001um exhaustive search and many interviews and um uh performance jobs that that um Mrs. Bnellski, you know, had to do. I mean, she she rose to the top as someone who's going to be um here for the kids, for the staff, and and really move this district forward in a direction that the um administration and and the board wants to see it go. So, we we welcome you to join our our family and um We're excited to have you on board. All those in favor? I I opposed or abstain. Motion carries. Now we Okay. Take a moment to welcome Megan as well. Um I'm thrilled. It's not often that can hire a member of the student's cabinet. Uh I really fulfill a leadership team and I think that addition is meant to do bright on
002top of it and entire search commit [Music] to get started. So, welcome aboard. All right. Um, anybody else? So, moving on to approval of minutes. You're welcome to stay, Megan, or um or not. Um, approval of minutes. So, Deb, do you want to do that? Second. Uh any changes or discussion? All those in favor? Oppos? Abstain. Motion carries. Second. Any changes or discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Oppose or abstain? Motion carries. Motion to approve. Second. Any discussion or changes? All those in favor? I oppose or abstain. Motion carries. Okay. Um audience of citizens. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the board? No one wants to talk to us, huh? Okay. So, moving on. Um, board correspondence. Deb, anything? Okay. So, our favorite part of the meeting that we've
003been looking forward to, as evidenced by our dress, um, is to welcome the unified program and um, and recognize you guys as as being so um, wonderful and uh, such a a great addition to our district and we're so proud of all of you. So, I I think Dr. Miller, did you want to introduce them or change slightly from what we did speaking to Mr. Perfect [Music] students and speak to them. Okay. So, we want to make sure everyone gets to do it the right way. But I want to take a moment and um one of the things I think that makes our district so special is our program. Um we are obviously recognizing a high school program today. We also have a phenomenal middle school program and honor and measurement. But the message of
004inclusivity, the message of respect and kindness for each other just it it goes beyond just this unifi program, but it goes beyond because these students and the program helps spread the word. and the message and I'm just so thrilled and honored that we got this program. Had the opportunity last Sunday to um do the um best study walk um in Harvard with several students and parents and it was just a great feeling to be part of that and I'm just so thrilled that we've got the program these students and um here we also have um our supportive of the students. So happy that we'll introduce a couple of the students and say a few things. Wonderful. So, we actually have um 60 members of our team in total, which when you think about it is
005about like 5% of our student body at the high school. Um but they are on track, they're on baseball, they're on softball, they're working. So, it just was tough. But we got a nice representing the team here tonight. Um, and I just wanted to start by thanking um, administration, thanking you all for your continued support because obviously without your support, we don't have. So, um, I really want to quickly hand it over to them because these are the ones we all want to hear from. Um, and there then we have a video that they put together. Thank you. So, I just want to say as Kevin said, thank you for inviting us here tonight to be a part of this meeting and then as like supporting us as like a concert for community and our
006program and also just first wanted to show you what our unified program was mostly about. And with the video it helps out a lot to prove like I don't know like what we do in in our classes and what we do at the events that we have. And the video was made by one of our seniors on the team, Samantha Flutter, and it was made by the whole team in one class period. So Sam was a big part of putting it together. Wonderful. Thank you. Unified Sports is a branch of Special Olympics that partners students without I mean with and without disabilities on the sport fields and courts. There are over 300 teams in Connecticut schools and we are in our tenure having a program here at OS. Nice job, Matt. You read that beautifully.
007In the video we are about to share with you, you will hear an essay read from one of our captains, Sarah Hiti, who won runner up for the athlete essay contest at the Michael's Cup banquet a couple of weeks ago. Sarah wanted to read the essay in person. However, she was unable to attend tonight. Thank you. Feel like my voice is carrying. It can. We can hear you. In this video, you will also see pictures taken out of the many amazing things we've done this year. You will see pictures from some of our games and tournaments such as playing at the halftime, the state finals game at home in Sun Arena. You will see pictures of us hosting our friends from Waterberry Art, an organization who buy services for adults with intellectual differences. You will
008see pictures from our inclusion spirit week where we had great participation from all around the district. And then you will also see pictures of us receiving the Michael Stuff Award for the top program in the state. This is an honor we received nine years ago as well. Now both of the banners are hanging in the gym crafting. We hope after listening to us and watching this video, you may want and be able to attend some events next year. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. I know I can't really see from you. Sports is varsity sport that has a class every morning where we can play games after school and during school every morning. It shows friendships and one-on-one connections. Unified sports at OS entails events that bring us together closer as a team, such as cheer
009competition we hosted, tournaments, and games after school. Unified sports is getting together and including everyone to play sports that we love. Unified sports at Oxford High School entailed including everyone and going to basketball games and having pep rallies and inclusion week where everyone cheers each other on and just supports it. Unified sports brings unity to Oxford High School. One way I see unity being shown was during our inclusion week. Hannes donated shirts to our whole school that we all wore on the same day that showed how we're all different but we can all come together as one. But until my moment comes, I think [Applause] My favorite thing about Unified is how everybody feels like a family. You walk in and everybody brightens up your day. My favorite thing about Unified is the mindset that
010everybody on the team has and how it spread throughout the school and makes such a good school environment for everyone. I love unified because I'm able to play my friends and play I've been see them all last year and I wasn't able to play with them in the quarantine. So, it's nice to play with my friends this year. I unified because we support each other. My favorite thing about Unified is making new friendships and spreading inclusion. My favorite thing about Unified is the morale everyone has together and the spirit we bring to games and how everybody cheers everybody on no matter what. I have gained from last year to my sophomore year from being part of Unifi is that I am way more comfortable being around a lot more people and doing a lot more
011things. And you get to know that you get to talk to other people that potentially they could be your friends and I just think it's really like joyful and I just really like it. Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm going to read my essay. What does unified mean to me? When I was in another high school my freshman and sophomore year, I was bullied. We didn't have a unified class. And when I had gym class, people didn't want me on their team because they would say she keeps making a lot of outs. We didn't uh want to lose the game. So, I would not play the whole class and I would get a bad grade in gym class. When I would play the uh sorry, play, they kept booing me, saying, "Well, we don't
012want her on our team." So, I would go to the bathroom and they and stay there the whole class. I would wait until the class was over. Then the teacher would say uh to me, "Where were you?" I would get bad attendance grades in the class. It was pretty bad. When I finished my sophomore year, we moved to Oxford and I thought students there here in Oxford were going to be mean. But the second I walked into the into Oxford High School, the students were like, "Hi, what's your name? Do you need help finding your first class?" I said, "Yes." Uh, then they led me to the unified gym class. I was a little nervous because last year in my other school, it didn't it did not end up well. The first day we played
013kickball and the teacher, Coach Sapra, separated the entire class into into two teams. I went with the team I was put in and I had a lot of questions because I didn't want to get a lot of outs in the in a game. A couple of students went first. It was my turn and everyone was cheering me on. I was never cheered on before. I kicked the ball and uh ran to first base. Then I was very comfortable playing with this team. That's that's how I made friends. I was so happy. I wanted to go to school every day because the students at Oxford High School were bringing me joy to come to school every day. That's what unified means to me, being respectful and including everyone in the game. That's the whole team right
014there. Well, that was very Now, did I turn my thing off? Can you hear me? Uh that was very impressive and um you know I I feel like I can speak for the board and and that's why we're here. We're here for the students of Oxford and you just make us so proud um you know unified or any other teams that you participate in and um your kindness um to the new student who showed up is is the epitome of the type of um environment that we want everyone to come into no matter what school they go to. So, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I also have a question. Um, with your experience, just to raise a hand, but um with your experience with the unified team, is there anyone
015who plans to pursue um any kind of career that goes in this direction? Uh by raise of hand, anybody? Okay. A couple. All right. Good. Um just just curious because these, you know, we want you to have experiences that kind of spark what your passion is. And um so if that's uh one or two students, if that could happen, then then that's that's what we're all about as well. So um congratulations on behalf of the board. And if you don't mind taking a picture with us, then we appreciate it. Thank you. What? What's going on? How's it going? Just stand up stage. Do you need my help? Yeah. Right. Exactly. telling everybody what to do, where to go. [Music] She's cheating. [Music] It's like a cross. Oh, nothing. Not at all. One of these work.
