School Committee Meeting - 5/14/2026

001Good evening Holliston and welcome to the May 14th meeting of the Holliston School Committee. Um I'll call things to order and we will get started with the uh consent agenda. This time I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'm so sorry. >> Oh, sure. Sorry. Um I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? Okay, that passes. Um we're going to start with report from student representatives. >> Hello. So, 2 weeks ago the H D 370 put on a four-talent filled shows of Alice in Wonderland. The actors and actresses sang and danced and audience This Saturday evening, there will be an open mic night benefiting the Matthew Shepard Foundation at Rushford and Sons um in the middle of town and some members

002of the high school um will be performing and helping with that fundraiser. >> Many sports have been holding their senior nights >> [cough] >> for both [clears throat] boys and girls lacrosse and boys and girls baseball and softball the last couple of weeks. On April 28th, Medway High School hosted the 12th annual five-town school day Special Olympics games and about 100 students and about 10 from Holliston with intellectual disabilities competed to showcase their athletic skills. In the most updated power rankings, both lacrosse for boys is sitting and uh boys lacrosse sorry, is sitting in 21st for division three and girls tennis is in 16th and there are two teams to look out for as playoffs near. Both boys and girls field track and field teams will be traveling to Milford on Tuesday to compete in

003the Tri-Valley League championships. And then finally for sports, on the boys side track and field, the distance medley relay school record was recently broken at the state relay meet and that record had stood for 37 years. >> AP exams have been taking place last week and this week there's one more day of testing tomorrow. And the junior senior prom is tomorrow at Lake Pearl in Wrentham and everyone is very excited to have a great time. >> Last Friday the club fair at the middle school was held and high school clubs were able to gain interest from eighth graders and hopefully spark some interest in them that they had not been considering prior. Arts Alive is currently happening in the high school. Um and freshmen through seniors have their respective mediums on display and the intentions

004are also playing in the cafeteria as well. On Monday in here the global citizens final portfolio presentations are taking place. And finally National Honor Society is induction is happening this coming Tuesday and 57 new members are being inducted into the Holliston Aristos chapter. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um school committee individual comments? So Frank. >> Yes. Hi, I was not able to make Arts Alive for the last time but I hope everyone enjoyed it. It looks great out there. So congratulations, it's a great great event. Um also if you were missed to say this is our last meeting as a committee before we I guess reorganize cuz elections well elections are on Tuesday so Um specifically wanted to thank Sarah. Um as chair you brought poise uh and respect to this committee. Um you've tackled

005many things this year that were tremendously difficult. Um and you did so without really blinking an eye. Um and then brought us through it and I I truly believe in a much more positive uh light. Um so best of luck on Tuesday and Dan to you as well. >> Um I still super excited about the unanimous vote for the town town meeting on uh last last Tuesday at night. >> Yeah, that was [laughter] like a month ago. was just for the >> So that was wonderful to see. I was a turnout. So thank you to the community for that. There are so many fun events. I There's no way we can actually acknowledge them all. I was at Placido showcase last night, which was fabulous. Got to walk through Arts Saves Lives today. So a

006huge thank you to our staff, teachers, administration because this None of these great events would be possible without you and it is truly wonderful to see our students showcased in all these ways. So thank you. >> I also want to just second that and say thank you to our staff since we met two weeks ago. It was teacher appreciation week and just want to recognize all the hard work of our educators, our teachers through administrators. I also know that the end of the year May and June is like a sprint to the finish with so many activities wrapping up the year, assessments and just want to kind of recognize our hard work. >> So I'd also like to thank everyone for coming out to town meeting. I'd also like to thank Adele for singing the

007national anthem so beautifully. That was that was excellent. And yes, so everyone coming out to town meeting just to support the schools, the school budget, our capital requests, the feasibility study. It was awesome that it was a unanimous vote. I think that it was the the strong showing and how many people showed up that really sort of helped drive that unanimous vote. So it's it's We still need everyone to continue to show up and and and and support the schools even if the outcome is is unanimous like that. Because it just demonstrates the strong support for for the project, for the schools and for everything that we're doing. >> I just want to again reiterate our gratitude to everyone in the town for coming out on Monday and supporting the schools and also how grateful

008we are for our staff, teachers, administrators. So thank you. >> I'll echo all of that. Also shout out to the PTO for really supporting teacher appreciation week. Um I was thoroughly impressed with all of the things they had organized, you know, taking custom coffee orders and delivering them to each room, things like that. It was really pretty impressive and very well done. So, thank you to PTO for that. Um I also want to, you know, thank the town for town meeting. That was wonderful. Um we've got prom on Friday, so I hope everyone has a wonderful time, but please be safe. Plug that. Um and then finally, I want to thank Adele and Luke for being our student representatives this year. I believe this is your last meeting with us. Um you've done a really

009wonderful job and you are also just wonderful examples of our students here. Um You both are super invested in our community. I know, you know, you've organized fun runs that, you know, supporting mental health. You did a wonderful job singing at town meeting. Um we wish you both a very, you know, much success as you move on. I know Luke is going to Tufts and he's going to be majoring in biology {slash} pre-med and Adele is off to Dartmouth um to study neuroscience and a minor in theater. So, anyway, you guys have bright futures and we just thank you for for all OF YOUR INPUT. AND I THINK THAT'S ALL I HAVE. UM OKAY. SO, moving on. The next thing we will have um the students um and teachers from the Japan trip. If you'd

010like to come up to the table and um you know, we can share your slides and we'd love to hear hear about your amazing trip that uh you and 55 students and I think nine chaperones took over April break. So, Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, I apologize. You can stay here. Um we do have public comment um and I I jumped past that. Um Do you have a sheet? Okay. Please. >> Justin Barber. >> Okay. Barber, would you like to come up first and then we'll go to Zoom. And I think we will do a uh for public comment 2 minutes. Yeah. >> You want to join in with me? >> 2 minutes, yeah. >> Oh, I'll do my best. [snorts] Um first I just want to say thanks to uh the school committee and

011Dr. Speranza and Cataldo. Um I know all of you are transiting transitioning to maybe what's next, retirement to superintendent. And thank you, Dr. Cataldo, for coming um here for your year. Um I'm Barbara Ryan, 14 Irving Place. I sent a note this morning. Um there was an article in the New York Times yesterday about test scores um are in a generational long decline. I found it to be informative, but it yet it left me asking more questions about our own district and how actual and reputational excellence or ranking is achieved. Namely, what policies drive and support our building leaders and teachers, the beneficiaries being students um in their ability to create and thrive in an equitable and holistic system of learning. What opportunities are on the horizon for our school system to create and capture

012more meaningful metrics and supportive and supportive of attaining excellence in a positive ranking that represents all learners. While school rankings hold merit for some, why do we continue to place value in some learners and not all learners? AP offerings are good and important, yet in my opinion, they do not reflect the whole system of learning and all of the teaching, learning, and good things that happen in our school system. I look forward to hearing about the trip. Who is driving [clears throat] or will drive conversation around the whole of student data and support systems and policies that support an excellent education for all learners. What are we going to When are we going to take bold action to say that while ranking or AP classes have some merit, what about everybody else? What about the

013work and teaching that happens every day in our classrooms? Why What Thank you. Why not break the ranking mold and create a Holliston public school data-rich metric and a holistic ranking system for all other districts to follow? I'm also not naive to think that the required and regulated metrics that exist today and are especially tied to some kind of local or federal funding would go away. Thank you for your thoughts and for what you do for our schools, particularly administrators, our staff, our teachers, everyone who makes this system go, and especially our students. You are the future. I look forward to any all conversation regarding my query. And I did copy Sarah on this this morning and I specific questions. Um everything from budget to policy to metrics as we move forward. Thank you. >>

014Thank you, Barbara. And I think we have two and maybe two people on Zoom who would like to speak. Um Jess, I know you would like to make a comment, so if you are ready to do that. >> Hi. Yes, can you see me? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Hi, Jess Holman, 116 Locust Street. Um I just wanted to um thank the community um for the conversations that are taking place around Holliston's anti-bullying policies. I know that's on the um agenda for later um this meeting and I appreciate the school committee putting it on there. Um as a parent who's personally experienced the impact of these policies, I'm grateful um that this important issue is receiving the attention and discussion it deserves. I also wanted to share an upcoming event that may

015be helpful for [clears throat] school committee members, parents, administrators, educators, and community members that are interested in strengthening bullying bullying prevention efforts and creating safer more inclusive schools. The MetroWest Anti-Bullying Coalition will be holding a forum that's going to take place on Thursday, May 21st, um from 8:30 to 12:15 at the Verve Hotel in Natick. This year's theme is from awareness to action, addressing identity-based bullying, and it will focus on practical strategies to address bullying, hate, and bias while building stronger and more connected communities. Uh this it's a free event, um and the forum's going to include interactive sessions on active bystander training and restorative [clears throat] practices, offering valuable tools for prevention, response, and healing. More than 100 community members and leaders have already registered, including myself. If this is an issue you care

016about, I encourage you to attend any part of the conversation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else on Zoom that wanted to speak? >> I just have a quick question. What is your regular time frame for public comment? Two or three minutes? And how often do you make that public? >> When someone steps up. >> It it kind of depends on the agenda. We have a really full agenda tonight, yeah. >> Great. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay, if there's no one else on Zoom that wanted to make public comment, we will move on to the students. >> All right. Um so, hi everybody. Thank you for having us. My name is Ben Marsh, and I'm one of the wellness teachers here at the high school. Uh we're here to talk about Japan, the

017trip we went on. So, uh over April break, 55 students, along with nine uh staff member chaperones, traveled to Japan. We uh it was we had a six uh it was six hours to San Francisco, and then 12 hours to Japan. Um so, in a 24-hour period, we had an 18-hour flight time. Um >> [clears throat] >> and we had a lot of fun. We went to three different cities, Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo. And uh we had quite the experience. So, I'm going to turn it over to our students to talk a little bit about their own experience on the trip. >> All right, how's it going everybody? My name is Eli Gershen. I'm a senior here at Holston, and um as you know, we went on the Japan trip uh during April break. Um

018I just want to talk about a few things that happened during the trip, why it was most memorable to me, and um why I feel like future generations uh to come should be interested in uh travel across the world uh from the school. So, um as you know, it was a 9-day trip um starting a little earlier than April break, going into closer to the end of April break. And um during that time uh we spent uh a lot of the time on the plane. It was a It was what it was. It was like an 18-hour flight, as was said. And um it was not fun, but uh everything that came after it was fun. So, um a few things that made this trip uh super memorable to me would probably be um one,

019the food that we ate. Um food is pretty big for me. I mean, I love just like a diverse like um menu. I'm really interested in like exploring the world, so um going to Japan was definitely on my uh bucket list. So, when I heard the school had a a trip going to Japan, I was so excited, but mainly excited for the food and culture. So, I would uh dive in with some of our other student representatives um about their maybe their favorite foods and why. And uh yeah. >> And let me know if you want me to do slides. >> Is this a good volume? Okay. Hi, my My is Cynthia Dinagapondman, and I'm a senior here at Holliston High School. I will say there is not much prepared because when you think about

020it, it's so hard to prepare words for this trip. It was just so remarkable as for students. And again, food was a big thing for us. There is also a lot of cultural aspects that we experienced there. Um, Japan completely different than America. You got It's like a lot quieter, it's cleaner, and as a American high school students who haven't really seen much of the world, it was a really like eye-opening experience for us. Um, integrating into the culture was I It was pretty hard on the in the first few days because language obviously is very different, barriers are different. But just kind of like experiencing culture there with interacting with people who are willing to interact with us as well just kind of helped us be more comfortable with travel. And I think that

021was a really big thing. Um, we experienced a lot of social aspects within ourselves as like we're all seniors here. So, um, this trip was kind of like our senior trip. Um, and kind of having days where we just get get to be around each other even if we don't converse a lot in school. Bonding through travel is such an impactful experience because you're all doing this new thing together, you're all solving problems together, you're all facing these new challenges together. So, um, I just found that really memorable. Do you have >> I mean like moments that you thought nice [clears throat] funny of you. >> Um, so, if you guys were unaware, um, some students brought home, um, not real katana blades because katanas are huge, um, in the culture of Japan and um,

022history from it. So, a lot of the students, um, obviously had to talk to, um, the uh, leaders before bringing home katanas. Uh I don't know if like they're not real at all, but they're very like amazing quality designs and I thought that was such like a great moment because um uh I went on a trip 2 years ago and we didn't have like the freedom that we had on this trip to be able to do stuff like that and um bring home a huge part of history to our to our doorsteps and inside our home. So, I think that was a huge moment. >> Do you want to talk about karaoke? Um so, I'm Summer Huang. I'm also a senior at Holliston High School and I feel like one of the really big things

023that we got to like really bond over was a karaoke night and that was a big difference from here to the one in Japan. It was more like enclosed. We had like all different language songs that we could be singing and we had like a whole bunch of seniors, bunch of juniors, and like sophomores, and like everyone was just like all mixed in that I wouldn't really like know to talk to during school, but then like in order to do that, like we got to be like more connected in a way through like same music taste or like different music taste or just like even like the whole thing in general, which I thought was like really like good to like bond over. Um and we also got like a day to like for like

024mostly seniors and that was like really that was a really good bonding day for especially since we're all kind of going our own ways and next week we're all like leaving high school. So, I feel like it was really good to like um bond together as a class before we all like go our separate ways. >> Yeah. So. >> Um one of the huge moments that I took from this trip was being able to um talk socially with a lot of people I never would. Um there are a lot of people at Holliston High School who are not social people who uh stay in their own direction. They don't talk a lot and I find that to be rough. Like um you know, some kids don't like have as many friends as others and struggle

025to be socially, but I feel like this trip brought everybody together. Everybody was out there making friends. Um you know, everybody was included. You know, uh if someone wanted to go out and get food with you, you know, they don't talk to a lot of people, you'd fit right in. And I thought that was a great thing. Um, also with other grades. So, our trip, we didn't have any juniors in our group, so they were split into two groups. So, it was the senior class and a few sophomores in our group. So, I found myself talking to some of the younger kids in our school. So, I thought that to be really interesting. Um, a lot of the seniors don't interact with some of the younger students. So, it was pretty awesome to be able

026to socialize with everybody, and that was awesome. >> I think in all, it really gave us the confidence to travel more. I mean, most of us seniors are adults. So, especially for us, it was like an experience that allowed us to, again, gain confidence in just like being by yourself without your parents, and knowing who to trust, and knowing the kind of conversations and questions you need to ask. Um, I mean, do you want to say anything? >> Yeah. Um, so, I think it was really helpful for me as well, cuz for my first year, or first semester of college, I'm actually studying abroad. So, being able to do this and have like a little like my foot in the water, like kind of get a little taste of what it's like to be like

027independent was really helpful as well. So, now I can like open my eyes and have more like confidence going into me studying abroad for my first semester of college, especially as a freshman. So, I think it was really beneficial to like have this trip and like open my eyes with solo traveling with like other friends, but like without parents, which was really helpful. >> I want to just really briefly talk about how each day was laid out. So, we had we had these expert local guides who took us around to these awesome different places, who gave us all the information. We had expert tour directors who are from the area, speak the language, um so they were able to bring us around. So, every day there was basically directed learning from a from a local

028guide, but most days the students had a little bit of free time wherever we were. And what we found was that that was the best learning time for the students. They had to be in groups of at least three or more, but they were able to go find lunch on their own, find a spot that they thought looked good, communicate with what they wanted. They they had to practice all these different skills that we see in our vision of the graduate here at the high school, um and I think it was a like a direct translation over. Um Dr. Cusack, could you go to that first slide really quick? Um as we finish up here >> The first >> Can you go to the the Yeah, the top one. So, um this trip honestly couldn't

029have gone better. Like I What We couldn't have done anything different to make this thing better. And if if we look at the slide for a second, obviously that's Mount Fuji. Um You They We were told that uh you're able to see this less than 90 days a year just because of the weather and the cloud cover. Um so, as we were like arriving before we could see it, our tour director was like, "Hey, you might not be able to see this thing." They He he uh he brings tours there all the time and like they can't see it and it's kind of a bummer. That's what we got to see. So, that was kind of like the story of our trip. Everything worked out for us. It was like honestly an amazing trip or

030once-in-a-lifetime trip for me, um and I think so for a lot of the students. Not I I'd love to go back, but I think a lot of us that might be our only time. And the fact that we were able to provide that opportunity for them through the Holliston Public Schools, I think is an amazing thing. So, a couple quick thank yous. The first one goes to the school committee and central office and our high school administration for supporting trips like this. Obviously, we can see the development and growth and learning that these students can experience through trips like this. So, we really thank you for continuing to support these trips. Um the next thank you goes to the parents and guardians who are supporting these students financially and I I just in general. Um

031that's a big task for them, but they have the confidence and the support of their student um and the trip obviously can't run without our our great parents and guardians supporting. Uh and the last thank you goes to the students because this trip was incredible. We had zero problems behaviorally, anything like that um and it's all down to them. This trip was the best it could be because um they they were so resilient, courageous, um curious, and all of those things kind of pulled together to just make this a wonderful trip. Um so, thank you guys. We're going to miss you. Uh and the last thing I want to say is we want to just continue providing these opportunities for the future generations coming up to the high school. Um and that's what we plan

032to do. So, Lacy Hale, who's an adjustment counselor, who was kind of the main driver on this, the other group leader, uh her and I really hope to continue um with these trips to keep providing these awesome opportunities for the students. So, um we just really thank you for your time tonight. Uh we had an amazing time and uh we can't wait to travel more in the future. >> Let me show them the other pictures here. >> Yeah, sure. >> Can I just ask were all those photos taken by the students themselves? >> These are all student photos. >> Amazing. >> They're beautiful. >> They look very professional. I have to tell you your photos are excellent. >> Unbelievable, right? Like we were seeing these in real time and I would turn to students and

