Concord Carlisle Joint School Committee - March 11, 2025

001good evening everybody I'm I appreciate that you're all enjoying uh getting to know each other and chatting with each other and everything else uh but it is 6 pm and um welcome to this evening's uh school committee meeting I'm a little out of practice um and uh I am chairing this evening Julie Viola is uh has a family obligation uh so I call to order the conquered Carlow Regional school committee I'll call the conquered school committee to order okay so we have no members online not right now that may change Aisha is online is she online now okay she is she's she's she is you can see behind you oh I can't see okay um so are our students online our student I promoted Felicity I don't the others and and Maddie are both both

002have events so it's just me today okay great do you want to um do you want to start with your student update we're gonna um raise the volume in here a little bit okay can everyone see our presentation yeah yes thank you great um so today is just me talking but for some recent updates there's been a lot of very fun like mostly community- based events at TC in the past couple of weeks um last Monday we had the multi Multicultural food festival which is always like one of the highlights of the year and was definitely him to come out and turn it up hold on hold on Felicity sorry try it now can you guys hear me yeah better thank you okay great um yeah so the Multicultural food festival was last Monday and

003that was a huge success hundreds of people and lots and lots of cultures were represented um and and the another Community event that we recently had on Sunday and Monday of this past week actually was the phonathon for the CC scholarship fund and I and a lot of my peers were all um part of that community service event and we were able to get a lot of donations from people in the community to for the scholarship fund to help our peers get um Financial scholarships to attend college and I know that at least my shift um we set a record for like the most amount of money um in a single shift so it was like $24,000 within 3 hours which was really great so it just shows like how much and we all felt

004that it was like very meaningful and we felt very productive so that was really a great event um also last I believe last week was the mmaa junior District Festival which is um another Premiere like Ensemble group for bands orchestras and choruses um from up to 9th grade so we have a lot of ninth graders who qualified this year in band and Orchestra as well as chorus um and they did great at the festival some ongoing events that we have now include the mo moot Court competition which is always like a very great annual um thing in the spring from around February to May which is like a kind of like a debate related mock trial kind of um competition and we're in we're about to start round two of that later this week which

005is very exciting um spring Sports have also started and um I know a lot of my friends are very excited to get back into like the sports season um also some a lot of upcoming events tomorrow is a half day and like what my friends say is like a real half day because it's the 11:15 and not just the 1:5 dismissal and there's also going to be a um an assembly by birdie light on fenal education and harm reduction for juniors and seniors so that's going to be hopefully a very informative um experience class government is hosting another school spirit event which is the dodgeball tournament this Friday and that's always um an annual highlight as well next week is going to be the first cchs Wellness week as you can see there on the

006right there's going to be a lot of Wellness related activities which um we we which a lot of students are very excited about um next Tuesday is the March and M the preview concert which is going to include um both in all the instrumental ensembles and coral ensembles and as and'll fature some of the songs that we're preparing for Micah which is the big like um Massachusetts instrumental and coral conductors Association competition in early April so it this is always very high level and Technical um repertoire but it's also just a really fun concert and iqh Fest which we mentioned last time the date was moved so it's now going to be I think two Saturdays for now on the 22nd and there's definitely been a lot of hype and buildup around that so it's

007so many things that we're very excited about moving forward thank you so much Felicity this is a very busy schedule for the month of March and it's coinciding nicely with the weather and um I'm really happy for you guys it's a lot going on and exceptional as always thank you thank you all right thanks full City so now we're moving on to our recognitions we have two tonight and both are very exciting we're going to invite um Ashley cohain and any students no I have okay end or anywhere anywhere the end anywhere with a mic okay um all right hi um okay so hi thank you so much uh for having us here tonight so I am Ashley cohain I'm the math teacher and program leader of the rivers and revolutions program um joining us

008on Zoom are a couple of my colleagues so will kesa the English teachers up in the right um and Agatha wnc social studies teacher down in the left um and the other two teachers James O'Shea our science teacher and Tracy Dunn couldn't join tonight but passed along there gratitude and appreciation um for being brought on um I shared some slides um with Dr hunter that we can we maybe we'll see a little bit of it um but I just uh thought I could give a little bit of an you know sort of higher picture of things um I know we shared the website and I suspect you've spent the last week just pouring over it and learning everything that you can about rivers um but so I thought I'd touch on a few things um

009and first off I just want to say thank you so much uh for the support that Rivers has had since the Inception of the program um over 12 years ago but especially for the last couple of years since I've been the lead in the program um we feel so much support from the school administration District administration and then also from the school committee and we really couldn't do all that we get to do um without you and so you know I found myself thinking about rivers and its unique role in the high school in sort of for the district and I found um yesterday I was able to be part of a focus group through our challenge success program um and just found the students talking about sort of the stress anxiety pressure that they

010feel um which we could spend probably the rest of the year trying to get to the bottom of um but found that Rivers really does provide this unique opportunity to try and address some of those things that are going on for our students um and so you know I I was thinking a little bit and I don't want to go on too long um but you know we we have these three uh units of study um that I think speak to some of the concerns that these students were vocalizing and the first um and I guess thinking about that I feel like hearing what the students had to say I feel like instead of actually being present in their High School experience and really maybe enjoying some of those things that those students were sharing

011that's upcoming um they're so focused on what comes next um and so we're really working on how can we ground the students in what's going on so we just wrapped up the rivers unit uh where the students were exploring the idea of how do you get to know a place in community Through multiple perspectives um and so I guess maybe jump to that third slide that says experiential I'm having technical diffic okay don't worry about doing that can't see do more than that well here you go that gives you a little bit of a sense right so um we are really out right we know that there's so much amazing learning that happens across the district in the classroom and in those four walls but we also know that some of the richest Learning Happens

012outside when you're in it and you're doing it um and so we have an opportunity to you know we aim to be out of the building 50% of the time today we were talking about living deliberately and walking in the steps of you know thorough and we were there at his cabin site reading excerpts from his book um and I was having students graph and think about how they're spending time as we're in this revolutions unit and pushing them to think about what is it mean to live a good life so giving students that opportunity to step back and take stock of their lives and why they do what they do um and then we're going to launch into the journeys unit later where it's really thinking about you know what is it that they

013want and how are they going to take all these amazing things that they've learned in high school with them um and you know I think one of the big things that we've really been focusing on these last couple years is how do we help reach all students right um I think we know that all students need that support with their mental health their well-being getting outside um getting outdoor classrooms that we're able to use on a regular basis um and so you know students you know we've had support from the administration um in figuring out ways to balance that with taking AP classes and making those things happen in the morning um and really wanting to uh reach all of our students bringing in embedded honors across um the board with all five subjects um

014but I I'm so grateful um that it's something that we have here in the district and that we have your supportive so thank you I'd love to open it up to anyone who has suggestions I saw Cynthia's hand rise right up of course so since we've been getting a lot of correspondence from parents about cell phones yeah devices Cy I think you need Cynthia can you speak sorry here you go there thank you thank you for your assistance um so uh cell phones and devices and just what you said you're trying to have an experiential yeah how do you deal with that because you're not you're with the students a lot they're not moving in and out right even coming in totally yeah so um you know I don't know if you've seen the typical

