001all right we're going to call the meeting to order of the Dudley Charlton Regional School District 6 30 it's October 8th and we're meeting at the Charlton Middle School in the library and we're recording on Vimeo unfortunately we're still not able to live stream but it will be up on the district website if anybody is recording The meeting, other than Mr. Earl here from Vimeo, you just need to let the chair know. Okay. Hearing nobody, we're going to move on to the Pledge of Allegiance. A moment of silence. And on to the consent agenda items. There are three things in the consent agenda items. Is everyone all set with them? Can you pull out the band? Okay. This is a request to pull out the overnight field trip out of the consent. Anyone else? Okay,
002hearing none. So the consent agenda item for this will be the approval of the warrant, the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of September 24th, 2025. I move that we accept the warrant as printed. Okay. All right, so all those in favor? It's unanimous. So moving on to the overnight field trip for Shepherd Hill band policy. Sorry, I cannot see. Off of policy IJOA for the November 7th, 8th, 2025. A motion to accept? A second? Is that you, Jamie? Okay. All right, discussion? I was just questioning nurse coverage, how many chaperones we're having. Good evening. Just to preface my response to your questions, I just want to share that obviously our students through the years have faced some adversity in many different forms. And it's no secret that recently we faced some adversity,
003but I want the committee to know, I want the community to know just how proud I am, how we should be proud of their incredible resilience and determination. and I've had the opportunity to spend a good amount of time with our band in recent days, and that's why I feel so strongly this evening to be here on behalf of this trip, to speak on behalf of this trip. Also, in times of adversity, there are those who step forward and offer their service and offer themselves as a solution to a problem that we face, and I want to publicly acknowledge Mrs. Cindy Snow. of Dudley Middle School who has stepped forward in the past week and a half and filled a critical role here so that our students can continue to perform and compete and do
004what they love and I'm very thankful for her at this time. So the trip that you have before you is something that had been discussed since the spring. We anticipate approximately 20 to 25 students. who would go on this particular trip. Obviously, Mrs. Snow will be the primary supervisor. I do anticipate at least three other adult staff members from the program who are currently employed as staff members with the program. I will double-check on the nursing component because I do know sometimes we do have parents that we're able to put through that process. But I have complete faith in Mrs. Snow and her ability to be a good steward of this program and a good steward of this trip. And I think our students really deserve this opportunity. Thank you. How many students are we
005participating? On this trip? Yes. I would estimate between 20 and 25. Thank you. Any further questions? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor? Okay. It's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Elwell. All right. Moving on to communications. Does anyone have any communications? Kelly? I just want to report that I attended the Charlton Middle School's school council meeting so that was good we did introductions talked about principals goals you know some business for the year a lot of theme that kind of came up amongst it was kind of creating more parent volunteer opportunities discussion about library help teacher prep you know School lunches help I did also come in and observe a lunch Just based off of that discussion so that was good and just looking to kind of develop plans for integrating ways to
006foster more independent independence for these students here and Obviously reviewing a school improvement plan and the handbook over the years. It was a good meeting great people a lot of brainstorming so it was good and also the Charlton Elementary School has a spooktacular on October 29th I know that they are looking for volunteers you can reach out to Mrs. Kerouac if anybody is interested in doing that that's it for me I just want to remind everybody the next DPAC meeting is October 15th it's a Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Charlton Middle School right here yes I'll just wait what's the presentation I read it and I forgot Parents rights. Yes, it's on basic rights by Heather Harriman. She's going to do an excellent job. Are you bringing baked goods this time? There we go. Any
007other communications? Thank you, Maureen. Yeah, you also get to see me there too because Kenny will not be, our chair will not be there, so I'll be running that meeting. They can join a Google Meet. Oh, okay. and then the superintendent's report madam chair and school committee i just have one item to report out on this evening it is something that i'll read into the record good evening members of the school committee any staff families and members of the community i want to take a moment to directly address the concerns i know are weighing heavily on many minds the arrests and charges involving one of our teachers this week are deeply troubling Let me be clear the safety and well-being of our students remains our highest priority and the guiding principle behind every decision We
008make in Dudley Charlton as a district. We have strong safeguards in place Every employee undergoes background checks before they are hired Including fingerprinting a Cori which is a criminal offender record information request Sorry, which is also a sex offender registry information check in accordance with the Massachusetts law. These protocols are not optional. They are required and they are enforced in Dudley-Charlton. In addition, we provide ongoing and annual trainings, oversight and monitoring to include mandatory reporter training, anti-discrimination and Title IX training, bullying prevention and intervention training, student records protections training, McKinney-Vento homelessness training. IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act training in Section 504, restraint training, suicide awareness training, universal precautions and blood-borne pathogens training, food allergies, anaphylaxis, cybersecurity training, and mass conflict of interest for all staff, as well as annual safety drills and regular administrative
009reviews to help ensure that everyone working in our schools is safe to serve our students. When a personnel matter arises, particularly one that involves the safety or well-being of our students. The district acts swiftly, methodically, in accordance with both state law and school committee policy. We immediately collaborate with law enforcement, take steps to remove staff from active duty when appropriate, and implement continuity measures so that student learning is not disrupted. These are not decisions taken lightly, but they are taken firmly and decisively. I also want to be clear. Again this evening, to our knowledge, based on our direct and ongoing collaboration with LAR enforcement, there is no indication of any connection between the current and ongoing investigation and our staff or students. As a parent of teenagers myself, I relate to the fear, the worry,
010and the questions that moments like this bring. I carry the same profound weight of concern that many of you feel. Please know that I approach these responsibilities not only as the superintendent, but also as a father who wants every child in this community to be safe, supported, and able to thrive. I understand the public's concern. I share that concern, and I want to reassure you that our protocols are in place, that they worked as designed, and that the district will continue to use every resource available to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of every child in our care. Thank you for your continued support, and I trust in your trust as we move forward together through these difficult times And in addition to my report I also have important dates on the back I just
