6-27-22 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Hello everyone. Um, I am going to be calling the Graten Board of Education regular meeting June 22nd um, uh, to order. It is 6:03. Um, and it's June 27th and I think I just said that. Um, and um, the first uh, the first thing is the pledge of allegiance. Um, and Mark will be doing a flag. >> Uh, I don't have one ready, but let me look. Okay. >> You have one, Kate? [Music] Okay. Thanks. >> Share. >> Okay. Thank you, Kate. Thank you. Um and uh >> full screen. >> That's a that's that's good. We've we've got it. Thank you so much for for finding that. Phil, would you be willing to lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

002of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Phil. And thank you guys for finding um the flag. I really appreciate that. >> Um the second order of business um is the election of vice chair. um with the vacancy, we also then had a vacancy within the vice chair. And I just think um to follow board of ed policies, it's going to be really important um to um have a chair and a vice chair. And so at this time, I would entertain any nomination. Jay. >> Um, I would like to nominate uh Dr. Andrea Acriman. >> Can I have a second to that? >> Second, Beverly. >> Thank you, Beverly. >> All right. Um, Miss Joan. >> Yes, ma'am. >>

003Do I vote? Do I have call for a vote or do I see if there's any other nominations? I should find out if there's any other nominations. >> Yes, you should. Yes, you should. >> Are there any other nominations from the floor? Okay, hearing none, I will close nominations. And um is there any other um There's no more nominations, so I go right into a vote. All those in favor of Andrea or Dr. Andrea Arian um to uh for the vice chair. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. That motion has carried. And Dr. Arian, thank you very much um for um uh becoming the vice chair once again. And um I look forward to uh our continued partnership. Thank you. >> All right. Um I believe um but I'm

004going to check in with um Phil. Is there any um recognition or participation of visitors? >> Uh no, not not on our end. >> Okay. All right. That moves us to the uh our uh comments from the community. Um and this is the portion of the agenda where the board welcomes comments from citizens. Each presentation should be limited to five minutes or less and citizens should, if possible, submit written comments. Presentation should be related to matters pertinent to Graten. Board members will only ask questions in order to clarify the speaker's presentation and cannot respond during the comments of citizens portion of the board meeting. Citizens should state their names and addresses for the record. Um, Miss Joan, do you have anyone at this time knowing >> Nobody has contacted me. >> Okay, thank you. Miss

005Joan, are there is there anyone who would like to address the board? All right, hearing none. Um I'm going to moving us down um to number six, which is the superintendence. I believe we do not have any student reps, but um Phil, excuse me, Dr. If we could make sure that um there becomes a concerted effort um that we have student reps um for the board um that would be that would be really helpful I think. >> Yeah, I know I know I think we've mentioned that in the past too about reupping our efforts to make sure that there's representatives in each meeting. >> Yep. >> Next year. >> Thank you. Um so um and for those on the board who don't know um Susan is taking a well-deserved break um and um I uh

006um and so uh actually uh uh Dr. Piaza is going to be giving us the report and I believe I had sent everyone um on his request the climate report. >> Right. If um Mark if I could share my screen. Am I able to do so? It looks like >> it should be. >> Okay. Let me just clean up my Can everyone see that? >> Yes. Oh, I can. >> Yes. >> If you can, I'm assuming everybody everyone can. So, I'm going to um present a summary of the data that we received from our school climate surveys. These were given to our parents, students, and staff. Um the school safe climate, I'm sorry, the district safe school climate committee developed the survey. Uh, as always, in an effort to gather useful information on things we're

007doing well and of course point out some areas that we can improve upon, um, I've worked with Denise Doolittle and Tom Londale um, to put this all together and to summarize it as clearly and as concisely as possible. Um, the full survey will be made available to the board. Um this is sort of a summation of um the data in broken down into categories very similar to last year if you remember um if you were here last year um we broke it down into categories of communication uh safety um a feeling of belonging um diversity and respect and we added on one for professional development uh as well this year um you'll notice the the one you received were piraph s with with data on them. Um over the weekend I did um add some

008quotes and comments from the surveys. We did um we did this last year as well. I just tried to pull some that were representative of some of the comments that were made uh overall. Um rest assured that all the comments were shared with the principles. uh they were given this data and this was reviewed with them at their end of year meeting um and will be the basis uh will be a piece of the puzzle as they begin their year next year. Um one of my suggestions too is to you know as we approach the fall have the principles present um so they could address some of the um the data that we're going to present tonight and possibly answer any questions that you have around the data specific to uh certain schools. Um, okay.

009Let me move forward here. As I said, uh, communication is always important. It's the it's really the the foundation of everything we do if we want to do it well. Um, and it has been a priority since we've been back in terms of reestablishing that school and home relationships postcoid. Um, you know, as buildings combined this year, we had mixed faculties. communication was an important part of the work that the principles had to do there. Um we did establish the new communication subcommittee with for the board um this past March um whose focus is efforts to improve communication districtwide. Uh so that's another piece uh of the puzzle that will hopefully improve things as we move forward. Uh internally we have weekly principal meetings with the superintendent um and and myself. Um, we have our

010websites and and uh we established Facebook. Um, we established our social media presence most recently as a way to help improve communication and get information out to our parents. Um, and obviously we use uh district emails and monthly faculty meetings and department meetings um as methods of internal uh communications. So there's always room for improvement. Um but um again um we like to see you know hopefully in this data you know you'll see some of the good stuff as well. Um parent communication on the elementary level this is from the parent survey um is is really outstanding according to uh the survey and I'm sorry I you know I don't have the numbers I should have put those up somewhere of the responses we did have a great response um and I will try to

011get those numbers and share those with the board. Um but we did have one that was definitely a nice representative percentage of the district. Um here you can see you know being kept up to date about school events and activities and and also the other piece um is feeling comfortable. Um and if you can't see this you c you can move around the um the squares on your screen uh by putting the the cursor over them and moving them. Um I know some of it might be blocked but I'll try to explain it as best I can. Uh the graph on the right says I feel comfortable talking to my child's teachers. Um and as you can see the gre means good. Uh, so both of these look pretty good and and the quotes that

012I listed, you know, you see one in the bottom left that says the communication is outstanding with emails, phone calls, um, and emails from teachers. Um, and one example um, at the bottom right, our daughter has had an extremely difficult time adjusting to being in the school um, for her first year. Um, and this parent was very um pleased with the entire staff um both teachers and administration and how important that was to them in their daughter's transition. secondary um parents uh also seems very positive um obviously uh always want to improve um results from the communication survey um that I mentioned I'm sorry I didn't mention that the communication subcommittee has um also completed a survey on as to how parents receive information and how they would like to receive information from the district

013and the schools uh that's being compiled and disagregated to the schools uh this summer um and again we hope that will improve things as well. Um here again on the left I'm I'm kept up to date about school events and activities. Um on the right I feel comfortable talking to my child's teachers. Um you know that's promising even on the secondary level as we know as kids get older they tend to want to handle things themselves or parents release some of that responsibility uh to them. Um but we still want to maintain that relationship with parents. Um um in the the quotes again on the left uh uh a positive one with positive interactions on the right um that person would like to see improved communication with parents by teachers and administrators. Um and they

014also mentioned an opportunity for parent contact and feedback on a more ongoing basis. Um so we can definitely work um on providing those opportunities for parents to have their voices heard. elementary staff on the topic of um you know we do like like I said like to look internally as well within the buildings between admin and the teachers uh and the comfort level teachers have to speak up and approach their admins when they have ideas, concerns or issues. Uh this is an area that you know I think we all want to improve upon. Um and as staffs become more comfortable with their new buildings and new admin teams we hope to see this improve. Um the one on the left um talks about opportunities to communicate their thoughts. Um the one on the right is

015more about their own feelings as to whether or not they feel they can approach their building admin with concerns. Um the two quotes included. The one in the bottom left uh talks about a very caring and supportive environment um and how the admin um does care about what the um teachers think. uh and even the one on the top right um talks a little bit more specifically about PPTs and how the principal has made sure that the teachers have a voice along with the rest of the participants um within those PPTs. Uh so again overall very positive but definitely some room uh for improvement um there and internally on the secondary level um this is definitely um going to be an area of focus uh for the secondary level the middle school and the high

016school. Uh we'll be working with the admin teams to best address each building's areas of concern. um coming back into the buildings full-time, like I said, communication is was so important. Um and not just communication, but timely communication and clear communication as well, uh both internally and externally. Uh we definitely want to see more green on these moving forward. We're going to be working with the admin team to develop goals um around these areas specifically uh to make sure parent um I'm sorry to make sure that the staff feels that they have the opportunities to to share their ideas and have their voices heard. Uh and again you can see from the uh from the quotes I'm sorry I got to keep moving my squares around. um in some areas they feel that there's good

017avenues for communication um where they can go to their department chairs or coordinators and and some schools um have had focus group conversations u sometimes they feel like things get brought up um and then they don't get those responses back so again that that's the timely communication that I was speaking of earlier um and uh again the the clarity of communication uh is identified as a problem with the quote on the bottom right hand Um and so we want to uh see how we can improve in that area. As we look at the safety questions, these are a little tricky uh because it's, you know, the questions, you know, we've been trying to rewrite these questions to make them as clear as possible, but obviously safety means different things to different people. Um some people

018view it as um safety from uh just as in terms of the classic fire, you know, in fire drill type safety. Others uh safety from COVID, others safety from teasing or mean behavior. Um or more, you know, safety from school violence like fights, uh things like that. Um we have our social emotional learning programs in there for social emotional safety to help kids feel safe in that way. Uh we obviously have our drills um locked down and and fire drills, you know, for people's physical safety in the case of an emergency. Um hopefully these surveys did help um identify areas in the building where students feel most unsafe. Um and obviously, you know, teachers presence in the hallways follow through with discipline. All these different factors help increase people's view of how safe they are

019in the buildings. Um we start with the elementary um again and um the quote at the bottom is very positive. Um and again the elementary students did not have a chance to um have open comments. So that's a quote actually from a parent about how safe she feels her kids are. Um you could see uh the numbers on the left. This is how I safe I feel in my classroom at school. Uh and this is how safe I feel. Um uh you know on the right that is the um upper elementary. We did separate it from K12 is early elementary and 345 is upper elementary. Um again this could um we really need to drill down a little bit more to find out what they mean by that. Um talking with principles at their year-end

020meeting, many felt that these might have to do still with COVID. Um others might be in response to some of the um some of the things that have been happening around the country um around the time that this was uh distributed uh could have influenced it. Um you know as well as uh teasing and mean behavior seem to be um uh one of their concerns at the uh at the elementary level. Um so uh so we'll take a a deeper dive at that and make sure that kids feel safe and that they have somebody that they can go to as well. Uh on the secondary level um again same questions I feel comfortable being in this school building. Uh the question on the right uh deals with more social emotional support in terms of uh

021we asked the students uh and I think this is a new question this year um about how often they go to their school counselor for emotional support. um you know and the quote at the top right hand side was from a uh um a student I believe um asking for you know they they wish they they they could work closer with um guidance um in terms of checking in more often uh and communicating with them. So so again all this will be shared with the uh the teams and and obviously we working with the guidance counselors um around this data. Um, we want kids to make sure that they know all the adults in the building that they can reach out to. Uh, the quote at the bottom left even mentions the kids are overwhelmed

