001call this meeting to order. Uh we'll go to number two here on our list which is go to ed executive session. Um I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session first. Number three to discuss strategy or litigation law may have detrimental effect on litigation position of the public body. And the chair still declares MEA. So move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Motion to second. This is a roll call vote to enter into executive session. Shannon. Yes. S. And the chair votes I. We are in executive session. Thank you very much. Thanks to Gav. Eddie heard him first. [Music] And you get a car. And you get a car. And you get [Music] Yay. I will say the Wi-Fi is Yes. Yes, it is. I'm not rushing you. Eddie
002is Eddie's like, I'm bored. I didn't have any homework to do. Oh no. I think you had like [Music] Yes. Thank you very much for your patience. We are returning to public session. I would ask you stand for the flag. state of America to the stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Item number five, public comments. Seeing no one, uh, we'll move to item number six, discussion items. Hey, report. We're back. How's it going? Good. How are you? Congrats and high school. Um from school, we have recognition ceremonies held June 9th through 11 clusters A, B, and C. Um celebrating student achievements and transitions at the high school. Um the spring concert orchestra performed on June 10th showcasing their own dedication exhibition students project on mental
003health substance use display honoring her collaboration and student connections. Um some student and staff highlights happy teacher fundraiser raised funds via temporary tattoos. Mr. Carol from the sixth grade won with $160 raised. Curriculum showcase was May 30th featured students and performances. some upcoming events. Um the grade dance 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. Um June 12th and hearts please June 18th. Um the start program for incoming will be August 20th to 21st. Um high school we have um the graduation of class 125 which was 250 students graduated on the 28th. Um ceremonies moved indoors due to the weather but celebrate for the Friday. Um some upcoming events is 136 uh June 13th and 14th at 7 p.m. world. um spring awards award night taking place tonight and the MHS auditorium. um successful the last um
004the last one now is going to be tomorrow um 12 college boot camp for the class of 26 you can sign up for bulletin um that's August 4th through 15 um you can sign up for sessions um some shoutouts the student council organiz conference represent MHS and the TV production group. Thank you very much. Any questions for him? All right, [Music] thank you. All right, we'll move on to 6B school committee members. We'll start with you. We'll ask. Yeah. Um, so I had the pleasure of attending the school showcase which I thought was amazing because I feel like we are always open houses at the end of the year. Um, so to get to go and see the kids and I don't know my son was very excited to show off everything and um his
005teachers were excited to see him. So it was nice to nice to be able to be part of that and um see all the kids running around and listening to the music they can hear as well. Um second and the second is graduation obviously and I just want to say thank you. I mean it was such a pleasure to be up there. I had a lot of friends whose children were graduating. Um and just to take part in that and see all the work that goes into it. Um and I know some people set up through no choice but just to see all the work that goes into it to get it set up in auditorium and just to see Mr. were wrong like crazy. We made sure everyone was ready where they needed to
006be that night. Um it was just it was just an amazing event to take part in not because I diploma but um all the other kids as well. So I I just want to say thank you for letting school committee take part in that was amazing. So, um I wanted to congratulate all the elementary and nichles students who had their concerts um and to their teachers as well for showcase their students so wonderfully. Um it was especially fun to have all of the elementary students kind of in the high school and be there on mass and see the auditorium packed with with parents and having to shuffle through so that everybody had a chance to see everybody. It was just a wonderful evening. Um I also went to the the crippling showcase um without having
007anymore. It was I agree even just looking at the work that the the students did and the um the ingenuity of teachers and some of the really fun projects that they had them do just to work on different skills. Um, and I really loved the concept of allowing students who were coming into a grade to not just show off work that they had done, but go and look at what they might get to look forward to the next year and seeing examples in the building was packed full of stuff to see. It was really just meeting um and I had a chance before I came here just off at the HBD. Um they are doing their celebration of us um which just ended but it also was just another wonderful event to see some some
008student work being showcased um but also to see um some families who were there with their culture and some of the unique things that they bring to um their their families and and to hear the students who were there you know some of these all their different parents, but just hearing students speak about it was just wonderful. Lots of fun things and the food and food trucks and uh coffee was there. So, it was just a wonderfully organized event. And I really just want to thank the administration, all of the teachers that work so hard to put those types of events on and to really celebrate the work that um the teachers and the students have been doing all year. And um congratulations to all the graduates. I echo as Shannon said, it's really just
009a privilege to be able to be there and to shake the hands of the the new graduates and to get to give them their diploma um is a wonderful event. Um Eddie talked about that that's coming up this Friday and Saturday. Um I saw in the Nicholls bulletin or the one of the bulletins um an event that I just thought was worth calling out that there are fantastic opportunities. So there's fifth grade mix that's happening at here at this Friday night from 6:00 to 7:30. It is not a drop off event. Parents are invited to requested to stay but in a separate space. You can talk with their families. I think there might be some light refreshments instead. Um, but I think it's just a wonderful opportunity for those fifth grade students to have, you
010know, still fun time in the building that they'll be moving off into to get to kind of meet and, um, maybe make some new friends from the different elementary schools. So, um, I think that's a wonderful wonderful idea. I just wanted to call attention to it. Um, and then just one other note in addition to that, there are two opportunities on Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th to see two more senior showcases that the uh the performing arts seniors have been working hard on and willing to come back after graduation to to finish up. And I I know the first performances are happening at 3 and then the second one is at 5:30 7. So, but it's uh they're going to split off. So, if you can attend three of both days, you get
011to see both of them. If you can attend, you get to see both of them and you can see both of them. So, um I know that there's some there's a really set piece going on with them. So um if you get a chance stop by support what these students have been doing and uh that is I guess you only add to that uh and uh the end of year events that they're having there the musicals that are happening this week and then on Monday um the gathering that they're having there where families are also involved and I guess and the graduate drive um that is everyone's five favorite events and I think I would like to take a step back and say how wonder if you look across all of these how wonderful it