011want to remind folks that there is no school for students on Friday this Friday the 10th There's also no school on Monday for Columbus Day on Monday the 13th. Then you have the November dates with early release, Veterans Day, early Thanksgiving days, and then December, which I'll report on in the future as well. But that concludes the superintendent's report, a superintendent's statement for the record this evening. Thank you. All right. Then moving on to public comment, do we have anybody here for public comment this evening? Seeing none. Then we get to move on to new business. which is what I expect most people are here for this evening, which will be the showcase for a Heritage Elementary School, which looks to be very interesting and enjoyable, from Principal Peter Olson. Thank you for inviting and
012having us. This is a little strange for me in two ways. Once, I'm usually last on the docket every year. So to be first, it's a little odd. And not to have famous historical figures standing behind me is even stranger. However, I brought a bunch of zoologists to share some information with you. This actually goes right into our CKLA program, our Unit 2, Version 3 for third grade. They will be doing animal classifications. They're starting to explore how scientists group animals based on shared characteristics. They are learning words and things that I used to teach in sixth grade, so I'm a little confused by that. I hear the word vertebrae. I hear how they're classified, and I used to teach that in sixth grade, so I guess I could go backwards now and teach third
013grade. To launch this unit after reading a few of the stories, they completed a beginning of unit writing activity designed to capture their initial understanding based on their reading and provide a foundation for learning. In this activity, students were asked to write on either, did you enjoy being an animal researcher today, because obviously they're zoologists, and explain that, or classify living things or classifying animals by characteristics. They were encouraged to use their own words, prior knowledge, and any examples they could think of. At this stage, the focus was not mastery. but on giving students a chance to express their thinking and show what they bring to the unit. The baseline writing activity served two important purposes. One, it allows teachers to see what the students have learned about animal classification from the first readings. It
014also provided a snapshot of the students' writing skills that they can build upon. One of my favorite things in this activity, and it's part of the reason why I selected it, is I walked into the room and I saw this. And it baffled me for a moment, for a slight moment. I can't lie. I'm like, wait, that says CKLA, but this is not the CKLA book. This is the CKLA book that they use. And what I love that she did, because the CKLA does have some great writing and great activities in it. However, all programs have some slight struggles, and one of the slight struggles is organizing the writing. So she decided to make a field journal and in her field journal it goes right with the writings that are in the book But she
015broke it down so they had a graphic organizer to help them organize And I would also give them this that they can bring home a little field journal and remember all they're learning about animal classification By the way the teacher that did that is Mrs. Duvall who will come up and be introducing the students in a moment Now, as this unit progresses, students will return to these ideas, expand their knowledge with evidence from the text. and refine their writing into more polished, informative pieces. So keep in mind that this is kind of the start of this process, not the finish. The samples you see here will represent their first steps into the unit, an exciting starting point that they will grow and more develop by the end of the year. And I'd like to invite
016Mrs. Duvall up just for a little clap, and she will introduce the four students we have here, our four zoologists. Hello, I'm Gina Duvall. I'm a third grade teacher at Heritage School. And like Mr. Olson said, we have been working on animal classification. And the students have written a mix of opinion paragraphs and informational paragraphs. So John Paul, do you want to go first? You're in that seat, so you can use the microphone. Jean, the parents are asking if it's OK for you to record the kids reading. Yeah, sorry. These are some facts I learned from our reading. A classified thing is something that grows from baby to adult. Classifying all living things by their characteristics, like a monkey and a human, have a lot of things in common. I learned about vertebrates. A vertebrate
017is a living animal, is a living thing that has a backbone. An invertebrate is a living thing that does not have a backbone. Those are all the facts I learned in my reading. If you could be one animal from the readings today, what animal would you be? These are the reasons why I want to be a fish. The first reason is because I think it would be cool having gills. The second reason is because I want to live underwater. The final reason is because I want to play hide and seek underwater. Those are the reasons why I want to be a fish. Here are some facts about living things. The first fact is some animals are cold-blooded. The second fact is some animals are not cold-blooded. The third fact is some animals have hair or
018fur. Here are some facts about the read aloud. I'm going to tell you some facts about animals. My first fact is that hippos have hair around their eyes. My second fact is that mammals don't lay eggs, they just have the baby. My last fact is a good one. It's that animals that have a backbone are called vertebrates. Those are some facts that I learned. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. That's a hard act to follow. I know, that was fantastic. So we are tabling the principal report from... principal Darren Elwell and that means that Joseph DeSantis is up a little bit early let's have a few brief updates regarding the Charlton fire substation fire panel replacement and this school year's current budget first is the fire department substation update As I mentioned in
019our previous meeting, the Charlton Fire Department substation construction performed excavation and sewer tie-in work September 30th through October 1st of 2025. While the sewer work caused traffic delays the morning of September 30th, there were no other issues reported for either the evening of the 30th or the day of October 1st when the work was completed. Charlton Police Department placed detail officers on the construction site to ensure traffic impact was kept to a minimum. Any further work that will impact traffic and or school functions will be disseminated as they arise during the course of construction. Charlton Elementary fire panel replacement. As you may or may not recall, the previous vendor, H&S Electric, who was contracted to perform the previous panel installation work, became unresponsive this past April of 2025, leading us for a search for a
020new vendor. DCRSD has contracted GINAP Architects to assist in the procurement and the bidding process. based on the length of time estimated to complete the installation the district is aiming to have the installation completed no later than summer break of this upcoming year 2026 we're hoping to get it completed earlier than that but again it'll depend on the amount of time that the actual installation will be estimated to cost and whether or not that would impact school functions so again that will be periodically updated as further updates on the timing become available. And finally, this current year's budget initial update, the first quarter of the current school year ran relatively smoothly with the vast majority of school supplies and the materials for both instructional and maintenance purposes having already been ordered. a detailed update of