015phone caddies that we have around um we instead have these cloth caddies that have six phones that can go in them that are one of our teachers made and so we have up on the wall and then when we are heading out I have mine that I take and I fold up and I tuck into my backpack so that if something were to happen or let's say we're going into Boston and the students are getting lunch and they all use Apple pay no one seems to have cash or credit cards anymore um we do that but I do think right so um one of the things that was amazing on I think our last day of the fall semester so we it's a semester program so was our last day with this group of students

016um we let one student have a phone and we brought a portable speaker right and we were on the bus back and a student started playing songs and we had you know 40 people on the bus singing along to Stand By Me little Taylor Swift you know but I do think right it the students one student was sharing how she feels like whenever she's feeling anxious or a little uncomfortable and I think we all do this she turns to her phone and that by the fact that we've pulled the phones out of their hands we don't let them have them on the buses or when we're out walking around Walden and that they are then connecting and having to move through that sort of social anxiety and and making those true authentic connections so and

017have you gotten any feedback that thank you or yeah yeah it's I think think all of the students really I think initially they're like wait but you know and then they say hey I I really appreciate this and see that the numbers the time that they spend on their phone is going and they're all on the same you know it's not like somebody has a phone and somebody doesn't have a phone right right right 100% good thank you so much I have a question so can you sort of walk us through I know you have your English teacher and his uh social studies teacher on here too can you guys just walk us through like what's a typical day like whether it's inside the building outside the building like how do you sort of Str

018it with knowing that you have those yeah um well one thing I would say is that no day is the same right like I mean and that's one of the things that's so exciting and especially as a teacher it's one of the most exciting things um and being able to be on a team of teachers is one of the most unique and rewarding experiences and I so grateful that I get to work alongside these awesome super intelligent and really just fun and funny people anyway so a little long-winded um but so just I'll give you an example of a couple of days so yesterday we were kicking off our revolutions unit um we stayed on campus all day uh but we took the cohort we broke them into three smaller groups so we opened up

019together in the classroom just getting them to do a little mind map of like what is a revolution and come up with all those things you saw a lot of kids you know writing Cuban French and and sort of thinking about this one idea of revolutions um and then they rotated through the day half over half hour stations with each of the teachers um and so with the art teacher they were talking about the idea of play and collaboration because she's going to get them into doing some big collaborative art pieces um with will he had them looking at this Mary Oliver poem called the summer day if you haven't read it you should um and so they were in a small group reading it breaking it down talking about it with me um we're

020doing a lot of stuff around time um and we're going to be trying to model that mathematically and so one we were thinking about they had to guess where North was where they think the sun rose at what time what what time they think setting at um uh with the social studies with Agatha they were talking about this definition of happiness and um you know all the different definitions that they can have with that with the science teacher they were thinking about looking more closely and getting out with microscopes and looking at um various plants that are around and so then we all came back together at the end of the day redefined Revolution um and ended up actually bringing in this incredible art piece from the 1100s uh from China which is a 48t

021scroll that was you know sort of flowing through the screen um then today um and then I'll you know sort of move on uh we we're talking about this idea of living deliberately James OA the science teacher and I were working together um I had them in the morning uh making these creativity timelines based upon other famous people um and how they spent their time and then I had them also thinking about how they spend a typical week and so creating data visualizations related to that um and then James had us thinking about Henry David thorough and we were over at Walden reading excerpts as we went around in the past we've tried inverting the world and sort of but the the Pond's Frozen so we were not I promise you we were not out

022on that um and then just a different example Friday we're heading to the pbd Essex Museum up in uh Salem and so we'll have an opportunity to look at some of the artwork and get out to see some of the urban um art murals too nice so those are some examples thank you yeah yeah just a quick question of course um what percentage of students end up doing rivers and Revolution over the you point before they graduate yeah and that's um that's a really good question and I think that's a big piece of what we've also been working on and I think that you know um Rivers has been at CC for 12 years um and I would say typically it's 20 to 25% of the of a graduating class is doing it um so

023I think we have 23% of this year's class uh and you know I think coming out of covid there was a dip in a number of different things things um but we're really you know I mean that's why I'm in it and why I love it is to try and make sure that it continues to be here and grows excellent yeah that actually kind of leads into my question so I just want to make sure you get some credit and your team gets some credit because it it does seem like Rivers has gone through in the past few years under your leadership and that your team's leadership a bit of a Renaissance a reboot um and are there some things that you can point to to uh that that you believe are the reason for

024that it has seen a Resurgence there's been more interest in the program it seems now that it's a far more competitive program than it used to be in terms of like I don't know I don't know how many kids you can actually keep in the program at once so what are some of the things that you guys have done that have made it more exceptional yeah I mean I think that you know I think one of these pieces I I think unfortunately um so many of our students feel feel this um pressure right to to build their resume as they're thinking about what comes next and thinking about ways to to stand out and get a higher GPA and get those APS and do those things you know and um you know I do think

025bringing in the embedded honors across I think allows a number of students to feel like hey this is something that I can do and I can find a way to make it work for me right um and so make making sure that we truly can reach all students uh and give them that sort of rigor that they're looking for um in a program that still takes them outside we also you know have students are able to take A and B Block other classes which does mean that they can take AP courses so you know a number of students are taking Apes with Goldberg with Mr Goldberg um and you know working to figure out ways that they can take AB Cal in the morning and apes and then also still be within Rivers um because

026I do think that there are so many incredible opportunities at the high school and I mean we know that life is full of choices and having to pick one thing over but I think trying to provide an opportunity for students to not feel like that's this or that um and then I also think we've spent a ton of time really thinking about the curriculum and how to make it more cohesive and collaborative um I think with anything you try to do as much as possible right you know all the initi you want to do everything right and there is so much to learn and so much that all the teachers are so excited about um but we also paired back and sort of focused in and really um built up the curriculum in these three

027units so I think that also students feel real strength in that and are able to speak to their experience a few things awesome this was great and also we've heard we've talked about rivers we've heard about it periodically through throughout the last couple of years and um just thank you to all of you Ashley here and those of you on on the on Zoom um we're grateful for the work it's really important thank you so much thank you have a great night all right thank you thank you guys online as well all right coach Goldberg and Coach Moss we would love for you guys to pop up and talk about your recent season we're very excited to have you and I don't want to steal your thunder we going to sit here this is Shane

028new assistant coach oh hey nice to meet you we are what we are welcome um here for those of you who don't know we have our uh coaches of our state champion girls swim and dive team and we want to give you guys congratulations two years in a row you so no signs of slowing down so exciting I think that deserves repeating because they were clapping two years in a row yeah two years in a row with no signs of slowing down so we applaud you guys in your efforts and we'd love to hear a little bit about your season all right um uh so obviously we had a great season um it's been um a few years now that our girls team has been really strong um with last year being our first ever

029state championship and and being able to follow up again this year um was really exciting um I think this year the girls in particular felt a lot of pressure going into the season having been uh you going in as the the reigning state champs um and it was something that we didn't talk much about over the course of the season um just kind of let things play out um I don't think we we realized that our our first meet of the Season against Lincoln Sudbury for the girls was going to be um that was going to be our biggest rival um it was Lincoln Sudbury was our first dual meet of the season um and they were right behind us at dcl's and sectionals and states the whole way um and uh yeah they they

