001Good evening everyone and welcome to the regular meeting of the cohasset school committee. Um today is Wednesday September 3rd 2025. Um we will do a roll call to start the meeting. Mr. Dial >> present. >> Mr. Evans will be joining us uh shortly. Miss Hannah is unable to join us today. Mr. Mlullen >> present. Celelesi present. We do have a forum and we will begin. Um will all those who are able please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Welcome back. Welcome back teachers. Welcome back administrators. Welcome back staff. Welcome back students. Um, welcome back parents. Um, [laughter] this is a um,
002great start to the year. I feel like the weather has been absolutely perfect for it. Um, I couldn't get more idllic when you think of September and the start of a new school year with overfilled backpacks, signing of syllabuses, um, uh, refilling and emptying lunchboxes. Um but we are excited um for another great year in the um Cohasset public schools. Um we will move on to public comment at this point. Um so if we do have any public comment um we make that now. We do have a small audience of invited guests who are welcome to comment if they would like to but otherwise um we will see as we hear from anyone online. Um, and if not, we'll continue on. Uh, I will note for the minutes that Mr. Evans joined us at 604.
003Thank you, Mr. Evans. Okay. So, seeing uh no public comment, we will move on to our invited guest section of the meeting um where we will I am so excited to meet um some of our new um faculty. >> Yeah. So, we're very excited to have some folks here with us tonight. Um not everybody could join us but um maybe we'll start with principal Godette who can start by introducing our new Oscar staff. >> Sure. Should I where I am or should I folks? >> Sure. We actually have new three new staff members. Two of them joined us last year midy year. Um and we have one brand new staff member. Um so I will introduce to you Skyler Fedor. She is our new stars teacher. She took that position because um we have a
004position that changed a little bit. we had a preschool position that is now half preschool and half um kindergarten special education. So, um Mrs. um Ripley ended up taking that position, which is great because she's going back to her roots in preschool. And so, that opened it up for us to snag up um Skyler, who um we're very excited about. And um it's going to be a great year because she's still got Mrs. Ripley there and she's got um a case load that is manageable. So, it's a really good um start for her to to dig into special education at um the we also have Miss Caitlyn DS. She joined us in the middle of last year. She is a halftime reading specialist. Um she filled the position that um opened up I think in
005like October or November. So, she's been around for a hot minute [laughter] and we wanted to make sure and introduce her. She's halftime um and works closely um with Liz Dinger as our reading specialists. Um we also have Megan Reese who joined us as a long-term sub at um last year also not too far from the beginning of the year and she is point4 music teacher. So she's only here on um Thursdays and Fridays and she's able to be with us when Miss Lewis is at Deer Hill. So, um, she's actually at school right now in Boston, so she was unable to join us. Those are our folks coming from. >> Thank you all. Thank you very much for coming. And we've had the opportunity to get to know the new teachers um at the
006new teacher orientation. And so, we're very excited that they're here with us. >> So, we have more teachers. However, they had other things that they needed to do. And John, did you want to talk to about the teacher? >> Just to say a few words about >> Sure. I would love to have you because you have a lot of middle school staff. >> Yes, we do. Yes, we do. >> Yeah. So, we have uh several staff members and I think what I'll do is I'll share with you something that we did um for our first meeting at the middle school which was to um share a little bit about what teachers the new staff were like themselves when they were in middle school. So, it was a nice little way to get to know everybody.
007Um I'll start first of all to like to welcome and recognize Joe Bandera who is a special education teacher in seventh grade. Um he actually gave us a visual for what he did. He actually share he still has his um his uh middle school ID from Hangingham. Um we won't do him the uh trouble of actually trying to share that but uh let's just say it is adorable. So so that was great. Uh we also have ESP Victoria Katalo. as she described herself, you know, in middle school as someone who is a social butterfly, happy to be in school with friends and a good one. Next, we have John Frell, who uh is our new band teacher, and he described himself as a quiet student in middle school and someone who's very into music and
008soccer. Our new chorus teacher is Amy Frieda and she describes herself as the epitome of the Hamilton obsessed theater kid stereotype and I could say I was in her course uh room on the first day and those kids were outstanding and singing and they dove right into it. She's doing some really interesting things there. Um we'd also like to welcome Emily Graham who is a long-term sub for sixth grade English. She describes herself as um very creative when she was in middle school. I'd also like to recognize um our school psychologist Vanessa Liry. Uh she described herself as quiet, friendly, responsible, and more of a homebody. Think we have three more to go, so we're almost there. Uh Melissa Looney is our secondary team chair, so she shares her duties with us at the high
009school. She described herself in the school as friendly, cooperative, and optimistic. We also have uh Rachel Marinelli who is the speech language pathologist who works at the high school as well as the middle school and she simply said that she wore too much blue eyeliner. And then last but certainly not least, French teacher Jen Scott. We are very thrilled to have her at the middle school. She spent some time at the high school for a while. She said she was quiet, curious, and determined, but did not always have the confidence to recognize her own potential. If there's a better way to describe what it's like to be in middle school, [laughter] I don't know what it is. And so, we are thrilled to welcome all of these people. Um, and as the new guy, you