033be like, are you kidding me? Like this is you took this thing? And they were they quickly edited into that. I'm like, what? My photos do not look that >> [laughter] >> So, I I showed my wife all of these photos. Um but just on that last slide, we had a lot of awesome experiences. Um yeah. Where um where we were all together and we just built such a great community together that on the on the final day it was it was emotional for us to have to like say goodbye to the trip, especially for me. Um so it's just incredible overall. So, thank you again. >> It looks like an amazing trip. So, really pleased you were all able to share some of it with us. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Do you guys

034have any questions for us before we go? >> No, thank you so much for coming. >> I would say one last thing from all our students. Um this is like the best group of teachers and leaders we've ever asked for. I mean uh we didn't have a single problem. No one ever gave us like, you know, like a reaction or anything. Everybody was so nice um and Mr. Marsh and Ms. Lacy Hale, who I think is watching right now, >> [laughter] >> is the you guys are the best leaders we could have ever asked for. And thank you for giving us this opportunity. I don't think um as you said, we'll ever be able to go on something like this again. So, thank you very much. >> We'll never forget it. >> Yeah, never. >>

035Thank you. Yeah. >> Thank you, guys. >> Thank you. >> No, I think we just go this way. This way has ice. So, it has to be, you know, because they have around the edge stuff. Do you have enough or do I need to go down further? >> I think we need seven. >> Yeah, I was thinking that's what I thought. Enough, really? >> You can move that way. >> Okay, so if you want to bring this up? >> Yeah. >> Very excited to have the curriculum team here tonight. Um unfortunately, our high schools and community [clears throat] specialists could not be with us tonight, but we do have everybody else here. They will reintroduce themselves as we're going through the presentation. And we will There we go. So, you can go to the second

036slide, please. So, we're going to be talking about They're going to be talking about interventions first. And just to remind you, they have brought this up in previous presentations. Can you go to the next slide, please? Oh, no. No, I'm sorry. Is that it? >> Yes, please. >> So, um we're using i-Ready and i-Excel. Uh we're using MCAS scores, teacher input and data. At RAMS, we're using term grades. For literacy, at Placentino and Miller in grade six, we're using DIBELS, um the eighth edition, and we're using other literacy screens at Placentino and Miller. For math, we're using math recovery at Placentino and Miller. Placentino also uses hidden number assessment. Placentino and Miller both use math topic and module assessments. It's through Eureka Math Squared and some other um resources. And then finally, at the high

037school, we use common assessments as additional data to determine interventions. We're next going to move on to Placentino literacy. >> Hi, I'm Jenny Mann. I'm the Placentino humanities curriculum specialist interventionist. I'm going to talk a little bit about literacy and math intervention and what that structure looks like K to 5. It's quite similar at Placentino and Miller. Much much of what you've heard in previous presentations. So, at Placentino we run small groups daily. Miller, the groups run two to three times a week. The groups are run by some part-time interventionists as well as the four of us, Chris and myself, Caitlin and Ashley. We provide 20-minute groups during Placentino at Placentino during the wind block, which is the what I need block. So, that's the structure of that is such that kids are not being

038pulled during new instruction. So, they're not missing new instruction in the classroom. Similar structure at Miller, 30-minute blocks. We work really closely with classroom teachers, special educators, and multilingual learner teachers to make sure that students who might need that extra support, who are multilingual learner or on an IEP that we're able to flex them into that schedule. And again, ensuring that they're not missing core instruction in the classroom. And progress monitoring happens bi-weekly, weekly, or monthly depending on the level of student need. So, these are This is just an update on some of the impact of our intervention this this far this year. So, in literacy we have throughout the course of the year, This is a cumulative number. We have provided support to 105 students. Um currently at this time, we have uh 60

039students being serviced. Um about 30 have exited intervention. And any student who exits intervention is uh progress monitored regularly to make sure that the skills are being maintained. Um 13 who have exited intervention because they qualified for an IEP with reading goals. >> Um and in math over the whole course of the year, we've serviced about 113 kids. Um we have about 65 currently being serviced and that we are still down one tutor. Uh interview next week, so hopefully we'll be staffed. Um we have 12 students who have moved from intervention towards the watch list, which means they're progress monitored by myself and their classroom teacher. Um and then we also have had 32 kids who have officially exited, which means they're not being progress monitored anymore cuz they've made enough progress to enter back

040into their tier one fully. Um we have had nine kids that have qualified for an IEP with math. >> Excuse me a second. Sorry to interrupt, but I just Can we go back to that slide for a second just because I I think I just want to make sure that I get this into context cuz it seems pretty So, 105 or 113 students um not IEPs, just in in not not on a special ed plans. And this is about a 500 kids at Placentino or so, right? >> Yeah, I think there's like 600 at Placentino. >> I don't know the number, but but either way, so roughly 18 to to 20% of the kids is is what the the number of students that you work with this year on on intervention. I mean, that's that's

041to me just incredible, so um that that is fabulous. >> Exactly. >> So, thank you very much. >> Wait till you see the results. >> [laughter] >> No, but I just wanted to comment on the numbers because >> Yeah. >> That's that's >> Yeah. There's something to see the cumulative number first. sure. >> The model is obviously working the way you want it to. We thank you for all of you. >> So, we have some data for you to speak to the quantitative impact of our intervention. So, this is a snapshot of some of our i-Ready data. Just to orient you a little bit. So, you've got a band for each grade level, the beginning of year BOI, so that's the beginning of year test that was given in September, and then most recent is

042stacked on top of it. I personally find that a little confusing, so just take a second to to take a look at that. In general, we saw some really positive trends here. So, this domain that we're looking at here is phonics, which is obviously a very crucial um area of instruction and something we've really really been focusing on at Passantino. And so, for kindergarten, you can see beginning of year we had 75% of students who tested as one grade level below. That number went down to 38% mid-year testing. Grade one, similar trends. 69% were one grade level below at the beginning of the year. That went down to 35% middle of year. For grade two, there were 23% of students two grade levels below at the beginning of the year and that went down to

0438% at middle of year. Um and then increase in the in the positive direction. So, beginning of the year we had 36% of students who were mid or above grade level and that rose to 53% middle of year. So, overall really positive trends and we're you know, eager and excited to see what our end of year data looks like. >> What's the date on your most recent >> So, it was January 2026. >> Okay. >> So, I say this every time just for community sake. Beginning of the year represents literally at the beginning of the year, not for the year where that >> Correct. So, beginning of the year would have been September 2025 and most recent, which is what how it's coded on i-Ready, was January 2020. >> they're evaluated at point of the

044year. >> Yes. >> Cuz that's where the numbers really I think show for themselves. >> Yeah, I don't want the community to be worried that 13% of kids are in the green at the beginning of the year cuz that's grade level standards. We would not expect them to. >> expectations. >> Yep. Um and a similar graph for our math data, except I'm focusing on the numbers and operations domain of i-Ready, which is that number sense, which is huge down at Placentino, and builds their foundation for the rest of their math life. Um so again, similar trends. Um if you look at the yellow column, those are the kids who are not where they're supposed to be when we start the year. Um so we want that number to actually get smaller in the most recent

045column. So all three grades, it got significantly smaller. Um but what I also really like to and wanted to mention was because we're implementing Eureka Math Squared at Placentino with some really good data to show, I think it's also important to point out that the dark green, which are the kids who are above level, is also going up. Um so it's not like just the kids who are behind are growing, everyone is growing. So I think that's important. I know it's not intervention related, but it's because we have that really good curriculum being implemented at Placentino. >> Thanks all of you for putting that together. >> I'm Caitlin Kinsky. I'm the humanities uh curriculum specialist over at Miller. So um we have for literacy this year, we provided 100 level 111 students with intervention for

046literacy, and 36 of those students so far this school year have exited. Three of those students have been picked up for an IEP for reading. >> No, go ahead. Um and I'm Ashley Bouchard. I'm a specialist over at Miller. Um, similar to Placintena, we had about 107 students for math this year picked up. We also had a period where we didn't have a tutor. Um, so our tutor came in November, so the data that we're going to show you in a bit is really exciting because he worked his magic from November to January. Um, in the beginning, thanks to the alignment that we have now with all of the specialists, um, Kristen and I do a really nice job communicating as do Jenny and Caitlin. And I was able to do a jumpstart group with

04723 students at the start of September as soon as we started. 13 of those students were exited. So when they took their benchmark, they were showing, you know, right where they should be at the beginning of the year with concerns coming in for Placintena, so that was awesome. Um, November to January, we had about 69 math students being serviced and then now we have about 77 students being serviced, so the numbers are going down, which is what we would expect. >> That's awesome. Pretty good work. >> Okay, so I used a similar chart as [snorts] Kristen and Jenny. So what I did was, uh, this is the i-Ready scores and similarly in the different grades, we see at the beginning of the year, you know, we had 20% of students in the red, that has

048now gone to 10, um, eight down to six, five down to four, and then we've seen a lot of students move towards, uh, the green for grade three. Same thing with grades, uh, four and grades five. So I mean, we've seen a lot of great growth trending and just the fact that, you know, I thought it was important to point out that 119% uh, we've seen 119% growth. >> Yeah, so that's the median the median typical growth, so half of our students on intervention scored 119% growth or above and the other half scored 119% or below. So that was our median growth data set, which is phenomenal. >> It's phenomenal. >> They over 100%, which mid-year you're hoping to get 50. So, just to put that into perspective. Um for math, the data I focused

049on numbers and operations and algebra and algebraic thinking. The first part bubbled out in purple is our beginning of the year data. And then if you look at the second part on the graph below bubbled out in purple, that is the data with our new math support tutor from November to January. So, I felt like the graphs were very powerful cuz you could see the red shifting to yellow and the yellow shifting to green. Um we made a lot of growth in algebra and algebraic thinking. And I think this is also turning to with our curriculum and the support of our teachers and all of us working in unison, it's producing really great results. Um and I put some side notes on the side if you want to peruse the mic at your own on

050your own if you'd like. Um just some highlights of the data, but I think the graph speaks for itself of the trends in the growth in our students. >> Hi, I'm Katie Conahan. I'm the literacy um coordinator and interventionist at RAM. Um this first slide is just a review of our format at the middle school. Um a shift for this year was that we moved executive functioning support to on team tier one. Um so, Carla and I are only focusing on literacy and math intervention [cough] specifically. [clears throat] For literacy, I work with small groups of two to four students um during the UA and RAM's blocks. Um and we only see students one time a week and that is a shift from the elementary school where they typically see students two to three times

051a week and that really just comes down to scheduling um and the constraints that we find with the schedule. Um Carla works with a full-time math tutor, so she is able to assign students at a one-on-one or one-to-two level during the same block of time um for once a week, and I think has a couple students who've been up to two times a week for extra support. >> So, students who haven't been making progress, we've been referring them to a SAT team where we work we speak with the classroom teachers, we work with our special ed department, and determine whether they need testing, whether they need additional intervention, and then so far we've only had two students that have gone through that process and have been moved into a higher level of intervention. >> Um

052and then in the top right corner, you can just see our total numbers of students for this school year, so that includes um kids who've been exited as well as kids who maybe um entered in later on in the the year that we grabbed after your teachers brought concerns forward. Um So, this is the impact um that I'm seeing in the literacy intervention. Um please remember by the middle school we switched from i-Ready to IXL, so it's a different format of testing. Um the two graphs on the left I can't see that far. >> That's okay. >> Um the two graphs on the left are from IXL, and um they're on the across the bottom, you have the amount of growth they've made. So, all this data is beginning of the year, September 2025, to

053middle of the year, January 26th. Okay? That's [clears throat] about 4 months. And so, within that 4-month period, how much growth have students made? Um so, a few kids have made no growth, a few kids have made 1 to four months growth. Um but most kids have made five months to a year worth of growth within four months of intervention. And a handful of kids have also made one to two years worth of growth in that four months of intervention. Um so how that translates to the graph below is how many kids are below expectation of their growth, how many are meeting expected growth, and how many are at an accelerated growth rate. And you can see that most kids are hitting expected or accelerated growth rate. Um and the reason that shifts a little

054bit is that one to four months in the top, some of those kids if they make three to four months worth of growth, that that is expected, right? Um likewise, once you hit six, seven, eight months of growth, that starts to shift over to accelerated growth rate. Um so that's the um two graphs on the left. The one on the right is I introduced um continuing the Dibbles um oral reading fluency and maze comprehension with sixth grade only this year. Um and I'm only sharing the maze um report cuz that's really what I focus on during intervention time. Um and so what you see is the red is again fall, September 2026 25, sorry. And the green is winter 2026. Um and so at the beginning of the year, we had a um about five

055students far below grade level for comprehension. And an additional two for below grade level. And by winter, no kids were far below grade level. And although the grade below grade level is larger, it's because kids have moved out of that far below and into the below grade level. But even still, it's less, which means I had several kids move from [clears throat] far below to on grade level. Um in that comprehension range. And so most kids are on grade level and we have a few at above grade level. Um and so that just kind of shows a little bit of what I'm seeing with the work I'm doing. Um we focus a lot on comprehension. By middle school, it's not just literally understanding what the text says, but what's being suggested beyond the literal um

056statements and so making inferences and how we support that with textual evidence. Um and pulling in our background knowledge, vocabulary understanding. Um so those are the big pieces that I work on um in my intervention time. >> So I won't go over all of the IXL details again, but it is through till January. Um we don't have in in a couple of weeks we'll have our May data, but unfortunately we're doing >> Actually start next week. >> Yeah, we start next week. So um but I have the same two IXL based charts um that Casey did. So the first chart says how much growth they made in years. We had eight students who made no growth, eight students that had one to four or had expected growth. But then a whole 30 have made accelerated

057growth and some of our students have made up to three or four years of growth. What we are doing in math is different than what they're doing in ELA. Our kids get an individualized plan based on little mini assessments that they take in each each topic area. They identify where their gaps are and fill those gaps. Also, our math tutor goes into math classrooms. She knows what's happening in classes. She knows when our quizzes are and splits the time between filling gaps and also working on study skills and practice for those students to keep up with their current work. >> Do you feel like I'm having difficulty hearing with that mic or is that mic >> Let's switch it up. >> I think you need to hear us down there. >> Yeah, that's good. >>

058I don't need to hear you. Just [laughter] be careful with the wires. >> Not hearing me is a first. >> You and me both. >> [laughter] >> When they go into the the classroom, are they just helping the kids that have been identified Yeah, that's what I'm >> So, when the tutor goes into the classroom, first of all, she wants to see how the teacher is instructing in instructing so that she can mirror some of those same things when she's working one-to-one, and she works with the whole group. She works with anyone that needs assistance. >> an extra benefit of that. It's the way of doing it, so that's nice. >> So, intervention at the high school was sorry >> I'm sorry, I just I don't know what you want to I just I'm just

059curious. Are you you able to meet with all the students who are identified as having need? >> Every single one we've been able to meet this year. >> So, there's I'm just it's it's just interesting. Are they doing such a great job that by the time they get to the middle school, there are just less students there? >> That's the goal. I mean, that's our hope that it should get less >> Okay. >> as we're moving up. Um honestly, a lot of our kids in intervention are kids that are from outside district um that have moved into district, and uh we see that often. >> And you could see the numbers in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, they're going down at a steady trend. So, it means we're it's working. >> Okay. Awesome. >>

060I think you're going to see a big difference, too, when we adopt a literacy curriculum because then there's going to be set standards and set resources and we'll talk about that a little bit later. Okay, so intervention at the high school looks quite different as you guys all know. This is currently what's going on which could change next year. Um, not sure but right now they developed a National Honor Society to the group um, working with ninth grade students which has gone really well. It's just a small group but it's been offered on Wednesdays. It's general math support. Um, and they have found it's been very effective and a lot of times students respond very well to other students, right? So it's a nice support. Could you go to the next slide, please? They also

061have an academic development center and those students are referred by school counselors and um, in term >> [clears throat] >> three and four they were supporting nine students. And um, Joel and Leah, Joel is the uh, humanities curriculum coordinator and Leah the STEM curriculum coordinator. They had other responsibilities so they actually work with students um, that the students for the academic center that I just mentioned. They work with curriculum, professional development, MTSS planning. Um, they worked on the first education for department leader training and they worked on both September and March PD that they did some presentations. They also were quite instrumental in the ask uh, visit that I would think is that being reported out? >> So yes, we um, we just got a draft and so we will soon be able to share

062and then you know, we had to read through it so it'll be it's going to be hot off the presses very soon. >> Go to the next slide. So just to give you a quick update about curriculum maps. I just want to remind you the whole idea behind curriculum maps that they can they require continuous revision because they're focused on results rather than content delivery. So, what is happening is this continuous improvement where the teachers implement a unit, they gather evidence from the students and see where the gaps are, and they make adjustments to the maps. So, right now our courses have completed UBD mapping stage one except for the following. All the other people are working on stage two and three and you're just going to see that as a continuous cycle as it

063should be. Moving on. Ida? >> Hi, I'm Ida Pantes. I'm the unified arts curriculum coordinator, which is many different things. Um, in the past I've talked a lot about world language, so I'm going to pivot a little bit and talk about some of the successes we're seeing in performing arts and the celebration of your support of our band program. [snorts] So, what you're looking at right here, we did a little deep dive as to our population who are taking band 4 through 8. Um, and back in during COVID times, band kind of crashed out because obviously we couldn't blow on instruments and and have our spit valves all over each other. So, so we I I opted to start at 21-22 just so you can sort of see the climb here. When the school committee

064supported the full-time band person shared between Miller and Rams, you can see the impact immediately. So, where he This is George Wegman. When he came in in 2023, he came halfway through the year, but by the next year when we started implementing band in the day, the school day, well, let's just face facts that fourth grade you don't get tons of choices in your day, and so it was a choice, and a lot of people took him up on that. So, you can see immediately 111 students opting to take band, and we can start seeing that next year it's just continuing to grow. We're looking at maybe 130 students in fourth grade taking band. A lot of schools would love to be able to say that. So, um and the reason I show you this