016That's funny. [Music] Literally. I know. Like that, you know, but then you can cut it. So much it's when you get this close. Where's Robert? I know I'm seeing a little bit [Music] literally [Music] Matt. Matt. Matt, how's your coffee business going? Good. You selling a lot of coffee? Good job. You guys like it? Hi guys. I don't like coffee. I don't I just have to make it. I don't like it. Business is moving. He's not drinking at all. Um, so next on our agenda is the reading and language arts specialist report. So, um, Robert, I don't know if you want to, you know, just kind of that we don't have people here people and ask questions. Do you want to do that or you want me to or I just did or just in
017a sense? So, the original plan was to have our own meeting and I think our specialist here this evening to present to you their inner life of the specialist in the same way that we did the math specialist um few weeks ago. um from a segment perspective, they were not able to be here um this evening. So again, I work with them and Mr. Cage and Mr. Finot and Mrs. Potter to put together that kind of work that they do. you see that there's a a a time for students, but there's also a report that we do um and other work with assessments in the building and and clearly um there's data in there with SRBI. The SRBI question is one that we are facing as a district. How do we create a more sustainable
018and more efficient SRA process that really moves students um between tiers into special education and back out of um the tears? And one of the things that became apparent in our conversation was we enter SRPI and on paper it looks like students start the entire year within the same goal. In reality, they might spend eight weeks on one goal on assessing and out on the other level and they go to goal two and go three, but you never actually see that that taking place. So, how do you create a system that shows that the students are making progress in one level to another and if they're not making progress, then they need to advance from tier two to tier three and from tier three make a recommendation of special education. So, one of the things
019that we're focusing on in a couple months between now and the start of the school year is really taking look at our SRA structures and systems in place. Um, as we look to change SRB model, this is the opportunity to say how do we do things different across the entire district? What is our new approach? And I think some of the data in the supporting data that was in the map report shows that necessity is an area that is of need that yes we do have some really good system in place but we need to improve upon that and we recognize that and that's work that we are beginning to have as conversations. relocated early in the year. Um, and it's something that we made a major change to how we're approaching the high school
020level and this an opportunity to really refocus how we do this to next school year. So, I think that's why you're going to see you saw the data that you saw in the report. So, I hope some questions behind that. Um, but those are some of the same questions that we put the the data together. We recognize this is an area that people might not look the way that it it's happening. Um, but that's an area that we recommend that needs improvement as well. So, did you want I mean I I think I just kind of um asked the board if once they looked at this report if there were any questions that they had, they can ask them now and you might either be able to answer them or get back to us with
021the answer. So, I'd like to open that up to board members if they have questions. And I believe I have one from Shel that she sent me because she was just concerned about not being able to, you know, get it the timing right. So I'll ask Shel's question. But did you did you looked at me? I don't know if you have a question. Yeah, I I missed the first part. Uh why isn't there anybody here? The two specialists were unable to be here on Tuesday night to present the board. [Music] I guess that's I find it upset. I I know everybody's got agendas and stuff and things to do more important than us, but this is requested. [Music] I'm not going to get into personal reasons, but there's personal reasons why they weren't able to
022be here. even with something um on a personal level. I guess I can't get into detail to that and I and I appreciate that everybody has commitments and personal lives and um their personal commitments and their ability to do anything. Well, I think since we're in the process of hiring and we're talking about this area that uh somewhat somehow or other something should have been maybe change it to next week or something like that. You know, it's uh when you're asking for more and trying to present your case and and and looking for more help or whatever because it's always something here that's needed that it's like a we should have postponed it maybe. I don't know if that could have been but it's like a personal front to me that this is not the
023first time this has happened where people didn't show up. This is like the third time that I can remember and uh it's like I don't like uh being brushed off. Thank you, Vic. Um, did you have a question about the report, Vic, or you want to just make, you know, I I like to ask the people that do stuff. So, it's, you know, there's no sense in talking. There's nobody here. Okay. All right. Um, anybody else question or comment? Um, Steve? Yeah, I just had a question. This is I got the first part is kind of like their job description, right? And the second part is trying to start getting at some data. Just curious like and I don't want to get into the weeds but is there like an anonym do you guys use
024a report that shows like even if the name was anonymized like person you can see how it really works like the the vintage or lineage of the person like oh they went x amount of weeks and are gone versus you know this one went the full eight weeks and went six into the next program was gone and this one went all the way through and ended up in special you know is that is there like a something that tells that story easier? They do have a a file for every single student. They have records that they keep that they meet as our direct teams on a week basis within the school looking at every single student. So we track that. But the problem is that there's not a system that's in place to efficiently pull
025that data out to accurately demonstrate that and that's one of the things that we want to work on next year. I think that'd be hugely helpful. I mean not just for them but even just build a report like spreadsheet. Here's our 50 people, right? And then by tomorrow, I don't know how far they went to each SRBI and the aging and you know, I mean that that would be extremely useful for the whole report. Apparently, there's not a system in place of any that's one of the goals that we have. Thanks, Mike. Uh so, so my question would be uh it's not far off from Victor's concerned for these individuals. Do they report to someone? Uh that I have a couple questions, but like for these uh for the reading specialists and tutors, who do
026who who do they get supervised by? Who who evaluates them? because if they can't come and I understand everyone has different obligations that maybe their supervisor can come because I I mean maybe you know seeing it from a financial lens we have a $25,000 budget deficit based on what we asked for what we need to operate and what we are given mixed with a lot of other separate threads that are impacting the budget and we're looking to expand in this area. It'd be nice to know our, you know, how are our current resources running, their effectiveness, and the impact of that extra resource. It it'd be nice to know from someone, whether it's their they they themselves speaking on their behalf or their supervisor speaking on behalf of the resources um for this report. It
027it'd be nice if someone was was speaking to this material. So the reading the read reading learn specialist each report to the building principal. The tutors in closing um are closely supervised by the reading and learning guard specialist. So you got the principal that supervising teachers in the building at the school level. That means that they're supervising the reading art specialist. And the reading learn specialist meets on a regular basis with the tutors to make sure the tutors are servicing the students the right way. That's the organizational stuff behind that. the plans that we had made because these students were not going to be able to be here on Tuesday evening was to have the two principles here to discuss one of the two principles um next week um was unavailable tonight as well and
