2021-10-12 Board of Education Special Meeting

001United [Music] States for all [Music] Steve Miller Joseph and Oh, and Nicole. Yes. McGrath. Um, yeah, please. Motion to approve September 28, 2021 special board of education minute meeting minutes. Sorry. I maybe I didn't vote on the 31st correct the accept was a little bit. So just make that change. Yeah. and any further discussion and that was seconded [Music] by [Music] September and when the when there was a vote to correct the minutes um when Stephanie Miller was the chair but she was also absent Um there was a vote to correct that and I didn't vote by Oh, I see what you said. Yeah, I mean it may not matter but um any further changes on the September 28th meeting. Um all those in favor oppose abstain. Motion carries. Now, Rob, do you see me

002trying to get to the Zoom meeting? Yes, you are. Um, audience of citizens, anyone like to speak? Wonderful. Uh, any board correspondents? Okay. And information items. So, we are thrilled to have some art representation. So, Miss Aldridge and your students, would you like to come forward? And Dr. Miller is going to let me introduce. So, I feel it's very important that the board and the public have a a good good sense and a good understanding of what we do in the classroom. Last meeting had an opportunity to showcase students in science. And I think that we need to make this a part of our regular activities at the board level is to introduce student work at the beginning of each meeting and rotate across the schools and across the disciplines. And I know that in

003the past we've had an opportunity to have both of our meetings at high school and if you ever walk through the high school auditorium all these beautiful student artwork in display there we don't have that same experience at board of ed level and I would love to see a permanent display here at the board of our student work and rotating that work across the the various um months during the year. So I had a chance to talk to Pam and we thought tonight it would be a great idea to introduce that showcase student here talk a little bit about their work and have this as our kickstart student artwork at the board of level. We've got Michaela Wal and we've got Maxi Dylan both are beginning students both from part one digital broader art. I

004want to thank you both for being here tonight. And I'd like to give the two good an opportunity. There's a microphone over there. Talk a little bit about your art, what's there, and if you want to just take a few minutes to go over and see if we can continue. Sure. And I'd love at some point before. Yeah. So, welcome. Um, my name is Michael. I'm a senior at Austin High School. And throughout my four years or going on four years here, I've definitely learned a lot from the art program because it has like literally so much to offer. Um whether it be like my confidence level in general growing up or just uh my skill as an artist, I've learned so much here. Um because I think it's mainly because of also the environment

005that we learn in. It's like a very accepting place. There's not really like a right or wrong thing to do and I think that gives kids a lot of creativity to do like what they want and try out new things. Um, and Miss Alders and Miss Kimble are always like trying to get us to do and use new mediums and be different forms of art. And I've tried a lot of things that I would never have tried here if it wasn't for like drawing um a home drawing with a fourhand ink which is very difficult but I learned a lot from her and I think in general we learn like every single day I'm learning something new here. Um, if it's not uh just that it's just um everyone's very said, um, I've taken a

006lot of the classes here and I've had just a really great experience learning and trying everything. Oh, yeah. I have the one in the top right hand corner up there. And right now I'm doing my art concentration for AP about my fear. So, it kind of also helps like, you know, get some of the stress out from my peers and stuff like that and kind of express that more, which is really nice. definitely see that in that nice job. Thank you. Um I'm also a senior at Oxford High. I have taken more than enough art classes which I still have more to go which I'm taking this year. But um overall honestly our art program is one of the best things that I could have gotten involved in. And it's taught me so much. It's

007taught me life skills as well, not just something through art. It's helped me express like who I am. I have my picture over there that I took with my camera digital photography for one of the contests. And I mean, I didn't know that the camera had a manual mode until this year, which I've been using my camera for how long? Can I picture with this of the window? I can't really It's on the side. I'll look when I get up. Um, but I've taken art one, art two. I've had both teachers. Miss A had I've known Miss A for a while because she used to teach us when we were younger as well. And I mean I think she could agree the growth that we all have from freshman to now. It's incredible. And watching

008everybody work in such a welcoming environment and like in honors and AP we're all together and at the end of the day we're all kind of just sitting there talking. You know, it's a very welcoming environment. There's a lot of different people in our art program as well. I mean, I look like I should be in a construction class, but I'm not. I'm in art. Very different. Very a lot of different people. I've met people that I don't think I'd ever would have talked to if it weren't for art. And I just think that there's so much to expand on so much already. Wonderful. And Miss A follows you through your life. Just so that you know, she teaches you and then she follows you. And so I love walking through our classes and the

009creativity and the the type of work that students are doing at such kind of level that they are really getting through experiences really demonstrate their their skills. So, thank you for that opportunity. I have a question for you. Oh, yeah. Um, and and I know that, you know, sometimes it gets lost, but if you can just kind of be on us and let us know like, hey, this is going on. You know, I'm I'm changing the pictures up there. walk through because a good point is that our meetings are now here so we don't have the luxury of going through the high school but I know that I'll make a point to go because I'd love to see the kids work and you know or or if you have you know some kind of contest

010or something that's great going on I mean that's stuff that I love to hear. Okay. Yeah, that that's a definite and and also we're gonna hopefully we can't do districtwide art show yet because of right um but we are going to do a a high schoolbased one. We're not going to let that slide away. We did do a senior art show last year and we wanted to definitely do the districtwide ones in well not the district wide but the occupied in March again during student art. Um, one thing I can say about art, it is behind the scenes when a student comes in my room the first day an art one because that that's one of the most boringest classes that we can teach because we've been teaching art for so long. However, Miss Campbell

011and I brainstorm and come up with different projects all the time only because we can't handle the same thing over and over again. The biggest question I ask my students is how many people are here because you have to take because our is what and you get the hands you get five and all I ask them is to please give me a chance by the end of first quarter to have you want to come into my room and already I'm having these kids that raise their hand at the beginning of the year saying you you know, I'm starting to like art again, you know, and that makes us feel what what we need to feel. And also, they didn't mention it, but we have art club that Miss Campbell and I put on every other

012week because hope club comes in between. But we have we're actually be able to do sculpture and things like that after school because we don't have enough time in the day after school, you know, and they all hang out, they talk, and we have again freshman through seniors doing it. And I think that that's going unseen in our school system. And also, you know, last year I had a senior, Miss Campbell and I were conferencing with her about her work and she had gone to ECA for the first three years and she was back to our school in a senior year and she actually said to us, "We have given her more instruction than she received at UC." That's okay. So that that's just something to think about because stuff like that motivates us as

013teachers and it just keeps us going to to come up even slam the kids with more creative opportunities in our school. Yeah. And I'm sorry. So I I I mean I think that those are the kind of comments that you don't hear every day and when a student says it to a lot better than the dollar sign. It's a lot of you. It really is when you have a student that really appreciates what they're what they're doing. Yeah. And and just so that you know, I mean, I think you've heard it from this board before, but well, I'll reinforce it. I mean, the reason we encourage and supported the AP class is because we want to keep our kids in our school. We want the our most talented to stay in the school in art,

014in music, in writing, in, you know, sports or whatever. So, I mean, that just makes us a stronger school and a stronger district. So, that's we're with you on that. Yes. I I would love to see that to keep more kids. Let's work together. [Music] But thank you. Thank you so much. So, [Music] This was one of my friends. [Music] doesn't know [Music] Can I [Music] Anthony. [Music] Thank you. Nice job. [Music] Very good. Yeah, [Music] What am I using? [Music] March. [Music] Okay, we're back. Oh, Shelly. [Music] So, our next item is the seafood. All right, this Audrey show's over. Bye, girls. Thank you. Thank you again. Um, so and uh our newly appointed principal, Sylvia Le. Congratulations. [Applause] So you are going to present the plan and um it just help if that

