9-20-21 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001So what I would like to do is I would like to call the committee of the whole meeting for the board of ed on September 20th, 2021 um to order. So there there we go. Um and the first um the first motion is the approval of the committee of the whole meeting minutes of September 13th. Can I have a motion to accept? Um, a motion and can I have a motion to accept? That would be >> Thank you. First came from Liz, seconded by Dean. Any discussion. All right. Hearing none. All those in favor of the acceptance of the committee of the whole meeting minutes of September 13, 2021 signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. The motion has carried. All right. Um so um the first order Hi Susan, it's good to

002see you. Um the first order is um on agenda number three is the update on the school opening on transportation and new schools. And so, um, Phil and Susan, >> good evening everyone. Um, I would say things are getting better day by day, but it's with a lot of work and collaboration with the bus company um, with our opening. I I have to say, as I said in the board notes, this school year brought together the culmination of the Grten 2020, which was a heavy lift and it was the desire of this community to have equity for all our schools and to build a middle school on the top of Fort Hill that could become a campus with a Fitch High School. And we're going to talk about that this evening. and also to magnetize

003all five of our elementary schools and building two that replaced four actually. And I think even before my time there were 10 elementaryaries and now there are five. And while the neighborhoods might have grown for those um you know who were enrolled originally in each of the schools, parents also got to participate in a lottery which allowed students to be able to pick and choose themes and to go to different schools. So that all happened this year and it was a a huge endeavor and Tom Londale reminded me that on the first few days because it was a heavy lift and I know that our families, you know, have worked with us and given us some feedback and I appreciate that and I'm always checking in to see when every last child gets home. So

004um it has been a challenge I would say. Um, we are faced like the the state and the nation with a bus driver shortage and no fault of our bus drivers. They're awesome. They're coming every day and driving our kids and we're so appreciative of that. The company that we hire, STA, employs our bus drivers and um, you know, they really handle some of the management of everything that's going on. when we went to a two-tier bus system, um it's actually a good thing that we did that because I can't imagine us handling three tiers and fewer bus drivers. So, um we are still working out some of the kinks. Um this morning or last week, we announced that we were going to kind of have the kids ready 10 minutes earlier and today we

005saw the um positive effects of that. Although I think there's still some communications to be had around that, but um our students were here on time for the bell. There were, you know, there was some concerns that they weren't here for breakfast and they weren't here um for their home room period. So, we're hoping that that will be resolved by um the latest um you know, route structures. So with a few minutes earlier in the morning, you know, we got everybody here and also it was helpful to the elementarymentaries. The afternoon um when we don't have enough bus drivers, some are um what they call doubling up. So they have to take on additional routes and that's never easy with the two tiered bus system. What we have routed here in Gratton public schools is

006to have 66% capacity which is two to a seat maybe for some of the very youngest children three to a seat but um I still think that will happen. I think we have some things to work out. I know that we have some new bus drivers who are in their um program now for um you know instruction and it takes a while because we want to have the the safest um drivers ever and so it takes some time for training and we're working on that. So I would say all in all um I talked to a few of the principles. I talk to them every day but um they are saying it is getting better and um the kids are happy to be in school. The teachers are happy to be in school. Phil and

007I have seen that firsthand and um we're all glad to be back and we're glad to have our kids back full-time five days in person. So, um, but we do recognize the challenges we faced and we appreciate the parent feedback and I've tried to reach out to anyone who has responded to me or to my staff to let them know that we are working on the situation and give them some ideas of ways that we're correcting the situation with the bus company. I don't know if Phil has anything to add to that because he's been my right-hand and left-hand partner and so has Tom Londale. >> Yeah. No, just just echoing what you said, you know, just and letting everybody know that we we are trying to communicate as best we can because that's the

008most important thing. Um we're trying to meet with the key players involved whether whether it's talking about transportation, whether it's working with the principles to get uh paras and building subs uh in the building or get positions filled. and we just we meet and discuss it day after day and try to um problem solve you know and I've been impressed you know we've just been able to handle everything that's coming our way you know we are dealing with some outside entities so we have to adapt to what they're doing as well but uh you know the key is the kids and right now I think the kids are um you know they are adapting you know we we just keep um we want to assure people that their their safety and getting them in classrooms

009is the most important thing. So, we're going to keep uh we're going to keep, you know, we're going to keep having the discussions and keep problem solving until we uh have everybody where they want to be when they want to be there. My networking with superintendent across the state and Franowitz, who's in charge of CAPS, which is Connecticut Association of Superintendent in Connecticut, um has really they've been working with the governor. you've heard other states have called in, you know, extra support systems. Um, and so we certainly have filled in surveys and we've had many discussions about ways to identify the problems and to solve the problem. So, while we are not alone, that doesn't necessarily help because we care about each and every one of our students and their families. So, um, I am

010really looking forward to some smooth sailing. Jay, I saw you raise your hand and then Liz. >> Yeah, I I just want to acknowledge that it really is amazing, you know, what what the um staff, faculty, administration, everyone's come together to really remake uh the district and I I certainly want to acknowledge that and thank everyone. I know it's very difficult because, you know, we we have, you know, three brand new schools. Uh just last year in the middle of COVID, we're combining the two middle schools. So, it's it's an amazing amount of work. Um but I just I do feel like I I need to mention that um I I keep hearing reports that some of the buses are still not getting to the schools when when school's beginning. And I don't know uh

011how many of those there are. Um I don't know how widespread that issue is. Um but you know I just I can't let it go unnoticed that we are hearing those reports and I realize we have a shortage and I keep hearing people saying we just need to go back to the way it was and and what I think people need to understand is we can't go back to the way it was. Uh, if we were to go back to the way it was, um, I don't know. Uh, high school students might have to get picked up at 6:00 am. I'm I'm no expert. You know, I can't run. >> We could not have fit another tier in this situation, right? >> We're almost lucky that we went to a two-tier system, >> right? >>

012Not that I knew about this bus shortage. The first I knew was hearing some news about Florida when they went back, but certainly was not informed that we were having a shortage at the same time. But now that I know I know that the bus the bus system STA has a plan for hiring new people and training new people and I have to say my accolades towards the bus drivers that are showing up every day and taking on additional routes so that they can get all the kids to school and from school. So thank you very much. And I do I do want to acknowledge that I I keep hearing, you know, periodic reports that that people are upset with bus drivers or our transportation office or STA and I just want to say, you

013know, they are doing the very best with a very challenging environment. Um I for one uh approved the plans that have led to this situation. I was on the board. We approved an allmagnet school. We knew there would be challenges. If you want to blame anybody, blame me. Don't blame the drivers, the transportation office. These folks are all doing the best that they can. And we continue to work with them to to make it better. Um, but we can't go back. Once we had these new schools, um, you know, the like I said, the high school pickups would have to be even earlier than they are now. Um and so we can't go back to that. Um but um I know everybody's working very hard to to take care of it. Um the other thing

014I one other clarification is I know that we we published some new uh pickup times this morning, but I'm hearing that um there's still some confusion about, you know, which schedule is being used. And I don't know whether it just wasn't fully implemented today and whether it'll be implemented later in the week. Um but there's still some confusion about the exact times. >> I have to say we've been in um you know direct communication with STA and their management giving them all the information that they need to then deliver to their employees, our bus drivers. And so we've asked for them to make sure that it's clear as to what the expectation is. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And if any I'm sorry, one more thing. If anybody wants to uh if

015anybody's upset with anybody, you can write or call me. My information's on the uh the board of ed uh contact page. >> Thank you, Jay. I'm going to recognize Liz and then Rita. Um, Susan, I just had a couple of questions for you about um I know at the beginning of this the beginning of the school year, we were facing some overcrowding on buses, you know, where there was pictures that kids were actually taking on the buses of kids on the sitting on the floor. Have has this situation ironed itself out? Is are there do we still have overcrowding or are we is that something that has been rectified? So, I have to say to you, Liz, that the Graten public schools had created routes that didn't have more than 66% capacity, which was two

016to a seat for the older kids, >> right? >> Um, I've heard those stories, too. I have not seen any pictures. I've had the administrators looking out to see, you know, who's sitting in the seat when they leave the school and who's sitting in the seat when they return. And all my administrators have said that every child has a seat. However, there are some that are three to a seat. And I don't think that's going to last for long. I think that's a temporary thing until we have more bus drivers hired. What has happened is our good faithful bus drivers who are driving every day are picking up the load for the five that you know decided to retire early and maybe the five who you know are absent in a day and we don't

017have substitutes. So therefore we have to make sure all of our students are picked up. So there could be three to a seat in some cases but not daily. and we're looking for the time when we're actually able to follow the exact route that we have established because they're efficient, they're effective, and they're two to a seat. So, um it's just a matter of please spread the word if you want a job where you're with kids and you know, I don't say it's the easiest job in the world, but I say that I love being with kids. So, it's a a job where you're able to keep kids safe, get them to and from school, and we're looking for people who might be interested. >> And another thing I had just another thing, um I

018was wondering as we've been into school now almost two weeks, starting our the beginning of our third, have we seen any issue with COVID? We have seen a couple small cases because um the the guidelines are a little different this year where if you've been vaccinated and you're in contact, you don't have to, you know, quarantine. There are guidelines on our website and I'm getting ready to send out a message to all families that we will keep that website active and we will continue to put up the latest information. So families, instead of me sending out um a you know robocall every time we hear of one, we will update that website automatically and we'll show our families where to go to get the best information in the most timely way >> for both staff

019and families. >> And on the same venue with the COVID, um I've had some parents contact me about uh cafeteria seating in the middle school and the high school. Um, can you speak to that a little bit of how that's being addressed? Are are kids expected to self, you know, identify uh that they are, you know, they have they're not vaccinated? I mean, >> no, >> I would like to be able to speak to that if I, you know, if somebody asked me that. No, but we do um have the seating situated so we feel like it's safe enough with um proximity or with you know um barriers either as either physical barriers or space barriers so that they can eat and have a lunch safely. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Yes. You're

020welcome, >> Rita. Um, Susan, um, I had a couple questions. The first, since Liz brought up COVID, um, the gold standard is vaccine, masking, testing, are we doing testing and or do we give information about where students or staff could get testing? So, I would say that um we have a Tuesday talk tomorrow and I met with the superintendent tonight and we are doing our due diligence to make sure that we're encouraging all staff to get vaccinated and all eligible students, but people have the right to opt out and if they do opt out then they need to be tested weekly. So, Ledge Light Health has given us a wonderful spreadsheet that we've sent out and I think I sent it in the boardnotes of very local places for free testing every day of the

021week, all times. So, it can be before school, after school, on the weekend. So once a week if if people have opted out then they need to be tested so that we know that our community is safe. >> I I I believe that you left off um Graten City has it Tuesday afternoon 3 to 7. >> Oh I did leave that off. I will absolutely add that. Thank you Rita. >> And Fridays um after late afternoon 3 to 7 is also in New London. Mhm. >> So, um there's there's more availability and on Route 184 you could get testing and vaccine >> and at my local CVS it's still free of charge. >> Yes. >> So, for both the vaccine and the um >> testing and we are in Grten having another Fitch High School

022um vaccination clinic on the 4th of October and then again on the 1st of November. I'm hearing really good news about the safety of the Fiser vaccine for our younger children. Yes. >> And so as soon as that is authorized, we will figure out a way to make that even more accessible for those families who wish to do it. >> Right. >> Because it does take a parent authorizing Oh, yeah. and giving us permission before any vaccination would occur. >> Right. I think younger children have to be with a parent or a guardian. >> Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. >> Definitely. Um my other question was with the bus drivers, the buses that are not used that are sitting there because there is no drivers. I know we contract for so many buses for each of

023our contracts. Do we are we paying for those buses that are sitting and not taking our children to school as part of? >> We are not, but I would prefer to have the bus drivers to drive the buses. Oh yeah. because we have that in our budget to take our kids safely back and forth to school and do it the way we had planned to have it done. >> But I know this is a contract and I just wanted to make sure that we're not being charged for buses that aren't drive, you know, going around. >> No, as a matter of fact, I've really met with the um STA management system at least once a week and we've sat around the table and we've discussed ways to make it better. I'm there to support, but