012is to see the culminating event the ways that the community, the entire community, business, parents, students, uh come together and uh celebrate our kids uh what they've accomplished. Um particularly graduation is a time that that does that for the entire school career and uh it is a privilege to be part of that. Um it is also so wonderful to see the spirit that's in that room which made tears to my eyes now. Um the entire community, the way that those kids feel about our school. Um the pride that they have in themselves, the way that different um accomplishments are celebrated in very um public ways uh speaks a lot to who we are as a community and why. Um likewise over the sentiment of Sue that they mostly stole everything that I was going to
013say. Uh but an exception that Sue and I did at Lieutenant Graduation as well. Um and thanks for that. Um so that what an amazing experience to be there and also for the graduation day um on Saturday. Um it was a privilege to be there. I thank all of you for also participating the diplomacy seeing everyone um and recognizing all progress that they've made is something truly second that I want to talk about was that received an email from Jess after the last uh meeting pertaining to the meeting schedule and I believe you raised a point on being able to change the meeting rather than just second or third um that we actually get a couple more meetings in. Um so just little bit of debate on on that with all of us. Um personally,
014you know, there's no vote. Um but personally I think that final second we only need three meetings that also there are some days where there are some [Music] holidays whatever Thanksgiving. Um so any questions on that post on that? Yeah, I I was looking at kind of just the layout of if we did the second and third, the second and fourth versus the first and third, where would it impact things with vacations and um those kinds of things? We basically I do stick it to the the numeric week of the month, you end up with basically the same number because vacations versus Thanksgiving versus winter break kind of upset you. Um so it it did look to be possible if you wanted to try to guarantee two meetings a month. Um but it is a
015very good point that you know December specifically there's there's a lot of things going on and um looking just outside our schedules and looking at the administration schedules and the topics that are kind of needing to be presented. Um, and I think that was more my my question was, you know, you trying to switch a bunch of things into any of the the anticipated meeting dates because of the months where we only have one and Caroline sent out a draft for us of, you know, how the stand topics would be allocated across the it didn't look to me like we were really trying to force too much into a specific month overloaded on the kind of we really need to talk about this now because it has to be put on for approval before certainty.
016Um so if that's kind of where everybody feels we're good then I'm fine with not changing anything. But I do think it's something that if we ever started to feel like we were having too much at a certain meeting, you know, we could always say, "Hey, let's let's adjust meetings in April to the first and third, but we don't always say, hey, we need to try something added. You're kind of already taking a look at that year long sort of document for all the agendas that's compiled from all the previous organized meetings um was also so the meetings in the summer are only going to have two um and those generally happen fourth Thursday um of both July and August. My only question is in July, I know that I do want to have all
017of us meet um sometime the middle. So probably the second um for what I will call our conference where we get together and discuss our goals um for the upcoming year. Um there are two committee members who have gotten back to me. Um, so in terms of kind of email, we did it verbally at the beginning of just looking for confirmation included, you know, that she was available in July and August. Are you looking for our availability? July and August and then available in July. July and I can't remember how we did it last year. I'm just trying to remember the timing. Did we do it during work? I thought we did it during the work day. It seems based on what people tell me that later. Yeah. And so so I know I would
018like to get all of us. Um and so I'm really for all of us. Yeah. I don't have any travel plans in July. I do have the conference from July 14th through the 17th. I'm still available back by the Thursday. Those are the only days any other. Um that is it for my report. Um and so we move on to reports for NBA co-presidents who are not here today. So we'll move on to 60. Mr. Chair, before we do that, did you want to do the delegate? Uh yes. Um so we'll just quickly move to number nine B in action items. I mean I see that um last year in the past um I remember it was generally been the chair last year someone involved here very welcome to handle it otherwise I won't handle
019Oh, silence. Um, I believe it does require a motion. I move for all those in favor. I It is unanimous. Thanks. Um, good evening everybody. Um, it's funny that everybody was remarking about graduation because that is also the first item of this report this evening. Um, and yes, I want to echo the hard work that everybody puts into graduation, but I wanted to shine a quick spotlight on the community appreciation surrounding graduation, scholarships, and all of the events that occur that go into that. And and truly, I'm not trying to take away from our graduates or our wonderful school personnel, but there's a whole other component that goes into graduation that I think you all saw. You were there and kind of see it on display. Um, you know, there are several events beyond graduation
020that includes scholarship night. There's a senior assembly. There's also a senior walk where our grad walk actually I shouldn't say gradwalk but I wrote senior walk but our seniors walk through the halls of all of the school buildings actually if you saw um town manager he was reduced to tears watching and I kind of corrected him about it because it's hard not to to shed tears it's very emotional um and to your point it really is such a good example of this community coming together for kids it is moving Um, so to that note, I brought you these these pieces of information today, so we can talk a little bit about that. You know, Oak Point, we've long talked about um their philanthropic endeavors, their yard sale, and you know, their their scholarship fund alone
021at $57,500 to our seniors is stunning. It's a stunning amount of money. And then when you look at the fact that the scholarships for our 202 students is over $31,000, I don't know if the community understands that's not in every community across the Commonwealth, whether you're in an uber affluent community or or not. Um, and it's just really remarkable and I find it moving as well. I take my role in all of this very seriously. Um, and I also feel very honored and privileged to be part of it in any capacity. But then you look at prom and the way our community wraps its arms around our kids. The adopted senior program, those baskets are unfolding and every kid gets one. And I think that that says something about what's really here in town. um
022that senior walk is not you know yes it's a really cool event but our bus drivers donated their time and they decorated the buses so you know I mean if you don't know that you don't know that that's what goes into it then it's easy to miss and yes it's wonderful to receive the seniors but there's a whole other component of this on like the teacher side that I was at MAG you cannot bring those kids down after that event. So, it really is when you pull the kindergarters and prekers out. Good luck getting them to focus again on that Friday. But, uh, everybody really comes together as a community. So, I just wanted to take a moment to send, you know, very big heartfelt thanks to our community, but also shine a light on
