DCRSD SC Mtg May 11 2022

001Now in session, it is Wednesday, May 11th. It is 7 p.m. and we're at the Shepherd Hill Regional High School Library. We will all stand for the Pledge to the Flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We'll have a moment of silence to meditate. Okay. And before we go any further, I'd like to welcome our new school committee members this evening, Ms. Kelly Zella and Ms. Jamie DeLovo. Hello. Would you like to say anything? No. Not really. We'll get there. Thank you. Okay. Next, and so you two will abstain from the minutes because you're just on, and next week you'll be able to vote for the minutes. Okay? So I'm

002going to entertain a motion to approve the minutes of our regular meeting of Wednesday, April 27. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Motion carries. Five and then two abstentions. Approval of the warrant, and we do have a warrant this evening, and I did explain to you what to do with it. So it'll make its way around the table for the school members to sign. Communications, Mr. Lamarche, do you have any? I do not, Madam Chair. Okay, and I do not. How about our members? Anybody have communication? Anyone? Okay. And this evening, student rep report. Mr. Trevor Wallace, our student rep, will not be here this evening, so we'll save this for our next school committee meeting. Superintendent's report, Mr. LaMarche. Madam Chair

003and school committee, I do have a number of things to report on this evening. First, if you missed Footloose, you missed the first musical in ten years at Shepherd Hill that was flooded with individual and collective talent. I brought my daughter, Keelan, who was blown away as I was. We have such talented students and the right educators and support staff to bring the best out of them. Bravo to the cast and crew of Footloose. My daughter actually went home and watched the two movies, and after she said, well, sorry, Shepard Hill is much better than those two movies. So she's 12. She really thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was awesome as well. And I do have, in case you wanted to take a look at it, I do have the program to pass around

004if people wanted to take a look at it. Okay? Next, last Friday was a return to the Dudley-Chelton Regional School District. Out through the ages, art show. At least 3,000 pieces of art were displayed or on display for students through all grades in schools. Shepherd Hill Regional High School advanced art students, they were treated like resident artists, had their individual tables displayed, displaying their artwork. I would like to recognize all DCRSD students and Shepparton Regional High School Advanced Arts students, Class of 2022. Ava Leo, actually I'll talk about them in a second, the resident arts students. But I would also like to congratulate and express an incredible appreciation for our teachers, the co-advisors for that. were Lisa Hines and Stephanie Lashua, but I also want to recognize all of our DCRSDR teachers, Dawn Gravel, Deborah

005Griffin, Crystal Logan, Amy Paquette, Shane Schimke, and Kathleen Small for all of their support. The reason why I'm going to hold off on the 12 is because this is a program, too, that I can pass around, but I did look at all of their works, and I'm going to do the best I can to pronounce all of their names. because some of them are a little bit difficult, so I apologize if I mispronounce them. But looking at, for example, I'll start with an easy one, Ava Leo. Looking at Ava Leo's work. Her drawing of a sweatshirt with the shadowing and the chalk, that was absolutely unbelievable. And again, art is in the person who's looking at it, so I looked at all the works, and these are the ones that jumped out at me. Mina

006Bakhter, the Everything Bagel, the picture of the Everything Bagel, the detail in that was incredible, so I really enjoyed that. Olivia Mountain, her self-portrait, her self-portraits I thought were spectacular. Ida Lindstrom, her abstract, what I would stack by calling abstract at, but I learned it's ponzilum. Pontozilm, I'm not saying that correctly, Pontozilm, but it was all these little pieces of paint all put together for a portrait, and I thought it was absolutely incredible. Taylor Kocinskas, which I hope I said that right, her scratch board of a cabin, the trees, axe, all of that, just a small little scratch board was just, I thought it was incredible. Maddie Kuchnicki, she took a photo of a wine glass that did not have wine in it, just for those of you who are recording this and seeing this.

007It had water in it, but it was a reflection of a house behind it, and I thought it was just a really neat photograph by her. And then Emily... Calla Zajac. Calla Zajac. Her pumpkins on the stairs of a house, the bright orange with the... grayish tones i thought was phenomenal too but the art show was absolutely spectacular and congratulations to our students so i'd be happy to share that look at the rough writing that's mine in there it's not it wasn't printed that way just so you know we learned also this week that the department of elementary and secondary education in cooperation with the massachusetts department of public health will continue to distribute for those that voluntarily want them in-home covert tests through the end of this school year that date has moved from

008april to may now until the end of the school year We learned this week that the state of Massachusetts has received federal relief from student chronic absences when the state assigns a district accountability determination. In addition, the expectation is that the 2021-2022 school year will reset and establish performance baselines without a particular focus on targets. Final outcomes and language for all of this will come from the legislators because it's a legislative action. But we did learn some of that information this week. You will hear of a donation made this evening through Mr. Matthews' report for the auditorium sound system. Unfortunately, the current sound system has failed. We are working on replacement and appreciate the contribution that you'll hear, but we also appreciate contributions from the Music Boosters organization. The reason for sharing this as well

009is that we don't have a fully operational sound system for the annual town meeting here in Dudley. The town moderator is fully aware of the circumstances. I think the town moderator is here this evening. So we share it with him, and we will do everything we can to support the town meeting with whatever bits and pieces we have to put together. Also in my report, the following email and attachments were sent out this past week. We got a district plan. I'm not going to read the email, but we're looking to have two online opportunities for feedback on May 18th at 4 p.m. And on June 1st at 5 p.m. Regarding the district plan moving forward I know that we broke a recently established acronym norm within that those forms by listing UDL and decap DCAP

010and a goal number one in IST and goal number two Future publications will ensure they are spelled out. So for example for the tonight's meeting I spelled them out but those were sent out with the original email. So if I could just take a moment, I would like to share what UDL represents. UDL represents Universal Design for Learners. UDL is a pedagogical teaching approach to meet all learners, from struggling learners to students with exceptional aptitude, and everyone in between. You will see this evening that the Professional Development Committee with Dr. Ackerman and our administrators have identified UDL professional development for next year. We know that interrupted learning has asked us as public educators to expand our instructional toolbox. So this is a target effort to build capacity with the exceptional educators we already have in

011Dudley-Charlton Regional School District. Next was DCAP, D-C-A-P. A DCAP represents a district curriculum accommodation plan. The Dudley-Cheltenham Regional School District must adopt and implement a DCAP to assist educators to ensure all efforts have been made to meet students' needs in general education. The plan must be designed to assist general educators in analyzing and accompanying diverse learning styles of all children in the general education classroom. The DCAP is a roadmap of sorts to assist and identify educational needs of students in general education. This is not a special education program or service, but ensures use of data and measures to provide high quality instruction within the classroom for all students. Lastly was IST. IST represents instructional support teams. These are required school-based teams of educators in each school who support general education through collaboration and peer observation.

012General education can refer students who may be exhibiting academic behavior or social challenges in the general education classroom. This is a consultative process and parent communication is a critical component. But again, this is made up of educators within the school. The administrative team looks forward to exploring the district plan and these components to see how best they fit in the Dudley-Charlton district. The district plan will create goal-oriented work by administrators and educators across the district next year. And that concludes the superintendent's report this evening. Any questions for the superintendent? Okay. Next on the agenda is public comment. So this evening public comment will be a half hour in duration and each individual will get three minutes to speak. So do we have anyone that would like to come forward to speak with the committee? Good

013evening everyone and happy spring. The library committee was formed based on the due diligence of Charlton. Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I apologize. Carol Sourim. The library committee was formed based on the due diligence of Charlton Dudley United Parents' concerns over the selection of questionable, pornographic, and explicit books that are in the library. This has never been about banning books, but rather about time and place and age appropriate. Age appropriate, something that is appropriate and or suitable. for the age that a person is. The other key piece, emotional maturity. Did you know that the average male matures at age 43 and women age 32? Multiple studies by Morton E. Tavell, MD, and clinical psychologist Dr. Sherry Campbell state key factors. Realism about oneself in a relationship to others and or society to include emotions

014and ever-changing feeling of oneself with mind and body. Ratings at a movie theater, PG. Parental guidance suggested, PG-13. Parents strongly caution some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Rated R, restricted, under 17 requires accompanying a parent or an adult. Theaters create an avenue for parents to be able to make appropriate decisions on what they want their child to be exposed to. Many students in high schools have younger siblings. So let's say a student checks out a book that has explicit pornographic and or graphic images. Him, her or him leave out the book. A younger sibling or a parent opens it. Can you imagine the shock? As a heterosexual, I would not want to be, I would not be comfortable with graphic material images of children and or adults. It has always been about

