DCRSD SC Mtg March 26 2025

001Welcome everybody this is the Dudley Charlton Regional School District's school committee meeting today is Wednesday March 26 it's 6 30 p.m. I'd like to call the meeting to order let everybody know that this meeting is being recorded is there anybody out there recording No okay it will be posted on our website as well if we could all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you now take a moment of silence okay moving on we're going to head right into the consent agenda items did anybody have anything to pull out Jean sorry I just moved it around the beginning of the minutes need to be corrected for one call the meeting to order meeting was called to order at 631 in attendance I'm there but I was not there but otherwise we could keep it as

002long as that gets amended I look for a motion to approve the consent agenda items with that change thank you no discussions so all those in favor thank you next on our agenda is communications does anybody have any communications this evening I just wanted to say that I attended the Heroes Among Scholar this weekend and it was again a wonderful opportunity to recognize staff and educators in our community and it was just it was a really nice event and also today I participated in the community reading day at Charlton Elementary School and super cute little thank yous from the kiddos and it was just a really nice it was just a nice day a nice morning to spend with the first grade classroom and that's all I attended the CPAC meeting on 19th, and it

003was very informative. It was turning three essentials from the Federation for Children with Special Needs, and their next meeting is April 16th at Charlton Middle School. They're going to have a workshop. And, okay, they alternate. The first Friday of the month at 9 o'clock, they alternate between Dudley and Charlton. Sturbridge Coffee Roasters. The next one will be in Sturbridge. I mean in Charlton, sorry. And for coffee and conversation. And I'd also like to say everybody should go to the meetings in person because they have really good goodies there. Cupcakes. Yes. But that meeting on April 19th, that workshop, because I know it's listed as to be determined. Yeah. That one is actually going to be a Q&A to ask your special education questions, and CPAC and Director Heather Harriman will answer them. Okay. So if

004you get your questions in to cpac at dcrsd.org, then we'll make sure that we answer the questions. And then there's also the DCRSD CPAC survey that went out last week to everyone with an IEP, 504, and out-of-district placement. I have two questions. Was it April 16th at the middle school or the 19th? Oh, sorry. Is it the 19th or the 16th? Oh, sorry, 16th. Okay. And is that an evening? We're going to say. Sorry, April 19th is my mom's birthday, so it's stuck in my head right now. Okay, that's fine. Okay. And will the results of that survey be brought to the committee? It'll be brought to the school committee later, yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. Anybody else? Nicole? Last week was the... book fair at Charlton Middle School a couple of us did volunteer

005there for one of the days so that was good to see the older younger kids that I don't see anymore that was always great and also the gala was better than the previous and the previous so it just keeps on getting better every year so they did a DCEF did a wonderful job I just want I have the privilege of being able to see our show choirs in action and I just want to congratulate Charlton middle school for getting first place all season at every competition they had for show choir which was amazing and they were they were certainly great and our Dudley middle school team was they achieved silver status at all their competitions and they were really excited for that that was a good thing for them and our our Shepherd Hill team

006also did a great job I think they received silver status They always great performances by everybody and same with color guard as well. So Great. Thank you. I just wanted to make note of the John pears annual golf tournament will be May 17th for anybody who's interested you can go to that website And those funds do get put back to Dudley Charlton students. So If you're interested in playing golf, it's a lot of fun. Hopefully it doesn't rain Yeah, all right Anthony you are up next. I'm gonna keep this quick meeting getting quicker I have a couple things because the weather's warming up so people are more active Spring sports are on the way boys across The first match was yesterday softball track baseball Probably a couple others. I'm forgetting but those are all starting

007really soon Last time we met, I mentioned the National Honor Society was doing a Kids Night Out. That was last Friday, which was a huge success. We had almost, I believe it was almost or over 100 kids in attendance. They were all great, no problems, as you would expect with 100 eight-year-olds. They all had a blast and NHS was able to obtain bins upon bins of donations for the hygiene dry for Abby's house in Worcester. So all around good night and then piggybacking off of Mrs. Carmagnani, the Shepherd Hill Show Choir this weekend was at the New England Show Choir Showdown. and I could list all of the awards they won, but that would take me about 15 minutes. So it was just a really good weekend, and they got a ton of awards, like

008usual. And then two upcoming things that Sherwood Hill Clubs are putting together. The More Than Music Club is putting their very own version of The Wizard of Oz on May 9th and May 10th. at both the seven this class performance will feature Sheppard Hills very own show choirs and also fourth graders as the Munchkins so we really should be a fun show and finally the Sheppard Hill drama club is putting together the next and maybe final show for the year called late bus more info to come but it will be May 2nd and 3rd 8 and 7 respectively that's all half of you guys Thank you. All right. public comment do we have anybody here oh I'm sorry did I skip you oh I did so I wrote so many things right around there I'm

009sorry Superintendent LaMarche please see a report Madam Chair and school committee I do have a couple of things before I the mainstay of my report this evening is around MCAS testing but I wanted to just update you well I wanted to share that we did myself Assistant Superintendent True and Director Harriman did participate in a lip sync competition a couple of Fridays ago We participated as judges. Yes, thank you. Maureen's looking for the video. Next year, maybe. No, just kidding. But it was a great event for the students. The gymnasium was packed. We actually had some Shepherd Hill staff member, well-known there, who participated in the actual lip sync contest. I think he came in second place, his team came in second place. I thought that was great. They were really good, all of them.

010It was really good, yeah. Loretta Andre who works in our office did a phenomenal job with her chair teams at all levels. So that was great. The other thing I wanted to pass on as information is you'll see that the Charlton Fire substation, there is some work beginning over there. We've had some open communication with the general contractor, with myself and Principal Monette. and they are going to do obviously everything in their power to ensure that they don't interfere with the operations of the schools they are going to maintain the current sign they're going to use it as part of their barrier as they set up their construction site and they we will be working on the replacement of that sign near closer to the end of the school year but people will start seeing

011some more work done around the fire substation out of the driveway into Charlton Middle School Now to the, and then the backside of my report, I do have the same thing about the Dudley Education Heroes Among Us. I was able to, because it was sent to me, I was able to put a nice picture in of the people that were there. So we did take a nice picture as a group, and so that is in the report. It's a permanent record now. but the main state of my report is around MCAS assessments as we enter MCAS assessment season it's important to understand that at Massachusetts the the Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system still remains a requirement in 2025 under both state and federal law while MCAS is no longer graduation requirement Massachusetts the state will continue

012to collect data on student performance and achievement these results remain essential for several key reasons for us. First one I've already touched upon, federal requirements and accountability. The MCAS fulfills legal requirements by tracking student progress and ensuring our schools, the Dudley-Charlton schools, remain accountable for student learning. School performance and rankings, MCAS results significantly influence how our schools are evaluated still. All student scores impact school ratings, also impacts school resource allocations by the state for us and inform improvement efforts. MCAS data remains a key measure of our school performance. Measuring essential skills. MCAS assesses how well students are mastering established curriculum standards which emphasize core competencies such as reading, math, science, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. As you know, these skills remain essential for success in college careers and life beyond our schools. Scholarships and

013student opportunities. I think this is probably, to me this is probably a significant one as to what MCAS test continues to do for us. Grade 10 MCAS scores continue to be used in awarding John and Abigail Adams scholarships for our students. These scholarships cover tuition at all Massachusetts State Colleges and Universities. A very important factor in the MCAS assessment that continues at this time. then school and community reputation as you're fully aware a strong student MCAS performance enhances the school's reputation benefiting all students as they apply to colleges and jobs high-performing schools elevate the reputation of the Dudley Charlton School District fostering community pride and in turn supporting local economic growth In conclusion, as we approach this year's MCAS assessments, which has already started at Shepherd Hill this week, at the high school level, it