065graph is because they're coming they're coming to the high school, right? And so, we need to we need to be ready for them. So, the next slide I have is uh how we're preparing for them to arrive. Um uh-oh. >> Can we just go back to that slide? I just just think it's something worth highlighting. >> Yeah. >> Um this is really awesome. And as you said, it is going to have that sort of follow-on effect as it goes into the high school. Um and so, this is I think this is exactly what the administration and we were hoping to see >> Yeah. >> Um >> And it does help that we have the original Pied Piper of band. >> [laughter] >> In fourth and fifth Yeah, fourth and eighth. He's just phenomenal, and kids

066love to be with them. So, um you know, I I I'm assuming it would happen anyway, but you know, he he he makes it a special place, and then they want to continue in the middle school, which, you know, it's a safe environment. I always tell parents uh band is a instant friend group, right? And so, it's a safe place to, you know, park your kid, and they have work together in teams, but there's not, you know, to talk all the time if you're very shy. Um and as I get into RAMS in sixth grade, it's just a safe place, and so, we that's how we're also seeing the um continued enrollment. >> And you have the same teacher throughout the entire time. And we're doing the same chorus, right? >> Yes. Yeah. And And

067chorus is a little different in that we don't have chorus in the school day in fourth and fifth grade. It's after school. It's an elective. Um but we do have the same person. So, you know, it And it got off the ground late this year. So, I think that next year >> [clears throat] >> um it started in late November. Only because there was a contract issue about like how do we share this person when the school days started at different times. And so, as they ironed that out, it's great to launch something at the beginning of the year, you know. So, we I think we we had a little bit of a stall, but I do believe that each year you'll see the same growth in in the core program. >> That's awesome. And

068certainly let us know if there's anything that we can do to support you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. All right. But, I'm a little nervous cuz my slides had all kinds of great stuff and >> was just saying maybe go to the next slide and then go back. Sometimes it's just a delay but cuz I can see it. I can see it on the agenda so it's >> Yeah. All right. Well, I'm I'm going to talk about it. >> you stop sharing and see if I can try cuz I'm seeing it so. >> I'm seeing it. >> She's going to ask you to click on something else though when you get there but >> I got it. >> Okay. >> I had a quick question. >> Yeah, sure. >> This previous slide that you're

069on. >> Yep. >> And yeah. >> I'm not I'm not running statistics on this but it seems like the fourth graders that started retention is better. I don't know if that's true. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Um Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know. >> Oh, there. I have it. All right. >> Great. You have it. Do you want to Do you want to drive? >> You tell me. Yeah, I can drive this car. >> All right. Let me You have to stop driving. Anyone? >> I don't think you have to. I think I bumped you out. I bumped you out. This is me. I took charge. >> Thank you. That's right. All right. So, if you can see that it's well, it's color coded.

070I did try to make it at least easy on your eyes that way. What we were trying to do in the high school arts program is to create pathways. So, my husband teaches at Berkeley and we have students from Hollister in his classes right now. So, there are people who are coming from our school district and making a career of music. And so, we wanted to just formalize so that they know what courses to take. And so, what we did was and I think we did a remarkable job. I'm celebrating our team is that we thought about what would they need to be successful when they get to college. And so, we broke it down into three pathways. The top one is an instrumental performance pathway. The middle one is instrumental choral pathway, vocal pathway.

071And the bottom one is an a instrumental music technology pathway, which you can now have computer as your instrument in college. So, that's fascinating, isn't it? And then for each of these streams, we have we have courses that they should take that are not just in performance, but also in theory, in history, and in business. And I think that really gives us a really well-rounded student that can enter and really hit the ground running for their careers. And then off to the left, you can't see it's very tiny, but these are all the general elective courses that any person can come and go from. And and then underneath it are prerequisite lists. And I I really want to take this kind of look at the visual art program because I I did start saying, "Oh,

072I wonder if in the visual arts we have some like art history. Like is that is there a piece of that? And should they have pathways where maybe they take some technology, you know, our technology?" So, anyway, that has inspired me to about next year. >> neat because I we see it for math or you know, some of the other more traditional, but it's really great to have a pathway for for >> It is. >> people who want to follow that direction. >> And that's a lot of students' passions, right? >> Yeah, absolutely. And they don't know what to take. >> Right. And and it's also And gives a well-rounded >> It's very well that's exactly what I was going to say. It's it's for you all to understand that in order to have if

073we can go to that next slide if you don't mind. Um in order to have that well-rounded we really do need two teachers. Like it's an impossible to get a well-rounded program with one one human being trying to hold it all down. And I think because we're changing the schedule, students will have the option to select some of their interests, right? And to actually give it time where it's not just a taste of guitar for seven weeks. You know, you actually are going to dig in for a semester. And so there's going to be a lot more content that we'll need to deliver. Um so at the bottom or at the top it's like I I I designed like a year one and a year two so that we could cover all of the courses

074that we proposed. And then down at the bottom I highlight how we could use a what you know, each person um and um you know, and how they would basically toggle um I'm getting dizzy. >> [laughter] >> Anyway, I wanted to just highlight that these two people, you know, they have to have broad skills cuz you're covering literally every single thing from AP theory to really dense uh history to playing a guitar and a piano and you know, and every instrument. So anyway, um so that's what I focused on this year to celebrate our performing arts. If you could go to the next slide. All right, you're going to need to click on a link at some point. Um so last time that I was here um I was talking about website work and I

075was using uh uh uh world language as as sort of the vehicle. And the reason um I was talking about it is because through curriculum review we had really articulated vertical streams and wanted parents to know even if you're in kindergarten, you can sort of see where you're headed. And what I also discovered was when I tried to do research seeing what other schools do, it's very difficult for me to to collect data because you have to go to each school, you know, you're clicking on 22 schools or whatever trying to gather and put it all to make sense. And I really thought that for parents, stakeholders to find everything they need under a department heading is really really helpful, I think. And so I proposed it to Jody, we made out the world language

076one so that we could articulate what French immersion meant from K to 12 and also what class Spanish meant. So this time I worked on the wellness website. I don't know, can you >> Which one is >> link at the bottom. Maybe maybe uh >> There. Is it down there? >> No. What does she need to >> It's covered over the top. >> Wellness >> It took me to the website but >> It's the top box. >> It's the Well, it's not anymore. I added a link. Oh, that's because I have the old one. I'm sorry. All right, can I drive again? >> [laughter] >> What are you implying? >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not even sure what I'm doing. Here we go. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Uh okay, do I share Okay, here

077I am sharing. Sorry. I didn't mean to make it complicated. >> [laughter] >> Okay, here we go. Right here. Okay. And let me present. Okay, now you can see better. Yeah? Okay, so this is the wellness website. So this is first of all the this is our teaching and learning page. So the way you get there, just telling the audience out there in the world also, is you go to our teaching and learning page and at the very bottom there's a link for academic departments so that we can see um, all of our choices. So, I'm going to click on this little link here. Nope, that's not it. Oh, boy. What happened, Ida? What happened? >> You're back at the beginning of the slideshow. >> How did that happen? >> This is still good. >>

078Why don't you just walk us through it? >> Okay. >> You can just tell them about it. >> Right there. >> Just delete it. >> Nope, it won't let me. Sorry. >> Just Just tell them about >> I am I'm going to get to it. >> Yeah, if I don't get to my spot cuz my brain is working. Okay. So, in our world language or our wellness, um, tabs inside the website, um, that if I could just click that link you could see. Um, one one is, um, so that you can find your teacher. So, it was interesting when we did, um, a mailing, uh, parents had to put their their teachers' wellness, um, or their child's wellness teacher and they they really didn't know who they were. So, this would have helped them. They

079would have been able to go to the district website and be able to click, um, who are the instructors and then their faces and their names and everything. Um, and then there was elements of our curriculum review in there, etc. But, the most important thing that I wanted to highlight, and this is, um, this is becoming very important with, um, our new standards, is there a sexual health standards that have come out in our, um, our new wellness standards, um, have specific requirements of us to alert parents of the curriculum and have the option to opt out. And so, all year we've been working to articulate what, um, first of all, know our obligation to to share letters to parents that share the information, tell them where everything is that they may want to review,

080and then to have an opt-out place where, um, we can see what, you know, what specific lessons they want to opt out of or they want to opt out of a unit and to tell parents that your child will not be There it is. Yeah? There it is. Okay, so that's the first one is the frameworks. You keep scrolling. >> How many ways you want me to go? >> Uh down down down down down. Um yep, keep going. So stop All right, so right there are tabs. We have our vision statement. Oh, click on the programming sequencing because I made a pretty little That's old one. Sorry. All right, never mind. >> [laughter] >> You can delete it. >> mentioned the opt-out forms, those are all here. >> Yeah. Yeah, they look different cuz I

081needed some help with Kim in the office to help me Anyway, it looks better. The real one, if you go to the real website and look at it, looks great. Anyway, there's it tells parents what the options are, what are required courses, what are elective courses when you get to the high school, and then at the very bottom of it it is just a place where people can go and see how we're handling our our legal obligation around sexual health, um communications, and opt-out forms. And I thought if I were a stakeholder or a community member that I would want it easy to find and not have to dig through schools and maps and all kinds of things. So that was really my impetus for that website. Okay. And then we go on to Can

082you click the next one? >> slide if you want, yeah. >> I don't know who's driving. >> I don't either. >> [laughter] >> I'm on the very last one. >> I'm done. >> Okay. >> That's me. I'm done. >> Okay. >> Any questions? Anyone have any questions? >> Can I Can I just make a comment cuz this is something I mean there's been a huge amount of progress. When I arrived, I remember once we got school open shortly after mid-September, early October, I then was saying, "Where are the curriculum maps?" And there was a lot of work happening in silos, but we couldn't find them. And everything on it was I was back to it you showed up a year later and I was like because I have a Quaker background I I like we

083need to get this going but I I'm really amazed at the amount of work all of you have done and all of our educators as well and it just it's does my heart good to see that work cuz I think the more we do that and then have it manageable for our teachers it's going to help them with the students along as well. So thank you all for that. >> Uh okay, I'm going to start this slide but we're all going to kind of chime in when you talk school. Um so as you know we were in the middle of a science curriculum review um a couple years ago that did get paused so we restarted it up this year. Um so just an update from Placentia. Um we met a whole bunch of times

084this year. Um I only have the two science teachers at my school cuz it's a special. Um so we did a lot of work trying to narrow down our high quality instructional materials, trying to decide what we wanted to pilot. We actually got it down to three options. Um and then just trying to schedule the PD and get a real sense of the unit it just wasn't going to fit into this year. Um so we are scheduled the PD is already scheduled for next year. We have our three options chosen. Actually the pilot materials are already in the building ready to go. Um so we should have a decision for you next year. >> And for Miller we also started out we met up several times. In Miller everybody teaches science. So with the curriculum

085review happening with ELA it did not make sense to move forward with science because our teachers would have been on overload and it would not have been good. So we decided made sense to pause um and kind of look at the big picture maybe the ELA curriculum had a science component. So we're we met we're pausing right now. We're going to roll out ELA and then we'll come back to it next year when we're all kind of calmed down after the initial roll out of the new ELA curriculum. >> For Rams, we have been on a mission because we have not had a curricular resource for some time. So, we have met regularly. We reviewed DESE's with this new team. We did have our our schools are split into separate teams this year, which was

086different than the full district together. So, the new folks on our team, we spent the first couple of meetings getting them up to speed on DESE recommendations and guidelines. Um we looked at all of what makes HQ the high-quality instructional materials, looked at the options. We had uh reps from each of those options come in and present. We are currently piloting our favorite option along with one other soft pilot to kind of give us a little bit of a comparison, and we are hoping to have the recommendation done for June 11th of this year. >> So, the capital funds that you guys were so um generous in approving would be used for the Placentino and the Rams. So, everything will not be brought forward by the end of the school year, like Carlos said. We're

087hoping to bring Rams forward on June 11th, and then Kristen would come back in the fall, but those funds would be used for both of those. High school's on pause just due to the schedule change. Um that's the end of our presentation, but I just wanted to thank, first of all, uh Dr. Costa for building this team, and it's just been my honor to work with all of you, and I'm going to cry, but I'll try not to. Um this team has been amazing, and from where we started to where we are now is incredible, and it's due to the can-do spirit you all have, the collaborative spirit, and uh we just kind of dug in together, and you guys were willing to do it all, and I'm going to miss all of you very

088much. So, keep on doing what you're doing, and I look forward to checking out all the amazing things you do next year, too. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Ditto. >> Is there any other questions? Cuz we're going to move on to ELA if everybody's all set. >> Yeah, go. >> Is everybody else set? >> Oh. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah. >> No, you're good. >> I just want to learn more. So, thank you very much for the presentation. I think that really sell There's so much to celebrate in there from the performing arts enrollment to the amazing growth of students, the number of kids at Miller and Pasantino and Rams that you highlighted who made accelerated growth of more than a year of growth just in the first half of the

089year is amazing. So, thank you so much. I just had a couple questions, actually. Um So, I appreciate looking at the iReady and the iExcel data again. I know that we did look at it in February, but I think it's a really good reminder for us and for the community of the hard work and the importance of the intervention program. I'm curious if you can say a little bit more. You mentioned progress monitoring measures. So, kind of what does that look like in between those three assessments a year? How are you monitoring kids? How do you know when and who [clears throat] to move out of those interventions? And kind of what does that data look like? >> Yeah, I can speak to that. So, at Pasantino, we've taken a really collaborative approach. So, progress

090monitoring happens. So, reading tutors and myself complete it, classroom teachers complete it, special educators complete it. We've really sort of taken that on all together, and we determine, you know, student by student, but depending on the level of need, how frequently the progress monitoring will happen. We use DIBELS as a progress monitoring measure. Um, we also have the Amplify uh DIBELS data management system, and so we're able to, you know, record data on our spreadsheets, put it into Amplify, and run reports, and those are shared with parents on a regular basis. Um, so for most students in intervention, for example, we we have two data points per month, um, which, you know, especially this time in the year when you're you have, you know, almost a whole school year's worth of of data is really,

091really telling and incredibly useful in SAT meetings, um, you know, conferences with parents, IEP meetings, you know, progress reviews, things like that. Um, and something that we're, you know, always working on and trying to fine-tune, but I think, you know, we've made a lot of growth in and something we're really proud of. >> And for math at Placentino, um, that hidden number assessment that was listed is um it's a cardinality check. It's actually a fun game for the little kids. Um, so that's done with all the kids who are in intervention and all the kids who are on the watch list, um, at either the beginning of a round or at the end of the round, depending on timing. [clears throat] We don't want to do it like right after a vacation. That's never a

092good time. >> [laughter] >> Um, but also I've been on the hunt for a progress monitoring tool that is also MLL friendly, um, because that is actually quite hard to do for the math I've been finding. Um, so I use the math recovery assessments, um, for certain kids, but not all because they are more time-consuming. Um, but math recovery, um, just came out with a new progress monitoring tool, so we were hoping to try that next year. Um, and we also use the topic tests in Eureka. So at the end of every module, they have a test, which is given in the classroom, but um, there's some really great questions on there and concrete, um, questions. So we talked I talked to the teachers constantly about how they're doing both on the test and in

093class work. So, we use that kind of in math as well to see where they're at. >> In math at grams, it's a little different than ELA and it's a little different than I read. >> IXL is more dynamic. So, depending on how often students are stepping into the arena, which is their their testing area. Some will have updated scores before others. So, I usually do at least a monthly check to see where our scores are at. Some kids who've made enormous growth, we want them back in their arts class as soon as they can go back to their arts class. So, as soon as they show that progress, we release them back to art class. Um we also use our pre-assessments and every skill that they practice on a on IXL, they get a

094smart score for. So, we have that as well as a second program, which is math fact lab. A lot of the kids struggle with fluency still and that's almost always the baseline of where their difficulties are coming from. So, for those who are struggling with fluency, we use math fact lab to to to monitor their progress and release them from the math fact lab once their fluency is where it should be. >> Okay, I skipped you. >> That's okay. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. I totally skipped you. >> [laughter] >> Can I just let you go? >> Yeah, you did. >> You did. >> Okay, let me go. >> I don't really have a lot to say. So, it's it's tricky at the middle school level because I see them once a week and we're

095really trying to read on grade level text. I'm not giving them um leveled text. I just don't think that that pushes them to read at grade level when you work at a below grade level in an intervention. Um and so by the time we roll around to the three-year benchmarks, um that's about when I'm ready to see how far we've come because we need to do a skill several times and sometimes that takes several weeks to get through. Um so I do a lot of gradual release where we'll model, you know, here's our purpose for reading. We're going to look for um we did a a mystery story. Um but we're going to go back and we're going to look for foreshadowing and how is the author hinting at the reality of what's going to

096happen at the end um and helping the kids make those inferences and tie it to textual evidence. And then by the end of the reading, I'm backing off and asking them to do a lot of it independently. So it's that gradual release of the skill and then monitoring their progress that way to see if they can apply it. Um and I do I can check IXL, but um in between benchmarks, it just gives gives ranges for scores. So it's nothing's pinpointed anymore. Um but what it does tell me is if students are working on their IXL in the on team time and if they're making progress or if their scores are staying kind of stagnant. Um and so sometimes I work with kids to do some IXL practice and to talk about um almost like

097the test-taking aspect of it all, too, because some students, while they're working on reading comprehension, the IXL format is also challenging for them. Um and so it's kind of tackling those two pieces. So my progress monitoring is a work in progress. >> Um over at Miller for math, um I also use the ADM assessment. Um we're unique at Miller as opposed to Passantino cuz at Miller, students take the assessment on paper then they input their um answers online. So it gives us a a um more in-depth view of standards that they're mastering versus ones that they're partially meeting and it directly correlates with our report card as well. Um so which is really nice. We also use teacher feedback. Um I work directly with my tutor. We're always working together cuz I'm pushing into classrooms

