9/4/25 Board of Education Round Table Meeting

001It is 7:15. I call the meeting to order. We have five board members present [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. First on the agenda are consent agenda items A, B, C, and D. Can I get a motion for consent agenda items A, B, C, and D? >> Motion by Frank. A second. Second by Rebecca. Penny, >> yes. Rebecca, >> yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Frank, >> yes. >> And yes, zero carries. and we'll move on to presentation for PPS and MTSS. >> Did the board want to move over here or we're going to present using the small board? So, wherever you are most comfortable [Music] Okay. So, we're going to talk a little bit

002about multi-tered systems of support and special education within the people personality department. staying true to my commitment to spell effort and uh Sandy kind of divided this out into two parts. S's going to go first and talk about MTSS and then I'll follow up with special education and address some of the questions of the board. Okay. Um so just here's the agenda. Um just a couple things that we're going to be going over tonight. Um, so why MTSS? Because we must understand what level of support each student needs and why, stop students from slipping through the cracks and work together to impact outcomes for all of our students. So, it's an evidence-based framework that organizes our available resources into an aligned proactive system for supporting student needs. So, basically with MTSS, we are looking at

003the whole student. So, we're looking at their academics, social skills, behavior, and attendance, and also their mental health. So, here's some of the um questions that MTSS helps us answer. So, who needs help and why? What help will we provide? Is the help actually working? And when should we adjust the plan? Um so, it all encompasses these components. So we have our core instruction. We have universal screening. So for example like ISL is our one universal screener that we're going to be using this year. We have student support planning. We have district grade level and student MTSS teams. And then we have the problem solving cycle. So this is the problem solving cycle for MTSS. So first we identify the need based off of all of the data that is collected. So right now we're

004like starting beginning of the year assessments. That's where we're going to look at everything. Then we analyze the need and hopefully find the root cause of why the student is struggling. Then we create a plan off of that. We implement the plan and then we evaluate the outcomes. So here are some things that the leadership team um is going to help with this year. So, continue professional development to discuss MTSS and how to implement it throughout the year. Um, regular check-ins through quick surveys and questionnaires to see how MTSS is going. I love getting feedback from people who are actually really doing it in the classrooms. And then it helps me do my job better and make sure I'm giving teachers and staff the support that they need. Um, and some resources that I'm working

005on right now is a handbook to provide clear guidelines. That's still a work in progress right now. Um, time to collaborate with your colleagues, um, including me, like scheduling those meetings, sending me an email anytime you want to meet. Um, reliable assessments to screen and monitor progress, and then researchbased interventions to apply to help the students. Um here are just some information and I did send this out to the teachers. So we have a new referral this year um based off of feedback from teachers last year. Um so that got sent out and an MTSS flowchart of basically how it all works and then um guidelines for the teachers that go over when you should be progress monitoring and how long the cycle is um for students. Um so the universal screeners we use them

006to collect the data to determine students areas of strengths and needs understand if core curriculum is working and when to provide intervention and then to progress monitor interventions and measure historical growth. Um so tier one is our core instruction. This is what all students receive when the teachers are teaching their lessons. So with that for instruction at least 80% of students will meet benchmark goals without additional instruction or intervention. And then if we find that less than 80% of students are doing this that's when we have to ask ourselves are we differentiating um for the students to make everything accessible for them? Are we using our curriculum the way it's intended to be used? And then using our universal screening assessment, do we know what the students need support with? Um so some student support

007planning once they're identified with any needs um that are listed here, we have evidence-based interventions that can be applied for areas of need and then we monitor those. So in every MTSS meeting, we help the teachers find that intervention and like a student goal that they need to work on and what they need to use to help the students reach that goal. Um and then we also provide OTP and speech through MTSS as well. So we're just kind of tightening up the procedures for that this year. Um there is a shared Google Drive folder um for all of MTSS and specifically OTPT and speech. Um so we want teachers to try to utilize those first, have conversations with those providers, get their opinions first, and if they're like, "Yes, this is a student who would

008benefit," then a referral will be made and then we will have a goal in planning um for those students. And I'm working right now to figure out when we can have those meetings held once a month when providers are in the district because they're not always here on days that we hold meetings. So I want them to definitely be a part of the conversation more this year as well. >> OT is occupational therapy, PT is physical therapy. >> I forgot to add that. Um so progress monitoring. So with the cycle tier one students, so those are students who are not in MTSS currently, they should pretty much be monitored monthly just to make sure they're on track, they're still doing what they need to do or if a concern comes up. That's when we know

009they should be possibly referred to MTSS. If they are already receiving tier 2 services, they should be um assessed bi-weekly just to make sure things are still trending in the right direction. And then our tier three students. So our tier three students are our media students who need as much support as they can get. Um we would like to see them um monitored weekly just to make sure they are still trending towards that goal. And then that link is just some data trackers I've created for teachers so they can use that or if they have something else that works for them, they can use that as well. Just so we have information all in one place for the students. Sam, can you just um quickly describe the difference between a student that you labeled tier

010one, tier two, and tier three? What the variant means would be? >> Yeah. So, a tier three kid is typically like three years or so below grade level for where they're performing based off of the assessments. So, if you're like a fifth grade student, you're performing at like the second third grade level, you would probably be considered tier three. there's lots of holes and gaps that need to be filled to help support you. And that would go for reading, writing, or math as well. And tier two is typically our kids who are about one one and a halfish years um below grade level where they should be tier one. >> And our tier one students are status quo. They're where they need to be. They're on grade level or they could be above grade level

011expectations as well. So when you're monitoring, what do you do like for monthly, bi-weekly, what how do you monitor those? >> So we have student goals that are going to be tracked. So our MTSS providers will have that goal sheet and they'll have different interventions that they're doing with the student. So for example, if they're doing like site words and a kid's goal is to know five specific site words that week, if they know three out of the five, they haven't quite hit mastery yet that week. So, what they will do is they'll keep the two they didn't know for the following week and add three more um for progress monitoring. And with this year, I'm really excited for that. Um it's skillsbased instead of timebased. So, when the kids are on there, it will

012constantly update the skills that they need to work on. So, our teachers will be aware of what they need to do to help support them and our MTSS providers will also have that data as well. >> So, a tier one kids usually kids with the with 504 plans or is this not 504 kids at all? >> So, as a general education student first, all students 504 IEP would have the same level of access on the same criteria as any general education student would. >> So, this isn't just for special education for >> it's for everybody. It's for everybody K 10, but I do work with the 11 and 12 with the AIS as well. So then every kid in our district is here once you >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. >> Um so we do have

013some teams already established like in the buildings um but I did share out a staff specific um slideshow to both buildings and I would love to have more teachers be a part of the conversation so we can see like what is working, what kind of feedback they have. Um, so I'm looking to build build my teams this school year. Um, so just some effectiveness data from last year. So at Bees for reading and math interventions, we had eight students were dismissed last year. So that means if they were um tier 2, they are back to tier one starting this year. And only two students that were academically dismissed still have a behavior plan. Um, so they're still in MTSS, but more for the behavior, social, emotional. >> What do you mean by dismissed? >> So

