5-11-20 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Andrea Kim uh Kim requested that you go ahead and start. >> Well, Mike, I'm not sure whether can we um approve all of the minutes at once or do we have to go through every one of them? >> No, I think you could take it as a group, right? And then if anyone has an objection, we'll pull that one out and take it. >> Okay. So, >> maybe somebody could make a motion to accept all the >> Well, did did we call the meeting to order? >> No, not yet. >> I thought we did. >> 606. It's on. >> Right. I thought we did. Okay. So, I'm starting with the first first thing on the agenda, which is to call meeting order. And I thought we did, but here we go again. And the second

002thing is can I have a a motion for to approve the the minutes of let's see March 9th these are all CO March 31st 13th and April 20th. >> so move second. >> Okay. So Dr. G, I guess you're on for reopening of schools. >> Sure. Uh I the first thing I wanted to share with you is I >> the call the motion Andrea. >> Oh yeah, right. We have >> Oh, we didn't vote. >> You know some Thank you, Rita. One of these days I'm going to get the hang of this. Um okay. Um in favor? No. Is there any? No. First the in favor then the and then the discussion comes after that. help me out here. No. >> Hi, Susan. >> Just I think you should just ask if there's any discussion.

003>> Okay. Discussion. >> Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. >> Okay. One abstension and that's Rosemary. And the the motion passes. Thank you, Rita. I don't know what I'd do without you. >> No. >> And Kim just joined us now. >> Thank you. Jesus. >> Kim, can I can I leave the meeting and come back in because no one has ever really said, "Thank you, Jesus." When they saw my face. Just saying. All right. >> You want I I I'll start if you want, Kim. >> Where are we? >> We've passed the minutes as a group. >> Number three. >> Thank you, friend. >> Yeah. So, two things and I'm going to let Susan weigh in. Uh there was a there was a a governor's roundt on reopening education today uh that I found extremely

004helpful and I'm just going to share some notes. Dr. Carter, the state epidemiologist, he he started off with the whole notion that we and boy, this was a theme throughout that we just have to be flexible as we as we think about certainly as we think about the fall. Uh the the head of the CEA, Beth and Doug, uh Don Williams, uh was the first one actually to speak after Dr. Carter and he was just saying from the teachers perspective in the fall we need to have testing in place social distancing masks class sizes you know it's it's slowly starting to dawn on people that if we open unless something miraculous happens we probably are going to open with limited number of students in the classes and uh I know there have been some reports

005about for example a third of the kids coming in every third day. And um anyway, the the CEA uh gave some thoughtful suggestions along those lines. Uh and and basically uh one of the college professors was saying that you really have to be prepared for kind of like a hybrid perhaps part part inerson and and part uh distance learning. uh Prim Rabininoitz, the head of CAPS, uh she kind of weighed in about making sure that all children uh get the kind of services they need, including the disabled. Uh we had a good discussion about summer summer camps. Uh we're going ahead, I'm going to give you a big proposal tomorrow, Kim, uh to fully start uh the treehouse program for 8week child care program uh this summer. Um, and however, we're going to have to

006get a waiver. You're only allowed to have 30 kids per program, per child care program. But if you have a big enough facility like a school, I I'm confident we can we can get the waiver. Um, we Commissioner Cardona, he just cautioned everyone, you know, we need to do this right so we don't have to do it again. uh one of the the former president of Yale was uh was speaking and he came up with an interesting suggestion that colleges might start in September and go to Thanksgiving and not have the kids go back to campus, finish off the semester online, which I think is a a kind of a a tip towards there may be some additional problems come come November. Um uh just so I have my notes here, we're going to have

007we're going to have to accommodate the people with pre-existing conditions, the children with pre-existing conditions. So, you know, I keep coming back to that word flexible and and we are going to have to really embrace that because I'm I'm not entirely sure. But the other thing that that I sent you uh was something that the Connecticut Center for School Change shared with me and and Susan and I have talked about a good bit and and it and it's called a return to school roadmap and it has some some really interesting B basically it's a seven-part it's a seven-part uh kind of process that that looks at governance instruction, technology, facilities, post-secondary planning, wellness, and operations. And I when I spoke to this Connecticut Center for School Change today, uh Isabelle Stevenson, who helped us with

008a little bit of the strategic planning, she she told me about a program they're having a series of workshops on on each of those things. and that uh because of our contract with Isabel essentially it's already paid for so that we would we the district would be able to participate in this return to school roadmap workshop with coaching and and materials and uh I shared that I shared that with Susan and we're we're basically we're basically thinking that something like the the governance the the governance uh aspect of returning to school would be the board and and myself and and perhaps perhaps some some others. We're going to roll that out. And then the instruction and technology would fall under under Susan and and a committee and and we're hoping that some board members would

009be interested in serving on that. I know Doug and and Beth are interested. I see I see uh uh Andrea nodding her head and I'm I'm assuming that some of the folks from from curriculum and uh committee would be interested in that. Then there's a facilities you know how do we o over the over the 10 weeks there there there are about 10 weeks from the 12th of June until the 27th of August. during that 10-week period, how how do we get ready so that we have people that that feel comfortable coming into our schools? Then there's a post-secary that I'm going to ask Erin McGuire to head up a kind of a a guidance issue. there's a wellness component that we want to both physical wellness and mental health that we want to uh

010have a committee with nurses and I think I think Susan will probably also lend a hand there and then we're going to have an operations committee which which has everything from from finance to a HR enrollment and so forth and so I'm going to get all this out to you in in detail >> I think I already sent my >> Yeah, but >> I sent it to all the board members. >> Oh, good. >> There was a link to the road map and then there was an attachment. >> Give me a thumbs up if you received it. >> All right. It it I think it >> uh did you get the packet? Uh by the way, >> I did. >> It should have been a You know what? Darn. I I put it in board

011notes. Did you get board notes this week? >> Um, no. I can't remember. >> Oh, okay. >> We can certainly get Rosemary a computer. >> Yeah. And then >> Yeah, we could. >> We have those people, too. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, my my my point is if you take a look at it, board members, I'd appreciate it if you could sort of weigh in and uh and talk about uh which committee you'd like to be on it. uh perhaps in the short run including Zay and Addie it it'd really be great to have students because you know my I think I I mentioned I don't know who I mentioned but my my thoughts are in in the fall we've got three options there's going to be a miracle and everybody's going to go back to

012school and and in person uh there's going to be there's going to be a semi miracle and we'll all be able to go back at least for a period period of time. And then there's the the the sort of this the the lurking reality that I think is upon us that we're going to go back in hybrid mode, meaning some inperson perhaps a certain number of kids uh uh in a building at a time, certain number of kids on a bus at a time. This is going to take some some serious planning. And then as as uh virtually every speaker at the round table said today, you just have to be flexible. You know, we could we could have plan B all ready to roll and on the you know the 25th of August realize

013uh that there's a there's a you know a continued outbreak or a new outbreak and we're going to have to switch. So uh I think I think flexibility is going to be the key. But uh >> I think I think Mike Rita had a question or were you just waving? >> Okay, she was just waiting. >> So you want to weigh in a little bit, Susan? >> I I just wanted to let you know that I did receive from Susan when she asked. I wasn't really waving. >> Okay. I'm glad you got it. >> Yes. >> No, I think you you pretty much fully explained it. I think that when you think of a task force to do a comprehensive road map, it's one of those things that it's such a big job that to

014break it up into these buckets the way they have is so essential and then to come back to the table, you know, with the different parts of the plan and just to make sure it makes sense. And if you looked even the parts that I kind of cut and pasted to the addition, you know, just I loved the fact that this in this road map they said what is it that we can do now? What is it that we must do before we go back and what is it that we essentially have to do once we're in the building? So for every single one of those components and really I had said um to Mike really the governance part is the board of ed and maybe he and I working with the board of ed

015to see your roles and responsibilities and how you can support us in this and then each of those buckets um I can see some of our separate subcommittees working on or people who are interested so that we have some representation and honestly I would love to have Addie and Zay because instruction and technology and their experience with it and you know how we can even do it better I think are you know would be awesome and to have Beth and um you know Doug and other teachers and administrators we don't want a huge group because we do have to zoom so um but it would be good to have representation from you know throughout the district so um one of the things that I would say that um really um when I was watching the

