001All right, we'll call it back to order. We have with us uh Dr. Bren Conway. Doctor, uh from Tucket Regional, uh here to interview for our position. So, uh we've been just uh going round robin with these questions. Uh everybody's going to ask you a question. Um I'll start off by asking you if you just want to give us any kind of opening statements. Go ahead. >> Sure. >> Well, thank you for having me. Um, I was fully prepared to bring my my New England with me, my Massachusetts with me yesterday, right? Could have showed up in shorts and an ice dunks cup or something to prove it, you know, party. Um, but uh, appreciate being here. Thank you for having me. And, um, thank you to to Superintendent Ganu for his time he gave
002when I spent the time here about two weeks ago. Um, and all the time he gave and took walking around. very informative and helpful and uh very much appreciate his time. So um so I I guess as as an opening statement uh you you have my resume, you have all that information. I I don't need to go through that. Um but I've been in education for over 25 years. Um 13 as a building administrator and the last eight uh in Pucket as the assistant superintendent. Uh and I can tell you that my um I do this work and it's with the primary focus to improve student outcomes and opportunities and that's that's why I do the work. It's it's I think it's why I started to do the work anyways when I started to teach.
003Uh I don't know that I really know and remember precisely. Uh but I know over the last uh 15 18 years certainly as a building administrator really feeling like um that that was my work my goal uh and I think I've been pretty successful at it in in most cases certainly not all days but in most cases uh yes um you know the work now as much as I enjoy working with kids and I actually spent this afternoon after school with the fourth grade Lego robotics team uh hanging out with them for a bit. uh they have their first competition Saturday and they needed a judge to prepare them. So we did that this afternoon. I spend most of my days and time with a lot of adults um which is not what we think
004of when we think of educators but that's that's really the work and as superintendent um you know hopefully your superintendent uh I know that is the work that you do. you work with adults a lot, but you're always thinking about the kids and the impact it has on kids. And that's really at the primary um component of of decisions you make and what's best for kids. Um and you know that that work that I've done and taking that mindset has again I think been pretty successful for me. Um I become a national speaker as well. I get invited to to speak all across the country in different places. uh actually get to speak in Boston next week uh at the uh learning forward conference which is a massive conference and very happy to be there
005but I've been from Alaska to Nebraska to Colorado Utah all basically on on evidence-based instruction and leadership and and the systems around that leadership. Um I've been the principal of a national blue ribbon award-winning school and I know Boilson uh has a a blue ribbon awardw winning school as well. um been able to be to help our school district earn AP honor roll and silver awards and access awards too. So not just performance but also increasing students opportunities. And I've also been uh acknowledged and awarded um from the Essex County ADL for my work on supporting students and ending racism, bias, and um hatred. And all of that though is again really focused on what we do for kids. Um and and I get the very fortunate opportunity to work with some really phenomenal people.
006Um and that's what makes the work great too is that you I work with adults who share that same vision and idea of where to go and what to do. We don't always agree all the time and that's okay. That's where the work is uh in working through that. Um but when we work with people who who want to have the same outcomes and achievements for students uh it it makes it really a satisfying opportunity. So that's who I am in coming to you tonight and I imagine there'll be lots more opportunities to to talk a little bit more. >> All right. Thank you. We'll start with Beth has a question. >> Please share what in your view the needs of the district are. What has been fixed? What remains? And how your strengths suit
007you for leading the district through that. Um yeah, I I think you know to be able to fully assess at this point is probably not possible to fully do. Uh although I I again appreciate um Mr. Ganon's uh time and energy and the time spending in the district too. I think what the needs of this district are uh are consistency. Um, and you need a superintendent who you can continuously rely on to move things forward for sustainability as well. Uh, so I I certainly hope as your superintendent that that would be something that you could count on me to do uh is to bring that type of energy forward. Um, and look forward to multiple years, not one year at a time. Um, I met a lot of phenomenal teachers and educators walking around chatting
008with them. got to see some pretty good instruction, too. Uh, in fact, I think on our visit here, uh, talked about something that I saw where we had seniors in an art class working with sixth graders, um, on a combined project. They were working on archaeology and the art students were working on um, a piece of artwork that had them itemizing things and this was a multi-week planned out experience. It was great to see. So, I know there's really good learning that goes on. And traditionally, Berlin Boilson's been a a high achieving school district, but at the same time, as a small school district, you're going to face some challenges with that. And that's going to come in the way of ensuring that you're able to give opportunities to students, uh, particularly once you move
