001All right. >> How many of us are going to touch the screen? >> I know, right? >> Excellent. Okay. Call the September 29th, 2025 school committee meeting to order. here tonight. It is 6:01 p.m. Uh, the Situate School Committee meeting is committed to providing Oops, sorry. We need to do a roll call vote. We have Miss Limblam remote. Limblam, >> yes. >> We'll go this way, I guess, tonight. Uh, Fenwick, >> yes. Randolini, yes. Gates, >> yes. >> And yes. Okay. Um, the Suit School Committee is committed to providing an environment of respect during meetings. We ask all members to interact in a polite manner even when there is disagreement. We value the participation of our community and want all participants, including marginalized and minoritized communities, to feel welcomed and respected. We ask our committee
002members and all who participate to commit to these standards to support and respect our community. All right, begin tonight with public comment. Anyone in person like to make any public comments, please feel free to come to the microphone. Anyone remotely, please raise a hand. Okay, not seeing anyone in either space. Let us move on with our student report. >> All right, >> thank you. >> We are up. Uh well, our fall athletic season is underway with 55% of the students participating in a fall sport. Um our golf team is 12- one, girls cross country is 1-1, girls field hockey is seven and three with one tie. Boys soccer is 4-3 and our football team is undefeated 3-0. Uh Situit High School is implementing our new MTSS initiative. administration is going to use wind and sailor
003block to help support the atrisisk students identified through our MTSS process. Situate High School met with their mentor group on Wednesday to plan leadership roles for the upcoming 2025 2026 school year. One of our goals is to help support incoming freshman students. Once again, Situit High School Select Choir has been invited to sing the national anthem at the opening of the annual convention of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police. This event is held in Hyannis on Thursday, September 18th. Uh, Situate High School was recognized by Special Olympics of Massachusetts as the unified champion school. Thank you to Mr. Payne, Miss Nyberg, the coaching staff, and all of our unified sports athletes for this great honor. Situate High School would like to congratulate the following students for being entered in the National Merit Scholarship Program. students are
004chosen for receiving a high score in the National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. Uh so congratulations to William Kaplan, Cole Levens, Maline Poppish, and Wesley Roberts. Uh for guidance news, the SHS school counseling department will host a presentation for parents and caregivers of collegebound seniors on Tuesday, September 30th at 6 PM in the library. Counselors will discuss the nuts and bolts of college of the college application process including uh an overview of score, our college submission portal and the common app. This event is for parents and caregivers. Uh counselors will present more specific information to the students through the school day workshops this week of September 15th and in individual meetings as well. uh financial aid night. The SHS school counseling department will host an aid presentation for 9th through 12th graders, uh parents and caregivers
005on Tuesday, October 28th, uh at 6 in the Performing Arts Center. While the information is geared towards senior families applying for financial aid this year, all grades are encouraged to attend. Uh this event will not be recorded. Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and National Merit Honor uh Scholarship Qualifying Test for the PSAT uh will be administered at SHS on Tuesday, October 28th for all 10th graders and Wednesday, October 29th for 11th graders during the school day. All 10th graders will take the PSAT free of charge and 11th graders must submit payment online to register by Wednesday, October 15th at 5:00 pm. Thank you. Thank you very much. Committee members have any questions or comments or thoughts for student rep tonight? >> Um I hate to put you on the spot. >> I do too. I don't
006want to put you on the spot, but we want >> No. Um I saw the sign out there that SATs are going to be held at situ October 4th. Can you just give a little bit I don't know if you know anything about that, but like um what's my question? when would students who want to take that sign up for that because it's very difficult to find local testing facilities? So, could you give a little bit your experience particularly and kind of what you know about the for Yeah, sure. So, usually signing up for the SAT um like you said it's kind of hard to find seats. Um but kids are always kind of dropping out and new seats are always available. So, I would say if anyone wants to sign up, um, just be
007vigilant about like check checking your email, uh, because they send notifications that seats open up all the time. But otherwise, I'd say just really try and get ahead of it. >> Like, if you wanted to take it, October 4th, when would you realistically had a sign up? Last spring. >> Spring, maybe. Maybe August. Um, >> yeah, probably August, I'd say, or October. >> And are you taking it on the fourth? >> Uh, I'm not. No, I'm not taking any more tests. >> Good for you. >> And there's no way. No, that's fine. That's great. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Good stuff. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh, all right. So, new, next up, we have uh new business. We have uh principal Bey an update on the new gates schedule. All right. Well, thank
008you for having me tonight. Uh, I am excited to provide the committee with an update on the gate schedule that was implemented this year. Uh, I have some slides that will guide my talking points. Uh but just in thinking about schedules uh for the last two years uh as part of our school improvement plan we've started to look at some of the structures that we have in place um and kind of figure out what's the relationship between the structures we have and academic achievement academic growth. And one important piece to that in addition to things like curriculum and instruction is the actual how we are using the day to provide students with opportunities to learn and to grow. Uh so for the past two years our instructional leadership team and our school council have looked
009at kind of various data sources and what we agreed upon kind of coming into the start of last school year as we started talking about schedule models was on three very specific goals. So, our goals uh were I do know them. I just want to make sure I'm just trying to keep There you go. Very good. Um so, all the groups whether it be the uh instructional leadership team or our school council, our big goal was to improve academic outcomes for all students. Uh everyone was to agreement that that should be our priority as we look at a new schedule. We wanted to allow for more uh flexible intervention and enrichment for all students. Uh and we noticed that in our previous schedule there was an inequity uh for students who were participating in our
010band and chorus ensembles uh in terms of accessing support throughout the school day. So those were our three goals for design something that helps us to move forward in these particular goals. Uh our process was we read uh we did a book study as a school. Uh it was called in support of students a leader guide to equitable MTSS. It was published in the last two years by one of the MTSS gurus. And there's a large section of that talking about not just the process of MTSS but using time in school to provide students with what they need. So that provided a lot of opportunity for us to look at current research as well as kind of debate and have good conversation around um things that apply to our our building and our students. As
011part of this process, we also looked at a lot of data. We looked at our MCCAST data. We looked at our benchmarking data. We looked at our Lexile levels, which we uh received last year. We looked at our pair information. We looked at participation rates. We looked at our staffing knowing that we wanted uh a schedule that would not require us to add additional staff uh or to lose any of our staff. So, we wanted to maintain that staffing level. We visited several schools in the area. So, all of our elementary schools um which have a version of kind of a support block. We visited Pemrook Middle School, Whitman Middle School, and Cohasset Middle School. All of which have a block during the day to provide students with academic support or enrichment. Finally, our team
012uh both the school council and the instructional leadership designed several models um and as a faculty and some student groups we provided input. We talked about the pros and cons of each model uh we put one forward uh it was adopted uh in terms of a vote by our staff um and then this is the year of implementation. So that's just what led to it and how it was designed. Uh for people who like grids, this is what a schedule looks like. Um and I explain kind of on the next slide how this differs from uh the schedule we have had in the past. So big new features with this schedule is we have shorter core subject blocks. Um last year all of our classes were 63 minutes. This year they're all 45. A difference
013with this is is that our core classes are now meeting five days a week instead of four. Um, so five times 45 as opposed to four time 60. Um, and in all of the research we've done, consistency is good for kids at this uh at this age level. And in terms of developmentally appropriate time for students to receive instruction, 45 minutes is a better number than the 63 minutes. Uh, in this model, our specials block, students still get access to their specials, uh, but they are on a rotating basis. So instead of having engineering for six weeks straight, they take engineering and music over the course of 12 weeks on a every other day model. With this particular schedule that we have this year, band and chorus have become classes. So they are no longer
014uh special things that uh don't fit into our schedule anywhere. Um what this means is that uh students are opting to take band and chorus as their electives and so they are prioritized over some of the other specials we have. We're lucky at Gates because all of our specials classes are offered two years. So there's a sixth grade version and a seventh grade version or a seventh and an eighth. So what that allows us to do is to say you're taking band and you miss out on steam in sixth grade. we're going to prioritize your schedule so that in seventh grade you get access to uh steam. So that has worked out well. Um in this model students all students have a dedicated flex time and during a flex block they have access to extra
015help. They can do their homework. They can work collaboratively. They can uh you know work together on different things. They are in uh in control of their own time. Um and then every student also has a wind walk uh which happens three days a week for 20 minutes and that is when they get targeted support uh or enrichment in a specific area based on data that we have collected. Uh in this new schedule we also maintained our monthly advisory period to promote social emotional uh learning efforts and we have reimagined how we're doing interestbased clubs because the feedback was very clear from students that like this was an important part of their schedule. So, we still have it. Um, it's the ultimately a week-long celebration after a series of wind blocks. So, we're going to
016work very hard on becoming more literate and then we're going to run around uh for a week and then we'll go back to math and things like that. So, uh that those are kind of the big key features of uh of our new schedule. On the next slide, uh we talk or I talk a little bit about um what wind block at, uh Gates Middle School looks like and is going to look like. This will be a 20 minute block where students are assigned to a very specific group based on a specific area of need where they either need support or acceleration. Um every student we recognize has different learning needs. every student uh will be in a very small group uh most likely one to eight one faculty member to eight students um and