014that means that they hit at grade level expectations and they are no longer tier two students. They're back to tier one. >> They're dismissed from tier two and placed into tier one. >> Yep. Yep. >> Do they know this that they've reached a national? >> Yep. Yep. Um, and out of our behavior and social emotional kids last year, no students were dismissed. And then our occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech, we had three students um that were dismissed last year from MTSS. And then at the middle high school last year for reading and math, we had five students um that were dismissed throughout the year. Um zero students were dismissed for behavior and social emotional. And then um for occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech, zero students were dismissed last year. >> So do you

015may not have a super how many students were at tier 2 and three at how many were at tier two and three high school? >> I don't have that in front of me, but I can get that for you um for my update. >> Right. Like how is eight students eight out of how many? >> Exactly. That's something to compare it to like out of 20 or out of 10. knowing like, >> yeah, I don't have that in front of me. Yeah. Um, Whoops, wrong button. Um, and then this is as of August 20th. So, when I was gearing up for this school year, making sure everything was ready. This is the information that we're currently starting with this year. Um so in this building for reading and math interventions we have 33 total students

016who will be receiving either tier 2 or tier three for reading and or math or both. Um we have 11 students who have a behavior or social emotional plan um starting this school year and we have 15 students who are receiving the occupational therapy, physical therapy or speech. >> This is tier two, tier three. >> Yes. Tier two on the entire elementary school you're saying. >> Yes. Yep. These are the numbers out of this entire building. >> We know how many are in the building. >> 280. >> Do some of those students overlap or some of them reading and math? >> Yes. Yeah. Some of those students um are reading and math. Some >> reading math are some of the behavioral are in >> Yep. I do have some students who have a behavior plan

017who are also receiving reading or math services as well. There's also overlap with special education four plans and so on. >> And the same goes for the occupational and physical therapy and speech as well. We have some overlap with students >> of the 33. It's possible that 15 and 11 of those kids all are in that 33 number. Mhm. And then down at the middle high school, um, starting off this year for reading and math, we have 50 total students. And again, they could be getting reading and math or just one or the other. Um, and we have eight students who have a behavior or social emotional plan. And then three students who are receiving either occupational therapy, physical therapy, or speech services. >> 6 through 10. Grades. >> Yes. Grades six through 10. Y

018>> can I ask for one more number? Can we get a total number like of fees and total number of the NHS >> of enrollment? >> Yeah. >> Rachel, you know what it is? >> Yeah. I we had 25 students additionally this year >> from where we started >> here. Yeah. So I want to just get I'll I'll get it to you in a second. You guys will do at the August meeting if you look at that agenda the enrollment report is attached. >> Okay. >> And that would probably be the more accurate reflection based on the number she's pulling from August to 20 students who came ins >> just through thes program. So like if there's 33 students, I want to know if there's not 33 + 11 plus 50. >> You want to

019know a count of the unique number of students who are involved regardless of how many services they're getting. >> Yeah. So you want it by like just the MTSS >> MTSS number. >> Okay. >> So it might be only 33, not 33 + 11. I was told. Okay. >> You say overlap. >> Yeah. So I said 28 275 but I know we had a few more but that was the school I believe 28 >> but I know like we're currently in students >> well what we can do is follow up with an exact count of the number of students who enrolled as of August 20th based on when this data was pulled so you have an accurate Yeah. And actually for BBS, I mean, are do we include kindergarteners in this number because they're they're

020not they're just learning how to read and everything. I mean, >> so we only have one kindergartener accounted for as of this school year because he's repeating. >> So he was one of mine last year and he's repeating. So he's going to stay one of mine just to make sure he still has those supports starting. But with kindergarten, we like to give them some adjustment time. coming new to a building. They might not have been in a prek program. So, we like to give them a little bit more time. But what I do with the kindergarten teachers is we have those staff meetings and discussions. So, like they can let me know kids to possibly keep an eye out for come like Novemberish. So, we give them a little bit of time to get adjusted

021to school because sometimes it could just be exposure. They just need that exposure. They need that time. So, we want to make sure we give the kids that time before we automatically refer them. Like, you need this, you need this. >> So, a kid can drop out of tier two. >> It's kind of weird, right? If you're tier two and you're a year to a year and a half behind, you're not really anything in kindergarten. You're starting out, right? So, I mean, are they even should they even be in these >> in this number at all? >> Right. >> Or are they? You're saying they are, but not until later on in the season, right? in the school year. >> Yeah. >> Like the younger kids are the OTP speech. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >>

022That's the bulk of my little ones is those services. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So I'm misled. You don't look on the August meeting report because the person who had given it to me in time for the meeting was on vacation. So I didn't have one for August. There will be one on your September. >> And they have that prekate edition like prekate classroom edition. That's why a little bit >> Sam and I will follow up on all of your your >> today. As of today, >> yes, as of August 20th as this is still the same. >> This has not changed since August 20th. This is just when I did my presentation. So, this is still the same. Um, but our September 16th meeting, I can have more specific things when I give my update

023to you if that works. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Yep. Of course. Any other questions before I turn over to Tom? Okay. Now, just a quick caveat to avoid repetition with the building principles presentations. I know the board had asked for information on state tests and graduation rates. I refrained from including that because building principles will be reviewing that information. So, I didn't want it to become repetitive. But, um, we're going to go over a few things. So, I'm going to give you a little bit of an overview on what special education is, all the legal framework around it, um, who is eligible for special education, what services and supports we offer here in Berlin, the classification rate over time with some regional comparison data. Um, we requested some information on elementary school co-taught effectiveness, and

024I'll touch on that, spending per student, and a high cost aid count of students who were um, essentially build forth state and then I'll kind of wrap it up with some what we've done where we're now where we're at now and what our next steps are going forward. So this is going to be very dense but I'm going to skim on it and I have links if anyone is interested in some light nighttime reading. I have linked all the regulations and the laws themselves but as a brief overview federal legislation guides what the states adopt. That's IDA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There are federal regulations that frame more specifically how that is rolled out. New York State adopts that legislation to gain access to federal monies as every other state does um and adopts

025that in their own version of IDA. New York State has added additional requirements and there are some differences between federal reg legislation and state legislation. There's a nice document the state put out that highlights all of those differences. Generally speaking, New York State's requirements are higher than the federal requirements and there are some just differences in process. Then that comes down to the commissioner's regulations. This essentially tells us in more detail how we apply these laws. There's part 200 which is special education specific and part 2011 which are special discipline for students with disabilities. And then there are a lot of other sources that we need to be attuned to in the uh in the field including different documents that New York State Education Department puts out. So their guidance documents, they issue dear colleague

026letters essentially nicely telling us to do things. Um they have formal opinions of council that come out. I did link one specifically that is very relevant and a pretty hot topic in the last couple of years. Um there was an issued formal letter in opinion of council indicating that school districts in New York State are required to provide education to students who have not yet received a diploma up to the age of 22. Previously districts have provided that up until the end of the school year a student turns 21. So this is an extension of that time and additionally there is no state funding available for students world but they have indicated that we need to provide that and they've since followed that letter up from about two years ago in a follow-up opinion indicating