014is essential that we recognize their continued value in supporting student success and school improvement. The data gathered from these assessments provide meaningful insight into how well we are preparing all students for the future. By approaching MCAS with a shared commitment to growth, we affirm our dedication to educational excellence across the Dudley-Charlton District and ensure that every student is positioned to thrive. So it's very important that we continue to take MCAS seriously, even though it's no longer a graduation requirement, it's still required for us to administer at this time. And that concludes my report this evening. Thank you. Okay. Now we can move on to public comment. Is anybody here for public comment? No comment? Okay. All right. We're going to move right into new business. And I believe Principal Elwell is here to speak on

015behalf of some of the program studies. Good evening. Tis the season for course registration and already this year, this spring, we've made great progress. Our students are meeting individually with our guidance counselors and selecting courses for next year. So just a few... Key things that we consider when approaching course registration the program of studies First and foremost we are developing a student driven schedule meaning We offer a number of options for students to choose from and depending on student interest that determines which courses actually Run so in those difficult situations where there's insufficient interest being mindful of the school committee's focus on class size and also our desire to be responsible stewards of our staffing and resources sometimes we do have to make difficult decisions about which classes will run as opposed to those that

016may not run So before I go through some of the proposed changes for this year, I do want to acknowledge I have an entourage here of curriculum experts and department coordinators who are standing by in the event that there are any questions. Mr. Laliberte is our guidance department coordinator. Mr. Stowe is our social studies department coordinator. Mrs. Peel is our math department coordinator. And Mr. Kortomash is our science department coordinator. all have worked very hard to take a look at their respective departments and how they approach this process. So in terms of the different courses, first on the list, CP Algebra Fundamentals. As most of you know, this year we are piloting, we're not piloting, it's the first year that we have been using the MAP assessment, and I believe that is K through nine

017now, meaning we have another good source of data to inform some of our placements and how we provide coursework. And so based on that map data, in addition to our efforts to increase our progress toward our LRE targets, CP Algebra Fundamentals is designed to shift more students toward inclusion. We currently have some foundations to classes, and this would move us more toward inclusion moving forward. We also have songwriting, which is pretty self-explanatory. New honors environmental sustainability. Several meetings ago, I presented on the clean energy pathway. We do have an application that is under review, and we will likely have a favorable outcome in a number of weeks with a final approval. In anticipation of that, environmental sustainability would be one of the courses that we would now need to offer as part of that pathway.

018Additionally, we have women's health, which we have a teacher who is an instrumental part of our biomedical pathway, and this coursework would be an extension of her work. As you also know, having reviewed our data recently, physics is an area of focus for us at our school. And so the science department has thought very carefully about how to structure coursework to help us improve in that area, resulting in Principles of Physics I, Honors Accelerated, Principles of Physics II, Honors Accelerated, and also Honors Introductory. Physics. So those are the major course changes that are being proposed. Again, with our electives in particular, if there isn't sufficient interest, we unfortunately would not run those particular classes, but we do want to provide students with as many options as possible to choose from and then schedule accordingly. In

019terms of the program studies itself, on page two, We have removed from the Shepherd Hill graduation requirements obviously MCAS as a CD requirement that was previously listed that is now no longer listed in the program of studies. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. And thank you all for coming and being here in case we have lots of questions. Does anybody have any questions? Kathy, go ahead. You can go. So most of these classes they fall within the curriculum that is already existing and then that just as an extension. I guess most specifically like women's health is that That's like a half-year class or an elective and it would take place of not like a health class or gym? No, so this is a new offering. You know typically this time of year

020teachers will come forward with proposals and given the work that Mrs. Bautista does with the BioMed program she felt that there would be sufficient interest in this so she's offered it as an option. So this is new but obviously it would relate to the curriculum that's already in place. If there isn't sufficient interest around the class, then this class would not run. Right. Okay. Making sure, you know, working with what we have, like you mentioned. Same gut. So can I start with math first? Sure. Do you want to have Ms. Peel come? Sure. Because I get a lot of questions. Sorry. And keep in mind, if you don't have the answer right now, it's okay. I'm prepared. Okay. So I guess my first question when I go through the program studies and then I look

021at algebra fundamentals I understand that we're trying to get the kids from the foundations course Into a fundamentals level is that because you want them is the foundations course taught only by a Special educator or is it it's co-taught, right? We're not sure. It will depend on how many children with IEPs are actually in the class. And there's actually two groups of individuals that are going to be in that course. We have some students that are still testing based on our map data that are one or two years below grade level. So there are a few targeted just general ed students that are also going to be placed in that along with. some students that are capable of coming out of the foundation level classes. So it's going to be a combined course, but we're

022trying to keep it at a very low number. Right. So you have the foundation level course right now, and is it taught by a special ed? That is taught by special ed. The foundation courses that exist today are taught by special ed in their small group settings. This new fundamentals course is going to be taught by a general ed teacher. I don't know if we'll have an aid in there or if it will be co-taught. It will be dependent upon the service grids. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I guess my... concern is that if we're moving if we're trying to move kids and your school is not the only one that has this issue by far if but if we're trying to move them into this fundamentals level does that I feel like we're gonna be

023shifting the students that are on IEPs into another level that's the sit like the only difference may be that they're now taught by a math teacher which I think is a good thing But I I wonder is it the least will it be the least restrictive environment if Most of them are special ed students. Okay, so currently we have LRE students in our Algebra 1 CP classes already. So that's not going to change. It's not that we're going to shift those kids and put them into fundamentals. It will totally be based on their skill level that is shown by the MAP testing. So we have kids that are capable of even maybe going up to honors level. that are in the LRE thing, you know, based on what their service requirements are. So the LRE

024thing isn't the only thing. It's more about who's missing those basic components to make them successful in an Algebra 1 class. And it's not to kind of put them a year back. The goal is to give them a year to kind of get... situated with the basic fundamentals that they require it's going to be focused more on modeling and high school level strands using those techniques and then we hope that eventually it would be the following year they could take algebra one and geometry side by side so it's more of a a way of getting them kind of caught up to their peers so they would not they would not be They would have to take a full Algebra 1 CP class again to have is that what you mean or they would it would

025depend It would depend. This will be the first time that we're doing it, so we don't know how far we can get them. So it will depend on, it's kind of a different approach, almost like an integrated math kind of approach, in that we're going to have some geometry strands in there. We're going to have some probability and statistics strands in there. So we're addressing all of the high school strands, but at a kind of taking all the modeling components out and having it be more hands-on so that. maybe it will bridge that gap that those kids are struggling with. I think my major concern is that we're going to end up having students, like if we start pulling students that were normally in the Algebra 1 CP class into this class. that you'll end

026up tracking these students into their own kind of track? I understand what you're saying. Yeah. And I totally understand the fear. The goal is not to kind of remove them from like being with their... peers like on like we want to get them back to where they need to be because right now they're failing. So we have a set now and it's basically about 15 to 20 kids that we're talking about that are failing Algebra 1 because they are lacking certain fundamental things that they need in order to be successful and we're trying to bridge that gap. at the same time as transitioning them into the high school, which is also a struggle for them. So maybe, you know, providing them with a smaller class with a dedicated gen ed teacher and teaching them the

027study skills that will help them be successful in math classes going forward. And if it works, then their sophomore year, hopefully we would be able to put them in Algebra 1 and Geometry simultaneously. Do you know what I mean? So that they would be back on track. I just think we just need to make sure that our parents from the eighth grade understand the implications of the track. Sure. Because I don't think from what you're saying, if they have to retake an Algebra 1 class or potentially, then would this Algebra 1 fundamentals class be NCAA accepted? Like I don't know I'll like seriously, you know what I mean? I do know what you're saying. Okay So the way I guess the way that it would be seen from the NCAA is it is high school