023just some of the pieces. And I'm sure this is not an exhaustive list, but I thought it'd be good to start tonight's meeting that way and bring that to the floor. I'll try to do that each year. I think it's good information. Totally agree. I think it shows the spirit of the community, you know. Um, so with that, Director Perau is making his way to our table tonight. We have a fiscal year 25, so FY25, end of year budget report. And um the only click into that um but if you want to click Thanks. Thanks. Um I'll turn it over to welcome director and he takes us away. I want to touch on three different areas. One we haven't talked much about and that's the transition to the new munis financial system. Uh next I
024want to talk about circuit breaker really the extraordinary relief application and then finally the fiscal 25 closeout in the processes that we're working on and again we'll open it up to questions answers after. So the first is the unit transition. Um this was pretty quietly done but it was a pretty large undertaking. So on March 1, we actually went live with the new system. We didn't much attention to that. So I wanted to talk about it. It was a very smooth uh transition. Usually these implementations have some snags in it, but it was really smooth. Uh the what I want to highlight though is that the live began March 1. So the first eight months of the financial data from fiscal 25 is in our old system and last four months obviously are in the
025new system. Um and uh that could pose some problems but uh for the end processes I don't think that will uh be a problem at all. Uh so what happens go fast and stuff. Um, so having it in two uh different houses in two different areas could pose problems, but I don't think it will in terms of the end of year process. Where I may have some challenges is after the year ends when we have to do the end of year report. It's a really really detailed financial report due at the end of September. And because the detail is in two housed in two different financial systems, I'm going to have to um transition from one to the other and have a crosswalk because the account numbers change a little bit. So I'm going to
026be dealing with two different systems and adding it. It's not hard. It's just going to be uh cumbersome in terms of length. So last year I did not have to file a uh an extension, which is very common with school finance officers. They usually ask the state for a month or two. Last year, I did not have to do that. I'm not guaranteeing that I'll be able to do that this year, but so um again, it's not hard. It's just um it's going to be a longer process. The next I want to talk about circuit breaker. We have talked about this. Um this is our filing for special ed expenses when we um the state does provide assistance with uh special ed expenses. Um but uh and every year we do that in July. However,
027every year in March, um, director, uh, Hilly starts the process for extraordinary relief, which is, uh, when you spend more than 25% more than the previous year's special debt expenses and you go over that, you are eligible for additional relief. So, we filed that or she filed that. I can take no credit on that. She filed it on time on March 27th. We received the award on May 1st and we received $370,352. [Music] The reason it's so large is because we had extraordinary expenses. So, uh, what's even more is that we were eligible for a higher amount, but due to many districts being in the same situation we are because special ed expenses are going up everywhere, we received a prorated amount. Uh, didn't receive the 100% of the our eligibility, but we did receive
028the 370. Um, and the caveat with that is you have to spend it by June 30th. Oh, you get it in July. So, you know, in May, you know, you were going with the right question. We got it May 10th, something like that. We were, but you So, knowing that, that's difficult. the state allows you to take her expenses that we've already incurred from July 1 to May and let you um journal entry them into the circuit breaker but freeing up more money for us to spend in general fund. So that they are very flexible with that and it's very helpful and it's going to make end of year that much easier. So that's circular. Any other questions? what applies to the fiscal year is in even though they're only Yes. That's the and that's
029why the filing that um director Healey does is it's she's doing them the first nine months of the year and with ours she said that I think if 10 minutes is starting to enter the data we already hit the eligibility and that's not a great thing but it is in terms of getting money the more you spend you know so we have that last thing I want to talk about the closeout this is obviously an annual process um we are in the process of putting in all our purchase or letters that we have to get in before June 30th um so that uh it it is accounted for in fiscal 25. Um we're also working to spend down or actually close out some of our grants. um any of our unexpected factor 25. So that's
030a a process that we have to do and hopefully get as much in as we can. Um, our payroll also has to be encumbered for uh 10-month staff who choose to be paid over the summer. So, we we encumber roughly $3 million. That is really 25 expense, but the teachers in Paris and 10 month employees, we pay them two times in July and two times in August. So, it carries through the year. So, that's a nice perk for them. Uh the last warrant that you'll review for this year will be early July uh to mid July and that'll be the fiscal 25 warrant. That doesn't mean that any like I said we can get invoices right through they try to get them as early as possible but if we have one in September it still
031can be brought back to 25. Uh obviously any sp uh funds that we do not spend or don't encumber will revert back to the town. Uh and uh lastly um even though we only have 19 days left in the fiscal year, that number that we turn back will not be determined till probably late July, early August. When we finish that up, we will bring that back to you as a final report. Any questions on those three topics? Any questions? I assume because you said it differently that we're going to end up against. We're still going to be positive, which is good. probably not as great as I thought, but still not. Remember when uh I was not here to build this current year's budget I started right after the that was finalized. We put um
032we used a lot of offsets from grants revolving funds and all that. We're trying to not use as much um and I don't think we'll use as much but we're using more than I hope but we will balance with that and hopefully the the more we can roll and not use will help us in future budgets. So 26 27 28 will start to pose problems only because we're starting to draw down those revolving accounts. We're drawing them down more than what we bring in. So, and you know that's part of school business like when you bring back the turnbacks um just to kind of help us understand when it comes back if you can kind of help us understand like where did we potentially have money to return because we got a grant to fund
033something that we have budgeted for versus we, you know, we allocated a certain amount on a line item and we didn't end up needing to spend that much. Um, and if it was one of those line items where you never know, you know, additive placements and that kind of thing or transportation costs that variable or it's something that you think we can um budget for differently in the next budget cycle that would be kind of helpful once you get all the numbers figured out. I know. Yeah. I'm hoping that there's not much of that. Most of the turn back will be we'll do a PO today for 25,000 to buy probably a bad example. We buy paper and WB Mason says we only have 20,000 worth. So we have a PO for 25. We have
034to close it out. We get 20,000. Five is left. We wanted to spend it. the vendor didn't have it. So sometimes it's that type of thing and it's not really a budget issue. It's just that stuff was backorded or they didn't have the product anymore. The other one, as I said, was payroll. So it's kind of a game. We're putting 3 something million in escrow and we we might have someone at a different salary that we thought it's all a guess. And if we pay them less than what we thought, that's over and that money goes back to it. And you want to be conservative because you don't want to put less payroll than pay the person more. Then we have to figure out how to get the town and rebalance at the end of
