DCRSD SC Mtg April 8 2026

001hi jimmy you ready okay i'm going to start the meeting of the dudley charlton regional school district going to call it it is 6 31 our meeting wednesday april 8th 2026 at the charlton middle school Call the meeting to order chair declaration in accordance with Mass General Law Charter 30 a section 20 in accordance with chapter 2 the acts of 2023 I announced this meeting is being recorded by the Dardley Charlton Regional School District On Vimeo and that we also ask if there's anyone else present that is recording today's meeting if so, please let me know No one is, so we're gonna let the minutes reflect. I assume that people will record when we do have students, so no, you don't have to let me know that. I know that you will be recording your

002students, okay? In the meantime, so I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. And a moment of silence. And moving on to our highlight of the evening, Dudley Middle School Showcase, Principal Greg Desto. Maybe the microphone will be able to pick it up, and when the students, this will sort of be the spot where you speak from, okay guys? First of all, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. You want to sit down here? Okay. So first of all, thank you so much for the opportunity for me to have a chance to bring something to your attention that you may not know about that was a pretty awesome situation that we had at our school this year. Kind of like hit me unexpectedly, and it was clearly the thing that I wanted to highlight

003tonight. More importantly, I get to brag a little bit about my students and my staff who are here with me tonight. Before I go too much further, I'd like to introduce my students and have them come up and join me here at the table. I'll just do this in alphabetical order, starting with Jack Campbell. Jack, come on up. Jack is modeling today the Dudley Middle School school dress code for next year. Light blue and everything. You look great, Jack. Layla D'Andrea. Ivan Miyambwe. How'd I do, Ivan? Good. This would be an acceptable outfit, too, for next year's dress code. And Lexi White. You will not find better fifth grade students anywhere in the world. And also very proud of my staff with us here tonight who are very instrumental in this program. Adrian Daniels. Adrian,

004if you could come on up. And Rebecca Patterson. Long time, I don't mean that in a bad way, long time Titans. So as I said, this kind of hit me by surprise. I know that when the fifth grade team wrote a grant request to DCEF that it looked pretty cool, but I didn't really think much of it at the time. And then all of a sudden, I started getting emails and calls and actually people just dropping in unannounced into the school asking if they could meet the student who sent a plant to them. And I'm like, whoa. I didn't realize how much it was going to mean to our... to our seniors in the community when they received a plant. And you'll understand more what I mean as we go along. One of our fifth

005grade teachers, Pat Seagrave, she's going to be retiring at the end of the year. She has been doing this for many years with just her students. So roughly 50 kids a year have been. doing this sort of interdisciplinary project that incorporates skills from every subject, growing plants, and sending them home with the students. This year they took it a step further in order to make it, they made a connection with Tri-Valley and Meals on Wheels to be able to deliver to the seniors in the community, and as I said, the response was incredible. As for what the students actually did, I will turn it over at this time to the students, and Ivan is our lead-off hitter tonight. Go ahead, Ivan. We learned how to cut a baby spider plant off the adult plant and

006we were able to grow to watch how the plant grows in a couple of walks. Measure the growth of the leaves and roots each week and record in an observation journal. Paint a clay pot with decorations. We plant the baby in soil, create a friendly letter card for a family member and for a community member. We decorate a gift bag including growing directions and a small measuring cup for the water. Great job. They'll be here to answer your questions too later on. So the students, some students chose to give the plant to a senior member of their own family. It just, the only rule was it has to be over 65. So I couldn't get one, not quite. But as long as the person was over 65. And then the rest, as I said, went

007through Tri-Valley to Meals on Wheels. And I... First, one of our former teachers, Patricia Byron, came in with like a gift bag, and I'm like, oh, hi, Patty, how are you doing? Nice to see you, not thinking much of it. And she wanted to meet the kid who sent this to her. And so I said, okay, sure, I guess we could make that happen. And the interaction between those two was one of the more special things that I've seen in my career. And then I came to find out that that happened numerous times throughout the project as well. At this time, Adrienne Shore will share with you a little bit about Adrienne Shore. Did I say Shore? I still call her Ms. Shore. I don't know. I just can't get past it. Adrienne Daniels will

008share with you a little bit more about the connection with Tri-Valley. So we reached out to a bunch of nursing homes in Two Tri Valley. You know, I have some family members that get services through Tri Valley, and they were very excited to partner with us. They have about 70 Dudley residents they deliver to twice a week, and then they set up meals at the Senior Center in Dudley. So after all the gifts were made, I brought a few students with me to deliver all the bags to Tri Valley. They got to talk to the staff. The staff explained what they do there on a daily basis, that they are in dire need of volunteers, and they were just so excited to have younger kids there and to even know about their organization. I don't

009know who's in charge of the slides, but, oh. Oh, you can click a couple times. Yeah, keep clicking. But, yeah, they sent the kids a slide. I can go another time. One more time. Yeah, the next one. They sent a slideshow to us to share with the kids, and I think that's when it really connected with the kids. Because if you go to the next slide, there's pictures of some of the older adults in their homes with the gifts. And the kids were so excited. They were like, that's my bag, that's my gift. And I think it hit home when they saw the older adults actually carrying them. So we're just excited to make that connection and I think it's important for young kids to know that the older adults are so important in our

010community. And then if you keep clicking, you can see the kids working on different phases from building the greenhouse to making their observations. Their little observation journals are there. If you click again, it was... It was a good, at least two-week project of going through all the steps, but the kids really enjoyed it. And now Mrs. Patterson. I don't know her maiden name. I'm sorry. It was white, but it's okay. So the next step, so we spent some time kind of discussing as a team where we wanted to take this. And since it was such a positive, successful project this year, like... What else can we do? And the connection with the seniors, I think, was the best part because they were just so happy. And that's really what we want to do is make

011that connection with the kids and the elderly adults. And so these are some of our ideas. We're going to try to create laminated placemats for the holidays. So that's something, again, that could be brought to them. through Meals on Wheels, the students visiting the Meals on Wheels lunches at the senior center, see if we can coordinate some of that. A newsletter four times a year, highlighting what the kids are up to, so again, making that connection. And then possibly getting them together to do some interviewing, create a, have the kids practice writing a biography. So there's still a nice connection between the learning and the... production and the connection in our community. There is one more next step that I will go get for you that the students wanted to do but in the meantime

012if you have questions for the students or the teachers they're prepared to answer to the best of their abilities. What is your favorite step of the whole process? Was it planting? Was it decorating? Was it meeting? I think I definitely like the planting. I definitely like it. Like putting the soil inside and like putting the plant like digging a hole for the roots. My favorite part was watching it grow. My favorite part was decorating the back for like each person and like just like coming up with ideas for it. My favorite part was making the card. I have a question because I have a spider plant at home that when I have enough to have babies do I put them in water or in soil because I think I saw a bulb on your... What

013do you guys think? Water? Water first? If you want to monitor it, I think you'll have to put it in and see how it does in soil. What happens when it's in the water? It grows roots. You can monitor it. You can monitor how long the roots will grow. Okay, and then put the roots in the dirt? I'll give it a shot. Thanks, I love this. It's great. We can help you with that too, Mrs. Ella. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is great. Now we don't have to do it. We can wait until this one grows and grow some more off of this one. Thank you. How often do you have to water these so we don't kill them? Once a week. Mr. Desto, I think the last question

014of the school committee members is they need a care sheet for their spider plants. Each of the bags, they did come with a little water cup and a care sheet. So we made sure that that was taken care of for anyone in case they weren't sure. Sorry. No, that makes sense. Those little medicine cups full of water. Awesome. My question is, we understand that you were helped out through the DCF Foundation, but going forward, if there's community members that really want to get behind this, Can they, you know, do you need additional funds? Do you need any supplies? Yes. Potting soil and then the big thing, the bags and the cards will be changed. The greenhouses will reuse. The greenhouses will reuse. So like if they got gift cards to Home Depot or like any

015kind of thing like that for you, that'd be good? Mm-hmm. Okay. I just wanted to I don't have a question but I just want to compliment you you you did an excellent job thank you for the staff as well the impact I hope you felt the impact you had on people with your generosity and your efforts because that that's a life lesson that you learned and I really hope you take that with you in the future and your studies and schooling or what have you but congratulations you made a huge impact on some people's lives so congratulations to you as a group Thank you guys. And then moving on, because my understanding is that the good news doesn't really stop there, that we're also getting Hope Squad from Shepherd Hill Regional High School and Mr.

