001All right, let's call this meeting Washington Regional School Committee to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Uh we're here tonight to review finalist candidates for our superintendent position of schools. Tracy, is there anything you want to tell us before we begin? >> No, the the floor is yours, Mr. Chair. I'll come and talk to you once you get ready. >> All right. Fair enough. >> Mr. Chair, sorry. >> We can I just write on these? >> Yes. >> You'll get one for each one. Thank you. >> Yes. These are all the questions that we're going to ask. We're going
002to ask everybody the same questions. Um All right. So, our first candidate here, please, is Mr. Tim McCormack, I believe that is you sitting at the table from the North Brookfield Public Schools. >> Correct. >> All right. Nice to meet you. How are you? >> Nice to meet you. Thank you. >> Uh is would you like to start off with any kind of opening statement or would you like us to just get into some questions? >> I'll start with opening statement. >> Sure. >> Um first off, I just want to thank uh for getting to this point. Um I had a chance to to meet some of you at a site visit. Um thank you for coming to North Brookfield. I was really appreciative of that. had a great day coming to the district here.
003Uh feels like a month ago now, but it was only a few weeks ago. Uh but had a chance to visit all three schools, to talk with students, talk with staff, to talk with leadership. Um and it's just really impressive, really impressed with what I saw, what I heard, the questions that I was asked by students, by staff. Um and just a lot of great things going on. Um, you know, I think you can look at the accountability data for the for the district and you can see some really high test scores overall. Some really good work is going on, but when you actually see the students engaged with some high ethnic rigor and discourse, that's really that's really what I wanted to see and I was very happy to see all that. Um, but
004as far as who I am and why I'm here, I'm I know you've read my resume so you know kind of where I've come from, my background, but I've been in education for 27 years. um started as a classroom teacher where I taught science and wellness for seven years before I I went to administration for the past 20 years. Uh I got my start in admin as an athletic director went back to my alma mater where I served in North section for 5 years. Um but I knew that that was kind of at the time kind of a stepping stone uh that I wanted to get into building building leadership and then at some point district leadership um that was where I felt and I still feel you can be the most impactful for change.
005And when I think about what I what I do what makes me kind of excited every day it's that continuous improvement for students building opportunities for kids and striving for continuous improvement. Um and and through my different stops as building principal uh both an alternative high school and two comp comprehensive high schools and now in Northfield as superintendent what I've always strived for is to build better for our kids to give them opportunities that I didn't have but what what kids want today. And that starts with a lot of things. It starts with robust curriculum um that you can see those through lines from grades K through 12 opportunities outside the classroom. opportunities for both college and career readiness. I spent a lot of time the last three or four years really really building uh
006with our team a pathway uh for kids in advanced manufacturing and really kind of seeing that come fruition this past year has been very exciting. Um so you know I again I go back to what I'm all about. It's all about seeing kids achieve. Let's build those opportunities uh for them to experience new things to transition from grade to grade, but be successful after high school, whatever that looks like for students, whether it's college, whether it's career, but but making sure that we build those those that foundation for a really strong and bright future. >> Thank you. Um Beth, I think you're in the next question. >> Please share what in your view the needs of the district are. what has what has been fixed, what remains, and how are your strengths suit how your
007strengths suit you for leading the district through that? Well, I mean, to be very honest, I mean, coming to first site visit, having two interviews, you know, finding what I read on, you know, from the des web about what the district where it's at wise doesn't paint the whole picture. So, I'm not going to sit here pretend like I know everything needs to be fixed. I think that'd be an unfair to say that. I think that when you look at a district that has some high performing traits like Bilston, you need to ask yourself, I ask the question is what can we do to get better, right? And I look at, you know, where's the curriculum at? What's the level of high quality instruction that's going on for all students? What are the programs that
008are being phased in? Um, and those are the questions I kind of go back to. When I when I had conversations with the leadership team, it became very clear that there's still I think there's still some moving parts there. I think that there's still an area of growth for kind of phasing in some of that high quality instructional materials that that a lot of districts are moving into. Um I did talk to some teachers. I know that HMH for interreing has been been accessed for the last couple years. So it's looking at, you know, what what is working and what needs to be revised. Um, I think anytime a superintendent comes into a district, I did this when I came to North Brookfield, is you need to listen first. Uh, I think part of of