028level Material, but it's like I guess it would be half of the material. So it would be almost like an algebra one part one Okay. Do you know what I mean? Not like a not really a pre algebra an algebra one part one which kind of does like a very one slice, I guess, across all of the standards for lack of a better way of representing it. No, I think we're making a good move to get these kids what they need. I also think we have to think going downward into the middle schools to figure out what can we do to support those kids while they're in middle school as well to get them ready for more advanced math in the high school. Right so um the other question I have too about the math

029is that you've won You've fought a potential of six different levels for an eighth grader to go into Because you have algebra one fundamentals you have algebra one CP algebra one honors algebra one honors Accelerated and then you have algebra two right and algebra two honors. So I just can understand that but I'm wondering what does a seventh grade parent right now understand about the trajectory of their child's eighth grade math course and how their student does in that math course and how important it is because if you're if all of a sudden you're in the spring of your like year and you're like oh you should have gotten an 87 in your algebra class to even be able to take that honors level or be able to yet to have or you have to

030repeat the course like the idea that they have to repeat algebra one again if they're taking algebra in eighth grade like I just think we just need to have some communication with families and it's not all on you by any means but I think that that's something as a district we need to make sure that our kids understand the importance of it our families understand the importance of it and because it does really impact the science selections and all those other different things too. I will, I totally agree with you. And we try really hard to make sure that just because they may have struggled with the transition into high school and needed an additional year to kind of get under their belt to really be ready for the high school experience. Oftentimes kids will

031double up their sophomore year to make sure that they're back on track. going forward so that is encouraged it's just we want to make sure that we give them the supports they need during that first year to get them where they need to be. I guess is your goal to make sure that every student receives up through Algebra 2 before they graduate? Yes. Okay because I think that's now that we have Junior college like we have you know every student could potentially get a free associates degree The more we can get kids to that level. I think is important. Yes, and that that still allows us to get to that level I think we were more excited that It's been such a push to get them right into Algebra 1 as soon as they got

032like the full Algebra 1 their freshman year and unfortunately some kids have really struggled with that and then they end up taking Algebra 1 again anyway. So we're trying to give them more of a success that first year so that they won't hate math and actually be able to build on that going forward and still make it to the Algebra 2 by their senior year. I've taught an Algebra I fundamentals level for a long time, and part of that year is just really getting their confidence back. Yeah. So I can see the importance of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's the questions I have for Matt. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I hope you didn't feel too targeted. I hope you saved me from asking those. Oh, okay. All right. Go ahead. I guess just overall,

033we just have so many different levels. And I would like to see, like at some point, I think it would be interesting to see where do our students fall within each level? Like how many special ed students do we have in each level? How many kids of, you know, what's our ethnicity breakdown in each level? Male, female? Like, you know, do our special ed students and our kids on 504s and our kids with, like... limited English do they have access to higher level coursework you know I guess that's the overall question and I think a lot of the things that we're doing is trying to provide them to get there I just want to make sure we keep going in that direction yeah can do a dive honestly to add on to that I'd look

034at more as well co-teaching because they're like what at least six different co-teaching styles who's to say what's working in that type of methodology that may be working here with this population somebody else is doing something completely different and it doesn't cross generalize and transfer over so I thank you approve these programs of studies for next the 2025-26 academic school year Nicole and Kathy any additional discussion no okay all those in favor unanimous great I know he disappeared but he has to go with this too thank you oh that's in the package okay oh we're down here though right yeah so I think you should go to that too okay right now Good evening again. It's also that time of year that we eagerly await. graduation and all of the activities leading up to graduation.

035So after having met with the policy subcommittee as well as the curriculum subcommittee regarding different proposals for a modified competency determination now that MCAS is no longer a graduation requirement, I tasked the guidance department with auditing our current seniors. And of our graduating class, there were six students who had not yet met the CD by passing MCAS. And so after a careful review of those records and their coursework, I am making the recommendation that the competency determination for the class of 2025 reflect the language in the current program of studies for the graduation requirements which is four credits in English three credits in social studies four credits in math three in science three in phys ed and then five elective offerings again this is language that is currently in the program of studies and upon

036review of these students records this modified CD would take everyone to graduation That would be my recommendation for the class of 2025 for the class of 2026 I think clearly with the state Likely to come out with some additional guidance. It would be something that I would recommend we revisit Okay, so look for a motion to approve the class of 2025 competency determination second Kathy and Nicole Any discussion? No discussion? Okay. So when you talk about phys ed, would our women's health class be a phys ed class that they could take? You pose a very interesting question. I hadn't thought of that. So I would say at this point for the class of 2025, that's a moot point, obviously. Right. But I... I would have to think about that one and take a closer look

037at the curriculum and how it might relate to health slash PE. Thank you. Any other question, discussion? No? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next up is our technology plan. I was asked to refresh the 2022 to 2027 tech plan, so another five-year plan. I just wanted to go over a few things that we were able to accomplish, and obviously we didn't complete the entire plan yet, but a few things we've accomplished over the last few years off of that plan. We replaced all of the network switches in the district, so there's 100 switches. 233 wireless access points were replaced over the last couple of years. We get three schools in 2022 and the rest in 2024. We replaced our endpoint security software with SOFOS Intercept X, which is something that

038has automatic detection and response, which is something the insurance companies want to see. So that was replaced, and we've replaced approximately 500 Windows computers that were too old and would not support Windows 11. That had to be done before October of this year. We still have a handful of machines left to replace. The rest of those will be replaced before the start of the next school year. So those are the major things we accomplished off of that tech plan. The newer one is really just maintenance. We need to find a way to obviously be able to afford to maintain everything that we have. Obviously, people would like to, everyone would like to see more devices, more this, more that. We need to be able to maintain what we have, and that's really the biggest part

039of this. One of those things is now that we've replaced all the hardware, all the network hardware for the switches and the access points, we need to actually reconfigure and redesign the entire network. Couldn't do that until the hardware was replaced. Most organizations will do everything in one shot. We kind of can't afford to do that, so it's spread over a couple of years, which makes it a lot more difficult. Just because you have different techs working on it and sometimes different vendors working on different parts of it So that's kind of we're out right now I'm hoping that we can access some of the remaining tech funds from this year to be able to At least start their process So we'll have to see how that how that's gonna work out We're looking to

040do a couple of cyber security upgrades Obviously everyone hears, you know, all the ransomware attacks and everything going on so it's not going away anytime soon or ever. So there are a few things we'd like to look into. One of the biggest things would be adding additional layers of security to the Google Workspace, basically to email, since that's been one of the biggest places where people are getting hit. So we'll be looking to do something like that. Like I said, This is based heavily on replacement, and one of the biggest things we have to do is figure out what we're doing with the end-user devices. There are a lot of devices that the students use, the staff use, that are old, off warranty. It's time to show their signs, their age. So that's something that

041we have to kind of figure out. We have roughly 2,000 Chromebooks that are on mobile carts, so there are about 65 carts out there for students to use. Over 90% of those are off warranty and you know, gonna be end of life in 2029. End of life is basically what Google's basically saying, we're gonna drop support for it. They're gonna be dead long before that. They don't last. So they're already, like I said, four or five years old. So the district has made a decision along the lines to purchase a bunch of different types of devices. it really we really have to do something about maintaining or pivot away you know obviously if you buy things and you no longer have a use for them let's pivot away from them we're not pivoting away from

042from Chromebooks and iPads and whatnot for the students so we have to come up with a realistic plan that's going to be able to financially be able to cover this plus you know doing do it in a way that a three-person IT department is going to be able to get it done so Last item I had on this one really was just kind of what I was just talking about, the IT staff. We put it into the tech plan three years ago. We've talked about it for years. We're to the point now where we really need to start looking for next year and to do something with staff. Three people covering, supporting about 6,000 devices across seven schools is getting to be a bit much. You know, we've closed approximately 2,800 tickets a year. That