027essentially that they have now litigated this situation through the courts with a couple of districts who challenged it. those districts have lost and they have essentially reiterated their expectation that districts are following this requirement and they encouraged us to contact our representatives to encourage them to fund. We also have impartial hearing decisions. So through special education there are due process rights for families who disagree with the decision that the committee on special education has made. In order to challenge that, there is a quasi legal process that families can follow where essentially they submit information and we would find a hearing officer who is a third party, typically an attorney who would then essentially gather information like a court case um and render a decision. And then the state publishes these removing any personally identifiable information

028um for all in the state to reference. And that's essentially case law for special education. There's also case law for any cases that go through the court system. So there's a lot of different moving parts to keep track of, but this is essentially the legal framework of what we operate under within special ed. And again, there's links if anyone is interested in more details have any questions or framework for special ed. So students are eligible following an initial fellow schooly process that is outlined in the commissioner's regulations. It's very specific. There are set timelines for each step in the process. Um essentially it starts with a referral to special ed. Most often this comes from a parent. It can come from a teacher. There are other sources but those are the most common ones. Um

029if a parent makes a referral, we are obligated under law to follow through on that referral. we cannot deviate it or refuse it. Um, if other sources refer, there are a there is a little more flexibility in how we handle that, such as a doctor can make a referral, but we're not obligated to follow that referral. >> And how often do physicians make >> they might I have had situations where a doctor will write on a prescription pad one IEP? That has happened to me before. That's not really how that works, but Yeah, it has happened. Not here, not in this district. I've yet to see that, but I have seen that happen before. Um, when we receive that referral, we have a specific amount of time in days per the regulations to provide a

030consent form where we then ask the family, we would like to do an evaluation on your child to decide essentially to follow this process and determine if they require services. We then have a timeline once we receive that consent to conduct the evaluation. The regulations specify a minimum number of things that need to be done including observation. They require cognitive and academic testing. So cognitive testing is essentially an IQ test um academic testing and any other testing warranted by the school psychologist in the areas of disability that concern. So we conduct that evaluation within 60 calendar days of receiving the consent back and then we have our initial eligibility meeting. This is a meeting with individuals knowledgeable about the child including certain number of roles. So we need to include the teacher we need to

031include the family obviously um a CSD chairperson other individuals knowledgeable about the child. We review information from the district. So we might review MTSS data. a student has been through MTSS. We would review any testing that was done through this process, including the psychological test. We would review any information and feedback and narratives from the teacher about how they function in the classroom. Feedback from the parent about what they're seeing at home and what their concerns are. And then ultimately, the cse needs to make an eligibility determination from that information of do they qualify for special ed. There are a number of specific disability categories that are outlined in law that we need to make that determination under. The most common ones that are used are learning disabled, other health impairment. Often that's where students

032with ADHD would fall. Speech language impairment is another common one especially for younger students. Intellectual disability doesn't get used as much. There's also a number blindness deaf blindness combined rarely are used. Um but we need to review eligibility under those requirements, make a determination and then if we determine that the child is eligible for services, we then develop the individualized education program or IEP in that same. >> So is a third party that's not necessarily tied to the school district ever involved in evaluations? >> So there is they can be. So if a parent for example gets an individual evaluation done outside of school and says you know this doctor evaluated my child and determined they had a disability they would share that information with us and it would be considered as part of this

033process. There is also a process in which if a family member or parent disagrees with an evaluation that was done by the school district, they can request an individual evaluation at district expense that we would then need to provide within reason. And then the parent can also invite any other person they want to to attend these meetings. So that could include perhaps an advocate through various agencies that specialize in educational matters. attend this process to assist them. They might include other family members. They can they can bring in like they associates. >> So these kids um also fall in the same um bracket with tier three, tier 2, tier one, right? >> Yes. So >> they're still part of the general population. >> Correct. So every student with a disability is a general education student

034first. So they are entitled to and in fact legally obligated to receive any and all services and supports that are offered to their general education peers under the same criteria. >> Are there any kids in the special ed program that are actually tier one but have some other disability that they require special special teaching? >> Yes. So uh I'll give you an example. If a student is [Music] go with a simpler example. If a student is blind, they require accommodations to access their education, but they may be on grade level in reading, for example, when they're provided those accommodations. And tier one is kind of a they can be tier one in one thing and tier three in another. So, they can be on grade level academically, but need significant social emotional supports or vice

035versa. So, really depends on what their needs are and what that looks like. So that is essentially how a student becomes identity. The other process is they transfer into us with an IEP. We are obligated to to the best of our ability match that IEP with our services and provide that until we hold a transfer meeting within 30 calendar days. And then that transfer meeting is essentially where we discuss and align the information we receive from the district with our program and what we believe the student needs at that point. kind of like the intake for an I and that leads us to our continuum of services. So, okay, we've decided a student is eligible for services under special education. What do we do about that? What services and supports are available? So, what I

036have here, we have a number of different components that we would look at for a student with an IEP. We would look at special education program. So those would be for example your co-op classes your resource room supports um a self-contained class like stars could be an out of district placement if the needs are significant enough that we can't manage those needs in district um could be a variety of different programs and I linked there our district's continuum of education inhouse for this school year so it includes all the classes and supports that we offer this year in We might also consider related services. So that would be your occupational therapy services, your physical therapy services, speech language, um counseling, those things. Those would be considered related services that are required to support the student

037but aren't special education programming from a special ed teacher. But another provider, we would look at program modification. So what within the classroom does a student need in order to access their education? An example, a simple example, a student who is visually impaired and maybe needs to sit up front or needs to have access to a magnifying device, things of that nature, testing accommodations. So perhaps a student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has a hard time focusing on their exam and therefore requires additional time to take that exam. That might be a testing accommodation we put in place. Assist of technology. The example I gave you earlier about the magnifier would probably fit better there. Um, we might look at other assisted technology. For example, student who's hard of hearing and needs access to an

038FM system to be able to hear their teacher better. It's an amplifying device. The teacher would wear a microphone and they would have an earpiece that would then amplify the sound so that they can hear it better. We might look at special transportation needs. So this might be a bus with an attendant if a student needs behavioral support on the bus. It might be that they need a a smaller bus with fewer students on it to transport them. A variety of different needs there. Maybe they're a student who needs a harness when they're on the bus to help support them. So all of those things are things that we consider based on students specific disability and what their needs are and what those things are. That kind of leads us into our classification rate data.