010know, I get to say I've been there for maybe three weeks longer than them, but um, it's been great to help them, support them. We're really excited to have them with us. >> Thank you. >> You won the prize. >> Absolutely. >> Take care. Have a good night, y'all. And then we have um a couple of elementary teachers from the Deer Hills. And so unfortunately, Principal Sullivan couldn't be here, but I get to speak on behalf of Noah Edge. He's going to be teaching third grade. And he is um has so much energy and is so excited. He was in excuse me, Hingham last year for a little bit. He graduated last year and he um is at baseball camp. So he has a game tonight and so he does a lot of baseball so
011that's why he's not here tonight. And then also um we have Abby Bizaro and she Bizarero and she um is grade four and she spent um her year last year in Plymouth as a first grade teacher and kind of a fun fact about her she um helps run the Marshfield Levitate surf team. So we're really excited to have them. I had a wonderful wonderful time with them. I get to spend three days with them and it's just uh it's it's just such an exciting time. I know I had already talked about it, but just a great group of teachers. We're really lucky to have them, but they chose us to come here because it is competitive out there. So, I think we're off to a really good start with these amazing teachers. It was a
012really nice, actually larger class than anticipated. So, it's great. >> Thank you so much. Um, I will just say I I appreciate all of our principles and teachers who were able to make it um coming tonight because the the first couple days of school um are super intense and to add another couple of hours um onto your day to um join us here is is greatly appreciated and recognized. Um and also want to thank everyone who spent so much time um hiring um in our administration because it seems like we were able to get some really fantastic um new faculty members. Um, so appreciate that as well. Um, superintendent report, please. Great. Um, so welcome back to the school year. Um, it has been a fantastic start. We've had two days. Um, and they've been
013really a great two days. So, I thought I would start this evening by sharing some photos of what has been happening in the buildings. Um, I will say they are probably a little elementary heavy. Um, just because they're adorable. Um, and who doesn't like to see really cute kids on their way to school? So, um, share first days of school. So, actually, we're starting with the new teachers. So, you get to see some of the faces that weren't able to be here. Um, on the second day of new teacher orientation, we do a bus tour of Capacit so the staff can see where our kids live. Um, Glenn Pratt actually does the tour and talks about the history in town. It's awesome. I >> I was sick last year for his tour and so I
014wasn't able to go but I really wanted to go this year so I hopped on the bus and I having lived here for 25 years still learned a lot. Um so that was great and then we end the tour with ice cream at JJ's because how can you teach in Cohasseta and not have had ice cream at JJ? So that was a great afternoon and then we opened up the year with our new staff. They all came back last week. They came on Wednesday and Thursday. And our opening day was fantastic. We spent the whole morning together in the auditorium. I celebrated those teachers who reached their milestones, celebrated the folks who had new babies and marriages over the summer, and then we did a little bit of exploring about the new strategic plan, which
015I'll talk about a little bit later. And then actually all of the teachers broke off into some community circles where they did some reflecting on the new strategic plan. And then they came back and they shared what they were excited about with regard to the strategic plan, what they needed to be able to help us achieve that strategic plan. Um, and it was a really high energy um, day. What I loved about it was that it was a day that wasn't a sit and get morning. The teachers had a lot of voice and opportunity to talk during that day as well. And actually with the process that we used by the time we shared every single staff member had an opportunity to have a voice in what we presented in the auditorium. And so that
016was a great way to start the year. And then um our seniors, they kicked off the year with a photo in the parking lot on the very first day. And today they went and did Senior Sunrise down at Sandy Beach. Um, this is a group who are, you know, just a little bit extra special for me because I happen to have one in that crew. And so, um, you know, we're excited for them and for the year ahead. And then our middle schoolers getting into the middle school. Seventh and eighth graders are always, you know, on their way to where they need to be, but some of our sixth graders need a little bit of extra help in figuring out where their classrooms are. But what I love about the middle school is we walked
017in actually before all the kids did. And every single teacher was standing in the hallway ready to go, ready to direct kids. It was awesome. Um, and then we went to Deer Hill where teachers were ready, kids were ready. our SRO's and friends were ready to greet our students. Um there was music. It was fun. It was exciting. And then we and you'll see in a little bit, we actually um Miss Owen and Dr. Scholins and I rode the bus with our Ozgood kids um from Deer Hill up to the Ozgood, which was great fun. They were like, "Who are these grown-ups that are getting on the bus with us?" Um but Ozgood first and second grade came on that first day of school. Super cute. Um teachers were really excited to see the students
018and made it a really fun entrance. And then just staff in general, everybody was smiling. There were smiles everywhere. And then today was kindergarten. Um cutest things ever, our kindergarteners. And there were a few tears, but they were all great once they got in. Um, because it's new, right? Like it's their first time really ever going to school. And so we were there to to capture a few moments. And then I guess that's it. I guess you're not going to see the picture of us on the bus. It was there. I don't know what happened to it. >> You'll have to take our word for it that we rode the bus. >> Yes. Yes. [laughter] It was fun. Um and I think one of the things that we kept seeing doubles of children. >> Yes.