016Elwell and others are here to speak upon that. Good evening. Like Mr. Desto, I'm here tonight to brag about some of my students and my staff. Unfortunately, we don't come bearing gifts, but perhaps if we're invited back next time, we will. We bring hope. We bring hope. We bring hope and goodwill. So, as we all know through the years, this learning community has experienced significant loss, significant hardship. And in the aftermath of every tragedy, we always ask ourselves, what more can we do? What more can we do? And we are very fortunate to here to have a very talented group of counselors, clinical staff, a supportive community, community-based resources, but we always feel as if there's more that we can do. And so this past fall, we finally decided to tap into what is our

017greatest resource, our greatest asset, which is our students. And so we were able to connect with the Jack L Foundation and also connect with Hope Squad, which is a national organization and over 2000 schools to. participate in a program through which we train and support peer ambassadors and their mission is to help bring greater awareness to the student body to suicide awareness and prevention efforts. So this past fall we had assemblies for all four high school classes and we shared some information regarding the mission of Hope Squad as well as what the role of a Hope Squad ambassador would entail. This was entirely student driven. We then had a nominating process and classes then were tasked with nominating their peers who they felt were compassionate and had the level of understanding and maturity to really

018seize this opportunity. And so out of that vetting process, we ended up with 21 ambassadors who agreed to take on this challenge because it is a time commitment and it involves engaging with educational modules. It's not just a club that meets once a month after school. There is a time commitment. And we also secured faculty advisors to help spearhead this initiative, two of whom are behind me. Mr. Haag and Mrs. McGrail are two school adjustment counselors. Mrs. Morin, who is our school's health teacher, also is a third ambassador. So we're poised for continued growth. And tonight we have Magdalena with us also because as you might expect our ambassadors are very busy people in addition to being ambassadors they are athletes and musicians and a host of other titles. And so our mission tonight is

019to just to provide a little bit of information around what this group has already accomplished in their first year and also look ahead to what we hope to accomplish in the future with this really. inspiring group. I'm very proud of our advisors, I'm very proud of our students, and I appreciate having the opportunity tonight to spotlight their work. So I'll turn it over to Mr. Haag and Mrs. McGrail. sure so um right we have a slideshow you can see right off the bat we have um those are many of our students not all our students are in that photo um but that's one of the photos that will go into the yearbook um and as mr elwell said we did have a couple of other students poised to get here but some track meets went

020long and some other things so um but nonetheless uh so Hope Squad. It's a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program. As Mr. Elwell said, our students were nominated by their peers, which was really kind of cool. And then we had an opportunity to talk with each of them about whether or not, because it's a fairly rigorous program. The modules, we did one module today as well. So there's a lot of sitting around and kind of going through different scenarios. We're doing this as often as possible to get through all the modules, but it is a rigorous program. So each student was willing to take that on as part of this whole year. Would it be helpful to see the video that's produced nationwide to kind of get additional information? It's a quick video. That was on the

021video before that. Right down below, yes. Oh, and thanks for joining us. We'd like to share about an exciting program we're bringing to our school called Hope Squad. Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program. Hope Squad members are nominated by their classmates as trustworthy peers and they're trained by advisors. The program reduces the likelihood of youth suicide through education, training, and peer intervention. Hope Squad members learn skills and techniques that help students in difficult situations. Let's take a moment to understand why we're here today. Put it inside. It's okay. We can keep rolling with it. Racist statistics tell a shocking story. Youth ages 12 to 17 and young adults 18 to 25 have the highest rates of suicide thoughts and attempts. Moreover, suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death for youth age

02210 to 18 in the United States. But there is hope. When young people feel connected at school, research shows that they're less likely to face mental health issues and they significantly reduce the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This connection is vital in combating not just suicide, but also substance use and other risky behaviors. In a class of 20, the impact of suicide-related issues is significant. Two students may attempt or consider and three make plans. All students are affected alongside family members who experience trauma, guilt, and anxiety. Close friends might feel shock and responsibility, while peers can be traumatized if they witnessed events. Teachers and staff may also feel emotional effects and question their ability to recognize warning signs. This issue likely impacts many schools and may have motivated your participation in our program. Either

023way, there has never been a more critical time to focus on suicide prevention among teens and young adults. The statistics tell us a sobering story that we cannot ignore. The first onset of mental illness typically occurs in childhood or adolescence, which also highlights the importance of our collective preventative efforts. We must remember that these prevention efforts cannot be done in isolation. It takes a community and we all play a role in supporting our youth. As you know, suicide is just one of several significant risk factors our students face in schools today. For instance, consider the alarming fact that in four out of five school shootings, at least one person knew about the shooter's plan but chose not to report it. And there is a distinct connection between school shootings and suicide. This highlights a critical

024aspect of prevention. We must foster an environment where students feel safe to speak up. So that actually is a great place to pause, only because we're going through modules today, and although we don't, so we don't expect any of our students to be young clinicians and take on the responsibility or the burden of kind of managing and dealing with. Other students who might have suicidal thoughts or feelings we do however hope that students will recognize and we have I wore the shirt today We all we all got some shirts and so we've done some really neat activities around the building to highlight who we are for the other students Man can attest to that as well. But one of the modules we did today was Kind of doing some scenarios on how to identify including

025You know if someone's talking about things that are concerning or mental health and so that's why I had Mr. LaMarche kind of end it there because it kind of gives the highlight of what we're kind of managing at the high school with different kinds of mental health, depression, anxiety, what our students go through. about it in the video too, just reiterating some statistics about why we felt it was critically important to establish modules for our students to become more aware of how we can better support students who might be struggling in the high school. Some research around why we're piloting this program. And then again, challenges about moving beyond. So the adult observation, again, this is kind of peer-led. One of the things is that Ms. McGrail and myself are the two adjustment counselors. We

026have four guidance counselors, and then our administration, our nursing team. However, in a population of around 1,000, not every student also feels comfortable coming to an adult. And so this peer-led, and when we looked at other types of programs, we really felt like Hope Squad with the peer component was one of the best components because it does allow. students who have already established themselves as mag has and as of our other 21 and a half as someone that you can't that is relatable and that other students can come to so We also did a presentation with the parents of the students involved, the parents and the guardians, so they had an opportunity to have a better understanding of why we're piloting this program, what the expectations and the role of their student will be, and

027then the safeguards for the students who might be hearing this difficult information as well. So we had that community involvement too. All right, Hope Squad year one. So you'll see it says Hope. I don't know, my prescription needs to get done again, but it does say Hope. That was one of our activities, and so Mag and the rest of our gang were really integral in that. So we had a Hope Week. Actually, Mr. Lamarche put up one of the Hope hearts that we had on the wall as well. You'll see another special guest at the end of the slide. So we had a couple of really cool events. Would you like to speak to some of the events? I tend to occupy the space. In particular, one of the events that I really enjoyed was

028you write things that were stressing you out on a piece of paper, and you put it in the shredder. So if you had a quiz next class and you were really stressed out about it, you could write a history quiz and put it in there and just kind of have fun. We shred the stress. We also had High Five Friday. Yep. So again, so we wore our shirts and once again make sure that going around the building our representatives were well noticed and then like hey want a high five like really just kind of getting other students to kind of connect and and to know who we were so that was that was fun. Today's Hope Squad meeting and the module that we did also spurred us to have a large conversation about May being

029Mental Health Month and the various activities that we had there. I know Eloise and Meg had a lot of good stuff. They were pounding away at the keyboard. A lot of good stuff at the keyboard. And yes, we have some good ideas. We have not yet run by you, but we think big. We want our students to think big. And then if we have to box it in, we will. What's the big one that we can maybe slide in there tonight? So we had an idea to kind of have like a night where we take... these like boards and Yeah, yeah, we're gonna take these boards bring them to the fields during sunset and kind of just sit and talk about Things and we also talked about maybe anonymous anonymously people could put notes in

