12-17-18 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Hi, my name is Bruce Schedel. Hi, my name is Tanisha Evans. >> Hi, my name is Ivy Johnson. >> And you're watching GPS 19. And we're sliding into another show. All righty. Are we ready to rock and roll? >> Are we ready to rock and roll? >> All righty. So, I'm going to call the Grten Board of Education meeting to order. Um, >> it today is December I'm going to put on my glasses because I can't read. um December 17th um and it's about 6:10 and this is our regular excuse me this is our regular board event meeting um actually a a week early because we are then going into the holiday season um so actually the board has only had two meetings one was a a working meeting which we call the committee of

002the whole and then our voting meeting which is our regular board meeting so um I'm going to start by having us say the pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I know. >> Well, I could do a little dance. >> All right. Um, and before we um get much further into our agenda, if you notice, um, we are going to have a presentation. Um, and I'm going to have Dr. Guineir sort of um, set the stage for us. And, um, because of our, um, presentation that, uh, I know I, for one, am very excited about hearing and listening to, um, is that we have made the rest

003of our agenda somewhat light so that we could spend, um, and not feel like we were going to be here until like 11:30, 12:00 at night, unless you guys want to. Um I am kind of fun. Um but uh hearing that that's probably not what people want. Um um I'm going to give it to Dr. Grineer. >> Great. Thank you. Well, we uh we have um a chore in front of us um because of our participation in the in the Magna School assistance program grant uh which actually provided the funds for us uh for our our our two middle schools. Uh we have been working with Learn and the uh uh the assistant director Kate Ericson of of Learn is here and we were really struggling with exactly how to make sure that the two

004elementary schools that are going to be um going to be built. Uh and Sam will talk a little bit about the work of the architects in a minute. Uh but one of them as you know is is what the state defines as a diversity school. Uh and that's why the town is receiving 80% reimbursement. So uh that school uh must be within the racial balance limits established by the state. And then the other school which would be built at the westside site will be a just a regular magnet school. But of course that school will also have to be uh racially balanced. Uh so uh Kate Ericson introduced us to a really a terrific speaker and Susan and I went and and heard him. uh he is a scholar from the Century Foundation and his

005name is Rick Kalenburgg and he is a scholar who has really looked at school integration especially based upon socioeconomic level and has lots of advice for us to to ensure that both of our two new elementary schools uh will be both racially and socioeconomically balanced. And uh from my interactions with Rick so far, I I can assure you you're going to uh really benefit from his wise advice and his his scholarly approach to this. So uh it's it's it's a delight to introduce Rick Callenburgg uh who uh hails from not locally. Rick, where uh where do you reside? >> Uh I'm right outside of Washington. >> Washington. Okay. And hopefully that little uh remote is is going to work for you. and and >> I'm not sure. Keep trying. >> Well, wonderful. Well, it's it's

006it's a delight to be here and I I I'm I'm so appreciative of any school board that is willing to grapple with these difficult issues of uh racial and economic isolation because it's very easy simply to avoid these questions uh and go on the way that we've always been uh been proceeding. But I think there's 50 years of research to suggest that one of the best things we can do for children is give them Oh, it does work. >> Okay. >> Um All right. Well, let's go back to plan A then. >> Okay. >> Um >> Oh, no. It's all >> It's a test just >> we want to make sure that you know you're as comfortable as possible. Okay, good. Well, >> welcome to my world. >> Okay, so this is working. Good. Um,

007so I I was just saying I I think this is is is it's an really important issue and I commend you for being willing to um to grapple with it and and figure out ways to allow children of different backgrounds to come together to learn because um because there is a great deal of research to suggest this is uh one of the best things we can do in particular for lowincome students uh but that all students uh benefit from uh experiencing the the different uh backgrounds of of peers who uh can can educate one another. So I'm going to talk about socioeconomic integration which is not the way that the issue of school integration has traditionally been framed. Obviously going back to Brown versus Board of Education, the emphasis has been on racial integration uh

008which which I think is uh remains a very important uh goal for for public education and for communities like this one. Uh but there as I'll explain in in a minute, there are there are some legal limitations uh to using race and student assignment. Um and there is also a lot of evidence to suggest that the economic mix in a school, the mix of wealthier students and and less advantaged students is uh independently uh important from an educational perspective. Uh so I'm going to talk about uh uh four things this evening. Uh to begin, you know, what is socioeconomic integration? Uh I'm going to talk about some of the research that goes to why uh educators believe that socioeconomic integration is good for children. Uh I'm going to talk about some of the 100 school

009districts and and charter school chains that are now paying attention to socioeconomic diversity uh and and draw some lessons there. um and also talk about the important issues that go on within an integrated school. So if you have uh the ability to bring children of different races, different economic backgrounds together uh in a school, that's only the first step obviously. And then teachers need to be trained and um uh uh leaders in the school in order to make sure that we capitalize on that diversity and and make sure that every student is is honored in in those schools. So um so we'll start with the uh the question of what socioeconomic integration is. Uh so it it is a public policy designed uh to improve opportunities for students by considering the socioeconomic status of students

010in in the assignment uh to to particular schools. So, uh, socioeconomic status sometimes is defined as eligibility for free and reduced price lunch and and you are all familiar with that concept obviously because that's the way the state of Connecticut uh uh in part breaks down achievement data. Uh, you'll see those who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch, which is um roughly 40 $45,000 a year for a family of four. uh or uh those who are not eligible who I'll uh might be thought of as more more middle class or more more advantaged. Uh let me cite a couple of examples. Uh Cambridge, Massachusetts has uh for a number of years sought to have a socioeconomic balance in its its public schools. About 40% of Cambridge public schools students are eligible for free

011and reduced price lunch and Cambridge has set a goal that all the schools should be within plus or minus 10 percentage points of that goal. So essentially between 30 and 50% low income. Uh and and with that that 40% mark, Cambridge is not not that far from from where you all are uh with your demographics. Uh there are other school districts that have much higher levels of poverty uh in the schools and I've I've worked with a Chicago public school system that's 85% low income and um and yet they have seen a role for seeking to socioeconomically integrate a a subset of their schools, their their magnet schools and their selective enrollment schools. uh with the goal that over time uh that could encourage more middle class families to return to the public schools and

012and then they'd have the chance to to make all the schools economically integrated. Uh Wake County, North Carolina, which includes Raleigh and the surrounding suburbs, is another example of a district that's been uh integrating by socioeconomic status. They were looking at the research which suggests that concentrations of poverty can present challenges for uh for schools and and so they use magnet schools uh and they change the boundaries periodically to uh reduce concentrations of poverty. Uh I've worked with the Charlotte uh Meckllinburgg North Carolina public schools as well uh using magnet schools and also uh boundary changes to achieve economic integration. Uh and another example of uh of socioeconomic integration is Montgomery County uh Maryland public schools right outside of Washington DC and there they use housing policies uh to promote socioeconomic integration because uh you

013know housing policy is school policy when you uh in Montgomery County I'll I'll talk about them a little bit more later but they have a policy in which when a builder develops a certain number of units, housing units, uh she sets aside a proportion of those units for uh lowincome and workingclass families and in that way the neighborhood schools become uh economically integrated. Uh so the the number of school districts that are pursuing this type of policy has expanded um over the years. When when I started researching this issue back in 1996, I could only find two school districts in the entire country that were looking at socioeconomic status as a factor in in student assignment. And uh you can see now by by 2016 there there are 100 school districts and and charter schools

014that are that are doing this. These schools are uh located uh throughout the country in kind of in you know in in both so-called red states and blue states you find these these programs in place uh and and in different parts of the country as well. So uh so the next question is why why are school districts going to the trouble of trying to have a uh socioeconomic mix in their their schools? What's the what's the point? Um and there are really two independent goals. Uh the the the first is to provide all students with the the benefits of a diverse learning environment. Um, so all students, whether they're middle class, low income, of whatever race, will benefit from being around students who have different backgrounds. But then the second reason uh and kind of

015the reason that I got into this work um kind of from from more of a social justice perspective is that there are particular harms associated with concentrated poverty. uh when a school becomes um uh overwhelmingly low income uh that can create a a uh difficult learning environment for students. Now I want to be very clear because sometimes when people hear me talking about the negative effects of concentrated poverty, they read that to uh to mean that there, you know, there's something wrong with lowincome students. And that's that's not my point in any sense. It's it's quite the opposite. It's that lowincome students can do extraordinary things if given the right environment. But when we pack all the students who have the greatest needs into particular schools, uh that isn't um providing the optimal environment for

016for students um to learn. Uh and I and I'll talk about that research in in a minute. Um, as I mentioned at the outset, we we think of integration primarily in terms of race in this country. Uh, uh, but there are a couple of reasons why that discussion has expanded to include socioeconomic status as well as race. And indeed, the the magnet school program, the federal magnet school program that you all applied to and and and won the grants in uh now emphasizes that school districts should should pay attention to both racial integration and socioeconomic integration because because both are are important. Uh so uh to begin with there's been an increased emphasis on socioeconomic integration because the Supreme Court has place limits on the ability of school officials such as yourself to uh use

017the individual race of a student in deciding whether he or she is going to go to a particular school. So there was a case in 2007 called parents involved uh community schools versus Seattle in which the Supreme Court in a 5 to4 decision uh struck down the use of race in uh Louisville and Seattle uh in uh even though the schools in those cases were using race in a positive sense to to integrate rather than to to segregate. Um and at the same time uh because there's a strong overlap between economic status and race in our society uh using socioeconomic factors can produce uh a lot of racial diversity indirectly. Um, and so that's part of why a number of school districts have who are who care about racial integration have shifted to socioeconomic status

018as a as a factor in admissions because it's it's perfectly legal to use economic status. Um, so to give you one example, you know, our our graduated income tax uh obviously treats people differently based on wealth. And so if you're a higher income bracket, it's perfectly fine for the state to say, "We're going to treat you differently and you're going to pay a high higher marginal rate." If you tried to do that based on race, uh there would be big constitutional problems uh with doing that. And so so uh it's but it's perfectly fine to use socioeconomic status. Um having said that uh it's also important to recognize uh the research on this question. So using socioeconomic status in deciding as a factor in deciding where students will go to school is is not just