021the operating budget will be performed and provided for school committee at the end of the second quarter December 2025 so I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about those subjects no questions okay hearing none I guess we get to move on to assistant superintendent Kelly true thank you So as you know, we have our first full-day professional development day coming up on this Friday, October 10th. And I've been planning since the spring for this day. So this is like my Christmas. I'm always happy when this week comes around. So we have a lot set up for professional development. We have a lot of must-dos. We have a lot of can-dos. There's a lot of choice for everybody, and we're going to get some much-needed curriculum work accomplished, which I'm happy about. So this
022year for professional development, I did create a district vision for professional development, and this is something that we've talked about as a leadership team. We're looking to create a culture of continuous improvement and collective efficacy that empowers educators to employ innovative instructional practices, decreasing barriers to learning in the classroom, and increasing student engagement, achievement, and ownership of learning. Those are all goals that our professional development has been targeting over the last few years. And then I created a SMART goal for our professional development for teachers to understand what we're looking for when we come into their classrooms. And our goal for this school year is that. 80% of classrooms visited during walkthroughs so all the administrative team is doing walkthroughs in every building that 80% of classrooms by the end of the year will show
023evidence of scaffolding or providing access to grade level content to reduce the barriers to student learning and engagement so I felt like it would be important to have everybody working towards the same goal and to really be clear about what that goal is so I added those two things to our professional development documentation for teachers One of the things that I'm most looking forward to is our elementary math professional development through the All Learners Network, which is making math accessible to all students. This is a program that is going to be working with us all year during all professional development time for elementary, and they really focus on what are the high-leverage strategies at every grade level, what are the concepts that kids really need to know at that grade level in order to move
024forward to the next grade level, what are the building blocks in math. And then how do we invite all learners into the math classroom and into the math conversation, finding entry points into the curriculum for all students in the classroom, regardless of ability level and challenges. So that's what the elementary people are going to be working on all year. Within that structure of math professional development, there are going to be different cohorts, different grade bands that will be working together, and then we also have a cohort that's just for our curriculum facilitators who are going to be working with a trainer around ways to... Talk to their team about the work ways to facilitate on their team how to use the resources and how to support their team members with what they're learning and Then
025also within that cohort structure. We're going to have a special education cohort, which is going to work on specially designed instruction in mathematics for special ed students, so it's really tailored to you know classroom teachers to all of our different populations and The teachers will be working with them. So I'm excited about that one Then we also are having Eric Schoeninger back. We worked with him all last year. He provided professional development to our teachers. He provided professional development to our administrators. He is coming back out, and he will be doing two sessions on Friday that relate to creating schools that work for kids. What his sessions really are going to primarily focus on are how to provide access to grade-level materials for all students. that's that's a big push is that we're providing exposure
026to grade level standards to grade level curriculum for all students but we need to make it accessible for everyone and so that's what his sessions are going to focus on we have the kulawex group coming in again they came in last year and they did some sessions on ai for us that were very well received and we asked them to come back specifically to focus on ai use in schools from both perspectives of the teacher use of AI and the student use of AI. And so we have two sessions scheduled for that in the morning and the afternoon. And then we're also having a team come out from Love & Logic. which focuses primarily on how our behavior as adults impacts the behavior of our students and how we choose to handle certain situations when
027we have behavioral challenges in the classroom. What we do as the adults to manage that behavior can either bring that behavior up, bring it down, and obviously we're always trying to bring that behavior down, but sometimes our actions... not intentionally sometimes escalate that behavior and how can we monitor and pay attention to the relationships that we're developing with our students and how do we learn more about our own behavior and how it impacts student behavior in the classroom. And that track is one that requires the... People that choose that track will be in that track for the whole year That's a pretty in-depth training and then we have Houghton Mifflin coming out. We use a lot of different Houghton Mifflin products in our particularly in our middle schools, so we are having few different trainers
028come out from Houghton Mifflin our multilingual teachers our ESL teachers will be doing a full day of training with their new curriculum that we put in place last year the English 3d our grade 5 math teachers are going to be having into math professional development because we're going to be wrapping them into the into math umbrella so that we have a cohesive 5 through 8 math program instead of keeping them with our elementary program Grade 6 through 8 math is going to be working on a feature that has just become available in the online platform for InterMath, which is called ClassCraft, which helps with planning lesson design and some different features that they can use in the classroom. And then we're also having an accelerated learning track, which is going to address some concerns that
029we're having around the pathway for accelerated math in our middle schools and then into grade nine at the high school. So we'll be doing some training in the algebra program, but then also some vertical planning from seventh, eighth, and ninth grade specifically for our algebra track. All of our paraprofessionals are going to be working with a trainer, Melissa Davis, who we worked with last year. They had a lot of success with her last year. They really liked her messaging. They enjoyed their presentations with her. And we asked her to come back again this year. She's doing two half-day sessions, one with elementary paras in the morning and then secondary paras in the afternoon. We sent out a survey to the paraprofessional population to ask for specific questions and challenges that they have related to... the
030multifaceted nature of their role to behaviors to in the moment decision making a lot of different aspects of that so she'll be working directly with paraprofessionals on their half day session and then they have the ability to select from other sessions or to write a proposal which I actually got several paraprofessional only proposals this year which I haven't had in the past and I thought that that was great it shows progress that You know, we're starting to think outside the box on some of the things that we can do for professional development, which I love. We also have set up a goal book training, which is a specialized program that our special ed teachers use to help write goals, to help progress monitor. There's a lot of different, it's an online program that's specifically teacher-facing