009the process of developing entry plan is to come in and to meet with not just school committee but but families, teachers, and students and find out what they think is going well, what they think needs to be worked on. Uh, and what are those opportunities for the district? What are those opportunities for all three schools? Um, so I would very much come in listening first. I would collect as much information as I could. Uh, whether it's through stakeholder meeting groups, individual uh, interviews with with teachers or parents. Uh, we there's there's many platforms you can use to collect some data through surveys, but to grab as much information as possible before I start to make those kind of instant decisions. I know the district is is currently going through some planning and what I would
010like to do, what I would do is I would take that plan once it's completed and make sure my entry plan kind of is aligned with what's what that plan is articulating for the district. I think it's very important to be on the same page because from that overall district-wide plan funnels down to your your three building improvement plans. So, you want to make sure that your entry plan, the strategic plan, and those school improvement plans are all aligned. Um, so that's that's how I would start. Um, and I think that that takes two, three, four months to gather all the information and do it appropriately. So if you started July 1, you take the summer, you take probably the first month after the school year to really gather as much information as possible. You
011know, I would really again like to look at where the curriculum is at, what is working, what is not. U, making sure there's a through line from K to 12, making sure that we have a consistent message with what we're teaching our kids. Are we on grade level? And and more importantly too is how we are assessing where our kids are at? What is our data cycle approach for collecting that data and presenting that data to our teachers and to the general public? Uh and really kind of showcasing the good work we're doing, but also those those continue areas those areas of growth. >> Thank you. Lori, would you please take the next question? >> Yes. uh please discuss your regional school experience including what strategies you've used in your past experience for dealing with
012multiple towns with different interests and resources. >> So my regional experience was mostly with North Sex when I was athletic director. Um so North Middle Sex is is three towns towns Ashby. Uh so I was not I was not the superintendent there obviously I was the athletic director. So, it's a little bit different. Uh, but I know I know how the process works in terms of of the assess assessment process and really making sure that um again you're striving for that continuous improvement for students while assessing towns as little as you as little as you have to. Um, and I think that kind of goes back there may be a question about budgeting down the road, but it really goes back to financial management. Um I think it's very important that uh you manage uh
013the budget responsibly and that means talking with all the people involved. So whether it's it's it's time leadership uh having a close conversation close working conversation and and um relationship with the business manager making sure that you are both on the same page with what's going on financially. Um, but really listening also a lot of feedback from families and your school councils to see where people are at with how this money should be should be used. Um, it goes back to my previous response about that strategic plan. That plan will guide us with a lot of a lot of our decisions around where we we we put our funds. Um, I think that's that's really important that it's not just a document that sits on a shelf. That's a living document that we look at
014every time we make financial decisions for our kids. Um, so I I think that my experience has varied, but one thing I will say is that and I've had to do this in North Brooklyn. You have to be very aware of where your volume accounts are. You have to be have a very close grasp on obviously where your school choices uh where your circuit breaker funding uh where that is at and also your EED. And I think if you maximize those three accounts, uh you can you can do a lot of of kind of pro planning, you know, looking forward, not just the next fiscal year, but two, three years down the road. Uh if you have those funds built up where you can kind of move those into the places where they need to
015be and support those positions that need to either come back to the district or save those positions, I think that's really going to be the benefit of the two towns. So, you know, that's that's some of my experience. And I obviously I think you know there's there's always opportunities to learn as well. I think that you know having a strong relationship with the business manager with the town leadership will really enhance that. >> Lisa would you please take the next question? Y >> what has been your experience in building and managing relationships with stakeholders like parents, families and communities particularly those with negative views or negative approach. So basically, how do you build and maintain trust? >> So I think there's a lot of pieces to that question. I think for me as a superintendent,
016it's about being visible. Um I think the superintendent often times get can get a reputation of being the person that's not approachable, the person who works up on the hill, comes down every once in a while. But that's not how I operate. I think that I want to meet families. I want to meet families where they're at. I want to meet teachers. I want to be in their classrooms. I want to meet kids. One of the great things that about my job is that I can see kids every day and I can be in their classes. I can see what's going on with them on a day-to-day basis. And and kids know who I am. They know that I'm the superintendent. They know my name. Um and that's a good feeling. And and I don't
017think that needs to change no matter where I go. Um and I think you also need to bring parents and families into the school as much as possible, right? Uh the school day doesn't end at 2:00 or 2:30, right? The school the schools are really the epicenters of the community and and I think you want the buildings to be open as much as much as you can and and and that means showcasing some of the great work that students and teachers are doing, having them for not just your curriculum evenings and your athletic events, but as many opportunities as possible to showcase the great learning that's going on in the district. Um and sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes you have to meet again, meet families where they're at. In previous districts, I've been I've done
