001everyone. All right, we're recording. I'm sure you already know. Great. And since it is six o'clock and we have quorum, I am going to get us started. Um, with a unless is there anyone else you're waiting for, Joe, on your end? Uh, Nolan should be here shortly, but um Okay, excellent. Yes. Welcome Charlotte. Welcome Joel. Um, so I will open with a call to order and a a roll call starting with Christina here. Constantine here. Curtis with us yet? Green here. Malloy here. Miller here. and uh Bowen here. Um so I would like to call this meeting to order. Um that is taking place virtually pursuant to Governor Healey's most recent law signed on March 28th, 2025 allowing these temporary provisions for the open meeting law. Um it the meeting will be available on uh
002as video on demand 24 hours after this on our YouTube channel and on Willlet. It does not appear we are streaming live at the moment. Um I did not arrange for anyone to read the mission in advance. Would anyone like to read the mission? I will read the mission. I haven't read the mission yet. I think I've I've asked others to read it every time. Um, at our mission at Mount Greylock Regional School District, our mission is to create a community of learners working together in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based processes, respect, inclusive diversity, courtesy, integrity, and responsibility through high expectations and cooperation resulting in lifelong learning and personal growth. Uh Charlotte, we have we are going to turn it over to you for the student update now. Yeah. Um
003thank you so much for having me. I remember sophomore and junior year. It's fun to end out my senior year back talking uh the committee. I'm right now outside of Mount Greylock. We have a huge track meet going on and I believe as either tonight or tomorrow is the girls softball senior night. That was tonight. Tonight. Look at that. I I hope to stay around and stick around for it. Hopefully the rain stays off and yeah, there's been a lot going around on the school. There's a student directed and run and performed performance that'll be Friday and Saturday and Sunday. You can come to the door and you can buy your ticket there and students come can come free. And we have had a lot of elections of student government day where we're sending a
004student um to the cap to our state capital and working with students from across the state on policy and learning more about our government working. And we also have had in the midst of being in APs and MCCAST testing. Um, a lot of our students are between taking like one to four APs. I know a lot of my classes have been scattered and it's been a lot of work week and a lot of studying. So, I'm sure a lot of students are going to be happy in another week or two when it lightens up the load. For student council, we've worked on bringing in our new student council members. We had elections right after um April break and so we have five new eighth graders who will be filling up um for next year. One
005of our big initiatives right now is a teacher appreciation day. We know it happened on Tuesday and we were bummed we couldn't get it all together, but we'll be sending out a lot of our gratitude and appreciation to the teachers shortly. And we've had a we have had a successful vending machine. I don't know if Sabine and Sarah have talked to you about, but a lot of students are rejoiced with getting an extra snack before practice or something of such. Um, I think that's all I have right now. Sports have been in, of course, full swing and it's it's hard with the weather and all the rain, but it's nice to see how green it is outside and how we're in spring. So, thank you. Thank you, Charlotte. Does anyone have any questions for Charlotte?
006Thank you for bringing the student voice and the student energy uh to us. Uh have a lovely night. Sorry. You too. You too. Um moving to public comment which I think we might be without public for public comment. Welcome Curtis. Um, so having no public public comment, uh, let's move to approval of the minutes. Is there somebody who can move to approve the minutes? So moved. Thank you, Curtis. A second. Second. Thank you, Carrie. Ursula can do it. Thank you, Ursula. Um, uh, discussion. I have two very small edits, uh, to offer. one is I think I saw at the top of the minutes it doesn't say when the meeting adjourned. So that just filling in that spot and then in the section on governance and policies uh it says there were fourformational items that
007would be brought back for adoption. Um but they wereformational at the last meeting. So I think they're being brought back for discussion. So just a simple word change. Any other comments on the minutes? Hearing none, let's do a roll call vote. Christina, kick us off. Honory I. Constantine. I. Elvin by I. Green. I. Malloy. I. Miller. I. Owen. I. Excellent. Thank you. Um and welcome Nolan. You are uh right on time. We are um up to you for the principal's report. I'm here. Sorry, I just came in from the track meet. Um Brian Gil asked me to start months ago and I said yes and then he moved it to today the last minute. So apologies for being late. Um, I'm going to do a quick update about where we're at in the school year
008and then I am going to talk about the Cape trip. Uh, so first it is teacher appreciation week and I just want to say gratitude to all the teachers I mean at Lansboro with the pair of professionals, cafeteria staff who still staff at Lansboro. Um, our PTO has done a great job supporting us this week and yesterday I was out there with a coffee cart making sure all the teachers were taken care of. But just wanted to give a special shout out to all of the educators and adults at Lans Row who support our kids every day. Secondly, we are exactly halfway through our MCCAST season. Um, our students are working extremely hard. We just finished the third grade maths. We have fourth, fifth, and sixth grade math as well as fifth grade science and
009so science and engineering. Um, props to our students on the first ELA section. Some of our students worked the entire school day to finish their essays. Um, I couldn't be more proud of the work that they did. Last week, uh, we, the student support team met and we reviewed our attendance data for the year and as of last Friday, we had 500 less daily absences than the previous year at the same time. Um, so we've been working hard on making sure our students feel welcomed. And with that it's it's paying off and I can't be more proud of the work and our students and our families for you know prioritizing education and getting the kids in school. Um next part is we have some end of the year stuff coming up. Our crossover ceremony for
010grade six is on the 18th. Um and then our summer fest is on June 13th. feel free to come out and support our PTO and our sixth graders on those days. And then before I dive into the Cape Cod trip, um I want to give a special shout out to two people who have been at Lansboro a long time. We have two retirements this year. I don't know if I will see you all before the end of the year. Kathy Larson has been working at Lansboro Elementary School longer than most, you know, most of the parents of the school have been alive, not just me. Um I think 32 to 37 years is the the quote based on what she was doing in the school. Um she has been a factory of institutional knowledge. Um
011she she was the person when I started at Lansboro the person who I went to every every time I had a question about hey tell me about Lansboro in the past. She always answered it. And then secondly Beth Nichols is also retiring at the end of this year. She's been a reading specialist for over 20 years at Lansboro. She's been with the students who needed support in reading, coming up with creative, and you know, she's she's the type of person who would never say die. When a student was making growth, she would try something else, try something else, try something else. She she wanted every single student in her care to to grow. And that shows. So, we're going to miss both Kathy and Beth next year. And we have a you know, it's going
012to be a change. and I'm excited for new things, but it's going to be sad to lose them. So, next is the cape presentation. Sorry, let I pull it up. See if I can share my screen. So, I cannot see you, but can someone just give me a clap or a thumb or say that they can see the screen that I'm sharing? We can see it. Thanks. Wonderful. Perfect. Thank you. Um, so Cape Cod this year is a week earlier than usual. It is May 20th to May 23rd. We students just depart at 6:30 on Tuesday. The coach bus um goes to the Cape. They stay at Burgess Camp in Sandwich. 34 students plus four Hancock students and nine chapons are attending this trip. Um this year the there is only one Hancock come coming
013from Han going from Hancock coming from Hancock. Um, and that is because all four students are female and so they are sending one female chaperone to be in that bunk. So the entire trip cost um approximately $30,000 for each student. It would have been $759, but with fundraising we were down to $329 per student. And with that, we do have um so many businesses that reach out that want to sponsor our trip. So any student that can afford it, it it can be paid for by a local business sponsor. Um which I think is and it's mostly by students or businesses who had them that they had themselves went on the trip. So Tuesday, little quick dive into the agenda. They go to Mystic Aquarium. They have more activities than they did last year. Um,
014they're going to do a squid dissection, I believe, in the lab. They get their bunk assignments. They do some team building. Then every night they write in their journals. Wednesday is a busy day. They go to the wildlife pasture and this is where I believe last year they maybe two years ago they found the second largest horseshoe crab documented on that beach. Um and then they go to a nature walk. They do team building activities. Um and then in the afternoon they go on a whale that they go they don't go to a whale watch. A whale watch person presents to them. Um and then they journal and it's lights out. Thursday is the whale watch. Um and that's maybe the most exciting part of the day. Seeing those whales up close is um amazing.