028the other um would not have been able to come last night. So we had discussed plans to move this to the next meeting but figured that would bring the third meeting of persons to any kind of conversation because we decided to bring this to the board this evening and not only for one. Well, I wonder, you know, in this discussion if we should convene a special meeting on a night that's not Tuesday and you know, if if board members have questions that um you know that that need to be answered to invite them into meeting and native are welcome to attend that meeting as well to listen to what is but you know what we have so much to do on curriculum that it tries to keep, you know, we try to keep them to
029two hours and we and we don't even reach that. So, while I appreciate that, I don't think that that's that that's an option, especially because we're so behind the eightball in curriculum. So, um maybe we can brainstorm on on how to how to rectify this so that it it feels like a little better process. And just just to add on because our our scores are very low and it seems that reading is one of the root areas for concern and that our test data at least based on what we received in past presentations show that we're in many ways three plus grade levels behind. And when you know when your reading is is three plus grade levels behind and your math which is usually linked to the reading is three plus grade levels behind for
030a large percentage of students. I think this is too important to not get the full picture because it seems like there's a lot of work that needs to be done whether they're moving mountains and they're just dealing with the effects of COVID. There's still there's a very high concern level at least I have a very high concern level in this area and in the fate of our our students education and remind a lot of the data that shows students in that program are secondary students students at middle and high school level of course focusing on the elementary school level and because of some of this concerns at high school level are changing that model as high school next year but that that's where it's it starts here But we are hiring for the higher the
031higher levels. And the expectation is that if they're doing a great job, great. We're going to mimic that in the higher levels. And if their job needs to be altered or they need resources or we need to understand what's going on because it will greatly impact those filling the role for the higher level. So why don't we do this? Why don't we all get together and figure out what questions we have and we can pose them to Rob ahead of time and then we can make the decision. Can Rob answer the questions adequately or do we need to have a special meeting on a different night that's not a Tuesday? And even if we just cap it for a one-hour thing, if we have all the questions ahead of time, we should be able to
032capitalize on our time and get get a lot accomplished. Um, I agree. When is the next time the principles are supposed to for those two schools supposed to come before the board? I guess that would be my question. Are they I think it's on an as needed basis. I don't think we've established that they come at a at a regular time and you know if they're reporting or they're asked to be there then then because to piggyback on Mike, they supervise these these positions, right? So they really should know what what the whole program's about. Mhm. Right. And as I said, they they were prepared to make short reasons that they that felt they were there were able to be here as well. And I I just have a question on what you said, Rob,
033because the the specialists are not they are not um certified to be evaluators. So they they might oversee the tutors, but they cannot they do not evaluate the tutor. So I'd assume that the tutors are evaluated by the administration. Yes, the the administrator and building are constant overall in the building. Okay. And and because tutors are not So do do people who are non non-certified staff do they have the same type of evaluation that teachers have or is it is it um different it's a very different model. It's not the same teachers. The majority of our tutors happy to obtain certified teachers but they are hired as a non-certified position if it's a tutor. Right. So they are not under the teachers contract. That's correct. So um so that but they are there is within
034their contract that they are to be evaluated on a yearly basis. Right. Amy association, right? They're kind of like independent contract. Um, anybody else dead on this um frequency of interventions? There's a lot um there's like two tier two, three times a week, tier three, four times a week. Um have we plotted them into schedules? And I know we we did a lot about talking about um checking to make sure everybody was on full schedules and working up to the hours that we're paying them for. So have we looked at all these and we have people in the right places and amount of time and or do we need to look at do we need more people how we evaluate their hours and time student things. So that is one of the things that needs
035to be developed for next year is the structure and the system and placement. There are people that are excited for that. Um we have changed the number of triggers that we've had at Echo XP based on what the needs were. So we do look at that and look at the schedule associated with that. [Music] So that's a comment. Go ahead. Why I go along with your suggestion? But it's just, you know, we've talked about, well, the kids don't learn because we have mask, see the person's face. We're talking about interpersonal skills and to come to our ears and stuff like that. I like to see the person I'm talking to. I want the person who knows the nitty-gritty. I've over the years I've suggested that we had the department's head here instead of the principles
036because they know more than the principles and now we're being shuffled to sending you questions but you can unknowingly modify and correct it and put your narrative in your narrative is important that's the fourth page okay I don't know how many people I think there's two or something I want the first two pages I want the people in front of me I want to see them you know they work for us. I don't I I wouldn't ask my boss that comes to my house to to interview me any more than I should go to their office to sit down and talk to me. Okay. And but if the board's agreeable to send you questions that you can massage and give us the answers, I guess I'll live with that. But I'm tired of it. I
037want the people who are responsible to sit there and answer to us just like we sit here and sometimes answer to the audience. So I think we got to start to have some firm ground rules of what people are responsible for. If it took another week to have a meeting or suggestions that for them to say meet this other night or something, I'd probably be open to but not be not this way. That's so if I'm hearing correctly, it sounds like we'd like Rob to talk to the reading specialist and see when there could be a mutually agreeable time when they could answer the questions. And if you'd like, you know, some in advance, then then we can, you know, what what our areas or concerns are or points that we want them to to
038address, then um if you can do that, then we'd appreciate it. I think it might be helpful to these individuals and have discussion in advance so they can feel prepared to come back to the board and discuss questions. Okay. So, so why don't why don't as a you know as individuals and board members why don't we send our um and I'll send you Shell's um and uh we'll send our our questions to Rob and and so they could kind of tailor I I think um you know when they do come if we can um you know have some more data I think we were we were looking for so that we could see the successes you know and how they you know they they talk about the meetings that they attend and um you know
039how they meet with SI coordinators SOP OTP. So you know that's great that you're meeting but so when when you're discussing and you're looking at data um you know it could be redacted and we don't we don't want to know students names but you know just an example of what you are doing in order to you know address the needs. Does that kind of summize what what we're thinking? Sure. Everybody good with that? I just I I was just looking at through these uh these tiers here and one number jumps out at me that there's 32 kids with a tutor at tier three. Is is that accurate? Where where you looking? Bottom of page three. Yeah. Oh, there's the 32. Okay. Um, yeah. And and then, you know, and again, when you talk about structure,
040Rob, I would say, you know, if that one tutor has 32 and there's three tutors at Quaker Farms, maybe one of those tutors needs to go up, especially the tutor who only has, you know, nine, well, nine kids and then five, you know. I mean I I think also our goal is that you know to not be silos so that if if we have needs in another school and and that's where your job and maybe maybe we need to be flexible so that I think Joe's point is probably like how effective can you be with 32 kids in tier three. Well I I mean I just don't I mean it just seems like it goes up you know you know what's it look like now at Great Oak Middle, you know after Great Oak Elementary.
