001call the committee of the whole meeting to order. And today is November 9th. And our first um item for on the agenda is the approval of the committee of the whole meeting minutes that were held October 19th. Can I have a motion for that? >> So moved. >> I got Liz. >> Second. >> I have a second. That's Jane. Do I have any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of the approval of the meeting minutes of the committee of the whole on October 19th, 2020, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos. It looks like the motion has carried. Um the second I um will pass this on to both Dr. Grineer wherever he is on my Okay, there you are. And to Susan. um uh in terms of the overview of the hybrid full
002distance learning program and the survey results. Susan, was that to be yours? >> Yes, I can start us out and then if Mike wants to add to it, he can certainly, you know. So I had shared the survey results from the educators and also from the teachers and we got so much wonderful information and I just want you to know and the public to know what we do with the information. It's just not reviewed with the board or even with the faculty that we really try to disagregate it and look for trends. We look for trends at the school level. We look for trends at the district level and the principles will be looking at it closely with their data teams and coming up with some action steps. So what are those strengths we're seeing?
003Um what are some of the challenges we're seeing? What are some next steps to to really make it more doable for families and for staff. Um Mike and I have always said we really wanted the hybrid model to be sustainable so if and when we go into full remote we are able to do it very smoothly and we're able to make sure kids are engaged and stay connected. Our big concern and I'll talk about this even later tonight is those children who we report on weekly who are fully remote and disconnected and it does fluctuate with when our schools go out to full remote. So the more schools that are out, the more kids that are doing full remote, it seems to go along with that for the more kids that are disconnected. So we
004really want to make this a viable program and we want kids engaged and we have some strategies already, but I look forward to working with the principles to see what those next action steps are and we certainly will share it with the board of ed and even put it on the website for parents and staff to see. want to add something. >> Yeah, I I I was just gonna if I could get my screen back. I think there we are. Um I was just going to uh point out that uh unfortunately uh 50% of our schools right now are uh on on remote learning uh be because of uh actually at the very beginning of this meeting we talked about a couple of family members that that is that is certainly how the infection is
005spreading in in in our community for sure. So when when we we have someone who tests positive uh almost invariably they say my mother, my father, my brother, whatever uh people are are bringing up from from home. But you know we have uh we have these these these folks now who are on full uh uh full distance for at least a couple of weeks. And and as Susan said, I I I think we're getting better at it. the the principles report as I think I said last week principles report the the kids who are in front of us do do better uh when they're in front of us when when the hybrid kids are are home they're not quite as productive as they are when when they're in school and some of the full remote
006kids but we we we do have a good team and I know Steve I see Steve Wheeler sitting here and Jamie people are making home visits. We're actually going out and uh trying to figure out why a child would not not be u not be engaged. Um and you know, I think that comes with some pretty good results. I Steve's told me a couple of times where the I think the parents been a little bit surprised that the principal showed up at his or her door and and I think Jaime's had that experience. Um and in some cases frankly the uh to put it mildly we're not welcome. Uh the the the family perhaps is in crisis. And so we we do we do what we do. I I I think this hybrid is is
007I've always felt is giving us a chance. It's it's harder or as as as Beth says it's high flex. It's it's it's harder to do high flex than it is for a teacher to do remote. But but for sure we're getting better results I I believe with the children in front of us and the news from Fizer today uh is you know well I think you saw Rita I see your smile. >> I think you saw the effect on the stock market. The stock market certainly thinks that was good news. Um so you know we we may we may be on our way to uh to to a very effective 90% effective vaccine. So you know may may maybe we could limp our way through and uh do what needs to be done. But you
008know when when we have when we have uh eight nine ten teachers other staff members affected by this we just can't run the school. you know, it's >> right >> not not not even so much about the spreading of the you know, like we're afraid everyone's going to catch the virus. Uh we we actually just can't operate the school. You can imagine elementary school. Uh well, Steve can imagine it quite easily because he's living it. If you have eight, nine staff members around, you can't run your school. So, we're I think I think in the big picture, as I said last week, we're doing better at the elementary school. Uh perhaps because it's a real cohorts and it's a little more controllable and we're doing less well at at the secondary schools. It's a bigger
009deal. A lot more teachers are involved. teachers have in in a child's life and and and a teacher has anywhere from 100 to 120 130 students. So that's that's pretty difficult to to keep up with. But you know I I think we're on the ninth uh Beth and I had a little bet and neither one of us thought we were going to get to the ninth hybrid. So you know I think we're I think we're doing okay but we'd be happy to answer if you have any questions. I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go to Liz. >> Yeah, I'm Mike. Um, limping along is a a good way of putting it. I'll be honest with you, I'm very concerned. I have had um I got an email this week from a parent that said, um,
010is this really a wash this year? And I had to say, no, it's not a wash. You know, we're not. and because their child's in high school and trying to defend and to support what our you know what's happening. >> But I'm gonna be honest with you, Mike. I personally, and I think you know this >> and I just I need to say it again. I think it's time we need to give parents a two week notice and the week of Thanksgiving maybe just a suggestion is maybe at the week the Monday of Thanksgiving we go all remote until after Christmas and you know come back in January give everybody a breather from being with each other get some of the germs out and then re-evaluate. I've just, you know, we have we have a
011little girl down the street who's Jane's granddaughter who's five years old and has COVID. >> You know what I mean? >> I I think we have to be careful that as a board we are we are for the hiring and firing of the superintendent and policy. I think and I think we have to be careful about because once again it's ultimately Dr. Grener's um >> okay >> decision. But I hear you. I I hear your advice. >> I just Okay, Mike. I just wanted you, you know, >> right? >> Thank you, Mike. >> I'm not being critical. I just want >> I understand. >> I Liz, I don't think you're being critical. I think we just need to be careful about the the fact that this is as that we're policy and that really it's
