School Committee Meeting 5-22-25

001Um, we'll move to item number three, which is public comment. Um, just so everyone knows, I will have a a typed up like preamble that I'd like to say. Um, but I don't have that ready just yet. But, um, to invite people up to public comment, I just wanted to let people know that it is three minutes. Um, and that you're free to talk about anything that you want within those three minutes, but in addition, you're free to talk about anything at length that's on the agenda. you know, no no time restraint. Um, I know that sometimes it might feel if you're talking, um, it might feel like you're hitting a brick wall because we're not allowed to respond, but please know that we are listening and that I will be taking notes. I know

002a lot of us will be taking note, um, of the comments and the concerns that you have during public comment. Um, and so with that, I invite anyone who would like to speak um, for public comment up to the microphone. Mr. Chair, real quick. Yes, just a quick question. It's three minutes under public comment. When we're talking about an item on the agenda that's open. Yes. Then they can speak. Yes. Unlimited. Right. It's unlimited. Yeah. If you can't Yes. item on the agenda, you can't talk forever, right? Under public comment, right? Yeah. Exactly. And And it's only And you can only speak to the things on public comment that you're not that's not on the agenda. Yeah. All right. Seeing no one, uh, we'll move on to item four, which is public hearing on school

003choice. up that. Whoops. Do I need to open that up? I do. Yeah, it's a public hearing. It's so Yeah. So, uh discussion on the public hearing on school choice. Um I know that you just sent us something Carolyn. Yep. So, Mr. Chair through you. So, uh you have the data from last meeting on school choice. Um if I can take any questions you have about that. One of the questions that came up during last meeting was how accurate are the projections that we make and so the registar and I sat down and pulled our projections for the last few years which you can compare to the data that was provided to you before last meeting. And what I can tell you is um they are not very accurate that the projections are an overestimate

004ultimately of um of our enrollment. And that's not surprising when you figure her metric was to add a percentage over each building. So, we're going to get back together after tonight's meeting and look at that metric again and see if we should just reduce that um percentage, but I also wanted everybody to be aware to just take have a degree of caution um regarding the projections at all because if they aren't that reliable, then you don't want to be making decisions based on an unreliable um indicator. That said, it does come from somewhere. So that gives you the background on that but um right other than that you know I didn't know what else you wanted to go through. So just to clarify the projections standardly have just increased class the the number of students

005per grade or by building by 1%. It's by building. By building. Yep. Um, and then so my question is I'm looking at the document that you sent over, but I'm not seeing um maybe I'm just missing it. U I'm not seeing a date attached to each of the projections. At the bottom there should be a tab where it tells you was should be multiple tabs. So each year has its own tab. Each year has its own tab. I'm just looking at it on my Yeah, I think because it downloaded as a PDF, it didn't incorporate the years for us. Oh, okay. I'll resend. I'll rescend. But I mean it the first tab was this year. Okay. And working backward going backwards. That's all we need to know. Okay. Going and so is there an So

006these were the estimates, but is there a sideby-side comparison between No, there it isn't side by side. It was, you know, this was these were just the projections um compared to the the other data provided from last meeting. Um the other thing I just wanted to reiterate is that whatever you decide tonight we report to deesse before June 1st. So just by way of review um what and what I presented last meeting was that the past few years school choice has been open to only the siblings of currently enrolled school choice families. So for your knowledge that this year were you to make that decision it would be one seat at the kindergarten level. um we queried our current students to determine do you have any siblings and if so at what level and is

007there interest. So that was the information that we collected and it was just that one seat. Mhm. Okay. Um and so if I recall the way we would go about doing that is just opening the one seat um for the lottery. Right. Right. We would approve school choice but limited to one seat at the K level and with the understanding that if the sibling did not end up applying it would be still open one seat school choice at the K level. Um so we we are we're not um expecting that uh there would not be a school choice student. Um but because there is preference given to siblings if the one person who has a current sibling does indeed proceed with applying we would be allowing that option for the the siblings to stay together.

008So, um I don't know if there's more information that anybody feels the need. Yeah, Mr. Chair. Um so, I I think a couple things that are important to keep in mind is the high school's at capacity and we are growing. Um I also serve on the planning board and while building permits uh are going about as expected. We have a uh a lot of ADUs which is an accessory dwelling unit which is being permitted. Um what that's going to do is that's going to free up some some housing stock and that's the point of it. Um so there will be some housing stock that becomes available in Middlebar that we can't really track too much. Um there also, you know, a number of pretty big projects that are going to be coming online in the

009in the near future. You know, to train for whatever it's worth is now here. And um the problem with projections is when we started the high school, I think it was about 10 years ago because we just closed it up. Congratulations, by the way. Um, we begged the state to build a bigger high school because we knew that Middleboro was going to grow. And the state said, "It's not going to grow as much as you guys think it is." And then according to our, you know, was right in line with what we thought was going to happen. And we were at capacity on the day we opened. We're over capacity now in a new school, which is beyond infuriating for someone who gets involved in these things. Um, so I don't I I just don't

010think we have a lot of capacity wiggle room, right? You know, and um until we, you know, get a better idea of how these things are going to grow, I think the the current status is is a pretty good way to go. Um, and I do agree with what Allan said and also um, you know, knowing that, um, it's been consistently for the past few years important to us that those families who are involved in school choice do have the opportunity to continue to keep their students together. Um, I do, um, want to continue to offer that as long as it was within the capacity options of our school and and keeping class size in mind. And right now, we have we have very reasonable class size numbers. Um, but to Allan's point, reasonable class

011size numbers at the lower grades still leads us into the position where we can't really accommodate more students at the the high school level. So, I think the the best option would be to continue in the the way we have been. Um, so unless there's public feedback, I would make a motion that uh we open up a single school choice seat at the kindergarten level for the next school year. Second. I have a motion to second. Any more discussion? Right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed. It's unanimous. U we'll move on to uh item 5A. There's a report from student representative Ed uh Edward uh Parkinson. He doesn't appear to be here today. Nope. Ed um Ed had a a conflict with tonight's meeting. So, he sent me his update and

012if you don't mind, I'll go through that. It's um a shorter update. This is only high school and middle school. Um so, at the Nichols Middle School, there's an update regarding academic and testing updates. MCCAST testing, grade 8 civics MCCAST remains. That's the final test. Way to go, eighth graders. Was grueling this year for sure. Um, grades seven and eight math MCCAST has been completed. Science grade 8 is upcoming. Um, the Nichols is announcing a new event called a curriculum showcase. This is on May 29th from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. This is an openhouse event featuring student projects, performances, club presentations, and community exhibits. Um, I highly recommend this event. It's going to be exciting and I think it's a good way for the Nickels students to show uh show us what what they've been

013up to and what they're able to do in terms do we have a time for that showcase? 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on May 29th. Um student activities and recognitions. The clubs and athletics are winding down but remaining dates published in the Tiger Times. Um there are positivity awards p aw um recognized students for respect, responsibility, and leadership. You can see the full list in the Tiger Times and then a staff shout out ESP U Brittney Develin celebrated uh for student support. So that is uh in terms of upcoming reminders for Nicholls grade eight ceremonies June 9th, 10th and 11th. It's broken down by cluster for recognitions. Yearbook orders are due May well were due May 16th and photovoice ex exhibition on June 5th at the town hall. This is an event showcasing student work on

014mental health and substance use themes at Middleboro High School. You're going to hear um updates from uh Mr. Bernigan tonight on senior week. But there uh there's junior prom successful night in Vegas was the theme. Uh the king and queen were Keith Melo and Lily Price. Unified Track placed third in the cell sectional championship from last week. Um special shout out to all the students that were there. we had athletes and then we had tons of students supporting that event. It was really cool to see. Um the fine arts festival combined choir and art showcase with elementary schools. That'll also be, you know, a must-sea event. Uh student strong actually did that already happen? That already happened. That was the that was the Donnie Dugen Arts Festival from last uh Friday afternoon. Student strong awards

015April honores recognized for academic and community contributions. In terms of additional notes, MCCAST testing, math exams for sophomores on May 20th and 21st. So that's now wrapped. Uh schedule adjustments, modified rotation due to the testing for May 19th through the 23rd. And then reminder for all buildings, early release tomorrow, May 23rd. At the high school, it's 11:30 a.m. dismissal, but staggered dismissal throughout the district. Um, for seniors, just class of 25 senior dues, uh, $50 are due tomorrow for capp and gown. Uh, future signing day was today, celebrating post-graduate plans. The prom is, and Paul will talk more about this, but, uh, June 3rd at Granite Links, tickets are still on sale until tomorrow. And then community service reminder to document hours for graduation. So, that is the student update for tonight. Thank you very

016much. Sure. Uh, we'll move on to unless there's any other questions, but it's not here. Okay. So, um we'll move on to 5B reports from school committee members. Uh Shannon, we'll start with you. So, I'm sure Jessica will talk about the same thing, but I just wanted to give a big shout out to Nicholls and especially Miss Shoel and Miss Thornton for putting on such an amazing production. I know I'm personally a little biased because my son was in the production, but it was a fantastic show. Um and I know that she was kind of more hands-off for this one and let the kids kind of take the take the reigns on that. Um, but I think it was it was an amazing amazing show. An hour well spent for sure. So, Alan, uh, a

017couple quick things. The, um, the summer programs, I see Ryan's here, so I'm sure he'll talk more about it. Thank you for that. Um, summer, uh, sports programs are available for registration now. Um, the girls high school track team, I believe, won for the third year in a row. They're league champs. Um, somebody's running a mile awful fast. Some there's a there's there's a freshman who's running pretty good. It's harder and harder for me to catch her. Um, I was lucky enough to be able to come in and listen to the freshman or rising sophomores, I guess, as you call it, um, speeches for, um, class offices. And I was thoroughly impressed with any number of the speeches. I've given a few of those speeches in my past. And uh I was amazed at the

018poise and the um and how well they handled themselves giving those speeches in front of their classmates. I didn't have that type of uh presence when I was in high school. I was scared of everything at that point. But uh it was I think it's really speaks to what Brandan's doing here in the high school, you know. And I stopped by the pizza bowl. I think it was Wednesday t Monday or Wednesday for the freshman class as well. and uh had I think six slices of pizza from different places all around town and it was uh it was money well spent. So, thank you for that. Yes. All right. So, yes, Line Witch in the Wardrobe at Nicholls was my first uh item to speak about. It was just a very very well done production.

019Um, again from the technical side of it to the um the performance side of it, the costumes were so good and kudos to the centaur's grandmother for putting that costume together. It was like just so good. Uh but overall it was the the students just very much impressed me and I I am very excited for those eighth graders to get to the high school and to continue to um include themselves hopefully in the performing arts programs and I'm I'm very much looking forward to what they what they can um how they can grow and getting to watch them do that. Um along the same lines, um the Danny Dugen uh annual arts festival was the third uh third festival. Um this past Friday was another just wonderful um wonderful chance to see the performing arts

020students and the visual art displays um and the film from across the district. And there really is nothing that beats seeing the whole stage full of students from the orchestra ac, you know, from that that that year one orchestra at the elementary level all through the high school and seeing the stage full of musicians and the same with the band. Um, it was, you know, the best exciting runaway version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star I have ever heard in a joint band. Um, and one of the things that I especially loved seeing is the um the teachers sitting down and playing with their students. So getting a chance to see all of the music teachers joining their students on the instrument of their choice or the instrument that just needed an extra little boost. Um

021because you know sometimes there's only one of something. Um and it was just so wonderful to see everyone and I hope all of those students were very proud of their accomplishments uh because it was it was a wonderful day. um as was the MHS spring concert which was two days before that. Um and you know going from seeing I don't know Justin what is it like a 12piece band maybe a little bigger than that. Um to that whole stage full was a wonderful thing. But let me tell you that band that we now have at the high school. It may be small but it's definitely mighty. Um, same with the the choirs. And it's um just a a testament, I think, to the department that we're going to hear from later that even though the

022numbers dwindled, the quality of what they're able to bring those students to do is shining and just so hopeful that all those all those numbers will still um be part of those programs as they progress through to the high school level. Um, in the realm of concerts, next week on the 28th, I believe it starts at 6:00 p.m. we have the elementary concert, which I am very much looking forward to. Um, and then June 13th and 14th, I know it's early to talk about it, but we may only have one more meeting beforehand. Um, that's a Friday night and Saturday night at 7 p.m. is the annual that's entertainment production at the high school. Um, and then the following Monday and Tuesday, there's two more senior showcases that'll be performing June 16th and 17th. I

023think Sam, there's still like one at three and then another one at six maybe, something like that. So, two days in a row, two chances to see those um senior showcases and get a chance to see some of um the work that the students have done with their colleagues um which is always a wonderful thing. Um I also wanted to extend a congratulations to um all the new members of the various academic honor societies. The high school had its uh induction for all of the various academic based and the theater um and the music groups um have all had their their annual inductions now as well. Again, wonderful to see as many students part of those programs as there are. Um and then just one other reminder for um the committee as a whole. Um

024we have the leadership academy capstone project I believe is still scheduled for June 10th. Um is it still scheduled for the the 3:30 I think we heard? Hold on. Let me just check. Yep. The capstone uh presentations are 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10th. Do we know where they're going to be yet? No. Okay. But I will make sure that out and send you a reminder. Yes. So, uh just another opportunity for us to get to see more of the sample of what we heard from some of those uh participants a few meetings ago. So, one more thing to put on your your calendar. So, thank you. Um couple of things from me. Um, first before I forget, um, we've typically been meeting on Thursdays, um, at at the second and fourth Thursday. Um, we've

025changed in the past. Um, and so I just want to make sure that we're still okay for the second and fourth Thursdays going forward. Um, in the summer, while you guys are looking up your schedule or or determining, um, in the summer we typically meet once a month. um that's generally uh July and August. Um and I believe it was always the fourth Thursday um of those months. Um if then and that's if we want to continue with our um second and fourth Thursday. So I just want to make sure that we're okay with continuing with that. Um I can talk to uh Chris and and Sue um and just give them text just to make sure. I'm sure that they will be okay, but there's any concerns now on the schedule. Are we all