019>> Um there are seven sets of twins. >> So we because we kept saying well those those two is that right? Seven >> there's two and there's two right there. So it was really really fun to watch. >> Yeah. So >> I know it's gone. All right. Well >> um they're more important. But it was a great day and I was able to walk around the buildings um today as well and kids are where they needed to be. Kids are, you know, you go in and teachers are doing get to know you activities. They're helping create routines and structures and they're building relationships and doing all of the things that every great teacher does on the first couple days of school. And so we're excited for the year ahead. Um couple other things to note
020though. Superintendent Shannon, before we move on, the class of 26. >> Yes. >> Did they organize those things on their own or was it sort of more like a was there was it parent driven or was it student driven? >> It's student driven. It's student council driven. Um both of those things are traditions. Um >> Oh, they are. >> They are. They're not new to this grade. >> Oh, okay. >> It's something that everybody sort of >> I had never heard of it before. >> Sort of does >> learn something new every day. >> Yeah. And so it's just a fun fun way to kick off the the new year. And then homecoming is coming up in a couple weeks and they'll do a senior spirit week as well. And so um it'll be interesting
021to see if they come up with anything that's new for themselves as the class of 2026. But a lot of these things are things that others have done before. >> Was there enrollment? Do you know what how many there are? Is it 90s? >> I think they might be 100. >> They're 100. I mean, it's always in someone's I just didn't know if you I was curious if you knew because it just it looked like a fairly small group. >> They were big when they started. Um, and then some people have moved and things over the years, but yeah, >> it was nice to see. Thanks for that picture. I didn't know they did that. So, it's cool. >> They're a good group. >> It's like the opposite of the walk out, right? >> Yeah.
022In front of the school >> definitely by clap. >> Yes. Walk out. No walk out. >> [snorts] >> Um, so another thing I wanted to share with folks, and I'm going to share my screen again, is we often get requests throughout the year to share community information. We have a lot of community partnerships. We're very proud of the partnerships we have in town. Um, and at the same time, we are working on being better communicators with the community in ways that are more effective. And part of that is making sure everybody knows where to go to get information about our community partners. And part of that is making sure our newsletters are streamlined so that people read them. And so this year we've created a new part of our web page. And so this is
023our website, the main site. If people scroll to the bottom, there's a community partnership events and registrations page that you can click right here and it will take you to a new website where we have opportunities for groups in town who we partner with to share their nukes. Um, so for instance, we partner a lot with the historical society. They help run field trips for us and they're actually running a sea shanty shindig, I think is what it's called, on next Friday night. Um, it might be this Friday night. It's up here, I think. And, um, students who were dosent all summer will be will be presenting. But then they're also doing a house tour, which is not something that we'll be presenting in our newsletters, but something we want to promote because their efforts
024actually benefit our students. And so also, you know, when youth sports are looking to get their registrations, we'll put that information here. And that will keep our newsletters a little bit cleaner and more streamlined, but still provide the information that parents need and families need um to get their kids where you need them to be. And our newsletters will have a little blurb that says, "Don't forget to check our community corner page." So, I wanted to share that with folks and we'll introduce that in the newsletters as they come out as well. And then the last thing I wanted to share as part of my report before I get to the next bullet is that you know with a new year we have a new recognition. Um the Boston magazine recently published their list of
025the top schools in Massachusetts and the Cohasset Mill High School was number four in the whole state. And so that's something to be incredibly proud of. Um, and I just want to congratulate all of the teachers, the administrators, the support staff, and our students who have helped us get to that recognition. So, that's the report. There any questions before I jump into the strategic plan and goals? >> Number one on the Southshore. Yes. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Number one in coast, too. because the others above us were not on the subject. >> Uh, one of the subcommittees is communications subcommittee. >> Yes. >> Can we uh get a meeting going for that group too because I'd love to have us talk about now that you're trying to streamline things kind of what your vision is
026and maybe we can also talk about you know other ways to make sure I think a lot of information goes out. I think the amount that's digested is a small percentage of the information that goes out. uh especially talking to other parents. I think we've all heard the I didn't know about that. Well, it's in the in the newsletter five times, right? So, we want to try to solve that. We have a you pointed out I think we have a uh an accessibility of information um challenge as well. So, put that on our schedule as well. It' be great. >> So, it's actually one of the goals of the district for the year is communications. And so I think that having the subcommittee be a part of the larger group is probably going to be
027um >> the strategy I was going to use um because I think we need more than just the subgroup for the subcommittee to be involved. I'm hoping to get students involved, a couple other parents, administrators, teachers, um, and do some real um, auditing of our communications, what we use, how well it's received, and even our systems. >> Yeah. >> Um, because I'm not sure that they're as effective and efficient as some >> part of that conversation. Exactly. Because that's on my radar, too. And I think what you pointed out, it's more than just to the parents. It's also internally, it's also to the students. It's also into other I mean there's you know this is a multiple you know it's a very complicated web so >> yeah so absolutely >> great all right um so
028last spring summer um I think it was the last meeting in May we presented to all of you the new strategic plan and it was approved and at that point it went to the graphic designer and so with the new year we have a new version of the plan that I'm very excited to show to you this evening. Um, I'm going to share my screen again and this is on our website live as of today. Um, so this is our new strategic plan. Again, content hasn't changed, just format has changed. And it functions like a little flip book. And so people can scroll through and really see what the work is of the district for the next five years. Um, again, want to reiterate that this was a highly collaborative process. We had school committee,
