Concord Carlisle Joint School Committee - February 4, 2026

001Hi, it's 5:45, so I'm going to call the Conquered School Committee to order. Andrew is out today, >> please. And Michelle, introduce us online. >> Hi, Michelle. >> Um, great. Lori, do can I turn it over to you? >> Sure. And I pass it off pretty quickly. Um, tonight we wanted to share with you the updated plans for phase two of the playground project. So, Justin Sparks is on, Tyler King from CHA, our design team, um, just wants to give you the update and talk you through the plan and with your approval, [clears throat] we would like to really hit the ground running to do the work in the spring. So, I'll turn it over to Mr. Sparks. >> Thanks, Lori. Good evening. Uh, first I I appreciate the um committee carving out some time

002tonight um for us to talk a little bit about phase two of our playground project for our backyard. So we set out on this uh endeavor almost two years ago which seems crazy. Um with a vision really to create a play space for all students that was nature inspired, inclusive and fun. And I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the process and for all of the collaboration across um with different stakeholders and and boards and committees across town. It's been a great learning experience for me and we're really excited um for the possibility of uh hopefully bringing this to life. So I'll I'll share with you um phase two and Lori has given me screen sharing privileges. So, just bear with me for a moment. >> Can you see

003my screen? >> Yeah. Um, mostly. >> Yes. >> Ignore all the tabs up top. [laughter] >> Looks like >> we have a lot of fun with each other as leaders about what the number of tabs says about. [laughter] >> I would have deleted them, but I came quickly from my son's basketball game, so I [laughter] It's all right. They just learned a little more about you, that's all. >> Um, so you're going to see here, um, and Tyler can chime in, too. Um, this this area here is the existing playground that was, um, built through the summer and partly into the fall. The main structure here being um, the rope structure with the spinners and the zip lines, um, the monkey bars and all that stuff. and and I have to say that um Joe

004McMahon and Ult did a fantastic job. Um and still to this day if I have a question about something or something breaks or goes wrong, he picks up the phone and and helps. So um this has been a real win for the for the kids in the community. It's great to leaving, you know, as it as the sun is setting, it's it's great to uh hear the laughter of kids playing um out on the playground. Uh although it's a little snow covered right now, um they're really enjoying it. [clears throat] So that that's one area and on the other side is the swing set which was installed. So the nature play area uh is what you're seeing in the middle and all around it. Um and it includes what you're going to see here and

005is a and these are paths which are made of decomposed granite. Um and all through here you'll see um native species uh perennials and trees and uh up here uh by D is a natural boulder barrier which will separate the um hopefully the upgraded parking lot um with the play space. Um, in here you'll see benches, playh houses, boardwalks, sand play, um, little meeting areas, uh, dry rock riverbed and, uh, and so much more. Um, all labeled up top. And um we learned through our research um and surveying kids when we were at the the beginning [snorts] phases of the project that not all children want to um swing real fast and spin and climb really high and slide. Um so uh what we asked them was what do you like to do when you

006when you play? Uh and they said you know we we like to sit we like to talk, read, we like to be imaginative. We like to be in the woods. Um, so this uh this portion of the playground really gets at um that part of play. So we're really excited about it. Um, and I have to say uh Tyler and his team at CHA did a phenomenal job bringing all of the community input and feedback um and really just um some sketches and some graphics to life. Um, so I'll I'll turn it over to him if uh Tyler has any anything to add and happy to take any um questions or feedback from the committee. >> Yeah, I do have Nick Schwarz and Jenna Greco. Um they're on the attendees list on the call. They're

007the landscape architects with CHA. If they're able to um be able to speak, uh they can run through a little more or answer any questions we may have. Um, but yeah, we've we've been working with the throw team for, as Justin said, the past couple years. Um, and uh, it's exciting to see this come to fruition. And, uh, you know, we worked with Principal Sparks and the playground committee um, based on their goals that they wanted to see. And, uh, that gave us a starting point for our design. and we've had some iterative comments um from from them and we've incorporated those into the plan that you see here. So um you know we uh can't wait to see it come to fruition. >> Could one of you talk a little bit about accessibility since

008we've spent a lot of time on that? >> Yeah, I can take that. Um I'm Jenna Greco. I worked on I've been working on this design and we've been really excited to work on the design of this nature space. Um so for accessibility the all of the pathways are accessible besides the stepping stone shortcuts that you can see um labeled as C on the plan. There are also um there's an accessible picnic table labeled as L on the plan. And then there are I think a total of six benches with three of which will be accessible. Um and the boardwalks that cross the uh the river feature are also fully accessible. So and as well as the the play space um the elevated sand table is fully accessible. So it's actually a table and we

009do have a an image a slide with images on it. I don't know if you have that, Justin, to share, but that has some images of Yeah, right there. Um, so you can see that accessible elevated sand table um is the perfect height to allow a wheelchair um to roll right up to it. And I'm happy to talk about any of these other features. We also have some images of planting inspiration if you scroll down one more slide. [clears throat] Um, so these are the the proposed species that we've included in the design. So we have some different tree species as well as perennials and um some grasses. So yeah, I think Justin did a good job of kind of going through the design elements, but hopefully that answers the question about the accessibility >>

010just in terms of maintenance too. We um when we set out, we wanted the playground obviously to look really nice. Uh lots of color. Uh native species was a must from a sustainability point. >> Um and uh we wanted something that was as low maintenance as we could manage. So a lot of these trees and I know Nick is on too are um uh low maintenance and not what not drought resist drought tolerant I believe is the term. Um yes, >> they'll need some time obviously to settle in for the first couple of years. [snorts] Um but after that, uh should be just some light cleanup. >> Yeah. And from a from a maintenance perspective, uh thanks Justin. I'm Nick Schwarz. Um we really looked at making sure as as we looked at it to

011to reduce the maintenance load as much as possible. So a lot of the perennials, they're just a a cut at the end of the season and they come back naturally the next year. So, you know, really looked at how to really maximize the the um the ability to have people interact with it with the landscape, but also making sure that we were cognizant of the the abilities and the um the time that uh the current staff has to dedicate to the maintenance aspect of things. Well, I know the um I was the liazison for this committee and there's been a lot of thoughtful um conversation around all of these topics. So um thanks to Justin and the team for um leading that and then to all of course all the volunteers who have spent endless

012hours fundraising and participating in designs and asking questions and whatnot. So um just a big thank you to everybody. Um we we voted on this last spring before we went into phase one and this is um because phase one is now complete. The thought was um this has now been really pulled out really specific um details for phase two. We wanted to bring it back to the committee to take a second look and get your perspective, answer questions, and then hopefully vote on so they can move forward with the RFP. Um does anybody have any questions? when when is this expected to get done? >> So, we're thinking of going to bid soon and what's your timeline expectation? >> Um, >> I'm asking Bob for those of you on Zoom. >> The the hope would

013be that we can do this this summer. Um, there's some work uh I think Tyler and his team at CHA are are are nearly ready. There's um these are presentation but we have to prepare a full set of bid specs and then we have to advertise and so we'd want to go out fairly soon sometime in March and then allow people a little time to respond and then we have to give enough advanced notice that we can attract biders who can plan to do the work in the summer. >> I think Michelle's a question online. Oh, Michelle. Yeah. >> Hi. Um, uh, Justin, can you go to the picture of the stump circle? >> Yeah. Is that does that leave any space for a wheelchair or, you know, a a child with a a mobility

014impairment to join the circle? >> That space does. Um actually we we looked at the um initial um the the logs that were proposed and they were um made of granite I believe and um we decided that those would be cut. So we're looking at um sort of reimagining that space but hopefully we'll have something similar with more of a a natural tree look and um definitely room for a wheelchair user to engage with peers. >> Excellent. Thank you. Any other questions? I move to approve phase two of the thorough play. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I All right. Thank you. Thanks, Justin, Tyler. >> Thank you so much, >> Jenna. Nick, appreciate it. >> Thanks so much. >> Thank you. We appreciate that. Bye >> bye. Justin, >> you can close one

015tab now. [laughter] >> Thank you. All right. And with that, I'll invite our Carl members to join us. We're going to need that for the people coming to talk. Give a minute to get settled. All right. And with that, I will call the Conquer Parallel Regional School Committee to order. Um, it is just about six o'clock. I think we're in good shape there. And I just want to mention we have a very extensive agenda tonight. So, we're really going to do our best to stay on time. Brian's going to help me be a timekeeper to make sure we're just being efficient as efficient as we can. Um, okay. So, with that, yep, we are going to start with our recognitions. We have our DECA group with us. Um Deca's first. You guys can Oh, yeah.

016Sit up here. Yeah. Yeah. Is Mark coming with you guys? >> He'll be here soon. >> Okay. So, you can just join you guys. And you can also take um one of those story of the schools with you. Those are for you guys to have. >> Okay. Um so with that, our DECA students are here, I believe, with their advisor. >> Yeah. Nuna's here to paint. >> Yep. >> You can come on up. >> Come on up. All of you screen. I think they they have something to share with us. I I've sent the school committee what DECA is. So DECA is a relatively new student group at our high school. Is it two years maybe? >> This is uh second year but our first year competing. >> Okay. First year you're competing. Okay. So

017we're looking forward to hearing about it. >> So I still have an issue where I can't go into slideshow mode. So bear with it like it is if you can. So welcome. It's all yours to take away. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Mrs. Pinto or Nuna Pinto. So I'm going to present a little bit which she's a big thing here in all over the states and it's an international business club. Next slide please. So first I would like to tell you how I got involved. So uh maybe some of you might know I'm primarily a French teacher but this is my second career. So uh first I was working for one of the biggest retail company in Canada called shop drug retail company of pharmaceutical and beauty products and then after

018I got my own business and I did some transaction business because I studied at a moral I did my undergraduate in marketing and management. [clears throat] So I always had this age for for business and um when uh Terry Mora retired uh I heard that she was teaching a class called introduction to marketing and nobody was taking over. So I thought oh you know with my background I I would be a good fit but not everyone can take a course you know with the full load and I and Terry told me about DECA and I I thought I'm going to inquire about it you know before opening the club and I went as a judge at as the district office and then at the at the state at sorry at the district conference and then

019at the state conference to know what uh the students would have to to face you know because being an advisor is good but you want to know what it would be like. So I had a a good feeling uh about it and then at about the same time Kevin um Alden Luca and Charles were talking about that. So they were in the process of getting it approved and they will talk to you a little bit about that and uh this really falls within the vision of a graduate. We want to get the CCHS students ready for the real world you know uh they they will explain to you later it's all about role play like knowing how to pay for your credit card or you know what is customer service or so so this is

020why I I thought it would be good to to get involved and so we really created the club in January of last year so we weren't allowed to compete yet but I thought this would be good instead of starting in September I only have like three months to get ready so that's why I think we we did really well on top of the introduction to market. So the next slide please. >> Hi everyone. Um I'm Kevin and I'm a senior at Concura High School and DECA is a business club. And so for example, some of the roles include uh projects, making your own business plans and proposing them to people who are supposed to be investors. And to me, that's something that's really crucial to an education because when I get out of high school,

021go to college, I'm kind of dropped into the world where one, I don't know how to pay taxes. Two, I don't know how to do anything with business, right? And so, we need something that teaches students how to be prepared. If they want to do anything with business, anything with finance, you have to have a club for that. And so, that's kind of where I stepped in. I've realized that currently there's not there currently there's not much opportunities for a student at CC and I decided to kind of channel my own business interest and find a group of friends that are also like-minded. And so to me, business kind of stemmed from my first passion, which is research. And so research, I realized some things I were doing was Alzheimer's, um, drugs discovering, and all

022that kind of led me to realizing that none of it could kind of leave the lab without business. And so my interest in business was derived from pharmaceutical uh, research and development, which also indirectly tied into my public health interest. And for my event in December, I competed in business service operations research where I proposed a public health solution to conquer public schools to reduce teacher absences uh sickness among students and substitute costs. And what I proposed was using medical grade UV lights around the school building, which is an AI image of CC with UV lights, which is why it's so purple. And that actually shows that research proves that it can actually kill 96% of virus in uh airborne viruses and could also completely prevent COVID 19 in guinea pigs. And so by doing

023that I eliminated teacher absences by 50% and a model which would actually save the school district about $3 million over 44 years of the lifespan. >> Next. >> Um so my name's Alden Potter. I'm the other co-president and co-founder of DECA. Um, in my event for the district conference, I chose personal financial literacy, which um, I kind of had an interest in. Um, I took the class for it in CCHS and it kind of sparked like my uh, like interest in that. And then um, in my event specifically, we had a 10-minute roleplay where we present to a judge and then a 100 question multiple choice exam, which we did prior, which was like a lot. But um I uh I be pretended to be a like a adviser giving a finan financial plan to

024a young adult who is opening a new credit card and I provided in or information about um credit score and um things like that. And the one thing I really like about DECA is the like real world applicable skills that you can learn from it. It's definitely going to be helpful in my future career. And um I'm studying the same thing in college. So I'm very excited to bring that with me and I feel like DECA has been a big help for that. Hi everyone. I'm Isabelle. I'm a senior and I'm the current chief of marketing at DECA. Um I competed in the apparel and accessories marketing event where I was um presenting a solution on how to um prevent fraud in stores. Um I think this was a great experience. I connected with a

025lot of um other students interested in business. I know business is always something that I wanted to go into. I'm going um to college in the fall for business and law and I learned so many skills that will help me in both which I think is really crucial. So no matter what field you're going into, you're learning these skills that can help you pretty much anywhere. I know I've always been tough with public speaking and being confident when presenting um really big and important things. And I think this has really brought me out of my shell and know like prepare me how to present in the future um especially just with the soft skills. Um and yeah, for me it was just a great experience. Hi everyone. Um, I'm Mia. I am the chief of

026finance and I'm a junior at CCHS. And in the dish conferences in December, I competed in retail merchandising. And we had a uh 10 minutes to uh have a solution and you had to come up with a plan and then you had 10 minutes to present it in front of a judge. And my presentation was based on organizing and promoting an event for a larger city and mainly getting uh the younger generation to come into this library rather than just the older generation. Um and I did really well at the district conferences and we're all going to the states in March which we'll talk about more later. Um and I thought this was a really great like new experience since this is like DECA's first time competing. Um and it was a little nerving. I

027bet I mean all of us. Um and but it was everyone did amazing and 12 people are going to states and um it was really great like meeting other students that had like the same goals in business um whether that's marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, um or anything else. Um, and it was really just a great opportunity to have like an introduction to real world scenarios that you would find in the business world. >> Just let me jump in just to give you a picture or number. So, at the district conference, we had about 1,200 students compete from different schools and at the state conference where we have about 4,000 students compete from Massachusetts and 12 of them out of 34 students who completed 12 advanced. >> Yeah. And so I want to jump back to starting

028DECA and the whole planning process of it. And as I said, we thought that there was kind of this gap in financial preparation for students and also knowing how much uh business can help students. It's not just about what they're learning about which is fraud or credit card. What they're really learning is the fact that they're able to speak to an adult who is a professional in their field and be able to be okay that they're not the person that's knowing everything but still okay to share with them, talk with them, and kind of like be able to speak as an adult. And that I think is a really important part of our education is being able to actually learn how to interact with other people in the real world and network with others, which

029is one of DECA's core ideals. And so what we did was we given the lack of clubs I met with Alden and Charlie who also had similar interests and ran into the same problem and we start the process to create our own club and Alden will share more about the action. >> Yeah. So um after we kind of decided we um wanted to gain signatures for DECA um and then um with that we brought it to the student senate who um after that they were a little wary to pass it just because they didn't want to be redundant with um like clubs. We had a similar one at our school called personal fin or financial literacy club. But um after a lot of back and forth and convincing them to pass it, we finally got

030it passed after the competition season was over. Um and then yeah, like our first meeting we had like 70 members, which um kind of shows like there was just a lot of interest in the club and business like just right after it started. And then after that, we just been continuing with meetings and have competed this year. >> Yeah. And so that kind of brings us to this year. We were, this is our first year as a recognized chapter, which is really important because of all the back and forth with Senate. We actually missed the sign up for the previous year. And so this year, it's the first year that our school is competing in this district tournament. And we had a ton of registered members, which shows the commitment. And we also hosted events,

031practices. So all these students who are doing marketing, research, uh personal finance, all of that, they're all able to practice and prepare for the big um tournament, which is the district's one. Um and as we said, there was over a thousand total competitors. And we brought 36 students from conquer Carl. And we had one of the highest percentages of students going to states, which was 12 students finishing in top four of their event out of the thousand total competitors. So then we move on to states. >> Yeah. So, um for the the states event um is like a lot bigger. It has like around 4,000 members and um um after if you get top four in states, you qualify for the uh national event which is in Georgia. Um it's called ICDC and um it

032costs $500 to bring like per student. So, um like we're trying to kind of fund raise money for that. We're doing a lot of fundraising campaigns at our school and yeah, we're really excited to go to the state event. Um, and this was just like a picture of all like the state qualifiers from the district conference. [clears throat] >> So, this was as a single role play on first day. On the second day, it was team play. >> Great. >> Um, and then me and Mia will talk about fundraising. As we told you, it's $500 per student to go to states. Um, rounding up to about $7,500. Um, that's quite a lot of money, but we were able to kind of get our creative um, senses out and try to come up with things that

033our CCHS community could also come to. So, just um, this Monday we hosted a Chipotle fundraiser. Um, next month we're hosting a pickle ball tournament and we are also partnered with um, our local Dino and Rousini restaurants. um they'll be doing a similar thing to the Chipotle fundraiser and just like the whole process of like reaching out to people and being humbled by no response I think has also just been a skill in itself. [laughter] I like even that has just been like it's just about DECA like DECA can bring that out to you because most schools will have to fund raise to get their students out there and I think it's just been a great learning experience for me but it's also been so fun to bring these things together. Um, so more about