015Then they go to Race Point Beach and do some geology. Then they have their journaling and this lights up and they have to pack because they leave on Friday. Friday they go to the Natural History Museum of Harvard. Um and then they finish up and they're on their way home. So this year for fundraising they did they sold candy bars they did corporate sponsors they did a d to donate they sold flower bulbs penny awards danceon they did two danceathons one for little ones for K through three ones for four five and six they did a basketball student staff game and then they did a parentled raffle um and they're always looking for new ways to fundra hey Nolan wasn't there also a music bingo there I don't know if it was this year I
016know last year Oh, it was at Bergkshire Hills. I went they Yes. And it was a terrible You went. It was like really cruddy that night, wasn't it? It was, but the event was great. Well, I appreciate you going. Um, and that is all I have. I know it was a blast. I came in real quick from the track meet and maybe I'll go back out and help Brian after this. So, what questions do you have for me? I just have a a question, Nolan, about um reporting out from it. Do you typically report back to us um in like the next month or is it in the fall? I don't remember how we get to hear about how everything went and all that. Um well, I think if something bad happened, you'd hear about
017it much sooner. Um, but I don't think I don't think in the past I've ever reported out. I'm more than willing to um it'd be really cool to have um it'd be really cool to have students report out. I think having se it would be seventh grade students at the time. I think that would be a more impactful type of um interaction. Yeah. But we can definitely we have some we will have some we have some great presenters in our sixth grade. So that'd be something we can look forward to in the future. Thank you. Any other questions for Nolan? Just wishing them all a great adventure. Oh, I'm still screen sharing, aren't I? I'm sorry. Um, if there are no other questions than Nolan, um, thank you for the report. Thank you for the
018um giving us the update on the trip and certainly thank you for volunteering at the track meet and you can go back. All right. Have a great evening everyone. All right. You too. Uh with that uh Joe, I'll turn it. Oh, go ahead. One thing we we should vote to approve um have the school committee vote to approve. Right. Right. Right. So, just vote to approve that motion to approve the the uh Cape Cod field trip for Lan Elementary School sixth graders as presented. That's all. Okay. Excellent. Is does somebody want to make that motion? So, move. Thank you, Curtis. Thank you. I will second. Thank you for the second, Christina. Um any other discussion? Jose. Thank you, Julia. Um this uh question stems from uh the policy and governance subcommittee having had the chance
019or the opportunity to review our um existing policies on um support of of field trips and the like. Uh part of our existing policy guarantees that all all of our students have an opportunity to participate in these types of trips. And I was just curious uh in this case in um I should have asked the question while uh while I had the chance, but I don't know if you can you could respond to um cases in which families who who may not be able to afford the fee um that we're we're asking them to pay to for their you know for their child to participate on this trip. What's how are we how are we handling those cases? Um Nolan did provide specific numbers within his presentation, but they had um without fundraising, trip cost
020per student was $700 and something dollars. With the fundraising that they did, two things happen. Um and this has happened annually, I think, for many years. Um first off, the the per student cost went down to $329, I think, per person. um and for all students that had previously been identified as as really benefiting from significant financial assistance or who requested it during a part of the process, all of them those those costs are completely waved. Um, so all of that fundraising, so it's really thanks to the the Lanesburg Elementary School community, um, businesses in the community and all the fundraising efforts that the that the class and the teachers um and the community undertake to to make that possible. That's an annual thing. And and to me, it is the strongest example of of
021that positive work to make sure that that the field trip is accessible to all um that we have within the district and and it's a great model w with the year-long buildup all the fundraising that happens. Um it is it is deep, it is broad, it and it touches many parts of the community. So, it's a it's a real strength. No, I I appreciate that, Joe. And um and and apologies for asking to clarify once more to ensure that we're in compliance with our existing policies. Um every child uh in the Lansboro Elementary School in sixth grade will be attending this trip. Yes. Thank you. So we have a motion and a second. Thank you, Curtis and Christina. Do we have any other questions or discussion? If not, uh, Christina, why don't you lead us
022off with a roll call vote? Conry I. Constantine, I open by an I. Green eye. Malloy I. Miller I. And concession stand is open. Owen I. All right. So that passes unanimously. Thank you everybody. Um, now if we can move to the director's report. Um, apologies for jumping that gun. Um, hand it over to you, Joe. Sorry. Hand it over to Noel. This actually goes straight to Noel. So, thank you, Noel. All right. Thank you. And, uh, thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk about uh, things going on in our special education department. Um, it's been a great year. It's a busy busy time of year for everybody. Um, so we got a lot of people working really hard um to make sure our students are um very successful. So that's been great.
023I want to shout out to um everyone in the school for really um putting putting forth their best every single day. Um and for our students because it's nice out and it's everyone wants to enjoy the nice weather and so um so kudos to everyone on that. Um this year I think we had spoken I had spoken to you earlier. We uh the state launched a new IEP. Um so in September we started using the new IEP form. The old one had been 20 something years old. Um so it was a big shift for everyone. We have had a lot of professional development um from various places. So um I felt I think that everyone was really well prepared for the shift. Um, and the form is really um, user friendly and one of the
024really nice things is it um, brings the students voice into the IEP much more strongly than it was before. Um, so we have been able to interview students from preK through 22, um, and kind of gotten a sense of where they feel like their strengths are, where they're having um, concerns or things that they want to work on, what their goals are, um, for school and for postgraduate. And so, we've been able to bring that into the IEP to make sure that what we're working on aligns with what they want to be working on. Um, so that's been really exciting. And we've had students coming to meetings a lot. um more frequently as well and that's been great too. So um thanks to the new form for kind of naturally in um bringing that pro
025process along. Um so that is the uh one thing that happened this year. Um another really exciting thing I keep seeing everyone up at the track meet. Um we've continued um with the unified sports program. So if you haven't had a chance to get to a unified basketball game or a unified track meet um please find time to do that next year. It is just such a wonderful environment. Um our track team is going to sectionals this week and going to states next week. Um so that's really exciting and thanks to our athletes and their families um the fans and um to the coaches and lots of volunteers and fans. It's really been um a wonderful wonderful program. So that's been exciting to see. Um we've also uh had cooperative classes going on at the
026high school. And so those are regular education classes um where we have students with um special needs working alongside uh students, general education students. We have a cooperative art class, a cooperative music class, and a cooperative cooking class. Um so that's been wonderful as well. um students who may not have crossed paths in a class before are now forging friendships and um you know that's been a really uh it's been going on for a few years but it keeps growing. Some of the classes are hard to even get into at this point. They're filling up. So um that's been really fun to see as well. uh we just received our special education determination report which is uh something that comes annually from the state and I'm happy to report that we have met requirements um
027with an 88% we got 36 out of 41 points um which is great so we don't have any required um spec specific targeted um technical assistance or anything like that that we need to work on this year so um that's wonderful um and that looks at um a There's a matrix that looks at several different things, but um it looks at the exiting results of our students that have IEPs. It looks at our inclusion percentages. Um it looks at MCCAST scores for fourth grade, eighth grade, and high school students. Um looks at some of the outcomes for our preschoolers and outcomes for our students that graduate, if they are um going on for more school or they um competitively employed or in some other sort of employment. Um and then some of the compliance things
028it also looks at are there discrepancies um by race and ethnicity? Are we overidentifying students with needs um inappropriately or are discip discipline policies and um not taking that uh those sorts of things into account. So um we had no non-compliance findings last year either. So all of that played into that matrix. So um we're in good shape there. So that's great. Uh, next thing is our summer program. We have um been planning our summer program for a while now. Chris Hawking will be our coordinator. Um, her and I have been working together to um make sure that we have programs to meet the needs of all of our students that uh require services over the summer. So, we have the elementary school program and that will be happening at Lansboro Elementary this summer. Um,
029last year it was at West, so we're uh rotating this year. that will be for our prek through five students. Um we have 48 students or so currently um signed up to attend that program. Uh we are fully staffed. We're very excited about that. And that will be uh four days a week, three hours a day for uh four weeks. So that will be in the month of July. So they'll be doing some academics, some social things, and um and also working in some fun too. So that'll be great. We have our program up at Mount Greylock. Um and that is we have two separate programs. So we have a sixth grade uh we have a program for sixth graders, rising seventh graders. So with last summer we moved that age group up here so
030they have time to get in the school and get a sense of the building and practice opening the lockers and find out where the nurse is and all those fun things. So um it worked out really well last year having those students get a head um heads up on the school ahead of time. So we're going to do that again. We have uh six students that'll be attending that program. And then we have an academic skills program for our older students. Um and we have 11 students in that program as well. And then we al also will be sending a handful of students to Camp Russell for recreational programming. Um that's a program um I don't know if anyone's familiar with that program, but it's a very fun um outdoor exciting program. The kids get
031to do all kinds of um uh boating and swimming and uh you know crafting and all that good stuff. So, uh, that program will work on their recreational skills and their social skills. So, that is what our summer program will be looking like this summer. Um, okay. And for next year, a couple things we're really excited about. Um, we are uh with the district's focus on literacy, we are very excited to also um put a strong focus on literacy for our department. So, uh we have um we have 10 special educators signed up to um complete the Orton Gillingham training. So, uh those educators range from pre preK through 8th grade. Uh 10 of our special education teachers. We will be starting that in the fall. It's a two-year program. So, there's um some heavy
032classroom time and then there's a 100hour practicum. Um but when they complete that they will be associate level trained Orton Gillingham teachers and Orton Gillingham is a um a structured multiensory approach to literacy. It's very well researched. Um it's really the the the top-notch reading um instruction for our students. So, we're really excited to be able to um have our our special education teachers be able to work alongside our reading specialists and kind of have everyone bombarding these kiddos with really high quality teaching. Um, and we're hoping to see really great results from that. So, that is very exciting for us. And in addition to that, we also have the reading specialist that we added to the middle school, uh, which is really important. So, we'll have a full-time reading specialist there next year, and
033she will be working to provide some direct instruction to some of our kiddos that need um either individual or very small group uh teaching. Um she'll also be probably pushing into an English class, so she can provide some inclusion support for students within their general ed English class. Um and then she may be working with some uh regular education students and some of our um um English language learner students um as needed as well. So, we're really excited to have that. So, thank you to everyone for supporting that. So, I think we have a lot of really exciting stuff going on um in literacy for next year as well. So, that is um a brief wrap-up of some of the things we have going on. Does anyone have any questions or anything I can answer?
034Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Noel. And and you had me at meets requirements. Pretty happy to see that come through as well. That's fantastic. Yes. All great work. All of it. Carrie, did you have a question? I do, but Jose also seemed to have a question. No, I'll be I was just going to second uh Julie there, Noel. Just just express expressing gratitude for all the work that you and your team are up to. Thanks, um, so my only question is about the ability for our district to retain special education staff. Have we had any issues with because I know it's a statewide issue, u maybe a national issue. So, I'm just curious if we how successful we've been. We are fully staffed. We have been fully staffed since I took the position. Not
035saying that has anything to do with me. I'm just saying I haven't had to deal with staffing issues myself. Um, we did have uh one staff member who did resign. Um, but we are set for the fall. So, um, yeah, and all of our related providers. I know statewide and nationally, it's very hard for people to keep psychologists and OT's and PTs and speech, but we, knock on wood, have have been fully staffed and our most of our staff have been here a very long time. So, thank you. Sure. Thank you very much. Um, now I can hand it over to you, Joe. Right, for the superintendent goals and district improvement plan, year-to- date update. Those are two really tough acts to follow. Um, I was enjoying I mean I, you know, I get a
036front row seat every day with their work and the work of all of their teachers, the work of all their par profofessionals and and and other building staff. Um, but it's ju it's it's such a joy to to hear um to hear how all of that comes up to to this level with the school committee. Um, so thank you Noel and and Nolan's already back out helping the community with uh with track and field. So um thank you to Nolan too. Um so what we have here tonight is um really a a a highle summary within your packet. you you have all the superintendent um goal oriented evidence and and historical documents. You have plenty of references to presentations that have been given and documents that have been provided over the last few months um
037with the district improvement plan. Um we had given an update in November um in in detail that was a lengthy presentation and and here um tonight I really just added kind of little little bits and I will point out areas where there will be deeper dives. um into information as we get through the next couple of months too. But I'm going to share my screen to provide the whirlwind overview so that then um we can take that out into discussion. So, first taking the district improvement plan. Um, and this is another chance to to highlight um I am reporting this work, but it truly is the work of of a really dedicated and broad team across the district um across multi-year goals. Um, so we just approved this district improvement plan improvement plan in uh
038January of 2020 24 I believe and it carries through um through the end of the school year ending in 2027. Um so snippets um that are in more depth within your packet. Um all of our curriculum improvement efforts are on track. Um our elementary and middle school math adoption is happening. Um I Ready was selected. Um we we had given you a a glimpse of it back in January. Um we are now headlong into the professional learning, headlong into making sure that every plan um for helping our educators with with adoption fully um are are underway. Um prek through 12 literacy instruction. Again, we gave a an in-depth presentation back in February. Um, it's focused, this plan is focused on assessment, use of the data coming out of assessments, the professional learning that is needed
039for staff to be able to best use that data, translate it into customized instruction um, for our students both in tier one, so in generalled um, uh, classrooms as well as as we look at the work of reading specialists and special education staff. Um, and then focus on reintroducing a reading specialist position into the middle school. No, I'll just just walked you through that better than I ever could. Um, adoption of state wellness and PE standards. Um, this is an area where um the state has been committing work for um the last bunch of years. Um, and then school districts have been have been using that this year to prepare for. We'll be rolling um that out within our middle school this coming year and we will continue to work on um how to roll
040that out at at lower um younger levels um as we as we move ahead um past next year. um artificial intelligence policies and procedures and our digital wellness initiatives um within AI um it's moving faster than I think any of us possibly can but we've had a wonderful team across the district across all three buildings spanning all kinds of uh technical areas working on uh trying to make sense of what should we be teaching how should we be encouraging use how should we be setting policies and we will be uh bringing a draft policy through the policy subcommittee very soon um within the area of artificial intelligence and specifically a lot of work on generative AI. Um so what are the tools that help you um write uh improve your writing uh do research um
041be able to uh be able to just be more responsive to the world with all the flood of information that exists within it. uh digital wellness. A lot of work happening within um the world of understanding what what mobile phones, what social media um means to our students, how it's impacting them. Um there have been a series of wonderful nights at our elementary schools and uh work going on within our middle high school. Um very well attended at our elementary schools. I should note that that has long been a hard nut to crack. um Ellie Kottz, director of academic technology, planned a series that was um that was really stellar. And coming out of that, we've seen a lot of support from our families in the district sponsoring more work around wait until 8th um
042the national campaign to try to encourage people to wait until at least 8th grade to have their their student um utilizing a cell phone. So, a lot of progress in all of those areas. um our curriculum and materials review for bias um that is continuing. This is our first year of a of a really highly structured process. A lot of our PD time for staff has gone into um doing that self-re inspect artifacts around their classroom and and all the content that they teach. Um this is an area where we will definitely be reporting out more in the coming months. Um chronic absenteeism. Nolan uh stole the thunder a touch. We've seen a lot of success through personal outreach and attention to every student and family. Um I think Lanesburg Elementary School has been has
043been up here in that regard. We um just to give you a little snippet, this is another area that we'll be touching upon more in the coming months. Um our district-wide chronic absenteeism um chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of a school year. So 18 or more school days out of 180. Um that is a state level definition. Um last year that number districtwide was 15% of our students. Um this year we think we're going to come in below 10%. Um which is a massive improvement. And Lansburg Elementary School has has um been been I think the the most stellar of our of our schools in that regard. So we're going to be giving you more information in the coming months on that work. Um and we will also break it down
044into student subgroups and so on. So we're going to make sure to touch upon all that with you. Um our communications improvement work. Um this is an area that's very much a work in progress. Um and there isn't a lot of wonderful visible progress yet and that we have been working on how to redesign our website. um how to ensure that information is up todate. How to make sure that we um reorganize the way that people navigate so that uh they have the information that they need so that when they wonder how do I um the answers are at their fingertips and and that's that's largely the work of integrating the website parent square and so on. Um so there's a lot of uh groundwork that's been laid. I think this summer we'll see a
045lot of that come to fruition and we'll actually be able to start presenting different changes that are that are happening. Um similarly um we're also working on um trying to better involve the community in cultural awareness celebration and and educational efforts. Um, this is something that for a long time quite honestly has has stumped me as as to how to how to get the community um interested, excited, involved in ways that we can utilize in in ways where we can actually say thank you for all of that energy. Here's a way to translate it into things happening within our school buildings. Um, we have some ideas around cultural awareness and celebration committees and and groups and being able to bring parents in um, community members, other resources within our local colleges and so on. Um,
046that's something where I think again we're going to see expanded work here over the next couple of months. It's taken a little while to try to build build a sense of um, how to go about that longer than I'd wanted. Um, so I I take full full blame and I will not be able to take full credit when when things do blossom because it's going to take the work of um an entire community really to to cover a lot of ground. So that's the district improvement plan. Um, again, there's there's underlying information within your packet kind of seating things. There are plenty of um areas that in the coming months we'll be talking about. I'll just stop here for a moment, I think. See if there are any immediate questions and then we can turn
047to the superintendent goals side of things. Uh, one quick question, Joe. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Perfectly. Um, for the discussion about AI, how much of this is going to be in the middle high school and how much of it is going to go down all the way to the elementary schools? uh the vast majority of of uh the vast majority will be within the middle high school. Um partly because it's it's the middle high school um students who are already whether we condone it or not whether it is consistent or not whether it is it is uh structured in in productive ways or not utilizing um AI tools at the elementary school level um because there is a whole lot less time with with the Chromebook, a whole lot less time with the
048screen while they're in school. there are fewer ways there are a whole lot fewer assignments where you're writing something outside of school and then bringing it in and so on. um more of the more of the content, more of the attention certainly is in the middle high school, but the team that's been looking at policies, the teams have been that's been looking at ways um to consider it is a prek through 12 um teaching and administrative and student group um that that has been uh at this for the last bunch of months. Does that answer your question? It it does. I just want to make sure that you know things are constantly going to be changing that we are thinking about what's the right way what's the right time to bring this down into the
049elementary schools. Yes. I mean ju just a a little highlight I I I think the every every group effort has acknowledged that this is not something that where we just lock the doors and and try to act like it doesn't exist. Um we are very much uh aware of of its current impact, aware that that will evolve very quickly. Um and trying to figure out how to educate, how to embrace um how to how to how to look at the problem um and look at the opportunity in ways that that really um considers it as a part of life similar to the way people thought of the internet um as as brand new and uh and different um 20 30 years ago. [Music] Okay. So, uh turning to superintendent goals. Um you have my self-evaluation.
