9-13-21 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Mark has given us the signal that our our meeting is now being recorded. Um so I would like to call the committee of the whole for the board of ed September 13, 2020 at 601 in order. And our first regular um business order of business Oh, hi Jane. I'm glad Jane is here too. Yay. Um that's not the order of business. Um the order of business is to for the approval of the um the committee the whole meeting minutes of a August 9th. I would entertain a motion for acceptance. >> So move. >> Okay. >> All right. I got a second from Rosemary. I got a first from Lee. Is there any discussion on the meeting minutes? Hearing none. All those in favor of the approval of the meeting minutes for August 9th, 2021, please

002say I. >> I >> oppose. Abstain. >> Abstain. >> Liz Liz has abstained. That is that a word? I guess. Sorry. Um All right. Motion has carried and we're going to move us along. Um I'm in a different location. My my husband is in a is in the normal room because that's got a standing computer to do a annual board meeting for one of his um things that he's involved with. And so I have there's a lot more background noise. So I apologize that I have these little beautiful little ear mug earbuds in that stick out and make it look like I am trying to speak to an alienation. I am not. Um but um and I probably will be transferring back upstairs eventually, but until then we are stuck with all the dog noises

003and cat noises and etc. Um so the next order of business I believe is um our superintendent Susan Austin uh who's going to give us a report of the opening of school. And I do appreciate the fact that your board notes had pictures um and uh lots of information as well. So I thought that was really handy. Um, but I can't wait to hear more about what you got to say. >> Well, I guess I guess the the wonder of the new year is just seeing all those smiling faces underneath the masks and you can tell in their eyes, whether it's the teachers or the students. So, Dr. Dr. Phil Piaza and I got out to all the schools last week and Mark Russell did too and he was able to capture some of those

004smiles behind the masks and to capture a lot of um happiness um getting back to school. I heard many teachers say and parents too, it's so glad to get them back full-time in person for the whole week. And we couldn't agree with them anymore. Um, today was kind of a historic too because all of our preschool, preks and K's joined us. So now all of our K through 12, preK through 12 are in school and that ran very smoothly in the morning. Um just knowing how the transportation committee has worked on you know getting those um you know routes done and we had not in the past been able to bring in our um typical peers in the preschool programs or the prek because of limitations but we were able to do that this year.

005So that made accessibility to our programs even greater from all of our constituents. So we were very happy to do that. Um I think you saw the article in the newspaper and I think I saved a link. Um it was really a celebration while the um the day was really at mystic in the morning on the first day of school which was September um 7th. All the schools were celebrating. There were balloons, there was music, there were um at the um famous river magnet they were all wearing their green turtle sweat t-shirts which are their logo. So the turtles And um and kids were happy to be back and teachers are happy to be back. We are working on transportation and I know Sam Kilpatrick is going to give you an update on that. Every

006day got a little bit better. Today I felt like we had a second first day, but I saw a thumbs up that everybody got home. So I'm getting the word when I get everybody home safe and sound. Um really important and I think because it's a little slower because we are so safe. we are really at the school level. They're making sure all the kids they're trying to make sure they all get on the right bus. They're counting kids. They're checking on them. Um so that it takes a little longer at the school building to get them on the buses and then send them off. So, um it's just really been happy place to be able to be in the schools again and um to be with students and teachers and principles. So, um I

007don't know, Phil, do you have anything else to add to that? Because you've been right along with me. So, >> yeah. And ju I'll I'll just say, you know, as my first opening here in the district, I I was really impressed, you know, by I think the teachers I've never seen in all the buildings we visited, all the teachers were outside ready to greet the kids in the hallways helping direct traffic. I think they really helped the parents feel at ease and the students uh as well. I was really impressed by the the the amount of staff that were just present and able to be um very helpful to these parents at a very, you know, you could tell people were nervous about um a lot of different things about the new procedures, about the

008new buildings, u about going back to school after a year and a half of uh back and forth. Um, and I I did hear that a lot from the parents that I was able to talk to in the parking lots and um especially today too during the drop offs of the prek and the you know they were just happy to see that their kids were happy um and that we were they were leaving them in good hands. So that was uh that was really nice to see. >> I'd also add to that that today we had um the first of several um vaccination clinics at Fitchan. We had done them in the spring and with our partners Hartford Healthcare, we were able to provide the Fiser vaccine um for I think the whole morning session.

009So we really included staff members and students who are eligible and made it really easy to get there. So, the second followup will be on October 4th, and it could be a followup. It could be a booster shot. It could also be the first of a another um series which is going to come, they're going to come back November 1st. So, Lori Leine and I are really trying to make sure that we have several of these backtoback so that people can get their first shot, their second shot, and a booster shot. and as many staff as we can get there, as many students, and I'm hearing some good news about um the Fizer shot being available for our children 5 to 11 years old come October. So, I'd like to have these lined up ready

010to go. So, to make it easy, of course, it would only come with parent permission. So parents would have to sign permission and even for our middle school and high school children, sometimes the parents will come and join them, you know, and be with them. Um, and sometimes parents have come and gotten their shots at the same time. So I think it's a great community effort in the middle of opening schools. So, but we're working on it every day and we're bringing the whole team together with transportation. That's a good segue to to Sam who's been right on top of things and um you know to the STA and I did do a shout out for our bus drivers. We're so grateful to them um because they have learned new routes. We have new bus

011drivers and um they're just I love seeing them with the kids. You know, it's so great to see them loading and unloading and making those connections. Before we move on to transportation, can we just make sure that there's not other questions for the opening of school? Thank you. Liz, did you have your hand up specifically about transportation? >> Transportation. I just wanted to know, do we have enough drivers now? >> That's going to be up to Sam. I don't know that there's enough drivers in any community. >> It's a a problem across the state, across the nation. Um, but I think you see the signs up everywhere. I've seen school buses really publicizing it. I know Lori Leine is going to a big um, job fair at the Mystic Marriott um, next week, but it's

012really up to STA who is the employer of our bus drivers. We are not the employer of the bus drivers. >> I understand. I just wanted to know what the status was. Thank you. >> I think Sam can give us more details on that. Lee, sorry. >> Oh, you're on mute. >> Sam should be >> a better part than I am. >> Sam, >> he's now on mute. >> Yeah, >> Sam, on mute, please. Yeah, I'm um so uh I I guess the first question that that came up about uh SDA is whether they have enough drivers and they do not. Uh they're short drivers uh as everybody in the state and the nation seem to be. Uh as a matter of fact, uh a couple more drivers uh left their employee today. So employed

013today. So uh they're short even more today than they were yesterday. Um so um but but but the good thing is that the new two two-tier system is really working well. Uh we've uh worked out some of the kinks about uh uh where parents need to go at the high school which was slowing down uh pickup at the high school or buses getting into the high school. Uh and and of course we've uh we're speeding up uh the exit from the middle school kids home on time. So uh that that's working better. I was at Three Rivers this afternoon. watched uh watched the uh well actually I got out of my car and parked down on Linton Avenue because the traffic was looked up past the light uh toward the uh uh city hall and

014um and and buses were still in line there. So, we haven't figured out exactly how we can uh get buses into the elementary school because they are just coming directly from dropping high school, middle schools off and coming directly to those schools and and the traffic there on um Breny is uh is uh pretty well backed up. So, we're still trying to figure that out. I was talking to Jamie this afternoon about that to see if there's something we can do uh uh differently with the parent uh pickup uh so that we can get the buses into the uh parking lot. Um but even with the backups, it's still quicker than it was last week. So, it it's moving uh quicker and uh kids are getting on the buses and um we still have uh

015of course today we started uh with the uh kindergarteners and um so uh kids are still uh especially those younger kids are still finding their buses their their teachers and aids are getting them to those buses but uh that's taken a little bit of time too when we added that in today. So, uh, slowing down. >> Preschool and prek and >> and TK >> and and TK. That's right. So, uh, again, the good news is that uh things are moving along more quickly. Uh, the unfortunate part of uh not having enough bus driver, enough bus drivers, is that actually we have to double up on some of our runs. Our SDA has to double them up in order to get them home. So, uh, we're still working on the details of that. They're advertising everywhere.

