001even [Music] meice so traditionally we be in our meetings with a reading of the mission statement this evening I think you'll find it extra special if I'm not mistaken um go ahead okay well Portuguese imp great job thanks okay I would like to read the recording statement in accordance to the Massachusetts open meeting law I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being recorded if any member of the public would like to make an audio or video recording of this meeting please notify me by raising your hand one part of the meeting okay yeah all right thank you and could you stay tell me what your name was I'm charene Anderson the mom of Justin Anderson and I may take a few pictures and Rec read okay that's wonderful thank you very much
002usually is for like the newspaper uh reporter that we say this but um okay but we're glad to have you taking those pictures um additionally all participants are reminded to mute their microphones when not speaking to minimize background noise and ensure clear recording so tonight we're going to switch the first two items on the agenda because we have this wonderful high school student who probably has homework to do because he's here and so the superintendent would like to say a few words and present an award to him so um this is Anderson and we are very pleased to be here um I am going to be presenting uh Jan with his certificate of academic Excellence so I'm going to hand this to you right now we're going to get a couple pictures but I have
003to talk about um so his future college major is s science he uh his top colleges are tus Boston College and WPI have you made any choice or well there's a different couple RS I could do with like either of three but like they're the main main players right that's he's an avid volunteer uh he has over 400 volunteer hours in the high school um for Habitat for Humanity uh St Vincent St Paul um uh the restore math tutoring and fth annual Christmas and Memorial this that's great thank you and um he also has eight plus years of the alter serving at St Anthony's um that was a total of 300 hours over the time your honor societies I just to read okay so the honor societies you're in the trium the music math Latin
004science and the National Honor Society quite impressive um has been a CL um a class represented for about four years what your um your um for your senior year so you're one of the represent have you been the representative each one okay yeah yeah so U fouryear member of the math team uh you're currently the team captain yeah you're member of the Latin club currently the club president um helped to restart re build the robotics Club there when we did the um the event the other Saturday seems a couple weeks ago um unfortunately but like yeah yeah I I I definitely knew like the new robotics medium and stuff that we're doing yeah so I'm very glad can you be a part of it in January definitely I that yeah that okay so glad to
005hear that I can't wait um you been on the track team U all through 9th through 11th grade all kind of um well grounded here enjoys um playing the trumpet and Van uh audition in place in the all cave and Islands Festival all four years that's amazing awarded the director's award in grade n um plays in the town band in the summer um plays third in the fair your 11th grade participated it in the um just you have to say a little bit about this the who e flash lab the summer of last summer yes last summer so the spash laab is uh able to basically teach young kids about like uh like at at like firsthand value like more complex science topics like C acidification and like other topics ohic forication in water density
006so like then we were able to teach them in like a more digal way and like get them into like um introducing of them to like those kind of topics adjacent we and like get them interested you are really you're on the right field um and his free time um you like playing video games and competing in Pokemon yeah yeah okay now here's here's really he has a perfect 40 G I'm so pleased to be to be standing here beside you and present you with than can you introduce here yeah of course I have my beautiful parents my mother and father I my brother could be here but I have two older brothers I'm the youngest three and I love my very dear anything else You' like to sh I mean I could tell I
007was think about like and like with like this an award like this like might been gifted all my life I'm like this was like my desk no um so a very good example of this is like I was this was like in first or second grade right we um so found we were given like small little books to read about like 10 thingss and this one was called the lady on the moon and so it was just like the snor lady who just kind of live on the moon and and we were supposed to read this book and then take a little quiz out that like uh to make sure you understand right and so this the last question in the quiz was could the lady on the moon exists in real life and this
008is where my weakness is so I I forget the first sentence but I explicitly remember writing the lat on the cat be and relive there was no L on the yeah so um like all my life my like English especially in spelling has been like really La Blaster but I worked so hard to improve it in like like public speaking as well try try to not be so many eyes but again yeah I'm I'm so incredibly honored and humbled to Good Start everyone at public schools has been so so nice to me like and I I couldn't have gone here with all right there we go going to e e e to bring the meeting back to order and we were really honored to have that student here tonight proud so the next item our
009agenda is public comment which I will read a statement about um members of the public are welcome to speak about items that are not on the agenda comment should be limited to two minutes in length due to open meeting law the committee cannot act on public comment for items on the agenda that chair May accept comments from the public following the committee discussion of an item additional comments and feedback can also be submitted by email so if you're what you were going to say goes over the two minutes but you want us to hear it all um if you've written it down you can hand it to me or you can send it to us at um school committee at f. k12.us okay so when you come up to speak if you could just state
010your name that would be great so who wants to go first oh and we this will be keeping the time oh yes I have play rehearsal so so I don't want anybody to see it but I'm going to be in it um my name is Mike McCarthy and uh do you need you know what uh I'm a t tiet dad town meeting member T tiet School counsel uh Melissa let me know when you're got okay got um we need to talk about this navigating the future timeline because the only part of this plan with an actual deadline is the msba application for LS yet the focus is on pushing the tea ticket closure the time pressure is bad enough but we also hear a lot that isn't backed up by research or facts these are
011some facts enrollment at T ticket in East have increased over the last four years they call it a bubble but who's to say it isn't a trend 300 units are going in on sandwich Road 24 family housing houses are proposed on 28a and every every property owner in felet can now add an Adu they say they know how housing efforts will affect enrollment based on what in 2012 when taken Mor softline was considered 17 people including an educational consultant met twice a month for 32 weeks to study it this plan is more than double the scope yet only six meetings were planned with fewer people over only 10 weeks that's not nearly enough even if they claim they can find a consultant to do an assessment in the next 5 to six weeks how thorough
012could it be finally T ticket and East have the highest percentage of high need students in the district by a lot I can promise you that these are the children who need us the most they need stability and small class sizes they need us to stand up for them even if it's airing on the side of caution and going against what the superintendent in the school committee chair one it's wrong that teachers were told to choose their transition as if the members of the school committee have no say to this you do this is your decision and it will affect this town and these children for the rest of their lives and you don't have to wait until December to pause it so that appropriate time and resources can be devoted to such a high
013stakes proposal please pause it now I'm camil Hamilton I am a fourth grade teacher at T ticket school and a resident of East fth I'm sure that it's very clear by now the T tiet Community does not want to leave school we love however that's not why we are against the proposed merger with East F it's the super intendent came to us with a plan that offered better opportunities for students than what we have now we would probably all be for it but with this proposal our students do not benefit a significant percentage of students at both Titi and isth received special ed ELD Title One Reading and other services this year 60% of my students receive intensive intervention outside of my classroom 60% these are not extras these are not add-ons these are critical
014Educational Services and every one of these interventionists needs a dedicated quality learning space in which to work with the children we have that space now we've been told that spreading the merger over two or three years will resolve the space issue but the data doesn't support that timeline a downward Trend yes but how can you guarantee that over the next 3 years our population will decrease such a significant amount and in the meantime families would be split between two schools and the students and teachers left at te ticket would no longer be part of a vibrant whole school Community we've been told that Portables can be brought in to give us more space and to that I asked why would we relegate kids to Portables at a school that doesn't have room for us when
015we have a school right now with plenty of space to meet the many needs of our students why is there such a rush to get us out of te chcken the answer seems to lie the creation of An Early Learning Center would this be an improvement for prek children probably but why are our current elementary children many of them among the most vulnerable students in our district why are they being asked to have less so that future pre children can have more future changes may be inevitable but those changes need to improve the educational opportunities for our students isiga my name is we understand that we're only allowed 2 minutes each but we recently learned that te Elementary that 2 * 2 um I tried to look into that for you I realized that we
016would have needed a little bit more advanced notice to get it into our system so um maybe you can send to us send it to us and we can put it at a future date to look at but okay so it's because it's just a little bit more technical um need than we have at this all laptop somebody talk she laptop it's a matter of trying to get it through the zoom so people in Zoom you can share your screen and then you can play the YouTube video and it can share the screen to all the members that in the zoom um how long do you anticipate Ryan I can do it quickly long so somebody else have their two minutes while Ryan it up [Music] good evening my name is Kevin Ryan I'm par
017of four with two cent ticket I'm going to spend the next two minutes talking about data since the only data we have been shown is a single line graph in a bar chart after evalu the data I fully believe all four elementary schools need to be kept open but redistricting does need to be considered in The Last 5 Years the only School to have an increase in student population was T ticket Elementary despite the superintendent putting all of the school choice kids in North Felman conversely all other schools dropped the superintendent putting all the school choice kids helped North felus declin stay so low over the last 12 years T ticket had the second highest decline but not by much if we were to re-evaluate the data with removing the school choice kids T ticket
018would have had the second slowest decline in the district and North fou would have had the second highest decline after East which again is the superintendent manipulating the data moving putting the school choice kids in North bman insulating North belmou from the problems of the town so she can show it off to convince people to come to our school district that is clearly struggling T ticket has been the most stable School in the district and if we look at the percentages of each School makes up of the total School population we see that it has been the most stable and has started to increase over the last five years if T tiet is starting to increase why would we consider closing it and again we see North B being kept safe while almost entirely neglecting
019East Bou and attempting to close T ticket the most stable School in the district redistricting and spreading the school choice students would solve a lot of our Town's Elementary School problems and the school committee needs to say no to this plan if this plan goes through and Morse Pond is also closed there will be nowhere for the fifth grade to go as the schools are already overcrowded the superintendent during a school committee meeting last year said herself the stated build to pass are not Collective of today's schools that are outdated and she wouldn't use them for redistricting but now we're being forced to see them as the found misguided plan thank you so my name is Sarah Dean and I'm a teacher in the therapeutic Intervention Program at T ticket and I'm sitting here today
020to pause ask for a pause in navigating the future a few weeks ago my team and I met with the superintendent Upon Our request to discuss concerns and potential plans I feel thankful to have had that opportunity but at the end of the day with the limited information and quick timeline it seems all too rush to even begin to think what next step should be making a decision about what is best for my students takes time it takes data reflection conversation with families and staff and it definitely takes longer than 4 months the beginning of the school year is a time where teachers like myself put their efforts and energy in creating their classroom my goal in September October and even November has always been to figure out how I'm going to fit how I'm
021going to best fit the needs of my students my goal is to create relationships routines and establish a classroom environment that will help my students grow my energy and time at this point in the year shouldn't be spent on Rush proposals that aren't backed by data and plans that don't have the best interest of my students my energy and time shouldn't be filled with this extra worry and stress that is consistently filling the hallways of te ticket on a daily basis my energy and time at this point in the school year should be making sure that my students have what they need to have a successful school year I understand and agree that changes need to be made but can we please slow down pause so that we can make sure that these decisions are
022truly what is best for our students thank you okay the [Music] hi I'm Brandy Santos hi I'm J St and the student at TJ school and we are asking for a pause hi my name is B and I'm asking for a pause my name is Sarah Dean and I'm a teacher at T ticket and we asking for a pause my name is Michelle I am a teacher I'm J and I'm a student I'm Camille Hamilton a fourth grade teacher at tea ticket school I'm Zia and I am a student I'm Dominique I am staff and a parent my name is Lloyd I'm a parent and I'm asking for a pause I'm Joey I'm a student I'm asking for a pause I'm Dean Rockwood teaching assistant hi I'm a student I'm Patrice both of my boys