015works or if you want to stand as long as we can hear you and kind of like the people behind me. They're not Do you want me to come up here? Wherever you're most comfortable. You can stay seated. So just project pretty well too. Yeah. Being in a middle school now I can project. So just a reminder to the board and to the audience the school improvement plans are designed as a oneyear plan where we want to go at the end of the year we have presented to the board of the full year plan and Mlette and Mr. are here tonight to present to their you thank you. So, you know, I want to preface this with this is my third week as the middle school principal. So, I have been um spending a lot

016of time learning and in that time have written this school improvement plan that I think will have some adjustments as I go along. But, you know, middle school years are a real there are a big time um of huge change and development for kids. So, at parents at parents open house, I shared a cartoon with parents about the gradual release of their children from caterpillars in sixth grade to butterflies in eighth grade. And then it really happens in the blink of an eye. And I think, you know, as I walk the hallways, that's what I'm seeing. I'm seeing from size to maturity to just emotional growth um from the sixth to the eighth grade. There's there's a lot happening to them in in the middle school year. So, you know, like I said, this is

017my third week at the middle school. And at the heart of my work has been the following. So, since I walked in the door, it's been about building relationships with staff, students, and families. You know, I started with a family letter to staff and to families to let them know a little bit about who I am, my family, what I believe. Um, I got some great responses from parents, from staff. I've been doing one-on- ones with staff, small group meetings, and um I've been I've been in with the kids a lot of so much to the point on the third day the kids are like, "We know you're Mrs. Ola. We know you're the new principal." Like, so they're that we've established that. So, you know, building relationships has been really key for me. The

018second thing is building a learning community that focuses on teaching and learning. So, I've been in a ton of classes. I watched a really great Socratic seminar about would you rather be um from Athens or Sparta and the kids use such great precise language. They were able to give examples of why they were able to say things like I agree with soand so, but to add on to that or I disagree because and it was respectful dialogue where the teacher facilitated. Um you know, I've been to athletic games. I've been in the cafeteria a lot. It just trying to build this learning uh community and the PD sessions with staff have we just had one on Friday where we are working with building this learning community and at the same time we're looking to celebrate

019success and to focus on their social emotional learning. So for the the year coming up, here are the focuses. The you've heard this, everybody's focusing on the high impact instructional strategies, right? The six of them. We've paired them into pairs of two in our building. So we're looking at learning targets and success criteria together. And I'm happy to say like in my in in the daily walkthroughs, everybody's got a learning target up on the board. And if I'm in a class, like I was in a math class the other day and I was looking at the learning target. I was talking to the kids and I was like, and then afterwards a teacher emailed me right away, I'm sorry, my learning target didn't match, you know, blah blah blah. Here's what it really was supposed

020to be, but right away that um that happened. So next is focusing on success criteria. So the kids know what the target is, but now what do they have to do to be successful? Then we'll go to classroom discussion and hot questions and we'll go to feedback and self assessment. So also at the same time is student growth and achievement. You know there's a lot of room for student growth and achievement obviously and we're going to focus on some schoolwide expectations for behavior first. Like we're we're doing that this week. We're looking at um bringing back the hero acronym that was there before that talks about how we need to behave in classroom settings and in the bathroom and in the cafeteria because kids have been away from a lot of these social norms and

021in middle school. You know, there's a graphic that talks about the last so sort of normal year they've had was if they're in sixth grade, it was fourth grade. So that there's a lot there and and I know they know how to do it. they just need to remember how to do it. So, we're going to do a lot around that and their social emotional needs. And we're going to use I Ready to the fullest. We are in makeups with I Ready right now. So, um we administered it all last week. This week we're doing makeups and then and we're digging into the diagnostic data to see what it's telling us. And we're going to um really use the new math program to the fullest potential. I said, you know, it's it's really paramount to

022be in classrooms and one of the goals this year is really about the feedback about teaching and learning. Every time I pop in, I give either um oral feedback to the teacher or I send a quick email, send a quick note, and then even for the more formalized teacher evaluation process. Right now, they're all doing their goal setting meetings. And then the last thing is it is middle school and we need to celebrate successes and we need to grow our community spirit. So we on Friday we brainstormed a lot of ways that we could bring bring the spirit um to the middle school with either spirit days or you know um just safe activities that can bring our learning community together. So those are the focus areas. Um I don't know if you have any

023questions for me. I feel like if we and I have to say Ellen has been amazing amazing to walk in three weeks ago and she's just been such a great um like just partner in all of this work. So I can't say it's me doing we are doing this work um together. So, you know, the result, I hope, is is is academic growth um and growth in a lot of other ways for these students. So, I don't know if you have any questions about any of the areas on the plan about so far or um as we've already read further along. Um do you want to hold questions on other parts? I wasn't sure if you were No, you know, that's my overview. I wasn't going to read it verbatim to you because I figured

024you already read it. So if you have questions on specific areas, we can talk about that. Sure. Um so you know over here um so uh this last spring of course with co and everything was difficult to really measure um progress in a meaningful way with all the difficulties and so forth. Um but the year before you and Jason both um did these wonderful presentations with um uh you know I think the board had asked for but I think you already had it ready where instead of percent students at grade level um on for each grade level that were at goal their goal and all of that you guys actually broke it out by the generic um scale scores so that um you in hard numbers to measure growth during really hard times. We all

025understand that. Um and I think it would be important to um do that again. I think there were some disagregating scores. I'm sure you still have it, but I saved it because I thought it was terrific. Um you know, for some reason some driving some I wouldn't delight to send to you, but I think I think I may have shared it with Rob. I don't know if I shared um Deon Stephanie I just wanted to you know bring it up first before you know I shared in the general way but it was a very very good hard numbers um you know with some disagregating that really you know showed you know like I'm going to make up a number say the average in ELA was 265 I'm just making that number so Then last year

026again we've been really measured because of all the difficulties but perhaps this year um knowing again it may be another tough year. It would be very important I think for um that same kind of presentation and um contain even within your school or however you guys decide to do it. But I think that was important Anyone else? No, I I was just gonna say that um I love the I love the um the goals uh you know the baseline mid year and then your um final goal and at this point you know you just gather the information. So um again mid year would love to hear how these are going and what they need to be adjusted. just like anything. I mean, a goal isn't aspiration. I mean, it's not it's not if you don't

027hit it and then if you don't hit it, there's got to be a reason why what you're doing to adjust. So, we totally do understand that. But, um, you know, I just think as a board, we're anxious to see concrete data that our kids are growing because they've lost, you know, and and who knows what's going to happen. I mean, maybe tests won't be able to happen. I mean, I hope that we can we can get this data so that we can really see where the kids are are um struggling and deal with that and see where their successes are and celebrate that. But I just think everyone's just so concerned at what they've lost, you know, and then I know you guys are on the front line of that. So, thank you. Um and

028then anytime you can give us and and you know, you don't have to wait. I mean, if you if you see something that is like, "Wow, this is so great." You know, either shoot us an email or shoot it to Dr. Miller and he can include it in his report. I mean, it's not something that has to be this formal, but I just know that as a board that's just something that our focus is this year that we just want to hear about that. Anybody else have any questions? Sure. Just generally speaking, a lot like priority one time instructional strategies. How do you qualitative? How do you implement a measure like how the teacher do? They're not dropping in a room one day, but then is that how you consistency and delivery? Well, I think

029with something like I talked about learning targets. So we establish the goal and Anthony actually had the faculty meeting prior to me becoming principal where he went over learning targets and the expectation and now the follow through with us is every time we walk in a room we expect to see them and we're in rooms every day and so you establish that and like I had given the example about that now the expectation they know the expectation if it isn't met they they reflect on very quickly. So something like that, it is actually pretty easy to be qualitative in in that. Now, next with success criteria, it's going to be a little bit trickier because it'll be like how are the students going to show what they know? And so we're going to have to