016We have it on our website. Lori's going to a couple more job fairs. STA is going to job fairs. Uh, and so if you know anybody that's uh capable of and willing to drive a bus, we should all go out and recruit as as as we can. For sure. >> We can help publicize that on our website, too, Sam. So, talk to Joe and see if we can't get that up so people will see that information. Yep. >> Rita, um, yes, Sam, I had a question. Could the buses do the reverse um, route to go to pick up at Thames River, you know, go by the Fizer back gate and come up that way so they're not in that long line. Do you know the the back way to get to go to where Westside

017is? Um Sam's on mute. >> Yeah, some buses are coming in that way, but the buses that are coming from the other end of town are are coming across that way. So, um I don't know how many bus can get around to the other side. But, uh that's another thing that we're talking to Jamie and SDA about to see that up. >> The other way is to go to turn before Fizer and you know, one of the streets that lead right up to things. >> Yeah. like like Hines Avenue or um Hines and I can't remember the other right now. >> I mean I I know I I've know what that's like to be stuck in those lines. And the other thing is when you said you have to double up children on buses, does

018that mean there are three to a seat? >> Uh there may be a couple of buses that have three to a seat, but that's not the plan. And uh we've been trying to double up with buses that had less kids on it. So if they're in >> Yeah. only the the youngest ones that can fit three to a seat. We're really trying to keep middle school and high school two to a seat. And I know Patty was able to send into several neighborhoods um I think um Brford Manor and also Navy Housing, she sent two buses to make sure that we had plenty of room and she's going to work on that plan to make sure the kids know exactly which bus. There's two buses for each of those neighborhoods that were seem to be

019really um too many kids. I mean, they were not too many for what the bus can handle, but they were too many for COVID and during these times. So, we're trying to make sure that we do it this in the safest way possible, >> right? And I think we really need to have our mile, you know, it's supposed to be within a mile if there are sidewalks children could walk. And I noticed that Mr. River really no one no one was really walking to school, but maybe that will change as time goes on. So hopefully we'll have more walkers and not have to worry so much about parents dropping children off and buses being crowded. >> You know, when I when I looked at Mystic River, for instance, there were only a couple of kids

020in that in that neighborhood uh just north of uh Mystic River that that are actually walkers from there. So there aren't that many walkers coming from that neighborhood. And of course uh anybody on u on that road there aren't that many kids on that road either. So >> Wow. So all behind where Cutler used to be that whole neighborhood there's only a couple of children. >> Yeah. Yeah. There were only we call them blue dots because that's what we have on the map. So there were only there were only a couple of blue dots in that neighborhood. >> That could change next time when we run the lottery now that people really understand it a little better. I've heard that in other neighborhoods too where they said, "Oh, the new school's right in my neighborhood,

021but I'm be, you know, I'm going over to this other school." So, remember, we kind of kept the kids together in their group. So, Claude Chester and SB Butler went to Mystic and then we had most of Mary Morrison going to ths, but then you had the fullrun lottery. So, kids are going everywhere, but next time we run the lottery, that may shift. >> Yes. And also you have that there. >> And the and the other thing is yeah the the other thing for Mystic River is that actually kids on the other side of Route One uh on New London Road um over into the very early parts of Bair are are within that one mile uh distance, but we don't um the uh the uh a lot of them are are taking the bus

022right now. So there was a buddy first grader. So picking. >> Yeah. It's a half mile read for the younger ones for kindergarten and preschool. >> Oh, really? I don't remember that ever changing. Huh. Oh, okay. >> It's been here as long as I've been here. >> Wow. Thank you, >> Dean. I s Dean, I see you had your um hand. >> Yeah. Um my question has to do with with segregation on the buses. Uh I mean I know the loading of the buses is more controlled for departure at the schools. It's easier to do that. Whether that's done is another question, but as kids are being picked up, I'm hearing again it's just anecdotal. Uh I'm hearing that the segregation isn't necessarily being maintained. Now maybe the kids by and large self-segregate so that

023you have very few sixth graders sitting near 12th graders. Uh but uh apparently it's a little more higgledy piggledy on the way into school than it is away from school. Have you heard anything about that? >> Um >> I haven't heard too many complaint. >> No. >> Go ahead, Susan. >> Well, that was my initial that was my that was my initial concern which is I know we're waiting for feedback. We want to hear from parents, from kids, or maybe bus drivers about what's going on. But I also recognized that the feedback wasn't going to be perfect. We are relying on kids actually opening up when very often they don't. They just sort of grumble to each other on, >> you know, uh, social media and that's it. >> I know that the administrators are

024paying attention to them coming in >> and I noticed that they were, you know, smaller in the front and larger in the back. So, I guess, you know, just checking in with the administrators and certainly, you know, we probably will do something to um elicit that information from both students and parents in the next couple weeks. Dean, >> because who's in charge? I mean, is the bus picks kids up? What how is it designed that the How do you make sure that the younger kids are in the front say and the older kids are in the back? Is are things labeled? Is the bus driver responsible for sorting the kids out? How how is that done? Or do you rely on the case to self-segregate? >> It's done by the bus driver. >> Okay. >>

025And I think it's reinforced by administration as well, especially when they're getting them on at their end. >> You're saying kind of pick these seats and kind of stick to them >> because that because that is a big that is a big objection on the part of a lot of parents. I don't want my sixth grader sitting with high school kids. that was their their their reticence in going along with this plan. So, >> right. And and Dean, I've only I've only fielded two qu two uh uh complaints from parents about uh middle schoolers and high schoolers on the bus at the same time. And one of those was because a couple of high schoolers uh got to the point where they were uh about to have a fight and and uh were using some

026foul language. So, uh the sixth grade parent wasn't happy that their child heard this language that was being used. So, uh, the school and and SDA have addressed that. Um, and those kids are separated and but, uh, I haven't had too many complaints from parents, um, other other than those two that I feel. >> All right. Thanks. >> So, Susan, Sam, and Phil, I sent a um, actually I sent a chat a text to the two of you. Um there are some concerns Sam about the bottom of the hill um of where Sutton Park that light that's there um and um actually the mayor actually called because she's she works at Grasso Tech and she said that that the line and the wait there is extensive um and she said that there was going to

027be difficulty in trying to get a police officer there to kind of work the light. Um, are you aware of that or um I just wanted to I just wanted to kind of pass that information on to you guys. Um, was that you know someone had contacted me today about um they kind of wish that there was someone that was stationed to kind of control that light um at that at that intersection. >> That's something Sam and I can contact the police chief and just say that there's a problem there. also at Fort Hill, of course, like right across from the high school, they usually have someone right there as well. >> Yep. And she and she found that that was true. Like when she went worked her way up the hill, she saw that

028there was um police presence there kind of directing traffic and getting things to move, but that wasn't true for at the bottom of the hill and that was um um causing quite a bit of um congestion. >> Um >> so we will follow up with that tomorrow. Definitely. >> That'd be great. I appreciate that. you know, and you know, there have been officers at the bottom of the hill, too, but it has been sporadic. It hasn't been on a daily basis. So, um I know that um the other day they had to have our SRO from the high school actually, uh do regular duty with the police because they were short of personnel uh the other day. So, um they're probably in the same boat we are to a certain degree. >> All right. Thank

029you, Sam. I don't know. I I'm I'm very impressed with the fact that there was lots of difficulty that happened on on day one of the transportation. Not that I'm excited that happened, but that it happened and the amount of effort that went into and the skill sets that went into trying to resolve those problems um is pretty amazing and and and pretty impressive to like kind of get to the point that we are right now in such a few short days. Um, you know, and I feel I could I'm hearing your voice in my head where you could like you're like, "This is day one, folks. Like, this is just day one. Like, give us a chance. This is day one." Um, but, um, the fact that once again, there's things are not going

030to always move smoothly and it sounds like there's still places and spaces that need to be changed. Um, but I just really appreciate the fact that how hard you guys have worked um to the good. Like things are so much better. So, I >> Well, I think we'll definitely take lessons learned. So next year we won't even get in this situation. There's so many things that we've talked about that we're going to come together and work on with online registration and you know all of the enrollment process and the lottery process. So there's a lot of things we think we can tweak to make even better so we have all the information ready to go earlier than later and so everybody has a chance to practice and get the information out. Um, so we we

031still know we have um room to improve and we're working on it. >> Anything else about the first part of the school questions, thoughts? Liz, >> I just want to say that um I appreciated the um the quick response that I think it's Karen Roarge put out about food service when there was a complaint about food the first day or two of school. And I wanted to say thank you to her. It was a clear, concise, and very, you know, pointed address to the situation. And I I just wanted to extend my my gratitude I I um I asked Phil and I think Jay, but like my internet is like not doing well. So I'm either people are either speaking like they have molasses and like um honey in their mouth or they're speeding like

032a like a rabbit. like they're going and so I'm sorry if I'm sounding like I am like dazed and confused more so than normal. Um >> you're coming through. >> Okay. So, but Phil, you weren't like so like I know it's on my end. Um I just don't know quite how to resolve it. But um so if I go out and come back in, Andrea, you just need to pay attention to whether I'm on or not. And if you could then just do what you do so so well um is to kind of um finish the meeting. But if there is no more if there is no if we don't have any more information. Oh Jay. >> Yeah. I just I just want to take the opportunity um to to echo you know what what

