, see the classroom. room. Um, which is is um something all of the elementary schools typically do historically [clears throat] and um is a nice event for families. It's usually quick. You know, they pop in, they
011get to see the classroom before the first day of school, say hello to their teacher. Um, [clears throat] but it helps ease um a lot of I think anxieties, but that provides a nice publicity opportunity as well and some picture taking and things like that that we can use on the website, on social media. And again, I would fully expect the day to come out and be covering um some of these activities. >> When you distribute these flyers at community events, are you trying to get um students to enroll or just to let them know that we're opening Mary Morrison? >> Both both. We want to build that interest um whether you know they have an eligible child currently or they might have an eligible child in next year. Um, so we want to get
012that awareness and you know if anybody hasn't learned about it or heard about it yet, we want to make sure that they're applying and filling out the new student registration form and you know looking to get that enrollment um where we want it to be and and I think we're very close at this point in time. >> Do you have the flyers ready? because I think the city of Graten, they're going to have a Junth ceremony. I forget what day on June 20th. I think that's the date. >> And um yeah, you can somebody can hand out flyers there. >> Yep. We were talking about that event. Um we typically go to some Brford Manor events. The libraries all typically have some summer um summer their summer reading kickoff events. Um, and then we also
013have our meal distribution sites in the summer. Um, so we would look to, you know, maybe we'll do some postcards at those things. Um, and even making sure that we always have a supply of flyers at town hall and, um, you know, health and human services and those other town offices where, um, families may be visiting. the there there's going to be a um a food distribution at St. John's Christian Church the end of this month. I think it's going to be uh June 26 if I'm not mistaken. >> Is that through the United Way or is that separate? >> Yeah, that's through United Way. >> Okay. Yep. We usually get have the list of those as well. So, yeah. And that's uh St. John's is right next to Brford Manor, correct? >> Correct. Yeah.
014>> Okay. >> So, any other questions about Mary Morrison, what we've done, what we um are thinking, you know, the other plans we have been discussing or anything else that um you folks have talked about or thought about or would like to see us consider. >> Jen, do you have anything? Am I muted or can you hear me? >> We can hear you, Jen. Oh, >> okay. Um, so I was wondering, I know they're all in planning stages, but um, is it possible just to pick a date so then you can start socializing the date? And I and Marie, I know you're on I don't Do you know approximately how many students we have enrolled already or >> I do know we have at those meetings once a week and we just got updated statistics.
015If you give me about 30 seconds, I can find uh our most recent number that we got this week. >> Oh, perfect. Thank you. >> I'm timing you, Amarie. >> I have two numbers [laughter] floating in my head, so I'll let Amory check that to be sure. Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, that's >> And in terms of your question about picking a date, no, we definitely want to, as Amarie said, we have meetings about Mary Morrison every single Monday with the with the team. Um, so in terms of, you know, I think we'll probably start talking about that a more over the next couple of days, uh, excuse me, the next couple of weeks, um, to firm up some of those plants. >> Perfect. Yeah, that's really I feel like to a you
016know want to make sure that Karen Hyatt and her team, the teachers, you know, making sure that that date aligns and want to make sure, you know, um in terms of facilities that the building, the playground, those spaces are fully ready um and signed off on once we start inviting families out. >> Yeah. And not just families too, but for ribbon cutting, you know, like people who have um like our representatives like Heather, Dan, Andre, who's very supportive of like the district that we need to get on their calendars because they're really busy. So that's the only reason why I'm pushing to select a date. >> Absolutely. >> Oh, and um Courtney, too. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, Rebecca, I have current enrollment that we had that the update we have this week is 165 students.
017>> I was gonna say 163. >> Very close. >> Yeah. Oh, that's really good. Um, and Marie, what's the target or is that like >> I think our target was in the like in the 170s or maybe 180 something like that. I know we're really close to the target >> and I believe there are seats that we hold for um I want >> for military students. >> No, for um I want to get the language right. I'm sorry. Um for um students who would be accepted through having an IEP. >> Yes. So I believe we save a couple of those seats per class. Um so we really are very very close to capacity factoring in what the enrollment is currently and then what um you know the number of seats that will be held for
018those additional placements um that this um pupil personnel would anticipate. >> Yeah. Perfect. No, that's really good. So what's the commitment time frame? So that I I is are they already enrolled with that 163 or is that just interest? >> No, 165 students officially are enrolled. >> Oh, enrolled. Perfect. That's actually good news. >> How many classrooms again, Amarie? >> I believe it's nine classrooms. Is that correct, Rebecca? >> Um to see if it's in the notes. Yeah, I'd have to check. Um, I was gonna say 10 or 11, but I know there was some back and forth discussion about that. >> Yeah, I was in I wasn't in person at the last meeting. So, >> I was originally going to say 10 and then I said nine to be more conservative, but it's somewhere
019between 9 and 11. >> 11. [laughter] >> Okay. >> And what what's the class size that we're shooting at? I think we have to shoot between 15 and 18 because when we're talking about preschool, you have to have a certain, you know, uh, a certain there's got to be a certain ratio of adults to children. And, you know, there's very specific numbers uh, associated with preschool. >> So, I think we're there. So, if we assumed a 10 and that we're at 165, then we have roughly 16.5 kids per not that you can have half a kid, but in a class, but it looks like we're there. So that's actually good. >> Yeah. >> Do the classes need a a par or no. >> Uh I believe that they will be supported with a par educator.
020Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Oh yeah. No, that's really good. So that's the only reason like I said pushing for dates so we could get on like the four individuals that we'd mentioned that I had yeah >> we will make >> I was thinking too like um I know they get class photos like in October November time frame but it would be nice and I don't know how possible this is or even if people are going to cooperate but to have students, parents, administration, teachers, you know, like just in front of the school and just take like a big group shot that could be like, you know, return to Mary Morrison, new early childhood, and then that could be like the very first photo that you see, not just the kids, but
021like the entire family because that's the whole intent, right? But I don't know. Drock costs money and who knows who's gonna show up and stuff like that. But anyway, that was just a thought. >> Maybe that's something that Mark could do for us even. >> Oh, perfect. Oh, yes. Mark can probably do that for us. >> Yep, we can absolutely. And I mean, I'm sure at the very least we could get um a large group photo of all of the students um in the early, but as we have if we have some of these events um with families, you know, I'm sure we'll get a lot of wonderful engaged, you know, families interacting and um we can certainly look to get some group photos. Mhm. I just think of like so um like colleges and
022universities like as you drive up their driveway sometimes they have banners and then they have photos of the student and said this is us um scholar scholar athlete or whatever you know whatever however we want to do it right just to make it feel like oh wow look at this hey that's me you know um just things like that I don't know if we want to do that per se cuz these they're little kids. Um but it's just a thought. >> Great. >> Okay. Would we like to move on to the dream? >> Yes, please. >> Please. >> So, dream machine shop. Um similar approach here. Um sharing the awareness and exposure. Now, we've really been talking about the career pathways as a whole at Pitch High School quite a bit um since last school
023year. Um but focusing on this school year and specifically what's happening with the dream, you know, we featured stories in January school matters. Um both that and Mary Morrison um and these initiatives are the feature story for the current newsletter which is being finalized over it's probably going to be finalized tomorrow morning. Um and that's ready to go. Um we've had media coverage um certainly about um the career pathways but specifically um the machine shop and robotics program um this year. Um, and we've been highlighting those programs quite a bit on the website and social media. Um, sharing some different student success stories and achievements and highlighting and tagging our our partners and the grant funding we receive. And I apologize that there is a typo there. Um, the Association of Defense Communities also had
024visited and created a video um that I believe is ready and will be shared as well. Um, so those are some of the things that we've been doing um, specifically around the dream at this point in time. Um, we've had some some really um, nice articles in the day and I'd be happy to um, include those links in here when this gets shared with the minutes. And then looking forward with the future outreach and publicity, you know, we want to keep building that awareness of the career and teched opportunities, showcasing student achievement. Um, I actually have a Facebook post I'm about to publish um about um three students from the class of 2026 who have just signed with EB. Um but thinking about when that machine shop space is ready. Um we've again talked about
025a ribbon cutting ceremony for that space as well. Um sort of a grand opening celebration. Um last fall uh I think in November the robotics team also did a wonderful open house um at one of the spaces. Um so I would think they would do something similar again this coming year. Um and again we would expect to have um coverage in the day. Um as well as maybe some of the local TV stations. Um looking at again I mentioned a community openhouse. Um Fitch always also has um several open houses in the fall. They have back to school night. They have some other student nights. And then typically in November, they also have the eighth grade families come up and see fit as they are preparing for their transition the following year. Um I mentioned
026the students who have signed with EB. Um we keep looking to increase um the sharing of those student successes and achievements across the programs. Um in this edition of the newsletter, we have um a story about the NJOTC. We have a story about the EB students. Um we have a story about the IB business marketing students and um as well as Ed Rising and hopefully something on nursing and EMT. Um so again really focusing heavily on on certainly the dream and everything that's happening there which is very exciting and the board's support of that but also all of the career pathways and opportunities that are happening at Fitch. Um and we'll [clears throat] continue to do that with promoting um future opportunities, grants and the different partnerships and um thinking beyond Fitch, you know, a
027lot of exciting career pathways work um even happening at Grten Middle School and um K5 um different camps and opportunities that those kids are having to start with robotics and steam. Um, so we're always tying that all together and showing that full continuum really from K12. >> You know, Rebecca, this I don't this doesn't have much to do with dream, but I'm just thinking of this. Um, you know, at the beginning of every regular board of ed meeting, we do recognition of participants and delegations. Could you help us with that? we seldom have anybody that we're recognizing and maybe we can recognize, you know, uh the RO the JOTC at a board meeting and um I don't know. >> I I sort of agree with that. Like we um communication wise so like the nursing
028program like I was part of that program like 30 years ago, right? So, um maybe we can like have a pinning like recognition of the pinning ceremony like you know um the EMT like when the students finished their test right not just as part of the larger awards senior night but something special those are like I don't know maybe the nursing program changed but that's like a two threeyear commitment to that program and I'm sure all the other ones too. So if career pathways that's the way you know to show like other students like hey here are the career paths um and just more exposure. But in regards to um dream robotics in a way they're sort of intertwined whether they wanted to be or not. I think maybe um as another topic item for