012Dr. Grineer's um I mean, I think he's done a really nice job at making sure that we're as informed as possible, but that um Okay. >> There's no roadmap for this, which is what's unfortunate. Rita, >> do you have a >> I I just had a question. And I know some of the the AFT and the CEA had gone to the state and asked at the first two weeks in January after the the children are due back that there will be just remote learning and I was wondering has the governor made a decision about that? >> Not not yet. Uh it's a I I've been in really regular contact with with with Ledge Light, Steve Mansfield, and I I I think our first I would not be surprised uh along the lines what Liz said
013uh that we're we're obviously we're monitoring it every day. Uh we we we just had a I had a case I announced uh at at the middle school um today. Uh an individual tested positive. So, uh, we're monitoring it and, you know, if if we're going into Thanksgiving with with with a fair fair amount of spread of the virus, then I I think it it makes good sense. And I'm going to talk to Steve Mansfield about that. >> Thanksgiving. >> Not the governor. Not yet. Correct. >> Well, we've actually talked about it. you know, those couple weeks both after Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be real critical times when families have been together. And so that might really make sense. And Liz, to your point, one of the things we do know from the data
014is the children in front of us are making better progress and are doing more work and are more engaged than the ones remote. Even the kids who are hybrid and on the remote end, you know, in that other cohort when they're home aren't doing, you know, not all of them. Some are doing fabulous and some are really struggling and some are somewhere in between. So, we're, you know, we do have concerns about that. >> So, can we circle back to what the action plans are then? >> Sure. >> Can I ask a question before you do that, Kim? >> Yes. I wanted to know if um how the conferences went that were with parents and also did the schools have open houses remotely? They had them remotely. I would have loved to have I didn't
015know about that and I would have loved to have just sort of been able to join in a little bit to hear what the plans were for each of the schools. Um but they did have conferences. >> Yes, absolutely. actually tape recorded it too. Tape recorded their message. So there might be board members to see, you know, some of those introductions. Um they of course did um you know both live and kind of virtual um sessions with families. >> And did they have a chat room at all for parents to be able to talk to each other and get to know other parents in that class so that if they needed to contact them or >> I don't think so. >> No. Huh. But I will say this is really really interesting. There's a computer
016program that I know at least at Mary Marson Kathy Miner was telling me about where you go in and and you have say two or three kids and you say I want an appointment with Mr. Smith, Mrs. Jones and Mrs. McCarthy >> and the computer goes ch and it and it puts them all three in a row. >> Oh >> wow, that's wonderful. >> It was pretty great to do that. So I think the conferences went quite well. >> Yeah. Great. Thank you. >> So what's the action plan? >> So we're actually working that out right now. So the all the data has been disagregated. It's been sent to the schools to the principles. They're working with their staff and they're coming up with those successes and challenges, the trends that they're seeing and what
017are those next steps? What are those action steps? So we'll be bringing that back to the board and they'll be sharing that with their school community. So actually this is probably a little bit like maybe next week you will have more information about terms of what we >> put that on the CO. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anything else before we move on to the next? >> All right. We've been all asking about what's happening with the state assessment. So we thought we would kind of throw that on. Um I'm also believing Susan that this is your agenda item. >> It is. How would you know that? >> I don't know. of assessment. >> You know, assessment is actually part of curriculum and instruction. It's all woven together because whether it's a formal assessment
018or whether it's an informal assessment, it helps the teacher know better how those students are doing, if they're making progress. So I would have to tell you that the state while they didn't do a sumitative ESPback or a summitative NGSS, they've been a wonderful resource with other assessments that we're using. And we're actually field testing what they call the IABS, which are the interim assessment blocks. They have them in ELA, math, and science. They have them from grades three, I think, through the high school to 11 that they can be used. And we're actually field testing them in seventh grade math and they've now got a secure browser so that kids at home can take the test remotely and kids can take them at school. So, we're kind of doing it in both ways, especially
019for our fully remote students. Um, we think it's really in important that we see how they're doing. Those IABS have been used in the past. We've always had some kind of a map and a pacing guide for them. teachers have used them and decided to use them at every grade level in every discipline in an organized structured way either as um an instructional tool where they can actually put the questions on the board, have kids try them out on their computer, it gets them ready for the assessment itself, but it also helps teachers know how they're thinking about that. So, a lot of conversation around their thinking goes on and then they also do some pre and post test work with these. So prior to doing the instruction and after the instruction to see the
020growth. So we are going to be mapping that out. I'm actually scheduling meetings with each of the levels, the principles, assistant principles, the coordinators and specialists at each of our levels to figure out what the roadmap will look like. And we've already started with the field testing so we can give information to everyone and support them in doing this because they will need support in being able to roll this out because it's just very extraordinary to be able to do it in a remote way. So I'm really looking forward to that. We will have an ESPback assessment and an NGS assessment in the spring. That's what the state is telling us. The performance office is saying we will go forward with that, but we won't be able to compare it to last year. So that
021growth model which we're you know we so appreciate will not be able to you know compare to last year. However we'll have a benchmark so next year we'll be able to compare and we do have the data from the year before and we can really look at kids over time. Other assessments though that we're using to date we finished our first round of Bontes and Panel reading um assessments for our um elementary school. We just purchased a Lexia rapid assessment which will give us Lexile scores on every middle school and high school student three times a year. This is something we've really been looking for and it ties in with our um intervention program and our core program core five at the elementary but it also with the power up which we use for intervention
022at the middle school and high school. So those two assessments are really important. Um you know and there and the interesting information and we we can get this data for you but principles are saying they that while we usually see a summer slide from the last date that they took the assessment prior to COVID to this they haven't seen a significant dip but they haven't seen much growth either. I mean student to student maybe you've seen some growth and student to student you might have some concerns about dips but overall they feel like it's just kind of a continuum. So now we're really looking to see what needs to happen to accelerate that growth. So um that's what we have on the assessments. >> Susan, excuse me. What's NG SS again please? Next generation science