033Susan said. There are a lot of people that came together uh for this final phase of the of the grat in 2020. I mean, the teachers that had to move schools, uh, Sam's team that had to move the, you know, move the teachers, um, the food service, the the custodians, you know, the teachers, the paras, the bus drivers. I mean, everybody just did a fantastic job. And we have a lot to be proud of. And, uh, to paraphrase somebody, I can't remember their name, there's nothing wrong with the Graten Public School District. that what's right with it cannot solve. >> Oh, I like that. I hadn't heard that one. >> You're here. >> Yes. >> I guess it has something to be said about like the lessons learned, right? Like we're not perfect. We're a

034human organization. We're asking our students to make mistakes so that they can learn. So, if you could take a deep breath and allow us to kind of make mistakes and learn from them and and to grow and to change, I think that that's a good metaphor. Jay, thank you. >> And we do appreciate the feedback that we've gotten. So, you know, I've sat with some parents and I, you know, answered some phone calls and I probably have a few more phone calls to answer today, but I just appreciate the feedback that we're getting. It helps >> and and I know I was going to leave someone out, the secretaries. I know they do. They're now in larger buildings. >> Our security at the high school, I know they're out directing traffic. I mean, everybody really

035has gone above and beyond to make this uh uh consolidation and modernization of the district work. >> And the school nurses. >> Yes. Thank you. >> We have all those health protocols. You saw those. I I reminded you about all those in the board notes, too. There's a lot to pay attention to. Yeah, I I asked Susan to do that specifically to not my neighbors do diligently going to be mowing my lawn in just a second, so I don't want to tell them to stop. I just need to not have it be sold out. Sorry. Um >> I just think we're lucky. We're very lucky. >> Yep. I'm just gonna I'm just going to go on because I I'm going to be distracted by that. Is there anything else about the school system stuff that

036they that people need to have? >> Speaking of lessons learned, Phil has that's a good segue to Phil doing a little bit of a deeper dive for our secondary schools and what we've learned in the spring from our parents and teachers. um you know all of our constituents, our students on you know safe school climate. So >> So yeah, and if you guys remember last time we we did a sort of an overview um we'll go a little bit deeper. We'll focus on the middle and the high school uh the secondary level. Um right after that last meeting uh we sent you the full presentation just so you had some time uh to look it over. So hopefully you've had a chance, but if not, you know, I'll take you through it. um we'll move

037quickly past the elementary stuff and we'll focus on that at another time. Um but we uh we'll take a little bit of deeper dive and I think the purpose of this is to not only get some feedback from from you as to what you saw um but also for you to prepare I think the next step Susan is for our uh middle school and high school principal uh Mr. Keller and um Mr. asked to come and sort of speak to what this data told them and for as you know as Susan puts it the so what now what answers where um you know what what goals did they come out out with um after reviewing this data and after meeting with Susan and I uh at the end of the last school year where we

038looked at this uh a lot closer. Um, so just >> and so Phil, if I can just if I can just interject one second, I think that this meeting was supposed to be the campus meeting. Um, but I think Susan, Phil and I when we were doing the agenda, we realized that especially after all the transportation stuff that that Ted and Peter needed to do their stuff with their schools. Um, but that there was there's enough there that Phil could kind of wet our teeth with. um and that we will come back and I promise you we will talk about the campus and all those things. I haven't forgotten about that. They are on they're on a future agenda but we just felt that second week in to school was not the day time to

039bring in those two principles um who who are working so hard right now. >> So uh I'm going to share my screen again and I'll I'll go through um the presentation after I move some things around. and I won't be able to see you anymore. So, if you could just give me the verbal okay that you could see this. >> Yes. >> Got it. >> And if you remember, all this was put together by the district safe school committee. And I worked with with Tom Londale and and Denise Dittle to uh put this all together uh for this presentation. So, like I said, hopefully you had a chance to look it over. Um if you remember um the topics covered within the survey fell under these five categories. We tried to uh group them um

040communication, safety, sense of belonging, uh respect and diversity and transportation. And uh you'll see the surveys were given to staff uh parents and also to students. So we talked about communication uh last time and how important it is. And of course, we've seen at the beginning of the year how important it's been to um gaining gathering feedback and improving uh each and every day. Um obviously, you know, looking back to last year, this was a priority due to all the COVID protocols and the constant changes that were taking place. Um and so just as a reminder, the district did have parent focus groups to gather information. Um at each school, there were weekly principal meetings with the superintendent and the assistant superintendent to to make sure everybody was up to date. Our website was utilized

041to communicate information to parents and the creation of the COVID dashboard uh which is back um is and is an important way of keeping uh parents ab breast of what's going on in the district. Uh and of course our district email system and our alert system uh to get important information out in a timely fashion u was also used. So if again this data here that you're seeing and that you saw this is district data here. Um but I I will break it down to you um specifically to the uh middle school and high school as well. Um so one of the things we looked at was are the buildings communicating frequently with parents uh so that they feel that they're informed about events and activities at school. Now, of course, last year I don't

042think there were too many events and activities at the school, but um you could see generally, you know, the blue and the green are uh the green is strongly agree and the blue is agree. Um so you can see districtwide we were about 89% um a little bit higher than that, almost 90% um as a district. Um and again, I want to remind you too that I did we did include some some uh quotes from staff members and from parents and whoever the groups were. Um, we did leave it open-ended for parents and for staff. So, I included some in there just to round out the data. Sometimes it'll be uh positive, sometimes it'll be negative, but it really helps to see the the the whole picture. Um, so for the middle school and high

043school, if we took it out of, you know, we um disagregated the the data and we had about about 78% of the middle school and high school staff felt that the buildings had communicated. Um so a little bit below uh that district average. Um so it's definitely an area of focus moving forward. you know, we've took we've uh spoken to the administration and of course, one of the things we're working on is making the website easier to navigate. Uh which is another way uh hopefully uh that will help improve um and really, you know, we're working on consistently getting the the um most up-to-date information from parents um and staff into Power School so we have all their phone numbers and make sure everybody's receiving all the messages. Um but in this particular case um

044the middle school and high school were a little bit below that and so they are going to work on um communicating with staff. A couple other questions that went out um to staff were whether they feel that they can approach the building administrators with concerns and issues and the other side was also if they can they feel they can approach district administrators uh with concerns, issues or ideas. Um the uh the data for uh building administrators uh the district data as you see in front of you is 82% in the agree or strongly agree um while the district um administrators was a little bit lower a lot lower actually at 52%. Um um looking closer at the middle school and high school, we noticed that um in terms of the building administrators, about 71% thought

045that um felt comfortable uh approaching their administrators with concerns or ideas. Um and only 45% of the middle and high school teachers thought they could, you know, uh approach um the district administration. Uh definitely there'll be some goals for this year um to include uh increasing district level admin presence in the building. Um Susan was doing two jobs for half the year. Uh so I am hopeful to help her with this. Um and we'll hopefully break down any walls that may exist and and try to build relationships so we can encourage communication and trust. Uh dates and times have already been set so that both Susan and I will visit each school twice a month at a set time. And this will involve not only meeting with administration but visiting classrooms and talking with teachers.

046Uh so we we hope that will help uh improve that. Uh and like I said, building leaders will establish goals in this area as well. Uh with you know improvements expected due to due to the return of school um and the inclusion of teachers on committee work throughout the building which of course was a big piece that was missing last year. Uh the last two for staff was whether or not the building administration communicated clearly about their expectations uh new developments and ideas and issues. And then we asked the same question about uh whether or not the district communicates well. Uh similar data to the last question. Uh again this is district data. 71% uh thought that the building administration did well and 63% thought the district did well. Uh breaking it down again for

047the middle and high school, um that took a dip. About uh 50% of the middle and high school staff thought their building administrators communicated well um with new developments, ideas, and issues. Um and 52% thought the district did. Um again, things this past year were changing at a at a pretty rapid pace. Uh and we do plan improvements in this area again with the ability to be in the buildings. Um, and plus, uh, us as district leaders, uh, Susan and I plan on being in the in the, uh, buildings a lot more, uh, hopefully to be able to answer questions, um, and, uh, you know, get some feedback, you know, uh, face-to-face feedback from from teachers. Um, so those are definitely areas of, uh, concern for us and and areas that u we're going to

048focus on for improvement for both the district and the building leaders with Peter and Ted. uh parent feedback um in the areas of communication about um you see the two questions here. They feel comfortable talking to their child's teacher. You see a lot of blue and green which is great. Um 92% um that stayed high for middle and high school parents where 85% felt comfortable talking to their child's teacher. Um whether or not they felt they were up to date about school events and activities. uh you see uh 92% um uh right there in the graph in front of you and then um for um you saw 87% I'm sorry 87% of the people uh for both middle and high school felt that same way. So those are still pretty those are pretty high. Uh

