001Okay, this is a meeting of the curriculum committee of the Groten Board of Education on March 2nd, 2026 at 6 PM. We have in attendance Ian Thomas, Andrea Arian, Ann Marie Mancini, Caitlyn Crowley, Shannon Wiggle. I hope I pronounced your name correctly. Um, did I miss anyone? I don't think so. Okay. So, uh, first order of business is we'll call the meeting to order. and um has the next thing is to look at the minutes from the February 3rd meeting and find out if anyone had any comments on those. Um and does anyone have any comments on the meetings uh minutes from February 3rd? Angie, did you have something? >> No. No. >> Okay. All right. So, can somebody make a motion to approve I guess I can make the motion to approve the minutes
002of February 3rd? Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Um, we would take a vote now from everyone on approving the minutes. Does everyone approve the minutes of February 3rd? Yes. >> Yes. >> I'm going to abstain on this one. I was not present for the um February 3rd meeting. >> Okay. So, um we have an abstension from Ian and I believe and I'm I'm approving um Andrea uh voted yes and Marie. I don't believe I'm a voting member, but um if I am, I'm I vote to approve. >> Okay, let's consider them approved. Okay. All right. Let's move on to item three on the meeting agenda, the DODIA grant opportunity. And who's going to talk to that? >> I'm going to speak to it just for a second and then I'm going to
003hand it over to Shannon. Um, so we have an another opportunity for a DODIA grant. Well, we believe we are going to have an opportunity that is going to present itself sometime in the next couple of weeks. And um, you know, Mitch, you weren't uh part of our board at the time, but I know uh Dr. Acriman and Mr. Thomas were. Last year, we uh put forward a grant um that focused on math in alignment with some of the work that we're doing this year. that grant um was not accepted but no grant um was accepted across the country in Dodia in this area. Um they only accepted or uh yeah accepted proposals in the world language area. Um but we really feel strongly that this is a um a good quality proposal that we've
004written. We're of course going to make some modifications this year. Uh but we wanted to bring forward the opportunity talk a little bit about um what is included in our proposal and see also if um you know and I know it would be hard to think of off the top of your head but um certainly we have some very um knowledgeable members on this curriculum committee. Dr. Acriman being a former principal um and certainly we have an another educator on the committee and I know Mitch you have a strong background in math and science. So, we wanted to kind of talk and see um if you had any additional thoughts or ideas. Um we certainly will bring the grant forward again um as you know always customary, but we wanted we thought it would be
005appropriate to share with this curriculum committee first. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Shannon and have her talk a little bit about the opportunity and um our proposal from last year and and what we would like to kind of move forward into this new um grant. Shannon? >> Yeah, great. Uh oh shoot, >> we can see you now. Sh. >> Yeah, I'm getting a lot of um feedback. >> Um >> are you able to hear me? >> Maybe you you'll have to mute um when Shannon's >> testing. Oh, shoot. I'm still getting that. I wonder if it's my phone. Do you have another account open? How's that? Ah, much better. I think I had two screens open. Yep. Um, so yeah. So, uh, Amory gave a good overview of, um, well,
006let me, it might be best for, uh, the newcomers to, uh, the board and for anyone who's, uh, listening for me to just give a little bit of background about DODIA in general. Um, so, first of all, um, I'm Shannon. I'm the grants facilitator for the district. and um for the past 10 years I've helped um coordinate the um the development of the proposal for the DODIA funding opportunity. So this is a competitive grant that's been made available to us each year um for the past 10 years and we're eligible for it because we have such a large military population. So this grant um is run by DODIA which is a pro it's the department of defense education activity program. It's a program within the department of defense that um oversees all the DODIA school
007all the um department of defense schools across the country and around the world and also see oversee or provides additional funding um opportunities for um non DoD districts such as ours that has a pretty high military um population. So like I said, we've been applying for this grant. It's a competitive grant for the past um 10 years and we've received seven awards. Um we currently have four uh projects right now that are still running. Um one is about to wind down this year. uh and for um this coming year um so so typically the um announcement for the award comes out around this time usually in February or March and it's a pretty quick turnaround time usually around 3 weeks um so it's typically due in March or April um and last year our uh
008steering committee um and uh we received input from um a larger group. Uh we, as Amarie said, we decide to apply for uh some more support for our math initiative. In that grant, we included so we applied for um a grant for $1.25 uh million um over five years. So approximately 250,000 per year. And uh in that proposal, we asked about half of it, 600,000 was to go towards uh staffing to support uh the roll out of a new math curricula, math curriculum um and the professional development uh to go along with that. the other half of the grant um or the budget about 600,000 was to pay for the curriculum itself and uh some of the tools um including I Ready um to support again the implementation of that effort. Um we also included
009some funds I think around maybe $50,000 to continue some of the work we've done with career pathways. um specifically those were to go towards um field trips um and I believe some um teacher leader stipens for afterchool clubs primarily at the middle school level. Um, so, uh, like Amory said, there has not yet been, um, the opportunity has not been announced yet for this year, but we're expecting it's going to come out at any time. Um, there's no guarantee that it'll happen this year, but our um, current project directors attended a workshop recently and they indicated that it will likely happen this year. Our steering committee met last week uh to review the proposal that we had submitted last year um and just to have an initial discussion as to um whether we want to
010resubmit the same proposal or if we want to change it for this coming year. We did. Um so last year uh the particular program that we applied for um because of the um government shutdown um and because there was um uncertainty around funding for DODIA uh they just decided not to run that competitive grant program. The world language grant program is funded through a different stream. So that was still able to go ahead and that's going to go ahead again this year too. Um but um yeah, we expect both programs to run this year. Um we received very positive feedback on the even though we they did not give out any awards. Um they did review our proposals and we received very positive feedback on our proposal which was um encouraging. So, we're hopeful if
011we resubmit the same proposal or sort of a similar proposal that we would be awarded again this time. Um so, our next steps are to um you know get feedback from this group. Um the steering committee is planning to meet weekly for the next um month and a half um when we expect the proposal to be due. Um and we will also be presenting this um to the elementary and uh secondary level principles in the next week or two. So um yeah, I think that hopefully provides a good overview. Um I'm happy to answer any questions. and >> uh yes, just curious to know um are there any uh is this pretty much the same as before? >> Um and do you have anything to project as far as like the intended um spending for
012this grant? >> Um so I think what you're asking is um do we expect to be applying for the same amount? Is that your question? >> Yes. So um yeah. So, uh the we will be applying for the maximum amount. Um we're eligible to do that because we have we meet the um total student number criteria. So, um in order to apply for the 1.25, we needed to have a thousand or more military connected students and as of now we have a 105. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and uh just to recap, uh so percentage-wise, how much of this funding would be going towards ele elementary level um math instruction verse middle school verse high school? >> That's a good question. Um, >> I would say I we we will be applying for um support