018workshops at community centers because that's where people were located. Um I brought pizzas into those same facilities just to show that, you know, if if parents needed a meal, they needed child care, we we we supplied that. We made sure that that was in place so they could come out and see what's going on with their son or daughter in school. Um, you know, I think the the other the way to combat some of that negative kind of information about school is to be very timely and transparent with your communication. Um, that doesn't mean that you rebut everything that you see in Facebook. What it means is you're getting out your version of the story. You're getting out the facts about what's going on in the school. Um, you're you're celebrating the successes of the
019district. You're talking about the great work that your students, the teachers, uh, your leadership team are doing on a day-to-day basis. So, getting that out in front of parents as much as possible. Um, and then, you know, when when you have the opportunity to to be at a game, to be at an event, to be at an open house, you're approachable, right? I mean, I'm a dad of three kids. My youngest is almost four. I love to talk about what's going on in someone's life. I love to share stories about my kids. So, I that's that's would be my approach. It always has been my approach, but it's it's that matching that visibility that easy that ability to talk to anybody, you know, meet them where they're at, but also bringing this to the schools
020as much as possible to really celebrate what we're doing. >> Megan, would you please take the next question? >> Please give an example of how you've used networks and relationships to advocate to solve problems in your current district. So many different ways. So I'm lucky to be part of of multiple superintendent groups. Um leading now is a national group that I'm a part of been part of that now two and a half years. So superintendents from all over the country and it's it's a great network because we can bring problems of practice group. It's a safe space for us to work with that model practice and give each other feedback on what's going on in our district which is probably going on in 50 districts across the country. Um I had the opportunity to go
021to Washington DC last summer for a conference by sponsored by Le now two summers ago was in Columbus Ohio. So again, we're meeting with superintendents that are all over the country that there we're all facing the same challenges both financially, socially, um you know, with with all kinds of different obstacles. And it's great to be in in a room with like-minded people trying to solve those problems. On a more local level, you know, we have the Winston County Super Sense Association, which is a great network of people. Um I have the Southern Wor County Collaborative, which is I'm part of that group. We got 17 school districts. I'm currently also in a in a in a group um called MSSN, Massachusetts School Superintendent Support Network. Mr. Gamma is actually part of that as well. So
022that's 24 superintendents across the state where it it's kind of that same model is leading now where you come together once a month, you talk about a problem of practice in your district and the group kind of weighs in. Um I'm always a big advocate of of the answers in the room, right? So if I don't the answer, someone else does and we can kind of work on that uh together collaboratively. But in regards to to kind of moving the school district forward as well, I think you have to have strong community partnerships um with our kind of phase in a roll out if you will of our advanced manufacturing pathway. We've started to build a really strong partnership with VR Corporation right now. Uh we've done some work with Flexcon which is in Spencer
023Mass and those two companies uh kind of really embrace advanced manufacturing. Um it gives us a connection with two national worldwide companies actually that that our kids can see the opportunities that that are there for them outside of the school district. And so those partnerships have allowed us to to establish more uh work-based learning opportunities for our kids, um more job shadowing, but just to bring experienced professionals to come into the district to see what we're what we're providing for our students. So there's a lot of networking that goes on there. Um so it's both, you know, at that kind of superintendent level, but also throughout community that we can really work together, kind of support each other with that same common goal. So, uh, we have a question here about your experience with collective
024bargaining. What is the what has your experience been? >> Uh, quite a bit. So, I've been at the the negotiating table. Um, now it's been two cycles for the teachers, the support staff. So that's PAR professionals, ABAs and and custodians. And I was actually pulled into that conversation, if you will, back when I was a building principal for the year for my first year in the district. Um, so I I I had the experience from from both sides or not both sides, but as a principal and now the last, you know, four years of superintendent. Um and and I know that across the state there's been a lot of of negative press around negotiations and there can be there can be a lot of contentious arguments and conversations. Um but I think what we've been
025able to do in North Brookfield is have a clear kind of set of ground rules. Um I think that people may have differences but we treat each other with with some dignity and respect in the process. And you know, I think what it comes down to is is we keep the difficult conversations behind closed doors. We don't get into a a public smear campaign, if you will. Um, we we we face those challengations head on. And in negotiations, you're not going to get probably everything you want. That's just the way it works. But you need to, I think, on on on the side of the superintendent and the school committee is be financially responsible, fiscally responsible. Um, but ultimately is what we're doing what's best for our kids? And I think that's kind of I