024I'm also there to say as superintendent of schools, I want this to work and I want it to work now. My families are frustrated. You know, our staff is frustrated. This has got to work. What are your ideas? >> Right. And I believe >> they're under contract. Yes. >> They're under contract negotiations also with their bus driver. So, I hope that they really think about giving some raises out, especially bonuses to some of these people that are, like you said, doing double duty. And, you know, >> I'm hearing good things about that, but I'm waiting to hear a final answer on that, too. >> I agree. We want to take care of our good bus drivers who are showing up every day. >> Yes. And and I guess you're going to go into new schools

025next. So, >> I am sit and listen. Thank you, Rita Dean. >> Thank you. Um, as people know, I have a daughter, one child left in the system. She's in high school. And, uh, I heard the phrase, uh, uh, children adapt. Our children adapt. They do. Uh, but we can't have that slide into uh, another territory. And that is when we say that children adapt, what we really mean sometimes is that they're putting up with stuff. And uh that's what my daughter's doing. Um I'm offering no solutions. I have no idea what the problem is. I see what the service is, which is what other parents see. And that's this that overall uh even when it works, my daughter is coming home an hour later than she did last year. Okay, that's her experience. She's

026home an hour later. So just that alone for her is a negative. But what kind of a ruckus can she raise about that? She's just one student. So she's coming home an hour later. The beginning of her day is the same. The 15 minutes, which I know wasn't a primary driver, the 15 minutes um you know late start time doesn't make any difference. Uh she has been um brought to school late a number of times. She does not like that. Even when it's forgiven and there's a process for getting yourself off the tardy list. Uh, but even when that's forgiven, she personally does not like showing up late for class. There was one day last week where the bus didn't even show up, or at least it looked like it didn't show up. She got

027a ride to school. When she gets there, she sees other people she knows riding on the bus getting off of other buses. Um, so again recognizing the work that people are doing to scramble, recognizing that this is a a new system that we're trying, recognizing the shortage of bus drivers, just want to let you know, give you an idea of the immediiacy of the problem away from our talk. Uh, I'm watching it through my daughter's eyes and I'm hearing that other people are having the same experience. So that there's just I it better iron itself out somehow. I don't know how. I'm not a transportation guy, but it better iron itself out because what's going to happen is that parents who can drive their kids to school will at some point draw their own red

028line, wash their hands of the system, and begin to f their kids back and forth from school. And then we're going to move into another model. Now, we're going to have more parents and and they're going to be loathed to bring their kids put their kids back on the bus. They will now have a new normal because they can do that. And and so what we were expecting is wrership versus, you know, parents dropping off. >> It's gonna change. >> Uh and and we're gonna have we're gonna have clogged elementary schools, clogged middle schools, clogged high school. >> I get it. >> I I feel your pain and I feel the same way. I feel that sense of urgency like we have to correct the situation, but I know there's a lot of ingredients to

029that. And the most important thing is to really encourage um people to sign up for being a bus driver because it's a really important job. You know, it's where our kids start their day and end their day and it means a lot to our kids. So, if I have anything to say, they are very important. I've known that as a teacher, as a principal, as a mom, as a grandma. And I, you know, and even though there's information around the state that others are dealing with the same thing, it doesn't help me to resolve the issue. I want to make it better for my students in Graten. So, I hear you. It you're right. >> Yeah. I mean, I I I don't know what else I don't know what else to say about this. It's

030just uh uh and I don't know whether it's just the shortage. We're trying out a new system. As Jay pointed out, we probably can't go back to the old system because we we now have people being fed back and forth across town doesn't have any thing to do with this. This is really directly with the bus short. >> No, I understand. But what my understanding is that we couldn't go back to the three tier system because of the way we now have to f people across town for the at the elementary level because of the magnets. >> Right. Well, there's just no if you don't have the drivers, it's very hard to squeeze in a third >> um tier, right? >> When we're having a hard enough time with two tiers. >> Yeah. So, my

031daughter spends 20 30 minutes sitting at the middle school waiting for the middle schoolers to load. >> So, that's that's one thing she does not appreciate. >> Well, we're working on that, too. I have to tell you, we're working with administration at the middle school because we know there is a clog in there and we need to make it work faster, but we also have to make sure they're safe >> all in all. So, Dean, I need to say thank you for um keeping it real, right? Because you're giving us a real life experience about what what our students are are facing. And and Susan, I do appreciate the fact that you show hope that this is going to be worked on and that it also um there's a complexity to this and it's not

032just because we went to a tiered system and and it's not just and it's not just and so I hold that as a reality, but I also hold that our community has been somewhat tolerant, but my guess is the toleration is probably lessening. Um and um and I and I guess um I'm I'm not I I don't I see on the community Facebook page that there's quite a lot of chatter around that and with a lot of misinformation. So, um I uh and I also hope that you know as you do changes like the time of the pickup and stuff that at least the board gets notified that there's a that there's a difference just so that when we get phone called we have a sense of we can a sense that we're holding that.

033Um but uh once again I do appreciate um that you know you know the seriousness of this and that you know the the frustration level um of of this and I um um and also that it's it's you must be exhausted around this and thank you very much for working as hard as as you have on that. Um >> well the health and safety of our kids is number one because we need to do we need to keep that in mind because that with that comes really good learning. So all those good things that are happening right now in the schools with the teachers and the students as Phil and I have gone around town and seen firsthand um you know really have come from so much work that has happened in this district over

034the past eight to 10 years and um I think the kids are happy to be back. You know, we see really smiling faces behind masks and we see teachers so happy to be with them, you know, full-time in person and really trying to use technology in the best way possible, but also being able to get back to some of those inquirybased instruction, science discoveries and reading and writing and um you know, when you walk around the schools, that's what you see. So, I look forward to the day that I can have board members do some of these walkthroughs with Phil and I. We have a schedule and we'll be in those schools every week. So, um just to see firsthand. I know Phil did his first curriculum instruction council and it went so well and

035we have some new members and we have some members who've been with us and so they're very excited about the work this year. Can you um is if there's no other further questions about the transportation or comments or concerns, can you move into the new schools? >> I sure can. >> Thank you. >> So um with the new schools, as you know, um the buildings are, you know, kind of delivered to us and um teachers are in there, kids are in there. Um, you know, they are beautiful buildings and if you see anything on Facebook from the building committee, you'll see how just how beautiful not only the playgrounds, but the actual physical buildings, the the gymnasiums at the two new elementary schools are the size of a middle school gymnasium. So, not only will

036they be utilized, but by our children throughout the day in their PE class, but they'll be utilized by our community. So, parks and wreck and all of our community partners will be able to to use them and sign up um you know for um building use forms. So, we're looking forward to that is kind of our next step moving forward. Um our kids are already doing some field trips. I think you saw some pictures from our themes. Um, River Magnet where they are the marine science environmental science school and you know project O is one of their partners. NES is another partner and you saw some wonderful pictures of kids who may have never you know had an experience on the water who were able to actually take a field trip. So we're looking at

037field trips too. you know, not only your apple orchard and your wonderful farm to school field trips, but then looking at our partnerships, whether it's in the arts or through STEM, whether it's through the Nautilus Museum, which is really free of charge and doing, you know, a STEM experience. So, looking at those enrichment opportunities during the school day and after the school day, those things will all be happening. And I certainly know and our our two principles here from the middle school and the high school will share with you the the kind of shared experiences that kids will be getting during the day and after school through inter murals and sports and clubs. So there's a lot happening, a lot of wonderful things happening. And um you know, we look forward to this year where

038we're really with our students. And um you know, one of the things I also wanted to talk to you about is that the state assessment data is here. So we will use that to help inform instruction. We'll use that to help fill any gaps that kids might have had last year. and we'll also use their focus assessments and their interim assessments throughout the year so that we can continue monitoring progress. It was a really difficult year with assessment to really um tap in like we've usually done where we can compare one year to the next, one cohort to the next. Everything was changed on us. There were so many variables. So, it's hard to measure student to student, class to class, district to district. And um we've really been working closely with the um Connecticut

039State Department of Education and the performance office. And we have some student data that we're looking forward to sending home to families with a letter from me explaining that we will use this data to help our kids grow. And from this point forward and really using data that we had prior to COVID to keep launching them and accelerating them forward uh but mostly filling the gaps of any gaps that we see but moving kids forward. So, um, that information will be forthcoming, um, early October, and I look forward to coming back with Phil and Tom to actually give you some data to help you to see what the state has found is that in-person learning really does matter. And I think we could have all estimated that and said that any of us around the

040table who've taught or who have had children or who recognize that it really does matter and it was definitely more successful than for total remote learners. However, there were some total remote learners who also were successful. So I don't want to say blanket statement all of one and and not the other. So, we are looking forward to using um any kind of technology that really seem to work, but also to have less screen time and to have more hands-on experiences and to really find those things that work for kids. >> I want to make sure that are there questions that board members have about the new schools specifically? a question. Um I was um a couple of teachers mentioned that at Mystic River there was no shade at all in the playground. Gets very warm.

041I don't know if it's the same at the river, but you know how they I know in Washington DC they have these like shade umbrellas that they put over play equipment and I think that has been a concern on the hot days that that wasn't built in to the >> right. There aren't trees around. You're right. >> No, it doesn't she trees, but they actually have these like >> like almost like not an umbrella, but they go around playground and provide shade. So that is something I think we need to really think about in the future because they're just ba there are just baking out there and there's no place to go for shade. >> Good idea. >> And we'll bring that to the attention to the building committee because they're still really kind of

042in charge of making sure everything is working right. >> So now's the time to get that information to them. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Anything else, Liz? Um, Susan, are the tile floors all fixed? Is the tile fixed? >> The tile is all down. There are a few other spaces that need to be corrected during a time when kids are home, like a vacation time, but everything is kind of sealed down in place, but they want to make sure that the whole building project is taken care of. So, that will happen over the course of the year. >> Okay. Well, we >> But nobody's tripping over tiles. They're all kind of down, but we want to make sure they're all the new tiles. >> Okay. So, will we get information about um

043what the problem was at a later time? >> I hope so. >> Okay. >> I hope. I mean, they're saying it was a material issue with the one company, but we can always invite Rick Norris back and the building committee to come back and kind of give us updates. I think it's really important for us to continue to get these updates. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> If there's no other questions about those things, I would like to move us on to um our um discussion around the Pitch High School and the um Graten Middle School campus. Um and so, hi Ted, how are you? Welcome back to school. Hi Peter, welcome back to school. Um, and so I Susan, I don't know how you want to start it. Our first thing was kind

044of an administrative organization. Um, but before we go right to that, um, I do want to recognize that Sam, you have been sort of the the lead point between all the transportation issues and sort of gotten um, Graten District. And so I just wanted to say thank you for all of your efforts around that. >> Thank you. All right. >> I thank him every day. All right. So, um the first thing um was the administrative organization. I think that this goes back to gez and crow a long time ago that we were kind of um just kind of taking a look at um Grant Middle School and now that you're in the second year or actually you're in your first full year like I'm saying first full year because we're just going to go full

045full. Um Peter in terms of like how's that going? what is your organization and also TED sort of what does that look like? We moved um one of your pos um your administrative positions to sort of full-time. We also now have Mark Romano who I'm glad to see is here as well. Um but so I think Susan I think that that was that was our purpose of having the agenda item. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Actually, we spoke about there's kind of four bulleted items under there where we talk about um the organization. I see we've kind of skipped over the assistant superintendent's report, but we can always go back to that. Um Oh, maybe maybe not. Sorry. >> Yep. That's not on the agenda tonight. >> No, I know. I'm looking too far

046ahead. >> All right. So, I don't know Peter or Ted if you want to chat first. Who wants to? >> Sure. Ted, you want to go? I'm happy to jump. >> Sure. Yeah. I mean, no, I'm happy to. I think that um you know, as we've as we tried to get the organization um to a point where we we are really have good coordination between the high school and middle school, we're starting to see uh some of the benefits of that already. I mean, starting with Mr. Romano uh bringing him back on board uh you know certainly uh you know just the making sure that we're we're using the the facilities uh equitably uh between the schools and and making sure that the the students have access to the facilities that are best for their