013for K through 12 because that will again we'll be able to apply for the maximum amount of funding. But I believe I don't know if I had to ballpark I would say maybe around 60 to 75% will go towards the elementary level. I don't know. Can you speak to that Amory? >> I would say it's hard for me to estimate as well. I mean largely this is going to focus on our K8 initiative of bringing in a new resource illustrative math which we you know I'll be talking about more extensively next month but I certainly have presented uh previously to this curriculum committee I want to say last year um in the spring and then also if you recall probably a couple of months ago to the full board uh I talked a lot about
014illustrative math and some of the other math related initiatives that we're working on uh building thinking classroom rooms. Um we have brought in I Ready this year. So some of the funding that um right now is being paid for by the board we would divert into um into this grant at least temporarily um you know while the for the time period in which we have the grant. There's some funding and correct me if I'm wrong Shannon because I know that we've had a couple of different iterations of this where um I believe we put in for math tutors specifically at the elementary level. Um knowing that that was a focus last year of our board. I don't recall if the as as a part of this the middle school would also be getting one or
015more tutors. Um you'll have to let me know about that Shannon. Yes. Yes. You're saying yes. Um well we had put in for three tutors um with the last one and unfortunately I can't remember if that was elementary or >> yeah I think elementary focused Ian but um >> that's what I recall it's been now a year um obviously we feel like the need this has been a big discussion of our board is how can we support better support our students um it's something that our our principles have brought forward in terms of needing more personnel so um that's that was our intention is to uh incorporate them into this. Um so you know it's difficult for me to say percentage-wise. You know there will be professional development for all of our teachers of mathematics
016whether it's K5 teachers 68 or 912. Um there's a lot of work that you know that we want to do to um enhance the work that we're doing in this in this content area. >> Understood. Um I I remember this being discussed last year, but um I was going through my records. I wasn't able to find like um uh any sort of documentation as far as like uh intended areas of of spending like you know as far as like assigned amounts, you know, should the grant be successful. Is that a thing that you all develop on your end? Um I also don't see anything in the agenda packet uh for this. Well, the grant hasn't been released yet, so we haven't put that together yet. That's something that, you know, again, we just started to
017meet as a steering committee or come back together. I think our first meeting was last week. We thought it would be important obviously to bring the idea or the opportunity forward to this curriculum committee. Um, as we continue to meet, I think we have another meeting either this either this week or next week. Um, we're going to continue to we'll look very closely at that grant from last year. We'll see what modifications we need to make and then we'll put together a budget which of course needs to be submitted as a part of that grant. But at this point we have we have not gotten that far because the grant just hasn't been released yet. >> Understood. Thank you for that. Um so moving forward with this process uh is that something that this committee
018could look forward to as far as uh once the grants released to have that targeted budget presented um here again or would it go to the full board? I don't know what the procedure is for that, but certainly can ask Superintendent Austin, have her have a conversation with uh Chairman Washington and you know, I'm certain that we would be presenting it again somewhere. But I'm happy to loop back around to this committee if that's something that there's interest in. >> Um I would definitely put my name on the list of being interested to see something like that. Um is so for item three, like there's no action attached to this. This is just a general overview and announcement of the opportunity coming through the pipeline. >> Yeah, there's no action associated with this. We just
019wanted to make everyone aware and then see again if anyone had any specific I know it's difficult to say on the off the top of your head, but if there was any specific things that maybe we weren't thinking of based on what Shannon had shared uh was in last year's proposal, feel free to encourage you to feel free to bring them forward. >> All right. Very well. Um yeah, no as you already noted um you know my interest would be to see a larger percentage put towards the foundational levels um you know depending on what amounts come out but uh I definitely would like to see a larger percentage attached to elementary education uh in math. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Nobody else has anything. I I have one thing. I happen
020to agree with with Ian and um when you have more information on this. It probably would be a good idea to just talk about it at at this committee. I don't think we have further action today on this on item three unless anyone has any questions. And if no one has questions, can we move on to item four, curriculum view and recommendation for board action? IB personal and professional skills um for school year 2627. >> So I want to give just everyone a little bit of a background or maybe more of a reminder. A couple of months ago, Chris uh Mor came forward with a um with what we would normally call our new proposal uh course proposal document. Uh he talked a little bit about the IB personal and professional skills. Now this course
021is a little bit uh unique in the way it is a course that we have written curriculum for but the IB world organization has significantly revised the expectations for the course and in alignment with our process or protocol here in um Grten public schools. Um Chris uh actually brought forward a proposal. It it basically was considered a new course and so um he uh secured approval from this uh this curriculum committee to go ahead and write the course. He wrote it with a co-orker and um over the I wouldn't say like Christmas break mostly but into January. Um and they've done an excellent job. I've personally reviewed the course. Um it's really really thorough. What a great course. I think potentially for our students to take. And now in in alignment with the next step
022of our process, he's presenting the full course for review. So I'm going to turn it over to Chris Mor who is our IB coordinator um at Fitch High School and have him talk a little bit about the course and see if you have any questions. >> All right. Thank you, Anmarie. Um all right, so Jen Hullbertton and I worked on the curriculum for this over uh throughout December and into January. The IB personal professional skills course is the core component of our IB career related program. The IB career related program is our kind of merges with our our career pathways program at Fitch High School where we have students in our nursing program, our ed rising program, um project lead the way for engineering, our workrelated courses and giving them an IB option where they're
023getting access to higher level classes. And the personal and professional skills course is all of junior year, the first half of senior year, and it tackles all of the the soft skills that students are going to need for the workplace. It tackles the community engagement part of the IB career related program, the language and cultural studies. It kind of brings everything under under one roof. Um, we also, Jen Hullbertton teaches our oral communications classes at Fitch High School and she secured um, Yukon credit for the IB personal professional skills course. So, students taking the PPS course during their junior year are going to receive Yukon communications credit. Um, Jen, maybe you can speak to exactly what Yukon course that is. >> Sure. Hi there, everybody. Uh, so when Chris approached me about the personal and
024professional skills class, I was super excited because it aligns so well with what I already teach in the communications one class, which is an interpersonal communications class and the um, and I also teach Yukon public speaking, which is our comm 2 class. So, when Chris brought me the overview of the personal and professional skills class, I noticed that it aligned amazingly with the Yukon COMM 1000 class, which is their um their interpersonal COM class. So now kids will have the option to take a COM 1 class, the COM 2 class which is public speaking and now with personal and professional skills they can get another set of Yukon credits which is going to be the interpersonal intrapersonal and kind of more of a media and comm approach. So we aligned the six quarters of the