023standards. Thank you for asking this. And um is our state assessment for ELA and math. And I didn't mention SATs. SATs will also be given and have been given um to students who didn't weren't able to take them in the spring. We also roll out PSATs in 9th grade and we do in the fall and in the spring. So we continue to monitor that progress as well. I see Rita. >> Rita. >> Yes. Um, are you doing MAP testing with the younger children? >> No, we we have not used map testing um for years. Um, it actually was a recommendation from the state of Connecticut that it wasn't necessary. Map test does give flexiles and that part we did miss. That's why we're excited about the rapid >> test. But um as far as we've
024really stuck to the state assessments and they've really prepared kids better for the ESPback and for understanding the common core and giving us information about that which is directly connected to our curriculum. >> But but kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, they're not part of it, are they? >> They're not part of ESPback. And MAP testing was really questionable for the early grades. it really we didn't find it really um very developmentally appropriate but certainly using the FNPs now we have a phonics program too that we're using and um so we're we're collecting and we're using all kinds of other data at for progress monitoring based >> for a younger grade for the younger grades >> for the little ones as you know our kindergarten team did an amazing job the past several years as
025we got ready for TK really making sure that our um screener was comprehensive. I see I know Beth is in the crowd so a big shout out for them. And so they really districtwide have a plan and they continuously monitor those our kindergarten children throughout the year. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Will we along with that Susan about the the assessments and stuff? I know. Um, is is the transitional kindergarten are we getting any assessments about what's happening with them or once again is this going to be kind of like the flip year? >> No, I don't think it's flip at all. They're marching along with our kindergarten. You know, they really use the kindergarten standards and they use some of the preschool standards. Um, we are rolling out the um handwriting without tears
026in prek, kindergarten, and first grade which also helps assist with print. We've noticed that children's letter formation and some word work and even early spelling, you know, encoding and decoding has struggled. So, between that's really tied in with the teachers college phonics program. So, we're really excited about that as an additional piece. Plus, it comes with a workbook. So, we've got a few different workbooks that we can send home. So, kids are on the screen all the time. So, you know, between the toolkits that we have out in the homes and in the school and the workbooks that we have and some of this additional instruction that I think is critical, um, I'm really excited about and the teachers are excited about it. >> Any other questions about this? >> One quick one. >> Absolutely.
027>> Susan, you mentioned SATs. Did they happen on November 7th? >> Um, >> there have been several uhations of the SAT. Uh, this >> I don't >> I I I know they were not obviously at the high school because the high school was closed and I know we we can all the hours and the and the students had to go to other testing sites. Okay. >> That's been happen. >> I wasn't sure if that was continue if that was going to be a a service that was going to be offered, you know, through the high school or um >> No, we're still giving it. It's it's just throughout southeastern Connecticut, kids are going to different schools, whoever is open. >> Okay. Dean. >> Yeah. Uh just FYI, my senior took the SATs sometime in October.
028I can't remember when, but it seemed like a while ago now, but it was in October. So, >> okay. >> At at Fitch. >> Um, I don't think he went to Fitch. I mean, he drove himself, I think. Um, I I don't know that it was at at the building itself, but it was nearby. >> There's been nearly weekly administration of the SAT. It's all over It's all over the state. It >> It was his one and only. He was very nervous. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Really? Well, he can retake. He could take it in December again. >> I don't think he wants to. He did well enough the first time that he's gonna hat. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Anything else? We're going to move on. Uh update on the attendance procedures. So I'd like
029to start with enrollment because enrollment does impact attendance and so as you know we have a registars's office and uh we have an online system for um parents to go on and start the enrollment process but many things have to be delivered right to the central office for privacy concerns. They can't be emailed um I think there is a fax number so they can be securely faxed. So over the summer I really would say due to COVID our own registars's office really was impacted with um uh much less um activity with the enrollment process. So there was a lot of reaching out and trying to get the information that we needed. Um other districts reported this too. I think also based on COVID the transient movement we saw shift a little bit and military the
030um orders and moves were either slowed down um and we've been told that we possibly will see more of that happening once we get through this time period so we could have you know a a whole transient thing happen once you know we get through this. So, um, preschool and prek across the street, across the state, um, and kindergarten has declined immensely. We had parents tell us that, you know, with COVID, they were either going to homeschool or just keep them home and put them in kindergarten next year or put them in preschool next year. So, we do have some real concerns. Um, homeschooling, we have about a hundred students currently who are homeschooled. This year alone, 64 students were um you know signed up the paperwork so that they could homeschool children. So we
031have seen a lot of impacts in enrollment. I actually have a chart though to show you. Our decline as a district is 4.8%. But it kind of it goes along with other districts. So let me share so you can see this. We always want to know how are we compared to other alliance districts? How are we compared to our neighbors? So I can you see this pretty well? >> Yes. >> This is total enrollment by the alliance districts compared from last year to this year. And while we do have our October one numbers which are official, they go through a process of being verified and kind of um you know really to make sure that they're accurate and we're still in the middle of that process. So this is based on what we have to
032date. Um, not that we expect many changes, but from Ansonia to Windsor Locks, um, and in between, and I can roll this down so you can see some of the winners here that really suffered, um, including East Haven, which had a decline of 9.2%. But we're really kind of in the middle. If you're talking about the range, if you're talking about the median score, or even the average score, we're really kind of in the middle of the whole thing. So, I thought that was kind of interesting. Um, and then if we look at our neighbors, the same thing. Um, as low as 2.9% in East Line to 10.3% in Old Sabbrook. Stonington isn't far from us, 4.8. Montville and Graten are exactly alike. Um, and 4.9 in New London. So, you know, you can see