026I'm grounded by that statement in pretty much everything I do. Um, is the decision we're making, is it what's best for our kids? And I think, uh, we've been able to to navigate some some maybe challenging decisions or conversations based on that premise. Um, and and again, I think that, you know, we we don't we don't have a lot of fanfare. We don't have a lot of um again a lot of back and forth with social media but but I think it's by and large because we set very clear ground rules. Um we know what the expectations are. Uh we set limits to our negotiation meetings uh as far as the timelines are concerned. Um but we're very thoughtful with how we we kind of present our information. So um you know so again I've
027been through two cycles for each of those those units. Um and I think that you get better as you go along. Um, but it's it's something that that I have a fair amount of experience with. >> Thank you. Jess, would you please take the next question? >> Um, what's your experience with advocacy and grant writing for additional resources and support for the district? >> So, this is something that I've had to do a lot of in Northfield um for many reasons. I think did and I I've talked about this in a previous interview, but in order to support the local budget, we had to do a lot of grant writing for our HQIM, our high quality instruction material. So, um and being a small district, even small number, we there's no grant writer. So, that
028that was that was essentially me. So, all competitive grants um I wrote I wrote those. Um so you know I'm what I'm referring to is bringing in project lead for example uh open sed um we just phased in DKP which is a great eighth grade civics curriculum that was all funded through the 1A foundation so that's a great organization that I found about two and a half years ago that really supports the roll out of of that those concepts about applied learning for students and they offer a whole kind of menu of of ates HQIM. Um, on top of that, I've written grants for school safety and mental health. Um, I've written a grant for some IBback updates. So, that was $100,000 for some of our software to u enhance some of our just temperature
029in the classrooms essentially is where that money went to. U, but all in all, um, over half million dollars in the last couple years of grants that we've written and been approved for. Um, so it's it's it's really part of the job. It's part of the job. I mean, even in communities that are able to fund the districts well above net school spending, you still have to infuse a lot of grant opportunities to support kind of the next steps that you want to provide for your kids, for your students. Um, so it's it's become pretty complex. In fact, on Monday, I wrote another grant for some more history curriculum for for students for next year for grades three through seven. Investigative investigative history is the name of the HQIM. Um, so I know that I
030know that uh President Rosen has some of these already in place, but it it's it's something that I think if we're not looking at it as a viable option, we should be because I think that that grants can really infuse a lot of what we want to do. Now, the the only downside with grants is that you have to look at the lifespan and once they're done, how can we sustain what we start? And I think with some thoughtful planning, you can do that most of the time. Um, I know that part of the way that grant for us, we're in year three of one of those that's ending, but we've made sure that we can infuse all the consumer materials we need for for several years to come uh in the local budget. So,
031it just took some planning to make sure that we have what we needed, but the grant allowed us to get up and running and get that that great curriculum started. >> Excuse me. Uh, Beth, 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? So, I think it's important to when you're when you're presenting a budget, um, especially the first time around, I think it's very important to to to really articulate if we had all the money in the world or we we didn't have as many limits or obstacles as we do in most communities, this is what we what we want and this is why. Um, conversely, I think it's very important if we do have to eliminate positions
032to re articulate the impact that the lost transition will have on our students to be very clear with that messaging. You know, that's on two different fronts. Um, but I think again it goes it when I think of budgeting um I think of the fiscal responsibility that that is required to present a budget appropriately. Um and I and I think even when you are asking for those those pie in the sky kind of positions or programs that you know that maybe aren't in the works for this year need to have a backup plan. So if we don't get this how can we make this work? Um I I mentioned this in a in a previous question. You know you're you're always trying to minimize the assessments of the two communities while maintaining the high quality
033education for all kids. So, I if if you're not getting the money that you need or you think you need initially, how do you support those programs? Is it through grant funding? Is it through finding a grant to support it for the next couple years? Is it through is it by switching positions? Is it moving positions within the budget? Um, there's a lot of ways that you can kind of look at at at how to make uh how to do more with less in some ways. Um, but I think it's it goes back to that that constant collaboration and conversation with the business manager, with your building principles, um, but also with your teachers. I think it's it's important for building principles and directors have those conversations with with teachers who are on the ground