039So, how many students are receiving these services in Berlin and how does it compare over time and within our region? So, in order to provide this to you, it classification rate is a simple number. It just divides the total number of students with disabilities by our total enrollment. And then the next few slides will go along with looking at comparative data between New York State as a whole, Renelier County as a whole, and then each of Berlin's four neighboring districts within New York State. And all of this data I pulled from the Nison data site I linked there. It's more interesting to look at than the other links I provided you to the laws. Um, you can look at public information on all sorts of different things across districts in the state, but I pulled

040all of it from public data so that I had accurate comparisons and it all came from the same source. So, this is a graph of classification rate over time. Um, I put Berlin here in green. I sorry it's a little hard to hear. Here's our green line right here. New York State as a whole is our orange line right here. What do you mean by classification rate? >> So this is the percent of students identified. So of all of our students in district, this is the percentage of them who have a disability who are identified or classified. Interesting. And this is a graph over time including again Berlin as a district, the state as a whole, the county as a whole, and then neighboring comparative districts. >> Why is our rate so high? >> I'm

041glad you asked. Let's break that down. So, this is a percent change over time from year-over-year data. So, first we look at the top part of our equation. So our numerator of how many students with disabilities do we have over time and in order to make this comparative across all of these obviously if we're talking about millions of students in New York City it's difficult to compare those numbers without looking at percentages. So what I did was I took the percent change from the prior year. So if you look at this 20 or 20145 we saw a 4.76% increase in our students with disabilities from the year before and that continues all through time and then this is the cumulative change over time of all of those school years. So from through the 2324 school

042year, Berlin Berlin saw a 26% increase in its number of students with disabilities. And then this is comparative data across those groups. So New York State as a whole saw a 7.3% increase. Renier County saw a 3.5% increase. Lebanon saw a 65% increase and so on. >> Those are when sorry when I look at this data so I do borrow at 1819 there was a sharp almost a 10% increase and in the following year a 12% decrease could be related to the transient population that they come in for a year and then they leave >> certainly could be enrollment it could be an unusual large number of students with disabilities left compared to total students it's difficult I could certainly dig into that. >> That's unnecessary. I'm just curious. This is just >> it is

043it is interesting and it does stand out but I don't have those I mean looking at the data I've seen in one year you will have saw a 30% increase from the prior year. I don't know why that happened but that also is an outlier from the data >> population of 400 kids >> statistically. Well, and looking at RAM as well, their total classification rate, they did start quite a bit lower than most districts in 1314. I don't know why that is, but it does explain why they saw a 60% increase and it kind of put them towards >> they're using all the same metrics that we're using >> to evaluate kids. >> Same process. There's no specific metric or cut off or >> okay >> sole determining factor. It's not we get one test,

044they get a certain score and they do or don't. >> It's a totality of factors. >> But yes, all districts use the same process by which they do it. >> So the only thing we really don't have go back to the other chart, >> but we don't really have the student population, you know, enrollments and how that >> I'm glad you brought that up. Here's the same table, but for enrollment. So this is the same period of time, the same comparisons, same year-over-year percent changes, but for enrollment instead of students with disabilities now. So over this period of time, Berlin saw about a 14% decrease in enrollment from 1314 to 23 24 and you can see our our peers. So our enrollment has gone down but our classification is going >> our count of students

045is increasing and our enrollment is decreasing and I'll point out that that is the same for every single district and the state and the county both all of them saw the same trend not a single district gained students and not a single district saw a decrease in the count of students and disappointments. Do do those percent change numbers include all in district students and out of district students or just in district students? Like if this if a district brings students back in house for placements, is that change change or is that already included in the numbers there? >> That is a good question. I don't know exactly what enrollment number the data site uses. I will say it generally is a pretty small percentage of districts as a whole. So it won't significantly change any

046of the data. But that is a good question. I don't know. >> And I'm asking only because the district decides I district that decides they're going to change programming and bring students back in house costume so that we can see significant changes in in if it's only in district students versus both of them. So that's why >> I think we could do that but maybe around that time that's >> that is definitely a possibility. I don't know exactly what information the NISA data site reports when they give an enrollment number. >> Um It's all of them for the students still registered with us. >> Perfect. >> It's all of them. >> Okay. So, you'd sort of expect after co there to be an increase just with kids being behind where they need to be. Um

047especially in elementary school and also um just kids with anxiety disorders and stuff. I'm not sure if like some of those numbers could represent kids who might have a 504 because of anxiety, but they're >> 504s are not counted. This is specifically students with disabilities or student with an >> 504s are not included in this count. >> That is interesting that that sit and then to zero and then it kind of goes back to the 1819, you know, like >> a big jump, right? >> Yeah. There must be something. That's only our district that really that's probably makes me wonder. >> It's interesting that >> yeah right home school then not home school be in there. >> They're not involved with us. >> Interesting. We do still have some CSU responsibility. So that's a whole

048other can of worms. But it looks like 1920 were, you know, I saw a similar decrease with Brunswick. >> Yeah. >> But then they kind of seen a decrease. >> Do you think that we were doing less assessments because kids weren't actually in school 2021, right? They were all remote, right, that year. So there might have been just less opportunity to assess these kids and to go through all the protocol and go through to determine needs. It's hard to connect with >> when looking at the overall trends, our most closely comparative here is who it falls based on the numbers. They had a similar increase in student count as we did and they had a similar decrease in enrollment over that same period of time as we did. I will I do want to point

049out Brunswick is an interesting district based on the numbers. They have remained very low and are nowhere near the state as a whole, the county or any of the comparison districts I share. I don't know why that is. I just found it very interesting that their rate is very low. >> Y any thoughts on that? I'm going to see. >> I don't know enough about the district to speak to that, but I did find it interesting. >> Certainly not a fair comparison because they are so outside of outside of the questions on classification rate or comparison to this Interesting. >> I speculate, you know, that the state as a whole and frankly everybody has seen this rise in identified students and decrease in enrollment. There's statewide trends. I speculate that, you know, it has to

050do with a decrease in stigma of special education that more families are willing to go through that process and seek that support. >> I certainly see that, you know, we've seen an increase in needs. That's strictly anecdotal. >> Has the idea changed though? I mean have they has the federal government changed you know the threshold >> okay what about the state have they changed >> same classification areas that most of their reups of the legislation have essentially tweaked some of the language so for example they've finally changed um what did they call they've kind of softened some of the language for some of the categories for example so instead of using intellectual and they I can't think of what they used to call it, but they have they have changed the language and updated it

051to sound less harsh for example. So it's an intellectual disability now instead of can't >> a less politically correct term. >> Yes, correct. They have so that's what I mean by soft language. They have rephrased some of the language but nothing has really changed dramatically about the process or the classification areas or or anything of that system. I do I do think that a decrease in stigma has certainly contributed. I would also speculate that an increase in parent knowledge about the topic has also led to that increase. more people are aware of this support and more people are willing to seek that support for their children and they're less likely to shy away from that process for any fear of state. >> Is the school doing anything to actively um educate parents on you know

052or test these kids or whatever to you know see if there's the need is there. So the MTSS process is a great example of how we provide some of those interventions and then students who don't show that they're responding to our intensive interventions. They might receive a referral to special education from that team to say, "Listen, we have done all of these evidence-based interventions. The student is still struggling. We may need to look further to see if there's a disability here." And then that would prompt our process as mentioned about identification. I know that the um the the face center, the family I might let you down on all the acronyms on this one. It is essentially a a a group that's funded through a state contract to provide information to families. I I regularly

053share with Rachel who hosts those sessions that provide information to parents in the region about a variety of topics including special education um preschool special education and other related topics. So those are sessions available at no cost to families to participate in. They're virtual >> to provide more information. >> They changed their name a little bit. Remember North Country Family and Community Engagement Center. >> Thank you. But the and is a tricky one. >> So once the student is is qualified to to be in the special ed program. Um is is the state providing the school funding for that kid? I mean there's a lot of unfunded man. Sure. Right. But there's >> I'm not sure. >> Yes, there is funding. >> Okay. >> Not full fun. So it's not a dollar. >> We're not