019kind of a a cute way of getting around the Supreme Court decision which had said you can't use race. uh and um and indeed there's lots of research going back several decades to suggest that uh the reason that racial integration had a positive effect on the academic achievement of African-Americans as it did uh had nothing to do with with uh the race of classmates per se. It was the socioeconomic status of classmates. So, it's not as if uh there was no research to suggest that African-American children benefit from the fact that their classmates have a different pigment. Um it it's not the color. It was rather that uh lowincome students of all races uh are uh better off on average when some of their uh classmates are middle class. So this is a in terms

020of academic achievement, it's a class phenomenon rather than a race phenomenon. Now to be clear, I'm in favor of racial integration even uh you know apart from whether or not it raises test scores because schools are about a lot more than than test scores. But if we're looking strictly at academic achievement, it's the economic status of the classmates that matters more than than the race. And so to give you a couple of examples, um, in the 1970s, uh, school districts in Boston and school districts in, uh, the school district in Charlotte Meckllinburgg both desegregated. And researchers looked at what the academic effects of desegregation were. And in Boston, there were no positive effects for African-American students. And in Charlotte, there were uh very positive effects from racial desegregation. And the difference was that in Boston,

021uh it was essentially workingclass African-Americans who were integrated with racially integrated with workingclass whites. The the wealthier whites had had uh left for the for the suburbs by that time. uh and so uh not surprisingly there was no socioeconomic uh mixing going on and there was no academic gain. Uh by contrast in Charlotte where they had the suburbs in the city all within one school district uh the racial integration involved African-American students uh being in school with upper middle class uh uh white students whose families were more highly educated. And there you did see a a positive uh academic benefit. Uh to give you another example, in the in the Louisville case uh which the Supreme Court looked at um there was an effort to integrate solely by race and not by socioeconomic status. And

022so there was one elementary school, Roosevelt Perry Elementary, that was beautifully integrated by race. It was 50% black, 50% white. Uh and the school was also 100% poor. And that school struggled uh even though it was racially integrated uh because the academic um effects of integration are are related more to socioeconomic status than than they are to race. Um, so, uh, and I should I should I should have said this at at the beginning, but if if if anyone has questions along the way, I I I don't want to just be here talking, uh, at you, and I would invite a conversation any anywhere anyway uh anywhere along the way. So, um, do that. Okay. So uh so let me break down these these two points that integration benefits all students on the one hand

023and also that there are these um particular negative effects of concentrated poverty. So uh the first point has to do with the way in which all students benefit and uh there is is is a lot of research at the higher education level uh that suggests that um when students have different uh backgrounds bring different life experiences to the table that more learning goes on. And more recently that research has been um has been expanded at the K through 12 level and and researchers are finding the same thing. Uh it boils down to the idea that uh the diversity makes us smarter. Uh that the learning is deeper and uh and more creative when you have different voices uh who come together in in classroom uh discussions. Uh in addition uh employers are uh appreciating the

024way in which a diverse environment uh K- through2 environment can help equip students of all backgrounds uh to be in a diverse uh workforce. So uh the number one reason that employers fire people, they have to fire people is not that they're incompetent on the job. it's that they can't get along with other people. Uh, and it's oftentimes people of different race racial backgrounds or different economic backgrounds. And so having the skill to navigate through a diverse uh educational environment helps prepare students uh to be better employees. Uh, and this is something that that lots of um employers uh value. Um, in addition, there are are benefits to uh to all students in the sense of of of strengthening our democracy. Um, something I'll talk about a little bit more in a moment. Um so

025uh to illustrate this idea of um of the benefits of diversity for all students uh I like to quote a researcher Eugene Garcia who talks about what children bring um what each child brings to the classroom. And he says when a child comes to a school for the first time, he or she exp uh comes with a little suitcase full of experiences, language and culture uh that he or she had before coming to school. And the old in kind of in in in the past there was often a sense that teachers would tell students uh you know keep that suitcase closed. you're you're going to learn the way uh kind of the the traditional white middle class uh way of um uh of the way the world works. Uh but today educators are recognizing that's

026the wrong approach and instead the teacher should uh should invite the student and say welcome let's open that little suitcase and see what you h see what you have so you can share and we can learn from you. uh which is very empowering for those uh those students uh to know that they bring an important perspective, a unique perspective and and that that's going to be valued uh by by educators and by by other students. So that's the first half of the equation. The second half has to do uh as I suggested with kind of the the the social justice part of this which is that segregation is particularly harmful to to lowincome students. So, um, many of you are probably familiar with the the the Coleman report from 1966, which was kind of the

027granddaddy of education studies and, um, found, uh, was it was commissioned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to find out why there was a gap in achievement between African-Americans and and whites. and uh Coleman went in and most people expected that the difference would have to do with the uh the dollars spent in predominantly African-American schools and the predominantly white schools. Uh but that's not what Coleman found. Uh he he did not find that per pupil expenditure was the the cause for this academic gap. uh the two most powerful predictors of how well a student would do academically were number one the uh socioeconomic status of the family that a child came from. Uh so that was the biggest and remains today usually in in most research the biggest predictor of how well a

028student will will do given uh that high resourced families uh can give their children lots of opportunities. Uh but the second biggest predictor which surprised a lot of people was the socioeconomic status of your classmates in a school. Uh the classmates mattered, Coleman found. Uh and so um so there was this important finding in social science research that essentially we we set aside for many years and didn't didn't do much about um but is now uh being uh examined through these socioeconomic integration programs. Uh if you look internationally the same thing is true. Uh so uh for those who um look at the the research uh on the um international student assessment uh the the PISA uh uh in in science they find that having advantaged classmates uh is is an advantage for any particular

029student holding constant their their individual family background. Uh so a lot of you have probably heard about kind of the the educational miracle in Finland. Uh Finland used to be uh in the middle of the pack internationally and now uh it it leads in many of the uh international academic competitions. Uh and the most researchers suggest that the biggest reason Finland does well is because uh it has low poverty rates. it supports its children, make sure that they don't they aren't in poverty. Uh but it's also the case that if you are low income in Finland, you're much more likely to go to a school where your class some many of your classmates are middle class and you're not isolated in these uh high poverty schools. Now, we all know of of uh high poverty

030schools that do well and and the press uh often will highlight them because uh you know it is a very encouraging story when you see a a school that maybe is 90% lowinccome and is is getting really positive results and you know, God bless the teachers in those schools and the students who are able to and the principles who are able to to pull this off. Um, but it's also the case that it's extremely rare. So, uh, this research looks at, uh, which schools are persistently high performing. Uh, and it turns out that schools, uh, the lower poverty schools are 22 times as likely to be high performing as, uh, high poverty schools. And so a number of uh school officials have said um we know it's very very difficult to make high poverty schools

031work well. Uh you know we should support them where we can but there's another avenue which is to suggest we don't have to have high poverty schools. we can take uh steps through choice within the public school system to make sure that we don't have concentrations of poverty in particular schools. Um so uh so there's that 22:1 uh ratio. In addition, we find that uh when you look at uh test scores that middle class and lowincome students do do worse in poverty concentrated schools. So this is uh the results from the national assessment of educational progress which as you know is considered kind of the gold standard of of testing stronger than many of the state tests. And um and this is fourth grade math results. the the top line, the orange line are the

032middle class students, those not eligible for free and reduced price lunch. And the blue line are the economically disadvantaged students, those who are eligible. And as we go from from left to right, uh we're going from low poverty schools or more affluent schools to higher poverty schools. And you can see that uh if you take for example the lowincome students uh there is an almost 20 point gap between lowincome students who are in high poverty schools where 100% of their uh all their classmates are low income versus those in in more affluent schools. And as a rule of thumb every 10 points on the National Assessment for Educational Progress is about a year worth of learning. So uh so lowincome students who have the chance to go to less uh poverty concentrated schools are almost

033two years ahead of lowincome students who are in the high poverty schools uh in in in fourth grade. So there's a there's a big gap that develops. Um now >> does that get bigger? >> Does that gap >> as as the kids get older, does that gap get larger and larger? Well, uh, it definitely gets larger, uh, for lowincome students and middle class students in in the aggregate. Um, I haven't seen the data. That's a good question. I haven't seen this taken out to the high school level. Uh but we know that certainly lowincome students and middle class students see the gap increase over time and um and but and but we I I don't have that particular data point at the at the high school level. Um, so, uh, so some people see those

034data and they say, uh, well, much of this might have to do with the so-called self- selection effect where, um, you know, if you think about these lowincome students who end up in uh, middle class schools, maybe it's something about the family that's uh, you know, where they are care about education deeply and therefore going to fight their way into a a middle class school, even if they have to have a tiny apartment. Um, and so maybe it's the family, not the school, that makes the difference. And and that's why this next study is is very important in looked at Montgomery County, Maryland public schools. I had mentioned earlier there uh they have the housing program in which uh uh low in some low-income families are permitted to live in middle class neighborhoods because there's

035public housing in those neighborhoods because of the inclusive zoning uh program. Uh and at the same time, Montgomery County has a policy in which they're going to spend uh they spend about $2,000 extra per pupil in what they call the red zone schools. These are the higher poverty schools. Uh and when you are seeking public housing in uh in most of the country, particularly McGomery County, you take whatever you can get because it's very scarce. And so, uh, this, uh, these two policies, spending more in the high poverty schools and the housing program allowed for kind of a, uh, a natural experiment to see where do students do better? Would you, if you're low, if you're a low-income student, would you rather be in a middle class neighborhood with middle class peers, uh, but have

036$2,000, uh, less spent per pupil, or would you rather be in a higher poverty school and higher poverty neighborhood where they're going to where you will get those extra dollars? And Montgomery County was spending on on things that were researchbased. So they were spending on reduced class size in the early grades, better professional development for teachers, and extended learning time. So these were good things to to invest in. And so Heather Schwarz, who's at the Rand Corporation, studied 858 children who were randomly assigned, some to the middle class neighborhoods, some to uh to the higher poverty neighborhoods. And and this is what she found over time. Uh so these are the uh the scores um in uh in math and the students in the green zone schools. These are the more affluent schools. Uh for