035the year. Yeah. And I know we can't be exact. Anything can be exact when it comes to a budget this large, but if you could just give us a sense of, you know, where did the where did the turnbacks kind of come from? I think it would help us understand if there's anything we should consider when it comes to budget for this and you know a little bit clos Thank you very much. Thanks very close up on my goals and performance. So if you recall it was mid-March when I submitted evidence and creating March. So at the time and really what this slide represents is really what was left if you recall there's four goals. I have four goals. I was just checking the text to make sure I try to stick with the Is
036this presentation in the slides? I don't think so. Do you want happy? Sorry, she'll have to do that. Um, but I can recap because I I did nail uh email you the the really important stuff that I wanted you to read before because that I won't recap will not heavily recap recap but by way of review I have four goals. One goal focuses on district improvement and specifically the monitoring of our strategy. The second goal focuses on student learning and what was left to still um address in March for some school committee presentations that I'll again I'm going to recap everything very lightly tonight um and kind of rely on the information that was submitted. Happy to talk more at length if you want more robust explanation as well. Sometimes the documents do a better
037job explaining than I could sometimes in rehearsse. So, we'll, you know, we'll do it. Uh, the third goal is my professional practice goal and what was really left there were my reflections really on year three of the NSET program, the new superintendent induction program, and then the whole review. So, I'll go into that in greater detail because those are new artifacts and I did want to cover some of that, but I wanted to give you time to read it if you were so inclined to before this evening. And then finally, my additional goal was on communication and ultimately community relations. And so what we didn't have as of the March meeting was really some metrics on one hill. So I brought some information to talk about I didn't send you that, but we're going to
038talk a little bit about the one hill um and kind of a preview on you. Spoiler alert, I would like uh another go um in that area for goal development in this coming year and I want one middle road to succeed and I think it's tough to launch a program like that in one year have an expectation. So without further ado, I'll kind of turn into um this recaps all of goal one this slide. So I just really want you to focus on this progress report of year two of strategy monitoring. Now if you look at long agenda. Next meeting I'm going to do an entire presentation on strategy improvements. So I do not want to do that this evening. But what I did submit and what I want to call your attention to are
039a couple of documents. Um we spent as a district April 18th was an early release day and we engaged districtwide on really the monitoring of the strategy. Um there are a couple pieces that I pointed to in the documents as well as well which is the existence of the icons strategy icons. There are four strategic initiatives of our strategy and the branding of those icons and tying them into everything we do. It's why you see it on my it's not on this slide but why you see it on my slides with each topic is again anchoring all that we do to that strategy. That was the first thing. Um, what's the second thing I wanted to cover? I just like my bra. Oh, and then visuals. Um, one of the things you're going to be
040seeing are larger visuals of the strategy for all of the buildings. That's so that everybody understands, you know, in a more succinct manner, how does what I'm doing every single day fold into this larger strategy of district improvement? Those plans are now anchor that is the anchor to the school improvement plan and every the goal of strategy planning is to have the logging plan and everything kind of hanging off of that the goal. Um so I did provide you with a document to show how we divided among the buildings as an administrative team to unpack some of our work this year. And I gave you our district gate team toolkit document that talks about this in a little greater detail because that work with the district gate team really does fold into um strategy monitoring.
041Remember that the goal of strategies are no one knows everything and nobody does everything perfectly right. But as a school system you should be intentional about what it is you expect me and the rest of the district to work on. and then we should be monitoring that and saying okay are we achieving the goal that we set out to accomplish and so that's really what the monitoring is all about. So what I did give you um was the slide deck and this came today and I'm not goal one came today and it really is a pretty lengthy slide that I'm giving you what we actually did with the staff on that early release day. We went through kind of the whole process of you know action assessment analysis um how these concepts are connected and
042then as a building we went through each strategic initiative to say where are you seeing this work where's the concrete progress that we're looking at what data did you collect and analyze why do you think that this is actually extinguishable or is still remaining so like I said for this goal We're going to be talking at length about it next meetings. So these these documents really are the best thing to look at. Now I immediately wanted you to see that one we are actively monitoring the strategy. Two, it continues to be baked into our professional learning calendar and we actually spoiler we have a a new theory going after this year to move it into the faculty meeting domain because they're not ready. Everyone understands the strategy. We monitor it for two years. I don't
043want to take away that precious time from other professional learning and now the buildings feel empowered where they can run a mini version of this um throughout their faculty meeting calendar. So that really in terms of progress on the whole one like I said we'll have they'll have a more robust update at next meeting as well. I just don't want to be too complicated. I know this threatens your 15 minutes, but I your role is role that I play and I do note the way that the structure of the school district improvement plan relationship plan and all the different components that need to go together to move forward. into all the details, but I want you to know that as someone that that knows what is about um completely impressive and credit is really due
044to the leadership team. I say it all the time, the real magic happens at that table. I'm very very lucky to have the support of that team. They are all workh horses and they've kind of wrapped their arms around this too. I have an idea and I you know that I learned at NSET and I bring it to them and I pitch it to them and they really um all I have to do is ask and and the true work really is what's on the ground through them. So I I'd be remiss if I didn't give that credit to where it's to where it's due. So turning into um goal two, what was remaining? This was really our student my student learning goal and there were some presentations that we had not yet covered um
045as of March. So I repacked them for you in this information that came through last night. So if you recall actually at the same meeting in March, Director Haley gave a very robust update in the domain of special education. director system gave the technology up to date um in terms of just progress and ongoing projects. Following that, we had Dr. Margolitis and her team present a curriculum update that was a lengthy but I think very informative presentation so you can really see how we are addressing student learning um to celebrate some of the milestones this year in terms of seeing our data increase. It's very exciting. our student achievement is on the rise and these things are connected. It is not one person. It's not a magic thing. It is actually the the select equity