033that we've all struggled and we do know that CO has had an impact on enrollment. So, I'm going to close this out. >> Susan, can I just ask I just want to make sure I I'm there are reasons why I'm a social worker and non-mmathetician. So, when I look at this graph, when it it says negative, that means that we are 4.8 off of our normal enrollment average. that we have declined enrollment. That's why it's all below sea level. Um there have been no increases if you notice whether it's our neighbors or our alliance districts. Um but all of these numbers are negative numbers which mean comparing to 201920 to 2021 we've seen a decline in enrollment. And the state did a wonderful job with the report. I read through it carefully and a lot
034of the reasons the state reports it are very similar to gratens. There were some in you know there were enrollment issues just getting the enrollment done. There were um preschool and kindergarten declines major declines like 19%. And we may see the impact of that next year when they start bringing them back to preschool and kindergarten and they haven't had a year of kindergarten. Um, so if you see those numbers, um, and then Whoops. You see the alliance districts, which we always compare ourselves to the the alliance districts as well. >> And there was no growth. >> Not that I see. >> No, no growth in enrollment, >> right? >> Not when we're not when we're comparing ourselves to alliance districts. And there may be a few districts throughout the state that did see some increase,
035but when you compare us to our neighbors and alliance districts, none of us saw that. We all saw the decline. And the state really recognized that mostly we saw a decline. >> I think two things are happening. More more more homeschooled kids, so they're disenrolled >> and way more like five times more homeschooled kids. and and the young the the the youngest of the children, the preschool children, even some of the kindergarten kids were just not parents are holding them back because they're concerned. >> Okay. Did anybody else have questions about the graphs or the numbers so I can cancel out of this and see your faces? Susan, will this have any impact for us financially or um from the state or or don't we aren't we sure of that yet? >> Well, we always
036use our October numbers for many things. So, right, >> you know, in, you know, whether we're using them for impact aid and um, you know, that's a whole another story or or whatever we're using them for, you know, it does impact um, but, you know, it's kind of a a sign of the times, I would say. >> Okay. >> It's one of those things. I mean certainly you know while it some people may think well there's less students so less per pupil spending but that's actually contrary to the fact that we are spending more money on other things during co PPE and instructional things and and fortunately we have both a car's act and a co relief fund that are helping to support that. >> Thank you. because we're an Alliance district, the ECS, the
037$25 million grant will will remain stable. >> Um Susan, I was just curious how our military um students percentage is is it up or down or in between? >> So Rosemary, that's an excellent question. So beyond this, we do disagregate the data um to look carefully at subgroups and we haven't done that work yet, but we will do that work and I'll make sure I share it back with you. I guess I'm really thankful that um a couple years ago you and Beth and the kindergarten staff really thought about this transitional kindergarten because it looks like we're going to have to start implementing that model next year or at least infusing our kindergartens with that model to if if if that is if once you um collate out where the decrease in enrollment is if
038it is the preschool kindergarteners, we're going to have a lot of kids that had the potential of being far behind. >> Right. Exactly. So, um, >> so at least that that is not one wheel that you're going to have to develop, right? Like at least we have a wheel. >> Yeah, we have structures in place, you know, that really >> on that bus. We have one wheel on the bus. >> So, um, just wanted you to know about, um, the enrollment because it does affect attendance. For instance, those first couple weeks of September, we're trying to figure out who is sitting in front of us or who is now remotely in front of us compared to what P school is saying who was enrolled. A lot of kids move over the summer and don't let
039us know that they've moved. So, you're always trying to verify the data that's in power school. So, that does take time. and throughout the state um attendance was kind of up and down in September. It was really difficult to get a handle on. There were several factors for that. There's a new way of taking attendance which I'll show you another chart in a minute that I've probably shown you before. Um and you know we wanted to know who's actually attending um you know based on enrollment and how do we even take attendance. Now you've got present present, you've got present remote, you've got unverified in person and unverified out there remotely. You have tardy here and tardy there. I feel like Dr. Seuss and Tardy everywhere. And then you have and then you have, you
040know, absent in person versus absent remote or disconnected, disengaged. So there are multiple codes. And so we knew early on from our teachers that this was really tough. This was one of their heaviest list. It came out, it comes out whenever Mike and I speak with them. It comes out to Beth and Doug all the time and to our principles. Um, and we're really trying to ease the the codes and ease that. But I want to show you what the state has told us in our marching orders for calculating attendance for remote learners. And remember, while we have a hybrid model for about twothirds of the kids, there's only a third of a at a time in front of us. So that means at any given time, twothirds are actually remote. So um let me
041share my screen. So now attendance is not only based on if you're with us or not with us, you know, in both a personal, you know, in person or remote way, but we also want to make sure if remote learners are considered in attendance any particular day, if their total time adds up to at least a half day's worth of work and attendance. ing. So between the synchronized which is you know the the on you know the um using the remote um virtual lessons so that kids are on Zoom or they're in a classroom or even in a small group that kids are attending there you know if um they're coming to meetings or even office meetings um if they have logged into the LMS system and if they've completed assignments and sub and submitted
042them. And so attendance just doesn't happen in a day. We give them a three day window because on Fridays, you know, you've got the weekend and you may discover that parents have caught up and kids have caught up over the weekend. So you need to verify their attendance from Friday on a Monday sometimes. So this is really tricky. This is like we've never done before like you know like everything with with this um pandemic. So it's it's really a difficult thing. Before when children were present they were either there or not. We weren't looking at the work completion that kind of went into the grades category or you know the reminder category when they're with you. and um we still are reminding them, but we actually have an app called Remind that we use to