025personal and professional skills class with the four units in the U as well. Um, so yeah, I'm not sure I'm not what do we have any any questions? That's kind of the the reader digest version of what the course is going to be about and what our um students are going to get out of it because I had somebody read me this this afternoon and uh I was amazed at how beautifully done this was. So I just wanted to say that >> thank you. We uh we're we're we're pretty happy with how it turned out. It was it was a lot of fun. >> Thank you very much. That's a great compliment. And we did have a lot of fun. We're really proud of it. >> Ian, >> uh yes, a few questions. Um is
026there a minimum number of students that'll be required to run the class? >> We have 15 students in it this year. Um we're still waiting on our enrollment numbers for next year. Um, so I'm not I know what we have right now, but be what it takes to run the course is above my pay grade, unfortunately. >> Understood. Um, and I think you already spoke to this, but the current class, the current course that runs in pitch of IV personal professional skills one, this class is going to supersede that class. That class will expire and this is now the current version of that class. >> Yes. So, yeah, correct. Um, so we kind the IB revised their curriculum for this this cohort of students. So we kind of got we kind of put everything together
027for this year. So our students who are going through the program this year are getting we kind of did this on the fly and have been giving it to them this year. The idea is that next year our our cohort coming in next year is going to get this done properly from from day one. They'll have the full course. Our juniors this year are only getting a semester of PPS as juniors and then they'll get another semester senior year. So we've expanded the course out to be a full year for junior year and then a semester senior year. >> Got it. Thank you. And uh you mentioned earlier that um there are ECE credits available with this class upon successful completion. >> Yep. So we've already I already submitted it to Yukon and they've already
028approved it. So, if if the kids take the class for all of their junior year and receive a C or better, then they will have the three Yukon credits that go along with it. >> Got it. And and Yukon credits are usually pretty good all uh across the board with most colleges. >> Yeah. They're the gold standard of New England and throughout almost any public school in the country. >> Got it. Yeah. So, ECE credits are pretty much universal more or less. If we see that tag, we know that class is good pretty much with any college. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And last one, is there a teacher training needed for this class or can it is it pretty much a straight crossover? >> Uh we are so we have two teachers teaching well. So
029Anne Forbotnik has already been trained. She's getting the the updated training in June and then Jen Halbertton went this fall to get the training. So she'll be taking she'll be teaching the junior section of the course starting in the next fall. So we are we are all up to date on training to go forward. >> Excellent. And I guess I mean actually I have one more. Um so this class is this an integral part of the IB diploma program or is this more attached to the career pathways program or both? >> This is part of the so we have two IB branches um for our juniors and seniors. We have the diploma program which has theory of knowledge as the core of that. the career related program uh personal professional skills is the the central
030part of that. So it's the the theory of knowledge but for the career related program instead. >> Okay. I'm sorry I I'm lost track there a little bit. Um could you say that again? I'm sorry. >> So when Yeah. So when our students go to 11th grade, we have two different IB programs to offer them. We have the diploma program which is the one that people we've had at Fitch High School for 25 years now. That program has theory of knowledge. That's the core course of that that every diploma kid takes over the last couple of years. Now we are offering the IB career related program which is a career focus program for 11th and 12th graders. The personal and professional skills course is the the nexus of that. It's the central core course that
031handles all of that for this um for those students. >> Got it. So this is basically like a theory of knowledge but instead for the career pathways course course >> correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> Hey this is Mitch. I have I have a question. Was was this um funded in our budget and reed do you do you recall? >> So the writing of the course was actually funded through title four funds that come to us from the state department of education. And I believe Chris also asked me for like uh a resource like a book or a couple copies of a book which I was also able to fund through title four. Um title four uh there are three different kind of like broad areas I call them buckets on which you can expend
032those funds. The first one is um making sure that you have rigorous academic programs under which we you know IB falls AP. Um the second bucket has to do with like social emotional learning and family engagement. And the third is a technology bucket. Um, and each part or each one of those compartment uh I would say I'm gonna keep calling them buckets. Each one of those areas um there's a certain percentage on which you have to spend like if say for example we have $100,000. I don't remember the exact amount that we get for title 4. It's it's more than that I believe. Um but you have to s you have to spend like maybe 30% in academics, 30% on um or you know like maybe it's like 40% 30% and then another 30% on
033on technology. Technology actually is the least amount that you have to of the area that you have to spend on. I believe right now we have very minimal amount of money there because you can't um purchase hardware um with that grant. So you can only purchase things like say for example a teacher wanted to take an online professional development or we wanted to purchase some software licenses you know that's what you can use title four funds for but we mostly use it for um our academic area um and you know it's a it's a good grant in that way. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Does anyone else have any questions on this? Is there a I believe we have an action here for item four as to whether or not we want to make
034a recommendation that this go to the board for action. Um I'll put that on the floor. Is there a second? >> Definitely. >> Okay, >> that's Andrea. >> Hi Andrea. Thank you. Okay. So, can everybody uh we get a vote about bringing this to the board? I'm in favor. I think Andrea's in favor. Ian? >> Yes, I'm in favor. >> Okay. So I think that that's a pass that we will bring this should come up on the um next applicable um BOE meeting. >> Yeah. And just to clarify too, Mitch, and I know that you're new to um this particular committee as well as Mr. Thomas, this was a recommendation um from Dr. Acriman, I believe that as a part of our new process, not only would it be recommended um to the board, you
035know, like a new course, for example, be brought forward, but also that you would recommend as a like as a curriculum committee like we reviewed this course. We've had an opportunity to talk to Miss Halbertton, uh Mr. Mor, and based on, you know, our um our review of the curriculum and um you know, asking questions, we recommend that the course be approved. like you're recommending an action um on behalf of this committee. So, I'm not saying um that that's where you stand right now, but um I believe that as a part of our new protocol, they'll be looking for this board's recommendation. Yes, adopt the new curriculum or no, uh maybe it needs more revisions. So, um just be aware of that. Um Chairman Washington may ask you for specifics. >> Yeah, that's correct. Emory,
036>> wait. So just a point of parliamentary procedure here. Um so is that the established process now? Is is that implicit with my vote to move this out of committee that it's that it's >> it is it is it's we have revised the U curriculum development and adoption process. U it's new it's uh revised our policy several maybe now a month or two ago and that is part of the new process. Well, uh, being aware of that now, um, I'm I'd like to change my vote since I wasn't aware of that parameter. Um, and I I'll just switch it to an abstain. >> Okay. >> Opposed, but, you know, I'm not I don't want to have a fullthroated endorsement of it either. >> Okay. Looks like Adrian just came on board and he has a
037question. Yep. Yeah. Um yeah, thank you and thank you for um giving the presentation. Um I was just looking back at the meeting minutes and um it looks like it was tabled, it said the committee tabled the agenda item for the next meeting. Um and that was on October 6th. Um but I don't see that in the November meeting minutes. So do you do you know when that was um approved by the board? Amay, >> uh, I believe it went forward to the full board around December 1st or December 8th, but if you, um, I'm sharing my screen right now, but if you go to the policies, uh, I believe this is like 61, it's not 6146, but it's like 6114. Um, it will give you the adoption date uh, of that or the revision
