4-27-20 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Miss Joan, I'm going to start the meeting. Okay. >> All right. What's your time? >> I have 606. >> Thank you. >> So, I am starting the remote um board of regular board of education meeting um for the Gotten Board of Ed. Um and I would like to start off uh with the pledge of allegiance. And if people could pay attention to Mark's square. Um Liz, would you be willing to start us off with the pledge, please? >> Okay. [laughter] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag >> of the United States of America >> and to theublic stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mark, for providing the flag. I appreciate that a lot. Thank you. Um, and I don't have blankets on. It's just that my house

002is really cold and I have like three large shaws on. Just saying. [laughter] Um, our first order of business is um going to be recognition of our very dear and good friend Beth Holler. And Mike, I don't know or if Sue if you want to um present what this means, that would be great. And then I would like to have a chance to be able to as board and I wish we could do it in person. Um but I don't think we're doing it in person with anyone right now. Um but um once again I for me I just um so Mike or Susan if you could >> Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna introduce a more important person uh who really knows about this. But [clears throat] when when when I got the note, I

003I I could only imagine what the CEA folks uh must be thinking because there is no one in my 30 years uh as as an educational administrator in Connecticut comes anywhere near the contributions [snorts] that has made to this difference in good times and in bad. And um so she is just enormously um valuable to the district and was obviously the the uh the CEA thought the same thing. But when I when I called Doug, I said, "I'd appreciate if you could say a few words." And he said, "Well, I I actually nominated U." So, I I'm gonna I'm gonna let Doug uh explain a little bit about the award, please, Doug, and u and and why uh and what the I I'd be interested what the reaction was. Uh if you got anyone from

004CA. >> Okay. So, uh a few months ago, um a couple of us, a couple teachers in the district, um got together and, you know, we decided that we were going to nominate uh Beth for this award. And this award is called the Clifford Silvers Award. Um Clifford Silver was a tireless advocate for teachers rights and excellence in public education. Uh Mr. Silvers passed away in 2017. Um but he was a longtime CA representative, manager, and labor arbitrator. So a little bit about the award. CA's Clifford Silver's Education Advocacy Award is presented to a group or individual member of the education community. It is awarded to an active CEA member or other active education stakeholders who has dedicated his or her life to supporting students and who continues making outstanding contributions to the improvement of

005the teaching profession and promoting excellence in public education. Individuals who are considered for this award include teachers who have held numerous union positions and have had made contributions to the profession spanning several years or in best case decades. Teachers who have stepped in year after year to help others um who would uh who would not filling necessary roles despite their own busy schedules and commitments. educators who have built a long-standing reputation for mentoring colleagues, presenting and sharing best practices and experience at events for other educators and those who take every opportunity to continue learning by attending conferences and other events and bringing key information back to colleagues and education stakeholders who continually seek to improve the teaching profession through programs and initiatives designed to nurture social emotional learning. educational outcomes and more. So, um we

006had it we had it we got together, we nominated her and we found out that she got this awards uh CA um presented it to Beth and we were just ecstatic. Um you we had emails going back and forth obviously in this time. Um but we're we're very proud and we are just so lucky teachers and graten um to have Beth and I are just you know the the the lines of communication that she keeps over with uh you Mike the board of ed Susan um I don't know what to say. She's just an invaluable asset and I'm glad that CEA saw this and presented her this award. for this. >> Yeah. Yes. [laughter] >> And the award, I think, will be officially presented in early May at the CA RA. So, she hasn't got

007it yet. [laughter] >> Okay. So, I'll take Beth the clap. I'll give it to you afterwards. [laughter] just a just a really I I I think of Beth and kind of the rocksolid foundation of this district and there's been a couple of times when we needed uh a little more stability than at other times and she provided it unstintingly uh throughout and I think of her as a colleague and and and a friend and and a former parent in my district and and neighbor and all those things But you just had an enormous impact for Beth. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much, everyone. I appreciate it. >> Yay, Beth. I knew you win. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> And um this award was just recently renamed, so it's it is the old lifetime achievement

008award, but like I told CEA, I'm not done yet. So, [laughter] >> I'm sticking around. >> Good. Good. >> And and good for us. And Beth, I just am so appreciative of um in the past several years since I've been on the board, how your sort of steady leadership um to me personally um and and just to the district. So, not only does she do you give a breath to um the teachers, but I just um your unequivocal want the best for this district is just amazing. Um and so I I say cheers to you. Um and thank you for being such a great partner. um because I know many people all of these relationships could get very tangled and very tense and um I just really appreciate that that does not happen um and

009largely because of the leadership that you offer um to the teachers and to all of us. So, thank you once again. >> You're most welcome. Thank you. And GPS stands for great public schools and Graten Public Schools. It >> sure does. [laughter] >> All right. And so we are now at the student representative um report. And so I know that we've got Zay here and I know Addie I think you're somewhere. You're not on my screen but I think you're >> Yeah, she's here. >> Okay. >> Hey, how are you? Um so I don't know which one we'll talk first. We'll go. >> All right. Um so just jumping in. Um, I want to preface this really quickly and say that most of the stuff that Zay and I will talk about um has already

010been mentioned at the committee of the whole previous meeting by uh Miss Magcguire. Um, but I'm just want to reiterate for the larger regular board meeting audience. Um so just jumping in um the senior class updates. We have some updates um that the senior class advisors uh will be paying uh for the entire class of 2020's caps and gowns. Um so this is for the $30 regular caps and gowns will all be paid for um from the from the class funds. Oh, >> and um the senior class adviserss administration and grad party is still working um to try and figure out some special events for the seniors um in lie of some of the events that um are going to be cancelled because of the situation. So um there's still a lot of uh work

011being done I think just brainstorming what is going on and what we can do for the seniors. Um we also had the um senior class graduation um competition. So this is the annual um com it was over zoom where um seniors can write their own speech and then present it to a board and um if the speech is chosen this person gets to speak uh at the graduation. Um so this year um we have the graduation speakers are um Finn Kohler as the validictorian, the saludiatoran is Will Miner, um the class president is Grayson Sher and the winner of the class speaker contest is Ava Paparaki. And moving on to AP testing, I know a lot of information has gone out about this already. Um but just again to reiterate um this year uh the

012AP students will be testing online um and all students will be taking it on a school Chromebook Chrome sorry Chromebook um and um all of the information and um resources have been sent out to students and families um by administration and this ising is happening in May so it's coming up um and then for SAT testing the um school SAT date uh was in March um and wasn't able to happen this year. Um so uh school administration is working with College Board uh to offer the SATs on a few Saturdays during the summer weeks. Um so I believe that's still being worked out, but uh students and families will be notified um about that in the future. And then um for NHS updates, National Honor Society, um students worked with administration to get a um

013tutoring uh organization going in that um we were able to have um a link where students could sign up for tutoring. Um if they were struggling in classes or needed help, especially in um this distance learning, um it's difficult for some students. So students are able to sign up for that um and then be paired with a National Honors Society the student um to help the student through. Um and we've gotten um awesome students signing up for that and we've gotten um some tutoring started which is very exciting um because I was able to help with this personally and it's very cool that we were able to give some struggling students help. Um so Z can take over the rest of this. >> Okay. Hello. Um some of the junior class updates. Um, we've notified

014people that the junior prom schedu scheduled for May 16th has officially been postponed. Uh, we're discussing either a later prom or event in the future to replace this. So, like the juniors can still have their junior prom, per se, so like they don't miss that miss out on that experience. Uh we began talking about plans for painting our senior parking spots, but we've come up with some concerns about the interference of the new middle school being built because uh I know that parking lot where the senior parking spots are is being used for like some trucks, transportations, and stuff. Not sure if that's still being used, but that has been a concern. Um onto the virtual spirit week that we're actually hosting right now. Fitch is putting on a virtual spirit week. It started last

015Thursday, April 23rd, and ends this Friday, May 1st. Upcoming themes for the rest of this week are on Tuesday, tomorrow, April 28th, is stink and essential work employee day. Sorry. And Wednesday, April 29th, is mix and match day. Thursday, April 30th, is build a fort in the house with pillows and blankets and stuff hopefully. Friday is May Friday, May 1st. There's going to be a surprise for students on the Fitch Renaissance Instagram page. So hopefully we'll be I'm surprised actually. I can't wait. Um the mental health protocol update is admin has established a protocol for helping students in mental health need during distance learning which includes an immediate response from our mental health team who have been reaching out to students and families to provide resources. A couple more updates. Um, every Friday, Mr. Kellaher

016sends out a message to our students and families, which has actually brought a lot of spirit back to the students um and put makes them more motivated to keep going throughout the week. Um, updates on student award, scholarship, and and national honor society inductees. The school counselors and administration are working to make sure that all awards are still happening for our students. Although it is not yet sure if a ceremony will happen for each awards ceremony, all awards will be awarded to students whether it's book awards, scholarships, underassman awards, national honor society, new members and etc. >> That's all I have. [laughter] >> Kim, I had a question. >> Yes, please. Um, could you can the students give us or someone give us an update about IV testing? >> Um, I can talk a little

017bit. Um, there might be someone else who knows more than me, but I I think um I can start it off definitely. Um so for IB testing um IB testing in general is usually um projects that you do throughout um the second year of IB and there's usually depending on the class there's usually also um so they've gotten rid of the written examination um and because they have these other projects that they can fall back on the projects are now the full IB grade um so with AP it's just a written examination so they kind of have to do that in order for you to be tested in some way. But with the IB testing, uh, they're able to use these projects. Um, so pretty much at this point, I think most IB classes, um,