041Are we getting more kids in intake at tier three? I mean, you know, we got six at tier two, you know, and then you go up 32 at tier three. Yeah. I mean, that's beyond intervention at this point, you know, in my opinion. Yeah. I think Joe, the other part, I mean, this is where I think you made your point like bring someone up because if you have 32 and they're all tier three, they're all getting 30 minutes per day each week. If there's a seven-hour school day, right, you're only servicing 14 to 32 kids. import [Music] ratio is probably a little stressed probably, right? And and I would also I would also wonder why at Quaker Farms they're only meeting four times a week with tier three whereas Great Oak is meeting five times
042a week with tier three. That would be you know I'll send it to you but that would be my question. Yeah. circle back to the very beginning that our current SR is not where it needs to be right on the record of saying so the data you see here instruction needs to be revised well to next year so this is 12 months from now I would expect that this is not what it is right now who who would be running the restructure of the SRVI program because that might be a person I'd love to talk to because if this is not where we need it to and it's not operating in the way we want it to be and whoever is going to be implementing that change might be the right person to be speaking
043to this board. Right? So some districts might have an SR coordinator across districts for that the staffing for that. So this question who do you partner with? Um and clearly I don't believe that SR is a specification system. However, there clearly is an overlap with what specification needs partnership for specifications. I think that I think that part of the process supervisor leadership team function to develop and start doing a lot of work for the student specific leadership of the district. So currently I would say the director of specification in collaboration with myself and the director of construction and the principles will need to develop that model with inclusivity of those speakers that are passed with running their schools. So would this be something that in the fall we might have something in place rolled out
044for the year that might happen over the summer? It's going to have to be set. So, so we might consider if if this is if this is temporary and this is passed and we have something new coming out that hasn't been developed yet, maybe we that maybe that's the timing we wait for the new system for what is going to be rolled out because I want to know about that. You know, I I any milk spilled in the past I can't fix. No one can fix what happened in the past. But if the goal is to change it and improve it, I that's that's a conversation I'd love to hear about. And um every person that comes to the district brings in various and I think that one of the things new education has has
045a background in our grant and model of that I think tap into that piece and help help design what the structure system should be should be inclusive of that knowledge that's bring to the table as we redesign that. competitive sports. Any other comments? Do you see like the trends because of COVID and so forth, do you see, you know, by next year there being more kids in that needs intervention, SRPI or are some of these kids going to have more IEPs into the special ed? You know, it you know, because that always fluctuates and ends and flows. So, I just was curious about that. [Music] at least 5 to 10 year before impact of I think that we're going to see that there for years where there's learning gaps going out but that beginning to
046seventh graders that was missing in seventh grade sixth grade um I think that we are going to continue working on closing that gap that's there um And if they have the right system in place, we can catch those students before they withdraw. Luckily, if the student has some form of a special need, they're going to get special education services and we're going to provide success services. But if they do have some sort of learning challenge, then that going to result eventually in special education services. So if designed right your your support systems catches those things before they get to that point. Um but there are some things that will still require need services. Um I think another area that um is not addressed through this model um that we've seen a huge increase of the
047students that need significant pure reading instruction reading support. And we've got a separate model plan for even those intensive students that need direct literacy and urgent support. That's not the particularly this model. This is part of that. But we're we're hiring teacher that will be one of the schools or the three people that's all three um elementary schools in the middle school. But that's another layer of special education that will catch risks that needed or significant readings of work. And just just for clarification, you know, the pandemic um you know, definitely there's a gap with that. Um, and I I would say more within that year and a half or possibly even two years, children who did um have specific learning disabilities or emerging um learning disabilities would not have been caught because they weren't
048in school. However, you can correct me if I'm wrong. If a a student is um delayed um because of not being taught or teachers in front but uh you know does not necessarily have an identifiable you know learning disability they're not necessarily going to get special education services they're going to get support through other not that we're you know dropping them but you know they wouldn't be going through you know for an IEP you need to you need to have um u you know concrete professional data of of where the where the deficits are in order to um address them and address the child's needs. So just because someone is behind from the COVID from COVID or the pandemic doesn't mean that they're going to go into special ed. Is that correct, Linda? That's correct.
049Assuming that there's a missing struggle, that first initial set of response that tier one responses and if if that's not working, then it could take birth to tier two. That's not working. and now going in school to get your purchase tier three which is more intensive, more frequent and more strategic. If that doesn't work, then there's a a recommendation to take a look at the feature. Sometimes that state may qualify, but there's a progression there that Yeah, I just want to debunk the myth that you know there's going to be an influx of you know so many more um you know special education students because of the pandemic which is just not fair not necessary. Right. So, but I'm sorry but as a current model now regardless this this Great Oak Elementary School ELA falls
050at the feet of heat. Correct. That's what that's agree with with Mike is that if we got a new person coming in there's a certain time frame but it's like you know a famous person Albert Einstein said sometimes identify questions hard problem okay so we can't continue to have new people solving a problem that we don't even know how it's viewed at that not at your level okay at the root level and we need to have that kind of input so that when we look at the new program which is based on another school and another district and another person is that what is wrong with our system five years I've been going over this the first meeting I went to nobody even knew what the nomenclature the acronym meant you know so we made
051a lot of progress you know so we need to know what's wrong to put the money in it to fix it. So the question is as much as you know the problem that's the answer and we don't have that sometimes not necessarily putting money into some matter of restructuring how you currently are doing things and we've been looking at this over the course of the year we analyzed it pretty extensively earlier in the year in the fall and early winter we know where some of the shortcomings are we know those are matter of how do we redesign the current camp in order to have a system that's working in the right capacity K12 Well, and I'm not saying that we are completely doing things wrong. That's not the case. So, there are some strong elements
052to what we do. But we need a systemic strong K12 SR program. And that's an area that we need to take a look at. How do we build that K12 model that works? Okay. So, I we're we're all clear on on what we're our assignments are. Okay. All right. Good. Thank you so much. Um, healthy food certification for 22 23. This is a uh an annual um requirement of the state or the government which will the school system to sell um foods that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards other than sporting events and whatnot. So it's for sale after school special does not impact you know having a couple birthday because you know some cups can still happen. I just wanted to clarify that this is requirement that helps us get reimbursements if you
053could see [Music] um what are you asking us to look at? [Music] If you just if you just click on the whole thing, it doesn't have a little page. If you just click on the healthy food certification, I typically do need to read the entire motion to I'm sorry, say that again. Okay. Um, does anybody want to So reading this to approve exception statement pursuant to that that part. Okay. How about the one above? So, I basically have to read this whole thing out. Okay. See how my reading is? All right. Um, got 30 minutes. Thank you. So motion to approve healthy foods and beverages in schools statement pursuant to section 10-215F of the CGS from July 1st 2022 through June 30th 2023 with the exception statement as outlined below which I'm to read as
054well. Pursuant to the CGS section 102 215F, the board of education governing authority certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction and not exempted from the Connecticut nutrition standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut Nutrition Standards during period July 1st, 2022 through June 30th, 2023. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimburseable meals at all times from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeteria, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organization and groups. Second. Second by Deb. Um, Vic, can you just give me a recap of what I just read? Yes, I I could. No, I'm kidding. No pizza is
055allowed. Um, all those in favor, oppose or abstain? Motion carries. Another motion to approve exception statement pursuant to section 10-215F of the CGS. The board of education or governing authority will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards provided that the following conditions are met. One, the sales in connection with an event occurring after the end of regular school day or on the weekend. Two, the sale is at the location of the event. And three, the food items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event is an occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice meeting or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, and intercolastic debates are events, but soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not.