034like the Chipotle fundraiser. So that was like this past Monday. Um, I think that we did a really good job of like promoting it and I was like kind of like the one that organizing and started it all up. Um, but I did have um like help from like other fellow DECA members to get the word out there. Um, and basically how it works is that like Chipotle provided us with like a little code once I um got accepted for like the DECA and you can like either online order or order in store and like 25 of all 25% of all the funds that are raised that night using the code goes to Deca. Um I haven't gotten the total amount just because it takes a couple uh weeks to get that sorted out through

035Chipotle's end. Um, but I am really confident that we did get a lot of money through that and we're also going to get a lot of money through the pickle ball tournament that will go towards the funds that go for the states. >> And we're doing the same thing at Dino on February 10th. So everybody [laughter] please go to Dino. >> Um, and then me and I also took the marketing class with Miss Pinto um, this year which I think was such a valuable resource. I really don't think I could have competed as well as I did um without this. It was more focused towards um guiding DECA students through their competition because 30 minutes every Friday morning isn't always going to be enough. Um but we did have also a lot of outside DECA

036members and I think that also like you could also see the impact in them whether they competed or not. um because we learned such valuable skills and just um we really did interactive things with companies that we all know and we really got to learn like deep behind the scenes of what marketing is and what business is as a whole which I also think helped. Um, and to add on, we also, Miss Pinto, asked a bunch of guest speakers um, locally and uh, we had uh, maybe like four, four or five speakers um, which I thought was really inspirational to hear from adults that have like gone through this and like in the business world and hear the like step by steps of like their careers and I thought just really in uh, inspir inspirational

037um, to like hear all of these like adults and like how they like started off here and how they grew. Yeah. And so to wrap up with our future plans, so since uh three of us here are seniors, we really hope that this club will continue and we hope that it will spark future students, upcoming freshmen, um even middle schoolers, which other schools do. And we really want DECA to be an integral part of a kid's education and have it continue to be one of the biggest clubs and prepares students in throughout Conquered and Carlile to thrive. I mean, no matter what field you're doing, you're always going to need the skills to talk to people, to communicate, to collaborate, to find mentors, and that's kind of what DECA is about. So, thank you so

038much for allowing us to have your time. >> Um, and also, I just want to mention that the college I'm going to next fall has a DECA collegiate program, which I was automatically accepted to because of this, and I think that really gave me such a great opportunity to continue these plans and these learning these skills. So, I'm really proud of what we brought together. >> The is really big. so big that in some schools students have to take an exam to be part of the club. >> Wow. >> It's great. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much for coming to us. [applause] >> Congratulations. Any questions? >> You know, it's it's so funny because this is exactly where the school committee does interact with clubs. Like I think about you

039started a club, it it got approved, you went through the whole process, it was student led. So, you know, it's great to see that students are leading these clubs. They have an adviser that can come in and make it happen for them. So, we really appreciate that. And um I just had one question about states. So, it's March 14th. >> March 12th to 14th. >> 12th to 14th. Yes. And do you do you stay in do you stay in >> mandated to stay unless our school is located less than 10 miles from the from great >> because the activities run until like 10 p.m. and the next day we have to be there at 8. So this is why it's costing so much because they reserving all those fancy hotels. So I actually had to

040collaborate with a school from Bston. So two girls will stay with two girls from Bon. Great. So we cut cost you know. Well, good luck and let us know how you do. >> Thank you. [snorts] >> Another question. So, if there is somebody who's curious about this at the high school, what is one thing you'd like them to know? >> Let's take this. >> Can we say one actually? >> Yeah. >> All right. I'll start. Um, I want people to realize that it doesn't matter if you don't want to do business in the future. I don't care if you want to be a nurse engineer, but I want to say that there's over 80 different events in DECA, you're going to find one that specifically matches something that you're going to want to do in

041the future. And the real experience that I've gotten out of it is being able to sit across the table from someone who obviously knows way more than what I'm talking about and being okay with putting myself in a vulnerable position and being able to learn from that. Um, I think one thing is like a lot of students kind of want to join clubs to become like the leaders of them or like become like kind of like chief officers. But in DECA, the good thing about it is like no matter your position, you can still compete and like assert yourself like intellectually and then you can like qualify for things regardless of your position. So I think it's a really good opportunity for students who are like especially younger who don't have like the like the

042like time in the school to like be nominated to those club positions. I think they should really consider doing DECA. >> Um I thought one of the really important things is that it really opens up like a new experience to like like real world um like business like scenarios. Um and like you're kind of put in this like position where you have to like dress up and you really have to like um present like using um like all your like your knowledge to someone who like obviously like Kevin said like knows a lot more than you do. And I thought it was just like a really like great opportunity and like I thought it was like a great like um challenge too. >> Yeah. And then I'll kind of touch on my point earlier about

043soft skills. I think that's like one of the most valuable things I've learned. I barely even knew how to have a firm handshake and I think I've come out of it like much more professional. Um yeah. I mean I was so in my shell about public speaking. I don't think I could have done this a couple months ago. And I think that's just really just proof of how valuable DECA is. no matter where you're going. >> It's great. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> I'll say it again. Best part of our meeting is definitely all the students from the high school. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Oh, actually, it's we're going to do the kids. >> Let's Let's do the student update first. So, usually it's a superintendent update,

044but we're gonna be real quick today. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mark and Evelyn and Maddie. >> Yes, I think. Let's see. Um Do you have something to share? >> Yes. Um, who should I share it? >> Uh, send it to me. >> Great. >> It's okay. >> They're talking about the last I'm in DECA. So, they've been talking about this the last couple weeks. They didn't really get >> Yeah, I know. I just heard. Of course, you're in. >> But, it's been like they've been like non-stop with the fundraising. They were thinking of ideas like what could they do? So cool. I think I think everything's working out. Great. >> Sounds great. >> Okay. So, um, yay. It's already So, um, we had I think the last time we were talking

045to you guys, we were just coming up onto like midterms and, um, the end and also the start. So, the end of semester, one of the start of semester 2, which has been really exciting because for a lot of juniors and seniors, that means a lot of new classes um, especially for social studies and things like that, which I think is um, really exciting for everyone. And also for us, it's our last semester and so like everything kind of is winding down which is really crazy. Um so I mean we're hearing about stuff like we ordered our capping gown a little while ago and now people are talking about like grad parties and um like the invites from like parents >> second. I'm sorry you're making over. [clears throat] >> I know. So it's kind

046of crazy for us to kind of see that winding out but also really exciting for a lot of students right now um with a fresh little start. So >> yeah. Okay. And then another thing we had recently was Senate had helped or sorry NHS actually I'm getting confused helped out with curriculum night. So that was where eighth grade parents came to the high school and the principles would give [clears throat] an information session in the auditorium and then he came out and this was the first year that I'm on the NHS leadership team. I'm a secretary and we decided to help out with coordinating all the student volunteers because they want students to come and they'll give the parents tours of the school and just talk about things they're interested in and things that are

047good to know for the rising fresh or yeah freshmen. So we helped out with that. We organized I think 30 volunteers um and it sounds great. I have one of my sisters is going to be coming to CCHS next year. So my mom was there and she said it all went really well. [laughter] And I I don't know much about it but I know that debate just hosted um a tournament at CC which is really exciting. I think that was this past weekend or really recently. Um so that was really great for them. I know that's something that um you know CC is trying to do. I know Science Olympiad was trying to host a tournament. Um we ended up doing that. So I think that's something that's cool. There's a lot of overlap with

048leadership there. I know. I think Kevin actually might met might have ran the club who was just talking about DECA here. Um so yeah. And then >> yeah um swim just had their DCLS and they're preparing for sectionals. Um a lot of hard practices. I wasn't able to compete. I watched um I'm on dive so I wasn't able to compete in the meet because I didn't have a six dive list yet because it's my first year. But every the kids that did they did amazing. We won, of course. And then real, >> but our divers are amazing. >> But you know what? I love it. So, you started diving this year? >> Yes. >> And you've never done diving before. So, it is possible to start a sport in high school that you've never done

049before. >> So, junior year. It was scary, but >> good for you. >> It was a lot of fun and a lot of fun. >> Okay. Um, so last night the men's basketball team had their senior night in the gym. I was able to pop in for a little bit of it after um my student senate meeting. So I got to go and watch and cheer all the seniors on. We have five on the team this year. Um it was a great crowd. There were a lot of parents student section going on. Um and yeah, I think it was a great night for everyone. Yeah. And then we also had the internship um opportunity fair which is an opportunity for seniors and uh the fourth quarter to um you know kind of have that mentorship

050which is a really great preparation for the workforce and things especially you know if you know whether they're going into college next year or not. um just that's a really incredible opportunity and so I know that happens. So yeah and then also um I think we just put this one on here bookmark I guess just which is a club at CC. It's like the reading club um but they're focusing more to like authors and things like that and kind of bringing in more community engagement and um that's been really great. So they just had a guest speaker um Katie Bernett who is the author of Bath is dead and I think that she just came on this past Monday which is really great to speak um to a panel. So yeah and then do you

051guys know either I don't know too much about it. I know about MVP club. Yeah, >> I did the training for the three days. I don't know. I could say that it's a really I haven't been able to do the club because of like Wednesday mornings I have the conflicts, but like the actual program has been like really great. I did the three-day training that was like the entire day and we just went through like different role plays and then like just thinking about things in different way whether it be like sexual harassment like um racism like different things and just like having an open conversation and it just like I think it opened everyone's eyes. we were just talking differently and looking at things differently by the end of the three days and I

052got really close with a lot of the kids because spending what would be like a million classes with like the same kids which was really fun >> and I believe that that was I think last Friday that was during our flex block and so they hosted it was like a college campus safety um panel and that was like three um officers I think there was like a police officer and a forensic analysis or person and I think there was someone else but I think it was really cool to like have that opportunity if students were around to then go to that I think it was open just for juniors and seniors. So, especially really relevant if we're going on those college campuses this next year. So, and then that was that was redundant. So, we'll

053move on to things that are upcoming to look forward to. There's auditions for the spring musical. Um, it's too publicity here to plug that, but I'll try to [laughter] part of [clears throat] the CC theater gang. But >> what is it this spring of the announcement? >> I'm 9 to five. >> Classic. >> Exactly. Um, so yeah, auditions will be coming up and then we'll try to put in some things about the dates for all the shows and they come up in I think May or maybe April. >> Yeah, I know we have a lot of friends who are really excited about that. There was a lot of like guess work of what it would be and I know that my friends are placing bets but now or not actual bets but I think that

054[laughter] >> there's a big release that is out and people are really excited. So also with the new semester has been course selections which we don't really know I don't know when they're due but I think it's due like next [snorts] week or something Friday. So, I know there's a lot of Yeah, there's a lot of new course courses out there. Um like I'm a TA for um the constitutional law class which um the lovely Miss Fox teaches and so she's going to be doing a new course next semester in the fall um kind of different but also similar to constitutional law that's like it's more like criminal law and that's really interesting. And so I'm helping her and the other clerks and I were helping to like kind of shape the curriculum and like

055give her like details. That's really exciting that these new courses are coming in. >> There are a lot of new courses coming in. like you know there's AP business there like different things that I mean we're adding a lot of APs and it's kind of a bummer that we're like missing all of it now that we're graduating precal >> yeah AP pre-cal we were just talking to our math teacher Mr. Garrett about that all. Um, and yeah, I mean, we both have younger siblings and our sisters are both entering the middle or at the high school next year. So, that's I've been helping my sister with course. >> Yeah. So exciting. And then >> it feels so weird not to be able to like ask anyone cuz they're like all new classes. I've never had

056like AP English. So, like understanding if I want to do lang or lit or just do like two semesters of another one. It's been like difficult. that they've been like the assembly that they had was really really helpful. I know a lot of my friends I just like ask the principles if I have a question but sometimes people don't do that. So I know a lot of my friends were like asking me but the assembly was really helpful at like just like letting everybody know what this class is understanding like the AP limit what the credits mean like I think we hear like all these things and so there's like misconceptions but just like that's something that's really good at just like having flat surface to like move on to >> so everybody knows what's

057going on. >> Yep. Good. And the next quick thing is about moot court which is starting up um later I think on the 25th. So my partner um and I are actually going to be the first group going. So that's really exciting. Um but that's going to be a bracket um as I think it will finish in May I believe. Um so it's a little bit prolonged but it's really exciting. Um definitely challenging questions are going to be really hard but I'm starting up prep this week. So reading a lot of majority opinions right now and thumbming through some textbooks. So yeah, >> you did it last year too, right? >> I didn't do I did the constitutional law class which had a which had a mock trial in it. >> Okay. Yes. >> Yes.

058So um BSU is we're doing we're trying out this new thing. I emailed and I'm talking to different businesses in conquered. So I talked to Robin's House um Umbrella Art and a few other ones. I think I reached out to African-American um museum and just like I'm in Boston, but I'm just asking them for like research and different people that they think are like important to highlight and we're trying to do one post each day and they're have like three week theme weeks. So this week is meco and then next week will be black roots and conquered. The following week will be art and advocacy and then the last one will be legacy [clears throat] and future. So, one's going to be focusing on like the [snorts] youth leaders of tomorrow. So, people in our

059club that are like, you know, doing leadership things. That's going to be the last week. And then the art one is going to be um like highlighting black art. And I'm going to reach out to Umbrella to do that one. And Miles has been doing our social media. He's been doing a great job. >> Oh, I love the social media today. I mean, [clears throat] I noticed that I asked somebody. They said, "Oh, I think Mark does it." Like, so we got to give Miles the credit for [laughter] >> We do them together. So, so I've been like we've been working together on Canva. I think I'm learning how to work with people, but he's really easy to work with. So, I'm like, [laughter] "Do you think I'm like I don't really have time. Do

060you think you could like edit this, move this around?" And he's like, "Yeah." So, we've been like trying to schedule the post and do one each day, but it's been really easy. And >> the scheduling of the post is like game changing because then like you can like do it when you have time and then schedule it. >> Yeah. It's been very nice. Oh, I can talk about the also it's not on here, but the bad mint tournament is the top left. We had that today for the early release. It was student government that hosted it. Um I'm not sure who's on the leading committee. Well, we do it every year. You [clears throat] know, it's fun. Those are the two winners. It's Donovan and Charlie. [laughter] >> And then this weekend there's the Lunar

061New Year Festival, which has become a really huge thing at CC. Um I know people, you know, everyone just comes to that. It's really special. Um, and then there's also the attached ping pong tournament, which there's been a lot of um [laughter] advertisements around CC and posters for that. I think the person who's own who's running it just came up to me the other day. I was like shaking in my face, Dylan. [laughter] So, um, I think that [clears throat] the turnout for that's going to be really great and that's so exciting. So, next time we come, we'll have updates from that. Um, these are great photos. So, >> yeah, CC has a ping pong club that meets after school on Fridays. I always see it when I'm going out to my car and um,

062it's become a really big thing. I'm on it. And I remember they came and presented and they seemed really enthusiastic about it and one of them might be a ping pong player like outside of school like they do it. >> It's like crazy how enthusiastic everyone is. >> So big people just go after school and that's like oh we're going to ping pong club and it's just in the cap and it's great. >> So they wield the ping pong tables >> sometimes during lunch those around like feel good Fridays. That's super fun. >> And I mean Senate just passed like last night we passed we [clears throat] passed what was it? Badman club and then what other club? >> Pet one >> or foot salt. So, we're passing all these extra like kind of sports

063clubs, which should be kind of fun. I think after the success of the ping pong club, it's we have to make Mr. Jonas's time even harder at school. [laughter] >> Um, okay. And then another thing that's coming up is February break. That's in I guess two weeks kind of. Um, so that'll be exciting. And with that, it's a little bittersweet for a lot of teams like for ski team. We end our regular season then. We'll have our last races. We have one tomorrow and then we have one next Thursday and next Friday. And then after that, there's playoffs for a bunch of teams. And then there's um for us we have our states meet for those who qualify. So it's kind of the end and then spring sports will kick in halfway through March about.

064>> Yeah. >> Um [snorts] and then there's also a winter instrumental concert that will be coming up. Um I'm not on in band or orchestra, so I don't know a ton about it, but I think that should be coming up and we'll get more information when that's closer. Um one more thing, I believe the French Quebec trip um is coming up as well. I think that's this weekend. I know because um Madame Pinto who's just in here, she's um going and then my English teacher, Mr. Patterson, is also going. Um it seems like a really fun trip. I had a few friends who went on it our sophomore year and they get to go and there's dog sledding and there's candy and there's a winter carnival. She showed us videos of dog sledding. It seems

065so fun. Um yeah, so that's a great time just for the French immersion, getting to know new people cross grades and yeah, >> and I think that's everything we have for tonight. Um thank you so much. >> Thank you guys. You're busy. >> Thank you. Thank you. You can take those with you. That's our story of the schools that we've been working on. So, feel free to >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thanks for the update. It's really good. >> Did you get your honey? >> Did you get the BSU hoodie? >> Oh, was it at the high school? And I was >> I'll get it when I'm there tomorrow. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. And with that, I'm going to turn to Lori really briefly. We're going to give

066very quick updates because I think most of the discussion will happen during a meeting. >> Yeah. Um the one thing I wanted to highlight was the um beginning of our anti-hate series that the district's collaborating on with many many many groups in town. Um, last week we started the series with the facing history program which honestly that was incredibly great and just as powerful or even more was the um mingling of the groups beforehand and then the very quick introductions each group gave. I mean it really there's such a coalition growing in town of groups all on the same path towards anti-hate. And if the schools can help be a spoke to that, we're excited to be that. And it just felt like everyone getting in the same room is how we start to make

067change. So I'm really grateful for everyone who came out and some great conversations started. The Carlos Hoy series starts this week for three sessions to be concluded then at the end of March with Robin Oaks coming to talk about LGBTQ. So um we're just going to keep talking about it because we just want more and more people to engage and um and you know be part of the discussion of how we make it better. So, thank you. Okay. And I is I'm just gonna be really brief. Uh for the school committee, I have put one of these here. So, just huge shout out to Carrie Rankin who really pulled us over the finish line for Story of the Schools. >> Yes. Applause for everybody did it. No, great team. Thank you, Carrie. Um so, this

068is available online for anyone that's watching out there. We have some hard copies of it and I think, you know, it really showcases what we've done at our schools. We've put them around the room so people that join us for school committee can take kind of a look at our posters and just it's really impressive some of the things that are happening in our schools. We we've heard from all these students tonight and every time we get student groups in here it's just they bring something different to the table so it really helps inform us of what we're doing here at school. So that's all I have and then I'll turn it to Aisha. Michelle you guys have anything? Um yeah, so one of the things that um I just want to say thank you.