022with the amount of foot traffic in the stairwells. Um, this is from a parent, you know, she who claims her who said her daughter's a good student and does well in school, but the constant tension between students and the crowded stairwells are stressful for her. Um, again, returning after COVID where kids were home by themselves and now returning to these larger buildings. Um, this will definitely be something we talk about with the with the building administration in terms of how we're dismissing and what our schedule looks like and how crowded the hallways are as kids get more and more comfortable being back together and being in large crowds. Um, I know even for me just doing things I used to do normally like go to concerts or go to places where large people are are

023congregated, uh, you do have that uneasy feeling and it's something that, um, might take a while to, uh, to get over. Um, but again, this is this is data that we can use to help make our kids feel safer in our buildings. in terms of elementary and secondary parents um their feelings about whether the schools are safe. The one on the left is elementary, the one on the right is are secondary. Again, coming from the parents. Most, as you can tell from the comments, are happy that the kids are back um because they feel like being in person um has really had a huge impact on their their child's learning. Um the quote on the right I thought was was um really interesting that I wanted to share um from a parent. the world's problems

024won't go away, but it tends to have a negative effect on me mental health. Um, encouraging the the building and the district to try to be more positive and communicate good news and events more, find ways to celebrate at this young time in their life. School should be a happy experience or at the very least a diversion from all the negative news. Um, I thought that was really interesting and again we're trying to do that with our our social media presence trying to sell. We've always done a great job in terms of uh trying to record all those special events and and make those available to the public and uh you know with social media gives us a chance to really share some of the some pictures about all the great stuff that's going on

025in our school. So I so I like that comment and again you know we're trying to do more and more about uh sharing the good stuff um with the public as well. But it was nice to see all of that green, you know, in terms of u the parents perspective about um how safe the schools are. Now the safety this is internally again elementary and secondary staff. Um obviously you see a difference here. Uh the elementary staff um just about 95% feel that their building is safe. um on the right um you know middle and and high school um there's a little bit more red there uh the comment from one of the uh staff members it appears that there are no rules for students behavior sometimes and very limited consequences I believe in restorative

026justice but students should be held accountable and learn what appropriate behavior should be um this is an ongoing conversation between teachers and the admin teams um you know communicating um with each other in terms of uh consequences for behaviors and um whether we're using restorative justice or whether um we are you know using the different rules that are established in our our school handbooks. Um teachers want to know more in terms of you know what's being done and again this has been shared with the admin teams. Um we want the staff to feel um to feel safe and to feel that the rules are being followed and that sort of thing. So, uh, school morale, teacher and school culture will definitely be a priority for all administrators on the district and building level as we

027move into the fall. Uh, when we look at a sense of belonging, uh, again, this could um this goes to social emotional well-being and and a feeling of safety and a feeling of um, uh, you know, bringing everybody back together within the buildings. Um all staff established professional goals aroundcl for students last year. Um and this has been a priority and it'll be ongoing um for a while in terms of uh you know as we really get accustomed to hopefully moving things forward. Um as we moved into this year we thought we'd have more um more of our back to better than normal uh that we spoke of very often and we unfortunately were not able to do that. Um, so we're still working on this goal and and um trying to prepare our staff

028and give the staff the skills to work with our kids uh to develop this sense of uh you know positive school culture uh and belonging. This is the uh elementary students um and we uh asked the question you know how do you feel about my school? you know, positive, meaning um you know, they feel um very safe and positive about their school or negative. Um obviously, you know, on both graphs, um we see a lot of green, but there's definitely some room uh for improvement. Um we want our students to love their school. We want them to have a connection uh with at least one adult. The question on the right, I think, is very important and something that we're going to look at very closely um moving into uh the beginning of next year

029at at all levels. Um we want to make sure um that all kids have a connection. Um we'll again we'll work with the principles and the staff uh to to make those uh red pie pieces uh even you know even smaller uh and non-existent. But this will definitely be a priority uh moving forward. In the second area, we checked on uh extracurricular activities, who's involved with them, because obviously that's a huge part about kids feeling connected to their school. Uh and again, the question on the right is um how do they feel about having trusted adults in the school who they can go to for help. Um you know, although you know, you know, we we say sometimes how uh you know, kids get older and they have more responsibilities and they tend to be

030you know, they ask their parents to sort of give them some autonomy. Um and we you know we want to make sure that they don't become too isolated as they uh grow older in middle and high school. Um so again we'll definitely use this data to ensure that every student feels connected to at least one adult uh in the building. Um whether it's through home rooms advisory uh the activities that we do throughout the year um you know we're continuing to work on that and we'll you know obviously include the counselors at both levels in all of that work. Um in terms of the extracurricular obviously the hope you know we want to get back to to full strength with the extracurricular activities um you know not all of them uh I don't you know

031were able to run from the start of the year um so we want to you know we'll continue to monitor that and encourage students to uh become involved um and try to offer as many as we possibly can in a lot of different areas um because again that's a great way for kids to uh to stay connected and to build some school spirit. uh the elementary and secondary parents. Um again, you know, this simple question, my child likes to come to school each day. Uh again, we like um we want all kids to love coming to school each day, but realize that this could depend on the day, it could depend on the level. Um and it could depend on a lot of different uh factors uh in a student's life. Um we you know

032as we move forward we know that the need for connection uh increases um and we'll continue to explore ways again that we can um explore more extracurricular activities um and have our our teachers and faculty build stronger relationships with the kids. Uh this could be done through a lot of different activities um social events and more teacher student interactions. Um, if you see some of the quotes I shared here, um, the one on the right actually says, "Get parents back inside the building for volunteering, um, and eating with their kids." Uh, again, that happens mostly at the elementary level, not so much at the middle and high. Um, zero connection to the school, time to let parents back in for a better sense of community. Uh, this is definitely something that I know, um, we

033want to do. Um and hopefully that uh if all things continue to move uh in a positive direction, we'll be able to offer more opportunities uh to bring parents back into the school um in a variety of different ways. Um and the one on the left was was um from a a parent whose student transferred um in um so it was an interesting perspective. This person shared that they moved down they moved to Graten for a new job uh and their son has truly reaped the benefits of the move more than they could have imagined. um and that they made the transfer to a new school fun, exciting, and welcoming for him. Um which again is is really important for us. Um with a lot of our schools dealing with a lot of transitions for

034a lot of different reasons, whether it's military based or job- based um or other job- based, uh we want to make sure that um we we are a welcoming environment for for new kids as well as the kids who are who are uh homegrown and graten. So, um, that was a nice quote to see and those are good, those are it's, you know, it's good data to see and we want to continue to move in the right direction. So, this slide shows you one of the more pressing issues that we're going to address um in the upcoming school year. Uh, culture and climate took big hits for a number of reasons. uh combining of staffs uh new administrative teams um the return from COVID not going as smoothly as we wanted to um high absentee

035rates uh which caused strain on the staff that um were there um the fact that we at least at the beginning of the year we we could not have large gatherings so staff meetings were you know were happening virtually that sort of thing um so this will definitely be an area of focus for admin teams like I said districtwide. Um the quotes there um are symbolic of of many that we uh received in the survey um about morale not being high um overall. Um the one on the right talks about the middle school combination um with bumps in the road but but things uh smoothing out. Um you know we definitely saw a change you know as the year went on. we we did see some things working and some things smoothing out while while

036others by the end of the year were sort of hitting a hitting a wall in terms of stress and and anxiety. Um and so it's definitely something we've heard. It's it's it's going to be a priority next year. We're going to work with the this like I said on a building level as well as a district level um to uh provide a you know the best working environment for our staff so they could provide the best learning environment for our kids. our DEI work has, you know, you've heard a lot about what we've done, you know, or what we're the our vision is and what our plan is for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And so, we wanted to check in with kids and parents and staff about um how they feel, they feel respected, how

037do they feel we're doing with our work as we complete year two of the five-year plan and head into year three. um our elementary students. Um this was a new question as well. Um uh and we've already begun our efforts to fill our libraries with more books that reflect our learning communities. Um but it was a simple question. Does the school have books with pictures of children who look like me? Um the one on the left is early elementary, like I said, K12 with the upper elementary 345. Um and these efforts will continue. This was something um that we started increasing the second half of this year. Um so we continue to work with our library media specialists to uh ensure that those books are on our shelves that are representative our entire school of

038our entire school community. Um we are also continuing to review our curriculum um and the the literature within it um on all three levels. Next year, we'll have some work, you know, taking our all of the work that we're doing with culturally responsive teaching and and now bringing it uh into the classroom and into our curriculum work. Um so, uh we are looking forward to seeing those these graphs change uh as the year as the year goes on. In terms of secondary students, um the question on the left, I feel the adults interact with me in a respectful manner in this school. Um and then on the right again um asking about instructional materials that reflect cult different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities and identities. Um the you know we see 89% of the students feel respectful

039interaction with the adults in the building which is is fantastic. Uh I think you know obviously you know we'll continue to work on that. Um and the one on the right is you know goes back to exactly what I said about the elementary school. Um there's work to be done with providing culturally culturally relevant uh instructional materials and books to best reflect um all the members of our community and uh we'll we'll continue to do that um working with the library media specialists and working with our you know with our curriculum and working with our DEI committee to uh to to move the continue to move the work to move the word the work forward. Um, one of the quotes I I found here that was relevant, I enjoy coming to school. My teachers and

040peers treat me with respect as I strive to street to treat them with respect. um which is something we hope um we could spread through all of our level. Um our parents uh their views on whether the school is respectful of the diverse and inclusive community of learners um is uh you know we and we see the on the right my child school encourages students to take challenging classes no matter their race, ethnicity, nationality and or cultural backgrounds. You heard earlier this year about the middle and high school's plan to uh increase um enrollment in our upper level classes. Uh so there's definitely some work to do in that area. Um one of the quotes that I put up there um was uh my children take all honors and AP classes and I do not

041see many students of color in these classes. Uh that was something again that we were aware of and and that we tasked the middle school and high school um admin teams with coming up with a plan and that again that was shared earlier um a few months back. Um and so we we are hopeful that these percentages will change. Um and again moving beyond the quote in the bottom left we could definitely have more anti-racist education beyond just learning about Martin Lu Luther King Jr. And again, we are, like I said, reviewing our curriculum and trying to incorporate um uh more education into our curriculum uh uh with more diversity uh to include more than that. So again, um we like to see the the parents perspective and that they feel pretty positive about how

042we respect uh our entire community of learners. Um, and again, the graph on the right, uh, didn't show us anything we didn't know, but and and we've already started the work to help improve that. Um, and in terms of staff, uh, we see, um, you know, our building fosters an appreciation of student diversity and respect for each other. Um, and on the right, our building fosters an appreciation of student diversity and respect for each other. The one on the left is our elementary. The one on the right is our secondary. Um so the staff perspective, you know, sort of mirrors the students and the belief that our buildings try and foster this appreciation. Um it's also evident here that we need to continue to work to meet the needs of all students. Um including those

043from socially or economically disadvantaged groups. Um, as I've said, you know, we'll continue to look at our curriculum, our instruction, uh, and our communication efforts in order to help build stronger relationships with our families. All right. And finally, professional development. We didn't uh look at this last year. Um, you know, personally, I have a a personal stake in this as I try to help organize a lot of the professional development, but we um it's something we always want to be relevant and impactful. Uh we survey all staff after every uh professional development day um and get the results back to the building principles as soon as possible so they can pro you know provide the most relevant PD to our staff. Um our belief is that we can always improve of course and we know

044PD is a huge part of building our teachers uh capacity. Um, and basically the questions that we asked the elementary and the secondary is whether or not the PD that we're offering is meeting the needs um to have them be successful in their position. Um, and as you could see, you know, there's work to do uh to match our PD to our teachers needs. Uh, for the last three years, there has been uh fewer choice um as in years past, and that's due to COVID. Um, obviously, there weren't as many workshops to offer. There weren't as many people coming into the district to offer workshops. Uh we were giving actually giving teachers more time and trying to give um grade levels more time together uh subject areas more time um and the buildings more time.