034level every day. What's working? What do you need? Um, and and what can we do to support you? You know, when we think about rolling out new curriculum, it it's it can be tricky because if we don't support teachers with the appropriate PD, if we don't budget for that, that curriculum may not be as as impactful as we thought it would be. So, we need to make sure that we budget for the PD for those teachers to make sure that that PD is relevant, that PD is timely, and to make sure that that they're receiving all the supports they need to make sure that they can deliver that high quality instruction every single day. Um the budgeting process it's the first draft never is is never the one that's voted on. So there's always a
035give and take. There's it's just like negotiations. You have to go back to the drawing board with with suggestions. You have to look at at at making sure that the buildings are both both safe for students. If there are capital improvements that need to be made into the budget, that is also priority. So those all need to be baked into the budget as you go through the process. Um, and I think that what I've been able to do over the last three or four years is present the rationale behind the budget effectively to finance committee. Even though they may not always agree with with where our numbers may line up, I can always articulate this is why we need this position. I can always let them know this is why this position is really impactful
036for our kids. Um, and and from there it's really kind of making sure those numbers work. >> Uh, thank you. So, how do you imagine creating partnerships with other educational entities to create additional pathways for students? And what's been your experience with this type of work? >> So, my experience mostly has been with the ICP designation. So, building pathways within the district. Um, like I mentioned, advanced manufacturing is is the pathway we built um currently in Northport field. So what that means is that we have curriculum for students in grades 9 through 12 in STEM education. Um we have credentiing that's built in um over the course of those four years and we also have work-based learning opportunities for those students as they become seniors. Um the goal of those programs is to is to
037allow or to get students ready for to be successful college students. But the reality is that if those students don't don't go on to college that they are ready and are much more employable for a higher paying job in that that respective pathway. Um when I was in gardener um we had some kind of we had a this is kind of well before uh there was the pathway designation. We did some some kind of jobalike sharing if you will with some of our students with some neighboring districts. Um we were an alternative high school so we had a very small number of students that were enrolled and we had to be creative with how we educate our students but the the thing that we were seeing is a lot of our kids if they received
038a diploma they graduated what were they doing with that right so so we we had an opportunity for kids to do job shadow um at the local vocational school which at the time was Monty Tech um so they could they could get kind of a taste of some of the trades that were out there and that could be a pathway for them upon graduation. Um, we also had them do some shadowing at at Gardener High School. So, they got to see kind of what was going on at the high school as well. Um, two high schools in the city. Um, but you know, there's al there's also opportunities that that I would explore uh and maybe it would be the right fit for for most maybe it wouldn't be, but there are also opportunities to
039share resources with neighboring districts. Um, so if ICP is not the appropriate move for the district, then how can we we share some of CTE resources across other districts? Um, I've seen it done very successfully in Leicester, for example, uh, where they've combined multiple districts for different shops. That's something that that we could potentially look at. But I'd like to see before we went even that far, what do we have internally? Uh, what do we have for opportunities internally? What can we do here? um that maybe with just some tweaking with the program of studies, with some additional credentiing that we could phase in for our kids, what can we do um for the next year or two before we get into that long process? So, I think there's a lot of opportunities that that
040we can explore. I I my experience I have experience in both. I have experience writing the capital skills grant that infuse a lot of the the hard durable equipment that support this learning. Um, so I think, you know, that's the other piece of this is how do you support this endeavor financially over the long term? And I think that that's something that I've had success um in both fronts over the last several years. >> Please not ready. Regarding special education and best serving all students, how do you balance fiscal responsibility while also ensuring students have the best services? >> Great question. So, I think there's there's a couple things here. I I one thing that I that I've we've done a lot of work on the last couple years um and I think would would
041kind of go with me wherever I went is is building programs in districts, right? um trying to bring students back who are placed outside the district, bring them back in the district. Um we're currently building an elementary school therapeutic classroom for some students in our district. Um we have really built a we bridges prek program for some ASD students who if that program didn't exist in our district, they would be sent out as well to another placement. So really building programs to support our kids in district, having them in their elementary school, elementary schools, so we're not sending them to, you know, putting on a bus and sending them 45 to an hour hour away. Um, but I also think it it goes back to what are we doing for our tier one and tier