029we had administrators, we had teachers, we had students, we had parents. Um, all being a part of this planning group. Um, and it was our work was really based in data that we gathered from all of our different stakeholders and constituents. And so, our graphic designer helped put this together for us to capture both the process and the work. And so our new mission, we place students first. Together we inspire character, purposeful growth, and a commitment to authentic scholarship for the fulfillment of our collective potential, our vision, students improving communities, and our new set of core values. Um, and then it goes on to talk about our theory of action. We're very happy that our vision of a graduate is now embedded in the strategic plan and very much aligned to our mission, vision, and
030core values as well as our four priority areas. Um, our four strategic objectives or our compass points as they're called in our plan are teaching, learning, and leading, wellness, community engagement, and resources. And then each of those compass points is broken down into different initiatives along with what outcomes people should expect and who's responsible along with the timeline. One of the things that I'll talk about next when I talk when I introduce you to our district improvement plan for the year is that um this is a fiveyear strategic plan. We want to really make sure people hear that because while there's urgency and excitement around all of these things, we cannot accomplish all of this in one year. It is going to take us five years. Some of these initiatives actually are three to five
031year initiatives. And so while in year one this year we're introducing and laying a foundation, it will take us five years to really see um as much progress as we're looking for. And so I would welcome people to really dig in and flip through this. It will be the the highlight of the newsletter that comes out on Friday. Um and it really is going to be the guiding document for our work for the next five years. Um the strategic plan, a strategic plan, no matter where you are, is designed to guide progress and guide the future. Um it helps keep us on track. It helps us avoid some shiny objects that come down the pike. Um because this is really grounded in the data of our district. And so we're very excited about it. and
032hope that people will spend a little time looking at it. Um, this summer, our district leadership team really took this plan and we broke it down based on what can be accomplished reasonably in each of the five years. And when we did that, even in year one, there's work that rises to the level of needing to be in a district action plan. And then there's other work that even though it's not in the district district action plan is work that we are still going to take on and accomplish. Um, and this district action plan is really what now will drive the school improvement plans that will be coming to you at the end of October and teacher goals. Um, and we talked a lot about on those opening days that the work of the strategic
033plan, of the district action plan, of the school improvement plan, and the teacher goals, it's all of us together. One of the mo well the motto of our new strategic plan is um learn, grow, inspire together. And so as adults, we are really taking that to heart to how do we do those things? How do we learn together? How do we have mindsets of growth? Though all of us have been doing this a long time, there is still more to do and more to learn. How do we stay inspired? and that it's really going to take us as a community, not just our school community, our parent community, the larger community to come together to think about how do we support this work. Um, and I think the teachers were excited about that and are
034excited to be a part of the work. Um, and so I want to share with you tonight, um, our district action plan so far. Um, again, just going to share my screen. And this plan also incorporates my goals. Um, because oftentimes, sometimes they're separate and sometimes they're very much the same work as everybody else's. Um, my professional practice goal is actually quite straightforward. It's to be um, a part of the new superintendent induction program. They're year two. I will continue to go to their um programming once a month. My coach who you've all met um Moren Lroy will continue to come out and meet with me and support me. Um and I will continue to do all of the work that is expected as part of that program. The second goal is the student learning
035goal for the district. Um and this really is, you know, Dr. Stones and I were talking about the fact that MTSS has been a goal for several years and we think this is really the probably the last year that it will um be an acceleration point and be a part of the district strategic plan because we are almost there. Um but we now need to spend some time calibrating tier one instruction. We've spent a lot of time looking at what curriculum should be, aligning that curriculum, building benchmarks, implementing benchmarks, and now we need to make sure that the experience that our students have. Though what will never be identical classroom to classroom is more um consistent and that teachers are applying what all of the work that has been done in the last few years
036with some integrity so that we can make sure that as students go from one grade level to the next that there's um a consistent foundational experience that we can assume that they all have and that they have all learned this foundational material. And then it this year will give us the opportunity to finalize what exists at our tier 2 and our tier three um levels of MTSS. Our third goal is really to start moving deeper in project-based learning forward. Um but what that does not look like is it does not mean that every child is going to be doing project-based learning by the end of the year. This is a huge undertaking. Um this is a three to five f five to sevenyear goal even. Um as somebody who spent many years working at PBL
037works, working with districts who were trying to bring project first learning to their district um it's a it's a big undertaking. It's a mindset shift for both adults and students. It's even a shift for the families um because it's a different way of working. It's a different way of engaging students and thinking and learning. Um and so we're actually going to start this year with a steering committee that looks at what are our current practices. Project-based learning exists in this district. Where does it exist? Why does it exist? What does really high quality PBL look like? Project-based learning is one type of deeper learning. What else is happening in the district? Where else are we seeing other things that we want to capitalize on and expand upon? Um, and then how do we learn from
038what other schools are doing? And then how do we really define highquality teaching and learning as a district? And how do we then build out a plan for the next two to five years that will allow us to provide the right professional development and help develop core curriculum that is [cough] excuse me deeper and project based in its nature. So that's um our third goal. Our fourth goal is tied to wellness and that really looks like us starting to define what school district and student success looks like um for the Cohasset district um in ways that support wellness, belonging, and academic growth and what are some of the success indicators. Um again, we'll have a committee that helps drive this work. you've seen evidence of of it beginning, not the committee, but the work in