046from properly managing the strategy and improvement. Um from there we had Lucy Bolic our um coordinator of alternative a she came to talk about the future which I think everybody was excited about. um and really looking at the reshaping of community evening school and those opportunities for learners to see themselves on a path to success um that's individualized and right for them and then additionally you heard the rural leadership academy which actually last night was the showcase so uh I'll take a brief minute to tell you last night I saw their capstone project so we focus schools as a consultant to come in we had two coordinators presented to you who did a fabulous job and then last night the teams presented their capstone projects and they these aren't um check the boxy work they
047actually unpacked issues that are facing their buildings today and I I give all the credit to the to these professional educators they were extremely impressive there was leadership just written all over their work they in a very unabashed way in front of issues that are not comfortable and proposed solutions. Um, I did challenge them all now that they've done this. They're leaders. That's it. That's it. So, you tell me what's next for you on the middle of our page. I I want to tap into this. This was always intended as a teacher retention effort and really a recognition of the incredible strength of our staff that I talked about on and will never stop talking about. Um, It was not. But the capstones are slide decks that I'll bet they'd be more than willing to
048share. It's of course not the same as listening to them present. You would get the flavor for the types of things they were unpacking. So I'll reach out to the coordinators and it won't be the last. There was already one project I've got my books into. So stay tuned. There will be more to come. Um the beauty of doing a project like that is if there's legs to actually make it happen or have it continue or have it expand. So that was a really cool presentation not just at school committee but uh last day as well. And then finally I gave you the completed slide deck of the school improvement plans just so you could see them all come together and see that work of the strategy embedded. Um, but when you're talking about student
049learning and student achievement, what we're actually targeting, you really have to tap into all the long arms of the district, both of your leadership teams, all your principles and all your directors. Um, so I gave you that whole turning into old This is really the end of the new superintendent inductions program. I'm no longer a new superintendent. I have been dipped in the old way. And so there, that's how it works, I suppose. Um, but I wanted to I wanted to earnestly honestly give you feedback. One, it is a hefty investment to send in this superintendent to this career. That is not lost on me. But two, I wanted you to to know, you know, hey, did you is that investment worth it? If we're in that situation ever again, should we do it? Um,
050so in the year I did year three reflection first and then I did the whole night because it took me a little bit longer. Um, and I started by telling you I was kind of skeptical about year three only business took over time and they need a third year. And um, I can tell you I absolutely did need third year and I also saw a lot of value in the program even though the kind of run shifts. It shifts because it's supposed to, you know, and the simple truth is in superintendent you can find a lot of different things that varies for it. And so in many ways the best thing they can do is is lining up with people who have done the job before you because the god's honest truth is that it
051is human. Um so that's easily you know the most um quantifiable benefit that I could give you. Uh strategy monitoring my ideas are I try never to take credit for something that's not mine. They absolutely train this into us. they are aware and and kudos to them because strategy management hasn't always been that way. So, I appreciate that they're able to say, "Hey, you've learned, so let's teach to the next craft to be better than you are." Um, and that's just that you you can see evidence from year three in our monitoring. We'll talk more about it at next meeting, but just the monitoring in and of itself is so critical. We're we'll be heading into year three of the five things. So, in not to just in the future, we're going to start this
052process all over again. Not exactly a step. We're going to need a new strategy. you don't sit on a strategy for longer than that amount that that amount of time. Um leadership teams it it continues to be my passion but this is where I have derived the most benefit I think from the end program because the management of these teams is critical and when they're not well managed they're not high functioning when they're not high functioning a whole slew of things that we don't want to have happen can happen. Um and the team is that we talked about in executive session is the example that I gave you in terms of how we whether it's something we wanted to accomplish. Um and I just have never believed in a leadership model that's top down or
053you know tyrant that's it's not effective. So testament to to the principles and directors who who really went at this. Um, and I just, you know, I give them a lot of credit, but I also thank the ANSA program for arming me with the tools to be an effective leader. Um, community relations continues to be a hot topic. That's every community across the Commonwealth. The landscape is I think a little bit uh challenging. Um, it continues to be an area of focus. This is never this is like laundry. It'll never get done. And I think it's really important to stay open to how can we build rather than be mired down. And I think that's kind of what I'm taking away from from this third year. Finally, the consultancy protocol. I fully intend to use
054it. I've already piloted it with the executive level committee, but I'm really excited that the leadership team's more than ready to employ a new way of solving problems and use each other productively as resources. So be on the lookout um for that. I talked a little bit about the professional connections component of the third year because I'm now within a very small cohort of other superintendents and if there's one thing that's helpful, it's that. And it's very tempting. I'm one of those people that would rather not um work and do that sort of it's not something I'm naturally interested in um and I have enough work to keep me busy. I'd rather just be busy and do my work. But it's important to pick your head up. Um because even though there's only 275 of
055us, we face a lot of the same problems and you can always learn from each other, you can always learn from someone who's done this job longer than you. Um and it also reminds you to stay humble. So that's been invaluable. And within cohort 13, we're all we were all babies together. And so now we're all grown up. Um but it's we are tackling similar stuff and it's easy enough to share information um and talk with each other. I was talking with the other superintendent about our MSBA project when you buying for that. It empowers you to feel like you can trust your judgment um and do things you've never done before because in superintendent land you're often doing something you've never done before and there there's no room for for me to have that
056nervousness about that. I need to do what I need to that's what I'm that's what my job is. Um finally the coaching and I can't ever enough about Dr. McCroy because she really has become a lifeline in so many ways that I can't even explain in this paper. Um she lived through quite as a superintendent she lived through in during her time quite a few tumultuous situations and her perspective has been invaluable and her empowerment her her ability to to empower me has also been important. So, um, I've expressed my heartfelt Dennis, but I I'd be remiss if I didn't, you know, continue to express that because I think often times people think they know the superintendent does, but it's just so much more nuanced than I think people understand. Um, and there's no better