015what is age appropriate and letting the parent decide on what they wish to have their child exposed to. Discussed or not should never be a school district's. decision. What is the status of the committee? Why are there no updates? Are there any current meetings set up? What is the procedure for complaints? But more importantly, what is the procedure on how to assess the material in the library? Why is the policy committee bottlenecked? Next, a hoax email was shared on social media by a past school committee member, Jordan Evans. This was allegedly sent to all of you, the school committee members, on March 21st. Ms. Evans shared it on Facebook and implied it was from someone in the district. She stated she had permission to share the email and did her research. Public records reveal that

016she made a telephone call to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and received the okay to publicly share. She states there was no written correspondence. Did MASC give approval without doing any research or at best reviewing the email? Who at the MASC would approve this email when it was not verified? The email was later shared on social media by two former students of this district and the assertion was made that I wrote this extremely racist email or that someone from the Charlton Dudley United Informational Group wrote it. Two minutes of research would have provided very clear information that this hoax email had been around since 2021 and it was and used as a tool against parents to slander and or characterize. The assertion has serious consequences. Parents and attorney Fyokastov requested a FOIA to this

017district's... electronic records person sorry and that was sent to this committee which you have a copy of the following record was sent this the record that you just received the following record was sent to a parent from the Eckerd's from the records officer stating it was an electronic record the Dudley records officer was contact contacted and she sent a reply she realized that it was a mistake it's actually a copy and paste of a Word document Approximately three days later the same record was sent to the attorney with the same word document. Both asked for the original electronic record in its metadata form and the attorney also asked to include the originating IP address intact. That was two business days ago and to date even though it's over the 10-day legal timeframe it has not

018been received. So I ask through the chair. I am asking of those members that were on this committee in March, did you receive this hoax email, yes or no? In closing, I am now asking this current committee, do you think it's acceptable that an elected official such as yourselves post an email on social media that has not been verified or researched properly? In addition, a four-year course was emailed on February 2, 2022 to the records officer regarding a ledger balance sheet that lists all ESSER grants, local, state, and funding from this district received and approved by the school committee. The list of received monies and expenditures that were paid by COVID funds was requested. It is now May 11. To date, no records have been received by Mr. Matthews and or the record officer. Why?

019Thank you so much. If you could answer that one question, did this committee, the committee that was present in March, did you receive this hoax email? Yes, and I deleted it. I knew it was a hoax I just deleted it and forgot all about it and I and I appreciate your honest response to that sadly there has been a lot of damage done to my family that people would assume that first of all the verbiage is not even me anyone that truly knows me would know I would not use that and that's that's a lot of damage because it was shared by a school committee member as factual the insertion was that it was someone from this district which hurts the district, which is so sad. But in addition, now you've got former students posting

020it as if it's truth. As if it's truth and the assertion was that I wrote that. The damage has been done. I would hope. that all people here that represent children and want greatness for this amazing district to be careful on social media, to be careful what is shared. Because literally two seconds, because I kept saying when I first saw it, why does this look so familiar? And then it dawned on me in two seconds I found out that it was a hoax and it's been a hoax since 2021. But sadly damage has been done. But I do really appreciate you. sharing those thoughts and I hope the rest of all of you will agree that it's important to verify things because not only am I a stakeholder and a grandparent, I'm an entrepreneur and

021I don't want something negative like that to impact my naughty boss business with health and wellness and mindset. And congratulations to the newest school committee members. I look forward to everything this year. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, then we'll move right along. And we'll go to new business, and we'll start with B, because I did welcome new members. Update global studies, and that will be Director Pia Angeli. Mary Pia Angeli? Yep. Come on up, Mary. Good evening. After a two-year hiatus from travel due to COVID-19 pandemic, I was very pleased that this past April, Shepherd Hill Regional High School students were once again able to extend learning into the worldwide classroom. It's always been my belief that education needs to be strengthened by integrating global understanding into the curriculum and providing

022students and faculty with an international experience. And thanks to the support of this committee, to the superintendent, the administration, Shepherd Hill students have been able to gain global experiences for the past 35 years. So to begin this evening, I have four young ladies that are going to provide you with a brief overview of their experience while we were in Europe. So ladies. Thank you. So hello, my name is Nina Zyrowski and I'm here today with Kirsten Dowd, Alexandra Christiansen, and Emily Brill and we are our seniors of this year's class of 2022. And so we just came back from our foreign language trip, or sorry, global awareness trip, and it was very fun and educational and I got to experience a lot of cultures so that was really good. So Emily, you're starting, or Kirsten,

023go ahead. Okay, so to start our global awareness trip, the first city we visited was Venice, or Venisa as they call it. This city is known for its glassmaking, and we were able to attend a glassmaking class where we were able to watch them make some things, and it was a really nice experience to see that culture and to see them continue on that culture. We took a guided tour, and we saw St. Mark's Basilica and St. Mark's Square. We walked through the canals of Venice. It was gorgeous. We got free time and my group decided to go and visit the Rialto Bridge, which I have a picture on slide. Sorry. I have a picture from the Rialto Bridge. It was a gorgeous experience. We visited this on Easter and a lot of our kids

024had the opportunity to go to church and experience church in Venice. They went to St. Mark's Basilica. I think that was just a great opportunity for them to be able to open up their religion in another country. We visited the Doge Palace and we were able to tour. At the end of the trip we all took gondola rides through the canals and we went into the Canale Grande and that was our trip to Venice. I'm too short for this. So the next two cities that we visited were Florence and Siena, also in Italy. While we were in Florence, we visited the Cathedral of Florence, which is the picture that you see here. And when we went to Siena, we visited the Piazza del Duomo, which is another cathedral that is very famous in Siena. a

025bunch of people go to this cathedral to see the beautiful architecture and the wonderful statues that are in the Piazza del Duomo. And we also had a dilotto at the Piazza del Campo, which is like the common meeting place in Siena where a lot of like tourists and just civilians go to shop or eat or get gelato, which is very good by the way. And then while we were both in Florence and Siena, we had the opportunity to have free time and we explored the surrounding buildings and we also were able to go into little stores and buy little knickknacks for families at home. These are some more pictures from Florence and Siena. The picture on the left is the picture of the Piazza del Duomo, which is the cathedral that we went into. The

026middle picture is a group picture of all of us. I can't remember how many of us were there? 67 of us were on this trip. And that is us in the Piazza del Campo, which is the common meeting place. And then the third picture on the right is a statue of the god Neptune that is portrayed in, I think it's Greek mythology. I believe it's Greek mythology. And then next. I had the opportunity to, well we all had the opportunity to visit Pisa and we were able to see that Leaning Tower of Pisa and right across from the Leaning Tower of Pisa there is a famous cathedral that is known for its silence and the people that work in this cathedral are the only ones like allowed to do special effects because of the um

027acoustics in there and they are hired to perform noises that demonstrate the echo and how loud it can be and just portray the acoustics to everyone that goes in to visit. But I was fortunate enough to be able to sing the version of the Ave Maria that I know. I have a video. I don't know if the speakers work, but I'm gonna try it. And I would like to thank one of the teachers, well, two teachers here at the school, Mr. Daniel Duffy and Miss Ashley Sprassacott for capturing that video that will probably last me forever. So then we visited the country of Monaco. In Monaco we learned, we were able to see through the bus ride the exact route of the Monaco Grand Prix race. It's a Formula One race. My only reference to

028that is the children's movie Cars, but I was able to tell my dad about it who thought it was awesome. We then were able to get off the buses and see the guard change at the Prince's Palace in Monaco. After we saw the guard change, we were able to have some free time to walk around and explore this beautiful place and try some of the local cuisine. And these are some of the pictures. On your left, you'll see our tour guides gave us some recommendations on where to see the prettiest views, and I decided to take that trip. And this is a picture from that. And then on your right, you will see the Prince's Palace. We then headed over to Nice. Nice is home to many artists, and you could see that throughout walking

029around. And one interesting thing about Nice is all of their beaches, or the beach that we had gone to, is a rock beach. We were able to sit on the beach during the free time and then walk around and see some of the beautiful statues. And on the left is one of those statues, and then there's another picture of this beautiful rock beach. We then headed to Paris where the first day we had an amazing bus tour where we were able to see the Arc de Triomphe. The next day we then got to see the Louvre, beautiful, very large, easily to get lost museum. And these are some more pictures. On our first day there we were able to take a nighttime boat tour where we got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up. And

030during the day, by the Eiffel Tower, we were able to see the heart locks. And while we were scheduled to be able to go up the Eiffel Tower, that was our second day in Paris. It happened to also be the presidential elections. And at the time, the current president decided win or lose, he would make a speech right when we were supposed to be going up the Eiffel Tower. So for safety reasons, of course, with our best interests in mind, EF Tours, our tour guides, and everyone else there worked very hard to be able to make a fun day where we were able to go to the highest point in Paris and see very amazing, beautiful views. All righty. And so personally, my favorite part of going to Paris and France was Versailles. phenomenal tour