037the first couple of years did about the same as the students in the red zone schools, the higher poverty schools. But over time a big gap uh opened up. So such that the middle class the low-income students who had a chance to go to middle class schools did far better even though uh the green zone schools were spending fewer dollars uh per pupil. So um the the lowincome students in the in the middle class schools saw the uh math achievement gap with their middle class peers cut in half. The reading gap was cut by by onethird. Uh now the question becomes in an experiment like this uh was it the neighborhood or the school that made the difference because these were you know these were low-income children who attended low poverty schools but also lived

038in low poverty neighborhoods and Schwarz found that about twothirds of the positive effect was due to the school and about onethird due to the due to the neighborhood. Um okay so there there's some positive yes >> was that the actual you know how how did she interpret the school as a environment? Um was >> yeah she looked at the variation between there were some low income there were some schools where the ma the match between the school and the neighborhood wasn't perfect. So if you you had the advant uh you didn't have the fully advantaged neighborhood but you did have the fully advantaged school or vice versa you could see that variation and that's where she got the was able to draw the distinction. So um so Cambridge is another example that I cited earlier

039of a school district that was trying to pursue socioeconomic integration and they didn't do it through housing policy. it was straight through the uh through the student assignment plan. Um and in in Cambridge they uh you know they weren't using compulsory busing. No, no one's really talking about that these days. It was a choice program so that every school had a particular theme or pedagogical approach. Uh essentially each school was a non- selective magnet school and um and then they sought to have an economic mix in those schools. And these are the graduation rates in Cambridge versus uh Massachusetts as a whole versus uh nearby Boston across the river from Cambridge. And you can see that for lowincome students, African-American students, and Hispanic students, uh the graduation rates in Cambridge, which has the economic integration

040plan, uh are um as much as, you know, 17 percentage points higher uh than for students in in Boston where they don't have the economic integration program. And and white students continue to do quite well in Cambridge. there was certainly no negative effect um on on graduation rates compared to a place like like Boston. Okay. So so then the question becomes well why does it matter? So if it if if research suggests that concentrations of poverty are are are uh problematic, why does it matter what whether your classmates are rich or or poor? uh you know what what's going on in the classroom that makes a difference and and researchers have really focused on three things uh each related to um kind of the three sets of actors in any school. So you have students

041you know your your classmates in a school you have the parents who are part of the larger school community and you have the teachers uh along with the principal and u there are lots of data to suggest that it's an advantage on average to be in an economically mixed school as opposed to a high poverty school based on all three of those factors. So take the first one which is your your peers. Uh so uh consider a given child lowincome student let's say who is either going to be in a high poverty school or a economically mixed school. Uh what sort of differences is she likely to face in those two environments? Uh well, we know first of all that in the higher poverty schools uh on average there are uh much higher levels of

042uh disorder in the classroom and examples of teacher disrespect. So these are uh from polls of of teachers and nationally uh and we find that um uh on average there are higher levels of of teacher disrespect in the high poverty schools. Secondly, you're going to have classmates who are moving a lot more often. There's much more uh mobility in uh high poverty schools. Uh lowincome families have to move more often. Um and and so uh that's a uh that's usually focused on as in terms of the individual child. It's it's uh can be difficult for a child if if she has to move schools often. But my point here is in terms of classmates. And so if you are a low-income student in a uh high poverty school or a lowincome school, you are likely

043to have your classmates coming in and out of class much more often during the course of a school year than if you're in an economically mixed school. And any teacher will tell you uh how disruptive that is. um that when new students come into a classroom, uh the the new student has to be adjust has to adjust and and become reacquainted to the to the different um uh environment in in the school. Uh the third piece has to do with academic achievement and it's a an advantage on average for a lowincome student to have some classmates who can um who are more uh academic who are achieving academically at a higher level. Uh so take the example of peer vocabulary which is something that the co Coleman really focused on. We know that uh middlecl

044class students are have much larger vocabularies on average than lowincome students. So a lowincome student in an economically mixed school is surrounded by peers who have larger vocabularies and that and can benefit from from that um that effect uh through peer vocabulary. So, um, let me pause here and say, uh, in in no way am I blaming lowincome students for any of these things. Uh, in in no way are they responsible for the fact that they come to school on average with smaller vocabularies. Uh, and I'm not blaming the parents either. Uh, but it's a reality that these differences uh exist in um in the vocabulary size, for example. And so a lowincome student who is in a high poverty school is uh is less likely to be exposed to that enriching vocabulary is more

045likely to be in an environment where students are coming in and out of the classroom all year long and is more likely to see higher levels of of teacher disrespect. So that's has to do with the classmates. Uh the second piece has to do uh with the uh the parents. Uh and we know that parental involvement in schools varies dramatically by socioeconomic status. Again, I want to underline in no way am I blaming lowincome parents for the fact that uh they are less likely to be members of the PTA, less likely to volunteer in class. If you are a struggling parent who's working three jobs and doesn't have a car to get to the PTA meeting, it's totally understandable that there are lower levels of involvement. Nevertheless, uh you know, there's lots of research to

046connect higher levels of parental involvement in a school with stronger academic outcomes for students. All students benefit when some parents are volunteering in a school uh and are active in that school and kind of can be the eyes and ears and know what's going on in that school. And um for a variety of reasons again having nothing to do with uh with values but rather with the ability the flexibility in the schedule to to volunteer in class be members of the PTA. uh you can see that middle class or high SCES families are uh are much more active in in school uh school affairs. Now you'll there'll be some affluent schools where the teachers will tell you the parents are a little too involved uh they or they feel that way. Um but on average

047it's a good thing to have that parental parental involvement. Uh and then the third piece are the teachers. Uh and in many ways if if life were fair, the disadvantaged students uh will get the best teachers because they need them the most. Um but we know on average the opposite happens that it typically uh teachers see it as a promotion to move from a higher poverty school to a middle class school. Uh so there are higher levels of attrition. teachers are more likely to leave high poverty schools. Uh you have more teaching out of field, that is to say, you know, a teacher who's trained in uh physical education, teaching chemistry, that happens much more often in in high poverty schools. Uh and uh and students in high p or teachers in high poverty schools

048are less likely to have higher degrees as well. Um so when you put all those three things together, the the classmates, uh the parents and the the teachers, um they all add up to a uh a reason not to a reason to avoid placing uh any students in extremely high poverty schools and finding ways to to get that that economic mix. Um, >> couple questions. >> Yep. Rita, please >> break things up a little bit. >> Um, our high school in across the street, um, my children benefited from it's very diverse. So I'd say maybe it's a third you know um socioeconomically you know free and reduced lunch a third navy population military and then a third that um I think from middle class families um my children benefited from it because of the diversity

049when they went to college the success that they had later on in life and in their jobs really related to their high and being able, like you said, to communicate. Um, but I know it's difficult when families move in and out of town, but there's a the mix is the military in our community, which I think is has been a benefit. It was a benefit for um our children. So I I think there you know it's if it's just you're moving in and out because you know you're changing apartments is one thing but when you're actually moved those children bring so much >> so there is a little bit of a >> you know it's not straightforward moving is is not as good because I felt the military children were actually had a lot more

050uh unique experiences and brought a lot to the classrooms discussions. Um but my my my wonder I'm wondering when you take some like a city like Bridgeport or Washington DC where there's a concentration of poverty and though they have these wonderful magnet schools and they try to attract people and usually the children stay for preschool maybe kindergarten or first grade but then they'll go to a private school. So how do you have these you know base these schools on social economic if the middle class and above won't stay in those schools >> right >> so I mean that's that's a challenge I would think >> absolutely um let me if I can comment on both your points because I think that's a really important one about the military families that's a different type of of

051u mobility than than is talked about in most most of the academic literature because certainly um coming from an entirely different region uh different parts of the country internationally would would definitely enrich uh the classroom and I think that's a great a great point um in terms of the uh how this works in practice um that is part the the last piece of the presentation does go to that that question because it's uh it's not easy uh to to do but in places like Cambridge Bridge they when they were very thoughtful about creating different types of programs um they saw reverse middle class flight. That is there were actually parents coming in from private school because uh the types of programs that were being offered uh were particularly attractive um to to families that had

052been using using private schools. So, it is it is possible. It's it's it's uh I won't say it's easy, but there are there are some examples I'll talk about. Um and I can maybe maybe it makes sense to skip to that. Uh let me let me get to that. Right. Um >> that'd be good. >> Yeah. because because I'm uh so there's costbenefit analysis stuff that suggests this is a good investment even though it does require transportation because uh you know you have to bring children from different parts of the community together. Uh but there's research to suggest that it pays for itself many times over. And then there's democracy uh uh which is a larger point but let me let me get to your ba basically let to summarize this in 10 seconds um

053in recent uh in the last couple of years people are increasingly focused on the way in which schools need to promote our democracy uh democratic val small d democratic values and um and school integration is is an important way of of doing that. Um so let but let me go to the lessons from the other school districts because I think this will make it concrete about what what schools are what other school districts are doing in order to uh create integration and there there are four things I'll talk about here. The first is they're using choice and incentives. Uh no one is talking about um kind of Boston circa 1970 when children were shipped across town with no say in the matter. that does not work. Uh but what does work is um doing careful

054research into uh what parents are looking for and then making sure that your school offerings reflect that. Uh um and then there are there's some other lessons that I'll I'll get to as well, but let me go to that first one because I think that's this is probably the most important point. Um the most successful districts uh in creating economic economically integrated schools are those that that do research into uh the desires of families in a community. So uh what happens in a what has happened in the past at least in a lot of communities is people will say let's uh you know we've got a high poverty school here. we'd like to get more of a mix of students. Um let's just let's let's try a um you know a monastery program or or