049you know the comments were pretty positive along the way. You can notice the ones on the screen. Um, I did include one comment uh on the right that said they were unable to find current information on the website. And like I said earlier, you know, you know, we kind of have already worked on that over the summer to try to clean up the website, make it easier to navigate. We'll continue to to find ways uh to do that. And also what I think is important to mention is that we're constantly try trying to get the most up-to-date information into P school and that does require uh the parent to go in and update and keep us updated with their email and cell phones as they change. Um, and so we're going to be reaching out

050again soon, um, and really make a push so we have the most up-to-date information, uh, so people are getting the messages that we send out. Another two questions that were put out to parents were if they felt like their input was welcome at their child's school. Um, and also whether or not home and school communication was encouraged uh, through their perspective. Um again we see uh you know large large um part of the pie there is blue and green. Um we also saw the the gray column is is no opinion. Uh those might have been parents who who haven't reached out or didn't offer input. Um so of course we want to we want to make it so uh everybody feels welcome to do that. Um and you see on the other question about home

051and school communication to be encouraged that's also very high at about uh 88%. Uh when we break it down to focus strictly on the middle and high school um we those they do dip a little bit 64% of the parents in the middle high school feel like their input is welcome and um about 79% feel that home and school communication is encouraged. Um so again we hope to make some improvements. Those will be some focus that we work on with Ted and Peter in terms of how they're going to uh help encourage that and make parents feel welcome. Um and again, we hope that just seeing them every day um in the lines, dropping off their kids uh or at the sporting events, different ways, there'll be a lot of different ways now to interact

052with parents. And so we hope to see that improve. Um safety obviously uh a major concern. Um, I'm going to skip over the the couple slides for the elementary uh and move right to secondary. Um, obviously the district had a safe reopening plan. Um, we have lessons taught by teachers on safety protocols that continues this year which include hygiene and handwashing and cleaning. Um, additional custodial staff was hired and that's still, you know, we're still trying to maintain those high standards of cleanliness in schools. Um and you know uh all last year visitors were restricted and students were attending in cohorts. So um that's when this data was collected. So you can see again you know we I feel physically safe at the school. Um lots of lots of blue and green which is uh

053awesome. Um you see over 90% of the students feel safe all or most of the time uh which is great. um um asked more specifically they have been the target of hurtful uh social media comments by peers. We see uh almost 80% have never been a victim of this, but there's still about 20% who have been at least once if not more. Um so in in our eyes, you know, we've talked to the principles about how we're continuing to educate the children and also educate the parents as well um about their their children's social media presence. Um we tr you know the kids unfortunately are always one two steps ahead of us just when we figure out one social you know one app they they've moved on to another um but uh we will try

054to stay on top of that research um what's out there and try to get that information to our parents and to our kids on how to be safe. Um so again this will continue to be an area of growth that we keep an eye on uh moving forward on the secondary level. Uh this is the staff question and again the slide in front of you is a u is a district um district percentages. Uh my building is safe and secure. Um narrowing it down to the middle and high school. You see it right now the district was at 90%. The um the middle and high school data is is slightly below that at 83%. Um again the comments were overwhelmingly positive with many shout outs going to their administrators to the nurses and the custodial

055staff uh for keeping people safe. Um I do think uh in the future uh we might want to define what safe and secure is. I think last year it took on a whole new meaning and I think most people um spoke to it in terms of uh uh germs and and um COVID uh rather than maybe in other years where it might be focused on you know uh secure uh from outside visitor unwanted visitors and that sort of thing. So so we'll look at how we're going to change those questions uh moving forward. um in terms of parents feeling safe and secure um u sending their children to school about 90% districtwide and it was it ended up being about 81% at the middle and high school level. Um again if you look at the

056uh quotes there you know we there is one from a parent asking for better consequences for repeated bullying. Uh so again there goes that question as to um what safe and secure means whether we're talking about COVID protocols or whether we're talking about students interacting with other students. uh and this partic this particular parent interpreted it in that way that was personal to her and her child. So um you know more comments complimented the staff for helping make their children feel safe during COVID. Um but all schools will continue to enforce the code of conduct and and to communicate that with students um you know not only the code of conduct but the consequences to uh not following it. Um especially those that were are victims of bullying or mean behaviors. So that will continue

057to be a focus obviously is you we want all kids to feel safe in our schools. Um the part about a sense of belonging again um we've had initiatives on SEAL social emotional learning um all last year that will continue this year. Um all of our staff have established professional goals um using social emotional learning as as their uh focus. The district climate committee uh created a social emotional learning web page on the GPS uh website. Uh and there were multiple presentations to staff to help them build their skills so that they can help uh their kids. Um support staff in each uh building promoted stuff like zones of regulation, second step, responsive classroom, uh playmakers, the life is good uh which is some great stuff. I was able to attend that training which is

058just fantastic. Um and obviously focusing on the growth mindset uh in kids. Uh you you folks at the board adopted the SEAL policy uh last spring uh which defined the six competencies of social emotional learning learning. Um self-management self-awareness uh responsible decision-m relationship skills, social awareness, growth mindset um and also we've added a position of seal coordinator uh for this school year. Uh so there's really has been a focus and so hopefully um although a lot of the data here um is positive you know there's definitely will hopefully see some improvement um with all these new additions um as you see here um this is on the secondary level I feel there are trusted adults in the school who I can go to to talk to for help this was given to the students obviously

059um you know here we see you know that kids tend to be you know I think we spoke about this at the at the last time I presented this about students at the middle and high school level being a little more selfisolating. Um, and we'll definitely use this data to um, ensure that students feel connected. Um, I think you know the advisory groups at both levels uh, will help uh, with this. Trying to make that connection with at least one adult in the building is so important. Um, >> counseling team also is important. >> Absolutely. And we're going to work closely I I'm going to work closely you know with the counselors um you know to to make sure that they're they're meeting with the with the kids building those relationships and making sure you

060know that we even take that 5% who put none of the time um you know that's what that's what we're going to focus on. We want them to feel like they have some type of connection at the school whether it's with a counselor with a teacher with an administrator um some adult in the building. Uh moving on to the staff again this is district data you see about 76% feel that they're part of the school community um with a small percentage you know about well almost 9% saying you know uh saying no opinion uh when you look at the secondary isolated middle and high school it's at about 52%. Um and again I think that is is more of a product of of the last year and a half. Um you could see some of

061the um uh comments there that they feel that the administrators have gone above and beyond but at the same time they've been trying to create a sense of community but it is hard and and I would think again that's from from a distance uh virtually uh it's very hard. So I, you know, we're we're confident that this will this data will improve over the course of this year. And obviously, you know, we made it a focus with both um Peter and Ted to incorporate this into their own goals and their building goals as they're bringing um their staff back in the building. If you remember, obviously Peter combined two buildings uh virtually somehow um and made it through on the other side. Uh so this is the first time they're actually in a building uh

062together. Uh so, you know, I'm still amazed at the job. you know, he did um and and in listening to the staff and and their reactions to to uh their elite year last year. Um and obviously, you know, with uh Mr. Keller um getting all his staff back into the building now and really focusing on some activities that could build school community again and help everybody feel a part of things again and not so not so isolated. Um this was great data as well. Um, this is the staff responding to relationships between students and between students and staff. Um, so you can see again, we like to see a lot of the the blue and and green. Uh, we'd love to see uh, you know, even more um, but we see that they feel um,

063staff um, I'm sorry, students treat each other with respect. um on the isolating just the middle and high school data it's still very high um at uh you know 78% um students generally treating adults with respect uh middle and high school level it's at 80%. Uh so again I I think with more time uh in person um that will improve and um you know it all goes back to those relationships and and building those relationships with kids. Um so um I'm sure that both principles will be developing goals in that uh area as well. For parents, we're asking for their persp, you know, we asked them for their perspective on whether their child likes to come to school every day, and that was both in person or remotely. Um, and also whether or not they

064felt there's an adult at their school that their child can talk to uh if they had a problem. Um, you know, again, both of these came back positively as you can see here. 87% um felt that their child liked to come to school with uh 86% feeling that they had an adult. Um looking at the middle and high school data isolated um it's still high at 76% felt that their children liked coming to school every day and 82% felt that there was an adult in the building that their kid could go to uh if they had a problem. Um other com you know both of these uh you know you see some positive comments appreciating the environment that teachers created over the last year um even with those medically fragile students. Um other comments want

065to see improvements in terms of the number of extracurricular activities or opportunities that can be made available. Obviously that was limited last year um and that's going to open back up. Um and that has opened back up. Um, and again through our SEAL lessons, we're hoping to continue to provide opportunities for students to learn more about their emotions and to make connections with teachers and other people person uh personnel services um that they can reach out to. Uh we move on to respect and diversity. Um, obviously a district-wide DEI committee was formed to develop a vision statement and inform staff. Um, the board adopted, like I said, anal policy that promotes the belief that an integral component of Graten Public Schools mission is to cultivate an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness. Um, let me