056The regular school day is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day. Location means where the event is being held. Second. Second by Deb. Any discussion? All those in favor I oppose abstain. Motion carries. Um okay. So that's all we need to do for the health of certification. Rob, that's it. Okay. So your report, Rob, please. Next. Next year. Yes. Thank god. Then dev next year. So we have another briefly start but on May 12th which is Thursday evening indust [Music] I will be attending the US association um student award recognition we'll have two students in high school two students from that I'll be recognized there typically two students from each region get recognized uh they are um nominated to go into their business school meeting super
057board and board as well. On May 16th is also the language arts um honor society induction ceremony. 17th Tuesday is the math induction ceremony and then 18th is the big high school senior award ceremony where all the students that are recognized for different scholarships and high school senior award success. It's a very beautiful event that year last year. And then on May 19th is the annual master on site induction center which is also beautiful. The students are inducted in the same year. They recognize that. And then on May 3rd um it's a fundraiser event for students tumor. Um the draw will be down and the green is next. Did you say that next? Can you say that sentence again? Got the live song fundraiser. Okay. The 23rd. 23rd and the name the 24th. What time
058is it? Okay. Notice that we all have microphones in our system. Um, two of us have also two. The rest of us have this always on. We're experimenting this. this doesn't work with having always on if you take a look at mics but we did test this out earlier this afternoon and audio recording for those watching from the video conferencing [Music] I'd be interested in hearing her and we can actually hear ourselves a little better so hopefully this enhanced the audience participation for those that are in the group as well as those people that were behind Peter space like we had completed the last set of walkthrough data. Um we met as a team last Wednesday. The researchers will now be meeting with their faculty respectively to analyze the data and begin to ask the
059questions what they learn from this set. What did they learn from this secondary to previous set? What does it mean to our instructional practices? What does it mean to professional learning? What do we need to do as a full set of teachers in the building? What do we need to do individually? So this really help sets the stage for some of the work that we're entertained going into August with the convocation. It's data that will be continuing to analyze as an initiative for our annual retreat in June as well retreat uh in August and it's really is a lot of the data that helps set the ground with the foundation for the the work that we entertain with the teachers next year practices for next school year. We had our um first meeting of May
060for change plan committee yesterday. Yes. Thank you. Um we are in the process of developing action plans for each of the different priority areas that we have and we're meeting in two weeks to hopefully finalize that evaluations place and the goal is um in June to be done with the work. for now grant this week and last week we had a lot of seniors and juniors in this building um in order to facilitate testing uh for AP exams we actually use and reuse the classrooms in this building uh since it doesn't impact the u instruction of high school students have a nice quiet setting to do their tests so it's nice to see architectural during days and the kids don't the morning afternoon exams. Um I will share with you later this week the number
061of test papers we have for each of the different tests and I'll share the um cont what the um test numbers look like the previous years for this respective test. You can see the comparison previous years and schedule the department for last Wednesday and Thursday but there's a second topic. Today on Thursday I'll be having Anthony also be joining me. So every three of us integrate each different share. So hope they're wrapping it up hopefully this week. The project high school is stages. Um we are in the process of setting up the connection for the ice machines. So we're almost done with that project and now the the goal is to have it done by the end of June before practice. were well underway again before it shut that plan for that project. I'm very
062pleased by that. We have a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday um with DLE. He wants to meet Anthony and I talk about state funding for um the HVAC for Quaker Farms and potentially um grows. So we're going to comply with the SSA and take a look at what those grants and the funding from state level are and see if there's anything we can take advantage of. So that is scheduled for the next week. The baseball field at middle school u actually was rain able to play a game in there yesterday. It it could be that the the nature of the field just takes longer to recover from the winter and early spring and once it's dry it's sufficient in order to last us the season. Um but that doesn't mean that it's out
063of structure and we need to look at that training but for right now it was useful that so do you know how many more games there are in their schedule? [Music] Okay. So, looks like the weather's going to be nice, so we should be able to play those home games this week. That's that's a um discouragingly um yesterday and today and even some of the data last week our program members um started to keep um yesterday at 15 students um 15 students uh we had three or four staff members at the department that got sick today students that got sick at the uh at several teachers in high school. So start to see the numbers sort of the wrong direction. Obviously, there's some concern I have for that. Um, I know that at the Quaker,
064um, there's a a large number of staff birds and parrots are out tomorrow and at least three um, supports alone, um, get sick. So, um, tax concern exactly have avail. [Music] So that's the concern where the members are right now. Hope everybody recovers as healthy as soon as possible. Um does anybody have questions for Dr. Miller? Thank you. Um so from my report um I'd like to thank Dr. Miller and Mr. Hibert for their exemplary communication with the community and the board. Each week Dr. Mr. Miller sends the board details of what is happening in each of our schools district needs and accomplishments. Mr. Hubert sends a weekly newsletter to all district stakeholders. It's a way for all of us to be on the same page. Our collective goals are to strive for excellence and
065always look for ways to improve. To quote Mr. Hibbert from last week. Uh we seek to better our organization and its practices ultimately to benefit three critical areas: student learning, teacher skill and practice, and the district's guaranteed curriculum. The board acknowledges that change can be challenging. Robin Chararma quotes, "All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and glorious in the end." I'd like to thank everyone um from the district stakeholders, the teachers, the support staff, the admins um you know the central office and and the board members who are all working together um with our common goal um in the journey for the benefit of Oxford students. So thank you and that's all I have to say. You can clap for me Steve. Thank you. Um okay, where are we next? subcommittees. Okay.