029future is robotics I think is either 20 going to celebrate its 20th year or 25th year next year. So we need to have some form of maybe acknowledgement of that with dream. Um I think the year before we only had two people like signing at um EBE and then this year I believe it was only three. I know for a fact that I sent um the application saying like, "Hey, EB's coming April X date." And they were hiring on the spot. So, um I'm not really sure. Maybe I sent it to the wrong person, Rebecca. Maybe next year when I see that I will send it to you because then maybe it will be spread out among the students because I'm not really sure if three is really the right number because maybe we had
030more hires and we didn't capture it. >> I believe six were actually offered positions and three signed. >> Okay. Okay. No, >> that's my understanding from Fitch. >> Yeah. Oh, and Marie, are we planning to have a class start in the fall or are we planning to have a class start in January for dream? I >> So, we will have a couple of classes start as a part of the pathway. I believe we have an intro to manufacturing technology class and maybe manufact manufacturing technology class. It's called like manufacturing tech one. We won't have robotics specifically. Um I think we're waiting to you know for those other classes to take place first and then uh I believe the plan is to have a robotics class in the spring uh based on how enrollment and how
031those first couple of classes go in the fall. >> What what do you mean by that? based on how those classes go in the fall. >> Usually kids, you know, you have to take a a prerequisite class. So, you know, you need the kids to take um some of those initial classes first and then they it makes sense after that to take robotics. >> I think you don't take robotics first, >> right? Okay. So, if the kids don't do well in these initial classes, then they can't move on to robotics. I don't know if it's about I I guess it's about doing well, but I think you know you always need some courses first to >> you know build your knowledge and your skills, right? >> So having robotics in the spring is questionable. >>
032Is that what you're saying? >> Um yeah. Well, also too, you know, we obvious were waiting to hire the teacher. Uh we needed to buy the, you know, purchase a curriculum that made sense. So, there were a lot of things that needed we, you know, at the time we didn't have a um we went through the curriculum audit. We noticed that I think we didn't have a a curriculum in place or we didn't have an updated curriculum. So, it made sense for us to kind of put these initial courses or we had those courses that were in place already board approved. So, we wanted to be very intentional about the way that we were developing our course sequence. Okay. Similar to Mary Morrison with those classes that do start in the fall, you know, we'll
033be looking to have Mark Russell come out and take some wonderful professional photographs of the students in the new machine shop and be sharing those um and highlighting what's happening. Are are we intending to um have the community come out before the school starts to take a look at the new machine shop and the uh the new robotics area? Is that the plan? >> I think um it might be something to tie into like freshman and new student orientation and the parent night that typically happens um those typically happen the week before school starts. I think anything much sooner than that would be difficult to get families out. There's still sometimes families traveling or other activities at the uh you know end of August, but then there's the other back to school nights in September.
034Um so those could all be opportunities to have that space potentially be open and be available for touring and talking about it. Is it possible to have like a special night for the um governing bodies in the town to come to look at the new areas? >> I don't see why we couldn't do that. >> Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. >> Yeah, like here the contingency or the delegates um you know EB invested. So probably whomever and eie attend. Um you guys >> are you saying without any students? >> Well separate from the families and the students coming there that they can have their own little individual tour of the um areas. No, I do think it's always very dynamic when you have students, you know, engaged in the space and
035that also um is something that the the partners and the delegates like to see um when they're coming into the space seeing how excited students are and that really I think creates a really dynamic energy as well. >> So that's just something to something to think about. >> Yeah. No, that that sounds good. But separate from the families, you know, they have their own special night where they come or special day or wherever where they can come. >> Yeah. I mean, I think this goes beyond the pictures. Um we saw well at least I saw on a news um segment. Um you know so maybe like we can open like have before New London used to have its own little uh news center but maybe invite like a channel 3 or someone to come over
036and cover it. >> We always reach out to the TV stations with our big events. >> We reach out to channel 3. um as well as TNH. They most frequently cover our area more so than NBC30 and Fox. >> Yep. So, we'll absolutely include them. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Because this will gain attention like not only what we want to do is drive like interest in the manufacturing center, right? >> All right. Anything else with the dream? Would you like to move on to the next agenda item? >> I'm all set. >> Sure. I think there's been plenty of questions. So, yeah, let's go on to highlights of the uh school year. >> Okay. So, um just some other current initiatives that I highlighted. Um there's just been a lot going on. um always focusing
037on, you know, aligning what we're doing with um the priorities and strategic plan and the focuses of superintendent, the board of ed, the district goals and initiatives. So, I mentioned um the district newsletter that we'll be sharing shortly. Um, and then I'm very busy with some other end of family communications as well as internally sort of our year-end system rollovers and processes and communications that um we need to be planning for and looking at with um finishing out the school year and in early July we have the rollover of our CIS um and then immediately after that that then we have the rollover uh with parent square. So specifically, you know, our our 12th graders who have now left and graduated, they fall out of the system. We bring in our kindergarten students who are