009into the middle and high school that prepare them for college and career. Um, so I'll start with the middle high school. We'll work our way back towards the elementary school a little bit. Um, I think the the thing that I've certainly seen and heard about um are the being able to connect some of the learning opportunities here to college and career readiness. Uh, one thing that in Kentucky I've been very fortunate to do over the last three years is we implemented two innovation pathways, career pathways. Uh, one of them, our life science essentially connected a lot of the work we were doing anyway. there's a biology life science pathway. Um, but those students are taking advanced courses, college ready courses and now they're connecting it to career. So they're having an opportunity in the sequence
010of courses to then finish either with a capstone or a field placement. Uh we're also providing them with some industry credentiing which is really important. Now most of those students are going on into college and they're going to competitive colleges. Some though are connecting some of those career opportunities with with something else that they may want to do before uh pursuing higher ed. On the other side of it, we also implemented a an advanced manufacturing engineering career pathways. We did not have all the coursework for that, but we did have an opportunity to also [clears throat] receive about $300,000 in capital skills grant that be that was able to put in some of that industrybased equipment that those students would use not in dirty manufacturing things that you remember some of these are thousands of
011dollars and they would be used in clean rooms for instance. So we have students now um pursuing those. We are students who are part of the robotics team at the high school that is now a nationally ranked robotics team in just three years. And these students are literally being recruited to schools of engineering because of all the work that they're doing. Over 80% of our graduating students in Kentucky are graduating having taken a class that makes them eligible for college credit. So that's either a dual enrollment course. We have a strong we have a 300 student enrollments in dual enrollment courses or an AP course and we have 370 student enrollments in AP courses. So we really value the fact that we are going to push kids to do hard work that's at the high
012school and I think some of those things can happen here too at the high school here in in Tahad. But we can't ask them to do hard things if we don't prepare them with the foundational skills they need at the elementary school. Uh and what I can tell you is my experience yesterday. I was actually out your way all day yesterday. I was in Malber yesterday. Um the department of ed had their first um school school and school district showcase event the last two days. Spent some time with the commissioner yesterday. Uh Pucket was asked to come and present both days. I believe we're the only district that actually presented both days. So, we're presenting yesterday. We presented on math. And why were we asked to present for both days? We're one of the few
013school districts in the state that actually had better post-pandemic outcomes than we had pre- pandemic. So, in the work that I started in 2018 along with the superintendent and and the team that we sort of built, um, Pucket was in the 25th percentile in Massachusetts in math performance and the 36th percentile in ELA. And that was in 2017. And we are now in the 68th percentile in math and the 68th percentile in ELA. That is focusing on strong foundational skills at our elementary schools using evidence-based instruction specifically around literacy but also math. Uh things that are driven by what we know research tells us works. And I know in in Berlin Boilston um you you had we've actually had a site visit a few years ago. uh we had the folks from Berlin come out
014and visit a little bit um and and talking about that work and revisiting that and I think you have a new literacy adoption cycle coming the following year so there's opportunity to lead through that discussion move forward with that and I would say the only other thing that stood out to me um that I know in listening to folks is that while you are a regional school district and you've been a regional high school you are in its infancy an actual fully regionalized school district and having spent time in Pucket for eight years, I've also worked in a city, I've worked in a town, I've done all of that, uh, having worked in the regional school district that has been a full regional school district since 1952. Um, actually had the chance when Mr. Chapman
015and Miss Hart joined us and gave them the history of that land in 1952 as well. Um, and uh, I I think I I've become very familiar and comfortable navigating the waters of the multi-town regional district, whether it be the politics of it, the human side of it, uh, the concept that some people believe their towns are so uniquely different that everything should be separate. Uh, and yet bringing people to understand that for the most part when we're talking about parents and families, everyone wants the same thing. They want to send their kids to school. They want to know that their kids are going to be okay. And they want to make sure that their kids are going to be in a position to be economically mobile. And that's really the hope regardless of where
016you live and helping to to bring people to that, navigating that. And I have experience with that. Um, I'm sure there are some other needs. Uh, I saw some great strengths for sure. Uh, my guess is your great strengths are your people, whether it's the people who work here or the students who attend here or the community members. Uh, I pulled in tonight and I thought, "Wow, this is a crowd for a superintendent. [laughter] This is like doing a keynote. This is this." [laughter] Um, and so clearly people value opportunities to come and and commune. Uh, and like Kentucky, like we have no grocery store in any one of the three towns, right? There there's no place where people convene other than the schools and the soccer fields and the theater. It's all connected to