066see. skipped over the um elementary stuff. Looking at the secondary um asked by the students, I feel my peers treat me respectfully in this school and then the the students perspective as to whether adults interact with them in a respectful manner. Um we see here that 87% of the kids feel that their peers treat them respectfully in school which is great but definitely can be improved upon. and also 93% feel that the adults interact with them in a respectful manner. Um again we feel this will improve uh being back in person but it's good to see those numbers uh so high. Uh moving to the staff um again these are districtwide results about working with people. So this is the interactions of staff. I work with people who treat me with respect. The middle and

067high school data showed um um 74% of those of the staff at the middle and high school feel that they treat each other with respect, the other adults. And the other question administrators foster a respectful climate and culture at the middle and high school level. 64% um felt that they agreed with that statement or strongly agreed. Um so definitely um while positive for the most part, comments indicated the need to continue to educate in terms of equity and inclusion. Um and that's already on the on the agenda to to continue um and administrators will continue to strive to foster a more a respectful environment uh with and amongst teachers. Um we know that we set the tone for respect in our buildings and principal will principles will continue to work with their staff to build

068a positive school culture. A parent question uh in this area was whether or not they their student felt his or her differences were respected by others. Um there was a large group as you could see there that had no opinion. Um so again we might want to change how we ask this question just to see whether they maybe um don't feel they have differences or maybe don't recognize differences or maybe never had any personal um problems so they just didn't answer. Um so uh maybe change that to not applicable or or something like that. We we'll work on that. But parent comments ranged from positive comments to a request for more um diversity lessons across the grade level and even some lessons in good manners. So they took this uh again in a lot of

069different ways. Uh >> Bill, I'm seeing the staff slide up. Are you looking at another slide on parents? >> Oh, I'm sorry. It is parents. Yeah, that's the right I'm I'm talking about the right data. I just said um I said are you looking at parents? >> I see one that says staff. >> Is there a separate one for parents? >> There it is. You got it. >> Okay. I'm sorry. I was seeing I was seeing parents though, but you must have been you must have been delayed a little bit. Uh sorry about that. >> No, that's right. So basically, you know, they again they feel like their students differences are respected and about 76% in the district did and about 65% on the middle and high school level. Um so that is that is

070definitely going to continue to be a focus. Um again the principles have this data. Um and again this has to do with uh student behaviors. it could be could do with bullying and some people feel like um more has to be done to to weave the DEI stuff into our curriculum which again is part of our plan moving forward. All right, the last part is transportation. Um again we'll move to um the secondary and again this is data you know going off our conversation just before this um I feel my trip to and from school is a positive and safe experience majority is is very positive 92% feel safe all or most of the time um and 8% or so feel safe less than that uh again um we don't know from the the way

071this question is asked if it's safe in terms of COVID issues or safe in terms of physical, you know, physical harm or feeling uh safe. So, we're going to develop questions. As we said, we're going to um it's only been the first week. Uh we're going to probably try and collect data on our new transportation by the you know, maybe by the end of the month. Give it some time to um to work the kinks out. you know, it is improving every day, but then start asking questions about how how kids feel, how parents feel, um, and even probably how the buildings feel, you know, because they've been on the front lines there in terms of, uh, working through, uh, the different, uh, problems. So, um, it's good to see this data so positive and

072we hope it will continue with with this new system. >> And the interesting thing is last year and even the beginning of this year, more and more parents are driving their children back and forth. So when you ask the transportation question, you're kind of we're not as specific. So we might want to be more specific. Transportation to and from on a bus ride, you know, or with a parent. So >> yep. Yeah. And as you can see the data too for the parents and obviously the large percentage of those who had no opinion, those could be parents who drive their kids to school every day and and uh don't do it. But um you know and that this is a district slide. you see 70 almost 80% are positive on the middle and high school

073level is about 70%. Um so definitely room for improvement and going to be an area obviously that we're going to watch very closely uh moving forward with our new um with our new system. Um, and again, the last couple uh slides I think um I shared last time in terms of takeaways and and and you've kind of heard it throughout the the the presentation in terms of obviously communication is key. You've you've heard how positive it's been just recently. You guys receive calls and and you immediately give us feedback and we look for ways to to make immediate improvements. Um, and we've been doing that with the buildings. We've been doing that with with parents and with you guys, too. So we appreciate that and communication is going to be the key moving forward uh

074with everything. Um so um safety obviously will also continue. Um we will you know specific things in terms of um that were identified here um with some of the younger kids and even on the middle school level um improving safety in all those non-supervised areas um and improving uh parents and students knowledge of proper social media presence. Um that's a that's a problem that's been around. It's I don't think that's anything new, but we have to remember it in the midst of all this stuff because I do think kids have retreated to social media um as they've become more um more of an online learner over the last year and a half. So, we have to make sure that we are uh we are continuing to address that and educate um our community and then

075building the sense of community. This is going to be the major work of of probably all the principles in the district, but specifically middle and high school as they as they now um um come back into the buildings and they have to reestablish those relationships um and again with different staffs and it it is going to be in the elementary level as well with all the different staffs in the new buildings uh too. So that's a major part of the work that we're all going to be doing this year. Um the DEI work will continue to be woven in. uh that committee, you know, is still working, you know, in in many different ways um you know, whether it's through hiring, whether it's through the book clubs and and and building capacity and some of

076our leaders in our building to carry on the work uh in their buildings. It's been really impressive to be a part of those uh book clubs for some of you who were a part of that and now it's the next step and and the next work that's going to happen um as the school years get underway. Um and then finally, of course, transportation, which we just talked about. We all know what's going on with that. It's just about monitoring that, getting feedback and continuing to improve that uh each day as we move forward. So that um I will stop talking and I again I I really think uh the point of this is not only to do a little bit deeper dive is is to maybe give you guys things that you think about what

077you have questions on and what you might want to see from the middle and high school principles for them to prepare for when they come to see you. So, uh, we could definitely open it up to questions and and between Susan and I, we'll try to answer them to the best of our ability. >> Lee, >> yes. I I would like you all to know that the policy um committee, we are working hard on the harassment, on the bullying, on the content, and you will see some some I think interesting changes um on our regular meeting at the end of the month. Thank you, Lee. >> Great. Thank you. >> Well, did you find it helpful to have Phil just zoom in on just the secondary instead of like having like we we had like

078last time we had everything. Was this helpful for just having it parcled out just to hear secondary and then elementary? >> Okay, good. Um, >> I didn't want to create a whole I'm sorry, Kim. I don't mean to cut you off. I I just I didn't want to make a whole new PowerPoint because I wanted to work off the one that you guys had. >> Um, so I hope you caught some of that data with the middle and high school. I just didn't want to throw something new at you. Um, in terms of a visual, >> I just want to make sure that people are getting what they need from this information. um knowing that once again this was originally supposed to be tweaked a very different way, but we wanted um we wanted really

079Ted and and Peter to be able to kind of take a deep breath with all the stuff that's going on. Um, but that I I just thought that I was overwhelmed with the data because it was both elementary and secondary and so I think it was nice just to kind of have it done and and maybe maybe I'm just really craving data um because it just been so long been able to have it is it's nice to finally have something to to be able to kind of jump on. Um but once again, Phil, thank you very much for sort of walking us through the the slides. Are there any other questions for Phil or Susan? I'm sorry, Rosemary. >> Um, I just wanted to remark that I found it helpful to separate it because it

080there is a wealth of data and it's it's a reasonable way to crunch the numbers. >> Thank you, Rosemary. >> Rosemary, thank you. I I really appreciate the feedback. >> And I will say, too, if there's something you want us to pull out, um, just let us know. Um, and we can create some some graphs that can help you understand it better. You know, just you can shoot me an email and and Tom and I will work on it. >> I think I'm I'm I'm really interested to see how the staff are because we have so many different buildings now, that's not even good English that have blended their staff. Um, so the the Graten Middle School, I mean, granted, this is their second year in operation, but it's really not their second year in

081in person. Um, and so how are the how is that working and how is that happening? And then also the two new elementary schools have combined staff. And so like how is how is that and how are you know what's the intentionality around community building for the teachers? Um, and I know we're the board of ed need to be thinking about the kids, but I think if you don't if the teachers are not feeling like they have community, it's really hard for them to do the work um with the kids. So um once again, I appreciate um your efforts and um both you and Susan around that. Um if there are no other comments, let's move on to sustainability of technology. Oh, and look who appears. Mr. Clint Kennedy. Hello everyone. How are you? >>