031to help enhance IEP improvement and management. And so we're doing two sessions from goal book. We're going to be having Language Live training at our middle schools for our middle school reading and Title I support. Language Live is the program that we use for our Tier 2 for reading classes when kids need additional help in reading. And we have several new reading teachers this year, and we have just reintroduced Title I to the middle schools, so we have a lot of people that are in need of training there. And then we are going to be having Anna from Mass Behavioral Health come out to talk to all of our guidance department, our school adjustment counselors, our school psychologists. We've also invited members in from the police departments and first responders to come to this if
032they wish to get more information about how to make referrals to Mass Behavioral Health and to really just ingrain this more in the culture of what we do every day and to give people the information of how to get. this information out to families, how to help them with the resources that they need. So I think that's going to be a great session. Continuing on, we have, this is the first year at the middle school for math and partly for ELA that they will be using the math assessment from NWEA. Traditionally, Houghton Mifflin had its own growth measure assessment that they were using that is being retired. So last year we started with math in some of the other grades and planned to continue that into this year so that we have a more cohesive
033assessment system. from grade one through grade nine. And the session specifically that we have happening on this Friday is making the most of the data. So after you give the assessment, how do you look at those reports? How do you drill down to specific kids? How do you use that information to plan for your instruction for small groupings, for interventions, for all of those things? So we have somebody coming in for that. Our nurses are going to be attending three Zoom sessions through Boston Children's Hospital, especially for medical care and school settings. They're going to a seizure management class, a communicable disease update class, and a children with special health care needs class. So they'll be doing that for the entire day. Superintendent Lamarche and one of our other district office staff, Aaron Clark, will
034be meeting with school secretaries and going over administrative procedures and systems trainings, which will be very important. The high school is going to be doing some high school department curriculum work. They have a half day scheduled with their departments to work on our NEOSC accreditation, on curriculum writing. and things that they need to do specifically, most specifically for the accreditation process. So they're going to be working with their department for half the day, and then they have the other half the day to select from some of our options. We also have some more custom professional development experiences. One is designing your own learning experience by submitting a proposal. This took a little while to kind of train people how to write proposals and get it off the ground, but we've been making progress every year.
035The proposals that I'm getting now are very well written. They're very specific to what they want to do. They have deliverables for the end, and this is a way for people to... really make the work relevant to them for the day. There's a lot of work that needs to get done. There's a lot of things that need to be done and not a lot of time to do it. So people can submit specific proposals to work with colleagues to accomplish some of those things. I've gotten about 30 proposals for Friday from different groups, and those 30 proposals probably encompass maybe 100 staff because most of it is group work. So almost all proposals were... I think I only had two and they just needed edits. So we're doing well with our process for designing their
036own learning experience. We also have our learning library. So the learning library for DCRSD is I have multiple copies of different texts that are all aligned to our district improvement plan and to the professional development that we've been having over the past couple of years. And they're able to take a book out of the learning library. And especially if it tailors towards something that they need for recertification, it allows them to do that work and to do the follow-up assignment with it that will allow for me to... present them with PDPs for that, for their certification. So that's a route that they can use for that, or if they just want to learn about one of the new topics that are in there, they can take the book out for the day and start working
037on that, and they can do that over multiple sessions if they need to. And then finally, we have a new option this year, which is we partner with a company that has asynchronous... PD mini courses. It's called Rocket PD. And I selected three courses that I would be very happy for anybody to engage with over that day. Each course takes about half a day, so people could sign up for just one session and do one course. If they wanted to do it for the whole day, they could do two courses. But they have a... choice of three different courses that they can do and each one of those courses comes with a workbook and comes with additional material that they would need to submit at the end in order to receive credit for taking those
038classes. So those are the choices for the day. There's a lot going on, a lot of moving parts, but I think that there is definitely something for everyone in there. Most people, a lot of people do have mandatory trainings, but there's a lot of room for doing some mandatory training and then some choice training. I think that we've seen a definite in the programs for our staff, and I appreciate that. Especially, you know, I think our parable. Sorry. I'm sorry. I forgot to get to you. Help me now. No, I was saying that, you know, we have seen the upturn of the. the quality of professional development programs and how nice that is and really the ability for our paraprofessionals and all different facets of our staff, whether it's the nurses to behavior specialists, things
039like that, people that don't always have tailored professional development experiences. So I think that's certainly thanks to you, and we appreciate that, or I appreciate that. There's nothing worse than sitting through hours and hours and hours of professional development that does not apply to you. Nobody wants that. Nobody. So it's very important to me that people feel like they have an avenue there. It should apply to you, and it shouldn't be an email. I think you're doing a good job. Thank you. I'm sure that the teachers appreciate it. I am curious. I'll be curious to find out if there's one or two that more people, given the choice, gravitate to, just as, I guess, a curiosity question. But good luck and thank you. The AI one is going to be a podcast. That one has
040a lot of people sign up for it. Actually, Eric Schoeninger and the AI from the Kluwex group, those are pretty evenly matched right now because those are the two of the bigger selections that you can make. and they're pretty evenly matched right now. But because they're both doing two sessions, people can go to both, so, you know, the morning and afternoon sessions. So you could go to AI in the morning and Schoeninger in the afternoon or vice versa, so it works out. Anything else? No? Well, you're off the hook now. Thank you. Okay. All right. Then it's the discussion vote on the MASC resolutions since... believe since I'm the only one going to the MASC conference and you voted me so then it's what I'm gonna be saying right so you all should have gotten