030this hat and We could share their experiences on our Instagram Oh yeah, and the scavenger hunt. We're basically going to have quests for people to do. And once you do those things, a teacher can sign off on it. And if you do the whole thing, then you get recognized, a prize maybe. And obviously we're not wearing our Hope Squad t-shirts every day. So we are in the process of looking at how other students can know that we have ambassadors of the Hope Squad. So some, you know, like little pins that you might see on like, you know, Boy Scout vests or something like that. So we're thinking about creative ways that students and teachers know who our ambassadors are. So there was our hope week. We wanted to certainly... So we did get permission prior

031to putting that slide up. But our hope week was really good, and that's why, again, as we begin to think about the bigger mental health month, some of the different types of things that we want to do and try to raise a little bit more money, too. We did do a jeans day where we raised the funds at least just to get the T-shirts for all of our kids so that they could be, you know... identified in our building. So we're very, I think it's been great. It's freshmen all the way. We have freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It seems really seamless. Everyone seems to really get along well. I can say without giving away too much clinical information that we did a little activity today where we kind of asked some questions about has

032anyone really been approached yet? And it hasn't risen to the need of having to come to one of us as one of the staff's counselors, but students have approached various Hope Squad members already just to kind of touch base about how they're feeling. and just like trying to connect and get to know them so in our inaugural year that's kind of a big deal um that we're already getting some some of the students who are reaching out and looking to connect with some of our members so that's kind of a big deal for us we do a lot of um work um with other schools like nationwide so jen and i go on to webinars and support calls like Michigan and Texas. Some of these schools have had this stuff going on for several years

033and they're massive schools and so the fact that we've just kind of started it's a nice sign. So I think that's the last slide. We wanted to end obviously with Mr. Elba framed up so that was a good one. But if you have any questions for us we are happy to answer whatever we can do. I do just, in addition to saying thank you again to those who are here tonight, I want to thank Mr. LaMarche, who way back in the fall, we have a number of competing interests and priorities, helped to connect the dots with the Jackal Foundation and Hope Squad, and really identified this as a priority that we should focus on as a school. So I appreciate that and the extent to which you facilitated that connection as well. Thank you. Questions?

034Just I'm wondering about how the students, if they're going to be trained on how to handle if someone touches base with them after the school hours and if they feel, you know, not good about the situation, how do they, who do they contact, what do they do? Yeah, so actually today we've begun the module so the modules kind of line up where we start to build rapport within our own group because we want to have a core group that not only trusts us but trusts each other and then from there there's training modules that kind of talk about steps that the student takes when they receive or when they have a friend who might be struggling what they do next so today was a lot of conversation about you know we are not the professionals

035and there is a step-by-step process of how the student empathizes with the student who's struggling and then encourages them to seek support from an adult but we also really talked about okay but sometimes that student might not always want you to tell and so how are we developing that trust with us as the counselors for the hope ambassadors say geez we got this after hours not sure how to handle this they know our contact information and the next steps as well so i mean We're clinicians. We always have access to our emails. And our students know that, again, they've got to go to a trusted adult. So even if it's not one of us that they can reach, but we have our school resource officer, we have a parent, and if it rises to that

036level. So we are talking about what are some things that you can manage in a moment, but then what are things that are, if it's an emergency, you go right to the nearest adult, and they kind of take it over from there. But I think you were sitting up front, Eloise, and we had a conversation, and I think... You know, they recognize it. One of the statements today was just, I think Eloise said, like, it doesn't matter. Oh, she said that a life is much more important than a friendship. So our students are definitely recognizing that, again, just speaking to Ms. McGrail's point. Some students don't always want you to say things, but we're very clear on, again, we're not asking our students to be clinicians, but if something is brought to them, we want

037them to take that seriously and bring it forth to one of us. Even if students are like, I don't want you to know, I don't want to talk too much about it, it's most important that safety. So I hope that answers it. I mean, I also feel as though like if I was in the situation where I needed help and she wasn't my friend, right, I would tell him. But I would go to her because I know that she is trained to go to an adult. So even if I said to her, don't say anything, I'm going to her because I know she will. You know what I mean? Like I wouldn't go to a Hope Squad member knowing that their responsibility is to go to an adult if I didn't really want help. You

038know what I'm saying? Well, I think that's part of establishing that presence this year. Other thoughts? Come back next year. Give us another one. Yeah. Packed Elena's a junior. So she will continue. And that's the other great thing about the Hope Squad is that they can choose to continue on through their years. They've been voted by their student peers and teachers as well. And so they'll continue the journey with us as they graduate. I just wanted to reinforce Magdalena, right? Magdalena. Magdalena, sorry. Do you know what my Mag is? Mag. Thank you for coming this evening. But I just wanted to, this is really helpful for me because empowering student voice in whatever the problems may be that are social or within your world of school, this is huge for me. So I just really

039appreciate the work of the staff to try to bring this forward and bring your voice forward to try to solve some problems that are out there that we all know are out there, but we don't always have the vehicles or the means to do that. And you as a student don't always have that, but now we're empowering you to have that. So thank you for your investment in this. And I think this is extremely good for us as a district. district as well and the good news is that working with Jackal we're going to actually be with the success this year we're moving this down to our middle schools as well for next year Jackal is going to provide us with a grant to try to pull this off so we have a secondary five

040through twelve Hope Squad group to work on this so thank you because of you we're able to actually expand this even more in your investment so thank you very much thank you well I'm sorry to say we're now back in business okay So moving on to consent agenda items. I would love, I would entertain a motion. Make a motion to accept the regular meeting papers of March 11th. 2026 as printed. I'll take the motion that way and second from Jamie. All right. So all those in favor? Most unanimous. All right. And then it's as printed. All right, and then moving on to communications. Anybody have any communications? Just to say thank you. This is my last meeting. Sorry. No, I just appreciate everything that everybody's, like, helped me through the years, and, you know, this

041is never something that was on my bingo card, but... Sure enough, I won. No, it's really been something that has been a learning curve, and it's been a pleasure to be here and hopefully make a difference and be here to do what's right for our students and our community. I love Dudley Charlton, and I'm happy that I was able to be here for four years, and thank you for the flowers, and thank you all. Thank you, too. And I didn't cry. It's a win. Nice job. It's been a lovely four years, but we still need to get you for some subcommittees until the end. So just the last official meeting. But you don't have to have the flowers right in front of you. Well, I feel the comfort. Flowers or plants? You know. Any other

042communications? I have two communications. Just a reminder that the Friends of John Payer Golf Tournament is happening May 16th. There's still availability. And also the Charlton PTO holds their election meeting on May 6th here at the middle school at 6 o'clock. And I know that they're always welcome for new members. And Maureen, any other communications? What was I supposed to say? When's the next CPAC meeting? Oh, okay. The next CPAC meeting is? April 15th. I'm just going to add seven to today. So, okay. April 15th. Here. At the Charlton Middle School. Hybrid. It'll be hybrid, too. Yeah, you can go on Zoom if you know how. Google Meet. Google me Google me what's the difference between that and zoom? Not my world I just click There'll be an email out there and meeting starts the

043at 630 is the board members board members and at 7 o'clock is the actual meeting regular meeting Okay, and the topic of the meeting will be Heather And the process for identifying if the student requires a restraint and the process for reporting restraints as requested by CPAC members. CPAC, it's a collaborative group effort all the time. Can I do it to my kids too? Any other communications? All right, hearing none, student representative report. It's your time, Michonne. The Shepherd Hill Drama Club will present their play, If the Set Could Talk, in the Shepherd Hill Auditorium on April 17th and 18th at 7 p.m. This past Monday, the music department held its District Show Choir Festival, and Winter Percussion and all District Winter Guards will hold their Friends and Family Night next Tuesday, the 14th. The