030they did really well um we've got some of our boys here today that came to support the girls they also had a fantastic season they finished fourth at States this year um and along way we broke four school records awesome awesome at the state meet we had um we had two individual state champions as well mais O'Donnell uh one in diving for the was the second or third year in a row second year in a row um and Sarah forer uh won the breast stroke um that was her first state championship individual win um but it was really um for both of our teams it was the depth of the team that that carried the day um I think last year we had a number of of athletes that were like top top and some

031of those graduated um and then this year we um I mean we brought I think 20 girls to States um and I think 17 of them scored points at the state meet it was extraordinary a lot of a lot of the other girls teams brought half that number um so um it was just an extraordinary group um athletically and I have to say um on a personal note that they're just wonderful wonderful people also um as an example of that today happens to me my birthday happy birthday that was a great invitation of mine um and and I showed up to my classroom at 7:30 in the morning and a quarter of the team was my door um to ready to to sing Happy Birthday to me so um yeah that was a a wonderful

032surprise and that just I think speaks to uh their character and and I think the main reason why I have enjoyed coaching this group so much over the last several years so that's awesome dad couple of former swim parents are here to see get a picture we would love to get a picture and um just even with all of you guys guys who are here boys girls anyone on either team and I just want to say too for those in the audience that don't know or um your team and what you all as coaches and leaders have done in terms of being so inclusive with these children really really bringing out the absolute best in them there is a culture to this swim team that I believe comes from the top from both of you

033as coaches and then um the captains as well that is just so extraordinary and so unique um it when when you're in middle school as a parent um you learn very quickly that the swim team is where every parent dreams their child might find a place because of that um and I just think that that is so important and I think in some ways it is even more important than state championships and all of that and I don't know I just wanted to get that out to the community that I think what you are doing there and what those students do and what you commit to for each other is just exceptional and a shining example and a total embodiment of everything we value at cchs so it's a big deal thank you want to

034do a picture yeah let's do it do you want in the picture Lor you guys should be in it too we can all be in it yeah yeah you should be in it cythia get up last we did the every I'm happy to Wi angle lens the that's all the ks [Music] [Applause] thank you for coming thank you thank you guys congratulations yeah still upset that I wasn't chosen to one those teachers when it first came out I did get to do a lot of kaying oh like a Q5 kayak tour thank you everybody thanks Jerry [Music] all right recognition done all right now we can move into shortly our public comment period thanks guys um with that um oh I'm supposed to do the SP public comment is a period of 20 minutes um

035our meetings are in the public but not with the public I forget this Shel um anyway we will allow everyone to have three minutes uh and with that I'm going to bounce between comment in the room and comment on Zoom if there is any we did receive one piece of public comment I'd like to call up Mark jalti yes that was awesome that goes on your report card uh Mark J aledi conquered Mass uh right Road a resident okay on May 3rd 2024 I reached out to the cchs co-princes regarding incidents of anti-Semitism racism homophobia and misogyny that occurred after the solar eclipse field trip involving the class of 27 in my initial email I extended a hand of cooperation recognizing that these are CommunityWide issues that require a collective Solution on May 10th I

036received a response from Co co-principal stall which unfortunately felt like an attempt to Plate rather than address the core issues there was no indication of a committed effort to problem solving and it appeared that the strategy was merely to run out the clock on the school year as expected another incident occurred this past November I reached out again urging the need for a comprehensive CommunityWide solution I also expressed my disappointment and hurt as a family affected by these acts of hate as someone who was born in Brock spent part of my adulthood as a resident of Roxbury and as the father of Jewish children I understand firsthand the Deep Impact of such behavior my children's Jewish identity was put in stark contrast when one of them had to celebrate a bot Mitzvah with armed security

037pres this is our reality and nobody should be ignorant to another's truth and the time that's followed the same empty responses have continued Hollow emails and an apathetic plea for parents to do better letter followed by the occasional speaker brought in to address the students while the meeting I had with the co-principal on January 15th was cordial and professional it did not result in any tangible commitment to address the ongoing problem which remains unresolved and feels as though we are once again in the phase of running out the clock it is disheartening to note that though not widely publicized word has spread around our community of an anti-semitic incident occurring at one of our elementary schools the question that begs to be asked is how is this possible the local Jewish Community has formed a

038task force dedicated to confronting anti-Semitism where many district residents are more knowledgeable and equipped to help in addressing these issues our own state representative Simon Cataldo leads a committee dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and over a year ago penned a letter praising act and boxboro superintendent Peter light for conf in similar incidents head on the work done in that school district is now considered the gold standard for tackling these issues effectively with vast resources available why is our district not taking full advantage if we combine all of this with Emerson's youth risk behavior survey where the data points to bullying depression being on the rise leading at least nine students to self-report bringing a gun to school and for reference AB had two the time for complacency is over I urge you to take meaningful action

039to seek help from those who have experience in this area and to work together with the community to ensure that our schools are safe and inclusive for all students regardless of the background identity and beliefs thank you for your time Mark I'm looking on Zoom I'll promote uh yeah there we go did you promote yeah I think was that Dave Nicholson okay thank you you yes we can hear you go ahead great thanks hi this is Dave Nicholson and Laura will we're residents on Old Malboro Road uh just wanted to start mark thank you for sharing that story but uh we're here tonight to address the thorough playground project I'd like to start by acknowledging principal Sparks the thorough ptg and the thorough backyard committee for their time and effort to create an inclusive playground

040comment was made earlier about how inclusive the swim team has been and how important it is for parents to help their children find a place in life that really resonates and the core idea in the thorough R backyard print playground design but having an accessible place is inclusive for everyone is something we wanted to speak to tonight that design principle is something that's promoted on the row backyard website it has been a central part of what they're promising and they fundraising thank you we have a son who is 5 years old he's currently in the conquered school system and he is a wheelchair user in our lived experience the design of a playground can either allow for a fantastic inclusive community experience or perpetuate segregation and ableism and we're here tonight to ensure that the

041school committee and the town are aware that despite the best intentions the current playground design is not inclusive we have raised these concerns with the playground committee co-chairs two months ago and principal Sparks and Angel Charles more recently as a concern wood chips are going to cover uh the majority of the playscape and this material is not wheelchair accessible according to Ada standards we provided detail recommendations on how to improve the design based on the lived experience of wheelchair users uh but to date despite multiple parents of children who are wheelchair users volunteering to be a part of the committee we have not been included in our experience the design of a playground can either allow for this inclusive experience or really perpetuate segregation and aism allowing the playground to be built as it is

042currently designed would exclude members of our community specifically wheelchair users from that inclusive experience that is core to the design of the project all children deserve Equitable fund so we just wanted to raise these concerns so the school committee was aware uh and thank you for your time and we trust in your leadership to ensure that the values of our town are met and that the delivering on the commitments and promises that have been made as part of the thorough backyard fundraising efforts are really essential to ensure that there's an inclusive future for all the children in our school system thank you for your time thank you thank you thank you both I don't see anyone else in the room oh I do see someone in the room sure come on up name and would