098and we're talking about, you know, what's going on kind of like what Carla had said. And I was also at a recent DESI um PD where they brought up Eureka Math Squared uh a year or two ago. Came This was after we purchased the program. Has a supplemental program called Math Squared Catalyst Math Palace where it has progress monitoring as well as intervention materials. So I've been recently diving deeper. I've been working talking to our special educator, our SST um person at Miller and kind of diving deeper to see what really that could provide for us um because we're we're kind of making it as as we go and making it work for our students. It's working but it would be nice to have something that directly aligns with Eureka Math Squared. So again, work

099in progress for our progress monitoring. >> [laughter] >> So at Miller, we also use DIBELS for progress monitoring just like they do at Passantino. We DIBELS the students based on whatever skill they're working on in intervention. So uh my tutors and I when we develop our groups, uh we do eight to 10-week cycles per the dyslexia guidelines and so every eight to 10 weeks we're adjusting the groups whether it's exiting students or readjusting them to figure out what skill they need to work on. Maybe they're moving from working on phonics to working on now vocabulary and comprehension or their fluency and accuracy. So, um yes, so based on what they're working on is where where their progress monitored and then students that are working on phonics, it's twice a month. And then students that are

100working on fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, it's just once a month um for the progress monitoring. But my tutors also have just anecdotal notes that they take and things like that. So, we're constantly meeting and talking about the growth of students and whether or not they're making progress. All of the DIBELS progress monitoring is done by myself and my two tutors. Uh the classroom teachers do not do any progress monitoring at this time. That being said, uh we're hoping that in the future we can move move toward that when the time feels appropriate and we're not so overwhelmed with, you know, a new math curriculum and potentially a new ELA curriculum and all that things that stuff. Um but yeah, so that's how we do it at Miller. >> Um I was wondering too about the

101uh academic development center at the high school. Um so, it look like there are nine students supported in that. Is that the model to have like a really small group in that or is that just the number of students that were referred by [music] guidance or kind of public safety? >> don't know. I can tell you one thing, a lot of it is the schedule. Kids created such limitations. So, I'm the hope is that now this new schedule is going to free up the opportunity for more kids. And it's been challenging assessing the kids too because of the way they have year classes. So, the benchmarking is very challenging. This is another validation for having full year classes. Like they can get the benchmarks and then they can get the progress monitoring. So, I know

102I don't have to convince you of the value of this team um having been a curriculum director in a previous life. I didn't have a team underneath me at all. I was one district curriculum person. We didn't have interventionists. I had great teachers that worked. I would sub out to do the curriculum work, but the interventions clearly are what's moving this work as well and making it meaningful to the teachers. So, I don't think that there's any thoughts of this going away. Um however, we do see many districts struggling and having to eliminate roles. I also, you know, looking at the high school model, I'm hoping that now that the high school when the high school schedule gets in place, you will be able to come up with an opportunity to to refund roles that

103will then help move that work forward with the NEASC and all the equity audits we've had. I think that's a really critical piece right now and there was a lot going on as we get into next year, but I do think that this is a real opportunity to find a creative way and I thank all of you for letting me come in and it was challenging. There was some resistance to change. It's hard. Um but I coming in with the curriculum lens myself and I know Kimo and obviously Dr. Minaud have that background as well to see where we've gone by kind of reinventing the model with the with the great people we have. It's it's really come so far. It's so nice to see some of the before I exit to be able to

104see all of this work happening in real time and you did such a nice job tonight. And then really just having to I had to blow up job descriptions and create new ones and you you I mean, the job description's a paper copy, but being thank you for letting me do all of that work and put together a new team and obviously we were very fortunate to have to find such great people in those roles. So, that would be my advice as an exiting superintendent that I hope the high school now gets an opportunity to take back into that work cuz that the schedule has really created so many limitations. So, once next year settles down, that would be something I would prioritize if I were here, Kimo. So. Thank you for my two cents.

105I'm loving my >> We all set? >> Just one more question here. The interventions, Gina, that the the elementary school, do that Does that include preschool pre-K kids? >> K. >> I'll ask one more question if you don't mind. How is it do you um is there a difference in approach with we've got Montessori and French immersion and traditional? I'm just curious how are you able to work with all of those different >> Yeah. >> So, you're seeing kids in from all of those different >> Yes. >> It's driven by our lunch times. So, the Montessori groups generally have lunch at the same time. So, we're able to pull students. And then if you need to separate by grade level or based on need, um same thing with French. So, we're able to see all

106of our students. >> Ms. Lawson, do you know what's >> So, we have lunch times as well, but um they're grade level based, not program based. So, um you know, we have, you know, a first grade group and their skill the groups are skill based. Um so, a first grade group working on phonics, right? That might have two traditional students and a Montessori student in, right? So, they're just integrated >> Mhm. >> Um I will never forget interviewing for this job and admitting to the interview committee that I was really curious how, you know, as a non-French speaker myself, how I was going to provide intervention to French immersion students. Uh I'm so, so proud of the work that we've done in this area. Um still don't speak French. I don't know if you're in

107our in the program, but uh we have learned so much about uh language acquisition and what that looks like in the immersion classroom. Um we have an incredible tutor who is the in between the literal saint, Magda. >> Thank you. >> Ms. Lawson, Ms. Miller. So, she provides intervention in French >> Mhm. >> That's excellent. >> so beautifully and then we're able to provide both Kristen and myself um intervention in English um based on what the students need and really have learned about, you know, which pieces we're going to be targeting. So, on the English side or on the ELA side, I should say, we're doing a lot of phonemic awareness work, right? We don't want to confuse them with the letter sounds because they're different, I've learned in French. So, building that foundational box,

108one of those foundational bricks, I should say. Um And and math has has taken a similar approach. So, yeah. >> I will say I enjoy playing Combien y a-t-il, so I I took French, did not make it through AP French, not going to lie to you. But, I am able to say some key phrases from my time there, and um I'm also really good at telling them to march, which is walk in the >> [laughter] >> Um but, I do play the hidden number assessment. I go in and I progress monitor the French kids cuz I can play it with them in French. Um also working on counting past 120. Couldn't remember all those ones, but I can count up to 120, so I do have some French kids who are getting English math support.

109Um so, I try to put them with me so that if they do answer like automatically with a French number, I can differentiate what was correct versus incorrect. Um and then, Magda and I work very closely together. She's always in my office borrowing activities. We talk about the goals for the French kids um in their math support. Um and we do sometimes, and I know Jenny also has sometimes, we have some French students who are getting both French and English support in either or both. Um so, they are whatever they need is what they're getting. >> That's great. >> Do you have to commend Jenny because when I first started, every I you know, new to this role this year, and I got her list of students, and she had pinpointed, you know, the French

110version students that she had concerns about, and I was able to do the Jumpstart. And and obviously, these students are actually multilingual learners, right? Because now they're learning how to read in English. And so, when they come to third grade, it's a very unique opportunity where they've been learning how to read in French and all of a sudden, okay, now you need to read in English. And I'm sure that they've been doing a little bit of that at home, but the phonics instruction is a little different, right? So, giving them a little time to settle in, but also having Jenny's students making sure that in my jump-start program, I was giving intervention to the students that really needed it and were previously flagged was so helpful so that by the time, you know, the students

111settled in, they received some full class instruction and we were picking up those French immersion students in December, you know, it was only a few more students that needed to be added. So, I really commend Class Activo for their great job with their intervention over there. Even though the students aren't only learning in French, they were able to flag some students that were showing that they might potentially have some weaknesses when we transfer over to English. >> in both literacy math and then we flag them. And so, I wanted to speak on that um because it is amazing we're able to start with kids immediately. This year was the first year that we were Last year we were developing the program, this year we had it. So, we were able to start with those kids

112right away. They were able to especially coming into sixth grade when it's a new schedule, new building, everything's overwhelming. Start that routine from the beginning was wonderful. They'll know who to look out for, who to ask teachers about um if they were kind of on the cusp and we weren't sure. I would love to see that continue on into the high school. And um just because it's been such a benefit as we work together with intervention. >> And they do an amazing job. They get together a lot on their own. They're feeding person, you know, like Jenny would get together with Caitlin and then Caitlin would get together with Casey. You know, so they work with each other to make sure that they are well aware before school gets out of who is on there

113should be on there right now. >> Thank you so much. >> something too? I just think it's really important to attribute the skill of all of these people because the fact that the number of students at the younger ages are beginning to learn so much better that it it's clear they're doing with fidelity and as these students rise instead of struggling through first, second, third, fourth and then trying to figure out where they are in fifth, these students will now have such an advantage over past students because of their talent that I I'm really pleased because so many of those students might have wound up on IEPs and now they're going to be in their general education classroom learning with everybody. So my hat goes off to you because your talent is so obvious here.

114>> And I think you should you can foresee that some the numbers in special education will drop as a result as we get that tier one model in the new literacy program. >> We've noticed this year as compared to last year our number of SAT meetings as a team meetings have drastically gone down. So we're catching all of our students in tier two. Last year it was like every week we were meeting and this year it's been just a handful which has been really nice. So we've noticed the impact of that on special ed as well because we're catching them. >> So thank you for bridging those gaps. >> And we're also hearing from teachers every ounce that actually you don't really have anyone else to bring. >> God really believe that. >> Would have

115recommended. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're now going to move on. Do you want to go ahead and drive again? >> I don't know who should drive. >> You didn't think I would. Well, it wasn't me. I was trying to enlarge it but don't don't we'll take the credit. >> [laughter] >> So So we are moving to our ELA curriculum review and they're going to really spell it out and take you through our two-year journey. And we are going to ask you for a vote tonight. >> We have a packet for you so we will We need to stretch our legs. >> [laughter] >> If you don't >> I I may or may not have asked Jody if I could stand during this presentation and I was told no. This is

116our This is our body break. >> We probably could have differentiated it for you. >> Sure. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> I think I'm missing a few pages. >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> Just share. You can have a second one if you want. So It it is the length of a of a short book. It's that good that we felt that you needed it. Um so hi everyone. Thank you so much for listening to us this evening. Um we are so so excited to share the final recommendations from our ELA curriculum review. This is a process that we began over two years ago and so it feels really exciting to be able to share our journey with you and as well as make our final recommendation. Next slide. So I want to acknowledge

117um the amazing members of our curriculum review committee. They're listed here alphabetically along with their roles. As you can see, you know, we intentionally included teachers across grade levels, across programs, special educators, ML teachers, Montessori teachers, French immersion, admin, and felt that this was a really dynamic group that participated really enthusiastically in this process. And so, really, really just want to thank all of these people. And it's it's a large group, as you can see, because this work did span over 2 years. So, a lot of voices were part of this conversation. So, this is our final timeline. You've seen iterations of this as we've given periodic updates over the time that we've been in this curriculum review. I won't go through every part of it, but it's now broken down at a pretty high

118level of detail starting in January 2024 and and ending now. And so, the four phases that the timeline takes us through, phase one, learn and prepare, phase 2A, investigate, phase 2B, select, and then phase three, launch. And so, you can see some of the different highlights there. So, sort of talking about our initial stages of developing our vision, you know, taking a market landscape, applying for the DESE Prism Grant last May, and then really the crux of our work started this fall. So, you can see once we get into September 25 on a monthly basis, you know, real significant amount of work done. Um, and I'll I'll get into all those details as we move forward, but this is here for you to review. >> Can you admit Barbara on your screen? Go ahead. >>

119Um so our vision statement is something that we are really really proud of. This is was one of the first things that we started working on when we met you know, January 2024 and sort of just talking about, you know, what do we feel that ELA instruction at the elementary level should look like and feel like? What are our core values around [clears throat] that? Um and so we've workshopped this quite a bit. Um we, you know, got feedback from our partners at School Kit. We'll talk about that partnership in a little bit, but they were very helpful in helping us think about not just, you know, sort of in Holliston what's our what's our vision for elementary literacy, but thinking about students, teachers, parents, um community and and all of sort of those stakeholder

120groups. Um and so I won't read the whole the whole bit of it, but you can see that here. A few things I want to highlight. Um we wanted to we felt that all students in Holliston deserved a curriculum that was grounded in the science of reading, which you'll hear more about um with the goal of every student becoming confident, skilled, and joyful. Um explicit, systematic, and strategic instruction, access to quality grade level texts, and equitable opportunities for engaging high-quality, meaningful literacy learning. Uh and as a result of that, students becoming confident, proficient readers and writers, and critical thinkers who can effectively communicate and apply their literacy skills across diverse contexts. Next slide, please. So speaking of the science of reading, I just want to make sure that our community has a little background on

121what the science of reading is. So first of all, I want to talk about the simple view of reading. So basically, it's a multiplication equation, right? So, in order for us to have reading comprehension, we need to have strong word recognition recognition skills and strong language comprehension skills. If we're missing one, then we're not going to have reading comprehension, right? So, the word recognition skills is like the those phonics, that morphology, right? Um and the sight word fluency. So, when we're talking about the word recognition skills, uh if a student is unable to read those words, they would have a score of zero. Even if the student has such strong vocabulary and can understand everything that is being said to them, they can describe things, so that would be a one. It's still going to

122equal zero. They're still not going to have that reading comprehension, right? If a student has extremely strong decoding skills and they don't have that background knowledge, that vocabulary knowledge, that ability to understand the text that they're reading, then they're not going to have any reading comprehension. So, that's just a basic overview of the simple view of reading, and this is just some of the science This is just some of the science that has been around since the '90s, honestly, but it's just more so coming to light now and just being talked about more now in the literacy communities, especially with the dyslexia guidelines coming out and all of those things. So, to go a little bit more in-depth, this is Scarborough's Reading Rope. So, it talks more specifically about what language comprehension and word recognition

123recognition is. So, it kind of goes through all of the bands underneath the language comprehension with background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, etc. And then word recognition, phonological awareness, which for those of you that don't know, that is the manipulation of sounds, right? So, for example, if we're talking phonemic awareness, if I said c a t, you should be able to know that that's cat. All of those sounds blend cat. If you can't do that skill, then you won't be able to read that word, right? Same thing with spelling. If I say cat, and you can't break that word into act, you won't be able to spell, right? So, that's a very big foundational skill for reading. Um and then decoding and that sight word recognition. So, as you bring all of these bands together, you

124become that skilled reader. And that's what the image of this rope is showing, that each individual strands of this rope comes together to make a strong skilled reader. >> [snorts] >> So, now that we kind of talked about what the science of reading is and kind of what that means, we need to talk about instructional practices in the science of reading and what that looks like, right? So, I have some examples and some non-examples here. So, if you look at this image, basically, word recognition is the foundation of the reading rope, and without it, students don't have the ability to read or comprehend text. According to the science of reading, the best way to teach word recognition is through phonemic awareness, explicit and systematic phonics instruction, and building accuracy, automaticity, fluency, and comprehension through the

125use of connected texts. So, that's Connected texts like, you know, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, a whole story, right? So, anytime that you're seeing more than one word together. Um so, on the right, you have the non-examples of teaching reading. So, this includes the emphasis on the wrong uh phonological components, um encouraging guesses of words through context or pictures, and trying to increase automaticity over accuracy. Obviously, accuracy always comes first. We want our students to be accurate before they're automatic. We also don't want our students to be guessing at words. We don't want them looking at at a word, seeing that it starts with a C, and then looking at the picture and being like, "Oh, that word must be cat." Right? That is the That is a non-example of what we want for word recognition. So,

126then also with language comprehension, another very important piece. So, making sure that our read-alouds are complex, they have high vocabulary, making sure that it makes our students well-rounded. So, provides knowledge in all different areas. Also, making sure that they're developing, you know, robust conversations about these narratives and they're using inferential language. And then, obviously, explicit instruction in grammatical structures and academic vocabulary. So, what does this not look like? Assuming that just because a student can speak clearly that their writing is going to be good, right? We need to explicitly teach those grammar skills in order for students to be able to combine sentences and things like that. Actually, in fact, the um MCAS just came out and said that they're now going to be having in grades three, four, and five uh questions, language questions

127specifically on combining sentences, specifically on identifying adjectives and verbs, because that's something that our instruction has been has been lacking, because we haven't been explicitly teaching it. So, they're trying to really make sure that they're putting an emphasis back on, "Hey, we need to explicitly teach these skills to our students." Okay. So, what we did as a team is we evaluated our current resources, right? So, um Fountas & Pinnell Classroom was purchased between 2019 and 2020. There was uh a curriculum review was completed, but it wasn't fully done the way that we did it now because of COVID. So, what happened was, you know, they started the review, they went through a lot of the processes, but they were not able to complete it due to COVID. Um they were not the materials were selected,

128but the implement implementation of these materials was also significantly impacted by COVID. Um So, also in Um so, in February 2025, sorry. In February 2025, what what uh Jenny and my counterpart, what my predecessor did, uh was they sent out a staff survey. And the results of the staff survey were very interesting in the sense that there were teachers that were saying that due to the science of reading, they were trying to find resources to fill in what was missing from their curriculum, right? So, teachers were going to Teachers Pay Teachers, teachers were going to, you know, all different websites, Super Teacher Worksheets, whatever they could find to try to fill these gaps of what was missing in instruction. Teachers were not using the same materials across grade levels. There was a different amount of

129time being spent on literacy instruction across grade levels. So, you know, for example, there could have been two first grade teachers, one said that they spent 30 minutes on phonics, while the other one said they spent 10, right? So, it was a lot of inconsistency with the data that we were receiving. Um teachers, I also think that it's important to be noted that teachers um found that one of their biggest struggles was time. That they didn't feel like they had enough time to really teach literacy. That there were some behavioral concerns. That sometimes behaviors impacted it. Um But I think one of the biggest quotes from this, where did I go? Okay. There were two I want to I want to just highlight two teacher quotes from this. So, a fourth grade special educator said,

130"It is essential to have a structured multi-sensory phonics, decoding, and encoding program taught in sequential order for all students in the general education setting to give them a solid foundation starting in kindergarten. And a second grade classroom teacher reported, "There is inconsistency across grade levels with materials and support, and the review team should consider following research and science-based curriculum." So, these were just two of the of the many quotes that I could have pulled from the survey that was given in 2025. So, what happened was with School Kit Sorry, I'm not done yet. >> It's okay. >> Um >> There's a lot lot of information I need to say about one slide. Um so, what happened was with School Kit, we did walk-throughs this fall. So, um School Kit is our curriculum team. Jenny's going

131to talk about them more in depth. But, basically, it Sorry, not curriculum team, our um consultants. Thank you. Jenny will talk about them more in depth. They're fabulous. So, basically, what we did was we walked through all the classrooms K-5, and we observed what was happening in the classrooms, and we just made notes and observations, and we found that what we were seeing in classrooms was supported what we saw on the surveys. Teachers were using different materials. Teachers were spending different amounts of times on things. There were different things that were emphasized in different classrooms. So, again, it's Our educators are phenomenal, and I don't want anyone thinking that this is the educators' fault. It is not. It's their They know that the science of reading is very important, and they're doing their best to

132try to support their students in the best way that they know how. So, I really want to emphasize that. Um so, the last thing I'm going to talk about is the EdReports. So, if you take a look um basically, what EdReports is is it's very similar to Curate. I I'm sure we've talked about Curate before. Um but, it's gives free reviews of pre-K to 12 instructional materials. So, um I just want to emphasize that in the Fountas and Pinnell classroom, specifically the foundational skills unit, um they their foundational skills received a 55%. Whereas Amplify CKL A, their foundational skills received a 90%. And Amplify CKL A is the program that Jenny and I are going to be talking about with you today. And this is just what their score is out of 100 on their

133ability to instruct students in foundational skills. So, I think a 55 to 100 to me speaks volumes. Sorry, 55 to 90. Um, next slide. >> So, one of the most powerful conversations we had with our curriculum review committee was around this article, The Opportunity Myth. That is the first article in your packet that is quite long, but really really impactful and I encourage you to read it over in your non-existent spare time. Um, this was an article that was recommended both in our work with the DESE Implement Network as well as from SchoolKit. And so, basically to sort of sum it up for you before you've had a chance to read it, um, it's a really in-depth study that speaks to the importance of teacher expectation um, and rigor and exposure to grade level assignments.