030through the walkthroughs, but through formal evaluation process do that too. But it is a priority to be in classrooms and that's the best way I'm going to know this work is happening, right? And Ellen is going to know this work is happening. So that's probably going to be our biggest way. And the teachers are in tune to it, too. So like I said, when they're having classroom discussions, for instance, they're emailing me and saying they're and they're emailing Ellen. They're saying, "Oh, we're going to be doing this fishbowl. You should come by and see the kids discussing." So they know what the six are and they know the expectations and they want to they want us to see that they're doing it. They're implementing it. So that's going to be the best way for us

031to see at least those six high impact instructions. How long assuming certain classes are doing it just naturally some don't how long is it you think it takes to get to a point of like certainty of execution all the time where it's it's in the fabric of the school. Yeah. How many years is it? That's a really good question because change the change process is not you know you have your what do they call them your pioneers who just right away implement right and then you have once the pioneers see I don't know what the technical term is but once they see the pioneers another group sees the pioneers do it change I don't know it's one of those gurus but once they see the pioneers the trailblazers then they attach on and it's that

032it's that really like 8020 20 and and then you usually have just then that 10% that you're bringing along. So I I think I subscribe pretty much to that and and in my years I've seen that that's how it works. Um so I'm hoping like you know the learning targets has not been it's 100%. Like every room has that. Now whether or not they're to the you know they're using them to the best of their ability that's what I have to keep seeing. So, I wish I could say I can wave my mind and they'll all be done month, but I that's not I love the fact that you're in the classroom and what you're sharing with us is what you're seeing. You know, what's up on the board, what you're seeing socratic dialogue and

033questioning and all of those things. So, that's great. I mean, I think I first met you many years ago at another middle school, so I know that you really know middle school well. So, thank you for sharing that. Questions for sure. Thank you so much, Silia. [Music] And I'm going to point you in my next album, but our soon to be appointed uh Oxford High School Principal Robin. Good evening everyone. Um I think I have something beat today. This is my first full bed. So and I'm still standing despite all the busing issues. We're good. Um but first I I wanted to certainly uh thank Dr. Miller uh Mr. Hibbert and Miss Pain for all her support. Um the school improvement plan that you're seeing is a collaborative effort I would say on on both

034of our parts uh in in putting this together. Um again those high yield instruction strategies are a focus for us in the high school and and Sylvia talked about that that pioneer group. I would say that our department chairs are um very well versed and um very solid instruction. So they set the tone not only in terms of um regular administration going into classrooms but their presence in the classroom is also helping to drive towards that 80%. Um so again I don't know that I can guarantee be a six-month situation or not. Um but we are moving in the right direction with that and there are certainly instructors that are um more consistent with that at at first. I think if you look at our school improvement plan, the one thing that kind of jumps

035out uh based on our baseline data is that student self- assessment. Um are they able during the course of a lesson to identify um their own learning? Are they able to figure out not just success criteria, but are they able to figure out how to assess how well they've absorbed the material in a given class? Um so that's the area that I think that we need to spend the most time on. um that and and obviously direct student feedback whenever possible. Um given our fluctuating schedule, I would say that those block periods are are a great opportunity for individual student feedback in terms of how they're performing in an individual course, individual unit um or what's being covered, you know, during the course of a week. So, I think we uh we're heading in the

036right direction in a number of those things. I think that you'll also see um we've aligned some of the Connecticut common four power standards as uh Miss Potter has coined them and and I think they're indicated in there as power attributes. They do very much mirror the big six that our district is focusing on um in in terms of first and foremost creating an environment in the classroom where kids are comfortable to take risks um and feel uh like their teacher is going to ensure uh that all students have an equal learning opportunity. So, um that's really a kind of the the first uh key issue for us is establishing that environment um for students so that they're comfortable, you know, kind of sticking their neck out and answering questions that they may or asking

037questions that they may not know the answer to um and participating in classes and and uh taking the obviously making the most of learning opportunity. Um, the other thing that I I think Mr. Le touched upon is is the amount of time that kids have been out of school. We ran 19 different schedules last year because of hybrid in, hybrid out, shortened days, and uh, deep cleaning days and everything else. So, what we're finding, I think, right now, is helping students with the stamina aspect of school. Um, it's nice if we have, you know, upper classmen that are coming in later, leaving early, and they have that privilege, but, you know, the further you go into a school year, I I think we start to see that stamina piece come in. Um, and for us,

038you know, is making sure that our kids are are comfortable so socially and emotionally and that we're we're working on Ruler. We're working also on the Castle 5 and implementing that because it's a little bit more friendly uh at the high school level. So, we're looking at different ways of connecting the kids and making sure that they're comfortable in a classroom and monitoring that. And I think our advisory program is another way that we're going to continue that work this year. Um, a couple of big things have have kind of gone on the PD front. Um, Miss Potter last day led a session for a couple of our faculty and we covered a number of different aspects from bullying to our attendance shifts. Um, in terms of remote learning, we have ads and kids on

039quarantine and uh, teachers have, you know, have the ability to provide access to students. Um, that will again become important as we start to lose, you know, bus drivers and kids struggling to come in. So, um, the other PD that I ran that I think many of you are aware of is the revamp of CAPS, um, this year, and again, I I'd like to thank Sylvia for her involvement in that prior to shifting over to middle school. Um, we've adopted a program called Skills 21. um that's used at a number of um a number of schools throughout the state and uh we have a liazison and actually a tech person that come out that are assigned to our district and help. Essentially what we've got is I think seven sections of seniors. So, um there

040are seven classes during the first semester where those kids are meeting with instructors um four times a week and we're working through the development of um the capstone project, a more traditional projects because we're in a day and age where we can't really do internships as we as we have in the past. Um and so through Skill 21 and and the support of the people in that organization, we've gotten to the point where kids are writing proposals and putting things together. Um, and at the end of all this, we're going to run a a similar evaluation process for our kids. They'll they'll earn a half credit for completion of of the skills 21 curriculum, but then they'll also be at a fair kind of environment where kids have last year kids presented their capstone projects

041virtually to two faculty members who had a rubric and then scored um that presentation for the second half of things. So, we've revamped that program. all of our seniors are involved in that. Um that's an ongoing obviously we're kind of building it as we fly it, you know, in year one. But um I the kids in terms of their buy in, they're right there. You know, I think that they prefer this as opposed to having to chase certain members of the committee to get things done. So that's been another big change for us. Um Sylvie also spoke about I Ready. We've completed I Ready, I believe, with all of our grade nine and 10 students. We do have uh English language arts labs and math labs available for remedial support. So we're using that concrete

042data to now prioritize kids that need to catch up in a hurry. Right? So we're identifying the the students with the biggest gaps. Um and through the school counseling team, we're actually plugging those kids into labs now for at least a semester and then re-evaluating. So we're using that new assessment tool. Um the best part about that is it it gives us very specific feedback kind of like the PSATs do, right? So you um the instructors at those labs have um a roadmap, know exactly what those kids are lacking um and can cater the program to them. So they're working with small numbers of kids, but again um given that they have the opportunity to really make up some ground. So so far so good with um using that new assessment tool. The other thing

043I think Sylvia pointed out was just the relationships and how impression she was in the three weeks, you know, with with um uh her students and her and her faculty. And I would say that in the time that I been at Oxford High School, it's really all been about relationships. Um as you can see from Miss Aldridge and her students that were attending this tonight, um our instructors live and breathe for our kids and uh they have some phenomenal relationships with kids that last well beyond high school. Um, and I think that that's a a credit to the leadership and obviously the board in uh the district. You've got a really committed group of people at the high school. Um, and they love the kids and the kids love them. So, it's a wonderful place

