001Good evening welcome to the Dudley-Chantlin Regional School Committee School District School Committee meeting today is Wednesday April 9th it is 634 p.m. I apologize for the delay this meeting is being recorded for all those who are interested you can find the recording on our website don't see anybody in the audience recording at this time I'd like to start with the Pledge of Allegiance to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We'll now take a moment of silence. thank you i'm moving on um i'd just like to mention that tonight um we'll be needing to add an agenda item due an unforeseen agenda item due to the meeting that took place in dudley on monday so we will add a fiscal year 26 assessment
002update to our new business this evening With that said, first on the agenda is the consent agenda items. Does anybody have any reason to pull either of these items out? Okay. Then I seek a motion to approve the consent agenda items. So moved. Thank you. Thank you. All those in favor? Great. Thank you. Does anybody have any communications this evening? No? Okay. Anthony, you're up next. Yeah. Good evening everyone. I just have a couple things. The first is the show choir. They're obviously going on right down the hall, which is their show choir festival, which is their last performance of the season. But prior to this, this past weekend, they finished their competition season in Waltham at the Eastern Show Choir Festival. Fantasy finished at a very close third and won the... Bill MacGyver Award
003and the rest of the show choir came home with their third full sweep of the season winning Best Show, Best Band, Best Vocals, Best Choreography and Grand Champion. So all around a successful season for everyone. Mouthful too. And then the spring sports are roaring right now. Baseball, softball, girls lacrosse, and tennis all having wins under their belts. So it's still early in the season, but it's looking very promising for all the athletics. And then finally, just a fundraiser going on at Shepherd Hill for the Best Buddies program. They're holding their annual UNO tournament Thursday, April 17th from 5.30 to 7.30. And it's a $5 entry fee, but it's a fundraiser for the Best Buddies program at Shippert Hill. And if last year was any indicator, it should be a really fun night for everyone. And
004that's all I have. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Okay. Next on our agenda is the Assistant Superintendent's Report. Thank you. Let's see. So tonight I just really wanted to update the committee on some of the great things that we've been doing with grants this year in the 24. 25 school year. We were just able to secure a $35,000 grant in funding to support our new clean energy pathway for next year. So we're very happy about that and I'd like to thank our science department head, Mr. Thomas Quartermash and Principal Elwell for helping to write and secure this grant. We've also applied for an $85,000 revitalization grant from the Mass Life Sciences to improve our science lab spaces and potentially create an outdoor classroom for the high school, which I think would be a wonderful thing
005if we're able to do that. So we're waiting to hear back on that one and I'm hopeful about it. We've had quite a few different grants that we've worked on this year but one of the grants that we have is a high dosage tutoring. grant through the state for math specifically for students in grades four and grade eight. We participated in this grant last year just at Dudley L in grade four and they come in and provide kind of targeted tier two supports for students in math in small groups so it's groups of four students it's all online with a tutor. So the kids are in a room. They're sitting in pods of four. They're on their computers. They're all in the same group with one teacher, each set of four kids. And they are
006getting really high dosage tutoring in concepts that will probably help them on like the MCAS test laying foundational skills. to help them better in their math classes and all of those things. So it was successful last year in fourth grade. This year we tried it in fourth and eighth grade and it's been going really well. We're in our second session of tutoring for that and we're seeing great progress. The fourth graders are completely into it and engrossed in it, but the eighth graders not quite as much as you can imagine. But they're still doing it. They're still working on it. I don't know if we'll... if they have this grant again next year i'll probably apply for a grant again i don't know if i'll apply for the eighth grade or not we'll see we'll
007see what how the end of this year comes comes to fruition so we'll see but um but that has been going really well especially for the fourth graders i'm also happy to report we're in the last year of our open sci ed grant for implementation of the open sci ed curriculum we're in our third and final year we've seen great professional growth in our science teachers after attending their professional development is really intense They have been getting professional development in the units that they're incorporating. So each year they get two more units that they're going to be doing. They go and have professional development in that. So they have been doing really well and growing professionally with that. We are seeing some really great progress with our students with some of the new Open SciEd,
008just different learning norms that they have. We have a lot more collaboration, a lot more problem solving, critical thinking, all of those great. skills that Open SciEd brings to us. So that has been really great. All of our science teachers have been trained in Open SciEd with the exception of some of our new science teachers that started this year. They've had initial training in some of their units, but they'll continue for the next few years to go for training to catch them up on what they missed in previous years. So that has been really successful and I've been working with Director DeSantis to figure out how to put what needs to go into the operating budget next year for Open Sci-Ed, which is just the consumable kits and materials that they use and we have
009that covered. So that grant is going to be coming to an end. And then we also, through our Title IV grant, we were able to bring enrichment experiences to both Dudley and Mason, Dudley L. and Mason Road through an artist in residence program with an artist whose name is Bren Bataclan. He came and spent a week at each one of those schools as... as an artist. He worked with the art classes all week. He got their feedback on what they wanted to paint, and then he put it all together into these giant murals that are going to be hung in each school in the hallways. They're really super cute. They had assemblies on the days that the paintings were unveiled for the whole schools, you know, for the kids to see, and they were all
010excited about it. He gave me my own little painting that I got. I bet the principal, Chris, did you get a little painting too from him? I love that. So he gave out his own little paintings to people. It was really cute. And that was a great experience for both the kids. The staff, everybody loved it. And the pictures are adorable. So they're going to hang those up in the hallways at the schools. And we had them do them on canvases so that they can be moved so that if the walls have to be painted or anything, they're not going to paint over them. So that was good too. There is one grant that I did not mention in here that I wanted to update you on too and I just thought of it today.