045Um our hope is uh to return to more choice as we move forward. Um we are always we are tying district level PD next year into our DEI goals. Uh and we'll continue to provide time for buildings and teachers to plan for their own personal growth. Um, and a couple things, you know, we're going to be doing in the future is incorporating um, a new software as we move forward with our teacher evaluation process. And as that becomes clear with the state, we are going to secure um, a a software that's going to help us tie professional development directly with the areas of um, need identified through our teacher evaluation process. So that's going to be tremendously helpful in saying okay um at the end of the year we'll be able to see across a

046building or across a grade level um what the areas of need are uh and we'll be able to really plan you know directly to those areas of need. Um so that's an exciting prospect uh down the line. Um we've also um heard from from staff and and we've asked um you know we're going to make sure that principles have agendas out um uh delineating the day um as they're planned. Teachers want to know uh exactly what they're um what they're getting from their from their building level professional development as well as what time they'll have to plan their own. Um and um sometimes that happened this year at the last minute and teachers wanted to um teachers were given the time but they weren't given the time to plan out the day. So it didn't

047become as useful as we had hoped it would. Um so we're going to do more advanced planning and make sure that those agendas um and the time is is is better delineated um you know ahead of time so teachers can plan better um for their own personal time. So, just to summarize, um, you know, I like to look at some takeaways. Um, and again, these are the ones that we're going to talk with the principles about and that they're going to base some of their goals around communication. Uh, I mentioned the communication subcommittee will use the data that they use that we've collected uh to improve district-wide communication. Uh principles will continue to explore ways to strengthen the home school connection and then building leaders will create ways to improve internal communications. Uh so staff

048feel that they can approach administration with concerns, ideas and issues. Um in the areas of safety, um all levels will look closer at the data to help improve feelings of safety within their classrooms. Like I said, there were questions that really delineated what areas of the building um kids felt most safe and least safe in. So we'll look at those and see how we can address those. Uh counselors on the secondary level will explore ways to connect more often with their students. Uh and building leaders will continue to dialogue with their staff to develop policies and procedures to ensure greater feelings of safety within the building within their buildings. In terms of takeaways from that sense of belonging, you know, postcoid again buildings will explore more ways to build community within their schools. Um, they'll

049also explore more ways to increase the number of students involved in extracurricular activities as we're able to offer more. Um, and they'll develop strategies to ensure that all students have a trusted adult in school to seek out when needed. Um, again, that's that's, you know, a priority. All schools will also make culture and climate a priority when setting building goals for 22 and 23. And then for diversity, equity, inclusion, um we'll continue, you know, on the district level and the school level in conjunction with our library of media specialists uh to explore ways to provide more literature that reflects the cultures, races, and ethnicities of its community. Um the district's going to audit, review, and revise curriculum through an equity lens, and all data will be looked through uh through an equity lens as well.

050Um and we will continue our efforts to encourage students to take challenging classes um all of our students to increase those um numbers in our advanced classes. And again in terms of professional development as I just said um we're going to try to you know provide the best PD that meets the needs of teachers uh to help improve their planning, instruction, and assessment so they can meet the needs of the school of the uh of the students. And I know that was a lot and I'm sorry to take up so much time. Um, but again, this is an overview um, similar to what we did last year. Um, there's so much so many different ways to break down this data and and I can make it available to you in any way, shape, or form.

051Um, along with Tom and I'm sorry, you know, Denise is here also. Like I said, she worked with us on this. Tom is not here because he's probably getting in a nap time uh if he can uh with his new baby. So, um we we do plan to break, you know, we like I said, we've broken it down by building for the principles. Uh we want to look at this uh you know, again through an equity lens. So, we'll break it down that way. Um, but if there's any data here that we didn't cover or something that you want to know more about, um, please feel free to reach out to me and and, uh, we can look at this, you know, throughout the summer and leading into next year. And and again, our plan

052is to have the principles here in the fall to tell you what they're doing with this data and how it factored into their plans, their school improvement plans. All right, I'm done. Thank you. I know that was a lot. I think that that's going to be very helpful is um you know we've been kind of taught by Susan it's sort of like um so what now what so you know specifically um I think the the stuff that kind of came that kind of came up I would I would want to know how each one of the building administrations with your support is planning to address um h how to address the concerns that were raised. or to make it better or or to or to enhance the stuff that people were thinking um that was

053that was doing well. >> Yeah, I I think it's important that they're they're here to answer your questions and and uh I didn't think tonight was that night, but I think you know as they develop their plans over the summer, they'll have a clearer picture by the time we return. Are there any questions for Phil about Dean? >> Uh, yeah. So, one is a comment. I noticed obviously the First of all, all those graphs look like they were drawn by somebody who's enjoying a uh a martini because they all look like olives with pimentos. Something about the shade of green. >> I think you see what you want to see, Dean. >> I suppose I haven't had a good stiff one in a long time. Anyway, so um I noticed the graphs that had quite

054a lot of pimento in them. >> Um when it talked about staff and how they felt about being able to approach administration, it doesn't surprise me. I'm not saying that staff, faculty and administration should be at each other's throats. That there is a, if you will, a natural sort of antipathy. It's the labor management divide. I'm not altogether surprised that there is a certain level of yeah well I don't feel all that comfortable bearing my soul to the administrators after all I'm a teacher you know he's a principal so etc. So I think we're always going to have a little bit of that pimento >> there. >> Um so I wouldn't I wouldn't you know you're going to spend 95% of your effort kind of trying to close that 5% gap in the end. U

055one of the things that I found interesting was that the books the books contain people that look like me beyond my elementary school which is a special situation. Frankly, I think I was probably, as the kids called it, the only freaking Greek in school. And uh although people are happy to lump me in with everybody else with my skin tone, uh a 100 years ago, we were not considered kin. Dr. Piaza, you know what I'm talking about. Depending on how Italian you are, uh we were sort of in the same boat. Did I see anybody that looked like me in any of the books? Anybody that I could identify with? What did I do with questions about who are you? What are you? Do you know my father? When he fought in Korea on his

056dog tag, they put J. You know why? Because they asked him what he was. He says, "I'm Orthodox." There was J, C, and P. So, he a J on his dog tag because they figure Jewish, right? So, my life in school and partially as adults has been a lot of explaining about who I am. So, for what it's worth, my my schooling experience and my adult experience has been, "Oh, you're the Greek guy." Now, we we can we tend to escape behind the Italians, so there's a lot more of you guys. But there are parts of the country where if you're of Italian descent, you're marked out. It's like, "Hey, he's Italian." Around here, it's no big deal. >> Pretty much anywhere we go, short of Chicago or New York, for example, it's you're the

057Greek guy. Say something in Greek. So for the most part, it's kind of a mild circus act, but I have been very conscious my entire life of being not like the others. So all this said, I don't think it's crippled me or interfered in any way with my schooling or my my development that I didn't see a lot of folks like me or sense that they were like me. The only thing I had in common with Scott Thomas or Greg Miller or whoever is I was closer to them in skin tone than maybe some other kids were. But that didn't mean that I got to play in their reindeer games. So I managed somehow. So my point is I am skeptical of the amount of uh concern and effort uh put into feriting out books

058that aren't altogether representative. And also I'll point this out. Shouldn't we be encouraging empathy? Must I necessarily be more empathetic, sympathetic? Should I feel more of a connection with somebody who looks like me or who you think they should look like? And I'm not talking about black Barbies and white Barbies and any of that. How many subdivisions are we going to go into? Are we going to make sure we show any Greeks in there? And how would you do that? Are there going to be any Jewish kids? Are you looking for books with Filipino kids in there? Are you looking for books with anybody with a head covering? I mean, what are your subdivisions? what are your criteria other than less northwestern European and more everybody else? Because again, from my point of view, it

059doesn't matter. Nobody in the books was like me. Whether it's history, anything pictorial, I I'm fine with it. I know that most of the world is not me. I'm okay with that. So, just just respect me for who I am. Give me my space. I give you your space. But the focus on identity is just to me seems very overroought. uh these days and I'm concerned with teaching kids and enforcing an identity that actually is going to be a barrier to being empathetic to to being able to work with other people. I really don't want to see the place bulcanized and I come from the Balkans. Don't want to see it bulanized. You know, my kid came home when he was in high school. He came home and he goes, you know, white people suck.

060Where did he get that from? So that's all the culture that he was in. We we we really don't need any of this stuff. But I'm gonna go off on a tangent, but you guys probably already know where I'm coming from. I think there's an overemphasis on a lot of this stuff, but you will do with what you do. It's just a a shame and I hope the kids are strong enough to understand that, you know, the the picture in the book doesn't necessarily have to look like uh like them because it's not none of them look like me and they won't. So my my tiraate. >> Okay. So Dana, I appreciate your willingness to sort of express your side um of of the view. And I think that one of the re one of

061the things that having a diversity, equity, and inclusion um lens is for for all of us to become um culturally um and the social term racially more accepting and also having more empathy for the human emotion, the human condition. um that there is research out there around BIPO and then realizing that if we are if we are educating um children and we don't look like the children um that we're educating um that we need to have that the the research is out there in terms of like in terms of where the grade level fall and you and I be more than happy to have a cup of coffee and we can kind of um argue about that. Um, but I think it's very important and I applaud the district myself. I applaud the district um

062for being able to um really um have a have a very clear vision. We have a lot of work to do, but have a very clear vision on on where we need to go in terms of inclusi inclusivity um diversity and equity. Um I'm going to recognize Andrea and then I'm going to recognize Bev. Bill, I'm interested in what you said about the staff development, professional development. Throughout my career in in Groten, we had national speakers come to us and and do workshops with us. And that was so inspirational and it got conversations going that were, you know, on both sides of whatever issue they were talking about. And I'm wondering I I just don't understand what the uh what the structure is now. Is it still uh strictly at the building level or do

063we have funds for those those national speakers that I talked about? >> No, we definitely have funds for that and we are going back to that this year. I think I think the pause was just hit, you know, was was pushed on that during COVID because people weren't coming. They weren't traveling. Um but we have um at all levels next year we have um you know Cornelius Miner coming to work with our middle school. We have um Dr. Dr. uh Sonia Cherry Paul working with our elementary on culturally responsive teaching. Um Dr. Kim Parker is coming to work at the high school level to to do some uh curriculum audits and and work with our staff. So so so yeah and I and I I think it's important and and Dr. Cherry Paul is going

064to speak at um our opening you know one of our opening day meetings um to because I agree with you. I think uh it's important to to bring everyone together to hear you know the same message and to inspire and I think that that happens with these uh with speakers who come from outside to um and the good news is they're not just going to speak and then go away. Um they're going to speak and then they're going to continue to work with us um throughout the school year. So we are pretty excited and I guess we are going to go back to what it used to be a few years you know precoid where uh we're bringing people in and people do have more of a choice. So hopefully teachers will respond to that.

