001reminder to the committee and uh to our guests that this meeting is being recorded we'll do the roll call do we have Dave here Jess here J here Lisa here do we have Mike Randy here Tom Tom's not attending Craig all right thank you Robin all right thank you um our next meeting is going to be on Monday October 17th at 7M is that uh all right we have our Workshop correct on the is that the 17th yes it is all right um consent agenda we have approval of minutes for September 12th the accounts payable warrants payroll warrants and disposal of surus property so move Lisa J thank you all right um Dave yes yes yes Lisa yes Randy yes and I will vote Yes so that's unanimous thank you everybody um public Communications I
002believe we had one uh person looking to speak this evening um yes but I don't see him um right okay okay then we will proceed on thank you uh reports and information um I don't have anything and superintendent Morgan go to you it'll be the same thing for me I'm just going to cover the information in the packet tonight okay so we'll tackle that as we get to it yes um moving on to Old business we have the altic extracurricular handook language superintendent I believe there's some followup from our last meeting yes so I did speak with legal counsel um and I I did forward the information um to the committee um and our legal council Nick Domo has recommended um just some clear language uh for us um I don't know if everyone received
003that email uh on the school committee but I can certainly um go over if that's what you'd like I can go over it if that's what you'd like me to do it does come it does come with a parent sign off um so it comes with recommended handbook language it would go in our student handbook and it does come with a parent sign off and this is recommended um due to a recent case in the state of Massachusetts it is recommended for all public schools and in the Commonwealth um to essentially move forward with this language and again our attorney has made it a little bit more specific and again just wondering if the committee needs me to go into more detail Susan do you have a question or was your hand up from the
004uh waiting room there all right anyone else have question comments sorry I do have a question I couldn't find the unmute button go is this just an enhanced waiver to what we already have or is this an additional waiver this was an additional waiver to basically um uh eliminate claims of negligence on locker room supervision which has not been in place previously okay because when I was reading through it I'm like well this sounds an awful lot like what we've had but it's adding um something to it so that's why I was curious if this was replacing or we were going to have to so this would be new language added to the handbook okay it's basically uh making parents aware that conduct that's expected in the during the day in the classroom is also
005expected on the courts and Fields but as far as bullying and harassment and everything else then by the way part of that is we do need to be in the locker rooms to help you know enforce that um so it's not being in the locker room it's it's as I explained at the last meeting it's periodically walking through um we cannot have staff in the locker room right it may involve trips into the locker room it's probably a better way to that it in the enhanced version basically says that if something happens in the locker room and there's not adult supervision in the locker room um that the parents are aware that that is the case rightler right thank you anyone else questions Lisa yeah um Brad is this something that will be implemented this
006winter for sports or is it going to be this fall yet it will be implemented um within the next couple weeks okay so as soon as we can um it'll it's possible we'll get it in for the fall season but whatever if we do get it in it will be uh thoroughly communicated to families um so it will be communicated to families for both um High School um and we also have some Middle School athletic programs too which entail uh changing rooms and things of that sort so we'll make sure that once the committee votes it it gets out to the community members as well and families and that they're aware all right anything else on the waiver or the handbook language I should say if not I will take a vote to approve that
007so moved I'll second Lisa thank you any other questions or comments all right uh Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I will vote Yes does you thank you um I do believe uh Mr MC is is uh on so we will jump back to public Communications um unless there's any objections all right all right uh Mr MC you should be able to unmute and then um we'll give you uh three minutes I think you were going to talk about ashb elementary yeah um I joined the meeting the other day and then there's been a lot of there's been chatter going around in town originally your reports were saying that they were going to make ashb a Regional School within the district meaning that we would share with like
008towns and stuff like that and that is not happening the question is is haon Brook needs repairs and Ashby Elementary also needs repairs prior discussion was that we that the northon uh North Middle sex Regional School District will have the case rate we come to find out if we do the counting of the numbers correctly and we just drop out of the hoton Brook we come up with close to 259 students to go after the grants by doing that though it drops hoton Brook capability of getting a grant but why should Ashby be paying for hoton Brook if hoton if we're not going to get that money why should we be putting the bill to do hoton brook the question that has come around is um we should be looking at having the kids brought
009back from hoton Brook back to Ashby let them pay for their own school or merge with us they we have a better chance of getting if we bring the kids back of getting the Grant and this is why it's been said and it was said to the board of selectman you're willing to give up 55% of a potential State Grant to keep the kids over in Townsen because of that you need we need to look at this and pull the kids back or pull the kids from hon Brook into Ashby there's enough room there there's enough building space already why can't we do this um this is a big question and so um when we shouldn't be paying for two schools we either merge it or we have to decide what we're going to do
010but there's no reason to be paying 20% of a 7.7 to13 million for hoton on top of the 16 to 30 million for Ashby with the inflation at 20% um 20 6% I'm sorry of the hoton brook repairs were reporting based upon the numbers of students that we have there now so the answer is either we we should pull them back to Ashby save on the transportation save on the building and have the kids back in our school district this is what everybody wants at Ashby maintain the kids in our school district as much as possible this was voted on as you guys saw nobody realized this number was out there for the hoton brook I didn't know until we got hit with it at the b elementary meeting this was raised about the cost
011of that building coming also that's pretty much what I have to say all right thank you sir I'll um I'll refer any of those questions or responses to uh um to the ashp elementary school building committee they can uh investigate that and and come back with a responsive warrant so I appreciate it thank you Pat for your comments thank you all right moving on to new business um first up is out of state field trip request for the service learning to New Orleans is principal McMan is on awesome Mr McMahon if you are talking we can't hear you or Smith he's on he's going to be on in a second he's just having some difficulties there he is difficulties are children based not technology basis time Craig sorry yeah so Nola in New York Service
012Learning trying to resurrect their trips this year uh the past couple years it's been focused on more instate community service during uh February 8 vacations but this year with um advisor back in both groups I know that Noah has put in for their I'm not sure if New York service already submitted their Quest also I know Nola has and they going to go uh Fe vacation they're probably going to depart the Thursday prior to the start of vacation and then obviously return in time for the break when they return um I thinket the exact end of the vacation day but then miss two days of school and then back after vacation after a full week in New Orleans so great right we vote GRE uh Randy question or comment I'm just wondering um if we
013need to think about just having some sort of um letter out to parents uh because Co is not gone I don't think we need to hold back the trip for it um but I think we have need to have contingencies because it is contagious we don't want the entire group and we want to make sure that parents understand what what the procedure is like with most illness is but especially with Co I'm not sure if we need to have something special for that and that goes for the the DC trip as well I like that Randy I think it's a good idea it's a good kind of insurance plan for our kids too so i' I'd be open to that very much so good call on that anybody else questions comments if not I'll take
014a motion to uh have the school committee approve the North middlex Service Learning TR uh group to travel to New Orleans during the April 2023 school vacation so moved second that Lisa and Susan yes least Susan was right all right any last questions or comments okay Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I vote yes that's unanimous all set thank you principal McMahon thank you folks much appreciated we'll keep you posted there'll be fundraisers naturally and then uh in June the kids want to share out their trip as well so we get you involved in that as well excellent I appreciate it and I like the heart balloon you had in the background was very nice it was for a birthday party Craig thank you for the patris yeah