055let's try an arts magnet. Um and many times those will will work just fine. Uh but we also know that nationally there are a lot of so-called magnet schools that are not magnetic. They're not drawing uh families. And so um so instead there's been a shift towards a research basis where communities conduct surveys uh of parents to find out um you know what what would it take for you to consider using the public schools particularly for parents who you know might have might not even have looked at the public schools. They only they only um are focused on on private education. Uh, and if someone has a child who's particularly shy and and would flourish in a school that had uh a very nurturing environment and maybe was a smaller school and had smaller class

056sizes, is that one of the options uh that a school district wants to to offer? Now, that wouldn't be good for every kid. lots of kids want that big school that uh where they can um have lots of different uh choices in the curriculum. Uh but um a in order to be attractive, it only has to be attractive to a subset of families. Um and so so that's what a number of in places have done. Uh in addition uh there are a number of communities that uh are trying to attract families into a socioeconomically integrated school by building upon the well- reggarded or prestigious institutions in the community. Uh and so I I worked with the Pasadena public schools in California and they are creating a particular school that is associated with Caltech because you

057know it's one of the leading uh research institutions in the world and um and any every community has that. This community certainly has um military facilities and uh and and other uh resources that will um could be attractive to families if there were a particular pairing. Um so this is something different than Caltech uh you know going into all the elementary schools and giving a lecture uh once a year. It's it's a couple of schools that Caltech is would adopt. Um and and in Graten there could be um analogous type of um adoptions where well- reggarded institutions um develop a strong relationship with a couple of schools and you may already be doing some of that. Um, but that's the kind of thing that can turn a school around because uh what we're really talking

058about here in order to get an economic mix, you have to draw in families who have other options and those are going to tend to be the middle class families. And so you want to serve all students um but find a way to attract um some of the middle class families who might not now uh might either move to another community um at a certain age or or might use private school. So um so those are the types of draws that can be important. uh in in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the mayor uh you know built um some schools that were were right near a number of um kind of high uh places where employers had high density uh because some parents would like to uh work, you know, have their child, particularly elementary school students,

059right near where they're they're working. Um there's also the concept of of uh franchising the popular schools uh because in any community that I've worked with there are a couple of schools that everyone wants their kids to go to uh and then they're the rest and um and so what can be done is that if if it turns out that a monastery school is wildly popular um then and and you know more people want it than than can be accommodated Then the logical thing to do is to create two monasteries, three monasteries and and and to change the the approaches used in schools that are that are underchosen. Uh and then finally these communities uh weight the lottery so that it's not just up to chance. Um, and I know that's something that that you

060all are thinking about uh or beginning to explore uh at some of the magnet schools and um and and you know there are details that I can can give now or later uh about how to go about about doing that. So those are some of the strategies that the communities have used. Um, now the politics can be very tough and this is uh I won't play the slide here but uh in Wake County, North Carolina which includes Raleigh and the surrounding suburbs I mentioned before they they had a a very positive socioeconomic integration program. And then the Tea Party came in, took over the school board and uh it got national attention. Stephen Cobear uh did a whole episode on it. Um but uh but there the good news is that the the people who

061cared about diversity came back in um and built support uh for a program to to bring children of different backgrounds together. Uh so in some communities, teacher unions have been very important. Uh teachers on the front lines know that they can do a better job if all low-income students aren't concentrated in one particular school. And so in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, it was uh teachers who went to the principles who went to the superintendent to say we we want a policy where there's uh more of a socioeconomic mix in the schools. Uh civil rights groups and faith-based groups uh who are very concerned about racial justice can see the connection between socioeconomic integration and and racial integration. uh and business groups in a number of communities have really fought for diversity because they want those employees who

062are going to be able to uh to navigate diversity in the in the workforce. Um a couple of other things quickly and then then maybe we can get into any questions you have. Uh the um ideally uh school districts don't just pick off a couple of schools for their socioeconomic integration plans but start with a couple and then can build over time for systemwide goals. Uh there are this may be getting far too uh in the weeds for you but there are many different ways to define socioeconomic status and different communities are trying different things. As I said free and reduced price lunch is kind of a standard indicator but there are other ways to do it looking at census track data that get are more nuanced that look at parents education income and >>

063does any um the communities that you worked with use um state insurance I haven't seen that. No, I mean I think each state is is now developing a better way of defining socioeconomic status than free and reduced price lunch because uh you may have this in graten. There are lots of places where they have the community eligibility provision which allows in essence all the students in a school to get free lunch when you reach a certain >> threshold. And so now a lot of communities are looking at at different different factors. I haven't I haven't heard of that one being used, but I think that's a creative option. So um so there are there are different approaches to this. And one of the advantages to the uh using the census data is that communities have

064recognized that it's not just they're not just two categories, lowinccome and and middle class. there's really upper middle class, middle class and and low income. So, uh so sometimes the groups are divided into three or four, not just not just two. >> Do you know whether Connecticut has grappled with the definition of socially um socio economic disadvantage? >> I think through the chef decision they're beginning to do that. >> Okay. Um and then the last thing to mention uh has to do with the importance of of uh ensuring that once there's an integrated school building that it doesn't devolve into reseegregated classrooms within a school building uh and that uh teachers are are trained and parents are are made to feel welcome to capitalize on diversity. Uh so at the Century Foundation we did uh

065a comparison between two districts uh Champagne, Illinois and Stamford, Connecticut and looked at um their their two efforts. In Champagne they did a good job of integrating school buildings but then uh didn't uh integrate the classrooms. There was severe tracking within the schools and the achievement results were fairly mixed. Whereas uh Stanford under the then superintendent Josh Darr they were able to uh integrate the you know reduce tracking um adopt a curriculum that was particularly inclusive uh and anti-racist um use professional development to uh ensure that uh educators knew how to capitalize on on diversity. Um there are a couple of other strategies to make sure that parents are all uh meant all honored and and uh and their signal sent that the parents of all different backgrounds are welcome. Uh so um some schools

066make sure to have co-chairs of the PTA uh and consciously make sure that one is from a more one one of the co-chairs is from a more disadvantaged background uh and one from a more advantaged background. Um, I was in uh I heard about one school district where uh you know they were trying to be inclusive by uh making sure that the PTA meetings had a translator. Uh and then one principal went even further and she said, "Well, I'm actually going to conduct the meeting in Spanish and then have an English translator for the uh other parents." And it was a interesting way to to make everyone know what it was like to feel uh at times like an an an outsider. Um and it sent an important message of inclusion uh down the line.

067So um uh Stanford Connecticut's uh results are are quite positive through this um through the inclusive practices that Josh Dar put in place uh and and they're seeing some some very good results. So, I'll I'll end there. I have a couple more more resources. Um, but I'm I'm glad to answer any any other questions that uh that you might have about this this type of strategy. >> I think for me, I I welcome any comment. I think for what has been so helpful, and I'm I'm sorry that you feel like we're not being interactive with you, but um is that it really helps us frame um as we begin to think about these things because it's really hard. I mean, we're we're actually as a board I'm actually very excited about this group of people.

068Very proud of us. Um that we're actually looking at bias. We're actually we're really are trying to really kind of take a look at all these things. And as we are moving forward and thinking about um these three new um um buildings um the two new elementary schools um and I think all of us we really wanted this one middle school um because one it's it's going to be right on our campus but two we also knew that it really did help bring in um our two sides of our town um and and to to begin to have that. So for us to even be thinking about that, um I know when I first started on the board and me I'm not going to speak for you, but that we weren't we were nowhere near

069having these conversations. And so when we hear our our staff kind of talk about this is sort of what we need to be thinking about it, I think it really helps it it it allows us to have a place to hang our hat. Um and so I really appreciate you coming in and talking to us about that. I'm really excited. Rosemary. Um this is one of the I think the most important um conversations we've had in a long time and um because it is from our diversity that we get the richness of our community and um I like that we're doing this out loud and um thank you. You know, this is um my own personal experiences. I I I've had the opportunity to live next to a Blackfoot Indian reservation where I learned a

070great deal about community. I've had the opportunity to um my best friend was Navy. So I had the opportunity of learning um you know from somebody from other cultures and that's where the richness of my education came from and schooling was wonderful but um the community was the best. >> Thank you. >> This was just ter Thank you very much >> Rick. I'm I'm just trying to operationalize some of this. Um so when you you you talked about separating into three or four or so uh subgroups by socioeconomic level, however that is defined, we'd have to uh clarify that. But then a a particular school would say through a lottery process uh and we have two of our magnet folks with us tonight. But through the lottery process, we would we would pick students based

071upon those four or so categories. uh end what would be the I I realize the Supreme Court has ruled there's a against the using race as as as a quota. >> Um the the the challenge in Connecticut is we have that law that says we can't use race from the Supreme Court level and the state law that says we we have to have racially balanced schools. Um so is there research uh to indicate if we chose students mix them by let's say a quarter each of of those socioeconomic groups that the that would result in racial balance. >> So the I mean the the most direct way kind of by definition to get a certain racial result is if you using race, >> right? that's off the table. And so, um, >> the if you

072even if but even if your goal is a certain racial mix per se, uh, using socioeconomic status is a very good way of doing that. Uh, and in particular, um, when in when I was working in Chicago, we were looking at different factors to consider in the definition of socioeconomic status. there are some that are um particularly strongly aligned with with race or strictly >> connected to race and um and so uh you have to be careful because if the Supreme Court thinks you're picking certain factors to get you know only to get a racial result then that could be problematic but if you are saying uh you know there are lots of educational reasons to want a socioeconomic and racial mix and and we're trying to do that. Um then that's perfectly valid and

073and there are I mean Cambridge has a uh they have written into their law that if we if socioeconomic status doesn't produce racial balance we'll use race as a last resort uh because the Supreme Court has suggested that may be okay. Uh but interestingly, Cambridge has never had to invoke that requirement to use race because the socioeconomic factors have gotten them racial diversity on on their own. >> Could you share um sorry >> I I might be asking the same question. Um one of the things we had discussed was um that in Grten we have pathways in our magnet program. So we have a STEM pathway kind of on the west side. um steam at the Katherryn Colonowski and STEM at west side and then on the Cutler side on the other east side we