054incentivized to label kids. >> No. No. We are not. >> Okay. We are definitely not it costs us more to provide said services than we would receive back from doing so. So I wanted to touch a little bit on co effectiveness first. I want to give all the caveats to my my research professors would be very pleased with me right now for going over this but um it is difficult to use statistical data from the district to to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program because there's a variety of reasons but any student that we determine needs co-eing services through special education we have to provide co-eing services to them and it's hard to tell you if that is an effective program for that group of students because we can't not provide it. I can't split

055that group out and say half of you are not going to get this service so that we can see if the service is effective and a one for one comparison. >> I think what I was referring to more of when we approve the plans it seems like it's for we don't get we get great overview plans. It seems like it's coach for um math and coach for ELA and those plans. >> Correct. >> But not necessarily for the other subjects um level. Yes. >> Yeah. So I think you know there's >> just from my personal experience they stay for all the other subjects as well. >> They do. Yes. So my question is how much does that extra support for those other subjects impact ELA NAP assessments? So instead of saying, okay, we're going to

056have a coach class and the special ed teacher is going to do K first and then second, third, fourth, fifth. >> What's the benefit of providing it fulltime versus only what's mandated in that IEP? >> So >> besides schedule and convenience, >> I will share some information on obviously more convenience around, but I I will share some information on some goal attainment in a second. I just want questions get that >> you know I know I understand there's logistical issues and say like oh we're going to offer the coach or the you know special ed teacher for K first now that teacher have to teach ELA and math at this time and this first grade at this time I'm just curious to see what the statistical data and the advantage of that extra to be

057frank three teachers in this It's I'm just trying to go through that in my mind of how I would show that or what that would look like. And again, it's hard to do without comparison, frankly, >> to say here is the the difference that that has made because I don't have a an adequate comparison. We're running one class with it and one class without it and I can compare those. And even so, there's a number of other factors that I can't account for. Um, again, is my my research brain saying that at this point? Is there anything that you're thinking that would help you with that information or or that I could provide to you that would show that? I I'm just more curious, you know, we're facing difficult budgets. >> Absolutely. Um, how we

058can advocate saying that, you know, it's better for There's the scheduling. >> Well, I think >> scheduling, but it's also this is the advantage. >> I think one of the other pieces that doesn't necessarily be captured is the general education students that are in those same sections. It's not a section of entirely special ed students in a co. That's the point. So, it's hard to quantify or I can certainly look into figuring out how I can get some information on what are the benefits to the general education students in that co section. Yeah, because you have you have teachers you have sections that aren't water. >> Correct. >> So you can compare general growth rates. >> Absolutely. So in theory, you would see a higher growth rate of those general ed students in ELA and

059math specifically assess than general ed students that are in classroom in theory. >> Correct. I will say that sometimes there are also considerations on the roster students to say, "Oh, this is a student who might need some support through MTSS. If they're in a co-op section, there's an additional teacher who can support them and provide those interventions during time, for example." So, not a perfect one to one, but I I think that that would be a great thing to look at. I can follow up if you want and it's also difficult to separate from an effective continuum as a whole again from a special education perspective. So if coach talk were the only thing that we offered I would it negatively impact outcomes because not all students are appropriate for that section. So as a

060whole we would see a decrease in performance. >> Are other districts follow the same program or do we? >> So we specialize >> kind of I guess is the best way to answer it. So there are specific special education supports that are provided. So, for example, consultant, teacher, direct, co-taught, um, special classes, and a variety of different ratios of student to teacher to teaching assistant. Um, and those are all defined by the state essentially. I can even show you a link of of all the different options and some Q&A on that, but um, the choices are the same, but how they're delivered could vary. So, for example, our STARS program is a self-contained class with a specific ratio that we put on the IEP, but what those teachers are doing for that group of students

061might look different than another 1212 or 1211, depending on the level. So, you might have a a class that's the same ratio in another district, but they specialize and focus solely on students with autism in that class, and that class might look different than our STARS program. I think you were asking specifically about >> math science where it's not required or math ELA where it's not required for science or other districts do >> some do and some don't. Um so some will will do it in the same way that we do where you have a special ed teacher co-eing in the elementary level all day. Other places will do that kind of pushin model where they have a teacher join multiple grade levels throughout the day. So it does vary in how it's implemented across

062the city. It also can vary from school to school. So I just couple examples. I was in a district prior to the one prior that did um co-taught through fifth grade and then sixth grade was um the ICT model um sorry the teacher model and they went back to back to code taught again. In my prior district they didn't have any co code teaching in the middle school high school at all. I was only elementary only. So you can you can align it vertically in the whole district or you can align it in sort of just by school in terms of the public model. And you also look at in terms of the the kot more intensive support for students versus the consulting model. Consulting model is teacher push and they're getting we're getting instruction

063in the classroom that's usually there to support the students and co-authors everyone's really should know who's you know who's who in the classroom. So there's this philosophical difference at the top expert here on a Wednesday. >> I would say kind of the the defining difference that you see in practice is that consultant teacher direct. They're not planning collaboratively with the general education teacher. They're pushing in. They're providing support and they're leaving. In the co-op model, they are actively working with that teacher to review the curriculum, provide suggestions for differentiation, and helping deliver that curriculum together rather than just pushing in to support special ed students. I don't believe it. And I would just add that the co model is only as good as the collaboration between the two teachers. Relationship within the two teachers. I've

064seen it work very very well and centrally well relationship isn't good. You just put people together that don't work well then work either. So that's a big piece that Tom has to look at when it comes to that model as well. And I'm not advocating either way. I'm just you know in terms of Christine had she >> as a science teacher for almost 34 years. It's oftenimes, you know, I haven't had this the special ed teacher in the room with me, but here in this district, I have. And it's amazing because we communicate the English language as science teachers and our students may struggle with science science or with English skills and science is highly connected to math. They may be struggling in math. So having that co-teer in with me to help plan and

065look at what might need to be changed for a classroom test or quiz has been phenomenal in terms of being able to see the growth that students can get in terms of the science knowledge, but then also we're communicating in the English language. So they're learning those skills for when they're taking their ELA exams or their math exams or the science exam that the state gives. >> We don't want those that have one teacher teaching them versus sitting in a corner. at least has got to be done correctly in relation. >> We're all exhausted at the end of the day. >> I think another defining feature is the impact on the general education students within that classroom. You wouldn't necessarily see much of an impact with a consultant teacher direct model because they're pushing in

066they're supporting the students with disabilities and that's it. But within the classroom with differentiation support and with supporting the whole class, they're providing additional benefits to the general education students in the room that they otherwise wouldn't receive. >> Do you think there's just less stigma for some of these kids too because you're staying in the cohort? >> Certainly. So all of those caveats to say in order to give you some information on effectiveness data, what I did was I took the IEP goals. So these are goals that are designed as part of the IEP process based on students specific needs and they're set to be a one-year goal. So what's an ambitious but achievable goal to help support that student in that area of need and then that's the goal for the year and then

067a regular progress reports much like a report card. So what I did was I took that data for all elementary students in district and I broke it down based on whether a student achieved the goal. That's pretty self-explanatory. is progressing satisfactoryy, meaning that they're making meaningful progress um over time. They expect to achieve it soon. Gradually, similar idea, but um you know, might need additional time to achieve it, progressing inconsistently. So a student maybe most often you see that with behavioral goals where on a certain day they're having a great day and they're they're progressing well and then on another day they have a bad day and we don't see the same level of progress and then not achieve and then the total number of goals. So this is not a number of students students