015thank happy [Laughter] [Music] birth all right uh moving on to uh the next out of state field trip request nms students to Washington DC uh Miss Young sure so similar to um the high school we're looking to resurrect our trip to Washington DC for our eighth grade students um hawthor Brook is going to do the same thing um we're looking to go in for four days in May um the cost would be about $850 a student um the dates of the trip would be May 23rd through 26 so the students would be out of school for four days all right any questions I have an eighth grader who is super excited that the trip is coming back so glad uh uh you and the team could make it happen yes we did an informal poll
016and the response was overwhelming that the students want to go absolutely and I'm just going to basically say did out everything that uh Miss Young said I think ours is we go in April 11th to 14th I believe excellent uh Dave your question yeah um so one concern that I had heard raised um miss you just said that the cost was 450 per student no 850 850 per student um so I knew that there was some concerns raised about um students who might not be able to afford uh either the full cost or uh some of the cost um is there anything that we can do uh fundraising wise um either and is there any fundraising that we can do that can help out students uh that are needs based sure that's a really good
017question the cost of the trip has actually come down since before covid I think the last time we went it was $890 so I was holding my breath to see what the cost was so I was glad to see it actually had gone down a little bit um surprise um but our PTO definitely helps with some fundraising for that and some scholarships so we'll continue to do that um and of course you know there are many generous you know people in our community who do donate to pay for partial trips for students so no student has ever not gone on the trip because they couldn't afford it that's great to hear thank you so much all right any other questions and know I guess just a clarification that this is for both uh ntis and
018hawor Brook is that what we need to approve okay it just to clarify it does only say nit on the agenda yeah so that was I I just received um auon Brooks today so it didn't officially make it on the agenda so it's up it's really up to the committee we can certainly wait until the 17th and put it on the agenda then can we make an amendment you could make an amendment I don't see why not or you could just make a motion because there's no motion yet um so Dave the date for um nit are May 23rd to the 26th okay and haon Brook is in correct me if I'm wrong Jason uh April 11th through the 14th I have yep if that helps you Dave uh one more time with those hawor
019Brook ones hawor Brook is April 11th through the 14th um is go ahead uh I do have a question for the principal of Hawthorne Brook yep hello um just want to confirm that the uh that you got the same um I guess volunteering from the staff yeah the last count we had was approximately 12 staff members that were interested in going on the trip fantastic thank you you're welcome sorry I'm just pulling up the link real quick um so I move that the school committee uh vote to approve the oh sorry wrong one uh I move that the uh school committee uh vote for the uh North Middle or N Middle School students um to go on the Washington DC trip on uh May 23rd through May 22nd as well as the Hawthorne Brook uh
020middle school students go on the Washington DC trip uh April 11th through April 14th just to clarify you mean the eth grade students correct uh yes the whole schools everybody I'll second all right David Lisa any other questions or comments all right see none Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan and for super Clarity it's the eighth grade students he was joking yes and I will vote Yes so that is unanimous thank you and principal Young And W appreciate again all the efforts to bring the DC trip back so thank you support all right moving on to Student Activity accounts Miss Haynes oh yes hi uh everybody um I wanted to let you know that we recently completed a review of the Student Activity accounts um it's very much like an
021audit but they don't actually call it that they call it a an a review and um we did the North Middle sex Regional High School student activity accounts and ntis Middle School um last year we had completed the hawthor brook um Student Activity accounts and one of the things that they' brought up several times is that we should annually be re having the school committee review and approve the Student Activity accounts um before each year before school starts or if there's been a change so um there's a a list of them in the packet as well as the two audits that were completed and um it it's really a formality it's actually not required they just recommend it so it's a strong recommendation and they include it as a um a finding in the audit
022if we hadn't done it so um just bringing it to the committee to consider whether they would like to review and approve those um each year or if they're okay with the findings staying on there they don't need to do that step so um it's just again a little bit of a formality and I think the idea is to make sure that the types of accounts that are on there are student centered um clubs and groups which I believe for in my opinion for the most part part that is the case I didn't know if You' had a chance to review them and if anyone had any questions about them Randy um I was just curious because uh the Student Activity accounts between ntis and haon Brooker are there's a number of differences between them
023um as well as you know things like um I think it was H Nissa tiit had a cross country Student Activity fund where uh that's a sport but haon Brook didn't have anything for cross country and I know they still have or at least they used to have that support so I was just curious how these activity uh student activity um funds actually got you know came into existence what what they're used for and why there is inconsistency between the schools the the the clubs originate usually when a group of students gets together and wants to do some kind of a project fundraise um have an event such as the New Orleans trip you just voted on so it's it's it's organic in that nature that there needs to be some interest and um um
024and that's generally where they start from with the sports sometimes it's a coach the coach may have a group of students that want to do some some activities and then it gets started and it keeps going the high school has a number of athletic groups that they do fundraising or they do a trip or those types of things and raise money for their their sport so it happens both in athletics and extracurricular related groups so there's not we don't decide whether they have those things as really driven by who's the advisor slash the students that would like to do it then the only other thing is I was just looking at my list um ntis it has um athletic PE and has their sources gate receipts if they're charging for sports is haon Brook charging
025for sports and doing gate receipts and if so where is their money go so that was one that we corrected when we did the Hof on Brook Student Activity uh audit last year so the the Auditors felt that those types of receipts belong not in the Student Activity since they're a fee based function um that's true for ntis it as well so those really technically should move to and the revolving account the athletic revolving account we just hadn't gotten that far yet with them um so we did that last year with hoam Brook we would likely do it with ntis it um it's just again a formality to move the money into it wouldn't go away it would just move the money into athletic revolving I think the other thing just to just to add
026to that Nancy is that something that we have been working on as an administrative team uh for the past uh the last central office meeting but also the last principal's meeting is trying to come up with a consistent recommendation to bring forward to the school committee around what we are charging for athletic events um user fees what we are charging for Student Activity fees and what we are charging for things such just concerts um drama Productions musicals so we plan to bring something to the school committee that's consistent because right now it is not consistent and has not been consistent um probably at some point in time I would guess in November um for the committee to take a look at so that again all of our fees are happening and being charged consistently or
027not being charged uh consistently throughout the district there is a document that the school committee had voted many many many many years ago uh it is not in anywhere accessible is very hard to find so I'm not um you know faulting anybody um but I believe those fees were put into the handbooks way back when when that was voted that document was voted on so I very much look forward to bringing that back to the Forefront and uh getting this settled um and in a place where everybody knows where it is and I do believe that there was a hold on charging a gate for Middle School sporting events um maybe one of the Middle School principles could wait and if they have confirmation on that but I believe it was prior to co there