026set with that? Uh, so in general, second and fourth is, you know, what I've been planning for and is good to continue. Um, just in general for the summer, I know we had um we need to talk about the first meeting in June and just getting that squared away um and finalizing that date. But I think there were also a couple other Yep. potential. So I can't remember what all the other conflicts were on my list of things to talk about. Yeah. So yeah, the specifics for which Thursdays in July and August. Um I would like to have a further discussion about because I know that uh the fourth one is not likely going to be the best with uh where we number one August where we have the start date of school. That might

027be difficult for the fourth Thursday and I won't be here for the fourth one in fourth Thursday in July but fourth Thursday in July. Yes. Okay. So, um All right. Any any other comments on doing the fourth? All right. So, um I think generally we'll keep to the second and fourth is what we'll try to do. Um you did bring up a good point is in June um we will be swapping um the 12th. We would normally meet on the 12th, but we will be meeting instead on the 11th. And that instead of being here will be um at Nichols Middle School. The reason being is um for that's entertainment. Um and I know that our superintendent cannot make the um the 12th either. Um so we've moved that to the 11th. Um the last

028piece that I wanted to talk about is that sometime in July um because that's when we'll basically break a little bit um I do want to have a a second meeting or a conference um with uh MASC um and all of us all six of us um to meet. So, if you can just again keep thinking of dates that you're available and get back to me on that so we can all uh group up for the summer and and prioritize our goals. Um I know that there's already a couple things that I know that we want to talk about. So, all right. And that that's uh that's all I have today. Um I feel like I'm forgetting something, but if I remember it, I'll bring it up at some point. I'll bring it up next

029week. Um we'll move on to uh 5C, which is the superintendent report. Actually, can I ask a question? Just so what I can do, what Ann and I have done in the past is create a draft calendar that we can produce to have you look at and say, "Is this a calendar that you want to meet?" If you keep with second and fourth Thursdays and at 6:30, do you want to keep that time as well? Yeah, I think 6:30 is is great. Okay. Um, what I can do is mark and then see where that sometimes there are conflicts because the fourth Thursday overlaps with the vacation period. So, I'll send that to you and it'll just be treated as draft until you're comfortable. And um I have a companion document that goes over some of

030the things that we cover uh on a yearly basis just so you have an idea. This is when for example we'll talk about school choice in May. Um so I I'll give you that as well that I we you know it's not an exact science but we but we go through it and I think it's helpful to know at a glance what you're doing at at each period. So I'll prepare that and get that out to you. Thank you. Sure. And now now we'll move over to Now it's time for the superintendent report. So um let me just click into mine. Um tonight we have quite a few items on the list, but it's exciting. There's a lot on here um that I that I can't wait for us to dig into. We're going to

031start with school improvement plans at the Nickels and the high school. We're going to hear about senior week activities. Um we're going to talk about our summer learning and summer programs. I'm very proud to share with you a very robust effort for how um this district tackles the summertime and all the opportunities that students have to engage. We'll also talk um tonight about a fine arts spotlight that you know when we get there I'll I'll kind of give a little preamble to it. but um something that has been in the works really uh since I started in this post in 2022 and um we'll we'll talk about where we are and hopefully where we're headed in the future. And then finally, there's a a trip for March of 2026. So, we are early. Um but

032since I had arts uh folks here tonight, I thought no better time than the president to start talking about this. That is something that still with the policy because it is an out ofstate trip we would be looking for approval. Right Jess? Do you see that differently? Um I believe that's correct. It's not necessarily because it is out of state. It is because it is overnight. There you go. Either way, I would want the school committee to have all the information. There's a packet um that you all have in the in the inbox. So without further ado, we will begin. And I would call up Dr. Heather Tucker, our Nichols Middle School principal to present tonight on um school improvement at the Jonty. Nichols Middle School. Welcome, Dr. Tucker. And you will see right on

033that slide, you can click in where it says SIP presentation and your slides are linked there. Thank you for having me here to talk about the um nickel school improvement plan. Um these are kind of things that I love and definitely um dork out over in terms of um how processes can help drive um student outcomes forward and increasing those outcomes for students. Um we had a I don't know why that's so um but can you are you able to see that? slideshow. Okay, let's do that. Okay, slideshow. Perfect. Better. Okay. Um, so we have a group of both parents and educators that we work together in doing the school improvement plan for the Nickels. Um, as a very brief highlight of how we go about doing this is I take the district strategic plan

034and the district action steps and we create a Nickelsbased plan from that. um which everything should drive down from the strategic plan into the school improvement plans into you know the teacher individual professional um development plans things like that and we go through and as we as a school council design our um school improvement plan we actually meet um in in March we went through and did a progress update so that was great because we were able to sit down as a group and see what sort of progress the Nicholas has made and so I will be able to just go over a few highlights Um, we are in the second year of our plan aligned with the district. We'll be looking forward into our third year of the plan. Some of our really big

035highlights are having the structures and frameworks appropriate for the Nickels to be able to do all of the work that we've wanted to be able to do. So, I know you've heard me present um a couple of times about how we've had um some refinement of our Nicholls building based schedule, which really helped us to align our time on learning. Created um blocks of time for things such as when what I need, which is an intervention block that happens every day for students. Also created a um advisory block that allows us to do some of those additional interventions, executive functioning, and other based lessons. But um what was exciting about the schedule we implemented this year was it allowed the grade level teachers to be off at the same time creating opportunities for professional learning

036communities. And those professional learning communities allowed for us to do that data analysis we need to create those tiered intervention groups capitalizing on the what I need time in there. um you know advisory also created those learning structures and supports for students. It also provided opportunities for our child study teams to say you know um you know Timmy Tucker might be having a little bit of a challenge so we want to see you know we meet as a team with the teachers to talk about that and then what are those interventions we do and it really created those opportunities of time for the the cluster teachers to meet to talk about the Timmy Tuckers who may need those additional um supports. um the Nicholls had had a wide variety of student initiatives and so through

037our PBIS um committee and the staff who attended the academy for training, they really aligned all of our initiatives into a positivity which now encompasses what was a tiger stripe, what was a lunch legend, what were those roar assemblies into one um cohesive piece and it really um has provided us opportunity for that much more robust data analysis to create more structured interventions. Um, and I'll talk a little bit about the data with our response to intervention counseling groups, how we're able to use that star reading and star math benchmark data. Um, and then using those other, you know, types of platforms we have to create those, um, smaller groups to really match what students need. So, along goal one, um, I know I wish Sue was here because she loves the data and the

038numbers. So, I made sure I really brought forth the numbers for her. So, if she needs to, um, I'd love to connect with her. Um, but we have Panorama. Panorama is our, you know, um, social emotional screener and our school counselors. We, um, what was great this year was we didn't use just the screener that was encompassed into Panorama. We created that Nichols screener. And using that Nickel screener, we created some social, um, skills groups or skill building opportunities for students. So, um, I want to highlight this is not for students on IEPs. We do do service delivery for students on IEPs. However, um we had two types of counseling groups that ran. We had one which is just a response to intervention based on that data. The groups ran between 5 to 8 weeks

039and there was a total of 40 sessions provided to students um either empowerment groups um you know girls and boys support groups. We did a push in social skills development into our Ames program. Um we worked on some transition skills for students. And then we had a second group of students that we've sort of identified as students requiring a little bit more assistance and we've done ongoing year-long lunch groups. So across the the the year those students met approximately 20 times to work on whether it's an anxiety group, it's a um you know confidence building group, it's uh you know how to um give and receive feedback um you know appropriately. Um and so with that, those were one piece of how we were using our panorama star. So another piece of our child study

040team was looking at students who um we may have identified are having a little bit more of a challenge in the classroom and academic base center. So we have a child study team and because we're middle school and teachers function as a cluster, we want to meet as a cluster to talk about what those interventions are for students. And in a child study team base, what we did was we serviced um 21 students. Teachers bring forward and say, "I think Timmy Tucker's having a little bit of challenge. Could we use a little bit of support?" They met with an administrator, school psychologist, and you know, the cluster teachers, and whatever other um team member may be appropriate, such as a school counselor, and we do different interventions over a six to eight week period, really

041focusing more towards that 8-week and regroup, reme and talk. So we were able to service 21 students through um you know those each student had multi- cycles of that intervention and support and once you find that just right support sometimes you're able to say hey we mastered this this is either the work management plan the student needed or maybe these are tweaks that we need to do building further into our win time or advisory time. Um this year along that whole database we um took on and implemented Lexia power up which is a um program that functions focuses on grammar, reading comprehension and word study. And so as students take the diagnostic test, it adjusts itself to that student. So if you are a higher performing student, it challenges you to perform higher. If you're

042a student who needs more basic foundational skills, it adjusts itself to be able to do that. And that's more of that practice and repetition. And then we also used our data from star reading, star math, Kesler, which is our science to say, okay, in our small groups, um, you know, we have that wind block that's attached to a, um, curriculum block. So the teacher, whatever class the students are in, the teachers are able to use that to say, okay, here's how we're going to do that small group instruction. Let me pull this group to either push you further ahead. let me meet with this group to give you some additional supports around this piece here. So, um we were really able to take our data and use it to advance student outcomes this year, which

043was um in place, but with the structures and the functions that we have and taking on some new programs and the training we've done with staff, we I felt like we were really able to maximize that time to help students. Um the second piece about this is now um how we look at our structures in monitoring student success. So you'll find that not only do you have the the data for student outcomes, but it it's also the piece of how are we doing this? What is that design process? So our our 24-25 schedule um as I started to describe created these grade level um opportunities where twice in a cycle teachers were able to meet and they met once as a cluster. So that's the opportunity sometimes where CST could push in um counseling could

044go in and talk about different students or support strategies. um the clusters were able to talk about um if they were planning a field trip or a cluster expectations or some of those parts and pieces as well as um one of those other sessions was PLC in the content area. So the sixth grade math teachers would meet once in a cycle to talk about um we're approaching our you know unit 3 um assessment. Where are we? Are we on the same page? Is it an opportunity to say let's go back we just analyzed our results from the unit 4 um you know curriculum based measure do we need to make some adjustments to our scope and sequence for the following year based on what we saw and noticed. Um so people were really able to

045do some great curriculum work along that time. Uh this year we trained staff on the platforms for the Renaissance Star Reading and Star Math. Um we trained um in Edelastic and Alexia. So what that does is it it we created more opportunities for teachers to understand the wide variety of different reports that you can pull and how to utilize not everything you know um you don't necessarily use a scale to take a temperature. So what do those different reports tell you and how do we utilize those to analyze our student um processes. We also use those again to provide those tier 2 interventions during win and during advisory block. Um what's exciting is as we as a faculty work through um what are our building p building practices that we want to examine. So we

046use the structure of um a faculty meeting to start a stage one of program studies. We want to be able to put together a booklet that talks about in our grading structures. This is what what families can understand. Here's the structure of a sixth grade English class and a description of what your students will be able to do. here's the theme of the seventh grade, so on and such forth. But our goal is to put together a document to be able to share with parents to really understand more about what happens in the middle school. So, we're in stage one of that. We did analysis of our grading structures and practices across clusters, across departments, vertically, horizontally. And um through our PBIS program, we had had um you know, our our set expectations for cafeteria

047had been called lunch legends. We had done our hallway expectations and the clusters put together their series of expectations on what it means to be, you know, an appropriate student at the grade level and using those to build those overarching um expectations and then rewarding students for showing those expectations and what that looks like. Um, our third goal really focused along that sense of belonging and the faculty. We started last year really talking about what does it mean to have a sense of belonging in the in the nickels as a teacher? What does it mean as a as an educator to create that for students? How do we facilitate that sense of belonging across our um student body and how do we support students create that sense of belonging for one another? So we really

048looked at um in doing that how do we set the structures of the building that allows us to do the work. So again, we had that win those tiered intervention groups. Um our building schedule, what was really great was last year we had moving lunchtimes depending upon which day of the week it is and some of them started really early. So we were able to create a stagnant lunch block um later which was great for everybody because you had some hungry at the end of the day if you had first lunch. Um but we were really able to build that grade level PLC and through that we set the structure for advisory to be that study skill and support and where it's just in its first year we definitely know that's something that we want

049to target and grow for the next year is how do we create more structure to that how to create more strategies for students um when parents say to me my child lost their homework I say wonderful they're in middle school they're supposed to like you it is not a management skill yet again I know you've heard me say executive functioning is not fully solidified till you're 26. So if we're talking about 12 year olds, lovely, they're going to move, you know, but how do we facilitate that growth and development? And by creating these structures within the schedule, it gives us those opportunities for more instruction in that skill set. So again, we are in that program of um year one of program of studies. We're looking at those uh grading structures. um we're starting to

050pull apart what is program of studies versus a handbook and really um cleaning up those course descriptions that we're pulling out of the scope and sequence of the curriculum work that we're doing with the curriculum department. Um we took time this year also looking at um strategy goal number three and that for the district is looking at opportunities for students. So we were really looking at our alignment of what do we have as opportunities for students in the middle school that we can pull through from elementary to high school and build those connections. So if somebody found wow I really enjoy being a builder's club member we know we help facilitate that to the key club at the high school. Um you know we have thought a lot about the way in which our ensembles

051are functioning now and how do we want them to look next year. So we pull through that vein of course and you know course is something that is launched at elementary school, we have it in middle school. How do we continue to pull those and that vertical articulation and then again our um positivity you know for the alignment of the initiatives really awarding students for those positive choices um creating those cluster expectations and um we've also done some faculty culture work with um staff outings. there um have been a couple different things and we also do the U rock. So there are teachers we have a giant big rock we don't give it to kids and it's painted black with a big orange U on it and a teacher nominates a colleague for the work

052that they're doing in their building community you know connecting to the culture so that's been something really exciting is to recognize each other and to recognize the teachers who are identifying students for positivity and continuing that positive momentum. My last um and final goal is around establishing meaningful and family community partnerships. So one of the things I did last year was I looked at the readership of um the s'mores and the class tags and we've now aligned saw our s'mores go through class tag. Um when I was doing the data analysis on this, our um tiger times are viewed um between like 646 to 713, you know, like on average as I went through. And what I appreciated about that is that was last year about um what was that between like 300 and 500

053views. So we have a significant increase in our viewership of the Tiger Times themselves. Um, one of the things we had received feedback on is um that notification of the if there's an incident in the building and I know um through both PTA and school council, we've gotten positive feedback on those communications coming through and the timing of those coming through. So, um I looked at the readership of those and again we have uh 642 to 682 average readerships of those incidents. So, it means when people are getting the communications, they're reading them. they're absorbing them. Um, with the way that School Connect is set up, I can't see the average read time of the Tiger Times like I used to be able to, but the average read time used to be about seven minutes.