041the mailer at home right but I just scanned my copy and threw it in the packet you didn't get the packet I'll talk to them. I'll email Tracy or something and see if you're on the list. Let's see. So just to make it really quick, and I don't even know why I'm looking at the paper. I can't see it with my current glasses right now. It's too small. All right. Resolution one. All right. So just go over it really quickly. So if you remember. Basically, it's just since I'm the delegate and I'm going down and it's currently how the body feels about it. So we can have the discussion. I'm going to vote on how we feel that I should vote for this since I'm the delegate. When I'm there. We say this every year
042for anybody who's the delegate is that since you're, who's ever the delegate is that whatever evidence is presented during the delegate time, whatever is being said is that you can be swayed to vote in a different way when you're there depending upon what's said and what evidence is brought forth during the delegate assembly. But as the body, this is how we feel, right? So for resolution 1 removing BMI testing from schools so yeah entertain a motion for either being in favor for it or not In favor of removing the BMI testing from schools as presented in resolution number 1 All right so we have a motion and a second any discussion I know right it's a total no-brainer so yeah I remember lining up for that in the intermediate school just now the town hall
043all right so if there's no discussion all those in favor all right oh because the rest of them are falling off so they have to be reaffirmed So they changed the bylaws. So it goes through like, if you go on the bottom right corner of the page, of page 25, right, that first one with the BMI, it explains it right there. Yeah. So these are all ones that have been voted yes before so I mean we could just take them all together and just say yes again for following through which is the regarding sanctuary laws for transgender students increase the maximum balance allowed by the special education reserve fund membership of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education preserving local governance of Massachusetts schools personal financial literacy education establishment of regional school assessment reserve fund
044I mean they were all things we voted yes on before be affirmative to approve or how would you word that the continuing the continuing approval of those continuance of being in favor yeah yeah okay because they were previously approved as resolutions so they're continuing resolutions okay i'll second her motion all right so then any discussion all right hearing none all in favor Again, see this is gonna be the quickest resolutions we've ever had. All right, and then moving all the way to the end. Resolution seven is fully adjusting chapter 78 for inflation. Resolution for fully adjusting chapter 78 for inflation as printed. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? I know, right? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. resolution 8 equitable funding for non-regional school districts with higher transportation costs the resolution is
045printed and we have a second okay who's seconded okay um any discussion hearing none all those in favor right it was definitely the easiest ones ever One more. One more. Was it? No. Is there one more? Oh, my God. One more. Number nine. I missed it. Wow. All right. Oh, yeah. MSBA grants evaluation for Chapter 74. To accept the resolution as printed. I'll second. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor? Sorry, I missed the one paragraph. I really do need new glasses. All right. Based off of these, are there ever any that... Don't get past that like any of them their resolutions at the conferences that actually Okay, don't get past. Yeah. All right. Just curious. I don't see it happening so my first if there was my first one on there were there
046were a couple that didn't get passed and then the second year that I went I wasn't a delegate but it was I had committee members from other school districts that were delegates and it went on for two days they had to suspend the delegate assembly and carry it on for another day because it was there was so much arguing and debate going on I'm just curious I mean I assume they had but I don't often hear of anything that comes to us saying it was not I mean I mean I read the newsletters when they send out stuff some of those resolutions get into legislative committee at the state house and then they don't go anywhere that makes sense and then they die out and yeah well thanks for serving for us we appreciate it
047and now for the third time old business discussion voted the superintendent's 2025-2026 goals Madam Chair and School Committee, I thank you for the feedback at the last meeting. So you have it in your packet. I apologize for the tardiness in getting this in the file. But they are the same goals. The only exception is, based off of the feedback, they are now 2025 to 2027 goals. And what I tried to do is I tried to separate what year one would look like, kind of a snapshot of year one versus year two. So what I'll do is I'll go through that. So the first goal is still academic excellence and HQIM implementation. I didn't catch that, 25, 26, so a year. Okay, so I have one more edit right there. But year one in the first
048year is really organizing, completing the internal SWOT analysis of curriculum instruction, professional learning, correlating the SWOT findings with our currently approved DCRSD 2025-2030 Curriculum Development and Review Plan to see where we're at and see if we need to maybe adjust some alignments, adjust some of the priorities in sequencing. and then use the analysis in relation to curriculum adoption, professional development, and student achievement monitoring moving forward. And then getting into the work for the year two is to continue to oversee the implementation of HQIM, monitor the development of multi-year professional development, and facilitate data reviews at the district level to evaluate the impact of curriculum and PD efforts on student achievement. So that's really how I try to break up the first two years, the two-year goal and what that would look like. Okay? For goal
049number two, again, the goal is still the same. By the end of 26-27 school year, I will strengthen the district's professional culture and leadership capacity by expanding coaching, collaboration, and shared leadership opportunities. That's still the same goal. But what does it look like for year one versus year two? Year one now you have, and Kelly and myself participated in a two-hour CLE session just before school committee this evening with other districts. but we to support that clee work leadership work which has been going extremely well from my perspective uh leverage all of that the clee work that we're doing in the schools i keep mine kelly is is working kelly is identified as a mentor and principal alwell is her mentee i'm identified as the mentor and principal olson is my mentee so it's really
050trying to see how clee fits in all of that and creating opportunities for CLEE, because CLEE has really kind of a prescribed program for leadership, but you have to participate in it, and you have to be part of it across the T's and dot the I's. It's very extensive, as I shared. You know, we just had a two-hour session today. But create all of that, create opportunities for engagement of teachers, administrators, and support staff through that. It's really bringing their improvement plans to life as well. And also for us, which was part of my original goal, is for us to look at the launching and the adoption of an SEL. program for our particular school system that we're working on at this point in time. Also in here was the maintain a visible district office