028was a a small fee being charged and that's where that was going um but I believe during covid and maybe even recently it's been a while since we charged for gate those that's money that's just been accumulated that's right nany we haven't been charging any gate fees and Spectators haven't been allowed at many of the events anyway same for Hawthorne right thank you um Susan yes um my thought Randy on the um cross country and aait was inspired by looking at the high school I think a lot of times as you know with our kids when they were at the high school they'll be playing a sport but then there's a desire to get extra un uniform items I mean the school provides certain uniform items that you are expected to return but then one
029want's track pants or a SWAT shirt or so my guess is that cross country one was established so they had a way to uh collect the money from the students that wanted to say buy a not required sweatshirt and then purchase the sweatshirts would be my guess you're right Susan um Nancy just a clarification on the accounts that say they're not active are they still open but not active or are they actually just closed and on there for historical reasons they are probably not there's not a group of students that are actively involved in that but there's a balance oh okay there could be a balance of of funds there in which case at some point we'll review those and determine a closeout procedure there's a few other things that were on the audit that's
030not on the agenda tonight but just quickly um there some policies that probably need a review which I'll get with um Randy to read them read through what their recommendations would be but closing out of um accounts that are defunct or no one's participating in anymore is one of those things and we have some language we just need to review it okay thank you yeah any other questions from anybody if not I will uh take a motion to approve the sub listing for the Student Activity accounts at uh the high school Nissa middle and HW book middle schools so moved Lisa second thank you D any other questions or comments all right um Dave oh Randy do you have a question just wondering whether we're going to correct uh the gate receipts uh for ntia
031this year yes I'll work on on that report back when it's finished okay thank you thanks sure all right um Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I'll vote yes that is unanimous thank you uh next up is integrating social and emotional learning into academic learning Mr Bor good evening everyone um so I am very pleased to let you know that North mlex is one of 10 communities selected to receive this grant called integrating social emotional learning into academic learning um and through the grant it's a $10,000 Grant um we'll have access to and training in the use of an assessment tool that will be used with our students in grades four five8 in 10 and it's really for them to self assess where they feel they are within
032the five social emotional learning competencies um that are identified through an organization called Castle which is really the the leading or organization Nationwide in terms of um implementing um social emotional learning within the schools um so our students will take an assessment in the fall they'll also take an assessment in the spring and the data that we'll use what we use the data from from these assessments to really evaluate our programming and make adjustments to our practices so that if there is a certain area that many students are identifying self-identifying as being a weaker area that lets us know that we need to kind of build our curriculum and supports within that area um right now it's a one-year Grant um I don't anticipate there's any costs after this year um we the costs this
033year really are around uh providing the training and access for educators through for from all the schools to work together to to understand how to how to use the data effectively um and I know there are I had received a couple questions just in terms of security it's the the assessment itself is administered through the Desi website and so it's um the safe server they they'll have access to our data um in terms of the student responses but it's nothing that gets reported out publicly beyond what we what we're able to use within the the schools um and one other question that had come up just in terms of the roles of the parents play with it within social emotional learning um that's not really captured as part of this grant process it's really more
034for our students to self assess where they feel they are within those competencies and then for us to look at curriculum programming um but I think as we move on and we we get the data and we can start to look at how do we involve parents in the process more more efficiently um so I'm excited to uh to get this grant to move forward with it excellent thank you um Susan Gary I am really sorry I know I'm one of the questions I emailed to you I missed I missed your answer to some technical issues on this end what was the um is it a recurring Grant is it a one-time Grant and so so as of right now it's a one time Grant I do know that um we're in cohort 2 this
035is the second round of them doing the grant um there was some additional funding that was provided to districts that were in the first round last year um that we might be able to access if we identify perhaps any areas curriculum that we need to build on but as of right now the expectation is it's a one-year Grant okay and yeah and one of the reasons obviously we uh approve the grants is just to make sure what are ongoing financial responsibility might be um so that's why I was beyond the first year if we were going to have any uh no I I get it and and I think the focus of this grant is really on how to use that um assessment system and that's something that we'll have access to and there won't
036be a financial cost associated with it in the future okay so once we get through the first year we know what we need to know and we just carry on correct okay thank you all right anybody else any any questions if not we'll take a motion so moved I'm just looking for the language I tricked you I didn't read it this time right here oh so I move that we appr um that we approve um the integrating social emotional learning into academic learning Grant provided by the state second all right Susan Lisa any last questions or comments all right uh Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I yes so that is all soon thank you everybody uh next up we have the school Improvement plans superintendent Morgan and
037principles yes so again um these were a part of the packet I'm hoping that that most of the committee were able to see them they were on the website as well um and I do have the elementary um I have elementary middle and high school representation here I'm not sure who's going to be presenting at each level but we'll start off with the elementary I do see um Miss Gleason Miss Kaja Miss Cromwell Gap here so we can certainly start with them and again strategic plan the school Improvement plans are something that we try to look at you know with covid there was a bit of a delay but we did go through and look at them again making sure that they are aligned to our fiveyear strategic plan that we have two years left
038on and so that's what the principles will will be reporting on tonight and they'll be reporting again how each level elementary middle and high school relate back to that five-year strategic plan that that the entire district is under as far as the umbrella goes so we can start off with the elementary principles again I'm not sure who's going to uh be the spokesperson um but I'll let you start and figure it out hi um I'm Mrs cruml Gap and so the first plan you have is for the elementary schools and I have my colleagues with me so there are three main um um strategic objectives one two and three and so the first one is consistent and rigorous curriculum as Brad Morgan said we are in the third year of our plan of a fiveyear
039plan and the initiative that we're going to focus on this year is implementation of illustrative math as the core curricular materials for grades K to8 so I'm sure you're going to hear about this in the middle school and so for that initiative we are looking to support teachers with materials and PD we started over the summer we've had we have five days of PD we've already have completed two days with I'm sorry three days with two days future dates to be determined and then we're creating them participating in implementation teams with ongoing support for staff students and families um every month we have two um curriculum afternoons on Mondays and one of those are designated for our math and we focus on those and those dates are provided So within all of that we are
040looking at assessments implementation student outcomes we're looking at focusing on student data and then taking that data to enhance our instructional practices um with the students and um our dates are ongoing for that um part of the plan um the second objective that we are focusing on for the elementary school um connects to the second initiative with the district plan and this is something that you've seen before as it is um I think we're going into year four um is really focusing on meeting the needs of all students and what the elementary is um focusing on this year in particular is beefing up our um Intervention Program and that's also going to be connected to the first objective because with the illustrative math we also have um a new screener that we're using or an