065>> Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Beverly. >> Thank you, Kim. I have to say that I totally disagree with Dean, and I'm on the same page as you are, Kim. I mean, just because years ago we didn't have a lot of diversity in our books, doesn't mean we have to continue down that path. We know better now. We know better. That's why we're trying to get more diversity in our staff and even on the board of education. We know better now. So, I totally disagree with Dean and um that's all I'm going to say. I'd like to have coffee with him, too, to discuss this because that is I don't know. >> Thank you, Beverly. >> I won't bite. >> Any other questions about the climate survey? Matthew. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you

066very much. Uh, I'll limit myself to two. I saw that the data was largely aggregated to include the middle school and the high school together. I'm sure there was a reason for that. Do you I mean, I'm not sure we can disagregate it, but if we can, do you see any usefulness in doing so? Um particularly when we have large uh what's your vegetable that was in the olive? >> Pimento. >> It's the olive. >> Thank you. >> The ones particularly the ones with pimento in large amount. Uh it would be very interesting to look if all that pimento came from the middle school or the high school or if it was evenly distributed. I think there's uh particularly we we had four things that stood out. the safety is perceived by secondary staff belonging

067DEI and professional development. It would be very, in my opinion, very useful to te I think we could tease out a lot more information. >> Matthew, I can tell you, you know, we absolutely have done that and we can do that. For for tonight, it was strictly >> fine. >> You know, we I'd still be talking if if I broke it down. Um, you know, we we tried to combine the elementarymentaries and the secondary just for time sake. >> That's fine. That's fine. It was just an observation. I think it's it's it's very interesting document and the worst one could say is that it's a great way to start. Uh the second question I had was with regarding the takeaways as I read the takeaways in what you presented. They were mainly goals and I

068did not find anything in the goals that I disagreed with. But I'm hoping that the comments because I didn't know that there were going to be comments at all until you presented a few of them. I'm hoping the comments will give us some indication of specific path and the and the takeaways we develop will give us specific pathways to achieving these goals and I'm looking forward to that. >> Okay. Yeah. And and the comments were all shared with the building principles too. So they have, you know, they definitely go into more detail as to areas that need to improve. So they'll definitely be using those. I'm looking forward to the next iteration of the report. I think we got a great start. >> All right. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> All

069right. Hearing none, um let's move over to the special education. Um and I believe Denise, that would be you. and it's good to see you. >> Yes. Good evening everyone. It's nice to be with you. Just going to share my screen. Um I want to thank Naen Mlin um our elementary and early childhood supervisor for being here this evening. Um I think that a lot of our teachers, we invited them, um but I think a lot of them are taking a welldeserved uh break. So, um, so Naen, please feel free to chime in as I as I go through the presentation. Um, we're here tonight to share with the board um an exciting initiative through the state department of education. Um it is an initiative that is bringing a new IEP to all districts in

070Connecticut and a new database um from which to write the IEPs which is called CTS. Um that's the acronym. The acronym stands for Connecticut Special Education Data System. Scroll down. Um the state has partnered with a group called um public consulting group. They've uh the acronym is PCG and they've worked with PCG uh for the past year I think longer than a year to develop this system. Um the purpose and the value of this new system is it will provide one statewide web-based um IEP and data management system at no cost to school districts. Um, there will be support in terms of the development of IEPs that are high quality and compliant with state regulations. The state will have immediate access. By the state, I mean the Bureau of Special Education. They'll have immediate access

071to all of our data. So, our office staff um will have less time that will be dedicated to preparing reports and uploading reports to the state website. Um, that will result in timely and accurate reporting. um and reduce the burden on local districts. There will be a document repository that will um assist districts when students move from one district to the next and it will ensure um secure access to student data and we're really excited that it includes a parent portal which our current system does not. So all parents will have um a username and a password and when a document is finalized they will be able to go in and they will be able to see that document. >> Can I just interject um regarding that point? >> Um one of the other exciting

072um features of CTS is that um we will be able to um present this information in 10 languages. 10 10 I believe it's the top 10 languages um spoken in Connecticut based on PSIS uh native language data which I feel will definitely uh increase the access and understanding of the IEP for parents. >> Thank you. >> Currently currently I believe we just have Spanish. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Um so included in CT SESS is obviously primarily our IEP module. That's an individualized education plan for students who have um spe receive special education services. It also has a capability of um assisting us in our Medicaid billing. Um it will include a services plan module. This is an abbreviated um IEP that's delivered to students who attend parochial schools or private schools within the district.

073There will be a multi-tiered system of support which is the SEAL side of SRBI. So there will be a SRBI management module. Section 504 for students who have an accommodation plan. These plans will be created in CTS. Our gifted and talented students will be identified through CTS. Um there will be access for uh surrogate parents. Uh we will enter any um incidents of restraint and seclusion here. Um there will be a due process module. Um Jody in our uh business office will report our excess cost grant through this module. Uh Naen will work with Phyllis uh in the office of early childhood reporting our preschool data. Uh we will work through any referrals uh for new students referred to special education as well as our students who are re-evaluated every three years. Um and lastly

074there will be um a parent portal and as I said we'll report our early childhood outcomes data. So, it's going to enc encapsulate a lot of different um programs and have a lot of different uses. And this is just um launching July 1. Um next July 1 uh there's going to be even more in terms of uh progress monitoring. So, this is really just a start. Um so, last year CT saids was being built. This year it was piloted and as of July 1, it is going to be open for statewide implementation. Uh in terms of the pilot, 22 districts piloted in February. These are the districts that piloted. We did not pilot the IEP module, but you'll see coming up we piloted the 504 module. Um, the goals, uh, I alluded to a little

075bit before would be to create a template that would improve the quality of IEPs and that's easier for practitioners to use and understand. Connecticut um, has the um, probably not very positive reputation of having a very complicated IEP document. So, we're really hoping that this new IEP and program um makes life easier for us. We know that it's going to be a very um probably stressful and challenging transition. Um and I'm going to address that a little bit later on in the uh PowerPoint. So, this is one of the first steps that we all in the state took um to help our teachers and our administrators um feel more comfortable and kind of wrap their arms around this new IEP. Um we've all participated in training. Um it started in January for the districts that

076were not a pilot district. um all of us in the district in every district in Connecticut attended um virtual sessions. Uh they were eight virtual sessions or there were two full days of in-person training. Um we had trainers that provided synchronous instruction and we have a bank of asynchronous or pre-recorded modules to go back to and use as for resource. We used Canvas which is an online uh classroom and we have slide decks um that we'll use as resources once we start to dig in and use the system. So the synchronous components were the IEP quality training and the progress monitoring. And then the asynchronous modules have been looking at some of the individual components of the IEP um like supplementary aids and services. This is where we record Paris support consultation, secondary transition for

077our students um in middle school and high school uh preschool and then uh working with parents. So what are our next steps? Well, our district is um like many uh we have been awarded uh two expert navigation uh trainers per building plus the director. So, we will begin a 4-hour virtual session in July and August of training. The state is awarding $500 stipend to each of our 15 trainers. Um, these building based trainers will provide PD to the department on August 26 when we return to school. Um, again, we did participate in the 504 pilot in March. Um, and we are renewing our current IEP program through Frontline for the 2223 school year with limited functions, but it will support us in the transition. And this is the website if you'd like to go in

078and see the new IEP and some of our resources. This is a hyperlink. Um, and actually I wanted to add in here um in terms of next steps, we're also offering um summer curriculum work for all of our teachers in special education. Um they are um working uh this summer on previewing some modules that have been developed by the state. Um they are pre-recorded videos on each section of the IEP. For example, how to write or create a PPT invitation. Um how to record um services on our service delivery grid. Um how to navigate through supplementary aids and services. So, it's a little bit more of a um screenshot of CT saids and walking staff through um how to navigate those sections. Um so we have about 11 12 we have about 15 modules that

079the staff are working on this summer and they are being paid uh through curriculum writing and we're hopeful that it will give them the confidence and increased familiarity coming back to school in September um or in August to help them uh be a little bit more um you know open and not as stressed um with this launch because It is it is quite a heavy lift but again uh we will be keeping frontline for certain functions. Uh we're going to gradually transition to CT sets as students have an annual review uh or as we get a new referral and um we're working together to develop our expert trainers in each building uh along with the admin team myself and the supervisors at central office so that we can um support the buildings as well. Um,

080Naen, did you want to add anything at all? >> No, I think you summed it up beautifully. >> Thank you. And the PowerPoint was created by our bureau chief, Brian Climitz, and then districts were encouraged to um to edit it to make it more specific for our district. So, I'm happy to take questions if anybody has any. I >> I do. Andrea. Please, the thing that I'm I'm concerned about is that well, maybe you can answer this question. You'll get rid of my speaking is that it's going to be to preclude indiv individualism. I'm glad that I'm going to be able to look at the the the template, but is it in such a way that, you know, you have to check off the the box and maybe the box doesn't really it sort of

081says what you mean, but it doesn't really say what you mean. So, that's my first question. And the next one is, is there a a place to take minutes, and would those be able to align what I'm fearing? >> Um, well, those are two very good questions. So the first answer is uh right now the minutes are optional. Um so the state conducted a statewide survey to see if districts wanted to continue having minutes optional. Um and the answer was no. So the new IEP will not have a section for minutes. Um there is an option for districts to add uh an additional um sheet for minutes, but it would have to be added for every single student. You can't say we're just going to have minutes for this meeting and not that meeting. So

082we are kind we are going along with the state recommendations for the first year because we thought you know it's there's so much new learning and this is such a new um procedure that we want the teachers to become familiar and comfortable with the components that we have to implement and then we can do an assessment next year and decide if people feel we should be bringing in some optional components So that's where we are with the minutes. >> So right now, and you've examined the um the grid, right? The the the boxes to be checked off as it were. Yes. >> Well, we haven't seen CT sets. It's coming live on July 1. That's creating some of the angst because they're literally, you know, still working on it. Uh right now they're uploading our

083our information that we've been sending them every district. Um, so that we won't have any IEPs in the system because we haven't had any annual reviews yet. Uh, but all of our data will be in what's called a document repository. So, we can go in and we can see archived data. Um, but we also have frontline for next year. So, we have our archived data available in a more familiar format. But um what we have seen, we've seen some screenshots um in all of our webinars and it does seem to be a very intuitive system that will uh make this a much easier process, but we're all really anxious to get in there and start, you know, start seeing it. We did the 504 pilot and it it's just arranged a little differently than front

084line. So I think once people become familiar with the way it's presented, it's presented in tiles. So you kind of click through each tile and then you know you complete each section of the IEP is a different tile. Um but no, it does have most definitely the opportunity to be individualized. Um there are some drop- down menus, but there seems to be more text boxes than drop-down menus. Would you agree, Naen? >> Yeah, I I I just have to echo what Denise said just in terms of the individualization of this new IEP. There's a lot of opportunity to um support any decisions with a lot of progress monitoring data um both in the development of the goals and objectives as well as in the present levels of performance. Um, so there's going to be a

085lot of student information that, you know, case managers and service providers will have to populate in this new uh document. >> I'm just afraid that um it's going to take the human element out of it, make it more robotic. So I'd be happy if uh Naen and you and Denise you could come back to us after you've had a experience with this and tell us how that if just allay my fears. >> Yeah, we certainly will. um CPAC, which is the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center, has been presenting parent sessions and um we would like to for our goal next year in terms of you know communication as Phil had said earlier um we really want to present some parent sessions. So once we have the teachers um you know on a roll so to speak

086um we're going to um start to focus on the parents because right at the start of the school year the parents really won't have a need to go into the parent portal because there won't be any documents there for them to view. Um they won't be viewing documents in the parent portal until we actually start to hold meetings for an what are called annual reviews. And what we've done um on the advice of the state department of ed is any student who had a meeting due in September, we held it in May and June >> and that was so the >> and that is so the that's so the staff had have time in September to work in the program and become familiar and proficient with it. So we'll really start holding PPTs in earnest