018if you're in the second year and if you're finishing it up as a senior, I think they have submitted the projects or are in the process of submitting it. >> That's my understanding. They're they're they're going to take all the work that's already been done. Uh the instruction is continuing, but Addy, you're right. They're going to they're going to take that portfolio of work and and award a grade based upon that. >> Each teachers also had to submit their predicted grades at a time. Every year they have to submit predicted grades as to what each student they predict they're going to get for a score. So those are also submitted to uh to IB. I I had one more question for for actually for Matt. Um, is it still too late to send in the

019scholarship funds? And who do you send that to? >> Uh, I don't think it's too late. Um, I think you can send it to uh right to Fitz High School and uh >> um put it towards J Renee and she can she can help us with it. I can even >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions that are specific to the student representatives? All right, hearing none. Once again, Addie and Zay, thank you so much for like once again your continued involvement in the board even when we're on Zoom. Um, you guys are priceless and enrich us. So, thank you. Um, I'm now going to move us on to the superintendent report. Um, Mike, that would be you. >> Sure. If >> you didn't know, Dr. I I I wanted to give you

020a bit of an update. Last last week, the commissioner uh gave us some uh some interesting information. First of all, he he he indicated that the governor was going to wait u at least a bit longer uh to make the decision as to when when or if we return to school. that the the whole education community has has made it clear to to the governor the sooner we do this the better because there's so many plans that we're going to have to coordinate that that'd be helpful to do that. Uh and he he also said that um that there will be and and I I think I sent the the CARES Act elementary secondary emergency relief fund. I I didn't realize uh Connecticut was getting quite that amount of money, but apparently Connecticut is uh

021is getting $111 million. And they said that each district would get about 83% of their title one funds. So for us, that'd be about $850,000 that will come from the federal government for the for the CARES Act. So, um, one of the things that we talked about a fair amount with the commissioner was this whole notion of a re-entry plan. What are we going to have to do uh to get ready to open up? What are we going to have to do to close some of the learning gaps that are certainly occurring right now because of the online learning? Uh, and so Susan can talk a little bit about that and and I'll chime in later, but that that whole notion of a re-entry plan I think is uh is going to be ve very

022helpful to us and uh and we'll talk about that more in a minute. And then the last thing I'll just say is they reminded us that any decisions about graduation uh would really have to be made in conjunction with the local health district. So, that was a kind of a a sober reminder that we're not exactly uh on our own here. We we have to uh we have to make sure that the health district and and and all the social distancing that that comes with that. You know, my my my personal take on this is that the countries that I'm seeing that are coming back are not coming back 100%. They're coming back with social distancing. So the the notion of having a a hundred people together is probably a bit of a stretch, >>

023right? >> Never never mind a thousand people. Um so I think we just we just have to be kind of mindful of that as as as we go through uh as we go through the uh the summer. Um, and then I I would like to uh figure out exactly what the the the funds going to are going to be, but that as I said the the the car's act talk about making sure that there's technology available, making sure there are funds available for perhaps extended day program, additional tutoring, you know, there's a there's going to be a whole gamut of services that are going to be needed. Um, and so I think today, the 27th, I I I would I'd be I'd be surprised, frankly, if we don't have some clear definition of end of

024school [cough] by the by the 7th of May. The governor says he'll tell us on the 20th, but we certainly can't be told on the 20th and come back on the 21st. Um it it's going to take us a little a little bit of a little bit of a while to to ramp up, but I but I think I I think overall uh you'll see when we talk about distance learning, things are going much much better. Uh but but I was also reminded today as I I spoke to I spoke to a few folks. I I saw about five weeks ago I saw a video on someh teachers from China and and I was reminded of it today and they said that that they started out like pretty pretty high level and they were going

025and going and going and they got to about the five or six week mark and they they they sort of had a dip. Uh my my sense is we're getting pretty tired of this. Um and then in China they said things got better and they and they and they came back up. So I my my sense is right now that we are in a bit of a bit of a dip. Pe people are are not necessarily exercising the best social distancing. I I went I went for a hike on the airline trail yesterday. Some of you may know it. Usually there's like two or three people on it in every mile. There must have been hundreds of people on it. And I we we couldn't we couldn't park so we just we just left. But

026nobody had masks on and you know >> the warm weather's going to come and I I I think we need to we need to be mindful of uh all the responsibilities. >> So I'm going to keep us back on track. Um >> I have a question for Mike too. >> Okay. So I'm going to go to Liz first and then Rita. >> Mike. Um it's more of a comment than um and it's also maybe a question. Um I live in an area with a lot of teachers and you are very right when you say the observation is is that they are they are stretched to the max. They are you know they're just um I I people are so they get so stressed. I see people with bags under their eyes you know it's it's

027they're just that stressed. And I really would like to know, you know, and I what we can do, what are some of the things we can do to support our teachers better? And maybe Beth, that's an question for you as well, but Mike, um, do we have anything or have you been talking about um, what we can do to support our teaching staff because I think they're in a bit of a crisis stage right now and I think they need our support somehow. I know that we're going to lighten some things here or there, but really um I just would like to know if there's something that you've thought about or you're discussing with Susa or people have discussed about what we can do to help our teachers. Our kids seem to be building resiliency

028and that's a great thing. I mean, we have to learn how to be resilient, but I'm really concerned about our teaching staff. So I can tell you and Susan can tell you perhaps in more detail we are providing uh some some useful professional development from the district uh to to to the teachers but but I know teacher toteer uh there's there's a lot a lot of sharing going on. We have we have made it clear that we we need to pace ourselves as as as we go forward. I I wrote a I think I sent it to to the board. I wrote a note last week saying that, you know, we're we're we're moving along, but I I saw a note in the in the paper today that said the average workday is three hours

029longer now. It just takes so much time to to to do this stuff. And I think I think the best thing we could say is things are moving along. I I've been talking to a fair number of students and everything I hear is it's getting better and better. It's more manageable. Uh I think some of the parents of the younger children are are are struggling but I think o overall uh we're we're we're supporting the teachers. We're we're but we're all learning you know and and I and I think I I I think between the parents, the teachers and the students uh we're we're this is our sixth week. So here we are and we're we're we're I think we're getting better. But Seth Danner asked a very important question today that I I I

030really appreciated hearing. He said, "What what are we going to do if this happens again?" Uh uh knowing what we know now, what would we do differently? And I think that's the question, and it sort of gets to what you're saying, Liz. What lessons are we learning? Are we processing them? because to say this is the last time we're going to have school closures, I think is is a is a a kind of a wish. But um I think we we owe it we owe it to the kids and we owe it to their parents and to the teachers to process these lessons and I and we we're we're making progress there. I I can assure you. >> Thanks, Mike. You're >> welcome. Peta, >> my question is Mike, I heard today that um the

031federal program SNAP for um the the funding for SNAP is being increased and will that affect our food service at all to our to our children? >> I I don't know, but I'll look into that unless >> Sam Sam, would you know Sam here? >> He was. Yeah, >> I'm here. Sir, >> do you know anything about this SNAP uh program and possibly increased funding? >> I haven't heard about the increase, but I'll check into it and get back to you. >> Okay, we'll get back in board notes, Rita. >> Okay, thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Any other um any other questions from the board um to Dr. Grineer before we go on to Susan? >> Gretchen. >> Um as we're finding the grocery stores are getting more and more limited as to what you

032can get. There's no tomato sauce. There's It It was pretty barren today. Are we as as Are we finding it's harder and harder to get food to feed the kids? >> Let me in. I I have not heard that as a problem. Sam, >> no, we don't have a problem at this time. >> Okay, good. >> All righty. Um, so let's move on to Susan. So, it will be helpful if you unmute yourself, Susan. I'm trying. Okay, >> there you go. >> Everything takes longer, even unmuting yourself. [laughter] Um, I just wanted to say the f first bullet that I have is about FY21 staffing update. And I have Denise here to talk a little bit more about the needs at SB Butler. um we've really had to because of their case loads and you

033know they um really are a specialized school with their ABA program and um their preschools and some of their other significant needs. So we've had to put a substit in there to help support some of these um overloaded case loads. And for next year, we'd like to have that be a one-year position because we feel like we could be able to get more talented staff having a one-year. And actually, any hires that we do this year, we're calling them one year. They they might extend if the need continues, but um we think because we're going to be, you know, moving the elementaryaries into two buildings, the three elementary schools into two buildings that we've we're considering all of these as one-year positions. But Denise, did you want to add on to that need? >> Sure.

034Um, just wanted to let everyone know that um, Butler is the only elementary school that only has two resource teachers. Um, every other school has three and two had worked for a period of time, but we've been monitoring the enrollment trends and we're coming up on the third year in a row where the case loads are exceptionally large for two teachers. Um so for the past two years we've had to add a 0.5 um substitute. Um the first year we added the position midyear. The second year we added it at the beginning of the year. Um and this would be the second year and then halfway through the year Mr. Wheeler asked if the sub could stay in the afternoon because there were new referrals. So going into next year as our third year uh

035with these enrollment trends under our belt, we'd like to request a full-time uh teacher to start the year, not a sub, but a contracted position for one year given that there may be some efficiencies that we can um capture during the consolidation. >> Did anyone have any questions on that position? Jay, are are you is the finance and facilities planning to meet anytime soon like next week? Um, which is I think is your normal time. Don't you meet at the first Monday? It's not on the calendar at this point, but we we certainly uh would be able to >> I'm just wondering would you prefer this to kind of be chomped on with a finance um and facilities or um or do you feel like that we can just use this through um this this

036meeting um and possibly the committee the whole? I mean, it sounds to me like we're just trying to meet the need that we have we have too many um case loads. Um >> and we have been paying for it in operations, but we've been paying for it through the substitute account and this just shifts the accounting, but not the money. It's the same amount of money. >> Correct. >> Then that doesn't sound like like financial aid needs to look at it. Uh but I would defer to Dr. Veneer on that. >> Nope. that I'm not Dr. Grineer. He's much cuter than me. Um, but I I I think that it it makes sense that we just if it's just moving from one account to another that that doesn't that's not necessarily impacting our budget. So,