043doesn't include any device replacement or most device replacements or projects, network maintenance, whatnot. We haven't increased the department size in 18 years, so a lot has changed in 18 years, you know, just off the department. So those are really the big items for the tech plan. I know you guys have a copy of it. I don't know if anyone has questions on anything in particular. We can do that in that order, sure. Okay. Thank you for that information. And I think we'll just look for a motion now to approve the technology plan from 2025 to 2030. Caitlin, do I have a second? Sure. Kathy, second? Okay, great. Now discussion? Sure. I have a couple questions for you. One, I have to wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't know how you're keeping... Things the way you're

044keeping like thank you to you and your staff and we say staff like loosely because you only have two people working for you Right. Like that's amazing that you're doing everything you're doing and keeping yours like the district afloat. That's amazing So I have a couple things with We talked about ransomware attacks and Do we have backups do we have like Do we have backups of our systems? Yep. Okay. Well backups of the data. Yeah. Obviously some things now we don't back up and we no longer back up. It's in the cloud. You know the new finance package that's hosted by a vendor. Okay. They handle all the backups there. That was obviously one of the bigger items. Stuff like the student information system again hosted by a vendor. So they're responsible for backing that

045up. For us it's really just the The internal shared folders that the departments we use, school offices we use, staff we use, a lot of them, a lot of people are transitioning over to using Google Drive for a lot of that. It's kind of a combination right now. But everything that's hosted in our servers, we back up off-site. Okay. So for staff devices, we're... You talked a little bit about issuing a Chromebook for people in addition to their desktop. Is that that their desktop is phasing out? No, it was decided to get everyone, well, get teachers anyways, a mobile device. Kind of branched out a little bit more into nurses, a couple of secretaries. Basically, if they had a laptop, they obviously would have a Chromebook and a laptop. But the ones that had desktops,

046you know. So I had to get them a mobile device. Honestly, it's probably a little bit cheaper or about the same price as getting a laptop, having the two of those. The nice thing is, obviously, if there's a desktop in the classroom, it teaches how to sit. The sub has something to use. Windows devices are obviously more prone to infections and whatnot, so bringing a Windows device back and forth is not exactly something I like to see. A Chromebook is a little bit more secure in that manner. Plus they cost a lot less so someone drops it loses it trashes it whatnot. It's not as expensive to replace Do you I'm just wondering if I missed Do we have like and I'm sure we don't even because we can't really we haven't thought about how

047to afford it But do we have like a just classroom display? Plan like a replacement plan for our classroom displays all the classrooms have projectors right now some have interactive smart boards Old-school smart boards any of those smart boards or inter-white boards. They didn't get replaced. They're gonna be replaced with with an LCD Screen that's just what they do now Obviously if we replace one with basically a touchscreen TV, we're not going to put a projector in that room as well. There is no real plan to just outfit every classroom with that. When the projectors die, we're going to have to do something. And if it's decided to have, say, an interactive display in every classroom, then we'll be doing that. Right now there's only about 115 or so. again old school smart boards in

048classrooms so anyone else that doesn't have an interactive screen you know I mean just with the projector are we gonna just say give everyone interactive one I honestly don't know but given our state right now and what we can and can't afford I'm probably gonna say we're not going to be deploying 200 additional ones Yeah, that would be the only thing I think I would probably add is like really being making sure that we inventory what our classroom displays look like and think about Okay, what you know do we do we go with short throw projectors and just start thinking about a replacement cycle for that? because they can get really expensive really fast and you don't want to be stuck with it like needing to get 30 in one year because they all died

049yeah I mean that's the thing I mean there's about three hundred and fifteen three hundred twenty or so just of those you know when you're looking at all devices whether it's you know computers tablets Chromebooks projectors smart boards yeah it's the whole thing we need to start figuring out a replacement cycle on It's not just the student Chromebooks or whatnot. I mean, the teachers have a lot of devices that they rely on and that they, quite frankly, need for curriculum. I mean, we're told to support the curriculum. They basically need a projector or some type of display and a computer. That's really all they need. But when you're looking at the old interactive smart boards. some schools you know decided to go crazy and put one every classroom other ones only have one or two

050so when you look at a minimum of twenty to twenty three hundred dollars for the lowest and one all the way up to you know four or five thousand dollars Something's going to have to be done with the projectors. We're just not entirely sure what yet. Yeah. I mean, I think that just we might want to think about that. I mean, a projector will obviously be the simplest, easiest fix simply because there's already a mount on the ceiling. Power's already run to that. It's just swap a device. If they're going to put a TV on the wall, then there'll be a lot more involvement by, you know, the custodians to hang TVs and run additional wires and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. I just think we might want to include that. The one of the things that

051I was looking at too is the Software approval procedure like I think that's something we might want to look at a little bit more Because I know like You know part of what I do is like look at digital like privacy information and like We can work with outside vendors to deal with our digital privacy agreements, but I think that some of the like We need to think about every time a kid signs in to a program, their data is that, like, parts of their data are shared, and we need to think about how are we protecting our students' data. And just even looking at the companies that we use, you know, I happen to have been a power school company, which school, which was scary enough. Like, how are they protecting themselves against our

052data? Like, every time we sign into them, are we using multi-factor authentication to sign into their system? So I think, like, those are some of the things that I think we need to think about. Yep. Dan is one of the best that I've ever worked with to understand SIPA compliance and all that kind of stuff. He goes, he's very thorough with every piece of software that has ever come forward to ensure that we are protecting our kids. And he will say no, and he has the authority to say no. to something if it's not authenticated in some way. So he's one of the best that I've worked with around that. Yeah, we basically look at the tech part of it as far as, you know, is it worthwhile as an educational package or whatever else.

053That's where we're kind of saying, you need to go to your principals because too often we have just a random classroom teacher who will be like, I want this and this and this. no we're not gonna prove any of this stuff you need to go through your principal and then even if they approve it if it comes back and it's something that's you know sketchy or you know isn't gonna meet you know the standards we wanted to meet as far as security goes and again it's it's kind of difficult because we could probably say nearly just about everything if we're just looking at that so it's kind of look at the trade-off is it is it worthwhile or not and again from a from student information standpoint everything's pretty much authenticating through either clever or

054with the Google platform itself and again Google is constantly probably seeing all the stuff that's coming out with them but they're constantly just hitting you with the under 18 that you know it's it's pretty much constant where even though I've approved certain things I have to go back now and just reapprove that I approve this and you know so they are there Really trying to make sure that the students data is staying protected that being said we can do it if we want to do if People who's logging into other people's accounts because they're leaving passwords around or whatever else Obviously becomes an issue we did just roll out multi-factor to a two-step verification to staff students it's it's not even something that we could do here in this district just because they don't have

055assigned devices so without having an assigned Chromebook they would need their phone with them every single time they log in which would be practically impossible yeah no again I mean I think whatever we can do to support you It's just you know, it's hard like I think that just like our custodial crew they do such a good job that people don't always see the needs that people have and and The amount of work I don't think I quite captured the amount of work that you do before school starts to get everything online for kids and for teachers and And even also during the school day. So thank you the finance section towards the end of them the E-rate funding from the federal government, given all of the things that it appears we're going to need

056to replace and or upgrade in the next few years. Are there any other, and I'm sure you've looked into this, are there any other... Grants or funding out there maybe from a state level that we could possibly tap into yeah, I mean we we looks well we deal with the rate all the time from It's two different things as category one and category two category one covers your communication services So basically your internet connection your connection between these schools and whatnot category two. They'll let you use for Network related hardware so the switches the access points with category two unfortunately though. It's not always guaranteed it's more of they kind of give you here's a pot of cash i guess you know that's good for about five years and if they go back and you