038entering the system and our new prek students and all of those. So there's a lot of just back-end um sort of systems work that's starting to really pick up and happen. Um attendance communications has been a huge focus throughout the year. We've been doing a lot with that um and continue to do a lot with that and look at ways to um be expanding that um even more. Um there's a lot of great research and data around the importance of communications with attendance um both um the style of the communications, the tone of the communications um and then that the role that that really does play in connecting with families um in terms of um helping to deal with chronic absenteeism. Um, so that's that's very exciting and I'm looking forward to doing more with
039that even in the coming year. But we we've done a tremendous amount um including uh quarterly attendance reports for students. So, we'll be sending out our final report at the end of this um at the end of this year and um you know sharing with students reminding them where they were this year and you know talking to them about strategies and and starting next year off strong. So, we also just tested for the first time something I've been working with um Clint as well as Rita on um is parent square pay. It's an add-on feature to our parent square um platform that allows for parents to pay for um any school related expenses directly in um parent square. Our current system of having parents pay for example for a camp registration fee that was through
040the district or Chromebook insurance. other tech fees has been through something called rev track which is a separate system. Um so essentially historically you know we would push a message to families or an invoice and then ask them to potentially log out of that system log into a different system to make the payment and it was very cumbersome. It was not user friendly at all. I used to um frequently complain to Clint about how uh terrible the system was. Um, so we've actually just tested Parent Square Pay with one of Ben Moon's um, camps that he's running this summer, his robotics and drone mini camp. Um, it's gone wonderfully. I've tested it out. It is so easy. Um, it allows for a quick payment right within Parent Square. There's no log out of here, log
041in there. You can use Apple Pay or Google Pay um, if you're using your phone. Um, so it's really very seamless and we're hoping that that can really help us um, especially next year with some of um, the fees. Again, I mentioned um, like the Chromebook protection plan. Um, tech is a big area where there's a lot of fees incurred at the high school and middle school and the difficulty with the system, I think, has prohibited um, some payments from coming in. We've consistently heard from other districts who have used this um that they've been able to recoup dollars that they haven't been able to collect from families in years. Um so we're hoping the ease of use is really going to help um us secure some of those um dollars that um are owed
042to the district and that hopefully we'll be able to expand it um to potentially athletics or um other fees that might be in incurred at the at the school levels. Um the only thing that this cannot support is food services unfortunately um because they do have their whole separate point of sale system um at the food kiosk. So we would not be looking at it for that. But um really successful test that we just did this week and looking forward to um working with Rita and the rest of the team on that further. Um we have a lot of lot happening in the summer. We have summer meals, we have summer reading, we have school-based health centers are open, we have a lot of different camps that are running this summer. Um, so we certainly
043don't really slow down in the summer. And then we quickly ramp up um with back to school communications, onboarding all of our new families, making sure families are signed up for Power School, signed up for Parent Square, signed up for School Cafe, they know the systems, they feel comfortable with them. Um they also come out to all of the back to school events that will be happening. Um so um like I said, we we don't really slow down much in the summer. And then there's a lot of backend uh work and fixing up. There'll be a lot that we're working on on the website um and cleaning up there, updating there. So plenty on our to-do list um moving forward. Is the schoolbased health center open every day in the summer or >> I don't
044believe they're open every day. I have um actually I just saw Denise um this afternoon right when I was leaving the office and um asked her if she'd gotten the flyers yet from school-based health center. She has not. They're um usually shared sometime in mid June and that will have all of their hours. We've teased it in the district newsletter that they will be open this summer and to check the website for more information. We'll be sharing that on Facebook and all of our other platforms as well so that families know they can take advantage of that. So, I don't know I don't know if they're open every day um but I believe they're open quite a bit but we'll make sure we get that information out there. So, >> at the central office, um,
045if a new family is coming in, is there something someone at the central office where they can go to and talk uh and talk to about what they need to do to register their students and you know and all that? >> Well, so there is registration that's with handles the registration process and all of that. Um, and they end up talking with registration, typically they end up talking with the the school nurse. But in terms of sort of all this onboarding that needs to happen and getting them comfortable and understanding some of the things about the district, that is, um, something that we're working on, um, and wanting to improve on. So, um, and I actually like that idea of potentially maybe having like some open open like help sessions if you just have questions
046or want to come in or get some help with getting on these platforms with you you saying that. Um, I'm working on currently a whole sort of digital welcome to graten um, uh, piece for parents um, sort of a welcome to graten kind of virtual kit for them. um that will help with some of that. Um but I think it'd be nice to potentially do some other in-person things. >> Did you um can you also do a a flowchart for each school like um who to report to like the principal and then who the assistant principal is and you know and just a flowchart for the for parents to know who to go to for certain things. I I went to the NSBA conference and one of the um I went to a family engagement