043communicate with parents and students. So, I just that kind of puts a little bit of understanding around this. Um did anybody have a question before I take it down because I do have some data to tell you about comparing last year's attendance to this year's attendance so far? >> I don't think you have to leave it up, but like you've just confused me. Well, me too. >> It's very confusing, Kim. It is. I don't know how teachers really keep track of it all. We did write our own plan. So, the fortunate thing is we kind of put it into at each level what that looks like. So, we do have a plan that's um up on our website and we've kind of made it a little simpler to understand what does it look like in
044elementary, what does this look like in secondary, middle school, and high school. So, >> we're all getting a lesson on existentialism as we do attendance. >> sorry, I had to say it. >> That's fine. So, how long is I >> How long does it take? >> No, I I guess so. >> 10 minutes or more per I I don't I'm Susan. I don't mean to be deaf and I and I am I am really but like that doesn't make sense to me. So you can show me the chart but it's I've actually minimized the chart. It's not even on my screen anymore. But I but if other people need to look at it, please keep it up. But >> so I think what it's telling you though is that every day a child is remote,
045they need a half day's worth of work. And what that work looks like is it's going to be some independent work. It's going to be some in-person virtual work where they're working with their teacher with the class. They're working in small groups or individually um in a synchronized way, but there's also asynchronous learning that's happening with different assignments and completing the assignments. And there's also logging into their school um their Google Classroom or their Schooly or their Seessaw. And we have families that quite honestly aren't able to keep those schedules because of daycare reasons and all kind of reasons. So we also need to be flexible and give them additional time to do some of that completion. And our teachers while they might be doing um a virtual meeting or lesson, they oftent times will
046either pre-record or record at that time so that they can put it up for instructional reasons for families who have not been able to attend. But we really encourage them to attend because that's part of attendance. >> Susan, what about the the families that are um you know totally remote? >> Well, this is for those families as well. So, this is for remote learners. So, whether you're in hybrid and you're not attending on those days and you're remote learning on those days or whether you're um fully remote That's very confusing. Jay, >> I don't hear Jay. >> Maybe we should stop sharing so we could see. Jay, when you try to talk, can you do that for a second? Yeah. You know what, Jay? Something's Sometimes things go wrong like this. Get off and come
047back in. Yeah. So, can you hear me? So, just log out and then log back in. Sometimes it works out pretty well. >> It says Jay is not muted, >> right? But we don't hear him, >> but Mark can see that he's not muted, so something must be wrong. >> He can also put things in the chat box, too, if he wanted to have something answered, >> right? Yeah, I I just I just two seconds ago I all a sudden my my system went to my earbuds that were put away and not on me and so I have no idea. >> Kim, >> I get it. >> Kim, this is Beth. I I can explain how I take attendance as a teacher if that might help. Yeah. Thank you. >> Well, yes. I would like
048to I would like to um sed my time to Beth, please. >> Okay. So, what I do is I we have our daily morning meeting and if I'm in school, the we the kids that are fully distance, they go off. That's my cohort that's not in session. And my fully distanced kids, they have what I call their learning path of the day. And then I continue with the kids in my room. And then I check before I leave to see who has started their work. But then I have to check again at some point in the morning the next morning which is usually around 10:00 because that's when my kids have special and that's when I mark the I have to go through each activity to see if they've completed it if they've handed in
049their work if or if there's a note from a parent that something went wrong. I have to also check my email to see if there's technology issues or if a parent has physically taken pictures of the work that way and submitted it. I end up keeping a clipboard to to keep track of what they've got done. And then during at some point during that 10 o'clock time or usually it's during my lunchtime, I end up going back into powers school to mark the previous day's attendance for all the kids that are distance. So I mark my in-person kids that are in front of me that day. I mark all of my distance kids the next day. And if it's a Friday, if it's a Friday, I have to do that on Monday before a certain
050point in time. So, um, I don't have to keep emailing the secretary going, "Can you change this person? Can you change this person?" So, I've communicated to my parents that they need to make sure they get the work in some point that evening before 9:00 the next morning so I can start going through it and and looking to see what their participation level is so I can mark if they have attended for the day. And in elementary we do that actually in the morning and the afternoon we take attendance twice. But in the middle school and high school we take attendance for every class period. >> Yeah. And that's what we're hearing from. And then the the middle school and the high school teachers, they they are having to do that for every class. Um
051and then they're also marking if they're 15 minutes late, they're they're tardy. if they haven't done their check-in question within the first 15 minutes of the class period time, they're tardy. Um, so there's a lot of layers to trying to take attendance. Now, it can attendance can take an hour or more to do to complete >> in elementary. We're really not marking tardy remotely. We're because we we feel they need that flexibility, but we are marking if they come to school late and they're in person, then the secretary is able to mark that. >> Yeah. >> Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Rita, >> can I just want to make sure that um because Jay is finally back. >> Oh, sure. >> Shoot. It's not working. Your microphone is not picking up, Jay. >> This happened
052to a student and their microphone was actually turned off on their actual computer, not just Zoom. So, you might want to check that, too. Jay, >> because we now are all techsavvy because we've had to resolve all of our kids issues. >> You might even want to put your question in the chat box, Jay, if you can hear us. So, Rita, >> yeah, I had a question for Beth. Did you say that the students that are in front of you, you are working with them and then did you say you have a coworker that's working with the distance children? >> No, >> you didn't say that. >> No, I did not. No, I make we my teach my te teaching partner and I have created what we call daily decks. Um, and we we split
053the work. We pre-record lessons um and we we put them all together so they can it's laid out a little bit better for our parents. This is what we chose to do. Just dropped me. Okay. >> And um but no, I we I don't have somebody else watch. I have to do my in person and my distance kids. There's there's >> the same time. And your coworker is is another kindergarten teacher. >> Yes. My teaching partner is she's across the hall doing the same thing with her kids. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Susan. >> So, let me Are you ready for me to move on to talk about last year versus this year with >> Did Did Jay do a question? >> Oh, no. >> Seth is giving him some advice on the chat deck.