023went to the tea ticket Elementary School I'm asking for a pause my name is Johnny and I was a student at tea ticket and I'm asking for a pause my name is Don Williamson hi my name is Keegan hi my name is Diana I'm a parent and a social worker and I'm asking for a pause been a a teacher at T tiet for 18 years I'm just asking for a pause I'm asking for a pause to this proposal I'm Paul I'm a parent and I'm asking for a pause my name is Kelly I am a parent I am a TA in the tip program and I'm asking for a pause my name is Charlotte my name is Lizzy my name is Abigail I'm a student hi I'm a student I'm teach my name is Amanda
024I'm a parent and I'm asking for a pause I'm Anthony I'm a student I'm M Martinez I have three children currently enrolled at fth Public Schools hi I'm a parent and I'm asking for a pause I'm May I'm a Community member and I'm asking for a pause I'm Suzanne I'm a teacher and a parent my name is Angela Martinez I'm K I'm an shein my name is Eva my name is Ashley Farnsworth I'm Lisa I am Family Public School employee at T school and I am asking you to I'm mallerie I a parent my name is Miss Martinez I'm currently a one to one at Morris Pond school Julie took get school teer for 15 years my name is Anthony Martinez I go to moris Pond school I'm Bren a Community member and I ask
025for a pause this is Matthew he's a student in the tip program and he's non-verbal so we're asking for a pause for him pause these proposals I'm from T Elementary School I'm asking you to put these proposals on pause I've been here at T ticket for 32 years in many different capacities and I'm asking you for a pause take a pause and slow this down we need more answers we need more da I'm a teacher at tet elementary school and I am asking for a pause on navigating the future pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause pause for the children of Felman pause for my great grand children I'm asking for a pause a pause thank you thank you I want the pause please [Music] that got the
026[Laughter] that's a tough one to follow um good evening and thanks for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Adam poette and I'm I was going to send this as an email but I think it's important that we put as many faces to the names of people in this community that some of your proposals are going to negatively affect my wife and I have two sons one who attends East B for his IEP and the second who attends T ticket I want to First say that we love be found the school we know as many teachers there as T ticket and it's been a fantastic experience for our youngest we would support sending our oldest there as well but only if this merger is done correctly is fully necessary and other options have been
027fully explored my wife and I didn't grow up in fam and so we can't speak on the Nostalgia and history with T so many other families in this room can however in our short time here we have grown to love this community and teachers at T we see firsthand positive impacts that has had on our old and what a special place it truly is with all that said my family strongly opposes this merger at this time the town and the school committee should have the best interest of the students in mind when making important decisions such as this that's where I think we are failing we shouldn't be told that students will be splitting classrooms combining the two most high need schools Services could potentially be held in hallways and specials in the lunchroom amongst
028many others your goals when you step into these roles should always be what is best for our students these children are in a critical stage of their lives and it seems that you are putting the needs of possible preschoolers a pre in the future over the needs of our currently enrolled students I'm here tonight to remind you to remember your responsibilities when you were elected to these position what is the best interest for our students and prove to the members of this community that this merger is the best option for our students and the community and maybe we could support it but until then we strongly oppose this merger and will continue to fight for what's best for our children thank you hi my name is I'm a 1993 graduate high school and my children
029have gone through here and now my granddaughter is at T ticket great grand God I'm sorry um on March 3rd 2023 in the fth Enterprise quoted Margaret susza given that fth is in the midst of Reckoning with its affordable housing prices the town will likely see significant population shifts over the next few years do dur reported North prth has more kindergarteners that than usual this year however just a few weeks ago she admitted that she has chosen to send all out of disc Replacements to that school which scream she purposely did that to increase their numbers Dr dur also stated at T ticket overcrowding is not an issue but the school is running out of classrooms this is due to the increase in Specialists needed to provide for the population they attempted to save space
030by combining an elll and reading specialist together however after an audit done by desie they needed to separate the specialist to comply with state regulations she also reported that East Bal does not have any extra space either last Kelly Welch pointed out that many students in these programs are the district's most vulnerable in which Lor dur agreed with her my take on the whole thing is how can you agree to take an entire School offline with the root problem of affordable housing is just starting to be addressed the accreditation process for a school is not simple nor is it quickly done you can't possibly think that in 17 short months since this article was published that things have miraculously changed and you can now fit two schools with the highest needs and already bursting out
031the scenes due to the many specialists needed to service the populations that they can now all of a sudden fit Under One Roof Lori dur has mentioned that it's not ideal to have one or two sections of a grade per school and it will be best to have multiple sections for peer development as well as professional development however when discussing the tip program she has mentioned that they could be broken into two schools and said that it would be good for student exposure how is that acable what about their peer development in their teachers development students with autism are the most vulnerable they shouldn't be put on display for other students to be exposed it's not their job to teach empathy and compassion your job as a school committee is to advocate for those in
032the public Community you say you are hearing parents teachers students and community members that have spoken and are pressing a pause in order to get some unbiased ad it and make a decision according to the numerous professionals that should be involved actions speak louder than words so my question to you tonight is have you really heard us have you really listened if so the only way to vote is to put a pause on the merging of the two schools as a community we have zero confidence or trust in the current School administration I respectfully ask you to boost our confidence and show us that the school Comm most definitely has our children's best interest in mind good evening my name Isa D and I'm a resident taxpayer for the the past 26 years I've worked
033in public education with the last six happily a t ticket I'm in possession of a document that all of us stood down with the Department of Elementary and secondary education last year in March um desie came to F to do a program review of oural education programs and although the district as a whole I think did really well on that review there were some definite places where there needs to be corrective action majority of those places reflect preschool um I want to mention that preschool programming is usually managed by a position in a town called an early childhood position and in Falmouth that position hasn't existed for the last 5 years since Lany cook Johnson retired six years ago we have added a new position this year as I'm aware of but I wonder as
034we look at the numbers that the state shows back that the determination of the program as inclusionary or integrated don't fit the bill because there are not the correct number of special education students to the general education students and I wonder if because that position had never been filled up until this past summer if that's part of the issue is that we've asked our sias to job share this position out the assistant director of people personnel has helped and spearheaded sometimes some of these things it is is a position that exists and is very nuanced you need to be able to follow timeline set by the federal government you need to be able to re the testing timelines so that our children as they turn three have a place to be if they're eligible for
035special education services so I'm just saying more than anything I think a POS is in in the making because I don't know that this these numbers show some classes only have two and four students in the general education side of preschool has it been managed to the best of the ability when that position has not been filled over the last four years thank you thank you hello I'm deian Rockwood I am a town resident and also a TA at tet Elementary School I recently watched the school committee meeting of January 24 2023 because the need for redistricting was being discussed and considered if anyone listening has not seen this video watch it I was astonished by the similarities between what the members of this board considered to be critical components to success as they are
036exactly what the community has been asking you to consider since September 16th your meeting was was just last year yet today we seem to be on opposite sides of the fence why why your mission is still the same I heard members speak to not wanting to create uphe and problems where they're aren to not rush to thank the committee as redistricting is long overdue to put students needs first and minimize trauma as much as possible from their experiences to look at demographics and proposed housing projects to consider the number of Transitions and their negative impact on young students I heard superintendent Durr speak to the fact that Elementary enrollment es and flows but that tea ticket has consistently been full and made use of all spaces since her tenure began she stated building capacity numbers
037are very outdated and would not be useful today as teaching was so different then and teach today's teaching of specialized Services requires more space this is the very same feedback we have been inundating you with while Dr dur is conducting Forum saying the exact opposite and it goes unanswered you can pause these proposals today you can and you should until you get demographics financial data proposed developments proposed DPW projects traffic and safety studies and an outside agency to determine true building capacity based on the services your currently enrolled student population requires please go back and listen to yourselves you sound just like us mine's going to be short and SC my name is Lisa gothier I'm a parent as well as a staff member for the past 26 years for found Public Schools I just
038wanted to comment on the merger between teate and East I don't believe this is the best solution I am asking for a pause to take the time and gather more data and information to find another answer this whole situation is rushed and with that comes mistakes and our kids and staff don't deserve that they deserve better my name is Kaitlyn I'm reading this on behalf of a very wise woman that we love very much we found it after requesting receiving and scou records and reports for the last four weeks we have the answer to our primary questions since the announced merger proposals fou preschool program is non-compliant simple answer but a complicated solution this isn't the first time the preschool program has been non-compliant either found the public schools submitted their corrective action plan the
039reading how they will become compliant by June 18th 2025 that's the rush in a nutshell is there more than one way to do this sure there is but unfortunately only one path has been chosen the path of most disruption as a superintendent to knowingly and willingly mislead the public is a breach of trust it also is an abject failure to meet the performance goals just presented and agreed upon by this very committee earlier this month as the superintendent and knowingly and willingly displac disrup interrup harm the education of several hundred elementary students all in the name of rectifying your preschool program is absolutely unforgivable there is no justification or sacrificing the education health and safety of these children I respected request that the school committee stand up for the children as is your mission cause
040this process indefinitely now nothing should move forward until an outside consultant has scoured data and the same as a community member we should not be outperforming anyone in the research and Analysis Department there should be no timeline for any proposal other than hiring and meeting with a Consulting agency in an open and transparent form format that guide redistricting building mergers or grade level of changes good evening my name is Diana Martino Wilson I am a third generation family resident with four children in in the public schools my parents are business owners in town and they and my husband and I are active volunteers for this community I stand before you today as a representative of that Community to ask you to pause these proposals and help the children in our schools now instead of creating
041a bigger mess the children at eastbound with Elementary are are already receiving an inequitable education experience music has been in the cafeteria on and off for year there have been rampant mold issues in the Portables that staff and children have have been exposed to and parents were never informed of there are problems with the plumbing causing sewage smells and there have been infestations of ants and rodents these are all health hazards for our staff and for the children staff are afraid to speak out and are being told to get in line because this merger is happening so they are coming to us instead of you I ask you how will this improve by gramming more than 200 additional students into the building how will this make these problems any better currently at East Falmouth children
042are receiving lesser services in physical therapy and occupational therapy because of equipment being damaged by the mold and determined to be hazardous when the Portables were cleaned despite promises to replace this equipment it has not happened and so the children at East special needs services are limited by what is available to them versus at the other three elementary schools East is currently struggling be with behavioral issues with children who would benefit from the connect program which is full staff have nowhere to take these children when they are disre regulated causing classes to be staffed out without access to their educational materials sometimes for as long as 4 hours in one day students are then mimicking this behavior for attention or are being traumatized by the other students aggression and destruction students have been hit by
043flying objects and someone is going to get hurt how is this going to get better by stuffing over 400 children into this building what will this look like with even less space we need to focus on helping the kids in these schools right now instead of trying to fix one problem by making a bigger one pause these proposals hello my name is Kathy Thomas I'm a fth president and early childhood educator and a grandparent a current preschooler at eastel elementary I'm asking you to put a pause on the plans for merging the te ticket in East F Elementary School it is not okay none of it is okay there are too many unanswered questions and many flaws in the proposed plan when asking about overcrowding the answer was that it would just be for a