057know re-up it every five years great if not you're kind of stuck but you get a certain amount of money that you can apply for and you basically get 60 reimbursement on the overall cost of the project up to the amount that's in that pool so when we did the The switches we kind of ran out of money on that so we got 60% on maybe 70% of the project the rest of the district had to pay for There are other grants out there. I know some grants have been accessed for For various things a lot of them were during COVID as far as you know getting devices or getting replacement devices or whatnot We've done like emergency connectivity fund grants which were more for giving devices to students to use at home not so

058much here But there are definitely grants out there it usually ends up being you know if it's something that a particular school is looking for they want to get additional cards or whatnot for You know whatever this project might be they'll be looking into that type of stuff. We don't usually tend to You know getting and looking at all the different grants that are out there. We just simply don't have I know at one point we had a grant writer, which we don't have anymore. That's something that I take seriously as part of my duties, so I am continuously looking for IT opportunities. Ms. Carminiani, for example, forwarded me an opportunity that she had come along, that had come along to her, actually, that Dan did submit an application for, which is pending right now,

059so yes, we do, and are cognizant of available local, state, and federal grant opportunities. i mean we're hoping we're hoping there'll be more in the way of like say cyber security grants which you know that particular grant that we're talking about we're looking to try to see if we can offset the cost of the sofa's endpoint security that was one of the things that they were they allowed us to actually apply it towards we asked a couple of questions if there were you know other things we could apply it to and it didn't really wasn't really what the grant was for so thank you fine sorry So a little hard of hearing, and I had to double check in the report to make sure I heard right. 18 years, and it's only been three of

060you? Yeah, it was the third person I had 18 years ago. It doesn't seem like that kept pace with everything going on. But one of the other things I wanted to ask, because when you hear 18 years, it's kind of like, wow, that's a long, long time. But then when you hear 2007, it's like. Kind of has a bit more gravitas to it, right? But I also see you're responsible for a number of other non-technical duties. What are your other non-technical duties? It varies. I mean, we're kind of responsible for placing Amazon orders for everything under the sun. There will be a lot of things in the day that really aren't tech-related. Things like... I was like configuring, you know, certain pieces of software, web-based software, whatnot. Yes, it's tech. It's literally checking checkboxes or,

061you know, it's, we don't have really the time for those things when we have a lot of actual technical issues that are, you know, things are failing left and right. And those are the things we have to really look at. But Amazon is probably one of the largest ones. That drives me nuts on a daily basis, just placing orders. But like everything else, people end up wearing, it's whatever hat, you know. And I was just going to say, it's notorious in the school district, and Mr. Carmiani can probably attest to this as well, that anything nowadays seems like it's technology. So, Dan. People try to have him own it all so if the thermostats not working that's technology Well, we've worked hard that we've worked hard to keep telephones away from there, but our telephones

062is still almost analog so word word It's not that we're not Techno technologically advanced in our telephone systems in our schools But it is true in a school district that anything that has seems like it's not clocks called in pa system called in and so we've worked hard to try to keep some of that where you know the amazon thing is something we should probably take a look at again going down the road that's obviously a control mechanism for us but but it is true that you know his staff has been limited he's him and his staff have done an incredible job uh kevin and nick is part of dan's staff um 18 years you talk about 18 years of those in technology life that's like dog years you know 18 years is you know

063technology goes so fast but they've done an incredible job so you have to keep in mind that with the fy 26 is the first year that we didn't present reductions since i've been here so maybe we're on a path to look at some additions in the future and his department clearly needs to be a priority there's no doubt about it i mean that's it that is what the department has been level funded for a very long time yeah yeah you've heard director doug angelo say that hopefully he can spend the rest of his fy 25 money He should be able to spend 100% of it, but sometimes we have to, it depends on the needs of the year because we're not flush with lots of cash hanging around. I think it's also important to note,

064like you talked about having instructional support technologists or at least someone that can help you with that because we are now implementing all this curriculum that has technology involved in it and, pardon me. Our staff need to know how to utilize that best, and then there's always questions about how to roster it. You can spend a whole day on support on a phone call just trying to get through to someone to figure out how to fix one item, and he clearly does not have the time or staff to be able to do those things. Oh, well thank you, Kelly. That's my job. Okay, thank you. Principals are frustrated because they wear that hat in the building. They're the instructional technology specialists in the building. We need to really look at that building at capacity. It's

065a shame because if all things were right, that would have already been in place years ago. Can I say one thing? Do I think that like there should be some things added to this sure but I think it's a living document and as We go as we kind of keep going through things I'm sure it can evolve and change but thank you for the work that you did putting this together. I appreciate it You'll hear about it as we're trying to build this in as part of our capital improvement plan as well, have technology in there, because that previously was not in there. It was on its own. It may have been part of a capital request as technology, but it really needs to be part of our cycle of capital improvement as well because

066of the investment that's required. Thank you. We're going to, if nobody has any questions, we have a motion. All those in favor of approving the technology plan? Thank you so much. Thank you, Director McAnville. Okay. Technology is done. Our capital improvement plan. Director Karin. Hello. I hope my voice lasts. I'm battling a cold. So what we have here, as we all know, last year we had a facilities condition assessment done by Habib and Associates, which everybody here got a copy of, a physical copy. We all know it's on the website for others to look at it as well. what you're gonna see in this capital plan is those direct costs of those deficiencies that are spelled out in that plan spread out over a 10-year period myself and the head custodians at every school got

067together analyzed the plan and prioritized it Now based on what we feel is the best priorities. I think what was mentioned about Dan's plan being a living document That's very true in this case that things that are a priority now But that we think are a priority five years from now may rise up sooner might be able to be put off later as we move forward throughout the years and certainly Another thing as you look at this document, which is just a bunch of spreadsheets You will see prices ten years out if you know we all know that those prices are not going to remain the same as we move forward over a ten year period So those are certainly going to change to give you a rundown the first two pages of the spreadsheet

068document of the ten-year capital plan is Broken out by town so town of Dudley totals and then town of Charlton totals After that, you're going to see a number of spreadsheets for each individual school to break out exactly what's in the bulk numbers that you're seeing over the first two pages of that 10-year plan. For Charlton? It's not listed on it. Yeah, so if you look at it, you can see, yes, the total for Charlton. If you go on the second page, the second spreadsheet page, you're looking at... No, that one's missing the total. I'm very sorry. There is one for Dudley though. That's fine. I just noticed the one for Dudley. We can do the math. That's fine. I can do a quick math. Sorry. When you see that, it's highly skewed because Heritage

069is by far the most efficient school we have. The main spend there at Heritage is their exterior facade block. All these brick buildings have a subframe and then a facade block. That facade block, I'm being told word of mouth that when the school was built, the block was supposed to come factory sealed. And what there is, there's metal ties that hold that to the substructure. Those have been getting wet for 37, what year was that built? 30 plus years, so the we are at risk of the facade coming off the building or if you go and drive by Heritage and see the brick. I just want to qualify that, not tomorrow. No, not tomorrow. Not tomorrow. Over a number of years, it's not going to keep up. Yeah, it's not imminent threat of collapse or

070anything like that. But if you look at the staining on Heritage School, that white staining on the brick, that's called efflorescence. That is the signs of the masonry actually being drawn. out of the block and standing in the front. And that's just a sign of moisture problem. So that's a big spend there, but I'm sure if you put that up to MSBA, they might not recommend fixing up that school one part at a time. But we would see. So I don't know if you have any questions about the bulk of each town or individual schools, but they're all on there. Each project is... directly identified giving a short summary and you will see some bulk years on some of these schools you know outside of the middle schools all of our roofs are well overdue