043be helpful my name is Nancy Brown and I live at 96 Forest Ridge Road and I am co-chair of the deib commission but I'm speaking in my individual capacity I moved here from Columbus Ohio 8 years ago and I can say which is where I spent most of my life but I'm very glad to be living in coner now and not in Ohio but we are all living in incredibly difficult times where so much that we believe in seems under attack and unfortunately conquered is not immune from what is happening in the res of the country and we heard a little bit about that in the first the first person who spoke there have been and there will be more incidents in our schools reflecting the currents in our society I would like to urge

044the superintendent and all of you not to succumb to these forces and to reach out to the Deb commission if we can support you in any way in these very difficult times thank you thank you all right seeing no other comment in the room and none [Music] online right no um we can move to our consent agenda which includes our joint minutes from February 4th the list and the listed warrants um if someone could make a motion to approve the consent agenda I would entertain that I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda from March 11th 2025 do I have a second second all in favor we have to do a roll call because Julie on Julie is on I can't tell yeah oh she had to step off she stepped up so we

045still have a quorum and we are all present so all in favor I I okay great uh Carrie do you want to manage correspondence sure um okay so correspondents we um have received about 28 25 to 30 emails combination between CPS and CCSD um all on the issue of cell phone use in schools that's it I do think it's important because that's unprecedented number of letters yeah to make it clear what our process is going to be going forward yeah I was going to give an update in our chairs chairs update but I'm happy to do it now no no no let's just do it then well let's just do it now FR um we are we have a scheduled subcommittee um policy subcommittee meeting and I was looking for the date right before this

046but 21st okay on the 21st and that will be the first discussion where we will just sort of talk about the outline of what what our questions are what we want to bring to the full committee and then we'll bring it to the full committee um after that we will discuss said that meeting when to bring it to the full committee right and I do ask that we consider having a public comment at that because it is a big we sure yeah I think any public meeting we have to have in my opinion this should be a data driven decision which I don't really have any data so um we've heard from Mostly parents in favor of a belto bell it sounds like to me um uh control of devices in the school um and

047I would like to try to find a way to hear from more parents and teachers staff um and what the impact would be because personally I work in a school and I I know person who works in a classroom and putting more stress on teachers to patrol so many things now phones kids going in and out of the classroom it's a lot and I would try to us to think of a way to not make teachers have to manage this proc yeah I think there's lots to unpack so I think we probably that's why it should start at the subcommittee to understand what are the various like um channels that we need to kind of go into and ask questions about and then bring that research to the committee once we're ready okay did always

048shocks me that the masc is not has not taken an issue taken a position on this and drafted a policy um well now we have some from the attorney general so well we have million different bills but yeah um none of which have you know been through legislative session yet all for a future conversation right yeah so I just want to make we said in our email responses that we have we have no policies regarding cell phone we have practices at each of our schools well I don't think we even have a a practice at the elementary schools it's just none allowed but um same K to8 the whole K to8 is the same yeah and then the high school so we currently have no policies whatsoever at the school committee level yes that's right

049we have practices at our school and the handbook very defined practices yes yeah but we can bring all of that to the to the subcommittee meeting as part of the conversation right and I hope we just publicize that a little more than we usually publicize our policy meetings so that people know what is going on and if they're so inclined to make a comment they have the ability to do so I'd like to hear from more people and maybe they have a different opinion than what we've heard so far I think there are lots of opinions and I think there are also lots of questions that have not been answered that we have to figure out this is not something that should be rushed because of the fact that there are a lot of opinions

050and a lot of unanswered questions good all right so that's corresponded perfect we really didn't get anything else no no no no uh moving on do Lori do you want to start with the superintendent update sure happy to um so lots of as you could hear from the students there's a lot of things going on so I'm highlighting some of the ones um that I've been engaged in or part of uh last week a number of us attended CPAC hosted a speaker on literacy and Equity so we attended that and um really I think I felt validated that we've done a lot of the right work that we've built in literacy science-based literacy programs phonics based and um The Next Step will be the knowledge-based part which is what we're looking at now and our

051literacy program will be over the next few years completely research based which I think is worth saying over and over again that um we're doing that right work and um Believers in that research and the application of it for all kids uh I had my first AI committee meeting last week with uh 20 volunteers who zoomed in with me from 4 to 5 o'clock in the afternoon across all of K12 it was fantastic the way the group fell together um we had a really productive first conversation we first focused on the benefits and the opportunity of AI admittedly it's hard to do that without going but but I kind of forced them to stay in the positives next time we're going to talk about the butts we're going to start looking at what policies are

052out there there's not a lot but there are some and um the goal being that by the close of this school year this committee will have a policy which starts to frame our vision for AI um both the opportunity and the struggle challenges and all the things we've got to figure out to go with it at least it's a great starting point um conquered possibilities had its soft launch at 199 s Sudbury Road uh 10 days ago or so really really well attended just kind by opport By Invitation at this point because it was lowkey and and quiet but really fun to see the student materials and things that they've been making all the swag they've made for all the different schools um and start to see that come to life so we're working on

053signage working on point of sale working on those last pieces so we're going to be able to open to the public and really start to immerse ourselves in the community but the energy is just fantastic being there with the students being in there with others who came in to visit we already had a visit from littleton's 18 to 22 program because they had a connection with ours and made a field trip of it to come see so already uh word is out uh the shelter there were a number of uh vacant rooms that the state is filling they're consolidating our shelter with one of the walam shelters that is closing so in the last week 14 families have moved in from wam many of them with young children which we were a little bit relieved

054by um four school age students who are all staying in the walan public schools so we've arranged transportation for them we're expecting about 15 or 16 more in the next week so we're all triaging whether it's Bob Bob does most of the transportation if they're going to walam so he's been a key piece to this and we're trying to do some economy of scale hopefully if their schedule's all Al line um but so the hotel's filling back up again is the bottom line and I don't think we're surprised by that it took longer than we thought it would and maybe we got comfortable not thinking that would happen but it is actively happening um I just came from the uh first home game of the unified basketball team at the middle school act in boxboro

055was on site and won what a fantastic opportunity for our special education and general education kids to be together and two what a fantastic that's really the first public thing we've had in there what a fantastic facility um lots of bleachers for parents and ins Spectators to watch a basketball game on this amazing scoreboard which we came back we were behind by 10 when I came went in and tied it up before I left um just a lot of great energy and really feels like that Middle School's coming to life which is fabulous my last comment is the middle school I mean we are definitely working through some glitchy things of course in the first few weeks of a new building um nothing overly significant and we have a lot of attention because all the

056construction folks are still there at our side um I learned this afternoon that we expect the first pieces of sandborn to be demolished as early as next week um they finished a batement in the front office and a couple of those other proximate areas near the front door so they're eager to get started on demo on in phases and I think that's going to be quite something for us all to process and watch but I think those are my updates great thank you's update I had a couple of things um I don't know if is Julie back on don't know if she had anything think so um okay so one is um we're just working with masc on an updated um school committee evaluation so we are going to build it and then bring the

057revised as a reminder we were going to rework it so that it focused more more closely on our goals and then also um we wanted it to be um a broader group of people who are participating including our Meco reps and potentially I think we even talked about some of the administration um evaluating us um so was one piece we will have a proposal hopefully I'm working with them on that so hopefully soon um they are like overwhelmed with budget season with all of their um cities and towns and so we're not their top priority but working with them on that um the second piece um I wanted to give an update on the thorough playground they are in the last month of their um fundraising and to date they have $454,000 in hand um