031guide his name is Brian and I when I tell you he so he would guided our bus tour too and when I tell you I ran to his group as soon as he got to Versailles he's the most interesting person I think I've ever met in my life like he is so fascinating and I love him like he's so good um so I've been to Versailles one time prior to this and I just got a total different experience coming back onto this trip and having Brian as my tour guide I can't even tell you. I was so encapsulated. I did not even know like I was just wow. It was just crazy I was so interested anyways so the history of the palace and the families that lived there we got to learn a lot

032about that and we saw a lot of the architecture and all the Paintings sorry paintings that were there. We only got to see a small part of Versailles just because it is enormous and for the sake of our time. And so it was a fascinating experience like I said prior and like I said it was my favorite stop in Paris, in France. It was beautiful and from the prior time I went there this was so much better because I got to really kind of go into the history about it because we didn't have a tour guide last time I went and now that we had one it was just I could understand the history behind Versailles and like the families that lived there and it was really interesting to see like history come to like

033history come to life because we read about Versailles we read about Paris the revolution and everything and he really encapsulated All of this to understanding that I was able to digest. So here are some pictures from Versailles. We have the famous Hall of Mirrors on your right. And then that picture on your left, yes, on your left, is very interesting. And he had a story that I thought was very interesting, if you guys remember the story. We have here Marie Antoinette and her three children, but in the bassinet there is the representation of the fourth child that unfortunately isn't alive in this picture, but the artist really captured that. If you look at the children, everyone's looking. Wherever you look, it's always leaning your eye towards the bassinet. And this was just really interesting because

034the child that's pointing towards the bassinet... was actually in a dungeon cell along with Marie Antoinette when everyone invaded the palace and took them hostage. I don't know if that's the proper term. But he told us a really interesting story about an escape plan about this younger child. He was the only one to survive this far along into their thing. And they had a story where there was a plan for the child Louis. I think it was the 18th. He was young. But to bring him to Pennsylvania and have a life for him here. And they thought this was true because a family a couple years ago went up to these people and were like, we're related to the Marine Toinette and Louis XVI. So they did a whole DNA test and it wasn't true.

035But it wasn't true. He did unfortunately die in the dungeon. But I thought that was a very interesting story because it was living in Pennsylvania. They had an escape plan to come here. So that was interesting to me. So Versailles was again a great part of the trip and the architecture was stunning, the water features and the sense of history and like I said before it really put me in to the sense of understanding like history books like I was able to see everything I see in the textbook, the textbooks and we also got to see the gardens there and they're so beautiful and it was just a really overall amazing trip and I wish I could go again but hopefully I can on my own time. That's all. So to conclude our presentation on

036the wonderful trip that EF Tours, our tour guides Frank and Alex, and of course the lovely Miss Frangely put on for us, I just wanted to say that this trip offered exposure to a wide variety of different cultures, as well as new experience and memories that will probably last the four of us. the other 63 of us a lifetime. This trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will expose future students to unbelievable sights and amazing experiences that will carry with them forever. And I wish I could go on the next one, but we're all graduating. So I would highly recommend this trip to any of the students who are interested. And I know me and Alex, I believe Kirsten and Nina are going to be... interested or going to be doing the study

037abroad programs at the colleges that we're going to. So, but that is... This brings back memories because I, like Mary, took students to Europe and we went on this exact trip. And it was a beautiful trip. It was. I just wanted to add something too as well. Like Ms. Perangeli said earlier, I am also a really high advocate for foreign language in the schools and getting exposed to different cultures. I am Polish and I'm from Europe, so being able to see this, I wanted to go on the Western Europe trip, but I wasn't able to because of COVID. So that was unfortunate because I was really excited to see my family over there. But I just really hope this trip continues. It was honestly, like, from the bottom of my heart, such a great experience,

038especially because you're in Europe with your friends. That doesn't get any better. Like, it really doesn't. It was literally so much fun. And I just, the exposure and just having that culture and language just given to us is a privilege. And it was really amazing to see. And I know a lot of schools don't do that. And so we're very fortunate to have Ms. Perangeli and EF Tours and everyone help us have this amazing experience. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you ladies for your well thought out presentation. It was great to hear about it from your perspective and coincidentally your thoughts are very similar to mine on the value of international experiences. So thank you for reaffirming that. And not only do I want to thank these young ladies and commend

039them, I want to thank and commend all 67 or 58 students that traveled. I want to commend them on their responsible, mature behavior and attitudes. They were cooperative. They were flexible. They were always on time. They were full of enthusiasm. They were eager to learn and eager to have new experiences. So I would travel with them again at any time. They were amazing. They're a tribute to their families, to their school, and to their communities. Okay, so now that we have 2022 behind us, it's time to take a look at 2023. And originally I had planned that the 2023 trip would be the canceled 2020 trip to Eastern Europe. However, with the challenges in that part of the world right now, I don't think that that's a good idea. So I think that Spain, Gibraltar,

040and Portugal would be a better option. So the trip is an 11-day trip. It will start in Madrid, the capital of Spain, where we'll see the highlights of the city, the Royal Palace, the Prado, the Plaza Mayor. We'll continue on to Toledo with its cathedral, which has one of El Greco's masterpieces in it. And Toledo was the former capital of Spain before Madrid. We'll go south, first of all, to Cordoba with its 8th century mesquita, which has 850 columns that are red and white striped like candy canes. It's a huge building. Very impressive. From there we'll go on to Granada with the Alhambra. And in the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus had a chat with Ferdinand and Isabella about an upcoming trip to India. and we know how that ended up. So it's a good piece of

041history for our students to be in that same location that Christopher Columbus was. From there we'll go to Costa del Sol and we'll see two mountain villages, Mijas and Ronda. And then we will go to Gibraltar, which is a British overseas territory with its famous rock. And that rock... controls the only entrance to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. So it's a very important piece of land. And then we go to Seville with the cathedral, the Alcazar. We'll see a flamingo show, which is a very important part of Spanish culture. And then it'll be off to Portugal. The first town city that we will visit is Ivora, which has a well-preserved aqueduct. and it has a beautiful cathedral with a chapel of bones which is always very interesting to students. And then on to Lisbon. We'll

042see the Castle of the Early Kings and then we'll go to the Mosterio dos Jeronimos where built to honor the country's great voyagers and it has the tomb of Vasco da Gama. We'll also go to Sintra to see the Royal Palace. So during the 11 days the students are going to experience an immeasurable amount of history, art, architecture, and culture. And it will provide real-world learning opportunities including the ability to use a language they've been studying in the classroom and to hear it being used in a native setting. I'm very happy because generally the best price for a trip is 18 months before departure. And we normally, as some of you know, do our approvals in December, a year and a half out before travel. However, in December, I wasn't sure the 2022 trip was

043going to run. I was pretty confident, but then Omicron surged. So, you know, that was not the time to be looking ahead. So because of that whole situation, EF has agreed to give us the. $200 early enrollment discount that would have been in place at that time. So that brings the price to $3,565 and that will be in effect for enrollment through June 14th and after that it will go up. that amount. Peace of mind program which has been in effect since well for about 30 years where up until 45 days before departure the group can change their location or date of travel if they're uncomfortable with travel that will still be in place and should travel not be possible as it was not the past few years there will be enhanced options for individual

044travelers as well. I continue to travel with EF Educational Tours because safety is a priority. They have schools and offices in 50 countries. So if there were ever an emergency, they could react quickly and in person to assist, which I think is important in today's world. Looking for a departure date of Friday, April 14th and a return on Monday, April 24th of 2023. Students and teachers will miss school on that return Monday. It's also possible, even though I have requested an evening departure. On the Friday, it's possible that we may have to leave before the end of the school day depending upon flight schedules. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. And at this point, it's obviously too early to know what the situation will be. Are there any questions that I can answer? Go ahead.

045How are the students chosen or who gets to go on the trip and are there fundraisers or how do they go about? Students are able to participate if they're in grades 9 through 12 at Shepherd Hill. They have a record of good school conduct and citizenship. Priority, if need be, priority is given to seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. We have fundraisers to pay for things that enhance the trip, things that aren't included in the itinerary that we would like to add. But other than that, the students and families pay for the trip. Sometimes students work and pay for the trip entirely on their own. Sometimes parents pay for it, and sometimes it's a combination. And by booking out as early as we can, it gives students more time to earn the money for the trip.