066Joe, facilities. Um, just was wondering how what we end up doing with the school, the high school, uh, the pool, the pack that we're But the ventilation was repairs. Um the danger is when it does break completely and we're going to repair the overall cost to replace that unit is upwards of $150,000. So, it's not something we're just going to put out of the operating budget. That's going to have to go back and request some capital emergency repairs if that's the case. And it actually was a type of um damage that was resulted in um chemical smells up to the nurse's office and the passenger nurse's office and had that continued permitting to other parts of the building. Um but in terms of the overall repair of the high school, um there's also a uh
067ventilation, heating, cooling issue taking place upstairs and science classrooms. They're opening the doors and fans because there is no ventilation to those classrooms right now. So the overall building outside of the muscle being school is significant concerns into the up that building and that how long it's going to take before we have digges in nature to the building. Can we add any of that to the discussion with Mr. Temple that you're having next week about the HBAC information? I think they should at least be informed of what's going on about it. I mean, to me, my opinion, I mean, obviously that's a capital project, but you know, so are the other projects that are going on right now, you know, and it all revolves around HVAC. So, if there's grant money [Music] size. [Music] I
068just wanted to point out that these uh items at the high school were put into the capital plan that we had put together for the town. Uh so the capital HVAC plan included the elementary school picker farms uh prepares for the high school route and all the rooftop hack units over time. So, um it's it's a known issue and a big concern is uh these units are out of um their lifetime and that but when we when we do some repairs people kind of I mean they smile at us and we'll say we'll do this but we can't guarantee that this is going to last for week and so we have to do it because they don't it's a half million dollar piece so we don't have to anything else for facility um dev curriculum.
069So, we had our last curriculum meeting on the 28th despite my best effort to get to the hour. Maybe we tried um a couple of things that we talked about. We went into detail about the new social studies textbooks. I mean, we kind of tabled that until we get to some of the the information from K5 um before we decided on whether or not we were going to bring textbooks back to the board. Um we also talked about the um source sources used book list workbooks etc. We talked about the new health curriculum updates um that was in K12 I believe um and the frameworks that the states provided and how we are going to um create our own curriculum based on some of the information the frameworks but we're certainly going to um be
070cautious of some of the areas and that situation we got job descriptions from the coaches the interventionists and the SRBI time. Um, we had a CP, which is the community exploration program. The curriculum, um, and we were disappointed. Um, it's an area that we really need to, um, work on and get a curriculum in place for those students that are in the program. I'm hoping that we'll have something with that um, sooner rather than later. Um, we talked about the curriculum framework selections. We talked about responsibilities and plans for summer work. We also talked about the middle school and the high school schedules. And um, we did talk briefly about the curriculum for the approved courses that we the board recently did. Um, until they know that some of the classes are going to run,
071there's not a curriculum written for them. So, if we run the class, then we'll have to approve curriculum for those classes. And did they say when, Robert? Do you know what? I know that kids are signing up for classes, but we're supposed to know by our meeting. By our meeting. Okay. May 25th or something. We have two dates in May. 25th. We had one earlier in May, too. Oh, because we wanted [Music] this Thursday, but focus on that necessarily the textbooks, you know, trying to think the second meeting. So, okay. 25th was uh health news events website curriculum frameworks. [Music] All right. So, we have a meeting this Thursday. Yeah. Technology. Okay. We'll talk. And that's it. If anybody has any questions or anybody to add anything. No, I just want to tell Deb what
072a great job she's doing. You know, I I kind of I kind of plucked her from from finance and um you know, it it's it's not easy, but you know, you you do your homework. You know what you're talking about and um and you're really moving the committee along. So, thank thank you. Thanks, Dad. Um who's next? Uh Nicole policy. Well, you also plucked Debbie from policy and we miss you dearly. I miss you. But as you all may recall the As you may all recall, we had a very spirited meeting last time about our first read on two policies. The first being transportation policy. And after that very thorough first read, we took um into consideration some of the language that was discussed and made changes accordingly. So, as you remember on the transportation
073policy, the issue was some of our youngest students being um let off the bus and not having an adult or a caregiver to receive them. So, we've changed the language and we've stated now that students in grades preK through 2 must have a caregiver to get him or her off the bus. Otherwise, the students are brought back to the school. Uh we've also changed the language regarding what um would be the maximum that a student would be expected to walk even though we don't have a lot of walkers in in district but we've outlined what the expectations are. So grades K through two, the most they would walk would be a half a mile. Grades three through five, a half a mile. Grades six through eight, 3/4 of a mile. And grades 9 through 12,
074one mile. I think that covers all the changes that we did for the transportation. Rob, is there anything else? It does. I'm just reference in the policy recommendations in red. And for those of my I get a strike through what the original text was so you could see it when we go live. I will obviously just put the new information in there. I think the structure. So if there aren't any other questions or comments, this is a second read. I think we could vote on this tonight. Sure. You want to make the motion? Um, sure. Motion just motion to approve. Okay. Motion to approve the transportation policy in series 5000 um as set forth in our packet. Second. All those in favor? Oh, any discussion? Sorry. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I oppose
075abstain. Motion carries. Okay. And then the second policy that we're taking up for tonight, which is also a second read, is the use of private technology devices by students. Um, there was some concern about some language in there and we took that uh concern to the board attorney and I I'll leave it to Rob to do we discuss it during executive session or can we talk about it in the open? Okay. So essentially no matter certain procedure and the board policy act two policies in place in our manual that refers to the ability to tax into student property this policy as well as a surface seizure policy. So any strict ability to give them to do that policies strongly and easy goal to make any changes from a safety security standpoint um need to do
076surfacing problem and any delay in that could result in potential um safety hazards to other individual adults in the building. So it's pretty standard for that to be there for that that also said that this is constitutionally protected. This was debated and brought to court in Jersey versus CCO. There's a court case that um that decided that school mentors have other reasonable um justification the ability to get a reasonable search. It does not mean it's a broad search. If they can't go, if there's a concern that the student is searching uh for bonds, whether they're internet um browser as a user can't take that I can certainly search whether their text messages, whether they're email, whether they're photos, everything else. My search needs to be reasonable and finally turned in to where my concern is.