044Shepherd Hill Winter Guard won the Scholastic Regional A Red Championship at the New England Scholastic Band Association Winter Event on March 28th. Finals for Winter Guard were held on March 29th and the Shepherd Hill Winter Guard tied for first place. Both Shepherd Hill show choir groups Illusion and Fantasy attended Low Roadie Rumble and placed as first runners-up, as well as the New England Show Choir Showdown with Fantasy winning Grand Champions, Best Vocals, Best Choreography, Best Show Design, and Best Band, and Illusion winning first runner-up and Best Band. Student Council held a Boys Powder Buff game last Tuesday, March 31st. The annual Powder Puff game is back on, which will take place under the lights at the Hills football field at 7 p.m. tomorrow. And finally, for the first time last Friday, grades 11 and 12

045were given a presentation called Think Fast Interactive. in collaboration with the Massachusetts State Police, which is an engaging game-based educational program that uses fast-paced team-oriented trivia to promote awareness of teen driving safety and the dangers of unsafe driving. Yes. Did you like it? Yes, it was very fun. Any other questions for Haley? All right, hearing no more questions for Haley. All right, moving on to superintendent's report. Madam Chair and school committee, please accept my apology. I do not have a written report this evening for you. I did want to mention two things, though. The third thing was going to be about Think Fast because I did attend, too. It was definitely geared towards the teenage. It was fast. It was loud. It was, you know, they broke up in teams. They did a really good

046job. And every student that walked out of there that I talked to really thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was really one of the best presentations for this very serious topic that was provided. So I thought that was great as well. Thank you, Principal Elwell, for that, working with the Johns, I think, Mr. and Mrs. John, I think were their names, and the Mass State Police endorsed this as well. So I think it was great. We should think about bringing them back next year. I'm sorry, and just to share the best part with you, even though this was so valuable and so loud and so great, is it was free. So I just want to make sure everyone hears that part too. in case somebody asks how much it costs. But the two things I

047did want to share is we did attend the Dudley Chowton Education Foundation banquet before, was it last week? Was it the weekend before? I forget when. It was before this meeting, I know that. It was a great event. It was a great fundraiser. Fun was had by a lot. We do appreciate the work that Dudley Chowton Education Foundation does to provide us with grants. We're now over $400,000 in value for grants from Dudley Chowton Education Foundation. They've really honed their fundraising on this event, so we really appreciate the work that Dudley Chilton Education Foundation did, and the event I thought was fantastic from my perspective. And then the last thing, I just want to remind everyone that we have limited dates now. We're pretty much in school all the way through to the end of

048the year with a couple of limited breaks. We do have April vacation coming up. That's the week of April 20th to the 24th. We also have Friday, May 22nd as an early release day. That's the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Obviously, we have Memorial Day. Commencement for Sheppard Hill Class of 2026 is Sunday, May 31st, and it's at 1.30 this year? 1. 1 o'clock, 1 p.m. or 1300 hours however you want to take a look at that I just want to make sure I get it right one and then our last day of school is Tuesday June 16th it's an early release day if we have no other or further weather related events I know that we had snow yesterday I Charlton had more than Dudley as typical but but right now our last day

049of school is Tuesday June 16th and it's an early release day And that concludes my sharing this evening. And once again, I apologize for not having a written report this evening. We have been interviewing for the replacement for benefits coordinator this week, and we have some excellent candidates, excellent candidates for that role. So that's good news. Any questions for Mr. LaMarche? Hearing none, because I know Mr. Smolsky has been waiting for this moment very patiently, is public comment. Do we have anybody here for public comment? Pick you. Yes, come on up. I know you know how this works. Please state your name and your town of residence, please. It's been a while. And you have three minutes. Hi, everyone. I'm Dave Smolsky. I'm from here in Charlton, and I've got a public service announcement. It

050pales in comparison to some of the previous speakers, so buckle up, though. Here we go. Good evening, committee members and fellow Charlton residents. For those of us who do live in Charlton, I'm here tonight with a simple question. Who will make the decisions that affect your children's schools? your property taxes, and the future of our town. This Saturday, April 11th, at 10.30 a.m., a candidate forum will be hosted on the top floor of Charlton's library, where 11 of our 16 candidates have RSVP'd, saying they're going to attend. So you have the opportunity to meet those running for public office. and they will have the opportunity to tell you about their vision and answer submitted questions. Somebody tonight at this table asked me, will they be answering the tough questions? And I think that's really up

051to the residents. The residents need to submit the tough questions that are on our minds. So why does all this matter? Why should you even care? Well, school-related, because multiple candidates are running for this school committee. So it might behoove the public to find out who's running and what they stand for. And if we look around the room, decisions made by our elected officials directly impact every aspect of our lives, from our children's education to our tax bills, from public safety to the character of our community. But historically, not all that many people turn out to vote, and we need to change that here in Charlton. I'd imagine many of you invest in the future, maybe 401Ks or IRAs or stocks or who knows what. Well, attending Saturday's event is an investment in your future,

052too, and all it costs is a little bit of your time. Probably about the equivalent of time you'd spend watching a movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime or going down to the local movie theater. It's definitely a good use of your time. The events moderator will ensure each attending candidate has equal time to speak and respond to questions and concerns. The event begins with candidate introductions, then a forum to answer those questions that are submitted, and then there's the opportunity to casually meet the candidates that are there in attendance. I get it, we're all busy, but can we really claim that we care about Charlton's future or our schools if we can't spare a short amount of time once a year to make an informed decision at the polls? If you'd like to submit questions

053in advance, you can do that to our town moderator, noreen.smith at townofcharlton.net, or in writing at the library during the event. So please come if you've got the time. In local government, your vote matters more than in any national election, but only if you know who truly represents your values. And thank you for the time tonight. I hope to see some of you there at the event on Saturday. Thank you for RSVPing. It will. Drew will be there. He's going to have all his equipment. It'll be recorded and then broadcast later. So if you can't be there live in person, you can always catch it on YouTube. Thanks. And now this is everyone else in the audience's administration. I'm assuming that is it for public comment, you know, unless, Chris Bogosh, you want to come

054up and speak. I don't think so, right? You're next, yes. You're in new business. All right. So moving on to new business, Charlton Middle School report, Principal Bogosh. Good evening. I'll take it. Thank you for having me tonight. I'll wait until everyone gets a copy. So this was a good exercise for me, especially at this point in the year as we've gone through almost one whole school year, not quite, still got a little ways to go. And so I'm going to take you through the lens of what I'm seeing and where I see that we need to go and where we need to put a focus. There's lots of things to focus on in a school. And so... What I really enjoyed is all the talented professionals we work with here. It's a great staff.

055I've worked with different staffs, and I do say this is one of the best ones I've worked with in terms of collegiality, professionalism. is a pleasure for me. And the student body as a whole is a great student body. Like I said, with any school, we have some areas in which we need to develop and grow, and we have some strengths. I know that you kind of know, especially Mrs. True just gave her achievement and growth report recently. This is just for your reference. I know you can like see all this data, and I'm not going to belabor it with you, but I wanted it. so that you could have a reference as we go through. So the first is just the last four years of kind of where we are at as a school

056with our MCAS scores. As you already are aware, we have a lot of We're in a lot of the orange section, which is a partially meeting and we really need to boost that over to meeting and exceeds So we are well aware of that. I added the the map data which we've been using I know mrs. True went over that so I don't have to go over that with you again But Some of the things in looking at this data, what I've chosen to do this year and as we move forward, is I really feel like there's a little bit of a loss of kids understanding the importance of MCAS. I think with the law that passed that we don't have to have it as a graduation requirement, I think people don't understand that it

057still impacts our schools, our ratings, all of these things. It's a measure that we use that we make a lot of decisions on. And if kids aren't taking it seriously, we could be making the wrong decisions about what we need to do. So I did meet with the entire student body to help explain it in a kid-friendly middle school way, why this is important, why it impacts you, you know, and I gave those reasons. But I also, I don't want kids to stress out. but I wanted them to understand how this is part of their record, how this impacts our school, how it impacts their teachers and all of that. So I met with the kids a couple weeks ago about that. And then I also expressed in that meeting, I expressed Mrs. True's 5%