017kids and community and I think that's the same thing here. >> Thank you. Uh Lori, you're you're up. >> Please discuss your regional school experience including what strategies you've used in your past experience for dealing with multiple towns with different interests and resources. >> Trying to get them helping to understand their interests are not all that different. I think that is number one, right? Um I mean that and that comes from working with bargaining units. You do intrpace bargaining. You have discussions around what you what you want uh together and that's where you start. Um because if you can keep it anchored there, it's hard to focus so much on how different you are because you can always come back to that. Um you know in different resources and in is interesting. We have three
018towns in Kentucky. Um we have a weighted vote. You do not. Um, so we have a we actually have a 54 vote that can lose. Imagine that. Let you ponder on that for a minute, right? [laughter] Um, [clears throat] so I think that, you know, the just the broad strategy is good communication. Um, and that being sort of a goal. Now, how do you enact that is really the key. uh something that I I talked a little bit about in previous interviews and in discussions were the fact that we hold an annual state of the schools address. I wouldn't even call it address. It's a it's a state of the schools information session and we do it with the body of the of the school committee present. We have nine members, three from each and
019we invite all the select board members and all the fin. And they all come for the most part. They all come and we put the select board at the table with us. And then we have the fincoms joining in the audience behind us. And it is not the superintendent standing up front providing a 90minute overview of why we need more money. That's what budget season is for. Right? This is talking about the state of the schools, what we do, why we do it, what the outcomes are. And if you like what you see, this is why we continue to work together, right? Um, and it's a great opportunity. When do we do it? Well, we just did it in October. And that's strategic. Uh, we give people an opportunity to begin to have conversations around
020what's coming. Is there a budgetary focus on it? Sure. You can't ignore the fact that that we're going to discuss that. Um, educating children costs money. Um, but it's uh it's a great opportunity to provide that communication, set that expectation up that we are going to inform you, community leaders. You don't have to come to us and ask questions. We're going to bring it to you before you even think to ask it. And a lot of it is just relationships. So beyond that formal presentation, we meet with we have one town manager, one town administrator, and one finance manager. They all they have three different titles, three different levels of um capacity to actually influence what happens in the town. But we meet with them on a regular basis uh and we discuss things with
021them. We have our um longstanding um regional school district agreement uh that we will revisit from time to time. Um in particular when it comes to facilities and and the costs of how things have changed, what might shift from one place to the other. Um and the three towns that we have, they have very different funding mechanisms. Uh one is very much at their levy capacity. one has so much room in their levy capacity they could probably fulfill all of our deficits on any given day but they're not permitted to uh and the third has more capacity just is unwilling. So navigating the waters of those three towns is very interesting. Um we work with their department heads. We have you know three police chiefs, fire chiefs um that we work with routinely and that
022actually has been a a strong effort to bring all of them together around school safety protocols and everything. And over the last eight years that has uh changed from individual school plans to a district-wide cohesive plan. So lots of experience over the last eight years. Uh prior to the eight years not a lot um but it was it was great to learn um and to sort of navigate that. And again, we have some really good people who want good things for the towns. So, we lean into that as much as we can. >> Thank you. Lisa, please. What has been your experience in building and managing relationships with stakeholders like parents, families, and communities, particularly those with negative views or a negative approach? How do you build and maintain trust? >> Well, it's it's hard.
023I think it if someone feels like you violated trust even before you had an opportunity to build a relationship with them, it's an uphill climb, right? Um, and I I think it's one of those things that age has helped me with a little bit, right? Having that ability and capacity to do a lousy job of it in interview because all I do is talk in an interview, right? To listen. Um, and I think there there's been a lot of things I've learned. I was a principal at a fairly young age. I think it was about 30 years old when I became a principal. And I probably was the worst listener ever as a principal. Thought, you know, knew exactly what needed to happen. And on many things I I can tell you I was dead
024right. Um, and then on some things I was wrong. Um, and you had to learn that the hard way sometimes. Um it I have to say like I I there was one particular book that we read a group of us read professionally. It was called Thanks for the Feedback. Um comes out of Harvard. It's sort of the group that so it's not specific to schools. It's sort of organizational leadership work. Um and I remember reading it the title and getting okay so this is so I can become a better listener. I can get feedback because there's as a school administrator to hear there's no shortage of feedback coming our way regarding how well we do something and in most cases how well we do not do something right. So you do certainly have to have
025the ability to hear it. You also have to have the ability to to listen to what the real issue is because when someone comes to you by the time it gets to a superintendent, it has gone dramatically wrong on multiple levels. Um, and you're going to have to sort through that with someone, right? You're going to have to listen to them to really get to it. And that takes active listening. It takes really good skills about I want to give away all my tricks, right? repeating some things back to make sure I understand what the issue is, but really trying to get to the issue. Um, but then at the same time, that book, while I thought it was really about me, and it was, that was certainly a part of it, it was a