037not not necessarily needing to go through the financing facilities. Um, I'm just once again just trying to make sure that we have the right chains going. Um, >> thank you. Thank you. Our thought too is that if we're not hiring a sub, we would, you know, hopefully um hire a really qualified candidate who may have some specialized training to bring to the position because we'll probably be able to attract um a high quality candidate if it's not a sub position. So, thank you very much to be able to plan for this now will be a great thing for Butler. The [clears throat] second um position is and I think I think you've heard um Ted talk about it, Matt Brown has talked about it um and Aaron and Amy McKenna has certainly supported the idea

038of getting back a literacy specialist. When I first got here, we had two full-time positions of really um a reading consultant in the building who would assess needs and provide that um very highly qualified level of support and literacy at the high school. So, um, in talking to the staff and and looking at funding sources, I was able to find out that they had a, um, point they had a full-time math tutor at the school, but it was they were not using the Department of Defense Education Activity monies in math um, as they could have been doing because it's in the grant. They were using um, they had that position in operations. So, I thought if we could shift and that we could provide the math support, the math tutor through the DODIA grant, then

039they would have that amount of money and I think it's about $35,000 that they could put towards a literacy specialist and we could start with a 0.5. Um, you know, and if if we should get this funding from the state and be able to add to it and have someone full-time, that would be even better. But for now, I think it's at least a start to have that level of support um at the high school that I think is so sorely needed. I don't know if Matt or Ted, you wanted to add on to this, but we do recognize that this is a need. >> Matt or Ted? >> It's absolutely a need. I mean, it's something that uh you know, the uh administrative team at the high school and the and the department heads

040have uh have definitely uh looked at as a need. Um so when we we saw there was an opportunity to do this, I think this is the first place we went. So >> Matt's done a lot of work in in in regard to this. I'll let him talk as well, but um this this is uh absolutely a need based upon what we're seeing at the high school and and any support that we can get in that area is going to be a big help for us. Yeah. No, like uh as we looked at at you know, our English teachers aren't necessarily, you know, teachers of of reading. So, with the lack of having that reading specialist the last couple years, we we've struggled um when we've identified some of these these kids that that uh

041need the support in reading. So, um one of the things that that Ted's tasked us with this year is is improving our intervention system. Um and this is a great opportunity for us if we have this this position we can really you know we've already tinkered with how we're going to revamp our intervention system um for next year and this is going to be a big aspect for it along with still maintaining that math tutor. Uh I think this is crucial but we've already we've we've identified a lot of uh incoming ninth graders um that that we we can see are going to need the support. we've already pre-identified them and we've already gotten them in into the intervention courses that we need. This is also going to create a opportunity for more of a

042fluid reading intervention process where we can have uh kids that uh enter the process for a six week 8week interval and then you know if if things improve then they can be exited out or can we can seek further further interventions that are needed. So, uh, we're we're excited. Um, and Amy McKenna obviously has done a a big part of spearheading this whole thing as well. >> And you may remember that through our alliance grant, there was funding for looking at K12, preK12, a systemic um, SRBI process. And we can even do that remotely. I know the middle school with the two schools coming together really needs to take a look at that before they all move in. you know, they really want that plan ready to go and that's some work that we can

043do over the summer remotely and, you know, bring people together. So, it would be good to look at it, you know, K through 12 and at least start that project. So, we'll definitely include you all in that at the high school level. >> Any other questions? >> Yes, I do. I I would like to see if you could make that a full-time position again. I think there are so many students at the high school that a.5 is not nearly enough. Um I remember that then there were actually two there at one time and then went down to one >> and now none. So I would like to see if somehow the board could find some extra money to make this a full-time position for our for our children at the high school. That's just just

044my two cents. >> Can can um Dr. [clears throat] Dr. Grineer, can you speak to why it is a um >> can you speak to why it's a um halftime versus a fulltime >> or um Susan, sorry. >> Well, it's just that the funding sources there. Again, we don't need additional money for this. We're shifting um monies in operation that had been spent on a math tutor. We're able to pay for that through a grant and then that then gives us that 35,000 to put towards this literacy person. But we could, you know, we can examine and look at that again at central office and, you know, see if there's other funding too that can be reallocated in that way or, you know, provided. >> Jim, I actually Rita, you've been an advocate for this

045for a long time and I I really appreciate that. I said to Kim, we'll we'll we'll interview. We'll try to get someone I if the perfect candidate comes along, Ted and Erin were very excited about this possibility. If we could get someone who was dual certified in reading in English, they could help out with an English course or two and help out primarily with the literacy. So, as I said to Kim, if we fall in love with somebody, we'll come back and and uh try to identify the money and we'll hire a full-time person if possible. >> And Dr. Grineer, um we also have a teacher currently at the uh at the high school that is finishing her um reading specialist degree as well. So, we are fortunate that she is able to also help

046us with one or two. Uh but to Rita's point, you know, if it is possible moving forward, it would be tremendous to have a full-time position. >> Okay. Yeah. >> And we have it in all of our other buildings, you know, and these they're worth their weight and gold. And the interventionists, I mean, it really it's um incredible the work that they're able to do. So, I'm really pleased. >> I I actually don't think that there's a board member here that doesn't believe that that is true. For me, I would just want to make sure that as we're paying for a mass specialist through the grant, um you know, does that position then go away from the grant or are we going to try to find ways of doing that? And so maybe um from

047the very beginning maybe Jay this is something that your team needs to kind of tackle is how do we support um these specialists so that um as grants move and disappear that we can sustain that we can sustain those um salaries and those positions um because it doesn't make sense to have them and then to take then to get rid of them because we then don't have funding. Yeah, the sustainability piece is really crucial. You're right. >> It it is. And I, you know, I I I know I'm a little bit of a conundrum on that, but I just I really I I think it's just really important that we think about that. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions around that? So that Susan can move on. >> Thanks. Thanks, Denise. >> So, the next

048um bullet is our distance learning. And I just want to speak to what you've been saying. I was actually putting together my own um paper that I wanted to inspiration that I wanted to send out to staff, but I see our educators, our teachers and administrators, our pair professionals and all those who support teaching and learning and you all as superheroes in all of this. You know, we hear so much about those people um who are helping in this time of need and we certainly know it's our medical folks and people who are you know Ernie Kosher who's making sure our kids are fed and there are so many people that you know are really heroic during this time and you're right it's a huge heavy lifts lift Liz and Beth is constantly you know

049we we speak to Beth several times a week. I probably speak to her between the PD and everything else, our meetings, you know, at least once a day. And so, we really are listening. And I think the best thing we can do is be there to support teachers. So, if we need to peel back a little and I think because our distance learning plan is in phases and it it really has that motto, which really Beth and I kind of thought of together. She probably was the first one to say it, but start slow and grow. and what does that growth mean and how are we engaging our kids in teaching and learning and I think the plan which was you know um written by a lot of people around the table um and put

050together was really important in phases and we're really finishing up phase two and moving into a phase three here and when I look back Mike had actually said this out loud he had said you know we're kind of at the halftime show we're we're really at halftime and when we look back to the beginning, I think when um we met with Kim and the legislators back on I think the day before March 13th, March 12th, and the reality hit us that oh my goodness, we've got to do something totally different than we've ever done before. Um, it was just earthshattering. And the teachers came together on one day and put together a plan for supplemental learning that I was just aed by, you know, and I looked at every single plan. And I thought, my

051goodness, this work looks fantastic, but it was mostly rolling out work and videos and things for kids to do um at home with parent support. And now when I think about today and and some of the stories I'm hearing about these awesome mini lessons and read alouds and kids telling parents, "Play it again. I want to see my teacher again." Um over and over again. And then these small groups where they're seeing their teacher, being able to talk to their teacher. So I and I I just can't even imagine what it's going to look like in five weeks. I mean teachers are coming to us saying, "I found this software. Let's do this. Corey Mott, I I I'm hearing teachers want to, you know, work on something. Can I provide the professional development? So, they

052really are to be um commended. Everyone um that's around the Zoom and all of our teachers out there. I couldn't be more proud. I just um and proud of our families and and kids. If there's any disappointment in teachers, it's that they they felt like maybe a child hadn't responded or maybe couldn't respond. But now that our hotspots are out there, I'm feeling a little better that families are picking up those hot spots and that access and in quality is there for them. Um that makes me feel a little better. Um so I think it's, you know, there are challenges to this, but I think everybody's rising to the occasion like never before. It does also tell us that that live face-to-face teaching, how incredible that is. It's all about relationships here and building those

053relationships. And there's nothing better than having that teacher in that classroom and that those kids in that bubble. So, um I don't ever think distance learning can replace quality teaching in live time. And for sure, we've learned that lesson. We're trying to do our very best, though. So, um, so those are, you know, kind of the updates. We've had some professional development. We definitely have to look at a re-entry plan. And in the re-entry plan, I'm kind of thinking of assessment and apex. I'm thinking of a double A. So, we have to be able to assess kids to see where they are. And that's preK through 12. And we have the Apex, which can really help us out this summer, even remotely. We've talked about it for middle school and high school kids. And if

054there's students that cannot complete a course, we can certainly give them that opportunity in the summer to go through Apex um and you know, and finish things up if they've had some struggles with that. So, that's [clears throat] what we're going to be putting together. I'm putting together a re-entry plan and I'll be working with colleagues um on this just to gather ideas. Um, we've also talked about our little ones. Beth and I have been talking about our transition K program and being able to screen our youngest learners. >> Um, so that whether that happens later this summer. >> Um, I can't imagine doing that in any other way than in live time with real kids and teachers together. So, um, you know, but that will be a big piece of it when we get