044for see if there's anything else I needed to touch upon right off the bat. Um, talked about that piece. Oh, finally. um Dr. McCain, Dr. Miller began um the work on the activities for graduate and you'll see some information in our plan about that. Um those were all the gatherings where parents, community members all sat down in the different schools and were asked the question, what does the ideal school look like? What's the ideal student what what student skills um attributes or or qualities can they demonstrate upon graduation? And that was done throughout the community. I'm sorry, where did you say that? Um, let me see if I can find it exactly. Attributes of graduate. So, y uh, Oxford High School priority 2. I think it's probably like fourth page in. All right. Thank you

045so much. So, through that process um, we identified um some some the vision of the graduate portrait of the graduate critical thinkers, collaborative learners, empowered learners, productive citizens and effective communicators. Those were the classifications that through all that data uh and the analysis from all of those sessions. Those were the things that stuck out and what uh the district built the vision around. Um I have a capstone session at the moment and I actually did the same activity with my capstone students to find out what they thought the ideal school would look like or should look like and what skills attributes they felt were important to them. And it was amazing to me because I had Sylvia's PowerPoint from the beginning of school and everything fell right into those different categories. It was almost like

046it was rigged. It their responses really fell into those classifications. Um so what we're doing in the capstone classes is as students do different um different projects through the program, they're also identifying their growth in those different areas. Our faculty has begun the process uh in a departmental fashion of looking at those different headings and defining what a critical thinker looks like in English, defining what a critical thinker looks like in science and really kind of boiling that down so that we can develop some way to evaluate students. The next step for us will then be to break our staff down into interdisiplinary teams to develop rubrics specifically for those so that we can start to really dig in with our kids and not just in 12th grade but across the board and then through

047throughout the district um to really help kids wrap their heads around those different attributes and what we're all hoping um that they graduate with. Right? Those are the expectations for them. So that's some of the work that's happening. um quite a bit and and what I would tell you is um obviously we have uh we have to look at Iring results, we have to look at PSAT results, SAT results and and try to get a hold of where we are based on the amount of time that we've missed. Um and then look at student growth from there. You'll see PSAT results in there. Um you'll see AP scores in there. I think that there's some more data to be broken out um potentially in terms of the number of kids that that break up those

048AP scores so you can kind of see are we talking about four kids are we talking about 40 taking an exam because I think that that's important. Um and then the other piece that we look at further is the students that are um recommended for those courses versus the students that that sometimes get waved into AP courses and how do they score different. So, I'd like to look at that a little bit uh more closely going forward. Again, College Board allows equal access for students, right? But I think that that's important when you start to look at specific data uh when it comes to AP scores that you can break it out a little bit and have, you know, a little deeper look at it. I just ask a question. When you say waved in,

049what what do you mean by that? Um meaning that when we go through the course registration process, students are recommended for specific courses. Um students may work with parents and or department chairs to go above that recommended course and push for an AP, right? And the College Board does encourage equal access for for AP courses. So you know our our our way of going through that is to identify the courses where um our our faculty think that students will be the most successful and if they choose to go above and beyond we're certainly willing to entertain that but at the same time we also want to say hey this is what's this is college course you need to be able to to handle that be prepared for that. Um, so breaking breaking that out can

050give us a little bit more data than just averages. As far as waiting, I mean is one of the reasons that parents try to do that. It is it u because say a C in an AP course is looks I don't know looks better or weighted um as a B or an A in an honors course. Is is that true or is that a balance or My background is in school counseling. Um what I would tell you is that Oxford High School doesn't weight grades. So there's um there is a kick there is a little bit of a kick for honors at AP, but we don't break it out um to the extreme that some other schools do. What ends up being a um a larger draw from the college admission standpoint is what courses

051does a high school offer and what what courses have had students taken and and had access to. So yes, there is something to be said for that. Um back in the day I would say listen if you can pull a be or better take a more challenging course. Right. Right. So that's kind of it. You can't go in there and but just taking it to put it on your resume is not going to help you if you get a D on it. Correct. Yeah. You pull the C's and the D's in an AP course, you you haven't done yourself any favors, right? You know, so and I think our counseling team is really good about, you know, kind of going through that process with them and and um certainly the department chairs weigh in where

052it's appropriate, but you know, in the end, we get some students that that take on that bigger challenge. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's the ones that may take four APs, you know, that that may be pushing. You know, I I always counsel. So, if you were going to push it for an AP in a given area, hopefully it's a a content area where you're um most comfortable. And sometimes colleges don't accept those AP courses, too, which makes it I mean, it's a great challenge intellectually for our students, but I don't know if there's a way to map what they think might be a potential college choice. So, That's the big thing. So, you look at the averages in those scores. Um, some schools will take a three to five. Majority will take a

053four or a five. They might not give you college credit for them. They may just offer you placement out of a prerequisite. So for the average high school student that really doesn't know where it is that they're going to go or what it is that they're going to study until they get towards the second half their junior year and senior year, despite all the stuff that you do with them, um there's no way that they can wrap their heads around an AP policy at that point. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. I'm still trying to wrap my head around a student self assessment. Is there an example of that? So, um I think that the easiest way to articulate is that it's student success criteria. If you ask a kid, a student entering the classroom, um

054how do you know if you'll if you've um been successful in a lesson, if you've met the objectives? That's that's one piece. but then being actually more reflective on the learning itself and and to what extent they've absorbed the lesson. That's the the self assessment piece. Um and that's difficult to monitor unless you're soliciting feedback, I think, from individual students. That's kind of where the catch 22 is with us. I still self assessing myself says I'm a city where where does my work right you have to demonstrate that you know a level I don't think it's that the kids and I don't I don't think that it's the kids are saying giving themselves grade I mean by self assessment they should be able to demonstrate that they understand whatever concept it is not that they're

055giving themselves work. So self assessment is kind of a a catch you know maybe not I don't know if it's the right or not is about self a lot of self assessment is about goal setting too. So if you're in a course and you want to set goals about how you want to perform in that course and what your grade is isn't reflective of what the goals that you've set. Then you set targets for yourself and you say and a lot of teachers do these self- assessment um like these self- assessment sheets and they'll say to kids okay so this is the grade that you got think about what work did you put in to get to where you are what are the steps you took and then students reflect on it they do a

056lot of metaccognitive thinking like thinking about your thinking so this is this is what I did this is how I prepared next time this is what I'll do so a lot of self assessment ment is about setting goals and then seeing if you reach the goals and if you don't reach the goals why haven't you done it and so it's a it's a skill that transfers into life too because a lot of our kids set goals and then they don't reach them and if they can't reach them why is it that they can't reach them and and it's a really great skill to teach kids because in life right and we see this all the time in society now kids are failing at different things and they don't know how to regroup and set goals

057and try again. And so we have to get them if we can get them to do that in middle school and then in high school it's a safe place to fail and then you can launch from the failure. So that's a lot about what self assessment because I know for the last two years we've been trying to really get in touch and have a feel the counselors and how they actually work with the students. a flow diagram of how many does a how many students does the con have you and and where do they fit into this process of self assessment you know is it I'm going to sit down with my science teacher blah blah blah and he's going to say well you know theory say and oh yeah we did better I'm looking

058at how where's the meat on this thing to actually get the students because it seems They don't really have just as you said they don't know to their junior or senior year possibly where they're going to go. And we talked all last year and the year before about starting at a much younger grade level to start to focus the kids into different channels that the const and provide. So I'm still looking for where's the concept within? How many students? How does she work with capston? What is that role of that? First, our our school counseling staff does a couple of different things. They they focus on the um obviously the academic development of all their students and and goal setting and working along career exploration as well. So, they they push in basically from freshman

059year on into different classes. In this year in particular, they will be pressing in to help students um with the organization of post-secary plans completing college applications, essays, those types of things. So, they do on a regular basis push into classes. Um, they are doing that work earlier. I should clarify that that I in my estimation, my experience that you don't have, um, students who have a crystal clear idea of where it is that they're going or what it is that they want to do until the second half of their high school career. not due to a lack of exposure, but due to I I think kids sorting through different ideas, sampling different electives, trying to find things that really that really they want to gravitate towards um and then taking advantage of those. So,