074have arts and arts and humanities. So can you talk to how how to ensure this um social um diversity when you have pathways? Uh well, I think you want to be educationally sound and so uh if if students are on a certain pathway, uh it makes sense for them to to continue along that that route. Uh but if there if it turned out that there for some reason was a were clearly identifiable racial groups or economic groups that were on certain pathways. um you could consider the placement of those pathways in into schools. Uh and so what I what I mean by that is uh let's say the um the arts pathway was particularly attractive with upper middle class people. Uh there's an argument for putting that program in a more disadvantaged part of town

075because certain people are going to want um the school that's closest to them. That's going to be the most important thing and others are going to want a program that's going to be the most important thing to them. And in essence, you want to have uh if you're trying to get an economic and racial mix, then you would put the pro programs or pathways that are particularly popular with uh with a certain demographic on the opposite side of town in essence. >> And I guess it goes back to your point about making sure that we know the the needs and wants of our community too, >> right? Yes. >> You were right. and essentially what he has done. >> I I was just going to say could you repeat the the sort of the lesson

076I think it was from Kansas City where they developed really terrific magnet program and nobody came. >> Yes. Um so so these are the these are the magnets that are not magnetic. Uh and um in Kansas City, the court uh there was a school desegregation order and the court said, "Well, the way to get uh a racial mix in Kansas City schools is to build uh you know, a a um you know, several Olympic size swimming pools, a a UN a model UN program that you know was mo had was wired for all sorts of different languages. and they put it into a disadvantaged community in Kansas and no white middle class families from the suburbs came. Uh and the flaw to that was that it was literally, you know, a judge in connection with

077maybe some consultants saying, "Let's see if this will work." uh rather than having that careful survey of families in you know in this case in suburban Kansas City where you would ask uh families what would really excite you? What would uh you know what would actually provide a powerful incentive for you to um send your child to a different part of town uh where um with the program at the end of the bus ride was really attractive and and that's what is is much more promising when when there's a research basis for the decisions about themes and pedagogical approaches rather than guessing. Thank you. >> We we we had a board member um for a number of years who was also an educator in our district and teacher of the year um in Connecticut. His

078name was Chaz Doko and he I really have to give a shout out to him because he stressed this socioeconomic for years and he he felt it was so important. So um yay. Anyway, so we I've I've heard this and and I I do I highly support your findings and what you presented tonight. Thank you. >> Great. >> All right. Well, thank thank you very much. Thank you so much. >> Great job, Rick. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Mike. >> Yeah. I told you you'd enjoy it. >> All right. We have now reached the um comics. Uh the the comics. Yeah, sure. We're on the Sunday paper now. What do you think, Ken? I'm going to try this one more time. We're at the comment the comments section um of our agenda. Um

079and this is where the um board welcomes comments from the citizens and each presentation should be limited to 5 minutes or less and citizens should be if possible submit written comments. Presentation should be related to matters pertinent to Graten and board members will only ask questions in order to clarify the speaker's presentation and cannot respond during comments from citizens portion of the board meeting. Um and citizens should make their um presentations from the podium. Miss Joan, do we have anyone? Is there anyone in the um audience? All right. So, obviously if we don't have Susan's comments, we're not going to respond to them. Um, and so we're now at my one of my very favorite pl times is the student representative report. >> Hello, Eddie. >> Um, I'm going to start with updates from last

080meeting. Uh, on Wednesday, December 5th, there was a school culture and climate conference at Fitch. And this was hosted by our Renaissance Club. Uh, and this is where schools from around our region who have already implemented or are just starting to implement their own Renaissance club, they all came over, they got a tour, they listened to a speaker, and they just discussed like different um topics on how to create a better climate to make a better school for the students. Uh, so that happened and then um last week the photo club donated Christmas portraits to um local families where they could bring in their kids and get free pictures and then the club got to um get free practice for photography. Uh moving on to class council updates. Seniors are selling fitch socks and planning

081for Mr. Falcon which is coming up. Juniors are finishing selling chocolate bars. uh planning for junior prom and January fundraisers. Sophomores completed their first big fundraiser, which was a movie night, uh a couple weeks ago, um and are continuing to plan future fundraisers. And then freshmen are planning an upcoming Domino's fundraiser and are also continuing to brainstorm for future events. Uh, Unifford Sports, Unified Sports, uh, is having a fundraiser this Friday, December 21st, and where students can pay, um, a couple dollars, donate to wear red and green. Uh, Fitch Music Department, band, and choir students are leaving over break. They're leaving Thursday, December 27th to go to London. Um, they're going to spend seven days there and then return January 3rd. So, all the instruments Yeah, I'm I'm going. It's fun. I'm excited. Um, so

082all the instruments are packed up and we're just doing a couple rehearsals. Um, so yeah, we're excited about that. Uh, and then finally, uh, Renaissance Club is, uh, doing a December birthday bulletin board where we put we're going to put, um, snowmen, like cut out paper snowmen and then put people's birthdays on it. uh and then brainstorm for the coming months. All right, turning it over. >> Just a question. How many students are going to London? >> Um I don't know. Oh, sorry. I don't know the exact number. I think it's around like 40ish. >> But the total group is quite large, isn't it? >> Oh, the >> Yes. Of like Yeah. Of everyone. Yes, there's a there's a good amount. Yes. >> About 100 >> adults and and and coral members and >> orchestra

083It's It's really quite an operation logistically. >> Oh my gosh, my band teacher is so stressed right now. >> Do we know the note the the exact total of students going? >> Do we have >> I can get that. >> We don't I'll get you that, but yeah, we can find >> I saw the band rehearsing and it's a good uh core group. They'll be marching uh right uh >> right down whatever street that is. >> Someone will tell, you know, we'll take a video. I'm good. >> I think you can stream it on Mr. Russell uh is going to document it. >> All right. >> Great. >> Woohoo. >> All right. >> Damn. >> All right. So, in January, the humanitarian club will be having a spam, tuna, and peanut butter drive, and it

084is for the Haitian Health Foundation. So, all the products uh donated are going to go to Haiti. Also, uh, Falcon Theater, they're going to be putting on their first play, Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O'Neal. Uh, the show times are January 17th to the 19th. That's a Thursday to Saturday at 7:00 p.m. And then they're also doing a Sunday afternoon show at 1:00 p.m. Tickets for students and seniors are $5 and adults $10. And then, uh, we're already halfway through the year. uh midterm exams, second quarter and first semester, the big shebam as I call it, uh is coming up after Martin Luther King weekend. We have the four midterm days, uh January 22nd to the 25th, and uh it's an early dismissal day for students. Uh and knockwood, those dates won't change because of

085snow. So, uh and then also, uh Fitch Athletics, the athletic the winter sports season is underway. games uh and matches and competitions. They all start this week. Wrestling actually had their first match last week. And also some exciting news. Congratulations to Nick Helbick and Tyler Nelly of being named to the All State CIA football team. >> Great. >> Yeah, I read one. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Question. Not a question. For the first time, I was able to see the parking places. >> I haven't seen them before. I Abby, were you doing all of the art? The the art is amazing. The art is amazing. Has you seen it? >> Yes, I have. >> Beautiful. >> Did some of it. >> What a great idea. >> And you did some also. Yeah. >> Beautiful.

086>> Yeah. We encourage anyone to go and drive up there. I actually there sometimes I'll drive by coming home from cross country or track practice and I'll see people >> from the community getting out of their cars and walking around and looking at all. So, it's a it was more it was a bigger community gathering than we anticipated, but it was very exciting. >> It's very cool. >> It was great. >> All right. Um, superintendent and administration reports. >> Well, the the the main part of the report that I wanted to be sure is that I fielded uh any questions about the middle school design. Uh I h no one has actually other than that people were very excited at at what they saw and how the the plans are coming along. I I can

087tell you that the architects and the permanent school building committee we are going to be prepared uh in mid January. I think the 15th of January, u we will go up to the state and so long as the board and approves it and the town council u then we will make the request uh for the for all the funding to the to start to draw down the the funding about about $50 million uh from the state. Rita, >> um I had a um couple of different communications about the um people in the community that saw the plans and were very concerned that the uh solar panels >> Yes. >> were not on the plans yet. And I'm hoping that will change, >> right? >> Um especially since maybe we'll be able to save some money

088building the schools all at the same time and so forth that we can do that. not just have the schools ready to put them in, but actually do it ahead of time. >> We actually talked about that tonight at the facilities committee meeting. Uh the it is the recommendation I am also and if you could share those with me, I'd appreciate it because I'm going to I keep sending it to the permanent school building committee. >> Uh the not that this is insurmountable, but the glitch is that solar panels are not reimburseable from the state. So the town would have to do it at its own expense. >> Why why can't a homeowner be reimbursed? >> There may be some reimbursement for it. U but >> I think even for the electric companies are doing

089>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There are programs and we're going to pursue that. But but it in in terms of putting the putting the plans for the state, they they say that uh it's non-reimburseable. But like I say, it's not insurmountable, right? Right. And there is a lot of uh I've received a few emails from conservation folks >> and it would be it would be great for lots of reasons to be great to show. >> Oh, especially the location. Yeah. >> It's so perfect. >> Right. Right. >> So, we we'll we'll we'll pursue that and Sam and I will we'll push it with the committee. >> Thank you. >> Any anyone else? >> I I had one question and you know sometimes I feel incredibly stupid. I was listening to the when when the where the

090school buses come >> in the middle school. >> Yes. >> But there are a lot of students whose parents take them >> right >> to school. >> So and but the only one door is going to be open to the students and that's where the busing is. >> No. No. I know there's two parent drop off door will be also open. >> There's two doors. >> It would be it'd be nice. Anyone who knows anything about Cutler, for example, and probably Westside, probably all of our schools, it's super frustrating that this that the >> that the buses and the cars and the walkers, they all mix together and it's it's it's really not a safe situation. So, these are two different entrances. These literally two, one is on the fourth floor entrance and the other's