054>> The arrow up. besides the mute button to see if that helps. >> All right. Um is there before we move on is um Liz, Dean, Andrea, Rosemary, Lee, do you have any or Jane, do you have any questions? >> This is so helpful. It's far more demanding than I had imagined. >> Certainly is. Um, we have like many around the state, we have seen a decline of intent attendance from last year to this year. >> I looked at the range because we keep track of of attendance each month. Erica does a great job in charting that for our alliance grant. And last year I looked and the range was um 90 as low as 92% attendance you know averaged over the month in February to um September October at 96%. So imagine that you
055know we have um you know almost all of our kids in the 90% plus range this year for September October and remember I told you there's some question about accuracy of the data. So, I've got the power school folks and everybody looking at it. Check your cross referencing it with what the schools have um and what Erica has. And it so far looks like it's been between 83 and 85% attending. So, we did take, you know, a significant decline in in the attendance. Um and we certainly see that those disconnected kids fluctuate as the buildings close. we send tend to see more disconnectivity when a school goes fully remote. But we do have these attendance crisis teams that are working hard. We're going to actually talk to the principles about it tomorrow to see how
056those are going. But at every building between a school psychologist or a social worker, um the admin team, you know, teachers really are the ones who might recognize it first and then there's a process to send it to this um attendance crisis team and we use DCF as a partner. Um DCF is really on top of this in this day and age and has been very supportive. Our community policing has been very supportive, especially our SRO's. On Wednesdays, I think both Adam and Scott go out to homes and knock on doors and we try to identify what is the problem. We're really there to support families like is it a technology issue? Is there an illness issue? Is it, you know, what is the problem and how can we help you? So, I want the
057community, anybody who's listening to know that we really care about our students and we want them to be able to engage and be connected. It's so important not only for their acade academics but for their social emotional well-being too. So, looking at the whole child, you know, it's not like what it used to be. school is not exactly but there are some real silver linings and I've seen and been in remote classrooms and in breakout groups where kids are discussing and you know talking to one another and having some some wonderful engagement. So um and I've seen some of the lessons that even some of our primary teachers and elementary and middle school teachers have done really enga trying to engage kids. So, um, I just wanted to put that word out. We'll be monitoring
058this every month so I can come back to the board and share with you how things are going and if we're finding specific trends of why this is happening. >> Liz, >> Susan, has the state come out with any guidelines for um, end of the year promotion or advancement to other grades um, based on attendance? I know that they had at one point said it was like 30 if you missed more than 31 days of school you or less than that. I think it was 30 something like that um that you could not advance. Have they come out with anything of that nature at this point? >> I have not seen that and I do stay very connected to the performance office and go attend all the performance matters. So I will keep my eye
059open and I can even reach out to AI to to get any information that might be coming out on that. Um, do you think that they're going to maintain? I mean, um, so the state had come out was a couple of years ago and I don't know if this was still maintained, but it was like 30 days. If there's nothing that's stated due to COVID this change, would we be grandfathered in to have to keep that 30 days and um that would be the the breakoff point or the 31 on the 31st day you cannot advance? Is that is that I don't even think I've seen that in our policy. >> I think I think there'd be a lot of flexibility this year. I would not anticipate that. >> I just you know I was
060just curious. >> Yeah. >> Were there any other questions? I think I've kind of come to the finish line with those few topics. >> Is is >> for now we'll >> Is there a way to make this simpler? >> Want to go? >> No. So, as a matter of fact, Kim, if anything, it's going to be more complicated because we're going to be disagregating the even further at our subgroups, looking at our high needs versus non- high needs. There's definitely a discrepancy noted in the state, and we're noticing. So, we've got to look at this more carefully. It has to be scrutinized more um than it's been so far, and we have to continue doing it. But it's not a simple problem and I don't know that there's a simple solution. But we have to
061identify what the problems are before we can solve them like I always say. So >> is there any other questions from board members? >> All right. Thank you, Susan. >> You're welcome. >> So Dr. Grineer, elementary school staff reassignment process. Well, we we we launched the process uh thanks to some good conversations uh Susan and Beth and Doug Manford and and Lori Leine and I had. Uh so we we we basically uh put a put out an agreement uh that Beth and I signed that uh we would encourage people to tell us if they're going to retire. uh I think I think the the date was please tell us by December 15th if I'm if I'm not mistaken so that we could then figure out what the openings are then go about the process of
062of of hypothetically filling those vacancies and then saying to the teachers what is your preference that we've got themes ths river and we've got mystic river and uh and and now that we know what The themes are uh I I indicated that themes themes river uh would be the environmental marine life science. Uh Nistic River would be the I forget what the word is >> inspiration play and ingenuity. >> Play play and ingenuity. And and then the last one, Charles Barnum, would would be the creativity and nurturing nurturing whatever creativity and something else. uh curiosity >> discovery academy I've actually I've actually spoken I I think each of the faculties my the talk that I had with Seth Danner that the faculty of Charles Barnes has believe it or not has already started to pursue
063this and I and I suspect uh once we get now of course that school is unique because we know what the faculty is the other the other two schools do not yet have a faculty But we're we're we're hoping by advancing this retirement date and then getting people's preferences, we're going to be able to settle in uh fairly early, certainly right after uh in January sometime, I I believe. >> And Mike, can I just add that the survey that's going out is was really well done. Lori really tackled that job and she shared it with Beth and I and we both really liked it. Um, it not only asked for the preferences in the two new schools with the theme, but and the grade levels that they preferred, but it also said if there were
064an opportunity due to retirement, to go to one of the other magnet schools, which you know, we'll have five magnet schools, would that be a preference? So, we're going to be collecting all this data kind of at the same time along with the retirement. So we're hope our goal is really before the holidays we'll know where people really want to go. So um I think that will be a huge lift so that in January we can start bringing our faculties together and kind of getting ready for transition and moving and all that stuff that we did with the Graten Middle School. So there's a lot of still heavy lifting to do with you know moving um three schools into two and faculties and stuff. >> We work >> no pandemic is going to stop us.