060I think that the counselors are involved in the career exploration aspect of things. They certainly assist to align those with course selection from year to year as well. Um, and then there's the goal setting conversations about what it is that you want to achieve and accomplish. Um, post-secary, what are your ambitions? Um, so they're an integral part of it. They're they're involved in a lot of different places and as I said, they do push in. Not only do they work with individual students on their case load and we've got three counselors handling 560 kids. Um, decent proportion, right? Um, compared to national standards for that. But I think that um you know they're doing the work they're doing the work in a variety of settings not just in you know with with one kid at

061a time they're they're pushing classes and sometimes not with their own students but they're doing general lessons as well question we don't have an answer we can come back to it last year older principles very kindly um and openly gave um a connection to the school improvement plans. I don't know if that's appropriate unless it's at certain benchmarks or but you know something to think about. I don't know if it makes, you know, people uncomfortable just people might be hearing this and trying to, you know, enter data or whatever, but um it was great to see that last year. But again, um I don't know, but just something sort of in thinking about do it. I just don't think that every bit of it. I think that they can come back and work, but they're

062welcome to come anytime and we'll probably have more now that we're back whereas before we were having people at meetings. So this way we can have more dialogue. I think I'd rather have more dialogue and talk about things than see a spreadsheet. Yeah. And sometimes you don't want people sort of looking at me as you're developing things. So anyway, just question. Is she able to unmute? Okay. Because when I look at her, she's she's muted. Oh, she did. Okay. I just want to make sure that she has good job. Okay. Okay. Um, any other questions for question? In the past, and I'm not sure where this might fall into your your plan, but in the past, we used to have more students be on the board. Um, so if we could kind of talk about

063getting back to that piece at some point, I think that would be a really great thing. And maybe it's part of the leadership piece or just a good way for the kids to come to us to give us ideas of what's going on and also back to you guys. Mrs. and I have had that conversation that there are some students that are interested in participating in the board and I think historically it's been one junior one season if I remember correctly that way there was they were serving for two years if they [Music] came back questions Nicole, do you have any questions for Rob? I'm all set. Thank you. Hear you, too. I do have two quick questions. Um, and I probably should know this, but I've just forgotten. So, um, you've mentioned that the

064department chairs are able to, you know, because they do, um, some of the evaluation of staff. Um, now, what is their schedule so that instead of teaching five classes, they teach four? or how does that work? Like how can they if they're teaching, how can they get into class? Do they get someone to cover their class? That's happened in some in some cases. There's a teacher that can't get to a specific person in their department. Um and so there may be a coverage situation. Um Miss Blossom may borrow another chemistry teacher to sit in on her chemistry class so that she can go evaluate the one person she can't see kind of thing. Um, but by and large I I would say that our our department chairs make the time and and make it work

065so that they're getting in the classrooms with their teachers. Okay. And is it that they teach four classes and instead of five? They that helps with the flexibility of it. Um but they also have a pretty full description in terms of um their their jobs and I understand that I'm just asking but that helps them. I'm just saying I mean they have to we have to look at what what our definition of department chairs are instead of like teachers teach five buses. Department chairs department chairs teach they teach four. So they have that little and that evaluated component. Correct. Okay. And then shared shared yeah okay because we're involved in that as well. Right. So there's there's not a teacher that you would not see because of you know so I would assume that you

066would do some you know um a new assistant principal and then so there would be more than two eyes correct um and then my other question on capstone um is um I remember Sylvia being very excited about the skills 21 program and it sounds like it's going to be great so we'd love updates on that too but um will the kids I know um in the past they had mentors. Is that required or is it just like is it dependent on what their So again we've um again we're kind of building it as we fly. Historically students have had a mentor right so we are asking them to connect with some sort of content expert. Um I can give you an example of a couple of my students that actually have two mentors because of

067the nature of their assignment. Um one student is um consulting with a nutritionist and an exercise uh physiologist right to develop a nutrition and exercise plan to take student X and then find out where he is where his goals are and actually create a plan and then be out. So he's consulting with a couple of different mentors on the outside. So it really depends on what the project is. um they're going to be blogging about their experiences as they go, which is nice. And then there's going to be some sort of outcome for every capstone uh program, every capstone project that takes place. It's great for the people outside the community to connect with these high school kids and with Oxford and, you know, just with the community. All right. Thank you. Any other questions

068for Rob from the board? Okay. Well, if we're done, then we can move on to stay Rob, please. Um, thank you, Selia. Our next is potential appointment. Potential appointment of the new Oxford High School principal. You can stay around. Okay. We're thinking it may be you, but I don't know. So, yeah. So I'd like to make a motion to appoint Robert Schuman to the position of high school principal. So second any further discussion? All those in favor? Opposed or abstain? Motion carries. [Applause] Job today, but would you like to say a few words? Yeah, I think um I I I did a letter to the community and and that really speaks a lot to my connection to Oxford. I don't know if folks had a chance to read that. Um my connection to Oxford High

069School goes back to before Oxford High School existed. Um I was at Woodland High School when they first opened. Um and I met Frank Samuelson the year before Oxford High School. Yeah. Um, and I remember having conversations about curriculum, the advisory program, the scheduling, all of those things in conjunction with the the principal that I left Anthony High School to go to Woodland. But, um, and so just knowing the type of man he was and the investment that he brought to the high school was, um, he was perfect for Oxford High School as as as the first principal. So, um, he he was the right guy to to start the, uh, start the high school. Um, and then seven years later, I I walked through the door for the first time as the assistant principal

070and I met um, Frank Savo in his last year before retiring. Um, which was great. Very different people, right? Um, and then Miss Potter came in the next year and we got to have six years together as well. So, um, in a strange way, I've been connected to Oxford High School before it opened and I've worked with every single administrator at the high school level, um, up to this point. So, um, I certainly feel a very strong connection to the high school. As I said, it's all about relationships for me in terms of our faculty and our students and and the cohesion that they have and mutual respect that they have. So, uh, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity and, uh, and look forward to helping to move all of that forward. It's a it's

071a really good place to be. Thank you so [Applause] [Music] much, Dr. Miller. Thank you. Actually, I can't I was gonna welcome Sia and welcome. Can I take a little bit of your guys? So, can I take a little bit of your report? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, I'm gonna, you know, I'm going to go to FOI jail for this, but I do want to let you guys leave. So, I'm just going to do a little bit of my report, which is um welcoming several district personnel to their new positions. First, Mr. Anthony Hibbert on his appointment as assistant superintendent. He's already been an invaluable asset, and I haven't seen him screaming down 67, so I'm thrilled. Um, congratulations to Sylvia Olette on her appointment as city middle school uh principal um and veteran in

072the position. But we also want to welcome and congratulate Ellen Nap. Uh, so she's the air quotes veteran um as the new assistant principal. She's a trooper in drunk jumping in with Anthony and now a strong pivot with Sylvia. So we appreciate it. Um, you definitely show the Oxford strong spirit. Uh, and congratulations to Dorothy Potter and her move to central office as a director of curriculum and the newest appointment. Congratulations to Rob Schulman in his new role as a principal of Oxford High School. We look forward to celebrating our successes. So Tracy and Linda, you're welcome too. Why not? show as if all those changes have done enough to report. We've been very busy over that running. Yeah. I I could feel immediately the first day that he walked through the door. The amount

073of work that I had just kind of slowly gradually hit the ground. Excellent. and I'm very busy still but he has um really provided tremendous tremendous support from day one through I can't think about thank you very much and thank you for letting me interrupt your report but now mine will be less so I have several different things to report we are engag we began to work in August with the initiative team high school with a process of learning how to provide quality high quality feedback to teachers. We're working in education and self-driving learning. We had an opportunity our leadership team and Miss Hussy last week to meet with them to really talk about what our goals are this year. We have a set of dates scheduled beginning of next week. Actually, we'll be doing