050You have the compilation of of information. Tonight is um thankfully not about you evaluating me. It's more about me making sure that you have the information so that over the course of the next month you all can do your work. Um and then next month will be the moment um where where that comes. So really this is like an information item as opposed to a a super heavy discussion item here. I think tonight um I had four high I had four goal areas. Literacy instruction improvement. We already talked about that in a in a number of ways tonight. So I won't I won't uh touch upon that anymore here. Um improvement of two-way communication between the district and our students, staff and community. Um, part of that website, parent square expansion, um, making it current,
051I did talk about within the district improvement plan. I did not talk about the work that we're doing within check-ins and surveys. So, ways to to utilize tools to bring data in from our from our students, from our staff, from our families, um, such that such that we can understand how we're doing, how to evolve, how individuals are doing, and what kinds of supports we can offer them. Um the survey tool that we have utilized um sporadically for the last few years is Panorama. Um we are working actively right now with the equity imperative to try to improve the ways that we utilize Panorama. So we're taking a look at the ways that other districts utilize Panorama um and looking at at at the ways that you can offer the best question set to get
052at information that you would like to interpreting it and actually putting it to use. Um that's work that we're going through right now with the team um that that advisory group that was formed earlier this year. That's actually the point where we are right now with that group is starting to to turn our attention to that. Um so I think that we'll see um more visible progress there um early in the fall by the time we're able to actually kind of roll out the work that we've been doing with them. Um check-ins, we have evaluated a few check-in tools. Check-ins are are considered like smaller bite-sized little surveys that you might offer up weekly um or by bi-weekly with students, with families, with staff. Um we've looked at a few different options. We have not
053committed to one yet. Um I'm trying not to get paralyzed with the different options, the different costs, the different ways that people operate. Um, but it's again an area where I'm trying to keep um outside experts in the equity imperative close and and really try to try to work with them um before we make decisions because it feels like a commitment in terms of um how we're going to operate um what we're going to ask of our staff in terms of adopting and consistently using. Um so we're trying to make sure that we that we get it right um the first time if possible and fully. Um goal three, our work with the equity imperative to revise our incident response policies and procedures. Um we are on progress. Uh we are on target on something
054for uh a fall 2025 launch. Um we have been working through um ways to think about tiered um tiered behavior matrices, ways to think about um different responses within different settings, whether it's a classroom setting, an administrative front office setting, or a district level setting. Um we've been thinking about what that means for then being able to write clearly um what our expectations are, what what families should expect throughout processes um and so on. And then the workflow side of that, which is what do you ask somebody to do? What h how do you have them complete a form? How do you then make sure that they know that you have received that information and that you're working on it? How how do how do they know that um that there are a set number
055of milestones as you're going through that process? That's all work that we've been doing within our our advisory group. Um, we are getting to the point where I I think we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as here here are the things that we need to do to be able to um be ready for launching. Um, and as we get there, that's when we start to um roll out professional learning for our staff around here's what to expect, here's what's new, um here's how to go about um various things. And so that's that's an area where again progress a lot of it internal and and by the fall um we should we should have have a a really um well ststructured um well explained um very very actionable
056um mode of operating when things do go wrong within the realm of incident response. Um, and then my fourth favorite, hiring the next West principal. Um, the process is complete. Um, we actually were just able to send notification out to the Williamtown Elementary School community um, an hour ago. Um, Benjamin Torres will be joining us from Holio Community Charter School um, where he has spent the last 14 years as a as a school leader um, and and before that as a as a teacher. um truly amazing individual um within an amazing pool of candidates. Um the the committee that we brought together um spanning staff, families, administrators um we had we had tough work to do um really joyous tough work um because of uh the types of people uh the different experiences um depth,
057breadth, all of it. Um, it was a really enjoyable process and and um, coming out of it, I'm really excited for for Ben joining us um, here. He's he's going to gradually we're we're starting to line up um, moments where where he can hop into the school community um, prior to the end of school. Um, and and he will fully be with us come July 1. Um, so looking forward to introducing you um, and and having um, him join us at Williamstown Elementary School. And I couldn't end that item without huge thanks to Griffin Levance and Jen Downey who in their interim roles this year have carried torches in ways um that have been selfless that have demonstrated a lot of growth um both individually but but for the school. Um it's been it's been
058really wonderful um seeing them work working alongside them. Um and thankfully Griffin is returning to his assistant principal role um after this school year. Jen is returning to a teaching role. Um so uh so we're keeping them close. Um and and we're all going to continue working together uh adding to the team with Ben. Um so one and four uh up there on the screen are complete. Um three has seen significant pro progress. Um and to some progress. So for me that those are both areas that need improvement by the definition of the of the uh of the phrase and within the rubric. Um so my overall self-evaluation is I work it shows progress. Um the the arc of that work I I I think is is something that I feel very good about. Um
059that said I think the the district needs um all of us to to complete the work that that has started here and the goals that were set. Um and I look forward to doing that um in the coming year and and adding uh adding some more items uh to that plate. Um so uh I am year in review I am I'm all at once exhausted happy and I see a lot of area for for improvement. So um that that's how I'll that's how I'll sum sum it up. Um so with that I will leave it for the night. Um but if there is any or if there are any questions we can either take them tonight but also I will be available for school committee members as we move through um the next month too.
060I have a a question similar to the one that I posed to Nolan. Um, will there be an opportunity for the committee and therefore the community to hear about the incident response plan uh development either as it's being rolled out in the fall or prior to that? Um, just so that everyone knows what has come to fruition. Yes. Uh all this hard work everybody absolutely um information will start being shared both with the public and with the school committee in draft form in June. Um that will then um start to take shape in ways that that are that are public documents as we move through June, July, August. um training for staff um as well as making sure that the school committee knows all of the details of of what's happening and why. um that
061will really I think come to a good head in August so that then when staff are returning late August, early September um there will be a lot of uplose uh work with um with with how-tos with artifacts with with all of the all of the supporting information that will also be reflected by that point on our website with all of the supporting documentation and um all of the things that we want to make sure everybody will have close at their fingertips. Thank you. Are there other questions for Joe? Now, I I actually had a question about the district improvement plan if it's okay. I It's a It's just a like can you clarify question? Um there there's a section in the more detailed um listing of what has been accomplished and what is still to
062come. Um the student support and social emotional wellness. Um there's a reference to therapeutic and therapeutic supervision needs and that we're not really expecting to to make progress on this for uh school year 26. And I'm just wondering if um either you or Noel could elaborate on that. Um if it's something that's already been discussed and maybe it's just a terminology that I'm stuck on then. Oh yeah, that's a good question. It's actually tied to I I I had um started to uh talk about how there might be an opportunity here over the next few months to um refocus some elements of the district improvement plan saying we we've really shifted pretty far away. That item was there originally as we were considering um we had a cohort of students who potentially would benefit from
063an indist um behavior focused um uh program um that at one point in time would would have been considered as potentially a a substantially separate program housed within Mount Greylock Regional School um for a variety of reasons, primarily for the way student need has evolved. Um that is not an area where uh where the district has um seen seen that it's practical, realistic to to be able to do uh a program like that or need to do a program like that. Um so we really turned away from from that goal. Um, but it's an area where I think over the next couple of months it it probably makes sense for for me to provide a little bit more information as to why we're we're thinking of retiring that um within the district improvement plan so
064it's not sitting there for the next couple of years potentially. That said, now that I've said it, we might come back to you in the fall and say given student need, we we want to look at this. Um, but it's but it's just not there right now. Thank you. So, next steps on Joe's evaluation. Um, you have I I'll send out instructions. Um, but I'd like to follow the process Christina has used before where um, we each complete the same evaluation form that Joe has and I can collate them um, and present back to the school committee to discuss. Um, if you've got questions about particular content that you don't understand or you don't remember or you you know, please um, do reach out to Joe. um he has provided a lot of uh documents
065for us so that we can tap into those um but we will bring that back and discuss at our June meeting. Steve uh leaving the track I might be in a dead zone for a few moments so if I get kicked out I'll be back in two or three minutes. Great. So sorry Julia just for clarification on that. Um, are we to do this work between the this meeting and the June meeting? Yes, I will send out an email with the instructions, but ideally come back to the June I bring to the June meeting the coalated version of everybody's input. Yep. So, the deadline will be well before enough before the June meeting so I can coalate something to bring to the group. Any other questions? Thank you, Joe, for sharing all of that. Um,