057person to learn from than than um than someone who's done it. So, that's how I would recap year three. And then I'll move into the whole program. Um what I want to say about breaking into your 15 minutes, um I want to say thank you. Um, I know that we had conversation around whether or not we put this in, having feedback both, uh, in general of the third year, but also personally about what you gained from it. And by doing so um it shares it shares a lot and I appreciate you you agreeing to do it and I hope that you feel some benefit from being asked to do that also and what what you gain from that experience I think will continue to benefit. So thank you. Yeah thank you. I uh I I
058really didn't regret this task at all. But to be honest with you, it there's not there's never enough time for reflection. So if you weren't forced to do this, and I say this to our educators all the time, then you're accomplishing things and you're learning and growing and you're not spending the time actually recognizing that you did it. So I I did I enjoyed this task, both of these tasks. And um this is kind of like therapeutic in some capacity. But anyway, so in terms of the whole program, I gave you a summary, you know, that you sited a little bit about what that whole program is and then I spent some time talking about how it aligns with our district priorities and that shouldn't be surprising that it aligns because I'm one of the
059people that created the strategy and it was based on the instruction from from NSAP. It's not exactly prescribed, but um I tried to give you pieces of evidence where we squarely see the work at play. um and an evidence of impact. So what I attached and what I wanted to show was some of the evolution of being over that period of time. The goals are a great example. You can see where I started. And really when you're brand new in a district, you are not that I was new to the district, but as a superintendent, there's certain things you just have to do. You have to have an entry plan. You have to take the time no matter how. And trust me, I was very sure about what I knew about this community when I
060began. you have to take the time to collect data and listen, talk to stakeholders and make sure what you think is accurate. Um, and they were surprises even for me. I I uh I didn't know it all when I started. I don't know it all today. Um, but you can see that within the development and you can see that through the evolution of of that of that kind of uh progress. um the entry plan and the outline and then the entry plan and findings. You know, I think is continues to be an important document and that was a huge part of the ENSE program was making sure that when we were talking about the development of the community, you are acknowledging it strengths and carefully looking at what you might address. So that's what that
061entry plan does. Finally, it culminates really through year one, if not year two, this district strategy and then you spend the rest of the program on progress monitoring. Um, and I'm very proud of that strategy because I know it didn't come from my desk. That's why I'm so invested in it. It really was a product of a cross-section of data points, stakeholder input and development through administration and teachers. and I and you know as much as it can be a product it's one document a lot of people are voices but um I think it speaks to its strength um and then I kind of already talked about the leadership team but uh there's a reason that NSET puts such a strong emphasis on on the individuals at that table and in their right to um
062so I gave you actually some examples of how my agendas have changed I just gave you two agendas is um and I just they're kind of random but I wanted to show you where I started versus uh where we are today. I gave you the leadership team rubric because this is something we actually do review as a team. We have documents that outline who we work for, what our purpose is, what it is that we're doing together. I think they'll tell you that our meetings are a lot of fun and I know that they find me very entertaining but I do try. Sometimes they just a lot quicker, but that's okay. Um, but you can actually see when you look at where we started and how information was presented to the more dynamic nature of
063what we're doing now. And I will tell you what I was a little bit the ball. Everyone likes the icons um because it just makes it English. We get up here a lot of educational jargon and I know we put people to sleep. So, I'm always looking for ways to make that information more accessible because we're talking about kids and it shouldn't be that complicated, right? I mean, yes, it's of course the science of teaching, but at its base, it's not that complicated. So, I don't want to over complicate things. Um, so that I think that really sums up my whole program reflection. I I would tell you if I evaporated into today, please please make this investment again. Um, there is no other place to learn this information to find a human that had
064all these skills and I was here in this district 10 years and I'm telling you I did not, you know, then it's money well spent. Um, have had people buy into this program. I I every now and again we'll hear about a community that doesn't do it and I kind of scratch my head, but maybe they don't know. Um, and I will tell you Rich was the one who's pretty insistent that I do this program. I'm very very thankful uh that I did. I'm thankful to all of you and thankful to the community of Ela because these skills are invaluable and it actually is an enjoyable program on top of everything else. That's goal three. And then finally goal four as promised um one we talked about this last time we really wanted to look
065at our metrics. This is what I wanted to show you. So if you look at these modules from this year, this is what we covered in terms of topics. We had an introduction to the program. Director Ale took a stab at student services and how we could, you know, make clearer to families ways they could tap into it, how we could stay connected. At the middle school, we had an anxiety live event. Well, not we had an event on student anxiety which was a lot um we looked at the right we've looked at the elementary schools is two homes one roof our two principles I have been very entertaining if you haven't had the opportunity to listen to those podcasts um they they recorded those we had an event on title one um another live
066event was copiing skills for a workshop and we have two more coming this year. Vision of the graduate which we're going to be piggybacking on to more of that next year. You can expect to hear more because vision of the graduate is not just a phenomenon of the high school. It really is the invisible backpack of skills we want all kids to learn from the time they enter our school system to the time that they leave. and our brand new robotics program that I'm really proud of. It's a partnership with Burrow robot. This is big sense of pride. We've wanted this for years. Um, and we've got it off the ground and I can't wait to expose it. So, what you have here are the views. These are your metrics. You can find this on
067our YouTube channel. You can find it on our website. You can find it on Facebook, Instagram, and our school website and our um Facebook uh your school accounts. They also are embedded in the newsletters, but Director Siciliano and I were talking about how we're going to make this more dynamic in the year to come um and how we can showcase the new modules. I still have my suspicions these numbers are lower than I want. Um, I still have to figure out if the content we're bringing families is content they want because I'm a little bit nervous that it's not and if we're missing it and if there's some other content that we've created. Um, so I really do just want another I want another year with this to learn from what we've done and see
068if we can't tap into some, you know, additional pieces. I still believe that parents and our district need to partner together. I think we're stronger together and I think sometimes people don't know what to ask. Um or that that that we're here to help them in that capacity. So um you know, we're going to go back to the drawing board this summer with more topics and um you know, I'll bring you more metrics as as time goes on. I've got to figure out a way to get my lasso around this concept and see if we can pitch it to families in a way that that that's meaningful to them. I do think it gets lost, you know, those weekly bulletins. Um, and I think some of it is just the way it's presented. Like it's