134Um, and so, we read this sort of jigsaw style as a committee and then had a really really powerful discussion about it. And I mean, the the conversations we were having around the importance of rigor and and what that means and what that looks like were incredible. Um, and so, echoing some of what Caitlin said about our walk-throughs um, at the start of this school year, um, when we during these walk-throughs, what we noticed was that what was happening in classrooms wasn't necessarily meeting the level of rigor necessary in order to demonstrate proficiency on the math state standards. We saw lots of engagement, strong relationships, positive classroom culture, passionate educators, uh but vertical alignment and grade level assignments were not obviously evident. And the two infographics included on this slide uh speak to, like I

135mentioned, the importance of exposure to grade level topics um as well as uh the power of teacher expectation. All things we've heard about before, right, as people who have worked in education, but um I think just really hit home for our committee and this was really a grounding um text in in all the work that we did this year. Next slide, please. You may remember last year we mentioned um that we began participating in the Implement um Mass uh Dep- Mass- Desi Network, excuse me. Uh this year we continued participating in that, so that was a monthly meeting. Um this was held by Desi and included districts all across the state doing curriculum reviews um at all grade levels across subject areas, and they just provided an incredible amount of education and structure and information

136on how to go about this process. So, a few things that I want to highlight, um I can't touch on all of them because we met monthly and so they were so so full of information, but um one of the first things we talked about was curriculum literacy. So, you have a handout on that in your packets. Um we talked about this with our committee and sort of just understanding what does that term mean um and we gave a curriculum literacy survey to our committee members, and as a result of that survey, it was determined that the areas of need were around understanding the Curate rubrics, which I'll speak about, as well as the culturally responsive curriculum scorecard, which I'll also speak about. Um and so this just gave us a really clear sort of

137path of um instructionally what to focus on with our committee because this the purpose of this committee was not just to select a new set of materials. It was also like a group of instructional leaders meeting regularly and so it was a really powerful opportunity to have these conversations. Um And so we will discuss more of that as we move forward. So as we began the process of evaluating potential curriculum resources um the Curiate reports uh really determined how we were looking at different sets of materials. Um So I should back up for a moment. Last year um myself and Elsa O'Brien, who you may remember, Caitlin's predecessor, we met with many many surrounding districts um who were also in a curriculum review or had recently completed one to just have um you know, with

138our our job-alikes basically to just have an honest conversation about their experiences, resources that they used, things that they learned along the way. So those were very very helpful. Like I mentioned, the curriculum literacy survey gave us a very clear sense of what were the areas of need within our committee. And so then the these uh EdReports, like Caitlin mentioned, those ratings, the 55 and the 90% as well as the Curiate reports gave us some real quantitative data when when looking at different uh resources and some common language and sort of a common rubric to use. So I've included here um a snapshot of the Curiate ratings key. And so basically this is how These are the four different levels of uh success that a program can gain on any any given area. So if

139it meets expectations, partially meets, does not meet, or not applicable. Um and these CURATE reports are very thorough, you know, 20 to 30 pages, and they go into detail. So, under standards alignment, talking about text quality, classroom instruction, foundational skills, and then talking about classroom application what under classroom application, excuse me, student accessibility, teacher learning, teacher usability, and impact on learning. Um and so we spent a significant amount of time as a committee diving into how to read these reports, reading so so many of these reports across different sets of materials. Uh next slide, please. Another area of need defined in the curriculum literacy survey was uh knowledge of the culturally responsively responsive ELA curriculum scorecard. Um you have a copy of this as well. It's the last packet in your larger packet. Um this

140was developed out of NYU um and is a really incredible resource that we leveraged many times throughout this process. So, it's it's a a rubric designed to think about the cultural responsiveness of different materials. The sections include one on representation, so it's thinking about, you know, who's represented, not only characters, but authors, that piece. Um social justice and teacher materials. Um on the screen here I've included just a small snapshot of the teacher material section. Um so with once we had sort of started to narrow our list of materials, this was something that we, you know, put each of those sets of materials up against. And so Amplify CKLA, like Caitlin mentioned, is what we're going to be focusing on with you this evening. So, according to the CURATE report, um they reported that there

141was an exposure to diverse range of perspectives, varied linguistic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. They did mention that So, the way that CKLA is structured, there are knowledge for K to 2, there are knowledge units and skills units. The knowledge units range across a variety of social studies and science topics. So, they did make note that in the some of the kindergarten knowledge lessons, there were some inaccurate stances around treatment of indigenous people, the Taino indigenous people, and their depiction of Columbus as friendly. Also some inaccuracies around Thanksgiving as a celebratory feast, and that's something that we really focused on in the past few years is, you know, teaching accurate, true, hard history as difficult as it may be. And so, we were very glad to see that those specific topics were removed from the third

142edition, which is what we're recommending to you today. So, this this said to us that Amplify CKLA was very responsive [cough and clears throat] to the feedback provided by Curate. And, you know, personally, these are this is something that Caitlin and I feel really passionate about, so we're very glad to see that they recognized the need to make this shift as they updated the materials. >> And when Jenny and I noticed that, I mean, we both dove a little deep into the materials. And I just think it's important to note that anytime there is a subject that could be sensitive, for example, in second grade, they have a knowledge unit on slavery. And so, there is a whole multiple multiple pages for the classroom teacher about ways to present slavery, to talk about how slavery

143did not just happen in the United States, but it's happened all over the world, to talk about the the that there is unfortunately still some slavery that does happen in parts of the world. So, it kind of really details all of that for the classroom teacher and make sure that they have the true accurate knowledge of whatever unit that they are talking about and also talks about appropriate ways. Um we looked at the materials and they are very appropriate for, you know, a second grade student. But just making sure that the educators are aware of this history and making sure that they're they're going into that unit full with the full knowledge that they need to have. >> So, in taking you through our process a little bit further, um so we determined sort of

144district parameters and then district priorities. So, the parameters were sort of those non-negotiables, right? So, these were some of the first conversations we had as a committee. So, we were looking for materials that could span K-5 um because we were awarded the Prism Grant, which we were so so thrilled about, there were of course certain, you know, qualifiers that we needed to uh follow. So, that included looking at HQIMs, which stands for high-quality instructional material, uh that were on the Curate Approved list, and there were six of those total. Um and then of course budget. We of course needed to take that into consideration. And then the priorities are sort of those difference makers, right? So, this sort of uh connected to that instructional vision that we spoke about early on in the presentation. So,

145teacher materials that were easy to customize and implement, clear instructions but not scripted, right? We felt our committee felt really strongly about that. Um curriculum that included a variety of rich culturally relevant texts, um including both fiction and non-fiction, aligning to grade level writing expectations, clear robust PD, uh and curriculum that was not reliant on the intense use of technology and limited the amount of screen time that students experienced during their ELA block. We want kids reading real books in their hands. Next slide, please. So, this work would absolutely not have been possible without our incredible partners at SchoolKit. Um so, we have uh Chrissy Guillory, Stephanie Jackson, and Rachel Johnson. We are so grateful for them that we included their beautiful photos on this slide. Um this was part of our work with the

146Prism grant that we got this coaching from them. And so, this sort of takes you through our our work with them throughout the school year. They came and spent two full days with us in October, and we spent a full day at Placentino and a full day at Miller getting to spend the entire day in classrooms, which was incredible and something that Caitlyn and I don't often get to do. And it was so, so eye-opening. Um they provided uh PD for our committee on what HQIM are, right? And how to how to sort of um evaluate those, um what those sort of look fors could be. You have in your packet um this document, Research-Aligned HQIM Look Fors. This is developed um based on the Achieve the Core um instructional practice guide. So, this was

147a really helpful document for our committee as we were just starting to research what was out there and what what was on that sort of curated approved list. Um in January, we had an additional PD session with them where we were narrowing. We actually had um sample materials. At that point, we had narrowed it to three different sets of materials. So, we were able to spend um half of that PD day as a group really getting our our hands on the materials, looking through them, using this rubric as a sort of grounding grounding piece. Um Caitlyn and I got to work with Rachel um to have a session on internalization and learn more about that. And that's really going to be um the a key part of our work moving forward and having teachers understand

148what lesson and unit internalization looks like and how that's applicable regardless of a specific curricular resource, just best teaching practices. Um, we at the end of two both of our pilots, which Caitlin will talk about in a minute, um, they came and conducted walk-throughs with us. So, we used a common rubric to do walk-throughs at the end of each pilot and be able to compare those two. Um, and then next week we will be hosting them for a strategic planning, um, implementation planning meeting. That'll include, you know, Caitlin and I will have the day with them and that part of the [clears throat] day will also include time with with admin. Um, both building and district level to make sure that, you know, whatever we're able to move forward with, that it's a successful, um,

149implementation. So, really, really grateful to them. >> So, I have I have this one. Uh, so for the piloting materials, we ended up narrowing it down to Wonders and CKLA. So, basically what we did was we used the Crate reports to narrow down the selection to three potential pilots. Then we explored those materials, we did kind of our research, we looked at reviews of the different the various curriculums, and then we used the HQIM look for pages as we were looking through these materials as well, as Jenny mentioned. Uh, then we voted on which two and we came down to Wonders and CKLA. So, basically what did that look like when we were piloting? Well, we made sure that the publishing companies provided PD for our classroom teachers that were piloting the materials for both

150Wonders and Amplify CKLA. Uh, we also made sure that there was unit internalization that was provided by uh, Rachel from School Kit for the teachers that were piloting as well. So, whatever unit they were piloting in Wonders, Rachel did 1 hour of unit internalization with the teams for Wonders, and then the same thing with CKLA. Um additionally, Wonders was uh piloted for 3 weeks, plus an assessment was given to students, and then CKLA was piloted for 3 weeks and an assessment was given to students. So, as you can see, we were trying to be as even as possible with these two curricular resources to make sure that all of the uh notes and things that were gathered were were very true to the resources themselves and not the experience of it. Um so, during these

151piloting during these piloting processes, teachers took notes uh about Wonders while they were piloting Wonders and then CKLA while they were piloting CKLA. Uh Jenny, Rachel from School Kit, and I did walkthroughs for Wonder and CKLA as well so that we could see what it looked like in the classrooms while it was being implemented. Uh students were given a survey. The student feedback was fun to read. Um for Wonders and CKLA. Teachers were given a survey for Wonders and CKLA. One of my teachers told me recently that they're a little surveyed out. Um and then families were also given a survey uh at the end of the piloting. So, we had we gathered a lot of information. So, then what um Jenny and I did was we synthesized all of this information, we presented it

152to our team in a final meeting. Uh we also reviewed what the science of reading is, we reviewed our vision statement, we reviewed what consensus is, and um we reviewed what high-quality instructional materials are. And then we had a very robust discussion about pros and cons of these two curricular units. And uh sorry, uh curricular materials. And what was wonderful is teachers were very very honest. And we're we're going to be honest, there is not going to be one perfect curricular resource out there, right? And we were honest about that as we were talking about it as a group. We've been honest about that all along. We want to be honest about that with our community, right? So, our goal is to find something that fits majority of the needs of our community, right? And

153that is a high-quality instructional material. And so, um after all of that discussion, we voted on Google Forms and um if you can Uh and we we voted on Google Forms. I just want to Uh on the next slide is the piloting teachers, so I just want to make sure. So, these teachers did so much additional work in order to do these pilots, and I really really want to make sure that we thank them because they spent extra time after school. They spent actually they spent their prep time doing all doing different things, right? To to prepare for all of these this unit implementation. They were part of these conversations, and they really took this very seriously. And we had about two teachers from each grade level, and I really just want to thank all

154of them and make sure that, you know, they are noticed for what they did and the efforts that they put in. Um and then before we talk about CKLA, >> Yeah, so before we go into more detail about our our recommendation, that recommendation that we'll be making will be for um traditional Montessori classrooms K-5. Um of course, we need to discuss French immersion and preschool as well um because at La Cañada, we are fortunate to have our youngest learners in Halstead. Um so, I'll start with that. So, we are in the process of completing a condensed but similar process in terms of uh looking at different resources. We're working with Catherine Jakes through AIR and the Department of Early Education and Care. Um School Kit is supporting this work as well. So, myself and Catherine

155Jakes and um our school kit uh folks have been meeting to talk about different resources for preschool, looking at these rubrics, and some, you know, specific pieces that we've been focused on are, you know, materials that are hands-on and developmentally appropriate. We were fortunate to have a really passionate preschool educator on our larger committee, and so she, as well as any other preschool teachers that are interested, will be brought more to this process as we move forward throughout the school year. But it's really exciting to see that sort of the standard of, you know, looking at a rubric that defines high quality and also, you know, breaks program down to such a high level of detail exists for for preschool curricula. At this time, given that preschool is using Eureka Math Squared for math, we

156would be looking at a literacy specific resource, not there's some preschool resources that are comprehensive across subjects. We're not looking to replace Eureka Math Squared, we know that that is a recent adoption and and going very well. So our focus is on the literacy piece, and we will share updates with you as we have them. With regard to French, as I mentioned, my daughter is in kindergarten in French, so this is a personal a personal passion of mine. We felt that, you know, thinking back on the math curriculum review process, there was a lot to be learned. They did an incredible job, but with regard to the French piece, you know, we were very clear from the beginning that especially given the fact that this is literacy, you know, we weren't going to find a

157program that we could just translate into French and have taught in French classrooms, right? >> [snorts] >> So that being said, I'm working with the world language coordinator from Milton. Milton Public Schools also has a French immersion program, as you probably know. And so she has been incredibly helpful, um, and they are also in a curriculum review, so sort of doing that work side by side. Um, and so our current thought is this. The what the exploration that we're doing is really mostly for Placentino because the resource that were that will be used at Miller uh, is the main the Sorry, it's been a long day. The resource that we're recommending K to 5 will be used at Miller on the English speaking side of French. >> Yes. >> So, in thinking about a resource

158for French immersion classrooms at Placentino, just as you know, those classrooms are taught in French throughout the day. So, um, there is an incredible program called Sonographe, which is basically the, um, equivalent of UFLI Foundations, if you're if you're familiar with that program. Um, it's a very research-based science of reading phonics and phonemic awareness only, so it's not a comprehensive program, but a very, uh, well-respected program in French. Um, it's free, which is wonderful. Um, and so Dr. Slaney and I have been discussing, um, you know, the importance of a really thoughtful rollout of those materials and not just, you know, handing French immersion to them and asking them to run with it because we're certainly not doing that for other other programs. Um, we will be looking at piloting resources from Sonographe next year

159with the French immersion teachers and having them give feedback. We also need to find an accompanying resource to support vocabulary, comprehension, writing. Um, Aaron Snyder and I work very closely together, um, as well as, um, some consultants that the French immersion team has worked with in the past, Dr. Ken Lockhart. Um, and so this is this is a work in progress, but it's something that we felt was important to really take our time with, and so we will definitely share updates with you as we have them. >> Okay, so that being said, uh, our recommendation, or I should say the committee's recommendation, the uh, literacy committee of teachers that we provided at the very beginning of this uh, slideshow or whatever it's called. Uh, it's been a long night for me, too. Uh, so our

160recommendation is Amplify CKLA. So, it scored all of the discs were filled in on the the curate report. Um, our teachers that were piloting found that it was an almost unanimous vote for this particular curriculum material, and it's based on foundational skills. It has explicit systematic phonics and language skills, knowledge skills, um, immersive content domains in history, science, and the arts, and it provides teachers with 100% aligned materials, eliminating the search for resources fatigue as our teachers have been experiencing as we as Johnny and I mentioned, we saw it in the walk-throughs, we saw it in the survey. They have been looking high and low for materials, and this will help them focus instead on the searching of materials, and instead the implementation of these materials to make sure that they're providing high-quality instruction. Um,