016commissioner of said, I kind of quoted what he said. He said, "We're really um a collective call to action in our different communities." And we have to almost reimagine, we've had to reimagine education the way it was and the way it is now. And it's certainly not the way where we want it to be. Um it's, you know, but we can look at what has worked and what hasn't worked and how can we make this better for kids? And it goes back to what Doug had said. How do we build a stronger one of these distance learning um programs into the future where this might have to be the new norm where these things happen every now and again. So um and you know he did talk about equity and access and even in meeting

017with the assistant superintendents um in learn I I felt really um very validated that you know there were a lot of districts that are out there very affluent districts that did not give out computers did not give out hotspots then for yourself and I felt like we had really that was on our mind equity and access that all of our kids it took us a a little longer than we had hoped, but that all of our kids could be able to participate. And I think that's what I was hearing too from the commissioner, that that's what's ever so important. And even our our kids with some biggest challenges and special needs, how are we making sure that they have equal access? Um, you know, so um I think though, Mike, I think it's a a

018good plan. I think it's a good road map and I'm looking forward to working with people on it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any questions about that before we move on? Kim? Yes. Just a a quick question. Um it to who who to whom should I send what I would like to do? I want to be involved in send it to you, Kim. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. All right. Our next thing on the agenda um is this has come out of the curriculum committee as which is what our path is. Um and I don't know if Andrea or Susan if you want to start that off that would be great. >> Andrea, you got to unmute. Unmute. There you are. >> I did. I did. I realized that. Anyway, we

019met with um via Zoom with Carmea and well, our questions weren't really answered because the state doesn't have the answers. So, we're ready to go to move ahead with what we have and um is Carmeita here tonight? I am. >> I'm here. >> Okay. >> Waving at you. >> There you are. So, why don't we turn it over to Cara and because she's the expert, >> right? >> Goodness gracious. >> So, could we just make sure that we're really clear that that I'm really glad that we're having this discussion. It just really breaks my heart that we have to have a state law that that to have a to have enriched literature um that represents all of us. Um but it but we do unfortunately and maybe someday um in our lifetime we don't. Um

020but so this is really to meet to to want to fill in a gap that we have but also um it is also to meet uh the the state um regulation. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. All right. And once again I it just breaks my heart that that's what we have to do but because I think it should just be part of an enriched literature um and it's not. Um so Kamita please take it on. >> Okay Mr. Russell can I share my screen? I think you should be able to. >> Okay. >> That's not Mr. Russell. That's Rosemary Robertson. Okay. >> M Rose Rosemary Roberts. >> Rosemary. >> Yes. Okay. >> Okay. So this is the presentation that I shared with the curriculum committee with a few updates. Um but as Dr.

021Acman has said a whole lot of information or questions are still unanswered. So, um, just to give a little bit of background, um, I've been constantly communicating with Stephen Armstrong, our social studies curriculum, uh, consultant, and I'm hesitating because I'm wondering why it's so low. >> It's running slow like me. I mean, >> okay. Okay. >> I did see it go up. >> Okay. So maybe I should stop it and try it again. >> Yeah, >> there is. >> I We did get copies of it >> of the power. Do you have the PowerPoint? >> Not Could you Could you just put it up one time and don't do anything else? >> Okay, I'll do that. Okay, here we go. >> Oh, goodness. >> Pops right off. >> Yep. >> Carita. >> Okay. >> Would

022you send that? Keep talking, but send it to me. Can you do that? You have the abil. >> There it is. Can you see the whole the whole slide, though? >> Yeah, we can see the whole slide. Number two. >> Okay. All right. So, so I've been in constant communication with Mr. Armstrong, and he doesn't seem to know a whole uh wealth of information either about this. So, he's he seems to just know as much as we know. Um he's looking for questions, and so I sent him questions. uh a meeting was scheduled uh with CIRC as soon as I got off the uh meeting the Zoom meeting with the board of curriculum last week or the week before. I sent him those questions that we had and then the meeting his meeting was cancelled.

023But this is what we know so far. We know that CIRC has taken charge of this um this initiative and uh the committees that have been developed are also meeting on Zoom. I know a few people on those committees and they're just in the discussion stages. They're not even near close to near or near uh writing any curriculum. Um a couple weeks ago I joined one of the focus groups where I thought it would be a discussion about um the new course and it just was a factf finding information. They asked questions, we shared our answers and they went to the next question. Um so we do know that uh the CIRC is um developing the curriculum. Um High School or or the Bron Public School System does not have to implement the course officially

024until the 2022 school year. We are have the option to start it or implement it in our schools during the 2021 school year, but it won't be mandated until the 2022 school year. During that time, beginning July 2022 through uh July 2024, the state department will be auditing each school to ensure that each high school has implemented the program. The course is being developed um for all high school level 9th through 12th grade. Um again, I'm I'm just skipping all over the place, but one another expectation of the school district is that we have to teach this um issue course. We can't modify it in any way. Um, one of the questions that a board member asked um, uh, the last time I met is, can we, uh, separate the two? Can we just teach

025one, uh, African-American history one semester and then teach, um, Latino and Puerto Rican studies another semester? That question hasn't been answered um because the curriculum has not been a uh, developed. So, we don't know what it's going to look like. This is some new information that we discovered in my conversation with Mr. uh Armstrong that this course can be taught by a social study or a language arts teacher and it can be given credit as a humanities course. And so my question to Mr. Strong is in the legislation it specifically speaks to a social studies teacher teaching it. And so he has to go back to CIRC and the state department to get an answer or an explanation for that because that was changed and it was not changed in the legislation. Um I talked

026about CIRC and I talked about the focus groups that I attended. Um and then these are the most recent questions that the board of ed asked. Um the board of ed asked where there'll be funds made available to the district and these are Mr. Armstrong's educated guests because again his uh meeting with CIRC was cancelled. He was supposed to meet with him last week and his the meeting was canceled. So his educated guess is that CIRC has no money provided for the resources. That means the district will have to put the bill for lack of better word. And then to the second question that board of ed members asked is once the curriculum has been developed will there be regional schools will regional schools be able to to get together to talk about the curriculum

027and he says yes professional development will be provided for the curriculum and they are talking about doing it on a regional level and again uh as Mr. Armstrong learns information. He promised that he would share and keep me up to date and I'm going to keep him to that because I'm going to keep emailing him and find out as >> well done Cara. Keep him feet to the fire. >> And that's it. Any questions? >> Hi Cara. When I look at um the bill in section four um I believe on the last page they they call it one course. It's fairly clear in a few different places here. It says the regional board of education may offer the black and lat Latino studies course. It is not plural pursuant to section in um grades 9

028through 12. So that meant it could be one course and taken over a 4-year period. No, it's just one year. It's a one-year course. One elective. >> One elective. But what I'm saying is that you could take it ninth grade, 10th grade. >> Yes. Yep. >> Students have a choice. >> Exactly. They sure do. They sure do. >> And it could be according to although it's not in the legislation, according to Mr. Armstrong, it can be counted as humanities course. So either social studies or English. Yes, you're absolutely right. >> Perfect. >> Be a perfect my course. disciplinary MYP, >> right? And an IB course, >> right? >> Although although Dr. Grineer, we do teach civil rights movement and black studies for topics and themes in IB. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Any other questions? >>

029Carita. >> Yes, ma'am. >> You know, um I understand the focus on um black and Latino studies. However, that's not always our population. And you know, we have a large Asian population and Middle Eastern population. And I just wonder if um you know, those are things that might be coming down the pipeline as well as elective courses cuz I want to make sure that this is an elective. It's not required >> for all to get kids to take. >> It's an elective. Right. >> That's right. >> Correct. Correct. >> Okay. But you know this is Go ahead. >> I I believe it's an elective but every student has to take it. >> No, this is not math. >> Every school has >> It's only mandated. >> Oh, you just have to offer it. >> It's

030only mandated that we offer it. >> Correct. >> Oh, >> correct. And again, this was um a a a mandated course that was developed by some of our teams in the area. And I think Zay was part of one of the organizations that was really involved in developing this course and some of our MLK students are part of it and they're helping developing the curriculum as well. >> Way to go, Z. Way to go. >> Uh yes, I have a couple of questions. Um and and this is has to do with what what the electives may be. I would love to see that some of the American authors uh both Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and black would be part of it. The literature would be part of it. >> You don't just history, >> right? >>

031But also language arts. >> We do have an African-American lit course. >> That's an elective at our high school level. So, but you're you're right that we should include all groups in that, but we do have and it's a popular class that's that students enroll in is the African-American lit class. Um, but you're absolutely right and we've been trying to develop courses to meet the needs of our entire population and just not a few. But right, I I I will bring that to our department, our social studies department, >> because we do at some point throughout the year have the ability to uh propose courses to administrators. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome, >> Dr. Grineer. Well, I I was just going to say as you were saying, it's unfortunate that it it

032came down from the state, but I I would love in in response to what Liz said, I would love to see us have some ethnic studies electives, and the other one that's obvious to me with where we are is Native American studies. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yes. Right. >> You know, I I've I've always thought in New England it would make certainly as close as we are to the Jew tribal nations, it makes a lot of sense to admit, >> right? >> We Dr. Mayor, as a matter of fact, before um school closed, our department got together and we developed a list of courses we would like to propose. >> Great. >> And Native American is is one of the top ones. >> Great. Yeah. So, we'll work to propose that or submit that information.

033Wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be great to include somehow um music and art and make this a well-rounded school? >> So, another course that was developed on that list because one of our teachers, you probably know him, Peter Crump, is an expert in music history >> and so he likes all those 60s and 70s and 80s music. So there is a course in the music department, a history, music history course, but we wanted to do more of a >> performance. Yes. Right. The or thematic music, you know, what was going on dur during this period of time, what music was being played during this period of time, >> the social history through music, >> right? >> That's awesome. >> Many times when we involve the arts, it makes it so much more dynamic. >>

034Yeah. >> Oh gosh. Yes. >> Um, Cara, I do believe Mafil High School might have a distance learning one course on that or they did at one point. >> So, um they they might still have it. They did have it as a distance learning and um they did have a human a class that was American studies >> that integrated the music, the art, the literature all about American history. So, okay, you know, I'm just throwing that out because I think that's a a neat way to go to for an American history credit that's required for graduation. >> And you said it was a distance learning program. >> There's one on just there's one that was distance learning on >> um music and the you know the social history of music in the United States. >>

035Okay. >> And then and then the other one they had was an American studies class which was balanced with an English teacher and a social studies teacher. And so they taught >> they got two credits for it, but you signed up for both of those. It was really quite very popular. >> Was very good. >> So just an idea. >> All right, I'm jotting these down. >> Gotcha. I was thinking about the American Native American studies that would fall more under an anthropology class than an English literature class or a literature class of any sort or I mean it had there's so much involved there >> and we have so much ability here to become actually involved in it >> where I think that might fall better under anthropology than literature or history. >> Okay.

036>> Which falls under under our department as well too. That's a good idea. >> Yeah. >> Any further questions? So, what's the next step? >> So, the next step I am going to uh send another email to Mr. Armstrong to find out the update. He you know what he welcomes it. He says if you can think of anything else, car me to email me. So, I'm gonna do that. But um the organization that I I was telling the curriculum committee before I'm involved with this or or outside organization they and they update me of what the certain committees are doing. So that's how I find out some of my information as well. So, >> and I think about the timeline and I know that the next step would be able to bring to our curriculum

037committee the actual CIRC curriculum once it's written so that we can then get it voted on so that it goes officially into that 2022 >> school year. Great. Great, Jane. I'm not hearing anything from Jay Jay. >> So, um my question is so it doesn't have to be uh offered until 2022. Is there a possibility of offering it earlier or is that too tight for the curriculum development? So that's a good question because there uh SER is to submit it to the state department by January 2021. So if we um plan to off that might be very tight if we can offer it in the fall of 2021. >> Yeah. I think well yeah that would be a tight >> not necessarily follow the board guidelines and other things but Jay I think you're right.

038It would be great to have that course offered sooner than later. It's >> Mike, >> I was going to say because the if the next step is we get this curriculum, uh it it's a little like an ECE course where the Yukon writes the curriculum, right? So if the board if the board votes at at some future meeting to offer this class, it's not like we have to give Carmea, you know, six months to write the curriculum. The curriculum will be there. So I if we had the information in January or the spring of 21, which is to say next spring, we could offer it in the fall of 21. having to order resources and whatever materials that we need. >> That would be part of the program study, wouldn't it? >> Well, I Well,

039that's what I'm that's what I'm saying. If it's if it's a yes or no from the board's perspective, uh then, you know, we're not going to we're not going to change the curriculum and it's a state uh it's a state law requirement that we uh that we offer it. I I'm just saying if the board wants to approve it, we could put a course in the program of studies leading into the the fall of 21. >> So Joan, could you could you put uh um could I be so bold on board to request Joan to kind of put a tagline in so that we can vote on that that >> so that that course could then move forward. >> Yep. I I'll I'll Joan and I will do it. >> Thank you. >> It's Pie.

040>> It's Polly. We have a problem with fox. >> Yes, you do have a problem with fox because when I was walking my dogs, there was a couple of foxes there and >> they were trying to be friendly. >> Oh, >> I've seen I I just wrote about them. >> Did you? >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. about fox. One fox. >> Yes, Gretchen. >> Uh, if we're going to offer these classes, if we vote on offering them now and plan on ordering stuff now for classes for two years until the state hands us the curriculum they want us to use, we can't order anything. >> Oh, no. Yeah. I I we won't think >> because we we would have nine months to order it, >> but order to get it into the program of studies,

041we have to move sometime before October. >> That's right. >> And with the other state curriculum, AI act, they don't they don't actually recommend a textbook. Like I think about the algebra program that there are a lot of teacher made resources that go along with that. our district actually um has been using Musilla which is um you know grown by leaps and bounds and they have um a section for social studies and they're working in line with the state framework and with this Steve Armstrong to get the resources together. So that could be something that we already have that we use that could be used and it has varying reading levels. So it's really um something that can be highly differentiated to meet the needs of all kids and it's got uh a check question

042and answer quizzes so that they teacher can check for understanding. So there could be resources that we already have that could suffice and then I'm sure that the CIR curriculum will come with a plethora of lessons and resources um even digital resources. >> So while we might agree that we want some kind of a textbook, we're really kind of shying away from the textbook. We're doing more online text. We've talked about this and things that we can um you know update and have regularly upgraded like this new Zilla program. [Applause] >> Any more questions on this? [Laughter] >> January of of the actual contract is >> That's right. >> Okay. Okay. Anything else? All right. Hearing none, let's move on. So, we're updating with Pitch High School and I see that we have a couple

043of our friends. So, I liked your little haircut. >> Yes. And you know what's really funny is the way that your um earphones go down. It actually one time it looked like you were chained like you had a chain on. So I'm like woo like Ed's getting like really big. He's wearing a chain. He's got a haircut. >> That we stop at the haircut. That's that's about as far as but yeah that's uh my my daughter enjoys doing that. That's been the up the uh the highlight for this whole thing. >> Great. That was a great video, guys. It was a nice job. >> Yeah. >> So, do you have a we could just let Ted start speaking to items on? Okay. >> so uh let me see if my screen will share. Um so,

044basically, uh two different uh items that I want to talk about. uh today and and then I know we have a couple other things to to go over was uh we've had some discussion about uh our athletic eligibility rules and uh our our current bell schedule, our daily bell schedule. Uh these were some uh items that were up for discussion before we ended up uh leaving school. And uh as we started moving from, you know, the the day-to-day planning of distance learning, uh we're starting to get into the conversations about next school year as well. And so these things uh we wanted to make sure we we were moved forward uh with these. So I'll talk a little bit about the athletic eligibility first and and then uh the bell schedule after that. Um, so

045when I when I came to Fitch High School and and having conversations with with Mark uh about the athletic eligibility rules, um, you know, I was concerned that, uh, we had an athletic eligibility rule that a a a student could conceivably go through four years, be athletically eligible every year, and only have 16 credits at the end of those those those four years. um because our athletic eligibility rule is currently the minimum CIA rule which is meeting the rules. Um but a student only needs to pass four classes in order to be considered athletically eligible. Um so I asked Mark to put together a committee to look at our athletic eligibility. Um this is the group of people that that served on that committee. uh and um I don't want to go too quick but

046just going through um I gave them some uh kind of the purpose the things that I was looking for them to do review our our current eligibility standard and look at possible changes um making uh recommendations to to myself and and the other administrators um making recommendations to to all of you which is what I'm doing right now and then to educate the community on the new standards uh if we decide had to adopt one standard. And then uh I told them that there was some some directives that they they need to operate within um that they need to look at the eligibility standards of our our sister schools in the the Eastern Connecticut conference. Um get input uh from from a number of people uh making sure that we're still in compliance with the