066and we'll move on to the finance subcommittee report. Yes. And these are actually two um these are two items uh to an appointment um of district treasur and assistant uh treasurer for the district. It is annual and then also the annual treasurer authorization to borrow where that authorization to borrow is really um borrowing with the expectation that revenue is coming from state or local sources. um so that if there ever is just a cash flow gap that the treasurer is authorized to say I'll do short-term borrowing for some number of weeks until we receive the um funds that we know that we we will um so this is really just an area where the the committee I can certainly answer questions but it's also okay to to think of it as move the motion and
067approve it or move each motion and approve them if Oh, go ahead, Carrie. I was just going to move to appoint the district treasurer, assistant treasurer, uh, well, the district treasurer, uh, motion to appoint Donna Ner as district treasurer and Reena Chararma as the assistant treasurer. I will second that motion. Thank you, Christina. Any discussion or questions? Roll call vote starting with Christina Conry I. I will second while I'm in range. I heard Conry I. Constantine I Green I Mallaloy I I and Bow and I. Excellent. Uh, do we have somebody who wants to move the make the second motion? So move. Oh, there's no one else. Oh, go ahead. Right. So Curtis U made the motion that's written here. Uh, is that is that right, Curtis? Great. Um, and does anyone want to second
068the motion to authorize the district treasur and the assistant treasure under the provisions of general laws? I'll just read it out loud for the listening public. Um, under the provisions of the general laws, chapter 70 1, section 16G 70. Yep. As amended by chapter 134 of the act of 1972 with the approval of the chair of the school committee to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of revenue for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and issue a note or notes as may be given for a period of less than one year in accordance with the general law. Curtis has moved that. I will second. Thank you, Christina. Christina has second it. Um Joe, I I just wonder how often how do we have to use this? We have not uh utilized it
069in in many years. Um that said, uh I think this is as good of a time as any to note this. As our reserve funds um become smaller, uh it is more likely that we will be in a position where just cash flow-wise we need to utilize it. Um, and I I have started to have conversations with Williamstown Town Hall. Our regional agreement um has the town of Williamstown um contributing its payments quarterly. Um meanwhile, the town of Lanesboro contributes 10 payments um over the course of the first 10 months of the year. That has been within our regional agreement for I think 60 something years. Um it's not something that we changed when we when we amended the regional agreement uh coming up on 10 years ago or or when it was amended for
070the building project um for the Mount Greylock building projects. But that's an area where more consistent funds coming in could be helpful. Um and it might be something where over the course of this coming year we work on uh proposing a a very minor revision to the regional agreement that then would need to be approved by both towns. um during their town meeting. So, it's something that Donna and Ner and I have been looking at um and and I've been coordinating with town halls to start to say like this is something where as we look ahead a year um it could be beneficial as uh as the world changes a bit. Perfect. Thank you. Would it I'm just wondering would it make sense to look at the full agreement and see if there are any
071other things to tweak since we'd be asking for a vote anyway? We we certainly could. I think that makes sense. I'm not sure what other folks think. Seems like the right time to do it if we were ever to do it. Any other any other questions or thoughts around this motion before us? hearing none. Let's do a roll call vote starting with Constantine. We're going to go around that you know. Okay. Constantine I. Elen by an I. Green eye. Malloy. I Miller I. Bowen I. Conry I. Great. Thank you. That passes unanimously. and sorry um so this idea of revisiting the regional agreement I'm I'm not sure if that is an administrative task or a school committee task and I wouldn't want to put that on the administration when it really should be the committee
072doing the work. So I I mean we don't need to decide anything now but maybe it's something to think about and and look into. Um, at a minimum it feels like a future agenda item for us to Yeah. and then to decide how we do it. Um, y and the regional agreement is up on the website. So, you know, if you're do you want to look through it and see what's there? Thank you. Um, anything else from the finance subcommittee report? Great. Um we have a meeting scheduled. Yes. And later we'll go over all the upcoming meetings. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um uh Jose, let's go to policy and and governance subcommittee. All right. Um we've got four policies uh that you have before you as discussion items. Uh two are revised, one is a um
073policy that may be rescended and one is a new policy. And I think before starting us off, Joe, could you just provide us with a brief um overview or an introduction to why we have these four policies before us? Sure. Uh we've been working through policies this year in in theme sets and the theme of this set is school nutrition, um lunch, uh breakfast and so on. And um the uh there are a few different things happening with these policies. one is um just bringing them in line with the MASC recommendations that have come out over the last few years. That's that's part one. Um making sure that we're that we're in line with state and federal laws and and regulations that are that are just out there. That's part one. Part two, um we
074have very thoroughly transitioned to uh universal um free lunch. These policies reflect that. Um we are also making the transition in this coming school year to uh universally offering breakfast free to all students. Um and that is reflected here as well. Um so really uh that's that's where the language is or that's where our practice is headed and that's therefore where the policy should um should head as well. And then the third item is um we did find and uh and make sure that we that we're adding a new policy around civil rights complaints um that that might uh ever arise um related to child nutrition programs. Um so that's that's an additional policy that's really just strengthening um our civil rights coordination within within policy sets. Um I think that's the summary. Thank you,
075Jim. Could I just could I ask about the funding source? Um I believe that Massachusetts has committed to um universal free lunch. Have they al has the state also committed to universal free breakfast on an ongoing basis? the the commit uh yes and the commitments are only as strong as the annual budgeting process at the state level. Um so for this coming year we have now gotten to the point where the senate so we had the governor's budget the house budget and now the senate budget. So we don't have a full and and within every one of those steps, yes, um lunch and breakfast have been incorporated as uh as fully funded. Um that said, if the USDA funding were to disappear, um that is another critical area for us um kind of separate from
076the mandate and the state funding um which could put us in in a bind. Uh so we're pretty closely monitoring both state and federal funding and and trying to make sure that uh it all lines up so that we have a school nutrition program that is able to um operate in a way financially that um ideally covers its costs um through those through those two sources of funding so that we are able to offer um both programs at no cost. Thank you, Joe. And uh thanks for your question, Carrie. Um in olden days, this these items will be listed as first reads. And uh I don't know if we actually need to read through them, and I I'll look to Julia for this. Um but uh first up going in in order is policy EFC,
077a revi a revision to policy EFC on free and reduced price food services. Um, Julia Lixie, I don't know if we need to read through this, but my inclination is they've been in the pack. There's [Music] um, for those who may want it read, there's software available to read. Um, I love hearing Curtis's voice, but my inclination is that's a especially all taken together. A lot of time that um that would be my inclination. Okay. Thanks, Julia. Um, uh, Curtis, as you all might be aware of, is is offered to, uh, upload these policies onto Audible. Um, so for those who are looking forward to, uh, to that. Um so policy EFC um any questions or comments that um you'd like to share with us just just keep moving. Up next is is uh um
078if EFC the revision um is approved eventually by our committee the full committee um it may uh well EFC-R on school food service [Music] um would um we would need to vote on it but the uh much of what's embedded here would either um not be pertinent or relevant or would be embedded in in policy EFC. Is that correct, Joe? Just to make sure I got that right. Uh yes, all all of it is covered in in other areas. Yeah. Um any comments or um feedback on um potentially rescending policy EFC-R? Okay. Uh, next is policy EFD, the meal charge policy. Um, sorry, before we go to that, could we go back? Yeah. FC and just maybe about the need to for families to fill out the free and reduced meals paperwork because it's not
079intuitive. I mean, it's honestly like if we're providing meals, why should families need to do that? But it's really important for the district. I don't know Joe if you want to talk about why that is. Uh yes. So [Music] um trying to figure out how to explain it. So there there have been two kind of two two reasons for this data existing in the world. Um, historically back before there was universal uh, state funded, federally funded lunch, uh, there was a need for for families to complete these forms in order to qualify for free or reduced lunch. Uh then when the state said we are going to step in and and make sure that that all lunch is fully funded. Um, some of some of that need went away, but those forms are still the
080gating factor for other forms of support within the district for waving of fees, for knowing that we um uh that we can and should provide financial assistance within a variety of areas. Um, simultaneous with that, the state also took some of that qualification responsibility back for itself in that it utilizes other programs happening around the state to identify families for us and then communicate that data to us. So, we do have a way separate from the form set um to know if a family um might need financial assistance of any sort, but these forms are still a a highly valuable way of self-identifying and making sure that there are no um cracks within within that system. Um so, it's it's no longer needed for lunch or breakfast. Um, but it is valuable for many other
081forms of programming that we have. Um, and I think that it's also something where I think many of us as school district leaders around the state are trying to figure out how do we get this more front and center and really highlight all of the other areas that used to be considered um distant seconds to making sure that food insecurity could be addressed. Um, and and now we really need to transition away from that to all of the other things. and it's it's something that again is um work around communication and and being responsive with families that we need to do. So, thank you for bringing that up. Joe, quick question on that. I you kind of touched on this, but just to clarify, I think that there are maybe some ways that students autoqualify