026two-way street. And then at the same time, if I need to communicate things to other people, I need to understand what they expect for feedback. because if they're expecting something different than what I'm going to give, even if I'm right, it's not going to work. It's not going to go well. And I have found that incredibly important in in professional relationships, maybe less so with the with parents and adults uh in the community, but definitely in professional relationships, I found that to be very very valuable. And how do you learn what someone else wants from that relationship? You have to ask, you have to listen. You have to pay attention. Um so I I think that sort of from a strategy perspective uh trying to do that well uh and listening and and we have
027a lot of conflict that occurs and and you know some of it is is being present. Um you know we have an event here tonight. Uh, what a great opportunity to come out and chat with folks, right? Um, people, they hear you, they see you, and all, you know, I've been meaning to tell you, and they would never tell you had they not seen you. They wouldn't have emailed you, they wouldn't have called, they wouldn't have done that. But giving them an opportunity to to just sort of see you in a less formal setting, in a casual setting, um, to be able to have those conversations. Sometimes you can really sort of get ahead of things before they steamroll ahead of you. just making yourself there. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Please give an example
028of how you've used networks and relationships to advocate to solve problems in your current district. >> Um I think we do it all the time. Um because I can't do anything on my own. Um, and I think we rely on a lot of people to do that work. Um, I can think of one we haven't quite been successful yet with, but we're I'm still working it. [laughter] Um, but I can think of multiple that we did, particularly around teaching, learning, and professional development. Um, our own in-house expertise exists within the capacity that we have. Um, but we have a couple of strong partners around us. uh Newport Public Schools and Triton Regional School District. Uh a lot of people confuse Triton and us. It's a lot of the same like name Newbury. There's a lot
029of similar names that all exist in there. Um but that's seven communities up in the Northshore and we formed uh over multiple years a professional development partnership. uh it actually originally started uh because we all all three of us felt like we actually had a gap in our leadership preparedness. So for people who were teachers who wanted to become principles they were simply pursuing what were called the PAL's tasks without going into any sort of graduate program, M's program, CAG program, doctoral program and they were basically doing projects. They were checking off boxes and they were getting a principal's license and then they expected to be interviewed and were wholly disappointed when they weren't getting jobs but they simply were not being prepared appropriately. Uh and they found the same thing. So partnered with them
030to create a tri-dist partnership with Salem State to offer a CAGS program. Uh and it was all three of our district that filled with 28 people enrolled. Uh they finished that program in under two years. And I'm proud to say that I think every single person who has gone through that CAX program, we have three cycles we've gone through since then. Every single person either decided, yeah, I don't want to be administrator anymore or they are in fact administrators now in some capacity or in in a leadership role in some capacity. Uh and some chose for themselves and said I this was a mistake. [laughter] This is not what I want to do. But they remain exceptional teachers at the same time. So which is good to know. >> Thanks. Um [clears throat] what's been
031your experience with collective bargain? >> Uh well in multiple districts and multiple scenarios. Um Melrose being a city where certainly we would the mayor was involved. I think in Melrose, I think my biggest contribution in the 12 13 years as principal was as a um sort of the leader of our labor management working team. And that was a labor management working team that basically worked on things outside of collective bargaining um in between bargaining years uh so that we just maintained a good working relationship. when we had things that we wanted to try on either end, we could come to an agreement in labor management about how we might pilot it. And basically everything that we were working on piloting or trying out was to potentially bring it to a bargaining session two two years
032down the road, a year down the road, three years down the road, wherever it came. Uh found that to be a really great way to build relationships, especially with people in other buildings who didn't necessarily know you. We maintain some of that same relationship in Kentucky. Um, I've sat on multiple bargaining teams. Uh, and this past year we had the unfortunate experience of having all four of our contracts up in the same year. We made a very strategic a very strategic effort in doing so that we were going to stagger the agreements out so that would not occur again three years down the road. We weren't going to do that to anyone else uh down the road. Um and we were very successful in actually staggering them out. Uh one is four years out, one's
033two, one's three years out. So um I actually led three of those four bargaining teams in the negotiations and we're able to close all four um by the end of the school year. So um and we've done some creative things, you know, over the years. We we've had some folks who were clearly behind financially. uh are we Kentucky as a the way we pay our folks, we're one of the lowest in the region up there. Um and it's not because we don't want to. Uh we simply don't have the means um at all times and we're not not a overly well staffed school district. We don't have lots of resources. I heard yesterday at the the other school districts presenting talking about with coaches for this and coaches for that and the department chair for