047CIA, which is is needs to happen. um make sure that we're researching the effect of these eligibility standards on our our current students and teams. Um we have to make sure that's easy to determine eligibility because we can't mess this up. We if we we uh make a mistake, it could cause teams to forfeit games. Um and then we have to talk about how are we going to support those students that are struggling in classes uh or are are are determined to be ineligible and what we're going to be able to do to support them. how coaches are going to grade monitor and uh and again how we're going to make sure the public's aware of this if we decide to go forward. So what they came up with was that starting next year uh

048with the quarter 1 grades, so this would we would be under the old eligibility rules with the end of the the school year this year. Uh but starting with our quarter 1 grades and going into all of next year and the year after that, a student would need to pass five classes to be considered eligible to participate in athletics. Um and then at the end of that two-year period, we certainly want to assess where we are. Uh but the plan would be then we would increase it to students would need to pass six classes in order to participate in athletics. Um and then they they have developed and again it's it's fairly long but uh they have developed a clear plan on how grades are going to be monitored um and how we uh uh

049we're going to support students through past classes, study halls and and Falcon Academy. Um so the uh you know it's it's uh we we put this out to the faculty uh just the other day. I was really pleased to see that the the faculty uh was uh very much in approval of this and the faculty that answered back to the survey uh over uh it was almost 90% of the faculty uh were uh were in agreement uh with this uh with this policy uh change. So um I think it's something that uh and it puts us more in line with all the other ECC schools. Currently, there's only three schools in ECC that still go with just the minimum standard uh for academic preferred uh athletic eligibility. So, um so that's pretty much it. Uh

050so I happy to open it up to questions. >> Gretchen and then Rita Rita. >> Um what are we considering passing? When I was in high school, you know, a million years ago, >> a D minus was not considered passing. B and D F. >> Okay. Yeah. There's >> presented I swear to God D minus. >> So I don't >> Yeah. So basically there's there's two different things that actually came up in the discussion and I I'll speak to the the first one is the the whole idea of a 65 passing rule. Um and that that did come up with some of the discussion because there are some schools in the ECC that decided uh that uh uh have that rule. Um that rule would actually be separate from the academic eligibility uh rule because

051the academic eligibility rule simply states you have to be passing five classes or passing six classes as opposed to the um the grade scale which if we decide that the passing 65 then the academic eligibility just decides that okay that that's that 65 is what's considered passing. Um, there was also a discussion about a behavioral standard within the academic eligibility uh uh rule. Again, uh I look at that as a a separate conversation that we're going to have to have um and whether or not we want to talk about an activity restriction type of policy where if you have x number of discipline infractions that declares you ineligible for athletics or so on. So that would be the kind of the I think that the grade scale and the the idea of like an activity

052restriction rule would be the next step in the conversation, but I think the first step of the conversation was we have to look at the overall academic eligibility rule and decide what's more in line with our graduation requirements. >> Rita, >> yeah, I think I think this is wonderful. Um I do remember when the board passed the policy the C minus that if a a student hadn't um wasn't you know as soon as they got to a C minus then before they could go and practice um they had to go to the um cafeteria for a study hall and work and do their homework and so forth before they were allowed to go out and practice. I think I believe it was like 45 or 50 minutes. Is that still the case? Yeah. So, the

053again I I didn't put in all the specifics about what they were talking about in terms of grade monitoring, but um they did do a lot of recommendations in regard to how um coaches would be aware of what their students uh what their athletes were doing in terms of their grades and then when a student was determined to be struggling that that student would be required to either be uh in a study hall um be enrolled in a task class or be attending Falcon Academy. so that uh we were getting that support for that particular student. So I think what we're trying to do is uh prevent students you know really identifying those students before they become ineligible and determining what supports we can get them so that they can continue to do well in

054their classes most importantly but then also uh participate in athletics. I I think one of the things that um you know a lot of people think as soon as we start talking about these rules is that we want to uh prevent students from actually participating. That's not the case you know at all. You know as a former coach and and you know I really got into education first, you know, as a teaching and and coaching. I want I want all of our students to be participating in extracurricular activities at the school. Uh it's just making sure that our standards uh really support our uh our graduation standards uh which this rule I think uh more accurately reflects the graduation standards. Like I said if if we only acquiring passing four classes that's only 16 credits

055over a four-year period. >> Right. So my question is um are the coaches and the teachers following the board policy of having students not be allowed to practice until they go to the cafeteria for a study hall >> with a C minus or less. >> I can't say that that has been as as uh uh okay probably as stringent as it probably should be. Uh I think that >> so it needs to be it needs to be enforced because it is a board policy and I think we have to hold everyone accountable to that. >> Yeah. No, absolutely. I think that uh and I think that this what they put in place will do that. >> Great. Thank you, >> Liz. Yeah. Um I have a question about equity. Um I've heard a lot of

056talk about, you know, for athletes, but we also have a lot of extracurricular activities at the high school. And would this policy also would it be extended to include music, theater, I mean all the extracurriculars that require extra time? You know, uh, marching band season, for example, those kids are gone a lot of time. I mean, I'm not trying to put a a clamp on it, but I want our kids to be successful. And I just think it's important that we have an equitable policy not just for sports but for you know for the entire extracurricular activities. >> Yeah. And I I think that goes back to the point I said about uh the the difference between a academic eligibility standard which is what we need to have in place for the CIA uh rules

057and that being kind of the starting block of this whole thing and then the next step being looking at uh you know they had mentioned the grade scale and we you know um that is a part of the conversation but then also the activity restriction and that would be that you know whether or not we want to see if we can put something like that in place. So if students participating let's say the play that they have an academic eligibility standard as well but that would be um you know because it doesn't fall under the CIA we have to have that that regulation that we're either meeting their standard or going above and beyond it but this is uh we're asking go above and beyond it um that that would be the next step in

058the process. I just would like to personally see that one of those things be that this is a not just u in compliance with the CIA but just something that we stand behind is that we want our kids to be successful and not to the detriment of you know the extracurriculars but as an enhancement. So my sense is is Liz, you're asking for a referral to go to policy. >> Yeah. >> To thank you. >> Okay. >> Um to to have an an investigation around what is um what is our standard that we hold um for extracurricular activities in high school. I mean >> yes, that's what I'd like. Thank you, Kim, for reading my mind. It's one of your many talents. All right. Thank you, Ted. >> That was good. And so you're you

059continue on. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Um, so the the next piece was um this uh a little bit different was the um Can everybody see this? Okay. Uh so the the bell schedule and and you know, when it when I first came to the school at the beginning of the year, um I'll admit that it it took me a little time to to kind of understand the bell schedule. Uh we have a lot of them. Um, and I I think that one of the the concerns I had right away was uh kind of a lack of consistency uh in in in our bell schedule. I really like to see some consistency uh having similar schedules uh every day. It's not the schedule's this way on Monday and it's different on Tuesday and then we

060have an early release day on Wednesday. We would have a five day week with four different bell schedules. Um and uh and and that became a a little bit of an issue. Um I I uh you know the other thing is we have the rotation of the periods which we're not going to change but uh at this point yet uh but it's it's something where it could get very confusing at times uh what we were doing in terms of a bell schedule. Um I also had a concern that we were losing a lot of instructional time due to our early release Tuesday schedules. Um our students were leaving at 1:00. Uh certainly that was important time for our teachers to collaborate. Uh but that that was a lot of a lost instructional time. um and

061our students often time were going home uh and and maybe didn't have a lot of supervision at home as well. Um so, you know, I was looking to see if we could develop a a bell schedule uh which would uh increase the amount of teacher collaboration times that we would have for our department meetings, SRBI discussions, and sharing data and instructional decisions. Um but allow us to still have that consistency and having the same double schedule every day and uh and eliminating that instructional time. a loss of instructional time on Tuesdays. Um, so this is the the bell schedule that that we're proposing for next year. Um, and the u basically I'll go through some of the points of it, but uh this would be uh the same bell schedule each and every day. And

062so uh we would not have um uh our early release Tuesdays anymore. Um you can see that uh we would be reducing down to uh three lunch waves. uh we would have a 45 minute CTL uh every day and all of our uh classes would be at 75 minutes. Uh it also builds in a a a short home room period uh which is not a separate class from their block one class. I'll explain that in a bit. Uh and a little time at the end of the day for afternoon announcements. So um I I'll bring this up in a second, but just I I want to go over some of the points. Um the the first thing is is how CTL works. And basically uh I'll use an example of of some people that are