051presence. Remember I received feedback that I think I had the word consistent in there and that doesn't really, everyone has a different definition for consistent. So it's just reworded to maintain a visible district office presence in schools and at key events on a weekly or at minimum biweekly basis to reinforce accessibility, provide support and strengthen connections among district administrators, principals, staff, students and families. So that is all part of year one and then going into year two is expanding the CLI opportunities Obviously continuing to work on SEL and expanding what that looks like and make sure that's implemented and then also continue to work in district presence and collaboration for Reinforcing a culture of trust accessibility and shared accountability. So that's kind of how I separate out the two years for that particular goal based
052off of the feedback and then the The feedback I received was the mountainous goal of goal number three Modernizing support by the end of 26 27 school year I will collaborate with the assistant superintendent director of people personnel services director finance and operations principals coordinators directors educated staff employee associations on the school committee to strengthen teaching and learning through updated structures innovative practices and modernized supports That is really the mainstay of this is to really organize and modernize the work around. job descriptions within our particular district knowing that that is a monumental mountainous effort what does that look like so i tried to break that down for year one in there also is convening an ai working group this year that has definitely been part of the goal that's definitely the goal that should be
053this year's goal as well and then in the following year really advance the job description review and updating process with policy 7 the full committee aiming for at least 90 completion by june 2027. i know you probably want 100 but i at least Gave myself a little margin there because as a committee you're going to invent new jobs that I'm going to have to create after that. But really, and then also continuing the work with AI, you know, leverage the AI guidance to reinforce high expectations, provide clarity for staff, and strengthen professional practice. as as shared this is the third iteration of this but this is i really appreciate the support of the committee to break this into two two years and what that would look like over two years is what i'm trying to
054provide now i did look at the school committee goals and i did not have the exact terminology benchmarks and all that stuff i can certainly try to when i bring in kind of a review i can bring in some of that information with my review so no okay no i can't i can't i cannot be gene no And nor do you want to, okay? So those are my goals, and I'm open for any questions. Or do you want to go into discussion? I'm happy to entertain a motion first. Let's do it by the book. I'll make a motion to accept the superintendent's goals for 2025 through 2027 as printed. With the exception of the typo he's going to make. With the exception of the 2627, yeah. I'll second that. Open the discussion then. No, you
055go first. No. Please first. Thank you for revising them. I feel like they're more healthy for the whole staff, but still challenging, and we're going to go a long way. I would ask just a Scribner's error, not error, but just if you could go back and anything like SWAT, spell out what they are, things like that, before it goes to the public, because not everybody knows the jargon that we have. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited. I've read this a few times. I've read all the previous iterations. I think this is a very meticulous blueprint. I think it flushes out with detail the roadmap. And I think it's something that we can collaborate around over a two-year cycle. And I think this has the... the mechanics to become very successful for you but then
056as a district wide starting from the top down so my appreciation and patience along the process and i'm excited to get to work great thank you anyone else okay well hearing none all those in favor that's unanimous steve thank you I just have a question about I know that we had to vote on the goals. Do we also need to vote on which particular standards, like strands, we're actually going to mark him on in the evaluation process? Or are we going with standard one, we're holding him accountable to high quality instruction, 1A? You know what I mean? Because we're going to have to vote goal completion, and then we also have to, you know, we're not going to look at every single strand within the standards. So maybe we need to, we don't need to
057look at that tonight, but maybe we can just make a... No, but I thought we talked about that last meeting. Not last meeting. Yeah, last meeting where it was formative. Correct, it's formative. It was the, you know... I just want to make sure that we all understand the same thing. Yeah, okay. So... And I think it will also be helpful when we do the mid-cycle review at the end of this year. The formative, yeah. Correct. So are we talking about, so just for clarification, are we talking about the one, are we talking about the formative in, or are we talking about the evaluative in 2027? Well, I think we have to talk about the evaluative in 2027 because we need to have him. I would assume that you're going to have the same substandards. Am
058I saying the right word? The standards within the stream? Substandards within the standards. Yeah, so like... So I would just want to make sure that this is fair going across then. Right. So Stephen, would you be amenable to us putting it not on the next one, because that's the workshop for the budget, but the first one in November if we had the agenda item to just go over. the standard rubric and just kind of hashed out that line item, just set it in stone for that evaluative process. So it's just packaged together for that time. So there's no wiggle room on that? Yeah. It's fair for all parties. Do you feel good about that? Yeah. Okay. Just so we don't have to suddenly look everything up right this moment. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. We're
059good with that? Okay. And then, I mean, does that? Everyone's good with that, right? Okay. All right, so then moving on to our goals then. That's written. Thank you. All right, motion, second, and then discussion. You write very lengthy goals. I'm wondering if you anticipate having just the goal statements as what would be included on the back of our agendas. Yes. Yes, okay. That would be. Thank you. The agendas are now seven pages. So just so you're aware, I go on the fact. I submitted some lengthy. I do go on the fact that if I put in extra, it gives us the ability to pull out. So editing is always fun. But, yes, I do put in the idea of, like, the goal statement, but, like. And I did put governance and leadership as something
060meatier because that's something we have the capacity to do ourselves. That's something that we can do. And then when it comes down to... The other two area goal areas that's more of what we can Advocate what we can kind of monitor what we can review what we can shape through how we dictate budget what we you know But it's not something we get our hands dirty with You know, that's not Because we're not in the weeds on that, you know, I like them. So that's why it's not as finite broader But I tried incorporating as much of what everybody was saying, so I hope everybody can see a little bit of what they were saying, but still kind of trying to align it. I'm not married to it, so. Well written, they seem. We should