065>> No way. At the middle school, we work with this really terrific guy named Tom BBE who really organized with unbelievable detail uh the the move from the two buildings to to bring it to all the supplies and equipment to to and furniture to the to the middle school. and I was saying goodbye to him and he said, "Well, actually, next week I'm starting uh the uh the process of helping the three schools uh consolidate all their stuff and put it into the two new schools." So, we we are off and running. And then, as I said the other night, I mean, in my board notes, uh and I really hope some board members can come. By the way, no, nobody was able to make it uh to to the topping off ceremony. There's going
066to be a topping off ceremony at 2 PM on Monday the 16th of November uh at Fames River Magnet Schools. U and I was at uh I I was at Mystic River Magnet School yesterday uh and they are putting the walls in. >> Wow. >> Believe it or not. Uh so the themes river school I start like we always call the schools by initials. So TR >> is uh is coming along and we're going to put that final beam in. >> Uh so if you can make it it would be I'd really appreciate it. It's a really a nice way to get together to celebrate a a true milestone. Uh and and and then to thank everybody for uh so so it'd be great if if we and there's there's there there's enough room. We
067we could if you're available uh we we could uh you could go to the school and then we could walk over and say a few prayers at at uh at Fizer and uh we'll be all >> Mike. Do you want us to let you know if we can go? >> Yeah. Yeah. If you could yeah shoot me a note that'd be great. Monday, November 16th, 2 PM. >> You might also want to reach out to some community members and representatives, too, in case they want to go. >> Well, they had that like they they they always threaten me. We can only have a few people. I just want to make sure the board can come. If the board can come, that that would be like super terrific. >> Okay. >> And actually, uh Mr. Antipas
068was counselor Antipas in those days. and uh he he helped uh get this referendum through. >> Yeah, >> we hope. >> Kim, I have a question. It's um for either Mike or Susan with the Kathern Konowski Magnet Sim Steam School and Northeast Academy, we have like an extra period of our we have an extra period of um technology or STEM. What is it going to be at these? Will we have to hire additional staff? And where how does this fit in with the discovery, the marine science, and then the the one at the active exploration? H I don't quite understand the themes. >> We just started the budget for those schools today. Uh I a little bit more in the next week or so. Uh Jay, I see that you're back. The the facilities finance
069committee is really going to take this on. Uh can you talk, Jay? Did we do we fix this problem? >> No. Okay. Anyway, the answer the answer to your question is when I when I spoke to the one school who whose faculty is is still intact, u Seth Dander was explaining to me what they're thinking about is is a what they're going to call a discovery period, an hour on Tuesdays and an hour on Thursdays every week. and the kids are going to do some discovery activity. Now, if we had a uh as you know at at uh at at CK we we have Ben Moon who's that STEM teacher. So, if we could get some sort of a discovery type person that would be that would be great. And, you know, I think we're
070gonna given the nature of the budget uh we're going to have to be uh creative. I don't think it's I don't think it's necessarily mandatory to do that. I think we're going to be able to present a theme. But yeah, I I think the the environmental marine life science there will probably be an elementary project component. There might be a nest New England sailing science >> with the uh with the u >> Mystic. Hard for me to say these names. I gotta get them roll off my tongue. Mystic River Magnus School. I I have a sense that there there probably will be an art connection like perhaps to the Seapport and perhaps to uh to the mystic uh mystic uh >> aquarium. >> Yeah. >> Oh, the museum of art. >> Yeah. I can I
071just say that that's why this is so important that we figure out our staff because really one of the things I had talked about at the last meeting is it's so essential that the staff comes together with the families or with the PTO to really create this thing so it becomes theirs. So, it's going to be really important that while we can envision and we actually sent out in the survey other examples, it's going to be really up to the principal, assistant principal and their staff and parent group what this becomes. So, if we can really get the um some of these transitionings done before the holidays and start bringing people together and finalizing that in January, then all of this will um come together and we'll certainly share with the board and we'll have
072the two principles, you know, um Jamie and Steve with some staff come to you and let you know what it's going to look like, >> right? I think that would be extremely helpful for parents because they they'll know then where they would like to apply for the lottery because it is it will be limited. CK used to have an extra art period. Do they still >> I don't know about an extra art period. I know that they do have a steam period. So it really is more of kind of a STEM related to the arts. So that's where Ben Moon will have classes in. he has his own lab >> so that they rotate classes um at every grade level through that >> and I think there is an extra music teacher at NEA there's
073extra music offerings at NEA >> so that's what we try to do in supporting these magnet programs but your your um suggestion about the lottery is essential because most of the lotteryies in New London and learn happen in February so really want to be competitive we've got to really get this going so that our families know what their choices are. >> And I really think that the MR um MS and TRMS I think they sound great. It's like >> Mr. Gri mag I mean you know you could just abbreviate them because it is a mouthful. >> Yeah, it is a mouthful right? >> You kind of sound like syndromes or diseases >> right >> like person. Sorry. >> That's what I was thinking. That's what I was thinking. Any other um conversations about this topic?