068can have multiple goals on this is a number of goals for all kindergarten through fifth graders. I don't have something specific for you to compare that to to say if we did something different, what would their goals look like? Because obviously working towards goals and providing all those services. So I don't have a lot of context for you on this, but I did want to share some information about what we're seeing and the impact it's having within the context of student needs. So I would argue that progress looks different for students with disabilities or effectiveness or success and it should be measured based on their individual needs based on their IEPs. Because you might have a student who has a who has ADHD and has some needs but is generally on grade level reading and

069math and just needs help with their executive functioning skills and um some behavioral that students progress and effectiveness might look very different from a student who is diagnosed with autism and is nonverbal. their goals and their progress is going to look very different, but it doesn't mean that they're not making progress and that supports are not effective. So, I tried to use that context to guide what I shared with you about what success looks like because they're students with disabilities. They have needs. That's why they're identified. So, using grade level comparison data is not a fair assessment of their progress or their skills. We could be talking about 10 kids here. It's like these goals >> technically. Yes, but we're we're it's it's a larger number than that. I don't have the exact number for

070you, but for K5 specifically during those years, but it's definitely >> So, what are like what's an example of of like an emotional behavioral goal and you know, give me some examples of the different goals you set with kids. >> So, it might be helping them to improve their self-regulation skills. It might be using um identifying and using strategies to help them deescalate or to calm down if they become escalated or frustrated. It might be helping them to identify positive characteristics about themselves if they are depressed for example or show those signs to help them have a more positive self-image and feel better. It could be connected to behavioral concerns or issues that maybe they need certain skills that they don't have. It could be something as simple as um engaging in effective turn taking

071of peers to be on the grade levels to be able to participate effectively and to get along with peers. It really varies based on their disability, where they're at, obviously their developmental level, their age. >> So, how many goals on average >> on average does a one student have >> a mathematical average or a specific number? But I would say anywhere from maybe three, four, not a huge number. Typically, the more services a student requires and the more significant their needs, the more goals that they'll have. For example, if they need support in ELA, math, they're also receiving counseling, OTP, they would have goals for all of those areas. So, the more the higher the needs, the more goals there will be. But generally we don't look to have more than two goals in a

072different area because that becomes you you spend more time assessing than you do >> teaching. So that brings up my next question is it looks like we have a reduction in goals but an increase in those receiving service receiving services essentially are breaking up. >> Yes. So does that indicate based on my comment that um we have >> over the past three years period >> we have 20 say 20% increase but we actually show and it's probably not statistically there a decrease over the past three years of goals >> for kindergarten and fifth grade. So that indicating that >> it could indicate that the cohort is largely older at this point and are fewer students with the younger grading levels. Uh I will also note I have a little aster at the bottom. I did

073not include any goals that noted see comments because I can't ascertain what level of progress that were that was because it's it's just a comment field that teachers fill out to provide more information. It could be that there's an uptick in the number of comments that are in court. So those would not be included in that count. It also doesn't include not applicable. So if a student for example unenrolled mid year, I wouldn't have information on their overall progress for the year because they were transferred out. >> So those are excluded from my counts here. >> And this is just elementary school, >> correct? This is just kindergarten through fifth graders in the district. It includes all of our students in any program special education building. So co-taught resource room the stars program as well

074as any students who are elementary age who are out of district place all students elementary decreasing significantly. that we've seen that our students are generally having more positive results in achieving their goals and even those who are not making as much progress or substantial progress there are fewer who are simply just not achieving those goals. sort of progressing. >> So, so sorry. Go back. So, when it says like see comment, see there's no way to like analyze that. So, like what would they like what would a comment be like if they said they see comment? What's the example? >> Sometimes teachers will provide specific data about what they saw. It could be a comment to say student attendance was a concern and they weren't able to assess it. It could be that they wanted to

075provide additional detail on what they're working on to the family, where the student is at. They might provide very specific data on what student has done. So, it's essentially it's just a text box that gives them the opportunity to communicate more information just like a report card might have a comment section. And I certainly could go through every single one of those comments, read it, and that's my own determination to say where that is, >> but I did not include it to not do that >> for the sake of time. Um, and then another piece that the board could ask for is cost per student with disabilities. I'm going to give you a bunch of caveats before I give you numbers on this as well. Um, it's challenging to provide this information for a host

076of reasons. So, one challenge is what costs should or should not be counted? Do we count overhead costs? Do we count secretarial support for managing the IP documents? Do we count conference lines for special ed teachers? What do we include in that total number that we're considering an expense for a special ed student? As I've mentioned before, all special ed students are gened students first. So, what do we consider a gened expense versus a special ed expense? And how do we account financially for saying a special ed support is now supplanting a general ed expense they would have otherwise incurred. So, it's very difficult accounting wise to determine what this number should be. and then a specific cost for an individual student. So you would ask for a median number. I can't provide that. I

077do not have a specific cost for every single student every single year in district. To calculate that would require calculating again even if we determine what should or shouldn't be counted. We would have to do an individual calculation for every service a student receives. Do an individual calculation for what genet services they would receive. subtract those GED services that they wouldn't be receiving because they're receiving a comparable special ed service potentially factor in transportation cost and the differential between that if it's a student going out district go to another program how do you account for students who are in Boseis to calculate that gened cost it is a substantial accounting task that I'm not aware of any district who does that um we would only calculate an individual cost for a student when they're attending

078sending an out of district program and we have a contract with that program to provide those services or if we have a student who's in district who is we think might potentially reach that high cost threshold to be able to submit that to the stat system for reimbursement for high cost. Those are really the only time we would sit down and try to calculate that number out because obviously we want to know what we're paying that district program and what they're charging us and internally if we can submit for student but otherwise we do not do that accounting process for every individual student. >> So what's considered the stack? Why why would you what's off of that? >> Uh if you might I have that in a later slide. We'll get to the stack system

079in a in a second but I just want to go through this. So, in order to give you some numbers, I took all of our special ed expenditures under the 2250 code as a total and just divided out number of identified students. And then I have a whole lot of reasons why this is not a good measure for you to look at. So, doing that simple process, these are the numbers that were yielded, but there's a lot of reasons why that number is not accurate. For example, it includes related service providers who also provide services to students with 504s to MTSS students. So counting their entire expense and dividing it out among special ed students doesn't account for all of the services they're providing to students otherwise. Um it includes administrative costs, overhead costs, so

080it includes those conference lines I mentioned. It includes materials and supplies. It encourages anything within those codes. um does not include transportation costs, does not account for any overlap with general education. So for example, co-eing, do we divide that out by the number of students with disabilities in a class to determine what the cost is or do we factor in the fact that general education students are also benefiting from that service? There's no way to determine that within this calculation. It doesn't take into account any additional revenue that's generated through special education such as highc cost aid, grant funding, Medicaid billing, any of those additional funding sources that that come in because of the services we're provided. It doesn't account for the complicated process of if a student comes into our district with a service