077That's what big court case now provides. That's what the the regional nature threshold and the police. So if we were to say we're not police and we call the police they need to have us. We need a higher threshold in order to locate that. So the administrator notational would not be under the same circumstances. She said if we were to remove those language take away from there would still have the right to be under constitution law. So if we take take that language out the current policy was not there and would still have the right to search and film any of the property of the student. The only way to access but language that strictly prohibits administrator from searching in these things. So that actually insert language that prohibits an indicator from from being active
078in two different places. Once again, she strongly uh discourages you. What she does encourage you to do is to have a screen. So actually certain language instant policy that requires the superintendent to provide legal training to the administrative team on how to do service at a retreat in August. We're done in July sometime during December to be as a refresher on what that service requirement is. She said that to be around and could introduce several different components of life in any way. So I put that recommendation in this policy that that holds the superhuman accountable to make sure that the imitator or creating what the searches are have to do with the right uh scope. I also insert in here a protection. One of the concerns that we had in the last meeting was not
079necessarily trusting everyone on the team to do it appropriately if they're trained. So the the require have a second as a witness in any so it helps us protect us as well. There's no accusations that the meditator get X Y and Z. You've got another person there that is doing that with them is there to provide that to them. So I added that there um that's what's um in the recommendation. [Music] Thank you. So do you want to make sure see if there's any discussion? So at this time I make a motion to approve the language in series 5000 use of private technology devices by students. Is there a second? Second Steve. Um so uh discussion on the changes that we were just informed of. [Music] Um my one of my concerns is that kids
080don't always parents do and I also am concerned about the definition of reason of search who defines that and is it defined in that Supreme Court case? I did not see just some concerns. Um well I think we also kind of you know kind of a backhanded reassurance that um after training you know and after understanding what is you know you're right reasonable is very broad um but if a um administrator um uses poor judgment and then it's it's brought to the attention of their supervisor that they used poor judgment and this was not considered considered reasonable then you know I would assume that there would be consequences you know to to the I mean you know the damage damage of whatever possible damage could be is already done but you know I think that
081um you know we have to just go with the assumption that you know our administrators are professional educators and they should understand um the parameters of what is reasonable and then in addition to getting you training from from the law the law firm or the lawyers um hopefully would solidify that for them. I I agree with the um with the the language change um you know and I think I I like especially the fact that um we're going to provide and I think we probably other areas that we need to provide um some training. Mike, did you want to say something? I I would agree with Debbie in that I never I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with these wordings especially since a parent would be present and what is the consequence to a
082administrator who overreaches they get a letter in the in their file like my bad sorry about that you know you have a lot of power in schools and most of the technology is school owned you have full control over that but if if you it's misbehaving on a cell phone or an Xbox. You can have the kid bring in an Xbox so you can forensically evaluate the chats that are happening. It's it's just where to me it's the line is very hard to draw in the sand and there's really no true consequence to overreaching and it open I feel how you know I did not read the court case. I did not read the findings or the evidence or the situation and every situation's different. Um, but to have an overarching just across the board
083green light, I'm just I'm never going to be comfortable with that. Can we I mean, I agree with some of the points, but I don't I don't think this covers a concern or maybe I'm wrong. Covers concern and administrator says, "I want you to take something from your home and bring it into the school." I was thinking this has to do with we got an alert. We have a potential bomb threat. It's on the kids right now in school during school hours. Correct. Look at it all. Not like, "Oh, Mr. Kosa, please bring in your Xbox." I don't think that's in scope. This is that goes the police. They're they're out the loop on that one. We would not ask the student to bring a device to this. Uh it would be the same thing.
084If you thought like a student had a bomb or or guns in their car in parking lot is reasonable concern then we have the ability to do that in search and that's the intent of it. We get back to the other point is do we have people are skilled enough and that's where the training comes in but you know I work in a regulated environment and I sign my life away every year to a bunch about six different policies and if I violate that policy I will be terminated. There should be a sign off on what are these things that are highly concerning saying you there's a policy in place you can with something serious like search and seizure or look at looking at people's phones you should sign off on a paper says I
085acknowledge that I went through the training I acknowledge my duties and what search what a reasonable search is and you put now that's the first line in the sand to me it's like you're on the hook and the violation of board policy um can lead up to termination of employment it's grass termination somebody egregiously violates board policy and we have terminated staff members and suspending staff members for violating board policy that that's why those policies are in place. So if we had somebody that does that something that that we'd be able to to suspend them for and that would be our responsibility to do so. My other concern is to roll out this process to parents and students because um you know everybody gets their little handbook at the beginning of the school year and
086I don't know that everybody reads it. So, how are we how would we roll any of these this policy and the transportation policy out to our families? Because as a as a parent, I think they would want to know that that we're making these significant changes and there's that possibility. Um, I just think that it's important if we are going to change it that we certainly have um it well known to parents and students and, you know, have them sign off on the the handbooks. It's not usually done, but there's less chance of anybody saying, "Well, I didn't know that. Johnny didn't tell me that. That was everything that he was going to have happen." So, students are supposed to be signs. It's a process that's not really taken to be there for the summer.
087Uh, which is about collect. goal is to provide that that digital sign off that currents can go and that's not on the handheld and chargers communications for example you can put pop-up windows that says okay these are the important updates you need to read before you've been able to log in to the system communications back to school information from the principal it's the opening letter from the district and it's a message be sent out in various district and schoolbased communications these are the policies same thing you Therefore, make changes to any policy. It's not just parents that need staff as well. We need to be anytime we make changes, we need to notify that this is what the policy is that's in place because people this is how we operate. We can't just set it
088here and not let people know that we need to enforce it into bypass. That's our responsibility um as district administrators is to then implement if our implementation is communication in terms of this is not new. It's been in the policy for a long time. It's just at this point to the parents there. Yeah, that that's what I was going to say. I I this is not a it's not a new policy if I remember correctly. It's just the the wording is slightly different from when we transferred um our policies over to the shipment and Goodwin policies because you know I I do believe that you know there was always part of the policy that um you know admin had the um uh you know the ability to like I said search lockers, search backpacks, you
089know, search phones within reasonable and and again you heard that um You know, I would just, you know, you talk about air on the side of caution. Um I would hate to to um you know, tie the hands of administrators um if they're second guessing, you know, is this reasonable? I mean, if there, you know, I mean, if there is something that is going to be a danger to someone, that's a reasonable reason to look. said, you know, I mean, if it's if it's something other than that, then then maybe they need to get get some, you know, guidance on it because it's not that immediate if it's an inappropriate picture or if it's something. But, you know, when it comes to safety and it when it comes to um the safety of the students
090or or the you know, between each other and between adults, then you know, I think that everyone would understand that that level of urgency. And I think we have search and seizure policy. I don't know that we ever had anything specific on technology. We had bring your own device policy, but we didn't have anything as detailed like this policy now. Okay. Yeah, maybe it was just that, you know, phones were in the in the realm of devices or in the realm of, you know, bringing something to school whether, you know, I mean, even if it's a notebook where you had a you know, a list that was inappropriate. Um, you know, the, you know, that's the student's personal property and and I would venture to say that the admin has the right to look through