069I've gotten so much um support over the last couple months from conquered and carile. Um we've had ongoing discussions and it's it's I I just love it because I think that's what um that's the conquer that I know. Um this year we've had some tough discussions here. We had this some tough meetings here and um it seems like every time DEI initiatives are brought up or MECO is brought up, it's kind of met with hostility and aggressions that um I'm not used to. I think that um the conquer that I fell in love with as a teenager and the conquer that I chose my son to go to is not the conquer that um is has been represented in this committee this year. So um hopefully going forward we can change that like you know

070with the meetings that we're having at the school and you know about anti-hate and stuff. Um, one of the things that I think that as Mechco um, reps that we're going to try to put together is um, kind of like we have some amazing Mechco parents um, and Mechco families that are doing, you know, really good things in the community both here in in Boston and conquered. So, I think that um, to just to highlight them so we can paint the picture of what a Mecca family actually looks like um, so we can, you know, have a more inclusive um, environment here in the committee and in conquered. I know some parents have reached out with, you know, some um worried about the um the climate at the school with the with the medical students.

071So, um I just want to try to ease that and, you know, move forward in a positive way. Great. >> Thank you, Aisha. Um I know that I recently heard we're going to have a MECO representative on the PTG um at Alcott uh salon reached out to me last week. So, I I haven't heard who that's going to be, but that's something moving forward, which I think is going to be really helpful, having a METCO perspective when they're planning events. It's something that I had um I had voiced early in the year. So, I'm I'm excited for that change. I I voiced it after a couple other parents had reached out to me. And um I think that we're meeting with Lori next week, uh the Metco team and the reps. Uh so, I'm looking

072forward to that as well. So, that's all I got. Thank you. >> All right. And our next joint meeting, I should have said, um, is definitely scheduled at the Croc Center. So, we have we actually have our official paperwork now. So, it's our first, uh, meeting of the month, a regional meeting. We'll be in Boston. So, just, >> you know, make sure you block that in your schedule because it will just take some time to go in. Some years we've done a bus in, some years we just go in separately. We haven't really thought about that. Um, one year we did we actually ran the whole Meccco route, the opposite route. And I actually thought it was great like to just get kind of the experience of, you know, where the bus stops are and

073then going to the Croc Center. The Croc Center isn't a bus stop, right? Croc Center's not a bus stop. No, but we did go through um, you know, kind of what that looks like. So, more to come on that if we choose to do it that way this year if we go in separately. >> What's the date on that again? >> It's March 4th. So, that being said, if we get any more snow, >> yeah, >> um that's Boston are horrible. They're still they're still bad. Nine days later, they're still really bad. >> So, um if we get any more snow, >> we'll revisit we'll [laughter] when we get closer, but um >> definitely that's, you know, that might be a hint. >> Okay. Okay. And let's talk more about that because some years we've

074done pizza ahead of time. So, I don't know if we're going to plan on doing that if you think that's helpful. So maybe we'll talk offline of that and kind of plan get that planned. Okay. All right. Great. Um >> can I just get a very quick campus >> Oh yes, campus completion. Yes. Sorry. >> So I just wanted to share with everybody because we haven't talked about campus completion a while except for um CPA um applications to both towns. Um we have um we worked over the course of the fall um Michael Tracy and me just to try to identify other foundations that we might approach. Um we had a list of about 40 within Massachusetts. We as we looked at their missions and alignment. We got at best to three. Um Michael wrote

075an excellent letter that we use just to just do outreach rather than, you know, take the time to fill in the the full applications. I finally had time last week um to to start to send those out. Unfortunately, I don't have any great news yet. The one I got back was um we're outside of the scope. They're very when they say greater Boston, much closer to to Boston proper, but I just wanted the community to know that we're not just waiting on town meetings. Um that we are trying. I'm >> less and less optimistic as we um as we pursue this, but um we are trying. I know you said that there may be some state grants that we might look at um later on in the spring, but so I don't have great news,

076but just know that other funding is continuing to to be pursued. >> And I think there is that municipal ADA grant. Um that's the one that's kind of out there that just our timing last year was not such that it was going to work, but that's definitely a possibility for the spring. >> All right. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Good. All right. So with that, I will move to public comment. So as you I'm going to do my brief version public comment a spare of 20 minutes um each person will have three minutes. We'll start with people in the room and go and go between the room and online and if you can state your name and address we will start in the room with Alan Paka Bush. >> Do you want me

077to time >> that would be great? >> Just so you know I already promoted someone with their hand up. >> I see a hand up. Okay. >> All right. Go ahead. So, I'm ser I'm really sorry Andrew isn't here because I'm really talking about the meeting and some of the the the fortune stuff that happened. So, Andrew got my letter so I know that he knows >> and we have the letter. Andrew is traveling and he will watch the meeting after. >> Oh, good. [laughter] >> So, you're still speaking Andrew virtually. So, I believe my own name's Ellen Quackenbush 206 Prairie Street in West Conquered. Um, I believe the goal of the joint conquered school committee and its chair is a is a full civil and balanced discussion of all topics on its agenda. I'm

078sad to say that the January 21st meeting fell short of that goal. Halfway through the meeting, Michael Williams requested discussion of the bias and hate reporting working groups most recent meeting. Chair Herchuk interrupted him saying, "I know what you're going to say. It's not on the agenda, sir. you were in violation of open meeting law, which you can proceed if you want. Sadly, I think that was a divisive tone and hardly a best practice, I think, of the committee. How much better if Andrew had said perhaps, "Michael, I think I know what you want to discuss, but it's not in the agenda. Can we wait until February 4th today uh meeting so we can give the topic the time it deserved?" I think that would have been so much better. I also humbly believe that

079Mr. Mr. Herchuk is wrong about open meeting law. I'm on two town committees and co-chair of one. We always have a chair's report to share what the chair and fellow committee members have heard from citizens or observed in recent community meetings that warrant attention. Often these items have that have occurred after the agenda was posted. I believe that Mr. Williams request was totally within the bounds of open meeting law. Mr. Herek did not agree and denied his ability to speak. and then I attached the protocol handbook for the Mass Association of School Committees um to support what I'm saying. But unfortunately it I think went downhill. When the meeting returned to Mr. Williams requested topic, Dr. Hunter began an extended discussion relating her interpretation of the decision discussion she had had with the DA at

0803:30 that afternoon. I think effectively negating the validity of Mr. Williams request. Dr. Hunter's summary was that the VA quote is in is supportive of Conquered Schools. Dr. Hunter is a town employee and not a member of the school committee. In my humble opinion, she should not have been allowed to speak if a member of the school committee was barred in effect from speaking. I just think that's common decency. If you're going to have a discussion, have it with everybody. And I want to say that I believe Dr. Hunter, I know Dr. Hunter gave deeply about the students in the school. So that's not my point. Dr. Hunter is an important voice in the school committee. I just think you should have either all people speak or delay the conversation until the next time and

081have no one speak. I am optimistic to be able to attend respectful inclusive school committee meetings in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Right. And we will go online next promoted Gail. >> Looks like Gail Hires. I don't see her. >> Hi. >> Oh, there she is. Okay, go ahead. [clears throat] >> So, will I get video or No. And do I need to do that or we just going to do >> You should be able to get video. >> Oh, you're gonna start video. >> Okay, >> there you are. Thanks. >> Hi, thanks. I'm Gail Hire. Um, I don't know if you need my address. 54 Nancy Road in Conquered. And I just wanted to make a comment about something I have observed at the high school this year. Um, when I

082was there for back to school night, I noticed signs in the bathroom with a QR code on them. And they suggested that the reader use the QR code to um report any bathroom cleanliness issues or needs. And that was really upsetting to me for a couple reasons. First of all, no one should be operating their camera app in the bathroom. It's a private area and I was just kind of upset about seeing that. And then secondly, not everyone has a smartphone with QR, much less a smartphone with QR capability. So, um I thought that the sign should really say, you know, a name and a phone number or an office or someone who could um provide the necessary information if there was some needs in the bathroom. And then more recently, I was in the

083school and I saw some like brightly colored 8 and a half by 11 signs posted on the wall with a smiley face and a QR codes. And I'm not sure what the subject matter was, but just in general, QR codes are an unnecessary distraction for students. They should not be encouraged to take their phones out during the school day. And um so I think they're a distraction. Secondly, as I mentioned before, not everyone has a smartphone. So, someone might feel left out if they don't have one and they can't scan the QR code. And I think FOMO is really harmful to mental health. Um, and the third issue is um safety. QR codes can easily be um like fished or uh they can direct the camera user to sites that aren't the intended site. And

084so, um the fake QR code could lead to something malicious. and something like a practical joke or something that really kids should not be seeing in school. So, I would love to see a policy that discourages and does not um permit QR codes being used at school. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And next we have Margaret Schumach. >> No microphones. >> They're all in the ceiling. >> Oh, they are? >> Yep. >> Okay. Um, Margaret Schumacher, 25 Highland Street in West Conquer. Um, so, um, I want to talk a little bit about bullying incidents and things that are going on in in our schools. Um, certainly they're alive and well. Um, despite the work of our superintendent and everybody else who's working on this stuff. Um on November 19th at a at a

085school committee meeting um one of the members of the school committee um said that there needs to be wider wider outreach, wider uh appearance so people are able to see really what's going on so everybody can see what's going on, not just a select few that are handling it. and our superintendent uh replied to the school committee member in a somewhat strident tone. I thought I was trying to be trying to be objective and laid out the um her the plans that were are in place for the perpetrators of bullying incidents. Um and and they were were as follows. investigate the crime crimes notify police consequence according to the handbook and then suspensions and some of these suspensions are quite you know quite tough I'm a retired teacher and um all of that is is

086good stuff but it's not it's not really hitting the point. It this doesn't seem to be working. Um, I want to I want to bring up a a a school a person who spoke in the in our uh December uh 17th school committee meeting. Uh Dr. John Safir who spoke about and it really resonated with me and I I would hope it would resonate with all of us of of the importance of an all school assembly getting a bad thing happens. You get you get the students, you get the staff, everybody is there. The power of the entire school. And I know this from the school of an elementary school that I last worked at. When some bad stuff happened, that's what happened. We would have an all school assembly. Everybody heard it. Everybody heard

087the same thing. And and the the adults set the tone. And it really makes a difference. It shows the leadership. It shows the leadership that this is important. And it shows the students this is important and this is why we are saying this. This is why we're gathering here. And he he cited two two uh two examples. And the first one was of an autistic boy um in a school not too far from here. And again all school assembly took about five minutes. He said we have a problem here. We have a problem and the problem is that we all need to work together. We need empathy and kindness. And what power is that when everybody is sitting in the same room, adults and all the students, not just a few adults working on a

088problem or you know, >> sorry to interrupt. We're at three minutes. >> Okay. Anyway, the power of all school assemblies, it sets the tone and it's very powerful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um online, I don't see anyone online, so we'll go back to the room. [clears throat] Emily Lions. I'm Emily Lions. I live at um 63 Bruce Road in Conquered and I have three kiddos in the schools. Um I'd like to respectfully request the school committee push for the adoption of a b-to bell policy along with required phone storage either in a pouch or phone locker for the middle and high schools. simply asking students to keep cell phones in backpacks is not sufficient. And um friends of mine uh who have kiddos at CMS are um telling me that over and over

089again, kiddos are reporting still using their phones throughout the day at school. Um to borrow from Emily Brownley's compelling remarks to the Kansas State Department of Education, um in their pockets or backpacks, our children are carrying video cameras, thousands of Tik Tok and Instagram influencers, Netflix, YouTube, Discord, pics and snaps circulating in the school and um communication with strangers all over the world, not to mention gaming, Fortnite, Minecraft um and access to pornography websites as well. Um, phones prevent face-to-face communication um and increase school loneliness. Research suggests that face-to-face interactions are linked to better mental health. Um, the phones interfere with children's ability to practice decision-making, impulse, control, and focus, which are all key developmental tasks tasks of childhood and adolescence. Um, a recent study by the Seattle Children's Research Institute found that students spend

090a quarter of their school day on the phone. Um, and according to Pew Research, 90 or pardon me, 72% of high school teachers report cell phones are a major distraction in the classroom. Um, and twothirds of students admit that they're distracted by their own devices and 54% say they're distracted by other students using theirs. Um, and I could go on and on, but I know that we all are familiar with this research and with the problems that the um that uh smartphone use in school um creates, including cyber bullying and um the list goes on. So the the mere presence of a phone and even one in a backpack is distracting for students and takes away from um their learning environment. So continuing to allow phones at school, even in backpacks, is placing an unfair

091burden on teachers and on students. Um, so I call on all of us and our responsibility to protect a safe learning environment for all children during the school day. Um, we need to protect our children by instituting a more expansive bell-to-bell policy at our schools. Um, and there needs to be a clear and nonpunitive enforcement and consequence policy as well. This is the only solution that lets teachers do their jobs and prioritizes the academic, social, emotional, and mental well-being and safety safety of our students. Thank you very much. Thank you. Going back online [laughter] hands. So, I will close public comment and move on to the consent agenda. So, we'll start. Does any want to pull anything off the consent agenda before we move it? I see we >> Sorry. Go ahead. F say the

092same thing. >> The the the minutes on 121 and 127. >> Okay. >> So, let's pull those off. >> Yeah. I'd like to just leave the 1217 ones off so my office can clean them up and reissue them so we don't have to talk about >> So, let's completely uh take off the 127 minutes and I'll put that on the next agenda. [cough] >> And [clears throat] what were the other ones? Sundy >> 121. >> Yeah. 121. 121. All right. >> I'd also like to particularly comment on the January 21st uh minutes. >> Do you want to pull Well, let's They're pulled off. So, let's just try Can we >> Can we vote on the consent and then talk about the 121 if they're pulled off? Is that okay? >> All right. Thanks. Anything else

093from the consent agenda? >> No. [cough] Okay. Okay. So, I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item C and item F. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? >> I just want to thank the donation. >> Oh, that we have in there for $10,000 toward electric vehicle charging station. I thought >> anonymous. >> Wait, are you pulling off the executive session minutes from 127 or the joint? >> The joint. So D. >> Sorry, D. I'm sorry, D. Thanks Gary. >> Thank you for the donation of $10,000. That is important to say. >> Um okay. All in favor? >> I >> Okay. So now we will go to item F the joint minutes from 121. >> Yeah. Particularly comment on that. Um at the last meeting, Chair Herek

094attempted to silence my comments when he cut me off stating that what you're about to talk about is not on the agenda. So, you're violating open meeting law and that's up to you. Although his comments were clearly reflected in the video of meeting, they're not reflected in the minutes as they should be. It is clear that there was no violation. But importantly, I want to go on record to remind the chairs and our committee that no one should be making statements like this and issuing threats of ruling members out of order for assembly asking our body to discuss issues of pertinance to our community. This seems to be limiting rather than promoting deliberation. These are things that are crucial to an entire committee, especially people of color and all those that are marginalized. Characterizing issues

095that we are raising as out of order and disrespectful, threatening to silence the voices of those who are already marginalized is a very old trope. I'm shocked to see it being employed. Weaponizing rules, especially against people of color, as a means to silence them and paint them as lawb breakakers is unacceptable and should not be tolerated in any community that is serious about inclusion, belonging, antibbias work. It's my sincere hope that we strive to do better. Thank you. >> Thank you. Si, did you have a comment on those minutes? >> Yes. In section three, uh, it reads, uh, Miss Morano attended the vision of graduate. I think it's supposed to say they couldn't attend. >> I did not attend the vision of graduate. Okay. So, your So, you would like to amend those minutes to

096reflect that? >> Yes. >> And Aisha? Yeah. >> I just want to say um just um in in response to what Mr. Williams said, I ap I I feel for you that um what you went through and I apologize for that. I think that um I ask all our committee members when we see the the amount of disrespect and um discriminatory acts done at these meetings that we speak up and we don't just let this happen. I mean, I know for me when it was done to me, it was, you know, how it made me feel. Um and you know, I I just don't think we should just sit silent and not say anything. So, I just want to say I fully support you and I I'm sorry that happened to you. >> Thank you.