042two supports. So are we looking at adopting co-teering, for example? Are we looking at h how are students being serviced? are they being pulled out or is the teacher coming to them? Um, you know, we want to make sure that that students feel included. Inclusion is is always the way to go. So, are we pulling kids out of classes a lot? Are we are we actually meeting where they're at and we instructing and teaching those kids in their classes with their peers? Um, I think we also, it is also an area of we've had a lot of success with our student support team and making sure that teachers are collecting real- time data on their students um to see what works for their kids, what doesn't work for their students, and if things are not
043working for students, how are we coming together as a team and building a plan to support these kids? Um, so those pieces those those pieces of MTSS, you know, the tier one, the tier two, and possibly tier three supports need to be really strong and robust within the district, right? And I think the tier one, I'll start with tier one. Making sure that teachers know what that is, making sure they know what the DECAP is, district support plan is, and if when they have a student who needs extra supports, are they are they versed in collecting the data and then presenting their their data and their their concerns to a student support team. Um, outside of that, like I said, it's building those programs to support our kids. Uh, we've done a lot of work
044u with TCI training for our staff. That's that's a a very advanced therapeutic training that supports kids before we get to the restraint component for certain students. Restraint is always the last option. So, it's making sure that our our staff is very well-versed and trained in deescalation techniques and supporting kids when they're in crisis. Um, we want I want the district and the schools to be a place where parents want to send their kids. Um, that if if they send their kid to Berlin Wston, they know that no matter what challenges that their student face faces, they will have a program or we'll have opportunities for their student um within within the district. Uh, and that's been something that that I think is is something that we tried to do um over the last four
045or five years. I would bring that same mindset here, working closely with the special ed director, working closely with with with building principles on articulating kind of that vision across the district and making sure that staff felt supportive with that endeavor that families knew kind of how this is all going to roll out for their students. Um, and and the CPAC or whatever it's called in Berlin, I'm assuming CPAC, but the CPAC was very much on board with what was going on and and had a strong voice in this process. Uh Lisa, >> how do you go about balancing parents rights, students rights, and district educational priorities? Good question. Uh I I think that there are situations where it it can become can be tricky. Um, I always fall back to we are here to
046do what's best for our kids and um, we want our kids to feel safe and supported. We want our families to feel safe and supported too, but but the but the reality is sometimes um, that isn't the real situation, right? And so so it falls back to what are we doing for our students? Um, and I think it it's it's from there it kind of mushrooms up like what are we doing to support students who may have mental health concerns? Um, they're coming the school hungry, depressed, tired. Do we have the counseling supports in place? Do we have anything in place as far as counseling counselors coming into the building? Um, because I know from experience that often times our adjustment counselors, school counselors get overworked, get overt taxed. So, we need additional layers of
047support for those students. Um, are we working with families to find the appropriate supports? Um, not just through DCF, for example, but other agencies. Are we working with that family to get in home support to support what we're doing in schools um to make kind of the the overall experience both inside in school and outside of school what's best for that student? Um, so it it it kind of goes back to building a team, you know, fostering that team approach, getting parents on board as much as we can. Um, we've done a lot of work uh with curriculum like Second Step, but what we've really done a lot of work around is building at both schools um is building a really robust advisory group um for our kids. and that group or that that weekly
048meeting uh that students have with a teacher really is is really impactful with with what's going on in their lives at that moment. Um and that has been something that we've been tracking for the last couple years. It's really supported a lot of our work um socially with students. Uh coming out of co we saw a really like every district a really increase mental health concerns for kids and their families. And so kind of meeting it head-on and and and bringing some really high quality counselors into the building, but also having that built into the students daily or weekly schedule support what's going on with students, which has been very beneficial. But again, going back to the question, it's it's bringing parents into the conversation as much as we can. uh at times we we
049we can't sacrifice the students confidentiality in certain uh situations but we try to bring parents and families into that conversation as much as we can to be on the same page. Um I have been situations where we've exhausted that and honestly we've had to really kind of separate ties with members of the family in some respects u in the sense that what they're doing is not is not safe for their kid. So we know how to really advocate for the student and do what we need to do to advocate for that for that student. >> Jess, please. >> How do you plan to retain students who are looking for different or more advanced challenges? What can we offer to students to get them to stay? Well, I I would start by asking the students and