047particular uh uh uh sports. that's only going to also benefit us as we go as we go further along and start talking about the indoor sports where I think it even becomes more complicated. Um and uh and some of our activities as well. Uh I think it's just uh that's that's been big and I think uh as we've you know been talking about the busing issues um those have all also been magnified with the uh uh athletics uh as well. um you can imagine that if we're having trouble busing the kids just from uh from school that getting an extra bus to send them to an athletic event and Mark's been really integral in working with that and I know he's going to continue working with that with the middle school as well. So that's

048been a big part of as well. Um you know the coordination of the counseling offices between the high school uh and the middle school as well uh has allowed us uh we have middle school students that are taking classes at the high school. Uh we have coordination between our schedules even though we're not on the exact same Bell schedule. Uh we have some coordination between the schedules at the middle school and high school to allow for that. Uh and we're kind of working out the the uh you know the uh the the issues with that as well. But those students have already started their classes and are participating in classes uh at the high school. Um uh and then you know uh Mr. Diskin uh working with the the summer school was working over at

049the middle school as well. Uh we've had some professional development where the middle school and high school have shared uh with the NYP professional development as well. And I I certainly would would want Kathy to speak to that. Uh she can speak more intelligently that than I can at this point. But but I think that you know we we continue to try to uh see okay what are some ways that we can share services? What are ways that we can coordinate with each other? Uh you know uh and just uh and just try to to to use our resources uh cooperatively. And I think that that has started uh especially with some of the uh coordination with some of the administrative positions that we have in place. So um the last thing uh and I

050think uh Peter can speak to this as well. Uh the coordinators has you know that's one of the the positions that we really started with and uh they have continued to work with us uh both for the professional development piece uh working with curriculum between the departments. It really allows us to make sure that what we're looking at our curriculum 6 through 12 and not just uh you know isolated within each each school. Uh and then uh you know again working with the the departments and the professional development has been been huge and they're they're only uh continuing that work. They started that last year. Um so uh you know but that that curriculum development piece I think is going to be uh big as we continue with the NYP and so on uh moving

051forward. So uh I've been nothing but encouraged with this. I think that uh you know uh Peter and I are are talking to each other pretty much every day at this point and uh and really trying to coordinate with each other u and it's only been a good thing and and again as as you know uh we've been kind of reaching out with the with the uh uh with with the administrative and with the teachers now too. I think it's it's going to be continue just uh uh to become a strength for our district. So >> I would I would echo what what Ted said. We're seeing some really good synergy uh particularly in that area of professional development and um the vertical articulation conversations that are happening with with curriculum. Um, you know, we

052we got our our our staff together to start the year um looking at our tier one instruction as well as uh my I think that um that that's a that's a powerful um move in terms of making sure that we have something cohesive truly cohesive happening 6 through 12 um with and and I think you know Ted Ted mentioned um you know the athletic director, Mark Romano. The fact that we we have NYP, we have um some consistency with um how athletics are being handled uh 6 through 12 only helps to keep students thinking um about Grten Middle. We're Falcons. Fitch High School are Falcons. We want our students to stay as much as possible 6 through 12 on our campus. not go to other campuses, other towns. We want them on our campus. Um,

053you know, Kim, you mentioned uh this being um perhaps a second year, first year. Let me tell you, having students back fully fantastic, but it's a completely different flavor than the start of last year. Some in some fantastic ways and others like, oh, okay. Yeah, we've um we uh need to continue to engage and and build culture. Um, you know, we are a large middle school, largest middle school this side of the state. And, uh, we know that, um, our mission is to make this large school feel small. Um, and, you know, we've got, uh, each of the assistant principles is assigned a grade level and, um, the priority is building those relationships with students and families. You know, we we know there are a lot of social emotional challenges that are out there. So,

054it's it's more important now than ever for us to be able to to have families connect with an administrator that they're going to know for the entire uh three years at Graten Middle. And, you know, we do the same thing with with our counselors because we know uh particularly as kids move from fifth grade to sixth grade, it's a huge transition for them. Um, thank goodness we were able to hold uh a series of in-person orientation sessions to start this year. That was huge. It was really big for us. Um, I think family is left with a a much more comfortable feel having actually been in the building. Um and you know fingers crossed uh we get to do more of that as as we get into this year and and hopefully uh things improve

055with regard to to co um yeah so um this is this is a new year very different from last year and um it's really thankful for this the synergy that's created across campus as Ted mentioned we are in touch every day and um you know some some things are due to challenge ES others are, hey, this is this is pretty cool. Let's let's see what we can we can do further in this area. Um, you know, I was having a conversation with Mr. Romano today and and um one of the intramurals that we're looking to start um next week is is tennis. You know, that and we can really um offer that to a large number of middle school students. That's not something that we've been able to do before. We had a couple of

056courts at Cutler that were run down and we had a few kids going out, but um you know, it's things like that. um and and actually uh being advised or coached by one of the high school staff um um just allows us that to to be able to to take advantage of of many of the things that being on the same campus presents to us. >> Does the board members have um comments specifically about the administration um for Peter? I I think I'm going to just take it in bullet points if that's okay guys because I just feel like we're going to have lots of questions. Um I see both Rita and Liz have raised their hand. I saw Rita first. I will recognize Rita and then Liz and then I'll take whoever comes next.

057>> Peter, this is a question for you. What is what is the glitch of the high school students having to wait on the bus for the middle school students to board which makes them actually, you know, get home even later? What how is that being worked on? How can we improve it? Oh, >> I I I heard loud and clear what uh Mr. Antipas reported with regard to 20 30 minutes waiting. Um, I'm hoping you can uh check in with your daughter to see if if she she is experiencing what I'm seeing over the last few days. We've gotten that down to students loading uh within 15 minutes. Um, and we hope to get that down to to perhaps 12. Uh, I believe the buses are rolling at about 250. Our dismissal time is 2:35.

058Look, at the start of the year, um, at the middle school, it does take longer. We had great challenges with busing to start and um students being able to find which bus is theirs. Um and and some of that just naturally works works itself out, Rita. But you know, we also had other other curve balls. We we had two days in a row in which we had out of the out of the blue we had a bus breakdown >> and uh so kids have to get out and the kids who are behind that bus are are stalled. Um and and then um you know we had another day in which we we've got three buses which go to one section of town and we need to make sure that uh that all the students um

059got on to those buses and and were able to do so safely and it just happened to be that those three buses were the very first three in line. So some of those challenges um are are not going to be um typical. They do pop up from time to time, but I would say we are in a much better place now. The last I would say Thursday, Friday, today um we are starting to really hit our stride and I would anticipate that we're going to be able to knock that down even further. So yeah, 20 30 minutes on sitting on a bus that's a nightmare that it's a nightmare for me. It's more of a night even more of a nightmare for the students and the bus driver and the parents who are waiting at

060home. Um but we have seen some vast improvement in that area, Rita. Yeah, I was just curious if whether or not, you know, the dismissal needed to be five minutes earlier or so that the students are waiting there for when the Fitch High School bus comes by. I I was just trying to >> So, what what we see, Rita, is is actually it's not so much an issue of getting the the buses there um get getting the students out earlier. It's getting the buses there sooner and all together. Um and unfortunately due to the fact that we we are short drivers on a daily basis there are runs that have to double up and we have to communicate this to students at the end of the day. This bus is not going to be here

061you need to ride this bus. So getting all the buses there together by the time dismissal happens is a huge component and that has improved. So, if we have the buses there, all the buses there when they're supposed to be there, we can load them relatively quickly. And and the same is true for um unloading the kids. If the buses are all there when um they're supposed to be, we can get them off in five or six minutes. >> So, who who is getting them off the buses and putting is it the the three vice principles and yourself? >> So, we have a number of staff out there. Mr. Koteki, Mr. Daniel are on one side of the building with the buses and overseeing that with other staff and Mr. Davis and I are overseeing

062and actively participating. I shouldn't even say what we're saying because we we're just I I wouldn't want you to to sit in our our um pickup or drop off line because go all the way down the hill. But >> come visit sometime and you'll see Mr. Davis and I are are out safety waving traffic. Um >> well I just know you need more help. I mean you know >> so so so do you have any more questions in terms of the administration stuff? I mean I I >> wanted to know whether or not do they need teachers more teachers to help or is it just the fact that just the administrators are doing this? How do we make it smoother? So, >> we also have additional security guards and I I'm so grateful to our

063SRO's. Um, we have additional, you know, support um through pair of professionals, tutors and um, you know, others too that are really very helpful. So, I think the security guards was a big bonus. >> Absolutely. Honestly, it comes down to bus drivers. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Liz, >> I just had a quick question for Ted and Peter. Um, could you do could you go over um the administrative structure at the high school? I saw something on on the web page this afternoon that I had forgotten about and I was wondering if you could just especially um it's Aaron Magcguire's position. >> Is she is she at the high school? Is she at the middle school? Is she in both? >> So Erin McGuire is still an assistant principal at the high

064school. Okay. >> Um and uh she has um some responsibilities that both cover both the high school and middle school. >> So she's basically coordinating both the high school and middle school counseling offices. >> All right. >> And so that we have coordination between our schedules uh to allow for you know uh increasing opportunities for middle and high school uh students or middle school students to take advantage of high school courses. um and to you know again it's it's really about the the scheduling making sure that students are getting the u those opportunities and then you know eventually hoping that we're working on like you know the the uh counseling curriculum um and and how that that that all will play out both the middle school and high school. So uh but she's still an

065assistant principal at the high school that didn't didn't change. >> So we have three we have three assistant principles at the high school. >> Correct. Yes, we have three assistant principles at the high school. Absolutely. >> And Peter three assistant principles at the middle school. >> How many? I'm sorry. >> Three. Okay. >> And I would say with regard to to Miss Maguire, she um she does help to to coordinate the professional development uh as a cohesive department for the counselors. Um and she did help us um with a special project at the um the latter part of last year trying to to get our schedule to work. She's got particular expertise in the area of power school scheduling. So, >> she sure does. She's amazing. >> We were very glad for her assistance. I

066mean, she's she's absolutely full-time at the high school, but we do steal her uh a few hours here and there from time to time. >> Okay. I was just, like I said, I saw something on Facebook, not Facebook, on uh the Graten Public School website. I just wanted to uh just wanted to make sure that I had the structure in my my head correctly. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions about the administration organization from the board? If not, can we move to the day in the life? I feel like there should be some like background music. [Music] Who wants to start? >> Alexa, please. >> So, the schedules for the middle school are first. Um, I'm not sure if I should share screen or Mr. Russell's going to put that

067screen up. Just let me know. >> You'll have to do it. I don't have the >> Very good. Okay. >> Give me a second here. >> While you're setting up, this was an idea. The board members had said, "We just want to see a day in the life." Like what does what does the student have for an A day, a B day? What does their schedules look like? So, we got some sample schedules through Power School to show you kind of a sample of 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th. Quick question. Go ahead. >> Um, with the bus situation, is it a possibility that we could change the ad um for the high school to take the CTL and put it at the beginning? I mean, if it if we're really having a tr

068struggle here with buses and stuff. I mean, I'm just throwing it out because I know >> they're thinking like a high school teacher and they've been thinking along the same lines for temporary. >> What can I say, hun? >> What can I say? It's been my life, you know. >> Well, I'm just looking here and it says advisory six with Mrs. Ponucci and I'm saying and then I look at the grade 10 and it says, you know, first period is for grade 10 is it is a a course and then the next one is another course and then a CTL after two periods. And I'm like, well, if we adjust that for those high schoolers, it's just my thought. I just wanted to put it out there. >> Thank you. >> The same thought. I

069can speak to that when we sk once we get to the high school schedules. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, what you have in front of you is a a sixth grader schedule. Um we operate on an AB schedule. So, every other day is an A day and uh also every other day is a B day, right? So, um in in this situation, we can see that on Monday, the student has the same exact classes as uh Wednesday and as on Friday. So for sake of argument, let's call uh Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week an A day and Tuesday and Thursday B days. Now um just to familiarize yourself a bit more with an AB schedule because we started Monday with an A. Tuesday's a B, Wednesday is an A, Thursday's a