055back to really assess all of our kids and, you know, and look at the compacting documents that are in that plan to see what we've accomplished. We're going to have to instead of, you know, writing new curriculum this summer, we're going to be reviewing what's been done with these priority standards, reviewing what's going to happen in the fall and tweaking things to make it work for our our kids and our teachers. So, that's kind of my exciting work this summer to be working with teachers on and we'll have to do it probably remotely. Um, and then looking at those academic supports and I think if we're able to have a team that works on SRBI, which will be our ordinary supports that we give and see if there's other things we have to be paying

056attention to through all this. One other thing I wanted to mention was that I was on um with the State Department performance office last Friday on a Zoom talk and they were talking about having students access the um the ESPback interim assessments. We're know we know we're not doing a sumitative but there are there's such a plethora of really wonderful assessment items that can be done online and we can make it really safeguarded. So that that's another way that we can actually assess our kids um through all of this to see how they they've done and they how they've made out and it'll give us information. It informs our instruction. So it gives us information on what we need to pay attention to for next year. Um, so that's really some of the things I

057had. I know that there's um a question of delivery of special ed um services. So I'm going to turn this over to Denise. And then after that, we also have high school grading practices. So Ted and the team can talk about that after Denise. >> Denise, before we go to you, can I just um ask one question? And this was sort of up in your delivery of services. How as a district are we um handling um you know for the for for for our families where they're essential workers um and they have to work they have to work really long hours and then um about the kids and about the kids not maybe not being able to get their schoolwork done or that it's um I mean how I don't know what I don't know

058what My question is I just um as you guys know know my my bias is is that I work with children and families and a lot of families are really struggling with the fact that they're working 10 hours a day and then trying to come come home and do work and it's just not happening well for them. And so I I'm just I was how are teachers thinking about that? And that must be very very hard for teachers who are trying to support the kids. Um um >> that's like that's a I would assume is a real reality for many of our children. Um, you know, when I think about, you know, when I think about our free and reduced lunch rate is what? 45 >> 50. Um, and so it it goes to say

059that many of them are are parents whose probably are in positions are considered essential and are not and are and that are working. So, one of the things Graten did that I think we did really well with his start, slow, and grow, we didn't automatically go into a Zoom platform and expect a child to sit on their computer and a teacher to sit on their computer from 8:00 in the morning till 4:00 and go from class to class. There were a lot of districts that did it that way from day one. And that was really a challenge. But we always believed in having a balanced approach so that through schooly and through Google classroom and this program called Seesaw in the primary grades we were able to give out work and videos and ways to

060do it but we also gave time for them to have it done. It the expectation has been has never been you need to have this done the next day. Even at the high school, they've been very good about understanding that families are in these situations. We've had parents even at the high school say, "I can't help until the weekend." Um, and when I get home, it's too late to help. So, we're very cognizant of that. And I think that our plan has been very flexible and very balanced. And I think that we understand that asynchronized learning and synchronized learning can happen, but it doesn't have to be all of one thing or all of the other. And that we really give teachers the options of of things of the way they want to roll it

061out and the professional development that they need. And I think we're just reaching out. I think that's what a lot of our social workers and school sites are doing, reaching out to families and just saying, "How can we help you?" you know, and just asking the question, what can we do to support you? >> And what's good, I I'm just hearing a lot of that and and I've been feeling a lot of that and so thank you for just putting voice to that. I >> Yeah. Yeah. We understand. I mean, our parents are also superheroes for taking on teaching and learning, you know, and all that they're doing as well. >> Yeah. If I could just add um I think that the the the key to all of this for for the special ed department

062and I think it's the same for the gened teachers has been communication. So every time the teachers communicate to us that they're struggling, we reach out and support the teachers or we're or we reach out and support the parents. I've had many conversations with parents that um leave me feeling really um gratified because parents will say things like,"Well, at first I thought I could use our home computer, but now I know that I don't have the most updated Chrome and I'm not able to open some of these programs." So, we're connecting families with Dennis and his office to get uh laptops. Other families are saying there's too much work coming home. So, we're working with teachers and they're creating uh calendars so that te uh parents know that their child doesn't have to complete all

063of the general ed assignments plus all of the modified assignments. You know, we're not it shouldn't be double the work. The modified assignments should take the place of the general ed assignments. Um, you know, again, coordinating with emergency contacts to call, you know, parents or go over to households and connect us with families that we haven't heard from so kids can get their related services. Um, Dr. Grer and Susan purchased a Google Voice account for all of our social workers, psychologists, and um, counselors so that they can not only call parents using a Google number, but they can text. Um, so you know, we're trying to be as responsive as we can in terms of the teachers contacting us and then, you know, when they're up against kind of a brick wall, so to speak,

064with a family and then we're reaching out to provide another level of support. And I have to say it's it's a lot of listening, but then, you know, there hasn't been a parent I've spoken to, and I've spoken to many, that we haven't been able to solve a problem. Um, so I think that it's a team and we're working as a team and both with our paras. Our e tutors are in almost every single classroom where they have kids. They're working in those classrooms. They're telling us we don't have time for PD and we're saying that's okay. The kids come first. >> Deliver services to the kids. That's where we want your energies to be. Um, so it it's really truly been a team effort and I have to say I'm so proud of the

065teachers because it hasn't been without its bumps, but I have to say everybody is coming on board. And people who originally were saying, you know, I've got my Google Classroom set, I really don't want to focus on Zoom are now saying to us, I'm going to try a Zoom lesson this week. So people really are starting to feel confident. They're proud when we meet with them. They want to share what they've learned. They're so proud of the fact that, you know, they have 37, what my speech people have, you know, 37 out of 37 kids all engaged. >> Yeah. >> They're very proud to share these accomplishments and they are accomplishments. >> Um, so, you know, >> heroic, >> we're continuing to to support them in any way we can and just, you know, work

066side by side with them. a lot of listening um you know a lot of um teamwork and just a lot of pride and I think too our teachers and administrators are surveying parents on a regular basis you know trying to get their interpretation of how it's going at home as well. >> Okay, thank you. Denise, do you want to continue on with the delivery of um special um special education services or do you think you um you covered that? I just have one more quick thing that I'll share with the board. Um, we did receive a a memo from the Bureau of Bureau of Special Education late Friday afternoon with guidance uh involving um PPT meetings. So, we are developing um uh a guidance document in conjunction with our board attorney uh for holding virtual

067PPT meetings. Um I am very sensitive to not adding one more thing to people's plate. Um so we will be sharing some options. Um one of which is that not all of the PPTs need need to meet. Um some of our timelines have been waved but some people are saying that they want to get some of these meetings you know kind of out of the way for lack of a better word for the fall. Um we can also uh wave the attendance of a teacher at a PPT and uh we will not be conducting any assessments virtually. Um, so we're going to prioritize what PPTs we have enough information to meet on and then look at schedules and see if we can get started. I had my first virtual PPT with learn today and it

068went very well. Um, so we're going to be rolling this out to the to the district, but we're going to do it in a very um slow way because we don't want to add one more, you know, component that will stress people out. Um, you know, I've kind of floated the idea. We've known that the guidance was coming, so we've been floating it with people throughout the district. Um, so people are receptive to having meetings. I think there's a little, you know, anxiety in terms of the meetings kind of stacking up between March, April, May. Um, and so we're going to support them and the supervisors will assist the buildings. If their principles are busy with other meetings, we will support them to chair meetings um as best we can. >> Jay, do you have

069a question? >> Yes, just a quick question. Um, how are you conducting this? What platform are you using for these PPTs? >> Um, well, that that's the other piece. We're giving parents an option to use our district license for Zoom or they can phone in. Um, if a parent doesn't feel comfortable with either platform, then we won't hold the meeting. I >> I just have heard there's a lot of security issues with Zoom and um, private companies uh are using much more secure platforms. So I just don't know if there's been any guidance about confidentiality using [clears throat] a system that apparently has a lot of security issues. >> So Jay, that's why we purchased Zoom. So with the platform that we have in the purchase form, nobody can get in unless they've been invited

070in and they have to go to a waiting room and they everybody's muted until the host unmutes you. So, similar to what we were doing with the RTM and the town council, remember how secure that was? So, people could, you know, only come in and see if they were invited in. So, we'll be using that level of security when we do this >> and forever. >> Um, I had to I you have to upgrade your platform and the moment you upgrade it, you really the security risks are much lower if not at all because there's a meeting ID and a password and it's hard for them it's hard for hackers to kind of try to decode both of them um in the waiting room has been the thing so um I feel pretty secure I

071mean I'm using I'm using the HIPPA compliant and I'm sure it's the same for compliant for you guys um platform >> yeah and as the host we try to lock the meeting once all the participants are in and that's an extra layer of security so that hackers cannot get in but Um, we also have, um, our frontline IEP program, um, has just rolled out a collaboration portal which will allow us to use a secure password to email all confidential documents to the parent, and they have an electronic signature. So, if we need parents to wave the attendance of a of a teacher, sign a five-day waiver for the meeting to to meet within five days or sign a consent for reaval form, we now have a secure electronic electronic signature program in Frontline, our IEP

072program. >> Um, summer school. So, I was going to let um Ted talk about the grading also and then I guess you can talk about the summer school as well. >> I'm actually going to have Erin talk a little bit about the grading piece. Uh so, uh we've been working on that together, but I think she has some uh u she's ready to talk about that. >> Okay. So, just like Denise was mentioning, um when it comes to grading and kind of navigating all of this, uh the communication and the flexibility has been um really wonderful from all of our staff. Um we start with the basics, which is we we did have a form that teachers um fill out when they have not heard anything from students um and they haven't turned in assignments.