074what's called transic walkthroughs. will be walking through um classrooms through the high school and the classroom elementary school 2028 to establish a baseline of what is going on in the classroom. what how teachers are tracking related to the high impact [Music] instru we're looking for evidence not what teacher doing but the impact is on student learning is it having the type of impact we want on improving student learning in all different areas part of that work is to calibrate the the essence of calibration is if we all go into a classroom together, we should walk out having the same type of feedback from teacher and we can't begin providing feedback to teachers until we go through the calibration process itself. So the objective for those first two days with our consultant is to calibrate our

075entire administrative team, our truck leaders, elementary school math coaches, our literacy um staff, high school department chairs to make sure that we all have the same high instruction walk. Following that in November 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th, we're going to be doing a series of nonvited teacher walkers. What that means is we're going to be going through with the concept of walking out providing tangible feedback to teachers. So the first set of walkthroughs was what what are we seeing? How is that impacting student learning? The next step is okay now that we saw it how can I tell that teacher that what they did impacting student learning said they teacher growing their their instructional strategies as well. Following that, teachers and departments will be expected to continue that non-e process through the course of the

076year. So, we've all heard of evaluation of going to the classroom, sitting down with the teacher beforehand and figuring out, okay, what is it that you want to um need to provide feedback, but going to class, scripting the entire lesson, and walking out into close that formal evaluation typically done two or three times a year. That doesn't have the same meaningful experience for a teacher as a evaluator walking into a classroom partner walking to classroom once a week, every other week and giving that feedback as they're progressing. That continual feedback is what's going to help the teacher grow. So we are going to be engaged in that practice during the year. We're training our administrators. We're training how to do that, what to collect evidence for, how to collect that evidence, what questions to ask,

077what it's going to look like. Make sure all have the same language behind that and we have the same understanding pipeline interruption. Our consultants can come back in the year and really make sure that we are doing the right work not end of year when when everything's done but mid year to make sure that we are in the right track and if we need to make any revisions so that we do so. So as this year progresses I will return back to you and say this is where we are with that work but we didn't want to solve this. We didn't want to say we're going to start this January, February. To have the greatest impact, we didn't start as supposed to start the school year as possible. So that first set is this next

078week. There are several department chairs and trust leaders that were unable to attend our retreat. Miss Potter is actually meeting with them in advance of the meeting next week to review them and pens them up with what they may have missed in that admin in August. So this is exciting work. It's work that we have begun back in this week here. It's work that we're continuing to to do now. Uh I have high confidence in the plan that we developed. We've actually gone a little bit deeper than the original thing was to ensure the success that we want to happen and some of these trans walkers is going to help us establish that baseline. So it's great work and I'm so excited that process. Is this what um is he doctor? Is this is it

079Dr. Clint or Mr. Is he a doctor? Mr. Clint. What's this person? Patrick that goes together. Is that is that where you're utilizing him? Yes, it is. He's he's wonderful. He's written several books our New Mexico has. They all receive those books in August and we'll be doing some book studies with that and it's also providing some series of activities that our admin team and our department will continue to do in those inter walk to make sure that we're continuing to make progress as a team on one high quality instruction. So not just one one thing we're doing it's a series of activities to continue to grow the leadership in the district in this area. That's really where this is going to take your question paper whatever boy you know that code and it came

080out so fluently of course I couldn't keep up with those at some point could we get a bullet point with that maybe you could say it to your computer so somebody can clean up I don't want to make more work for you but I want to be able to remember everything you said post I think but I don't want to make more work but at some point maybe who knows that's a good idea. Thank you so much. So that that's the instructional piece that's that's taking place. I'm attempting every week that we're providing Friday notes to you to give you some quicker updates. We've done that K5 um and 9 or K8 and 912. also continue to give you a lens in what's happening in the classroom and this gives you a lens in terms

081of what the administrative team is doing learning. A week ago Sunday um we had an event the Oasis on digital on the green very well attended event it had they had tables around the green from various organization they had dark training they had um kids family members drugs away there were series of speakers Mr. Temple spoke Dr. Brown spoke, um, I spoke. They had two parents that had children that had gone through addiction and recovery to addicts that were in recovery. Um, that spoke about their experiences. So, very well attended, very meaningful event that they had. It really speaks to, you know, from my perspective, are we doing enough in K12 to help prevent students from even getting to the point where they're even trying substances? The stats are children that then engage at age

08212, they're have a higher risk of developing addiction over the next seven year versus children that do starting at both. So what is it that we're doing in elementary school high school to try and even curb that even more? So it's a work that I think we need to engage and have conversations throughout that. I have a question. Yeah. Um have any consider I don't know if it was um because of co I remember us um I know that the dare program has been updated. are is that something that we are considering or I I don't know where that left off if we weren't doing it or if like I said I know it was updated and there was something about who was going to deliver it as far as the officer or whatever but

083I know this conversation is took place and any other information we're aware of that yeah because um I just know I mean I taught fifth grade and I know people you know had some kind of you know People have different feelings about DARE. I have to say from a teacher's perspective that I thought it was great. Um, you know, we saw this came in, you know, took, you know, in full um, uniform and related to the kids and the kids asked questions and then afterwards, you know, I had, you talk about meaningful dialogue, you know, as a, you know, a classroom teacher had meaningful dialogue with these kids. Um, and so I, like I said, I'm a huge proponent of of DARE and I do know that I guess it got outdated or whatever and

084they updated it, but um, or some program like that. I do think that we need to revisit that in our in our committee starts to meet again that is something that we were beginning to work on and we wanted you know I also think the actually do some of the teaching methodology to train some of the officers many moons ago but um I also endorse it as a terrific program but what we were trying to and working with Sylvia was to take whatever level we start at even maybe before fifth grade and okay so here's Dare what does it do tail into that's you know more than our six weeks of help in our curriculum and how do we supplement that you know what way and then go all the way up correct and we

085can't start this in middle school can't start in high school the effective program need to start with this competitation students high school for students in 10th grade without checking start conversations. I had my first education forum on Zoom last Thursday night. Um, thank you for attending. It was a very very um light attended event. We only had a few people on, but you got to start somewhere. That's right. Um, George Temple is on there as well. excited to see this activity. Um, we had some really great positive feedback and communications across the district very of our district newsletter of several schools newsletters. The feedback was make sure that we've got consistent newsletters and news coming out of all schools. So, we want to make sure there's consistency in that regard. There was information about the

086capstone. wanted to make sure that the students that are in seniors have all the right information and have been provided explicit um answers to their questions. So I gave that Mr. information Mr. Schum capstone and it's something he's going to also work on getting some more information out and what about newsletters to parents at the school. Well, just so you know, I would have been there, but I think I can't remember I said the screenshot. He kept saying um waiting for the host to begin the meeting. Okay. But I was quite sure you hadn't done it. So, just want you to know that I would have been here if I could have would have should have been. Thank you. Our next one is scheduled. I wanted to create an open environment to just hear parents

087give you asking questions. Our next one will be around ready to arrange with Dr. Brown. It'll be October 28th, probably at 7 p.m. to answer questions about face mask and so forth. Those were very well attended last year. And also these on a frequent basis and rotate the um topics, but this follows up with the community was asking for at our last meeting and that was just when I was able to get it scheduled for Thank you so much. Um all right the last couple things really deal with um logistics. We have our strategic operating plans committee now set we've got 12 um representatives got four parents for teachers and administrators department have a good mix of stakeholders. I said our first meeting is also part of that. Thank you. September 19th at 400 we