091on the second floor. So they will both different totally differently different building and completely different access driveways from traffic traffic separation. It's it's really it's really going to be good. >> Good. >> Once again, keep your questions coming um or comments um but just to know that we'll have our meeting on January 2nd >> 7th >> and vote >> and we'll be voting. It'll be a special meeting where we can have a vote on so that um they can move forward with the plans. Um and so >> that's it for me. >> That's it for you. >> S so last last week um we had our curriculum instruction council our districtwide where there's representation K12 in from every school and it was really a full audience for this because we were reviewing the proposed courses

092from Fitch High School. Um Dr. Acriman was there as well and they have filled in all of their paperwork that um is in the handbook that um the board has approved. So they reviewed it. We had both teachers and department chairs and it really amounted to about 10 half credit courses. They're really trying to hook kids into like English language arts in meaningful ways and unified arts where we have unified sports and um other art courses, health courses, business courses um and in in the health making sure that we have the social emotional component taken care of and having kids be able to deal with stress and anxiety and the mental health part. So, I was excited to see that. Um we also have um three world language courses and about four CP careers program

093international balaria. They won't roll out next year the international balaria but they're through the grant being supported to grow our careers program. So the next step is that we will have a board of ed curriculum council meeting with three of our board of ed members and the department chairs I've invited or will be inviting and that will take place prior to the CO January 14th where they'll also be able to bring you up to speed on you know what's taking place and then um we're hoping to get them approved um for in the January or in the January 28th with the the vote and the approval And so we've got, you know, several steps that we've taken and have given some feedback and we'll continue to do that so that we really fine-tune it so

094they'll be ready for you. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um, and Sue, you um when we were taking a look at the Stanford, you were you were in that district while that was all going >> Josh Star was there prior to me, but I knew of his work and he also was in Maryland, the the other example. So I did see that we also had a plus minus 10%. So the schools were really rather diverse. But I have to can I just make this comment when I go into the cafeteria fitch you see total integration. Sometimes you didn't always see that at the high schools. >> So it really is kind of the application of all that you know. Yeah. So >> all right. Um to the business manager >> hello >> lu.

095>> Uh so attachment one um is our updated object code summary. Uh this shows that we have an anticipated unexpended balance of $31,000. So wow we're tracking pretty close to where we uh we've been for the past couple months. We're uh we're on track at this point. >> Wow. >> Well, hopefully on Tuesday night we'll pick up 17.5,000. >> Yeah, we could increase it by uh 50%. >> Right. >> And then your other attachment is a health insurance. >> The health insurance report. This uh is the report through um October. Uh the month of October was a very good month for us. Um we were at 69.6% of budget. Um that compares we had uh October's traditionally looks like it's a good month for us. Last October we were at 64% of budget. So uh

096I think that's kind of a lull uh when we when these claims come in. Um so year to date we're at 81 uh7% of budget. Uh this time last year we were around 84% so we're we're a little bit better than where we were last year uh as a percentage of the budget. Um a note that uh we got some preliminary reports on our health insurance reserve. Uh we beginning the year this year at about uh 4.1 million. Uh so it's it's a it's a good balance. Uh we did anticipate using some of that this year uh with the cuts that we took. Uh originally it was a a bigger number but uh probably be less than that because we are doing so well and and last year ended so well uh so hopefully we'll

097be in a better position >> and Jay will the you be talking about the fact that we've been our um Jay that our our budget books have been that you'll be talking about that in your report. Okay. Okay. >> All right. Mr. Mr. Patrick, >> good evening. >> Uh, so I have three items I want to report on tonight. The first is the GRO 2020 uh project. And uh, as Dr. Grineer noted, uh, we'll be going to the state on January 15th for final approval after uh, you vote on January 7th, approval of the plans that you saw last week in an excellent presentation. So, the uh, project does continue to roll along. In the meantime, um after the referendum last week, um the town has authorized uh Perkins Eastman to uh restart uh their

098re-energize their project for the elementary schools and and continue on the planning of those. Uh the second item I want to report on is the uh the water um issues within uh the district that we're working on. And uh as I've continued to uh work in concert with the Department of Public Health and Leglight Health District, um our technicians uh our plumbers and uh boiler guys are um continuing to make the changes uh repairs that were recommended by the Department of Public Health. Once those are done, um, and I'm hoping that they'll be done um, sometime in mid January, we'll retest those areas and, uh, get those reports back to you and, uh, to the share them again with the state and legislate health district. Um, the third item is the Northeast Academy um, indoor

099air quality issues. Uh the engineering firm FS and O'Neal continue to um do their study. They've uh they've got plans from us. They've got access to our HVAC system uh so that they can see what's going on there. And um Miss Landry, who is the head engineer on that, reported to me today that uh things are moving along uh well and they expect to wrap the they initially they said that it would be about 90 days. So there's about another 60 days that we can expect the uh report at the end of that. Um also um since uh my last report uh o there was an OSHA um um submission uh or somebody submitted a complaint to OSHA with regard to the indoor air quality at Northeast Academy. Um, since then, uh, the inspector who

100did that, uh, inspection and those tests at the school called me and we did a phone close out of that. Um, and he indicated that he found no violations, uh, that we were doing all the things working again with Legite Health District and the state health department um in Mystic Air Quality to resolve those issues. Uh he also noted that uh we're I also informed that we're working with an engineer to take a look at our systems. Um and so uh we are now waiting uh for the actual written report that actually states that and at that time I'll share it with the uh with the uh uh teachers, the union, the faculty and so on at Northeast Academy as well as you. >> Thank you. Any questions? All right, let's move on to the

101um committee reports. Um Dr. Baneer, on our um each spot, we got a page two. Is there a difference? >> I think it was >> Is there a little typo? >> Oh, one of the >> Oh, where it says >> I don't think there's any. >> Oh, I see. >> Okay. Okay. So then I'm going to work from that. Um policy le uh policy we um we will talk about um a reading for expulsion I believe is our next one. I'm sorry for not remembering that. Okay. >> And we'll talk about that. We will meet again >> restraint physical restraint. Uh, and we'll talk again about our policy January 3rd, 4th, right? Early in January. Yes. >> Do we know what date that's going to be? Cuz it wasn't >> It'll be month It'll be

102Monday. >> The first Monday is the 7th, which we're having a vote here or >> Okay. So, can we have that that an offline conversation instead of having it in the middle of the meeting in terms of the next day? >> Yeah. Thanks. >> It's on the calendar. >> Yeah, it is. >> All right. And so curriculum, >> oh, we're going to be meeting in January and we're going to invite the high school staff to talk about their their initiatives and that will be well Susan and I will get together and get a date for you. >> Okay, great. >> I that was the date that I had said the 14th. >> The 14th of January. >> That's fine. >> Okay. And uh finance and facilities. Uh we met earlier this evening and um we

103uh discussed um the repair and replacement of the interactive whiteboards. Uh a motion of which will be coming up later in this meeting. Um we we had a a discussion about what's the the best way to go given that the new schools obviously will have all new equipment but we have immediate needs. Obviously we've been discussing this for years. um the um gradual degradation of the all of the whiteboards that were purchased all at once. And so it's been difficult with budgetary issues. Um but I think um we've come up with a a plan and and we're going to continue, Dr. Geneer and the staff are going to continue to look at that. But we're going to at least get started um with some um short throw projectors which will work with regular whiteboards, but

104we'll sort of replace the interactive nature of a of a um Prometheian board at much less uh expense. And so we're going to start uh with that using money from the um uh DoD supplemental. So that's going to be the finance and facilities recommendation is to go with the projector. Is that what you said? >> Right. We had um also looked at and though we haven't completely ruled it out, we've looked at these active panels. >> Yep. >> But they cost about five times more than the projector. Um they also need very expensive stands or >> um and so there there's some questions that they're going to go back and and determine if there might be some places where an active board would make sense. But in the meantime, we need to get started on

105um those boards that are becoming, you know, are moving toward uh being unusable. >> Okay. Thank you. So, um we discussed the uh vote tomorrow night at town council about the minimum budget requirement whereby the town is expected to uh approve um passing on the the money that we received um for the students who were displaced um by the hurricane in Puerto Rico. Um we discussed uh putting a placeholder for the non-union salary, wages, and stipens in the budget. um getting that conversation started early in the budget process. Um and we had a lengthy discussion about solar installation. I think what's interesting is the chairman of the permanent school building committee made it clear that the the architects have left the possibility uh for adding the these panels. So it hasn't been foreclosed. However, you

106know, as we know, these things have to follow a certain path and currently the the way the state works is they will not reimburse us for that. So, we need to look at other grant opportunities or other ways to do that. Um whether anything will have to be paid up up front. Obviously, that would be on the town um council to decide whether to spend that money up front. Um and then we um received what you all have received which is the uh budget draft and um so this is uh your homework >> Christmas it was a Christmas present. >> Yes. Yes. And uh Dr. Pier is asking that we all review this carefully. make notes, whether you use a sticky note or you do something electronically, come up with a list of all the

107questions so that we can begin to, as as he likes to say, march our way through the budget after the the break. >> I really appreciate that the we've gotten the budget book so early. >> Um so it does give um a chance on our leisure um to uh to look at that. And I would like to mention um we met with uh Natalie Beroot Billing a few months ago who was a um member of the board of education for >> many years um in terms of creating a um in some ways going back to a budget presentation um that has a lot more explanatory text >> so that when people read the budget they know exactly for example the staff that is assigned to a particular function and and and what that does. So,

108I think you'll be interested to see all that. >> Thank you, Jack. >> Not it's not all complete. Um uh we have to give uh uh a lot of appreciation to Ken and his staff for putting this together so quickly, but they are still working on some of the explanatory information. Yeah, there there's a couple of areas that uh it'll be blank or maybe has some older information, but we're going to go through and uh get that all uh cleaned up before uh we start the whole process. >> Thank you so much. Once again, it just gives us a start. >> Wonderful. >> Yeah. Do we have is there also the are the dates that we're meeting in here or maybe we can get that printed off and that would be lovely. >> First workshop

109will be the 7th. So, we'll have it for you that night. Okay, we can put it right in here. The holes. Get all excited. >> All right, we'll >> just remember the next couple months we'll be each other's new best friend. >> All right, so I'm going to move us on. Um, read it to learn. Yes, we had a really busy meeting last Thursday. um three principles from the Three Rivers College, the Marine Science um school as well as the one in East Harford which um none of our students would attend. But they discussed the new state standards, the 25 credits that are needed. And it was really surprising to me that the state now is only recommending one credit of a world language. I was really quite surprised about that. two credits of a

110self a self wellness course, nine credits of a STEM and humanities and then I think basically for the mastery based diploma four years of math, four years of English and also the the graduation portfolio one school had another one had a capstone project and my question was at Fitch as a as a senior is there a capstone project in place? not not required, but what will be required uh will be the 10th grade uh at the end of my call help me out uh personal projects. I I was under the impression that the new state >> graduation requirements, >> you have to have >> either a graduation portfolio, an electronic portfolio, >> or a capstone like um I know some of the schools in the area have, especially North Stonington. >> It's a great idea.