044few years so what I'm hearing is that these few years do not matter to these students and these students don't matter for these few years while they should they definitely should matter not just my grandson but every single student every single one of them think of the stress of overcrowding what it will do to their mental health and well-being these Elementary years are the utmost important in a child's life and education why is it that these are the only students in town that don't or won't matter the students in the other two elementary schools they do matter these students should be number one to you they are children young children children not just a number on a chart not a pawn and some type of numbers game please consider this plan unacceptable and think of
045my grandson when considering this he is number one to me and he should be treated as number one by all of you all of you on the school committee when voting please vote for the children as they should not only they should be the only ones that come first not you evening my name's Kevin bman I live on Marist Avenue we've been in town for just a few years we've owned property here for a long time I'm here today to talk about the decision to close T ticket I'm aware that you've not made a decision yet however the perception of this community is that decision's already been made and that's a shame you're the you're the people that are in charge board says whether or not we move forward on this I urge you to
046take a pause and complete a thorough analysis and conduct a feil study combining those two schools there may be better options out there we don't know haven't been presented to us may looked at haven't considered it there a lot of data out there I was a school administrator for over 30 years retired from that a few years ago and I've looked at many data reports many data sets in my life more than I'd ever hoped to look at again and it takes good data to make good decisions and we haven't seen that we haven't seen anything on that and I just I'm understand why talk about well we we'll struggle for a bit we'll be over prowed for a little bit that's okay it's not okay kids have one shot at second grade one shot
047third grade we we need to give them the very best we don't want to give them a compromised education and that's what we're looking at right now with this program the mass School Board Association I you know I pull some stuff up there it says that number one skill for superintendent possess his effective communication they Define that as trans transparent open honest communication unfortunately the decision to close T ticket has not been timely or transparent there's a lot of doubt there's a lot of mistrust he people talking about trust and they want independent I think the only way to get Mo move through this thing to have people have faith in it is to do an independent study and have it thoroughly looked at and then look at that data to decide what's best for
048our kids I want to come and speak today I was at tooo many Board of meetings in my life I came because I think this is incredibly important for our down so thank you very much my name is marjerie hillsman and I'm a resident of Falmouth and have been a taxpayer for over 20 years uh it is my extreme pleasure to teach music at T ticket School I've been a teacher for over 30 years in many different districts in a couple of different states and I love T ticket last June our staff was called into an unscheduled meeting to hear the superintendent announc that our principle Sandy campus and Bellis would be moved to director of student services we were told that there wasn't enough time to do a thorough search for the right principal
049to replace Sandy so we were immediately introduced to our interim principal at that time we were assured that this school year this school current school year would be run as closely to the last year as possible keeping in place all of our current Staffing progams imagine our surprise shock and dismayed be told at a voluntary 8:00 a.m. meeting on the fifth day of school when we're all excited about the new year that all of that will change for next year I have here a 10-page document superintendent has access to this this is all of the questions and concerns that have been raised by our faculty 10 pages there's no margins here I can't read it to you in 2 minutes so I'll have to give you the reader Digest condensed version We need oh see
050some of you know that we need more data and time to support this move the timeline's too fast it feels like the Train's already left the station we as a staff and the families at our school have been asked to choose between three proposals but most of us feel that none of them we don't want to choose any of them so if we don't choose any of them what's going to happen I agree with universal prek but it has to be offered in more than one building and to truly help families if that's the intention it needs to be year around and have before and after care available the math still doesn't add up what is the intended use of all the vacant rooms that will be available at T ticket if we are closing
051one school it seems counterintuitive to run another school half full the biggest question however is equity I have heard that redistributing is not an option however all three versions of this plan does forcibly redistrict te ticket families and students without affecting Mullen or North Fountain thank you hi I'm Megan Z I'm a graduate parent and District employee I believe it's too soon to vote on any proposals this isn't about stopping the change but ensuring that we're voting on the best options for our students if we're considering changes that impact cohorts transitions bus routs building stocking taxpayer dollars it's essential to conduct that comprehensive needs assessment I concerns with the Early Learning Center and I discussed them in my letter but I want to use my two minutes tonight to focus on enrollment and building needs
052for that 5 through 12 group look while overall enrollment may be declining I think we need to look at Trend I pulled some desie data looking at my son's current 73 to my brother's 2010 class they're only five students apart but they're often called a bubble class so I looked further so the graph shows 727 students at Bal high school but when I looked at 5 through eight they're 939 students so does that mean if we retain our current middle and junior high students that our B High School population would grow by almost 200 I think it's so important to look at what are those retention loss Trends in the fifth to nth grade F our current FHS numbers are low but the classes behind them are larger and I've seen the efforts by Dr
053Harris and his team to retain and recruit those students how can we support what he's doing second build in renovation how do we weigh the cost of renovation against closure or new construction was there a threshold that determined worse fond would be taken offline and what is that cost benefit differential and exploring construction of a new building while keeping current buildings operational could we build a new lawren uh a 5 to eight warrant hold on I lost my spot so G to look up Melissa just make sure I won't hear the beat wave at me when it's my turn just you so you can find your spot okay I won it while I'm looking I'm not going um could we do a state ofthe art 5 through eight building on the Lawrence athletic fields and
054keep both buildings operational during construction could we then repurpose some the historical elements and create two wings five6 and 78 combining some resources that could address the educational financial goals when the new building's complete old one could be the new site for athletic fields and Amazing Outdoor Learning species could this save on long-term cost maintaining new old building by meeting the modern accessibility environmental sustainability and educational needs of our community we could have a new building on meain street with accessible options for Performing Arts town meeting Athletics that could benefit our students as well as our town so I appreciate your time and I know I'm over I have a letter and then I have a few questions my name is Julie in M won I own a family Child Care Program in East Falmouth
055and I have a son at East families in Falmouth have over 30 Early Child programs to choose from why may we losing enrollment for kindergarten well Massachusetts kindergarten is not a requirement it may also be due to enormous amount of families choosing homeschooling over sending their children to instit or sending children to private schools are longer in years programs like monu which offers preschool through age 12 walor which offers preschool through 8th grade and 100 acres which offers preschool through second grade are we wasting everyone's Time by turning one entire Elementary School into a child care center how will you provide teachers and substitutes for this proposed new child care center eec requires staff to have certifications to work in a child care setting the enormous lack of people trained or wanting to be trained
056in this field of work is at an all-time low in general the turnover rate of staff is also at an ongoing struggle it is impossible to find substitutes or even people who want to work in this profession and you plan on filling a whole Elementary School with preschool teachers and students how is that going to work one option you mention is using students from the high school for internship from what I understand the high school early education teacher doesn't have have any formal training in Early Education by allowing this plan to go through without a great deal of time consideration and planning and opening a center in elementary school you are most definitely putting a lot of local community small businesses child carees out of business without considering the huge astronomical impact it may create
057please reconsider and take a pause on such a far-reaching decision for the good of all our children is anybody [Music] else my name is Amanda mle I'm a parent of a preschooler in a private preschool and a third grader at tet Elementary and I say that I open with that because I I feel like it's important that I publicly qualify before you and my community and my peers that I have a current and future bested interest in these proposals being brought forth by the administration between us we have collectively been to all of the forums we've been at the building needs committees we've been at the school committee meetings we've read and seen what is written online and what's being talked about in the community we also know that a majority of the feedback that
058you've received an email has been negative or at best indifferent this committee has not yet received an official recommendation by the building needs committee and to my knowledge no one on record on public comment statements at school committee meetings have been positive for this so then explain to me why your peers members of this school committee are approaching parents at hockey ranks or online or in Supermarket parking lots explaining to them how the merger of these two schools will be a good thing explain why you would have a member of your school committee who is supposed to be presenting an unbiased view moderating a zoom forum for navigating the future mincing the questions asked or skipping questions all together these are examples of a gross and negligent abuse of the power and Faith entrusted In
059You by those that voted you in I have in my hand two stacks of paper one of which is a petition that started a few weeks ago that already garnered almost 800 signatures with little effort announcing the displeasure for these proposed plans and how they've been introduced in this hand I have the recall paperwork for certain members of our school committee it is unfortunate that voters have been pushed to such a point where we feel this is our only Next Step you have members who are only echoing the wants and needs of the administration and not our community you have the power to put a stop to this you want us to trust you so please show us that we can I have more can someone read past my two minutes I think you're doing
060a great job I've already gone my minute time this fair to everybody every get two minutes so it's a more fair way not as smooth but fair I'll end with this I qu from the school committee page on the town website States making decisions to fulfill the educational needs of children is the primary responsibility with which the citizens entrust the school committee I say this to help you qualify yourselves as having a vested interest in the current and future children enrolled in our schools the current schools as they stand already failed to meet expectations and proposals one and two of navigating the the Future Would further exacerbate that fact please remember that teachers working conditions are our students learning environment we should be affording them room to grow and flourish not putting them in neat
061little boxes in a PowerPoint deck do the right thing by this community our students and our teachers and stop discussions of navigating the future I'm Jen and I am a t ticket staff member hope is defined as wanting something to happen or be the case research data and knowledge drives a plan not hope our superintendent hopes that our preschool enrollment will increase and that offering full day preschool corrects the negative State rating using data from the afternoon full day pre uh from the excuse me using data from the afternoon groups listed in the Massachusetts Department of special ed and civil rights monitoring report Dr D would need to enroll a minimum of 26 non students this year only 18 kindergartners in the entire District did not attend a preschool program she hopes that some UN
062in un some unspecified time in the future to have transportation yet research shows the bus driver positions posted on the district website have made and have remained unfilled due to a bus driver shortage she hopes that sometime in the future she will be able to provide before and after school care for preschool and it will operate year round her hopes continue with the merger of T and East bouth Elementary School she hopes there will be enough space for everyone yet according to Dr D there isn't currently enough space to expand the 115 student preschool then what math suggests that appropriate space for 240 students would be appropriate would be available she hopes to results space concerns for special education students by having a coop classroom at each grade level data indicates a minimum of two
063Co talk classrooms would be required and parents would then have to agree to have the IPS Rewritten to match this format and reflect the change she hopes enrolling continues to decline so fifth graders will also fit into the school perhaps Dr D's Hope was that teaching East families and the community of found would not be paying attention or care about these children and families in their education I will leave you with my hope I hope that the people of fman have elected a school committee that values the education of all families and children and feels that the superintendent is accountable to the families and the students she serves despite her telling them on September 30th that she doesn't answer to them I hope you expect more good evening um first of all I just want
064to say thank you to all of the board members for being here and thank you to the community this is called This is called showing up for your students for your teachers and showing what true heart and passion is and caring about education not just data and people on a screen um I am a parent I'm a tea tickets student and I have your name Mon and I have been for the last 17 years as all five of my children have attended not only K through four but pre preschool here as pure mentors and I blessed to here and let me just say that children when they go to Morris Pond when they go to Lawrence they are known because of the love the respect and the understanding that the teachers provide it is the