087in in our new CT sets in October. >> So there were no annual reviews. Is that when I hear it? >> In September. >> We held those in May and June. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Beverly >> Denise, when do you hope to have this fully implemented? >> Well, we've been preparing since January. Um, so the the full imple it won't be fully implemented until June 2023. That's when every student will have an annual review document in CT sets. Um, but teachers will start to become more familiar with the process. We're hoping by the holiday break. Uh we're really going to spend August and September um developing our training plan, implementing training um offering support um and doing you know small group trainings and support as needed um so that folks feel comfortable beginning

088October you know going in and using the system. >> Is this new data system is it parent friendly? Well, yeah, we are, as far as we know, it is very parent friendly in terms of the parent portal. It's it's quite easy uh for parents to navigate. Again, it's it's another username and password, but that can be reset. Um, and you know, hopefully we can have in-person meetings in September or in October so that we can actually show parents at the meeting how to go in and retrieve, you know, these doc how to view the documents. >> Okay. And >> but they do have a parent they do have like screenshots, Beverly, little training guides for parents. >> Okay. And there's not a lot of acron acronyms on the portal for for parents where they're not

089going to understand um what does I they know what IEP I'll just throw that out. What does IEP stand for? You'll have all that so they know what those abbreviations stand for. >> Yes. Yeah. We have not seen it yet, but um the the document um you know is doesn't use acronyms you know necessarily. It's it's very clear. It's actually clearer and it's less cluttered than our current IEP. So, I think um the goal is that it will be easier for parents to read and understand and, you know, not be as um intimidated by because our old IEP was a bit cumbersome. >> Thank you, Denise. >> Yeah, you're welcome. >> I have one question, Denise. Um, and this is sort of coming off of um, Beverly's comments about parents. Um, is there a way

090that um, our are our parents um, that are their children are are are on IEPs and will be needing to use this new data system? Um, is could they be hooked into any CPAC training? um so that they could become really familiarized with with the system not only through what training you will do with parents that they can also receive training from the parent parent I just did in Acriman I sorry the Connecticut parents advocacy center CPAC um is is so that the parents can have access to that. >> Yes. Anytime CPAC um sends us flyers, they've had a series of workshops for parents throughout the spring. Um we post them on our website um and send them out to all parents through school messenger. >> Okay. >> And I know I know the sessions

091have sold out. They've reached capacity very quickly. Um so um I'm hoping that CPAC will offer more sessions because they've been very widely attended. And and will these sessions also be um held in a different language like Spanish or whatever? Do we know? >> Yeah, I can't remember if they were offered in Spanish or not. >> Okay. >> But I know as Nadine said, um right now we can translate for free in Spanish. Um but we have to use our interpreting agency to translate the document to other languages. Um but next year starting July 1, um all documents will be able to be translated for free through CTS and as Nadine said those 10 most common languages. >> Okay. Any other questions for Denise? >> I just have a quick one. Um Denise, this comes

092to at no cost to the district. >> Correct. Correct. So it will be a cost savings for districts. Um, next year we have chosen um a closeout renewal of our current IEP system. So, we're not paying full price. It is 85% of our our original uh license. Um, and that is so that we can continue to use that system uh for meetings other than annual reviews and initial referrals. So if we have to just make a revision to a meeting, we can continue to use uh frontline as we transition to the new system. However, after June 2023, there probably will not be a a reason for us to keep frontline in terms of um access because every student will have a document in CT sets and we'll probably only be a need frontline for a

093readonly version um if we even need it for that. >> So that that will be a cost savings. Good question, Bev. Any any other questions? All right. Um, Naen, it was so good to hear your voice and Denise, it was so good to see you and also hear your voice. Thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, >> Phil. Summer happenings district. >> Yeah, just a quick update. Um, because I mentioned all these at previous meetings, but our our STEM camp started this week. It started today um over at Charles Barnum. Uh and pictures actually were just shared with me from Ben Moon who's helping Christina post with that camp and I'll make sure those get shared with board notes. Uh that'll be running this week and next week. Most um of our other

094offerings start next week uh after the July 4th holiday. Um our extended school year, our special education extended school year summer school is at Mystic River. Um, and that's running throughout the month of July, starting July 5th. Um, the, uh, steam summer camps also start, those are at Graten Middle School. Uh, those start July 5th as well. There's one session from the 5th to the 14th and another from the 18th to the 28th. Um, our regular Fitch High School summer school is starting also starting July 6th through August 5th. Um, and then the aluminum falcons are helping run a robotics camp. Uh, that's happening at the river. Uh, that starts later in July. There's a beginning, an intermediate, and an advanced level. Uh, running from July 18th to July 29th. Um, and those flyers went

095out and I think that was posted on our Facebook page as well. So, so lots going on. Are are I plan on visiting the uh the STEM camp tomorrow over at Charles Farnum. Uh, so I'll just continue, you know, to give you updates and we'll share that in board notes as well as to how things are going. >> We also have the summer food program, right? And I think that um the they're doing a pretty good job at least on Facebook to making sure that those sites get get noted >> for our food breakfast and lunch. I don't have those written down in front of me, but yes, and I had mentioned that um in previous meetings that food services are providing um some type of food, whether it's breakfast or light snack at all

096of these different uh camps. And and you're you're right. Um there are locations and we'll make sure that those get out, like you said, I think they have already um on Facebook um for all of our families uh to pick up. Is it breakfast and lunch? >> We're getting we're getting breakfast every day. Uh we're not getting lunch um but we are getting breakfast every day but I believe uh Ernie usually has the um the food distribution hubs where families can go for for lunch. >> Right. Yep. We'll make sure those locations are known by everyone. >> Any questions? If not, let's go to Ken. Hello Ken. >> Hello everybody. So I am going to share with you attachment number two find it. Maybe I'm not. Here it is. Got it. So this is attachment

097number two. This is our updated object code summary uh through uh through June uh through uh I think it was Thursday of last week. And you'll notice that uh our projected unexpended is very very low. Um and this is uh this is we have uh we have done almost all the work. We still have this week to go. Uh but we have included uh the funding for the uh plan uh slashstudy uh for the redesign of the culinary arts classrooms at uh F high school as well as uh the equipment trailer for maintenance that we've uh discussed before. Uh and so we feel like we are going to come in uh just uh just at budget, just under budget really. Uh 1516 uh under budget. Um, and so, um, yeah, >> are there questions for

098Ken about that? Like, 1500. Wow. >> Bey [Music] >> up the share so we can >> Oh, okay. Ken, professional services that we are under budgeted for 267,000. Is that where the design for the culinary arts program is? >> Correct. Yeah, that that um as well as we had some additional costs in uh in the IT department uh as well as the um uh plans for the um the the the fieldhouse at Fitch High School as well contributing to that at um under budget. >> Okay. And why the um why would we underbudget for heating and electricity? That was like 277,000. So, uh the the heating costs uh we we didn't um uh we we did uh pre-by uh our heating oil, but we did not buy enough. Uh so we were definitely overbudget uh

099as uh uh when we were done with our contract. Unfortunately, the the rates were were very high. Uh and then as far as electricity, we had anticipated uh turning over uh those two uh schools that have been closed uh earlier than we did. We clos we turned those over on April 1st. We had budgeted that those would get turned over uh in I think it was October 1st. And the newer schools are also uh they're using more electricity than we had anticipated in the budget. Um they they are an energyefficient buildings, but they but they still draw a lot of electricity uh um uh for all of the um uh heating uh and air conditioning that that goes on in those buildings. And what about the tutors? Um what's that number 64? >> Yeah, we

100we were over what we had budgeted. Uh but we are uh under budget with uh with the paras there was a little bit of uh uh as we went through the year. I don't know if you recall at the beginning of the year uh we were having trouble um uh getting enough uh par uh uh uh para profofessionals uh uh before we increased the rate on January 1st. Uh to compensate for that we did utilize some uh some tutors uh to uh to to fill in some of the holes. Um and so we we are over in the tutors but but under in the par professionals. >> Okay. Um, is it possible that you can uh tell me how much we spend on consultants a year? >> Um, I guess what do you mean by

101consulting? Like um um >> like say for the design for the kitchen at the culinary arts program, that's a consultant. Um, anybody that anybody that we we don't have as a permanent uh employee or a professional service that we're just contracting with for a short period of time. Can you get that to me? You don't have to give it to me today. >> Sure. Well, it is that prof I will. It is that professional fees line that that's exactly what that is, but but it includes many other things like like for instance uh the cost for the SRO's are included in that line. So, I think maybe what you're asking is for maybe more of a breakdown on that professional services line so we can see what the different types of consulting that we're uh

102we're we're we're paying for. >> Yes, that'd be great. >> Okay. >> And my guess is that that probably is something that not just to share with Beverly, but that sounds like that would be a good thing to share with the board. >> Okay. Yep. >> That would be great. Good questions, Beverly. Thank you. Any other questions for Ken on the um oh god whatever the form that he just talked about this form sorry >> number two summary >> no number two the summary thank you all right so insurance >> so uh attachment number three uh I'm not going to share it because it's sideways and I don't know quite how to make it not sideways but um hopefully you have that in front of you so for this is through um uh April of

10322 and uh you'll see that we are at 103% of uh projected for the month um and on a year-to-ate basis at 94.7%. So, you know, we had anticipated that um that that that this would start to pick up. It was it was um below budget uh or below projections at the beginning of the year and now it's coming in a little bit higher and that that was anticipated. Uh the these costs they are kind of cyclical. They do get higher towards the end of the plan year because uh uh folks uh start to meet their deductible and so more costs need to be borne by by the um by the plan. uh as well as we had anticipated um some um additional costs due to postponed appointments and procedures. Uh so uh I I

104think this is this is we're I I still think we're in relatively good shape. We're at 95% of projection through the year. Um, I anticipate that uh May and June will come in very similar to what April is, maybe a little bit higher, but we we'll still end up uh I think right at or maybe just right below the uh the projection for the year. So, I think we're in in relatively good shape. >> Any questions about the insurance? Right, Ken. It was good to see you. Thank you. >> You, too. >> The next is um the director of building and grounds. Where is Sam? There is Sam. >> Hi, Guy. >> Good evening. It's good to see you all. I uh had to text Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Kennedy, to figure out my new laptop

105as to how to turn on my camera. So, Mark tried to help me, but uh that didn't work. So fortunately Dr. Kennedy was available and it was a simple matter of uh pushing a button. So um not that I'm totally mechanically unincclined but uh I was able to do that. So um here I am and I'm going to report on uh the uh facilities and uh first of all um I think uh Dr. Piaza already mentioned uh all the items all the things that are going on in the school. So I don't want to be repetitive but uh we do have the camps parks and reccks uh summer school uh and of course our staffs are doing their annual uh deep uh uh cleaning of all all classrooms and uh the rest of the facilities.