054I understand it's a beast of a document. There's a lot of things in there. However, I know our middle school students are working on coming home to communicate of what's happening, but when you have art club that's every other week to remember which Tuesday it's falling on, we know that that's not likely. We're trying to give families a place to go back and either check the information that their children are sharing or if you happen to have a child that's maybe less likely to share, you have a place to go look and come back and ask questions. Um, we've focused a lot on student attendance this year. So, we have a counselor and admin um meeting weekly and we talk about students who, you know, may have had absences for the myriad of reasons. Maybe

055it's medical. Are we checking in? Is there anything they need? any access to anything? Is it a student who is having some school avoidant behavior? What kind of supports and resources do we need for that? Um, you know, we've been doing some call homes by guidance. We've been sending families letters of notification, but we've worked really hard to up our um communication with families, particularly around attendance. Um, feedback on parent events. This past year, we did um openhouse allin-one night. Sixth grade had been one night, seventh and eighth grade had been on another night. if you are not a sixth grade or an eighth, you know, a seventh eighth grade teacher, trying to split those nights, but putting it all on one night at the start of the school year was really wellreceived. It was

056a very um positive and exciting event to kick off the school year. We did create a NMS needs to know. Um we did not launch that till maybe mid-occtober. So, our plan is to do that actually midepptember, catch it closer to the start of the school year for families to find out a little bit more about what they need to know. And I'm so excited for the curriculum showcase. We have students have been collecting work and educators have been collecting work all year long. And so um we will have a map of the school with descriptions of what you will be able to see at, you know, um seventh grade math, sixth grade this. We will have all of our clubs will have tables to showcase what are opportunities for students to join to be

057part of the NMS culture. Um we will have um our artwork on display some beautiful artwork Miss Frankor and what she can encourage the students to do is beautiful. So we will have um display panels of that. Again it's 4:30 to 6:30 um at the Nicholls. It is a new event and we are looking to put out if you're an incoming sixth grader, if you're an incoming seventh grader, if you're an incoming eighth grader, current eighth grader, not to say if you belong to any of the other buildings, you're more than welcome to join, but it'll help you to see like what to look forward to in the upcoming year. Um, we've also been working with teachers for more calls home at that progress report time. If your child is maybe having a little bit

058more challenge, the last thing we want a parent to call is say, "Wow, I got a report come. did my child didn't do no well did not do well and I was surprised. We want to make sure that ongoing communication is happening more regularly so we can put in just right supports for students before we feel like oh my gosh you know the the wheels fell off the bus. And then we've also started this year with a math interventionist and she has been doing about six to eight week cycles with students on a one missed quick lagging skill. pull the student in um build that skill and then send the student sort of back to where they are and they've been doing um when you come for the showcase you'll see different Pythagorean theorem or

059how to find the area of something all over the walls of the building. So we've really created the school environment to be a learning environment. Um and just our targets for next year is to continue really focus on the data collection and analysis of student interventions really to continue to define win in advisory as an intervention and for learning strategies and making sure advisory really leans into those learning strategies for students. Our goal three is going to continue on the program of studies, you know, development stage two, which is, you know, aligning those course descriptions. Um, really aligning our grading practices so we can be able to speak to those through families and produce a document for that. Um, with the program of studies comes with some realignment of the handbook and we're talking about

060piloting an attendance like procedure of how do we more formally do an attendance potential buyback? What might that look like? How are we streamlining our attendance calls? Um looking at a potential social probation for students that may have been um experienced a little bit more difficulty on the consequence side of things. Um and lastly, we want to continue the curriculum showcase. I anticipate this to be a super exciting event um to continue to use the Tiger Times as a vehicle of communication and given the positive feedback around the incident reporting hoping that we don't have many incidents. However, making sure that families really get that communication in a in a timely and relevant manner. So, that is um that is my presentation. Thank you. Uh any questions for Heather? No questions. Um just a couple

061comments. Um I love the inclusion of the staff and in your positivity and your recognition. And it's always lovely to see the programs that get put together to to keep staff so heavily involved in the culture of the school. Um the other thing I just wanted to commend the team for putting together is the you know starting to work on those curriculum expectations and goals for students. I know that um it's one of the things that is difficult to to know when you're getting grades and you're looking, you know, what are the things that um should be being met by this point in an academic year. Um and so having that kind of laid out more generally for each um different class to to understand what those you know expectations of learning are and what

062is considered progress and and where are the the baseline markers and things like that. um is always helpful and and you know just to actively engage in more conversation. If you have a better idea of what's going on in in the classroom, then you know maybe you have a chance to pick up the book and read it so you can have a conversation with your your student about it or say, "Hey, this is the year you stop coming to me for help with math and you know, let's make sure you have somebody else to go to." So, um, I love that idea and and the division of what's what's in a a handbook versus a program of studies guide, I think, is also a wonderful kind of leadup to all of what goes into figuring

063things out at the high school as well. So, that vertical articulation process is is uh, I guess going vertically the other direction, but I think it's a great way to proceed. So, thank you and and to the the team for everything that they put together. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. All right. Wonderful. Thank you. Okay. And with that, we will turn our attention into the high school and principal Paul Brangan is here tonight to walk us through the progress on his school improvement plan and future focus for next year. And then while he's here, he'll also report out on our senior activities coming up um in a few short days really at this point. So with that, welcome Mr. Brandan. Hi everyone. Good evening and thank you so much for allowing us to be here

064tonight to share our updates of our school improvement plans. Um I really enjoy coming to share what the high school faculty has been working on throughout the year and um I'm really proud of what they've accomplished this year. Um and really a note of thanks to our school council members who have um really been working with me in partnership of really um the plan itself and um just a thank you to all of them. But you'll notice the fact that our first goal is really about our instructional practices. It's important to note that we really put some um complete energy into instruction and engagement in the classroom and that no matter where what no matter what we were doing in the building, whether it be learning mocks or in our leadership team meetings, um in

065department meetings, PLC's, there really was this focus around really what is what are we doing in the classroom and how are we engaging our students. You'll notice the fact that implementing and updating the curriculum and pacing guides and the things in orange highlighted is really just the the kind of target that we were looking for in this area. Um through the good work of our curriculum team is really taking all the work that we've been continuing to do because you know curriculum is a living document um that just keeps evolving and so really working with the entry points of where we are throughout the building. It's really um working through their um pacing guides and also their curriculum curriculum renewal process um of the of all the content areas. Really what has been really instrumental

066to us is the implementation of the instructional frameworks. This is one of our action steps this in this particular plan and that through the curriculum team it was launched this fall of really giving us a framework of how to engage a lesson, how to engage instruction in the classroom. They really looked at everything from science to math to our um humanities in English and really looking at the scope of literacy and these instructional frameworks have really been the bedrock of really our work this year of really identifying what is instruction look like in the classroom. How do we get high level engagement in the classroom and these instructional frameworks have been really instrumental to us. the analysis of the onetoone initiative. This was a goal that has been on our work for some time and

067it has been um a work a body of work really trying to find a better balance between the use of the onetoone initiative at the high school and bringing us back a little bit from really the the the pandemic really where everything was revolving around the the laptop computer. And one of the things that we did is um really doing a review of Google Classroom. You notice where it says the instructional leadership team. We have a team of um faculty members that represent all different um departments and areas of our building and really their work is to be looking at what instruction is in our building and really what are the things we're looking at that says we need to maybe put in focus on and this team has been working on many projects throughout

068the year of really their body of work of something that they really were passionate about that we needed to be exploring. We have a particular team of teachers that have been looking at a review a review of Google Classroom. We found that when students enter the ninth grade that we assume in many ways that they have had some experience in navigating or learning about Google Classroom and I think we all assume that. What is interesting we find is the fact that when students are going from class to class and grade to grade that really the the way the teacher engages Google Classroom, the way that they use it is vastly different. and that with the updates in Google as well, it's really how do we get our faculty to see what these updates are, but

069more importantly, are there areas that we could be main that um to streamline to ensure that all of our students are engaging in the classroom appropriately, but also more importantly that they're able to manage it all as well. For example, if you were to look at a student's inbox, there is hundreds upon hundreds of alerts from Google. and that really how do you navigate that when you also have an email that they may miss because they just see a sea of just um emails in Google. So this team of teachers has been working really hard this this school year of really creating a really a document for staff to really help them really navigate the nuances especially the updates in Google our data for datainformed decision- making which has been huge for us and I

070I must give a thanks they're here tonight is our um STEM and your humanities directors coordinators um it has been an unbelievable journey with us of our use of star 360 as you know the at the high school. The only data that we really have that we can look at is MCCAST data and AP data. But really th those data points are looking at carcass because the students have already left your room. They've left to the next grade and that really you're looking at really okay well we can make changes but we really don't know whether the changes were are going to work because you don't have the students in front of you anymore that you were working with. This year the high school has launched our 360. This is really a beginning of the

071year assessment, a midyear and an end. in really seeing the faculty be able to take the data points in literacy and in uh math and to be able to see where the students are live in their classroom in that moment and then to be able to um modify instruction to be able to look at a new entry point while boots are on the ground with the students sitting in front of them has been a gamecher for us and to give you a case in point that we're in the process now of going through the end of the year assessments in star 360 and the data points that we're getting have been significant. So for example, so far we have a little over 150 nth and tth graders who have completed the endofear assessment in star

072360. All of our students are in the process of doing it now in those two grades. And we've seen over 70% of of growth in our students in those grades in mathematics. um be able to be able to take the data points in that moment and be able to make the modifications in instruction has been really quite significant for us and I'm just really so grateful we finally have that opportunity. Also the creation of of a pedagogical framework. We really did some um real revision and review of really how do we engage our students? when is it relevant? And how do we make teaching and learning in our classrooms, especially for the students at the high school to make sure that what they're seeing, what they're doing, what they're learning, it speaks to them and

073it's relevant for who they are. And as a former history teacher teaching about dead people all day long, it's kind of hard to be able to make sure how do you make that relevant for them. And that's really the target across the board. This pedagogical framework really came out of a consultant that we brought in for the school year that has worked with the faculty at the beginning of the school year and has done significant work with the leadership team here at the high school. And this pedagogical framework actually aligns and pairs really nicely with the instructional framework. So you're looking at really what is the focus of lesson and the structure of a classroom, but you're also pairing it with really great tools in the toolbox of best practices. And lastly, which is really

074a huge rock for us, but the work that we have been able to accomplish this year is really looking at our examination and assessing of our grading practices. This has really been a body of work through our leadership team, which consists of all the administrators in the building as well as all of our department leaders and and our coordinators as well from STEM and humanities and also our special education coordinator. And the work this year has been really to begin to unpack really where do we begin the work of looking at the grading practices around the high school. And even today we did some work on really looking at current practices and the leadership team went through a protocol that was created by Lori Leblanc. And that is going to then be transformed into what

075the departments are going to be doing as well. again having us be able to look to see what are we all doing that we can start to tackle to be able to make sure that we can say with confidence if we're giving a student an A what does that A actually mean so it's been really quite exciting work also in our second goal a professional learning communities um I couldn't be more excited with the movement of the building the professional learning communities has been really something that has been a body of work in our district and the high school has really lagged in really the engagement of this and partly was because of the structures that we had. What we ended up doing is that as you know that every um in every month that

076our faculty has two afterchool meetings a month and what we decided to do is I eliminated the faculty meeting and it gave the time back to the teachers to be able to really continue the work of what they were doing in their content areas. Pairing with that with our new schedule, we were able to infuse common planning time um throughout to during an 8-day cycle that every department has one time of the day and one time in the cycle where they're meeting as a department. So when you take all of the hours between the afterchool meetings in the inschool meetings, it adds up to close to 40 hours of time that they have been given. And the charge for the departments has been I want you to be able to look at actually growth and

077achievement. That's it. And how your entry point is created with that is entirely up to you. But the leadership team will come back to our meetings and their charge is to make sure that they can be talking about with what they're doing in their content areas of really focusing on achievement and growth in the school. These professional learning communities have really um I think have been very successful for us. Um we allowed the departments to really cultivate really what that's going to look like in their department areas and we're really excited to see where they would take us. you notice the fact of really these success blocks that we have um in our schedule is really where common planning takes place. So for example, today all of our science teachers were in our our science

078teachers were all working today in their common planning time as well and that is something that we will continue to do in the upcoming year. The one thing that I I think has been the most exciting for us in this particular goal is our instructional rounds and our learning walks. um we talk about high level engagement that the guiding question every time that we're walking into classrooms is really what are we seeing that we would consider to be high level engagement and so with the leadership team I'll start with the administrative team um every other Monday we engage in a learning walk around the building so the administrative team can be um calibrating of really each other it's really not about maybe what we're seeing in a classroom but what we're not really making sure

079that no matter what classroom we're walking in are we seeing potentially the same things and how would we define what engagement even looks like because that can be a really difficult word to define depending upon the content area and also depending upon what the lesson is. Um so that was something we wanted to make sure we were doing. Also with the leadership team with all the department chairs um it has given them an opportunity to also engage in their own learning walks. Um we work it into their cycle of their meetings because they have a common planning time themselves where they have a common block off and they will move through the rooms. They will I they will explore content areas and coming back again it's the same as that question is where do we