011I apologize. But we also are part of a consortium with five different districts. Wilbraham is one of them. I think Athol is one of them. There's five different ones and we partner with five different colleges. And the idea of this grant is that it will help districts to kind of inform some of the teacher prep programs of what we're doing in schools, the programs we're using in schools, creating partnerships with colleges so that we can get more student teachers in. That was something that I always loved, having student teachers in my teaching career, you know, just having kids in the school all the time that want to be teachers, and it's so helpful. as a teacher to have that kind of support in your classroom because they'll do anything for you. They love it and
012it's a great experience for you and for them. And so that's the premise behind the grant, but it also targets reading instruction. So all the programs that we're talking about with the colleges, it's all about reading and how to prepare the future teachers to teach reading. So within this grant, there's also money to create some high dosage tutoring opportunities between now and the end of the school year at the elementary level. It's to target grades K through three. And the idea is that we'll create flyers for this, we'll send it out, the colleges will send it out to their teaching students in hopes that some of them will partner with us to be the tutors for the program. And then they'll be able to work in our schools. They'll start developing relationships with the staff,
013with the administrators. And they'll also be practicing using programs that we already use in the school. So it will help to further their knowledge as they're... working with the kids and working with our programs to do more for that. So I'm really excited about that. I'm actually meeting with the principals on Friday to talk about what that could possibly look like, what we can offer between now and April. And there's a possibility that we could even use this for some summer tutoring if that, if we don't get a huge response or we're not able to get as many kids as we wanted or there is some flexibility for that so that we might be able to put something in for the summer too for that. So that's another grant that I'm excited about that we're
014gonna be partaking in. And that grant also has a professional development to work on writing as well. And the four elementary principals are going to be going to a leadership institute in writing to improve writing in May. So, I mean, we do a lot of stuff through Title I, through Title II, you know, like all of those grants, but these are just the highlights of what we've been working on. Yeah. Quick question. the high dosage tutoring is that all students in fourth grade and eighth grade so it's ones that were identified it's ones that were identified as needing it um and you know some sometimes parents when you say we're going to offer this tutoring they didn't want their students in it and that opened the door for other students to come in but their
015teacher selected based on the data from the beginning of the year And then they re-recommend them. So like after their first cycle, then the teachers get together, they look at the assessments, they talk to the tutoring people, and then they kind of reallocate the kids so that other kids can have opportunities or kids that need to continue can continue. Great. Yeah. Yeah. Anybody have any questions or anything? Thank you for that update. I appreciate it. Okay. Next we have public comment. Is there anybody here for public comment? No? Okay. we can move on to our new business um we have the chair of the special education parents advisory committee mr oh lafayette if you wanna the table was tight tonight yep let's see welcome i'm used to making myself at home how are you all
016Great, how are you? Good, good to see you all. Thank you for having me. I'm passing around some brochures. Just take one and pass it down. I only have seven. I apologize. That's all I have. I promise you I'll get one. I'll look at them later. Don't worry about me. Anthony, you can take mine. I'm the one who makes those. Yes, and Gene probably doesn't need one, and Maureen probably doesn't need one because you've seen it many times. So thank you for having me. Just here to give an update about CPAC and what's going on. For those at home who don't know who I am, I'm Kenny LaFerriere, chair of the Dudley-Charlton CPAC. Reminder, our meetings meet the third Wednesday of the month. We alternate between the two middle schools. At 6.30 is our board
017meeting and 7 p.m. is the regular CPAC meeting. open to all. We did add a hybrid option to school committees two school years ago. That has continued to be a great benefit to expand participation. Just about every meeting someone is participating virtually. We continue to have continuous engagement with a small group of people, but it is growing and we have repeat attendance by folks engaging in the CPAC, which is great. We also have, as you are aware based on the e-blast emails, the coffee group and we meet the first Friday of every month at 9 a.m. alternating between the two locations of Sturbridge Coffee Roasters in Dudley and Charlton. We've had a great strong following with those meetings and it's particularly interesting that the multiple times we've had administration invited, that's our highest attendance at
018the coffee. I don't know if that's a relation or not. Hit, hit. Because everyone wants to meet with Steve. Right. Well, to be honest, how... He just brings the party. I thought you brought the food. That's at the CPAC meetings, Kelly. And I didn't mention that, and I apologize, Heather, so thank you for... Oh, fair. That's fair. In all seriousness, I do think some of the engagement from folks when administration comes is because how often do members of the public get to sit down with the superintendent or sit down with the assistant superintendent or with Heather to just have a casual conversation? So I think that's part of it as well. As you're aware, we are an extension of the school committee to provide perspective and support to keep you all informed on students who
019receive special education services. We continue to ask the school committee to collaborate with us, especially during budget season. If there are any potential cuts, hopefully there are none, but if there are, we would ask that cuts not take place with special education students, our most vulnerable population. Additionally, Heather and administration has been great about including us as part of any initiatives happening related to special education and interviews for certain positions, keeping us informed. We're asking the school committee to continue to include us with any changes in curriculum, programs, etc. so we can bring the parent-caregiver voice as well as the special ed perspective through our lens. We thank the school committee for their engagement with vanpool to address the transportation challenges I understand that things are better and have been improved which is great But