097And I think, you know, I think given the minutes, I think what everyone can see, people that are attending and people that are watching online, we do have that agenda item on this meeting. So, I'm glad that we're able to add it to this meeting. And I think if you know, and I'll just say publicly to everyone, if there's something that you want on the agenda, send it to the chairs ahead of time and we will get it on the agenda because that is what happened. So, it it came on this meeting. It's very hard in the middle of a meeting like I look at today's meeting to just put some a discussion item on and so everybody can be prepared for the discussion. So, um I think we're looking to move forward from that

098and like there are ways to get it on and so I hope that people will see that progress moving forward, >> but there's way to be respectful and and not treat certain people over over and over again the same way. There's we have to do better. >> Okay. I I would have to note that just in this meeting we saw Brian brought up an important point that was not on the agenda. >> He had asked me ahead of time to talk about that in the meeting. He I'm I'm just I just wanted to let you know that he did >> that is our protocol that if a liazison has an update to [clears throat] flag it >> flag it in the meeting. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So [snorts] we will I I totally agree we

099will do better. Um, and I think as a committee I would like to try and move forward from this and do better. >> I certainly can also just say I'm glad that we're actually putting it now on >> this agenda because I think when it was brought up it was brought up in a conquered >> meeting and car we weren't we weren't there and so I think it's I think we should all just be mindful of that as well. It's like it's tricky now that we only have the way the meeting cadence is, but I'm glad we're going to be able to have it in a full region >> meeting tonight. >> And I think it it gave us an opportunity to go back and watch that meeting that you were referencing. So, um I

100had watched it before the meeting, but I'm not sure everybody else watched it. So, this way we can, you know, I'll just be more prepared for the discussion. Um okay, so back to the minutes because I'm sorry to move us on for the formality. So, you had an amendment to the minutes. Would you like to amend the minutes at all, Michael? >> Oh, you have a print of it. I'll circulate it. I'll get it to you and we can discuss it >> for the next meeting. Okay, great. So, let's uh we will not vote on those minutes and we'll make the changes for the next meeting. Thanks. All right. Um correspondence going to move through really quickly. We had about four pieces of correspondence. Everyone should have received it. They were pertaining to cell phones,

101open meeting law, um our protocols. I think that's it. >> Did we vote on the consult? >> Yes, we did. >> We voted. Oh, okay. Sorry. >> We did vote and then we didn't vote on this other Sorry. >> So, I will make notation for our next meeting. All right. On to the discussion portion. So, um, item A, which, uh, we did add on to the agenda, and I felt like it was important to put it first on our agenda. I think it's a topic that people want to talk about. The community wants to hear us talk about it. And we've also invited Detective Harrington um, from the police department up here if you'd like to participate at all, if anyone has any questions. So to start this discussion um it really stems from the

102bias hate incident working group that Sandep is part of and I know Michael's been in attendance at those meetings too. I watched last night's you you were last night too, right? So I'm I'm >> what >> he's show. >> It's very timely. You were very timely today though I have to say. So I am going to leave it to the both of you to start the discussion about that meeting because you were a representative Sarah. >> So so I I can start right. So what I want to do is give a brief update on the the specific meeting on Jan 16th for the the bias and hatred support group. So since that that group convened, I think it was in November, we've been meeting with experts uh across Commonwealth um essentially to set a baseline

103on what bias and hate is and we should be trying this month. >> Can you speak up? >> Can you speak Can you speak up? Sorry. >> We Sorry. This is a meeting in the public, not with the public. Sorry, Sandy. >> I I'll try better. >> Okay. >> Um >> just address all comments through the chair. Sorry. >> Oh, sorry. I'll try and speak. >> Sorry. >> Um, so, so the group has been hearing from folks across the Commonwealth. Um, during the April, no, not April, the Jan 16th meeting, we had uh, DA Marian Ryan over Middle County and the conquered car human rights council both show up and make statements, right? What garnered a lot of attention was what Dan said, and I'm going to read over here so I don't miss. Um

104she said her office has received a high volume of bias and hate incident reports associated with conquered. In fact her words were every single report has come from conquered. Now she clarified that these reports don't directly come from the school administration. That that's what really got all the folks in this in this community um you know on alert because that's probably not good. Uh we did have conquered PD um in the room. They clarify that everything the school administration does uh we report to the concrete medium uh to the DA's office. Um over the next I guess few days or so this is after the meeting kind of her comments were limited to that. You know we we speculated on why that might be but not going to go too much into the speculative reasons.

105Um I I spoke with the DA um over the weekend, a couple of days after that and the information that was gathered brought to administration's attention. Uh and as Lori pointed out the the day of the last school committee meeting, she did in fact reach out to the DA and closely. Now I think conquer bridge is here. Uh want to acknowledge the the the kind of awesome work they did on this because this is as of yesterday and again I'll read over here. >> Um they've been working with the DA sorry that the conquered bridge uh in their report yesterday said the DA's office has fielded 33 reports in 2025. 14 of them from conquered and all through conquered police with eight of them being school-based. Right? So the way I understand it, the process

106as intended is working the sense that any incident that the school finds out the report to conquer PD and conquer PD reports up to office. So it is it is again rest of it I'm going to throw in my thoughts and my opinions on this that part of the process where the reporting goes up to the rea closing the loop on what's collected over there is probably not working um because if we're not aware of what's being handled or what they're tracking it's it's probably something we need to get better Um, can't see anything else than that on that. Oh, uh, I I know folks in the community have brought this up a few times. U what what what we heard that evening is not the the standard that wants to hold itself to. Uh,

107hence we have to try and do better. uh and and I think finding out where some of these processes break down uh where we're not getting the intended result is it's just the way to do it. So problems not solved but I hope we're on the right track and and get it corrected. You want to add anything? >> Yes. Um, the whole purpose of bringing this up contemporaneously was not to have a discussion that night, but to make our community aware that it happens is you weren't there. You weren't there and a great number of people were not at the uh Church Street actually at the Harvard Wheeler to to hear De'arra speak the importance of having our community hear sort of firsthand going to media. exactly what was said and let them sit with

108that for a while is important. Um, I'm pretty certain that everyone that was sitting in that room jaws dropped when they heard what DA Ryan had to say. I think that I believe it's not about the numbers and I believe from one of the earlier speakers Carlos Hoy there was a review that was done by our DEI commission I believe in 2022 that pointed up similar concerns about incidents of bias incident of hate incidents of our citizens feeling concern again this is exclusive to schools So I believe uh Dr. Hoy suggested at the time you already know that something's going on and actually gave the body the latitude to think about thinking outside of the box to try and affect the change that might give the community the feeling that when things occur someone's paying

109attention that some something comes from. So, so what I had hoped to do one is to get eyes on this, not that we have a discussion on it, but that eyes would be on what happened uh six days prior to to our last school committee meeting toward not necessarily thinking about the number of events that occurred, but what the number of events that were relayed appropriately from our schools to our uh safety uh resource officers in the school and to our police department and then to the DA's office. Not questioning that whether that system worked, but from what we hear of the numbers, what we glean of the numbers, what does that inform us about how our system is working? What does that inform us about how how we're handling things? So, our community is

110do you have thoughts on that on that or or Tracy Brian uh Carrie? Having the numbers is important. using those numbers to help inform how our processes and policies work and as part of our goals. Part of our goals was two-way communication on incidents of anti-semitism, hate and bias. We chose that as our goals. We should be looking at that information, taking the information of how take gleaning information from that of how our policies and processes are working and then having that to and fro dialogue with our community. That's what I wanted to bring up. But that's what I think over and above the numbers is what we should use that data to to force us to interrogate our processes and then relay what we gain from that to our community. I'm interested in hearing

111any of your thoughts on it. I guess what I struggle with as just so 14 incidents reported and conquered last [snorts] year, eight school um and frankly I mean anything greater than zero is is not good. But what I'm just do we have anything year over >> year? Is there more reporting happening? Is there we don't have that and that that's kind of why we're trying to get that system stood up, right? So it'd be great to have it and >> you could argue that if you see a trend line in more reports, it's probably because people are more comfortable reporting it. So even the metrics on what you should be looking at is unclear. The only thing I'm focused on at this point is are there any incidents that are happening in the schools

112that we don't know about because people are not comfortable and as far as I know that is not true because everything that's happening in the schools or everything that DA knows about what's happening in the schools is because the schools have reported to the concrete medium that's gone up. >> Yeah. >> Is the school resource or the school resource officer are they police officer or just >> police officers? >> Yeah. And I guess what is expected of the DA's office because when I I listened to the the meeting last night and she was saying some schools go directly to them. >> The approach that we're using is school goes to the police, police goes to the DA. >> Yeah. >> But like then what like what is what is expected there? >> And concrete PD

113again please correct me if I'm wrong here. They they report to multiple reporting systems not just the DAS office. >> Yeah. >> Correct. So, so you put I think six different systems, right? >> Yep. So, >> correct. >> If you [clears throat] pull let's say the AG's office, they might have different record what how they want this process to work. >> Again, we don't have answers yet. But in my mind, I think if if the schools are putting the concrete and the reporting upwards, that's fine in my book for the reporting part, right? The the more important thing is what are we doing about >> right the action? Um that's something I think we can talk about. Again, not not to suggest that anything's not working supposed to be, but that we have less insight

114into uh the reporting part as of now. I don't see any flags in it. >> So, >> but you're saying like when it comes back or is there any followthrough or like we don't have those reports that have gone into the DA's office, right? >> Or we do you want to >> Well, they were generated from us to the police. We do know what is >> and there was nothing but there was nothing else reported >> from the school per se. Right. >> I would be more concerned if it was all things that we all things that we >> So there's a that's been >> I'd be more concerned if it wasn't the case. >> That's what you know made everybody in the community like oh my god. >> Right. Right. >> Rightly so. But

115thankfully that's not the case. >> Yeah. >> As far as we know. >> Respectfully I have a very different take on this. But let me ask one question. is the I'm sorry I'm lost. So that's okay. Are are the reporting tool that Middle Sex County uses the same is it the same reporting tool that our police department uses in is >> so what Middle Sex County DA's that that she presented she had a uh document that was basically the the the face sheet of the the reporting tool for getting information and I I thought I had from Lieutenant Lonzers who was there in the meeting that night that our police department uses the same reporting tools. The document that >> we have a universal Yeah, we use a universal report that we're sharing with every

116one of the agencies that we report to. >> So, is is that universal reporting document the same as the Middle Sex counties one? Is it just the the the user interface? >> Oh, I understand what you're saying that what they're the requirements of what they're asking. >> Yeah. Um well what we're g we're having our narrative that's coming into us and then from the portal that they're giving to us we're >> trans we're we're providing that information over and we're you know responding to the questions and the prompts that they're being provided to us. >> Okay. So it's it's it's not the the same form but the information from the form that that our police department has that's informed by what we're reporting gets translated there. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Again, the the

117view that I have on this is that the numbers can be the numbers. We know the reporting system is intact. The numbers can be the numbers. Um the salient point to me is that um conquered population is 1% of Middle Sex County, but we accounted for, and this is cool and community, 100% of what the DA got. There's no way that that's good >> in the past six months. There's no way that that's good. Let me finish the the take I have from that is how do we look at that and then use that to inform how we look at the systems that we have in place and and again that was in six months. What happened in the past six months? The ADL complaint was revealed six months ago. Could that be a truth?

118Don't know. But mindful of that, I I again I I think looking at let's accept the numbers, the numbers. Carlos Hoy said back in 22 we had numbers. Those numbers are the numbers then told you that something was going on in town. Looking at both of those sets of numbers, someone that's professional at the interface of TEI and reporting and and and diversity and inclusion said that if you've already got the numbers, look larger, examine what you have and look at how it work, how you can make what you have work better for your community and tell your community that. That's where I am. That's where that's why I would hope that we look at what the information we have and use it to help make things better for our community and that we may

119not might not need and you know Carlo said you might not need to make another reporting system. You might need to get the information talk about this as we're doing now in this kind of a conversation is what I I I'd hope for. Have that conversation pound your ideas together. Come out with something better for our community. So if I'm hearing you, it's those eight incidents from the school, the 14 for the community. What are the types of incidents or the the themes of them? And are there practices that we can >> I spoke with uh DA Ryan and I spoke with uh with with our police department at length after the meeting and DA broke down the didn't ask for numbers, didn't have to have anything any further anonymized. They broke down basically four

120groups. Racial, ethnic, religious, and gender gender identity based. That was the this the the the uh her her telling me that was that was least least uh um significant but not insignificant. the the the ranking as as she gave them. Um, other things that she's said is that when communities come to grips, come to grips with these issues and work work toward them and work constructively toward them, um, it's difficult work, but they usually get to a good place. When communities don't talk about these issues, work on these issues, they ended up having interventions from our police, the police department, and her office. And we should not want to be in the latter group. And and so it behooves us to, as we said in our goals, uh communication and community engagement, strengthen two-way communication

121with stakeholders, deepen collaboration with town leadership, specifically in addressing acts of hate and anti-semitism in our communities and promoting equity and inclusion and belonging. We said that about ourselves. We should have this. We should, our select board has talked about this every meeting they've had since July. Um, and it [clears throat] might behoove us again, not focusing on the number, but focusing on how the numbers we have inform us about our policies and processes and whether we whether we're good with that or not. We're capable of doing that. We made a commitment that we're going to do that. That that's all I'm asking. >> I just have I have two questions. one is um on the like it's it's like a tricky thing. How do you figure out what the the numbers mean, right? Um

122because no, nobody wants to be on that side of that equation. Um and over the last two years, we've spent many time many like minutes, meetings talking about pushing people to that reporting system. And so on the one hand, I feel like that's sort of a win because when we first rolled it out, nobody was using it. And when we started seeing the numbers, we celebrated it because we were like, "No, we don't want these incidents happening, but we do want people to feel like they have a safe place to report it should something happen." Um, so I don't I on the one hand, I'm grateful that the system that we have spent a lot of time rolling out is working to address issues that we don't want to happen. And on the other hand,

123I don't disagree with you. I I think that you're you're absolutely right. We need to be thinking about what do we do next, which is my question. What is the for the working group? What is what are the next steps >> for the like and and I guess like for the charge of the working group, if you could speak to that too. >> So, so you bring up a great point, right? and and uh I want to try and answer that by first saying what you know u court bills in the the conquered car um >> against anti-semitism >> no it's human rights >> council >> so they were the other group that spoke after the DA said that was formed in 1978 after witnessing you know acts of hate in our community so this

124is not new what's new is the fact that we have a reporting system what's new is that conquered period did a great job reporting everything upward. Uh and yes, maybe we don't exactly know the numbers of the last six months, but in the last year, 100% was not from conquered, right? Just for the record, 14 of the 33 were. So yes, conquer does a great job reporting. Uh that should not be held against Conquer. Right? That's one. Now, you asked what the next steps are. We're done the information gathering phase. Now what we're doing is finding out what such systems look like in other towns in other school districts in uh other um I guess state level and FBI and all of them and kind of create a universal set of what we think are

125uh relevant stuff we need to capture within the town. That's step one. Step two is see what all avenues we should have for this tool in the sense that is it just a a tool that is online? Is it somebody managing a phone? Is it you know texting? Open up the options, right? Uh so so imagine what that looks like. um and finally come up with a recommendation what we're going to do with the data because you can collect all the data you want but if you're not going to act on it and if you're not going to build trust with the community it's another dead end and that's kind of what Carlos White was pointing out like you have the data from three years ago right you have the data from 30 years ago

126we know it existed then we know it exists three years ago it still exists now what are you going to do about it uh and that's the part that we don't know >> so I just think that um and I've said this all here is that um the accountability and the transparency part of it I think we kind of miss um and I've [clears throat] said this since day one um bringing the conquered police and the DA's office to the table not on this level but on the even on the students level like bring them into the school so these children know like you know these are acts of hate and you know but they're actually crimes that are being committed um you know and some there's some crimes that are being committed that aren't

127being um dealt with appropriately and no one's being held accountable um so I just think that bringing the conquered police and the DA's office um to speak to students and just let them know like you know what that looks like and you know what what can happen I think would be helpful not just at our level but just with the students as well >> and so maybe we can talk about kind of um you know whether it's this meeting or future meeting like how does that work in in concert with the conquer police department I know that you're in touch the SRO officers are involved in incidences so that you know that is some of that is definitely happening and the police are at the table. They're involved in everything. >> They're involved in everything.

128>> No, but I mean like for like maybe like you know like someone said have like an an all school assembly or you know just so everyone's aware and you know so they can't say that they didn't know that you know calling someone you know a racial slur and throwing something at them that they can be arrested for that. Um you know so that we we're all aware of it. So you know we can't play like we know. Again to be I think Michelle has a point but I want to clarify that this is a tool for the town not not the schools right and and at some point hopefully the the data will flow between but again this is to for the town. >> Yeah. Okay Michelle. >> Hi thank you. I just wanted

129to thank the chairs for putting this on as an agenda item. Um you know I had asked in November about some of the data regarding the reporting and the trends for some of these incidents and I'm really interested to um know number one who manages the reporting tool for the schools and are any of these incidents repeat like recurring um reported incidents or are they all separately reported incidents? Um, and is there a way to kind of rate the severity of these incidents to see um like on a scale how severe or egregious the act is so that we have an idea of what we're dealing with like over time um to kind of track the data. I I can answer who the the administrators get an automatic flag in their email if a form

130is filled out. It happened this morning while I was at a meeting at the high school and they got flagged that something had just um and then they act on it. I mean, they sent an AP off to go deal with it while I was still in a meeting with them. So, they're acting on it immediately. Um the rest of it depends on what we have for information. Sometimes we have all of it to start with. Sometimes we have a lot of investigating to do. A lot of them are a [clears throat] lot of there is a success I think in in the number of anonymous ones coming in because that to me says we're creating a structure that is giving a tool that was needed. Um as for the rest I it range, you

131know, I'm not sure I want to be the one to decide what's egregious and not. They're they're all not okay if something hateful just happened. Um, >> well, I guess like physical contact or verbal, you know, you kind of rate it like that. >> It's almost it's all verbal pretty much. So, I'm not diminishing the verbal, please. But >> it's verbal almost always. >> Yeah. >> But there's not one person analyzing the statistics. >> Well, each building so that all the buildings have the same system and it it's it disagregates by building. So all of the principles and assistant principles are constantly reviewing what comes in. I mean I I will say I think it's a it's a manageable number. You can hear the numbers you're talking about. Those are manageable for them to quickly

132know if there's patterns or anything like that emerging. Um I'd say in general I mean they loop me in right away. I'm looping the chief in. They're calling the SRO. Those things are happening simultaneously. Um so we're all aware of what's happening. Um, and I would say there aren't many repeat offenders and it's often oneoff, thoughtless, careless things that we have work to do. And I, Michael and I met yesterday. I think part of, you know, we it's a community effort. I was really encouraged last week. So many people came out to that event. I think this is the the kids are being bombarded with messaging right now, conscious and unconscious, whether it's the leaders around all of us, whether it's music or social media or any of it. It's it's a lot for us

133to try to negate. And I think those malleable brains are sometimes just doing really impulsive, hurtful things that we need to keep helping them realize the impact of. and the power that they're holding when they do that. Um, one thing I feel successful at, my first choice of words. Um, we've pretty much been able to solve almost every situation this year and been able to address it with the individual students. That's where I feel like we make a difference. Um, we we've held assemblies. I'd love to go through more. I know, you know, we it's not that we haven't done that. I think we're getting frustrated that it isn't getting us the impact we want. we can have that whole discussion. Um, we've tried to empower the kids. Um, the BSU, last time I met