080seen with high level engagement what does it look like one of the greatest takeaways that we have seen which has been really quite awesome to watch them engage with each other is they will walk into a room and say my gosh I just saw you know Paul Brangan that 10th grader in the class and he was coming to life in that music class but yet I I watch him in my own class and I really struggle with getting him to engage and really allows for that conversation to begin of really well is working in one space that may not be working in another. What we launched this spring is teacher led walks, meaning the fact that our department leaders will go inside classrooms, cover for a teacher, so a teacher can actually do a learning

081walk with me. And that has been really the most exciting part of our year is having our colleagues go into each other's colleagues classroom and see what they're doing, come back to the table and say, "What does this look like? What does engagement look like? And what are you seeing?" but also more importantly what are those best practices that you can maybe engage as well in goal number three is our future ready program um really in a in a thanks to Kevin Avatabi and who's the director of student services we had the good fortune to um really take a good look at how we are looking at career readiness for all of our students in the high school we may think that we have a real the quantum market on preparing students for college and

082university but really making sure that every student walking out the or is ready for whatever life is going to take them. And this company called Specialized Career Guidance has been unbelievable for our school. They did a needs assessment of really looking at our entry points of what we're doing really well with our career readiness, but also areas of of really potential focus. And part of that is has been the work we are beginning to do with articulation agreements. It is a goal for our school is the fact that our students have a menu. And right now we have a really vibrant um articulation agreement with Massasoya Community College and the early college program. But we really want to expand that. We were we're working with Bridgewater State University that is in the infancy stages now

083of their early college program and we want to get Middlebar in on the ground floor because of its proximity and because not only of the credits that they can achieve but also the certificate programs that Bridgewwater offers. We also spent a half a day at Stonehill College as well in the photonics lab and they too offer a program as well for high school students to begin to get certified in certain areas of STEM to be able to go off right into the workplace and it's right on a college campus. So really quite excited by some of that work as you know the fact that we are a a desi designated school for innovative career pathways and we really are quite pleased with the work that has happened um from our team on on the advanced

084manufacturing pathway. Um we have created all the structures that are needed in terms of identifying potential students that would be in the cohorts to earn this designation in advanced manufacturing. We have paired with a scope and sequence program that looks at our computer science program as well as our engineering program. And we're really proud to say that in the fall of this year, we have 52 students who will be engaging in the designated pathway for designation. Um working with the middle school to Dr. Tucker and her STEM team are really identifying eighth graders who we think would thrive in this environment and um we're really quite excited to see where it's going. And that scope and sequence is the guide that a student in four years with a bear of technical courses as well as

085advanced courses. The technical courses would take place directly in the innovation lab under the guidance of Mr. Cupy. And then really the the advanced courses could be anything from the project lead the way program to also advanced placement as well. And then you're going to see the other areas that are here. our senior internship um program, we've really started to dabble in what is called the workbased model where we have students who have met all the graduation requirements at the end of grade 11 with the exception of what they need in grade 12. And you would be interested to know that if a student who enters ends junior year with all of their credits that they need, all they need in senior is a math and English and a PE. So it really gives them

086a wealth of opportunity to fill the rest of their schedule. We have students right now who are spending majority of their day in a workplace getting hours for union or their apprenticeship and they come into the building for the courses that they need to take. We've also engaged in summer internship programs. We had students last summer who because of their um the caliber of work they're doing. There's the students who want to go into the medical field. They can't do an internship during the school day because of the advanced placement programs. They need to be able to demonstrate and show. We're able to engage them in summer experiences as well where they have more time to be able to work in a hospital to work in a doctor's office potentially as well. And this piloting

087we've been doing has been seeing some great results. The continued work through the futures academy with the youth works program and some of the tenants that have come into the mainstream, the MYAP program which is our career readiness starts in grade nine and really the good work of our school counselors. And we're really excited about the ability for us to expand our careers pathway specialist which is our schoolto career counselor which is a part-time position now moving into a full-time position here at the high school. In number four is our vision of the graduate. This is really um has become really in some ways a labor of love because it's been a compliance work for the high school. But because thanks to the school district and their commitment to this work, it has now become

088a district lens of really having um that the vision of the graduate doesn't begin in the ninth grade. It actually begins when the student enters middlear public schools as a kindergartenner. So this year it has been really about the implementation and we really went in a different direction because we realized that before we start plastering the the visual everywhere or really working with students, we needed to take the data points that we had learned a year ago when we started to engage our students in the um vision of the graduate through our advisory program and we decided to now start to do some really heavy lifting with the faculty at the high school about where does the vision of the graduate fit. what are we already doing to make sure the fact that we have

089a vision that is already connected to what we're doing in the high school and that has been a really a body of work for us this year. Um you'll see in just a moment I'm going to show you the redesign of the graphic that we'll be launching in the fall but we've created through the work of Dr. Maritus and Mrs. Lions about really the district vision of the graduate team. We've had two meetings this year, a fall meeting with the charge of really work in the schools to back in the spring to really uh a report of what we've done. And it's really taking this vision and how does it look in kindergarten? How does it look at the elementary level at the middle school and ultimately at the high school for example in the

090vision of the graduate? One of our tenants is to problem solve. We want our students to be good problem solvers as they're going off into the world. So what does problem solving look like in kindergarten in grades two through three and three through five and so on because it builds the trajectory of that skill as a student is moving from grade level to grade level. And you notice where it says holding on the performance rubrics. This was a huge goal for us trying to meet but we realized we were moving way too fast in order to make it something that you have a K12 document that is going to build from grade to grade and school to school. It is really the goal that we will engage with next year as we have all the

091data points we've collected for for this particular year. What we've done is that this vision of the graduate has really evolved and this is the new design that I want to share with you. So this design takes the all the tenants of our vision of the graduate. We want our students to be socially aware to collaborate to have a true sense of self to be persevere to live with intention and to be critical thinkers. And in this particular case that these would be the visuals that would be worth really working with us throughout the year. We're going to be targeting the high school at the beginning because we have our NASC um um visit in the fall. But this is just one of the models that we're looking at and this seems to be really

092where our faculty is leaning as well as the district vision of the graduate team and we're really quite proud of the of the the work. And then lastly, school culture. So this is a goal that is really an ongoing body of work. Um, some things that we've done that I've been really quite proud of for the faculty because they have brought it to life. The freshman experience is a program that I brought to you a year ago during the program of studies time that was going to be a a designed program that would be implemented through our nth grade physical education class of fit for life. Our PE teachers took the entire first term of the course and we scheduled every ninth grader to have this course at the same exact time. So, we had

093cohorts of about 80 students divided by three teachers and it was really about guiding them through what is nth grade, what is this freshman experience, how do you organize yourself, how do you um time manage all of those factors as well as making healthy decisions about um just navigating the first year of high school and it was launched this fall with great success with some modifications we will make in the upcoming school year. But we're really quite proud of the results. Also, another aspect of the instructional leadership team is the real engagement of our freshman academy. We've had this this protocol, but we really want to take a good hard look at our current ninth graders and really what are we seeing that they need? I'll give you an example. We found that our ninth

094graders really struggle with note-taking. And you may say, well, how are they taking notes? They take it in all different ways. either they're taken in a Google document on the computer which then having no organizational skill to be able to file it into their Google folders to figure out where to access it to also be given a notebook and then figure out how to actually navigate that. All of our students were given an agenda book this year that was spe particularly designed for our current schedule and watching how our ninth graders in particular navigated it. we needed to make sure we could go back and say where are the entry points that we really need to make sure we're placing as these students transition to the high school and that this freshman academy is um

095really the beginnings of that. What is really exciting in some of the conversation, this would not be for some time, but I think it's important to note this building's design allows for us to create programs within the building because you have science labs on every floor. And part of the goal is someday would we ever think about creating a formal freshman academy where all the nth graders would kind of transition together, have a team of teachers very much like the middle school, but really just the bridge between that teaming concept at the middle level to really just kind of go to it at the high school. And we're really quite excited to see maybe where that trajectory will take us. We established back the principles round table which was led by myself and Mr. Sylvia

096the athletic director. We have about 50 students who served on this team this year. And really their charge was to really help us identify the the aspect of belonging. What I mean by that is is that through our panorama data that we ended up having our data points that were lower than where we wanted them to be and we needed to start to talk to our students about really what does belonging to mean to you and what does it look like here to our students at the high school and they really did a nice job of providing some really great feedback. The data informed decision- making that due to really the work and the data points we now have. We've been able to take the Panorama fall screener and we're waiting to get back our

097data points from the spring um screener to be able to see what growth we've been able to have. And just lastly, peer-to-peer connections. Um the number of school community engagements, activities, really intentional events and programs in the school. Um, on top of that, we're really excited to bring in a school culture training on June 10th and 11th from a a gentleman who I've known through my work in student council who's coming to us from Oklahoma to spend two days with our students um working on really how do you take the school culture that we currently have and how do you take it to the next level and all of it is about peer engagement and um and connection. And lastly, you're going to notice the fact that our goals for next year we're recommending will

098stay exactly the same. um that we have a lot more work to do and we thought it was important to kind of keep these goals going. You're going to notice the fact in the bold you see growth and achievement that that is an ongoing body of work and that will be the target in the essential question for the upcoming year. Professional learning communities phase two um the faculty has become so invested in this that we've been starting to talk about mixing and matching to move teachers away from content areas and really mixing them together. For example, we have an entire team of teachers looking to begin a ninth grade PLC where we can have all the nth grade teachers come together and look at the trends that they're seeing amongst our nth graders. You see

099a future ready 2030 through the work we've done through specialized career guidance that we're in the process of writing a strategic plan that will be called future ready 2030 which is what what will middlear high school look like for our students in college and career readiness in the year 2030. We also have vision of the graduate in NASK. As you know, we will have our dennial visit in October of this year. They will be here on campus from the 26th through the 29th. So, that needs to be a goal for us. And lastly, the continuation of really taking the good work we're doing with our students, looking at the areas that we can improve and continue to make sure we have the strongest school culture we can. So, that is our plan and where we

100are and where we hope to go. And, um, I entertain any questions or comments. Thank you. So, just a couple of notes. Um, Mr. Mr. B, you don't have to toggle back, but I wanted I had a couple of announcements. If you look at that future ready program, that goal three, one of the programs Mr. Bernigan was talking about was our youth works program, that's grant funded. And this week I received a note that we are again going to be receiving that funding for [Music] $135,88787, which represents about a $20,000 increase over what we got this year. That's a testament to not just the people involved in that program, the teachers, the leadership through not just Mr. Breen, but Mr. Avatabé. Um, but programs like this don't exist without funding. So, you know, I know

101earlier this year we did have that hiccup with funding. I'm very, very proud to share that. to touch just briefly on the vision of a graduate. If you've been following along in the news, you're hearing about this deesdriven governor's council on trying to determine, you know, what we want Massachusetts graduates to have now that that MCCAST exam cannot be used. There's been this sort of scramble about, you know, what is it that we want our kids to graduate with? And I really see this um vision of the graduate work being that key here in Middleboro, not to add to the plates of our educators, but actually to link what they are doing so that what's happening in kindergarten feeds what's happening at 1 through 5 feeds what's what's happening at 6 through 8 and then

102finally at 9 through 12. So be on the lookout for a one middle burrow. We're definitely going to get a couple of us, not me, but others in the booth to talk about vision of the graduate because it becomes one of those phrases that nobody understands. And what we're really talking about is what belongs in the invisible backpack of our students. What are the things they're collecting in the artifacts through each building to be ready to be productive citizens when they leave us? So, be on the lookout for some messaging and branding around that. and also for 2526. I I see this being embedded in my goals as the superintendent, but then also our district work going forward. Um, and that was all I wanted to add to that. So, now I can turn it

103over to questions. Any questions for Paul? I had one. Um, so Paul, I know that there were some tweaks to the schedule a little bit as you know, the high school schedule has evolved. Um, I just wanted a quick check in as to how the the current schedule is working with those internship programs because I know that's always a big challenge in scheduling is how to make sure that those students who need only those three classes can get to those classes and then have that chunk for internships. Is are all the kinks seeming to work themselves out? Yeah, for the most part they are. I mean you have some internships like for example we have a lot of students who want to do health sciences and that becomes a little bit of a challenge and

104sometimes we have students who have just have the perfect schedule for themselves to be able to do it. Um and they really are making the commitment to that because for many of our students that they want to be taking the AP courses and all of that. So they really have to make that choice because many of these health um service locations hospitals will not take them for one hour. You have also many students who will come and go, meaning that they will come in in the morning for English. They will leave and go to their job placement. They'll come back at the end of the day for their final class and that they've been able to get into a flow with that as well. So, we have found that for some there is a limitation

105because of just the courses that they may need or um for example for students who want to go to the elementary school say um they don't begin till 9:00. We already have two hours under our belt in the high school before they even begin. And so for those students sometimes that it's really trying to be very strategic of when they can begin their internships. But what we've also done is tried to schedule like senior English at very strategic times of the day. We can do them very early in the morning and do them very late in the in the school day. So you have them on bookends that students will be able to get into those particular courses. We are envisioning the fact that it's really about students who are not if they want to

106take an elective have at it. But if they're really students who were like, I really I'm not interested in any of this and I really see myself doing um a trade in some capacity, then we should be able to provide the opportunities for them. And in the small group that we've been piling it with, it's been really quite successful. So with the building of the schedule for next year, we've been trying really hard to figure out where do we place certain courses to make sure that they can get in and get out or spend the day out and come back at the end of the day for their classes. Great. Thank you. Um, the other uh statement that you said that that really jumped out to me was just uh how what engagement is varies

107from class to class, from lesson to lesson. Um, and I I really appreciated hearing that because I know there's always this kind of stigma of, oh, the principal is coming in to observe the class. What should it look like on, you know, what do I have to turn on when they walk in the room? and just having that statement to recognize that, you know, maybe you're going to walk into a room and just see students with their heads down typing away, but that is still something where you can gauge engagement off of what you're observing. So, um, kudos for making that be, uh, recognized as part of this kind of learning walk process is that engagement really does vary. Um, so there's still a way to to gauge that and to learn from it. regardless