081that they provide and they leave, how do we account for that? So there's a lot of different factors that go into why this is not a great measure, but I wanted to give you some number as in response to your equity. >> So essentially you just took the uh 2215 divided by the number of >> of identified students >> at bed. So just very basic calculation just to give you a sense of where things are but again it is not an accurate number. stack. So stack stands for the system to track an account for children. It is a New York state platform essentially that looks like it was designed in the 1960s and um it essentially allows us it's a system for submitting for reimbursement through a variety of mechanisms. I'll talk mostly about special

082ed here, but there are some binto um connections as well about how we track students and how the state tracks who should get money for those students based on right factors. Um so what I did here is provided you a count of students that we submitted for RSY regular school year. These are your students who are high costs for the school year. Essentially that more or less equates to our district place students for the school. And then I have a separate count of students who will be submitted for ESY or extended school year services in district and then a count of students. So to avoid overlap, I didn't count all of these regular school year students in every single year also qualify for ESY, but I didn't count them a second time. [Music] Now give

083you some context on stack and the high cost aid piece. New York State sets our threshold for the amount of money that is our threshold for determining if we're eligible or if a student is eligible for high cost aid. So for example, if our threshold is $50,000 for a student and we spend $70,000 on that student, the difference between them, we would get substantial. >> So that what is the threshold? Is it 50,000? >> It is it is different every year. I don't have the number in front of me, but it is set by the state how mid30s. So it's inventory the threshold there will be a formula in the hypothes what the threshold is and I think it's also a nice data look at the students and say the average cost has to be

084above that. Okay, just to kind of summarize things, I just kind of reflected on what we've done in the last couple of years, where we're at now, and looking forward, what special ed, what what I envision for special education as a broad overview. So, as you're all well aware, as I talked quite a bit about STARS, um that came from collaboratively reviewing our student needs in the district within our department and assessing and determining that we needed to expand our continuum to support our students needs that led to the expansion of our self-contained programming, our starts programming. >> What is so what is the acronym? What does it stand for? students taking action and responsibility for success >> and it's self-contained. >> Yes, >> that's just the name of your self-contained program. >> Correct. >>

085Okay. >> That's just our own unique name for it. And the ratio at the elementary level is a 1212. So no more than 12 students, one special ed teacher and two teaching assistants. And then at the upper grade levels, it is a 1211. >> Can you repeat that? What did you say? So, our special educa, it's also in the continuum. I linked in there as well in an earlier slide, but that has all of our services and how it's reflected on the IEP in great detail. But, uh, it is a 1212 at our primary at our elementary levels and then it is a 1211 at our secondary levels. The difference being one teaching assistant. So, that's what we where we've been what we're currently doing is looking at reviewing performance data working with colleagues federal

086educational or instructional administrative so building principles our teacher leaders Sam um and looking really at um what our needs are as a district instructionally um as well as working collaboratively with the professional development committee to address what we see as some of the major challenges and our next steps for improvement How many students are in that stars at the elementary this year? >> Five in the K2 classroom. >> Seven. I literally roughly seven in the second class for students to better reflect similarity of need between the two sections. So it's shifted a little bit. It's not strictly based on their grade level. We try to group them based on their need. So our our younger group is more focused on some early learning and prerequisite skills whereas our our older group is more focused on

087some of the academic deficits that they have. So one is more school readiness and one is more fil. So the outcome for some of that recent work and conversations has been that we are looking at focusing the majority of our professional development time this year on curriculum development so that we can better integrate standards, align instruction and improve student outcomes for all students. And then special education teachers will be embedded within that work to support their gened colleagues in making sure that we are looking at differentiating that work and supporting them in that work. And then looking forward after we have that established curriculum going forward further analyzing the performance of our subs. So students with disabilities, our English language learners, economically disadvantaged students um to see how are they performing within that developed curriculum

088and what can we do further to tweak that curriculum to better meet their needs. But the first step is developing that groundwork and making sure we have a firm foundation for tier one instruction. Making sure that we're meeting the needs of all of our students and elevating them all before we start to look at more specific subgroups and criteria. And then another piece looking at further increasing and I know I've talked about this before but I can't uh further improving the sustainability of our special education programming within stars by accepting other out of district students and I see that as a potential for expanding cooperation between districts in the region. Bose is a fantastic resource for special education programming. However, it is difficult to get spots for programs and having more options is never a

089bad thing to meet the needs of our students. It also lends itself to providing more specialized instruction in the area of need. So, Boseies can only offer so much. They can only sustain so much. But if we have a neighboring district who is providing a program specific for students with autism in a grade level, wouldn't it be great if we could send our student with autism in that band to that specialized program and vice versa? We can offer the same supports for students based on our stars program. So really cooperating better with the region to expand programming opportunities to improve student outcomes and to u positively impact cost as well. Have we had the neighbor neighbor districts reach out about utilizing our staff program? >> Well, our ESY program hosted Brunswick. So yes, but I'm

090just saying that during the school year, >> not at this time, but um we have had some conversation connected to the regionalization survey that went out through our Boseies about um essentially kind of building a a database of sorts of all of the different programs that various districts in the Boseies offer and if they're willing to accept that district student. So I jumped on that opportunity to provide a lot of detail about the STARS program and I hope that those conversations will continue within the region to further understand. >> That is everything that I have. I have a question some concerns about the board is how can we reduce the distractions during the day both for the special ed students and when it affects the main students. I think I want to be very careful

091in how I put things because the smaller group of students we look at the more concerned I am about confidentiality. But what I will say is that the challenge I noted about finding programs for students who need that higher level of support is a challenge that impacts us under we are required to provide a free appropriate public education to all students. We don't have a choice to say you're too disruptive. We can't have you here. >> Well, that's not what I'm looking at. I'm looking at we looking at strategies to minimize and reduce it because this is this is an ongoing problem. I mean here for quite a few years and I've seen this um with students not coming in with IEPs and distractions were out of control. Um this goes back quite a few

092years ago. So what I'm looking at is you get are we working trying to minimize or look steer around these distractions so we know when can we predict when they're going to happen? what we're going to do. Uh because that can be a distraction. Yes, they have the rights, but I'm looking at the general ed students when it protects them. >> Correct. And what I'm kind of dancing around is that when we have a student who has really significant needs that have developed over time and they're in a district program, we can't remove them until we have an appropriate program. >> No. What are we putting in strategies to try to work with that student to minimize those? We we have strategy support services to reduce it to help the students. >> Yes. So those

093students would receive typically counseling services to support that. We would do a what's called a functional behavioral assessment which would look at their behaviors and determine what is the purpose of those behaviors. We would then use that assessment to develop what's called a behavioral intervention program. >> And are the parents involved in them discussions? >> Yes, that is all done through CSE. This should also be discussed at TSFS table as well. >> Correct. So that also ties social emotional needs, the behavioral plans that Sam was touching on earlier. >> So I know at my level if I have uh MT we call it MTSSB student but that could be behavior or social emotional we sit down as a committee as a team and really talk about the student and the root cause and what's going

094on and what they're seeing and where they're seeing these things happen. And then we create a plan to help that student. So it could be anywhere from like a if then chart. If you do this then you get to do this. It could be a sticker chart. And we also communicate that with our parents so they know that has been going on. And this is the plan that we put in place for the student. For those students I check back quicker than I do typically for some of our other students because I want to make sure the plan is working. So, I usually check in in about three weeks, say, "Hey, how's everything been going? Do we need to adjust anything now to help prevent those behaviors from possibly escalating?" And then we don't want