017it's going to allow us to take a specific area of need in this first round we're doing literacy and math literacy in terms of vocabulary acquisition uh and uh supporting main idea and supporting details reading comprehension as well as very targeted areas in math. These will run for about six weeks. Uh after six weeks, we will assess to see the progress our students made and then we will reshuffle and go into um kind of the next phase. Um this is not a free period. Uh students don't you know do their homework during this. They don't they are getting targeted instruction. Every student whether they are at risk of of not doing well or if they are already exceeding the expectations, they will continue to be pushed. Um we've spent the beginning of the year collecting
018data from our benchmark assessment. So we haven't started our academic um windblocks yet. We've done what we call a boot camp where kids have learned things like how to check library books out online, how to access their counselor, what our expectations are for technology use. We've gone over the handbook, we've done bullying. So, we've set a tone that this 20-minut period with small groups of students and a teacher are used to kind of help us to get on the same page with things. So, we're excited and we don't think the transition to an academic uh kind of boot not boot camp, academic win experience is going to be that much of an adjustment for kids because we've set that tone um that this is how we use this time. And um this compared to the
019flex block where it is free choice and then things like that uh is going to allow us to kind of balance kids need need for uh autonomy and independence and time to do things versus we as the adults looking at data and saying here's how we're going to move that needle in this particular area that we care about a lot. Um, so just to wrap up, I think our kind of next steps are, um, with this new schedule, teachers are working really hard to adjust their curriculum and instruction. Moving from a 60-minute block to a 45 might not seem like a lot, but it's a lot. Um, and they have to make some changes to that. We recognize that if we strengthen our tier one instructional approaches, meaning what happens in a classroom, less kids
020are going to need support and intervention. So we remain committed to kind of really building tier one good tier one strategies. In terms of feedback, um we have intentionally not asked for feedback yet because it's too early. Um so we are going to after the first round of wind blocks collect feedback from students uh staff and families. Um and ultimately the proof will be in the data of if our kids are growing then this is working. um if we survey right now and said you know students would you prefer to have five days of free choice or I I I don't know if the answer is what they would be but I think the data is going to help us to determine uh is this working and then what do we need to continue doing
021and of course with any schedule um I this is my sixth year at gates every single year there have been adjustments so we are you know constantly saying how can we improve this given our circumstances for the year the number of kids we have the number of staff we have. So, uh we are will by the end of this year make recommendations for the following year for modifications. So, that is a big overview. Um I will say it to me that feedback I am getting from students um and staff is I'm not hearing much in terms of concerns. At first the day one and day two was confusing but kids have adjusted and we have signs now. um it's helpful, but uh that ultimately we we're excited to get the feedback back as much as
022we are to see the data come out. >> Thank you so much for for coming in September even give us an initial >> yes feedback from how you're seeing it from your >> perspective as leader of the building. Thanks, Principal Bey. Nice to see you. Um, just two quick questions. I was looking at the schedule and it looks like the flex time is Mondays and Fridays. Is that for everybody? >> Yes. >> And can you just talk a little bit about like why Mondays and Fridays? >> Sure. So, uh, what we we went back and forth because that can switch at any point. Uh but we went back and forth and said if we really want to build momentum in these wing groups having three days of consistent kind of and instead of having three
023different lessons they're 20 minute chunks having them kind of three days in a row. That is my prediction. My prediction is going to be that the student uh input when we survey is going to say we would like our flex blocks kind of scattered throughout and that's valid feedback. And I have a feeling that could very well be a win for students when they share that with us because right now as the year is getting started and expectations, you know, kids are learning the expectations of the grade level and assignments are hit or miss and we're not necessarily in full gear yet. Um I have a prediction come second trimester that's when things and that can be a very easy shift for us. um and we'll see if the momentum if having three days of
024wood block in a row is getting us the results that we want. So I predict that's going to be and that's a piece of feedback I've heard. Um and honestly that's a very easy thing to do and if that's a win for students and they can still maintain focus. Um I'd love to be able to do that. >> Yeah, that'll even be a good natural experiment, right? To have some good data for both models to see. So I love that. The other question is just more I think it's language and curiosity. So the dedicated monthly advisory period for community building and SEAL when I hear advisory I think planning for I know they're in middle school but they're planning for high school. We're getting emails about Southshore Botech and so I'm just wondering is it
025like a mixing of things in that space or can you just talk to that? Yeah. So I think um the goal of our advisory program um is for students to build community with other students but also to develop a relationship with adults and it's it's a combination of academic community building. Um it's kind of that like home base type thing. Uh we used to have it every other week. Uh, and the feedback was we value the time, but we also if we're going to be doing windblocks, I'm going to become connected to this teacher that's incredible me because I have a very small group of people. So, it's a combination of of everything. Uh, but this is where we implement our second step curriculum um to give students with, you know, different opportunities to team
026build, to learn how to challenge each other respectfully. Um, so I would say it's a combination, but it's not just a like let's give a PowerPoint and share news. It's it's definitely I would say targeting um teamwork, collaboration, increased responsibility on those types of things. >> So the so the traditional advising support is happening outside of that period. I would say um our school counselors, every grade has a different school counselor um and they push into the PE and our classes to do a lot of the like career pieces and the FEA pathways and the um you know the if students are interested in exploring alternative places for high school like that gets pushed in more by the school counselor into art or PE which are the specials that kids have all year. >> Okay.
027And that do you feel like that's sufficient? Like do you feel like it's working? >> Yeah, I mean I I I think it is. Um and I think it is because we've kind of adjusted the time our school c all of our school counselors teach lessons. Um so instead of just relying on students to visit the counseling office when they want to, it's really more of a tier one. everyone's getting something and then if they want additional advising or encouragement um the coun the counselor follows up. So I think it's I think it's working. Um but always more questions. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. >> Um thank you so much. I thought that was a really helpful presentation and you preempted a lot of my questions. Um I was just curious if you could put a
028little more meat on the bones of what IBC is going to look like. you may not know that still be in development, but I feel like that is one of the features that kids really love and families are excited about. So, I'm just curious if you >> So, um, as we rotate through six week sessions of wind block, the seventh week is always going to be a week of IBC. So, we're getting rid of flex block, we're getting rid of windblock and doing five days of um interestbased clubs, which is the same time frame, 20 minutes. Um, so five days of an interest. So, there are going to be some shifts in that, like you can't go play roller hockey um in 20 minutes. But what we've done is we've sent a survey out to
029students saying, you know, giving some basic information. IBC's are going to happen five times this year. They're going to be for 20 minutes, five days a week. What are some activities you would be interested in doing um or collecting ideas? And >> kids are coming up with better ideas than we have. Um and we'll do the same with staff, you know, in the sense of connecting students and staff together. But um so one session will be in November, one will be in January one. So um and that way they actually can do more than one IPC2 because that was also a piece of feedback of I want to do them all, but >> Right. >> Yes. >> And will they still mix grades? >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. That's nice. You're still really keeping a
030lot of the same elements. >> Yes. it it'll look different but those elements that you know really have worked and been beneficial to students I feel like we've been able to >> capture it. >> Thank you. >> Um I just have one question. I know that one of the reasons for the schedule change was as you mentioned abandoned chorus. I would be curious as we collect the data at the end of the year to see or maybe it's a couple years to see if the uh participation in those band and course increases or is maintained or decreased. I would expect that it would increase maybe some of those fringe kids I'm not going to do it because I need extra help. Yes, >> but that would be one of the benefits that would I guess
031we dual benefit of of implementing this schedule >> and we're very interested in that as well because we collected that data over the last couple years and >> when a student does an exit interview um the music program sometimes you know we don't know why this will be kind of a clean cut of this changed many of our students who ended up leaving the music ensembles was because they needed to prioritize academics. So, this provides both. I know our sixth graders who have never experienced any other schedule before. We have 82 of them in our band right now, and that's more than we've had for a long time. Um, and seventh and eighth, we did not lose many this year as much as we had in the past. I don't have the exact numbers, but
032I would say we are anticipating seeing more students involved now that there is dedicated time during the day where they don't need to sacrifice um their academics as well. That's great. >> That's great. >> And sorry it wasn't around when >> I know, >> you know, it's a couple years late, but it's >> Well, I appreciate your efforts on all that. Yeah. And I just have a qu not really question maybe but um just curious to see as you get more data next year this year just about that sort of the um more of the accelerated side of things too and we as we dig into more of that and just some of that differentiated instruction that'll be offered to students and what that will look like with some of the data and then to
033bring that back to us and to Dr. Rab and Mr. Lynch and to see what what you need in terms of what teachers are saying and what feedback you're getting at all levels. Just what instruction will look like and what what materials you think the district will need and what you know what that kind of looks like for you know just our district in general. What what we you know what you can bring back to us that how we can support the district better for what kids need to learn more effectively and efficiently. >> That's great. Um, you know, just curious what >> what materials support our learners more from that. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Well, thank you for having me. >> Thank you. All right, have a few.