047or community engagement workshop and they talked about having a flowchart >> for parents so they know like who's who in the school. >> Yeah. I mean I think we >> Isn't that on the [clears throat] Isn't that on the website for the school? You go to your school and it has all the contacts, right? >> But Jay, don't forget not everybody goes on the website. >> We have some of the contact information, but I think a clearer who to contact about this uh on a standard page. Um, I think in terms of like Gruntton Middle School, Fitch High School, you know, we can certainly help with some of that, but I would look toward to the schools too if they want to start um they probably want to have some input on that and who
048they want to direct parents to contact about different things um at their specific school. But at the district level, I think we can absolutely do that and then use that as a guide to help them frame a version of that for their school. >> Oh, to um sorry. Um like I said, I'm on my phone, so I don't have my raised to hand. I apologize for that. Um, I I like that idea that Beverly has, but I was wondering, do you think you could make it like a 4x6 or a 5x7 postcard or even like a mag I know it's going to cost money that we don't have that um teach um parents can put on their refrigerators like I don't know if people still do that, but um >> you know like here's the
049bus number, here's central offices number, you know. um just something to put as a tag. I like that idea. So, I don't I don't know. Like, it's going to cost money. So, um sometimes piece of paper works, but sometimes, you know, it's good just to have something that's more durable than a piece of paper that they can refer back to, even a postcard grade. So, >> we do have um we do do our calendar magnet every year for back to school. Um we don't have a lot of space on that. The calendar fills up most of that. But I'm just wondering if we could put something somehow on that or >> even a QR code that brings them to the website where we would have all of this. >> Yes, that would be actually good.
050Yeah, the QR code because in this way >> if some like some of the um people change but the positions remain >> the um your little postcard won't be stagnant, >> right? It makes it more timeless if we keep the QR code static but then have the ability to update the information. >> Um yeah, >> so if we could find some real estate in your um in your refrigerator magnet, that would be Yeah, >> we can absolutely do that. So, yeah. All right. So, um very high level sort of some highlights and accomplishments from this year. You know, we have expanded communications and family engagement efforts. um very much tied to student success, parents understanding um how their child's doing in terms of academics, how their child is doing with um absenteeism and attendance um
051and looking to strengthen those school and family partnerships. Earlier in the year, I had shared um a pretty robust list of events that the schools were having at that um that point in the year, and I'm going to be asking them to update that. And that's something we're going to want to track um continuing going forward because certainly there's no doubt that families and students are very much engaged at the school level. The schools are having a lot of events, a lot of activities and parents are coming out to them which is great for their individual communities. Um, I think we'd like to try to build on that um and potentially have a little bit more of that with like district some districtwide things um and events and activities. So, those tend to be um
052a little trickier um because you know parents are more closely aligned to their individual school as you would expect and so they they more frequently attend those events. So finding that right fit um to create sometimes a really meaningful event that parents want to come out to at the district level can be a little more challenging, but we keep working on that um and will continue to do so. So um we have I think really been building community awareness around some of these key initiatives that we've been talking about. Um but we did a tremendous amount around the budget. Um we did a lot of outreach on that um across all of our different channels. Um but something I was really excited about that we did this year were those meetings with the booster clubs
053and the PTOs and starting to build and grow those relationships again a bit more. So certainly hoping to carry that forward um as we head into next year and look for more opportunities for that. The website is a beast and it's something we're constantly working on. Um, constantly updating content, looking to improve the access to the information, making it easy for people to find things. Um, you know, and when people call registration say, I couldn't find this or was looking for this, you know, we're constantly tweaking it to just keep hoping hopefully making it easier for parents to access information there and use that and find what they're looking for. Um, we've done a lot of training and support with staff this year, um, different groups of staff, um, to get them more comfortable using
054some of our communications tools, um, to streamline that for parents so that parents are hearing from um, whether it's the nurs's office or athletics or the district or their school all sort of in the same way. they're being asked to fill forms out and things in the same way because the more we're consistent with all of that, the more it strengthens the communications. It strengthens um their comfort level with using these different tools and ultimately improves their engagement with um some of those different things that we're asking them to do. So again, whether it be forms or scheduling their parent teacher conference or coming out um to the school for something or volunteering, paying a fee, all of those things. >> Um >> Rebecca, can I ask you a question? How can we um some
055schools have good PTOs and some do not, but what's your idea on um how we can increase the number of parents we have um attending um you know and being involved in the PTO's? >> That's a hard one. That's you know the PTO's I feel like that's problem as old as time from when even my kids were little. It's typically the same small group of parents who um are doing the bulk of the work. Um you know, the parents certainly come out to the the events and the picnics than the activities. >> Um >> how we get more parents. I had to laugh this morning. Um GMS had a Facebook post on their Facebook page. Um, and it was a reference to a movie, an old movie, Nodding Hill with Julia Roberts. And at the