058which is 74% to goal and a Delta of $155,000 yet to raise um in the next ideally month so they're doing really well um they have a bunch of commitments to get them a lot closer so I think we're the the the Delta if all of that comes in is closer to 60 grand um so it's still it's Within Reach but there's a lot of work to do so um just putting out an appeal if you're interested in contributing um they've done a ton of work in response to the um Nicholson's I just want to say that this you know it's sort of a chicken and egg situation where they have to design something to put out there a initially to get feedback and B to say this is what we're hoping to build and

059why you should donate to it there is no playground if we're not able to raise the money um so we are grateful for all feedback we've gotten a ton of both positive and critical and we're taking it into consideration however we are not in a design phase of the project um I say we just cuz I'm Al leaz on on the committee um we are not in a design phase of the project we have to raise the money in order to know what actually we can build so that is where we are we appreciate and welcome all the feedback I know Mr Sparks really appreciated the conversation with them I don't want to speak for him but um that he gave definitely to the point where we added the CPAC president to the committee to

060be sure that that voice is at the table so so this no final design is is finished yet there's a schematic so there's something to show the community yeah so thank you for um I I'm not sure if they're still on but thank you to them for their feedback and to everyone else for offering feedback we you know now is the time for it um because it's not built so um I think those are all my cell phones oh Aisha did you want to share anything oh I think she might be frozen no she glitched Aisha she might be frozen yes yes um so last the last last Mee was in Boston it was um can you hear me yes we can can you hear me now yep so um we had our meeting our

061last meeting in Boston we had a we had a full house it was awesome and yes filling the other seat there's a parent that's very interested she's a elcot parent Meo parent so um I'm excited to have someone else on the committee so she was breaking up a little bit um but the just to reiterate what you said the Meco meeting the meeting last week was in Boston it was a packed house and it was awesome and we have one person from the uh Meco Community who's interested in the school committee rep position so we'll be um finalizing that hopefully and um yeah and moving forward we're really eager to have somebody um at the table and thank you for all your work on that Aisha seriously getunte for anything is a challenge these days

062we all know that thank you um does anybody else have any I I just have more questions since Julie's not on I hope that we can revisit she she attended along with some other I apologize I wasn't at the CPAC event and she sent out an email sort of in our behest but since we are not had not discussed this committee that event and some of the things that she wasn't happy with her so forth but she's not on so I don't think it's appropriate to discuss this with our here maybe we could have that discussion in our next meeting and what appropriately is the right thing to do for individual school committee members whether they should just represent themselves as a citizen or as chair or member of the committee when they might have

063specific questions or so and forth with another event not a school committee event obviously so anyway that's all okay bring that back to her any other leaz on update just very quickly um campus completion met yesterday morning um I think now with the warrant articles basically drafted for both towns maybe a little refinement but drafted we're really shifting more towards what I would call the marketing plan and what I mean by that is just how to get the word out to both communities uh something that I'll be circulating is a draft of FAQs um so that we can use those in a variety of places including um a version of them um on the website uh just I owe you a draft of a letter by the end of this week I wasn't going to

064set a deadline but uh yeah that works I owe it I owe it to you so and Brian one of the questions I hear at conquer is um an explanation as to why in April and September that conquer did not apply for CPA funds before the deadline that's a question I've heard so I actually yes should we you want the answer to that I no I want to see in the FAQ and then we can discuss the whole thing at once perfect as a committee yeah okay that's it yeah if you could send that out but do you have an FAQ started I do have it started I had a couple tweaks from yesterday's meeting that I need to get in there and then I'm before the next meeting if we can discuss it yeah

065that'd be awesome also by the end of the [Applause] week all right great great all right discussion moving into um our Ripley steamlab overview laori do you want to take the helm or actually Shell's going to I know we sent you a lot of slides I'm a little worried they're not going to screen share well you weren't going to go through them all anyway a lot of slid giving a two minute all right I'll try to get a at least a photo up okay um do I want do you want me to stream the slides uh let me put it up I I don't think it's going to work I think we're only going to be able to show like the first one so CU we're having more technical issues I I'll find it Chile

066if you want to chat sure so you know um number one we are fortunate here in this District to have a steam lab here right at Ripley um you know it's this huge space if you haven't been over there it's um an opportunity for our prek through now grade six goes over there and um it's really about being able to engage deeply and critically around our stem um standards through prek through six so um it's really about doing science and as we talked about in the last presentation around social studies it's about inquiry it's about doing the eight practices of engineering and science which are really about communication problem solving developing hypotheses and testing and designing and experimenting so what real scientists do but what all of us probably do in our daily work and

067professions no matter what the discipline is so that's really the important part and um our steam lab Educators just want to you know support them and thank them for the work that they do Allison and Mary to really build this and work with the classroom teachers to um create projects that are interesting inquiry based and developmental appropriate so um if we could get to that slide there's just really just the schedule they come to visits but as we as the kids come through starting in kindergarten all the way up through sixth grade they have this experience and they remember and they build on that progression of an inquiry um a question and practicing and experimenting and doing some really great experiments and projects so um communication is a key point in this like how do

068we pick up a project how do we um understand what it means to design and build and filter right to test for acidity levels in different um systems how do we think about building a structure that's going to hold up right with weight and design um for a play structure for um characters and like for kindergarteners so in this they really do this steam level brainstorming picking options testing it and designing and tweaking those designs um so to go over those standards just really here like in kindergarten the question was how do we build a tall sturdy tree so they start with a book um build that knowledge and then the kids get to work in such a big space they've got all the materials there um and the teacher the classroom teacher has done

069a little bit of prep beforehand so that they're ready to come here and then they're excited to to do the work the steam La teachers work with them and um they've got like just really great tools and materials that we've been collecting and using all year to to work in five different stations you've got a lot of adults in the in the room too to support them and um just all through the pictures you'll see you'll see some really great projects um and then as they get to to third grade we don't call it really steam they're really talking about stream and the idea is that you're now doing a research so you're building that research component to it not just like starting with a book and thinking about how to test but we now

070start test um researching online using some books and just within the or testing as well and then then applying it to a design and a build project so they really get to do two phases of it like in the morning and the afternoon um I'll scroll through some great pictures while you're chatting how's that there's just some really great projects that they do and again because it's not just the design process or research it's around the collaboration so again they're building their seal skills about how do you work in a team to do this how can you listen listen to your peers about their ideas even if you may not like that idea how can we test it and then how can we document look at data and then um play with it and come

071up with Solutions together like what's the best way to build this bird feeder what's the best way to maneuver a rickshaw and to test it down a hill to say what's the best way to get it to the farthest and so they're really just having fun practicing and engaging so we won't show you the videos but in these if you click on them you can see videos of their work and testing and they have fun and I mean that's really what it is like bringing joy to this and collaboration and in one day they can build a project you know and model something and then in the after after these visits the teachers in their classroom will do some reflection too if they can't get to that at the end of a long day here