034Oh, Janice, sorry. >> You can unmute yourself if you have anything to add. I just want I mean I would just >> just add that I love that the band and chorus are part of the schedule and because I know historically the kids in band and chorus always had to make a choice between getting extra help or going to the band or chorus. So I love that. Yes, absolutely. Right. Next up we have Mr. Baky. We have a ducka field trip. >> Hi. >> Hello again. >> Uh I'm Ross Mack. I'm here to deliver the information about the upcoming um DECA district competition. Thank you um chairperson Brandolini and Superintendent Rab and um this is superintendent Lynch. Um so this is our 18th year as a chapter member of um the international organization uh which
035is DECA and DECA is a business marketing um club for students um within their high schools right um and again we've been a chapter for 18 years now and there's a lot of different things that DECA offers for students uh one of the unique things is um having a district competition which um our district consists of 15 local schools um in and around this area. Um and it gives the students the opportunity to be able to choose uh many different business categories um that they would like to compete in. Um and um the students have the opportunity to choose the category. I think I gave you Do you guys have a list? Okay. Um so on that list that I provided for you um you can see there's a list of it's everything from accounting
036to business law to human resource to um food service, sports marketing, entrepreneurship, apparel and accessories um travel and tourism. There's a whole litany of list um that the ch students can choose from um based on whatever interest they have for a businessc career path. Um the students would then uh choose the category. They can either compete individually or they can partner up with somebody. Um there's prep sessions that we'll do um beginning in November into December. And then our district competition this year is going to be at the Marriott Quinsey um on January 8th and 9th. We just finalized um in negotiations those dates with the Marriott. still in negotiation with like um the per student cost um and a lot of that's going to work out to um what they were able to accommodate
037us for uh meals and such. So, but the dates are locked in um at this point um for that competition. The other avenue that students can compete in at the district um conference is relatively new this year. It was new last year um it's been modified this year is uh written business projects. So, specifically within our DECA marketing class, um they are working on year-long business project initiatives um where pretty much it's um it's in essence it's what you don't see on Shark Tank, right? So, if you've ever seen this the show Shark Tank um students are presenting their entrepreneurial um business ideas, but it's all the work that goes into it. It's the building of the business plan. It's the idea generation. Um so a lot of those students are working through that now
038within our first few weeks of this class. Um and we've got some really exciting um you know students this year with different projects. We have two projects actually or two students that are working uh with town hall. They're acquiring a business certificate or business license to validate their business. Um so they'll be in a business growth plan uh project which they'll be taking to districts. Um the competition consists of if it's a written project, you would present your written project to a judge. Um if it's one of the individuals or team events that I have provided for you, the list there um they'll take a 100 question exam um within their business category fields and then there's two case study role plays that they'll problem solve at the actual conference and then present to a
039judge for scoring. um the top five in all of the categories. Um we'll move on to the state competition which this year is at the um it's at the Seapport in Boston again this year. Um historically it's always been at the Hines Hines Convention Center. Um but the Hines is under construction and I think we're looking at move back in there within the next year or two uh once they open up. But currently we're at the Seapport. Um the Seapport was great for us last year. Um um and we're there March 12th through the 14th. um the top three students that qualif top four students that qualify from states um within their respective category would then move on to the final which is the international competition and this year that's um April 25th through the
04029th and that's in Atlanta, Georgia. Um I do not have any hotel um accommodations for either the seapport yet. Um they're still working through that but um but I just wanted to provide that information um for you as well. >> So initially this is just for The Quincy Marott. >> Yes, this is for the Quincy Marriott. The others are appendic [Music] competition. Uh, I'll make a motion that school committee vote to approve the interstate field trip to the DECA competition in Quinsey, Massachusetts on Jan January 8th to January 9th, 2026 as presented. >> I'll second by calls. >> Yes. >> Gates, >> yes. >> Randolini, yes. Yes. and Lindlanc. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> For clarification, if um >> knowing the strength of our DECA team and programming, if uh the team would qualify for
041the overnight trips to um and advancing the competition, would it be the committee's preference that uh Mr. Mackey return or that there be a write up of the details for Georgia or wherever else? And then after hearing all the background, would that um suffice for the committee to approve the trip if there's a a write up or how would we like to handle the additional pieces? >> Um they usually go every year and are strong competitors. I'm I'm more comfortable with them going forward with the planning. Yes, >> if the comm. >> Great. So I'll work with Mr. Mackey to get the specific details if if it pleases with the committee and then we'll I'll present that to you so you have all the details in line with the policy to make sure that >>
042you can check on chaperones and how many days would be missed and things like that and then um sounds like we you've heard all the background and are familiar with it. So that would be great. >> I never know how much to tell you guys about this because I feel like it's but I figured I just give it all to you and then you guys >> No, appreciate it. We appreciate just knowing because it's exciting and the kids and you work so hard on it all and everybody's >> fantastic and strong and it's >> it's great to hear all >> Yeah, our numbers were Yeah, our numbers were the biggest they've ever been last year. So, um >> um we had typically so we've had four the year before qualify for the district the international
043competition. This past year we had eight uh which is the most we've ever had before. Um you know which is a relatively large number considering our our school size compared to others that qualify. So yeah we had some great success last year and um you know my fingers crossed we have the same success again. So >> I think it's it's just fantastic. I have a lot of UN friends here too and all that our students do. I mean our student reps everything. It's like just in addition to the school work and that everyone's doing that all these students and the work that you all do as teachers, you're also doing all of these other things with our kids and the students are doing that too. I mean, you're writing papers and like you said, they're
044>> taking on 100 question, you know, competitions and writing these business plans in addition to their schoolwork and taking the SATs and these are just >> massive above and beyond. So the more we hear and the community can know that these exceptional humans are amongst us is just >> yeah love it. >> I would uh miss I would just say I know that last year we talked a little about just having an overview of all the other field trips and someone that we that are kind of have already been approved just so we can >> I think it's easier to see it visually. >> Yes. >> Because I don't know what and I'm sure you probably know the dates of the other conferences. Yes. So that might help us so we can view and see
045how many days kids are missing and teachers and that sort of stuff just so we can visualize. >> We also talked about updating form >> right even just for our book like bookkeeping just so you know it's more of a safety just for our like >> did you approve it? Did you see it or you know >> some kind of tracker? >> Yeah tracker but also an updated form. >> Well we just gave it a head nod that time back in September. It would make it easier to see like reminding us of the academic purpose of the trip and how many days of school are best, you know, the current form is just a little choppy. It looks like it's been added to over time since like 1993. So >> I think it was also
046like how I think for us it was also like how many staff >> staff's going to be out for a week. We know that we generally just I generally think oh the cing out for a week or whatever it is, but then I'm like yeah it actually takes staff too and how that impacts the students that aren't on that trip. and we historically haven't had an issue approving that, but I think it's just helpful to know. >> Yeah. We have a track we have a tracker that identifies um where students are, which trip is out. There's a link to the specific form that was approved. So, if the committee needs it, we could always add that to the folder. I'm not sure it's something that everybody needs to see, but for the for you to
047be able to just know, but that is something we keep in central office. So we just know because sometimes we have students in multiple countries and we need to know where everybody is >> just for safety reasons. It should be really easily accessible to know yes we approved this on this date. This was who was there. These are the exact dates, times, locations, you know, >> but even like that current form doesn't tell you what day of the week, right? >> It is. And so it's like you got to look go look go look go look go look go look go the calendar or look at the month and figure out what is the day and how many days is it right? Got it. just for clarity. >> But the big picture details, >> this
048has nothing to do with that. >> Sorry, clerical kind of >> procedural versus trip competition details. >> Great. Perfect. Well, thank you. >> Thanks guys. Appreciate it. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. All right. Model UN. Okay. >> I'm Heather Willinger and >> I'm Kelly Troyers. >> Um we're the adviserss for Model UN and we're back here again to talk about our upcoming conferences this year. Um we have two conferences that we're planning on going to. One um in Montreal, Canada, which we've been to before at um McGill University. Um and the second in uh excuse me March at uh the Washington area model United Nations conference through George Washington University. Um I know we are delayed in coming to you for the first um for the first trip. We had a few snags along
049the way. There was some new paperwork that people didn't have and it didn't quite the process wasn't quite as smooth as it had been in the past. we actually um had planned to come before you for another conference um but by the time we got the paperwork back that conference had been filled. So then we bumped to a different conference and so at this point we're here even though we're a little bit late to the late to the game. Um this particular conference um goes from November 12th to the 16th. Um it's a pretty competitive conference um where there are kids coming again from all over the world to participate in this. We actually just had um a try out the other day um and I think I had said 70 earlier. I think we
050had 78 students that tried out for the model UN program. Um, and we will likely only be able to take about 45 to 50. Um, just based on the size of the bus that we're planning on taking. Um, so we're looking to take 45 to 50 students. Um, with that we'll take five chaperones. Um, myself and um and Miss Treers. Um, and then three additional chaperones as well. Um students will miss three days of classes. Um the Wednesday for travel um and then the conference starts on Thursday. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday um will be there. Um our plan, we did look into flights. The flights were not cost-effective. So um we are going to plan to take a coach bus. We're still waiting to figure out exactly what um bus line and details there.