082Good. How are you? >> Good. It's wonderful to see all these faces. It's been a while. So, thank you for having me. >> I'm going to do a short and sweet update uh really to tee up some of the conversations that that Ken will have following, but also uh starting budget season, which is just around the corner. Um so, I'm about a month into this journey. uh and it's been great to reconnect the schools I've been a student in uh but also a community that I know quite well. Um so really this idea of sustainability of technology is in three parts or I'm thinking about it as kind of a three-legged stool. Um the systems we're running, the staff we have to support them and really end devices. Um it I would love to walk

083you all through at a later date, but the amount of systems that we have uh information systems running all types of pieces of this wonderful school district all kind of centralized in a hub of power school with many spokes coming out of transportation, food and beverage and so forth. Uh is quite impressive. It also takes a lot to sustain make sure those links are connected and so forth. So, I've been taking a really deep dive on all of those information systems that that kind of make this this district tick. Uh, and how we can potentially upgrade those, improve those, and really have the the plumbing and the connectivity that's rock solid so that we can depend on this data. We can be free flowing on a regular basis and so forth. So, that's that's step

084one. Step two is certainly staff. Um, there's a great team here. I was very lucky to hire have an opportunity through two retirements to hire two new techs who have been on boarded over the last three weeks and they've jumped right in uh and have been very productive. Uh so that's been great to add them to a mix of a team with many many years of experience. Um, but I'm also looking at that and from a budget lens as well on what is most appropriate, what do we have currently in the system, what will we have over the next three to five years, and what are those skill sets that staff uh should have to make sure that we're we're covering all of our bases. Really, the third piece is enduser devices. And um some

085of you may know this, some of you may not, but during the pandemic uh Graten went for the first time fully onetoone across uh all students. And if you actually peel back the layers, we're actually 2:1. Uh when you start talking about the elementary level where we have a device available to every student um in the elementary schools, but also at home. Um what that amounts to is a very large number of enduser devices. Uh now we've been able to obtain those through different grant fundings especially those been that have been made available uh during a pandemic. Uh but something that keeps me up late at night is what happens when we solve this this this crisis this pandemic and we do get to return to some level of normaly. How do we maintain that

086level of service to our students? Keep those devices on the road in working order so that they can be used for the instruction that teachers are putting out into the wild in classrooms, at home with parents, guardians, what have you. So, those are kind of the three key buckets uh that I've been diving into trying to design plans to be sustainable. uh and you will see that in a much larger kind of presentation discussion uh when we really start diving into some of the the budget discussions and how do we fund this and how do we move forward. Um good news is this is uh this is the way we should be doing it and we should be providing this access to students across the board. Uh the trick is going to be how do

087we build a mid to long-term plan to make sure we're doing this appropriately uh effectively uh in a way where we're integrating it into teaching and and instruction in the classroom. Uh so we're being most effective with with the the tax dollars that we're using. So that's really where I'm at right now. A lot of this is to tee up the conversation we're going to have in a month. Uh, I'm going to bring my thoughts, what I see as the plan moving forward, concerns that we have so that we can address them and move forward. Um, if I may take just 30 more seconds too before certainly questions or comments. Uh, just a quick update. Uh, the two river schools uh are obviously open and we're doing our best with kids. Uh, and it was

088great to see them in action back in schools. It was it was a joy. Uh but those buildings are not 100% complete from a technology perspective. We've been working hard to make sure any systems that haven't been completed through the building committee's work in the town that we've had an alternative to get those open. So we're still do uh quite a bit of networking equipment as well as end user devices and the like that we've been piggybacking on other systems within the district. So we're fully operational. There shouldn't be any safety concerns. we're we're providing the service that we need, but in a lot of ways we're leveraging the work that has been done in the past until those schools can be fully operational. And to make that give you an example, um so we

089have uh each of those schools are going to have about when all said and done and currently do have about 13 network switches in them that do a variety of things pushing different types of data around those buildings. We currently have switches that we're we're using for our our phone system upgrade and so forth. While we're waiting for those additional switches to arrive, which because of shortage of supplies with chips and other things across the world really it's facing, we're making do with what we have and it's working. Uh but we will continue to monitor that and as equipment becomes available, we will integrate it into the system, relieving some pressure on other systems that we're using in the short term to make everything work. And it is. Um but that is not a complete

090100% project as of yet. And I'm looking forward to getting hands on that equipment, transitioning it to my team and officially Graten Public Schools so that we're uh we're 100% and then we can start hardening some of this equipment, really locking it down uh and having it sustainable for the long term uh to keep any of those tech calls or hiccups and so forth to a very bare minimum. Um so that's where we're at with tech. Again, this has been uh I loved jumping in uh with Susan and Phil. this is is a wonderful team and I'm excited to be here. Um, and I'm ready to keep going, get the work done. So, happy to talk questions, comments or what have you around technology uh and looking forward to continuing this dialogue uh over the

091next couple months. >> We are so glad to have you too. >> So, Clint, before I before I recognize Rita, um I just wanted to say so your work is already starting. Um, so I was in a meeting on Friday with the teachers and we were having some difficulty with the parthe boards and someone stepped up and said, "Wait a second. I just had my training and I think I can solve it." And so I was just like, "Yay!" >> I love it. Yes. We had a >> a full morning with the staff at Mystic River Magnet School. We did an afternoon session with teachers at Graten Middle School and Fitch High School. Uh, as someone mentioned before, Kim, I think it was you. Yes. It's the second year of GMS, but in a lot

092of ways, we're kicking the tires on some of these different pieces uh for the first time. So, that's great feedback. Uh and I'm looking forward to continuing those sessions. >> My question, um Clint, did you tell say that every elementary child has a computer at home and also one um in school? They never have to transport their computers. >> So, let me be very clear. They have access to it in every classroom in the schools. So, they're not carrying a onetoone device around with them. We do not have kindergarteners with Chromebooks in their backpacks. Forgive me if I misled you. Uh, but they have accessibility in every classroom. Obviously, the library media center as well. And then the roll out are I don't believe we're at 100%. I know we're not at 100% of every

093student, but we push those out for those parents who wanted them and certainly anybody who asked for them. uh this was you know a year and a half ago far before me and we've continued to try to address any of those parents especially those new ones coming in the district who may need support in that. So yes so 2:1 may be a bit of a misnomer maybe more like 1.8 to one Rita to answer your question directly um and no sorry we do not have uh kindergarteners with a Chromebook walking around the hallways. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Any other comments or questions? Lee, please. >> Lee and then Jay. >> Hi. I I love it when you said you talked about the river schools. Um, our two elementary schools are truly the same now.

094And I love the concept of calling the river schools. Thank you for that. >> Sure. Sorry, that's my shortand. And I like it, too. I love walking around them. They are beautiful schools. Um, and I can't wait to spend more time in them. You got a copy right quick. >> Yeah. >> Jay. >> Uh, yes. Uh, Clint, so welcome aboard again. >> Thank you. >> Um, uh, and I just I should know the answer to this, but I know there were challenges. This is way before your time. There were challenges with the installation of Prometheian boards at Graten Middle School last year. Um, and I'm just curious, do you know the status? Were all of those uh rectified? >> Uh we are 100% at Graten Middle School on Prometheian boards save one where the warrantee

095process is being run as we speak. It gets a little interesting in a handoff from building committee to ownership of Grten Public Schools. Uh and that has been an open issue that we're trying to rectify right now. I'd like to get that process completed so we know we can go to that in the future when inevitably one of the boards in the two river schools will have a malfunction or a warranty claim that we need to process. >> Okay. And I know that everyone keeps referring to this global uh chip shortage which I believe is due to the destruction of a a factory in um I forget now Singapore or Hong Kong. So, is this affecting uh our ordering uh you know getting orders together for like Chromebooks and >> No. Uh it it it

096hasn't impacted that. We actually have some in reserve right now as we swap out if a student has a break fix problem that we need to address. We can give them a loan or what have you. So, as it stands right now, uh we are good uh on student enduser devices. really the pain point for me right now and again we're we're hanging a lot because there's such a new robust network at Grten Middle School. A lot of the services in the two river schools are being fed by networking equipment and systems that we have set up at Grten Middle School. Obviously for redundancy we want those equal throughout all the buildings and we will be hopefully at about a month's times to six weeks when some of this equipment comes in. But it's really

097the networking equipment that has been really difficult to get a hold of. Um, I could speculate, but yes, there's I think there's a lot of different reasons in this kind of tech pipeline, and I know you've all heard it in the mainstream media and so forth that the the days to delivery from these companies continue to get extended, you know, months at a time. So, we're making do with what we have, and luckily, Gratton's in a wonderful position to fall back on newer tech that's been put put in place over the last couple years. Uh, we're making do and then we'll be 100% hopefully, like I said, four to six weeks. >> Okay. And then one last thing if I may. Um >> please >> is uh I know that the the new phone systems