065teachers in these schools that make our children drve and that comes from the heart and the love from these teachers in tea ticket and so their opinion their voice should have been heard throughout this whole process as well as with the community for letting them have a say in this because they know the needs of the children not a graph that shows and my question is is what's the rush are we running out of money is there funding that you don't have and speaking of funding where's the money going to come to provide Universal prek for all where is that going to come from and what about the teachers who are the teachers going to be Dr der had stated that on September 30th that was just started this plan in August and the teachers
066weren't even told until September 18th that is a six week I heard 10 earlier time frame how can something that is describing a overall like complete systematic change be conducted in such a short amount of time it doesn't make sense in any sort of way so the question is why the rush where's the money coming from cuz let's be honest it all comes back to money and that's what I think that is going on here and let us talk about what about the fifth graders where are they going to go maybe we should have a plan as to where the fifth graders are going to go before we decide to close down to [Music] school well nobody else but thank thank you all for taking your time writing your and it's wonderful that you wrote
067them out to try to give everybody their Fair few minutes and thank you very much [Music] no [Music] move on to our next item Okay so a little bit um we created the timeline for evaluation I don't think we realize quite early in the cycle we really just did this a couple meetings ago where we talked about the process so I'm just going to do like hit the high points so the the mid cycle is the formative section of the evaluation process so it doesn't have any forms there's no like paperwork that getss filled out it's just an opportunity for us to check in make sure we're keeping on and then to sit down with Lor and and um talk about the progress on so it will start and we have um we will have
068an update from um from Lori January 14th that I really but I mean really we're really ahead of the all why I don't know why we were doing it so early but we did and we had to keep to it because that timeline for evaluation is approved by the school committee so if we bumped this to a later meeting to make it make more sense we would have had to have the school committee approve the timeline all over again so that's why we kept it even though it seemed really so it starts with the presentation of um the mid typle self assessment and then the part that we do as school committee isn't until the third week in January and that's when um each School Committee Member sits down and talks about the pools um
069and the progress for them with Lori so the only other thing I wanted to make sure everybody has yes I did um will be um this piece of um of material that eventually will be available um for us to use to track so um we don't have this yet but it's a work in progress so um that's really all that I had to share but we just had to keep the timeline so we didn't to revisit of course you can always reject and ask questions okay thank you um next on the agenda would be a report on Equity inclusion and belonging from Henry St Julia so tonight they're um Henry and going to do a joint presentation with some other um guests and then they also have some updates on their own so are you
070stting okay do you want me to do it yeah I have your I just need a second so while we start I will say this um I had a um my update was uh definitely just one component but I kind of went a little too too much so I'm going to definitely bring it down uh there was uh yeah it's just coming up with the [Music] blank K I was only kiding I want your face bigger two presentation sorry so um the uh the update is um on what is collective equity which is uh something that I I do uh there was a de person in on the cap look I won't say who it is basically says I'm working on D on diversity after inclusion seems to be an island at one company and
071uh so I I really felt sad that she was thinking that it's only one person doing it and we have a different type of equity here we have it uh different areas um people coming together and doing stuff and basically I was just going to say uh you know where are we getting these equi situation we have a outside audit uh person that's Max we have Administration councils that doing Equity we have principles doing Equity we have teams uh School based teams doing Equity we have advisory hope to get advisory uh update that's doing Equity uh we have ambassadors doing that um Equity as well we have whole day belonging which everyone's thinking about belonging uh on Equity as as well so I saw like a stinct a distinct difference between fou talk about Equity
072with one person rather than it's embedded uh there what I wanted to share with you we had a u diversity Council of doent equity uh we'll talk about that in the future thing um what I wanted to show you is um a company not company Association that I've been involved for about three years it's my third year um getting it it's called Mell Association of Massachusetts school Equity leaders uh this is uh this is their opening Association before they were uh Loosely Affiliated for since 2019 and then on uh 2023 they got together and said we are now a uh an association um what what they showed here is what you see right here is you see the the governor in the middle and so we was surrounded all these Equity people surrounded you don't
073see me because I was on vacation so you see but um what it shows that there were like five um schools that said equi it's different it's used uh you're you're basically attacked by either side and they said we want to have an association that brings support and uh gives different needs and stuff that so they came together it started with six schools and now it's up to 50 and uh we are one of two from the c um I love what they do they provide uh professional learning they provide problem of practice ideas and support uh for school district if you see this picture here you might notice some Town employee we went actually to uh box um Aton box bro to look at uh one of the one of the um Equity leaders
074Welcome Center something that we've always been talking about and so that's in provide mentorship networking and they do just share best practices and uh so that was really a a powerful uh teaching to tool for me but also the brain for th as a district and I was supposed to be there but I was in yes you were but you went to another you didn't went to another and so that is also you know the aspect that they they bring uh pillars these are sever pill I won't go to each one but the thing that that comes to mind is that this is not a one person one aspect but it's embedded in every single aspect of the school system we're talking about we're looking at it in hiring we're looking at in policy we're
075looking at it in instruction and whatever the case may be Equity is the way we look at um life and so if you wanted to know and I skipped it but if you wanted to know what equity and this is the uh School based uh decision on here this is what we came up with Equity is access we are breaking down structures and powers and privilege to open access the same opportunity for all through the inclusion of diverse peoples their voices and perspective and deep collection of understanding of the of a community to create change and so uh there's another part here oh I can't see behind here let me see it I love the it was belonging there and create a sense of true a sense a true sense of belonging and that's um
076important for us but it's also very difficult it's very difficult to talk about that there's change that has come in and so so this group here is providing this change and saying how can we do better and it's not just my my voice but it's multiple people's voice that coming together I wanted to share that and say that we are in the right path of equity change it's not Henry your job to do Equity but it's all of us and and and this is what those pillars are saying it's in every aspect of what we see um they are this group is also part desie uh desie seeks their their assistance they they they do conferences and uh they do yeah and I love this this last part is they they focus on supporting they're
077helping helping schools navigate difficult situations so many schools have dealt with hate and and just the really uh nasty little things and they came together as a group to say we're there and supporting you so that's been very um helpful and positive see oh and what I like to show is I have a date and this is Friday um I want to report this because um I go to Boston I go to Cambridge I go to Westwood all these you know two hours away and um the closest I've ever been I think was I think Bridge Bridgewater um but on this Friday they're coming here to our school and so uh M so going to be here if if you ever want to drop by and sneak by that school uh you say the uh
078the high school they'll be here at the high school in the main conference uh there so just this Friday oh what time during the day uh between 9 and uh 9 and two but I if anyone comes in I'll stop and say hey I'll introduce you and they they want I want you to see um just some Incredible Minds come together and talking about this and so uh I'm proud to host them I'm proud I think the work isn't in in Cape coton so I'm very excited to have them there I keep on saying come to Cape Cod come to Cape Cod they're like it's two hours away um and Equity is just having all these people to come together that's why I like it we're we're transitioning because um we're going to do an
079equity discussion and it was not just one person doing this uh thing we're going to talk about the sister sister school project but it was because of Bridgewater uh people in uh K bird the museum you know Barbara Burger she's in part of this we're doing a sister project in kird and you see all these group FF hopefully will be part of that and we're seeing we're talking at by having a group coming together so I have that and my last thing before I gets on is this is what is uh who who s this this is uh Christ you mentioned this this right here is uh we're going to talk about cird in a second and they they mentioned kird is the land of down bottom here the land of how pronounce it m
080m Bas M Bas we're talk about both of those and that basically means uh the land of of belonging and so we want to have that same aspect in equity do all kids belong they feel belong are they ready to learn and I I hope to get uh this painting next time but I didn't get it this time get so at this point um what I want to do is transition to a discussion on Equity to I think I lost that I know I know so what we're gonna do is uh we talked about um a collective equity and making sure all students are are build along and now we're going to go and discuss our sister school which was the very powerful uh thing there's a lot of pictures here but I'm not going
081to do the talking I'm going to make sure that other people kind talk I'll just give you the basic um we have we have community members in um Falmouth that have that Caper descent and um they've always said you know we would love to have more relationship with um an African country CER um that's that we like to have more and what I've done in the past have really I've done this before in having sister School relationship and it's basically a relationship that is is equal part like we're going to learn they're learning and students get together some of you guys went and saw uh that that instruction between the two schools we want to do more but I think what becomes really powerful is if we go to the school and so we had
08210 individuals that went to School everyone's going yes yes and they're and they're going to talk about their experience and I I do hope is I hope that they share the value of this experience and I'm going to turn it towards to you okay okay is that the okay so as Henry at the stage we were excited to build on the partnership that we started you know I I think Barbara's done a wonderful job through the cap fry Museum and Cultural Center educating us from WR about the history um not only of the catean people in bird but also here in and trying to build on the culture and uh the language many of us have been learning pru as well as um ahead of our visit and as we were doing this uh several
083of our elementary teachers had been building pound relationships because our sister School the El TV is focused on teaching English in uh the capital city of PRI and so one one of the things that we've been doing through exchanges and several of our teachers here uh who joined us have been building up those exchanges I got to be at East Al one day when Karen was mailing the postcards out and they were responding to the students in h h um and the joy that it brings in the connection and then somehow we managed to facilitate a little over 100 students on Zoom last Tuesday um a little bit of chaos and she doing um so we're going to tell you our story a bit in pictures and then en uh enrich it as much as
084we can and we're happy to take questions so the first thing that we just kind of want to point out the first arrow on the left is kind of just generally pointing to the king to fman uh and the second pointing to U the archelon of Cabo off the western coast of Africa just to kind of give a sense of uh the travel and the distance um with the L St in the azors actually two but we can talk about in and um and then arriving in cab bir when you look at the the 10 islands that cre the country we were one of the southernmost islands and then on the southernmost part of that Island uh it was the the rainy season uh which we didn't encounter rain we actually got to see a
085pretty rich landscape which we were told is not um common so it was definitely um an experience that you know we tried very hard not to take for granted I think we kept asking each other to pinch each other just trying to take it in it was very surreal in the beginning so as we um got to understand the landscape a little bit all of the pictures here are pulled from our uh Collective album that we all built over the course of our time there so from the beaches uh to the city The View that you can see the second picture there with the cars is US looking out from the second level of the school the school is split into um three condos on one Street we're going to talk a little bit about
086that um then you can see it it just as quickly can cut through the mountain ranges and we end up driving through the clouds and it's all in a matter of minutes that we move from those different Vistas um from the beaches to the mountains to the towns and Villages and really understanding the journey that the students go through in order to access their education in the public school system or the private school system and then the added time that they spend to learn English in a separate private school setting and then many of them have additional schools that they tend beyond that um or experiences in music experiences in dance or or culture so they can be in school from 8:00 a. to 6:00 p.m and for a good portion of their day on