082for free lunch like being on Mass Health, right? So, if you fall into that category, does the school know who those people are or is it still important for people to fill out the form? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, that is or do you have that information? So, so the state does transmit that information to us. So, we do have it. Um, but really in practice, it it would be it would be ideal if we just made sure that any family that that that could that might qualify um completed the form so that we made sure that if there was an omission of data from the state or or if there was a change in programs, change in households in ways that could confuse the data that we receive um that we're receiving
083it directly from families too. So Joe, is this a state form? Is it a form that gets submitted to the state or is it an or could it be an internal form? Uh we can customize the form. We can for instance and and this is something that we're looking into um creating web and and parent square based versions of of many forms. Um we can definitely do that. we then just need to make sure that we get all of the needed fields so that we can transmit them to the to the correct places so that then the checks the balances happen. And I also wonder if we can call it something else, you know, call it something that that folks may be more responsive to or may indicate more clearly the need for for actually
084filling it in. It's a great yes. Short answer is yes. Yeah, because isn't the forms called free and reduced lunch and people might not recognize that I don't need to do that anymore to your point, Carrie. Right. Thank you, Carrie, for that that question and thanks Joe. Um any other uh comments or or feedback on on EFC while we're we're on it again? So, we've um gone from EFC EFC-R and then uh next up is EFD, the meal charge policy. Um comments or feedback that you'd like to share? Two quick questions. One is um I don't remember our committee approving fee rate um fees for meals. I have a bad memory but I it's noted in here that we approve the meal rates as as right now that there is no there has been no
085change to rate. Well, for the vast majority of students who are taking a a single lunch, right, they don't pay anything. They don't pay anything. And but but the other kind of the the rate for if you want to purchase a second um that has not changed in the last five, six years or more, but but it used to uh it if we were to change that figure, it it would come before the school committee. the school committee would say we're going to raise it from $2 in X to $2 in Y. That kind of Okay. Um the other thing I which I'm glad to see in here, but I [Music] um is delinquent accounts like just how do we manage delinquent accounts? And I know that schools have struggled with this in various ways.
086Um, and so I didn't know I don't see anything in here that says because I don't actually think it's legal. You don't get your diploma, you don't get your report card or whatever, but like what what um is that an issue? Is that a challenge for the district? And if so, how are we should the pol do we as a school committee need to discuss that for what we would do or what we would expect to have done? Uh be once again because of because of the universal free lunch it is it is not an issue. Um and as it is not an issue the um when students move to purchase say snacks at Mount Greylock separate. Um we are not required to we we notify students when their balance is is is low or
087we notify families via email when their balance is low. Um and uh we I believe we do not allow those accounts to go into the negative um because that is not a part of being able to receive lunch. So it that is not an issue for us um in the present time. Thanks Julia. Any other comments or feedback on on this policy? Okay. And then uh last stop is uh policy EF, a new policy uh civil rights complaint policy for child nutrition program. Um you'll see here that uh some text is highlighted in red. Uh and Joe, can you just remind us what the red text is is meant to prompt? Yes. Part of our communications update um to make sure the information is always up to date and friendly. Anything that's read here will
088actually be a hyperlink in the final within the policy manual going to a um consistent URL at our website so that you've got all the information and how to contact um the person with that with that role within the district. Thanks John. Yep. Any uh feedback comments on this new policy, Steve? Yeah, I just had one uh quick question about it. Um, it says any person alleging discrimination in the district's school food and nutrition policy based on race, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability, you know, dot dot dot, has the right to file a complaint. Is there any reason why we're enumerating which people have a right to file a complaint? Or is it because that this goes through a specific organization and this organization only deals with complaints based on these categories? Yeah.
089For instance, is there if somebody has a religious complaint, does that not go through this organization? That is a good question. I'm trying to figure I mean so this this language is coming straight from the MASC and that came from the federal and state government levels. I think that's something that we can take back to the policy subcommittee. Jose it might be that the federal legislation only deals with discrimination on the basis of these categories. Yeah. What we'll do, Stephen, that's a a great question is that um we'll probably follow up with our own council, right? Some feedback on this and then um with the expectation that this will this policy will be an action item um at that moment of the next, you know, full committee meeting where this reappears um we'll have uh
090an answer to your question then. So, I know I should do a George Castanza and quit while I'm ahead, but I'll make a second comment. Yes. It also says that you know such a person has the right to file a complaint. It doesn't say no one else has a right to file a complaint. Mhm. Just interesting phrasing. I would that a great point. A great point. Um and so if you know again this is me trying to be a mathematician. Does this mean only people can file complaints on these bases or these people were explicitly saying you can file a complaint but other people were leaving it up in the air? So I I would just ask for some clarification so that if anybody has an issue we're as open as possible to helping people.
091Gotcha. Yeah. So we will I think um get feedback for ourselves as a district and then um as a subcommittee uh look into whether or how the language could uh or or language could be added um to clarify uh our care and support for you know all all students in our district. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Any other uh comments or feedback on this policy? Okay. Stephen, your hand is up, but I think I think it's just uh Oh, yep. No worries. Yeah. Um you will see uh policy listed as an information item. Uh policy IKF on graduation requirements. Um, you can expect this particular policy to to show up as a discussion item at a subsequent school committee meeting. And I think that's it from us, Julia. Thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you
092committee. I feel like you've had a really heavy year of policies, so I appreciate these coming coming before us. Um, can I Steve, were you trying to say something? Yeah, I wanted to ask a question about the graduation requirements. So that's this is not the time. This is just information. Okay. It's just an information item, right? Okay. So So write it down or send it to the policy committee for discussion at the next meeting. Yep. Great. Um so the next item is a scheduling of our uh 2025 school committee retreat. I think you all received a poll from Joe that was not a doodle but a different um poll and I think there was a day we all could do. Is that right Joe? As he's coming up with that um I wanted to thank
093you for responding to the poll. I don't think we had actually talked about making sure we got a retreat onto our calendar. Um but in all the work that's been happening um I'm realizing it would be good for us to kind of have a chance as a committee to kind of look back look ahead um and importantly uh spend some time saying are we organized the way that we should and want to be are to be most effective and efficient and thoughtful. Um and then looking at ahead at some of our um especially as we look ahead at some of the work that we have coming up um like the superintendent search or um like any support that's needed for um the variety of district improvement goals. Um, so I I so I think we
094had landed on a the date I think I saw was a midweek in June, maybe the first week of June, 5 to9 time slot. Um, for us to get together. Um, my hope is we could maybe have a meal together, enjoy each other, and have some kind of open conversation to make sure we're working as efficiently and effectively as possible. Quick question. Um, I don't have the poll in front of me and I don't remember what I said yes or no to, but when you just said the first week in June, it occurred to me that that's like all the senior activities on many of those nights. So, I just wanted to make sure that we deconlict or if it was just me, then that's fine. But, um, I just wrote like five things on
095the calendar in that one week. So, the the winner was actually June 24th. Oh, so it's not the first will be long gone. Sorry, I was actually after all I mean even even for with rising seventh graders and everything. It's after school has ended after all those week. When you said first week in June, I panicked because I just recognized that that's very busy. I probably have another date in my mind. I've got something else going on that week. Looks like the last the last week in June um is when we're when we could all get together. Okay. Thank you. Tuesday, June 24th at 5:00 PM. And I'll actually send an email out just noting that shortly. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you everybody. Um Carrie, the MASC division 6 report. So um I was in Boston
096on evening for the MASC board meeting and a strategic planning session with the MSC MASC board and staff. Um, so we're working to kind of redefine the mission or perhaps just tweak the mission of the organization and um talk about how to make it more effective and responsive uh to the folks that um the board and the organization uh work with across the state. Uh so that has been a good process. Um, one thing I learned in the meeting is that the summer retreat, um, which usually happens in Marboro, Mass, is they're thinking about moving it west. And by west, they mean Springfield, but still, you know, it's it's something, right? Um, that one of the board members was talking about and the beautiful Birkers is down the road, and I'm like, really? You can't
097say that. Um but the heart their heart is in the right place and they like this idea of you know because the conference has been on the Kate to make the uh summer institute something that is really attractive to school committee members not just in terms of the the topics but also uh perhaps for a long weekend with family and uh encouraging more members, especially those who cannot attend the conference to attend the retreat. So, keep your eyes out. I'm not sure what's going to happen for this summer, but but that was uh talked about as the plan. Um Day on the Hill, um we heard from the education um uh chairs and co-chair and vice chairs in both the House and the Senate. And um interestingly and and pleasantly enough, they were echoing some