051Um once we you know for approve we'll go ahead and and make those arrangements. Um the conference host is Miguel University. The accommodations is um at the Sheridan in Montreal. We've been there before. It's quite a nice hotel um to be in. Um right now because we don't exactly know what our transportation is going to look like, we're estimating based on things in the past around $1,000. Um I think in the past when we've gone it's been about $800 but $800 to about a thousand. Um we've done a little bit of fundraising. They do offer financial aid for this conference as well. So hopefully we can get um you know some help for a few of the students that may need some additional assistance. Do you want me to go on to the second one
052or do you want to ask questions now? Go on. Go right ahead. You want to do the second one? >> Yeah. You say um so the second conference we're looking to go to DC. Um it's also host hosted by George Washington University. So we've done this one before as well. It was a pretty rigorous conference and this one definitely had some international participants which I think the students really enjoyed. It was one of their favorite parts of Switzerland last year. Um and so it's definitely not the same as Europe but somewhat in that sense giving them that there. Um we're thinking again between 40 and 45 students. We are looking to fly for this one. We found in the past flights were pretty cost effective especially when we booked them earlier opposed to later. Um
053we're planning on taking five shot drones again even though it's 40 to 45 especially with flying. We found it's better to have to air on the side of caution with one more if possible than just the bare minimum. Um we don't have details yet on the conference lodging because it is pretty far out, but in the past they offered hotels that they had plans with and we just chose when we went two years ago kind of the one in the closest friendly area the kids could explore and stuff like that. Um, I was just wondering if we still, this is a question for you, Dr. Rob, still have that line item in our budget that students can access if needed to support defraging costs, which we do. Okay. And do you have a sense of
054whether that was exhausted last year? >> No, it wasn't. >> It was not. Okay. >> And do you feel like that's accessible to you? um organizers. >> I actually don't know how to access it. >> So, I think that would be helpful to be able because we've gone through community, you know, um uh community Christmas >> and they've been incredibly generous, but there's a certain cap, right, of of how much they can can afford to give to students when there's so much other need out there. >> Um and so that can be really challenging. So, >> you have a big crew. >> Exactly. I also noticed that the cost estimates of the food food and stuff was more or sightseeing and that is something that would add up quickly kids when they're planning to go
055>> because there's no um there's no you know like if you go to a conference sometimes they have food and things like that but not at any of these conferences it just makes it you know another thing and so thinking about that and making sure that >> then your adviser can go to the principal to access those fun. Okay, great. Then we'll go ahead and do that. That was position. Thank you. >> Um, oh, I just wanted to say I should have said this for Deca, too. Um, but I've done DECA trips. I've done Model UN trips. I've been to Canada and then the Switzerland trips here. I just wanted to vouch for like how fun these trips are. Like just, you know, getting on a bus with all your friends. Um, what they call
056them, the T-boss. >> Yes. >> The best the best of friends forever. That's why the T-bum. >> Yes. Yeah, I just wanted to I just wanted to say everyone thinks they're super fun. So, >> and very educational >> and very kids a little shout out. Um, in Switzerland last year, they won the best large delegation of all the schools attending. So, they did a very good job. >> I think we had about 10 or 11 >> um individual awards. I mean, it was quite impressive. Um, so that was very exciting, especially on the international stage. So >> I do think that's fair that even with the fun side of things, they do come back performing well. So it it it's definitely a balance. >> Yeah, it's great to be able to like, you know, have
057what we learn in the classroom and then apply it outside of school. Um, like I know AP comparative government is a new course this year and that's well a lot like government but it's more international. So, especially the kids who are taking that class, they can sort of apply what they're learning um outside of school, which is which is great, I think. >> Very true. >> I mean, clearly we have 75 kids wanting to be part of this, right? >> You know, you're doing something very right. And so, I think that's awesome, especially freshman like >> and Luke, now that you're here, so I'm the item tonight that I've been talking about is, you know, missing school and so on. So, how do you or other students handle being out of school for whatever one,
058two, or three days? Like, how does it impact your learning? >> Yeah. Um, we are usually pretty good about staying on top of it. Um, I know for a UN trips, we're usually very busy while we're there. Um, but I will say that we work really hard to sort of catch up um, afterwards and I know our teachers sort of give us a lot of grace and help um, you know, coming up with missed material. Um, but it's it's a lot, but it's not too much. Okay. And it's very manageable. Yeah. >> I it is not uncommon to see a whole bunch of kids in the same classes that are working. You know, we were on the train in Switzerland and they're like plowing through. They're talking about their homework, right? So they, you know,
059any any spare moment that they get is sort of like crammed in there on the trip. There's few spare moments on some of the Malu end trips, but definitely on the definitely on the bus rides or train rides or what have you, they do take advantage of the extra time. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. >> Two separate motions. Um, Nicole, I just have I just have a question or comment about the Montreal trip because it I don't I feel like it would not have a lot of details about I know you've done it before, >> but there seems to be a lot of information missing from the planning. um >> Montreal. >> I think the only thing that we don't have because we weren't able to book it yet was um for Montreal was the
060transportation and the bus company um which would then affect the cost because we we weren't able to book it yet, not knowing if we had been approved to go forward with that. The other one is a little bit in terms of the conference center and lodging. They haven't released any of those details on their website yet. A lot of times it's like six months before. So they all still have they have last year's program up on their website still. So as soon as that changes, we can always send an update with more information. >> So the lodging for Montreal is you you would have that >> is set is at the um the Sheridan in Montreal. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Make a motion on >> I'll make a motion that the school
061committee vote to approve the out of state field trip to McGill University conference in Montreal, Canada on November 12th, 2025 to November 16, 2025. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Yes. Brandley, yes. Gates, >> Yes. and LMBL. >> Yes. >> Next one. >> Yes. >> Uh make a motion that the school committee vote to approve the outofstate field trip to the Washington area model United Nations conference in Washington DC on March 16, 2026 to March 22nd, 2026. >> Second. >> All right. >> Uh Fenwick, yes. Randolini, yes. Gates. >> Yes. >> Leblon. >> Yes. >> You already said >> that's everyone. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> You're throwing me off because you're like the fifth person in Janice. I feel like I'm ADHD on me at the table. [Music] We're going to get a vote
062at the table. >> Oh. Oh. >> Okay. >> Leadership report. Dr. Ram. >> Thank you very much. So, Mr. Lynch and I have added something to the agenda where we basically get to say whatever we want at every meeting. >> I genius. and we can put it down there. So, the first thing I'd like to talk a little bit about is an update on the Hathley School project and that'll pretty much be a standing update at every meeting at this point. Um, I actually visited Hathley today for my learning walk and as we were there, they were starting to cut down trees and the students were very excited to see the fencing up and the cranes were literally cutting down the trees. Many students were yelling timber at the window. It was a lot of
063fun. But it really speaks to the fact that the we've started you know so after all the discussions and all of the things we've talked about um we've begun the project the groundbreaking as the committee's aware is Monday um October 6th and you do have in your packets the program for it so you can take a look at the program with the order events um and we're very excited Mr. Grand is going to be even welcoming remarks and uh it should be a fun half hour. We have a combined chorus of fifth grade at both and cushion. They're singing Viva Avida and they were telling me all about it today. >> They didn't give me a preview so I we have to wait until next week to hear it. But they're very excited to be
064there. Um we have seats for them. They're going to help us with the pledge of allegiance. And we actually have two fifth graders that have been chosen to hold one of the shuttles. So it'll be a lot of fun to to to see them there. Um the immediiacy of in terms of the project itself is the committee's aware that we are in the middle of a bid protest with the electrical subfiders. Um the three of them are protesting each other and that hearing with the AG's office is tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. So the AG has made it clear that the town did not make any mistakes in its bid documents or anything like that. So, I talked to town attorney today who'll be representing the town, Christopher Brown. And basically, our job tomorrow is to
065urge the AG to make a fast decision. At the end of the day, they're going to pick whoever electrical company they pick. We want to say to them, look, you really can't hold this off. Um, right now, there's a generator behind the construction trailer. I mean, that's how they're generating electricity. It's loud. It's inefficient. It's not true. So um so we have been very clear and Brave Brothers Construction has been very clear about the impact of waiting another month for a decision. Um it really will hold things back and you know right now it's scheduled for substantial completion in March of 2027. There's a little bit of wiggle room to April maybe May but we can't go much further than that. So we're really up against those deadlines to have the building building completed. Um