070B, Friday is an A. The following Monday, should we be in school on a Monday, would be a bday. So, it just continues ab. If we happen to have uh a Monday scheduled off for a holiday, we just skip that. We don't say that that was supposed to be an A. So, um now we're going to make it a B. No, we just we just continue AB AB throughout the year with our schedule. This sixth grader, um you know, it says advisory. that's their home room period uh with Miss Ponucci to start each and every day which we believe is a really important part. You know, students need to have uh consistency at the middle school level, someone they can check in with, someone they trust uh to get their their needs met, their questions

071answered to start their day in a predictable way, which is really important for um for their social and emotional well-being. Um this dude on on Monday goes to art. Um and then off to Spanish. They have marine biology which is um a sixth grade elective. >> So those are two half block. The full block is more like 80 minutes and the half blocks are more like 40. >> Correct. So we can see here that the the block long classes are 84 minutes which art is in this case. Spanish is a a period long class. All right, it goes for about 40 minutes. Marine biology also 40minute class. And then science is a block 84 and um language arts is a block. Now you might say yourself, why is art a block and Spanish is only

07240 minutes? Well, art is actually the one of the few classes in the entire schedule which operates on the quarter. So they only get a a quarter worth of art and then in the the um the adjacent quarter they get a block of um ATL school ATL skills an course >> and I think an important feature to this schedule Peter is that sixth graders we want them to have the full steam experience. So we really want to give them opportunity in all the unified arts in the in the world language so that they really have when they go to make some choices they'll be able to have had those experiences >> right we they don't have we we want them to be able to explore in each of the steam areas in their sixth grade

073years so that then then they can then expand in their seventh and eighth grade years um accordingly. All right. So on the bday Tuesday social studies 84 minutes chorus uh that is also block 84 minutes PE 84 minutes and math 84 minutes. All right. And you can see again Monday, Wednesday and Friday are identical schedules. Tuesday and Thursday are identical as well. We have the AB. Now, some of these classes are year-long, some are a quarter or semester. Um, almost all are year-long or semester. Spanish in sixth grade is a semester long. And in the opposite semester, they take French. Again, we want them to have um exposure and be able to explore um both languages before they make a decision on which language they want to study in seventh and eighth grade. um marine

074biology that is semester long. Uh the the cores, the science, math, language arts, social studies, these are all year-long classes. PE is a semester long and that rounds out this sixth grade schedule. seventh grade. We see again they start off, this is an AB schedule. Again, they start off with advisory at their home room. Uh this student on Monday starts a day in broadcasting. Um and this is a course uh that um they learn all about broadcasting. Exactly that. We've got an awesome awesome studio. Mr. Bruno teaches teaches that course. Um then they go on to a project lead the way course magic of electrons. They have orchestra with Miss Gray and they finish the day with Miss Johnson in social studies. And again you can see that um for Monday each of these classes

075is 84 minutes long. Now on Tuesday this student uh starts today in advisory home room. They have language arts for 84 minute minutes. They have multimedia uh one in that class is 40 minutes. Then they have Spanish 7 for 40 minutes. The student has advanced math for a full block 84 minutes and finishes the day on Tuesday with a block 84 minutes of science. And again it rotate it alternates a days uh Monday, Wednesday, Friday here on this week. B day Tuesday, Thursday. These are identical schedules on those two days >> and by seventh grade they're selecting either Spanish or French at this time. >> Correct. So now >> and it goes all year long. >> Correct. Yep. You're exactly right. Um so we have um broadcasting magic of electrons. Those are semesterl long classes

076whereas um as is multimedia 1. But again the cores um are are year-long and um orchestra also is year-long >> and you see a lot of this students choice in their decision of the courses that they're taking. The cores are all of course a given um in the the main core areas, but you can see some of the selections that a seventh grader is making, >> right, >> in the arts and in the in the STEM area. >> All right. So, in the eighth grade year, this eighth grader has missing for their advisory home room period each of the days. Again, it's an AB. Mondays are the A days in this scenario and Tuesday, Thursdays are the B days. Um this student uh from home room then goes to uh math intervention. So gets 40

077minutes of math intervention with Mr. Miller and then gets 40 minutes of of health and fitness and the way and in this situation they get a quarter of health and then u Mr. Nean will then give them a quarter of fitness and it's a semester long course. Um, this is in addition to getting a full block of PE in their eighth grade year for a semester. So, it's not the only PE that they will have. It's actually in addition to the full, which this student does not have in this semester. So, they would have the full block of PE in the next semester. So again, so the the first block, the two periods within that block, um tier 2 math and then health and fitness followed by and in the eighth grade year they get

078a full block >> of the world language. So they move um the student is teaching taking French one >> um which is a high school level class with Miss Stove and then the student has selected musical theater um which is a full block class and ends today with a full block of language arts on Tuesday. >> For an NYP middle school this is very appropriate to have world languages of core in your eighth grade. >> Absolutely. On Tuesday, they start the day in home room. Uh, and then they have a full block of math, full block of science, they have a full block of a project lead course called automation and robotics, and then a full block of social studies. And that rounds out um a semester's um worth of the schedule. The things that

079would change um on the semester um could be math uh the tiered math. We we they would have the option depending on how they did of of potentially selecting a different course other than the math intervention. Uh health and fitness, they would get to choose another elective in the other semester. Um and the rest would remain the same. Musical theater, they would also have the option to choose an additional elective in the um other semester. the chorus like like uh Miss Austin said including this the world language uh those are constant for block throughout the entire year. So those are some examples of a sixth, seventh and eighth grade schedule. >> Peter, when when do they have lunch? >> They have lunch if Thanks for asking that question, Rita. They have lunch during third block,

080which is periods five and six. You can actually see that it is a bit longer than 84 minutes. Um it's actually uh I think 28 minutes longer in that third block and we have four lunch waves to accommodate our students and make sure that they are appropriately spaced in the cafeteria. >> Great. And how how long is lunch? >> Uh lunch is 20 28 minutes per wave. Andrea uh >> Peter, how many electives would a I have two questions. One is how many electives would a a student have by the time they went through the three years? >> Oo, that's a I've never had that question before, Dr. Arian. So, um in the sixth grade, we want them I get one I guess it depends on your definition of an elective, right? In sixth grade,

081they have uh the four core subjects plus a period of world language in a semester. They also will have art and PE and and music experience. Um they probably would have the opportunity depending on if they needed uh any intervention or resource to potentially take a um a project lead the way course. Sixth grader, sixth graders also get coding. Um, all sixth graders take a semester of coding. Um, so they get a few in the in the sixth grade, they get a few in the seventh grade, they get a few in the eighth grade. Ultimately, Dr. Acriman, it comes down to two major factors. one, their area of need, the the um their level of need for support and then their areas of interest. We want to make sure that their areas of support are

082addressed, but we also want to balance that with things that they're interested in. So, you know, if a student does need math support or does need language arts support or does have an IEP, which requires uh resource on on uh every other day basis, those those things will take priority. Um, but >> could you get me um you know a student schedule? I don't really need the schedule because this is, you know, this could be written in some other language, but could you get me like a a student who has just a regular schedule and tell me how many by the time he that child gets through middle school, how many electives he would have? And uh a child who has special needs or you know some accommodations, how many >> how many um >>

083Sure. I I can get that for you. It will it will be a range. >> Yeah. >> Based upon whether or not the electives they've selected are block long or period long. Okay. But I'd be happy to get that for you. >> Thank you. And my second question is I I just went through the uh the the folder that we we um because I don't remember seeing broadcasting and I again I went through the folder of all the courses that we we reviewed and I don't see broadcasting. Yeah, that one was that one was approved uh a few years back prior. Um and it was not one that uh we believe needed updating at at this time. >> That was when they were Cutler and they were this they were the arts and humanity magnet

084that we started the broadcasting. >> But but I would say Dr. Amen that um it would be appropriate for us to look at that to make sure it still um is pertinent in terms of the amount of time students are spending in that class as opposed to what they were previously. So that's something we can certainly take a look at >> to make sure that you know see if it needs any revision as a result. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions about the middle school schedule before we move on? Rita, >> I have another question. Peter, in terms of the teachers, when we um had a middle school schedule before this schedule, >> yes, >> teachers had one free period of their own and there was one um collaborative team

085meeting >> Each day. So, how is how does this fit into the schedule? And and do they still have those periods? >> They do not. We had to reduce the amount of planning time teachers had when we went to this new schedule. >> So h what is the planning time and are is >> so teachers get one block of um they get to self-direct that planning time daily. Every other day the core teachers math, science, social studies and language arts have a a period of common planning time. So they get uh roughly 40 minutes of common planning time every other day >> and one block every other day of planning. >> One block daily of self-directed planning. >> Oh, daily. Okay. >> Yep. So it's it's reduced. It's reduced from the former schedule. They don't

086they don't they no longer get a what some people like to call personal plan and a collaborative plan on a daily basis. Now they have um that that collaborative time has been reduced um both in the length of time but also the frequency to be every other day for 40 minutes. >> And I have to say one of the benefits is on the other half of the that period is that our classroom core teachers are actually providing the intervention that our students need in those core areas. So that's really a big benefit >> that their teachers are providing the intervention in an additional time. So kids are still getting all their core instruction and all of their unified arts and electives, but there's a period built in that could be either a magnet dosage or

087it could be an intervention. So nobody's missing out and everybody's getting what they want and what they need, >> which is different than the high school schedule. for >> we're gonna be looking at that, too. >> Yeah. >> and elementary. >> I'm happy to play the role of Ted's Vanna White here. I'll just keep scrolling up. >> So, I got Andrea, do you have another quick question? >> One question. Peter, when you send me that uh what you're going to send me, would you include like a a blank teachers schedule so I can see where those those um planning periods come? >> Sure, be happy to. >> Great. Yeah, you're seeing just the student schedule. You're not seeing the teacher schedule. So, that's a different venue, a different look at it. >> Okay, maybe you

088could send me a special teacher and a a core teacher. >> Okay, you got it. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right, ninth grade. >> Okay, so um just going through the the ninth grade schedules. This a typical ninth grade schedule. Um, a as Peter does, we have the A days and B days. Um, and I just lost it there. Um, so, um, one thing I just want to speak first about, um, uh, Miss Porter's, uh, point, uh, regarding the CTLs. Um, so there was some thought about what was happening with the buses, uh, coming in a little late and we didn't want to lose instructional time for first period. And uh and while we're we didn't want to change our whole schedule around uh hoping that this is going to be temporary

089and that we're going to uh we're solving the issues that we are solving with the buses. So one of the things you'll see first of all is you'll see on this schedule that the day starts at 7:40. Um and that's still that's still the case. However, the times are a little bit wrong on this schedule because this was made before we had made this change. So what we have done is we actually have increased our first period class by 10 minutes and we are running a essentially a home room period in our first period class from 7:40 to 750 and we are starting instruction at 7:50 and running the full 75 minutes. In order to compensate for that, right now we have decreased our CTL time by 10 minutes and so everything gets solved by

090the time we get to our third period class. So students are not marked late right now until 7:50. Um so that we are not penalizing students for late buses and so on and that we are not losing instructional time in first period. Today was literally the first day of that. It worked fairly well. Um and uh we've seen a definite reduction on the number of students that are getting marked late. Uh obviously we're not penalizing students for late buses, but uh it solved kind of that problem and we're making sure that we're getting that full first period in. Uh and so u again um once we work out some of these uh these these bus challenges uh if we can we certainly go back to our regular schedule. Uh but the uh right now we

091are running that first period until 9:05 uh in order to compensate for that right now. So um so for this uh particular student their A day on Monday integrated science algebra 1 they have that CTL period. Now the CTL period uh right now um normally the CTLs are matched up and we'll talk a little bit about that for the collaborative planning time for our teachers. Uh we're not doing that right now. We're keeping the CTL small. Um that's primarily for our mitigation strategies and making sure that we're keeping uh uh less students in the classroom. But we certainly are hoping as we go into October that we're going to be able to start combining CTLs and giving our teachers some collaborative time together. And I could talk more about that in a little bit. Um,