058growth goal, and I said, if we can do that as a school, I'm going to give you... You know a celebration next year, so I really told the kids like this is what we want to do This is where we want to go. We want Charleston middle school to be the best Sorry, um and That that's what we want. Mm-hmm So, hopefully sending that message to them gets, because when you really dig down in the data, they're just on the cusp. Like, maybe if they just put a little more effort, like, you don't know what's really, you know, so I'm hoping with that messaging, you know, and continuing that messaging will help that. The ELA teachers this year have worked vertically to better align their writing units. While they do have a curriculum, the writing

059is a little bit more, it's not as structured as some of the other components of it, so they've met to work on that, looking at the data, their MAP data and their MCAS data. I do have a typo here, but in terms of science, they're really in their fourth year. I've been working, there's a lot of teachers who are new in their second year, so when I was writing this, I was thinking second, but there are newer teachers who are science positions, so they kind of are, a lot of them are in their second, some first year teaching this curriculum, so it's going to be ongoing of training. The Open SciEd is very rigorous and demanding, and it requires a certain level of training. and coaching to do that. So we have been working through

060that. The technology and engineering UA teachers also dive into the data and they make adjustments. We did that in the fall. Civics really just counted last year, so we don't have any trends there, but we'll see what develops over time. One of the things in talking with the teachers in the eighth grade especially, and they made this point, which I didn't think about it until they brought it up, is on the three-person teams, everyone teaches the social studies, and they said, we don't have a certified teacher teaching this, and this is a tested area of MCAS. I said, good point. So I just want to raise that to your awareness. In regards to math, of course, everyone, reviews the data this year and we're really trying to focus those win times with some additional instruction

061for kids that are struggling and also we've had teachers build wins of kids that are exceeding a mass so they could have a opportunity to work with that that's not across the board but that some grades have experimented with that and then one thing we put in after a lot of talking with the staff was we're instituting a Saturday school, which is multifaceted, where it can bring in kids that are struggling, not completing work, all of that. The administrators, Mrs. Hemer and I, look at the list of kids that we get, and then we decide who... you know we prioritize who could go we have two certified teachers that come in on a saturday and work with the kids to help them complete work give them a little extra help and so we've been seeing

062some gains in that area but that didn't start really till february so we don't have like long-standing trends there but we have noticed some positives there I always like to have some highlights, some bright spots when I looked and dug down into the MCAS data with some subgroups. I was pleased to see that we are on a trend of narrowing the gap for IEP students in ELA. and with our EL students as well. It's also trending in the right direction for math with our EL students as well. So attendance data, it's interesting looking at this. I gave a breakdown by grade. Eighth grade is doing the best, but they also have the highest amount of tardies. and trying to think about why that is, and I think I know, I'm not exactly sure, is because

063of the schedule. So they have UAs in the morning, and I learned from talking to teachers that this class of eighth grade. has had since they, I think it's either all four years or at least the last three years, have had all their UAs in the morning as they trended through. So I'm wondering if they just have a laissez-faire attitude about getting, I don't know if that's the correlation or not, but we are gonna experiment next year. We're gonna try to switch the times of the UAs in the schedule. So we're gonna see. if that makes a difference. I don't know. I mean, that class will be gone to high school, but I think that might make a difference, too, in terms of that. So it was just something interesting that we discovered there. Yes.

064I really appreciate this breakdown because that's been a big focus of mine is absenteeism because you can't learn if you're not in a seat. Yes. But there's just one small thing that I think might help in your quest is you outlined chronic absenteeism. What about chronic tardy? Because maybe it's the frequent flyers that are always the same. Oh, the chronic, yes. I can look at that. Yeah. The program I use, which is Open Architects, you put in what you want. They didn't have a thing for charities. They just had regular absences based on the state data that it pulls. Right. So I don't know how I could get that exactly through that, but it's just interesting. I mean, we could look at it by... looking at names and stuff like that. I just have a

065hunch that some of them are going to be repeat offenders. Oh, they are. I know that they're repeat offenders. So, yeah, so it's just interesting. I mean, we've had, I developed, because we had so many tardies, I had a letter that I sent to families that had extreme tardies, and we set up meetings and that kind of thing. And there's always, you know, that's, this family circumstances, this, this, that, is interesting. Another thing I didn't really dive deep down into but was talking about actually today about the data was how many of those are school choice kids that are late? Is there a pattern with that and how do we address that? So I was like that's a good thing to look at too. So yeah, I can appreciate that. So that's that. Going into

066the discipline data. So I just want to say, if you don't already know, middle school is prone to higher discipline just by the age. They're feeling things out. They're hormones. I mean, there's so much going on in the middle school era that there is naturally usually more discipline. However, that does not mean they can't conduct themselves appropriately, and they still need to be held to a high standard. It's our belief as a school that it works best when families work in conjunction with the school to help curb behaviors. Ultimately, what I really want, and you'll see the data in a second, is we really want to reduce the number of incidents handled at our level, like Mrs. Hemer and I's level, because it's just, it's a lot. And I think, you know. I'm new to

067the school. Things have changed a lot. I think we're really putting systems in place, and it takes time. And so as a new principal, I kind of expect it. I just don't want it to continue forever at this rate, and we need to work on that. So as of the 7th, yesterday, this next page on page 6. that we have handled at the office level, and this is only through our write-up form. So there have been other things that have come in that we have handled, but this is through our, we have like a Google form where teachers submit referrals. We have handled 515 incidents. That's a lot, it's like four plus a day. And some of those are lengthy, they take time. Some of them are not, but it is a lot. The top

068three, I pulled out the top three infractions. 175 of those are incidents of disrespectful language towards staff or students. 154 were incidents of insubordination and that is a kind of a broad category but it's just like asking a kid to do something they won't do it and it's disrespectful way they're refusing to do work it could be a handful of things but that was pretty high especially in my experience I've experienced a lot of insubordination here kids not like doing what the simple things that the adults ask I don't I haven't gotten to like why that is. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, but we're really working on that. And then there's, and this is typical of middle school, incidents of excessive horseplay. And this is not like fighting. This is just, they're

069fooling around, they end up hitting somebody, and then someone gets hurt or something like that. Not always hurt, but, so there were 85 of those. That was the top three. And then I looked at how many, like when we do our consequences, now we always do a lot of restorative things. This doesn't just mean they get a detention and we didn't do anything else. But I just want you to see the amount of issued detentions. This is by month, so like after school versus we do lunches more like minor things, but we want the kids to reflect. I would say almost every time. We might miss one here and there, but we have the kids do like a social behavior map, and they have to answer questions, and like what did they do? Why did

070they do it? How do you think others felt around you when you were doing it? Like questions like that, and get the kids to really think about their actions. They do that, and after school too if it's a little more serious but um so that's those and then i asked the teachers i was curious and i kind of did it today as i was thinking more about it like how many detentions have teacher teachers issue themselves and this is the whole school um here and you can see it's not that many and so i really want to work you know, towards like. teasing out what what really comes to us versus what comes to what the teachers could manage and maybe this isn't the you know maybe we come up with something else but this

071was very telling to me that we need to do a little bit more with the behaviors that are stemming from the classroom some things inevitably come to us because of the nature of it but I'm not talking about those things so like if it's a kid doing a repeated disruptive class act I want to see like before I get involved, like, what have you done to consequence and work with the family a little bit more? So that was just interesting. You know, it's just telling a tale. Data tells a tale in how we can move forward. Because you don't see the progression of discipline there. It's like, oh, go to the office. Go to the office. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And I will say, I don't want to say, like, the teachers are doing nothing. That's

072not what I'm indicating. It's just how are we managing that before it gets to like a detention? You know what I mean? So and then I found this was interesting. I looked at my referral data to the office and by grade level and I want to see I'm kind of curious how this will you know, as I move on in the next coming years, how, like, will this change? Is this, you know, this is just the baseline right now, but eighth grade, it was 30%, 37% of those referrals were eighth grade. Seventh was 23. Sixth grade was nine. Fifth grade was 13%. And then other staff, so like UA teachers or specialists, like a reading teacher or something that doesn't fall on a team. Altogether, that was 18% of the referrals. Total number of suspensions,