046But the students do not fundraise for the trip. No, they fundraise for things that we do to enhance the trip. You know, for example, in Paris it was the boat ride on the Seine River as one of the things. Because we want all of our students to have the same experiences and not be limited by the amount of spending money that they can bring. So we do try to enhance the standard itinerary. Is there a personal master? I, the bus, it depends upon the bus size. So it's usually like around. It will be 40 per bus, so if I have 40, I can take one bus. If I have 80, I can take two buses, so it depends upon the bus size. We've taken as many as three buses. I won't do more than that.

047Any other questions before we take a vote? Okay, so then I'll entertain a motion to approve the out-of-state overnight trip request for April 2023. It goes with policy IJOA. Okay, do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Okay, any more discussion? I just want to say for the 36th time, you're doing a wonderful job. Keep doing it. Keep doing it because the kids can't. They probably want to come back next year. You're going to fail senior year. I'll study abroad when you're over there. I'll go with Frank and Alex, too. I love Frank and Alex. They're the best tour guides ever. Honestly, this whole trip, they're the best tour guides I've ever had in my life. I'm not even joking right now. They're awesome. And we've had Frank and Alex as our tour directors for...

048Close to 20 years. I thought they were joking when they were like, you guys are going to love Frank and Alex. I'm like, I'm not going to like our tour guides. I wish I could go to Germany and see them. They're awesome. They're so funny. Thank you. Steve. Madam Chair, I just want to say the administration supports this trip as well. Mary's obviously not going to give herself credit, but her flexibility around the past couple of years, because this is the first trip that I've had as superintendent here, and I don't know if it's appropriate to say, but even Mary's giddiness on departure day was just so palpable. She was so excited. But we support this as well. This is a wonderful experience for our students, and I support Mary and her recommendations. Thank you.

049And I might have said this before, but unplanning a trip is a lot harder than planning one. So thank you. How did you become a chaperone? The chaperones are limited to teachers, and they have to apply. They have to tell me why they think they would make a good chaperone and how they feel that the trip would enhance their curriculum. So it is a professional learning opportunity for teachers as well. that hopefully they can bring that experience into their classrooms. Any other questions before we take the vote? Okay, all in favor? Motion carries. It's unanimous. Thank you. Good luck, Mary. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, kids. Thank you. Have a great day. Did a great job, kids. Thank you. Young adults. Yeah. to me they look like kids oh no no that

050was just for the voting because they weren't here last time okay that brings us to report of the director of finance and operations budget and finance subcommittee first So this evening, do we have, and I know Kenny was the chairperson, so Kathy or Kathy, we've got the two Kathys that are on it. You're the vice chair. I'm the vice chair, so I'll take the floor, unless you want to. No, you can't. I want to be chair of the show. We met last week, and the one topic was about how the vote was going to go at the Dudleytown meeting. And Mr. Matthews had corresponded with Mr. Rood about the part about how they were going to split into two different votes. And we made our feelings known at our last meeting that we wanted to

051have it all done by the end of that night. So Mr. Matthews, I'm going to turn it over to you and tell him what the response is from the... administrator so mr. Ruders response was that he had spoken with the chair of the voice of the Finance and Advisory and Appropriations Committee and the intention was to pass the separate article at town meeting in my in letting him know how the school committee discussion went at the last school committee meeting We did say that we hope that everything could be done at that point in time. He did cc the chair of both the Board of Selectmen and FAA, stating that, indeed, the expectation is that it would not be passed over, that it would be put up for a vote. And the expectation, obviously, is

052if both FAA and Board of Selectmen support it, it should pass, hopefully, at that meeting. But we do certainly need people out to vote in affirmative for that particular item. So the second part of the 280 that was questionable will be not on the official listing of the budget But it'll be on a law not if we don't know what number it is. We don't have that yet Do we print it out, but it's gonna be a warrant, but it'll be that same night So by the end of the night the whole thing should be approved Which is what we wanted bottom line. We'll get the total we wanted the 3.23 budget And that's all we really discussed at that meeting list. Yeah, that was that was a whole meeting any questions If I may,

053just as a follow up. So the Senate did release its preliminary budget from its Ways and Means Committee. I did leave a copy for school committee members. The big change here from the House budget was the fact that they codified the $60 per pupil. baseline as part of chapter 70 they did not split it $30 in as in the baseline and $30 as a separate line item so that means it's revenue that would be recurring so that's certainly a positive thing as we go forward there was a slight increase in regional transportation The expectation is that the reimbursement rate will go from 80% based on the governor's and House budget to 85% based on the Senate budget. Again, it does need to go through conference committee, so there are certainly things that are subject to

054change and probably will change. Up or down, I can't predict that, obviously, at this point in time, but hopefully the conference committee does do its work sooner rather than later, and we have a passed budget before the end of June. NOW, ANY QUESTIONS FOR MR. MATHEW? OKAY. THEN THAT BRINGS US TO THE CAPITOL OUTLAY SAFETY SUBCOMMITTEE. AND CHAIR TERRY, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADJOURN? Sure. So myself and Ms. LaFerriere, we're the only two school committee members on that committee as well. So we did meet this week, but since we didn't have a quorum, we didn't have any decision-making that occurred at the meeting. Tonight we just wanted to update the committee on the timeline. I'm going to let Mr. Matthew do that. And then we just wanted to talk through the meetings that are

055coming up and ask that us as school committee members. Do attend as many of these financial meetings as we can so that we can support the decisions for the capital requests coming forward for the fall vote and Then the reasons that they're needed so you want to give the timelines We we were invited to come before the board of selectmen in Charlton for June 15th we reached out to the To the town of Dudley to see if we can schedule a meeting with them Prior to that date so that we can have both town meetings done and proceed with having public presentations Towards the end of June in both Dudley and Charlton THE INTENTION WOULD BE TO HAVE ONE SET NOW IN JUNE, RECORD ONE OF THOSE MEETINGS, HAVE IT POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE SO

056THAT PEOPLE CAN, YOU KNOW, VIEW IT OVER THE SUMMER, AND THEN START UP AGAIN ONCE THE START OF SCHOOL GETS CLOSER ON OUR CALENDARS, AND AGAIN, DO ONE MEETING IN EACH TOWN AND PERHAPS OTHER OUTREACH TO THE BOARD OF SLEPHOMAN, ET CETERA, ONCE WE REACH THAT POINT. probably at the second meeting in June. We'll be looking to have school committee vote to authorize debt and schedule the election for either the last week in September or first week in October. Okay, any questions for Mr. Matthews? Madam Chair, in the handout tonight, there is the capital needs. It was broken down by communities. It should have been, yeah, that's the back side of it. Yeah, I see. And then just a sketch of the presentation, a public presentation coming forward. So that's in there. Well, everybody has

057seen that. Thank you. Sorry that I didn't say that. No, that's okay. I'm going to apologize to you because I know we left at that meeting that I was going to reach out to Pauline, and I never did. Okay. Well, I just asked her, so I think we're okay. Now, Jamie had a good point. We're missing one member, so should we just appoint someone this evening to the Capitol? I'd like to request to the chair that we do appoint somebody to the capital and safety subcommittee and possibly the budget and finance committee, depending on where we're at, because we are in the middle of such great dynamic conversations. And I would like to be able to keep them moving forward for our one month until we go to a reorg in June. So at least

058we have the ability to move the meetings forward. okay and then we when we go to RE-ORG then we'll appoint all the committees and everybody including the capital this is just to keep us going I'd like to have conversations on all sides of topics so who's interested in the capital outlay Perfect. I think we should do three, yes. Yeah, you can have three. Once you get to four, then you might have a four. We usually had three for the capital. It was unusual we had two this time, but three. Okay, Jean and Kelly. Jamie thank you and then we have the budget and finance so we have Kathy for the rest of the I don't I don't foresee a need to appoint a new member I just going by Jamie suggested I'll tell you I

059was adjusting it through but that's yes so Steve and I were coming at this from the same angle that right now where there's a lot of budget conversation going on around our towns and the more representation that we can have across both of our communities the better informed our residents will be when it comes to a vote so I thought if we had three members of that then because right now we only have two Dudley members we don't have a Charlton member so if we had three members of that it would inform our public better. And there's no harm in getting a third so who would like to be? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And this will just take us to the reorganization, and then all the subcommittees will be your appointees. Okay? Thank you.