050the families, you know, what are we lacking, right? What do we need? Um, is it is it is it some of those pathway opportunities in health services, advanced manufacturing, um, in business? Is it additional AP courses? Is it more a more robust elective offering? Um, I don't think there's any one simple answer, but I think it starts when I'm in a conversation with our students. Our students will tell us what they want and you know they even the kids who don't know what they want yet will tell you what they don't want. So, I think that's the starting point. It's having an engaging conversation with students and their families. And that can be done many different ways, but I think that's where you start. And then once you kind of narrow it down, if if
051the district decides to move forward with a pathway opportunity, for example, it's how do we support that training for the teachers? How do we support the roll out of the curriculum? How do we give them impactful PV? How do we how do we track student success and how do we share that success out to our students, our families, and to the general public? Um obviously you want if you when you phase in a program or you phase in opportunities for students if it has success you want to be able to show that how are you tracking that too is very important so what data cycles are you using to capture that information um but I think you know there's an opportunity for Berlin and Boston to be truly a destination for students and families um
052there's already some tremendous things going on so let's capture that let's make it better and let's market let's market the district more let's market what's going on at all levels. Um, and that can be done through through simple newsletters, but it can also be done through some there's some great opportunities out there to really do some really really slick things to get parents engaged with what's going on in the district. I think that's kind of the next step once you have those things in place once you're building those new ideas is to really get in front of it and get it out there to families so they can see it. They have they have access to it at all times. >> Thank you. >> Lori, please. What is your vision for the next part of
053your career? What would this look like in five and in 10 years? >> I would love to be superintendent district for 10 years or more. Um, I look at Wilson as a destination. I don't look at this as as a as a stepping stone to another spot down the road. Um, I think when I talk to my friends and colleagues who are superintendents or been in in these roles for a long time, the best way to impact positive change for a district, for families, for teachers, and most importantly for students is by building a strong team and being in that position for a long time. You can't expect to to have lasting change in just two or three years. You can change some things and you can do some good work, but I'm not saying
054you can't. I mean I I've been in this role for four years. I mean so by me saying that if I would be in this position next year I've left after four years but this is this is an opportunity I look at this as an opportunity where I can come in for a very long time and and do some great work. Not that there will be obstacles. I'm sure there will be there will be many obstacles that we'll work on as a team will overcome. But I think you know it's really um it's my goal. It's it's part of my vision to come to to a district and be there potentially until I retire. Um making those those those strong positive changes for our kids, our families, making the district the best it can be.
055Taking district that's already high performing in many ways and making even better. Um so that would be that would be um my next five or probably 10 plus years. >> Thank you. How do you plan to balance the demands of being superintendent in a district with a small central office? >> Um, it's not small to me. It's it's actually quite large. >> Yeah. >> Um, which is nice. Which is nice. I mean, I think again one of the benefits of a small district, we wear many hats. And so, like I said, I'm the the great writer, my director of curriculum, which has been great, but um at the same time, it would be great to have another high quality professional to work with to get that work done. Um I'm always of the mindset that
056the answers in the room, right? The answers in the room that it's not just one person can do it all. Um and that one person has all the right answers either. So to to be part of a of a much larger high performing team would be would be fantastic. I had the opportunity to meet some of the members of the central office a few weeks ago and it just it seemed like they're very dedicated and hardworking group and that was just in a 30-minute conversation. So I can only imagine you know what's going on behind the scenes. Um, but you know that's a great that's a question I get from my wife quite a bit. How do I not burning out in the demands of being superintendent? But I think you know it's it's it
057is trying to find that work life balance which I can tell you I've not mastered yet. Um, the one great thing too about parts of this position is is the proximity. I live 50 minutes away. So, the great part about that for me is that I can go home and have dinner with my four-year-old and come back for events because like I said earlier, the day does not end at two o'clock. Um, so that would that would help with me personally, especially kind of that work life balance. But, but the work is hard. The work is hard. Um, and it's not always as rewarding as other positions, but the work is is always there. And I and I love that. I embrace that. Um, you know, when I leave to go home, pretty much I
058know that my work is not done. I'll be back at it tomorrow morning or I'll do some more when I get home that night. Um, but it it's it's always there and it's always it's always good work. And I think that my my constant goal is is always trying to continuous improvement for kids and and taking one thing at a time or two things at a time sometimes and really working to make them the best opportunities for our students. Um, I don't know if that totally answers your question. Um, but I don't know if there is one just great answer, but I think the benefit of having a larger central office team would be fantastic. Um, you've had some veteran and skilled administrators on staff and and again, just in a very small amount of