092English nine and world history. So you can see that on that first uh A day that students got a lot of their core classes um most of their core classes on that day. Um on a Bday they have American Sign Language again a year-long class. Uh animation is an elective class. um the CTL again uh personal health which is then going to be matched up with their uh personal health would run first uh semester for this particular student and then they'd have their PE class second semester and then first semester they have their freshman academic seminar uh which they're learning those study skills and uh those things they need to know to be successful in high school uh and that would be matched up with the global citizenship class uh their their second semester. So,

093um, so second semester, that third and fourth period, they would have PE or and the, uh, uh, the global citizenship class. It could be in either one of those periods. It doesn't necessarily have to match up with the the period that the those two classes are in. So, um, that's a typical ninth grade schedule, one of our students. Um, going into the 10th grade, um, again, fairly typical schedule. you'll see a few more electives uh in the in the 10th grade than you will in the ninth. Um so here again uh you have jewelry and metals is an elective class uh an elective art class, US history, the CTL with Mr. Mor uh and then uh obviously English and um and the science in in the uh second part again I did not mention that

094the third period does encompass the student's lunch as well. Um so the student will have either one uh first, second, third or fourth lunch. Um in this particular case the students on the first floor so they would have first lunch. Um so generally the lunches other than some of the science classes and a few other uh specialized classes. We want to make sure that we have a a strategy where their lunch would be uh first floor goes to first lunch, second floor goes to second lunch, third floor goes to third lunch and the vious week goes to fourth lunch. It's pretty simple on where you go. Um again bday video production uh the math class CTL uh safety and wellness is a uh again the uh health class uh for the 10th grade and then

095the students in American Sign Language as well. So they they have a world language uh American Sign Language class. So um and then again just goes AAA bday and just kind of repeats itself as we go along. uh 11th grade again continuing to see some more elective uh choices. Uh this particular student is taking photography and weight training as as uh some elective courses. Uh gaming narratives as well u is a is a English elective. Um continuing on with their Spanish and during that bday first period uh continuing with the CTL again. Um, and you'll also see the civics class, which obviously we we want to make sure our students are are participating in civics as well. Um, so again, fairly typical schedule, but you'll see a little bit more in terms of the electives

096uh and the in the uh 11th grade. Now, the one thing that uh if you look at this 12th grade schedule, um this is a pretty full 12th grade schedules. You you see that you know some 12th grade schedules are fairly full and some 12th grade schedules uh will have some free periods in them. Uh so this the seniors would have some open periods. Again, we do rotate our schedule. So uh if a senior had a free period, let's say third period, an open block uh third period, that would rotate uh and be in a different position at at different times during the year um to either give them an opportunity for late arrival or early dismissal at certain times. Um this particular student has decided to go with full schedule. You can see they

097have honors trouble choir. Uh they're designed to take photo as well. um continuing on with a math credit, continuing on with social studies credit, um uh you know, decide to take food. So, uh they're continuing with their their their full schedule. Um in addition to that, you can see that this particular student has decided to take an online course. Um that could either be uh due to uh the wanting to get credit recovery or deciding to take a course that we maybe don't offer uh in person at the school. So, uh you can see that third period they have that Apex virtual academy which is then going to give them support to do that online course and and uh and hopefully uh uh help them be a little bit more successful with it. So, um

098so this again this 12th grade student has decided to do a a full schedule. That's not you know I I wouldn't say that it's not typical. We have many 12th graders that do that but we also have 12th graders that would have a free block during their particular one of their days. So um so that's uh um basically the the schedule. Uh again just talking a little bit about the the uh the collaborative time. Um the plan is going forward that uh our CTLs again are paired up. Um that two days a week teacher would um have the CTL uh together. two days a week uh the teacher would be allowed to to take that time and be uh have collaborative planning time structured collaborative planning time with their department and one day a week

099the uh they have kind of their advisory activities during their CTL um so um they the we have uh some uh social emotional learning that uh lessons that we're we're working with our CTL partners with so um that that again is the plan uh it's set up to do that right now. But as I said, right now due to our mitigation strategies and make sure we keep the classes small, uh we're we're continuing to just have the CTLs uh stay by themselves at this point. Uh and we're going to do our collaboration right now during our uh um their regular planning time and then their uh uh the obviously the professional development time that they have uh normally. Any questions in regard to the high school schedules? >> I do, Ted. Um, I've only been

100on board for a little over almost two years now. So, I may, this may be already something that you already know. I mean, it's already been passed, but gaming curriculum and the safety and wellness curriculum, are those um when were those? Do you you know have any information about those? Were those or is anybody who's out there that knows these things? Dr. Erian, are those do those do you recognize those courses? Oh, okay. Never mind. Ignore me. Yeah, the the the health and wellness is just the regular health curriculum. It's just the name of the course. Uh and the uh uh gaming again was there when I got here. It's before my time, but but it is a curriculum as I as I understand. >> Thank you. >> It is. >> Believe it's an English

101elected. Kim, if I could say I I had the same reaction, uh, Liz, that you did when I heard it, but after listening to the u the teachers talk about what they were going to do, it made perfect sense. Just to assure you, >> Peter and Ted, thank you for going over like what I know it seemed tedious board, but like I just it's kind of nice or kind of cool to hear what our students are kind of on the campus level is kind of doing. So, I really appreciate you guys spending much time with us tonight because I'm sure that's exactly where you want to be. Um, but I >> just one comment I wanted to say, Kim, is that and and maybe Peter can comment as well. I mean, in our positions oftenimes

102we don't get to take a look at a day in the life of a student and so it was kind of nice for us to look at as well. So, uh, you know, it was I think it was a kind of an interesting exercise that we could look at, you know, different schedules and how things are fitting together for particular students. >> Great. I'm I'm super excited about that and I'm also super excited to hear about the IB program. Um so take it away guys. >> Actually invited Kathy Wilson to join us this evening or >> my coordinator. >> Kathy, are you here? >> I am but the host has start stopped my video. >> Oh, >> thanks a lot Mark. I know how you feel about me. Um, so I'm not exactly sure what

103you want to hear. Do you want me to just go over the big ideas of the program? And, uh, you know, I mean, many of you have been involved in this right from the getgo. So, you know, I mean, and Liz, you've really started it in Graten. So, >> Oh, thanks, Cath. So I I you know what I think um I we saw that as the as as our link for the campus, right? Like it really kind of gives us that that place where where the campus really weaves. I mean I think Mark Romano does that with being with the athletic director, but like the IB you're the like you're you're our link. And I guess I I think when um we were thinking about this discussion and and board members, please um chime in

104is that we were really just kind of looking about how is that going? How is that 6 through 12 now that you guys are both sitting on the hill? >> Well, I I think the 6 through 10 is more my um >> Thank you, Kathleen. Yep. Point and we have I mean it's it's going to be really really great. It's already getting great. Um it's equity and access for to rigorous and relevant instruction for every student six through 10. And that will give them that that confidence to go on with the DP program or CP because that career program is going to be fantastic. Also, that might be something that students will um look at as like I don't want to go to college right immediately after Fitch. I want to go to EB for

105a little while. I want to have the skills to work in a health care facility. I want to have some IT skills and then maybe I'll I'll take my college career to another level. Um but it's just it's just inquiry based with just a real world connection and um to have it six through 10 and those the curriculum coordinators have been fantastic. Um Kelly Donovan has also worked very closely with me as far as setting up a pullout schedule so teachers get a significant amount of time to work together. Um the PD that we did before um the school year started went really really well and that was all vertically aligned. Um, it's just, you know, I think it's really going to be the the catch to bring, you know, keep people in the district,

106but also maybe bring people to move into Graten instead of going to outside towns. Um, because it's such a great instructional framework. >> Wow. What a way to salt to sell it. I mean, like just it sounds so exciting. I am just so >> we actually do have a couple students from other districts who are paying the per pupil um expenditure to come to Graten because of our international balorate. You know, it's one of the few that has both middle school for everyone all the way through 10th grade and then the international balorate diploma and careers program. And there's been some suggestion that maybe there could be some PYP someday for the primary years. So, you know, um it's very exciting. I think the work that Kathy has done with Kelly and with all the

107colleagues, you know, we certainly learned a lot and there's an assessment feature there too that's more than an A, B, and C. It really gives it the students a rubric and it helps them to grow. So, as they're assessed and they learn more about what they need to do better, their project or whatever they're working on improves. So, it's not just you got an A, you're good, you got a B, you got a C. You know, there a actually room to grow and to learn >> from what they've been assessed on. So, I think that's exciting, too. >> And and Andrea, you've been in the workshops and seen the presenters um train our teachers. The teachers are amazing because it's a shift. It's a shift to put the onus on the child to do the

108learning, but the teacher facilitates it. They plan really heavy and then they they put that inquiry based instruction or the the problem into the kids' lap and the kids have to solve it. And uh that's real world. I mean, that's what we're we had to do all last year. You know, everybody nobody knew this was coming and now we adapted, we adjusted, and that's what we want our students to do, too. I am. Thank you. Thank you for the work that you're doing on that. >> Are you speechless, Kim? >> I just I am just so excited about this program. >> Me, too. >> Well, this program, if I can speak a little bit, if you don't mind, for a second. Um, it is a is the hallmark and has become the lighthouse on the

109hill for Graten Public Schools. And I will tell you it is being noticed around the state. I am involved with of course National History Day as you know and I hear about Graten Public Schools in Torington. So we are getting noticed and we're getting noticed in a positive way which is wonderful >> you know. So, this is something that we can build on >> and um when I when you mentioned the PYP, you know, I'm right there and we need to because a K to K to2 continuum is the most supportive way of having our kids find success and the world of education is changing and this is this program has been internationally recognized. Our kids can now compete in international universities. Uh, I mean it's a to me it's amazing that you know one

110of my former students actually got started her year at um BEu I think it was Boston University as an 18-year-old graduate from Fitch. She started as a second semester sophomore. >> Wow. >> So that does that also speaks to the fact that this is also a program that will give our students a leg up. And it it's you know when you talk about financially let's face it but to have these skills taught to students from the very beginning from their ability to analyze their ability to collaborate their ability to take a problem and problem solve. These are like you say Kathy real world experiences and it's something I'm so glad that we support this type of education. So, I'm going to get off my horse, but you know, I just want you to say I

111just want you to know uh I from my own personal experience there's nothing better out there in my opinion, but that's me. >> Thank you, Liz. >> Um I just have to add they're very jealous in New Haven, too. >> Thank you, Rosemary. >> Andrea, I I'd just like to say that um I I I was in on this since the very germ of of this idea hatched in Dr. Baneer's brain and I've watched the program grow and to see Miss Wilson and um Miss Donovan just their skills and their their their thinking are just the the um the backbone of this and the creative um genius of it. So, I wanted to recognize them and and to say that, you know, we really did our research before we went into this and it's it's

112been exciting to watch and I would like to be included in more professional development in that area. So, let me know when it happens. >> Okay. >> Kudos to you. >> Me too, Kathy. Me too. You know, >> thank you. >> Are there any other questions about the IBTA? Peter, you I need to be unmuted. >> Sorry. Um, this is the last year of our grant, correct? >> Yes. >> So, um, when we go forward with our budget in the fall and the winter, how, you know, will will there be a great deal of finances that we're going to have to find monies to fund all these the different um programs? Um with the help of Susan and >> with the help of Susan and Dr. uh Griier, we created a sustainability budget prior to

113um his retirement and so we have that already budgeted. Um although Susan is killer at getting grants, so we might not need >> We have another one coming up that includes >> the CP work. It's a careers one in STEM >> and it'll be formally announced very soon and we actually have Shannon on the agenda to tell you a little bit more about it. >> I mean, you're waiting to hear, >> right? >> Well, we already know it's coming, so we'll hear more about it tonight, but it's not formally announced and we do know there's a process in the town, >> right? Um but but Rita to your um thank you for um for your point which is um this is really great and we're speaking really highly of it but um what's the plan