073which could be in, we mainly do in-school suspensions. It's rare if we do an out-of-school suspension that they're mainly in school, but this is total. So to date, as of today, we had 39 school suspensions and I had Ms. Riccardi look up last year's and they were 39 for the total year. So I'm sure we'll have a few more. I don't want that, but. So we're kind of on par, but there's still a couple months left, so we'll probably be above that. So our responses to this data, we've been living this, we've been doing stuff all year. One of the greatest things that has really helped us is we worked with Mr. DeSantis to get some cameras put in here. We have four new cameras in high-traffic areas that have really helped. cut down on

074some of the vandalism and the mess making and like the cafeteria is huge. We're able to like pinpoint things and squash it. Whereas kids deny, if you couldn't prove it, it was really hard. So that has helped. The CAF is still, you know, ongoing, you know, needs improvement, but that has really helped, especially, you know, if I have to tell parents, well, it's on camera. and then you can't really dispute it. So that has been really, really helpful. We still feel we need more cameras. Just the makeup of this school and the geography of this school, which I'll talk about when we get to staff. It's just so vast, and kids have to travel, and it's not, as best as we can be out there, there's not someone in every crevice here, and there's a

075lot of geography and pathways to cover, and just safety alone, you know, I really would, I'm still going to push for more cameras, but that is something that helped. The bathrooms are still a problem with vandalism. You know, kids... like squishing juice boxes, throwing it all over. We continue to monitor and we are continuing to strategize. I work with the custodial staff and with the teachers about checking in between classes and things like that. So we're still monitoring that. I feel like we have a long way to go, but I know hopefully we'll get there. Another area to improve, I find, is teachers tracking data on when we determine a kid needs to go on an incentive plan or a behavior plan or something of that nature with repetitive behaviors coming up. I get it.

076I was a teacher, too. It's sometimes hard to remember all the things that you have to do and track, and we just need to be better at that. We need to find... ways that work for us to remember to track data but that's something that we could improve on because it's hard if we don't have the data then it's hard for us to make the next moves so if we're forgetting to track that it gets it gets hard with what we're going to do next so The other thing is because we're tied up sometimes dealing with a lot of incidents, as you saw, we're not always able to be in the hallways, and I really want to change that. I want to lessen the stuff that I have to be doing in there so I

077can be more in the halls. I've always felt, like, personally as an administrator, being highly visible is, like, the key, and so I just want to be able to do more of that. The other thing we like put into place is that Saturday school. So we've used it for academics and we also use it for consequences. We've done like community service. If we found something, they work with a custodian, they do something. So we're hoping that that's both a deterrent and meaningful for students. You know, and there's always restorative things that we do during that time to work to correct that and hold them accountable. I think you're probably familiar, but we still continued with that PBIS system with the grizzly bucks. Kids caught doing good things or doing the right things are rewarded with

078that, and they can cash in at the school store. I didn't write it on here, but I should have, is that Ms. Tony Sargent really helped us with managing the store this year. really coordinating volunteers for it. She's really put a lot of time into that because we found that we were just stretched too thin to try to manage that too. So I was, we're very grateful for Tony and help in managing that store for the kids. Mrs. Hema has been instrumental. She's started like a positive record recognition program. It's, we still have to work out some kinks on how we, we, tell the kids, she gave them certificates and things like that. We get referrals from the teachers. We have the team leaders each month pick two kids from each team, why they're chosen,

079and then we recognize them for those positive behaviors. And then... We've started the Grizzly Grow program, which is designed to hopefully develop soft skills that promote leadership, good citizenship amongst our adolescents. And we want them to try new things and do good things in turn to feel self-efficacy, build their confidence, their resilience, and develop into, we want them just to be well-rounded individuals, but have that confidence in themselves. So we, you know. Hopefully, if they see that, there's less behaviors. That's the hope. And then moving forward, you know, as I reflect about what we need to do, I really feel like we need full support of families to do this work. We have to be consistent with parent communication at the classroom level regarding behaviors when they first arise. We need to develop a progression

080of classroom managed discipline so that it's, and like keep our consistent approach at the administrative level, develop. We were talking about this recently in a team leader meeting that we need to develop a protocol to enforce eligibility for after school activities. That's one thing we didn't really do this year. So some kids kind of might have been failing and probably should have been participating, but we didn't have a protocol in place and that kind of like came to us late this year. And I said, as principal, I don't feel comfortable. slamming a kid now in the spring when we haven't been doing that all year i said we'll start fresh next year make the expectation known um so that's something we need to do which hopefully will help let's say we want to better use

081our monthly sst meetings to strategize with behavioral interventions You know, we talked about developing, me and the guidance team have talked about developing a systematic approach that includes like in-person parent meetings when possible to discuss behaviors before it rises to the level of repeated infractions and then suspensions. So I really want to come in next year with like a linear progression of steps. But I need to do that work with the teachers too. That's the hope for that. And then I thought I was looking at some community involvement. I took the data from our monthly newsletter, how many views we get. It's pretty strong. People are definitely seeing our stuff. I really feel that I don't want to overwhelm parents with too much. I feel like if you can put everything, plan it out and

082put it in one monthly thing they can go back to, that's probably better than a bunch of emails. We do send out flyers and stuff as they come in just to advertise, but all stuff centrally located, I think, is better than a bunch of things all the time. And then we just want to continue to involve. One of the things we wanted to do, and we talked about in my school council early on in the year, is we really wanted to bridge home and school partnerships. So I did every month in the newsletter, we have like a parent volunteer link. They can link and I check that. And we... See who wants to come in and work typically that most people want to work in the school store, which is fine. It's great We want

083people to help in lunches. We've had a Few parents come and do that and it's been actually really good I think people get scared having parents come in and I love it come in come in come see come see it in action and we have one parent in particular who has been awesome. He's been coming like every day. It's just, it's been great. The kids respect him. I think he's a coach in the community, so he knows a lot of kids. We've even had Kelly Zella come quite a few times to help, you know, with the middle school dining experience. It's not, it's not the best part of the day for the adults, but, you know, we do. Yeah, she's like, every time we always say, every time you hear us, nothing that's happening. Yes,

084keep coming back. So that's good. And then... We did a lot of work this year. Jamie DePace, I'd be remiss without talking about him. He has been instrumental in really driving a strong school culture. He has lots of great ideas. He's passionate. He's energetic. He came to me. He's like, can we put together a faculty culture committee? And I said, absolutely. So him and I and Megan Prince has been part of that. where he kind of spearheads it, and then I give the okay on stuff, or we contribute in some way. But our collective belief is that if teachers feel good, the kids are going to feel good. And how do we do that? So we did a survey, and this is what's really interesting to me, especially being new. We only had 46 teachers

085respond. That's pretty high. A lot of the teachers that responded have been here 16 to 20 plus years. So that's a big chunk of the staff. But also, like, there's 13% of them have been here one year or less. So, you know, you have the gamut. But on the next page, I found this so incredibly interesting that 50% of the staff here no less than 25% of their peers. And it just like hit me. Like I was like, what? Like what? Like I'm brand new and I know every single person. This just seems, it was like hard for me to fathom that people that have worked there and have talked to teachers about this, like yeah, I have no idea. I've heard this name and they've worked here for 10 plus years. Like I don't

086even know what they do. I'm like, what? So that just gave me a whole new perspective on what I have to do to like work with the staff. And so we've made a priority in staff meetings to, I make people mix it up. I make them do an activity, but it's always like something that we have to get done. But they have to, you know, introduce themselves, what they do. I try to do, you know. Not everyone likes icebreakers, but basically they're like icebreakers. And the staff gets to intermingle with each other instead of being isolated with their own little groups. So that was just very interesting. learning that about the staff here. And if I never took that survey, I don't think I would have ever realized that. Maybe over time, but not that

087quickly. So we did ask the staff, these are a couple questions, I won't read them all to you, but what's something that's working well? Overall, this was the summary. They felt... Many staff members value the strong support and helpfulness and the positive working relationships within their teams. I was happy to see they felt the positive administrative impact on things that Mrs. Hemer and I have brought. Student engagement and behavior. They really, a lot of people talked about the grizzly grind and the morning announcements and the spirit days is really a boost to the culture for kids. And overall, there's a general effort to improve the school culture. Like, I know I mentioned Tony Sargent already, but her, there's other people, Jamie, that really want to do well by the school. And, you know, it's, you