108of whatever's happening in the class when you step in. Any other questions? Um, I do have one question. It's not necessarily for for Paul. Um, we talked a lot about Panorama. We talked a lot about uh Star 360. I was wondering if there's any logistical way that we could get a demonstration on how it's used like the actual program itself. um you know maybe that's through Terry if she makes a presentation that way and it can be with like any you know generic name student like I don't want to look at any student any specific student but like if it's just a test that comes yeah exactly sure I'd love to see what the the tools the district is using so I think we can certainly do that see that it's very easy to do

109and I'll tell you I I was the high school we have been void of data for some time you know besides the MCCAST data truly or AP data and this is our 360 data in particular we did the beginning of the um assessment, the data points that came back were so easy to use and to read that for anybody who would be a leager in really looking at data points and extrapolating something out of it. um the way that it was presented that we did a protocol at the very first PD day in October where everybody was really looking at those data points and the conversations coming out of that was really quite significant and we were just so happy to see that it was it was user friendly and it was something where you

110could get get information in the immediate and immediately walk into your classroom the next day and say I'm going to modify what I'm doing here because this is a skill that I think our students may need. It was great. Brilliant. So thank you. So with that, Mr. Bingan, if you want to close out of that slide deck, and you'll see the others up there. The next item is to talk a little bit about senior week. And while he is queuing those up, what I can tell you is senior week really has the stamp of Mr. Bangan all over it. Um, all of these events are really curated by by Mr. Bernigan and his team. Um, and a lot of effort and time goes into celebrating seniors, but I think, you know, truly it's second to

111none in terms of what that week entails. If you've been a parent of a graduating senior, you already know what I'm talking about. If you haven't yet experienced it, um, you're in you're in for luck. So, with that in, you know, with that alternative, Mr. Brandan, you can give us a rundown on the gauntlet of senior week. Sure. U, thank you, Mrs. Lions. We, um, we refer to the high school as a cruise ship. So, we're really taking a cruise over the next um two weeks. And um you need a hat now, Paul. That's right. Um so, today actually was our future signing day. So, we had about 150 seniors take a seat at their at the table to make a to commit to starting strong in their next chapter of life. And so, I

112know that those photos got posted, I believe, from Shawn today. And um it was a pretty cool day here for the seniors doing that. Their last official day of high school is next Thursday um with a 10:00 um am dismissal. So you'll be hearing the horns throughout town as they're exiting campus at that time. Um grades will close officially at that day and that we will do the scurry of turning grades around to make sure we can commit that every senior has made it to the finish line to graduate. Our senior memory night is next Friday night at 6:30. It is just a night for seniors only and it is a night of just kind of coming together hanging out um yard games and um we have had parents sending in photos from childhood and

113everything else over the last many weeks and the class advisors Bridget Redpath Cassandra Lemieux are busy putting together the compilation of all these photos that have come in and I want to thank the S and Pride Alumni Foundation because every year they so kindly provide um the Plymouth Party ice cream truck to come for all they can eat um from an ice cream truck as They never seem to get the pizza because they're too busy eating all the ice cream off the ice cream truck. Um June 2nd begins the formal week of senior week with the senior barbecue yearbook yearbook distribution on Monday the second. That will also be the day that we are um identifying and announcing the validatoran saludiatoran. I think it's important for the school committee to know that we're starting something

114new that we have never done in middle bar. Why I do not know but I thought it was important we started with the class of 2025. We're officially going to be recognizing the top 10 students in the class. We've only done Valenc and I think it's about time we start recognizing the others who have really had some great achievement. So that will be officially announced on Monday. Um June 3rd is senior breakfast with a little bit of a sprinkle of graduation rehearsal. And then of course it's a senior prom at Granite Links in Quinsey, which if you've not been there, it is an absolutely beautiful venue and they do a wonderful job with our students. We've been there many times and it's one of my favorite places to go for um our students. Thursday, June

1154th is scholarship night for the families that may be watching. Invitations are going out very shortly. They're coming tomorrow. So, we'll be able to send out the invitations tomorrow afternoon and that is happening at 6 p.m. on on um June 4th and we're really quite excited to um recognize our seniors, but more importantly thank all the community members, foundations, and sponsors who are been so generous to our seniors. And then on June 5th, um our adopt a senior program is their celebration will take place where our seniors will receive their gifts. Thank you to Theresa Farley and the many many parents and community members who have been organizing to make sure every single senior has been accounted for. And that will follow by the end of the day with our senior last assembly at 6

116p.m. which is our awards night for the senior class. And of course, probably one of the favorite days in Middlear is the senior walk that will begin at 10:30 where they make their way around town visiting their schools and reliving their history. And that will be taking place on that Friday. We're working with the Middlebar police department and of course all the building principles to allow us access to the building on that on that Friday. And then of course the big day, June 7th, graduation day with a start time at 6 p.m. The weather will be beautiful. And um it's important to note that it's the 150th commencement of Middlear Public Schools. So, we just thought it was important to recognize that. Um, and our students have created a u, if you notice the images

117in this slide, they've created one very particular for this graduating class to um, recognize the 150th commencement that will go on all the invitations on the program as well. And it was created by the seniors, namely Molina Molina Freighus, who is a member of the senior class. So, we're really quite excited to be able to recognize the 150th commencement as well. And that's it. Okay. Thank you, Principal Brangan. Hopefully that thunder dies down. If you're tuning in at home, that's what we're hearing. Or it's a hurricane. It was just a plus. It was a plus. With that, we will turn into um summer programs. And I will invite first our curriculum coordinators, Kelly Stukenborg and Lori Leblanc, up to talk about um our continued revision of our summer offerings um including a new partnership with

118Champions, our before and after school programming. Um I will advance. There you go. You're already in them. Welcome, Kelly and Lori. Thank you. It's pleasure to be here tonight to talk about some of the wonderful offerings we have for our students over the summer. First, we're just going to start off with our overview. We have quite a few um options for our students this year. Looking at going through the summer at the complex, we have a new partnership as superintendent Lions mentioned with Champions, Intro to K, which started last year and was super successful, is continuing this year, Nichols summer school, credit recovery at the high school, and the future summer programming. So we are offering um based on the feedback from the community, we've added quite a bit of classes and opportunities for the

119performing arts at summer at the complex which is held at Berkeland. Our one of our high school teachers, Cassandra Amu, will be running this. There's quite a few classes that are being offered. Um and we want to extend a note of thanks to the educators for signing up to offer for these students continuing having learning experiences throughout the summer. that is grades one through five um rising sixth graders at the complex. Here's a list of all of the courses. As I mentioned, based on the feedback from the community, we've or added quite a few offerings um within the performing arts. You can register here with this QR code. There's also um information will be going out, but registration will be run from May 26th through June 3. And the next offering that we have is

120partnering with Champions. Um we have brought in this partnership that has been hugely successful for our community. They have high quality services that they offer during the school year. Now that will extend into the summer. Um recognizing that summer planning for our students is most helpful when it involves a full day to accommodate working families. Um, this program runs from, I believe it's 6 a.m. 6:30 a.m. Very tiny in the slide. 6:30 a.m. to 6 pm. Um, this is also um, ages 5 through 13 and it runs the entire summer. So, June 23rd through August 22nd. Intro to K started last year. It was run by Carly Paling and Courtney Ser. It is for rising kindergarteners. It's to get them ready for kindergarten to learn procedures, routines, meet some friends, teachers, become acquainted with the

121building, kind of calms that nerves a little bit, experience that center-based learning of K. Um, families become familiarized with Mech. Um, kind of easing everybody's worries, students and parents. Um, and it was very successful last year, so it will continue again this year. Lari and I can speak to some of that success this year as we were helping out at the mech for the first couple weeks of school and those students were um acclimated and ready to go and very excited to learn. We are continuing our credit recovery offerings for our middle school students. Um Scott Redpath will be our coordinator this year. Um it will run from July 7th to the 24th. There'll be two 2hour sessions. Um it's serving our rising seventh um through rising ninth graders and the focus is on academic

122remediation as well as some study skills as Dr. Tucker talked about before. We're still um developing those executive functioning skills. So any type of um work around those areas is helpful. Um for right now we are definitely offering math and ELA courses whereas science and social studies will be determined upon enrollment numbers. Um at the high school we will be having credit recovery first students. Um Amy Burn at the high school, one of our guidance counselors will be coordinating the program. Um and it will be serving our rising 10th through 12th graders. And we will also be continuing to support our students in our futures program. The coordinator um will be working over the summer, Lacy Foley. Um and they will be serving returning and new future academy students in need of credit recovery. And

123the goal around this credit recovery is to um help students to get credit because they did not receive credit due to attendance. That's all there is. That's it. That's all we have. Any questions? So, we talked about the credit recovery program and having Mr. Repath run at the Nicholls and then Miss Beern at the high school. What about that gap from 8th to 9th grade? So those are the um they can take courses um at the Nicholls with Scott Red Path. So those will be your rising ninth graders. Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions? Thank you very much. You're welcome. So with that, we'll turn into athletic offerings um over the summer. Ryan Sylvia, our athletic director, is here to talk a little bit about um these growing programs as well. Wildly popular.

124I know Mr. probably is a big fan of them as well. But, uh, welcome, Mr. Sylvia. What can you tell us about, um, your summer programs for 2025? Hi, thanks for having me. Uh, I'm just going to try to pull up the website if that's okay. Sure. All right. So, we had a um a newsletter, another basically a duplicate of a newsletter I sent out a couple weeks ago go out today at 5:00 uh that has all the summer athletic offerings. These are independent of the the other um summer programs that we have. And really, it's an opportunity for students to get involved in athletics. Uh be exposed to the facilities here at the high school uh with our head coaches. Each head coach has the opportunity to run one of these programs if they

125choose. One of the things I like most about these programs is that um we have many student, current student athlete volunteers at the high school level that work with the youth programs. and those volunteers uh by volunteering with the summer clinics, they're able to earn community service hours. Um but it's really just a chance to, you know, hone their skills, get some physical activity in in the summer, um and just have some fun at the same time. Um we have offerings, I'm just going to go through them quickly. Uh from K to 12, um kindergarten to second grade, all the only program we really offer for that grade level in athletics is youth and community track and field. It's probably the my favorite program that we have. It's basically open for from kindergarten through 9th

126grade. And then we have our track students in 9th through 12th uh or entering 10th through 12th um volunteering to help run basically run a track meet, a mini track meet each week. And um parents are able to kind of stick around and walk the track while that's going on. And the fees are very minimal. And this pro these programs are all completely self- sustaining. So, the reason we have charge the fees is so that we're able to staff the programs. Um, so it's not like we're we're trying to make money off these things necessarily. And then students entering three through five, we have a majorette clinic, girls basketball, again, the track and field, field hockey, boys basketball, wrestling, and soccer. Uh, I'm going to point out that with boys and girls basketball this year,

127we did make an adjustment. We used to offer middle school level boys and girls basketball as two separate clinics and then a youth clinic that was co-ed for grades three to five. Um we changed that this year. So the boys and girls basketball will be separate clinics but they'll be from three all the way up to student grade three to students entering grade nine. And because we have the double gym in the high school, we can just break up the age groups accordingly uh according to age and ability. And then six through nine, it's a lot of it's repetitive. Um, majorettes, strength and conditioning. I'll talk about that in a second. And then the track and field. We have an endurance program, uh, a running program that Coach Smith does for endurance athletes, long-distance runners,

128girls basketball, field hockey, boys basketball, again, wrestling, co-ed volleyball, um, softball, tennis, and soccer. Um, and then 10 through 12 is really limited to strength and conditioning. the endurance program, field hockey, and tennis. Um, and there are the structure of these programs is pretty consistent, but there are a few kind of discrepancies. Most of these are four-day clinics, Monday through Thursday, uh, for anywhere between 90 minutes and and 180 minutes. Um, and then we have some that meet on a weekly basis. That's the track and field, the field hockey. Um, and then we also have two leagues that we run that are not listed on this website because these are only offered to Middleboro High School students. Um, they're not offered through the youth programs and it's for girls basketball, boys basketball, and 7v7 football.