069one of those it's always there is always there and it isn't dynamically updated when there's something new. It was just kind of this like, hey, this is a program. It wasn't a we could release a new episode or something like that was there. And then I think that just kind of it became one of those things you just saw this the first time. I don't need to look at it again. So I agree that there's just a little different kind of marketing spin that could kind of get put behind how they get deployed to increase the awareness of it. Um because that will be you know, how much of the traffic comes from just lack of awareness and and how it gets prison, you know, pushed out and that kind of thing. So, I I
070agree that it's it's worthwhile um and that it's it's a a good um it's good to build a goal on improving on something that was a previous goal. So, and then like the website that's also a focus this summer. We really do want that website to be a place where families go and quickly get answers and feel like it was worth visiting. Our website's beautiful, but I don't know that it's accomplishing that right now. So, we're that's a big summer project. I have a whole spreadsheet of summer projects and this is number one on it. Um, so stay tuned because I I I think the more accessible the website, the more we're going to bring traffic. So you have to build that. I think it's [Music] also for this time too. I'm understand. Yes, I
071totally agree. There was a whole learning curve about how fast it took us to build, create, film, shoot, and get it all up. And some of these are modules that I won't need. It depends on what the topic is. You don't necessarily need to do the same thing every year. Um, and you can leave it and it functions as a resource library. But I agree with you, timed content is critical. Um, and again, keeping content short, which sometimes can be difficult. I mean, many people do not have 30 minutes to listen. you can get something into 10 minutes, you're more likely to get someone to come on this. I'll be putting together my end ofear communication. So, I'll embed That's a good idea. I'll embed like a little brief survey. See if I get the
072traffic on it. You know, survey surveys are surveys and email to be honest with you. I'm on all the emails. So, I'm as if I have one child in every building. There are families that happen and Friday afternoons are intense because if you're doing so, it's a lot, you know, and we're sensitive to that. We're not trying to over email, but at the same time, you know, you have to figure out a way what the best way is to communicate. So, we'll be right. a good goal in general where they interseed to find out you know maybe October or something of next year for the the parents with incoming ninth graders have never had child in the school system before segwaying from a Friday afternoon bulletin that the all high school to the Sunday evening
073bulletin that sent out like is it is it better to get it on Sunday afternoon to look at as you're preposition but it would be just interesting like is there a benefit to to the show creating a reminder about something that's coming up the following week. I might say that you know Sunday evening is a better time to get a reminder than necessarily Friday afternoon and I'm not asking you is it something that can help facilitate is there to to post send I'm not asking for all of the principles to be there to send something out on Sunday. um is there like have it ready at the end of their their work day but have it be sent out at a different time and you're tapping into feedback because this was already kind of you
074know started thinking about we're all sensitive to the length of those and there's a difference between let me show you what's going on in grade three it's wonderfully entertaining but that's very different than here's what you need to know about what's coming up in the next couple of weeks and so those are two different types of communication that live in a newsletter. So, this is exactly the type of topic we'll cover at our administrative retreat in August. Um, you know, all kind of take turns. We all have different chapters that we cover. But, um, even though school year ends, the work does not. It's actually a very very busy time for the leadership team and I'll bring feedback back to them for sure. I love that idea. And that completes my report for this evening.
075So, just a couple other comments based on um so thank you for for the recap. Thank you for kind of wrapping up the update on your goals. Um, you know, as we've discussed, it's a weird kind of evaluation cycle, but I think I think the way you approach your um, evidence with saying, you know, here are things that are still to-dos and then be able to come back and say that they've been addressed is is really valuable. Um I do also want to to thank you for you know approaching the program with that kind of open mind. Um, in the big scheme of things, you know, going there's a there's a a way of approaching education from the perspective of you go to school to learn how to learn um, and to potentially be able
076to approach your life as like a lifelong learner. There's always something new, whether it's you're in a train and there's a new uh new technology that comes out or a new way to do things and you're always having to to bring that into your work or you're in a career and pay your changes or you have to relearn how to do your whole job in a different system. Um so I do think there is that aspect of everything that that we do in life of you know that continued um perspective that there's always more to learn. Um, and I think that is it is a a very vital part of your role in this district is to set that example of that you're always looking to learn, that you're not thinking you know everything and
077that there's always room for growth and that you know you want to approach how you do this job from that perspective of continuing to learn and continuing to improve and continuing to grow. Um, and I do also just want to make your comment. Um, we you rightly so give credit to your team for all of their successes and um for how much they bring to the district and and I echo that. But I do also want to make note that um it it is a sign of a good leader that they're open to that kind of collaboration and that it isn't everyone who is willing to to listen and adjust and absorb and to make it a truly collaborative process. You know, some people listen and then do what they want to do anyway. Um
078and you know there are some times where there is no choice but to proceed in a certain direction and your role might be just to listen to the fact that not everybody likes that that's the way you have to go. Um, but I just want to give you the credit that you pass on to your team and to say that I appreciate greatly that the way that you approach your executive team and your executive sessions is one of collaboration and the sharing of ideas and the bringing together of a of a group who are all looking out for the best for this district. Um and it does, you know, have that kind of top down approach of um you know wanting to then step up and and prove yourself to be a valuable member of
079that team and that comes from the leadership that's coming from you. So thank you for doing that approach and for being so focused on um the betterment of the entire group. Um, and I think that it's a a great way to to create a great working on Friday. Um but I thought it would be good here to to um call out about uh the different pieces around principles. Um number one uh you know congratulations to Tracy very pleased to hear that um permanent principal for the Mac. Um secondly, I wonder if you could give I know you wrote some things to us, but if you give a little update about the new principal for um the middle school, yes, Tim Mclofflin. So Tim Mlofflin's coming to next meeting. So I'll formally introduce him there. Okay.