060I appreciate that. Yes, thank you. Okay. And any questions so far for Mr. Matthew before he goes on? No? Okay. Mr. Matthew? Thank you. Donations. Superintendent LaMarche had given away the preview on this one, but Shepherd Hill has received a donation towards replacing the sound system in the auditorium in the amount of $10,000 from the Fells Foundation. Certainly a very welcome and appreciated donation. THE DONATION? I'M SECOND. AND THANK THE FELLOWS FOUNDATION? I'M SECOND. DISCUSSION? ANY DISCUSSION? DO WE HAVE A FIGURE HOW MUCH THE WHOLE THING COSTS? ROUGHLY $37,000. WHAT'S HAPPENED IS THE SOUND SYSTEM HAS HAD PIECES ADDED TO IT OVER THE YEARS, SO IT'S AT THE POINT NOW WHERE YOU'D HAVE TO REALLY SHOP ON EBAY TO REPLACE SOME OF THE PARTS. SO WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE ENTIRE SYSTEM, AND IT'S

061ABOUT $37,000 RIGHT NOW. WHAT'S THE TIMETABLE FOR THAT? THIS SUMMER. The summer. If all the pieces come together. There are other grants that are being applied for through Mrs. Boussier. The music boosters are supportive of it. So we're trying to pull all the pieces together. But this was obviously a very important donation. Are we okay to have the town meetings? Yeah, we'll put pieces together. Even if it's a microphone and an amplifier or something like that. We'll figure out pieces to make that work. Perfect. So any one else before we take the vote? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? Motion carries, it's unanimous. Okay, Mr. Next is disposal of surplus item. The 2007 school bus has reached the end of its useful life for the district after 210,000 miles. I think based on that it

062does not owe us anything. I may be wrong there. Some people may have a different opinion. But with the purchase of the new bus in 2018, the older model was still used to transport students to events for about one year plus. After it was not able to pass inspection for use with students, the envisioned usage as equipment transportation. did not materialize and now after two years of covid it really has is time to get it off the property basically uh i we did reach out to um people in the industry to see what the you know potential resale value was and and they said there was not much there's some you know so what we're looking at is probably a couple of thousand dollars and somebody has actually made an offer of two thousand dollars

063to us for that bus When we vote to dispose doesn't mean we're just throwing it away as Mr. Matthews said. Yeah, there still is value here, so we will recoup something. So I will entertain a motion to dispose our bus surplus, okay? Approve that. Second. Okay, any more discussion on... Is that the bus that got by the tennis court? Yes. Okay, that's one different story. It's been there a long time. Okay, any questions on disposing of the bus? Seeing none, all in favor? Motion carries, it's unanimous. Thank you. And lastly, First Student has made its parent app available to customers at no cost. This is something that the district had looked into a few years ago per request of Mrs. Reed. I'm pleased that they're now offering this as part of their overall package, especially

064in light of the past year with many driver disruptions and day of changes. This is a welcome tool to the district. We hope that we can ensure better communication directly with parents from the depot as it regards changes to routes. Besides showing parents the bus location on the map, the app does allow for alerts to be set for when the bus is near. So you can kind of draw a radius and say, when it's within three miles of my house, please send me an alert or send me a text. So I think this is a very positive move forward. So there's no action needed. I just want to let the committee know. The intention is to roll this out as a pilot program with one route in Charlton and Dudley for probably the last two

065weeks of school this year, and then have it up and running for September. Unfortunately we already have a volunteer in Charlton, but if you want to move to Dudley we'd be happy to. It may be, I don't know. It sounds great for the parents. Go ahead. Do we have bus transportation when we have ESY? For the special education program? Yeah. Students who are entitled to specialized transportation during the school year are entitled to specialized transportation for ESY. But those aren't the school buses. It's a different vendor. It's a different vendor. Yep. Got it. And they do not have an app. Okay. That's what the app does. There's not an app for it. Any other questions? I just have clarity for the town warrant is for the 280,000. That's Article 10. Article 10 for the 280,000

066with the FAA recommendation to approve Article 10 is printed in the warrant. Thank you, Jane. Thank you. Okay. Report of the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning and Curriculum, Subcommittee of Teaching and Learning, Chair Kathy Comignani. Do you want to say anything? I was not at the meeting. Oh, okay. Another problem? I mean, I think, well, no, Jean and I made it. The meeting occurred a little bit later than we anticipated. But I think that I don't need to take anything away from your presentation. Dr. Ackerman, you can certainly. And Jean, you're okay with that, or do you have anything? Just to briefly restate, we had a really positive meeting that we noticed that our data is moving in a really positive direction and gap closure, in particular with students in our elementary schools. We've

067also noted, and I'll talk more about this as I get further, about high quality of our math instructional materials. And also we talked a little bit about professional development, but I have something more in detail for that. And then the last piece was we talked a little bit about the vertical alignment and transition piece. So that is going to be the focus of our day on May 27th. So currently we are at the end stages of putting together the last logistics so that we have. ORGANIZED TIMES AND LOCATIONS FOR THESE MEETINGS. AGAIN, THE FOCUS IS GOING TO BE ON TRANSITIONS FROM ONE GRADE TO ANOTHER, AS WELL AS WITHIN SCHOOLS, AND THAT IS COMING ON MAY 27. BUT REALLY, THE THRUST, AND IF I COULD, AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN SEE, I'D

068LIKE TO TURN EVERYBODY'S ATTENTION TO THE ROADMAP FOR... WHOOPS, I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT. FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. I want to start by thanking a number of different folks. It includes our teachers, our members of our professional development committee, our administrative team. Really building this roadmap has been the result of many hours spent, many conversations, many surveys. so that I think we've arrived at a point where we can merge our work for ELA, our work in mathematics, combine that with inclusive practice, and move towards something called UDL that Superintendent LaMarche referenced earlier, which is universal design for learning. Really, our focus is we want to broaden the scope for our PD options for everyone. We want to align the PD goals with the district plan. So I'm sure all of you have seen from our

069district plan, one of our very first goals is to create inclusive practices that teach all students. And UDL is tailor-made to achieve that goal. then we want to make sure that this professional development is high quality and sustainable which it is I'll get into a little bit more detail about that and then to make sure that every stakeholder group and that includes teachers but also teaching assistants unified arts teachers anybody that interfaces with students has the opportunity to participate and to be a member at the table of this work So really we are looking to think not only for next year but longer into the future. We want to provide specific opportunities for folks on early release days and we really want to find a common thread that ties our work on curriculum and instruction

070together with practices that benefit all students. And we also want to optimize the data that was given to us from our teachers from a survey this past fall that identified three areas of strong need for curriculum. And one was curriculum and instruction. The second was to meet the needs of all of our students. And the third was engagement strategies for all of our students. Those were the three highest areas indicated in our survey in the fall. We wanted to make sure that this plan aligned with and was connected to the district plan to make sure that we could identify the resources and training that we need for everyone and to make sure that all of our professional development opportunities are aligned with our district plan and then to create a system to make sure that

071we can take what we've learned and apply it across different areas of content and curriculum. So this has to be a sustainable effort and UDL is sustainable. It provides and meets the needs of everyone. That includes teachers, students, and the community. It builds the foundation for what's called the MTSS, multi-tiered set of systems and supports. It builds equity for all. and it creates and maintains capacity because it allows a train-the-trainer model. So folks that are able to participate in this will be able to, in a further sense, dive in through a course in February through June of next year. So we want to make sure that UDL is the focal point of our calendar. We want to make sure as well that because some of our activities need to remain building-based that they do that.

072And we also want to make sure that all of our teachers feel supported and that it creates a system to outline our actions with our outcomes. And so to look at a blueprint for next year on our August 30th full day, it would be all folks in the district would have UDL. We would then dedicate September 23rd in the afternoon to a building-based program of professional development. Then on the full day in October 7th, the entire district would come back for UDL. And then again in the afternoon on January 13th, and we would continue to maintain that space at the end of May. for building-based offerings so that we could close the year, have those alignment meetings, and have those transitional meetings. And I just wanted to say that this was, if I haven't already,

073this plan was built in conjunction with the Professional Development Committee, teachers, building administrators, and folks in the district office. Any questions? Who is the Professional Development Committee made up of? It is, there are multiple principals. There are multiple teachers and then myself as the assistant superintendent. So I think all told, there are probably ten members split about evenly between administrators and teachers. And there are two members of the DCTA that are on that as well. DCPA. DCPA as well. Okay. Isn't that in the contract? I don't know if the makeup is in there but they have a professional development committee is in there. Yes. Does it cover the grade spans? Mm-hmm. And it covers both sides of the district? Yes. So we look for proportionate equal representation to the fullest extent that we could to

074make sure that people that were teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators from both Dudley and Charlton and each of the schools had membership on the committee. Sorry, I have another question. So when you work through the UDL, is it... Does it work better when you do an entire day of it? It's not split up. If I were to look at this, is it better to do UDL and UDL and not UDL, then UDL down here so that it splits the days and it gives some building-based time each different professional development day? I know we heard that from the teachers that came in when we talked about CKLA, that it was their most valuable time to work together. to implement the new program and with the math program possibly coming forward for next year I want to make sure