134with them a month or so ago, they want an assembly and then they added, but it has to be someone the kids can relate to. So, they're doing some homework to bring us ideas that we'll all vet together because we, you know, if we all have an assembly and it's someone kids are tonedeaf to, we we know we're missing the mark there. Um anyway, so we're all here to collaborate and brainstorm together on how we keep these really important issues in the forefront. Try different things. We're open to things. Um I suspect it could be worse if we weren't doing everything we're already doing. That doesn't mean it's okay what's happening. Um but we have a lot of foundational work and preventative work. I feel like now it's like how do we help young brains

135that sometimes have a lot going on and are bombarded with messaging? What do we keep doing to help impact that? >> Strong argument for phone free schools. >> It's all day all night. That's that's my my concern, you know. >> Yeah, >> that's what we can do during the hours that we have the students. And I I want to be really clear to remind us that you operationalize things. We look at the overall >> overall >> policy >> and and and and frame protocol and assess that. >> Again, the plea that I would have is that we have information. We have historical and maybe very subjective information that things are happening through a variety of different sources that we use that along with the you down or the high schools >> both actually because we

136are in the town. [laughter] It's it's it is that we look at that and again interrogate it to look at what we're doing and examining whether or not it works and and and do that at a regular basis and then come back and you know scratch our heads and that was good but this wasn't or everything's great and that would be wonderful but that we do that regularly with an eye toward making certain that at the end of the way people feel comfortable that it might not have been a crime, but I and it might not be something that that can be fixed by by sitting talking u uh counseling or or or suspending. But because of the way it was handled, I feel that the system I I'm because we we're not going to

137make it zero. But we can make it better. >> Lori, how often do you look at the protocol and see if it's working? >> We we look at it a lot. Um, >> so >> which is one reason we step back from the assemblies, but there's never a ending point. So we're always happy to keep talking, >> but what what Michael suggested is something that is being worked. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Yeah. So before we close this part of the discussion off, um, it sounds like we would like this to be an added agenda item in the future. I do think that we need to be cognizant of having our Carla members in the room for this. Um, Sandy, yeah, go ahead. >> I was gonna say all of these meetings are like the night

138before the school committee meeting, so there's no way I'll get the news on reports in a time for you guys to read until like the next meeting. So perhaps now I now we do do our layers of reports written, but maybe what we could do is if they are right before our meeting, maybe you could just report out um of kind of like what's going on because I what I heard last night from their meeting is really to have this partnership between the town and the schools um and obviously the police department and the DA's office. So I think that the more we can do that and show that we're like we are all in this together um I think that would be helpful. So maybe for that particular liaison role you can just give

139the verbal update. >> Perfect. Share couple that came up yesterday. >> Sure. Go right ahead. I mean while while it's on and then >> well I'll go over the the discussion time. >> You can still do your written report after too by the way. [laughter] >> So so a couple of things. Uh I obviously the clarification that the bridge uh provided you know with the data was discussed. Um, one of the things the the what M wants to do is potentially talk to Andrew uh when we're further along to see how this will work with that and extract information. That was >> Yeah, >> guys idea. >> Great idea. >> Yeah. >> And so we we'll probably ask for some time. >> That was one. There was also interest in um I guess we've been

140doing focus groups, right? So have focus group of younger student younger which which the discussion was do we go high school middle school I'm not a fan of going to middle school middle school but um if we're going to go down that path u maybe you reach out [clears throat] to the kids and get their inputs. So those are two other things that came up. >> Okay. Um, so do we think that during the the chair's report or do we want it on an agenda item during it will be a regional meeting so it will be not at the CPS meeting. So I do I think it's important to have all of us you know present. Um so do we think agenda item or leaison report? I think agenda item uh if I look at

141the uh look at the the select board as I said since July um they have it as a separate basically talking anti-semitism bias and hate incident reporting work group or bias and hate um they have a separate agenda item every meeting so I think it's something to consider because I I think over and above When it's when the incident reporting workg group has a meeting, we have our own reporting system and we have an idea of what's going on from that. That's fuel for the discussion for the conversation. It can be augmented by by that. That's fuel for the discussion. >> So, I'm going to um commit to put that on as a discussion item just as it is today. It's going to be bias and hate incident working group and we are going to

142try and keep it to a little bit shorter to like this is our first initial discussion which I think is fair and I I said you know what we're not going to you know cut that short to 10 minutes but we'll try and you know get a little bit better in our discussion and and I think this was really helpful. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. So we're Thank you, detective. Thanks for being with us. >> No problem. We know where to find you. Just kidding. [laughter] Sorry. >> You can feel free to go now. I mean, seriously. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you so much. All right. So, we're going to move on and switch gears a little bit. Um, Angel Charles has been super patient waiting to press the back.

143Thank you so much. She has some students with her, so we are going to have a special Yep. a special education update. Um, the committee has had the slides, so we're happy to hear from you. >> Reverse order. She was going to chat with you first, but the kids have been waiting, so we're anxious [laughter] to get them in front of you. >> Angel will take it from there. >> Thank you so much for having us. Um, so on March 28th, uh, we will be celebrating the one year grand opening of our storefront, Concrete Possibilities. Um, so again, I want to thank you for your support of that initiative and I've invited some students here. Would you like to introduce yourself? >> Hi, I'm Aiden Hitchcock and I'm 18 years old and I'm in the

144launch program. >> Excellent. >> Greetings. >> I'm Marina and I'm a junior um at CCHS. >> And I'm Ratagran. I'm the launch teacher and conquered possibilities store manager. [laughter] everything else include. >> Thank you. >> So, would you like to tell us a little bit about your time in the store? What you're enjoying, what you're learning, what you're making. >> You can show them, too. Right. >> So, we've been making these hats and >> all these merchandise. >> Hold it up, Aiden, so we can take a picture. [laughter] >> Amazing. But down a little so I can see your face to go with. >> Yeah, there you go. >> And it just we brought it so like you know you can see what the kids actually can do. >> Yeah, >> that we want to

145brag a little bit about ourselves but it's really about what the kids can do. >> Um, you really should brag about yourselves. This is really awesome. >> Yeah, I think that's what the plan is actually. [laughter] >> And do you want to talk a little bit what is your job? what are you doing making these things? >> And my job at the store is to peel and to vacuum and stuff and sometimes I would take out the trash while I'm there and we usually go out sometimes to work at Goodell Library in Drumland sometimes, but we don't do that anymore because it's cold, but we'll end up doing it again in the springtime. >> Perfect. And on Thursdays we go to Discovery Museum to work there as well. >> Did you say one of your

146jobs was to peel? >> Yes. >> Can you talk about that? >> So I usually peel the logos for like the throw and alcot and stuff and for the high school and conquered middle. >> So I know a little I'm a little bit of a crafter myself and I like to use the [laughter] heat press. I don't know if you guys know that about me. So, do you peel the um after the heat press you did peel? >> Yes. >> Right. >> And Aiden, what what else do you peel? What do we do first before you peel it? >> You print it, >> print it, >> right? And then you peel it and then what happens when you peel the stuff? You put it >> on the shirt, >> right? So this was made by

147the cricket and you see the metco and the toro seniors that was done by the DTF center that we were very lucky to get. >> Terrific. >> Great shirts. >> That's really cute. >> Okay. Where's Aisha? Aisha loves We have to wait for in the DTF. I know. So you have a DTF printer in the store. >> Yes, we do. It's It's a game changer. >> It totally is. It totally is. >> It really is. Uh so yeah. And so Aiden, he's the front runner basically. He's in the store and really works there. Like he comes every single day. And then Mara here, she can tell you more about what her job is as a CCS student. I go to the store usually whenever I have a free block at school and I go there.

148It's really like the most important thing is to connect with the students and um sometimes I also help like make the shirts and that and I've gone there a few times to do some community service with a couple of my friends and it's just a good opportunity to see and connect with other students that we wouldn't usually um be able to like communicate with during school. And it's good to like have more experiences and learn about how to run a store and all the things that go into that. >> And uh can you talk a little bit more about maybe the posters or newsletters you students make into? >> I'm making newsletters um like every month for the launch program to like highlight what they're doing in the store and their other activities to like

149to just summarize what they're doing. um and how the students are involved in it. >> And where are those newsletters? Like could we see any of them? Like are they available or >> Well, that's my job. I usually send them to my families and everybody, but I guess I could do better job to send it like to everybody else. >> To Yeah, because it's really just >> just include me and I can push. >> Yeah, just send it to her. >> Yeah. And so I just wanted to point out that and Aiden can talk a little bit more about customers too that we very fortunate we work with PTGs from uh all elementary schools. We started working with PTA from the high school uh which now we going to sell the prom dresses and we

150very lucky that we can stay a little bit open a little bit longer because what customers say and Aiden can confirm. Our main issue is that we need to be more community friendly. Uh and it's really just about the our store. So, and we have some creative ways how to do it. But so that was the main main complaint of like our customers like hey I really would like to stop by. But it's really shows that we are making big difference because again we have students who you might not even think that they could be able lots of things but they became 100% independent in what they are doing and uh also we have really community members who just come to us and thank us which again shows that pro you know we doing something

151that really uh is meaningful and very important for the students and I just I want just to say because Aiden is here. Like Aiden is our star because he showed up for every single back to school night. He >> sure did. [laughter] And really helped us all this stuff. So I have to thank him and his parents for the >> It's just amazing what's happened in such a very short amount of time. >> I know. It's crazy, but wonderful. 9 to2 9 to2 >> and for anyone that's out there listening or watching our movie um they are located right our movie our film [laughter] they are located right in front of Crosby's there's a red building it's the Campbell building and you will see conquered possibilities there >> so if you go to Starbucks just

152[laughter] and we are right there okay so please come please come and see us and yeah I'm I'm sure that we will work with you know everybody body here and to make the hours better for for people who are >> That's a little pitch for me [laughter] and you to come up with some funds for later later management in the store. So, >> but yeah, it's just like people really want us. People really do and so that's like what we really working for and >> it's it's just amazing. What do you think, Aiden? Do you think it Yeah, you like it, right? >> Yeah, I love it. >> We know you do. That's great. >> Really great. You're so good at it. >> You're doing really good work. >> Yes, you are. >> Thank you.

153>> I went to the store in October and I bought so much stuff, including this awesome shirt [laughter] >> and it was so fun and everybody in the store helped me find all the things that I needed. I got my daughter an Alcott hoodie and I bought like three different conquered shirts and there was so much stuff there. It's so amazing. So, thank you guys so much. I love the work you're doing. our pleasure. >> And we can custom make anything. >> I wish I could custom make everything. [laughter] >> We really can make really anything you think of. >> We had a club here earlier tonight that might be willing to help you with marketing. [laughter] >> Synergy. I love it. >> I love that. Is there an Instagram for conquered hospital? >> We

154do have Instagram. [clears throat] >> Okay. >> I'm following it. I need to follow that. >> Okay. and Madame Pinto who was actually club is our very big supporter which reminds me too I just sorry I have to jump to like the Japanese visit that was here we are now very famous in Japan [laughter] I >> I also became a member of the CNN network so so I'm like in touch with like people from Japan and they actually sent me a slideshow that they presented to all schools about our stores and our store and our students and So it's just really amazing that uh you know they know about us and also Japanese emperor actually knows [laughter] >> about this place. So >> no pressure. [laughter] >> So find the money to extend the hours

155tomorrow [laughter] morning. >> The Japanese opera can come. >> I hear you. I got it. >> Yeah. And like actually some members of the CNN network, the conquerana network got actually rewards from like the emperor. So it's yeah, >> it's really really great. >> Rebecca, really thank you. I think we >> Thank you. >> This has all been you. I mean, we got the we got the door open, but the rest has been you and the kids. So >> exceeded all of our expectations for what we've accomplished. >> We couldn't have done it without your support. So, thank you all for really allowing us to just have fun cuz we do, right? >> Yes. Yes. >> Really great. Thank you so much for coming. >> GREAT. >> SO, we'll let them pack up and Angel

156can stay and chat with you. Great. >> Great. Thank you, Angel. >> Yes. Thank you so much. >> Pleasure. >> You're going to need like a school committee swag or something. I'm going to get us a design. They have a DTF. >> You need the mugs and you know sweatshirts and water. >> I saw this. I love this. >> Do you do any design work? >> Is it a sticker? >> You give us idea what you're kind of looking for and we design. >> Okay. >> Go from there. >> All right. Thank you. >> See you. You're right. I see it. >> Oh yeah, >> we might have a new uniform. >> Or we could have like yetis. I'm like yetis. We could do it all. >> I don't even know what it is. Yes.

157See, look at that. >> I don't know how to follow. [laughter] >> I don't know how to follow it either, but >> it said a lot without you saying much. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good night. Great job. >> Yeah. >> Come back to follow Angel. I love it. He said unbelievable. All right. Um so I you're not gonna show >> they've seen your slides. So we're happy to >> chat. Okay. Um >> so first and foremost um when you looked at the members of my team on that first slide, you'll notice that there were two new positions which I would like to thank you for. Um it has been an absolute game changer having specific assigned elementary special education administrators at each building. Not only just to you

158know be more of a presence and more supportive and available for the families, the students, the programs just to have that expertise on site has been a complete game changer. It's also helped us to have broader conversations across the schools and how we can sort of set up efficiencies, systems, more efficiencies, more consistency. And it's also provided one point of contact at each building who's not the principal to help with the transitions from one level to the next. So we've already we're already feel like the work that we're doing now is things that we typically wouldn't have gotten to until April. So it's been fantastic. Um so thank you again for that. It's been wonderful. Um I think it's always interesting to look at our sort of headc counts by school just to see sort

159of you know where our numbers are per building um in district out of district. We're holding steady um across the buildings. No major surprises. Um but our number of out of district students at CPS has has gone down and is going to continue to go down to unexpected rates of being low. I guess it's the only way to say it. Um I also think it's interesting to look at the number of students who um whose primary disability is under each category because we have to qualify under an educational category. Um consistently specific learning disability has been our most identified uh number for students and that has continued but across the board we're again holding steady. When you look at the disability categories by number, that also includes students who are in out of district placement.

160So if you look at the headcounts by school and you compare it to these numbers, there's going to be a discrepancy because the out of district students are included in this as well because as a district, we still service them. Um we're continuing to work with outside consultants and experts and getting great feedback on that which is going to tie into professional development to support our um in district programs. Um again some of the work that we've been really focused on this year is making sure that you know within the realm of special education there are so many different um areas of expertise and nuance. So trying to identify professional development opportunities that's not one-sizefits-all um has been a goal and focus this year. So a few highlights um we have brought in um an

161outside psychologist who specializes in an a test called the 2 which allows um school psychologists to make educational diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder. So we've gotten our school psychologist um short up on that. Um we're also working with a consultant from Case Collaborative who is um who's doing a series on um augmentative and alternative communication devices with our speech and language pathologists. super excited that we have we're bringing um the Hagerty decodable text down to the preschool level this year. So, they're loving that work. Um we have 16 special educators at the elementary school level who are being trained in the EL expeditionary learning curriculum and that's fantastic. Um the one other piece I want to highlight is [clears throat] for years something that we've I think wanted and needed and I've definitely wanted to

162do is to overhaul our processes, procedures and documents related to the 504 um process. So I'm super excited. There's a link to that that I put at the bottom for the resources. You can take a look at our updated procedures. Um, we also have, um, I've linked the district, um, curriculum accommodation policy on there along with our updated website that has contact information for all of the administrators and folks on my team along with a link to descriptions of each of the districtwide programs. So, we're busy. Um, but it's good work and it's nice to take the opportunity to catch our breath and reflect on. So, it's every time that I come to these meetings, I have to go back and think about, you know, what are all the things that we've been doing? So,

163it's nice to have things all in one place and to be able to share with all of you the the work that we're doing. >> Um, any questions for Angel from the committee? >> Ask a question on disability categories we have. Are there any on here that we could support um with the different I guess staffing and abilities that you have? >> That is a question I never would have expected to be asked. So I would say can you repeat the question? Sorry I I couldn't hear you. >> Are are there any other categories that they can support which are not currently >> supported? So I would say not if you asked me that maybe a year ago I would have I would have had a different answer. Um we have found it I think

164a deficit area with trying to find uh um teachers of the visually impaired. of TVIS who so we were very fortunate and lucky to have found someone that we were able to bring on full-time who is a teacher of the um visually impaired and an orientation mobility specialist which is like just >> amazing >> a rare gem. So, I would have said that, you know, we were using consultants that we were bringing outside providers to help with that category, but we are one of the rare um school districts who, you know, other districts are saying, >> "Does she have any time? Do you want to partner with us?" And I'm like, "No, we're full. We're full." Um, [laughter] so that I would say no. >> Which is I wouldn't have been able to say that

165either, but thank you for asking. >> And your out of the out of district cost. So I mean that's usually we talk a lot about that. Um so for the high school you will see like as you're building these programs you know K through eight then those numbers will start to also decrease. >> Yes. >> I mean I would also say that you know we with I mean one of the factors when we were thinking about the store was that we are um we have students tuitioning in um so that also helps sort of offset you know some of the work that we're doing to build and develop the program. So, um, it's just been wonderful. >> I mean, the store is just such an opportunity for our kids and a resource. And, yeah, it

166really is. And I think it's just, I mean, programmatically, it's it's what we should be doing. And it's great that we can tuition other kids, too, because you do need a cohort to build something like that. >> You absolutely need a cohort. So, and that's something I think historically we've struggled with, but not anymore. Yes. >> Really great work. >> Proud. We're very proud. So, thank you. We wouldn't have been able to do it without all of your backing and support. I have a question. >> We're um I feel like you've been at like the forefront of like where districts should be with special education. >> It's true. Look at these numbers. They're really good. So, I'm just curious where you're headed. Like what what are your goals? [laughter] >> What's next? >> What are

167your goals? >> She is a leader. >> Um >> I would say I So, okay. I think the more cohesive and coherent we are across our buildings and across the district, the better positioned that we are. So the work that I'm I'm focusing on right now is making sure that the work that's happening in all of the programs at all the various levels that they're talking to each other and that they're using a common language and that they're using common practices so that the transitions are more seamless which will strengthen all of them. Um, that's a big one right now, which I think having the the folks in the positions to be able to be the point person to each building. They're someone on a daily basis who can ensure sort of compliance with whatever

168it is that we decide are best practices and efficiencies and common messaging. Whereas I was spending a lot of time and the one person who was doing world before going school to school like on the it felt like it was like a campaign like this is what we're doing this is what now it's without you know any of us having to do it sporadically it's on a daily basis. So I would say that um I would also say that we also need to I always say like it's wonderful but I also want to make sure like that from a parent that parents understand that we have wonderfully strong in district programs but we cannot meet everyone's needs in in district and that that is that would be abnormal if we were able to do that.