066but it was exciting to see people on site. The diggers are there and the grains are there and the trees and the ocean. So fun stuff. Um Luke, you stepped on my big thing. I was going to talk about the unified champion school for the unified sports. >> Um but really excellent, excellent stuff. Um Brennberg has worked really hard with this group to get it off the ground. We have active basketball and track programs. We did a tennis pilot last year and we're only looking to expand it. So it's it's been fantastic. And having that um champion school designation will only give us more opportunities because it opens up just that whole conversation, Special Olympics. What does that mean? Can you tell us anything else about it? I can sounded really like an honor. >>
067She worked really hard on that, Miss >> She did. Our district. >> Yes. I'm training myself to let school committee members finish talking before. >> So, no. I think I did that >> first. >> But, uh, so this is right from the website. a program that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments utilizing three interconnected components. And this is the piece that I think Mr. Zyber has really worked hard on um not only the Special Olympics unified sports which we've had but in addition um the inclusive youth leadership the students are working as mentors and more important even the whole school integration. So if you went to the basketball games last year, we probably had 500 kids, >> right? >> You know, and
068I think that's the piece that caught the attention of this group >> um to say, hey, you know, this is not just just unified sports, but we really have the whole school. >> And as I've been doing my learning walks through buildings, I've been everywhere except Cushing. I think I'm going to Cushing tomorrow, so promise I'll get there. But I've been to the other schools and I've asked the school leadership as they're walking me around, "Show me something that you don't think I know about." Right? So they know that I know about the budget. I know about the windows and I know all that kind of stuff. But they um at Jenkins windows are going in. It's awesome. We got one down, 160 to go. We're working on um so the one thing everybody talked
069to me about which I thought was really exciting was this bridge cycle. And Mr. um see you guys know all about it. I learned I learned all about it today. It was awesome. So what the bridge cycle is in the wind blocks is an opportunity for our kids using the spring testing data to be immediately put into their wind blocks at the elementary level. I watched them today um you know their blocks are put up on the board and the kids are scattering right to their wind blocks in September. So we're putting off not putting off but we're scheduling the first round of benchmark testing in a couple of weeks. But what they found was in the past the kids would come in and sort of still be in that summer slump when they took
070the benchmark testing and it was likely impacting our scores. So by doing this cycle or bridge cycle, it's really helping catch the kids up and get them ready for the first round of benchmark testing. Now the upside of that is we'll see increased academic performance. The downside is our growth rates might go down a little bit, Mr. Lynch, because they'll start at a higher level. Um but that's okay, right? If they're starting at a higher level, we want to see them keep growing. What I was excited about is that they really are using the data from the spring benchmarks to create those groups. And one of the principles today even mentioned to me that you know sometimes even mid-group they'll switch students and she had one student come to her last year and say why
071you trade me mid block you know but they do that for the academic progress of the students. Students were excited about it and within those individual wind blocks I got to see the differentiated instruction going on. Um, I saw it everywhere and I went every room I went to and I think I was directed to it was ST math. Sort of got taken to all the ST math rooms. I think that was a little bit on the principal part, but it was fun to watch. And what really it showed me was again same standard whether it was first grade, you know, counting to 10, whether it was fourth grade place value, whatever the issue was that they were being taught. Um, not only was the standard the same, but you could see it being taught
072in four or five different ways within one different classroom. That was exciting to me. That differentiation was exciting to me. And what it showed me is that people have done an awful lot of training and we're seeing this and the kids are actually aware of it on their computers because when they were showing me the STN math, I said, "Well, how do you know if you got the question right?" And they said, "Well, GG's runs across the page, right?" And so that's how they know that they got it right. That's fun. Even better, they actually move from island to island. So it's actually self-creating itself. As the kids do better, they get harder questions. Kind of satuates them. So again, um, really exciting stuff, but I think it speaks to all the work that we're
073really getting into this year. And you heard that, you know, at the middle school level, I was at the elementary level. Um, but that to me was very exciting and seeing the differentiation in action and seeing the ease with which the kids are approaching the technology and using the technology um, was really exciting to me. So I have one more school left, Watuk, and then I'm meeting with all the principles and department heads individually for the rest of the week just to kind of get caught up on Um, it's been fun. It's been exciting. Um, and it's been a real academic and for me. >> That's all I have as far as >> busy. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Update Dr. Lynch. Thank you very much. So I just wanted to link back for the
074teaching and learning update. I just want to link back to something that um principal bey talked about which was uh strong tier one instruction. So in addition to the benchmarking and uh bridge cycle that Dr. Rab talked about uh last year uh when I worked with the department chairs we identified u the need and principles for high quality evaluation training. And so last spring we um interviewed a few professional development providers and landed on research for better teaching. And this summer we did three days in late August with Deb Reid from research for better teaching. Um it enrolled all of our evaluators uh 31 of them in analyzing teaching for student results. And what it is is really like an upgrade um for the more traditional method of going into a classroom and really looking
075at the teacher and what the teacher is doing. And what analyzing teaching for student results asks the evaluator to do is really look at students. Where do you see evidence of learning? How is the teacher and the students with one another influencing the learning in the classroom? And so um that was it was great training that all of us participated in in um in in August and then we had another day this week um to keep the course going and it continues all the way until February. So um it's been very exciting to u work with our evaluators on that. Uh to be transparent about um the depth of training that evaluators do, we've invited the um STA. Okay. So, we really appreciate um Kate Martin and Kate Pescator being a part of that process
076to just be transparent that we take teacher evaluation um and feedback very seriously. And one part of that process has been not just the formal training to give teachers feedback through Vector, our evaluation system, but also how do you have a real conversation with a teacher and say, "Can you tell me more about uh this aspect of your teaching or um how to listen to acknowledge that 95% of the time an evaluator is not in the room and to really learn from from teachers and um other staff. So, it's been really great to participate in that. It's a lot of time for our principles and evaluators to invest, but they've um done a great job with it. So, just want to provide that update. Um it does check another box, which is training us all
077on the 2024 teacher rubric that was um negotiated and agreed upon uh through the um you know, the negotiation process. So there's a new rubric for teachers and we had consistent slides that we share with everyone at the beginning of the year to talk about some of the small changes. So that's new for this year and so far it seems like it's going very well. But just wanted to um highlight the financial investment, the time investment and just the energy investment that um teachers and and evaluators are doing to make progress with um this course. So any questions about that you say you said so it's a multi-art course so they meet four times total and they've had they have how many already they've had three and they have one more >> we've we've had
078four there are a total of seven >> oh wow so that's pretty ind depth then >> yeah and I think the the the benefit is that so at this point in the evaluation cycle teachers are proposing and goals. They're doing a self assessment. Um, if you're following the formal process, the first evaluation isn't required until November 15th. So, at that time, later on in the course, we talk more about uh how to have the conversation with teachers, how to provide effective feedback, what to focus on. So, um it's seven total with four have been completed so far. >> Yeah. When you say 31 evaluators, so that is building principles, department chairs, >> assistant principles, um Dr. Bair, myself, Dr. Rap. Um >> and we've uh we've had Maravius, our med director, be be part of
079it as well. So anybody um is >> this applicable for non-eing staff, too? >> Yeah, >> correct. Um our nurse uh department chair for nursing is part of it as well. um desi certified staff are required to evaluate using the system. So our director of school counseling participates in it as well. So um >> basically everybody who >> provides feedback. >> Yes. >> Just a few quick points. Um if you were paying attention in the media today, uh you saw that the state released MCCast results. There's there's an article in the globe if you want want to read that. I just wanted to update the committee that will provide the situate results and accountability information at our October 20th meeting. Um so I'm happy to do that with our team and Desi uh was excited
080to share their family portal and release um an online version for families. However, they ran into some they would like to slow it down. >> Not excited. >> But for cit families, we still will be um providing our online access for all situation systems, uh Mr. Dross. We will have our individual student reports uploaded to Aspen um so families can see how their students performed. Those files don't land until uh tomorrow. It does take us a little bit of time to like parse them and separate them, but we're confident that we can get those out to families within the next two weeks um if they want to so they can see how their students performed. Our history social studies department has been uh working very hard rolling out the new textbooks and online platforms. They're