020we know how Heather and administration continues to monitor parent concerns and issues to keep lines of communication open Both with the district and with vanpool and we do appreciate that We have a CPAC calendar and coffee calendar that you've seen on the emails and that's available to you at your request. This year we've had three workshops through the Federation that have done, they do them virtually, but we do host them at the middle school and hybrid throughout those sessions. And we had evaluation and eligibility, basic rights evaluation and eligibility, which is required to be given once per school year. and we had basic rights understanding the new IEP and then we also had turning three essentials at early intervention transitions to public school and that was the last month's workshop. Upcoming, so our April next
021meeting, and Jean and I are working on putting that together as far as a question and answer meeting. We're going to ask folks when the email goes out to submit questions ahead of time to be answered by Heather and others, and it will be live and also questions addressed live at the meeting. So that will be April's topic, and then May is elections and wrap-up for the year. I can't believe it's almost the end of the year. Ongoing, there was a survey that was sent out recently to all IEP and 504 families hoping for increased participation and feedback. Our goal is to try to do that twice a year so we can track and trend engagement throughout the year. And that survey is still open and we're hoping to send a reminder to folks again
022to make sure that they fill it out. Feedback's been received from parents and caregivers and has been shared with Heather and her team. And sometimes we do get individualized feedback from parents and I received a couple phone calls the past couple months. And while we're here to provide a support and an area for parents to come and talk about their individual concerns, our goal is to see improvements for all students and advocate for the program as a whole. Administration support has been solid and so we thank you for the continued collaboration. And Heather, the treats continue to be appreciated at our meetings. I noticed that the school committee doesn't get treats, so I guess we're special. And special thanks to Maureen, which is our school committee liaison. Thank you, Maureen, for attending our meetings. And
023always thanks to Jean for her unwavering commitment and support and depth of knowledge around all things special education. And that's really all I have as far as an update, but I'm welcome to any questions or concerns. Awesome. Thank you. I just have a question. Is this the first year that you put out the survey to parents? We've done it before. This is the third year, I believe. Oh, okay. Yes, third year, but we've been better about getting it out twice a year. This year we weren't able to, so it only went out once. Because we try to, our goal is to try to do it in the fall and then do it again towards the end of the year so then we can see how parents and caregivers feel based in the beginning of the
024year and by the end and see if there's any differences. And I welcome Jean or Maureen to jump in at any time. I'm not putting you on the spot, Jean. No, that's fine. I'm always happy to talk about special education. I know Heather is as well, you know. But no, currently... Yeah, I think we've had 75 respondents and of course I'm I'm bad because I didn't respond to my own survey. We still have time. It's open. I know it's still open. I haven't closed. It hasn't been closed yet. Until when? Is it open? April 18th. April 18th. Okay. And those results will be shared? Yes, oh definitely, definitely. Yeah, because I know we'll talk about them. We'll talk about them at our meeting. At our meeting. And then I can come over the summer to
025report or I can in the fall, I mean whatever that may be. Yeah, and the survey, we hope to send it out more often to get better feedback. Last year had a bit of a depth of respondents. I think it's 800 is that how many families we have IEP 504 families thousand so yeah so because it was IEP 504 is not a district it the whole thing right the whole grouping of whoever we can receive special education services from the district again even out of district gets the survey so it's closer to a thousand yeah We always hope for more, but it's... No, it's a statistically relevant number, so I'm happy with it. Especially since we've only been doing the survey for about three years, so it's still kind of new to people. Appreciate all
026that. Thank you. The pamphlet that you handed out, where do you usually put these, or how can people get them? So they're electronically on the website. We have a CPAC website that's linked from the district website. So they're there, and I have them at all the meetings as well. And then the dcrsd.org. I said that wrong. cpac.dcrsd.org. Email address is a great way to email. Jean and I monitor the email account, and I can mail them out, get them to folks that ask. Whatever materials we have, we can provide and connect them. And my final closing thing would be a special thanks to Loretta Andre for her continued dedication. I email her, and she's right on top of it and gets things out and sends the e-blast out, and she's been outstanding support for us,
027so we appreciate it. Nothing against you, Heather, at all. I mean, Loretta's a rock star when it comes to that. She's right on top of it. Thank you for having me, and I appreciate your time. One more thing. Sorry, Kenny, to put you on the spot. No. Because I also run the website, so I would love for more interested people to show up to the next DCCPAC meeting and get involved. And when exactly is that, Kenny? Am I supposed to know that? No. April 19th? No. You did. You did. April 16th. It's a week from today. Yes, it's a week from today at, where were we last month? So we're at Charlton Middle this month. Charlton Middle's at 7. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you for sharing all your hard work. Okay. Next up
028we have Director DeSantis for the fiscal year third quarter update. Thank you. And a few other things. Thanks. So first item A on the agenda is the fiscal year 2025 third quarter update. I included within your meeting agenda packet a full detail breakdown as of the end of third quarter. DCRSD is in a good financial position as it completed third quarter of FY25 and heads into the final quarter. Federal grant funding and circuit breaker funds have been applied to qualifying expenditures, helping to offset operating budgets. Additionally, the budget freeze implemented in January has netted positive results with regards to keeping control over spending. The aging infrastructure and subsequent unpredictability, facility and operational needs continue to drive the majority of any of our unanticipated expenditures incurred. If you take a look, I won't go line by