061be able to plug away at these, I think. They seem reasonable goals to me. I think it was a nice reflection of the body. contributions to the discussion and I appreciate that these are obtainable and responsible goals. Oh Maureen likes a thumbs up okay. Can I ask in goal three committee rules strategic focus review and approve budgets that prioritize okay I mean should we have anything about having like having that budget the budget workshop that we're doing as part of our benchmarks or like providing budgetary you know details to the staff on like what we what we what our highest priorities okay so how do you want to write it I don't know I was a math teacher it's not my forte So to give me verbiage because I mean I don't know if you
062feel that if you feel that that's in here then that's fine I just didn't know because what so fiscal responsibility right so school committee will strategically align fiscal planning and resource allocation with the district's 10-year capital plan to ensure financial sustainability and equitable student outcomes review and approve budgets that prioritize HQIM, PD positions, and technology investments. To communicate out or input? Is that what we, are those our budget priorities? HQIM, PD positions, and technology investments? That's what we were all talking about. It was restorative positions, review positions, technology. Was big for Caitlin. Yeah HQ IM fidelity Yeah, it's in the gold statement but I do we need to say like restore positions What do you mean that wasn't just yeah, it was so it could be restored I mean that's part of like the idea
063of like the North Star of like yeah you know going through and thinking about critical positions that You know where we look back and we go. No we cut too deep that needs to come back but We also recognize that there are other positions that we never had that are also essential I'm personally comfortable with this. I think we're in the right We're marching in the right direction, and it can lead us into the next iteration for next year. I'm sure we could tweak. We could continually tweak, and I understand that concern that you're highlighting. But I do believe we have a good framework to start. Yeah, that's fine. You know what I think is really admirable is we've... I think this body is starting to really have a cohesive vision because we've already started
064on some of these goals. Kelly has already attended one of the school council meetings with that relationship. We met with the student advisory committee earlier tonight. So I think we're all working towards. implementation of these goals in one fashion or another so i i mean those are just a few examples so i think i think this is this represents our body very well okay so we have a motion on the floor so all those in favor okay it's unanimous thank you and then all right so right now is the draft of the school committee calendar so please take a look at it let me know if i've forgotten anything If there's anything missing, if there's anything I've gotten wrong, because then I'll just start adding it to the Google Calendar so we can all have
065dates. Yes, I know I've forgotten something. No. The January 14th, 28th, Sheppardville. Okay. I was wondering if we, you know, I think we need to just be amenable to that. We don't know when the governor's budget will come out. Usually around the 25th. Usually around the 25th. And, you know, maybe instead of doing it on the 28th, maybe have it the first week in February instead to give the administration a little bit extra time to digest that governor's budget. whenever that whatever that wednesday is in february there is a meeting on the 4th and 11th oh yeah budget to school committee on the 4th yeah so i don't know that you need the 28th where are we oh right thank you i think that one is that one was just left a couple of times
066because you never know when it comes out like the only thing you ever really know is that when you have a new governor it never comes out on time that we know And I think we just need to look at the 11th and understand which of our members are able to be here or not. Which one are we, in February? In February. And if that's a good date for those committees, because maybe we need to have a joint meeting on a day that they meet instead of our meeting day. I don't know. All right. So take another look at those. Just to see if, because I think a lot of us had vacations that were prior to this. Okay. 22nd during vacation week as well so that oh yeah I'm sorry what did you say
067April 22nd that second meeting falls during vacation week so that might be an issue oh that is true you're talking April 22nd yeah And I would just like to throw out based on December meeting at least to our principals if there happens to be a holiday spectacular or something that we don't have or delay or one of the other because I feel like last year it fell on the same day as a meeting and we caught like the last two minutes. I can't hear a word. I'm just saying if we can try to get the principals to find out if there's like holiday spectacular or anything when they come up and perform up here. that it doesn't land on that same day or as earlier or something because it's I will say that the Dudley
068middle school like already reached out to ask about okay when's your school committee meeting right like they were super nice about that I would love the schools that they have big things yeah right CMS band concert unless there's a snow day is on December 16th it's a Tuesday I don't know when Chorus is though It's usually the next night Before or after yeah, they're usually back-to-back or even just the timing and if we're here rather there like we might have to right adjust location Oh, yeah, it's not typically because if we're changing some of them I have to say I thought it was really Nice that you know to have the retirees come in May. I think that'll be a nice It won't be like it. It won't feel like after to them it'll be
069getting gearing them up for the end which will be nice yeah um we may want to put on that may 13th meeting as well to um to like highlight our student rep because i feel like we always kind of forget to do it on on a meeting and they well i think they're just not here by the june on the last week yeah they're done they usually graduate and they're like where are they Should we invite the whole advisory group? Yeah, we can. Is there anything else that's missed that's not on this calendar, though? Is there a reason why it's the first? Is that why it's what the first ones is I think it was the amount of days you need Yeah, because it has to be like a certain amount of days before the
070oh That's because the 11th gave us the snow day gave us the exact amount of time but if you did it on the 11th and you didn't have You wouldn't have enough time with a snow day if it's snow Do we want to set? meeting in March like do we want to have it on our calendar as like like in to put a meeting for that fourth meeting of the month just in and just in case meeting like a placeholder in case we have budget questions or something we'll like typically I feel like sometimes we've had to have extra meetings in March like have the two meetings anyway Or just, yeah, have it, and then we can always take it out. Like have the March 4th and have the March 11th anyway? Like have them
071both in there? And then if we don't need the March 11th, then we can cancel it. Is that what you're saying? One in April. Are we getting rid of the April 22nd during break? I don't know. Well, yeah. But would you do it on the... So March 4th and then what, March 11th? I don't know that it would be March 11th because if you decide you want to do something that we need the meeting, we don't have enough time for our administrators to really get things. Well, no, but I mean, but if you had, what, March 4th, and if it did snow, then you have the March 11th. That would be your... As the backup for the public hearing. So you have that one. And then you're saying you also want to put the 25th