038date for that policy. >> Oh, yeah. I'm I'm actually just talking about um if the board approved writing this curriculum in the if the committee approved writing this curriculum in the um in the first place because I like I said I just see in the meeting in the October 6th minutes um I remember there was just some question and said we tabled the agenda item for the next meeting. Um and then um November 3rd was the next meeting I believe unless there was another one in the middle there. Um I I just >> I believe there was another one because um Miss >> Oh, wait. Actually, there's an October 22nd. Um let me see if it's in there. Um I don't see it in the October 22nd meeting minutes either. >> Yeah, we I know
039uh for a fact that we talked about this. There was some question originally. Uh Mr. Mor presented, you know, uh at least that day, if not a second time. Um and you and I know had a a an offline conversation, Adrian, about um because the original process um was about uh recommending it to go forward to the board, but it was not about approval. And that was the question about whether or not a course would was actually a course proposal was actually getting approved. Um and upon uh closer read of the of the last protocol or process for curriculum review um it was that the this committee would um recommend a proposal be brought forward um to the board and so that's what wound up happening. This was part of our revision process and and
040why I believe Dr. Acriman specifically asked for board action um and as and put that clarification into the new policy. >> Yeah, I mean I think that policy was was later in November, December, I guess. I mean, it's something that um that you can um get back to us on if you if you don't mind just looking into the record or having somebody look into the records just because the minutes seem to reflect something different. Um and and um I I would um I would be inaccurate if I said I had a perfect memory. Um so um but I just uh like with the old and the new policies, it would have required the curriculum committee um kind of signing off on it. The old policy I think then required the board um or the
041new policy or the old policy required the board, but the new policy which which this kind of falls in the middle of could could go either way. >> Yeah, I'm happy to do that. I you know I want to note that I would not bring for something forward to the full board and I don't believe Adrianne you would allow me to if it wasn't moved forward you know with your approval as the forward as the former chair. So I just want to kind of keep that in mind that this you know all protocols were followed here. I'm happy to go and um you know I I don't know if the minutes are are accurate in terms of you know what actually happened. I don't, you know, completely, you know, from now, I'm not looking back
042on October or November minutes, but I can guarantee you that, um, you know, following my own code of ethics, I would not have moved forward a course for approval that had not been first approved according to our protocols by this committee. >> All right. Yeah. No, I I I appreciate that and I I understand that. I guess I would just say if if you wouldn't mind, just check into it. Yeah, >> I'm happy to do that. But I I don't believe that that should hold up um this course moving forward. These two c these two teachers have put an monumental amount of effort into this. Um they have written a very quality course. Um and you know to kind of delay this um another month because you know we have to go back and look
043at at a video. Um I just don't think that's that's fair. >> Yeah. I I'm not saying I'm not saying that it should be and and and if it was an oversight, I think we can, you know, we can make mistakes um you know, and not hold up the curriculum because of it. So, I'm not saying that we should hold it up. I'm just I I just didn't remember actually, you know, approving it. And then when I look back at the minutes, I didn't see that either. So, either way, I don't think that that should affect um you know, the outcome of this curriculum. Um, I think it's just it's fair to know what the history is and and you know and see if if we actually approved it. So, but thank you. >> Thank
044you, Adrian. Dr. Arian, you have your hand up. >> Yes. So, let me just get clarification. I'm understanding that we are approving it tonight for to to move it forward to the board with the recommendation that they approve it. I don't know if the word approve was right in there, but that we are moving it forward uh with our recommendation that the board approve this curriculum. Is that correct? >> That's correct, Dr. Akman. Based on the new policy. >> Yeah. And that's what we all agreed to to begin with that that's the way we would do it. >> Yes, that's correct, Dr. Akerman. >> Okay. All right. That was it. Now, if I could just see how to lower my hand. Okay, let me see. Okay. >> Okay. So, just to recap, unless anyone has
045any questions, it seems to me that um we are going to uh recommend that this be presented to the BOE and recommend that the BOE uh approve this. And oh, Ian um you have the floor, sir. >> Thank you, Mitch. Um, yeah. So, I just was looking up on the policy. It is 6141. And, uh, step one is presented to the superintendent or assistant superintendent for approval. Step two is presented to the board of education curriculum committee for review and recommendation. Step three, upon approval, curriculum is written. Step four is board of education curriculum committee will review and make a recommendation to the full board for action. Um and then step five is curriculum is then presented to the board of education for final approval. So if I'm understanding this correctly, we are now at
046step four. Is this is that correct, Dr. Mancini? >> That's correct. >> Okay. All right. All right. Uh um yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm good to proceed. Um that being the case, Never mind. I I was misunderstanding what was being said earlier. So, I'm I'm I'm good with my original vote of uh in favor. >> Okay. So, are you all set now, Ian? >> Yes. >> Your hand. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, um I think it's unanimous now that we'll go ahead with this and present it to the board with a recommendation that they adopt it. So if every everyone's good with that, we'll move on to item five, review of new course proposals, discrete mathematics and IB language and literature. >> Okay. Go ahead, Amory. >> Okay. Thank you, Mitch. Um
047so we have two new course proposals coming forward. These are not full documents. These are courses that um people at our high school want to bring forward, offer to students. Um and they have created these proposals. There's probably about two pages in length. Um hopefully you had an opportunity to review them in advance. The first course is going to be called discrete mathematics and I'm going to turn it over to our uh math team who is on the call. By the way, just for note, um this these courses will not be offered next school year. Um if if it's approved that um you know the these can move forward, our teachers would then go off use next year to write the course and then would come back just like Mr. Mor just did and present
048the full curriculum. So, this is a step before that. Um, actually two steps before coming forward again. And I just wanted to kind of set that context. With that said, I'm going to turn it over to Caitlyn Crowley, our supervisor of mathematics, and Danielle Mulligan, um, our our teacher, who I believe, um, developed the course proposal. >> Hi, how are you? Um, so Caitlyn Crowley here. Uh, so we would like to bring discrete math um as a math course to to the high school. Uh, Danielle uh already applied to Yukon. Uh, and got approval to make this course an ECE Yukon um course. As Jen Halbertton explained um on the earlier that if a student receives a C or better in the course uh then they will receive three credits from Yukon. Um which uh
049as we know has been really successful with transferring those to other other other locations. Um but this course would be intended for for seniors as a senior elective. Um, right now in the math department, most of our ECE courses um are either a honors level or AP level. So, right now for our ECE courses, we have AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics. For Eastern Connecticut College course, ECE courses, it's honors pre-calculus, and honors calculus. So, this would give students an opportunity to take a um a non-honors, non AP course um and still get that ECE opportunity. So, I I'm really excited to potentially bring this course to Fitch to give students um you know, an opportunity to get that those college credits um from Yukon. And it's not an an AP or an honors level course.