088our first meeting and we'll try to plan year actually getting down and creating their work. Is Vic the only board member only board member that um that signed up I have more. Was anybody else interested? I think I forgot. So you know I mean it could be more than one I think. So if anyone can make what's the meeting again? September 19th at 4 p.m. will be the first meeting. October October October sorry 4 p.m. it'll be in person here the first meeting virtual but I want to say we're together start the process. So if anyone else can make that and then and then what would the commitment be further like how often do you plan to meet as a full steering committee we'll probably meet as a full team once a month and we'll

089be break that committee up into smaller pods I'll be doing some individual work at their own time they can meet okay I mean just so that people know what their commitment is you know I I don't think it should be something that go to one meeting don't go to another um thank Right. And then finally, we had a a crisis really with patients over the last 48 hours. We had a series of bus drivers that um came down with COVID or were quarantined and another driver that was um out with symptoms that were related. test to come in and then another person that um that had personal this week that they were unable to get the days revoked and part of the issue was one of those individuals that were sick but also manages our

090facilities and served as a substitute rather we were out. So we've lost that and then came last night where we also had another driver that went up um last minute as well also related. So the numbers just went up and then again this evening I got word as the meeting was starting that we have another driver that impacts another bus that's going to be out not related home related another way. So just a perfect this week we thought we had a viable option asking buses to drive around and pick kids up after 9:00 a.m. this morning after last Friday this afternoon. We wanted to get kids into school. That became problematic because we're getting kids into the school after 10 a.m. this morning. Well, that's for the high school, that's a lot of time. And

091for elementary school, that's a lot of lost time. And then we're getting kids home at 600 6:30 in the afternoon in the evening. And that's not viable either. So, we we made every attempt possible to provide this as an alternative. Other districts never even tried this. We wanted to give it a try. Mr. could spend half the day yesterday and the entire day today working on this and work with the combination and work with the parents and it just if this is a 14-day thing that drivers are out it's not sustainable. So unfortunately it's not something that we continue and we let parents know that and if a driver goes out if they can't reate that one and they don't have a sub it's going to have to be that that fund doesn't go parents

092need to bring their kids to school on their own or learners but that is now have that push back association that we shouldn't be having students learning so it's it's it's balancing the needs of all and I need to have conversations the teacher association on what we can do to make sure that they feel comfortable with students that are home learning at the same time. It's one thing having a few students that are quarantine. If you have 50 or 60 students and 70 students that are out for transportation issues, that also that's a big issue. I will say that I walked into my school classroom today and not transportation wise but because of quarantine. Five students are in the classroom and 15 were on her computer that she was talking to. they're on quarantine and

093she was actively thoroughly engaging the students in front of her physically and on the computer screen. So while we might have some teachers that are reluctant to engage teachers or students fully in remote learning in that capacity, we have other teachers that have thought in that really are doing what they need for their students. And I just need to make sure that everybody that's participating this all teachers are feel comfortable with what we're asking them to do. So those conversations continue and we'll continue to have and the logistics withination is not something that's going to go away after this next few days. It's something that we're going to have to work through for an entire year is still to be at this point. How many students approximately how many students on the sounds like four

094buses is this? Yeah, I can give you a right now we have for tomorrow buses 63 20 and 21 are not um during this board meeting I sent out email for expediency about 20 and earlier today 20 to 21 oh buses 13 20 and 21 Yeah, I am anticipating session 13 week. We just got information. So, uh just to give you just a quick my spreadsheet back online. Yes. Um, let's see. Just looking at the buses six and 13 from earlier today. The vast majority of parents are able to get their kid bring their kids in. I'm looking at there's a lot more but I had like about eight that needed to be. We'll calculate this up. I've already shared this spreadsheet with the principal so let the teachers know. Bottom line, you know, bus

095is. It's not like, you know, someone missed the bus or doesn't feel. This is a bus that we can't run. So, if the parents can't get their kids to school, we're we're opening this up. The same type of home learning program that we would have if the kids were quarantined. But now, there may be options to limit the number of times we have to not run a bus. Once we get our manager back, we can say, "Well, these these homes going to get picked up by a different bus and this and that." You still happen to have that plus personnel and as he's sick to make those types of decision. We have a regional person. So he's he's sick and unable to work from home. Right. So we have a regional manager came into the

096depot yesterday to work on a lot of this data trying to figure out what I'd like to see happen. We have say bus 20 is out. You could say, well, this number of bus kids get picked up by this bus. Yeah, you can't do that. Best we can. Yeah. So that So I'm just trying to get a number. So that's eight eight families with six and 13 and then 20 and 21. Give you an update tomorrow. You guys have a general sense. This is based on our our work for Wednesday. we have x number of kids that couldn't get to school by their parents or friends or that's what I'm saying that that's where I was going next. I mean there's things we can talk about. You know, right now we don't offer a lot

097of changing of buses. I'm just saying everyone's so vocal on Facebook. I mean, can't, you know, about everything. I mean, you know, and I I did see um somebody say, "Hey, if your kid needs to get a ride to school, I Well, yeah, parents obviously are going to be I mean, we're such a well, we're a fairly small community. There's people that know each other. I mean, I just I just think that thinking about my neighborhood, if there was an issue in my neighborhood, I mean, there's about 25 homes. I mean, we would have cars that would were parked at the bus stop and we'd let our kids go in that car and they would take them to school. I mean, it just it just, you know, it just worries me that these kids are,

098you know, because of something that's so out of, you know, everything is out of their control, but, you know, they're going to be missing school and then it's upsetting the teachers. And I just I don't know if George can George Temple send one of his red alerts out and say, you know, as a community, this is an emergency and please could you talk to the kids that are on your team and do this stuff and come together as a community and and pull and get these kids to school. I mean, I'll give George a call. I don't know if that's a good idea, but yeah. Yeah. question if he says exactly how you land and then you know I don't know somebody first say drive your neighbor's kids but the other phrases I think yeah

099contact your friends and your kids friends and make sure that everyone is has a ride to school just like helping out a hurricane it's much easier for parents to plan if they notice the next 14 days it's a little bit hard for them to make things if it's happening at 8:00 or We now know this could be pretty excit [Music] actually I was going to call them tomorrow one of the uh one of the parents had asked hey I'm will pay for like two weeks of soccer so I can drop my child off I'm a high school teacher district I can't you know bring them bigger so we're going to see if we can work this activities and their numbers and their numbers throughout they have room. And could we do something in the schools

100where we, you know, maybe the parents come in early and we pay them, you know, an hourly rate and they could watch children in the school. We could do that. Yeah. I don't know. I I just I you know, we're all different. You know, administrators stay late this afternoon. Kids need to be waiting for their alternative bus. We're doing what we need to do for the kids, right? But I mean, the administrators need to stay I mean, you stay late no matter I mean, if you have a kid crisis and staying late is, you know, they're not on time. You know, administrators staying late doesn't really impact um stuff. I mean, but if people who are either being paid hourly or, you know, teachers have a beginning and an ending time, I mean, those are

101the people that early morning. So, are you gonna call George or do you want me to? You can call the other district and they must have school bus. for sure anybody come up not across the state not across the state and right now what's happening is the state department vehicles um and the state got to try and accelerate that get full driver certif driver's license. Part of is not enough drivers out there. So, if they're able to accelerate getting people licenses and they get more drivers on call and some and they can't it's about four to six months process to take the entire thing. They need help to shorten the gap it takes to get people to to work and to recognize that and say all this a crisis right now and and get other

102folks um they're collecting data collecting data. This is something statewide is becoming a a challenge every time it's transportation. We've been lucky at this point that we haven't impacted yet this weekend. What about the national we're in a situation we're going to have for at least the next 20 weeks. Okay. next. So what is the what are we doing to be on the governor's part to get this solid because it's pretty can't do this can't do that. A lot of parents going to be very apprehensive strange the car liability insurance and everything that goes with that. Okay. So there is a solution. We do have an $6,000 but get 3,000 of the drive buses. There's something wrong with what's going on here. This is shouldn't be that's something I can take personal support. They know