041assessment tool called ISL um so we'll be using that to gather data on student performance and then using I ready um for K to2 Ela because that has the dyslexia screener in it so between the two different assessment tools um we'll be collecting um how students are doing in performing in ela and math and then putting together meaningful um intervention plans for those kids that need it but similar to what we did last year we'll continue to also offer um enrichment opportunities for kiddos that have um demonstrated that they're really in a good place in having some really good skills with the current curriculum so we can have them do something a little bit more enrich enriching to their curriculum experience in either Ela or math and this will also be embedded into the intervention
042block which we call it win at the elementary school what I need um because it is really students specific and targeted to what they individuals need but in the whole classroom um also we have the interventionists that are working with kids that need more targeted support and they'll be pulling them out in small groups um and this is again the way the um program has evolved over the past couple of years it is now um schoolwide as opposed to where title one was by rank order so this is an opportunity for all kids to get the support that they need Kristen yep um so then the third objective that we're working on is um continuing to strengthen the community and culture um between the different schools um and the district as a whole uh we
043are planning different things throughout the school year to kind of promote that we're going to continue to do our spirit weeks as an elementary school um more information will be coming soon we just um completed a districtwide door decorating contest um at each of the building levels so we're going to be taking that to the district level soon um and then we are just going to continue to uh find ways to connect with the preschool um and you know with the elementary school and then the elementary schools to the middle schools um to continue to work on that transition plan for students moving forward I think that's about it any questions on the elementary school school Improvement plan Susan you have a question yeah I just wanted to uh clarify on the mathematics program are
044the students um all students being exposed to that this fall is this the math program for this school year yeah yes okay just wanted to make sure I understood that thank you shall we move on to Middle School all right it sounds like it okay Miss Young and Mr Webster yep so there's some similarities between the Middle School and Elementary levels as far as our uh objectives we're starting off objective one also with implementing illustrative mathematics as our core curricular materials for grades five through 8 um and so you know we're going to be monitoring progress as far as supporting teachers with materials and professional development which has already begun um creating and participating in the implementation teams uh so they get that ongoing support not only for the staff but students and families as
045well um we're going to be fully implementing the curriculum and assessments uh we'll be working collaboratively uh our teachers to better practice uh their student uh outcomes and um we're going to continue to rely on student data to make adjustments and improve learning uh and Mastery in their classrooms and we're going to be uh actively engaged with formal and or informal data to inform and revise as such um as we progress through the material and I'm sure as you can see there's some resources needed to support this such as the uh IM math resources we're going to be scheduling meetings um with curriculum directors Uh Kevin and Le to kind of help work through things as we go um and we have scheduled curriculum meetings each month and we'll be giving time for teachers to
046collaborate as well for our second initiative we are um similar to the elementary schools we are working on our targeted um interventions last spring we presented to you um about our intervention groups and how that's going last year was the first year that we've had we call Patriot time in the middle schools so this year we're going to continue that um and really try to beef it up a little bit more Kate spoke about the tool ISL and that is something that we're going to be using at the middle school level as well um our students really seem to like it a lot more than the program we were using last year which was I ready so we're excited by that that the kids seem to be more invested in that program um so we're
047going to work um on both ends the more remedial end and also enrichment for students who need a little bit more um and so very similar to to what the elementary schol said and then for objective three um we'll be uh working on our uh climate and culture and supporting our teachers uh our administrative team so uh Lauren and I as well as Evan and Shantel will be looking to uh find ways to collaborate and coordinate some opportunities for each of our staffs um to build relationships together uh we're looking for something in the fall as well as in March um we're going to research and Implement some options to kind of further celebrate and appreciate uh excuse me appreciate all that our staff does during the course of the year um and uh you
048know we as mentioned before there's the door decorating uh contest um you know we actually this week we're working at that the Middle School um and we'll be uh contributing to and participating in a districtwide celebration of teaching and learning that's also going to be in May uh and establish and participate and a districtwide committee for the development of our core values uh as well which is going to be really important stuff um as we proceed through the year so really this year we want to focus on uh celebrating all the hard work that our teachers do as we do every year um but we think that this is a really great opportunity post uh emic um to just make sure we're supporting celebrating all of our efforts so yes just to jump on to
049what Jason just said we really found that covid really um was difficult for our teachers and they worked so hard all of our staff members did um so we really feel as though staff morale um was starting to take a bit of a dive so we really feel though we as though we need to beef that up a little bit and get our culture strong and it really starts with the the adults in the building um and so that that's a big Focus for us this year questions for the middle school no just uh again I know we we say it a lot but uh can't appreciate enough everything that uh teachers staff administrators in the building do um talking to a few teachers during the open house even a couple weeks ago it's just
050you can see the last few years have have worn on everybody um so again just I appreciate everybody continuing to give it 110% after everything everybody's been through so um Kudos and it's again much appreciated thank you you okay and then we have the High School Mr McMahon uh Miss Smith I don't think I'm missing anyone else that's on the call so take it away principal McMahon thank you um so just looking at we spent some time this year really made sure that we aligned uh within the 5-year plan but also kind of stuck to our administrative goals as a high school administrative team so looking at our first objective with regard to curriculum uh it's a bit of a shift from a couple years ago um we actually I believe my first year 1920
051uh we looked at revamping midterm exams and uh through covid through data collection um feedback from department heads this year we're actually doing away with midterm exams um not due to data collection but more more for a variety of reasons focusing on one uh scheduling it became a kind of a scheduling challenge in January after the break kind of ending the semester throwing a week in the middle for midterms and Grading uh but additionally um more and more we found that there was there was enough common assessments going on um that we didn't feel the need to shut down essentially for a week to to do these big exams theid in the mid part of the year so this year we're going to be looking to do away with midterms but then beef up final
052exam exams uh ideally more Project based kind of get away from pen and paper traditional final exams make them more interactive and culminating um and using mid using final exam week in June for more showcasing than actually uh exams themselves um we did a a vote with the department heads 10 out of 11 departments agreed that we should give it a shot this year move away from midterms uh like I said for a variety of reasons but you know we we learned one of our takeaways from Co um from a pedagogical standpoint from a I think a structal standpoint was really that we kind of lost a week at the end of a semester when we could be doing more productive things than kind of getting bogg down with exams so uh a lot we're
053going to be kind of navigating that this this winter to figure out how we still want to continue with common assessments as I think each department values that for data collection and driving instruction but uh shifting away from midterms and then beefing up our final exams uh and really the time the resources dedicated for that will be done using our curriculum on Mondays um and some PD time but the idea of having staff collaborate within plc's and departments to kind of figure out best means of Assessments and sharing best practices uh in that process um with regards to objective number two meeting needs of all students uh we are very happy this year to have reestablished and kind of reinvigorated flex block um in with that we have several plans for Flex block and been