056end of the movie, she says, uh, there's this quote she that stands in front of Hugh Grant and says, "I'm just a girl talking to a guy asking him to, you know, be with her or something like that." Well, GMS PTO put a post of a picture of Julia Roberts and said, "We're just a PTO asking the parents to come to a meeting." [laughter] And I had to laugh because I said, "Well played, GMS PTO." So, I don't know if that worked for them, but it was very, very cute. Um, I I it it's very it's that is it's a challenge. And I know they they beat the drum. They ask parents to come out. They um they provide opportunities to come out virtually uh via Zoom or come in person. I I don't have
057a good answer for you on that right now. It's it's a challenge. I [clears throat] think parents are generally speaking and everybody um overtaxed, you know, their time is limited. Um but it's great that they're coming out to their the events, but we certainly would like to get them more involved in the planning and and I mean Jay and I were first met because of our kids being uh I think at NEA at the same time. And even back then it was, you know, my son's going to be 20. Back then it was the same five or so parents who were doing the work. >> Yeah, it's a perennial problem. It's it's existed since the beginning. We actually had a parent council that was made up of uh the leaders of all of the PTO's
058and every meeting was about that issue. uh whether they provide you know food and beverage, whether they provide child care, um you know, they tried everything and then eventually they just folded. >> The parent uh council itself just folded for complete lack of interest. The only folks that would show up >> at the parent council would be the superintendent, uh assistant superintendent, uh one or two board members, and one or two PTO members. and um and all that they wanted to discuss was how can they get more attendance. So this is a continuing problem um and uh you know I I don't know >> what the answer is but I I I do want to say that that the engagement that you know when you look at all the the communications reports that uh you've
059done the the parent engagement is way up. I mean, whether you're looking at the the report card delivery that that you focused on, uh, Rebecca, or whether, um, you know, all all of the other channels through Parent Square, you know, the the phone, the text, the the push notifications, um, you know, and everyone is on technology. I mean, everyone has a phone. Um, everyone has access. uh and I know that you said that for the few you know that you are accommodating um >> uh you know with paper but I think that's that number gets fewer every year um which is why I think we really should focus on pushing it toward the dynamic website and not generating a lot more paper we don't know where it's going to go um because things do change
060And the website itself uh is head and shoulders above, you know, where it was. Um and uh and I do know it's, you know, it's constantly changing and improving, but um it's much better than, you know, when when my son was in school and um much more informative and dynamic. So, we appreciate everything um that you're doing in this space, Rebecca. Thank you. >> Yeah, I mean we keep making progress and keep building on it, you know, and we at central office talk to families. I mean, obviously registration sees a lot of families, but you know, we're fielding calls and and talk to parents or engage with parents every day. I had a parent today reach out who needed help with something. Um, so you know, we're always looking not only to, you know, provide
061those opportunities for feedback through our surveys and things, but we're just staying very connected with families and, um, helping them with different things as needed. and even helping, you know, as they're working through registration or their child starting prek, helping ease um ease any questions or concerns they have about those transitions, which can be difficult not only for kids, but also the parents when it's something new, when it's your baby going off to school for the first time. And um sometimes they just want someone to talk to on the phone and to listen and hear them for a few minutes and, you know, help answer a couple questions. And we provide a lot of that too um up at central office. So it's not always all the digital and you know in in in person
062you know we we're talking on the phone or meeting with parents um in person. Parents sometimes come in and need help and we head down um to the front office and work with them and help them out. So um those are important that and we're glad that parents feel comfortable doing that and and do reach out to us on those levels too. Um so we um have started to um you know boost some visibility of some different programs even more. um really trying to boost our social media presence um and you know students and staff achievements through the newsletter, websites, social media, the local media. It's something we're you know can always keep going with. There's we have a lot of good stories to tell, a lot of good information to share. Um probably the
063the biggest challenge is the lack of resources. We don't have a communications budget um for like we talk about printed materials and things like that. You know, we're always finding funding from those from either other within programs or trying to find them from other sources or areas. So, um resources and capacity tend to still be some of our biggest challenges. Um but we keep, you know, we keep building that momentum and that visibility for everything. And then um you know this year we shared we had a lot of unique situations this year um in our schools. We had a lot of urgent updates and information that we were pushing out but we also had a lot of information um about u things that might have been impacting our families um such as food insecurity that
064we were sharing messaging about resources for that. um immigration um so uh the federal government shutdown and how that might have been impacting families and what resources they maybe were in need of. Um, obviously we had um the the terrible loss of some staff members and so we we really had some very unique um sensitive communications that we were sending out this year more more than any other year that I ever remember. um having to um tackle some of that very unique messaging and do so in a in a sensitive way and um be effective and try to show families we were there for them and and share good information with them and be helpful and a resource for them. particularly in those areas like food services or other community resources. You know, when we