129And those are on when you do click on the registration. Um, that's where you can find those programs and that's shared out through the coaches. Um those are opportunities for the students that are currently on those teams at the high school to participate in a league in the off season. Um the strength and conditioning program is offered to grade students entering grades 7 through 12. Uh there's two different time slots and when you click on the registration page, you can view those, but it's um 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 and then 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. Those run through Coach Kingman, the football coach, and Coach Smith, the track and field coach. Um, and I would highly recommend those for any students that are participating in athletics to get to train and learn how to train. Um,

130they do some running, they do, um, strength training obviously, but also just working on flexibility and working just on how to move their bodies. Um, so this is the newsletter that went out, but it's also all of this can be accessed through the website, through the athletics page, and through the summer programs page on the district website. When you click on the registration page, it's just going to give you all the contact information for every coach that's offering a program, the fees associated with it, and everything you need to know to get registered. I do want to mention that it's a we don't have any deadlines for the athletic program in the summer. So, if your summer plans change and you say, "Hey, what what what's going on this week at the high school?" You

131can register. Sure, we try. I mean, I would encourage people to do it um to register in advance if they can. Um but it's not it's not something that we really hold a tight deadline to. And then the other buttons are just the the direct link to UNIPE to pay to uh pay the user fee. And then there's a coaches directory in the Middleboro athletics website. Um, I think that's all I have. I can take questions. Any questions for Ryan? No, I just wanted to make note that it looks like for grades entering grades three all the way through 12, there are a couple there are multiple programs that are no fee. So, that's super exciting that we have the ability to offer some of those specific sessions at uh no fee to families. So

132wonderful opportunity for for folks to get involved at something maybe they are just interested in trying out or just to have uh have that experience over a summer. Yeah. The rationale there is to try to grow those programs. Some of the programs that tend to struggle with participation numbers. We're hoping that if we can get students engaged earlier then uh they might stick with it when they get up to the high school. Yeah. Great. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thank you. So with that, um, if you want to just click back into the slides, we'll turn to our next item, which is the first time we've done this presentation, um, or at least in my time, which is an arts spotlight. So with that, I'll I'll ask Mr. Pitsley and Mix Moer to come up

133to talk a little bit about that. And while they're doing that, what I what I want to share is um, right after I was appointed superintendent, I actually called a meeting with Mr. Pittsley. actually Donnie Dugen was there and uh Impact Converse and the first thing I told them was that I really wanted to see the arts revitalized because what I knew coming out of COVID was that so many students quit their instruments and didn't have opportunities whether that meant visual art whether that meant theater work whether that meant um musical performance through an instrument I was seeing it in my own home I was seeing it in our community um and it was really important to me that we work together. I'm very very proud to share this presentation tonight and tell you that

134um this staff has also aided every year since I've been superintendent the way we begin our year is actually with a performance by our students. Um I don't plan to move that I so be ready when I come and tell you in the middle of the summer um it's time but I think it's a really important part of what we do here in our district. It's wonderful to see all of the offerings and see what we're doing academically. It's exciting to see our athletics grow and equally important is the performing arts so that we are capturing interests of all students. So with that, I'll turn it over to the two of you and if you could highlight uh just a small snippet of what you've been up to, which has been substantial. Great. So, thank

135you for having us uh tonight. So, we're just going to give you some highlights of our year um and then um talk a little bit about what we're working on going forward and a couple brief highlights of what we're looking at next year. Um so, we could really do a deep dive on this. We could hunker down all night through the storm. We could go through it all uh every detail if you'd like, but we're going to keep it quick here uh and share some of the highlights. So, uh we're going to kind of go building by building um just to give you an idea of what's going on. So, at the Mech, um, our K preK and K students have, uh, music classes with, Mrs. Iverson, and you can see some of the highlights

136of what they work on there. Uh, they actually have some shows coming up, a short musical called Friendly Neighborhood Helpers, which will be happening June 7th through the 11th. And if you've ever been to any of these u musicals, they are tremendous. They're they're excellent. Um, very very well done, well put together. Um, that little auditorium library in there is packed. every single show. Uh so if you get a chance, check one of those out. But you can see some of the great things that are happening there. And really all of the performing arts u our youngest students, our youngest grades are really the most important. It builds the entire foundation of what happens through the rest of the program. And it's so crucial to our success across the board in all the arts. And

137so you can see what's happening here at Mech at the elementary complex. Um you can see um our first year band program and orchestra program is is almost pretty much at capacity. Uh we have really just exploded the numbers at those grade levels. Our staff down there has just done an absolutely incredible job. Um and a tip of the cap to them and to working with their building administrators to get all these kids scheduled and to find space for them and the logistics of all of that is just incredible. Uh the work that they do. um these numbers are are very very uh high for where we've been and so we're excited for that. These kids are now in the pipeline and uh that that's exciting news for our program. Just by way of comparison,

138um it's not really a fair comparison, but the year the two years of COVID with the restrictions that we were under, we started almost no like zero like 0 to 10. Um and that was out of necessity the rules that we were operating under. Um, and so you can see that we've recovered very quickly, which really goes to to show um the support of the arts in the community, the the desire for it um where it came back so quickly. So, we're glad to tap into that. And uh special thanks to the PTA uh for purchasing t-shirts if you were here for the Danny Dugen Fine Arts Festival. They look fantastic up there. It's also great to have the gradebased colors. We can identify them very quickly and keep them together. This year we were

139able to bring back for the first time in I think over a decade a fifth grade course. This was a a real target we had for this year was to find a way to make this happen. Uh in the work of the superintendent and the school committee and others to uh get a staff member down there um full-time. Mr. Suzeri from the high school was part-time and added him at the elementary and he started a coral program and uh it's it's in its first year and 26 students is an excellent start to that program and we are going to see that pay off down the road. That year of contact time before they get to middle school is just incredibly valuable. Um it would not is really going to strengthen the program um going forward

140and we'll see that play out in the next few years. Another huge focus at the elementary level has been infusing music technology into the classroom. In the general music classroom, one of our standards in music is uh reaching all students. It's not just focusing on the band and orchestra and chorus, the kids that sign up to do that and want to do that. It's reaching every kid, even those that don't want to play an instrument. And so, our general music classroom uh is a place to do that. And our staff down there has done an incredible job. Uh we've brought podcasting in. If you've seen any of these podcasts from either of the two buildings, they are they're awesome. Check them out. They're short, easy listens. They highlight aspects of the school community that you

141might not know about. Um, and it gives students really a very valuable skill. Uh, the ability to ask questions and to um, and to do that interview style format is great for them. We've also added uh, DJ mixing, a DJ unit. Next year, we bought turntables and all those things. any way to keep kids engaged in learning skills and uh and listening and all of those things is outstanding. And apparently uh Millie is part of that or whichever dog that one is at the MKG we're also doing podcasting um over there as well and uh they have I think eight episodes out now and another huge success and and very very popular. That one's called The Eagle's Nest. This year Mr. Dawson and Miss McGovern um wrote the third grade play themselves and it was

142awesome. Um I'm a little biased. My daughter was in it, but uh it was really very very well done. It was personalized to HBB. The songs are about that uh school. Um and that was just a lot of fun to see that play. At the Nichols Middle School, we're also um infusing uh music technology into the classroom there as well using a product called Band Lab, which is similar to Garage Band. Students can compose digital music on their own. Students who have no like uh music background really uh can compose music in a a way that is a lot of fun and helps them to be successful and kind of preserve their record of their music, which is awesome for them. Um, and so you can see kind of just a screenshot of what that

143looks like. We don't have any sound here for you tonight, but uh, if you ever want to check that out, we'd be happy to share that. And all the students in the middle school are working on, uh, their notation, music, reading, music, notation, developing literacy skills in music, uh, learning to play the ukulele, which is a lot of fun for students and, um, and that type of thing. And, um, learning to play melodies for solos and duets on the guitar. our band program at the middle school. Um, and the same with orchestra and chorus have a bunch of performances throughout the year. You can see some of those uh listed here. We had one student who was accepted to the Junior SSBA uh concert band. That's 35 school districts in southeast Massachusetts. Students audition for

144that and were accepted. And I may or may not have intentionally chosen to put that in here tonight. Logan Pittsley, who's in eighth grade, was accepted to that. um junior sons of a concert band. Don't give me that face. Uh the chorus has had a tremendously successful year. Uh they perform they perform the national anthem at the orange and white basketball game. Um and we're at the fine arts festival and their spring concert is coming up as well. And the same with the orchestra and our numbers are stable. Uh they're doing well. Um, we are growing from where we were a couple years ago and we have more in the pipeline working their way through and more on that in just a couple minutes. Our middle school theater program, as you've heard earlier this evening,

145is doing incredibly well. We're super proud of the work that's happening down there. We had two major productions this year. Uh, the the cast numbers and crew numbers are huge. Uh, which is just awesome. There's just a a hunger for the arts, whether it's in music or theater. Uh it's been great to see that happening and growing and we're seeing the dividends paying as they work their way through the system up into the high school. Our numbers here are growing as well. Here at MHS, um we as was mentioned earlier, uh we're not quite 12. We had 18. Uh and that's because we found some kids to add to the group that hadn't played before and were just interested in being here. And they've really just done an incredible job. um watch back the spring

146concert, you hear more about what I had to say about the work that they've done. Uh these band orchestra and concert choir traveled to New York um which thank you for approving that trip. We had a tremendously successful trip. Uh it really is just outstanding to be back traveling again and for students to learn and engage uh with their program that way. We had senior SEMSA. We had seven students accepted to that um as well from Middlear High School and senior district. All of our ensembles are performing a lot here at Middle High. Uh that's really important to us. It keeps them working and engaged. Um we have a triumph music honor society. We had some new inductees come in. We've also been working on uh really building in kind of a culture of our

147community engagement and service in the community. it it's kind of taken for granted like the bands at the parade on Monday at the Memorial Day parade. But what we've really tried to do is rather that just being another performance, we dig into what it means for them to be part of that event, what it means to the people that we are we're honoring, um teaching them a little bit about that background and how they're giving back to their community that supports them in their program. We think that's really important. That's something I've done throughout my time here. Uh, but I thought that was worth mentioning that it's not just another thing they show up for. Um, that it's it's really a service to the community. Oops. What am I doing here? We also have an

148honors program in music which allows our students for a higher level of uh achievement in music and pushes them. Um, it's kind of an individualized program beyond just our normal band, orchestra and chorus class which we have many many students who are engaged in. Our TV production program is probably one of the most developed programs I think we have in the district. They film just about everything that happens around here. They do absolutely incredible work. If you ever have a chance to do kind of go down the YouTube rabbit hole and just start watching some of their productions, they are absolutely outstanding. It's nationally recognized. We had two students this year who were uh awarded student production awards, Connor Gibbons and Aaron Davis. and their work is absolutely excellent. Both are freshmen. Bright futures ahead

149of them. And we also had an honorable mention in Finley Karns. Uh Mr. Pelier just does an absolutely amazing job in the TV studio that we have up there and uh all the work that's happening in TV production. So I want to turn it over to uh Sam Moer, who's our theater teacher, for some updates on our theater program. Hello everybody, and thank you so much for seeing us. Um, I promise to do my best to keep this brief. We have done so much over the last couple of years that I'll kind of do the uh the quick hits and the what we focused on. First, I want to talk about some of our academic successes. Um, we have a real focus on literacy because in theater it is not just the performance, it's the

150understanding and study and script work and history. So using uh an LWIT literacy initiative, we've engaged in active reading and writing in every single theater class we have, which has shown a 26% increase in literacy in our theater classes. Um we're hoping to partner with the ELA department in the future to work on a a joint project at the building level um to work on literacy as a whole. We've been doing some fantastic work with uh Tammy Miller, our MHS internship coordinator, who allows some of our senior students, kind of playing off of what Mr. Brandan was talking about, that real world experience, to come down to the theater department and intern and get real world trade skills and get real world production skills and learn about individualized courses of study. That has been very

151very fruitful for some of our seniors who want to move into the performing arts uh in college and past higher education. Our honor society just inducted 17 new members, which is fantastic. This is the second year of the International Thespian Society at Middleboro High School. And to qualify, our students have to have a 3.5 GPA, be an outstanding and upstanding member of the community, and they have to participate in at least two full productions, logging their production hours um for different levels of recognition. So to have 17 new members is a a great accomplishment where now these students have a a lifetime membership in a society that offers support resources, scholarships, message boards, conferences. Uh it really is a a really fantastic group. And finally, uh we are exploring um first we have an honors

152level of programming, but we are exploring a preap level with College Board right now. While they don't have a formal AP theater offering, they do have a pre-AP course guide that we have started folding into our theater two and three classes to give them that higher rigor and higher relevance and study. Uh moving from academic success to more of our production work and our afterchool work. Um we have seen fantastic growth and and I really want to thank everyone from the superintendent to the school committee to building and district administration and even Mr. Pitley next to me cuz over the last 2 years we've seen our afterchool theater program grow about 30%. We've seen a 30% growth in attendance in participation. We've grown from doing an average of three shows a year to seven. And

153three of those shows are studentdirected. Three of those, not the same three, are student written and adapted, meaning our students really have a hand in what they're doing. they are getting into the dirt and learning to farm and learning to do the theater stuff instead of just kind of passively participating. And that is if anything on this slide was important, it's that student leadership. Any program, any theater program in the state could hire a bunch of adults to come and build a set and to tell the students to stand here and say it like this. But when we have student directors and student designers and student actors learning from industry professionals, they get to take that leadership and they get to turn those transferable skills into whatever they want, whether they want to stay in

154the performing arts or go into a trade or go into finance. They can use these skills in all of those. Um, so I really want to shout out our student eboard for organizing as much work as they do. We are continuing our partnership with the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild, the MEG. Uh they are a statewide organization that offers competition, they offer scholarship, and they offer our yearly competitive theater festival. Uh this year we went to the yearly competitive theater festival and were lucky enough uh to move on to semi-finals for the first time in over a decade. So, with an amazing piece of competitive theater and two rounds of competition, uh, our students were able to interact with 14 other schools, 17 schools at each host site, 14 other schools of theater kids, of thespians,

155of fellow students like them that they may not get to see in their school community. They have each other, but to see all these different examples of fantastic artists and performances. And over those two rounds of performance, we won 15 awards for acting, for technical work, for design, for stage management. I won't go through it individually, but we have a whole list of amazing artists who who benefited from being in this competition. And finally, we just like music and the rest of the arts, we have a high focus on service and community projects in theater. Um, so I want to kind of step away from our performers who I think they get the spotlight the most. They're on stage. They're they're doing the performance and singing the songs. But our technicians, our technicians work local

156concerts. They work with local theaters. They work with dance companies. They help with Middleboro on-site rentals. We have one here now, Zoe Zates, working the soundboard for school committee. Hi, Zoe. Um, we have student artists who are painting and providing backdrops for junior prom for Las Vegas prom. And we have uh volunteers from the theater department going to the Nichols Middle School to help these kids and to not just reach down and say, "We're going to come offer service, but to be the example, to be that example that these middle schoolers can look up to and say, "Someday I want to be that kid. Someday I want to be that high schooler who comes back and helps with the Nicholls drama productions." Uh we also have a thriving partnership with a lot of other organizations

157and clubs in the high school. Um we work together for with student council on their Halloween fundraiser to do a haunted hallway using costumes and scenic elements and lighting elements to make a really fun really fun event. Uh we work with Key Club to offer bake sales and concessions as fundraisers at all of our events. We offer fundraising opportunities for all four classes of class board. And we also help facilitate with student technicians and uh young crew members during events like Mr. MHS and and other school-based occasions. And here I have a just a small sample of some of the work we've done this year. These aren't canned photos from five years ago. These are all things that have happened since September from a multitude of shows and a multitude of experiences and we just

158really wanted to highlight how hard these kids have been working and it's the opportunities that you've given us that allow them to do that. So, thank you. Thank you, Sam. So, we just wanted to give you just a little bit about what we're working on. Um, across, as you can see, there's a lot going on and our staff is working tirelessly to manage all of these opportunities. Uh, most of these opportunities require a lots of time outside the school day, as I know every teacher is, uh, all over the place, but nights, weekends, all over. It's it's a lot. Um, so that's a great thing that's happening. It's alive and well. Um, in the meantime, we're also working to strengthen our program and grow it as time goes on. And this is a lot of

159the behind-the-scenes work. We won't go too deep into the weeds here, but just a quick overview. So, next year we're up for our curriculum review with the curriculum team. So, we're working now. I'm working with Dr. Maritis and, uh, our curriculum coordinator, uh, Lii Leblanc, to set that up and get that scheduled uh, and to work on that for next year. That's one of the most critical things that we do is to review what we're doing in our school day to make sure that it's built on a really solid foundation u preparing our students for success. All these things we do after school is not magic. It's not talent by itself. It's the work that they do in the classroom. It's an outgrowth from that and and that curriculum review is crucial to that process.