054kind of spearheading some of those now but uh one of interwoven goals with flexx block is looking at our Capstone um we've talked a couple years now about imp implementing a legitimate robust Capstone uh for seniors um we've piloted the past couple years despite Co we've had a dozen or so students do very kind of cool externships that were career-based um outside of the academic realm uh for example we've had a few seniors the past couple years have been taking you know English 12 uh math and phys during the senior year and uh earning credits outside of school by doing either Co-op and externship so we want to use flex block as a piece of that um you know beyond remediation and Beyond you know uh you know skill reinforcement but also kind of use
055that as a jumping off point for our Capstone project uh again like I said we've piloted a few our goal is to really kind of roll it out next fall and see uh how many seniors want to kind of jump on board and help us kind of design what that looks like uh we have a Capstone committee we formed at the high school uh to get feedback from staff developing a survey hopefully to give the kids during Flex block soon but really try to utilize Flex um Beyond uh what we've done in the past and it's only 34 minutes a day uh we have been able to as an example um you know last uh Thursday we have Chris Heron come speak at the high school was a great speaker uh and a great event
056but we utilized Friday advisory to help kids process that as an option for that day so Flex block isn't paying off and like I said we want to kind of leverage that as we attempt to uh build up a Capstone to roll out soon uh and then with regard to uh culture in community uh objective three kind of again um a dual angled purpose here um continue to you know fost what we've been doing um with regard to getting events going U making sure that staff and students feel supported in a general sense and in a more intimate sense you know I I I think I did um maybe sheepishly boast about our homecoming week and how how much fun that was how many kids were involved in that um in addition to kind of
057fostering that like I mentioned a minute ago um we really want to use advisories on Friday so right now what we're doing for our Flex block which we've moved in the morning um it had been back in um 2019 20120 Flex block had been offered in the afternoon uh we found it to be a little counterproductive after lunch so we moved this in the morning and finding better results so um Monday through Thursday students are self- selecting which um classes they go to for Flex block Friday everyone goes to their advisories which they are again selfing for the following week but we're trying to use those Fridays as often as possible as anal opportunity uh like I said last Friday we utilize that time to kind of process with the Chris Heron speech um and
058in future Fridays we want to use advisory to either you know survey students on uh their interest in their Flex um upcoming events and things of that nature so um really trying to leverage um again that time for anal purpose that goes beyond the academic realm on Fridays in particular so uh in those goals um we worked as an admin team to make sure that align to The Five-Year Plan but also align to our goals as an admin team this year as well so um that's basically it questions from the committee Randy um I just had a quick question um I think it's a really good thing um to kind of go towards more Project based um assessments and I think that is wonderful but I want to make sure that we're not Banning tests
059because they do have their place in their certain subjects the teachers really should you know I want to make sure they have the flexibility um to do what they need to for the students because there are students out there believe it or not that prefer a test over a project yeah no well them and we shouldn't take that away just because the trend right now is to open up projects and other ways for people to um show that they have the knowledge that they need in the subject yeah I totally agree uh we're talking about the department heads you know critical thinking skills and you know written uh expression are still Paramount in colleges so um you know we still value that not shying away from that it's really just a midterm assessment is what
060we're looking at um I mean I was in a math class today traditional pen and paper test still happening um yeah in no way we want to deter that it was are kind of reexamining what our goals are within these these big assessments you know what are our expectations and hopeful outcomes with midterms of final exam so I see I see final exams more as a pilot this spring see what we come up with but no I mean definitely there's been no deterrent from from exams and uh you know we still give department heads autonomy within their department so when they do common assessments so no I hear what you're saying but yeah definitely I agree with you keeping the test is definitely for a lot of our Learners the way to go all right
061any other questions comments from anybody all right I don't uh believe we need to approve these correct this is more just informational informational because they they essentially go with the Strategic plan which the committee has approved already it's just each school's actions towards towards the Strategic plan perfect thank you all right thank you uh to all the principles and assistants appreciate all the work and information on the Strategic uh Improvement plans um next is the where are we homeschool report so good evening again um with the homeschooling just as a reminder for the committee the the approvals are an annual approval for families um and when they submit an application it needs to include information about their curriculum the way in which that they're going to be assessing their student progress um they have to
062identify that they're going to meet the minimum hour requirements um that that are identified so for K to8 students it's 900 hours for high school students it's 990 hours uh per year um they also have to provide a little bit in terms of the experience of the family member that is going to be providing the instruction for their student as well as as uh proof of residency um so not surprisingly both in North Middle sex and across the state when covid hit we saw a huge spike in the number of families that were submitting homeschool plans um so the 2020 uh 1920 and no sorry 20 2021 and 2122 school years we saw a large increase in the number of families that were applying for homeschool programming uh we have started to see a decrease
063this year um so there was a decrease of about 16% in the number of students that are on homeschool plans and about 20% in the number of families that have submitted homeschool applications for the 2223 school year um it's still not where it was preo but I antici I expect that some of that is families that went into a homeschool program and liked it so are maintaining that and so we'll probably see a slower decline than we actually saw in terms of an increase in the number of families that um apply for homeschool programs questions Su you have a question just a a curious thing about homeschooling um do they um do students take mcap that are being they are they are actually not allowed to take mcass um because it's mcass is uh based
064on students that are attending school and so the state does not allow students to come in and take the mcast if they're participating in a homeschool program okay um I was just wondering how that worked with graduating because I I was thinking it was required you had to pass mcast to graduate maybe that's a homeschool it is it is it's a in order to receive a diploma from North Middle sex or from a high school um you need to meet the state competency determination requirements which includes the mcast testing so homeschool students under us no they do not receive a diploma from us oh how do they prove that they've completed their schooling so a lot you know it's becoming more of a common place for families um to select this option so colleges have
065become a lot more flexible in working with families I guess they could do a GED if they wanted I guess right right they could all right Dave is there any uh sort of rationale that's provided I'm just curious um there's sometime some families do provide it but there's not a requirement and actually we can't ask that question so there's there's limitations of what we can require and basically it's around the curriculum the assessment and the experience of the family member Randy uh Gary I I question I I don't mean to question you but when you said that we don't give a um high school diploma um just how happens at the home school um policy that we have uh we've had in place we made a minor change to it um the last paragraph in
066it says a student with the approval of the school committee may be awarded a high school diploma if they have satisfied the Department of Education and secondary education's competency requirements has and has met the district's educational standards for graduation yes so that's that's assuming that a student has taken the mcast for grade 10 um so that would be a student that would have had to been in school at that time in order to meet those confidency determination requirements okay that that is not clear in this policy and that's something I didn't know um well it says that they have to meet the state competency determination requirements which is passing the mcass right um but with this with this policy you know if by choosing a parent choosing to take their child into homeschool reading this
067policy um I never would have known that I couldn't have had my child take the mcast uh if they weren't in the school in 10th grade um I may pull this policy from today and take a look at making this clear for parents who want to do this okay yep makes sense anyone else questions comments all right then we'll move on to the Strategic plan review so I'm going to share my screen um just Robin are you able to enable me to share are you not you don't see the share option here it it when I click on it it says host disabled participant screen sharing there you go now you should be able to share oh thank you so I think I did that right so just as a reminder um the Strategic plan