029line, but if you take a look at the budget detail, the only school within a negative budget balance is Mason Road, which leads me into Part B of my report, which is our cost center transfer request. So based on the remaining budget balances detailed within my quarterly update, it's a recommendation of the Director of Finance and Operations that cost center transfers be made to cover the projected shortfall at Mason Road School. The request is as follows, $150,000 from Shepherd Hill School and $61,500 from Heritage Elementary. There remains sufficient budget balance in all other cost centers and these specific cost centers to absorb the transfers. So I'm happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the transfer or where we are at for the end of Q3 for FY25. And, of course, if you want
030to digest and follow up, I'm more than happy to reply to anything directly. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions at this time? Okay, you may not know this right now, but when you get maybe in a future meeting we can talk about like any any effects that federal Like federal cuts may have on us. Yeah, so that's something that I am actively monitoring Anytime there's a change within the political environment that may or may not impact Our federal funding. It's something that I keep a close eye on fortunately right now we're in a position where it doesn't look like for at least FY 25 where that's gonna impact us but I am watching that for FY 26 and moving forward and sorry no I was just wondering what what parts of the budget are
031more most substantially affected by federal funding for us like title 3 or So it so our again, I guess that depends on what you qualify as most impactful our most Quantifiable and largest dollar amount is title one So if anything were to happen to title one funding that would be you know a larger hit than our title to a Title three or title four which are relatively been a school in comparison We would hope to not hit our instructional materials, professional development, but again, it would be dependent on the priorities of the federal government. With our operational needs, the majority of it is coming from... assessments and reimbursable portions again that we're already reliant upon so hopefully this won't impact us at all in the short term but again I'll actively monitor the long term
032and ensure any political updates that would affect federal funding are accounted for thank you madam chair there will be need they will need to be a motion on be the cost center transfers I make a motion to transfer $150,000 from Shepherd Hill and $61,500 from Heritage Elementary for the cost center, transfer of recommendations by the Director of Finance and Operations. So moved. So moving on to Part C of my report, disposal of materials and equipment and other property in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 30B, Section 15. Shepherd Hill Regional High School, Charlton Middle School, and Dudley Middle School are requesting the approval to dispose of textbooks and related instructional materials that are either outdated or in poor non-use condition. A LIST OF THE ITEMS BEING PRESENTED FOR DISPOSAL IS MAINTAINED AT THE DISTRICT OFFICE
033AT MY LEVEL, AND IT'S AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. SO I'D BE HAPPY TO PROVIDE A COPY OF ANY OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AT ANY GIVEN POINT, BUT I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST SCHOOL COMMITTEE VOTE TO APPROVE THE DISGARDING OF THESE PARTICULAR ITEMS. OKAY. promotion to approve the discarding of disposal of materials equipment and other property that have been deemed in poor condition or outdated all those in favor oh sorry for discussion nope my bad um is it possible that or is there are there any services that um actually like pay you for recycling or like how are they disposed and or is there a cost to us to dispose of them no so it has to be dependent on the type of property, its salvageable value if there is one. When it comes to damaged text and instructional
034materials, they're deemed to have an immaterial value, a zero salvage value. So these materials, again, because they're outdated and because they're in such poor condition, would not allow us the opportunity to... recoup any of those costs that we initially made. Again, it would depend on the type of asset that we're disposing, but these particular instructional materials do not meet that material threshold. Are we talking books? Yeah, textbooks and related instructional materials that would go with those textbooks. But yes, it's all instructional materials, mostly all textbooks. How many are you talking? Unusable, otherwise they wouldn't be added to. this particular report as far as being either poor condition or outdated. 21 votes from 1967 on America before the Revolution. I mean history doesn't change, Principal Elwell. So now, and I apologize, now I look for a
035motion. There was a motion. I mean, all those in favor of, I'll get there one of these days, I promise. Thank you. Motion passed. Okay. Next up is the item that we added based on Monday's meeting for the assessment. Thank you. Would you like me to speak on it prior to? Sure, you can speak to that. That would be great. I was not there. So. Yep, so earlier this week, Mr. LaMarche, myself, and Facilities Director Joe Caron met with the Dudley Board of Selectmen to present both the approved school committee budget and the capital plan. What we had encountered there was a question within that particular meeting regarding The capital portion of the assessment as it relates specifically to the Shepherd Hill field debt exclusion capital payment What we had done upon further review of
036the related financial documents as they relate specifically to that bond It was discovered that an update needed to be made to the field bond payment lines. The results of the further review showed an increase on the Dudley side of $2,219, which moved the overall assessment from $58,639 to $60,858 on the Charlton side. And on the Dudley side, it decreased their overall payment for that specific capital by $11,758. So the net effect on the total assessment is it decreased the total assessment by $9,539 and effectively reduced our FY26 operating request from our originally approved amount. of six point two one nine million to six point two zero nine million and again this is detailed within a new iteration of the budget that I've prepared that was handed out to each member of the school committee so
037I'm happy to take any questions that you may on have may have on that at this time I will note that the change, the increase on the Charlton side only equates to a .01% increase of their overall budget. So it's effectively relatively immaterial. then I make a motion to accept the proposed changes and approve the fiscal year 26 budget as these changes were presented or do I need to you have to read all the numbers okay okay am I highlighted okay so this is what's okay they're on the sheet behind that as well I detailed it I'm sorry the one right underneath it you want me okay so okay as these changes all right so tonight we're voting on a change to the fiscal year 2026 budget and municipal assessments the change reflects an increase