169So, while we celebrate the work that we're doing in the programs and it's had a really positive impact, I don't want I want to make sure people understand that we also know that we cannot meet the needs of of every child and every student and that's a good thing. >> Great. Anyone else? Is there anything we can do to help? >> I you have I mean the support that you've already given me is unprecedented honestly and just the fact that you even asked like what? No, keep keep doing what you're doing. I appreciate all of you and I appreciate just the support of the community, the commitment to I mean this is talk about DEI. We're talking about like inclusive practices and and and belonging. Um and I think that this is a testament, you

170know, the work that we're doing is really a testament to those values. So, thank you. >> Can I just one more thing? Um the student that came that was at the high school, is that an option or a volunteer? Is do you have to sign up if you're someone that wants to volunteer? >> Yep. >> So if you need hours, high school kids, if you need hours and you like you're available, >> do your community service hours. >> Really later in the spring, one of the recognitions will be the unified bowling team. >> New brand new. >> So that's coming. >> Great. Well, thank you so much. As always, your updates are really informative. I love that you brought students again because it really showcases what we're doing in district. >> Thank you so much.

171>> All right. Um, so when I put like times on the agenda, when I said 10 minutes, 10 minutes can really be five minutes. Um, I just feel guilty about putting five because then it feels like I'm not giving things the right appropriate amount of time. Brian actually helped me with the minutes on this one. So, instead of five, we might have said 10, but we're going to try and move a little bit quicker. Um, Lor's update, superintendent's midterm update is next. As you know, Lori has committed to four updates for the year. So, we're going to see updates again in April and in June. And I'm just going to remind the school committee that every week we do see Lor's evidence and updates and her weekly update to us, which she does according to

172each strand of her goals. So, I'm going to ask you, Lori, to move very quickly if you don't mind. >> I feel like I can because you've heard a lot of >> You're getting the outcomes of like the levers I might push from the people actually actually doing it. So, I was only going to highlight I I played with AI. You saw I dropped all those reports I said. It was really fun actually. Isn't it Isn't it cool? >> Um, >> yeah, >> I know. Wow. Anyway, >> what >> is it? No, this was chat GPT. No, no, I was in Notebook LM. >> Sorry, Notebook LM. I dropped them all in there. There's a video version, too, if you really want to see that. But, uh, [laughter] it's stunning what it can do. Um,

173just a couple highlights I thought were worth noting, and I know data's been an ask, so it was interesting how much it popped up, the data that I've been sharing along the way. Um, professional development just I don't know if it aligns perfectly to a goal, but and Shel can chime in. We're just [clears throat] really feeling like we're finally after years of trying different things starting to really sync up with the right providers with the right topics with what the staff needs and um the the set the exit surveys we continue to get on multiple topics um are really strong this year. So I think that feels satisfying um and is giving us direction to know what to keep doing. Right. you just talked about reflecting well when the data is positive you know

174you're you're getting a stride going so I just wanted to highlight that um and then I the only other thing because I'm going to talk sustainability in a minute and just academically um since this meeting has so many other topics to it we obviously have talked about the literacy program we're going to bring the conquered committee an update on that later in the spring will do that um you can see there's been some nice satisfaction there with the support they've been getting from the um vendors and um consultants. You heard from the students. I mean, I can't do better than that. You heard from the students some of the shifts at the high school. Um even just in the course programs that we're we're offering this this coming year, new electives, new APs. Um we

175are working on some restructuring of math a bit to modify levels, not DLE, but modify levels. Um there's just been some really nice academic momentum um in different places. [clears throat] So those were the two things I wanted to highlight. Um I think I did I did do the chart at the end and did move pretty much to green and just that they're all moving along. The one I left in yellow and I'm just going to re totally align this to budget. um aligning the intervention process without the math specialist being in the budget, which I know I told you like that's just still a question mark. So, it's not for lack of thinking about it that it's yellow. It's just I don't have a plan. So, all right. Any questions? >> No. Okay. >>

176All right. Thanks, Lori. And so we will see your goals update again in April and then finally in June. >> All right. So on to our school committee goals update and Brian um >> that would be great if you could share that and track it for us and >> you should do something to that too. >> I know we're do something very quick and brief and I want you to just notice you probably can't see it but there's a poster over there with all of our updates on it that was also designed. I might goals our goals, sorry. I might print that and put it in front of all your seats for next time just to really continue to focus us on what our goals are that we're looking for. >> Possibilities laminated. >> I

177think laminated. Yes, exactly. >> I'm definitely possibilities. [laughter] Okay, there's your >> I think for this one we don't necessarily have to talk through every single um objective under each goal, but more are there things that people feel are off track but we should spend some time on those. Uh so I don't want to read this everybody can see it on the screen but the first one is the budget. Um we have a few objectives. Is there anything that people have concerns about when it comes to the the budget initiatives being off track? >> No, I agree. We're on track budget. Anyone else think off track? No. All right. >> All right. Um here uh when it comes to communication and engagement, we did have some these three. Um we were off track. We felt

178on a a couple of them back in November. I do feel like we're we're much further along on this on the districtwide communication. I mean, I'm looking at story of the schools that's been pushed out to everyone. The district bulletin goes out every week. We've had some stories in the news. Um, you know, I'm thinking about financial literacy. We had that class that was on the news. We have some some more news pieces come out. And I and I just also want to say again, we do have a blog on our website that everybody should check it out. It's really extensive. Um, so I I feel as though in terms of that we are on track for February. >> Anybody disagree? >> Have any thoughts? I'm going to just move that one back to on

179track. Uh, >> I'd also say, you know, if we're just going through this, like I I I think the the two-way communication um with podcast, town hall listening sessions, I will say that Andrew Namichi's um his his six- part series, four-part series. I'm going to get the numbers wrong. >> Five parts here. [laughter] All right, great. It was right in the middle. I should have averaged it and said five. Thank you, Andrew. Andrew was listening earlier. Um, but I think that is a really big step um in a way to really promote more of that community um education. Carlos Hoy is coming Thursday. >> Thursday. >> Tomorrow. >> Is it tomorrow? What time is it at? >> Uh, do you remember? >> 630. >> Yeah. We don't know. That's tough. >> Okay. [laughter] It's well

180I think it's really hard to promote two-way like in a business meeting but in an event like that like I know at the last event I wasn't able to go but um I know Mark had talked to someone about the BSU table >> and you know the students were at different tables so I that is two-way communication with the community so I don't know that's my feeling on that >> I still think we're off >> off the podcast situation we have not done >> not just throwing out I was going to We all individually, >> yeah, >> I think do the two-way, but I don't know if it's >> it's the same as a school committee doing two-way, right? >> So, how do we get on track? Let's maybe we should talk about that. How

181are we going to get on track with the school committee doing? And maybe it is as simple as we're all going to have to be part of a podcast >> or or or club cafe with the two of us. All of us can't but two of us. any two of us anytime various different loces around town. It's published in the bridge. >> Yep. and and in all the uh PTG and the school literature and show up whether it's one or seven um you set a date and show up and u ground rules you cannot we listen we talk you can't promise anything there's no new business but it comes back to the body to be remedated >> and >> what have we done this year >> and I will say we made a conscious decision

182not to do copies at one no at one point um >> there was just a lot happening and so I think from a safety perspective we made a conscious decision not to move forward with that but maybe we're at a point now that we should relook at a conquered carol in Boston you know >> I think the coffees are good I think it um I think when you cancel [clears throat] them because things are going on they think when things are going on it's even more of a reason to have a coffee to have a conversation. So, I think it kind of looks like you're hiding or um there's lack of transparency. So, I think um >> always having coffees and sticking to that whether regardless of what's going on >> um is a good

183thing. >> Yeah. >> Can we can we work with the Sorry, this is not coffee. Uh so, let the coffee conversation get done and [laughter] >> all right. So, maybe we Well, let's start with coffee first. So maybe we commit to you know before the next time we look at our goals a conquered a carell and a Boston two members have to be present and I will ask for volunteers of who would like to coordinate each one and then we'll all of them work a virtual coffee too >> coffee >> no a virtual coffee >> virtual coffee okay how about if you coordinate a virtual coffee all right Carlo who wants it >> I can do it okay where that's happening [laughter] if you're Everyone come to my house. >> Oh my god, that's right.

184>> Kimbles will be open middle. >> All right. So maybe wait for ice cream. >> Community ice cream might get more people out after this winter. >> So I'm gonna I'm gonna put you in charge. So maybe we'll just check in at our March meeting. I'm going to write that down. I'm going to do a coffee check-in. All right. conquered. >> I can do conquered. >> You want to commun Okay. Communicate a conquered talk >> before April. >> Before [laughter] Oh, before April. All right, Carrie. Before April, you can pass it on. All right. >> All right. Aisha and Michelle, you can flip for Boston. >> Um, we can work together to do it. >> Great. All right. So, by our next meeting, I'm going to do a little check-in and let's see if we

185can get them scheduled >> by um well, our next regional meeting is in March. So by March because we have vacation there so we can't do it in February. [clears throat] So just give us a date, right? >> All right. Sorry. So >> yeah, the non- coffee one. Um >> can we can we work with the >> the radio club like a high school to >> Oh, the radio station. >> Yeah. Just >> sure. >> Maybe interview I guess one school committee or whatever going. >> Yeah, they have a radio show. We >> media. Yeah, you can do Minute Man Media and the high school radio station. We could actually be on a radio show. >> You could be on a radio show. >> We could be on a radio show. You want to go

186with those >> and and we can answer the questions that are [clears throat] they want to know. >> Yeah. All right. We'll work on that. >> Will you work on that? >> Yeah. All right. >> Anybody have anything else with the two-way communication? >> Say that again. >> Two-way communication. >> What was the question? >> Just anything else on this topic before I go on to the next goal. We good? All right. Uh, so policy off oversight, we did have a couple um that were off track. I actually want to make a suggestion on that. I was not here at the end of the September meeting, but I'm still confused by launching a transparent, publicly accessible policy update tracker on the district website. That seems very wordy. Um my goal that's in the bottom one.

187>> Yeah. So the goal of this year and we are going to start tonight with some policies that we have to update would be to go through all the MASC policies like this spring. I just I don't really know what the what the thought was on the public the publicly available policy tracker. If anyone can explain what that's supposed to be, I'm happy to help make it happen. But >> I think in November we talked about going back to listening to the recording. >> We did. >> Sure didn't. Okay. >> Um >> we didn't do our homework. >> We did not do our homework. But I guess the question I would almost ask more is if nobody can relate >> to it now, do we >> change this or just focus on two things? >>

188Also, there is a like I mean we have a website where all of our policies are >> they sit >> and there's thousand thousands of them. So, so I think >> and maybe two people in this room went through the entire manual two summers ago. >> What's what's probably important is to try and find out what changed, >> right? So, I think it's just the >> just the policy update tracker, so and so policy change. So, >> yeah. >> So, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to um make a document before our next meeting with all of the policies that we're going to update by the end of the year. We're going to track it on there and if we have to put it on our website, we will put it on

189our website. So, it'll be like a checklist. How about that? Does that sound like what you guys were thinking? >> Yep. Okay. I'm gonna make a document. [laughter] >> I'm putting it in here. >> Put I'm gonna make a document. >> Policy tracker document >> of all policies to review. [clears throat] >> Of all policies that we're going to review before the end of the year. Policy called policy tracker document. I'm just kidding. [gasps and sighs] >> Oh my god. >> Um Okay. >> And then we're going to launch it. >> And we're going to launch it. So, we're going to put it on the website. >> Are we still off track? >> Yes. Yes. >> Um, I actually think that the evaluate I think we're on track because we are doing some policy work

190tonight. So, I'm going to go with on track for >> I was thinking that as well. >> Yeah. >> Does everybody else? >> Yeah, I think that sounds great. >> Um, and the first one I think >> we have not done that. Oh. If we haven't even identified what they are by now, we're probably off track for spring. >> What do we need to do to get it back on track? >> I think identifying >> just looking through which which ones just looking through them seeing which ones we need to ident which ones we need >> to update. It's It's getting >> y >> How do we check in with Alicia, our MAC rep, on um You put that on my list of things to do. Check in with Alicia on because she really is

191a policy uh queen. She really enjoys policy work. And so maybe we check in with her on that. >> What we do, assign everything to Andrew since he's not here. >> Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe Andrew can do that. [laughter] >> And you'll take that one? >> Yeah, I'll take it. Yep. Great. >> Great. Okay. >> Oh, I thought we were done. >> No, we just have uh last one. >> Um superintendent evaluation and student outcome goal. >> I think we're on track as we just reviewed it. >> They're on track. Everybody good? >> Yep. I I think >> I think they're both on track because we don't have any more student achievement data to review right now. We just talked about special education. >> Oh, we did. So, I feel like we are.

192>> Okay. Anyone disagree with that? You good? Okay, >> that's it. Right. >> Right. All right. Thank you. Um, sustainability updates. I everyone had the slideshow that Lori provided and so I'm going to turn it to Lori to give us an update. >> I really I hope you took time to look at all the amazing things going on in the schools here. I think I'm going to just focus on highlights of the districtwide work um because there's some really great momentum going. Uh the green team at the high school today worked on the electric charging station grant to put in some EV charging at the high school. So, we're getting ready to submit that maybe by the end of the week hopefully. Um, fiveish give or take um spots hopefully available for for charging and

193the donation will add to that. Uh Bob Bob's been able to facilitate the support of the um CE Massachusetts CEC grant to install birectional electric bus chargers. That was we were awarded that months ago. So, and now that's implementing. So, we'll have some um higher speed and further uh option there. We are in ongoing discussion with Highland Electric Bus, which um Bob's taken the lead on, and they are a vendor that provides a finan financial and and infrastructure options to districts. Um, I think they're getting creative with us because we're pretty we're way far ahead and we're trying to sustain and grow versus districts just trying to get started. Actually, I think they're enjoying us because we know what we're talking about. [laughter] We're not they're not teaching us. We're actually highly engaged with them.

194Um, it looks like there's a possibility they have grant funding through the federal grants that another district was set to take and then has declined and they may be able to repurpose it to us. >> Wow, >> that's pretty exciting. >> Yeah. >> So, we're in pretty active discussions with them about >> Did they get the grant? Did Highland get the grant? >> Highland facilitated the grant, >> but it was it was designated to a certain community who has had to step back. A lot of communities are finding the startup of this really overwhelming, which we're now 10 years in, so that isn't overwhelming to us. Um, so we're in pretty active discussions about the possibility of five buses. There's a fiscal model Bob will share with you to make sure you're comfortable once we're

195stable on how it would all come together. um essentially payments get made over an extended period of time to stabilize the huge upfront cost which the grant will pretty substantially reduce. Um but it seems like we might have an option that we've been really really trying to find. >> These would be just just our bus fleet because I recall there was some conversation about sharing or or collaborative collaborating with other municipalities. >> Yeah. That didn't really pan out. So this is this would be our fleet. Yeah. So, we're we're excited that there seems to be an option potentially really growing. >> And how soon would that be for >> So, there's there's there's two grants. So, there's a mass CDC grant which has to happen first. And I don't want them bumping into each other

196at the same time doing things. So, one of the things we have to do is coordinate a meeting with >> Highland and the group that's managing the they have a like a project management company managing the mass CEC grant which is to put in a couple fast chargers. Um, so the Highland thing would have to happen after that, right? >> Probably late, like the earliest it could be would be late summer and then it would take some time to do. >> Okay. >> Um, and we need to figure out a way to keep it so it doesn't interrupt our operations. So, >> yeah. >> Anyway, >> it's promising mainly because they come with five buses that it's mostly, you know, that's mostly financed um through the federal grant. >> Okay. and they get better deals

197on the bus. Not not hugely better, but they buy in bigger bulk, so the vendors tend to work with them. So any >> we're just excited that something might be happening. We've been really trying to come up with a way to >> for a while. Yeah. >> So it's also about sustaining two of our buses are quite old now. the two out of the three electric ones and like original one of them's original electric version >> first generation >> very first generation >> bleeding edge of the the technology so um so anyway more to come but we're excited by that >> great >> um we did we've been working very closely with CMLP on what could how to get the solar done at at the middle school um that's a shared goal for certain Bob's

198been working with them on RFP options we also last we connected with them. There's another big CEC grant out there for um bigger infrastructure changes. So, I had thought we might consider one of the elementary schools, but through discussion with CMLP makes a lot more sense to apply for that to offset some of the cost of the middle school solar. So, we're going to leave that um at that for the moment. Uh we're working a some of you at the conquered low remember there's a Bruce Freeman rail trail connection need to the middle school property that's become its own committee so now we're collaborating with them while they try to get that plan moving. We've um I've written some letters of support for grants and some other things they're working on. They'll stay in touch

199with the conquered school committee as they go. And then maybe well I mean that's all amazing stuff but the change of structure is actually um Priscilla Gy was an amazing coordinator and started to show us what someone designated to the sustainability role could do. She decided to really retire. Um so we're dividing it up and so far we only have one of the five in place but we're going to we're going to building based people and just to hear uh that targeted focus area being reported out on last week. was from our sustainability meeting last week. It's clearly going to matter. So, I'm still finishing up with the CTA to get that wrapped up to work on appointing those people at the elementary schools. The other thing I'll note, the PTGS almost all have now

200green um green coordinators. So, I think that parent support is mattering a lot to us, too. Sometimes we just need hands to make things happen. Composting is really stable now because of that. at the gardens, all the schools are really thriving because of all of that. Um, so it there's just a lot of collective great energy. It was a great meeting last week. A lot of community members who have attended in the past were there. We've got two more meetings set um for the rest of the year. I think I actually have them here um March 25th and May 27th. And it's just a nice place to touch base and share out. So, wanted to just do those highlights in public because there's some great things happening and um make sure everyone knows, >> right?