114for moving forward and thank you for letting them answer um that we as a board has been very clear about the fact that we'll we'll take anything but we have to have it sustain if we want it has to be sustainable. Um so Rita thank you um for um offering that up. Anything else about the IB? All right, so we're off to the um ED Rising program. Um Adam, thank you for coming. Um and um just to give a little bit of a backdrop before that happened, we were in there was a group of us um who are on the negotiations team. Adam started talking about that and we were like, "Oh, wait, wait, wait a second. Um the rest of the board ha ha has not heard we have not heard about this and

115it really needs to kind of go through the board. Um so um so Adam, thank you for talking about it for a length of time in negotiations um and I'm hoping and that you're willing to continue to talk about that um uh tonight. So if you can introduce the program that would be great. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Um, I'm really, really, really excited to be talking to all of you about Ed Rising or Educators Rising. It's the longer word for it. And really what it what it is is it's something that we used to have uh in Graten uh at Fitch. We used to have something called pathways to teaching. uh and and it essentially was it was after school or during the day uh a an advisor would would work with a

116group of students who were highly interested in pursuing you know the education career uh cluster in the future. And so basically what they did is that you know through the advisor they would meet they would discuss strategies uh and essentially they would they would go down to the elementary uh schools and work with with younger students. um that has since um you know it kind of uh simmered away and and we we'd love to get this back um uh back in in play really through the ed rising uh several reasons. Uh we we you know we're looking at it and and realizing that often you know our students are are often exposed to so many other clusters but but not often exposed to our very own our the teaching profession and we don't do a

117lot of talking about it. So I think in that in that one sense I think we need to talk about it a little bit more and expose our students to that it is a a very rewarding uh career and and there's a lot of our students who have the natural talent to pursue this and and so it's really a tool to to allow them to experience uh uh the opportunity before making decisions to go to college and so and so on. Um there are so many other more advantages to to this opportunity as a as a as a a club. Uh you know it it involves gets our students going to other other schools. Um but ultimately it really will open up their eyes uh to even ask questions from our very our own teachers,

118school counselors, administrators about if they're interested in that in that career. Um ultimately uh they have at right at their right at the their feet an opportunity to explore this this cluster and I heard you know Miss Wilson talking about uh clusters that we that we that we have at Fetch. I think certainly this would be a great uh opportunity for us to also begin as a club and then eventually certainly make it something where maybe they could take a course but we're in the beginning stages. uh we'd love to start this as an opportunity for students who may be interested. Certainly want to really promote it uh uh with with uh all students. Um really this also is is embedded in in the diversity, equity, inclusion uh commitment that we have as well to

119get recruit and keep uh many students that perhaps can come back and teach in our own very own district. That in a nutshell is really what we're trying to do with this club and at least start it, at least get get our students involved in it. Uh we have uh teachers who are very excited to to begin the process. uh and certainly students at that meeting. Uh Kim, I did share an an experience where during freshman orientation, one of our seniors um is was volunteering to speak to our freshmen about, you know, what makes Fitch Fitch uh the expectations and often as as we know best, the students do a better job of presenting that than than the the teachers often. So, you know, we were talking and said, "Hey, what are you going to

120do next year as a as a senior?" And one of the things she mentioned was, you know, I really don't know. I'd like maybe to go into teaching. I said, "Well, what what are your plans after? Is it is it college? Is it this?" Yeah, I'd like to do that. Then that that just hit me at that very moment. I I told her about this upcoming opportunity. And she got the biggest smile on her face and she has asked me three or four times now in passing, >> when is this getting started? And I said, "Well, be a little bit more patient. We'll get to it." But every day she has asked it and it and it and it puts a smile on my face because I love that and if that's one student that

121knows about it, I know once we put this out uh we're going to get a lot of students who are interested in it. So really really a great opportunity for our students to explore our profession. Um so with that, thank you so much. >> I'm going to do um Liz and then Andrea. Um, why was this in negotiations? Is it is there a schedule C that was being being asked for? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. We they we had to add them to the um like clubs for stipens. >> Are all clubs got paid advisors? >> All clubs. I don't know that answer. You'd think I would, but I don't. >> I would I would assume all clubs that that are run by faculty get some type of stipen. Is that not correct, Susan or Phil?

122Well, I would say at the elementary and even middle school, we do have in our operating budget an enrichment stipen so that we can provide um art and physical education and STEM kinds of opportunities after school through our RSER. We've also included some funding for enrichment. Um so, you know, we could look at this as a stipen. We could look at as an as an enrichment. We'd have to look at the RBSER specifically, but we could start it in a few ways. Um, you know, I think it would involve a lot of time from a teacher after school. So, you know, it would be one way or the other, you would want to take care of that time and that commitment. I think my question is is that um clubs in general, middle school clubs,

123high school clubs, um enrichment programs, are they all covered under the contract under a SK schedule C? Not all with the well the schedule C does have an enrichment opportunity for teachers but it's kind of more an um an opportunity of eight sessions that that signifies what that stipen is. So that's what we've been using for some of the well for the elementarymentaries and some of the middle. >> Curious. Okay. Thank you. Um, Andrea, >> maybe you could ask Beth um, Holler to speak to that. She's on or or actually one of the principles would know. >> Wow. >> I can tell you that there there are several clubs that are run by teachers at the middle school and they do not uh receive a stipen form. >> Right. >> There are the, as Susan

124said, there are the contractual ones. You've got yearbook, >> um, student council, newspaper, and then there are some opportunities for, um, for shorter sessions of of enrichment. But, uh, we've got a number of clubs that, uh, that do not receive a stipent. >> Some do, and it, and a lot of it depends on the commitment, the time commitment. >> Some clubs used to come out of a of a building based fund, um, as Susan was referring to to the enrichment monies. Uh so there are it some of them are more nuanced than others. So that's where it is. Um but not all were >> were um fully funded for um stipens but um a lot are and we we've been trying to get more um support for those so we can offer expanded opportunities for

125students. >> Thank you. I just was curious. And we do have additional funding ARPS esser as you remember the social emotional learning component and the enrichment component is really big in the ARPser and we do have funds for some of those before and after school whether it's in the way of tutoring or in the way of enrichment programming. So it's really federally funded >> but those funds will not are not sustainable. They're not going to be with us until >> 2024. Right. Okay. So, I'm I'm thinking long term, >> right? >> Okay. Thank you. >> But I think this one is getting started as a club and we're hoping to see the interest. So, it may become a career pathway. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Andrea. That leads me to my question because today at

126the um at the curriculum council, I heard and this was my question to begin with, you know, advising and if you love it, teach it. And then I heard that at that council meeting that if you love it, teach it could become an elective. So where are these two things? How do they be how are they emerging? I'm asking Adam actually. >> So the the club is going to spark that interest in that possibility of that class eventually as as an opportunity for a career cluster. Uh but it is it is something we're starting it as a club create that that interest in in that opportunity and eventually it will get there >> and get where to >> to a possibility of of it becoming a course uh later on >> and at that time

127it would be if you love it teach it that's a whole different thing. >> Okay. And I just if I could add something about the clubs. I know it's been many many years since I've been there, but I and I'm sure it still goes on. You know, sometimes you get an idea and you think, "Oh, the kid would be really interested in this. Let me start a club." And you go to the principal and you get a yes or a no. And you know, you don't expect to be compensated for that. It's your idea. And >> so I don't know. >> Or kids might come to you and have they might have an idea, too. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm sure that's still Peter's shaking his head, so I'm >> Yeah, that still happens. >>

128Okay. Are there any other questions for Adam? >> Jim, >> absolutely. >> Sure. Um, I find it a loudable goal to try to expose kids to the idea of considering teaching. I will tell you that when I was probably a junior in high school and considering going on to major in physics, it happened to be nuclear physics. It sounds fancy, but I had just happened to be I didn't know any enough. It just seemed like something I wanted to do. And an uncle of mine sat me down and he said, "You know, unless you go all the way and get a PhD, you might wind up being a high school teacher." Now, you tell a junior in high school that. So he said if you if that doesn't appeal to you then you should consider

129going into engineering where you'd need a bachelor's degree. You won't have to worry about getting a doctorate and so on. So I I think I think I speak for probably most of my classmates. Uh teachers are the people we wanted to get away from. It's not something we wanted to do. Now having said that there are kids who do look up to teachers. They do like the idea for whatever reason that kids want to get into things. Uh but you know after spending years with a teacher you know you can understand why why kids might want to go move away from that one. A lot of times people come back. So I'm all for exposing kids. Uh probably they're already interested in in going to be uh teachers. I'm sure there have been efforts in

130the past. There have been programs homegrown programs perhaps programs put together from the outside. This looks like it's been put together from the outside. It's a product of PDK International. If we were to form a club, my understanding is we would be a chapter uh of Educators Rising uh of this this product, these services of PDK PDK International. They actually uh promote themselves over unnamed competitors. The advantages of this program versus other programs. So my question first is you know are there other programs uh like this according to PDK again unnamed there are other programs out there they're just better according to by their lights two and much more sensitively I think uh I'll just come right out and say that if I'm looking for example at a sample lesson uh plan the materials in

131in Educators Rising uh quite often make references to antibbias. It seems very heavily into antibbias uh training and so on. Uh there is lots of reference lots of references to social justice. It's a component. It's meant to be an all-inclusive kind of a thing you know and I do I am aware of people uh who are uh in the education business shall we say uh people who are in the business of teaching other teachers who philosophize about it etc who are the thinkers in the field who have no problem uh considering um uh teaching as just another branch of politics which they consider to be a positive thing and I'll come right out and say that when I see the phrase social justice I do not think of justice. I think of someone's politics, which

132is fine, but let's acknowledge what it is. So, the last thing that I would like to see is uh a program that is meant to raise awareness of kids about the possibilities of teaching as they move forward in their education. And as a byproduct um you know they have volunteer opportunities which just so happen to be with um political organizations, social justice organizations etc. I don't like blurring these lines. I don't like bringing this into our uh into our schools. I realize I may be quite alone in this. Uh and while we talk about having diversity viewpoints, I'm not so sure we really mean that. So I'm throwing this out. Uh I I do not like some of the phrases before we move forward whether it's funded or unfunded. I would prefer a deeper study

133into this. I'd like a focus on developing future teachers. There we are. Not the other stuff that I've seen in the chart. That's just me. >> Jean, thank you for doing your research. >> Yeah, >> it's not a lot of research. I you know I Well, um, at one time Fitch had a wonderful program for teachers and I know my son was involved in going down to knowing school and they were matched up. He had a buddy that was in uh, kindergarten and sort of stayed with him through um, you know, everything and and they um, still connect today. But they Fitch had a great program. I know Beth knows what it was called at that time. Um where the you know but it was a little difficult when they changed to block scheduling. They

134no longer could um have the like a a senior have a third a fourth period off where they were able to go down and you know in school time but even after that we continued having it for quite a long time. So um I don't know if anybody wants to speak to that program. probably Beth knows it the most because I know Butler was involved in having high school children come down and seeing what teachers do. So it didn't have anything to do with a label like Education Rising. It was future teachers. >> I think teachers assistance program. >> It was a teachers assistance program and it was run through the guidance office, right? >> And um I remember a number of my students were involved with that as well. And um I hear what

135you're saying, Dean. I really do. Um I do not like the idea of something being connected to um any type of political movement. If it's a teacher preparation, let's keep it teacher preparation. >> I agree. >> That's just me. And I just wanted to interject that. Um Beth, I think you just typed it in. It said teacher assistance program or TAP. >> TAP. It was called the TAP program. And um students came once or twice a week and assisted in the classroom. Sometimes they made materials and tried games out with kids and they always came and they read to students or they helped with centers, but it gave them a hands-on approach to helping with students and giving them an idea of what it was like working with children in the classroom. And uh the

136buses would bring them to our schools. But um Rita's right when they moved to block scheduling it became very difficult um to get students the time and the advisory time and then um busing was even back then was a little bit of an issue trying to get them to the building. So the TAP program fizzled out. So, >> so maybe um Susan, you and Adam can do a little bit more further researching making sure that this is not tied to a um a political source or what they mean by social justice. To Dean's point, I actually see the word social justice differently, but I can totally understand where that where that would seem like that's tied. So, let's get some clarity on that. um if if we're gonna if we're going to um use a