088can feel it. What some places we need to build upon? There's a feeling and need for school-wide events and activities. I know Mrs. Zeller and I talked about that, but that's a feeling amongst the staff too. One of the hard things here is... We can't fit all the kids here in one location. So it's really hard, unless it's outside, to do like pep rallies. So it has to be broken up, which then leads me to go, well, that's why people don't know each other because we can never really get together fully in one space together. But people do want that. Staff connection, appreciation. Everybody wants to feel recognized and appreciated. And so one of the things they, you know, they did mention which aligns with the data is they just want to keep promoting themes

089of kindness and respect and implement consistent discipline when those who don't show respect, you know, that we deal with that consistently. This is some of the things that they wanted to focus on when they took a survey. for that so staff morale community building school tradition and events were like the top So this is really good because as I do things in the school, I always have this in the back of my mind and I make decisions based, like knowing this information now. So that's been a helpful thing for us this year. Moving on to the school improvement plan. We've been taking a look at that and our three goals, like the academic excellence. and this aligns with the district stuff, we feel the same. MTSS is where we need to focus our efforts. That's

090a lot, it's a big thing. And we need to work on it and we need to, you know, what I'm finding, and I've talked to Ms. True about this, is we talk about interventions, we talk about doing all this stuff, but I think teachers really need help in how to do that at the tier one, the classroom level, and tier two, so when it's up a notch. I think we need to give more PD to teachers around that because I think we use the term loosely, but I don't think people always know how to do that or know what resources to go to for that. And we have lots of resources here, but it's like, how do we get what we need where we need it and know that? So I know that's largely in

091the plan for PD next year. Let's see and then you know and that's with our wind block we've established the system now now we just need to get better at That wind block and given those interventions for the higher needs Wellness and belongings, the second goal, maintaining a positive, inclusive environment for all students. Some of the things that we're going to be moving towards is we have this ruler training that is how to manage things. The staff needs to learn it first and understanding how to manage our emotions. And then we're exploring some... resources with like social media and how that impacts so we're going to be doing a little bit of work with that a little bit this year there's a resource we're looking at the counselors are looking at and seeing how maybe

092we could tie that into a bigger domain in the school we've established that culture committee we still want to do that we've established grizzly grow which is likely sneak peek, going to be my showcase, but we want to continue to build upon that. Our club participation is up. The offerings of clubs by teachers is amazing. Shout out to Kelly McDonald. She does a lot of work organizing that and getting that up and running for us. The safety trainings at the school all went well this year. We did get those four additional cameras, and I'll keep saying it. We still want more. We have that proposed SRO in the budget. Hopefully that stays. I did two double bullets there. Okay. And then our operational effectiveness, our last one is strengthening the internal systems like I've talked

093about throughout this presentation with protocols and procedures and community partnerships. So we want to continue to work on. That kind of stuff, like I said, eligibility meetings, data team meetings, SST, classroom discipline, communication, et cetera. And we want to have those partnerships to expand our students' view of the world and careers. We really want to look to our parents and our community to have some career kind of things and bring people in to do that. and then continue to find opportunities for parents to volunteer. And then I just did a summary of strengths. I think we have a stable, consistent enrollment. Our attendance rates overall are pretty good. We're a positive accountability rating. We have a favorable student-teacher ratio. We have a dedicated staff. We have solid school culture indicators, so that's really good. Areas

094of growth and concern, we already know some of it, we're low proficiency in ELA and math. We have declining or stagnant achievement trends across the board. There's low student growth, especially in math. Systematic trends, our instructional practices and our curriculum have not yet yielded or produced our accelerated growth like we'd like to see, so we need to look at that. You know, we have a large percent of students in the partially meeting category of MCAS, and we know we can do better than that. And, you know, reducing those behavioral referrals. So priorities moving forward, you know, the instructional improvement, the math focus, MTSS, continuing looking at data and progress monitoring. professional development for those interventions like I mentioned. And so I think we're a strong and stable school. We have a lot of areas to

095grow and we'll get there. And I think we're well positioned to move from our moderate performance where we are now to higher performance in the coming years. That's my report. Yeah. You're welcome. Does anyone have any questions? There's a lot to take in. I'm still taking a lot of it in myself. I might circle back with a few questions because there's a lot of data and I really appreciate some of the things you hit, especially as I alluded to earlier, I think the attendance is important because if they're not there, they can't learn. And then I liked how you were looking at some of the progressive discipline areas because then if you can make slight adjustments here and there, then... you can also start to get them back into the classroom so that they're ready

096to learn. So I see where you're going with your roadmap, and I like looking through the data. I'll just be honest. I'm going to have to look at it longer to digest it all. Yeah, it's a lot to digest, yeah. And there's always something you find new every time you look at it, too. Like even today when I was reviewing it again, I'm like, oh, yeah, what about this? What about this? Well, I think it's a valid one of the points that you made, though, that you don't have a consolidated area to have everyone meet, so it can have its challenges on so many levels. And that's a logistical challenge that I'll have to think about if there's any solutions. Yeah, I welcome it. More brains, the better, right? But thank you. Thank you, yeah.

097Yeah, I know you got one, Kathy. It's either you or Anthony that definitely wants to question in that moment. So it's cool. Okay. Yeah. No, I would just like to just call out, like, on your suspensions, I appreciate, you know, while I... 39 suspensions, whether inside or outside, I think is always high. But I think the work that you're doing to think about alternative pathways and including that Saturday school option will hopefully lower that number. And just even diving into your data to look at the recidivism and what's happening in the classroom that's elevating that. I think is great. So thank you for using the data in a way to make some changes. Yeah, you're welcome. The only thing I noted, there's a lot of information here. I think it's awesome. And I think you

098will definitely benefit from having some of this information, as will we. I was just curious, do you know your, so your newsletters? Do they go out on the same day every month? It's typically the first or second day. Of the month or a different day of the week? Of the month. I'm just wondering if people look at them. By the first or by usually the March 1st or February 1st. I try to get it by the first of the month. Sometimes I do it a little before if I'm ahead. I try to do it as early as. right before that if I can, but usually by the first. There was one month I was late because I was in the hospital, and so I didn't get a chance to do it until I got out

099of the hospital. So it was like, maybe I think it was like four or five days late. But yeah, it's always by the, I try to do it by the first of them. I just wonder if it's a day of the week that people actually have the time. I could look at the days. Oh, maybe it's Sunday and I'm, oh, I'm home. Yeah, I have time to look at. That might help. I mean, you have decent numbers anyways, but I'm just, it was just something that stuck with me. Like, I wonder if it's the same time because I know I have seen them. I'll have to look at that. Sometimes I've had to go back because I have to look. But no, I think there's a lot of great information in here. So I appreciate

100you putting the effort in. I'm sure there'll be some benefits for the middle school students and staff. I'm going to send it out to the teachers tomorrow. Yeah. Great. They can say. There's one last thing I wanted to point out. It's a very good positive. I had the privilege of going on one of the field trips recently. all they kept doing the whole field trip is reciting the joke of the day they do and and it was really funny because they would be looking at an exhibit and they were like okay and then as they're transitioning to the next one they're like and then there was this joke of the day and so so you're making an inroad and they're relating and so I just thought that was worth pointing out Sorry, I'm I'm also

101one that likes to read it and look it over many many many times and then finally ask you something so but Thankfully, I also know Where you you know, I know where you are Anybody else all right, thank you Personally I'm looking already looking forward to next year when we get to compare and contrast, you know, so now it's Now it's Joe with not one but five updates. Isn't that great? Yes, Madam Chair, but they are generally brief updates. So Director of Finance and Operations, Joe DeSantis. Would you like to go in order? I will go in order. Yes, I'll go in order one through five as they are presented on the agenda. First item is just an update to our FY25 closeout process, year-end closeout. As I've already alluded to on kind of a

102month-over-month basis, our audit team came in in November to perform their field audit. We're still awaiting our subsequent. Final figures and full audit results. We don't have any call outs to note as of this point I will obviously let you know if that changes our E&D certification process is still being finalized as well I'm assuming and hoping that will come within several days We have been in constant contact with the Department of Revenue, so we're not anticipating Any further delays in the finalization update number two is just an update on our solar project status for shepherd hill as some of you may or may not recall dcrsd has been in a group study being performed by national grid that will allow us to get the green light as far as interconnectivity is concerned for either