039the community read of never enough. And there's a lot to be done here because there's a hard it's hard to balance high expectations and achievement levels and wellness. And we are seeking to actually find a way to balance those two things so that our students continue to strive to be the best that they can be. Our district continues to strive to be I put out there on opening day the best district in the state. Four is great. Why not one? Um but in striving for that, how do we also take care of our students to make sure that they're taking care of themselves as well? and how do we take care of our staff because we also don't want to burn them out and they've been feeling overwhelmed the last few years and we want
040to make sure that we're taking care of them too. So, we're trying to figure out what that looks like. Um, and then for community engagement, this is where we're going to be developing a cohesive communication plan. Um, auditing our practices, looking at strengths, redundancies, and gaps. um looking at our current communication tools, building a plan to address those shortfalls. One of the things in the strategic planning process that really I guess it surprised me was how much the students wanted to be communicated to about what's happening across the district. Um I think sometimes we forget that they are actually really engaged and interested in in the everything from the budget to the strategic plan. Um, and so those are those are things we're going to look at. Um, and to develop a PR strategy because
041another thing that came out of that process was that we're not telling our story well enough. Our families don't know what happens in our buildings on a day-to-day basis and there are great things that happen in this build in these buildings. And so, how do we get that out into the world? So, we're going to be looking at all of that and then finalizing and publishing a plan. And then resources. Our goal this year is really to develop a 3 to five year long financial forecast for the whole district. Um we're going to be working with um Miss Owen and some others, our our budget subcommittee and the town to really um forecast out what the next few years will look like. so that we can build a budget both shortterm meaning for FY27 and
042the longer term that actually will support the work that we're trying to do. Um we talked a lot about in the strategic planning process in our goal setting and then on opening day that this is an amazing district. we do things really well and we can elevate within that excellence. And so how do we do that and how do we support that um fiscally policy wise in every way possible because there's a lot of potential here that continues to exist and I think we're very excited to see you know where that upper limit is. So this is the work that I would present to you as our work for this year. Again, it does not mean we're not doing other things. There are a lot of other things that we are doing. Some big things,
043some small things, some technical shifts, some very, you know, adaptive shifts as well. Um, I think one of the pieces of feedback I heard as we I talked with principles was this is a lot and it is. It they're bold goals. Um and you know I if we don't shoot big we won't land there. Um so you know we may not get to that point where we have finished every single thing we have set out for the year but we're we're sure going to try. So I would welcome any questions comments you have. Should we go? Do you have any comments or questions for you know, uncharacteristically, I don't um I think this is a very very good plan. You've hit on a lot of the things that that um you talked about at the
044committee level over the years. Uh I'm eager to see where it goes. I guess one thing I would add on the communications that resonates with me having been on the committee for a while and part of this town because I I agree we don't tell our story well and one of the things that that I floating for a while is um like a a brochure or a pamphlet or like an advertisement for our schools >> and you'll see these things that like private schools have like you know here's here's why to come here you know >> and we don't I guess have to do that but um I think that's the sort of thing if we think about ourselves as, you know, competing for students, competing for um for our our our kids. Um that
045that might help us kind of nail down and tell that story a little bit better because I think we've got a got a great story to tell. Um one of my favorite things is coming up, I'm sure, is the um looking at the program of studies. Yeah, >> I love looking at that. It's just like this is amazing that we can offer all this here. So um so I totally support all of this. It is. It's going to be big, but um I I look forward to seeing how it how it plans out. >> Yeah, it's interesting. I There are a lot of districts who have a lot of different the different things, the brochure, infographics, and so how do we how do we use some of those things in ways that we have never
046used before? That's that's something I'm trying to figure out. >> Mr. Evans. >> Nothing specific this time. Thank you. >> The PBL steering committee. Do you have any idea of how that will be constituted? Like who will what will that be comprised of? Is it faculty, staff, family and students be involved in that? Um just you might not know yet. I'm just curious if you thought that >> Yeah, I think um >> mostly faculty and staff. Um however, I anticipate that that group will reach out to those other stakeholders at various times. Um that's what I'm thinking right now, but I haven't even put it put it together quite >> of course. Totally. And that's that's why I was you might not even know. Um, and it, you know, that's something where it's so education
047specific that it may make sense [clears throat] to have to limit it to administrators >> and staff, but then branch out like when they're when they identify issues for input. >> Yeah, >> may make sense. Um, but >> just keep us posted as as you figure that as student conceive that in your own mind. Um, the CPS success committee >> that will include >> Do you What's that? >> That will include everybody. >> Sure. Um I'm wondering do you and again maybe early for you to to be able to commit to um one perspective or another or one position or another but um and it may be something for the committee to decide. I'm just curious do you you you mentioned never enough. Are you do you anticipate um that one issue that committee may
048confront is the grading scale here the grading system as a whole >> and and and in the high school I'm sorry. >> Yep. So actually grading is a a strategic initiative in Compass Point >> one or two. Um and so this year um that's part of the work that the elementary you'll see um and when they present their school improvement plans that that's actually part of the work at Osgood and Deer Hill for year 1 and it will be part of the school improvement plans at the secondary level in the 2627 school year. Um because there was a lot of we had a lot of conversation and we really felt like we needed to have the conversations around defining success at the secondary level before we jumped into a conversation around grading homework things like