038of two thousand two hundred nineteen dollars to the Charlton capital assessment and a decrease of eleven thousand seven hundred fifty eight to the Dudley capital assessment This equates to a net change of a decrease in the overall assessment in fiscal year 26 budget by $9,539. The Dudley total assessment decreases from $12,557,273 to $12,545,515. The Charlton total assessment increases from $20,256,949 to $20,000. $20,259,168. The adjusted final fiscal year budget goes from $62,219,443 to $62,209,895. Okay. So did we thank you? I was going to say did we have? Second. Perfect. Great. Any further discussion? Okay. Yep. I just want to, I also, school community representatives were there as well, but I really appreciate Selectman J. Johnson for bringing it up and asking us to take a look at it. It gave Joe a chance to go, to
039backtrack by a number of years to try to work on this and figure it all out. Joe is doing a good job of trying to, developing the trend based off, if you keep in mind, Joe, this is Joe's, I think, is it next week is your first full year? Almost, yeah. but it gave mr. DeSantis director DeSantis a chance to go back and look at things and try to put it together but I just really appreciate working collaboratively with the board of selectmen and having Jay bring that up and I know director DeSantis is already communicating with them to let them know about the adjustment that's coming and I appreciate them bringing that up as well very helpful and I assume this is what we're going to be presenting in Chatham on the 16th which
040I will be there. I don't know who else we'd... Okay. Just out of curiosity, do you know how much longer the debt exclusion is for the fields when you're looking through? I'd have to double-check the payment schedule. I'll double-check, and I'll get back to you on that. All those in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for your work on that. All right, Mr. LaMarche, you are up for school choice. Madam Chair and school committee, on an annual basis, the school committee has to take action as to whether to continue to participate in the school choice program. This is the time of year that our offices do tend to get a lot of calls around school choice. We do get a lot of calls for elementary level. And I do share with them that over time
041we have not been able to enroll or participate in the elementary level. I don't put it on you as a school community that you're the ones choosing not to do that. I put it on space and classroom and all that. But this is the time of the year where school community takes a vote. So this is the memo that similar to what we had last year. The first paragraph, there is an error in it. It says 220. It should be 230 slots. Sorry about that. so what we do on this chart you have the current school choice enrollment regarding space and then you have potential openings for space specifically for child middle school and Dudley middle school because those are the areas of space that we're most concerned with the high school tends to be
042able to envelop their their school choice numbers into their scheduling into their classes so right now I am recommending a that school committee take action on the total number of 230 slots and participation in school choice for grades 5 through 12 for the FY26 school year. Are there any questions? Well, maybe make the motion first and then ask the question. So I make a motion to approve the school choice program grades 5 through 12 not to exceed 230 slots for participation. for the FY 26 school year. So moved. Okay. Second. Any further discussion? The seven students were anticipating at Dudley Middle School for fifth grade. Yep. The only question that, the only thing that really concerns me is that That admission is blind correct that we don't like look at you know if they're on
043special ed plans things like that And if all of a sudden like I don't want to overtax Certain areas of our programs, and I didn't know if we already know like are we? Lower in our in our special ed population in fifth grade are we lower in our EL population or like? I don't like how would that affect our our populations if right so it's managed by principal so principals would have a general sense of that okay so seven and just keep mine even though I say that there are seven it's because of that transition from fourth grade to fifth grade that we do believe that we have possibly seven spots we don't have any school choice kids there at this point in time so we'd only be adding seven to the fourth grade numbers
044and we do have we do have transitional numbers where we do have some students that don't continue with us into fifth grade But our principals are the ones who approve, you know, review all the materials and approve them, but we don't. We can't qualify or unqualify, but they do have knowledge of what would overtax our programming in there. To give you a general sense of that. Would they be able to not qualify based on the fact that it, yeah, that's the only thing that really concerns me. Right. We've done well over the years, though. Okay. With that. And have we done any study of? incoming building that's happening in Dudley or Charlton that might affect our class size numbers if all of a sudden we know that there's six houses being built at this time
045and how would that impact our numbers? We have not done an in-depth study of that. I can tell you that in Dudley there's not a lot of construction for family homes. I can tell you that right off the bat. In Charlton there is an increase in some construction, but it hasn't been yielding an impact of a school that is designed for 800 students at Charlton Middle School. Perfect. I will just say that I know that the town, and I think you've said too, that you're not worried about the potential of the project in Dudley. still remain worried about if they if they build that and there's residences there I think that we will see an impact to our moments but that's not going to affect anytime soon these seven kids keep in mind though if
046there is if there is an increase in enrollment that increases also our state aid the following year it's a dragging increase but that does increase at the following year right next up is the enrollment of the Dudley-Chelton regional staff school district staff students Yep, madam chair on an annual basis that we have contractual agreements Across our district that do entitle staff to enroll their children if they do not live within the town of Dudley or Charlton But live within the state of Massachusetts last year. We had 13 students this year. We have nine students for approval For next year what I would respectfully ask is the committee to approve enrollments requests for DCR SD staff in accordance with applicable employment agreements for the 25-26 school year in that language specific for the motion I don't