072so I think also just to recognize that our steam lab team then our teachers are also modeling really just strong practices for the classroom teachers to think about that inquiry based model to really make sure that they're they can see their students in a different lens sometimes and to see how group work um can really build on each other so that they're going through that K through through six and just um they're excited to be here and whenever we want like a lift from not in the Ripley dayto day we go to the steam go to the preschool we need a kid fix we go down our kids you get to see them experimenting designing and aw they really love the the space Oh bet they do yeah nothing better than getting on a bus

073and going some place my kids love it K K3 and five like all like all um spe all sides of the spectrum and they love it they it's just really fun for them yeah they get to see like some in the second grades they group the classes together so they get to work with different kids that they don't always work with too so that's ni yeah I'm glad we had Rivers here tonight this is like baby Rivers um you know yeah so like I done that on purpose I I think that makes sense yeah it you know and I don't know when we talk about even like neurodiversity and the different way kids learn this is a real wonderful opportunity for kids to be more handson rather than um cerebral and I think that showing

074kids that they can have all different kinds of skills and different kids excel in different areas is really important so and I think just facility sorry just to say like again the facility lends itself to what teachers I think in an individual Elementary classroom may not be able to build out to that level right because of the space because of the design because of all the materials you need it's just such a big lift for teachers that to take this off their weight you know just as an example of some really fun experiments they can do is just you know it's it really helps the teachers as well so that we're ensuring we're getting that steam that we know that has been such a strong suit of conquered and Conquer carel like you're really embedding

075that here and it it's really not that I'm a aware of other districts that really have this opportunity forgive me was the steam lab originally seated from the aned fund Grant a good amount of it was yeah but there was a million doll Capital project as well but yes they funded the materials yes I remember that how long how old is it like um it was my first year it was built so you're in year seven of actively running the steam lab you know I think these are such great examples of some Innovation that really has embedded and you know sustain the test of time and it's just important we keep revisting in them and keeping them alive and really broadcasting them to the community CU they're both very unique um strengths of ours well

076and also I think Rivers is like the example of like it's it can be a roller coaster it can be a roller coaster you have to stay attentive to it and focused on it and believe in it and be willing to ride out the dips to figure out figure it out yeah yep based on the schedule is the space sort of fully optimized pretty much Wednesdays are tricky because the half day doesn't give us enough time to maximize visits but every Monday all the other all the other days are scheduled and because for example third grade comes three times they come the most and it's just really PR to plan and map and you'll see on that schedule they're here most of the day from after you know picking them up and then coming here

077and then they have lunch here they'll have a little break and so it's a full almost full day field trip that they do yeah we're in discussions the Middle School piece is more challenging because it disrupts everything to pull kids out it's not like a self-contained Elementary classroom we had done six and seven last year and it just upsets the whole building we pulled back to six this year we're going to talk some more with the middle school to see if we're getting enough value for the disruption it causes so more to come on that but it's been a good trial for sure just to test it out great yeah thank you shelle for pulling all together that's a nice thanks Shell we should share the slides and other forums and make sure everyone hears

078what's going on there yeah so I know your parents do but like the community at large of course yeah no it's a really unique yeah program all right so we have not heard um in a few months about where you stand on your goals for the 2024 25 school year so we would love that update for you yeah glad to share um and I'll do this at a high level you can read them obviously um what's always a good thing for me is to step back to the 30,000 foot View and sort of see where I am and what I said I was going to be doing um things always happen that sway that a little or new things come up but anyway this was kind of fun because I was actually quite on track

079so that's not always the case um just highlights of the goal here on um ensuring equital evidence based instruction professional development obviously I'm working really closely with Shelly on most everything that's here as well as the rest of the administrative team um we're really in the data diving mode we're looking at shelle's doing a nice job of leading Us in some reviews of what we've been using and whether it's the right thing at the right time in terms of tools software and other strategies plus the actual content of the data and what it's telling us um so we've been looking at Atlas which has been our curriculum software and whether that's the direction we want to keep going it's a little bit of a cumbersome program and not teacher friendly um open Architects on the

080flip side is our newer data warehouse that you've heard about over the last couple of years and we've really been able to maximize that and um at least get there's more to work to do with the staff but we at least got it out to them and certainly the leaders whether building or depart uh District level are really starting to see the benefits of having everything in one place from attendance to all their um Academic School Achievements to the mental health screeners like snapshots of kids longitudinally so we suddenly history is in the room when an eighth grade teacher needs to check on where the child is at and you can figure out what's already happened um so we're excited by that um the ELA curriculum you've heard a lot about that and you will

081continue to DEC to five that's the knowledge-based portion of reading so it's not going to supplant our phonics we still need to do all of that which is foundations and Hagerty phic awareness Wilson for kids who need more all of that still going to be in place this is more the comprehension where the most recent research really shows that you have to build background knowledge this makes sense to equitably engage kids and you have a levelizer that means it doesn't matter what you lived to how well you can connect with a text because we're going to make sure everybody's got the same information going in it brings a lot of opportunity for science and social studies integration and a lot of um much heavier weight on non-fiction than many programs have had until till now

082which makes so much sense to me that do more work at balancing out non-fiction or even more heavily doing non-fiction Than Fiction non-fiction is the way you get through the rest of your career scholarly and professionally and fiction has its great strengths in the themes and the analysis but we need to be sure we're doing both so we're excited about that more to come we're certainly going to bring you our recommended program by the end and we've been successfully collecting um early adopters from the elementary schools for next year thank you for the support the budget has in that as well um other highlights in terms of culture is a big one right now we've been really focused on this the last couple of weeks checking in with uh all levels of teachers and where

083their mindset is what their needs are I mean let's just name this is a hard job now it's a really hard job the needs of kids the academic and curricular needs all the other stuff that goes on and um we're really just dip stipping di dip sticking with that so we can understand how we can support them um in terms of the equity work and Innovation and deeper learning um I've been very present in the calculus Project work at the high school we met with e8th grade math teachers as part of the placement process Dr Mims has been out um feeling really positive about the direction there um really hiring our goals for placement in higher level classes for students of color and I think the data is going to reflect that as we go

084forward uh mtss you know that's a system we've had in place for a long time we've been revisiting it student support teams is a piece of mtss often that's where the regular Ed side tries to support children um long before they might need a special education referral um we now have a consistent s SST plan across all of K5 which has been exciting um other things we've just been working on udl is under um Universal Design for Learning so we've started to introduce that to all staff and make sure they've got some conceptual understanding of the framework that's really about the accommodations and supports in multiple ways you're going to either have kids access information or present information and it really is about how to reach all kids um and we updated our curriculum accommodation

085plan and also shared that very blatantly with teachers just as a reminder that the scale of accommodation in a classroom is really broad for what regular Ed should be doing um you don't have to wait to get an IP to get some different things in a classroom and that's really the equity work in action um in a real you know gened environment uh in terms of student well-being you the Panorama data we've been reviewing that pretty extensively um you know challenge success Happ beened also at the high school so that data has been telling us a lot about where we are and the progress we've made um we're going to this I was talking with some teachers this afternoon the story of our seal curriculum challenges where we were an open circle District open circle