081following the curriculum management plan and review cycle. So, that's just another uh highlight of what's been going on over the summer uh and this fall as we continue to make progress with the uh curriculum management plan and review cycle. Lastly, we're continuing our partnership uh in the math um content area with u our facilitator Allison Melo. Uh she worked in situ in the spring with our 6 through 12 teachers and our math specialists. She was here uh this uh on August 21st planning with Heather Allen and Tara Simonac to think about consistent PK to 12 uh professional development. She continues to uh on September 8th, Allison visited 6 through 12 math classrooms with Tara Simon act to learn more about um our district and Allison will be facilitating full day PD on November 10th for
082our professional development day. We're really focusing on building our knowledge of the standards, having consistent language and models uh with students um knowing the difference between um true mathematical thinking and answer getting. And so uh I just wanted to provide an update that that work uh continues as part of our implementation of the program. And we know that it's primarily the work our teachers do with students that drives improvement. So we do have a really strong program that was adopted and we're trying to follow that up with really strong instructional support uh through our leaders and through Allison. So those are just a few additional updates on teaching and learning. >> Thank you. Any questions for gentlemen? >> Thank you so much for the update. It's helpful. Very helpful. Um, okay. We have a vote
083on a surplus. Dr. R. >> Thank you, Mrs. Brandolini. So, we simply have an old set of wrestling mats. Last year, we bought some new wrestling mats. They're awesome. These old ones are pitted. They're old and they're rolled up. They really just need to go. Um, one of the local youth programs apparently is interested in them. I'm not sure they'll still want them when they see them, but they certainly offer them. Um, but regardless, we need to get them out of the small gym. So, I would appreciate the committee's vote to declare them surplus. >> Okay. >> Make a motion to approve the surplus of old wrestling mats. Second, >> yes. >> Pedwick, >> yes. Randolini, yes. Kate, >> Yes. All right. >> Thank you. >> Great. All right. We have our policy subcommittee update
084tonight. Lots going on here. >> Yes, indeed. >> Turn it over to you, Miss Fenwick. >> All righty. >> And Janice. >> And Mr. Lynch. So, um, as you guys might recall, last year, um, your fearless sub policy subcommittee decided that we should all make an effort to become better acquainted with our policies. And so, what we wanted to do this year was to assign ourselves a little chunk of policies um, to read before each meeting. And we would love feedback if this chunk felt the right size and we can take that into consideration for future assignments. But the idea was just to um be consistently reading familiarizing ourselves with what we with what is there so that we are more fluent with our own policies. Also this will allow us to flag anything for
085review. So we at the policy subcommittee have kind of an ongoing list of like things that are emergent that we have to deal with quickly and then a other list of things like oh when we get to this it would be help nice to nice to have a nice cat list. So um for today the task was to read policy AA through AC GB um which was a lot of legal type language. This is probably one of the kind of longer sections I will say but it also felt in a way they went as a bundle. A lot of them have to do with non-discrimination policy. Um, we actually have reviewed at least one of these very recently and so we kind of felt like they went together and it would be maybe helpful to
086just kind of keep them together as opposed to reading separately. So, um, that is why we have these on here. Um, they're not per se to, you know, discuss any of them in depth unless anyone would like to. Um, but I guess I would just open it up for discussion of the process, any of the policies themselves, um, feedback on how it felt to read them, any of the above. >> Is that a typo then? It says AA to AC BG. So, is it supposed to be GB? >> Correct. >> That's what I was confused because it's wrong on the agenda, too. It says A CBG. >> Oh. So, I was very I wasn't sure how far I was supposed to go because I have no idea where. So, >> sorry about that. >> That's
087okay. Um, I should have reached out to somebody, but I just tried I just guessed what I thought it should be. >> Okay. No. No. Well, we will double check that. That is one thing. >> It's a lot of letters. It is a lot of letters. >> I'm not faulting anybody. I just wanted to make sure I understood. >> Yep. That is that's one thing about these policies. That's they are it's a lot. It's a lot. Um, yeah, but it was AAA school district legal status and then all the non-discriminations through ACGB, which is the title sexual discrimination grievance procedure. >> Okay, good. >> Which is the one that we had actually updated last year. So, of any of these, that's probably the most familiar to all of us. Anyone thoughts? >> Well, I I
088I compared them to the mask policies. Um, and some of them I I think we have more in that section. Um, and before I even looked at the mass policies, the ACR, I was questioned whether or not that looks more like policy and procedure, and it does. So, we could probably cut that one down. >> Yeah, there's a whole section in there called complaint procedures. >> Yeah, procedure. Yeah, >> that actually brings me to a question I had Janice, which was if there were were changes we wanted to make, would we be then recommending that this policy subcommittee take >> Yes. >> take pull those out? >> Yep. Yep. So, if we wanted to like I would say that's an example of one that's not like an emergency. Um, but it is an example of
089like, you know, these are meant to be supportive to us and to our district. And if there's policies in here that are so detailed and deep that they're not serving us, it doesn't make sense for us to have them, we should aim to simplify them and make them better. Um, so that's an example of one we could put on our our nice to have reading list. Um, so certainly we can check that one out. Can I just ask an operational administrative question? If we do make a change to one of these policies, how does it actually get updated to this database? Do we because mask hosts it? Correct. So, how do we make that change? >> Good question. Uh, we have a good relationship with Ann Marie at MASC and when we update our policy,
090um, after the second reading, uh, we take the document, we pay a hosting fee to them, we send it to them and they update our page. Yeah. >> Um pretty quickly. Okay. So, >> we have we have it down, but that's one step at at the end. >> I think it's important I I've been doing this a long time. I always try to figure out exactly what's going on in some cases, but I think it's important to identify that mask is our host. >> We have our own policies and they just happen to be the hosting organization, I guess. And we pay them the we pay them an annual fee to do that. >> Yes. And most districts do. >> Yes. And what Janice referenced, which was also linked in the kind of assignment document,
091was the mask modeled policies, which I find very helpful because Mask has a whole staff that does this as their full-time job. And so it's helpful to kind of compare sometimes >> because some of these haven't been updated in a very long time. And so sometimes it's helpful to look and see like what is mask doing about this or what does theirs look like? And it's it can be nice to sort of compare. mask changes their policy. It doesn't directly change ours. >> I think that that was in my mind years ago. That's what I thought happened. But it's not >> in their bulletin. >> They'll when they send those bulletins to our houses, they'll outline which policies they change. So we can sort of keep track of that, but I don't know that we
092always have. As soon as we glance at that, sometimes it'll be like, "Oh, we have we have to do this." But if it's not like an emergency, then I think it sometimes >> falls off the platter. >> Right. >> I had questions that aren't that. >> Yeah. I I also had a question that was related to what Janice pointed out about the one that had a complaint procedure because if you look at ACAB-R that's all procedure. So I guess I'm just wondering when we do and don't include procedure. Just I don't know the answer. I'm just saying like because even the one civil rights grievance procedure. So I I just want to be careful what we're taking out. I was wondering if if the designation of R means something >> because all the ones that
093have the R I actually don't know this answer. I wonder too >> Oh, you thought what? >> Revised. >> We don't usually put that though >> cuz those have procedure. All of those have that in common. Yeah. I just wouldn't want to take it out until we're sure that like it's supposed to be taken out. >> I agree. No, this would be we would look into it before we >> I think the policy stuff committee should look at it. >> We will look at it. Thank you. And just as a just for the public knowledge, I think important to mention we always do a first reading. So it's an opportunity for us to discuss and the public to hear that we are discussing a policy. Then there's a period of time between our second reading
094at which time we can vote to make the change. But there's always a space in between for public comment >> which is typically two weeks. >> Typically two weeks. I have another question on the ACCE, non-discrimination on the basis of handicap. >> Is that still the appropriate language for someone that has a disability? That feels very outdated, but I don't know. I'm not in that space. Just >> wondering, >> we can add that to our list as well. >> I don't know if there's a more >> mask. >> Yeah. I just don't know what right what is. >> Yeah, it references the education of all handicapped children act of 1975. >> Yes. That's what perhaps >> and again I just want to make sure we're >> Yeah, I think that's a great This is why
095we're doing this. It's a perfect example of like they're all great catches. >> I also >> The mask policy The mask policy says disability. >> Yeah. See, that's a great catch. Yeah. >> I also like when we update I know that this has been done in different iterations, but I like when our >> updates say last updated. >> Yes. >> You know, we started doing two years ago. So anything that's not dated is at least two years. >> It's just nice to know when was last. It just gives you a frame of reference. >> Yes. For the future >> and then some say cross reference like there's like links and so it's like nice to see where it connects to others do other policies or master >> right >> or master. Exactly. Yep. So it's