072down? Or no? You're just saying put the 11th down as a secondary meeting. Okay. As a backup to the 4th. Yeah. But you don't need one the 25th? I don't think so. Okay. Because then at that point you have the 8th. April 8th? That's not the big show choir event, is it? at the high school because usually the crush is what february march february march usually the crunches is march like if we had to go back and forth with the communities on things that's what i'm saying it's like trying to figure out the joint meetings and the and the public hearing and the do we need to have a snow date for the joint meeting i think when you when you put it to them can you put a snow day got a calendar I
073feel like we almost need a snow date for our, because I would like, it would be nice for us to talk about our budget before we have the first conversation about our budget in front of the other people. I know. And hopefully we don't need snow dates, but just in case. We have a backup plan. We won't need a backup plan. Evil talking about snow dates. Listen, I'm hoping for good ski weather. Maybe. February vacations what the 15th through the 21st? Yep, like if we can't have the meeting on the 4th because of because of weather could we come on the 5th? Can you write that in it? Can you write that when you put when you post it post to? I mean, I just want to make sure that we're okay Well, that's what
074I'm wondering can you post to the snow date on the agenda itself Yes, Mr. Hallar. I think you can. Yes. Okay. So here's the thing. Why did I have February 4th when the second Wednesday is the 11th? Because we said that the meeting, the reason why is because the 28th of January we thought was going to be too close to when the budget numbers came out. That's why. Thank you. So we wouldn't have a second meeting in January. You'd have, like, you'd move it to the first week of February. But you're still thinking that we might need, what, an extra meeting? No, I think right now you'd need to decide on the 4th. All right, so budget to the school committee, like, that would be the 4th or the 5th, right, depending on the snow
075date. And then the snow date would be the 5th? Right, yeah. So why don't we just do it that way? Is everybody okay on Thursdays pretty much? If there was like a snow day on the 4th? Yeah. I know. Like who knows what they're going to do in February, right this moment. Hopefully it doesn't snow. I mean, but it's also New England, right? Like we could have a blizzard on the 4th that doesn't let up until Friday the 6th. Right. You know, so it could end up being a moot point. Do you want to have the following Monday as your snow date? I don't care. Like just in case it's a two-day event? I don't know. I'm just saying. Well, you know what you have enough time to repost if you had to that's what
076I like. Yeah, you know so we can always quickly Recollect and repost and then I think for the joint meeting on the on February 11th You just need to check in with those committees. Yeah, just say and just when you check in with them grab a snow day with them and then And then for March is what we have March 4th, right? then a possible for the public hearing and then a possible snow date on the 11th yep all right and then were we thinking that we needed another meeting in March so just put the fourth Wednesday down That's what I would I agree. All right, so the 25th Just because it's budget time Yes, I will well now that we've had this discussion when I when I go home tonight Not tonight tonight tomorrow
077I'll actually do tomorrow I'll do the Google calendar, and you'll all be invited. Because I know we all want a Google calendar invite, another one. Anybody heard about the all-boards meeting at the town this year? Is there any talk of that? No? I feel like that was usually in October-ish. I can't hear you. Sorry. I didn't know if anybody heard anything about any all-boards meeting or anything. Okay. I just thought it was usually in the fall, so I wasn't sure if anybody had heard. Didn't know if I missed something. No worries. I'm sure they'll reach out when it's time. Yeah. Okay. Are we all set with the calendar for now? I think so. Oh, I do have one more thing. I don't think June 10th is going to work with your reorg because I think
078that's before Dudley's election. Oh, okay. Because it's the third. Caitlin, do you remember? Is it the third? What do you guys do in the real? Do we think it's the 8th? Because the first Monday is the first. I'll double check when the elections are. If it's the 8th, it would work. But if it's not, it won't. I think I looked it up. It's not always the 8th. I had two days before. I thought I looked it up, but I could be wrong. Well, it's okay. Okay. All right. We'll look. Yeah, it's not typically. Where you have a Monday, that's the first. I mean, I literally made this like in September, right when I was flying out to Michigan. So I just completely forgot to put it in the packet. Remember, because you started it, and
079then I put it, you know, like. But yeah, you should look into that. Or I'll look. One of us will. All right. Do you want a motion to adjourn? I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Oh wait, no, somebody wants something. Yes, so Madam Chair, just our, I'm sorry. Oh, the folder? So Madam Chair, just for clarification, we are inviting the principals to the next meeting for a budget workshop? Yes, on the 22nd. 22nd. There are a couple of items for school committee business that would be timely. Is it okay if we put those on the agenda? One of them is we are working closely with the town of Webster and Spencer East Brookfield Regional School District to, bear with me, we're going to join a JPA within the JPA for Mass Strategic Health Group.
080So I would like to present it, but that would be something that we would, for timely purposes, we could wait until the November meeting, but I just wanted to see if we could maybe put that on the agenda. Agenda moving forward. I'm comfortable with the November meeting if you prefer that to be a full-blown because I'm not sure for the workshop Are we having the videotaped? I'm Sorry to ask all these clarifying questions now while you're trying to adjourn. I don't have a problem with it being videotaped Open to the public we're gonna we're gonna give mr. Earl the night off. Yeah But I would say though that if you feel, you know, I know how timely everything we need to get, make sure we're okay with health insurance, budget-wise, like if you feel like
081you need to have that voted on, we can do that. Through the chair, it's because there's so much work involved with it. It wouldn't take effect until July 1st, 2026, but it just is so much work between joining and then actually flushing out all of the major details. with our group. We're not leaving Mass Strategic Health Group. That's not the goal. The goal is to share risk with a couple of other local communities around health insurance. That's the only goal with it, but it's been quite the endeavor. I don't see a problem in actually conducting a small part of business meeting and then closing into a workshop. Okay. afford that the principal's notice of like when they should come for the workshop should be Here mark a certain amount of time for mr. Moore the
082chair. I told him not to leave work that day We'll be able to work out whatever I just wanted to throw that out there because there is some timing with that Now I'm up for how people feel about it Like for the next next meeting So the only thing that I would say is if you want it videotaped I feel like it's it's a little rough to have someone come in and have to like to have you have to come in and videotape something That's gonna be 15 minutes. I know I'd rather Do it in November, but if you need it sooner, we could go on a quick zoom call on it And have it recorded? Yeah, I think so. Oh. Yeah. That's an option. Because I was thinking there's got to be a way
083around. Right. So that way we can preserve his time as well. And we can just record the detail. Yeah, I think so. That makes more sense. Thank you. Through the chair. I'll work with the chair just for the detail. OK. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. Appreciate it. Now I'll take a motion. Thank you. All righty. Evan Wheaton. Second. All in favor? Aye.