087Saturday and they don't teach um music CS part of their public education which is how that some of these other schools are are built to enrich and round out their education plus their commitment to their family just kind of thinking a little bit more about how their economy has built um and and the way that things this was um in the middle of the week we watched the fishing boats come in and um the people in the community including their children surround the boat so this group of people had just been sort of sitting along the shoreline and then when the when the boat came in coming out to get the catch and really understanding how that's that's a part of their day and their school and their workday breaks in the middle of the
088day for about 90 minutes and they go and they can the traic family or um their community in their Villages before they go back to school for the next four or five hours Sonia can I say something about that particular hoop in the middle the before of that is very important are you going to talk about the the boat was in the water there was no um pully thing with a a truck to pull it out of the water those people went out to the boat and all of them brought the boat not just that one but other ones up out of the water that whole move did that everyone running out like everyone just show up and ran out maybe this big across and they lay them like 3ot interval rolls over the and
089they run and next person goes and they just do it together as Community coming together working together is so what you can say here is that this is not a rich comp not tot these are uh poor uh people but they are doing it together the the concept that you're talking about is many hands pulling together and we can do whatever we have we will do together and so you're you're looking at people not only they pulling in but then they're actually doing marketing right away fish that they were they were doing a market right there and um it was and they're rich in love they're rich in love and what they have nothing and they give everything Happ people um and so this is now on um the northernmost point of the island and
090so as we drove as we encountered different beaches there's like three or four of the boats maybe you'd see a motor there were a couple here that we could see kind of out in the in the Cove that has motor but it was very much this this community large ORS and there were probably what 10 to 12 people on each Boat watching it I hate to take you that picture um so again you know kind of looking at it then we had other beaches where you can see just a number of boats um anchored there are fewer like most of them were those fishing the colorful fishing boats up on the shore um top right uh we went into the historic City uh built in the 1400s and that's a gate to one of the
091original um castles that fortified the community where they looked out to see if someone was going to come and uh be a threat to their community so we had an opportunity um to go up there and look out and be part of um understanding their history uh there's now whole Community built at the bottom of the hill that didn't exist so we had that opportunity to go there as well uh it was the first fishing boat that we encountered uh on the lower left Santa Cruz uh you can see the sort of that that comparison of there's a home there and you can of see the walls falling AP the paint feelings across the street the blue building is an arc and out behind it are more fishing routs in the community happening Out on
092the Ocean so it's just even that right there in the landscape and most of the roads are Cobblestone and um some of the stones are tilted up to like triangle sitting in the I have to I have to add to the gate so this is one of my favorite Parts this is uh the stone with the arch right here it's called the freedom uh gate which means down below is the capital and C was made as a slave slave trading post so they we went over this to see where slaves were trading Stu and the castle was about to protect their their their merchant and and so that was slave tra now you saw how mountainous that the island is if the uh slaves can break away and go through that gate there they will
093head the mountains and so that was known as Freedom gate and so that was very I mean to me I like I want to say here this a very important um gate for the cape there so and it it contrast with really understanding that as a whole country there's half million people total population about 100,000 on the council islands where we were and the great majority are um under 30 yes so the the ex of there country and and and that human resource that they've taken with them and what they're now trying to to rebuild so that on the lower right that picture it's a beautiful right view but there are now uh hotels and resorts being built on those Cliffs as they try and rebuild uh their economy and try and attract more people
094to be part of and definitely wanting more people to stay not just a vacation but stay [Music] contribute and with that came some addal experiences um as we got to know a little bit more we talked a little bit about art culture um history and we're going to get to education but as a country um July 5th of next year they will celebrate 50 years of Independence so they're a very young country with a very young population and part of our our sister School relationship is to share those best practices they're looking to us to help them with some ideas uh methodologies with what they kep talking about their their Public University which you're going to see here opened up in 2007 so they're still really working just at building a teaching core to provide
095that education and um the persistence Beyond e8th grade is still low so really working to understand what that would contribute back as they try to build their country um so the market is in the top left um that's just a very small picture it was very easy to get lost in the market it was significant in size in the capital city smaller as we go to some of the villages they're laughing some of us did get sort of separated with a few few aisles fing miles um we made sure to take some time um to go down to the beach uh people were taking that that 90 minute break at lunchtime and you could see them out Gathering so we kind of went down to see you know what was the and J partnering I
096a little bit snippet at a breakfast they're coming in to help us Lighthouse Lighthouse that's that's your take yeah Terry you had the lighthouse you compared it with our Lighthouse right the the thing is made made byel e s n l same light maker as in well I said in French but you can say now that's that's the name now I'm going to say can about the market I found P I've been to many marketplaces in the marketplace there were men with sewing machines yeah and women were selling but men were making were using the sewing machines I had never seen there as many marketplaces that they're there working and and doing the I thought was an interesting diversion from what I've seen um and then the lower right those are students most of are
09716 17 yet the the our school is built up in a very similar faction to Harry Potter houses by the name of the different animals and the students that contributed to building that and setting up the values um this group of students they're all high school students they all have some desire ire uh in their profession to have University education several of them want to study here in America and then bring bring something back to their Community as they're trying to build it but what's amazing about um all of the students they speak rolu uh in their home with their family in their Community they speak Portuguese which is the the official language of the country so they speak that for their education they begin English education in grade five so by the time they're
098in eighth grade they're they're fluent in three languages and many of them are pursuing a fourth or even a fifth in Mandarin is a a big language that they're layering in and this group of students this is just a few of the whole class presented to us for over an hour about the country and the culture the economics and you would not have known that they spoke any other language than English to hear them it was just remarkable and then uh they had an opportunity to ask those questions and it was the most engaging conversation and all the things they wanted to know about um about our lives but really clearly communicating to us about what is most dear to them in I have to add it's it's it's like first grade you go to
099your kids go to first grade and they have to learn a new language and that's Portuguese home language they have their own home language but then first grade you have to learn another language and you're talking to them English and then you find out that they know French and I start talking French it's amazing the level of proficiency in language which we could absolutely this is another look at some of the art and in particular in this one and anybody can chime in but we had a whole bunch of questions so milal is one of their freedom fighters right and uh unfortunately he passed about a year and a half before Kord uh was able to secure their independence he would have been HED in September so we were there just after this centennial celebration
100and we got to see a lot of the different posters and Banners that so we asked why he was wearing an astronaut Sal and they said because he reached for the stars there was this idea of vision and going Beyond where you are and what you can do so we saw um after that after asking the question we actually saw a number important figures that had that kind of white um almost like you're in a dream um space hel but that was the idea they're Visionaries people who are always looking out for their country and doing more you want to say anything well um so uh Z viea who uh founded the elll school um her nephew is a painter and is like all over the island and also inspired a lot of work at
101our school um so we happened to go to to um the area that had kind of an art week and this is uh some of the pieces of her nephew that I took one of those pieces home big one on the left there um is something that just again um the colors and the vibrancy just kind of speak to the the energy of the island um in the different areas um it is in the background there on the wall on the display in the gallery are um different musical styles um we happen to also get a chance I'm sure we'll show um some puku uh uh performance by some students um so again it just it was a really unique experience to be able to travel the island to connect with v to know that
102you know a connection of a family member also is very prevalent on the on the island and and see the connection everywhere so really only only video only the student is there something in place with the sister school where like students could exchange it country onl buy right proceeds for schooling and books is that like a thing or because they they have clear needs but they're careful about how they communicate and what they how they want to receive so that I the stage for the conversation but I don't think we got to where yeah um that' be wonderful don't you think they were reluctant to yell at what they wanted or needed yeah had a well they're rich I think in what they they all have and contribute right so they don't want to say
103like we need notebooks or we need pencils because they're they're rich in what they have and and what they contribute to each other um so yeah it it was it was very you know we and that's where we had to be um very respectful in that way to not come in and say like oh we want to give and them feeling like you know we're just trying to fund something that maybe they don't have when they're like they don't look at it as a deficit um and that they don't have that mean they'll they'll find a way they'll find people to connect so that was just really you know a a great way to connect and think about how how when you want to connect and give all the ways that that could be like
104a simple art exchange nuts they want us to do pictures you know yeah I AG that they're so prideful right and Z did that the barrels that get shipped over filled with Stu she said they would like to start receiving things from here and here need so just digging a little deeper than the art and Rebeca start to talk about so this was our first night they actually wrote a welcoming song for us and um Henry didn't put that might have been someone that danc but the woman who was a teacher she's a police officer she's a mom she's 101 other things and does this with a group of young women to continue their tradition so it was pretty powerful on so many l um they offered us the opportunity to practice drumming or to
105dance and some of us braver than others yeah um and along with this right just the food that they put out and they wanted to make sure we experien their culture which again going back to the fishing vessels a lot of sea food actually I think I'll say I was most surprised by french fries were served with every meal yeah when we do this you know if we go to k k bird it's not not a one person situation uh the contact we got there with bar Barbara Vergo who's in our community said you need to go here we know this the these people and the man the the uh the sner there is u a cousin to um Angel Barbosa who is the Bridgewater uh State University director that is uh helping us in
106there so it was like all these worlds colliding to make this night real special and uh so he knew we were and we had someone here it was it was really uh really good kind of connection he yeah he was on Zoom he wasn't there yes he couldn't go he would have gone with us but he couldn't go he had alternative St he was there so that's good and on the street do you want to hear the music that goes with that picture I don't know why you can't hear it oh cuz I don't yeah they said the drums were originally used by slaves to send messages but now they've been incorporated into their M that kind of music y I have to say they had so much pride showing us [Music] culture and then
107we had a chance to go to U the AAL Museum uh and AAL again is uh one of their freedom fighters working towards their independence so uh you can see Margaret and Terry signing the guest book uh we put in a message on behalf of the district um recognizing that part of their history is also understanding the ocean and the system around them and and the connections they were making we brought um some books sort of tying life here on the cape to life there uh on the water and donated them to the dosent at the Museum and then we had a chance to see so the the C biran Studies Institute at Bridgewater is named after Pedro Pierce who's the former president of K bir hird and we actually saw who was holding a
108meeting at the Museum and it was a it was a nice connection so again he is a former president and he fought with I'm 50 so 50 years ago I that they just have their and we don't keep forgetting like and he's he's turning yeah he is very quiet and peaceful I thought he was not real for a moment so now just getting a little bit more into education this is um the public university university d cber uh again opened in 2007 in the capital city of PRI um we had a chance to walk through uh the library wonderful huge building you know um two stories of shelves and then on the shelves that did have books uh this it could be five six 10 copies of the same book um as opposed to Library
109full and resources and then you can definitely tell that um economics in building up their economy is key to them there was a separate room right just for economics yeah um that we had a chance to go into and and visit um but just an opportunity to be on the campus this is where a is a full-time professor she came to Bridgewater to earn her Ms in English she built elll CV in addition to being a professor um and some of her students are now the teachers there she does it out of passion and commitment to the Next Generation Um and she does it in in volunteering her and putting it together one you say many books in the library don't useful right well they don't have computers so don't I mean you think you