047know if there's any questions after that I recommend the motion to approve enrollment requests of the Dudley-Shelton Regional School District staff in accordance with applicable employment agreements for the 20-25-26 school year Any further discussion? For CMS grade 7 I thought when I Just looking at numbers last time, their average class size was higher than the average class size in Dudley. And I didn't know, was that average class size already factored in these additional students? Great question. For grade 7, those are not additional students. They're already enrolled with us. They're already enrolled. Again, last year we had 13. We're going down to 10. There is no new request in here. Okay, perfect. Sorry, I didn't say no new request. No, that's fine. So these are current students in our district, but annually the school community has
048to take a vote on that. Yeah, I just want to make sure they are accounted for already. Any other questions? All those in favor? Okay. Next on the agenda is the superintendent's evaluation. Madam Chair and School Committee, you do have my document. This is for me to provide to you this evening for you to review in preparation for the final evaluation document at the beginning of May. This is a series of pages. I wasn't going to read all 12 pages to the committee, but I did want to highlight a couple of things in here if I could. I think what's important for me to highlight is that we are currently engaged in several in my introduction we are currently engaged in several strategic planning endeavors designed to strengthen our instructional practices enhance facilities and improve
049district-wide operations while some of these projects are still in development and may not yet be fully visible to the school committee they represent intentional forward-thinking investments in our district's future these efforts align with our long-range vision and our sustained commitment to continuous improvement as these planning efforts take shape we will continue to keep the committee and our community informed ensuring transparency and engagement throughout that process so that really addresses the district improvement plan which will be coming forward as well so that's that's within the introduction the last paragraph from the introduction I think is important as well line with guidance from DESE even though I am providing you some of the evidence here this document is not intended to encompass the full range of work that has been accomplished in 2425 instead it offers a
050representative snapshot of district practice I respectfully encourage the committee to also consider all the documents updates and presentations shared over the course of this year when evaluating my performance so I just wanted to share that I want to jump to goal one Goal one was by the end of 24-25 school year which as you know April 9th is not the end of the school year. I just want to make that connection. I will work with the assistant superintendent to develop a multi-year plan that aligns with the requirements of school committee policy IGA curriculum evaluation development adoption this plan will take a systems approach covering pre-kindergarten through grade 12 in our postgraduate program I really would like to read the first paragraph of the narrative here if I could for the for the record With the
051renewed vision and strategic momentum, the restoration of the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning has proven to be one of the most impactful leadership decisions made by the school committee. For several years, a patchwork of thoughtful and dedicated efforts by district leaders, principals, and teacher teams laid the foundation for progress in teaching and learning. These individual contributions, while valuable, often lack the centralized leadership needed to align and amplify their impact. The reinstatement of this critical role has reestablished a vital anchor for instructional leadership across the district, bringing coherence, clarity, and coordination to our educational work. Under this leadership, the district has made significant strides in establishing a robust multi-year curriculum review, adoption and implementation plan, visionary work that is now central to guiding Dudley-Charlton towards continuous improvement in instruction, student engagement, and learning outcomes. What
052was once a collection of parallel efforts has now been woven into a connected superhighway for teaching and learning one that will accelerate progress Supports alignment and positions of district for sustainable long-term success This renewed leadership has elevated the quality of professional collaboration across schools and ensured that decisions around curriculum are aligned with evidence-based practices and district priorities So the goal was to work with the assistant superintendent. That's the easy part Most days. But I have to say, as a committee, you may not see all the rewards at this point in time or the benefit of that, but it's been huge. It has absolutely been huge for this year. So there is other evidence in there. And then I just wanted to touch upon the conclusion of this. I wrote a narrative and a conclusion for
053each one of these goals. Our collective work for this particular goal, our collective work to elevate teaching and learning in the Dudley-Chelton Mutual School District is now firmly rooted in a comprehensive curriculum adoption review and implementation plan. This plan provides the structure and clarity needed to ensure all instructional decisions are coordinated, intentional, and aligned with both district priorities and state or local expectations. I think local expectations is really big there. What once existed as a series of well-meaning, I've already talked about that. But by incorporating high-quality instructional materials, research-informed practices, and continuous feedback, we are creating a sustainable pathway, as I talked about, for instructional improvement. Moving forward, this plan will serve, and I've already talked about that, as obviously to measure our progress. But again, Dudley Charlton will definitely benefit from this role and
054from this coordination. For goal two, through the 24-25 school year, I will work with the director of people personnel services and the assistant superintendent to incrementally improve least restrictive environment opportunities for all learners with a focus on English learners and students with disabilities. Additionally, we will establish foundational practices to build a cohesive multi-tiered system of support, facilitating more effective interventions for student pre-K through 12 plus. If you recall, last year in my evaluation, we shifted from MTSS to LRE. LRE is still a priority for us, but we definitely have hit the ground this year with MTSS and working on the foundational components of that. So I think what's important to share here is in the narrative is the first paragraph. Administrators are currently three quarters of the way through a year-long professional development course led
055by Novak Educational Consulting focused on the development of a multi-tiered system of support. As part of this course, administrators have been actively examining and evaluating the district's current practices for delivering tiered supports in the areas of academics. social-emotional learning, and positive behavioral intervention and supports. This work has laid critical groundwork across all schools in helping to establish the foundational guidelines for implementing an effective system, multi-tiered system of support for all learners. But what's really good is we've talked about this before, is bringing this for all of our schools together at the same time. So there has definitely been an investment in MTSS for our district and professional development for our leaders in our district. Then it would focus on the last paragraph on page five. This was part of the goal as well to strengthen