063with us and uh we might take uh Doug and Cara and and pair them together in one CTL. So their CTL will be a little bit larger but they'll both be working with it uh together. And so on A days uh you might have Cara would go to her department meeting and uh Doug would be covering the CTL and on B days they would flip-flop. So that um basically Carmeita would then have two 45minut uh times to work with her um her uh uh department and uh so that she would be meeting with her department more often during the week and then um at the on Fridays when we have the the the advisory CTL's uh they would be able to work together uh with their CTL uh for that that advisory period. Um the

064uh the five minute home room period uh one of the concerns that we had there was that we need to start taking a a uh attendance for the day where the students there for the day and also our classroom attendance. So we'll have daily and classroom attendance. So basically that five minute period at the beginning of the day allows us to take that attendance do all of our announcements at the beginning of the day without losing the class time uh for a first period class. Um, again, we're running three lunch waves uh a day instead of four. We started this practice this year um and we were successful with it. Uh we have two very small lunch waves when we run four lunch waves. Um and so uh especially with having an extra security personnel

065next year, this is uh definitely doable and we've already cleared this with uh with Ernie. Um, we are going to be uh having a little bit more structure to our CTL to make sure that our students are not uh causing any interruptions during that time and using that time a little bit uh uh better with it and uh using that time to do their work. And actually, this does actually increase our instructional time for the year. Um and uh by a small amount, it's not a lot, but it does actually increase our instructional time. So, uh I think that this will build a lot of consistency with our bell schedule throughout the year. um that bell schedule will essentially be the same unless we have a district-wide early release day or we have uh our

066uh uh like a special schedule for maybe like pepper rally or something like that uh which we will change the schedule internally. So uh but this would uh this is the proposed doll schedule we have for the for the school. >> Is everybody okay? I can stop the share or >> you can stop the share. You can touch the ship. So, Rita, I really wanted to have seen your face when they talked about getting rid of the Tuesday early release. Like I I really am I I'm sad that I had missed that. >> I know that I mean I was just so impressed with when Ted said that put that up. I I've been um that is something that I've been advocating for about um eight years. Um the first two years I understood when

067we put it in place because we were going through the evaluation for the first time well 10 years ago and and it was supposed to go away and it never went away. So I'm just very pleased to see that that student contact with teachers is going to be increased next year. >> Liz, um Ted, just a quick question. Um there had been a policy in place when I was there about stu seniors senior privileges that they didn't have to come to school if they had an offblock um first period or they could leave early last period and that was one of the reasons why there was um the CTL was when it where it was and that's where they had um the announcements were done because that ensured that everybody would be in in the

068school. So, are you still maintaining the the idea of still having seniors having the ability to come in later or are is that something that we're is going to go by the wayside because to do announcements first thing in the morning if our seniors of like a third of the class isn't there then they're not going to hear the important announcements. >> Uh well, we're not planning on changing those senior privileges for those seniors that have earned them. Um, and I certainly think that there's it's definitely a possibility for us to do announcements during the CTL. That's actually not a practice that we were doing this year. >> We were having them in the morning because we do that. We we do it's not only announcements, but it's also the pledge of allegiance and moment

069of silence and all of that. So, um, I think that, um, if you know, it's certainly something that we could look at. Um, the primary thing with the with the home room, the students still go to their first period class. It's it's still their first period class. There's no passing time there. It's just a matter of taking attendance for those students that are there. And if those students miss the the home room period, um then we're we're changing uh it creates a block where we can call that their daily attendance. So it allows the teacher to take the attendance once and then they don't have to worry about marking the students tardy or anything like that. Um it's uh it makes it easier for the teachers. It makes it easier to track from the um

070from the uh uh the the uh front office. And then when we're looking at students uh loss of credit or anything like that, uh it's very easy to to to do that uh rather than trying to distinguish between a student being classroom absent as opposed to school absent. Um so yeah, I mean the announcements piece, uh we could certainly look at that, but that that hasn't actually been the practice since I've been. >> Okay. because that's I was I left in 2018. So that's what our practice was practiced then. That was the reasoning behind it. >> Okay. Well, we certainly could look at that like doing the pledge in the the morning uh doing the pledge and and the um uh uh moment of silence having teachers take their attendance and then do the announcements

071at the CTL would certainly come up. >> Just a thought. Didn't want I don't want kids not to hear what's going on. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> T I have a couple of questions. coming. Um, so I are we not going to working on NAS really soon and does this impact um um because my understanding um Rita is that this was sort of sent from um this was this the early release on Tuesday was was done because of us going towards NAS and does this in does this impact negatively the committee's chance of getting of getting the committee work done. My first question if that made any sense. >> Uh yeah, well the um there's first off uh the from a DAS point of view, we're actually increasing the amount of time that that that uh

072um students would be able to uh or that teachers will be able to collaborate. So, uh, from an ES point of view, I think this actually helps us. Um, and, uh, you know, certainly it's it's something where I didn't want to eliminate teacher collaboration down. I want to increase it. Um, and I feel that if we could, well, they're meeting for a shorter period of time for one individual meeting, they're meeting more times per week. So, from, you know, a one week standpoint, they actually meet a little bit more. Um and I think that the um the second piece is and uh um you know from the DAS point of view it's it's not so much the amount of time that the report is what are you doing during that time um and so I

073think that uh you know I think that you know trying to you know look at what exactly how we're using that time within our departments is going to be important. Um I I also saw Addie had a question about the social distancing guidelines. I think that, you know, whatever bell schedule we have, Addy, I think we're going to have to look at um, you know, if we have three lunchways or four, if we have to increase the number of lunchways based on that, we'll have to do that. You know, it's it's, you know, it's I think it goes back to what Dr. Grer said about being flexible. Um, and uh, you know, we'll be flexible and figure it out. Uh, if we're only having a third of the number of kids in the the um

074school at a time, then with three lunch waves, you know, you we're not going to have that many kids in each lunch wave anyway. Uh but it's also one of the things we also looked at was increasing the amount of time between lunch waves so that we could do a thorough cleaning of the cafeteria which we did. Um so we have now 7 minutes in between the two lunch waves so that we can make sure we're cleaning the cafeteria. In addition to that because we have more kids per lunch wave we actually increase the lunchway time. Um so now there's a half it's not much there's it's only by two minutes but if you think about just it's a little bit more time to get through the line. So now that's good. >> So um

075my question I think has two parts maybe maybe it doesn't. >> How have you re h how has this been received by your staff Ted? And then the second would um as an I'm just trying to throw my negotiations um hat on and does this impact any contract or any teacher time? Uh well I I don't know if I could I could answer completely as much as I could the with the athletic eligibility. I didn't survey the staff uh and ask them to agree or disagree. We did send an obviously I would have preferred to have met with my staff during a faculty meeting and and told them all about the schedule and and said you know this is exactly what we're doing. I had some individual conversations with some teachers but uh unfortunately I

076had to put it out to the staff through an email and say you know this is kind of what we're thinking. Um I didn't get a whole lot of feedback on it. Um but uh right from the beginning uh you know I'll turn it over to Doug and and Beth regarding the the the union issues. But right from the beginning Doug and I had some conversations regarding this uh um schedule and and you know we're the the actual the the uh structure of the schedule hasn't changed. We're still teaching four blocks a day. Um the blocks are actually a little shorter than they are now. Um but they what we what we're eliminating is the really short blocks that you get on the early release Tuesdays. Doug, do you want to speak to that at

077all? >> Oh, thank you for recognizing me. Um, yeah, me and me and Ted have had conversations. He had he had ran the schedule by me. Um, and yeah, you know, you're never nobody's ever going to agree 100% on, you know, a schedule. you're always going to have somebody who maybe liked the um early dismissal or not, but um I've talked to teachers about it and I don't I don't see a problem with um the staff with this new schedule. it is it is consistent and I think it is a better for um attendance purposes and I think there's quite a few teachers who um you know would like the collaboration time um during the day and you know be able to have that contact time with their students. So, I don't I don't foresee