110just on the computer they can't it's like using 10 computers for a full they don't have computer [Music] is obviously students who go there pay pay to go there and so they sort of a different so I mentioned that to her and she said in fact she brings children there who do not have money she does not take salary her salary is from the university the money she makes in the school is going to pay her teachers she brings kids there who do not have money she feeds an educat in eng over 400 students and she has a weight list now simply because of physical capacity yeah so this is again us blocking through campus and you can see so we learned that I was actually uh funding from China that paid for a number
111of the the buildings here and there's some symbols around the campus because they're just contributing to helping to build the nation and we learn that like different Resorts different buildings some were built by Germany some by Angola and just recognizing that the young country they need that level of support to build their infrastructure and then this is Za um and zaa this is you know she's talking to us about values values come first but you don't see at the bottom of that ladder is achievement and everything is built on respect and empathy in that idea of lifting each other up Jun Mo um she spent a long time at dinner explaining that to us she has her values when she was here and she learned about I'm a Clipper she went back and created I
112am a core and the r for resilience and Clipper um carries over as the r for resilience and core and she showed us the posters uh around the building to the upper right she's got her family Clippers hat on and she's putting her I in the Clipper sticker on her laptop reminding us that there was no other sticker there and this was a huge but just having that opportunity to to build that with her and um she gives with everything that she has but that smile she only see that [Music] bright I couldn't help [Music] it this is one of three buildings on the road that she runs to host the school this particular particular building has um the equivalent of our desk just outside this room is her main office um she converted a
113kitchen into a classroom she converted a foyer into a classroom the younger kids sit on cushions the older kids have desks um but she she does she runs the three room so she runs two floors in this building and then the older lives on the Upper Floor you have to walk up a few buildings and you go to the next one she runs one floor and then one more building over and she runs another floor so it's just remarkable to see over time she's built and part of us being here and then seeing the kid I'm sorry I think our relationship is going to be founded on these four famulous teachers uh they're they're going to take the heavy load making the connection and I'm very happy that you have this all four of them
114uh just were they they felt like they meant to be they meant to be I didn't think some of them wanted to go home so they did not want they already jumped in for teaching and uh did not so I I I'm thankful for all four those teachers so um our students and their students this was that managed Chaos on Zoom we recognized a little our chaos oh in the most beautiful way it was curiosity it was I want to go I want to go and everybody trying to go and you know we realized a little bit in that we had a little bit of a delay trying to make the connections and then watching um the students here raising their hand in each classroom and then the way that each of you lit up
115when you had a chance to go over and talk to your classes and you're trying to call on people and we've got little screens with phones and big screens um and you can see so the yellow and the blue denote um which class right in the lower left they resing so they might be a year or two older than some of our students here when they're doing their penal connections because that's where their English proficiency matches and so they they can converse really well um on the lower right those are our friends the Alice those are the teenagers uh who were introducing to us all about cber and uh one of the students brought a complete collection of coins and P enough they talked about te and then the end I do my but it
116was just just an amazing experience and they if they were intimidated by having a group of 10 adults that they didn't know we didn't know you can see uh the the Bridgewater State University director uh in the upper right hand corner um Angel so that's what you mentioned so we're seeing we we have um support from just different direction so I'm very very impress that Lori and I were all in the in the M hall building the static classro was very [Music] fun well and there's uh teaching with her partner teacher a little bit [Music] of mindfulness no language barriers we're just taking a moment to stop and R A really unique experience just amazing people so I was teaching like a couple breathing techniques and we had to go to another school and [Music]
117left I like if I stay me hopefully just the love and and it's sharing that experience and I can't wait for the students and at M to reach out and get to connect more of the students um this is on the upper left that's one of the kitchens that they had converted into a kindergarten classroom uh a kindergarten classroom Saturday mornings for about 3 or four hours you can see the different groups um but it was so funny last Tuesday We R running over the school and all of a sudden goes wait to with today October 15 she goes it's the school's birthday we to have a celebration um so they celebrated last Tuesday nine years as a registered School in Caper and um you can see we had an opportunity to Cut the Cake
118and uh serve juice before the students came in so it's just an opportunity for us to be part of that experience with her and see you know her teachers kind of celebrate and and talk about you know the things that they've accomplished and where they want to go this is the big stuff so then on Thursday she found out that she was awarded um a loan so that is the ground of her school she is actually buying land and um she shared with us pictures from the architect she's now at the point where she can actually build a proper school and um give up renting the properties in the middle of town um so this is up and cominging neighborhood um about six or seven minutes away from when the school is down um so
119she made sure to drive us there to make sure that we walk the land with her and the circle the picture in the circle is she was taking us to the blue for instance saying this is where it's going to be oriented this is what's going to happen um and she's anticipating 17 classrooms which is almost double what she has now she'll be able to resolve the waiting list and I think her big range plan is actually become not just an English Focus school but a school that does the complete education for students in English um so going beyond what she has now and then that's just you know a fun group picture uh in t which is hom TNT TN thank you so I I would say that we our mission state is to
120create a world class opportunity for our students would this be a dream is would this be appropriate to have our kids to to have contact with uh a community that the majority of the world lives in this is not the majority world we live in a a different world but if you go anywhere else this is where it is and what opportunities we have would this be um part of our mission uh can we even like shoot for the moon or see what what what El I just love the Arts connection I mean what what could we what could we uh think of to to do this so I'm excited by this partnership and uh hope that we can do more that's it partnersh has do everything there was wonderful my there was to get
121to to know some of our teachers and if these teachers impl of the teachers of your children how fortunate all of us are because they are outstanding they dedicated enthusiastic they are great and we should really really thank them it has been a pleasure to be with them for five and I can't be more okay on that happy note um it's trying for policies did you have else one thing if I may sure um I just want to give a shout out to um Christine Nicholson um Stephanie frown Diana Lee and Dr Harris um at the high school our two ELD teachers our ELD department head um after we went through the tiered Focus monitoring and we had uh several conversations with the Department of education they've been uh following our performance they invited us
122and our team of uh teachers spoke and presented at the office of language acquisition Network meeting a couple weeks ago um because they saw significant gains in pursuit of English language proficiency at the high school and uh it wasn't something we were pursuing they called us and said we want you to tell a little bit about your story and they got to feature um the teachers and um chis and Alan and I were just there to kind of give a little boost and um support but uh they showcase their classroom which is hard to do over Zoom but the community that theyve built there and um the peer Network that they have so I just want to give them a shout out and share with you that they they got that opportunity um it was
123pretty cool and it came right on the heels of some of the conversations we're having here about bilingualism or triang ISM so it was great to see that so thank you I just want to thank you okay I know you're just waiting CH a bit for these policies so um um do we want to are there any questions on these are you had the last meeting to for first reads does anybody have any questions yes can I motion them as a batch no Kelly says no okay never mind we'll look into that I feel like Mar told us we had to do that's right I'm ready to okay motion as written any discussion okay all those in favor or exing okay motion written any discussion any discussion all those in favor I motion written second
124any discussion all those in [Music] favor I was waiting for you to say no AB I messed up last time that's AB or no all right motion EA as written any discussion all those in favor any obain or motion ehp has written second any discussion all those in favor abstain or no okay policy subcommittee just mention we have reviewed these polies okay next on the agenda is an update from the building needs representative will that be still giv the update okay thank you addtion place is the copy of the notes that were taking at the last meeting but because of our audience this evening I'll go through them the last meeting was on October 9th um and in attendance with myself Kelly Mish Nancy Taylor Bob antonucci mallerie Laval I hope I pronounce that correctly
125Stacy BR Mary K patrii Alan Harris Melissa Hamilton Dy cson fellis Mike Rena Melissa Kei and Ryan her and excuse me Sandy Dr Dura and Paul Dart are our reference people the staff reference people uh after welcoming and introductions Dr Taylor shared a statement with the group for consideration she suggested an appointment of a chair for the building committee building needs committee and consider hiring a consultant moving forward for this group and moving forward now with msba application for the Lawrence School Bob antinucci was appointed um was nominated his chair and he was appointed the meeting notes from the previous meeting our first meeting from um September 25th meeting were distributed and there was data that was requested from the last meeting which was shared and reviewed history of school choice students who enter with
126Public Schools uh a request was also made for the school choice that left the district also information on freshmen who may come back to FHS preschool enrollment data was shared and preschoolers who did not attend a formal preschool was shared information in that regard floor plans for East fouth were shared for both a one-year transition and a one-year transition with kindergarten with prek at t tiet uh let's see Dr dor asked the committee if they would like to keep the one-year transition plan as part of the proposal and one of the T ticket representative stated that the staff would like to transition as a group so not to remove that as proposal at this time Bob Andi asked if there was any new information to share with the group and a ttet parent member asked
127for clarification regarding combining kindergarten and prek at the Early Learning Center updated data from the feedback forms was shared by Dr door and the data was reviewed and Stacy bro shared new feedback forms from teer with Dr door which will be Consolidated and shared at the next meeting of which our next meeting is tomorrow Clos three four and five were discussed grade configuration for the Lawrence School was discussed and question asked was why lawence instead of the moris pawn school um square footage of each building was presented and a history of the building was highlighted the msba application would need to be started in January 2025 the process was shared and it is an 8-year process during the renovation students would be moved out to the moris Pond school uh a question was asked about
128the number of grades that need to be in the building and msba has a specific formula that is based on the number of students who will be be in the building at the time the building opens which would be August of 2032 if any luck the formula determines the number of classroom spaces needed and then those will be reimbursed uh discussion around the great configuration at Lawrence and question was asked was anyone against renovating art school no one voiced a concern and feedback was reviewed timelines for the capital projects in towns was requested for the next meeting from Mike brenshaw who's the uh Town Administrator we started con um conversations in regards to grade configurations for Lawrence and the positives of grade five being part of the elementary school were discussed the benefits of 6
129to8 at Lawrence how can e eighth graders be a part of FHA FHS and how that would work given the schedules that exist to each of the buildings and also the retention of eighth graders if they are part of the FHS the team discussed hiring a consultant next meeting we can look back at the prop proposals one and two and think about the grade configuration at Lawrence School as I mentioned our next meeting will be tomorrow evening 6 o' here in the administration Melissa um I just wanted to make mention that the U building needs committee um is receiving all the emails uh that are being forwarded from the Terry M so we thank you for that I want to assure everyone that U building needs committee members are reading all of the emails and
130um just mention for a third time that tomorrow uh 600 p.m. here at the administration building is our next building building need tax there any questions um I do have a question among the information that um you're considering on the um building these task force are you also um considering looking at the previous work that was done regarding the topic of redistricting is that under the perview of this committee um perhaps we could bring that up tomorrow evening as a question of the that had not been discussed at the first two meetings at least I don't recall what it was so I had requested um several times um us to consider reviewing that information and I I'm just wondering the appropriate perview um to happen whether it's under this task force or if it's part
131of the larger presentation that Dr D will will give I'll bring it up tomorrow um thank you for all your work Sue reading this I had a question uh it says here on the first page halfway down Dr door asked the committee they'd like to keep the one-year transition plan has there been any discussion on not doing this at all the the bill needs task force or is it all about how we're going to do it um the last meeting was mainly on the working backwards okay with the most important aspect right now in regards to the timeline for the lawence school okay so um as I mentioned we'd be continuing that cons um conversation tomorrow evening and basically working backwards no that has not been discussed as yet thank you um I'm sorry um