068as you know is a Five-Year Plan um the committee approved it back in 200 19 to go through 2024 so the goal of it is to look long term in terms of what are those areas that we as a district value and want work towards in order to continue to improve um this evening you heard from the three uh School levels and what was really nice to to hear and to be a part of is kind of that through line of the work so you see the consistency of how we're all working together to meet the goals um within the plan and this is actually a document that um the maass superintendent Association um encourages for districts to use in terms of the formatting um you identify the Mission Vision core values the theory of
069action is a section that really it's one of those if then if we're doing all these things that we say we're going to do and doing them well then what what is the impact that uh we're going to have on our students um today and in the future um you heard the schools talk about the Strategic objectives so essentially when the committee when this document was developed and the committee approved it there were three areas that uh were identified as Focus areas the first being curriculum and instruction and during the time that this plan has been in place the goal has really been around um implementing and revising our common assessments so there's been a lot of work that's been done um with those and really looking at how we're using them and how we
070can continue to revise them and improve them so that it's not just taking a test or a quiz but it's meaningful data that helps us um improve learning opportunities for our students the other two areas under the curriculum instruction really have been um the focus of uh Kevin and Lisa over the past couple years the first being uh piloting the math program so last year um we piloted a few different math programs in the k to8 um grade level and then selected one that really better targeted what research and data is showing us about best um practices for working with students and for teaching students in the area of mathematics um so this is our first year the district selected illustrative math and this is the first year that we're implementing that program um you
071did here from the schools in terms of how they're the work that they're doing around both assessing as well well as uh the professional development um to implement the new math program the other priority area under curriculum instruction is around the adoption of the K to8 Ela curriculum and that curriculum is called elel Expeditionary Learning um and last year was our first year of implementing the program and we are in year two and so the work last year A lot of it was around working with the company to provide professional development to build the capacity of our teachers to implement the program this year it's a little bit of a shift in terms of professional development where we're trying to create um more teacher leaders within the the district to help lead that work um
072so there's still some professional development going on but it's more about the Outside Agency providing training and support to our teacher leaders who can then facilitate that work with other Educators in the building things um the second strategic objective that you heard about this evening was around meeting all need the needs of all students um and we had four priority areas that were identified under there the first were around the targeted programs in interventions um so this evening you heard about the work that's happening at each of the levels whether we call it the wind block or Patriot time or Flex block but really trying to identify those times within the day that we can more individualized instruction to support students needs and really meet them where they are and help everyone make make progress
073effectively within the curriculum um the second priority was around providing Learners with educational programming and Leadership opportunities that meet their individual needs and really what we're looking at there and what we need to do a little bit more with is looking at how do we create opportunities for student leaders so I know the middle school was looking or the middle schools were looking at how do they create um leadership programs for students to be student leaders whether it's eighth grade helpers or um working with younger students um and at the high school level really looking at those opportunities that we have through student council um or how do we provide opportunities for students to take on leadership roles within the schools um the third priority was offering the um districtwide yearly parent Guardian informational opportunities
074um and so last year we did provide those three opportunities there are three programs that are established for this year um that superintendent Morgan puts out information for for families to attend um so it's not just learning about the curriculum not just learning about what's going on in the school but also learning about how do we support our students beyond beyond the the walls of the school um and then the final priority under meeting all the needs of all students is really around the the work we're doing with Equity last year the focus was on working with our high school staff um we had hired an outside consultant to provide professional development to the staff um to understand diversity equity and inclusion and understand how to implement and support those practices within the classrooms this
075year we are shifting that that professional development down to our elementary and middle school teachers so they're receiving the same professional development training we've also contracted with the um Outside Agency to do what we're calling a curriculum Equity audit so we're looking at how do we ensure that all students have opportunities to see themselves reflected in the curriculum to um to have equal access to diverse Learning Materials um and so we've done working this fall we've done some training with um the consultant around around how do we evaluate curriculum from an equity lens and that training will then lead to us being able to do it independently as we continue to evaluate we're focusing right now around our humanities curriculum but we'll continue then to look at math um and science as well within the
076third strategic objective culture climate and Community it's really about how we establishing ourselves how are we promoting the district um and so you've heard um some different things happening um from the the principles in terms of the work they've been doing there we also have the we are NM um kind of focus and um there have also there's been some work and we'll continue to do some work this year of really looking at the where are we where are they now so highlighting some of our post-graduate students and the successes they've had and helping students to be able to see examples of people that have graduated from North metal sex and where they've gone and how they've been successful um you heard some of the schools talking about that second priority area about developing and
077expanding interschool opportunities for students and staff and so that's really about looking at how do we rather than you know I've worked in districts where each school has its own mascot and each School looks SE different but really what the focus has been within North Middle sex is we're all Patriots so how do we create those opportunities for students to collaborate with one another for teachers to collaborate with one another and to see not just that we're working at the elementary level the Middle School level or high school but really that through line between all three schools um and then the third area is really around um cultivating the ongoing Community Partnerships and that's one of the areas that when I look at the document and I got a little bit of feedback in terms
078of the the work that we did last year I think there are more opportunities that have happened over last year that aren't necessarily reflective in the document that was submitted to you so I want to build that up a little bit in terms of um evaluating some of our past practices and then looking to see going into this school year how do we enhance those opportunities with our Community Partners so you have a question oh yes I did the um under the red column there um we used to have a an item on there that obviously is important to us and based on the grant we just approved something we moving forward with which was establish and integrate social and emotional learning strategy in efforts to create a safe and positive learning environment so just
079want to make sure we don't lose track of that I know we have a few extra in column two than we did when we we originally approved in 2019 but and I think I mean I'm looking at current 2.2 I don't want to lose track of that I mean I think educational programming leadership opportunities is a great thing um but I I don't want to lose track of the original 2.2 which is social and emotional I think we have a lot of great things to report thank you I'll take a look at that thanks I think part of that too just to add to that is that we are annually well this is a five-year plan if we've accomplished a goal um in a given year um just based on how it was outlined and