056English language instruction the district adopted a new supplemental EL program titled English 3d from Houghton Mifflin. This program is being implemented to all grade levels and includes a strong newcomer component to ensure that recently arrived multilingual learners receive the foundational language literacy support they need to succeed across content areas. This alone, the work for the supplemental materials to bring this in has made a huge impact again district-wide for us. It wasn't in pockets or in isolation, so I thought that was important to highlight as well. And to talk about MTSS and LRE, I'm on the first paragraph on page six. Data supporting the shift in foundational MTSS practices reflect on DCRSD's continued commitment to educating students with disabilities in least restrictive environment. In August 2023, 50% of our students with disabilities were in full inclusion
057settings, defined as spending at least 80% of their school day in general education setting. As of now, the number has increased to 62.5%, a meaningful rise of 5.5%. Similarly, only 54.5% of our Hispanic students with disabilities were in full inclusion settings in 2023. Today, the figure stands at 58%, an increase of 2.5%. While we recognize there is more work to do, these gains demonstrate measurable progress towards more equitable access to high quality instructional materials, inclusive practices, and positive learning experience for all of our students. I think I'm going to move on to goal three. Goal three is throughout the 24-25 school year. I will incorporate completed and forthcoming reports reviews and evaluations ERS educational resource strategies facilities conditions report Into long-range planning this planning will guide the development of multi-year plans by the conclusion of
05824-25 school year Including a capital improvement plan technology plan high quality instructional materials implementation review plan and district improvement plan so all of those are are have been forthcoming uh the district improvement plan is what's next for us to pull all of those things together um so i think we've done well with that the only thing i want to add is with that goal is the in conclusion which starts in the last paragraph on page seven is that while the district is only beginning to draw on framework framework provided by the ers educational resource strategies that was an extensive report planning model we have made meaningful progress in building the foundational structures that support long-term strategic planning the objective of the ERS report was to identify a targeted set of resource allocations insights and high
059potential resource shifts to better support the alignment of resource use with the district I'll continue on page eight. These findings are beginning to inform our planning efforts and reflect on growing emphasis on thoughtful resource allocation, instructional coherence, and data-informed decision-making. The development and approval of the key plans, which I've talked about the capital plan, HQIM, curriculum, district improvement plan, will incorporate ERS information. We're not taking ERS and boiling that down to its own plan like we did with the capital plan, but we're taking components of ERS and putting it in our stuff. We may not explicitly identify it, but it is a guide for us. And then on goal number four, professional culture. Starting on page 9, the goal is I will foster a collaborative and inclusive professional culture across the district by promoting leadership
060at all levels. I will prioritize open communication, shared decision making, and continuous professional development to empower staff and school leaders by creating opportunities for teachers, administrators, and support staff to take on leadership roles. I aim to cultivate a culture of accountability, innovation, and excellence that aligns with our district's mission of providing high quality education for all students. And again, I would call your attention to at least the first paragraph of the narrative. narrative, stating that fostering leadership does not come from a title. It grows from the willingness to create space for collaboration, which I think we continue to do year over year, to invite authentic voices into the conversation, and to approach challenges with openness and humility. True leadership, not Kelly true, but true leadership. I'm sure she gets it a lot. True leadership is
061grounded in the belief that complex issues are best addressed through shared responsibility, honest dialogue, and a commitment to solutions that serve the greater good. I think a great example of that amongst the administrative team was today as you as a committee were receiving some of the pre-K emails. We sat down today and went over with Director Harriman, and I think we came up with a viable solution, and we communicated that out today. So, again, the collaboration is something we've been fostering for years. It doesn't have to be just at the administrative level. we talked about teaching negotiations I talked about building leadership team collaborations we talked about Ms. True's worked on the facilitators their roles within our schools we'll continue to try to invest in leadership within our district and once again it doesn't always
062have to come with the title The examples highlighted in this section, I'm going to the conclusion on page 11 now. The examples highlighted reflect a district-wide commitment to leadership that is shared, intentional, and rooted in collaboration. Whether through strategic partnerships, instructional innovation, labor relations, or cross-sector projects, Dulley-Chotlin continues to demonstrate that meaningful progress happens when individuals at all levels are empowered to lead. So just to call a reference to the cross-sector projects, what that specifically is referencing is the work that you did and we did around the fire substation for the town of Cholton. We worked with the community of Cholton on that as well, which I thought was a collaborative effort as well. by creating the conditions for authentic voice, open dialogue, and collective decision making, we're not only addressing today's challenges, we are
063building a resilient foundation for the future. Leadership in W. Charlton is not confined to titles or roles. It is cultivated through trust, inclusion, and a shared promise to do what is best for our students, staff, and community. I read that as if it's done. It's not. This is an ongoing daily, weekly, annual thing for us to work on, and there's more work to do there. I know that. So that is kind of just a snapshot of this. you know there is what there are obviously more details or more pieces of evidence in here but that is the supernets evaluation as of April 9th for completion our portion of the evaluation is about the region review in let's say our next meeting is the first meeting of May first meeting May so within the next week