034this and I presented about what we were doing yesterday. So we don't have any of that. Um so [clears throat] uh in in doing that in all that collective bargaining. So plenty of experience both with MTA um and other bargaining units as well that aren't necessarily represented by by MTA. So thank you. Uh Jess, please. >> Um what's your experience with advocacy and grant writing for additional support for the district? >> Um pretty extensive. I manage uh pretty much all the grants in Pucket except um those that are are managed under special education. Uh and even then I contribute to that work as well. Um so and when we're talking about grants, we're generally talking about maybe three different types of grants. One being our entitlement grants that we get. So here's the amount of
035money you're getting. Please complete the grant based on the requirements and outlines that are expected to you before the federal government comes and chases you. Um so done pretty well with that. I've actually I was the manager of title one grants in Melrose as well as as a principal as an elementary principal. So um we beyond that actually part of a collaborative title three grant. We do not have a lot of EL students in our district. Um I can't imagine when we would have enough to qualify for title three funding. Uh so we actually take part in a three district title three grant and it's actually managed by our crest collaborative. So it's us new report crest collaborative who participate in this. It's wonderful because economy of scale we get more resources out of that
036title three grant uh based on the low number of kids than we would you know so we're able to do a lot of tremendous things with that. And then outside of that, uh, a lot of that pathways work that we did, um, both from a skills capital perspective, putting industrial grade equipment into our our new robotics and engineering was done that way. It's also done through a lot of sponsorship. We actually have over $150,000 in corporate and industry sponsorship that helps our robotics team participate. Um, and we are currently we were invited into the Cummings Foundation grant cycle, which is uh rather prestigious even just to be invited in. So, you have to go through a process there. We're actually pursuing a grant that would give us over $300,000 uh to fund a a social
037worker um who would provide us clinical support outside of the school-based schedule. Um, so that is a struggle. We have had also received federal grants that we've competitive federal grants. So do a lot of it. I think the thing people have to remember about grants are grants regardless of any one of the three or four I just typed that we mentioned rarely can be used or leveraged to fulfill a need you're currently funding. So if you have something you're doing and you simply want to continue to do it, it's not often you can leverage a grant to do that. And I think when it comes to budgets, oh, we'll do some grants. That's not how it works. Grants don't fill the budget as it exists. Grants are given either competitive or in some other form
038in order for you to do something you would like to do. they're aspirational in nature or something that you need to start doing with a long-term plan of either you won't need the money three years later, so it's a one-time like a skills capital. I don't need another $300,000 to buy another CNC machine. These are going to last for 10 to 15 years or we're going to have to build in a mechanism to fund this long term if we find that this is really valuable and important. And sometimes that's good, but we have to prioritize those because you as as a small district with only so many people, you can only take on so many targeted things to make sure they actually work effectively. So I guess I have that side of the grant management
039too in managing and evaluating what is actually successful so that we can find the mechanism to to fund it in the future. Please, >> how have you had to balance a budget while maintaining integrity of education in your past experiences and how will you do that here? >> The most important thing you're doing, the most important thing to the budget period is actually what you're doing as a district right now. You're you're creating a strategic plan and without a strategic plan, your budget becomes a bunch of administrators in a room trading horses trying to come to a budget number that works. And your budget as a school district is and should be a complete reflection of your values of what you want your students to do and achieve. You put money to things that need
040attention, growth, and support. Now, that is a aspirational statement to make because when you have to cut a million dollars from a budget, clearly there are things that should be supported, require money, and require attention that may not be able to. So, that is where the strategic plan comes into place. And if if your strategic plan is very clear about what it is you're trying to achieve as a district, you have to ensure that the funding is going to support that. And then sometimes there are some other things that maybe have been funded historically because they existed, but they're no longer maybe showing and demonstrating the same value they had at one point. Those are hard conversations, but that's why you have a strategic plan. So it's not the superintendent set like no the strategic
041plan which was developed with feedback and input from dozens of people from across all the school communities and outside the school is what is helping to dictate these choices and yet still choices might need to be made and we need to have those hard conversations. Uh and we talk about equity in terms of a budget. uh it does not mean that every school and every grade level gets the same exact thing because some places might need a little more in certain reason for for certain reasons and for certain purposes. Um and hopefully that can be linked back to the strategic plan as well. So thanks. Uh so how do you man how do you imagine creating partnerships with other educational entities to create additional pathways for students and what's been your experience with this work?