103that that's happened at other states, but they have not that supported yet. They they tell us they're worried about it. Get back temple off camp and go down and do something for the freaking again. I mean, we're in the board of education, but we can do that on our on our own to get the light the fire under those people. Um, yeah, I just had more of a question. When these things pop up, the bus company, do they have, and this is technical question, do they have a territory software where they can just say this bus is out and all a sudden it automatically figures couple extra stops on this one, couple extra stops. It's not [Music] they'll spend months working on the routing for the year. So if they need to add a student

104alter route, it's more than just a few. It's pretty expensive. Don't you think with our technology there should be a way to do that? [Music] So that's definitely updated. Okay. Thank you. to know. I just wanted to um thank you guys for the updates that are going home to families. Um and I of course to us, but I think more importantly going home to families about the activities in the newsletters and I think it's been huge. Um I've heard great comments about it. So I really thank you guys for getting it running and getting it Yeah. I I just want to thank you guys for doing all that work and stuff. It's a hot topic just like the mask were we control but not that I troll social media and I touched on it before

105but I just want to say that it's been a pleasure working with this board. I also want to say thank you to the public for coming contacting us and being respectful the past few times meetings and I think we're all in this together. we all need to come up with a solution together and we're doing our campus to do so. And with that said, you know, to add to some of the conversation, I want to say thank you to everybody for their full transparency because a couple years ago that didn't happen. So, um, the spirit of this board to do what's best for the kids, represent the public, take care of our staff and teachers, and yet through the past couple years has been something new every month. and for this board to be able

106to walk and cheek off adap you know I know another couple months but you know people need to realize that the state board education hamstrings and it's taken a lot of power education so our limit we're limited on power and it's very frustrating I think all of us have felt some sort of frustration along the lines but again I think it's to to put the feather on the cap of this group and this investment district court despite all these challenges and everybody has a stake in that. I just want to say thanks. That's why we won an award. Well, I have to say, Joe, that I've been watching this board of education for 17 years and watching how the various board members interact and this is in my estimation of 17 years of watching and

107trying to contribute. I think Deb's probably been watching longer. I do believe this is the best board um that um this district has ever had. Uh we all have different strengths. We all listen to each other. We might not agree, but when we disagree, it forces us to look at other facets of things and um the addition of of this new leadership, I think, makes it even better. So, yeah, those trying times. So, it's it's nice to hear. Um, so without further ado, uh, I hear you want to do read that motion. Sorry. Oh, wait. Sorry. Go ahead, Robert. I do have one more minute. You just unmuted me, Rob. Thank you. Hi, Nicole. Hi. Hi. Did you want to say something? No, I just wanted to make sure if I needed to that I

108could. Um, so I I have just a very small thing addition to my my board goals and um uh just it's actually to the board that I sent um sample goals to you guys today um that I just plucked out of, you know, different districts. So, I ask you to look at them and choose three that you would like the board to focus on or if you find one of your own from another district. Feel free to throw that in the mix. Um, and then I'd like to form an ad hoc committee um of who whoever is interested, obviously less than five members. Um, and then we'll flesh out the goals with objectives and then present it to the full board. So, um, those are sent through email today. So I think in advance um

109in helping me so that we can get our goals set by the end of this month is my goal. Um so then we can dovetail with the central office goals. So that's all and then my welcome my report. Um now moves the board enter into executive session to discuss for the purpose of discussing preliminary draft correspondent attorney privilege concerning the search. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? No. Okay. oppose or abstain. Motion carries. All right. Thank you guys. Have a good night. [Music] Nicole, can you still hear them? Nicole, are you still there? I'm here. Jackie does. Jackie, you probably should leave the meeting now. Tell her I'll do the rest and do the rest. Okay. She said she can hear. Yeah. Yeah. Anthony, if you don't mind closing the door, don't let the

110door hit you. So, you'll let us know when we Yeah. It's happened to be one is getting tired. Okay guys, so quickly let me just give you an overview and I I do want to read something from from Zach Sharon. So um you know again this has you know this has nothing to do with Jason. It has nothing to do with Robin. It has to do with you know that we hired a consultant um and that you know the the consultant basically, you know, coached Jason after two years and actually really only after maybe a year and a half because we paid him for an extra six months to be his, you know, his mentor. So, um, I uh said something to Zach Sharon and said, you know, gosh, that gets my goat, you know,

111is there anything we can do? And so, um, we found Deb, my, um, my second detective in charge, um, found, uh, the contract and the contract is very weak. Um, and so, you know, lesson learned if we ever enter into these contracts with with, you know, not necessarily consultants, trying to superintendent. Hope not. Um, but anyway, so Zach got back to me and he said, "Unfortunately, the contract doesn't have a non coaching provision, so it is me." I spoke to some colleagues about this and were all shocked. The board hires him to find a super and he poached him two years later to go to another district. It's unbelievable and really unethical. There may be some legal options. Not sure it would be worth the time and money involved, but it's really awful. And just

112to let you know, Zach also gave me permission to share, you know, the attorney email that he had with me to share with you guys. So now once Rob got seated and Jason, you know, is is in his new position, Zach reacted. Zach's um suggestion was for him to he said, "If I contact him right away, it'll get kind of into a lawyer thing." He said, "I can draft a letter um from you that you would send to him and um but it would be CC to the attorney so that it would just, you know, have some meat, you know, on the phone." Um, so you know, I wanted to get your feelings on it and um, you know, if it's something that we want to pursue and if you don't, I'm fine with it,

113too. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm ticked, but I'm only one person, so, you know, I wouldn't send it unless the whole, you know, unless the board was in the majority of um, of wanting to, do I think anything's going to come of it? No. Um, you know, but I don't know because I think there already had a couple of bad um bad placements. I mean, the reason he took Jason was because he placed um a superintendent there that only lasted 10 months. So, I also have a feeling that that board said, "You know what, dude? You're finding us another superintendent. We're not paying you again." So, he, you know, went the path least resistance in my opinion and you know, just, you know, scoops Jason up now. And I don't blame Jason. He he

114got a an incredible increase blah blah blah. So, like I said, this is no reflection on Jason. It's truly just, you know, and and to me having an entire um law firm that, you know, an educational law firm, you know, to say that is pretty crappy thing to do. Um, so what's the letter say [Music] like I guess the question is out for district are we looking I think we're going to peel some skin. We're not going to see a dollar. But it also, you know, it basically if we were to bad bump him, we formally have, you know, so it's not like behind his back that we're bismerching his good character. We're to his face bismerching his good character. And they give then gives us the opportunity to potentially share the letter we gave

115to him to other districts to other boards so they know that you know burn burn the bridges at least or get a better contract or get a better contract to be be aware that this apparently can happen and this you know entity does that kind of action. So we keeping this as a private letter to him something that's going to be somehow voidant out to the public. It could be. I mean we have to be careful we don't cross the line too far. That's where the lawyer he's drafting. He's not going to put our put our neck on the line. But think if he views it as a M trying to damage his business, right? Right. we purposely did to this put it in public and that has implications as much as we're pissed off.

116But if but if we do it in a in a professional legal way then we're covered. We're just honestly indicating here are the facts that happen. Be forewarned. Be aware and you might tighten up your contracts if you do business with him or companies like his in the future. I don't have any intention of me dis but if somebody does find it in you know in in FOI and it's FOIable then like I said I do think that we are are covered legally um and are we claiming is that um we're saying we're just asking in light of we're going we respectfully correct that you would reimburse the Oxford public schools for the money extended to retain your Um, and as as you may imagine, our board is carefully weighing its legal options. Um, so

117yeah, and now even if he doesn't and and just so that you know, the total is over um $16,000. It's okay. I'm sorry. This is a private meeting. Not a go. Oh, go ahead, Nicole. It's recorded.