106So in addition to that uh the custodial staffs uh are moving uh teachers and other staff members uh from room to room or building to building. So, all of those things are going on presently. Uh, at Fitch High School, uh, we will be, uh, we've, uh, have a contractor coming in, uh, in the next few days. We'll be, uh, repaving the cafeteria courtyard, uh, that's the area between the old, uh, uh, business wing area and, and the cafeteria, uh, which, uh, puddles up quite a bit. So hopefully we're going to be able to grade that and get some of that puddling out of there and also make it safer. We had uh quite a bit of cracking and and uh and lift of of the old pavement uh which was certainly at least 40 years

107old. So we'll be doing that over the next uh course of the next few days. Uh also at the high school at the greenhouse, uh Ernie and I are working on uh ordering uh heating units for the greenhouse so that we'll be able to uh use the greenhouse all next winter uh to uh continue uh with Laura's uh work in the greenhouse. Um at Graten Middle School, uh there the two uh major projects that we've talked about in the past again are the solar panels. Uh we're still uh regarding the PPA, which is the power purchase agreement. Uh that is still in the hands of the attorneys are going back and forth with some wording. Uh and we feel pretty comfortable that uh that's going to be resolved fairly soon. Uh the materials for those

108uh solar panels will probably not arrive. Uh right now we have an estimated time of arrival sometime in September. uh if we can get them on the roof on a weekend or on a Tuesday afternoon or when the kids are not in the building, uh the work can actually go on uh during during school unlike some of the other um school systems that I had checked with previously. We are doing a different type of mounting system. So, we we won't be drilling through this through the roof to uh to mount the units uh only to bring the electrical line in when that when that happens. So, it's just a simple uh uh one line coming through the roof. The rest of the time is it's a ballast system, which is a weighted system on the

109roof uh which will uh not make as much noise as a uh full attachment to the roof. Uh in addition to that is the uh athletic field light project that we are working on. Rick and I are working with Musco Field Lighting presently. Uh we're working out the details on that. uh we were able to uh deal with them directly through uh source well which is uh um a a bidding process uh so that uh uh we're able to deal with them directly sort of like the state bid list. Uh so uh many school system use them and we're able to do that uh because our business offices have worked with them before. So again, uh, with athletic field lights, it looks like material again would not arrive until late August, early September, and that

110project again would uh take place during school. But, uh, of course, we would fence off the areas that they're working in and make sure that it's safe for the kids to use the rest of the facilities uh, while that work is going on. uh Fames River and Mystic River Magnet Schools. I worked with the architect last week uh and Arcadus to uh go over the uh final uh resolutions regarding landscaping. Uh it was agreed by all parties that they will actually come back again uh at the beginning of September. I I think that a meeting was set up I uh for September 1st, but they will come back. We'll look at there are a couple of plantings that need to do. they need to do regarding trees that didn't make it. And there are some

111grassy areas that uh hopefully will come in uh as we uh uh run the watering systems anyways. And uh hopefully those will come in and and they won't have to recede in the fall. But if they do, they will do that in the fall, which is the better time to recede those areas at Northeast. Katherryn Kolnowki and Charles Barnham. Of course, all those other activities are going on, the cans, etc. And and as I said previously, the annual deep cleaning is taking place at those schools as well. We also have a treehouse at Kathn Coloni for the summer. Uh I was over there this afternoon. Lots of kids running around having a good time on a rainy day. So um inside today uh Mary Morrison uh while that's still our building uh we will continue

112to operate that and uh we are prepping that for the arrival or the move of robotics and ECAT into that building. We're going to use one uh one classroom for ECAT uh to do their um to do their work. Uh Naen Mlin will be there uh as the administrator on uh a part-time basis I believe maybe one or two days a week. So I have an office set up for her and uh and of course robotics is uh ready to make move at any moment. Uh we are just waiting for some more materials uh to come in so that we can finish doorways off uh and and then the final uh item will be uh the final inspection by the fire marshall before we move anybody into the building. and then he will do a

113f final an additional uh inspection after robotics is in. So those things are taking place. Um I think that's about all I have for now. Other than that just kind of hanging around. But oh and uh regarding the food services, yes, Ernie Ernie does have uh uh as Denise said some programs will get breakfast and lunch and other programs will just get breakfast because they leave before lunch. But, uh, those other sites are set up and we will get those out to everybody in the near future so everybody knows where those sites are for for the summer program. >> Anyone have questions for Sam? Sounds like you guys are really not doing much over the summer. >> Beverly, uh, Sam, are you moving ahead with the solar panels without getting a purchase agreement? um solidified.

114>> No, we we have to wait until the pu uh power purchase agreement is signed before we can move forward that. But that that that will be the next step and we're just waiting for the attorneys to make the final determination regarding wording on those. So, they've been going back and forth over the last couple weeks. Rick and I have chimed in uh pretty much on a daily basis and uh we expect it to be finished up hopefully this week and and and we'll get that signed and move forward. >> Okay. Because I heard you said when the solar panels were going to be delivered and I'm thinking, well, why are they delivering them? We don't even have the agreements. >> No, no, we haven't ordered them, but we do we've been following uh we

115we've been talking with the manufacturer and that would be the earliest we could get them. uh provided we get this uh contract signed in in the very near future. >> And the paving up at the high school, um you hired an outside person to do it. It wasn't possible that the town public works department or the maybe even the city public works department could do the paving for us. Doesn't seem like a large area, but I >> we we talked we um we did talk to public works and they have a lot of projects going on. they wouldn't be able to do it on our time frame. So, um that's why we went with an outside contract. >> Okay. And um last week I was at Dane's River uh Magnet School for a meeting with

116um Graten Community Mails because they're going to be serving meals out of that school on Wednesdays. And I noticed a bucket in the hallway and I looked in the bucket. There was water in the bucket and I was wondering is there a leak in that building somewhere? >> Uh I know there was a bucket that had sand in it uh near the front door. >> Nope. This was closer to the cafeteria. >> Uh I'm not aware of one, but it doesn't mean that that there have been a couple of areas, but it doesn't mean that it's a leak in a roof. It could be coming through a ventilation uh unit or something like that. I'll I'll I'll double check into that, but um I was in the building today. I didn't see a bucket in

117the hallway, but I'll be a little more observant when I go down there tomorrow. >> Okay. Thank you, Sam. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. >> Um just kind of following on with what uh Beverly had asked earlier. I'm wondering if um when Ken uh provides the breakdown of professional services if we can get the details on how much we've spent in legal fees uh reviewing uh this uh solar panel project. Thank you. Any other questions? I don't think is Ken still on. >> So, we just need to make sure. >> No, I'm here. Um >> I'm sorry, Ken. Okay. So, you got that >> fees for solar panel project. >> Yes. >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. If there's no more further questions for Mr. Kilpatrick, we're going to move

118on. Um >> can maybe um can I ask one thing? Maybe Mr. Kilpatrick could send us everything he's going to do over the summer in writing. He can send it to us. >> Well, how about could that go? >> Like all the projects they're going to do over the summer. >> So that could be added to the minutes. >> Yeah, that could be added to >> Good idea. All right, so we're going to move on to the community um community reports. Guys, thank you for hanging in. We're um we're running a little bit behind, but I feel like we're doing some really good stuff. So policy Andrea Yes. Um we met the on the 12th of of sorry we met at any rate and we have policies that are coming to the board tonight for

119we recommend that there that the um board consider them and then we're looking at and that one one of those is um the uh communications and then we were looking at the eligibility to participate in intercolastic um athletics. and we adjusted the gifted and talented language and we're hoping that it will pass to move forward through the board. We're we're we've tabled right now um advanced course programs and challenging curriculum. We're very busy. >> Okay, thank you. uh curriculum. Liz is not here and I do know that the major piece is is that we are going to be voting on the uh the meteorology course that's being presented to us that has gone through curriculum. And just by the way, um it does have Liv's full support. I did contact her to make sure that

120she was comfortable with it being added onto the agenda. Phil, is there more that you would want to say to that? >> No, only that I think it was met with approval um by the whole committee. Um I I did I did reach out to Terry Hankl to see if he could join us knowing that the summer is kind of spotty and he said he would if he could and he's not here so I'm sure you know I don't know if he's on vacation or what but he did a great job presenting it I thought at the uh subcommittee meeting. >> Great. Thank you. finance and facilities >> and it >> yes so we met I'm sorry >> go ahead Jay >> uh yep we um uh met uh let's see it was June 7th

121uh we discussed the solar panels the field lights uh Dr. Kennedy gave us a um detailed update on the uh one card uh project with the Graten Library. He also discussed the uh new Chromebook agreement um and any equipment needs um that uh he would have going forward. Uh Ken disc uh discussed the end of year uh financial process. He also mentioned a uh paper shortage um which is affecting everybody. um maybe that will push the uh idea that was floated in the 1970s to moving toward a paperless office. Um we discussed electric buses and um we also uh discussed those school punch lists which basically were a lot of landscaping items. Um and that was about it. >> Thank you, Jay. Um communications, Matt, do you want to take a stab at it? Well,

122I think Phil would do a better job, frankly, because he was the one who brought the preliminary communications survey to us. So, I guess that's actually what we can just say, right, is that um we met today um prior to this meeting and um there was a communication survey and Phil and Rebecca did a nice job at um presenting um and basically the purpose of the survey was to look at how parents um wanted to um have communication um sent to them. um and they are um I think it that they're going to disagregate the data even further so that we can get an idea um or the district can get an idea about what is the best way that families need to uh need and want to have um be communicated to. So that

123was the purpose of that. >> Thank you. >> All right. um negotiations. Um we were in recent um communications and I believe that we are in resolution that needs to be ratified but part of what we had not finished up and I was not part of these and so Jay or Andrea if I am messing this up please um silence me and talk but part of the uh teacher contract was that we had not gone over the stip the the stipens for all the extra um the extracurricular activities and um I believe that a plan has been put in place that Lori and her team um put together along with acceptance from our board members that were present and it's now needing to be ratified by the union and that we should be able to

124vote on that um once that has been done. So I think that that has happened. Jay C, silence me. >> No, I just wanted to uh to add that um Ken also worked very hard there. there were some um I don't know what we want to call it maybe equity issues with um the uh the different um activities and how teachers were being um uh paid through their stipens and Ken and Lori worked very hard uh with with the union to sort of uh distribute. In other words, there's a a specific amount that that has been budgeted for these activities, but then we have to determine how they're spread out over the activities. So, they've worked very hard uh to bring that to us. >> Beth, I I see that you have um it's good

125to see your face. Um I would recognize you if you have something further to add. >> Just that we're under review right now. We will take it to our membership in September. Um, we thank the board for working with us and to have a more equitable and uh, a fair schedule. C, it was a carve out. It wasn't something that we overlooked. We deliberately carved it out to set it aside so we could give it the attention and the time that it needed. >> So clearly I need a village to raise me. Um, and so thank you for use um, for correcting the language and I appreciate that. >> You're welcome. um the town council, the RTM and board of edley is on. That actually was something that was being head by Katrina and that

126um it is just stalled and I think um probably some larger thoughts need to be put together about how we want to go about structuring that. Um so there has not been a meeting actually since this current board has has been in um in together. So January um AGSA GA board of ed leaison I also wasn't there um the scheduling just wasn't working for me at the present moment um Andrea or Jay do you have anything to add to that I think we were really really kind of heavily on the stipens if that's not correct with the carbout Beth, can I recognize you? >> Oh, >> or or Andrea can jump in too. We um we held our final meeting. >> We held our final meeting in May um and are looking forward to continued

127meetings. We basically discussed how the year went, how co impacted uh teachers and students. It was a more difficult year this year than uh the hybrid teaching and and teaching from home. And we talked a lot about mental health for students and staff and um how we can focus on that in the future. >> Andrea, how did she do >> as always? Excellent. She gets an A. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you, Beth. I love and appreciate our um our collaborative work. Um Grten scholarships [Music] is that Liz. I think that's Liz. >> I think you are right. Athletic fields is that has there been any other movement? Jay, >> the athletic fields committee itself has not met. However, there was a visioning meeting um which was open to um everyone in town to

128determine what might be done with the uh former Claude school property. And so now I believe they've taken all those ideas and put it online and are continuing to uh ask for feedback on that. >> Thank you, Jay. Trails >> trails committee met earlier this month. Lots of interesting stuff, none germaine to the school district. >> Thank you, Matthew. Um the library, which is something that um Matthew has requested that we add since there is um uh some a lot of synergy that's happening between the library and the board of ed. And so Matthew had asked um so that we could just hear keep on hearing updates. Um, so Matthew, do you have any updates about the library? >> Great. Uh, the library has received applications for student representatives from both Fitch and Grasso. The

129interviews are in process. We hope to have u I'm hoping that the library board will make a decision on which or both they want to have on. With regard the one card project, uh, uh, Jennifer Meley, who's the director there, really expressed real appreciation with the work Clint is doing. The challenge with the cards seems to be that the two computer systems don't handshake yet and they're writing code. One other thing that's coming up at the next library board meeting, they're going to discuss whether there could be some collaboration with the school district. uh once the even if the library the one card is in effect in time for September, it will only be rolled out in the high school because they want to get the bugs out of the system before sending it everywhere.