137program which makes sense in a sense then that means that we're actually having some um oh I can't remember I I'm not thinking of the word sorry but um some clarity about what what's being done and it meets standards then I think that that makes sense but we got to make sure that it's a it's a clear it's a clear >> it's a program that's come highly recommended from the Connecticut State Department of Education right >> so and I think it's an outreach each program so that we can really encourage our own students to want to go into the field of education. And >> I'm all for it. I'm all for it, but let's make sure there's not some closed um political affiliations. >> Yeah, I had not heard, but we'll we'll investigate that. >>

138Thank you, Andrea. >> Yeah, I just wanted to add that I have to say, Dean, when you said that you might wind up being a high school teacher, you got my my shackles raised. However, um after I listened to what you had to say, you you changed my mind entirely. So, I'm happy we're going to pursue that. >> I thought you were saying you're happy I didn't become a high school teacher. >> No. >> Well, that too. >> All right. Anything else about um Adam's uh suggestion around the um Ed Rising? How about the first Lego League um robotic team? Yay. >> So, that's another idea for a club that Peter has that has really been generated by teachers and kids because we have a robotics club at the high school >> and we're looking

139as at a feeder program that might be really um exciting for middle schoolers. So, Peter, I'm gonna let you take it away. >> Thank you. Uh, you know, we some people were asking, I think it was Liza asked the question, are are all clubs uh stipended? And um that's part of the reason we're here tonight. They are not. Um I I've invited Miss Chapel to join us this evening to um outline a club that is near to dear to her heart. um and she can share with you uh what goes into it and um the time commitment especially um that it would entail uh looking to garner your support. So, Miss Chapel, I turn it over to you. >> Thank you. Um all of that was great segue. I was a student in Graten for

140K to 12 and then came back to teach. This is my 34th year of teaching in Graten. Um, I'm currently at Graten Middle School with Peter and I teach computer science and project lead the way courses um at the beautiful new school. But I'm actually here today not to talk about me but about something for our students. I'd like to tell you why Graten Middle School Let me just Can I share my screen so you have a visual? >> You can. >> Let's see. Um, why Graten Middle School definitely needs First Lego League robotics. Um, First Lego League is the middle school version of um the Fitch's alum aluminum falcons robotics team. It it follows the same framework as the high school and I think we're all familiar with the benefits that our students and

141our community have received from that program. It's all run by first. Um it is much more than a club. It could be a club but it would not have the same impact as the program is entire in uh created to be. Um it will um somebody had just said that it's it will act as a theater program to our high school. Um and even more so just create more excitement and more confidence and skills in the creative thinking and problem solving that are so desperately needed in our world today. Um each year first unveils a new theme related challenge and this year's challenge is cargo connect and it is revolving around transportation issues of safety, efficiency, connection and access. Um there are four main components let's see um to the competition. it just like um

142the high school program, it is a competition that can go to the global level, starts at the state level. Um and it includes robot design, robot game, an innovation project and the core values all the same framework that the high school follows. Um the robot students work in teams first to design, build, and program original Lego robots. Um, and the robot that they're designing will run on a regulation game board to complete up to 12 specific missions that will earn them points. Students will be interviewed at the competition by a panel of judges about their robots design and the programming. Um, this is all student ownership. This is not something that the coaches are doing. The coaches are facilitating their thinking and their creation. Um, the highlight of the year for the students is the

143robot game. Let's see. And at the competitions, the students compete against other teams from all over the state to begin with um to complete as many of those missions as possible in two and a half minute matches. uh even more so um addressing the inquiry aspect that we are fostering with our students. Um the students are uh have to create an innovation project. Um they have to identify themselves a real world problem that's related to that year's theme. um create some questions, do the research, design their own solution, and then present their project and their solution to a panel of judges and answering questions about their process as well as the solution that they came up with. They're also encouraged to present their solution to whatever community it this solution would impact. Um and let's

144see the core values um component is what sets first robotics apart from similar programs. I don't know how familiar you are with the core values that the high school follows, but um students are actively developing and learning to embody First Lego League's philosophies of teamwork and gracious professionalism um through the core values which are discovery, innovation, impact, teamwork, inclusion, and can't see it, but it's fun. Um, at competitions, students will be asked to do uh some kind of a surprise but fun teamwork activity for a panel of judges and then answer questions related to their display of the core values in action. Now, first, in order to compete requires two coaches for each team of 10 students. Um my hope is that um we will have up to 30 students participate um in the afterchool

145program, but to begin with only 10 will be able to officially compete. But our goal at the middle school is to eventually expand it to um expand the competitive aspect to all 30 students by adding volunteer coaches and mentors from the community. Um, also high school students who are 18 can qualify to be coaches. >> Um, there is a big connection with the high school. I've already been in contact with high school students. Um, volunteerism is one of their values and that they're judged on and they've already um I'm meeting with them Wednesday to talk about how they might be able to help uh mentor and coach our students as well. Um, it's a year-long program much like the uh Falcons program and the coaching positions will require a great deal of responsibility um and

146time commitment. We were just talking about all of that and what entails, you know, what what justifies a stipen position. So, I wanted to give you an idea of what we're asking coaches to do if they take this on. Um, teams meet for a minimum of two hours a week. Um, so it would be two after school meetings and at a coach's workshop this weekend. I asked around and many of the teams that are competitive are they meet up to four hours a week and they include Saturdays. Some of them meet just on Saturdays 8 to 12. Um, but that would be down the road for us. So, some of the requirements for a coach, they would have to plan and prep because they are going to be teaching robotic building and programming skills. They're

147going to have to facilitate the team's progress toward their goals, foster teamwork skills and core values. They'll help students find resources and they'll keep the team on task. That's all during the uh planning for and uh executing the two hour two hours a week. And in addition, they have to complete coaches training and workshops. They will have to complete the first youth protection certification program. They will recruit students um recruit and facilitate volunteers. They will have to create a schedule and coordinate events for the students. Um they'll going to be responsible for clear communication with students, families, and the volunteers as well as the community. And they'll have to arrange transportation for students to um a variety of events. and they'll have to order and maintain the supplies um and uh register the team with

148first robotics. Um let's see. So you can see that it is a huge undertaking and I think this is um an invaluable experience that we could offer our Graten Middle School students. And so what we're asking is for your okay on this and to hopefully create two stipen positions for coaches for two individuals that are committed to getting the program off the ground and then growing it to all it can be. Um thanks for giving me the time and I'll be happy to answer any questions if you have any. It's also a year-long endeavor, I would imagine, and it would include probably trips to some of those events. >> Yes. I >> that the coaches would be going to as well. >> Exactly. I talked I've been talking for a couple years now with Mr.

149Moon from C and um we talked about getting together just to get our my program off the ground, getting together with his and have some informal little events there with the CK students. Oh, great. >> That could eventually lead to our students mentoring those students. Who knows where it could lead in the >> um and then hopefully um meeting with other um area schools that are doing it that practice events and um the qualifying events are in November and the state championship is in December and then it goes on from there. Um so then the rest of the year is working on developing those skills and providing more challenges for the kids and encouraging them to take things to the next level. >> Right. >> So >> exciting. So, I just wanted to mention my

150son who graduated from Pitch last year was in um was on the uh Falcons team and it is, you know, one of the most incredible resources that we have in this area to expose children to engineering and computer science and the the leaders from um EB that um run that program. I mean, it just blew my mind the amount of time and dedication and, you know, our team goes on to win like national the national championship um often. So, um have you been in touch with the folks that lead the Falcon team? Um >> yes, I have um with a couple of coaches and they have the coaches up there and the mentors have different roles. So certain people have reached out to me that that's that part of their team role plus students. Qatara

151Plebomb from um who used to be a Westside student um has reached out as kind of the lead on the volunteerism piece. Um and I have experience with the high school program as well um with my son through um Beth Horler's husband was my hero in uh during my son's years and it I I can't even put into words the value that he got from it. >> Um it is a place where some kids um that's their where they find their place that they belong. They didn't know if they belonged anywhere up until then. They felt awkward in other situations and other clubs and events and sports and they found their home there. So, um that's how I got started with this and going to events with the high school team. That brings up a

152point though. Um the difference between this was at Ledger High School and the difference between Ledger's program and Fitch's program is immeasurable. Um but Fitch has paid positions. Ledger had Mr. Hler who volunteered and worked tirelessly and his whole life revolved around this. Um and he was one person and he worked really hard at it. But I think in order to develop and grow a quality program, you're going to need to have some paid staff that are really um Oh, he still does it, Beth. That's great. Um but uh yeah, you're >> so I I I kind of want to um Sharon, thank you very much for adding um your input, but I um also just want to make sure that we follow from sort of Robert's rules and this is a non uh this

153is uh for board comment, but thank you for your um for your adding and Beth, same with you. Um I really really appreciate that. um it by looking around the board or the faces of the board, it seems like we're really interested in pursuing, but I think what would be helpful is to kind of know what the process is. So, if competition is going to start in December, I'm not sure that this means that we're going to be doing it this year. Is that correct? >> Correct. I'm my hope would be to um I've got in the works I have um funds from the GEF gave me an extended grant and because of last year we've kind of pushed it off um so I have funds for the beginnings of the supplies that we need

154that will get us through the first couple of years um and um for like team t-shirts some transportation funds will be in there um >> when you say GF do you mean the Graten Foundation you got a grant out of Yes. From the Ground Education Foundation. Yes. Absolutely. The extended one. The >> So, they've they've um pledged $5,000 toward this to help get it off the ground. >> Okay. >> The only thing that's not in there is the um compensation for the the coaches. >> Okay. >> For the start of the program anyway. >> Okay. Liz, >> so it goes Rita. Rita, I've I've I've acknowledged Liz and then I'll do you. >> So, um I'm a little confused. Are you asking us to consider putting this into our budget? Is that what you're proposing?

155>> Um does that have to go through negotiations? I mean, I I know that I don't think we are at the point that we can say yes, we're going to do this because it hasn't even been investigated. I appreciate everything that you're saying, but I'm thinking about it's got to come through negotiations, at least finance and facilities. Um, and it's going to impact the budget. >> Yeah, 100%. And that um in light of I think I I was getting a little bit of from the Ed Rising that it kind of went the other way around. And um that's why I'm here to tell you about it so that you can be informed when if it does go to negotiations. It is a program that I could pull things from and have a little club, but

156then it's going to be like once a week and I don't think it's going to have the same impact that this would have if we fully invest in the program. >> So when you talk about fully invest, what are you talking about? adding a class or are you into adding or are you talking about this would be just a club activity? I'm not. >> This is a team. >> This would be more like a sports team, I think. >> Like, okay, thank you. I'm sorry. >> so in in August they to your to answer your question, Kim, in August they unveil the theme, >> right? >> Well, they unveil the theme back in May. So, you can get psyched for it before the summer and then mid August. Most teams gather um that can to

157watch or they do um now in the world of online they meet online to watch the unveiling of what the the um missions will look like to get them all excited for it in mid August. Then they hit the grounds running um in as soon as school starts um meeting and then it's very intensive for the kids right through the up to December when the state championship is. Okay. >> Um, and to answer your question, I don't see that we are going to be prepared at this point to compete at the state level or anything like that. I'd love to give my kids the experience of a an event um of, you know, an official event. Um, but we have to see how quickly we can get this up and running and off the ground.