160We're also working really hard to create a cohesive K through2 program. This has been a real challenge for our district over many years. Um, we used to have a fine arts director who coordinated that. Since that time, uh, and thanks to the superintendent and Dr. Maritis and our curriculum team, they've focused a lot of effort and helping the staff find ways to make this work and to coordinate across the district. And so, they've provided us time uh, in meeting time and and PD time to do a lot of this work. And it's a testament to the staff who's come together to get us to where we are right now. And that work will continue. And so we're trying to find every avenue possible to continue growth and to make sure that that growth is healthy.

161We are laser focused on student retention. This is the most critical part at least in music in particular. Uh in particular between grades five and six and between eight and nine when they transition schools. Um we are looking for every possible avenue to keep kids in the program. um it they're a natural point where a kid tries an instrument but doesn't want to continue, but we're trying to find every way to help them stay with it so that our program can grow in the in the grades as they get older. And so there's a lot of been work that's being done in that area. Obviously, always trying to find new opportunities for our students, maximizing the resources that you all and the the middle community have provided to us. Uh we had some grant funding

162last year which we invested in lots of different areas that were absolutely needed. cellos for the elementary school, uh DJ mixing equipment, theater equipment, things that we needed that we'll be able to use over and over again. And so we've been working on that, maximizing our contact time here at the high school. Everything's scheduled in their school day. U at our other grades, it's a little more of a challenge to get into the schedules. Um and so we've been working on that. I was just talking to Dr. talked tuck her about some updates with the middle school schedule uh that we're hoping to see that are going to happen going forward to create even more contact time again strengthening our program for our students. That contact time is is absolutely crucial for success for our

163students. And so that's something we're working on. We're also continuing to build community partnerships uh all over the place. One of the the new ones for next year is uh with Oak Point. So, Oak Point, uh, I had a meeting with them not too long ago, and we used to have a a concert here at Munar High School, our pops concert, which was complete with tables and food and, uh, the whole thing. And it was a a great evening. When we move when COVID came and then we moved to the new building, that concert kind of took a backseat because we used to do it in the gym at the old high school and uh, that doesn't lend itself on our beautiful new gym floor here. Uh, not quite the same way. So, we shifted

164to other opportunities. Long story short, uh Oakpoint, uh in my conversations with them really wanted to create more of a partnership with our arts program here. And so we just are excited to announce that next year we're going to have our pops concert at Oakpoint. We're going to go out there, bring our equipment, the whole thing in their ballroom, have the food, the whole the whole nine yards out there. And our theme's going to be America 250. It's the 250th anniversary. And so uh it'll be kind of a theme based on that. and more to come on that in just a second. We're also continuing to build our um relationship and our uh our program with our middlear performing arts boosters club which is newly formed and they have made a presence uh here in

165our performing arts program. They were here at the Danny Dugen Festival on Friday night and gave pins to all of our seniors in recognition of their time in our program, which is just a great gesture and we're excited to see uh that that boosters club continue to develop. And finally, just a quick uh preview for next year. We're incredibly excited to announce that we're bringing Hadestown Teen Edition to Middleboro this fall. Hades Town is one of the hit Broadway shows of the last several years. Our students had the opportunity who went our students who went to New York had the opportunity to see Hades Town on Broadway and to see their faces and their reaction coming out of that production and then a week later to find out that they're going to be doing that

166here. Uh they could not be more excited. So we're excited for that. In the fall we're working on a service project for next year with Triam and the Thespian Society, our two honor societies in the performing arts. The and we talked about America 250 at Oak Point. And then finally, our potential trip to Washington DC. Um, which is something we will talk about very soon. But, uh, part of the reason for America 250, um, is in connection with the potential trip to Washington DC. Uh, connecting kind of that type of music with our visit to our nation's capital. Um, seems to make a lot of sense. So, that's a really quick run through kind of surface level, but if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them. Any questions? Yes. Uh, can I

167get two tickets to uh America 250? Yes, you may. Thank you. Any other questions? No questions, but just thank you. You know, it's this program has uh such a connection for me. I mean, it the the program was vital for me in high school personally. Um, I absolutely have used my experience doing theater in my post theater career and being able to um take all those skills that I learned to to use them in different ways. So there really is that um ability to apply everything you learn in many many ways. Um, but it's also just been, you know, something that's been incredibly valuable for for my kids. And, um, it's just wonderful to see everything that's going into it. And, uh, you know, Superintendent Lions, I I greatly appreciate the importance that you put

168on expanding this program and continuing the program. Um, and then for all of the educators who are part of it to really have embraced that and done everything to to move it forward. Um just want to say thank you and uh I do have a question which is um you spoke about you know how many students are are coming up um you know you have 100 band students now um and 75 I think was the number for the orchestra and you did speak about how you know you want to retain as many you know students through that pipeline. Um, is there, you know, any specifics that you can give us in terms of how you're handling students that might feel frustrated early on and with their instrument and that's what's causing them to sort of

169drop the band or orchestra? Absolutely. Um, that one that's completely normal. Um, that's one of the things that we try to uh instill in our students that learning a new instrument like much like learning a new language. um success early on. There'll be some success there, but there'll also be struggles and helping them see that. Um helping them find early success is very important. And so, uh our staff down there does a great job of helping them find that early success. Um and one of the things that we do like at the Danny Dugen Festival for example, is we have all of the students on the stage. I think Jess might have mentioned that earlier. Uh so we have our first years, second years perform and then the middle schoolers in the high school and

170they can see and we do it intentionally. We don't do it for the audience. We do it for the the student sitting there so they can see the progression of where they're headed. And so every high school kid that's sitting there went through that same journey. And so it was great to see the high school kids interacting with some of the younger students and encouraging them and standing with them playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at the end. Um and all of that. We also encouraged the audience as they were sitting here uh and we've done some educational work with them um in the past as well as how to help your student through those struggles. Um when they decide they're going to practice their instrument when you're on the phone in the kitchen trying to

171make dinner and your siblings doing their homework and someone else is trying to work from home at the same time and they're practicing right in the middle of the kitchen. Uh how do you handle that without making them frustrated and sending them out to the backyard? Um so some of those strategies that seem minor but can have a huge impact. Um and so those are the some of the things that we work on. There's a lot of room for improvement there. Uh there always is and so we're working on that um with them and and doing the best we can that way. Thank you very much and great work. So with that we'll turn into the proposal for a trip to Washington DC for 2026. Great. Thank you. Um, so just very quickly, and I

172know you have this information, just want to give you a quick overview of the trip. Uh, the dates will be in March of of 2026. The reason we're coming to you now, a full year in advance, is we really wanted to give our students the summer. Uh, a lot of them are working to save money uh for the trip and things like that. And so, we wanted to get to you first. Obviously, that's part of of the process, but we wanted to get to you early so that they would have that time. Um, also the earlier we can lock in rates on a trip, the better off we are usually. So, uh, we wanted to do that. So, for this year, uh, we're not going to be competing in a competition this year. It's early

173in the season for that. Um, also, Six Flags DC is closing permanently, which has messed up a lot of the festivals down there, uh, and has caused a huge problem. So, uh, to be honest, we don't, uh, part of our approach here is not to compete every year because our our program is not about competition. That's not really it. We use competition as a means to help them grow and to prepare in a different way. Um, but in the years where we don't compete, we usually do a master class at a university uh, either with professors or or professionals in the area. Um, and those are absolutely like the most valuable thing that you can do, even more so than a festival to be honest, working with another adult. So, we're going to be doing

174a a master class at the University of Pennsylvania on our way down to DC. Um, and a little bit more about that in just a second. We'll also be doing a public performance at the on the National Mall in DC. So, uh, I had to clarify for our students that's not like the Kingston Mall. That's not that type of mall. had to give a little education on what the mall actually is. Uh we won't know the act, this is actually interesting. I didn't realize this. We won't know the actual location until 48 hours in advance. So just the way the security works in DC and availability of the monuments, but it could be in front of the Jefferson Memorial, could be in front of Lincoln, it could be in front of Washington Monument. Um we'll

175find out 48 hours ahead and then we kind of just unload and perform in public. It's also during the Cherry Blossom Festival, which is really exciting, and the 250th celebration in DC. So, that's going to be a great opportunity for our students. You can see all the places that we're planning to visit. Um, all of these different places. Uh, we do some pre-work with our students so that they kind of know where they're going and what they're going to be learning about. Uh, the Capital, Supreme Court, and White House are just exterior visits from the outside, photo opportunities. Um, to be honest, it's just too much work to clear security and takes too much time and all of that to get inside. And it's possible that on the way home, we'll stop in Philadelphia to

176see the Liberty Bell. Just we have some time on the way home. Uh, just why not knock off one more thing? So, we'll do that as well. We're also planning to see two shows while we're in DC. Sheared Madness at the Kennedy Center and then 1776 the musical at Ford Theater which was made famous of course by President Lincoln uh who attended a show at Ford Theater and just go on from there. You turn out so well. I I wasn't going to make the joke so thank you. Uh connections to the curriculum. Uh we do not just go on a mini vacation. That is not what these trips are about. uh it is really an opportunity for our students to grow and learn um educationally, musically and kind of uh in their social worlds with

177each other and strengthen the program. So our master class provides opportunity to work with another educator. Um hearing from another adult is incredibly important from another musician reinforcing the things that we are working on every day. Uh their preparation for those things is much more intense and focused and really elevates what they're trying to do. It's like preparing for a state championship. Like your just level of detail is so much different. And so uh that's just invaluable to me as an educator uh that that happens. Um we also implement the recommendations that we get when we're there and makes us a better ensemble. There's a reason the band sounded the way they did at the spring concert and part of that's from what they learned at the festival in New York. Uh the public performance

178is is very important. Um, I know some of my greatest memories from college in particular was performing in very well-known places in Europe. Um, and those memories last forever and have inspired me to partially where I am now. And then the history and civics involved in a trip, especially to DC connects what they're learning here at MBRA High School to actual locations uh that they'll be in. We do a scavenger hunt uh that they find important things so they're not just on their phones looking down constantly. They're they're learning about what they're seeing. We have a very important connection to Middbor. This room we're sitting in is named for Wayne Karen and his name is all over the place in DC and we do kind of a a scavenger hunt there as well, finding his

179name on the Vietnam wall, finding his name uh visiting his grave um at Arlington Cemetery. And so we have that important connection that we always do when we go there. And then just teaching them respect for the customs and traditions that we have like the changing of the guard and some of the other things that happen in DC. Um I always it just brings learning to life. I remember standing in front of the World War II memorial last time we were there and there's a star for every 1,000 service members who were killed in World War II. And one of my students was standing next to me and it brought to life like the sheer number, the sheer volume that they never quite understood by the number of stars that they saw in front of

180them. And just seeing little learning moments like that. Um it it's it's more important probably than anything they'll sit and read in a textbook here. And I was talking to Mr. Ozgood earlier about this today um our history department chair about just this opportunity and how great it is for them. the trip package kind of the nuts and bolts. Uh it's going to be about 1,300 per student. That number will get locked in over the summer as the trip kind of plays out. So it might fluctuate a little bit but not a lot. Uh but that's kind of where we're looking. Uh you can see what it includes there. Um one thing that was great about this year that I never done before is we had hotel security uh specifically for us. So they were

181on duty overnight. That really helped out the chaperons a lot. They literally sat in the hallway outside of our block of rooms um and really just gave us that sense of like this we're good to go here and allowed the chaperrons to sleep um and to be ready for the next day. One of the most important things about the way that the trips we run through the music program is my job as the leader of the trip is to focus on the students and the the chaperons. I don't have to worry about details of like checking into hotels, making sure they're fed and all of those things. We bring a a trip direct travel director with us who handles all of that and it really makes for a very smooth experience and we also have

182travel insurance options that are included in in that package for students um to select as well. So if you have any questions I'm happy to answer those for you. Uh any questions? Uh I just have one question is I I assume that Peg is not the chaperone. this not but I haven't seen Peg in a while. Okay. All right. Um uh I would recommend you know this is a fantastic opportunity for the music department. Uh you know make a motion to approve. Yeah. Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor? I I it's unanimous. And and just to add quickly one thing, um I as somebody whose student participated in the last music trip, um I just want to take this moment with you here to recognize how much you went above and beyond

183in planning the trip. Um, but also taking the moment to send an email out to the parents after letting us know how impressed you were with the students and and how um important that was to the success of the trip. Um, it really was a a wonderful gesture. Um, and I thank you for for doing that and for um making us know that our impression of how well the trip went was not unfounded and that it really was a very smooth trip and that it was very successful and the pictures and all of the sharing during the trip was also much appreciated. Um, so it is, you know, based on the the extraordinary success of that trip that I think I'm exceptionally happy to be able to approve this and to have it continue. So,

184thank you for everything you put into the last one and I look forward to um the success of the next one. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. And before I close my report for this evening, I just wanted to say thank you to the school committee for moving the meeting in June back a day. The reason I'm unavailable is because my daughter has her piano recital once a year and it happened to coincide with a school committee night at exactly the time we begin. So there was no way for me to squeeze that in. Uh so thank you very much. And that completes my report for tonight. Thank you very much. Uh we'll move to item number six was which is the superintendent evaluation. Jess, I'll let you uh take it