075we have enough time for that too. When you onboard something like UDL because we are going to be hiring an outside facilitator for this work It really does make sense in year one to have a universal heavy thrust in the onboarding stage so we had some conversations about Being a little bit more building based but to do it well and to build the capacity in year one and to build that cohort of teachers who will continue to build the capacity to support other educators in year one we do have to really commit in the manner that's outlined in that plan okay and then if I could answer the question on mathematics yes it's a smaller cohort compared to CKLA okay CKLA was a K through four every teacher pretty much every teacher unless fourth grade

076did split some of the discipline but because of the mathematics resources it's just it's not just it's mathematics instructors at the middle school level where there are teachers who teach other disciplines so we are building in other capacities to provide make sure that we ensure professional development which includes getting substitutes for the day so they can have a day together but it's a small for math okay but it's a smaller cohort than ckla was okay additionally too just if i could over the summer presumably and hopefully at our next school committee meeting we'll have a team from the mathematics committee to present to the committee but the hope is we can get folks who are onboarding with school committee approval the chance for paid compensated PD over the summer so that they can get the

077math content in advance So they don't feel as if they can't do both well because we want to try and be equitable and reasonable and give people the best chance to build a sustainable repertoire of PD. Okay. Go ahead. Sorry. For point of clarification, school committee is not approving the PD that we're offering. I know. It's when you approve the mathematic resources. I understood that. Yeah. Okay, now that brought me up a couple more questions, sorry. So what happens, like last year for the CKLA, there were educators that were unable to, they had prior commitments for the summer and couldn't commit to that. What happens when we have that happen for mathematics, and how are we going to give those teachers the tools they need to begin the year? We will make sure that anyone

078who's unable to attend during the summer will be given a chance. to onboard math fully and in conjunction with UDL. We'll have to get creative with that, but we will make that happen for those folks. Okay. And when you say UDL is district-wide, does that include all aspects of our staff? It's teachers, paraprofessionals, unified arts teachers. It's anyone that comes into contact and has a relationship with children. because it really, no matter what your lens is, no matter what your hat is, so to speak, there is important and there are important takeaways for UDL that you can use to remove barriers to content access for kids. Okay. I'll let somebody else ask questions then. Thanks. Go ahead, Kathy. Okay. You first. Go ahead. She'll go with you anyway because you've been on the school committee

079longer. It's okay. No, she always goes senior first. That's cute. so my question is so just so that the middle school schedule the way it is or the way it will be are they anticipating providing the mathematics teachers with some common planning time so that they would have time during the day at some point during the week to be able to access each other to work on this kind of thing I think it without because we still haven't gotten that deep yet right a goal of that work to be purposeful to give teachers more time for that okay I don't know if that's I I don't want I would not want to speak and say that I know that that's going to happen but it's something that we're considering in the work yeah when when

080you're when you talk to the consultant about your wish list if at all the those times can line up by building with the two buildings, I think that would be nice that maybe they could Zoom with each other or do a Google Meet just to be able to kind of communicate as well. Thank you. So mine is also kind of more of a question of future, kind of like put a pin in it to talk about it later. But with... the district plan and with the conjunction with UDL, you know, with creating a system to evaluate the effectiveness, I'm all about the data. So, and I don't suppose that you have all of this in place right now, but that you will. And I just want to ensure that we'll actually be able to. hear

081that when as those stages start to come through and I'm sure we will but it's I think without question we'll have Demonstrable positive outcomes that we'll be able to show to all of us as a result of you deal That I that I can say with certainty. It's going to take some time because to onboard in year one It's definitely a commitment But it's also the kind of work that is going to allow us to within each building Find a cohort of teachers that who will take the additional course as we go through the year so that they in years two and years three can connect with colleagues and Disseminate that information and those strategies to people in their building because that is one thing that we've noticed we really want and need a sustainable

082Set of PV activities so that we can grow together Any other questions before he goes on? Okay, and you have the last updating us by the... I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Is there... Can you... Has Universal Design for Learning so broad of words? Can you break that down for me in two sentences of what it actually would look like? Sure. Thanks. Think of in a school that is handicap compliant, they have an access ramp. Okay. So that somebody who has a disability is able to access that ramp. Okay. But that ramp is also useful for somebody that might be on crutches who doesn't have to go upstairs. Okay. So the idea is the structures and systems that you create, perhaps with people that are most in need, can also be used by everyone who comes within

083that space. Okay. And is it, it's not only structure, it's the way that you teach, it's the way that people learn, it's the way that people receive information. Yes. Okay. So another example might be if you're doing a book report, but you're a very visual learner, your way of showing your knowledge would be through a diorama or a book poster. For me, I love to write, so my way to show what I know is through writing a traditional book report. So the idea is to really find an access point for students that's based upon how they prefer to learn so that we can open up that playing field for everybody to showcase the knowledge that they have. Thank you for explaining it like that. And that was very helpful, those examples. Thank you. any other

084questions okay I'd be happy to answer that question if the SOAR chair lets me. Go ahead. The consultant is a practicing educator in the state of Massachusetts, is a current superintendent, and has extensive experience in middle school and middle school scheduling. And she's wonderful. But is it like a company? No. Nope. Nope. Are you talking about the UDL? Like who we're hiring to bring in UDL? No, I'm talking about, you were asking about middle schools. I'm talking about this. Oh, UDL. Sorry. Sorry. I was stuck on middle school. That was the last thing we talked about. I'll let Dr. Ackerman answer that question. Obviously, what is the name of the company and who is the consultant? So we haven't identified the specific consultant yet because that is still in process. I have a proposal in,

085and I'm waiting to hear back on the details. The company is, I think it is called Novak UDL. Can you say that again? Novak UDL. I can get the exact name for you. Sure. Can I get some information on that? Of course. The same company come to our district to do UDL training. They're excellent. They work with the State Department, like the Department of DESE, to kind of talk about our multi-tiered systems of support and really connecting those to the universal design for learning. So they really are at the top of their game for understanding for the UDL experience. And the presentation, I can give you the speaker that we had, but he was top-notch. So you can send that information to all the members, okay, on the school committee. and I'll go back to

086what I said they are they were practitioners in our state so they held our jobs before they come out to talk about UDL and how they implemented it within their public school districts so they've had they've had extensive public school experience including the including the founder Tracy Novak it's not the same as the Tracy Novak that you may know from school committee this is a practitioner out of I think her last position was in Groton Dunstable as a director of special education and student services. Assistant superintendent. I think it's Tracy. Isn't it Tracy? Yeah. Katie Novak. Katie. Katie. Katie. Katie. I'm always off by one or two letters. Sorry. There's an A in both. Katie Novak, but I've participated in some of her presentations that she's had hundreds of educators in front of her. So,

087again, what we like the best is she was a practitioner, and she only works with practitioners. She doesn't hire someone else. She does have a website, if you wanted to look more into it, that has a plethora of information on it. And it's Katie Novak, just to be clear. Trace is the M-A-S-C, right? Yes, yes, yes, sorry. Sorry. So the final item is the middle school math team, the consideration of new mathematics materials. We are at the very end stages. Our team is meeting next week, I believe a week from today on the 18th. By then, the second pilot unit will have been finished. I've shared with the members, as have the principals, the rubrics, the score. We'll be meeting here. and our hope is to have a cross-section of our team and our work

088at our next school committee meeting i believe on the 25th to make a recommendation for purchase i will just say again that because we did apply for and receive a grant from the state that a sizable portion of those funds will be coming from a state line any questions of the doctor. Sorry to be again. So last we spoke at the teaching and learning subcommittee meeting, we talked about possibly asking parents for feedback on that because there could be feedback that they have. Maybe they don't, but I told you I had heard feedback about it. So is that going to be taken into consideration before you come forward next meeting? We were asking for feedback kind of qualitatively through we had created a form for teachers to record information that was shared from either students

089or parents for each pilot program so that if it was mentioned, if a teacher had a conversation, that would be captured and brought to our meeting. We didn't have a plan to formally like send a survey. Okay, just because I don't think that... the parents even know to tell you that there's feedback, but I heard that there was feedback. And so I think at least it's worth saying if your child has brought forth any questions or there was any feedback that you have during these two pilot programs, please let us know. And again, I know I already told you this, but the feedback that I had was it would be helpful to know in advance, hey, your child is... going to be part of a pilot program and this is what the intent of it