098of the priorities of the key legislative priorities that the MASC um was also putting forward. So, the um priorities that MASC um identified as ones that folks could and should um advocate for and lobby for were adjusting chapter 70 aid for past and future inflation, improving the fiscal health of rural school districts, expanding capacity in vocational technical schools, um establishing and funding financial literacy programs, um and supporting school committees in the superintendent search process. So that last one is particularly relevant for us and the goal there is to allow all members of the school committee to participate in the earlier um um the earlier uh phases of the search process without being um a violation of um open meeting law. violation of executive session um or a violation of privacy for the folks who are
099applying um and maybe haven't notifying their notified their districts um that they're applying. So it's uh it's before the legislature and um you know it's been clear we've tried to make it clear that this is really essential and so whether anything is able you know is is changes in time for us um we don't know but it's worth keeping an eye on again um the uh division six and division 7 are thinking about collaborating on a um uh an event, an MASC sponsored event that would be looking at um child and teen anxiety. um looking at perhaps involving um the Jonathan Hate book, The Anxious Generation, but perhaps instead um doing a screening of um um Oh goodness, I'm blanking on the the name of the film, the one that introduces anxiety, the two part
100two. Um you guys know what I'm talking about. Inside Out two. Thank you. Inside Out 2 and making it something that parents and um kids could also participate in in terms of the discussion and it relates to the wait till 8 um movement and seems to tie into some of the things that our district is also trying to do. Um and then finally uh a couple of us um actually division 7 uh which is on the cape and division six chairs myself are interested in attending the rural schools conference um this year uh there are a number of members of the MASC board that attend cube which is the urban districts and so we're like hey rural districts you know um those sess questions as I think I relayed were particularly valuable at the NSBA
101meeting. Um so it looks like um we will be putting in for MASC spons sponsorship to attend um the rural schools conference which I think is in September. Yeah. So that's it. Thank you for that report and thank you for that work Carrie. That's a lot of um important legislative and um policy work that benefits us all. So, thank you. Um next, we have a proposed resolution for MASC and it says from Steve here, but I think Curtis may have helped draft this as well. Yes, it was from the two of us. Okay, I'm turning it over to you guys. Okay. Do you want me to read it? Do you want Curtis to read it because he's a better reader? Should we just discuss it? Uh, I'm happy to read it and then see what
102happens next. I think it would be to read because it is a motion. Yeah. So, yeah. Proposed resolution for MASC from Steve Miller. Uh whereas it is the responsibility of the elected representatives to judiciously allocate the funds entrusted to them and whereas it is not sustainable long-term to consistently spend more than is collected. And whereas it is better to spend money providing services than servicing debt. And whereas the slower the response to exponentially increasing debt and deficits, the more damage will be done and the more drastic the needed remedies will be. Therefore, be it resolved that all the school districts in the Commonwealth urge their elected representatives to immediately move to sustainable budgets over the next 3 years. Such a time frame is long enough to allow phased in reductions or other changes in administrative
103structuring, staffing, and non-mandated curricula and/or programs, and to give communities and organizations time to plan and adjust. So I that's the motion. I guess the motion is on the table to approve that res to send that resolution to the MASC. Correct. For for this to be one of the resolutions that they discuss and then do um can we have a second before we move into discussion of the motion? Who who made the first motion? I think you made the first motion, but it hasn't been moved yet. I I'll I'll move it. Okay. Uh, and I'll second it there. Right. Right. Um, and now we can discuss. I have Oh, go ahead, Julia. Um, I have two I may have more questions, but the two that come to mind, one is um, uh, what does sustainable
104budgets mean? Uh, that's in the therefore be it resolved, right? And the second qu I'll just share both my questions. Um, except that I just lost my second question. Oh. Um, what is the gap that needs to be fixed in the state budget? I mean, right now, I think the state debt is on the order of the state uh revenue per given year. And so, you the state right now already has a tremendous debt. We're spending money on interest payments. And so for me, you know, sustainable, this is definitely not sustainable. In terms of an exact definition, I would probably say what we do is don't spend more than you have. You know, if an absolute emergency comes up, this is why you hopefully have a rainy day fund, which we have established in our
105district. So when things come up, we have the resources to handle that. And so right now, we have to make painful decisions. if we don't make them, other people are going to. You know, this, you know, this can't continue. And so rather than having other people make the decisions, I would rather have us make the decisions and really look at what we're spending money on and determine what needs to be prioritized. So, I'm not clear. Are you talking about the state budget or the school committee budgets across? I'm talking about the state budget. is that the state budget is that the MASC should be advocating that the elected representatives be fiscally responsible and the longer we wait to put in such an ask the more painful it's going to be to get to a good
106spot. I mean it seems to me that what we want to lobby for is that more funds go to education, right? Um, and I mean that would be more relevant to school committees. And I I did I did hear some conversation from not conversation, some statements from the various legislators at the um on Tuesday in Boston about um you know the overage or the the finding money, right? more money to go toward education and finding ways to make funding um you know more effective uh for schools and things like raising. By the way, this is an aside, but I learned that there is a provision for establishing a special education um uh reserve fund. Um we've never had one. It's at I can't think capped at 2% but there is an effort to raise it
107to 5%. right? Which would be similar to END, right? So, school committees could put aside funds, you know, so a lot of the conversation was about how to make more funding available uh both to towns, school districts to support. And I think that's what be, you know, more interested in rather than telling legislators to just be more efficient with their own budgets. Um, that's just my two cents. Well, and unfortunately, the legislature is not only spending your two cents, they're spending a lot of other people's two cents as well. More sense than they have. And while this may not be my first choice of activities to do, someone has to step up and the trend is getting worse. And the longer we wait, the worse it's going to be, the more painful it's going to
108be. We are just asking them to be responsible in expenditures. We are not allowed to spend significantly more money than we bring in. And you we make painful choices and so we do not have unlimited resources. We are just asking them to really think about all the different programs you have. Which ones do you want to prioritize? And so I I don't really think that this is a huge ask. And given the financial difficulties not just us but other towns are having, this is a conversation that I think is appropriate to have. Well, also um based on a previous conversation, we're not enumerating items that we think should be prioritized over others. We are leaving that to our legislature and just saying that you need to be thinking about this. You know, as Curtis read,
109I would much rather be spending the money on services than on interest payments. Yeah, it it just seems more appropriate to send that to your representatives as a citizen than through the school committee or the state resolution. Um I I I because because we're talking about we need to find money. We're talking about we need resources for education, right? But that is not what's stipulated in the resolution. The resolution is not focusing on providing more resources for education. Um so I I just think it has a focus that isn't relevant necessarily. I mean you I understand your argument for why it's always relevant. I don't disagree with all of it, but I think the way it's worded is not helpful or um I would be happy to add a sentence where we explicitly add education
110as a service to the citizens of the Commonwealth that is suffering because of this. I I think um I take Car's point because honestly I think education is a big portion of the budget and if we're going to move to sustainable budgets, I think we may see cuts. So if we don't stipulate, you know, we could be actually urging our representatives to do something that will hurt us as as a school committee. So to Car's point, this coming from citizen, I mean, we as a school committee should not be asking other school committees to urge the state to get balanced budgets that will likely mean they have to cut money to us as a school committee or as a as a district. Um, so it is an important point, but unless this is like because
111we want more education funding, I think we're actually um as a school committee potentially I don't want to say digging our own grave, but like creating problems for ourselves, right? And I and as I said, I think there are other ways to advocate for education funding um that other Yeah, I I I agree with what you're saying, Julia. I I I I'm happy to add a sentence or two to add a point about prioritizing education that this is one of the services the Commonwealth needs to do. We are spending a lot of money on things we do not need to do that we want to do. And I'm happy to add some sentences along those lines and highlight the value of education to the Commonwealth, but the longer we wait, the worse it's going to
112be. And the longer we wait, the more likely it is that other people are going to choose what cuts to make. And we're seeing that right now on the national scene. And so I would much rather be part of the conversation now and try to help make targeted cuts and help attain fiscal responsibility than to continue this path that we're on. This is not a sustainable path. And you think we're spending a lot of money on interest now. You see how much healthcare is going up. We're fortunate that we have resources in our community to help us with these budgets. We have a lot of volunteers. A lot of districts are not in such a fortunate situation. And so the long I'm just repeating myself. So I I really think that we need to show
113some leadership here and we need to step up and try to get other people to join us before it's too late. Would it be safe to say that at this point uh the the sentiment uh from those who have spoken about what they've heard is that they need a revision that points the focus toward uh effective and fiscally responsible safeguarding of education as the priority and that we need to put make that be a thrust of this uh statement. uh but but also maintaining the the uh integrity of the point of the urgency of fiscally responsible planning that keeps that education as a priority in our state. And so we would go back to a revision and then bring it back to the committee uh potentially at the next at the what month is it?