091that notebook if they have, you know, been told that there's something inappropriate in that book. So, Even if there was a specific case before the Supreme Court case would have allowed him to even matter the 1995 Supreme Court case. Yeah, it's not anything recent. So right, I think the key to this is training and understanding the liabilities that come with that. And I think and that ties to the second thing is when we do change policy or roll out policy, do they have to acknowledge that they received it and understand it? I mean, how how do we get to the to the rank and file? Like is there something that they get in Can they steal policy books? also step that most districts miss having staff sign off on it. One of the things that
092I've done quite successfully in the past is start out every school year requiring staff members to sign that they have either read up um and in some cases I had them watch it a 3 to 5 minute video on video and then obviously attention to your work and get your email and you actually come back to the office and their email you sit down and office watch all the videos and sign. So there are things that you can put into place staff to hold it accountable that they have agreed yes by taking time to read through and know what the policies are and you can have staff as well you know and there's accountability there's awareness right so like are you you know we we my job we use a program called power DMS so
093when a new directive or a new procedure comes out or a new policy it gets pushed out to us we have to view it and then we have to e-sign it so and and they know that we signed off on it. So that that's all I was asking. One of the things that's being manual is seem to be that employees are going to say, "Yes, I've reviewed the policies, but it's the type of thing policies that require on a manual basis that that that staff get reminded." You know, I think that that Gali you get caught up in that every year where we do some breaks. I think bowling is is critical. You know, we take a look at the student surveys and the students who have classes in schools and we make sure teachers
094are aware of what reporting looks like and what behaviors to watch and what procedures and policies are in place or our policy. So, I think it's something that we can't just instruct and provide information to one sign in terms of of these types of things. just an annual reminder to back this once a year. We need to remind it to work this into our communication. But when you said e signature, you're saying going to the parents for e signature? No, just for you sign on the computer. Okay. So listen, the other part of the equation is that the parent has the book. That's a whole Yeah, that's a whole I didn't that's a whole other I don't think you can do these things without the parent saying yes I know you know otherwise it's you
095open yourself up to everything and I don't really understand the the whole cell phone thing you know I read in the paper you're going to put them in pouches and seal them and send them into space and get them back I still didn't get my baseball cards back from eighth grade so anyway the thing is the parents have to really that's got to be like a flashing in if it's email and a thing or a oldfashioned registered letter because this is so important because this ties into you know I don't want any child hurt you know somebody already talking been sending messages that he's going to do something and gosh we should have known that type of thing but I also know I don't want anybody touching anyone's stuff at all you know and I
096don't want anything touching my kids bill. So, but if I sign it, then I agree to. So, I think that's got to be part of the procedure is that the parents got to and we're talking better than parents. We typically don't report it certain form in September and then the officer gave this to the students sign off on it and then they would be contacting the parents that they parents have signed that they handle their parents if they're needed. Um it's it's something that should be done on a basis. It needs to be done and the student handbook themselves anytime that you have policies that change there's specific policies that by law need to be inside the student handbook. So that's a type of thing is for us every year anyway. Yeah. If I remember
097most handbooks are signed on the back like you need to get a network you know and it is signed each individual major like that and you know the guy who want your job is to sign it you know I think something as important as this that seems to lead to other things of you know putting it in a bag and taking it you know this is very important to be clearly done one time so the parent I think most parents all the time but I think necessary for us and for and I think that's a good point before a lot of parents just don't sign it but how do we then bring to what these are the major points that we need to know about so the footnotes behind the signature itself kind of bring
098that to the surface and the new major points that we have policies that we need to okay any further discussion so we have a motion on the table to approve this policy. We had discussion. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor I uh oppose. I one, two, three. Um abstain. So Vic, Mike, and Deb and abstain. Um now we need um we need to hear Shel's vote, I think. Right. One, two, three, four, three. I think we're okay for for just a majority of here, but Shel's here too. So, Shelly vote. Yes. Yes. Um I Okay. So, uh motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Um Mike, finance, please. Um we don't have a a subcommittee meeting scheduled. We're looking at next week's dates. Um try to figure that out. Um from my understanding, there's the
099uh vote that's coming up. I believe it's this week, this Thursday. Um please get out and vote. Um this is very important to get our budget passed at the moment. We're still going to be 205,000 short of what our proposed budget is. Um once that's approved and we know what number we're dealing with as well as the insurance where we put it out to rebid because the state uh number is so high. Um once we have that information back hopefully by next week we can meet and start putting together a short long list to present to the board for you know review as we look at how we can trim the budget so we can stay a balanced budget. So, the referendum is Tuesday and probably Oh, Thursday. I'm sorry. I'm looking at Thursday. Thursday
100the 12th. Um, and it's at Quaker Farms School and probably polls open at 8 maybe or 6 or that early 6:00 to 8. So, um, please get there. Okay. Thank you, Mike. Uh, any liaison reports? PTO PTO plant sale is the 19th I believe and the 20th 19th and 20th I believe. So they're looking for volunteers so they have some free time. Um they're in what? All the schools are in in Quaker Farms and middle school Oxford Great Oak Elementary I believe is evening event. I don't I don't know what happened. So if anybody's interested they can do some help and PTO meeting I believe is also Tuesday evening next Tuesday I believe supposed to be the 19th and they moved because also the PTO great um branded book fair at the middle school um
101a few weeks ago and that was done as a by one authors to promote skating books and it was that the first time I grew the rotations at school ever since the students came to provide library instruction over the world's house in the library very thank you PTO for working along with us here nice to see us back to our regular I was just going to say the PT really great having parents being able to come in help their kids pick out books and be involved in the process so it felt a little bit more normal did a phenomenal um lunch for the teachers at the German schools and at school last Tuesday they did a pizza truck and also a lot several parents sit out there teachers all three whoever they get lunch food
102truck was it's a pizza food truck good um and just as far as fundraisers um I believe there's a um clothing drive bin that's Um, it's on the property of Oxford High School. And I think you said that was a class fundraiser. junior class fundraiser. So, is that is that still there or how long is it going to be there? Okay. But we still have I mean any fundraisers whether it's you know the class fundraiser or booster club has to go through you know are are people now getting used to that format for the most part. Yes. So um the schools all um great for that law from the district that before it gets great. Um yeah. Um I know um the fundraisers I know you guys are both relatively new to what has happened
103in Oxford in the past. Um so can we just be really careful of um yeah not stepping on other people's fundraisers. Um I'm sure everybody knows what I'm talking about, but I just would really like us to be cautious and there's a lot of fundraisers that certain groups have done for years. Um, so I am not I'm just saying it's not just that. There's been a couple other ones that that the town is doing, people in town are doing that our district groups have done in the past. So I mean, we can't control that. No, but I'm just saying, you know, it's bad enough to compete with the town, right? And compete competing with each other. It's a uh one of the biggest challenges we have here to keep everybody happy and what we're learning
104as we go through which makes sense [Music] with the history. [Music] So, we're trying our best to, you know, support the kids and the staff, but also understand that, you know, there's only so so much money families are able to give and they don't want to be taking away from one group because hey, this is credit, right? So, we're trying to be respectful of the groups that [Music] go ahead. Where did the clothes go to? Um I I think they turn them in and then get some kind of monetary turn them in because I've been you know for years trying to find out where the jackets go with that. You know that's different. That I think those goes to homeless shelters and those go to um you know like Spooner House and everything. Those go
105to physical places. This is an organization that then takes them and pays you for them. Let's see if they get paid by the pound. Somebody always going some I have a lot of shirts and jacket. This is personal, you know. Since one arm is shorter than the other, you think someone would be offended to get a jacket? No, I think they'd be just fine with it. Is it okay? I think it would be very special. Okay. Just throw it in there, Vic. Okay. From the mint. It's in there. No, it's highlighted in it, too. So without further ado, I make a motion at 8:17 to adjourn this meeting. Second. All right. Meeting adjourned. [Music]