042So, I've certainly talked a lot about this. Um, I actually Is it permissible for me to give you something? Is that Yeah. permitted. Great. >> You can talk while I'm going to keep one. So, I have it in front. >> So, [clears throat] before I speak, I'll let you have it all in front of you. And you're probably looking at this going, "What am I looking at? This is a third grader's coloring project." It's not. I promise you. Uh, the dilemma in this is knowing that this is the only PDF map of Massachusetts with the town and city names I can find, and I have looked, I think, for a decade, and I've never found one. So, I'm limited in my uh my digital resources to be able to do this. What you're looking at
043is a heat map that I created around central Massachusetts for the most part, um, around CBTE programs and particularly Boilson. I know Berlin maintains a relationship um with with Aset um for their students but Boilston does not have one. Uh the color coding is not perfect. Uh however you can clearly see the regions that are serviced by the various vocational schools. The red is what stands out. Uh those are comprehensive schools. So Lemonster, for instance, runs their own. Worcester has their own high individual high school for instance. And yet, Boilston and the towns around it sit as an island missing opportunity for students. Please know that career innovation pathways though are not replacing a full CBTE experience. They might and will provide some opportunities for industry credentiing. Rarely is an opportunity though where a student
044could leave here and go into a complete career. But it does put them on a track or a path to be able to pursue that. For many students, it's still going to be college. And all you have to do is look at the most recent data that just came out last week that Massachusetts alone, students with a college degree make on average 30,000 more annually than someone without a college degree. So college is still critically important, but part of this work is making sure we understand that college itself is not the destination. And I think a lot of families and parents view it as my child got into blank college and they're celebrating that when in reality and it should be celebrated. The reality is what college your child chooses to go to should very
045much be correlated with what they want to do in life. Now not every 18-year-old and I'm I gather probably not all of you are doing in life what you thought you'd do at 18, right? And there certainly should be room for that. Uh however um if you want to be an English teacher, there are colleges that are more suited to that than others and that should be part of the discussion. If you want to be an engineer or do something in that field, there are colleges that are more suited to that. Part of our job as a school district is to help kids understand that not solely through guidance counselor lessons and discussions, but through hands-on opportunities for them to learn about what they're doing in school and what opportunities it presents. So, I've built
046these opportunities and connections in Pucket. Uh we built them with industry. Um we we we have some wonderful partners uh in industry up in the Northshore. Uh we have a great partnership with Northern Essex as well. We have a partnership with Southern New Hampshire University. We do a lot of uh dual enrollment courses with them. We actually have some dual enrollments with Marramac College as well. So dual enrollments play a great role in this as well. So we have to build those here. Um I imagine I mean Worcester is just a college rich town with lots of opportunities. Um and I know those exist. So, and just even driving through these communities, not in the snowstorm, but there are industry connected businesses that exist here in town as well. Um, and building those partnerships and
047part of that is is strong partnerships with those in town. Uh, how do we get to to chat and connect with them? So, uh, I've loved that part of the work in the last three, four years is actually going to work sites and seeing things that they do. Everything we use someone makes, right? And it's really it's it's great to see it happening. Um there's basically there's not a washer on there's probably a washer in almost every wheel well in the cars you drive that's made in Newbury, Massachusetts in a small company there. Um and we have students who actually work there. So exciting. Eye opening. >> Yeah, >> it was for me too. I saw it like really super interesting. >> Also very relevant. >> Yes, >> for sure. >> Beth, you're up, please.
048>> Um, regarding special education and best serving all students, how do you balance fiscal responsibility while in while also ensuring students have the best services? you know, I I've uh [clears throat] as an oper as an assistant principal. I also served as a special education team chair. Um and I I I think those two years were probably my my hardest years of work and employment in my life. They really were. Um it was so eye eye opening. Um, and I I can remember the feel the first month of that job and learning how to manage the special ed process for families and thinking to myself every day going home and that there's that sponge saturation feeling, right? That if you put one more little drop of water on that sponge, all the water spills right
049out, right? That's what it felt like in the first month or two of that. uh and special education has become that that was nearly it's over 20 years ago and special education has become far more complex since then both from a regulatory standpoint from a service standpoint from a support standpoint. Um and yet our our students I think even to step back for a minute one of the things that sort of drew me number one in an opportunity to come here to Burma Boilston but then also after spending time here is that I think what you're looking for as a superintendent is someone who can actually be involved and lead the educational decisions of the district. That is not the case in many superintendent positions. I don't know that you realize that that many superintendent
050positions are really sort of removed from a lot of that work. And it's not that you're making all the decisions, but you're part of the team that's really leading it and involved with it. Um, I certainly wouldn't anticipate myself as superintendent directing a special education meeting for a student, but having the discussions on the bigger side of it about how do we actually effectively program for students? What does evidence and research say about best practices if we want students to catch up or be on a path or a trajectory where they can meet some of those demands that they will need in college and career afterwards? uh and that a lot of the work I've built in my life has been around sort of this concept of we want annual growth for all students and