080how it was framed then we try to implement new goals as well but not not forget about the original premise of what the Strategic plan was built on but we try to update our goals annually to make sure that this is a fiveyear plan and as as we accomplish things and as we meet our goals we're adding new things to it that still fall under the three strategic objectives um so we've accomplished our social emotional goal you think uh um as it was originally written I would say that we have but we're continuing on to work with that I mean we're continuing on working putting in additional supports for students but as it was originally written um it's a goal that we that we had touched upon and we had accomplished but again we continue
081to try to add and update the Strategic plan annually so that we have new goals um or new priorities that fall into the Strategic objectives if that makes sense many of these are not taking 5 years and that was something that we outlined when we first rolled this fiveyear plan out was that as we accomplished um some of the priorities we would bring in new priorities that still fell under those strategic objectives but um I wouldn't say anything that we accomplish is means that we're done with it um it just means that we're that we're trying to um expand upon it okay maybe just so reduces my confusion like the current priority 2.2 if we Nam that 2.5 instead of using the same numbering that maybe that would get me a little Le less tangled
082up thanks okay the only um if no one else has any questions or comments the only comment that I have is around the um the the continued Equity work that we're doing and and and now engaging with um uh staff at at the lower levels um as a Committee Member I I I've gotten a lot of feedback from community members and constituents around just wanting to know more information about what this is and and what the topics are so if there's anything we can do and maybe this goes through the communications uh subcommittee as well but anything we can do to um just make sure we're being transparent and informative on on what what those topics are um just to ease any concerns uh I think that would that would help all of us um
083just be able to talk about it even better so when we do get questions that we're able to um least have intelligent conversations about it and make sure we can refer them to you as well Gary yeah and and you know just for a point of clarification for tonight it's not a curriculum that we're teaching per se it's more about just the practices and the way that we're trying to make sure that every student feels included um in the schools yeah and I think that's very a very important clarification that we probably can't repeat enough um because I think there is that misconception so I I appreciate you reiterating that again for us thank you anyone else questions or comments Gary you have anything else or uh not for the Strategic plan okay all right
084then uh you're up again with the professional development plan thank you um I think I uh drew the lucky STW tonight yeah you got a busy busy talking this evening so so in your packets is a copy of the professional development plan for this upcoming school year um as you know we have the full day professional development days two days prior to the start of the school year as well as the day in November um so for the first two days really the the focus was around the equity training for our Middle School staff and implementation of the math curriculum training for our Elementary staff um at the high school level they did some more individual work as a depart as both within departments and as a school as a whole looking at um curriculum
085setting and just those assessment pieces that uh principal McMahon spoke about um going into our November day that's where we're going to continue some of that Equity training um we'll start with our Mo shifting it down to our Elementary staff and then for our middle and high school staff one of the things we're looking at both for the full professional development days as well as our early release delay start days for this year is really starting to have a conversation about um work that's under been undergoing in some districts around what we call Portrait of a graduate really developing an understanding of what are the expectations that we have for our students as they leave North Middle sex and then developing a plan of okay if this is what we want our students to know
086and be able to do when they graduate from North Middle sex whether it be going on to college looking for a career what are those skills that they need to have in place how do we then back those skills up to make sure that we're providing opportunities for all students to develop those skills and be successful so that's going to be really the focus of the work that we do with with our middle and high school staff uh moving forward we do have the uh four early release days for the year as well as the two delayed start days so the focus of the time as I said for the middle and high school will be around kind of that um Port of graduate work at the elementary level we'll continue to provide some training
087around the math and the ELA curriculum implementation um you heard some of our principles talking to about the curriculum Mondays and those are the days that um were identified within the teachers contract we have two days during the course of the month one is a building based professional development day and that's where the principls are leading the work around curriculum with their staff and then we have a district level uh day and that's work that's really being facilitated by both our uh two directors of curriculum the humanities and stem as well as um we do have a a specialist uh coordinator that's coordinating the work for our specialist teachers around those days that's what I have for that excellent thank you any questions comments all right thank you sir I think you are off the
088hook now so I appreciate it um for the other items on the agenda um I just want to do a pulse check with the committee so I think superintendent goals um superintendent Morgan I don't think we saw those um so I just wanted to clarify unless I miss them um the goals yes um so I think there was an issue with them being downloaded but um that's again UND so but they were they were they were part of the original packet I don't did you did you not see them in the in the packet uploaded no oh it goes from the um professional development plan to the masc resolutions I can't see it right now that's okay so I I I'm more just saying is it okay if we pass over that sure um we'll
089do that the next meeting and then did folks have time to review the masc resolutions I know that's usually a lengthy part but we seem to have done well on time so we can either defer that or dive into that because those aren't we don't need those Robin what's the deadline for oh we vote out the we do you do need them um because the next meeting is a uh is a workshop okay so we'd have to add it after the workshop or vote now uh Randy do we have anybody going we haven't that I think is number 10 on the agenda is to select a delegate and I don't know I haven't actually I have got the book in the mail the other maybe a week or so ago I I don't even know
090if they're doing a virtual option or if it's all in person this year Robin De didn't know by any chance or I I did not see virtual option um there could very well be one but I just I didn't see it I know it's in in the share um was anybody interested in going Dave I went two times ago it's not my turn what were the DAT was that the first weekend in November yeah it's November 2nd is the delegate assembly so I think the rest of it is usually although Wednesday sounds early for the delegate assembly I know it's Wednesday to Saturday I'm just not sure what day the delegate assembly is um yeah it's Wednesday so it's November 2nd to the 5th and this time the delegate ass is on Wednesday at 3
091p.m. so we can come back to that unless anybody is interested um and again Robin I keep putting you on the spot with questions uh do can we vote by proxy on these do you remember if we don't have anybody there um I I don't recall off the top of my head yeah I don't either I don't think you can because when I attended there was yeah so you've got to be there okay I believe it was all voice I think you're right especially with the Amendments and stuff that happen on the floor usually get another District to yell extra loud for us I'm just kidding all right um so we'll come back to that if folks want to think about if they want to attend um Susan um I have a question uh back
092on the Strategic plan um it's related to the question I you know I did a followup on the question I already asked so can we come back to that because I want to wrap up the masc discussion first okay um so if nobody wants to go we will talk in our next meeting and figure out if anybody has decided they want to go for the resolutions um do folks want to do those now or would you rather defer that to what would end up being after our Workshop most likely well if no one's going is there any point um I guess yes and no depends on the resolutions there have been resolutions in the past that uh we have used as support for other initiatives in the district I think Equity being one of them
093Randy do you have a question or comment just a comment I just wanted to say for anybody who hasn't been to uh the masc conference I've been to probably at least five of them uh in my time here if not more than that um there actually are some really good um uh panels that they have going on uh on a variety of different topics um I definitely found it very worthwhile to go uh you kind of get a little bit energized uh once you do go on different subjects uh they put out there I believe I did see it come through I didn't look through it very closely there um all the different panels that they have planned right now in the different speakers so if you haven't been and you can make it even