050So that's really the driving um force for bringing this to to Fitch. Uh Danielle um was the teacher that brought it, you know, brought this course to me and uh her and I developed the proposal. So Danielle, if you want to add anything. >> Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Caitlyn. Um the reason I brought this to the table was just as Caitlyn said, an opportunity for seniors to have another option that wasn't daunting or out of what felt like out of their reach in terms of AP or honors and and something that kind of offers topics that are um obtainable from a standpoint of no background knowledge. So things like set theory, graph theory, not theory. Um some combinotaurics with video games and uh card games and things like that um that tie into the Yukon
051discrete course and any discrete course really is kind of a mod podge of interesting math that kind of lives on its own island. Um this was one of my favorite classes that I took in college and it kind of opened my eyes to other things that existed that weren't just algebra, geometry, u stats, and calc. Um, so I thought it was a good opportunity to create something that students might find a particular interest in that might bring them closer to math as an option, uh, rather than kind of shying away from it for their senior year. But other than that, Caitlyn said everything perfectly. So, nothing really to add unless there's questions. >> I think the other thing to kind of piggyback off what Danielle was saying is it's so important that our students take
052math during their senior year. um otherwise you know if they for example if it's not required um or they just opt not to take it um they have that gap before then they go on to college level and it's really hard I believe if you're not doing math all the time and maybe I'm just speaking for myself as a former English teacher but I would imagine for everybody if you're not doing the you're using those skills all the time it would be difficult for them to pick back up into a math course they're during their freshman year or maybe even sophomore year of college depending on when they're scheduled for it after having a a lapse in for education, so to speak. >> Okay, Ian, you have the floor, sir. >> Thank you. Um, yeah,
053just a few questions. I think you kind of addressed some one already. Uh, but you you said specifically that the class is going to be run as an ECE class in its first year. Is that correct? >> Yep. Danielle already applied to Yukon and she already was granted approval from Yukon. So, she currently is an adjun professor at Yukon because she has the Um, and the other question was why uh this was as a college prep level, not an honors level class. Again, it sounded like you kind of addressed that that you wanted to increase the opportunity for um, you know, college prep level course takers to have ECE courses available to them. Is that's the idea? >> Yeah, that's that's definitely the idea. and it's it's an entry point into what they're going to
054see at a college level and a more uh kind of ambiguous math rather than those straightforward what you expect 9 through 12. So it's just a different option that might peique some interest hopefully. >> Got it. Got it. So increases accessibility to uh college credits and also to mathematic math from a different angle. >> Yeah. And it helps with the STEM credits that they need as well. So, if they don't want to take a science elective and they want to fill it with a math course, now they have an option that's again a college prep level rather than uh AP Calc if they don't have the prerex or AP stats if they don't want to take an AP. >> Got it. All right. Appreciate that. And um in in the weighted grading process, will the
055quality points awarded to um be related to the college prep level or to the ECE level? So >> yeah. >> So the it would be I don't think there's a distinction between ECE. I think our weighted um at the high school is college prep honors and then AP I and IB. I don't think there's a distinction between ECE. >> I think I will check my records. We did we just had a presentation to the this board not too long ago. Obviously, this would be a new course, but I believe all AP, IB, and ECE courses receive the same uh quality point um the same amount of quality points. Okay. >> So, um yeah, I don't believe that there's a distinction with that, Ian, but I would have to look. Obviously, this course hasn't been moved
056forward yet, but that'd be something that um I would imagine it would follow that same pattern, so to speak, that you know, honors courses get maybe I think it's like 0.5 quality points and the ECE, AP, and IB kids, anyone any of the courses that fall under that umbrella, um so to speak, they get a 1.0. But I have to go back and check my notes on that. I know we just did a presentation on this just uh maybe in December. We we did. >> Yeah. Well, that'd be great. Um I mean, I I I think if it's holds true, if the theory holds true that AB or AP, IB, and ECE all carry that extra weight, it's another great opportunity for college prep level students to um improve their transcripts um even if they're
057not in honors level or IB classes. Um so that be I look forward to getting confirmation on that. Uh and just some questions about the budget implications. Um so in writing any curriculum, how much it how much budget monies are associated with writing curriculum versus um regular teacher duties? because it's just kind of a general question but like >> so what I've done is um since coming to Grten Public Schools I implemented a formula um and basically I've said okay this is a a fullear course and it's a brand new course rather than a course revision you get um you know as a part of I believe the contract here in Grten um we always want to have at least two uh members of the department writing the curriculum sometimes there's three um and then
058I set a certain amount of total hours for the curriculum work. Now, sometimes people will reach out and say, "Hey, Amory, you gave us I'm just saying this off the top of my head, you gave us 30 hours total um and we believe that we maybe need two more, you know, um then I'll of course make that allow that um extension, but generally I budget for it based on the fact that is it a brand new course? Um is it a full year course or a halfyear course?" So there's a formula that I use so that it's not just wide open like we're going to write a curriculum and now um you know however many hours it takes it takes that's the um so I've put a system in place essentially. >> Got it. Got
059it. And I I imagine that uh the budget that we just approved and sent forward to the town there you've already kind of carved out an anticipated amount in there. >> Yeah. There's some money uh dedicated in the teaching and learning budget for curriculum writing. And then we often will leverage some of our grants as well like for example the title 4 grant as I mentioned um that's where we were able to fund the IB personal and professional skills. Sometimes we'll also leverage title one funds if we have um the ability you know if we have some money there. Um and so that's generally the the three areas uh upon which we will um pull for from for curriculum writing um funds. >> Got it. Thank you. And um usually to my understanding there's um
060ECE annual program fees uh in general. Um, would that fee be applicable to this course or am I misunderstanding something? Do like we as a district pay Yukon for ECE accreditation? >> Uh, you know, I'm going to have to defer to the people on the call that know a little bit more about that. I don't know how it works here at Fitch. Um, so I'm going to I'm going to defer to the uh members on the call here that might know more about that. I only I only can tell you what happened in my former district uh that but I think that's a completely different experience. >> I'm not sure what the school pays Yukon for our ECE accreditation. Um Jasmine Zubc is our ECE like coordinator for the school. Um, I don't I don't
061know if it's like a you pay per course or you pay alum a just a sum no matter what. I don't I don't know. >> Ian, are you talking about student fees or are you talking about the actual the district being accredited in some way? >> Uh an annual um >> annual program fee. I I think it's >> I don't believe there is an annual program fee. Not that one that I'm aware of. I can do more research on that. Uh again, I I came from a a district which also had a high number of ECE offered a high number of ECE courses. Um and uh was pretty involved in that in terms of the finances. We never in in East Harford, my former district, we never paid um anything to Yukon. Now, sometimes there