103a potential solar panel roof project or potential solar canopy project within the lot. Either way, the National Grid Interconnectivity study will have to be completed and approved prior to us moving forward. As you also may or may not recall, I did have Dave Bisson from Select Energy come in last August. which allowed us to lock in our federal tax credits in relation to this program. So when we do receive the green light from National Grid, we're still in place to receive the estimated credits. It's still estimated right now that 2027, at some point within that calendar year, will be when the National Grid connectivity study is completed. But again, as further updates come about, I will disseminate to school committee. The third item I have for you is an update on our FY26 Green Communities

104Grant. August of 2025, the Town of Charlton was awarded. Green Communities funding grant funding by the Department of Energy the total award being two hundred nineteen thousand seven hundred thirty dollars of which the town of Charlton very generously earmarked one hundred and one thousand and sixty dollars of those total funds or forty four forty six percent in support of weatherization measures at Charlton Elementary School I'm happy to report the weatherization projects were completed the week of March 9th. Those projects included replacement of window seals and gaskets, door seals and gaskets, and spray foam insulation within the gym area. We anticipate these projects to have an immediate positive impact on the building's energy efficiency. So, DCRSD would like to extend a sincere thank you to the town leadership. of charlin for providing dcrsd with this grant

105opportunity an update for our charlin elementary school fire alarm panel if you recall the charlin alarm charlin elementary fire alarm panel is the final project that's yet to be completed of the projects that were funded by the dcrsd bond from 2024. The pre-bid walkthrough for this particular project was March 30th and the project is currently available to bidders with the general bid deadline being April 22nd at 11 a.m. DCRSD will provide a summary of the pricing sheets and a recommendation of an awarded vendor to school committee once bids are collected and replacement of the fire panel is slated to commence after school ends this year. assume it's going to be approximately late June 26 but I will have a more cement date once the bids are in and we're anticipating mid-august for a completion date

106prior to the start of the 26 27 school year And the final update I have for you is just a regulatory guidance update as it relates to IBNR for our health insurance trust, which has also incurred but not reported expenditures. So I did, within my report, put the full guidance that was provided within a Department of Revenue slash Division of Local Service bulletin in February. pages three and eight of that release are in relation to IBNR receivables and payables and fund deficits what's important to know about these numbers is they're considered and may be considered liabilities moving forward on our financial statements and this is only applicable to self-insured Trust funds we are working with the Department of Revenue to isolate whether or not this new regulation will impact DCRSD moving forward whether it does

107or it doesn't we will prepare as a district to meet any financial obligation that we may be required on the part of the Department of Revenue and the state We are we're also working to stay in regulatory compliance and drive down any deficit we may have prior to the end of the year so if there is any potential negative impact to E&D next year or if the deficit does need to be raised as part of the FY28 budget we will be prepared for that in advance and we will try to prior to the end of FY26 drive down our deficit as much as we can and as much as we can help. But again, we only have certain control over that based on loss data, based on claims, et cetera. But we are preparing, at

108least from a financial and from a regulatory perspective, to meet any potential obligations that we may have moving forward. So I'm happy to take any questions you may have on any of those topics. Anyone have any questions for Joe? Well, I guess you're off the hook. Off the hook. I'll take it. Thank you. All right. So moving to school choice, 2026-2027 school year. Mr. O'Marsh. Madam Chair and school committee, annually in the April meeting, we vote on school choice for the following year. It's a required regulatory act by the school committee to either participate or not participate in the school choice program. So I have provided you with a memo in your folder and in the folder online earlier today. i apologize for the tardiness on this as well but i am recommending based off

109of our trends and based off of past experience we do not as you can see on the chart we currently have 167 school choice students each year the school committee does set a mark that's high it's a target but we never meet that mark so this year i am recommending it's actually two slots less than i asked for last year but i'm recommending that school committee approve at the top level 228 school slots for grades 5 through 12 and 5 through 12 and that we still participate in the school choice program with the state of massachusetts all right so looking to entertain a motion for participation into the school choice program for grades 5 through 12 not to exceed 228 slots so move who second Kelly second any discussion hearing none all those in favor

110it's unanimous thank you madam chair and school committee the next item I have is for annually the school committee does vote to approve the enrollment of staff students that are part of our agreements all applicable agreements with our employees last year we had nine total students this year we are we have identified 14 students that staff have requested according to their agreements to attend our schools we do have the space and room i do have the language for the motion at the bottom of this memo the motion should read to approve enrollment requests of dcrsd staff in accordance with applicable employment agreements for the 2026 2027 school year Any discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. It's unanimous. Thank you. Okay, and back to us, the school committee. So just a quick

111subcommittee updates by respective chairs. And if I remember correctly, Anthony is... chair of a couple of subcommittees so i'm gonna put you in the hot seat first if that's okay since i think what your budget and finance and capital outlay and safety yes madam chair i'm going to start with uh the budget and finance if i may uh we've had some a lengthy amount of standing updates and mr desantis has been excellent with the rolling updates outlining everything from circuit breaker, E&D, school choice, anticipated enrollment numbers, cost of utilities, transportation, contractual obligations, audit updates, end of year, budget updates and requests. We've been very busy in subcommittee and we've been also tracking all the developments on the cherry sheets from the governor to the House to the Senate. And I just want to thank the

112administration for all their input in keeping us up to speed on that. It makes the work of the subcommittee and the full school committee a lot easier of a lift. So thank you to Mr. DeSantis and the rest of the administration. If, through the chair, I could continue to capital outlay and safety as a small update there. We've reached out to a number of... of personnel ranging from director facilities to Mr. D'Arcangelo with IT. We've walked a number of schools. I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Pusateri. We went through several schools this previous week. We walked everything looking at safety from location of AEDs, potential... phones for emergency calling with our future capital project there we've looked at the heritage driveway lighting we've looked at we're still going through the msba applications ice

113dams snow removal leaks and repairs heating outages and heat pumps we've covered a lot of ground this year so if you have any questions How many potholes? Just the ones that could swallow a small Volkswagen. But we've covered a lot of grant, and we've been working very closely with the administration. Thank you very much. I yield my time. I was just kind of looking quick, kind of like, what has everybody been up to, right? Okay, and policy subcommittee. Right now we are working on a new school committee member handbook. It's in draft form and we're tweaking it here and there and adding. And the other thing we're recently working on is an AI policy, which is going to take a lot of work. Policy sub is great because our stuff comes up all the time.

114It's the funnest committee. Everyone should want to go. Policy sub is where it's at, you know, right? Because come on doesn't doesn't the working draft of the school committee handbook. It's a thing of beauty so far. Come on. All right I've done a lot of work on it. So And moving on to teaching and learning So with teaching and learning we're gonna be meeting in the next few weeks To go talk through school transitions middle school math We're gonna be reviewing our school committee goals with in relation to the educational excellence and student experience. And then just going through and looking, talking about how did the student achievement report go and our March professional development days. So last moment of housekeeping because we're not gonna have Richard Earl for much longer here. Just as a

115heads up for looking at next meeting dates, the policy review subcommittee, unfortunately that needs to be rescheduled, so that's not Thursday, April 9th, that's gonna be Thursday, April 30th, at what time? Is it still also 4 p.m.? Oh my God, we haven't gone into executive session in a while. Oh yeah. The next meeting date for curriculum, teaching, and learning? No, school committee meeting. Wednesday, May 13th, yeah. Oh yeah. Next school committee is Wednesday, May 13th at Shepherd Hill. All right, and so let's see, executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position. Parent litigation of the public body and chairs who declares only to reconvene into regular session to take votes if necessary and adjourn. All right,

116and going into executive session is a roll call. I need a motion first, so. Second. Okay, I know I was gonna get there. Thank you. But roll call. Caitlin? Yes. Maureen? Yes. Anthony? Aye. Jean? Yes. Kathy? Yes. Amy? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Okay. We're in executive session.