098been installed at at central office. >> Correct. >> And has it been upgraded in all of the um obviously the new schools came with phone systems? Um what about um Charles Barnum Northeast Kaskki? Is is everything now? >> We are not 100%. We are half and half. Four of the eight buildings are on the new voiceover IP system. Four are still on legacy systems. And again, we had to use those. We're use repurpose those switches temporarily to light the two new river schools. Once those new switches come in, we're going to spend a weekend doing a swap >> because we need to put those new ones into the two river schools. They won't see any changes, uh, but we will on the back end in redundancy and so forth. And then those switches will then

099go to those four schools that are remaining uh to complete the voiceover IP project. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Sure. >> You have a lot on your plate. >> I'm I Yes. And I'm happy to do it. >> Any other questions for Clint around technology stuff? >> Welcome aboard. It was good to see you. >> Thank you. I'm sorry. So, sorry to interrupt. I have one more thing and I just want to reiterate one of the things that uh that Phil had mentioned. We are in the midst of making sure that all families have uh their re-registration process done. Think of it as you will. We've all most of us have been parents. I think we get that stack of paperwork day one of school that we have to fill out and get

100back and and schools uh help encourage that because that's paperless. Now we have the same situation and we need to encourage parents, guardians, families and so forth to complete that so that we have the latest and greatest contact information so we can talk about all the wonderful things that are happening experiences in schools and god forbid there's an emergency or a problem that we need to get to those parents and backup contacts and so forth. So if I'm I'm stealing some time but I just want to stress uh we've been sending out emails and roocalls and website updates and the like. Uh we even put hard copies in backpacks. So if pe if parents can please do us the favor and hit that re-registration button. It's really around getting making sure that your information is

101as up to- date as possible. Help us help you. Uh and we'd hopefully have that done by uh September 25th. So thank you >> Jay. >> So that brings up a good point. Cliff, can they use that uh same link say in January if something changes? Is that going to be like dynamic or >> So we have a re-registration process which is the full basically opens a lot of those different fields from full contacts and so forth. We keep that open now and we typically lock that right at the end of September because we have a whole state reporting system and so forth that needs to go out the beginning of October. there are still some basic fields that they can update and we will open that all up again uh in the second half

102of the school year as we start to we want to make sure we get updated information and so forth. If someone does have a change like address or contact information or something during that period once we've locked it down for state reporting they can then you know come through the central office or their individual school building and get it updated that way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure, Liz. Uh Clint, you just made me think of something. We usually have to fill out those government forms for October 1st. Um are those going to be uh online or do they still have to be paper? Do you know? Uh I I don't know which government forms you mean specifically, but for the big the the public school information system, the PSIS, which we have certain uh

103dates that we have collections directly to the state, they now have hooks into each of our systems where we can then send data once it's complete. And that first collection is at the beginning of October. So we're not we're not doing specific forms for the state. They're trusting us to get that data complete and then hand that off in a batch. >> No, I So you're talking about impact aid forms? >> I think so. I think it's the one that we every year the every every year we have to fill out military if you're active duty, if you work at EB, if you at the mashucket, you know that one where it says you're all working on a federal >> I think it's the federal form. I think that's what they used to call it.

104>> And it's impact and it's impact a Liz. Good. Good question actually. Absolutely good question. >> It's very important to fill those out. So, are they papers? >> Yes, >> I think that's still paper. >> Okay. We parents need to be looking for that and aware for that. We need that information desperately. >> We do. Absolutely. >> Good question, Liz. >> Yeah, I don't I don't have a good answer for you, but I'm going to find out. So, forgive me. On my to-do list, I'll make sure that we have that system covered. I don't believe it's part of this collection. Uh, but I do not know when that is, but we'll find out. Um, I don't know if this is for you, Clint, Susan, or Phil, but um, I'm also really curious about how we're

105reaching out and sending information to our parents because I know that um, we rely heavily on our website, but some of our parents don't necessarily have access to our website because their of their phone that they're using or what have you. are we making sure that we have multiple ways of of reaching out to our parents to make sure that this information gets to them? And I I mean I think that even goes into Liz's question about the the paper form because I know that that's always an issue and people don't understand how important it is for us on on on this end in terms of what you know what monies we get for impact date. That was just my I don't know if I think that that's a rhetorical question, but I just am

106wondering about all the different ways that we're communicating with our families. >> So, I think one of the ways that parents um appreciate um communication is through school messenger, but what Clint is telling us is that we really need the updated information for school messenger to work. So, we know that not all parents are getting the messages because either phone numbers have changed or other things have changed. So it's really very important and that they let us know how they want to be communicated with. Is it a text message? Is it a phone message? Is it an email? Is it all of the above? So um we are working as a team to make sure that we have all systems go and updated so that people will get the messages they need. And in the

107for instance that Clint gave, he actually put yellow paper in the the oldfashioned way in the book bag so that they would make sure that they got on face I mean got on the um power school and did those updates but you can add to that plant or Phil. >> Yeah, it's a perfect example. We we hit them with voice. We hit them with email. We communicated with them voice, via email, website, and hard copies because this is an interesting challenge. We're trying to communicate them to them to communicate to us how best to communicate back to them. Um, in this particular case, we also used the website and provided directions there and pointed them to that so that if they have a local browser and they have to convert that or they want to

108have that in a unique language, we couldn't possibly send hard copies in all different languages, but there's an option for them to be able to convert that text. It's not a PDF, it's a live website. So, if they're used to doing that, they can do that as well. We're trying to Have we covered a 100% of the bases? No. We're going to be making phone calls and so forth in the near future, but we're trying to do that fullcourt press amongst multiple options to get to as good as good as we can and then of course we will be following up with phone calls and so forth over the next couple weeks to get those parents that just haven't been able to get it done for whatever reason. Uh and we can have them come

109in and so forth. >> It's also happening, you know, by word of mouth. I I I've had parents contact me saying, you know, my neighbor told me they they got a message, but I didn't get it. So people are communicating and and and letting each other know what they've heard and then they're contacting us and sometimes it's it's just as easy as going in for them or walking them through it too. So it is happening in a variety of different ways. >> And at the risk of belaboring this too when you pull this back down, we have communication systems from district to all parents and families. We have systems where schools and teachers can be computing can be communicating instructional items, student work and so forth through the whole series of learning management systems we

110have and we have direct parent to teacherto parent communications so that we're not going in mass but we're targeting specific classes around specific communication needs. So we're hitting it at multiple levels. that adds to this entire topic of sustainability and staff to support that and systems that are updated and talking to each other and so forth. So that's a it's it's come full circle. That's a lot of the work that I'm doing is we have some wonderful systems, but they're only as effective as they are maintained and updated and and training on how to use them. So that's really the holistic picture I'm trying to dive into. >> Yes. >> Any other questions? Sounds like Clint, you're going to be offering us some budget uh suggestions in terms of the technology department. I I sniff

111it. I sniff it. Um >> I will be I will try to use best practices every time I can, but in the context of what Graten needs for for our students. So, >> right. Nope. Absolutely. And that might be something that uh we'll just have to grapple with when we get to the budget season for next year. do my best. >> Any Thank you, Clint. It's good to see you once again. Welcome. Um, if I'm not Oh, Jane, I'm so sorry. >> You know, I'm sitting here smiling. I've known Clinton for a long time and he's looking younger by the year. Just this is uh suiting him very well. Guys, this is an educational renaissance we're in the middle of. Thank you all so much. This is absolutely amazing. I'm glad to have lived long

112enough to see this happen anywhere. Never mind, Graten. This is absolutely truly to repeat myself amazing. Thank you. >> Thank you, J. >> If we're not hearing anything more, we'll move on to the budget um priorities and timeline. I can't believe that we're we're thinking about that. And Lee, I just want to say I am so appreciative of your cat because it makes it not not feel so bad when Miss Katie decides to walk across my screen during our Zoom call. So, I appreciate that. >> Well, we knows who who's this is her his house, not mine. >> Clearly. >> All right, Miss Susan, what do we have? >> So, we've got um Pen and I and Lori have and Phil have been discussing kind of getting ourselves ready for the new budget season. Um,

113we're even, we talked to John Bert and Cindy Landry at the town and talked about CIPs, which they'll be sending information out. So, we're kind of getting everything lined up and ready to go. So, Ken, do you want to walk us through? >> Yes, I'd like I'd love to. Uh, so FY23 uh budget that's on our horizon. >> Um, yeah. Uh, so next month we're going to kick this off. Um we're at the administrator's uh meeting and we will start sending out the uh the formats for uh uh to be filled out. Uh we typically like to get the uh the site budgets back from the principles uh right before Thanksgiving. Uh then we'll put that uh information together um and throughout the month of uh December uh Susan and and her administrators uh and