161the great thing about this is it's equitable and accessible for all. So, it has decodable readers, and it has built-in scaffolds, including but not limited to differentiation that provides challenges for students that are already on grade level, uh, supports for students that might not be on grade level. Um, it has different boxes. I have a an image of it up here where it tells the classroom teacher where they can give MLL or EL reading or writing support. So, it tells specific suggestions even from like the emerging student to the transitioning student to the bridging student, which is fabulous. So, it helps the teacher with that. Um, it has additional support pages. The this specifically is for K to 2. They have additional support pages at the very end of each one of their units to

162tell teachers more help that they can give with whatever skill is being addressed at the time. For grades 3 to 5, they have skill books. So basically what it is is if the students are struggling with a very specific phonics skill, it actually goes all the way back to grade one in these skills books, but it has grade three high interest content, right? So the students won't be re- working on grade one decodable skills reading a grade one decodable. They'll be working on grade one decodable skills reading grade three decodable, right? So it's just more high interest and it doesn't feel like you know, baby reading for those upper elementary students, which I do think is very important for buy-in for students. And then also it has pausing point days for intervention and enrichment activities,

163which is all provided by this curriculum. So basically what it does is at the end of the unit, it tells the teacher, "Okay, now you're going to have three pausing point days." And during that time the teachers review whatever assessments they gave and they said, "Okay, these kids got it. I'm going to give them some enrichment. These are the students that maybe were struggling with this concept. This is what they're going to be working on to make sure that as we move forward, they have this skill." So those are all of the things that are provided just by purchasing the base level of Amplify CKLA. They've really put a lot of thought into their product. So next slide. So the great thing about these choice units, oh sorry, the sorry. The great thing about Amplify

164CKLA is if you as you can see from this visual, they're actually the knowledge builds over time. So the importance with comprehension is that comprehension is not taught in isolation, right? You can read a passage and I can say to you, you know, find the main idea and supporting details, but if you don't understand the passage, then that has no value to you, right? So, we need to build knowledge around that and knowledge is also an equity issue. If you're with a family that's reading books all the time and you're traveling, you know, to Japan because you can afford that and you're traveling all around the world and you're learning all of this language and you're sitting next to a child that maybe hasn't had those experiences, you're already, you know, here with your knowledge,

165right? So, it's an equity issue and it's something that's really important for CKLA. What they do is they build that vocabulary and that knowledge and all of the questions that they're asking are based on the knowledge that they've built. All of the comprehension skills that they're doing is based on that knowledge that they've built and that way it evens that playing field for those children that maybe don't get to go to Greece for the summer with their families. But hey, let's learn all about Greece and let's talk about it all together and now let's apply these comprehension skills. Um and so what it does is as you follow, like let's say the purple, um in kindergarten, so it goes from the five senses to grade one, the human body, to then the human body in

166grade two, to then the human body in grade three and it stops there, but it builds over time. So, when you're starting in kindergarten, you're going to start in this one particular knowledge and you're going to move through the grade levels. And so that's something that CKLA was very thoughtful about in making sure that um students were building knowledge over time throughout our district. Um I also want to emphasize that there are some choice units in here, so uh there's two different types of choice units. There's the novel study where teachers get to choose. Um there's two different novels, a contemporary and a classic and they get to choose whether or not they want to do the contemporary novel or the classic novel. And then also, um, there's a choice unit. I believe it's unit

167eight in, um, I know it's unit eight in grades three, four, and five, where they get to pick between two similar units, but they just have like different background knowledge and things that's built. >> I just want to clarify looking at this slide as well. So, as you can if you might be a little hard to see from so far away, but the the green highlighted units are literature, purple is science, blue is history, and we are not by any means suggesting that this would replace instruction in any of those subjects. This is just one of the ways, uh, that we found in our work with CKLA, that they really engage students. Students were so incredibly excited about these knowledge units, whether it was ancient Rome or maps. Honest to God, kindergarteners jazzed about maps.

168>> Oh, it was great to see. >> Um, so, just to give you a sense of some of the high interest that students will be, um, interacting >> And just as an anecdotal thing, I mean, when we walked into the kindergarten room, the students were using words like equator, and they knew what it meant, and they knew where to find it, and they knew that it wasn't a real line, that it's like imaginary, right? And these are our kindergarteners being able to use this language. It was really, really neat to see. Um, so, just continuing, uh, with this Amplify CKLA, obviously professional development. So, that's provided for teachers. In addition to that, we, um, applied for the Prism grant. I have to say that slowly, cuz sometimes people think I say prison. >> [laughter] >>

169Prism grant, um, and we're hoping that we will have year two of that. We'll be able to get our School Kids Consultants again to help us with the rollout of this. Um, and we are going to be utilizing PD days and curriculum days for that work. Um, Um Additionally, there's technology there's an online platform that has different assessments. It has lesson slides that are very simplistic. Which as we know, research has shown that it's very important that we don't, you know, have too many things for children, right? We don't want to over stimulate them. So, the lesson slides are very simplistic but explicit and it has additional resources. Um this is the fun part. So, the cost Um so, for a 3-year implementation and associated costs for a 3-year contract, it's $358,359.54. Um the capital

170>> for grades >> That's for grades K to 5. Yes. >> to put that in. >> That's okay. Um our the capital request that you guys so generously approved was $275,000. Uh the supplies and materials from the Prism grant, uh $97,200. And then remaining funds for PD are $13,640.46. So, um this is what our recommendation [snorts] is in regards to that. Okay. So, home school connection because part of the parent survey that we sent out was a lot of parents didn't actually know what was happening in the schools for literacy. So, uh we really want to emphasize the home school connection. And Amplify CKLA has letters that you can send home to families that we will obviously translate for those families that need it. Um And so, those families will be sent home for each

171unit so that families know what their student is learning and it also gives them conversation starters to have. I mean, I have a 5-year-old and he already won't talk to me so I cannot imagine what, >> [laughter] >> you know, it's like to ask, you know, a six or seven or nine-year-old what happened in school. Um so, I think that this is great to have some conversation starters and some talking points. Um and then also we want to be really transparent with families, right? So, obviously, you know, Jenny and I will start the work of making sure that we're publishing things, that we're having community information on the website, um and going through all that UBD work. Um So, one powerful quote from a third-grade parent uh said about CK about Amplify CKLA, "This was

172highly engaging for my child. He came home daily talking about his reading and learning. He reported that the stories were better, the topic was better, and he liked that there were multiple stories around one theme. He enjoyed reading longer passages and then stopping to reflect and write reading responses." So, that was a really powerful uh quote that Jenny and I wanted to make sure that we added from a third-grade parent whose child doesn't typically talk about reading, but they were coming home talking about reading, which is awesome. Um and then then there's optional take-home pages, which essentially is homework, right? Uh to go with that. >> And just to clarify, the survey that we sent to families at the end of the pilots was to the families of classrooms that participated in the pilot, really

173wanting [clears throat] to hear from them. Did they hear their students talking at home about their experiences? What were those experiences, positive or negative? And so, you know, that that I think really illustrates it well. Next slide, please, and this is our last one, I promise. So, proposed implementation. Um so, you know, we of course, we started off by speaking about the purchase of Fountas and Pinnell classroom materials, which was made in 2019-2020, um and we acknowledge that that was a significant financial investment, and some of those materials are still valuable, and we've had lots of conversations and discussions around how to continue using some of those existing materials. Um one of the most powerful parts of the Fountas and Pinnell Classroom materials are the interactive read-alouds. Um they are high-quality, diverse texts, um organized

174by theme, right? Um And so, uh our proposal is to continue using those interactive read-alouds um and building sort of a knowledge library. What we saw um just realizing we didn't mention this. We also went to visit uh we visited other nearby districts. We visited Sharon and Bellingham to see that our two final um curriculum materials in action, and what we saw um in Sharon was that they had for every grade level, you know, there's 10 knowledge units, and they had thematic libraries organized for the classroom teachers to pull from around the American Revolution, the human body, five senses, so on and so forth. And so, I think all those texts could be incredibly useful for that, and every classroom has them. Um and then use utilize during other lessons, especially PBIS and RULER. Um

175as you know, we have a large emphasis on on that social emotional learning, especially at the elementary level, and um we have thematic read-alouds um around different, you know, character pieces, um understanding emotions, and there's a lot of great texts from the Fountas and Pinnell Classroom kit that could be used for that. Uh we have a lot of thoughts about initial implementation, but just to give you a small snapshot of of what we would do first. So, obviously, developing our full professional development plan um for the year '26-'27, and thinking about exactly what that would look like. Um ordering and organizing materials. Um Caitlin and I are very eager to do that. Um, our hopeful continued partnership with School Kit, we should find out in June if we were awarded the continuation of the Prism

176grant, so we will keep you updated on that. Um, and something we are really excited about developing a strong and transparent implementation plan. So, as I mentioned, um, next week we will be starting that work and wanting to be incredibly intentional about this implementation given the fact that we spent all of this time and effort getting to today, we want to make sure that this is a successful rollout. And so, thinking about everything that that needs to include, um, planning, materials, um, scheduling, just all of the all of the pieces necessary for a successful implementation, having admin on board, so on and so forth. Um, so thank you so much for your time and for listening to us for so long this evening. Um, happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Really comprehensive,

177so thank you. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> You did all of this while also doing all the interventions. >> Correct. Yes. >> They are amazing. >> That's incredible. >> Yeah. So, two questions I have. Um, you mentioned that every score in this, um, resource used the rubric, which is great and I'm glad that was such a focus for you guys. Um, I'm assuming since you showed that the score was pretty high. >> Yes. >> For all areas of the curriculum. >> Yes. >> Okay. Were there any gaps or things that you would call out >> So, the only thing that was mentioned was the, um, those two, um, knowledge unit topics, the, um, indigenous people and Thanksgiving. There was, what we noticed, honestly, across every resource we looked at, they did say there could be

178a more diverse, um, author representation. And so, that's something that we're always going to need to be mindful of. Um, so, that's something that we're going to keep a close eye on. But overall, it's worked very well. >> Awesome. And then my second question, it mentions toward the end here that [clears throat] there was some online resources. Does the curriculum have a reliance on online? >> No. >> Okay. >> And we that was something that, like I said, Kaylin and I felt really strongly about. They have a it's it's a very engaging online hub that students got to engage with during the pilot. They can view the decodable texts online. There are some games. There are some, you know, for the younger grades, there are some, you know, phonemic awareness videos and letter videos and

179things like that. But this is a true um Words are escaping me at this moment, but it is it is definitely not a technology-heavy resource and that is by design. >> Yes. They have books in hand, but they do have that online component if, for example, you know, they need help with handwriting and things like that. And maybe they're not the kind of student that's a strong skill for them. So, as an accommodation, they could go online and do the typing component, type of thing, right? So, it it'll be used in in a in a an efficient and productive way. A supplementary way. Yes. >> I have a couple of follow-up questions to ask you today. >> Yeah, no problem. >> So, thank you. This was an incredibly thorough process that you outlined, so thank

180you for you know, that's a huge amount of work that you undertook to plan this. I appreciate that. Um I appreciate you also addressing kind of the what really stood out in the curate report around the perspectives and the historical inaccuracies and how you so kind of provided a supplemental resource to really look at the new version. But the other that really stood out to me was um foundational skills. It says teachers will need to supplement materials, provide consistent, explicit instruction and practice in phonological and phonemic awareness. And while fluency activities are included, they're often optional or presented in supplemental. So, when you reviewed the updated resource, what was your take on that foundational skill and the supports for teachers? >> Sure. So, you're reading from the Curry report. >> Yes. >> So, the Curry

181report that's currently published was published in 2022, so it's on the second edition. And what we're proposing is the implementation of the third edition. Um and so, you know, especially Placentia with our our youngest learners, we, as we heard her speak about, use Hegarty in the classrooms for phonemic awareness, and that's something that's been going really well. And so, we felt like that was important to keep in mind as we went through this process. Are we, you know, that's that's going really well. We've seen it reflected in the data and and many in many other ways. So, what we found was that the skills units were incredibly explicit. Uh I To be honest, I want to have I want to be very thorough and thoughtful about the decision about whether or not Hegarty will be

182still used in the classrooms or not. My my guess in I guess that sounds as if I haven't thought about it. My thought is that uh it Hegarty may shift to be used as a intervention resource because it is so powerful. Um what we found is that the explicitness and the systematic approach to the delivery of the skills instruction was very, very thorough. And um really nothing like our students have experienced before. So, we were very, very pleased with it. >> How about the EdReports and the Curry are based on older versions of CKLA CKLA? Is there an updated report? >> Not yet. So, the third edition just came out in 2025. Um and there it it seems to take about a year or two. So, as soon as there is one, we will share

183it with you. >> Thank you. >> Good. Well, with that, we took some of this information and put some of the information that they've already shared with you into a memo, as we've done in the past, um with the recommendation to um use the capital funds and Prism grant to fund this resource that has come highly recommended to us. I put some links in there to the website as well and just would hope that you would vote to allow us to move forward with the improve purchase and implementation of this curriculum resource. >> Oh. Um okay, so before we We haven't had a chance to look at this in in in in budget and so I'm looking at these numbers for the first time. I'm trying to um Are these Are these all additive then

184the 358? >> No, this is what we've already So, the 275 that capital approved Monday with the prison gamble 972 plus the 13,000 adds up to I'm sorry. >> That's right. >> Yes. Adds up to the the whole contract there. So, the money that we already have garnered will fund all of this in the long term. >> years. >> 3 years. >> Those numbers don't add up. >> Um the three the 3-year contract minus 275 minus 972 leaves us 136. I think we checked the numbers to make sure >> So, those 275, 97,000 and 13,000 add up to 385,000 dollars. So, this is the capital that was I'm trying to find here. >> So, we have 372,200. It's probably in the wrong order. We received 275 up through capital the other night plus 70 972

185which gets us a 372,200 and 358 of that is for the 3-year contract and the remaining 136 is for PD. I think we just put it into the wrong order. >> Got it. So, the two actually is what's funding the two the first and the fourth one. Okay. >> Yeah, it's in the wrong order. I don't know how that happened. I apologize. I think it was on the slide differently. We had >> Okay, so we received and so we received from the prism grants. >> Right, but just to clarify, only 97,200 of that is to be >> for materials. Materials. >> Sure. So, what did we spend the rest of the prism grant on? How much was school kit? >> The the larger remainder of that with that grant was >> All the training that

186they did and all the time and >> And then the other remaining part was paid to the curriculum um review team for their hourly work um on the team. >> And those are categories that are defined by DESI and prism that we did not get to choose. And Jenny, remind me because Caitlin was not here yet. It prepopulated those amounts in the category. You you have no choice in each of those areas. >> And the 97,000 that's part of the prism grant is for the materials? >> Yes. >> And the $13,640 for the PD, what is is that materials? >> No, that's So, the the quotes that were provided to us from Amplify, which that 358 number, right? Uh so, that is the amount the quote the number that was quoted to us by Amplify.

187That includes all teacher materials consumables for 3 years. It does not include PD. So, we wanted to show that we do have remaining funds available for PD and that's something that, you know, given your approval, Caitlin and I will start working on immediately in terms of determining what the PD will look like and what those exact costs will be. >> David, you there? >> So, can I just clarify something? >> Yeah, yeah. >> If it's helpful. So, the 358 number is the number that was quoted to us by Amplify, right? For 3 years. >> Okay. >> If we add together the 275 and the 97,200, that is the amount that we are able to put towards that number. >> 372. >> Right. So, it that's where we got the surplus of the 13,000. >> For

188the first year implementation through capital. >> Great. So, so do you have you feel that confident that the 13,000 spent from uh a capital resource or a sup- a a grant for supplies and materials will be allowed to be spent on PD? >> I think more concern I have than the 13,000 is just kind of keeping an eye on the the year two, the 197,000. Uh if that applies to kind of this uh this literacy roll out. I don't know if Jenny or Jody kind of wanted to speak to some of that as it relates to some of the professional development and what that year two would look like connected to this. Um the And then just kind of wanted to kind of think more about like how the after the [snorts] 3-year contract, [clears

189throat] what that would look like uh over time. >> Yeah. So, let me I'm uh logging in to Gems right now to tell you the categories for the 100 We applied for a continuation for 197,500. Um let me tell you how it's broken out. I just need to get in there. Um Okay. >> Cuz Dan, I think they've answered the question well. 13,640 and I don't know if Genie or Joey or whoever what was the Um do we have a cost breakdown of uh of their PD as far as their training on specifically this material? >> Yes, so we've we've been in conversations with our um Tracy, our wonderful rep from CKLA. We email with her every day pretty much. Um and [clears throat] so we are we are glad to see that uh it

190appears that we can build sort of an a la carte PD experience. They offer a lot um and we have made it clear that we are hoping to uh I implement a combination of PD from them as the publishers of the material as well as from School Kit. And so for example, you know, we felt it would be very important to start the school year with their full day launch >> Yes. >> provided by Amplify um and then in thinking about some of the, you know, ongoing cuz of course that's a crucial part of this um especially cuz we've already sort of built that relationship and that culture with School Kit and teachers are used to seeing these people in our buildings and in our classrooms and really see them as partners. Um having that

191be more of the ongoing sort of the ongoing PD that would happen to sort of check in throughout and and strengthen as we go. And so David, we haven't fleshed out the full detailed PD plan, but it does sound like we are able to select what best meets our needs and we've been honest with them about our our the Prism grant and our work with School Kit and that we would be doing a combination of both. >> And then with the grant the the one that we applied to that's $197,500 um $157,500 is for contracted services, which would be with School Kid, which goes directly to what Jenny was just talking about, that they would be providing the PD, so that money would cover that PD. >> But the $197,000 is is is something we