111So, we'll we'll take a look at it visav the new one. Yeah, it would be nice to hear from our staff at the high school to see how they if they need to adapt anything to the new credits requirements from the state. Um after our meeting we have um a roundt and I really feel that Fitch needs to sort of toot their horn about this. The other towns were so amazed that we not only offered Spanish, but French and Latin and sign language. There is no other district in our whole area that offers that many different language options. And I um I just feel we should publicize that because to me that it's it's such a plus. Um we also that we were also told that there will be no increase in tuition from learn

112for any of for the school or students that are that go to some of the learn schools which is wonderful and um the services also. >> Oh really? Wow. >> Yep. Which is good. Um and the Ocean Avenue Learning Center they're going to open I they're hoping January 3rd for students which is great. And we also uh voted on the con teachers contract which was very similar to uh the the new graten teachers contract percentage-wise and and everything. So that was interesting. So it was a good meeting. >> Thank you Rita. Welcome. Um we did not have a leazison for the board of ed um town council the RTM leazison meeting um nor and we do need to get scheduled the um leaison between the unions and the board of ed too. um that's on

113my list to talk to you. Um and then I we do not have um Gretchen here to do the last two. Um did we >> I could jump in for a second just a global reflection on um the budget document. I this was my first visit to that committee and I was um it was like future shock for me. The document is um attractive to read. It's simpler to read, very very thorough although people are going to continue to rework it. Um, and what struck me was it really is a document showing the real vision and vitality around education and graten. Um, I I just found it very unusual and an just another exciting piece of what's going on here. >> Thank you, Jane. >> So, the next part that we're going to is our

114consent agend agenda. Wow. Speaking will happen maybe in a couple weeks. um is the consent agenda and um which is where we can lump things together um and um I will take a motion for the acceptance of the consent agenda. >> So move. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion on the consent agenda items? >> Hearing none. All those in favor of the approval of the consent agenda, please say I. >> I oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. The board would like to thank the Foxwoods um resort casino who made a donation of playing cards at $140 value to the Gartner public schools for use with math games. Um the PTO at Mary Morrison Elementary School has made a,200 donation to fund a sensory path for the students to

115use at school. Um and the Mystic Oil Company has made a $500 donation to SP Butler Elementary School. and Peter Fairbanks, an employee of Fiser, has made a $746 donation to the Fitch High School fencing team. Um, and Fiser has made a matching donation of 7406 to the Fitch High School fencing team. And we would like to thank all of those um people who have given um to our school. We're going to now move on to new business. And Jay, I'm wondering if you would be willing to read the motion for number one. >> Certainly. I move we approve $10,500 for the repair replacement of interactive whiteboards. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Andrea second. >> Um discussion. >> Jay, >> this is Dennis Gold's recommendation. He he did a little bit

116of research. not not quite finished with all the research, but the reason we put it on tonight is if the board approves it, we can essentially take that action immediately and see if we could get some of these things ordered over the holiday >> and and and the finance committee, you are um feeling that that this is really necessary to make sure that the students have what they need in order to learn in the classrooms. Well, I think we've all been concerned over the years about the deterioration of the the whiteboards. And so, they've identified the ones I think that are most in need. Um, and again, this is coming from the um fiscal year 18 uh DoD supplemental. So, this isn't coming from the operating budget. And um but there are additional needs, but

117this way we this is something we can get started with right away. >> Okay. And and the approved amount is what, Jay? uh $10,500. >> All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion that's on the floor to approve the repair or replacement of the interaction whiteboard to the um cost of $10,500, please say I. >> I. Oppose. Abstain. Motion has carried. Jane, would you be willing to read the motion for number two, please? >> Yep. I recommend we approve um as the first reading policy 51441 physical restraint seclusion and regulations are 51441 physical restraint seclusion. Can I have a second please? Second. Um I know that we're going to have some discussion. So Denise, if you would like to come at to the podium so that we can have

118or you can walk the microphone wherever you want to go. You can walk around the building. >> Feels good to stand. I'll stand. >> It's good to see you. Lee, do you want to um frame the conversation or Sue, do you want to frame? >> Well, this has been, I would say, a twomonth at least job that um Denise has really worked hard. There have been some new legislation. It's come to the board um to our policy committee and um it's also going to replace which you'll see later on P um 522 3. So we've kind of made it very comprehensive and tried to get everything in that's legally >> um needed. So >> right. So basically what we've done is we've brought the policy um up to um up to date with state regulations.

119This past summer, July 1st, 2018, there were several regulations that went into effect in relation to restraining and/or secluding students and we're required to have them incorporated into our policy by in by January 2019. One of the first changes that I wanted to share with you is that there's been um an additional criteria added to the definition of a physical restraint. And that is that a physical restraint now includes uh carrying or forcibly moving a person from one location to another. Um, and we've been training our staff so that they're now aware that if they do carry a a student, it obviously has to be within the criteria of the regulations, which means that it needs to be an emergency situation um such that the student is in d in danger of harming themsel or

120others. There's also um, as I just said, uh, additional language regarding forcibly moving a person. Um, and this has to do with sometimes there's an escort that goes beyond uh just a brief touch or a brief guide. And sometimes there's a little bit more force that's used to move a student from one location to another. Again, only in in cases where it's an emergency. Uh, and that has been added to the definition of a restraint. The second change is the state has added a new term uh called an exclusionary timeout. An exclusionary timeout is a temporary timeout in which a student is continuously monitored by a staff member. They're uh removed from the instruction and the purpose is primarily for deescalation or for restorative practices. This often times um is referred to as uh a

121voluntary timeout or a timeout in a place like a cool down area. Some of our classrooms have cool down spaces built into the room. There are just little aloves without a door, but they have a beanag chair in there. They may have some preferred activities that students can utilize in order to deescalate and calm down and then re-enter the instruction. So, at this point, um, we are monitoring students that are removed from the instruction for the purposes of deescalation because we want to be sure that they're not missing um, instruction to the point where their their learning is being impacted. And then lastly, >> I have a question. The definition of seclusion has been re revised and that definition specifies that uh an exclusionary timeout is not considered an ex uh seclusion. Um, we have

122a question on the book. Uh, >> Denise, I have a question about the exclusionary timeout period and it it talks about holding a a PPT as soon as it's pract practicable. And what do you what do you do with a student who is um in in such a a state that they're not ready to go back to the classroom and you have to wait for a PPT. What do you do in between? >> Well, there is a provision. Again, we've up uh updated the policy in several other areas. One area that has been updated is the frequency that the PPT team meets. So, if a student has been restrained or secluded um four times or more within 20 school days, the PPT is required to meet to review what's happening and determine if we need

123to conduct another functional behavior assessment or revise the behavior intervention plan. Sometimes we'll increase counseling services. We'll just take a general look at the IEP and determine if something needs to change based on how the student is, you know, is presenting. I I guess my real question is though, what does practicable mean? You know, how soon, how long is it that you because sometimes you have to get people from the outside, >> you have to to gather all kinds of experts, maybe even a lawyer. We try to we try to convene the PPT within 5 to 10 days. So, we're required to give parents a 5-day notice before we hold the PPT. Oftentimes, if it's an emergency, parents will wave their right to 5 days notice. So, it can vary from anywhere between 1 to

12410 days that we try to get the PPT together. For students who are placed out of district, it can be a little trickier because we're coordinating schedules with outofd district programs and and and their staff and their schedule. But we do try to get together no later than 10 days. I >> I get that. I guess my bottom line to question is what are you doing with the kid? What where is the child >> or the student? No meeting until deescalation has been achieved. In other words, the the child the situation has been restored to calm. Uh and then o only after that. In other words, this is not an in the- moment kind of issue. >> Okay. All right. >> Is the parent notified right away of what's happening? >> Yes, parents are notified

125immediately if a child has been restrained or secluded, generally via a phone call. Um, oftentimes it could be communication in a homeschool communication book or an email by the teacher. And then you have the reporting forms that were revised this summer that are attached to the policy. Um, an incident report is completed each time a student is restrained or secluded and those are sent home within 48 hours of the incident to the parent and a copy goes in their file as well. And those reports are reviewed at the PPT meeting um when the team gets together to to review the IEP and determine next steps. Um one of the other components that we added to the the policy is the fact that um folks who participate in restraints or seclusions are trained. um they're required

126to be trained and we're fortunate to have four in-house trainers who train staff on physical management techniques. A majority 80% of the training focuses on deescalation strategies. Um and then a portion obviously focuses on the physical aspect of the restraint in the seclusion. Um so we're very fortunate that we're able to have our own in-house training. Um, and we also specify that um, none of these strategies in terms of seclusion and restraint can be included in a student's behavior intervention plan. They're strictly delivered on an emergency basis. And by emergency, we mean a student is in imminent danger of harming themselves or others. And that's reviewed at the training as well. >> Can we pause for a second um, and then just have Mark um, change our tape? It should be time question still what

127it mean I'll ask I just like this meeting >> what the incident is going that's my question I might have to call you >> all right we're back. >> You back. >> Okay. >> And that summarizes the um the revisions to the policy. >> Any questions? No. >> All right. Thank you, Denise. Very much. Thank you. >> Um Okay. So for uh all those in favor to approve the first reading of policy P5144-1 physical restraint seclusion and regulations R 5144 um dot um-1 physical restraints and seclusion please say I um no nay >> opposed opposed thank you VA opposed um and um any um >> thank you and so there's one obsession I have a a question about this. Did Denise, did you say that this um we needed to have this in place by

128January 2019? >> Yes. >> So my question is, do we need to possibly skip the second reading and push it through? >> I think as long as it's in the pipeline, >> it's all right. >> I think we're fine. Yep. >> Because there are time, you know, you can wave the second reading and move it along if we feel we need to. >> I I think that's up to the board, but um we're we're implementing in the you know in our schools. >> We're already implementing it. The people are already being trained. So, it's not like we're waiting uh to to implement the policy actually. >> Okay. >> I think that if we find that it's not okay, we are going to be having a voting meeting anyways on the school design. We could always

129throw the policy on there if you were concerned about that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. What the heck? >> Not unless there's um major revisions. All right. Um Rosemary, would you be willing to read motion number? >> I heard you say one. >> J, excuse me. >> Nope. Thank you for asking for clarifications. Rosemary, can you read the motion for number three? Uh number three is a motion to approve replacement of the policy P 5223 fiscal restraint seclusion exclusionary timeout with P5144.1. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Lee has second it. Any discussion? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> Did we read the rules? >> We did we read the motion? No, >> we just read the motion to re replacement and >> that's the Yeah, >> the second part. >> Yep.