049that. >> I think it would be I think it would be fun to explore. I mean Principal Scott has a lot of as you know >> Yeah. >> and Dr. Schol has like a lot of really interesting insight there. >> Yeah. And I just think it really I think the grading scale and it's tough because you know our we want our students to succeed and be as competitive as possible when they're applying to um to um undergraduate institutions. Um but at the same time I think the current scale which forces people to strive for better than perfect um it adds to I think a little bit of a of a of a negative um environment in some ways and we we we're realizing a lot of success so I'm not trying I I just I
050I don't know it' be interesting to explore that and it sounds like you are so just >> absolutely >> yep and I you know we did this was part of the conversation with the leadership team Um, Mr. Scott Pleti was not on board yet. Um, but Principal Scott really felt like he needed to be able to have the conversations first and then be able to tackle that in year two. Um, and one of the things that there were a lot of reasons we hired John Scott Balleti a lot, but one of the things that he does have in his bag of tricks is he actually has helped shift a grading process in a school that he's worked in. >> Um, and he spent a lot of time, he will tell you he spent a lot
051of time actually talking to colleges and universities about it. Um, and so this though we didn't plan it this way, this actually gives him a year to be here for some time, but you know, get to know the district and then help and really partner with Brian in thinking about what that could look like moving forward. >> A great [snorts] internal resource. >> Yes. >> Just like you are for the PBS. >> Yeah, great. He knows a lot. >> Thanks. Yeah, >> I would just add that I am seeing a layered cake here and I love it. Um just the way in which the strategic plan and the district goals are so well aligned and complement each other and so the achievement of that um strategic plan is is sort of spoken to through um
052the district goals. I know that that's very intentional. Um, but just wanted to highlight that because I think it would be you there's so many things that you could be working on as you said that it would be easy to just sort of handpick a couple goals and put them down. But the fact that this was done so strategically and intentionally um I would like to appreciate that. Any other questions, comments from board? Okay, moving along to our teaching and learning session uh section with um Dr. Spins. So, just a few things because we've obviously just got started. Um, but just um to remind families that we have Aspen Go, which is a different form of the platform. It's much more friendly to mobile devices and most people do their work on phones. So, uh
053I think they'll find it a lot easier to navigate. Um, but you can still access the original Ask and platform if you want to. You can do that on your laptops and desktops. But I think people will find that much easier to navigate and find all the information they need. Just a heads up for our students at the high school that PSATs and SATs are coming up. And so October 3rd, PSATs are happening. And then October 8th are our SATs. happens. So, um, kids, make sure you register and do everything you need to do. Um, and then teachers go through a lot of trainings, as you know, and so we do give them a lot of things to do before the year starts. And so, there are some annual mandatory trainings they have to do.
054And so, those include things like anti-discrimination law, title n mandated reporting, um, also things around bullying prevention, um, some of the laws that are out there. can even homeless assistant act um IDA and section 504s there's suicide awareness all sorts of things there's a lot from our nurses around universal precautions so um they have a lot that they need to make sure that they visit we also do a lot with cyber security and we partner with the town to do that and they participate in that also so it's much more expensive lots of towns don't do that with their staff so um I just wanted to have kind of a quick overview of some of the things that they get trained on. And all staff have to do that. Whether you're a coach, whether you're
055a teacher, whether you are an ESP, custodians, you name it, everybody has these trainings. Um, so that everybody's on board because we're all touching kids at some point, right? We have contact. Um, and then we were lucky enough this year to get some title one and title 2A funding, which we did not get last year. So, um, I'll be working with staff and administrators to figure out how we're going to spend. So, not a ton of mic, but every little bit helps. So, we're excited about that. That's my quick update. >> Thank you. Are there any questions from the board or the committee? I call you the the committee. >> Thank you, Dr. Collins. Again, I mean, just a very well-rounded presentation of all the things um you need to keep track of during the
056school year. Um we will move on to budget resources and governance. So, I just wanted to provide a a quick update on our electric bus to diesel bus situation. Um, I was able to meet with um Michelle Liry and we talked about what the process will be. Um, the electric bus is no longer viable for us. um she is in the process of still working with um the NL and the folks to figure out what the bus is worth and then how we can purchase it and then sell it actually to another district that's looking for it. Um we will be making sure tomorrow um Kim, our new transportation supervisor, is going to make sure we are 99% sure that it holds a charge. She's going to double check tomorrow and if that's the case
057then it's going to be able to be sold. Um and in the meantime we got permission to move forward with getting a diesel bus. Um Miss Owen has taken care of that. They are working to get the cameras on the bus and do the lettering. At the same time, they're going to be dropping off the paperwork so Kim can go and get the registration and get that going and and then all it will need is an inspection and then that bus will be good to to be on on site and be used. Um it is technically our spare bus during the day, but it will be used regularly for our athletics in the afternoons. Um so we're very happy about that. And then at didn't write down the date I want to say but maybe
058the September 22nd select board meeting they'll be voting to approve that shift from using those capital funds for the electric bus to the um diesel bus. And so we're just very appreciative of the partnership and the collaboration with the town to make that happen and make it happen quickly so that our students can benefit from that. And then I just wanted to say that our our van had its initial inaugural trip yesterday. It took the golf team out. They went down to Carver. Um the eight who golfed and they beat Carver for the first time in a very long time. I don't know that that had anything to do with the van, but we're very happy that they were able to get to Carver um with school transportation. So that's my update. >> Thank you.