062are fees associated with a particular course. Um, and I don't know how Fitch handles that here. Like maybe there's a a certain course may um expect students to purchase a particular book that's a part of the curriculum that's required or there's other types of materials. Um, or sometimes there's a course fee um that's associated with it. Again, I I don't know how that works here at Fitch. can tell you in my former place of work, um because it was such a um I would say it was a a district that had a lot of high need um that was something that Yukon was able to wave for the students in that district. Um but I cannot speak with um confidence about um you know what happens here at Fitch in terms of the different whether
063or not there are fees. I would imagine just like with other things >> for students. >> What >> I do believe students need to enroll into Yukon and there is a fee. Um they pay I think it's $50 for credit. Uh Chris I think also noted that too. Um but I do believe that if you know a student qualifies for free and reduced lunch then they're they get a reduced cost um based on that as well. But they students would have to pay a fee. I don't know if the district pays that that I'm unsure. >> Got it. Okay. Yeah. The reason I'm asking and and I I just want to thank uh you know um Chris for chiming in there as well. I saw that pop up in the chat and thank you Caitlyn
064for bringing it up uh verbally in the meeting. Um and uh but the only reason I'm asking about the program fees uh in the last page of the uh proposal package there is a bullet point that mentions Yukon ECE annual program fee if applicable. So I guess I I was just going to get some clarity on that. But um I believe well actually well you know in in if we move forward with this uh curriculum then maybe that's something that could be addressed in the presentation as after the curriculum's written is to be you know have some specifics about how it would impact the budget as far as like do we have to increase our fees to Yukon and also just to highlight the fact that you know the the usual $50 program fee that
065would be required of students the title one waiverss are available something like that that could help clear it up I think um you all said Ian >> yeah um and well as part of the uh the cost thing I would just say also you know maybe have some some um information speaking to how much the district would anticipate having going to spend on required professional development workshops and subs and that kind of thing if that's you know would be applicable as well. >> So Yukon requires um student the teachers to stay um current. Um, so I believe Danielle, it's in there at the top. I believe I think Danielle would have to attend the orientation and then um I think it's once a year she has to to go um to Yukon to their >>
066to their um so it would just be the sub coverage th those workshops are free. So it would just be the sub coverage. >> Okay. Thank you very much. All set, Mitch. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank Thank you. Um it seems to me that uh a person myself who took up through partial differential equations when I was in college, um this course uh is a is a a good course to take. I was looking at the um the actual um >> me yeah the syllabus uh involved and it looks like a good thing for me uh from my perspective as far as what our action is on this committee. Um I'm going to ask uh for a little clarity if you don't mind not to put you on the spot and Marie but I'm going
067to put you on the spot. Um are we um going supposed to recommend to the board that this be approved or it because this is just titled review of new course proposals. >> Yeah. So I believe what happens next is you kind of take a a a vote about whether or not this course would be it doesn't go forward to the board as a part of our new protocol but um vote whether or not that the um this has been approved for the teachers to go off and um and write the curriculum. I would if approved I would go and uh work with the human resources department to post the um opportunity to write the course and um teachers would apply and then the course would be written eventually again the the course would come
068back the full course document would come back to you for review and recommendation for board action. >> Okay, thank you. So, hearing that, I think um would somebody care to make a uh a proposal, a motion on this? >> Yeah, >> I'll move that we um recommend uh moving forward to write the curriculum. >> Second, that's Andrew. >> Okay. And so, all right. So, Ian is a is a yes. move forward. Andrea is >> Yes. >> And and I am as well. Is there anyone I've missed? So, it's unanimous. >> Uh just one note there, Mitch. Um while this won't go back to the board officially, I think this would definitely be something to include in the report on the next board meeting to say like what we've approved and uh you know, what's going
069to what curriculum is in development now. Um because now like this one will just move now into uh the steering committee I guess or or into an Marie's department and uh we'll you know the teachers will develop the curriculum. Um so we just want to make sure I well if I was in your shoes I'd want to make sure the board is fully aware of of of that that you know something has moved through the pipeline and advanced a step. I'll um we'll have to send that note to um uh su uh Susan Austin and also and I'm sure that uh Annie will inform Susan as well and also Beverly. >> Yeah. And you can always incorporate that into your update as well. Um Mitch, when you have the opportunity to provide an update on
070what happened at our at our meeting, >> right? every every month we have the regular meeting and and and the uh committee reports that that this would be great subject matter for that committee report. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I Okay. I Does everyone agree that we're done with the first item under five and we can move on now to the IB language and literature? >> I'm fine to proceed. >> Okay. So, um, and Marie, would you care to take the lead on that, please? >> I'll take a I'll uh talk about it for just a second or two. Um, this course is brought forward by members of our English department. Uh, Mr. Mor is here again to speak about this. He's he's involved in this. It's an IB course and actually
071going to, you know, turn it over to him and let him talk a little bit about the proposal and why he's bringing it forward. >> Sure. Thank you very much. All right. Um, so quick little history. We've had the IB diploma program at Fitch High School for about 25 years. And all students in the IB program have to take an English course. And when the program was begun, there was only one IB option. It was IB literature, which is a course that is really designed for future English majors. It is all literature, novels, plays, um, kind of very traditional literature course. Since then, IB has evolved their offerings and they've opened up a lot of other we call them group one or other types of English courses. And um the IB language and literature course
072has quickly overtaken and become the most popular option throughout the United States for students in the IB program. And it is, I think, a a more modern look at what an English class can be and more in line with what Yukon's Englishman English classes are like. It is a it melds some of your traditional English class. There's still literary analysis, literary study, but it moves also into the um you do a lot more with speeches and journalism and um and media studies as well, which is what a lot of those freshman college composition courses are going to is looking at the different ways that we use language as we become a um less paperbased society and we have all these other different mediums for communication. So, I'm always trying to take a look at our