086says they are going to not have a program anymore because Wellsley College isn't supporting them we pivot over make a change we don't really like the curriculum we pile it so we Retreat and then this fall um Framingham State resurrects open circle and now we're going back to using open circle it's good it's a journey we could have skipped if we' had a choice um responsive classroom will remain a piece of what we've been doing because we've been very invested Ed in that and I think it's the how do we marry the two together because responsive classroom tends to have a more everything we do is about classroom culture and environment and social emotional skills an open CL open circle is a direct teaching curriculum I think we need to do both and that's what

087we're going to be working with teachers on but yes it's a good outcome long way to get there but um we're continuing to work on the ybs data we use that data regularly and are aligning it with you know what our screeners are telling us as to sort of deeper dive so we're uh been glad for all the time and energy spent on that um in terms of special ed we mentioned the launch retail space which feels like a really big goal that we met um Angel and I are talking regularly about the special um intensive programs and you know those are not without their own challenges we're at capacity in a number of settings and the challenge there and just maintaining um especially support staff there's not as many support staff going to those

088particular settings as we might all wish I think that's just the nature of the environment and the candidate pool that's out there right now so we're actually massaging some relationships and we just applied for a big desie Grant Shelly wrote um that we're hopeful will help us build a pipeline of graduate students to come do special ed with us and they would get paid a small internship and we would pay a mentor and it would be all Grant funded and so we'll see if that helps us yeah awesome it would be awesome um um we need to Define this is the one I was like oh we haven't really done enough on that yet a district-wide vision of what inclusion looks like in special ed specifically um so that we all are aiming for the

089same thing there's a lot of different ways to Define that and uh then specific instruction you know PD has been the name of our Focus areas here Wilson I the new IEP I'll admit that feels like it was important but it also distracted us from the instructional PD we needed to do they ended up back in some process PD which obviously needed to happen and it's a better tool but a little bit of competing um priorities there uh professional practice goal the homeless shelter was a big one for me this year and continues to be um we have kids coming and going in many directions on a given day um Bob and I are working tightly on the financial aspect of that which has been more significant than we expected with especially the CPS homeless

090Transportation um because more kids are either commuting back to us or or like wallam coming to us and going back to school of origin so that's been more of a challenge than we thought and now obviously working with the state and the leaders of the shelter on what is expected to be a phasing out over the course of the next six months so um deib you know this I I listed things here I feel like this is the lens we put on everything now I think we're making we've made that shift to where we ask ourselves that as we're talking about most things is is this accessible is it Equitable I'm not going to say we've got it perfect yet but the frame of mind is there now that that's the way we see things

091and I think that's a big change and I think we're seeing it in the staff which means it's coming from the bottom up as well and it's not all just us watching for it it's happening everywhere again not because we've got it perfect or totally figured out um I think you know supporting the Strategic plan and this I think has been true in this political environment that we're all very committed to our core values and you know suddenly this year I'm finding myself naming that more blatantly where before it was just part of our plan and our initiatives and our bief system and now we feel a need to say it a lot and we will continue to say it so um we're grateful for the support we heard here tonight um I'm still working

092on the state level committees which have had an interesting turn a little bit there too of how we're all navigating some interesting challenging times um me has been a high priority this year for sure meeting with Meco parents Meco leadership meetings um Meco advisory days have been to the state house once already uh two weeks ago and going back in the late part of March um we've been really I think you've seen as we've made our way through the hiring process for the leaders we know what we need I think we found the right people now and we've enjoyed and watched them grow and I think you know we're at a reset point and I know leadership's been a big Topic in the community the right people are here now we can just feel it

093they lead with students and their love of students and they do all the rest of it um so we're excited the structures are there now to to Really um hone in on what else the program needs there's a lot that's working this year Transportation has been stable and steady that wasn't always the case the last few years we were spending a lot of time on just getting kids here in back um so we're shifting over to really honing in on the academics which feels what we're supposed to be doing so great yeah we're really you know congratulations to Salange and meleny and Andre's assistant and just really strong team to move us forward um in terms of finance and operations we did work with the town on a capital plan which felt like great progress

094so uh we're we're glad for that and conquered that we were able to do that um and then you've all been there so we'll just reference the finance committees and the work we did together with with them we met guideline so all of that aligned with my goals um supporting the amenities building and the campus improvements I'm Bob and I are the ones meeting with Gail in between your meetings and then um just making sure the budget reflected the Strategic plan which it it does um we can name where there's places where budgets are supporting our goals which is um really important that I'm part of that messaging to all of you um and the last one is the new middle school which I decided to just abbreviate since um we're we're in um I

095attended all those meetings that were listed there whe they were uh construction building committee everything in between um getting ourselves in making sure now I feel the job is to make sure the community gets to celebrate we're looking at May 3rd decided to get out of April May 3rd for a grand opening ribbon cutting all things conquered Middle School The Ellen garison building at conquered Middle School um Justin Cameron met today with Jen Turner at the robins house so we can incorporate some Ellen where he's he's getting all ready to really help those kids know who Ellen is which I think is great build off of the elementary work we do um and just make sure the community feels like they're engaged and celebrating a little tricky to do it in February and March but

096by may we think the grounds will be cleaned up more and the weather will be great and the 250th will be over and all of that um I'm still T staying close working with Justin and all the transitional things that still pop up and um yeah just more to come as we we're in phase two formally now so as sorn is demolished and the fields go in and a little bit of playground and all that site work gets done it's going to be a really that's when it's going to feel really done done you feel like you've got this beautiful school on a construction site right now but it'll feel really done at that point um but can I ask a question um going back to your goals you spoke a little bit about the

097shelter yeah um since the shelter will be open through the summer last year I believe you were part of um the facilitation of some of those kids being able to participate in conquered re summer camp are there going to be opportunities for these guys again it's going to be different this summer because the kids are much more transient than they had been um conquered wreck has also finding itself limited fiscally to continue to support at that level which is completely understandable um Mr Lucy and I we ran a pretty extensive summer program for the first K and one kids all summer last year right but we don't know who they're going to be and they're not coming to us so we're just not thinking it's going to come together there's too many pieces yeah that's

098I figured um I don't know if there'll come a point in a few weeks or months where we're figuring out more of who's going to be here but what we do know is our law our families with history are under significant pressure to get housing and the ones just coming in from wam are going to be in that same boat and they're staying connected with wam so it just is a different summer yeah understood yeah are there any um first of all thank you this is an incredible amount of work um and uh but are there any like worries or concerns you have for this spring um with your goals or generally and then are there ways in which like um there are sure there are I would say uh culture and climate of the

099staff has emerged over the last few weeks as a really significant priority and has me res shifted my time to really listen and learn what they're feeling and needing um that I think we can't miss in all of this because if they burn out on us um nothing else happens so to me that's become the the priority of the moment and I am sure it's going to carry through the spring um and just trying to be and stay connected with all of them and we've been spending the last two weeks trying to sort okay what do we have control over what don't we have control over what do you need us to hear and see and address we've already started the brainstorming and you know what can we do in shorter or longer term uh

100you know the bottom line is things have changed and those of us in the schools know that it's not the same job where kids show up and learn um without a lot of other things potentially going on and the demands of curriculum is that much higher and just really supporting them as they learn new ways to do things adjust to different student needs it's just uh the demand you know the the level is high in terms of Demands on them so making sure we're caring for them as humans yes yeah I I I mean personally because I'm glad you brought that up I think we need to have a bigger Community conversation because I'm not saying it's on the parents but I think parents are maybe not hyper aware of the stress on teachers especially