201>> One thing, >> of course. >> Um so, just I know that we talked about partnering with the town and that's something we all want to work on. I did want to point out that school works grant. Um I did meet with um Jason Baler, the general manager of CMLP, Megan Zumudo, the deputy town manager. We looked at a project for Alcott, which is based on a feasibility study, not a design. and [clears throat] and the solar panels the middle school which we all know is as is a priority and we we selected the the middle school for three reasons. One, it's a bigger project. It could get more funding. Two, it has a design. It's it's basically fully designed and we would have to get a design done first. And three, the project at

202Alcott is not fully green. There's a component that's not green because you'd have to put a whole bunch of money in for electrical infrastructure to upgrade it to support like all electric. and so it wouldn't get fully funded and it would be less attractive to the grant agency because it has a fossil fuel component in it. So we talked about those three things and we don't want to submit competing projects to to the grant agency. So I just wanted to explain the rationale for why we prioritized the middle school soling with sustainability. Sure. If they I mean they're welcome to become part of this committee that meets a few times a year. That's it's about half community members and half staff and um parents now. So happy to this is an open invitation. They're happy

203to be part of these discussions. >> Yeah. >> Great. All right. Well, thank you for that. Any other questions before we close that out? Oh, okay. Um All right. On to cell phone policy. All right. Finally, um cell phone policy. I am going to share um I've shared a lot of information with all of you. We've had I know that we've had articles shared. Um this is our first discussion on this. As I kind of went down the cell phone policy road, I searched the MASC's policies. Um Brian actually sent me an article today about cell phones. Yeah. >> And none of those towns have cell phone policies in the article. >> Interesting. >> They all have re So Brian sent me an article that was was on the MS. >> It was Yeah. this

204morning through MASC. So, you probably all got it, but it's an app that um >> some schools are using. >> Yeah. And so, they're using So, some schools are using um it's a it's an app, right? It's an app that kind of Yeah. And it blocks social media in schools. And so, I of course go into the article, I I'm like, "Oh, well, they must have a cell phone policy. None of the towns have cell phone policies that are using the app." So, it this has been an interesting process for me. So, I'm just going to share my screen for one second. Let me find time is not really great on my eyes. So, I hope I'm sharing the right screen. [laughter] Oh, let's find out. Okay. All right. So, um this was in your

205packet and I basically filtered through all of the MAC policies to see who has policy and who doesn't. As a reminder, MASC does not have a model policy to use and they are not developing one anytime soon. I brought it up um in the chair's round table. No one there is also going into the cell phone policy except for Meg from um Belmont did reach out after she's like you know that chart that you showed us like can you share it? So I think you know maybe sometimes people are talking about it. So >> did did mask have any particular reason why they weren't >> they're waiting for the state to do something? They don't want they so MASC does not want to touch AI policy or cell phone policy. It's just not something they're

206interested in doing right now. So we take that for what it's worth. >> Alicia also say because it not so much a polic like their view is that schools are putting it in their handbook. >> In their handbooks yes because schools have it in the handbook. So, I guess I had maybe falsely made the assumption that because there is state legislation coming that oh, all schools must have cell phone policies. They actually don't. So when I went through the list of what MASC holds in their policies, I think there are 11 that are basically doing what we're doing right now, which is it's the least restrictive that they can be, which is in between classes, lunch, um at the high school level, you can use your phone. There are seven districts, we are one included,

207that have belltoell. Um, most of them if they're bell tobell, some of them might be bell tobell K to 8 and then 9 through 12 it's away and out of sight and sometimes there's no reference to if they can use them in between classes or not. So in the belltobell category you can see my list from there of who has bell to bell. So it brings us to a point of we need to decide one do we want a policy and two do we want to write a policy? do we want it to be reflective what we're doing in our handbooks and so then after that I looked at our we have a unified handbook for all the districts um in the district and our policy is in our handbook so our conquered policy that

208we worked on last year is in the handbook and then we have um basically in the high school it's what we're currently doing in the high school which is using the caddies and I think I shared um the handbook language with all of you too so I just wanted to start this discussion see where people are at, see what we're thinking. Um, you know, which direction we're kind of leaning on going towards. So, I guess the first question I'll just put out there to the committee is, do we feel as though we need a policy? >> Yes. Yes. Because what does what does what does having something in the handbook mean if there's no policy? So the majority of districts do not have any policy. >> But um does >> what does that mean? Um

209does that mean if if the the the what's in the handbook folks decide they don't want to do there's no there's no um logic or rationale or structure behind it to what what what enforces the what's in the handbook if there's no policy. It's a question. That's a question. >> Oh, it's a question. Yeah. >> Well, there are some things that are in the handbook that aren't necessarily policy matters. It's it's so we're like the overarching here's our policy, but like when it goes to discipline, discipline is not in our policy. Discipline is in handbooks, right? So, yes, we're responsible for it. But when you're the day-to-day and how you carry it out would then be in the handbook. >> I don't think you're wrong. I think on this topic it is stronger if there's

210a policy to support that which is why we were grateful when the >> So it sounds like we're all in agreement that we want to put a policy together for the high school. Could I what? I see Brian's like I'm not sure. >> I'm still I guess I'm trying to understand what we're trying to solve spec like what is our goal as a school committee by having a policy in place. If it is to give the administration more authority in enforcing it >> if like I'm hearing people say yes, we want a policy. I'm not hearing the why. and that um >> I think we probably all have different >> different thoughts on what ought to be included in the policy and that might be why >> right so maybe it's >> why yeah why

211do people I would want a policy if it helps >> enforce what is in the handbook now there's then the conversation of what is what's in the handbook what we still want to have in the handbook but >> um >> you That's I'm just trying to understand again because we're looking, you know, MASC is not taking action on it. Not many other districts are. So that's why I just want to make sure we're clear on why we want to >> why we're doing it. I think um not many districts maybe in Massachusetts. Like thank you for doing all that research. That's not easy. That takes a lot of time. Um, but I do think like if you look at trends across the country, there are a lot of districts that are implementing policies um like

212the bell to bell or whatever. So I I like I think it I mean we're all reading about it everywhere. There is a lot of conversation around cell phone use in schools. So um I don't think it will be long before either the state forces our hand or school districts end up doing their own thing. Okay. >> And that goes back to the question is mask not doing that so they don't do something that is out of line with state policy. >> It could be that or they could feel as though it's and we should probably get more clarify is coming. So just wait until it happens. >> Right. It could be that. Um, in either case, I guess help help me understand a handbook entry, a handbook rule without any I'm looking at policy

213as the structure behind what what you write for uh uh operationalizing it in a handbook. policy is structured. If that's not there and you operationalize something with no ump behind it, with no with no wise and wherefors behind it makes it harder for you to do that. Am I correct in that? >> It can. Yeah. Certainly the handbook has its own weight. You approve it. It's got some authority >> and in certain cases it has to be the authority because like you said discipline doesn't fit in your policies other than to broadly say >> we are going to have discipline under state you know according to state law. >> I think in this case it probably does back it up. I sit here just like well I like the districts to be mirror to each

214other and we have a policy at conquered and to not have one at the high school just >> feels weird. >> Feels Yeah, I think you're right. I think it does back it up more. >> Actually, that's like the most compelling. >> Yeah. Like why wouldn't you at the high school if you do at CPS? >> If we do at CPS. >> Okay. >> So, does that [laughter] does that help? >> Yes, that helps. So, we're all in agreement that we want a policy. So, um now if we can talk about if you can talk about schoolwide, if you talk about um what it looks like in our handbook right now and maybe any type of apps that are currently being used. >> [clears throat] >> And I'm going to give you the very very

215brief version because I think it's enough information. So we were one of the first in the state to use the caddies during class. >> Um we've really tightened that up and things are pretty consistent um very consistent among teachers for their own benefit that the caddy goes in when the kids go into the um classroom and then they take it when they leave. Um that is what's in the handbook. And in terms of apps, there's probably two significant ones that are infrastructure for us right now. Um, one is the app they use to sign up for their flex blocks twice a week. Um, they have to do that through the app prior to the flex block. And now we've tightened up um the comingings and goings of open campus. So this year they have to

216check out when they leave at the doors that are monitored and they they're the app is a piece of that. So, >> the flex block's the big one, I think. >> How would you um like are there restrictions on like how far in advance you have to sign up for the flex? >> Well, we try to get them to do it days ahead, but um >> sometimes it's minutes. [laughter] >> Sometimes it is minutes. >> It is an app. Yeah. >> And then what do you what do districts like what do you do if you're a kid without a phone? >> How do you sign up for a flex block? >> I don't have the answer to that. Brian's listening. I'm see if he's texting me. I don't have the answer to that. Yeah, I

217mean other apps are the ones you know of which we're using on the laptops too, Google and all that. They [snorts] can get that on their phone, but the the ones that [cough] the flexbox one is pretty extensively phone. the one we're sitting on and the police have asked if we wanted to brought we have a crisis go app that teachers at the high school all have on their phones and can voluntarily choose to participate and we can crisis emergency message them very immediately and they have a red button that they can do the same which is what all the studies have shown in the mass shootings is somebody could have hit the button earlier and it might have help um the police would love to see us push that out to the kids so

218that they have that same option. >> So, you know, those are the infrastructures. I do think [cough] Instagram is an informal, highly used messaging tool with the high school students. I've seen that play out in [clears throat] real time because like on a day where there's an early release, the schedule gets posted there and that's that is where the kids go to look um and check it as they're trying to get around the building. So, there are some, you know, there are some positives. I I I hear all the negatives, but we've got some productivity going. >> So, >> oh, another question on the MacBooks that are issued. >> Is messaging and FaceTime disabled? >> Um, we've disabled uh me iMessage is disabled. Um, FaceTime is disabled. Uh, yeah, we've turned off most of those

219daily interactive things with each other. >> You could go on WhatsApp where >> Yeah, there's almost always a workound. There's definitely um you know I think I'm I'm the only one that has No, you have a high schooler. Okay, great. I'm like, okay, wait, who's in the room? Um I do think that teachers can actually see every keystroke that kids are doing on those laptops. I mean, I went to a conference teacher like, well, I see that your daughter spent x amount of time doing this and when she was in class, like they literally can see I don't know how they do it, but they can see. >> Yeah, we have software. They they opt into that. They're not all using it, but if they opt into it, they can actually track watch the kids

220screens from their screen. >> And and I will say like I've kind of like seen all of this. My kids are at varying ages. Um the the catties are a game changer. I mean they they do not have access to their phones during instructional time. They just do not. I don't think I mean I' I've been in the high school during school day, not often, but I don't see kids like walking down the halls like doing that or in the lunchrooms on their phones all the time, you know. I don't um I I think that I have concerns about going bell toad. I'll just I'll just put my opinion out there. Um for off-campus, we do have off-campus. Um I I think that at some point we are raising adults here, right? And at some

221point they're going to have to manage a cell phone. This the some of the issues that come with cell phones [clears throat] are the other 18 hours a day that the kids are not in school. It's not the six hours. They're not, you know, scrolling doom scrolling in the hallway there. I I don't see that's happening. I mean, we could get better feedback from teachers or from um the principles or from students as to what's actually happening in the schools. Um you know, I do think what we're doing is definitely working at the high school. It's it's a huge shift in what it was, you know, even five years ago. So, I don't know how other people feel about, you know, do we think we want to go to [cough] a bell to bell or

222not a bell to bell and you know, it would be a shift going to a bell to bell at the high school. Certainly. >> What do you hear concerns from the principles or from the teachers about self with what's in the handbook? >> Yeah. >> Like is there still concerned about how students are using their cell phones while they're at CC during the day. I >> mean, I've walked the building with Brian and Katie just to get a sense. We see so many different things going on. Occasionally, is there a group that's like on their phone? Usually, it's some little group of boys playing some game or something, but that's [clears throat] that's not what we're seeing norm as the norm. Most kids are doing their homework, having lunch, talking to each other. Um, I

223think I we've seen some really interesting positives. Brian got totally engaged with some boys who were playing um some game. They needed the phone for a reference to the game. It wasn't the game was on the phone. It was a tool in the game. Invited him to be part of it. And he was going over thinking he was going to be told, you know, that they were just in their phones and that wasn't the case. Um, so there's a tool going on there too that seems to be a it's it feels like a fairly healthy balance. I don't want to overstate that it's healthy, but >> yeah, >> doesn't feel like their heads are all in their phones individually and they're not inter interacting. We actually have seen kids on their own. We walk over

224and they've all put their phones in a pile like that and they're just having lunch. You know, sometimes there's some self efficacy going on. My worry is the kids that use it for a tool that's really beneficial to them as an individual, the ELLL student who's finally getting a break and listening to some show on their in their own language for the only half hour a day they can do that. We know of kids with anxiety that that that becomes the lifeline. Not that they are getting help at home, but they can if they need it. Um, so like it's the I we've watched a a student use it for the calculator on the phone while she did her math homework on the computer. Um, so I think there's a balance. I I really feel

225like that's part of our job is to help kids balance because nobody's taking their phone to college. >> Yeah. >> So yeah. [clears throat] >> What concern are you perceiving from the community because since what fall or even earlier um we've been contacted [clears throat] either in public comment or uh personally about bell-to-bell bans from our community. So where is that coming from? and everything that I've read in terms of promulgating any policy uh speaks to this body having a responsibility to be the the frontr runner to the community on selling whatever we do. So what do we >> we agree with that completely K8 and have a bell-to-bell policy. I know there's different ways to implement that and I think that's still what you're getting feedback on. um high school. You know, I think

226I I worry my my personal worry as the person responsible for operational is the how. Um open campus is a really big challenge if we're going to shut phones down. So, I I haven't been able to figure out a way past that. um just as a logistical thing to state and honestly we spend more time dealing with issues of [snorts] what goes on on the phones after school and at home and on weekends than what they're doing in school. Like the incidents we talked about earlier, a good proportion a good proportion of those are happening outside of school, social media, phones, all of that. Um, so I don't know if there's a perfect answer is what I've come to conclude. [laughter] >> And I think, you know, if you were to ask every single one

227of us, we all have different opinions on what we think is right. Um, >> you know, I I get a lot of information from students. You know, I get a lot of information from parents um that have students at the high school, not so much from parents like the younger parents, you know, like I'm sure you're in the same situation like you hear from high school parents and you know kind of the pulse of what the high school feels. I think a lot of it is younger parents and maybe it's fear of the unknown of what high school is. But when you have a kid that is open campus and you know they are checking in and out of the building with their phones now which is different um like I want I want my

228kid to have their phone with them. >> Brian's telling me all of it's available on their laptop because obviously we would make it accessible but most of them >> but most of them using their phones and you forget to sign up for a flex block there it is. You know there was a half day today. Where's the schedule? The kids check the Instagram at the high school. That is what they do. Um, and that's just, you know, my own anecdotal kind of opinion. I don't know if you >> No, I I agree. I think, um, from when I was, if you ask me, when my husband was in seventh grade, I probably would have the same, you know, concerns about, you know, social media and things that he didn't need to see while he's in

229school. But now that he goes off campus, I think that from a safety standpoint, I would like for him to have a phone or just in case anything happens. I think to your point the how that's what concerns me is if we were to ban belltobell is this just another burden we're putting on teachers where they're you know catching students using their phones they then have to deal with with that extra layer of discipline. I also think having a seventh grader who does not yet have a phone but has other devices. It's like we restrict her iPad while she goes to her watch. We take the watch away, suddenly the school iPad is filling this need. And so I do think what we're just going to see is if we are if we're banning it

230bellto, yes, they might not ban their personal devices, but they'll probably be activity happening more on their their schoolisssued uh devices. So >> hesitant to build >> there's value in making things a little harder. >> I I don't disagree with that. I also think there's like there's um the like we've heard from students who like participate in Rivers where they take the phones all day and they're like actually just not having it available to me. That takes that stress off of me. And I I think they I've heard them say like I don't even I don't even think I realized the the weight of having access to the cell phone before I lo like didn't have it at all. the the what what I've read suggests that from I'm not speaking for you, but what

231I've read suggests that it's much easier from the educator's perspective for there to be a bell-to-bell policy because it takes the adjudication off their hands. If if if [clears throat] students got it in the room, it's not supposed to be there. End of story, it's gone. Um, and so belt to belt takes that out of the educator's hands and from the educators that I canvased, uh, it's [snorts] education sort of proctors that I talked to that sort of proctor schools, schools that they're working with that that that have institute of ble policy. they don't want to go back because it's made their their environment much easier. Now, I don't know out of those programs uh which ones had open campuses or not. >> Um and that might be an additional area. Yeah. >> [snorts] >>

232But uh I think from what I'm reading and what medical articles I've looked at from a functional perspective, the sense I was getting from what I've read that bel was that a bell to bell policy from the educator's perspective is easiest to manage and that bell to bell policy looking at the health benefits wellness benefits is is the most positive. So I guess it's for our district the mitigating factors and what our community tells us are are that's what's that's what's in my calculus for making a determination. >> Well, I think what Dr. Hunter said about you know they when they go to college they're going to have their cell phones. So teaching them now how to be responsible and hold themselves accountable like the students that came in to talk about how things they're

233learning now are going to help them when they become an adult. I think that um speaks volumes as you know as it pertains to this >> but they will have their phones outside of school. >> Yeah. >> Right. So you are kind of giving them that training ground outside of school >> and yeah I guess yeah good point I'm leaving leaving uh parental guidance to manage that while their parents are giving us that [snorts] >> eight hour stretch to the day to do what we think that's do what we think is most necessary to make a great academic environment. So I think my ask if you keep going towards bell to bell >> in my tenure I've done almost nothing that I just decide up over here and something else happens. >> I think there

234needs to be a process to gather feedback from >> and I and I think >> from the stakeholders at the high school. >> So this has been on our um we've talked about this since December that's been on our agenda and we haven't gotten much feedback. We we just haven't. I would like to hear from I mean I'd like to hear from some students. I'd like to hear from teachers. I do think that the caddy system and you know again this is my own anecdotal opinion. The phones are in the caddies. They're not even on their person. When you go bellto bell you're not going caddies anymore. They're on their person. So are they going to be sneaking their phone when they're, you know, in the bathroom or at their lunch? I don't know. Um

235they do not have their phones during instructional times. Like that is that is very clear. So in the classroom they are 100% focused on the teacher. Yes, they have a schoolisssued laptop that they don't always use. Um so what we're really talking about is the lunchtime or during they don't even have in flex blocks. They you know if they have a off camp if they're off campus they obviously have their phones. Um >> but you know I mean I think we're all going to have different opinions on this based upon your experience. We ask the PA to get us more feedback. >> We can ask anything. I mean I I think you know us having on our agenda is feedback. Um >> I know I'm saying the number of people that watch maybe the school

236technology versus the CCHSPA asking the parents we might get a different >> I mean we could do why would I think you could >> the high school faculty do a survey. Um, you know, it's [snorts] funny because I have Kitten Rivers and I don't know if she has her phone or not. She hasn't said one thing about it. Nothing. >> Like I don't know. >> I'm basing it on what they said when they were >> here. Yeah. I have no idea. She has That's I've heard all about Rivers, but I haven't heard one thing about Yeah. >> to take the community. >> Yeah. >> Kids will be fine. It's It's We'll have more issues. >> What? >> Yeah. I think the kids will be fine future >> with getting rid of phones. >> Yeah. Yeah.