096sort of >> there's some inconsistency which I think would be nice to clean that up as well. Yeah. >> So, this is like an ongoing daunting I think just like a Yeah, that's why we're doing it though. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Um and the ACA policy that we redid last year, >> um the mask policy says it it reverts back to the 2022 version after the court ruling. >> Yes. Yes. >> So, all that hard work, >> right? Yeah. Right. Yep. >> So, our version is 2024. Yeah. Which was then undone. >> Yes. >> But it hasn't been in our policy. But we're saying we have to change that publicly. Yeah. Or officially publicly. >> Okay. So, but we have all the adopt in this one. We do have our first reading, second reading
097adopted. Now, we would need to >> adopt again to the older version. >> Yep. >> Yes. True. >> Okay. which we probably should do that actually. >> Yeah, that one gets like a little that gets bumped up. That's a little bit more um >> top of the list. >> Um and then AC, >> it's not it's a quick one though because it just has to be >> Yep. Compliance. Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. It's funny because we actually sped that up to be compliant or ahead of the game originally which we should have been slow and then we would have had to re >> I know comply >> um it's like a penalty for being ahead of the game. >> Anything else? >> Um >> no I think I agree I mean I agree with
098everyone's kind of general comments. It's almost like we just have to go through them all. >> Yep. Any feedback on the process? Was this a too large a chunk? Did it feel okay? Any preferences on? We'll make sure we obviously cross check the letters in the future. Make sure those are accurate, but anything else just in terms of spelled okay? We've already sent out the assignment for October 6th, but we can always adjust it if needed. Down was basically the the rest of section A. So, it goes through mission statement through A. So, it's AD through AE. Those are shorter. >> Some of them are shorter. >> But now, are you going to pull out all of these ones though? >> So, I have a list. This is like technically all the little crop references
099and then all of the reviewed on >> pieces will have to be added. Yeah, >> I mean we have a list. >> So, we'll keep you all posted, but like these ones, we're not going to bump like a really important policy space. One of these these are kind of just going to be we we'll get to them as we get to them. It may take a while. >> It's a forever task. When we get to the end, we'll start again. So, >> like curriculum, it just keeps going. >> Keep going back to the top of the list. >> Exactly. >> Um Okay. >> Any other comments on this before we move on? There's no way to tell on the mask website when the file was updated, right? I'm not missing something >> on our policy
100mask model. >> I'm on sorry on our policies. So like ad-mission statement like I don't know when that was upated. >> Some will. So if you click on a random one >> occasionally at the very bottom. >> Oh, it'll say >> it'll say it just depends who was >> who was in charge when we did it. >> Oh, I see that. So like the wellness policy was 2022. Okay, I see that. >> So, like about two years ago, someone started paying attention to that. Prior to that, >> there's some of them that are >> every now and then you'll find a really old one. >> Yeah, there's a cup like mission statement and it doesn't have anything. I feel like that would probably >> But then you occasionally run into one that does mention last
101update, but now that's a new practice that >> Yeah, I see that. >> We'll soon got it. Start we'll start catching up with that. >> That makes you want consistency with that. >> Okay, that makes sense. We'll just >> It's a daunting task. Oh, of course it is. >> Keep chipping away. >> Chip away at a time. >> Future school committees will thank us. >> They'll be like, "Who is in charge in 2025? >> Someone will look us up." >> Janice Maria. >> Wow. >> Okay. Anything else on this topic? I would just add that um I appreciate the time to go through these and maybe for our families listening that these are as uh wordy and deep as these are. There are requirements inside of these processes like for a title nine um you
102know discrimination or um you know sexual harassment that if the school is notified and on notice about that that our grievance procedure is shared with a family or a staff member that um this language is incorporated into letters and things like that. So I would just want to make the point that these these are policy and they can be lot like wordy and but they also go a long way to support people and and um that families do interact and staff members with these um policies when allegations or challenges arise. So, um I just want to point out that it's a real part of people's experience that the school follows and spends a lot of time trying to do the right way because it's important and um they can um you know people can hear
103these these terms or be supported by like supportive measures and plans and um they're just real operational things. So, I just want to make the point that that that's why policy is important. >> Yes, definitely. Sure. some of our most important work to be honest. So I think that's one of the reasons why it's important for us all to be familiar with them too to know where to point people if they need them and for us to know you know that they exist and make sure that they accessible and makes sense. But I know that's why we had discussed earlier a lot of these it made sense to bundle them because they're very parallel a lot of them there's a lot stuff in here that is there for a reason. Great. Um, one of the
104policies that we did discuss at the last subcommittee was our school council policy. So, we had been um, wanting to ensure that that policy was we had a presentation from mask um, that suggested to us that we all needed to definitely be on our school councils and that was not what we had understood when we last reviewed the policy. So, we did some investigating. We found out that our policy as it exists is actually fine. We are not out of compliance in any way. Um but we still talked about um opening a conversation about us joining school councils in the way that we had in the past which I was this predates me but I understand was to join a school council of which we are not part of the school community and join as
105a non- voting member and join as like more in a liazison role in order to be able to kind of be that communication point between the school committee and what is going on in the individual. ual school. >> So, we had talked about potentially returning to that model um without adjusting the policy. So, that is what we wanted to talk about today. I'll add to that, too. We did a little research in our neighboring school committees, you know, school committees in neighboring towns do follow this a similar path. They liazison on they leaz with their school councils and they try to make it so that they do not sit on if they have children in the district they do not they try to not sit on school councils in which they do have a student
106in that school and our mask friends agree with that process as well. >> Yeah. So the role would be really to be listening um and be able to bring back anything you hear that could be helpful and also to share if there's anything that such as policy even you know like oh actually there's a policy about that let me help you understand that or show you where it is or anything like that um kind of just serve in that in more of that role not be a voting member >> No just Um I think that it makes sense that the challenge which will be the same as the same now that it was then just making these meetings which is kind of why we had this discussion originally because oftentimes they learn after the well
107in elementary case or after elementary school so it's kind of hard to get to these meetings but I think it makes sense to to be a liaison if you can satisfy that. Yeah, I mean I think it would be a best effort situation. You know, >> you do what you can. >> I think it's if the school leader knows that you're their person and they can keep you in the loop and you could reach out, you know, hey, I couldn't make the meetings or anything. You know, the meetings are minutes are now posted. I think or agendas are posted at least >> should be >> that they should be. So, you know, there are ways to kind of still be support without physically being at every meeting. So I think it would just be sort
108of a do what you can. Um so for doing this we have to figure out who's doing which school >> do we want to um I'm not sure what the best method for that is. >> Maybe we can find out when when each room meeting and >> that's a good idea. maybe come up with um >> schedule. >> We can sort of coordinate. >> Yeah. >> Know where our own students are in each. >> Yeah. It's a bit of a jigsaw. I think we can >> every would have cover. >> Yeah. >> So we can get there. Okay. >> So that's not really anything to >> No, >> but that's a good next step. >> And we also >> you're supposed Sorry. Go ahead, Janice. Um we also discussed in in the subcommittee about um
109expanding the number of times they meet >> right >> because we had like a minimum of four which doesn't really seem like enough to do some of the work that we ask of them. >> Yes, we did find out that other towns were meeting more frequently or other districts were meeting more frequently with their councils as well other school committee members. >> Yeah. So I think that seems more operational because the policy just says minimum of and so I think it's just sort of how it how the work kind of gets parsed out in the year. So >> it's helpful. One of the recommendations I made to one principal last year was to form a working group. So there was a couple of specific things the school council wanted to work on but it was
110tough to get everybody together you know eight times a year. So she formed a working group to work on that particular issue. Had a few times and then they reported back to larger groups. So operationally that was a way to expand the number of meetings but get some specific work done. >> Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um we also reviewed the um our bullying policy in our subcommittee. um we determined that it is very aligned with uh mask policy currently and we didn't feel like there were changes that needed to make be made to that policy right away. But we did talk again about the need for uh the review of the bullying prevention intervention plan um and that work being taken on by a task force. And if that task force