101I think this was building before Co and then we entered a different world and then we emerged and everybody was just happy to be back at school which is normal right um and kids are still suffering from those young kids I think my observation anyway working another school um Coming those kids coming up are still they're coming through not really having a normal school year for a couple of years um so I mean I just think there's so many demands at every level on classroom teachers um different at every level but um I feel like it's getting it's building and not going in the right direction so um yeah yeah no I think and that's becoming something we must focus on I think in good news it we're doing other things while we're focusing on

102that because the vehicles they you know we're either meeting student needs working on instruction addressing and adjusting those is still doing the other work it just comes with the lens of how do we caretake for the adults in the process so I have to say you know and this doesn't surprise me at all when you really sit and I'm on my third round in the elementary schools especially where teachers teach all subjects have the same kids all day um and you know they're they're offering Solutions which is fantastic and some tangible ideas of what we could try um to sort of get some balance back but it is hard and it's just really hard the National Data all says the same thing things are different yeah we have to get kids who want to be

103teachers because all of a sudden all these people going to start retiring and we're going to be left with a small pool of teachers yeah yeah anyway big problems always Solutions right thank you um all right going into our school committee goals I've pulled up the tracker that Carrie and Julie maintain Julie and uh couple I wanted to turn one of our goals that um is in the yellow which means that it's on Pace appropriately but incomplete is um the uh story of the school the community outreach uh sort of program if for lack of a better term that you are working on in a subcommittee uh with Tracy and with Brian yeah um so if you guys wanted to just provide us with a like two sentence update on where you sort of stand

104on that and one sentence five sentence um 10 minutes so the story of the schools is a an effort to demonstrate to the community what what we are about who what the experience of a student is what they have access to an offer in a very high level way because obviously that would be a 300 page document if it were not um and we are um meeting again on Friday we are I would say slightly behind um there have been a lot of Prior a lot of competing priorities which is completely fine um I think we are at this point we've decided we made a budgeting decision at our last meeting where we decided um we are not we initially were hoping to design like write something design it have a professional have it professionally

105designed and then mail it to the entire conquered carile communities um unfortunately we it's we don't have it budgeted so it would be finding that money which is not not available um so we have money in the school committee budget which it we are trying to stay within the the confines of that dollar amount which makes a ton of sense we want to do it see how it feels how it comes out and then if there's a space to be able to budget it in the future we'll have that conversation at a later date so that's more than two sentences but that's that's where we are we're meeting again on Friday and um then I think I owe you Lori an updated fact question I think I think just given our Collective understanding we can

106just start writing and we can leave placeholders for the actual data and then you can just fill in the blanks um I think we should I think that might be the most expeditious way to approach it okay thanks for creatively thinking about that that's where we are um did I leave anything out no I think that's a good summary great um then the next one you actually Sor the the goal here says um to have a final product by the end of March our new goal is to have a final product to deliver to the Carlile town meeting um since we're not mailing it it will be just have a printed document that we will bring to Carlile we're still figuring out conquer because it looks like they're doing a like a big Q code

107thing no they're doing a like oh the single book A book yeah so I don't know if it would be SE what anyway conquer is still being figured out but May 16th 10th 18th is the the new deadline so wonderful yeah anyway I'm done um and then school committee operations you actually already sort of spoke to this about working with the masc to um revise update and broaden the scope of our school committee annual evaluation so more to come on that I assume else to say um so great everything's pretty much on track and testament to all of you for keeping us moving forward um and keeping us organized yes that's true too um and then finally the superintendent evaluation is upcoming uh we generally you want me to do this yeah sure I'll do

108this one okay so obviously it's our job to do the superintendent evaluation we do it every two years and um Julie and I I'm going to speak for her because we've had conversations about this but she's not here tonight obviously we we we um feel as though one like one chair should be a part of it but then we also want to see if a somebody else would be interested in participating and B ideally somebody who's done that done it before so they're not both people aren't Flying Blind neither of us has done it um and so we're hoping Brian I assume you've not done it and this doesn't preclude you from participating if you want to it just might be easier if there's someone who's done it before so Cynthia or Alexa or and

109we could also reach out to Tracy I'm happy to do it I've done it before I I like doing it I have all the requisite pieces in like well I guess they're all on the drive now but um you know how it's been done generally what we've done is we take obviously from a mathematical standpoint we average everyone's individual evaluation for um a cumulative evaluation for the different standards the standards um are very uh prescribed by um desie uh so we do use their evaluation so there isn't a tremendous amount of latitude and then uh superintendent Hunter will will look collaboratively at the Desi evaluation and take the specific standards that are applicable to the goals you all just heard about so um the rubric for the evaluation um is extremely comprehensive so we so

110what you'll see on these evaluations are we don't evaluate the superintendent on everything possible in the desie document we highlight instead what is relevant to um this year and last year's goals um and then what we've done in the years that which we made to be very clear about because last time I filled out the entire thing right um and maybe we need to highlight it more than just in bold but perhaps a color um of the the standards that we are using for the evaluation and then um the process that I've used in the past um before uh I began to do it the committee the subcommittee who does the evaluation would sort of aggregate everybody's qualitative data which is you know the comments that you can make about each standard um and they

111would essentially Aggregate and editorialize for lack of a better word uh or explanation and what um I've done in the last two years instead um is actually take quotes from everybody so that it is less editorialized and um everyone's views are represented in that document it always it doesn't necessarily read as poetically um because I'm using you know direct quotes from everybody but I do I think that is um a strong way to ensure that everyone's voice is in fact included and it isn't editorialized by whoever is um on the committee so I if I propose we do it that way again and I'm happy to be a part of it if you're interested so Julie is going to do it on behalf of the chairs and then if any do are either of you

112interested in it or I'm good okay I can help with math again another one of those I'll give you the I'll give you the Excel document someone someone volunteering ma uh timing yeah so I think we have what it's a weird year so it just has to be done by before we receip yeah so we have that town meeting May I think May is what right that's what we talked about everyone will still be here in May and yeah so we would do it so we would get it out soon have a month to return it and then a month it's hard on everyone when you're doing it late like June and it's all scrambled so we did it at the end of May before Memorial Day something like that and truth be told because

113I've because I've taken the editorialization out of it we don't need that I the this the committee does not need a lot of time to Aggregate and and do that we can do that pretty quickly we do not need a month um so I would air on the side of giving the evaluators more time than giving a committee time to synthesize the data and put out the cumulative report because I think it can be done soy whatever well I like you guys you not Julie come up with the process and then Sor implement it perfect there's what one two three people who've never done it yeah one two three four I i' oh you've done I filled it out I just haven't like let it like I have I don't know the yeah it's just

114math it's not too bad must be the same as the car form form if you I didn't know if you're using the same form like up or down great awesome okay all right great um we have no action items and we have decided given that we are only we are only a quorum and um not our full committee to actually move our executive session to our next meeting terrible let's just wait till we get a quorum you know like they'll show up event bigger bigger representation so with that I'll adjourn yeah good night everybody 7:30