078an issue, but of course, you know, not not everybody, you know, there's always going to be people who might not like it, but um I I didn't have any problems with it and paid with I'm not I'm not saying that you have to have staff approval. I just wanted to know what the conversations were. So, Doug, I really appreciate that. And and >> yeah, yeah, the he talked to me. We talked about it, you know, we we went through it and um yeah, we were we were good with it. >> Okay. Can I just add this, Kim? It actually has a lot of parallels to the um middle school schedule um in that we do have that collaborative time built in in skinnies, you know, in smaller sections and we also have classroom the teachers

079and the interventionists working with kids through SRBI. So, it really builds in the SRBI periods and it builds in that um whole intervention piece which is so essential. We're going to be working, as I've told you a few times, this summer on a K12 SRBI, you know, what are the key components as a district-wide program that we're offering. Um, so I'm I'm looking forward to doing that work um you know, with all the different levels with elementary, middle school, and high school. But it does that you see you'll see a lot of parallels and um connectivity with the middle school schedule and the high school schedule the way Ted has designed it. >> So I'm going to go to Z and then I will I'm going to yield my time to Beth, but I'm going

080to go Z. >> Yeah. I just question about the um potential new schedule. Um, are you still playing rotation with it? >> Yeah, that's a really good question. Um, so Tay was breaking up there a little bit. So just to ask he he's talking about the rotation. So um, uh, basically first quarter our schedule goes period 1 2 3 4 and then in second quarter we go periods 2 3 4 1. Um and so every quarter we start with whatever period the quarter is. So third quarter be 3412. Um and so there's um first of all that to the the the easy question is that or the easy answer to the question is that yes, we're going to continue with the rotation. Uh we haven't made the plan to to change that. Um but one

081of the things I I want to be clear about is we're going to continue with the rotation as long as it works. And I think that um there's there's two concerns that I have immediately. The first is um you know we we're going to have a lot more of a partnership with the middle school now than we have in the past. Um obviously because of the proximity but you know in terms of shared staff in terms of um bless you uh in terms of um you know uh using um using resources and so on and so forth. And if the rotation doesn't allow us to do that, then we won't be able to do the rotation. Um if it it it it hinders that. In addition to that, we're also working with our our uh

082our people at Powers School um to make sure that we can align our home room periods with our first period classes because what we want to try to avoid is um you know the the home room period has to have the same exact roster as your first period class and it's going to make it a little bit more difficult because the first period class can rotate. Um so I think that uh we're just making sure that that works. Um, but you know, it's the it's a lot a lot of like what Doug was just saying. Um, the rotation, you know, I've talked to a lot of students and I've talked to a lot of uh faculty about the rotation. Um, and it's like 50/50. Some people love it and some people hate it. Um, so

083it's uh it's something where obviously we're changing the bell schedule. You know, I don't want to change too too much. So if if we can keep the rotation, we will. Um, but if it's not going to be possible, then it's not going to be possible. Um, al uh uh did was it Beth that had a question next? I'm sorry. I >> I did Ted. I just wanted to make sure that the collaboration time is separate from the plan time. That would be the only contractual impact that I could possibly think of with the >> Yeah. Yeah. So, basically a teacher schedule within the four periods that we have during the day, the teacher would still be scheduled for three uh classes and one planning period. And that would be a full planning period, the 75

084minute planning period. >> I see Addie had a question. >> Yeah, I just want to um add something really quickly to the rotation. Um just something to keep in mind. Um, and this might be moot because of um, you know, uh, social distancing things that are happening right now, but I know um, a few students sometimes will take classes during the school day at Con College or um, other local colleges um, if they can't find the class at Fitch or I I know some people who've taken advanced math classes at um, K college and you can't do that quotation. So that's just one more thing that is interesting to take into account I think. >> Yeah, I have heard that there was some students that were taking classes off campus that became very difficult for

085them because you know they needed to have fourth period off in order to make it out to their their classes. One of the other things that we're looking at is is some of the programs that we're going to be bringing into the school and students uh having opportunities outside of school. Is that going to become difficult using that rotation? So, you know, it's something where um you know, I don't really have that strong opinion on on it one way or another, but if it becomes a hindrance, then then we're going to have to get rid of it. Um so, I think it's something that uh you know, at this point, I don't have it that it's becoming that much of a hindrance, so we're going to keep it for now. And then if it's something

086that uh we find, you know, is going to be difficult in terms of our partnership with the middle school uh or other opportunities for students, then we won't be able to do it. Rita, you um are muted. >> Sorry. Um I had a question, two questions. First is Susan. So the middle school is not rotating their schedules. >> They actually had the same design plan that Ted was speaking of that it would rotate on the quarter. So it you would start one, two, three, four and then it would you know move over to two three four one. >> So exactly the same way >> and their home room will be built into the first period. >> But if a student let's say was in eighth grade and was going to take an advanced math class

087at the high school and say first period would they still be able to do that if the schedule like rotated like that? >> It depends on if we can bring them into school at the same time. It doesn't sound like we're going to be able to do that. So, if you have the high school coming at their normal 7:15 time and the middle school coming at 8, it may not jive exactly the same way. >> Well, what East Lime does with their middle school is that they actually have those students start early and go to the high school schedule. So, they do that first period class at East High School, then they go to their middle school for the rest of their classes. So that that's a possibility. It doesn't have to be in their

088same, you know, same framework, but they get to go and take that advanced class. And and I do remember both my children um you know, my daughter left to go to take classes at Khan College because they were able to do that last period and my son also would go down and he would tutor in um the elementary school because he was interested in teaching. So I think that there are a lot of opportunities if you don't rotate the classes or not all the time because I think there are many opportunities of Fiser General Dynamics that students could do or some students would even go to work. So that's just my >> Thank you Rita about that. >> If not we're going to move on to graduation planning. Um, well, I know that, uh, you

089know, I'd just like to say a few things, uh, regarding this, and I I know, uh, Mike and maybe Susan will have a couple comments as well, but, the, uh, you know, right from the get-go, um, I I think that, uh, we all agreed that, uh, whatever we can do for the the class of 2020, we want to do. Um, you know, they, um, they certainly deserve a lot and and and have certainly uh endured a lot. Um and uh you know I think that um you know we wanted to see you know what we could provide for them. Uh and it really started with a graduation ceremony. Um you know and doing whatever we could and whatever rules that we were abiding by um to give them as much as we could. Um so

090we uh we are planning a graduation ceremony on June 19th. Um and it's going to be uh a drive-in movie theater type event. Uh great. We have uh uh we've uh are in the process of um the uh uh securing the the the lot that we will be using for the the graduation ceremony. Uh we've uh secured the uh the screen um and the it's a an FM uh receiver. I I don't know exactly what it's called, but it basically will project uh the FM uh over the FM uh uh uh radio station. Uh it just be like pulling into a driving movie theater. Um you know, we we we certainly are going to be looking at, you know, what exactly the rules are going to be um regarding uh the the spacing of the

091cars. Um and uh you know I I at this point it doesn't really sound like that you're going to be able to leave your car. Um uh you know unless you know have some restrooms available but uh and what we're going to need in terms of support from uh our staff um support from uh uh I should say our security staff um people that are willing to help out uh you know the police departments in terms of traffic uh and so on. Um but uh we have a very large group of people that we have as a graduation committee that are meeting uh once a week uh and they are all committed to um uh really trying to have a a great graduation for the kids. Um we were we got the clearance to put

092out an announcement to all seniors uh saying that that this was the plan um and that more details would would be to follow. Um but uh you know and then we have a surprise coming uh for our senior class on uh May 22nd that uh um well I'm going to keep that as a surprise. So uh but the uh um but it's uh it's it's I think it's going to be really nice with kids. So, you know, I think uh um you know, we're we're looking at a lot of different things in terms of gifts for the class and and for the kids and and uh and um you know, and then and then we've also had some discussions about, you know, when all of this does lift, you know, what can we do to

093give them an opportunity to come together as class? um you know even as simple as you know if let's say we had some miracle and it lifted during the summer planning like a senior cookout or something like that where you know we just allow them to come together as a group and and uh and celebrate together. So it's uh it's the ideas like that and and you know we we've had a lot of people from the community reaching out with ideas as well and we really appreciated that and I think that uh you know we we just have a really dedicated group of people that just want to make sure we're doing whatever we can for this class. Thank you so much. Thank you to the graduation team. >> Just just one other thing. We

094actually ran this uh plan through uh Steve Mansfield, the director of Ledge Light, and because there was a little bit of a question, I actually contacted the commissioner and got his approval personally. >> So, what about the um fire marshall? Does he have to approve? Uh well, we'll we'll uh I'll ask Sam to reach out to him. The we're we're planning it uh in in a parking lot that accommodates 850 cars and there'll be less than 250 cars there. So, I and we're going to have to make sure we have uh the access and egress and all that sort of stuff. But I I think we're good. >> Could Could you share the site with us? Yeah, it's EB parking lot M right across the street from the Katherine Konowski driveway. >> It's huge. >>

095Yeah. >> So, um, Liz, >> I'm sorry. Is it just going to be for the students or is are there going to be guests allowed to come in, their parents and stuff? >> One car per family. >> Yep. >> Well, the idea is this. the the ledge light folks said, "As long as nobody gets out of their car and there's, you know, there's nine or so feet in between cars, then I think we're going to be able to do the social distancing, keep it safe, have a really a nice video presentation of this huge screen, and uh I I think uh I think we're we're all set. We're going to be good. I'm envisioning clown cars where like 25 people are >> It's probably going to be true. >> No limos. >> Oh, that's right.