059time, it's it's clear, it's obvious you have some very dedicated and talented teachers who love what they do, love your students. Um, it's and I think part of leadership is really supporting teachers to lead from within, too. uh it doesn't fall just the building principles and directors and superintendents. It falls to really empowering those teachers to become leaders within the schools in the district. And I think that's an area where I think there's a tremendous amount of potential. I'm sure it's going on now, but I think that there's obviously this people that definitely would embrace those roles. >> So perhaps we've heard some of this already, but final question here. Why us? Why Bland Boilstein Regional? I I think you're a great school district. Everything that I know about the district, I know people who
060work in the district, I know people who who uh sent their kids here, the things I could find out about the district. Um it's it's very intriguing. Um there's a lot of great things that that I've already seen in action. Um and so like I said, I you think about these roles. I think about this role. I want to be a good fit for the district and for myself. And I think that some of the skills that I bring to the position, some of the work I've done over the last three, four years, the last 20 years as administrator in different roles, I think I I've worn many hats. Um, starting as an athletic director, building principal, superintendent. Um, I've seen a lot. I've been experienc I've experienced a lot and I' I've had the
061ability to work and develop some great leadership teams over the years. I think that that I have a a shared vision. Um, I've been able to build like leadership teams are high functioning that embrace that aspect of psychological safety where you know the answer, like I said a couple times tonight, the answer is in the room, the answer is in the group, but we work through those hard problems, those challenges together. And I think that um, Berlin Boilson has a tremendous amount of great things that are already happening. It's how do we bring in more opportunities for our kids? It's how do we make what is already working better and how do we minimize those obstacles and the risk for the district. And I think that that's where the work is is is still ongoing.
062I think every year, year in year out, we're going to have some kind of financial concerns. Um that that's kind of the way of the world. It's the way of public schools right now. U but it's having those conversations with the right people. um frequently often making sure that that they are kind of uh forefront of of your mind, their mind about what we can do to support our students and keep moving forward. Um so I I again I think there's a lot of lot of great opportunities here. I would love to to have the opportunity to kind of immerse myself. Um I know that um I think through one of the conversations that I was in that um Mr. Gan would be kind of transitioning through the summer. So the opportunity to kind of
063learn from the current superintendent about the district um you know someone who's worked in the district the past few years I would embrace that because I think it's great to have that transition plan. Uh when I was a new superintendent first couple years I was part of a program called INSIP which is new superintendent induction program. So I had a coach for two years three years actually and that's a great way to kind of get acclimated to the role. I think that would be a great way for anybody to kind of transition to this position. have somebody who's been here to help help me or whoever kind of transition to this role full-time. So, um I would welcome the challenge. I think I think it was a great opportunity for for both me and the
064district. Uh and I'd be excited to get started and really do some great work there. >> Thanks, Tim. Uh so, that concludes the questions that we have for you, but is is there any last uh final statements or comments or anything you'd like to clarify or add to anything? Any questions for us or anything? I don't really have any questions. I think I think the process has been again I think the process has been great. It's been about a month now. Um and I've had several great conversations with with some of you already and and some members of your teaching staff, some some students. And I think I just go back to what I've already said a couple times tonight. I think this would be a great opportunity for the district, great opportunity for me.
065I think that I think that where the district is at, what I've my experiences I think would be a great fit. and I I would be someone who um is always uh available to have a conversation. I'm reflective of my work. Um I do not have all the right answers all the time, but I will get back to you. Uh and I'm I'm a team player. And I think that um if you ask people who I worked with, people who worked for me, um they will tell you that that I am I am student centered. I'm a team person. Um I'm always willing to work with people to make sure that we do what's best for our kids. And I would bring that same uh kind of energy, that same ethos, if you will, to
066this position. And I would I would work extremely hard for for the district. >> All right. Thank you very much, Tim. Very nice to meet you. Appreciate you going through this process for the past month or or so, however long it has been. I know it's a lot to it, but thank you very much for coming. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Recess. >> All right, we will recess. We do have uh the next one scheduled for 6:15. So we will >> Oh, what? >> Oh, 6:15. >> Yeah. >> Oh, perfect. >> Okay. >> If she is early, I will bring her in. You're not committed to that time, but you do have a minute. >> All right. So, we'll be in recess until she's
067here. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. 20.