114group will will go through that. Um the uh we do plan on reviewing our preliminary data with the uh finance and facilities committee meeting at the beginning of December. Uh and then Susan will uh will present the uh the budget uh on January 3rd. Uh we have a total of seven uh budget work sessions uh in this in this schedule. uh in also a public hearing on uh January 18th and a joint uh board of ed, town council, and RTM uh budget meeting on February 2nd. Uh and the plan would be for the board to adopt uh the budget uh on February 21st. Uh and uh we need to have that over to the town uh at least a number by February 28th per charter. And then uh we do get uh the books to

115them by the 15th. And then throughout March and April, town council reviews and they adopt it at the end of April. And the RTM reviews and they adopt at the end of uh end of May. That's that's the schedule. >> So where's my that sounds easy button? >> Seven sessions. So last last year we were a little we were a little tight in our sessions. So, we've got seven, which is I think a little bit uh we had maybe six, five or six in last year's uh um schedule, but we we've added in more. We can take them out if we find we're further ahead. But we wanted to make sure there was plenty of opportunities for for uh for you guys to uh to to go through all those numbers and uh and and

116and come up with a a budget that uh that we can uh we can pass on to the town council. And as you know, the staff has Oh, I'm sorry, Kim. >> Go on. >> Go ahead. Um, >> so you given us you've given us a week between our adoption and when it has to go to the town council. So, we actually we actually have technically we could even add a couple more in there. Not not a favored, but we can we can do that. >> Um, but yeah, go ahead, Susan. Well, I think the driver of the budget as you know are the people. We always say what do we give our kids? We give them best highly qualified teachers and paras and you know custodians and all those people who help run the

117schools and educate the kids. So we've already started taking looks at that um Lori and Ken and I and Phil. So um not knowing how um this negotiation's going to go. We don't have exact numbers, but just seeing history of how it's been operating the past several years gives us kind of an inclination of how it might go this next year. So that's really the driver. So in saying that, that always is an increase. So we have to think about what are those areas that can be our efficiency areas that we can streamline. So um just to let you know, we've already started looking at some of those details. >> Yeah. Unlike past uh the past couple years, we've had some uh consolidations going on between the middle school into one and then the three

118into two. So, we had some natural uh consolidation amounts uh that we uh that we took into account as we built the past two years budget. Uh this year will be the first year in in in a couple years anyhow where we don't have any of that. So, we're going to have to uh probably work at it a little bit more uh to to come up with um uh efficiencies as as student as Susan says. Um but but I think I think it's definitely doable. Um but we have our work cut out for us. >> I notice on February 2nd we have the RTM and town council. Oftentimes we meet with them individually or individual groups. I think the past couple years we have been doing it in a in a more cons we tried

119to do um the RTM and the town council together um but we still had the separate meeting. So maybe um come January, we're going to need to have a conversation with the town council and the RTM to see how they want to sort of handle the the budget conversations because it's usually an a town council and it's usually an RTM separate. Um but we have tried to do that combined just to kind of hear where the the other town boundaries are coming from, but they still have wanted their own individuals. So um we'll have to kind of think about that. and monitor that. Any other questions about the timeline? I cannot believe that we're talking about budget. Dean, you're looking very spooky there, sir. >> Yeah. My wife calls me the prince of darkness. [Laughter]

120>> All right. With that comment, I'm going to see. Is there anything we want to do about the referral list, folks? I'd like to add some things. I don't first want to go over anything. >> Well, let's uh >> to be taken off. What would you like to add? >> Oh, nobody wants to take anything off. No, no policies, nothing. Okay. I wanted to add we had a discussion negotiations the other day about um three staff members want to present a new um program called ED Rising and um I would like that move to the committee of the whole um after a presentation um by these three staff members and um then we can then move it to finance and then negotiations. I I think >> that's actually a really good idea. We talked about

121inviting Adam Disc who's really been on that. It's a club for kids. >> So, um it's starting out as a club for kids. So, we were thinking when we have the middle school and high school together next week to do a deeper dive um and to talk about the organization, that would be a really good place to put it if you guys choose to want to hear about it next week. >> Okay. And then my other um my other one I wanted to add was I don't know the status of the timeline for transferring these schools back to the town. Has that happened? Are we still do we still need to save Mary Morrison in reserve? Um what what is going on with that? And probably Sam needs to you know let us know what's

122happening in terms of the storage that's at Pleasant Valley. Also, >> there's actually a whole um process. Um I got to meet with uh Liz and Aunt And Andrea on Friday and I found the document about how to transfer schools um from the board of ed to the town council. So maybe um I'll look at that and if it needs to come to the committee the whole that would that would be a very important thing to do. Thank you, Rita. >> Right. And also about Mary Morrison, you know, if we we were going to hold that in reserve, but I'm not sure we need to >> with the new schools up and running. >> I thought that decision had already been made. I I was under the impression that that we had already made that

123decision that we were going to keep Mary Morrison. >> We did make that decision. I want to revisit that decision after we hear from staff members whether or not we really do need to keep holding on to it or if there are enough seats in our present the new schools to if we need to hold it because I I noticed there was um an article in the paper and a letter to the editor asking about Mary Morrison. So I I would just like the board to review it. Rita, could you clarify? >> This is Joan. >> Yes. >> Clarify your first uh referral. >> I I think Susan will be able to fill you in on that. That's something that three staff members want to present and and also um vice principal Diskin about. It's

124called um I think it's education rising. >> Yes. >> Okay. I wasn't clear about that what the title was. That's what I was getting at. Thank you. >> Yeah. But Susan will >> I'll see you tomorrow. >> Okay. And that's it for me. I I did want to know I I noticed under CO that I had >> on that was like October and then November in of 2020 discussion of STEM masters for diversity discussion of STEM residency for diversity. And I was wondering, Susan, if you could enlighten me on on to what those were. >> I will find out. >> You'll find out. Okay. Thank you, >> Liz. >> Um, quick question. Under the CO, the last one says discussion of one card, one community. Haven't we had that discussion already? >> Um, >> haven't

125we decided to >> but it hasn't come to fruition because I think that we were looking for a discussion with the town around using some ESSER grant. Was that not correct, Susan? >> No, I don't think that's the problem. I think it's a a software database issue that hasn't um gone through yet where we would have to get permission from families to be able to share students um IDs with the um library so that their library card would be just their student ID or their their you know school card would could be also their um library ID. >> So maybe discussion Go ahead, Susan. That was not >> I just wanted to say I did see the um librarian um at the Graten Middle School over the summer when we were doing orientations for families

126and she says there's just some things we have to work out details. So, I will try to pull the team together with Amy McKenna. Maybe Phil can help me with that, too, just to see what what other things do we need to put in place to get this to work. And maybe it should go from discussion to implementation because you're right, Liz. We've >> we've talked about it. We've had the discussion about it, but I don't want to lose it. Um because I would like for it to to happen because that would be just a really awesome thing to happen, >> right? >> Um one more. What about um R2020-12? >> Where are you at? >> Oh, assessment of what? Well, what went wrong with distance learning >> and any the and the inequities? Do

127we still need to keep that on there? Did we have a report about that? >> Well, I think we had in in the survey we got results. We had done a survey in the middle of the year with parents and I know I had reviewed that at that time, >> right? Um, and I think in making our plan for this year, we certainly took the lessons learned that we wanted to keep and we certainly wanted to get kids in full because we know and the data shows even with ESPback, which I look forward to sharing with you, you know, next month, but um, we know that the students who were in person did much better than the students who were fully remote. So, we have a lot of evidence around that around the state. I

128just don't I I my personally I don't feel that we need that because hopefully we're not going to be doing distance learning anymore. Hopefully >> only if they quarantine or school emergency according to our plan, right? >> That could be a day or two. >> Yeah. >> so how does the board feel about um having that removed from the committee the whole Thank you, Rita. >> Welcome. I'm not hearing any complaints, so I say it gets moved. Joan. >> All right, Kim. When was the last time we talked about um the ATR uh transition academy and the need for an alternative high school? I really have no memory of that and >> that's been on there for years. Um, I actually think that's >> transition academy and alternative ed are two different things. >> Transition

129academy is our special education program for 18 and older I think to 2020 >> and that's in the gymnasium at the central office. Right. >> Right. Okay. >> And and then down the hall though we do have some alternative ed like through Apex for kids who really um struggle in the school. So, it is something that I've talked to Kim about even to see if there's could be a regionalization of a program like that. So, um I just have to pull the meeting together. >> Once I get my school buses set, I'm going to pull that meeting together. >> I'd like to if if you're um if you're pulling that together, Susan, and you would like some input, um please don't hesitate to reach out to me. >> Thank you. I appreciate it, Liz. Anything

130else, folks? Hearing none and that we've gone through the referral list and also suggested future topics. We have we have reached the end of our agenda and so I will take a motion for >> motion motion to adjurnn. And I Rosemary has sec >> Rosemary has second hit >> and good night Gracie. >> Good night Gracie. >> All right. All those in favor we said yay. I gone. Bye guys.