111brings to light specific things that then we feel need to be adjusted in the policy, we could revisit again at that point. Um, but it felt premature to make changes at this at this point because the policy it's another example similar to what we just discussed about the non-discrimination stuff. It's quite uh procedural or not not procedural, it's quite prescribed. Um, and a lot of times that's for a reason and we we were not we were hesitant to um jump into that without the guidance of a task force. But you want to jump just give an update on where we are on that where you are. >> Sure. If we have there so there's two documents that we work on. One is the policy itself and then the other document is the bullying prevention and
112intervention plan. The law right now requires that be updated every two years. So last year or last time that was updated was 2023. So it's a perfect opportunity now in 2025 to update the bullying prevention intervention plan. So that's what we'll be focusing on in the task force and then as it may inform any changes in the actual policy certainly the policy subcommittee can consider those. Um it is work that is best run if we can find a consultant who can help us out with it. I did reach out to the Massachusetts aggression reduction center right out of Bridgewater State. they've done a lot of this work with districts. Um, we're emailing back and forth. I haven't gotten equipment for somebody. Um, if we can't do that, I'll reach out to our legal firm that
113we use and they'll be able to help us find somebody. But I think it would be helpful to have an objective third party come in and help us with that task force and help us with the work because the task force does require some background work surveys to the community, find out what what's happening in the community, and then looking at the plan itself right now. And this is certainly up for discussion or up for a future discussion. But I'm proposing a task force that would have representation from the school committee. Two parents perhaps one elementary, one secondary, two principles, elementary and secondary, the assistant superintendent, superintendent, um up to four teachers, two counselors, two par professionals, and our school resource officers as well. And I think that would round out the group and allow
114us to really take a deep dive. I would want to have this work completed by, you know, late winter. No, I think it doesn't not gonna take the whole school year to do this stuff by January, February um to be able to present an updated bullying prevention intervention plan. So, it's in its infancy, but we're absolutely it's up top. You're welcome to edit. >> I think that was a really uh it's good summary, Dr. Rab, and there's pieces of that that involve like the needs assessment um and survey and collecting feedback. So, everything that Dr. reps and also opportunities people are listening. It would be shared a draft of it so that we would collect feedback to make sure we're listening to um staff, families, >> things like that. Very public process. >> Great. >>
115Fantastic. That sounds like a smart plan to not not change any policy before we have any sort of plan in place. We want to change a policy before we speak to any stakeholders or >> anyone that's our district. First, >> I have um a question on the I guess the prevention prevention plan. Is that something that um teachers deliver to students in terms of what bullying is, how to prevent it, how to minimize that? Is that kind of what it is? >> There's a small piece of it I think and I'll let Mr. Lynch give a more full answer, but I think it's more about the procedures of how we actually handle individual bullying cases. So when they're reported to the principal, what are the documents? What are the forms that we use? How do
116we make sure that the process is follow? So it's the procedure that backs up the policy. I'm missing that. >> Yeah, that's feel free to do. Yeah, that's part that's an important part of it is how people report and then also how do we educate staff about that process like if somebody tells a student tells the teacher um the reporting process is our our school is on notice. So how critical it is for the teacher to share that with an in like an administrator. So that piece of it, professional development for staff and then also making sure that our PD for students is aligned with that as well. Like we need you need a research based program to share with students that um helps them you know make progress like pro-social behaviors, how they should
117respond, how they respond when adults aren't around. So that's that's a piece of it as well. an example that's the second step program. >> Thank you. >> All right, we go to move on to Okay, the final thing is we do have a first reading of a policy that the policy subcommittee proposes that we should change. Um this is policy KCD, public gifts to the schools. So um we did discuss this last year and then I think it fell off the table somehow. It was probably just not as um needy as some of the other policies, but um I believe that this was changed actually in Mass Massachusetts general law at some point. Again, this is an example of one of our policies that's undated and so it's unclear as to when it was last
118reviewed. Our policy says that the superintendent will have authority to accept gifts and offers of equipment for the schools in the name of the situ school committee and the mask model policy says in accordance with state law all grants and gifts to the district shall be reviewed and accepted by the school committee before expenditure or use. So this was a long discussion at the mask conference last year. Um be and part of it is that there are uh legal reasons why we need to be aware of and accepting anything that is coming into um schools and even classrooms. Um so I think that's why Massachusetts general law was was changed. I actually think it has to do with the rise of crowdfunding platforms. there was just suddenly more ways um that new things are coming
119into schools. And so I think this was a response to that sort of say like there has to be some sort of oversight as to what is being accepted and brought in. >> I think that was yeah that was kind of the impetus for the change. So we're just a little bit behind the eightball I think in in this and most of the time we do follow this. A lot of big gifts were always accepting you know $100 or you know an item. Um, but this I think is meant to be more of a blanket over even some of the smaller things. Um, I know that other school committees um will often do these as a consent agenda so we are not voting on every little thing. Um, but it can be, you know, we
120can think about what the right cadence and procedure would be. But I know other school committees would maybe have like an itemized list they can review and then just say, "Yep, this all looks good." Um, and we we vote and move on. But it is at least offering that step that we are supposed to have been taking. >> How does policy and this might be off track so we can not table it. How does how do these gifts differ from when uh physical education teacher puts out a call for donations or a second grade teacher says >> they don't they're not >> okay. >> That's exactly what this is meant to. >> Okay. That's what I was wondering about. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah, there was a whole conversation at the mass conference about a district
121that said, "Yeah, this is how we ended up approving pumpkins on our agenda." Um, until they realized that they could just do a consent agenda, but they it does. You're supposed to really be tracking. >> Now, is it different if a PTO gives to >> This includes it should be PTO as well. >> Okay. >> Thank you for saying that. I >> That's going to like take some educating. >> It'll be a change. Yeah, it'll be a shift. I'm glad. I mean, I think it's >> I I'm just as an example, I I'm meeting with all the PTO's in the new job and one of the things when I met with Cushing last week, um you know, they gave me their budget. They gave me their first two or three months of spending and so
122it's actually relatively not easy, but the information is there. >> It's just a matter of sharing it, you know, >> and they're excited to share it. I think part of it is, yes, it's compliance with the law, but it's also let's share the exciting things that the PTOs are doing. Let's share the exciting things that people are doing. Um, and I have a tracker that I used in a prior district that speaks that can set agenda where it gives you that total at the bottom of the page and we can once this is all approved, we can start making the standard agenda. >> Yeah. So, this to me is a matter of compliance just brings us to >> it also just makes good policy for equity and transparency and >> all these things we worry
123about with >> yes not being able to afford certain things. So, >> yeah, families. So all the all the fundraising that PTO's do will have to go through we'll have to approve it. >> Yes. >> I think >> include like high school sports too. >> Yes. Depending I'll be working with everybody. >> Yeah. >> Like I said the tracker is really cool. It it makes it very clear to the committee on a weekly basis. >> But it's a but most people want to celebrate what they're doing, right? So, if the boosters club donates something, well, I want to know, you know, um even if they donate a banquet, I mean, I don't need to know every single thing they bought, but if they say, "Hey, $2,500 for the team." Well, that's good to know. >>
124Yeah. Right. >> Because technically we we have oversight over those things, but if we don't know they exist, then how can we have oversight over them? You know what I mean? So, like >> the gray area now, you know, >> I'm a poet. I say I'm a poet, too. >> Yeah. with my old hat and my new hat. >> I think I think it works. >> Most people properly explain they understand we're about celebrating working celebrating. >> Yep. Yep. So, we'll have a second reading on October 6th. Right. >> Y correct. >> And then we can move forward with changing that assuming that we are in favor of it. That excellent mess is great. >> Okay, good for our policies. >> Mhm. >> We have an approval of minutes, two sets tonight, September 8th and
12516th. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from September 8th and September 16th, 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Edwick, >> yes. >> Limb, >> yes. >> Gates, >> yes. >> All right. For tonight, nothing in backup. Okay. Um correspondences. No correspondences today. Um other business they properly come before the committee think today. Any future agenda items? Anyone? All right. Make a motion to adjurnn then. >> Motion to adjourn at 7:41. >> Second. >> Okay. We'll call vote. Limblam, >> yes. >> Benwick, >> yes. Or >> no. Gates, >> yes. >> Brandin, yes.