051we want catchup growth for those students who are behind and that doesn't mean so if we we have a student who it starts the year in third grade and they are half a year behind in literacy skills and they grow an entire year's worth. That's a great year for them. They grew an entire year. The problem is at the end of the year they're still a half a year behind. We need to have programming that's not just special ed, it's general ed with special ed that is so intentional in its design that we're changing the trajectory for that student. It doesn't mean that student is going to be on grade level at the end of the year, but they're going to be closer to being on grade level when at the end of the year
052than they were when they started. And starting with that expectation and then building the system, having the tools and the training to do it is how we actually ensure students get what they need. It's also how we build trust for families. Families come to the district and they have a child who has a disability and they're struggling in school and they're looking for the district to help them. uh and and we have to have the capacity to be able to do that. But at the same time having conversations about it doesn't mean you get the sun, the moon, and the stars. It means we're going to give you what we believe and what we understand to be the most effective path to support your child. And part of that is in a conversation. And when
053you have that and you're doing that work and you're talking about it and you're having honest conversations with families, that's when you build trust. That's when you build trust. How does that relate to the budget? Um I mean special ed has become maybe the what are the that transportation health insurance too there's your big three that are driving your budgets um that are beyond the capacity of of the 2 and a half% to keep up. Um so I think you have to do it strategically and I do think that as a regional district here I think we can actually look to some other towns around us to help build some alliances around how we can help and support special education students. Um, you have to have discussions around what what does the current service look
054like and are there needs and you have to have really strong relationship with your director of student services and have regular meetings and discussions with them and your business manager to know what's coming down the road to have good anticipation uh to prepare budgetarily around changes not necessarily for students to be sent out of district although that certainly be needed but can we begin to prepare programming and supports for kids in advance of them needing it. And the answer is yes, and we should be. And if we're not, we're falling short. And building those out may cost some money here, but it may likely save us money elsewhere. Thank you. Lisa, please. >> How do you go about balancing parents rights, students rights, and district educational priorities? Um I I think you know as as
055I'm well rights are rights. Um and and one would hope we don't have a lot of debate about what rights are but at the end of the day I think it's this still goes back to this element of trust. Um we have to have good communication. We have to have the ability for people to communicate concerns before they are a five alarm blaze. And I think things blow up when that communication is not occurring uh at the lowest levels, right? Uh and that is as a as a superintendent working with building leaders and district leaders to ensure that they understand uh how to communicate with families both what information to give but then what information is coming your way how to engage with families particularly if a parent feels as though their child is not
056being heard seen or treated well. Um, and whether that is an expression that they're concerned about particular content in the curriculum or that they feel like their child's being bullied, um, that we have some responsibilities as a school district to take that parents communication and concerns and have the dialogue with them. What I have found is a lot of times when parents are upset about something, it usually goes back to a misunderstanding. It usually goes back to that they think it's one thing when it's actually something else. Um, and that can be cleared up hopefully not by me. Hopefully that is cleared up at the lower levels uh of communication. And that's just sort of this constant dialogue and conversation. And I think when we know something might be coming down the road, we prepare
057as an administrative team. And I've done that um the civil rights coordinator for the district uh in Pucket. Um and we had there was some changes in in uh with the Supreme Court case um that impacted how schools would impact some things and around curriculum opportunities and and parents rights and we had a lot of discussion around how will you handle this and we're not going to go screaming and yelling saying these parents are crazy. These parents have legitimate concerns. You need to accept them as legitimate concerns and engage in a dialogue. It's when you dismiss them that's when you create the problem. And it's not dismissing parents who have concerns and saying we're the experts, trust us. Um, as much as you want them to trust us, you have to build that trust with
058them. And everyone's capacity to trust another adult is going to be different. It's going to be based on your own experiences. And I think that's how I certainly try to do it as a leader. Have I been able to successfully do that at every turn? Probably not. Um, I I think you certainly could find someone who said I did not. Um, but I certainly try to lead that way. >> Thank you. Uh, the next question is from Jess. [clears throat] >> How do you plan to retain students who are looking for different or more advanced challenges? What can we offer to students to get through today? >> Well, I think that we talked a little bit about that. I I actually think the fact that you have a middle high school here, too provides a
059great opportunity for that. Um, it's one thing we talking around. We really didn't discuss how students potentially can place vertically in different content areas. Um, I actually did that as a middle school principal. We shared campus in Melrose with the high school. Uh, and we started to to change the way we did math. Um, and we had many middle school students taking high school math courses. Um we changed the way we did global languages um to to a leveled section um versus grades for instance um and we had students who could move in and out they they could move up levels for instance. Um so some of it was readiness knowing what was an actual good decision versus a parental request based on social factors. Right. Um the other opportunities you know those career pathways
060we oftentimes we're thinking of those career innovation career pathways from a career vocational perspective but like I talked about a lot of them actually are for advanced academic work in order to complete uh one of those innovation pathways. You have to have a minimum of four courses that are related to that pathway. Two of them have to be for college credit. Um so we have to have those opportunities here for them. Um, like I said, we have over 80% of our graduates having taken a course that makes them eligible for college credit, which is great. Uh, setting goals like that and the community knowing that is a goal and those opportunities are going to be built in and exist for you, uh, can be some of those things they look forward to. So, um, I