096Can we come? >> Yeah, we're going to be working out exactly how um you know uh who's going to be allowed to be coming in and so on. I think that um it's you know we're just going to have to make sure that we're absolutely the board is going to be invited but we want to make sure that um we limit the number of people in there so we can make sure we have the the appropriate distance um between cars and and uh and that we have you know bathroom facilities that are need going to be needed and so on so forth. So um it's uh it's going to be a little bit of a production but we have a lot of people on it that are really dedicated to it. Um, we'll get more

097information to you as soon as we have it. >> Lee, >> sounds awesome. >> Lee, you're >> muted. >> You unmute yourself. >> Whoever's running the meeting could probably unmute her. >> Yeah. Could you unmute mute her? Yes, I know. It doesn't matter. I can find out later on. It's okay. >> But you're now unmute. >> Go ahead. >> We can hear you now. >> You can hear me? >> Yes. >> Um, >> now I can't remember what I was going to say. As my mother would say, it's not important. >> I thought you said that, too. >> I'm gonna move us I am going to move us along if that's all right. And so, what's the update on the grading? Uh yeah. So uh you know I think that um you know we're in

098pretty good place in terms of uh grading for our uh students uh given this whole distance learning. You know we've had a lot of conversations with our teachers. Um you know starting with uh you know any work that's accepted by the teacher is is graded with a grade no lower than a 65. Um and but we've really gone through a process where we're uh our teachers are identifying students that are struggling or or are are struggling to do or are are struggling with the distance learning. And we're offering supports through our our counseling department uh for those particular students and really tracking those students that um maybe had been doing very well during the school year and then as soon as the distance learning uh was in place, we're seeing a real drop in their

099grade. um and making sure that uh we are uh offering supports. Uh the next piece is is that um we're going to be using uh the uh incomplete grades or or you know and and offering supports for students um that need it at once this all ends for the school year so that if we have a student that um needs supports going into the next class or needs to finish up a class um that we'll be able to do that. One of the things that that came out from the CIA, and this is a one-time thing, um is normally a a student that has an incomplete grade at the end of the year uh would be considered a failing grade for the beginning of next year for their eligibility. Next year, for the first quarter,

100any any incomplete grade is considered a passing grade uh for the student. So if we need to use those in please, it won't affect kids negatively uh going into next year and we can give them time to do the work that they need to do uh and catch up with that. Um so I think >> will the incomplete give you information about having the student go through an apex program? >> Uh we could determine what's going to be best for that particular student. Uh we're really trying to look at this individually per kid. >> Okay. Um, and you know, I think that, and to be honest with you, Sue, I took that from you. Uh, but the, uh, I think it's something that we're we're trying to uh, make sure, okay, what's going to be

101the best plan for this individual student? One of the things that, you know, we we identified pretty early is that the students been struggling with the the distance learning piece. Uh, getting them on a program like Apex might not be the best solution because that's almost distance learning as well. Um, so it's something what, you know, what do we need to do in order for this student to have more in person help? Uh, and that's some of the conversations I've been having with with Mike and Susan about, you know, do we need to look at an extended school day? Do we need to look at um, you know, more intervention during the school day? Um, you know, so on and so forth. What are the supports that need to be in place for that particular

102student? >> Great. But the teachers have been absolutely fantastic in identifying students uh throughout um I should say that you know they have a form and and and I know it's taken them a lot of time to to do that and to you know contact students and then fill out the form to say I'm I'm not able to get this kid on the on the right track. Um but uh I think they've seen how important that is and and uh have really followed through on that. So I I couldn't be happier with the the the teachers and the input that they're giving us. >> Great. Thank you, Ted. Any other questions about that? Um I've got Gretchen and then Ma. Okay. Okay. Um with the students who are struggling with the distance learning, could it

103is for some of them is it a matter of they are not good at modifying their like okay you need to do X Y and Z without the teacher standing there saying get X Y and Z done. Are they struggling with that? >> Yeah. you know, it's I I don't want to say it's one particular thing because, you know, and again, I go back to the kind of individual. It's it's it's different for every kid. We have some kids that it's it's as simple as they have connectivity issues >> um at the home. And yeah, I think that that Gretchian, I think that's absolutely part of it. I think that we have some students that having they need to have somebody over their shoulder and so, you know, that's when we've used some of the

104Paris supports that we have u you know, and trying to use that. So, it's it's really about the the counselor contacting that family, finding out what the concern is, and then we're saying, "Okay, what's the plan for this particular kid so we can get them back on track?" And I think that's been the most successful and and why, like I said before, it's so it's so important for the teachers to identify those kids for us. >> I've been very surprised my son is home from university and he's in the middle of finals this week. Yeah. >> He's finding it so much easier to study at home >> that university. He's like, "This is so easy." >> Yeah. But that's one of the things also we're seeing is we're we're seeing some students that may have

105struggled in the past that are absolutely doing great with the distance learning. They love it. >> Um, you know, so I think it's something where and and and again, we we've modified it as we've gone along. Um, you know, we saw that we were having some, you know, at the high school level, you have a student taking four courses during an A day, getting four different subject areas. It become a it can become a lot and and we wanted to make sure so we wanted to make sure that, you know, and then also, you know, the teachers in terms of their planning and so on. So, so we modified our schedule in order to to to uh use that feedback and and make it a little bit more conducive for everybody. But there is a

106lot of independent work that's happening and the kids need to adjust to that. I think with three indep with three college kids in the house right now >> and trying to balance everybody needing the computer and dad's working at home and everybody it it can get very challenging but we're being very supportive and I just want to know how much some of these kids are getting enough support at home because I'm finding for my kids and myself who's also a student that it's a lot of it is the family supporting and organizing. >> So I'm going to move us on. Thank you. My my question was only are you implementing the pass fail pass with distinction for the last semester. >> Uh no we're not. Um and you know I took a lot of input

107into that in terms of you know what we wanted to do. Um and that included a lot of conversation with uh the principles in the area >> which I'd say it's you know 50/50 you know what they decided to do. Um, I just felt that and and I shouldn't say I just felt I think that our our team really felt that that would just have too much effect in other areas. Um, and was more I I think, you know, for lack of a better word, there's more trouble than it was worth. >> Um, >> I I think it's great. So, you'll have letter grades. >> Yeah, we'll have we'll have the same grades that we normally have. Um, but we've put in, you know, and and and you know, we that like I said that,

108you know, we put in some supports like we're grading a little bit differently as simple as that, you know, with the 65 rule and so on. Um, that uh and you know, our our teachers, you know, we I've had conversations with with many of our teachers and, you know, it's just a a matter of we're going to show leniency and it's it's it's it's simple as that, you know, and not and you know, let's say we do have a student that that fails for the for the year. Um okay what are we going to do for that particular student especially those students which the distance learning had a lot to do with that um you know is it you know how are we going to work the credit recovery to help that student move forward

109uh you know over the next uh for next year um because you know it's not necessarily that the student has to retake that course all over. >> Thank thank you. >> No problem. >> Thank you Ted. you um had lots of great information and and once again my compliments to you and your staff uh um on all levels about what you guys have been able to do to hold off our high school students. So, thank you very much. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Well, like I said, it's the it's the teachers that are doing it dayto-day. So, I've been very impressed. >> Great. Great. So, I want to move us on Dr. Grineer or Susan. Um it is the update on summer schools. Well, just a the short answer is the state education department