130that since the high school kids are the ones who have the easiest means of access to the library in terms of transportation, there's some consideration of whether we could have collaboration on outreach to parents in the elementary schools and middle school because parents can now register online for library cards for their kids. So, that may be coming to you next month. That's it. >> Thank you, Matthew. um state council of military children. Do they >> we'll meet in the fall. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm moving us on to the action items which is part of the um consent agenda where all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be um enact be enacted by one motion and points of clarification will be allowed. Um I will entertain

131a motion for the consent agenda. Thank you Dean. Can I have a second, >> Matthew? Okay, thank you, Matthew. I um couldn't see. I didn't know if you were waiting. Um is there any discussion? All right, hearing none. All those in favor of the consent agenda, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. >> I >> abstain. That motion has carried. Um the board would love to um to recognize Raalene Lanzer who has donated a flute to Thames River Magnet School Music Department. We would also like to thank um the Alliance Energy LLC through the Exxon Mobile um uh educational alliance grant has donated $500 to Charles Barnum um elementary school to be used towards any purchases made for maintenance and support in math and or science education. We would also um like to recognize Dr.

132Calypso Ganti um has donated the following equipment to the Fitch High School Art Department. The Epson Stylus Pro 3A8 color inject printer at a $3,300 value and the Kaiser RSIO copy stand with camera arm at a $2,090 value. Thank you very much for the generous donations to all. Um, we're going to move into our old business. Um, and Matthew, would you be willing to read the motion for number one, please? >> Thank you. I move uh I move adoption of policy P112.3, access to information as a second reading. >> Can I have a second to that, please? >> Second. >> Thank you, Bevy. Thank you. Um, any discussion? >> Oh, Dean, sorry. >> Sorry. Um, I may have missed the meeting at which this was first presented. I don't remember anymore. What What prompted uh

133this change? I mean, I see a couple of dollar figures changed, but other than that, what was the the impetus for this? Is this just to keep it in line with state law, or is this to clarify or what was the reason? >> Andrew, do you have an answer to that? >> Adena is correct. It was to to clarify and break bring things up to up to um where they should be. It's just a matter of fine-tuning language. So this it's not the case where we've been the district for example has been peppered by you know what people might consider nosy noras and uh you know creating havoc with our okay >> no it was mainly um making um information accessible to to the public who needs it and a way to to go about

134that more formalized. >> Right. the question I I do have one question though uh about the the 25 cents to 50 cent per page. I I'm sensitive to this because for quite a quite a number of years law firms would charge round figures for copies but in fact it turned out that the figure was often higher than the actual cost of the firm and there have been rulings that have said you know you can't profit off your copy machine if you're a you're a law office. You can charge people the cost of copying, but you can't just charge, for example, 25 cents a page when it cost you seven. Um, so we're moving from 25 cents to 50 cents a page. Do we have an idea of what our cost for copying? Uh, >> no,

135actually I don't. I don't know if Ken has that, but >> there was also talk about providing a a thumb drive instead of the pages, >> right? >> And very often one of the problems is that people will say that they need these things and then they never come and get them. >> So, >> well, the other issue I think that happens that you see with foyer requests is people are not quite sure what they're asking for. they have a general idea or they think they're making a specific request uh and they don't realize just exactly how many pages of response that generates and uh then it can become kind of sensitive. There are of course lots of sensational stories of people elsewhere in the country getting bills for $10,000 because they had no idea.

136Uh, but I there's a provision here that says that, you know, if it's going to exceed $15, then uh at least I'm I'm hoping that people will be told ahead of time, by the way, this is going to be cost you a lot more than you might be thinking of. Um, so I mean, do we read this as do we understand this as if it's going to go above a certain dollar amount, not only will they be told to Yeah. that people have warning because again people have no idea when you say well I'd like copies of they may be thinking something's a 100 pages and they'll pay whatever for it but they might wind up with 10,000 pages in response but here you go so >> so so we as a board get to

137approve the policy the regulation is how sort of the district wants to um put it through is that correct Andrea >> that's my understanding >> so so we Most likely, not most likely. So, we can we can request that the staff be clear about the charging once someone has offered um that they need the freedom of information specifically if it's going to be multiple pages so that people don't get stuck with a large bill. >> Yes. So, estimated cost of copying request is $15 or more. Prepayment of the estimated fee by the requesting party shall be required actual final fee. I suppose it's at that point that the district would be telling somebody by the way your bill will be >> but what if at that point the request the response is already underway and

138by the way you're at $100 or $500 and counting. Uh please send check to >> the district. You're like whoa whoa whoa I didn't know it was going to be that big. Well, too late. We've already copied a ton of documents for you. >> So, are are you suggesting, Dean, that this the regulation is not clear about that? Because once again, we we need to approve the policy, not necessarily the regulations. >> Well, why we have attached the P and the R. Every time we vote on these things, we seem to be approving the P and the R. So, >> you're right. If all we're doing is approving the P, then let's just stick to page one and let the R have its way with people and we can intervene from on high. It's it's

139necessary, >> right? >> But I think we are being asked to approve the R. So, >> okay. >> Um, >> so so what is your suggestion to make it different, Jean? >> You know, that's what I get for uh for having a day job. Um, there should be some language in here. Again, I know this is the second reading and this is maybe just, you know, too late, but there should be some language in here that that gives uh the requester a heads up before a lot of work is done. I'd like to think that as just common courtesy, people who've requested are not going to be surprised with the bill that somebody on staff would say, "Boy, this is going to be big. Let's let them know." Or even if it's not huge, it's

140not thousands of dollars. Because I I don't know what people are thinking they're going to be paying. I think people believe that when they make the request, they'd be given the heads up. Just so you know, it's going to be a lot of a lot of dollars. Are you sure? Are you sure about this? And people may say, well, I wasn't looking for every soup to nuts. I was looking for, you know, could you narrow your request? There'd be a colloquy of some sort to to narrow this down. But so it doesn't have to be in a policy. It really relies on human interaction and how we treat each other. So you're asked So you're you're the request is to make sure that that people be um give clear information about what the cost is,

141which is part of >> Yeah. ahead of time before printing presses get going. >> That that makes sense. Matthew, I saw that you had your hand up and I >> I guess I'm a bit confused. It says prepayment of the estimated fee, which means somebody will be given an estimate and has the choice of prepaying or not and cancelelling the order. They're prepaying which means the presses haven't run. So there would not be any substantive surprise the way I read it. >> It could be read that way. >> Well, thank God for lawyers, >> right? >> It's not what everybody says, >> Beverly. >> Yeah, I was just going to say the same thing Matthew said when I read it. Um, I took it for if it's going to be more if it's going to

142be a lot of money, more than $15, we'll let them know before we start printing. I I just thought it was common sense. But on on 4C, it should be B by the requesting party, the Y is missing from that. On my copy, it is anyway. >> Thank you. >> Nice job. And that was the intent. That was the intent. >> Okay. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor approving the policy P112.3 access information as a second reading. All say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. That motion has carried. Um Dean, would you be willing to read the motion for number two, please? >> Certainly. Uh move to approve policy P6145.1, otherwise known as eligibility to participate in intercolastic athletics as a first reading. >> So, I'm willing to go to number two,

143but I'm really wondering if you would do um >> Oh, I'm sorry. My goodness. I take all that back. >> Okay. No. >> What the heck? Yes. All right. So, I move to approve the meteorology and climatology curriculum. >> Can I please have a second on that? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Andrea. Phil, would you be willing to speak a little bit to this? >> Um, you know, I did get an email from from Terry. He he was he was having computer his computer died. He's out of town, so he doesn't have a charger with him and his phone isn't cooperating with email zoom. Um he says, you know, again, obvious above and beyond what I saw at the curriculum subcommittee meeting with, you know, if anybody knows uh Terry Henko, he has

144he has a passion for this and and a skill um that he's passed along to all of us since we've been here with pinpoint accuracy uh in his forecasts and and the thought of him passing on his knowledge to our kids is is pretty exciting to me. But um I can't wait to sit in on this class hopefully. Um he says and he just said his comment said my course is to bridge students understanding uh or knowledge of global warming with the fundamentals of meteorology. Uh some of the fundamental questions uh we hope to answer uh if if there is global warming why did 80% of Japan experience over 15 feet of snow this past winter? Um why do weather computer models or meteorologists uh get their forecasts wrong? I I would hotly anticipate the

145answer to those questions. Um currently working on guest speakers as well. Sorry I couldn't make it. Um I mean again all I can say is you know all my experience with him in in this area and and his presentation uh he has a passion for it. You know he I guess this is one of those courses that have sort of that have been uh talked about for a while and it just took him time to get it written. So, um, like I said, I'm excited for the possibility and I I think you know, Dr. Acriman and, um, who else was there? Matthew, I think, uh, and I know Liz passed on her thoughts as well. So, >> I have to add that when I saw that, I thought, "Oh my god, where's the coffee?" But

146after hearing him, it's so exciting. I I want to go there myself. Are there any other questions from the board about this, Beverly? >> Um, Phil, is there any equipment needed for this course? >> Uh, he he did not highlight any in any of the uh um in any of the documents. Um I'm not sure what uh uh he's he it does say students will be using long and short range weather models, Doppler radar, and satellite data. I think that's all available um online um you know analysis and interpretation of na national and local weather charts and diagrams um so no and I guess I don't know if guest speakers would come with any cost but I I don't know what kind of I think he has a lot of connections in the field um

147so the hope is uh you know and obviously there's funds put aside uh for those sort of things uh in the building budgets. I can I can double check on that for you though, Beverly, and get you those >> get you those answers. >> It sounds like a great cost though. >> Yeah, it does. >> Should be required for all board members as a condition of working >> weather forecasting. Any other questions? >> All right. Hearing none. Excuse me. Hearing none. All those um uh the motion to approve the meteorology and climatology curriculum. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. That would be Dean. All right. That motion has carried. Beverly, would you be willing to read the motion for number two? that being so well prepped you for. >>

148She needs no prep. >> No prep from me. >> Bev, um, would you be willing to do that or no? >> Oh, yeah. I was reading it. I forgot it was muted. >> Okay. Uh, I'd like to make make a motion to approve policy P6145 um.1 eligibility to participate in inter scholastic athletics as a first reading. >> Thank you, Bev. Can I have a second? >> Can I have a second? >> Thank you, Matthew. >> All right. Um, Andrea, >> it's it's just to bring the um the participation up to C CIA requirements and expectations. That's all. So, is this kind of what Dean said before um is is that we're just kind of like updating it and putting it to the new the the new language? >> Yes. Uh it's going to there's going

149to be a full credit of um of I'm sorry a full credit for a total of five credits. Um and the administration will be able to uh to determine that the students eligibility to participate. >> Bev on section B there's a typo. I think that word that should be the 'the' and the only problem I have with this policy is um where it says the principal shall publish eligibility criteria. I really don't feel like I can vote on this policy unless I know what the eligibility criteria is before I vote on a policy. It's like I'm just having faith in the principal and um I can't do that. I need to know what the eligibility criteria is going to be before I vote on the policy. >> Okay. And I is that in the regulations

150anywhere? And you know that's the other question I had of um Erica. I said where where are the regulations? And she said that they're not out yet. So we don't have those. So we don't know that. uh and one of the problems that I had is that it's in the beginning it said something about um the uh the criteria would be presented to those students would who are interested and I I said how would you know who's interested if you haven't presented the the criteria so you're right Beverly I think you're right and I think probably that might go in the regulations >> so it sounds like does this need to kind of Okay, I'm going to recognize Dean and I'm going to recognize Matthew. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, again, what what prompted this?