061think those are some of the things um, and but also thinking in terms of, you know, the programming you do for students with disabilities. We have numerous students with disabilities who are now taking dual enrollment courses. Almost all of our English 12 courses. We have very few English 12 course students in English 12 that are not taking a college level course. Students with disabilities who never thought that was possible to push them to do that. It's okay. Uh we're running multiple different levels of uh psychology. Why don't we just all run psych AP? Oh well this that's too hard for us. like, "No, it's not. Do it." So, not only did we advance opportunities, we also improved their outcomes. So, the scores are going up at the same time. Um, so it's just sort of
062proof that it works. We can do. >> Thank you. Uh, Lori, please. >> What is your vision for the next part of your career? What would this look like in five years and in 10 years? So, in 10 years, you can all come and visit me down in um I don't know, West Palm, something like that, right? Especially when it's snowing, you can come down, you know. >> Yeah. >> Um I I guess vision for a career. Um I guess why am I here now at this point after eight years as assistant superintendent? I I love my job. I love the people I work with. Um I love the opportunities that have come from it as well. Uh it's been great. Um and actually I will leave here and I will go to to Cadam
063uh for a conference a case conference um that I missed tonight but I would wasn't going to miss this for you. Um and I three three of my teams team members um a principal [clears throat] and our literacy coordinators are there. Uh I just love spending time with them and and my other colleagues. I you know, text messages on the drive in, where are you? We don't see you yet. I'm coming. I'll be there later. Um, so I love that part of of the work that we do. Um, I think Al can tell you superintendency's maybe one of the loneliest positions uh that exists. So, you build a pretty good network of folks um around for me coming out this way. I I know a few folks out here um who are superintendents, administrators, but
064I don't know as many as I know the Marramac Valley and the Northshore. Um, so I think that'll take me a little bit of effort to um to connect out here in Wester County. So, but I I guess I at this point in my career, I am looking for a superintendency. I'm looking for one that's a good fit for me, one that allows me to continue to keep the hands in the work that I really like to do. Uh again I think I I said this earlier there are superintendency positions where superintendent really is not involved in curriculum teaching and learning except maybe at the highest level of discussions. Um and I think the allure of this is is that that would not be the case here. Uh and it's an opportunity to to sort
065of be involved in a lot of that work which is is attractive to me. So I I'm looking for that opportunity. I'm looking to build a relationship with a committee as well um who who values student opportunity, student achievement, and that that's what we want to do. Uh and and by saying that, I want to make sure I'm not dismissing student well-being and staff well-being either. Um but if we're doing well from a social emotional standpoint, but we're not learning or we're not engaged and we're not doing those things, then what what's the point of that, right? Um, oftentimes actually getting kids really engaged and excited about learning and where they're going, what they're going to do is the social and emotional learning and engagement that they need anyways, right? Not to say kids don't
066need some other supports as many do, but I I guess I'm looking for a place that brings me there. Um, I I don't I don't see myself as a superintendent hopper uh finding different places to go. um you know the next best shiny object or something like that. Um this this is certainly it's close enough and far enough at the same time. Um you know I can go to the grocery store on Saturday or Sunday um without having questions peppered at me or something like that but uh but still be very much part of the community as well and be present here too. So >> thank you. How do you plan to balance the demands of being superintendent in a district with a small central office? >> I guess I embrace it. Um that's why
067I'm here. Uh we actually we have a very similar size central office. We do not have a lot of people about the same amount of people in the business office. Um we have made cuts there um a few years ago. Um we have you know another building or two. So, we have a couple more administrators, school administrators that we have to work with, but we don't have much more than that. Uh, I am currently the assistant superintendent of pretty much everything but special education. Um, so I and I like it. I I I like it and embrace it. Um, I I don't know that I would want to solely become the chief executive officer of a district. Um, I I want to be the chief learning officer. I want to be the chief people officer.
068or I want to um you know I want to be the chief community officer. That's what I want to do. Um so I I guess my shortest answer of the night here is just I I actually just embrace it because it's it's what I want to do. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh and last year but not least, why us? Why Berlin Boil Regional? >> Well, I I I guess I could it's a good final question, right? because it summarizes multiple things that I think I talked about to make sure you understood why I actually felt this was a good match. And you know, I think that the regional district part of it I I have come to enjoy. I like that aspect of it. Um I it sounds as though a lot
069of the needs that are coming up around curriculum and instruction and planning uh for student learning and opportunity are where the focus is and that is the work I very much enjoy doing. Um the small district size, I mean the size of the district is is basically the size of the middle school I was a principal of. Uh the opportunity to get to know all staff members and all students and really get to know families is something that a lot of superintendents do not have the opportunity to do and to build those relationships by getting to know people and humans. um your the the screening committee chair. She was phenomenal. Um what an amazing kid with such poise as well. Um and if [clears throat] she is reflective of any near the number of students
070and kids you have in the district, uh I can't wait. I can't wait for that. So, >> thanks, man. Um, see that's all of our questions that we have for you. Uh, unless you want to make any final comments, uh, anything like that? >> I don't think so. I think that I'll leave it just at that. >> You gave us a lot. Definitely. >> Well, thank you for coming in. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh, we'll take another quick uh break while he gets uh out of here and then Tracy will come out, right? >> Yes. >> All right.