132just a clarification question are we are you talking just about A needs assessment or also ability because they are different things and I think both are warranted um I I believe it was A needs assessment that was brought up um and then I'm trying to think it was brought up if there was going to be A needs assessment and how we going to um roll that out look for do some research on it Etc Mike I follow question is the building needs task force using the internal needs assessment study that was done I don't know if you no yes that it was just brought up at the meeting will there be a uh needs assessment done no but the last meeting you were told that there had been an internal Le assessment so the last
133scho committee meeting yeah you weren't there so well I was there just to clarify for people that think I wasn't there I was there for executive session it was my daughter 16th so I but no at that meeting there was discussion of an internal needs assessment correct but that meeting um was that was not mentioned at the building needs task force I I believe my question is does the building needs task force have the existing internal needs assessment that was done no no but but the thing is we're not we're not the conversations have not been in that Arena yet that okay but wouldn't that internal needs assessment that had been done be useful for this committee or this uh pass I but I don't think there's anything to have like there's not like we
134don't have like a report like company would make um you know we have data this stuff that we looked at as a committee do you know what I mean like when we did this the school committee I think it would be great to share reest um I don't know if you're you answered my question about feasibility versus uh needs assessment they're different uh I would just like for both of them to be on the agenda okay is everybody done asking questions okay I have a question then um many of the letters I forwarded requested um A needs assessment be done and consideration of stopping that so does the committee take all those numbers of people that have said that same thing and T them up and will or will they and into their consideration there
135was a okay last meeting y okay but I've sent this the new tally I we Haven seen I just know a lot of people said both of those things and to make sure that they were Ted and brought forth for discussion [Music] is there one [Music] more all right so thank you your report and now we will um hear from the superintendent on the same subject so you um received the the minutes that were shared at the last meeting uh and this was the feedback um at the last meeting um you can see uh that uh for proposed plans one and two a new category started to pause these proposals so you can see that in committee you wanted to um grade configuration of grade 678 in the middle school and fifth to the elementary
136uh is trending uh for proposed plans three and four and a large majority uh by far in agreement with the uh Lawrence renovation for proposal plot but you can see all the data um the taling for for each and then there'll be another one of these we been the building needs um committee so um tomorrow tomorrow I guess there'll be another one oh you did have I'm sorry you did um so I'm just keeping them all on the same sheet so you can uh you can see so you can actually tally up in the B area um uh for instance you know the the data for you know merging or not wanting to merge you can see that on the The Proposal one and two so you can add those up as we go as
137well as well um um I just don't I want to make sure I understand when like for question n it just says the district and then there's five people in the first survey and 23 in the next survey does that mean it's just they mentioned redistricting or they wrote something about redistricting or they were for redistricting or I just don't understand for most they want it considered considered yes okay okay well some of them want may want it to happen but I'm just saying they want it to be on is there a way share this with the Mee I know that came up in an email that we didn't share it during our meeting last time there no way for people to see what we were looking at to the chair of the building TK
138Force well it'll be in our minutes yeah sure the whole the we have it used to be there used to be we'll look into it so that you guys can that in the fure you know that you can request to see anything okay are there any other okay all right we ready okay all right so um uh so there were um we brought up the building needs committee brought up about the um needs assessment um I got recommendations um by both mass and mask both recommending the New England uh School Development Council um NASDAQ um most people um know them by local here in uh Massachusetts um so uh they uh I'll just go over they um oh I just want to both of them spoke highly the executive director D um so the um
139the needs assessment the scope um of the uh first proposal um was together and analyze the federal census data um on the participation uh population size household anticipated residential uh construction and recent housing uh sales um Gathering review live birth data um and and so this is uh I I just want to mention like when we were doing our internal needs assessment um you know it was concerning for us um that we had such a drop off in the birth rates um here in P when we collected that data but um but this group you know actually can do the analysis so we were doing the you know 25e trends of the entire population um but they'll be able to include uh an analysis you know of the the trends of the birth rates and
140what that um just I think that's that's an important key here um they'll do um uh the uh data and analyze public and nonpublic they that non-public is uh available um prepare U an analysis of the factors impacting U past and future enrollment um prepare a 10-year enrollment projection um and prepare an analysis of the enrollment um projections um including the discussion of Cort um component uh and outline the assumptions um upon which the enrollment forecast uh is based um the secondary U piece that phase two would be um a facility space and utilization analysis so this would be focus on the um the T ticket and the um East schools um they did uh and and this first um proposal came in at 13,150 um the uh the added a second proposal if we
141wanted to do a um analysis on the you know 4 68 year down the road on all four elementary schools with the fifth grade it would be an additional um 5,000 for that um the second uh recommendation uh is the Colin Center um that UMass Boston um Unfortunately they didn't have capacity uh at this time um to conduct the need analysis um so um this group can start right away and so I'm going to take this to the building needs committee tomorrow night um let them vote on this uh and if if so I can sign it immediately um and um they said they would have they could have all the results done by this um so ultimately who's the one who approves that is that is that the building needs committee or is that
142the school committee that would have the final say so in this situation we're letting the building needs because this would be something that the district could just do on their own which I do agree with but I feel in this context that the building needs because we've started that process the building anything else add I'm yes I don't know if this is the place but I feel like we're still moving too fast with only one option for an assessment uh company to do this and I don't know if I can do this I'm going to I would like to make a motion that we stop proposals one and two and focus on 34 and five which are the more time sensitive issues for the foreseeable future it's not on the agenda it's not on the
143agenda so that's fine I'll just wait for the next agenda item at the end I can request an agenda item that's correct to be put that's fine with me yeah yeah just so people understand the mechanics of what we're saying if something's not on the agenda you can't vote on it because the open meeting law that people who read the agenda can know what to expect so that's why we can't do that just a quick point of order on the agenda it does say navigate in the future and this would be in that perview so I don't I'm going to wait but I'm just saying that it could fit into the naviga future is missing the has to be either Vote or act on totally understand y okay okay I mean I'm not I'm just
144maybe I'm tired my teaching is coming out I think was um building leading make being the maybe I can't come up with the verb either but also I think that they should be driving what is asked of that the company that was hired because they're the ones that need that data before it makes it to us so I think that that should fall to them not just whether they're not to move but also the details what is what we're ask because they're going to make what you know they're going to make what we ask now whatever the questions want answer following up on what Kelly was asking can Dr can you explain a little in a little more detail how building needs is would work with this uh with this group in terms of would
145they be working parallel would they be working collaboratively as a a consult how how how are they going to interact with each other can we wait till tomorrow the chair that conversation I don't want to I don't want to make a decision for the building me should I do agree with Kelly they need to be the on speaking to the okay thank you Chris um yeah I just had a concern with in terms of the timeline with the building needs committee right now just addressing lawren school and potentially the results of this needs assessment not being completed until December and then we're supposed to vote on this in January and I'm not sure what kind of data is the building needs committee going to use for their determination like how much time are they going
146to have to actually consider this information before they are able to make [Music] decision Mar I just want to ask a question I realiz Comm building it's about building stud education okay um but they they may say yes they want they want do not we as the people in charge of finances have to approve that I mean we could do it probably online or something but don't we have to approve an expenditure like that no so you approve the overall budget I mean you're certainly if you want to if the school comme wants to vote on it you can but just this is just I mean yes we can move forward as the administration but because we're in the middle of this process which is why I was involved okay no I understand um you
147said there was an additional $5,000 for including the all four schools for redistricting F no it was not redistricting it was whether um if just doing their um analysis is that in you know in the six you know the current timeline for the renovation of lawence it would be in six years right and could um the fifth grade at that time fit in all four buildings stay in the building so it would be the fourth graders at that time would remain for another year in fifth grade okay so they wouldn't look at anything beyond fifth grade in this new um no the building needs that it should consecrate on proposals one and two we're going to be doing a full feasibility study um if the school committee votes on uh to move forward with the
148the Lawrence renovation then another whole process starts um there's a a another building needs committee except I think it's called school school building committee um and then there's uh an outside member that does the full feasibility um because you're um it's it's a full renovation so uh masbo um the Massachusetts school Authority building uh Authority School MBA thank you um the um so they require all these steps and they work with you step by step all of that's going to happen when it uh when it comes to the that process if if we move forward process okay timeline is a little bit of a Juggle think about wouldn't have that information until after voting to do it but then Lawrence is contingent on whether there's for all these kids and then we I don't know
149if our application should go in this year honestly for Lawrence I think it might be better to leave here myself because we don't seem to be ready as a community for that all of the package but I think what I was trying to ask is the difference between a feasibility study and A needs assessment so the needs assessment I think should take into account the entire proposal since we are going to be dealing with the entire proposal I know it's reconfiguring the grades through fifth but it's also everything else and it's sort of all hinged together and then the difference between a feasibility study and A needs assessment um A needs assessment is how much space you need how much square footage what the enrollment capacity is a feasibility study is whether or not you
150should be proceeding with a facility change at all they're different and I don't know if the building leads committee is considering having both but I feel whole package all the information should be on the table that's my opinion and I would I would not feel comfortable anything just that the U proposals are separate and anything okay so I'm I know they are separate but you can't apply I guess what I'm worried about is I've heard you say you can't apply for this funding unless you can assure them that the building was not going to be empty in 15 years uh Lawrence that you know so in that sense knowing that we're going to reconfigure the grades in this way knowing that we'll have space to move those younger students Around It All Leads into our
151application for Lawrence and I don't want our application to be judged unready because we don't have all the information you know can so I'll just share a little bit more yeah yeah no I so I'll just share a little bit more and I think that um that Paul um has shared some of this before but I'll just um try to go over again so we we tried in the timeline that 8-year timeline if we moved ahead with a feasibility study on our own um to try to shorten the time right on on an 8-year process of renovating lail yeah but they won't accept it so the application in January is just the say to get us in the queue and all of that has to be done after December December of next year after they
152say that they've accepted us or not accept us and then they guide that process so we would be paying for a feasibility study now that would not be looked at by the state and then we would have to do it with them so that's the the application is just to get us considered I I saying that I'm saying there's a feasibility study for Lawrence and then what I'm saying is a feasibility study for 1 through proposals so that we are sure that when we put our when I put our application in Lawrence we have all the packages in a row everything is in order we have Community Support it's clear to the people who are looking at our application that going forward with renovating the building and having a feasibility study just for Lawrence should
153be supported in my view by a feasibility study and A needs assessment that supports the application so that it looks thorough and good and there's no question about whether the community is with us and have support from the town and taxpayer base you know do you know what I'm saying it's different than what Bob and you are it's two different feasibility studies okay um we can bring up at building Margaret I just want point ofation I certainly hear your point I think it's very valid however if we were to get into the queue and we then found out that we didn't want to be there to be alive is I feel like it'll be alive in 9 years if we push it out by one it's not a h there's no problem at least getting