095to interrupt the other students in the classroom. So, if anything need to change, we'll do it at 3 weeks and then I'll meet them again in 3 weeks as a whole committee again just to make sure everything is in place and moving forward. S just to add a little what you're saying there should bring referrals to the the table. They should monitor how many referrals. So if there's an uptick in referrals and if he's continuing you want to see the students responding to the interventions that they put in place just to kind of with Frank's question what what really should be happening is concerns. It shouldn't just be isolation teacher assistant referrals non-stop. the should discuss as a team and say if we're not responding to the to the intervention then that's where that's where

096the leadership team working with Dave working with Megan should then be bringing those bigger issues to to our attention to see what what what is to be done. So that that would say is even a bigger piece than even an FBA and doing it. You know that part is that dayto-day with teachers working as a team and say especially the teaming aspect of middle school because you have you think about it some students earlier on they're in middle school where teachers have the same student you have a team of teachers and you see a pattern of behaviors too. So that's something we're looking at now whether that's working and these kids are being identified earlier on provide the supports once they get to high school it gets a little more difficultized working individually islanded teachers

097and then TSS starts to fall apart as well high school just notes aren't there as much quite a few years ago when you had a a student that was disrupted whatever um there was no consequences then the students would just shift out the playground with the regular students And the feedback was, well, he can do and get away with it. I can do and get away with it, too. You know, the role model that we're setting, how how do we change that thought process? It's not easy. Um, but it's something in the back of everyone's mind. It like the root cause going back there, >> develop a plan. If it doesn't work, then the administrative team's involved. And one of the things we do as classroom teachers is we we have if if we're looking

098at a specific student, we're given a a chart either from one of the documents that you've created or something that we have and we're recording anecdotally what we're seeing, what we tried, what happened, how what's the response, and where can we go from there so we can hopefully fit that find the thing that will help and work. >> Yeah. Less distractions. It helps the general students tremendously and everybody. That's that's the goal. >> I think what Frank's really referring to is when a student goes becomes such a behavioral issue, all the students have to leave the classroom. >> Well, and that's what I was alluding to with looking for programs that are appropriate for students. and again we if we have a student who's in district who's in a program here and consistently struggles with

099behavior that is beyond what we're able to support and manage in district we have a process where we through cse determine that an out of district placement is needed we then apply to out of district programs we await a response for those programs to tell us that yes we believe that this student is a good fit and there's a visitation then we have to wait for their answer on yes or know if there's a spot for that student in that program at that time and then we can meet determine if the student needs that specific program and provide it. But it is a long process and quite frankly it is difficult to find placements. Right now >> point if it's a long process what do we do to stop taking the entire class out to

100accommodate one student? It should be the other way around the main population gets the education they want. And that's where we look at providing us supports such as through the MTSS with behavior plans, getting feedback from the teachers about anecdotal evidence that helps us determine the root cause and developing behavior plans to support those students. >> MTSS starts to fall apart in high school. Everybody say that >> it's my goal this year to work more with high school, but with middle school they're in teams, right? So they have that like common planning time, that common meeting time where in high school they're kind of like on their own. So I already started talking to some high school teachers actually. I'm saying, "Hey, I want to work with you guys more this year. I want to

101make sure I'm supporting you as well. What would work best for you to meet? Would you like to meet by um what you teach course-wise or grade level?" So we're still in works and conversations with that. I actually just sent out an email to all my high school teachers today who provide MTSS services to see if they want to meet um when they're available so I can help support them more. >> We'll also say that that is not at all a unique challenge to Berlin or uncommon at the high school is a greater challenge for NPSS than elementary. The model originated within the elementary level to address literacy specifically and has kind of built from there. >> Can't do charts and stickers for >> No, I mean my Some of them enjoy it more than

102you might think. >> Yeah, right. I mean, my >> eyes, right? I mean, stickers, but um my previous district that I came from did not have MTSS in the middle school or the high school. It was strictly only the elementary buildings. Um and that's something I tried to fight for in my previous district and they're like, "Yeah, no, we're not touching that." Um, so I love that we actually are able and trying to do that in this district right now to help continue supporting our students. >> So, how long we've been doing MTSS in middle school, high school? >> Well, I just came I just came last year. >> I just came last November. Um, and from the feedback that I got, it was pretty much when I came last year is when it really

103started in the middle school level. High school was still really difficult. I was still kind of trying to navigate my way too and really get to know people. So, at the high school level last year, it was more like an email. Hey, do you want to meet and I'll help you or I'll send you resources. The middle school is when I was having those monthly meetings and I was having MTSS meetings either academic or behavioral. I was also having data meetings um down at the middle school as well. >> It was RTI level before that more became MTSS. When I was in the classroom in 2011 or so, RTI was coming out. The big difference is RTI is looking more so just at the academic piece structure is schools now adopt that behavioral side of

104it. That's why I mentioned with Frank's Frank's question just that that's another piece we should be looking at is the MTSS and making sure teachers are tracking those referrals and when there's not working, it's not responding that we're escalating things up. I also think code of conduct is very important and how that's how that's utilized when it comes to discipline with all students across the board. Um you know removing them from classroom what happens from there and you know the spaces they go to and whatnot. So it's something that you know Tom and I Dave speak started talking about. I'm happy to do it as well especially if there's certain levels that we're we're concerned with but just making sure that the environment is a is a safe respectful climate for all students to be

105successful to learn for sure. That code economic is also very very important. It's there to to support that that positive climate. >> Well, it's setting social standards really that kids are supposed to try to adhere to, right? But we know that kids have behavioral issues, you know, emotional issues that make it very hard for them to meet those social standards. And that's that's the concern, right? I mean, we all agree it's the concern >> working with parents as well where there's also behaviors that aren't, you know, changing is, you know, looking at outside, you know, bring students to do the doctor and and and seeing what else may be going on and causing it. Um, that partnership with parents as well, having, you know, parents to conferences, bring bring parents in to to bridge that

106that piece that's a big piece of the puzzle as well to change their behaviors. >> So, how many kids have we couldn't, you know, gone out of district that we couldn't help in the last five years or so? Have you? So, I'll have a specific number for you. Um, I will also say that students who need that level of support tend to continue to need that level of support. So, it's not so much that it's not a lot of in and out um between those programs. >> So, if they if they leave, they don't come back. >> Generally, yes. >> When you get your enrollment report, you'll see all those numbers. It'll tell you like private requests are gives you the school's paying for them to go there because we can't provide what they need

107here >> on the special. Yes, correct. >> That's where we buy into a specialized program either through Quest Star for special education or some of those private like Vander Wild is one of Thanks. >> Yeah, no problem. So, I have a list of things that um we'll work to follow up and get to Ken so that he can share with you all. >> Thank you. >> Your request. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Sam. Thanks for your welcome. [Music] I love it. It's not my color. And if they do get a motion to go into executive session >> motion by Frank, a second, second by Derek. All in favor? Okay. So, we won't need to come back. >> We're not going to come back. There'll be no action.