071for replacement all of our heating systems are well overdue for replacement and those are big big spends and the longer we wait on those the more the state will have control over what kind of heating systems we put in because they have in place green electrification projects for heating, which would potentially rise the cost even more because we'd have to update our electrical systems to go to an all-electric heating systems. So like anything, once you dive into it, there's going to be probably some other things to follow? Things are going to rise up. And then the other things as we do projects, yes, there are projects in here identified for accessibility. laws to be approved. You don't have to, you get grandfathered in until you spend a certain amount of money on each building. So

072at a certain point, even going through these projects, if we don't feel accessibility is a priority, we will be required by the state to have to do accessibility projects. Because once you invest so much money into a standing state building, it has to meet accessibility. So even if we wanted to push those off, at some point they rise to the top. Why don't you spend a certain value with the value of the building? Correct. Correct. Yeah. There's a percentage equation that goes into that. So once you start doing roofs, heating systems, flooring, at a certain point they go, hey, you've improved the building 50% of its value. You have to meet accessibility now. You're no longer able to say this is an old building. It's no longer grandfathered. Right, and accessibility for the entire facility,

073not a certain... Correct. Every sidewalk, every field, bathroom, sink, stall. Bubblers. Bubblers, yeah. Water fountains and all that. Yeah, okay. Yeah, there's a lot of... I mean, there's a lot of... So at a certain point, a can of worms gets opened up for that. Right. But this covers every single thing that was in that review that we had. Absolutely. Just broken down. As well as Dan did put in numbers, the last... line item on every single school has a IT capital spend. That's more for service, UPSs, wireless accidents, the actual structure of the IT systems. You know, not Chromebooks, not computers, but the actual bones of the IT system. So that's in there as well. And that wasn't included on the review? No, that was not part of there. Gotcha. they were looking specifically at

074the facilities so if you when you go into each school's spreadsheet they're organized if you look at the call-out numbers like you know 1.1 1.2 so the ones are gonna be your site so think you know parking lots sidewalks curbings your twos are gonna be your your building envelopes which are roofs That like facade block I was talking about masonry joints stuff like that number the threes are Going to be your interiors. So think like floors paint ceiling tiles stuff like that The fours are going to be Your mechanicals so think like circulating pumps heating systems AC units if our schools are AC currently. And then once you get into the fours, you're going to be looking at, I mean, sorry, fives, you're going to be looking at phone systems, security upgrades, the paging time

075clocks, auditoriums, stuff like that. But all those numbers are tied to the... Those directly are tied back into the facilities report, which, as we've all saw, the detail in that report has pictures and descriptions of everything. So they go... hand in hand that report and the capital budget So some of the sevens are gonna be the equipment that is also not in the facilities plan So you get to think like our tractors our mowers things that are of capital value that would have to be Sevens should be Sevens are right. Sorry six. I'm sorry. Yep Correct. Have we I assume that we I mean the town has access to that review as they've been given Discussed this plan in It was our job this year to try to boil that down to again. They report

076was looking at our for municipals or school districts a quicker way of addressing the capital needs. We were trying to spread it out a little bit further so it was, you know, nothing's palatable about a couple hundred million dollars worth of work, but to try to prioritize in such a way that we could really try to break it down a little bit and take a look at it. You know, things will change within those ten years, but it was Joe's work and Joe's work to really work on with the capital and the head custodians to come up with what do we really need to address now, which Habib had a lot of things to address right now. Yes. And just keep in mind for school committee, after, if school committee votes to approve this this

077evening, we are set to go to the town of Dudley on April 7th at their board of selector meeting for the FY26, but also this, and also the town of Charlton on April 16th. 16th is a Wednesday. Any questions? If we need more information in 7, I do wonder if you need to put classroom displays in your 7 category. for technology I can imagine that the conversation in Charlton will be about you know have we looked at you know what do we do with with the school with the school with the facade coming off like do we what if we we take you know we take the school and put it offline and and filter the kids into the other schools like what will that what impact will that have on the capital budget for

078those for that town the next goal also is to next year apply with MSBA for both Shepherd Hill again and heritage to see what what occurs there but that question will come up I also think one of the questions that will also need to be prepared for is about ensuring that we've already and have documentation receipts of trying to go back in a time for any type of warranty or receipts because remember a lot of the conversation about the middle school roofs was well what have you done have you gone back to Dow have you done you know so and I know we have you know we've gone through our resources with heritage but I think it's also good to put that up front especially when we're talking about the price tag that heritage has

079but then aren't we also looking in for renewable electricity the solar panels so is there you know because is there also the possibility of offsetting some of that with when that does come into fruition for you know I'm trying to say So we could certainly as you get a new roof you could make them solar ready Which is what we did for the middle schools, and we're in the pipeline for those now. We're just that's what I'm talking about It's a years-long process like so five years from now when we possibly have money that could be a nest egg to fix something else But right now we have to fix this yeah, yeah, the the electric companies are not in business with people to manufacture electricity. They allow you to offset your own. So we'll

080be able to offset our electric bill with solar, but we're never going to be getting a check from National Grid. They will never allow a system like that to be installed. Is the solar just being discussed for Sheppard Hill? Solar is only on the table for the two middle schools because that's the only roofs that we have available. All of our other roofs, we'd get laughed at. Right, okay. Only the new roofs. Okay. That's why I make sure it's stated many times. But with that solar process, we did go out for grants from the state to try to get money to replace roofs if we would put solar on them, but nothing came of those. Maybe that's what I was thinking. So we did try. Okay. But you're competing with the whole state, and it

081was a very small amount of total money in the grants available. It's also worth noting that MSBA is slated to come out to all schools to do their own assessment. So they're going to be meeting with Director Caron and going through just to, and they're doing it at every regional and every school district within the state, where they're going to, they're not coming out and saying they're going to prioritize funding based on need, but we hope that there's going to be some value. with the fact that they're going to put their eyes on it individually go through that process so again we'll we'll have that started as of the end of this month and into April so hopefully that'll move that process along a little further if it does become an option that's when MSP

082is coming out just yep they're doing it statewide all the schools kind of doing a facility assessment to get a snapshot of the conditions of the school statewide We had tried to provide them the facility assessment that we paid for, but they obviously want to have their own devices. Sure. Okay. Seeing is believing, huh? You don't see it, what it actually is. Okay. Does anybody have any additional questions, comments, concerns? My question is, you want us to vote on this tonight, but I'm worried that it doesn't include... The motion should be to include the feedback received this evening. Okay. Joe and I already talked about a couple of other things with this too. But I think what it is now, I think to move it forward, I think we need to support it. So the

083motion that stands now, we're voting on after. Assuming with all our discussion, we're voting on it as a house written. Right. We're accepting it. You're voting on it to include the feedback for... updates okay do I need to make a new motion I guess it's fine I don't know if we ever made a motion did we not make a motion no we didn't sorry my bad okay I had to keep track sometimes that's why everybody else is here okay so I look for a motion to approve the capital improvement plan the 10-year capital improvement plan as written based off some of the information or discussion we just had I can't do that. A 10-year capital improvement plan. Isn't that what I said? To include the feedback received from school committee this evening. To include the

084feedback received from school committee this evening. Thank you. Appreciate that. All right. Second, Jamie. Thank you. Any additional discussion? All those in favor? Thank you for putting that together. I'm feeling well, so thank you. okay again you're all set too i don't know you can stay till the bit to the very end sorry i was gonna say bitter end but that would be so offensive you know we have the april 7th date we have the april 16th date i just I know I'm not available on the 16th. I just want to make sure that we do have some representation at those meetings from our committee. I am available on the 16th. Monday the 7th. That's a Monday. Yeah, I mean, we can schedule it later, but I think we should just try to, if we

085possibly can be there, it'd be good. Yep. I can plan to attend trial on the 16th. We can have at least somebody plan to attend Dudley. And I can be at the trial. I can do the 16th as well. I cannot do the 7th. we will now move into the 2025 to 2030 curriculum review plan my assistant superintendent true thank you so I did have the ability to put together a curriculum review plan that encompasses four different phases for looking at curriculum over a span of several years we have a lot of curriculum needs in the district and we have a lot of curriculum to look at we've done a pretty good job in the last you know four to five years of trying to get new curriculum in but we still have some pretty