158>> Okay. Rita, >> yeah. I I was wondering how many teams are in Connecticut? Oh, that's a good question. I could find it out very quickly. >> I would I would appreciate that to see what their competition would be like in the state. >> There's a lot. >> And also, >> and a lot of schools have multiple teams. >> I know the high school depends so much on their volunteers. You know, they're wonderful volunteers >> and and we have >> do it without them. I mean they have a head coach stipen, they have an assistant coach stipen, >> but that's nothing without >> absolutely and without volunteers from Dominion and Fizer and EB and mentor these kids. >> Yeah, absolutely. And we would hope for the same level at the middle school as well. >>

159I don't think you need to find the answer out tonight. I think because this is I'm gonna I'm gonna ask a process um a process question. Um and I'm directing it to both you and to Susan because I really can't direct anything. I would direct Susan. Um I I I think the board looks like we're really excited about this. Um and it would be nice to have heard, you know, to hear that um historical piece that this was a fantasy of yours. This was a dream of yours. You actually got money from the Graten Foundation, the $5,000. and then kind of talk about what do you see leading up to next year. I'm assuming I I understand you you want to do an event, but you're not going to be able to do uh like

160I I can only speak for me, but there's no way that I would go ahead and prove or something for you guys to be ready for competition and and there's just too many unknowns. So, so Susan, is it possible that we could have um just kind of get like um I'm not using the right words and I apologize about that, but like a portfolio where we can kind of see where she started with the idea, why the Graten Foundation, some of the activities that she's hoping that $5,000 could do and then can give us a budget so that we could then have financing facilities kind of take a look at that to make sure that it kind of is something that yes, we absolutely could um endorse and would want to put into our budget

161and then we could then work um I know that we're in the midst of negotiations with teachers, but we can always add I mean like there's always the is it m what is the Beth >> M m o? Thank you that word um to the contract um if we if the board sees fit. But it would be kind of nice to kind of see sort of what what the Graten Middle School would like to kind of do with this program in this academic year and how to kind of push it forward and what it would look like in terms of volunteers. You know, that's that's a really good point. A little bit more scaffolding, I think, of the information would be really helpful for us. I can do that. Kind of like a starting business

162proposal. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, we do have other resources with the ESER funds and with our own operations for enrichment that could help us just to get that started, but we would need to know long term. If we're starting it here, where do we want to be next year and the following year? So, >> because those funds from the G can get me off the ground, but it's not going to sustain a program. >> Right. Right. Right. >> And we might and we might need to be thinking about that long term because I I get a little bit worried when we keep on saying ESR funds, eser funds. Um because first of all, they're not they're not they're not forever. Um but but um but but this sounds really exciting and I just

163am for one just really thankful um for your energy um and willing to kind of stay until 8:00 um to present your present your program. Um but if if there's no other further questions, I think that that they need to go back and do their business um and and come back to with us with a proposal um that we can then shoot to the financing facilities. Does that does that make sense? Okay. I I I I say yes. Um Susan, Peter, Ted, of all the things that we are thinking about is not working well in this world to hear about all the good stuff that is happening for our Graten children. Yay you guys. I know it's not just you. I know it's a whole bunch of other people, but >> yay you for having

164us get so excited about what's happening in Graten. Um, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Especially with the beginning of the meeting was talking about like the church and and I'm not saying everything is perfect like but I'm saying like like yay, how how to get us excited um and how to get us excited in September about what you guys are doing for for our kiddos in Graten. So, thank you very much. Um, and so I'm going to move us on, folks. I'm going to ask that we table number six, which is discussion of class size. We are going to need to have that conversation, but I don't think it needs to be done tonight um so that we can move on because I it sounds to me that we have some more

165stuff that we need to get excited about um here in Grten thanks to the work with um uh Susan and her team and also Shannon. And so, Shannon, if you can take it away. I'm so excited. >> So, uh yeah, so we got some great news a couple weeks ago. Um the folks down at uh the Department of Defense Education Activity sent us that email that we're always hoping for in August, which said that they'd like to have a meeting with us to um let us know that we are one of the finalists for the um for their annual competitive grant program. So, we actually applied for this grant uh two years ago, and we did not receive it on the first round, but we were invited to resubmit it this past January. And um

166we should know for sure in two weeks, but typically when they call us and we go over, we make the revisions they suggest um that usually looks really good. So, um, so we should know for sure at the end of the month, but if we are awarded, this would be another five-year grant. This would be Grten's fifth DODIA grant. Um, and it's coming at a perfect time because we just finished our um, literacy grant, our five-year literacy grant this past year, and we're about to wrap up our math grant at the end of this coming year. So, this grant um, is a five-year grant. It's for uh $750,000 and it focuses on professional um there's a lot of funding for professional development. Um the theme is on science and pathways. So um it'll enhance um

167kind of all the work that Peter and Ted was describing about the vertical integration of um these programs these initiatives that we've started over the past five years with the international baloria program um and uh a a big chunk of it will go towards continuing our work with teachers college. So um over the past five years we've uh the the focus of that has been on uh literacy professional development with our K through8 teachers I believe and this will have um more of an emphasis on interdisciplinary work um with a focus on science. Um there's also some funding for professional development with the career um IB careers program and project lead the way and some uh funding for supplies for um classes that have have a health science uh focus at the high school and

168a few other goodies. So the nursing program, biomemed, some of those um you know that we really want our kids prepared for. When we look at Grten, we have just a plethora of opportunities for them, you know, to think about in their careers between, you know, electric boat and fizer and so many of the manufacturing components. So that this is really a way that kids can can get to that career that will really um promote what they love to do and what they're good at. So it's just another way it could be a way that families could save money because you know we c there's all different ways to really encourage that next level of education. And this careers program is really a K12. So even little children when they go to the fire station

169or the police station or you know the hospital where they really get an opportunity to see you know what people do for careers and then into the middle school and into the high school and some marketing too so our families really are aware of all the opportunities in the day of the life of our students. Um and so that they're very much aware of that as are our kids. Yeah, I did want to mention that DODIA did say that they're very happy with Grten and that one of the things that they like that we do is that we continue to expand on and enhance our initiatives that they work with a lot of school districts that are kind of just like starting up new initiatives that aren't really connected to each other um every couple

170years and they like that in Graten we start something and we kind of keep um enhancing it and building on it and um deepening it. So just amazing. >> So this is one of the three grants that Shannon has worked actually four or five grants that Shannon has worked on this year. She's worked on quite a few and we've really received through Congressman Courtney, some careers money, and the um expanding our treehouse program for our middle school, our Perkins grant. So, I can't thank her enough. Without her being able to do this, I might have some bright ideas, but she's the engine behind it getting to fruition. So I applaud her >> and she >> well I did want to mention that >> there were a couple people that were really involved with the development

171of this. So Ann Fatnik was um one of the key um uh content contributors to the grant and Aaron was too along with our IB coordinators and our um magnet theme coordinators too. So, we had a really great team working on it and I do enjoy helping people kind of pull their ideas together and put it into a pretty little proposal. >> It is it is a great proposal. >> Shannon, can you once again tell the board about what what would be the grant monetary? So it is uh 750,000 over five years and it's and I think if I remember correctly it's um it's pretty evenly dispersed over those five years. So whatever that >> elementary, middle, and high school >> and even with staffing, you know, it supports the magnet program at the elementary

172school for that support and then the high school growing their nursing program and also the project lead the way >> middle school and high school. >> There are funds for um kind of each grade level. So, there are some funds for um elementary work, um middle school work, and high school work. Probably probably the bulk of it is going towards the high school, but then the um I think it's $36,000 per year for the teachers college program, which is which will be the elementary and middle school. >> It's really reading and writing across the different curriculums. So the way we read and write closely with science differs from math differs from social studies. So I think really taking that approach that we're all reading and writing teachers no matter what we teach. And so I

173think it's going to be instrumental in really moving that forward for everyone. So I'm excited about that. So there is a reason why I asked that that monetary and just to remind um the board that there is by charter there's a process that when we receive um a competitive grant that we need to kind of go to um the town council then to the RTM and so um you know and and my understanding is that there's a short period of time that where there's a there's a we have to accept it correct >> and um maybe wasn't last year because it was in person. So maybe it was 2019, Dr. Geneer met with um the then superintendent um and Susan and who is now the superintendent and um the manager um John Bert um to

174talk about the fact that sometimes we don't we can't wait for the town to agree to accept by but by charter we have to go through those um that processes and that he said that he would fast track and I am just wondering what the board thinks about um Susan just sort of notifying John that it looks pretty good that we're going to get this grant so that he could begin to put it on the town council and the RTM radar so that you know Susan and Shannon and us can go and present it to the town council and then try to get onto the RTM as quick as possible um so that we could do that because we've been promised by John Bert um and the um that we're not going to lose out

175on something because they their process is >> and I've seen him do that with the children first broughten grants that we've been part of where we are just really the fiduciary but we see all this good work that's happening for our children who are >> you know birth to three and then early grades. So >> So I'm just I'm just wondering from the rest of the board do are you comfortable with me having her tell the manager that we've got this got this grant that it's coming so that we can kind of get it moving on? Dean, do you have a comment? Uh, no, no. I'm I'm I'm in favor of you approaching. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Super. Thank you. Anything else about this, Shannon? I You're just >> Thank you, Shannon.

176>> It's just amazing. >> Could you just tell us what the timeline is when you are meeting with this um the DoD to about the grant? >> We should probably hear um soon. Like I was expecting to hear before the end of this month. Yeah, I think the latest >> the latest that they can tell us is um yeah, the last day of the month because technically the grant is supposed to start October 1st. >> Oh, >> great. Thank you. >> That sounds wonderful. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> And I I have to say I have two big announcements for ne tomorrow. I've got a granddaughter who's being born in the morning. Oh, >> and also we're gonna get the official news about our national blue ribbon winner >> tomorrow at 11 o'clock. So, I

177will be on call and you're going to be the first to know. >> That's great. >> Very excited. So there is a lot of good news in Grten and we're trying to work on the news that isn't so good and really work out the finding problems and solving them because I just want our kiddos getting to school on time in the most efficient fashion safely and getting home on time. >> That's the goal. >> I'm gonna recognize Jay. >> Yeah, I just wanted to echo uh Kim's statement. You know, whenever Shannon comes on, we we we think that there's some great news coming down the pike. And you you recall when she volunteered to do this years ago, >> and her first grant was what, $1 million? And it's just been uh an an amazing

178collaboration, and I just want to thank her for everything she does to to work through these grants. >> Thank you. the big ones and the little ones, the dallios for teachers that have caused them to travel and pursue their wonderful things. I mean, she's involved in so many aspects, I have to tell you, >> and really understands our district so well. So, she's really part of my central office team when we're coming together. So, I really do appreciate her work as a, you know, really one of the um coordinators in our central office. So, thank you, Shannon. Shannon, once again, thanks like like that sounds so trit, but thanks. Like you're amazing. Thank you for your work. Um, so we've moving we've moved we're going to table the next agenda item, which is the class

179sizes. We are going to need to have that for budget budget purposes, but I promise it's going to it's going to get it's going to get on. But now you guys can kind of look at it because I know that we never have enough to do. So you'll have some, you know, gentle reading to do about class sizes. Um, >> and it's not different from the past, Kim. It's kind of the same standard. So, >> okay. >> Um, and so we're going on to the referral list. Do we have any conversations about that? essentially the same list that we had, >> right? I know that we saw before, right? >> Yep. Yep. I'm just making sure that the corrections got made and people I'm not a good editor. Um so I'm always looking to make

180sure that people um pick up those things. Are there future uh agenda topics that people want us to hit? >> I just had a quick question. >> Yep. >> I'm sorry. Andrea, about the um referral list, I noticed there's some things on here, and I know I think we've addressed this before, but there's stuff on here from 2017. I mean, how long do we keep things on this referral list until they're done? >> Yes. Okay. >> So, that is a good question to see if the electronic one has been updated and it's probably needs to be updated again anyways given what we've done the past 16 months. Andrea, >> I I'd like to make sure that we look at the idea that we're going to have two CO meetings because um you know there there

181comes a time when it gets to be so long that you you lose what you're thinking. So I I'd like to go back and and make sure that we you take a look at that. >> Is that from Rita's conversation? I believe right. Yeah. I I apologize. I tried I I've been trying to keep the meetings to two, no more than two. Today was an exception. Um because >> I just I just remember that you said that they would become very very long and I just wanted to make note of that if if we went to back to just one and one. That's all. >> Oh well >> we're going to bring it up as an agenda topic. We're not going to have a discussion about about it. >> Okay. I can promise it will

182go it will go on. I'm actually thinking it makes sense for us to talk about it in a retreat when we are talking about board stuff and and how we want to do stuff. Um, very good. >> And it could piggy back on the work that you and and Liz are doing in terms of the board handbook and policies. Anyways, so >> I think that that >> in that case is it time. >> Well, any other future agenda topics? I make a motion for adjournment. Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. I got seconds. >> All those. >> Thank you all. >> Have a good week. >> Bye guys. >> Bye. >> Night.