130>> It's really to bring in line with K, >> right? Yep. >> Yep. That's great. Thank you. So um all those in favor to um approve the replacement policy of um P5223 physical restraint seclusion ex exclusion exclusionary timeout with P5144-1 please say I >> oppose absentions the motion has carried all righty so we are now on to um the uh please enjoy your um break Denise >> thank Yes, good to see you. Thank you. >> Have a nice vacation. >> Um and so we're now on to the information um and proposals or non-action items. Um and Rosemary, do you have anything for um I was not here for the last meeting. Um so I didn't get to tell you about the fit that I attended the Fitch Athletic Hall of Fame. um where I got

131to see my uncle and aunt um uh initiated into the Hall of Fame. How cool is that? >> That was very cool. They were not there, of course, >> but um it was wonderful. >> Um and um I also attended a Sandy Hook Promise meeting. >> I my also understanding was that you were part of an interview today with >> Oh, I haven't went yet. Yes. Um uh I also went to the which is related to this. I went to the GASP symposium on vaping where we initiated a a um a discussion of um five professionals from different areas about vaping specifically for parents. um which was very um it it really was wellreceived and very well done. And um I um also have attended a gas regular meeting where I was requested to speak

132with Kevin Hogan who I thought I didn't know who he was cuz I usually watch a different news and um I thought he was maybe one of the new people from Governor Lamont's you know that we were meeting but it wasn't um and he interviewed me after um Dr. Grineer on vaping and it was very well and I had um he he actually removed cat hairs from my coat. So >> which was quite an experience >> and I don't know how they in they substituted that little old fat lady in with my voice. So So because I got to see it. >> Um you TV Rosemary? >> Yes she was tonight. I was interviewed Yeah. on channel 3. So anything else? >> You could Google it. Yeah, he's a good old watcher. >> Yeah, he

133is a good guy. >> So, I don't know where they got that fat lady, but anything else? Um, I uh briefly participated in the Fitz Robotics food drive, but I didn't get a red hat, >> but I did get to go up there, but um it wouldn't have gone with my outfit anyway. >> And I received some requests about solar panels for the new school. >> Okay, good. From the community. If if if th if those are names that feel comfortable to give that to Dr. Grineer, I think that would be very helpful for the permanent school building um to know that there are many members of our community or some members of our community who's concerned about that. >> Thank you very much, Lee. >> I don't remember what I did for a long

134time. >> I I was just going to look and see what I did, but um I I have no idea. >> All right. >> I talked to one person about solar also. >> Okay. and and I I had learned something about the chiller the chiller thing chiller being >> um and I understood enough about it to be able to say something about it but I don't know much about it if >> you'll pardon the expression it's very cool >> I'm moving right along VA >> um again the solar panels um are also very important and I did forward um one lengthy um email that I received to you Dr. So you can have that. >> And I also wanted to talk about um Dr. Spearer who is a principal at the marine science high school.

135He had a compliment for students who attend marine science in ninth grade that had gone to Cutler and Westside Graten students and how wellprepared they are um in for Spanish one and algebra 1. And he said, "We never have any doubts that they could go right into Spanish 2 or right into algebra 2 when they get to the there." He said, "They actually stand out from other sending towns." So, I thought we definitely had a mentioned and what a wonderful compliment that was for the teachers also at Cutler and Westside. But I'm very appreciative of tonight um as all board meetings that you are really highlighting um that Graten is actually a really great place to be educated. So thank you. I mean, people when when at that uh learn board meeting, when they heard

136about all our different languages and our IB programs and our AP classes and all the the wealth of of courses that we have at our high school, they said, you know, we may move across the line, you know, and just, you know, from Ledger and Waterford and Stonington. It was very interesting. Nice. >> I have a few people from Yale who want to come here. >> Oh, really? So Jay, >> um yeah, I just wanted to acknowledge as Rosemary mentioned um the aluminum Falcons uh packaged 22,000 meals on December 15th. >> Um and um also the Fitch baseball team um received the Good Neighbor Award. >> Um I don't remember exactly what date that was. Um I also received a a question. This this comes up every year. We discussed it last year and obviously

137we're dependent on the state and that is the policy in Rhode Island and I believe Vermont about having pre prepared school work for snow days. >> Yes. >> And I know the state has to approve such a plan. Um but someone approached me and said, you know, could Graten be a pilot in that? You know, I don't know where the state department of ed falls on on, you know, their study of that or if they're even interested, but >> but the day counts. >> That's correct. The day would count. >> It wouldn't count as snow day. >> They they would have um >> Yeah, that's very attractive. >> Yeah. They would have this pre-prepared project to do. The teacher would be available um I believe in the other states >> for 4 hours, >> right?

138So that either you know by phone or electronically so that >> Yeah. Um, so we wouldn't have to make up the day. >> We have plenty of computers in our district. Maybe that's >> But I do realize the state would have to approve it. Um, so I just wonder if they would >> You're right. The legislature would have to approve it, >> right? But could the state department of ed do? >> Is that something we could kick to like learn like just to see what learn would be willing to do to help us think about that? >> Yeah. >> Would you be willing? Would you be >> Yes, I'll bring it up at the next meeting. I just read about that in Yankee magazine or somewhere one of the northern states and parents were very

139accepted of it. >> Yes. Well, if you get a major storm and you're in the house for three or four days, I'm assuming that people would want to have that. >> Right. >> Jane, do you have anything that you would like to add to >> Not really. I just was intrigued by the meeting tonight. That that was a that was just um a wakeup call for me that a lot is going on here. Um, since I've not been on the committee, uh, I'm keenly aware and excited because people, what I'm seeing in this district is that people are involved in making wise decisions >> and the discussions are rich and important. There's a real vitality here that I'm not certain people on the outside are often aware of because it's all um, low-key, just a

140very vital community >> in schools and great things are happening. Why do I have to go after Jane? >> Yeah, >> but I love Lee because I forgot Lee that I went to >> that I went to the athletic hall of fame as well and I saw Brian Hopkins who was a >> Oh yes, >> a student at Fitch. I guess we were middle school by then and just a standout individual in all ways, not only of sports but just always >> who thinks the world of you. Yeah. >> Well, then mutual >> Lee, >> I did have another thing that many of us were doing and that was the new gallery. Um, our gallery >> um Yes. >> Oh, yeah. >> I had to actually look at my calendar to see it. >> But

141yes, it was again wonderful. I love the fact that so many of our kids >> got on top of a little step >> ladder >> and had pictures with them. >> Mark, thank you very much. >> Mark was there. Of course, Mark is always there. >> Yes. >> Um, so I was also at the art gallery opening and that was um I I find that an incredibly special and another way to showcase the talent that we have in the district. Um, but I just want to share something with people is that I got to go to the orchestra concert. Um, because I I was the reader um for the TW was the night before Christmas. Um, and that was a lifetime dream of mine cuz I memorized that whole book when I was 10 years

142old. And so to be able to do it with an incredible orchestra behind me, I like I my life could end today and I would consider it complete. Um, so I was able to go to that and just incredibly beautiful music about what what people can do um in the elementary and middle school and though the um Yep, I got that. Um that even though the high school is um a small orchestra, powerful, just absolutely powerful the music that they're producing. Um, and then I also um attended the craft vendor fair um to for that was sponsored by the food service um uh group to help uh cover the cost of the un unpaid um school uh lunch balances. Um so I just wanted to let you know I went to that. Um, thank you

143Rita for continuously reminding me um of um our we have volunteer hours um and it looks like for the total and this is going up to November not through December is that um we have a volunteer hours of um total of 4,94 um hours that are being donated to our schools in various different schools. And so I think that that is speaking of itself. Um just making sure that people are aware that we have our um our meetings um on our list. Um and also really paying attention to the May 7th is going to be um May 7th, January 7th um which is it's not on here um is the um >> at at 6 p.m. there'll be a meeting, >> right? Um okay. And so is there anything else folks? and that we will

144also be having our meeting dates. >> I just want to mention obviously we all went to the last CO where they um presented the the plan for the middle school which has been a long time in coming. Uh all of you have been working on this for many years. Uh and uh it's the the culmination of that. That uh meeting uh was taped. I don't know if it's in the rotation yet because I forgot to look at the email from Mark. I think it is. Okay. So, uh, on channel 19, >> people can see that presentation from the architects and, uh, >> we we finally are are at the point where we see the light at the end of the tunnel on that and it'll be a a new day for >> y for and

145I was excited that we had so many members of both the town, we had some many members of the town council, we had some members of the RTM um, come to ask their questions. So, I thought that was really cool as well. I'm glad that we invited them. >> All right, motion to adjourn. I have a motion for to adjournment on the floor. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Um, do I have any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> Oppose. Abstain. Motion has carried. >> Merry Christmas everybody. >> We'll see you next time.