086significant deficits especially at the high school level And we've done a fairly good job. If you look through, the four phases are planning, articulating, and developing. implementing and monitoring and then evaluation so phase one is basically recognizing through looking at data through the curriculum review process identifying where there are needs for new curriculum that's basically the first phase is identifying that you need new curriculum in an area and then starting the conversation around what do we want to look at phase two is really about articulating the vision for whatever curriculum is coming up it's working together with teachers and different department heads different levels the principals everybody on What do we want to see for our new program and then looking at some of the new programs looking at whether we want to pilot something

087or we want to just you know go right into looking at materials and and Trying them out how long we want for a pilot all of those different decisions that you have to make when you're looking at curriculum So that basically happens during phase two the selection of what we're going to be using phase three is the first year of implementation and then phase three also encompasses the years of monitoring. So those years are meeting together to talk about the curriculum, how it's going, getting feedback from the teachers, looking at data to see are we seeing increases from this, how is it going overall. And then phase four is when you evaluate the curriculum for the need for a new curriculum again. So it really should be in a cycle and it should take roughly

088five years or so to review once you have a new curriculum it takes about five years before you start looking at you know are there tweaks that need to be made is there something new that needs to come out the curriculum frameworks are updated every five years so it kind of goes on a similar rotation so just thinking about those four phases of curriculum development and looking at where we really have needs in the district i tried to put this plan based together not just on what we need and what we need right away, but also that we can't have new curriculum adoptions in the same year at every level. So that makes it really, really difficult because we do like we need a whole really close look at our high school programming and what

089we have for high quality instructional materials that we're using in our courses there. I think that that's a huge priority. We are looking at math at the elementary level coming up soon. We have new ELA, new math, new science at the middle school level. So that's really great. I think the middle school is pretty well positioned with high quality instructional materials. I don't know how they came out above the other two levels, but somehow we've done that all. We were able to get those three curricula in the middle school, which is fantastic. So, you know, we do have some breaks in in the different phases of where we're going with curriculum but my biggest priorities are to make sure that we have ela solid ela and math at all three levels like first and foremost

090you know the high school is definitely a priority for me as well but the challenge is figuring out how to do it all in a timely manner that is supportive with our budget process So I think I have a plan that's pretty well laid out. The big ticket items are when we get into that first phase three of implement and monitor because that's usually when the big cost is incurred at the first year of implementation. So wherever you see a phase three implement and monitor that's the first phase three, then that's where it could potentially be a big ticket item. We have a lot of work to do with curriculum. Some of it will be review, really looking at the programs that we have, but a lot of it is going to be for new

091curriculum. I just have a question. When we're doing the evaluations of the curriculum, are all the teachers who are involved in it, are they surveyed? Yes. Is it committee? It could be either. Usually we meet as faculty. So either I'll meet with the whole ELA department or I'll meet with the whole science department somewhere or I'll meet with the elementary ELA teachers. Things like that to get a consensus of how things are going and talk to them. Usually it's through meetings. And then when we're selecting curriculum, it's more of a committee of volunteers that want to be part of that process. But everyone has a voice. Everyone, you know, we, even though there are committee members, when we do join a committee, they are the representative of their field on there. So, you know, other

092teachers still have a say. They just talk to the representative that's on the committee. Following policy, that would be the place to do all that. That does look like a lot, but we've made some big strides. Definitely made some big strides over time, and we're in a good spot for a few years in some places. So that's good. That is good. That's good news. I'm excited we have this. Yeah. A plan. I agree. This is very helpful. And, I mean, like the other, it is a living document. So, you know, something happens and... things need to be moved around or if we're able you know maybe with the amazon money we're able to do something for math or science before we can do it for you know something else like those are all possibilities so

093it's it's a plan it's not etched in stone so you know things definitely can be moved around within it it's just this this is what makes the most sense for right now where we are and then as things develop and we see you know we might not be ready for new curriculum at a time where it says that we're going into you know the the phases of looking at a curriculum. It might just be that we need some supplements or need some tweaks to a curriculum and don't need a whole new curriculum, which would be amazing. So it's hard to say what will happen for each of these as they go along, but at least there's a plan for how we're going to look at it. Yeah, I would actually personally, just personally be curious.

094If we had, you know, under English language arts, like how many different curriculums and supplements are we using to get there and what the names of them are? Because people throw them out all the time and I'm like, yeah, okay. You know, just personally. I agree. You hear about it. I can make you a cheat sheet. That'd be great. Yeah, sure. If it's easy enough for you to do. I don't want to take a lot of your time. Yeah, I can make you a cheat sheet. That's easy. But I'm guessing you know off the top of your head what they are. I do. You can probably write them all down, but I won't put anybody through that. Yep. Okay. I appreciate this this is great to have does anybody have any questions about this So

095one of the things that I was wondering, we always talk about middle school and our fifth graders. So I'm just wondering if we can maybe articulate on this, like when we say English language arts for elementary, does that elementary encompass grade five? I can add that in. It does not because the element, so middle school, fifth grade is aligned with the middle school curriculum. but I think in science we're not aligned with the middle school curriculum. So I think that would be a good place to articulate that, like just to understand that. I'm looking to bring all fifth grade curriculum in line with the middle school curriculum, just so you know. I think Kelly's idea of understanding by grade level, like what are we actually using it, and maybe the year of adoption would be

096good. If I can find it, I will. Right, if we know it. But, or like how old things are. I think we would be surprised to see in some of our high school textbooks. probably using a textbook from 2000 or probably a lot earlier. Right? Yeah. That does sound new. Right. Like I remember going through books that had mold on them. You could be. You could be. But I think it would be important for people to understand like, yeah, this is why we're asking for money. We have kids using textbooks that are 30 years old right now. possibly and we're trying to like at some point you cannot replace them yes and so that that would be important yeah um my other thing too is that i just wonder at each level if we could

097have um a row for the sel health and physical education um maybe something for unified arts just so that we can understand where like you know because the health and health and phys ed is coming in and where are we on that curriculum and yeah you know things like that and then you know with our unified arts to like what curriculum made might they be using and they may be using different things but I think they've tried to really align themselves into the two districts right oh yeah the two districts I am with within the district within the district yeah yeah and then maybe with even Like when I talk SEL to I mean like as far as you know What's what's our guidance department doing in terms of like I know that they've been

098at the high school going into the classrooms Right and like I think they've been doing some SEL work Even within the the teachers have been so I think that's important to know and And even just like, you know, some of those we don't have curriculum for. So like there is, you know, I think it's good to know we don't have it. Right. It's district like district developed or something just so that we understand that. Yeah. That's where we are right now. Okay. And then for our 12 plus, like what, what kind of curriculum are we using for those guys? If we have, you know, things like that. You got half of my question already. Did I? Okay, good. I think I'm done. Cause I was going to add on to that. Yeah. You knew I

099was. Oh, go for it. It wasn't a surprise, right? Go for it. So, yeah, so I'm thinking, you know, 3 to 12 plus. because and I'm sure that you're doing it that you're you know that part of this is also working with the director Harriman and sharing about curriculum very closely not just this kid but for all kids and actually seeing that alignment that of you know a special education curriculum for maybe some of the students in the foundation or the ILC classes or TLC but how does that also align and is that getting reviewed and because like you know Every kid is a general ed kid, even a special ed kid. So I like to see them in this and I know that in special education some of those curricula are kind of weak.