073And at that point, we deploy out the school counselors and the admin to make phone calls home to kind of see, you know, what's going on and making sure that everyone um is, you know, ready, able, and and willing to participate and if they need any resources that we're able to get that out to the family. Uh we ask the teachers to not penalize uh students on assignments. we've been giving a one to two week kind of grace period. So that g given you know sort of the getting into the sort of the swing of things and students are really learning in a whole new way um and there are obviously obstacles going on. So we've just asked for flexibility um and for things not to be uh penalized you know given kind of a

074grace window. Um we ask that you know assignments that students are turning in that they have tried their best on um that no teacher give lower than a 65% um and then you know always giving that ability to kind of rework an assignment uh for a higher grade. So flexibility with that as well. Um moving forward uh you know students were given assignments. We asked that for every class period that it be you know half an hour to 45 minutes. and in kind of talking to students, talking to students, talking to staff. Um, moving forward, starting next week, we are going to have our traditional A and B schedule Monday to Thursday, but Friday is going to be a day where no new assignments are given out, but students are given an opportunity to catch

075up on their work, uh, reach out to their teachers and staff, um, doing some balance and mental health activities, um, and just having a chance to kind of reset. Um, we do have a lot of students in upper level classes. They're also getting ready for AP tests. So, um giving a little bit of flexibility uh when it comes to their schedule. We our quarter three ended two weeks ago. Um and we do have a grade change form for our our students that are maybe submitting in things late so that nothing is set in stone. Again, once once again, sort of flexibility with all that. um the teachers uh and the administration and the counselors uh there's just constant meetings to kind of refine um what the teachers are doing for lessons with the students. You

076know, after hearing feedback, there are team meetings happening all over the place to make sure that we are really um you know, kind of dialing back or adjusting uh given some feedback uh that we're experiencing. We've been connecting our paras, our tutors, our school counselors to help struggling students. It's really important, although I know very difficult to be able to know what exactly um you know is impacting our students, but we've been using them to really connect with students to just figure this all out, to organize, to prioritize um and to get services out to our students and families. Um and lastly, uh you know, we have sort of our traditional weights that we use in our in the teacher grade books when it comes to an assessment versus homework versus classwork. They're all weighted

077differently. And I think that it was important for our teachers to be able to adjust those weights uh during distance learning because some of the things that are happening during a traditional school day are not happening now. And so we really took a close look at how we're waiting um what the students are doing during distance learning to make sure um that it there's much more of an equal beat and had you talked about how you were looking at the quarterly um waiting of grades? Have you talked about that a little bit too? Like the three quarters that were done kind of more face to face versus the last quarter that's done distance-wise? >> Uh yeah. So basically um I mean right now we're looking at the quarter weights because um you know it doesn't

078appear we're not going to be doing final exams. So it's uh so that's 10% of the student's grade right there that uh needs to be kind of redistributed. Um, so we're we're looking at the the quarter weights, but the first semester will be 50% of the grade. Um, and then students would be exempt from the exam grades and then so the quarters would just be um, you know, either uh, 20% or you know, however we decide to to adjust those. But, you know, right now it's something where um, you know, most of quarter three at this point, most of the grades that came in at this point are from the distance learning anyway. So we we're not really looking at um you know waiting quarter three more than quarter four you know just based upon

079on the fact that both of them have the distance learning uh as part of it. >> Okay. And then the other um question that's the other bullet that's on here is about summer school and apex. I don't see Adam has joined us but would someone from the high school like to speak to that? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's it that really has to do with the uh the kind of re-entry plan and and and what we've been talking about there. Um we're going to have to have some conversations about um you know, if students were unable to participate uh with the distance learning or need to get prepared to take the next class going forward, need a little extra time, a little extra work, and that using summer school as a as a

080a vehicle for that. Um, also, you know, if summer school's online, if students were struggling to participate online during the school year, it makes sense they probably wouldn't participate during the summer as well. Um, so if there's something that we could do in order to build in some supports for students when the school year starts, uh, we're going to be looking at that as well. But, uh, luckily, we do have the Apex learning, which I think is going to be a big tool for this. Uh but that's going to be uh part of that whole re-entry plan uh uh that we're going to be working with uh you know in the next couple weeks. >> Right, Liz? >> Yeah. I just had a question about the finance on part of the summer school. Usually there's

081a cost and um are we going to be looking to wave the cost for kids who have to use the summer school for a a to cut to catch up um or to help them get to where they need to be? um how are we going to adjust that? What is what's our what's thoughts on that? >> Well, Liz, I think that's definitely going to be part of the discussion, but I don't think I have an answer for you for that yet. Um you know, I don't think we've gotten that far yet. >> Uh but certainly that's definitely going to be part of the discussion uh as we go forward. Well, I think that it should we get these funds that Mike Grineer was talking about, I think putting them towards re-entry and the supports

082we need, whether it be to wave those fees so that we can get more kids in the middle school and high school involved. That could be the first um round of re-entry, the screenings that I talked about for our youngest learners that would happen in the late summer, even some of this curriculum compacting work. So, those will all go into this re-entry plan and the state is planning on giving us threequarters of that title one money on top of title one with even extensions to title one. So, I think that that funding source will be coming from the state. And so, I'll be sharing those ideas with you and I'll be gathering those ideas from my colleagues, teachers and administrators um and and you know, listening to your good thinking too around this. But those

083are perfect opportunities for this for Yeah. >> I just don't want our parents who are struggling financially to have to incur another burden because of a situation that they did not create and I just want to keep that in in mind. So I just needed to say it. Yep. >> Great. >> I I think another uh making sure that we we have uh our teachers or tutors um available during you know the summer school uh because the apex program is great but it's it's only a program. So having the tutors available uh with specific office hours to be able to if we are online to touch base through zoom or some other platform to give the tutoring to help the kids proceed through the material I think is going to be crucial as well. Great

084idea. Thank you all. >> You guys blow. This district blows me out of the water. You guys are >> That does that does me. That that completes it for me. >> Just just one point for me, Liz. The licenses for the Apex, we've already we've already paid for them. >> Okay. >> So, the the the fee I think you raised a really terrific point. the the only fee that we will have to acrewue this summer will be and we've spoken about this will be uh for the staff to support the kids. So based upon however many I think I think Ted makes a good point though if the kids if the kids are not are not hanging in there now with the distance learning I'm I'm I'm not going to be super confident but but

085on the other hand if if they could do some apex work in the summer and complete the course we we want to prepare them for September 1 and maybe >> Jay Jay and I were joking a little bit that uh you know the motivation here is do your work now so you don't have to go to summer school. Well, that's very true. And now that now that all the hotspots are in, you know, we have a we have a reasonable shot, we've got well, we've got five more weeks of of uh of distance learning at a minimum. Uh per perhaps eight more weeks of distance learning. Um which reminds me, Kim, I I just got a note from the construction people. They're nine weeks out from completion. >> Whoa. There's there's a it turns out

086there's a middle school going up. >> Oh, really? >> Kim, I just want to um another just a thought about this summer school. Is there any consideration of possibly having summer school in the traditional way of years ago where possibly especially where kids have to be a go in? I mean, I know it. I'm just grasping at straws. I'm just trying to think of ways to help our kids get re-engaged. So, I'm just thinking out trying to think outside the box. >> I think that's a health question. Yeah. If we could have kids come in, we would. >> Talk a little later about treehouse this summer. >> Um, you know, if if if we can, we will. the the treehouse the treehouse problem is if if the governor says that most people should start to

087go back to work and we don't have before school and after school or in this case with treehouse summer activities and summer camps it's going to be really difficult for people to go back to work. So we're going to have to balance those two things. even our um summer pro our summer school program for special education. We're talking about doing that remotely as well and that's what a lot of special ed directors around the state are talking about. So we really have to know that we were safe and secure especially since our special needs kids are so fragile many of them medically. So um we've got to be really cautious and I think Mike is absolutely right. We have to listen to the experts, medical experts before we decide what we can do. >> Thanks

088everybody. Appreciate it. I have a question to our um high school colleagues and so I was talking to a couple people who teach in the um in the Boston area and one of the messages that they are g giving out to the sophom their freshman, sophomore and junior um kiddos is that if you are thinking about you know furthering your education post high school either through tech or military or college that a lot of schools are going to be this is Miss Katie by the way um she um is that you're going to have to um they're they're going to pay attention to how driven you are during this virtual time. Like are you are you making your effort and I I don't know if you guys are speaking to that or you um or

089what have you. I was just kind of intrigued by that. >> Good point. >> Uh we have not spoken uh I at least I have not had any conversations with with students about that. We've really been trying to put some positive messages out to students as much as we can. um you know and certainly that's a a positive message and I think it it might be worth putting out there. But the uh you know uh really uh we we really just wanted to make sure that we were getting um some feedback from students uh and also from our teachers so that we could respond to that and adjust as as we went along. U you know so it's it's just been important for us uh you know just to really just ask them how it's

090going. You know the first two weeks were what it kind of was what it was. Uh the third week for the high school was uh a schooly nightmare. Um and then uh we kind of moved on from there. But you know we we I think it was just important for us to get some data on how we were doing and then and uh and then you know just uh kind of adjusted. Uh that's kind of where we are right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? I have a quick one and I saw Aaron um put a little note out there that um about the students who you know need to graduate and they always have to have the English 12. How are you supporting those students and would they be also just taking

091Apex in the summer, you know, to make sure that it, you know, not just we're talking about our underassmen, but the seniors to make sure that they get that diploma. this this week our um our focus really has been in on our senior class um and really taking a close look at our kids that are struggling and being able to kind of get everyone to the finish line. um we are going to need summer school because I mean unfortunately every year there are a few seniors that don't make it there and Apex has been able to sort of supplement what they've been doing uh in the classroom and kind of filling in the gaps. But we definitely will need the summer school for our seniors um that don't make it, you know, in June. But