192have not been awarded yet and it's continuous, so that's not part of any of this. >> Correct. Because this would be for year two and beyond, just for PD. The the 380 the 358 number includes materials for the next three years. And through and it would take us through fall 29. >> When when would we find out about the 197? >> In June. >> Is I just do I like that a little more conversation just about some some of these details and just make sure that I fully support what you guys have done and I don't I'm not looking in any way to change any of the the recommendations. I just want to make sure that I understand the numbers. That's really what it's boiling down to, so this is not anything about your presentation,

193the work that you've done or anything like that. >> We appreciate all of that. >> Yeah, that that was an incredible amount of work. But would there be any issue with there being any sorry would there be any would there be any negative impact if we delayed this two weeks just to sort of >> I think the planning of the PD it's and the ordering of materials system. >> so I I think for us just thinking just keeping teachers in mind, right? Uh, this is going if if we do implement this curriculum, we'll be implementing it in the fall. And Jenny and I would really like the opportunity to start flushing out what that implementation plan is going to look like. Uh, we have an and also trying our best to get some manuals materials

194in teachers' hands before the school year ends so that they have things to look at over the summer. In addition to that, potentially providing a little bit of PD through our school kit people to classroom teachers before the school year ends. So, I I mean, I I don't know that 2 weeks would would impact that significantly, but it would definitely have an impact on the ability for us to get those materials to teachers before the school year ends. >> And then, just if for some reason we shifted gears, you would lose the prism money that we've already received. >> I I hope no one [clears throat] is suggesting shifting gears. I don't know if that's that's uh uh >> I just think we going forward I how do we bring this to budget first? Like,

195it feels out of order for we going as a full committee. Cuz that I mean, that's part of the issue is like we would gone through this in a little more detail from a budget lens. >> Right. >> Obviously, the presentation for the full committee, but I think seeing numbers, you know, honestly, numbers that didn't make sense till 10 minutes ago, like, we need a little more deep dive into >> Was it I'm trying to remember the difference in the math review because we did a similar thing. I'm just trying to remember what the >> We did do a similar thing. >> I'm just trying to remember. >> Did we vote on the budget in that? >> Yes. >> The people voted for the capital funds. >> The vote I would point out that the

196math contained some some things weren't there that you know, we weren't aware of. >> So, what? >> I think I just presented it incorrectly if I'm being honest. >> We understand your need to continue to take a closer look at the numbers. I guess we would just ask that if you could share your decision with us as soon as possible. We have so many plans and things waiting in the wings that we are very very eager to get started on. Um but, of course, we understand if you need more time. >> So, do you have any specific questions we can help you guys with right now? >> I definitely have like a >> Is it the PD portion that you're >> It's really the PD portion we Yeah, I mean I I could I mean

197if you wanted I I mean because we sort of did review this in in in cap the capital request in capital. So, I I think if if we at least lock down If you want to just hold on the on the on the PD. >> That would be helpful if you could vote to have them move ahead to >> Move ahead to the rest. >> And yeah. >> That that you know >> That works. >> I guess that's it. >> And I guess >> I think you guys are going to I think it's it's it's really going to be more conversation with with with David about where the PD money comes from. >> from >> Yeah, sure. >> And I think Dan and David can weigh in later, but I think too if there's a

198need to shift literacy resources fully from the capital and whatever, I'm sure we can figure out a way to then shift the PD to a different bucket. >> And I guess I would just echo the same request. Sorry, go ahead, Dr. B. >> [clears throat] >> Just to jump in, um I I I'm in agreement with Susan and Dan on on both of this. I I I think the actual capital numbers for the materials, that's the that's the right number, that's what we anticipated. Um I think what what Joni and I talked about as far as professional development is um there's a lot of comfort around receiving that year two the 197 as far as the proper roll out professional development for the literacy. Uh what we are seeing in districts that are is that

199it's not a that it's a guarantee, but it seems if you get the year one year you're pretty much rocking and rolling for the year two. Um but uh we you know, that's you know, it's not in hand uh I guess for right now. I I wouldn't want to have a vote uh makes two something that we hopefully get. Um that said, I think that's something we're we're anticipating. Um and then I do think the 13,000 with the 197 specifically geared towards a proper literacy rollout is definitely sufficient. >> I just want to make sure that everybody understands, right? Like I I think, right, we kind of confuse people. >> But yeah, they're in the wrong order. >> everything that all we are able to cover everything between the capital and the supplies and materials.

200If you add those together, those just remaining that remaining $13,640 is what we wanted to use for the >> Yeah, and I don't think I think they understand that now. I think the issue is it's it's it's really just what you can take out of certain buckets. >> And that's money we have now. That has that $13,640 has nothing to do with getting the a continuation. >> Right. Just want to make sure everybody gets that, right? >> So also the continuation, just so I mean, we were just told Jenny and I were just told this recently that we can actually only use the PD money from the continuation for one company. So like if we are using it to pay our school kit people, we can only use it to pay the school kit people.

201We couldn't use it to pay the Amplify people. >> And then like >> What? >> Did Does Prism allow you to to to take the 13640 out of that or just the materials? That I mean, that's >> No, that would be fine because that 13,000 can be coming from capital. >> Correct. >> No, that that would be fine. >> So >> We'll talk We'll flesh that out. >> Yeah, yeah, sorry. They just Yeah, I mean >> Okay. >> So I guess I would just ask again um if there are specific questions you have about numbers, about PD, about any of it, please send them to us so that we can get a response to you because we have a lot of work that we want to do before the next meeting. >> I Yeah, I

202actually think David and I can have a conversation as well and with Joanie and then we can back it. If you don't mind trying to just vote the three-year contract amount, and that would be then they could start ordering that if that's possible. >> Yeah, I think that that that that I'm comfortable. >> Okay. >> I'm comfortable with that. Obviously, the committee needs to be comfortable as well because again those those are things that we discussed at at cap but that's our budget so >> Yep. >> Do you want to make the motion? >> So I'll make a motion to approve the to approve the 3-year contract to >> Amplify CKL A. >> Okay. So sorry the record make a motion to approve the 3-year contract Amplify CKL A. >> Yes. >> For $358,349.59 and

203$59.54. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> It passes. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. >> And we'll we'll work on the the rest of the stuff. >> We're a little over our heads. >> [laughter] >> No, you don't need to worry about that part with us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, moving on. David, we've got school choice numbers. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we can be pretty brief on this, but in your folder >> EPS do share. >> [laughter] >> I'm popping it up on the screen. >> But in your folder is is the return migrate goals for the school choice seats for approval. We I don't know if with all the principals and assistant principals just kind of looked at enrollment based where we were. Again, just a

204reminder to the school committee as far as the answer to the community, school choice is meant to just kind of round out classes, class sizes so where um class size numbers or averages are a little bit lower and this kind of rounds that out. You're all to kind of build into school choice, so you're not going to have really see too many double-digit numbers per grade. Uh, you can't add like a single whole class of students of 20 students. Um, that's not the intention of school choice. We historically in Halston, um, and which I I think is a pretty good practice is is prioritize kindergarten as um our addition point for school choice. Uh, we want students to enter early uh and we want to own their education. We want to We believe that we

205provide a top-notch notch education pre-K through 12 pre-K through 12 plus. Um, so we can bring them in early and provide that opportunity for those families. Um, we will feel feeling that that's our our best practice. So, uh kindergarten here uh we're going to have kindergarten traditional at seven uh students. Our French immersion numbers are are our pre-K full, so we're at we're at 20 and 20, so we're at 40 students right now. We are adding one. Uh, that would put us at um our current enrollment for French immersion at at 41. Um, we may end up at some different different spots uh from there, but uh JB is feeling uh very good as far as those French immersion numbers. Um, which tracks always for us is our Montessori uh is always full um from

206the from that process. We're not opening up any uh kindergarten age Montessori uh seats. Um, uh that said, we go into first grade. Uh, similar to last year, we had a big push to try to expand and open up seats specifically for French immersion in uh last year's or this I should say this year's kindergarten. Uh, we're going to continue in that process and open up a few four more a few more seats in first grade for French immersion, four more seats um there. Um, then uh you kind of jump down. Our other big number is our ninth grade. We do have a transition. Eighth grade to ninth grade is a big year. We will lose some students, Boston students from eighth grade as they as they transition into the private schools or tech schools

207at that point. So, we see a slight drop in enrollment and we use school choice as to kind of provide some of that continuity going into the ninth grade. We may add, depending on situation as far as open up seats what's going on with 10th grade. But, for the most part, similar to what we were speaking to earlier, is we want to bring school choice students into the district early and then have their entirety of their education here in the Boston public schools. So, our overarching number is 42 students. To give you kind of a data point is we were 41 41 students last year. And as far as seats that we that the school committee approved open, and 40-ish, anywhere from 38 to 43 is typically the standard number that the school committee approves

208each year. That said, the recommendation or the approved seats does not necessarily mean the number of seats available. We typically went after the school committee and we reached out to families that applied and see if they'd be interested. And from there, we're looking at slightly over slightly over half. So, if you have 40 seats, you're looking at 20-ish in depth accepting. And so, like last year, I think 22 of the students they got another enrollment sheet that you have in your packet. We'll show you kind of the number of students that that accepted last year but that was roughly about 22 last year. >> So, um >> So, I guess I'm asking as far as our school choices, any questions? Uh but the recommendations from the principals and I based off enrollment, based off of

209need, uh is 42 students. >> So, um sometimes the problem with with with scrolling through Facebook and and doing research is that sometimes you discover that DPW article is incorrectly voted at town meeting. Other times you you discover that there's some public or public hearing requirement for school choice. I'm reading the law now and I can't tell if it's just as if you don't want to accept any students from so you're withdrawing from school choice or if you need a public hearing for any school choice decision. Have we >> So, I think that the American election is that what you just said that you if you're withdrawing from it you have to do that. >> Do we have a and then yeah and you >> you have to you have to go forward and let

210them know is it DESE that you have that you're going to go forward? I believe that's the annual public hearing. We haven't >> No, we haven't done >> Yeah. >> No, I don't. >> I didn't think so. I >> Okay. >> I thought it was only if you were going to change that like exit Do you want to double check on that? >> What is it? Well, here's the thing. If you wish to withdraw there needs to be a public hearing but then there's also discussion somewhere else about an annual public hearing. So, I just but it has to be done before June. So, if if we want to vote on this I do would just want to vote on it um pending just a further review and just making sure that we have been

211doing it right and that we do it right in in in the future. It does seem like it may just be just if we want to withdraw from the program and not accept school choice students but um just because we did it one way in the past is >> Steven, >> David, can I ask about the the French immersion recommendation of of four seats? Are we opening that up to like this year's existing kindergarteners in case they want to move into French immersion? Um or we just opening it up to outside of the community? And I I guess what I I say from a from an equity lens on on that point, you may have a family that doesn't know much of anything about what we offer in our like French immersion and Montessori until

212they have enrolled and they have a child in the kindergarten program and then they learn that there's other programs. And I think that's one of the really good changes we made a few years ago is that we let children enroll in French immersion in first grade. So I guess are those four spots or any spots at all open to existing um Halston kindergarteners for French immersion first grade next year? >> Yes, I I would say that they are. Um I think you bring up a a good point that I can't say I've had that explicit conversation with Dr. Slaney, but like that's the intention is that um we have space in French immersion. Uh last year we were pretty open um and communicative to those who were uh going into kindergarten as far as availability

213for French immersion. Um so they you know we brought in everybody that applied to French immersion and then went to school choices far as French immersion. Uh I do think it's kind of to your point that it is and I'll I'll circle back with Dr. Slaney that um now that that families have had that full kind of kindergarten year and been a part of the community of the Halston public schools that um that option is it's very clear to those families that that option is available to them as well. >> Yeah, so >> So on that point I guess um if we did that um would it change your zero recommendation for traditional? So like I guess what I'm saying is if we open up those four spots to existing Halstead kids if they want

214to move into French immersion, we've now opened up traditional spots and would that change the zero recommendation on traditional first grade spots? Like is there a way to be fluid with this? >> Yeah, I I think because we're unique in having programs, I I think school committee vote could just be based off the grade level, not necessarily the the program, but we know what we're aiming for as far as where the available seats are. Um >> I like that. I think >> And then we're just voting >> Well, yeah. >> So the only So I was looking at the the numbers and we are kindergarten traditional class size average class size is is is slightly on the larger side already. So I I would want to just sort of better understand that. It was So

215I guess we have 33 French immersion students in kindergarten right now. So if we if we did take four for French immersion for first grade, then we'd be at 37 from outside so there would be there would be, you know, at least three or four seats for internal kind of transfers. But we have 110 kids in traditional for five classes so 22 average students. So if you even lost five, you you'd still be 21 students per traditional classroom which is right at sort of the upper bounds of where we had sort of set those parameters and guidelines. So I'm not sure even if we did get a decent number of switching that we would want to accept. I mean that would be up to your recommendation, but I'm not sure that that necessarily puts us

216in a position where we want to take additional students. Would we vote it >> I mean I I guess we could vote it to >> Can I Can I just I don't know if we need to vote it. I'm I'm looking up what Tim was asking about. So if you're going to continue to participate, you don't It doesn't require a hearing. Some districts choose to. Um and DESI has the guidelines on that. But what it does say, it's technically supposed to be by May 1st. It's June 1st if you're holding a hearing to opt out. But it should have been May 1st that we um let them know. But technically you do not have to vote if you're continuing. You just have to report the available seats. >> Okay. >> But you You're welcome to

217vote. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just I'm just wanted >> I think I think what I was going to say is this is taking me 14 days late um in doing that. And so fair fair enough. Um I find I think I'd like a little bit more information. I think I'd like a little to hear from Dr. Slaney or Dr. Jordan from her but through through Dr. Jordan about her view of of the traditional classroom and if we did lose if not lose students but if students did transfer into French immersion before we open up additional seats. We can open up seats later, right? Do we can we can open up more seats. >> You can but we may lose kids if we don't open the seats. >> We can we can as as we have get

218people interested and we have seats we can have we go and that's that's always been the case. >> David, how many uh applied this year? >> Uh we have >> No. 42 is what we're recommending to take. >> It's typically like 90 to 100, right? If I recall. >> Uh it's been the last It may be a little bit over where but we we've been on a slight decline um since since COVID. Prior to COVID it was for bigger numbers. We are We're at 99 applied this year. >> Oh, good. >> But often families will apply to more than one school. So we wouldn't want to have other other schools have likely voted on this and opened their seats. >> Yeah, I think we should. I think I think we should open. >> We could

219always vote to change it. that. >> Yes. >> With my whole lot of them. >> If we could just be mindful of the class sizes to Dan's point. >> is where I'm getting to, but because we do actually have set class sizes that we've that we uh It's uh it's in the priority needs actually uh file. Um so, in kindergarten this year 110 students in traditional five sections for 22 average. And >> [cough] >> so, at least per the spreadsheet our our stated range is 17 to 19 students for for for kindergarten. So, if it's first grade, our stated range is uh 19 to 23. So, in theory you you would have um room within that to to add. But, >> assume every single one of those kids said yes. >> Yeah. >> And still

220have >> students. Yes. >> Still be in the number range. >> I guess I I'd still like to hear Dr. Salinger's thoughts before we open the position. >> Well, I guess can we make it general practice to offer that so we're not at this point in offering current students to move over? We feel like we're being reactive. >> I guess Well, do we do we have first grade traditional applicants? >> We do. We We have applicants across um all uh I mean, your your primary your bigger numbers are in yeah, K and 1. And then in uh ninth grade are your bigger pools of applications, but we've got I mean, I can tell you the number of applicants per grade [cough] if you want to throw it out. >> I think it's already a late

221night. >> What about if we close the class for everything but first grade. Well, first and get more information. That's the one grade you're you have concerns about, right? I mean, if other schools have opened these seats up for 2 weeks ago or >> No, no, I get that. Then why you hold it off on first on all of first grade? Just vote this now and then we can come back and and >> [cough] >> first grade traditional. >> Yes. >> Oh, and right. So, so we'll open the four seats in first grade and first first grade. Okay. Okay. >> I said we could always change it later for first grade. I'll entertain a motion to approve this school choice numbers as presented. >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? All right. Good. That

222passes. Um policy >> Uh we met today. Um we do have a few policies to bring to our next meeting. Okay, I'll have to read this tonight. >> So, tonight? >> No, you have to read it. >> You have like 16 pages to read. >> Okay, we'll move on to central office updates. >> So, I just um put the accept code of reports and the technology update um into your packets. You don't have to vote on them. I they're required to go on the agenda for you to review and then I just have to let them know that you reviewed them or that you have them available. Um so, they are in the packet. If you have any questions, you could send them to me at a separate time. >> Okay. I just wanted to

223thank everybody for the amazing art show that we've had out there. Um just to highlight some upcoming academic um events happening. Monday, May 18th, global citizenship presentations are here in the library from 7:00 to 9:00. On Tuesday is the NHS induction ceremony for the high school. Wednesday, May 20th is the Rams band and chorus concert, 7:00 to 8:00. And Thursday, on May 21st is the service learning presentations from the high school in the library here from 7:00 to 8:00. So, you have four full days of upcoming academic showcases coming up. >> David? >> Uh I just I I had just had a successful town meeting. Uh I know there were um some conversations around the motion as it relates to the feasibility study. Uh but, you know, I I'm grateful that um that uh went

224well as far as that uh feasibility study. Um Dr. Casca, myself, and uh our town manager uh Frank Rossi have been in communication with MSBA. They seem to be content uh with the motion language. I think that they are just looking for cuz there's some It was wonky as far as like >> What's the little >> language to the warrant to that that piece and are just um looking for uh the official >> The certified, yeah. Yeah. >> certified motion from uh from Westborough. And then, other than that, they seem to be content. >> Yep. Okay. Um so, the biggest thing we're working on right now is for the review for DESE. They will be on grounds June 2nd and June 3rd. They've not given us a schedule yet. I am um overwhelmed and thankful