065had those huge winter storms, we were making sure they knew about where if they were in need of some type of shelter or other things in in the midst of that that they had that information. I've, you know, talked a lot about continuing that momentum. So, would love to hear from you about some priorities. Um, I think family engagement, we we talk about that a lot and I think that means many different things. Um, it's like you said, Jay, engagement with the report cards and them knowing how their child's doing academically, going to the PT, uh, going to the parent teacher conferences, knowing how their where their child is in terms of their attendance, um, attending the fun events at schools, uh, participating in our surveys, having that meaningful dialogue with them. Um, so we
066certainly want to continue all of that. Um, I mentioned, you know, we want to keep telling our story. Um, and not only to our parents and our students and but also, um, maybe hearing from our alumni, what are they doing at this point? Um, having them be great advocates for our schools and how our schools prepared them for what they're doing now. and also reaching the broader community and getting in front of um the community members who don't have children in our schools anymore or a relative in our schools and making sure they're knowing what's happening in Rotten Public Schools. Um we keep, as I mentioned earlier, working with our platforms, improving our use of those, making sure our staff are comfortable using those. Um and definitely continuing continuing that to strengthen um the connection
067and and lines of communications between parents and families and their child's school. Um, and you know, I've mentioned we want to strengthen and expand our social media presence, possibly extend ex expanding beyond Facebook, um, and, um, you know, pushing forward with some of some of that, getting even stronger and better there. Um, so, um, that's all I have for you tonight. I would love to hear from the rest of the board members about, you know, any things that have been on your mind in terms of priorities and, you know, um what if anything this committee wants to take on um moving forward. >> Um Rebecca, um this is Jen. Um I have three things before I forget. I'm just going to spit it out cuz as you were talking. So the first one you said
068you're like working on year-end communications. Um I was wondering if you could make sure that there's something there about paying their lunch balances. Um and in some of these where you said you want to continue momentum. So like I'll just use the bottom one as an example. Strengthen and expand the district social media presence. if you can sort of list out like some of the platforms you're thinking and um when do you think you're going to accomplish that goal by and similar for some of the other stuff just so that we can um I know you're making lots of progress but just so that um you know me I'm very planning and detail oriented so it just be nice and it's not like if you don't make January 1 we're going to hold it against
069you it's just sort of like hey we're working towards a goal >> or a date we're more likely to achieve it than if it's just like yeah we random yeah we want to improve X. >> Um and so those are for some of the topics. Um, another thing like I was thinking about from a board perspective and I don't know, um, Jay, this is just something that like as Rebecca was speaking was that maybe we as a board commit not only at like the functions but let's say every home game whether it's football, baseball, basketball, volleyball that we have a board table there to be like, hey, you know, talk to your board of ed member or, you know, it's just like a, you know, just like a meet and greet night, right? Um, so
070it's not always going to be in a formal environment and then you end up watching the game anyway. So, I know Bev, you were like trying to champion getting our faces out there more. So, um, that was something that came up. And in regards to the PTO, I think I said it in one of the meetings like I don't have when you know when my son was in school or even now, right? Like I don't have time to go to everything, but if you ask me um to attend or to do something, more than likely I will say yes. So for the smaller PTOs where they only have one or two leaders, maybe we can Rebecca, you can offer some like leadership training on how to ask people to do something when they're not necessarily
071thinking that they wanted to do something in the first place. Um you know what I mean? So giving um the people who are involved the skill set to be able to ask um cuz more than likely if you ask more than likely people will say yes. They won't come to all your meetings but more than likely if you say hey can you pick up X the family member would more likely say yes. Um so [clears throat] those are some of the thoughts while you're talking. Um, and I know I'm probably going to have more as Jay and Bev come up with ideas, but those were the things that I thought of. >> I think it would be wonderful for the board to be out there more in the community um at some different events. I
072think that's a a great idea. Um I would think that the PTO organization also the like master PTO organization would possibly have um [clears throat] some leadership training that they make available for PTO um leaders. Um I'm certainly happy to chat with them. Um but I'm I would think some of those things exist there as well. Um, we can definitely uh include lunch balances in yearend communications, sort of settling up those sorts of things. I work closely with um food services and helping them um leverage parent square to send out notifications and reminders to families um about their lunch balances. And I know that that's um that's definitely a challenge as well for the district and social media. Um we have talked about Instagram. That would be the logical next step. And there's a lot
073of other platforms that I would not be comfortable as a school district being on. Um but I think the visual nature of Instagram and the number of district photos we often have would make sense. Um we've been talking and doing a few more posts on LinkedIn um that can largely be used also as an HR recruitment tool. Um but that there's some additional discussion that would need to be had there with HR. Um so I would like to see us expand to Instagram um in terms of an exact timeline. I don't have um that for you right now. Yeah, I don't mean for you right now, you know, like you know, next time. It's just like things where you have goals like if you could sort of let us know. So then this way, you