237>> Perfect to take to the community. I'm See, I disagree with that. I don't think I disagree with that. I don't think that the kids Yeah, the kids have to be heard. I don't think >> Oh, no. That's not what he said. Sorry. He said they're going to be fine. >> The [laughter] kids are adaptable. >> Of course. Of course. >> Of course. I thought you [laughter] need to ask. >> I thought you said, "Oh, the kids are going to be fine." I'm like, I don't know if they're going to be fine. >> Ask the kids for sure. >> Yes, the kids. Is there a two-part here where we could basically take the handbook language and make that the policy >> so that there >> is a policy? >> We revise our policies all the

238time. >> Yes. >> But at least we have a policy to start. >> Well, it's funny that you were thinking that because that's why I put the handbook language out there. I'm like, do we put something out there to have >> I would rather do it well once. I would because it's much easier to like actually do it and have get the research we need have the conversation and write a policy than it is to change something. It's much harder to change something. >> Okay. So, >> unless we were all like this is the way to do it, then then great. But otherwise, we've made it this far without a policy. >> All right. So, let's kind of strap. Can we strap it? Like, so you're suggesting that has the can have what? >> Do

239you want to put up the language? >> Oh, do uh Yeah, >> I have it up on the screen. Thank you. And to be clear, >> put up the one that's got both handbooks language in it. Maybe the one that's got the middle school one in it. >> Hold on. >> And the high school one. >> I don't know if he's got that. >> Let me see if I have it. >> This is what I [snorts] had because that's the handbook, right? >> Yeah. I did that one [laughter] before the meeting and put it in the drive. Yeah, you can put that one up. You put that one up. >> I found the other one. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, while you're searching, I guess my synthesis this right now is that we've read our homework.

240>> What we haven't talked to some of the stakeholders. So, we have the knowledge. We don't have [clears throat] the the sentiment. And it's going to be some syn s synthesis of that. >> Yeah. that would go into us both writing a policy and making a whatever our ultimate handbook entry is going to be. part of the work might be again um canvasing our community through either coffees or surveys or however we do it and then coming back you know so wouldn't I wouldn't suggest that whatever policy that we uh end on is something that we sort of sit here without that part so talk to our community read some more So then we're going to come back and be talking and whatever comes from that. >> So um so Brian took the language. So

241the the elementary and middle school just for people that are watching um that is our actual policy which is just verbatim from our policy into the handbook. Now what I could do with these other towns that on my other page is to see because a lot of them it was the same language that they have in the handbook. They just did both of them. Some it was different, some was the same, but I could go back and look at other towns. So, if you scroll up to the high school one, everybody can just take a minute with that. And we also have to be cognizant that there are students that have it in a 504 um you know, and other needs. >> There will always be exceptions. There will always be exceptions. And then I

242mean I worry a little bit about that because if somebody sees someone with a cell phone it's like oh no one can have a cell phone. Like the policing of it it automatically outs why they have their cell phone. And I >> Fair point >> and I will say you know just as an aside I I I might have been doing checkin at all night grad last year and you actually they check their phones in and this is not related to the schools at all. It's a totally separate organization. They checked their phones in and someone came to me and they were like, "Well, I can have my cell phone." And it he had to say like why he needed a cell phone and I I I found that a little bit uncomfortable, right? Um

243because some kids might not want to say why they need to have their cell phone. So, all right. So, that's the language in our handbook. It sounds like we need some more information just in the spirit of time. Um maybe we can think about some ways to get do surveys with the kids, the community, the teachers. >> I think for surveying we probably should find out from the kids we can sort of >> they definitely have to [laughter] I wonder if we could have a mini discussion with our school community reps here. >> You could I I'm going to just keep advocating this has got to be so inclusive because So, can can you draft a survey? Like, how do I feel like you would be the one to do a survey? [laughter] >> I'm

244not sure. I'm gonna say I'll do it. >> Yeah. No, but you like you being >> Yeah. >> the school district. >> Yeah. >> I mean, we could do it at >> teacher parent. This is our normal triangle, right? Teacher parent. >> Yeah. >> And see the data >> students. Yeah. >> Send this out to PTGs. >> Yeah. >> Talk to PTGs and you've been reading with them monthly. Y >> that's that's a max. >> So we can get a tool draft. >> That'd be great. >> Okay. So more to come on. Cell phones. You'll see this on our agenda again. Um so I'm going to check that off and we're going to go. This is going to be much easier and quicker. Still very important. I'm going to line this up. You guys have

245had um the policies. These are the MASC recommended policy updates. All of these are regarding raffles in schools. Yep. It is very prescriptive language. Tonight will be our first read um of these policies. I'm not going to go through them because you had them all week. They you'll see the clean version where the changes are made on the track versions. That was the redline version of kind of you know additions. >> So the only question I have is all of the red line versions have 2025 updates. >> Is that because that's when MSC >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yes. Do we have an understanding why MS why why this >> I do um in the in the documentation they sent out it's so prescriptive by law how you have to manage raffles and it's

246very unknown it feels very informal a lot of times to people who are volunteering or running different things and I think they what I read which I've actually seen is to really help everyone understand like there's a very it's legislated you can't just say you're going go run a raffle without a very legal process. That was more awareness. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions after our first read of policy? All right. So, these will come back on um in March with the full committee and that will be our Boston meeting. We'll vote on these three policies in March. And when I bring my policy tracker, I'll put the rest of the policies that we're going to maybe do and and if we can do first reads of some of them in March,

247maybe we will. That sound good? Because remember, if you do the first read in March, the second read is in April. So if you want to really get through the rest of the updates, we really have to get on it between March and April. Okay. All right. Uh on to budget transfers. So Bob, who's been very uh patiently awaiting this really exciting. >> Yeah. So uh basically this is >> Yeah, that would be great if somebody'll Thanks. Thanks, Brian. >> I had everything else queued up, but I didn't do that. [laughter] >> Uh, so we are at a point we were uh this was run um about two weeks ago. Um for our practice and and um it's recommended best practices to have the school committee approve quarter uh budget transfers between the categories and

248levels they approve at on a quarterly basis. So this is a year-to-ate [clears throat] update. Um, and I'm the request will be for you to approve the transfers and adjustment listed in the second set of uh numbers listed on this uh spreadsheet. Um, just at a at a very high level, I've listed some of the comments and drivers in the notes section down below. Um, big picture wise, there's about 1.6 million left out of the $40 million budget. So, 3 point about 3% change. um most of our remaining costs are already encumbered. We encumber salaries and things like that. So um I just wanted to give you a picture over on the far right. There's um basically fixed charges and debt service that we know we're going to spend that I back out to arrive

249at that number. Um so I'm assuming that you've read it. I'm not necessarily going to read through it again. Um but I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions? >> All right. So, this is up for a vote. Would anyone >> I move that we approve the FY26 uh budget transfers as presented tonight? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Um, and then last before we go into our exact session, um, the Carlile Finance Committee, you should have a letter from the Carlile Finance Committee requesting a reduction of $100,000. And this Bob has also written a memo on. So, I'm going to turn this to Brian and Bob and Lori for you to kind of lead this lead us through this discussion. >> Yeah. The only thing I was

250going to stress was a reduction to Carlile of a h 100,000 has to be multiplied with conquered sher which totals a $400,000 reduction. So that's that's actually the translation which that's a that's problematic. Um, so I'll leave [snorts] it to the two of you to take it. >> Yeah, I think everybody knows the context here. Just um Carlile is just trying to control the overall budget increase. Obviously, we have the assessment. Um, you know, I personally think u have done a great job of presenting uh, you know, a budget that overall does not have a very large increase. I can't remember the number off the top of my head right now. 2%. >> Yes, thank you. Below 2%. >> Um but of course it does translate as the 9% plus to to Carile. So um

251you know and I just appreciate that they've taken the time. This came in at the end of last week after Carlile's marathon budget um hearing our discussions with FinCom and um yeah I think any even small step is a is a benefit right now over there. >> So we're at 1.59% increase versus last year overall um because of the shift in enrollment. Carile's increase is 9.37%. Conquers is negative0.79%. So that's just the the backdrop of where we are. There are already some um reductions built into this. Um the um the things that we've identified though that there are two updates. um the governor's budget um that kicks off the budget process in the state was released and we um see from that that their guidance is telling us that we're going to receive $90,265 more

252than I had in the initial budget. Um so that is something we I'm are fairly certain we'll realize the next steps in the budget process don't typically reduce that number. So I do feel like that's something that we could change. Um and 25% of that would benefit Carlile. And then health insurance, we don't know what the number is. Um but we budgeted uh an increase of 12% and at the time we were told that the range was going to be um fairly high or they thought it was going to be fairly high and they they recommended, you know, budgeting at least double digits. Um what we've recently heard from Maya, Mia is the Massachusetts Massachusetts interlocal insurance association. They are a pool of all the um any uh districts that opt to participate in it.

253Towns, school districts, regional districts. Um it's a pool. Um, part of part of your rates based on how the whole pool does, part of it's based on how you do, but they've communicated their rate range of being between 2.9% and 14.4%, an average of 8.3. We don't know if we're going to get the average. Um, I think we deserve to get at least that based on what I see for our premiums versus claims, but that's not up to me and we've only been with them for a short time. So, you know, we can't uh be certain about this right now, but if we did end up at the average, which is 8.3 instead of what we budgeted for 12, that would reduce this further by 75,166. So, um it's I mean, if we get that

254news, I I think we could we could make that reduction, but I I would not we're not asking for a vote tonight because we don't know if that's guaranteed, >> right? Um, and on the state aid, I don't know if anybody had questions, but just chapter 70 is the primary funding source for school districts in the state. Um, it's progressive uh system where wealthy districts like ours tend to be mostly funded through taxation and not through chapter 70. A district like Springfield or Worcester gets a lot more chapter 70 as a percentage of their budget and less is based on taxes. So, it's a progressive system. Chapter 71 is regional transportation. And charter reimbursement is basically um they give you some money when you have students going out to charter schools to I I really

255don't know why they do it. Um but it's a reimbursement that you get to offset some of the lost um because we're paying tuitions for these students. So we we get a revenue to help us cover that transition and be able to budget for it. Um but anyways so but that's charter reimbursement is associated with us having charter stool student students who go somewhere else in in the early years when a student goes out you you get a reimbursement for it. >> So hopefully those things make sense. I don't know if any of these things are new to some um members of the community. >> Cherry sheets is probably new. Would you mind just explain cherry sheet is is the term for the ed estimates that come out from the mass department of revenue and

256it's based they work with uh department of elementary and secondary ed but they they post cherry sheets for every school district across the state on state revenues both for school districts and for towns and so a lot of us wait for that to see what we think we're going to get for revenue but our budget process is early earlier than a lot of towns and school districts so we have to build we have to provide an estimate to you before that that information is released and um it wouldn't be uh prudent to budget too aggressively on revenue because typically the towns don't want us to see us reducing asking for more after a first pass. >> Yeah. And typically you'll see something like it it usually comes from Tracy Novc from MASC regarding like DOR

257or DLS is just getting up given an update or cherry sheets are out and you're probably like what are all these things and all these acronyms and um and it is it is true like a lot of like now you're seeing um articles in the MC about other districts and their budgets because their budgeting process is much later than ours and some do it after all these numbers are released and then they're just kind of doing it once. just >> just a couple times. >> Jerry usually come out January. >> The last typically uh somewhere between the 20th to late late January and then the next step in the process goes to the House Ways and Means Committee and then the Senate Ways and Means Committee and then there's a reconciliation. They reconcile each other's

258data because they might not be the same and they hash out um what they agree to. Um, so that process is going to be going on for a while and in the meantime we have to get a budget approved. It's not quite synced up state and no local processes. >> No, why not? >> Right. Any other question? >> I just want I don't know if we highlighted this. It's in the memo, but the Carile ask is the 100k but no impact to to educational services. So, you know, that's the that is the other >> piece of it. Yeah. >> Is that even possible? Could you possibly make $400,000 income? Yeah, >> we would have done that. >> That's what I [laughter] imaging. I mean, like, how would we? >> Um, I think and I don't,

259you know, I think they heard us talk about not funding OPED and potentially putting in a capital and I think that's a little where they're thinking like maybe we just don't do any of that. >> Yeah, >> you could not drop the budget >> that delta because you're going to have to put it back >> and it needs to go either OPE or capital I think is our recommendation. I don't think you have a year to say never mind, we'll lower the budget and then I mean the ask would be huge next year to put it back in. So >> I think that's most of where the ask is coming from and I think this will help us start having discussions with them about where we are. We just wanted you to all have the

260information before we started sharing with Carla. >> Do we owe them an answer at >> We said that we wanted to have our So their meeting is tonight. So they were hoping for responses >> tonight. Um, I went back to the chair and just said, "We've got to bring this to the committee, so we're not going to make your deadline. >> Also, don't forget 100K >> is 400k." And he acknowledged that. So, um, just need to go back. >> Is your sense Oh, excuse me. Is your sense that like their support of the budget like are they I haven't seen their conversations to date, but can you speak to their overall support of the budget to date? So I think overall support I think when we so this year their sort of reviews with different

261departments it was the first time that the two school districts were were backtoback. It was a very different tone um between the two quite frankly I felt like the region got a little more pressure than than Carile did. Um, but I think they understand like why do people move to Carile? You move to Carile because of the schools. Like I think they understand that at the end of the day. Um, and so, you know, I think they've got to ask these questions. But I think but I think they will also collaborate when we say here's the good things that we know, but here are the things we can't do. Um, I I'm optimistic that there will still be, you know, support as we run into town meeting. >> They're under a lot of stress. We

262can >> Yeah, I understand that. I I do appreciate that pressures. >> Can I add something about the I forgot that Dr. mentioned the the cap the OPE. So, we had we had proposed repurposing OPE to capital. I think Andrew Herchek didn't like my recommendation. I know. So the school committee wasn't universal about it, but it was a way for us to try to fund a capital project that we know we're going to need to do for the turf replacement. The town of Carile doesn't like the concept of us prepaying for capital. Um I want to point out I think it's important to point out that in our by moving into capital stabilization. 179 of what we were going to put into um capital stabilization is for things that we need to do right away.

263It's for maintenance truck. It's for uh some of its um specific uh maintenance projects at the high school. Um so it's 179,000 of capital projects that we still need to fund. So we can't not fund that. We need to you know doesn't have to go into capital stabilization, but it has to go we can fund it just directly to a capital account and they still we still need them to assess it. And then if we took the OPE out it's going to have to get back in sometime. you can't you we're going to be [clears throat] >> um creating structural deficit and I don't think they >> want that either because they're just going to get a increase the year after. So >> we would potentially come back and um instead of >> instead of

264moving um to capital stabilization, we potentially will come back later and ask that we reduce the OPED by 179,000 and still leave 196,000 in it. But that way we can fund the same 375,000 for OPE that it would be for capital projects and OPEC combined. Um and we can lay that >> as an option. Yeah. >> Right. I don't think we're sure >> but we need that money for capital. >> There's some that is not turf >> message we want to be clear. >> In Carlile the preference would be to use CPC funds for turf. We have at this point for a town our size substantial uh CPC funds. So if it can be used for recreation as turf is one of those options. Um that was the feedback the other day >> and in

265conquer CBC will not fund turf. >> Yeah. And then we get into like the amenities building last year that was tricky logistics. >> Tricky. >> Okay. So >> So do you feel like you have enough information from this committee uh going back? >> Um I mean I think yeah as long as I'm not hearing any concerns from anybody. So, I think between the three of us, we can >> get back to them and go from there. >> Okay. Yeah. Great. All right. All right. And All right. Now, we are ready to go into exec session. So, does anyone have the language up? I move that the conquered school committee and the conquered crowd school committee will enter into executive session pursuant to MGL chapter 38 section 2187 to comply with the act under authority of

266or any general special law federal grant and aid requirements specifically MGL chapter 30 A22F and G with regard to the review approval and consideration disclosure of executive session minutes from November 5 2025 as NGL chapter 30A section 21 A for which the executive session was originally held in under purpose three with respect to bus driver incentives. The committee will not return to open session. [snorts] >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Roll call. >> Who's first? >> I guess I am because Andrew is not here. >> Yes. >> Keller I. >> Morano. I >> rank and I >> I >> Williams eye. >> All right. Thanks everybody.