090is and then ask after do you have any feedback from your pat your child you know that's what came to me so thank you any other question okay that concludes your do I have any questions we've done okay thank you okay that concludes dr. Ackerman's report thank you report of the policy subcommittee and that's chair Kathy Kabala and Kathy do you want us because we can do it either way do you want to discuss JE or do we want a motion on the floor either way is right yeah okay so I'll entertain a motion to adopt the school attendance policy do I have a motion second now discussion Catherine yeah we brought this to the committee last meeting and we did have one response from a member of the community and their concern was in

091the policy we say that let me find it it's uh where was that sentence uh teachers should provide if a student is going on vacation or leaving the district on a non traditional vacation week, they thought the teacher should provide the work ahead of time for the student. That it's not a fear for the kid to have to come back and make up. Work and the complete all the committee members from the subcommittee said that this is an unreal s unrealistic request for several reasons first of all Teachers have enough to do without having to make plans for a vacation That's not a real school vacation and secondly those of us who have taught know that your lesson plans can change from day to day So I could give the work for a week and

092I could be ahead of myself I could be behind myself so to expect the teacher to plant for something may not even come to happen We did not think that was should be part of the policy so we have not changed the policy and i don't know if jean would like to comment because she and i and i'm jordan we all felt the same way that it should stay the way it is that teachers should not be required to give work ahead of time for vacation that's not a authorized so to speak school vacation so that's so we have no changes from last week's policy meeting any other discussion before we take a vote can i just ask one question maybe to superintendent lamarche we talk about um the committee defines excessive absences are we

093confusing what the committee defines excessive absences as versus what the state defines excessive absences as because you have a specific spot that you're reading i'm sorry third paragraph because i from what i knew the the third excessive absences by the state include excuse for they don't just they don't distinguish between excused and unexcused absences the state the state does not because they list the they list those that could be excused illness bereavement major religious holidays that's not what I that's what not what I always do list that okay not what I understood but but your point is taken on the committee the committee doesn't really define what the state does so it's it's up to it's I I if there's a friendly amendment to remove the word committee and say that the state defines excessive

094absences. Is that better? it should be the state so the second line would say the purpose the state defines change the word committee to the state yeah that agreeable with everybody maybe something for this purpose and in line with the state definition of excessive absences because the line before it says state law requires a Delhi Charlton regional school district to investigate cases of excessive school absence for this purpose the state defines excessive absences as It doesn't define excessive absences. It talks about excused or un-excused. In line with the state definition? We're defining excessive. All right, so I guess we're fine saying the committee. The state identifies what's an excused absence. Because you can have up to 10 within a, I think it's 8 within a 7-month period and 10 in a calendar year. Somewhere in

095that neighborhood. So what do you think, Kathy? What did you say about that? I think if you said the state law requires. the state law doesn't require anything it just identifies what's excused not excused in line with the state definition why don't we just say for this purpose excessive absence are defined and we've got who it is take that committee and say for this purpose excessive absence are defined as yeah yeah so we can just fix that is that okay with everybody yes is that okay with everybody okay So we can still approve this tonight then as an adoption? With your amendments, right? So your motion has to be amended. I did the motion, so. Do we need to withdraw or can I just amend my motion? You can amend it if she agrees to

096it. So I could vote no and then read something. Can we just pull them off the table and start over? Okay. That's what we should do. That's the easiest way. Yeah, that's the easiest way. you have to play your second second okay and Kathy you can read it again to make sure for this purpose excessive absence of more than defined well excessive absences are defined in the following or something like that are defined as more so they are defined as more than 10 excused absences just take to the committee and says excessive absences are defined there's more than 10 and then the rest would stay the same yep you got me okay this would be the second line of the third paragraph instead of saying for the purpose the committee defines we're taking out the

097committee defines and just saying excessive absences are defined as that way we don't have to decide it's the state of the district it's just that's the way it goes that's agreeable with the committee yeah and I second it and any more discussion on it any more discussion are we so moving are you still moving with that amendment of this policy correct got it thank you for adoption yes for adoption perfect because it's already gone through the stages except for this little change Okay, everybody okay with it? All in favor? Motion carries, it's unanimous. Okay, then we have... Sorry, I was trying to look up the MDL. It does say that the superintendent or teachers insofar as authorized by him or by the school committee may excuse cases of necessary absences for other causes not exceeding

098seven-day sessions or 14-and-a-half-day sessions in any period of six months. Absence may also be permitted for religious education. It just goes on. So it is, it is, school committee does authorize the superintendent to do that. Okay, that brings us to policy KCD. We'll entertain a motion to adopt policy KCD, and that's gifts and donations. Okay, do I have a second? Second. Okay, discussion. Yes, this was brought up for Mr. Stage at our last meeting. We didn't get a form written, but we discussed it. Renders of $500 is a bit lower to above it. So to make that clearer, we changed the word on the B on the fourth line, gifts and donations, exceeding $500 in value. And then for not exceeding, you would go to the page C on the second part. So just to

099clarify, the 500 is the breaking point. Which side does it go on? So if it doesn't exceed 500, it goes to the administrators. If it exceeds 500, it goes to the school committee. And we also took out the part about $500 per donor in a single school year because Mr. Sage made that point. If he wanted to, well, not he, I don't think. If a person wanted to give $500 every month, this would stop them, but now we took that out so he could give $500. Someone could donate more than $500 in a year. We took out that part about per single school year. Other than that, the rest is the same. Okay, any other discussion before we take the vote? Okay. All in favor? Is there a question? Anybody have a question? What's wrong,

100Jamie? All in favor? We're almost done. Motion carries. It's unanimous. Thank you. Okay. I just want to say for the policy subcommittee, basically it's done for the year. In the summertime, there will be policies about social net direct, which is a big, all-encompassing, several policies. So that's it for the year for now. The school year. That's a lot of work this year. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. You did a good job. And Kathy Kamanyani and Gene. And Jordan. And Jordan. It was Jordan, right? Yeah. And Gene, you were very helpful with the laws. I heard that from Kathy. My pleasure. Okay, that brings us to update special education parents advisory council CPAC. Mr. Bergeron will speak on this. So to update you on the work we've done this year with CPAC, which again is the

101advisory council that works with special education leadership on initiatives, on problem solving. It's a collaborative effort between these two groups. This is an area we were cited on, and we've had a corrective action plan to reestablish a CPAC this year, as we've been working on to raise membership. At this point in the year, we are not in a place where we can... let DESE know that we have regulatory compliance so because we have not grown enough this year so it's going to be an ongoing effort into next year so the district then has a couple different options the option we're looking at right now is to establish a waiver for this year there are requirements which most of which we have met at this point in the year to get a waiver so we're just

102updating the committee that this is still a work in progress I'm happy to answer any questions about this or about CPAC in general. I'm sure Jean would be delighted to answer any questions as well. It's hard to elicit parent involvement sometimes. It's always been that way. But it is very important. It's not just a legal requirement, but it is, in my opinion, an essential function of a school district to work collaboratively with parents on special education. There's a lot going on this year, so we would like to see more parents join this group. Any questions? I'm just curious, I guess, how many parents there are and how many more you need to meet. So in order to meet the regulation, we need a full board of leadership. So president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, et cetera,

103to establish bylaws and vote and do all that stuff. And right now, it's just me, and we're working on the bylaws from about, like, five years ago. Established back then, but we haven't had CPAC for a few years. Is that correct? No, we've had CPAC. And it was kind of a just kind of with the Jilly Larson, Sam Batar, myself, you know, and then when the pandemic, when the pandemic and Laura, all the similar Tonto and when the pandemic and the shutdown, then the CPAC kind of did. falter and that's when Sam and I picked it up and then we were working on moving things forward and then unfortunately Sam had to leave for personal reasons so it's just been me trying to do it and school committee and you know so it's it's been

104a little bit of a challenge and so I'm always happy to have to talk anybody's ear off about CPAC. Can I just make a suggestion that I don't know that many parents probably even realize it's there. know from the special ed point what you you may think they do I don't know that they I don't know that they do but I'm wondering if we could maybe have something that could go out to fit to like specific families maybe through the liaisons We are working on that. And then Bob has also been really great about putting out a couple of district blasts out to parents. And then we're also working on getting a couple, you know, federation. workshops in like trying to tie in with the early intervention you know over you know Kennedy Donovan and

105stuff like that to try to work on building in for pre-k and up to to work on those getting those memberships too but by all means come first Wednesday of the month I'd love to have you know I believe this year was the first year too. A survey went out to all parents as well. So there's been some communication around the CPAC this year that in my three years that's the first that I've seen. So we did, in addition to the survey that went out to all parents, we also did a parents' rights presentation so that information went out to all parents of students with disabilities in the district, invited them, and we had some additional parents show to that, but people need to come regularly in order to... be compliant. We didn't have it