074All right, we're down to our referral list. Yes. Thank you for making this a shorter meeting. >> Yeah, because in because in January, man, we're going to be really busy. So, we are And along with that to not only the review of the referral list but also if people have agenda topics we I feel like those two kind of go hand in hand. >> Kim, >> yes. Are you on to the uh tracking sheet? >> Yes. >> Um I thought we had put on there last time last month uh to uh review where uh the state was with the mandated AfricanAmerican Latinoamerican course for curriculum. Andrea, am I >> off on that? No, we're we're actually coming back because the state just passed the curriculum. >> Oh, okay. >> And I I forwarded that to
075Cara and she's going to come and make a presentation to the curriculum committee initially and then we'll go from there. >> So, that doesn't need to go on our our action. >> No, that that's that's coming. We're we're gonna deliver that. >> Okay. >> I finally did it. Huh? So when Andrea and I are putting together the agenda, >> I actually think it Yeah, I think it needs to go on the on the tracking list because of do so many Yeah. >> I'm just amazed that they've got something together. >> It's been years. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a fully developed curriculum. So off we go. >> Wow. >> Freda, um the what what is on that? I it says RV discussion of STEM masters for diversity. I don't believe it's a master's program. I
076think it's the >> Sorry, it's a it's the residency program, >> right? >> Lori I put Lori in contact with Ryan Donlin and and we're >> we're going to include that in our budget. >> But that's more for pair of professionals. >> Yes. >> As opposed to the masters. The masters is a different one. >> You're right. You're right. It's not it's not the mast's one. is the resident program is is for people they may have a degree they just don't have a teaching degree >> right >> it could be a parent too you're right >> yes >> but do we want do we want to add that one Rita is that what I hear you saying >> yes I mean they're two separate things yeah I think so >> and and Dr. er, you
077have a program that you that I don't think everybody in the board is familiar with. Like the grat we have a program in Grten. >> That's right. >> So maybe you could explain that. >> Sure. >> I didn't know that. >> Well, not No, no, no, no. It's not It's not We have to do an agenda topic. >> At the next CO, >> we'll do it >> at the next at the next CO. We just can't do that because it's not an agenda topic, >> right? >> Or are we putting more than words down? >> No. No. She's referring to the grow your own uh par get them to be. Yeah, >> Liz, I got you. >> Okay. I just was looking down on the CO. It says review of additional elementary neighborhood plans. Haven't
078we completed that? >> Yes. >> So, that can go off. >> Yes, please. Thank you. I'm so happy when things get off. I feel embarrassed that they're on there like for 20 years. This is much better than what it used to look like, man. We used to have two pages. >> Oh jeez. >> Can we um can we have the R202023 underneath the committee of the whole the discussion and review of the work of the DEI committee? I sort of feel like that just is ongoing. Can't we? I mean ne >> next week is our first book discussion. Uh and uh yeah, we could we could make a nice presentation uh on on on Monday actually. >> What's the book? >> Uh so you want to talk about race? >> I think we have enough
079copies if board members would like it too because I think that would be really a good thing to have for us. >> Can it be sent to us or do you want us to come pick it up? Um, Erica can send it. Just send me a note that you're interested in CC Erica. >> Okay. >> We'll get you a book. >> Okay. Well, the first it's due on Tuesday. So, so you got >> I'll skim it. >> Yeah. Right. >> I'm a quick read. Come on. >> Good. Good. >> Tomorrow. I I have it and I'm I've been sitting on it and trying to get through through some information by osmosis and it's not working. >> Okay. >> I won't lay my head on top of it and go to sleep. >> Yeah, there you
080go. >> Anything else? Or for agenda topics? Uh can you explain the under policy the two different policies about sexual harassment and exploitation of sexual harassment? >> So those actually go together. One is for students um who need to file sexual harassment um forms and one is for adults in the adult world. So, we have it under the 5,000s for the students and we have it under the 4,000s for um for the adults. And um actually Denise is going to join us when we have our first meeting. We've gone through it in policy. We made some um some corrections and it's going to be sent back out to all of the policy members to review one more time and then we're going to be discussing it during um the board meeting. and she's going to
081share with you. We we actually created this sexual harassment back in 2016 and because the law changed, we had to go back and make some changes based on the law. So, she's just going to review those changes that needed to happen. Um, so >> can you um also the wording um for R209-16 determine where the limits are for having advertising done? Could that be rewarded to be a little >> Haven't we done that one? >> We have done that one. Yeah, because >> we totally finished >> the size of the sign and how long and all this. Yeah, we've done it as part of the advertising policy. >> So then we don't need to have that there anymore. >> I think we could remove that. Another one down >> and be and did Jay make
082a referral about um people that reside in this community going to our schools and how were we going to track that? Wasn't he didn't he make a referral about that? >> He did >> and it never made it on the referral tracking. >> Well, the reason is that we actually have admission requirements for resident students. So, we're looking at our um registar information and enrollment and >> Okay. Well, that needs to but that's a that you're discussing an agenda topic. So, let's get it on our tracking sheet so that we can have that discussion. >> Well, it is >> it is she >> she's saying that R20-24 no 22 >> would cover that, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Oh, got it. >> Yeah. And yeah, so we're going to be examining that um soon because
083we're also going to have um software for online registration updates and lottery. So that's something we have to look at carefully. But D did your part also wanted to talk about the finance part of that that once we determined if we have a number of students who are being educated who do not live in town is that not >> part of that as well. So could not the could could not underneath finance it say that once the admissions policy >> I mean do we have a policy around >> we have a process that we have we have someone in the finance office that tracks the information of students who are outplaced to make sure that their attendance is verified um and whether they're in magnet schools or whether they are in special ed programs. So,
084we do have a system for for checking on that um and also for verifying data each year um from families if they've made moves. >> I I think I think Jay was referring to in Norwich they actually hired >> they hired a person an attendance officer. That's >> an attendant officer and I thought his was tied in with that. >> Yeah, it is. I I think as a first step what we we thought we would do is take a look at the policy because we we have a policy about how people prove they are >> and then and then yeah sure we could >> we could definitely I mean the the big the big thing that I think they did in Norwich was they were able to prove that some very high cost >> special
085ed that's dollar for dollar >> right So, we're already doing that, Mike. We're already double-checking all of that data, but you might want to have that at a CO for Denise to come in and talk to you about the processes that we have in place. >> I think that I think I think that that's what the point is. Yeah. That we have it we have it in the policy, but that we also have in the C to talk about what is the procedure. >> All right. I put that down for next next. >> Oh, and Jay just wrote something. Let's see. Thank you, Jay. >> I don't think of him as Jay. I think of him as Harpo. [Laughter] >> Any other uh future agenda topics? >> Lyn. [Laughter] >> Motion to adjurnn. >> I
086have a second. I have Rosemary. >> Any discussion? >> Good meeting. Thank you all. >> I don't know what our families are going to do when they see us at 7 emerge. >> All right. All those in favor of adjournment, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. That motion carried. Good night, everyone. Night. >> Stay well.