080But I'll just briefly share with you that Tim Mclofflin started his work in Middleboro uh on the same day I did in 2012. That's how we met each other. And so we worked here in this building. I was the middle school special education coordinator for actually grades 6 through 12. So Middleton High School. He was the assistant principal. So Tim and I worked together in that capacity for uh two years, two years at that point in time. And he left here to become a principal. And so for all of this time he's held principal ships and came back to us this spring. So um it's really exciting to on board him first of all he was very very welll liked when he was here but secondly and much more importantly his skill set is developed
081and he chose to come back to Milber and um I'm very excited he's a very knowledgeable principal he's also a veteran of the US Army and he was really always a relationships person and I think it was maybe 2016 or 2017. We had a student come and who was graduating from the high school, the old building, and I saw him crossing the Mo house before and running into graduation. Back then it was in the gym. It was very hot. It was in the morning. It's a very different uh common layout than we have today. And there he was crossing the boat. I said, "What are you doing here?" And he's the student. He said, "She's graduating." And that's who Tim is. He's a relationships person. He's the type of person that five years later will
082come and watch you graduate because he was invested when you worked with him. So that's probably the best thing I can tell you about him. Well, maybe not. Maybe I can go on longer, but I'll bring him here. I wanted to deliberately so that you could more formally get a look at him and um but he's wonderful and it's and it's a win for Nichols. That's great. Yeah. Um and for HPV, you spoke of the search committee. Did you talk to who's on the search committee? I don't think that you kind of add in your I didn't I didn't I actually don't have the list in front of me, but it is a cross-section of stakeholders. So, we've got uh central office Kevin Aabi I can tell you is chairing the committee. Um and then
083we have teachers um other employees at the Birkeland like I know um one of our administrative assistants is doing is helping with that. We have uh parents from the Berkeland community. Can you remember the names of the two parents? No, but I will sorry but I'll put them I'll put I'll put them in the box so that you know which parents um who else is on this committee. That's it. No students because it's you know a little difficult to include not that the feedback isn't important. Um and then we also created feedback forms for if you couldn't be on the committee to tell us. Um and then he also collaborated with the previous committee chairs from last year to you know we collected quite a bit of information last year as well. So we didn't
084want to leave that um to the wayside. Um and I know that the committee held interviews last night. There were three interviews last night and there are two more tomorrow. So we're really hoping for some quick movement. Um do you remember the number applicant pool? Applicant pool was a little over 20 or right around 20 very similar not the same people but similar in size to the Nicholls pool and I was part of the screening committee. And so what we do in the screening committee is we look at every single candidate who applies and then you have to filter from there who um has the lensure who has previous experience and then you start to really drill down. Some of the things we look for are um in particular this search was continuity in the
085same district. We are really we don't want to do this again. Um so that was the big part of the screening committee. they were very sensitive to frankly a resume that was too long. Um and then beyond that once you have that criteria it doesn't get much deeper than that to be honest with you because we didn't want to cast a wide net. That's why they're interviewing five candidates and the committee really takes the lead on um sending a candidate or candidates to either me or two. It depends on what happens this week. But hopefully I'll have another update by the end of the month as well on that. Thank you. Sure. Thank you very much. Sure. I think you want to make sure. Yes. Um on item number seven, which is subcommittee updates from
086policy. Yes. So um a couple things from policy. One is there's a link in the agenda. Um, so that is a web page that's monitored by NASC where they are anytime that they make a a policy recommendation that goes posted there. Um, so I have gone through it posted on that page as well as I think two that are older that were posted on that page that Ann still had an April form and made notes of, you know, policies that were added or updated or retired, removed. Um, so I think it was a great surprise surprise. Um, and um, I used that to kind of help because there were certain policies that we had in our manual that weren't there anymore. I did this one get removed. Um, and there's still question marks because there's
087this gap in years where we don't have copies of those updates, but it did at least answer the question for a number of them. Um and um so I it just was helpful for me to kind of get a sense of where these certain things come into play. Um I have um scheduled meeting today. Board policy subcommittee will be meeting next Wednesday the 18th at 5:00 pm at the high school in the conference room in the administrative office. And at that meeting we'll be we will be tackling those um items that we had talked about as kind of next stop. So we've got the travel policies um some of the the solicitations and crowdfunding policies are all there as well. And then my hope is that we can discuss as a subcommittee the general idea
088I have for how to try to expedite getting the policy reviewed in total um by the end of this fiscal year kind of thing. um and to recognize that it's a it's a it's a large undertaking and it will take time at agendas but how how can we do it in the best fashion possible and um you know how can I'm trying to kind of categorize things where this policy doesn't really need any updates but these are really minor just language changes so the intent of policy doesn't change and how can we get those through really quickly even if it's really quickly through to say yes, it's been reviewed and it's updated. Um, it's been one of the NASC recommends and then if we have the desire to look at that policy and do a
089deep dive and it then goes back into law to review, but at least we have policies that say 2014 and they can be more up to date. Um, but then there are some that obviously have a larger rewrites to to address and we'll talk about that at that meeting and come up with an approach. But I'm about I think I got to 40% of all of the line items I've done first pass through. Um, so that hopefully will just help get a bunch of stuff through quickly and then we can spend more time on the things that need need the focus. So my goal is to have my first pass through of all of them by the end of summer and then that way we can focus on the real things throughout the year. So
090yeah, it's fun. Um, but it was so hopefully we'll have more. Um, and I would love it if we can have some policies for you at the meeting. Um, progress. We'll keep going from there. Thank you very much. Uh, moving on to the consent agenda. A approval of warrants. I would entertain a motion to approve the warrants as presented. Second. All those in say I. All those opposed. Thank you very much. And moving on to item n items a session. So hopefully this is a motion to approve. Second motion second. All those in favor. Those opposed. Thank you very much. And number 10 on our list here tonight is a list of retirements. I'll just read through all of them. Um first I want to start by saying thank you to all of you um
091teachers, ESP directors. I see a lot of specialists on here. Thank you so much for the time and dedication you've given to this district. Um there are some names I've heard that I've had from the teachers more that I've worked with them in the past. So thank you all. Um you truly make this district special. Eric, AB teacher, Dan Eden, MK ESP, William Green, NHS Spanish, Patricia Condry, MC K, teacher, Eva Crawford, AVP instructional specialist. Stephen Eddie, MS science, Jennifer Guarantino, MHS nurse, James Hutchinson, director of facilities. Dennis Moon ESP Dianis MKG teacher Keline Stanley MHSA Crystal White MS special education Stacy L MKG thank you all very much lastly and obtain a motion to move second motion second all those in favor I those opposed [Music] Thank you very much. [Music] Pack it