106and then I remember people were coming regularly. Now it's sort of went backward again. I think the heyday was 10 years ago. I think probably when Jamie was with it with Elaine Rabbit and then it kind of went up and then it went down and now we're trying to build it back up. And that's pretty typical unfortunately at times. Kind of pulling it back. I just think that sometimes that families that have young kids, you know, it's right during bedtime. And I just wonder if there's ability to have meetings that are streamed so that people can kind of. We do. We have a Zoom account. But the last set of feedback was pretty much people were tired of Zooming. and they wanted a physical to meet face-to-face with other parents. So I do have the

107option. It's still on the website that we can still also Zoom and maybe making it a hybrid. Yeah, something that you know, yeah It's just again, I'm one person so would love more people Well, I have a suggestion too I feel like if you had fly a flyer and maybe you do maybe that is already how you get information out if it went to like The moms clubs. I don't know if there is one in Dudley But there is one in Charlton and I believe that there are parents that would benefit from a group like this. And I thought one of them was heavily involved in it, but maybe I'm mistaken on that. And so I just think that I'd be happy to pass out flyers if you had them to get people that may

108have, you know, this might fit their category. I'll give you a stack next week. Honestly, I'm not even joking. Honest to God, I will give you a stack next week. It's okay. I'll take a picture. but I think the moms clubbing child might have disbanded I guess I'd say something too. I was part of the CPAC, yes, back with Elaine Rabbit and some other parents. I was in, my son was in kindergarten, and I didn't know where to turn. I guess it was first grade. I apologize for my voice. I didn't know what else, I didn't know what to do, and somebody recommended me talk to one of the parents on the CPAC. And she spent so much time talking to me and helping me understand how to advocate for my son, excuse me, and

109how to approach Bless You. How to approach the meeting or to go to a meeting and what to do and I'm friends with those women to this day. It just happened to only be women but because moms we take the lead right and It was so important and I was very involved in it. I made the pamphlet that went out and put in the library I would put it in the preschool and kindergarten packets You know just so that it gets in front of those parents early because they may or may not know that their student needs That assistant or that group yet you know so at least so they have it I know it's overwhelming but at least I'd be like oh wait a minute I think I saw something about that group and

110maybe you already do I don't know but just you know it was a very important group for me in the district It was to all of us and like I said it was at the top points and then now it's low So it's like I'm plotting my way through it so yeah Thank you Jane Jane thank you any other questions for Mr. Bergeron Okay, thank you. And last on the agenda is update principal search, Shepherd Hill. Principal, Mr. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Currently, there are 16 applicants for the position of the next principal of Shepherd Hill Regional High School. The team members, and I'm thankful to each and every one of them, have all agreed from the first iteration to stay on. Currently, those applications have been shared with all members of the

111team and we're going to, because of scheduling, have folks review them asynchronously on their own time. There's a couple hundred pages of documents for folks to go through and again I want to applaud just the work and the confidentiality of the committee. The goal will be to identify three candidates. From the group to interview and we're currently shooting for May 24th as that day It's been a bit of a struggle just we have ten people different schedules, but that's currently the day that we're shooting for After that interview them we would like to bring forward a finalist or finalist candidates to the superintendent superintendent so that they can connect with the assistant principals connect with Superintendent Lamarche and then make a recommendation to go forward. I didn't ask you this because I haven't had a

112chance to even read through my emails about that yet. We're going to still go through the same process we did with round one where the public would be able to come in and meet the candidates? That, I did not put that in for this cycle just because we are running up against a time barrier. But I'm open to that consideration if the committee feels that that is the apt step to take. I felt like it was incredibly beneficial, and I felt that educators felt that they were part of a process. And I don't think we should overlook that. No, then I can certainly go ahead and add that in. So then just theoretically we would... Follow the same process and then I'm thinking just from an end stages will probably be Into June at that

113point I think before we can formally identify a candidate which certainly we can and we will do it just will have the time frame push back a bit I don't know if you are, but I think it was Martha I attended and I was glad I was able to meet and ask questions or the other man or something. He was talking about, I didn't know if he was talking about the principal search committee or us, when you said the committee to decide. Oh, it would be brought forward the recommendation from the superintendent. No, I know it. But when you said, when she said meet the candidates, you said, well, the committee thought it's going to be up to the committee. I said, which committee? Search group. He was talking about your committee, not us. Search

114group, yeah. The search committee. I thought you were talking about right here. No, I thought he was talking about search group. And I thought it was too. That the ten of us would. Because right now we're not in on this. It's you people and you're on that committee. So I wanted to clarify that. But you're saying to have a candidates evening. A meet the candidate, yeah. Because my intent was then it could be collective of anybody in the community that wanted to have their questions answered. SO THAT THIS WAS A COMMUNITY. THIS IS A HIGH-TIER POSITION IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND I THINK WE NEED BUY-IN FROM EVERYBODY. AND THAT'S WHERE YOU TALK TO YOUR SEARCH COMMITTEE, BECAUSE YOU'RE ON THE SEARCH COMMITTEE. YOU TELL THEM THAT, AND THEY DECIDE. THAT'S THE PROCEDURE. SEARCH GROUP.

115THE SEARCH GROUP. SO WE CAN DIFFERENTIATE. BUT HE SAID COMMITTEE, SO THAT'S WHY WE... THAT WAS THE SEARCH GROUP. THAT WAS MY MISSTEP. So you'll have to talk that over with the search group, what you're going to do. You have a meeting coming up, right? Well, you know my opinion. Everybody knows my opinion. I don't think I need to hold it back. No, that's okay. That's okay. This is why there's an update, so we can kind of flesh out next steps and what folks think are... make the most sense. That's okay Jamie. I would also just like to add that I think it might be important to do it a little bit later in the day because 3 30 is really hard for some parents. I think we'd get more more parents if it was

116a little bit later. So maybe in the vicinity of like a 5 30 would that would that work? I would think better than 3 30 yes. Okay it just may exclude educators because they their day ends earlier than that. So it was tough to try to tread the needle on that. The challenge is hard because everyone's kind of working. But as a group, we can certainly meld that into the discussion so that when we try to find a time, that works for the most people. President the person wants a job they would come did stay around right? I don't see any big deal. Yeah, you could have it good The staff shouldn't have to come back at 5 You know think about Yes Has a lot to discuss about the possible, you know feedback that

117we just received and yes through the chair I just Are we ready to go with a plan B of an interim if needed? Always. Always. Got it. Okay. Because I just imagine we are late in the game. And many of those 16 probably could be already in the process of getting jobs. It's certainly possible. It's always it's hard to kind of put to your point We do have a time frame So we want to be mindful of the process and give it all the due respect that deserves But but yes also be mindful of the candidate pool just historically tends to get thinner the closer you get to the end of the year So we'll try to balance those two priorities as best we can That brings us to The end of our meeting. Good.

118Next meeting date. School committee meeting, Wednesday, May 25th, and that will be at 7 p.m. at the Charlton Middle School. Budget and finance subcommittee to be determined. Policy review subcommittee to be determined. Curriculum subcommittee for teaching and learning, June 6th. That will be at 3.30 p.m. I think we are revising that date. You're going to revise that? Yeah. So I'm going to leave it. We're in the process of determining a new date. So I'll leave it as to be determined? Okay. And the capital outlay safety subcommittee, that's to be determined. Now I have new committee members, so it was just me making the decision with Rich and Steve. Future agenda items, school councils in May. Dudley Charlton Education Foundation, May. School Improvement Plans, June. District Plan, June slash August. School Committee Reorganization in June. summative

119how do you say that? summative okay just wanted to make sure evaluation of our superintendent that's going to be in June I'm going to add the library committee Put the status on that so we will Have something for that next committee meeting. Okay. Can I also add something? Yes Can we have a status of all record requests with the dates that they were asked and then what their current status level is? Okay. Thank you. Jean I'd like to add on for a future agenda item that with that we have a like a summer workshop with MASC on vision and goal planning for the school committee so we can all be one unit you want to the one that Kenny was going to do you will yeah I'll take that up take that up thank you

120Jean yeah but we'll let Jean be the head one and decide she wants to work on a summer and then get if she If you want a little committee, it'll be up to you. You're taking over. Okay. And anyone else about the agenda you want to state? Madam Chair, if we could add in June an update on special education in our district, we can add that as an agenda item as well. Beginning. Beginning. No. You can have it at the beginning and end. You can have both. And make a motion to adjourn. Okay. All in favor? Second. That's okay, Kathy. All in favor? We're adjourned.