114May the June meeting. I had to literally look to see what month it was just now. That happened. When resolutions due though, um, you might know that best, Carrie. Yeah, hang on one second because I think the resolutions committee is meeting in June. Let me see if I can do a quick search. Well, I may have to get back to you on this. I got June 2nd, I think. MASC 2025 resolution form nominations must be received by June 2nd and our next meeting is June 12th. Yeah. So maybe I didn't realize that submission deadline was so soon. But can can the resolutions be modified by the MASC before they go out? I I don't know if they're modified by the M masc. I think they can be modified on the floor. I mean they they
115would be voted by the resolutions committee yes or no to include and then they would have to be modified on the law if if they were included. I don't think that this resolution as it stands is likely to be included but I'm I'm not on that committee so I don't you know I couldn't really speak for them. What if we just add in the opening sentence um it was something like whereas it is the responsibility of elected representatives to responsibly allocate the funds entrusted to them in particular for education personally I don't necessarily think it is the responsibility I think that's a stretch but I think whereas education needs more funds could if there were another whereas I would be fine with any language along those lines. You know, whereas the your current demands and
116education require additional funding. I mean the sa the truth is this is essentially just a symbolic action. The state legislature, I am not optimistic, is going to become responsible, but I feel like we have to try. I would I I don't feel like I can support this resolution. Um, and I I would rather see you send um, you know, this message directly to your legislators as an individual, you know, not in resolution form, but as a strongly worded statement. I don't think I don't think that has as much impact as something coming from the school committee and something coming from the association of school committees that what we have is not sustainable. We're talking about the dangers we have in the budgets now. It's going to get worse. Steve, I don't I don't think anyone
117um disagrees with you on that point. I think it's a strategy of how to get um how to think about it, how to how to get other people to think about it. um and a and a questioning of what is the who's whose role is it who um and who does the message need to get to. So, I hear I I I I guess one one of the things I'm thinking about as Carrie says that is I wouldn't want us to spend 10 minutes reworking this proposal that the school committee won't if the school committee currently isn't even in a position to say they would support this proposal even if it were fixed. Um I'd rather I don't I mean I don't know in parl I have my little note card on parliamentary procedures. I
118don't know how that works. Um I I mean do you want to do a straw poll? Can we do a straw poll within it? Well, there's a motion. There's a motion on the table and what we should do is vote the motion or the motion should be withdrawn. Well, can we have I don't want to withdraw the motion, but I mean in the discussion, can can people just say if in principle they would potentially support I mean this is so indefinite a Why don't we just vote why don't we just vote on the motion? Yeah, I I think it's too indefinite otherwise. So, are you calling the question, Carrie? Yeah, I'm calling the question. Thank you. I think we have to vote to call the question though. Do we have a second to call? Do
119we have to have a second to call the question? What does call the question mean? Just take the vote to go to a vote. Second. Okay. Can we do a roll call vote to call the question? And just for fun, we're now gonna start with Curtis. When are we gonna go by height or are we doing that now? I have to always go alphabetical order so you know who you follow. But we're starting with Curtis. Elenbine. I Green eye. Malloy. I Miller abstain. Bowen I I Conry calling the question. Christina, are you there? Christina, I know she's been having some internet issues. Oh, really weird. Are you there, Christina? We can't hear you. So, but I think we have enough votes that it passes. Well, let's go to Constantine. Constantine. I Okay, so we've called
120the question. Now, we're voting on the motion uh before us to send this proposed resolution to the Masc uh after Alfenbine comes green. Green. Nay. Malloy. Nay. Miller. I Owen. Nay. Henry. Nay. If you can hear me. You can hear me. We can. Wow. Constantine. Abstain. Elen by an eye. So I think that's the naysay have it. Is it possible to now consider a modified motion? [Music] Um, I think so. I'm not great with Robert's rules of order. That is not on my little card, right? But I look to other parliamentarians on the committee who may have more experience. Well, what was on the agenda was um, let me just look up the agenda. proposed resolution and we already voted. So I would say another motion should come to another meeting. Um, okay. So, why
121don't we do this? um following that procedure um but also recognizing the deadline um and understanding the work that Steve and Curtis have put into this. Could we look for a brief window for a short school committee meeting, a one item agenda between now and June 2nd? I I think that would be great. I know nobody has time. Um, but I want I appreciate the work that's gone into this and I want to honor that, but I also want to try to follow appropriate procedures and open meeting law, etc., etc. So, um, that would be my suggestion and, um, I will work with Joe to send out a quick doodle poll. Carrie, go ahead. I was just going to say that there are other meetings scheduled, so maybe we could tack on Yeah. to one
122of the future meetings and have a 10-minute, you know, rather than scheduling another date. I love it. I love it. Why don't we move to that part of the agenda and discuss not the scheduling of that second meeting, but at least the upcoming meetings. Um, and maybe people could say if they're free at those meetings. Maybe people Yeah, I mean, I would offer since this is a financebased um motion, I would offer that the finance committee could put it Um well, we can't put it on our agenda, but I would be willing to because then you can't get the vote of the full everybody. Um that is also the day of the town meeting. Town meeting. Um okay, which may be a challenge. That's the only one. Unless Unless people could come earlier than five.
123Yeah, I can come earlier than five. I could come. Uh, what day of the week is that? Thursday. Thursday the 22nd. And it's remote. I could do that. What? So, what do you mean by come earlier? This This would just precede the finance meeting. Yeah. Like 4:45 or 4:30? What kind of time are we talking about? 4:45 should be fine. I I would think 4:45. Yeah. Okay. Joe, you have a real question on your face. Uh I I just I I I I have a meeting where I'm trying to figure out when when it will end, whether it will end in time for 4:45 or not. Sorry. If or when. But Joe, you wouldn't need to be there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, it's just a one motion. Yeah. Meeting. Jose, would you be able to
124do that? Yeah, I I believe I can as well. So that's 4:30 uh May, I think. Even 4:45 is what we're saying. 4:45, right? Sorry. Okay. So, we at least have a quorum. You can come at 4:45 on Thursday, May 22nd for a one item school committee agenda to discuss a revised and potentially and vote on a revised resolution. And then if somebody cannot make the meeting, can they send their comments to you, Julia, so that they could be represented? Yeah, but there would be a revised um document to comment on. Exactly. Okay. And it needs to the revised version needs to be in in time to be in the packet for that meeting for public access. Exactly. Right. Exactly. Okay. Um, thank you for that work. Thank you for that attention to obviously a
125critical detail about financial viability. Um I I at least speak for myself and say um while I do have questions about what the right method is, I appreciate the message. Um and so I deeply um am grateful for that work. So thank you Curtis and Steve. Um other upcoming meetings, we've just discussed finance subcommittee um followed by the Williamstown annual town meeting. Um I hope all from Williamstown will be able to be there. Um and uh obviously get your district supporters out um at that meeting as well so we are sure to pass our budget. Lansboro annual town meeting is Tuesday, June 10th at 6 p.m. I hope all Lanesboro folks can be there and get all your district supporting friends out to support the budget. Um policy subcommittee will be Thursday, June 5th at
1265:00 pm remote. And our next school committee meeting is Thursday, June 12th at 6 PM remote. I do not have any other items that were not that I did not anticipate um before 48 hours before this meeting. I agenda requests a few have come up through this the course of our discussion. Um I have written down a student report on Cape Cod. Um a report out on the incident report work which sounds like those are both already in motion to do. Um we obviously have the agenda request. It will be a one item agenda. Were there other agenda requests that people have? Okay, then I will look for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Thank you. Curtis, where were you? I was I was updating my schedule with the meetings. I just couldn't too many.
127I didn't get there fast enough. Okay, we got a motion from Carrie. Second from Curtis. Oh, um I think Steve seconded. Oh, he did. Curtis was too slow. Here, Ste. All right. Sorry, Curtis. Um, let's All right. I could be a starter for the Celtics. Let's do a roll call. I almost made that joke. Starting with green. Roll call vote. Green. I. Malloy. I. Miller. I. Ow. And I. Henry. I. Constantine. I. Elenbine. I I. Thank you. You got to close us out there. Good night all. Good night everybody. Thank you. Thank you all.