100you know which is why we don't always purchase them yeah because sometimes our homebrew systems better sometimes you know right now director Harriman and I have been working together on the preschool curriculum to which is an integrated curriculum because our preschools are integrated so we're looking at a new curriculum and one of the things that we're looking at and we just looked at another one yes yesterday with teachers or the day before they're all blending together um this week i looked at preschool curriculum with the preschool teachers and um the principals and director Harriman and a big you know part of that conversation was you know is this accessible how can we make it accessible like you know looking at the different pieces of it to see you know are there multiple opportunities to engage

101kids in different ways in here and kids of varying abilities and in different um Things you know have different challenges that are there and are we able to make this accessible to all of them? So like we're definitely looking at that when we're looking at new curriculum and making sure we also are doing Director Harriman and I are doing an audit of all of our specialized programs that we have to see, you know, how are we well positioned for, like, specialized reading programs, specialized math programs, you know, all of those things. And then next year at the elementary level when we're doing our professional development. the special education teachers are going to be in their own cohort working on specialized math instruction with the consultants that we're working with but then they're also going to

102be included in the workshops with the gen ed teachers because they'll be doing you know specialized include inclusion work so it's not only how do you use specialized instruction in like your pullout groups for special education but also how to make it accessible in the classroom for our inclusion students so that's a big piece of the work that we're doing with professional development next year before we look at new math curricula at the elementary level so that we have a good handle on what we need to look for you know like right now i think looking at new math programs for the elementary It becomes so program specific. You know, all the professional development and everything becomes really program specific to you once you adopt something. So giving the teachers the tools they need to

103be able to evaluate a new math program and say, like, yes, I can easily make this accessible. Yes, this fits into the routines that we know are really good for all students in our rooms to invite everyone into the conversation. So that's kind of how I'm trying to move forward with curriculum adoption is to provide and build capacity of teachers. before looking at new curricular resources and new materials because the ultimate goal is to make it accessible for all. Can you update this with a little bit more of that language? Yeah sure okay because I didn't I have like warm fuzzy of a good direction from you talking about it and I didn't get the warm fuzzy when I was reading it so yes yes I can make a comprehensive curriculum development document housing that

104includes all the fields all the fields all the curriculum fields all the fields so that way all the students are lifted up and move forward yes absolutely And also the ESL right Yes actually thank you for mentioning that I do need to I want to add that in especially because we have car kill So I'm sure Barbara wants to be in that meeting Oh yes definitely Madam Chair I respectfully ask for again approval based off of the feedback received So we didn't make a motion yet Okay I made a motion that we approve the what is it the The curriculum development and review plan of 2025 to 2030 with the feedback from the school committee. Nice job. A second. I was so moved, I guess. You made the motion. I made the motion. Thank you.

105One more second? Yeah, Kathy. Oh, okay, sorry. No discussion? Do you need to? I think it'll be something that we can talk about in teaching and learning, too. Yeah. Okay, great. All those in favor? Thank you. Thank you. So, Madam Chair, if I could, and the school committee. So what you're getting tonight is you're getting organization for us as a district. We're trying to develop these long-range plans that can be incorporated. We are working on a draft of the district improvement plan that we do want to bring to the school committee, and then after the school committee gives feedback on that, we want to send that out to the masses and look for more feedback on it. But these things have to be incorporated in that, and so we're really trying to get organized. These

106plans, once updated, will be on our website. you will find all these plans and then the the overarching plan will be the district improvement plan with that and then school improvement plans can be based off of that stuff as well uh trickling down so i think i think we're finally getting to a point where we're really getting organized as a district is what our long-range view is i think oftentimes as you know in our unfortunate finances really drive us to look at today sometimes without looking at tomorrow and i think we're finally getting to a point where we can start looking at tomorrow and try to drive our finances towards tomorrow at the same time so i appreciate the work of all the directors and the assistant superintendent on this um just this is really

107us getting organized as a district which again um i hate to use gene's words but warm and fuzzy this feels good that we're getting organized that we have a plan how often do i say warm and fuzzy where's the data i want the data you know okay i'm happy to hear the genes warm and fuzzy and i just i just think as a district i think this is really good for us to be and have a plan and a roadmap and you know so we can make decisions not only administratively but as we can make recommendations for you as a committee and this is I think it's fine things are finally coming together so I really appreciate the work and I appreciate the support of the school committee on those as well We appreciate all

108the work put in it is nice to see a plan made forward for all of these things that we want to be taking care of and addressing so thank you and we're gonna move forward on to the acceptance of a donation from director DeSantis Sheppard Hill athletics and cheer so Sheppard Hill Regional High School was presented with the donation of $5,000 from the Fels Family Foundation so we thank the donor very much for their generous contribution so I respectfully request school committee vote to approve the acceptance of the donation And this is certainly a family name that we've heard a few times, I feel like, for donations. So we definitely appreciate the generous donation. I'll look for a motion. Second. Oh, it doesn't matter. Did I make the motion? I looked for a motion to

109it. No, the motion was made. Oh, we should have Kathy. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Right? You can see how I just do not handle this part well. Okay. That's all. Anybody else to say? did you take over all right so we have a motion we have a second all right so it does say um it would like to be used within the cover sheet it says for athletic and cheer was the request okay um however it hasn't been slated for a specific question all those in favor let's see thank you all right next up we have a few policies for action Do you want to present those? Yes, Madam Chair and school committee. We have a couple of policies that we distributed at the March 5th meeting, and it was sent out to the community on

110March 11th. We did receive some feedback. Policy sub met before this meeting to review that feedback that we received. We also received feedback during the meeting on March 5th, and we incorporated that feedback as well. So we are bringing forward for action this evening for the school committee to consider policy IKF. graduation requirements. Again, this policy is designed to be the framework for graduation. It's not designed to have the specificity that will be the program of studies from year to year. That way we don't have to revisit this policy when the state or other entities, regulatory agencies, determine what our actual competency determinations will be. When I did send this out to the community, I incorporated all the memos that were behind it as well. We did receive feedback on the memos as well, but

111those weren't going to be incorporated into the policy So all the edits are in this policy and IKF is ready for action by the school committee I look for a motion to approve policy IKF the graduation requirements Second Jamie, thank you any discussion questions discussion. No Hearing none Really appreciate that we made sure to call out the transfer students and and make sure we do the right thing by them that's good all those in favor she carries you needless thank you Madam Chair and School Committee, we have two additional new policies. JRA, student records, as I've presented in the past, student records is part of our staff resource handbook. The school committee did not have an actual JRA policy. We did just have a student records section within the staff resource handbook. There is a

112recommendation to have these student records policies within your policy. i was going to say binder but you don't have a binder your policy book we'll call it that so huh library library yeah your collection your collection of policy so these policies again were reviewed we did receive some some feedback on these as well around some some edits there was nothing substantive but we did incorporate the edits that were recommended around some punctuation and stuff so you can we can work on them separately but the reason for two of them is jr8 is really the generalization of what student records are with all the mass general laws regulations etc and jra dash our student records really gets into the specificity and the specificity around that that policy does incorporate and it's very important for us to

113make sure that we are in line with things like custodial parents things of that nature and that's what's in jra dash uh are that more specificity but this is all based off of regulation and it is recommended policies for a school committee at this time so respectfully i would ask you to maybe take one vote on both policies because they are both student records okay then i will look for a motion to approve uh policy jra the student records and jra-r for student records thank you second nicole thank you maureen and nicole any discussion Someone's concerned? Question? Yeah. Or by approving or adopting. The technicality is adopted. Cool. All right. All those in favor? All right. Thank you. Then we'll look for the motion of the night. So I think that's it. Do I hear

114a motion to adjourn? I'm sorry, did you vote on the motion to adjourn? Yes, that was in the consent agenda. Yeah. Oh, okay. At the beginning, yeah. Yeah. Did somebody? So moved. Second. Motion to adjourn. All those in favor? Thank you, everybody.