094uh for like the Friday and Saturday or something like that or take a look and see if you can make it for one or two days I definitely do think it's worthwhile I do agree that it kind of gets you fired up and re-energized about um the commitment we've made by being voted here but it's also an incredible professional development opportunity well beyond charting the course yeah I agree there I mean the sessions actually I thought were fantastic um and for me that's how I ended up with my Robert's Rules of Order book that's on the shelf behind me so that was well worth it right there all right um so we don't want to go through these tonight we will um we'll put this on the agenda then for after the workshop and if
095we decide not to send a delegate then we can decide which if any of the resolutions we want to tackle um and do it that way are folks good with that all right uh Susan you had a question back on the I forget which plan strategic or professional the Strategic plan um I had mentioned that a 2.2 had changed from social emotional learning to something else I mean the something else that it changed to was great but um I went back to Nancy's update in January of 2022 and she had the social emotional one um when she talked about what was completed what was in progress and what the next steps were so I don't think it's complete um and if it is complete then we just need an update to close it out on
096the in progress and next steps on what's been done there I can take a look at that um I'll pull up the document that Nancy had from back in January and then see where we need to go with that as well obviously we have ongoing work and maybe it's a matter of taking 2.2 and renaming it 2.6 or whatever yeah I'll take a look I appreciate the feedback thank you thank you all right tell that's where I spent my time H not on the resolutions no worries improv plans and strategic plans is what I was coming through so we'll move on to subcommittee reports so accelerated repair Lisa yes we did meet um we did transfer some money from baram Brook to the haor project to close out the balance there it was about 8900
097and then the hope is and Nancy's Hope is that by February when they meet we can close these projects out and that's it for the update don't jinx yourself Lisa look at number three on your subcommittees but we're just waiting we're going to get there we got to get there before next September now it's a race between you and and Mr Templeton who's gonna get there first I did not ask him for an update all right any questions for Lisa all right uh June Ashby Elementary um we had our first two meetings and we're very much in a discussion phase right now we don't have any recommendations for the committee the full committee at this time um we're Gathering more information such as the tax impact on taxpayers and the financial impact on taxpayers I
098should say um looking at the various options and then um also some more details from um the msba so our next meeting is October 11th excellent is there anything you need from the committee Jun are you in good shape right now uh not at this time thank you excellent all right uh Tom is not on for communications but we did have a a meeting and I don't know if anyone else on that committee wants to help me with the summary but uh we did talk about a couple opportunities for um getting information out to the uh to the community um I think we talked about a quarterly newsletter if I remember incorrectly thank you Jess um so more discussions on that but uh just trying to find ways to uh to kind of disseminate information
099and and humanize it a little so kind of pull relevant things out of meeting minutes and whatnot and and put those out to the community in a way that's digestible um Robin's been helping us as well with uh with some uh some ideas and and mechanisms for that so and I think we made a couple changes to the website we added a school committee only email address I don't know if we talked about that in our last meeting or not but um that is now on the school committee page on the district website so you can email just the committee members so goes just to the nine of us um I think that's NM school committee at nmrsd.org going for memory so don't quote me on that um and then uh again put some other
100I think updates to the uh subcommittee page with uh the communication subcommittee description and membership so that's it for communication El anyone has questions no all right uh Finance Lisa no update all right so Tom is not on for negotiation so policy Randy uh yes so there are two policies on here um like I was just discussing with uh when we were talking about homeschooling I'm gonna I'm going to pull the homeschooling one now all we were trying to do was to add um as space available to allow homeschooling uh students to uh utilize any of our classrooms like labs and Stu um that right now has been up to the superintendent and the and the building administrator if there's room in the class and we just wanted to make sure that that was in
101the policy but I will be revisiting uh to make sure that it's clear to any parent that wants to do H schooling that the district typically does not give a um diploma if they haven't been in the school at a time when they took the M the final mcast in grade 10 I just want to make sure that is clear for the public um so I'll pull that one out uh so the policy that I have up for a first reading is policy iib which is on class size what we did with this policy is we added a section on um just kind of explaining to people what our rationale and what we typically hold to as far as class size uh putting in um some guidelines so that uh so that anybody reading this
102policy knows what the uh policy of the district tends to to be and it's not a big surprise when we start to get some classrooms that are a little bit uh larger um for the Public's um benefit if they're not looking at the policy right now basically what we have in here is that at any grade K to four class that reaches a 30 students will be split um any grade K to four class that reaches 25 students um we will be looked at the at by the administration on an individual basis um for any mitigation strategies that may be appropriate and then any any grade five through six class that reaches 28 students will be looked at by the administration on an individual basis for any mitigation strategies that may be appropriate um otherwise
103the policy is staying the same than you Randy any questions for Randy on that policy Susan are these just for the core classes I assume like ban you expect it to be no yeah these are grade K through four classes uh they are not the specials okay thank you uh and then I I take that back so it's it's clarified in the statement above it's saying that no knowing many factors determine acceptable individual content area class size the school committee makes the following guidelines I apologize for not reading that first no I and I read that too I just forgot about that while we're sitting here yep and I thought you did the the committee did a nice job on um finding words for what we just kind of do naturally as part of the
104budgeting process thank you um so I will move at the school committee approve po uh policy iib class size for first reading second all right any other questions on the policy all right Dave Dave you're on mute all right Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I will vote Yes so that is uh unanimous without uh Dave's vote um what else you got Randy you want to talk about your uh with the regional agreement um um okay um Regional agreement we're gonna have to reconvene um we did get feedback from the state on that um there are a number of things that we need to take a look at and they've requested a meeting with us to discuss some of that um additionally I've reached out to the towns and it
105looks like um Ashby is not not planning on holding a fall town meeting at this time I have not heard back about towns and um Peril is having a fall town meeting um whereas this needs to be um approved by all three towns we should probably do it at the same uh time of year so we'll probably end up um having to hold off until the uh spring uh Town meetings the regular annual ones um but we'll just continue we'll find out what um you know from the state have a meeting with them and then we'll take a look at any changes uh from what we already put together that we need to make and I'll bring it to the committee thank you Randy um Jessica uh Townson will have a fall town meeting if
106they just haven't picked a date yet appreciate that information thank you and Randy if we don't like if we if we had to wait for a Springtown meeting then does that Regional agreement have to wait till the following July to take effect or how does that work because I know there was a there was a period of time it doesn't take effect immediately I forget what the duration was I well there's a process so once the towns approve it then it needs to go and get the commissioner approval right um once the commissioner's approval is um I had to double check and see I think it can still be for the following year you know um fiscal year okay um I will double check on that if we can get his signature on it okay
107perfect thank you all right anything else from folks so we will um I guess officially table or defer the superintendent goals the delegate selection and the masc resolutions um or after our Workshop we'll have that on the uh on the agenda for that evening all right if there is nothing else I will take a motion to adjourn don't move second all right uh Dave yes Jess yes June yes Lisa yes Randy yes Susan yes and I will vote Yes so we're adjourned everybody appreciate the time have a good evening [Music]