154in the que because there an you don't want to be in the line and then find out that you had to go pee or you know something you know what's the disadvantage that there's no there's no ready that's all that's all I'm saying it's why not just wait a year and be fully ready before getting in the queue it's not a huge difference I hear you but I you we can always step out the line I stepped out of many lines yeah so and I know you can reapply every year it I get that well we can but also because of the number of applications they receive every year we're not guaranteed you know they U they're going to look at all the applications and they can't take everyone so we may not even get
155the first year I mean Paul has shared over it could be we have to apply again and again and it just pushes that that whole process down the road um so I mean you know I really don't think it hurts getting the application in and at any time we can pull if that if if there different decisions made it's it's really the renovation is such a separate process SE I don't know if it is though because you told me I'm sorry I just keep talking but I just want to make sure I understand because I've heard that it's it is they're separate but I've also heard that we need to demonstrate that we have the enrollment and the capacity for that building to be renovated and all of the proceeding four parts are we're not
156allowed to do that ahead of time we have to do that with them after theyve accepted us like all that process happens after we have to do it after and we're going to pay to have that done after right and then we but but what we do have to know is what grade span is going to be in that school so there's no question whether you know two grades or three grades will fit in the school it's how the their calculations are based on the grades that we're going to stay in the school so whether that is 67 or 678 I think the building needs is you know is committed to having fif in the in the elementary so um that piece which is why we're trying to get community involvement about what we what
157grade levels we want in that and then that'll move forward they'll go on that on based on the number of students yeah I mean I do hear you you know it can be confusing but you know if it's favorable to move forward with the renovation we should just get line you know we have no idea thank you I have two questions the first is a clarifying question if like Margaret had said we pull our application do we join the queue in the same in place or we have to reapply no you have to reapply start okay then my second question I don't know how the application process works but and Katrina correct me from wrong piggy back on you a little bit here um if they have two applications for two schools do they look
158at all into Community input like if you were on the deciding committee and you have you know town xalet and they were to research these two towns um currently it would appear that there's a large portion of our town against parts of this plan and would that affect the application anyway you know what I'm saying like are they just looking at the application or they looking at external factors as well they're going to look they're going to look at the application for a renovation they don't yeah so it's not it's not the whole it's just that application is only for the renovation of lines yes but the application includes like Katrina had said how grades and students and um longevity of the building so if we don't have buying from the full community then that
159I think that might be an issue to get to that where the classroom's going to be the grade sizes for that application so it does kind of all tie together at some point in time we're going to have to move students to make it work I'm I'm sure Paul if I me I'm sure Paul can give us more of the intricate so of what the state requires but my experience in the past in regards to all the renovations we've done in the building that none of the community nothing like that happens see it the thing where the community would kick in is when town meeting would have to appropriate the funds and that's when we go forward from there that and and it have to be on about um in May um not this may
160but yes in the get and then it would have to go on the bot and that would be the community input yes or no yeah I think it would make more sense in speaking out of ter to get the commune input before we try to get to the ballot when we have oh we're getting that input but in in regards to your question take into thank not in my experience okay I have something that um I would i' like to revisit which is the the the the um building needs deciding what questions to ask of the company we're going to hire I think that I should be able to have questions that I need to have answered to make my decision so I I really insist that we all get to decide uh of questions
161not just leave that up I mean they're running over here and we're but we're running running we need to run together at times and this is one time I think we need to run together and I when I read those those contracts one was for two schools one was for four schools I think we should have one for five schools the fifth school is the um pre Center we need someone to look at is that a good use of educational resources Etc I this is the third time I brought up I still don't have a vision of the prease SCH yet so I mean can they talk to the company about can you do hypothetical things because we don't have that yet but to me that's the bottom line of why we started the first
162half of these proposed changes and it still is too fuzzzy so anyway that's what the building needs all right I'm bring up and I do believe that that was included when they said the two schools the purposes of so they were doing that with them by not by the grade levels that in these contracts I looked at them there wasn't a pre okay she's near to I was just gonna say that those additional questions that that committee members have that they would like for the company to uh be addressed in I think should should you everyone should in on those so if you want to draw them down and consolidate on this and send them to on to building needs because I I agree with you Terry like I think we need we need to
163we need to ask for what we those pieces of data points are but since the building needs is the one that's actually on the hook for like sorting all that out I feel like it would be our job to feed them all of our questions and then they sort us and deal with the company um so that you know we shouldn't I don't but we make the decision so I think we should have a in the questions too I agree you um this is just kind of getting back to some of the information that the building needs committee is is looking for I know that one of the um things that you would asked for floor plans for East fou were shared for both one-ear transition and onee transition K prek T ticket um I'd
164also wonder or hope that um the configurations of the buildings are are being looked at because the layout of East is significantly different than the layout of T ticket and um I would like either the Consulting grou group or the building needs committee to take into consideration the unique configurations of those buildings in ter not just the square footage but in terms of the capacity um for either a prek or for an elementary school with doubling the size um so I think it's more than just square footage um so that's just another question that I had in this whole process yeah one one question I have is how is this outside firm going to collect their data is it all just based off of what they could find on the internet are they going to
165interact with the community how how are they actually collecting this data and and yeah and what what I guess that data what is that data going to be and I mean I'm almost thinking we should consider everything that's on the table even if it's looking at every Elementary School and seeing if there's space for prek at every school like if we if we're going this deep that we consider everything I mean ultimately I would like to see the town involved with this if we're talking about um housing projects and you know giving up space to the town I want to know from the town okay what space do you need why do you need it what do you plan to use it for so I feel like it should be a collaboration between the you
166know the school district being a department of the town I Feel Like It ultimately should be a collaboration between the town and the school to make this decision because it it it affects the whole Community we give you enough to take back to okay is there any other discussion all it's okay no um did you have anything other I did um I just wanted to mention um that Tomi um Carmela masasi and Chris Brothers um worked with um whoie um the director of community engagement um Colin uh Reed they put together um a fantastic presentation with LA students um featuring two Engineers um one current uh engineer from um uh whoie and a former engineer um the current um engineer uh Molly uh K she's um excuse me she helps design and create underwater robots
167um she's talked about her work uh research and her travels and about how um you know working on a a ship for a long time she actually um helped create the robots that were testing um uh and investigating uh underwater um she piloted the first um um autonomous robot um the mesot um for hoie and they were exploring the ocean Twilight Zone which um I think most we we a lot of us have read that so it was exciting um but the uh other person was uh is or is uh was an engineer but is currently um a astronaut and Laura and so mimicking a lot about how U the amount of time that she spent in space um she was in for 204 days um so uh and just talking about you know what
168it's like to be kind of remote and as you're exploring um the space the others exploring the ocean but some of the similarities of um what that work looks like um so um it was um I think the students really enjoyed it um there were fa students that were able to join um the the uh lawen students for the presentation and the kids just had just lots and lots of questions they just ran out of time andol so it was it was good to see how engaged the the uh students were um and participate in this and I'm going to just go back to our Partnerships that we have created over time with um so many of the woods Co and greater family community um but this opportunity came to us because of our partnership
169with hulie so just a shout out um for those at hulie and and certainly our internal people that continue to work for opportunities for our students is that all I I know I tend to rush people I'm sorry I'm done no we are very fortunate with that partnership we have gained so much over the last couple years okay routine business which is the minutes anybody want make minutes okay a second I'll second Chris for once okay is there any discussion there are edits is this yeah yeah okay um so um top thing Lissa ke secretary says absent but it doesn't um mention when you left which was after the executive so I don't know if you need to say you do need to say when people leave meetings so at 6:30 or whatever I was
170never at there two separate meetings that would be in the ex okay sorry um on the second page recorded the way down under Paul Kur it says feasibly study instead of feasibility study you see that no Sharon Shar do you want me to send these to you instead of doing them we can't all right um my name is still n instead of nean on third page under Terry's motion for policy [Music] ACR and on the last page um where I'm sorry this came up earlier where are the handout two last time they're not in the here were they posted with the minutes like the hand out Lori had a um school choice friends and feedback see on the digital version you get all the packets but I don't that was policy I didn't see the
171two handouts that you gave there's a binder in the office that all the handouts are included in that okay there public okay that's it then yes if I could make one edit because Katrina is correct that the public meeting does open up with Melissa present because she in the motion to go into executive so Melissa Keef secretary left at 6:30 or whatever 6:32 because she was current she was at the meeting to begin with and it was an open public meeting when she second if that makes sense can can we don't usually no no we'll make sense yeah could make the decision okay so we'll make the change okay any other edits for discussion okay all those in favor I exensions no okay um committee reports I speak to policy we met yesterday we reviewed
172and approved minutes from September 16th we reviewed uh policy and approved to send to school committee on student submission of educational surveys and research uh we reviewed policies uh based on mask NC recommendations combining some policies together we reviewed new language um for having a physician and a nurse practitioner signature with uh home instruction and we discussed uh the policies that we discussed during the meeting to go to the thank you any other committee reports yes two uh the [Music] Dei subcommittee we had two meetings so far among the topics we discussed were mindset discussions we had a rich conversation about the importance of fostering growth mindsets ones that are open to diverse perspectives and focus on finding Solutions in contrast fixed mindsets can create division within a community our goal is to cultivate shared
173values that promote growth and adaptability the second discussion was student involvement we discuss the inclusion of a student advisory members in our next meeting amplifying student voices is Central to our Equity work and it's critical that they have a seat at the table and the third discussion point was the equity audit and District goals Henry presented the district goals based on the equity audit The Advisory explored how to move forward with these goals including key topics such as timelines responsibilities measurable outcomes and M the other um subcommittee report was the elpac we held our first board meeting yesterday committee members discussed ways to make more Community connections with our schools and also o planned elpac District events for the next scho school year the first event is tentatively scheduled for November 21st at the high
174school students and parents of our multilingual Learners will be invited to a harvest dinner which will feature conversations about various aspects of our schools thank you for your report um the collaborative is has is negotiating with a person to to become the new chairman but since that negotiation hav completed I won't say it but it's imminent okay so after 15 years they'll be having a new director which is yeah okay are there any requests for information okay is there a motion to adjourn ohry could I request an agenda item next meeting no information that's the I apologize I you have stuff put on the agenda if you want information about something we discussed here that didn't get clarified it's a catch off so I would like an agenda item uh Vote or discuss proposals one
175and two and if we plan to move forward that or not um can I I don't know if I can request this but um to what Chris said about wanting to collaborate with the town is it possible to have someone from the Town come and speak to us about the vision the town has for property um I don't know the town manager I don't know who that would be but it would be really great to hear their perspective so eliss notes it down and then Lor and um what's name just as a note that Mike rch who's the Town Administrator he well chairman of the board Nancy so he not allowed to I think that Sue was just saying that he is involved oh be nice to just have him talk about the town's Vision
176okay if there are no more is that all you have mik okay motion favor anybody okay thank you very much so now we we move into okay