092hopefully we can get them to the finish line in August and supporting them with tutors, you know, in summer school. But I can promise you that um our seniors, we have been connecting with our support staff um and just trying to get them a success plan and staying on them with daily check-ins um because it's not easy and and we do have students that feel, you know, like they want to give up and not, you know, be able to continue with their their learning. So, our our focus right now um is really on our senior class. We've been making phone calls um home to check in to see what we can do to help. Um but you know we will made that safety net. Um and to what Kim was asking as well um Jen

093Alanac our our college and career counselor um she had organized a presentation last Saturday uh through Citizens Bank. They were doing a webinar about financial aid. We have another one coming up. Jen's got some videos coming out, you know, for our junior class to kind of think ahead and make sure that, you know, we're still staying on track and that there's, you know, there's going to be next year, there's going to be senior year, there's going to be planning and your grades do matter. Um, and it's important to not lose sight of what you need to do. Um, you know, when when it comes to planning for for life after high school. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, I'm gonna move us on to our business manager report. >> Is Ken

094here? >> Hey, Ken. >> Ken, before you start, um, Ken, your voice is very, very soft. I don't know if you need to turn up your volume, but it's difficult to hear you. >> Yeah, before you were louder and now it's very quiet. >> I just thought I'd let you know. >> Thank you. I appreciate Rita because I've been having this problem all day. Um, so this makes me very nervous. This is I never knew that I was going to depend so much on a freaking laptop. Um, but Ken, um, can you hear me now, guys? >> Yep. >> Um, so Ken talk. >> Yes. Yes. How are you? >> I am going to share uh the object code summary with you. All right. Can you all see that? >> You got so good. >>

095Um, can you see the la last column? Not really. >> It was all sent to us, Ken. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, you have you have a copy of it. Um so this object code summary this is uh this is uh a reflection of the half a million approximately half a million dollars of uh cost avoidance that we had initially identified uh offset by the $496,000 uh that u we are trying to uh help uh FY21. So, so that's what this reflects. Um, so what you'll notice is that under salaries last year, uh, last, uh, last time we got together in March, uh, we were anticipating being overbudget by around 200,000. Um, and now we're looking at being under budget by 100,000. So that that's that's a reflection of that of that change the cost

096avoidance uh and then uh additional costs uh for FY21. Uh under benefits you'll notice other benefits line 12 uh is uh over budget by uh and that's a reflection of of uh accelerating the the uh severance payments uh where we would typically have paid them out in July. uh we are going to pay them out in June uh to to try and help uh FY21. Um and and similarly throughout this uh uh object code summary that's uh that's what um uh we have done. You you notice supplies uh um um there's a lot going on in supplies. We were anticipating some additional savings on electricity um as well as natural gas. Um but we are also anticipating uh picking up an additional 50,000 of of custodial supplies that that'll help out uh next year. Uh

097equipment. This was uh this was below budget uh previously and now we're looking to be over budget because we're going to accelerate uh the purchase of some maintenance equipment and some IT equipment. Uh so bottom line uh we're anticipating based upon uh just this set of um assumptions uh being pretty much uh on budget. This says we're actually over budget by 7,000. Now what this doesn't contemplate is uh any of the cost avoidance from the uh from the tra uh transportation contracts uh or any of the additional costs that we identified in the CO uh last week. Uh we were talking about um uh the food service. We're talking about treehouse admin. uh we were talking about additional um uh I uh equipment and so that uh for for Chromebooks that's reflected in this as

098of as as of this point. >> Any questions guys? >> Right. Thank you. And do you want to go on to the next? Yes. So, next uh the health uh healthc care report. Let's see. I want to try and share this one. So, uh they just sent the healthc care report this morning. That's why we didn't send it to you ahead. Um they're they're working um with a reduced staff as well. Uh it's too small. So, I don't know if you can see it. Um but this is through March of of 2020. Uh and so for the month of March uh it looks like we are over bud or not over budget but we spentundred and uh let's see it 123.7% of budget. Now this is comparable to last year. Last year we were atundu

09912,000 112% of budget. So it looks like March is typically a heavy heavy month uh for uh medical claims. Uh this uh this month uh you know 123% of budget that that's quite a bit. Uh but on a year-to-ate ba basis we're um we're 88.9% um in comparison to 90% through March of last year. So we're we're comparable. We're actually trending a little bit behind uh last year uh or a little bit better I should say than last year. >> You think the bar graph is also helpful if you move that up because you want to see the actual cost versus the budgeted cost. >> Yeah. >> So the actual has really been below the blue bar which is the budgeted cost throughout the whole year. That's pretty amazing. >> Yeah. >> March. >> And

100and it looks like so when we budget this we just we just budget the same amount monthly. Uh but you know it comes in it it doesn't work that way and and it it it tends to go in a cycle uh very similar year over year uh where you know the beginning of the year it's it's kind of heavy as a lull and then towards the end of the year it starts to ramp up. Uh you know the reason for that is uh as folks get closer to June 30 and their HSAs are going to roll over on June on July one uh you know they'll tend to uh try to use it up as we get towards the end of the year. So I I think this trend is comparable to last year. >>

101Jay, >> yes. Uh Ken, um I know [clears throat] at the end of last year there were some issues with this report. >> Can we be confident that that this accurately now reflects our uh employees? Yeah, all of the all those issues have been identified and and corrected and this uh we now compare this against the total uh to make sure that everything's uh tied up and uh I think uh we can have complete confidence in this report at this point. >> Any other questions? >> All right, can we move on? All right. All right. If Oh, um, did you want to talk about this one? >> Yeah, let me let me talk about it. The only reason I put this on the on the agenda, it was reflected a conversation that Kim and I

102had about our re-entry plan. And I knew we had to do a a number of things to support the the children regarding the learning gaps and so forth. Um but what I did not know uh originally was about the car's act. I had I had no idea we were going to get this $850,000. uh what we're doing right now actually at at the end of this week the the principles are going to give us a pretty good idea of where they see their budget and Denise is going to do the same and projected towards the end of the year and we're going to try to use as much of that money as we possibly can to replace uh like I was I was talking to couple of elementary principles today and they would really like

103to see for the young children uh not not so much use uh uh use Chromebooks but but uh to get iPads for the kindergarten children and the first graders and so we we want to we want to take care of that. We want to project as much alliance money as we can into that. So, we're uh I just I just wanted everyone to know that we're cognizant of we're trying to do the best as Ken has already said, we've already taken care of the 496,000. So, we're we're already good at zero. Uh and now we're going to use some of this money for our unanticipated like the uh the uh the food service employees and so forth. So, we we want to be sure we're doing all that in a conscientious way. And then in

104the fall now we've got some money that we could start planning. So I think that's a that's an issue that I think we need to talk about Jay with the u with the with the finance committee because uh by by by Monday night uh I I'll talk to you tomorrow but by Monday night we should be in pretty good shape to start laying this out to the committee fairly well. >> Cool. Thank you. Um, and then update on the SDA. >> Why don't you explain it, Ken? >> Sure. Uh, so we had a conversation with STA and we went through they they provided us a um a listing of all their expenses. Uh, we went through it um and and basically tried to understand what how those expenses uh needed to get paid and what

105our uh responsibility was towards those. Uh and so we came up with a number uh that I think is uh is is is a good reflection of what other districts have done with their bus companies. Um and um as of last Monday the 20th uh they were uh supposed to be paying their uh bus drivers. uh we have asked for documentation of that uh to understand exactly what they're paying uh as far as um uh whether they're paying for the overtime hours and at what rates. Uh so they have uh committed to getting us that information. I have not yet gotten that. That presumably would have been for their payroll of Friday. Um so we're waiting for that and we'll wait for that before we make any any payments to them. Um but at this

106point um um I think we're in uh pretty good shape with the SDA contract and the anticipated uh cost avoidance uh related to that. >> Any questions about that? >> Jay, >> I'd just like to make a quick comment um that uh I for one really appreciate what Dr. veneer. Uh Sam and Ken have done uh they spent an inordinate amount of time last week ensuring that um the governor's order uh was uh was abided by along with the tie-in with the car's act uh to ensure that the drivers were taken care of in the best possible way that we could you know under all that legislation. >> Thanks. Yeah, we and we we appreciated your input. We we wanted to be sure we had it right and we we at least have an agreement

107which we are going to monitor to to be sure the drivers are treated fairly. >> All right, I'm going to move us on um to the um to Mr. Phil um Phil Patrick um director of buildings and grounds. Man, I am tired of Zoom. Good evening. So, um I guess I guess the first thing I'll report on is the Graten 2020. Uh and as uh you probably know, the Graten Middle School project is continuing to progress. Uh I think Dr. Ger made a comment about that a little bit earlier. Um the middle school packing and moving is going on as well. Um and so teachers are coming into the two middle schools uh five or six per day uh to uh pack up their rooms of personal items first and then the items that are

108going to be moving on to uh to the new middle school. So custodians are uh assisting with that um and assisting with uh uh tossing the things that they are uh culling from from their rooms as well. Uh the second item uh is the uh food service uh department, the meals program. Again, uh the the meal totals are are are uh remain steady. Um, in the meantime, uh, Ernie has, uh, added, uh, two hot meals, uh, uh, during the week to the kids, uh, to the kids' meals. Uh, they're microwavable meals that they'll be able to heat up and, uh, so they can, uh, get hot meals as well as their, uh, their cold cereals, etc. Uh, the third item uh, is the, uh, tennis court project at Fitch High School. The uh bid packet

109is out. Uh we uh advertise that uh uh over a week ago. Uh the bids are due on uh May 11th and uh we'll see how that goes. Um there was one other item. Oh, the um the I the uh projects that are going on right now that we're that we're working on right now. uh maintenance department, custodial department. Uh one of the one of the big things of course uh well had a little bit of a a technical problem here today. I took a couple of photographs of couple of projects that are going on and uh we weren't able to upload them here, but uh you see them. >> Well, so so much for that. [laughter] Yeah. So um can you go back to the first one there, Mark? Is the first one there?