225to the principals who have been feeding me all the documents that they have asked us to upload in the last few days. In fact, they gave us a a form on Friday and said, "I need all this by the close of Tuesday." And everybody came through, so I couldn't have been any happier. But, there's a number of other items coming along. When she hands me a schedule, undoubtedly she'll want to talk to at least one of you, if not more. Um we'll let you know. I just have to wait to get that schedule. I know she's doing I think another site this week, so I probably won't hear from her till Sunday night. But it will be busy that first week of June. >> Okay. And um could you just tell us a little bit

226more about what they're looking at? Like and and and I'm not to put you on the spot, but like are we prepared and and ready for the June date? And then and and maybe it makes sense to to do somewhat of a presentation on at the next meeting about what it all >> Yeah, cuz yeah, she's presenting on the 28th and in the house, so I think we can give a little more detail on that. >> there. Yeah, I'm happy to do that. I can just give you quickly, so between now and then I'll build some suspense and then take away other. >> Okay. >> Uh but the idea they're looking are we keeping within our timelines? Are we doing what we're supposed to do in accordance with the law? They'll be doing some walk-throughs

227of physical spaces and as we know the newspaper has been highlighting time out and chill spaces and so forth. They'll be walking through our schools and looking at some of our spaces. They will be interviewing uh teachers most likely. They'll probably interview at least the chair and vice chair of the committee. That's usually what's happened in the past. They will speak to somebody from CPAC. They will be sending out a questionnaire to every single parent who has a child in the district who is on an IEP receiving services. They'll receive that. We had to give them information to have the capacity to do that. They're also uh I'm trying to think there are so many different things because they're looking at our civil rights and they're looking at our special ed simultaneously. They're looking at

228how we find students in terms of testing. So perfect example is all the work you heard from the curriculum team tonight where they said, you know, we started with 39, we were able to release 23, we had three referred to special education. That's a child find activity right there. We do outreach to offices in town, doctors' offices and our preschools, that would be another child find activity. So, they'll give us a series of uh they've given us a series of things they want paperwork for, but a lot of it is uh standard paperwork, and then they'll look to details. They'll also give us cases of children's names that they want look at when they arrive. So, they are looking at some now. They've asked us specifically in advance, and then they wait, and when they

229get here, they'll probably ask to look at 25 files randomly, and we'll get that at the time, and we'll just go pull them. Of course, the difference is we used to just yank a file out of the filing cabinet. Now, everything is digital. >> Mhm. >> So, we have to maneuver that a little, but they'll be probably, my guess is they'll be sitting in the off- my office for those 2 days, and I'll vacate my office and push the lunch under the door. >> And they do and >> a lot of the information was uploaded last year, and they came out and did a walk-through of the uh the child spaces. >> so much better. >> the next phase. And also, um if you remember when we did the curriculum, um tiered focus monitoring reviews,

230then in the fall they issue a report, and they'll give you any recommendations, so, you know, most of it will be just recommendations. If If there was a legal issue, obviously, that would be the priority related to the implementation of this new restraint um policy, um cuz that's going to be implemented in August. So, they kind of threw that on us, so we're you know, every district is in the same kind of place with that. >> This has been going on since 25 through >> Didn't go >> Yes, >> when Jess was here, she had upload a whole series of documents. When I was in Hingham, I had to do the same thing. So, she uploaded all the documents, they took a look at the documents, then they asked us for further information on a

231number of the items. I sent [snorts] that all in, then they came back uh last Friday, and they gave me another document saying, "We want to have information on this, and by the way, can you also send us some records on this, that, and the other?" Uh just so they can prep, and what they're doing is looking at how we sort of do business before they get on the grounds. It used to be they came for 6 or 7 days. They're here 2 days now, which is great. Um not cuz we don't enjoy them, but the disruption to the regular process when they're here is the reason why I say that. The other thing I really appreciate is the fact that they have come back and said we'd like to see more about this or

232could you change that. And what that does is it used to be we'd go in with six giant binders, drive them into Malden, drop them off, and wait for months to hear. Now, the upside of doing all of that is the fact that they give you a chance to sort of self-correct as you're going through, hence the title self-assessment. And you'll go through it and make the corrections to that when the final report comes through, you minimize the number of areas that you might have to improve upon or and the kinds of things I've had in the past, I've never had anything really blatant that's had to be corrected. It's more we'd like to see you do PD in this particular area of such as timelines. Or we'd like you to uh in 3 months

233demonstrate that some files that weren't in order are now in order. But things like that, they're what I would call moderate fixes, easy fixes, particularly compared to the old days. >> Okay. Um in terms of the self-assessment or self-correction along the way, is there anything to be written that you simply just requested documents on Friday? >> Yes, she's just >> Additional things. >> And yes, additional documents. And so we've been uploading things during the course of this week. >> Okay. But was that in response to any type of concern? >> No, they just are looking at how we do business. >> Okay. >> It's not they looked at and said, "Oh, that's wrong. We want more." It's more of, you know, "We just want to see how you do business." So we we've been sending

234it in. >> And you said they would likely want to talk to one or two of the school committee members. That would be during the June 2nd and June 3rd business? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> But we've not received any schedule yet, so I I have to kind of can't you hanging. That's a cliffhanger for you. >> It's better to know that today >> It's a cliffhanger. >> than on May 28th that we have to be available >> Yes. >> second or third. Okay, and then when would the findings come out? >> Usually in the fall. >> Yeah. I think it was around October when we got the um curriculum on >> It usually takes about three months >> Okay. >> to get findings. So, they're doing it in June, so figure June, July, August

235that probably the earliest unless something has changed the earliest you'll see them are September. >> And it's unusual to get nothing, you know, back. They're always They people find something that they just would rather you >> like you to tweak. >> They might say, you know, we really think that this guideline or procedure might need to be tweaked and then they'll advise you on that and give us a chance to re-upload that in the fall as well. >> So, I'm sorry. We meet 3 10 11. Um What is the name of this? Uh is this the >> It's It's well, it's generally known as the tiered focused monitoring, but now it's tiered integrated or I integrated focus focus integrated monitoring. I keep getting the letters mixed up. >> And is this is this the district's

236actual year on the ground? >> Yes. Every district has to have it once every six years. >> Six year cycle. >> But they have it in other >> they they they overlap cuz it's not just this one. There's multiple. >> Right. Remember you'd like have the curriculum one and you've had, you know, so they they put you on a cycle in all the areas. >> And you'll do A one time, you'll do B the next time, back to A, back to B. Things like that. >> Thank you, Gus. >> So, that's that's it. I don't know if you have any other questions. We'll We'll keep you [snorts] apprised next meeting. I'll I'll put some things together to share. I just I don't want you to sit forever listening to me. >> What you could potentially

237do is just give them a snippet on the 28th and then after they're here, maybe give a little more on the 11th and then we can just, you know, just break it up. >> Yep. Sounds great. Thank you. Thank you. >> So, in your packets, it's also um all of the Oh, sorry. >> Would you mind if we pause that until next just in the interest of it's a little late. Do you mind? >> Well, yeah, I don't David, does he need it by a certain day? I think they're they're supposed to post the stipends by May something that was the that was the only issue. >> do it on the 28th? Is that too late? >> I don't It means past the date, but I don't know what the There's some I forget when

238we have to post the stipends in the contract there's language on that I'd have to double check. >> Yeah, I'm trying to >> Is it June 1st? Well, it could be I just don't remember off the top of my >> I want to say it's June 1st. I want to say it's June 1st. >> I It might It might be so you might be okay. >> Okay. I just it's >> I'm not >> [laughter] >> disagreeing at all. >> Just Why don't we bypass that unless unless it Yeah, I'll I'll see unless someone says it has to be done tonight. Um let's just jump into communications. >> I know people. >> Okay. Policy, you just kind of gave it. Budget? Budget, any updates? >> No, we just got our new budget for this year. So,

239thank you. >> Eval, we're good. So, do we Do we MSBA update? Big one was the feasibility study. Is there anything else? >> Um school building committee, we should Cheryl will be posting weekly for the next three weeks um our interest in the school building committee. So, I hopefully tomorrow we'll get a count some names. Um plan has to go through next Friday the 23rd with the open uh enrollment eventually. Um we will be reviewing very quickly. We got actually Dana and Tina to meet um before our 28th meeting. The goal again, it's not rough and hard. It depends who has applied and who we find to fit our criteria. Um but potentially on the 28th we may have recommendations. >> There's a link on the town's website if you would like to express interest

240in the school building committee. >> Yeah. And the school uh administration had it. So, it's all it's it's it's on neither. >> Okay. You You look like you're going to say something. Is it super important or can we move on? >> Is it Is it No. >> Okay. Let's move on. >> We're here. So, I think we just wanted to have kind of a just a discussion on the bullying policy just help people understand. >> Is it Could we I know it's late, but I know folks have been piecemealing this. Could we give a little bit of background how this came to be? >> I mean, basically Yeah, I think there just was a Facebook post that gathered a lot of >> [snorts] >> comments. So, it just felt like there was some clarification could

241help, I think, just help >> Well, for for for me though, it doesn't I mean, I think that there has been some conversations of sort through the the community on bullying. I think I think it ties into, you know, some of the anti-Semitism incidents that we've had in town, other racist incidents that we've had in town. Um so, it's it's it's you know, I think that maybe the the immediate issue was some things that were brought up on online and then through some emails, but um it's it's it's sort of you know, compounded upon other issue. >> This is a policy we actually have on uh two coming up to review in the near future. We've been focusing on technology right now given some of the guidelines from DESE, but this is this is one

242that we do have kind of in our agenda, for their agenda. >> Um You know, are you anticipating you're getting the review done this year? >> I don't think so. We have some teed up already for June. >> I'm okay >> Yeah, for our June meeting. >> So maybe that gives us the opportunity to to make it a broader discussion and bring, you know, have some community outreach on this and get a lot of input from the community on it and not be afraid of those really hard discussions about it and and then it would be and because we can carry it on over a number of meetings or forums, that opportunity to to kind of work with the community and get, you know, hear hear what's not working, what is working and also to

243learn from each other, too. >> Well, I think the thing is even a step further and I thought we had some people on, but I guess we we've uh filibustered everyone out, but I I think we should consider some form of a task force, not tonight, but you know, but but over time and what it what form that takes, whether it's something that the superintendent creates or whether it's something that we create under our subcommittees or policy. I'm not I don't have a view on on on that right now, but I think something more official. I don't know, usually just all goes through the policy subcommittees or it could also be more like that where just more people are invited to those meetings that that I'm really open to to suggestions, but but bringing and

244listening more more feedback in an official format. >> Something one thing can I just mention is that so I obviously been talking with we had our full admin meeting Wednesday. Yesterday. >> Yeah, yesterday. >> And so they are very anxious when hearing all of this and seeing these postings and I think unfortunately and this is the conversation we're having that I you know, I think a lot of it is about explaining and informing cuz people bullying is used for many many many many many instances. The amount of actual vetted bullying that are deemed bullying are very very small throughout the district. Now, in some cases if so a parent says bullying has happened to my child, we are obligated to do a bullying investigation and then either screen it out as bullying or it become

245bullying. If it's not bullying, sometimes the parent might have a conversation with the administrator and they explain what it is and then say, "Oh, no, that's not what it is, but I do want this investigated." So, they will still investigate it. The investigation happens either way, right? And then the results are often the same as well because whether it's bullying or not the whether it's discipline is happening as a result or restorative things. Sometimes the investigation leads to the same results no matter what type of situation it is. >> Yeah, to be clear, I'm not talking about any one specific necessary incident and I mean I really don't want to get into discussion of specific incidents or what decisions have been made, but I just think a more holistic sort of conversation around the topic

246because I think it is a big topic. I mean, I know you were you said you were reviewing AI sort of policies and things. And so, how does that, you know, weave into cyberbullying and how does I mean it's just it's an incredibly complex and evolving sort of topic that I think is something that the community as a whole I think is interested in and so it rather than just sort of sometimes you know, we work on things amongst ourselves, other times it's good to to try to get more feedback from the community. >> At least a conversation, right? I mean >> Right. >> I mean we need to We may need to look at our policy and update it, but I I think it warrants conversation to hear different perspectives and then could warrant

247back to the policy subcommittee to to make any potential changes. >> And it was reviewed and I think amended in '23. We had we got this to policy in '23 and in between that time until now, there hasn't been a lot of I have certainly not been questioned much about it because we did implement new um collected data collection systems on PowerSchool and Jeff Biddy actually trained our staff on how to just to document whether it's bullying or not. We have to report any kind of disciplinary issues. So, there's a lot that goes into that and it's quite time-consuming for our administrators to manage just the documentation piece. >> That's reported to DESE? >> If it's bullying or not bullying, yes. And then we report the numbers of any >> So, we have those metrics,

248too, over time. We have that those um >> data collection >> the data over time, right? >> Yes, they have to report those numbers in. >> Is that is does DESE report that for each district, then? >> It's not public. We just have to give it to DESE. I don't think it's public, I believe it's not. >> Okay, but we're reporting it out, so in in a way I I don't know that it's confidential, either. I guess one of the things we've we see a lot we have a lot of discussion about how we're doing on this state standard or these testing or how the kids are doing and really important work like the MetroWest Adolescent um Youth Survey, but if this is an area that families, you know, rightfully are concerned about and we

249have the data, it it might be important to look to take a a dive at this and and and share that in terms of um you know, what it looks like over time, if data from other districts is available, it might give it some perspective, too. Um but if if if even if things aren't going well, it's important if we have that data to look at it and reflect on it and and have a plan, too. >> I think there should be Sorry, some education Dr. Russell, to your point as well, but we word bullying gets thrown around so often that it's not and so educating the community on sort of the distinction >> the debunking of what that is. >> And also um it's it's not always clear from the outside what is happening

250and for the confidentiality piece from both sides is really tough and you know, when parents are seeing their kids side and protecting their kid and you know, that mama bear instinct absolutely comes out. So, that education piece of what can be shared, what can't be shared, even so much as like what the consequences are for the or the restore restoration, those things can't always be shared even though they're happening. And so, just the education around that, I think, is important, too. >> No, no, absolutely. But, if we have data like how many instances of of reported or alleged bullying, how many instances uh were then deemed to actually be bullying? And if we have that data over time, A, you can see is is the reporting report increasing or not? And then, is the actual

251number of cases deemed bullying, you know? And then And this is I I think that people define bullying differently, and so I think that there can be issues with behavior that may not end up being being bullying, but still may be inappropriate. Sure. So, there's all these nuances, so the data the data is not going to give you necessarily that nuance, but that's why if you have over time, you can at least see trends presumably because you're having similar or hopefully similar decisions made on on each case, so it can kind of just guide the conversation a little bit. And again, and I think for me personally, it's just very important that I'm clear that I'm not looking to really assign blame to anyone, right? It's more about just seeing what's going on. And then,

252if there are things at the school community level, cuz most of this is really done at the at the school and the the central office level. Is there anything at the school community level that we can do to help uh Brett to even if it's just providing parents with a with better resource not better resource more defined >> understanding of how to report bullying. What What is the process for for for um for for filing a bullying complaint or you know, what are the steps they go through? Where Where do they find the forms to to to do it? >> Yeah. >> I think, too, making sure that all we've got our policies, which, you know, we were looking at it today and there there's a few, you know, especially with as you get into

253some of the cyber bullying and the AI stuff, that hits like our acceptable use policy, it hits, you know, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment. So, it's kind of across the board. We have to kind of tie all of those together, but there's also just on the website like where's the bullying form? You know, there's an anonymous form that you people can fill out if there's an issue, you know, so just that kind of re-edification of where to find the information and also step in the handbook, you know, and so parents you know, the handbook I think people tend to it it you're supposed to review it when we're doing those registration forms every the end of the summer and it's important for families to really go through that and I know it's easy for going through

254There's so much at the end of the summer that you're like, oh yeah, let me just get this done and >> I have a thought that I'll get I don't know if you're you're interested. I mean, when we have been working on trying to improve our recording and investigation processes for multiple years now. At times we have often we bring in Katie Minolta to walk us through especially when disciplinary situations change. Would you be interested in her doing a presentation and offering that as a family potential engagement opportunity? Absolutely. I'm sure she would be more than happy to cuz she does it for the administrator team and she's actually done some of them for our staff too especially when you know, title nine has changed every year where we're trying to pivot to adjust. So

255if that's something I could I mean it would I wouldn't want to do it till the fall. I don't think it's going to be probably not as meaningful but I think that would be a good So if you want >> No, that's a great idea. Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. >> And then are there are there other things that we can look at in terms of resources for helping I won't say this is going to come but mediate issues that happen like allowing kids to kind of try to work some things out with with you know, this is I know it can be complicated especially if there's real bullying but you know, how how do we help sort of you know, get through that because these these kids by and large probably don't even mean I

256mean, especially the younger grades they don't really know what they're doing necessarily probably and so it's it's an education opportunity more than anything. >> And how to help avoid longer term issues for building. >> Sarah at the town meeting um highlighted the challenge day so maybe also kind of highlighting some of the work that our administrators are doing to organize uh SEL supports and and events like that. >> I mean even listening to the kids on the Japan trip and talking about kind of breaking down border barriers that they may have had for years here at the high school and having that experience together. Um even you know, sophomores teamed up with seniors, kids that have gone to school for years but really maybe this is sports track kid or this was an arts track

257kid and and having those type of experiences. Years ago we had the um that experience uh like a nature's classroom uh type experience but that was wonderful for kids but >> All right. >> What do you want me to say? >> How do we How do we good? >> [laughter] >> Do we have any other questions? >> I think we're good. We covered the honesty policy. >> Okay. >> I'm sure there are other policies we can read. >> All right. Well, I think that's it then. Thank you everyone and um good night Holliston. Sorry this went quite a bit longer than planned but um but here we are. So anyway, thank you and good night. Next meeting.