064or two it should certainly come out Figure out how to do it, but that'd be great Kathy. Thank you Please a couple questions about when we evaluate like what one of the things that I think that we should be mindful of is that if we are going to evaluate anything less than acceptable that we should be making like we should back that up with some comments about ways for improvement or ways or you know questions that we still have so I think that's a really important thing noting noting too that it's even though we're putting it on a form like it it definitely anyone is able to see your specific comments at any time so Can I have just a question for you? Not even a question, but just maybe a statement. You talked a
065lot about how in your just thanking the committee for making sure we put the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning back on the docket. I think that it's more than just the fact that we put it back on. I think it's the person that, I think it's who we have in place. You're welcome. Because I feel like For those of us that have been in teaching and learning this year, you know, I think the honesty of where we are as a district and where we're moving to and the amount of work that our leaders are doing and our teachers are doing to make sure we get there is really, it's shown. One of the things that you didn't mention in goal two is that You know we're adding in benchmark data for all our ninth
066graders in math and and you know it's the only any LA Yeah, so it's not just like that. We're looking at it consistently in elementary work We're trying to keep checking in on kids and figuring out how to help them all the way through to graduation So, you know, it's certainly not perfect But I think we're moving in a direction, and I'm proud that we've put people in place that are effective. So that's been helpful. Absolutely. I agree. Thank you, Kathleen. I think that there's been a lot of... Over the years a lot of not complaints but statements about the transitional years too, and I think we're trying to focus on filling those gaps between the middle school and high school or elementary to middle school and really see the progression but also help transition
067those children as they make those big jumps so Yeah, right So I feel like a lot of parents have brought that forward and ask for us to pay attention to that. And I think this will help us make that transition easier. And in the right direction. Lots of stuff going on. It's been busy. It's been good. Lots of positives. Lots of takeaways. Still lots of things to work on. But as a team and a committee and a school district, I think we're doing okay so far. I do have to say, though, I feel like we've... we're really positive and we keep talking about, oh, we're doing great with the budget. We're still below where we really should be. Like, let's just put it out there. Like, the amount of supports that we could be using,
068you know, we... we could be using math specialists that could go in and help our, you know, we put in a new curriculum, but we didn't necessarily provide coaches, like, to help our teachers understand how to teach the new curriculum and whatever supports we could give. So I don't want to give the public this, like, rosy glow that, oh, we're fine with a 2.54% increase in a town. We're trying to work within our means, but believe me, our kids could be getting so much more if we could put anything else in. We do the best with what we've got. As has been stated year after year, it would be great to get a little bit more. But for what we have, we are doing great. But yes, there are certainly things that we could use
069that we don't have. But I think that making the public aware is probably... You can see like what putting back this position how much that grew What more could we add that would grow more? So Yeah, thank you it isn't all roses you all right you'd like it to be but it's not But okay any other input Mr. LaMarche, do you want to speak to the substation? So next F is action for the town of Charlton Fire substation closing documents. The main thrust of this is to have an actual documented record of school committee voting to approve the superintendent to sign any closing documents that come forward from the town. We need that for a record for historical purposes and for legal purposes. So I would respectfully ask that the committee... pass a motion that
070authorizes the superintendent stephen lamache to sign any closing documents that are coming forward because we're still working on a couple of items that are within the closing one is the easement for the drainage going across the driveway another is for the sign for moving the sign that's part of that'll be part of the closing as well to incorporate the new sign and then the last one is for the town of Charlton to reimburse us for any legal fees that we've expended for this whole process so those are the those are closing documents that will be coming forward and this is just a form it's it's more than a formality it's important but it's something that authorizes me and then there's a record of it for in case somebody goes back to look at our minutes
071100 years from now and see the historian history of the fire substation in charlton when they start building another one yeah that's right this one starts falling apart okay um let's hope uh then we look for a motion to allow authorizes to authorize superintendent to sign for the town of charlton's fire station closing documents yes i think that works okay any further discussion Because we're getting hopefully reimbursed for legal fees. We are having, you've helped us in the past with lots of. Saving costs for legal, but we are having our a lawyer look at this From the very beginning we've had an attorney look for face We're just we're getting down to the end and because they're getting ready to start building We just need a couple more documents to to finalize the process Yeah,
072yeah And I've I've been in constant communication with town administrator goal listen and their attorneys been working with your attorney that represents Dudley Childs interest regional school districts interest So we've had this collaborative and again, we're getting near the end of this for the legal document part of it. No further questions? All those in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. That moves us into executive session. To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation, if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining, DCTA, or the litigation position of the public body, and the chair so declares, only to reconvene into regular session to take votes, if necessary, and adjourn. Thank you. Would somebody make a motion for us? So moved. Second. It's me. Okay. Thank you. Jean, yes. I know what's
073frustrating. Kelly's LAS. Good morning. Good morning. Okay. So that is the second folder you have for the second session.