110No. >> Maybe. >> Hold on. >> I don't know why it's not advancing. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, not not totally critical. One of one of the other photographs actually showed the this is Charles Barnum School and um uh because that school is one of the elementary schools that we're going to keep uh and is in need of some uh upgrades uh we've been able to uh yeah that's well that one doesn't really show it but that that's actually the first photograph of of the uh the hallways that are painted a uh an aqua dark a dark aqua color presently and it really doesn't look that bad in a photograph But in in the building it's kind of dark and dingy. So uh we moved on to a lighter color and uh so the guys are

111uh painting uh uh the inside of uh the Charles Barnum School. >> That's not Charles Barnum School now on your screen obviously but >> that's the uh Yeah. So, um, uh, this is really, uh, I I think everybody will be very pleased when they get back to Charles Bronnham School. It feels like a, uh, a new school, larger school, brighter school, much happier school. I think it will be. >> Yay. >> Uh, the second uh, second project that that that I took a photograph was of the greenhouse, which uh, Mark put up now. And off to the right you can see the uh the skid steer which is digging the trenches uh for the drainage. Uh we had also dug the trenches for the electrical and plumbing previously. So that's all set. Uh and off

112to the left. It's barely noticeable on here, but uh there'll be a sidewalk that we'll be uh constructing uh from uh from the greenhouse. We had to put a second door in a greenhouse. Didn't come with a packet. So, uh, we were able to purchase one and get it in. And so, there will be a door coming out of the end of the 2800's wing and over to that side door of the greenhouse. >> Cool. Wow. >> So, >> very cool. >> It's pretty impressive little building. >> Guys are pretty much wrapping up this week with the electrical and applying on the inside, too. So, uh there's lots of uh the other projects that are going on. We're we're doing lots of roof repairs. Um machine repairs. There have been a lot of the machinery

113that the custodians use uh walkbehinds and ride-ons that uh fell in disrepair over the years. And we uh spending a lot of time getting those going. And needless to say, the uh with the middle school uh coming online, >> we we are uh spending a lot of time taking a look at the items that are in the two existing middle schools that are going to get torn down shortly to determine what things we might be able to take uh out of those buildings to use in some of our older buildings uh as we move forward. So, that's what I have for tonight. So, Liz, yeah. Um Sam, I got a request or a question from a um one of the people around and um they were concerned about um that around our current fields. There

114seems to be a lot of trash, uh broken equipment, things that have been left around. Now, I haven't seen this personally. I'm just telling you that I received an email from somebody and they were especially like down by the fieldhouse at Fitch and you know and especially around Fitch. And so I was just wondering have is this something that um is still going on? Has there has there been a cleanup behind the fields or and around those areas, especially like I think it was um around our baseball field and around our our fieldhouse. >> Well, the the baseball field does have a broken piece of equipment there. We haven't been able to haul that back to the shop to work on it yet, but we're aware of that piece of equipment. There are some older

115pieces of equipment that are stored behind the existing the the newer fieldhouse. Um, but I wouldn't call it necessarily uh broken equipment. It's probably um not used anymore uh for the most part. So, some of that stuff will get cleaned up too as we uh move forward. >> Thanks. So, one of the reasons why I wanted um Sam to just kind of present all the I mean, now that the buildings are vacant um it does give it does give his time his crew time to kind of get into the buildings and do kind of what they wanted to do. So, I just wanted to make sure that we had a snapshot of um all the hard work that um the maintenance and custodian and um Sam's crew has been doing. So, thank you very much

116for willing to share all that and um and the food service thing just continues to blow me out of the water in terms of what Ernie is doing. >> I'm going to be moving down to the committee reports. Um, has policy, curriculum, or finance and facility have have you guys met? >> I'm sorry, >> Lee, you just need to put yourself on on mute. Unmute yourself. We can't hear you. How's that? Perfect. Okay. Um, we did not meet in April, but I would like to meet um, it would be next Monday if that's okay with Susan and Jane. >> Okay, great. So, then we'll hear a report on that in the end of May. >> So, we've got >> we've got that at five o'clock and Erica is getting different policies that need to come.

117>> So, we'll we'll get the word out to you and set the agenda. >> Fantastic. Thank you, Susan. and Dr. Acriman and I spoke about curriculum meeting at 4 and Cara Haj can come at 4. So did you want to speak to that Andrea? >> No, I just wanted to say that we were going to meet on Monday at 4 and we are we set our agenda today and we're going to be talking about the distance learning and the um curriculum coordinator's position and and the um the statemandated courses. Yes. Thank you. >> Awesome. Jay, >> uh we don't currently have um uh meeting date set. >> Okay. >> I just want to make sure just want to >> we have not met since the last um our last meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. Um

118negotiations. Um we I think that that has I think it's safe to say it's been put on pause um because of um the the negotiating the the contract that we're negotiating they requested to meet in person versus on Zoom at least um that is my current understanding of that. um learn Rita. Oh yes, we we've continued to meet um on Zoom and um I think the what I you know they talked a lot about what they're doing for um co 19 and one of the things I thought was good which I know probably our teachers are doing but they're working on lesson plans in the collaborative um method by grade level and I'm sure we're probably doing that also but um I was happy to see that they um also Dr. Baneer, this is something

119I'd like you to um eventually report on to us. There's been a subcommittee um working on the new formula with the state for all education funding and um with the Connecticut Association of School Superintendent and Fran um Revenovitz and the retired commissioner of education Ted Sergey are the lead on that and Fran Rabinet was supposed to come to our board meeting but you know was not able to so um maybe Dr. could could give us an update on that. And as of June, um, learn will no longer be doing the birth to three services um because it wasn't funded. Um, the dual language, they're hoping to have some type of graduation and a get together for those students um since the school no longer exists, at least at its present site. And I think that's

120about it. Um they have a new principal at the marine science um high school that we'll I'll report on in May. We've I've gone through the interviews on that and um we'll talk about that in May. >> Oh, thank you. Um and there really has not been for the board of ed um the two leazison meetings. I do believe that there's one in May. >> Yeah, it would be it would be this coming Wednesday, I think. Yeah, I I am Lee. I'm not quite sure what's going to happen with that because I do know that the town council and the RTM have have canceled many of their meetings like this this coming Tuesdays have been cancelled. So, I don't I don't know if they are what what they're doing or not. >> Fine. >> Um,

121>> you know, we we're all keeping I think everybody's keeping themselves deprised of what's going on. So, I think that's fine. >> Yeah. Um maybe you and I can have an offline conversation about about >> be exciting. >> And could we have one? Um could are we still going to meet with the AGSA and GA in May? Maybe Beth could let us know. >> Yeah, sure. [laughter] >> Yeah, that that feels like that would be that would intent. >> We do intend to meet. It's just we don't know where. >> Well, I mean even on Zoom, but I was just wondering what was the date? That's what I couldn't remember. >> It was tight in May. >> Yeah, let's have Joan. Let's have Joan look look for that and she can put in the board

122board. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Um and then trail leison is on and the graten scholarships. >> Um I am behind besides myself with scholarship. I went on to gratenchools.org. I sent a note to whoever is head of scholarships. I don't even know who is on it. I'm beside myself. >> So, okay. So, maybe I'll have that as an offline conversation with you as to what to >> That'd be great. >> And Gretchen, you have trails. >> Uh, have been able to find them. I I've talked to a couple [laughter] other people who are on the trails committee. They haven't had any meetings that I know of. >> Okay. So those are usually in the woods, but that's just saying if you haven't been able to. >> I was hoping when we were in the

123woods six feet apart, we measure it, but we haven't had a meeting. So I am really sorry. >> This is chase down. >> Is it in the weeds? [laughter] >> No, we're not in the weeds. on to the I am moving on to the action items um which is the consent agenda and I will take a motion to for the approval um of the first three things which is the regular meeting minutes of February 24th March 26 and April 6th. Can I have a motion? >> So move >> Lee. Can I have a second? I have Liz. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor of the consent approving of the consent agenda, please say I or raise your hand. >> I those um oppose, abstain. The motion has carried. >> We're now on to

124um new business and um Rita, would you be willing to read number one, please, of the motion? um to approve the extension of the transition K pilot program through the 2020 to 2021 school year. >> And can you read the motion, please? >> I did. >> Oh my gosh, you did. You [laughter] did. I I am so sorry. Can I have a second? [laughter] >> Who did that? Oh, Andrew. I did. Andrew. >> Okay. Do we have any Do we have any more um conversation about that? Um just just so for whoever is going to watch this or watching this or hearing us um just to know that we had a huge conversation about this in the committee of the whole um where we had people who were participating um currently in the transition program

125and that the board has really felt like it needs to go through another year pilot um specifically with the COVID experience um has kind of hindered some of that stuff. So, um, any other discussion hearing? None. And I'll just I can see all my board members. So, I'll just do it by hand. Um, all those in favor to approve the motion um of the the extension of the transition K pilot program through the 20 um and 21 uh school year, please say I. >> I >> oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. Liz, would you be willing to read the motion for number two, please? But Liz, could you please un unmute yourself? Still need to still need to. You're not unmuted. >> Yes, I am. >> Now you are. >> You are. >> Okay. to

126approve the inclusion of the funding of the cafeteria staff wages from the FY20 board of education budget. >> Can I have a second to that? >> Second. >> I Lee is a second discussion. >> Mike, >> we we are going to put in for this uh on our FEMA. We we have to return turn in Ken Ken is going to return turn in a report by by Friday, but we're going to include this amount. So, this this may come back to the board hopefully as a a good bit of it as as a reimbursement, but uh this would allow the enterprise fund not to go into deficit. >> Okay. >> And Peter >> Mike, that's why I mentioned to you about the SNAP program that the funding for that could possibly could some of that