151Because again, we the original text said must meet the criteria established by CIA. So, it still says that and it says plus one additional full credit for a total of five credits. Uh, everything else seems to be kind of like a rejiggering of existing language. But what was the impetus for for this change? It just came to us to be changed. >> But I my May I >> Yeah, by all means help me out here. >> Okay. uh my age is showing I don't remember the gentle person who spoke to us last time but it was expla I recall it being explained to me unless I'm fabulating that we wanted we the district wanted to I believe it was Susan that'll correct me if I'm wrong we wanted to the criteria for CIA is four

152credits have a total of four credits and We have some performance qualifications too. You have to be passing at a certain level. We wanted to add a fifth credit because we felt that uh there were some students for whom athletics is so important that we wanted to use that as a lever to accelerate their commitment to education. And it was further explained when I questioned that that we understood that if we were asking more of students than the CIC minimum requirements that we had an obligation and would in fact provide extra support to any student athlete who was having any difficulty. So we were promised that the support would be there for anyone who was struggling. That's the best of my recollection. >> Right. >> Does that coincide with yours? Yes. >> So, did the

153athletic director um bring this toward um with uh with you probably with I would assume Denise? >> No. >> Uh Mr. Romano was not present at the meeting. >> Okay. All right. Now, as far as the access to the the regulations, which I was requested, uh the regulations, uh I understand either are or will be available either in the student handbook or and on our website. And that clearly the be the responsibility of the athletic department to make sure every athlete uh knows the regulations. If an athlete should fall below the academic standard, he or she would not would still stay on the team, still practice with the team, but would not be able to compete until their uh grades came up and then would be immediately able to reparticipate. They would not be cut

154out of any membership of the team or participation in anything other than intercolastic events. I hope that clarifies for you. Well, that's that's the regulation that we don't have in front of us. So, that would have been cool to have that. >> Yeah, I'm I'm not comfortable actually even as the chair bringing this without the uh the re the the reg regulations. Uh I'm looking at it. Um so, are you suggesting that we table this and you bring this back for first reading with um the clarification around the eligibility criteria that Bev had requested? Um, and then also the regulations. >> Yes. Yeah. I'm not I'm not happy with this, but I'm I'm wondering, Matthew, correct me if I'm wrong. Was there a reason that this had to come in terms of a deadline? >>

155Not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. >> You know, if it's if we get the information, we can bring it to next month's meeting and that will be ready for September anyway. And I'm not sure that this isn't the reason that we brought it that um you know we thought we would bring it forward and then have it come back. I'm not comfortable with it. So I'm suggesting that we take it back and take deans of concerns into consideration. We need the regulations. >> Yeah. Um I am curious to know uh from the athletic director what effect this has positive negative does it represent a challenge what sort of challenges represent to the athletic program for the school. I mean not to have things revolve around athletics but I would like to hear from the

156folks what this might mean if anything to uh student participation in athletics. >> Okay. >> All right. So, um to move um Joan just to have something tabled. Do I need to vote on that? >> Uh the one who did the first and the second, they can withdraw. >> Okay. >> That's my understanding. That's how it's been done in the past. >> Okay. So, Beverly, are you willing to um withdraw your uh motion for acceptance of the first reading? >> Yes, I am. >> Okay. And so, Matthew, are you >> I'm I'm willing to withdraw as well. >> Okay. So, that has we have withdrawn that and we are going to be moving on to number um new business uh number three. Um and I and I see Denise is here ready. Um and Jay,

157would you be willing to read number three, please? >> Sure. I move to approve policy and regulation 6172.1 gifted and talented as a first reading. >> Andrea, I see that you have um district staff here. Denise, would you like her to um to do the discussion? >> Okay. Thank you, Denise. >> Okay. Hi again, everybody. Um so we brought this policy back to the committee and we made edits in terms of um noting gifted and or talented um throughout the policy and then um we really focused our attentions on the regulations and we tried to format the regulations in our typical format. Um you'll and that was the feedback from the board. You'll see that we have uh on the regulations headings. So the f instead of it looking like a chart or a kind

158of a teacher or admin worksheet, we now have the first heading being the definition of gifted and/or talented. Same information but formatted a little differently. Um then we have the criteria in the next section uh for uh the gifted and the talented. Um and then on the next the last page we have our identification procedures and we have um our um curriculum and instruction. So we've added um that a PPT meeting could be conducted as a group um or as an individual meeting but we've added that that would be based on parent preference. So if the parent wanted an individual meeting that would certainly be granted. And then under curriculum and instruction, we noted um the importance of differentiating instruction to meet the needs of gifted and talented students. Um and then we noted some

159examples of some special programs like um independent study, um dual enrollment, subject acceleration, STEM classes, um and um and MA and visual, musical and dramatic arts classes as well as before and after school enrichment clubs to give some examples of ways that we differentiate instruction and provide um choice choices for students in terms of their interests and learning styles and their preferred modes of expression. So that's basically the uh the changes questions or comments from the board. >> Beverly, >> thank you Denise. Do we have a gifted and talented program now? Um well the um that's why exactly why we put in the um regulations curriculum and and instruction we don't have a an identified gifted and talented teacher. Um we're providing differentiated instruction to students through the general ed curriculum. That could be through

160curriculum extensions, >> um accelerated text, um math, uh groupings that are on ability, um and some of the other examples that I gave. >> Okay. Well, I like I like this one this policy better than the last one. >> So, thank you, Denise. >> Thank you're welcome. I I think that your feedback was really um well grounded. >> Other comments? >> Excuse me, Kim. Who seconded this motion? I never heard. >> Not to say it didn't happen, but I never heard. >> Well, Jave did the first. >> Yes. >> I may have not asked for a second. Do I have a second? >> I second it. >> So Beverly had second. Beverly. >> Thank you. >> Or one of the two. >> Thank you, Beth. Um, any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those um

161to approve the policy and regulation of 6172 um.1 gifted and talented as a first reading. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Abstain. That motion is carried and ready to go for second reading. Um, this is uh the part of the agenda where we talk from letters and communications and comments. Um, Matthew, I'll let you go. >> I was just going to uh thank Denise. Um, for someone new on the board, I'm really appreciate her professional development. It helped a lot. Thank you, Denise. >> Oh, you're very welcome, Matthew. It's my pleasure. >> Matthew, would you like to continue on with any communications or letters? >> Uh, I've gotten a communication from two separate individuals. uh hoping that we get our school bus routes finalized well in advance and try to

162avoid some of the rectifications we had to go through this year. That's it. >> Right, Andrea? I had some some communication from a concerns of the citizen and I pass those all on to Susan. Okay, thank you Dean. >> Uh I am somehow locked out of my account so I can't get those communications. Don't know why but I I should approach tech and I haven't gotten around it but >> right. Thank you. >> Sorry, >> Bev. Um, I had a communication about h the hiring of uh the world language consultant, but I'll talk to Susan about this communication. >> All right. Thank you, Jay. >> Yes. I just wanted to um join with Matthew and um saying thank you to u Denise Doolittle. I know she works very hard as we saw tonight um just

163uh a little bit of what she does um in addition to all of uh her uh student interaction and everything. So, and again, you know, thank you for for reworking this policy in uh in your spare time. Um, I also wanted to mention that uh I attended the um graduation for Fitch High School and um I was very impressed uh with the speakers and uh it was really a flawless uh uh ceremony and uh it's just always a a very positive experience uh to see our graduates going forward >> and congratulations to the member of your family that graduated. Thank you. >> Um, so my my stuff is more um board related. Um, so July 11th would be a committee of the whole meeting. Um I am proposing that we um or I have we

164have that that meeting has been cancelled and I am proposing that that is a time that we go through our board self avow um and then also begin the process of the superintendent evaluation so that we can kind of we're a little bit behind but actually not as behind as as we have been in the past. Um and I know that's a heavy lift for one night. Um, but I propose um a certain way of us doing that um to making sure that we just do the work prior to coming into the meeting. Um, and I will be sending out an email kind of detailing that. Andrea um has been holding the reigns for um putting together the evaluations and she and I are going to meet tomorrow to kind of finalize what that could

165look like. Um so um I just want to let people know that though we're not going to be meeting in a committee at the whole meeting um we'll be meeting in executive session um to do our board self eval and to see how much we can do around the superintendent devout. So please um uh please pay attention to that email and if you guys can give me responses back um that would be very helpful. Um, I also am going to send to you a um a a um a bullet uh form uh that Joyce has put together um for filling the vacancy um for the board member um she kind of took uh from a previous time when we had a um vacancy and I'm going to throw that um to all of you as

166well and probably in the same email and also just to let you know um that Rebecca Vias said that she would be more than happy to help us um to get this um to get the vacancy out um to the all of her contacts. So that would be part of the paper um on our face Facebook not face bag Facebook and also web website. So I just wanted to let you know that those things are um uh are coming and on on their way. Um so if you looked at the um if you looked at the committee of our advanced planning um July 11th would be cancelled um and in its place would be an executive session for us to meet. Um, and then we're down to suggested agenda items, and I don't know if

167anyone has any. >> Oh, Dean, sorry. >> Yes, I mentioned this before and Susan very professionally told me to have it as an agenda item and that is wither Latin >> Latin. I'm I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said first. >> Wither Latin. Where did Latin go? I know we talked about it and uh it's its praises have been sung and the practicalities have been upplayed. Um and it was sort of left as an open question, but it's now become a reality which is that if you're already taking Latin like my daughter is, then great. So, she's going to have to take summer school basically. But in the future, anybody interested in taking Latin from the get-go, that's off the table. That's what it looks like. So, I raised that one other time and

168I was told we'll have as an agenda item. So, there we are. I'm asking for an agenda item. I think I think Rita might want it as well, but >> Andrea. >> Uh, yes. I wanted to make sure that we get on the agenda of the um information that Susan or I'm sorry that Denise is going to get regarding that new format so that we have a report back from her in I suppose in the fall. >> Okay. >> All right. >> And they do. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All right. All right. Good night, guys. Thanks. Thanks. We pulled it off. 8:20. Night, everyone. Bye. >> Good night, everybody.