073IB offerings at Fitch High School and how can I evolve them? How can I modernize them? How can I make them more useful for our students going forward? So, this is one of the ones I talked over with our department head, Jessica Dunin, who also teaches the IB English course right now. Uh, we just recently have made our IB literature course is a Yukon course. And that this summer when I went to the Yukon graduate course on the teaching of theory of writing as I was in the course they care a lot more about the different ways that language is being used. So, I was kind of taking a critical eye to our English course at Fitch High School and thought that moving forward, I think the language and literature course might be more more
074useful for our students as they're moving on to college, what they're going to face their, you know, their intro to literature, intro to composition courses. And I think maybe a little bit more attractive of an option for students who, you know, not as, you know, I'm an English teacher. I wish everybody loved reading novels and wanted to be English majors when they go into college, but I that's just simply not the case. So, I think this might be an option that appeals to a wider range of students. Um, so that's why I'm bring that forward um as my proposal. Uh, Ian, >> yeah, I was >> uh Yeah, thank you. Um so question um you mentioned so would the intent of this this uh class take the place of IB literature in the future? >>
075Yes. The opt the idea would be to replace IB literature with language and literature and just do a direct swap in. >> Got it. And and so would the goal also to to create an ECE accreditation for this class? Yeah, Jess Stunnakan and myself are both ECE certified teachers. We're we're adjuncts there. Um, so there should be no problem whatsoever transitioning our accreditation from the literature course to the language and literature course. >> Got it. Sounds good. Um, and uh let's see. Would this be the equivalent of like an Yukon English one? >> Yeah. So, right. Yeah. Right now, our junior year students get our Yukon Yukon 1004. I don't remember what their exact title is. And then senior year, Yukon 1007. Uh it would work the same way with langu language and literature. So
076they would get three Yukon credits for junior year and then a separate three credits for sen the senior year class. >> Got it. Great. Thank you for that. Um let's see. Just uh skim through my notes here real quick. Uh so would we any other IB uh Yukon English courses be removed once if this uh course is successfully installed? >> No, the idea would be that um IB I the kids just call it IB English at Fitch High School. It's technically IB literature. We would just be replacing the two IB literature courses junior and senior year with IB language and literature junior and senior year. Got it. Um so and then the minimum minimum number of students um anticipated >> uh this year there are 40 or 41 stu there were 40 or 41 students
077enrolled um and I'm not sure about the numbers for next year. So the numbers are shouldn't be an issue like the the course always runs with plenty of kids. >> And so if I understand correctly right now what there's about like what two or three courses versions of the IB English running now concurrent. >> So there are two yeah there's two senior sections and um the only re there was 41 kids to start the year and Yukon only lets you have classes of 20. So we had to split that into three sections. >> Got it. Okay. And um see, can students earn high school credit if they decide to drop the class after one year? >> Yes. So, they any student who all my students this year, um as long as they receive a C
078or higher, they'll get the Yukon credit and then if they switch to AP or take college 12 or whatever other option senior year, they still have those Yukon credits already wrapped up. >> Got it. So, it carries over. So basically like it's it's cash and carry like >> Exactly. >> All right. Got it. Um and students that are not enrolled in the IB diploma program um well um historically have you noticed that that uh students that aren't in the IB diploma program uh do they tend to commit? Do you have a lot of commitments between for a two-year program or is that >> we keep about 95% of the kids who do the junior year stay for senior? Every year there's one to three kids um who might drop down to college 12, but for
079the most part we have a pretty high retention rate. >> Right. And most of those kids are not doing the full diploma program. >> Correct. of the 41 this year there were nine full diploma and then there's 14 or 15 who are taking it for like one of their career related program courses so 17 so about 40 50% are students just taking the class to take the class >> got it all right thank you and as far as like the cost for curriculum writing is going to be similar to what uh the answer was for discrete mathematics where it's >> I would imagine so >> yeah Okay. Uh, very well. Thank you for your time and thank you for your efforts. >> Thank you. >> Um, Ian, are you all set now? Okay, your hand
080is down. Does anyone else have any questions? >> No. >> Okay. So, we're in the same boat we were a minute ago on the discrete math course for the IB language and literature. Uh does anyone make want to make a motion regarding this? >> Uh I'm I move that uh we approve the uh curriculum committees to move forward with writing the curriculum for Ivy Language and Literature. >> I'll I'll second that. Now we'll take a vote. Everyone in favor please raise your hand. Right. >> Okay. So, it's unanimous. Um, so that needs to be also brought up to the BOE. Um, is there anything else under item five that needs to be discussed? And no other questions. Okay, we'll move on to item six, referral tracking sheet. >> Um, if I could just ask uh
081Oh, and Dr. Mayini may be already on it. Are you going to project that? I saw >> Can you Can you see it on screen? >> Uh, not at at the moment. No, I I'm only asking because I don't have my physical agenda packet with me and the hot link in the electronic document is not existent for the referral tracking sheet. >> Oh, okay. Let me let me go back to I may just need a second here. It's showing on mine, but I may have to actually >> Yeah, you got to stop share of one screen the other. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, no problem at all. Can you see this document? And does it say referral tracking sheet? Hopefully it does. >> Can you blow that up? >> Um, I knew you
082were going to ask me that, Dr. >> Not that I'll see it anyway. >> Okay. >> I can see it. >> Okay. >> All right. Great. >> So, if you read it, that would be good because I can't see it. But that's all right if you'll read it out loud. >> So, it looks like we're clearing some items off of this list. >> Yeah, we did we did a pretty good job in the fall. Um, this list was much uh longer and um you can see here that uh earlier um maybe on Okay, it was in February. I was going to say I can't remember when it was but I know it was recently. We do we reviewed the program of studies for um the middle and high school. Um we have also done a
083review of the math curriculum um last spring on uh April the 4th and then just recently to the full board on November the 25th. um it hasn't been crossed off because from what I understand um this is an update you know because it is it's a math it's a major area just like the reading and writing you know we did an update last last April this is something that I believe will you know uh people would want regular updates on what we're doing with math and and literacy so we've just added the dates but have not crossed it or removed those two items from the tracking system and then um what's left is develop a schedule for curriculum updates in all subject areas. Um, and that's something that I'm, you know, I'm working on. The
084when I, when I started the job, now that was that's dated on November 3rd, 2023. And I can tell you that u when I started uh the job last September, um, there was a curriculum schedule, but it was very inaccurate. I think some of that may have been impacted by COVID. Um, but um, I'm currently working on developing a new document that includes all of the updates for the different subject areas. Um, and hope to get that to you sooner than later. But to be honest with you, I I'm I really had to start all from the from the beginning. Um, because what was in place just, you know, again, there's no other way to say it, but it was very inaccurate. Um and then the uh final item here was a discussion of the