127could go towards this also. >> Yeah. Perfect. We'll pursue that tomorrow. >> Thanks. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor to approve the inclusion of the funding of the cafeteria staff wages from the um fiscal year 20 board of education budget, please say um please say I raising your hands. >> I >> oppose. Abstain. Motion has carried. Um, the third one, um, the third motion, Jay, would you be willing to read that, please? >> Uh, just a point of clarification, am I reading these names into the record? >> I I believe the names >> I'm sorry, I didn't hear them. >> I believe the names have to be read. Yes. >> But if I could if I could uh make a statement, these these are uh non not for performance. uh these are

128purely budgetary matters. Uh the individuals know is not reflection is absolutely no reflection on their teacher ability. Uh it is just a a part of uh some of them were one-year contracts and others uh couple of them uh one is a part-time person but in in no stretch the imagination is this performance related >> and this is state law is this correct? Yes. >> Otherwise, they would have the right to come back in the fall. >> Okay. >> All right. Having understood that, I will reluctantly move to approve the recommendation of the superintendent of schools that in accordance with provisions of Connecticut General Statute section 10-151. The contracts of employment of the teachers listed below shall not be renewed upon conclusion of the 2019 2020 school year. Kevin Frozen, David Hall, Zachary Jacobson, Raymond. >>

129Can I have a second to that? [clears throat] >> Um Jane has seconded that. Any any further discussion than what the statement that Dr. Grineer has given? Okay. All those in favor of the motion that was read by Jay um to approve the recommendation of the superintendent of schools that in accordance with the provision of Connecticut general statutes, the contracts of employees of the teachers listed below shall not be renewed upon the con uh the conclusion of the tw um 2019 2020 school year. Um that would include Kevin Crosen, David Hall, Zachary Jacobson, and Raymond Luong. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. >> Kim, I I must have been muted when I said I wanted to say something and all I wanted to say is that

130this was day reger when I was coming up in the system. Uh this happened every year until maybe 20 or so years ago when it became not the practice. So it's nothing new. >> Thank you, Andrea. I'm sorry I did not catch you. >> Jane, would you would you be would you be willing to read number of the motion for number four >> to recognize May 5th through 2020 as National Teacher Day and May 3rd through 9th, 2020 as National Teacher Appreciation Week and to direct the superintendent of schools to send a letter of appreciation to the teachers. >> Can I have a second on that? Second. >> Sorry, Gretchen. Yeah. Um, uh, you can fight it out between the two of you. [clears throat] Discussion on that. >> All right. So, so all those

131in favor of the motion that's on the floor to recognize May 5th, 2020 as National Teachers Day and May 3 through 9, 2020 as National Teachers Appreciation Week and to direct the superintendent of schools to send a letter of appreciation. >> I think Liz is trying to get hold of you. She's not. Okay. So, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. Sorry. >> Thanks, Lee. [laughter] >> It's okay. >> Lee? >> Yes. >> Would you be willing to read the motion for number five, please? I would if I could, but I cannot because they're on my iPad and my iPad doesn't talk to my printer. So, no, I cannot, but I wish I could. >> Gretchen, would you um would you do the honors of reading

132the motion for number five? >> I'm sort of in the same situation as Lee. I'm >> So, you know what? I'm That's great. I'll just do it. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> That's not a problem. I just want to make sure that people got their voice. to recognize May 6, 2020 as the National School Nurse Day and May 6th through 12th, 2020 as National School Nurse Week and to direct the superintendent of schools to send a letter of appreciation to the nurses. Can I have a second to the motion? >> I got question. >> Do we have any discussion about that? >> All right. So, all those in favor to um for the motion to recognize May 6, 2020 as National School Nurse Day and May 6th through 12th, 2020 as National School Nurse Week and

133to direct the superintendent of schools to send a letter of appreciation to the nurses. Um all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. Motion has carried. We're now down to the information, proposals, non-actions, letters, communication. Vita, did you have anything? Rita, you're not you're not unmuted. >> I had questions about what was going on at Westside and Cutler about all the trees that were going to come down. Some are marked, some are not. So, I just explained that they were just starting, you know, to convert those to our elementary schools and the building was starting to take place. Um, I enjoyed all the school videos. I think they're wonderful. iz your seats, you know, looking at the students, it it just really moves you. So, that was they're all really lovely

134to see. Um I had um something that I'd like to maybe to go to the committee of the whole. I noticed when when we when we talk at learn um about services for special education, it's called student support services as and they don't use special education services and I was wondering if we could have that maybe have a name change because I really like student support services as opposed to special education. So, it's just something to think about. I know we'd have to change a few other documents and so forth, but it was just I was hoping we'd have a um um a discussion about that. And I wanted to also thank Dr. Grineer for sending out the teacher assignments that they've gotten that done and that teachers know, you know, which team they're on

135and everything. I think that's great. And Susan, you too. >> The kudos really go to Susan and the team. That was a huge relief for the teachers. >> Yes, I can imagine. Yeah. >> Liz, Liz, your any communications? >> Yes, I did. I had um a question came to me about the lighting on for the possible lighting for the new turf fields um behind the middle school. And thanks to Dr. Grineer and Rick Norris was able to get that information to the person who sent it out to me that this was on our the lighting is on our wish list, but it is not something that is part of the of the plan at this time and that we'll have to take a look at it. Um, I just wanted to say thank you very

136much. This also came with the um that was also part of the communication about the things that were behind the fieldhouse. So, I just wanted to let you know. Thank you, Liz. Lee, do you have any any >> No, I don't. But I'd like to say thank you to Mark. Um, you as always, he is with us all the time. Thank you. >> But he needs to not put a mountain snow scene because I'm freezing. I want [laughter] That's my only comment, Mark. But Lee, that you're you're very correct on that. Andrea, do you have any >> Yes, I have something that h happened at the very beginning of our at the very beginning beginning of our um hiatus from school. And that was a telephone call from Sharon and Joey Schik. and they just

137wanted to express their their thanks to the district and the and the board for all the support that children are getting in terms of learning distance learning and especially the hot the the meals that are being provided. That's it just thought that was a wonderful thing for the district. Jay, [clears throat] >> of course, I I've already mentioned I've received a lot of communication about the um the school bus drivers. Um but I also, unless I overlooked it, um I just wanted to recognize the administrative professionals of the district. Um their day was April 22nd, obviously in chaos. um we were not able to be with them physically, but um I don't know if we can make a motion or or have Dr. Vier send a similar letter just recognizing all the work that they're

138doing. I know some of them are in schools in home uh back and forth and I know they're doing a lot behind the scenes to support the district. Andrea, >> I I thank you, Jay, for reminding me that if you remember when I had such a problem with graphic novel and then I met the man and I and I read the the novel carefully and I asked at that time that the cooks be uh be recognized. So, I'm hoping that Dr. Grineer would be able to do the same kind of recognition for the for the cooks in the district. >> Thank you, Jane. It's just absolutely amazing to watch the the increase in camaraderie throughout the district in under these conditions. Um I had to laugh this week when someone jokingly said to me, "You

139know what it is with a remote meeting that provides uh socialization for hermits. Other than that, it can be very frustrating." So people are joking about all of this and working very hard. You know, kudos once again to everyone. >> Thank you, Jane. Gretchen. Gretchen. >> Yeah, I'm here. Um, >> did you have any communications? >> I do. I have a shocking number of communications. The bus drivers, I've had lots and lots of calls from bus drivers and Dr. Grineer has been so helpful and I've been getting right back to them with what he said. I've had a couple of chats with neighborhood kids and I one very well spoken 10-year-old said, "Mrs. Nuome, I love it. It's three hours of school. [laughter] That That one led me to that. I've had a couple of

140parents who've gone down to Cutler for their kids to play and they've tried to play tennis and they want to know if we're leaving the tennis courts and I said, "I don't think so." So, yeah, the tennis courts at Cutler >> are gone. >> They're gone. Um, who's one other thing? Oh, it's uh it's a me question actually and I it's more towards Sam's direction. The submarines have incredibly good scrubbers on their air filters and I'm not sure with this current in this current conditions. I think it's a good time to ask. When we filter the air, we're just sort of pushing the germs around the school and around the school and around the school because we can't open the windows and send them out. Will we be looking into improving our air scrubbers? Maybe

141in the future, possibly in the new schools going up at least. >> No dead silence. >> No, I No, I think I [laughter] think No. And Gretchen, I appreciate that you um brought that up because I know that you um I I got a a voicemail from you last night. So, I appreciate you doing that. You know, and Sam, I think that the question um it's not on agenda, so I don't think that we can have a conversation about this today, >> but we could bring it up, put it on an agenda. >> Absolutely. Or um through a board note, maybe if it's a simple answer. Um we could get that answer, but that that's actually relatively um important question for us. >> Super important for the health of the kids. >> Yep. >> And

142the teachers. >> Yep. No, for everyone >> down in my left corner. >> All right. Um I I No one wants to talk to me. >> I do. >> So, I don't have any letters for communications um on that. Um Rita, I have that down for your support your support services. That's an interesting concept and I don't know what that means in order to change. Um but that that is good. Do we have other agenda items that we want to add? Okay. Hearing none. Is it time? Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. [laughter] >> All those in favor please say I >> I >> All right. Motion has carried. >> Good night everybody. >> Good night everyone. >> Jim, I'll see you tomorrow. >> Yes. 7:30. >> Good night. >> Hi Susan. Nice. >> Good night,

143Jane. >> Hi. >> Good night, all right.