074know, we can ask instead of like Yeah. >> I also want to be mindful again of our capacity. Um because we don't have a communications team. We don't have a communications department. Um, so I think we definitely need to evaluate our our priorities and and capacity does become an issue at times. Um, >> oh yeah. Yeah. No, I don't want to add more work. I just want you to um have smart goals, you know, like they're specific or measurable, right? Um, >> and we have those. We we we have those as district staff with our supervisors. We do thorough evaluations um start of year, midyear, and end of year evaluations with >> Yeah. Yeah. But not necessarily you. I don't want to evaluate you. I'm just talking about like some of the plans you have
075in place. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely not. I don't want to I don't want to venture into that territory. >> Um Oh, yeah. Here's the one thing. I knew I had one more thing. Um, I know we always talk about the positives and stuff, but we also talk about facilities, right? Like there's this big challenge of like um um vaping, I guess. I don't know. I don't I've never smoked, never whatever in my entire life. So these little plastic things that get shot down the toilet. I don't know how the board feels or communication [clears throat] feels about like, hey, look at this. Do you know that this happens at your child's school to bring awareness not only of the good stuff we do, but like some of the rotten things that some of
076their kids may be doing. I don't know how anyone feels about that to just expose it. Like, yeah, look, um, this is what we have to face. every like two weeks we have to do this and you know I don't know sometimes it's like exposing the bad because if the parents don't realize then I don't know that was just out in left field so let me [laughter] see if you guys will let me live in left field by myself >> well I know the schools do work closely with GASP on their messaging around any substance use >> and they do surveys with parents and students and that gets shared. Um, and >> I'm I'm more on the verge of like destruction of school property angle. >> You know, if somebody um if somebody wants to
077ingest and do stuff to their body, that's their unfortunately that's their choice. But um destruction of school property is something that I do care about. >> Yeah. I'm I'm wondering like I mean on the one hand there's some value I think in parent education and learning about vaping and um and what kids are doing. Um and because until a couple of years ago, you know, I'm not so sure I knew a lot about vaping. And unfortunately, that's become something I've known I know now a lot about because um it's so prevalent in um in teenagers lives. Um but when we talk about destruction of school property, I don't know, you know, as a parent myself if I would want to receive that messaging um if if my students weren't involved. I'd be, you know, I
078I almost would um be wondering if parents would be like, you know, why am I receiving this uh my kids, you know, weren't involved in this. Um it's it it's unfortunate that, you know, this is what's happening, but you know, I don't know if I I don't know how how I would take that as a parent. Now, maybe I could be wrong. maybe other parents would be interested in. But it's I think it gets into dangerous territory of um of that of discipline, school discipline and and consequences and that kind of stuff. Jenn um I could be wrong though. It'd be interesting to to get some input from um Susan and what she thinks. I understand where you're going there in terms of parents talking to kids and and um using that leverage to say,
079you know, you better not be involved in that because I I know I've had my own conversations with my children, you know, whenever I hear of an incident. Um I I would often go home and say to my girls, you better I better not ever hear you're involved in X, Y, or Z. Yeah. >> But u and then they would say, "Why are you talk?" But they would often say to me, "Why are you even talking to us about this?" [clears throat] >> And so, um, >> yeah, like I said, I don't really know like if we're even allowed to do that, you know, it's just that I know it's an issue we face >> and it's almost like how do we get the word out so that maybe we can have allies because we're
080there to teach. were there to support, >> but we're we're at the point now where >> like we're becoming more than just like the original objective of teaching. Now we're just, you know, doing a lot of other stuff that maybe like should be taken care of elsewhere, you know. >> Sure. >> It's funny, you [clears throat] know, I again, you make some good points. There's the other thing I go back to is you know when you're teaching um there's this kind of philosophy that you don't talk to your whole class about something like a like a issue that maybe two kids in your class are doing. you know, the other you maybe you take those kids aside. >> Uh because the rest of your class, you know, they again, they shouldn't have to be subjected
081to that lecture um about maybe uh you know, let's give an example. I'm trying to think like talking while you're while the teacher's talking or you know, getting involved in silliness or, you know, whatever it is. >> Whatever. Yeah. >> Whatever it is. And so I kind of thinking >> I don't know. >> Yeah. Yeah, let's think. Let's think I I don't want to shoot down your idea because I I get where you're going with that, but I think let's think a little bit more about it. What's the right way to go about >> bringing our parents in and and having them understand the scope of this issue without uh and getting their support without um without making them feel that, you know, it's that every child is involved because I I do believe there
082are a lot of kids that are doing the right thing. >> Oh, yeah. Definitely because it's always the one bad apple, right? or like several bad apples, right? >> Yeah. >> So, yeah. No, definitely. And like I said, it was just something that popped up. Whether we move forward or just like let it die on a vine, that's perfectly fine, right? It's just an idea. [sighs] >> Yeah. Well, let's think about that and come up with any other ideas in the vein that uh Rebecca was asking. But I I think we have reached the end of the published agenda. Um so unless there's any other um relevant comments to um to the agenda um I believe that uh we are adjourned. Thank you so much Rebecca for all your work. >> Thank you everyone. >>
083Good night. >> Bye now. >> Goodbye everyone. Good night. >> Good night.