085study of IB. I know Mr. Thomas is on the on the call. Uh I would love to get more clarification of what exactly um you know he would want as a part of that, but I'm happy to bring that forward uh in the coming months. >> Um sure. I can respond to that if that's if I'm good to go. Mitch, we >> Sorry, it took me a minute to unmute. You're good to go. >> Okay. Um, yeah. So, basically like, uh, what I was looking to do was maybe just kind of get a broad overview as as as Mr. Mor was saying earlier, uh, this program has been in Fitch in one form or another for over about 25 years. So I think you know just looking the statistics of like you know all the
086courses that we we offer currently um you know uh getting statistics on on how many students sign up for the full diploma program, how many successfully complete the program um you know yeartoear um uh and just get a sense of and you know average class sizes for each each of those classes. Um, you know, and and take a look at all the courses that we're offering, see if there's like, you know, duplication of efforts anywhere. I mean, it sounds like, you know, I was encouraged by the discussion tonight that it sounds like, you know, we're developing new curriculum to kind of be more appealing to a broader base and more useful, you know, with ECE credits and then um more uni universally useful, I should say. um you know and then we're suns setting some
087some of the old the courses that would have duplicated those. So you know it sounds like you know we've got a pretty good finger on the pulse already. But I think it you know um you know both for the community and for you know myself and other board members who have had some concerns about the IB um program in the past. how much how much resources how many resources it really consumes versus the deliverables on the other end. Um, I think that that was the goal with with that referral was to kind of get a kind of a do a program audit of of some sort to kind of, you know, get a good sense of the history and and and the statistics attached to it. Does that help? >> Yes, it does. That that's
088uh that's great. And I'm sure that that's something that we can put together for you pretty soon. >> Great. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there any other discussion on this? Anmarie, anything else that you needed to present to us on this? >> No, there's not. Thank you. >> Okay. Does anyone else have any questions on it? Okay. So, I don't think we have any action on this except to do what we just did and we can probably close this item on the agenda, which would put us at item I think at seven, which I think was future items. future. Yeah, future meeting topics. Is there anything to bring up for that? >> I have nothing at this time. >> Nothing. >> Okay. I had nothing. And Marie, is there anything you
089could think of? Um I can tell you just giving you a little preview of what's going to be coming soon is I'd like to uh move forward with uh come forward to the curriculum committee and talk in the next coming months about um again the results of our pilot of our of the math resource illustrative math. I know I've spoken to this uh group about illustrative math last spring and then also to the full board in um just a couple of months ago. Uh but I'd like to give an update uh you know a final update on where we are with illustrative math and and make a recommendation to move forward. So we'll talk about that I believe next month. Our middle school ELA team is also in the process of um piloting three different
090curricula. I think I've mentioned this as well um as a part of maybe the budgeting process that um they were using uh the old readers and writers workshop curriculum which we know is no longer in favor from the state department of education. So um I've been working with them to uh research and implement a pilot so to speak um three different um curriculum resources. they will have a recommendation uh in the coming months I believe by April and so I'd like to present that as well. Um so that'll be um just a preview of our March and April meetings. Oh, I'm sorry. April and May meetings because now it's March right now. I apologize. I thought I was in February there for a second. >> Dr. Acriman. >> Yeah. Uh, I'm glad you brought that
091up, uh, Amory, because when I looked at the the the the referral sheet, there was nothing on there about the middle school um, language arts program. And I I I I truly can't remember why we took that off, but I know that there was that we were talking about it, and I don't know why it's not on there. Can you refresh my memory for why we it's not on there? So, it's it's still on there. It's we we marked it as, you know, that there was a presentation that was done last April. We didn't remove it because we feel like that's something that we want to continue to to revisit is the ELA curriculum K through 12. Really? Yeah. Um but that's not something where we have not removed it at all. >> Yeah. But
092it's only K it's only I think it was 5 through 8. It's wasn't K through. Um I believe when we did the um the presentation last time, Dr. Acriman, we focused on the middle school uh because that was uh someone's specific request. I don't know if it was yours or another member of this committee, but that was my specific request. >> Yeah. But I but my question is I when when I looked at at Well, when it was read to me this afternoon, it wasn't on there. And when I saw it today, I didn't see anything about the middle school on there. Am I Did I miss it or are you saying it's still on there? But I >> Oh, no. It's It's still on there. Um the regular review of the ELA curriculum is
093still on there and I would uh you know anticipate that for as long as I'm here and I'm sure as long as you're here, Dr. Acriman, we're going to continue to talk about English language arts. >> But doesn't it just say six through >> does it? I Let me look at it again. >> Yeah, it doesn't say through 12. >> Well, we can we can make that change. >> Yeah. Unless I'm mistaken because I truly can't see very well at all, but I don't think it does. >> I'm going to have to look at it because I don't have it up right now. I will look. Let me look at that right now. >> Okay. I wish I had said that before. >> It actually says K through five. >> Yeah, it doesn't say middle
094school. >> Is it it? Yeah. And I was wondering why why did why did we take that off? Because I don't remember taking it off. But and you're saying we didn't. >> So something's wrong there. >> Yeah. Yeah. We we did not remove anything. Maybe what happened was when it came to the when it came onto the referral um or the tracker referral tracker document for the first time, whoever brought it forward uh asked for a K through five uh review. Um, you know, I think that precedes my time here uh in the district, but we certainly can make that modification if you want it to uh reflect a K through 12 review. Happy to do that. Um, I know that I can tell you at the upcoming March uh meeting, I believe it's a
095cow. Um, our elementary literacy person is going to be doing a review of um K through three literacy essentially and um and the most recent Dibbles results. And that was uh again at the request of um uh Chairman Washington. So uh we I I expect that we'll be providing updates on literacy and math. I mean pretty regularly. >> Yeah. And Mr. Shinra, I I apologize for not mentioning this when we were on that. So I'm very sorry. Don't sweat it. Not a big deal. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, is there any Andrea, your hand is still up. Are Are you still Are you >> No, no, I'm very No, let me see. No, wait a minute. Hold it. Hold on. I can't see. Wait a minute. There I think. Is it gone? Yeah. Okay.
096Sorry. >> Okay. All right. >> Is it my turn? >> Uh, I believe unless anyone has anything else, it is your turn. And Ann Marie, I'm going to ask you to stay on for a minute because I have a a a question for you. Okay. After each turn. >> So before I say this, Mitch, I wanted to thank you very very much for your kind words about u um u the um the day the um now I can't even think of it. Um the the um now I'm embarrassing myself. I'm very sorry. But about um the um the day that that we had all of the u the people come together. Oh, career day. >> Career day. Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you for your kind words about that. So, >> you're welcome. >>
097Okay. With that said, motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. Any any seconds? >> I'll second it. >> Okay. Thank you everyone.