059Um any questions? >> One other update on the facility side. >> Um just I mean so it's public knowledge but u we did get the the official uh letter from FSDA regarding the hospital. >> Yes. >> Did that come across your desk? >> Um yes. >> So >> it did. >> But that is going to come up. One of the things with this the accelerated repair just so everyone knows schedule. We have 90 days for the town to vote to approve the funding for it. Special town meeting is set for November 5th. So, we'll be having an article at special town meeting for that. It will require us to do some sort of if we want to get the funding, it's going to be paid out of our school stabilization fund. It will not the
060stabilization fund does not have enough cash in it for this thing. So, there will have to be uh a bonding part of that. It will not be an override. It will not require any sort of bond within that fund. But just so everyone knows, it's important that we communicate that we have a a big ass coming to special town meeting and we need parents to show up. That way it is supported. Not that not that I expect any controversy with this, but again it's this is part of the process and we need to everyone to pay attention to every step. So wanted to mention that here as well. Uh yes, Superintendent Shannon, how is the newly um executed plan going in terms of shuttling the bus drivers from the >> satellite location? Is that working
061as we had anticipated or are there unanticipated problems? >> So, it's only been two days. >> Yes. So, I don't believe we've had any issues with the shuttling. We are still working out some kinks with the parking lot out front here, but the shuttling has been fine. Managing student, staff, and bus parking is something that we're still working through. I anticipate by the time we meet next, it will all be fine. Um, but we had to get everybody on site in order to see how things worked. And I will say that Kim and Principal Scott and Miss Tokarus have been working incredibly well together to problem solve and so we've tried a few different things and I think that we'll we'll get there in the next couple of days. But, you know, as principal Scott
062said, even though they made an announcement about parking about 25 times yesterday, some students still didn't hear the message. >> So, we're getting there. [laughter] >> All right. Well, just let us know. >> Let us know any sort of uh insurmountable challenges arise. I'm sure. Yeah. Some of them you have to actually have to people in cars there to figure out. I mean, it's like the traffic cycle in the elementary campus, you know, first couple days. So, I'm sure it'll be better, but I'm just curious how >> I'm not worried about the the shuttling has been fine. We haven't heard anything. >> That was my main concern. >> It's just really sorting out, but that parking lot's a bit of a This might actually help because it forces people to do things a little differently.
063>> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. >> Yes. um raise the stabilization fund and I'll I'll just ask either at a meeting or u separately offline do we have a kind of a running balance report that shows in income and out and outlays on the stabilization fund and is that something you'd share with me or the committee? >> So I will tell you that we're working on that. Um I actually had a conversation with Katie Dugen the other day as well and she's actually trying to sort that out as well. So, it's not just us that um the new town account started work on Tuesday and so I anticipate that we'll be able to share that with folks which is sort of >> but do we have I mean it doesn't need to be like account
064letters. I'm just like literally looking for income and outlets like >> we have that. Yeah, I we can >> just add that very excited about the sort of partnership that's going on not only between many departments to get all of the vehicles parked safely um here at the high school but in the town um and for the select board and town support of us and meeting and understanding the timelines that we have to get um this new bus online for um our students because it does actually ultimately save us money when we're not needing to um rent buses or charter buses um for athletics and or when buses are um out of commission. So, I think this is um shows a lot of foresight and requires a lot of coordination, cooperation um so from from
065principles to students um to um the rest of us involved in town government. So, I really appreciate um everyone doing that. We'll move on uh to community relations and communications. So if there are any reports from uh school committee subcommittees um or leaison will >> we were supposed to have a >> I just jumped the gun on that one. We're supposed to >> I think we're supposed to have a finance subcommittee or something. >> Oh no, we're we Yeah, we're going to >> Jennifer has reached out to both of you I think to schedule that. >> Good. Yes. >> We're hoping for the 15th or 16th >> in progress. So >> yeah, I'll have to I'll have to be remote. >> Yeah, just check in with Jennifer. I think she sent you an email. >>
066Awesome. And with the um talked about the revolving fund one hiccup, which I just realized with the electric bus, part of the electric bus selling point was that the fuel was included. If we're now replacing that with with the diesel bus, we're going to have increased fuel costs. I know that we're working on the projections, but when we're working on the projections, we'll have to have that in there, too. Okay. So, um I'm very concerned about that. All right. Um that will close out that block. Um on to school committee governance. Um we do have a second read of the service animal um policy which was distributed earlier today. Um so we can take any comments or further discussion on that topic and then um we do have to vote on that. And just in
067case I I was hoping that you got some information. So we actually have this policy within another policy. So I was not aware because it was I found it. So we're just separating it out. So you actually have this policy and it's in um animals in school. So we've separated it out. So it's separate from animals in school. And now this will be its own service animal policy. So you're actually I didn't change any of the wording of it at all. It's just going to be separate. >> So, would you like us to approve separating >> separating them out? So, they're two separate policies. >> Separating the service animal policy from the animals and school policy. >> Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't get the there was a letter here. >> Oh, okay. >> But that