110has not yet issued its uh guidance. Uh although I think Susan and I talked today, we we're both pretty convinced that this is this is probably going to be online learning for the summer. Uh but we're we're awaiting both for the special ed students and for the regular ed students. But our our summer school for sure will be certainly at the high school and probably even for some middle school students will be uh based on the apex program. So we're ready to roll one way or the other. I'll let you know as soon as we find out about uh whether it's going to be in person or not. We're prepared both ways. >> And what about is that the same for the extended school year? >> Yes, we're preparing both ways. I do know that

111there's some um there's some programs that are saying that their summer camps are going to be opened up at June June 30th. >> Summer summer summer camps are in fact going to be opened up and I'm going to as I said I'm going to and explain uh what we're thinking about uh for a 8-week program for Treehouse. But I spoke to Jerry Lockan over the last couple of days and he's planning to run a camp uh camp button at Butler School >> and the regular camps uh at at Mary Morrison and Dan some other school. I have to look it up. >> I think Northeast Academy. >> Okay. So, this is not on our agenda topic, so I don't want to spend too much time on it, but I just didn't know that there's a

112>> we're we're in. We're going to run the camps entry house and summer school. >> Oh my goodness. All right. >> And I'd like to see that Apex U program expanded for middle school and high school because we may had some of the same issues in middle school as far as course credit recovery. So, >> Kim Kim, what about our special education students? their summer program >> that that's what it has not yet been decided. We're preparing for both online continued online or in person. Hopefully in person >> I hope so. I mean if we can have the treehouse I would like to see that special you know those students plan to get some contact with their teachers. >> Right. Right. Yep. >> I just have to say Rita that many of them are medically

113fragile or behaviorally fragile. So that to expect them to wear masks or to be separated from their teacher um you know it might and you know the germs that they could get in their you know in different compromised situations. We just have to be very careful and take the lead from the people. >> Oh yes yes for sure. >> I'm moving on to allian alliance uh funding. So, I think I've been kind of keeping you a breast of looking at that alliance grant and um realizing that it really is a grant that covers from March of this year till the end of June. And some of the things we proposed in the grant like professional development um unless it was virtual um some of the staffing needs we had to shift. And so what we

114did was we shifted those things that we could not use and got permission from, you know, the alliance department to put it more towards supplies and technology. So um we're working on a plan with that with Dennis and I think Mike's going to be speaking more about that. So um we still um we've been given the authority to spend the money but the check's not I guess the check's in the mail. Maybe. >> Well, we've been a little slow to to do anything. Just waiting for that. So, >> Mike, did you want to speak to >> the technology piece? Kim, the next the next item >> the uh instructional technology and what we're what we're thinking actually if you got to do you tomorrow Kim and then and then then Jay we we've got a

115a kind of what we're calling a refresh re-entry plan uh to uh really make sure that when we start in the fall if we have to go partial or full distance learning at any point uh the the really the the foundation of our plan is going to be this onetoone initiative that we have right now. So I I'll I'll give more details about that u in the next meeting on on Monday night when we're sort of have a a CO focused on more finance and facilities type things. But we're we're we're making our way. We're we're we're I think we're in good shape right now. We're in good shape in terms of computers and hotspots and so forth. Uh and we're just working hard to plan for the fall. >> And then >> any other

116question about that? >> So outside of the we have an agenda item. Miss Joan, are you still here? Oh, there you are, Miss Joan. >> Hi. um is we going to have to go to policy about grading requirements for extracurricular for um for high school for them to kind of take a look at that in their spare time. Um any other future agenda topics? >> I got we didn't go over online learning. It was that part of that what Dr. just said B a B >> we actually talked about um the road map for re-entry in the very beginning. >> Oh, you wanted that's you're considering that the online learning. Oh, I thought you were going to be talking about >> it's on it's on you know we're we're we're hang No, no, not just

117that. We we we just meant the big picture that we're uh you know we're we're in on we're into distance learning and doing the best we can. the the the president of Yale today, he said something kind of interesting. He said, "When we when we had to shift online learning, he used the word primitive. we we use like Zoom and and they said there's you know there's so many more sophisticated like animation programs and and so as Susan said we're trying to go back to what Doug Manford said early on which is we need to build a really strong distance learning program uh for especially especially for our kids who who struggle uh with with poverty and with disabilities. So, the more the more we can do, the better we can become. Uh, and I

118think we're I think we're doing I like to say pretty well. Uh, but you know, I think as a as a nation, as a state, we need to do better. Well, and I think part of my summer curriculum work will be bringing teams of teachers together, looking at that compacted curriculum, see what what has been accomplished, try to figure out as part of that re-entry plan what we need to be doing for the fall. So bringing teachers together to look at that to um I'm actually going to have a curriculum and instruction council meeting before the end of the year to look at what are some of the softwares that people have noticed so we can kind of vet those to see you know what are some of the opportunities that have come out of

119this what are some of the the lessons learned through distance learning that would we would consider best practices. So, I think to really take a a deep dive into that and then in the summertime take the time um with teach groups of teachers to like virtually work on curriculum in the Google world and with Zoom um to to really outline what needs to happen for the fall. >> Susan, a quick question for you. Are you seeing a shift in mindset on the part of teachers? Well, I've seen so much growth, it just blows my mind. And you know, when we said start slow and grow, that's certainly what is happening. And when I talk to colleagues at learn and I'm I'm hearing some of the same things that are happening and the same obstacles, but

120I felt so validated just about the equity and access piece for all kids, just about our teachers willingness to be involved in professional development to learn new techniques on how to, you know, better work with the kids in a distance kind of way. So, and I know Beth feels the same way and Mike feels the same way. We're all very proud um and Doug too of the accomplishments. Um I know Khan Academy has always been a big name for the high school. Well, Khan now has an elementary and a and a middle school version. So, I think we're going to take a serious look so we really can build this thing um without trying to fly the plane and build it at the same time. Maybe we can go back down to the runway >>

121and really build this thing the way we want to build it so we're not flying at the same time. >> I can see the difference in um the way teachers feel. Um what was very scary at first now has just made a full come full cycle. It's opportunity. Um and I can see with a neighbor how at certain times of the day she goes out and goes for a good run and comes back. has >> you have to find balance in all of this. >> And I just wanted to say I know it's not on the agenda, but our our schools are finding different ways to reach out. You know, you saw the Fitch High School, you know, um you know, response with the videotape um that goes out. But tomorrow, Northeast Academy is going

122to be one of the first schools to do the the um reverse um kind of car um car parade. So, the teachers will be spaced apart in a very safe way and wearing their masks and the students and their families are going to come around the bus loop. >> Oh, cool. >> All the elementary schools, I think, are planning something like that. >> So, we feel like this is going to be the, >> you know, the little extra cheerleading to get them to get through the year. It's going to be so wonderful for teachers to see the kids and the kids to see their teachers and um that's going to be 1:00 in case you you're near NEA and you just want to wave at people. I'm hoping I can get over there. >> That's

123great. >> What day is that? >> You have a Liz, did you have a question? >> I wanted to have something put on for the agenda. Um because you were saying we were talking about for policy. The other thing I wanted to um discuss is the um curriculum coordinator position further. Um we had some concerns at the curriculum committee meeting about the spe the need for the special ed um curriculum coordinator and I wanted to bring that discussion out again to discuss that further. Am I right Andrea? That's where we were. Yes, you're correct. And and I don't know where I got the idea, but I thought it was going to be on tonight's agenda. I thought we referred it for that, but I could be wrong. >> You know what? Um, yeah, and we

124had already done the agenda and I didn't add, so that was um totally >> We can do it. We'll do it next week. >> Yeah. Very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, I have a future agenda topics. Uh, since next week's going to be more finance meeting, could could maybe Dr. Can you report on the um the money that's earmarked for the food service that we're going to be receiving and when and also the care act the funding for schools how much we are receiving and where you feel that that is going to be distributed. >> I I we don't know the details yet but as soon as I get them I'll report them and if we get them by Monday I'll we'll put it on the agenda though. >> Yeah. Yeah. I

125know George um Joe Courtney had a big newsletter on it today and he does mention it in a few different places. So I thought well that's that's important for us to talk about a little bit. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other agenda topics motion to second. All those in favor please say I. I oppose abstain. Motion does carry. Good night everyone. >> Good night. >> Thank you. >> Bye everybody. 7:30.