185away. Okay. So we started this at the last meeting um and then based on discussion we wanted to u mostly allow um Chris and Shannon a chance to review as um it was the first time they had had a chance to see the the document. Um I didn't hear anything uh from Chris in terms of any questions or anything between the prior meeting and now. Um I know Shannon, you had a chance to review it. Um Shannon did reach out to me. Um and so the the version I have printed in front of me, I didn't recopy it to save some paper for everybody. Um Shannon made did note that um the uh focus indicators for each of the different goals have been indicated in the table um on page three. Um but I had

186neglected to mark them off as which ones were focus indicators. um and the review of the additional section. So, thank you for um for asking about how that worked so that I could say, "Oh, I didn't make it clear to you because I missed a step." Um and that is just appreciate. Um but I just wanted to um take a quick moment um to just review the kind of the the summitive part of the evaluation once again. Um, as mentioned at the last review, um, I did want to read the, uh, summitative comment into the, you know, out loud just so that it was part of, um, the full public record of this evening and then go into any questions anyone might have. Um so as mentioned at the last session um the first step

187of the evaluation is to after each individual uh standard it has been um evaluated to then take those evaluations and bring them into a cohesive summary of the evaluation. And the first is um to assess progress towards three goals which is the professional practice goal, the student learning goal, and the district improvement goals. And those goals were set out in the superintendent um goals document that we talked about at the um beginning of the year um and those tied directly to the district improvement goals. So for each of those three goals um the summit of evaluation is that the superintendent is meeting those goals. Um and then each of the standards uh for a superintendent. So these are the standards set up by by DESIE for all superintendent across the state. Um standard one is

188instructional leadership and that one was uh gauged as proficient. Standard two is management and operations which was scored as exemplary. Standard three is family and community engagement which was also scored as proficient. And then standard four is professional culture also scored as proficient leading to an overall summitative performance evaluation of proficient. So that's kind of the the consensus of the entirety of the evaluation. And then for each of the standards, those um of us who uh fill out the evaluation have a chance to add comments for each standard, but then there is also a summitative comment that each individual person makes. And as I mentioned at the last session, I used AI to help me combine everybody's comments into one uh single comment. Um so here is what uh was gathered and then I did

189an evaluation for the overall um summitive comment. So using the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education rubric and after a thorough review of all evidence provided, Superintendent Carolyn Lions has earned an overall proficient summitive rating. Under Superintendent Lion's leadership, the district has made significant progress despite facing a challenging and emotionally charged year. She has consistently demonstrated strong leadership, especially in management and operations, cultivating a professional culture and maintaining a steadfast focus on student and staff safety. Her work in developing a balanced budget without layoffs at a time when many districts face financial strain is a notable accomplishment. Superintendent Lions has also led efforts to secure additional resources through grant opportunities to continue advancing strategic initiatives. Superintendent Lion's instructional leadership is evidenced by the expansion of the vision of the graduate initiative across all grade

190levels, the establishment of a district data team, and her focus on data-driven practices to inform decision-making. Progress is also seen in improving communication with families with the creation of the one middle initiative. Although there is recognition that continued development is needed to strengthen family engagement channels further. Internally, Superintendent Lion has built a a culture of consistent communication with the school committee and her leadership team, notably through weekly updates like the Friday Flash, regular school visits, and thorough reporting systems that keep all stakeholders informed. These efforts have reinforced a shared vision across the district. While many commendations were noted, some concerns were also expressed. There is a perceived issue of optics which may create internal and external strain. Additionally, although progress was noted in staff engagement and retention strategies, the district's human resource systems remain an

191area for further growth and cohesion, and Superintendent Lions is being asked to be on the forefront of that initiative. Overall, Superintendent Lions continues to lead the district with professionalism, high standards, resilience, and ethical integrity. even admits controversy and external pressures. Her ability to prioritize student success and safety while navigating difficulty community dynamics underscores her commitment and effectiveness as a district leader. So any questions um or additional comments? Any more discussion on this? No. Uh then the chair will entertain a motion to approve the superintendent evaluation. So moved. I have motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. It's unanimous. Thank you very much. So Carolyn, I believe this has to get officially signed by both of us, which we can do at

192the end of the meeting. Um and then um I'm happy to bring it to Ann if that's easier for you to with your current uh schedule. And um I can get it. Okay. All right. So we will get this signed at the end. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Um, and amazing work as always, Jess. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, moving on to uh items. Oh, yes. May I just I just wanted to say thank you uh for not just the evaluation, but the work that goes into it, the thoughtful comments, the areas of both growth and areas where you're happy with performance. Um, I take feedback very seriously. Um, and certainly we'll sit down this summer, go over this information, and before I draft goals, see how I can incorporate this feedback

193into the goals for the coming year. So, thank you. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to item number seven, which is subcommittee updates. There's only one on this. This is policy um for the information on communication guidelines. Again, Jess, I'll let you take it away. Yes. Um, so this is an item that we first discussed a couple months ago. um in just looking at one policy in particular that is already um within our um manual which is I believe it's K um which is our policy on public complaints. It just led me to think about not just complaints, but what's the process for asking questions and do we have guidance out there for who is the right person to go to when you have a question? Um, I know sometimes we get things to

194us on the school committee and really our only um objective is to make sure that the person gets directed to who that right person is. Um, and so in reviewing some of the uh content that's out there in other districts, I found a policy or a guideline that um was in use and I thought it might be something that was helpful for us to bring to Middbor um really just as a way to help uh families communicate to the school district in a more effective way. Uh the intent of this is that it is something that um at the beginning or right as we're going into the next school year that uh using some help from Sean Sisiano and the communications department, we could craft kind of a welcome message from the school committee as

195a whole to families coming in and you know have some kind of preamble and then share this as the school committee to the families in our district as just a guideline to help as they're starting the new school year remember what those pathways ways are to help them connect with the right person to get their questions answered um as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Um so the beginning of this document um I did not put it onto I don't even know how to put it onto a presentation for the way we share things here. Um but if anybody is interested if this is um approved obviously I would be happy to share it in advance with anybody who uh wanted to email to to see. Um we did discuss this in a subcommittee meeting

196and we did have um representative from the community there at the time. Um but we're calling it the Middleboro Public Schools strengthening school family partnerships communication guidelines. Uh there's a little preamble just noting that although no member of the community will be denied the right to bring their concerns to the school committee, the committee believes that concerns are best handled and resolved as close to their origin as possible and that the professional staff should be given every opportunity to consider the issues and attempt the resolve the current prior the concern prior to involvement by the committee. That is also directly from some of our our manual and our our policy guidelines. Uh we do have three requests for productive and respectful communication. One is that patience is um appreciated and just noting that there can

197be turnaround time. You know, sometimes people can't get to their emails right away. Having 48 hours of business time to respond is um appreciated, but also stressing if it is an immediate issue related to safety, please call and contact someone immediately. Um we are asking that everybody assume positive intentions. Nobody is intentionally doing something to harm anyone and that we hope that we can approach um questions and concerns from both perspectives assuming that everybody's coming into this with looking at um student first. What's the benefit? And um going coming into those communications with mutual trust and respect. Um and then also just understanding confidential confidentiality requirements. Um sometimes there's only so much that can be shared and um we do hope that that is something that can be um understood. Um we did work with

198um Sean to centralize where all the student handbooks are posted on the website. So in this communication guidelines, we can have a link to the student handbook's web page so that it's easy to find all of those in one place. Um and to um un if you want to look for that information about um any types of accountability measures per school guidance, you can easily get to there from here. Um and then we I just have a list of who to connect with in each instance. And you know, it's not necessarily a um comprehensive list, but it is a guide to just help you try to go to the right person. Um when in doubt, start with the teacher. Hopefully, if the teacher isn't the one to know, the teacher can at least get you

199to the right next person. Um so there's a list of uh the types of things that is beneficial to connect with the teacher directly about a school counselor um a student's coach or club advisor and thanks to mix moer for mentioning that after we discussed it the first time that you know that's another direct point of contact where the teacher may not be able to help you. You want to go to that coach or club adviser. Um, thanks to a review uh that Carolyn did with her executive team, we've added a section specific to special education coordinators because again sometimes they're the right person to connect with directly. Um and then on to the principal or assistant principles and noting that if you speak with a teacher, counselor, coach, adviser or special education quarter uh

200coordinator and you need further discussion that it is appropriate to go to the principal or assistant principal in that instance. But there's also schoolwide uh items that the principal may be your best first step. um district department staff also could be the right people to um go to. So that is another step if you have further discussion after you connect with the principal. There's some of the department directors or the departments that may be able to assist. So, questions for student services, special education, curriculum and instruction, and we made sure to note that um that's also a good place to go for multil- language learning questions because um if you just have a general question about that program in the district, you may not be aware that going to the curriculum and instruction department is

201the right place to start. Um questions about homeschooling, you can go right to the curriculum and instruction department as well. um health services, food services, transportation, facilities, district communications, and then a central registration. Um direct questions can go there. Um in going through this list with uh Superintendent Lions, I did request that we take an evaluation on the website of our district departments and making sure that it's clearer on the website which departments or how to get to each of these points on this communication. So, you can go to that and be able to say, "Oh, here's where I click for health services or here's where I go for facilities questions." Um, because some of them are are it's the same department that responds to certain things, but we don't have a specific listing for

202district communications. We only have one for technology. So, even if they go to the same page, at least breaking it down. So, again, you can get to hear from there. Um and then again um there's just a general statement that if there are personnel matters dealing with department staff or coordinators, you can go to those department directors uh with those questions. um connecting with the superintendent if you have topics um that either the building principal or the district department directors you've discussed with and you want to have that additional conversation and then uh personnel matters dealing with those um direct reports also for the superintendent and then just a section for um connecting with the school committee directly noting that if you do have questions directly about our goals budget policy community communications um that

203you can come directly to the school committee. Um, we do need to be aware in our responses that, you know, I think this is one of the things that, uh, Zeke wants us to, um, have a workshop on with some MASC guidance this summer is how to manage the one email to all of us and how can we make sure that things are responded to, but having it be a cohesive process instead of it being disjointed. Um, and then also just in general, if you followed the guidelines, but you still want more discussion, we're here. And then personnel matters involving the superintendent, we're obviously the right step. And then at the end, um, I do have a direct link to the online staff directory, um, the district listing, and that's where we're hopefully have some

204additional updates, and then a listing directly to the school committees page. and at the end if you have any spec if you have questions on the specifics about the public complaints policy a link to the section where that is in the policy manual. Now obviously before this would go out um in case any updates to the web pages have been found we cross-check all of these links and make sure that they're appropriate before anything went out in the August September time frame. Um, so I just like to start by um just asking if anybody has any thoughts or feedback on this um guideline that you'd like to share. Obviously, we've we've received a lot of great feedback from um you know staff and educators in the district that we've incorporated. Um I made a lot

205of changes um with the help of the subcommittee. Um, so now hopefully it's ready for further discussion. Um, I have no other comments other than the ones that I had made during our um, subcommittee which feel like such a long time ago. It was um, but this is really well put together and I I appreciate everything that's in here. I think everything is um, very poignant and it gets the point gets the point across. It's great. Yeah, I think I when I read through it earlier today, I think it's just going to be a really good resource for parents to have that kind of cheat sheet of like, okay, who do I go to with this question, you know, not necessarily jump right to the top of the list, but maybe kind of start and

206work your way up. So, great. Um, that's wonderful to hear. Thank you for that. Um, because that really is the goal is just to to help with where's the right place to start. Um, and obviously as a guideline, it doesn't have to go through the three reads like our policy. So, if something comes up over the summer and we say, "Hey, let's tweak this." um, you know, maybe we want to put something in here about just, you know, we've got the transportation department, but maybe we just thinking about it now. We want to put something in here more specific to bus issues and where to go with that. Um, we can make adaptations and and review again before we send anything out this summer or I think monitoring the parents. I mean, I'm still a

207member of all four. I mean, I don't have any kids in HB and MKG anymore, but I stayed on the boards just to kind of get a pulse on like what's going on. And that's a common question, right? Is like, who do I reach out to for this? Like, who's this email address? Or, you know, I'm I'm not sure if it's a navigation issue that some parents might have on the website if it's just not clear. Um, and they tend to get multiple responses, but just knowing ahead of time might stop a lot of those those questions. Yeah. And I think this is this guideline is something that we can post on the district website as well under the school committee list uh school committee section and then potentially under the communications department listing. So

208even if all you can do is find this and this helps you find the other things then then hopefully we'll have that out there as well. Um but great. So, if there aren't any specific questions, um you know, I think all I'm asking for is just approval for this to be um what we start with and that uh as we do our summer meetings, we can look at crafting the message that we want to use sending this out and so we have a you know a place to start. Chair will uh entertain a motion. Motion to approve as presented. Uh I have a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Um, all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. It's unanimous. And just to note, I did um reach out to Sue since

209she was on the subcommittee with all of the updates that came out of the review by the um the executive team and made sure she had a chance to review and she didn't have any additional questions. So, I did make sure that she had a chance to look at it as member of the subcommittee. Um, all right. Uh, moving on to item number eight, which is, uh, the consent agenda. Uh, chair will enter to maintain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Uh, motion is second on the table. Uh, all those in favor, I I uh, all those opposed. It's unanimous. Thank you very much. Um and the action items that we've all gone through uh school choice. Can I just

210ask quickly um just in recognition because they are donations if you could just read them allow. So the donations to Middlebar High School are as follows. Number one uh Crutchfield signs to the my lab. Uh two Jefferson Association to my lab and three Ohio pile. So thank you very much. Um nine is the action items that we've already accomplished. And then uh 10 is theformational um it's fundraiser to John T. Nichols Middle School um for PTA the tattoo the teacher. Um and item number 11. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. A motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed it's unanimous. Thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you. Nice work, Jason.