068background is helpful in terms of read how the document. >> Are there any comments or questions um or discussion points to be brought forward on the animal service policy? >> So, all right. Um so I don't think I was I was here for the first read so apologies if this is um this has been handled already but um what's the what's the source of this in the is this like a mask standard model policy >> so this is actually cohassive policy too and it is masked but it's already we already have it as our policy >> but yes and it is from mask and so it's we have our policy >> so the one thing I would suggest and you don't have to do it necessarily but just some of the rights policies. The second
069sentence of the second paragraph referencing regulations about miniature horses. >> Yes. >> Are are we required to have that in a policy? It should be because it doesn't actually adopt this doesn't adopt anything. It's just a statement that regulations exist. >> Yeah. And we have you have to allow >> I'm not saying we we don't have to allow mature horse. >> Typical policy though. >> Um but this this doesn't actually say that. This just says the regulations say that a public entity shall make. So we we haven't actually adopted a policy that we will make any I guess it maybe it's just formless. My my suggestion would be that we delete that sentence and then the um second paragraph which is a descriptor of what service animals are. It's not we define service animals in
070the first sentence of the second paragraph. So I'm not sure we need the second one as matter of policy. I'm not going to stand on principle of that. If we're looking to approve this at this meeting, then it's probably not worth doing. But if we are not approving at this meeting, see this line. >> So I think we do need to approve at this meeting. Um first of all, it's already policy. Um so we be editing policy, but um I think we do want to approve given um the potential that we might need a service in the district. in the coming days, >> but we already have a policy. So, it really doesn't this is >> this is we're just separating it out. >> Whatever the >> So, we don't need I mean, I guess
071we already have a policy within our animals and school policy. >> We're just recing this one policy into two. That's all we're asking you to vote on. >> Why? So that it's clearer because we didn't many schools have it as separate. >> Yeah. So when we looked it up, it was because it was it was at the bottom of animals in school. But when we looked at mask and all the other schools, they divided because the service animal is very different from a classroom teacher asking to have a pet in the classroom. And that's the purpose of the animals in schools policy versus the service animal which is a very specific accommodation for medical needs for students. Further comments or need for clarification? I would entertain a motion um to separate the existing animals animals
072in school policy from the service animal policy um in our handles. >> So >> thank you. >> Second by Mr. Evans. Motion made by Mr. Um we'll do a vote on roll call. Mr. D. >> I. >> Mr. Evans. I >> I so please include these policies um separated policies. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um we I do not have any topics not reasonably uh reasonably anticipated. Um and we have no minutes. Um however, we will be moving into executive session um to discuss an issue related to governance. Um, so I do need a motion to move into executive session and not to return to the public um, session. >> Correct. >> Excuse me. >> No minutes. >> I'll get I hear that. Fine. Um, >> secretary, >> I'll uh, I'll make a motion. >>
073We have to state the reason under section 21A. Do you have the language? Do you want us to read the language for the >> I don't have the language in front of me. >> Okay. We just is it >> governance like is it is it to discuss strategy related to you know with non-un personnel with union personnel with security personnel or strategies >> there's actually a couple sentences we have to say >> oh >> you have to actually we have to we have toident what I'm most concerned with we need to identify the reason there's only there's only nine enumerated reasons where that we can move into executive session but that it's the that's what I'm most concerned with is that we identify that on the right level thank Well, Mr. Dial corrected me many
074many times. But I don't think you have good company and I wasn't correcting you. >> You have to say section. >> So there's not no but you I've got the a bunch of >> you have to state the reason for sure. >> Correct. >> So here they are. >> I think you could I think it may fall under personnel matters. >> Yes. >> Which number is that? Two. >> Personnel. That's >> strategy session negotiation for non personnel. Um security advises criminal charges. Well, I don't know what it is. >> You don't know what it is. So, you're >> How about four? [laughter] >> Probably the supers are not union contracts too. trade secrets. >> Oh, there is >> Oh, to comply with general law >> seven to move into executive session to comply with the
075provisions of um general law. Well, you have to notify the correct. Yeah, >> I think it might be seven. >> Yeah. >> Chapter 30, capital A section 21 A7. >> That's what you don't need to do. >> We're just saying seven. Just >> say we're doing [clears throat] it to comply with the prison general or special law by the way. >> Yeah. We're just lawyering right now. >> You should say the number seven and say. >> All right. So, we are moving. We would like to move I I think we should move into an executive session [laughter] um to um >> discuss an item um >> just say under section seven. >> Under section seven. Um and we will not return um to seven. >> Okay. And number seven is for the to edify everyone
076is to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or federal grant in aid requirements. >> Thank you Mr. D. >> All right. So Cohassid, thank you very much. >> We have to do roll. >> Oh, we do have to do vote. Thank you. Um Mr. D. >> Hi. >> Mr. Evans. >> Hi. >> Mr. McCullen. >> Hi. this less ei thank you very much for listening um for being a part and we will see you soon.